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Carol A. Finn

Publications and source records attributed to Carol A. Finn.

101 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Gravity studies in the Cascade Range

A compatible set of gravity data has been compiled for the entire Cascade Range. From this data set a series of interpretive color gravity maps have been prepared, including a free air anomaly map, Bouguer anomaly map at a principle, and an alternate reduction density, and filtered and derivative versions of the Bouguer anomaly map. The regional anomaly pattern and gradients outline the various geological provinces adjacent to the Cascade Range and delineate major structural elements in the range. The more local anomalies and gradients may delineate low density basin and caldera fill, faults, and shallow plutons. Refs.

California, Oregon, Washington↗

Gravity evidence for a shallow intrusion under Medicine Lake volcano, California

A positive gravity anomaly is associated with Medicine Lake volcano, California. Trials with different Bouguer reduction densities indicate that this positive anomaly cannot be explained by an inappropriate choice of Bouguer reduction density but must be caused by a subvolcanic body. After separating the Medicine Lake gravity high from the regional field, we were able to fit the 27-mgal positive residual anomaly with a large, shallow body of high density contrast (+0.41 g/cm 3 ) and a thickness of 2.5 km. We interpret this body to be an intrusion of dense material emplaced within the several-kilometres-thick older volcanic layer that probably underlies Medicine Lake volcano.

California↗

Complete Bouguer map of the Medicine Lake quadrangle, California

A mathematical technique, called kriging, was programmed for a computer to interpolate hydrologic data based on a network of measured values in west-central Kansas. The computer program generated estimated values at the center of each 1-mile section in the Western Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 1 and facilitated contouring of selected values that are needed in the effective management of ground water for irrigation. The kriging technique produced objective and reproducible maps that illustrated hydrologic conditions in the Ogallala aquifer, the principal source of water in west-central Kansas. Maps of the aquifer, which use a 3-year average, included the 1978-80 water-table altitudes, which ranged from about 2,580 to 3,720 feet; the 1978-80 saturated thicknesses, which ranged from about 0 to 250 feet; and the percentage changes in saturated thickness from 1950 to 1978-80, which ranged from about a 50-percent increase to a 100-percent decrease. A map showing errors of estimate also was provided as a measure of reliability for the 1978-80 water-table altitudes. Errors of estimate ranged from 2 to 24 feet. (USGS)

California↗

Scouting craton’s edge in Paleo-Pacific Gondwana

The geology of the ice-covered interior of the East Antarctic shield is completely unknown; inferences about its composition and history are based on extrapolating scant outcrops from the coast inland. Although the shield is clearly composite in nature, a large part of its interior has been represented by a single Precambrian block, termed the Mawson block, that includes the Archean-Mesoproterozoic Gawler and Curnamona cratons of Australia. In Australia, the Mawson block is bounded on the east by Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks and the superimposed early Paleozoic Delamerian Orogen, marked by curvilinear belts of arc plutons, and on the west by the unexposed Coompana block and Mesoproterozoic Albany-Fraser mobile belt. In Antarctica, these crustal elements are inferred to extend across Wilkes Land and south to the Miller Range region. Aero- and satellite magnetic data provide a means to see through the ice, helping to elucidate the broad composition of the shield. Rocks of the Mawson block in Australia produce distinctive magnetic anomalies; Paleoproterozoic granites and Meso- to Neoproterozoic mafic igneous rocks are associated with high-amplitude, broad-wavelength positive aero- and satellite-magnetic anomalies. The same types of magnetic anomalies can be traced to ice-covered Wilkes Land, Antarctica, and are interpreted to signify similar rocks. However, the diagnostic satellite magnetic high ends ∼800 km south of the Antarctic coast, suggesting that the Mawson block is smaller than first proposed and that the remaining East Antarctic shield is composed of several Precambrian crustal blocks of largely undetermined composition and age. Nonetheless, the coincident eastern borders of these magnetic highs and high seismic-velocity anomalies characteristic of the Precambrian shield, together define the edge of thick cratonic lithosphere. East of this boundary, magnetic lows are explained by magnetite-poor upper Neoproterozoic and lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, and their metamorphic equivalents, which crop out discontinuously along the Ross margin of Antarctica and in eastern Australia. These rocks are inferred to overlie a Neoproterozoic rift margin, which transects older basement provinces. The coincidence of this cratonic rift boundary with the western limit of Paleozoic and Jurassic magmatism suggests that, although tectonically modified by younger events, the composite Antarctic-Australian shield comprised thick lithosphere that was not penetrated by Paleozoic and younger convergent-margin magmas.

Book chapter↗