Publications
Publications from the staff of the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Filter Total Items: 2533
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Beyond Colorado's Front Range - A new look at Laramide basin subsidence, sedimentation, and deformation in north-central Colorado Beyond Colorado's Front Range - A new look at Laramide basin subsidence, sedimentation, and deformation in north-central Colorado
This field trip highlights recent research into the Laramide uplift, erosion, and sedimentation on the western side of the northern Colorado Front Range. The Laramide history of the North Park-Middle Park basin (designated the Colorado Headwaters Basin in this paper) is distinctly different from that of the Denver basin on the eastern flank of the range. The Denver basin stratigraphy...
Authors
James C. Cole, James H. Trexler, Patricia H. Cashman, Ian M. Miller, Ralph R. Shroba, Michael A. Cosca, Jeremiah B. Workman
Geology of the Lake Mead region: An overview Geology of the Lake Mead region: An overview
The Lake Mead region contains major Miocene disruptions of structures formed during Mesozoic tectonic shortening. Erosion by the Colorado River and its tributaries has produced exceptional exposures of diverse structures and basin deposits recording the disruptions. Here we provide an overview of the results of studies of these features that started in earnest in 1934 when Chester...
Authors
R. Ernest Anderson, L. Sue Beard
History of the Greenland Ice Sheet: paleoclimatic insights History of the Greenland Ice Sheet: paleoclimatic insights
Paleoclimatic records show that the GreenlandIce Sheet consistently has lost mass in response to warming, and grown in response to cooling. Such changes have occurred even at times of slow or zero sea-level change, so changing sea level cannot have been the cause of at least some of the ice-sheet changes. In contrast, there are no documented major ice-sheet changes that occurred...
Authors
Richard B. Alley, John T. Andrews, J. Brigham-Grette, G.K.C. Clarke, Kurt M. Cuffey, J. J. Fitzpatrick, S. Funder, S.J. Marshall, G. H. Miller, J.X. Mitrovica, D.R. Muhs, B. L. Otto-Bliesner, L. Polyak, J.W.C. White
Time-averaged paleomagnetic field at the equator: Complete data and results from the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador Time-averaged paleomagnetic field at the equator: Complete data and results from the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
We present here the complete paleomagnetic laboratory results from a collection of approximately 1500 oriented cores from all 16 of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, collected by Allan Cox in 1964–1965 but nearly all previously unpublished. The islands are located in the eastern Pacific Ocean within 1.4° of latitude from the equator and range in age from historically erupted to 3 Ma...
Authors
Sherman Gromme, Edward A. Mankinen, Michel Prevot