The Climax-Alma granite batholith of oligocene age and the prophyry molybdenum deposits of Climax, Colorado, U.S.A.

The porphyry molybdenum deposits of Climax, Colorado, are stockworks of quartz-molybdenite veinlets. They are apical to intrusive cupolas of leucocratic rhyolite-granite porphyry of Oligocene age (33 to 24 Ma). The upper parts of the orebodies are overprinted by overlying zones of phyllically altered rocks, and by stockworks of greisen-like veinlets, containing quartz, pyrite, topaz and huebnerite. The phyllic and/or greisen-like zones are surrounded by a propylitic zone, characterized by quartz-chlorite-hematite veinlets and chlorite after biotite. Late veins, radial and peripheral to the intrusive center, are common but widely scattered and discontinuous. Such veins typically contain quartz, fluorite, rhodochrosite, pyrite, dark sphalerite, galena, tetrahedrite, and traces of huebnerite, molybdenite, argentite, native gold and/or electrum.

The Alma district, 4 to 10 km southeast of Climax, contains widely scattered clusters of veins and replacement deposits. The veins cut chloritized to sericitized silicate host rocks, and the replacement deposits are in carbonate host rocks. The ore- and gangue-mineral assemblages of the veins of the Alma district resemble those of veins peripheral to the Climax molybdenum deposits. Veins of the Alma district cut dikes of Late white rhyolite (35 Ma), which resemble the rhyolite porphyries of Climax. A swarm of such dikes is parallel to the long axis of an elliptical drainage pattern, which bounds a structural dome, here called the outer Alma dome. The outer Alma dome (8 × 12 km) surrounds an inner Alma dome (6 × 8 km). Veins of the Alma district generally are axial and/or marginal to the outer Alma dome, and/or radial to the inner Alma dome. Veins and alteration minerals associated with the outer Alma dome formed between 35 and 27 Ma ago. Those associated with the inner Alma dome formed about 27 Ma ago, as indicated by fission-track age determinations on thermally annealed zircon grains from hydrothermally altered rocks, within and around the inner Alma dome.

Negative Bouguer gravity anomaly patterns indicate: (1) a regional, northeast-trending gravity low, associated with the composite monzonite-granodiorite-granite B batholith of the Colorado mineral belt (average density about 2.62 g/cm³); (2) a semi-regional gravity trough, within the gravity low of the Colorado mineral belt, extending northeastward across the Mosquito Range; (3) an oval pattern of gravity lows, coincident with the Alma domes; and (4) a closed gravity low associated with the Climax stock (density about 2.56 g/cm³) (Tweto and Case, 1972; Behrent and Bajwa, 1974; Corry, 1981).

The semi-regional gravity trough is interpreted as the gravimetric expression of a granite batholith, here called the Climax-Alma batholith. The gravity lows of the Climax and Alma districts are interpreted as expressions of cupolas on this granite batholith.

The highly differentiated rhyolite-granite intrusions of Climax plunge toward the Alma domes. The Climax intrusions are interpreted as products of apical differentiation of the inferred Climax-Alma granite batholith. Magmatic-hydrothermal fluids, associated with highly differentiated apical magmas, produced the Climax molybdenum orebodies. Most of the veins and replacement deposits of the Alma district are associated with lower, broader cupolas of the inferred granite batholith. The shape of the composite Climax-Alma magmatic-hydrothermal system resembles that of a teapot, with Climax above the spout and the Alma district above the lower, broadly domed lid.     

Sulfur dioxide in the North American Arctic

Determinations of atmospheric sulfur dioxide were made across the North American Aretic using gas chromatography with a detection limit of 25 parts per trillion by volume and a precision of 25% or better. The vertical distribution of sulfur dioxide in the Arctic atmosphere in April, 1986 was highly variable, with concentrations ranging from the detection limit to 15 parts-per-billion by volume (ppbv). While SO₂ exceeded 10 ppbv in an exceptional haze layer in the Alaskan Arctic, sulfur dioxide was sometimes in the 1 – 5 ppbv range when the haze was absent. This was particularly true for the Canadian Arctic in the vicinity of Alert. In the lower stratosphere over Ellesmere Island, sulfur dioxide was 0.85 ppbv.     

Changing thermal topography of the Baltimore-Washington corridor: 1950–1979

A study of the temperature field for the Baltimore-Washington region reveals that since 1950 there has been the development of an urban heat corridor. Trend surface analysis shows that there has been an inversion of the thermal topography in the region as a saddle of rising temperatures has emerged, replacing a trough of lowered temperatures through three decades. Steady population growth throughout the area is seen to be the most important contributor. The strengthening of the heat corridor is best expressed in the summer months and weakest during the winter months. As population continues to grow in this region, the thermal topography is sure to be modified even further.It is recommended that further study be devoted to temperature and precipitation changes in regions experiencing urban growth.     

The thermodynamic properties of radium

The enthalpy, Gibbs free energy, and entropies of aqueous radium species and radium solids have been evaluated from empirical data, or estimated when necessary for 25°C and 1 bar. Estimates were based on such approaches as extrapolation of the thermodynamic properties of Ca, Sr, and Ba complexes and solids plotted against cationic radii and charge to radius functions, and the use of the Fuoss or electrostatic mathematical models of ion pair formation (Langmuir, 1979). Resultant log K (assoc) and ΔH⁰ (assoc) (kcal/mol) values are: for RaOH⁺ 0.5 and 1.1; RaCl⁺ ?0.10 and 0.50; RaCO⁰₃ 2.5 and 1.07; and RaSO⁰₄ 2.75 and 1.3. Log Ksp and ΔH⁰ (dissoc) (kcal/mol) values for RaCO₃(c) and RaSO₄(c) are ?8.3 and ?2.8, and ?10.26 and ?9.4, respectively.Trace Ra solid solution in salts of Pb and of the lighter alkaline earths, has been appraised based on published distribution coefficient (D) data, where D ～- (mM²⁺)(N_RaX)/(mRa²⁺)(N_MX) (m and N are the aqueous molality and mole fraction of Ra and cation M in salt X, respectively. The empirical solid solution data have been used to derive both enthalpies and Gibbs free energies of solid solution of trace Ra in sulfate and carbonate minerals up to 100°C. Results show that in every case D values decrease with increasing temperature. Among the sulfate and carbonate minerals, D values decrease for the following minerals in the order: anhydrite > celestite > anglesite > barite > aragonite > strontianite > witherite > cerussite.     

Solid state C NMR studies of selected oil shales from Queensland, Australia

Solid state ¹³C NMR techniques of cross polarization with magic-angle spinning, and interrupted decoupling have been employed to examine the nature of the organic matter in eight kerogen concentrates representing five Tertiary deposits in Queensland, Australia. The NMR results show that five of the kerogens have high proportions of aliphatic carbon in their organic matter and correspond to Type I–II algal kerogens. Three of the kerogens, derived from carbonaceous shales, have a high proportion of aromatic carbon in their organic matter and correspond to Type III kerogens. The fractions of aliphatic carbon in all the kerogens, regardless of type, are shown to correlate with the conversion characteristics of the corresponding raw shales during Fischer assay. Interrupted decoupling NMR results show the presence of more oxygen-substituted carbon in the carbonaceous shales, which may account for the greater CO₂ evolution and phenolic materials found in the pyrolysis products of the carbonaceous shales.     

Morphometric comparison of braided Martian channels and some braided terrestial features

Large channels on the Martian surface have been variously attributed to erosional, volcanic, and tectonic processes. Morphometric information shows that large braided Martian channels and islands between those channels are similar in their dimensions to channels and islands of large braided fluvial features on Earth. The information also suggests that braided fractures in solid materials are fundamentally different in morphometry from braided channels of Earth and Mars. Braided tension fractures have characteristically low braiding indices and are much narrower than their irregularly shaped “midchannel” islands. Terrestrial and Martian channels, in contrast, have high braiding indices, and they are wider than their streamlined midchannel islands. Braided volcanic features are known from the earth and the moon, but the absence of volcanic constructs near the large braided channels on Mars indicates that volcanic origin is unlikely. The morphometric information suggests that braided Martian channels are probably of fluvial origin.     

The social impact of anthropogenic landscape modification in the Río Verde drainage basin,Oaxaca, Mexico

This article examines the effects of anthropogenic landscape modification in the upper drainage basin of the Río Verde on environments and populations of the lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico. Archaeological and geomorphological research conducted by the Río Verde Formative Project indicates that Late Formative (400–100 B.C.) population growth and agricultural intensification in the Oaxaca and Nochixtlán valleys increased erosion and runoff from the Verde's upper drainage. This geomorphic change in the highland valleys altered the drainage system and led to increased flooding and alluviation in the lower Río Verde Valley. The environmental effect in the lower valley may have increased the agricultural potential of the region, leading to population growth, and at least indirectly to social change.