High-resolution correlation framework of the Grayburg Formation-Shattuck Escarpment and Plowman Ridge : testing models of shelf-to-basin frameworks

textThe San Andres and Grayburg Formations are important stratigraphic units for constructing correlation frameworks of the Guadalupe Mountains because these strata record the transition between the ramp profiles of the San Andres along the Algerita Escarpment and the reef-rimmed platforms of the Capitan Formation of the southern Guadalupe Mountains (Franseen et al. 1989). Sarg et al. (1999) and Kerans and Tinker (1999) have published significantly different models of shelf-to-basin correlations within this stratigraphic interval. Central to the debate is the correlation of mixed carbonate-siliciclastic strata exposed at Plowman Ridge in the Brokeoff Mountains to the better-constrained strata along the Shattuck Escarpment in the Guadalupe Mountains. This study applies high-resolution cyclostratigraphy, inorganic carbon isotope geochemistry, and sequence stratigraphic concepts to test the hypothesis that the strata exposed at Plowman Ridge are equivalent to Grayburg strata exposed at the Shattuck Escarpment in the southern Guadalupe Mountains (Kerans and Nance 1991, Kerans and Kempter 2002). The shelf-to-basin cyclostratigraphic framework of the Grayburg Formation used in this study was established at the Shattuck Escarpment with data compiled from nine detailed measured sections, high-resolution photopans, and petrographic analysis. Based on one- and two-dimensional cycle stacking analysis, the Grayburg Formation was divided into three high-frequency sequences (HFSs). The high-frequency sequences contain transgressive systems tracts separated by maximum flooding surfaces from the highstand systems tracts. The Grayburg high-frequency sequences are composed of between 6 and 20 high-frequency cycles (HFCs), which were identified and classified into vertical facies successions. The Grayburg succession at Shattuck section 7 (32.09ᵒ, -104.81ᵒ) was selected as the reference section from the Guadalupe Mountains for comparison with Plowman section PR1 (32.03ᵒ, -104.89ᵒ) in the Brokeoff Mountains. Correlation between sections is documented at the 3rd-order composite sequence, high-frequency sequence, and when feasible, high-frequency cycle scale. Three high-frequency sequences recognized at Plowman Ridge section PR1 are equivalent to the G10, G11, and G12 Grayburg sequences described at Shattuck section 7. Correlation of the Grayburg G10-G12 high-frequency sequences with the three sequences at Plowman Ridge is based on comparison of overall thicknesses, facies proportions, cycle number, vertical facies succession, stratigraphic position of diagnostic units, and excursions within the inorganic carbon isotope profiles taken from both sections. Establishing the links between Grayburg strata on the Shattuck wall with strata on Plowman Ridge corroborates the framework/correlation scheme of Kerans and Tinker (1999) in lieu of other published correlation frameworks.Geological Science

Analytics and Artificial Intelligence: Deep Learning for Anomaly Detection - A case study from the financial sector with application to process safety

PresentationThis presentation reports on a case study from the financial sector with application to challenges in the field of process safety. Banks collect massive amounts of data from routine financial transactions. Some of the data is anomalous, is corrupt, or represents a signal that warrants follow-up attention from subject matter experts. Currently, review of such data is often a manual inspection which is time consuming, expensive, and limited to representative data sets. In this case study, we employ machine learning, deep learning to rapidly review historical data and tag anomalous data that represents a signal for follow-up attention. With this methodology, we are able to automate the manual process, quickly finding anomalies, dramatically reducing assessment time, expanding the range and volume of data that can be reviewed, and finding signals that previously would likely be missed. Benefits to the financial institution include major cost reductions and improvements in detection of fraud. Application of the machine learning/data assessment approach to process safety challenges may provide safety and cost-reduction benefits as well

BMQ

BMQ: Boston Medical Quarterly was published from 1950-1966 by the Boston University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Memorial Hospitals

The role of bacteria in the deposition and early diagenesis of the Posidonienschiefer, a Jurassic oil shale in southern Germany

textThe Jurassic (Toarcian) Posidonienschiefer of southern Germany is famous for its well preserved vertebrate fossils and its high organic content. The majority of the Posidonienschiefer (10 meters thick in the study area) consists of the Bituminous Shale, a fossiliferous laminated illite claystone. Two thin (30-40 mm) clayey pyritic biomicrosparites, the Upper and Lower Schlacken, interrupt the Bituminous Shale. Geologists who have studied the Posidonienschiefer disagree about the exact nature of its depositional environment. The argument centers on the interpretation of an impoverished benthic fauna and whether or not the water column directly above the sediment-water interface was anoxic or normally oxygenated. Kauffman (1981) proposed that an algal/fungal mat located at or near the sediment/water interface marked the boundary between aerobic and anaerobic conditions during deposition. The purpose of my research was to investigate the geologic conditions during deposition and early diagenesis of the Bituminous Shale and the Schlacken and to search for evidence of microbial activity. A detailed petrologic investigation of these two lithologies found no evidence of an algal/fungal mat, but did reveal the important contribution of microbial activity in the formation of pyrite and calcite cement. The Bituminous Shale was deposited in a low-energy tropical seaway. The upper water-column supported a diverse marine fauna. The aerobic/anaerobic boundary in the water column may have been located several millimeters above the sediment/water interface. Pore waters of the ocean-floor mud were dysaerobic to anaerobic. Occasional oxygenation events allowed opportunistic benthic organisms to colonize the sea-floor. Compaction of the Bituminous Shale occured prior to cementation of original porosity. Framboidal pyrite was formed during sulfidic diagenesis under anaerobic, but open, sediment/pore water conditions. Euhedral pyrite formed later as communication between pores became restricted during sediment compaction. The skeletal grains of the Schlacken formed as a winnowed lag deposit of Bituminous Shale sediment. During the early stages of sulfidic diagenesis the winnowed beds were rapidly cemented in a concretion-like sheet. Early cementation preserved delicate algal spores and clay fabric. Fossil bacteria were discovered in the calcite cement of the Schlacken by modified petrographic techniques, and confirmed with the scanning electron microscope. Experiments in which live bacteria were gradually entrapped in halite produced a crystal fabric identical to that of the fossiliferous calcite cement of the Schlacken. The microbial production of bicarbonate and ammonia during sulfidic diagenesis played a significant role in altering local geochemical conditions in the Schlacken sediment and initiated the precipitation of calcite cements. Fossil bacteria in the cements of the Schlacken are direct evidence of the presence and entrapment of bacteria during cementation, but do not conclusively prove their active role in the formation of calcite.Geological Science

Differences in middle school science achievement test scores before and after laboratory/inquiry method of instruction

Includes bibliographical references.Comparison was made of achievement test scores before and after the introduction of a new inquiry/laboratory science teaching curriculum in a suburban Mid­western middle school. The same test, given by the writer as an independent tester, was given to students in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades at the beginning and end of the school years, the year before the new curriculum was introduced, and again in like manner the following year. Random samples of each set of scores were analyzed for statistical significance of differences. There was a significant increase in achievement in the sixth and eighth grades during the year previous to the new curriculum (P= <.05) and nearly so in the seventh grade of that year, but virtually no increase in the before and after scores during the year of the new curriculum. The expected progression from grade to higher grade was evident only in the year before the new curriculum. Thus, the hypothesis that students would show a higher score on science achievement tests designed to measure acquisition of science principles and concepts as well as science facts when taught by the new laboratory and inquiry method rather than by the traditional textbook-teacher-demonstration method was rejected as a result of the findings in this study. The results confirm the findings of numerous other studies of similar design, and have been interpreted to mean that either the new curriculum did not produce much learning as determined by the achievement test or that the test did not measure what was being learned.M.S. Ed. (Master of Education

Microbial diagenesis in terrestrial aquifer conditions : laboratory and field studies

The results of laboratory and field experiments demonstrated that bacteria indigenous to a shallow oil-contaminated aquifer caused minerals to weather rapidly in microreaction zones created in the near vicinity of attached bacteria. Bacteria readily colonized clean mineral surfaces in both laboratory and field microcosms. Nannobodies (0.1 μm diameter spheres) coated all minerals collected from organic rich and bacterially active waters. Nannobodies may be metabolizing bacteria, starved or shrunken bacteria, clots of congealed amorphous organic matter, and/or inorganic calcite crystal nuclei. Feldspars, quartz, and, in some cases, calcite dissolved in the immediate vicinity of attached bacteria, even though the saturation indices for these minerals in the bulk ground water indicated that little to no dissolution should occur. Metabolic production of CO₂ and HCO₃ resulting from acetate methanogenesis and the oxidation of aromatic hydrocarbons coupled with iron reduction provided a supply of reactants to the aquifer-scale bulk ground water for calcite precipitation. Dolomite, with no evidence of direct bacterial involvement, dissolved as expected from results of geochemical modeling and observations of increased dissolved Mg concentrations in the anaerobic zone. Calcite, in contrast, precipitated in a wide variety of spiky morphologies to an absolute uniform elevation above the underlying crystal surface. The uniform ultimate elevation of calcite precipitate suggests a physical control on reactant supply. Bacteria colonizing quartz and microcline were in close proximity to etch pits, exhibiting a spatial correlation between bacteria location and etch pits. The etch pits, however, were not localized at the actual contact surface of the microbe, and the euhedral shape and extent of etching suggest the mineral surface was in contact with an aqueous weathering fluid. Localized mineral etching is proposed to have occurred in a reaction zone at the bacteria/mineral interface where high concentrations of organic acids, formed by bacteria during metabolism of hydrocarbon, selectively mobilized silica from the mineral surfaceGeological Science

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Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by resting tremor, rigidity and bradykinesia. Dopaminergic medications such as L-dopa treat these motor symptoms, but can have complex effects on cognition. Impulse control is an essential cognitive function. Impulsivity is multifaceted in nature. Motor impulsivity involves the inability to withhold pre-potent, automatic, erroneous responses. In contrast, cognitive impulsivity refers to improper risk-reward assessment guiding behavior. Informed by our previous research, we anticipated that dopaminergic therapy would decrease motor impulsivity though it is well known to enhance cognitive impulsivity. We employed the Go/No-go paradigm to assess motor impulsivity in PD. Patients with PD were tested using a Go/No-go task on and off their normal dopaminergic medication. Participants completed cognitive, mood, and physiological measures. PD patients on medication had a significantly higher proportion of Go trial Timeouts (i.e., trials in which Go responses were not completed prior to a deadline of 750 ms) compared to off medication (p = 0.01). No significant ON-OFF differences were found for Go trial or No-go trial response times (RTs), or for number of No-go errors. We interpret that dopaminergic therapy induces a more conservative response set, reflected in Go trial Timeouts in PD patients. In this way, dopaminergic therapy decreased motor impulsivity in PD patients. This is in contrast to the widely recognized effects of dopaminergic therapy on cognitive impulsivity leading in some patients to impulse control disorders. Understanding the nuanced effects of dopaminergic treatment in PD on cognitive functions such as impulse control will clarify therapeutic decisions