An instrument system for long-term sediment transport studies on the continental shelf
Bradford Butman, David W. Folger
1978, Open-File Report 78-1019
A bottom-mounted instrument system has been designed and built to monitor processes of bottom-sediment movement on the Continental Shelf. The system measures bottom current speed and direction, pressure, temperature, and light transmission, and photographs the bottom. The instrument operates in a burst sample mode. The system can be deployed for...
Seismic model study of Patrick Draw field, Wyoming: a stratigraphic trap in the Upper Cretaceous Almond Formation
Robert C. Anderson, Robert T. Ryder
1978, Open-File Report 78-496
The Patrick Draw field, located on the eastern flank of the Rock Springs uplift in the Washakie basin of southwestern Wyoming, was discovered in 1959 without the use of geophysical methods. The field is a classic example of a stratigraphic trap, where Upper Cretaceous porous sandstone units pinch out on...
Linear ground-water flow, flood-wave response program for programmable calculators
John Michael Kernodle
1978, Open-File Report 78-356
Two programs are documented which solve a discretized analytical equation derived to determine head changes at a point in a one-dimensional ground-water flow system. The programs, written for programmable calculators, are in widely divergent but commonly encountered languages and serve to illustrate the adaptability of the linear model to use...
A theoretical basis for exploration for native copper in northern Wisconsin
Walter S. White
1978, Circular 769
Exploration for native copper in the Keweenawan lavas of northern Wisconsin has been concentrated in areas of relatively shallow overburden that have sparse to numerous outcrops. Lack of success of this exploration suggests that if large deposits, comparable to those of northern Michigan, are present, they are more likely to...
Floods of July 19-20, 1977 in the Johnstown area, western Pennsylvania
Stan A. Brua
1978, Open-File Report 78-963
Intense rainfall on the evening of July 19 and early morning hours of July 20, 1977, resulted in moderate to record flooding throughout much of an eight-county area of southwest Pennsylvania. In a 400-square-mile area directly north and east of Johnstown, rainfall totals of 6 to 12 inches were measured...
Use and interpretation of strong-motion records from highway bridges
J.D. Raggett, Christopher Rojahn
1978, Open-File Report 78-707
This report describes how strong-motion records obtained from the earthquake-induced motions of highway bridges may be analyzed for use in the evaluation of bridge designs and bridge design procedures.This report is divided into five principal sections. The first section describes strong-motion instrumentation and strong-motion records. In the second section, a...
Evaluation and design of a streamflow-data network in Washington
Marshall E. Moss, W.L. Haushild
1978, Open-File Report 78-167
A method of evaluating the transferability of streamflow information by regional regression analysis was applied in Washington to several streamflow variables. The annual mean and annual standard deviation were chosen to represent the development potential of the water resource, while the mean, standard deviation, and the 50-year recurrence interval of...
Five-day recorder seismic system
Ed Criley, Jerry P. Eaton, Jim Ellis
1978, Open-File Report 78-266
The 10-day recorder seismic system used by the USGS since 1965 has been modified substantially to improve its dynamic range and frequency response, to decrease its power consumption and physical complexity, and to make its recordings more compatible with other NCER systems to facilitate data processing. The principal changes include:...
Contact-metasomatic magnetite deposit, Medfra Quadrangle, Alaska
M.L. Throckmorton, William Wallace Patton
1978, Open-File Report 78-26
A small contact-metasomatic magnetite deposit was discovered in the Medfra quadrangle, Alaska, in 1976. It occurs at the contact between a Cretaceous or early Tertiary quartz monzonite stock and Paleozoic limestone and dolomite. The ore is a magnetite-clinohumite-hematite rock that contains up to 60 volume percent magnetite and 76 weight...
Strong-motion earthquake accelerograms digitization and analysis
A. Gerald Brady, Virgilio Perez
1978, Open-File Report 78-941
This is the third of a series of reports planned to include the results of digitization and routine analyses of strong-motion earthquake accelerograms published by the U.S. Geological Survey. Serving as a model for this effort is the collection of data reports published by the Earthquake Engineering Research Laboratory of...
Ages of flow units in the far eastern lunar maria based on crater density
Joseph M. Boyce
1978, Open-File Report 78-879
The distribution of major geologic units of uniform relative age exposed in the far eastern maria (i.e., Mare Marginis, Mare Smythii, and Mare Crisium) and Mare Humorum was compiled in map form on the basis of a crater density mapping technique. Correlation of crater densities and radiometric ages of Apollo...
A table of photopeaks useful in nuclear geophysics
Allan B. Tanner, Frank E. Senftle
1978, Open-File Report 78-531
The table lists full-energy, single-escape, and double-escape photopeak energies corresponding to about 1800 x- and gamma rays derived from natural radioactivity, X-ray fluorescence, neutron reactions, and induced radioactivity. Photon lines have been selected on the basis of their importance in borehole logging by nuclear methods. The mode of production of...
Mass movement and storms in the drainage basin of Redwood Creek, Humboldt County, California — A progress report
Deborah Reid Harden, Richard J. Janda, K. Michael Nolan
1978, Open-File Report 78-486
Numerous active landslides are clearly significant contributors to high sediment loads in the Redwood Creek basin. Field and aerial-photograph inspections indicate that large mass-movement features, such as earthflows and massive streamside debris slides, occur primarily in terrain underlain by unmetamorphosed or slightly metamorphosed sedimentary rocks. These features cannot account for...
Proceedings of Conference IV: the use of volunteers in the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, convened under the auspices of National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, 2-3 February, 1978, Menlo Park, California
Peter L. Ward, editor(s)
1978, Open-File Report 78-336
There are tens of thousands of people in the United States who could play an important voluntary role in reducing earthquake hazards and are probably willing to do so. Under the Earthquake Hazard Reduction Act of 1977 the Federal government is significantly increasing its effort "to reduce the risk of life and property from...
Eolian sand and interbedded organic horizons at Kealok Creek on the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska: possible regional implications
L. David Carter, S.W. Robinson
1978, Open-File Report 78-320
Eolian sand has long been recognized as a widespread but minor facies of supposedly dominantly marine sediments of the Gubik Formation of the Arctic Coastal Plain (Smith and Mertie, 1930; Black, 1951 and 1964; O'Sullivan, 1961). Descriptions of eolian landforms of the coastal plain have been published by several authors,...
Regional and local networks of horizontal control, Cerro Prieto geothermal area, Mexico
Bruce L. Massey
1978, Open-File Report 78-929
The Cerro Prieto geothermal area in the Mexicali Valley 30 km southeast of Mexicali, Baja California, is probably deforming due to (1) the extraction of large volumes of steam and hot water, and (2) active tectonism. Two networks of precise horizontal control were established in Mexicali Valley by the U.S....
Estimation of ground motion parameters
David M. Boore, W. B. Joyner, A.A. Oliver, R.A. Page
1978, Circular 795
Strong motion data from western North America for earthquakes of magnitude greater than 5 are examined to provide the basis for estimating peak acceleration, velocity, displacement, and duration as a function of distance for three magnitude classes. A subset of the data (from the San Fernando earthquake) is used to...
Chemical, physical, biochemical, and bacteriological characteristics at selected stream sites in Puerto Rico, 1976-77
Ferdinand Quinones-Marquez, Pedro Vasquez, Rafael Pena Cortes
1978, Open-File Report 78-445
In 1969, the Caribbean District of the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, initiated the operation of a network to monitor some parameters indicative of water-quality changes at selected stream sites. The initial network consisted of 18 stations, which were expanded to 20 in 1971,...
Ground-water availability in the Hayes-Red Willow, Frenchman, and Meeker-Driftwood irrigation districts, southwest Nebraska
E.G. Lappala, P.F. Hemphill, R.E. Booker
1978, Open-File Report 78-461
Surface-water supplies are diminishing in the Hitchcock-Red Willow and Frenchman Valley Irrigation Districts in southwest Nebraska. Stream depletions due to ground-water withdrawals upstream from Enders Reservoir (northwest of the study area) have resulted in a shortage of about 8,700 acre-feet per year. The availability of ground water to supply part...
Determination of peak discharge from rainfall data for urbanized basins, Wichita, Kansas
C.O. Peek, P. R. Jordan
1978, Open-File Report 78-974
Rainfall and runoff data from urbanized drainage basins in the Wichita area, Kansas, were used to evaluate the Soil Conservation Service synthetichydrograph method of computing flood hydrographsfrom rainfall data. The method was tested on six basins where the impervious surface ranged from 11 percent on the least urbanized basin to...
Ice-gouged microrelief on the floor of the eastern Chukchi Sea, Alaska: a reconnaissance survey
Lawrence J. Toimil
1978, Open-File Report 78-693
Side-scan sonar and bathymetric records obtained from 1,800 km of trackline from the eastern Chukchi Sea continental shelf, between water depths of 20 and 70 m show the ubiquitous presence of furrow-like linear depressions produced by gouging of the sea bed by ice keels. These sea bed micro-features are regionally...
Impact of flow regulation and power plant effluents on the flow and temperature regimes of the Chattahoochee River - Atlanta to Whitesburg, Georgia
Robert E. Faye, Harvey E. Jobson, Larry F. Land
1978, Open-File Report 78-528
A calibrated and verified transient flow temperature model was used to evaluate the effects of flow regulation and powerplant loadings on the natural temperature regime of the Chattahoochee River in northeast Georgia. Estimates were made of both instantaneous and average natural temperatures in the river during an eight-day period in...
Transport and dispersion of fluorescent tracer particles for the dune-bed condition, Atrisco Feeder Canal near Bernalillo, New Mexico
R. E. Rathbun, Vance C. Kennedy
1978, Professional Paper 1037
A fluorescent tracer technique was used to study the rates of transport and dispersion of sediment particles of various diameters and specific gravities for a dune-bed condition in an alluvial channel, Atrisco Feeder Canal near Bernalillo, N. Mex. The total transport rates of bed material measured by the steady-dilution and...
Reconstruction of crustal blocks of California on the basis of initial strontium isotopic compositions of Mesozoic granitic rocks
Ronald Wayne Kistler, Zell E. Peterman
1978, Professional Paper 1071
Initial 87Sr/ 86 Sr was determined for samples of Mesozoic granitic rocks in the vicinity of the Garlock fault zone in California. These data along with similar data from the Sierra Nevada and along the San Andreas fault system permit a reconstruction of basement rocks offset by the Cenozoic lateral...
Direct solution algorithm for the two-dimensional ground-water flow model
S. P. Larson
1978, Open-File Report 79-202
