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A generalized model of humic materials in soils and sediments, which is consistent with their observed properties, is presented. This model provides a means of understanding the interaction of hydrophobic pollutants with humic materials. In this model, it is proposed that the humic materials in soils and sediments consist of...

Six analytical techniques for the selective chemical dissolution of sulfides are compared with the purpose of defining the best method for accurately determining the concentration of sulfide-bound nickel. Synthesized sulfide phases of known elemental content, mixed with well-analyzed silicates, were used to determine the relative and absolute efficiency, based on...

Phase relations in the system Cu-V-S were studied by using a sealedcapsule technique, reflected-light microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and electron microprobe analysis. In the temperature range between 300 and 900 ??C, six vanadium sulfides exist in the V-S system. These are VS, V7S8, V3S4, V5S8, V3S5 and VS4. In the...

One hundred and fifty new measurements of the solubility of witherite were used to evaluate the equilibrium constant of the reaction BaCO3(cr) = Ba2+(aq) + CO32−(aq) between 0 and 90°C and 1 atm total pressure. The temperature dependence of the equilibrium constant is given by logK = 607.642 + 0.121098T − 20011.25/T − 236.4948 logT where T is in degrees...

New specimens of Phasmatocycas and Taeniopteris from the original Lower Permian locality in Kansas demonstrate organic attachment of the two and corroborate Mamay's hypothesis that Phasmatocycas and Taeniopteris were parts of the same plant. These forms also suggest that cycads evolved from taxa with entire leaves; i.e. Taeniopteris, rather than...

In the later Cainozoic, approx 18 m.y. ago, the first basin and range faulting developed in the central part of the Great Basin, this extensional tectonic system resulting from drag on the North American plate as the Pacific plate moved obliquely to the NW along the San Andreas fault. The...

Detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) was evaluated for its effectiveness in displaying factors controlling the spatial distribution of benthic insects in an oligotrophic stream where an experimental gradient (copper) that selectively affects population abundances was imposed. DCA proved to be highly sensitive to differences among samples and consistently provided ecologically meaningful...

Thalenite occurs as a minor constituent of a single small pegmatite within an extensive area of granite a few miles S of Kingman, Arizona. Partly crystalline and partly metamict, this thalenite has composition Y3(Si3O10)(OH), with extensive substitution of Y by REE, especially Dy, Er and Yb. Upon heating, even at...

Blowing dust is symptomatic of severe wind erosion and deterioration of soils in areas undergoing dessication and/or devegetation. Dust plumes on satellite images can commonly be traced to sources in marginally arable semiarid areas where protective lag gravels or vegetation have been removed and soils are dry, as demonstrated for...

A simulation nonlinear multiple-regression methodology for estimating parameters that characterize the transport of contaminants is developed and demonstrated. Finite difference contaminant transport simulation is combined with a nonlinear weighted least squares multiple-regression procedure. The technique provides optimal parameter estimates and gives statistics for assessing the reliability of these estimates under...

The distribution and residence time of cosmogenic 10Be in clay-rich soil horizons is fundamental to understanding and modelling the migration of 10Be on terrestrial sediments and in groundwater solutions. We have analyzed seven profiles of clay-rich soils developed from terrace sediments of the Merced River, California. The terraces and soils of increasing...

Certain geologic media are known to have small permeability; subsurface environments composed of these media and lacking well developed secondary permeability have groundwater flow sytems with many distinctive characteristics. Moreover, groundwater flow in these environments appears to influence the evolution of certain hydrologic, geologic, and geochemical systems, may affect the...

The effects of acid deposition on surface waters in eastern United States watersheds having similar size, physiography, climate and land use are related to the composition of the underlying bedrock. Watersheds developed on greenstone, calcareous shale, sandstone, granite, and schist differ in their ability to neutralize acid deposition....

The remanent magnetization of volcanic rocks has been determined at 650 sites in the San Francisco volcanic field in the southern part of the Colorado Plateau. The polarity of remanent magnetization—combined with K-Ar age determinations, spatial and petrographic associations, stratigraphic relations, and state of preservation...

Hydrodynamics of the upper extent of the Potomac Estuary between Indian Head and Morgantown, Md. , are simulated using a two-dimensional model. The model computes water-surface elevations and depth-averaged velocities by numerically integrating finite-difference forms of the equations of mass and momentum conservation using the alternating direction implicit method. The...

Concentrations of U, Th and Pb, and the isotopic composition of Pb for whole-rock samples of granitoids show: (1) that open-system behavior is nearly universal in the surface and near-surface environment; and (2) that elemental mobility is possible to depths of several hundred meters. Several identified or at least postulated...

Examination of recent debris-flow and hyperconcentrated-streamflow events in the western United States reveals (1) the topographic, geologic, hydrologic, and vegetative conditions that affect initiation of debris flows and (2) the wide ranging climatic conditions that can trigger debris flows. Recognition of these physiographic and climatic conditions has aided development of...

The Mount St. Helens fumarole gases show linear composition trends during periods of noneruptive degassing between September 1980 and October 1981. The trends are characterized by increasing H2O and decreasing CO2 and sulfur. Maximum fumarole temperatures also show a linear decrease during this period. High-temperature fumarole gases collected from the...

Systematic modes of spatial and temporal variation in a 13-y record of stream sulfate from a nationwide network of headwater sampling stations are defined using principal components. Based on the undisturbed nature of the sampling network, it is suggested that these modes of stream sulfate variability are analogues for variations...

Water-use was estimated for three phreatophyte communities: a saltcedar community and an alkali-Sacaton grass community in New Mexico, and a greasewood rabbit-brush-saltgrass community in Colorado. These water-use estimates were calculated from eddy-correlation measurements using three different analyses, since the direct eddy-correlation measurements did not satisfy a surface energy balance. The...

Two geostatistical approaches for the estimation of hydraulic conductivity and hydraulic head from hydraulic conductivity and hydraulic head measurements are developed for two-dimensional steady flow with sinks. For both approaches the field of the logarithm of hydraulic conductivity (log-conductivity) is represented as a random field with mean θ1+θ2x+θ3y where xand y denote Cartesian coordinates,...

A commonly accepted first-order approximation of the equation for steady state flow in a fully saturated spatially random medium has the form of Poisson's equation. This form allows for the advantageous use of Green's functions to solve for the random output (hydraulic heads) in terms of a convolution over the...

Many parts of the Great Basin have thick zones of unsaturated alluvium which might be suitable for disposing of high-level radioactive wastes. A mathematical model accounting for the coupled transport of energy, water (vapor and liquid), and dry air was used to analyze one-dimensional, vertical transport above and below an...

The U. S. Geological Survey is currently conducting an investigation to estimate values of parameters for two rainfall-loss computation methods used in a commonly used flood-hydrograph model. Estimates of six rainfall-loss parameters are required: four for the Exponential Loss-Rate method and two for the Initial and Uniform Loss-Rate method. Multiple...

The Voyager global multispectral mosaic of the Galilean satellite Europa (T. V. Johnson, L. A. Soderblom, J. A. Mosher, G. E. Danielson, A. F. Cook, and P. Kupferman, 1983, J. Geophys. Res. 88, 5789–5805) was analyzed to map surface units with similar optical properties (T. B. McCord, M. L. Nelson, R. N. Clark,...