Earth Sciences Commons^™

Trace-Element Geochemistry Of Southwestern Turquoise, Anne Marguerite Colberg Sigleo

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Southwestern turquoise (CuAl₆(PO₄)₄ OH₈ · 4H₂O) is associated with Laramide intrusions along the eastern and southern margins of the Colorado Plateau in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, and with a zone of Late Devonian­Mississippian tectonic activity in Nevada. A review, of the previous work on the origin of turquoise is presented. Of these, the supergene hypothesis proposed by Sidney Paige in 1912 generally remains undisputed in the literature. Much of the data presented in this study, however, suggest a hydrothermal mode of formation. The concentrations of Co in particular are most similar …

Volcanic Rocks Associated With The Western Part Of The Mogollon Plateau Volcano-Tectonic Complex, Southwestern New Mexico, Rodney Charles Rhodes

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

An area of approximately 450 square miles was mapped on a reconnaissance basis, covering part of the western half of the Mogollon Plateau volcano-tectonic complex. This report deals with the geology of the area and its relationship to the regional volcano-tectonic structure of the Mogollon Plateau.

Flow Direction Of Volcanic Rocks In The Northern Part Of The Mogollon-Datil Province, New Mexico, Glenn Alan Krimsky

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The northern part of the Mogollon-Datil province is located on the margin of the mid-Tertiary volcanic province of southwest New Mexico. The techinique established b Smith (1967) for determining flow direction of volcanic rocks was applied, for the first time, to determine flow direction and source areas of volcanic rocks form uncertain centers.

The Lower volcanic Group, which contains thick sequences of rhyolltes, latites, and andesites between 38 and 29 m.y. old, originated from two volcanic centers. Source area for the Datil formation, comosed of the Spears and Hells Mesa Members, is in the northern San Mateo Mountains. The Tda …

Effective Rates Of Evaporation And Chemical Properties Of The Precipitates., John Lincoln Rasho

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

An experiment was designed to simulate the evaporation of sea water in the laboratory. The experiment was conducted isothermally at 35 1. Chlorinity, salinity, and density of the solution were determined at different stages of evaporation. Also the trace element contents of Sr, Rb, K, and Li of the precipitates were determined to study the possible changes, and the significance of these changes, in the concentration of these trace elements in solution at different stages of evaporation.

The results of this experiment and the work of previous investigators indicate that the rate of crystallization from sea water, at any given …

Stratigraphic Analysis Of The Upper Permian And Lower Triassic Strata In Southern Utah, Charles Dennis Irwin Jr.

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Permian sedimentation in southwestern Utah was influenced by three principal depositional areas. These areas were the Oquirrh basin in north-central Utah, the Cordilleran geosyncline in eastern Nevada, and the Quemado-Cuchillo basin on the northern shelf of the Sonoran geosyncline in east-central Arizona and west-central New Mexico. Throughout Permian time, marine sediments and their well-developed beach and continental eolian sandstone equivalents were deposited within these basins and upon their surrounding shelves. Each of the three basins appear to have exerted their influence upon sedimentation during a discrete period of geologic time. Thus while one basin was sedimentationally active the other two …

Geology Of Part Of The Creston Range, Mora County, New Mexico, Tim T. Schowalter

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The low hills and hogback ridges of the Creston Range form the southeastern edge of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Rocks ranging from Precambrian to Quaternary are exposed in the Creston Range. The Precambrian rocks consist of generally foliated, medium-grade metamorphics intruded by concordant, simple pegmatites. These rocks have been subjected to at least two episodes of deformation of Precambrian age. Approximately 9,000 feet of sedimentary rocks of Devonian (?)-Mississippian to Permian age that were deposited in an intracratonic basin to shelf environment are present. Tertiary-Quaternary rocks are represented by outliers of a basalt flow from the Ocate colcanic field …

Effect Of Supersaturation On The Kinetics Of The Gypsum-Anhydrite Transition., Pao-Chin Chao

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Gypsum and anhydrite have been found extensively in evaporite beds. Gypsum is the low-temperature, hydrous form of calcium sulfate, while anhydrite is the high-temperature, anhydrous form. The temperature of gypsum-anhydrite transition has been fixed, by both solubility measurements and thermodynamic calculations, in the range of 38 to 42°c in pure water; and at lower values with increasing NaCl content in the solutions. However, the precipitation of anhydrite has never been obtained experimentally in its own stability field, gypsum is always metastably formed instead.

Many investigators believe that the primary precipitation of anhydrite from solutions is improbable. It is usually converted …

Igneous Geology Of The Rio Puerco Necks, Sandoval And Valencia Counties, New Mexico., William Travis Brown Jr.

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

In the Rio Puerco valley of Valencia and Sandoval Counties, New Mexico, immediately east of Mount Taylor and its associated lava flows are a series of ten prominent and exposed basaltic rocks. These bodies consist of alkali basalts exhibiting no systematic mineralogic or compositional trends throughout the area. The alkali basalts are composed of olivine, augite, plagioclase (labradorite), and opaques in a trachytic to felty groundmass. Each neck was emplaced by means of a convection cell mechanism that allowed the surrounding Cretaceous sediments to remain undisturbed by the intrusion. Contained in the alkali basalts are ubiquitous ultramafic inclusions of lherzolite …

Geology Of The Southern San Mateo Mountains, Socorro And Sierra Counties, New Mexico, Steven Eugene Farkas

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The San Mateo Mountains of south-central New Mexico consist of a series of uplifted blocks of Tertiary volcanic rocks which cover an area approximately 45 miles long by 20 miles wide. Faulted blocks of older, Paleozoic and Precambrian, rocks and post-volcanic intrusives are found along the eastern and southern borders of the range. Only late Paleozoic, Pennsylvanian and Permian sediments occur in the mapped area. More than 7,000 feet of Tertiary volcanic rocks unconformably overlies all older rocks, divided into the Lower Volcanic and Datil Groups. The lower Volcanic Group is composed of a series of deeply altered andesites, tuffaceous …

Stratigraphy And Structure Of The Northwestern Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico, Klyne Headley

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The northwestern Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico are part of a large regional cuesta that slopes gently northeast. The crest of the northern escarpment rises abruptly to more than 2,200 feet above Pinon Valley.

The rugged west-facing escarpment has been carved in an uplifted fault block composed entirely of Permian sedimentary rocks having an aggregate thickness of about 1,700 feet. Dark-red to buff siltstone, gray dolomite, and white to gray gypsum compose the Yeso Formation. Conformably overlying these rocks is the dark-brown limestone and dolomite sequence of the San Andres Formation. The Glorieta Sandstone which usually occurs between these …

Origin Of Reeflike Masses In The Upper Member Of The San Andres Formation, Central Guadalupe Mountains, Eddy County, New Mexico, Richard Lane Squires

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Several reeflike masses crop out in the upper part of the Upper member of the San Andres Formation in the Last Chance Canyon area, southeastern New Mexico. The reeflike masses are situated on the Northwest shelf adjacent to the Delaware basin of Permian age. Based on the compilation of the field and laboratory data, it was concluded that the reeflike masses are not reefs at all and such exposures are termed pseudoreefs. No criteria were found which could be used to differentiate the masses from surrounding, laterally equivalent strata since both consist of relatively unfossiliferous dolomitized mudstones and wackestones. The …

Petrography And Structure Of The Pedernal Hills, Torrance County, New Mexico, Ralph Alan Gonzales

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

In the Pedernal Hills, in the eastern part of north-central New Mexico, five Precambrian metamorphic and igneous rock types occur. Stratigraphically, oldest to youngest, they include medium-grained granite gneiss; quartzite, quartz-mica schist, and quartz-specular hematite schist; schist unit consisting mainly of quartz-muscovite schist and greenstone; intrusive granite which includes rocks ranging from quartz diorite to alkali granite; and cataclasite representing dynamically metamorphosed rocks.

The Geology Of The Jicarilla Mountains, Lincoln County, New Mexico., George Ernest Ryberg

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Jicarilla Mountains in west-central Lincoln County, New Mexico, consist of Permian, Triassic, and Cretaceous sediments intruded by Tertiary sills, dikes, laccoliths, and stocks. The upper 50 feet of the Yeso Formation is exposed and is conformably overlain by the San Andres Formation which consists of the lower Sandstone, and middle Limestone, and upper Gypsum members. The Permian Artesia Formation, which is about 300 feet thick, unconformably overlies the Gypsum member. Unconformably overlying the Artesia Formation is a 200-foot section of the Triassic Santa Rosa Formation. The boundary between the Santa Rosa Formation and the overlying Chinle Formation is gradational. …

The Geology Of The White Oaks-Patos Mountain Area, Lincoln County, New Mexico, Richard A. Haines

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The White Oaks-Patos Mountain area is in the north­ central portion of the Sierra Blanca basin in central Lincoln County, New Mexico. The rocks consist of Permian, Triassic, and Cretaceous strata intruded by early Tertiary sills, dikes, and laccoliths. The 2,900 feet of sedimentary strata include 750 to 800 feet of Permian rocks, 550 feet of Triassic rocks, and 1700 feet of Cretaceous rocks. Extensive Tertiary­ Quaternary pediments cover much of the area.

The mapped area lies in the center of a large concentra­tion of Tertiary intrusive bodies known as the ln County porphyry belt, including Patos Mountain. Igneous rocks …

Geology Of The Southern Pilot Range, Elko County, Nevada And Box Elder And Tooele Counties, Utah, John Michael O'Neill

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The southern Pilot Range is a slightly sinuous, north-trending mountain range located in the northeastern part of the Great Basin.

Approximately 18,500 feet of miogcosynclinal sedimentary rocks representing every system from late Precam­brian to Permian(?) are exposed in the southern Pilot Range. Because of intense faulting, many of the strati­graphic relationships between the formations are impossible to determine. Mesozoic and Tertiary strata are absent; however, Pleistocene Lake Bonneville deposits are wide­ spread, although thinly distributed. Small igneous stocks, dikes, and sills are common only in the southern two-thirds of the map area. Stocks are principally granodioritic. In several cases the …

Structure And Stratigraphy Of The Northern Part Of The South Virgin Mountains, Clark County, Nevada, J. R. Morgan

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The northern part of the South Virgin Mountains is within the transition zone between the Basin and Range Province and the High Plateaus of the Colorado Plateau. Sedimentary formations in the Paleozoic are represented by more than 6,800 feet of carbonate and elastic sediments. Ordovician rocks are thought to be present, but are not confirmed. Rocks of Silurian age are absent from the area. Triassic and Jurassic units, the Moenkopi Formation, Chinle Formation and the Aztec Sandstone, have a composite thickness of more than 3,700 feet. There are elastic and minor carbonate rocks, all of continental origin, that are of …

Criteria For The Determination Of Flow Direction In Volcanic Rocks, Eugene Irwin Smith

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

A statistical method employing the Tukey Chi-square test and the vector method was used for determining the direction of primary flow lineation in volcanic rocks. Oriented samples were collected from the McCartys Basalt, the porphyritic andesite of Mount Taylor and the Bandelier and Battleship Rock Rhyolite Tuffs of the Jemez Mountains. All these localities are in New Mexico. Measurements were taken of the elongate particles in each horizontal thin section. The flow lineation direction in each slide was determined statistically by computing values of vector mean or chi-square orientation. The McCartys flow samples showed the lowest reliability. This was probably …

A Petrochemical Study Of Compositionally Zoned Ash-Flow Tuffs, David L. Giles

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Vertical compositional zoning occurs within the basal simple cooling units of two welded ash-flow tuff sheets, the Kneeling Nun and Caballo Blanco formations, in the Cobre Mountains of southwestern New Mexico. The sheets are on the southern edge of the Datil-Mogollon volcanic province. The Kneeling Nun (33.4 m.y.) varies abruptly but systematically upward from a modal quartz latite to latite, and the Caballo Blanco (29.8 m.y.) from a modal rhyolite to capping quartz latite. Both are crystal-rich, and in each the amount of ferromagnesian and plagioclase phenocrysts and phenocryst percent increases upward, while the quartz and alkali feldspar/plagioclase ratio decreases. …

Geology Of The Cerro Pelon-Arroyo De La Jara Area, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, Alvis Lee Lisenbee

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Cerro Pelon-Arroyo de la Jara area is a north-northwesterly plunging syncline at the southern end of the Española basin. Exposed rock units consist of more than 5,000 feet of Mesozoic and Cenozoic shale and sandstone intruded by Oligocene diorite sills and andesite and latite dikes related to the Ortiz intrusive center to the west.

The syncline is affected by several fault systems with both normal and strike-slip movement represented. Northerly trending faults of the east limb combine with a monoclinal flexure to produce an over-all lowering of the section to the west. These faults appear to be related to …

A Stratigraphic Study Of The Navajo Sandstone, Navajo Mountain, Utah And Arizona, William O. Hatchell

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Navajo Sandstone of the Triassic(?) and Jurassic age is approximately 1, 000 feet thick at Navajo Mountain, Utah, and is composed of sets of cliff-forming, highly cross-stratified sandstone and horizontally stratified limestone, siltstone, and sandstone. it is intertongued on a large scale with the underlying, fluvial Kayenta Formation of Triassic(?) age, and is comfortably overlain by the marine Carmel Formation of the Jurassic age.

In the highly cross-stratified Navajo, tabular-planner and wedge planner sets are more common than simple wedge sets, and persistent horizontal bedding and truncation planes distinguish individual sets. Ripple marks, a distinctive type of "graded bedding", …

Mineralogy Of Coesite And Petrographic Association And Distribution At Meteor Crater, Arizona., Alfred A. Burgoyne

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Natural coesite, the high density monoclinic polymorph of silica, is found in shocked and melted sandstone at Meteor Crater, Arizona. Structural, morphological, and optical data have been obtained from synthetic coesite crystals and aggregates. Natural coesite occurs as microcrystalline anhedral grains which are unsuitable for the above determinations. In this study the following new data have been obtained for natural and synthetic coesite.

(1) The calculated and observed d spacings and their intensities for both natural and synthetic coesite have been reinvestigated through a 28 range from 10⁰ to 75⁰ for CuKo

(2) Nearly all grains of synthetic …

Stratigraphy Of The Lower Morrison Formation Along The Defiance Monocline, New Mexico And Arizona, Robin Clair Lease

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Along the western border of the San Juan Basin a prominent cliff-forming, orange sandstone has been incorrectly mapped as a part of the Recapture Shale Member of the Morrison Formation. This stratigraphic unit is here given the informal name, Beautiful Mountain member, and has stratigraphic continuity with the Salt Wash Sandstone Member in Red Rock Valley and the Cow Springs Sandstone in Todilto Park, New Mexico. The Recapture Shale Member is restricted to the pink and pale-green, slope-forming sandstone above these orange sandstone beds and below the Westwater Canyon Sandstone Member.

The Beautiful Mountain member is predominantly a lenticularly bedded, …

Relationship Of Pleochroism And Specific Refractivity Of Cupric Compounds To Cupric Ion Coordination., Pilsum Phiroze Master

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The ion has a 6-fold coordination. The CU-polyhedron is distorted due to the Jahn-Teller effect. There is, hence, varying polarizability in each Cu-polyhedron. Also since the nature (and size) of the ligands in each Cu-polyhedron varies, the polarizability varies from one Cu-polyhedron to the next.

Light waves passing through the Cu-polyhedra cause electron polarization. Conversely the polarizing action of light waves upon the atoms is accompanied by a reaction of the atom upon the light waves. Hence, absorption of light energy is directly proportional to polarizability. This thesis demonstrates this relationship by:

l) Showing that the projection of the square-planar …

Geology And Structure Of A Portion Of The Rio Puerco Fault Belt, Western Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Jock Campbell

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Rio Puerco fault belt is a transitional feature between the Colorado Plateau and the Rio Grande depression in west-central New Mexico.

The major purpose of this report has been to map in detail a portion of the Rio Puerco fault belt not previously investigated thoroughly. The main interest herein is the structure of the area. Particular attention has been given to the determination of the character of the Apache graben. Secondary emphasis is placed on stratigraphy, as more complete reports concerning the sedimentary section can be found elsewhere.

An X-Ray Diffraction Study Of Some Of The Naturally Occurring Iodates., Seymour F. Kaplan

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The iodate minerals, bellingerite, dietzeite, lautarite, and schwarzembergite were studied using x-ray diffraction methods.

The unit cell dimensions of lautarite, Ca(IO3)2, previously reported, are ao=7.18, bo=11.38, co=7.32, b=106 22’. Those dimensions are confirmed by powder diffraction methods for American Museum of Natural History Specimen No. 17150. The space group is either P2, Pm, or P2/m. The pattern listed os ASTM Card No. 1-0386 corresponds to CA(IO3)2*nH2O, not to lautarite as stated.

Geology Of Copper-Lead-Zinc-Turquoise Deposits, Southern Part Of The Cerrillos Mining District, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, William G. Gustafson

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

ABSTRACT

The southern part of the Cerrillos mining district is underlain by a sequence of igneous rocks which have been altered and mineralized. The rocks are intrusive equivalents of the Oligocene (?) Espinaso Volcanics. Four stages of intrusion are recognized. A hornblende monzonite porphyry stock was emplaced during stage T1. Several small hornblende­augite monzonite stocks intruded stage T1 rocks during stagesT2 and T3. During stage T4, stocks of augite-biotite monzonite, hornblende-biotite monzonite porphyry, and andesineaugite-biotite monzonite porphyry were intruded into the older igneous rocks. The stage T1, T2, and T3 stocks are flanked by sills and laccoliths.

Three sets of …

Conodonts Of The Mississippian System In The Sacramento Mountains, New Mexico, Robert C. Burton

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Each formation of the Mississippian System in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico yields conodonts. Six distinctive conodont assemblages are recognized. The lowest assemblage coincides with the Caballero Formation (Kinderhook). Three distinct assemblages occur in the Lake Valley Formation (Osage). The Rancheria Formation (Meramec) and the Helms Formation (Meramec and Chester) also yield distinctive faunas. The assemblages correlate locally, regionally, and interregionally. The limestones and interbedded shales of the entire stratigraphic sequence were sampled continuously. The shale sequences were barren. The limestones yielded large, diversified, indigenous faunas. The lower part of the Lake Valley Formation contains Kinderhook and Osage species …

Geology Of The Lamy-CañOncito Area, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, Robert S. Goolsby

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The area studied lies in the vicinity of Lamy and Canoncito in Santa Fe County, about 17 miles southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The rocks range in age from Precambrian through Quaternary, Precambrian rocks include dark schist and pink gneiss, with minor amounts of greenstone and quaritzite, Overlying the Precambrian rocks is a sequence of sandy limestone called the Basal Limestone, of Mississippian and possibly Devonian age. The Pennsylvanian System is represented by the Sandia formation and Madera Limestone, which are dominantly dark shale and fossiliferous limestone. The Sangre de Cristo and Yeso Formations, Glorieta Sandstone, San Andres Linestone, …

Geology Of The San Mateo Peak Area, Socorro County, New Mexico., James W. Furlow

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The San Mateo Mountains of south-central New Mexico consist of an uplifted block of Tertiary volcanics 20 miles wide by 4 miles ling. The San Mateo uplift is one of the bounding uplifts along the western side of the Rio Grande depression.

The basement rock as exposed just east of the San Mateos is a Precambrian granite; it is overlain in order by the Cambrian Bliss formation, the Ordovician Sierrite Limestone, Cable canyon sandstone, and Upham Dolomite, the Pennsylvanian Magdalena Group, and the Permian Abo Formation. These sedimentary rocks are unconformably overlain by Tertiary volcanic rocks of the Lower volcanic …

Geology Of The Rayado Area, Colfax County, New Mexico, Richard W. Simms

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Rayado area is 25 miles west of Springer, New Mexico, in the southeastern foothills of the Cimarron Mountains. The range is a northward-plunging anticline with a core of Precambrian crystalline rocks. The mountains are bordered on the west by a normal fault and on the east by the high-angle Fowler Pass thrust fault of Laramide age. Rocks of Permian through Upper Cretaceous age were turned upward along the fault forming a prominent north-south hogback through the western part of the area.