Occurrence and distribution of sulfur in peat-forming environments of southern Florida

Cores and surface samples of peats from the Everglades—Mangrove region of Southern Florida were analyzed for total sulfur and pyritic sulfur. These values were compared with the petrographic-botanical components of the peats as determined from point-counts of oriented microtome sections. Pyrite occurs as individual euhedral crystals, loosely packed framboids, and lenses or crusts of minute crystals. Framboids and minute crystals are often associated with organic matter and sometimes with bacteria and fungi. Pyrite tends to selectively occur in void spaces in or between peat tissues. In samples containing very small amounts of pyrite, framboidal pyrite is the prevalent form.Marine to brackish peats contain the highest pyrite and total sulfur contents, with brackish peats generally containing more pyrite than marine peats. Pyrite tends to be lower in all peats within 30 cm of the surface, whether marine or brackish.Burial of freshwater peats beneath marine or brackish peats tends to increase the total sulfur and pyritic sulfur in the underlying peats. Burial beneath brackish-water, clay-rich deposits (such as splays) tends to increase total sulfur and pyritic sulfur in the underlying deposits more than burial beneath less clay-rich deposits.     

A GENERALISED ANALYTICAL RELATIVE ORIENTATION PROCEDURE AND ITS APPLICATION TO APOLLO 14 CLOSE UP PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE LUNAR SURFACE

Close up photographs of the lunar surface obtained by the Apollo 14 astronauts presented unusual problems in relative orientation caused by essentially different directions of the camera axes. The problem was resolved by dividing each large unknown rotation into two parts, one of which was a large known part and the other was a small unknown part. The method succeeds when the unknown rotation elements can be initially estimated to about 10°.     

Statistische Bearbeitung einer einjährigen Grobaerosol-Messreihe

Zusammenfassung Die Ergebnisse von Untersuchungen über das Grobaerosol (Partikelgröße über 0.5 ) in einer Großstadt (Hamburg), wurden mit Hilfe modernster statistischer Verfahren eingehend bearbeitet. Eine ursprünglich durchgeführte grobe Bearbeitung, wie sie heute noch von den meisten Meteorologen vorgenommen wird, ergab praktisch nur eine Abhängigkeit von den Jahreszeiten (Heizperiode) und von den Inversionslagen.Mit Hilfe moderner statistischer Methoden war es u. a. möglich, statistisch gesicherte Abhängigkeiten der Partikelzahlen und Partikelgrößen von der Windrichtung, der Partikelzahlen von der Windstärke und der Partikelzahlen von den Luftkörpern, aufzudecken. Auch ein statistisch gesicherter Zusammenhang zwischen der Sichtweite und der Partikelzahl des Grobaerosols konnte festgestellt werden.Diese Untersuchungen zeigen deutlich die Vorteile und die Notwendigkeit der Bearbeitung von Meßreihen mit den neuen Verfahren der mathematischen Statistik.     

Holocene History of the Bering Sea Bowhead Whale (Balaena mysticetus) in Its Beaufort Sea Summer Grounds off Southwestern Victoria Island, Western Canadian Arctic

The fossil remains of 43 bowhead whales were mapped on the raised beaches of western Wollaston Peninsula, Victoria Island, Canadian Arctic, near the historic summer range limit of the Bering Sea stock in the Beaufort Sea. The elevations and radiocarbon ages of the remains demonstrate that the bowhead ranged commonly into the region following the submergence of Bering Strait at ca. 10,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. until ca. 8500 ¹⁴C yr B.P. During the same interval, bowheads ranged widely from the Beaufort Sea to Baffin Bay. Subsequently, no whales reached Wollaston Peninsula until ca. 1500 ¹⁴C yr B.P. Late Holocene populations evidently were small, or occupations were brief, in comparison to those of the early Holocene. Although the late Holocene recurrence may relate to the expansion of pioneering Thule whalers eastward from Alaska, there are few Thule sites and limited evidence of Thule whaling in the area surveyed to support this suggestion.     

Uranium geochemistry in groundwater from tertiary sediments

Dissolved U concentrations and activity ratios (ARs) of the U isotopes in the ²³⁸U decay series were measured in ground and surface waters as part of an investigation to delineate the water quality in a proposed uranium mining area of northwest Nebraska. In oxidizing groundwaters from 67 wells completed in the Tertiary sediments, increasing U concentrations in the direction of groundwater flow generally were associated with a maturation of the formation water as evidenced by evolutionary trends in major ion character. The increased U levels probably are associated with leaching as shown by the positive correlation between U concentrations and total dissolved solids (TDS) (r = +0.83). The inverse relationships between TDS and U ARs (r = ?0.73) and U levels and ARs (r = 0.72) indicate that the decay of excess U-234 is related to maturation of the formation water and to sediment leaching along the flowpath. The data are described by a model which incorporates etching, decay and recoil and suggests that aquifer residence time can be estimated from the TDS level.The levels of soluble U in a reducing uraniferous hydrogeologic unit near Crawford, Nebraska are affected by the proximity of the sample collection to ore. In groundwater samples having similar chemistries (Na-SO₄ + Cl type), similar Ehs, and collected from a close-knit pattern, U concentrations ranged from 0.01 to 2,037 μg l^?1 and ARs ranged from 0.75 to 12.6. This high variability in U levels and ARs is indicative of uranium ore in small areal studies where low ARs almost always are associated with high U concentrations.     

Origin of trace element distribution patterns in sulfides of the central and bingham districts,western U.S.A.

Trace element abundances in sulfides of these two large hydrothermal ore districts allow distinction of several groups of ore bodies with differing trace element levels. Within groups, certain elements show lateral or vertical zoning. The groups were deposited from different batches of ore fluid. The differences in trace element content between groups reflect differences in stage of differentiation or abundance of complexing species when the ore fluid separated from the magma. The zoning may result from hydrothermal differentiation of a single batch of ore fluid as it travels away from the magma. The zoning pattern correlates in part with expected strength of metal complexes, but also depends on temperature and solid-liquid partition coefficients.

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Zusammenfassung Auf Grund der Spurenelementhäufigkeiten in Sulfiden können in diesen beiden großen hydrothermalen Erzvorkommen mehrere Gruppen von Erzlagerstätten unterschieden werden. Innerhalb der Gruppen zeigen gewisse Elemente laterale oder vertikale zonale Verteilungen. Die Gruppen wurden von verschiedenen erzbringenden Lösungen gebildet. Die Unterschiede im Spurenelementgehalt zwischen verschiedenen Gruppen spiegeln Unterschiede im Stadium der Differentiation oder die Häufigkeit von komplexbildenden Ionen während der Absonderung der erzbringenden Lösungen von Magma wider. Die zonale Verteilung kann von der hydrothermalen Differentiation einer einzigen erzbringenden Lösung auf ihrem Weg vom Magma herrühren. Teilweise entspricht die zonale Spurenelementverteilung der erwarteten Stabilität von Metalionenkomplexen, sie hängt aber auch von der Temperatur und von Verteilungskoeffizienten zwischen festen und flüssigen Phasen ab.

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Contribution No. 69–34, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University