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At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
USGS1962

Hornblendes formed during progressive metamorphism of amphibolites, northwest Adirondack Mountains, New York

Hornblendes in amphibolite interlayers in the paragneiss of the northwest Adirondack Mountains undergo systematic changes in color, composition, and density during progressive metamorphism from almandine- amphibolite to hornblende -granulite facies. In contrast, indices of refraction of the hornblendes remain about constant. In the almandine- amphibolite facies the amphibolite layers have the bulk composition of a saturated basalt and consist of bluish-green hornblende , andesine, and quartz. As these layers are traced into the hornblende -granulite facies, their composition undergoes a progressive change to that of an olivine basalt with brownish-green hornblende , clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene, and calcic andesine as major constituents. Compositional changes in the hornblendes with increasing grade of metamorphism include increases in Ti, Na, K, Cr, V, and Sc. Decreases occur in the amounts of Mn, Zn, OH + F + Cl, and in the ratios Fe 2 O 3 /FeO and Fe/Mg. Density of the hornblendes increases from 3.260 to 3.278 with the increasing grade of metamorphism . These changes in the hornblendes with increasing T and P, although well denned, are less pronounced than those measured in biotites and garnets of the enclosing paragneiss. Large variations in the physical and chemical properties of hornblendes in metamafic rocks reconstituted above the epidote- amphibolite facies appear to be induced principally by critical changes in the bulk composition of the total rock, and not by the regional gradients in T, P, or by changes in kind, or composition, of the coexisting minerals.

New York↗
USGS1962

Correlation of the Carrizo Sand in Arkansas and adjacent states

The Carrizo Sand (Eocene), the basal unit of the Claiborne Group, can be recognized in the subsurface throughout much of southeastern Arkansas and is correlated with the Carrizo Sand of Louisiana and the Meridian Sand Member of the Tallahatta Formation of Mississippi. The term Carrizo Sand is appropriate for use in Arkansas , as the stratigraphic terminology most workers apply to the Claiborne Group in Arkansas conforms with the terminology of Louisiana. A surface exposure of the Carrizo Sand in Arkansas is lithologically identical with described exposures of the Carrizo in northwestern Louisiana.

Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee↗
USGS1962

Late cenozoic structure of west-central Idaho

The massive Salmon River Mountains of interior Idaho are bounded on the west by a belt 30 miles wide of post-Miocene, west-tilted normal-fault blocks and west-dipping monoclines. The belt is coincident with the western border zone of the middle Cretaceous Idaho batholith, as it extends from the west edge of the massive interior of the batholith to about the western limit of the border zone of gneisses and schists. West of this belt is the Columbia Plateau province of irregular domal and anticlinal uplifts and northwest-trending normal faults. These structures are superimposed upon east- to northeast-trending, low-grade metamorphic rocks intruded by semi-concordant stocks and small batholiths, products largely of Late Jurassic (?) orogeny. The Idaho batholith has been little deformed, and its border-zone rocks of intermediate competence are broken by concordant structures. Young structures cut directly across the relatively incompetent rocks of the older orogen to the west. The mountains flanking the Snake River and Salmon River canyons are higher than those farther away, suggesting that local isostatic uplift may be compensating for their erosion.

Idaho↗
USGS1962

Paleozoic seas of central Idaho

Some recent paleogeographic maps indicate that central Idaho was part of a major geosyncline throughout Paleozoic time. This concept, apparently based on thick marine accumulations far apart on the margins of the region, is inconsistent with field data. Within the area of the Idaho batholith, Permian(?) volcanic rocks rest either on batholithic rocks or on the Belt Series. The Belt Series rocks have furnished the xenoliths in the batholith. To the west upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata are invaded. Along the eastern margin, south of lat. 45°, thick Paleozoic strata are intruded by the batholith. These locally exceed 30,000 feet in thickness and thin eastward. They have many variations. Those close to the batholith, especially those high in the sequence, are regarded as of near-shore origin. The Paleozoic strata in southeastern Idaho , more than 17,000 feet thick, are broadly similar except that Cambrian strata there are thicker and more widespread. The part of central Idaho north of the vicinity of lat. 45° has no known Paleozoic strata. Northern Idaho has only a few outcrops of beds of Cambrian age. The differences in thickness and character between Paleozoic strata in south- central and southeastern Idaho and those in western Montana and Wyoming (less than 7500 feet thick) suggest a hinge line near the eastern boundary between Idaho and Montana with a shelf to the east and a trough to the west. In south- central Idaho this trough had a maximum width of 90 miles and a western shore roughly at the east margin of the batholith. This trough wedged out northward a little beyond lat. 45°. Thus the area of the present Idaho batholith has been a positive block since Precambrian time, comparable to but apparently of longer duration than the geanticline in northern Nevada. Any invasion of the positive block in Idaho by marine waters during the Paleozoic was local and brief, except perhaps along the western border. Uncertain correlations within the area of the batholith leave open the possibility of some deposition there early in Paleozoic time.

Idaho↗
USGS1962

Distribution and composition of sulfide minerals at Balmat, New York

In the Balmat area in northern New York , tabular deposits of sulfide minerals parallel the layering in folded, siliceous magnesian marbles of a metamorphic complex commonly referred to as the Precambrian Granville Series. Sphalerite, pyrite, and, locally, pyrrhotite and galena have replaced the carbonate minerals in parts of the marble units. The contacts between ore and marble are, in general, ill-defined; scattered grains of sulfides are present from several inches to hundreds of feet from the massive portions of ore. Access to the ore is provided through the Balmat No. 2 and No. 3 mines. The isotopic composition of lead from primary galena is uniform within an individual mine. The model age of this lead agrees with the age of the mineralization determined by other means - about a billion years. The isotopic composition of the leads in the marble is not uniform today, and calculations indicate that it was probably not uniform a billion years ago. Unless the lead in the ores is a uniform mixture of lead isotopes from an isotopically poorly mixed source, it is doubtful that the lead in the ores was derived from the surrounding marbles. Cobalt and nickel concentrations in pyrite from grains disseminated in the metasedimentary rocks away from the ore bodies are each greater than 200 ppm. Most samples of pyrite from the ore bodies at the No. 2 and No. 3 mines contain less than 50 ppm each of cobalt and nickel. Therefore the author believes it unlikely that the pyrite of the ores is genetically related to the pyrite in the metasedimentary rocks. Textural relationships suggest that pyrrhotite formed after most of the sphalerite, which in turn formed after most of the pyrite in the ore bodies. By use of the experimentally determined systems FeS-ZnS and FeS-FeS 2 , it is inferred from the amounts of iron in sphalerite and sulfur in pyrrhotite that the bulk of the sulfide minerals in the No. 2 mine formed above 320° C. The absolute temperature of formation of pyrrhotite indicated by the FeS-ZnS system is about 150° higher than that indicated by the FeS-FeS 2 system. The former system probably gives the more reliable estimate. The concentrations of individual minor elements in sphalerite and pyrite range considerably among specimens of the same sulfide mineral from the same level and ore body. An exception is cadmium in sphalerite which has a narrow concentration range around 1400 ppm in both the No. 2 and No. 3 mines. The ratio of the concentrations of minor elements between sphalerite-pyrite pairs varies considerably also. This variation probably indicates that exchange of minor elements between pyrite and sphalerite durin g the formation of the ores was very slow and incomplete.

New York↗
USGS1963

Composite dike of andesite and rhyolite at Klondyke, Arizona

A composite dike of probable Tertiary age intrudes Precambrian granodiorite 6 miles north of Klondyke , Arizona . The dike is exposed discontinuously for about 1500 feet along the strike and has a core of porphyritic rhyolite 15-20 feet thick flanked by coarsely porphyritic andesite 1-2 feet thick. Field evidence indicates that the rhyolite is later than the andesite but that the core of the original andesite dike was still hot and unconsolidated at the time of intrusion of the rhyolite . Chemically, the rhyolite is nearly identical to a large alkali granite pluton of Tertiary age exposed 1 mile east. The andesite component is similar both petrographically and chemically to lavas exposed in the region, but a direct relationship could not be established. Meager evidence suggests that the two dike components were derived from separate magma bodies rather than being differentiates of a single magma.

Arizona↗
USGS1963

Sinuosity of alluvial rivers on the great plains

Data on the morphologic and sediment characteristics of stable alluvial rivers of the Great Plains were collected at 50 cross sections. The channel patterns of these rivers were classified into five types: tortuous, irregular, regular, transitional, and straight. Because no clear demarcation existed between each of the types, the pattern of the rivers was described by sinuosity , a ratio of channel length to valley length. The sinuosity ((P)) of these rivers is related to the shape of the channels expressed as a width-depth ratio (F) and to the percentage of silt and clay in the perimeter of the channel (M) as follows: Sinuous streams are characterized by a low width-depth ratio (F), a high percentage of silt-clay in the perimeter of the channel (M), a high percentage of silt-clay in the banks (although the banks of straight channels may also contain large amounts of silt-clay), and a lower gradient than straight channels having the same mean discharge. Discharge itself does not appear to affect the sinuosity of streams. Another possible distinction between straight and sinuous streams is in the proportions of the components of total sediment load. In a wide, shallow channel much of the sediment transported is bed-material load. In a narrow, deep channel most of the sediment transported is wash load. On the Great Plains both straight and sinuous streams may flow on the surface of alluvial valley fills at about the same valley slope. The departure of a stream from a straight course down the alluvial valley results from changes in both the caliber of the sediment load and in the relative proportions of bed-material load and wash load during the post-Pleistocene alluviation of these valleys. When during this alluviation the proportion of wash load increased, most probably by a decrease in bed-material load, the stream adjusted itself by decreasing its gradient through the development of a sinuous course. Recent changes in stream sinuosity in response to changes in the proportions of bed load and suspended load support this hypothesis.

Geological Society of America Bulletin↗
USGS1963

Origin of some intermittent ponds on quartzite ridges in western North Carolina

Several intermittent ponds and closed depressions as much as 200 feet wide occur on the crests of ridges in gently dipping Cambrian(?) quartzites in the southeastern foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Morganton, North Carolina . The unconsolidated fill and debris in the ponds consists of clayey sand and saprolite with accessory minerals that could have been derived entirely from the quartzite . The pond water contains appreciable quantities of dissolved silica and with the aid of organic substances could have formed the depressions by solution since the beginning of the Pleistocene.

North Carolina↗
USGS1963

Gibson peak pluton: A discordant composite intrusion in the southeastern Trinity Alps, northern California

Gibson Peak pluton is the most discordant of several dominantly granitic intrusions in the Trinity Alps of northern California . It formed during Nevadan (Late Jurassic) deformation by emplacement of at least five discrete rock units that define a successively more silicic series, ranging from hypersthene gabbro to trondhjemitic tonalite. Contact features suggest that several units were incompletely crystalline when intruded by succeeding phases. Deformation of wall rocks, mainly partly serpentinized peridotite, indicates forceful intrusion , despite remarkable discordance of the pluton to regional structures. The discordance probably was controlled by regional extension fracturing during late stages of Nevadan deformation. Chemical compositions, computed from average modes of the intrusive units, are characterized by high Fe 2 O 3 -FeO and Na 2 O-K 2 O ratios. Plots of normative feldspar define a trend of trondhjemitic differentiation that diverges markedly from typical calc-alkaline trends. Contact metamorphism to mineral assemblages of pyroxene hornfels facies has been largely obscured by later low-grade hydration reactions, resulting in a net increase in serpentinization of most country-rock peridotite within the contact aureole.

California↗
USGS1963

Anomalous gravity field in east-central California

Bouguer gravity values at about 11,000 stations in east-central California range from -14 mgal near Merced to -274 mgal in Long Valley. Gravity lows in the west and south parts of the San Joaquin Valley and over local basins south and east of the Sierra Nevada are produced by large thicknesses of Upper Cretaceous and Cenozoic deposits. A large regional gravity low over the Sierra Nevada can be explained by isostatic compensation of the range together with the effect of the relatively low-density rocks of the Sierra Nevada batholith. A broad gravity ridge along the east side of the San Joaquin Valley shows excellent correlation with a similar magnetic ridge where the two sets of data are available, suggesting that both anomalies are caused by a dense, magnetic mass buried at an estimated depth of 5-10 miles. Seismic refraction measurements further indicate that the thickness of the earth's crust under the valley is less than 12 miles. Thus, the anomalous mass is in the lower part of the earth's crust and is conceivably related to the more mafic rocks of the earth's upper mantle.

east-central California↗
USGS1963

Two pollen diagrams from southeastern Minnesota: Problems in the regional late-glacial and postglacial vegetational history

Kirchner Marsh and Lake Carlson are located 3 miles apart in Dakota County about 15 miles south of Minneapolis in the St. Croix moraine, which was formed by the Superior lobe during the Gary phase of the Wisconsin glaciation. During the Mankato phase that followed, the Des Moines lobe advanced to within a few miles of the sites. The region today is in a mixed-oak forest, with a maplebasswood forest 15 miles to the west and a re-entrant of the prairie on the sand plain south of the moraine. The general limit of coniferous trees is about 50 miles northeast of the sites, although outliers, especially of Pinus strobus, may be found along the Mississippi Valley a few miles to the east. One sediment core 12-13 m long from each site was analyzed for pollen content at 5-25-cm intervals. Diagrams based on percentage of total pollen (trees, shrubs, wind-pollinated herbs) show essentially identical sequences at the two sites, starting with the late-glacial phase of ice retreat. The diagrams have been subdivided into pollen zones according to the A-B-C sequence introduced by Deevey for New England. The late-glacial pollen record starts at Kirchner Marsh with a short Picea-Cyperaceae-Gramineae phase (Zone K), believed to represent a spruce parkland. Its C-14 date of 13,270 BP and the stratigraphy indicate a pre- Two Creeks and post- Gary correlation. Apparently the Kirchner site did not become established as a lake until this time owing to persistence of dead ice in the moraine. The absence of pollen of specific tundra indicators and the presence of pollen of such thermophilous plants as Fraxinus, Quercus, Corylus, Ambrosia, Humulus, and Typha latifolia imply that the climate was cool rather than cold. Zone A-a, which follows, correlates with the Two Creeks interstade. It is marked by the dominance of Picea, with appreciable percentages of Fraxinus and Ambrosia and with minor amounts of other thermophilous plants and the normal boreal associates of spruce like Betula, Larix, and Salix. Zone A-b, starting 12,050 C-14 years ago, correlates with the Valders ice advance. It is represented at both Kirchner and Carlson and shows the withdrawal of Fraxinus and Ambrosia and the slight rise of Artemisia. Except for the absence of pine in the late-glacial assemblage the vegetation implied by these three zones seems to have its closest modern counterpart in the southern fringe of the Boreal Forest of the Riding Mountain region of southwest Manitoba. It is concluded that pine did not migrate southward with the spruce during the Wisconsin glaciation, at least in the western Great Lakes region, and was thus eliminated from this region. During the lateglacial phases of ice retreat, herbs and spruce pioneered on the deglaciated terrain; pine did not follow until the destruction of the spruce forest at the end of the late-glacial phase. Zone B introduces postglacial time. It represents the time of rapid Vegetational succession following the deterioration of the spruce forest. Simultaneous maxima of Betula, Alnus, Fraxinus, and Abies occurred 10,230 years ago at Kirchner Marsh. These were followed rapidly by a Pinus maximum and then a rise of Ulmus, Quercus, and other deciduous types, dated as 9300 years ago at the correlative site of Madeha. This succession may represent differential rates of migration from refuges south and east of Minnesota . Deciduous trees dominate the C Zones. Zone C-a shows Ulmus and Ostrya /Carpinus followed by Quercus; it probably represents principally a mesic maple-basswood forest changing to oak. Zone C-b represents the advance of prairie into the region at the expense of the oak woodland or savanna. The large and abrupt fluctuations in the curves for Ambrosia-type and Chenopodiineae, especially at the Carlson site, may record encroachment of annual weeds onto intermittently dried lake bottoms. C-14 dates place Zone C-b between 7100 and 5100 years ago. In Zone C-c the Quercus again dominates until the abrupt increase in Ambrosiatype and Chenopodiineae that marks the time of forest clearance and land settlement 50-75 years ago.

Minnesota↗
USGS1963

Geologic history of the teays valley in West Virginia

The segment of the abandoned pre-Pleistocene Teays Valley between Scary and Huntington, W. Va. stands 130-240 feet above the Ohio and Kanawha rivers, and its bedrock floor slopes westward at about 0.6 foot per mile. The bedrock floor is overlain by highly weathered gravel in which a soil profile developed; only resistant siliceous materials remain. As much as 100 feet of locally derived sediments overlies the basal gravel. Sand was deposited at each end of the valley but in the east-central part it grades laterally into a laminated silty clay that was deposited during a period of ponding, probably in Kansan time. These deposits are deeply eroded. Probably during Illinoian time, ponding at a lower level resulted in deposition of a younger silty clay in the western part of the valley. This silty clay is weathered to a depth of about 14 feet. During a brief ponding in Wisconsin time, a widely scattered veneer of ice-rafted unweathered pebbles of igneous and metamorphic rocks was deposited. This veneer represents the youngest Pleistocene deposits in the valley and it occurs as much as 110 feet above the present Ohio River. Depositional, weathering, erosional, and topographic evidence argues that the Teays Valley in West Virginia was abandoned in late Tertiary or early Pleistocene time by normal stream-capture processes and that prolonged weathering followed. © 1963, The Geological Society of America, Inc.

West Virginia↗
USGS1963

Metasomatic origin of large parts of the Adirondack Phacoliths

A metasomatic origin seems established for large parts of the granite phacoliths in the northwest Adirondack Mountains, New York. This conclusion is based upon the discovery and detailed mapping of a blurred but widespread stratigraphic sequence in the phacoliths . Highly complicated patterns of relict beds are defined by alternations of granitic gneiss, amphibolite, oligoclase-quartz gneiss, and a predominant alaskitic granite. Regional reconstructions indicate these relict beds comprise a major basal formation, probably of arkosic and calcareous quartzites, in the exposed Grenville metasedimentary rocks. The existing amphibolite interlayers formed early in the metasomatic epoch, probably replacing the more calcareous quartzite beds. This mafic metasomatism was overlapped and followed by pervasive granitization of the arkosic and highly quartzose members. Pink alaskitic granite is the final metasomacic product. It tends to replace all pre-existing rock types, especially in the cores of the antiforms. This mafic and granitic metasomatism occurred during the evolution of the major folds in the metasedimentary sequence. As the folds evolved, rising domes in the quartzite probed upward into successively higher horizons in the overlying marbles. At least three quartzite antiforms (California, Clark Pond, and South Edwards phacoliths ) punctured the overlying marble, invading the basal layers of the Adirondack paragneiss. The crests of the evolving folds in the basal quartzite, capped by carbonate-rich marble, acted as traps for aqueous and carbonated, alkali-bearing fluids, and perhaps some associated anatectic granitic magma generated in the deeper, hotter basement to the Grenville.

New York↗
USGS1963

Overlapping of late mesozoic orogens in western Idaho

Early formed rocks of the border zone of the Idaho batholith are thrust westward over the low-grade metavolcanic rocks of the Seven Devils Mountains. Late intrusions of the border zone cut out upper plate rocks and contact-metamorphose lower plate rocks. Granitic intrusions in the Seven Devils complex are metamorphosed near the border zone of the Idaho batholith. Such relationships are interpreted in the light of a regional synthesis to indicate the overlapping and oblique truncation of the eastern part of a belt deformed largely during Jurassic time by the western part of a tectonic belt active during early stages of the middle Cretaceous events that produced the Idaho batholith.

Idaho↗
USGS1963

Cathedral Cliffs formation, the early acid Breccia unit of northwestern Wyoming

The name Cathedral Cliffs Formation is proposed for the rocks in the Clarks Fork area of northwestern Wyoming that have long been known by the informal designation "early acid breccia." In the Clarks Fork area the Cathedral Cliffs Formation is composed of tuffs, with lesser amounts of volcanic sedimentary rocks and breccias. Its thickness ranges from less than 100 feet to about 1500 feet but more commonly is 500-900 feet. The formation is tentatively considered to be late early Eocene or early middle Eocene. It is underlain by rocks ranging from Precambrian to early Eocene(?) and is overlain unconformably by the early basic breccia of middle Eocene age. Low-angle detachment faulting, which involved the Cathedral Cliffs Formation but not the overlying early basic breccia, has made recognition and correlation of the formation difficult. Blocks and masses of Madison Limestone of Mississippian age were emplaced locally on its upper surface by the Reef Creek detachment fault. The Cathedral Cliffs Formation and the Paleozoic carbonate rocks beneath it, as well as the Reef Creek fault masses on its surface, were then transported southeastward by the Heart Mountain detachment fault. As movement on the Heart Mountain detachment proceeded, the large fault mass broke up into smaller blocks, which separated as movement continued. Consequently the Cathedral Cliffs Formation was distributed in a pattern which gives the appearance of isolated occurrences and erosional remnants. The detached blocks of the Reef Creek fault on the upper surface of the Cathedral Cliffs also were scattered more widely than by their original movement on the Reef Creek fault. Soon after the fault-transported segments of the Cathedral Cliffs Formation ceased moving they were buried beneath the early basic breccia. The unconformity between the early acid breccia and the early basic breccia is thus substantiated in the Clarks Fork area; in the time interval represented, the Reef Creek and Heart Mountain fault masses were emplaced. The Cathedral Cliffs Formation is correlated with the early acid breccia in northern Yellowstone National Park and the upper part of the Reese Formation as mapped by Calvert west of Gardiner, Montana. The volcanic-source area probably is not in the central Yellowstone Park region, but somewhere to the north. © 1963, The Geological Society of America, Inc.

Wyoming↗
USGS1964

Pre-tertiary orogenic and plutonic intrusive activity in central and northeastern Oregon

Pre - Tertiary rocks of the Blue Mountain region of central and northeastern Oregon comprise three major sedimentary and volcanic sequences and two distinct intrusive magma series. The ages of the sedimentary-volcanic sequences are Paleozoic, Late Triassic-Late Jurassic, and middle Cretaceous (Albian to Cenomanian), respectively. The earlier intrusive magma series ranges in composition from peridotite to albite granite and was emplaced during the major orogeny in the Blue Mountain region between earlier Permian and Late Triassic time. The later intrusive magma series is related to the Idaho batholith proper, ranges from gabbro to granodiorite, and probably was emplaced during the earlier half of Cretaceous time. The emplacement of a major intrusive magma series during Permian and Triassic time suggests a much closer relationship to the northern part of the Cordillera, in Canada and Alaska, than to the southern part in southwestern Oregon and California.

Oregon↗
USGS1964

Relation of temperature distribution to ground-water movement in carbonate rocks of central Israel

The Cenomanian-Turonian formations of central Israel constitute a highly permeable dolomite and limestone aquifer. In this area it is on the west limb of an anticlinorium that trends north-northeast, and it contains water under artesian pressure. A graph of water temperatures and well depths suggests that there is a very small vertical temperature gradient in local segments of the aquifer. The small gradient is believed to result from a large vertical component of flow that tends to equalize the vertical temperature distribution . On a regional scale the apparent horizontal temperature distribution indicates a westward increase with increasing depth of the aquifer, suggesting a manifestation of the regional geothermal gradient. The westward increase in temperature also implies that the lateral component of flow may be in the normal range for artesian carbonate - rock aquifers whose pores consist mainly of solution cavities. Locally, pumping appears to have affected the temperature distribution by modifying the natural flow pattern. In parts of the most intensively developed area, the aquifer is hydraulically connected with overlying coastal-plain deposits, and some cooler water has been induced to move into the aquifer from this source. At three other areas, pumping has resulted in an apparent horizontal shift of the isotherms on a temperature - distribution map. The data suggest that the spatial distribution of temperature may be used to determine some of the flow characteristics of carbonate - rock aquifers.

Geological Society of America Bulletin↗