Map showing bedrock-surface topography of the Toledo area, northwestern Ohio and southeastern Michigan
No abstract available.
Michigan, Ohio↗
Geology topics
Gerald L. Shideler
Publications and source records attributed to Gerald L. Shideler.
Shoreline and coastal wetland variability along the west shore of Green Bay, Marinette and Oconto counties, Wisconsin
Coastal wetland ecosystems along the Great Lakes shorelines are extremely valuable natural resources. They provide numerous environmental and recreational benefits, and they serve as critical habitats for fish and wildlife populations. In general terms, wetlands can be defined as lands transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems; they are characterized by periodic submergence or a water table at or near the surface and a predominance of hydric soils and hydrophytes. Changes in shoreline positions over time result in concomitant changes in the amount of adjacent coastal wetlands, frequently resulting in a permanent loss of these valuable resources. In the Great Lakes region, the main natural cause of shoreline changes are lake-level fluctuations that result from two interactive factors. One factor is the glacio-isostatic rebound of the lake basins, which has been occurring since the end of the late Wisconsin glaciation to the present. This crustal rebounding has slowly uplifted previous lake outlets, warped and tilted lake basins, and changed lake levels and shoreline positions. On the basis of historic lake-level gauge records, measured modern differential vertical uplift rates range from 0.26 ft/century in the southern part of the Great Lakes drainage basin to 1.74 ft/century in the northern part of the basin (Larsen, 1989). The second factor contributing to lake-level fluctuations is climate variability, which controls the amount of regional precipitation and evaporation, storm frequency, runoff, and resulting lake levels. Climate variability can occur over a wide spectrum of time scales; it can range from seasonal variations, to long-term trends of a few years or decades in duration, to trends lasting hundred of thousands of years. Climatic variations, in conjunction with glacio-isostatic rebound, have resulted in substantial temporal variability of the Great Lakes shorelines and associated wetland tracts during post-glacial times.
Wisconsin↗
Temporal variability of shoreline positions and coastal wetlands along lower Green Bay, Oconto and Brown counties, Wisconsin
The positions of shorelines and the areal extent of adjacent coastal wetland tracts in the Great Lakes region have exhibited substantial temporal variability during both prehistoric and historical times. Shoreline migration has resulted in environmental problems such as flooding and the coastal erosion of lakefront property, as well as the destruction of coastal wetland resources. In the Great Lakes region, the main natural cause for changes in shoreline position and adjacent wetland area is lake-level fluctuations, which results from two interactive factors. One factor is the glacio-isostatic rebound of the lake basins that has occurred from the end of the late Wisconsin glaciation to the present. This crustal rebounding has resulted in the slow uplifting of previous lake outlets and warping of lake basins, contributing to changing lake levels and shoreline migration. Historic lake-level gauge records indicate modern differential vertical uplift rates that range from 0.26 ft/century in the southern part of the Great Lakes drainage basin to 1.74 ft/century in the northern part of the basin (Larsen, 1989). The second factor contributing to lake-level fluctuations is climate variability, which causes variations in the amount of regional precipitation and evaporation, storm frequency, runoff, and resulting lake levels. Climate variability can occur over a wide spectrum of time scales, from seasonal variations, to longer-term trends of a few years or decades in duration, to trends lasting hundreds of thousands of years. A combination of both climatic variations and glacio-isostatic rebound has resulting in substantial temporal variability of the Great Lakes shorelines and associated coastal wetland tracts during post-glacial times.
Wisconsin↗
Critical coastal wetland problem areas along the Michigan-Wisconsin shoreline of Lake Michigan, and their prioritization for further study
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Open-File Report↗
Heavy-Mineral Placer Potential Map of the U.S. Continental Shelf, Western and Northern Gulf of Mexico
The establishment of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in 1983 by Presidential Proclamation opened for natural resource exploration a vast offshore frontier area contiguous to the United States and its territories. The EEZ extends from the seaward limit of state waters (3 nautical mi from shore) to 200 nautical mi offshore, and it includes the continental shelves. Within the context of the EEZ natural resource assessment effort, the purpose of this study is to delineate, on a regional basis, the potential for heavy-mineral placers on the U.S. Continental Shelf in the western and northern Gulf of Mexico from the United States-Mexico border to the Alabama-Florida state line. This map is intended to serve as a general guide for placer exploration. It shows favorable sea-floor areas for placer occurrence in water depths ranging from 0 to 100 fathoms (600 ft). The map can be used as a guide for focusing costly exploratory efforts, such as coring operations and geophysical surveys. The potential economic value of heavy-mineral placer concentrations on the U.S. Continental Shelf is a function of both geologic and economic variables. Geologic variables include the composition and concentration of the heavy-mineral assemblages and their environment of deposition. Economic variables include the current world market price of extracted metals, as well as the cost of mining, processing, and marketing the metals. These economic factors, in turn, are tempered by the nation1s socio-political climate, which determines its need for specific mineral resources at any given time.
Miscellaneous Field Studies Map↗
Development of the benethic nepheloid layer on the south Texas continental shelf, western Gulf of Mexico
A monitoring study of suspended sediment on the South Texas Continental Shelf indicates that a turbid benthic nepheloid layer is regionally persistent. A sequence of quasi-synoptic measurements of the water column obtained during six cruises in an 18-month period indicates substantial spatial and temporal variability in nepheloidlayer characteristics. Regionally, the thickness of the shelf nepheloid layer increases both seaward and in a convergent alongshelf direction. Greatest thicknesses occur over a muddy substrate, indicating a causal relationship; maximum observed local thickness is 35 m which occurs along the southern shelf break. Analyses of suspended particulate matter in shelf bottom waters indicate mean concentrations ranging from 49 · 10 4 to 111 · 10 4 particle counts/cc; concentrations persistently increase shoreward throughout the region. Bottom particulate matter is predominantly composed of inorganic detritus. Admixtures of organic skeletal particles, primarily diatoms, are generally present but average less than 10% of the total particulate composition. Texturally, the particulate matter in bottom waters is predominantly poorly sorted sediment composed of very fine silt (3.9–7.8 μm). The variability in nepheloid-layer characteristics indicates a highly dynamic shelf feature. The relationship of nepheloid-layer characteristics to hydrographic and substrate conditions suggests a conceptual model whereby nepheloid-layer development and maintenance are the results of the resuspension of sea-floor sediment. Bottom turbulence is attributed primarily to vertical shear and shoaling progressive internal waves generated by migrating shelf-water masses, especially oceanic frontal systems, and secondarily to shoaling surface gravity waves.
Texas↗
Maps showing textural characteristics of benthic sediments in the Corpus Christi Bay estuarine system, south Texas
Corpus Christi Bay is a heavily used estuary on the south Texas coast in the northwest Gulf of Mexico (fig. 1). The Bay is stressed by diverse activities which could substantially affect its ecosystem. Such activities include shipping, resource production (oil, gas, and construction aggregate), commercial and sport fishing, and recreation. Shipping activities alone have had a substantial impact on the bay. For example, the past maintenance of navigation channels has required extensive dredging and spoil disposal within the estuarine system. Numerous subaqueous spoil disposal sites and subaerial spoil banks are present throughout the bay (fig. 1), and the selection of future spoil disposal sites is becoming a critical local problem. As activities in the bay increase, the need for effective environmental management becomes increasingly important, and effective management necessitates a good understanding of the bay's physical characteristics. The objective of this study is to provide detailed information about the textural composition of bottom sediments within the estuarine system, information which could be used in making environmental-management decisions. Visual descriptions of bottom sediments in Corpus Christi Bay and adjacent areas have been presented by McGowen and Morton (1979). Additionally, a study of the textures of sediments on the Inner Continental Shelf adjacent to the bay has been presented by Shideler and Berryhill (1977).
Texas↗
Maps showing composition of surficial sediments on the insular shelf of southwestern Puerto Rico
The limited availability of onshore sand deposits for use in construction appears to be a future major problem in Puerto Rico (U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1972; Committee on Puerto Rico and the Sea, 1974). Consequently, the mining of offshore sand deposits as supplemental sources of construction aggregate may becom e necessary. For this reason, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Department of Natural Resources of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have conducted investigations of potential offshore sand deposits on the Puerto Rico insular shelf. This report provides information on the composition of surficial sediments on the southwestern Puerto Rico shelf (fig. 1), an area that may be one of the more favorable potential sites for offshore sand resources. Water depths over most of the study area are less than 22 meters (m). The sea floor is composed of live and dead patch and fringing reefs, areas of rock exposures, and sedim ent-covered areas. The adjacent coastline includes prominent embaym ents and a conspicuous rock promontory (Cabo Rojo) connected by a tombolo to the mainland of Puerto Rico. The study area is in the belt of northeast trade winds. Waves approach the coast predominantly from the southeast, resulting in a predominantly westward littoral drift along the south coast (Grove and Trumbull, 1978). Local sand movement on the southern shelf is shown by an active sand wave field south of Bah1a Sucia in which the sand wave crests have migrated toward the southwest (Grove and Trumbull, 1978). The presence of the sand wave field suggests that large volumes of sand having potential for mining are locally present in the study area.
Puerto Rico↗
Physical characteristics of suspended sediments, South Texas Continental Shelf
This report presents the results of a three-year study of suspended sediments within the South Texas OCS region. The investigations were a part of the environmental studies of the South Texas Outer Continental shelf sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management. The physical properties of the suspended particulate system studied were the turbidity of the water and the texture of the suspended particulates. The objective of the study was to determine the spatial and temporal variability in the distribution of suspended sediments in an effort to gain insight into the regional sediment transport system.
Texas↗
Longitudinal turbidity structures in a bar-built coastal plain estuary, Corpus Christi Bay, Texas
Corpus Christi Bay is a shallow, bar-built variety of estuary that is characteristic of the South Texas Coastal Plain. On the basis of synoptic in situ measurements of light transmissivity and suspended-sediment concentrations at six monitoring stations, a time sequence of six turbidity structures was established along the longitudinal trend of the bay and its tidal inlet over a 16-month observation period. The bay turbidity structures were observed to be highly variable in time and space. Structures ranged from a vertically homogeneous water column, to a well-stratified column exhibiting an increasing turbidity gradient with depth. Wind appeared to be the dominant forcing agent influencing turbidity toward the bayhead sector, where it both generates waves for bottom-sediment resuspension and regulates fluvial sediment influx from the Nueces River. Turbidity toward the baymouth sector appeared to be dominantly regulated by tidal forcing effects from Aransas Pass inlet. Both the discharge characteristics of the Nueces River and the mean density of the bay's water column had no discernible influence on the observed bay turbidity structures.
Texas↗
Maps Showing Distribution of Heavy Minerals on the South Texas Outer Continental Shelf
Heavy minerals constitute a natural resource which, under proper conditions, could have potential economic significance. The purpose of this report is to describe the heavy-mineral distribution in sea-floor sediments On the South Texas Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) within the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. The South Texas OCS encompasses approximately 24,500 sq km extending southward from Matagorda Bay to the U.S.-Mexico border (fig. 1). In a shoreward direction, the OCS extends from the 180-m isobath to the Federal-State water boundary (16.6 km offshore); however, the mineral distribution patterns presented in these maps have been extrapolated slightly shoreward of the l5-m isobath. This work was part of a regional environmental studies program in the South Texas OCS that was conducted in conjunction with the offshore petroleum-lease sales, under the auspices of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Some previous work on heavy minerals within the OCS had been done by van Andel and Poole (1960) and van Andel (1960); the fOrIner work was based on relatively few OCS samples and was part of a broader regional study of the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Miscellaneous Field Studies Map↗
A comparison of electronic particle counting and pipette techniques in routine mud analysis
Electronic particle counting and pipette size-analysis techniques are compared for their relative effectiveness in large-scale routine mud analysis. Optimum laboratory procedures for conducting electronic analyses with a Model TA Coulter Counter are presented. Comparative electronic and pipette analyses conducted on the same samples resulted in equivalent precision for both techniques. Results of electronic analyses consistently showed size distributions significantly coarser than those obtained by pipette analyses. The laboratory efficiency of the relatively rapid electronic technique is far superior to that of the pipette technique, although more extensive precautionary measures are required to maintain a high level of analytical accuracy and precision. The quality of electronic analyses largely depends upon the effectiveness of standardized operational procedures established within the laboratory.
Open-File Report↗
Textural distribution of sea-floor sediments, south Texas Outer Continental Shelf
The general texture of sea-floor sediments along the south Texas Outer Continental Shelf was evaluated in terms of gravel, sand, silt, and clay components. The gravel component is quantitatively minor and is concentrated mainly in the southern sector; it consists, for the most part, of relict biogenic detritus dominated by molluscan shells. The sand component consists of terrigenous and biogenic detritus. Modern sand is localized along the shoreface sector, whereas palimpsest and relict sands characterize the northern and southern sectors, which are the respective locations of the ancestral Brazos-Colorado 'and Rio Grande deltas. The central sector contains an extensive modern mud blanket that appears to be migrating southward over relict deposits of the ancestral Rio Grande delta. The silt fraction is the highly dominant component of the mud blanket; silt appears to be hydraulically trapped within the shelf environment and constitutes the most abundant detrital component within the Outer Continental Shelf region. The subordinate clay component of the mud blanket is concentrated toward the shelf break and may be largely escaping into deeper water environments.
Texas↗
Textural distribution of sea-floor sediments, South Texas Outer Continental Shelf
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Open-File Report↗
Paleotectonic investigations of the Pennsylvanian System in the United States, Part I: Introduction and regional analyses of the Pennsylvanian System
The Pennsylvanian is the fourth geologic system to be analyzed and synthesized by geologists of the U.S. Geological Survey in the form of a paleotectonic study covering the conterminous United States. Earlier investigations were of the Jurassic, Triassic, and Permian Systems. Results were published as Miscellaneous Geologic Investigation Maps I-175, I-300, and I-450 and in Professional Paper 515. The objective of these investigations is to provide in graphic form the factual basis for recognition of tectonic events of each system on a countrywide scale. The maps in this publication depict rock thickness, generalized lithology, ancient geography, and other regional relations of the Pennsylvanian System. Method of preparation of the maps, the stratigraphic limits of the map units, and various stratigraphic and structural features and their probable tectonic significance are discussed. Pennsylvanian data were largely compiled between 1961 and 196 by 16 geologists, including the late Harold R. Wanless, who covered the five eastern regions and contributed to several of the special studies. The areas of responsibility of the cooperating geologists are indicated in figure 1. Work in Kansas was done by Gary F. Stewart, of the Kansas Geological Survey. Results of this investigation are presented in three units. Part I comprises an introduction and 17 chapters, each describing and discussing one of the regions in which the conterminous United States was divided for purposes of study and mapping. Part II is a synthesis of Pennsylvanian history to accompany interpretive maps of the five divisions of the Pennsylvanian System treated in this publication; it also includes a series of chapters on depositional environments, climatic conditions, and economic products of the system. The final section of part II is devoted to an index of localities and sources used in construction of the principal maps of this publication. Part III consists of the plates on which are presented the major maps and sections.
Professional Paper↗