Stratigraphy and correlation of glacial deposits of the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado Plateau and the ranges of the great basin
[No abstract available]
Quaternary Science Reviews↗
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Middle Devonian to Late Mississippian event stratigraphy of Overthrust belt region, western United States
Twenty eustatic and epeirogenic events mainly dated by conodonts are distinguished between the Middle Devonian and the lower Upper Mississippian in Great Basin, in Rocky Mountains and in the Overthrust belt regions.
Annales - Societe Geologique de Belgique↗
Late Cretaceous stratigraphy, deformation and intrusion in the Madison Range of southwestern Montana ( USA).
Dating of orogenic rock units in the central part of the Madison Range shows that Laramide deformation was virtually completed by the end of the Cretaceous. Early Campanian K-Ar dates of about 79 m.y. were obtained from welded tuffs in the basal part of the Livingston Formation, a volcanic and volcaniclastic assemblage that is conformable with underlying Cretaceous clastic rocks and with the overlying Sphinx Conglomerate. The Sphinx and the Livingston were deformed by the Hilgard fault system which extends along the western side of the southern two-thirds of the range. This north-trending fault system represents the culmination of Laramide shortening within the range. Dating of hornblende indicates an approximate date of 68-69 m.y. B.P. for emplacement of the igneous suite. The dacite postdates movement along faults of the Hilgard fault system, and postdates the synorogenic Sphinx Conglomerate. -from Authors
Geological Society of America Bulletin↗
Stratigraphy and correlation of the glacial deposits of the Des Moines and james lobes and adjacent areas in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa
[No abstract available]
Quaternary Science Reviews↗
Lithology, stratigraphy, and paleoenvironments of the Mobil 312-1 well, Georges Bank Basin, US North Atlantic outer continental shelf
The Mobil 312-1 hydrocarbon exploratory well, southeastern Georges Bank Basin penetrated a section entirely composed of sedimentary rocks that range from Middle to Pliocene age. Carbonates are the dominant lithologies in the intervals at 6096-3444 m, 2560-2096 m and 1067-887 m; siliciclastics make up most of the remaining section. Although inferred paleoenvironments range primarily from supratidal to outer neritic, thin lignitic coal beds at 2204-2195 m and 1929-1920 m record brief periods of nonmarine sedimentation. Middle and Upper Jurassic calcarenites, the drilling targets of the well, have little or no visible porosity and underwent at least three episodes of cementation.
Northeastern Geology↗
Proximal pyroclastic deposits from the 1989-1990 eruption of Redoubt Volcano, Alaska - stratigraphy, distribution, and physical characteristics
More than 20 eruptive events during the 1989-1990 eruption of Redoubt Volcano emplaced a complex sequence of lithic pyroclastic-flow, -surge, -fall, ice-diamict, and lahar deposits mainly on the north side of the volcano. The deposits record the changing eruption dynamics from initial gas-rich vent-clearing explosions to episodic gas-poor lava-dome extrusions and failures. The repeated dome failures produced lithic pyroclastic flows that mixed with snow and glacial ice to generate lahars that were channelled off Drift glacier into the Drift River valley. Some of the dome failures occurred without precursory seismic warning and appeared to result solely from gravitational instability. Material from the disrupted lava domes avalanched down a steep, partly ice-filled canyon incised on the north flank of the volcano and came to rest on the heavily crevassed surface of the piedmont lobe of Drift glacier. Most dome-collapse events resulted in single, monolithologic, massive to reversely graded, medium- to coarse-grained, sandy pyroclastic-flow deposits containing abundant dense dome clasts. These deposits vary in thickness, grain size, and texture depending on distance from the vent and local topography; deposits are finer and better sorted down flow, thinner and finer on hummocks, and thicker and coarser where ponded in channels cut through the glacial ice. The initial vent-clearing explosions emplaced unusual deposits of glacial ice, snow, and rock in a frozen matrix on the north and south flanks of the volcano. Similar deposits were described at Nevado del Ruiz, Columbia and have probably been emplaced at other snow-and-ice-clad volcanoes, but poor preservation makes them difficult to recognize in the geologic record. In a like fashion, most deposits from the 1989-1990 eruption of Redoubt Volcano may be difficult to recognize and interpret in the future because they were emplaced in an environment where glacio-fluvial processes dominate and quickly obscure the primary depositional record. ?? 1994.
Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research↗
Mesozoic stratigraphy and paleoenvironments of the Exxon 975-1 well, US North Atlantic shelf
The Exxon 975-1 well, located in the southeastern part of the Georges Bank Basin, was drilled to a total depth of 4452 m relative to the Kelly Bushing. About 6860 m of sedimentary rocks overlie the Paleozoic basement at the Exxon 975-1 wellsite. The Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary in the well is placed at 1673 m; the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary occurs at 384 m. A carbonate-evaporite sequence dominates the section below 3966 m (Iroquois Formation); limestone is the predominant lithology in the intervals 3810-3246 m and 1897-1654 m. Siliciclastics of the Mohican, undivided Mic Mac-Mohawk, Missisauga, Logan Canyon, and Dawson Canyon Formations dominate the remainder of the Mesozoic section. Lagoonal, tidal flat and sabkha paleoenvironments dominated during deposition of the Iroquois Formation. Lower delta plain and delta front palaeoenvironments prevailed during deposition of the Mohican, Misaine Shale, Mic Mac-Mohawk, Missisauga, and most of the Logan Canyon units. -from Authors
Northeastern Geology↗
Stratigraphy and paleoenvironments of the Shell 410-1 well, Georges Bank Basin, US North Atlantic outer continental shelf
The Shell 410-1 well is the most downdip (seaward) hydrocarbon exploratory well in the Georges Bank Basin. It was drilled to a total depth of 4745 m RKB, and penetrated a section composed of Middle Jurassic to Quaternary sedimentary rocks. The lithostratigraphy of the section is described. The strata penetrated by the Shell 410-1 well are more marine than rocks at the updip (landward) COST G-1, Exxon 975-1, COST G-2, and Conoco 145-1 well sites. Limestones and calcareous mudstones dominate at the Shell 410-1 site. Dolomite and anhydrite are much more abundant in the Bajocian-Callovian strata of the Shell 410-1 well, which is evidence that the carbonate-bank palaeoenvironments recorded in the Iroquois and Abenaki Formations were more restricted (less marine) here than 47 km to the west-northwest at the Mobil 312-1 well site near the edge of the Jurassic carbonate platform. -from Authors
Northeastern Geology and Environmental Sciences↗
Stratigraphy and structure of the Sevier thrust belt and proximal foreland-basin system in central Utah: A transect from the Sevier Desert to the Wasatch Plateau
The Sevier orogenic belt in central Utah comprises four north-northwest trending thrust plates and two structural culminations that record crustal shortening and uplift in late Mesozoic and early Tertiary time. Synorogenic clastic rocks, mostly conglomerate and sandstone, exposed within the thrust belt were deposited in wedge-top and foredeep depozones within the proximal part of the foreland-basin system. The geologic relations preserved between thrust structures and synorogenic deposits demonstrate a foreland-breaking sequence of thrust deformation that was modified by minor out-of-sequence thrust displacement. Structural culminations in the interior part of the thrust belt deformed and uplifted some of the thrust sheets following their emplacement. Strata in the foreland basin indicate that the thrust sheets of central Utah were emplaced between latest Jurassic and Eocene time. The oldest strata of the foredeep depozone (Cedar Mountain Formation) are Neocomian and were derived from the hanging wall of the Canyon Range thrust. The foredeep depozone subsided most rapidly during Albian through Santonian or early Campanian time and accumulated about 2.5 km of conglomeratic strata (Indianola Group). The overlying North Horn Formation accumulated in a wedge-top basin from the Campanian to the Eocene and records propagation of the Gunnison thrust beneath the former foredeep. The Canyon Range Conglomerate of the Canyon Mountains, equivalent to the Indianola Group and the North Horn Formation, was deposited exclusively in a wedge-top setting on the Canyon Range and Pavant thrust sheets. This field trip, a three day, west-to-east traverse of the Sevier orogenic belt in central Utah, visits localities where timing of thrust structures is demonstrated by geometry of cross-cutting relations, growth strata associated with faults and folds, or deformation of foredeep deposits. Stops in the Canyon Mountains emphasize geometry of late structural culminations and relationships of the Canyon Range thrust to growth strata deposited in the wedge-top depozone. Stops in the San Pitch Mountains illustrate deposits of the foredeep depozone and younger, superjacent wedge-top depozone. Stops in the Sanpete Valley and western part of the Wasatch Plateau examine the evolution of the foreland-basin system from foredeep to wedge-top during growth of a triangle zone near the front of the Gunnison thrust.
Brigham Young University Geology Studies↗
Physical stratigraphy and hydrostratigraphy of Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene sediments, Burke and Screven Counties, Georgia
Six geologic units are recognized in the Cretaceous and the Paleocene sediments of eastern Burke and Screven Counties in Georgia on the basis of lithologic, geophysical, and paleontologic data collected from three continuously cored testholes in Georgia and one testhole in South Carolina. The six geologic units are separated by regional unconformities and are designated from oldest to youngest as the Cape Fear Formation, the Middendorf Formation, the Black Creek Group (undivided), and the Steel Creek Formation in the Upper Cretaceous section, and the Ellenton and the Snapp Formations in the Paleocene section. The geologic units provide a spatial and temporal framework for the identification and correlation of a basal confining unit beneath the Midville aquifer system and five aquifers and five confining units in the Dublin and the Midville aquifer systems. The Dublin aquifer system is divided hydrostratigraphically into the Millers Pond, the upper Dublin, and the lower Dublin aquifers. The Midville aquifer system is divided hydrostratigraphically into the upper and the lower Midville aquifers. The fine-grained sediments of the Millers Pond, the lower Dublin, and the lower Midville confining units are nonmarine deposits and are present in the upper part of the Snapp Formation, the Black Creek Group (undivided), and the Middendorf Formation, respectively. Hydrologic data for specific sets of monitoring wells at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Millers Pond site in Georgia confirm that these three units are leaky confining units and locally impede vertical ground-water flow between adjacent aquifers. The fine-grained sediments of the upper Dublin and the upper Midville confining units are marine-deltaic deposits of the Ellenton Formation and the Black Creek Group (undivided), respectively. Hydrologic data confirm that the upper Dublin confining unit regionally impedes vertical ground-water flow on both sides of the Savannah River. The upper Midville confining unit impedes vertical ground-water flow in the middle and downdip parts of the study area and is a leaky confining unit in the updip part of the study area. Recognition of the upper Dublin confining unit as a regional confining unit between the Millers Pond and the upper Dublin aquifers also confirms that the Millers Pond aquifer is a separate hydrologic unit from the rest of the Dublin aquifer system. This multi-aquifer framework increases the vertical hydrostratigraphic resolution of hydraulic properties and gradients in the Dublin and Midville aquifer systems for the investigation of ground-water flow beneath the Savannah River in the vicinity of the U.S. Department of Energy Savannah River Site.
Southeastern Geology↗
Stratigraphy and depositional environment of nonmarine facies of Frontier Formation, Eastern Pioneer Mountains, southwestern Montana
The Upper Cretaceous Frontier Formation in the eastern Pioneer Mountains of southwestern Montana was deposited in nonmarine environments west of the Western Interior Seaway within the Cordilleran foreland basin. These rocks have been assigned to the Frontier because they contain lithologies typical of the Frontier in the region even though they are entirely nonmarine and are thicker than the correlative marine Frontier to the east. The Frontier in the eastern Pioneer Mountains is underlain by the Vaughn Member of the Blackleaf Formation, but the upper part of the Frontier has been eroded and locally is overlain by rocks of Tertiary age. Geologic mapping was conducted and four sections were measured and described to determine facies, thickness variations, and depositional environments. In the eastern Pioneer Mountains study area, the Frontier ranges in thickness from about 1200 ft (366 m) in the south to more than 3400 ft (1036 m) in the north\. Frontier strata in the study area cannot be readily subdivided into mappable units, but two broadly-defined informal lithic units are described. The lower unit contains yellow-brown weathering siltstone, mudstone, and fine-grained quartz-rich sandstone, and is about 250 ft (76 m) thick. The upper unit is composed of yellow-brown to dark-gray siltstone and mudstone, quartz- and chert-rich sandstone, conglomeratic sandstone, and limestone, and is more than 2100 ft (640 m) thick in one measured section. The lower contact of the Frontier is placed at the top of a porcellanite bed that is associated with maroon mudstone and siltstone, limestone, and calcareous dark-gray shale in the underlying Vaughn Member of the Blackleaf Formation. The porcellanite bed directly overlies the highest maroon mudstone-siltstone bed of the upper Vaughn. The Frontier Formation in the eastern Pioneer Mountains was deposited on a broad delta plain dominated by fine-grained sediments. Sandstones exhibit characteristics of anastomosing fluvial channels, average 5% to 10% of the entire formation, and have width to depth ratios of less than 30. The Frontier in the eastern Pioneer Mountains is lithostratigraphically equivalent to the Frontier to the east in the Gravelly, Greenhorn, and Madison Ranges, but may include strata that are younger in age. Frontier strata to the south at Lima Peaks are the thickest in the region (up to 7000 ft; 2100 m) and include facies that are time-equivalent to the marine Frontier, the overlying Cody Shales, and the Telegraph Creek Formation of the Madison Range to the east. The Frontier in the eastern Pioneer Mountains is in part lithostratigraphically equivalent to the Coberly Formation in the Drummond, Montana area (50 mi [80 km] northwest of Butte, Montana) and the Marias River Shales near Great Falls (150 mi [240 km] northeast of Butte) in west-central Montana.
Mountain Geologist↗
High-resolution seismic stratigraphy of an Holocene lacustrine delta in western Lake Geneva (Switzerland)
A high-resolution seismic survey was conducted in western Lake Geneva on a small delta formed by the Promenthouse, the Asse and the Boiron rivers. This dataset provides information on changes in the geometry and sedimentation patterns of this delta from Late-glacial to Present. The geometry of the deposits of the lacustrine delta has been mapped using 300-m spaced grid lines acquired with a 12 kHz Echosounder subbottom profiler. A complete three dimensional image of the sediment architecture was reconstructed through seismic stratigraphic analysis. Six different delta lobes have been recognized in the prodelta area. Depositional centers and lateral extension of the delta have changed through time, indicating migration and fluctuation of river input as well as changes in lake currents and wind regime from the time of glacier retreat to the Present. The delta slope is characterized by a high instability causing stumps developing and by the accumulation of biogenic gas that prevents seismic penetration.
Ecologae Geologicae Helvetiae↗
Estimating debris-flow probability using fan stratigraphy, historic records, and drainage-basin morphology, Interstate 70 highway corridor, central Colorado, U.S.A
We have used stratigraphic and historic records of debris-flows to estimate mean recurrence intervals of past debris-flow events on 19 fans along the Interstate 70 highway corridor in the Front Range of Colorado. Estimated mean recurrence intervals were used in the Poisson probability model to estimate the probability of future debris-flow events on the fans. Mean recurrence intervals range from 7 to about 2900 years. Annual probabilities range from less than 0.1% to about 13%. A regression analysis of mean recurrence interval data and drainage-basin morphometry yields a regression model that may be suitable to estimate mean recurrence intervals on fans with no stratigraphic or historic records. Additional work is needed to verify this model. ?? 2003 Millpress.
Conference Paper↗
Middle Devonian to Early Carboniferous event stratigraphy of Devils Gate and Northern Antelope Range sections, Nevada, U.S.A
The classic type section of the Devils Gate Limestone at Devils Gate Pass is situated on the eastern slope of a proto-Antler forebulge that resulted from convergence of the west side of the North American continent with an ocean plate. The original Late Devonian forebulge, the site of which is now located between Devils Gate Pass and the Northern Antelope Range, separated the continental-rise to deep-slope Woodruff basin on the west from the backbulge Pilot basin on the east. Two connections between these basins are recorded by deeper water siltstone beds at Devils Gate; the older one is the lower tongue of the Woodruff Formation, which forms the basal unit of the upper member of the type Devils Gate, and the upper one is the overlying, thin lower member of the Pilot Shale. The forebulge and the backbulge Pilot basin originated during the middle Frasnian (early Late Devonian) Early hassi Zone, shortly following the Alamo Impact within the punctata Zone in southern Nevada. Evidence of this impact is recorded by coeval and reworked shocked quartz grains in the Northern Antelope Range and possibly by a unique bypass-channel or megatsunami-uprush sandy diamictite within carbonate-platform rocks of the lower member of the type Devils Gate Limestone. Besides the Alamo Impact and three regional events, two other important global events are recorded in the Devils Gate section. The semichatovae eustatic rise, the maximum Late Devonian flooding event, coincides with the sharp lithogenetic change at the discordant boundary above the lower member of the Devils Gate Limestone. Most significantly, the Devils Gate section contains the thickest and most complete rock record in North America across the late Frasnian linguiformis Zone mass extinction event. Excellent exposures include not only the extinction shale, but also a younger. Early triangularis Zone tsunamite breccia, produced by global collapse of carbonate platforms during a shallowing event that continued into the next younger Famennian Stage. The Northern Antelope Range section is located near the top of the west side of the proto-Antler forebulge. Because of its unusual, tectonically active location, unmatched at any other Nevada localities, this section records only four regional and global events during a timespan slightly longer than that of the Devils Gate section. The global semichatovae rise and late Frasnian mass extinction event are largely masked because of the depositional complexities resulting from this location.
Nevada↗
Supergroup stratigraphy of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains (Middle? Jurassic through holocene, Eastern North America)
An inclusive supergroup stratigraphic framework for the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains is proposed herein. This framework consists of five supergroups that 1) are regionally inclusive and regionally applicable, 2) meaningfully reflect the overall stratigraphic and structural history of the Coastal Plains geologic province of the southeastern United States, and 3) create stratigraphic units that are readily mappable and useful at a regional level. Only the Marquesas Supergroup (Lower Cretaceous to lowest Upper Cretaceous) has been previously established. The Trent Supergroup (middle middle Eocene to basal lower Miocene) is an existing name here raised to supergroup rank. The Minden Supergroup (Middle? through Upper Jurassic), the Ancora Supergroup (Upper Cretaceous to lower middle Eocene), and the Nomini Supergroup (lower Miocene to Recent) are new stratigraphic concepts proposed herein. In order to bring existing groups and formations into accord with the supergroups described here, the following stratigraphic revisions are made. 1) The base of the Shark River Formation (Trent Supergroup) is moved upward. 2) The Old Church Formation is removed from the Chesapeake Group (Nomini Supergroup) and moved to the Trent Supergroup without group placement. 3) The Tiger Leap and Penney Farms formations are removed from the Hawthorn Group (Nomini Supergroup) and moved to the Trent Supergroup without group placement. 4) The Piney Point and Chickahominy formations are removed from the Pamunkey Group (Ancora Supergroup) and moved to the Trent Supergroup without group placement. 5) the Tallahatta Formation is removed from the Claiborne Group (Trent Supergroup) and placed within the Ancora Supergroup without group placement.
Southeastern Geology↗
Ordovician conodonts and stratigraphy of the ST. Peter sandstone and glen wood shale, central United States
The age of the St. Peter Sandstone in the central and northern Midcontinent has long been considered equivocal because of the general absence of biostratigraphically useful fossils. Conodonts recovered from the St. Peter Sandstone in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Kansas for this study help place some age constraints on this renowned formation in its northern and western extent. Faunas from the lower St. Peter include Phragmodus flexuosus, Cahabagnathus sp., and Leptochirognathus sp., and a late Whiterockian (Chazyan) correlation is indicated. Juvenile or immature elements of P. flexuosus from these collections show morphologies trending toward P. cognitus and P. inflexus, and paedomorphic derivation of these latter species is proposed. Diverse assemblages of hyaline forms also occur in the St. Peter strata (Erismodus spp., Erraticodon sp., Curtognathus sp., Coleodus sp., Archeognathus sp., Stereoconus sp., others) along with various albid elements (Plectodina sp., Eoplacognathus sp., others). The overlying Glenwood Shale contains abundant conodonts dominated by Phragmodus cognitus, Erismodus sp., and Chirognathus duodactylus, and the fauna is interpreted as an early Mohawkian (Blackriveran) association. Certain thin shale units in the St. Peter-Glenwood succession represent condensed intervals, in part reflected by their exceptionally high conodont abundances. Some organic-rich phosphatic shale units in the lower St. Peter of western Iowa have produced equivalent yields of tens of thousands of conodonts per kilogram, and many Glenwood Shale samples yield thousands of conodonts per kilogram. Previous depositional models have proposed that the St. Peter is primarily a succession of littoral and nearshore facies forming a broadly diachronous transgressive sheet sand. However, broad-scale diachroneity cannot be demonstrated with available biostratigraphic control. The recognition of condensed marine shale units, phosphorites, ironstones, and pyritic hardgrounds in the western facies tract of the St. Peter Sandstone has necessitated a re-evaluation of previous regional models of St. Peter deposition. The St. Peter is interpreted to be a composite stratigraphic interval deposited during a succession of transgressive-regressive sedimentary cycles. Transgressive episodes in some cycles were marked by offshore sediment condensation or starvation within a stratified seaway.
Bulletins of American Paleontology↗
Aminostratigraphy and oxygen isotope stratigraphy of marine terrace deposits, Palos Verdes Hills and San Pedro areas, Los Angeles County, California
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California↗
Stratigraphic studies: Part A: basalt stratigraphy of southern Mare Serenitatis
Mare Serenitatis has long been noted for its conspicuous dark border (fig. 29-1). The Apollo 17 metric photographs traverse this border in southern Mare Serenitatis and show clearly superposition relationships among the mare and mare-related stratigraphic units. These photographs, together with full-Moon photographs, albedo measurements, and color information (table 29-I), provide the basis for a revised stratigraphic framework for these presumedly basaltic rocks (figs. 29-2 and 29-3). In contrast to most previous studies, we conclude that the darker units are older than lighter ones. Similar conclusions have been reached by Bryan and Adams (part C of sec. 30) and Boyce and Dial (part C of this section). The relatively light-colored central part of Mare Serenitatis is thought to represent the youngest basalt in the region; a very dark unit that includes the Apollo 17 landing site is one of the oldest.
Book chapter↗