Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Hydrologic Impact Index For The Pinhoti Hiking Trail, Allie Field

Theses

This study aimed to identify flood-prone areas along the Pinhoti Trail and Chinnabee Silent Trail in the Talladega National Forest. Using the Hydrology Flood Index layer that was created using several essential data layers, the research aimed to provide campers, hikers, nature enthusiasts, and trail maintenance teams with information about areas at a higher risk of flash flooding. The Hydrology Flood Index layer rates the risk of flooding on a scale of 1 to 4, with level 1 indicating a low risk of flooding and level 4 indicating an extremely high risk. The data layers for analyzing flood hazards for …

The Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of Large Rock Blocks And Control On Landscape Evolution In The Ozarks, Chelsea Moran

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Geologists often use landscape form to infer landscape processes through time. While climate and tectonics shape geomorphic form, the potential range of spatial or temporal scales that can shape any specific landscape can render landscape process-form based hypotheses too general for consideration. Contributions by mathematical modeling have helped bridge the gap between inferring processes from form, notably in how sediment transport dynamics shape hillslopes. However, few models encapsulate the movement of large rock blocks ( >2 meters across) and their potential impact as hillslope sediment transport disruptors. The Upper Buffalo River watershed (BRW) in the Ozarks of northern Arkansas has …

Size, Timing, And Landscape Impacts Of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods In The Channeled Scabland Of Eastern Washington, Usa, Karin E. Lehnigk

Doctoral Dissertations

Extreme floods have dramatically altered landscapes on Earth and Mars through bedrock erosion, sediment deposition, and canyon formation. The Channeled Scabland of the Columbia Plateau in eastern Washington, USA, is perhaps the most striking example of such a landscape, where outburst floods from an ice-dammed glacial Lake Missoula eroded immense canyons and transported large volumes of sediment during the late Pleistocene. Despite advances in numerical modeling and geochemical exposure dating methods, it has remained a challenge to untangle the complex interactions between floodwater, bedrock, and glacial ice to link the size of a flood with its impact on the landscape. …

Challenges In Approaching The Detection Limits For Hillslope Erosion Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning, Gene Nathan Bailey Iii

Masters Theses

Accurately quantifying soil loss due to water erosion is a critical step in managing soils. Terrestrial LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) presents a potential alternative to traditional soil loss measurement by estimating soil erosion and deposition through detecting surface changes. Terrestrial LiDAR can also provide spatial distribution information without disturbing the observed surface. While erosion estimation through terrestrial LiDAR detects large magnitude erosion well, the finer temporal/spatial scale erosion experienced on the hillslope in sheet and rill erosion has remained a challenge to detect. This research addresses two of the challenges in using terrestrial LiDAR on fine scales in two …

Differences In Erosion Rates And Elevation Among Natural, Living And Hardened Shorelines In Mississippi, And Alabama, Brittany Juneau

Honors Theses

Shoreline erosion is a phenomenon that currently threatens both natural ecosystems and human settlements along the coast. With trends showing gradual sea level rise as a result of climate change, erosion is becoming an increasing threat to these communities. This research aims to provide more insight into the relationship between shoreline morphology and three shoreline protection techniques: natural marsh, living shoreline, and hardened structures. Six sites along the Alabama and Mississippi coast that had all three shoreline types were evaluated to determine what the average erosion rate and slope was for each shoreline. Erosion rates were calculated by image analysis …

Characterizing Mass Loss In Central Cuba Using Long-Term Sediment Generation Rates And Rock Dissolution Rates, Mae Kate Campbell

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Knowledge of denudation rates over geologic timescales provides important insight into the processes that govern soil formation, the regulation of Earth’s climate, and the evolution of landscapes. Accurately establishing long-term denudation rates is also key to understanding how human actions have altered the rates and patterns of erosion over time. While cosmogenic nuclides are often used to measure long-term denudation rates at the basin scale, these rates can be unrepresentative of total landscape denudation in areas where significant mass loss occurs through rock dissolution. In tropical landscapes, mass loss by solution often represents a significant portion of total landscape mass …

Utilizing The Public On Public Lands: The Application Of Community Science To Monitor And Model Erosion In National Forests, Jacob L. Hansen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Unpaved forest roads are adversely affecting coldwater streams through excessive erosion and the subsequent sedimentation of adjacent waterways. To help identify areas of concern, Trout Unlimited (TU) in the Southern Appalachian region developed a Community Science initiative to gather data on sediment sources and stream-road crossings. Volunteers were recruited and trained to monitor road and trail conditions and collect and submit data using a Survey123 application on their cell phones. Analysis of the contributed data reveals statistical connections between drainage type and both erosion level and stream sedimentation. The contributed data were also included as a calibration for the lite …

Tracing Source Contributions To Assess Spatial Patterns Of Erosion In A Mixed Land Use Environment: Otter Creek Catchment, Fort Knox, Kentucky, Cara Peterman

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

There is an inherent difficulty in predicting source contributions of fine-grained fluvial sediment in mixed land-use watersheds. Over a 56-week period, the spatial and temporal variability in sediment-source contributions and water quality was monitored at three sites along Otter Creek in Hardin and Meade counties, Kentucky (USA). The 203-km² study area drains rural and agricultural lands and includes Fort Knox Army Post’s tracked-vehicle training areas. The main objectives for sediment source apportionment were to 1) identify and differentiate characteristics of civilian and military source soils to Otter Creek and 2) to apportion sediment at locations along Otter Creek to …

Identification Of Mined Areas That May Contribute To Water Quality Degradation At Hobet Coal Mine, West Virginia, Brian P. Murphy

IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt

No abstract provided.

Partitioned By Process: Measuring Post-Fire Debris Flow And Rill Erosion With Structure From Motion, Nicholas Ellett

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In mountainous regions burned by wildfires, profound changes in soil characteristics and combustion of vegetation increase hillslope and channel erosion during storm events. Reduced infiltration and abundant loose sediment produce large post-fire erosional events which endanger human lives and infrastructure and contribute significantly to long-term erosion rates. While the influence of fire in increasing erosion has long been recognized, quantifying volumes and sources of eroded material from burned landscapes is difficult. Pre-erosion high-resolution topographic data (e.g. lidar) are often not available in burned areas and determining specific contributions from post-fire hillslope and channel erosion is challenging. Multiple erosional processes mobilize …

Speleogenesis In Turbulent Flow, Max P. Cooper

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Existing models of speleogenesis neglect the shape of cross-sections, which can hold information related to climate, tectonics, and sediment supply in their widths. The first study of this dissertation simulates cross-sections of phreatic tubes, vadose canyons, and paragenetic galleries using a method developed for bedrock channels. Successful simulation of these cross-sections depends on erosion scaling with shear stress, in conflict with speleogenesis theory. Scaling of equilibrium width in paragenetic galleries was explored through analytical derivation and simulations, showing that width scales positively with discharge to the 1/2 power, and negatively with a weak power of sediment supply. Negative scaling of …

Using Long- And Short-Lived Sediment-Associated Isotopes To Track Erosion And Sediment Movement Through Rivers In Yunnan, Sw China, Thomas Bundgaard Neilson

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This research aims to understand the natural and human influences on erosion in three tributary watersheds to the Mekong River, Yunnan Province, China and to assess the utility of a novel application of isotopic indicators of erosion. It explores how erosion varies through time and space as a function of physical characteristics of the landscape, tectonic forces, and human alteration of the landscape for forestry and agriculture. To accomplish these goals, I use four sediment-associated radionuclides: in situ 10Be, meteoric 10Be, 210Pbex, and 137Cs. These isotopes accumulate in or on sediment grains, and each accumulates to a different depth on …

Erosion Rates In Subtropical, Rapidly Developing Countries: An Isotopic Approach To Measuring Background Rates Of Erosion In Brazil And China, Veronica Sosa-Gonzalez

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Erosion, a surface process, can be quantified over long-term (assumed to be the natural erosion rate of the landscape) and contemporary (modern) timeframes. My research used the rare cosmogenic isotope 10Be in sand and cobbles collected from rivers in southeastern Brazil (Santa Catarina and Rio de Janeiro states) and southwestern China (Yunnan province) to quantify long-term, background rates of erosion and sediment supply. These measurements will also increase number of such measurements in tropical and subtropical climates. I assessed the relationship between landscape parameters (topographic and climatic) and background erosion rates in order to understand factors related to erosion.

My …

Assessing Shoreline Change And Vegetation Cover Adjacent To Back-Barrier Shoreline Stabilization Structures In Georgia Estuaries, Katherine R. Wakefield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic stabilization of erosional shorelines by hard-armoring structures is used for protection of property, especially if buildings, historical monuments, cultural resources, or other infrastructure are present. The post-installation effects of shoreline stabilization structures on adjacent shorelines in the back-barrier marshes of coastal Georgia are a concern, and interest in living shorelines as erosion control devices has increased because of their use of natural materials and vegetation. AMBUR shoreline analysis software was used to calculate pre-and post-installation shoreline change rates of shorelines adjacent to riprap and bulkhead structures. There was no significant difference between the post-installation shoreline change rates of the …

Preservation And Sediment Cycling Beneath "Ghost Glaciers": How Cold-Based Ice Dictates Arctic Landscape Evolution, Lee Corbett

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Constraining past episodes of climate change and glacial response is critical for understanding future impacts of climate change, especially in the high latitudes where warming is expected to be rapid and most of Earth's glaciers exist. Many studies of past glacier size utilize rare isotopes called cosmogenic nuclides to perform surface exposure dating. Since most areas of Earth's surface that were previously glaciated were covered by erosive ice, which stripped away pre-existing cosmogenic nuclides, surface exposure dating yields the timing of the most recent deglaciation. However, in some high latitude areas where glacial ice is cold-based and non-erosive (so-called 'ghost …

Topographic Signatures Of Geodynamics, Samuel G. Roy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The surface of the Earth retains an imperfect memory of the diverse geodynamic, climatic, and surface transport processes that cooperatively drive the evolution of Earth. In this thesis I explore the potential of using topographic analysis and landscape evolution models to unlock past and/or present evidence for geodynamic activity. I explore the potential isolated effects of geodynamics on landscape evolution, particularly focusing on two byproducts of tectonic strain: rock displacement and damage. Field evidence supports a strong correlation between rock damage and erodibility, and a numerical sensitivity analysis supports the hypothesis that an order of magnitude weakening in rock, well …

Michigan's Clay Bluffs: The Description And Comparison Of An Erosion-Dependent Natural Community, Nathaniel G. Fuller

Masters Theses

The clay bluffs of Michigan are a natural community found along the shores of the Great Lakes. Groundwater is found to be critical to sustaining the alkaline wetlands on the face of the bluff as well as the source of most erosion events. The clay bluffs are unusual in their vegetation, disturbance regime and geographical context. This thesis focuses primarily on describing seeping clay bluffs and exploring the comparison to other natural communities. The purpose of this is twofold, to better understand the ways in which natural communities are described as distinct from one another, and to assess the distinctness …

A Spatial Analysis Of Streambank Heterogeneity And Its Contribution To Bank Stability, Paul Vanterpool Simmons

Masters Theses

Streambank erosion is a function of fluvial detachment and geotechnical failure mechanisms working in combination to cause bank retreat. It is generally agreed that bank stability is dependent on both types of erosion; however, few studies have attempted to correlate the driving and resisting forces between the two. It has been proposed that: (1) streambanks possess a spatial structure and dependence of non-erodible resistant structures such as root masses and rocks; (2) streambanks naturally “armor” themselves from fluvial erosion with a combination of hard points and resistive soil; and (3) the stability of the streambank can be predicted by the …

Post-Fire Near-Surface Runoff From Small-Scale Rainfall Simulations, Santa Cruz Mountains, Michael Founds

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

The influence of environmental variables on the runoff response to a fire is poorly understood. Small-scale rainfall simulation was used to study the factors impacting near-surface runoff following the Lockheed Fire, which occurred on August 12, 2009. A variable speed rainfall simulator was used to rain on 15 different test plots at an average rate of 50mmh^-1. Variables of burn severity, time following the fire, soil parent material, vegetation type, and presence of a duff layer were all analyzed using the ratio of runoff to rainfall. The difference in-between burned sites and similar control sites were 19±6%. Only …

Identifying The Stream Erosion Potential Of Cave Levels In Carter Cave State Resort Park, Kentucky, Usa, Eric Peterson, Brianne Jacoby, Toby Dogwiler

Eric Wade Peterson

Cave levels, passages found at similar elevations and formed during the same constant stream base level event, reveal information about paleoclimates and karst geomorphology. The investigation presented here examines how Stream Power Index (SPI) relates to cave levels. The study area, Carter Caves State Resort Park (CCSRP), is a fluviokarst system in northeastern Kentucky containing multiple cave levels. SPI deter-mines the erosive power overland flow based on the assumption that flow accumulation and slope are proportional to potential for sediment entrainment. Part of this digital terrain analysis requires the creation of a flow accumulation raster from a digital elevation model …

Tangier Island, Virginia Shoreline Management Plan For The West Coast Of The Uppards, C. Scott Hardaway Jr.

Reports

Utilizing geo-rectified aerial photography from 1938, 1960, 1987, and 2001, shoreline change rates were determined along the Uppards. Shoreline change rates vary but are all erosional except for areas around the north end where sand bars come and go. In the area of concern between baseline stations 4000 and 4600, the rates of erosion have increased with time. Using the rate calculated from the 1938 to 2001 shorelines for station 4000, 16 ft/yr, the 400 ft marsh isthmus width between the shoreline and Toms Gut would breach in about 25 years. This would essentially break the Uppards in two and …

Environmental Survey Of Potential Sand Resource Sites, Offshore Delaware And Maryland : Final Report, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Reports

• Technical summary / Carl H. Hobbs
• Non-technical summary / Carl H. Hobbs
• Part. 1. Benthic mapping and resource evaluation of potential sand mining areas, offshore Mayland and Delaware, 1998-1999 / G.R. Cutter and R.J. Diaz
• Part. 2. Transitory species (vertebrate nekton) / John A. Musick
• Part. 3. Literature survey of reproductive finfish and ichthyoplankton present in proposed sand mining locations within the Middle Atlantic Bight / John Olney, Donna Marie Bilkovic
• Part. 4. Potential modifications to waves due to dredging and other oceanographic considerations / Jerome P.-Y. Maa, Sung C. Kim
• Part. 5. Maryland-Delaware shoreline : long-term trends and short-term …

An Inventory And Condition Survey Of The Sandstone-Yalgoo-Paynes Find Area, Western Australia, A L. Payne, A M E Van Vreeswyk, K A. Leighton, H J. Pringle, P Hennig

Technical Bulletins

The inventory and condition survey of the Sandstone-Yalgoo-Paynes Find area, undertaken by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) between 1992 and 1993, describes and maps the natural resources of the region’s pastoral leasehold land. This survey report provides a baseline record of the existence and condition of the area’s natural resources, to assist with the planning and implementation of land management practices. The report identified and described the condition of soils, landforms, vegetation, habitat, ecosystems, and declared plants and animals. It also assessed the impact of pastoralism and made land management recommendations. The area surveyed covers about …

An Inventory And Condition Survey Of Rangelands In The North-Eastern Goldfields, Western Australia, H J. Pringle, S A. Gilligan, A M E Van Vreeswyk

Technical Bulletins

The inventory and condition survey of the north-eastern Goldfields, undertaken by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) between 1988 and 1990, describes and maps the natural resources of the region’s pastoral leasehold land. This survey report provides a baseline record of the existence and condition of the natural area’s resources, to assist with the planning and implementation of land management practices. The report identified and described the condition of soils, landforms, vegetation, habitat, ecosystems, and declared plants and animals. It also assessed the impact of pastoralism and made land management recommendations. The area surveyed covers about 100 …

An Inventory And Condition Survey Of The Murchison River Catchment, Western Australia, Peter James Curry, A L. Payne, K A. Leighton, P Hennig, D A. Blood

Technical Bulletins

The inventory and condition survey of the Murchison River catchment and surrounds, undertaken by the Department of Agriculture between 1985 and 1988, describes and maps the natural resources of the region’s pastoral leasehold land. This survey report provides a baseline record of the existence and condition of the natural area’s resources, to assist with the planning and implementation of land management practices. The report identified and described the condition of soils, landforms, vegetation, habitat, ecosystems, and declared plants and animals. It also assessed the impact of pastoralism and made land management recommendations. The area surveyed by field work during 1985-88 …

Eolian Sand Deposits In Maine, Joshua Katz

Maine Collection

Eolian Sand Deposits in Maine

by Joshua Katz - Timson, Schepps & Peters, Inc., Hallowell, Maine

Planning Report No.91, August 1990.

"A report prepared for the Maine Critical Areas Program, State Planning Office."

Contents: List of Figures / List of Maps and Tables / Acknowledgements / Introduction / Inland Eolian Sand Deposits / Research Methods / Rating Methods / Significant Criteria / Summary of Results / Significant Eolian Deposits in Maine / Site Descriptions / Recommendations / Glossary / References Cited

The Geology Of Maine's Coastline : A Handbook For Resource Planners, Developers, And Managers, Maine State Planning Office

Maine Collection

The Geology of Maine's Coastline : A Handbook for Resource Planners, Developers, and Managers

Executive Department, Maine State Planning Office, Augusta, Maine, June 1983.

Contents: List of Figures / Introduction: The Geological Connection / Chapter 1: Using the Marine Environments Maps / Chapter 2: Perspectives of the Maine Coast / Chapter 3: The Building Blocks of Maine's Coast / Chapter 4: The Disappearing Shoreline / Where to Go for Help / Some Planning Considerations for Development in Coastal Geologic Environments / Land Use Laws of Special Interest to Individual Coastal Property Owners

Geological And Botanical Features Of Sand Beach Systems In Maine And Their Relevance To The Critical Areas Program Of The State Planning Office, Bruce W. Nelson, L. Kenneth Fink Jr.

Maine Collection

Geological and Botanical Features of Sand Beach Systems in Maine and Their Relevance to the Critical Areas Program of the State Planning Office

by Bruce W. Nelson and L. Kenneth Fink, Jr.

"A Report Prepared for the Maine Critical Areas Program, State Planning Office, Augusta, Maine 04330 - Planning Report Number 54 (14 March 1978)."

Contents: Abstract / Foreword / Acknowledgements / Geology, Distribution, and Geomorphology of Maine's Coastal Sandy Beaches and Dune Systems / Methods of Locating Sandy Beaches and Dunes / General Consideration in Developing Criteria for Inclusion in the List of Significant Coastal Sandy Beaches and Dunes …

A Proposed Method For Classifying And Evaluating Soils On The Basis Of Productivity And Use Suitabilities, Arthur Anderson, A. P. Nelson, F. A. Hayes, I. D. Wood

Historical Research Bulletins of the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station

It is the object of this paper to present a method for classifying and evaluating the soils as mapped in regular soil surveys on the basis of land types, which are here defined as areas having reasonably similar productivity and use suitabilities. The standards used to differentiate land types will vary according to the desired objectives, but any material difference in yield, or in practices necessary to maintain a desirable level of productivity will justify recognition of land types. The proposed procedure involves a more detailed study of the influence which soils, slope, erosion, and drainage have on specific crops …

Geological Phases Of Soil Erosion Investigation And Control In Nebraska, G. E. Condra

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.