LOCATION FACTORS AND LOCATION THEORY INFLUENCING THE IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY

(pp. 3 - 11)

Dr. John E. Benhart

Shippensburg State College

Shippensburg, Pennsylvania

Abstract

The American iron and steel industry is widely distributed, but about 75 percent of the capacity and production is in the American Manufacturing Belt which reflects the profitability of location within this highly industrialized area (Figure 1). The huge capital investment involved in constructing an integrated iron and steel plant requires that the greatest care be given to its location.' Also, the integration of processes in a modern iron and steel works demands output on a very large scale in order that each separate unit of production maintains economic operation. About one million tons of steel ingot capacity per annum is now considered to be about the minimum efficient size.2 An integrated plant in the 1950's was estimated to cost from 300 to 500 million dollars, but today the figure is close to one billion dollars.

PALEOPEDOLOGY IN GEOMORPHOLOGICAL STUDIES OF THE SOUTHERN AND MIDDLE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

(pp. 12 - 18)

Dr. Richard G. Reider

University of Wyoming

Laramie, Wyoming

Abstract

Nearly a century ago stratigraphers working in the mid-continent of the United States recognized the occurrence of buried soils, or weathering zones, in Pleistocene units (Leverett, 1898a, 1898b). Indeed, in large part it was these soils, or more aptly paleosols,* which enabled subsequent reconstruction of Pleistocene glacial and interglacial episodes (Leighton and MacClintock, 1930; Simonson, 1941, 1954; Bryan and Albritton, 1943; Schultz and Stout, 1948; Frye, 1951; Thorp, Johnson, and Reed, 1951; Frye, Willman, and Glass, 1960; et al.). Notably, researchers concluded that paleosols, having basic zonal distributions, established evidence of interglacial or interstadial events separating glacial regimes. Related paleosol fossils, soil morphology, and stratigraphic associations allowed for regional correlations of Pleistocene stratigraphy as well as interpretation of geomorphological evolution in the region. Of importance, these basic tenants of Pleistocene stratigraphy developed in the mid-continent were transferred and later used to decipher the geomorphology of the Southern and Middle Rocky Mountain region. The article at hand serves as a review of some of the important work produced so far.