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At least 289 records · Page 16Linked to original sources
USGS1938

Records of the drilled wells of the island of Oahu, Hawaii

The description, location, log and meter tests of all the drilled wells on Oahu are given herein as of March 1 1938. Except for the discharges of plantation wells, which are published on pages 275 to 322 of Bulletin 1, head, chloride, and discharge records are listed only to the close of 1934, the date when this report was compiled. All head measurements and salt determinations made by the U.S. Geological Survey since 1934 will be found in the annual U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers entitled “Water levels and artesian pressure in observation wells in the United States.” Records of wells in the district of Honolulu are currently printed in the biennial reports of the Board of Water Supply, Honolulu. Most of the records of the plantation wells have been furnished by the owners. Plate 2 shows the location of the wells, whether they are sealed, and whether the log is known. The static level or head of a well is the height above mean sea level to which the water will rise when all flow from the well is shut off. In the nonartesian wells the static level is the level of the water table of the basal zone of saturation in the basalts of the Koolau and Waianae volcanic series. Many of the wells are subartesian; that is, the water stands in the well above the level at which it was first encountered but does not overflow.

Hawaii↗
USGS1976

Geothermal energy in the United States; Part II, Assessment of resources

Geothermal energy-from heat deep inside the Earth- is a vast potential source of power. This article is the second part of a series on geothermal energy, the first part of which was in volume 8, number 1, of the Earthquake Information Bulletin (January-February 1976). Part 1 of this series described the categories of the geothermal resource base.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1983

Earthquake engineering in Peru

During the last decade, earthquake engineering research in Peru has been carried out at the Catholic University of Peru and at the Universidad Nacional de Ingeniera (UNI). The Geophysical Institute (IGP) under the auspices of the Organization of American States (OAS) has initiated in Peru other efforts in regional seismic hazard assessment programs with direct impact to the earthquake engineering program. Further details on these programs have been reported by L. Ocola in the Earthquake Information Bulletin, January-February 1982, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 33-38.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1976

How did the 1906 San Francisco earthquake occur?

The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco was of magnitude 8.3 and was the most destructive in the history of the United States. Because this part of California is now much more heavily populated, intense studies have been made of the 1906 earthquake in an effort to understand how it occurred and, more importantly, what likelihood there is of future large earthquakes near San Francisco. Great emphasis has been put on geodetic data- ground surveys of the region have been made frequently since 1853 (see "The California geodimeter network: measuring movement along the San Andreas fault" by J.C Savage, Earthquake Information Bulletin, vol. 6 no. 3, May-June 1974).

California↗
USGS1976

Tragedy at Kilauea

The following article is a reconstruction of events surrounding the deaths of a party of Hawaiian warriors in 1790 on Kilauea Volcano. It suggests that they were killed by a very hot, ash-free, base-surge cloud that rushed from the volcano. Much more recently than that, in the early morning hours of November 29, 1975, the largest earthquake in more than 100 years struck the southern part of the Island of Hawaii, causing widespread faulting and subsidence, an eruption at the summit of Kilauea Volcano, the loss of at least one life, and widespread damage to property. The effects of this earthquake are still being analyzed by the staff of the Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, but preliminary results indicate that much of the south flank of Kilauea Volcano moved seaward in an abrupt, slump-like manner. The eruption that followed was small by the usually Kilauea standards and is regarded as a leakage of lava from the volcano's underground reservoir system in response to the effects of the earthquake. A more detailed account of these events will be included in a future issue of the Earthquake Information Bulletin.

Hawaii↗
USGS1977

Microearthquake--array studies of the seismicity in Southeast Missouri

In 1811-12, a series of disastrous earthquakes struck the southeast Missouri region (see "The Mississippi Valley earthquakes of 1811 and 1812" by Otto W. Nuttli in the Earthquake Information Bulletin, March-April 1974). Earthquake activity continues in the area at present, showing that the seismic hazard is still there. We know little about the relationship between seismicity and the tectonic character of this region. The hypocenters of earthquakes are scattered. The near-surface features themselves are obscured by the several hundred feet alluvium and other quaternary sediments of the Mississippi embayment. No active faults have been mapped in the area. Supported by the U.S Geological Survey, my colleagues Mark Kramer, Gerard Fischer, Stephen Schaefer, Sean Morrissey, and I have recently established a microearthquake network in the New Madrid seismic zone. The network has been in operation for only 21 months, yet we have already been able to show, from the hypocenters located so far, that earthquakes in this region occur along linear zones, which we believe corespond to seismically active faults.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1978

Predicting earthquakes along the major plate tectonic boundaries in the Pacific

In an article in the last issue of the Earthquake Information Bulletin ("Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics," by Henry Spall), we saw how 90 percent of the world's earthquakes occur at the margins of the Earth's major crustal plates. however, when we look at the distribution of earthquakes in detail, we see that a number of nearly aseismic regions, or seismic gaps, can be found along the present-day plate boundaries. Why is this? And can we regard these areas as being more likely to be the sites for future larger earthquakes than those segments of the plate boundaries that have ruptured recently.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1976

Earthquakes, November-December 1975

There were three significant earthquakes during the last 2 months of the year. Two major earthquakes, both magnitude 7.2 occurred, bringing the final major earthquake total for the year to 13, somewhat below the annual average which is about 18. One great earthquake (8.0 and above) per year is average. One magnitude 8.0 occurred on MAy 28, 1975 (see Earthquake Information Bulletin, vol. 7, no. 4, July-Aug. 1975. Hawaii experienced its strongest earthquake in more than a century. The magnitude 7.2 earthquake on November 29, killed at least 2 and injured about 35. These were the first deaths from an earthquake in the United States dince the San Fernando earthquake of Febraury 1971.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1978

Amplitude of foreshocks as a possible seismic precursor to earthquakes

In recent years, we have made significant progress in being able to recognize the long-range pattern of events that precede large earthquakes. For example, in a recent issue of the Earthquake Information Bulletin, we saw how the pioneering work of S.A. Fedotov of the U.S.S.R in the Kamchatka-Kurile Islands region has been applied worldwide to forecast where large, shallow earthquakes might occur in the next decades. Indeed, such a "seismic gap" off the coast of Alaska was filled by the 1972 Sitka earthquake. Promising results are slowly accumulating from other techniques that suggest that intermediate-term precursors might also be seen: among these are tilt and geomagnetic anomalies and anomalous land uplift. But the crucial point remains that short-term precursors (days to hours) will be needed in many cases if there is to be a significant saving of lives.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1979

The Parkfield prediction experiment

The San Andreas fault is part of the boundary between the Pacific and North American crustal plates. In California, movements of about 3 centimeters per year are currently taking place along the fault, although plat tectonic models suggest a faster rate of 5 cm/yr may be the average over a longer period of time and a broader area. There are two distinct ways in which movement on the San Andreas occurs. Along most of the fault, slip occurs during infrequent great earthquakes. Examples of these in historic time are the 1857 Fort Tejon and the 1906 San Francisco events. Along these portions of the fault, it appears that, during most of the intervening period between great earthquakes, no slip and few microearthquakes occurred. Strain appears to accumulate at shallow depths in a narrow (50 kilometer) zone adjacent to the fault. Along a 200-km stretch in central California, however, continuous slip occurs with no observable accumulation of strain. Although there is a high level of microseismicity here, earthquakes larger than magnitude (M) 6 are unknown, and most of the slip occurs aseismically. (Several articles in the Earthquake Information Bulletin in 1978 have covered this topic.) At the northern end of this creeping zone, the microseismicity and the slip gradually taper to zero over a distance of about 100 km. This segment is the site of frequent earthquakes (every 5-10 years) having magnitudes of 5.5 and less. At the southern end, near the town of Parkfield, the transition occurs in about 40km. This zone is the site of recurring earthquakes of about magnitude 6.

California↗
USGS1978

Prediction monitoring and evaluation program; a progress report

Can your friend's relative really predict earthquakes? Or how about that fellow in the mountains who has always liked geology, does he have the answer to the "when" of earthquakes? And if these people do actually predict an earthquake, is it a lucky guess or are they tuned in to something? A lucky guess would be interesting; 1 correct guess in 100 tries is hardly prediction. But 90 out of 100-now that's prediction! As part of an attempt to separate useful predictions from inaccurate guesses, we have kept score on earthquake predictions from all sources brought to our attention over the past year and a half. The program was outlined in "Earthquake Prediction;Fact and Fallacy" by Roger N. Hunter (Earthquake Information Bulletin, vol. 8, no. 5, September-October 1976, p. 24-25). The program attracted a great deal of public attention, and, as a result, our files now contain over 2500 predictions from more than 230 different people.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1985

16th century European earthquakes described in some contemporary woodcuts

In the middle of the 15 th century, shortly after Gutenberg’s invention of printing using individual lead type, the first illustrated broadsides (or broadsheets) began appearing in southern Germany. Usually printed on one side of a sheet of paper, they consisted of a woodcut illustration, sometimes colored, either by hand or by stencil, and several columns of text, often in verse. The appeal of the publications to the mass reader was often stimulated by sensationalism in word and picture, somewhat like that purveyed today’s tabloid press. What follows are woodcuts and portions of the text from 16 th to 17 th century broadsheets that describe earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. This article is an excerpt from Deresiewicz, H., 1982, Some 16th century European earthquakes as depicted in contemporary sources: Bulletin Seismological Society of America, vol. 72, p 507-523.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS2000

Cambrian Pelecypoda (Mollusca)

The record of Cambrian bivalved organisms that have been placed in the Mollusca includes undoubted pelecypods and other bivalved shells. This record is reviewed herein. Additional topotype material of Delgado's (1904, Communicacoes da Commissao do Servico Geologico de Portugal 5:307-374) Lower Cambrian specimens from Portugal shows that they are distorted brachiopods. Restudy of Zhang's (1980a, Bulletin Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Series 8, 1:1-19; 1980b, 26th International Geological Congress 4:121-129) type specimens from the Lower Cambrian of China shows that most of them are also brachiopods. New specimens of Tuarangia MacKinnon indicate that this genus is a Middle-Upper Cambrian pelecypod.

American Malacological Bulletin↗
USGS2001

Topographic controls on the chemistry of subsurface stormflow

Models are needed that describe how topography and other watershed characteristics affect the chemical composition of runoff waters, yet little spatially distributed data exist to develop such models. A topographically driven flushing mechanism for nitrate (NO3-) and dissolved organic carbon has been described in recent literature; however, this mechanism has not yet been thoroughly tested. A 24 ha catchment in the Catskill Mountains of New York was clearcut in the winter of 1996-97, resulting in elevated NO3- concentrations in soil water, groundwater and streamflow. We sampled shallow subsurface stormflow (SSSF) and streamflow six times during the spring and summer of 1998, 1 year after the harvest. We used a spatially distributed network of piezometers to investigate the relationship between topography and SSSF chemistry. Several indices of topography were computed, including the commonly employed topographic index of Beven and Kirkby (1979; Hydrological Sciences Bulletin 24: 43-69). Topographic index was positively correlated with NO3- concentrations in SSSF. The strength of the NO3- -topography relationship was best explained by antecedent soil temperature and antecedent precipitation conditions. Results suggest a topographically driven flushing of high NO3- shallow soil at the site during storm events. Copyright ?? 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Hydrological Processes↗
USGS2017

Reinterpretation of the Burmester core, Bonneville basin, Utah

Initial interpretation of the sediments from the Burmester core (Eardley et al. (1973). Geological Society of America Bulletin 84, 211-216) indicated that 17 deep-lake cycles, separated by shallow-lake and soil-forming intervals, occurred in the Bonneville basin during the Brunhes Chron (the last 780 x 103 yr). Our re-examination of the core, along with new sedimentological, geochronological, and paleontological data, indicate that only four deep-lake cycles occurred during this period, apparently correlative with marine oxygen-isotope stages 2, 6, 12, and 16. This interpretation suggests that large lakes formed in the Bonneville basin only during the most extensive of the Northern Hemisphere glaciations.

Quaternary Research↗
USGS2001

Relocation of Wyoming mine production blasts using calibration explosions

An important requirement for a comprehensive seismic monitoring system is the capability to accurately locate small seismic events worldwide. Accurate event location can improve the probability of determining whether or not a small event, recorded predominantly by local and regional stations, is a nuclear explosion. For those portions of the earth where crustal velocities are not well established, reference event calibration techniques offer a method of increased locational accuracy and reduced locational bias. In this study, data from a set of mining events with good ground-truth data in the Powder River Basin region of eastern Wyoming are used to investigate the potential of event calibration techniques in the area. Results of this study are compared with locations published in the prototype International Data Center’s Reviewed Event Bulletin (REB). A Joint Hypocenter Determination (JHD) method was applied to a set of 23 events. Four of those events with superior ground-truth control (mining company report or Global Positioning System data) were used as JHD reference events, Nineteen (83%) of the solutions converged and the resulting set of station-phase travel-time corrections from the JHD results was then tested. When those travel-time corrections were applied individually to the four events with good ground-truth control, the average locational error reduced the original REB location error from 16.1 km to 5.7 km (65% improvement). The JHD locations indicated reduced locational bias and all of the individual error ellipses enclosed the actual known event locations. Given a set of well-recorded calibration events, it appears that the JHD methodology is a viable technique for improving locational accuracy of future small events where the location depends on arrival times from predominantly local and/or regional stations. In this specific case, the International Association of Seismology and the Physics of the Earth’s Interior (IASPEI) travel-time tables, coupled with JHDderived travel-time corrections, may obviate the need for an accurately known regional velocity structure in the Powder River Basin region.

Montana, Wyoming↗
USGS2008

Restoration of Circum-Arctic Upper Jurassic source rock paleolatitude based on crude oil geochemistry

Tectonic geochemical paleolatitude (TGP) models were developed to predict the paleolatitude of petroleum source rock from the geochemical composition of crude oil. The results validate studies designed to reconstruct ancient source rock depositional environments using oil chemistry and tectonic reconstruction of paleogeography from coordinates of the present day collection site. TGP models can also be used to corroborate tectonic paleolatitude in cases where the predicted paleogeography conflicts with the depositional setting predicted by the oil chemistry, or to predict paleolatitude when the present day collection locality is far removed from the source rock, as might occur due to long distance subsurface migration or transport of tarballs by ocean currents. Biomarker and stable carbon isotope ratios were measured for 496 crude oil samples inferred to originate from Upper Jurassic source rock in West Siberia, the North Sea and offshore Labrador. First, a unique, multi-tiered chemometric (multivariate statistics) decision tree was used to classify these samples into seven oil families and infer the type of organic matter, lithology and depositional environment of each organofacies of source rock [Peters, K.E., Ramos, L.S., Zumberge, J.E., Valin, Z.C., Scotese, C.R., Gautier, D.L., 2007. Circum-Arctic petroleum systems identified using decision-tree chemometrics. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 91, 877-913]. Second, present day geographic locations for each sample were used to restore the tectonic paleolatitude of the source rock during Late Jurassic time (???150 Ma). Third, partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used to construct linear TGP models that relate tectonic and geochemical paleolatitude, where the latter is based on 19 source-related biomarker and isotope ratios for each oil family. The TGP models were calibrated using 70% of the samples in each family and the remaining 30% of samples were used for model validation. Positive relationships exist between tectonic and geochemical paleolatitude for each family. Standard error of prediction for geochemical paleolatitude ranges from 0.9?? to 2.6?? of tectonic paleolatitude, which translates to a relative standard error of prediction in the range 1.5-4.8%. The results suggest that the observed effect of source rock paleolatitude on crude oil composition is caused by (i) stable carbon isotope fractionation during photosynthetic fixation of carbon and (ii) species diversity at different latitudes during Late Jurassic time. ?? 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Organic Geochemistry↗
USGS1999

Velocity reversals and sediment sorting in pools and riffles controlled by channel constrictions

Keller [Keller, E.A., 1971. Areal sorting of bed-load material; the hypothesis of velocity reversal. Geological Society of America Bulletin 82, 753-756] hypothesized that at high flow, near-bed velocities in pools exceed velocities in riffles and create pool scour. Pools, however, typically have larger cross-sectional areas of flow at bankfull discharge. This condition raises an inconsistency with Keller's velocity reversal hypothesis and the one-dimensional continuity of mass equation. To address this problem, a model of pool maintenance and sediment sorting is proposed that relies on constriction of flow by recirculating eddies and flow divergence over the exit-slopes of pools. According to the model, a narrow zone of high velocity occurs in the center of pools, creating scour. Along the downstream end of pools, an uphill climb of particles up the pool exit-slope promotes sediment deposition. The model is tested with field and flume measurements of velocity, water-surface elevation, and size of bed sediments in recirculating-eddy influenced pools. Local reversals of the water-surface gradient were measured in the field and a velocity reversal was created in the flume. The reversals that were measured indicate higher gradients of the water surface over the upstream portions of pools and higher velocities in pools at high flow. The distribution of bed sediments collected in the field also support the proposed model of pool maintenance.

Geomorphology↗