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Articles 301 - 330 of 403

Full-Text Articles in Earth Sciences

Geochemical Systematics Among Amphibolitic Rocks In The Central Blue Ridge Province Of Southwestern North Carolina, Nathan Collins Jan 2011

Geochemical Systematics Among Amphibolitic Rocks In The Central Blue Ridge Province Of Southwestern North Carolina, Nathan Collins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Central Blue Ridge sub-province of the southern Appalachian Mountains preserves an unique and complex geologic history. The Cartoogechaye terrane is the westernmost terrane of the Central Blue Ridge sub-province, and is characterized by extensive olistostromal sequences, including mafic-ultramafic massifs, isolated mafic units, and block-in-matrix structures of varying scales. This study investigates the genetic and tectonic relationships, and regional chemical and metamorphic trends of the amphibolitic rocks entrained within units of the Cartoogechaye and nearby terranes, toward constraining the origins of these regional sequences, and examining the rationale for the current Blue Ridge terrane designations.

A distinct compositional variation exists …


Implications Of Surface Runoff Recharge In Semi-Arid Regions On Groundwater Sustainability, Omar M. Al-Qudah Jan 2011

Implications Of Surface Runoff Recharge In Semi-Arid Regions On Groundwater Sustainability, Omar M. Al-Qudah

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Amargosa Desert, Nevada regional groundwater studies show that the surface runoff infiltration occurring in the arroyos following runoff producing storms, and this infiltration is considered to be a major source of groundwater recharge. Groundwater infiltration through alluvium was investigated in the Amargosa Desert using borehole drill cuttings, groundwater chemistry, and applying a novel method for collecting runoff water. The sampling process included sediment, precipitation, and runoff water. In total, 176 runoff, 182 sediment, and 45 precipitation samples were collected between January, 2009 and January, 2011.Water chemistry, chloride concentrations, and stable isotopes of water collected from specially designed runoff samplers, placed …


The Present Day Genesis And Evolution Of Cave Minerals Inside The Ojo De La Reina Cave (Naica Mine, Mexico), Giovanni Badino, José Maria Calaforra, Paolo Forti, Paolo Garofalo, Laura Sanna Jan 2011

The Present Day Genesis And Evolution Of Cave Minerals Inside The Ojo De La Reina Cave (Naica Mine, Mexico), Giovanni Badino, José Maria Calaforra, Paolo Forti, Paolo Garofalo, Laura Sanna

International Journal of Speleology

Ojo de la Reina is the first and the smallest cave intersected at the -290 level in the Naica Mine (Mexico), therefore it was the first cavity in which the lowering of temperature induced by mine ventilation caused condensation over crystals’ surface since 2005. The consequent dissolution of the gypsum crystals and subsequent condensed water evaporation lead to the deposition of several new minerals, among which some highly soluble Mg/Na compounds (bloedite, epsomite, halite, hexahydrite, kieserite, starkeyite). The single available source of Mg and Na ions in this minerogenetic environment is represented by the huge fluid inclusions widespread within the …


Applications Of Geophysical Analysis For Environmental And Geotechnical Problems, Basil Miller Sep 2010

Applications Of Geophysical Analysis For Environmental And Geotechnical Problems, Basil Miller

Theses and Dissertations

Geophysical investigative techniques including Magnetic, Electric, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), and Geochemistry become increasingly essential to study near surface setting as well as deep earth structure. A model was developed of the hot water system in southwest Arkansas using Geochemistry, Magnetic, and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) data. The model was constructed using the data collected at the Caddo Gap and Little Missouri Hot Springs in Southeast Arkansas, USA. Understanding the mechanism of the transition from slow flow in porous media to fast flow in a fracture is critical in understanding the hot water flow of the hot spring. The geochemistry …


Temporal And Spatial Variations Of Ions, Isotopes And Agricultural Contaminants In Surface Waters And Groundwater Of Nebraska's Rainwater Basin Wetland Region, Sarah E. Foster Aug 2010

Temporal And Spatial Variations Of Ions, Isotopes And Agricultural Contaminants In Surface Waters And Groundwater Of Nebraska's Rainwater Basin Wetland Region, Sarah E. Foster

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The wetlands of south-central Nebraska’s Rainwater Basin region are considered of international importance as a habitat for millions of migratory birds, but are being endangered by agricultural practices. The Rainwater Basin extends across 17 counties and covers 4,000 square miles. The purpose of this study was to assemble baseline chemical data for several representative wetlands across the Rainwater Basin region, and determine the use of these chemical data for investigating groundwater recharge.

Eight representative wetlands were chosen across the Rainwater Basin to monitor surface and groundwater chemistry. At each site, a shallow well and deep well were installed and sampled …


Geochemical And Geochronological Constraints On The Tectonothermal History Of The Central And Eastern Nepal Himalaya: Implications For Thermal-Mechanical Models, Stacey Lynn Corrie May 2010

Geochemical And Geochronological Constraints On The Tectonothermal History Of The Central And Eastern Nepal Himalaya: Implications For Thermal-Mechanical Models, Stacey Lynn Corrie

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Syntheses of Himalayan tectonics imply an average shortening rate of ~2 cm/yr across the Himalaya over the last 20-25 Myr. However, despite decades of research, basic questions still remain about how strain was partitioned. Fluctuations in the timing and rate of thrusting could have significant implications for strain partitioning across the Himalaya, and for partitioning during collisional orogenesis as a whole.

Due to the observed chronology and thermobarometry of Greater Himalayan Sequence (GHS) rock units in the Annapurna region of central Nepal, we revise the original interpretation of the Bhanuwa Fault from a normal fault to a thrust, and identify …


Petrogenesis Of The Greenwater Range: Comparison To The Crater Flat Volcanic Field And Implications For Hazard Assessment, Ashley Kaye Tibbetts May 2010

Petrogenesis Of The Greenwater Range: Comparison To The Crater Flat Volcanic Field And Implications For Hazard Assessment, Ashley Kaye Tibbetts

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Pliocene basalts of the Greenwater Range, California erupted from 24 volcanic vents now represented by volcanic plugs, craters and scoria mounds. Basaltic magmas originated in the asthenospheric mantle, but show evidence of a lithospheric component. Depths and temperatures of melting calculated using a silica activity geobarometer are 54.3–89.6 km and 1367-1435oC, placing melting in the asthenosphere. The preferred petrogenetic model involves melting of lithospheric mantle thermally and mechanically, but not chemically, converted to asthenospheric mantle. Melting depths correspond to low velocity zones in the mantle as revealed in seismic profiles. Chemical and lithologic similarities between basalt in the Greenwater Range …


Volcanic Rocks From Foça-Karaburun And Ayvalik-Lesvos Grabens (Western Anatolia) And Their Petrogenetic-Geodynamic Significance, Samuele Agostini, Murat Tokçaer, Mehmet Yilmaz Savaşçin Jan 2010

Volcanic Rocks From Foça-Karaburun And Ayvalik-Lesvos Grabens (Western Anatolia) And Their Petrogenetic-Geodynamic Significance, Samuele Agostini, Murat Tokçaer, Mehmet Yilmaz Savaşçin

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The Foça-Karaburun and Ayvalık-Lesvos grabens (western coast of Anatolia, Turkey) are two important NW-SE-trending extensional areas generated in response to the Early Miocene-Holocene extension of the Western Anatolian region, related to the opening of the "unconventional" back-arc basin of the Aegean Sea. The abundance of geo-structural evidence and the occurrence of volcanic rocks representing all the stages of the Aegean-Western Anatolia volcanism render the Foça-Karaburun and Ayvalık-Lesvos Grabens key localities to exemplify the petrogenetic and geodynamic evolution of the area. In this context, the Foça-Karaburun and Ayvalık-Lesvos grabens, possibly formerly a single graben, formed along an original NE-SW-trending extension, later …


Statistical Evaluation Of Bivariate, Ternary And Discriminant Function Tectonomagmatic Discrimination Diagrams, Surendra P. Verma Jan 2010

Statistical Evaluation Of Bivariate, Ternary And Discriminant Function Tectonomagmatic Discrimination Diagrams, Surendra P. Verma

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

This work applies a statistical methodology involving the calculation of success rates to evaluate a total of 28 tectonomagmatic discrimination diagrams: four bivariate (Ti/Y-Zr/Y; Zr-Zr/Y; Ti/1000-V; and Nb/Y-Ti/Y); six ternary (Zr-3Y-Ti/1000; MgO-Al2O3-FeOt, Th-Ta-Hf/3; 10MnO-15P2O5-TiO2; Zr/4-Y-2Nb; and La/10-Nb/8-Y/15); and three old (Score1-Score2; F1-F2; and F2-F3) and three sets of new discriminant function diagrams (each set consisting of five DF1-DF2 type diagrams proposed during 2004-2008). I established and used extensive geochemical databases of Miocene to Recent fresh rocks from island arcs, back arcs, continental rifts, ocean-islands, and mid-ocean ridges. Rock and magma types were inferred from a SINCLAS computer program. Although some …


Petrography And Geochemistry Of The Jajarm Bauxite Ore Deposit, Northeast Iran: Implications For Source Rock Material And Ore Genesis, Dariush Esmaeily, Hosein Rahimpour-Bonab, Amir Esna-Ashari, Ali Kananian Jan 2010

Petrography And Geochemistry Of The Jajarm Bauxite Ore Deposit, Northeast Iran: Implications For Source Rock Material And Ore Genesis, Dariush Esmaeily, Hosein Rahimpour-Bonab, Amir Esna-Ashari, Ali Kananian

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The Jajarm bauxite deposit, northeast Iran, is the largest such deposit in Iran. The deposit is sandwiched between the Triassic Elika formation and the Jurassic Shemshak formation, housed within karstic features developed within the former unit. The deposit generally shows an internal layering defined by the following four distinct horizons (from bottom to top): (a) a lower argillaceous horizon, approximately 50-80 cm thick, is mainly composed of clay minerals that directly overlies the carbonate footwall (Elika formation); (b) a bauxitic clay layer approximately 2-3 m thick that consists mainly of hematite, kaolinite, anatase, and diaspore; (c) a red bauxite layer …


Volcanological And Petrogenetic Characteristics Of Komatiites Of The 3.3 Ga Saw Mill Complex, Weltevreden Formation, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa, Matthew Stephen Huber Jan 2010

Volcanological And Petrogenetic Characteristics Of Komatiites Of The 3.3 Ga Saw Mill Complex, Weltevreden Formation, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa, Matthew Stephen Huber

LSU Master's Theses

The Saw Mill Complex (SMC) is a 1275 m thick layered komatiitic sequence in the 3.3 Ga Weltevreden Formation, uppermost stratigraphic unit of the Onverwacht Group in the northern part of the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa. A series of ultramafic complexes in the Weltevreden Formation have been interpreted as layered ultramafic intrusions, consisting of thick, layered ultramafic units of peridotite, pyroxenite, dunite, and gabbro. However, recent work on the Pioneer complex of the Weltevreden Formation has demonstrated an extrusive origin of komatiites and tuffs. The Weltevreden Formation has been less studied than other Onverwacht Group units. It is likely …


Provenance Of The Neoproterozoic Ocoee Supergroup, Eastern Great Smoky Mountains, Suvankar Chakraborty Jan 2010

Provenance Of The Neoproterozoic Ocoee Supergroup, Eastern Great Smoky Mountains, Suvankar Chakraborty

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The Ocoee Supergroup is a sequence of Neoproterozoic, immature, continental rift facies clastic sediments. Potential source rocks were tested by analyzing modes of detrital framework minerals, detrital mineral chemistry, whole rock geochemistry and detrital zircon U/Pb geochronology by LA-ICP-MS for Ocoee siltstone-sandstone dominated formations. Ocoee units are arkosic to subarkosic siltstones/sandstones, and ternary tectonic discrimination diagrams confirm a continental basement uplift source. Alkali feldspar predominates over plagioclase feldspar. Detrital feldspar compositions of Ocoee sediments as a group are similar to feldspar in local basement granitic rocks except for high-Ca plagioclase grains present locally in basement granitic rocks. The high alkali …


Origin Of Blue Ridge Basement Rocks, Dellwood Quad, Western Nc: New Evidence From U-Pb Zircon Geochronology And Whole Rock Geochemistry, Donald Franklin Loughry Jr. Jan 2010

Origin Of Blue Ridge Basement Rocks, Dellwood Quad, Western Nc: New Evidence From U-Pb Zircon Geochronology And Whole Rock Geochemistry, Donald Franklin Loughry Jr.

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Terrane discrimination in polycyclic continental basement rocks is challenging due to high-grade metamorphism and intense deformation. Based on early USGS mapping the Blue Ridge basement in the Dellwood quadrangle of the eastern Great Smoky Mountains was proposed to consist of augen orthogneisses of Laurentian (Grenvillian) affinity interfolded with migmatitic hornblende and biotite paragneisses (“Carolina Gneiss”) and amphibolites of uncertain affinity. However, detailed study reveals that the hornblende gneiss of Hadley and Goldsmith (1963) is a heterogeneous map unit consisting of (1)metaplutonic rocks; (2) variably foliated and folded felsic orthogneisses; (3) strongly migmatitic, folded Hbl+Bt-bearing gneisses; (4) foliated and lineated garnet …


Towards Mineralogical And Geochemical Reference Groups For Some Bronze Age Ceramics 
From Transylvania (Romania), Volker Hoeck, Corina Ionescu, Lucretia Ghergari, Carmen Precup Sep 2009

Towards Mineralogical And Geochemical Reference Groups For Some Bronze Age Ceramics 
From Transylvania (Romania), Volker Hoeck, Corina Ionescu, Lucretia Ghergari, Carmen Precup

Studia UBB Geologia

Based on their chemical composition ceramic shards from three Bronze Age sites in Transylvania, i.e., Copăceni, Derşida and Palatca respectively, were distinguished by major, trace, and RE elements. Within the Copăceni samples, two subgroups (A and B) showing different chemistry and mineralogy were additionally separated out. The link between chemistry and mineralogy showed clearly the important contribution of the temper to the overall chemistry of the ceramic shards. In turn, the chemistry facilitated the provenance study of the raw materials, which were collected in the vicinity of the sites. In combination with the mineralogy of the ceramics, the chemical analyses …


The Mississippian Section At Paddys Bluff, Crittenden County, Kentucky, Ron Counts, F. Brett Denny, James C. Hower, Zakaria Lasemi, Rodney D. Norby, Paul E. Potter, Scott Waninger, David A. Williams Jan 2009

The Mississippian Section At Paddys Bluff, Crittenden County, Kentucky, Ron Counts, F. Brett Denny, James C. Hower, Zakaria Lasemi, Rodney D. Norby, Paul E. Potter, Scott Waninger, David A. Williams

Map and Chart--KGS

Paddys Bluff (Figs. 1-3) is located on the south side of the Illinois Basin on the Cumberland River, 1.7 miles downstream from Dycusburg in Crittenden County, Ky., in Carter coordinate section 23-I-16 and ecoregion 71f of the Western Highland Rim of Kentucky (Woods and others, 2002). This bluff is on a right-descending bend 18 liver miles above its junction with the Ohio River at Smithland, Livingston County. The bluff (Figs. 4A, B) is locally famous as the location for a scene from the classic 1962 film, "How the West Was Won,' a winner of three Academy Awards, starling James Stewart, …


Temporal And Geochemical Insights Related To Volcanic And Plutonic Activity Within Big Bend National Park, Texas, Daniel Paul Miggins Jan 2009

Temporal And Geochemical Insights Related To Volcanic And Plutonic Activity Within Big Bend National Park, Texas, Daniel Paul Miggins

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Big Bend National Park located in the southeastern part of the Trans-Pecos Magmatic Province in west Texas contains a diverse suite of volcanic and intrusive rocks. Ongoing geologic mapping, geochronology, and geochemical studies have focused on the timing and geological relationships associated with these volcanic and intrusive rocks. Igneous activity within Big Bend National Park occurred from 46.5 to 22.0 Ma. Precise 40Ar/39Ar and U-Pb zircon geochronology has resolved the timing of this activity into five discrete episodes: 1) eruption and emplacement of both intrusive and volcanic mafic rocks at 46.5 Ma followed by ~42.0 Ma mafic volcanic pulse; 2) …


Geochemistry And Nd - Isotopic Composition Of High Silica Rhyolites In The Neoarchaean Musoma-Mara Greenstone Belt, Northern Tanzania: Evidence For The Presence Of Older Continental Crust, S Manya Nov 2008

Geochemistry And Nd - Isotopic Composition Of High Silica Rhyolites In The Neoarchaean Musoma-Mara Greenstone Belt, Northern Tanzania: Evidence For The Presence Of Older Continental Crust, S Manya

Tanzania Journal of Science

The high silica rhyolites of the Kibasuka Hill, although volumetrically minor, constitute a part of the greenstone sequence in the northern Musoma-Mara Greenstone Belt (MMGB). They are characterized by high silica contents (63.38 – 81.65 wt %), very low CaO (! 0.05 wt %), variable to unusually high K2O (2.24 – 13.43 wt %) most likely attributed to strong sericite alteration, and their major element composition are similar to those of melts derived from partial melting of metapelites. The samples have very low concentration of the transition elements, Sr (3.13 – 48.4 ppm) and very large negative Europium anomalies (Eu/Eu* …


Petrology And Geochemistry Of The Muntele Mare Granitoid (Northern Apuseni Mountains), Romania, Lucretia Ghergari, Cristina Maris Feb 2008

Petrology And Geochemistry Of The Muntele Mare Granitoid (Northern Apuseni Mountains), Romania, Lucretia Ghergari, Cristina Maris

Studia UBB Geologia

The paper brings new data on the petrography and geochemistry of the Muntele Mare Granitoid (MMG), from its northernmost outcropping area (Mănăstireni-Bedeci area, Gilău Massif, Apuseni Mountains), where MM\G is are actively quarried for quartz and feldspar that are used in the ceramics industry. The MMG mined in the Bedeci quarry has a pegmatitic hypidiomorphous – inequigranular fabric, and a low melanocratic index (ca. 7%). It consists of quartz, plagioclase (two generations: acidic andesine-basic oligoclase (34-35% An), and albite (9-11% An)), orthoclase ± perthite in various substitution stages by microcline (intermediary), as well as microcline maximum, muscovite and biotite. Accessories …


The Geochemistry And Setting Of The Demirci Paragneisses Of The Sünnice Massif, Nw Turkey, Erdi̇nç Yi̇ği̇tbaş, John A. Winchester, Christopher J. Ottley Jan 2008

The Geochemistry And Setting Of The Demirci Paragneisses Of The Sünnice Massif, Nw Turkey, Erdi̇nç Yi̇ği̇tbaş, John A. Winchester, Christopher J. Ottley

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The Demirci migmatitic quartzofeldspathic gneisses of the Sünnice Massif, exposed in the İstanbul Zone north of Bolu, have compositions that show them to be paragneisses, associated with subordinate para-amphibolites. They consist principally of metamorphosed, rather calcareous greywackes, with sediment derived from a continental arc source. They occur in the para-autochthon below a nappe pile (Çele meta-ophiolite), deformed and subjected to amphibolite facies metamorphism before the emplacement of late Neoproterozoic metavolcanic rocks later subjected to greenschist-facies metamorphism (Yellice volcanics). As they are overlain in sequence by nappes comprising sections of the Çele meta-ophiolite with ocean floor basalt and island arc tholeiite …


Petrogenesis Of The Kösedağ Pluton, Suşehri-Ne Sivas, East-Central Pontides, Turkey, Durmuş Boztuğ Jan 2008

Petrogenesis Of The Kösedağ Pluton, Suşehri-Ne Sivas, East-Central Pontides, Turkey, Durmuş Boztuğ

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The Kösedağ syenite crops out as a shallow-seated pluton within the Eocene volcano-sedimentary rocks and is unconformably overlain by Lower Miocene limestones in the Suşehri-NE Sivas region, east-central Pontides. It consists of syenites and quartz syenites with a phaneritic, porphyritic texture characterized by K-feldspar megacrysts set in a coarse- to medium-grained groundmass comprising K-feldspar, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, amphibole, biotite and quartz. Major element geochemistry data reveal a high-K, alkaline, metaluminous to slightly peraluminous character, with a low Aluminum Saturation Index (ASI) value. The main solidification process, which modified the composition of magma during crystallization, was fractional crystallization, in which syenites solidified …


Characterization Of The Lucinid Bivalve-Bacteria Symbiotic System: The Significance Of The Geochemical Habitat On Bacterial Symbiont Diversity And Phylogeny, Angela Marissa Green-Garcia Jan 2008

Characterization Of The Lucinid Bivalve-Bacteria Symbiotic System: The Significance Of The Geochemical Habitat On Bacterial Symbiont Diversity And Phylogeny, Angela Marissa Green-Garcia

LSU Master's Theses

Extensive characterization of a single lucinid bivalve habitat was conducted to characterize the relationship between host bivalve and thiotrophic bacterial endosymbionts. For lucinids, the ecological and evolutionary relationships between hosts and endosymbionts are poorly understood. Reconstructing the evolutionary history of lucinid endosymbiosis, and the geologic significance of the association, has been hampered by insufficient knowledge of endosymbiont ecology and taxonomic diversity. Host organisms (Lucinisca nassula and Phacoides pectinatus) were collected from Cedar Keys, Florida, within the top 15-20 cm of the sediment in sea grass beds. PCR amplification and sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes from lucinid gills and sediment …


Hydrogeochemistry And Water Quality Of Echo Hills, Joel M. Kimball Jan 2008

Hydrogeochemistry And Water Quality Of Echo Hills, Joel M. Kimball

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Ground water of the Echo Hills area in Clark County, Ohio was investigated for common water contaminants such as nitrate and coliform bacteria. Thirty-four water samples were collected from locations including private wells, streams and a spring. Nine of those samples were selected for nitrogen isotope analysis. Three locations were chosen for a tracer test. Additionally, well log data, historical water quality data, and GIS data were obtained from the Clark County Health Department in Springfield, Ohio. Results show that local agriculture likely has the greatest impact on ground water quality in Echo Hills especially the north-eastern portion, with local …


Detailed Geochemistry And K-Ar Geochronology Of The Metamorphic Sole Rocks And Their Mafic Dykes From The Mersin Ophiolite, Southern Turkey, Ömer Faruk Çeli̇k Jan 2008

Detailed Geochemistry And K-Ar Geochronology Of The Metamorphic Sole Rocks And Their Mafic Dykes From The Mersin Ophiolite, Southern Turkey, Ömer Faruk Çeli̇k

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The metamorphic sole rocks at the base of mantle peridotites from the Mersin ophiolite consist of amphibolites and metasedimentary lithologies. Mineral parageneses in the metamorphic sole rocks exhibit amphibolite and greenschist facies assemblages. Geothermobarometric studies based on mineral assemblages and chemical compositions of minerals indicate that average metamorphic temperature during the metamorphism was 522 ± 15 °C and the pressure was less than 5 kb. Amphibolites from the metamorphic sole rocks exhibit geochemical characteristics of a supra-subduction zone (SSZ) type ophiolite, based on their major, trace and rare earth element (REE) compositions. The Th/Nb ratios of the amphibolites are higher …


Geochemical Evidence For Airborne Dust Additions To Soils In Channel Islands National Park, California, Daniel R. Muhs, James R. Budahn, Donald L. Johnson, Marith Reheis, Jossh Beann, Gary Skipp, Eric Fischer, Julia A. Jones Jan 2008

Geochemical Evidence For Airborne Dust Additions To Soils In Channel Islands National Park, California, Daniel R. Muhs, James R. Budahn, Donald L. Johnson, Marith Reheis, Jossh Beann, Gary Skipp, Eric Fischer, Julia A. Jones

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

There is an increasing awareness that dust plays important roles in climate change, biogeochemical cycles, nutrient supply to ecosystems, and soil formation. In Channel Islands National Park, California, soils are clay-rich Vertisols or Alfi sols and Mollisols with vertic properties. The soils are overlain by silt-rich mantles that contrast sharply with the underlying clay-rich horizons. Silt mantles contain minerals that are rare or absent in the volcanic rocks that dominate these islands. Immobile trace elements (Sc-Th-La and Ta-Nd-Cr) and rare-earth elements show that the basalt and andesite on the islands have a composition intermediate between upper-continental crust and oceanic crust. …


Origin And Paleoclimatic Significance Of Late Quaternary Loess In Nebraska: Evidence From Stratigraphy, Chronology, Sedimentology, And Geochemistry, Daniel R. Muhs, E. Arthur Bettis Iii, John N. Aleinikoff, John P. Mcgeehin, Jossh Beann, Gary Skipp, Brian D. Marshall, Helen M. Roberts, William C. Johnson, Rachel Benton Jan 2008

Origin And Paleoclimatic Significance Of Late Quaternary Loess In Nebraska: Evidence From Stratigraphy, Chronology, Sedimentology, And Geochemistry, Daniel R. Muhs, E. Arthur Bettis Iii, John N. Aleinikoff, John P. Mcgeehin, Jossh Beann, Gary Skipp, Brian D. Marshall, Helen M. Roberts, William C. Johnson, Rachel Benton

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Loess is one of the most extensive surficial geologic deposits in mid-continental North America, particularly in the central Great Plains region of Nebraska. Last-glacial-age loess (Peoria Loess) reaches its greatest known thickness in the world in this area. New stratigraphic, geochronologic, mineralogic, and geochemical data yield information about the age and provenance of Peoria Loess, as well as evaluation of recent climate models.


Paleogene Mirelands Of The Upper Mississippi Embayment, Western Kentucky, Jennifer Marie Klein O'Keefe Jan 2008

Paleogene Mirelands Of The Upper Mississippi Embayment, Western Kentucky, Jennifer Marie Klein O'Keefe

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Detailed petrography, geochemistry, and palynology together describe the depositional environments and paleoecology of an abandoned meander-fill system in western Kentucky. Oriented block petrography reveals alternating clay-rich and attrinite-rich zones of variable thickness. Woody tissues, where present, do not show dessication features and deflation layers could not be identified. Overall, petrography is indicative of a topogenous mire. Mire palyno-assemblages are less diverse than assemblages reported from clays in the region. Castanea-Cupuliferoidaepollenites assemblages dominate the entire system and other tree pollen are common; fungal spores are relatively uncommon. Weighted statistical analyses reveal ecological groupings beyond this dominance and define botanical succession within …


An Investigation Of Meromixis In Cave Pools, Lechuguilla Cave, New Mexico, David B. Levy Jan 2008

An Investigation Of Meromixis In Cave Pools, Lechuguilla Cave, New Mexico, David B. Levy

International Journal of Speleology

Chemical characteristics of permanent stratification in cave pools (meromixis) may provide insight into the geochemical origin and evolution of cave pool waters. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that some pools in Lechuguilla Cave may be subject to ectogenic meromixis, where permanent chemical stratification is induced by input of relatively saline or fresh water from an external source. However, because organic C concentrations in Lechuguilla waters are low (typically < 1 mg L-1), biogenic meromixis resulting in O2(g)-depleted subsurface waters is not expected. Four pools at various depths below ground surface (0 m) were studied: (1) …


Chloride And The Environmental Isotopes As The Indicators Of The Groundwater Recharge In The Gobi Desert, Northwest China, J. Z. Ma, Z. Ding, John B. Gates, Y. Su Jan 2008

Chloride And The Environmental Isotopes As The Indicators Of The Groundwater Recharge In The Gobi Desert, Northwest China, J. Z. Ma, Z. Ding, John B. Gates, Y. Su

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The long term recharge in Gobi Desert from Hexi Corridor to Inner Mongolia Plateau was estimated to Be 1 mm year-1 by using the chloride mass balance method from one unsaturated zone profile, which shows that no effective modern recharge is taking place. A good rainfall database from Zhangye provides definition of the stable isotopic composition of modern rainfall. The signature of groundwater from the late Pleistocene differs markedly from that of the Holocene, shown clearly by the compositions of -10.5‰ δ18O as compared with values of -7‰ at the present day. It is apparent that the …


Shallow Slab Fluid Release Across And Along The Mariana Arc-Basin System: Insights From Geochemistry Of Serpentinized Peridotites From The Mariana Fore Arc, Ivan P. Savov, Jeffrey G. Ryan, Massimo D'Antonio, Patricia Fryer Sep 2007

Shallow Slab Fluid Release Across And Along The Mariana Arc-Basin System: Insights From Geochemistry Of Serpentinized Peridotites From The Mariana Fore Arc, Ivan P. Savov, Jeffrey G. Ryan, Massimo D'Antonio, Patricia Fryer

Geology Faculty Publications

Shallow slab devolatilization is not only witnessed through fluid expulsion at accretionary prisms, but is also evidenced by active serpentinite seamounts in the shallow fore-arc region of the Mariana convergent margin. Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 195 recovered serpentinized peridotites that present a unique opportunity to study the products of shallow level exchanges between the upper mantle and slab-derived fluids. Similar to samples recovered during ODP Leg 125, the protoliths of these fore-arc serpentinized peridotites are mantle harzburgites that have suffered large volume melt extraction (up to 25%) prior to interactions with fluids released from the downgoing Pacific Plate. Samples …


Aquifer-Scale Controls On The Distribution Of Nitrate And Ammonium In Ground Water Near La Pine, Oregon, Usa, Stephen R. Hinkle, J. K. Böhlke, John H. Duff, David S. Morgan, Rodney J. Weick Jan 2007

Aquifer-Scale Controls On The Distribution Of Nitrate And Ammonium In Ground Water Near La Pine, Oregon, Usa, Stephen R. Hinkle, J. K. Böhlke, John H. Duff, David S. Morgan, Rodney J. Weick

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Geochemical and isotopic tools were applied at aquifer, transect, and subtransect scales to provide a framework for understanding sources, transport, and fate of dissolved inorganic N in a sandy aquifer near La Pine, Oregon. NO3 is a common contaminant in shallow ground water in this area, whereas high concentrations of NH4– N (up to 39 mg/L) are present in deep ground water. N concentrations, N/Cl ratios, tracer- based apparent ground-water ages, N isotope data, and hydraulic gradients indicate that septic tank effluent is the primary source of NO3. N isotope data, N/Cl and N/C relations, …