Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Statewide Evaluation Of Fuel Treatment Effectiveness In Altering Wildfire Outcomes On Public Lands In Utah, Jamela Charmaine Thompson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Fuel treatments are land management activities that reduce living and dead flammable materials on the landscape to mitigate undesirable wildfire behavior and effects. Common treatments in the western United States include mechanical methods such as thinning and mastication, prescribed burns, and chemical methods, such as herbicide application. Treatments usually have multiple objectives, including reducing fire intensity, protecting natural and cultural resources, slowing or disrupting a potential future fire’s path, supporting ecosystem health, and reestablishing low to mid severity fire cycles in ecosystems. Although treatments can potentially modify fire behavior and ecological health, they generally cannot prevent fires from igniting, eliminate …

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles To Quantify Erosion Control Measures On A Reclaimed Central Utah Coal Mine, Christopher R. Brown

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

For certain landscape reclamation efforts surrounding, the Utah Division of Oil Gas and Mining (UDOGM) utilizes a surface roughing technique called “pocking”. The process of pocking establishes closely spaced gouges approximately 1.2 meters in diameter and 0.5 meters deep across a reclaimed landscape in order to reduce surface erosion and promote plant growth on steep terrain in arid regions. Pocks are designed as a series of micro watersheds that trap water to aid in plant establishment and reduces overland flow of water. Over time vegetation grows within the pocks as they infill with sediment. While this method is considered an …

Developing, Adopting, And Executing 100% Net-Renewable Electricity Resolutions At The Local Level, Emily E. Skill

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In the absence of national leadership on climate policy, municipalities are adopting resolutions to reduce their carbon footprint and transition to clean energy. However, what leads to successful adoption of these resolutions and how to effectively implement climate goals at the community level needs further exploration. To investigate these questions, this thesis examines the resolutions adopted in Salt Lake City, Park City, and Moab, Utah to transition to 100% renewable electricity by 2032. Data was collected through documents, such as city reports and newspapers, and interviews with government officials, city staff, and community members involved with the resolution process. A …

An Examination Of What Motivates Utah Residents To Adopt The Practice Of Rainwater Harvesting, D. Wayne Honaker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Although most of the earth is covered in water, a very limited amount of that water is fresh water, which is essential to our survival. Therefore, it is imperative that we do all that is possible to conserve and protect our extremely limited water resources, especially in arid regions such as the American West. While there are many ways and means to protecting and preserving our water resources, this thesis focuses on the strategy of rainwater harvesting (RWH) as it is done throughout the state of Utah. RWH is defined as taking the precipitation that falls on our built structures …

Non-Methane Hydrocarbon Source Apportionment And Btex Risk Assessment Of Winter 2015 In Roosevelt, Utah, Jerimiah Lamb

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Non-Methane Hydrocarbons (NMHC) monitored in Roosevelt Utah including Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene and Xylene (collectively known as BTEX) are associated with deleterious effects including cancer. This study was designed to assess the origin and effect of the toxicants and addressed two points: 1) Source identification using the USEPA’s Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) and NOAA’s Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and 2) A human health risk assessment based on ambient concentrations of BTEX collected at the Roosevelt site. Model fit indicated that the primary contributor to total NMHCs was local oil and gas operations and was supported by previous …

Twentieth Century Channel Change Of The Green River In Canyonlands National Park, Utah, Alexander E. Walker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Since the early 20^th century, river channels of the Colorado River basin have narrowed, decreasing available riparian and aquatic habitat. Changes are considered to be the result of three major factors: wide-spread water development, increasing hydroclimate variability and the invasion of non-native tamarisk (Tamarix spp.), altering flow regime and sediment supply. Different studies have reached different conclusions about the relative roles of flow regime, sediment supply and tamarisk in causing narrowing.

I investigated channel change in the lower Green River within Canyonlands National Park to describe channel changes in the 20^th century and understand the roles …

Hydrocarbon And Co2 Emissions From Oil And Gas Production Well Pad Soils Comparative To Background Soil Emissions In Eastern Utah, Cody S. Watkins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

What effect does the development of oil and gas have on the observed air quality (i.e., increased ozone, carbon dioxide (CO₂), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and/or methane emissions) in northeastern Utah? What percentage of these gases is natural background emissions, and what percentage is due to the recent oil and gas development in the region? Emissions in this text refer to gases released from the earth’s surface to the atmosphere. Methane is the primary compound in natural gas. Natural gas is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas mixture. Emissions of methane, non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC), and CO₂ at 27 …

Modeling Seed Dispersal And Population Migration Given A Distribution Of Seed Handling Times And Variable Dispersal Motility: Case Study For Pinyon And Juniper In Utah, Ram C. Neupane

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The spread of fruiting tree species is strongly determined by the behavior and range of fruit-eating animals, particularly birds. Birds either consume and digest seeds or carry and cache them at some distance from the source tree. These carried and settled seeds provide some form of distribution which generates tree spread to the new location. Firstly, we modal seed dispersal by birds and introduce it in a dispersal model to estimate seed distribution. Using this distribution, we create a population model to estimate the speed at which juniper and pinyon forest boundaries move.

Secondly, we introduce a fact that bird …

Network Applications And The Utah Homeless Network, Michael A. Snyder

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Graph theory is the foundation on which social network analysis (SNA) is built. With the flood of "big data," graph theoretical concepts and their linear algebraic counterparts are essential tools for analysis in the burgeoning field of network data analysis, in which SNA is a subset. Here we begin with an overview of SNA. We then discuss the common descriptive measures taken on network data as well as proposing new measures specific to homeless networks. We also define a new data structure which we call the location sequence matrix. This data structure makes certain computational network analyses particularly easy. …

Climate Forcings On Groundwater Variations In Utah And The Great Basin, Kirsti A. Hakala

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Groundwater levels over northern Utah have undergone a declining trend since the 1960’s. This trend has made apparent the need to understand the relationship between climate and groundwater resources. Such necessary information is already in dire need in places such as California. At the close of 2013, California had experienced its driest year in recorded history, with severe drought continuing for the foreseeable future. Utah is the second driest state in the U.S., and therefore has been paying close attention to California’s current water crises. Water resource projections may prove to be one of the most vital pieces of information …

Landscape Evolution Of The Needles Fault Zone, Utah, Investigated Through Chronostratigraphic And Terrain Analyses, Faye L. Geiger

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Arcing eastward from the deep gorge of Cataract Canyon on the Colorado River is a series of aligned valleys (graben) and ridges (horst). This unusual landscape has formed as subsurface salt deforms toward the river and dissolves away, causing the overlying rocks to fault, slide, and subside. Geologists have long been interested in this actively evolving area they call the Needles fault zone, because understanding its mechanics and origin may shed light on how faults work in general and similar, yet inaccessible places like offshore rift zones or even the surface of the Moon. Despite this interest, the timing and …

Modeling Habitat Use Of A Fringe Greater Sage-Grouse Population At Multiple Spatial Scales, Anya Cheyenne Burnett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter sage-grouse) are a prominent bird species of sagebrush-dominated landscapes across the western United States. Over the past 15 years, sage-grouse have gained international attention due to decreasing population trends despite management efforts. In 2010 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated this species as warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act, but the listing was precluded by other species at higher conservation risk. Habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation have been implicated as primary sources of declines in sage-grouse distribution and abundance. The Bald Hills population in southwestern Utah occupies an area with …

A Middle To Late Holocene Record Of Arroyo Cut-Fill Events In Kitchen Corral Wash, Southern Utah, William M. Huff

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Arroyos are steeply entrenched channels that form by incision into weakly consolidated valley-fill alluvium. This study attempts to offers clues into the processes behind their formation by dating arroyo sediments using luminescence and radiocarbon techniques. The importance of understanding arroyo formation is due to a possible linkage with decadal to centennial-scale climate fluctuations. In the 1800s and early 1900s, many of the shallow, perennial streams throughout southern Utah that used for a variety of agricultural and domestic uses were incised up to ~30 m into their alluvium by frequent and high-magnitude flood events. The economical and ecological effects of these …

Dendrochronology In Northern Utah: Modeling Sensitivity And Reconstructing Logan River Flows, Eric B. Allen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The population centers in northern Utah are highly dependent upon snowpack for drinking water, irrigation, and hydropower. When the snowpack melts in the spring and early summer, it feeds streams draining the Wasatch, Bear River, and Uinta Mountains. The rivers are diverted and dammed to deliver water to the greater Salt Lake metropolitan area. In order to properly allocate this water, managers need to know how much water normally flows in the rivers and the frequency and magnitude of wet and dry periods to expect. However, climate patterns in the region are not well understood and records of streamflows are …

Sustainable Ski Resorts In The State Of Utah: Working Toward The Future, Andrew Call

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Utah State University Extension branch funded a research project designed to meet an identified need and create a baseline in knowledge of the implementation of environmentally sustainable practices among Utah ski resorts. Because of the potential impacts of climate change and unsustainable practices that negatively impact both the biophysical and human/cultural aspects of these environments, the ski resort industry is facing an uncertain future both environmentally and economically. However, very little is known about this issue, or how to address it. Collecting baseline information on the subject of environmental sustainability amongst Utah area ski resorts is crucial to ensure …

The Transfer Of Agricultural Water To Municipal And Industrial Usages, Dallin Paul Stephens

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The water that is available for beneficial use in Utah is quickly approaching full appropriation; water that has been claimed is nearing the amount that is available for use. The Division of Water Resources of the State of Utah has organized a three-part plan to "Plan, Conserve, Develop and Protect Utah's Water Resources." One of these three elements has a focus to "provide comprehensive water planning." Such planning is best achieved when current and accurate data on the uses of the state's water are available.

The primary purpose of this thesis was to provide an evaluation, from data collected on …

Factors Affecting Gunnison Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus Minimus) Conservation In San Juan County, Utah, Phoebe R. Prather

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Due to loss of habitat, Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) currently occupy 8.5% of their presumed historical range. One population survives in Utah, occurring in San Juan County. The Gunnison Sage-grouse Rangewide Conservation Plan and the San Juan County Gunnison Sage-grouse Conservation Plan recommended management strategies to address identified conservation threats to the Utah population. I addressed three conservation strategies identified in the plans: 1) creation and enhancement of brood-rearing areas; 2) assessment of habitat conditions within the Gunnison Sage-grouse Conservation Area; and 3) prevention or reduction of perching events by avian predators on distribution line power poles.

From 2007-2009, I …

Spatial Epidemiology Of Birth Defects In The United States And The State Of Utah Using Geographic Information Systems And Spatial Statistics, Samson Y. Gebreab

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Oral clefts are the most common form of birth defects in the United States (US) and the State of Utah has among the highest prevalence of oral clefts in the nation. The overall objective of this dissertation was to examine the spatial distribution of oral clefts and their linkage with a broad range of demographic, behavioral, social, economic, and environmental risk factors through the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial statistics. Using innovative linked micromaps plots, we investigated the geographic patterns of oral clefts occurrence from 1998 to 2002 and their relationships with maternal smoking rates and proportion …

Ecology And Seasonal Habitat Use Patterns Of Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse In Northern Utah, Ron D. Greer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Columbian sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus columbianus: hereafter sharp-tailed grouse) populations have been declining. These declines have been attributed to a number of factors, including habitat loss due to agriculture, habitat fragmentation, overgrazing by livestock, and the loss to fire.

To gather information about their status in northern Utah, I radio-marked sharp-tailed grouse in 2003 (n=15) and 2004 (n=20) in two research areas. The study areas were located on the south end of Cache County and in eastern Box Elder County. In the Cache study area, I monitored 7 males and 1 female in 2003, and 6 males and …

A Spatiotemporal Analysis Of Aspen Decline In Southern Utah’S Cedar Mountain, Using Remote Sensing And Geographic Information Systems, David M. Evans

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Widespread mortality of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) has occurred over large expanses of the Western US during the 20^th century. While much of this decline was due to conifer encroachment into seral aspen, significant aspen losses also occurred in areas of persistent aspen and may have been exasperated by drought conditions. Aspen decline has been especially notable at Cedar Mountain, Utah, an area of mostly private land and extensive persistent aspen coverage. The objectives of this study were to create a time series of live and dead aspen cover on the Cedar Mountain landscape, using remotely sensed …

The Quaternary Stratigraphy Of The Henrys Fork And Western Browns Park, Northeastern Uinta Mountains, Utah And Wyoming, Ronald C. Counts

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The landscape evolution of the northeastern Uinta Mountains and the manner in which climatic and tectonic forcing have influenced it are not well constrained. Surficial deposits covering ~325 km² below the glacial termini in the Henrys Fork and ~50 km² along the Green River in western Browns Park were mapped at 1:24,000 scale to develop a Quaternary stratigraphic framework for the northeastern Uinta Mountains.

The Henrys Fork mapping area spans from late Wisconsinan moraines to Flaming Gorge Reservoir. The Henrys Fork stratigraphy contains 10 mainstem gravels, six piedmont gravels, and landslide deposits. Terraces preserved along the Henrys Fork …

Structural Analysis Of Co2 Leakage Through The Salt Wash And Little Grand Wash Faults From Natural Reservoirs In The Colorado Plateau, Southeastern Utah, Anthony P. Williams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Little Grand Wash fault and the Salt Wash Graben in the Colorado Plateau of southeastern Utah emit CO₂ gas from abandoned drillholes, springs, and a hydrocarbon seep. Similar CO₂-charged water has also been emitted in the past, as shown by large localized travertine deposits and veins along and near the fault traces. The faults cut natural CO₂ reservoirs and provide an excellent analog for geologic CO₂ sequestration. The faults cut a north-plunging anticline of rocks consisting of siltstones, shales, and sandstones from the Permian Cutler Formation through the Cretaceous Mancos Shale. The Little Grand …

Geochemistry Of Ground Water - Surface Water Interactions And Metals Loading Rates In The North Fork Of The American Fork River, Utah, From An Abandoned Silver/Lead Mine, Neil I. Burk

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The aqueous geochemistry and hydrology of the North Fork of the American Fork River, its tributaries, and the ground water in the vicinity of the Pacific Mine site were investigated in order to determine what impact ground water entering the North Fork has on toxic metal loads in the river. Toxic metal contamination in the North Fork is great enough that brown and cutthroat trout have absorbed lead, cadmium, and arsenic in their tissues at concentrations that are hazardous to human health if consumed. Ground water that flows through the mine site flows directly through the mine tailings before entering …

From The Rim To The River: The Geomorphology Of Debris Flows In The Green River Canyons Of Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado And Utah, Isaac J. Larsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Green River canyons of the eastern Uinta Mountains have experienced a 5-year period of high debris flow activity. Catchment factors were studied in watersheds and on debris fans with recent debris flows, leading to the development of a conceptual framework of the hillslope and debris flow processes that deliver sediment to the Green River. Two recent fan deposits were monitored to determine the magnitude and processes of reworking that occur during mainstem floods of varying magnitude.

The dominant debris flow initiation mechanism, termed the firehose effect, occurs when overland flow generated on bedrock slopes cascades down steep cliffs and …

Simulation Of Groundwater Flow In Cache Valley, Utah And Idaho, Barry Myers

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A groundwater model of Cache Valley was created using MODFLOW. Steady-state calibration of the model demonstrated that recharge to the lower confined aquifer may occur along the margin of the valley that borders the Wellsville Mountains and the Bear River Range. Steady-state calibration also showed that discharge from the unconfined aquifer may occur along the eastern and western margins of the valley in both the Utah and the Idaho portions of the valley.

Two simulations were run with increased pumping of 3 5 cubic feet per second (1 cubic meter per second) from the principal aquifer. The first simulation was …

Adoption Of Range Management Innovations By Utah Livestock Producers, Elizabeth Anne Didier

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Recent years have seen changes in ecological conditions, ownership patterns, and political-legal forces that affect the sustainability of Western range livestock production. Enterprise diversification and implementation of improvements are advocated as ways for ranchers to cope with marginal returns from ranching while better managing resources. However, relatively few ranchers make such substantive changes in their operations, and previous research suggests that rates of adoption may be especially low in Utah.

Using a qualitative approach, this study explored innovation adoption among Utah ranchers. During preliminary interviews with 13 key informants, commitment to traditional ranching lifestyles, the state's settlement pattern, and availability …

Controls On Channel Organization And Morphology In A Glaciated Basin In The Uinta Mountains, Utah, Betty E. Paepke

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The organization and morphology of Middle Fork Sheep Creek and South Fork Sheep Creek, two mountain streams in the upper Sheep Creek basin, are controlled by the spatial distribution of glacial moraines. Both channels are organized into a reoccurring sequence of steep-gradient reaches changing downstream to low-gradient reaches. Steep-gradient reaches are located where the channels flow through moraine s. Low-gradient reaches are located in meadows downstream of the steep-gradient reaches and immediately upstream of the next moraine. Knickpoints in the longitudinal profiles of both streams coincide with the location of moraines.

Large boulder s, beyond the size transportable by the …

Tertiary Stratigraphy And Structural Geology, Wellsville Mountains To Junction Hills, North-Central Utah, Kathryn M. Goessel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study integrates detailed mapping of Tertiary deposits along the divide between the lower Bear River basin and the Cache Valley basin with several other techniques to generate a depositional model, define extension-related structures, and compile a geologic history for this part of the northeastern Basin and Range province. The study area is situated along the topographic divide between Box Elder and Cache Counties, Utah, from the Wellsville Mountains north almost to Clarkston Mountain. These ranges are cored by folded and thrusted Paleozoic rocks. They are bound on the west by normal faults of the Wasatch fault zone and on …

All-Sky Measurements Of The Mesospheric "Frontal Events" From Bear Lake Observatory, Utah, Seon-Hee Seo

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Studies of internal gravity waves in the earth's upper atmosphere are of considerable interest. These waves play a very important role in the dynamics of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (ML T) region where they can transfer large amounts of energy and momentum from the lower atmosphere via wave saturation and dissipation. In particular, small-scale short-period ( < 1 hour) waves of the type regularly recorded by all-sky nightglow imagers operated by Utah State University (USU) are known to be very important contributors. In this thesis attention is focused on a subset of small-scale wave phenomena recently discovered using such image data, the so called "frontal events." Frontal events have distinguishable characteristics from usual short-period ( < 1 hour) gravity waves. The principal characteristics are a well defined leading "front, " which exhibits a sharp change in intensity followed by a coherent wave trail (often extending from horizon to horizon) and relatively high phase speeds ( > 50ms^-1) Another unusual characteristic of "frontal events" is an apparent reversal in contrast of the wave structures as imaged in the hydroxyl (OH) emission (peak altitude - 87 km) when compared with the oxygen (OJ) "green line" (557.7 nm) emission (peak …

The Geomorphic Basis Of Colorado Squawfish Nursery Habitat In The Green River Near Ouray, Utah, Cynthia L. Rakowski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Nursery habitat availability is considered a bottleneck to successful recruitment of Colorado squawfish (Ptychocheilus Lucius). Detailed geomorphic studies were conducted in a 1.5-km reach to examine channel response to flows and the geomorphic setting of nursery habitats during a 2-year period. Videography was used to extend relationships in the 1.5-km reach to a longer 10-km reach.

Nursery habitat availability varied yearly with little persistence in location or geomorphic setting of individual habitats for the 2 years of this study. A small number of habitats provided most of the area of high-quality (i.e., deep) habitat, and most of the …