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At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources

Classification and new genera of noncystimorph colonial rugose corals from the Onesquethaw stage in New York and adjacent areas

A. proposed classification is outlined for 39 species of colonial rugose corals in 10 genera belonging to the families Stauriidae, Craspcdophyllidae (including Cylindrophyllinae new subfamily and Craspedophyllinac), Disphyllidae?, and Zaphrentidae, from the Onesquethaw and lower Cazenovia Stages in New York and adjacent areas. These corals are described or redescribed in another report now in press. Three new genera, Asterobillingsa , Grewgiphyllum , and Cyathocylindrium , are described in this report.

New York, Ontario

Thermal conductimetric determination of submilligram amounts of total water in silicate and carbonate minerals

A simple and rapid method was developed for determining sub milligram amounts of total water in silicate and carbonate minerals. Powdered samples are fused by heating with sodium tungstate vanadium pentoxide flux in a Vycor combustion tube, and the evolved water vapor is absorbed on silica gel. After the water collection, the silica gel is heated at a controlled rate, and the released water vapor, carried by helium, is detected by thermal conductivity.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey

Preliminary study of rock alteration in the Catheart Mountain molybdenum-copper deposit, Maine

Studies of drill cores from the Catheart Mountain molybdenum-copper deposit indicate that the deposit is of the porphyry type. Hydrothermal alteration and sulfide mineralization are probably distributed in complex but systematic alteration zones. Most or all mineralization at Catheart Mountain is in a medium-fine-grained quartz monzonite enclosed within a larger mass of Attean Quartz Monzonite; no ore and little hydrothermal alteration have been seen in the Attean. Much of the ore and hydrothermal alteration seem to be and presumably are spatially related to irregular intrusive masses of porphyry. Only certain porphyry intrusives are mineral bearing, however, and many have no associated ore and alteration. Studies of hydrothermal alterations in surface exposures supplemented by rock analyses of bulk samples indicate that alteration features and sulfide zone characteristics of an area northwest of the mountain crest are, when measured against accepted porphyry models, very favorable for the occurrence of ore. Even though this favorable area has already been tested by some drilling, the presence together here of the strong center of potassic enrichment, the well-developed pyrite zone, and the strong and extensive phyllic alteration suggest that some further evaluation may be warranted.

Maine

Distribution of copper in biotite and biotite alteration products in intrusive rocks near two Arizona porphyry copper deposits

Biotite and its alteration products (primarily chlorite) from igneous rocks around the Ray and Esperanza (Esperanza-Sierrita) porphyry copper deposits, Arizona, were analyzed for copper by electron microprobe. The copper occurs in amounts >90 p/m (limit of detection) in most of the chlorites analyzed, is concentrated at the optical and chemical boundary of chlorite and biotite, and is not associated with sulfur. Most unaltered igneous and hydrothermal biotites analyzed contain <90 p/m Cu, and except for one sample, all copper that was detected can be explained as contamination by copper from chlorite grains. The paucity of detectable copper in igneous and hydrothermal biotite and its presence in daughter chlorite suggest that the positive association noted by some workers between the proximity of an ore deposit and the copper content of biotite might be partly the result: of increased amounts of chloritization of biotite near a deposit coupled with difficulty in physically cleaning the biotite separates. Additionally, previous speculations that (1) part of the copper in a deposit may come from altered biotite, and (2) copper in biotite indicates how copper behaves in a differentiating magma, are of doubtful value if based on data derived from analyses of bulk mineral separates.

Arizona

Garrelsite, NaBa3Si2B7O16(OH)4

Garrelsite, NaBa 3 Si 2 B 7 O 16 (OH) 4 , originally described in 1955, has recently been reexamined by Charles Milton and Adolf Pabst and by Subrata Ghose and Horst H. Ulbrich. The latter have reanalyzed the mineral and determined the structure; the powder pattern is indexed on the basis of their 1972 cell constants. These were refined in 1973 to ɑ =14.639 A, b =8.466 A, c =13.438 A, β =114.21°, space group C 2/c. Garrelsite has been found in two drill cores penetrating the Green River Formation (Eocene) at two localities in Uintah County, Utah, and in the borate deposits of the Kramer district, Kern County, Calif. The original description of the morphology has been corrected, and the optical orientation has been redetermined.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey

Phosphatic zone in the lower part of the Maquoketa Shale in northeastern Iowa

The basal beds of the Maquoketa Shale in northeastern Iowa include a basal silty phosphorite layer that is thickest near Dubuque. In Clayton County, Iowa, the bed averages about 1 foot thick (30 centimeters) and contains 22.5 percent P 2 0 5 . Phosphatic dolomite that is 8 10 feet (2.4 3 meters) thick and occurs higher in the Maquoketa was observed only in Dubuque County. The thickest and most phosphatic rock in the Maquoketa appears to be coextensive with dark-brown shale, which also occurs mainly in Dubuque County. Rare-earth content of the phosphatic rock decreases southeastward across the area, ranging from 2,000 to about 120 parts per million. The thin low-grade phosphorite is typical of the platform-type phosphorite facies and may be' genetically related to the emergence of the Ozark uplift as an island late in the Ordovician period.

Iowa

WATEQ, a computer program for calculating chemical equilibria of natural waters

The computer program, WATEQ, calculates the equilibrium distribution of inorganic aqueous species of major and important minor elements in natural waters using the chemical analysis and in situ measurements of temperature, pH, and redox potential. From this model, the states of reaction of the water with solid and gaseous phases are calculated. Thermodynamic stabilities of aqueous species, minerals, and gases have been selected from a careful consideration of all available experimental data. The program is written in PL-1 for IBM 360 computers.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey

Hydrogeology of Antietam Creek basin

The Antictam Creek basin in the Great Valley of Maryland and Pennsylvania is underlain almost entirely by intensely folded and faulted lower Paleozoic carbonate rocks. The ground-water discharge of the basin is about 85 percent of the total discharge, in contrast with less than 70 percent of the total discharge in two small basins underlain by igneous and mctamorphic rocks in the Maryland Piedmont. Large quantities of ground water are stored in a thick residual mantle, which overlies the carbonate rocks in the valley and adjacent rnetamorphic rocks in mountain areas on the east edge of the basin. Streams that flow off the mountain areas are major sources of recharge to the carbonate-rock aquifers. Several streams lose a large part of their flow within a mile after reaching the carbonate rocks in the valley, and a few flow directly into swallow holes (sinkholes). The low density of perennial streams in the basin is a result of subsurface drainage through solution cavities along joints, faults, and bedding in the carbonate rocks. The major orientations of straight stream reaches along Antietam Creek and the strikes of major joint sets in quarries are nearly coincident, suggesting that the stream network throughout the basin is joint controlled.

Maryland, Pennsylvania

Low-cost computer classification of land cover in the Portland area, Oregon, by signature extension techniques

Computer-aided techniques for interpreting multispectral data acquired by Landsat offer economies in the mapping of land cover. Even so, the actual establishment of the statistical classes, or "signatures," is one of the relatively more costly operations involved. Analysts have, therefore, been seeking cost-saving signature extension techniques that would accept training data acquired at one time or place and apply them to another. Signatures may be extended in preprocessing steps or in the classification steps that follow. In the present example, land cover classes were derived by the simplest and most direct form of signature extension: Classes statistically derived from a Landsat scene of the Puget Sound area, Wash., were applied to the adjacent Landsat scene of the Portland area, Oreg., acquired during the next 25 seconds down orbit. Many features can be recognized on the reduced-scale version of the Portland land cover map shown in this report although no statistical assessment of its accuracy is available.

Oregon, Washington

Geochemical indicators of subsurface temperature: Part 1, basic assumptions

The chemical and isotopic compositions of hot-spring water and gas are used to estimate subsurface temperatures. The basic assumptions inherent in the methods are seldom stipulated. These assumptions include (1) a temperature-dependent reaction at depth, (2) a supply of the solid phase involved in the reaction to permit saturation of the constituent used for geothermometry, (3) water-rock equilibrium at depth, (4) negligible re-equilibration as the water flows to the surface, and (5) no dilution or mixing of hot and cold water. The first three assumptions are probably good for a few reactions that occur in many places. The last two assumptions probably are not valid for many hot-spring systems; information obtained is therefore for the shallower parts of those systems, or a limiting temperature (generally a minimum) is indicated.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey

Geochemical indicators of subsurface temperature: Part 2, estimation of temperature and fraction of hot water mixed with cold water

The water in many warm springs with large rates of flow consists of mixtures of hot water that has come from depth and of shallow cold water. Under favorable conditions the original temperature of the hot water and the fraction of the cold water in the mixture can be estimated by using the measured temperature and silica content of the warm spring water and the temperature and silica content of nonthermal water in the region. The method has been applied with apparent success at Yellowstone National Park.

Wyoming

Some morphometric properties of experimentally cratered surfaces

The temperature and chemical conditions (pH, gas pressure, and ion activities) in a geothermal aquifer supplying a producing bore can be calculated from the enthalpy of the total fluid (liquid + vapor) produced and chemical analyses of water and steam separated and collected at known pressures. Alternatively, if a single water phase exists in the aquifer, the complete analysis (including gases) of a sample collected from the aquifer by a downhole sampler is sufficient to determine the aquifer chemistry without a measured value of the enthalpy. The assumptions made are that the fluid is produced from a single aquifer and is homogeneous in enthalpy and chemical composition. These calculations of aquifer chemistry involving large amounts of ancillary information and many iterations require computer methods. A computer program in PL-1 to perform these calculations is available from the National Technical Information Service as document PB-219 376.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey

Tectonic transition zone in the northeastern Caribbean

Seismic reflection data indicate that the Atlantic plate has been underthrust beneath the Caribbean plate east of the Lesser Antilles. The data further reveal that the transition from underthrust to strike-slip plate motion occurs near lat 19.3° N. and long 62° W. in alinement with the Anegada Trough. Oceanic basement and reflectors above basement have not been detected beneath the landward wall of the Puerto Rico Trench west of the transition zone. Southeast of the zone, the horizontal distance over which the reflectors and basement can be traced beneath the landward wall (outer part of the Lesser Antilles rise) systematically increases from a few kilometers in the north to as much as 37 km near lat 16.5° N. If a thrust fault emerges at the landward trench wall, the data suggest that a decollement exists between reflectors above basement and an overlying acoustically transparent zone. Gravity and seismic refraction data indicate a thick accumulation of low-density, low-velocity material beneath the Lesser Antilles rise, possibly sediments scraped off the underthrusting Atlantic plate, although massive slumping might cause a similar low-density configuration. The magmatic history of the Lesser Antilles arc suggests two periods of underthrusting, one in the Mesozoic or early Cenozoic and a second in the late Cenozoic. Although the magmatic history of the Lesser Antilles apparently began in the Mesozoic, its Cenozoic history is remarkably similar to the Cenozoic histories of circum-Pacific arcs. Magmatic histories in both areas suggest that island arc evolution in the Cenozoic may have worldwide synchroneity.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey

Silicoflagellate zonation of upper Cretaceous to lower Miocene deep-sea sediment

A stratigraphic zonation based on silicoflagellates is proposed for the division of Upper Cretaceous to lower Miocene deep-sea sediments into eight independent zones. The occurrence of silicoflagellate siliceous microfossils from Mesozoic and lower Cenozoic sediment has been poorly known in all but the middle Eocene. The most diagnostic occurrences in deep-sea sediment are here used to define a sequence of zones, which are correlated with the more widely recognizable zonation of coccoliths. The silicoflagellate zones defined include the Lyramula furcula Zone of Late Cretaceous age, the Corbisema hastata Zone of Paleocene age, the Naviculopsis constricta Zone and Dictyocha hexacantha Zone of Eocene age, the Dictyocha deflandrei Zone and Rocella gemma Zone of Oligocene age, and the Naviculopsis quadrata Zone and Distephanus octacanthus Zone of early Miocene age.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey

Coloradoite, acanthite, and jarosite from the Cripple Creek district, Teller County, Colorado

Coloradoite (HgTe), acanthite (Ag 2 S), and jarosite (KFe 3 (S0 4 ) 2 (OH) 6 ) have been identified in rocks from the Cripple Creek district, Colorado. Neither acanthite nor jarosite has previously been reported from this mining district. Although the occurrence of coloradoite was reported, its identification was never actually verified. The presence of acanthite may explain a discrepancy between the relative proportions of gold and silver as shown by mill reports and geochemical data.

Colorado

Thallium-bearing orpiment, Carlin gold deposit, Nevada

A variety of orpiment, As 2 S 3 , containing a significant amount of thallium has been identified in the unoxidized East ore body of the Carlin gold deposit. The mineral occurs in small veinlets with barite, calcite, quartz, and realgar.

Nevada

Occurrence of dissolved organic carbon in selected ground-water samples in the United States

A study of nonvolatile DOC (dissolved organic carbon) in ground water was conducted to establish base levels of naturally occurring dissolved organic materials. Samples of ground water were obtained at 100 sites in 27 States. Samples were pressure filtered at the time of collection and immediately frozen on dry ice. DOC concentrations were determined by wet oxidation of organic carbon to carbon dioxide which was measured by an infrared analyzer. The DOC concentrations ranged from less than the 0.1 mg/l limit of detection to 15 mg/l. Concentrations of DOC were directly correlated with specific conductance and alkalinity, but did not correlate with pH. The DOC mean concentration was 1.2 mg/l; however, the DOC median value was lower at 0.7 mg/l. Differences in DOC concentration for various types of consolidated rock aquifers were slight; for example, median DOC values for sandstone, limestone, and crystalline rock aquifer types ranged from 0.5 to 0.7 mg/l. No difference was found in the median DOC concentration between shallow (<200 ft; 61 m) and deep (>200 ft) sand and gravel aquifers.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey