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Geology Newsletter- 1991, Department Of Geology

Geological and Environmental Sciences News

Vol.1, No. 16

• Core Research Lab
• Faculty News
• Service Staff News
• Alumni/ Friends/ Former Faculty Notes
• 1991 Speakers Program
• New Alumni
• Awards and Scholarships
• Geology Club

Environmental Radiocesium In Subarctic And Arctic Alaska Following Chernobyl, M. Baskaran, J. J. Kelley, A. S. Naidu, D. F. Holleman

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

Radiocesium (¹³⁴ Cs and ¹³⁷ Cs) concentrations were measured in soil, plant and wildlife samples from subarctic to arctic Alaska. Concentrations of ¹³⁷ Cs ranged from below detectable or low levels in whale and fish samples to as high as 242 Bq/kg in lichen. For all potential human food items, the radiocesium concentrations measured in this study were below accepted permissible levels for human consumption. Chernobyl-derived radiocesium concentrations ranged from below detectable or low levels in all arctic samples (soil, sediment, lichen, whale, fish and caribou) to 32 Bq/kg in subarctic moss. Therefore the distribution and subsequent deposition of Chernobyl-derived …

Groundwater Levels In Nebraska, 1990, Gregory V. Steele, Perry B. Wigley

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Metamorphic Evidence For Tilt Of The Spuzzum Pluton – Diminished Basis For The Baja British-Columbia Concept, E. H. Brown, Russ R. Burmester

Geology Faculty Publications

To address the question of tilt versus translation as the mechanism responsible for discordance between paleomagnetic directions of Cretaceous plutons in the British Columbia Coast Plutonic Complex and the North American reference direction, metamorphic pressures around the margin of the Spuzzum pluton have been determined. Pressures are derived from microprobe analyses and evaluation of exchange equilibria in the assemblage garnet-biotite-plagioclase-aluminum silicate-quartz. Samples studied come from eight localities in the contact aureole around the pluton and encompass the area of a previous paleomagnetic study. The analyzed samples are coarse grained and exhibit textural features indicative of equilibrium crystallization following emplacement of …

Trace Fossils Of Shallow Subtidal To Dunal Ichnofacies In Bahamian Quaternary Carbonates, H. Allen Curran, Brian White

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

Pleistocene and Holocene carbonate grainstones or calcarenites capping the islands of the Bahamas commonly contain distinctive animal and/or plant trace fossils. Three ichnocoenoses within the Skolithos and Psilonichnus ichnofacies are recognized in the transition from sediments deposited in the shallow shelf environment, commonly associated with coral reefs, to sediments of the coastal dune environment. Analog relationships between the trace fossils and modern tracemakers can be established in many cases, and this correspondence strengthens the interpretive model. Ophiomorpha

and Skolithos linearis characterize beds deposited in shallow shelf settings. Psilonich- nus upsilon, the fossil burrow of the ghost crab Ocypode quadrata …

Climate, Physiography, Geology, Hydrology And Land Use In The North Stirlings Area : A Precursory Report, R Lennard, R A. Nulsen, C E. Southwell

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Ua66/8/3 Geogram, Wku Geography & Geology

WKU Archives Records

Newsletter created by and about the WKU Geography & Geology highlighting activities of faculty, students and alumni.

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

WKU Archives Records

Annual report created by and about WKU Geography & Geology.

Paleomagnetism Of The Patagonian Plateau Basalts, Southern Chile And Argentina, Robert F. Butler, Francisco Herve, Francisco Munizaga, Myrl E. Beck Jr., Russ R. Burmester, Eduardo S. Oviedo

Geology Faculty Publications

A total of 505 paleomagnetic samples were collected from 65 sites (volcanic flows) of the Patagonian plateau basalts at four locations in southem Chile and Argentina. K/Ar analyses indicate that 38 flows from two locations form a Late Cretaceous group (64-79 Ma), while the remaining 27 flows are Eocene in age (42-56 Ma). Progressive demagnetization indicates that a characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) has been successfully isolated from 59 flows. Rock-magnetic prop­erties and analysis of ChRM directions within and between sites allow the secure inference that the ChRM is a thermoremanent magnetization acquired during original cooling. The Eocene flows yield 15 …

Influence Of The Mcdowell Sanitary Landfill On Groundwater Quality, Phelps County, Missouri, Christine E. Bough

Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experience Program (OURE)

This is a case study of the groundwater quality near the McDowell Sanitary Landfill in Phelps County, Missouri. The landfill is located in section 21 of T37N R8W off of Missouri State Highway CC. This landfill is a near surface solid waste disposal facility above the groundwater table located in an abandoned area of a rock quarry. The thickness, lithology, and structure of the material beneath the landfill, and the design of the landfill itself, will influence the time of contaminant transport and degree of modification in the event that leachate escapes the landfill. Among the more important topographic features …

Plate Tectonics, Space, Geologic Time, And The Great Plains: A Primer For Non-Geologists, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

For most Americans, "The Great Plains" evokes images of grasslands, dust storms, prairie fires, Native Americans on horseback, cowboys and wheat lands, and perhaps flat valleys crossed by braided rivers carrying a heavy load of sand and gravel, extremes of weather, and a climate typified by an alternation of droughts and wetter periods. Geologists picture such general images, too, but they also see radical changes in the landscape over periods expressed in millions rather than hundreds of years. Geologically speaking, human activities on the Great Plains are too recent to have much of a place in the broad geologic history …

Late Paleozoic Cyclic Sedimentation In Southeastern Nebraska: A Field Guide, Roger K. Pabian, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Conservation and Survey Division

A field guide to Late Paleozoic cyclic sedimentation in southeastern Nebraska.

Bazile Triangle Groundwater Quality Study, David C. Gosselin

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Facts And Figures About Nebraska Rivers, Ray Bentall

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Low-Silica And High-Calcium Stone In The Newman Limestone (Mississippian) On Pine Mountain, Harlan County, Southeastern Kentucky, Garland R. Dever Jr., Jack R. Moody, Thomas L. Robl, Lance S. Barron

Information Circular--KGS

The coal industry of Kentucky is an important market for limestone. Coal producers use limestone as rock dust for explosion abatement in underground coal mines and as a neutralizing agent in surface-mine reclamation and acid-drainage control. Crushed stone is also used for constructing and maintaining haulage roads.

In the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field, the coal-bearing rocks of Pennsylvanian age generally do not contain limestones that are thick enough to quarry or mine economically. But movement on the Pine Mountain overthrust fault has brought the Newman Limestone (Mississippian) to the surface along Pine Mountain in the southeastern part of the coal …

Paleontological Survey Of The Pennsylvanian Rocks Of The Eastern Kentucky Coal Field: Part 1, Invertebrates, Donald R. Chesnut Jr.

Information Circular--KGS

Morse (1931) conducted the last paleontological survey of the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field almost 60 years ago. Substantial new information generated by mapping, as well as sedimentological, stratigraphic, and paleontological studies, now justify a new paleontological survey of these rocks. This survey is a compilation of both the new and old information.

Lithologic analysis reveals at least 41 marine zones in the coal field. Paleontological analysis shows that a variety of faunal communities existed, and many of the marine zones contain abundant and diverse faunal assembleges. However, the biostratigraphic resolution of invertebrate fossils is apparently very poor compared to the …

Mineralization And Hydrocarbon Emplacement In The Cambrian-Ordovician Mascot Dolomite Of The Knox Group In South-Central Kentucky, Warren H. Anderson

Report of Investigations--KGS

The Mascot Dolomite, the upper unit of the Cambrian-Ordovician Knox Group, is a major host for Mississippi Valley-type ore deposits and petroleum in south-central Kentucky. The Mascot was deposited on a broad, shallow platform that exhibited unusually uniform conditions of deposition, ranging from supratidal to shallow subtidal environments. The formation has a complex diagenetic history, including several stages of dolomitization, silicification, solution, and brecciation. Diagenesis and, to some extent, deposition were influenced by Early Ordovician tectonic activity. Tectonic activity influenced development of a regional unconformity during Middle Ordovician time. Evidence of this tectonic activity includes up to 300 feet of …

Constraints On Unroofing Rates In The High Himalaya, Eastern Nepal, Mary S. Hubbard, L. H. Royden, K. V. Hodges

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Thermobarometric data for samples across the Main Central thrust zone in eastern Nepal show an inversion in temperature but not in pressure. These data have been interpreted to represent a portion of the paleogeotherm at the time of Main Central thrust deformation. A 40Ar/39Ar age on hornblende (closure temperature (Tc)=500±50°C) constrains the timing of this deformation to be ∼21±0.2 Ma. The 40Ar/39Ar ages of other minerals (muscovite, Tc=350°C, age (t)=12.0±0.2 Ma; K-feldspar, Tc=220°C, t=8.0±0.2 Ma) from the same location further constrain the cooling history of this region. Together the geochronologic and thermobarometric data yield an average unroofing rate of 1.2±0.6 …

High-Resolution, Whole-Core Magnetic Susceptibility Data From Leg 130, Ontong Java Plateau, John A. Tarduno, Larry A. Mayer, Robert Musgrave

Affiliate Scholarship

High-resolution, whole-core magnetic susceptibility data, recorded at 3-cm intervals, were obtained for advanced hydraulic piston (APC) cores at Sites 805, 806, and 807 of Leg 130 on the Ontong Java Plateau. In this initial report, we present a preliminary evaluation of these data for their use in core correlations and paleoclimatic studies. The data allow detailed intrasite correlations between the offset APC cores and provide a means for intersite correlations of Pleistocene sediments. Variations in magnetic susceptibility values probably mirror variations in terrestrial influx and may act as proxy indicators of climate. Highly coherent cyclicity, representing Milankovitch orbital frequencies, is …

Ontong Java Plateau, Leg 130: Synopsis Of Major Drilling Results, W. H. Berger, Loren W. Kroenke, Larry A. Mayer, Shipboard Scientific Party

Affiliate Scholarship

Sixteen holes were drilled at five sites on the northeastern flank of Ontong Java Plateau during Leg 130 (Sites 803 through 807). All of these sites are near the equator, but are at different depths (803: 02°26.0'N, 3410 m; 804: 01°00.3'N, 3861 m; 805: 01°13.7'N, 3188 m; 806: 00°19.1'N, 2520 m; and 807: 03°36.4'N, 2805 m). One of our goals was to obtain a depth transect of Neogene carbonate deposition for reconstructing the history of ocean climate, chemistry, and productivity, and for understanding the origin of acoustic reflectors. Another goal was to achieve considerable penetration into basement for elucidating the …

A Seismic Analysis Of Black Creek And Wabumun Salt Collapse Features, Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, Neil Lennart Anderson, Robert James Sidford Brown

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

These salt remnants and their associated collapse features are often associated with structural or stratigraphic traps. As a result of the relationships between dissolution and hydrocarbon entrapment, the distribution (areal extent and thickness) of these salt remnants is of significant interest to the explorationist. Seismic information about the thickness and the extent of these salts should be used together with well log control to generate subsurface distribution maps. These maps will facilitate both the delineation of prospective structural and stratigraphic play fairways and the determination of the timing of salt dissolution. In addition, an appreciation of regional salt distribution will …

Hydrogeology Of Thrust Faults And Crystalline Thrust Sheets: Results Of Combined Field And Modeling Studies, Craig B. Forster, James P. Evans

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Field, laboratory, and modeling studies of faulted rock yield insight into the hydraulic character of thrust faults. Late‐stage faults comprise foliated and subparallel faults, with clay‐rich gouge and fracture zones, that yield interpenetrating layers of low‐permeability gouge and higher‐permeability damage zones. Laboratory testing suggests a permeability contrast of two orders of magnitude between gouge and damage zones. Layers of differing permeability lead to overall permeability anisotropy with maximum permeability within the plane of the fault and minimum permeability perpendicular to the fault plane. Numerical modeling of regional‐scale fluid flow and heat transport illustrates the impact of fault zone hydrogeology on …

Groundwater Levels In Nebraska, 1990, Gregory V. Steele, Perry B. Wigley

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Explanation Of Water-Level Hydrographs, P. B. Wigley, M. J. Ellis, G. V. Steele

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Nebraska Mineral Operations Review, 1990, Raymond R. Burchett, Duane A. Eversoll

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Conservation And Survey Division, 1991. Annual Outflow/Inflow Of Water From Nebraska, 1950-1990, Conservation Survey Divis

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Land Cover Characteristics Data Base For The Conterminous U.S., Thomas R. Loveland, James W. Merchant, Donald O. Ohlen, Jesslyn F. Brown

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

The Stratigraphy And Ichnology Of A Submarine Cave In The Exuma Cays, Bahamas, H. Allen Curran, Robert F. Dill

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

Reprinted from: Roger J. Bain (ed.), 1991, Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas: San Salvador, Bahamian Field Station.

Geologic Map Showing Configuration Of The Bedrock Surface, North Platte, 1 ° X 2 ° Quadrangle, Nebraska, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

The map area, in west-central Nebraska, is largely covered by surficial deposits of eolian sand, loess, and alluvium ranging in age from Holocene to Pliocene. Holocene and late Pleistocene(?) eolian sand, as much as 300 ft (91 m) thick, covers most of the area north of the North Platte and Platte Rivers, and also covers a small area south of those rivers. The Peoria Loess of Quaternary age overlies most of the remaining upland north of the Platte River in southwestern Logan, northeastern Lincoln, and much of western Custer and extreme northwestern Dawson Counties. Loess also mantles the divide between …

Manual Of Field Techniques In Hydrology, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia. Division Of Resource Management

Agriculture reports

No abstract provided.