Earth Sciences Commons^™

An Introduction To The Soils Of The Jerramungup Advisory District, T C. Stoneman, National Soil Conservation Program (Australia)

Bulletins 4000 -

With descriptions, illustrations and notes on eight common soils.

Waterlogging : One Reason Why Our Crops And Pastures Are Not Achieving Maximum Yields, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Water, either its lack"or excess, is the main factor affecting the yield of crops and pastures in Western Australia.

Earthquakes In Nebraska, Second Edition (Expanded), R. R. Burchett

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

An earthquake is the result of an adjustment of the surface of the earth caused by a release of energy in the earth's crust. Faulting is one of many causes of earthquakes.

Subsurface And Geochemical Stratigraphy Of Northwestern Oregon, Olga Berenice Lira

Dissertations and Theses

Lithological, geophysical, paleontological and geochemical methods were used in order to define the contact relationship between the Keasey and the Cowlitz formations in northwestern Oregon. Drill cuttings from six wells located in Columbia County were analyzed by the Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) method. The concentrations of K, Th, Rb and Sc/Co ratio in the samples established four different groups: 1) High K, Rb, and TH, with low Sc/Co ratio typical of Cowlitz sediments. 2) Low K, Th and Rb and high Sc/Co ratio, more characteristics of the Keasey Formation. 3) Very low concentrations of Rb and high Sc, which …

Annual Departures From Average Annual Precipitation In Nebraska, 1850-1989, Conservation And Survey Division

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Location Of Registered Irrigation Wells In Nebraska As Of 1990.

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Efficiency In Collecting Fossils, Kenneth M. Ball, Leo Carson Davis

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Two hundred seventy-two kilograms of sediments and fossils were collected from 1 meter square plots on lake beach and river gravel bars to compare the efficiency of surface collecting with that of intensive laboratory processing. Collecting fossils by visual inspection of the outcrop required an average of 14 minutes 56 seconds per square meter and resulted in 319 vertebrate and 1320 invertebrate fossils. The ratio of time spent collecting and processing sediments to time spent in surface collecting fossils was 4.66:1. The ratio of invertebrates produced by the intensive laboratory process to invertebrates produced by surface collecting was 4.80:1. Vertebrate …

Urease Inhibitor Reduces Ammonia Loss From Surface-Applied Urea, Wilbur Frye, Lloyd W. Murdock, Robert L. Blevins

Soil Science News and Views

Urea is the world's leading N fertilizer, and its use continues to grow. In the USA, for example, the use of urea increased 50 fold from 1955 to 1986. During that same time, its use in Kentucky increased from 214 to more than 112,000 tons per year, which was 28% of the N used in Kentucky in 1986. The increasing popularity of urea is due to advantages over other N fertilizers in its manufacture and to its use in making most N solutions, another rapidly growing form of N fertilizer. Desirable qualities of urea include the highest N content of …

Sulfur And Magnesium Trials With Wheat In West Kentucky, Monroe Rasnake

Soil Science News and Views

Interest in fertilizing wheat with sulfur and magnesium has increased recently in West Kentucky. This has been due primarily to positive test results in adjoining states and recommendations being made by some commercial people. Previous-testing in Kentucky has shown no response by wheat to sulfur, or to magnesium. However, in order to have current data on which to base recommendations, research plots were established in the fall of 1987 in Todd and Hopkins counties. They were repeated on different farms in 1988, making a total of 4 different sites studied.

Has The Nitrate-Nitrogen In Streams Draining Agricultural Watersheds In Kentucky Changed In The Last 18 Years?, Grant W. Thomas, Gerald R. Haszler, James D. Crutchfield

Soil Science News and Views

In 1971 and 1972, we sampled streams across Kentucky for nitrate-nitrogen (NO₃-N) during the high-water flow months of January through June. The results were variable and showed a dominant effect of geology and lesser effects of both time and land use on the results. Since that time, use of fertilizer nitrogen (N) has nearly doubled in Kentucky and, further, there is a high degree of concern among the public that NO₃-N from fertilizer use may be contaminating streams. The US Environmental Protection Agency has set a maximum of 10 ppm NO₃-N in water as …

The Effect Of Fall And Spring Tillage Of A Compacted Soil On Corn And Tobacco Yields, Kenneth L. Wells, Roy V. Catlett

Soil Science News and Views

Soil compaction is being diagnosed in increasing instances as the cause of poor crop performance in Kentucky. While the basic causes of compaction can usually be identified, it is much more difficult to prescribe techniques to solve the problem. Following identification of compacted soil as being the cause of poor corn growth in a field in Shelby County, Kentucky, a study was conducted to compare three tillage tools on production of corn and tobacco. The compacted zone was within the top 6-inch layer of soil.

Movement Of Triazine Herbicides In Conventional, Reduced Tillage, And No-Tillage Corn Production, William W. Witt, K. W. Sander

Soil Science News and Views

Herbicides are applied to over 90 percent of the corn acreage in Kentucky and triazine herbicides are used the most. Conservation tillage methods are often used to prevent soil erosion and to conserve soil water. However, as tillage is decreased the dependence on herbicides for weed control often increases. Minimizing herbicide movement from the application sites to non-target areas, such as ground and surface waters, is necessary to maintain optimum water quality.

High-Volume Oil Discovery In Clinton County, Kentucky, Terence Hamilton-Smith, Brandon C. Nuttall, Patrick J. Gooding, Dan Walker, James A. Drahovzal

Information Circular--KGS

The Syndicated Options Limited of Austria No. 9372 Ferguson Brothers well, located in southern Clinton County, Kentucky, has recently produced oil at reported initial rates of 400 to 130 barrels per hour. Cumulative production for the first 8 weeks of flow following discovery on September 25, 1990, is reported to be nearly 150,000 barrels. The well is the result of deepening a previously abandoned well. Production is from the Middle Ordovician High Bridge Group (equivalent to the Stones River Group of Tennessee) at a depth of 1,008 feet. The reservoir is apparently a fractured carbonate rock, and the fracturing is …

Volcanic Ash Deposits In Nebraska, R. R. Burchett

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Origin, Sedimentary Geochemistry, And Correlation Of Middle And Late Ordovician K-Bentonites: Constraints From Melt Inclusions And Zircon Morphology, Carsten Schirnick

Geology Theses and Dissertations

The present study of Paleozoic K-bentonites demonstrates that the geochemistry of melt inclusions and the morphology of zircons can be studied by inexpensive and simple-to-use methods, which rely on phenocrysts. Constraints are obtained that lead to (a) the origin of these altered volcanic ashes, (b) the geochemistry of ash-to-K-bentonite-alteration, and (c) the reliable correlation of extensively altered volcanic ashes (i.e. K-bentonites).
Silicic melt inclusions (i.e. non-devitrified) have been found in quartz and zircon phenocrysts contained within Ordovician and Devonian K-bentonites from New York State, the Upper Mississippi Valley, and Pennsylvania. Origin, source, and tectonic setting of the volcanism that produced …

Geology And Structure Of The Rocks Associated With The Basal (Madstone) Thrust Of The Josephine Ophiolite In Southwestern Oregon: Evidence For A Metamorphic Sole, Kristin A. Grady

Geology Theses and Dissertations

Many ophiolites have amphibolite at their base which contains a sharp inverted grade of metamorphism. These metamorphic soles are thought to have formed during the detachment and emplacement of the ophiolite. In addition to the sharp inverted grade of metamorphism, other characteristics of metamorphic soles include 1). a highly strained peridotite unit of the hanging wall which has concordant structures with underlying amphibolite and 2). an underlying melange sequence and continental rocks.
The Madstone thrust displaces the Josephine peridotite (Josephine ophiolite-162 Ma) onto amphibolites and underlying deformed gabbros of the Chetco Intrusive Complex. The rocks associated with the Madstone thrust …

Application Of A Trace Element Fractionation Model To Cumulate Gabbroic Xenoliths Of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, Ulrike Eberle

Geology Theses and Dissertations

A trace element fractionation model originally designed to relate plutonic rocks containing a trapped glass component to a complementary volcanic rock suite was applied to olivine and opaque-oxide gabbroic xenoliths from the summit cone of Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
The mathematical model which is based on the Rayleigh Fractionation Law was extended to include the various phases present in these two groups of gabbros and was generalized to treat multiple trace elements, in this case four. These results were incorporated in a new FORTRAN program using the interval-bisection method to greatly improve the convergence time in the numerical solutions.
Calculated results …

The Geology Of Taconic Thrust Sheets And Surrounding Carbonates Of The West Central Vermont Marble Belt, North Of Rutland, Vermont, Kay Bierbrauer

Geology Theses and Dissertations

The carbonates of the Vermont Valley and the overlying rocks of the Taconic sequence have been generally believed to lie on the east limb of a major unfaulted syncline (Middlebury Synclinorium). In this view a westward dipping, north-south trending basal Taconic overthrust must be exposed somewhere along the eastern margin of the Taconic Range.
In contrast, this study based on detailed mapping at the north end of the Taconic Allochthon suggests that a folded overthrust surface is only locally seen in fensters; more commonly the basal obduction surface of the Taconic Allochthon has been truncated by later cross-cutting thrust faults. …

Petrology And Major Element Geochemistry Of Basaltic Glasses From The Blanco Trough, Northeast Pacific, Glenn A. Gaetani

Geology Theses and Dissertations

The original electron microprobe analyses of suite of basaltic glasses recovered in 1968 by W.G. Melson and co-workers from the Blanco Trough have extremely unusual characteristics. Their compositions plot in a region of the normative Ol-Di-Pl-SiO2 tetrahedron which suggests that they represent liquids in equilibrium with an upper mantle assemblage of olivine + orthopyroxene at 10-15 kb. Given the present state of controversy surrounding the composition and depth of origin of primary MORB, natural examples of such liquids would be very important. The major element variations observed in the suite imply that the dominant phases are olivine and an iron-aluminum …

Geochemistry Of Garnet Xenocrysts And Garnet-Bearing Xenoliths In Ordovician Bentonites, Barbara Bock

Geology Theses and Dissertations

Within outcrops of the black Utica shales south of the Mohawk Valley narrow re-entrants parallel with stratification are visible, often accompanied -by a marked orange-staining of the underlying strata. These rentrant features indicate the presence of bentonites weathered back faster then the enclosing shales. These bentonites are presumably magmatic ashes related to extensive volcanism when an island arc collided with the North American continent in the late Ordovician about 450 million years ago (Taconic orogeny).
Bentonites are good stratigraphic markers because of the short time-interval they represent and the large area they cover. Therefore they are commonly used as correlation …

Use Of Limestone, Lime, And Dolomite For So2 Emission Control In Kentucky, Garland R. Dever Jr.

Information Circular--KGS

Flue-gas desulfurization and atmospheric fluidized-bed combustion systems for sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emission control have been installed at 13 coal- and gas-fired plants and one research laboratory in Kentucky. Limestone, lime, and dolomite are the principal SO₂ sorbents used in these systems.

Nine coal-fired, electricity-generating plants in the State have installed wet-scrubbing systems for flue-gas desulfurization. Lime-based scrubbers are using Thiosorbic® lime, produced from the Camp Nelson Limestone (Ordovician) of north-central Kentucky, and carbide lime, a byproduct from the manufacture of acetylene in Louisville. Limestone-based scrubbing systems at three of the plants have used stone from the Warsaw, …

Rupture Process Of The Macquarie Ridge Earthquake Of May 23, 1989, Jochen Braunmiller, John Nábělek

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Broadband body waves recorded at 15 digital seismic stations worldwide are used to study the rupture process of the May 23, 1989 Macquarie Ridge earthquake. The centroidal solution (strike 211°, dip 86°, rake 180°, and depth of 10 km below the seafloor) indicates shallow rupture with pure right-lateral strike-slip motion along the Pacific-Australia plate boundary, in agreement with motion predicted by plate tectonic models. The total seismic moment is 13.4×10²⁰ Nm, 80% of which was released in the first 24 s of the rupture process. Modeling favors a bilaterally propagating rupture with slightly different dip and rake for the …

Topographic Maps, 7.5-Minute Series, R. R. Burchett

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Analysis And Numerical Simulation Of The Ground Water System At The Bonneville Navigation Lock Site, Oregon, Dirk Baron

Dissertations and Theses

As part of the new navigation lock for Bonneville Dam a new water source for the Bonneville Fish Hatchery must be supplied. The hatchery is located on the Oregon side of the Columbia River downstream of the dam. It requires large quantities of water free from chemical and biological contamination. In addition, the water has to be in a narrow temperature range. Currently the fish hatchery receives its water from a well field that is located on the alluvial terrace downstream of Bonneville Dam. The well field lies in the proposed approach channel for the new lock and has to …

Mapping The Extent Of Waterlogged Crop Using Satellite Imagery, Jeremy Wallace, Buddy Wheaton

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

Causes Of Waterlogging, Jim Cox, Don Mcfarlane

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Waterlogging is highly variable, both between years and within paddocks. This residts in uncertainty as to whether a paddock should be cropped in a particular year, and whether different management should be used on waterlogged areas within a paddock

A study has determined what are the most important causes of waterlogged soils.

Seepage Interceptor Drains For Reducing Waterlogging And Salinity, Don Mcfarlane, Jim Cox

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Shallow interceptor drains can reduce waterlogging on sloping sites. Such drains will more than pay for themselves from the increased crop yield. Recent work has shown that these drains also decrease salinity so that they are cost-effective in the long as well as the short term.

Level Banks Used To Decrease Waterlogging Can Increase Salinity, Don Mcfarlane, Richard Engel, Arjen Ryder, Maurice Eales

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Some farmers have used level W1SALTS banks to control surface zvaters above areas affected by ivaterlogging and salinity. Because the amount of waterlogging has been reduced, crop yields have increased downslope of some banks. However, the banks divert fresh surface water into deeper salty groundwater and, in the long term, worsen salinity. This article details an investigation of the effect of level WIS ALTS banks on saline groundwaters and discusses alternative methods of preventing the waterlogging of saline areas.

Economics Of Interceptor Drains : A Case Study, Andrew Bathgate, Ian Evans

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

This case study determines the most likely rate of return to capital invested in constructing seepage interceptor drains to reduce the effect of waterlogging on crop and pasture yields. The analysis of a farm in the Denbarker region, west of Albany, determined what increases were needed in pasture growth to justify the cost of constructing drains across four adjacent paddocks. The benefits of changing rotations to include lupins were also determined, as growing lupins was unprofitable before the construction of drains.

The Broom Creek Formation (Permian), In Southwestern North Dakota: Depositional Environments And Nitrogen Occurrence, Marvin E. Rygh

Theses and Dissertations

In North Dakota, the Broom Creek Formation (Wolfcampian> exists in the subsurface as the upper unit of the Minnelusa Group. The Broom Creek Formation consists of pink quartzarenite with some intervening dolostone beds. The identification of lithofacies, areal distribution, and stratigraphic relationships were determined from oil well logs, mainly the dual laterolog suite and the FDC-CNL log suite, and macroscopic and microscopic core analysis. were examined from four wells.

The major lithofacies identified are, 1) eolian Cores sandstone, 2) nearshore marine sandstone, and 3) marine carbonate. From the sandstone-dolostone distribution, marine predominance existed in the eastern part of the study …