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M. B. Goldhaber

Publications and source records attributed to M. B. Goldhaber.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS1995

Structure of the Reelfoot-Rough Creek rift system, Fluorspar area fault complex, and Hicks Dome, southern Illinois and western Kentucky; new constraints from regional seismic reflection data

In the winter of 1811-12, three of the largest historic earthquakes in the United States occurred near New Madrid, Mo. Seismicity continues to the present day throughout a tightly clustered pattern of epicenters centered on the bootheel of Missouri, including parts of northeastern Arkansas, northwestern Tennessee, western Kentucky, and southern Illinois. In 1990, the New Madrid seismic zone/Central United States became the first seismically active region east of the Rocky Mountains to be designated a priority research area within the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). This Professional Paper is a collection of papers, some published separately, presenting results of the newly intensified research program in this area. Major components of this research program include tectonic framework studies, seismicity and deformation monitoring and modeling, improved seismic hazard and risk assessments, and cooperative hazard mitigation studies.

Professional Paper↗
USGS1993

Sedimentary sulfur geochemistry of the Paleogene Green River Formation, western USA: Implications for interpreting depositional and diagenetic processes in saline alkaline lakes

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 in 34 S, cyclical trends in sulfur abundance and δ 34 S values, and long-term evolutionary trends in δ 34 S values. Analyses that identified and quantified these characteristics include carbonate-free abundance of organic carbon (0.13–47 wt%), total iron (0.31–13 wt%), reactive iron (>70% of total iron), total sulfur (0.02–16 wt%), acid-volatile monosulfide (S Av ), disulfide (S Di > 70% of total sulfur), sulfate (S SO 4 ) and organosulfur (S Org ); isotopic composition of separated sulfur phases (δ 34 S Di,Av up to +49‰); and mineralogy, morphology and paragenesis of sulfide minerals. Mineralogy, morphology, δ 34 S Di,Av , and δ 34 S Org have a distinctive relation, reflecting variable and unique depositional and early diagenetic conditions in the Green River lakes. When the lakes were brackish, dissimilatory sulfate-reducing bacteria in the sediment produced H 2 S, which initially reacted with labile iron to form pyrite framboids and more gradually with organic matter to form organosulfur compounds. During a long-lived stage of saline lake water, the amount of sulfate supplied by inflow decreased and alkalinity and pH of lake waters increased substantially. Extensive bacterial sulfate reduction in the water column kept lake waters undersaturated with sulfate minerals. A very high H 2 S:SO 4 ratio developed in stagnant bottom water aided by the high pH that kinetically inhibited iron sulfidization. Progressive removal of H 2 S by coeval formation of iron sulfides and organosulfur compounds caused the isotopic composition of the entire dissolved sulfur reservoir to evolve to δ 34 S values much greater than that of inflow sulfate, which is estimated to have been +20‰ A six-million-year interval within Lake Uinta cores records this evolution as well as smaller systematic changes in δ 34 S, interpreted to reflect ~ 100,000-year lake-level cycles. When porewater was exceptionally reducing, unstable FeS phases eventually recrystallized to pyrrhotite during diagenesis. A much later reaction related to weathering altered pyrrhotite to marcasite.

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta↗
USGS1992

Thermodynamics and kinetics of reactions involving vanadium in natural systems: Accumulation of vanadium in sedimentary rocks

A critical review of thermodynamic data for aqueous and solid V species is presented to evaluate dissolution, transport, and precipitation of V under natural conditions. Emphasis is given to results of experimental studies of V chemistry, especially those for which the experimental conditions are near those found in nature. Where possible, data are obtained for or corrected to the reference conditions of 298.15K, 1 atm (1.01325 bar) and zero ionic strength. Vanadium [IV] (V IV ) and vanadium[V] (V V ) are the most soluble forms of V in nature, and their complexes with fluoride, sulfate, and oxalate may act to increase V solubility under oxidizing conditions. Because redox behavior is of fundamental importance to understanding natural V chemistry, the kinetics of reduction of V IV to V III H 2 S were studied. Although H 2 S is predicted from thermodynamic data to be capable of reducing V IV to V III , this reaction has not been demonstrated experimentally. Experiments were carried out under conditions of temperature (45°C), pH (3.6–6.8), ionic strength (0.05–0.1 m), and V concentrations (9.8–240 μmolar) likely to be found in nature. Because the reaction is very slow, H 2 S concentrations in excess of natural conditions were used (8.1 × 10 −4 to 0.41 atm). The results show that V IV is reduced to V III under a variety of conditions. The rate increases with increasing pH, but is not appreciably affected by ionic strength (as represented by the concentration of KCl, which was used as the supporting electrolyte in all cases). Prior to initiation of the reaction, there is an induction period, the length of which increases with increasing KCl concentration or decreasing pH. Attempts to model the reaction mechanism by numerical methods have failed to produce a satisfying fit of the results, indicating partial reaction orders, a complex mechanism, or involvement of a variety of intermediate species. The results of the thermodynamic and kinetic studies were applied to understanding the genesis of V deposits such as those commonly found on the Colorado Plateau. Vanadium in these sandstone-hosted deposits is present mostly in the reduced oxidation state, V III . Because of the insolubility of V III oxyhydroxides, it is likely that a more oxidized form of V (either [IV] or [V]) was transported to the site of mineralization, and that the V was reduced in situ and subsequently precipitated. A probable reductant is hydrogen sulfide; the presence of pyrite cogenetic with the V minerals documents the presence of H 2 S during mineralization. The experiments described here show that H 2 S could have reduced V IV to V III , and thus led to the formation of these deposits.

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta↗
USGS1990

Genesis of the tabular-type vanadium-uranium deposits of the Henry Basin, Utah

Tabular-type vanadium-uranium deposits occur in fluvial sandstones of the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation of Late Jurassic age The mineralized intervals and the weakly mineralized lateral extensions are bounded both above and below by zones rich in dolomite cement. Carbon isotope values of dolomite cements indicate that at least two sources of carbon existed. One source appears to be the same as that which formed the bedded carbonates in the evaporites in the Tidwell Member of the Morrison Formation stratigraphically below the mineralized interval. The second carbon source is typical of terrestrially deposited carbonates generally associated with meteoric water-dominated environments. Oxygen isotope values of these dolomites show the same trend of isotopically light values above the mineralized interval and isotopically heavier values in and below that interval; they indicate that two isotopically distinct fluids were involved in the mineralizing process. Some aspects of the origin of gangue and ore phases are explainable on the basis of processes which occurred solely within the saline fluid, but key aspects of ore genesis involved the interaction of the saline and meteoric waters. It is postulated that the solution interface migrated vertically within the stratigraphic section. -from Authors

Utah↗
USGS1990

Geochemistry of vanadium in an epigenetic, sandstone-hosted vanadium-uranium deposit, Henry Basin, Utah

The epigenetic Tony M vanadium-uranium orebody in south-central Utah is hosted in fluvial sandstones of the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic). Although the deposit is mined for uranium, vanadium has a higher average abundance in the ore. Thus, the geochemistry of vanadium in the orebody was studied to characterize ore-forming processes within the inferred ground-water flow regime. Measurements of the relative amounts of V (super +3) and V (super +4) in ore minerals show that V (super +3) is more abundant. Thermodynamic calculations show that vanadium was more likely transported to the site of mineralization as V (super +4) . The ore formed as V (super +4) was reduced by hydrogen sulfide, followed by hydrolysis and precipitation of V (super +3) in oxide minerals (e.g., montroseitc or paramontroseite) or chlorite. Uranium was transported as uranyl ion (U (super +6) ), or some complex thereof, and reduced by hydrogen sulfide, forming coffinite. Detrital organic matter in the rocks served as the carbon source for sulfate-reducing bacteria. It was this bacteriogenic H 2 S that reduced the metals in the mineralization process.Possible sources for the V and U in this deposit have been identified previously. Vanadium most likely was derived from the dissolution of iron-titanium oxides, which liberated Fe as well as V. A zone of titanium-rich remnants is observed updip and up the hydrologic gradient from the deposit (M. Goldhaber and R. L. Reynolds, unpub. data). Uranium probably was derived from the overlying Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation (Northrop, 1982). A preliminary age date for the deposit of 115 Ma (K. Ludwig, 1986, pers. commun.) indicates that the ore formed after deposition of the Brushy Basin Member.Previous studies have shown that the ore formed at the density-stratified interface between a basinal brine and dilute meteoric water. The mineralization processes described above occurred within the mixing zone between these two fluids. Stable isotope analyses of ore-stage dolomite show a progressively heavier carbon and oxygen isotope signature with increasing depth through an ore horizon, consistent with the two-solution interface model.

Economic Geology↗
USGS1987

Biogeochemical cycling in an organic-rich coastal marine basin. 7. Sulfur mass balance, oxygen uptake and sulfide retention

Sulfur and oxygen fluxes were quantified in the seasonally varying anoxic marine sedimentary system of Cape Lookout Bight, N.C., U.S.A. Over the three year study period, 1981–1983, the mean annual sulfate reduction rate was determined to be 18.2 ± 1.6 moles · m −2 · y −1 . This value, added to the estimate of the detrital sulfur input of 1.2 ± 4.4 gave a total sulfur input of 19.4 ± 4.7 moles · m −2 · y −1 . The sulfide flux to the sediment-water interface, measured in anaerobic benthic chambers was 4.6 ± 0.5 moles · m −2 · y −1 , and represented 37% of the annual oxygen uptake rate of 25.2 ± 2.8 moles · m −2 · y −1 . The sulfide burial rate, determined to be 15.5 ± 3.1 moles · m −2 · y −1 , was within 5% of the value predicted by summing the fluxes at the sediment-water interface. The C S "> CS weight ratio of sediment below the depth of diagenetic reaction was determined to be 2.75. The sulfide retention rate in these rapidly accumulating sediments (10 cm/yr) was 77 ± 19%. Comparison of this result with previous studies shows that rapid sediment accumulation and the lack of bioturbation control this unusually high degree of sulfide retention.

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta↗
USGS1987

Biogeochemical cycling in an organic-rich coastal marine basin. 8. A sulfur isotopic budget balanced by differential diffusion across the sediment-water interface

The sulfur isotopic composition of the sulfur fluxes occurring in the anoxic marine sediments of Cape Lookout Bight, N.C., U.S.A., was determined, and the result of isotopic mass balance was obtained via the differential diffusion model. Seasonal pore water sulfate δ 34 S measurements yielded a calculated sulfate input of 0.6%.. Sulfate transported into the sediments via diffusion appeared to be enriched in the lighter isotope because its concentration gradient was steeper, due to the increase in the measured isotopic composition of sulfate with depth. Similarly, the back diffusion of dissolved sulfide towards the sediment-water interface appeared enriched in the heavier isotope. The isotopic composition of this flux was calculated from measurements of the δ 34 S of dissolved sulfide and was determined to be 15.9%.. The isotopic composition of buried sulfide was determined to be −5.2%. and the detrital sulfur input was estimated to be −6.2%.. An isotope mass balance equation based upon the fluxes at the sediment-water interface successfully predicted the isotopic composition of the buried sulfur flux within 0.5%., thus confirming that isotopes diffuse in response to their individual concentration gradients.

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta↗
USGS1986

An analytical scheme for determining forms of sulphur in oil shales and associated rocks

An analytical scheme for determining various forms of sulphur in oil shales and associated rocks is presented. Acid-soluble sulphate, sulphur contained in monosulphide and in disulphide minerals, and organically-bound sulphur are all quantitatively recovered as separate fractions. Finely-ground oil-shale samples are treated in an inert atmosphere with 6 M hydrochloric acid to dissolve the acid-soluble sulphate minerals and form H 2 S from the decomposition of monosulphide minerals. The acid-soluble sulphate is precipitated as barium sulphate and the H 2 S is collected and weighed as silver sulphide. Disulphide minerals in the solid residue from the acid treatment are reduced by an acidified Cr(II) solution in an inert atmosphere, releasing the sulphide as H 2 S. The H 2 S is collected as silver sulphide. An Eschka fusion oxidizes and solubilizes all sulphur remaining within the Cr(II)-treated residue. This sulphate represents organically-bound sulphur and is collected as barium sulphate. The analytical procedures have been verified by using 57 Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. Good agreement between the chemical and Mössbauer data substantiated the sequential removal of the forms of sulphur and also demonstrated the ability of Mössbauer spectroscopy to determine the absolute quantities of iron present in specific minerals.

Talanta↗
USGS1985

A method for the determination of vanadium and iron oxidation states in naturally occurring oxides and silicates

A valence-specific analytical method for determining V 3+ in ore minerals has been developed that involves two steps: dissolution of a mineral sample without disturbing the V 3+ /V tot ratio, followed by determination of V 3+ in the presence of V 4+ . The samples are dissolved in a mixture of hydrofluoric and sulphuric acids at 100° in Teflon-lined reaction vessels. Tervalent vanadium is then determined colorimetrically by formation of a V 3+ -thiocyanate complex in aqueous-acetone medium. Fe 3+ is measured semi-quantitatively in the same solution. The method has been tested with two naturally occurring samples containing vanadium and iron. The results obtained were supported by those obtained by other methods, including electron spin resonance spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and Mössbauer spectroscopy.

Talanta↗
USGS1985

Dissolution of barite for the analysis of strontium isotopes and other chemical and isotopic variations using aqueous sodium carbonate

A simple procedure for preparing barite samples for chemical and isotopic analysis is described. Sulfate ion, in barite, in the presence of high concentrations of aqueous sodium carbonate, is replaced by carbonate. This replacement forms insoluble carbonates with the cations commonly in barite: Ba, Sr, Ca and Pb. Sulfate is released into the solution by the carbonate replacement and is separated by filtration. The aqueous sulfate can then be reprecipitated for analysis of the sulfur and oxygen isotopes. The cations in the carbonate phase can be dissolved by acidifying the solid residue. Sr can be separated from the solution for Sr isotope analysis by ion-exchange chromatography. The sodium carbonate used contains amounts of Sr which will affect almost all barite 87 Sr 86 Sr "> 87Sr86Sr ratios by less than 0.00001 at 1.95θ of the mean. The procedure is preferred over other techniques used for preparing barite samples for the determination of 87 Sr 86 Sr "> 87Sr86Sr ratios because it is simple, rapid and enables simultaneous determination of many compositional parameters on the same material.

Chemical Geology: Isotope Geoscience Section↗
USGS1984

Great Salt Lake, and precursors, Utah: The last 30,000 years

Sediment cores up to 6.5 m in length from the South Arm of Great Salt Lake, Utah, have been correlated. Radiocarbon ages and volcanic tephra layers indicate a record of greater than 30,000 years. A variety of approaches have been employed to collect data used in stratigraphic correlation and lake elevation interpretation; these include acoustic stratigraphy, sedimentologic analyses, mineralogy, geochemistry (major element, C, O and S isotopes, and organics), paleontology and pollen. The results indicate that prior to 32,000 year B.P. an ephemeral saline lake-playa system was present in the basin. The perennial lake, which has occupied the basin since this time, rose in a series of three major steps; the freshest water conditions and presumably highest altitude was reached at about 17,000 year B.P. The lake remained fresh for a brief period, followed by a rapid increase in salinity and sharp lowering in elevation to levels below that of the present Great Salt Lake. The lake remained at low elevations, and divided at times into a north and south Basin, until about 8,000 year B.P. Since that time, with the exception of two short rises to about 1290 m, the lake level has remained near the present elevation of 1280 m. ?? 1984 Springer-Verlag.

Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology↗
USGS1983

Role of fluid mixing and fault-related sulfide in the origin of the Ray Point uranium district, south Texas

The Lamprecht and Felder deposits are roll-type deposits hosted by the Miocene Oakville Sandstone. Four distinct stages of FeS 2 mineral formation are recognized: (1) a generation of isotopically light (delta 34 S < -20 per mil) preore pyrite, (2) a generation of isotopically light (delta 34 S < -20 per mil) marcasite that formed mostly before, but also during ore deposition, (3) a postore generation of isotopically heavy pyrite (delta 34 S > 0 per mil), and (4) a yet later generation of marcasite with isotopically light sulfur close to the values of stages 1 and 2. Complex zone of mixing between saline brines migrating up the fault from depth and oxygenated meteoric water recharging at the outcrop. Bacterial activity.

Economic Geology↗
USGS1983

Iron disulfide minerals and the genesis of roll-type uranium deposits

FeS 2 minerals in host rocks for deposits that contain fossil vegetal (organic) matter differ in abundance, distribution, texture, and sulfur isotopic ratios from FeS 2 minerals in host rocks for deposits that do not contain fossil vegetal matter. In three South Texas deposits lacking such organic matter, preore FeS 2 is dominantly euhedral pyrite which formed in response to solutions emanating from these faults. Ore-stage FeS 2 is dominantly marcasite that occurs as overgrowths on preore pyrite. In three deposits (two in Wyoming and one in Texas) that contain organic matter, preore FeS 2 is also dominantly pyrite, but it occurs commonly as framboids and as replacements of plant fragments and is formed by bacterial sulfate reduction during early diagenesis and may be isotopically distinct from pyrite formed from fault-related fluids. Ore-stage FeS 2 in these deposits is primarily pyrite. Bacterial sulfate reduction provided sulfide for ore-stage pyrite in deposits which contain organic matter. Abiologic sulfur transformations tend to produce ore-stage marcasite in deposits that do not contain organic matter.

Economic Geology↗
USGS1982

Depositional setting and diagenetic evolution of some Tertiary unconventional reservoir rocks, Uinta Basin, Utah

The Douglas Creek Member of the Tertiary Green River Formation underlies much of the Uinta basin, Utah, and contains large volumes of oil and gas trapped in a complex of fractured low-permeability sandstone reservoirs. In the southeastern part of the basin at Pariette Bench, the Eocene Douglas Creek Member is a thick sequence of fine-grained alluvial sandstone complexly intercalated with lacustrine claystone and carbonate rock. Sediments were deposited in a subsiding intermontane basin along the shallow fluctuating margin of ancient Lake Uinta. Although the Uinta basin has undergone postdepositional uplift and erosion, the deepest cored rocks at Pariette Bench have never been buried more than 9,800 ft (3,000 m). The sandstones, dominantly lithic arkoses and feldspathic litharenites, were derived from source terranes south of the Uinta basin. Secondary silica and several generations of authigenic calcite [Ca 1.8-1.9 (Mg 0.02-0.06 Fe 0.02-0.06 )(CO 3 ) 2 ], dolomite [Ca 1.3-1.4 (Mg 0.6-0.7 Fe 0.02-0.04 )(CO 3 ) 2 ], and ankerite [Ca 1.2-1.3 (Mg 0.2-0.3 Fe 0.4-0.6 )(CO 3 ) 2 ] form a replacive cement in the sandstones. Commonly, syntaxial overgrowths of late iron-bearing carbonate occur on detrital grains and preexisting relicts of iron-free carbonate cement. In sandstone where carbonate has been partly dissolved, abundant authigenic illite, partly ordered mixed- ayer illite-smectite, and small amounts of chlorite partly to completely fill secondary pores. Isotopic composition of carbonate cement and grain-supported rock range from -0.39 to -6.18 ^pmil for ^dgr 13 C and -7.80 to -13.98 ^pmil for ^dgr 18 O, indicating that authigenic carbonate formed at low temperatures in the presence of meteoric waters by a process of solution-precipitation. Enrichment of carbon and oxygen in early diagenetic calcite and fossiliferous rock relative to late diagenetic ankerite indicates a trend toward lighter isotopic carbonate compositions with increasing diagenesis. Kerogenous rocks at Pariette Bench are thermochemically immature and therefore are not the source of oil produced in the field. Hydrocarbons are compositionally similar to some of the oils produced from the Green River Formation in the Bluebell-Altamont field and are interpreted to have migrated from mature Green River source rocks through a network of open fractures. The occurrence of small amounts of hydrocarbon in secondary pores indicates that its emplacement postdated carbonate dissolution.

Utah↗