This volume discusses the range of modern and paleolakes found in western North America, as well as analytical tools that have been developed to evaluate these lacustrine deposits.

Over the course of his 43-year career, James C. Knox conducted seminal research on the geomorphology of the Driftless Area of southwestern Wisconsin. His research covered wide-ranging topics such as long-term landscape evolution in the Driftless Area; responses of floods to climate change since the last glaciation; processes and timing of floodplain sediment deposition on both small streams and on the Mississippi River; impacts of European settlement on the landscape; and responses of stream systems to land-use changes. This volume presents the state of knowledge of the physical geography and geology of this unglaciated region in the otherwise-glaciated Midwest with contributions written by Knox prior to his passing in 2012 and by a number of his former colleagues and graduate students.

Abstract The Himalaya–Karakoram–Tibet mountain belt resulted from Cenozoic collision of India and Asia and is frequently used as the type example of a continental collision orogenic belt. The last quarter of a century has seen the publication of a remarkably detailed dataset relevant to the evolution of this belt. Detailed fieldwork backed up by state-of-the-art structural analysis, geochemistry, mineral chemistry, igneous and metamorphic petrology, isotope chemistry, sedimentology and geophysics produced a wide-ranging archive of data-rich scientific papers. The rationale for this book is to provide a coherent overview of these datasets in addressing the evolution of the mountain ranges we see today. This volume comprises 21 specially invited review papers on the Himalaya, Kohistan arc, Tibet, the Karakoram and Pamir ranges. These papers span the history of Himalayan research, chronology of the collision, stratigraphy, magmatic and metamorphic processes, structural geology and tectonics, seismicity, geophysics, and the evolution of the Indian monsoon. This landmark set of papers should underpin the next 25 years of Himalayan research.

Abstract The challenges facing submarine mass movement researchers and engineers are plentiful and exciting. This book follows several high-profile submarine landslide disasters that have reached the world's attention over the past few years. For decades, researchers have been mapping the world's mass movements. Their significant impacts on the Earth by distributing sediment on phenomenal scales is undeniable. Their importance in the origins of buried resources has long been understood. Their hazard potential ranges from damaging to apocalyptic, frequently damaging local infrastructure and sometimes devastating whole coastlines. Moving beyond mapping advances, the subaqueous mass movement scientists and practitioners are now also focussed on assessing the consequences of mass movements, and the measurement and modelling of events, hazard analysis and mitigation. Many state-of-the-art examples are provided in this book, which is produced under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation Program S4SLIDE (Significance of Modern and Ancient Submarine Slope LandSLIDEs).

Abstract This volume comprises 17 contributions that address the architecture and geodynamic evolution of the Himalaya–Karakoram–Tibet (HKT) system, covering wide aspects, from the active seismicity of the present day to the remnants of the Proterozoic orogen. The articles investigate the HKT system at different scales, blending field research with laboratory studies. The role of various lithospheric components and their inheritance in the geodynamic and magmatic evolution of the HKT system through time, and their links to global geological events, are studied in the field. The laboratory research focuses on the (sub-)micrometre scale, detailing micro-structural geology, crystal chemistry, geochronology, and the study of circulating fluids, their preservation (trapped in fluid inclusions) and their evolution, distribution, migration and interaction with the solid host. An orogen over 2000 km long can be understood only if the processes at the nanometre and micrometre scales are taken into account. The contributions in this volume successfully combine these scales to enhance our understanding of the HKT system.

Central Italy has been a cradle of geology for centuries. For more than 100 years, studies at the Umbria and Marche Apennines have led to new ideas and a better understanding of the past, such as the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary event, or the events across the Eocene-Oligocene transition from a greenhouse to an icehouse world. The Umbria-Marche Apennines are entirely made of marine sedimentary rocks, representing a continuous record of the geotectonic evolution of an epeiric sea from the Early Triassic to the Pleistocene. The book includes reviews and original research works accomplished with the support of the Geological Observatory of Coldigioco, an independent research and educational center, which was founded in an abandoned medieval hamlet near Apiro in 1992.

The Edwards aquifer system is one of the great karstic aquifer systems of the world. It supplies water for more than 2 million people and for agricultural, municipal, industrial, and recreational uses. The Edwards (Balcones Fault Zone) Aquifer in the San Antonio, Texas, area was the first to be designated a sole source aquifer by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1975. The Edwards Aquifer also hosts unique groundwater, cave, and spring ecosystems. This 27-chapter memoir reviews the current state of knowledge, current and emerging challenges to wise use of the aquifer system, and some of the technologies that must be adopted to address these challenges.

This volume, prepared as part of the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Phoenix, includes field guides covering aspects of the spectacular geology of southwestern North America. Field guides tackle the geology of the southern Colorado Plateau, from paleoenvironments of Petrified Forest National Park, to Jurassic sand dunes of southern Utah, to the San Francisco Volcanic Field, to awesome Grand Canyon. Appropriately for the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing, one trip visits sites in northern Arizona that helped prepare astronauts for their missions. Several guides address aspects of the Proterozoic to Cenozoic tectonic development of the Transition Zone between the Colorado Plateau and the Basin and Range. Exploring the Basin and Range, guides feature Laramide tectonism and ore deposit development, features associated with large-magnitude Cenozoic extensional tectonism, large Miocene volcanic centers in northwestern Arizona, and tectonism and development of the lower Colorado River. Three field guides explore various aspects of northwestern Mexico, including tectonics and ore deposits of Sonora, fauna and paleoenvironments of Colorado River delta deposits, and volcanism in central Baja California. Finally, a guide analyzes anthropogenic earth fissures that have developed in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Abstract Alkaline igneous rocks and carbonatites are compositionally and mineralogically the most diverse of all igneous rocks and, apart from their scientific interest, are of major, and growing, economic importance. They are valuable repositories of certain metals and commodities – the only significant sources of some of them – and include Nb, the rare earths, Cu, V, diamond, phosphate, vermiculite, bauxite, raw materials for the manufacture of ceramics, and potentially Th and U. The economic potential of these rocks is now widely appreciated, particularly since the commencement of the mining of the Palabora carbonatite for copper and a host of valuable by-products. Similarly, the crucial economic dominance of rare earth production from carbonatite-related occurrences in China has stimulated the world-wide hunt for related deposits. This volume describes and provides ready access to the literature for all known occurrences of alkaline igneous rocks and carbonatites of Antarctica, Asia and Europe (excluding the former USSR), Australasia and the oceanic islands. More than 1200 occurrences from 59 countries are outlined, together with those of 57 oceanic islands and island groups. The descriptions include geographical coordinates and information on general geology, rock types, petrography, mineralogy, age and economic aspects, with the principal references cited. A brief description is also given of alkaline minerals in meteorites and of alkaline rocks on Mars and Venus. There are 429 geological and distribution maps and a locality index. As has been demonstrated by the three earlier volumes, Alkaline Rocks Part 4 is likely to be of considerable interest to mineral exploration companies, as there are no comprehensive published reviews of the economic aspects of the alkaline rocks. It will also interest research scientists in the fields of igneous petrology and volcanology, and geologists concerned with the regional distribution of igneous rocks and their geodynamic relationships.

This field trip guide contains an introduction to the geology of Iceland and an itinerary for a 10-day journey around the island. The itinerary consists of 55 stops and 15 optional stops. These stops include exposure to representative examples of most phenomena typical of the island’s geology and all of the major tectonic elements of Iceland. The primary focus of this guide is on volcanic and tectonic features, but topics such as glaciation, geothermal energy, geomorphology, paleontology, soil loss, and geo-tourism are also addressed.

The circum-Arctic region has received considerable attention over the past several decades with vigorous debate focused on topics such as mechanisms for opening the Eurasian and Amerasian basins, the importance of plume-related magmatism in the development of the Arctic Ocean, and mechanisms for ancient terrane translation along the Arctic margins. In recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Circum-Arctic Structural Events (CASE) program, an international polar research effort organized and led by the Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR) of Germany, this volume presents results from 18 major field expeditions involving over 100 international geoscientists from a broad spectrum of disciplines. The resulting publication focuses on the Proterozoic to Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the circum-Arctic region with correlations to adjacent orogens.

Abstract This volume presents a set of research papers that provide new data and interpretations of the Permian–Triassic terranes of SE Gondwana, now exposed in South Island, New Zealand. Following an introduction for general readers, a historical summary and a review of biostratigraphy, the individual papers primarily focus on the Permian magmatic arc of the Brook Street Terrane, the classic Permian Dun Mountain ophiolite and the Permian–Triassic Maitai Group sedimentary succession. The new results emphasize the role of subduction and terrane displacement adjacent to the Permo-Triassic Gondwana margin, and present fundamental insights into three crustal processes: subduction initiation, supra-subduction zone oceanic crust genesis and forearc basin evolution. The volume concludes with a wide-ranging summary and synthesis of the regional Cambrian to Early Cretaceous tectonostratigraphy of New Zealand's South Island in relation to the wider areas of Zealandia, East Australia and West Antarctica. The volume will interest geoscientists, including stratigraphers, sedimentologists, palaeontologists, igneous petrologists, geochemists, geochronologists and economic geologists, and is aimed at professional geologists and advanced students of geology.

The flat-lying sedimentary strata of the North American midcontinent are typically thought of as uniform and predictable. However, midcontinent geology contains a record of exciting geologic events and processes. The papers in this volume examine four geologic phenomena associated with the continental interior: Pennsylvanian and Permian cyclothems, the origin of a massive Permian salt deposit, Cretaceous kimberlite intrusions, and Quaternary glacial geology. The guides cover processes and events that are unique to the geology of Kansas and highlight important economic and rich historical influences of these geologic features.