Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Past And Future Drought In Mongolia, Amy Hessl, Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Casey Jelsema, Benjamin Cook, Oyunsannaa Byambasuren, Caroline Leland, Baatarbileg Nachin, Neil Pederson, Hanqin Tian, Laia Andreu Hayles

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The severity of recent droughts in semiarid regions is increasingly attributed to anthropogenic climate change, but it is unclear whether these moisture anomalies exceed those of the past and how past variability compares to future pro- jections. On the Mongolian Plateau, a recent decade-long drought that exceeded the variability in the instrumental record was associated with economic, social, and environmental change. We evaluate this drought using an annual reconstruction of the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) spanning the last 2060 years in concert with simulations of past and future drought through the year 2100 CE. We show that although the …

Reducing Uncertainties In Applying Remotely Sensed Land Use And Land Cover Maps In Land-Atmosphere Interaction: Identifying Change In Space And Time, Yaqian He, Timothy A. Warner, Brenden E. Mcneil, Eungul Lee

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Land use and land cover (LULC) data are a central component of most land-atmosphere interaction studies, but there are two common and highly problematic scale mismatches between LULC and climate data. First, in the spatial domain, researchers rarely consider the impact of scaling up fine-scale LULC data to match coarse-scale climate datasets. Second, in the temporal domain, climate data typically have sub-daily, daily, monthly, or annual resolution, but LULC datasets often have much coarser (e.g., decadal) resolution. We first explored the effect of three spatial scaling methods on correlations among LULC data and a land surface climatic variable, latent heat …

Mapping The Yearly Extent Of Surface Coal Mining In Central Appalachia Using Landsat And Google Earth Engine, Andrew A. Pericak, Christian J. Thomas, David A. Kroodsma, Matthew F. Wasson, Matthew R.V. Ross, Nicolas E. Clinton, David J. Campagna, Yolandita Franklin, Emily S. Bernhardt, John F. Amos

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Surface mining for coal has taken place in the Central Appalachian region of the United States for well over a century, with a notable increase since the 1970s. Researchers have quantified the ecosystem and health impacts stemming from mining, relying in part on a geospatial dataset defining surface mining’s extent at a decadal interval. This dataset, how- ever, does not deliver the temporal resolution necessary to support research that could establish causal links between mining activity and environmental or public health and safety outcomes, nor has it been updated since 2005. Here we use Google Earth Engine and Landsat imagery …

Possible Bite-Induced Abscess And Osteomyelitis In Lufengosaurus (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorph) From The Lower Jurassic Of The Yimen Basin, China, Lida Xing, Bruce M. Rothschild, Patrick S. Randolph-Quinney, Yi Wang, Alexander H. Parkinson, Hao Ran

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

We report an osseous abnormality on a specimen of the sauropod dinosaur Lufengosaurus huenei from the Fengjiahe Formation in Yuxi Basin, China. A gross pathological defect occurs on the right third rib, which was subjected to micro-computed tomographic imaging as an aid in diagnosis. The analysis of pathological characteristics and the shape of the abnormality is incompatible with impact or healed trauma, such as a common rib fracture, and instead suggests focal penetration of the rib, possibly due to a failed predator attack. The identification of characteristics based on gross morphology and internal micro-morphology presented by the specimen, suggests an …

Temporal And Geochemical Signatures In Granitoids Of Northwestern Nevada: Evidence For The Continuity Of The Mesozoic Magmatic Arc Through The Western Great Basin, Kenneth L. Brown, William K. Hart, Richard J. Stuck

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Granitoid magmatism in the Basin and Range Province of northwestern Nevada remains an important gap in our understanding of the along-strike variability of Mesozoic Cordilleran arc systems. We present a comprehensive investigation on a suite of intrusions within the Santa Rosa Range (SRR) and Bloody Run Hills (BRH) of northwestern Nevada. Petrography, whole-rock geochemistry, and zircon U-Pb geochronology indicate two distinct magmatic systems in the SRR: an older, mafic, and metaluminous pulse (Santa Rosa/Andorno [SRA] group—ca. 102–100 Ma) and a younger, felsic, and peraluminous pulse (Granite Peak/Sawtooth [GPS] group—ca. 94–92 Ma). Within the BRH to the south, the Flynn (ca. …

Spatiotemporal Evolution Of Land Subsidence In The Beijing Plain 2003–2015 Using Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (Psi) With Multi-Source Sar Data, Chaodong Zhou, Huili Gong, Youquan Zhang, Timothy A. Warner, Cong Wang

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Land subsidence is one of the most important geological hazards in Beijing, China, and its scope and magnitude have been growing rapidly over the past few decades, mainly due to long-term groundwater withdrawal. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) has been used to monitor the deformation in Beijing, but there is a lack of analysis of the long-term spatiotemporal evolution of land subsidence. This study focused on detecting and characterizing spatiotemporal changes in subsidence in the Beijing Plain by using Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) and geographic spatial analysis. Land subsidence during 2003–2015 was monitored by using ENVISAT ASAR (2003–2010), RADARSAT-2 (2011–2015) …

Environmental Governance And Climate Change Adaptation In The Okavango Delta, Botswana, Jamie Shinn

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Increased environmental variability as a result of climate change will continue to intensify in coming decades, with particularly acute consequences for those living in already marginal conditions. The impacts of these biophysical changes require new approaches to environmental governance to facilitate successful forms of climate change adaptation for individuals and communities in changing social-ecological systems.

Past And Future Drought In Mongolia, Amy Hessl, Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Casey Jelsema, Benjamin Cook, Oyunsanaa Byambasuren, Caroline Leland, Baatarbileg Nachin, Neil Pederson, Hanqin Tian, Laia Andreu Hayles

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The severity of recent droughts in semiarid regions is increasingly attributed to anthropogenic climate change, but it is unclear whether these moisture anomalies exceed those of the past and how past variability compares to future projections. On the Mongolian Plateau, a recent decade-long drought that exceeded the variability in the instrumental record was associated with economic, social, and environmental change. We evaluate this drought using an annual reconstruction of the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) spanning the last 2060 years in concert with simulations of past and future drought through the year 2100 CE.We show that although the most recent …

Reducing Uncertainties In Applying Remotely Sensed Land Use And Land Cover Maps In Land-Atmosphere Interaction: Identifying Change In Space And Time, Yaqian He, Timothy A. Warner, Brenden E. Mcneil, Eungul Lee

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Land use and land cover (LULC) data are a central component of most land-atmosphere interaction studies, but there are two common and highly problematic scale mismatches between LULC and climate data. First, in the spatial domain, researchers rarely consider the impact of scaling up fine-scale LULC data to match coarse-scale climate datasets. Second, in the temporal domain, climate data typically have sub-daily, daily, monthly, or annual resolution, but LULC datasets often have much coarser (e.g., decadal) resolution. We first explored the effect of three spatial scaling methods on correlations among LULC data and a land surface climatic variable, latent heat …

Improved Kerogen Models For Determining Thermal Maturity And Hydrocarbon Potential Of Shale, Vikas Agrawal, Shikha Sharma

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Kerogen is the insoluble component of organic-rich shales that controls the type and amount of

hydrocarbons generated in conventional and unconventional reservoirs. Significant progress has

recently been made in developing structural models of kerogen. However, there is still a large gap in understanding the evolution of the molecular components of kerogen with thermal maturation and their hydrocarbon (HC) generative potential. Here, we determine the variations in different molecular fragments of kerogen from a Marcellus Shale maturity series (with VRo ranging from 0.8 to 3) using quantitative 13C MultiCP/MAS NMR and MultiCP NMR/DD (dipolar dephasing). These molecular variations provide insight into …

Risk Assessment And Mapping Of Hand, Foot, And Mouth Disease At The County Level In Mainland China Using Spatiotemporal Zero-Inflated Bayesian Hierarchical Models, Chao Song, Yaqian He, Yanchen Bo, Jinfeng Wang, Zhoupeng Ren, Huibin Yang

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a worldwide infectious disease, prominent in China. China’s HFMD data are sparse with a large number of observed zeros across locations and over time. However, no previous studies have considered such a zero-inflated problem on HFMD’s spatiotemporal risk analysis and mapping, not to mention for the entire Mainland China at county level. Monthly county-level HFMD cases data combined with related climate and socioeconomic variables were collected. We developed four models, including spatiotemporal Poisson, negative binomial, zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP), and zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) models under the Bayesian hierarchical modeling framework to explore disease …

Hydrogeology And Water Management In The Arkwright Underground Coal Mine, Pittsburgh Seam, Northern West Virginia, Bryant D. Mountjoy

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Arkwright #1 is a closed underground mine in the Pittsburgh coal seam near Morgantown, West Virginia USA. Arkwright shares perimeter boundaries/barriers with three other closed Pittsburgh seam mines (Osage #3, Jordan #93, Federal #1) and is partially overlain by flooded Sewickley seam mines, 25 m above it. This mine is significant primarily because it manages and treats water diverted from nearly 20 other closed mines over a 600 square kilometer area. This study examines water levels, pump records, and mine maps to describe the hydrogeology of Arkwright Mine. After closure in 1995, Arkwright and the adjacent northern Osage mines began …

Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis Of Carbonate Waters In The Peters Mountain Region Of Monroe County, Wv, Emily A. Bausher

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Water in Monroe County, WV is used extensively for public and private supply and requires quantification, chemical analysis, and assessment for contamination susceptibility. Over 250 springs were previously identified in the eastern side of Monroe County on or near Peters Mountain; 14 were continuously monitored in this study. Springs were grouped based on geologic and spatial distribution: interbedded clastic-rock springs on the mountain flanks, carbonate springs in the valley, and a thermal spring associated with the St. Clair thrust fault. Clastic and carbonate springs have calcium-magnesium-bicarbonate chemistries, neutral pHs and high alkalinities; the thermal spring has calcium-magnesium-sulfate-carbonate chemistry, low pH, …

Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Surface Water Quality In Relation To Marcellus Shale Gas Development In The Northern Panhandle Of West Virginia, Rachel Yesenchak

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Pre-existing water chemistry data available from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection were used to examine temporal changes in surface water quality related to the onset of Marcellus Shale gas drilling activity in the state of West Virginia. Drilling is concentrated in the northwestern portion of the state. Watersheds were delineated for twelve discrete stream sampling locations in the Upper Ohio-Wheeling HUC-8 sub-basin, where shale gas drilling is prevalent. Kruskal-Wallis tests were deployed to compare pre- and post-drilling concentrations of conductivity, chloride, and total suspended solids for each location. Increased concentrations of these parameters are associated with surface water …