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Robert B. Halley

Publications and source records attributed to Robert B. Halley.

46 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
USGS1979

Endolith microborings and their preservation in Holocene-Pleistocene (Bahama-Florida) ooids

Holocene ooids from Joulters Ooid Shoal (Bahamas) are bored in various ways by blue-green algae that groove along the grain surface, reside just beneath the grain surface, and tunnel extensively a few tens of microns within the grain. The microborings, morphologically distinctive, are documented with scanning electron micrographs of open borings and resin casts. Gentle dissolution of ooid aragonite permits identification of several algal genera by light microscopy and enables comparison with the microboring casts. Pleistocene ooids from the Miami Limestone (Florida) contain natural casts of microborings, some of which are similar in form to Holocene examples. Significantly, these aragonite casts are more resistant to solution than surrounding ooid aragonite. They remain after most of the ooid is leached away and survive replacement of the ooid by low-Mg calcite. Dissolution or precipitation may occur along the walls of microborings, causing morphological alteration during their preservation. This points out a difficulty in the specific identification of endoliths on the basis of fossilized microborings in ancient rocks composed of original aragonite grains.

Florida↗
USGS1977

Limestone compaction: an enigma

Compression of an undisturbed carbonate sediment core under a pressure of 556 kg/cm 2 produced a “rock” with sedimentary structures similar to typical ancient fine-grained limestones. Surprisingly, shells, foraminifera, and other fossils were not noticeably crushed, which indicates that absence of crushed fossils in ancient limestones can no longer be considered evidence that limestones do not compact.

Geology↗
USGS1977

Pleistocene barrier bar seaward of ooid shoal complex near Miami, Florida

An ooid sand barrier bar of Pleistocene age was deposited along the seaward side of an ooid shoal complex southwest of Miami, Florida. The bar is 35 km long, about 0.8 km wide, elongate parallel with the trend of the ooid shoal complex and perpendicular to channels between individual shoals. A depression 1.6 km wide, interpreted as a back-barrier channel, isolates the bar from the ooid shoals. During sea-level fall and subaerial exposure of the bar, the ooid sand was cemented in place, preventing migration of the barrier. No Holocene analogue of this sand body is recognized, perhaps because of the relative youthfulness of Holocene ooid shoals. This Pleistocene ooid shoal complex, with its reservoir-size barrier bar, may serve as a refined model for exploration in ancient ooid sand belts.

Florida↗
USGS1976

Textural variation within Great Salt Lake algal mounds

This chapter discusses textural variation within the Great Salt Lake algal mounds. Great Salt Lake algal mounds contain: (1) a framework of non-skeletal, algally induced aragonite precipitates; (2) internal sediment; and (3) inorganic cement. These three elements create a variety of laminated, poorly laminated, and unlaminated internal textures. Interior framework precipitates bear little resemblance to the present living film of the mound surface. Internal texture of the mounds is believed to be largely relict and to have resulted from precipitation by algae different than those presently living at the surface. The most probable cause of local extinction of the algal flora is change in brine salinity. Precipitated blue-green algal structures in ancient rocks may indicate other than normal marine salinity and near shore sedimentation. Extreme variation of internal texture reflects extreme environmental variability typical of closed basin lakes. Recognition of mounds similar to those in the Great Salt Lake can be a first step toward recognition of ancient hyper-saline lake deposits, if such an interpretation is substantiated by consideration of the entire depositional milieu of precipitated algal mounds.

Utah↗
USGS1976

Sclerochronology: a tool for interpreting past environments

X-radiographs of stony coral slabs reveal two types of annual density bands. Detailed studies of these bands in relation to known variations in air temperatures indicate that sclerochronology is a valid tool for documenting time sequences and changing environmental conditions on a coral reef.

Geology↗
USGS1975

Peritidal lithologies of Cambrian carbonate islands, Carrara Formation, southern Great Basin

The Carrara Formation is a heterogeneous sequence of quartzites, siltstones, shales, limestones, dolostones, and mixed terrigenous-carbonate rocks. It is Early and Middle Cambrian in age (Stewart, 1970; Palmer, 1971). Figure 32-1 illustrates the general distribution of Carrara lithologies along a transect approximately normal to depositional strike (Fig. 32-2). The formation contains three “grand cycles” (Aitken, 1966; Palmer, 1971), which terminate at the top of massive limestone members. A fourth cycle begins with the uppermost shale of section 9 and is not illustrated in sections 3 through 8. This fourth cycle grades into the overlying Bonanza King Formation.

Great Basin↗