Comparative evolution of statewide Geographic Information Systems in Ohio

Abstract

This paper describes four autonomous Geographic Information Systems operating at a statewide level in Ohio (USA). All were initiated at various times in the 1970s and 1980s. They are operated by branches of state government, namely the Department of Natural Resources, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the Ohio Department of Transportation, and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. A critical review of the operations and institutional contexts of these four systems shows evolution from in-house software development to third party suppliers, from coarse resolution grid cells to high accuracy vector data, from large dedicated GIS staffs to application-specific users augmented by smaller GIS support staffs, and from agency-dependent databases to inter-agency database sharing as technology improves and user needs and databases increase.     

Geological investigation and optical dating of Quaternary siliciclastic sediments near Apalachicola,North‐west Florida,USA

Ground penetrating radar and single‐aliquot regenerative‐dose optically stimulated luminescence were used to determine the depositional environments and age of unconsolidated siliciclastic sediments near Apalachicola, Florida. Five direct‐push cores, five vibracores and 28 optically stimulated luminescence samples were collected, as well as 7 km of ground penetrating radar data. A new model of cosmic dose rate calculation, which removes the effect of a much younger aeolian cap, was utilized to calculate more representative optically stimulated luminescence ages. Five radar facies were identified based on reflector amplitude and orientation. The resulting data indicate that the Tertiary/Quaternary Shelly Sediments were deposited before marine isotope stage 6, the Quaternary Alluvium was deposited during marine isotope stage 6 and the Quaternary Beach Ridge and Dune was deposited during the marine isotope stage 5e sea‐level highstand, which peaked at approximately 2·5 m above present sea‐level in this area.     

Facies architecture of individual basin‐plain turbidites: Comparison with existing models and implications for flow processes

Current understanding of submarine sediment density flows is based heavily on their deposits, because such flows are notoriously difficult to monitor directly. However, it is rarely possible to trace the facies architecture of individual deposits over significant distances. Instead, bed‐scale facies models that infer the architecture of ‘typical’ deposits encapsulate current understanding of depositional processes and flow evolution. In this study, the distribution of facies in 12 individual beds has been documented along downstream transects over distances in excess of 100 km. These deposits were emplaced in relatively flat basin‐plain settings in the Miocene Marnoso Arenacea Formation, north‐east Italy and the late Quaternary Agadir Basin, offshore Morocco. Statistical analysis shows that the most common series of vertical facies transitions broadly resembles established facies models. However, mapping of individual beds shows that they commonly deviate from generalized models in several important ways that include: (i) the abundance of parallel laminated sand, suggesting deposition of this facies from both high‐density and low‐density turbidity current; (ii) three distinctly different types of grain‐size break, suggesting waxing flow, erosional hiatuses and bypass of silty sediment; (iii) the presence of mud‐rich debrites demonstrating hybrid flow deposition; and (iv) dune‐scale cross‐lamination in fine‐medium grained sandstones. Submarine sediment density flows in basin‐plain settings flow over relatively simple topography. Yet, their deposits record complex flow events, involving transformation between different flow types, rather than the simple waning surges often associated with the distal parts of turbidite systems.     

Transport, sorting, and reworking of late Wisconsinan plant macrofossils from Lake Erie, Canada

Stratigraphic, sedimentological, and plant macrofossil studies on proglacial lacustrine and deltaic sequences dating from the Mackinaw Interstadial on the north shore of Lake Erie, Canada, indicate long-distance transport, selective sorting and reworking of the plant fossils. Transport, sorting, and reworking may make detailed paleoclimatic indices irrelevant and may account for incongruent phytogeographic indicators in the fossil assemblage. Details of the stratigraphic and sedimentological setting of the study site and the state of preservation of the fossils should be considered more carefully as aids to the interpretation of macrofossil assemblages.     

Nature and palaeoenvironmental significance of a buried soil sequence from Magilligan Foreland, Northern Ireland

Soil horizons delimit three periods of sand deposition and subsequent topographic stability at Magilligan Foreland, Co. Londonderry. All the deposits are composed of texturally and mineralogically similar material. The earliest topography is a beach ridge plain; podzols cap the ridges and peats occur in the inter-ridge depressions, together comprising a buried palaeocatena. The podzols are visually distinct but chemically and mineralogically immature. Peat and podzol genesis probably began between 3,000 and 2,500 years B.P., and were terminated between c . 1,100 years B.P. and c . 600 years B.P. by burial under an extensive layer of aeolian sand. This sand was eroded to a planar surface before developing a sand-pararendzina, which represents a second period of surface stability. The third deposit, a discontinuous dune sand, is presently also developing a sand-pararendzina. Difficulties of using ¹⁴C dates to erect absolute chronologies are discussed.     

The Fremont Butte,Washington Co., Colorado,Meteorite

Abstract The Fremont Butte meteorite was found near Fremont Butte, Colorado, in 1963. A single individual was found weighing 6.6 kg. It is an olivine-hypersthene or L group chondrite showing brecciation and a small number of well formed chondrules and olivine phenocrysts.     

Geochemical Evidence for Mantle Origin and Crustal Processes in Volcanic Rocks from Popocatepetl and Surrounding Monogenetic Volcanoes, Central Mexico

Elemental, isotopic, and mineral compositions as well as rocktextures were examined in samples from Popocatépetl volcanoand immediately surrounding monogenetic scoria cones of theSierra Chichinautzin Volcanic Field, central Mexico. Magma generationis strongly linked to the active subduction regime to the south.Rocks range in composition from basalt to dacite, but Popocatépetlsamples are generally more evolved and have mineral compositionsand textures consistent with more complicated, multi-stage evolutionaryprocesses. High-Mg calc-alkaline and more alkaline primitivemagmas are present in the monogenetic cones. Systematic variationsin major and trace element compositions within the monogeneticsuite can mostly be explained by polybaric fractional crystallizationprocesses in small and short-lived magmatic systems. In contrast,Popocatépetl stratovolcano has produced homogeneous magmacompositions from a shallow, long-lived magma chamber that isperiodically replenished by primitive basaltic magmas. The currenteruption (1994–present) has produced silicic dome lavasand pumice clasts that display mingling of an evolved daciticcomponent with an olivine-bearing mafic component. The longevityof the magma chamber hosted in Cretaceous limestones has fosteredinteraction with these rocks as evidenced by the chemical andisotopic compositions of the different eruptive products, contact-metamorphosedxenoliths, and fumarolic gases. Popocatépetl volcanicproducts display a considerable range of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (0·70397–0·70463)and _Nd (+6·2 to +3·0) whereas Pb isotope ratiosare relatively homogeneous (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb 18·61–18·70;²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb 15·56–15·60). KEY WORDS: Popocatépetl; Sierra Chichinautzin Volcanic Field; arc petrogenesis; radiogenic isotopes