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At least 847 records · Page 47Linked to original sources
USGS2021

California deepwater investigations and groundtruthing (Cal DIG) I: Fault and shallow geohazard analysis offshore Morro Bay

The California Deepwater Investigations and Groundtruthing (Cal DIG) I project focuses on the potential seafloor hazards and impacts of alternative energy infrastructure in the outer continental shelf region offshore of south-central California. This is one of three reports covering a single study area located between Monterey and Point Conception, California in federal waters outside of the State of California three nautical mile limit and in water depths of 400 to 1500 meters. The goal of this report is to provide baseline geologic interpretations of the area for the purpose of improving regional models of shallow geologic hazards and sedimentary processes. Geophysical and geological data from this project will help to address important issues associated with marine spatial planning and potential offshore infrastructure development, such as offshore floating wind turbines. Datasets covered in this report include comprehensive high-resolution sub-bottom (multi-channel and Chirp seismic reflection profiles), seafloor (bathymetry), and sampling (piston, gravity, and vibracore) data collected in 2018-2019 during a series of seven seagoing geological and geophysical surveys. Specifically, this report outlines interpretation of subsurface geologic structure from the geophysical data, details preliminary core analysis results related to fluid, gas, and sediment transport activity, provides interpretations of the current geohazards in the area, and suggests next steps for improving interpretations of geohazard processes. Specific targets of geohazard interest in the study area are geological structures such as faults and folds, seafloor pockmarks within a large field (the Big Sur pockmark field), submarine channels, and mass wasting (slope failure) features. The vast majority of faults and other structures in the study occur within sediment and rock formations we interpret to be pre-Quaternary (older than 2.58 Myr BP), and thus we interpret that these structures are unlikely to present significant current hazard to seabed infrastructure, although we note that the numerous structures mapped in the study area may have the potential to become reactivated. Similarly, we find no new evidence of Holocene (younger than 11,650 years BP) fluid or gas advection in the Big Sur pockmark field. However, such fluid and gas hazards are currently difficult to assess, as additional analyses and sampling of existing core data is needed to better understand pockmark formation processes and potential gas accumulations we have mapped in the subsurface. Mass wasting along the eastern and western edges of the Santa Lucia Bank during earthquakes, as well as sediment transport down the Lucia Chica and San Simeon channels, are among the most significant, although still likely infrequent during the Holocene, hazards to seabed stability in the study area. Further analyses of the existing cores, including radiocarbon dating, stable isotope, and compositional analyses, are again needed to better understand the timing and sources of the numerous sand deposits found throughout the study area, which may have been transported downslope due to mass wasting and/or earthquake shaking processes.

California↗
USGS2024

Geophysical identification of potential groundwater – surface water interactions in the Bonita Peak Mining District, San Juan County, Colorado

This report includes the results and interpretation of geophysical investigations to aid in the location, identification, and conceptual site model (CSM) development of the near surface groundwater and surface water hydrology of the Upper Cement Creek and California Gulch of the Animas Rivers within the Bonita Peak Mining Districts (BPMD). Mine influenced water (MIW) from numerous mine adits within the BPMD has altered the geochemistry and ecology of these ground and surface waters. Many studies of varying scales have investigated the geology, hydrogeology, geochemistry, and aqueous chemistry of these adits and impacted areas. Field investigations using non-invasive geophysical methods were conducted in the summer of 2019 to aid in identifying potential groundwater inputs to these streams and further the CSM of the near surface within and along these streams. Two field deployments were completed in August and September of 2019. In August 2019, Phase 1 was completed using multifrequency electromagnetic induction (EMI) and thermal infrared imaging (TIR) to measure the bulk electrical conductivity, magnetic susceptibility, and the temperature response at known and suspected groundwater seeps into the Upper Cement Creek and California Gulch stretches of these alpine streams. Results and interpretation from Phase 1 were used to co-locate stretches of these streams for further detailed fiber optic distributed temperature system (FODTS) monitoring of the temperature dynamics for submeter identification of potential groundwater seeps during Phase 2. Phase 2 included additional EMI measurements, FODTS measurements, and repeated some Phase 1 measurements for improved data quality. All these data were used for the combined qualitative interpretation identifying seep locations. The data from both Phase 1 and Phase 2 are available in the USGS data release at: https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/5f18a30082cef313ed84879b. These data include detailed near-surface electrical conductivity and magnetic susceptibility mapping, discrete TIR imaging, and several kilometers of FODTS data. These data were georeferenced and used to identify potential groundwater seeps into these streams. The results indicate a complex near surface geophysical and hydrogeologic regime. Seeps are classified and spatially correlated to the EMI, TIR, and geochemical sampling results. This report is a thorough compilation of the geophysical field efforts in the summer of 2019, the data processing, and interpretations of these data. These data alone should not be used for final interpretations of the complex hydrogeology within these alpine systems. Rather, these data should be combined with other known data from various investigations to further refine the CSM and guide decisions for future investigations, watershed protective measures, and other site decisions. Geographical information system (GIS) layers of these results are available to project managers for such integration and combined interpretations.

Colorado↗
USGS2026

Revisiting the geochronology of late Quaternary marine terraces and uplift rates in coastal Santa Barbara County, California, USA

In several early studies, central California marine terraces between Santa Barbara and Point Conception were interpreted to record sea-level high stands of the last interglacial complex, ∼80 ka to ∼120 ka (marine isotope stage [MIS] 5). These ages and their elevations (∼20 m to ∼45 m) indicate modest rates of tectonic uplift, similar to those from other localities in southern and central California. A recent study, using a combination of luminescence and radiocarbon dating, has challenged the older age interpretations, implying much younger terrace ages, between ∼40 ka and ∼55 ka (MIS 3). From these new ages and a considerably lower sea level during MIS 3, much higher rates of tectonic uplift are inferred. In the present study, new uranium-series ages of terrace corals and amino acid age estimates of terrace mollusks were determined to test these competing interpretations. With the exception of a low-elevation terrace in Isla Vista (near Santa Barbara) that dates to MIS 3, terraces farther west are interpreted to date to MIS 5 and imply tectonic uplift rates of 0.20–0.34 m/kyr. A compilation of data for the region yields a decreasing rate of late Quaternary uplift from east, near Ventura, to west, near Point Conception. This trend is interpreted to reflect a decreasing influence of the processes of compression and crustal shortening south of the Big Bend in the San Andreas fault.

California↗
USGS2017

Chemistry of diagenetic features analyzed by ChemCam at Pahrump Hills, Gale crater, Mars

The Curiosity rover's campaign at Pahrump Hills provides the first analyses of lower Mount Sharp strata. Here we report ChemCam elemental composition of a diverse assemblage of post-depositional features embedded in, or cross-cutting, the host rock. ChemCam results demonstrate their compositional diversity, especially compared to the surrounding host rock: (i) Dendritic aggregates and relief enhanced features, characterized by a magnesium enhancement and sulfur detection, and interpreted as Mg-sulfates; (ii) A localized observation that displays iron enrichment associated with sulfur, interpreted as Fe-sulfate; (iii) Dark raised ridges with varying Mg- and Ca-enriched compositions compared to host rock; (iv) Several dark-toned veins with calcium enhancement associated with fluorine detection, interpreted as fluorite veins. (v) Light-toned veins with enhanced calcium associated with sulfur detection, and interpreted as Ca-sulfates. The diversity of the Pahrump Hills diagenetic assemblage suggests a complex post-depositional history for fine-grained sediments for which the origin has been interpreted as fluvial and lacustrine. Assessment of the spatial and relative temporal distribution of these features shows that the Mg-sulfate features are predominant in the lower part of the section, suggesting local modification of the sediments by early diagenetic fluids. In contrast, light-toned Ca-sulfate veins occur in the whole section and cross-cut all other features. A relatively late stage shift in geochemical conditions could explain this observation. The Pahrump Hills diagenetic features have no equivalent compared to targets analyzed in other locations at Gale crater. Only the light-toned Ca-sulfate veins are present elsewhere, along Curiosity's path, suggesting they formed through a common late-stage process that occurred at over a broad area.

Icarus↗
USGS2014

Pluvial lakes in the Great Basin of the western United States: a view from the outcrop

Paleo-lakes in the western United States provide geomorphic and hydrologic records of climate and drainage-basin change at multiple time scales extending back to the Miocene. Recent reviews and studies of paleo-lake records have focused on interpretations of proxies in lake sediment cores from the northern and central parts of the Great Basin. In this review, emphasis is placed on equally important studies of lake history during the past ∼30 years that were derived from outcrop exposures and geomorphology, in some cases combined with cores. Outcrop and core records have different strengths and weaknesses that must be recognized and exploited in the interpretation of paleohydrology and paleoclimate. Outcrops and landforms can yield direct evidence of lake level, facies changes that record details of lake-level fluctuations, and geologic events such as catastrophic floods, drainage-basin changes, and isostatic rebound. Cores can potentially yield continuous records when sampled in stable parts of lake basins and can provide proxies for changes in lake level, water temperature and chemistry, and ecological conditions in the surrounding landscape. However, proxies such as stable isotopes may be influenced by several competing factors the relative effects of which may be difficult to assess, and interpretations may be confounded by geologic events within the drainage basin that were unrecorded or not recognized in a core. The best evidence for documenting absolute lake-level changes lies within the shore, nearshore, and deltaic sediments that were deposited across piedmonts and at the mouths of streams as lake level rose and fell. We review the different shorezone environments and resulting deposits used in such reconstructions and discuss potential estimation errors. Lake-level studies based on deposits and landforms have provided paleohydrologic records ranging from general changes during the past million years to centennial-scale details of fluctuations during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Outcrop studies have documented the integration histories of several important drainage basins, including the Humboldt, Amargosa, Owens, and Mojave river systems, that have evolved since the Miocene within the active tectonic setting of the Great Basin; these histories have influenced lake levels in terminal basins. Many pre-late Pleistocene lakes in the western Great Basin were significantly larger and record wetter conditions than the youngest lakes. Outcrop-based lake-level data provide important checks on core-based proxy interpretations; we discuss four such comparisons. In some cases, such as for Lakes Owens and Manix, outcrop and core data synthesis yields stronger and more complete records; in other cases, such as for Bonneville and Lahontan, conflicts point toward reconsideration of confounding factors in interpretation of core-based proxies.

Great Basin↗
USGS2024

Limited preservation of strike-slip surface displacement in the geomorphic record

Offset geomorphic markers are commonly used to interpret slip history of strike-slip faults and have played an important role in forming earthquake recurrence models. These data sets are typically analyzed using cumulative probability methods to interpret average amounts of slip in past earthquakes. However, interpretation of the geomorphic record to infer surface slip history is complicated by slip variability, measurement uncertainty, and modification of offset features in the landscape. To investigate how well geomorphic data record surface slip, we use offset measurements from recent strike-slip surface ruptures ( n = 39), faults with geomorphic evidence of multiple strike-slip earthquakes ( n = 29), and synthetic slip distributions with added noise ( n > 10,000) to examine the constraints of the geomorphic record and the underlying assumptions of the cumulative offset probability distribution analysis method. We find that the geomorphic record is unlikely to resolve more than two paleo-slip distributions, except in specific cases with low slip variability, high slip-per-event, and semiarid climate. In cases where site-specific conditions allow for interpretation of more than two earthquakes, lateral extrapolation along a fault is not straightforward because on-fault displacement and distributed deformation may be spatially variable in each earthquake. We also find that average slip in modern earthquakes is adequately recovered by probability methods, but the reported prevalence of strike-slip faults with characteristic slip history is not supported by geomorphic data. We also propose updated methods to interpret slip history and construct uncertainty bounds for paleo-slip distributions.

Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth↗
USGS2010

Geophysical studies of the West Antarctic rift system

The West Antarctic rift system extends over a 3000 × 750 km, largely ice covered area from the Ross Sea to the base of the Antarctic Peninsula, comparable in area to the Basin and Range and the East African rift system. A spectacular rift shoulder scarp along which peaks reach 4–5 km maximum elevation marks one flank and extends from northern Victoria Land-Queen Maud Mountains to the Ellsworth-Whitmore-Horlick Mountains. The rift shoulder has maximum present physiographic relief of 5 km in the Ross Embayment and 7 km in the Ellsworth Mountains-Byrd Subglacial Basin area. The Transantarctic Mountains part of the rift shoulder (and probably the entire shoulder) has been interpreted as rising since about 60 Ma, at episodic rates of ∼1 km/m.y., most recently since mid-Pliocene time, rather than continuously at the mean rate of 100 m/m.y. The rift system is characterized by bimodal alkaline volcanic rocks ranging from at least Oligocene to the present. These are exposed asymmetrically along the rift flanks and at the south end of the Antarctic Peninsula. The trend of the Jurassic tholeiites (Ferrar dolerites, Kirkpatric basalts) marking the Jurassic Transantarctic rift is coincident with exposures of the late Cenozoic volcanic rocks along the section of the Transantarctic Mountains from northern Victoria Land to the Horlick Mountains. The Cenozoic rift shoulder diverges here from the Jurassic tholeiite trend, and the tholeiites are exposed continuously (including the Dufek intrusion) along the lower- elevation (1–2 km) section of Transantarctic Mountains to the Weddell Sea. Widely spaced aeromagnetic profiles in West Antarctica indicate the absence of Cenozoic volcanic rocks in the ice covered part of the Whitmore-Ellsworth-Mountain block and suggest their widespread occurrence beneath the western part of the ice sheet overlying the Byrd Subglacial Basin. A German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR)-U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) aeromagnetic survey over the Ross Sea continental shelf indicates rift fabric and suggests numerous submarine volcanoes along discrete NNW trending zones. A Bouguer anomaly range of approximately 200 (+50 to −150) mGal having 4–7 mGal/km gradients where measured in places marks the rift shoulder from northern Victoria Land possibly to the Ellsworth Mountains (where data are too sparse to determine maximum amplitude and gradient). The steepest gravity gradients across the rift shoulder require high density (mafic or ultramafic?) rock within the crust as well as at least 12 km of thinner crust beneath the West Antarctic rift system in contrast to East Antarctica. Sparse land seismic data reported along the rift shoulder, where velocities are greater than 7 km/s, and marine data indicating velocities above 7 km/s beneath the Ross Sea continental shelf support this interpretation. The maximum Bouguer gravity range in the Pensacola Mountains area of the Transantarctic Mountains is only about 130 mGal with a maximum 2 mGal/km gradient, which can be explained solely by 8 km of crustal thickening. Large offset seismic profiles over the Ross Sea shelf collected by the German Antarctic North Victoria Land Expedition V (GANOVEX V) combined with earlier USGS and other results indicate 17–21 km thickness for the crust beneath the Ross Sea shelf which we interpret as evidence of extended rifted continental crust. A regional positive Bouguer anomaly (0 to +50 mGal), the width of the rift, extends from the Ross Sea continental shelf throughout the Ross Embayment and Byrd Subglacial Basin area of the West Antarctic rift system and indicates that the Moho is approximately 20 km deep tied to the seismic results (probably coincident with the top of the asthenosphere) rather than the 30 km reported in earlier interpretations. The interpretation of horst and graben structures in the Ross Sea, made from marine seismic reflection data, probably can be extended throughout the rift (i.e., the Ross Ice shelf and the Byrd Subglacial Basin areas). The near absence of earthquakes in the West Antarctic rift system probably results from a combination of primarily sparse seismograph coverage and, secondarily, suppression of earthquakes by the ice sheet (e.g., Johnston, 1987) and very high seismicity shortly after deglaciation in the Ross Embayment followed by abnormally low seismicity at present (e.g., Muir Wood, 1989). The evidence of high temperatures at shallow depth beneath the Ross Sea continental shelf and adjacent Transantarctic Mountains is supportive of thermal uplift of the mountains associated with lateral heat conduction from the rift and can possibly also explain the volcanism, rifting, and high elevation of the entire rift shoulder to the Ellsworth-Horlick-Whitmore Mountains. We infer that the Gondwana breakup and the West Antarctic rift are part of a continuously propagating rift that started in the Jurassic when Africa separated from East Antarctica (including the failed Jurassic Transantarctic rift). Rifting proceeded clockwise around East Antarctica to the separation of New Zealand and the Campbell Plateau about 85–95 Ma and has continued (with a spreading center jump) to its present location in the Ross Embayment and West Antarctica. The Cenozoic activity of the West Antarctic rift system appears to be continuous in time with rifting in the same area that began only in the late Mesozoic. Although the mechanism for rifting is not completely explained, we suggest a combination of the flexural rigidity model (Stem and ten Brink, 1989) proposed for the Ross Embayment and the thermal plume or hot spot concepts. The propagating rift may have been “captured” by the thermal plume.

Tectonics↗
USGS1996

Paleomagnetic study of the northern Ford Ranges, western Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica: Motion between West and East Antarctica

A paleomagnetic study of Paleozoic and Mesozoic crystalline rocks in the northern Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica, has determined a middle Cretaceous (circa 100 Ma) paleomagnetic pole and provided constraints on possible clockwise rotation of these ranges and on the rifting of east Gondwana. The 40 Ar/ 39 Ar thermochronology data from the Fosdick Mountains record a period of rapid cooling from ∼700°C beginning at ∼100 Ma. We relate this to extension, intrusion, and uplift associated with the beginning of rifting between Campbell Plateau and Marie Byrd Land. All rocks from the Fosdick and Chester Mountains are normally polarized. We interpret thermochronology and paleomagnetic data to infer that the region was extensively remagnetized in middle Cretaceous time. Inclinations in samples from the Chester Mountains are less steep than those from the Fosdick Mountains, which we interpret as ∼25° of south tilting of the Chesters. We interpret cooling age data for the time of magnetization to infer that the tilting began after 105 Ma and ended prior to 103 Ma. We further interpret this as constraining the beginning of extension between the Campbell Plateau and western Marie Byrd Land to the interval 105 to 103 Ma. Virtual geomagnetic poles from samples of Early Carboniferous age granodiorite from the western Phillips Mountains lie on the late Paleozoic apparent polar wander path for Australia transferred to Antarctica. Directions from 29 sites in the central and eastern Phillips and Fosdick Mountains give a Middle Cretaceous paleomagnetic pole at 222.3° E, 70.5° S (A95 6.1°, KAPPA 20.0). This pole is indistinguishable from other Middle Cretaceous poles for studies further east in Marie Byrd Land. Combining middle Cretaceous poles determined for three other studies of the Antarctic Peninsula, Thurston Island, and the Ruppert-Hobbs coasts with ours gives a Pacific West Antarctic pole at 215.2° E, 73.5° S (A95 4.0°, KAPPA 528.9). This pole is discordant by 5° to 10° from synthetic mid-Cretaceous East Antarctic reference poles, but the degree of discordance is very sensitive to the choice of the specific reference pole. The lack of native East Antarctic reference poles leaves this analysis inconclusive. Accepting 10° of discordance, we favor an interpretation where Pacific West Antarctic crustal domains or microplates have rotated clockwise 40° to 90° and translated a few degrees away from East Antarctica during Late Cretaceous time.

Tectonics↗
USGS1996

Patterns of late Cenozoic volcanic and tectonic activity in the West Antarctic rift system revealed by aeromagnetic surveys

Aeromagnetic surveys, spaced ≤5 km, over widely separated areas of the largely ice- and sea-covered West Antarctic rift system, reveal similar patterns of 100- to 1700-nT, shallow-source magnetic anomalies interpreted as evidence of extensive late Cenozoic volcanism. We use the aeromagnetic data to extend the volcanic rift interpretation over West Antarctica starting with anomalies over (1) exposures of highly magnetic, late Cenozoic volcanic rocks several kilometers thick in the McMurdo-Ross Island area and elsewhere; continuing through (2) volcanoes and subvolcanic intrusions directly beneath the Ross Sea continental shelf defined by marine magnetic and seismic reflection data and aeromagnetic data and (3) volcanic structures interpreted beneath the Ross Ice Shelf partly controlled by seismic reflection determinations of seafloor depth to (4) an area of similar magnetic pattern over the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (400 km from the nearest exposed volcanic rock), where interpretations of late Cenozoic volcanic rocks at the base of the ice are controlled in part by radar ice sounding. North trending magnetic rift fabric in the Ross Sea-Ross Ice Shelf and Corridor Aerogeophysics of the Southeast Ross Transect Zone (CASERTZ) areas, revealed by the aeromagnetic surveys, is probably a reactivation of older rift trends (late Mesozoic?) and is superimposed on still older crosscutting structural trends revealed by magnetic terrace maps calculated from horizontal gradient of pseudogravity. Long-wavelength (∼ 100-km wide) magnetic terraces from sources within the subvolcanic basement cross the detailed survey areas. One of these extends across the Ross Sea survey from the front of the Transantarctic Mountains with an east-southeast trend crossing the north trending rift fabric. The Ross Sea-Ross Ice Shelf survey area is characterized by highly magnetic northern and southern zones which are separated by magnetically defined faults from a more moderately magnetic central zone. Aeromagnetic data in the south delineate the Ross fault of unknown age. The extension of the southern Central Basin south of the Ross fault is associated with an 825-nT magnetic anomaly over the Ross Ice Shelf requiring inferred late Cenozoic volcanic rock essentially at the seafloor at its south end, as shown by magnetic models. Models show that the thickness of magnetic volcanic rocks beneath Hut Point Peninsula at McMurdo Station is probably <2 km. The detailed surveys, combined with data from > 100,000 km of widely spaced aeromagnetic profiles, led to the interpretation of the mostly subglacial West Antarctic flood basalts(?) or their subglacially erupted and intruded equivalent. The volume of the exposed volcanos is small in contrast to the much greater volume (> 10 6 km³) of late Cenozoic magmatic rock remaining at volcanic centers beneath the continental shelf, Ross Ice Shelf and West Antarctic Ice Sheet. We suggest as an alternative or supplemental explanation to the previously proposed mantle plume hypothesis for the late Cenozoic volcanism significantly greater lower lithosphere (mantle) stretching resulting in greater decompression melting than the limited Cenozoic crustal extension allows. However, this implies a space problem that is not obviously resolved, because the Antarctic Plate is essentially surrounded by spreading centers.

Tectonics↗
USGS2018

Enhancement and integration of airborne gamma-ray spectrometric and Landsat imagery for regolith mapping — Cape York Peninsula

Airborne gamma-ray spectrometric data (400-m line spacing), gathered for the National Geoscience Mapping Accord North Queensland Project, has proved invaluable for differentiating regolith types based on their potassium, thorium and uranium signatures. The ability of the gamma-ray signal to penetrate the vegetation cover and as much as 40 cm below the surface was a considerable advantage in North Queensland, where traditional mapping techniques are hindered by the thick vegetation cover and where deeply weathered sandy soils frequently mask underlying geology. Two image-processing techniques were used to enhance the gamma-ray data and integrate them with Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data. Firstly, a sun-angle illuminated high-pass filtered component (hillshade) of the gamma-ray image was added to a three-band false-colour composite image of the corrected gamma-ray data. The hillshade component highlighted local changes in the gamma-ray signal which related to changes in regolith materials and lithology, and sharpened boundaries associated with geomorphic features. Secondly, the gamma-ray image was integrated (pixel by pixel) with the high-frequency component of the corresponding TM band 5 scene. This allowed the imagery to be interpreted in a geomorphological and structural context. Broad lithological divisions and structural domains were identified in the imagery, but most of the variation within these groups relates to the regolith cover and to geomorphic features in the landscape. Subtle variations in lithology were effectively interpreted only when the responses of the regolith cover are known. The gamma-ray imagery provided an insight into the weathering and geomorphic history of the region. In addition, the imagery can also be interpreted as a ‘geomorphic activity map’, separating stable landforms with deep weathering from younger landforms with active erosion and stripping of the surficial cover. This allows past and present geomorphic processes to be interpreted from the imagery, which in turn provides more informed extrapolation of field results and prediction of regolith types. The imagery was highly useful for basement and regolith mapping. There is considerable potential for assisting with interpretation of both stream-sediment geochemical data and environmental studies, since the resulting imagery effectively maps the distribution of sediments in the landscape, and identifies areas of erosion and land degradation.

Queensland↗
USGS2017

Population dynamics of brown trout (Salmo trutta) in Spruce Creek Pennsylvania: A quarter-century perspective

We examined the relationship between density-independent and density-dependent factors on the demography of a dense, relatively unexploited population of brown trout in Spruce Creek Pennsylvania between 1985 and 2011. Individual PCAs of flow and temperature data elucidated groups of years with multiple high flow versus multiple low flow characteristics and high versus low temperature years, although subtler patterns of variation also were observed. Density and biomass displayed similar temporal patterns, ranging from 710 to 1,803 trout/ha and 76–263 kg/ha. We detected a significantly negative linear stock-recruitment relationship ( R 2 = .39) and there was no evidence that flow or water temperature affected recruitment. Both annual survival and the per-capita rate of increase ( r ) for the population varied over the study, and density-dependent mechanisms possessed the greatest explanatory power for annual survival data. Temporal trends in population r suggested it displayed a bounded equilibrium with increases observed in 12 years and decreases detected in 13 years. Model selection analysis of per-capita rate of increase data for age 1, and adults ( N = eight interpretable models) indicated that both density-dependent (five of eight) and negative density-independent processes (five of eight, i.e. high flows or temperatures), affected r . Recruitment limitation also was identified in three of eight models. Variation in the per-capita rate of increase for the population was most strongly affected by positive density independence in the form of increasing spring–summer temperatures and recruitment limitation. Model selection analyses describing annual variation in both mean length and mass data yielded similar results, although maximum w i values were low ranging from 0.09 to 0.23 (length) and 0.13 to 0.22 (mass). Density-dependence was included in 15 of 15 interpretable models for length and all ten interpretable models for mass. Similarly, positive density-independent effects in the form of increasing autumn–winter flow were present in seven of 15 interpretable models for length and five of ten interpretable models for mass. Negative density independent effects also were observed in the form of high spring–summer flows or temperatures ( N = 4), or high autumn–winter temperatures ( N = 1). Our analyses of the factors affecting population regulation in an introduced population of brown trout demonstrate that density-dependent forces affected every important demographic characteristic (recruitment, survivorship, the rate of increase, and size) within this population. However, density-independent forces in the form of seasonal variations in flow and temperature also helped explain annual variation in the per-capita rate of increase, and mean length and mass data. Consequently, population regulation within this population is driven by a complex of biotic and environmental factors, although it seems clear that density-dependent factors play a dominant role.

Pennsylvania↗
USGS2012

Geophysical study of the San Juan Mountains batholith complex, southwestern Colorado

One of the largest and most pronounced gravity lows over North America is over the rugged San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado (USA). The mountain range is coincident with the San Juan volcanic field (SJVF), the largest erosional remnant of a widespread mid-Cenozoic volcanic field that spanned much of the southern Rocky Mountains. A buried, low-density silicic batholith complex related to the volcanic field has been the accepted interpretation of the source of the gravity low since the 1970s. However, this interpretation was based on gravity data processed with standard techniques that are problematic in the SJVF region. The combination of high-relief topography, topography with low densities, and the use of a common reduction density of 2670 kg/m 3 produces spurious large-amplitude gravity lows that may distort the geophysical signature of deeper features such as a batholith complex. We applied an unconventional processing procedure that uses geologically appropriate densities for the uppermost crust and digital topography to mostly remove the effect of the low-density units that underlie the topography associated with the SJVF. This approach resulted in a gravity map that provides an improved representation of deeper sources, including reducing the amplitude of the anomaly attributed to a batholith complex. We also reinterpreted vintage seismic refraction data that indicate the presence of low-velocity zones under the SJVF. Assuming that the source of the gravity low on the improved gravity anomaly map is the same as the source of the low seismic velocities, integrated modeling corroborates the interpretation of a batholith complex and then defines the dimensions and overall density contrast of the complex. Models show that the thickness of the batholith complex varies laterally to a significant degree, with the greatest thickness (∼20 km) under the western SJVF, and lesser thicknesses (<10 km) under the eastern SJVF. The largest group of nested calderas on the surface of the SJVF, the central caldera cluster, is not correlated with the thickest part of the batholith complex. This result is consistent with petrologic interpretations from recent studies that the batholith complex continued to be modified after cessation of volcanism and therefore is not necessarily representative of synvolcanic magma chambers. The total volume of the batholith complex is estimated to be 82,000–130,000 km 3 . The formation of such a large felsic batholith complex would inevitably involve production of a considerably greater volume of residuum, which could be present in the lower crust or uppermost mantle. The interpreted vertically averaged density contrast (–60 to –110 kg/m 3 ), density (2590–2640 kg/m 3 ), and seismic expression of the batholith complex are consistent with results of geophysical studies of other large batholiths in the western United States.

Colorado↗
USGS2015

What lies beneath: geophysical mapping of a concealed Precambrian intrusive complex along the Iowa–Minnesota border

Large-amplitude gravity and magnetic highs over northeast Iowa are interpreted to reflect a buried intrusive complex composed of mafic–ultramafic rocks, the northeast Iowa intrusive complex (NEIIC), intruding Yavapai province (1.8–1.72 Ga) rocks. The age of the complex is unproven, although it has been considered to be Keweenawan (∼1.1 Ga). Because only four boreholes reach the complex, which is covered by 200–700 m of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, geophysical methods are critical to developing a better understanding of the nature and mineral resource potential of the NEIIC. Lithologic and cross-cutting relations interpreted from high-resolution aeromagnetic and airborne gravity gradient data are presented in the form of a preliminary geologic map of the basement Precambrian rocks. Numerous magnetic anomalies are coincident with airborne gravity gradient (AGG) highs, indicating widespread strongly magnetized and dense rocks of likely mafic–ultramafic composition. A Yavapai-age metagabbro unit is interpreted to be part of a layered intrusion with subvertical dip. Another presumed Yavapai unit has low density and weak magnetization, observations consistent with felsic plutons. Northeast-trending, linear magnetic lows are interpreted to reflect reversely magnetized diabase dikes and have properties consistent with Keweenawan rocks. The interpreted dikes are cut in places by normally magnetized mafic–ultramafic rocks, suggesting that the latter represent younger Keweenawan rocks. Distinctive horseshoe-shaped magnetic and AGG highs correspond with a known gabbro, and surround rocks with weaker magnetization and lower density. Here, informally called the Decorah complex, the source body has notable geophysical similarities to Keweenawan alkaline ring complexes, such as the Coldwell and Killala Lake complexes, and Mesoproterozoic anorogenic complexes, such as the Kiglapait, Hettasch, and Voisey’s Bay intrusions in Labrador. Results presented here suggest that much of the NEIIC is composed of such complexes, and broadly speaking, may be a discontinuous group of several intrusive bodies. Most units are cut by suspected northwest-trending faults imaged as magnetic lineaments, and one produces apparent sinistral fault separation of a dike in the eastern part of the survey area. The location, trend, and apparent sinistral sense of motion are consistent with the suspected faults being part of the Belle Plaine fault zone, a complex transform fault zone within the Midcontinent rift system that is here proposed to correspond with a major structural discontinuity.

Iowa, Minnesota↗
USGS2026

Geophysical architecture and geochronology of the Neoarchean Mentor anorthosite intrusive complex, northwestern Minnesota: Largest anorthosite complex of the Superior Province?

The Neoarchean Mentor anorthosite intrusive complex (MAIC) lies within the Wawa subprovince in northwestern Minnesota, in a region where the Wawa, Quetico, and Wabigoon subprovinces are juxtaposed in close proximity. Archean rocks are entirely concealed, and interpretations are developed from aeromagnetic, gravity, and borehole samples. The MAIC includes both anorthosite (dense, weakly magnetized) and oxide-rich gabbro (strongly magnetized) lithologies. Anorthosite is coarse-grained to megacrystic, intensely altered, and locally brecciated. Pervasive epidote alteration enhanced the density of the anorthosite via introduction of higher-density mineral assemblages, explaining why the MAIC produces a significant gravity high. Oxide-rich gabbro forms a border phase of the MAIC and has potential for vanadium, chromium, and titanium mineralization, and produces a strong aeromagnetic high. The MAIC is interpreted to extend over an area of 640 km 2 , making it the largest known anorthosite complex of the Superior Province, as measured by preserved areal extent. Modeling indicates the MAIC extends more than 6 km into the subsurface. A new Pb–Pb zircon age of 2737.2 ± 4.5 Ma is interpretated as the crystallization age of anorthosite within the MAIC, showing that the MAIC formed well before the ca. 2690 Ma Shebandowanian orogeny, and raising new questions about correlations with other parts of the Wawa subprovince. A low-density batholith, here informally called the Fertile batholith, is interpreted to intrude the southern part of the MAIC. A new Pb–Pb zircon age of 2701.1 ± 6 Ma is interpreted as the magmatic age of the Fertile batholith.

Minnesota↗
USGS1994

Seismic images of a tectonic subdivision of the Greenville Orogen beneath lakes Ontario and Erie

New seismic data from marine air-gun and Vibroseis profiles in Lake Ontario and Lake Erie provide images of subhorizontal Phanerozoic sediments underlain by a remarkable series of easterly dipping reflections that extends from the crystalline basement to the lower crust. These reflections are interpreted as structural features of crustal-scale subdivisions within the Grenville Orogen. Broadly deformed, imbricated, and overlapping thrust sheets within the western Central Metasedimentary Belt are succeeded to the west by a complex zone of easterly dipping, apparent thrust faults that are interpreted as a southwest subsurface extension of the boundary zone between the Central Metasedimentary Belt and the Central Gneiss Belt. The interpreted Central Metasedimentary Belt boundary zone has a characteristic magnetic anomaly that provides a link from the adjacent ends of lakes Ontario and Erie to structures exposed 150&ensp;km to the north. Less reflective, west-dipping events are interpreted as structures within the eastern Central Gneiss Belt. The seismic interpretation augments current tectonic models that suggest the exposed ductile structures formed at depth as a result of crustal shortening along northwest-verging thrust faults. Relatively shallow reflections across the boundary region suggest local, Late Proterozoic extensional troughs containing post-Grenville sediments, preserved possibly as a result of pre-Paleozoic reactivation of basement structures.

Lake Erie, Lake Ontario↗
USGS2013

Identifying buried segments of active faults in the northern Rio Grande Rift using aeromagnetic, LiDAR,and gravity data, south-central Colorado, USA

Combined interpretation of aeromagnetic and LiDAR data builds on the strength of the aeromagnetic method to locate normal faults with significant offset under cover and the strength of LiDAR interpretation to identify the age and sense of motion of faults. Each data set helps resolve ambiguities in interpreting the other. In addition, gravity data can be used to infer the sense of motion for totally buried faults inferred solely from aeromagnetic data. Combined interpretation to identify active faults at the northern end of the San Luis Basin of the northern Rio Grande rift has confirmed general aspects of previous geologic mapping but has also provided significant improvements. The interpretation revises and extends mapped fault traces, confirms tectonic versus fluvial origins of steep stream banks, and gains additional information on the nature of active and potentially active partially and totally buried faults. Detailed morphology of surfaces mapped from the LiDAR data helps constrain ages of the faults that displace the deposits. The aeromagnetic data provide additional information about their extents in between discontinuous scarps and suggest that several totally buried, potentially active faults are present on both sides of the valley.

Colorado↗
USGS1997

Geophysical setting of the Wabash Valley fault system

Interpretation of existing regional magnetic and gravity data and new local high-resolution aeromagnetic data provides new insights on the tectonic history and structural development of the Wabash Valley Fault System in Illinois and Indiana. Enhancement of short-wavelength magnetic anomalies reveal numerous NW- to NNE-trending ultramafic dikes and six intrusive complexes (including those at Hicks Dome and Omaha Dome). Inversion models indicate that the interpreted dikes are narrow (≤3 m), lie at shallow depths (<200 m) and are steeply dipping. Some of the interpreted dikes closely follow mapped faults; their abundance suggests that the Wabash Valley Fault System contains many more faults than those mapped. Both the interpreted dike pattern and mapped Wabash Valley Fault System terminate near the Reelfoot-Rough Creek-Rome rift system. Based on the interpretation of both the regional magnetic and gravity data and the high-resolution magnetic data, we propose that the shallow faults and deep-seated rift structures in the Wabash Valley terminate at or near the Rough Creek-Shawneetown Fault System. The Grayville Graben (∼20 km wide, ∼700 m maximum basement relief, and <40 km long [Bear et al. , this volume]) underlying the Wabash Valley developed during rifting, perhaps in response to stress concentrations generated by a bend in the Reelfoot-Rough Creek-Rome rift system. We therefore hypothesize that although the Reelfoot Rift and Rough Creek Graben represent tectonic intraplate structures of large areal extent (>500 km long and generally >50 km wide) and with deep basins (locally >3 km thick), the ancestral Wabash Valley faults express, in comparison, minor tectonic structures and probably do not represent a failed rift arm. There is a lack of any obvious relation between the Wabash Valley Fault System and the epicenters of historic and prehistoric earthquakes. Five prehistoric earthquakes lie conspicuously near structures associated with the Commerce geophysical lineament, a NE-trending magnetic and gravity lineament lying oblique to the Wabash Valley Fault System and possibly extending over 600 km from NE Arkansas to central Indiana.

Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, T↗
USGS2000

SHRIMP U-Pb zircon ages for Big Creek gneiss, Wyoming and Boulder Creek batholith, Colorado: Implications for timing of Paleoproterozoic accretion of the northern Colorado province

Sensitive, high-resolution, ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U-Pb zircon ages from a sample of the high-grade, hornblende-feldspathic Big Creek gneiss of the southeastern Sierra Madre, along with samples of a quartz monzonitic phase of the Boulder Creek batholith, help define timing of three major Paleoproterozoic thermo-tectonic events within the northern Colorado province at approximately 1810, 1710, and 1610 Ma. Previous ages determined for these key rock units were problematic; they hindered regional tectonic interpretations of the Paleoproterozoic crustal accretion history of the Colorado province that extends from the Cheyenne belt of southern Wyoming to north-central New Mexico. The Colorado province has been popularly modelled as a series of accreted oceanic volcano-plutonic arc systems and associated sediments, although alternative interpretations suggest that the series represents continental-margin arc rocks. The Big Creek gneiss has been interpreted as a high-grade basement equivalent of the oldest arc volcanic rocks exposed within the Green Mountain arc terrane, but it also has been suspected of being either an older block of pre-arc basement or perhaps an allochthonous piece of crust from slightly older orogens to the east and north. Previous ID-TIMS work on mg-size zircon fractions yielded U-Pb concordia upper-intercept ages of 1618 ± 22 and 1684 ± 5 Ma as well as negative lower-intercept ages, indicating complex U-Pb isotopic systematics involving at least two ages of zircon growth overprinted by at least one episode of Pb-loss. Zircons from this gneiss were analyzed using the SHRIMP, and a total of 32 spot analyses on both centers and rims produced a range of different 207 Pb/ 206 Pb ages between ∼1840 and ∼1560 Ma. The weighted mean of the oldest 207 Pb/ 206 Pb ages is 1812 ± 12 Ma and is interpreted to estimate the age of the protolith that appears to be slightly older than lower-grade metabasalts and associated plutons at ∼1790–1775 Ma. This protolith age of 1812 Ma further implies that significantly older crust (> 1820 Ma; e.g., Penokean orogeny) is not found in the Green Mountain magmatic arc. The youngest 207 Pb/ 206 Pb ages of ∼1610 Ma are interpreted to represent a time of new zircon growth during highly localized high-grade metamorphism—an event that also produced local granitic magmatism at ∼1625 Ma. The Boulder Creek batholith had been dated previously using the ID-TIMS, U-Pb zircon technique that yielded ages at ∼1670 and ∼1714 Ma, a 45-m.y. discrepancy that left the true age of the batholith in doubt. Zircons from two samples, previously dated using the ID-TIMS method, were analyzed using SHRIMP, and yielded concordia upper-intercept ages of 1713 ± 10 and 1721 ± 15 Ma. These results, combined with two earlier U-Pb zircon determinations, help to establish the age of the Boulder Creek batholith at 1714.4 ± 4.6 Ma (weighted mean), an age more compatible with those for the other large, tonalitic to quartz monzonitic, syntectonic plutons within the northern Colorado province. The new Boulder Creek age helps to establish a discrete period of plutonism (∼1735–1705 Ma) that is syn- to post-tectonic with respect to major regional structures of deformation and metamorphism in the northern Colorado province. Assuming the multiple oceanic arc accretion model, the new age for the mid-crustal emplacement of this batholith into a deforming composite back-arc basin may date the closure of that basin during crustal shortening.

Colorado, Wyoming↗