Conference Papers

The U. S. Geological Survey operates two water-quality laboratories. The quality of data produced by each laboratory is judged primarily from an evaluation of the data obtained from the analysis of reference samples. Quality-assurance reports that contain an analysis of the results obtained from chemical analysis of these reference materials by the two laboratories are prepared quarterly...

Petroleum resource assessment procedures require the analysis of a large volume of spatial data. The US Geological Survey (USGS) has developed and applied spatial information handling procedures and digital cartographic techniques to a recent study involving the assessment of oil and gas resource potential for 74 million acres of designated and proposed wilderness lands in the western...

Observations made from 1972 to 1976 with the Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometer on board the Nimbus-5 satellite provide sequential synoptic information of the Arctic sea ice cover. This four-year data set was used to construct a fairly continuous series of three-day average 19-GHz passive microwave images which has become a valuable source of polar information, yielding many...

Assessment of channel stability from field study and the comparison of time-sequential aerial photographs provides information that is needed in site selection, bridge design, and countermeasure placement. Channel instability is indicated by bank erosion, progressive degradation (or aggradation) of the streambed, or natural scour and fill of the streambed. Bank erosion rates are related...

The amount of thermal energy in high-temperature geothermal systems (>150 degree C) in the United States has been calculated by estimating the temperature, area, and thickness of each identified system. These data, along with a general model for recoverability of geothermal energy and a calculation that takes account of the conversion of thermal energy to electricity, yield a resource...

A system has been developed to simultaneously sample and transmit digital data from five remote geophysical data receiver stations to a control station that processes, displays, and stores the data. A microprocessor in each remote station receives commands from the control station over a single telemetry channel.

Precipitation, topography, runoff, soils, and land use are the major causative factors of sediment yield in Kentucky. The variability and interaction of these factors directly affects the amount and type of sediment yields. Sediment yield and size data were collected during 1942-45 and 1951-81 throughout the five major physiographic regions of Kentucky and at selected stations on the...

Based on the physical and chemical data obtained to date, the Devonian oil shale rock of north Alabama and south-central Tennessee appears to offer an attractive potential for future resource development. The shale rock appears to have formed in a restrictive marine environment which provided opportunity for the accumulation of marine organic matter to form sufficient kerogen. The shale...

The thick sequences of flood basalts which underlie the Columbia River basin are important aquifiers, providing water for both agricultural and domestic use. Secondary alteration in these rocks occurs primarily as coatings or fillings in fractures and vesicles; alteration is generally believed to have occurred at low temperatures ( less than 100 C) by reaction with meteroic waters. The

In the 1920's chemical and mineralogic characterization of the New Albany Shale (Mississippian-Devonian) in Indiana showed the dark shale to be rich in organic material and have commercial possibilities. Projects in the 1960's resulted in disparaging descriptions of exiguous fossil record, monotonous mineralogy, and intractable chemistry. Since 1978 expanded efforts have yielded much new

Throughout the Federal Government, applications are emerging for spatial data bases that require digital cartographic data as a framework. This paper describes some major applications of spatial data in the Federal Government, and it discusses the extent to which these data needs are being coordinated. Efforts are outlined towards further coordination of digital cartographic data bases...

A definition of asbestos is proposed. Under this definition, the term asbestos applies to six naturally occurring minerals exploited commercially for their desirable physical properties, which are in part derived from their asbestiform habit. The six minerals are the serpentine mineral chrysotile and the amphibole minerals grunerite asbestos (also referred to as amosite), riebeckite...