Quantifying Chemical Erosion In The Lithologically-Heterogenous Appalachian Valley And Ridge, Amelia Jayne Zanoni

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Quantifying chemical erosion in the lithologically-heterogenous Appalachian Valley and Ridge

Amelia J. Zanoni

The interplay between physical and chemical erosion is well understood in landscapes underlain by a uniform rock type, but many regions are underlain by a mixture of rock types with varying erosion resistance and solubility. We used measurements of stream-water chemistry to estimate chemical erosion rates in the Appalachian Valley and Ridge, a region where the mechanisms of lithologic control over topography are poorly understood. Newly acquired stream water samples were collected from 51 locations across the research area during the Fall of 2023. The sampled waters …

Identifying Biogeochemical Factors Responsible For The Cyclical Precipitation Of Sphalerite And Galena In Low Temperature Mississippi Valley Type Ore Deposits, Daniel John Makowsky

Theses and Dissertations

Mississippi Valley Type (MVT) lead and zinc deposits provide a significant source of sedimentary galena and sphalerite. However, geochemical characteristics and genesis including the source and production of hydrogen sulfide required for galena and sphalerite ore formation and the reasoning for quick, episodic mineralization is not fully understood. By simulating regional MVT brines, the input and effect of biological by-products during the development of these ores as well as the cause of cyclicity within MVT deposits have been observed. Experiments using compositions from MVT fluid inclusions were conducted over two-week periods. Variables during the experiments included temperature, CO2, hydrogen sulfide …

Sedimentology And Shallow Groundwater Responses Of A Coastal Marsh Along A Salinity Gradient: A Case Study In Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mississippi, James Thompson

Master's Theses

Climate change and relative sea level rise is resulting in saltwater intrusion and inundation of coastal marshes. This study investigates factors affecting marsh hydrology, including sediment composition, seasonal variability, and coastal storms in Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) near Pascagoula, Mississippi. Analysis of sediment includes color, organic matter, carbonate, magnetic susceptibility, and particle size. Shallow groundwater hydrologic trends between Summer 2015 and Fall 2016 are established along a salinity gradient at four sites using water levels, temperature, and conductivity monitored at the surface and in piezometers at depths of 0.75m, 1.5m, and 2.25m.

Sediment analysis indicates reducing conditions …

Geologic Characterization Of The Nonconformity Interface Using Outcrop And Drillcore Analogs: Implications For Injection-Induced Seismicity, Kayla Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Starting around 2009, a greater number of earthquakes than anticipated have occurred in the midcontinent region of the United States. These earthquakes have been linked to increased rates and volumes of wastewater injection at several km’s depth into the Earth’s crust near a contact between crystalline metamorphic or igneous rock and overlying sedimentary rock, known as a nonconformity. While much is known about why these new earthquakes occur, comparatively little is known about the physical and chemical rock properties because the nonconformity contact is primarily buried under km’s of sedimentary rock in the midcontinent region. These rock properties are important …

Carbonate Paleothermometry In Fayetteville Green Lake, New York, Micah Wiesner

Theses - ALL

Lacustrine carbonates are important paleoclimate archives, but unknowns in the seasonal timing and depth of precipitation obscure the interpretation of temperatures associated with them. The clumped isotope paleothermometer records the formation temperature T(D47) of carbonates. This study examines a set of lacustrine carbonates formed in the water column, in addition to carbonate from a sediment core, to better understand the depth and seasonality of carbonate formation in a lacustrine setting. We test that, regardless of season and formation temperature, lacustrine carbonates form in isotopic equilibrium with respect to D47 and d18O fractionation. Further, we account for the effect of our …

Carbonate Paleothermometry In Fayetteville Green Lake, New York, Micah Wiesner

Theses - ALL

Lacustrine carbonates are important paleoclimate archives, but unknowns in the seasonal timing and depth of precipitation obscure the interpretation of temperatures associated with them. The clumped isotope paleothermometer records the formation temperature T(D47) of carbonates. This study examines a set of lacustrine carbonates formed in the water column, in addition to carbonate from a sediment core, to better understand the depth and seasonality of carbonate formation in a lacustrine setting. We test that, regardless of season and formation temperature, lacustrine carbonates form in isotopic equilibrium with respect to D47 and d18O fractionation. Further, we account for the effect of our …

Seismic Expressions Of Paleokarst, Olanrewaju Ayodapo Aboaba

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Paleokarst are characterized by epigene and/or hypogene processes in their formation and hold significant numbers of hydrocarbons and other natural resources. This dissertation examines worldwide seismic expression of paleokarst; and specifically, the characterization of paleokarst reservoirs developed across the Cherokee Platform, and in the Arkoma Basin, Oklahoma.

Worldwide subsurface paleokarst formations are of Precambrian to Miocene age and found at depths less than 200 m to as great as 8000 m. Karst can be are expressed on seismic records as sinkholes, paleocave collapse, and tower morphologies. Seismic modeling indicates that karst can be modeled and imaged to better understand its …

Impact-Generated Dykes And Shocked Carbonates From The Tunnunik And Haughton Impact Structures, Canadian High Arctic, Jennifer D. Newman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Canadian High Arctic contains two impact structures created by hypervelocity impact events in carbonate-rich target rocks. The remote locations of the Tunnunik and Haughton impact structures means that there are aspects of these impact structures which have yet to be fully investigated. This study characterizes the range of impact-generated dykes exposed from both impact structures which include lithic breccias, impact melt-bearing breccias, and impact melt rocks. Breccias may include silicate impact glass fragments and evidence for carbonate melt. Impact melt rocks from the Haughton impact structure contain the rare terrestrial mineral moissanite. This is only the third reported occurrence …

Characterization Of Impact Melt Rocks And Hydrothermal Mineralization At The Haughton Impact Structure, Devon Island, Canada: An Investigation Of Impacts Into Carbonate Targets, Cassandra L. Marion

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Impact cratering is a fundamental and ubiquitous geological process on all solid planetary bodies in our solar system. Impacts into carbonate-rich sedimentary target rocks on Earth are still poorly understood. The fate of carbonates during impact, in particular whether they undergo melting or decomposition, is actively debated. The dominant process is significant as decomposition would cause severe climatic effects due to release of large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. At the root of the problem is the difficulty to distinguish and characterize the genesis of the variety of impactite carbonates produced. The Haughton impact structure in the Canadian …

Cobalt Partitioning And Solubility In Low-Temperature Carbonate-Hydrothermal Systems, Seth Kurtis Coursey

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Cobalt mineralization has been documented in low temperature Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) deposits in southeast Missouri. Lead and zinc are the most economically important metals in these deposits and are contained within galena (PbS) and sphalerite (ZnS), respectively. Cobalt is also mined in some of the deposits with cobalt-bearing ores, e.g., siegenite ((Ni,Co)3S4) and fletcherite (Cu,(Ni,Co)2S4), occurring stratigraphically below main-stage galena and sphalerite. The hydrothermal fluids responsible for cobalt mineralization are thought to be chemically distinct from the predominant MVT ore-bearing fluids and represent a distinct mineralizing event. Cobalt is likely transported as CoCl2 in hydrothermal fluids and sourced from structures …

Basal Travertine Of The Bouse Formation: Geochemistry, Diagenesis And Implications For The Integration Of The Colorado River, Christina Ferguson

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Pliocene Bouse Formation is discontinuously exposed in the lower Colorado River region and is a record of the first arrival of the Colorado River to the Gulf of California 5 million years ago. It consists broadly of a lower carbonate member (travertine, marl, and bioclastic units) and an upper siliciclastic member (claystone, mudstone, and Colorado River sands). This paper focuses on the basal travertine (synonymous with “tufa”) unit of the lower carbonate member. Because of its basal position and its chemical encrustation of pre-Bouse topography, the travertine can offer insight into the earliest depositional settings and may be a …

Sequence Stratigraphy, Diagenesis, And Depositional Facies Of An Exposed Megaflap: Pennsylvanian Hermosa Group, Gypsum Valley Salt Wall, Paradox Basin, Colorado, Kyle Thomas Deatrick

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Outcrop exposures mostly of the Pennsylvanian Honaker Trail Formation provide a 2 km strike-oriented view of a megaflap on the southwestern flank of the Gypsum Valley salt wall, Paradox Basin, Colorado that serves as an outcrop analog for megaflaps recently drilled unexpectedly in the Gulf of Mexico and other salt basins worldwide. The near vertical (80-90°) stratal panel comprises a 60 m thick succession of non-evaporite facies of the Pennsylvanian upper Paradox Formation, overlain by a 117 m section of cyclic shallow marine carbonates and siliciclastics of the Honaker Trail Formation. Near vertical upper Paradox and Honaker Trail strata are …

Holocene Climate Evolution Of Continental Western Eurasia Constrained By Stable-Isotope And Cation Geochemistry Of U-Th-Dated Speleothems And Meteogenic Travertine, Jonathan Lloyd Baker

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Reliable reconstructions of global and regional climate during the Holocene (11,700 years ago to present) are vital to constraining the natural range of climate variability and testing state-of-the-art models, which seek to forecast the near- and long-term impact of anthropogenic greenhouse forcing. Much of continental Eurasia is still underrepresented, however, in geological proxy reconstructions of Holocene climate variability, and the vast majority of paleoclimate data only reflect conditions during peak summer months (JJA) or the growing season. The paucity of winter proxy data has therefore been cited as a possible explanation for the current mismatch between geological proxy-based and climate-model …

Lithofacies And Sequence Architecture Of The Upper Desert Creek Sequence (Middle Pennsylvanian, Paradox Formation) In The Greater Aneth Field, Southern Paradox Basin, Utah, Evan R. Gunnell

Theses and Dissertations

The Greater Aneth Buildup (GAB) is comprised of the 3rd-order middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian) Desert Creek sequence of the Paradox Formation. A hierarchy of 4th- and 5th order, carbonate-dominated cycles comprise the Upper Desert Creek (UDC) 4th-order sequence. A SE to NW trending transect line, utilizing core and petrophysical data from six oil and gas wells (from SE to NW wells R-19, Q-16, O-16, J-15, K-430, E-313), revealed deposition of seven carbonate facies within four 5th-order parasequences in the UDC. While each of the seven carbonate facies are present across the transect line, the UDC parasequences are dominated by a shallow-water …

Characterization And Geochemistry Of Carbonate Caprock Associated With The Gypsum Valley Salt Wall, Paradox Basin, Colorado: Implications For Understanding Lateral Caprock Emplacement, Piper Lee Poe

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

On the northeastern side of Gypsum Valley salt wall in the Paradox Basin of Colorado, discontinuous exposures of layered gypsum and carbonate rocks were previously mapped as the contact between diapiric Paradox Formation and marine limestone of the Pennsylvanian Honaker Trail Formation. Utilizing new and existing mapping, petrographic and isotopic geochemical analyses, this study reinterprets this zone to represent lateral gypsum and carbonate caprock that formed in the Triassic during passive rise of the Gypsum Valley salt wall. Gypsum Valley lateral carbonate caprock can be distinguished from Pennsylvanian and Permian depositional carbonate strata exposed elsewhere on the salt wall by …

Combining Observations Of Soils And Streams To Investigate Trends Caused By Reduced Acid Depositon In The Sleepers River Watershed, Jesse Armfield

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Acid deposition forms when emission-derived sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides interact with precipitation and was particularly severe in the northeastern US. Effects of acid deposition include declining soil quality due to low pH and base cation leaching, which subsequently altered the composition of soil solution, ground water (GW) and eventually stream water. Because of the high buffering capacity of carbonates, watersheds underlain by carbonate rich rocks have received limited attention in acid deposition studies, however, carbonate weathering by strong anthropogenic acids can increase atmospheric CO2 levels.

Emission reductions due to the Clean Air Act and Amendments has led to a …

Genesis Of Unique Carbonate Fans In A Pre-Salt Reservoir Analogue, Indio Mountains, West Texas, Andre Llanos

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Hydrocarbon exploration in pre-salt sediments of rift basins on the South Atlantic Margin have proven to be successful major oil plays. Located on the western margin of the rift, the Brazilian pre-salt reservoirs of the Santos, Campos, and Espirito Santo Basins are hosted by lacustrine/marine-influenced carbonates that comprise laterally extensive, laminated microbialite facies. The Indio Mountains, located in West Texas, provide well-exposed outcrops of Lower Cretaceous marine and non-marine rift basin strata that can be considered a reservoir-analog to the South Atlantic Margin pre-salt facies. Of particular interest for hydrocarbon exploration are unique carbonate features that have been discovered in …

Preservation Of Sea Anemone Burrows In Silurian (~432 Million Years Old) Carbonate Rocks Of Southeastern Indiana, Usa, Marissa Tomin

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Preservation of trace fossils (ichnofossils) in siliciclastic environments is often quite different from preservation in carbonate environments, representing an important source of variation that must be well understood in order to enhance interpretations of paleoenvironments and paleoecology. This study focuses on Conostichus, a relatively common burrow constructed by solitary sea anemones. These trace fossils are generally well-preserved (i.e., they display detailed external features) in siliciclastic rocks but are typically little more than conical masses in carbonate rocks. However, certain specimens recovered from the middle Silurian Massie Formation at the Napoleon quarry of southeastern Indiana are composed entirely out of …

Pore Characterizations And Distributions Within Niagaran – Lower Salina Reef Complex Reservoirs In The Silurian Northern Niagaran Pinnacle Reef Trend, Michigan Basin, Agam Arief Suhaimi

Masters Theses

The Northern Niagaran Pinnacle Reef Trend (NNPRT) has generated significant oil and gas production in Michigan. The best reservoir rock in the Reef Trend reservoirs are from porous and permeable dolomite of the Guelph Dolomite. Low-to-non reservoir limestone occurs interstratified with reservoir dolomite in many locations. This study utilizes available cores data, thin section Petrographic Image Analysis (PIA), Mercury Injection Capillary Pressure (MICP) and a newly developed Niagaran Reef depositional model (Rine, 2015) to characterize the distribution of pore geometry within each dolomitized Niagaran Reef Complex (Brown Niagaran – Lower Salina Group) reservoir facies and lithofacies. This study shows that …

Controls On Carbonate Sedimentation And Sequence Stratigraphic Framework Of The Lower Permian (Wolfcampian) Hueco Formation (Upper-Middle And Gastropod Intervals), Robledo Shelf, Western Orogrande Basin, New Mexico, Matthew S. Harder

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

On the western margin of the Pennsylvanian/Permian Orogrande Basin, two composite measured sections in the Lower Permian upper interval of the Middle Member of the Hueco Limestone were analyzed in regards to depositional environment, facies and sequence stratigraphy. This can elucidate where potential unconventional reservoirs can be found in the Wolfcamp Shale of the Permian Basin. Based on these analyses, 12 lithofacies were identified, including 9 carbonate lithofacies: 1) fenestral dolomudstone, 2) peloidal dolomudstone, 3) ostracode foraminifera packstone, 4) foraminifera peloidal grainstone, 5) skeletal intraclast grainstone, 6) phylloid algal peloidal grainstone, 7) echinoderm phylloid algal packstone, 8) echinoderm bivalve brachiopod …

Microstructure And Deformation Mechanism Analysis Of Carbonate Rock Located In An Anticline, Natalie R. Zidd

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Rock samples were collected from the Tensleep formation in the Seminoe Mountains located in Carbon County, Wyoming. These samples were analyzed to determine the deformation mechanisms operating during small scale displacement faulting. There are three distinct zones included in the sample which includes the undeformed Tensleep, fine grained layers with grain size variation, and porous layers with grain size variation. The microstructures in the fine grained layer were consistent with deformation by crystal plastic deformation mechanisms; whereas, the microstructures in the porous layer were consistent with brittle deformation mechanisms. The microstructures in these rocks are nearly identical to those observed …

In Situ Studies Of Limestone Dissolution In A Coastal Submarine Spring, Rachel Marie Schweers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Limestone dissolution in karst environments is likely due to geochemistry of the water, the actions of microbial communities, and the effect of water flow. We explored the rate of limestone dissolution and will examine here the microbial communities associated with the limestone. A conduit within the brackish cave, Double Keyhole Spring, on the coast of central west Florida was the site of the experiment. PVC pipes (5cm x 16cm) were filled with crushed limestone that was screened to a 1.9cm – 2.54cm size range. There were three treatments (5 replicates each): Control - sealed autoclaved controls with limestone and conduit …

Interpretation Of Geochemical Signatures From Modern Carbonate Springs To The Rock Record, Benjamin Maas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Despite the importance of carbonate aquifers as reservoirs of oil, of water, and of carbon dioxide, questions remain about the diagenetic processes that enhance porosity and permeability. Some of the questions are: 1) what are the water-rock interactions that control the geochemistry of spring waters; 2) are the geochemical signatures of saline-fresh water mixing zones preserved in the carbonate rock record; and 3) how much carbon dioxide outgases along spring runs? To address these questions, two field sites, one in Oklahoma (the site of an active saline-fresh water mixing zone) and the other in Colorado, the location of a former …

Timing And Source Of Alkali Enrichment At Mt. Etna, Sicily: Constraints From Clinopyroxene Geobarometry And In Situ Sr Isotope Data, Kaitlyn Nelson

All Master's Theses

Since 1971, Mt. Etna, Europe’s largest and most active volcano, has exhibited increased eruption frequency and explosivity. Associated with this increased activity, researchers have documented higher abundances of alkali elements (K, Rb, Cs) as well as elevated ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in Etnean lavas. The source of this alkali-enrichment has been hotly debated, with end-member hypotheses involving mantle vs. crustal contributions. To further characterize the evolution of the subvolcanic magma storage and transport system, as well as the timing and source of alkali-enrichment, clinopyroxene from ten samples erupted between 1329 and 2004 was targeted for in situ textural, major element …

Paleoecology Of Late Cretaceous Methane Cold-Seeps Of The Pierre Shale, South Dakota, Kimberly Cynthia Handle

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Most investigations of ancient methane seeps focus on either the geologic or paleontological aspects of these extreme environments. In contrast, this thesis encompasses both disciplines to evaluate the paleoecology of these systems with greater detail than previously published either within the Western Interior Basin or elsewhere. This thesis addresses the following questions: 1) Are the changes in mineralogy of a seep discernable and predictable as a seep shifts from a clay-based environment to a carbonate-based environment? 2) What are the foundation organism(s) of Late Cretaceous methane cold-seeps? 3) Is there a correlation to the mineralogic changes and shifts in community …

Response Of Benthic Foraminifera To Ocean Acidification And Impact On Florida's Carbonate Sediment Production, Paul O. Knorr

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2 are in dynamic equilibrium with the oceans. The absorption of CO2 by seawater causes a decrease in seawater pH and calcite saturation state (SS). This process, termed ocean acidification, exerts deleterious effects on marine calcifiers. Studies of symbiont-bearing large benthic foraminifera (LBF) have reported a generally unfavorable response to increased concentrations of carbon dioxide ([CO2]).

Experiments and analyses were undertaken to examine the effect of increased [CO2] on the growth rate, ultrastructure, stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen, as well as Mg/Ca of the high-Mg miliolid Archaias angulatus and the low-Mg rotalid Amphistegina gibbosa. A …

Digital Outcrop Model And Paleoecology Of The Eight-Foot Rapid Algal Field (Middle Pennsylvanian Lower Ismay Sequence), Paradox Basin, Utah, Colton Lynn Goodrich

Theses and Dissertations

Although phylloid algal mounds have been studied for 50 year, much remains to be determined concerning the ecology and sedimentology of these Late Paleozoic carbonate buildups. Herein we perform a digital outcrop study of the well-known Middle Pennsylvanian Lower Ismay mound interval in the Paradox Basin because outcropping mounds along the San Juan River are cited as outcrop analogs of reservoir carbonates in the Paradox Basin oil province of Utah and adjacent states. The principal field area is the Eight Foot algal field located at river mile 19.2 on the San Juan River, approximately 14 miles SSW of Bluff, Utah. …

Analysis Of Tripolitic Chert In The Boone Formation (Lower Mississippian, Osagean), Northwest Arkansas And Southwestern Missouri, Paul Marchand Minor

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Boone Formation in northwest Arkansas and southwestern Missouri exposes a nearly complete sequence of Lower Mississippian chert-bearing carbonates deposited by a single 3rd order transgression and regression. An abundant amount of chert that has replaced limestone highlights the Boone, but little is understood about the timing and development of chert in Lower Mississippian carbonates. Interpretation of the diagenetic history of the chert, in particular tripolite, has significant implications beyond the outcrop. Determining the origin, timing, and extent of tripolitic chert in the Lower Mississippian System improves reservoir characterization in subsurface petroleum reservoirs in the mid-continent that are laterally equivalent …

Origins Of Stable Isotopic Variations In Late Pleistocene Horse Enamel And Bone From Alberta, Nicolle S. Bellissimo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Oxygen and carbon isotopic measurements of coevally formed bone and tooth enamel bioapatite from a modern equid show that these tissues record drinking water and diet isotopic signals in an identical fashion. Hence, data for both tissues can be combined to track movement, dietary changes, and seasonal variability over the animal’s lifetime, and climatic variability over longer time periods. This tool was tested for horses using ten paired tooth and bone samples to reconstruct conditions in Alberta during the Late Pleistocene. While post-mortem isotopic alteration confounded interpretation of the results, two key findings emerged: (i) pre- and post-Last Glacial Maximum …

Depositional Setting And Sequence Stratigraphic Analysis Of The Lower Permian Lower Hueco Formation On The Western Margin Of The Orogrande Basin, South Central New Mexico, Jonathon Eric Stautberg

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

On the western margin of the Orogrande Basin in south-central New Mexico, eight outcrop datasets, in the form of measured stratigraphic sections from the lower interval of the Lower Permian Lower Hueco Formation were analyzed in regard to depositional facies distribution and sequence stratigraphy. Based on petrographic analysis of 247 samples and associated field relationships, 11 depositional facies are recognized: 1) quartz sandstone, 2) quartz siltstone and shale, 3) fenestral dolomudstone, 4) microbial intraclast packstone, 5) dolomudstone, 6) green-algal packstone to grainstone, 7) ostracode foram wackestone, 8) oolitic packstone, 9) fossiliferous packstone and grainstone, 10) fusulinid packstone and grainstone, 11) …