United States Geological Survey field work in south Victoria Land, 1958-59
No abstract available.
Polar Record↗
Geology topics
W. Hamilton
Publications and source records attributed to W. Hamilton.
Plate-tectonic evolution of the western U.S.A.
Changing interactions of lithospheric plates provide the framework for this review of the 3100 m.y. geological history of some 3 million km2 of mountains, deserts, plateaux and plains. The Precambrian to Neogene development of the western U.S.A. is outlined in terms of plate collisions, subduction events and deformation of lithospheric slabs, with some interpretations based on SE Asia and other regions of complex tectonics.-R.A.H.
Episodes↗
Plate-tectonic mechanism of Laramide deformation.
The Laramide compressive deformation of the craton was caused by a clockwise rotation of about 2-4o of the Colorado Plateau region relative to the continental interior, during late Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary time. Late Paleozoic and Neogene deformation of the craton also were produced by motion of a southwestern subplate relative to the continental interior. -from Author
Contributions to Geology - University of Wyoming, ↗
Glaciation in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, older than 2.7 million years
Potassium-argon dates for three samples of basaltic scoria from Taylor Valley, on the west side of McMurdo Sound, indicate that the basalt, which antedates and postdates major glaciations, is at least 2.7 million years old.
Science↗
Alkali content of alpine ultramafic rocks
The lower limit of abundance of sodium and potassium in ultramafic rocks is less than the threshold amount detectable by conventional analytical methods. By a dilutionaddition modification of the flame-spectrophotometric method, sodium and potassium have been determined in 40 specimens of alpine ultramafic rocks. Samples represent six regions in the United States and one in Australia, and include dunite, peridotite, pyroxenite, and their variably serpentinized and metamorphosed derivatives. The median value found for Na 2 O is 0.004 per cent, and the range of Na 2 O is 0.001–0.19. The median value for K 2 O is 0.0034 per cent and the range is 0.001–0.031 per cent. Alkali concentrations are below 0.01 per cent Na 2 O in 28 samples and below 0.01 per cent K 2 O in 35. Derivation of basalt magma from upper-mantle material similar to such ultramafic rocks, as has been postulated, is precluded by the relative amounts of sodium and potassium, which are from 200 to 600 times more abundant in basalt than in the ultramafic rocks. Similar factors apply to a number of other elements. No reasonable process could produce such concentrations in, for example, tens of thousands of cubic miles of uniform tholeiitic basalt. The ultramafic rocks might have originated either as magmatic crystal precipitates or as mantle residues left after fusion and removal of basaltic magma. Injection of ultramafic rocks to exposed positions is tectonic rather than magmatic.
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta↗
Origin of high-alumina basalt, andesite, and dacite magmas
The typical volcanic rocks of most island arcs and eugeosynclines, and of some continental environments, are basalt, andesite, and dacite, of high alumina content. The high-alumina basalt differs from tholeiitic basalt primarily in having a greater content of the components of calcic plagioclase. Laboratory data indicate that in the upper mantle, below the level at which the basaltic component of mantle rock is transformed by pressure to eclogite or pyroxenite, the entire basaltic portion probably is melted within a narrow temperature range, but that above the level of that transformation plagioclase is melted selectively before pyroxene over a wide temperature range. The broad spectrum of high-alumina magmas may represent widely varying degrees of partial melting above the transformation level, whereas narrow-spectrum tholeiite magma may represent more complete melting beneath it.
Science↗
Stratigraphy of ocoee series, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee and North Carolina
Much of the Great Smoky Mountains, which span the boundary between Tennessee and North Carolina, is formed of the Ocoee series, of later Precambrian age. This is a body of terrigenous clastic sedimentary rocks, which has minor intercalations of limestone and dolomite but no volcanic components or known fossils. The series is probably 30,000 feet or more thick. It lies unconformably on a basement of earlier Precambrian granitic and gneissic rocks, and on the northwest side of the mountains it is overlain by the Cochran formation, or basal unit of the Chilhowee group, which is of Cambrian and Precambrian(?) age. South of the mountains it is overlain by rocks of the Murphy marble belt; here, the top of the Ocoee is placed tentatively at the base of the Nantahala slate. The Ocoee series is divisible into three broad units of regional extent and contrasting lithologic character, which are herewith designated groups and named the Snowbird group, the Great Smoky group, and the Walden Creek group. The groups consist of local intergrading and intertonguing formations and have complex stratigraphic and structural relations. The Ocoee series is split by major thrust faults into three sequences, a southern, central, and northern, none of which contains more than two groups of the series. The lowest group, the Snowbird, is best developed in the central sequence where it is more than 13,000 feet thick; it is much thinner in the southern sequence. In both sequences it lies unconformably on granites and gneisses. Toward the east it is largely sandstone, but this is interbedded with and intertongues westward into finer-grained sandstone, siltstone, and argillaceous rocks. These differences permit the Snowbird group to be divided, in ascending order, into the Wading Branch formation, Longarm quartzite, Roaring Fork sandstone, and Pigeon siltstone. Toward the west the Snowbird is represented by more strongly metamorphosed rocks termed the Metcalf phyllite. Above the Snowbird group in the southern sequence is the Great Smoky group, more than 25,000 feet thick. The lower part, termed the Elkmont sandstone, is fine-grained sandstone. The middle part, termed the Thunderhead sandstone, is poorly sorted, coarse, feldspathic sandstone in graded beds. The upper part, termed the Anakeesta formation, includes many beds of dark argillaceous and silty rocks. South of the Great Smoky Mountains the Great Smoky group is overlain by the rocks of the Murphy marble belt. The Snowbird group in the central sequence is overlain in a few places by coarser-grained rocks. These somewhat resemble those of the Great Smoky group, but their stratigraphic relations to it are not demonstrable, so that they are left as unclassified parts of the Ocoee series. In one area such rocks are named the Rich Butt sandstone, in another the Cades sandstone. In the northern sequence the Walden Creek group, about 8000 feet thick, forms a varied assemblage of argillaceous and silty rocks and quartz-pebble conglomerate, with locally prominent quartzite, limestone, and dolomite. The Walden Creek group is divided, in ascending order, into the Licklog formation, Shields formation, Wilhite formation, and Sandsuck formation; the Wilhite is in turn divided into the Dixon Mountain member and Yellow Breeches member. The Walden Creek is overlain by the Chilhowee group of Cambrian and Precambrian(?) age but is in fault contact with the Snowbird group on the southeast; it is not in contact with the Great Smoky group. Northeast of the Great Smoky Mountains, the Walden Creek group is reported to overlie the Snowbird group as part of a sedimentary sequence from the basement rocks upward through the Chilhowee group into the overlying Paleozoic. © 1958, The Geological Society of America, Inc.
Tennessee, North Carolina↗