Miller Mark W.

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Miller
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Mark W.
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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Article
    Quantitative bedrock geology of the continents and large-scale drainage regions
    (American Geophysical Union, 2007-06-13) Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Bernhard ; Miller, Mark W.
    We quantitatively analyze the area-age distribution of sedimentary, extrusive volcanic, and endogenous (plutonic and/or metamorphic) bedrock on the basis of data from the most recent digital Geological Map of the World at a scale of 1:25,000,000. The spatial resolution of the digital bedrock data averages 13,905 km2 per polygon. Comparison of certain regions of the world, previously analyzed at higher spatial resolution, with the low-resolution world data reveals general consistency in the areal exposure of major rock types as well as a minor systematic bias toward older average bedrock ages in the global data set. Application of the global bedrock data to 19 large-scale drainage regions and three large, internally drained regions reveals considerable regional variability of Earth's bedrock geology that is consistent with the dominant geotectonic setting of the respective drainage region.
  • Article
    Quantitative bedrock geology of east and Southeast Asia (Brunei, Cambodia, eastern and southeastern China, East Timor, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, far-eastern Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam)
    (American Geophysical Union, 2004-01-17) Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Bernhard ; Miller, Mark W.
    We quantitatively analyze the area-age distribution of sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic bedrock based on data from the most recent digital geologic maps of East and Southeast Asia (Coordinating Committee for Coastal and Offshore Geosciences Programmes in East and Southeast Asia (CCOP) and the Geologic Survey of Japan, 1997; 1:2,000,000), published as Digital Geoscience Map G-2 by the Geological Survey of Japan. Sedimentary rocks, volcanic rocks, plutonic rocks, ultramafic rocks and metamorphic rocks cover 73.3%, 8.5%, 8.8%, 0.9%, and 8.6% of the surface area, respectively. The average ages of major lithologic units, weighted according to bedrock area, are as follows: sedimentary rocks (average stratigraphic age of 123 Myr/median age of 26 Myr), volcanic rocks (84 Myr/20 Myr), intrusive rocks (278 Myr/195 Myr), ultramafic rocks (unknown) and metamorphic rocks (1465 Myr/1118 Myr). The variability in lithologic composition and age structure of individual countries reflects the complex tectonic makeup of this region that ranges from Precambrian cratons (e.g., northeast China and North Korea) to Mesozoic-Cenozoic active margins (e.g., Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and New Guinea). The spatial resolution of the data varies from 44 km2 per polygon (Japan) to 1659 km2 per polygon (Taiwan) and is, on average (490 km2/polygon), similar to our previous analyses of the United States of America and Canada. The temporal and spatial resolution is sufficiently high to perform age-area analyses of individual river basins larger than ∼10,000 km2 and to quantitatively evaluate the relationship between bedrock geology and river chemistry. As many rivers draining tropical, mountainous islands of East and Southeast Asia have a disproportionate effect on the dissolved and particulate load delivered to the world oceans, bedrock geology in such river drainage basins disproportionately affect ocean chemistry.
  • Article
    Quantitative bedrock geology of Brazil
    (American Geophysical Union, 2007-05-30) Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Bernhard ; Miller, Mark W.
    We quantitatively analyze the area-age distribution of sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic, and ultramafic bedrock on the basis of data from the digital geologic map of Brazil, published as a GIS map by the Brazilian Geological Survey. Bedrock units exclusively encompassing sedimentary rocks, igneous rocks, or metamorphic rocks cover 40.4%, 31.5%, and 17.7%, respectively, of the total bedrock area. These numbers have to be considered minimum estimates of the areal abundance of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic bedrock because polygons defined by mixed lithologies cover ~8.5–9.5% of the total bedrock area. These mixed units are sedimentary rocks with igneous and/or metamorphic contributions (1.4%), metamorphic rocks with sedimentary contributions (1.2%), metamorphic rocks with igneous contributions (1.5%), igneous rocks with sedimentary and/or metamorphic contributions (4.4%), and ultramafic units with sedimentary, igneous, and/or metamorphic contributions (~1–2%). The average ages of major lithologic units, weighted according to bedrock area, are as follows: sedimentary rocks (average stratigraphic age of 248 ± 5 [1σ] Myr; median stratigraphic age of 87.5 Myr), igneous rocks (1153 ± 13 [1σ] Myr), metamorphic rocks (1678 ± 30 [1σ] Myr), and ultramafic rocks (~1227 ± 25 [1σ] Myr). The average bedrock age of Brazil is 946 ± 7 [1σ] Myr. The range in lithologic composition and age structure of the various bedrock units reflects the complex tectonic makeup of Brazil that ranges from Neogene sedimentary cover in the Amazon Basin to Precambrian cratons (Guyana and Brazilian shields) and Transamazonian greenstone belts. The average spatial resolution of the data is 232 km2 polygon−1 and is sufficient to perform area-age analyses of individual river drainage basins larger than ~5,000 km2.
  • Article
    Continental bedrock and riverine fluxes of strontium and neodymium isotopes to the oceans
    (American Geophysical Union, 2010-03-27) Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Bernhard ; Miller, Mark W. ; Arsouze, Thomas ; Jeandel, Catherine
    Realistic models of past climate and ocean chemistry depend on reconstructions of the Earth's surface environments in the geologic past. Among the critical parameters is the geologic makeup of continental drainage. Here we show, for the present, that the isotope composition of dissolved strontium in rivers increases linearly with the age of bedrock in drainage basins, with the notable exception of the drainage area of Arabia, India, and Southeast Asia that is affected by unusually radiogenic dissolved Sr from the Himalaya. We also demonstrate that the neodymium isotope compositions of suspended matter in rivers as well as clastic sediments deposited along the ocean margins decrease linearly with the bedrock ages of river drainage basins and large-scale continental drainage regions, as determined from digital geologic maps. These correlations are used to calculate the present-day input of dissolved Sr (4.7 × 1010 mol yr−1, 87Sr/86Sr of ∼0.7111) and particulate Nd isotopes (ɛNd of approximately −7.3 ± 2.2) to the oceans. The fact that the regionally averaged ɛNd of the global detrital input to the global coastal ocean is identical to globally averaged seawater (ɛNd of −7.2 ± 0.5) lends credence to the importance of “boundary exchange” for the Nd isotope composition of water masses. Regional biases in source areas of detrital matter and runoff are reflected by the observation that the average age of global bedrock, weighted according to the riverine suspended sediment flux, is significantly younger (∼336 Myr) than the age of global bedrock weighted according to water discharge (394 Myr), which is younger than the average bedrock age of the nonglaciated, exorheic portions of the continents (453 Myr). The observation that the bedrock age weighted according to Sr flux is younger (339 Myr) than that weighted according to water flux reflects the disproportionate contribution from young sedimentary and volcanic rocks to the dissolved Sr load. Neither the isotope composition of the dissolved nor the particulate continental inputs to the ocean provide unbiased perspectives of the lithologic makeup of the Earth's surface. Temporal changes in bedrock geology as well as the shifting focal points of physical erosion and water discharge will undoubtedly have exerted strong controls on temporal and spatial changes in the isotope chemistry of past global runoff and thus seawater.
  • Article
    The FMRF-NH2 gated sodium channel of Biomphalaria glabrata: Localization and expression following infection by Schistosoma mansoni
    (Public Library of Science, 2023-06-23) Vicente-Rodriguez, Laura C. ; Torres-Arroyo, Amanda C. ; Hernandez-Vazquez, Anthony ; Rosa-Casillas, Mariela ; Bracho-Rincon, Dina P. ; de Jesus, Paola Mendez ; Behra, Martine L. ; Habib, Mohamed R. ; Zhou, Xiao-Nong ; Rosenthal, Joshua J. C. ; Miller, Mark W.
    The neglected tropical disease schistosomiasis impacts over 700 million people globally. Schistosoma mansoni, the trematode parasite that causes the most common type of schistosomiasis, requires planorbid pond snails of the genus Biomphalaria to support its larval development and transformation to the cercarial form that can infect humans. A greater understanding of neural signaling systems that are specific to the Biomphalaria intermediate host could lead to novel strategies for parasite or snail control. This study examined a Biomphalaria glabrata neural channel that is gated by the neuropeptide FMRF-NH2. The Biomphalaria glabrata FMRF-NH2 gated sodium channel (Bgl-FaNaC) amino acid sequence was highly conserved with FaNaCs found in related gastropods, especially the planorbid Planorbella trivolvis (91% sequence identity). In common with the P. trivolvis FaNaC, the B. glabrata channel exhibited a low affinity (EC50: 3 x 10−4 M) and high specificity for the FMRF-NH2 agonist. Its expression in the central nervous system, detected with immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization, was widespread, with the protein localized mainly to neuronal fibers and the mRNA confined to cell bodies. Colocalization of the Bgl-FaNaC message with its FMRF-NH2 agonist precursor occurred in some neurons associated with male mating behavior. At the mRNA level, Bgl-FaNaC expression was decreased at 20 and 35 days post infection (dpi) by S. mansoni. Increased expression of the transcript encoding the FMRF-NH2 agonist at 35 dpi was proposed to reflect a compensatory response to decreased receptor levels. Altered FMRF-NH2 signaling could be vital for parasite proliferation in its intermediate host and may therefore present innovative opportunities for snail control.