Geology Reports⌕ Search

Geology topics

J. B. McHugh

Publications and source records attributed to J. B. McHugh.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS1988

Concentration of gold in natural waters

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the amount of gold present in natural waters. One hundred and thirty-two natural water samples were collected from various sources and analyzed for gold by the latest techniques. Background values for gold in natural waters range from <0.001 to 0.005 ppb, and anomalous values range from 0.010 to 2.8 ppb. Waters collected from mineralized areas have a mean gold value of 0.101 ppb, whereas waters collected from unmineralized areas have a mean of 0.002 ppb. Some of the high gold values reported in the earlier literature were probably due to interferences by high salt content in the sample and/or lack of proper filter procedures.

Journal of Geochemical Exploration↗
USGS1987

Analytical results and sample locality map of stream-sediment, heavy mineral-concentrate, rock, and water samples from the Skedaddle (CA-020- 612) and Dry Valley Rim (CA-020-615) Wilderness Study Areas, Lassen County, California, and Washoe County, Nevada

In the summer of 1985, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a reconnaissance geochemical survey of the Skedaddle (CA-020-612) and Dry Valley Rim (CA-020-615) Wilderness Study Areas in Lassen County, California, and Washoe County, Nevada. Skedaddle and Dry Valley Rim are contiguous wilderness study areas (WSA) located in the eastern part of the Modoc Plateau in Lassen County, northeastern California, and Washoe County, northwestern Nevada (fig. 1). The Skedaddle study area encompasses 39,420 acres and the Dry Valley Rim study area encompasses 54,480 acres of Bureau of Land Management administered public land about 25 mi east of Susanville, California. The Skedaddle study area is bounded on the east by the Skedaddle road, on the north by the Smoke Creek Road, on the south by the Wendel road, and on the west by the rim west of Wendel Canyon. The Dry Valley Rim study area is bounded on the east by the lower Smoke Creek road, the Dry Valley road, and the Pipe Springs Road. The northern boundary is the Smoke Creek Ranch road, the southern boundary the Wendel road, and the western boundary the east-side Skedaddle road. Access to the study areas is provided by several light-duty dirt roads and ways that join the boundary roads. Elevations range from 3,800 (1158 m) to 7,552 ft (2302 m). Steep rim rock walls and talus-covered canyons are common in the eastern third of the Dry Valley Rim study area, and the western third of the Skedaddle study area, while the majority of both study areas is gradually sloping, covered only by sparse sagebrush. Existing geologic maps that cover the two study areas consist of Lydon and others (I960), Bonham (1969), and Diggles and others (1986). The Skedaddle Wilderness Study Area consists of two parallel ridges, the Skedaddle Mountains and the Amedee Mountains. The ridges bound the Wendel and Spencer basins, an area of bleached and silicified rocks. Dry Valley Rim is a 17-mi (5.2 m)-long north-south-trending fault block that is situated 1,500 ft (457 m) above the Smoke Creek Desert to the east. The rim provides good exposure of the thick sequences of volcanic rocks that underlie the wilderness study area. The rocks of the study areas consist mostly of Tertiary basalt, andesite, and lahar with minor amounts of rhyolitic ash-flow tuff, rhyolite, and dacite. Surficial deposits consist of colluvium, alluvium, and talus, as well as aeolian, lacustrine, and fluvial deposits.

California, Nevada↗
USGS1986

Determining gold in water by anion-exchange batch extraction

This paper describes a batch procedure for determining gold in natural waters. It is completely adaptable to field operations. The water samples are filtered and acidified before they are equilibrated with an anion-exchange resin by shaking. The gold is then eluted with acetone-nitric acid solution, and the eluate evaporated to dryness. The residue is taken up in hydrobromic acid-bromine solution and the gold is extracted with methyl isobutyl ketone. The extract is electrothermally atomized in an atomic-absorption spectrophotometer. The limit of determination is 1 ng 1.

Talanta↗
USGS1984

Maps showing distribution of pH, copper, zinc, fluoride, uranium, molybdenum, arsenic, and sulfate in water, Richfield 1° x 2° quadrangle, Utah

These maps show the regional distribution of copper, zinc, arsenic, molybdenum, uranium, fluoride, sulfate, and pH in surface and ground water from the Richfield 1° x 2° quadrangle. This study supplements (Miller and others, 1984a-j) the regional drainage geochemical study done for the Richfield quadrangle under the U.S. Geological Survey’s Conterminuous United States Mineral Assessment Program (CUSMAP). Regional sampling was designed to define broad geochemical patterns and trends which can be used, along with geologic and geophysical data, to assess the mineral resource potential of the Richfield quadrangle. Analytical data used in compiling this report were published previously (McHugh and others, 1981). The Richfield quadrangle in west-central Utah covers the eastern part of the Pioche-Marysvale igneous and mineral belt that extends from the vicinity of Pioche in southeastern Nevada, east-northeastward for 250 km into central Utah. The western two-thirds of the Richfield quadrangle is in the Basin and Range Province, and the eastern third in the High Plateaus of Utah subprovince of the Colorado Plateau. Bedrock in the northern part of the Richfield quadrangle consists predominantly of latest Precambrian and Paleozoic sedimentary strata that were thrust eastward during the Sevier orogeny in Cretaceous time onto an autochthon of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks in the eastern part of the quadrangle. The southern part of the quadrangle is largely underlain by Oligocene and younger volcanic rocks and related intrusions. Extensional tectonism in late Cenozoic time broke the bedrock terrane into a series of north-trending fault blocks; the uplifted mountain areas were deeply eroded and the resulting debris deposited in the adjacent basins. Most of the mineral deposits in the Pioche-Marysvale mineral belt were formed during igneous activity in the middle and late Cenozoic time.

Utah↗
USGS1983

Origin of concretionary Mn-Fe-oxides in stream sediments of Maine, U.S.A.

Studies of stream and sediment-pore waters largely explain the genesis of concretionary Mn-Fe-oxides in Maine. Waters of two small streams near Jackman, Maine, were studied in terms of pH, Eh, dissolved oxygen, dissolved organic carbon, dissolved Mn, total dissolved Fe, and ferrous and ferric Fe. Pyrite Creek has profuse concretions and coatings of Mn-Fe-oxides, whereas West Pyrite Creek has only sparse Mn-Fe-oxide stains. Pyrite Creek drains boggy terrain and West Pyrite Creek drains well-drained terrain. In West Pyrite Creek, stream and subjacent pore waters have chemical characteristics that do not differ greatly. However, dissolved Mn, ferrous Fe, dissolved oxygen, and in situ Eh measurements show that a steep Eh gradient exists between stream and subjacent pore waters of Pyrite Creek. The steep Eh gradient is manifested by the common zonation of coatings and stains on rocks in stream sediment. The bottom zone has no deposition of oxides, the middle zone is red and consists mostly of Fe-oxides, and the upper zone is black or dark-brown and consists of Mn-oxides with varying amounts of Fe-oxides. The zonation agrees with theoretical predictions of oxide stability as one moves from a reducing to an oxidizing environment. At locations where concretionary Mn-Fe-oxides form, pore waters are depleted of oxygen because of abundant decaying organic material in the stream sediment. The pore waters are charged with dissolved Mn and Fe because mechanically deposited Mn-Fe-oxides are remobilized due to the low-Eh conditions. Groundwaters also contribute dissolved Mn and Fe. Stream waters, on the other hand, are oxygenated and the high-Eh conditions result in low concentrations of dissolved Mn and Fe in stream waters because of the insolubility of Mn-Fe-oxides in high-Eh environments. Therefore, concretionary Mn-Fe-oxides form at the interface between pore and stream waters because Mn- and Fe-rich pore waters, which are undersaturated with respect to Mn-Fe-oxides, mix with oxygen-rich stream waters, which are saturated with respect to Mn-Fe-oxides. ?? 1983.

Chemical Geology↗