Capturing digital data with handheld devices to determine the redox regime,lithology, and provenance of siliciclastic sediments and residual deposits—a review and field manual

Geomagnetic (magnetic susceptibility), geoelectrical (resistivity and conductivity, self-potential/SP, induced polarization/IP), and radiometric measurements (gamma radiation of K, U, and Th) are well adapted to the needs and wants of geoscientists and exploration geologists, in particular, who widely use them in wireline tools and for ground surveys. Miniaturization of technical components resulted in the production of handheld devices which enable field geologists to an improving of the mineralogical and chemical database and the efficiency of the routine work in the field or at a drill site. The tools and devices used by a field geologist are categorized and presented in a tripartite set. The tools for routine field work with “hammer and laptop” belong to the A-level kit. The handheld devices under consideration constitute an intermediate level (B-level) to enhance the mineralogical and chemical database using physical methods. More advanced level applications make use of short-wave infra-red mineral analyzers or portable X-ray fluorescence devices (C-level). Handheld tools are designed for one-dimensional (cross-sectioning) and two-dimensional (mapping) surveys as well as drill core and cuttings examinations during terrain analysis. They can be operated in foot-borne surveys by one field geologist and the obtained data interpreted without an exuberant computing capacity. In the present overview, siliciclastic rocks and residual deposits have been singled out for their good response to the afore-mentioned methods. Their practical use is demonstrated by means of some case histories, each standing for a particular sedimentary lithology and discussed in combination with similar applications from literature: mixed-type (calcareous) siliciclastic rocks from Mesozoic–Cenozoic basins, SE Germany; residual argillaceous/kaolin deposits on top of granites of the Variscan basement, SE Germany; Neogene red-bed sediments from the promontory of the Tien Shan, East Uzbekistan; and Cretaceous gray-bed sediments with coal seams from the Baganuur basin, Central Mongolia. Cobweb diagrams, histograms, ternary diagrams, simple x-y plots and x-y plots in combination with spider diagrams have proved to be the most suitable ways when it comes to combine the data obtained from various methods and to illustrate these results for further interpretation on screen. The geophysical methods are discussed as to their strong and weak points to cater for a solution in three important subject matters of applied and genetic sedimentology: (1) constraining the redox regime, (2) determination of the lithology and mineralogy, (3) and provenance analysis and lithostratigraphy. Magnetic methods have proved to be useful for all objectives (1, 2, and 3), gamma spectrometry can successfully be applied for objectives 1 and 2, and micro-resistivity contributes significantly to solutions of objective 2. Magnetic and gamma spectrometric methods do not need any direct contact with the sedimentary rocks and therefore can be correlated with equivalent airborne surveys and are less depending on the wetability of the substrate and climate than the geoelectrical methods under study. The final goal of this review is to create a matrix of applicability of the methods and enable the field geologist to select the most suitable type of geophysical measurement or combination of tools for a solution to one of the three issues as a function of the sediment types under study.     

Oceanic eddies in synthetic aperture radar images

Continuous observations since 1991 by using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on board the Almaz1, ERS-1/2, JERS-1, and RADARSAT satellites support the well-known fact that oceanic eddies are distributed worldwide in the ocean. The paper is devoted to an evaluation of the potential of SAR for detection of eddies and vortical motions in the ocean. The classification of typical vortical features in the ocean detected in remote sensing images (visible, infrared, and SAR) is presented as well as available information on their spatial and temporal scales. Examples of the Almaz-1 and ERS-1/2 SAR images showing different eddy types, such as rings, spiral eddies of the open ocean, eddies behind islands and in bays, spin-off eddies and mushroom-like structures (vortex dipoles) are given and discussed. It is shown that a common feature for most of the eddies detected in the SAR images is a broad spectrum of spatial scales, spiral shape and shear nature. It is concluded that the spaceborne SARs give valuable information on ocean eddies, especially in combination with visible and infrared satellite data.     

A Late Pleistocene Tephra Layer in the Southern Great Basin and Colorado Plateau Derived from Mono Craters, California

A newly identified tephra in stratified deposits in southwestern Utah, dated 14,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P., may aid in correlating late Pleistocene deposits across parts of the southern Great Basin and west-central Colorado Plateau. Geochemical analyses of the ash suggest the tephra originated from Mono Craters, California, and most probably correlates with Wilson Creek ash #3. Because the ash is 2 mm thick 550 km from its source, the event may have been larger than others correlated to Mono Craters eruptions.     

Late Quaternary faulting along the western margin of the Poronaysk Lowland in central Sakhalin, Russia

Sakhalin Island straddles an active plate boundary between the Okhotsk and Eurasian plates. South of Sakhalin, this plate boundary is illuminated by a series of M_w 7–8 earthquakes along the eastern margin of the Sea of Japan. Although this plate boundary is considered to extend onshore along the length of Sakhalin, the location and convergence rate of the plate boundary had been poorly constrained. We mapped north-trending active faults along the western margin of the Poronaysk Lowland in central Sakhalin based on aerial photograph interpretation and field observations. The active faults are located east of and parallel to the Tym–Poronaysk fault, a terrane boundary between Upper Cretaceous and Neogene strata; the active faults appear to have reactivated the terrane boundary at depth in Quaternary time. The total length of the active fault zone on land is about 140 km. Tectonic geomorphic features such as east-facing monoclinal and fault scarps, back-tilted fluvial terraces, and numerous secondary faults suggest that the faults are west-dipping reverse faults. Assuming the most widely developed geomorphic surface in the study area formed during the last glacial maximum at about 20 ka based on similarities of geomorphic features with those in Hokkaido Island, we obtain a vertical component of slip rate of 0.9–1.4 mm/year. Using the fault dip of 30–60°W observed at an outcrop and trench walls, a net slip rate of 1.0–2.8 mm/year is obtained. The upper bound of the estimate is close to a convergence rate across the Tym–Poronaysk fault based on GPS measurements. A trenching study across the fault zone dated the most recent faulting event at 3500–4000 years ago. The net slip associated with this event is estimated at about 4.5 m. Since the last faulting event, a minimum of 3.5 m of strain, close to the strain released during the last event, has accumulated along the central portion of the active strand of the Tym–Poronaysk fault.     

Hydrodynamic modelling of mesoscale eddies in the Black Sea

A three dimensional structure of mesoscale circulation in the Black Sea is simulated using the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Modelling System. A number of sensitivity tests reveal the response of the model to changes in the horizontal resolution, time steps, and diffusion coefficients. Three numerical grids are examined with x-fine (3.2 km), fine (6.7 km) and coarse (25 km) resolution. It is found that the coarse grid significantly overestimates the energy of the currents and is not adequate even for the study of basin-scale circulation. The x-fine grid, on the other hand, does not give significant advantages compared to the fine grid, and the latter is used for the bulk of simulations. The most adequate parameters are chosen from the sensitivity study and used to model both the basin-scale circulation and day-to-day variability of mesoscale currents for the months of May and June of 2000. The model is forced with actual wind data every 6 h and monthly climatic data for evaporation, precipitation, heat fluxes and river run-off. The results of the fine grid model are compared favourably against the satellite imagery. The model adequately reproduces the general circulation and many mesoscale features including cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies, jets and filaments in different parts of the Black Sea. The model gives a realistic geographical distribution and parameters of mesoscale currents, such as size, shape and evolution of the eddies.