Geology Commons^™

40ar/39ar Age Constraints On Deformation And Metamorphism In The Maine Central Thrust Zone And Tibetan Slab, Eastern Nepal Himalaya, Mary S. Hubbard, T. M. Harrison

Geosciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Petrology Of Passive Margin-Epeiric Sea Sediments: The Garden City Formation, North-Central Utah, Susan K. Morgan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Lower Ordovician Garden City Formation is part of the thick sequence of Lower Paleozoic limestones, dolostones, and minor siliciclastic sedimentary rocks of the western United States. The carbonate rocks were formed predominantly by shallow water deposition in tropical, passive-margin epeiric seas.

The Garden City Formation is composed of nine lithotypes which represent the various environments. The formation is a storm-influenced transgressive sequence which may be divided into innershelf shallow subtidal and outer-shelf deep subtidal environments separated by a skeletal accumulation. The skeletal accumulation, formed by storm initiation, was a submerged topographic high, below normal wave base. The inner shelf …

Quaternary Geology And Tectonic Geomorphology Of The Pocatello Valley Area, Idaho-Utah, John D. Garr

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Pocatello Valley in southeastern Idaho and northern Utah is a structural and topographic basin bounded on all sides by mountains composed of Paleozoic platform carbonates and elastics. In the late Pleistocene it contained pluvial Lake Utaho, which, prior to 1981, was considered to have been an arm of Lake Bonneville. This study corroborates the finding of Currey (1981) that the two lakes were separate.

The Quaternary deposits examined in this study are divided into two broad groups: those that were deposited prior to the last pluvial lake cycle, and those that were deposited during and after the pluvial lake maximum, …

Petrology Of The Middle Cambrian Langston And Ute Formations In Southeastern Idaho, Daniel T. Rogers

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Middle Cambrian Langston and Ute formations were studied in the northern portion of the Bear River Range and the south-central part of the Portneuf Range in southeastern Idaho.

The rocks of the Langston and Ute formations were divided into 17 different rock types. The 17 rock types were formed within four recognizable lithofacies: I) Shoal - or Coastal-Peritidal Carbonate Complex; 2) Agitated Shoal; 3) Inner Marine Shelf; and 4) Outer Marine Shelf. Clastic sediments belonging to the Spence Shale Member of the Langston Formation (outer marine shelf) were deposited over the carbonate complex. A transgressive sequence marks the base …

Spatial And Temporal Landslide Distribution And Hazard Evaluation Analyzed By Photogeologic Mapping And Relative-Dating Techniques, Salt River Range, Wyoming, John B. Rice Jr.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The distribution of landslide type and age was analyzed to determine the causes and timing of landsliding, and to assess landslide hazards in the study area. 1173 landslides and zones of landsliding were mapped on 1:15,840 scale air photos and designated by their style of movement and age. Slides were assigned to one of four age classes based on their degree of morphologic modification visible on air photos. Relative dating (RD) methods previously applied to glacial deposits were used to refine and calibrate the age classification.

Eleven RD para meters were measured on 21 rockslide and 19 glacial deposits. Cluster …

Surficial Geology Of The Smithfield Quadrangle, Cache County, Utah, Michael V. Lowe

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Smithfield 7.5' quadrangle is located about 13.8 kilometers (8.6 miles) south of the Utah-Idaho State Line and occupies the central portion of the eastern side of Cache Valley, Utah. The mapped area contains more than 55 square miles. The Bear River Range on the eastern side of the quadrangle contains stratigraphic units ranging from Precambrian to Quaternary age. Cache Valley contains deposits of Tertiary and Quaternary age. Quaternary units in the Smithfield quadrangle are subdivided into thirty-two map units based on age and genesis. Five ages of Quaternary units are identified, and these units are assigned to one of …

Petrology Of Pliocene (?) Basalts Of Curlew Valley (Box Elder Co.), Utah, Steven Brent Kerr

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Basalt outcrops in Curlew Valley consist of several flow remnants and eruptive centers situated along the valley margins. Basalt is also found in association with salic rocks that erupted in the central portion of the valley. The basalts are of probable Pliocene age and were erupted during a period of active extensional tectonics. Since their emplacement, the basalts have been extensively eroded and downfaulted. The present morphology reflects the erosional and depositional processes of prehistoric Lake Bonneville.

Twelve samples were analyzed chemically for major oxides, trace elements, and rare-earth elements. The basalts form a hypersthene normative series ranging from olivine …

Hydrogeology And Hydrochemistry Of Springs In Mantua Valley And Vicinity, North-Central Utah, Karen C. Rice

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Chemical and tritium analyses of groundwater, precipitation and discharge records, fracture orientations, lineaments, and structural, stratigraphic, and topographic relationships have been used to describe the groundwater systems of Mantua Valley, north-central Utah. Groundwater flows through fractured Paleozoic quartzites and carbonate rocks and discharges from eleven perennial springs in Mantua Valley. Permeability in quartzites is the result of intense faulting and jointing. Groundwater in carbonate aquifers flows through fractures and/or fractures modified by solution and discharges as relatively large springs (up to 227 liters per second). Neogene normal faulting, rather than extensive karst processes, has produced valleys which are closed or …

Geology And Mining Industry Of The Tintic District, Utah, George Warren Tower, Jr., George Otis Smith

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

The field work upon which this report is based was begun in July, 1897, and continued without interruption until December of the same year. The area studied is approximated 15 miles square and contains 234 square miles. The topographic maps, which are two in number, were prepared under the direction of Mr. R. U. Goode, Mr. S. S. Gannett doing the triangulation and Messrs. Marshall and Griswold the topography in the fall of 1896 and summer of 1897. The mapping is done on two scales; the larger area, approximately 15 miles square, is mapped on a scale of 1:62,500. This …

Diagenesis And Water Chemistry Of The Woodbine Group In The East Texas Basin, Helmuth Victor Wuerch

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Petrographic and SEM study of flu vial-deltaic sections of the Woodbine Group in the East Texas Basin indicates that authigenic mineral suites are controlled, in part, by the presence of organic-rich matrix.

During early, precompaction diagenesis, organic matter supplied the metabolic fuel required by sulfate-reducing bacteria to reduce sulfate in depositional waters ultimately to pyrite. With burial the sulfate supply was ultimately exhausted, and bicarbonate activity thereafter controlled the precipitation of siderite and Fe-calcite.

Matrix material supplied the components and reaction sites for the most import ant porosity-occluding reaction: kaolinite --> Fe,M g chlorite. Matrix physically inhibited the growth of …

Petrology Of The Late Proterozoic(?) - Early Cambrian Arumbera Sandstone And The Late Proterozoic Quandong Conglomerate, East-Central Amadeus Basin, Central Australia, Johnnie O. Phillips

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Throughout the James Ranges and Gardiner Range the Arumbera Sandstone forms prominent strike ridges with distinctive dark reddish slopes and pale red to orange-white cliffs. Because of their lithologic and stratigraphic similarities, the names Eninta and ''Quandong" for these units should be suppressed in favor of the name of Arumbera Sandstone, which has precedence. The stratigraphic and lithologic differences observed between the Quandong Conglomerate in the type locality and the Arumbera Sandstone in the study area suggest that these units are not equivalent. Similarites with the Areyonga Formation suggest the Quandong Conglomerate could be part of the Areyonga Formation.

Lithofacies …

Sedimentological And Foraminiferal Characterization Of A Holocene Island Slope (130-240m), North Jamaica, Craig V. Nelson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Recent carbonate sediments from (133-236m) on the northern Jamaican island slope are significantly different from shallower reef zones (l-70m) in grain constituents, textural parameters, and foraminiferal assemblages. The island slope sediment is dominated by coral fragments, calcareous algae, Halimeda plates, and foraminiferal tests. The sediment is characteristically poorly-sorted, nearly-symmetrically skewed, and mesokurtic, with a mean grain size in the fine sand range. Mineralogically, the sediment is predominantly aragonite (66%) and high-Mg calcite (22%), with some calcite (8%), and minor amounts of clays and other insoluble minerals (4%).

Q-mode cluster analyses of sediment constituents, textural parameters, and foraminiferal species and larger …

Structural Geology Of The Central Part Of Clarkston Mountain, Malad Range, Utah, Douglas A. Green

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The central part of Clarkston Mountain is located in northcentral Utah in the southern part of the Malad Range. It is northwest of Clarkston, Utah. The mapped area measures 2.5 mi. in the north-south direction and 6.5 mi. in the east-west direction. It is within the Basin and Range Province.

The Ute Formation of Middle Cambrian age is the oldest exposed stratigraphic unit. Other Cambrian units, in ascending order, are: Blacksmith Formation, Bloomington Formation, Nounan Formation, and St. Charles Formation. These units consist predominantly of limestone, dolostone, and shale. Units of Ordovician age include the Garden City Formation and the …

The Surficial Geology And Neotectonics Of Hansel Valley, Box Elder County, Utah, Robert M. Robison

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Hansel Valley, located at the north end of the Great Salt Lake in Box Elder County, Utah, has exposures of the lacustrine sediments of the Little Valley, Bonneville, and Gilbert lake cycles. A 1:50,000 scale map was constructed of the surface geology. Although no trenches were dug for this study, about 240m of logs were compiled in an arroyo in lake bottom sediments. Sediments from at least three lake cycles were found in this gully: 1) compact bottom deposits from the Little Valley cycle; 2) bottom sediments from an intermediate cycle (the Hansel Valley cycle); and 3) beach gravel and …

Potential Geologic Hazards Near The Thistle Landslide, Utah County, Utah, United States Geological Survey

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

In mid-April, 1983, an old landslide near Thistle, Utah, began to move, and within days had blocked Spanish Fork Canyon. As the slide's movement continued, construction crews gradually converted the toe of the slide into an earth-filled dam--Thistle dam--that impounded northwest-flowing Spanish Fork River. The resultant reservoir, known as Thistle Lake, was subsequently drained because of uncertainty about the stability of the dam. Recently, officials of Utah County have explored various alternatives for a water-retention structure in the area, including utilization of Thistle dam. The Thistle Slide Committee, established by the State of Utah to evaluate the suitability of using …

Chemical Quality Of Ground Water In Salt Lake Valley, Utah, 1969-85, United States Geological Survey

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

During 1979-84, 35 wells completed in the principal aquifer in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah, that had been sampled during 1962-67 were resampled to determine if water-quality changes had occurred. The dissolved-solids concentration of the water from 13 of the wells has increased by more than 10 percent since 1962-67.

Kinematics Of Great Basin Intraplate Extension From Earthquake, Geodetic And Geologic Information, Paul Kendall Eddington

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

Strain rates assessed from brittle fracture, associated with earthquakes, and total brittle-ductile deformation measured from geodetic data have been compared to paleostrain from Quaternary geology for the intraplate Great Basin of the western United States. These data provide an assessment of the kinematics and mode of lithospheric extension that the western U.S. Cordillera has experienced in the last 5-10 million years. Strain and deformation rates were determined by the seismic moment tensor method using historic seismicity and fault plane solutions. By subdividing the Great Basin into areas of homogeneous strain it was possible to examine regional variations in the strain …

The Petrology And Mineralogy Of Tertiary(?) Olivine Trachyte In The Harrington Peak Quadrangle, Southeastern Idaho, Amanda Shearer-Fullerton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Harrington Peak Quadrangle is located within the Caribou National Forest of southeast Idaho. Within this quadrangle are outcrops of olivine trachyte of Pliocene(?) age overlying sedimentary rocks of Mississippian to Tertiary age. The region contains thrust faults and later normal faults (generally trending north-south} formed during Basin and Range extension.

The Largest outcrop of olivine trachyte (approximately1 1/2 X 3 km) probably formed as the result of a fissure eruption. Two other outcrop areas show evidence of being sites of local extrusion.

Whole-rock chemical analyses revealed the olivine trachyte to have moderate amounts of SiO₂ and Al_{2O …}

Structural Geology Of Eastern Part Of Dairy Ridge Quadrangle And Western Part Of Meachum Ridge Quadrangle, Utah, Val A. Kienast

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A detailed geologic investigation was made of the eastern part of the Dairy Ridge Quadrangle and the western part of the Meachum Ridge Quadrangle, Utah. The area is located in north-central Utah in Rich County. It lies between lat. 41°22'30" N. and lat. 41°28'50" N. and between long. 111°21'40" W. and long. 111°25'15" W. The area measures 13.8 km in the north-south direction and 5.5 km in the east-west direction. It is on the eastern side of the Wasatch Range about 20 km west-southwest of Randolph, Utah.

Stratigraphic units of Precambrian to Cambrian age crop out in the western part …

Petrology And Mineralogy Of Tertiary(?) Volcanic Rocks West And Southwest Of Kelton (Box Elder Co.), Utah, R. L. Voit

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Kelton, Utah, area has numerous, isolated basaltic outcrops of probable Tertiary age mostly in the form of cuestas with steep faces displaying columnar joints. One ash-flow tuff is located in the southeastern part of the study area. Basaltic fragments in the tuff indicate that pyroclastic activity was preceded by extrusion of basalt.

Effects of Lake Bonneville on the basaltic outcrops include wave­cut terraces, scarps, and other wave-built forms in low lying areas. Massive carbonate deposits formed at levels of former shorelines of Lake Bonneville. Tertiary and Quaternary deposits cover the low- lying areas between basaltic flows, and consist of …

Sequential Thrusting Beneath The Willard Thrust Fault, Wasatch Mountains, Ogden, Utah, Tad William Schirmer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The downstructure of viewing geologic maps, balanced and cross sections, and hanging-wall-sequence diagrams are applied to produce the first comprehensive synthesis of the structure below the willard thrust sheet.

Development of the duplex beneath the Willard thrust may be explained with a "piggyback" thrust model where younger thrust slices form below and fold an older, overlying thrust sheet. Progressive failure of the footwall ramp of the Willard thrust sheet extended the sole thrust eastward and produced a duplex consisting of thrust slices (horses) which adhered to the overriding thrust sheet where it ramped from a lower sole thrust to an …

Structural Geology Of The Northern Part Of Elkhorn Mountain, Bannock Range, Idaho, Stephen R. Crook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Northern Elkhorn Mountain was unmapped previous to this investigation. The mapped area is located north of Malad City, Idaho, in the Bannock Range. It is within the Basin and Range Province. The mapped area measures 5.4 mi. in the north-south direction and 8.9 mi. in the east-west direction.

The oldest exposed stratigraphic unit, within the mapped area, consists of orthoquartzite and is of Early Cambrian age. Cambrian formations of the mapped area, in ascending order, are as follows: Camelback Mountain Quartzite, Gibson Jack Formation, Elkhead Formation, Bloomington Formation, Nounan Formation, and St. Charles Formation. Units of Ordovician age are the …

Parameters Controlling Sediment Composition Of Modern And Pleistocene Jamaican Reefs, Stephen K. Boss

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Recent carbonate sediments from Jamaican north coast fringing reefs display variation in constituent composition, texture, and mineralogy related to their location on the reef. Samples were collected along lines which traversed the back reef and fore reef (0.5m to 70m).

The sediment is dominated by highly comminuted coral fragments, plates of the calcareous green alga, Halimeda, coralline algae, and the encrusting Foraminifera, Homotrema rubrum, with lesser amounts of other taxonomic groups (Foraminifera; molluscs; echinoderms). Relative abundances of these biotic components vary between sites. Q-mode cluster analysis indicates that constituent composition can be used to delineate the different reef …

The Petrology Of The Early Middle Cambrian Giles Creek And Upper Chandler Formations, Northeastern Amadeus Basin, Central Australia, James A. Deckelman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Giles Creek and upper Chandler formations crop out in the northeastern Amadeus Basin from the north flank of Ross River syncline south to the Pillar Range, and from the nose of Ooraminna anticline east to the Simpson Desert. Twenty-four sections of the Giles Creek and nineteen sections of the upper Chandler were measured by the author in this area. The Giles Creek lies disconformably above the upper Chandler Formation and conformably below the Shannon Formation. The upper Chandler is conformably underlain by the lower Chandler throughout the area except at Ross River Gorge and Wallaby No. 1 well. There …

Petrology Of The Late Proterozoic(?)-Early Cambrian Arumbera Sandstone, Western Macdonnell Ranges, North-Central Amadeus Basin, Central Australia, Lonn P. Hamp

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Arumbera Sandstone consists of mappable informal units which are repeated in a vertical, cyclic succession. Sandstones of fluvial origin form resistant strike ridges separated by strike valleys, which consist of recessive sandstones and mudrocks of marine origin.

Lithofacies 1a, 2b, and 3a are probably of marine origin in intertidal environments. Trace fossil assemblages in lithofacies 3a suggest Skolithos and Cruziana inchnofacies were present. Lithofacies 1e, 2a, 2c, 3b, and 4a are probably of fluvial origin, as the result of coalescing braided stream deposits. The Arumbera Sandstone probably was deposited in a deltaic environment characterized by low wave energy, a …

Petrology And Mineralogy Of Tertiary(?) Volcanic Rocks Of Snowville Area, Utah, And Tertiary-Quaternary(?) Volcanic Rocks Of Table Mountain And Holbrook Areas, Idaho, Yunshuen Wang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Basalt flows occur in the Snowville area of north-central Utah and the Table Mountain and Holbrook areas of south-central Idaho. All basalt flows are aphanitic in groundmass, and contain olivine, plagioclase, augite, and opaque oxides. They can be distinguished by texture. Snowville basalt has predominantly subophitic to intergranular textures. Table Mountain basalt is fine grained, with stumpy groundmass plagioclase and equant ilmenite crystals. Holbrook basalt has pilotaxitic to intergranular textures, with the presence of plagioclase phenocrysts and characteristic exsolution lamellae in Fe-Ti oxides. The olivine grains in Holbrook area are intensely oxidized to Fe-Ti oxides.

Snowville basalt contains olivine phenocrysts …

Preliminary Geologic Map Of The Nephi 30' By 60' Quadrangle, Carbon, Emery, Juab, Sanpete, Utah, And Wasatch Counties, Utah, United States Geological Survey

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

The U.S. Geological Survey is engaged in a program of field studies designed to present the geologic framework of the United States on easily read topographic maps. The maps selected as a base for these geologic data are part of the Army Map Service (AMS) series of 1° by 2° quadrangles at a scale of 1:250,000. The Price, Utah AMS 1:250,000 quadrangle is one of these maps (fig.1). For certain areas, however, chiefly those sectors of the country involved in the Geological Survey's coal exploration program, the geologic data are being compiled on newly developed base maps at a scale …

Bedrock Aquifers Of Eastern San Juan County, Utah, United States Geological Survey

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

This study is one of a series of studies appraising the water-bearing properties of the Navajo Sandstone and associated formations in southern Utah. The study area is about 4,600 square miles, extending from the Utah-Arizona State line northward to the San Juan-Grand County line and westward from the Utah-Colorado State line to the longitude of about 109 degrees 50 minutes.

Evaluation Of Low-Temperature Geothermal Potential In North-Central Box Elder County, Utah, Matthew C. Davis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to continue the assessment of low-temperature geothermal resources in Utah started by the Utah Geological and Mineral Survey. The area of interest with in this report is north-central Box Elder County, Utah. Exploration techniques used included chemical analyses of water from wells and springs, temperature surveys, and temperature-depth measurements in unused wells within the study area. The highest water temperatures (31, 30, and 29°C) recorded in this research were located in three separate geographic regions, suggesting that no single warm water occurrence dominates the study area.

Total dissolved solid (TDS) concentrations ranged from 294 …

Structure And Petrology Of Tertiary Volcanic Rocks In Parts Of Toms Cabin Spring And Lucin Nw Quadrangles (Box Elder Co.), Utah, Bruce Edward Scarbrough

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A series of late Tertiary rhyolitic and dacitic flows, domes, and minor pyroclastic rocks form an elongate volanic mass along the northwestern Utah-northeastern Nevada border. The structure of the flow banding and the linear arrangement of vents indicate that the mass represents a multi-sourced extrusive complex which erupted through many fissure-type conduits. A 39 km² area at the southern end of the mass was studied in detail in order to gain a better understanding of the eruptive nature and history of these Tertiary volcanic rocks. Age dating reveals that volcanism in the study area was episodic, and covered a …