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Evaluation Of The Potential Of Automated Sem-Eds Analysis For The Discrimination Of Inorganic Soil Particles, Anna S. Duggar Sep 2021

Evaluation Of The Potential Of Automated Sem-Eds Analysis For The Discrimination Of Inorganic Soil Particles, Anna S. Duggar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Soil, that complex mixture of minerals, organic particles, chemicals, and anthropogenic materials, is ubiquitous and easily transferred, which gives it forensic relevance. Forensic soil analysis has traditionally included the identification and comparison of both organic and inorganic components, the inorganic portion being most commonly examined by light microscopy and other instrumental techniques. Predominantly, the inorganic materials in soil are naturally-occurring minerals, contributed as grains from the surrounding bedrock, which gives a soil its regional character. That parent material then undergoes physical, chemical, and anthropogenic changes producing wide geographic variation within a single region. This variation forms the basis for potential …


Using Quantitative Stereology On High Resolution Sem Images To Estimate Diatom Percentages, Ariadna Covarrubias Ornelas Jul 2021

Using Quantitative Stereology On High Resolution Sem Images To Estimate Diatom Percentages, Ariadna Covarrubias Ornelas

Dissertations and Theses

Diatoms are single-celled organisms of various shapes and sizes typically found in aquatic environments. When diatoms die, the organic material decomposes, and the outer skeletons (i.e., frustules) settle and accumulate as sedimentary deposits. These soils, called diatomaceous soils, exhibit nontraditional behavior since the diatom particles are typically hollow skeletons composed of amorphous silica with intricately patterned and abrasive surfaces. Recent studies have shown that diatomaceous soils are challenging geomaterials since even a small percentage of diatom particles will notably affect engineering behavior. Furthermore, laboratory studies on diatomaceous soil mixtures have demonstrated that many engineering soil properties depend on the percentage …


Bleached Chondrules And The Possible Influence Of Aqueous Alteration, Robert P. Kostynick Jun 2019

Bleached Chondrules And The Possible Influence Of Aqueous Alteration, Robert P. Kostynick

Geology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Aqueous alteration, chemical or petrologic change through the addition of water, is a proposed secondary effect of ordinary chondrites. Some minimally metamorphosed chondrites have been noted to have strong signs of aqueous alteration (Weisberg et al., 2006), but the degree of the effect in other chondrites is not clear. There is a specific chondrule type called “bleached chondrules” in which aqueous alteration is proposed to occur in a widespread fashion for all metamorphic grades (Grossman et al., 2000). Using transmitted optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) at Portland State University, this report obtained chemical and petrological data of …


Hairy Stalagmites, A New Biogenic Root Speleothem From Botswana, Gerhard C. Du Preez, Paolo Forti, Gerhard Jacobs, Anine Jordaan, Louwrens Tiedt Nov 2014

Hairy Stalagmites, A New Biogenic Root Speleothem From Botswana, Gerhard C. Du Preez, Paolo Forti, Gerhard Jacobs, Anine Jordaan, Louwrens Tiedt

International Journal of Speleology

Ngamiland in northwestern Botswana hosts the Gcwihaba Caves which present unique subterranean environments and host speleothems never before recorded. Cave atmospheric conditions can be extreme with temperatures as high as 28°C and relative humidity nearing 99.9%. Within Dimapo and Diviner’s Caves peculiar root speleothems that we named ‘Hairy Stalagmites’ were found. These stalagmites are closely associated with the roots of Namaqua fig (Ficus cordata) trees that enter the cave environment in search of water. Pieces of broken stalagmites were sampled from Dimapo Cave for further investigations. Stereo and electron microscopy revealed that the Hairy Stalagmites consist of multiple …


Microstructural Evolution Of Fine-Grained Layers Through The Firn Column At Summit, Greenland, R. Lomonaco, M. Albert, I. Baker Jan 2011

Microstructural Evolution Of Fine-Grained Layers Through The Firn Column At Summit, Greenland, R. Lomonaco, M. Albert, I. Baker

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present a microstructural characterization of fine-grained layers from the top 90 m of firn from Summit, Greenland, performed using a combination of scanning electron microscopy techniques including secondary electron imaging, energy-dispersive spectroscopy and electron backscattered patterns, and X-ray microcomputed tomography. The impurities in the firn, both soluble impurities and dust particles, were found largely in the grain interiors. Both c- and a-axis pole figures do not show strong evidence of a preferred orientation of the grains even at the bottom of the firn column. The firn structure became increasingly anisotropic with vertical alignment in the top 3 m, probably …


A New Technique For Firn Grain-Size Measurement Using Sem Image Analysis, N.E. Spaulding, D.A. Meese, I. Baker, P.A. Mayewski Jan 2010

A New Technique For Firn Grain-Size Measurement Using Sem Image Analysis, N.E. Spaulding, D.A. Meese, I. Baker, P.A. Mayewski

Dartmouth Scholarship

Firn microstructure is accurately characterized using images obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Visibly etched grain boundaries within images are used to create a skeleton outline of the microstructure. A pixel-counting utility is applied to the outline to determine grain area. Firn grain sizes calculated using the technique described here are compared to those calculated using the techniques of Gow (1969) and Gay and Weiss (1999) on samples of the same material, and are found to be substantially smaller. The differences in grain size between the techniques are attributed to sampling deficiencies (e.g. the inclusion of pore filler in the …


Scanning Electron Microscopic Analysis Of Rock Varnish Chemistry For Cation-Ratio Dating: An Examination Of Electron Beam Penetration Depths, Steven L. Reneau, Roland C. Hagan, Charles D. Harrington, Robert Raymond Jr. Jan 1991

Scanning Electron Microscopic Analysis Of Rock Varnish Chemistry For Cation-Ratio Dating: An Examination Of Electron Beam Penetration Depths, Steven L. Reneau, Roland C. Hagan, Charles D. Harrington, Robert Raymond Jr.

Scanning Microscopy

Rock varnish is a microns-thick manganese- and iron-rich coating that forms on exposed rock surfaces in arid and semi-arid environments, and empirical correlations of the varnish cation ratio (K+Ca):Ti with age have been used to estimate ages of geomorphic surfaces. One method of obtaining varnish chemistry for cation-ratio dating involves scanning electron microscope (SEM) energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) analysis of natural varnish surfaces. The chemical analyses of rock varnish with SEM/EDX utilize a sequence of accelerating voltages to vary penetration depths into the sample. Using elemental x-ray maps of natural varnish surfaces obtained by SEM/EDX analysis, penetration into the substrate …


Barium Concentration In Rock Varnish: Implications For Calibrated Rock Varnish Dating Curves, C. D. Harrington, D. J. Krier, R. Raymond Jr., S. L. Reneau Jan 1991

Barium Concentration In Rock Varnish: Implications For Calibrated Rock Varnish Dating Curves, C. D. Harrington, D. J. Krier, R. Raymond Jr., S. L. Reneau

Scanning Microscopy

Cation-ratio dating of rock varnish is a recently developed technique for obtaining surface exposure ages of a wide variety of geomorphic surfaces. As originally proposed, the technique utilizes a ratio among minor cations [(K+Ca)/Ti] in rock varnish. Although this varnish cation ratio is related to the Ti concentration, it can also be affected by the presence of Ba that may be partially included in the analyzed concentration of Ti. Barium is a minor constituent found in virtually all rock varnishes sampled from the Lake Mead area, Las Vegas Valley, and the Crater Flat region of southern Nevada. Barium is heterogeneously …