Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Virginius Vein Ore Deposit, Northwestern San Juan Mountains, Colorado: A Study Of The Mineralogy, Structure, And Fluid Inclusions Of An Epithermal Base-Metal And Silver Vein In A Volcanic Environment, Berton Woodward Coxe

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Virginius ore deposit, Ouray and San Miguel Counties, Colorado, yielded 14.5 million oz of silver between 1880 and 1912. The deposit consists of several quartz, base-metal, and silver mineralized fissures which is hosted by Tertiary volcanic rocks of the San Juan volcanic field and was deposited in fractures radial to the northwest margin of the Silverton caldera.

Four stages of mineralization have been recognized: (I) quartz, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and argentiferous tetrahedrite; this stage comprises a bulk of the total vein material and all of the silver; (II) rhodonite, rhodochrosite, quartz, magnetit, galena, chalcopyrite, and pyrite; this stage is …

Lithofacies And Geochemistry Of Interreef Carbonates, Middle Silurian, Michigan Basin, Eric N. Porcher

Masters Theses

The Niagara Group of the Michigan Basin is composed of reef, interreef, and basinal carbonates. The Niagara Group interreef has herein been divided into several litho facies: algal-laminated dolomicrite, bioturbated dolomicrite, intraclastic dolomicrite, wispy-laminated dolomicrite, crinoidal micrite, and nodular micrite. These interreef carbonates show a shallowing upward sequence.

The geochemistry of the Niagara Group interreef was examined in an attempt to delineate any geochemical gradients with respect to reefs. The geochemistry of the inter reef was determined by Particle Induced X-Ray Emission (PIXE) analysis. No significant geochemical gradients were found to be associated with reefs. Reasons for this may include: …

Geophysical And Hydrogeological Effects Of Astorm-Water Retention Pond On The Floridan Aquifer, Hillsborough County, Florida, Abdullah M. Alamri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An integrated geologic, hydrologic, and geophysical investigation was conducted to determine the effect of a storm-water retention pond on the Floridan aquifer. Surface DC resistivity surveys were used to delineate the hydrostratigraphy. There are four distinct geoelectric layers: (1) Layer 1, high resistivity, 3 meters thick, fine to very fine unsaturated sand; (2) Layer 2, moderate resistivity, 1 to 2.5 meters thick, saturated sands and silts; (3) Layer 3, lower resistivity, 4 to 10 meters thick, silt and clay; (4) Layer 4, moderate resistivity, argillaceous limestone. Two fracture zones are defined by resistivity lows and marked by deep, V-shaped depressions …

The Response Of The Kentucky River Drainage Basin To A Lowering Of Base Level Control, David B. Warwick

Masters Theses

The Kentucky River has responded to a lowering of base level control by: 1) deepening the course of its channel; 2) cutting off meanders as incision proceeded; 3) developing knickpoints on tributaries; 4) widening its valley; and 5) dissecting the upland surface.

Field work involved surveying streams to obtain profiles. Twenty streams covering 125 miles of river from Carrollton to Camp Nelson, Kentucky were surveyed. Knickpoints were defined from these profiles. Data from stream profiles showed knickpoint distances decreasing with increasing distance up river. Map work involved obtaining data for hypsometric curves. Hypsometric integrals were determined from these curves. Data …

Conodont Biostratigraphy Of The Cambrian-Ordovician Boundary Interval In The Northern Shenandoah Valley Of Virginia, U.S.A., Randall C. Orndorff

OES Theses and Dissertations

Conodonts collected from two measured sections in the northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia indicate that locally the Cambrian-Ordovician boundary is within the upper part of the Conococheague Formation and that the Conococheague-Stonehenge formational contact as defined in this study, is diachronous in relation to the boundary. Using the generally accepted definition of the CambrianOrdovician boundary as at the base of the trilobite Missisguoia Zone or within the conodont Hirsutodontus hirsutus Subzone of the Cordylodus proavus Zone, it is found here that the boundary is 230 ft (70 m) below the formational contact at the Narrow Passage Creek section. Several North …

Leachate Monitoring In Naturally Saline Groundwater Chesapeake Landfill Chesapeake Virginia, T. Britt Mcmillan

OES Theses and Dissertations

Groundwater chemistry around the Chesapeake municipal landfill was monitored over a one year period. Ten sample sites as well as two surface water sites were used to monitor water quality. Two wells, one at 3 m and the other at 10 m were located at each site. Surface water samples were taken from the Elizabeth River, north of the landfill, and a tidal channel, west of the landfill. Seven groundwater sites were downgradient of the landfill and three sites were upgradient (control sites).

The landfill overlies a tidal marsh, approximately 100 m south of the intracoastal waterway (Elizabeth River). Dredge …

Lineament Analysis And Tectonic Interpretation For The Central Tharsis Region, Mars, Robert C. Anderson

OES Theses and Dissertations

Lineament studies conducted for the Central Tharsis Region of Mars (JOON and JOOS latitude; 450w to 157.50W longitude) indicate two major events controlled the formation of the Tharsis Dome: 1) a pre-Tharsis fracture system consisting of North-West (3150) trending fractures; and 2) a Tharsian fracture system containing North-South (355°) and East-West (275°) trending fractures. The North-West (3150) trending fractures represent a crustal weakness zone which controlled the early formation of the Tharsis Dome. Analytical studies suggest four centers of uplift: 1) 6°N, 124°W; 2) 0.5°N, 114°W; 3) 5°S, 105°W; and 4) 7°S, 104°W. Each of these uplifting centers is associated …

Depositional Model For The Auriferous Gravels In The Payan Mining District Department Of Narino, Columbia, South America, Jim R. Garrett

OES Theses and Dissertations

Unlike placer deposits in arid and semi-arid environments where gold concentration is closely tied to the position of the bedrock, Payan placer deposits have no association with bedrock. Gold concentration values show highest gold concentrations occur at the contact of a coarse sand unit and its underlying gravel unit. Comparisons of the size and shape distributions of gold grain populations with their associated black sand populations indicate the gold and black sand were not deposited in hydraulic equilibrium. The mean size of each gold population is consistently coarser than the mean size of its associated black sand population despite the …

Depositional Environments Of Late Precambrian Sediments From Liberia, Sierra Leone, And Senegal, West Africa, Alfred W. Magee Iii

OES Theses and Dissertations

Field and hand sample descriptions were supplemented with petrographic and textural analyses derived from thin sections, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to determine environments of deposition for the late Precambrian Gibi Mountain Formation, Liberia, Tabe

Formation, Sierra Leone, and the basal Mali Group, Senegal, West Africa.

The Gibi Mountain Formation consists of a glaciomarine tillite, marine laminites with dropgrains, and shallow water arkoses. A shale facies remains unresolved in origin.

The Tabe Formation is composed of three members: Tibai, Dodo, and Taban. The Tibai Member contains a glaciomarine tillite deposited in a shallow shelf marine environment, marine laminites, and shallow …

A Gravity Investigation Of Mountain Flank Thrusting And Normal Faulting, Madison And Tobacco Root Ranges, Montana, Stephen Thomas Wigger

Masters Theses

Gravity modeling of west-dipping, Laramide mountain flank thrusts which involve Archean metamorphic rocks in the western Tobacco Root and northern Madison Ranges supports the idea that these thrusts are gently dipping.

The thrusts provided a favorable location for normal faulting during Neogene extension. The Neogene faults on the eastern portions of the Madison and Jefferson Basins are interpreted to be listric, and merge with the Laramide thrusts. Basin development occurred along a series of such faults, which dropped hanging wall blocks of the thrust sheets to progressively greater depths. The maximum depth of the Madison basin, near Ennis, was found …

Subsurface Stratigrapy And Sedimentologic Control On The Productive Middle Devonian Age Richfield Member Of The Lucas Formation In The Michigan Basin, Sukru Nail Apak

Masters Theses

The depositional system of the Middle Devonian Richfield Member of Lucas Formation in the Michigan Basin was delineated using well logs, cores, drillers' records, and the literature. The Richfield Member was deposited in Sabkha and lagoonal environments characterized by cycles of anhydrite, dolomite, and limestone. Seven significant productive dolomitic zones, interbedded with anhydrite and limestone can be correlated throughout the study area. These zones change laterally to anhydrite towards the west flank and to dense limestone towards the east flank of the basin. Post-depositional diagenetic history of the Richfield was established with the aid of scanning electron microscopy and electron …

A Seismic Study Of An Impact Feature In Cass County, Michigan, Mancheol Suh

Masters Theses

A geophysical investigation, including a seismic study, of the subsurface structure of the Calvin-28 oil field, Cass County, Michigan, indicates that the structure's origin may be related to an impact event. The structural closures in the time structure maps and drilling results both show a central uplift. The fault system in the Trempealeau Formation shows a structure similar to other proven astroblemes. Undisturbed layers just beneath the central uplift also provide evidence of an impact structure. The result of mathematical modeling of the central uplift under the assumption that the structure is an impact structure corresponds well with the drilling …

Dynamics Of Clastic Sedimentation And Watershed Evolution Within A Low-Relief Karst Drainage Basin, Mammoth Cave Region, Kentucky, John D. Pickle

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The hydrology and sedimentology of the Mill Hole drainage basin, a low-relief karst system in the Mammoth Cave Region, Kentucky, depend upon the interactions of surface and groundwater drainages and the distribution of lithologies within the basin. This basin is characterized by sinking streams in the headwaters (Glasgow Uplands) draining into cave rivers beneath the sinkhole-pocked plain (sinkhole plain), which, in turn, flow beneath a sandstone-capped upland (Chester Cuesta) and emerge at base-level springs. Karst windows expose the subterranean drainage within the Chester Cuesta.

Fluvial, Tidal And Storm Sedimentation In The Chilhowee Group (Lower Cambrian), Northeastern Tennessee, Mary R. Cudzil

Masters Theses

The Lower Cambrian Chilhowee Group of northeastern Tennessee consists of the Unicoi, Hampton and Erwin Formations and is divided into four facies. Facies G occurs only within the lower 200 m of measured section (the Unicoi Formation) and consists of fine-grained to pebbly quartz wacke with rare thin beds of laminated siltstone. Subfacies Gh consist of low-angle to horizontally laminated, fine-grained sandstone with laminae and lenses of granules and pebbles. Subfacies Gh represents upper flow-regime, overbank deposition within a braided stream system that was proximal to a coastline. Subfacies Gmr consists of medium-scale, planar-tabular cross-stratified conglomerate in which megaripple bedforms …

Spring Flow In A Portion Of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, David Bruce Goings

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Hermit, Monument, Salt, and Horn Creeks flow through four side canyons of the Colorado River within the Grand Canyon. They lie just west of Grand Canyon Village on the south side of the canyon. Each of these creeks is fed by at least one spring.

Comparisons of flow at each of these springs for a 14 month period, and precipitation on the south rim show a close correlation. The lag period between recharge at the rim and discharge at the springs is less than one month for Hermit Creek and between one and two months for the other three creeks. …

The Petrology And Mineralogy Of Tertiary(?) Olivine Trachyte In The Harrington Peak Quadrangle, Southeastern Idaho, Amanda Shearer-Fullerton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Harrington Peak Quadrangle is located within the Caribou National Forest of southeast Idaho. Within this quadrangle are outcrops of olivine trachyte of Pliocene(?) age overlying sedimentary rocks of Mississippian to Tertiary age. The region contains thrust faults and later normal faults (generally trending north-south} formed during Basin and Range extension.

The Largest outcrop of olivine trachyte (approximately1 1/2 X 3 km) probably formed as the result of a fissure eruption. Two other outcrop areas show evidence of being sites of local extrusion.

Whole-rock chemical analyses revealed the olivine trachyte to have moderate amounts of SiO₂ and Al_{2O …}

Petrology And Mineralogy Of Tertiary(?) Volcanic Rocks Of Snowville Area, Utah, And Tertiary-Quaternary(?) Volcanic Rocks Of Table Mountain And Holbrook Areas, Idaho, Yunshuen Wang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Basalt flows occur in the Snowville area of north-central Utah and the Table Mountain and Holbrook areas of south-central Idaho. All basalt flows are aphanitic in groundmass, and contain olivine, plagioclase, augite, and opaque oxides. They can be distinguished by texture. Snowville basalt has predominantly subophitic to intergranular textures. Table Mountain basalt is fine grained, with stumpy groundmass plagioclase and equant ilmenite crystals. Holbrook basalt has pilotaxitic to intergranular textures, with the presence of plagioclase phenocrysts and characteristic exsolution lamellae in Fe-Ti oxides. The olivine grains in Holbrook area are intensely oxidized to Fe-Ti oxides.

Snowville basalt contains olivine phenocrysts …

Sequential Thrusting Beneath The Willard Thrust Fault, Wasatch Mountains, Ogden, Utah, Tad William Schirmer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The downstructure of viewing geologic maps, balanced and cross sections, and hanging-wall-sequence diagrams are applied to produce the first comprehensive synthesis of the structure below the willard thrust sheet.

Development of the duplex beneath the Willard thrust may be explained with a "piggyback" thrust model where younger thrust slices form below and fold an older, overlying thrust sheet. Progressive failure of the footwall ramp of the Willard thrust sheet extended the sole thrust eastward and produced a duplex consisting of thrust slices (horses) which adhered to the overriding thrust sheet where it ramped from a lower sole thrust to an …

Parameters Controlling Sediment Composition Of Modern And Pleistocene Jamaican Reefs, Stephen K. Boss

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Recent carbonate sediments from Jamaican north coast fringing reefs display variation in constituent composition, texture, and mineralogy related to their location on the reef. Samples were collected along lines which traversed the back reef and fore reef (0.5m to 70m).

The sediment is dominated by highly comminuted coral fragments, plates of the calcareous green alga, Halimeda, coralline algae, and the encrusting Foraminifera, Homotrema rubrum, with lesser amounts of other taxonomic groups (Foraminifera; molluscs; echinoderms). Relative abundances of these biotic components vary between sites. Q-mode cluster analysis indicates that constituent composition can be used to delineate the different reef …

Structural Geology Of The Northern Part Of Elkhorn Mountain, Bannock Range, Idaho, Stephen R. Crook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Northern Elkhorn Mountain was unmapped previous to this investigation. The mapped area is located north of Malad City, Idaho, in the Bannock Range. It is within the Basin and Range Province. The mapped area measures 5.4 mi. in the north-south direction and 8.9 mi. in the east-west direction.

The oldest exposed stratigraphic unit, within the mapped area, consists of orthoquartzite and is of Early Cambrian age. Cambrian formations of the mapped area, in ascending order, are as follows: Camelback Mountain Quartzite, Gibson Jack Formation, Elkhead Formation, Bloomington Formation, Nounan Formation, and St. Charles Formation. Units of Ordovician age are the …

The Petrology Of The Early Middle Cambrian Giles Creek And Upper Chandler Formations, Northeastern Amadeus Basin, Central Australia, James A. Deckelman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Giles Creek and upper Chandler formations crop out in the northeastern Amadeus Basin from the north flank of Ross River syncline south to the Pillar Range, and from the nose of Ooraminna anticline east to the Simpson Desert. Twenty-four sections of the Giles Creek and nineteen sections of the upper Chandler were measured by the author in this area. The Giles Creek lies disconformably above the upper Chandler Formation and conformably below the Shannon Formation. The upper Chandler is conformably underlain by the lower Chandler throughout the area except at Ross River Gorge and Wallaby No. 1 well. There …

Structural Geology Of Eastern Part Of Dairy Ridge Quadrangle And Western Part Of Meachum Ridge Quadrangle, Utah, Val A. Kienast

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A detailed geologic investigation was made of the eastern part of the Dairy Ridge Quadrangle and the western part of the Meachum Ridge Quadrangle, Utah. The area is located in north-central Utah in Rich County. It lies between lat. 41°22'30" N. and lat. 41°28'50" N. and between long. 111°21'40" W. and long. 111°25'15" W. The area measures 13.8 km in the north-south direction and 5.5 km in the east-west direction. It is on the eastern side of the Wasatch Range about 20 km west-southwest of Randolph, Utah.

Stratigraphic units of Precambrian to Cambrian age crop out in the western part …

Petrology Of The Late Proterozoic(?)-Early Cambrian Arumbera Sandstone, Western Macdonnell Ranges, North-Central Amadeus Basin, Central Australia, Lonn P. Hamp

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Arumbera Sandstone consists of mappable informal units which are repeated in a vertical, cyclic succession. Sandstones of fluvial origin form resistant strike ridges separated by strike valleys, which consist of recessive sandstones and mudrocks of marine origin.

Lithofacies 1a, 2b, and 3a are probably of marine origin in intertidal environments. Trace fossil assemblages in lithofacies 3a suggest Skolithos and Cruziana inchnofacies were present. Lithofacies 1e, 2a, 2c, 3b, and 4a are probably of fluvial origin, as the result of coalescing braided stream deposits. The Arumbera Sandstone probably was deposited in a deltaic environment characterized by low wave energy, a …

Petrology And Mineralogy Of Tertiary(?) Volcanic Rocks West And Southwest Of Kelton (Box Elder Co.), Utah, R. L. Voit

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Kelton, Utah, area has numerous, isolated basaltic outcrops of probable Tertiary age mostly in the form of cuestas with steep faces displaying columnar joints. One ash-flow tuff is located in the southeastern part of the study area. Basaltic fragments in the tuff indicate that pyroclastic activity was preceded by extrusion of basalt.

Effects of Lake Bonneville on the basaltic outcrops include wave­cut terraces, scarps, and other wave-built forms in low lying areas. Massive carbonate deposits formed at levels of former shorelines of Lake Bonneville. Tertiary and Quaternary deposits cover the low- lying areas between basaltic flows, and consist of …

Fluvial Depositional Processes Of A Tropical River, Colombia, South America, Michael L. Babuin

OES Theses and Dissertations

Fluvial depositional processes along the Rio Magui in south-western Columbia are primarily controlled by localized uplift downstream of the mouth of the river, sediment sources that produce both coarse-and-fine-grained load, and numerous over-bank flows caused by torrential rainfall.

A Geophysical Model Of The Gravity-Magnetic High, Virginia Coastal Plan, Gordon Everett Davison

OES Theses and Dissertations

The coastal plain province of Virginia is characterized by a coincidental gravity and magnetic high separating Appalachian-trend geophysical signatures to the west from non-Appalachian signatures to the east. Two cross-trend gravity and magnetic profiles, one on the Northern Neck of Virginia and one along Interstate Highway 64, were used to interpret the anomalous high. The profile models suggests that the anomaly is characterized by high-density, variably magnetic, east-dipping (60°) crustal blocks. Further information from well-logs indicate that the anomaly is due to meta-mafic rocks of oceanic origin, flanked by low-density, lower susceptibility, granitic units. This suggests that the anomalous gravity-magnetic …

Foraminiferal Paleoenvironments Of The Eastover Formation (Upper Miocene Virginia), Joann H. Goshorn

OES Theses and Dissertations

Sixty-two taxa representing 29 genera from 39 foraminiferal sample pairs have been documented and analyzed in a paleoenvironmental study of the Eastover Formation in southeastern Virginia. The Eastover Formation consists of a lower Claremont Manor Member, a silt fine-grained sand and an upper Cobham Bay Member, a shelly fine grained sand. Planktonic specimens were rare and indicated a late Miocene to early Pliocene age for the Eastover Formation. Benthics were used to interpret paleoenvironments by comparison with data from the distribution of Recent foraminifera, species diversity, planktonic to benthic ratios, and sediment analyses. The foraminifera indicate that the Eastover Formation …

Late-Quaternary Vegetational History At Jackson Pond Larue County, Kentucky, Gary R. Wilkins

Masters Theses

A 6.2 meter core of lacustrine sediment from Jackson Pond, Larue County, Kentucky represents the first continuous sequence from Kentucky permitting the vegetational reconstruction for the full-glacial through late-Holocene intervals. Jackson Pond is a spring-fed pond situated within a karst-collapse basin underlain by Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis limestone of Mississippian age. The site is located at 37°27'N, 85°30'W, 190 km south of the full-glacial limit of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Six sediment samples submitted for radiocarbon analysis provide an absolute chronology for the site for the last 20,460 years.

From 20,460 yr B.P. to 20,330 …

Geology And Structure Of Kodachrome Basin State Reserve And Vicinity, Kane And Garfield Counties, Utah, Dwight Hornbacher

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

In my efforts to discover source, time, and mechanism of formation of the clastic pipes and dikes found in the region of Kodachrome Basin State Reserve, I found it necessary to understand the depositional environments of the different members and formations within the study area. Mapping and study of the rock units of the Carmel, Entrada, Henrieville, and Tropic-Dakota formations and subsequent comparison with the interpretation of the depositional environments by others working in the same formations in the surrounding region suggest the following history.

The parallel-laminated, siliciclastic sediments and limestones of the Paria River Member of the Carmel Formation …

Stratigraphy And Structure Of The Ganson Hill Area: Northern Taconic Allochthon, Michelle Aparisi

Geology Theses and Dissertations

The Ganson Hill study area is located in the Giddings Brook Slice of the Taconic Allochthon. It contains rocks of Cambrian(?), Cambrian and Ordovician age. The predominant rock type is slate with subordinate lithologies including quartzite, limestone, micrite, arenite and graywacke. The lithostratigraphy identified in the Ganson Hill area extends from the basal Bomoseen wacke to the Poultney slate. A more precisely defined lithostratigraphy is derived from the study area by the occurrence and recognition of the Middle Granville Slate Formation and the documentation of a second Cambrian black/green boundary. Previous workers have included this formation in different places, in …