The Age of Glacier Peak Tephra in West-Central Montana

1984 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Mehringer ◽  
John C. Sheppard ◽  
Franklin F. Foit

At Sheep Mountain Bog, near Missoula, Montana, a late-glacial tephra, that probably fell in late summer, is preserved as an 8-mm-thick graded bed overlain by another 8 mm of redeposited ash mixed with lake deposits. Sediment surrounding the ash was 14C dated to about 11,200 yr B.P. Electron-microprobe analyses of the volcanic glass and hornblende phenocrysts from this ash layer indicate that they are similar in major-element chemistry to those of Glacier Peak layer G previously considered to be about 12,000 yr old or older.

Author(s):  
Ole Bennike ◽  
Anker Weidick

NOTE: This article was published in a former series of GEUS Bulletin. Please use the original series name when citing this article, for example: Bennike, O., & Weidick, A. (1999). Observations on the Quaternary geology around Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden, eastern North Greenland. Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin, 183, 56-60. https://doi.org/10.34194/ggub.v183.5205 _______________ In North and North-East Greenland, several of the outlet glaciers from the Inland Ice have long, floating tongues (Higgins 1991). Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (Fig. 1) is today occupied by a floating outlet glacier that is about 60 km long, and the fjord is surrounded by dissected plateaux with broad valleys (Thomsen et al. 1997). The offshore shelf to the east of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden is unusually broad, up to 300 km wide (Cherkis & Vogt 1994), and recently small low islands were discovered on the western part of this shelf (G. Budeus and T.I.H. Andersson, personal communications 1998). Quaternary deposits are widespread around Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden and include glacial, glaciofluvial, marine, deltaic and ice lake deposits. Ice margin features such as kame deposits and moraines are also common (Davies 1972). The glaciation limit increases from 200 m a.s.l. over the eastern coastal islands to 1000 m in the inland areas; local ice caps and valley glaciers are common in the region, although the mean annual precipitation is only about 200 mm per year. Most of the sea in the area is covered by permanent sea ice, with pack ice further east, but open water is present in late summer in some fjords north of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden, and in the Nordøstvandet polynia.


1978 ◽  
Vol 42 (322) ◽  
pp. 209-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefán Arnórsson

SummaryHigh-temperature geothermal fields in Iceland represent localized anomalies of hot, altered rock in the uppermost part of the crust, which coincide with points of maximum tectonic/magmatic activity. These points correspond to the intersection of oblique fault swarms to the plate boundaries. Geothermal activity under mid-ocean ridges follows probably similar tectonic/magmatic anomalies.Due to high permeability sea-water invades the bed-rock of the Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland, and is overlain by a variably thick lens of dilute ground water of meteoric origin. The variable degree of salinity of geothermal waters in the Reykjanes Peninsula has resulted from different degree of mixing of fresh ground water with the underlying sea-water-ground-water in the downflow zones around the geothermal fields. At Reykjanes the geothermal water represents heated sea-water without any freshwater mixing. The difference in the composition of sea-water or sea-water/fresh water mixtures and the geothermal waters is due to basalt/water interaction at elevated temperatures. The major-element chemistry of the geothermal water represents an equilibrium composition at the relevant aquifer temperatures. The activities of silica, calcium, sulphate, and carbonate are thus limited by the solubilities of quartz, anhydrite, and calcite. Fluoride activity is thought to be controlled by an ionic exchange reaction where it substitutes for hydroxyl groups in phyllosilicates. The ratios of individual cations and hydrogen ion are governed by ionic exchange equilibria with hydrothermal minerals, probably smectite and chlorite. The equilibrium pH for the Reykjanes and Svartsengi geothermal waters is 5·5 and 5·1 respectively. Sea-water will become somewhat acid upon heating to more than about 300 °C and equilibration with basalt, the acidity increasing with temperature.


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