No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

In New Jersey the Hornerstown greensand overlies the Tinton, Red lank, Navesink, and Mount Laurel formations, and the contact is an unconformity which represents a greater amount of missing time in southwestern New Jersey than it does in the northeastern section of the Coastal Plain. Although the Hornerstown is lithologically persistent along strike, the underlying sediments change considerably. Paradoxically the underlying sediments in the southwest are lith­ologically similar to the Hornerstown while those in the northeast differ. Abundance of glauconite, fine grain size, and the dominance of illitic and montmorillonitic type clays indicate that the Navesink and lower Red Bank, which underlie the Hornerstown in the southwest, were deposited in a middle to outer shelf environment, as was the Hornerstown. Coarser grain size, the abundance of detrital quartz, and the dominance of kaolinitic clays indicate that the Tinton and upper Red Bank, which underlie the Hornerstown north of 40° 5' latitude, are part of a elastic wedge which thickens northward. The authigenic minerals within the Tinton and Red Bank, in addition to reported spheroidal weathering of the top of the Tinton, indicate that these formations were subaerially exposed prior to the deposition of the Hornerstown. It is concluded that after the deposition of the Navesink, and prior to the deposition of the Hornerstown, southwestern New Jersey experienced neither sedimentation nor erosion. During this time the Red Bank and Tinton were being deposited in the northeastern section of the New Jersey Coastal Plain, but prior to the deposition of the Hornerstown they were subaerially exposed. The Hornerstown environment then inundated the previously exposed Red Bank and Tinton formations. / Earth and Environmental Science

The research presented in this study is motivated by the need to improve predictions of transport and fate of cohesive sediments suspended during dredging operations. Two techniques are presented to quantify vertical sediment flux within dredge plumes. A mass-balance approach using an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) is described and demonstrated to accurately estimate vertical mass flux and settling velocity for a suspension of fine sand from a dredged material placement operation. A new digital video settling column for simultaneous measurement of particle size and settling velocity is described and evaluated. The Particle Imaging Camera System (PICS) is a single-chambered, digital video settling column, which permits rapid acquisition (within 2--3 minutes) of image sequences within dredge plumes. Image analysis methods are presented, which provide improved estimates of particle size, settling velocity, and inferred particle density. A combination of Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV) and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) techniques is described, which permits general automation of image analysis collected from video settling columns. In the fixed image plane, large particle velocities are determined by PTV and small particle velocities are tracked by PIV and treated as surrogates for fluid velocities. The large-particle settling velocity (relative to the suspending fluid) is determined by the vector difference of the large and small particle settling velocities. The combined PTV/PIV image analysis approach is demonstrated for video settling column data collected within a mechanical dredge plume in Boston Harbor. The automated PTV/PIV approach significantly reduces uncertainties in measured settling velocity and inferred floc density. Size, settling velocities, and density of suspended sediments were measured with PICS within a trailing suction hopper dredge plume in San Francisco Bay. Results indicated that suspended sediments within the plume were predominantly in the clay and fine silt size classes, as aggregates with d>30 microm. Suspended bed aggregates (defined by densities of 1200 to 1800 kg m-3) represented 0.2--0.5 of total suspended mass, and size and settling velocity of this class were time invariant. Flocs (densities<1200 kg m-3) represented 0.5 to 0.8 of total suspended mass, and size and settling velocity of flocs was seen to increase with time. The peak diameter of bed aggregates and flocs occurred near 90 microm and 200 microm, respectively, corresponding to peak settling velocities of about 1 mm s-1 in each case. Floc settling velocities increased with particle size d1.1, while bed aggregate settling velocity increased like d1.3. Numerical modeling approaches to representing settling velocities for hopper dredge plumes are discussed in light of the experimental findings. Size-dependant settling velocities were well-described by a fractal-based relationship when the suspension was treated with discrete classes for each of the aggregate states. Time-dependent increases in floc size and settling velocity confirm that flocculation is a first-order process which should be included in numerical plume models. Correlations between settling velocity and suspended sediment concentration were weak and statistically insignificant, implying that commonly applied empirical relationships are inappropriate for dredge plumes.

Deltas are important coastal systems throughout the world. River mouth bars are key landforms in the development of deltas, are characterized by sediment deposition, and have high potential for sediment preservation. Scientists and professionals seek to understand the discrete response of mouth bars to the various controls governing their evolution. This study utilizes the numerical modelling software Delft3D to provide additional evidence supporting the morphological and stratigraphic responses resulting from variations in basin configurations and allogenic controls (fluvial discharge, tides, basin width). Mud content within the bar increased analogous to an increase in the tidal modulation, while a decrease in the initial basin depth reduced mud content. Initial basin slope and lateral confinement had less obvious impacts on stratigraphy. Finally, variable fluvial discharge and the incorporation of realistic tidal harmonics produced similar bar morphologies (compared to simulations with constant flow and sinusoidal tides), yet demonstrated significant differences in bar stratigraphy.

The Spencer Formation in Yamhill and Washington Counties, Oregon, is exposed in a narrow belt 27 km long, from 1/4 to 3 km wide and with a maximum thickness of about 400 m. The formation is composed entirely of sandstone with interbedded thin layers of mudstone in the uppermost member. The sedimentary structure and paleoecology indicate a shallow marine depositional environment. The upper member of the Spencer Formation contains more quartz, plagioclase, and hornblende than does the lower member, but K-feldspar is less than that of the lower member. Shallower water conditions for the deposition of the upper member are indicated by sedimentary structures and the abundance of pebbly lenses and coaly material. Eighteen species of megafossils collected from the formation indicate that the Spencer Formation is of the Tejon stage (late Eocene of the West Coast).

The Miocene to Pliocene southern Bouse Formation preserves a record of depositional environments immediately prior to and during integration of the Colorado River to the Gulf of California. Uncertainty over Bouse paleoenvironments obscures our understanding of the timing and magnitude of regional uplift, as well as the conditions and processes that were active during integration and early evolution of the Colorado River. Prior studies over the past 20 years have concluded that the southern Bouse Formation accumulated in chain of lakes isolated from the ocean. Sedimentologic analyses presented here aid interpretation of depositional environments and provide evidence for a strong tidal influence on deposition, consistent with a marine interpretation of other prior studies. This interpretation places a critical constrain on the elevation of these deposits at ca. 5 Ma, and suggests post-Miocene uplift of the Lower Colorado River corridor. This thesis includes previously published coauthored material.

No description available.

No description available.