Masters Theses

Abstract

"The Tuff of Pritchards Station in east-central Nevada is a little-known ash-flow tuff of limited areal extent. A detailed study of this tuff was conducted to determine if it is a distinctive unit which can be correlated from one locality to another.

Mineralogical and chemical data indicate that the Tuff of Pritchards Station displays significant lateral variability. Lateral variations in mineralogy include changes in total crystal content and the amount and grain size of individual minerals present over the area studied. Chemically, the tuff is a quartz latite to rhyodacite in composition. However, certain elements, most noteably titanium, show considerable lateral variation. No vertical variation or zonation was observed at the studied localities of the Tuff of Pritchards Station, which may not be complete vertical sections.

The reasons for the lateral variability in the Tuff of Pritchards Station are not known. Some possible explanations are: the lateral variations are actually due to vertical variations, multiple eruptions from a single magma chamber, lateral sorting during eruption and emplacement of the tuff, and miscorrelation.

The Windous Butte Formation, at the localities sampled, is another crystal-rich tuff that displays variations which may be due to vertical or lateral changes. Like the Tuff of Pritchards Station, this unit needs detailed work to document the vertical and/or lateral variability. Until further detailed investigations are completed, these problems will persist in east-central Nevada"--Abstract, pp. iii & iii

Advisor(s)

Grant, S. Kerry

Committee Member(s)

Laudon, Robert C.
Barr, David J.

Department(s)

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering

Degree Name

M.S. in Geology

Publisher

University of Missouri--Rolla

Publication Date

Summer 1983

Pagination

ix, 72 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 70-71)

Rights

© 1983 Stanley Christopher Hatfield, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 4953

Print OCLC #

9924259

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