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...
Analytical multicollimator camera calibration
W.P. Tayman
1978, Photogrammetria (34) 179-197
Calibration with the U.S. Geological survey multicollimator determines the calibrated focal length, the point of symmetry, the radial distortion referred to the point of symmetry, and the asymmetric characteristiecs of the camera lens. For this project, two cameras were calibrated, a Zeiss RMK A 15/23 and a Wild RC 8....
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...
Impacts of vehicles on natural terrain at seven sites in the San Francisco Bay area
H. G. Wilshire, J. K. Nakata, S. Shipley, K. Prestegaard
1978, Environmental Geology (2) 295-319
The impacts of off-road vehicles on vegetation and soil were investigated at seven representative sites in the San Francisco Bay area. Plant cover of grass and chaparral (with shrubs to 4 m tall) have been stripped by the two- and four-wheel vehicles in use. Impacts on loamy soils include increased...
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...
U.S. Geological Survey offshore program of resource and geo-environmental studies and topical investigations, Pacific-Arctic region
David William Scholl
1978, Open-File Report 78-422
The Geological Survey's marine geology investigations in the Pacific-Arctic area are presented in this report in the context of the underlying socio-economic problem of expanding the domestic production of oil and gas and other mineral and hard- and soft-rock resources while maintaining acceptable standards in the marine environment. The primary...
Map showing geochemical distribution and abundance of barium in heavy mineral concentrates, Talkeetna Mountains quadrangle, Alaska
R. J. Miller, G.C. Curtin, Bela Csejtey Jr.
1978, Open-File Report 78-558-O
No abstract available....
Environmental trade-offs of tunnels vs cut-and-cover subways
M. Walton
1978, Underground Space (3) 61-67
Heavy construction projects in cities entail two kinds of cost - internal cost, which can be defined in terms of payments from one set of parties to another, and external cost, which is the cost borne by the community at large as the result of disutilities entailed in construction and...
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...
New potassium-argon data on the age of mineralization and metamorphism in the Willow Creek mining district, southern Talkeetna Mountains, Alaska
Miles L. Silberman, Bela Csejtey Jr., James G. Smith, Marvin A. Lanphere, Frederic H. Wilson
1978, Circular 772-B
The now largely abandoned Willow Creek mining district, southern Talkeetna Mountains, Alaska, produced nearly $18,000,000 in gold and minor silver between 1909 and the early 1950's. Mineralized quartz veins, which contain gold and silver along with minor quantities of base metals (in pyrite, galena, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, molybdenite, and arsenopyrite), cut...
Induction of auroral zone electric currents within the Alaska pipeline
W.H. Campbell
1978, Pure and Applied Geophysics PAGEOPH (116) 1143-1173
The Alaskar pipeline is a highly conducting anomaly extending 800 miles (1300 km) from about 62?? to 69?? geomagnetic latitude beneath the most active regions of the ionospheric electrojet current. The spectral behavior of the magnetic field from this current was analyzed using data from standard geomagnetic observatories to establish...
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...
Decomposition of hydroxy amino acids in foraminiferal tests; kinetics, mechanism and geochronological implications
J.L. Bada, M.-Y. Shou, E.H. Man, R. A. Schroeder
1978, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (41) 67-76
The diagenesis of the hydroxy amino acids serine and threonine in foraminiferal tests has been investigated. The decomposition pathways of these amino acids are complex; the principal reactions appear to be dehydration, aldol cleavage and decarboxylation. Stereochemical studies indicate that the...
Transient creep and semibrittle behavior of crystalline rocks
N.L. Carter, S. H. Kirby
1978, Pure and Applied Geophysics PAGEOPH (116) 807-839
We review transient creep and semibrittle behavior of crystalline solids. The results are expected to be pertinent to crystalline rocks undergoing deformation in the depth range 5 to 20 km, corresponding to depths of focus of many major earthquakes. Transient creep data for crystalline rocks at elevated temperatures are analyzed...
Flame and flameless atomic-absorption determination of tellurium in geological materials
T. T. Chao, R. F. Sanzolone, A.E. Hubert
1978, Analytica Chimica Acta (96) 251-257
The sample is digested with a solution of hydrobromic acid and bromine and the excess of bromine is expelled. After dilution of the solution to approximately 3 M in hydrobromic acid, ascorbic acid is added to reduce iron(III) before extraction of tellurium into methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK). An oxidizing air-acetylene...
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...
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...
Distinctive sedimentary features of cold-climate eolian deposits, North Park, Colorado
Thomas S. Ahlbrandt, S. Andrews
1978, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (25) 327-351
Cold-climate eolianites contain diagnostic sedimentary features that contrast with the sedimentary features of warm-climate eolianites. Distinctive tensional, compressional, and dissipation sedimentary structures related to freezing, thawing and snow melting characterize eolian dune-sand deposits in North Park, Colorado. The North Park dunes have few of the characteristics considered to be diagnostic...
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...
Heat flow in the Basin and Range province and thermal effects of tectonic extension
A.H. Lachenbruch
1978, Pure and Applied Geophysics PAGEOPH (117) 34-50
In regions of tectonic extension, vertical convective transport of heat in the lithosphere is inevitable. The resulting departure of lithosphere temperature and thickness from conduction-model estimates depends upon the mechanical mode of extension and upon how rapidly extension is (and has been) taking place. Present knowledge of these processes is...
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...
Oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions of eclogites and associated rocks from the Eastern Sesia zone (Western Alps, Italy)
J. Desmons, J. R. O’Neil
1978, Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology (67) 79-85
Oxygen and hydrogen isotope analyses have been made of mineral separates from eclogites, glaucophanites and glaucophane schists from the eastern Sesia zone (Italian Western Alps). Regularities in (1) hydrogen isotope compositions, (2) order of 18O enrichment among coexisting minerals, and (3) ?? 18O (quartz-rutile) and ?? 18O (quartz-phengite) imply attainment...
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. ...
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...
Analyses of stream-sediment samples from the Ketchikan quadrangle, southeastern Alaska
Richard D. Koch, Raymond L. Elliott
1978, Open-File Report 78-156-C
No abstract available....
