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At least 613 records · Page 34Linked to original sources
USGS2004

Geophysical modeling of the northern Appalachian Brompton-Cameron, Central Maine, and Avalon terranes under the New Jersey Coastal Plain

A regional terrane map of the New Jersey Coastal Plain basement was constructed using seismic, drilling, gravity and magnetic data. The Brompton-Cameron and Central Maine terranes were coalesced as one volcanic island arc terrane before obducting onto Laurentian, Grenville age, continental crust in the Taconian orogeny [Rankin, D.W., 1994. Continental margin of the eastern United States: past and present. In: Speed, R.C., (Ed.), Phanerozoic Evolution of North American Continent-Ocean Transitions. DNAG Continent-Ocean Transect Volume. Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado, pp. 129-218]. Volcanic island-arc rocks of the Avalon terrane are in contact with Central Maine terrane rocks in southern Connecticut where the latter are overthrust onto the Brompton-Cameron terrane, which is thrust over Laurentian basement. Similarities of these allochthonous island arc terranes (Brompton-Cameron, Central Maine, Avalon) in lithology, fauna and age suggest that they are faulted segments of the margin of one major late Precambrian to early Paleozoic, high latitude peri-Gondwana island arc designated as "Avalonia", which collided with Laurentia in the early to middle Paleozoic. The Brompton Cameron, Central Maine, and Avalon terranes are projected as the basement under the eastern New Jersey Coastal Plain based on drill core samples of metamorphic rocks of active margin/magmatic arc origin. A seismic reflection profile across the New York Bight traces the gentle dipping (approximately 20 degrees) Cameron's Line Taconian suture southeast beneath allochthonous Avalon and other terranes to a 4 sec TWTT depth (approximately 9 km) where the Avalonian rocks are over Laurentian crust. Gentle up-plunge (approximately 5 degrees) projections to the southwest bring the Laurentian Grenville age basement and the drift-stage early Paleozoic cover rocks to windows in Burlington Co. at approximately 1 km depth and Cape May Co. at approximately 2 km depths. The antiformal Shellburne Falls and Chester domes and Chain Lakes-Pelham dome-Bronson Hill structural trends, and the synformal Connecticut Valley-Gaspe structural trend can be traced southwest into the New Jersey Coastal Plain basement. A Mesozoic rift basin, the "Sandy Hook basin", and associated eastern boundary fault is identified, based upon gravity modeling, in the vicinity of Sandy Hook, New Jersey. The thickness of the rift-basin sedimentary rocks contained within the "Sandy Hook basin" is approximately 4.7 km, with the basin extending offshore to the east of the New Jersey coast. Gravity modeling indicates a deep rift basin and the magnetic data indicates a shallow magnetic basement caused by magnetic diabase sills and/or basalt flows contained within the rift-basin sedimentary rocks. The igneous sills and/or flows may be the eastward continuation of the Watchung and Palisades bodies. ?? 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Journal of Geodynamics↗
USGS2009

Evidence for an Alleghanian (Early Carboniferous to Late Permian) tectonothermal event in the New Jersey Coastal Plain basement from 40 Ar/ 39 Ar biotite data, geochemistry and gravity modeling

40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating of biotite from felsic orthogneiss recovered from the -3890-foot level of the Island Beach State Park (IBSP) well beneath the outer New Jersey Coastal Plain was accomplished using CO 2 laser incremental-heating techniques. Over 75% of the Ar released from the incremental-heating experiment form a well-behaved plateau with a calculated age of 243.98 ?? 0.10 Ma. The new 244 Ma biotite age reported here is a cooling age younger than the metamorphic event that crystallized or reheated the biotite. We consider reheating of older biotite to be unlikely because the concordant 40 Ar/ 39 Ar spectrum upon repeated incremental laser heating showed a well-developed plateau. Thus, biotites from the IBSP gneiss are interpreted as having crystallized during a single thermal event, followed by cooling to below 300 ??C. The IBSP well falls on a structural and geophysical anomaly trend that is along strike with rocks of the Bronson Hill anticlinorium to the north of the IBSP gneiss. Locally graphitic metasedimentary schists and gneisses recovered from New Jersey wells inboard of the IBSP well gneiss correlate to similar lithologies of the Connecticut Valley synclinorium west of the Hartford basin. Our reinterpretation of the IBSP gneiss as metamorphosed dacite or dacitic tuff is consistent with a correlation to some rocks of the Bronson Hill magmatic arc east of the Hartford basin. If correct, this would imply a Late Ordovician age for the protolith of the IBSP gneiss. Reported 40 Ar/ 39 Ar biotite ages of 235-253 Ma from southwestern Rhode Island, and of 238-247 Ma from southeastern Connecticut, are interpreted as cooling ages following a tectonothermal event associated with the Alleghanian orogeny (Early Carboniferous to Late Permian). Cooling ages of Alleghanian age (Early Carboniferous to Late Permian) are not recognized west of the Bronson Hill volcanic arc in either central Connecticut or in Massachusetts. Therefore, the 244 Ma cooling age presented here, and the geochemical affinity of the IBSP gneiss to some orthogneisses of the Bronson Hill arc, support an interpretation of the IBSP well as representing the southern continuation of the Bronson Hill arc into New Jersey. Moreover, it documents the presence of rocks beneath the outer New Jersey Coastal Plain that experienced a Permian Alleghanian metamorphism. ?? 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Journal of Geodynamics↗
USGS2020

The effects of fire on the thermal environment of sagebrush communities

Thermal heterogeneity provides options for organisms during extreme temperatures that can contribute to their fitness. Sagebrush ( Artemisia spp.) communities exhibit vegetation heterogeneity that creates thermal variation at fine spatial scales. However, fire can change vegetation and thereby variation within the thermal environment of sagebrush communities. To describe spatial and temporal thermal variation of sagebrush communities following wildfire, we measured black bulb temperature ( T bb ) at 144 random points dispersed within unburned and burned communities, for 24-h at each random point. We observed a wide thermal gradient in unburned (−7.3° to 63.3 °C) and burned (−4.6° to 64.8 °C) sagebrush communities. Moreover, unburned and burned sagebrush communities displayed high thermal heterogeneity relative to ambient temperature ( T air ). Notably, T bb varied by 47 °C in both unburned and burned communities when T air was 20 °C. However, fire greatly reduced the buffering capacity and thermal refuge of Wyoming big sagebrush ( A. tridentata wyomingensis ) communities during low and high T air . Furthermore, fire increased T bb in Wyoming big sagebrush and mountain big sagebrush ( A. t. vaseyana ) during the mid-day hours. These results demonstrate how fire changes the thermal environment of big sagebrush communities and the importance of shrub structure which can provide thermal refuge for organisms in burned communities during extreme low and high T air .

Journal of Thermal Biology↗
USGS2014

Towards understanding the puzzling lack of acid geothermal springs in Tibet (China): Insight from a comparison with Yellowstone (USA) and some active volcanic hydrothermal systems

Explanations for the lack of acid geothermal springs in Tibet are inferred from a comprehensive hydrochemical comparison of Tibetan geothermal waters with those discharged from Yellowstone (USA) and two active volcanic areas, Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia) and Miravalles (Costa Rica) where acid springs are widely distributed and diversified in terms of geochemical characteristic and origin. For the hydrothermal areas investigated in this study, there appears to be a relationship between the depths of magma chambers and the occurrence of acid, chloride-rich springs formed via direct magmatic fluid absorption. Nevado del Ruiz and Miravalles with magma at or very close to the surface (less than 1–2 km) exhibit very acidic waters containing HCl and H 2 SO 4 . In contrast, the Tibetan hydrothermal systems, represented by Yangbajain, usually have fairly deep-seated magma chambers so that the released acid fluids are much more likely to be fully neutralized during transport to the surface. The absence of steam-heated acid waters in Tibet, however, may be primarily due to the lack of a confining layer (like young impermeable lavas at Yellowstone) to separate geothermal steam from underlying neutral chloride waters and the possible scenario that the deep geothermal fluids below Tibet carry less H 2 S than those below Yellowstone.

Tibet, Yellowstone National Park↗
USGS2016

Multireaction equilibrium geothermometry: A sensitivity analysis using data from the Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, USA

A multireaction chemical equilibria geothermometry (MEG) model applicable to high-temperature geothermal systems has been developed over the past three decades. Given sufficient data, this model provides more constraint on calculated reservoir temperatures than classical chemical geothermometers that are based on either the concentration of silica (SiO 2 ), or the ratios of cation concentrations. A set of 23 chemical analyses from Ojo Caliente Spring and 22 analyses from other thermal features in the Lower Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park are used to examine the sensitivity of calculated reservoir temperatures using the GeoT MEG code (Spycher et al. 2013, 2014) to quantify the effects of solute concentrations, degassing, and mineral assemblages on calculated reservoir temperatures. Results of our analysis demonstrate that the MEG model can resolve reservoir temperatures within approximately ±15°C, and that natural variation in fluid compositions represents a greater source of variance in calculated reservoir temperatures than variations caused by analytical uncertainty (assuming ~5% for major elements). The analysis also suggests that MEG calculations are particularly sensitive to variations in silica concentration, the concentrations of the redox species Fe(II) and H 2 S, and that the parameters defining steam separation and CO 2 degassing from the liquid may be adequately determined by numerical optimization. Results from this study can provide guidance for future applications of MEG models, and thus provide more reliable information on geothermal energy resources during exploration.

Idaho, Montana, Wyoming↗
USGS2000

Water movement through a thick unsaturated zone underlying an intermittent stream in the western Mojave Desert, southern California, USA

Previous studies indicated that small amounts of recharge occur as infiltration of intermittent streamflow in washes in the upper Mojave River basin , in the western Mojave Desert , near Victorville, California. These washes flow only a few days each year after large storms . To reach the water table , water must pass through an unsaturated zone that is more than 130 m thick. Results of this study, done in 1994–1998, show that infiltration to depths below the root zone did not occur at control sites away from the wash. At these sites, volumetric water contents were as low as 0.01 and water potentials (measured as the combination of solute and matric potentials using a water activity meter) were as negative as −14,000 kPa. Water-vapor movement was controlled by highly negative solute potentials associated with the accumulation of soluble salts in the unsaturated zone. Highly negative matric potentials above and below the zone of maximum solute accumulation result from movement of water vapor toward the highly negative solute potentials at that depth. The δ 18 O and δ D (delta oxygen-18 and delta deuterium) isotopic composition of water in coarse-grained deposits plots along a Rayleigh distillation line consistent with removal of water in coarse-grained layers by vapor transport. Beneath Oro Grande Wash, water moved to depths below the root zone and, presumably, to the water table about 130 m below land surface. Underneath Oro Grande Wash, volumetric water contents were as high as 0.27 and water potentials (measured as matric potential using tensiometers) were between −1.8 and −50 kPa. On the basis of tritium data, water requires at least 180–260 years to infiltrate to the water table. Clay layers impede the downward movement of water. Seasonal changes in water vapor composition underneath the wash are consistent with the rapid infiltration of a small quantity of water to great depths and subsequent equilibration of vapor with water in the surrounding material. It may be possible to supplement natural recharge from the wash with imported water. Recharge to the wash may be advantageous because the unsaturated zone is not as dry as most areas in the desert and concentrations of soluble salts are generally lower underneath the wash.

Journal of Hydrology↗
USGS2003

Analysis of aquifer mineralization by paleodrainage channels

Mineralization of groundwater resources is a problem in south-central Kansas, due to the penetration of saline water from Permian bedrock formations into the overlying alluvial aquifer. One of the mechanisms involved in the mineralization involves small bedrock features of high permeability located in places occupied by streams and rivers in past geological eras. These geological features are termed 'paleodrainage channels'. The permeability of the overlying aquifer can be significantly smaller than that of the channel fill material. The comparatively fast migration of saline water through these channels of high permeability is associated with the transfer of minerals into the overlying freshwater aquifer. This study applies a set of boundary layer approaches to quantify the process of mineral transfer from the channels into the aquifer. The methods used in the present study provide quick estimation and evaluation of the dilution of the channel flow, as well as mineral concentration profile changes in the mineralized zone created in the overlying aquifer. More generally, the method can also be useful for the analysis and evaluation of various types of groundwater contamination in heterogeneous aquifers. The application of the method is exemplified by a complete set of calculations characterizing the possible mineralization process at a specific channel in south central Kansas. Sensitivity analyses are performed and provide information about the importance of the various parameters that affect the mineralization process. Some possible scenarios for the aquifer mineralization phenomena are described and evaluated. It is shown that the channel mineralization may create either several stream tubes of the aquifer with high mineral concentration, or many stream tubes mineralized to a lesser extent. Characteristics of these two patterns of aquifer mineralization are quantified and discussed. ?? 2003 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Journal of Hydrology↗
USGS1998

Application of the top specified boundary layer (TSBL) approximation to initial characterization of an inland aquifer mineralization 1. Direct contact between fresh and saltwater

This paper presents a basic study in generalized terms that originates from two needs: (1) to understand the major mechanisms involved in the mineralization of groundwater of the Great Bend Prairie aquifer of Kansas by saltwater originating from a deeper Permian bedrock formation, and (2) to develop simple, robust tools that can readily be used for local assessment and management activities in the salt-affected region. A simplified basic conceptual model is adopted, incorporating two horizontal layers of porous medium which come into contact at a specific location within the model domain. The top layer is saturated with freshwater, and the bottom layer is saturated with saltwater. The paper considers various stages of approximation which can be useful for simplified simulation of the build-up of the transition zone (TZ) between the freshwater and the saltwater. The hierarchy of approximate approaches leads to the development of the top specified boundary layer (TSBL) method, which is the major tool used in this study for initial characterization of the development of the TZ. It is shown that the thickness of the TZ is mainly determined by the characteristic dispersivity. The build-up of the TZ is completed after a time period equal to the time needed to advect a fluid particle along the whole extent of the TZ. Potential applications and the effects of natural recharge and pumpage on salinity transport in the domain are discussed and evaluated in the context of demonstrating the practicality of the TSBL approach.

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology↗
USGS2003

Carbon dynamics and land-use choices: building a regional-scale multidisciplinary model

Policy enabling tropical forests to approach their potential contribution to global-climate-change mitigation requires forecasts of land use and carbon storage on a large scale over long periods. In this paper, we present an integrated modeling methodology that addresses these needs. We model the dynamics of the human land-use system and of C pools contained in each ecosystem, as well as their interactions. The model is national scale, and is currently applied in a preliminary way to Costa Rica using data spanning a period of over 50 years. It combines an ecological process model, parameterized using field and other data, with an economic model, estimated using historical data to ensure a close link to actual behavior. These two models are linked so that ecological conditions affect land-use choices and vice versa. The integrated model predicts land use and its consequences for C storage for policy scenarios. These predictions can be used to create baselines, reward sequestration, and estimate the value in both environmental and economic terms of including C sequestration in tropical forests as part of the efforts to mitigate global climate change. The model can also be used to assess the benefits from costly activities to increase accuracy and thus reduce errors and their societal costs.

Journal of Environmental Management↗
USGS1988

Effect of submersed aquatic macrophytes on resource partitioning in yearling rock bass ( Ambloplites rupestris ) and pumpkinseeds ( Lepomis gibbosus ) in Lake St. Clair

Yearling rock bass ( Ambloplites rupestris ), pumpkinseeds ( Lepomis gibbosus ), macroinvertebrates, and submersed aquatic plants were sampled at 2- or 3-week intervals from June to October 1979 in a shallow, heavily vegetated embayment in Lake St. Clair to determine whether seasonal changes in plant canopy and plant taxonomic composition affected resource partitioning in these two fish species. In both species, numbers of prey and gut volumes increased with increasing plant canopy until the plant canopy reached a seasonal maximum in mid-summer. Rock bass consumed fewer, larger prey than pumpkinseeds while large Caenidae-Trichoptera-Coenagrionidae, the prey group most preferred by rock bass, was available. Pumpkinseeds ate smaller amphipods, gastropods, and chironomid-lepidopterans that were more abundant numerically than Caenidae-Trichoptera-Coenagrionidae. After mid-summer, the plant canopy declined slowly to one-half of the maximum value, but built-up densities of Hyalella azteca , gastropods, and chironomid-lepidopterans kept availability of prey high throughout late summer. Rock bass shifted to Gammarus , gastropods, and chironomid-lepidopterans as large Caenidae-Trichoptera-Coenagrionidae became scarce. Pumpkinseeds ate more prey in the late season and displayed no prey preference. Their gut volumes peaked in September. Apparently, increasing combined canopy of bushy plants and Heteranthera dubia hindered the foraging of rock bass more than that of pumpkinseeds and caused resource partitioning in the two species.

Journal of Great Lakes Research↗
USGS1993

Growth-temperature relation for young-of-the-year ruffe

The ruffe ( Gymnocephalus cernuus ) was accidentally introduced into the Great Lakes basin from Eurasia and has established a breeding population in the St. Louis River, a major tributary to western Lake Superior. We captured young-of-the-year ruffe in the St. Louis River; acclimated groups of 90-91 fish to test temperatures of 7, 10, 15, 20, and 25°C; and fed them ad libitum for 42 days at those temperatures. Ruffe grew at all five temperatures, but the optimum temperature for growth was about 21°C. Because the optimum temperature for growth of walleye ( Stizostedion vitreum ), sauger ( Stizoste-dion canadense ), and yellow perch ( Perca flavescens ) is about 22°C, ruffe will probably attempt to share their thermal habitat. A recent survey of the St. Louis River revealed that yellow perch and small forage fish declined sharply as ruffe abundance increased. A similar decline in yellow perch abundance in Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie would seriously affect the fisheries in these lakes.

Journal of Great Lakes Research↗
USGS1996

Pellets versus feces: their relative importance describing the food habits of double-crested cormorants

We compared the amount of taxonomically identifiable (diagnostic) fish remains in double-crested cormorant ( Phalacrocorax auritus ) feces to that exiting the birds via regurgitated pellets. Feces and pellets were collected concurrently during June 1994 from cormorant colonies on Little Galloo Island, eastern Lake Ontario. About 90% of the diagnostic fish remains were found in pellets and 10% in feces. However, only 4% of the diagnostic remains in the feces represented fish that could not be accounted for in the pellets. Pellets provided better information than feces for determining diet composition. Because of the increased effort to collect and analyze fecal material, and the limited amount of additional information provided, examination of feces in addition to pellets is probably not necessary in most studies of double-crested cormorant feeding ecology.

Journal of Great Lakes Research↗
USGS1989

Style of extensional tectonism during rifting, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

Models describing the development of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, prior to the present periods of sea-floor spreading, include those that use block faulting on steep normal faults, uniform diffuse shear in continental crust, simple shear on large detachment faults that cut the entire lithosphere, combinations involving detachment faults/ductile deformation/plutonic inflation, and ones that minimize the role of mechanical extension in favor of an earlier stage of sea-floor spreading. Geologic and geophysical studies from the Arabian continental margin in the southern Red Sea and LANDSAT analysis of the northern Somalia margin in the Gulf of Aden suggest that the early continental rifts were long narrow features that formed by extension on closely spaced normal faults above moderate- to shallow-dipping detachments with break-away zones defining one rift flank and root zones under the opposing rift flank. The rift flanks presently form the opposing continental margins across each ocean basin. The detachment on the Arabian margin dips gently to the west, with a breakaway zone now eroded above the deeply dissected terrain of the Arabian escarpment. The Arabian detachment projects westward to middle crustal levels beneath the sediment of the southern Red Sea coastal plain. Strata in the upper plate dip as steeply as 60° to the west, and the beds are repeated by numerous planar and listric normal faults that dip to the east. Most of the faults truncate downward at the detachment. Thus, the upper plate is highly extended and the rocks in its eastern part have been translated about 20 km westward and 21/2- to 5-km downward relative to the rest of Arabia. A prominent detachment surface, with a north dip, is evident in northernmost Somalia where it breaks away north of the Somalian escarpment in an otherwise undeformed section of cratonic strata of Jurassic to Eocene age. The upper plate of the Somalian detachment consists of a highly faulted collage of the cratonic strata. This fault projects to middle crustal levels in the opposing Arabian margin to the northeast.

Journal of African Earth Sciences↗
USGS2016

Dutrochus, a new microdomatid (Gastropoda) genus from the Middle Devonian (Eifelian) of west-central Alaska

A new gastropod genus, Dutrochus , is established for members of the family Microdomatidae that are characterized by a reticulate ornament of spiral cords and intersecting, finer collabral threads, with all but one spiral cord being of nearly equal strength, and the single remaining cord being of stronger (nearly twice the order) magnitude and being situated at the periphery. It is represented by the type and only known species, Dutrochus alaskensis n. gen. and sp., from the upper part (lower Middle Devonian; lower Eifelian) of the Lower? and Middle Devonian Cheeneetnuk Limestone, McGrath A-5 quadrangle, west-central Alaska. The genus is very close and nearly homeomorphic to the Permian microdomatid genus Glyptospira , but differs from the latter in possessing an extremely strong, peripheral spiral cord and an extremely thick, multi-layered apertural margin.

Journal of Paleontology↗