Publications

Ferromanganese crusts on raised areas of the ocean floor have joined abyssal manganese nodules and hydrothermal sulfides as potential marine resources. Significant volumes of cobalt-rich (about 1% Co) crusts have been identified to date within the US Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Central Pacific: in the NW Hawaiian Ridge and Seamount region and in the seamounts in the Johnston Island and Pa

No abstract available.

From July 1981, when drilling began on Georges Bank, to May 1982, the concentration of barium, a major element in drilling mud, has increased by a factor of 3.5 in bulk sediments 200 m from the drill site in block 410 and by a factor of 2.3 at the drill site in block 312. The postdrilling barium concentrations are within the range of predriiling concentrations measured at other locations on George

Nisqually Glacier on Mount Ranier, Washington has a long record of terminus position observations and ice-surface altitude measurements along specific profiles, and has been the topic of numerous scientific studies. From the earliest observations in 1857 to the present many individuals and several different organizations have been involved in data collection at Nisqually Glacier. In order to prese

Magnetic, gravity, seismic, and deep drill hole data integrated with plate tectonic reconstructions substantiate the existence of a transform plate boundary across southern Florida during the Jurassic. On the basis of this integrated suite of data the pre-Cretaceous Florida-Bahamas region can be divided into the pre-Jurassic North American plate, Jurassic marginal rift basins, and a broad Jurassic

Ferromanganese micronodules have been found on Georges Bank, off the U.S. northeast coast, distributed throughout the surficial sediments within an area about 125 km long and at least 12 km wide. These coarse, sand-sized concretions have precipitated from metal-rich interstitial waters and contain many of the textural and structural features common to other neritic nodules. Most of the nodules hav

The continental slope off the northeastern United States is a relatively steep, morphologically complex surface which shows abundant evidence of submarine slides and related processes. Because this area may be developed by the petroleum industry, questions arise concerning the potential for further slope failures or unacceptable deformations and the conditions necessary to cause such instabilities

Undersea discharge of ground water during periods of lower sea level may have eroded valleys on part of the lower continental slope, offshore New Jersey. Steep-headed basins, cliffed and terraced walls, and irregular courses of these valleys may have been produced by sapping of exposed near-horizontal Tertiary strata. Joints in Eocene calcareous rocks would have localized ground-water movement. S

Rock magnetic properties, opaque mineralogy, and degree of metamorphism were determined for 101 unoriented samples from the North Arm and Blow-Me-Down massifs of the Bay of Islands ophiolite complex, Newfoundland. The weathered and metamorphosed extrusive basalt samples have a weak, secondary magnetization arising from oxidation and exsolution of ilmenite of unknown origin. The initial magnetizati

The water gun is a relatively new marine seismic sound source that produces an acoustic signal by an implosive rather than explosive mechanism. A comparison of the source characteristics of two different-sized water guns with those of conventional air guns shows the the water gun signature is cleaner and much shorter than that of a comparable-sized air gun: about 60-100 milliseconds (ms) for an 80

A new database for ferromanganese crusts from the world oceans is being compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. Crusts differ from abyssal nodules by forming principally on steeper, raised areas or current-swept plateaus in the oceans. Some crusts contain relatively large concentrations of cobalt (1.0%) in areas within national territorial jurisdictions.

No abstract available.