Geology topics

J. Obradovich

Publications and source records attributed to J. Obradovich.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2017

Obsidian hydration dating of volcanic events

Obsidian hydration dating of volcanic events had been compared with ages of the same events determined by the 14 C and K-Ar methods at several localities. The localities, ranging in age from 1200 to over 1 million yr, include Newberry Craters, Oregon; Coso Hot Springs, California; Salton Sea, California; Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming; and Mineral Range, Utah. In most cases the agreement is quite good. A number of factors including volcanic glass composition and exposure-temperature history must be known in order to relate hydration thickness to age. The effect of composition can be determined from chemical analysis or the refractive index of the glass. Exposure-temperature history requires a number of considerations enumerated in this paper.

California, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming↗

USGS1993

The Manson Impact Structure: 40Ar/39Ar age and its distal impact ejecta in the Pierre Shale in southeastern South Dakota

The 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages of a sanidine clast from a melt-matrix breccia of the Manson, Iowa, impact structure (MIS) indicate that the MIS formed 73.8 ± 0.3 million years ago (Ma) and is not coincident with the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (64.43 ± 0.05 Ma). The MIS sanidine is 9 million years older than 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age spectra of MIS shock-metamorphosed microcline and melt-matrix breccia interpreted earlier to be 64 to 65 Ma. Grains of shock-metamorphosed quartz, feldspar, and zircon were found in the Crow Creek Member (upper Campanian) at a biostratigraphic level constrained by radiometric ages in the Pierre Shale of South Dakota that are consistent with the 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age of 73.8 ± 0.3 Ma for MIS reported herein.

South Dakota↗

USGS1988

Age of native copper mineralization, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan

Amygdaloidal flood basalts and conglomerates are the host for substantial deposits of native copper within the Portage Lake Volcanics in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan. A wide variety of gangue minerals are associated with the regional hydrothermal alteration-mineralization event. Application of the Rb-Sr method to amygdule-filling microcline, calcite, epidote, and chlorite suggests an age of mineralization between 1,060 and 1,047 m.y. (+ or - [asymp] 20 m.y.). These results are supported by a fission track age on epidote of 1,044 + or - 169 m.y. The age of native copper mineralization determined in this study is consistent with geologic evidence which suggests that mineralization postdated the deposition of most or all of the overlying Freda Sandstone. Variable initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios between the low Rb/Sr phases suggest mixing of isotopically distinct sources of Sr during the generation and equilibration of the hydrothermal solutions.

Michigan↗

USGS1976

Obsidian hydration dating and correlation of Bull Lake and Pinedale Glaciations near West Yellowstone, Montana

The ages of the last two glaciations near West Yellowstone, Montana, can be calculated by obsidian hydration techniques that are calibrated by K-Ar dating of obsidian-bearing lava flows. The average age of glacial abrasion of obsidian in the Pinedale terminal moraines is about 30,000 yr, with most age measurements between 20,000 and 35,000 yr. For the Bull Lake moraines, it is about 140,000 yr, with most measurements between 130,000 and 155,000 yr. This age for the Bull Lake moraines is also supported by geologic relations that show that the moraines are older than a rhyolite flow dated by K-Ar as 114,500 ± 7,300 yr old (lσ). These obsidian hydration ages of the Pinedale and Bull Lake Glaciations correlate well with the last two cold intervals of the marine record. The age determined for the Bull Lake Glaciation near West Yellowstone antedates the last interglaciation of the marine record, which is commonly correlated with the Sangamon Interglaciation. Our results suggest correlation of the Pinedale Glaciation near West Yellowstone with much or all of the Wisconsin Glaciation and of the Bull Lake with the late Illinoian. This differs with the commonly accepted correlation of the Pinedale with the late (“classical”) Wisconsin and of the Bull Lake with the early Wisconsin. The correlation of Bull Lake with late Illinoian appears equally or more compatible with traditional criteria for correlation, namely comparative soil development and degree of preservation of morainal morphology.

Wyoming, Montana, Idaho↗