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SP 442 - The Terrane Puzzle: New Perspectives on Paleontology and Stratigraphy from the North American Cordillera
Description:
Blodgett, R. B. and George D. Stanley, G. D., Jr., Ed. / THE TERRANE PUZZLE: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON PALEONTOLOGY AND STRATIGRAPHY FROM THE NORTH AMERICAN CORDILLERA, Boulder, 2008, pb, 326 pages, - 1 -, $ 10
Displaced or tectonostratigraphic terranes comprise a huge portion of real estate in the North American Cordillera. Terranes are discrete, fault-bound blocks of regional extent, with rocks and fossils that differ to a great extent from those of adjacent blocks. The allochthonous nature of most terranes, relative to adjacent craton, is well established. When mapped, they resemble a collage of mixed rock types, tectonic styles, metamorphism, and volcanic origins—each part resembling the pieces of a puzzle. Terrane studies remain integral to understanding the geological evolution of western North America. Since the initiation of the concept summarized in 1979 by the late David L. Jones, the significance of fossils and stratigraphy has been key to solving the puzzle. Chapters of this book written by experts in their field, provide a sense of the diversity of approaches in paleontology and stratigraphy. Contributions span geologic time from the Precambrian (Vendian) to Cretaceous and address over 20 Cordilleran terranes.
Contents:
1. Paleogeographic significance of Ediacaran cyclomedusoids within the Antelope Mountain Quartzite, Yreka terrane, eastern Klamath Mountains, California
2. Silurian-bearing terranes of Alaska
3. Silurian Gastropoda from the Alexander terrane, southeast Alaska
4. Provenance, depositional setting, and tectonic implications of Silurian polymictic conglomerates in Alaska’s Alexander terrane
5. Devonian brachiopods of southwesternmost Laurentia: Biogeographic affinities and tectonic significance
6. Devonian brachiopods from northeastern Washington: Evidence for a non-allochthonous terrane and Late Devonian biogeographic update
7. Paleobiogeographic affinities of Emsian (late Early Devonian) gastropods from Farewell terrane (west-central Alaska)
8. Significance of detrital zircons in Upper Devonian ocean-basin strata of the Sonora allochthon and Lower Permian synorogenic strata of the Mina México foredeep, central Sonora, México
9. The flora, fauna, and sediments of the Mount Dall Conglomerate (Farewell terrane, Alaska, USA)
10. Late Triassic silicified shallow-water corals and other marine fossils from Wrangellia and the Alexander terrane, Alaska, and Vancouver Island, British Columbia
11. Conodont biostratigraphy and facies correlations in a Late Triassic island arc, Keku Strait, southeast Alaska
12. Stratigraphy of the Triassic Martin Bridge Formation, Wallowa terrane: Stratigraphy and depositional setting
13. Late Triassic (Carnian-Norian) mixed carbonate-volcaniclastic facies of the Olds Ferry terrane, eastern Oregon and western Idaho
14. Early Jurassic bivalves of the Antimonio terrane (Sonora, NW México): Taxonomy, biogeography, and paleogeographic implications
15. Dinosaurs of Alaska: Implications for the Cretaceous origin of Beringia
SP 448 - The Permian Extinction and the Tethys: An Exercise in Global Geology
Description:
Sengör, A.M. Celâl and Atayman, Saniye S. / THE PERMIAN EXTINCTION AND THE TETHYS: AN EXERCISE IN GLOBAL GEOLOGY, GSA SP 448, Boulder, 2009, 86 pages, - 1 -, $ 10
Understanding the cause of the extinction that wiped out some 95% of the living species at the end of the Paleozoic era has been one of the greatest problems in the earth and life sciences. All explanations so far proposed have been based on global causes. What has so far been overlooked, however, is that when the extinction occurred all landmasses had been together in one giant continent, Pangea, which completely enclosed an inner ocean, the Paleo-Tethys. This internal ocean included the richest niches in the late Permian world and the extinctions occurred within and around it, giving the decimation the aspect of a universal extinction. What little data we have from the rest of the world indicate that the same extinction did not happen there, except where it was polluted by Paleo-Tethyan spills. This book documents this history and shows that the Permian extinction was an expected result of the peculiarity of the global geography then.
Contents:
1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Tethys and the Tethyan Realm
4. The Tethyan Terminology
5. The Tectonics of Pangea and the Paleo-Tethys During the Late Permian
6. Anoxia and its Products
7. Some Permian Sections in and Around the Paleo-Tethys
8. Rocks of the Paleo-Tethys
9. Trench Fills and Abyssal (?) Deposits
10. Continental Margin Deposits
11. Rifts of the Future Neo-Tethys
12. Paleo-Tethys–Panthalassa Transition Region
13. Panthalassan Sections
14. Areas Directly Polluted by the Paleo-Tethys
15. Areas Indirectly Polluted by the Paleo-Tethys
16. Areas That May or May Not Have Been Indirectly Polluted by the Paleo-Tethys
17. Areas Not at All Polluted by the Paleo-Tethys
18. History of Global Redox Conditions in the Late Permian
19. Paleo-Tethyan Anoxia and the “End-Permian” Extinction
20. The Problem of Extinctions
21. The “End-Permian” Extinction
22. Who Died?
23. What Were the Characteristics of Those Who Survived?
24. The Mechanism of Killing
25. Conclusions
26. References Cited
27. Index
SP 478 - Volcanism and Evolution of African Lithosphere
Description:
Beccalura, L., et.al., Ed. / VOLCANISM AND EVOLUTION OF THE AFRICAN LITHOSPHERE, GSA SP 478, Boulder, 2011, pb, 331 pages, - 1 -, $ 10
The distribution of volcanism in the African plate is the surface expression of a variety of processes, many of which are poorly understood, involving interaction between the lithosphere and the underlying convective mantle. Despite the maturity of the plate tectonic paradigm, our knowledge of the processes involved in the breakup of continents and the formation of new ocean basins remains limited. The African Rift system provides a unique natural laboratory to study the transition from continental breakup to seafloor spreading. Thus, it is important to explore the similarities among the volcanic provinces of the Saharan zone, Cameroon volcanic line, Angola and Namibia, and the East African Rift system. The aim of this volume is to bring together recent and updated contributions on African volcanism (and associated mantle xenoliths), providing multidisciplinary contexts that include volcanology, geochemistry, petrology, geophysics, and structural geology, for a better understanding of the geological evolution of the African lithosphere.
Contents:
1. Late Mesozoic to Quaternary intraplate magmatism and its relation to the Neoproterozoic lithosphere in NE Africa—New data from lower-crustal and mantle xenoliths from the Bayuda volcanic field, Sudan
2. Holocene opening directions along the axes of the Red Sea (Afar) and Main Ethiopian Rifts: An overview
3. The upper-mantle low-velocity anomaly beneath Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania: Constraints on the origin of the African superswell in eastern Africa and plate versus plume models of mantle dynamics
4. The Ethiopia Afar Geoscientific Lithospheric Experiment (EAGLE): Probing the transition from continental rifting to incipient seafloor spreading
5. Peridotite xenoliths from Ethiopia: Inferences about mantle processes from plume to rift settings
6. Evolution of the lithospheric mantle beneath the East African Rift in Tanzania and its potential signatures in rift magmas
7. Petrology and geochemistry of alkaline lava series, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania: New constraints on petrogenetic processes
8. Trace-element distribution between coexisting aqueous fumarole condensates and natrocarbonatite lavas at Oldoinyo Lengai volcano, Tanzania
9. Cameroon Line alkaline magmatism (central Africa): A reappraisal
10. Mineralogical and geochemical fingerprints of mantle metasomatism beneath Nyos volcano (Cameroon volcanic line)
11. Dolomitic volcanism in Zambia: Cr and K signatures and comparisons with other dolomitic melts from the mantle
12. Post-Paleozoic magmatism in Angola and Namibia: A review
13. Is the African cratonic lithosphere wet or dry?
14. New 40Ar-39Ar ages and petrogenesis of the Massif d'Ambre volcano, northern Madagascar
15. Metasomatism versus host magma infiltration: A case study of Sal mantle xenoliths, Cape Verde Archipelago
16. Magmatic evidence for African mantle propagation into the southern Tyrrhenian backarc region
SP 494 - New Perspectives on Rio Grande Rift Basins: From Tectonics to Groundwater
Description:
Hudson, M. R. and Grauch, V. J. S. (Tien), Ed. / NEW PERSPECTIVES ON RIO GRANDE RIFT BASIN: FROM TECTONICS TO GROUNDWATER, GSA SP 494, Boulder, 2013, pb, 500 pages, cd (in pocket), - 1 -, $ 50
Extending from Colorado, USA, on the north to the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, on the south, the Rio Grande rift divides the Colorado Plateau on the west from the interior of the North American craton on the east. This volume focuses on the Rio Grande rift’s upper crustal basins and is organized geographically with study areas progressing from north to south. Eighteen chapters cover a variety of topics, including sedimentation history, rift basin geometries and the influence of older structure on rift basin evolution, faulting and strain transfer within and among basins, relations of magmatism to rift tectonism, and basin hydrogeology.
Contents:
1. Evolution of ancient Lake Alamosa and integration of the Rio Grande during the Pliocene and Pleistocene
2. Provenance of volcanic clasts from the Santa Fe Group, Culebra graben of the San Luis Basin, Colorado: A guide to tectonic evolution
3. Late Miocene–Pleistocene evolution of a Rio Grande rift subbasin, Sunshine Valley–Costilla Plain, San Luis Basin, New Mexico and Colorado
4. Geophysical constraints on Rio Grande rift structure in the central San Luis Basin, Colorado and New Mexico
5. Syndepositional deformation and provenance of Oligocene to Lower Miocene sedimentary rocks along the western margin of the Rio Grande rift, Jemez Mountains, New Mexico
6. Deformational and erosional history for the Abiquiu and contiguous area, north-central New Mexico: Implications for formation of the Abiquiu embayment and a discussion of new geochronological and geochemical analysis
7. Three-dimensional finite-element modeling of fault interactions in rift-scale normal fault systems: Implications for the late Cenozoic Rio Grande rift of north-central New Mexico
8. Structure and tectonic evolution of the eastern Española Basin, Rio Grande rift, north-central New Mexico
9. Chronology of volcanism, tectonics, and sedimentation near the western boundary fault of the Española Basin, Rio Grande rift, New Mexico
10. Multi-stage Laramide deformation in the area of the southern Santa Fe embayment (Rio Grande rift), north-central New Mexico
11. Shallow groundwater geochemistry in the Española Basin, Rio Grande rift, New Mexico: Evidence for structural control of a deep thermal source
12. Upper Neogene tephrochronologic correlations of the Española Basin and Jemez Mountains volcanic field, northern Rio Grande rift, north-central New Mexico
13. Geophysical constraints on Rio Grande rift structure and stratigraphy from magnetotelluric models and borehole resistivity logs, northern New Mexico
14. Oblique transfer of extensional strain between basins of the middle Rio Grande rift, New Mexico: Fault kinematic and paleostress constraints
15. Climatic controls on nonmarine depositional sequences in the Albuquerque Basin, Rio Grande rift, north-central New Mexico
16. New perspectives on the geometry of the Albuquerque Basin, Rio Grande rift, New Mexico: Insights from geophysical models of rift-fill thickness
17. Upper crustal structure of the southern Rio Grande rift: A composite record of rift and pre-rift tectonics
18. Tascotal Mesa transfer zone—An element of the Border Corridor transform system, Rio Grande rift of West Texas and adjacent Mexico
SP 498 - Understanding Open-Vent Volcanism and Related Hazards
Description:
Rose, W. I., et.al., Ed. / UNDERSTANDING OPEN-VENT VOLCANISM AND RELATED HAZARDS, GSA SP 498, Boulder, 2013, 230 pages, - 1 -, $ 10
Volcanic hazards work in developing countries is evolving and is increasingly done by scientists and engineers in home countries. At the same time, scientists in the developed world, where volcanic hazards may not be as immediate, are eager to participate in collaborative efforts, especially to highlight new tools. The lure of working at sites where there is diverse volcanic activity is strong, and collaborative science provides support for infrastructure development in home countries. Experience participating in international collaborative work during real volcanic crises is especially valuable to young scientists engaged in graduate and postdoctoral studies. This volume is the third GSA Special Paper this decade to focus on Central American volcanic hazards, and these chapters demonstrate continued maturation of international hazards work.
Contents:
1. A 50 yr eruption of a basaltic composite cone: Pacaya, Guatemala
2. Crater lake evolution at Santa Ana Volcano (El Salvador) following the 2005 eruption
3. Continuous subsidence associated with the long-lasting eruption of Arenal Volcano (Costa Rica) observed by dry-tilt stations
4. A pilot GPS study of Santa Ana Volcano (Ilamatepec) and Coatepeque caldera, El Salvador
5. Gravity and geodesy of Concepción Volcano, Nicaragua
6. An analysis of the seismic activity of Popocatépetl Volcano, Mexico, associated with the eruptive period of December 2002 to February 2003: Looking for precursors
7. Temporal changes in eruptive behavior identified with coda wave interferometry and seismo-acoustic observations at Fuego Volcano, Guatemala
8. Insights into explosion dynamics and the production of ash at Stromboli from samples collected in real-time, October 2009
9. Large-volume Barriles and Caisán debris avalanche deposits from Volcán Barú, Panama
10. Hazards related to lava tubes and caves in the Sierra Chichinautzin monogenetic volcanic field (México)
11. Estimation of tephra-fall and lahar hazards at Hudson Volcano, southern Chile: Insights from numerical models
12. Explosive volcanic history and hazard zonation maps of Boquerón Volcano (San Salvador volcanic complex, El Salvador)
SP 503 - Through the end of the Cretaceous in the type locality of the Hell Creek Formation in Montana and adjacent areas
Description:
Wilson, G. P., et.al., Ed. / THROUGH THE END OF THE CRETACEOUS IN THE TYPE LOCALITY OF THE HELL CREEK FORMATION IN MONTANA AND ADJACENT AREAS, GSA SP 503, Boulder, pb, 392 pages, - 1 -, $ 15
For over a century, the Hell Creek and Fort Union formations and their constituent fossil biotas have captivated geologists and paleontologists alike. In Montana and adjacent areas, these rocks have become renowned as the type locality for Tyrannosaurus rex and the epicenter for debate surrounding the mass extinction of dinosaurs at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. The chapters in this volume represent a surge of field and laboratory research activity that illustrates the impacts of new and refined methods and tools. In tandem, the research questions have evolved to take advantage of the increased precision, quality, and quantity of the data, from determinations of paleoecologies to assessment of ontogenetic sequences, patterns of sedimentation, and basin-level intraformational correlations. Together, the chapters in this volume are a major step forward in the quest to mine the rich lode of geologic and biologic history preserved in the strata bounding the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.
Contents:
1. From Tyrannosaurus rex to asteroid impact: Early studies (1901–1980) of the Hell Creek Formation in its type area
2. Context, naming, and formal designation of the Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation lectostratotype, Garfield County, Montana
3. Assessing the relationships of the Hell Creek–Fort Union contact, Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, and Chicxulub impact ejecta horizon at the Hell Creek Formation lectostratotype, Montana
4. Magnetostratigraphy of the Hell Creek and lower Fort Union Formations in northeastern Montana
5. Carbon isotope stratigraphy and correlation of plant megafossil localities in the Hell Creek Formation of eastern Montana
6. A florule from the base of the Hell Creek Formation in the type area of eastern Montana: Implications for vegetation and climate
8. Euselachians from the freshwater deposits of the Hell Creek Formation of Montana
SP 518 - Large Meteorite Impacts and Planetary Evolution
Description:
Osinki, G. R. and Kring, D. A. / LARGE METEORITE IMPACTS AND PLANETARY EVOLUTION V, GSA SP 518, Boulder, 2015, pb, 227 pages, - 1 -, $ 20
Impact cratering is one of the most fundamental geological processes. On many planets, impact craters are the dominant geological landform. On Earth, erosion, plate tectonics, and volcanic resurfacing continually destroy the impact cratering record, but even here, the geological, biological, and environmental effects of impact cratering are apparent. Impact events are destructive and have been linked to at least one of the "big five" mass extinctions over the past 540 Ma. Intriguingly, impact craters can also have beneficial effects. Many impact craters are associated with economic metalliferous ore deposits and hydrocarbon reservoirs. This Special Paper provides an up-to-date synthesis of impact cratering processes; the role of meteorite impacts in the origin of life, products, and effects; and the techniques used to study impact craters on Earth and other planetary bodies. This volume resulted from the Large Meteorite Impacts and Planetary Evolution V conference held in Sudbury, Canada, in August 2013.
Contents:
The Role of Meteorite Impacts in the Origin of Life
Potential catalytic role of phyllosilicates in pre-biotic organic synthesis
Making Craters: From the Small to the Big
Scaling impact crater dimensions in cohesive rock by numerical modeling and laboratory experiments
Characteristics of impact craters in the northern hemisphere of Mars
Morphologic and structural mapping of the central uplift of Betio crater, Thaumasia Planum, Mars
Kinematics of large terrestrial impact crater formation inferred from structural analysis and three-dimensional block modeling of the Vredefort Dome, South Africa
Scaling of basin-sized impacts and the influence of target temperature
Products of Planetary Impacts
Petrologic and impact size controls on Precambrian spherule diameters
Zircon formation in impact melts: Complications for deciphering planetary impact histories
Microscopic effects of shock metamorphism in zircons from the Haughton impact structure, Canada
Surficial polymict impact breccia unit, Wetumpka impact structure, Alabama: Shock levels and emplacement mechanism
Nature and origin of the Garson Member of the Onaping Formation, Sudbury impact structure, Canada
Remote Sensing Methods to Study Impact Craters
Mapping terrestrial impact craters with the TanDEM-X digital elevation model
Manfred Gottwald, Thomas Fritz, Helko Breit, Birgit Schättler, and Alan Harris
Real-time crater profile analysis: Visualizing high-resolution laser altimetry data sets on the GPU
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