Dolostone mounds over 200 metres thick and over four kilometres across developed in deep water during uppermost Arctic Bay Formation shale deposition in the north-west Milne Inlet Graben on northern Baffin Island. This paper describes the geometry of hitherto unrecognized mounds that have been identified from field work in five areas: the Saint Georges Society Cliffs near Arctic Bay; beneath the Nanisivik lead-zinc deposit; Red Rock valley; Magda Lake; and Bellevue Mountain. Their lithology, lateral facies relations, and internal composition are described and an interpretation of the origin & growth of the mounds is offered. Finally, implications of mound growth & distribution for the fault-related flow of mineralizing fluids and consequent base-metal deposition are discussed.

The Milne Inlet Graben on northern Baffin Island contains unmetamorphosed sedimentary & volcanic rocks. The middle part of the Graben includes the Society Cliffs Formation, which hosts numerous base metal showings and the Nanisivik lead-zinc deposit. Known mineralization in the Graben is predominantly limited to distinct lithofacies & stratigraphic levels of that formation. Understanding the formation's composition, origin, and lateral facies relations may be critical to determining constraints on mineralization. Existing stratigraphic nomenclature for the Formation, based on a type section in the north-west part of the Graben, does not adequately characterize the lateral variations in facies from the north-west to south-east and does not account for the Formation's evolution over time. This paper critically reviews previous research on the Formation, which has focussed on the south-east part of the Graben, and fills in the gaps in knowledge about the Formation's sedimentology & stratigraphy. It describes the distribution & lateral relations of the various lithofacies and interprets the characteristics of the basins in which they were originally deposited.

This paper addresses previous interpretations of the origin of planar laminae and breccia networks found in carbonate rocks of the Society Cliffs Formation, which hosts numerous base metal showings and the Nanisivik zinc-lead deposit on northern Baffin Island. Field observations concerning the sedimentology of the Society Cliffs basinal laminite and the types of breccia found in laminite are presented and a new interpretation of the origin of these rocks is offered. Implications of the findings for oceanic chemistry & base metal mineralization are briefly discussed.

This paper presents results from uranium-lead dating of plutonic, volcanic, & sedimentary rocks from the Southern Indian Lake to Granville Lake area of northern Manitoba. The samples analyzed were collected from a range of tectonostratigraphic settings and provide constraints on the age of volcanism & sedimentation in the Rusty Lake Belt, on the deposition of fluvial to littoral facies sediments in the Partridge Breast Belt, and on the emplacement of orthogneiss and plutonic rocks.

"The science of informatics in the broadest sense has been several thousands of years in the making. With the recent emergence of large storage devices and high-speed processing of data, it has become possible to organize vast amounts of data as digital products with ontologic tags and concepts for smart queries. Coupling this computational capability with earth science data defines the emerging field of geoinformatics. Since the science of geology was established several centuries ago, observations led to conclusions that were integrative in concept and clearly had profound implications for the birth of geology. As disciplinary information about Earth becomes more voluminous, the use of geoinformatics will lead to integrative, science-based discoveries of new knowledge about planetary systems. Twenty one research papers, co-authored by 96 researchers from both earth and computer sciences, provide the first-ever organized presentation of the science of informatics as it relates to geology. Readers will readily recognize the vast intellectual content represented by these papers as they seek to address the core research goals of geoinformatics."--Publisher's website.

Southwest Asia is one of the most remarkable regions on Earth in terms of active faulting and folding, large-magnitude earthquakes, volcanic landscapes, petroliferous foreland basins, historical civilizations as well as geologic outcrops that display the protracted and complex 540 m.y. stratigraphic record of Earth's Phanerozoic Era. Emerged from the birth and demise of the Paleo-Tethys and Neo-Tethys oceans, southwest Asia is currently the locus of ongoing tectonic collision between the Eurasia-Arabia continental plates. The region is characterized by the high plateaus of Iran and Anatolia fringed by the lofty ranges of Zagros, Alborz, Caucasus, Taurus, and Pontic mountains; the region also includes the strategic marine domains of the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Caspian, and Mediterranean. This 19-chapter volume, published in honor of Manuel Berberian, a preeminent geologist from the region, brings together a wealth of new data, analyses, and frontier research on the geologic evolution, collisional tectonics, active deformation, and historical and modern seismicity of key areas in southwest Asia.

The mission of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Resources Discipline is to provide the information and understanding needed for wise management of the Nation's water resources. Inherent in this mission is the responsibility of collecting data that accurately describe the physical, chemical, and biological attributes of water systems. These data are used for environmental and resource assessments by the USGS, other government agencies and scientific organizations, and the general public. Reliable and quality-assured data are essential to the credibility and impartiality of the water-resources appraisals carried out by the USGS.