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Full-Text Articles in Geology

Mapview And Cross Section Animations, Jason Luke Feb 2012

Mapview And Cross Section Animations, Jason Luke

Faculty Publications

Movie 1: A series of time slices animated through the amplitude volume. Movie 2: A series of time slices animated through the semblance volume. Movie 3: Cross section animation from SW-NE through the amplitude volume. Movie 4: Cross section animation from SW-NE through the semblance volume.


Petromode, Eric H. Christiansen Jan 2009

Petromode, Eric H. Christiansen

Faculty Publications

PetroMode is an Excel spreadsheet that can be used to (1) calculate the modal composition of a rock given the elemental composition of the rock and (2) calculate the major element mass balance to test the derivation of a daughter liquid by removal of minerals from a parent liquid (fractional crystallization).


Hikorocodium Endo Is Not An Alga But An Inozoid Sponge, J. Keith Rigby, Baba Senowbari-Daryan Apr 2007

Hikorocodium Endo Is Not An Alga But An Inozoid Sponge, J. Keith Rigby, Baba Senowbari-Daryan

Faculty Publications

The genus Hikorocodium, with the type species Hikorocodium elegantae from the Permian of Japan, was described originally as a codiacean alga by Endo. It is not a codiacean alga but an inozoid sponge of the family Preperonidellidae. Several fossils described later by Endo and other authors as H. elegantae should be assigned to different inozoid sponge taxa. Specimens of H. fertiliz, described by Endo from the Jurassic of Japan, are also sponge fragments. The taxonomic positions of H. transversum Endo and H. kuramotoi Nakamura, as sponges or


Contrasting Silicic Magma Series In Miocene-Pliocene Ash Deposits In The San Miguel De Allende Graben, Guanajuato, Mexico, Eric H. Christiansen, Bart J. Kowallis, Aaron J. Adams, Oscar Carranza-Castaneda, Wade E. Miller Mar 2006

Contrasting Silicic Magma Series In Miocene-Pliocene Ash Deposits In The San Miguel De Allende Graben, Guanajuato, Mexico, Eric H. Christiansen, Bart J. Kowallis, Aaron J. Adams, Oscar Carranza-Castaneda, Wade E. Miller

Faculty Publications

The San Miguel de Allende graben, Guanajuato, Mexico, contains numerous rhyolitic volcanic ash beds. Electron microprobe and x-ray fluorescence analyses of glass shards from 14 localities, combined with mineralogic, stratigraphic, radiometric, and paleomagnetic data, allow us to correlate the ash beds (and the intervening sedimentary strata and fossils), understand the timing of volcanism, date the age of extension, and better understand the tectonic and volcanic evolution of central Mexico. Our analyses reveal that at least six separate eruptions of rhyolitic ash occurred during the Late Miocene and Pliocene (5-3 Ma) while the San Miguel Allende basin was subsiding. The fallout …


Geochronology Of Hemphillian-Blancan Aged Strata, Guanajuato, Mexico, And Implications For Timing Of The Great American Biotic Interchange, Bart J. Kowallis, John J. Flynn, Clarita Nunez, Oscar Carranza-Castaneda, Wade E. Miller, Carl C. Swisher Iii, Everett Lindsay May 2005

Geochronology Of Hemphillian-Blancan Aged Strata, Guanajuato, Mexico, And Implications For Timing Of The Great American Biotic Interchange, Bart J. Kowallis, John J. Flynn, Clarita Nunez, Oscar Carranza-Castaneda, Wade E. Miller, Carl C. Swisher Iii, Everett Lindsay

Faculty Publications

We present new geochronologic magnetostratigraphy, fission-track and 40Ar/39Ar radioisotopic dates, biostratigraphy)bdata constraining the age of three separate sequences and a composite section from Guanajuato, Mexico. Those data make this one of the most complete and precisely age-calibrated sequences in North America spanning the Hemphillian/Blancan North American Land Mammal “Age” (NALMA) boundary interval, and the data further constrain the timing and pattern of the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI). In total, 196 samples (77 sites) were used to construct the magnetic polarity stratigraphies, with eight fission-track analyses and four new 40Ar/39Ar radioisotopic dates. The sections sampled are possibly latest Miocene to …


An Unusually Large Aulocopella Winnipegensis And Associated Demosponges From The Upper Ordovician Beaverfoot Formation, Southeastern British Columbia, J. Keith Rigby, Paul A. Johnston Aug 2004

An Unusually Large Aulocopella Winnipegensis And Associated Demosponges From The Upper Ordovician Beaverfoot Formation, Southeastern British Columbia, J. Keith Rigby, Paul A. Johnston

Faculty Publications

An unusually large specimen of the rare digitate to bladed Aulocopella winnipegensis Rauff and three relatively normal sized specimens of ashtray-shaped Hudsonospongia? sp. constitute the first record of demosponges from the Upper Ordovician Beaverfoot Formation in southeastern British Columbia and the first record of these taxa from western Canada. Gross form and canal structure are well preserved, but dolomitization and (or) coarse microsphaeroidal silicification have obliterated spicules and other structural details. We interpret these sponges as epifaunal recliners, without means of attachment to the substrate, a life mode rarely encountered in the modern sponge biota.


A New Occurrence Of Archaeoscyphia Pulchra (Bassler) From The Ordovician Of Western Canada, J. Keith Rigby, Godfrey S. Nowlan, Peter A. Rowlands Jan 2002

A New Occurrence Of Archaeoscyphia Pulchra (Bassler) From The Ordovician Of Western Canada, J. Keith Rigby, Godfrey S. Nowlan, Peter A. Rowlands

Faculty Publications

A few specimens of the ornate anthaspidellid demosponge, Archaeoscyphia pulchra (Bassler), have been collected from the Lower Ordovician Outram Formation or Skoki Formation, from a saddle at the head of South Rice Brook in northeastern British Columbia. This is the first report of the flanged-appearing annulate, steeply obconical sponge in western Canada, although it has been reported from the Mingan Islands of Quebec and was initially described from Nevada, in the western United States. The taxon has also been reported as other species of Archaeoscyphia from Ordovician rocks of Missouri and from the San Juan region of Argentina.


Species Of The Cretaceous Tree Fern Tempskya From Utah, William D. Tidwell, Naomi Hebbert Sep 1992

Species Of The Cretaceous Tree Fern Tempskya From Utah, William D. Tidwell, Naomi Hebbert

Faculty Publications

Nine species of the permineralized stems of Tempskya were investigated from the Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain and Burro Canyon Formations, and the lower Upper Cretaceous Dakota Formation in central and southeastern Utah. Tempskya jonesii, T. stichkae, and T. readii are new and are differentiated on the basis of the radial orientation of their dorsiventral stems, their internodal lengths, the lack of sclerenchyma in the inner cortex of T. jonesii, the three nearly continuous zones of sclerenchyma in the inner cortex off T. stichkae, and the completely sclerotic inner cortex of T. readii. Specimens of T. jonesii and T. minor were …


Tomlinsonia Stichkania Sp. Nov., A Permineralized Grass From The Pliocene To (?)Pleistocene China Ranch Beds In Sperry Wash, California, William D. Tidwell, E. M. V. Nambudiri Jun 1990

Tomlinsonia Stichkania Sp. Nov., A Permineralized Grass From The Pliocene To (?)Pleistocene China Ranch Beds In Sperry Wash, California, William D. Tidwell, E. M. V. Nambudiri

Faculty Publications

Permineralized specimens of grasses assignable to Tomlinsonia as a new species Tomlinsonia stichkania occur in the China Ranch beds of Pliocene to possible Pleistocene age in Sperry Wash in the Alexander Hills of southeastern California. The round culm of these grasses is generally solid or occasionally hollow with collateral vascular bundles in the distinct outer and indistinct inner rings. Two-ranked leaf sheaths alternately encircle and overlap the culm. Ridges and furrows occur in the abaxial surfaces of the sheaths. The epidermis of the leaf sheaths is similar to that of the culm. The leaf lamina consists of a three-layered mesophyll. …


Aurealcaulis Crossii Gen. Et Sp. Nov., An Arborescent, Osmundaceous Trunk From The Fort Union Formation (Paleocene), Wyoming, William D. Tidwell, Lee R. Parker Jun 1987

Aurealcaulis Crossii Gen. Et Sp. Nov., An Arborescent, Osmundaceous Trunk From The Fort Union Formation (Paleocene), Wyoming, William D. Tidwell, Lee R. Parker

Faculty Publications

Aurealcaulis crossii gen. et sp. nov., is based on permineralized trunks of an osmundaceous tree fern from the Paleocene Fort Union Formation from near Bitter Creek Station of southwestern Wyoming. This new species is characterized by centripetal (exarch) development of its xylem strands which form part of the leaf traces. Most of the leaf traces depart the stele as two segments that fuse into a single C-shaped petiole vascular strand outside of the outer cortex. Stipular expansions of the petiole bases of this species lack sclerenchyma, and roots arise from the lateral edges of leaf traces in the inner cortex. …


Pinuxylon Woolardii Sp. Nov., A New Petrified Taxon Of Pinaceae From The Miocene Basalts Of Eastern Oregon, William D. Tidwell, Lee R. Parker, Vaughn K. Folkman Nov 1986

Pinuxylon Woolardii Sp. Nov., A New Petrified Taxon Of Pinaceae From The Miocene Basalts Of Eastern Oregon, William D. Tidwell, Lee R. Parker, Vaughn K. Folkman

Faculty Publications

Specimens of the new species Pinuxylon wollardii have been collected from Miocene strata near Kurkee, OR. These petrified specimens are unique in that, due to weathering, individual tracheids and ray cells can be separated for detailed SEM studies. This species is characterized by its high number of ray cells; numerous rays; large resin ducts which are commonly paired; primarily uniseriate pitting, two to five (usually three) small, oval or cirular pinoid pits per crossfield; and smooth walls on its transverse (ray) tracheids. The latter character relates this species to taxa in the subgenus Haploxylon of Pinus. Pinuxylon woolardii is most …


Arnoldia Kuesii, A New Juvenile Fernlike Plant From The Lower Permian Of New Mexico, William D. Tidwell, Sidney Ash Jun 1986

Arnoldia Kuesii, A New Juvenile Fernlike Plant From The Lower Permian Of New Mexico, William D. Tidwell, Sidney Ash

Faculty Publications

A nearly complete juvenile fernlike plant is described here from Lower Permian rocks of New Mexico. The fossil consists of a horizontal rhizome with roots, a short thick upright aerial branch, and a tuft of dimorphic leaves. It is assigned to Arnodia kuesii gen. et sp. n. and appears to be the first juvenile fernlike plant known from the Upper Paleozoic. Abundant palynomorphs and other plant fossils associated with the fossil indicate that it is Early Permian in age.


Interconnected Reproductive And Vegetative Remains Of Populus (Salicaceae) From The Middle Eocene Green River Formation, Northeastern Utah, William D. Tidwell, Steven R. Manchester, David L. Dilcher Jan 1986

Interconnected Reproductive And Vegetative Remains Of Populus (Salicaceae) From The Middle Eocene Green River Formation, Northeastern Utah, William D. Tidwell, Steven R. Manchester, David L. Dilcher

Faculty Publications

A new specimen from the Middle Eocene Evacuation Creek Member of the Green River Formation in northeastern Utah shows a twig with several leaves of Populus wilmattae Crockrell and a fruiting raceme attache. This specimen establishes for the first time the type of fruits borne by P. wilmattae and provides additional characters with which to assess its taxonomic and evolutionary status. An associated seed shows attached placental hairs like those of extant species of Populus. The Green River fossil differs from extant Populus species in having basically palmate leaf venation and in bearing its fruiting axis on a young twig. …


Flora Of The Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation Of Utah And Colorado; Part Iii, Icacinoxylon Pittiense N. Sp., William D. Tidwell, Gregory F. Thayn, W. L. Stokes Feb 1985

Flora Of The Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation Of Utah And Colorado; Part Iii, Icacinoxylon Pittiense N. Sp., William D. Tidwell, Gregory F. Thayn, W. L. Stokes

Faculty Publications

Icacinoxylon pittiense, a new species of angiospermous wood from the Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah is described and compared with similar fossil and modern woods. It is distinguished from other species of Icacinoxylon by its thick-walled fiber-tracheids with their walls making up at least 50% of the total diameter of the cells, conspicuous bordered pits with obliquely crossing extended apertures on both the tangential and radial walls of its fiber-tracheids, scalariform perforation plates with as few as four or greater than 30 bars, transitional opposite to scalariform pitting on its vessel walls, thick-walled ray cells, and distinct sheath …


Conifer Wood From The Upper Jurassic Of Utah; I, Xenoxylon Morrisonense Sp. Nov., William D. Tidwell, David A. Medlyn Feb 1975

Conifer Wood From The Upper Jurassic Of Utah; I, Xenoxylon Morrisonense Sp. Nov., William D. Tidwell, David A. Medlyn

Faculty Publications

A new species of conifer wood, Xenoxylon morrisonense, is described from the Morrison Formation on the Colorado Plateau. It is compared with other species of Xenoxylon, with X. latiporosum being the closest. Xenoxylon morrisonense differs from X. latiporosum in its marked indentations, simple pits on the horizontal and tangential walls of ray cells, absence of crassulae, presence of wood parenchyma, and thin borders on podocarpoid type crossfield pits. The origin of the septa in the tracheids is summarized, and the possible affinity of Xenoxylon with the Podocarpaceae is considered.