The following reports are in hand: Geology of the Glacier Bay and Lituya region, Alaska, by F. E. Wright and C. W. Wright, including geologic reconnaissance map. The Lake Clark-Iditarod region, Alaska, by P. S. Smith. The upper Matanuska basin, Alaska, by G. C. Martin. The Mesozoic stratigraphy of Alaska, by G. C. Martin. Geology of the region along the international boundary, Alaska, from Porcupine River to the Arctic Ocean, by A. G. Maddren, including detailed geologic map. The Cretaceous and Mesozoic floras of Alaska, by Arthur Hollick. The office work on the three topographic maps named below, besides the three noted above as issued, were completed: Broad Pass region, by J. W. Bagley; scale 1: 250,000; contour interval 200 feet. Matanuska Valley, by R. H. Sargent; scale 1: 62,500; contour interval 100 feet. Relief map of Alaska, compiled by J. H. Renshawe; scale 1:1,500,000. The following maps are in hand: Kotsina-Kuskulana district, by D. C. Witherspoon; scale 1:62,500; contour interval 100 feet. Lake Clark-Iditarod region, by R. H. Sargent; scale 1:250,000; contour interval 200 feet. Chisana-White River region, by C. E. Giffin; scale 1:250,000; contour interval 200 feet. Nelchina-Susitna region, by J. W. Bagley; scale 1:250,000; contour interval 200 feet. Juneau mining district, by D. C. Witherspoon; scale 1:24,000; contour interval 50 feet. Lower Kuskokwim region, by A. G. Maddren; scale 1:500,000; contour interval 500 feet. Yukon-Tanana region (compiled); scale 1:500,000; contour interval 500 feet. SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. Mr. Martin's investigations of the Mesozoic stratigraphy have shown that there is a wide development of Upper Triassic strata in southeastern Alaska, part of the supposed Carboniferous limestones having proved to be of Triassic age; that marine Upper Cretaceous rocks are well developed in the Chitina Valley, where no marine strata younger than the Jurassic had previously been recognized, and that the Upper Cretaceous plant-bearing beds extend up the Yukon Valley nearly to the Canadian boundary. Mr. Maddren discovered some fossiliferous Upper Carboniferous limestones and tuffs on Kuskokwim River, many miles from any previously known Carboniferous rocks. Mr. Capps has found a Devonian fauna in the older volcanic rocks of the Chisana district, apparently in the same general belt as the Devonian locality discovered by Messrs. Moffit and Pogue at Broad Pass in 1913, though many miles distant. These two are the only known occurrence of Devonian rocks south of the Alaska Range, except in southeastern Alaska. Mr. Capps discovered evidence of an older epoch of glaciation in the upper White River basin. Here there is an indurated tillite which has been more or less folded and antedates the glaciation that produced the present land forms. In the Lake Clark-Kuskokwim basin Mr. Smith found that the westward limit of glaciation was nearer the Kuskokwim than had been previously supposed. Mr. Maddren found evidence of a locally glaciated area in the mountains southeast of lower Kuskokwim River. DIVISION OF CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL RESEARCH. This division is in charge of George F. Becker, geologist, who has immediate direction of geophysical researches. The staff in the chemical laboratory forms essentially a section in charge of F. W. Clarke, chief chemist. The work of the chemists has consisted for the most part of routine analyses of specimens submitted to the division for determination. During the year 423 quantitative analyses and 869 qualitative determinations have been made. Nevertheless, it has been possible to carry on some researches connected with the geologic problems on which the Survey is engaged. Continuing the investigation of the composition of the hard parts of various invertebrates living in the cold and in the warm waters of the seas, in order to ascertain the conditions under which magnesium carbonate is deposited in large amounts instead of calcium carbonate, analyses of the fossil remains of a number of brachiopods, corals, alcyonarians, and other marine animals were made by W. C. Wheeler under Mr. Clarke's direction. A paper by Mr. Clarke and Mr. Wheeler on the composition of the brachiopod shells was published in the Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences. Another contribution giving the results of the analyses of the fan corals is now in preparation. In addition to his administrative work in the laboratory, Mr. Clarke has revised and brought up to date the material for the third edition of "The data of geochemistry" (Bulletin 616). The second edition, published as Bulletin 491, was printed in 1911. Some research work on the methods of separating vanadium from large quantities of chromium has been pursued by George Steiger, whose time, however, has been mostly taken up by routine analyses, the purchase of supplies, and other administrative duties. In making analyses of rocks submitted by Survey geologists, R. C. Wells found that water from a mine near Idaho Springs, Colo., resembling ink in appearance, owed its color to the presence of nearly 8 grams of molybdenum oxide per liter; also that a rich gold ore from Goodsprings, Nev., was essentially a plumbojarosite, containing 0.22 per cent palladium and 0.05 per cent platinum. In separating salts from the water of Great Salt Lake, Mr. Wells found that in the interval between 0° and -1° C. the salt that separates is the mineral mirabilite, Na2SO,.10H2O. A manuscript entitled "The fractional precipitation of some ore-forming compounds at moderate temperatures" was completed by Mr. Wells for publication as Bulletin 609. As the result of his continued chemical studies of silver enrichment, Chase Palmer, who has been associated with Edson S. Bastin, of the division of geology, in the field investigations, published two papers"Bornite as silver precipitant," in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, and "Tetranickel-triarsenide, its capacity as silver precipitant," in Economic Geology and in Zeitschrift für Krystallographie und Mineralogie. The research in silver enrichment, begun by the section of metalliferous deposits of the division of geology, is still in progress. A report on the mineralogy of artesian well waters beneath Charleston, S. C., published in Professional Paper 90-H, contains a simplified statement by Mr. Palmer of the principles of the geochemical interpretation of water analyses. A part of Mr. Palmer's time has been given to routine quantitative and qualitative analyses of minerals and quantitative analyses of waters. An extensive study of the vanadium minerals was made by W. T. Schaller. Analyses were made of several vanadium minerals from Utah and two new species from Peru, and of a new copper silicate from Arizona. Mr. Schaller also determined the optical properties of all the available gahnites. He made a field study of the granitic pegmatite intrusions near Pala, San Diego County, Cal., and of a reported occurrence of tin ore in the same county. A number of analyses of phosphate rock and other miscellaneous analyses were made by W. C. Wheeler, whose work in association with Mr. Clarke has already been mentioned. Special attention has been given by W. B. Hicks to the analyses of salts. Complete analyses were made of 13 brines, 3 salt samples, and 1 specimen of alunite, partial analyses of 80 samples, and qualitative examinations of about 85 samples. Mr. Hicks also carried on some experimental work on the solubility of minerals in solutions of ammonium chloride and on the evaporation of brines from Searles Lake, Cal. A paper on "Evaporation of potash brines" (Professional Paper 95-E) was submitted by him for publication by the Survey, and another on "Solubility of mixtures of sodium chloride and potas sium chloride in solutions of hydrochloric acid" was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. A great many miscellaneous analyses, including about 30 complete analyses of rocks, brines, salts, and waters, and 78 partial analyses of brines, muds, nitrates, and waters, were made by R. K. Bailey, who also gave one hour each day to assisting geologists in testing and identifying minerals. Some improvements in the apparatus and methods used in the laboratory for analytical work were devised by Mr. Bailey. The work of the physical laboratory has consisted chiefly of the continuation of geophysical investigations noted in previous reports. In addition to his administrative work G. F. Becker carried on studies of isostasy, in connection with which he published in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences a paper on the "Mean density of fractured rocks." The experimental data for this paper were determined by A. F. Melcher, and are described by him in a "Note on the change of density of sulphur with rupture," issued in the same publication. Mr. Melcher shows that some of the principal orogenic phenomena are due to decrease in the density of rocks under confinement through the production of cracks and to increase of density through infiltration. 'Isostasy and radioactivity" was the subject of a presidential address by Mr. Becker before the Geological Society of America. In this address he drew the conclusions that not more than about a quarter of the heat emitted by the earth can be due to radioactivity and that the ages of minerals as determined by radiologists are untrustworthy. In this address and in a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences he concludes that the outer shell of the earth beneath continental areas is in fact an imperfect heat engine, which furnishes the energy manifested in upheaval, subsidence, and orogeny. In consultation and cooperation with Prof. P. W. Bridgman, of Harvard University, Mr. Becker furnished hollow cylinders of rockforming minerals for use in pressure tests. These Prof. Bridgman subjects to hydrostatic pressure of many thousand kilograms per square centimeter with highly interesting but at as yet incomplete results. Acknowledgments are due the Bureau of Standards for courteous cooperation in the preparation of these cylinders. The conduction of heat out of an unevenly heated globe was investigated by Mr. Becker in the hope of elucidating conditions in high latitudes. Work on the construction of mathematical tables, experiments on the diffusion of solids, and measurements of the temperatures of deep wells were continued by C. E. Van Orstrand, assisted by A. F. Melcher and A. T. Harris. Progress has been made in preparing a volume of tables of the probability integral and related functions adapted to the computation of diffusivities. An elaborate table of extended values of the exponential function and of the circular sine and cosine to radian argument is ready for publication. In his experiments on the diffusion of solids Mr. Van Orstrand had the analytical cooperation of F. P. Dewey, of the Bureau of the Mint, United States Treasury. Some of the results of these experiments are to be published as Professional Paper 95-G, entitled "Preliminary report on the diffusion of solids." The experimental results confirm Roberts-Austen's values of the coefficients of diffusion of gold into solid lead at normal pressures and various temperatures. Preliminary experiments indicate an increase in the coefficient of diffusion with pressure. The results obtained at normal pressure from rolled plates and electroplates are remarkably consistent. Measurements of the temperatures of two deep wells, one near Gaines, Pa., depth 5,500 feet, the other near McDonald, Pa., depth 7,000 feet, were made during the year by Mr. Van Orstrand. Determinations of the temperature of a well near Mannington, W. Va., about 3,000 feet deep, were made recently with an electrical resistance thermometer equipment specially designed by him for use in deep wells. A paper on the "Calculation and comparison of mineral analyses," by Mr. Van Orstrand and F. E. Wright, of the Carnegie Institution, was published in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. DIVISION OF MINERAL RESOURCES. The scope of the work of the division of mineral resources has been the same as in recent years, the Survey having continued the policy of making the annual "Mineral Resources of the United States" more than a statistical compilation by recording and interpreting industrial progress and by treating in full the sources from which the mineral products of the country are obtained. This report thus becomes in fact, as well as in name, an annual inventory of the Nation's mineral resources. During the last 12 years the separate chapters have been prepared in large part by geologists of the Survey who have specialized in the subjects treated, with a view to carrying out the provision of the organic act of the Survey which directs the examination of the mineral resources and products of the national domain. Cooperation between the Geological Survey and the State surveys in collecting most of the mineral statistics continued in force in the preparation of the report for 1914. The 16 States which cooperated were Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. The method employed obviates the duplication of a considerable amount of work |