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Stratified deposits of the oxides and carbonates of manganese

Compared with the stratified deposits of iron minerals, those of manganese minerals have received little attention until recent years. Before 1930, students of the stratified deposits of manganese minerals have generally concluded that the contained manganese was derived from the decomposition of the rocks that formed the borders of the basins. Only in a few places have geologists recognized that if these rocks were the principal source of the contained manganese the basins should contain also enormous quantities of iron minerals, whereas most of the large deposits of manganese contain little iron. Even though more than 100 years ago some geologists proposed that the iron contained in some deposits of stratified iron minerals was probably derived from hydrothermal waters related to centers of volcanism, not until about 1930 was this source of manganese in similar deposits seriously proposed. This mode of origin was given the name "volcanogene sedimentaire" by French geologists working in Morocco. Since then, other names, such as "exhalative sedimentaire," have been used by geologists working in several European districts. Because of the development of new techniques for the study of the chemical and physical features of the minerals, and because close attention to the lithologic environments of the beds is being given more and more during recent years, it has seemed advisable to review the features of stratified deposits of the manganese minerals in many parts of the world and over a wide range in age. This study indicates that at least three sources may have contributed the manganese in the large deposits of iron-free oxides and carbonates : (1) the rocks that form the borders of the basins, either marine or continental; (2) the nearby underlying sediments, largely of igneous origin, decomposed by warm waters largely derived from depth; and (3) waters of hydrothermal origin derived from great depths during epochs of volcanism from which iron minerals with little manganese are deposited in deep zones, then minerals with much iron and more manganese at intermediate depths, and, finally, manganese minerals with little iron near the surface. As the hot waters of many thermal springs contain more manganese than iron, such waters could yield the pure manganese oxides and carbonates found in stratified deposits . Several kinds of evidence indicate that most of the manganese in the large stratified deposits of the oxides and carbonates of manganese in many parts of the world has been derived from hydrothermal waters from depth related to centers of volcanism. Obviously, manganese derived from decay of the rocks on the lands adjacent to large basins-marine and continental -may have been added to that derived from centers of volcanism to form the sedimentary deposits found in the basins.

Economic Geology↗

Silver-bearing black calcite in western mining districts

The name black calcite has been applied from time to time to a dark gray to black variety of calcite or aragonite in metalliferous ore deposits in the Western States. Most of the material shows curved, roughly rhombic cleavage. The color is due to dispersed minute grains of one or more oxides of manganese, so dispersed that they rarely show any relation to cleavage surfaces or outward crystal forms.Recent study shows that the black calcite from numerous metalliferous deposits in the Western States contains small amounts of several metals, especially zinc, lead, and silver; in places, the crude black calcite contains as much as one percent silver and the black residue remaining after solution of the calcite as much as 1,500 ounces of silver to the ton. Black calcite is recognized in some deposits of Late Cretaceous to early Tertiary age where the host is Paleozoic carbonate rocks; thus far, this variety contains the larger amounts of silver. It is also present in some vein deposits where the host is generally volcanic rocks of middle Tertiary age; these are known in many districts in the southwest and even though the lead and zinc content is noteworthy, the silver content rarely exceeds one ounce to the ton (8).By studying polished sections of black calcite from the Aurora mine, White Pine County, Nevada, three silver-bearing manganate minerals have been recognized; (1) an argentian chalcophanite containing 7.5 percent silver (Ag 2 O), to which, in a following paper, the name aurorite is given; (2) argentian todorokite containing 3.9 percent silver (Ag 2 O), and (3) hydrous silver-bearing lead manganese oxide, containing 1.18 percent silver (Ag 2 O).

Nevada↗

Tectonic evolution of the Proterozoic Colorado Province, Southern Rocky Mountains: A summary and appraisal

The Colorado province is a major component of a >1000-km-wide belt of Paleoproterozoic ocean-arc rocks that occupies the southwestern United States. Known as the Transcontinental Proterozoic provinces, this belt of largely juvenile rocks was added to the southern margin of the North American craton during the interval 1.8-1.70 Ga by convergent tectonism along the Cheyenne belt. A growing body of data suggests that these rocks were deposited, at least locally, on older rocks of earliest Proterozoic and Archean ages, probably correlative with the Trans-Hudson and Penokean orogens. The volcano-plutonic and associated sedimentary rocks of the Colorado province record two major, regional orogenies: (1) an older, protracted thermotectonic episode (1.78-1.70 Ga), named the Colorado orogeny, which involved mainly amphibolite-facies metamorphism during piecemeal assembly of various ocean-arc terranes; and (2) a younger, Mesoproterozoic intra-continental orogeny, named the Berthoud orogeny, which involved associated regional heating and A-type plutonism chiefly during the interval 1.45-1.40 Ga. The term "Colorado orogeny" is proposed for the regional Paleoproterozoic dynamothermal deformation. To distinguish differences in the geodynamics and ages of deformation and facilitate comparisons from place to place, type localities are proposed for separate phases or events of the Colorado orogeny. The central Front Range is suggested as a type area for the Berthoud orogeny, because the character and orientation of structures there are readily distinguished from those of the older Colorado orogeny.

Colorado↗

Haemoproteus iwa n. sp. in great frigatebirds (Fregata minor [Gmelin]) from Hawaii: Parasite morphology and prevalence

We describe a new species of Haemoproteus Kruse, 1890 from great frigatebirds ( Fregata minor [Gmelin]) captured on Tern Island-French Frigate Shoals and Laysan Island in Hawaii. Parasite prevalence on Laysan Island (35%) was not significantly different than that of Tern Island (36%). On Laysan, prevalence was highest in juveniles (52%), followed by adult males (29%) and adult females (19%). Prevalence on Tern was 36% both for adult females and juveniles, and 28% for adult males. Parasitemia was low (mean < 2 parasites/10,000 red blood cell). Parasitized red cells had significantly greater areas than unparasitized cells. We named this parasite Haemoproteus iwa after the Hawaiian name for frigatebirds (iwa). This is the first documentation of a hemoparasite from tropical pelagic seabirds in Hawaii and the first description of an endemic hemoparasite in the archipelago.

Hawai'i↗

The stratigraphy and stratigraphic nomenclature of the Goochland Terrane in the Piedmont Province of east-central Virginia

The Goochland terrane is a structurally isolated crustal block in the eastern Piedmont of Virginia. It is composed of the previously named State Farm Gneiss, Montpelier Anorthosite, Sabot Amphibolite, and Maidens Gneiss, but also includes the Scotchtown Gneiss, Teman Gneiss, and Old Bandana Gneiss which are formally named and defined herein. The eastern part of the Goochland terrane is antiformal and cored by Mesoproterozoic rocks (the State Farm Gneiss and the Montpelier Anorthosite). These basement units are overlain by a late Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic (Ediacaran to Early Cambrian) saprolitic, metavolcanic, and metasedimentary sequence that sequentially includes the Scotchtown Gneiss, Sabot Amphibolite and Maidens Gneiss. The western part of the terrane is synformal and includes in its core two additional units that overlie the Maidens Gneiss: the Teman Gneiss and the Old Bandana Gneiss. Based on mineralogy and zircon grain morphology, the protoliths of the Maidens, Teman, and Old Bandana gneisses were predominantly sedimentary rocks. The protoliths of the Teman Gneiss and Old Bandana Gneiss were deposited unconformably upon the protolith of the Maidens Gneiss. The eastern and western parts of the Goochland terrane are separated by the Dabneys fault, which has considerable east-side-up vertical offset and possibly also significant transverse displacement. Correlation of the upper part of the Goochland terrane (Teman and Old Bandana gneisses) with the Setters and Cockeysville gneisses in the Baltimore region suggests that the Goochland terrane was left about 135 miles (ca. 220 km) southwest of its original North American location, which was to the east of Baltimore, Maryland. This displacement was caused by the oblique collision of the eastern North American continent with the western edge of the Gondwanan craton during the later Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Period.

Virginia↗

This shrew is a jumping mouse (Mammalia, Dipodidae): Sorex dichrurus Rafinesque 1833 is a synonym of Zapus hudsonius (Zimmermann 1780)

Constantine S. Rafinesque described Sorex dichrurus as a shrew in 1833, based on a specimen he found in a proprietary museum near Niagara Falls on the New York/Ontario border. The name subsequently has been ignored by the scientific community. By describing this specimen as a shrew and ascribing it to the genus Sorex , Rafinesque clearly indicated that his species should be considered a member of the taxonomic family now recognized as the Soricidae (Mammalia, Eulipotyphla). Yet, the description of the animal, and its comparison to ‘‘ Gerbillus ,’’ clearly identify it as a dipodid rodent, specifically Zapus hudsonius (Zimmermann, 1780); S. dichrurus should be treated as a junior subjective synonym of that taxon. Based on its type locality of Goat Island, New York, this name is also a junior synonym of the subspecies Z. hudsonius canadensis (Davies, 1798).

Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washingto↗

Rediscovery of the type series of the Acadian Masked Shrew, Sorex acadicus Gilpin, 1865 (Mammalia: Soricidae), with the designation of a neotype and a reevaluation of its taxonomic status

The name Sorex acadicus Gilpin, 1865 is currently recognized as the valid name for the Nova Scotian subspecies of the masked shrew, S. cinereus Kerr, 1792 (Mammalia: Soricidae), but a holotype for the taxon was never designated, and the location of the type series has been a mystery. The authority for this species, John Bernard Gilpin, was associated with the Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax, NS, but that institution has no Gilpin specimens in its possession, and I could find no record of Gilpin shrews in any other Canadian Museum. I recently discovered a series of Gilpin specimens in the Mammal Collection of the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC (USNM), some of which may have been part of the original type series of S. acadicus , and I show that these specimens best represent Gilpin's concept of the taxon. From this series, I designate a neotype for S. acadicus . I also evaluate the distinctiveness of Nova Scotian S. c. acadicus compared with S. c. cinereus from Maine, New Brunswick, and New Hampshire and determine that S. acadicus should be considered a junior synonym of S. c. cinereus .

Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washingto↗

Digital Elevation Models

The Earth Science Information Center (ESIC) distributes digital cartographic/geographic data files produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as part of the National Mapping Program. Digital cartographic data files may be grouped into four basic types. The first of these, called a Digital Line Graph (DLG), is the line map information in digital form. These data files include information on base data categories, such as transportation, hypsography, hydrography, and boundaries. The second type, called a Digital Elevation Model (DEM), consists of a sampled array of elevations for a number of ground positions at regularly spaced intervals. The third type is Land Use and Land Cover digital data which provides information on nine major classes of land use such as urban, agricultural, or forest as well as associated map data such as political units and Federal land ownership. The fourth type, the Geographic Names Information System, provides primary information for all known places, features, and areas in the United States identified by a proper name.

Data Users Guide↗

Land use and land cover digital data from 1:250,000- and 1:100,000- scale maps

The Earth Science Information Centers (ESIC) distribute digital cartographic/geographic data files produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as part of the National Mapping Program. The data files are grouped into four basic types. The first type, called a Digital Line Graph (DLG), is line map information in digital form. These data files include information on planimetric base categories, such as transportation, hydrography, and boundaries. The second type, called a Digital Elevation Model (DEM), consists of a sampled array of elevations for ground positions that are usually at regularly spaced intervals. The third type, Land Use and Land Cover digital data, provide information on nine major classes of land use such as urban, agricultural, or forest as well as associated map data such as political units and Federal land ownership. The fourth type, the Geographic Names Information System, provides primary information for known places, features, and areas in the United States identified by a proper name.

Data Users Guide↗

Digital line graphs from 1:100,000-scale maps

The National Cartographic Information Center (NCIC) distributes digital cartographic/geographic data files produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as part of the National Mapping Program. Digital cartographic data files may be grouped into four basic types. The first of these, called a Digital Line Graph (DLG), is line map information in digital form. These data files include information on planimetric base categories, such as transportation, hydrography, and boundaries. The second form, called a Digital Elevation Model (OEM), consists of a sampled array of elevations for ground positions that are usually, but not always, at regularly spaced intervals. The third type is Land Use and Land Cover digital data, which provides information on nine major classes of land use such as urban, agricultural, or forest as well as associated map data such as political units and Federal land ownership. The fourth type, the Geographic Names Information System, provides primary information for known places, features, and areas in the United States identified by a proper name.

Data Users Guide↗

Digital line graphs from 1:24,000-scale maps

The Earth Science Information Centers (ESIC) distribute digital cartographic/geographic data files produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as part of the National Mapping Program. Digital cartographic data flles are grouped into four basic types. The first of these, called a Digital Line . Graph (DLG), is line map information in digital form. These data files include information on planimetric base categories, such as transportation, hydrography, and boundaries. The second type, called a Digital Elevation Model (DEM), consists of a sampled array of elevations for a number of ground positions that are usually at regularly spaced intervals. The third type is Land Use and Land Cover digital data, which provides information on nine major classes of land use such as urban, agricultural, or forest as wen as associated map data such as political units and Federal land ownership. The fourth type, the Geographic Names Information System, provides primary information for all known places, features, and areas in the United States identified by a proper name.

Data Users Guide↗

Wetlands: water, wildlife, plants, & people

Wetlands are part of all our lives. They can generally be described as transitional areas between land and deepwater habitats. There are many different kinds of wetlands, and they can be found in many different habitat types, from forests to deserts; some are maintained by saltwater, others by freshwater. This poster shows general types of diverse wetlands and demonstrates how people and wetlands can benefit by living together. The diversity of plants and animals is shown in cartooned pictures. As with plants and animals, there are many different common names for the various wetland types. The common names used on this poster were used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the publication "Wetlands-Status and Trends in the Conterminous United States, Mid-1970's to Mid-1980's." Estuarine wetland types--salt marshes and mangrove swamps--are labeled in red letters. The estuary is where ocean saltwater and river freshwater mix. The estuary is labeled in orange letters. The inland wetland types-inland marshes and wet meadows, forested wetlands, and shrub wetlands-are labeled in yellow. Other wetlands are present in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. The water bodies associated with these wetlands are labeled in black. The poster is folded into 8.5" x 11" panels; front and back panels can easily be photocopied.

General Information Product↗

Stratigraphic nomenclature in reports of the U.S. Geological Survey

The Geologic Names Committee of the United States Geological Survey was first organized on February 17, 1899, " ... to consider all names of geologic formations or other divisions of rock classifications with a view to determining whether they comply with the rules of nomenclature adopted for the Survey publications and to recommend such action as may be advisable in any individual case to secure unity of nomenclature under the rules."

Report↗

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison: Today and Yesterday

Since the early visit of Captain John William Gunnison in the middle of the last century, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison has stirred mixed apprehension and wonder in the hearts of its viewers. It ranks high among the more awesome gorges of North America. Many great western canyons are as well remembered for their brightly colored walls as for their airy depths. Not so the Black Canyon. Though it is assuredly not black, the dark-gray tones of its walls and the hazy shadows of its gloomy depths join together to make its name well deserved. Its name conveys an impression, not a picture. After the first emotional impact of the canyon, the same questions come to the minds of most reflective viewers and in about the following order: How deep is the Black Canyon, how wide, how does it compare with other canyons, what are the rocks, how did it form, and how long did it take? Several western canyons exceed the Black Canyon in overall size. Some are longer; some are deeper; some are narrower; and a few have walls as steep. But no other canyon in North American combines the depth, narrowness, sheerness, and somber countenance of the Black Canyon. In many places the Black Canyon is as deep as it is wide. Between The Narrows and Chasm View in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument (fig. 15) it is much deeper than wide. Average depth in the monument is about 2,000 feet, ranging from a maximum of about 2,700 feet, north of Warner Point (which also is the greatest depth anywhere in the canyon), to a minimum of about 1,750 feet at The Narrows. The stretch of canyon between Pulpit Rock and Chasm View, including The Narrows, though the shallowest in the monument, is also the narrowest, has some of the steepest walls, and is, therefore, among the most impressive segments of the canyon (fig. 3). Profiles of several well-known western canyons are shown in figure 1. Deepest of these by far is Hells Canyon of the Snake, on the Idaho-Oregon border. Clearly, it dwarfs the Black Canyon in the immensity of its void, though its flaring walls lack the alarming verticality of the Black Canyon. Arizona's Grand Canyon of the Colorado is acknowledged as the greatest of them all; it is not as deep as Hells Canyon, but it is wider, longer, more rugged, and far more colorful. Its depth is two to three times that of the Black Canyon. Zion Canyon, Utah, combines depth, sheerness, serenity, and color in a chasm that ranges from capacious to extremely narrow. Its Narrows have a depth-to-width ratio unmatched by any other major American canyon. California's Yosemite Valley, in a setting of sylvan verdure, is unique among the gorges shown in profile in figure 1 in being the only glacial trough; its monolithic walls bear witness to the abrasive power of moving ice. Few cliffs in the world match the splendor of its El Capitan. Lodore Canyon, on the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado, is best known, perhaps, for its noisy splashy rapids, first made famous by John Wesley Powell. Lodore Canyon also features towering cliffs of deep-red quartzite. Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, Wyoming, is noted for its great waterfalls, dashing river, and bright coloration. The Royal Gorge of the Arkansas River, Colorado, features the 'world's highest suspension bridge'. The profiles shown in figure 1 afford some basis for comparing one canyon with another. They cannot abstract in two dimensions the overall impression that each canyon makes. Color, vegetation, outcrop habit, vantage point, season of year, length of visit - even the roar of the river or lack thereof - all contribute to this highly personal effect. For a river of its size, the Gunnison has an unusually steep gradient through the Black Canyon. The river falls about 2,150 feet from the head of the canyon at Sapinero to the mouth at its junction with North Fork - a distance of about 50 miles and an average rate of fall of about 43 feet per mile. By comparison, the Green

Bulletin↗

Stratigraphic framework of Cambrian and Ordovician rocks in the central Appalachian Basin from Medina County, Ohio, through southwestern and south-central Pennsylvania to Hampshire County, West Virginia

A 275-mi-long restored stratigraphic cross section from Medina County, Ohio, through southwestern and south-central Pennsylvania to Hampshire County, W. Va., provides new details on Cambrian and Ordovician stratigraphy in the central Appalachian basin and the structure of underlying Precambrian basement rocks. From west to east, the major structural elements of the block-faulted basement in this section are (1) the relatively stable, slightly extended craton, which includes the Wooster arch, (2) the fault-controlled Ohio-West Virginia hinge zone, which separates the craton from the adjoining Rome trough, (3) the Rome trough, which consists of an east-facing asymmetric graben and an overlying sag basin, and (4) a positive fault block, named here the South-central Pennsylvania arch, which borders the eastern margin of the graben part of the Rome trough. Pre-Middle Ordovician structural relief on Precambrian basement rocks across the down-to-the-west normal fault that separates the Rome trough and the adjoining South-central Pennsylvania arch amounted to between 6,000 and 7,000 ft. The restored cross section shows eastward thickening of the Cambrian and Ordovician sequence from about 3,000 ft near the crest of the Wooster arch at the western end of the section to about 5,150 ft at the Ohio-West Virginia hinge zone adjoining the western margin of the Rome trough to about 19,800 ft near the depositional axis of the Rome trough. East of the Rome trough, at the adjoining western edge of the South-central Pennsylvania arch, the Cambrian and Ordovician sequence thins abruptly to about 13,500 ft and then thins gradually eastward across the arch to about 12,700 ft near the Allegheny structural front and to about 10,150 ft at the eastern end of the restored section. In general, the Cambrian and Ordovician sequence along this section consists of four major lithofacies that are predominantly shallow marine to peritidal in origin. In ascending stratigraphic order, the lithofacies are identified by the following descriptive names: (1) sandstone, shale, limestone, and dolomite unit, (2) dolomite and sandstone unit, (3) limestone and black shale unit, and (4) shale and sandstone unit. Each of these units and their associated subunits thicken from west to east across the restored section to a maximum near the depositional axis of the Rome trough and then thin eastward to the end of the section. The sandstone, shale, limestone, and dolomite unit is largely confined to the asymmetric graben that marks the initial phase of the Rome trough. This unit is Early and Middle Cambrian in age and consists, in ascending order, of a basal sandstone unit (undrilled but probably present), the Tomstown Dolomite (undrilled but probably present), the Waynesboro Formation, and the Pleasant Hill Limestone and its equivalent lower one-third of the Elbrook Formation at the eastern end of the section. The dolomite and sandstone unit forms the core of the Cambrian and Ordovician sequence. In the Rome trough and on the adjoining South-central Pennsylvania arch, this unit consists, in ascending order, of the Middle and Upper Cambrian Warrior Formation and the equivalent upper two-thirds of the Elbrook Formation at the eastern end of the section, the Upper Cambrian Gatesburg Formation, and the Lower Ordovician and Middle Ordovician (Whiterockian and Chazyan) Beekmantown Group. West of the Ohio-West Virginia hinge zone, the dolomite and sandstone unit consists, in ascending order, of the Conasauga Formation of Janssens (1973), the Krysik sandstone of driller's usage, the B zone of Calvert (1964), the Knox Dolomite and the associated Rose Run Sandstone Member, and the Wells Creek Formation. The widespread Knox unconformity is located at the base of the Wells Creek Formation and at or near the top of the adjoining Beekmantown Group, except near the depositional axis of the Rome trough, where the unconformity seems to be absent. The limestone and black shale unit i

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Stratigraphy of the late Proterozoic Murdama Group, Saudi Arabia

The Murdama group is in the upper part of the sequence of Proterozoic layered rocks in the Precambrian shield of Saudi Arabia. It consists of clastic sedimentary rocks and small amounts of limestone and volcanic rocks. The Murdama crops out in the eastern part of the exposed part of the shield, within 200 km of its margin. The principal outcrop area, herein designated the Afif belt, is 600 km long and has a maximum width of 80 km. Two other significant outcrop areas lying to the south are designated the Jabal Hadhah and the Mistahjed belts. The Murdama group unconformably overlies older plutonic rocks that range in composition from diorite to granite and volcanic rocks ranging from basalt to rhyolite. It is unconformably overlain in the north part of the Afif belt by sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Jurdhawiyah group, and in many areas is intruded by younger granite. In the south part of the Afif belt the Murdama group lies in the Maslum synclinorium, a structure characterized by tight folding near its northwest margin and open folding elsewhere. To the north, the synclinorium is much broken up by faulting, particularly by left-lateral faults of the Najd system. Sections on the west flank of the Mast urn synclinorium in the south part of the Afif belt have apparent thicknesses of about 5,300 m at Jabal Murdama, 5,700 m at Jabal Raqabah, and 1 ,400 and 4,000 m at As Sawadah. The strata in these sections consist mostly of greenish-gray, very fine to coarse-grained volcanic arenite that is poorly sorted and consists of angular grains. Basal conglomerates are thin and inconspicuous, but coarse arenite, locally pebbly, predominates in the jabal Raqabah section. A prominent air-fall ash tuff caps Jabal Murdama, and an ash-flow tuff caps Jabal Raqabah. Sections on the east flank of the synclinorium have apparent thicknesses of about 2,500 m at Jabal Farida, 3,600 m at Jabal Damkh, 12,400 m at Jabal Zaydi, and 16,800 m, adjusted for folding, at Wadi Sirrah. Jabal Farida and Jabal Damkh are underlain principally by limestone of distinctive tan- and gray-weathering types, which has been named the Farida marble. Limestones of these and other colors occur in all the belts composing the Murdama and form a unifying element. The other sections consist mostly of sandstone similar to that at Jabal Murdama. Sections in the north part of the Afif belt have apparent thickness of about 3,300 and 7,600 m at Wadi Jarir, 840 m at Jabal Ajam, 534 and 1,833 m at Jabal Muwasham, about 3,800 m adjusted for folding east of jabal Silsillah, 4,900 m at Jabal Khidar, and 8,400 m at jabal umm Sammah. The Wadi Jarir section consists of sandstone very similar to that at Jabal Murdama, with thin basal conglomerate and local ash tuff. The other sections consist of conglomerate, sandstone, and siltstone. The predominance of silicic volcanic lithic grains in Murdama sandstones of the Afif belt indicates a source in a silicic volcanic belt, and discontinuous belts of such rocks lie to the southwest. Paleocurrent indicators also suggest a source from the southwest. In the north part of the belt, the lower part of the Murdama is probably a subaerial mass-movement or fluvial deposit. The strata in the rest of the belt were probably deposited at a prograding lacustrine or marine strandline. Near the northwest edge of the basin, particularly from Jabal Farida north, locally derived conglomerate was deposited and carbonate bank deposition prevailed for a time. In the jabal Hadhah belt, limestone is identical to that at Jabal Farida. It is apparently overlain by conglomerate that fines upward to sandstone and may be part of the Murdama. Structure in the Mistahjed belt is more complex and the stratigraphic sequence is less certain than in the Afif belt. Murdama rocks have been assigned to a number of formations, and traverses were made across most units. The rocks include sandstone, siltstone, limestone, conglomerate, and volcanic rock; much of the volcanic rock may not be part of the Murdama group. The source of sedimentary materials in the Mistahjed belt, as in the Afif belt, appears to be a belt of volcanic rocks lying to the southwest. The Junaynah belt of sedimentary rocks lies to the west of the Mistahjed belt. The rocks consist of basal cobble conglomerate grading up to coarse- and finegrained sandstone. These rocks have been assigned to the Murdama group in the past, but I conclude that they should be restricted from it, because their tectonic setting and age appear to be different. Radiometric ages suggest an age range of 650 to 615 Ma for the Murdama group, the laterally equivalent Hibshi formation, and the overlying Jurdhawiyah group in the Afif belt. Ages from the Mistahjed belt suggest that the Murdama rocks there are younger than 650 Ma and ages Abstract from the junaynah area suggest that the sedimentary section is younger than 61 0 Ma. The Murdama group probably was deposited in a back-arc basin on a continental platform bounded on the west by an active volcanic arc above an east-dipping subduction zone. The position of the subduction zone, which was active during most of the deposition in the Afif belt, is marked by a belt of gabbro and ultramafic rocks herein named the jabal Burqah belt. The subduction zone later stepped out to the southwest to the Nabitah belt, and Murdama strata were deposited in the Jabal Hadhah, Mistahjed, and smaller basins.

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Chronology of Late Cretaceous igneous and hydrothermal events at the Golden Sunlight gold-silver breccia pipe, southwestern Montana

Gold mineralization at the Golden Sunlight breccia pipe, southwestern Montana, is related to emplacement of Late Cretaceous alkali-calcic rhyolite and subsequent collapse of the Belt Supergroup wallrock and rhyolite in the pipe. The pipe is inferred to grade downward into an alkalic porphyry molybdenum system. The pipe is cut by alkalic to sub-alkalic lamprophyre dikes and sills, which locally contain high-grade gold where emplaced along late shear zones and vein systems. Determination of the emplacement age of the rhyolite is hampered by inherited lead or inherited Late Archean zircon from the source region of the rhyolite. An emplacement age of about 80 Ma for the rhyolite can be inferred if a basement age of 2,600 Ma is assumed. This Late Archean age is in agreement with basement ages determined in many parts of southwestern Montana. A 206 Pb- 238 U whole-rock date of 84 ? 18 Ma from altered and mineralized Belt Supergroup strata and rhyolite in the breccia pipe indicates hydrothermal alteration related to gold mineralization in Late Cretaceous time. Although sericite is a relatively widespread hydrothermal mineral, attempts to date the very fine grained material by the 40 Ar- 39 Ar method did not provide a spectra that could be interpreted unambiguously. A 40 Ar- 39 Ar plateau date of 76.9 ? 0.5 Ma from biotite phenocrysts in the lamprophyre indciates intrusion of mafic magma and attendant CO 2 metasomatism in the Late Cretaceous. Fission-track data from zircon in the rhyolite are permissive of slow uplift of the Belt Supergroup strata, 1U.S. Geological Survey, Box 25046, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225. 2Golden Sunlight Mines, Inc., 453 MT Highway 2 East, Whitehall, MT 59759. rhyolite, and lamprophyre between 55 and 50 Ma, but the data are not definitive. Rhyolitic welded tuff in the informally named units 7, 9, and 11 of the Elkhorn Mountains Volcanics is most similar in chemistry and age to the rhyolite at the Golden Sunlight mine. Trachybasalt in the Adel Mountains Volcanics and andesitic basalt in the informally named unit 8 of the Elkhorn Mountains Volcanics are the most analogous in chemistry and age to lamprophyres at the mine. The rhyolitic rocks appear to be derived from deep crustal sources, but data for the lamprophyres and mafic rocks in the Elkhorn Mountains Volcanics indicate that they were derived from the mantle.

Bulletin↗

Index to the known fossil insects of the world, including myriapods and arachnids

With the view of furthering study in the too neglected field of fossil insects, I transmit herewith for publication the card catalogue of described fossil insects which I have used for twenty years and kept constantly up to date, and which has greatly facilitated my own researches. It is believed to be practically complete. At least where insects are figured, and in many other cases where they are the first or only references from a given locality, entries are given where only the genus, the family, or even the order is mentioned. This has been done because the early literature of fossil insects is essentially vague and general, but it should not for that reason be wholly overlooked ; and to-day our knowledge of the occurrence of insects of a particular locality, even when of recent discovery, is not infrequently confined to statements of a general nature, which, if not brought to view or mind in a list like this, would be lost sight of, while their recognition may lead to further local investigation, to the earlier benefit of science. It is in no sense a systematic catalogue, and except occasionally in the notes contains no immediate results of investigation. No questions of synonymy are settled. The entries are made as the authors quoted gave them, with only the corrections of spelling required; it follows that the same insect appears at several points, to which the student is referred by full cross-references, and that more than one insect may (though probably rarely does) figure under one name. In one or two such instances, where the same name has been given by inadvertence to two totally different creatures, the later one is separated from the earlier. For convenience' sake, the entries are grouped into large sections, nearly identical with those I have employed in my systematic review of fossil insects (Bulletin 31, U. S. Geological Survey), by which method the insects from the Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary rocks are kept distinct; but otherwise the entries are purely alphabetical under the orders. It should be noticed, however, that the vague references to groups higher than genera are brought together at the beginning of each alphabet, first the most vague, and then those which permit some alphabetization. In these cases the primary or secondary alphabetization is first by authors, second by dates, and in all cases where under one entry there is more than one date the order therein is chronological. In a previous bulletin (Bulletin 69, U. S. Geological Survey) is given a complete bibliography of the literature from which these entries are taken, and the two works are thus complementary to each other.

Bulletin↗