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Geology, geochronology, and paleogeography of the southern Sonoma volcanic field and adjacent areas, northern San Francisco Bay region, California

Recent geologic mapping in the northern San Francisco Bay region (California, USA) supported by radiometric dating and tephrochronologic correlations, provides insights into the framework geology, stratigraphy, tectonic evolution, and geologic history of this part of the San Andreas transform plate boundary. There are 25 new and existing radiometric dates that define three temporally distinct volc
Authors
David L. Wagner, George J. Saucedo, Kevin B. Clahan, Robert J. Fleck, Victoria E. Langenheim, Robert J. McLaughlin, Andrei M. Sarna-Wojcicki, James R. Allen, Alan L. Deino

Evidence from lava flows for complex polarity transitions: The new composite Steens Mountain reversal record

Geomagnetic polarity transitions may be significantly more complex than are currently depicted in many sedimentary and lava-flow records. By splicing together paleomagnetic results from earlier studies at Steens Mountain with those from three newly studied sections of Oregon Plateau flood basalts at Catlow Peak and Poker Jim Ridge 70–90 km to the southeast and west, respectively, we provide suppor
Authors
Nicholas A. Jarboe, Robert S. Coe, Jonathan M. G. Glen

Age, composition, and areal distribution of the Pliocene Lawlor Tuff, and three younger Pliocene tuffs, California and Nevada

The Lawlor Tuff is a widespread dacitic tephra layer produced by Plinian eruptions and ash flows derived from the Sonoma Volcanics, a volcanic area north of San Francisco Bay in the central Coast Ranges of California, USA. The younger, chemically similar Huichica tuff, the tuff of Napa, and the tuff of Monticello Road sequentially overlie the Lawlor Tuff, and were erupted from the same volcanic fi
Authors
Andrei M. Sarna-Wojcicki, Alan L. Deino, Robert J. Fleck, Robert J. McLaughlin, David Wagner, Elmira Wan, David B. Wahl, John W. Hillhouse, Michael Perkins

Disaster risk assessment case study: Recent drought on the Navajo Nation, USA

The Navajo Nation is an ecologically sensitive semi-arid to arid section of the southern Colorado Plateau. In this remote part of the United States, located at the Four Corners (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah), traditional people live a subsistence lifestyle that is inextricably tied to, and dependent upon, landscape conditions and water supplies. Soft bedrock lithologies and sand dunes d
Authors
Margaret Hiza, Klara B. Kelley, Harris Francis, Debra Block

Episodic growth of a Late Cretaceous and Paleogene intrusive complex of pegmatitic leucogranite, Ruby Mountains core complex, Nevada, USA

Gneissic pegmatitic leucogranite forms a dominant component (>600 km3) of the midcrustal infrastructure of the Ruby Mountains–East Humboldt Range core complex (Nevada, USA), and was assembled and modified episodically into a batholithic volume by myriad small intrusions from ca. 92 to 29 Ma. This injection complex consists of deformed sheets and other bodies emplaced syntectonically into a stratig
Authors
Keith A. Howard, J. L. Wooden, C. G. Barnes, W. R. Premo, A.W. Snoke, S.-Y. Lee

Stratigraphy and chronology of offshore to nearshore deposits associated with the Provo shoreline, Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, Utah

Stratigraphic descriptions and radiocarbon data from eleven field locations are presented in this paper to establish a chronostratigraphic framework for offshore to nearshore deposits of Lake Bonneville. Based on key marker beds and geomorphic position, the deposits are interpreted to have accumulated during the period from the late transgressive phase, through the overflowing phase, into the regr
Authors
Holly S. Godsey, Charles G. Oviatt, David M. Miller, Marjorie A. Chan

The influence of stream channels on distributions of Larrea tridentata and Ambrosia dumosa in the Mojave Desert, CA, USA: Patterns, mechanisms and effects of stream redistribution

Drainage channels are among the most conspicuous surficial features of deserts, but little quantitative analysis of their influence on plant distributions is available. We analysed the effects of desert stream channels (‘washes’) on Larrea tridentata and Ambrosia dumosa density and cover on an alluvial piedmont in the Mojave Desert, based on a spatial analysis of transect data encompassing a total
Authors
S. Schwinning, D.R. Sandquist, D. M. Miller, D. R. Bedford, S. L. Phillips, J. Belnap

Erosion of tilted fault blocks and deposition of coarse sediments in half-graben basins during late stages of extension: Gold Butte area, Basin and Range Province

The provenance and stratigraphic architecture of basin-filling Miocene sediments around the Gold Butte area, southern Nevada, and adjacent highlands record the erosion of fault blocks that progressively tilted during extension. This study focuses especially on upper Miocene correlatives of the red sandstone unit and the Muddy Creek Formation that were deposited during waning stages of extension. U
Authors
Keith A. Howard, Sue Beard, M. A. Kuntz, Michael J. Kunk, Andrei M. Sarna-Wojcicki, M. E. Perkins, Ivo Lucchitta

Archeomagnetic dating in western North America: An updated reference curve based on paleomagnetic and archeomagnetic data sets

[1] A robust database of paleomagnetic (PM) and archeomagnetic (AM) data for western North America covering the past 4 millennia is assembled from three data sets: (1) published PM data for dated lava flows, (2) recently published AM data generated by R. L. DuBois, and (3) published AM data generated by J. L. Eighmy. Chronologic information for the AM data sets has been reassessed, and the data po
Authors
Jonathan T. Hagstrum, Eric Blinman

Rainfall infiltration-induced landslides

Unfavorable groundwater conditions are often the determining factor in triggering landslides. Whereas regional hydrogeology typically determines overall groundwater conditions, surficial rainfall infiltration into slopes also drives potential instability.
Authors
Brian D. Collins, Dobroslav Znidarcic

The principal rare earth elements deposits of the United States: A summary of domestic deposits and a global perspective

The rare earth elements (REE) are fifteen elements with atomic numbers 57 through 71, from lanthanum to lutetium ('lanthanides'), plus yttrium (39), which is chemically similar to the lanthanide elements and thus typically included with the rare earth elements. Although industrial demand for these elements is relatively small in tonnage terms, they are essential for a diverse and expanding array o
Authors
Keith R. Long, Bradley S. Van Gosen, Nora K. Foley, Daniel Cordier