Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Martian Spectroscopy: Laboratory Calibration Of The Perseverance Rover’S Mastcam-Z And Photometric Investigation Of Mars-Analog Ferric-Coated Sand, Kristiana Lapo

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Mars 2020 rover Perseverance will search for signs of past habitability and biosignatures after landing in Jezero Crater in February 2021. Spectroscopy is a vital tool for planetary remote sensing and Perseverance is equipped with Mastcam-Z, a stereoscopic, zoom-enabled, multispectral imager that can acquire true color images with red, green, and blue (RGB) color filters, and visible- to near-infrared images with 12 narrowband science filters between 400 and 1100 nm. Mastcam-Z will provide operational support for the rover as well as directly contribute to Perseverance’s geologic investigations. Given the integral role of Mastcam-Z in the Mars 2020 mission, calibration …

Marine Ecosystem Response To Late Pleistocene Rapid Climate Change In The Salish Sea, Alex Victor Hernandez

WWU Graduate School Collection

The ecologic response of marine invertebrates during collapse of the Cordilleran Ice-sheet through the Late Pleistocene has been insufficiently studied across the lowlands of northwestern Washington State and southern Fraser Valley, British Columbia. Assessment of the response of these nearshore marine assemblages to climatic shifts will improve our understanding of closely related modern taxa in analogous climate-stressed conditions. If we understand the former vulnerability of related genera, meaningful predictions may thus be provided for extant taxa in current and future time. In this thesis, I establish a compilation dataset of all relevant specimens collected within the Salish Sea and Puget …

Provenance Of Early Paleogene Strata In The Bighorn Basin (Wyoming, U.S.A.): Implications For Laramide Tectonism And Basin-Scale Stratigraphic Patterns, Jessica L. Welch

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Bighorn Basin (Wyoming, U.S.A.) contains some of the best exposed and studied nonmarine early Paleogene strata. Over a century of research has produced a highly resolved record of early Paleogene terrestrial climatic and biotic change as well as extensive documentation of spatiotemporal variability in basin-scale stratigraphy. The basin also offers the opportunity to integrate these data with the uplift and erosional history of the Laramide uplifts that surround the Bighorn Basin. Herein we provide a comprehensive provenance analysis of the early Paleogene Fort Union and Willwood formations in the Bighorn Basin from paleocurrent measurements (n = 510 measurements), detrital …

Revaluating The Use Of Mollusks For Estimating Paleodepth In The Pacific Northwest, E Worthington

WWU Graduate School Collection

Fossil records have the potential to extract important paleoenvironmental records, and by ground truthing our assumptions with modern mollusks we can improve our interpretations of the fossil record. Modern molluscan death assemblages from Rosario Strait were analyzed to: 1) determine to what extent the molluscan communities were controlled by grain size or depth; and 2) determine the extent to which age mixing was occurring in the death assemblage. Twenty-eight Van Veen grab samples were collected in Rosario Strait to represent range of depth and grain sizes. All samples were wet sieved to isolate mature mollusks (> 2.00 mm), and sediment …

Reidentifying Sources Of Tephra In The Izu-Bonin Arc: Recognizing Recent Rear-Arc Volcanism 1.1 – 2.7 Ma, Cassandra King

WWU Graduate School Collection

The focus of volcanic activity in the Izu-Bonin arc has migrated across the arc over time, creating distinct across-arc geochemical regions including the arc front, rift region, and the rear arc seamount chains (RASC). This study challenges the previously held assumptions that the rear arc was inactive after 2.8 Ma and that tephra deposited in the arc younger than 2.8 Ma with K₂O > 1 wt.% and La/Yb > 2.2 was sourced from the SW Japan arc. I studied 1.1 - 2.7 Ma tephra retrieved from core from the rear arc at Site U1437, IODP Expedition 350, in order to …

Grain Size Variability Spanning The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum In Laramide Basins: Reconstructing Paleoslopes And Overbank Erodibility, Delaney Todd

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is an extensively studied global warming event occurring approximately 56 Ma and lasting around 200 kyr. Marked by a negative ¹³C excursion from a massive influx of CO₂ to the atmosphere, the PETM caused environmental alterations including increases in global temperature, changes in hydrology and ocean chemistry, and floral and faunal overturns. Evidence of these alterations during the PETM is found within both marine and continental basins. During the early Paleogene, the Laramide Orogeny formed a series of nonmarine basins within the Western Interior of the United States. Three of these basins, the …

Floodplain Response To Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 In The Southern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, U.S.A., Eve Lalor

WWU Graduate School Collection

Paleosols in the Willwood Formation of the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming contain a sedimentary and geochemical record of several early Eocene hyperthermal (rapid, global warming) events including the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and the Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2). Numerous studies of the PETM indicate environmental shifts including an overall decrease in precipitation and soil moisture, but the hydrologic response to the subsequent smaller Eocene hyperthermals remains poorly understood. In order to estimate potential precipitation changes during ETM2, I sampled floodplain paleosol horizons from Willwood Formation strata below, within, and above the stratigraphic carbon isotope excursion (CIE) that marks the ETM2. …

Evaluating Thresholds In Fluvial Response To The Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 In The Bighorn Basin (Wyoming, U.S.A), Grace Marie Sutherland

WWU Graduate School Collection

Earth's climate experienced a set of hyperthermal events during the greenhouse climate state of the early Paleogene. The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was the largest of these abrupt global warming events, occurring at ~56 Ma and lasting for ~200,000 years. The PETM is identifiable by a large negative carbon isotope excursion and associated with significant changes in global temperature, hydrology, ocean chemistry, and biology. Subsequent smaller hyperthermal events appear to have commensurately smaller effects on marine environments, but the scaling of the complementary nonmarine environmental responses is unclear.

The Bighorn Basin of northwest Wyoming contains the most detailed nonmarine record …

Testing The Potential For Using Structure From Motion Photogrammetry Methods To Estimate Seasonal Mass Balance On Lower Easton Glacier, Mount Baker, Wa, Elizabeth Kimberly

WWU Graduate School Collection

The traditional glaciological method of measuring glacier mass balance is labor-intensive and relies on broad extrapolation of sparse ablation stake data collected in the field to assess mass change across the glacier. In contrast, digital elevation models (DEMs) obtained from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery and Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry resolve a spatially distributed data set of surface elevation change. In this study, I compare seasonal mass balance estimated by field-based glaciological methods and UAV-SfM methods during summer 2018 on the Easton Glacier, Mount Baker, WA. Total snow and ice surface melt was measured at five ablation stakes between May 20th …

Paleomagnetic And Structural Analysis Of Geothermal Drill Core From Akutan, Alaska, Molly Kathleen Johnson

WWU Graduate School Collection

Hot Springs Bay Valley (HSBV) geothermal resource area on Akutan Island, Alaska, has increased fluid output and temperature by almost a magnitude, between 1981 and 2012 (Bergfeld et al., 2014). These increases have been attributed to increased permeability along NW-SE trending faults that may have been activated during a seismic swarm in 1996. In 2010 two unoriented drill cores were collected in Hot Springs Bay geothermal resource area. In this study I reorient sections from one of the highly fractured cores with paleomagnetic data to test this model of geothermal reservoir evolution at Akutan. The core is composed of interlayered …

Using Multispectral Imagery To Interrogate Deposition, Alteration, And Weathering Across Curiosity Rover’S Traverse In Gale Crater, Mars, Christina Seeger

WWU Graduate School Collection

Since landing in 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover has explored over 20 kilometers of Gale crater, climbing almost 400 meters in elevation. The fluvio-deltaic, lacustrine, and aeolian sediments in the crater have been well documented by Curiosity’s suite of in situ and remote science instruments. Indeed, they have traced chemical trends that track changes in lithology and diagenesis over the study area—though most instruments only sample individual rock, vein, and soil targets at a very small scale. The Mast Camera (Mastcam) has periodically acquired much larger (meter-scale) multispectral, visible to near-infrared observations of outcrops throughout this stratigraphic …

Modeling The Effects Of Climate Change On Streamflow And Stream Temperature In The South Fork Of The Stillaguamish River, Katherine Mary Clarke

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Stillaguamish River in northwest Washington State is an important regional water resource for local agriculture, industry, and First Nations tribes and a critical habitat for several threatened and endangered salmonid species, including the Chinook salmon. The river is currently subject to a temperature total maximum daily load, so it is important to understand how projected climate change will affect future stream temperatures and thus salmon populations. Snowpack is the main contributor to spring and summer streamflow and helps to mitigate stream temperatures as air temperatures rise through the summer in the South Fork of the Stillaguamish River. I used …

Crystal Mush Dynamics Of Mount St. Helens And Lassen Volcanic Center: Insights From Melt Inclusions And Titanium-In-Quartz Thermobarometry, Jeremy S. Rosen

WWU Graduate School Collection

In order to better understand magma chamber dynamics at Lassen Volcanic Center (LVC) and Mount St. Helens (MSH) I examine quartz cathodoluminescent textures along with trace element abundances in quartz and compositions of quartz-hosted melt inclusions from multiple samples over a wide range of ages (LVC: 116 ka-1915; MSH: 272 ka to 84 ka). I use melt inclusion compositions to estimate quartz crystallization temperatures using zircon saturation thermometry and titanium abundances in quartz are used to estimate quartz crystallization pressures. When examined from core to rim within an individual grain, these data, along with internal CL-zoning textures reveal the dynamic …

Wave Runup And Morphologic Change On A Mixed-Sediment Beach In The Salish Sea, Wa, Avery Maverick

WWU Graduate School Collection

A primary threat to coastal regions is extreme water levels from tides, storm surges, and waves which drive coastal evolution. Predicting wave runup, the vertical extent of wave uprush on a beach above still water level, and the morphologic responses to storms within the Salish Sea is complex because of the high variability of shoreline exposure to waves and wind, morphology, coastal landforms, and tide range across the region. As part of a USGS study, this project was designed to assess how wave energy offshore drives runup, validate existing runup models (van der Meer, 2002; Stockdon et al., 2006; Didier …

Auto-Stratigraphic Evolution Of Experimental Crater-Fill Basins: Implications For Interpreting Mars Sequence Stratigraphy And Paleoclimate, Lexie Stodden

WWU Graduate School Collection

Preserved fluvial and deltaic sedimentary deposits found within martian crater-fill basins are important evidence documenting past warmer, wetter climatic periods on Mars. The morphologic and stratigraphic patterns of these sedimentary deposits are commonly interpreted to record variably complex transgression and regression histories of crater-lake levels, driven by fluctuations in the prevailing hydroclimatic conditions. Yet this tendency for direct inversion of sedimentary characteristics to formative boundary conditions largely neglects large-scale autogenic processes operating in crater-fill basins. The goal of this research is to illustrate an idiosyncratic feature of these basin types, wherein attributes of the sediment source play an outsized role …

Timing And Conditions Of Metamorphism In The Cascades Crystalline Core From Garnet Lu-Hf And Sm-Nd Geochronology, Peter Baker

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Chiwaukum Schist and Tonga Formation of Cascades Crystalline Core experienced three distinct metamorphic events: (M1) an early metamorphism that predates regional pluton emplacement, (M2) low-pressure contact metamorphism in the aureoles of the Mount Stuart batholith and Beckler Peak pluton, and (M3) regional Barrovian metamorphism. The timing of these distinct metamorphic events is critical to testing models for the tectonic evolution of the region and mechanisms that lead to burial of rocks within the orogen. I present new garnet Lu-Hf and Sm-Nd isochrons, average pressure and temperature calculations, and pseudosection modeling from the Chiwaukum Schist and Tonga Formation in order …

Bio-Preservation Potential Of Sediment In Eberswalde Crater, Mars, Cory Hughes

WWU Graduate School Collection

Within Eberswalde crater, Mars, is one of the most well-preserved river delta deposits identified within Mars’ rock record, and visually traceable from the deposit, is the partially-intact watershed that fed the paleo-lake that once resided within the crater basin. Aqueous alteration minerals, smectite clays and opaline silica, have been previously identified within the deposit, however the origin of those minerals is not well understood. Through analysis of topographic and hyperspectral data, we seek to ascertain the origin and provenance of these minerals to better understand their formative conditions and formation age. We will also assess Eberswalde crater’s potential as a …

Slip Rates And Kinematics Of Active Crustal Faults In The Central Oregon Cascades, Katherine Alexander

WWU Graduate School Collection

New cosmogenic ³He chronologies and surficial geologic mapping constrain the age of glacial deposits and slip rates of predominantly normal faults in the White Branch and Dilman Meadows fault zones in central Oregon, USA, over the last ca. ~80 kyr. Our mapping of glacial landforms and deposits distinguishes three primary episodes of glacial deposition in the White Branch fault zone. Twenty-two new cosmogenic ³He surface exposure dates indicate that the youngest glacial unit represents a last glacial maximum deposit (ca. 19.4 +10.1/-6.2 kyr). Mapping of outwash terrace surfaces and deposits in the Dilman Meadows fault zone, constrained by …

Modeling The Effects Of Climate Variability On Hydrology And Stream Temperatures In The North Fork Of The Stillaguamish River, Kyra Freeman

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Stillaguamish River in northwest Washington State, USA, provides water resources to local agriculture, industry and First Nations Tribes, and provides crucial habitat for several endangered species of salmonids. The watershed experiences a mild maritime climate and high relief, with rain and snowmelt dominating the streamflow. In anticipation of shifts in snowpack, streamflow, and stream temperature, I use projected global climate scenarios and numerical models to examine future climatic variability on streamflow and stream temperatures in the snow-melt dominated North Fork of the Stillaguamish River. I calibrated the physically based Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM) and River Basin Model …

Seismic Structure Of Tanaga Island, Alaska, Kevin F. (Kevin Francis) Lally

WWU Graduate School Collection

Tanaga Island is located in the Central Aleutian Islands and includes four stratovolcanoes: Sajaka, Tanaga, and East Tanaga in the northwest, and Takawangha in the central part of the island. Of these volcanoes, only Tanaga has a record of historical eruptive activity (in 1914). Over 3,000 earthquakes have been recorded beneath the island and the surrounding offshore region since the six-station seismic network was emplaced in 2003. The origin of these earthquakes is not completely understood, and to arrive at this understanding, more accurate hypocenter locations and power spectra need to be determined. A better analyses including improved locations of …

Increased Hydrologic Variability Near The Paleocene-Eocene Boundary (Piceance Creek Basin, Colorado, U.S.A.)), Anna Lesko

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was a rapid global warming event that occurred approximately 56 million years ago and represents the largest and most abrupt warming event of the Cenozoic Era. The PETM caused mean annual temperatures to increase at least 5°C globally above the already warm, greenhouse climate state of the early Paleogene. The warming and associated perturbation of the carbon cycle had numerous consequences for paleoenvironments and paleobiologic systems. This study investigates the hydrologic response to the PETM within the interior of North America and presents a new d¹³C bulk organic record. This study generates …

Validation Of Predicted Tsunami Inundation For The Inland Coast Of The Salish Sea Associated With Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquakes, Paige Morkner

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Cascadia subduction zone is understood to produce large, Mw 9.0, earthquakes every 300-1000 years. As a result of large ruptures along the fault, Washington, Oregon and Northern California, are susceptible large tsunamis along the coast. Hazard modeling and mapping along the Cascadia subduction zone has concluded that large tsunamis are able to travel through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and inundate coastal regions of the Salish Sea and Puget Sound. However, to improve modeling efforts, field validation of models is required. Tsunamis can move material from the near shore and beach and deposit in low-laying coastal marshes and …

Clinopyroxene Trace Element Chemistry As A Proxy For Magma Compositional Variations In The Izu Bonin Rear Arc Over The Last 15 Million Years, Kimberly N. (Kimberly Nicole) Wurth

WWU Graduate School Collection

This study presents major and trace element chemistry of clinopyroxene (CPX) in 0-15 Ma core material recovered from Site U1437 during IODP Expedition 350. Because no fresh glass is present in the core samples older than 4.4 Ma, and hence there is no way to directly determine magma compositions, my study presents the development of a novel method for calculating liquid compositions from CPX grains in volcaniclastic sediments using distribution coefficients and trace elements measured in CPX.

Geochemical data from CPX grains was acquired using a laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (LA-ICP-MS). These data were used to calculate trace element …

Assessing Coastal Vulnerability To Storm Surge And Wave Impacts With Projected Sea Level Rise Within The Salish Sea, Nathan R. Vanarendonk

WWU Graduate School Collection

Sea level rise (SLR) in the Salish Sea, a large inland waterway shared between Canada and the United States, is expected to be 0.3 to 1.8 m by the year 2100. Uncertainty in greenhouse gas emissions, global ice sheet loss, and other controls such as vertical land movement all contribute to this range. Valuable property, infrastructure, and critical habitats for shellfish and threatened salmon populations are at risk to coastal changes associated with SLR. Additionally, development in Washington State is expected to accelerate through the end of the 21st century adding extra pressure on protecting ecosystems and people from natural …

Paleomagnetic Results From Upper Triassic And Middle Jurassic Strata Of East-Central New Mexico, And Implication For North American Apwp, Masoud Mirzaei Souzani

WWU Graduate School Collection

Two contradictory apparent polar wander paths (APWPs) of North America (NA) for most of Jurassic time have been the subject of many studies since the 1990s, and are important to rectify if in order to constrain the tectonic evolution of the continent. Among various efforts to resolve this persistent issue, additional results from well-dated kimberlite volcanics have been used to support a higher-latitude APWP (Kent et al., 2015), and the controversy was blamed on inclination error (IE) in paleomagnetic results of sedimentary units, most of which are from the U.S. South Western interior. Those paleomagnetic poles define the other, lower-latitude …

Slip And Strain Accumulation Along The Sadie Creek Fault, Olympic Peninsula, Washington, Cody Duckworth

WWU Graduate School Collection

Upper-plate faulting in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State reflects the interaction of crustal blocks within the Cascadia forearc as well as contributions from various earthquake cycle processes along the Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ). These processes include interseismic coupling, megathrust earthquakes, and aseismic slow slip events. In this study I utilize high resolution airborne lidar, field mapping of deformed surficial deposits and landforms, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating and radiocarbon dating to reconstruct fault slip rates since Late Pleistocene deglaciation on the Sadie Creek fault (SCF), located north of the Olympic Mountains. This mapping reveals the SCF as a ~14 …

Photometric Investigations Of Weathering Rinds And Coatings With Implications For Mars, Kathleen Hoza

WWU Graduate School Collection

Reflectance spectroscopy is a major technique for characterizing the composition of planetary surfaces, and has led to many key findings in planetary geology. In laboratory measurements, reflectance spectrometers typically acquire data using a standard, fixed viewing geometry. Measurements from spacecraft, however, may be acquired at a wide range of viewing geometries, depending on the orientation of the instrument relative to the target surface and the Sun. For many materials, the impact of viewing geometry on reflectance is minor; however, some materials’ spectral signatures can be influenced by these photometric effects. In particular, spectra of weathering rinds and rock coatings are …

Quantifying The Magnitude And Spatial Variability Of Bedrock Erosion Beneath The Sisters Glacier, Washington, Using Cosmogenic 3he Concentrations, Sarah W. Francis

WWU Graduate School Collection

Cosmogenic ³He analyses provide a tool to infer spatial variation of cirque-glacial bedrock erosion. ³He accumulates in bedrock exposed at the surface as a result of cosmic ray bombardment; the concentration of cosmogenic ³He increases with exposure time as well as proximity to the surface. The Twin Sisters range, North Cascades, WA is an ideal location to use cosmogenic ³He to infer cirque-glacial erosion depths and rates, due to the dunite bedrock and the detailed record of Holocene glaciation from the nearby Mount Baker. We used field mapping, lidar data and aerial imagery to identify bedrock …

Geologic Development And Ongoing Activity Of The Van Zandt Landslide Complex, Northwest Wa, Usa, Geoffrey Malick

WWU Graduate School Collection

Geomorphic mapping based on high-resolution lidar data indicates that the Van Zandt Landslide Complex (VZLC) has multiple crosscutting debris lobes (up to 51.4 x 10⁶ m³) with long runouts (H/L= 0.14; 0.21) typical of catastrophic rock avalanches. AMS ¹⁴C dates from in situ logs and lake sediment cores yield overlapping ages for emplacement of Debris Lobe 2 (1330-1285 cal. yrs. B.P) and Debris Lobe 3 (1300-1285 cal. yrs. B.P.) Although Debris Lobe 3 overlies a portion of Debris Lobe 2, it is possible that emplacement of the two deposits was nearly synchronous or in rapid succession. …

Biomonitoring In Seattle: Spatial Variation And Source-Determining Of Airborne Pollutants In High-Traffic Areas, Saba Asefa

WWU Graduate School Collection

Although transportation is a large source of air particulate pollution in the U.S., air quality is currently not routinely monitored on the street level or using methods that could routinely determine particulate composition. In this study, we will use biomonitoring- using biological organisms (in this case tree leaves) as sample collectors- and magnetic characterization of particulate matter (PM) to provide a simple and inexpensive alternative air quality monitoring apparatus that is at the human spatial level, can collect micron-sized particles, and can be found in closely-spaced locations, so that there is a dense area collection network. Magnetic methods such as …