Glaciology Commons^™

Reservoir Potential Of Sands Formed In Glaciomarine Environments: An Analog Study Based On Cenozoic Examples From Mcmurdo Sound, Antarctica, Christopher R. Fielding, Brian A. Blackstone, Tracy D. Frank, Zi Gui

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

This paper provides documentation of unexpectedly high-reservoir-quality glaciomarine sands found in the Cenozoic succession beneath McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, as an analogue study for evaluations of hydrocarbon prospectivity in basins elsewhere. The Oligocene to Lower Miocene succession of the Victoria Land Basin, an extant portion of the West Antarctic Rift System, comprises diamictites, mudrocks, and sandstones with minor conglomerates. These lithologies are arranged in repetitive stacking patterns (cycles), interpreted to record repeated advance and retreat of glaciers into and out of the basin, with attendant eustatic and isostatic effects. Phases of ice retreat within the cycles comprise an array of mudrocks, …

Mountain Evolution And Environmental Changes Of Huangshan, China, P.-H. Huang, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., M. Yang, Patricia E. Helland

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) is located in southern part of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The highest Lotus Flower peak is 1,864 m above sea level. Formative ages of the Huangshan and its granite, process of mountain geomorphic evolution from the Eocene to Quaternary, environmental changes of Quaternary, formative origin of beautiful peaks and fascinating rocks were studied and questionable "Pleistocene glaciation" was also discussed in this paper.

Ages Of The Whitewater And Fairhaven Tills In Southwestern Ohio And Southeastern Indiana, Barry B. Miller, William D. Mccoy, William J. Wayne, C. Scott Brockman

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Alloisoleucine/isoleucine (aIle/Ile) ratios obtained from fossil mollusc shells collected at localities in southwestern Ohio and southeastern Indiana, where they occur in silt beds associated with the Whitewater and Fairhaven tills, indicate a pre-Wisconsinan age for these tills, which had previously been thought to be early or middle Wisconsinan.

The aIle/Ile ratios in shells from beneath the buried soil (Sidney soil) and till exposed near Sidney, Ohio, are most similar to values in shells obtained from Illinoian sediments at Clough Creek in Hamilton County, Ohio; Mechanicsburg southwest, Illinois; and Trousdale Mine in Vermillion Co., Indiana. The first well-developed weathering profile in …

Ice-Wedge Casts Of Wisconsinan Age In Eastern Nebraska, William J. Wayne

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Sand-filled, wedge-shaped structures beneath a thin layer of aeolian sand penetrate a preIllinoian till and gravel in northeastern Nebraska. Interpreted to be relic thermal contraction crack wedges, they provide the first definite evidence in this State of the former presence of permafrost. The wedges are 5- 7 m apart, 1.8-2.8 m deep and 0.6-0.9 m across at the top, taper downward to a crack and intersect to form polygons. They are filled with medium sand that contains mostly rounded and frosted grains. Vertical fabric is present in each wedge. Ventifacts lie along the top of the till, which is covered …

Glacial Chronology Of The Ruby Mountains–East Humboldt Range, Nevada, William J. Wayne

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The Ruby Mountains-East Humboldt Range, one of the interior mountain groups of the Basin and Range Province, lies about midway between the Wasatch Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. After Blackwelder’s description in his review of glaciation in the western mountains, Sharp mapped and named the deposits of the Lamoille and Angel Lake glaciations and correlated them with early and late Wisconsin deposits of the Great Lakes area. The refinement of relative dating (RD) methods, the availability of air photos and modem topographic maps, and new road cuts have aided the restudy of these alpine glacial deposits and the basis for …

Multiple Glaciations Of The Cordon Del Plata, Mendoza, Argentina [Glaciaciones Multiples Del Cordon Del Plata, Mendoza, Argentina], William J. Wayne, Arturo E. Corte

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Evidence exists for four glaciations in the Río Blanco basin west of Mendoza, Argentina. Morphology, superposition of tills, soil-profile development, loess thickness, and boulder weathering have been the techniques most useful in mapping the tills. Glaciers of Vallecitos (= Wisconsinan) age extended to 2600 m and left distinctive moraines. Tills of two preVallecitos glacier advances cover the floor of the valley from 2600 m to below 2100 m, and remnants of one of the tills extend nearly to the junction with Río Mendoza (1400 m) 13 km below the lowest Vallecitos moraines. These deposits were considered to be mudflows rather …

Kansan Proglacial Environment, East-Central Nebraska, William J. Wayne

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

A stream bank along a tributary of Salt Creek in east·central Nebraska displays a sequence of sediments deposited along an eastward flowing stream during part of the approach and subsequent retreat of the last ice sheet to expand into this area during the Kansan glaciation. The section exposes a series of beds of calcareous silt which contain fossil·rich lenses. Sediment characteristics and the habitat requirements of 31 species of snails recovered suggest that the silts accumulated on an aggrading floodplain and probably were derived from erosion of unweathered cal· careous till and calcareous wind·blown silts deposited during an earlier ice …

Epeirogenic And Climatic Controls Of Early Pleistocene Fluvial Sediment Dispersal In Nebraska, K. O. Stanley, William J. Wayne

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The change from Pliocene to Pleistocene fluvial sedimentation in Nebraska is denoted by gravel with relative enrichment of mechanically weak rock species and a two-fold increase in largest clast size. These changes in fluvial sediments suggest modification in degradational energy affecting detritus apparently related to deterioration of climate in the early Pleistocene. Cooler Pleistocene climates with increased moisture resulted in greater discharge and carrying capacity for streams headed in the Rocky Mountains and flowing across Nebraska. These streams carried granitic detritus eastward toward the continental glacier margin in easternmost Nebraska. There, streams flowing off ice sheets carrying sedimentary and metamorphic …

Pleistocene Evolution Of The Ohio And Wabash Valleys, William J. Wayne

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Studies of drift thickness and character currently in progress in Indiana indicate changes in drainage that have occurred in Indiana and some adjoining states since the beginning of the Pleistocene epoch. After late Tertiary (Lexington) peneplanation the master-drainage line, the Mahomet-Teays Valley system, became entrenched about 200 feet below its former level before it was ponded by Nebraskan ice and diverted into a new course. During the Parker cycle, which was interrupted by glaciation, the present physiographic features of southern Indiana and their now buried extensions to the north became recognizable. Static rejuvenation then was a major factor in erosion …

Glacial Geology Of Wabash County, Indiana, William J. Wayne, William D. Thornbury

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Most of the topographic features of Wabash County are of glacial origin or are glacial deposits eroded by postglacial streams. Shales, limestones, and dolomites, all Silurian, are exposed only along some of the deeper valleys. Four major rivers and six smaller streams in Wabash County flow in glacial sluiceways. Only the Eel and Wabash sluiceways carried large quantities of melt-water. The Eel River valley train occupies an interlobate position, and the Wabash Valley bears evidence of its roles as a sluiceway and as an outlet for glacial Lake Maumee in late Cary time. Three topographic areas comprise the upland part …