Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Late Cenozoic Landforms, Stratigraphy And History Of Sea Level Oscillations Of Southeastern Virginia And Northeastern North Carolina, Pamela Crowson Peebles

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

A depositional model accounting for the stratigraphic sequences which accumulate during a marine transgression across a dissected coastal plain aids in understanding the geologic history of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. Application of this model to the Shirley Formation (middle Pleistocene) and the Sedgefield and Lynnhaven members of the Tabb Formation (late Pleistocene) allows delineation of (1) the facies within, (2) the areal extent of, and (3) the landforms associated with these lithostratigraphic units. Facies within each lithostratigraphic unit consist of (1) a vertical succession from local, basal, channel-fill deposits and coarse, basal, lag deposits which grade upward into …

Implications Of Hydrocarbon And Helium Gas Analyses Of Springs From The Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas, Randel T. Cox, Kenneth F. Steele

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

One hundred and three ground water samples (predominantly springs) were analyzed for headspace light hydrocarbon gases and helium. Four of the formations (Arkansas Novaculite, Bigfork Chert, Stanley Shale, and Womble) having the highest mean methane values are the only Ouachita Mountain facies to produce petroleum or exhibit marginally commercial production. This observation suggests that the mean methane values are useful as an indication of the relative hydrocarbon content of these formations Anomalous helium values are generally associated with mapped faults.

Armored Mud Balls And Friable Sand Megaclasts From A Complex Early Pleistoceme Alluvial Fill, Southwestern Morrill County, Nebraska, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

Armored mud balls and friable sand megaclasts occur in exposures of a complex Early Pleistocene sand and gravel alluvial fill which caps a strath terrace in southwestern Morrill County, Nebraska. The mudballs are limited to a tributary arroyo. The sand megaclasts occur in sediments deposited along a trunk stream. It is possible that the sand megaclasts were transported to the site in a frozen condition.

Cenozoic Geology Of The Southern Nebraska Panhandle: Old Valleys, Volcaniclastics, And Vertebrates: 1984 Fall Field Trip, Nebraska Geological Society, James B. Swinehart, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., Mary Rebone, Robert Hunt

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

Two-day field trip:

Duer Ranch Locality, Morrill County, Nebraska

The Duer Ranch locality contains some of the finest and most easily accessible examples of different styles of alluvial cuts and fills in the Cenozoic of Nebraska. It offers a unique area in which to examine the geometries and alluvial fills of several Miocene and Pliocene age paleovalleys and paleogullies. Good exposures of eolian volcaniclastic siltstones and a regionally important volcanic ash of the Oligocene age Brule Formation are also present at the Duer Ranch locality.

Early Miocene Mammals and Lithostratigraphy of the Indian Creek Drainage, Near Bridgeport, Morrill County, Western …

The Effects Of Seismic Blasting On Shallow Water Wells And Aquifers In Western North Dakota, Frank W. Beaver Jr. P. E.

Theses and Dissertations

Seismographic petroleum exploration throughout North Dakota has generated concern over the effects of blasting on groundwater supplies and wells. A preliminary investigation revealed complaints alleging declining productivity and decreased water quality in regions where coal aquifers are extensively used. Unplugged shotholes were frequently cited as a source of problems.

Experimental results indicate that changes due to blasting occur within long term physical the aquifers rather than in specific water wells. Pumping tests conducted in a sand and coal aquifer system showed no apparent physical effects when shots were detonated one quarter mile away from the pumping wells. Shots 500 feet …

Stratigraphy And Depositional Environments Of The Fox Hills Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Bowman County, North Dakota, Daniel J. Daly

Theses and Dissertations

The sedimentary structures, trace fossils, and lithology of the Upper Cretaceous Fox Hills Formation in Bowman County, North Dakota, were studied during the summer of 1979 and the spring of 1983. Twenty-three stratigraphic sections were measured and described and lithologic samples were collected for textural and mineralogical analysis, also, the major outcrops of the formation in the Dakotas and Montana were visited.

The formation in the study area was previously defined as a 27-mthick sandstone unit, containing three members--ascending, Trail City, Timber Lake, and Colgate--that was conformable with the underlying Pierre and overlying Hell Creek Formations. The Fox Hills, as …

Stratigraphy And Depositional Environments Of The Three Forks Formation (Upper Devonian), Williston Basin, North Dakota, Gayle M. Dumonceaux

Theses and Dissertations

The Three Forks Formation (Upper Devonian) is present in the subsurface in the western two-thirds of North Dakota and is generally conformable with the underlying Birdbear Formation and the overlying Bakken Formation.

The Three Forks attains a maximum thickness of 265 feet (81 meters) in the central basin, east and south of the Nesson Anticline, and thins to an erosional edge in eastern North Dakota. The Three Forks is composed of micrite and dolomicrite, which may be fcssiliferous and argillaceous. From the study of core samples and detailed petrographic analysis of thin sections, five lithofacies were recognized and their extent …

Heavy Minerals Of The Cretaceous Hell Creek And Paleocene Ludlow Formations Of Slope And Bowman Counties, North Dakota, Robert A. Farris

Theses and Dissertations

The Cretaceous Hell Creek and Paleocene Ludlow Formations of southwestern North Dakota are nonmarine sediments of alluvial origin. The heavy minerals of these formations were specifically studied to determine the source rock types and their provenance, and generally assess the diagenetic processes which affected the heavy minerals.

The heavy minerals include zircon, rutile, tourmaline, garnet, ilmenite, spinel, apatite, epidote, sphene, pyroxene, dolomite, biotite, andalusite, pyrite, monazite, and barite. Most of the heavy minerals have angular shapes, indicating one cycle of erosion and deposition.

The heavy mineral percentages of the concretions and surrounding sediments were compared within and between the Hell …

Groundwater-Lake Interactions, Wood Lake, Benson County, North Dakota, Lori J. Ferguson

Theses and Dissertations

Wood Lake is a kettle lake within the McHenry end moraine (late Wisconsinan) in eastern Benson County, North Dakota. It is part of the Devils Lake interior basin, near the drainage divide between the Devils Lake basin and the Big Coulee - Sheyenne River drainage. The moraine deposits, part of the Coleharbor Group, are composed of complexly interfingering lenses of gravel, sand, silt, and clay within the till.

Water levels in piezometers around Wood Lake indicate groundwater flows from the southwest into the west side of the lake and out of the lake along the east shore, toward the northeast. …

Bivalve Associations Of The Cannonball Formation (Paleocene, Danian) Of North Dakota, Rosanne M. Lindholm

Theses and Dissertations

The Cannonball Formation (Paleocene, Danian) is best exposed in southwest-central North Dakota. Here, two major lithotypes, mudstone and sandstone, occur. In this area, the Cannonball can be informally subdivided into four lithologic units: lower (primarily thinly-bedded sandstone and mudstone), lower-middle (sandstone), upper-middle (mudstone), and upper (sandstone). The Cannonball is also exposed in southwestern North Dakota where it occurs as two mudstone tongues (upper and lower).

During July and August, 1982, thirteen Cannonball outcrops were studied. Bivalves, along with other macrofossils, were collected quantitatively in an attempt to determine fossil species dominance. Rock samples were also collected and analyzed for textural …

The Geochemical Evolution Of Saline Groundwater Within A Fresh Water Aquifer South Of Oakes, North Dakota, David L. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

An area of saline/brackish groundwater south of Oakes, North Dakota has been reported by the North Dakota State Water Commission. The concentrated water (over 12,000 mg/L of total dissolved solids) is in direct hydraulic connection with relatively fresh water and shows an abrupt change in concentration and water chemistry between these two end members. The saline/brackish water is beneath a shallow trough or depression which has an approximate area of 6 square miles (15.5 square kilometres). The trough is within the northern part of the Glacial Lake Dakota plain. Sediments in the lake plain, which is an unconfined aquifer, are …

Sedimentology Of The Bullion Creek And Sentinel Butte Formations (Paleocene) In A Part Of Southern Mckenzie County, North Dakota, Brian P. Wallick

Theses and Dissertations

The environment of deposition of the Bullion Creek and Sentinel Butte Formations (Paleocene) in western North Dakota has been variously ascribed to lacustrine, meandering fluvial, and deltaic settings. The purpose of this study was to interpret the depositional environments, depositional history, and provenance of the strata in T. 145 and 146 N., R. 102 W., McKenzie County, North Dakota.

A total of 24 stratigraphic sections were measured and described. In addition, paleocurrent data were gathered from primary sedimentary structures, positions of paleochannel outcrops were noted, and samples were collected. Laboratory work consisted of thin-section petrography, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray …

Ua66/8/3 Annual Report, Wku Geography & Geology

WKU Archives Records

Annual report of activities of the WKU department of Geography & Geology.

The Ashern Formation (Middle Devonian) In The Williston Basin, North Dakota, Frederick K. Lobdell

Theses and Dissertations

The Ashern Formation (Middle Devonian) is the basal unit of the Kaskaskia Sequence in North Dakota. It unconformably overlies the Interlake Formation (Silurian) and underlies, probably paraconformably, the Winnipegosis Formation (Middle Devonian). The Ashern is present in the northwestern one-half of the state, and attains a maximum thickness of 180 feet (55 meters) The Ashern Formation may be subdivided into a lower red member and an upper gray member. The latter directly overlies the Interlake Formation where the red member is absent. Both members are argillaceous, microcrystalline dolostones containing minor quartz silt. Anhydrite, present in both members, is much more …

Paleohydraulics Of Pleistocene Drainage Development Of The Souris, Des Lacs, And Moose Mountain Spillways, Saskatchewan And North Dakota, Mark L. Lord

Theses and Dissertations

Recent recognition of the rapid draining of numerous glacial lakes, including some in the Northern Plains, has revealed 'a need for further research concerning this process. Geomorphic interpretation of the Souris, Des Lacs, and Moose Mountain Valleys, and the gravel deposits in them, has resulted in the recognition of five phases in the development of the drainageways. Textural analyses and paleohydraulic methods were applied to the sediments associated with each phase to distinguish and characterize the discharges. Four of the five phases of development involved short-lived, high velocity (>4 m/s) discharges resulting from the rapid draining of glacial lakes; …

Tertiary Alkalic Igneous Activity, Potassic Fenitization, Carbonatitic Magmatism, And Hydrothermal Activity In The Central And Southeastern Bear Lodge Mountains, Crook County, Wyoming, Gordon A. Jenner

Theses and Dissertations

The Bear Lodge Mountains are located in Crook County in north eastern Wyoming. The core of the uplift consists of alkalic igneous rocks that range from Early to Late Eocene in age. A petrologic and geochemical study of surface and subsurface samples from the southeastern and central portions of the core reveals a complex history of multiple alkalic igneous events, potassic metasomatism, carbonatitic magmatism, and hydrothermal alteration.

An early episode of alkalic igneous activity is represented by latite and trachyte porphyries, phonolite and trachyte porphyries, and natrolite-garnet syenites and malignites. Throughout much of the complex, the composition of these older …

Relation Of Bitumen To Ore In The Magmont West Orebody, Southeast Missouri, Mark Alan Marikos

Masters Theses

"Bitumen in the form of oil blebs from the Magmont West orebody of the Viburnum Trend was examined and analysed in an attempt to relate hydrocarbon distribution and origin to ore genesis. Hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen percentages were determined by elemental analyses. Trace element composition was determined by emmission spectroscopy and the composition of the bitumen was calculated with respect to aromatic hydrocarbons, saturated hydrocarbons and NSO (nitrogen-sulfur-oxygen) components. The bitumen and kerogen from associated shale samples were evaluated by Rock-Eval pyrolysis and pyrolysis-gas chromatography.

The bitumen was calculated to be approximately 40 to 50 percent aromatic and …

Oil Producing Upper Cherokee And Lower Marmaton (Pennsylvanian) Channel Sandstones Of Jackson And Cass Counties, Missouri, Stephen Thomas Carroll

Masters Theses

"Approximately 240 gamma ray-neutron logs were interpreted and correlated in an attempt to isolate separate channels collectively referred to as "Squirrel" sands in the upper Cherokee and lower Marmaton (Pennsylvanian) rocks of Jackson and Cass counties, Missouri. Isopach maps were prepared for two of the identifiable fluvial sandstones and a structure map was drawn on the laterally extensive Anna Shale.

The term "Squirrel" has been applied to as many as five different sandstone packages, and thus, has been the source of a great deal of confusion. In an attempt to sort out the confusion this thesis recognizes and defines three …

Glacial Chronology Of The Ruby Mountains–East Humboldt Range, Nevada, William J. Wayne

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The Ruby Mountains-East Humboldt Range, one of the interior mountain groups of the Basin and Range Province, lies about midway between the Wasatch Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. After Blackwelder’s description in his review of glaciation in the western mountains, Sharp mapped and named the deposits of the Lamoille and Angel Lake glaciations and correlated them with early and late Wisconsin deposits of the Great Lakes area. The refinement of relative dating (RD) methods, the availability of air photos and modem topographic maps, and new road cuts have aided the restudy of these alpine glacial deposits and the basis for …

Stratigraphy And Sedimentology Of Paleogene Arkosic And Volcaniclastic Strata, Johnson Creek-Chambers Creek Area, Southern Cascade Range, Washington, Warren Jon Winters

Dissertations and Theses

Over 1150 m of middle to late Eocene nonmarine arkose, lithic arkose, mudstone, and siltstone, referred to here as the Chambers Creek beds, are int~r.stratified with, and overlain by over 1600 m of late Eocene-Oligocsne(?) andesitic volcaniclastic and subordinate volcanic rocks assigned to the Ohanapecosh Formation, in a dissected structural high in the southern Washington Cascade Range, about 18 km south-southeast of the town of Packwood.

Conodonts Of The Bakken Formation (Devonian And Mississippian), Williston Basin, North Dakota, Michael D. Hayes

Theses and Dissertations

The Bakken Formation is a thin (maximum 145 ft., 44 m), predominantly elastic unit in the subsurface of the Williston Basin in the United States and Canada. The formation consists of two, mostly non-calcareous, grayish-black to brownish-black shales separated by light to dark gray, calcareous and dolomitic siltstone and fine-grained sandstone. The carbonaceous, black shales of the Bakken produce a distinctive geophysical marker and are a major source rock for hydrocarbons in the Williston Basin.

Conodonts were selectively sampled from cores of the Bakken in North Dakota in an effort to determine the age and thermal maturity of the formation. …

Soil Improvement With Bauxite Residues, W H. Tacey, S. C. Ward, K. J. Summers, N. J. Barrow

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The sandy soils of the Peel-Harvey catchment hold water and nutrients very poorly. The Gavin ridges dry out quickly during rainless periods and this severely limits pasture growth. These ridges and the lower lying Joel and Coolup sands also lose a large proportion of the phosphorus, sulfer and potash fertilisers applied to them. Normally the sands lack clay materials to bind and hold the nutrients so rainfall leaches them out.

The Peel-Harvey Study Group, CSIRO, Alcoa and Murdock University have studied the use of a residue from bauxite mining to help overcome these problems. The treated residue has a texture …

Annual Departures From Average Annual Precipitation In Nebraska, 1850-1983, Conservation Survey Division

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Annual Departures From Average Annual Precipitation In Nebraska, 1850-1983, Conservation Survey Division

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Annual Outflow Of Water From Nebraska, 1950-1983, Conservation Survey Division

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Annual Departures From Average Annual Precipitation In Nebraska, 1850-1983, Conservation And Survey Division

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Inventory Of Irrigation Water Use In Box Butte County, Nebraska 1981, D. R. Lawton, L. L. Leahon

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Quaternary Volcanology Of The West Crater-Soda Peaks Area, Southern Washington Cascade Range, David R. Polivka

Dissertations and Theses

The West Crater-Soda Peaks area covering about 100 km is located 35 km southeast of Mount St. Helens in southern Washington State. It is one of several Quaternary monogenetic High Cascade volcanic centers overlying the Ohaaapecosh Formation of the Western Cascade Group and interstratified glacial till.These volcanic centers are the most westerly of the range.

Trace-Elements In Ilmenite - A Way To Discriminate Provenance Or Age In Coastal Sands, Dennis A. Darby

OES Faculty Publications

Trace elements and Ti percentage in ilmenite grains magnetically separated from modern and late Pleistocene coastal sands of southeastern Virginia and northwestern North Carolina were used to distinguish different deposits. Multivariate analysis of ilmenite composition (Ti, Mn, Mg, Cr, V, Ni, and Cu) from coastal deposits and potential source rivers enabled the identification of dominant source rivers. Using the trace element content of one mineral instead of heavy-mineral suites eliminated most of the hydraulic sorting, selective weathering, and intrastratal solution problems that often obscure heavy-mineral provenance determinations. Most ilmenite grains lacked exsolution or twinning, which are common to ilmenite; however, …