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Crude oil spilled from a pipeline break in a remote area of north-central Minnesota has contaminated a shallow glacial outwash aquifer. Part of the oil was sprayed over a large area to the west of the pipeline and part of it accumulated...

The sulfur geochemistry of the lacustrine Paleogene Green River Formation (Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, USA) is unlike that of most marine and other lacustrine rocks. Distinctive chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical characteristics of the formation are pyrrhotite and marcasite, high contents of iron mineral sulfides strikingly enriched in34S, cyclical trends in...

Ammonium bound to silicate and sulfate minerals has recently been located at several major hydrothermal systems in the western U.S. utilizing newly-discovered near-infrared spectral properties. Knowledge of the origin and mineralogic relations of ammonium minerals at known hydrothermal systems is critical for the proper interpretation of remote sensing data and...

Vesicle size distributions in vent lavas from the Pu'u'O'o-Kupaianaha eruption of Kilauea volcano are used to estimate nucleation and growth rates of H2O-rich gas bubbles in basaltic magma nearing the earth's surface (≤120 m depth). By using well-constrained estimates for the depth of volatile exsolution and magma ascent rate, nucleation...

We used geologic and geochemical techniques to document the change with time of the distribution and concentration of contaminated bottom sediments in southern Lake Champlain near an International Paper Company plant. Our work, initiated in 1972, was expanded on behalf of Vermont citizens in a class-action suit against the International...

Four test fields in the south Dade agricultural area were studied to determine the effects of sludge application on ground-water quality. Two fields had been cultivated for 10 years or more, and two had not been farmed for at least 10 years. The fields were representative of the area's two...

Hydrologic data were collected from wells in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah, from 1990 to 1992, to better understand the hydrologic system in the valley. Most of the data collected are from 36 monitoring wells drilled in June and July 1990 and March and May 1991 using a hollow-stem auger....

Samples of ground water and soil gas were analyzed to study the occurrence of volatile and semivolatile organic compounds in the Memphis aquifer at Alamo in western Tennessee in 1989. At Alamo, the aquifer is locally unconfined. Four wells screened in the Memphis aquifer provided Alamo with 0.3 million gallons...

Nonhydrated obsidians are quenched magmatic liquids that record in their chemical compositions details of the tectonic environment of formation and of the differentiation mechanisms that affected their subsequent evolution. This study attempts to analyze, in terms of geologic processes, the compositional variations in the subalkalic silicic obsidians (Si02≥70 percent by...

This report presents data collected from 202 wells between June 1987 and September 1990 as part of the Central Oklahoma aquifer pilot study of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program. The report describes the sampling networks, the sampling procedures, and the results of the ground-water quality and quality-assurance sample analyses. The...

No abstract available....

Sixty-five wells were installed at 39 sites in the Arnold Air Force Base area in Coffee and Franklin Counties, Tennessee. The wells were installed to provide information on subsurface lithology, aquifer characteristics, ground-water levels, and ground-water quality. Well depths ranged from 11 to 384 feet. Water-quality samples were collected from 60...

Communities in the lower Merrimack River basin and coastal river basins of southeastern New Hampshire are experiencing increased demands for water because of a rapid increase in population. The population in 1987 was 225,495 and is expected to increase by 30 percent during the next decade. As of 1987, five...

Although the equilibrium phase relations of many mineral systems are generally well established, the rates of transformations, particularly in polycrystalline rocks, are not. The results of experiments on the calcite to aragonite transformation in polycrystalline marble are different from those for earlier experiments on powdered and single-crystal calcite. The transformation...

The relative precision and accuracy of sampling and analysis methods for the determination of trace concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in ground water were compared. Samples were collected from a well containing nanogram‐per‐liter (ng/L) to microgram‐per‐liter (μg/L) levels of VOCs. A Keck helical rotor submersible pump was used to...

Digital elevation data for the island of Hawaii from the U.S. Geographical Survey gridded at 30 m spacing was used to generate a slope map, a shaded relief map, and plots that compare slope and elevation for each of the five volcanoes that compose the island.These computer- generated products are...

The relative concentrations of Cl, Br, I, and K in fluid inclusions in hydrothermal minerals were measured by laser microprobe noble gas mass spectrometry on irradiated samples containing 10−10 to 10−8 L of fluid. Distinctive halogen signatures indicate contrasting sources of fluid salinity in fluid inclusions from representative “magmatic” (St....

Fluid speciations and their related reaction pathways were studied in C-O-H-system fluids produced by the thermal dissociation of oxalic acid dihydrate (OAD: H2C2O4 · 2H2O) sealed in silica glass capsules. Experiments were conducted in the temperature range 230–750°C, with bulk fluid densities in the range 0.01–0.53 g/cm3. Pressure was controlled by...

The surface chemistry of fresh and weathered historical basalt flows was characterized using surface-sensitive X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Surfaces of unweathered 1987–1990 flows from the Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, exhibited variable enrichment in Al, Mg, Ca, and F due to the formation of refractory fluoride compounds and pronounced depletion in Si...

Rainfall was sampled for pesticides to assess their occurrence in precipitation and potential impacts on water resources. Three areas in Iowa were sampled; two localities were in rural settings, and a third in an urban area. Fourteen pesticides, including ten herbicides and four insecticides, were detected...

Available geophysical and geologic data provide a simplified model of the current magmatic plumbing system of Mount St. Helens (MSH). This model and new geochemical data are the basis for the revised hazards assessment presented here. The assessment is weighted by the style of eruptions and the chemistry of magmas...

Scanning electron microscopy and electron microprobe analysis were used to identify a rare type of As-bearing pyrite in selected specific gravity separates from the Pennsylvanian age Upper Freeport coal bed, west-central Pennsylvania. Arsenic was detected mainly in cell-wall replacement pyrite where concentrations ranged from nondetectable to 1.9 wt %. Although...

The Earth has 2.7 km of water on its surface. Its mantle contains at least 150 ppm water, and probably significantly more depending on the amount of undepleted mantle and subducted crustal water that is present. Geologic evidence suggests that a...

In the northwestern part of the San Juan basin, Colorado, thick high-volatile B bituminous coal deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Fruitland Formation are associated with nearshore marine sandstones of the Pictured Cliffs Sandstone. Detailed work along the outcrop and examination of...

A new method of collecting samples of unsaturated-zone water for quantitative analysis for a volatile organic compound, trichloroethene (TCE), was compared to three other, previously described sampling methodologies in the laboratory and in the field. In the laboratory, prepared water samples containing TCE in a known concentration (20 µg/L) were...