White Mountain Region Research Articles

Direct Inversion Method of Fault Slip Analysis to Determine the Orientation of Principal Stresses and Relative Chronology for Tectonic Events in Southwestern White Mountain Region of New Hampshire, USA

The orientation and relative magnitudes of paleo tectonic stresses in the western central region of the White Mountains of New Hampshire is reconstructed using the direct inversion method of fault slip analysis on 1–10-m long fractures exposed on a series of road cuts along Interstate 93, just east of the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in North Woodstock, NH, USA. The inversion yields nine stress regimes which identify five tectonic events that impacted the White Mountain region over the last 410 Ma. The inversion method has potential application in basin analysis.

Naming Mount Barcroft.

Background: The University of California White Mountain Research Center is located on Mount Barcroft, a 13,040-ft (3975-m) peak on the California White Mountain range. This report describes how the peak got its name honoring Sir Joseph Barcroft of Great Britain. Materials and Methods: Several publicly available webpages were the sources for this study. Results: On October 16, 1951, the United States Board on Geographic Names approved "Mount Barcroft" as the name for a peak on the California White Mountain range enabling the building of a facility dedicated to high-altitude research. The process of naming, however, was far from smooth. Objections came from the members of the Sierra Club, editors of a local newspaper, and a few citizens of California delaying the approval process. At least six other names had been proposed, three of which were from a Native American Indian language. Those who opposed the name "Mount Barcroft" argued that Barcroft never visited the United States, let alone the White Mountain region, and there was a paucity of Native American Indian names for geographic features in the United States. Conclusions: Despite oppositions and controversies, however, a much-deserved scientist was duly honored by an agency of the United States federal government.

Mercury bioaccumulation in temperate forest food webs associated with headwater streams

The soils and food webs associated with mid to high elevation, forested, headwater streams in northeastern North America are potential hotspots for mercury (Hg) methylation and bioaccumulation, but are not well studied. Our goals were to quantify total Hg (THg) and methyl Hg (MeHg) concentrations in soils and terrestrial food webs associated with headwater streams of northern hardwood forests to identify predictors of small-scale spatial variation in Hg bioaccumulation. We sampled soil characteristics that promote Hg methylation including pH, sulfur and calcium content, and organic matter. To assess spatial variation, we sampled at high (~700 m asl) and mid elevations (~500 m asl), both adjacent to (<1 m) and away from (>75 m) three replicate headwater streams in each of two watersheds of the White Mountains region, New Hampshire, USA. Soils of these forested watersheds differed significantly in pH and the content of calcium, sulfur, organic matter and THg. Conditions for methylation were more favorable in the upland forest sites compared to streamside sites. Significant bioaccumulation of THg occurred in all measured components of the food web, including insects, spiders, salamanders, and birds. Trophic position, as determined by δ15N, was the best predictor of both THg and MeHg bioaccumulation across the sampled taxa and was also a better predictor than spatial location. However, the degree of bioaccumulation at which MeHg significantly affects animal behavior, reproduction or survival is unknown for most taxa in terrestrial habitats, particularly for invertebrates. These findings show that Hg methylation and bioaccumulation is not limited to areas traditionally classified as wetlands or to areas with exceptionally high THg inputs, but that it is a widespread and important phenomenon in the moist deciduous forests of eastern North America.

It Was a Yellow Light

It Was a Yellow Light Sarah Audsley (bio) Keywords Sarah Audsley, poetry Early mornings, I waited for the school bus, tiny hands claspingthin backpack straps, lunch inside a crinkled brown paper bag, tacky white fluff & peanut butter stuck to the cheap Ziploc. The bus arrivedat 7:05 a.m. The yellow morning light was a warm puddle—soft, I could touch it. On the braided carpet, the dog's fur poked through. At 7:01 a.m.,a minuscule wave would ripple in the floorboards, the grainy wood shifting, and then I dropped into myself. A vortex. Swirling. My mouthflapping open, swallowing air for safety from the yellow orb moving up through my feet. 7:02 a.m. The dog barks. I want to grab his tail, pullon it—I think: I am here. Hold on to the doorknob. Don't turn it. A sucking sound like cupping a seashell to the ear, roiling ocean hitting my eardrums.The carpet wobbled and spun, faster and faster. The furniture grew legs and started to walk towards me; the television a brilliant red light, flashinglike a disco ball swinging or the iridescent scales of a caught fish; the lamps flickering, and I am the center of my own vortex, trudging cinderblocklegs, through water, every water. I swear it. I tried to tread above the clock's secondhand poised to tick another millimeter. 7:03 a.m.Two more minutes until the bus arrived. Two more minutes until getting on. Two more minutes until I am born. Yes, I was the cell dividing, touching the shore,turning into frothy foam floating out toward the moon's rippling reflection. No. [End Page 814] I was the roar of all that liquid filling the depths of a woman's womb. No, I wasn'tthere yet. Not inside. I was the breeze brushing against her cheek in the lush field. Grass swaying. Until two minutes. Bees—in my mouth, muffling the sound, no,the song I was trying to sing. The clock's secondhand advanced, gears turned. Everything would shift until each molecule found its place. 7:05 a.m.The carpet slides over the wide chasm. There is no water left. I board the bus. [End Page 815] Sarah Audsley sarah audsley, a Korean adoptee, lives and writes in New Hampshire's White Mountains region. She is a candidate in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Her nonfiction has appeared in Appalachia Journal and Alpinist magazine, and her poetry has appeared in Four Way Review and Potluck Magazine. Copyright © 2018 The Massachusetts Review, Inc.

Rapid Conversion of Added Nitrate to Nitrous Oxide and Dinitrogen in Northern Forest Soil

ABSTRACTThe aims of this study were to simulate wet deposition of atmospheric nitrate (NO3−) onto forest soils and trace its fate via conversion spatially and temporally into gaseous products nitrous oxide (N2O) and dinitrogen (N2). The most likely mechanism is microbial denitrification, but an intermediate product nitrite (NO2−) can fuel N2O production via a chemical pathway involving reactions with iron and/or organic matter referred to as chemodenitrification. During summer months, we applied tracer amounts of 15N-labeled NO3− onto forest soils (pH ∼ 4) at three sites in the White Mountain Region of New Hampshire, USA. We recovered 15N as N2O in 210 of 504 measurements (42%) versus 15N as N2 in 51 of 504 measurements (10%), suggesting partial microbial denitrification and/or chemodenitrification. When recovery occurred, the mean percent recovery of added 15N was just 1.1% as N2O, although N2 recovery was 33%. A site with old-growth trees had a larger percentage recovery as N2 (48%), whereas a site that had burned 100 years ago had a small percentage recovery as N2O (0.24%). The 15N composition of N2O in ambient air, collected before addition of the label, was markedly enriched in 15N. Since flux measurements were made 2 h after the addition, the results suggest that denitrification enzymes and conditions for chemodenitrification are present throughout the summer months but account for small amounts of NO3− conversion into N2O and N2.

Rates of sustainable forest harvest depend on rotation length and weathering of soil minerals

Removals of forest biomass in the northeastern US may intensify over the coming decades due to increased demand for renewable energy. For forests to regenerate successfully following intensified harvests, the nutrients removed from the ecosystem in the harvested biomass (including N, P, Ca, Mg, and K) must be replenished through a combination of plant-available nutrients in the soil rooting zone, atmospheric inputs, weathering of primary minerals, biological N fixation, and fertilizer additions. Few previous studies (especially in North America) have measured soil nutrient pools beyond exchangeable cations, but over the long rotations common in this region, other pools which turn over more slowly are important. We constructed nutrient budgets at the rotation time scale for three harvest intensities and compared these with detailed soil data of exchangeable, organic, and primary mineral stocks of in soils sampled in 15 northern hardwood stands developed on granitic till soils in the White Mountain region of New Hampshire, USA. This comparison can be used to estimate how many times each stand might be harvested without diminishing productivity or requiring fertilization. Under 1990s rates of N deposition, N inputs exceeded removals except in the most intensive management scenario considered. Net losses of Ca, K, Mg, and P per rotation were potentially quite severe, depending on the assumptions used.Biologically accelerated soil weathering may explain the lack of observed deficiencies in regenerating forests of the region. Sites differed widely in the long-term nutrient capital available to support additional removals before encountering limitations (e.g., a fourfold difference in available Ca, and a tenfold difference in weatherable Ca). Intensive short-rotation biomass removal could rapidly deplete soil nutrient capital, but traditional long rotations, even under intensive harvesting, are unlikely to induce nutrient depletion in the 21st century. Weatherable P may ultimately limit biomass production on granitic bedrock (in as few as 6 rotations). Understanding whether and how soil weathering rates respond to nutrient demand will be critical to determining long-term sustainability of repeated intensive harvesting over centuries.

Evidence for an Historical Occurrence of the Meadow Jumping Mouse (Zapus Hudsonius Luteus) in the Verde River Watershed, Arizona

The meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius luteus) is a riparian obligate with a fragmented distribution in the American Southwest. Because of recent rapid declines in populations, it is a candidate for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. In Arizona, its known distribution has been restricted to the White Mountains region in the east central part of the state. I present evidence for an historical occurrence of jumping mice in the Verde River watershed, Yavapai County, in west central Arizona. Evidence includes record of a specimen collected by Edgar Mearns in the 1880s, a 1944 report of parasites collected from jumping mice in Yavapai County, and a phylogeographic history that is consistent with an occurrence in the region, including an ecological niche model that predicted suitable conditions for Z. h. luteus in the upper Verde River watershed during the last glacial maximum. Field surveys should be conducted to determine if Z. h. luteus currently exists within the Verde River watershed.

Electrifying the rural American West: stories of power, people, and place

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Glossary of Electrical Terms Introduction: A Blessed Way of Life 1. Empowering Agrarian Dreams: The Cooperative Model in Southeastern Arizona 2. Power through Diversity: The Integration and Industrialization of the White Mountain Region 3. A Light in Every Hogan: Power to Indian Country Conclusion: The Limits of Local Power Notes Bibliography Index

Presence of a Long‐Term Lithospheric Thermal Anomaly: Evidence from Apatite Fission‐Track Analysis in Northern New England

Abstract Apatite fission‐track (AFT) ages from 56 samples of Paleozoic and Mesozoic crystalline rocks in New Hampshire, northeastern Vermont, and western Maine range from 70 to 140 Ma and reflect widespread Early to Late Cretaceous cooling. The regional AFT age distributions determined in this study suggest that reactivation of preexisting orogen‐parallel faults and the presence of a long‐lived thermal anomaly in the lithospheric mantle controlled the late unroofing history of this part of the northern Appalachians. A northeast‐trending zone of young, dominantly Late Cretaceous AFT ages (70–118 Ma) extends from southwestern New Hampshire through the central White Mountain region and continues into northern New Hampshire, northeastern Vermont, and western Maine, providing evidence for regional NW‐SE extension and cooling at this time. Significantly older AFT ages (125–140 Ma) in the region bounded by the Bill Little, Ammonoosuc, and Northey Hill faults in northwestern New Hampshire suggest a normal‐sense r...

Spotted Fever Group Rickettsial Infection in Dogs from Eastern Arizona

A serosurvey of free-roaming dogs for antibodies to spotted fever group rickettsiae was conducted using archival samples that had been collected in the White Mountain region of eastern Arizona during a plague study in 1996. Immunoglobulin G antibodies to Rickettsia rickettsii (5.1%) and to R. rhipicephali (3.6%) were demonstrated, and no cross-reactive samples were identified. This study indicates that R. rickettsii was likely present in the dog populations in this area prior to the recognition of human cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF). The role of dogs as short-term reservoirs and primary hosts for the vector tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, should receive closer attention.

Paleoindian occupation of the White Mountains, New Hampshire

The earliest human occupation of the White Mountains region occurred approximately 11 000 14 C years ago. A suite of stylistically and technologically distinctive chipped stone tools have been found that correlate with similar artifacts and assemblages known across North America and identified as Paleoindian. This culture endured in the White Mountains for at least a millennium and coincided, at least in part, with the Younger Dryas climatic episode. Seven Paleoindian sites and their artifact assemblages are described. These sites appear to correlate with major river drainages and to articulate with widely separated Paleoindian sites outside the region. Key to the interpretation of these sites is the identification of the sources of the lithics used by the Paleoindians for their tools. Local rhyolite was acquired for use in two localities, Berlin and Jefferson, NH and chert from the Munsungun Lake region of northern Maine was imported. The movement of these lithics into and out of the White Mountains provides a perspective on inter-regional movement and contacts. The persistence and extent of the Paleoindian occupation of the White Mountains is a testimony to the highly successful adaptation to a harsh and variable climate, however the mechanisms of the subsistence and settlement patterns are poorly known. A broad outline of directions for future research is offered, with an emphasis on chronology and environmental reconstruction.

Light extinction by fine atmospheric particles in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire and its relationship to air mass transport

Chemical, optical, and physical measurements of fine aerosols (aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm) have been performed at a mountaintop location adjacent to the White Mountain National Forest in northern NH, USA. A 1-month long sampling campaign was conducted at Cranmore Mountain during spring 2000. We report on the apportionment of light extinction by fine aerosols into its major chemical components, and relationships between variations in aerosol parameters and changes in air mass origin. Filter-based, 24-h integrated samples were collected and analyzed for major inorganic ions, as well as organic (OC), elemental (EC), and total carbon. Light scattering and light absorption coefficients were measured at 5-min intervals using an integrating nephelometer and a light absorption photometer. Fine particle number density was measured with a condensation particle counter. Air mass origins and transport patterns were investigated through the use of 3-day backward trajectories and a synoptic climate classification system. Two distinct transport regimes were observed: (1) flow from the north/northeast (N/NE) occurred during 9 out of 18 sample-days; and (2) flow from the west/southwest (W/SW) occurred 8 out of 18 sample-days. All measured and derived aerosol and meteorological parameters were separated into two categories based on these different flow scenarios. During W/SW flow, higher values of aerosol chemical concentration, absorption and scattering coefficients, number density, and haziness were observed compared to N/NE flow. The highest level of haziness was associated with the climate classification Frontal Atlantic Return, which brought polluted air into the region from the mid-Atlantic corridor. Fine particle mass scattering efficiencies of (NH 4) 2SO 4 and OC were 5.35±0.42 m 2 g −1 and 1.56±0.40 m 2 g −1, respectively, when transport was out of the N/NE. When transport was from the W/SW the values were 4.94±0.68 m 2 g −1 for (NH 4) 2SO 4 and 2.18±0.91 m 2 g −1 for OC. EC mass absorption efficiency when transport was from the N/NE was 9.66±1.06 m 2 g −1 and 10.80±1.76 m 2 g −1 when transport was from the W/SW. Results from this work can be used to predict visual air quality in the White Mountain National Forest based on a forecasted synoptic climate classification and its associated visibility.

Effects of Substrate Composition on Apache Trout Fry Emergence

ABSTRACT Artificial substrates were used under laboratory conditions to assess the potential effects of fine sediment (< 2 mm) on a native southwestern (USA) salmonid. Apache trout (Oncorhynchus apache). Asynchronous, complementary field assessment of stream substrate composition was made in the White Mountains of east-central Arizona, the native range of Apache trout. Laboratory studies suggested that fry emergence was significantly reduced at 25% or greater by weight of fine sediments. Mean fine content of substrates in streams in the White Mountains ranged from 8 to 43% and averaged about 24%. Based on laboratory and field data, streams in the White Mountains region are approaching the threshold that could dramatically limit reproductive success of Apache trout. Further, a significantly greater content of optimum spawning substrate (8–32 mm) was estimated in streams emanating from the Fort Apache Indian Reservation than those in Apache Sitgreaves National Forest.

MODELING LEACHING AS A DECOMPOSITION PROCESS IN HUMID MONTANE FORESTS

Forests in the White Mountain region (New Hampshire, USA) range from northern hardwoods and pine at low elevations to spruce-fir at middle elevations, subalpine fir, and krummholz on mountain peaks. We studied landscape-scale effects of gradients in forest cover type, litter chemistry, rates of litter input (including fine woody litter), tem- perature, and moisture on forest-floor pools and input-output fluxes of C and N. We coupled a new model of decomposition processes to a Geographic Information System (GIS) and applied it in 10-ha cells in the White Mountain National Forest. We sought to synthesize current understanding of forest-floor leachate qualities and quantities in humid forests with measured changes in carbon fractions (lignin, cellulose, and extractives) in de- composing litter. We included N dynamics as transfers of N among C fractions, including the production of dissolved organic N in leachate from the forest floor. We calibrated fluxes of dissolved organic C and N (DOC and DON) to measurements from two stands at the Harvard Forest, Massachusetts, USA. We calibrated rates of humus decay to two sites at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest. By including leaching as a mechanism of mass loss from the forest floor, we were able to calculate CO2 mineralization fluxes by difference. Predicted masses of forest floor were higher and peaked over a broader elevational range in spruce-fir forest than in hardwoods, due primarily to a slower decay rate of humus in coniferous forests. DOC and DON fluxes were higher in coniferous forests, while CO2 fluxes were higher in hardwood forests. Predicted residence times for C in the forest floor were longer, and organic N concentrations were higher, in spruce-fir forests than in hard- wood forests. Along a generalized elevational ecotone from hardwood to spruce-fir forests in the region, predicted mass and N in the forest floor increased and DOC and DON fluxes increased, while CO2 fluxes decreased.

Analysis of pollen contained in middens from the white mountains and volcanic tableland of Eastern California

Abstract The pollen from five packrat middens from the White Mountains region of California were analyzed and compared to previously analyzed macrofossils from the same middens. The middens span the time from ca. 20,000 yr B. P. to the middle Holocene. While there are similarities in the pollen and macrofossil data, there are some subtle differences between the two types of data. The pollen data would support the macrofossil evidence that indicates the arrival of Pinus by the early Holocene. In spite of this general agreement, the pollen evidence suggests that Pinus was not common in the vicinity of the early Holocene midden sites. The results of this study would indicate the importance of using both the macrofossil and pollen evidence from packrat middens.

LATE QUATERNARY CHANGES IN PINYON AND JUNIPER DISTRIBUTIONS IN THE WHITE MOUNTAIN REGION OF CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA

Data from packrat middens are used to reconstruct the migration of single-leaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla) and Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) in the White Mountain region of California and Nevada for the last 20,000 years. Today this region is characterized by arid conditions with dry summers. Pinyon woodlands, which are favored by dry summer conditions, are dominant at middle elevations of the White Mountains. The midden record indicates that during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, juniper was dominant at elevations now occupied by desert shrubs. A late Pleistocene-early Holocene record of desert shrubs was found only in the double rainshadow of the Sierra Nevada and the White Mountains. Pinyon entered the area during the Holocene (ca. 9000 yr B.P.) and subsequently became more important than juniper. During the late Holocene, desert shrubs became established at the lower elevation sites that they now occupy. The late Pleistocene-early Holocene record indicates that there may have been a more...

Crustal velocity and Moho topography in central New Hampshire

The White Mountain Batholith in central New Hampshire is a major plutonic, topographic and gravimetric feature, superimposed on the NE‐SW trending regional pattern of accreted terranes in northeastern North America. Compressional and shear‐wave arrival times from a two‐dimensional seismic array experiment are used to constrain a one‐dimensional crustal velocity model and Moho topography for central New Hampshire. Our deployment, a “piggyback” on the Ontario‐New York‐New England refraction experiment (ONYNEX), recorded 10 explosive sources using 20 three‐component digital seismometers. The crust can be modeled as 34.5 km thick, and with three layers having linear gradients without midcrust discontinuities. For this model, P‐velocities are 6.1–6.2 km/s in the upper crust, and 6.2–6.8 km/s in the lower crust. S‐velocities are 3.5–3.7 km/s in the upper crust, and 3.7–3.9 km/s in the lower crust. Because Moho reflections comprise our principal constraints on lower‐crustal velocities, there is a tradeoff between lower‐crustal velocity and crustal thickness. In particular, an average crustal thickness of 39–40 km, reported elsewhere in New England, is not precluded by our data. The Poisson's ratio for the crust varies between 0.23–0.26, in the lower range of values reported for crustal minerals. Our dataset is consistent with ≲2% lateral variation in the upper crust underlying the New Hampshire and White Mountain Plutonic Series, but larger variations deeper than 15 km. If modeled in terms of Moho topography, PmP traveltime residuals and PmP–P residuals suggest thicker crust (36–37 km) under the White Mountain batholith, with thinner crust (33–34 km) to the east and southwest of the White Mountains. Such topography of the Moho correlates well with both the surface elevation and the Bouguer gravity anomaly in the region. Gravity data do not favor the simplest alternative model: a thick low‐velocity granitic lower crust beneath the batholith. Using a simplified density model, roughly 30–35% of the gravity anomaly in the White Mountain region can be modeled as the result of the inferred Moho depression, requiring only a 5 km low‐density root for the White Mountain batholith. The short wavelength of the Moho topography is consistent with a very low flexural rigidity for the lithosphere (≈ 1021 Nt‐m), suggesting that the plutons were intruded into a weak lithosphere. A rapid transition from positive to negative PmP residuals falls along a line that parallels the onshore extension of the Kelvin Seamounts, and may correspond to the “line of weakness” hypothesized by Sykes (1978) to have been tectonically active during the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean at 100–200 Ma.

Term Subsumption Languages in Knowledge Representation

The Workshop on Term Subsumption Languages in Knowledge Representation was held 18-20 October 1989 at the Inn at Thorn Hill, located in the White Mountain region of New Hampshire.

Candidate sites for future hot dry rock development in the United States

Generalized geologic and other data are tabulated for 24 potential hot dry rock (HDR) sites in the contiguous United States. The data show that HDR resources occur in many geologic and tectonic settings. Potential reservoir rocks at each prospect are described and each system is categorized according to inferred heat sources. The Fenton Hill area in New Mexico is discussed in detail because this region may be considered ideal for HDR development. Three other prospectively valuable localities are described: The Geysers-Clear Lake region in California, The Roosevelt Hot Springs area in Utah, and the White Mountains region in New Hampshire. These areas are singled out to illustrate the roles of significantly different geology and geophysics, reservoir rocks, and reservoir heat contents in possible HDR developments.

Painted Pottery and Zuñi History

ALMOST FORTY YEARS AGO Kroeber, and, in greater detail, Spier, on the basis largely of surface sherd collections, determined the essential outline of pottery development in the Zufii country of western New Mexico. The sequence they found ran as follows: black-on-white and black-on-red, then glazepainted ware (black glaze and white paint on red; glaze-on-white, and glazeand red-on-white), buffware, and modern painted. Shortly thereafter, Hodge established this sequence, with more detailed breakdown, on a stratigraphic basis, through his extensive excavations at the great historic Zufii site of Hawikuh. Very little field work has been done in late sites of the Zufii country since then, except for occasional collecting of surface sherds at various ruins already surveyed by Spier. Zufii pottery has been referred to in a few studies and compilations, relating to neighboring districts. In the Handbook of Northern Arizona Pottery, Colton and Hargrave assigned type names to a number of varieties of painted pottery in the Zufii country, up through the earlier glaze-paint types. Two years later, in 1939, a major study of historic Pueblo pottery by the late Dr H. P. Mera included a brief description and discussion, with type names, of the glaze-paint revival in the seventeenth century. For several years general review of the entire subject has been needed. The present discussion, a preliminary version of which was written originally in 1940-41 and held back in anticipation of other studies which have not yet appeared, is finally offered after suffering a couple of revisions. Of the several prehistoric elements which went into the makeup of the Zufii people, as seen darkly through the glass of ceramics, the most important appears to have been that represented primarily by Mountain Redware of the Mogollon Rim or upper Salt-upper Little Colorado region.' Another element of major importance is that represented by the black-on-white ware, and associated culture of San Juan Anasazi type, centering in the area to the north of the Zufii country. This pottery and Tularosa Black-on-White and its variants, from the south and west, are classified together in taxonomy-chiefly because of the use of iron paint-under the designation Cibola Whiteware.2 Tularosa Black-onWhite is, however, associated historically with the redware of the White Mountains region, though disappearing toward 1300 AD.