USGS Science⌕ Search

SEARCH · USGS Science

Results for “Stratigraphy”

Search indexed USGS publications on groundwater, aquifers, geologic maps, mineral resources and earthquakes. Explore source records by subject and place.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 649 records · Page 36Linked to original sources
USGS1982

Sedimentology and stratigraphy of the Kanayut Conglomerate, central Brooks Range, Alaska: Report of 1980 field season

The Upper Devonian Kanayut Conglomerate crops out along the crest of the Brooks Range of northern Alaska for a distance of almost 1000 km. It ranges in thickness from 2600 m in the Atigun River area to 700 m south of Anaktuvuk Pass and has been subdivided into four regionally persistent members: (a) the basal sandstone member, consisting of marine sandstone and shale with some conglomerate; (b) the lower shale member, consisting of nonmarine quartzite, conglomerate and shale; (c) the middle conglomerate member, consisting of nonmarine pebble and cobble conglomerate and quartzite; and (d) the Stuver Member, consisting of nonmarine sandstone and shale. The Kanayut conformably overlies the Upper Devonian marine Hunt Fork Shale and is conformably overlain by the Mississippian marine Kayak Shale. The Kanayut is wholly allochthonous and has probably been transported northward on a series of thrust plates. The basal sandstone member of the Kanayut Conglomerate, which overlies prodelta turbidites of the Hunt Fork Shale, contains marginal-marine coarsening-upward channel-mouth bar sequences. It is conformably overlain by the lower shale member. Measured sections of the nonmarine members of the Kanayut show that the lower shale member ranges in thickness from 120 m to 1115 m and consists of fining-upward cycles interpreted to have been deposited by meandering streams on a broad floodplain. These cycles contain, in ascending order, channelized basal conglomerate, trough cross-stratified sandstone, and ripple-marked siltstone. The cycles are interpreted to be channel and point-bar deposits. Individual cycles average about 10 m in thickness and are separated by intervals of black, brown or maroon floodplain shale deposits. These typically contain thin coarsening-upward units that probably represent prograding levee sequences and irregular and ungraded sandstone bodies interpreted to be crevasse-splay deposits. In the Okokmilaga River area, the lower shale member contains a distinctive coarse-grained unit which is burrowed and interpreted to represent a widespread marine incursion. The middle conglomerate member, which ranges in thickness from 155 m to 525 m, consists of braidplain deposits. It contains fining-upward couplets of conglomerate and parallel-stratified or cross-stratified sandstone that average 2-7 m in thickness. The couplets record deposition in channels and on bars of braided streams. The middle conglomerate member contains the largest clasts, little or no shale, and represents the maximum progradation of nonmarine sedimentation in the Kanayut depositional system. The Stuver Member consists of fining-upward cycles that resemble those of the lower shale member. It ranges in thickness from 160 m to 1400 m and grades upward into tidal and marginal-marine deposits of the Kayak Shale. Conglomerate in the Kanayut is compositionally very mature, averaging 82 percent white, gray, black or red chert clasts, 14 percent vein quartz clasts, 3 percent quartzite clasts, and less than I percent other lithologies, mainly argillite. Although red chert is locally abundant in the Shainin Lake-Galbraith Lake area, there is little variation in conglomerate composition in the Kanayut, suggesting derivation from a single major source terrane.

Alaska↗
USGS1982

Sedimentology and stratigraphy of the Kanayut Conglomerate, central and western Brooks Range, Alaska: Report of 1981 field season

The Upper Devonian and Lower Mississippian(?) Kanayut Conglomerate forms a major stratigraphic unit along the crest of the Brooks Range of northern Alaska. It crops out for an east-west distance of about 900 km and a north-south distance of about 65 km. The Kanayut is wholly allochthonous and has probably been transported northward on a series of thrust plates. The Kanayut is as thick as 2,600 m in the east-central Brooks Range. It thins and fines to the south and west. The Kanayut forms the middle part of the allochthonous sequence of the Endicott Group, an Upper Devonian and Mississippian clastic sequence underlain by platform limestones of the Baird Group and overlain by platform limestone, carbonaceous shale, and black chert of the Lisburne Group. The Kanayut overlies the marine Upper Devonian Noatak Sandstone or, where it is missing, the marine Upper Devonian Hunt Fork Shale. It is overlain by the marine Mississippian Kayak Shale. The Kanayut Conglomerate forms the fluvial part of a large, coarse-grained delta that prograded to the southwest in Late Devonian time and retreated in Early Mississippian time. Four sections of the Kanayut Conglomerate in the central Brooks Range and five in the western Brooks Range were measured in 1981. The sections from the western Brooks Range document the presence of fluvial cycles in the Kanayut as far west as the shores of the Chukchi Sea. The Kanayut in this area is generally finer grained than it is in the central and eastern Brooks Range, having a maximum clast size of 3 cm. It is probably about 300 m thick. The upper and lower contacts of the Kanayut are gradational. The lower Kanayut contains calcareous, marine-influenced sandstone within channel deposits, and the upper Kanayut contains probable marine interdistributary-bay shale sequences. The members of the Kanayut Conglomerate cannot be differentiated in this region. In the central Brooks Range, sections of the Kanayut Conglomerate at Siavlat Mountain and Kakivilak Creek are typically organized into fining-upward fluvial cycles. The maximum clast size is about 3 cm in this area. The Kanayut in this region is 200-500 m thick and can be divided into the Ear Peak, Shainin Lake, and Stuver Members. The upper contact of the Kanayut with the Kayak Shale is very gradational at Kakivilak Creek and very abrupt at Siavlat Mountain. Paleocurrents from fluvial strata of the Kanayut indicate sediment transport toward the west and south in both the western and central Brooks Range. The maximum clast size distribution generally indicates westward fining from the Shainin Lake region.

Alaska↗
USGS1983

Shallow structure and stratigraphy of the carbonate West Florida continental slope and their implications to sedimentation and geohazards

An 1800-joule sparker survey of the West Florida continental slope between about 26?N and 29?15?N showed a top bed of Pleistocene age forming an irregular drape over a surface that is probably Pliocene. The contact between the top two layers is unconformable in the south and, in some places, shows karst collapse and solution features. Karst topography grades into a more hummocky erosional surface to the north, which in turn smoothes out; the contact become conformable still further north. A period of folding, which is widespread over the outer portion of the study area and which may be related to large scale mass wasting, occurred at about the same time represented by the unconformity. Significant subsidence has occurred as late as Pleistocene. The surface layer thins to a minimum (0 in the south) at about 525-meters water depth and then thickens again dramatically to the west, downslope. This thinning is interpreted to be due to the Loop Current, which flows from north to south in the area and which acts to block deposition and scour the bottom. Despite the fact that the margin is dominated by carbonates, usually associated with low sedimentation rates, there is widespread evidence of mass wasting affecting ancient and surficial deposits on the outer part of the upper slope. Three potential groups of geohazards identified are: 1. Potential bottom failure in areas where a thin top layer overlies the karst surface. 2. Potential for sliding and slumping. 3. Scour due to currents which could also affect drilling and engineering activities.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1983

Stratigraphy, structure, and some petrographic features of Tertiary volcanic rocks at the USW G-2 drill hole, Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada

A continuously cored drill hole designated as USW G-2, located at Yucca Mountain in southwestern Nevada, penetrated 1830.6 m of Tertiary volcanic strata composed of abundant silicic ash-flow tuffs, minor lava and flow breccias, and subordinate volcaniclastic rocks. The volcanic strata penetrated are comprised of the following in descending order: Paintbrush Tuff (Tiva Canyon Member, Yucca Mountain Member, bedded tuff, Pah Canyon Member, and Topopah Spring Member), tuffaceous beds of Calico Hills, Crater Flat Tuff (Prow Pass Member, Bullfrog Member, and Tram unit), lava and flow breccia (rhyodacitic), tuff of Lithic Ridge, bedded and ash-flow tuff, lava and flow breccia (rhyolitic, quartz latitic, and dacitic), bedded tuff, conglomerate and ash-flow tuff, and older tuffs of USW G-2. Comparison of unit thicknesses at USW G-2 to unit thicknesses at previously drilled holes at Yucca Mountain indicate the following: (1) thickening of the Paintbrush Tuff members and tuffaceous beds of Calico Hills toward the northern part of Yucca Mountain; (2) thickening of the Prow Pass Member but thinning of the Bullfrog Member and Tram unit; (3) thinning of the tuff of Lithic Ridge; (4) presence of approximately 280 m of lava and flow breccia not previously penetrated by any drill hole; and (5) presence of an ash-flow tuff unit at the bottom of the drill hole not previously intersected, apparently the oldest unit penetrated at Yucca Mountain to date. Petrographic features of some of the units include: (1) decrease in quartz and K-feldspar and increases in biotite and plagioclase with depth in the tuffaceous beds of Calico Hills; (2) an increase in quartz phenocrysts from the top to the bottom members of the Crater Flat Tuff; (3) a low quartz content in the tuff of Lithic Ridge, suggesting tapping of the magma chamber at quartz-poor levels; (4) a change in zeolitic alteration from heulandite to clinoptilolite to mordenite with increasing depth; (5) lavas characterized by a rhyolitic top and dacitic base, suggesting reverse compositional zoning; and (6) presence of hydrothermal mineralization in the lavas that could be related to an intrusive under Yucca Mountain or to volcanism associated with the Timber Mountain-Claim Canyon caldera complex. A fracture analysis of the core resulted n tabulation of 7,848 fractures, predominately open and high angle. The fractures were filled or coated with material in various combinations and include the following in decreasing abundance: CaCo3, iron oxides and hydroxides, SiO2, manganese oxides and hydroxides, clays and zeolites. An increase in the intensity of fracturing can be correlated with the following: (1) densely welded zones, (2) lithophysal zones, (3) vitrophyre, (4) silicified zones, (5) fault zones, and (6) cooling joints. Numerous fault zones were penetrated by the drill hole, predominately in the lithophysal zone of the Topopah Spring Member and below the tuffaceous beds of Calico Hills. The faults are predominately high angle with both a vertical and lateral component. Three major faults were penetrated, two of which intersect the ground surface, with displacements of at least 20 m and possibly as much as 52 m. The faults and some fractures are probably related to the regional doming of the area associated with the volcanism-tectonism of the Timber Mountain-Claim Canyon caldera complex, and to Basin and Range tectonism.

Nevada↗