Earth Sciences Commons^™

The Continental Crust: Its Composition And Evolution, Stuart Ross Taylor, Scott M. Mclennan

Department of Geosciences Faculty Publications

Graduates in geology, geochemistry and geophysics will find this book a valuable reference text. The book begins by describing the known composition of the present upper crust, then deals with possible compositions for the total crust and the inferred composition of the lower crust. The question of the uniformity of crustal composition throughout geological time is discussed, the rate of growth of the crust and the effects of extraction of the crust on mantle compositions are considered. Finally, the question of early pre-geological crusts on Earth is debated and comparisons are given with crusts on the Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus …

Basal Tissue Structure In The Earliest Euconodonts: Testing Hypotheses Of Developmental Plasticity In Euconodont Phylogeny, Xi-Ping Dong, Philip C. J. Donoghue, John E. Repetski

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The hypothesis that conodonts are vertebrates rests solely on evidence of soft tissue anatomy. This has been corroborated by microstructural, topological and developmental evidence of homology between conodont and vertebrate hard tissues. However, these conclusions have been reached on the basis of evidence from highly derived euconodont taxa and the degree to which they are representative of plesiomorphic euconodonts remains an open question. Furthermore, the range of variation in tissue types comprising the euconodont basal body has been used to establish a hypothesis of developmental plasticity early in the phylogeny of the clade, and a model of diminishing potentiality in …

The Stratigraphic Position Of Fossil Vertebrates From The Pojoaque Member Of The Tesuque Formation (Middle Miocene, Late Barstovian) Near Española, New Mexico, Garrett R. Williamson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The stratigraphy of the Pojoaque Member of the Tesuque Formation near Española, NM is not well understood. This region, during the Middle Miocene, represented a dynamic alluvial fan-fluvial-lacustrine environment within the Española Basin while the Rio Grande Rift was active. Cavazza (1986) identified two paleodrainage systems (lithosome A, basin-margin facies and B, basin-floor facies) by means of sandstone and conglomerate petrology, paleocurrent, and sedimentary facies analyses. After x-ray diffraction analyses of claystones within lithosome B, mordenite was discovered, which is a zeolite mineral commonly found within volcanic rocks. This is significant because the presence of mordenite confirms Cavazza’s (1986) conclusion …

Geology Of The Moose River And Roach River Synclinoria, Northwestern Maine, Arthur J. Boucot, Edward W. Heath

Maine Collection

Geology of the Moose River and Roach River Synclinoria, Northwestern Maine

by Arthur J. Boucot, with contributions by Edward W. Heath

Bulletin No.21, Maine Geological Survey

Department of Economic Development, Augusta, Maine (August, 1969).

Contents: Abstract / Introduction / Stratigraphy / Intrusive Rocks / Metamorphism / Structure / Large Scale Maps / Somerset Island / Lobster Island / Historical Geology / The Problem of Shell Beds / References / Appendix I /

A Report On Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs In Nebraska, Their Biology, Behavior, Ecology, Management, And Responses To A Visual Barrier Fence, Nancy S. Foster

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

I examined the effects of a visual barrier fence, which had a see-through visibility of 600/0, on the foraging, vigilance, and aggressive behaviors of adult female black-tailed prairie dogs from June through August 1990 in central Nebraska. I also examined changes in their home ranges and use of an area in response to this fence. Prairie dogs prefer an open view of their surroundings. Therefore, I expected animals near a visual barrier to spend more time in vigilance and aggression, and less time foraging. Adult female prairie dogs exposed to the visual barrier devoted more time to foraging and less …

Pleistocene Bats (Late Irvingtonian And Late Rancholabrean) From Nuckolls And Sherman Counties, Nebraska, Nicholas J. Czaplewski, Richard George Corner

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

We document rare finds of fossil bats from two localities representing the Pleistocene epoch in southern and central Nebraska, Albert Ahrens locality (No-104, late Irvingtonian age, Middle Pleistocene), Nuckolls County, and Litchfield (Sm-102, late Rancholabrean age, latest Pleistocene), Sherman County. The Albert Ahrens local fauna with strong boreal influence has produced two bats, Lasiurus cf. borealis and Cf. Myotis sp. The Litchfield local fauna, also showing a strong boreal influence, has yielded two bats, Eptesicus fuscus and Cf. Myotis, among a diverse Pleistocene fauna of small vertebrates and a pollen record indicating a boreal mixed conifer and deciduous woodland, …

Encyclopedia Of Snow, Ice And Glaciers, Vijay P. Singh, Pratap Singh, Umesh K. Haritashya

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

The objective of this encyclopedia is to present the current state of scientific understanding of various aspects of earth’s cryosphere – snow, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, ice shelves, sea ice, river and lake ice, and permafrost – and their related interdisciplinary connections under one umbrella. Therefore, every effort has been made to provide a comprehensive coverage of cryosphere by including a broad array of topics, such as the atmospheric processes responsible for snow formation; snowfall observations; snow cover and snow surveys; transformation of snow to ice and changes in their properties; classification of ice and glaciers and their worldwide …

Interseismic Strain Accumulation Along The Western Boundary Of The Indian Subcontinent, Walter Szeliga, Roger Bilham, Din Mohammad Kakar, Sarosh H. Lodi

Faculty Scholarship for the Cascadia Hazards Institute

Despite an overall sinistral slip rate of approximately 3 cm/yr, few major earthquakes have occurred in the past 200 years along the Chaman fault system, the western boundary of the India Plate with the Eurasia Plate. GPS and InSAR data reported here indicate sinistral shear velocities of 8-17 mm/yr across the westernmost branches of the fault system, suggesting that a significant fraction of the plate boundary slip is distributed in the fold and fault belt to the east. At its southernmost on-land segment, near the triple junction between the Arabia, Eurasia, and India Plates, we find the velocity across the …

Prevailing Weather Conditions During Summer Seasons Around Gangotri Glacier, Pratap Singh, Umesh K. Haritashya, K. S. Ramasastri, Naresh Kumar

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Meteorological data collected near the snout of the Gangotri Glacier suggest that the study area receives less rainfall. The average seasonal rainfall is observed to be about 260 mm. The rainfall distribution does not show any monsoon impact. Amount of seasonal rainfall is highly variable (131.4-368.8 mm) from year to year, but, in general, August had the maximum rainfall. A verage daily maximum and minimum temperatures were 14.7 and 4.1°C respectively, whereas average mean temperature was 9.4°C. July was recorded as the warmest month. During daytime, wind speed was four times higher than that at night-time. The average daytime and …

A Catalog Of Felt Intensity Data For 570 Earthquakes In India From 1636 To 2009, Stacey Martin, Walter Szeliga

Faculty Scholarship for the Cascadia Hazards Institute

Eight thousand three hundred thirty-nine intensity observations have been evaluated for earthquakes that occurred on the Indian subcontinent and surrounding plate boundaries from the seventeenth century to the present. They characterize 570 earthquakes, more than 90% of which occurred in the past two centuries. The electronic supplement to this article lists these data using European Macroseismic Scale (EMS-98) intensities with their geographic coordinates. We summarize these data graphically in the form of a spatially averaged intensity map for the subcontinent, a map that emphasizes the features of many previously published earthquake hazard maps for the Indian plate, but which more …