United States Geological Survey

About: United States Geological Survey is a government organization based out in Reston, Virginia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Groundwater. The organization has 17899 authors who have published 51097 publications receiving 2479125 citations. The organization is also known as: USGS & US Geological Survey.

Influence of Dissolved Organic Matter on the Environmental Fate of Metals, Nanoparticles, and Colloids

Abstract: Influence of Dissolved Organic Matter on the Environmental Fate of Metals, Nanoparticles, and Colloids George R. Aiken,* Heileen Hsu-Kim, and Joseph N. Ryan U.S. Geological Survey, 3215 Marine Street, Boulder, Colorado 80303, United States Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University, Box 90287, Durham, North Carolina 27708, United States Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, United States

Chemical Characteristics of Oceanic Basalts and the Upper Mantle

Abstract: Tholeiitic basalts (oceanic tholeiites) that form most of the deeply submerged volcanic features in the oceans are characterized by extremely low amounts of Ba, K, P, Pb, Sr, Th, U, and Zr as well as Fe 2 O 3 /FeO 10 in unaltered samples. Oceanic tholeiites also have rare earth abundance-distribution patterns and ratios of K/Rb (1300) and Sr 87 /Sr 86 (0.702) similar to or overlapping those of calcium-rich (basaltic) achondritic meteorites. The close compositional similarities between the oceanic tholeiites and calcium-rich achondrites indicates the relatively primitive nature of the oceanic tholeiites. In contrast, the alkali-rich basalts that cap submarine and island volcanoes are relatively enriched in Ba, K, La, Nb, P, Pb, Pb 206 , Rb, Fe 2 O 3 , Sr, Sr 87 , Ti, Th, U, and Zr; i.e . in the same elements and isotopes that are concentrated in the sialic continental crusts by factors of 5 to 1000 more than the amounts readily inferred in the upper mantle. These analytical data coupled with the field relationships indicate that the alkali-rich basalts are derivative rocks, fractionated from the oceanic tholeiites by processes of magmatic differentiation, and that the oceanic tholeiites are the principal or only primary magma generated in the upper mantle under the oceans. Studies of the abundances and compositions of continental basalts show that essentially identical tholeiitic lavas, contaminated with Si, K, and the chemically coherent trace elements and radiogenic isotopes from the sial, also have been the predominant or only magma generated in the mantle under the continents. The chemical properties of oceanic tholeiites suggest that the upper mantle probably contains less than (in parts per million): Ba, 10; K, 1000; Pb, 0.4; Rb, 10; Th, 0.2; and U, 0.1. The Sr 87 /Sr 86 must be less than 0.7015; Th/U about 2; K/Rb about 1500–2000; and Fe 2 O 3 /FeO less than 0.1. The integration of field and petrochemical data with seismic, density, and shock-wave studies suggests that the oceanic tholeiites are either complete melts of the upper mantle or are generated from a mix of this tholeiite and a magnesium-rich peridotite or dunite in proportions up to perhaps 1:4. The Mohorovicic discontinuity under the oceans appears to mark the transition downward from a largely tholeiitic oceanic crust to either tholeiite reconstituted to blueschist or greenschist or to the ultramafic residue left after expulsion of oceanic tholeiite.

Basic types of stratification in small eolian dunes

Abstract: The thinnest recognizable strata in modern eolian dune sands can be grouped into six classes. They are herein named planebed laminae, rippleform laminae, ripple-foreset crosslaminae, climbing translatent strata, grainfall laminae, and sandflow cross-strata. Planebed laminae are formed by tractional deposition on smooth surfaces at high wind velocities. They are very rare in the deposits studied. Grainfall laminae are also formed on smooth surfaces, largely by grainfall deposition in zones of flow separation. They are much more common than planebed laminae, which they closely resemble. Eolian climbing-ripple structures are composed primarily of climbing trans-latent strata, each of which is the depositional product of a single climbing ripple. Climbing translatent strata that formed at relatively high or supercritical angles of ripple climb are typically accompanied by rippleform laminae, which are wavy layers parallel to the rippled depositional surfaces. Ripple-foreset crosslaminae, which are incomplete rippleform laminae produced when the angle of ripple climb is relatively low or subcritical, are rarely visible in eolian sands. Sandflow cross-strata are formed by the avalanching of noncohesive sand on dune slipfaces. Their form varies with slipface height and with other factors.