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Publications

Publications from the staff of the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center

Filter Total Items: 2481

Quantifying rock uplift rates using channel steepness and cosmogenic nuclide–determined erosion rates: Examples from northern and southern Italy Quantifying rock uplift rates using channel steepness and cosmogenic nuclide–determined erosion rates: Examples from northern and southern Italy

Rock uplift rates can be difficult to measure over 103–105 yr time scales. If, however, a landscape approaches steady state, where hillslope erosion and rock uplift rates are steady and locally similar, then it should be possible to quantify rock uplift rates from hillslope erosion rates. Here, we test this prediction by comparing channel steepness index values and 10Be catchment...
Authors
Andrew J. Cyr, Darryl E. Granger, Valerio Olivetti, Paola Molin

In vitro studies evaluating leaching of mercury from mine waste calcine using simulated human body fluids In vitro studies evaluating leaching of mercury from mine waste calcine using simulated human body fluids

In vitro bioaccessibility (IVBA) studies were carried out on samples of mercury (Hg) mine-waste calcine (roasted Hg ore) by leaching with simulated human body fluids. The objective was to estimate potential human exposure to Hg due to inhalation of airborne calcine particulates and hand-to-mouth ingestion of Hg-bearing calcines. Mine waste calcines collected from Hg mines at Almadén...
Authors
John E. Gray, Geoffrey S. Plumlee, Suzette A. Morman, Pablo L. Higueras, James G. Crock, Heather A. Lowers, Mark L. Witten

Fluid flow, solution collapse, and massive dissolution at detachment faults, Mormon Mountains, Nevada Fluid flow, solution collapse, and massive dissolution at detachment faults, Mormon Mountains, Nevada

Dissolution has removed large volumes of rock at low-angle normal faults, i.e., detachment faults, in the Mormon Mountains and the Tule Springs Hills in the eastern Basin and Range Province, southeastern Nevada. Evidence for major dissolution includes widespread solution-collapse breccias, meter-scale stylolite structures, and high-angle accommodation faults that terminate at or merge...
Authors
Sharon F. Diehl, R. Ernest Anderson, J. D. Humphrey

Centennial eolian cyclicity in the Great Plains, USA: A dominant pattern of wind transport over the past 4000 years? Centennial eolian cyclicity in the Great Plains, USA: A dominant pattern of wind transport over the past 4000 years?

Proxy evidence at decadal resolution from Late Holocene sediments from Pickerel Lake, northeastern South Dakota, shows distinct centennial cycles (400-700 years) in magnetic susceptibility; contents of carbonate, organic carbon, and major elements; abundance in ostracodes; and delta18O and delta13C values in calcite. Proxies indicate cyclic changes in eolian input, productivity, and...
Authors
Antje Schwalb, Walter E. Dean, C. Sherilyn Fritz, Christoph E. Geiss, Bernd Kromer

Thermal state of permafrost in North America: A contribution to the international polar year Thermal state of permafrost in North America: A contribution to the international polar year

A snapshot of the thermal state of permafrost in northern North America during the International Polar Year (IPY) was developed using ground temperature data collected from 350 boreholes. More than half these were established during IPY to enhance the network in sparsely monitored regions. The measurement sites span a diverse range of ecoclimatic and geological conditions across the...
Authors
S.L. Smith, V.E. Romanovsky, A.G. Lewkowicz, C.R. Burn, M. Allard, G.D. Clow, K. Yoshikawa, J. Throop

Holocene landscape response to seasonality of storms in the Mojave Desert Holocene landscape response to seasonality of storms in the Mojave Desert

New optically stimulated and radiocarbon ages for alluvial fan and lake deposits in the Mojave Desert are presented, which greatly improves the temporal resolution of surface processes. The new Mojave Desert climate-landscape record is particularly detailed for the late Holocene. Evidence from ephemeral lake deposits and landforms indicates times of sustained stream flow during a wet...
Authors
D. M. Miller, K. M. Schmidt, S. A. Mahan, J. P. McGeehin, L.A. Owen, J.A. Barron, F. Lehmkuhl, R. Lohrer

Algal blooms and "Marine snow": Mechanisms that enhance preservation of organic carbon in ancient fine-grained sediments Algal blooms and "Marine snow": Mechanisms that enhance preservation of organic carbon in ancient fine-grained sediments

Combined petrographic and geochemical methods are used to investigate the microfabrics present in thin sections prepared from representative organic carbon-rich mudstones collected from three successions (the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, the Jet Rock Member of the Whitby Mudstone Formation, and the pebble shale and Hue Shale). This study was initiated to determine how organic carbon-rich...
Authors
Joe H.S. Macquaker, Margaret A. Keller, Sarah J. Davies

Geophysical framework of the northern San Francisco Bay region, California Geophysical framework of the northern San Francisco Bay region, California

We use geophysical data to examine the structural framework of the northern San Francisco Bay region, an area that hosts the northward continuation of the East Bay fault system. Although this fault system has accommodated ∼175 km of right-lateral offset since 12 Ma, how this offset is partitioned north of the bay is controversial and important for understanding where and how strain is...
Authors
Victoria E. Langenheim, Russell W. Graymer, Robert C. Jachens, Robert J. McLaughlin, D.L. Wagner, Donald S. Sweetkind

Rapid middle Miocene extension and unroofing of the southern Ruby Mountains, Nevada Rapid middle Miocene extension and unroofing of the southern Ruby Mountains, Nevada

Paleozoic rocks in the northern Ruby Mountains were metamorphosed during Mesozoic crustal shortening and Cenozoic magmatism, but equivalent strata in the southern Ruby Mountains were never buried deeper than stratigraphic depths prior to exhumation in the footwall of a west dipping brittle normal fault. In the southern Ruby Mountains, Miocene sedimentary rocks in the hanging wall of this...
Authors
Joseph P. Colgan, Keith A. Howard, Robert J. Fleck, Joseph L. Wooden

Marine tephrochronology of the Mt. Edgecumbe volcanic field, southeast Alaska, USA Marine tephrochronology of the Mt. Edgecumbe volcanic field, southeast Alaska, USA

The Mt. Edgecumbe Volcanic Field (MEVF), located on Kruzof Island near Sitka Sound in southeast Alaska, experienced a large multiple-stage eruption during the last glacial maximum (LGM)-Holocene transition that generated a regionally extensive series of compositionally similar rhyolite tephra horizons and a single well-dated dacite (MEd) tephra. Marine sediment cores collected from...
Authors
Jason A. Addison, James E. Beget, Thomas A. Ager, Bruce P. Finney

Calibration and filtering strategies for frequency domain electromagnetic data Calibration and filtering strategies for frequency domain electromagnetic data

echniques for processing frequency-domain electromagnetic (FDEM) data that address systematic instrument errors and random noise are presented, improving the ability to invert these data for meaningful earth models that can be quantitatively interpreted. A least-squares calibration method, originally developed for airborne electromagnetic datasets, is implemented for a ground-based...
Authors
Burke J. Minsley, Bruce D. Smith, Richard Hammack, James I. Sams, Garret Veloski

Depositional environments and cyclo- and chronostratigraphy of uppermost Carboniferous-Lower Triassic -lacustrine deposits, southern Bogda Mountains, NW China - A terrestrfluvialial paleoclimatic record of mid-latitude NE Pangea Depositional environments and cyclo- and chronostratigraphy of uppermost Carboniferous-Lower Triassic -lacustrine deposits, southern Bogda Mountains, NW China - A terrestrfluvialial paleoclimatic record of mid-latitude NE Pangea

Two uppermost Carboniferous–Lower Triassic fluvial–lacustrine sections in the Tarlong–Taodonggou half-graben, southern Bogda Mountains, NW China, comprise a 1834 m-thick, relatively complete sedimentary and paleoclimatic record of the east coast of mid-latitude NE Pangea. Depositional environmental interpretations identified three orders (high, intermediate, and low) of sedimentary...
Authors
W. Yang, Q. Feng, Yajing Liu, N. Tabor, D. Miggins, J.L. Crowley, J. Lin, S. Thomas
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