Digital Commons Network^™

Transport Of Explosive Residue Surrogates In Saturated Porous Media, Bethsheba Lavoie

Masters Theses

Contamination of soils by munitions constituents is pervasive on Department of Defense operational ranges. Low-order detonations result in the heterogeneous distribution of explosives residues (ER) at shallow depths. At a limited number of ranges ER contamination of groundwater has been observed.

Previous studies have shown that the downward migration of colloid-sized contaminants can significantly impact groundwater quality. The goal of this study was to investigate if colloid transport plays a role in the migration of ER contaminants. Our primary objective was to determine the transport potential of fine (<5>um) ER particles under ideal conditions for colloid transport. A secondary …

Geophysical Study At Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park, Manchester, Tennessee, Stephen Jay Yerka

Masters Theses

The Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park covers over 800 acres within Manchester, Tennessee, and is owned and managed by the Tennessee Division of State Parks. The central archaeological site within the park boundary is The Old Stone Fort mounds that enclose about 50 acres on a plateau above the convergence of the Big Duck and the Little Duck Rivers. The hilltop enclosure dates to the Middle Woodland Period, and radiocarbon dates obtained at the site range from the first to the fifth century A. D. Because of its size and apparent complexity, previous investigations of the site have been …

A Morphological And Geochemical Investigation Of Grypania Spiralis: Implications For Early Earth Evolution, Miles Anthony Henderson

Masters Theses

Macroscopic “carbonaceous” fossils such as Grypania, Katnia, Chuaria, and Tawuia play a critical role in our understanding of biological evolution in the Precambrian and their environmental implications. Unfortunately, understanding of these fossils remains limited by their relative simplicity of form, mode of preservation, and broad taphonomic variability. As a result, debate continues as to even the fundamental taxonomic affinity of the organisms. Megascopic coiled forms (i.e. Grypania and Katnia), for instance, have been interpreted as trace fossils, multicellular algae, prokaryotic filaments, macroscopic bacteria, cyanobacteria, or a transitional form from macroscopic to megascopic bacterial life. Similarly, Chuaria …

Structural And Metamorphic Evolution Of The West-Central Newton Window, Eastern Inner Piedmont, Burke, Catawba, And Lincoln Counties, North Carolina, William George Gilliam

Masters Theses

Rocks of the western and eastern Inner Piedmont, along with the eastern Blue Ridge, comprise the Neoacadian metamorphic core of the southern Appalachians. The composite Inner Piedmont consists of the eastern Tugaloo (western Inner Piedmont) and Cat Square (eastern Inner Piedmont) terranes, which are separated by the Brindle Creek fault. Geochronologic evidence established the Brindle Creek fault as a terrane boundary within the Inner Piedmont, separating terranes of Laurentian and mixed Laurentian/Avalonian (peri-Gondwanan) zircon suites. The Newton window exposes Tugaloo terrane rocks of the Tallulah Falls Formation in the footwall of the Brindle Creek thrust sheet.

Detailed geologic mapping in …

The Relationships Of Streambank Angles And Shapes To Streambank Erosion Rates In The Little River Watershed, Tn, William Ryan Foster

Masters Theses

Sediment is a leading cause of water quality impairment throughout the United States. In the Little River watershed in eastern Tennessee, several tributaries have been classified as impaired due primarily to sedimentation. Researchers at The University of Tennessee, in collaboration with a group of local and state organizations, began monitoring Little River tributaries to better understand their sources of pollution. To investigate the rates and processes of streambank erosion, erosion-pin monitoring sites were established on 32 banks in the watershed. This thesis complements the erosion-pin monitoring efforts by determining bank characteristics and examining the relationships of streambank angles and shapes …

The Effects Of Changes In Water Content On Uranium(Vi) Leaching In Sediment Mixtures Containing Gravel, Andrew Weber Moore

Masters Theses

This study is aimed at understanding the physical and chemical effects that changes in water content have on uranium leaching in sediment containing gravel. It was hypothesized that leaching will be more efficient under unsaturated conditions because flow will be restricted to the smallest pores and will have the most contact with the uranium contaminated sediment. Under saturated conditions, a large portion of the flow will bypass the < 2 mm material, and in turn not come into contact with uranium contaminated material. Batch adsorption and desorption experiments were performed on < 2 mm ERDF sediment to determine the linearity and reversibility of sorption processes and to aid in the interpretation of the leaching experiments. Results of the desorption experiments on aged, contaminated sediments show that the mass percent of sorbed U(VI) released to solution decreased as the sorbed concentration of U(VI) decreased. The opposite trend was observed on freshly contaminated sediments. This indicated that aging increased U(VI) affinity for the solid phase and was attributed to either the crystallization of calcite, which incorporated a portion of the sorbed U(VI) as it crystallized, or the presence of voids in basaltic lithic fragments accessed by diffusion. Column leaching experiments were performed at two water contents on artificially contaminated sediment collected from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hanford Site, Washington state. The sediment contained 81.3% gravel (> 2 mm) by mass. Non-reactive tracers were well fit with the convection-dispersion equation (CDE) at both high and low water contents indicating physical equilibrium. The column experimental data were fitted to an …

An Investigation For The Need Of Secondary Treatment Of Residential Wastewater When Applied With A Subsurface Drip Irrigation System, Boone S. Hillenbrand

Masters Theses

The objective of this study was to investigate the need for domestic wastewater to receive secondary treatment when being applied to the soil by subsurface drip irrigation (SDI). SDI uniformly distributes wastewater into the soil, which optimizes the soil’s chemical, physical, and biological capacity to remove waste constituents. Because of these advantages, many regulatory jurisdictions are allowing SDI at sites that previously were prohibited from using conventional trench-based soil application systems because of shallow soil restrictions. However, most of these regulatory agencies also require that the wastewater receives secondary treatment (dissolved organic carbon reduction) before the SDI system. At issue …

Tectonic Evolution Of The West-Central Portion Of The Newton Window, North Carolina Inner Piedmont: Timing And Implications For The Emplacement Of The Paleozoic Vale Charnockite, Walker Top Granite, And Mafic Complexes, Heather Elizabeth Byars

Masters Theses

Detailed geologic mapping of portions of the Banoak, Reepsville, Lincolnton West, and Cherryville 7.5-minute quadrangles has confirmed the easternmost exposure of the Brindle Creek fault, which frames the Newton window. The Brindle Creek fault is a terrane boundary that separates the overlying Siluro-Devonian assemblage of metasedimentary rocks and Devonian-Mississippian anatectic plutons of the Cat Square terrane from the Neoproterozoic(?)-Ordovician metasedimentary and igneous rocks of the Tugaloo terrane. Structures related to six deformational events have been identified in this portion of the Inner Piedmont. The Brindle Creek fault has been folded multiple times, resulting in a sinuous outcrop pattern and the …

Quartz Grain Microtextures And Sediment Provenance: Using Scanning Electron Microscopy To Characterize Tropical Highland Sediments From Costa Rica And The Dominican Republic, Sarah Marie Deane

Masters Theses

Microtextures recorded on quartz sand grain surfaces provide evidence of past environment. Environmental processes, such as transport by glacial ice, create unique microtextures on sand grain surfaces that can be observed under high magnification with a scanning electron microscope. These microtextures and their proportions tend to be unique to environment type, allowing investigators to infer the environmental conditions to which sediments have been exposed, for example to distinguish sediments from fluvial versus mass-wasted environments. Microtextural evidence also allows inferences about the history of sediments of unknown origin.

This thesis determines the qualitative and quantitative microtextural fingerprint of glacigenic quartz sand …

Tectonic Evolution Of The Southern Appalachian Inner Piedmont: Identification And Interpretation Of Crustal Features From Aeromagnetic Data And Detailed Geologic Mapping In Central Georgia, Brittany Allison Davis

Masters Theses

The Inner Piedmont (IP) is the Neoacadian migmatitic orogenic core of the southern Appalachians, exhibiting the widest area of high-grade metamorphism; regional upper amphibolite facies with isolated pods of granulite grade metamorphism. Peak P-T conditions in central GA reached 4.0-7.6 kbars and 630-715 ̊ C. The Brindle Creek fault (BCf) separates high-grade metasedimentary rocks of the eastern Tugaloo terrane (Tt) and Cat Square terrane (CSt). The Tt consists of the Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic(?) Tallulah Falls Formation, Chauga River Formation, and the Mid-Ordovician Poor Mountain Formation, intruded by Early to Middle Ordovician granitoids. The CSt consists of Siluro-Devonian metasedimentary rocks, …

Palynology Of The Middle To Upper Eocene Esmeraldas Formation In The Nuevo Mundo Syncline Area, Middle Magdalena Valley Basin, Colombia, Guillermo Rodriguez-Forero

Masters Theses

"The palynology of the Eocene Esmeraldas Formation in the Middle Magdalena Valley Basin, Colombia was analyzed in order to constrain the age of the unit. This formation is a very important oil reservoir in the Middle Magdalena Valley Basin, which is a product of a fragmentation of a Cenozoic foreland basin by the Northern Andes. It created structural complexities and syntectonic deposition. The lateral continuity of the formation, as well as its correlations with lithostratigraphic units is adjacent basins, are not clearly understood. The Los Corros Fossil Horizon, a mollusk horizon in the upper part of the Esmeraldas Formation, is …

Cretaceous/Paleogene Boundary Biostratigraphy And Palynofacies Of The Alo-1 Well, Southeastern Nigeria, Janet Diane Raymer

Masters Theses

"The Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary (K/Pg) has been studied in great detail because of the fascination most people have with the extinction of the dinosaurs. The response of the vegetation to this extinction event has been studied in detail in mid to high latitudes, but little is known about what happened in the tropics. Sixty-seven samples from the Nsukka and Imo formations in the Alo-1 well in the Anambra Basin, southeastern Nigeria have been studied for their palynological contents. The aims of the study was to use spores, pollen and dispersed organic matter components to interpret biostratigraphy, and evaluate depositional conditions across …

Calcium Carbonate Precipitation Mechanisms And Geochemical Analysis Of Particulate Material Found Within The Waters Of Maramec Spring, St. James, Missouri, Kyle Steven Rybacki

Masters Theses

"The purpose of the present study is to determine whether a mineral phase is precipitating from solution in the natural Maramec Spring system giving the spring water a milky blue color, to identify the mineral phase, and to investigate potential mechanisms for inducing precipitation. Maramec Spring is a first-order magnitude spring located 11 km southeast of St. James, Missouri. The water that expels from Maramec Spring varies between being near saturation, but undersaturated in calcium, with respect to calcite (saturation index of 0.994 mg/L). Moving downstream, away from the conduit, the spring waters increase in pH and temperature. Eh is …

Seismic Interpretation And Reservoir Characterization Of The Middle Frio Formation In The Stratton Field Gulf Coast Basin Of South Texas Using Three-Dimensional Seismic And Well Log Data, Uchenna H. Aboaja

Masters Theses

"The Stratton field is a large mature gas field located between Nueces County and Kleberg County in the northwest Gulf Coast Basin of south Texas. The Oligocene middle Frio Formation is one of the major progradational units within the Stratton field. It is characterized by rapid deposition and high subsidence rates that create complex internal facies architecture. The reservoir facies architecture of the middle Frio Formation is described as channel-fill deposits, crevasses-splay deposits, and floodplain mudstones. Previous two-dimensional seismic studies indicate some level of compartmentalization. Three-dimensional seismic and well log data provided by the Bureau of Economic Geology at the …