Earth Sciences Commons^™

Structural Analysis Of Precambrian Metasedimentary Rocks Of The Swede Gulch Formation, Nahant, South Dakota, Richard G. Cookman

Masters Theses

Precambrian X tectonites deformed between thermal domes in the northern Black Hills 1.7 B.Y.B.P. display variably trending isoclinal folds cross-cut by southeast trending slip-folds developed in discrete shear zones. Eugeosynclinal sedimentary rocks consisting of shale, quartzarenite , sublitharenite, and graywacke were metamorphosed to phyllite, quartzite, and metagraywacke during two syntectonic phases and one post-tectonic phase. The earliest syntectonic metamorphism was associated with development of isoclinal folds and may have produced amphibolite or greenschist facies. It was succeeded by retrograde metamorphism of greenschist facies syntectonic with and post-tectonic to development of southeast trending folds.

Mica, chlorite, iron oxides, and graphite are …

The Petrology And Geochemistry Of Keweenawan Diabase Dikes In Ontonagon, Gogebic, Iron And Dickinson Counties, Michigan, James J. Hahnenberg

Masters Theses

Petrographic and chemical studies of Keeweenawan-age diabase dikes in Michigan's Upper Peninsula show two major groupings, Porcupine Mountain dikes and Lower Keweenawan dikes consist of two major rock types, fine-grained smaller dikes and the coarse-grained central portions of larger dikes. Major minerals are subophitic plagioclase and pyroxene. The rocks, as compared to the "average" basalts, are low in Al₂0₃, high in Ti0₂, K₂0, P₂0₅ and contain moderate amounts of Fe0_t. They are classified as quartz tholeiites. Several parental magma sources that would account for these and other …

Dolomitization Of The Brassfield Formation (Lower Silurian) In Adams County, Ohio, Lisa L. Varga

Masters Theses

The Lower Silurian Brassfield Formation which outcrops in the Tri-state area of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky is a transgressive sequence consisting of a series of interbedded shales, limestones and dolostones. Evidence from depositional environments, petrography and spatial relationships of dolomitized and undolomitized rock suggests dolomitization in southwestern Ohio was a two-stage process. Initial dolomitization was restricted to the basal Belfast Member and probably occurred penecontemporaneously on small supratidal islands in a manner analagous to that which occurs in the modern sabkha environment of the Persian Gulf. Regional dolomitization was a later diagenetic event related to the formation of a fresh-seawater …

A Geochemical Study Of The Sudbury Breccia, Kevin M. Prochaska

Masters Theses

The origin of the Sudbury Breccia surrounding the Sudbury Basin of Ontario, Canada has long been debated. The breccia has been described both as an igneous injection and as an abraded country rock formed by attrition in place.

A geochemical analysis of selected elements in matrix and clast samples from the breccia revealed distinct differences between the two sample groups. Matrix samples were lower in silicon and higher in heavy elements than the clasts. Matrix and clasts were comparable in light elements.

The results of the analysis favor an igneous process. Petrographic observations and structural evidence support this idea. The …

The Hydrologic Factors That Control Carbonate Hardness In Kalamazoo County Lakes, Southwestern Michigan, Linda Brittain Fenner

Masters Theses

The range and distribution of carbonate hardness in Kalamazoo County lakes were determined and hydrologic factors thought to control hardness were evaluated. Surface-water samples were collected from thirty- five randomly selected lakes in October, 1980. Carbonate hardness ranged from 16 to 244 mg/1 with 61 percent above 120 mg/1. Ten hydrologic variables were analyzed with respect to lake hardness. Lakes with a surface-water inlet were a ll hard (greater than 180 mg/1) and lakes at least two meters higher than the approximate ground-water table were all relatively soft (less than 100 mg/1). No direct correlations were found between the other …

U-Pb Systematics And Ages Of Rocks From The Zone Of Cataclasis, Bitterroot Dome, Southwestern Montana, Edward Charles Arruda

Masters Theses

The eastern flank of the Bitterroot range, western Montana, consists of a 100 km-long zone of cataclasis which dips to the east. Zircons in sheared granitic plutons from three localities within this zone were dated using U-Pb methods. These zircons, which consist of anhedral cores and euhedral overgrowths, yield concordia lower-intercept ages of 48-52 million years before the present, dates which likely represent crystallization ages of the plutons. Shearing which affected these plutons, therefore, is significantly younger than the 72-76 million year age assigned for eastward movement of the Sapphire tectonic block whose detachment zone has been interpreted as the …

Relationship Of Gravity Anomalies To A Drift Filled Bedrock Valley System In Calhoun County Michigan, James W. Farnsworth

Masters Theses

Gravity geophysics along with well data were used to delineate and map the locations of buried river valleys in Calhoun County, Michigan. The valleys are filled with thick sequences of glacial fluvial deposits which can serve as important aquifers.

One hundred and sixty-four gravimeter observations were made at approximately one-quarter mile intervals in a 35 square mile area. Four short-interval profiles were also established perpendicular to suspected valleys. A three-dimensional trend surface polynomial was fitted to the total Bouguer anomaly to approximate the regional effect of gravity. By comparing the observed residual gravity to theoretically derived anomalies, models were developed …

Variations In The Depositional Environment Of The Lower Cincinnatian Kope Formation, Thomas K. Mahan

Masters Theses

In northern Kentucky, the Upper Ordovician (Lower Cincinnatian) Kope Formation outcrops as a series of interbedded, laterally discontinuous limestone lenses and beds enclosed in a silty shale unit. Six stratigraphic sections within a 20-mile radius were sampled and measured and two of these were described in detail to characterize the variations in the environmental setting wherein the Kope Formation was deposited.

The shale lithology is homogeneous throughout this formation whereas the bioclastic limestones vary widely in faunal composition, texture, cross-sectional shape, and thickness. Apparently, the depositional style for the fine-grained, terrigenous sediment remained almost constant through Early Cincinnatian time, whereas …

The Effects Of N-Serve On The Availability Of Urea And Ureaformaldehyde Nitrogen On Lolium Perenne L., Ronald E. Schroll

Masters Theses

Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the effect of "N-Serve" (DOW) on the availability of urea nitrogen and the subsequent greening effect on perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) seedlings as compared to the availability of nitrogen and subsequent greening from a controlled release ureaformaldehyde fertilizer. A low organic matter sandy loam soil and a high organic matter clay loam soil were used in this study. Soil treatments of urea and ureaformaldehyde fertilizers were applied and incorporated at concentrations of 0, 25, 38, and 50 ppm-N. N-Serve at concentrations of 0.25, 0.50, and 1.0 ppm active ingredient were applied and …

Fossil Algae In The St. Louis Limestone, Near St. Louis, Missouri, Sherris Ragsdale Myers

Masters Theses

"Although Mississippian algae research is fairly extensive, little has been published on algae from the Mississippian type locality, the Upper Mississippi River Valley. For this study, portions of sixteen St. Louis Limestone stratigraphic sections containing units with oncolites, domal stromatolites, laminations, or mottled (possibly algal) textures, were measured, described, and sampled to determine: (1) to what extent algae are preserved in the St. Louis Limestone, (2) if enough of the delicate structure was fossilized to determine morphology, (3) depositional environment of the algae, and (4) if the algae are related to a lithologic pattern. Thin sections of the sampled units …

Structural And Petrologic Comparison Of The Southern Sapphire Range, Montana With The Northeast Border Zone Of The Idaho Batholith, Stacy Lon Clark

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Analysis And Interpretation Of The 5,000 Ft. (1,538 M) Red-Bed Sequence Encountered In The Sparks E̲T̲ A̲L̲. #1-8 (Michigan Basin Deep Borehole), John H. Fowler

Masters Theses

A 5,000 ft (1,538 m) pre-Mt. Simon (Upper Cambrian) red-bed sequence, encountered in the Gratiot County deep borehole (Sparks et al. #1-8) and herein na~ed the North Star Formation, consists of undeformed recurring beds of immature arkosic sandstone 2 to 34 in. (5 to 85 cm) thick. These beds grade upward from erosional basal contacts into mudstone units 1 in to 12 ft (3 cm to 3.8.m) thick. Within the sandstones, grading, horizontal lamination, and crossstratification define Bouma intervals "a", "b", and "c", which combine to form incomplete Bouma sequences. Mudstones exhibit abundant horizontal laminations. Secondary sedimentary structures (load . …

Analysis And Interpretation Of The 5,000 Ft (1,538 M) Red-Bed Sequence Encountered In The Sparks Et Al. #1-8 (Michigan Basin Deep Borehole), John H. Fowler

Masters Theses

A 5,000 ft (1,538 m) pre-Mt. Simon (Upper Cambrian) red-bed sequence, encountered in the Gratiot County deep borehole (Sparks et al. #1-8) and herein named the North Star Formation, consists of undeformed recurring beds of immature arkosic sandstone 2 to 34 in (5 to 85 cm) thick. These beds grade upward from erosional basal contacts into mudstone units 1 in to 12 ft (3 cm to 3.8 m) thick. Within the sandstones, grading, horizontal lamination, and crossstratification define Bouma intervals "a", "b", and "c", which combine to form incomplete Bouma sequences. Mudstones exhibit abundant horizontal laminations. Secondary sedimentary structures (load …

Hydrogeology Of The Minjur Aquifer System In The Riyadh Region, Saudi Arabia, Ibrahim A. Al-Jallal

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Postglacial Environmental History Of A Marl Lake Site In Kalamazoo County, Southwestern Michigan, Valerie A. Naeve

Masters Theses

The depositional and ecological history of Oakland Bog, a relic Wisconsinan (16,500+300 years B.P.) lake site is interpreted from pollen stratigraphy, molluscan faunal assemblages and sediment facies. The lake basin, which probably formed after the melting of a late Wisconsinan buried ice block in the Kalamazoo Moraine Complex, is irregular, steep-sided and floored by glacial till. The till is overlain by as much as 7.6 meters of lacustrine marls which extend over an area of nearly 0.5 km². Basal marls are characteristically medium gray, clayey, and contain abundant calcified stem fragments of charophytes; however, the overlying marls display …

Geology Of The Central Peloncillo Mountains, The North Third Of The Pratt Quadrangle, Hidalgo County, New Mexico, Dennis J. Gebben

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Leaching Of An Acetanilide Herbicide, Cp55097 In Soil Columns, Regina K. Higgins

Masters Theses

The leachability of the acetanilide herbicide, CP55097 was determined using a soil column system. This herbicide, which is used as a preemergent against certain grasses and broadleaf weeds, was leached through four different soils (sandy clay, sandy loam, sandy clay loam and clay loam) using the following procedure. Plastic columns consisting of 8 rings (2 in. dia. x 1 in.) were assembled and their bottoms covered with cheesecloth. They were then filled with soil and prewetted with water to attain field capacity. Herbicide concentrations equalling 0, 1, 3, 6 lb/A were pipetted onto the soil surface and 0, 1, 2, …

Geology And Mineralization, Ohio And Mt. Baldy Districts, Marysvale, Piute County, Utah, Laurence M. Nuelle

Masters Theses

"The Ohio and Mt. Baldy Mining Districts near Marysvale, Utah occupy a cauldron complex in the Bullion Canyon Volcanics. This complex contains three rock groups of three volcanic episodes. The oldest is a volcanic cone framework series of lahars. The middle group is represented by lava flows, ash flows, and breccias which represent intra-caldera fill. The upper group consists of a local vent complex and the Delano Peak Tuff Member both of which may be related to ring fracture activity.

The stages of veining in the area include in order of gradational deposition: (1) early quartz veins, (2) pre-productive main …

Heavy Metal Patterns In Big And Aux Vases River Drainage Rolla 1⁰ X 2⁰ Quadrangle, Missouri, Behzad Afzali

Masters Theses

"Some 71 active stream sediment, bank sediment, biota, and stream water samples were collected at selected sites along the Big River and Aux Vases rivers and tributaries. The pH, alkalinity, specific conductance, temperature were determined and samples analyzed for Cu, Pb, Zn, Co, Ni, and Cd content.

Stream waters carry heavy metals in low parts per billion. Greatest heavy metal content is in the stream waters of Flat River and lower Big River.

Acid leachable heavy metal content of -80 mesh fractions of stream sediments for Cu, Pb, Zn, Co, Ni, and Cd are orders of magnitude greater than that …

Paleoecology Of The Spiriferid Brachiopods Of The Silica Shale Formation (Middle Devonian), S.E. Michigan And N.W. Ohio, Darioush T. Ghahremani

Masters Theses

Spiriferid brachiopods of the Middle Devonian Silica Formation in northwestern Ohio and southeastern Michigan show many Features that are useful For paleoecologic interpretation. This study is undertaken to examine and interpret the paleoecology and paleobiology of six spiriferid brachiopods Mucrospirifer prolificus, Mucrospirifer grabaui, Mucrospirifer profundus, Mucrospirifer mucronatus, Paraspirifer bownockeri and Spinocyrtia euryteines. All are very abundant and can be easily collected from quarries in the Silica Formation near Sylvania, Ohio.

Fourteen different morphologic characteristics have been tabulated for all specimens used in this study. These characteristics allow interpretations of the ontogenetic de velopment and ecologic relationships of the six studied …

Shallow Water High-Magnesium Calcite Mud Production And Dispersal, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Jonathan A. Fuller

Masters Theses

Boiler Bay, on the northeast coast of St. Croix, is 200 m wide, 800 m long, and about 3-5 m. deep. The hay is separated from the open Caribbean by a barrier reef. Winds from the east drive currents westward across a narrow carbonate platform (where they entrain platform-derived carbonate mud) and into the east end of the bay. Longshore currents continue westward through the bay, and the entrained platform- derived suspended load is combined with bay-produced carbonate mud and swept northwestward off the platform after passing through a 6 km complex of bays along the northeastern shore. The suspended …

Sedimentology Of The Hannibal Formation In Northeastern Missouri And Western Illinois, Michael Harry Deming

Masters Theses

"The Hannibal Formation (Kinderhookian) occurring in northeastern Missouri and western Illinois is a fine-grained, terrigenous, sedimentary unit which can be divided into an upper and a lower portion, based on lithology. The upper portion consists of alternating coarse and argillaceous, fine siltstone units, while the lower portion consists of a silty mudstone with an occasional thin siltstone unit. At the extreme western margin of the formation, near where the Hannibal almost pinches out, the formation consists entirely of a silty claystone. Extending southward along the study area, the coarse siltstone units of the upper Hannibal become thinner, and eventually pinch …

Landsat Image Analysis Of Linears And Lineaments In The Tri-State District, Missouri-Oklahoma-Kansas, Solomon Hartley Toweh

Masters Theses

"Lineations within the Tri-State mining district are classified as megalineaments, lineaments and linears, based on length. One megalineament, 120 lineaments and 205 linears are identified on the LANDSAT imagery. In order of importance a dominant northeast set, northwest set, north-south set and east-west set are recognized. These range from 0.8 miles (1.3 km) to 68 miles (109.4 km) in length.

Major lineation trends spatially relate with trends of mined areas In the Picher field both northeast and northwest lineations generally parallel mined areas. In the Galena field ore and lineations trend northeast while in the Joplin and Duenweg-Webb City-Oronogo field …

Shear Waves In Glacial Till, Craig Woerpel

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of An Interlobate Boundary In The Wisconsinan Drift Of Kalamazoo County And Adjacent Areas In Southwestern Michigan, Norman A. Lovan

Masters Theses

A detailed investigation of selected textural and mineralogical aspects of tills in southwestern Michigan is used to define an interlobe boundary relationship between the Wisconsinan ice of the Lake Michigan and Saginaw lobes. Bedrock underlying the study area contributed little to the bulk composition of the tils investigated. However, morainal development in the study area shows strong correlation with bedrock topography.

In a discussion of the deglaciation of Michigan and the study area, a history of morainal development is reviewed and attention is focused on the reentrant district located in Kalamazoo and neighboring counties. Attempts to delineate tills of the …

Malacostracan Crustacea From The Sundance Formation (Jurassic) Of Wyoming, Elizabeth M. Herrick

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Geology Of The Searchlight Mining District, Clark County, Nevada, John Stewart Bown

Masters Theses

"The general area of the Searchlight mining district has been the object of various studies by geologists since 1861. The Searchlight district is located in southern Clark County, Nevada in the eastern part of the Mojave Desert at the southern end of the Eldorado Mountains. Southern Clark County is characterized by a lack of Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks. A Precambrian complex of rocks mostly gneiss in the southwest corner of the district is non-conformably overlain by Tertiary extrusive rocks about 8,500 feet (2,590 meters) thick consisting of andesite, basalt, rhyolite, and pyroclastics. Both the gneiss and volcanic assemblage were intruded …

Geology Of The Stateline District, Utah-Nevada, Terry Moore Collins

Masters Theses

"The rocks exposed in the Stateline District, Iron County, Utah and Lincoln County, Nevada, are Tertiary volcanics, which serve as hosts for gold and silver bearing quartz veins. The Miocene rhyolites and dellenites, a possible caldera, cupola-associated rock textures, and the faults and styles of deformations indicate the geologic setting of Stateline is in harmony with the tectonic framework of the southern Great Basin. Four map units, subdivided into nine members, are recognized. X-ray fluorescence analyses for SiO₂, TiO₂, Fe₂O₃, CaO, and K₂O differentiated the map units, while variations in the primary quartz, sanadine, plagioclase, biotite, hornblende, and total crystal …

Geology And The Barite Potential Of The Raymond Widel Area, Cooper County, Missouri, German Francisco

Masters Theses

"The Raymond Widel barite prospect is two miles northeast of Blackwater Town, in parts of Sections 23, 24, 25, and 26, T49N, R19W, Cooper County, Missouri. Reported in the area since the 1850's barite-galena deposits have been sporadically mined.

The Burlington-Keokuk and Warsaw formations of Mississippian age are exposed. The former is composed of coarse-grained limestone with abundant fossils, and the latter is a fossiliferous cherty limestone. These reach a thickness of over 200 feet. Local structures are not significant, but regional fold and fault structures are present outside the area.

Exploration drilling consisted of 31 drill holes ranging from …

Petrology Of The Rockport Quarry Limestone (Middle Devonian Traverse Group) Alpena, Presque Isle And Montmorency Counties, Michigan, Charles Willard Cookman

Masters Theses

The basal unit of the dominantly carbonate Traverse Group, the Bell Shale, is gradationally overlain by the Rockport Quarry Limestone which has a thickness of approximately 14 m. The Rockport Quarry Limestone is composed of a dark unrestricted marine subtidal organic-mud packstone facies, comprised of an algal-mat-bearing coral packstone subfacies and a shallower water crinoid-bryozoan grainstone subfacies; a shoal forming stromatoporoid biolithite facies; and a lagoonal micrite facies comprised of a subtidal dense subfacies containing gastropods, ostracods, and calcispheres, and an Intertidal to supratidal fenestral subfacies. The local facies tract reconstructed for the Rockport Quarry Limestone is interpreted to be …