Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Reevaluating The Geologic Formations Of The Upper Coastal Plain In Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Bradley Aaron Fitzwater

OES Theses and Dissertations

Data from a new geological map of the Patrick, S.C. 7.5 minute quadrangle (1:24,000) and detailed descriptions of two cores collected nearby (Middendorf and Cheraw, S.C.) permit improved interpretation of the geology of this portion of the Carolina Sandhills. Geologic mapping incorporated analyses of outcrops with LiDAR data, soil survey maps, ground-penetrating radar transects, and hand auger borings. Micro- and macrofossil identification and optically-stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating provided age control.

Four distinct mappable units occur throughout the Patrick quadrangle. Resting unconformably on schist of the Paleozoic Persimmons Fork Formation, the Cretaceous Middendorf Formation is more than 85.3 m thick and …

The Marine Cyanate Cycle, Brittany Widner

OES Theses and Dissertations

Cyanate (OCN-) is a reduced nitrogen compound with the potential to serve as a nitrogen and carbon source for marine microbes. Evidence from genomes and culture studies indicated that several marine cyanobacterial groups, including representatives of the globally important genera Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus, might be capable of cyanate assimilation. However, prior to this study, the distribution, bioavailability, and production pathways of cyanate were unknown in natural systems due to the absence of a sensitive cyanate assay; and the ability of organisms to assimilate cyanate on relevant timescales was unknown because we lacked a suitable tracer for measuring uptake. I developed …