Geology topics
Martin B. Goldhaber
Publications and source records attributed to Martin B. Goldhaber.
A proposal for upgrading the National-Scale Soil Geochemical Database for the United States
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Geochemical data from New Albany Shale, Kentucky: A study in metal mobility during weathering of black shales
No abstract available.
Trace-metal sources and their release from mine wastes: examples from humidity cell tests of hardrock mine waste and from Warrior Basin coal
To assess the potential impact of metal and acid contamination from mine-waste piles, it is important to identify the mineralogic source of trace metals and their mode of occurrence. Microscopic analysis of mine-waste samples from both hard-rock and coalmine waste samples demonstrate a microstructural control, as well as mineralogic control, on the source and release of trace metals into local water systems. The samples discussed herein show multiple periods of sulfide mineralization with varying concentrations of trace metals. In the first case study, two proprietary hard-rock mine-waste samples exposed to a series of humidity cell tests (which simulate intense chemical weathering conditions) generated acid and released trace metals. Some trace elements of interest were: arsenic (45-120 ppm), copper (60-320 ppm), and zinc (30-2,500 ppm). Untested and humidity cell-exposed samples were studied by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX), and electron microprobe analysis. Studies of one sample set revealed arsenic-bearing pyrite in early iron- and magnesium-rich carbonate-filled microveins, and iron-, copper-, arsenic-, antimony-bearing sulfides in later crosscutting silica-filled microveins. Post humidity cell tests indicated that the carbonate minerals were removed by leaching in the humidity cells, exposing pyrite to oxidative conditions. However, sulfides in the silica-filled veins were more protected. Therefore, the trace metals contained in the sulfides within the silica-filled microveins may be released to the surface and (or) ground water system more slowly over a greater time period. In the second case study, trace metal-rich pyrite-bearing coals from the Warrior Basin, Alabama were analyzed. Arsenic-bearing pyrite was observed in a late-stage pyrite phase in microfaults and microveins that crosscut earlier arsenic.
Arsenic in rocks and stream sediments of the central Appalachian Basin, Kentucky
Arsenic (As) enrichment in coal and stream sediments has been documented in the southern Appalachian basin (see Goldhaber and others, submitted) and is attributed to interaction of rocks and coal with metamorphic fluids generated during the Allegheny Orogeny (late Paleozoic). Similarly derived fluids are expected to affect the coal and in the Kentucky Appalachian Basin to the north as well. In addition, similar processes may have influenced the Devonian oil shale on the western margin of the basin. The major goals of this study are to determine the effect such fluids had on rocks in the Kentucky Appalachian basin (fig. 1), and to understand the geochemical processes that control trace-metal source, residence, and mobility within the basin. This report includes data presented in a poster at the USGS workshop on arsenic (February 21 and 22, 2001), new NURE stream sediment data3 , and field data from a trip in April 2001. Although data for major and minor elements and all detectable trace metals are reported in the Appendices, the narrative of this report primarily focuses on arsenic.
Geologic cross sections showing the concentrations of As, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Fe, Mo, Ni, Pb, and Zn in acid-insoluble residues of Paleozoic rocks within the Doniphan/Eleven Point Ranger District of the Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri, USA
This report is a product of a U.S. Geological Survey investigation that is focused on characterizing the potential environmental impacts of lead-zinc mining within the Doniphan/Eleven Point ranger district of the Mark Twain national forest. The elemental concentrations of iron (Fe), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) in acidinsoluble residues are shown for boreholes along two geologic cross sections within Doniphan/Elevan Point ranger district (Figure 1). The purpose of this report is to characterize, in a general sense, the distribution of economically and environmentally important elements within the rocks and aquifers of the Doniphan/Eleven Point ranger district
The distribution of MVT-related metals in ground water of the Ozark Plateaus region of the United States
No abstract available.
The distribution of MVT-related metals in acid-insoluble residues of Paleozoic rocks in the Ozark Plateaus region of the United States
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Distribution of a suite of elements including arsenic and mercury in Alabama coal
Arsenic and other elements are unusually abundant in Alabama coal. This conclusion is based on chemical analyses of coal in the U.S. Geological Survey's National Coal Resources Data System (NCRDS; Bragg and others, 1994). According to NCRDS data, the average concentration of arsenic in Alabama coal (72 ppm) is three times higher than is the average for all U.S. coal (24 ppm). Of the U.S. coal analyses for arsenic that are at least 3 standard deviations above the mean, approximately 90% are from the coal fields of Alabama. Figure 1 contrasts the abundance of arsenic in coal of the Warrior field of Alabama (histogram C) with that of coal of the Powder River Basin, Wyoming (histogram A), and the Eastern Interior Province including the Illinois Basin and nearby areas (histogram B). The Warrior field is by far the largest in Alabama. On the histogram, the large 'tail' of very high values (> 200 ppm) in the Warrior coal contrasts with the other two regions that have very few analyses greater than 200 ppm.
Environmental impact of elevated arsenic in Southern Appalachian Basin coals
No absstract available.
Mechanical and thermal control of cleating and shearing in coal: examples from the Alabama coalbed methane field, USA
Natural fractures provide most of the interconnected macroporosity in coal. Therefore, understanding the characteristics of these fractures and the associated mechanisms of formation is essential for effective coalbed methane exploration and field management. Natural fractures in coal can be divided into two general types: cleat and shear structures. Cleat has been studied for more than a century, yet the mechanisms of cleat formation remain poorly understood (see reviews by Close, 1993; Laubach et al .,1998). An important aspect of cleating is that systematic fracturing of coal is takes place in concert with devolatization and concomitant shrinkage of the coal matrix during thermal maturation (Ammosov and Eremin, 1960). Coal, furthermore, is a mechanically weak rock type that is subject to bedding-plane shear between more competent beds like shale, sandstone, and limestone. Yet, the significance of shear structures in coal has only begun to attract scientific interest (Hathaway and Gayer, 1996; Pashin, 1998).
Regional diagenetic patterns in the St. Peter Sandstone; implications for brine migration in the Illinois Basin
Diagenetic minerals and alteration patterns in the Ordovician St. Peter Sandstone, Illinois Basin, record varied hydrologic and chemical conditions during the basin?s long and complex geologic history. Major diagenetic events modifying the St. Peter Sandstone include (1) mechanical compaction, (2) early K-feldspar overgrowth and dolospar precipitation, (3) burial quartz, dolospar, anhydrite, and calcite cementation, and (4) carbonate-cement and K-feldspar grain dissolution. Radiometric age dates of authigenic K-feldspar and illite in combination with the reconstructed burial history of the St. Peter reveal that early-diagenetic K-feldspar and dolospar precipitated at shallow to moderate depths in the Devonian, whereas late-diagenetic quartz, dolospar, anhydrite, and calcite formed during deep burial in the Late Pennsylvanian to Early Permian. Stable-isotope geochemistry and fluid-inclusion paleothermometry suggest that burial cements precipitated from saline fluids over a wide temperature range. In the southern part of the basin, burial cements preserve a record of diagenetic effects that were in part controlled by fractures and hydrothermal-fluid circulation. Baroque dolospar cementation is the most significant of these effects.
Paleomagnetic and 40Ar/39Ar results from the Grant intrusive breccia and comparison to the Permian Downeys Bluff sill — Evidence for Permian igneous activity at Hicks Dome, southern Illinois Basin
Igneous processes at Hicks dome, a structural upwarp at lat 37.5° N., long 88.4° W. in the southern part of the Illinois Basin, may have thermally affected regional basinal fluid flow and may have provided fluorine for the formation of the Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar district. The timing of both igneous activity and mineralization is poorly known. For this reason, we have dated an intrusive breccia at Hicks dome, the Grant intrusion, using 40 Ar/ 39 Ar geochronometric and paleomagnetic methods. Concordant plateau dates, giving Permian ages, were obtained from amphibole (272.1±0.7 [1σ] Ma) and phlogopite (272.7±0.7 [1σ] Ma). After alternating-field (AF) demagnetization, specimens that contain titanomagnetite-bearing igneous rock fragments give a mean remanent direction of declination (D)=168.4°; inclination (I)=–8°; α95=8.6°; number of specimens (N)=10; this direction yields a virtual geomagnetic pole (VGP) at lat 54.8° N., long 119.0° E., δp=4.4°, δm=8.7°, near the late Paleozoic part of the North American apparent pole wander path. A nearly identical magnetization was found for the nearby Downeys Bluff sill (previously dated at about 275±24 Ma by the Rb-Sr method), in southern Illinois. Both AF and thermal demagnetization isolated shallow, southeasterly remanent directions carried by magnetite in the sill and from pyrrhotite in the baked contact of the Upper Mississippian Downeys Bluff Limestone: D=158.6°; I=–11.8°; α95=3.8°; N=15, yielding a VGP at lat 53.0° N., long 128.7° E., δp=2.0°, δm=3.9°. The paleomagnetic results, isotopic dates, and petrographic evidence thus favor the acquisition of thermal remanent magnetization by the Grant breccia and the Downeys Bluff sill during the Permian. The isotopic dates record rapid cooling from temperatures greater than 550°C to less than 300°C (the closure temperatures for diffusion of 40Ar in amphibole and phlogopite, respectively) after emplacement during the Permian. The results further indicate that individual clasts of the Grant breccia were emplaced at temperatures greater than about 550°C, the magnetization-blocking temperature of the titanomagnetite in the breccia, and that it cooled very rapidly, within less than 1–2 m.y. After cooling, the breccia was not affected by thermal perturbations greater than about 300°C.
Fluid inclusions and biomarkers in the Upper Mississippi Valley zinc-lead district; implications for the fluid-flow and thermal history of the Illinois Basin
The Upper Mississippi Valley zinc-lead district is hosted by Ordovician carbonate rocks at the northern margin of the Illinois Basin. Fluid inclusion temperature measurements on Early Permian sphalerite ore from the district are predominantly between 90?C and I50?C. These temperatures are greater than can be explained by their reconstructed burial depth, which was a maximum of approximately 1 km at the time of mineralization. In contrast to the temperatures of mineral formation derived from fluid inclusions, biomarker maturities in the Upper Mississippi Valley district give an estimate of total thermal exposure integrated over time. Temperatures from fluid inclusions trapped during ore genesis with biomarker maturities were combined to construct an estimate of the district's overall thermal history and, by inference, the late Paleozoic thermal and hydrologic history of the Illinois Basin. Circulation of groundwater through regional aquifers, given sufficient flow rates, can redistribute heat from deep in a sedimentary basin to its shallower margins. Evidence for regional-scale circulation of fluids is provided by paleomagnetic studies, regionally correlated zoned dolomite, fluid inclusions, and thermal maturity of organic matter. Evidence for igneous acti vity contemporaneous with mineralization in the vicinity of the Upper Mississippi Valley district is absent. Regional fluid and heat circulation is the most likely explanation for the elevated fluid inclusion temperatures (relative to maximum estimated burial depth) in the Upper Mississippi Valley district. One plausible driving mechanism and flow path for the ore-forming fluids is groundwater recharge in the late Paleozoic Appalachian-Ouachita mountain belt and northward flow through the Reelfoot rift and the proto- Illinois Basin to the Upper Mississippi Valley district. Warm fluid flowing laterally through Cambrian and Ordovician aquifers would then move vertically upward through the fractures that control sphalerite mineralization in the Upper Mississippi Valley district. Biomarker reactant-product measurements on rock extracts from the Upper Mississippi Valley district define a relatively low level ofthermal maturity for the district, 0.353 for sterane and 0.577 for hopane. Recently published kinetic constants permit a time-temperature relationship to be determined from these biomarker maturities. Numerical calculations were made to simulate fluid heat flow through the fracture-controlled ore zones of the Thompson-Temperly mine and heat transfer to the adjacent rocks where biomarker samples were collected. Calculations that combine the fluid inclusion temperatures and the biomarker constraints on thermal maturity indicate that the time interval during which mineralizing fluids circulated through the Upper Mississippi Valley district is on the order of 200,000 years. Fluid inclusion measurements and thermal maturities from biomarkers in the district reflect the duration of peak temperatures resulting from regional fluid circulation. On the basis of thermal considerations, the timing of fluorite mineralization in southern Illinois, and the northward-decreasing pattern of fluorine enrichment in sediments, we hypothesize that the principal flow direction was northward through the Cambrian and Ordovician aquifers of the Illinois Basin. A basin-scale flow system would result in mass transport (hydrocarbon migration, transport of metals in solution) and energy (heat) transport, which would in turn drive chemical reactions (for example, maturation of organic matter, mineralization, diagenetic reactions) within the Illinois Basin and at its margins.
Sulfidization and magnetization above hydrocarbon reservoirs
Post-depositional iron-sulfide (Fe-S) minerals that are related to hydrocarbon seepage have changed the original magnetizations at Cement oil field (Anadarko basin, Oklahoma), at Simpson oil field (North Slope basin, Alaska), and above deep Cretaceous oil and gas reservoirs, south Texas coastal plain. At Cement, ferrimagnetic pyrrhotite (Fe 7 S 8 ) formed with pyrite and marcasite in Permian red beds. The Fe-S minerals contain sulfur from two sources: (1) abiogenic sulfide, which has positive δ 34 S values, derived from thermochemical reduction of sulfate in deep reservoirs; and (2) biogenic sulfide, which has negative δ 34 S values, produced by reactions mediated by sulfate-reducing bacteria fed by leaking hydrocarbons. At Simpson, ferrimagnetic greigite (Fe 3 S 4 ) dominates magnetizations in nonmarine Upper Cretaceous clastic beds that contain epigenetic sulfide (δ 34 S > +20 per mil) and seeping biodegraded oil. In this setting, the authigenic magnetic sulfide mineral apparently incorporated sulfide produced by bacterial sulfate reduction under limited sulfate conditions. An inferred hydrocarbon food source for the sulfate-reducing bacteria links the hydrocarbon seepage to the greigite. The greigite is perhaps forming today. In middle Tertiary sandstones of southeast Texas, pyrite and marcasite formed when abiogenic H 2 S (enriched in 34 S) migrated upward from deep reservoirs, or when H 2 S (depleted in 34 S) was produced at shallow depths by bacteria that used organic material dissolved in migrating water from depth. The pyrite and marcasite replaced detrital magnetic iron-titanium oxide minerals. The degree of such replacement appears to increase toward faults that connect deep petroleum reservoirs to shallow sandstone. Our results show that abiologic and biologic mechanisms can generate different magnetic sulfide minerals in some sulfidic zones of hydrocarbon seepage. More commonly the magnetizations in such zones would be diminished as a result of the replacement of detrital magnetic minerals by the common nonmagnetic sulfide minerals, or would remain unchanged if such detrital minerals were originally absent.
Relations among hydrocarbon reservoirs, epigenetic sulfidization, and rock magnetization; Examples from the South Texas coastal plain
This paper focuses on the association between concentrations of iron disulfide (FeS 2 ) minerals in the shallow subsurface and underlying hydrocarbon accumulations. Such FeS 2 concentrations are the result of migration of either H 2 S or organic constituents from the underlying hydrocarbons. The H 2 S from reservoirs is produced inorganically from sulfate in the reservoir rocks at high temperature (>90 degrees C) and migrates to shallower beds to react inorganically with iron to form FeS 2 . Organic constituents from reservoirs, in contrast, provide nourishment for sulfate reducing bacteria in shallow relatively cool (<90 degrees C) beds. Sandstone in the Ray Point uranium district in Live Oak County, Texas contains abundant FeS 2 which formed both from deep-seated H 2 S and from H 2 S produced in the shallow subsurface by bacteria that utilized organic materials from depth. Deep petroleum reservoirs were physically connected to near-surface (<100 m) beds containing epigenetic FeS 2 by the Oakville fault. Epigenetic iron sulfide formation occurred in at least four episodes over at least five million years. Evidence from the Ray Point district and elsewhere in Texas illustrates that sulfidization reactions have destroyed magnetic iron-titanium oxide minerals in the vicinity of major growth faults, resulting in a systematic decrease in magnetic susceptibility and magnitude of remanent magnetization in the vicinity of such faults. Growth faults which tap hydrocarbon deposits may be detectable using aeromagnetic methods.
Iron sulfide minerals at Cement oil field, Oklahoma: Implications for magnetic detection of oil fields
Aeromagnetic anomalies at Cement oil field (Anadarko basin, Oklahoma) have been attributed to authigenic magnetite. The following characteristics of the magnetite, however, indicate that it is contamination introduced by drilling: (1) occurrence as sharp angular blades and as spheres, commonly with metallographic textures typical of industrial alloys and with associated steel and wustite (FeO); (2) presence only in well cuttings and absence from core and quarry samples; and (3) lack of association with detrital framework grains or with authigenic carbonate and sulfide minerals. Ferrimagnetic pyrrhotite occurs in well cuttings, cores, and quarry samples at Cement and is a possible natural source of the magnetic anomalies. Pyrrhotite, which is intergrown with more abundant FeS 2 minerals, formed as a result of hydrocarbon seepage. Pyrrhotite is confined to beds above oil and gas reservoirs. These beds, which lack detrital organic matter, contain higher mineral sulfide and lower mineral sulfate sulfur (1.7 and 0.1 wt %, respectively) than do correlative beds off the field (0.2 and 1.1 wt %, respectively). In the field, isotopic values of sulfide S show a systematic decrease upward through the Permian section from positive values (maximum, +12 per mil at ∼610-760 m depth) to negative values (-1 to -11 per mil between 32 and 230 m; -26 to -30 per mil at the surface). Geochemical results, together with time-temperature data derived from burial curves, limit the major sources of the sulfide in the Fe-S minerals to two possibilities. Isotopically heavy sulfide was generated either inorganically at temperatures >∼90 °C in beds beneath Permian beds, or by bacterial sulfate reduction at temperatures <∼60 °C in Permian strata. If the latter, microbial sulfate reduction occurred under sulfate-limited conditions. The isotopically light sulfide occurring in minerals near the present surface is attributed to bacterial reduction of sulfate. Sulfate-reducing bacteria derived metabolic energy from leaking hydrocarbons and associated organic compounds.
U.S. Geological Survey - Missouri Geological Survey symposium; mineral-resource potential of the Midcontinent; program and abstracts
No abstract available.