Macurdablastus, a Middle Ordovician blastoid from the southern Appalachians

10 p., 3 fig.http://paleo.ku.edu/contributions.htm

Biostratigraphy and paleoecology of the Floyd Shale, Upper Mississippian, northwest Georgia

The Floyd Shale is a thick sequence of shale and siltstone containing minor units of sandstone and limestone that crops out in Georgia in the Valley and Ridge physiographic province. The formation represents the prodelta and embayment shale facies of high constructive deltas that were developed in the area during Late Mississippian time. Important facies associated with the Floyd Shale are the Hartselle delta front sandstone and the Tuscumbia, Monteagle, and Bangor shelf and carbonate bank limestones. Paleontologic evidence suggests that the Floyd ranges in age from Middle Meramecan through Middle Chesteran, but the lowermost Floyd may possibly be Early Meramecan. Floyd deltas, fed from source areas to the south and east, prograded northwestward during the Middle and Late Meramecan over the Tuscumbia Limestone shelf. Delta abandonment during the Late Meramecan resulted in marine reworking of terrigenous facies and transgression by carbonate sediments of the Monteagle Limestone. In the Early and Middle Chesteran, deltas prograded to the north and west over the Monteagle Limestone shelf. Final delta destructive phases occurred in the Middle Chesteran culminating with the Bangor Limestone transgressive sequence. During the period of Floyd deposition, communities of benthic marine organisms became established in sedimentary environments where favorable conditions prevailed. Five communities identified from the Floyd Shale may be distinguished on the basis of numerically dominant organisms; distribution can be related to sedimentary facies. Community 1 is dominated by linguloid brachiopods that probably inhabited areas of moderate to high sedimentation such as prodelta environments. Community 2 is dominated by mollusks and spiriferid and productid brachiopods and may have lived in shallow embayments established along strike from delta lobes. Community 3 includes assemblages dominated by fenestellid bryozoans that probably lived in shallow embayments similar to Community 2. Community 4 is dominated by pelmatozoan echinoderms, spiriferid brachiopods, and bryozoans and probably lived on the open shelf. Community 5 is characterized by dominant rugose or tabulate corals and pelmatozoan echinoderms that may have thrived on carbonate banks. Previous studies of marine benthic communities by such authors as Bretsky and Anderson have suggested a rigid onshore to offshore shelf sequence to explain the distribution of communities. Lack of work on a larger scale has resulted in a gap in the "offshore" community of the Mississippian in Bretsky's (1969) chart. Community distributions proposed by these previous workers are an oversimplification that ignores the control of local sedimentary processes on the distribution of marine organisms. The distribution of communities in the Floyd Shale explained in terms of depositional framework suggests that communities vary both perpendicular and parallel to the paleoshoreline depending upon sedimentary environment.Geological Science

Stratigraphy of the Dubuque Formation (Upper Ordovician) in Iowa

The Dubuque Formation of Upper Ordovician age crops out in the Upper Mississippi Valley. It comprises interbedded carbonate and argillaceous rocks that are approximately 35 feet thick in Iowa and Illinois, but thicken to a maximum of approximately 45 feet in southern Minnesota. Three proposed informal subdivisions: Frankville, Luana, and Littleport beds, are differentiated on the basis of bed surface topography ranging upward from nearly planar beds in the Frankville to prominently undulose surfaces in the Littleport beds. The Frankville beds represent a transition from the massive dolomite of the underlying Stewartville Member of the Wise Lake Formation to the overlying interbedded carbonate rocks and shale of the upper Dubuque. The base of the Dubuque Formation in Iowa and Minnesota is placed at a prominent, approximately 8 inch thick, carbonate bed at the base of the Frankville beds. This \u27\u27marker bed\u27\u27 provides a more precise datum for lithostratigraphic correlation than the lowest prominent shale parting employed by previous workers to identify the base of the Dubuque

The consequences of malaria infection in pregnant women and their infants

Preliminary results are presented from this study which indicate that 84.8 of pregnant women present at first antenatal visit with anemia (Hb 11g/dl) an 8.7 of their infants (n = 230) have a hemoglobin at birth below 14g/dl. There is an association between pregnancy anemia and malaria. A case control study in pregnant women and an infant cohort study to 18 months of age, are employed to study the cause and effects of anemia and malaria on women and their infants health

Natural gas production problems : solutions, methodologies, and modeling.

Natural gas is a clean fuel that will be the most important domestic energy resource for the first half the 21st centtuy. Ensuring a stable supply is essential for our national energy security. The research we have undertaken will maximize the extractable volume of gas while minimizing the environmental impact of surface disturbances associated with drilling and production. This report describes a methodology for comprehensive evaluation and modeling of the total gas system within a basin focusing on problematic horizontal fluid flow variability. This has been accomplished through extensive use of geophysical, core (rock sample) and outcrop data to interpret and predict directional flow and production trends. Side benefits include reduced environmental impact of drilling due to reduced number of required wells for resource extraction. These results have been accomplished through a cooperative and integrated systems approach involving industry, government, academia and a multi-organizational team within Sandia National Laboratories. Industry has provided essential in-kind support to this project in the forms of extensive core data, production data, maps, seismic data, production analyses, engineering studies, plus equipment and staff for obtaining geophysical data. This approach provides innovative ideas and technologies to bring new resources to market and to reduce the overall environmental impact of drilling. More importantly, the products of this research are not be location specific but can be extended to other areas of gas production throughout the Rocky Mountain area. Thus this project is designed to solve problems associated with natural gas production at developing sites, or at old sites under redevelopment

A new icriodontid conodont cluster with specific mesowear supports an alternative apparatus motion model for Icriodontidae

Increasing numbers of conodont discoveries with soft tissue preservation, natural assemblages and fused clusters of the hard tissue have strengthened the hypothesis regarding the function and mechanism of the conodont feeding apparatus. Exceptional fossil preservation serves as a solid basis for modern reconstructions of the conodont apparatus illustrating the complex interplay of the single apparatus elements. Reliable published models concern the ozarkodinid apparatus of Pennsylvanian and Early Triassic conodonts. Recognition of microwear and mammal-like occlusion, especially of platform elements belonging to individuals of the genus Idiognathodus, allows rotational closure to be interpreted as the crushing mechanism of ozarkodinid platform (P1) elements. Here we describe a new icriodontid conodont cluster of Caudicriodus woschmidti that consists of one pair of icriodontan (I) and 10 pairs of coniform (C1\ue2\u80\u935) elements, with I elements being preserved in interlocking position. The special kind of element arrangement within the fused cluster provides new insights into icriodontid apparatus reconstruction and notation of elements. However, orientation of coniform elements is limited to a certain degree by possible preservational bias. Four possible apparatus models are introduced and discussed. Recognition of specific wear on denticle tips of one of the icriodontan elements forms the basis for an alternative hypothesis of apparatus motion. Analysis of tip wear suggests a horizontal, slightly elliptical motion of opposed, antagonistically operating I elements. This is supported by similar tip wear from much better preserved, but isolated, elements of Middle Devonian icriodontids. More detailed interpretation of the masticatory movement will allow enhanced understanding of anatomical specifications, diet and palaeobiology of different euconodont groups

New late Palaeozoic Hyolitha (Mollusca) from Oklahoma and Texas, and their palaeoenvironmental significance

Volume: 29Start Page: 303End Page: 31

Recognition Of Emotional Distress In Physically Healthy Primary Care Patients Who Perceive Poor Physical Health

This study examines the recognition and treatment of emotional distress in physically healthy primary care patients who perceive themselves to be in fair or poor physical health. Patients (N = 892) from three private primary care practices completed a mental health screening form prior to their medical visit which included an overall assessment of their physical health (1 = excellent, 2 = good, 3 = fair, 4 = poor). Following the visit, their physicians completed a questionnaire that included the same physical health assessment item. The study group, physically healthy patients who perceive poor physical health (HPPPH), included those patients who rated their physical health as 2 or 3 points more impaired than it was rated by their physician. HPPPH (N = 39) were significantly more likely than other patients (N = 853) to report a prior psychiatric hospitalization (p < 0.05), marital difficulties (p < 0.01), recent missed work due to a mental health problem (p < 0.001), and a range of anxiety, depressive, and psychosomatic symptoms. However, HPPPH were also significantly more likely than other patients to receive excellent emotional health ratings (p < 0.001) from their physicians and were less likely to receive mental health treatment (p < 0.05). Detection of emotional distress may be particularly difficult in physically healthy patients who have low physical health perceptions. Identification of pessimistic physical health perceptions may serve as an indicator for underlying emotional distress