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At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS2009

Geomorphic changes resulting from floods in reconfigured gravel-bed river channels in Colorado, USA

Geomorphic changes in reconfi gured reaches of three Colorado rivers in response to floods in 2005 provide a benchmark for "restoration" assessment. Sedimententrainment potential is expressed as the ratio of the shear stress from the 2 yr, 5 yr, 10 yr, and 2005 floods to the critical shear stress for sediment. Some observed response was explained by the excess of flood shear stress relative to the resisting force of the sediment. Bed-load entrainment in the Uncompahgre River and the North Fork Gunnison River, during 4 and 6 yr floods respectively, resulted in streambed scour, streambed deposition, lateral-bar accretion, and channel migration at various locations. Some constructed boulder and log structures failed because of high rates of bank erosion or bed-material deposition. The Lake Fork showed little or no net change after the 2005 flood; however, this channel had not conveyed floods greater than the 2.5 yr flood since reconfi guration. Channel slope and the 2 yr flood, a surrogate for bankfull discharge, from all three reconfi gured reaches plotted above the Leopold and Wolman channel-pattern threshold in the "braided channel" region, indicating that braiding, rather than a single-thread meandering channel, and midchannel bar formation may be the natural tendency of these gravel-bed reaches. When plotted against a total stream-power and median-sediment-size threshold for the 2 yr flood, however, the Lake Fork plotted in the "single-thread channel" region, the North Fork Gunnison plotted in the " multiplethread" region, and the Uncompahgre River plotted on the threshold. All three rivers plotted in the multiple-thread region for floods of 5 yr recurrence or greater. ?? 2009 Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2009

Estimating rocky seafloor extent on the Southern California continental shelf

High-resolution sonar data are necessary to map bottom substrate for habitat studies but are lacking over much of the continental shelf. With such data, areas covered by sediment can be distinguished from bedrock areas with an accuracy of ??90%. Without these data, the extent of sediment as thick as 10 m cannot be resolved, and estimates of the extent of rocky seafloor are exaggerated. A study area north of Anacapa Island in Southern California interpreted as a large rocky area after mapping with low-resolution seismic systems was found to have exposed rocky bottom in only 10% of the area when mapped with high-resolution, side-scan sonar. The area of rock was estimated using video-supervised, sonar-image classification of textural derivatives of the data calculated from gray-level co-occurrence matrices. The classification of soft bottom was found to be ??90% accurate using an independent data set, derived from seafloor sampling records. Two general types of rock exposure are observed-sparse linear outcrops of layered sedimentary rocks and more massive, rounded outcrop areas of volcanic rocks. The percentage of exposed rock in volcanic areas exceeded that in sedimentary rock areas by a factor of 5 in the study area north of Anacapa Island. South of Point Arguello, 80% of the shelf seafloor is underlain by sedimentary rock units. The percentage of area that is exposed, rocky-reef habitat may be greater in other areas of coastal seafloor if the bedrock is predominantly volcanic. ?? 2009 The Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2009

Sediment accumulation on the Southern California Bight continental margin during the twentieth century

Sediment discharged into the portion of the Southern California Bight extending from Santa Barbara to Dana Point enters a complex system of semi-isolated coastal cells, narrow continental shelves, submarine canyons, and offshore basins. On both the Santa Monica and San Pedro margins, 210 Pb accumulation rates decrease in an offshore direction (from ??0.5 g cm -2 yr -1 to 0.02 g cm -2 yr -1 ), in concert with a fining in sediment grain size (from 4.5?? to 8.5??), suggesting that offshore transport of wave-resuspended material occurs as relatively dilute nepheloid layers and that hemiplegic sedimentation dominates the supply of sediment to the outer shelf, slope, and basins. Together, these areas are effectively sequestering up to 100% of the annual fluvial input. In contrast to the Santa Monica margin, which does not display evidence of mass wasting as an important process of sediment delivery and redistribution, the San Pedro margin does provide numerous examples of failures and mass wasting, suggesting that intraslope sediment redistribution may play a more important role there. Basin deposits in both areas exhibit evidence of turbidites tentatively associated with both major floods and earthquakes, sourced from either the Redondo Canyon (San Pedro Basin) or Dume Canyon (Santa Monica Basin). On the Palos Verdes shelf, sediment-accumulation rates decrease along and across the shelf away from the White's Point outfall, which has been a major source of contaminants to the shelf deposits. Accumulation rates prior to the construction of the outfall were ??0.2 g cm -2 yr -1 and increased 1.5-3.7 times during peak discharges from the outfall in 1971. The distal rate of accumulation has decreased by ??50%, from 0.63 g cm -2 yr -1 during the period 1971-1992 to 0.29 g cm -2 yr -1 during the period 1992-2003. The proximal rate of accumulation, however, has only decreased ??10%, from 0.83 g cm -2 yr -1 during the period 1971-1992 to 0.73 g cm -2 yr -1 during the period 1992-2003. Effluent-affected sediment layers on the Palos Verdes shelf can be identified in seabed profiles of naturally occurring 238 U, which is sequestered in reducing sediments. The Santa Clara River shelf, just north and west of the Santa Monica and San Pedro margins, is fine-grained and flood-dominated. Core profiles of excess 210 Pb from sites covering the extent of documented major flood deposition exhibit evidence of rapidly deposited sediment up to 25 cm thick. These beds are developing in an active depocenter in water depths of 30-50 m at an average rate of 0.72 g cm -2 yr -1 . Budget calculations for annual and 50-yr timescale sediment storage on this shelf shows that 20%-30% of the sediment discharge is retained on the shelf, leaving 70%-80% to be redistributed to the outer shelf, slope, Santa Barbara Basin, and Santa Monica Basin. ?? 2009 The Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2009

Variability of the Southern California wave climate and implications for sediment transport

We analyzed wave and wind data from 18 buoys in the Southern California Bight to characterize the spatial and temporal variability of the regional wave climate. Point Conception shelters most of the Bight from being directly impacted by North Pacific weather. The wave height inside the sheltered zone and to the east of the Channel Islands is less than half the wave height in the open ocean to the west. Within the sheltered Bight, storm waves (by proxy of being greater than the 95th percentile wave height for more than 6 hours) are mainly from the west, but long period swells (T p >15 seconds) are mainly from the south-southwest. There are on average two to four storms during each winter month (November-March) and fewer than two storms per month for the rest of the year. The Channel Islands selectively block the westerly swells and make the wave climate in the Santa Barbara Channel different from the rest of the sheltered Bight. A statistically significant wave-height minimum exists in the area offshore Dana Point and Oceanside. The multiyear (2-23 years) wave-data records from all 18 buoys show negligible temporal trend, positive or negative. Like the wave climate, the long-term probability of sediment transport on the continental shelves of the Bight displays large difference between the sheltered and open-ocean (near Point Conception) sites. The return period of incipient sediment motion on the sheltered shelf breaks (one to five months) is at least two orders of magnitude longer than that on the Point Conception shelf break (0.6 day). Similar to the spatial distribution of wave heights, there is a systematic return-period maximum on the shelf off Dana Point and Oceanside. ?? 2009 The Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2009

Physical property data from the ICDP-USGS Eyreville cores A and B, Chesapeake Bay impact structure, Virginia, USA, acquired using a multisensor core logger

The International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) drilled three core holes to a composite depth of 1766 m within the moat of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure. Core recovery rates from the drilling were high (??90%), but problems with core hole collapse limited the geophysical downhole logging to natural-gamma and temperature logs. To supplement the downhole logs, ??5% of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure cores was processed through the USGS GeoTek multisensor core logger (MSCL) located in Menlo Park, California. The measured physical properties included core thickness (cm), density (g cm -3 ), P-wave velocity (m s -1 ), P-wave amplitude (%), magnetic susceptibility (cgs), and resistivity (ohm-m). Fractional porosity was a secondary calculated property. The MSCL data-sampling interval for all core sections was 1 cm longitudinally. Photos of each MSCL sampled core section were imbedded with the physical property data for direct comparison. These data have been used in seismic, geologic, thermal history, magnetic, and gravity models of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure. Each physical property curve has a unique signature when viewed over the full depth of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure core holes. Variations in the measured properties reflect differences in pre-impact target-rock lithologies and spatial variations in impact-related deformation during late-stage crater collapse and ocean resurge. ?? 2009 The Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2005

Subtle structural influences on coal thickness and distribution: Examples from the Lower Broas-Stockton coal (Middle Pennsylvanian), Eastern Kentucky Coal Field, USA

The Lower Broas-Stockton coal is a heavily mined coal of the Central Appalachian Basin. Coal thickness, distribution, composition, and stratigraphic position were compared with basement structure, gas and oil field trends, and sequence strat- igraphic and paleoclimate interpretations to better understand the geology of the Stockton coal bed in eastern Kentucky. The thickest coal occurs south of the Warfield structural trend and east of the Paint Creek Uplift, two basement-related structures. Along the Warfield trend, coal beds in the underlying Peach Orchard coal zone locally merge with the Stockton coal to form a seam more than 3 m thick. Other areas of thick coal occur in elongate trends. Two pairs of elongate, conjugate trends in Stockton coal thickness are interpreted as regional paleofractures that influenced paleotopography and groundwater during peat accumulation. Compositional group analyses indicate that the Stockton peat infilled depressions in the paleotopography as a topogenous to soligenous mire codominated by tree ferns and lycopsid trees. Flooding from adjacent paleochannels is indicated by partings and seam splits along the margins of the mineable coal body. One or more increments of low-vitrinite coal, dominated by tree ferns and shrubby, Densosporites-producing lycopsids occur at all sample sites. Similar assemblages have been previously used to identify ombrogenous, domed mire origins for Early and Middle Pennsylvanian coals in which ash yields were less than 10%. It is difficult, however, to reconcile ombrogenous conditions with the partings in the Stockton coal in this area. Low-ash, low-vitrinite increments may have been formed in topogenous to soligenous mires with periodic drying or water-table fluctuations, rather than widespread doming. This is consistent with interpretations of increasingly seasonal paleoclimates in the late Middle and Late Pennsylvanian and fracture-influenced groundwater conditions. ??2005 Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2005

A new reconstruction of the Paleozoic continental margin of southwestern North America: Implications for the nature and timing of continental truncation and the possible role of the Mojave-Sonora megashear

Data bearing on interpretations of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic paleogeography of southwestern North America are important for testing the hypothesis that the Paleozoic miogeocline in this region has been tectonically truncated, and if so, for ascertaining the time of the event and the possible role of the Mojave-Sonora megashear. Here, we present an analysis of existing and new data permitting reconstruction of the Paleozoic continental margin of southwestern North America. Significant new and recent information incorporated into this reconstruction includes (1) spatial distribution of Middle to Upper Devonian continental-margin facies belts, (2) positions of other paleogeographically significant sedimentary boundaries on the Paleozoic continental shelf, (3) distribution of Upper Permian through Upper Triassic plutonic rocks, and (4) evidence that the southern Sierra Nevada and western Mojave Desert are underlain by continental crust. After restoring the geology of western Nevada and California along known and inferred strike-slip faults, we find that the Devonian facies belts and pre-Pennsylvanian sedimentary boundaries define an arcuate, generally south-trending continental margin that appears to be truncated on the southwest. A Pennsylvanian basin, a Permian coral belt, and a belt of Upper Permian to Upper Triassic plutons stretching from Sonora, Mexico, into westernmost central Nevada, cut across the older facies belts, suggesting that truncation of the continental margin occurred in the Pennsylvanian. We postulate that the main truncating structure was a left-lateral transform fault zone that extended from the Mojave-Sonora megashear in northwestern Mexico to the Foothills Suture in California. The Caborca block of northwestern Mexico, where Devonian facies belts and pre-Pennsylvanian sedimentary boundaries like those in California have been identified, is interpreted to represent a missing fragment of the continental margin that underwent ???400 km of left-lateral displacement along this fault zone. If this model is correct, the Mojave-Sonora megashear played a direct role in the Pennsylvanian truncation of the continental margin, and any younger displacement on this fault has been relatively small. ?? 2005 Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2006

The Hancock County tetrapod locality: A new Mississippian (Chesterian) wetlands fauna from western Kentucky (USA)

The earliest tetrapods are known from a handful of Upper Devonian and Lower Carboniferous localities in Europe, North America, and Australia. All Upper Devonian sites and virtually all Early Carboniferous faunas are regarded as predominantly aquatic and most occur within, or are associated with, wetland habitats. A new mid- Carboniferous (Elvirian, Namurian A) fossil locality in Kentucky preserves the fi rst tetrapod fauna from the eastern portion of the Illinois Basin. Four distinct facies at the locality have yielded vertebrate material. Diverse faunas have been found in an abandoned channel/oxbow facies and a fl oodplain/lake facies. The abandoned channel/oxbow facies contains Colosteidae, Embolomeri, Rhizodontida, Dipnoi, Xenacanthiformes, Palaeonisciformes, and Gyracanthidae remains. This assemblage is similar to known Mississippian freshwater and brackishwater faunas, providing further evidence of a cosmopolitan tetrapod province during the Mississippian. A different fauna, rich in tetrapods but lacking fi sh, is associated with granular carbonate masses, rooting structures, and a paleosol in the fl oodplain/ lake facies. Isolated and associated tetrapod elements from this facies exhibit morphological adaptations that may suggest a fauna of more highly terrestrial vertebrates than previously known from the North American Mississippian. ?? 2006 Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2006

Diagenetic alteration of impact spherules in the Neoarchean Monteville layer, South Africa

Intercontinental correlation of distal Archean impact ejecta layers can be used to help create a global time-stratigraphic framework for early Earth events. For example, an impact spherule layer in the Neoarchean Monteville Formation (Griqualand West Basin, South Africa) may be correlated with layers in one or more formations in Western Australia. To help assess the degree to which diagenetic alteration would hinder such correlations, we performed a petrographic study of spherules in the Monteville layer. Most of the spherules in the Monteville layer have botryoidal rims composed of radial-fibrous K-feldspar, but compaction and replacement have greatly altered their appearance and mineralogy. Moreover, the Monteville spherule layer consists of three main subunits, and spherule compaction varies between subunits as well as across the Griqualand West region. Compaction is about three times greater in a medial spherulerich subunit as compared to a basal subunit rich in large intraclasts, resulting in better preservation of the shapes of melt particles in the latter. However, spherule rims have omparable numbers of fractures in both subunits, indicating the melt particles were fractured prior to compaction. Some spherules contain mica ribbons with a septarian geometry. Fracturing via rapid thermal quenching could help explain all of these features. f hot spherules possessing crystalline rims were thermally shocked when they hit the ocean, fractures would have the observed geometries and provide pathways for fluid infiltration and local replacement of glass by mica. Although heavily distorted, impact spherules in the Monteville layer are very similar to those in the Hesta occurrence of the Neoarchean Jeerinah spherule layer of the Hamersley Basin, even showing similar diagenetic histories. In this instance, diagenetic alteration may actually help rather than hinder intercontinental correlation of impact spherule layers. ??2006 Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2009

Climatic and limnologic setting of Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho

Bear Lake is a large alkaline lake on a high plateau on the Utah-Idaho border. The Bear River was partly diverted into the lake in the early twentieth century so that Bear Lake could serve as a reservoir to supply water for hydropower and irrigation downstream, which continues today. The northern Rocky Mountain region is within the belt of the strongest of the westerly winds that transport moisture during the winter and spring over coastal mountain ranges and into the Great Basin and Rocky Mountains. As a result of this dominant winter precipitation pattern, most of the water entering the lake is from snowmelt, but with net evaporation. The dominant solutes in the lake water are Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , and HCO 3 2- , derived from Paleozoic carbonate rocks in the Bear River Range west of the lake. The lake is saturated with calcite, aragonite, and dolomite at all depths, and produces vast amounts of carbonate minerals. The chemistry of the lake has changed considerably over the past 100 years as a result of the diversion of Bear River. The net effect of the diversion was to dilute the lake water, especially the Mg 2+ concentration. Bear Lake is oligotrophic and coprecipitation of phosphate with CaCO 3 helps to keep productivity low. However, algal growth is colimited by nitrogen availability. Phytoplankton densities are low, with a mean summer chlorophyll a concentration of 0.4 mg L -1 . Phytoplankton are dominated by diatoms, but they have not been studied extensively (but see Moser and Kimball, this volume). Zooplankton densities usually are low (<10 L -1 ) and highly seasonal, dominated by calanoid copepods and cladocera. Benthic invertebrate densities are extremely low; chironomid larvae are dominant at depths <30 m, and are partially replaced with ostracodes and oligochaetes in deeper water. The ostracode species in water depths >10 m are all endemic. Bear Lake has 13 species of fi sh, four of which are endemic. Copyright ?? 2009 The Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2009

Sedimentary constraints on late Quaternary lake-level fluctuations at Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho

A variety of sedimentological evidence was used to construct the lake-level history for Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho, for the past ???25,000 years. Shorelines provide evidence of precise lake levels, but they are infrequently preserved and are poorly dated. For cored sediment similar to that in the modern lake, grain-size distributions provide estimates of past lake depths. Sedimentary textures provide a highly sensitive, continuous record of lake-level changes, but the modern distribution of fabrics is poorly constrained, and many ancient features have no modern analog. Combining the three types of data yields a more robust lake-level history than can be obtained from any one type alone. When smooth age-depth models are used, lake-level curves from multiple cores contain inconsistent intervals (i.e., one record indicates a rising lake level while another record indicates a falling lake level). These discrepancies were removed and the multiple records were combined into a single lake-level curve by developing age-depth relations that contain changes in deposition rate (i.e., gaps) where indicated by sedimentological evidence. The resultant curve shows that, prior to 18 ka, lake level was stable near the modern level, probably because the lake was overflowing. Between ca. 17.5 and 15.5 ka, lake level was ???40 m below the modern level, then fluctuated rapidly throughout the post-glacial interval. Following a brief rise centered ca. 15 ka ( = Raspberry Square phase), lake level lowered again to 15-20 m below modern from ca. 14.8-11.8 ka. This regression culminated in a lowstand to 40 m below modern ca. 12.5 ka, before a rapid rise to levels above modern ca. 11.5 ka. Lake level was typically lower than present throughout the Holocene, with pronounced lowstands 15-20 m below the modern level ca. 10-9, 7.0, 6.5-4.5, 3.5, 3.0-2.5, 2.0, and 1.5 ka. High lake levels near or above the modern lake occurred ca. 8.5-8.0, 7.0-6.5, 4.5-3.5, 2.5, and 0.7 ka. This lake-level history is more similar to records from Pyramid Lake, Nevada, and Owens Lake, California, than to those from Lake Bonneville, Utah. Copyright ?? 2009 The Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2009

Silicate glasses and sulfide melts in the ICDP-USGS Eyreville B core, Chesapeake Bay impact structure, Virginia, USA

Optical and electron-beam petrography of melt-rich suevite and melt-rock clasts from selected samples from the Eyreville B core, Chesapeake Bay impact structure, reveal a variety of silicate glasses and coexisting sulfur-rich melts, now quenched to various sulfi de minerals (??iron). The glasses show a wide variety of textures, fl ow banding, compositions, devitrifi cation, and hydration states. Electron-microprobe analyses yield a compositional range of glasses from high SiO 2 (>90 wt%) through a range of lower SiO 2 (55-75 wt%) with no relationship to depth of sample. Some samples show spherical globules of different composition with sharp menisci, suggesting immiscibility at the time of quenching. Isotropic globules of higher interfacial tension glass (64 wt% SiO 2 ) are in sharp contact with lower-surface-tension, high-silica glass (95 wt% SiO 2 ). Immiscible glass-pair composition relationships show that the immiscibility is not stable and probably represents incomplete mixing. Devitrifi cation varies and some low-silica, high-iron glasses appear to have formed Fe-rich smectite; other glass compositions have formed rapid quench textures of corundum, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, magnetite, K-feldspar, plagioclase, chrome-spinel, and hercynite. Hydration (H 2 O by difference) varies from ~10 wt% to essentially anhydrous; high-SiO 2 glasses tend to contain less H2O. Petrographic relationships show decomposition of pyrite and melting of pyrrhotite through the transformation series; pyrite? pyrrhotite? troilite??? iron. Spheres (~1 to ~50 ??m) of quenched immiscible sulfi de melt in silicate glass show a range of compositions and include phases such as pentlandite, chalcopyrite, Ni-As, monosulfi de solid solution, troilite, and rare Ni-Fe. Other sulfi de spheres contain small blebs of pure iron and exhibit a continuum with increasing iron content to spheres that consist of pure iron with small, remnant blebs of Fe-sulfi de. The Ni-rich sulfi de phases can be explained by melting and/or concentrating targetderived Ni without requiring an asteroid impactor source component. The presence of locally unaltered glasses in these rocks suggests that in some rock volumes, isolation from postimpact hydrothermal systems was suffi cient for glass preservation. Pressure and temperature indicators suggest that, on a thin-section scale, the suevites record rapid mixing and accumulation of particles that sustained widely different peak temperatures, from clasts that never exceeded 300 ?? 50 ??C, to the bulk of the glasses where melted sulfi de and unmelted monazite suggest temperatures of 1500 ?? 200 ??C. The presence of coesite in some glass-bearing samples suggests that pressures exceeded ~3 GPa. ?? 2009 Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2013

Introduction in New perspectives on Rio Grande rift basins: from tectonics to groundwater

Basins of the Rio Grande rift have long been studied both for their record of rift development and for their potential as host of natural resources. Early workers described the basin geomorphology and the character of infilling sediments (e.g. Siebenthal, 1910; Bryan, 1938; Speigel and Baldwin, 1963), and subsequent research compilations provided general stratigraphic and tectonic overviews of rift basins and described their geophysical characteristics within the crust (Hawley, 1978; Riecker, 1979; Baldridge et al., 1984; Keller, 1986). Subsurface knowledge gained from hydrocarbon exploration activities coupled with detailed surface studies of basins and their flanking uplifts were presented in Geological Society of America (GSA) Special Paper 291, edited by Keller and Cather (1994a).

Colorado;New Mexico↗
USGS2009

Geology and geomorphology of Bear Lake Valley and upper Bear River, Utah and Idaho

Bear Lake, on the Idaho-Utah border, lies in a fault-bounded valley through which the Bear River flows en route to the Great Salt Lake. Surficial deposits in the Bear Lake drainage basin provide a geologic context for interpretation of cores from Bear Lake deposits. In addition to groundwater discharge, Bear Lake received water and sediment from its own small drainage basin and sometimes from the Bear River and its glaciated headwaters. The lake basin interacts with the river in complex ways that are modulated by climatically induced lake-level changes, by the distribution of active Quaternary faults, and by the migration of the river across its fluvial fan north of the present lake. The upper Bear River flows northward for ???150 km from its headwaters in the northwestern Uinta Mountains, generally following the strike of regional Laramide and late Cenozoic structures. These structures likely also control the flow paths of groundwater that feeds Bear Lake, and groundwater-fed streams are the largest source of water when the lake is isolated from the Bear River. The present configuration of the Bear River with respect to Bear Lake Valley may not have been established until the late Pliocene. The absence of Uinta Range-derived quartzites in fluvial gravel on the crest of the Bear Lake Plateau east of Bear Lake suggests that the present headwaters were not part of the drainage basin in the late Tertiary. Newly mapped glacial deposits in the Bear River Range west of Bear Lake indicate several advances of valley glaciers that were probably coeval with glaciations in the Uinta Mountains. Much of the meltwater from these glaciers may have reached Bear Lake via groundwater pathways through infiltration in the karst terrain of the Bear River Range. At times during the Pleistocene, the Bear River flowed into Bear Lake and water level rose to the valley threshold at Nounan narrows. This threshold has been modified by aggradation, downcutting, and tectonics. Maximum lake levels have decreased from as high as 1830 m to 1806 m above sea level since the early Pleistocene due to episodic downcutting by the Bear River. The oldest exposed lacustrine sediments in Bear Lake Valley are probably of Pliocene age. Several high-lake phases during the early and middle Pleistocene were separated by episodes of fluvial incision. Threshold incision was not constant, however, because lake highstands of as much as 8 m above bedrock threshold level resulted from aggradation and possibly landsliding at least twice during the late-middle and late Pleistocene. Abandoned stream channels within the low-lying, fault-bounded region between Bear Lake and the modern Bear River show that Bear River progressively shifted northward during the Holocene. Several factors including faulting, location of the fluvial fan, and channel migration across the fluvial fan probably interacted to produce these changes in channel position. Late Quaternary slip rates on the east Bear Lake fault zone are estimated by using the water-level history of Bear Lake, assuming little or no displacement on dated deposits on the west side of the valley. Uplifted lacustrine deposits representing Pliocene to middle Pleistocene highstands of Bear Lake on the footwall block of the east Bear Lake fault zone provide dramatic evidence of long-term slip. Slip rates during the late Pleistocene increased from north to south along the east Bear Lake fault zone, consistent with the tectonic geomorphology. In addition, slip rates on the southern section of the fault zone have apparently decreased over the past 50 k.y. Copyright ?? 2009 The Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2009

Postglacial sedimentary record of the Southern California continental shelf and slope, Point Conception to Dana Point

Sedimentary strata on the Southern California shelf and slope (Point Conception to Dana Point) display patterns and rates of sediment accumulation that convey information on sea-level inundation, sediment supply, and oceanic transport processes following the Last Glacial Maximum. In Santa Monica Bay and San Pedro Bay, postglacial transgression is recorded in shelf deposits by wave-ravinement surfaces dated at 13-11 ka and an upsection transition from coastal to shallow-marine sediment facies. Depositional conditions analogous to the modern environment were established in the bays by 8-9 ka. On the continental slope, transgression is evidenced in places by an increase in sediment grain size and accumulation rate ca. 15-10 ka, a consequence of coastal ravinement and downslope resedimentation, perhaps in conjunction with climatic increases in fluvial sediment delivery. Grain sizes and accumulation rates then decreased after 12-10 ka when the shelf flooded and backfilled under rising sea level. The Santa Barbara coastal cell contains the largest mass of postglacial sediment at 32-42 ?? 10 9 metric tons, most of which occurs between offshore Santa Barbara and Hueneme Canyon. The San Pedro cell contains the second largest quantity of sediment, 8-11 ?? 10 9 metric tons, much of which is present on the eastern Palos Verdes and outer San Pedro shelves. By comparison, the mass of sediment sequestered within the Santa Monica cell is smaller at ??6-8 ?? 10 9 metric tons. The postglacial sediment mass distribution among coastal cells reflects the size of local fluvial sediment sources, whereas intracell accumulation patterns reflect antecedent bathymetric features conducive for sediment bypass or trapping. ?? 2009 The Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2009

Field camp: Using traditional methods to train the next generation of petroleum geologists

The summer field camp experience provides many students with their best opportunity to learn the scientific process by making observations and collecting, recording, evaluating, and interpreting geologic data. Field school projects enhance student professional development by requiring cooperation and interpersonal interaction, report writing to communicate interpretations, and the development of project management skills to achieve a common goal. The field school setting provides students with the opportunity to observe geologic features and their spatial distribution, size, and shape that will impact the student's future careers as geoscientists. The Les Huston Geology Field Camp (a.k.a. Oklahoma Geology Camp) near Ca??on City, Colorado, focuses on time-tested traditional methods of geological mapping and fieldwork to accomplish these goals. The curriculum consists of an introduction to field techniques (pacing, orienteering, measuring strike and dip, and using a Jacob's staff), sketching outcrops, section measuring (one illustrating facies changes), three mapping exercises (of increasing complexity), and a field geophysics project. Accurate rock and contact descriptions are emphasized, and attitudes and contacts are mapped in the field. Mapping is done on topographic maps at 1:12,000 and 1:6000 scales; air photos are provided. Global positioning system (GPS)-assisted mapping is allowed, but we insist that locations be recorded in the field and confirmed using visual observations. The course includes field trips to the Cripple Creek and Leadville mining districts, Floris-sant/Guffey volcano area, Pikes Peak batholith, and the Denver Basin. Each field trip is designed to emphasize aspects of geology that are not stressed in the field exercises. Students are strongly encouraged to accurately describe geologic features and gather evidence to support their interpretations of the geologic history. Concise reports are a part of each major exercise. Students are grouped into teams to (1) introduce the team concept and develop interpersonal skills that are fundamental components of many professions, (2) ensure safety, and (3) mix students with varying academic backgrounds and physical strengths. This approach has advantages and disadvantages. Students with academic strengths in specific areas assist those with less experience, thereby becoming engaged in the teaching process. However, some students contribute less to fi nal map projects than others, and assigning grades to individual team members can be diffi cult. The greatest challenges we face involve group dynamics and student personalities. We continue to believe that traditional fi eld methods, aided by (but not relying upon) new technologies, are the key to constructing and/or interpreting geologic maps. The requirement that students document fi eld evidence using careful observations teaches skills that will be benefi cial throughout their professional careers. ??2009 The Geological Society of America. All rights reserved.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
USGS2009

Petrographic and geochemical comparisons between the lower crystalline basement-derived section and the granite megablock and amphibolite megablock of the Eyreville B core, Chesapeake Bay impact structure, USA

The Eyreville B core from the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, Virginia, USA, contains a lower basement-derived section (1551.19 m to 1766.32 m deep) and two megablocks of dominantly (1) amphibolite (1376.38 m to 1389.35 m deep) and (2) granite (1095.74 m to 1371.11 m deep), which are separated by an impactite succession. Metasedimentary rocks (muscovite-quartz-plagioclase-biotite-graphite ± fibrolite ± garnet ± tourmaline ± pyrite ± rutile ± pyrrhotite mica schist, hornblende-plagioclase-epidote-biotite-K-feldspar-quartz-titanite-calcite amphibolite, and vesuvianite-plagioclase-quartz-epidote calc-silicate rock) are dominant in the upper part of the lower basement-derived section, and they are intruded by pegmatitic to coarse-grained granite (K-feldspar-plagioclase-quartz-muscovite ± biotite ± garnet) that increases in volume proportion downward. The granite megablock contains both gneissic and weakly or nonfoliated biotite granite varieties (K-feldspar-quartz-plagioclase-biotite ± muscovite ± pyrite), with small schist xenoliths consisting of biotite-plagioclase-quartz ± epidote ± amphibole. The lower basement-derived section and both megablocks exhibit similar middle- to upper-amphibolite-facies metamorphic grades that suggest they might represent parts of a single terrane. However, the mica schists in the lower basement-derived sequence and in the megablock xenoliths show differences in both mineralogy and whole-rock chemistry that suggest a more mafic source for the xenoliths. Similarly, the mineralogy of the amphibolite in the lower basement-derived section and its association with calc-silicate rock suggest a sedimentary protolith, whereas the bulk-rock and mineral chemistry of the megablock amphibolite indicate an igneous protolith. The lower basement-derived granite also shows bulk chemical and mineralogical differences from the megablock gneissic and biotite granites.

Virginia↗
USGS2006

The role of sandstone in the development of an Ozark karst system, south-central Missouri

Cave, spring, and sinkhole development in the Ozarks of south-central Missouri is placed in a geologic framework through detailed geologic mapping. Geologic mapping shows that initial dissolution and inception of cave development is concentrated just beneath sandstone beds within Upper Cambrian and Lower Ordovician dolostone. Although rocks of the Ozarks have systematic and pervasive vertical joints, the development of karst conduits is controlled by bedding planes and stratigraphic variability. In the Salem Plateau of south-central Missouri, sinkholes occur in the lower part of the Ordovician Roubidoux Formation, where sinkholes are rimmed with and contain sandstone that has collapsed into voids in the underlying Ordovician Gasconade Dolomite. Cave diving by the Ozark Cave Diving Alliance into Alley Spring, a large (average flow 3.7 m3/s) spring along the Jacks Fork in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, shows that although the spring discharges from the middle part of the Gasconade, the source of water is a cave passage just beneath the Gunter Sandstone Member of the Gasconade Dolomite. Artesian conditions cause the upward movement of groundwater from cavernous dolostone beneath the sandstone aquitards to the large springs. We hypothesize that sandstone, which is largely impermeable due to silica cementation, acts as a confining unit where hydraulic pressure, combined with mixing of water of differing chemistry, increases dissolution in the underlying dolostone beds. ?? 2006 Geological Society of America.

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗