Earth Sciences Commons^™

On The Solar Magnetic Field In Inter-Planetary Space, Jacqueline H. Hill

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The purpose of this thesis is to determine, experimentally and theoretically, an axially symmetric current distribution which would simulate the currents believed to flow in interplanetary space around the sun. The general magnetic field of the sun is assumed to originate as a dipole field which induces currents in the plasma of the solar atmosphere. The dipole field is in turn modified by the induced currents. This phenomenon is often described in terms or a diamagnetism of the plasma. In the limiting case, this diamagnetism would almost completely prevent the inducing field from penetrating the plasma.

The Geology Of The Northern And Eastern Parts Of The Ladron Mountains, Socorro County, New Mexico., Bruce A. Black

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Laron Mountains are & westward-tilted fault block and an important western bounding structure of the Rio Grande depression in the Albuquerque-Belen basin. The main massif is a complex of both igneous and metamorphic Precambrian rocks. It consists of a thick sequence of steeply east-dipping quartzite & and schists which are predominantly a product of low- to medium- grade regional Precambrian metamorphism. Granitic gneiss is ptygmatically folded with abundant schist remnant in a large area on the eastern flank of the mountains and represents an ultrametamorphic product of anatexis. All metamorphic rocks have been invaded by two later Precambrian granites. …

Petrography Of A Cyclical Sequence, Upper Madera Limestone, Sandia Mountains, New Mexico, Fred Yale

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Chemical determinations of calcium and magnesium carbonates, iron, Kjeldahl nitrogen, and sulfate with supplementary petrographic thin-section and insoluble-residue studies and differential thermal analyses were used to study a Virgilian sedimentary cycle in the upper Madera Limestone of New Mexico. In 120 meters of section 4 cycles were recognized; one of these was studied in detail. Cyclic subsidence and subsequent basin filling produced a sequence of gross environmental changes accomplished by organisms in a definite ecological succession. Biologic communities were progressively modified by the changing marine sedimentary cycle. The cycles of the upper Madera Limestone begin with a lower fusulinid claystone, …

Slope Deposits Of The Pennsylvanian Haymond Formation, Marathon Region, Texas, Walter E. Dean Jr.

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Haymond Formation of the Marathon basin, Texas consists mainly of a sequence of more than 12,000 siltstone-shale couplets which, combined with the similar couplets of the older Tesnus Formation, form a sequence of "flysch" sediments more than 10,000 feet thick deposited on the eastern slope of the subsiding Llanoria geosyncline. The Haymond Formation contains no diagnostic fossils; its age is known only as Lower Pennsylvanian, probably Atokan.

Origin Of Some Recent Tractional Sedimentary Structures In The Rio Puerco Near Bernardo, Socorro County, New Mexico, Lawrence H. Wagner

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Rio Puerco, in the area of study, occupies a valley eroded in the Santa Fe formation. The silty alluvium is incised by the present channel of the Rio Puerco to a depth of 10 to 25 feet. The depth of the alluvial fill in the area is not known. The channel is 50 to 300 feet wide with braod meanders interspersed with straight reaches. The Rio Puerco is ephemeral in the lower reaches with flow produced by local rains on the watershed.

Petrography Of The Olalla Stock, Okanagan Mountains, British Columbia, James Anton Sturdevant

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Olalla stock is located in the Okanagan Mountains of south-central British Columbia, about 20 miles north of the international boundary. It occupies approximately 6 square miles and consists of late Mesozoic mafic and ultramafic rocks and subordinate alkalic rocks, which have intruded previously folded and metamorphosed sediments of the Triassic (?) Shoemaker Foundation.

The rocks of the stock may be broadly grouped into two major categories: (1) those formed from the differentiation of a crystallizing magma that probably entered during the Nevadan orogeny, and (2) those formed by metasomatic replacement of pyroxenite. The rocks of the first category are, …

The Geology Of The South Mountain Area, Bernalillo, Sandoval, And Santa Fe Counties, New Mexico, Tommy B. Thompson

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

South Mountain is approximately 30 miles northeast of Albuquerque in the southern end of the San Pedro-Ortiz porphyry belt. It is a Tertiary monzonite laccolith that intrudes the Permian Abo and Yeso Formations and, in places, the Permian Glori eta Sandstone. The base of the lac­eolith lies on the Abo except in the southeastern part where it overlies the Mes eta Blanca Member of the Yeso. The incompetence of the Yeso appears to nave allowed the monzonitic magma to spread laterally throughout the stratigraphic interval up to the Glorieta Sandstone which was more resistant and broken only locally by the …

Stratigraphic Analysis Of The Queen And Grayburg Formations, Southeastern Chaves County, New Mexico, James L. Mcswain

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The area of study lies in southeastern Chaves County, New Mexico, and is a part of the northwest shelf or backreef province of the Permian Basin. The area encompasses all or parts of Tps. 10 through 15 S., Rs. 24 through 31 E.

The Queen and Grayburg formations comprise the lower part of the Artesia group, an upper Guadalupian sequence of Permian shelf rocks above the San Andres formation and below the Ochoan series. The Queen-Grayburg sequence has an average thickness of about 600 feet and is correlative with the Goat Seep reef at the margin of the Delaware Basin, …

Paleoecology Of The Varved Rita Blanca Lake Deposits, Hartley County, Texas, Douglas W. Kirkland

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Rita Blanca lake deposits in the northwestern part of the panhandle of Texas have been dated as Blancan age by vertebrate remains. During maximum development, Rita Blanca lake probably had an elliptical shape with a length of about 6 miles and breadth of about 3 1/2 miles.

The subject of this report is the petrology and paleontology of a 4 1/2-foot laminated clay bed of Blancan age low in the exposed Rita Blanca lake deposit of Hartley County, Texas. The main purpose is to determine the paleoecology, in particular the nature of the climatic regime which prevailed during deposition …

Mineralogy Of Rose Muscovite And Lepidolite From The Harding Pegmatite, Taos County, New Mexico, Durga Nath Rimal

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The main purpose of the present work is to obtain quantitative data on alkali metals present in rose musco­vite and lepidolite of the Harding pegmatite and to try to correlate them with the present knowledge of the geology of this pegmatite body.

Geology Of The Sedillo-Cedro Canyon Area, Bernallio County, New Mexico, Bert Norman Brown

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

This report was undertaken primarily as a study of Pennsylvanian strata which crop out in the Sedillo-Cedro Canyon area. The subdivision of the Madera formation as proposed by Read and others (1944) was adopted for purposes of mapping. This subdivision is based on a dominance of either limestone or clastic rocks in the formation.

The writer was unable to measure a Pennsylvanian section in the field due to thickness changes, facies gradations, and faults which were often concealed by dense soil cover. However, by visually traversing the area on aerial photographs using arbitrarily chosen zones, estimated thicknesses for the members …

Permian Stratigraphy And Stratigraphic Paleontology Of The Colorado Plateau, Peggy L. Kirkland

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The purpose of this study is to synthesize a portion of this vast source of data in order to arrive at a better understanding of Permian stratigraphy.

Geology Of Torreon And Pedricenas Quadrangles, Coahuila And Durango, Mexico, Russell E. Clemons

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Torreon and Pedricenas quadrangles are in central Mexico between parallels 25 degrees and 26 degrees N. and meridians 103 degrees 20' and 104 degrees W.; together they embrace 7,600 square kilometers. The northeastern corner of the area lies in the Bolson de Mapimi; most of the area, however, is in the Sierra Madre Oriental.

Hypogene Zoning In The Lordsburg Mine District, Hidalgo County, New Mexico, K. F. Clark

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Although descriptions of the Lordsburg mining district have been in the literature for more than fifty years, no reference to hypogene zoning of the ores has been made. The present work is mainly concerned with hypogene zoning and related phenomena. Hypogene zoning, temperature of formation, and paragenesis are interrelated factors in ores differentiated from magmas. All three processes are discussed in this thesis. Other aspects of the mining district are mentioned only where relevant.

Stratigraphy And Paleontology Of The Pennsylvanian Rocks Of The Rim Of The Sandia Mountains, Sandoval And Bernalillo Counties, New Mexico, Paul Anthony Catacosinos

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The primary purpose of this investigation was to determine the presence or absence of pre-Pennsylvanian strata in the central part of the Sandia Mountains, along their western scarp. No strata older than Pennsylvanian were found by the author in this area.

The strata present in the Sandia Rim include the upper clastic member of the Sandia formation and part of the lower gray limestone member of the Madera limestone, both of Pennsylvanian age.

The Sandia formation is a predominantly clastic unit of sandstone, shale, limestone, and conglomerate which rests unconformably on a profound erosion surface formed on the Precambrian Sandia …

Stratigraphy And Geologic Structure Of Uppermost Cretaceous And Tertiary Rocks Of The East-Central Part Of The San Juan Basin, New Mexico, Elmer H. Baltz

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

An area of about 1,300 square miles was mapped in parts of Rio Arriba, Sandoval, and McKinley Counties, New Mexico. The area is in the east-central part of the San Juan Basin, a large structural and drainage basin in the east-central part of the Colorado Plateau province. Six relatively distinct physiographic sectors in the area are named here: the Penistaja Cuestas; Largo Plains; Tapicitos Plateau; Yeguas Mesas; San Pedro Foothills; and Northern Hogback Belt.

The mapped area lies in the Central basin of the San Juan Basin and is bounded on the east by the Nacimiento and French Mesa-Gallina uplifts …

Geology Of The Empire Abo Field, Eddy County, New Mexico, Don O. Snyder

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Empire Abo field is situated in north-central Eddy County, New Mexico, and constitutes the edge of the Northwest Shelf province of the Delaware basin. The field occupies parts of 25 sections in T. 17 and 18 S., R. 27, 28, and 29 E.

The object of this study is to delineate the transition zone of lower Leonard (Permian) basinal deposition and shelf facies with a detailed study of fore-reef, reef, and back-reef facies with emphasis on sedimentational and stratigraphic relationships.

Geology And Ground-Water Resources Of Northern Lea County, New Mexico, Sidney R. Ash

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The economy of northern Lea County is dependent upon groundwater; the only other source of water is the runoff from precipitation that is caught and retained in the man-made or natural reservoirs, where is it used for water stock. Irrigation utilizes most of the groundwater pumped; much smaller amounts are used for stock watering and industrial, public, rural and domestic supplies. In 1958, about 107,000 acre-feet of groundwater was pumped for irrigation and 19,000 acre-feet was pumped for all other uses. On the basis of present production of potable water, the economically usable supply will be depleted in certain areas …

Petrology Of The Precambrian Rocks Of Part Of The Monte Largo Area, Nm, Paul Wayne Lambert

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Approximately 7 to 8 square miles of Precambrian rocks are exposed in the vicinity of the Monte Largo Hills in north-central New Mexico. The Precambrian rocks are bounded mainly by Pennsylvanian sedimentary rocks in both fault and noncomformable contact.

The area is made up largely of quartz-feldspar gneiss, hornblende gneiss, and quartzite. Quartz-feldspar gneiss is the most abundant rock type. Mica schist and sillimanite hornfels occur in minor amounts. Other Precambrian rocks include medium-grained granite, splite and pegmatite dikes, and quartz veins. A minor amount of migmatite is present as a result of the intimate association of quartz-feldspar gneiss and …

The Structure And Stratigraphy Of The Frontier Formation In The Big Piney-La Barge Area Sublette And Lincoln Counties, Wyoming, Eldred D. Johnson

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

This study was undertaken to fulfill part of the requirements for the degree of Master in Science of Geology. The Big Piney-LA Barge area in western Wyoming covers approximately 354 square miles on the western edge of the Green River Basin and the eastern edge of the over thrust belt. The area is underlain by a sedimentary sequence containing rocks representing all the geologic time periods form the Cambrian through the Cenozoic, with the exception of the Silurian period. The entire known post-Precambrian strati-graphic sequence is approximately 18,00 feet thick.

A Petrographic And Environmental Study Of The Upper Cretaceous Greenhorn Limestone, New Mexico, John W. Emerson

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Upper Cretaceous Greenhorn Limestone is composed of intercalated agrillaceous limestone and calcareous shale beds which crop out over much of the Western Interior. The Greenhorn was deposited in late Cenomanian and early Turonian time in a westward transgressing sea. In New Mexico the age is early Turonian. The edge of deposition extends as far south as Capitan and Carthage, northward through western Bernalillio County, and northwest through Toadlena.

Geology Of The Queen Lake Domes Near Malaga, Eddy County, New Mexico, George R. Reddy

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

There are many domes in the vicinity of Queen Lake near the Pecos River in southern Eddy County. The rocks involved in the doming range in age from Permian to Recent. Their relationships indicate that there were two periods of doming, the first during early Pleistocene time and the second after the formation of Recent caliche.

Salt beds are present in the Salado and Castile formations beneath the area in which the domes are distributed. At Queen Lake the salt is within 300 feet of the surface. Farther east, the salt-bearing rocks are buried beneath Triassic and Cenozoic deposits. These …

Lithogenesis Of Atoll Sediments, Uliga Island, Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands, Phyllis B. Helms

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Sixteen thin sections and 53 samples of rock and sand were examined under petrographic and binocular microscopes to determine composition, kinds of cement, degrees of cementation, and the sequence of lithogenesis of the consolidated materials. Studies were made of the loose sediments to relate the characteristics of the sedimentary grains to environmental energy of today, and then collate these data with the lithified sediments.

Sedimentary Petrogenesis Of The Yeso-Glorieta San Andres Transition, Joyita Hills, Socorro County, New Mexico, James R. Huber

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The transitional character of the middle Permian (Leonardian and Guadalupian) Yeso Formation, Glorieta sandstone, and San Andres formation in central New Mexico has been recognized in several reports (Needham and Bates, 1943; Wilpolt, et. al., 1946; Wilpolt and Wanek, 1951; and Boyd, 1958). Interpretation of the depositional history and environment of this sequence has been restricted to generalizations based on field observation.

A detailed petrographic study of the Yeso-Glorieta-San Andres transition at a single locality was undertaken in an attempt to gain better understanding of this stratigraphic interval.

Geology Of The Nutria Monocline, Mckinley County, New Mexico, R. John Edmonds

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Nutria monocline forms the northwestern boundary of the Zuni uplift in McKinley County, New Mexico. The sedimentary rocks that are exposed along the monocline range in age from Permian to Cretaceous and rest on Granite of probable Precambrian age. The Jurassic Todilto limestone, which is present north of the mapped area, pinches out in a southerly direction. South of this pinch-out the massive sandstone of the Entrada formation joins the main body of the Zuni sandstone. Only the even bedded, silty sandstone that has previously been considered to be the middle member of the Entrada is regarded as Entrada …

Geology Of The Area Between Virden And Red Rock, Hidalgo And Grant Counties, New Mexico, Biswa Pradhan

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The area between Virden and Red Rock is located in southwestern New Mexico, about 30 miles northwest of the town Longsburg. Mapping covered an area of about 94 square miles.

This report deals with the stratigraphy of sedimentary and igneous rocks of the area, with particular attention to the faunal and floral assemblages of Cretaceous sediments and the consequent determination of age of interbedded volcanic rocks.

Geology Of The East Potrillo Hills, Dona Ana County, New Mexico, William E. Bowers

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The East Potrillo Hills are essentially a low north-westerly trending ridge that lies just north of the Mexican border in southern Dona Ana County, New Mexico. The range is approximately 7 miles long and up to 1 1/2 miles wide. It is cut by transverse canyons that carry water to the bolson only during occasionally heavy rains. The crest of the ranges lies 700 to 900 feet above the extensive La Mesa plain which stretches for more than 20 miles to the north, east, and south. In the northern part of the range, the crest reaches a maximum elevation of …

Qualitative Reconnaissance Methods Of Geochemical Exploration, John Francis Brady Jr.

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

No abstract provided.

Upper Cretaceous Farmington Sandstone Of Northeastern San Juan County, New Mexico, Ottis L. Dilworth

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Upper Cretaceous Farmington sandstone is found only in northwestern New Mexico and Southwestern Colorado. The Farmington sandstone is the middle member of the Kirtland shale, there being a Kirtland shale member above and below it. This sandstone unit appears as an extensive wedge in the Kirtland shale and thins northward, southward, and southeastward from Townships 30-31 North, Ranges 9-13 West. The thickness of the Farmington sandstone ranges from 27 to 818 feet within the area of this thesis. The unit is correlative with parts of the Vermejo formation of the Raton basin and the Fox Hills formation of the …

Geology Of The San Pedro Mountains Santa Fe County, New Mexico, William W. Atkinson Jr.

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

No abstract provided.