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At least 397 records · Page 22Linked to original sources

Ordovician Point Pleasant/Utica-Lower Paleozoic Total Petroleum System—Revisions to the Utica-Lower Paleozoic Total Petroleum System in the Appalachian Basin Province

Hydrocarbon reserves and technically recoverable undiscovered resources in continuous accumulations are present in Upper Ordovician strata in the Appalachian Basin Province. The province includes parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. The Upper Ordovician strata are part of the previously defined Utica-Lower Paleozoic Total Petroleum System (TPS) that extends from New York and southern Canada to Tennessee. This publication presents a revision to the hydrocarbon source rocks in the TPS, a change to the name of the TPS, and changes to the geographic extent of the Utica-Lower Paleozoic TPS. The revision to the TPS recognizes the Upper Ordovician Point Pleasant Formation as a major hydrocarbon source rock in this TPS. Consequently, the name of the TPS is changed to Ordovician Point Pleasant/Utica-Lower Paleozoic TPS. The most significant modification to the boundary of the newly defined Ordovician Point Pleasant/Utica-Lower Paleozoic TPS is a westward extension in the southwesterly portion of the TPS, adding areas in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee in order to include Ordovician strata, including potential petroleum source rocks, from the subsurface to their near-surface exposure. Also, portions of the former Utica-Lower Paleozoic TPS are now excluded from the newly defined TPS in a portion of northwestern Ohio and adjacent States to eliminate overlap with the Ordovician to Devonian Composite TPS in the Michigan basin.

Appalachian Basin Province

Duttonite, a new quadrivalent vanadium oxide from the Peanut mine, Montrose County, Colorado

Duttonite, a new quadrivalent vanadium oxide from the Peanut mine, Montrose County, Colo., has the formula VO(OH) 2 . The mineral occurs as crusts and coatings of pale-brown transparent platy crystals, as one of the first oxidation products of montroseite ore. It is associated with melanovanadite and abundant crystals of hexagonal native selenium. Duttonite is biaxial positive, 2V is about 60°, dispersion is r < v , moderate; X = a , pale pinkish brown; Y = c , pale yellow-brown; Z = b , pale brown; α = 1.810 ± 0.003, β = 1.900 ± 0.003, γ > 2.01. The hardness is about 2.5; the calculated specific gravity is 3.24. The chemical analysis shows, in percent: V 2 o 3 2.6, V 2 O 4 75.3, FeO 0.4, H 2 O 18.1, insoluble 4.2, total 100.6. Duttonite is monoclinic, a o = 8.80 ± 0.02A, b o - 3.95 ± 0.01A, c o - 5.96 ± 0.02A, β = 90°40 1 ± 5 1 . The space group is I 2/ c , ( C 6 2 h ); the cell contents are 4[VO(OH) 2 ]. The crystals are strongly pseudo-orthorhombic, and the structure departs only slightly from the space group Imcm . Duttonite is named for Captain Clarence Edward Dutton (1841-1912). A detailed study of the geology, geochemistry, and mineralogy of the vanadium-uranium ore at the Peanut mine, Montrose County, Colo., was begun early in 1954 by Carl H. Roach of the U. S. Geological Survey. A number of rare and new minerals were found in the ore and the study of these samples was undertaken by Mary E. Thompson. Duttonite is the first new vanadium mineral to be described from the Peanut mine. It is named for Captain Clarence Edward Dutton (1841-1912), who was one of the first geologists to work in the Colorado Plateau region and who was a member of the U. s. Geological Survey from 1879-91. We are indebted to the following members of the Geological Surbey: K. E. Valentine for spectrographic analyses of duttonite, and M. E. Mrose and H. T. Evans, Jr., for measurement of the unit cell constants. This work is part of a program being conducted by the U. S. Geological Survey on behalf of the Division of Raw Materials of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission.

Colorado

MT3D-USGS version 1: A U.S. Geological Survey release of MT3DMS updated with new and expanded transport capabilities for use with MODFLOW

MT3D-USGS, a U.S. Geological Survey updated release of the groundwater solute transport code MT3DMS, includes new transport modeling capabilities to accommodate flow terms calculated by MODFLOW packages that were previously unsupported by MT3DMS and to provide greater flexibility in the simulation of solute transport and reactive solute transport. Unsaturated-zone transport and transport within streams and lakes, including solute exchange with connected groundwater, are among the new capabilities included in the MT3D-USGS code. MT3D-USGS also includes the capability to route a solute through dry cells that may occur in the Newton-Raphson formulation of MODFLOW (that is, MODFLOW-NWT). New chemical reaction Package options include the ability to simulate inter-species reactions and parent-daughter chain reactions. A new pump-and-treat recirculation package enables the simulation of dynamic recirculation with or without treatment for combinations of wells that are represented in the flow model, mimicking the above-ground treatment of extracted water. A reformulation of the treatment of transient mass storage improves conservation of mass and yields solutions for better agreement with analytical benchmarks. Several additional features of MT3D-USGS are (1) the separate specification of the partitioning coefficient ( K d ) within mobile and immobile domains; (2) the capability to assign prescribed concentrations to the top-most active layer; (3) the change in mass storage owing to the change in water volume now appears as its own budget item in the global mass balance summary; (4) the ability to ignore cross-dispersion terms; (5) the definition of Hydrocarbon Spill-Source Package (HSS) mass loading zones using regular and irregular polygons, in addition to the currently supported circular zones; and (6) the ability to specify an absolute minimum thickness rather than the default percent minimum thickness in dry-cell circumstances. Benchmark problems that implement the new features and packages test the accuracy of new code through comparison to analytical benchmarks, as well as to solutions from other published codes. The input file structure for MT3D-USGS adheres to MT3DMS conventions for backward compatibility: the new capabilities and packages described herein are readily invoked by adding three-letter package name acronyms to the name file or by setting input flags as needed. Memory is managed in MT3D-USGS using FORTRAN modules in order to simplify code development and expansion.

Techniques and Methods

Probability calculations for three-part mineral resource assessments

Three-part mineral resource assessment is a methodology for predicting, in a specified geographic region, both the number of undiscovered mineral deposits and the amount of mineral resources in those deposits. These predictions are based on probability calculations that are performed with computer software that is newly implemented. Compared to the previous implementation, the new implementation includes new features for the probability calculations themselves and for checks of those calculations. The development of the new implementation lead to a new understanding of the probability calculations, namely the assumptions inherent in the probability calculations. Several assumptions strongly affect the mineral resource predictions, so it is crucial that they are checked during an assessment. The evaluation of the new implementation leads to new findings about the probability calculations,namely findings regarding the precision of the computations,the computation time, and the sensitivity of the calculation results to the input.

Techniques and Methods

Benthic flux of metals and nutrients into the water column of Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho: Report of an August, 1999, pilot study

A field study was conducted between August 16-27, 1999, to provide the first direct measurements of the benthic flux of dissolved (0.2-micron filtered) solutes between the bottom sediment and water column at two sites in Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Trace metals (namely, cadmium, copper, manganese, mercury species, and zinc) and nutrients (namely, ammonia, nitrate plus nitrite, oxygen, orthophosphate and silica) were solutes of primary interest. Benthic flux (sometimes referred to as internal recycling) represents the transport of dissolved chemical species between the water column and the underlying sediment.

Idaho

Index to water resources data for Illinois

This index to water resources data for Illinois includes 1,275 sites where surface-water and ground-water data were collected through December 31, 1975. The index is the first comprehensive tabulation of data collected in Illinois by the U.S. Geological Survey; data collection began in 1903. Information included are the county code, drainage area, datum, type of data available, period of record, where data are filed, and the name of the current cooperating agency. The surface-water index is listed sequentially by station number and also alphabetically by station name. Station numbers for the ground-water index are grouped by counties. The hydrologic unit index shows all sites and is listed by the respective hydrologic boundaries. (Woodard-USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report

Nomenclature of regional hydrogeologic units of the Southeastern Coastal Plain aquifer system

Clastic sediments of the Southeastern Coastal Plain aquifer system can be divided into four regional aquifers separated by three regional confining units. The four regional aquifers have been named for major rivers that cut across their outcrop areas and expose the aquifer materials. From youngest to oldest, the aquifers are called the Chickasawhay River, Pearl River, Chattahoochee River, and Black Warrior River aquifers, and the regional confining units separating them are given the same name as the aquifer they overlie. Most of the regional hydrogeologic units are subdivided within each of the four States that comprise the study area. Correlation of regional units is good with hydrogeologic units delineated by a similar regional study to the west and southwest. Because of complexity created by a major geologic structure to the northeast of the study area and dramatic facies change from clastic to carbonate strata to the southeast, correlation of regional hydrogeologic units is poor in these directions. (Author 's abstract)

Water-Resources Investigations Report

Evaluation of the surface-water sampling design in the Western Lake Michigan Drainages in relation to environmental factors affecting water quality at base flow

Eight stream sites (Fixed Sites) were chosen to describe the variability in the water quality of the Western Lake Michigan Drainages (WMIC) Study Unit of the National Water-Quality Assessment program. These sites were chosen in areas (Relatively Homogeneous Units) dominated by unique combinations of the environmental factors thought to be most important in influencing water quality; namely, land use, surficial deposits, and bedrock type. A study was designed to determine (1) the applicability of streamflow, nutrient, and suspended sediment data regularly collected at these eight sites describing the variability in these characteristics throughout the Study Unit during base-flow conditions and (2) the applicability of the interpretive results made from data collected at these few sites to streams throughout the Study Unit. This was done by sampling the Fixed Sites and an additional 83 sites in Relatively Homogeneous Units throughout the Study Unit during summer base-flow conditions. Data collected at the Fixed Sites described the range in water-quality characteristics (stream-flow and concentrations of nutrients and suspended sediment) in the WMIC Study Unit and, in general, represented the water quality from the Relatively Homogeneous Units from which they were chosen. The result from the eight Fixed Sites agreed with those found for all of the sites; namely, that these water-quality characteristics in streams throughout the WMIC Study Unit during base-flow conditions are influenced primarily by the land use and surficial deposits in their drainage basins. General basin characteristics (bedrock information, topographic gradient, and basin size) were not important factors in explaining the variability in these water-quality characteristics during base-flow conditions, but may be important factors for other characteristics measured at Fixed Sites, such as major ions, and may be important during higher flow. In general, streams in agricultural areas had the poorest water quality; that is, they contained the highest concentrations of total phosphorus, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, and suspended sediment. Streams in urban and mixed agriculture/forested areas had moderate water quality, exhibiting the highest concentrations of total phosphorus, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, and suspended sediment, and the lowest base flow. In general, water quality in streams in areas with sandy/sand and gravel deposits and loamy deposits were very similar. Within the forested areas, streams in areas with a higher percentage of forested wetlands had lower base flow, higher concentrations of total Kjeldahl nitrogen, and lower concentrations of dissolved nitrite plus nitrate than streams in areas with a lower percentage of forested wetlands. The variability in water quality throughout the WMIC Study Unit during base-flow conditions could be described very well by subdividing the area into Relatively Homogeneous Units and sampling a few streams with drainage basins completely within these homogeneous units. This subdivision and sampling scheme enabled the differences in water quality to be directly related to the differences in the environmental characteristics that exist throughout the Study Unit.

Michigan, Wisconsin

Geohydrology of monitoring wells drilled in Oasis Valley near Beatty, Nye County, Nevada, 1997

Twelve monitoring wells were installed in 1997 at seven sites in and near Oasis Valley, Nevada. The wells, ranging in depth from 65 to 642 feet, were installed to measure water levels and to collect water-quality samples. Well-construction data and geologic and geophysical logs are presented in this report. Seven geologic units were identified and described from samples collected during the drilling: (1) Ammonia Tanks Tuff; (2) Tuff of Cutoff Road; (3) tuffs, not formally named but informally referred to in this report as the 'tuff of Oasis Valley'; (4) lavas informally named the 'rhyolitic lavas of Colson Pond'; (5) Tertiary colluvial and alluvial gravelly deposits; (6) Tertiary and Quaternary colluvium; and (7) Quaternary alluvium. Water levels in the wells were measured in October 1997 and February 1998 and ranged from about 18 to 350 feet below land surface. Transmissive zones in one of the boreholes penetrating volcanic rock were identified using flowmeter data. Zones with the highest transmissivity are at depths of about 205 feet in the 'rhyolitic lavas of Colson Pond' and 340 feet within the 'tuff of Oasis Valley.'

Nevada

The Water Supply of El Morro National Monument

In the land of enchantment, between Gallup and Grants, N. Mex., near the Zuni Mountains, a huge sandstone bluff rises abruptly 200 feet above the plain. The Spaniards called it 'El Morro,' which means 'the headland' or 'bluff.' Around it are other mesas and canyons and stands of pinon and ponderosa pine. Other great rocks are nearby, but none are as popular as El Morro, and none have been as important to the traveler. For at El Morro there is water. In that country, water is scarce and precious. In the old days, travelers from Santa Fe would tell each other about the pool of clear, refreshing water at the base of the huge rock. This is the story of the great bluff, its water supply, and the rocks around it. In the late summer of 1849, an American lieutenant of the Topographical Engineers, James H. Simpson, accompanied infantry and artillery troops on a reconnaissance march from Santa Fe into the Navajo Country. On September 18, at the urging of one Mr. Lewis, an Indian trader, Lieutenant Simpson left the main party in order to see 'half an acre of inscriptions' upon a huge rock (fig. 1) . Although somewhat dubious, the Lieutenant had allowed himself to be persuaded by Lewis that the trip was worthwhile. Taking with him an artist named R. H. Kern, another man by the name of Bird, and Mr. Lewis as guide, he set off through miles of desert country, filled with huge red and white sandstone rocks, 'some of them looking like steamboats, and others presenting very much the appearance of facades of heavy Egyptian architecture'.

Water Supply Paper

Hydrologic unit maps

A set of maps depicting approved boundaries of, and numerical codes for, river-basin units of the United States has been developed by the U.S . Geological Survey. These 'Hydrologic Unit Maps' are four-color maps that present information on drainage, culture, hydrography, and hydrologic boundaries and codes of (1) the 21 major water-resources regions and the 222 subregions designated by the U.S . Water Resources Council, (2) the 352 accounting units of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water Data Network, and (3) the 2,149 cataloging units of the U.S . Geological Survey's 'Catalog of information on Water Data:' The maps are plotted on the Geological Survey State base-map series at a scale of 1 :500,000 and, except for Alaska, depict hydrologic unit boundaries for all drainage basins greater than 700 square miles (1,813 square kilometers). A complete list of all the hydrologic units, along with their drainage areas, their names, and the names of the States or outlying areas in which they reside, is contained in the report. These maps and associated codes provide a standardized base for use by water-resources organizations in locating, storing, retrieving, and exchanging hydrologic data, in indexing and inventorying hydrologic data and information, in cataloging water-data acquisition activities, and in a variety of other applications. Because the maps have undergone extensive review by all principal Federal, regional, and State water-resource agencies, they are widely accepted for use in planning and describing water-use and related land-use activities, and in geographically organizing hydrologic data . Examples of these uses are given in the report . The hydrologic unit codes shown on the maps have been approved as a Federal Information Processing Standard for use by the Federal establishment.

Water Supply Paper

Revised taxonomy of rhabdoviruses infecting fish and marine mammals

Rhabdoviridae is a large family of negative-sense (-) RNA viruses that includes important pathogens of ray-finned fish and marine mammals. As for all viruses, the taxonomic assignment of rhabdoviruses occurs through a process implemented by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). A recent revision of taxonomy conducted in conjunction with the ICTV Rhabdoviridae Study Group has resulted in the establishment of three new subfamilies ( Alpharhabdovirinae , Betarhabdovirinae , and Gammarhabdovirinae ) within the Rhabdoviridae , as well as three new genera ( Cetarhavirus , Siniperhavirus , and Scophrhavirus ) and seven new species for viruses infecting fish or marine mammals. All rhabdovirus species have also now been named or renamed to comply with the binomial format adopted by the ICTV in 2021, comprising the genus name followed by a species epithet. Phylogenetic analyses of L protein (RNA-dependent RNA polymerase) sequences of (-) RNA viruses indicate that members of the genus Novirhabdovirus (subfamily Gammarhabdovirinae ) do not cluster within the Rhabdoviridae , suggesting the need for a review of their current classification.

Animals

The dazed and confused identity of Agassiz's land tortoise, Gopherus agassizii (Testudines, Testudinidae) with the description of a new species, and its consequences for conservation

We investigate a cornucopia of problems associated with the identity of the desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii Cooper. The date of publication is found to be 1861, rather than 1863. Only one of the three original cotypes exists, and it is designated as the lectotype of the species. Another cotype is found to have been destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire. The third is lost. The lectotype is genetically confirmed to be from California, and not Arizona, USA as sometimes reported. Maternally, the holotype of G. lepidocephalus Ottley et Velázques Solis, 1989 from the Cape Region of Baja California Sur, Mexico is also from the Mojavian population of the desert tortoise, and not from Tiburon Island, Sonora, Mexico as previously proposed. A suite of characters serve to diagnose tortoises west and north of the Colorado River, the Mojavian population, from those east and south of the river in Arizona, USA and Sonora and Sinaloa, Mexico, the Sonoran population. Species recognition is warranted and because G. lepidocephalus is from the Mojavian population no names are available for the Sonoran species. Thus, a new species, Gopherus morafkai sp. n., is named and this action reduces the distribution of G. agassizii to only 30% of its former range. This reduction has important implications for the conservation and protection of G. agassizii , which may deserve a higher level of protection.

Arizona, Baja California Sur, California, Sinaloa,

Geographical and geological data from caves and mines infected with white-nose syndrome (WNS) before September 2009 in the eastern United States

Since 2006, a white fungus named Geomyces destructans has been observed on the muzzles, noses, ears, and (or) wings of bats in the eastern United States, and bat colonies that are infected with this fungus have experienced dramatic incidences of mortality. Although it is not exactly certain how and why these bats are dying, this condition has been named white-nose syndrome (WNS). WNS appears to have spread from an initial infection site at a cave that is connected to a commercial cave in New York, and by the end of August 2009 was identified in at least 74 other sites in the eastern United States. Although detailed geographical and geological data are limited, a review of the available data shows that sites infected with WNS before September 2009 include both natural caves and mines. These infected sites extend from New Hampshire to Virginia, and known site elevations range from 84 to 2693 feet above sea level. In terms of geological setting, the infected sites include sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks of ages ranging from Precambrian to Jurassic. However, by the end of August 2009, no infected sites had been identified in strata of Mississippian, Cretaceous, or Triassic age. Meteorological data are sparse, but most of the recorded air temperatures in the known WNS-infected caves and mines range from 0 to 13.9 degrees C, and humidity measurements range from 68 to 100 percent. Although it is not certain which environmental parameters are important for WNS, it is hoped that the geographical and geological information presented in this paper will inform and clarify some of the debate about WNS, lead to greater understanding of the environmental parameters associated with WNS, and highlight the paucity of scientific data from caves in the eastern United States.

Journal of Cave and Karst Studies

Assessing global elevation models for mapping the low elevation coastal zone

Elevation data are critical for assessments of coastal hazards, including sea-level rise (SLR), flooding, storm surge, tsunami impacts, and wave run-up. Previous research has demonstrated that the quality of data used in elevation-based hazard assessments must be well documented and applied properly to assess potential impacts. Global digital elevation models (DEMs), at 30- to 90-meter resolution, have been used extensively to map and characterize coastal environments and the at-risk resources (population and built structures) contained therein. The inherent absolute vertical accuracy of global DEMs precludes their usefulness for assessing exposure to fine increments (< 1 meter) of coastal inundation at high confidence levels. However, global DEMs are highly suitable for delineation of the global low elevation coastal zone (LECZ) (elevation < 10 meters). An accuracy evaluation of global DEMs over the United States has been conducted to quantify their performance in correctly mapping the LECZ, namely in terms of vertical uncertainty and corresponding confidence levels for several representations of the coastal zone. The evaluation approach includes comparison of the DEMs with an extensive set of high-accuracy geodetic control points as the independent reference data covering a variety of coastal relief settings. The 1-arc-second (30-meter) global DEMs evaluated include ALOS World 3D, ASTER GDEM, Copernicus, FABDEM, and NASADEM, and the 3-arc-second (90-meter) global DEMs include CoastalDEM, Copernicus, MERIT, and TanDEM-X. Additionally, lower resolution (1-kilometer) global DEMs were also assessed, namely the Global Lidar Lowland DTM (derived from ICESat-2) and the GEDI 1-km DEM. The results of the accuracy characterization show that FABDEM performs the best (minimal vertical bias and lowest vertical root mean square error) for high-confidence mapping of the LECZ. Among 90-m DEMs, CoastalDEM performs best, although the differences across datasets are minimal. The results also demonstrate the importance of rigorously accounting for elevation uncertainty when applying global DEMs for coastal mapping applications.

Conference Paper

Polychlorinated biphenyls

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are industrial compounds with multiple industrial and commercial uses (Table 41.1). PCBs are chemically inert and stable when heated. These properties contribute greatly to PCBs having become environmental contaminants. The chemical inertness and heat stability properties that make PCBs desirable for industry also protect them from destruction when the products in which they are used are discarded. These same properties also enable PCB residues to persist in the environment for long periods of time and to be transported worldwide when contaminated particulate matter travels through waters, precipitation, wind, and other physical forces. PCBs have a physical structure similar to DDT, and, like DDT, they are classified as aromatic hydrocarbons which contain one or more benzene rings. The presence of chlorine results in DDT, PCBs, and other compounds with similar structures commonly being referred to as chlorinated hydrocarbons. The toxicity of these compounds is associated with the amount of chlorine they contain. The trade name of Aroclor® for PCBs that were produced by a manufacturer in the United States contains a numerical designation that specifies the amount of chlorine present in a particular formulation. For example, Aroclor® 1221 contains 21 percent chlorine while Aroclor® 1254 contains 54 percent chlorine. The first two digits designate the number of carbons in the formulation. The chemical structure of PCBs results in the possibility of many different forms or isomers, (more commonly called congeners) of these compounds. PCBs in other countries have different trade names than Aroclor® (Table 41.2).

Information and Technology Report

Snake species of the world: A taxonomic and geographic reference. v. 1

Given the absence of a current source on snake diversity and nomenclature and the expressed global need to understand better the diversity of our biota, we think that a catalogue of the world snake fauna complete with synonymies at the familial, generic, and specific levels is essential. We provide that here beginning with publication of the first volume. This compendium will facilitate comparative studies on the ecology, genetics, and behavior of snakes and, we hope, contribute to their conservation. At the very least, this work, when completed, will provide a readily available reference to the current taxonomic statuses and geographic distributions of snakes on a global scale. No comprehensive, up-to-date catalogue of snake species exists, and it is obvious that a detailed and inclusive treatment is long overdue. Snake Species of the World provides a comprehensive treatment of 31 families, 450 genera, and more than 2500 species of living snakes. The magnitude of the compilation requires publication in several volumes. This volume, the first of three, covers 682 species. A primary goal of this synthesis is to provide interested readers with a means for tracking scientific names that have been applied to a snake and determining the currently accepted name of that species. A secondary goal is to alert those interested in snakes as research subjects that in general many species are poorly known, that some have limited distributions, and that several are characterized by taxonomic problems.

Book

Taxonomic status of the coquette hummingbird of Guerrero, Mexico

An isolated population of small hummingbirds in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, was originally named as a subspecies ( brachylopha ) of the much more southerly Lophornis delattrei , the Rufous-crested Coquette (Moore 1949). The form was not reported again until rediscovered by Ornelas (1987) and remains known by only three male and two female specimens. Examination of two of the males indicates that the population deserves specific status as Lophornis brachylopha Moore, for which I propose the English name Shortcrested Coquette.

The Auk