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Preliminary report on the general geology and engineering geology of Noonan quadrangle, North Dakota

The Noonan quadrangle is in northwestern North Dakota adjacent to the Dominion of Canada and approximately 35 miles east of Montana. The small coal-mining, farm, and railroad town of Noonan is located near the eastern edge of this sparsely populated area. The east-west State Highway 5 bisects the quadrangle. Cultural development in this area depends largely on agricultural exploitation of the glacial deposits that mantle the bedrock. For this reason, emphasis in this report is on the description, classification, and analysis of the surficial deposits. The geologic map is the base of the report. The map explanation includes a description of the material found in the various deposits along with the distinctive topographic and lithologic characteristics. Most of the text and the analyses of samples are written in tabular form so that specific information may be easily found. Depth relations may be determined from the cross section attached and the data on the map page. Most of the subsurface data in this report are inferred from drill-hole logs and water-well information provided by the North Dakota State Geological Survey, the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the Ground Water Division of the U. S. Geological Survey.

North Dakota↗

The Glaciation of the Yellowstone Valley North of the Park

The local glaciers of Quaternary times, of which evidences abound throughout the highest portions of the Rocky mountain cordillera, attained an unusually extensive development in that broad elevated region known as the Yellowstone Park. It was indeed the center of a considerable ice sheet whose glaciers spread out and down the valleys leading from this mountain region in all directions. In the northern part of the park two streams of ice found an outlet for their united flow northward down the valley of the Yellowstone, and they have left impressive memorials of the power and size of this stream that at once attract the attention of the observant traveler on the way to the famous geyser basins of the park. The number and size of the erratic bowlders scattered so abundantly over the valley floor and perched high up on the mountain slopes, can not fail to impress the beholder, while the second canyon of the Yellowstone, known as Yankee Jim canyon, through which the river has cut its way to the broad mountain encircled lower valley, is a grand and perfect piece of ice sculpture that affords striking proof of the power and magnitude of the glacier which once filled the valley. While studying and mapping the geology of a portion of the country north of the Yellowstone Park, under the direction of Mr. Arnold Hague, and for the United States Geological Survey, I found a long desired opportunity to study the glaciation of this interesting region.

Bulletin↗

Chapter G: Tentative Correlation Between CIPW Normin pl (Total Plagioclase) and Los Angeles Wear in Precambrian Midcontinental Granites-Examples from Missouri and Oklahoma, with Applications and Limitations for Use

The normative chemical classification of Cross, Iddings, Pirsson, and Washington (CIPW) is commonly used in igneous petrology to distinguish igneous rocks by comparing their magmatic chemistries for similar and dissimilar components. A potential use for this classification other than in petrologic studies is in the rapid assessment of aggregate sources, possibly leading to an economic advantage for an aggregate producer or user, by providing the opportunity to determine whether further physical testing of an aggregate is warranted before its use in asphalt or concrete pavement. However, the CIPW classification currently should not be substituted for the physical testing required in specifications by State departments of transportation. Demands for physical testing of aggregates have increased nationally as users seek to maximize the quality of the aggregate they purchase for their pavements. Concrete pavements are being laid with increased thicknesses to withstand increasing highway loads. New pavement mixes, most notably Superior Performance Asphalt Pavement ('Superpave'), are designed for additional service life. For both concrete and asphalt, the intent is to generate a durable pavement with a longer service life that should decrease overall life-cycle costs. Numerous aggregate producers possess chemical-composition data available for examination to answer questions from the potential user. State geological surveys also possess chemical-composition data for stone sources. Paired with the results of physical testing, chemical- composition data provide indicative information about stone durability and aggregate strength. The Missouri Department of Transportation has noted a possible relation among coarse-grained Precambrian granites of the midcontinental region, correlating the results of abrasion testing with the contents of normative minerals, also known as normins, calculated from chemical composition data. Thus, normin pl ( total plagioclase) can predict, by way of simple regression, the Los Angeles wear for granite samples collected in Missouri. The results of this abrasion testing were extended to another granite in Oklahoma where normin pl predicted Los Angeles wear to within 0.6 percent. This relation may also exist for granitic rocks outside the Oklahoma-Missouri region, as well as for other igneous-rock types.

Bulletin↗

Report on progress of investigations of mineral resources of Alaska in 1904

During the last two years the United States Geological Survey has met the demand of the mining public for early publication of economic results by issuing an annual bulletin entitled "Contributions to Economic Geology." Though these volumes have made no attempt to treat exhaustively any of the subject discussed, and while many of the included papers have been but the barest outlines, they have met a cordial reception from those interested in developing the mineral resources of the country. Among the many papers in these bulletins were a number devoted to the mineral deposits of Alaska. In view of the rapid extension of the Alaskan work of the Geological Survey and its segregation in a distinct division, it has seemed desirable to issue a separate publication containing the papers summarizing the previous year's work.

Alaska↗

Record of deep-well drilling for 1904

In this report, which is the first of a proposed series of annual publications, are presented the results of the first six months' work by the United States Geological Survey in the systematic collection of well records and samples. Much time having been occupied in organization and preliminary correspondence, the results of only about three months' actual work are included. The report is issued for the purpose of giving to present or prospective well owners and drillers the results of drilling as reported to the Survey, with the object of furnishing them as good a basis as possible for future drilling in the regions discussed, and to afford geologists and others a more complete knowledge of the rock succession and structure. It is intended that the reports of the series shall present records of contemporaneous drilling rather than the results of past work, a special attempt being made to secure records accompanied by samples. The logs of completed wells, however, will be incorporated when practicable; but as records of such wells are seldom preserved for any length of time, their number will probably decrease in proportion to new wells as the work continues. All well records received during the year 1904 that were accompanied by complete sets of samples are presented in this report, as are also a considerable number furnished by drillers, contractors, well owners, etc., representing other completed wells. The report does not, however, include all records furnished the Survey, a great number being furnished by oil companies and others interested in the development of oil or mineral lands. Many of these are confidential and can not be published, while others will be compiled and embodied in reports on special regions, which will be published later.

Bulletin↗

Report of work done in the division of chemistry and physics mainly during the fiscal year 1884-85

The present bulletin contains some of the more important results obtained in the chemical laboratory of the United States Geological Survey during the fiscal year 1884—'85. It also contains two physical papers representing work which was mainly done during previous fiscal years, but completed during the one for which this bulletin is issued. These papers are practically continuations of or supplements to Bulletin 14.

Bulletin↗

Oil and gas in the western part of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington

High-grade paraffin oil is reported to have been discovered in the western part of the Olympic Peninsula, Wash., as early as 1881. Since then attempts to obtain oil or gas in commercial quantities by drilling have been made from time to time in different localities in this region, but without success. Within the past few years interest has been aroused in oil seeps near the mouth of Hoh River and in gas vents in other parts of the field to such an extent that many persons have been attracted to this country to search for oil and gas. As a result of this interest and on account of the fact that efforts had been made to lease tracts of land for this purpose in the Queniult Indian Reservation, an examination of this region was made by the United States Geological Survey at the request of the Office of Indian Affairs. The results of the investigation, which are enumerated below and which are discussed in detail throughout this report, suggest that certain parts of the field are worthy of careful consideration by oil operators. The following summary includes the most important facts regarding the area examined: High-grade paraffin oil issues from two seeps near the mouth of Hoh River, and at other localities oil-saturated sandy clay ('smell mud' of the Indians) is exposed. Natural gas containing about 95 per cent methane escapes from a conical mound just north of the mouth of Queniult River and also from an inverted cone-shaped water-filled depression on Hoh River a short distance west of Spruce post office. Other minor gas vents are also known in this field and are described in detail in this report. Three wells - one in the reservation about 1 mile north and slightly west from Taholah, another near the mouth of Hoh River, and the third about 1 mile south of Forks - are being drilled for oil and gas. So far as drilling has progressed none of these wells have encountered oil in paying quantities, but all of them have struck small amounts of gas. A study of the structure and stratigraphy in addition to the examination of oil seeps and gas vents reveals the fact that several anticlines, which may serve as reservoirs for oil and gas, exist in the area examined and that they have apparently a close relationship to the oil seeps and occurrences of 'smell mud'.

Washington↗

Contributions to economic geology (short papers and preliminary reports), 1915: Part I. - metals and nonmetals except fuels

This volume is the thirteenth of a series that includes Bulletins 213, 225, 260, 285, 315, 340, 380, 430, 470, 530, 540, and 580, "Contributions to economic geology" for 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906 (Pt. I), 1907 (Pt. I), 1908 (Pt. I), 1909 (Pt. I), 1910 (P t. I), 1911 (Pt. I) , 1912 (Pt. I), and 1913 (Pt. I), respectively . These bulletins are prepared primarily to insure prompt publication of the economic results of investigations made by the United States Geological Survey. Beginning with the present volume the year included in the title will be the year of publication 1 instead of the year in which the field work reported was done. This volume is therefore dated 1915, and there will be no volume entitled "Contributions to economic geology, 1914." As the subtitle indicates, the papers included are of two classes -(1) short papers giving comparatively detailed description of occurrences that have economic interest but are not of sufficient importance to warrant a more extended description; (2) preliminary reports on economic investigations the results of which are to be published later in more detailed form. These papers are such only as have a direct economic bearing, all topic of purely scientific interest being excluded. Each paper has been issued as an advance chapter as soon as it was ready. Brief abstracts of the publications of the year are given in the annual report of the Director. The complete list of Survey publications affords, by means of finding list of subjects and of authors, further aid in ascertaining the extent of the Survey's work in economic geology. Since 1905 the annual economic bulletin has been printed in two parts, the second part comprising paper on mineral fuels. These volumes for 1906, 1907, 190 , 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, and 1913 are Bulletins 316, 341, 381, 431, 471, 531, 541, and 581. Bulletin 621 forms Part II of the "Contributions" for 1915. The reports on work in Alaska have been printed in a separate series since 1904, the volume so far issued being Bulletins 259, 284, 314, 345, 379, 442, 480, 520, 542, 592, and 622.

Bulletin↗

Zinc and lead deposits of northern Arkansas

Zinc and lead ores occur in the northern counties of Arkansas, from the Arkansas-Oklahoma line on the west to the Coastal Plain, in Lawrence County, on the east, but are concentrated chiefly in Marion, Boone, Newton, Searcy, Sharp, and Lawrence Counties. Lead ore was reported in the region as early as 1818, and small reduction plants were built in the vicinity of Lead Hill in 1851 or 1852. The Confederate forces obtained lead from northern Arkansas during the Civil War. Zinc mining began at a somewhat later date and reached its peak between 1914 and 1917, but since that time mining has been at a low ebb. The later history of lead mining in the region has closely paralleled that of zinc. The production from the region since 1907, according to statistics compiled by the United States Geological Survey, has been, in round numbers, 1,900 tons of lead sulphide concentrates, 11,5000 tons of zinc sulphide concentrates, and 51,3000 tons of zinc carbonate and silicate concentrates.

Arkansas↗

Mineral resources of Colombia (other than petroleum)

The following report summarizes data acquired during 1942-45, in Colombia, by geologists and engineers of the Foreign Economic Administration, with whom the United States Geological Survey cooperated. Twenty-nine mineral commodities are considered, but the data for five of them are scant because they were of no interest to FEA personnel. Petroleum is not considered. Preliminary to a review of individual mineral commodities, resumes are given of the general geography and geology of Colombia and of the country's mining laws. The principal mineral commodities, besides petroleum, produced in Colombia are (1) emeralds, gold, platinum, and silver, mainly for export, and (2) barite, cement, clay, coal, gypsum, salt, sand and gravel, silica, and stone, mainly for the domestic market. A large number of other mineral commodities are known in "raw" prospects, some of which may eventually become productive. Their distribution and apparent potentialities, as of 1945, are given. Factors unfavorable to mining are the ruggedness of the terrain, the scarcity of outcrops, and the very high transportation costs.

Bulletin↗

Geology of the western Everglades area, southern Florida

Introduction During 1950, a series of 43 test wells 30 feet deep were drilled by the United States Corps of Engineers along the western edge of the Everglades from the Tamiami Canal northward to the Caloosahatchee River. The cores obtained from the wells afford geologic data along a line from the lower Everglades of Dade County, where both the geology and water resources have been investigated, to the Caloosahatchee River area, where the surface geology has been studied. This report has been prepared chiefly to record and interpret the information obtained from the test wells. It is one of a series prepared on ground-water investigations by the United States Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Florida Geological Survey. When ground-water data become available they will be correlated with the geology of this report and will be presented in a later report on the Glades-Hendry Counties area. A few generalized inferences concerning ground water are made. The investigation was under the general supervision of A. N. Sayre, Chief, Ground Water Branch, U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C., and Herman Gunter, Director, Florida Geological Survey, and under the direct supervision of Nevin D. Hoy, District Geologist, U. S. Geological Survey, Miami, Fla.

Florida↗

Coal reserves of the Pittsburgh (No. 8) bed in Belmont County, Ohio

Remaining coal reserves totaling 1,929 million tons have been appraised in the Pittsburgh (No. 8) coal bed in Belmont County, Ohio. Of these, 508 million tons are classified as measured and 1,421 million tons are classified as indicated. All the coal has less than 1,000 feet of overburden, and most of it is of high volatile A bituminous rank. This estimate is based on field work by the United States Geological Survey, supplemented by data from the fries of the Ohio Geological Survey and from mine and drill-hole records provided by mining companies.

Ohio↗

Geology and coal deposits of the Dugger quadrangle, Sullivan County, Indiana

The accompanying maps and related material describing the geology and coal deposits of the Dugger quadrangle were prepared as part of a cooperative program to appraise the coal resources of Indiana initiated by the Division of Geology, Indiana Department of Conservation, and the Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. The field work on which the maps were based was done by the writer, assisted by E. D. McKay, between June 15 and August 31, 1949. The Dugger quadrangle covers nearly 58 square miles in east-central Sullivan County, Indiana, between latitude 39° and 39°07'30" N. and longitude 87°15' and 87°22'30" W. Dugger, the largest town in the quadrangle and the main shipping point, is 30 miles south of Terre Haute. The mines in the quadrangle are served by the Illinois Central, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific, and the Pennsylvania Railroads.

Indiana↗

Geology and coal deposits of the Linton quadrangle, Greene and Sullivan Counties, Indiana

The Linton quadrangle is the second of a series of quadrangles being mapped by the Division of Geology, Indiana Department of Conservation in cooperation with the United States Geological Survey, as part of a program of study and reappraisal of Indiana coal resources. The field work was done by the writer, assisted by Harold Hutchison, during the summer of 1948; final corrections to the map were made in the field January 1950. The purpose of the mapping is to show in detail areal geology, the stratigraphy of the Pennsylvanian rocks, the extent and structure of the principal coal beds, the locations of mined-out areas and the coal reserves.

Indiana↗

Ground-penetrating radar and differential global positioning system data collected from Long Beach Island, New Jersey, April 2015

Scientists from the United States Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, and students from the University of Hawaii at Manoa collected sediment cores, sediment surface grab samples, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) data from within the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge–Holgate Unit located on the southern end of Long Beach Island, New Jersey, in April 2015 ( FAN 2015-611-FA ). The study’s objective was to identify washover deposits in the stratigraphic record to aid in understanding barrier island evolution. This report is an archive of GPR and DGPS data collected from Long Beach Island in 2015. Data products, including raw GPR and processed DGPS data, elevation corrected GPR profiles, and accompanying Federal Geographic Data Committee metadata can be downloaded from the Data Downloads page.

New Jersey↗

Data on dissolved pesticides and volatile organic compounds in surface and ground waters in the San Joaquin-Tulare basins, California, water years 1992-1995

This report contains pesticide, volatile organic compound, major ion, nutrient, tritium, stable isotope, organic carbon, and trace-metal data collected from 149 ground-water wells, and pesticide data collected from 39 surface-water stream sites in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Included with the ground-water data are field measurements of pH, specific conductance, alkalinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen. This report describes data collection procedures, analytical methods, quality assurance, and quality controls used by the National Water-Quality Assessment Program to ensure data reliability. Data contained in this report were collected during a four year period by the San Joaquin?Tulare Basins Study Unit of the United States Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program. Surface-water-quality data collection began in April 1992, with sampling done three times a week at three sites as part of a pilot study conducted to provide background information for the surface-water-study design. Monthly samples were collected at 10 sites for major ions and nutrients from January 1993 to March 1995. Additional samples were collected at four of these sites, from January to December 1993, to study spatial and temporal variability in dissolved pesticide concentrations. Samples for several synoptic studies were collected from 1993 to 1995. Ground-water-quality data collection was restricted to the eastern alluvial fans subarea of the San Joaquin Valley. Data collection began in 1993 with the sampling of 21 wells in vineyard land-use settings. In 1994, 29 wells were sampled in almond land-use settings and 9 in vineyard land-use settings; an additional 11 wells were sampled along a flow path in the eastern Fresno County vineyard land-use area. Among the 79 wells sampled in 1995, 30 wells were in the corn, alfalfa, and vegetable land-use setting, and 1 well was in the vineyard land-use setting; an additional 20 were flow-path wells. Also sampled in 1995 were 28 wells used for a regional assessment of ground-water quality in the eastern San Joaquin Valley.

Data Series↗