Lacustrine Materials Research Articles

Characteristics of Coal Mine Overburden Important to Plant Growth

AbstractThis investigation was conducted to determine physical and chemical properties of mineland overburden, to evaluate plant growth in these materials, and to identify properties of overburden materials before mining that may serve as predictors of potential plant growth.Eighteen overburden materials from five surface coal mines in the Illinois coal basin of southwestern Indiana were sampled and analyzed for 20 physical and chemical properties. Twelve were unconsolidated materials, including A and B horizons, lacustrine sediments, and glacial tills, and six were rock strata that break and weather easily. Growth potential for overburden materials, with and without sewage sludge and fertilizer amendments, was evaluated in greenhouse pot culture using alfalfa, wheat, and white pine. Oats yield, and survival and growth of Virginia pine and yellow‐poplar were evaluated for 10 materials in outdoor containers.Regression analysis of plant growth against chemical and physical properties of the overburden materials did not reveal properties that could be consistently used in a formula approach to predicting plant growth potential of the materials. Electrical conductivity of the material extract and water storage capacity were most frequently significantly related to growth. High plant tissue levels of B, Fe, Mn, and Al suggested toxicity problems on some materials. The general ranking of overburden materials evaluated for plant growth potential was lacustrine sedment ≥ A horizons > B horizons = glacial tills ≥ brown shale > sandstone > gray shale > black fissile shales; however, physical properties unfavorable to extraction and replacement of lacustrine material may limit its use under field conditions. Addition of sewage sludge resulted in vastly improved growth of wheat, and to a lesser extent, alfalfa, on most materials in the greenhouse. Fertilization with N‐P‐K was less effective than sludge but usually produced increased plant growth.

SPATIAL VARIABILITY OF IN SITU UNSATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY OF MADDOCK SANDY LOAM

Unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity (K) versus depth was measured in situ in five infiltration plots within a 0.01 hectare area on a soil developed from lacustrine materials in a glacial lake bed. Sufficient water was allowed to infiltrate each plot to wet the soil profile to 152 cm. The soil surface was covered to prevent evaporation and during the ensuing drainage period, soil water pressure was monitored with triplicate tensiometers at each depth of 15, 30, 45, 61, 91, 122, and 152 cm. Soil water characteristic data determined on triplicate cores taken from the same depth as the tensiometer cups, were used in conjunction with the soil water pressure head data to compute the hydraulic conductivity. Significant spatial variability of hydraulic conductivity at the 1 percent level was found. In addition, K significantly varied with depth, at the 1 percent level, generally increasing, due to the heterogeneous nature of soil in the vertical direction. Hydraulic conductivity as a function of porosity was computed for each site by the modified Green and Corey method. Agreement of these theoretical K values with those measured in situ depended on the soil water content at which the matching factor was selected. Agreement between methods was best when the matching factor was selected at the lowest water content at which K was measured in the field for that particular soil depth.

Moss-Lichen Flora of St. Elias-Kluane Ranges, Southwestern Yukon

One hundred eighty-nine moss taxa including 181 species and 193 lichen taxa including 190 species are reported from the St. Elias-Kluane Ranges, southwestern Yukon (60'-62' N, 137'-141' W). Sixteen of the moss taxa and 74 of the lichen taxa represent new records for the Yukon. The list includes all literature reports as well as recent collections. In many regions of North America our knowledge of the moss and lichen floras is sparse in comparison with the vascular plant flora. This is especially true for the more northern areas. This paper provides a checklist of mosses and lichens for one of these areas; the St. Elias Mountain-Kluane Ranges in the southwestern Yukon (60'620N, 1370-141oW). GEOLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY The geologic history of the St. Elias-Kluane Ranges has been presented in detail by Sharp (1943), Bostock (1952), Kindle (1952) and Muller (1967). In general, the mountains consist of a complex eugeosynclinal assemblage of sedimentary, volcanic and intrusive rocks with established ages ranging from Devonian to early Tertiary (Muller, 1967). Common rocks in the northern sector of the region include greenstone, greywacke, quartzite, slate, phyllite, marble, argillite, granite and granodiorite. Farther south, shale, sandstone, andesite, basalt and other volcanic rocks become important. During the Pleistocene most of the St. Elias-Kluane Ranges were covered by ice at various times with the ice sheet ending just north of Kluane Lake. Ice filled all the valleys in the Kluane Ranges to elevations of 1825-1980 m (Kindle, 1952; Day, 1962; Muller, 1967). This extensive glaciation resulted in widespread deposits of glacial till. Lacustrine parent materials are also important in the region, most notably in the Alsek and Dezadeash River valleys where a large proglacial lake (Recent Lake Alsek) was dammed by the Lowell Glacier about 125 years ago and had an upper shoreline at either 1The following taxonomists kindly identified some of the more difficult specimens: H. Ando, I. M. Brodo, Z. Iwatsuki, T. Koponen, E. Lawton, K. E. Ohlsson, M. Ostafichuk, W. L. Peterson, H. Robinson, A. C. Skorepa, J. W. Thomson, W. A. Weber and P. Y. Wong. We also thank Gloria G. Douglas for her aid in the field and in preparation of the manuscript. We are grateful to the National Research Council of Canada (Grant No. A6390) and to the National and Historic Parks Branch of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs through the Canadian Wildlife Service, Department of Environment, for funding this research. Laboratory facilities provided at Kluane National Park Headquarters are also appreciated. 2 Department of Botany, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E9. 3 Present address: Douglas Ecological Consultants Ltd., 202-737 Fort Street, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 2V1. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.128 on Tue, 06 Sep 2016 05:46:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 438 THE BRYOLOGIST [Volume 79 640 m (Kindle, 1952) or 604 m (Johnson & Raup, 1964). Other surficial deposits in the region include alluvial gravels, sand dunes and loess. The latter is most abundant in the Slims River valley where constant winds create dust clouds that blow eastward to Kluane Lake.

Znaczenie profilu z Ponurzycy dla badań genezy i wieku preglacjału Mazowsza

THE PONURZYCA SEQUENCE AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ORIGIN AND AGE OF THE MAZOVIA PREGLACIAL Summary Geological field studies carried out in the Otwock area provided materials discussed in the present paper. The geological structure has been recognized from geological mapping and drilling records. Five boreholes encountered a sedimentary series that, in its thickness, position and composition, shows some affinities to the preglacial sediments of the south Mazovia alluvial fan. Detailed geological and palynological studies created a basis for a new interpretation of the deposition and age of the sediments of the Otwock area. This is of substantial significance for the recognition and interpretation of all the preglacial sediments in Mazovia and areas adjacent in the south. The best results have been obtained from the Ponurzyca sequence that most likely is situated in a narrow zone of Quaternary basement disturbances. However, no disturbance evidence has been found in the preglacial sediments. The preglacial sediments of the Otwock area lie at the top of a highly monotonous Pliocene series accumulated under large-scale depositional rythm. In contrast, the preglacial sediments (74–104 m a.s.1.) have a small and very variable depositional rythm (depositional cycles I, II, III, IV and depositional sequences 1-11). Stratigraphically the discussed preglacial sediments are overlain by sediments of the Kromer, Mazovia (Great), and Eemian Interglacials and of the South Polish (Cracow), Middle Polish Glaciations and extraglacial sediments of the Baltic Glaciation. Holocene sediments also occur above the preglacial material. Two depositional areas of the preglacial series – the valley and the upland area (Fig. 1) as well as two facies types of the sediments have been distinguished near Otwock. Sediments laid down by streams that formed fans prevailed. The fiuvial sediments are separated by lacustrine material that terminates the majority of the depositional cycles and sequences. Lacustrine sediments are fairly abundant and sometimes make up more than 50% of the whole sequence. Hence the lacustrine-fluvial (the Ponurzyca sequence) and the fluvial-lacustrine (other sequences) facies types have been distinguished. The sediments show some features of the deluvial transport indicating that this was an additional accumulation factor. Within the preglacial series of Ponurzyca abundant plant remnants indicate these sediments to be of Quaternary age and to correspond, in the sections examined, to two warm periods of interglacial character separated by a cool period with a climate close to subarctic (L. Stuchlik, 1975). The substantial clues pointing to the Quaternary age of the sediments are the very frequent lithological changes that distinguish them from the Pliocene sequence. This variation corresponds to the rapid climatic rythms that are known to occur in the period of Quaternary glaciations. It should be mentioned, however, that the climatic changes evidenced by palynological results do not fully coincide with the depositional sequences the origin of which must be due to other factors as well. The new stratigraphic units distinguished on the basis of the Ponurzyca sequence are proposed to be named (going upwards) the Ponurzyca Interglacial the Otwock Glaciation and the Celestynow Interglacial. The Uppermost part of the Ponurzyca preglacial series probably belongs to the Podlasie Glaciation. Geological evidence indicates the possibility of a detailed division of the Otwock Glaciation into units of the stade and phase rank. At present the Ponurzyca sequence (Fig. 2) is of reference value for the stratigraphy of the older part of the Quaternay in the Polish Lowlands. Normal 0 21 false false false PL X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Standardowy; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-indent:35.45pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri,sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Times New Roman; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

The Occurrence of Sepiolite and Attapulgite on the Southern High Plains

AbstractSepiolite and attapulgite have been found to be common, sometimes the major, clay minerals in calcareous lacustrine deposits on the southern High Plains in West Texas and eastern New Mexico. Deflation debris derived from the basins and calcareous soils developed in the debris and in the lacustrine deposits also often contain either or both minerals. Dolomite is the carbonate commonly associated with sepiolite and calcite has a similar relationship to attapulgite in the lacustrine deposits. Pedogenic formation of sepiolite and attapulgite appears unlikely in the area studied since an association with lacustrine materials was made in a very high percentage of the occurrences.Sepiolite was found to be highly concentrated in the < 0•2μ fraction. A similar, but less pronounced, distribution was noted for attapulgite. The studies suggest that the minerals have developed authigenically in alkaline lacustrine environments during periods of desiccation. Such an environment, interrupted by more humid periods, would have obtained during dry Pleistocene intervals. Volcanic ash is suggested as the source of the essential silica. The Mg concentration would appear to determine whether sepiolite-dolomite or attapulgite-calcite were formed.

Shoreline-area ratio as a factor in rate of water loss from small sloughs

Data collected from 1963 to 1969 at Melfort, Saskatoon and Swift Current, Saskatchewan, have established that rate of water loss from small sloughs varies directly with the length of shoreline per unit area and, therefore, inversely with the size of individual sloughs. This relationship may be caused by lateral seepage to transpiring marginal vegetation, soil evaporation and to groundwater.Maximum daily rate of shoreline-related water loss near Melfort is just over half (0.10 inches) that at Saskatoon and Swift Current (0.18 and 0.17 inches). The daily rate of shoreline-related seepage loss to groundwater is estimated to be 0.02 to 0.04 inches per 1000 ft of shoreline per acre on heavy lacustrine clay at Melfort and double to triple that (0.07 inches) on sandy lacustrine material at Saskatoon and on medium textured glacial till at Swift Current. Therefore, during the growing season up to 60 per cent of the shoreline-related water loss at Saskatoon and Swift Current and 60 to 80 per cent of this loss at Melfort can be attributed to transpiration by marginal phreatophytic vegetation and evaporation from the soil surface.Shoreline-related water loss accounts, on the average, for 60 per cent or more of total water loss in sloughs 0.10 acre or less in size and for not more than 30 to 35 per cent of total loss in sloughs larger than one acre. It is, therefore, a major contributing factor to the rapid drying of all sloughs in the final stages of their existence.The Y-intercept value from the regression of water loss on shoreline per acre provides, for the period from June to September, an estimate of daily lake evaporation. On the average this estimated rate deviates from measured daily lake evaporation by +0.008 inches at Saskatoon and −0.012 inches at Swift Current. Further refinements of this technique should increase its accuracy.

Geological Study on Boring Data of Quaternary Sediments in the Central Part of Oita, Kyushu

On the basis of data obtained from boring and surface survey to Quaternary sediments in the district under consideration, has it become clear that thickness of the alluvium is less than 15m. and early to middle Pleistocene formations lie under the Alluvium.Besides standard penetration test to these sediments indicates that N value of Alluvial fine to medium sand and silt is not more than 10 at shallower than 5m. underground, while that of Diluvial sand is more than 25 at deeper than 15m. But as for gravel, their N value is not always in proportion to depth where they 1ie.The Alluvium is composed mostly of shallow sea sediments, on the other hand, the Diluvium contains very often tuffs, and lacustrine materials in the lower part and bay ones in the upper.

Age and Correlation of Pleistocene Deposits at Garfield Heights (Cleveland), Ohio

Radiocarbon dates and new exposures in the Mill Creek Valley in Garfield Heights, just southeast of Cleveland, Ohio, now permit a revised correlation of the Pleistocene deposits, Illinoian gravel is overlain by thick paleosol, Sangamonian in age. Above the paleosol is “Lower loess.” 4 feet thick, fossiliferous in the lower calcareous part, and late Altonian in age; it is overlain by calcareous, fossiliferous “Upper loess,” 2.5 feet thick, dated 28,195 ± 535 radiocarbon years B.P. and therefore early Farmdalian in age. Above this is pro-Kent lacustrine silt and clay with beetle fragments (described in the following paper by G. R. Coope); wood in the lowest part is dated as 24,600 ± 800 and 23,313 ± 391 years B.P. Kent Till overlying the lacustrine material is therefore about 23,250 years B.P. and thus earliest Woodfordian. Hiram Till, later Woodfordian, overlies the Kent Till and is the surface material.

Retreat of lakeshore Bluffs

From a qualitative descriptive approach of the analysis of retreat of lakeshore bluffs, the key factors in failure and retreat are determined to be wave action, currents, wind, surface runoff, subsurface flow and sapping, raindrop impact, frost action, gouging by ice, chemical weathering, composition of materials, vegetation, lake levels, and shore protective structures. It is concluded that failure of bluffs need not lead immediately to retreat, but usually does so ultimately. In fact, retreat need not result solely from failure; i.e., from landslides. Cumulative resistance of glacial tills to all types of erosion is shown to be intermediate between that of bedrock and lacustrine materials, although in many areas, particularly where wave attack is dominant and the tills develop nearly vertical faces, the retreat of till bluffs does not differ significantly from that of shale bluffs. The cumulative resistance to erosion of a bluff in which a combination of materials is exposed is shown to depend, in most instances, on the resistance to wave attack and ice push of the material exposed at lake level. Quantitative data on soil and rock properties, available only in small quantities, are consistent with the behavior of corresponding materials in lakeshore bluffs.

Interstratified Montmorillonite-Mica Clays from Subsoils of the Prairie Provinces, Western Canada

Abstract Samples of glacial till and lacustrine soil clays selected over a distance of 900 miles across the Canadian Prairie Provinces were examined in detail by X-ray, chemical, thermal, infrared-absorption and electron-microscope methods. All of the experimental evidence indicated a marked similarity among the samples. The dominant component was an 18 Å phase when glycerol-solvated, which was identified as a randomly interstratified montmorillonite-mica. This was associated with minor amounts of a 10 Å phase (randomly interstratified mica-montmorillonite), kaolinite and quartz. Fourier transforms of the basal series of reflections gave contents of expanded material (montmorillonite) near 55 per cent, whereas calculation of the chemical formula gave near 80 per cent montmorillonite in the interstratified component. The Fourier transforms confirmed the random nature of the interstratification but also showed a tendency to zonal segregation of the mica and montmorillonite layers. On the basis of the chemical formula, the Greene-Kelly test and the infrared spectra, the swelling layer composition was intermediate between that of beidellite and that of Wyoming bentonite. Although there were no large differences between the samples, the small differences suggested two trends differentiating the till samples and the lacustrine samples: (1) The proportion of the expanded component of the interstratified mineral tended to be less in the lacustrine than in the till samples. (2) The composition of the expanding layers in the lacustrine samples tended to be nearer to the Wyoming bentonite composition than were the till samples. These trends are likely related to K fixation during or after deposition of the lacustrine materials, whereby the expanding layers with a beidellitic composition would be pre-empted leaving layers more similar to Wyoming bentonite.

A new shipboard coring technique

Coring operations in the bottom of Lake Superior were undertaken during the summer of 1961. The motor vessel Submarex, 173-foot converted Navy P.C., was used on contract from the Global Marine Exploration Company of Los Angeles, California. The ship was equipped with an over-the-side rotary drilling rig capable of drilling in a maximum water depth of 1300 feet. A modified piston coring technique was developed whereby continuous soft lacustrine material could be cored. The wire line normally used to suspend a piston coring device was replaced by rigid drill pipe. The technique permitted the taking of a 28-foot core from any part of the upper 50 to 60 feet of soft sediments. Other modifications permitted using the inner core barrel techniques for punch coring in the deeper sediments of campact clay and glacial till. After complete penetration of the uncemented sediments, bedrock was cored by ordinary rotary techniques. All drilling sites were in water 500 feet or deeper. Six locations in the central and western Lake Superior basin were drilled. Two went to bedrock through 116 and 147 feet of lacustrine and glacial deposits, and at one location in 938 feet of water near the Minnesota shore, the bottom was penetrated 686 feet without striking bedrock.

Yale Natural Radiocarbon Measurements VI

The following list includes most of the measurements made since publication of Yale V; some measurements, such as a series collected in Greenland by A. L. Washburn, are withheld pending additional information or field work that will make better interpretations possible. In addition to radiocarbon dates of geologic and/or archaeologic interest, we give in the third part of the paper, for the first time since 1954 (Deevey and others, 1954), recent assays of C14 in lake waters and other lacustrine materials, now normalized for C13 content. Some of these C13 values have been published separately (Oana and Deevey, 1960), but most have not.

Yale Natural Radiocarbon Measurements V

The following list of dates, measured since the publication of Yale IV, includes a few repetitions of published dates, noted as such by the addition ofbisto their number. One of these (Y-140bis) was a new preparation of CO2from a sample previously measured as acetylene; the others are rechecks of repurified CO2, repeated because instrumental difficulties plagued our laboratory throughout the year beginning in September 1958 and might have affected some dates published in Yale IV. No important differences were found, however. Several measurements of geochemical interest, on lake water and other lacustrine materials for which C13analyses have been reported (Oana and Deevey, 1960), are not included here but will form the subject of a separate paper.

EARLY CENOZOIC VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY, SEDIMENTATION, AND OROGENY IN CENTRAL WESTERN WYOMING

Study of the early Cenozoic Hoback formation adds detail to the Laramide history of central western Wyoming. The recently discovered late Torrejonian, Battle Mountain vertebrate faunule, low in the formation, includes a new condylarth, Tetraclaenodon transitus. Additions to the intermediate Dell Creek faunule include a new insectivore, Elpidophorus minutulus. Additional mammals from three other localities are described. In combination with earlier studies, stratigraphic thickness, faunal ages, and faunal levels provide estimates of sedimentation rates and times of orogeny. The Hoback formation is a thick deposit of fluviatile, palludal, and lacustrine materials that accumulated in a subsiding orogenic trough. Sedimentation was very rapid, probably beginning and accelerating in Torrejonian, culminating during late Torrejonian, then decelerating during Tiffanian, Clarkforkian, and Graybullian times prior to a late phase of orogeny. Sediment was derived locally from western, mid-Laramide highlands which began to rise in the early Torrejonian; the uplift culminated between the middle and end of the Torrejonian. Orogenic phases were relatively brief but intense. The area of deposition was much lower, forested, temperate, humid, locally swampy with some lakes, and largely inhabited by a forest-dwelling mammalian fauna. The Cliff Creek thrust which overrode the Hoback formation is internally complex, with distinct fold-fault sets trending parallel with, perpendicular to, or acute to the thrust trace. Fold axes in the overridden western part of the Hoback formation roughly parallel the thrust trace and are concealed locally beneath the thrust. Local deformation severely distorted the conglomeratic materials in the formation.