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At least 451 records · Page 25Linked to original sources
USGS1977

Geochemical and petrological studies of a uraniferous granite from the Granite Mountains, Wyoming

Granite rocks from the Granite Mountains, Wyo. have been proposed as the source of uranium deposits in the Crooks Gap, Gas Hills and Shirley Basin uranium districts, Wyoming. We have divided these granitic rocks into four units: (1) a biotitic phase which forms the dominant unit at the western end of the Granite Mountains, (2) a leucocratic phase which was found from 215 to 405 metres in drill hole GM-1, (3) silicified zones which crosscut the granitic rocks and form topographic highs, and (4) fractured zones, in drill hole GM-1, which seem to have been hydrothermally altered. The biotitic phase is hypidiomorphic-granular to xenomorphic-granular alkali granite with anomalously high contents of U (10 parts per million), Th (50 ppm), and Pb (50 ppm). Fission-track studies show that uranium is located in zircon, sphene, apatite, monzite, xenotime, biotite, chlorite, epidote, and magnetite; no intergranular uranium was found. The leucocratic phase is mineralogically similar to the biotitic phase, but contains less than half as much iron. It is xenomorphic granular and commonly contains rounded and retrograded garnets, which suggests that this phase is either metamorphic or contaminated with metamorphic materials. The leucocratic phase has anomalously high contents of U (8 ppm) and Pb (55 ppm), but has a low Th content (10 ppm). The silicified phase and fracture zones exhibit cataclastic and crystalloblastic textures and are highly variable in mineralogy. Potassium-bearing minerals are generally absent. Microcline is replaced by albite and (or) quartz, and biotite is replaced by clinozoisite. Uranium values may be anomalously high in the fracture zones. One sample contains 1100 ppm radium-equivalent uranium. In this and other uranium-rich samples from the fracture zones, the uranium is associated with iron oxides which commonly fill microfractures. According to our model and currently available data, an alkali granite is the best crystalline source rock for uranium, especially if it is unmetamorphosed and rapidly exposed to near-surface conditions for the first time when a favorable basin existed nearby.

Wyoming↗
USGS1977

A comparison of some analytical techniques for determining uranium, thorium, and potassium in granitic rocks

Geochemical exploration for uranium requires accurate and precise determinations of low-level concentrations. We have used seven different techniques and four different treatments of the fluorometric method to analyze for uranium in granitic rocks. In addition we have used four analytical techniques for thorium and three analytical techniques for potassium, two elements that are commonly present in anomalous amounts within uranium provinces. Our results show that commonly used techniques for thorium and potassium determinations are both adequately precise and accurate, but that many techniques used for uranium determinations lack the necessary precision or accuracy for complete geochemical prospecting. We suggest that a combination of delayed-neutron determinations for uranium and γ -ray spectrometric analyses for radium equivalent uranium, thorium, and potassium provides the best data base for geochemical exploration for uranium. If more detailed interpretations are desired, the combination of γ -ray spectrometry and α -spectrometry may be best. Carefully done fluorometric analyses should be adequate for water, ore, mineralized rock, and other applications where high precision and accuracy are not required.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey↗
USGS1977

Some characteristics of Pele's hair

Pele's hair is a filamentous variety of brown sideromelane glass that forms during eruption of basaltic lava. Strands of Pele's hair form from droplets of lava that are spun or stretched into filaments during quenching, and others may form as chilled streamers of lava. Common elongate vesicles, sometimes twisted, indicate extreme stretching and twisting during hair formation. Hair diameter ranges from about 1 to 300 micrometres. Refractive index of hairs decreases with hair diameter and is most probably a function of the process of formation rather than chemical composition. Masses of Pele's hair form natural spun-glass filters that trap small particles and serve as sites for sublimate deposition. Such deposition may begin even while hair is falling to the ground through an eruption fume cloud. Sublimates include carbonates, sulfates, sulfur, and less commonly hydrocarbons, thus complicating the interpretation of volatiles in Pele's hair in terms of original magmatic constituents. Vesicles, which provide the most nearly pure samples of magmatic volatiles, contain mostly H 2 O and CO 2 .

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey↗
USGS1977

Chemical variability in the Lakeview Mountains pluton, southern California batholith: A comparison of the methods of correspondence analysis and extended Q-mode factor analysis

An extended method of Q -mode factor analysis that has been described previously offers a number of important advantages over conventional Q -mode factor analysis and correspondence analysis when applied to compositional data. Among these are the ability to compute the compositions, in the original units of the data, represented by the reference axes. The only special requirement of the data is that the values for each observation sum to a constant. Mathematically derived reference axes, such as the principal-components and varimax axes, commonly represent compositions that are partly negative. Even where no negative values are present, these compositions are comparatively difficult to interpret in petrologic terms and impossible or inappropriate to include in petrogenetic models. A model has been developed for the Lakeview Mountains pluton which employs vectors representing the compositions of melanocratic schlieren, leucocratic schlieren, and inclusions as the reference axes. When the effect of the inclusions is removed, the compositional zoning in the pluton is like that found in otherwise similar plutons in the Sierra Nevada batholith. The genetic implication of the model is that the inclusions were separated from the magma at least in its marginal parts. In the central part of the pluton, the inclusions were either separated to a lesser extent than in the marginal parts, or were reincorporated into the magma.

California↗
USGS1977

Surface deformation in part of the San Jacinto Valley, southern California

Ground fissuring and subsidence occur in a deep alluvium-filled graben between the Casa Loma and San Jacinto faults, San Jacinto Valley, southern California. These processes are attributed chiefly to compaction due to withdrawal of ground water. Subsidence due to compaction is estimated to be a maximum of 3.5 centimetres per year; tectonic subsidence of the graben is estimated to be from 0.3 to 0.6 cm per year. Ground fissuring occurs primarily on the west side of a closed depression in the graben. The area of ground fissures has expanded from 1 square kilometre in 1953 to 12 km2 in 1974 and could grow even more. Individual fissures have attained lengths of 850 metres.

California↗
USGS1977

Radiate shell structures in Paleozoic Myodocopid and Palaeocopid ostracodes are epigenetic

The radiate structures in the shell of Paleozoic ostracodes are interpreted to be epigenetic in origin. On the basis of this interpretation, the genus Radiicypridina Bless, 1973, is a junior synonym of Eocypridina Kesling and Ploch, 1960. The type-series of Eocypridina radiata (Jones, Kirkby, and Brady, 1874), from the Coal Measures of Scotland, is illustrated, and a lectotype is designated. Eocypridina aciculata , (Scott and Summerson, 1943) is a valid species, but the more elongated specimens they identified as Cypridina radiata Jones, Kirkby, and Brady, 1874, from the same collection, belong in E. aciculata . The variation in lateral outline of specimens in the Hance Formation of Kentucky is due to the orientation of the valves in the rock.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey↗
USGS1977

Muscle scars of late Paleozoic freshwater ostracodes from West Virginia

Different adductor muscle attachment scar patterns of the three ostracode genera Darwinula Brady and Robertson, 1885, Gutschickia Scott, 1944, and Whipplella Holland, 1934, from Pennsylvanian and Permian rocks of 'West Virginia are illustrated for the first time. Gutschickia and Whipplella have been considered as junior synonyms of Carbonita Strand, 1928, and the oldest darwinulid scar pattern previously known was from the Upper Triassic of Germany. The different patterns document the presence of Darwinula in the Pennsylvanian of the United States and indicate that Whipplella and Gutschickia are valid genera. The use of ostracodes in discriminating between Carboniferous and Permian continental sedimentary rocks should be based on restudy of the species in these genera.

West Virginia↗
USGS1978

Models for calculating density and vapor pressure of geothermal brines

In a model for estimating density of a brine, the density of a natural brine at a known temperature, pressure, and composition can be calculated from the densities of the component salt solutions in the complex brine. A model for estimating vapor pressure requires two direct or indirect estimates of the vapor pressure and uses a published "reference-substance principle" to extrapolate,; these data 200° to 300° above the temperature of the highest observation. The methods can be used to estimate the partial molal volume and partial molal enthalpy of H 2 O in the natural brine and the partial molal volume change and partial molal heat change for the H2O component in the vaporization process. The equations for density and vapor pressure and the derived thermochemical properties will help in designing turbines for operation with geothermal and geopressured brines, in optimizing production conditions, and in physical and chemical modeling of a geothermal reservoir.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey↗
USGS1978

Impact of sewerage systems on stream base flow and ground-water recharge on Long Island, New York

Statistically significant decreases in the ratio of base flow to total flow of streams along the south shore of Long Island, N.Y., are due to the use of expanding storm-sewer and sanitary-sewer networks. Base-flow losses due to sewering ranging from virtually none at Connetquot River (largely unaffected by urban development) to 211 liters per second, or a 60-percent decrease below natural levels, during 1965-74 at East Meadow Brook (which drains part of highly urbanized Nassau County). Nearly 75 percent of the baseflow loss at East Meadow Brook during 1965-74 was caused by a network of sanitary sewers west of the stream; the remainder resulted from loss of recharge in areas serviced by stream-directed storm sewers. In areas of the Carlls River basin serviced by stream-directed storm sewers, recharge depletion averaged only about 4 liter per second per square kilometer whereas in the more intensely urbanized East Meadow Brook basin, recharge depletion in such areas averaged 18 (L/s)/km 2 .

New York↗
USGS1977

Metamorphic rocks of the Yakutat-St. Elias area, south-central Alaska

Metamorphic rocks in the Yakutat-St. Elias area range in grade from zeolite to amphibolite facies. Radiometric age determinations on selected metamorphic rocks have helped to identify two major metamorphic events, one in Late Cretaceous time that was characterized by penetrative deformation, and one in the Miocene Epoch that resulted in widespread recrystallization and igneous intrusions. Mapped facies units show many discontinuities across major faults, and their distribution indicates major differential uplift between several structurally bound crustal blocks within a strongly deformed mobile belt west of the Art Lewis fault. Late Cretaceous metamorphic gradients indicate that the blocks have been tilted to the west or northwest parallel to their general structural grain. As mineral assemblages that were recrystallized during Miocene time occur on both sides of the Fairweather fault, large-scale, post-Miocene strike-slip movement along the fault is not indicated.

Alaska↗
USGS1978

Hydraulic characteristics of the White River streambed and glacial-outwash deposits at a site near Indianapolis, Indiana

An aquifer test was made in the glacial-outwash aquifer along the course of the White River in Marion County, Ind., to establish the hydraulic characteristics of this unit and the hydraulic conductivity of the White River streambed at a site 11 kilometers south of the center of downtown Indianapolis. In the immediate vicinity of the site, at a depth of about 15 meters below land surface, a clay lens separates the outwash aquifer into an upper sand and gravel unit 12 m thick and a lower unit 8.5 m thick. At the site of the test well, the clay lens is 3.0 m thick. The test was made in the upper sand and gravel unit, and data were analyzed for an assumed condition of no, or at least negligible, transient leakage from the clay lens underlying this unit. As no observation wells were installed in the clay lens, this assumption cannot be directly substantiated. However, observation wells beneath the clay lens indicated that a head loss was not induced below the clay lens by the test well, and the closeness of the values obtained for transmissivity of the upper unit by three different methods strongly supports the assumption. Results of the test include for the upper unit: lateral hydraulic conductivity, 108 meters per day; range of transmissivity (determined by three techniques), from 1400 to 1670 meters squared per day; specific yield, 0.08; and vertical hydraulic conductivity of the streambed, 2.2 m/d. These results should be of use in assessing the potential supply and in developing one of Indiana's major aquifer systems because a knowledge of aquifer characteristics is essential for proper design and spacing of wells.

Indiana↗
USGS1977

Electrical soundings near Yellow Creek, Rio Blanco County, Colorado

Ten vertical electrical soundings were made in the Piceance Creek Basin in October 1974-5 along Yellow Creek, 2 in Big Duck Creek, and 1 each along Corral Gulch, on the hill in sec. 20, 1 kilometre northwest of 84 Ranch, and along the White River between the mouths of Yellow and Piceance Creeks. Interpretations of these soundings indicate that the anisotropy of the upper oil shales decreases from 2 in the basin center to 1 at a location on its flank. This decrease could result from a greater number of vertical water-filled fractures in the upper shales near the edge of the basin. On the other hand, the anisotropy coefficient for the lower shales increases from 2 to around 9 along the same section, indicating the presence of an increasing number of isolated horizontal aquifers in the lower shales on the basin flank. It is speculated that this trend for the lower shales reverses nearer the basin edge in the area of recharge of these splintered horizontal aquifers.

Colorado↗
USGS1977

Pleistocene fishes from Alameda County, California

Six types of freshwater fishes were recovered from an early Pleistocene (Irvingtonian) locality on the east side of San Francisco Bay, Alameda County, Calif. The fauna includes one centrarchid, one salmonid, three cyprinids, and one catostomid. The fauna indicates fluvial and slow-moving or lacustrine aquatic environments. One of the cyprinids and the catostomid are assigned to provisional genera because of the inadequate amount of material available for study and the obvious differences between these fossils and known fossil or recent fishes. They are new additions to the Pleistocene fish fauna of California. Paleogeographic distribution of some of these fishes indicates former fluvial or lacustrine connections between Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and California. The Pliocene and Pleistocene fossil fish faunas indicate the widespread occurrence of genera now endemic to California. A similar picture is presented by the molluscan evidence.

California↗
USGS1978

Hydrochemistry and hydrodynamics of injecting an iron-rich pickling liquor into a dolomitic sandstone: A laboratory study

Waste pickling liquor containing high concentrations of iron salts was injected into cores of quartzite, sandstone, and dolomite in a laboratory study to determine what effect this procedure might have on the permeability of these rock types. Experiments were performed at field conditions 40°C and 13.8 MPa (megapascals) in a high-pressure triaxial chamber similar to that used in rock-mechanics testing but modified to allow downstream sample collection of effluent liquids and direct visual monitoring at in-situ conditions. Five samples were tested, ranging in effective porosity from 2.9 to 13 percent and in lithology from a quartzite to a dolomite. Hydraulic conductivity of the quartzitic samples remained unchanged during injection of over 50 pore volumes of pickling liquor, but significant decreases in the hydraulic conductivity of dolomitic samples were observed. Chemical analyses of effluents from a dolomitic sample suggest that carbonate minerals were dissolving and iron was precipitating. Clogging of pore space by CO 2 entrapment or by CaCl 2 precipitation did not seem to play a role in decreasing hydraulic conductivity because injection into a dolomitic core of more than 140 pore volumes of HCl at a concentration similar to that of the pickling liquor caused only a slight decrease in hydraulic conductivity compared with the decrease observed when an additional 30 pore volumes of pickling liquor were subsequently injected.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey↗
USGS1978

Determination of runoff coefficients of storm-water-basin drainage areas on Long Island, New York, by using maximum-stage gages

A method for determining runoff coefficients indirectly without direct measurement of volume of runoff was developed for drainage areas of selected storm-water basins on Long Island, N.Y., to expedite evaluation of basin performance. The method requires a maximum-stage gage to record the maximum water level attained in the basin during the storm, and a precipitation gage to record storm intensity at regular intervals. The maximum volume of runoff impounded in the basin during a storm is calculated from precipitation data, an arbitrarily estimated runoff coefficient, and the basin's dimensions and infiltration rate. The calculated result is then compared with the recorded maximum water level, and the process is repeated with increased or decreased coefficients on a trial basis until two of the resulting water-storage maxima closely bracket the recorded maximum. The runoff coefficient in effect during that storm is then interpolated or derived graphically from the calculated water-storage maxima. Results of data analyses suggest that a close approximation of a basin's infiltration rate may be used instead of a measured infiltration rate to calculate the runoff coefficient. Differences between measured and calculated runoff coefficients averaged less than 20 percent when based on average infiltration rates adjusted for water temperature and less than 10 percent when based on measured infiltration rates. Accuracy of the calculated runoff coefficient tends to decline as the interval between precipitation measurements increases. Precipitation data collected at 5- and 15-minute intervals gave accurate runoff coefficients regardless of storm duration, but data collected at 30- or 60-minute intervals gave widely varying results.

New York↗
USGS1978

Accuracy and consistency comparisons of land use and land cover maps made from high-altitude photographs and Landsat multispectral imagery

Accuracy analyses for land use and land cover maps of the 74712-km 2 Central Atlantic Regional Ecological Test Site were performed for a 1-percent sample of the area. Researchers compared Level II land use and land cover maps produced at three scales, 1:24000, 1:100000, and 1:250000 from high-altitude photographs, with point data obtained in the field. The same procedures were employed to determine the accuracy of the Level I land use and land cover produced at 1:250 000 scale from high-altitude photographs and color composite Landsat imagery. The accuracy of the Level II maps was 85 percent at 1:24 000, 77 percent at 1:100 000, and 73 percent at 1:250 000. The accuracy of the Level I 1:250000 maps produced from high-altitude photographs was 77 percent and for those produced from Landsat multispectral imagery was 70 percent. The accuracy of the Level I land use maps produced using Landsat imagery is approximately that of the Level I land use maps produced from high-altitude photography with the exception of urban and built-up land. No built-up land was identified from Landsat imagery in the non-urban areas.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey↗
USGS1978

Porphyry copper exploration model for northern Sonora, Mexico

The regional tectonic pattern of the porphyry copper province of northern Sonora, Mexico, is similar to, but more complex than, the Colorado mineral belt. Four northeast-trending shear zones, spaced at 30- to 50-kilometer intervals from Hermosillo, Mexico, north to Nogales, Mexico, are interpreted from analysis of lineament data from Landsat-1 images. From comparison with other areas, these zones are believed to have Precambrian ancestry. North-northwest-trending lineaments, which commonly occur along range fronts, are interpreted to be the principal basin and range faults. North-south- and west-northwest-trending lineaments are believed to be related to lesser faults and fractures. Areas of hydrothermal alteration have been mapped on a regional scale by use of digital image-processing techniques. These altered areas occur on the flanks of the northeast-trending shear zones, generally near intersections with north-northwest-trending lineaments. This tectonic framework with associated alteration is similar to patterns in the Colorado Plateau, the porphyry copper province of Arizona, and central Mexico and is supported by relationships found in limited local mapping. The pattern of northeast-trending shear zones and north-northwest-trending faults in northern Sonora closely resembles the tectonic framework of the Colorado mineral belt. The younger sedimentary and volcanic cover, however, has not been eroded in Sonora as it has been in the Colorado mineral belt. This comparison with the Colorado mineral belt suggests that mineral deposits are most likely to be found in altered areas where a northeast-trending shear zone is intersected by north-northwest-trending faults. Seven areas with these characteristics have been defined in Sonora and are being evaluated by means of regional geophysical and geochemical data.

Sonora↗