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Geology topics

R. K. Mark

Publications and source records attributed to R. K. Mark.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2017

Rates of soil development from four soil chronosequences in the southern Great Basin

Four soil chronosequences in the southern Great Basin were examined in order to study and quantify soil development during the Quaternary. Soils of all four areas are developed in gravelly alluvial fans in semiarid climates with 8 to 40 cm mean annual precipitation. Lithologies of alluvium are granite-gneiss at Silver Lake, granite and basalt at Cima Volcanic Field, limestone at Kyle Canyon, and siliceous volcanic rocks at Fortymile Wash. Ages of the soils are approximated from several radiometric and experimental techniques, and rates are assessed using a conservative mathematical approach. Average rates for Holocene soils at Silver Lake are about 10 times higher than for Pleistocene soils at Kyle Canyon and Fortymile Wash, based on limited age control. Holocene soils in all four areas appear to develop at similar rates, and Pleistocene soils at Kyle Canyon and Fortymile Wash may differ by only a factor of 2 to 4. Over time spans of several millennia, a preferred model for the age curves is not linear but may be exponential or parabolic, in which rates decrease with increasing age. These preliminary results imply that the geographical variation in rates within the southern Great Basin-Mojave region may be much less significant than temporal variation in rates of soil development. The reasons for temporal variation in rates and processes of soil development are complexly linked to climatic change and related changes in water and dust, erosional history, and internally driven chemical and physical processes. ?? 1991.

Quaternary Research↗
USGS2012

Empirical estimates of cumulative refraction errors associated with procedurally constrained levelings based on the Gaithersburg- Tucson refraction tests of the National Geodetic Survey

Analyses of results of the National Geodetic Survey's leveling refraction tests indicate that the standard deviation about the mean (σ) for high-scale minus low-scale rod readings closely correlates with measured refraction error. Use of this relation in conjunction with values for σ obtained from routinely constrained surveys provides a basis for estimating the refraction error associated with levelings of stipulated order and class.

Geophysical Research Letters↗
USGS2012

An assessment of the accuracy of the geodetic measurements that define the southern California uplift

Examination of the charge that the geodetic measurements which define the southern California uplift are seriously flawed by height-dependent systematic errors indicates that this charge is unfounded. Our review of those factors designed to minimize the effects of rod error shows that systematic errors attributable to rod miscalibration are trivial and would tend to cancel during the particularly pertinent period 1955–1965. Comparisons between the results of measurements in which the correlation between topography and signal is generally poor reveal large aseismic tilts in a number of places within and around the margins of the uplift. Especially significant in this context are the results of preuplift and postuplift levelings over routes characterized by diverse length, topography, and atmospheric conditions that produce closely matching, temporally equivalent heights for a representative bench mark within the uplift. Statistical analyses of the short-wavelength components of uplift signal and elevation along a frequently repeated survey line indicate variable correlations between the two. However, the spatial and temporal patterns of these correlations are inconsistent with their attribution to height-dependent systematic errors. Statistically significant short-wavelength correlations along this survey line are reasonably explained in part as due to real movement associated with differentially subsiding bench marks, and there is a strong likelihood that this movement tends to dominate many of the correlations.

Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth↗
USGS2011

World slope map

A colored slope map (scale 1:80,000,000) was generated from digital land and sea floor elevations at 5‐min spacings from data tapes from the National Geophysical Data Center. Slope analysis is facilitated by examining the average slope in 250‐m altitude‐depth intervals both globally and in each of eight tectonic plates. The most striking feature of the map is the multiple parallel bands of steep slope at subduction zones. Submarine volcanic chains produce zones of steep slope that show little degradation at the scale of the map since the Cretaceous. The average slope, or roughness, of spreading ridges decreases exponentially with increasing spreading rate. The passive continental margins generate a steep zone at 1–2 km depth. The lowest average global slope (0.2°) occurs at sea level and reflects the base level that the sea provides for subaerial erosion and the upper limit for marine sedimentation. Slope minima also are caused by the abyssal plains at 4–6 km depth and by glacial ice caps at 3 km elevation.

Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union↗
USGS1995

Preliminary map of peak horizontal ground acceleration for the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake of January 17, 1995, Japan - Description of Mapped Data Sets

The Hanshin-Awaji earthquake (also known as the Hyogo-ken Nanbu and the Great Hanshin earthquake) provided an unprecedented set of measurements of strong ground shaking. The measurements constitute the most comprehensive set of strong- motion recordings yet obtained for sites underlain by soft soil deposits of Holocene age within a few kilometers of the crustal rupture zone. The recordings, obtained on or near many important structures, provide an important new empirical data set for evaluating input ground motion levels and site amplification factors for codes and site-specific design procedures world wide. This report describes the data used to prepare a preliminary map summarizing the strong motion data in relation to seismicity and underlying geology (Wentworth, Borcherdt, and Mark., 1995; Figure 1, hereafter referred to as Figure 1/I). The map shows station locations, peak acceleration values, and generalized acceleration contours superimposed on pertinent seismicity and the geologic map of Japan. The map (Figure 1/I) indicates a zone of high acceleration with ground motions throughout the zone greater than 400 gal and locally greater than 800 gal. This zone encompasses the area of most intense damage mapped as JMA intensity level 7, which extends through Kobe City. The zone of most intense damage is parallel, but displaced slightly from the surface projection of the crustal rupture zone implied by aftershock locations. The zone is underlain by soft-soil deposits of Holocene age.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1992

Dynamics of soil carbon during deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet

Deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in North America was accompanied by sequestration of organic carbon in newly exposed soils. The greatest rate of land exposure occurred around 12,000 to 8,000 years ago, and the greatest increase in the rate of carbon sequestration by soils occurred from 8,000 to 4,000 years ago. Sequestration of carbon in deglaciated peat lands continues today, and a steady state has not been reached. The natural rate of carbon sequestration in soils, however, is small relative to the rate of anthropogenic carbon dioxide production.

Science↗
USGS1990

Subsidence and volcanism of the Haleakala Ridge, Hawaii

Side-looking sonar (GLORIA) mapping has revealed a series of four arcuate bands of high sonic backscatter on the crest of the Haleakala Ridge, a major rift-zone ridge extending 135 km east of the island of Maui. Dredge recovery indicates that the shallowest of these bands is a drowned coral reef, and the deeper bands are also inferred to be coral reefs. The reefs occur above a prominent submarine bench 1500–2500 m deep on the ridge (H-terrace) that marks the shoreline at the end of vigorous shield building of Haleakala volcano when lava flows ceased crossing and reworking the shoreline. Since their growth these reefs have subsided as much as 2200 m and have tilted systematically about 20 m/km southward as a result of post-reef volcanic loading on the island of Hawaii, whose center of mass is about directly south of the Haleakala Ridge. The 234 U/ 238 U age of the dredged coral is 750 ± 13 ka "> 750 ± 13ka , in reasonable agreement with an age of 850 ka for the underlying H terrace previously estimated from its relationship to other dated reefs to the southwest. Basalt glass fragments dredged from the Haleakala Ridge below the H terrace are tholeiitic and contain high sulfur indicative of eruption in water deeper than 200 m. Basalt glass fragments associated with the reefs above the H terrace are dominantly tholeiitic and contain intermediate sulfur contents, indicative of subaqueous eruption in shallow, near-shore conditions. One alkalic glass fragment was recovered above the H terrace. These relations indicate that the morphologic end of shield building as recorded by construction of the H terrace was not accompanyed by a change from tholeiitic to alkalic basalt; instead tholeiite eruptions continued for some time before the erupted lava became alkalic.

Hawaii↗