Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Reflectance Spectroscopy Datasets For The Validation Of Tanager, Kristiana Lapo, Kathleen Hoza, Sammy Theuer, Melissa S. Rice

Geology Faculty Publications

The Three-Axis N-sample Automated Goniometer for Evaluating Reflectance (TANAGER) is a custom goniometer designed to rapidly acquire spectra of natural rock surfaces across the full scattering hemisphere. TANAGER interfaces with a Malvern Panalytical ASD Fieldspec 4 Hi-Res reflectance spectrometer to collect data from 350-2500 nm at a range of incidence, emission and azimuth angles. To validate the accuracy and repeatability of data collected with TANAGER - and to characterize any instrument noise, artifacts or sample heating effects - we collected spectra from three categories of targets: (1) powdered calcium sulfate (anhydrite), (2) naturally weathered basalt surfaces, and (3) color calibration …

An Analysis Of Clinopyroxene Reaction Rims As Assimilation Chronometers At Cinder Cone Volcano, Lassen National Volcanic Park, California, Annabelle Carozza

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Cinder Cone is a monogenetic cinder cone volcano located in Lassen National Volcanic Park, California. It erupted in 1666 CE and had three eruptive phases, each producing tephra and lava flows that ranged in style from Hawaiian (low explosivity) to Strombolian (moderate to high explosivity). This eruptive style variability at Cinder Cone was not caused by viscosity or volatile differences, and ascent rate has been proposed as a causal factor in the observed explosivity difference between phases. Ubiquitous quartz crystals are entrained within tephra and lava and were likely sourced from the assimilation of a granitic basement rock underlying the …

U-Pb Zircon Geochronology And Structure Of Regional Blueschist Units In The Easton Metamorphic Suite, Northwest Cascades, Wa, Katherine Lang

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Easton metamorphic suite of the Northwest Cascades Thrust System (NWCS) is a well-preserved subduction accretion complex in Washington State. The regional blueschist units of the Easton metamorphic suite include the Mt. Josephine semi-schist, Darrington Phyllite, and Shuksan greenschist/blueschist and all are interpreted to have accreted after the onset of Jurassic subduction beneath North America. This study uses zircon U-Pb geochronology, structure, and field observations to test the regional correlations between units in the Easton metamorphic suite and address models for the timing of subduction accretion along the North American margin in the Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous. The results …

A Field Guide To Jezero Crater, Mars, Lee Adair

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This project aims to blend art, creative writing, and scientific inquiry to explore the possibilities of geology research on our neighboring planet, Mars. This exploratory field guide combines journals, notes, and images to inform the reader of what they can expect to see on the Martian surface.

Mastcam Multispectral Database From The Curiosity Rover’S Traverse In Gale Crater, Mars (Sols 0-2302), Melissa S. Rice

Geology Faculty Publications

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover has explored fluvio-deltaic, lacustrine, and aeolian strata as it climbed over 400 m in elevation over the first 2302 sols of its traverse. Curiosity’s Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument is a pair of multispectral imagers covering visible to near-infrared (VNIR) wavelengths (445 nm - 1013 nm). Mastcam spectra can broadly distinguish between iron phases and oxidation states, and in combination with chemical data from other instruments, Mastcam spectra can help constrain mineralogy, depositional origin, and diagenesis. This dataset includes representative Mastcam spectra from >600 multispectral observations acquired across Curiosity’s traverse through Vera Rubin ridge …

Can Women Science?: A Climate Survey To Address Gender Inequity In Wwu’S Geology And Physics/Astronomy Departments, Raina Shaw

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This research study aims to assess and analyze gendered differences in student perceptions of the environment and climate in WWU’s Geology and Physics & Astronomy Departments. Underlying hypotheses involve the perceptions, comfort, and discrimination of women and gender minorities in male-dominated spaces. We also theorize that these gendered differences will increase with seniority and more so within physics than in geology. In addition to testing these hypotheses, we sought to collect relevant student feedback on factors that influence their perceptions of the climate & environment, to identify areas for future study and formal program assessment. From 56 respondents, this study …

To Erupt Or Not To Erupt? That Is The Question: Extremely High Levels Of Background Seismicity And Lack Of Eruptivity From 2003-2019 At Gareloi Volcano, Aleutian Islands, Alaska, Kiana Tamarie Harris

WWU Graduate School Collection

Mount Gareloi, one of the westernmost volcanoes in the Aleutian arc, has not erupted since 1989, yet it continuously exhibits extremely high levels of background seismicity. Hundreds of volcanic earthquakes are recorded per day on the island since seismometer installation in 2003. I analyzed and classified seismic data collected from 2003-2019 to explore the geophysical processes causing this consistent seismicity with no subsequent eruptive activity. Analysis of waveform and corresponding spectra indicate the vast majority of Gareloi earthquakes are characterized by frequencies between 1 and 5 Hz, which are typical of long-period (LP) events, and these events are particularly dominant …

Reconstructing Deglacial And Holocene Climatic And Environmental Change In The Snowy Mountains Of Southeast Australia, Aidan Warner Burdick

WWU Graduate School Collection

Multi-proxy, long-term records of deglacial and Holocene climatic and environmental change in southeast Australia are rare, leaving the region a gap in local and large-scale synoptic climate reconstructions. The Snowy Mountains include the highest and coldest regions of mainland Australia and were the only part of the mainland that was glaciated during the late Pleistocene. Lakes formed by the glaciers have provided continuous sediment traps since glacial retreat following the Last Glacial Maximum. In this report, I reconstruct the maximum ice extents of glaciers during the last glacial period and estimate their equilibrium line altitudes, revising the work of Barrows …

Forearc Erosion In Response To Megathrust Plate Coupling Along The Wairarapa Coastline, New Zealand, Chantel E. Jensen

WWU Graduate School Collection

How the subduction zone earthquake cycle contributes to uplift, erosion, and permanent deformation of the overlying forearc remains largely unknown. The Hikurangi subduction zone (HSZ), along the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, provides a unique location to examine the effects of subduction coupling on forearc deformation over multiple millennia. There, the Wairarapa coastline runs parallel to the HSZ and spans a transitional boundary between locked and freely slipping portions of the plate interface. Using digital topographic analysis and catchment-averaged erosion rates from ¹⁰Be in fluvial sands, I examined the geomorphology of the HSZ forearc to …

Structural History Of The Bald Mountain Mining District, Nevada, Usa, David Paul Ryan

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Bald Mountain Mining district, like much of central Nevada, has experienced a complex deformation history. The mining district is considered here as a southern extension of the well-studied Carlin trend of gold deposits to the north. In order to gain a better understanding of how the Bald Mountain Mining District structural style relates to other structural models developed to the north in the Carlin trend, I completed a mapping and structural domain analysis in the district, with a focus on the North Mooney basin area where a high spatial concentration of Carlin-type gold deposits occur. The identification of structural …

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 …

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 …

Resources For Interdisciplinary Understanding Of Energy, Alessandra Hughes, Jessica Trottier

Scholars Week

In most undergraduate curricula, students are expected to have the ability to apply, or transfer, a learned concept to new coursework. In the sciences, students are often introduced to energy ideas with discipline-specific vocabulary and tasks which encourage compartmentalized, surface-level understandings of energy concepts. Our research investigates student transfer of energy ideas within a coherent science course series, where physics is the foundational course. Similar modeling tools and vocabulary are used in the classes to help students see energy as a unifying framework. We seek to identify and describe what transfer “looks like” in this idealized context by interviewing students …

Spectral Analysis Of Stratigraphy At Eberswalde Crater, Mars, Cory Hughes

Scholars Week

We will analyze spectral characteristics of stratigraphy in the catchment and deposit at Eberswalde Crater, Mars. This crater is a frequent contender for the preferred destination of future Mars rover and human science missions in the search for evidence of life on the Red Planet.

The Effect Of Interactive Computer Animations On Introductory Geology Students' Conceptual Understanding Of Mountain Building Processes, Michelle (Michelle Alicia) Malone

WWU Graduate School Collection

The use of computer animations to help students visualize processes they cannot observe directly is becoming more widespread in geoscience classrooms, but few studies have formally assessed the effectiveness of these technological aids as learning tools. This research project evaluated the effect of interactive computer animations on undergraduate introductory geology students' understanding of mountain building processes. The study focused on introductory geology students’ misconceptions about the formation of mountains. With the assistance of Flash programmers, an online interactive web activity was developed. This tool was aimed at reducing misconceptions, and included activities related to plate tectonics, isostasy, erosion and rock …

The Geology And Structure Of The Canyon Creek-Church Mountain Area, North Cascades, Washington, Jeffrey T. (Jeffrey Thomas) Jones

WWU Graduate School Collection

Four major rock assemblages ranging from Precambrian to Lower Cretaceous occur in the Canyon Creek/Church Mountain area of northwestern Washington. Lithologic, structural, and fossil evidence were used to discriminate among the assemblages and to correlate them with the Chilliwack Group, the Nooksack Group, the Yellow Aster Complex, and a unit previously included in the Chilliwack Group, referred to here as the "chert/basalt unit." These assemblages were juxtaposed during middle Cretaceous tectonism along low angle and high angle faults. There is some evidence for additional structural deformation after the middle Cretaceous.

The Chilliwack Group, consisting of volcanic rocks, volcaniclastic rocks, and …

The Shuksan Metamorphic Suite And Shuksan Thrust Mt Watson Area, North Cascades, Washington, Ralph Albert Haugerud

WWU Graduate School Collection

Rocks of the Shuksan Metamorphic Suite exposed on Mt Watson are metamorphosed pillow basalts, basaltic flows (?), basaltic tuffs, carbonaceous sediments, Mn-enriched cherty sediments, rare calcareous sediments and rare ferromanganese nodules.

Greenschist of the Suite records the following history: 1) early static hydrothermal metamorphism; 2) Early Cretaceous (about 125 ma ago) synkinematic blueschist-facies metamorphism at P~7 kb, T~350° C, ^Pfluid ^{near P}total, ^XCO₂ < 0.1, with production of S₁ and L₁ ; 3) late-metamorphic isoclinal folding (F₂) around axes commonly at high angles to L₁; 4) L₃ crenulation of S₁. Phyllite of the …

Geology And Petrology Of The Lake Ann Stock And Associated Rocks, Eric William James

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Lake Ann stock is a two pyroxene quartz monzodiorite to granodiorite epizonal intrusive emplaced into the Shuksan thrust fault in the latest Pliocene. It is similar to other Late Tertiary Cascade intrusives in mineralogy, texture, chemistry, and setting. These similarities are attributable to near surface emplacement, quick cooling and magmatic arc setting. Epizonal emplacement is indicated by fine, equigranular textures, granophyre, late stage alteration, late miarolitic dikes, plagioclase resorbed by alkali feldspar, and low pressure contact metamorphic assemblages. Temperature of emplacement was between 600°C and 925°C; pressure was less than 2 kb. Chemistry of individual samples and variation diagrams …

Petrology Of The Crystalline Rocks Of Vedder Mountain, British Columbia, Mitchell L. Bernardi

WWU Graduate School Collection

Vedder Mountain lies in Washington state and British Columbia on the western flank of the North Cascades. Metamorphic rocks, which comprise most of the western half of the mountain, can be divided into two separate and distinct units. The southern unit is composed of foliated and non-foliated hornblende-plagioclase gabbro with minor serpentinite and pyroxenite. Most of the gabbroic rocks are sheared and altered and exhibit a lower greenschist facies metamorphism overprinted by a subsequent prehnite-pumpellyite facies metamorphism. Whole-rock chemical analyses of the gabbros plot in and near the fields defined by oceanic gabbro (Engel and Fisher, 1969; Miyashiro et al, …