Vesicularity of basalt erupted at Reykjanes Ridge crest
W. A. Duffield
1978, Nature (274) 217-220
Average vesicularity of basalt drilled at three sites on the west flank of the Reykjanes Ridge increases with decreasing age. This change apparently records concomitant decrease in water depth at the ridge crest where the basalt was erupted and suggests substantial upward growth of the crest during the past 35...
Determination of silver, bismuth, cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc in geologic materials by atomic absorption spectrometry with tricaprylylmethylammonium chloride
John G. Viets
1978, Analytical Chemistry (50) 1097-1101
Interferences commonly encountered in the determination of silver, bismuth, cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc at crustal abundance levels are effectively eliminated using a rapid, sensitive, organic extraction technique. A potassium chlorate-hydrochloric acid digestion solubilizes the metals not tightly bound in the silicate lattice of rocks, soils, and stream sediments. The...
Correction of ground-water chemistry and carbon isotopic composition for effects of CO2 outgassing
F. J. Pearson Jr., D.W. Fisher, Niel Plummer
1978, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (42) 1799-1807
Direct Pco2">Pco2 measurements on water samples from several CO2-charged warm springs are significantly higher than Pco2">Pco2 values calculated from field pH and alkalinity (and other constituents). In addition, calcite saturation indices calculated from field pH and solution composition indicated supersaturation...
Minerals produced during cooling and hydrothermal alteration of ash flow tuff from Yellowstone drill hole Y-5
T. E. C. Keith, L.J.P. Muffler
1978, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (3) 373-402
A rhyolitic ash-flow tuff in a hydrothermally active area within the Yellowstone caldera was drilled in 1967, and cores were studied to determine the nature and distribution of primary and secondary mineral phases. The rocks have undergone a complex history of crystallization and hydrothermal alteration since their emplacement 600,000 years...
Evaluation of Baltazor known geothermal resources area, Nevada
W.F. Isherwood, D. R. Mabey
1978, Geothermics (7) 221-229
By virtue of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970, the U.S. Geological Survey is required to appraise geothermal resources of the United States prior to competitive lease sales. This appraisal involves coordinated input from a variety of disciplines, starting with reconnaissance geology and geophysics. This paper describes how the results...
Dispersion of plutonium from contaminated pond sediments
T.F. Rees, J.M. Cleveland, Gottschall W. Carl
1978, Environmental Science & Technology (12) 1085-1087
No abstract available....
Location of Viking 1 Lander on the surface of Mars
E. C. Morris, K.L. Jones, J.P. Berger
1978, Icarus (34) 548-555
A location of the Viking 1 Lander on the surface of Mars has been determined by correlating topographic features in the lander pictures with similar features in the Viking orbiter pictures. Radio tracking data narrowed the area of search for correlating orbiter and lander features and an area was found...
The use of a paired comparison model in ordering stratigraphic events
Lucy E. Edwards, R.J. Beaver
1978, Journal of the International Association for Mathematical Geology (10) 261-272
Data from lowest and highest occurrence events in several stratigraphic sections are analyzed by means of a paired comparison model with ties. The model produces an estimated relative geochronological ordering of these events. This ordering must be compared with actual observations for revision and interpretation. ...
Global color variations on the Martian surface
L.A. Soderblom, K. Edwards, E. M. Eliason, E.M. Sanchez, M.P. Charette
1978, Icarus (34) 446-464
Surface materials exposed throughout the equatorial region of Mars have been classified and mapped on the basis of spectral reflectance properties determined by the Viking II Orbiter vidicon cameras. Frames acquired at each of three wavelengths (0.45 ± 0.03 μm, 0.53 ± 0.05 μm, and 0.59 ± 0.05 μm) during the approach of...
Chemical composition and distribution of lithium-rich brines in salar de Uyuni and nearby salars in southwestern Bolivia
George E. Ericksen, James D. Vine, Raul Ballon A.
1978, Energy (3) 355-363
Preliminary investigations at Salar de Uyuni and the nearby salars (salt pans) of Coipasa and Empexa in the southern part of the Bolivian Altiplano show the presence of widespread lithium-rich brines. Widely scattered brine samples from Salar de Uyuni, which...
Range charts and no-space graphs
Lucy E. Edwards
1978, Computers & Geosciences (4) 247-255
No-space graphs present one solution to the familiar problem: given data on the occurrence of fossil taxa in separate, well-sampled sections, determine a range chart; that is, a reasonable working hypothesis of the total range in the area in question of each taxon studied. The solution presented here treats only...
Subaerial weathering of sedimentary organic matter
J.L. Clayton, P.J. Swetland
1978, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (42) 305-312
Small diameter core samples were taken from outcrops of the Permian Phosphoria Formation and the Cretaceous Pierre Shale of the Western United States to determine the effects of weathering on organic matter in shale outcrops. While the Pierre Shale core showed no evidence of weathering, the Phosphoria Formation showed significant...
Mars synthetic topographic mapping
S.S.C. Wu
1978, Icarus (33) 417-440
Topographic contour maps of Mars are compiled by the synthesis of data acquired from various scientific experiments of the Mariner 9 mission, including S-band radio-occulation, the ultraviolet spectrometer (UVS), the infrared radiometer (IRR), the infrared interferometer spectrometer (IRIS) and television imagery, as well as Earth-based radar information collected at Goldstone,...
Distribution of rutile in metamorphic rocks and implications for placer deposits
R. Goldsmith, E. R. Force
1978, Mineralium Deposita (13) 329-343
Pelitic units in the eastern Great Smoky Mountains of the North Carolina Blue Ridge contain rutile grains only in kyanite and higher zones. Adjacent non-pelitic rocks do not contain rutile at kyanite grade but commonly contain sphene. Detrital rutile breaks down at metamorphic grades lower than those at which metamorphic...
Radioactive disequilibrium in altered mid-oceanic basalts
M.P. Bacon
1978, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (39) 250-254
A young (<1 m.y.) tholeiitic basalt dredged from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge displays a234U excess and a230Th deficiency that have resulted from the addition of seawater uranium during weathering at seafloor temperatures. Two older samples, though they acquired substantial amounts of uranium...
Possible fossil H2O liquid-ice interfaces in the Martian crust
L.A. Soderblom, D. B. Wenner
1978, Icarus (34) 622-637
Throughout the northern equatorial region of Mars, extensive areas have been uniformly stripped, roughly to a constant depth. These terrains vary widely in their relative ages. A model is described here to explain this phenomenon as reflecting the vertical distribution of H2O liquid and ice in the crust. Under present...
Transient-pressure analysis in geothermal steam reservoirs with an immobile vaporizing liquid phase
A.F. Moench, P.G. Atkinson
1978, Geothermics (7) 253-264
A finite-difference model for the radial horizontal flow of steam through a porous medium is used to evaluate transient-pressure behavior in the presence of an immobile vaporizing or condensing liquid phase. Graphs of pressure drawdown and buildup in terms of dimensionless pressure and time are obtained for a well discharging...
Methods for regional assessment of geothermal resources
P. Muffler, R. Cataldi
1978, Geothermics (7) 53-89
A consistent, agreed-upon terminology is prerequisite for geothermal resource assessment. Accordingly, we propose a logical, sequential subdivision of the "geothermal resource base", accepting its definition as all the thermal energy in the earth's crust under a given area, measured from mean annual temperature. That part of the resource base which...
Lithium in the McDermitt caldera, Nevada and Oregon
Richard K. Glanzman, J. H. McCarthy Jr., James J. Rytuba
1978, Energy (3) 347-353
Anomalously high concentrations of lithium in fluviatile-lacustrine sediments near McDermitt, Nevada, may constitute a potential resource. These sediments are associated with a caldera about 45 km in diameter that is a result of volcanic activity, subsidence and sedimentation chiefly of Miocene age. The sediments originally were vitroclastic and now...
Conceptual models in exploration geochemistry-The Basin and Range Province of the Western United States and Northern Mexico
T.G. Lovering, J. H. McCarthy Jr.
1978, Journal of Geochemical Exploration (9) 113-276
This summary of geochemical exploration in the Basin and Range Province is another in the series of reviews of geochemical-exploration applications covering a large region; this series began in 1975 with a summary for the Canadian Cordillera and Canadian Shield, and was followed in 1976 by a similar summary for...
Mars, highlands-lowlands: Viking contributions to mariner relative age studies
D. H. Scott
1978, Icarus (34) 479-485
Stratigraphic relations between lowland plains and highlands, two major types of Martian geologic-terrain units, were not directly distinguishable on Mariner-9 images. Morphologic characteristics and crater densities suggested that the lava plains beneath their eolian cover were younger than adjacent highland rocks, which form a plateau bounded in many places by...
Distribution and relations of 4- to 10-km-diameter craters to global geologic units of Mars
C.D. Condit
1978, Icarus (34) 465-478
By correlating the 1:25,000,000 geologic map of Mars of Scott and Carr (1977) with 4- to 10-km-diameter crater density data from Mariner 9 images, the average crater density for 23 of the equatorial geologic-geomorphic units on Mars was computed. The correlation of these two data sets was accomplished by digitizing...
Prediction of capacity factors for aqueous organic solutes adsorbed on a porous acrylic resin
E.M. Thurman, Ronald L. Malcolm, G. R. Aiken
1978, Analytical Chemistry (50) 775-779
The capacity factors of 20 aromatic, allphatic, and allcycllc organic solutes with carboxyl, hydroxyl, amine, and methyl functional groups were determined on Amberlite XAD-8, a porous acrylic resin. The logarithm of the capacity factor, k', correlated inversely with the logarithm of the aqueous molar solubility with significance of less than...
Friction of rocks
J. Byerlee
1978, Pure and Applied Geophysics PAGEOPH (116) 615-626
Experimental results in the published literature show that at low normal stress the shear stress required to slide one rock over another varies widely between experiments. This is because at low stress rock friction is strongly dependent on surface roughness. At high normal stress that effect is diminished and the...
Interpretation of a Landsat image of an unusual flood phenomenon in Australia
Charles J. Robinove
1978, Remote Sensing of Environment (7) 219-225
A Landsat image of part of the flooded area of Cooper Creek, Queensland, Australia, in February 1974, shows large dark areas within the flooded valley. The dark areas are believed to be wet, but unflooded, areas of dark alluvial soil. These striking features, which have not previously been identified on...
