Quaternary Beds Research Articles

New bryozoan species from the Pleistocene of the Wanganui Basin, North Island, New Zealand

Three new fossil bryozoan species, a ctenostome and two cheilostomes, are described and figured from Pleistocene strata of the Wanganui Basin, New Zealand. Buskia waiinuensis sp. nov., a soft-body ctenostome preserved as a mould bioimmuration, is the first fossil record of the genus from New Zealand. Microporella rusti sp. nov., which is notable for the lack of ooecia in the large suite of colonies available, is one of the most common bryozoans in the Nukumaru Limestone and Nukumaru Brown Sand shellbeds, forming large encrusting sheet-like colonies, but is uncommon in younger beds. Rare, small-sized colonies of Parkermavella columnaris sp. nov. were found as fossil in two Quaternary beds, the Nukumaru Limestone and the Upper Kai-Iwi Shellbed, and also alive on rocks from the greater Cook Strait area.

Pan morphology, Distribution and formation in Kazakhstan and Neighbouring areas of the Russian federation

In northern Kazakhstan and neighbouring parts of the West Siberian Plain of Russia is one of the world’s biggest concentrations of pans. The area has thousands of them. Landsat imagery and Google Earth images indicate their distribution within this semi-arid area and their forms and associated lunette dunes. Many of the pans, most of which are small, wet and shallow, show a characteristic shape and orientation and some have developed in Pleistocene dune fields. Others have developed in old river channels and from the deflation of lake floors. The pans are in a low-relief area developed on Palaeogene, Neogene and Quaternary beds and have been shaped by winds coming from the south west. They occur in an area which is predominantly steppe grassland. Comparisons can be made with other global pan areas in terms of their number, densities, areas, and depths and in terms of the materials on which they have developed, and the climatic conditions that occur here they are found. Highlights One of the world’s biggest, previously unstudied, areas of aeolian pans Data are presented on the main pan morphologies and their morphometry The pans have morphological similarities to those observed in areas like the High Plains of the USA, South Africa, the Pampas of Argentina and Australia

Numerical Three-Dimensional Model of Airport Terminal Drainage System

Abstract During the construction of an airport terminal it was found that as a result of the hydrostatic pressure of underground water the foundation plate of the building had dangerously shifted in the direction opposite to that of the gravitational forces. The only effective measure was to introduce a drainage system on the site. The complex geology of the area indicated that two independent drainage systems, i.e., a horizontal system in the Quaternary beds and a vertical system in the Tertiary water-bearing levels, were necessary. This paper presents numerical FEM calculations of the two drainage systems being part of the airport terminal drainaged esign. The computer simulation which was carried out took into consideration the actual effect of the drainage systems and their impact on the depression cone being formed in the two aquifers.

Biostratigraphie de la marge guinéenne : résultats préliminaires de la campagne Equa-marge I (1983)

Preliminary micropaleontological study, principally based on Fora-minifera, of nine deep sea cores taken from the marginal sedimentary Guinean plateau. Early and Middle Eocene, Middle and Late Mioeene, Early Pliocene ana Quaternary microfaunas have been found. The thin and rarely complete Quaternary beds overly various eroded older terms, either (more often) through a hiatus, or through a thin reworked zone. (Biostratigraphy of the Guinean margin : preliminary results from the EQUAMARGE I (1983) cruise.)

The Cainozoic geology of Flinders Island, Bass Strait

Cainozoic sediments and volcanic rocks superficially overlie the mountainous Palaeozoic basement of Flinders island and mainly form the coastal plains. Marine deposits include Middle Pliocene to Recent near-shore and littoral coquinoid beds, and some Quaternary beds appear related to old marine stands at about 15-18 m., 4.5-6 m. and 0.6-1.5 m. above MHWS. Quaternary dune deposits afe predominantly calcareous on the west coast and predominantly siliceous on the east coast, and show varying degrees of consolidation and soil development generally related to age. A Recent beach ridge and coastal barrier system is developed and lagoonal deposits include Pleistocene limestone and Recent peat. Non-marine gravel and grit deposits (including st.anniferous and sub-basaltic deposits) were sometimes reworked by later marine incursions. Scattered volcanic rocks include tuffs, alkali olivinebasalts and olivine-nephelinites, erupted from several centres roughly aligned along a north westerly trend. The volcanism was largely Tertiary in age and some lavas are lateritised. The Cainozoic history was initiated by faulting, tilting and uplifting of the Flinders Island block by early Tertiary time, with subsequent volcanism. During the Cainozoic, alternations of predominantly terrestrial or marine erosion and deposition on Flinders Island were related to fluctuating sea-levels, which influenced some faunal movements.

Les nappes phreatiques et artesiennes du Jura septentrional (dept du Doubs); leurs relations avec les reseaux karstiques

Abstract Discusses the exploration and exploitation of ground-water zones in the northern Jura region, France. Phreatic waters occur in Tertiary and Quaternary beds, and artesian aquifers in Mesozoic formations. The source, circulation, and recovery of waters in the karst and overlying alluvial deposits are treated in some detail.

Etude petrographique et mineralogique des sediments meubles de la region de Salles (Gironde)

Abstract A petrographic and mineralogic study of the detrital formations of the Salles region in the Aquitaine basin, France, which include Miocene (Helvetian), Pliocene, and lower and upper Quaternary beds. The sandy formations of each stage are very homogeneous, from the granulometric as well as the mineralogic point of view. Four phases of sedimentation are indicated by statistical study of the heavy minerals; thus the stratigraphy can be defined solely by means of petrographic criteria.

Origin and salinity distribution of artesian water in the Adelaide plains, South Australia

The Adelaide plains region, South Australia, is a downfaulted block composed of Tertiary and Quaternary beds overlying a Precambrian basement. The principal source of the artesian or subartesian waters of the marine Miocene-Pliocene formations, as well as of shallow ground waters, is rainfall runoff draining from the Mt. Lofty highlands to the east. Quality of the water varies from potable to extremely saline; in general, the latter type is found at shallow depths adjacent to estuarine localities.

Artificial recharge of productive ground-water aquifers in New Jersey

Artificial recharge by water spreading is practiced in several places in New Jersey. Rates of recharge ranging from 3,000 to 125,000 gallons per acre per day have been measured at the Perth Amboy Water Works, where artificial recharge of the Old Bridge sand, of upper Cretaceous age, has been practiced for more than 40 years. At the Duhernal development, which also draws from the Old Bridge sand, four or five million gallons daily is now derived from artificial recharge. This rate will probably increase with further lowering of the water table near the lake. For many years the Princeton Water Company has pumped water from a stream for recharging the Stockton sandstone, of Triassic age. The Lake Mohawk-Sparta Water Company spreads water underground by means of covered, gravel-filled ditches to recharge a shallow aquifer in its well field. The City of East Orange spreads the water from several small streams over parts of the intake area of the Quaternary beds supplying its wells. The estimated total recharge there is about two million gallons daily. Closely related to artificial recharge are those instances wherein well sites are chosen to take advantage of potential recharge from existing bodies of surface water. At the Borough of Manville no water spreading operations are conducted, but about three quarters of the water from its wells is derived by recharge from the Raritan River. The silting of water spreading areas may impair their effectiveness considerably. In some instances the growth of aquatic vegetation seems to reduce the ill effects of silting.

Tertiary and Quaternary Beds of Tobago, West Indies

TOBAGO, a picturesque island 26 miles long and 7½ miles wide, lies 20 miles north-east of Trinidad and rises to a height of about 1,900 feet. Geographically it is an indirect lateral offshoot of the Northern Range of Trinidad but geologically its structure has distinct and individual characters. The sequence of formations has been describedby Mr. E. H. Cunningham Craig and my sketch map is adapted from his map with a few additions, such as the Arca patricia bed at Red Point and the outlier of coral rock at Plymouth. I spent about a week on the island and devoted most of the time to work on the later formations.

VIII.—Geology of the Isle of Man

In my former note I adduced the reasons which make me confident that the conglomerates of the south of the Isle of Man, which have been hitherto classed as Devonian, are not Devonian, but are later than the Carboniferous Period. I will now turn to the problem of what they really are. It is a well-known fact that in the Isle of Man the Secondary and Tertiary rocks are wholly absent. This is the view of all those who have examined the island, and is in fact perfectly palpable. The series of older rocks terminates with the upper layers of the Carboniferous Limestone; above this there are nothing but deposits of Quaternary Age. The red conglomerate to which I have referred contains no trace of any Secondary or Tertiary fossils, nor is there the smallest ground for believing that it belongs to either of those series. Does it then belong to the Quaternary beds? This conclusion is inevitable, and, as we shall see, is an exceedingly interesting one.

Notes on the Phenomena of the Quaternary Period in the Isle of Portland and around Weymouth

I n their well-known paper on the Geology of Weymouth, Buckland and De la Beche* give but a very brief notice of the Quaternary beds of the district. They observe that there are no very “extensive and continuous beds of gravel,” and that “the largest deposit of diluvium we have noticed is at Upway Street, four miles north of Weymouth; but in smaller quantities and irregular patches it is disposed over the whole surface of the country, on the summits and slopes of the hills as well as in the valleys.” These scattered drift-beds are all referred, as usual at the time, to one great inundation, which excavated the valleys and overspread the country with patches of diluvial gravel. Mr. Bristow, in 1850† recorded the presence on the top of the cliff at Portland Bill of a recent conglomerate, which Mr. Weston in 1852‡ described as a “marine shingle,” consisting “of beachpebbles (with a few chalk flints);” and in 1860 Mr. R. Damon § mentioned that it contained in places “numerous shells of species now living in the neighbouring sea.” Mr. Whitaker ∥ was the first to give, in 1869, a more particular account of this beach, and to specify the occurrence of Littorina litorea, L. littoralis, Patella vulgata , and Purpura lapillus , extending on the east side of the Bill for a distance of half a mile northward. Over the beach Mr. Whitaker noticed near “Cave Hole” the presence “of a head” (the waste of Purbeck and Potland beds) consisting of

Additional Observations on the Raised Beach of Sangatte with reference to the Date of the English Channel, and the Presence of Loess in the Cliff Section

I n my paper on the Loess and Quaternary beds of the north of France and south-east of England, I expressed an opinion that the break in the land between France and England was not the result of the last geological change†, but that the Channel existed at the period of the formation of the low-level gravels of the Somme and Thames valleys, and probably at the period of the high-level gravels. The argument was based upon the position of analogous beds at places on both sides of the Channel, upon the contour and slope of the land, and the direction of the Sangatte and Brighton raised beaches. I was not then able to give more positive evidence. I am, however, now in possession of facts which enable me to do so, and these I will briefly lay before the Society. On my return last Easter from an excursion in Belgium with several Fellows of this Society, I took the opportunity of revisiting the Sangatte section in company with Mr. Godwin-Austen. The winter storms had cleared the beach and bared the cliff, and we found a long and very interesting section exposed. Our visit was short. It enabled me, however, to recognize some beds very loess-like in character, and to detect traces of shells in some of them. We also again noted in the underlying old sea-bed layers of a green sand, which might have been derived either from some Lower Tertiary beds or from the Greensands. We thence proceeded round