Geology topics

C.W. Carlston

Publications and source records attributed to C.W. Carlston.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS1969

Longitudinal slope characteristics of rivers of the midcontinent and the Atlantic east gulf slopes

This study of longitudinal stream profiles of rivers of the Midcontinent (rivers tributary to the Mississippi) and Atlantic and East Gulf Slopes has revealed five types of longitudinal profiles: (1) Overall concave-upward profiles with or without long constant slope segments; (2) convex upward, for example, the Missouri River has a profile that has a constant slope for its lower 560 miles and then is convex upward with constant slope segments to a point beyond the Yellowstone River junction; (3) concave-upward irregular, ungraded, low-gradient profiles (Ohio and Tennessee Rivers); (4) irregular unsegmented and steep profiles, such as shown by the Delaware and Savannah-Tugaloo Rivers; and (5) irregular ungraded, steep-gradient profiles that are concave-upward in the upstream reaches and downstream convex-upward, for example, on most of the Atlantic Slope and East Gulf Slope Rivers above the Fall Line. Constant slope profiles occur where the last type of rivers flow across relatively weak Coastal Plain sediments and also inland on the Coosa and Oostanaula-Conasauga Rivers. The profile characteristics of the Atlantic and East Gulf streams lend support to the hypothesis of multiple erosion cycles in the Appalachians. © 1969 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

International Association of Scientific Hydrology ↗

USGS1966

The effect of climate on drainage density and streamflow

Sir Charles Cotton (1964) has pointed out that in an earlier paper (Carlston, 1963) which related drainage density to hydrology, there was insufficient emphasis on the role of climate in its effect on drainage density. Re-examination of the relation of drainage density to base flow in the 15 basins originally described has revealed additional evidence that base flow is affected by precipitation or recharge (a climatic variable), while varying inversely with drainage density.Within the climatic region studied in the earlier paper (the Humid Subtropical Climate of the eastern U. S.), no evidence could be found that amount or intensity of rainfall affected the intensity of flood runoff or the scale of drainage density. In comparison with other climates, however, such as the Marine West Coast Climate, it is possible that the less intense precipitation of a marine climate may result in lower runoff intensities and lower drainage densities, however the lower mean temperatures of such climates may develop soils of generally higher infiltration capacity which would produce lower drainage densities.A progressive increase in aridity results in a decrease in soil and vegetal cover which greatly magnifies the range of drainage densities characteristic of semi-arid regions. In such regions, where the land sur-face has a good infiltration capacity rainfall sinks readily into the dry soil (although recharge to ground water may be negligible), and runoff is virtually zero, as is drainage density, Impermeable terranes devoid of vegetal and soil cover reject the rain, runoff is briefly total and drainage density may be greatly magnified, as in the South Dakota Badlands, where drainage density runs into the hundreds. Arid or Desert Climates should produce erosional landforms with generally high drainage densities, though not reaching the magnitudes of drainage density found in the semi-arid badlands where rainfall intensities are much higher. © 1966 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

International Association of Scientific Hydrology ↗

USGS1964

Tritium-hydrologic research: Some results of the U.S. Geological Survey Research Program

In general tritium is of limited usefulness as a tool in hydrologic studies because the tritium content of ground water, as a result of radioactive decay, becomes too low to be detectable after about 50 years. Nevertheless, a unique study was made of the hydrologic cycle of small stream basins in Wisconsin and New Jersey on the basis of measurements relative to the peak of tritium fallout in the spring of 1958. The continental and the coastal basins received approximately the same tritium fallout. Approximately 30 percent went into ground-water storage, the remainder being exported as runoff and evapotranspiration. The mean residence time for ground-water recharge for the two basins was 45 and 30 days, respectively.

New Jersey, Wisconsin↗

USGS1963

Geologic history of the teays valley in West Virginia

The segment of the abandoned pre-Pleistocene Teays Valley between Scary and Huntington, W. Va. stands 130-240 feet above the Ohio and Kanawha rivers, and its bedrock floor slopes westward at about 0.6 foot per mile. The bedrock floor is overlain by highly weathered gravel in which a soil profile developed; only resistant siliceous materials remain. As much as 100 feet of locally derived sediments overlies the basal gravel. Sand was deposited at each end of the valley but in the east-central part it grades laterally into a laminated silty clay that was deposited during a period of ponding, probably in Kansan time. These deposits are deeply eroded. Probably during Illinoian time, ponding at a lower level resulted in deposition of a younger silty clay in the western part of the valley. This silty clay is weathered to a depth of about 14 feet. During a brief ponding in Wisconsin time, a widely scattered veneer of ice-rafted unweathered pebbles of igneous and metamorphic rocks was deposited. This veneer represents the youngest Pleistocene deposits in the valley and it occurs as much as 110 feet above the present Ohio River. Depositional, weathering, erosional, and topographic evidence argues that the Teays Valley in West Virginia was abandoned in late Tertiary or early Pleistocene time by normal stream-capture processes and that prolonged weathering followed. © 1963, The Geological Society of America, Inc.

West Virginia↗

USGS1950

Pleistocene history of coastal Alabama

Following its deposition, the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene Citronelle formation was entrenched by consequent streams and then tilted toward the Gulf. Submergence in waters 190 to 210 feet above present sea level then resulted in a compound shore line and marine erosion of the Coharie terrace. Four other marine terraces occur below the Coharie level: the Sunderland at 150 to 160 feet, the Wicomico at 90 to 110 feet, the Penholoway at 60-70 feet, and the Pamlico at 20 to 30 feet. The Coharie, Penholoway, and Pamlico marine terraces are associated with fluvial or estuarine terraces in the Mobile River Valley. After Pamlico submergence, a Mobile River floodplain and delta was formed at 10 to 11 feet below present sea level. © 1950, The Geological Society of America, Inc.

Louisiana↗

USGS1946

Appalachian drainage and the highland border sediments of the Newark series

The highland border fanglomerates of the Newark basin in New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania show no extraordinary correlation with present drainage either in distribution or lithologic character and degree of rounding of their gravels. The writer found no evidence of deposition of any of the fanglomerates by major streams and no evidence that any of the present streams enter the basin through Triassic-filled remnants of Triassic valleys. Available evidence indicates that streams which deposited the Newark fanglomerates were relatively short and steep, consequent on the northwest border fault scarp or flexure. Variations in lithologic character of the fanglomerates were due largely to the rock types exposed along the margin of the northwest highland block. The lithologic character of the Newark sediments and particularly of the basal Stockton supports this hypothesis.

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania↗

USGS1943

Notes on the early history of water-well drilling in the United States

The standard cable-tool drilling rig was invented and developed in drilling salt wells in the West Virginia-Ohio-Pennsylvania region during the twenty years following the successful completion of the first drilled well in 1808 by the Ruffnet brothers at the Great Buffalo Lick near Charleston, West Virginia. Some time previous to 1823, Levi Disbrow studied the drilling methods used in the western salt industry and came east to become the first professional water well driller in the states north of the Potomac River. Possibly the first artesian water well in the United States was constructed in 1820 in Charleston, South Carolina, by sinking an iron pipe through a clay bed. Auger boring for artesian water appears to have been first used in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1823; however, the first successful auger-bored well was not completed in that city until after 1825. The drilling methods and tools were copied from a description of a well bored in London, England. Between 1821 and 1833 auger boring of artesian wells began in the Black Belt of Alabama and possibly in Mississippi. The process of jetting wells, invented in 1884, became the chief method of sinking artesian wells in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain by the end of the century. The first successful artesian wells in Georgia and Florida were put down during the period 1880-1882. © 1943 Society of Economic Geologists, Inc.

Economic Geology↗