Geology topics

Melanie Barnes

Publications and source records attributed to Melanie Barnes.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2014

Inorganic elements in green sea turtles ( Chelonia mydas ): relationships among external and internal tissues

Inorganic elements from anthropogenic sources have entered marine environments worldwide and are detectable in marine organisms, including sea turtles. Threatened and endangered classifications of sea turtles have heretofore made assessments of contaminant concentrations difficult because of regulatory restrictions on obtaining samples using nonlethal techniques. In the present study, claw and skin biopsy samples were examined as potential indicators of internal tissue burdens in green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas). Significant relationships were observed between claw and liver, and claw and muscle concentrations of mercury, nickel, arsenic, and selenium (p < 0.05). Similarly, significant relationships were observed between skin biopsy concentrations and those in liver, kidney, and muscle tissues for mercury, arsenic, selenium, and vanadium (p < 0.05). Concentrations of arsenic, barium, chromium, nickel, strontium, vanadium, and zinc in claws and skin biopsies were substantially elevated when compared with all other tissues, indicating that these highly keratinized tissues may represent sequestration or excretion pathways. Correlations between standard carapace length and cobalt, lead, and manganese concentrations were observed (p < 0.05), indicating that tissue concentrations of these elements may be related to age and size. Results suggest that claws may indeed be useful indicators of mercury and nickel concentrations in liver and muscle tissues, whereas skin biopsy inorganic element concentrations may be better suited as indicators of mercury, selenium, and vanadium concentrations in liver, kidney, and muscle tissues of green sea turtles.

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry↗

USGS1995

The Grayback Pluton: Magmatism in a Jurassic back-arc environment, Klamath Mountains, Oregon

The Jurassic Grayback pluton was emplaced in a back-arc setting behind a contemporaneous oceanic arc. Th\alphae main stage of the pluton consists of an early, reversely zoned tonalite to gabbro that was intruded by synplutonic noritic and gabbroic magmas. Late-stage activity was characterized by intrusion of tonalitic and granitic dikes, many of which contain mafic enclaves and hybrid zones. Most mafic rocks in the pluton are calc-alkaline, with characteristic magnesian clinopyroxene, calcic cores in plagioclase, and elemental abundances similar to H 2 O-rich arc basalts. However, some mafic rocks contain relatively Fe-rich clinopyroxene, lack calcic cores in plagioclase, and are compositionally similar to evolved high-alumina tholeiite. Compositional variation in the main stage can be modeled in part by fractional crystallization and crusted assimilation during which parental calc-alkaline basalt evolved to granitic compositions. Cumulates related to this process are represented by modally variable melagabbro and pyroxenite. Mixing of basaltic and tonalitic magmas accounts for the compositions of most main-stage intermediate rocks, but mixing of basaltic and granitic magmas was uncommon until late in the pluton's history. Oxygen, Sr and Nd isotopic data indicate that virtually all main-stage magmas in the pluton contain a crustal component. Isotopic and trace element data further suggest that late-stage tonalitic dikes represent melts derived from older, metavolcanic arc crust Deep crustal contamination of main-stage rocks took place below the level of emplacement, probably in a magma-rich zone where basalts ponded and mixed with crustal melts. The Grayback pluton illustrates the diversity of Jurassic back-arc magmatism in the Klamath province and demonstrates that ancient magmatism with arc-like features need not be situated in an arc setting.

Oregon↗

USGS1992

Petrology of the Caribou Mountain Pluton, Klamath Mountains, California

The Caribou Mountain pluton is a small trondhjemitic body that intruded semipelitic schist of the Stuart Fork terrane in late Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous time. Its emplacement followed the intrusion of an adjoining body of hornblende quartz diorite called the Middle Fork pluton and the mode of its emplacement was as an asymmetric ballooning diapir (Davis, 1963), as shown by concentric foliation, radial late-stage dikes, foliated enclaves, and folded blocks of schlieren-banded tonalite. Coarse-grained hornblende-bearing trondhjemite is the dominant rock type in the Caribou Mountain pluton, and it is called the ‘main trondhjemite’. It was followed by medium-grained ‘late trondhjemite’ and by late-stage trondhjemitic and granodioritic dikes. All the trondhjemitic rock types are characterized by low alkali contents, high light rare earth elements, low initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr, and low δ 18 O. However, the late trondhjemite has higher Na 2 O and a higher initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr value than the main trondhjemite, and the two units cannot be related by fractional crystallization. The late granodioritic dikes are richer in Ba, Rb, Y, and Sc than the late trondhjemite and probably reflect assimilation of Stuart Fork metasedimentary rocks by late-stage trondhjemitic magma. Mafic enclaves in the main trondhjemite contain xenocrysts of quartz and plagioclase derived from the host by magma mixing. The enclaves have K 2 O, Ba, and Rb contents similar to, or higher than those of the host rocks. Their rare earth element (REE) patterns display strong middle REE enrichment caused by accumulation of hornblende, probably as the result of filter pressing. The main trondhjemite cannot be derived from Middle Fork magma because the initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr of the Middle Fork pluton is lower than that of the trondhjemite. The absence of parental mafic magmas of appropriate composition suggests that the Caribou Mountain trondhjemitic magmas formed by partial melting of an amphibolitic source rock compositionally similar to low-K tholeiite.

California↗