Electron microprobe data for tephra attributed to Glacier Peak,Washington

Reference samples of three prominent pumice units of Glacier Peak tephra collected east of the volcano within a distance of 100 km are similar petrographically to units described by earlier workers. Glass shards isolated from these samples were analyzed by electron microprobe to determine the content of Ca, Fe, and K. Resulting data, plus those published for two other references samples, provide a basis for attributing certain outlying tephra layers from 14 locations in eastern Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana to eruptions of Glacier Peak. Ten of the samples have properties of both Glacier Peak tephra and Mount St. Helens set J tephra, but proportions of Ca:Fe:K in glass shards indicate that 9 of the 10 outlying samples came from Glacier Peak, whereas one is assigned to Mount St. Helens set J. The remaining six outlying samples, all from southeastern Washington, contain cummingtonite phenocrysts and are chemically similar to some parts of Mount St. Helens tephra sets that are older than 12,000 BP.     

The effect of intrinsic model noise upon resistivity inversion

Model uncertainty is introduced into direct-current resistivity data by adding random changes to layer thicknesses in a ten-layer model. The resulting information is then aliased by generating a sounding curve which contains less information than the ten resistivities and nine thicknesses. These sounding curves are then inverted via the Backus-Gilbert algorithm using singular value decomposition to obtain solutions in terms of simpler two-or three-layer models. Quantitative results confirm what has been known qualitatively for many years as the principle of equivalence. An interesting result is that the geometric average of a given suite of noisy models is virtually identical to the best-fit model for the average of the noisy curves. The results show that the inversion of resistivity data by nonlinear least-squares parameter fitting is stable in the sense that noise in the data inverts to the same magnitude of noise in the model.     

Morphometric analysis of cinder cone degradation

Measurements of Vie geometry of cinder cones can be used to determine the morphological effects and rates of degradation. Cinder cones in the San Francisco volcanic field, Arizona (where radiometric dates and stratigraphic studies have determined cone ages) decrease in height, height/width ratio and slope through time. The ratio of crater diameter to cone basal diameter does not appear to change with degradation, nor, as suggested previously, with chemical composition or particle size. Similar results obtained for cinder cones in Nevada, Oregon, Manchuria, Italy and Reunion suggest that the morphometric patterns of degradation are similar for all cinder-cones. The rates of degradation vary tremendously however, with rainfall and temperature being perhaps the most important factors. Since the initial geometries of cinder cones are remarkably similar, degraded cones may be ideal gauges of long-term climatic change.Degradation can be readily modelled for two cases: burial of cinder cone flanks by subsequent lava flows, and erosion and mass wasting. Although the former is locally important, degradation appears to occur principally by the second process: cinders weather to clay, which is gullied by rainfall, with the debris sliding downslope. Such erosion and mass wasting produces a degradation curve in general agreement with observations. Erosion rates can be accelerated orders of magnitude, however, by the mantling of old cones with easily eroded ash deposited during nearby eruptions. Comparison of cinder zone isopach radii and cone separation distances suggests it to be a common effect.     

Conversion of profile difference quotients to true gradients at the geometric mean height in the surface layer

Theoretical profiles of wind speed and air temperature can provide synthetic measurements at discrete levels which may be compared with actual field measurements. In addition to wind and temperature gradients at any height, profile theory permits us to determine the difference quotients from measurements at discrete levels. It is shown that corrections are required to obtain the gradients at the geometric mean height of the two discrete levels of measurement. The correction factor depends on the measurement height and spacing, profile structure, surface roughness and the measured Richardson number. The correction can be reduced by close spacing of the measurement levels.     

Movements of spawning rainbow smelt,Osmerus mordax,in a massachusetts estuary

Movements of spawning rainbow smelt, Osmerus mordax, were followed in the Parker River estuary, Massachusetts during 1974 and 1975. Fish marked with vinyl subcutaneous tags (n=1,492) or fin clips (n=577) were recaptured on three separate spawning sites in three different tributaries; the distribution patterns of marked fish indicated a homogeneous spawning stock. Interstream movement may have been facilitated by tidal transport since smelt ascended to the spawning sites on flood tides and moved downstream as tides ebbed. Rates of recapture of fish tagged on the spawning areas were 2.61 and 5.61 times greater for males than females in 1974 and 1975 respectively. Individual tagged males were recovered up to four times during the spawning period; females were recaptured a maximum of once. The proportion of age II and older females sampled from the angling fishery prior to spawning in 1975 (47.38%) was greater than the cumulative proportion sampled on the spawning sites (11.93%) due to longer spawning period of individual males.     

Mineral equilibria in a six-component seawater system,Na-K-Mg-Ca-SO4-Cl-H2O,at 25°C

Phase relations in the 6-component system Na-K-Mg-Ca-SO₄-Cl-H₂O have been calculated for halite saturation, 25°C and 1 atm pressure. Using a Jänecke projection with the apices Ca-Mg-K₂-SO₄, 27 stable invariant points have been located which are connected by 69 univariant curves. Polyhalite is the only quaternary solid, but anhydrite occupies the bulk of the interior tetrahedral space. Consequently, 24 of the invariant points lie very close to the Ca-free base, Mg-K₂-SO₄. The remaining three points involve tachyhydrite and/or antarcticite. All points but two (20,27) represent peritectic conditions. Metastable equilibria have been calculated for the Ca-free system and yield relations corresponding to the solar diagram.Seawater lies in the subspace anhydrite-halite-carnallite-kieserite-bischofite (point 20) and its evaporation has been discussed for conditions of equilibrium and fractional crystallization. After gypsum is converted to anhydrite, halite precipitates. The next phase, under equilibrium conditions, is glauberite, crystallizing at the expense of anhydrite. Continued evaporation leads to glauberite resorption and eventual replacement by polyhalite. Then follow the magnesium sulfates epsomite, hexahydrite and kieserite, which are joined by carnallite. Polyhalite is replaced by anhydrite and bischoflte is added at the final invariant condition. Kainite does not appear as a primary phase under equilibrium conditions, but it is an important phase during fractional crystallization, where Ca-phases are not allowed to back-react with the brine.Up to the appearance of glauberite, thickness ratios of halite: anhydrite couplets (equilibrium or fractionation) can vary from 0 to 7, the relative amount of halite increasing with more intense evaporation. During evaporation, the activity of H₂O decreases from 0.98 (seawater) to 0.34 (final invariant brine). The data provided can be used to evaluate the effects of mineral precipitation, evaporation and brine mixing for a wide variety of natural brines.     

Periodic counts for estimating the size of the spawning population of alewives,Alosa pseudoharengus (Wilson)

The number of migrating alewives in the Parker River, Massachusetts, can be counted visually by standing at the upper end of each of the 6 fish ladders in the system. Estimating the entire run of up to a month’s duration by this procedure is not economically feasible, but we suggest a subsampling procedure that can provide sufficient accuracy and be economical. The reliability of periodic sample counts when used to estimate population numbers of anadromous alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) was indicated by the low variance of paired counts, small random errors of individual counts, and by the low variability between counts on days of large runs in the Parker River. Analyses of computer-simulated runs using actual data suggested that short counts taken frequently are superior to longer counts taken less often. Both field and computer-simulated data suggested that ten-minute counts taken hourly will estimate the true population of alewife runs within 10% error at the .05 level of probability.     

Temperature preference of the white perch,Morone americana,collected in the Wicomico River,Maryland

Temperature preference tests were conducted on fresh water white perch (Morone americana), collected from the Wicomico River, Maryland. Collection temperature was 27 C and acclimation temperatures used in temperature preference tests were 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, and 33 C. The following methods were used to determine the final temperature preference: linear regression, quadratic equation, and “eyeball” plots. Recorded final temperature preference values were 28.9, 29.3 and 30.6 C using each method respectively.     

Polymerization of silicate and aluminate tetrahedra in glasses,melts, and aqueous solutions—III. Local silicon environments and internal nucleation in silicate glasses

The local, up to second nearest neighbor, around Si atoms in alkali and alkaline earth-silicate glasses has been characterized by SiKβ X-ray emission spectroscopy. Principally two types of Si atoms can be distinguished. These are Si atoms with only other Si atoms as second nearest neighbours, and those with one or more alkali or alkaline earth atoms in their second coordination sphere. The spectroscopic results indicate that the lower molecular weight alkali and alkaline earth-silicate glasses tend towards a bimodal distribution of local Si environments, which is designated Q₄-Q₀ following the assignment by Engelhardtet al. (1975) for silica species in aqueous solutions. From a different perspective the outcome of these experiments suggests that, though the concentration of bridging oxygens (O(br)) and non-bridging oxygens (O(nbr)) is fixed by the stoichiometry of the glass, the distribution of O(nbr) in the glass varies according to the kind of alkali or alkaline earth atom present. From observed nucleation data on R₂O-SiO₂ (R = Li, Na, K) glasses it is inferred that a bimodal Q distribution and in particular the presence of Q₀ species dominates the internal nucleation process in the alkali and alkaline earth-silicate glasses studied. Using this inference rationalizations can readily be found to explain the observed resistance to thermal shock and devitrification rates of these glasses.