Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Microbe-Mineral Interactions During Exceptional Fossil Preservation, Stromatolite Formation, And Desert Varnish Growth, Michael Strange

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Ediacaran to Cambrian Deep Spring Formation consists of mixed carbonate-siliciclastic strata which contain an increasingly complex and biogeographically important biota. Past investigations of the Deep Spring Formation at Mt. Dunfee, Nevada, explored the highly diverse microbialite reefs consisting of a wide range of stromatolite morphologies which exerted significant control on local sedimentation and topography. Early investigations also documented the biomineralizing metazoan Cloudina (an Ediacaran index fossil). However, recent exploration of the area has resulted in the discovery of several new metazoan fossil communities consisting of a diverse assemblage of Ediacaran soft-tissue tubicolous vermiforms (tube fossils) similar to Cloudina. The …

Initial Measurements On The Effect Of Stress On P- And S-Wave Velocities In Olivine, Taryn Traylor

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

It is well known that elasticity is a key physical property in the determination of the structure and composition of the Earth and provides critical information for the interpretation of seismic data. This study investigates the stress-induced variation in elastic wave velocities, known as the acoustoelastic effect, in San Carlos olivine. A recently developed experimental ultrasonic acoustic system, the Directly Integrated Acoustic System Combined with Pressure Experiments (DIASCoPE), was used with the D-DIA multi-anvil apparatus to transmit ultrasonic sound waves and collect the reflections. We use the DIASCoPE to obtain longitudinal (P) and shear (S) elastic wave velocities from the …

Tectonic Evolution Of The Tucki Mountain Metamorphic Core Complex, Southeastern California: Evidence For Late Cretaceous Extension Within The Sevier-Laramide Orogen, William Killey Barba

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The exhumation of Cordilleran metamorphic core complexes from mid-crustal depths in the western U.S. Basin and Range Province has been classically associated with Cenozoic extension. However, recent studies reveal that extensional tectonic exhumation of numerous metamorphic core complexes initiated during the Late Cretaceous. New geologic mapping and structural analysis integrated with geochronology and thermochronology data provide evidence for a Late Cretaceous extensional shear zone, previously interpreted as Miocene in age, within the Tucki Mountain metamorphic core complex on the western flank of Death Valley, California. The shear zone occurs within the immediate footwall of the Miocene-Pliocene Tucki Mountain detachment fault …

Three-Dimensional (3d) Characterization Of The Middle Ordoovician (Darriwilian) Strata In The Southern Great Basin, Western United States, Uday Mohamed Baheej Kara Ali

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Carbonates are mostly produced in shallow-marine environments and their deposition is sensitive to water depth changes on carbonate platforms. The water depth in depositional environments of a particular carbonate platform is controlled by the interplay of eustatic sea-level change, tectonic subsidence, platform morphology, and depositional rate. Due to the morphological variations of carbonate platforms in different tectonic settings, facies distribution across carbonate platforms varies significantly even during a single eustatic sea-level cycle. Carbonate platforms developed on passive continental margins are thought to be the most stable platforms and their facies distribution is commonly taken as examples in textbook depositional models. …

Experimental Polycrystal Stress Mapping Using Raman Spectroscopy, Genevieve C. Kidman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Stress conditions leading to rock deformation influence how a rock will ultimately deform. However, the internal distribution of stress in an elastically anisotropic rock under load, a precursor to rock deformation, is not well understood. Two models that may describe the distribution of stress in polycrystals include the Reuss bound and stress percolation. The Reuss bound, when applied to a polycrystal, describes isostress on each grain resulting in homogeneous intragranular strain and heterogeneous intergranular strain. The stress percolation model involves a network of strong contacts or force chains containing domains of high stress interwoven through areas of lower stress that …

Infiltration Into Water-Repellent Sand: The Role Of Sorptivity, Rose Marie Shillito

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Soil water repellency (SWR) is believed to contribute to the increased potential for post-fire runoff and erosion. Currently, no quantitative method exists to account for SWR in physically-based runoff models. A physically-based model incorporating SWR (through the contact angle) in the infiltration parameter, sorptivity, was developed. The model was tested and verified with controlled laboratory tests on a fully characterized sand treated to create various degrees of SWR. The ability to create the wetting water characteristic curve for untreated and treated sand, appropriate for the infiltration process, was presented. Additionally, the ability to measure sorptivity with widely used infiltration tests …

An Evaluation Of Bank Storage At Lake Mead Reservoir In The Southwest United States, Jon Woodrow Wilson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A water balance model is employed at Lake Mead to monitor and verify changing hydrology that affects total volume at the reservoir. Bank storage, which is defined as the volume of water captured in permeable lithologic layers subject to changes induced by contact and proximity to an open waterbody, is one component that is updated regularly and is based upon data and methods that were developed in the 1960’s from observations made within the first 30 years of the reservoir's maturation. Since this period, the reservoir has undergone further development and a current understanding of additional hydrologic affects to bank …

Paleoecology Of Columbian And Pygmy Mammoths In Southern Nevada And California: How Terminal Pleistocene Ecosystems Shaped Mammoths At The Individual, Population, And Community Level, Lauren Elizabeth Parry

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this dissertation research is to examine the paleoecology of the Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) and the pygmy mammoth (M. exilis) on the individual, population, and community level, emphasizing factors internal to their ecosystem that may have contributed to their extinction. I focus specifically on mammoths from Southern Nevada and Southern California to add regional data to the complex and evolving study of North American mammoth paleoecology.

Chapter 2 documents the permitted excavation of a partial mammoth (Mammuthus sp.) between 2016-2018 from late Pleistocene groundwater-discharge deposits near Fairbanks Spring in the Amargosa Valley, Nevada. A preliminary radiocarbon date …