NCGIA education activities: the core curriculum and beyond

Abstract

Education has been part of the NCGIA's mission from the earliest discussions of the concept of the Center at the National Science Foundation. To respond to the need for short-term solutions to the shortage of adequately trained personnel in GIS, the Center developed a set of teaching materials or core curriculum. The steps in its development are described and an analysis of initial distribution statistics is presented. Current efforts to develop a framework for laboratory materials are outlined. The paper ends with an assessment of the project and comparison with other disciplines.     

Playa‐lake sedimentation and organic matter accumulation in an Andean piggyback basin: the recent record from the Cuenca de Pozuelos,North‐west Argentina

Expansive playa‐lake systems situated in high‐altitude piggyback basins are important and conspicuous components of both modern and ancient cordilleran orogenic systems. Extant playa lakes provide vital habitat for numerous endemic species, whereas sediments from these deposystems may record signals of climate change or develop natural resources over geological time. Laguna de los Pozuelos (North‐west Argentina) provides the opportunity for an actualistic sedimentological and geochemical assessment of a piggyback basin playa lake in an area of critical interest for understanding Quaternary palaeoclimate dynamics. Silty clays and diatom ooze are the dominant playa‐lake centre microfacies, with concentrations of total organic carbon and biogenic silica commonly exceeding 1·5 wt% in this sub‐environment. Elemental and stable isotopic analyses point to a mixed organic matter composition in the playa‐lake centre, with substantial contributions from algae and transported aquatic macrophytes. Bulk sediment and organic mass accumulation rates in the southern playa‐lake centre approach 0·22 g cm^?2 year^?1 and 2·89 mg cm^?2 year^?1, respectively, indicating moderately rapid deposition with negligible deflation over historic time. Playa margin facies contain higher percentages of fragmented biogenic carbonate (ostracods and charophytes) and inorganically precipitated aragonite crusts due to seasonal pumping and evaporation of ground water. Organic matter accumulation is limited along these heavily bioturbated wet and dry mud flats. Fluvial–lacustrine transitional environments, which are key waterbird habitats, are either silty terminal splay (northern axis) or sandy deltas (southern axis) containing highly oxidized and partially allochthonous organic matter. Modern analogue data from Laguna de los Pozuelos provide key insights for: (i) environmental reconstructions of ancient lake sequences; and (ii) improving facies models for piggyback basins.     

REE-Depleted Leucogranites, Black Hills, South Dakota: a Consequence of Disequilibrium Melting of Monazite-Bearing Schists

Two isotopically distinct but otherwise chemically similar leucogranitesuites in the Proterozoic Horney Peak Granite, Black Hills,South Dakota, have contrasting light rare earth element (LREE)concentrations. Most samples of a relatively ¹⁸O-depleted suitehave LREE- enriched, chondrite-normalized patterns, typicalof melts derived from metasedimentary protoliths, whereas allsamples of the regionally significant, relatively ¹⁸O-enrichedsuite have LREE-depleted patterns. The latter patterns are interpretedto have resulted from disequilibrium melting of schists. Monaziteand perhaps other accessory minerals remained armored by biotiteand garnet which did not partake in the muscovite dehydration-meltingreaction that produced LREE-depleted melts. The REE concentrationsin the LREE-depleted samples are below saturation levels formonazite at reasonable melting temperatures and melt water contents,whereas the REE concentrations in the LREE-enriched samplesyield 700–800C monazite saturation temperatures, reasonablefor biotite dehydration-melting reactions. LREE depletions,analogous to those in the LREE-depleted granites, are also foundin leucosomes of partially molten schists, thought to be theprotolith for the granite. In contrast, the melanosomes holdthe accessory minerals and bulk of the LREEs. KEY WORDS: accessory minerals; leucogranites; Black Hills; monazite; partial melting ^*Corresponding author at Department of Geological Sciences, University of Missouri. Telephone: 314-884-6463. Fax: 314-882-5458. e-mail: geolpin{at}showme.missouri.edu.     

Open System Magmatic Evolution of the Taos Plateau Volcanic Field, Northern New Mexico: 3. Petrology and Geochemistry of Andesite and Dacite

Calc-alkaline olivine andesite and two-pyroxene dacite of theTaos Plateau volcanic field evolved in an open magmatic system.mg-numbers of spatially and temporally associated ServilletaBasalt (54–61) and ohvine andesite (49–59) are comparableand preclude fractional crystallization of ferromagnesian mineralsas the major differentiation process. If Servilleta olivinetholeiite is assumed to be the parental magma type, enrichmentsof highly incompatible trace elements (up to 17 ?) oVer concentrationsin the basalts require that andesitic and dacitic magmas containa substantial proportion of assimilated crust. Isotopic compositionsof andesite and dacite, which have slightly higher ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Srratios than the basalts but lower ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd, ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb,²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios, are consistent with contaminationof parental basalt by old, low Rb/Sr, low U/Pb, and low Th/Pbcontinental crust. Concentrations of highly incompatible traceelements in andesite and dacite lavas are decoupled from majorelement compositions; the highest concentrat ions of these elementsoccur in andesitic, rather than dacitic compositions, and andesitelavas are more variable in trace element contents. Assimilationof heterogeneous crust concurrent with fractional crystallizationof varying mineral assemblages could cause this decoupled behavior.High mg-numbers in andesite and dacite, skeletal olivine phenocrysts,and reversely zoned pyroxene phenocrysts are manifestationsof mafic replenishment and magma mixing in the Taos Plateaumagmatic system. Taos Plateau volcanoes are monolithologic and are distributedin a semi-concentric zoned pattern that is a reflection of thecomplex subvolcanic magmatic system. A central focus of basaltshields developed above the main basaltic conduit system; thesemagmas contain 10–35% admixed andesitic and dacitic magma.Basalt shields are surrounded by a partial ring of olivine andesiteshield volcanoes, where replenishment of basaltic magma providedthe heat necessary for prolonged assimilation of crust, resultingin intermediate-composition lavas. Dacite shields are locatedaround the periphery of the more mafic volcanoes and reflecta decrease in mafic input on the fringes of the magmatic system.