Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Origin Of Carbonate Cements In Bahama Escarpment Limestones, Katharine D. Fulker

Masters Theses

Limestones recovered from Bahama Escarpment dives (DSRV Alvin, 1978) were expected to contain shallow marine, freshwater, and deep marine cementation since the limestones had been fractured, bored, and cemented at depth. Magnesium and trace element concentrations, carbon-oxygen composition, cathodoluminescence, and petrographic study indicated the presence of all three cement types.

Lithification may have proceeded by allochem deposition, major shallow marine cementation, sparse freshwater cementation leaving porosity, fracturing, and final deep marine cementation leaving minor porosity. According to this interpretation, the pore space remained open for an unlikely 75-115 million years. In an alternative interpretation, pore space is occluded after freshwater …

Pennsylvanian Deltaic Sedimentation In Grand Ledge, Michigan, Jeffrey R. Martin

Masters Theses

Pennsylvanian outcrops along the Michigan Basin's southern/margin are composed of fluvial-deltaic and marine shelf sediments. Constructive deltaic facies include point-bar sandstones displaying erosional bases, channel lag, and upward decreasing grain size and sedimentary structures. Cross-stratification data indicate a unimodal, highly variant, northward-trending, paleocurrent pattern that deviates from regional paleoslope. Point-bar sandstones record delta plain deposition by meandering distributary channels. Channel margin facies include Lingula-bearing, interdistributary bay shales; overlain gradationally by laminated, flaser-bedded and rooted marsh shales and siltstones; and subbituminous swamp coal. Bay-fill facies are interrupted by lens-shaped, quartz-poor, fine-grained, crevasse-- splay sandstones.

Delta destructive facies--quartz -rich bioturbated sandstone-- suggest …

Seasat Orbital Radar Imagery Applied To Lineament Analysis And Relationships With Hydrocarbon Production In The Wartburg Basin Area, Tennessee, S. E. A. Brite

Masters Theses

Seasat, an orbital synthetic aperature radar launched in 1978, has produced high-resolution imagery enhancing over 1186 observed linear topographic indentations or lineaments in the Wartburg Basin area of east-central Tennessee. The main objectives of this thesis are to verify these lineaments in the field, to compare them with aerial photographic lineaments in the same area, to statistically analyze lineament trends, and to compare lineaments with oil and gas trends in the Wartburg Basin area.

Lineaments from Seasat imagery were located in the field with a high degree of accuracy. Three distinct lineament systems were derived from lineament orientations, their grouping …

The Geology And Origin Of The Sawyer Uranium Prospect, Live Oak County, Texas, Charles L. Brewster

Masters Theses

The Sawyer uranium prospect is a subsurface uranium occurrence hosted within the basal Oligocene Catahoula Formation of the Texas coastal plain. The host rocks consist of tuff-ball conglomerate, tuffaceous sandstone and tuffaceous claystone whose geometry and lithological characteristics indicate that they are the products of a crevasse-splay depositional environment. Compositionally, these lithologies are feldspar-depleted litharenites, with the feldspar depletion due to the corrosive, ore-forming processes. These sediments display pedogenic to early diagenetic features including diffuse to discrete micrite nodules, clay cutans, fresh to partially argillized glass shards, clay booklets, authigenic zeolites and sulfides, paleosoil horizons and calcite cement.

Uranium mineralization …

Nitrate Levels In The Groundwater Of Kalamazoo County, Michigan, William Robert Norman

Masters Theses

Nitrate levels from 1,978 wells were compiled and analyzed to identify areas having levels above the Federal and State Drinking Water Standards of 10 ppm, identify possible sources of nitrate in each area and determine factors that produce high concentrations of nitrate in groundwater.

Eighteen areas in which nitrate concentrations exceeded 10 ppm were identified. County-wide, 465 (23 percent) of the wells for which data were available produced water with nitrate concentrations above drinking water standards.

Septic tank effluent is thought to be the most common source of nitrate in the problem areas. Agricultural practices are also likely nitrate contrbutors; …

Stratigraphy And Depositional Environments Of A Late Pleistocene Barrier Island Complex, Southeastern Virginia, Alan K. Jasper

OES Theses and Dissertations

The Norfolk, Kempsville, and Sand Bridge Formations beneath the HIckory Scarp of southeastern Virginia are reinterpreted as representing one glacio-eustatic transgressive cycle. The timing of this transgressive event is set during the earliest Wisconsinan. The formations were previously interpreted as unconformable overlying one another. The Norfolk-Kempsville unconformity is actually a diagenetic boundary. Evidence is presented which indicates that the Kempsville Scarp area should be reduced to member status or dropped entirely.

Thermometry And Barometry Of Precambrian Orthogneisses And Related Rocks From The Minnesota River Valley, Southwestern Minnesota, Paula J. Leier

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

Granulite facies metamorphism is reported to have occurred in the Granite Falls-Montivideo area of the Minnesota River Valley and a broader view of the valley is taken to determine the extent of granulite facies metamorphism. Pressures and temperatures of metamorphism were determined using two geothermometers and one geobarometer. Based upon two-feldspar and garnet-biotite thermometers, temperature of metamorphism is approximated at 600 °c. Metamorphic pressures based on the reaction cordierite= garnet+ quartz + sillimanite were probably between 4 and 6 Kbars. Based on barometry and thermometry, it is suggested the Algoman o rogeny (2600 m.y. ago) was at least upper amphibolite …

Petrology And Mineralogy Of Tertiary Volcanic Rocks In The Vicinity Of The Rozel Hills And Black Mountain, Box Elder County, Utah, Elizabeth R. Greenman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Two basalt flows and an andesite fissure eruption occur in the Rozel Hills - Black Mountain area in Box Elder County, Utah. Both basalt flows are aphanitic, and contain olivine, plagioclase, augite, and opaque oxides. They may be distinguished both chemically and on the basis of their textures. Unit 2 basalt is finer grained, and appears to be associated with a fault in the Black Mountain area. Chemically, it is similar to high-iron lavas in the Craters of the Moon, Idaho area. It has higher alkali, total iron, and titanium contents that Unit 1 basalt. Unit 1 basalt is similar …

Structure And Petrography Of The Tertiary Volcanic Rocks Between Death Creek And Dairy Valley Creek (Box Elder Co.), Utah, E. Matthew Hare

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Several volcanic flows lie between Death Creek and Dairy Valley Creek, near Etna, Utah. The major, central portion of the volcanic flows is composed of dacite and dacite vitrophyre. An elongate ridge in the southeastern corner of the study area and several small outcrops in Death Creek Valley are composed of rhyolite and rhyolite vitrophyre. Additional rock types include conglomerate, volcanic ash, and tuffaceous sedimentary rock of the Tertiary Salt Lake Formation, Paleozoic limestone, and Tertiary basalt.

Dacite and dacite vitrophyre samples are porphyritic, containing phenocrysts of plagioclase, quartz, biotite, amphibole, orthopyroxene, and iron-titanium oxides. Rhyolite and rhyolite vitrophyre samples …

Petrology Of The Middle Cambrian Blacksmith Formation, North-Central Utah, Howard William Hay Jr.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The dolostones and dolomitic limestones of the Middle Cambrian Blacksmith Formation were studied in the Bear River and Malad Ranges and the Wellsville Mountains of north-central Utah. The depositional textures and sedimentary structures retained within the rocks form the basis of subdivisions of measured sections, interpretation of depositional paleogeography, and reconstruction of environments.

Other studies of modern carbonate environments and their ancient analogues provided the basis for interpretation of the depositional textures found within the rocks of the Blacksmith Formation. Four identifiable lithofacies were recognized within the study area. These facies include: (1) oolite shoal; (2) restricted lagoon; (3) low- …

Petrology Of The Lower Middle Cambrian Langston Formation, North-Central Utah And Southeastern Idaho, Gary Jay Butterbaugh

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Lower Middle Cambrian Langston Formation was studied in the Bear River Range of north-central Utah and southeasternmost Idaho and the Wellsville Mountains of north-central Utah. The depositional textures and sedimentary structures preserved within the rocks were compared with characteristics of similar modern sediments and ancient rock to determine environments of deposition, paleogeography, diagenetic alteration and pattern of dolomitization.

The rocks of the Langston Formation were divided into eleven different rock types. These eleven rock types were formed within four recognizable lithofacies: 1) upper peritidal; 2) inner carbonate shelf; 3) inner clastic shelf; and 4) outer clastic shelf.

The general …

Chemical Changes In Groundwater Of Northern Utah Valley, Utah, Paul E. Fairbanks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Northern Utah Valley is one of the fastest growing areas of Utah and has increasing needs for domestic, industrial, and agricultural water. To meet these needs, groundwater and surface water systems must be understood to maximize their use. Chemical studies of the sediment mineralogy and related water-chemistry give insight to the movement of the water.

There are three major aquifers present in the valley: shallow Pleistocene; deep Pleistocene; and Tertiary. They are composed of sands and gravels and are separated by confining layers (aquitards) composed mostly of clay. Along the flanks of the bordering mountains there are undifferentiated aquifers which …

Evaluation Of Low-Temperature Geothermal Potential In Cache Valley, Utah, Janet L. De Vries

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this research was to continue the assessment of the low-temperature geothermal resources of Cache Valley, Utah initiated by the Utah Geological and Mineral Survey. Field work consisted of locating 90 wells and springs throughout the study area, collecting water samples for later laboratory analyses, and field measurement of pH, temperature, bicarbonate alkalinity, and electrical conductivity. Na⁺, K⁺, Ca⁺² , Mg⁺² , SiO₂, Fe, SO₄^-2, Cl^-, F^-, and total dissolved solids were determined in the laboratory.

Temperature profiles were measured in 12 additional, …

The Features And Significance Of Layering And Shearing Within The Zone Of Mylonitization, Northeastern Idaho Batholith, Jon Michael Hermann

Masters Theses

The northeastern border zone of the Idaho batholith contains a north-south trending zone of myionitized gneiss, schist, and granite-granodiorite. The schist and gneiss contain plagioclase augen surrounded by crushed and recrystallized biotite, quartz, feldspar, + muscovite, + hornblende. The granite grades upward from porphyritic rock into augen-bearing mylonitic rocks interlayered with schist and gneiss.

The Petrochemistry Of The Ankara Volcanics, Central Turkey, Jay A. Ach

Geology Theses and Dissertations

The Ankara volcanics comprise a small volcanic field immediately to the north of Ankara, Turkey. This volcanic field is composed of a mixture of flows, tuffs, and agglomerates, with the flows ranging in composition from high-K basaltic andesite to rhyolite. Dacitic flows are the most common. A potassium-argon date gives a Middle Eocene age of 42.0 ± 1.6 m.y. The volcanics unconformably overlie Paleozoic sediments of the "Cimmerian continent" to the south and Mesozoic rocks of the Ankara melange to the north.
Results of analyses on 25 samples for major elements and Y, Sr, Rb, Ni, Cr, V, Co, Zn, …

The Structural Geology Of The Tectonized Ultramafic Suite Of The Table Mountain Massif, Bay Of Islands Complex, Newfoundland, Robert Whitney Blake

Geology Theses and Dissertations

Table Mountain is the northernmost massif in the Bay of Islands Ophiolite. It represents a continuous, approximately 7 kilometer thick, section of residual harzburgite tectonites capped by a nearly flat-lying assemblage of deformed and undeformed cumulate rocks. The notable mesoscopic structural features of the massif include a zone of penetrative deformation extending upsection from the tectonized harzburgites approximately 500 meters into the dunites and basal cumulates. The orientation of the foliation and associated lineations as well as the inferred shear sense within the zone is consistent with that affecting the harzburgites. Highly deformed dunite lenses which range in thickness up …

The Geology Of The Oceanographer Transform Fault, Richard H. Moody Jr.

Geology Theses and Dissertations

A detailed survey of the Oceanographer transform fault and environs at 35º N, 35ºW has yielded detailed information with respect to the generation and evolution of seafloor at a slowly accreting plate margin. From this data detailed bathymetric maps and maps of depth to basement have been constructed for a swath of seafloor 1800 km long and 100-200 km wide centered about the offset region. This data was used to subdivide major phases of seafloor spreading during the Tertiary. The ridge crest and all major topographic features near the transform appear to be affected by their proximity to the transform. …

Structure Of The Northern Margin Of The Bitlis Suture Zone Near Sivrice, Southeastern Turkey, Mark R. Hempton

Geology Theses and Dissertations

Detailed mapping near Sivrice shows that the northern margin of the Bitlis Suture zone consists of three major tectonostratigraphic units outcropping as distinct north-dipping thrust slices. From south to north these are: (1) the Pütürge Complex; (2) the Maden Complex; and (3) the Elazig Complex.
The pre-Eocene Pütürge Complex consists of 80% metapelite, 15% metaquartzite, and 5% recrystallized limestone. These rocks represent a continental margin sequence that has been metamorphosed to the lower greenschist facies. There are three generations of structural elements: (1) a transposition foliation and macroscopic isoclinal folds, (2) a crenulation cleavage and mesoscopic folds, and (3) kink …

Geology And Hydrothermal Alteration, Glass Buttes, Southeast Oregon, Dulcy Annette Berri

Dissertations and Theses

The Glass Buttes volcanic complex consists of many domes and individual vents that erupted both rhyolitic and basaltic lavas during the late Miocene to early Pliocene. The east half of the complex, in the vicinity of Little Glass Butte, contains interfingering, finely flow-banded rhyolite and black obsidian flows. The youngest unit, an obsidian, has been dated at 4.9 m.y. East of Little Glass Butte lie two northwest-trending ridges, Antelope and Cascade Ridges, composed of two or more overlapping exogenous domes that formed along northwest-trending faults.

The Stratigraphic Relationships Of The Columbia River Basalt Group In The Lower Columbia River Gorge Of Oregon And Washington, Terry Leo Tolan

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to produce a detailed geologic map of the CRBG in the western portion of the Columbia River Gorge (fig. 1). The objectives were (1) to identify and delineate the extent of the Priest Rapids Member and Pomona Member intracanyon flows, and (2) to define the relationship of post-CRBG units to the CRBG intracanyon flows.

A Preliminary Investigation Of The Lithological Characteristics Of The Troutdale Formation In Portions Of The Camas, Sandy, Washougal, And Bridal Veil Quadrangles, David Lee Cole

Dissertations and Theses

The study area encompasses a region of about 80 square kilometers, centered about Corbett, Oregon. Sieve analyses suggest that the Troutdale Formation is composed of a conglomerate, a coarse-grained sandstone, and a siltstone lithofacies. Measured sections data show that 56 to 60 percent of the Troutdale Formation's exposures are composed of the conglomerate lithofacies. The coarsegrained sandstone lithofacies makes up 34 to 38 percent, while the siltstone lithofacies makes up only 4 to 8 percent. Pebble count data show that the representation of basalt varies from 69 to 100 percent, with an average of 85 percent, while quartzite varies from …

A Geophysical Study Of The North Scappoose Creek, Alder Creek, Clatskanie River Lineament, Along The Trend Of The Portland Hills Fault, Columbia County, Oregon, Nina Haas

Dissertations and Theses

The Portland Hills fault forms a strong northwest trending lineament along the east side of the Tualatin Mountains. An en echelon lineament follows North Scappoose Creek, Alder Creek, and the Clatskanie River along the same trend, through Columbia County, Oregon. The possibility that this lineament follows a fault or fault zone was investigated in this study. Geophysical methods were used, with seismic refraction, magnetic and gravity lines run perpendicular to the lineament. The seismic refraction models indicate the near surface basalt is broken in many places, with 15 - 30 meters (50 - 100 feet) vertical displacement, down to the …

The Geology Of The Floras Creek Area, Curry County, Oregon, Jon Dudley Bounds

Dissertations and Theses

The Floras Creek area, east of the town of Langlois, near the southwest Oregon coast, includes Colebrooke Schist (a klippe of metamorphosed pelitic sediments of Jurassic age), Jurassic Otter Point Formation (a melange complex), and lower the middle Eocene Roseburg and Lookingglass Formations, part of a sandstone-shale sequence occurring more extensively in other areas. The Colebrooke Schist occurs in the south-central part of the area, bounded on the Otter Point and Roseburg. The Lookingglass is exposed as a small (1.5 sq. km) block in the north-north-west part of the area. Two major structural trends are found in the Floras Creek …

Radiometric And Petrochemical Characteristics Of The Dells Granite, Yavapai County, Arizona, Kenneth Stewart Fleck

Masters Theses

"The Dells granite of central Arizona, an alkaline granite containing accessory fluorite and tourmaline, contains anomalously high amounts of uranium. Gamma-ray spectrometry, x-ray fluorescence, petrographic, and autoradiographic methods were used to determine the contents and distribution of equivalent U, Th, K, and ten major element oxides within the granite pluton. The range of uranium content is 0 to 39.7 parts per million (ppm) with the mean equivalent U content 8.8 ppm; eTh, 26.8 ppm; and K, 4.8%. The average uranium content is about twice the average of western United States granites, the thorium content slightly less than average. The Th/U …

Mineralogical, Textural, And Paragenetic Studies Of Selected Ore Deposits Of The Southeast Missouri Lead-Zinc-Copper District And Their Genetic Implications, Kenneth Bruce Horrall

Doctoral Dissertations

“A detailed paragenetic study of Pb-Zn-Cu ores from the Viburnum Number 28, Brushy Creek, and Goose Creek mines in the Southeast Missouri lead district indicates a complicated paragenesis characterized by repeated periods of mineral deposition. The sequence is composed of nineteen minerals including abundant galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, marcasite, dolomite, calcite, and quartz and minor siegenite, bornite, bravoite, blaubleibender covellite, covellite, gersdorffite, digenite, enargite, tennantite, dickite, and malachite.

The paragenesis indicates that the ore solutions evolved in the following order: (1) Cu-rich, (2) Co-Ni-rich, (3) Pb-Zn-rich, and (4) Fe-rich. Subsequent repeated generations include cubic galena, later sphalerite, and minor crystalline …

Tertiary Volcanic Rocks In Southwest Montana And Adjacent Idaho As Possible Source Rocks For Epigenetic Stratabound Uranium Deposits, Richard Brian Wice

WWU Graduate School Collection

Rhyolitic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks found in or on the margins of Tertiary basins that contain sandstone-type uranium deposits are considered by many workers to be the source rocks for the uranium. In southwestern Montana and adjacent Idaho three volcanic areas were mapped and evaluated by geochemical analysis. X-ray diffraction and petrographic studies to determine if the volcanics are good source rocks for uranium deposits in nearby Tertiary basins. Area I volcanics, south of Dillon, Montana, have radiometric ages, uranium, thorium and fluorine contents and petrography similar to the Post-Lowland Creek Volcanics in the Boulder Batholith region and are tentatively …

Palynological Differences Between The Chuckanut And Huntingdon Formations, Northwestern Washington, Kenneth Norman Reiswig

WWU Graduate School Collection

Pollen and spore assemblages from the Tertiary coal-bearing Chuckanut and Huntingdon Formations were studied to determine the existence and location of the southern boundary of the Bellingham Basin. Ages of deposition were determined for each formation based on the flora recovered. The age of the Chuckanut Formation ranges from Middle Paleocene at its base to Late Eocene at its top. The age of the Huntingdon in northwestern Washington is Late Eocene to perhaps Earliest Oligocene. From the evidence of palynomorph ranges, no definite age breaks were found within the Chuckanut Formation, or between the Chuckanut and Huntingdon Formations. The structure …

Net Shore-Drift Of King County, Washington, Michael Chrzastowski

WWU Graduate School Collection

King County has a 182 km, crenulated coastline along the glacially formed channels of Puget Sound. This distance is nearly evenly divided between the mainland and two islands, Vashon and Maury. This field study determined the long-term net shore-drift along the King County coast, primarily using geomorphic and sedimentologic indicators of net shore-drift. The shore-drift sediment is mainly sand and gravel supplied from coastal bluffs by wave erosion, mass wasting, and fluvial processes. There are a total of 46 drift cells, with shore-drift operating along all of the King County coast except for 9 km of artificially modified, commercial and …

Quaternary Chronology Of The Palouse Loess Near Washtucna, Eastern Washington, Lucy L. (Lucy Louglin) Foley

WWU Graduate School Collection

Four roadcuts in the Palouse loess near Washtucna, southeastern Washington, expose a thick sequence of buried calcic soils and tephra layers which span more than the last 730,000 years. The identification of four tephra layers of known age in the upper part of the loess sequence

(Mazama, Mt. St. Helens Set S, and two separate layers of Mt. St. Helens Set C) allow the formulation of a soil chronology for the last 40,000 years. Paleomagnetic stratigraphy resulted in the identification of the Brunhes Normal-Matuyama Reversed polarity epoch boundary in one roadcut, thereby establishing an age of at least 730,000 years …

Petrology, Geochemistry And Economic Geology Of Selected Gold Claims In Rocks Of The Wasekwan Lake Area, Lynn Lake District, Manitoba, Canada, Douglas Scott Kenaley

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation was to map and study, both at regional and detailed scales, the units encountered within seven gold claims that were staked by Sherritt-Gordon Mines Limited of Lynn Lake, Manitoba. The claims are located in the wasekwan Lake area, approximately 12. 8 km southeast of Lynn Lake. Regional mapping was conducted at a scale of 1:12000 over a 6.4 km2 area and detailed mapping of potentially economic areas was conducted at a scale of 1:240. Whole-rock geochemistry, microprobe, optical and X-ray diffraction procedures were employed to describe and characterize the rocks. The Aphebian rock units of …