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Stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental summary of the south-east Georgia embayment: a correlation of exploratory wells Stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental summary of the south-east Georgia embayment: a correlation of exploratory wells

A Continental Offshore Stratigraphic Test (COST) well and six exploratory wells have been drilled in the south-east Georgia embayment. The oldest rocks penetrated are weakly metamorphosed Lower Ordovician quartz arenites and Silurian shales and argillites in the Transco 1005-1 well and Upper Devonian argillites in the COST GE-1 well. These marine strata, which are equivalent to the...
Authors
Lawrence J. Poppe, Peter Popenoe, C. Wylie Poag, B. Ann Swift

Giant blocks in the South Kona landslide, Hawaii Giant blocks in the South Kona landslide, Hawaii

A large field of blocky sea-floor hills, up to 10 km long and 500 m high, are gigantic slide blocks derived from the west flank of Mauna Loa volcano on the island of Hawaii. These megablocks are embedded in the toe of the South Kona landslide, which extends ∼80 km seaward from the present coastline to depths of nearly 5 km. A 10–15-km-wide belt of numerous, smaller, 1–3-km-long slide...
Authors
J.G. Moore, W.B. Bryan, M.H. Beeson, W. R. Normark

Episode 49 of the Pu'u 'Ō'ō-Kūpaianaha eruption of Kilauea volcano-breakdown of a steady-state eruptive era Episode 49 of the Pu'u 'Ō'ō-Kūpaianaha eruption of Kilauea volcano-breakdown of a steady-state eruptive era

The Pu'u 'O'o-Kupaianaha eruption (1983-present) is the longest lived rift eruption of either Kilauea or neighboring Mauna Loa in recorded history. The initial fissure opening in January 1983 was followed by three years of episodic fire fountaining at the Pu'u 'O'o vent on Kilauea's east rift zone ∼19km from the summit (episodes 4–47). These spectacular events gave way in July 1986 to...
Authors
M. T. Mangan, C. C. Heliker, T. N. Mattox, J. P. Kauahikaua, Rosalind Tuthill Helz

Seismic maps foster landmark legislation Seismic maps foster landmark legislation

When a powerful earthquake strikes an urban region, damage concentrates not only near the quake's source. Damage can also occur many miles from the source in areas of soft ground. In recent years, scientists have developed ways to identify and map these areas of high seismic hazard. This advance has spurred pioneering legislation to reduce earthquake losses in areas of greatest hazard.
Authors
Roger D. Borcherdt, Robert B. Brown, Robert A. Page, Carl M. Wentworth, James W. Hendley

Pay a little now, or a lot later Pay a little now, or a lot later

Odds are 2-in-3 that at least one disastrous earthquake will strike the San Francisco Bay Area before 2020. Faced with this threat, corporations and government agencies have stepped up efforts that will reduce future losses by billions of dollars.
Authors
William H. Bakun

Volcano hazards from Mount Rainier, Washington Volcano hazards from Mount Rainier, Washington

Mount Rainier—at 4393 meters (14,410 feet) the highest peak in the Cascade Range—is a dormant volcano whose load of glacier ice exceeds that of any other mountain in the conterminous United States. This tremendous mass of rock and ice, in combination with great topographic relief, poses a variety of geologic hazards, both during inevitable future eruptions and during the intervening...
Authors
R. Hoblitt, J. S. Walder, C. L. Driedger, K. M. Scott, P. T. Pringle, J.W. Vallance

Radiocarbon ages of pre-bomb clams and the hard-water effect in Lakes Michigan and Huron Radiocarbon ages of pre-bomb clams and the hard-water effect in Lakes Michigan and Huron

Five radiocarbon ages, all determined by accelerator mass spectrometry, have been obtained for two pre-bomb bivalves from Lake Michigan and one from Lake Huron. After correcting those ages for the fractionation of14C in calcite and for the radioactively inert CO2 in the atmosphere, we find residual ages, caused by the hard water effect, of about 250 years for Lake Michigan and 440 years...
Authors
David K. Rea, Steven M. Colman

Rift flank segmentation, basin initiation and propagation: a neotectonic example from Lake Baikal Rift flank segmentation, basin initiation and propagation: a neotectonic example from Lake Baikal

New surficial data (field, Landsat TM and topography) define morpho-tectonic domains and rift flank segmentation in the Ol'khon region of the Central Baikal rift. Deformation, drainage and depositional patterns indicate a change in the locus of active extension that may relate to a recent (
Authors
Susan M. Agar, Kim D. Klitgord

Experimental studies of deposition at a debris-flow flume Experimental studies of deposition at a debris-flow flume

Geologists commonly infer the flow conditions and the physical properties of debris flows from the sedimentologic, stratigraphic, and morphologic characteristics of their deposits. However, such inferences commonly lack corroboration by direct observation because the capricious nature of debris flows makes systematic observation and measurement of natural events both difficult and...
Authors
Jon J. Major
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