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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Paleohydrology And Machine-Assisted Estimation Of Paleogeomorphology Of Fluvial Channels Of The Lower Middle Pennsylvanian Allegheny Formation, Birch River, Wv, Oluwasegun O. Abatan, Amy Weislogel Jan 2020

Paleohydrology And Machine-Assisted Estimation Of Paleogeomorphology Of Fluvial Channels Of The Lower Middle Pennsylvanian Allegheny Formation, Birch River, Wv, Oluwasegun O. Abatan, Amy Weislogel

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Rivers transport sediments in a source to sink system while responding to allogenic controls of the depositional system. Stacked fluvial sandstones of the Middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian Stage, ∼310–306 Ma) Allegheny Formation (MPAF) exposed at Birch River, West Virginia exhibit change in sedimentary structure and depositional style, reflecting changes in allogenic behavior. Paleohydrologic and numerical analysis were used to quantify geomorphological and paleohydrologic variations reflected by MPAF fluvial deposits with the goal of understanding the controls on resulting fluvial sandstone architecture in these different systems. Channel body geometry, sedimentary structures, and sandstone grain size distribution were used to reconstruct the paleoslope …


Fluvial Sedimentology And Architecture Of Two Latest Devonian Lower Huntley Mountain Formation Outcrops, North-Central Pennsylvania, Usa, Evan W. Filion Jan 2020

Fluvial Sedimentology And Architecture Of Two Latest Devonian Lower Huntley Mountain Formation Outcrops, North-Central Pennsylvania, Usa, Evan W. Filion

Honors Theses

Thick successions of river deposits accumulated in the north-central Pennsylvania region of the Appalachian foreland basin during Late Devonian time (~380-360 Ma). The properties and morphologies of these paleorivers are not well characterized. Latest Devonian tectonic, climatic, and eustatic controls on river dynamics and basin infilling also remain unclear. This study assesses the sedimentology, facies architecture, paleochannel depths, and grain size of a 133 m thick section of fluvial strata exposed across two outcrops, Blossburg South (older) and Blossburg West (younger), mapped as lower Huntley Mountain Formation near Blossburg, Pennsylvania. Field-based lithofacies observations, high-resolution panoramic photography, terrestrial lidar scanning, and …


Process Based Analysis Of Fluvial Stratigraphic Record: Middle Pennsylvanian Allegheny Formation, North-Central Wv, Oluwasegun O. Abatan Jan 2020

Process Based Analysis Of Fluvial Stratigraphic Record: Middle Pennsylvanian Allegheny Formation, North-Central Wv, Oluwasegun O. Abatan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Fluvial deposits represent some of the best hydrocarbon reservoirs, but the quality of fluvial reservoirs varies depending on the reservoir architecture, which is controlled by allogenic and autogenic processes. Allogenic controls, including paleoclimate, tectonics, and glacio-eustasy, have long been debated as dominant controls in the deposition of fluvial strata. However, recent research has questioned the validity of this cyclicity and may indicate major influence from autogenic controls. To further investigate allogenic controls on stratal order, I analyzed the facies architecture, geomorphology, paleohydrology, and the stratigraphic framework of the Middle Pennsylvanian Allegheny Formation (MPAF), a fluvial depositional system in the Appalachian …


Auto-Stratigraphic Evolution Of Experimental Crater-Fill Basins: Implications For Interpreting Mars Sequence Stratigraphy And Paleoclimate, Lexie Stodden Jan 2020

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 …