Sierra Madre Mountains Research Articles

On a mechanism for orographic triggering of tropical cyclones in the Eastern North Pacific

It has been observed that the subtropical Eastern Pacific Ocean, just west of the Sierra Madre Mountains in central Mexico, is a favored location for the initiation of tropical cyclones, in spite of the fact that sea surface temperatures are not anomalous in the region. Currently accepted theories of tropical cyclogenesis require the presence of a pre-existing vortex located above a suitably warm sea surface. The distribution of tropical cyclogenesis off Mexico suggests that the initial disturbances may be orographically generated. We employ a two-dimensional, adiabatic, inviscid, Boussinesq, quasi-geostrophic model of flow over topography on a β-plane to examine the generation of regions of cyclonic vorticity in the subtropics by an incident flow which may approach the mountain at a specified angle. For incident wind configurations that correspond to the climatological northeast tradewinds, the orographic disturbance consists of an evanescent mountain anticyclone. For certain southeasterly flows, corresponding to the presence of large scale standing or slowly moving waves in the region, the orographic disturbance consists of a series of cyclonic and anticyclonic vorticity centres located in the southwest quadrant of the model atmosphere. These results are consistent with the observed behaviour of tropical cyclogenesis off of the coast of Mexico. DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0870.1991.00003.x

Serpentinization of the Acoje massif, Zambales ophiolite, Philippines: hydrogen and oxygen isotope geochemistry

Oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios in serpentine (lizardite-chrysotile) from the Acoje chromite mine (Zambales ophiolite, Philippines) and in regional meteoric water from the Zambales and Sierra Madre mountains have been measured to help determine the physical conditions and source of fluids during serpentinization. The measured range of δ 18 O in serpentine is + 2.3 to +5.9 and that of δD is −119 to −83. The range of δD in regional meteoric water (including published analyses from the Baguio gold district and the Tongonan, Leyte, geothermal system) is − 75 to −34. The isotopic data for Acoje serpentines are consistent with Serpentinization by regional meteoric water at temperatures between 30 ° and ~ 350 ° C (thermal stability limit of serpentine + brucite). The range of serpentine compositions suggests a Serpentinization process involving: (1) episodic infiltration by isotopically distinct meteoric waters and/or (2) progressive infiltration by a water having constant initial isotopic composition that undergoes isotopic fractionation as a function of reaction progress.

Inertial wind path and sea surface temperature patterns near the Gulf of Tehuantepec and Gulf of Papagayo

During the northern hemisphere winter the surface atmospheric pressure on the Gulf of Mexico side of Central America is often higher than that on the Pacific side. The resultant southward pressure gradient drives strong southward winds through a gap in the Sierra Madre mountain range at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The atmospheric jet is narrow in comparison with the relevant radius of deformation, so when it leaves the coast and flows out over the Gulf of Tehuantepec, it is an inertial jet. Therefore the jet is expected to be deflected into a clockwise inertial circle by the Coriolis force. A similar process should also occur for Central American atmospheric jets through mountain range gaps near the Gulf of Papagayo. Satellite measurements of sea surface temperature together with coastal wind data for the first 41 days of 1986 were examined to see if the expected wind path influenced sea surface temperature (SST) near the Gulf of Tehuantepec and the Gulf of Papagayo. Consecutive daily satellite images when the coastal southward Tehuantepec wind increased suggest that the initial development of cold surface water in a clockwise loop is due to the wind mixing the shallow thermocline surface water along its inertial path. A simple 1½‐layer analytical ocean model suggests, in agreement with observations, that the wind can drive surface quasi‐geostrophic currents of ∼1 m s−1. Since the wind path is circular, the wind actually generates a clockwise rotating ocean eddy with the approximate scale of the wind inertial circle. The satellite sea surface temperature measurements also suggest that the wind‐driven surface ocean current is unstable. In addition, stronger gradients in SST to the right of the expected wind flow are consistent with advection of sea surface temperature by ocean surface Ekman flow.

Stratigraphy and Depositional Environment of Unnamed (Lower Miocene) Submarine-Fan Sandstone Unit in Sierra Madre and San Rafael Mountains, Northeastern Santa Barbara County, California: ABSTRACT

Stratigraphy and Depositional Environment of Unnamed (Lower Miocene) Submarine-Fan Sandstone Unit in Sierra Madre and San Rafael Mountains, Northeastern Santa Barbara County, California: ABSTRACT

ルソン島中部におけるフィリピン断層の第四紀後期の断層運動

The Philippine fault zone is one of the most remarkable active faults in the world. It streches on the Philippine archipelago and runs parallel with the Philippine trench. It can be traced for more than 1, 200 km from Luzon Island to the southwest, through Masbate Island, Leyte Island and Mindanao Island (Fig. 15). In central part of the Luzon Island ma ny geomorphic features of late Quaternary displacement are recognized along the fault zone.The aim of our study is to clarify the nature of the fault zone in central Luzon Island on the basis of the interpretation of topographic maps, vertical aerial photographs and detailed field investigations.The Philippine fault zone extends with high certainty in the direction of SW-NE more than 100 km long from Dingalan Bay to Lingayen Gulf. It runs across the Shiera Madre Mountains in the southern part. In the northern part of the fault zone, it separates the Cordillera Central Range on the north-eastern side from the Central Valley with the elevation less than 100 m on the southwestern side.The Philippine fault zone is divided into three fault systems based on the continuity of the fault traces and the strike of the faults. The first system extends from Dingalan Bay to Digdig (fault length ca. 90 km), the second is northeast of Lupao and Umingan (ca. 20km), and the third is San Manuel and its surrounding (ca. 30km) (Figs. 1 and 2).The main results obtaind follow ;1) In the study area, various fault topographic features develope along the Philippine fault zone. The southern end of it, from Dingalan Bay to Gabaldon, some lineaments and a number of fault sag develope along it (Fig. 3). The features in the southern part between Gabaldon and Rizal are characterized by displacements of alluvial fans, river terraces and a few offset streams along or near the foot of the Sierra Madre Mountains (Figs, 4, 7 and 8). In the northern part, between Lupao and San Manuel, fault displacements appear sharply just along the foot on the Cordillera Central Range. The fault features are offset streams and fault scarplets on alluvial fans and river terraces (Figs. 9, 10 and 12).2) The dip of fault plain is vertical (Fig. 6) or high as 60°E on fault outcrops.3) The sence of horizontal displacement is sinistral in the study area. Vertical one is variable in the southern part, but in the northern part it is downthrown to southwest side (Fig. 13).4) The ratio of horizontal and vertical displacements id deduced from clear breaks on geomorphic surfaces. While it is 1 : 1 to 3 : 2 in the southern part, but it becomes 8 : 1 in the northern part (Table 1).5) The average rate of horizontal displacements along the fault is estimated to be 1.5 5mm/year based on the relation between values of horizontal offsets and upstream lengths from the fault. The vertical one which is estimated from the proportion of the vertical displacement to horizontal displacement is calculated to be 0.190.63 mm/year (northern part), and 1.03. 3 to 1.5 5.0mm/year (southern part).6) It seems that the last earthquake along the fault in the study area took place in 1645 A.D. based on the 14C age data of plant fossil samples which were collected from terrace deposits in some places and the catalogue of historical earthquakes (REPETTI 1946). The magnitude of the earthquake is estimated to be a 8 class and the fault dislocation should appear along the fault.7) The recurrence interval of earthquakes is calculated as 1, 6005, 300 years from the average slip rate and the displacement of the last earthquake.8) The fault features and activity of the Philippine fault zone are remarkable, and its nature is similar to that of the faults which are located on other island arcs in the world.

Isotopic studies on a Precambrian geochronologic boundary, Sierra Madre Mountains, Wyoming

Geochronologic evidence indicates that a profound discontinuity separating two discrete Precambrian provinces parallels the Wyoming-Colorado border. This east-trending boundary transects the Sierra Madre Range in southern Wyoming adjacent to a fault-bounded sequence of folded middle Precambrian sedimentary rocks. Precambrian rocks of the Sierra Madre Mountains reveal a series of igneous and sedimentary events that occurred near the probable edge of the Archean continental nucleus between 2,600 and 1,600 m.y. B.P. North of the boundary, Archean quartz-biotite gneiss, probably 2,800 to 2,900 m.y. old, grades eastward into a northwest-trending antiform of microcline augen gneiss and granite. The Rb-Sr isochron of the granite gneiss complex yields an age of 2,560 m.y. and an initial Sr 87 /Sr 86 intercept of 0.7000. Geochemical evidence suggests that the quartz-biotite gneiss may have evolved from a supracrustal dacitic protolith formed by anatexis of a basaltic amphibolite. Calc-alkalic volcanic flows, tuffs, and volcanogenic sediments and a 4-km-thick sequence of conglomerate, quartzite, and limestone were deposited on the gneiss basement after 2,560 m.y. B.P. A period of igneous activity and tectonism between 1,650 and 1,900 m.y. B.P. resulted in the metamorphism and folding of the sediments into an east-trending anticlinorium of isoclinal folds. The Sierra Madre south of this metasedimentary structure consists principally of a composite batholith of plutons ranging from gabbro to granite. The Encampment River Granodiorite, the oldest intrusion, is a gneissic unit that was probably derived by partial melting and remobilization of the polycyclic quartz-biotite gneiss, as suggested by isotopic and rare-earth-element data. This thermal reactivation occurred between 1,900 and 2,000 m.y. B.P. The majority of the batholith is made up of a distinctive red granite that yields an isochron age of 1,680 m.y. and an initial Sr 87 /Sr 86 ratio of 0.7024. A white quartz monzonite discordantly intrudes the granite and hornblende gneiss country rock. Isochron ages and initial Sr 87 /Sr 86 intercepts of the monzonite and gneiss are 1,680 m.y. and 0.7020 for the quartz monzonite and 1,880 m.y. and 0.7015 for the country rock. At least three distinct generations of mafic dikes are present in the Sierra Madre; field relations with dated units indicate ages of ∼2700 m.y., 1,800 to 2,650 m.y., and ∼1,680 m.y.

Nutrition For Endurance Competition

To the Editor.— The elegant studies of Bergstrom and Hultman (221:999, 1972), which included the measurement of glycogen content of quadriceps muscles under various conditions, pointed out the importance of carbohydrate stores in relationship to high levels of energy expenditures. They suggested a method of building up the glycogen content of muscles prior to endurance performance. We are currently studying the diet and blood lipid characteristics of the Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico, who are probably the world's greatest endurance runners. These primitive Indians living in the caves of the Sierra Madre Mountains at altitudes up to 7,000 feet have a kickball game called raripuri in which competing teams run continuously for 100 to 200 miles. The length of the competition lasts 24 to 48 hours or more, depending on the length of the course. These stone-age Indians are essentially vegetarians deriving most of their calories from corn and beans.

Nutrition for endurance competition.

To the Editor.— The elegant studies of Bergstrom and Hultman (221:999, 1972), which included the measurement of glycogen content of quadriceps muscles under various conditions, pointed out the importance of carbohydrate stores in relationship to high levels of energy expenditures. They suggested a method of building up the glycogen content of muscles prior to endurance performance. We are currently studying the diet and blood lipid characteristics of the Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico, who are probably the world's greatest endurance runners. These primitive Indians living in the caves of the Sierra Madre Mountains at altitudes up to 7,000 feet have a kickball game called raripuri in which competing teams run continuously for 100 to 200 miles. The length of the competition lasts 24 to 48 hours or more, depending on the length of the course. These stone-age Indians are essentially vegetarians deriving most of their calories from corn and beans.

Studies on Southeast Asian Haemaphysalis Ticks (Ixodoidea: Ixodidae). H. (Kaiseriana) luzonensis sp. n. from Philippine Deer and Boars

Haemaphysalis (Kaiseriana) luzonensis sp. n. is described from 493 adults, nymphs, and larvae taken on 19 deer, Cervus (Rusa) philippinus Smith, and three boars, Sus celebensis philippensis Nehring, in Nueva Ecija and Quezon Provinces of Luzon Island. This tick species inhabits forests dominated by Dipterocarpus spp. and by Pinus insularis Endl. at altitudes between 1,800 and 3,000 ft in the Sierra Madre Mountain range. Rains here are moderate to heavy each month of the year. Males, females, and usually nymphs were feeding during each of 6 months between October 1966 and August 1967 when deer and boars were examined on six mountains. The glossy, almost apunctate H. (K.) luzonensis sp. n. is closely related to H. (K.) lagrangei Larrousse of Vietnam and to H. (K.) neumanni Donitz of Japan and continental northeastern Asia. Between early October 1966 and late August 1967 personnel of the U. S. Air Force 5th Epidemiological Flight examined 29 deer, Cervus (Rusa) philippinus Smith, and 11 boars, Sus celebensis philippensis Nehring, at altitudes between 1,800 and 3,000 ft in Nueva Ecija and Quezon Provinces of Luzon Island. Nineteen deer and three boars were infested by 493 specimens of Haemaphysalis (Kaiseriana) luzonensis sp. n. This glossy, almost apunctate species is closely related and ecologically similar to H. (K.) lagrangei Larrousse of Vietnam. Structurally it is also close to H. (K.) neumanni Donitz of Japan and continental northeastern Asia. Received for publication 8 December 1967. * From Research Project MR005.09-0028, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Department of the Navy, Washington, D. C. The opinions and assertions contained herein are the private ones of the authors and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the Department of the Navy or of the naval service at large. The illustrations in this report were prepared under the auspices of Agreement 352505 between the NIH and NAMRU-3. t Head, Department of Medical Zoology, United States Naval Medical Research Unit Number Three, Cairo, Egypt, UAR. : Major, United States Air Force, Chief, Entomology Department, 5th Epidemiological Flight, Manila, Philippines. Haemaphysalis (Kaiseriana) luzonensis sp. n. Luzon Mountain Glossy Haemaphysalid (Figs. 1-35)

Twined Water Bottles of the Cuyama Area, Southern California

Although the basketry of many parts of California is known ethnographically and a few archaeological descriptions are appearing, the textiles of the Santa Barbara region remain relatively unknown. The ethnographic information available on the historic occupants, the Chumash, has been limited by the early missionization and subsequent disintegration of native culture, and most archaeological reports of basketry from this area have been sketchy. It is hoped that the following discussion of twined water bottles from archaeological sites in northern Santa Barbara County will supply some needed information and indicate the relation of these water bottles to twined ones of the Great Basin and Southwest.A few of the specimens described herein have been pictured by Kroeber (1925: 561, PL 53) with a mention of some weaves employed in their manufacture.With one possible exception, all of the specimens are from the Sierra Madre Mountains of northern Santa Barbara County. This range, stretching in a general northwest-southeast direction, is bounded on the north by the arid Cuyama Valley and on the south by the precipitous Sisquoc Canyon.

Periods of Folding and Faulting in Wyoming During Late Cretaceous and Tertiary Times: ABSTRACT

Recognition of the timing of differential crustal movements in the Rocky Mountain region should lead to a clearer understanding of (a) the types of forces involved in Laramide and post-Laramide folding and faulting, (b) the possible times of accumulation of oil and gas in traps that may later have been modified, and (c) the reasons for the absence of oil and gas in apparently good traps. The following is the writer's interpretation of significant periods of folding and faulting that developed the known structures in Wyoming. End_Page 2613------------------------------ 1. Post-Lewis, pre-Lance time: broad regional uplift occurred along the western margin of Wyoming; a westward-trending gentle anticline formed in central Wyoming; the Medicine Bow and Uinta mountains began to rise. 2. Close of Cretaceous time: sharply folded anticlines, overthrust toward the west, developed in Jackson Hole; local anticlines formed in south-central and southwestern Wyoming; some eastward thrusting may have occurred in westernmost Wyoming; broad mountain arches rose in approximate positions of the present Salt River, Wind River, Granite, Bighorn, Medicine Bow, and Sierra Madre mountains; regional uplift occurred in the southeast corner of Wyoming. 3. Close of Paleocene time: Salt River and Wyoming ranges were thrust toward the east; southward thrusting occurred along the western part of the Owl Creek Mountains and at the south end of the Bighorn Mountains; the Wind River Mountains were thrust southwest; other mountain arches and major anticlines continued to rise. 4. Close of earliest Eocene (Indian Meadows) time: rapid uplift accompanied by extensive erosion occurred in the Bighorn, Beartooth, Owl Creek, Wind River, Granite, Medicine Bow, and Laramie mountains; the east flank of the Medicine Bow Mountains was thrust east; southward thrusting occurred along the south flank of the Owl Creek, Washakie, and Granite mountains; southeastward movement emplaced the South Fork thrust block near Cody. 5. Close of early Eocene time: southwestward thrusting occurred in the northwest part of the Wind River basin, eastward thrusting in the central Bighorn Mountains; southeastward movement emplaced the Heart Mountain thrust sheet; recurrent folding continued along many previously formed anticlines. 6. Close of middle Eocene time: the Uinta Mountains were thrust northward. 7. Close of Eocene time: southeastern Wyoming again was regionally uplifted and rugged topography developed on this upland; gentle folding and small-scale faulting occurred in southwestern and northwestern Wyoming. 8. Close of Oligocene time: gentle northwestward-trending folds developed in central Wyoming; gentle warping occurred in the Absaroka region; the southeast rim of the Powder River basin may have been tilted southeast at this time. 9. Close of early Pliocene time: extensive thrust sheets moved southwestward in southern part of Jackson Hole, and the western part of the Gros Ventre Mountains was uplifted. 10. Post-middle Pliocene, pre-Pleistocene time: large-scale block faults developed in many parts of Wyoming; the floor of Jackson Hole dropped several thousand feet; the southern end of the Wind River Mountains collapsed; the central arch of the Granite Mountains dropped several thousand feet; local areas west of the east margins of the Sierra Madre, Medicine Bow, and Laramie mountains were downdropped; part of the Rawlins uplift collapsed and a broad westward-trending anticline formed south of Rawlins; a large area southeast of the Hartville uplift was down-faulted; the southern end of the Bighorn Mountains probably collapsed at this time. End_of_Article - Last_Page 2614------------

A New Genus (Plumerella) and a New Species of Grass Feeding Leafhopper from Mexico

The specimens from which the following genus and species are described seem to live at a quite definite and limited ecological range. They occur only in the alpine flora at altitudes of 10,000 to 10,500 feet in the tropical portion of the Sierra Madre Mountains. A large series of specimens were collected from tall, thick tufts of bunch grass growing under the pines and firs on the slopes at the tops of the range at Rio Frio, some 30 miles from Mexico City. Extensive collecting at different altitudes and in many associations indicates that this species occurs only at this altitude and under these specific conditions.

Chatto's Measurements: A Footnote to Western History

To those interested in the so-called Apache Wars, a number of recent works have made the figure of Chatto, the Chiricahua chieftain, familiar as a reformed bad Indian,i and as an example of the undescriminating treatment meted out by the government to the Apaches. It will be recalled that during the years 1882-83 he was prominently identified with Geronimo's group of hostile Apaches harassing white and Indian settlements in Arizona and New Mexico from a base in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico. To follow Lockwood's account, the most recent, it appears that it was Chatto who on April 19, 1882, raided the sub-agency at Fort Goodwin and forced the peaceful reservation Apaches under Loco to take to the war trail, killing two men. In March, 1883, he made a dramatic raid for ammunition from Mexico. His raiders on this occasion killed four men at a charcoal camp near Fort Huachuca, three men west of the Whetstone Mountains, two more at Point of the Mountain east of Ben.son, and Judge McComas and his family on the road between Silver City and Lordsburg, New Mexico. Aside from these two exploits Chatto seems to have taken part in a number of less spectacular fights and raids. In May, 1883, he, in company with a number of other Apache leaders surrendered to General George Crook and settled on the San Carlos reservation. By 1884 he had become a sergeant of scouts and remained thereafter loyal to the United States. Chatto early became known as one of the best farmers at San Carlos and seems, in the period 1884-86, to have attempted to coiperate with the government to the best of his ability in both peace and war against the renegade members of his own tribe. In 1885 he refused to leave the reservation in a break-away organized by Chihuahua, Geronimo and Mangus; and in the same year Chatto served as a scout with the United States forces pursuing the runaways under those leaders. In the summer of 1886 Chatto was a member of a delegation chosen to go to Washington for the purpose of inquiring what the government would do for the Chiricahuas should they be willing to move to some other part of the country. While in Washington

The Torch-Bearers

MR. NOYES has followed up his first volume of “Torch-bearers,” which was reviewed in these columns on May 20,1922, by a second and rather larger book, volume ii., with the sub-title of “The Book of Earth.” It will be remembered that the first volume was inspired by a night spent in the Sierra Madre Mountains when the first trial was made of the new 100-inch telescope, and it treated of the growth of astronomy from Copernicus to Herschel. It was a notable attempt to carry out the destiny predicted for poetry both by Wordsworth and Matthew Arnold in Great Britain, to express the truths of science in the sort of language which had always served mankind as the vehicle of the highest and eternal ideas. We hailed it as such and are glad to think that the three years since its publication have deepened the public appreciation of Mr. Noyes' effort. The second volume will not be found to belie these expectations. It deals with a much more difficult subject from the point of view of poetic presentation, namely, biology, or rather geology as a preface to zoology and evolution as crowning geology. It leaves one in some doubt as to the scope of the third volume which we are promised in the preface to the first. Is the biology to be completed? Heaven, earth and man would seem to be the natural division. Yet in this second volume we are brought down to Huxley at the famous Oxford meeting of the British Association: so what remains for the third, unless it is to be devoted to relativity and the general philosophical change in scientific ideas which has taken place in the twentieth century? The Torch-Bearers. By Alfred Noyes. Vol. 2: The Book of Earth. Pp. vii + 375. (Edinburgh and London: Wm. Blackwood and Sons, 1925.) 7s. 6d. net.

Bird Notes from the Sierra Madre Mountains, Southern California

Bird Notes from the Sierra Madre Mountains, Southern California

The Western Sierra Madre Mountains

The Western Sierra Madre Mountains

Desiccated Human Remains

SOME time ago, Signor S. Marghieri, the Mexican archæologist, while exploring the eastern side of the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico, at an elevation of nearly seven thousand feet, discovered and explored a hermetically sealed cave. The floor was nearly smooth, the sides rough and rugged, and the vault covered with stalactites. At the far end of the cave, which was of considerable dimensions, four mummified human bodies were found. The bodies—a full-grown male and female, and a boy and girl—were in a sitting posture, hands crossed on the breast, and knees approaching the chin, with the head inclined forward. They were all carefully enshrouded in burial garments, and accurately placed facing the rising sun. We may suppose that the elder male and female were husband and wife. They sat side by side; the elder child, a boy, was placed to the right of the father; the younger, a little girl, to the left of the mother. There was no trace of any implements, utensils, or personal effects; nor were there on the walls hieroglyphics or pictographs. The cave had been sealed by means of sun-dried, adobe bricks, and adobe paste or plaster, together with natural rocks from the mountain. So well was the work done that none but an acute observer would have noticed the artificial closure.

Elevation of the Sierra Madre Mountains

DURING the past summer, in travelling across the Sierra Madre Mountains from Parral in the southern part of the State of Chihuahua, Mexico, to the mining town of Guadalupe y Calvo, on the Pacific slope about one hundred and fifty miles from the Gulf of California, some observations were taken with a small pocket aneroid barometer with thermometer attached, which may be of interest to the readers of NATURE. Both barometer and thermometer had been carefully compared with the standard instruments in Vanderbilt University and the proper corrections made.