<p> The Davis-Schrimpf Seep Field is a cluster of about 50 transtension-related geothermal seeps in the Imperial Valley, southeastern California. Five temperature time-series were collected from four features and compared to one another, against prior time-series, and to local seismicity. Loggers placed in separate vents within one seep returned moderate anti-correlation. Vents may selectively clog and unclog. Clogging frequencies explaining the observed level of negative correlation were given. Loggers placed in the same vent produced 87-92% positive correlation. It is therefore likely that the vast majority of temperature data measured with loggers possesses meaningful accuracy. Loggers placed in separate seeps exhibited correlation close to or greater than the statistically significant 60% threshold. I propose two lineaments provide a hydraulic connection between these seeps. Two M_w>3.0 earthquake swarms, including one M_w>4.0 event, within 24 kilometers showed possible linkage with >5 degree Celsius temperature perturbations. Seepage warmed 14.5-36.8 degrees Celsius over 5-7 years.</p>

<p> Proterozoic crustal provinces that underlie much of the United States record prolonged southward growth of the North American craton (Laurentia) between ca. 1.8 and 1.0 Ga. Exposures throughout central Arizona's Tonto Basin represent multiple generations of sedimentary basins formed during Proterozoic accretion. Metasedimentary rocks sampled across Tonto Basin resulted have identified remnants of a previously undated but potentially widespread Mesoproterozoic basin called the Yankee Joe Basin. Sediments of Yankee Joe Basin are particularly interesting because they have depositional age's ca. 200 m.y. younger than previously thought and because they are rich in detrital zircons with ages between 1.6-1.48 Ga, a time period not widely represented in the igneous record of Laurentia. Metasedimentary rocks with similar age and provenance are found in northern New Mexico and in the lower parts of the Belt Supergroup in northern Idaho, Montana, and Canada. Zircon ages and Hf isotopic characteristics suggest the distinctive 1.6-1.48 Ga grains might have been derived from non-Laurentian sources, most likely one or more formerly adjacent cratons such as north Australia. Circa 1.48-1.43 Ga units in the Yankee Joe Basin rest disconformably on Paleoproterozoic quartzite, and all were deformed together during northwest-directed foreland-style thrusting. This event was previously interpreted to represent the ca. 1.66-1.60 Ga Mazatzal orogeny. However, new findings challenge this view and suggest a major deformation event occurred ca. 1.47-1.45 Ga, possibly representing the Picuris orogeny as recently described in northern New Mexico. Regional thrust faulting during the Mesoproterozoic might have unroofed and removed significant portions of the Yankee Joe section, potentially shedding detritus north from the thrust front into the upper parts of the Belt-Purcell basin. </p><p> Detrital zircon ages and hafnium isotope compositions provide a critical test of sediment provenance and depositional age and were used to reassess sedimentary age and sources multiple Proterozoic unconformity-bound metasedimentary successions exposed across Arizona. These successions represent a series of ca. 1.75 to 1.3 Ga basins that span the Proterozoic accretionary provinces of southwestern Laurentia, representing key elements in the tectonic evolution of the continental margin. The ca. 1.75 Ga Vishnu Schist contains a bimodal detrital zircon age distribution with prominent Archean (2.5 Ga) and Early Paleoproterozoic (1.8 Ga) populations and minor juvenile 1.75 Ga input. The predominance of 3.3-1.8 Ga detrital zircon ages and initial epsilon Hf (&epsiv;Hf) values of +4 to -13 in both detrital grains of the Vishnu Schist and xenocrystic grains in plutons from cross-cutting plutons suggests the Vishnu Schist was derived primarily from recycling of the Mojave and other older basement provinces, possibly including one or more outboard cratons. In contrast, the ca. 1.74-1.72 Ga Jerome and ca. 1.72 Ga Alder successions of central Arizona, show a marked shift to strongly unimodal detrital zircon age distributions with initial &epsiv;Hf values ranging from +13 to -5, generally more positive and near-juvenile. Cross-cutting ca. 1.74-1.72 Ga plutons that intrude these rocks also have largely juvenile Hf isotopic signatures. The prominent ca. 1.73 Ga age peaks and relatively juvenile &epsiv;Hf values of detrital grains and plutons are consistent with first-cycle sediment derived from local arc systems formed during progressive assembly of the Yavapai province with the older Mojave province. The ca.1.66-1.63 Ga Mazatzal succession is more compositionally mature and contains broader unimodal detrital zircon age spectra, interpreted to represent increasing regional crustal recycling following the culmination of the Yavapai orogeny. </p><p> In the northern Tonto Basin, detrital zircon age populations from similar looking quartzite and shale successions were used to develop new regional correlations. First, the Houdon Quartzite of the Alder Group was correlated to the Pine Creek Conglomerate. Second, the Mazatzal Group that unconformably overlies the Alder Group, was found to be deposited ca. 1631 &plusmn; 22 Ma, consistent with the White Ledges Formation and the quartzite succession at Four Peaks. Third, a new detrial zircon population collected from the upper part of the argillaceous section in the core of the Four Peaks synform yield ages between 1591-1560 Ma suggesting this section is correlative to the Yankee Joe Formation. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)</p>

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on July 8, 2009) Includes bibliographical references.

<p> Three studies on Cordilleran foreland basin deposits in the western U.S.A. constitute this dissertation. These studies differ in scale, time and discipline. The first two studies include basin analysis, flexural modeling and detailed stratigraphic analysis of Upper Cretaceous depocenters and strata in the western U.S.A. The third study consists of detrital zircon U-Pb analysis (DZ U-Pb) and thermochronology, both zircon (U-Th)/He and apatite fission track (AFT), of Upper Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous foreland-basin conglomerates and sandstones. Five electronic supplementary files are a part of this dissertation and are available online; these include 3 raw data files (Appendix_A_raw_isopach_data.txt, Appendix_C_DZ_Data.xls, Appendix_C_U-Pb_apatite.xls), 1 oversized stratigraphic cross section (Appendix_B_figure_5.pdf), and 1 figure containing apatite U-Pb concordia plots (Appendix_C_Concordia.pdf).</p><p> <b>Appendix A</b> is a combination of detailed isopach maps of the Upper Cretaceous Western Interior, flexural modeling and a comparison to dynamic subsidence models as applied to the region. Using these new isopach maps and modeling, I place the previously recognized but poorly constrained shift from flexural to non-flexural subsidence at 81 Ma.</p><p> <b>Appendix B</b> is a detailed stratigraphic study of the Upper Cretaceous, (Campanian, ~76 Ma) Sego Sandstone Member of the Mesaverde Group in northwestern Colorado, an area where little research has been done on this formation.</p><p> <b>Appendix C</b> is a geo-thermochronologic study to measure the lag time of Upper Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous conglomerates and sandstones in the Cordilleran foreland basin. The maximum depositional ages using DZ U-Pb match existing biostratigraphic age controls. AFT is an effective thermochronometer for Lower to Upper Cretaceous foreland stratigraphy and indicates that source material was exhumed from >4&ndash;5 km depth in the Cordilleran orogenic belt between 118 and 66 Ma, and zircon (U-Th)/He suggests that it was exhumed from &lt;8&ndash;9 km depth. Apatite U-Pb analyses indicate that volcanic contamination is a significant issue, without which, one cannot exclude the possibility that the youngest detrital AFT population is contaminated with significant amounts of volcanogenic apatite and does not represent source exhumation. AFT lag times are &lt;5 Myr with relatively steady-state to slightly increasing exhumation rates. Lag time measurements indicate exhumation rates of ~0.9->>1 km/Myr.</p>

<p> Foreland and forearc basins are large sediment repositories that form in response to tectonic loading and lithospheric flexure during orogenesis along convergent plate boundaries. In addition to their numerous valuable natural resources, these systems preserve important geologic information regarding the timing and intensity of deformation, uplift and erosion history, and subsidence history along collisional margins, and, in ancient systems, may provide more macroscopic information regarding climate, plate motion, and eustatic sea level fluctuations. This thesis presents two studies focused in the Paleozoic Appalachian foreland basin system along the eastern United States and in the Mesozoic to Cenozoic Matanuska forearc basin system in south-central Alaska. </p><p> Strata of the Appalachian foreland basin system preserve the dynamic history of orogenesis and sediment dispersal along the east Laurentian margin, recording multiple episodes of deformation and basin development during Paleozoic time. A well-exposed, >600 m thick measured stratigraphic section of the Pine Mountain thrust sheet at Pound Gap, Kentucky affords one of the most complete exposures of Upper Devonian through Middle Pennsylvanian strata in the basin. These strata provide a window into which the foreland basin's development during two major collisional events known as the Acadian-Neoacadian and the Alleghanian orogenies can be observed. Lithofacies analysis of four major sedimentary successions observed in hanging wall strata record the upward transition from (1) a submarine deltaic fan complex developed on a distal to proximal prodelta in Late Devonian to Middle Mississippian time, to (2) a Middle to Late Mississippian carbonate bank system developed on a slowly subsiding, distal foreland ramp, which was drowned by (3) Late Mississippian renewed clastic influx to a tidally influenced, coastal deltaic complex to fluvial delta plain system unconformably overlain by (4) a fluvial braided river complex. Four samples of Lower Mississippian to Middle Pennsylvanian sandstone were collected from the hanging wall (n = 3) and footwall (n = 1) of the Pine Mountain thrust sheet at Pound Gap to determine sediment provenance in this long-lived foreland basin system. Paleocurrent indicators considered in the context of the regional foreland basin system suggest transverse regional drainage during the development of Early and Late Mississippian delta complexes. Eustatic fall during the early stages of the Alleghanian orogeny to the east saw a shift in regional drainage with the development of a southwestward-flowing and axial braided river system in Early Pennsylvanian time followed by Middle Mississippian transgression of a fluvio-deltaic complex. Detrital zircon U-Pb age data from Lower Mississippian to Lower Pennsylvanian sandstone support regional interpretations of sediment sourcing from probably recycled foreland basin strata along the east Laurentian margin, whereas compositionally immature Middle Pennsylvanian sediment was sourced by a limited distribution of east Laurentia sources reflecting thrust belt migration into the adjacent foreland basin system during Alleghanian orogenesis. </p><p> In addition, the stratigraphy of the foreland basin system in the central Appalachian basin is significantly different compared to the stratigraphic record that is typified for foreland basin systems and suggests that the Carboniferous Appalachian foreland basin system investigated in this study does not fit the typical foreland basin model that is used widely today for both ancient and modern systems. Possible factors that produce the observed discrepancies between the central Appalachian and typical foreland basin systems may include differences in the timing, type, and frequency of orogenic events leading to foreland basin development, related variations in the rheology of the underlying lithosphere, and whether forebulge migration is mechanically static or mobile. </p><p> The Cordilleran margin of south-central Alaska is an area of active convergence where the Pacific plate is being subducted at a low angle beneath the North American plate. In the Matanuska Valley of south-central Alaska, the geology of the Mesozoic to Cenozoic Matanuska forearc basin system records a complex collisional history along the margin from Cretaceous to Miocene time and provides an opportunity to study how shallow-angle subduction affects upper plate processes. Paleocene-Eocene low-angle subduction of an eastward migrating spreading ridge and Oligocene oceanic plateau subduction caused uplift, deformation, and slab window magmatic intrusion and volcanism in the Matanuska Valley region, thereby modifying the depositional environment and structure of the forearc system. In this study, detailed field mapping in the Matanuska Valley region and structural analysis of Paleocene-Eocene nonmarine sedimentary strata are utilized to better understand the structural response of the forearc basin system to multi-stage flat-slab subduction beneath an accreted continental margin, a process observed along multiple modern convergent margins. Four geologic maps and structural cross-sections from key areas along the peripheries of the Matanuska Valley area and one regional cross-section across the forearc system are presented to delineate its local structural configuration and to contribute to a more complete understanding of how sedimentary and tectonic processes along modern convergent margins may be or have been impacted by shallow-angle type and related subduction processes.</p>

<p> In the Roberts Mountains of north-central Nevada, several large masses of the autochthonous carbonate succession overlie the highly deformed siliciclastic succession of the Roberts Mountains allochthon (RMA). These carbonate masses, or tectonic erratics, were plucked from the underlying autochthon and carried in the base of the upper plate of the post-Antler Orogeny Henderson thrust as it ramped structurally upwards and eastwards. Kinematic indicators in the form of folds and fractures within the carbonate masses at Henderson Summit, Vinini Creek, Mineral Hill, and Lone Mountain show a general eastward stress direction. Intense brecciation is observed in the lower parts of the carbonate masses and in the immediately underlying siliciclastic strata of the RMA. Based on observations and kinematic evidence, the carbonate masses at Henderson Summit, Vinini Creek, Mineral Hill, and Lone Mountain are interpreted to be tectonic erratics, which in turn further supports and extends the tectonic erratic hypothesis.</p><p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University. BLDSC no. DXN039344.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2007. / "May, 2007." One colored map on folded leaf in pocket. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-117). Online version available on the World Wide Web. Library also has microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [2007]. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1988. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [264]-290.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.