Hydrogeochemical exploration for barite, Ouachita Mountains, U.S.A.

Approximately 100 springs were sampled as part of a general geochemical survey in a 130 by 140 km multi-mineralized area of the Ouachita Mountains. The study area was subdivided into Area I and Area II based on differences in lithology and mineralization. Area I is composed primarily of the Paleozoic Stanley Shale and the Arkansas Novaculite Formation, and has considerable manganese (often present as psilomelane) and barite mineralization. The barite occurs primarily as replacement deposits in shale in Area I. Area II is composed of Paleozoic and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks, and Quaternary alluvium. Mercury, antimony, strontium and barite mineralization is present. The barite mineralization occurs as cement in the Cretaceous sandstone and gravel in this area.The widely prevalent barite cement in Area II is reflected by higher median and upper range values of barium concentration and also higher median and threshold % BaSO₄ saturation values. The presence of barite as cement in the sediments of Area II tends to mask the detection of the barite deposits in this area. Approximately 83% of the sites within 1.7 km of known barite mineralization in Area I were characterized by anomalous barium concentration, and 67% within 3.4 km. Anomalous % BaSO₄ saturation values and Ba/Sr ratios produced success rates generally similar to those of anomalous barium concentrations. Anomalous strontium concentrations did not prove effective in detecting barite mineralization.     

High-titania alkali-olivine basalts of north-central Oregon,U.S.A.

In north-central Oregon numerous small flows of alkali-olivine basalt occur in the Oligocene to early Miocene John Day Formation. Chemically, these basalts are characterized by relatively low SiO₂ and K₂O and very high TiO₂ and iron. Fifteen analysed specimens (44 to 48 percent SiO₂) have an average of 3.6 percent TiO₂ and 15 percent total iron. The average composition of the Oregon basalts compares closely with the average hawaiite of the Hawaiian Islands, differing only in having slightly higher iron and slightly lower SiO₂ and total alkalis. Closely associated flows of trachyandesite and quartz latite are chemically related to the basalts and probably formed by differentiation of an alkali-olivine basalt magma.Typical basalt specimens have 10 to 15 percent of modal olivine, interstitial alkali feldspar, and abundant clay minerals and chlorophaeite. Textures are subophitic or intersertal and phenocrysts are rare. Plagioclase laths are slightly zoned and range in composition from An₆₈ to An₄₄. Purplish-brown titaniferous augite is the only pyroxene, and ilmenite is the dominant opaque mineral.Distinct differences in composition and age, and the lack of transitional varieties indicate that these basalts are unrelated to the younger Columbia River basalts. They presumably represent a separate parent magma of alkalic affinity that was generated independently within the mantle.     

Hydrogeochemical exploration for Mississippi valley-type deposits, Arkansas, U.S.A.

Three areas located in northern Arkansas, U.S.A., representing differing host rock and mineralization, were selected to investigate the usefulness of hydrogeochemical exploration for Mississippi Valley-type Pb-Zn mineralization. Despite the geologic differences among the areas, there were no great differences in groundwater chemistry and threshold values. Anomalous Pb concentrations, and also anomalous Zn concentrations to a lesser extent, are useful in detecting the Pb-Zn mineralized areas; however, specific deposits could not be located. Because of the low threshold values (about 20 μg/1) for Pb and Zn, spring water must be utilized in order to avoid plumbing contamination.     

Quaternary lavas from the southern Cascades,western U.S.A.

A series of basaltic and andesitic lavas from three centers in the Cascades (Lassen, Medicine Lake, Mt. Shasta) have been investigated. The lavas are weakly porphyritic, containing phenocrysts of plagioclase, augite, and olivine or orthopyroxene; these phases are also found in the groundmass. Titanomagnetite is a groundmass phase in most lavas but it appears to be absent in some. A sub-calcic augite is found in the groundmass in some of the basic lavas. Orthopyroxenes are present only in the salic lavas and show an increase in calcium with increasing iron. The range in composition shown by both phenocryst and groundmass plagioclase is very similar except that the phenocrysts extend to slightly more calcic compositions. The residual glasses in many of the lavas have a rhyolitic composition. However, only those from the Shasta andesites have normative salic constituents that plot near the ternary minimum in the Ab-Or-Qtz system at 500 bars. Both chemical and mineralogical data allow the lavas of the different centers to be distinguished from one another. The most likely origin for the orogenic lavas of the Cascades is by partial melting of the upper mantle.     

Compaction of wyodak coal,powder river basin,wyoming, U.S.A.

Precise measurements of 54 deformed tree trunks within the subbituminous Wyodak coal seem in northeastern Wyoming were made at eight locations in surface mines along the outcrop north and south of Gillette. Theory of elasticity applied to the individual measurements gives ratios of peat thickness to coal thickness which range from 1.7:1 to 31:1 and average 7.1:1. This result is similar to those previously determined by other methods in other locations. Statistical analysis establishes to a high degree of confidence, however, that the ratios for each mine site vary widely and cannot be considered to be constant or to vary uniformly within the study area.     

The sillimanite-potash feldspar isograd in Western Maine,U.S.A.

The techniques of electron probe microanalysis and x-ray diffractometry have been utilized in a study of the sillimanite-potassium feldspar isograd in western Maine. The isograd reaction is theoretically a discontinuous one, calling for the nearly instantaneous loss of muscovite and crystallization of sillimanite and orthoclase, with a small contribution of albite from the pre-existing plagioclase. In fact, muscovite coexists with orthoclase, sillimanite, and plagioclase for a distance of at least seven miles from the isograd (marked by the initial coexistence of orthoclase and sillimanite). In this assemblage, muscovite has an extremely narrow range of composition, about an average of Ms_93.5Pg_6.5. A possible explanation for the divariant character of the isograd reaction is that, during dehydration, PH₂O slowly increased from initial values less than P_total + rock strength, under conditions of low permeability, the actual value of PH₂O being controlled by a buffer assemblage and local conditions of P and T. An alternative explanation postulates the flattening of thermal gradients following the onset of fractional melting. The isograd reaction is dependent in only a minor way upon the anorthite content of the plagioclase. Below the isograd, a continuous reaction takes place leading to a diminution in paragonite content of muscovite stable in the presence of quartz. It is possible that this reaction leads to the nearly ubiquitous normal zoning of the plagioclase. Changes in the composition of biotite at the isograd are not conspicuous, and can be satisfactorily explained by the release of Mg, Fe, and Ti impurity from the muscovite, and a continuous reaction between ilmenite, quartz, and muscovite. Garnets are not abundant and are high in Mn, both facts probably due to the low pressure of metamorphism, The presence of garnet probably relates to the Mn content of the rock, and seems to be independent of the Mg/Fe ratio of the biotite. The garnets are zoned with respect to Mn and Mg, but often Mn is enriched and Mg depleted in the marginal zone. The Mg/Fe ratio of the biotite varies twofold depending on the presence or absence of pyrrhotite. The transition: microcline → orthoclase depends upon the amount of dissolved albite; the polymorph is orthoclase in the pelitic schists but microcline in the calc-silicate rocks which are much lower in sodium. The plagioclases are of “low” structural type, although is slightly greater than many other “low” plagioclases. A correlation of d(002) of muscovite and paragonite solid solution for the range 0 to 20 % paragonite is given. An appreciable positive volume of mixing for the binary system muscovite-paragonite is indicated.     

Holocene lake-level trends in the Rocky Mountains, U.S.A.

The availability of water shapes life in the western United States, and much of the water in the region originates in the Rocky Mountains. Few studies, however, have explicitly examined the history of water levels in the Rocky Mountains during the Holocene. Here, we examine the past levels of three lakes near the Continental Divide in Montana and Colorado to reconstruct Holocene moisture trends. Using transects of sediment cores and sub-surface geophysical profiles from each lake, we find that mid-Holocene shorelines in the small lakes (4–110 ha) were as much as 10 m below the modern lake surfaces. Our results are consistent with existing evidence from other lakes and show that a wide range of settings in the region were much drier than today before 3000–2000 years ago. We also discuss evidence for millennial-scale moisture variation, including an abruptly-initiated and -terminated wet period in Colorado from 4400 to 3700 cal yr BP, and find only limited evidence for low-lake stands during the past millennium. The extent of low-water levels during the mid-Holocene, which were most severe and widespread ca 7000–4500 cal yr BP, is consistent with the extent of insolation-induced aridity in previously published regional climate model simulations. Like the simulations, the lake data provide no evidence for enhanced zonal flow during the mid-Holocene, which has been invoked to explain enhanced mid-continent aridity at the time. The data, including widespread evidence for large changes on orbital time scales and for more limited changes during the last millennium, confirm the ability of large boundary-condition changes to push western water supplies beyond the range of recent natural variability.     

Sedimentation rates in Fayetteville Green Lake, New York, U.S.A.

In Fayetteville Green Lake, past sedimentation rates can be accurately and precisely estimated by separating annual couplets or varves in dried sediment samples. Two measures were used, which serve as upper and lower limits on estimated sedimentation rate. They agree within 5 % with average annual sedimentation rate in couplets for recent years. Between 3 and 5 replicate samples are needed to reduce the half-width of 95 % confidence intervals on individual couplet sedimentation rates to 30 g m^?2 yr^?1 about 5 % of average recent rates. In the late 1800s sedimentation rate averaged 392 g m^?2 yr^?1 and ranged between 324 and 466 g m^?2 yr^?1, while in the 1970s the rate averaged 581 g m^?2 yr^?1 by the same measure, and ranged between 384 and 646 g m^?2 yr^?1. Sedimentation rate averaged for 13 years does not vary over short distances in the profundal zone, but lateral variation in sedimentation rate can be detected for individual years over the same distance. Not all this variation was associated with the non-uniform distribution of dark sublaminae and thin turbidites which cannot be separated from the annual layers. This indicates that although precise estimates of sedimentation rates can be made at different points in the lake, estimates will have to be made at numerous points before annual sedimentation rates for the lake as a whole can be accurately assessed.     

Geological evolution of the Ishpeming Greenstone Belt,Michigan, U.S.A.

The Ishpeming Greenstone Belt is an Archean belt in the southern part of the Canadian Shield in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, U.S.A. Two volcanic cycles are preserved in it. The oldest formation, and basal to the first cycle (the Kitchi Schist), consists of mafic metavolcanics, has a major serpentinized ultramafic body near its base, and grades upward to a coarse felsic volcanic breccia at the top of the cycle. This unit in turn is overlain by a sequence of mafic flows that grades upward to interbedded mafic flows and exhalites of the Mona Schist. This sequence has been intruded by the Dead River Pluton.The Ishpeming Greenstone Belt probably represents the keel of a previously much more extensive Greenstone Belt.Gold mineralization occurs associated with mafic basaltic volcanic rocks and serpentinized ultramafics low in the succession, and with carbonate-rich quartz-chlorite-sericite schists and exhalites higher in the sequence. No mineral deposits are now being exploited here.     

Composition of the Precambrian Llano Uplift,central Texas,U.S.A.

The Llano uplift exposes rocks of approximately 1000 m.y. age. The weighted average composition of the exposed crust is: 70.7% SiO₂; 0.35% TiO₂; 13.6% A1₂O₃; 3.4% total Fe as Fe₂O₃; 1.1% MgO; 2.6% CaO; 3.3% Na₂O; and 4.4% K₂O. This composition is similar to, but more potassic, than equivalent estimates for the Canadian shield.     

Crystallization of the West Farrington Pluton, North Carolina, U.S.A.

The West Farrington pluton in the North Carolina Piedmont isconcentrically zoned from gabbro-diorite near the chilled marginsto leucogranodiorite in the center. A crystallization modelfor the West Farrington pluton has been derived utilizing chemical,petrographic, field, and experimental data. The model involvessimple in situ fractional crystallization from the margins inward,with minimal contamination, crystal settling and floating, ormetasomatism. Rocks of the pluton can be considered as mixturesof early crystallizing minerals (liquidus or near-liquidus phases)and crystallized interstitial liquids. Relative percentage ofentrapped pore liquid increased with increasing degree of crystallization. The original tonalite magma began crystallizing Fe-Ti spinels,plagioclase, and hornblende within a short temperature interval.Crystallization of these minerals controlled fractionation trends.The initial water content in the magma was probably 2–3per cent; under such conditions water saturation would havebeen reached after about 60 per cent of the magma crystallized,assuming crystallization in the lower epizone at about 2000bars total pressure.     

Peat deposit water quality in Lake Istokpoga,Florida, U.S.A.

In 1983 water quality monitoring was conducted on peat deposits in Highlands County, Florida, U.S.A. The monitoring objective was to provide initial data on the water quality in the area in order to identify potential problems with environmental licensing of peat harvesting operations on these deposits. The investigation included sampling for in situ and laboratory water analyses, peat core analyses, elutriate tests, and interstitial water quality analyses. The general trends evident from the data are that BOD and COD (and the resulting DO) may change from the control and harvest peatlands, but not consistently. In addition, total suspended solids, organic color, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus concentrations appear to be elevated under disturbed conditions. For metals, the major cations (Ca, Mg, K, Fe) may show an increase under disturbed conditions vs. control. For the remaining metals, some increases may occur, but the changes are essentially unpredictable.     

Franciscan eclogite revisited: Reevaluation of the P–T evolution of tectonic blocks from Tiburon Peninsula, California, U.S.A.

Summary High-grade blocks in the Franciscan complex at Tiburon, California, record relatively low temperature eclogite-facies metamorphism and blueschist-facies overprinting. The eclogite-facies mineral assemblage contains prograde-zoned garnet + omphacite + epidote ± hornblende (katophoritic and barroisitic Ca–Na amphibole) ± glaucophane + phengite (∼3.5 Si p.f.u.) ± paragonite + rutile + quartz. The blueschist-facies mineral assemblage contains chlorite + titanite + glaucophane + epidote ± albite ± phengite (∼3.3 Si p.f.u.). Albite is not stable in the eclogite stage. New calculations based on garnet-omphacite-phengite thermobarometry and THERMOCALC average-P–T calculations yield peak eclogite-facies P–T conditions of P = 2.2–2.5 GPa and T = 550–620 °C; porphyroclastic omphacite with inclusions of garnet and paragonite yields an average-P–T of 1.8 ± 0.2 GPa at 490 ± 70 °C for the pre-peak stage. The inferred counterclockwise hairpin P–T trajectory suggests prograde eclogitization of a relatively “cold” subducting slab, and subsequent exhumation and blueschist-facies recrystallization by a decreasing geotherm. Although an epidote-garnet amphibolitic assemblage is ubiquitous in some blocks, P–T pseudosection analyses imply that the epidote-garnet amphibolitic assemblage is stable during prograde eclogite-facies metamorphism. Available geochronologic data combined with our new insight for the maximum pressure suggest an average exhumation rate of ∼5 km/Ma, as rapid as those of some ultrahigh pressure metamorphic terranes.     

Late Quaternary megafloods from Glacial Lake Atna, Southcentral Alaska, U.S.A.

Geomorphic, stratigraphic, geotechnical, and biogeographic evidence indicate that failure of a Pleistocene ice dam between 15.5 and 26 ka generated a megaflood from Glacial Lake Atna down the Matanuska Valley. While it has long been recognized that Lake Atna occupied ≥ 9000 km² of south-central Alaska's Copper River Basin, little attention has focused on the lake's discharge locations and behaviors. Digital elevation model and geomorphic analyses suggest that progressive lowering of the lake level by decanting over spillways exposed during glacial retreat led to sequential discharges down the Matanuska, Susitna, Tok, and Copper river valleys. Lake Atna's size, ∼ 50 ka duration, and sequential connection to four major drainages likely made it a regionally important late Pleistocene freshwater refugium. We estimate a catastrophic Matanuska megaflood would have released 500–1400 km³ at a maximum rate of ≥ 3 × 10⁶ m³ s^{− 1}. Volumes for the other outlets ranged from 200 to 2600 km³ and estimated maximum discharges ranged from 0.8 to 11.3 × 10⁶ m³ s^{− 1}, making Lake Atna a serial generator of some of the largest known freshwater megafloods.     

A PETROGRAPHIC STUDY OF HEAVY MINERALS OF WISCONSIN IGNEOUS ROCKS, U.S.A

The use of the heavy minerals in sedimentary rocks as a means for correlation of stratigraphic problem is becoming more and more widespread in recent years, especially in England and United States. Where the rock formations are scanty in fossils or can not be correlated by fossils alone, the study     

A method to mitigate acid-mine drainage in the Shamokin area,Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

The three anthracite coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania occur in large synclinal basins surrounded by sandstone hogback ridges. The streams draining the coal regions are heavily contaminated by sulfuric acid due to the weathering of pyrite in the abandoned mines and culm. Dams could be built in the water gaps of the streams leaving the basins, forming huge reservoirs. For example, in the western part of the Middle Coal Field (Shamokin-Mt. Carmel area), the construction of four dams would form a reservoir that would inundate practically all the culm banks, abandoned mines, and environmentally abused lands in this coal field. The reservoir (at approximately 410 m elevation) would be approximately 140 sq km in area and could be the source of water for pumped-storage hydroelectricity generation. The water should have moderately good quality and could serve the recreational needs of a vast population of the Middle Atlantic states.     

Kinematics of late Mesozoic thrusting,Pilot Mountains,west-central Nevada,U.S.A.

The northern Pilot Mountains of west-central Nevada, consist of a complexly deformed terrane of imbricate thrust nappes composed of rocks of Permian(?), Triassic through Jurassic, and possible Cretaceous ages. Three episodes of fold and thrust generation are recognized on the basis of folded thrusts and thrusted folds, and deformation and emplacement of the nappes is constrained as having occurred during the late Mesozoic. Folds are apparently coeval with thrust faults, and fold geometry is used in determining approximate directions of thrust displacement. The history of thrust displacement is complex and involves three directions of motion on a regionally extensive detachment surface, the Luning thrust. The first motion, from NW to SE, results in displacements of the order of several tens of kilometres and is the probable result of NW-SE regional compression. The final two episodes of motion are NE-SW followed by E-W; they result in small displacements and are possibly the product of gravity sliding of the thrust sheet into depressions in the autochthon. Sites of downwarp in the autochthon may have been formed either by load induced subsidence or regional compression.     

Petrochemistry of the Fish Cove rhyolite,Keweenaw peninsula,Michigan, U.S.A.

A small (360 × 180 m) rhyolitic intrusive body in the lower portion of the Portage Lake Lava Series of Michigan's Keweenaw peninsula was mapped and sampled in detail. The rhyolite is one of a number of similar bodies which make up less than 1% of the total volume of this thick Late-Precambrian plateau basalt pile. The rock is a low-calcium rhyolite with fine-grained homogeneous texture and sparse phenocrysts of plagioclase and quartz. Analyses of selected trace and major elements for 21 samples taken from the body reveal a chemical zonation consisting of a core zone enriched in K, Rb and Ba, and a border zone relatively poor in these elements. Little areal difference is found with respect to other elements tested (Mn, Sr, Zr, Ca, Ti, and Fe). This apparently primary zonation seems to result from the migration of K, Rb and Ba during crystallization of the shallow intrusive. Though zoned, the trace-element chemistry of the Fish Cove body is distinct from that of eight other rhyolites in the Portage Lake Lava Series, and suggests that fingerprinting by trace elements might be a fruitful method for identifying and correlating the sources of numerous rhyolitic pebbles in conglomerates interbedded with the basaltlava flows of the Portage Lake Series.