Abstract
Studies of dispersal patterns, that is the areal variation of scalar sedimentary properties resulting from sediment transport, are a major part of sedimentology. The literature on this subject is exceptionally widely scattered; it is found in papers on meteorology, pollution and the environment, marine geology, prospecting for metallic minerals, clay mineralogy, glacial geology, paleogeomorphology, and engineering geology, to name but a few. The subject receives the continuing attention of sedimentologists in their study of the provenance of both modern and ancient sands and sandstones. And, if we are willing to include dispersion by ancient man — his trading of valuable products — we should also examine some of the archeological literature!
A wide diversity of techniques are used in the study of sediment dispersal. Probably the greatest advance since 1963 has been the study of sediment dispersal in the modern oceans.
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Airborne Dust, Ash Falls and Loess
Eaton, G. P., 1964: Windborne volcanic ash. A possible index to polar wandering. J. Geol. 72, 1–35. Probably still one of the best reviews of thickness patterns of volcanic ash and their controis.
Fehrenbacker, J. B., J. L. White, H. P. Ulrich and R. T. Odell, 1965: Loess distribution in southeastern Illinois and southwestern Indiana. Proc. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. 29, 566–579. Thickness maps plus regression plots of thickness versus distance (for different stratigraphic units) from the Wabash River, a glacial outwash stream.
Frazee, C. C., J. B. Fehrenbacker and W. C. Krumbein, 1970: Loess distribution from a source. Proc. Soil Sci. Am. 34, 296–301. Relative merits of logarithmic, exponential and hyperbolic equations to describe loess dispersal.
Glass, H. D., J. C. Frye and H. B. Willman, 1968: Clay mineral composition, a source indicator of Midwest loess in R. E. Bergstron, ed., The Quaternary of Illinois. Urbana, University of Illinois, College Agriculture, Sp. Pub. 14, 35–40. No maps, but tables and qualitative discussion give the essential ideas. The only study we know of like this-but surely there are (should be) more.
ROSE, W. I., JR., S. Bonis, R. E. Stoiber, M. Keller and T. Bickford, 1973: Studies of volcanic ash from two recent Central American eruptions. Bull. Volcanol. 37, 338–364. Maps of thickness and a helpful table of volumes of ash blankets (p. 348); authors use interesting double log plots. Good literature source.
Rozycki, S. Z., 1968: The directions of winds carrying loess dust as shown by analysis of accumulative loess forms in Bulgaria in C. B. Schultz and J. C. Frye, eds., Loess and related eolian deposits of the world, 12 Int. Assoc. Quaternary Res., Proc. 7th Congr. Lincoln, University of Nebraska, 233–245. Maps on various scales show, by thinning and linearities, strong trends and thus paleowind directions. Figure 13-5 is a loess-based Pleistocene paleowind map for eastern Europe.
Ruhe, R. V., 1969: Quaternary landscapes in Iowa. Ames, Iowa State University Press, 255 p. This monograph contains two sections, p. 29–37 and 114–127, on mathematical and geological analysis of thickness and grain size decline in loess away from its floodplain source. Good as an example and as basic background reading.
Ruhe, R. V., 1973: Background of model for loess-derived soils in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. Soil Sci. 115, 250–253. About 100 references on loess in the Upper Mississippi Valley.
Scheidegger, A. E., and P. E. POTTER, 1968: Textural studies of grading: volcanic ash falls. Sedimentology 11, 163–170. An analytical approach expressing bed thickness as a function of time and grain size (fall velocity).
Turner, D. B., 1970: Workbook of atmospheric dispersion estimates. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, N.C., AP-26, 7th Printing, 84 p. Six chapters include the basic equations and needed tables plus problems and their solutions. Reference material for those studying loess patterns as well as ash falls.
Windom, H. L., 1975: Eolian contributions to marine sediments. J. Sediment. Petrol. 45, 520–529. Summary and review showing that illite, quartz, and kaolinite are the chief eolian contributors to marine sediments. Key ideas: zonal winds and eolian dust in marine muds.
Arenites and Rudites
Allen, P., 1972: Wealden detrital tourmaline: implications for northwestern Europe. J. Geol. Soc. London 128, 273–294. A most unusual paper-one solely devoted to provenance and dispersion based on tourmaline types and their 4°Ar/39Ar dating by Fitch and Miller. Table 2 correlates major orogenic events in much of western Europe with later detritus. Model for the future?
Blatt, H., 1967: Provenance determinations and recycling of sediments. J. Sediment. Petrol. 37, 1031–1044. A thoughtful philosophical paper about some of the fundamental problems of provenance, especially for sands.
Bradley, W. C., R. K. Fahenstock and E. T. Rowekamp, 1972: Coarse sediment transport by flood flows on Knik River, Alaska. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 83, 1261–1284. Major changes in coarse gravel occur in the first 16 miles of a glacial river’s valley train-plots of size, sorting, and roundness for various lithologies. Much tabulated data.
Cardigan, R. A., 1967: Petrology of the Morrison Formation in the Colorado Plateau Region. U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 556, 113 p. Paleocurrents and trend surface studies of detrital, light and heavy minerals effectively outline converging flow into a large sedimentary basin. Model study.
Conrey, B. L., 1967: Early Pliocene sedimentary history of the Los Angeles Basin. California Div. Mines Geol., Sp. Rept. 93, 63 p. Isopach and lithofacies maps, grain size, roundness, sedimentary structures and some petrology of Pliocene turbidites in a tectonically active basin. Notable for emphasis on dispersion as a guide to turbidite fans. Cf. PAYNE (1972).
Davies, D. K., and W. R. MOORE, 1970: Dispersal of Mississippi sediment in the Gulf of Mexico. J. Sediment. Petrol. 40, 339–353. An integration of much existing data as well as many new analyses of the dispersal shadow of a large river into a small ocean.
Dietz, V., 1973: Experiments on the influence of transport on shape and roundness of heavy minerals. Contr. Sedimentol. 1, 69–102. One aspect of dispersion that has received little attention in the past 30 years is the experimental study of abrasion, especially abrasion of heavy minerals. This paper compares experimental with natural transport in different environments for short and long distances. Much tabulated data and virtually all the relevant references.
Ehrlich, R., J. J. Orzeck and B. Weinberg, 1974: Detrital quartz as a natural tracer-Fourier grain shape analysis. J. Sediment. Petrol. 44, 145–150. Closed-form Fourier amplitude spectra on quartz grain shape plus statistical analysis are used in a detailed provenance study of a river-beach and cliff system in southern California. Innovative, but not yet widely used.
Faupl, P., W. Grun, G. Lauer, R. Maurer, A. Papp, W. Schnabel and M. Sturm, 1970: Zur Typisierung der Sieveringer Schichten im Flysch des Wienerwaldes. Austr. Geol. Bundesanst. Wien Jahrb., 113, 73–158. Unusually well-integrated study of paleocurrents, heavy and light minerals, nannofossils, grain size and pebble morphology. Detailed pebble petrography. Good example of what can be achieved in provenance studies by integration of different disciplines. Figure 4, a provenance-paleocurrent diagram, is unusual.
Fuchtbauer, H., 1967: Die Sandsteine in der Molasse nordlich der Alpen. Geol. Rundschau 56, 266–300. Summary of the author’s classic work on sand dispersal related to the Tertiary orogenesis of the Alps. Also shows downcurrent decline of pebble size. Very well referenced.
Gazzi, S. P., G. G. Zuffa, G. Gandolfi and L. Paganelli, 1973: Provenienza e dispersione litorannea delle sabbie delle spiagge adriatiche fra le foci dell’Isonzo e del Foglia: iquadramento regionale. Mem. Soc. Ital. 12, 1–37. Very comprehensive study of light and heavy mineral dispersion along the northwest part of the Adriatic coast plus composition of inputting rivers. Very complete tabulated data. Excellent model.
Hahn, C., 1969: Mineralogisch-sedimentpetrographische Untersuchungen an den Flußbettsanden im Einzugsbereich des Alpenrheins. Eclogae Geol. Helv. 62, 227–278. Exhaustive mineralogical-size study of 226 samples of the Rhine river above Lake Constance. In this rather small region seven heavy mineral provinces exist. Good as a model, if you are planning a super-detailed study!
Hoffman, P., 1969: Proterozoic paleocurrents and depositional history of the East Arm fold belt Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories. Canadian J. Earth Sci. 6, 441–462. Exponential decrease in size of pebbles in a Precambrian fanglomerate away from a boundary fault of an aulacogen.
Hubert, J. F., and W. J. Neal, 1967: Mineral composition and dispersal patterns of deep-sea sands in the western North Atlantic petrologic province. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 78, 749–752. Heavy and light minerals of 204 samples from the modern sands of the western North Atlantic, mostly from the deep sea. Three petrographic provinces (includes compositional data from some rivers onshore U.S. and Canada) with Figure 12 being an excellent summary.
Ingle, J. C., jr., 1966: The movement of beach sand in Developments in sedimentology 5. Amsterdam: Elsevier Publ. Co., 221 p. A general source for a subject widely studied by engineers.
Kirchner, H. J., 1974: Die Sedimentverteilung des strandnahen Seebereiches vor WesterlandjSylt. Meyniana 24, 57–62. Artificial nourishment of an 8-km block along the North Sea permits good definitions of sediment dispersion (defined by 946 sample points), which is both parallel and perpendicular to the shore. Informative illustrations.
Laming, D. J. C., 1957: Imbrication, paleocurrents and other sedimentary features in the Lower New Red Sandstone, Devonshire, England. J. Sediment. Petrol. 36, 940–959. Interesting map of cross-bedding and roundness of limestone pebbles, the latter increasing down current. One of the few dispersal maps based on roundness of pebbles and cobbles. See also LUSTIG (1965).
Lustig, L. K., 1965: Clastic sedimentation in Deep Springs Valley, California. U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 352-F, 131–192. All the key variables mapped in detail on a small fan-maximum and mean pebble size, roundness, lithology, percent granules and silt-clay ratios are all combined with slope to estimate tractive force and paths of sediment transport. For different scalesofdispersion. Compare Lustig’s Figure 112 with Hubert’s and Neal’s Figure 12.
Mcmanus, D. A., J. C. Kelley and J. S. Creager, 1969: Continental shelf sedimentation in the Arctic environment. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 80, 1961–1983. Dispersion in an Arctic sea, one that is ice covered for nine to ten months each year, is mapped with the help of factor analysis.
Meckel, L. D., 1967: Origin of Pottsville conglomerates (Pennsylvanian) in the central Appalachians. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 78, 223–258. Dispersion based on maximum pebble size and cross-bedding.
Milliman, J. D., 1972: Atlantic continental shelf and slope of the United States Petrology of the sand fraction of sediment, northern New Jersey to southern Florida. U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 529-J, 39 p. Dispersion of light minerals of sands on a continental shelf; most sands are residual except for some near shore. Compare with Ross (1970).
Nagahama, H., and A. IIJIMA, 1965: The petrography and sources of the later Tertiary sandstones in northwest Kyushu. Japanese J. Geol. Geog. 36, 61–75 and 89-134. A three-part study of paleocurrents and dispersal with very detailed petrography (especially good to see use of varietal types of minerals).
Nagahama, H., O. Hirakawa and T. Enda, 1968: History of researches on paleocurrents in reference to sedimentary structures-with paleocurrent maps and photographs of sedimentary structures. Bull. Geol. Survey Japan 19, 1–17. (Japanese with English subtitles.) Figures 9, 10, 11 and 12 are maps that show maximum pebble diameter of different lithologies in a conglomerate. Also additional paleocurrent maps and beautiful photographs of sedimentary structures.
Payne, J. N., 1972: Hydrologic significance of lithofacies of the Cane River Formation or equivalents of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 569-C, 17 p. Subsurface lithofacies mapping of a Tertiary unit shows that most of its water resources occur in deltaic and bar sands. Good example of sand dispersion and its relation to hydrology.
Pelletier, B. R., 1974: Sedimentary textures and relative entropy and their relationship to the hydrodynamic environment of the Bay of Fundy in B. R. Pelletier, ed., Offshore geology of eastern Canada. Geol. Survey Canada, Paper 74-30, 77–95. Textural parameters related to energy fields of a large bay.
Pilkey, O. H., 1963: Heavy minerals of the U.S. south Atlantic continental shelf and slope. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 74, 641–648. Mapped distribution and percentages of heavy minerals in shelf sands; no welldefined provinces other than epidote-rich and epidote-poor areas.
Ross, D. A., 1970: Atlantic continental shelf and slope of the United States. Heavy minerals of the continental margin from southern Nova Scotia to northern New Jersey. U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 529-G, 40 p. Systematic study of heavy minerals from 229 surface samples-recent and relict sands recognized. Dispersal of sediment is mainly offshore. See also MILLIMAN (1972).
Stanley, K. O., and W. J. Wayne, 1972: Epeirogenic and climatic controls of early Pleistocene fluvial sediment dispersal in Nebraska. Geol. Soc. Am. 83, 3675–3690 Climatic in terpretation of widerspread gravel is based on change in clast size and composition. Activity of a regional arch is also expressed in gravel thickness (epeirogenesis)
Todd, T. W., 1966: Darton Ridge, Pennsylvanian feature of Wyoming Shelf. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geologists Bull. 50, 2519–2546. One of the few areal studies of size distribution in an ancient sandstone. Also some maps of detrital-provenance indicators.
Muds and Mudstones
Bjorlykke, K., 1974: Geochemical and mineralogical influence of Ordovician Island Arcs on epicontinental clastic sedimentation. A study of Lower Paleozoic sedimentation in the Oslo Region, Norway. Sedimentology 21, 215–272. Provenance study of a 1000-m thick sequence based on chemical and clay mineral analyses. Vogt’s maturity index, defined as (Al2O3 + K2O)/(MgO + Na2O ), plus trace elements, are used to help determine provenance.
Chamley, H., and F. Picard, 1970: L’heritage detritique des fleuves provencaux en milieu marin. Tethys 2, 211–226. Clay mineralogy and heavy minerals of small streams that flow into the Mediterranean Sea. Cf. QUAKERNAAT (1968).
Conant, L. C., and V. E. SWANSON, 1961: Chattanooga Shale and related rocks of central Tennessee and nearby areas. U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 357, 91 p. Mostly careful internal stratigraphy, but contains some maps of sandstone thickness within the shale and cross sections that reveal systematic internal facies variations.
Davis, J. C., 1970: Petrology of Cretaceous Mowry shale in Wyoming. Bull. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geologists 54, 487–502. Mineral distribution patterns and other evidence suggests that this widespread shale is a transgressive deposit. One of the very few regional studies of shales. Many maps. A possible model study for this forgotten sediment?
Griffin, J. J., H. Windom and E. D. Goldberg, 1968: The distribution of clay minerals in the world ocean. Deep Sea Res. 15, 433–459. One of the most definitive papers ever written on the origin of clay minerals. This paper is based on geology’s oldest technique-systematic mapping-which shows that climate plays a significant role in clay mineral composition at low latitudes, but not at high latitudes. This and other evidence indicate that the vast majority of clays in the recent sediments of the world ocean are detrital.
Hathaway, John C., 1972: Regional clay mineral facies in estuaries and continental margin of the United States East Coast in Brucew Nelson, ed., Environmental framework of coastal plain estuaries. Geol. Soc. Amer. Mem. 133, 293–316. Eleven maps of diverse minerals in Holocene sediments plus two inferred paleocurrent systems and one of bottom drift directions. More than 400 samples from Key West to the Gulf of Maine.
Kabata-Pendias, A. 1967: Geochemical characteristics of Triassic formations from the north-western areas of Poland. Kwartalnik Geol. 11, 509–517. Trace elements and their different ratios, clay minerals plus Eh and pH data form the basis of this study of 368 samples from the subsurface. The illite-chlorite ratio was considered most significant for paleoenvironments.
Lisitzin, A. P., 1972: Sedimentation in the World Ocean. Soc. Econ. Paleontol. Mineral., Sp. Pub. 17,218 p. The best single source for dispersion, in air and water, of land-derived material in the world ocean, mostly but not entirely using Russian references.
Neiheisel, J., 1966: Significance of clay minerals in shoaling problems. Comm. Tidal Hydraulics, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tech. Bull. 10, 30 p. Clay minerals studied in modern sediments to help define shoaling in harbors.
Neiheisel, J., 1976: Techniques for use of organic and amorphous materials in source investigations of estuary sediments in Bruce W. Nelson, ed., Environmental framework of coastal plain estuaries. Geol. Soc. Amer. Mem. 133, 359–381. An unusual provenance paper because it is concerned with the fine fraction and its organics as well as amorphous materials. Useful model and technique paper for environmental sedimentology.
Parham, W. E., 1966: Lateral variations of clay mineral assemblages in modern and ancient sediments in L. Heller and A. Weiss, eds., Proc. Int. Clay Conf., 1966, 1, 135–145. An unusual and interesting paper that compiles much literature about a neglected subject. Author’s illustrations effectively tell his story. Many more studies like this needed for mudstones and shales.
Parham, W. E., and G. S. Austin, 1969: Clay mineralogy, fabric and industrial uses of the shale of the Decorah Formation, southeastern Minnesota. Minnesota Geol. Survey, Rept. Invs. 10, 32 p. Figures 4 and 5 show clay mineral facies in part of a very widespread shale.
Pelzer, E. E., 1966: Mineralogy, geochemistry and stratigraphy of the Besa River Shale, British Columbia. Bull. Canadian Petrol. Geol. 14, 273–321. Systematic areal variation of Lower Mississippian mineral and chemical facies of a black shale that varies from 1,000 to 7,000 ft in thickness.
Pevear, D. R., 1972: Source of Recent nearshore marine clays in B. Nelson, ed., Environmental framework of coastal plain estuaries. Geol. Soc. Am. Mem. 133, 317–336. Clay minerals of rivers of southeastern U.S. reflect Piedmont weathered soils and contain chiefly kaolinite plus some vermiculite and smectite. River clays nearly identical to those of Piedmont clays. Good example of systematic dispersionprovenance study along a coast line.
Pilkey, O. H., and D. Noble, 1966: Carbonate and clay mineralogy of the Persian Gulf. Deep Sea Research 13, 1–16. Maps of clay minerals plus calcite, aragonite and dolomite all based on 45 samples. Mineralogical trends roughly parallel gulf axis.
Quakernaat, J., 1968: X-ray analysis of clay minerals in some Recent fluvial sediments along the coasts of central Italy. University of Amsterdam, Phys. Geog. Lab., Pub. 12, 105 p. Systematic mapping of clay minerals in many small rivers indicates mineralogical variation to depend primarily on source rocks.
Rateev, M. A., Z. N. Gorbunova, A. P. Lisitzyn and G. L. Nosov, 1969: The distribution of clay minerals in the oceans. Sedimentology 13, 21–43. Study of the less than 0.001 mm friction of the clays of the Indian and Pacific Oceans shows kaolinite, gibbsite, and smectite to be maximal in tropical–humid zones whereas chlorite and illite are most abundant in moderate to high latitudes. See also GRIFFIN et ale (1968).
Paleoflow from Maps of Unconformities
Andresen, Marvin I., 1962: Paleodrainage patterns: their mapping from subsurface data and their paleogeographic value. Am. Assoc. Petrol Geologists Bull. 46, 398–405. A short methodology paper with Table 1 describing and comparing and contrasting the five principal methods.
Beuf, S., B. Biju-Duval, O. de Charpal, P. Rognon, O. Gariel and A. Bennacef, 1971: Les gres du Paleozoique inferieur au Sahara. Paris: Editions Technip, 464 p. A remarkable study of terrigenous sedimentation on a craton, where both Lower Paleozoic marine and fluvial sheet sandstones have downslope paleocurrents that are parallel to paleovalleys within the sequence and are parallel to the orientation of interbedded proglacial outwash related to a continental ice sheet.
Bristol, H. M., and R. H. Howard, 1971: Paleogeologic map of the sub-Pennsylvanian Chesterian (Upper Mississippian) surface in the Illinois Basin. Illinois Geol. Survey Cir. 458, 14 p. Over 53,000 wells used to map paleochannels in Illinois Basin-certainly one of the most detailed subsurface studies of an unconformity ever made. Cross-bedding in overlying and underlying quartz arenites parallels trend of paleovalleys.
Chenoweth, P. A., 1967: Unconformity analysis. Bull. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geologists 51,4–27. A comprehensive paper, with many examples from North America, of how offlap, overlap, tilting and truncation may be interpreted from unconformities and thus define paleoslopes even though only regional, rather than detailed subsurface, mapping is available.
Chenoweth, P. A. 1968: Early Paleozoic (Arbuckle) overlap, southern Mid-continent, United States. Bull. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geologists 52, 1670–1688. Basement rocks, basement topography and Cambro-Ordovician overlap on a craton-classical aspects of dispersion studies that should not be forgotten.
Christopher, J. E., 1974: The Upper Jurassic Vanguard and Lower Cretaceous Mannville Groups. Dept. Min. Resources, Saskatchewan Geol. Survey Rept. 151, 349 p. Contains numerous colored subcrop maps of a large area which are related to paleoslopes and orientation of intervening clinobeds. Also a good source to see how depositional environments are recognized from cores and wire line logs.
Degraw, H. M., 1975: The Pierre-Niobrara unconformity in western Nebraska in W. G. E. Caldwell, ed., The Cretaceous System in the western interior of North America. Geol. Assoc. Canada, Sp. Paper 13, 589–600. Early Pierre paleotopography appears to have been structurally controlled. Multidirectional drainage suggests proximity to a major divide.
Martin, Henno, 1975: Structural and palaeogeographical evidence for an Upper Paleozoic Sea between southern Africa and South America in K. S. W. CAMPBELL, ed., Gondwana Geology. Canberra, Australian Nat. University Press, 37–59. Paleozoic valleys in the northwestern part of southwest Africa have relief up to 1,000 m and have been filled in by Permo-Carboniferous ice and are now being exhumed after further burial by Lower Cretaceous plateau basalts. This drainage system, oriented toward the present African coast, suggests the presence of a proto south Atlantic Ocean in late Paleozoic time. Ten years ago, how many of us would thought that mapping paleovalley systems could lead to such a conclusion?
Martin, R., 1966: Paleogeomorphology and its application to exploration for oil and gas (with examples from western Canada). Bull. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geologists 50, 2277–2311. Paleogeologic and other maps of buried erosion surfaces can outline buried topography on both a regional and local scale and thus effectively define regional paleoslope as well as helping to find local sandstone bodies.
Mcmillan, N. J., 1973: Shelves of Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay, Canada in R. G. MCCROSSAN, ed., The future petroleum provinces of Canada. Canadian Soc. Petrol. Geologists, Mem. I, 473–517. Figure 23 shows a reconstruction of Tertiary paleodrainage for much of Canada and its associated offshore basins. Certainly one of the most wide-scale drainage reconstructions ever attempted.
Stapp, R. W., 1967: Relationship of Lower Cretaceous depositional environment to oil accumulation, northeastern Powder River Basin, Wyoming. Bull. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geologists 51, 2044–2055. Uses a sandstone thickness map to infer a paleovalley system cut into shale.
Pleistocene Tills and Their Ancient Equivalents
Dreimanis, A., and W. J. Vagners, 1969: Lithologic relation of till to bedrock in H. E. Wright jr., ed., Quaternary geology and climate. Washington Nat. Acad. Sci. 93–98. Clear exposition of changes of till composition in direction of glacial flow. Bimodal frequency distributions near a source rock ledge are replaced by fine-grained “terminal mode” distributions down current.
Gunn, C. B., 1968: A descriptive catalog of the drift diamonds of the Great Lakes Region, North America. Gems and Gemology, 297–303 and 333-334. Dispersion at its best or worst? Forty catalogued occurrences and descriptions of diamonds in glacial drift in the Midwest and Ontario. Probably a lower, outer limit of dispersion from one or two point sources in Canada? See also SKINNER (1972).
Hakli, T. A., and P. Kerola, 1966: A computer program for boulder train analysis. C.R. Soc. geol, Finlande 38, 219–235. Combining a “down current” negative exponential function with a transverse normal distribution, the authors model the distribution of boulders in a boulder train.
Hyvarunen, L., K. Kauranne and V. Yletvinen, 1973: Modern boulder tracing in prospecting in M. J. Jones, ed., Prospecting in areas of glacial terrain. London, lnst. Mining and Metallurgy, 87–95. An up-to-date review with Scandinavian examples and 28 references, some from 1912. Direct counts supplemented by use of soil maps and air photos. The 12 other papers of this symposium should also be consulted.
Mutanen, T., 1971: An example of the use of boulder counting in lithologic mapping. Bull. Geol. Soc. Finland 43, 131–140. 357 boulder (> 20 em) counts in an 8 by 9 km area were contoured. Each rock type was separately mapped. The axes of the boulder fans correlated well with striations and pedogeochemical anomalies. The method gives information about bedrock lithology in poorly exposed areas and clues to the location of concealed rock bodies and their associated ores.
Ridler, R. H., and W. W. Shilts, 1974: Mineral potential of the Rankin Inlet, Ennadai Belt. Canadian Mining J., July. Application of drift prospecting techniques to a specific mineral producing area. Good bibliography.
Shilts, W. W., 1971: Till studies and their application to regional drift prospecting. Canadian Mining J. 192, 45–50. Dispersal of till primarily using trace metals. Case histories and methodology.
Shilts, W. W. 1973: Drift prospecting; geochemistry of eskers and till in permanently frozen terrain: District of Keewatin, Northwest Territories. Geol. Survey Canada Paper 72-45, 34 p. Interesting and very practical application of glacial dispersion and ore prospecting.
Shilts, W. W. 1973: Glacial dispersal of rocks, minerals and trace elements in Wisconsinan till, southeastern Quebec, Canada in R. F. Black, ed., The Wisconsinan Stage. Geol. Soc. Am. Mem. 136, 189–228. Very detailed and comprehensive study of a fairly small area. Dispersal assessed by petrology of pebbles, sand and silts plus trace elements in soil, all of which are related to bedrock. Outstanding.
Skinner, R. G., 1972: Prospecting for diamonds in northern Ontario-a suggestion. Geol. Survey Canada, Rept. Activities Pt. A, Paper 73-1, 218–219. Brief discussion of the Moose River Basin as the source of the Great Lakes Diamond fan. (See GUNN, 1968).
Dispersal of Spores and Pollen
Becker, G., M. J. M. Bless, M. Streel and J. Thorez, 1974: Palynology and ostracode distribution in the Upper Devonian and basal Dinantian of Belgium and their dependence on sedimentary facies. Meded. Rijks Geol. Dienst (New Ser.) 25, 9–99. Sedimentologists and palynologists work together to produce a masterly analysis of a depositional environment incidental to which there is discussion of the lateral distribution of spores and acritarchs (p. 21–24) and ostracodes (p. 35–36).
Birks, H. J. B., and M. Saarnisto, 1975: Isopollen maps and principal components analysis of Finnish pollen data for 4,000, 6,000, and 8,000 years ago. Boreas 4, 77–96. Principal component analysis used to help simplify maps of pollen spectra from 8,000 to 4,000 years.
Cross, A. T., G. G. Thompson and J. B. Zaitzeff, 1966: Source and distribution of palynomorphs in bottom sediments, southern part of Gulf of California. Mar. Geol. 4, 467–524. Based on about 150 cores and 100 grab samples, this paper discusses in detail the factors that control palynomorph distribution-wind, water currents, terrigeneous input (dilution), and size sorting. Numerous maps. Depending on type, some palynomorphs diminish from shore whereas others increase.
Davey, K. J., 1970: Palynology and palaeo-environmental studies, with special reference to the continental shelf sediments of South Africa in A. Farinacci, ed., Proc. 2nd Planktonic Conf., Rome: Edizioni Tecnoscienza 1, 331–347. Distribution of spores and pollens is related to the type of sediment and distance of deposition from the landmass. Informative discussion, and figures and 35 refereences.
Jekhowsky, B. de, 1963: Repartition quantitative des grands groupes de “microorganontes” (spores, hystrichospheres, etc.) dans les sediments marins du plateau continental. C.R. Soc. Biogeog. France 349, 29–47. Off the Orinoco delta the 4,000 sporomorph per gram contour parallels closely the coastline; in addition there is a seaward decrease in concentration.
Manten, A. A., 1966: Some current trends in palynology. Earth Sci. Rev. 2, 317–343. Pages 324–326 contain some discussion of pollen dispersion in the marine realm.
Needham, H. D., D. Habib and B. C. Heezen, 1969: Upper Carboniferous palynomorphs as a tracer of red sediment dispersal patterns in the northwest Atlantic. J. Geol. 77, 113–120. A fascinating short note that uses palynornorphs-pollen, spores, acritarchs, chitinozoans, etc.-derived from red, on shore Carboniferous sediments in the Maritimes to help identify reworked red sediment carried southward by contour currents along the eastern continental margin of North America-almost to Florida. Thus the reworked palynomorphs serve as unusual, source-area-specific, indicator particles. How many more similar problems invite a comparable solution?
Smith, N. D., and R. S. Saunders, 1970: Paleoenvironments and their control of acritarch distribution: Silurian of east central Pennsylvania. J. Sediment. Petrol. 40, 324–333. Acritarch distribution is in part controlled by prevailing currents; they also give some information about the depositional environment. Authors recommend more awareness of their potential by sedimentologists. Key Ideas: paleogeography, paleoenvironments and acritarchs.
Williams, D. B., and W. A. S. Sarjeant, 1967: Organic-walled microfossils as depth and shoreline indicators. Marine Geol. 5, 389–412. Evidence regarding depth and proximity to shorelines provided by Chitinozoa, acritarchs, spores, and pollen and dinoflagellate cysts is reviewed. New observations on the Niger delta region and the North Atlantic Ocean are presented. The concentration of these groups does show a potential for indicating trends of shorelines but they are of doubtful value as depth indices.
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© 1977 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Potter, P.E., Pettijohn, F.J. (1977). Dispersal and Current Systems (1963–1976). In: Paleocurrents and Basin Analysis. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61887-1_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61887-1_15
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