The use of electron backscatter diffraction and orientation contrast imaging as tools for sulphide textural studies: example from the Greens Creek deposit (Alaska)

The Greens Creek polymetallic massive sulphide deposit is hosted in a typical polyphase deformed lower greenschist facies orogenic setting. The structure of the host rocks is well constrained, exhibiting a series of three superimposed ductile deformations followed by two brittle episodes. The ore is found both in fold hinges where early-formed depositional features are preserved and in fold limbs where primary features are typically strongly modified or obliterated. Samples from both settings have been investigated using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) coupled with forescatter orientation contrast (OC) imaging in order to observe the effects of deformation and lower greenschist facies metamorphism on pyrite. Results suggest that colloform pyrite may preserve information relevant to palaeoenvironment, that apparently simple textures are generally more complex, and that pyrite can deform plastically by dislocation glide and creep processes at lower temperatures and/or strain rates than generally accepted. This analysis indicates that EBSD and OC imaging provide powerful tools for observing textural relationships in pyrite that are not shown by more traditional methods. They should become routine tools for pyrite texture analysis.Editorial handling: D. Lentz     

Modern sediment yield compared to geologic rates of sediment production in a semi‐arid basin,New Mexico: assessing the human impact

An Erratum has been published for this article in Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 29(13) 2004, 1707. In the semi‐arid Arroyo Chavez basin of New Mexico, a 2·28 km² sub‐basin of the Rio Puerco, we contrasted short‐term rates (3 years) of sediment yield measured with sediment traps and dams with long‐term, geologic rates (～10 000 years) of sediment production measured using ¹⁰Be. Examination of erosion rates at different time‐scales provides the opportunity to contrast the human impact on erosion with background or geologic rates of sediment production. Arroyo Chavez is grazed and we were interested in whether differences in erosion rates observed at the two time‐scales are due to grazing. The geologic rate of sediment production, 0·27 kg m^?2 a^?1 is similar to the modern sediment yields measured for geomorphic surfaces including colluvial slopes, gently sloping hillslopes, and the mesa top which ranged from 0·12 to 1·03 kg m^?2 a^?1. The differences between modern sediment yield and geologic rates of sediment production were most noticeable for the alluvial valley ?oor, which had modern sediment yields as high as 3·35 kg m^?2 a^?1. The hydraulic state of the arroyo determines whether the alluvial valley ?oor is aggrading or degrading. Arroyo Chavez is incised and the alluvial valley ?oor is gullied and piped and is a source of sediment. The alluvial valley ?oor is also the portion of the basin most modi?ed by human disturbance including grazing and gas pipeline activity, both of which serve to increase erosion rates. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Employment Trends in Geography,Part 3: Future Demand Conditions

The third and final article in this series about employment conditions in geography addresses the issue of future demand in both academic and nonacademic settings. To gain an understanding of future demand conditions in colleges and universities, we projected the retirement of AAG members by topical specialty and then matched these retirement trends with a profile of new faculty searches as reported by geography department chairs. We assessed the likely future demand for geography teachers at the precollegiate level through a survey of Geography Alliance Coordinators about teacher certification requirements and the education environments in their respective states. We speculated on how the kinds of jobs geographers do will be affected by changes now underway in the national and global economies. And finally, we conducted a small telephone survey of AAG corporate sponsors to determine how future business trends will affect the demand for geographers.     

Geochemistry and geothermometry of spring water from the Blackfoot Reservoir region, southeastern Idaho

The Blackfoot Reservoir region in southeastern Idaho is recognized as a potential geothermal area because of the presence of several young rhyolite domes (50,000 years old), Quaternary basalt flows, and warm springs. North- to northwest-trending high-angle normal faults of Tertiary to Holocene age appear to be the dominant structural control of spring activity. Surface spring-water temperatures average 14°C except for a group of springs west of the Reservoir Mountains which average 33°C. Chemical geothermometers applied to fifty water samples give temperatures less than 75°C except for eight springs along the Corral Creek drainage. The springs along Corral Creek have Na-K-Ca temperatures that average 354°C, a direct result of high potassium concentrations in the water. A correction for carbon dioxide applied to the Na-K-Ca geothermometer lowers the estimated temperatures of the anomalous springs to near the measured surface temperatures, and Na-K-Ca-Mg temperatures for the anomalous springs are near 100°C. Mixing model calculations suggest that hot water with a temperature of approximately 120°C may be mixing with cooler, more dilute water in the springs from the Corral Creek drainage, a temperature supported by Na-K-Ca-Mg temperatures and mineral saturation temperatures.Stability relations of low-temperature phases in the system indicate that the large concentrations of potassium in the eight anomalous springs are derived from reactions with the potassium-bearing minerals muscovite and K-feldspar. Carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide gases may be derived through the oxidation of organic matter accompanied by the reduction of sulfate. Concentrations of major and minor elements, and gases found in springs of the Blackfoot Reservoir region are due to water-rock reactions at temperatures less than 100°C.Based on spring geochemistry, a geothermal reservoir of 100°C up to 120°C may exist at shallow (less than 2 km) depths in the Blackfoot Reservoir region.     

Origin of discontinuities in coal-bearing strata at roaring creek (basal Pennsylvanian of Indiana)

Basal Pennsylvanian coal-bearing strata exposed along Roaring Creek, west-central Indiana, exhibit extreme lateral discontinuity. Coal seams abruptly change in thickness and elevation; they split, grade into shale, are cut out by channels and disrupted by soft-sediment deformational structures. Initial sediments were laid down by a network of southwest-flowing streams that traversed a deeply channelized upland surface of Mississippian carbonate rocks. Channels aggraded rapidly as uplands were worn down, so the region changed through time from uplands to upper deltaic plain. Local environments included channels, localized point bars, small natural levees and crevasse splays, overbank deposits, and swamps. Differential compaction and subsidence, slumping stream banks, and possibly collapsing sinkholes influenced sedimentation. As a consequence, coals are too discontinuous for economical mining, although they are locally thick and high in quality.     

Classification and Application of Cartographic Animation

The development of a definition and classification scheme for cartographic animation is now warranted, since focus on the visualization method increased during the 1990s. This article offers a comprehensive definition of animation, distinguishing between animation, slide shows, multimedia, and hypermedia. In addition, a classification system identifies and offers specific characteristics for four different methods or types of cartographic animation: time, areal, thematic, and process.     

Subaerial gravel size measurement using topographic data derived from a UAV‐SfM approach

Accurate and reliable methods for quantifying grain size are important for river science, management and in various other sedimentological settings. Remote sensing offers methods of quantifying grain size, typically providing; (a) coarse outputs (c. 1 m) at the catchment scale where individual grains are at subpixel level, or; (b) fine resolution outputs (c. 1 mm) at the patch scale. Recently, approaches using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have started to fill the gap between these scales, providing hyperspatial resolution data (< 10 cm) over reaches a few hundred metres in length, where individual grains are at suprapixel level. This ‘mesoscale’ is critical to habitat assessments. Most existing UAV‐based approaches use two‐dimensional (2D) textural variables to predict grain size. Validation of results is largely absent however, despite significant differences in platform stability and image quality obtained by manned aircraft versus UAVs. Here, we provide the first quantitative assessment of the accuracy and precision of grain size estimates produced from a 2D image texture approach. Furthermore, we present a new method which predicts subaerial gravel size using three‐dimensional (3D) topographic data derived from UAV imagery. Data is collected from a small gravel‐bed river in Cumbria, UK. Results indicate that our new topographic method gives more accurate measures of grain size (mean residual error ‐0.0001 m). Better results for the image texture method may be precluded by our choice of texture measure, the scale of analysis or the effects of image blur resulting from an inadequate camera gimbal. We suggest that at our scale of assessment, grain size is more strongly related to 3D variation in elevation than to the 2D textural patterns expressed within the imagery. With on‐going improvements, our novel method has potential as the first grain size quantification approach where a trade‐off between coverage and resolution is not necessary or inherent. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Systematic Review of the Socioeconomic Factors that Influence How Marine Protected Areas Impact on Ecosystems and Livelihoods

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are among the most widely accepted methods of marine management. MPAs are not, however, always placed such that they can maximize impact on conservation and livelihoods. Current MPA guidelines fall short in focusing primarily on biophysical criteria, overlooking interrelated socioeconomic factors. We identified 32 socioeconomic factors that influence whether MPA placement has an impact on biodiversity and/or livelihoods and weighted the quality of evidence using a novel “Evidence for Impact” Score. Results suggest that stakeholder engagement, poverty, population density, and strong leadership have most potential to positively impact biodiversity and/or livelihoods, but the direction of impact (i.e., positive or negative) can be context-dependent. We found a generally poor evidence base for impact evaluation of socioeconomic factors: though some factors were highly cited, few studies actually evaluate impact. Results indicate the need for a more interdisciplinary approach to MPA placement and more empirical studies that assess impact.     

Prediction of hydrocarbon recovery from turbidite sandstones with linked-debrite facies: Numerical flow-simulation studies

A series of two-dimensional numerical flow simulations were carried out to investigate the production characteristics of a sheet sandstone bed with a linked-debrite interval. A deterministic geological model was used based on a two-dimensional representation of a bed from the Marnoso Arenacea Formation. The model was 60 km long and 1 m thick and contained three zones, arranged in a vertical facies arrangement typical of many linked-debrite beds: i) a lower, coarse-to-medium grained, clean turbidite sandstone interval; ii) a middle, muddy sandstone, debrite interval; iii) an upper, fine-grained, clean, laminated sandstone interval. Simulation involved only a 3-km long sector of the model, with one injector well and one production well, placed 1-km apart in the middle of the sector model. The simulated sector was moved progressively down the length of the bed, in 1-km steps, sampling different parts of the bed with different facies proportions. The petrophysical properties of the debrite interval were varied to produce different porosity–permeability cases. All other modelling parameters, including the upper and lower interval petrophysics, were kept constant. Results indicate that, in most cases, key production parameters such as cumulative oil production with time and water cut are proportional to the volume of movable oil between the wells. This relationship does not hold, however, for cases with relatively low values of debrite porosity (≤0.15) and permeability (k_h ≤ 100 mD) where the debrite interval accounts for more than 20% of the interwell volume. In these models, production efficiency declines systematically with reducing reservoir quality and increasing debrite percentage, resulting in relatively low oil production and early water breakthrough.