Geology Reports⌕ Search

Geology topics

Robert D. Miller

Publications and source records attributed to Robert D. Miller.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1973

Two diamictons in a landslide scarp on Admiralty Island, Alaska, and the tectonic insignificance of an intervening peat bed

Two till-like diamictons, 700 feet above present sea level on Admiralty Island, Alaska, are separated by peat near the top of a landslide scarp. The lower diamicton is glaciomarine; the upper diamicton is probably a mudflow. The lower diamicton contains the foraminifer Elphidium clavatum Cushman, a species typical of fiords. Similar diamicton crops out along Gastineau Channel near Juneau, 15 miles eastward. Diamicton in both areas reflects deposition in glacier-free fiords during land depression and sea transgression. Consequently, till-like deposits less than 700 feet above sea level elsewhere in southeastern Alaska should be considered as possibly glaciomarine. Sliding occurred after late 1962, but before July 1964; the March 27, 1964, Alaska earthquake might have caused sliding of diamicton saturated by melting snow and spring rains. The peat in the landslide scarp has a published radiocarbon date of 3,400±250 years B.P. (W-1955). The peat was expected to be older, and to relate to Holocene tectonic movement of Admiralty Island. The unexpectedly young date led to additional field study that showed the material over the peat to be a probable mudflow derived from glaciomarine diamicton upvalley; the date has no tectonic significance.

Alaska↗
USGS1955

Sequence of alluviation along the Loup rivers, Valley County area, Nebraska

Alluviation along the North and Middle Loup rivers in Valley County, Nebraska, produced a series of alluvial silt beds on which are developed five interstadial soils of Brady (?), Cary and Mankato (?), Mankato (?), early Recent and late Recent age. No deposits of Illinoian age were found and in at least one place the Brady (?) soil is superposed on a gleyed horizon developed on the Sappa formation, which overlies the Grand Island formation. Post-Yarmouth erosion removed the Sappa formation and part of the Grand Island formation at most places. The characteristic Sangamon soil was not developed on uneroded remnants of the soil of Yarmouth age because of a wet, poorly drained environment. A large collection of molluscs obtained from this gley soil supports stratigraphic evidence indicating a Yarmouth age. Alluviation during the glacial substages of Wisconsin time and soil formation during the interglacial substages were uninterrupted by erosion until after development of the soil of Mankato age. The Wisconsin deposits were dissected to below the Brady soil in places, and the resulting gullies were filled with later alluvium. The late Recent fill terrace lies 15 feet below the top of the late Wisconsin terrace. Subsequent cutting and filling in late Recent time produced another terrace 11 feet below the older terrace. The modern gully was cut during the last century.

Nebraska↗