Earth Sciences Commons^™

Species Distribution Modeling For Arid Adapted Habitat Specialists In Zion National Park, Sam Driver, Daniel R. Unger, David L. Kulhavy, Chris M. Schalk

Student Publications

The Arizona toad (Anaxyrus microscaphus) and Jones’ waxy dogbane (Cycladenia humilis var. jonesii) are habitat specialists with historical ranges in the desert southwest and specifically, Zion National Park (ZION). The machine learning method, MaxEnt, constructed species distribution models (SDMs) in ZION for the two study species at 30 m and 900 m spatial resolutions using climate, topographic, and remotely sensed data. Additionally, 900 m forecasting models were constructed to observe the shifts in suitable habitat for the years 2050 and 2070, based off two representative concentration pathway scenarios. Results indicate promising predictive power for both high …

Species Distribution Modeling For Arid Adapted Habitat Specialists In Zion National Park, Sam Driver, Chris M. Schalk, Daniel Unger, David Kulhavy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Arizona toad (Anaxyrus microscaphus) and Jones’ waxy dogbane (Cycladenia humilis var. jonesii) are habitat specialists with historical ranges in the desert southwest and specifically, Zion National Park (ZION). The machine learning method, MaxEnt, constructed species distribution models (SDMs) in ZION for the two study species at 30 m and 900 m spatial resolutions using climate, topographic, and remotely sensed data. Additionally, 900 m forecasting models were constructed to observe the shifts in suitable habitat for the years 2050 and 2070, based off two representative concentration pathway scenarios. Results indicate promising predictive power for both high …

Petrology Of The Gradational Intrusive Contact Between The Packsaddle Schist And The Town Mountain Granite, Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, Llano Uplift, Central Texas, Travis Galle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Mesoproterozoic intrusive contact between the ~1.1 Ga anorogenic Town Mountain Granite and the ~1.3 Ga Packsaddle Schist is a gradational contact exhumed within the Llano uplift. This contact is exposed along the southeastern margin of the Enchanted Rock batholith in central Texas. Field observations, hand sample and thin section petrography, and handheld X-ray fluorescence analysis of hand samples were used to characterize the gradational nature of this contact at multiple scales. The style of gradation between the Town Mountain Granite and Packsaddle Schist varies throughout the study area, containing both injection and permeation. The complex relationships observed at the …

Petrology Of The Gradational Intrusive Contact Between The Packsaddle Schist And The Town Mountain Granite, Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, Llano Uplift, Central Texas, Travis Galle

Student Publications

The Mesoproterozoic intrusive contact between the ~1.1 Ga anorogenic Town

Mountain Granite and the ~1.3 Ga Packsaddle Schist is a gradational contact

exhumed within the Llano uplift. This contact is exposed along the southeastern

margin of the Enchanted Rock batholith in central Texas. Field observations,

hand sample and thin section petrography, and handheld X-ray fluorescence

analysis of hand samples were used to characterize the gradational nature of this

contact at multiple scales. The style of gradation between the Town Mountain

Granite and Packsaddle Schist varies throughout the study area, containing both

injection and permeation. The complex relationships observed at the …

Delineating Of The Utica Shale/Point Pleasant Formation Play System To Determine Influence Of The Precambrian Basement In Northeastern Ohio, Jarrod R. Bridges

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Utica Shale/Point Pleasant Formation system has recently become a highly developed unconventional target for oil and natural gas production, leading to an increased desire for knowledge of the controls on deposition of this system. Precambrian basement features have long been known to affect deposition of older strata near these features across Ohio, but the effects of far field tectonics is not fully agreed upon. Precambrian faults and lineaments are known to exist and have been mapped, but are thought to have ceased their influence on deposition by the time of the Knox unconformity during the Cambrian. In the case …

The Persistence Of Acid Mine Drainage At An East Texas Coal Mine, Sarah Zagurski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to estimate the time it will take for acid forming materials (pyrite) to be weathered to a state of equilibrium and thus cease to produce acid in ground and surface waters within Oak Hill Mine. This was accomplished using an ex-situ kinetic leaching study incorporating a humidity cell in a controlled laboratory setting. Leaching was conducted on soil cores obtained from the vadose zone at Oak Hill Mine and the humidity cell was used to accelerate oxidation of the pyrite within the cores.

An in-situ field study was also conducted that monitored groundwater conditions …

Stratigraphy, Petrology, Diagenesis, Paleontology, And Depositional Environments Of The Harrisburg Member Of The Kaibab Formation In Northern Arizona And Southern Utah, Zachery T. Case

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Kaibab Formation has two members, the Fossil Mountain Member below and the Harrisburg Member above. They were deposited in shallow-marine shelf to restricted coastal settings. Stratigraphically above are the Rock Canyon Conglomerate and the Moenkopi Formation; consisting of the Timpoweap and Lower Red members; which are the only members present in the study area. The Rock Canyon Conglomerate was deposited in depressions and as a regolith. The Timpoweap and Lower Red members were deposited in shallow marine to tidal environments.

Nine stratigraphic units were identified in the Harrisburg Member. Units one, two, three, five, six, seven, and nine are …

Geochemical Characterization Of Base Metals In Stream Water And Sediments In The Caddo Lake Watershed, Cass, Harrison, And Marion Counties, Texas, Melinda S. Faulkner, Melanie L. Ertons, Joseph D. Watkins

Faculty Publications

The Caddo Lake watershed is located in northeastern Texas and encompasses much of Cass, Harrison, and Marion counties. The watershed is drained by major streams and tributaries flowing in an easterly direction over Eocene-aged rocks and sediments of the Wilcox and Claiborne groups, and empty into the western arm of Caddo Lake. Since 1995, Caddo Lake and some of its tributaries have been included on the State of Texas Clean Water Act 303(d) list by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for impairment due to mercury content in edible tissue, depressed dissolved oxygen, base metal concentrations, and low pH …

Evaluation Of Groundwater Sodium And Sodium Uptake In Taxodium And Its Hybrids On Galveston Island, Texas, Daniel Morgan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In September 2008, Hurricane Ike swept through the Gulf of Mexico striking the Gulf Coast, claiming hundreds of lives and causing billions of dollars in damage. The hurricane left behind elevated sea salt concentrations in the soil and groundwater, preventing the unaided return of live oaks and other species to the island. To determine effective ways to ameliorate the elevated Na⁺ concentrations in the soil, eight treatments were applied to the soil and combinations of three species of plants, live oak (Quercus virginiana), hybrid bald cypress (Taxodium ‘T406’), and yellow hibiscus (Hibiscus hamabo …

Chemostratigraphy Of Carbonate Gravity Flows Of The Wolfcamp Formation In Crockett County, Midland Basin, Texas, Alex Blizzard, Julie Bloxson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sediment gravity flows into deep-water environments are important stratigraphic traps in lithologically diverse reservoirs generating multiple plays for hydrocarbon exploration. These highly heterogeneous deposits can be studied by utilizing chemostratigraphy and higher-order sequence stratigraphy; being an accurate method for reservoir characterization. Studying these gravity flows along a carbonate platform’s slope can further expand an understanding of the stratigraphy that is filling adjacent basins. The application of elemental analyses can support in identifying mineralogy that impact reservoir quality, especially when conventional testing cannot be applied.

This study utilizes five cores containing the Wolfcamp Formation from the southeastern slope of the Central …

Delineating Subsurface Karst Potential Using Electrical Resistivity In The Shell Mountain Province, Fort Hood Military Installation, Texas, Annie Robison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fort Hood Military Installation is located within the Lampasas Cut Plain in Bell and Coryell counties, Texas, and is characterized by exposures of Lower Cretaceous Trinity and Fredericksburg Group carbonates. The Shell Mountain Province is an elevated plateau located in western Fort Hood utilized by the military for heavy mechanical (troop and wheeled) maneuver training and hosts significant surficial and subsurface karst. Ongoing karst inventories in western Fort Hood conducted by range managers have documented over 100 individual karst features. Recent studies utilizing LiDAR and remote sensing techniques delineated karst potential in this area and identified over 13,909 discrete depressions. …

Characterization Of Surface Karst Using Lidar And Field Traverses, Fort Hood Military Installation, Coryell County, Texas, Heather Jaclyn Dailey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Fort Hood Military Installation is a karst landscape that has been significantly altered for training exercises that include heavy vehicle maneuvers and simulated combat. Traditional karst surveys are often time-consuming and require extensive field analyses to adequately characterize large areas. Bias is given to areas that are most easily accessible and false negatives are common. Previous studies conducted in the eastern and western portion of the base have understated the abundance and spatial distribution of karst, particularly in the western portion.

This study used field traverses and 0.5-meter Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data to characterize surface karst depressions, …

Applications Of Digital Remote Sensing To Quantify Glacier Change In Glacier And Mount Rainier National Parks, Brianna Clark

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Digital remote sensing and geographic information systems were employed in performing area and volume calculations on glacial landscapes. Characteristics of glaciers from two geographic regions, the Intermountain Region (between the Rocky Mountain and Cascade Ranges) and the Pacific Northwest, were estimated for the years 1985, 2000, and 2015. Glacier National Park was studied for the Intermountain Region whereas Mount Rainier National Park was representative of the glaciers in the Pacific Northwest. Within the thirty year period of the study, the glaciers in Glacier National Park decreased in area by 27.5 percent while those on Mount Rainier only decreased by 5.7 …

Geochemical Analyses Of Base Metals In Sediments And Stream Water Black Cypress Bayou, Marion County, Texas, Melanie L. Ertons

Undergraduate Research Conference

Black Cypress Bayou is a primary tributary of Caddo Lake watershed in eastern Texas. The watershed is underlain by Eocene-aged strata from the Wilcox and Claiborne groups, which represent transgressive/regressive shoreline fluctuations that deposited interbedded friable sandstones and mudstones. The Wilcox Group is of special interest because it contains lignite coal, which has a direct link to heavy metals in sediment and natural waters. Caddo Lake has been listed on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality 303(d) list for impairment due to mercury in edible tissue since 1995 and Black Cypress Bayou has been listed for impaired waters due to …

Geology Of Nacogdoches, Texas: Texas Academy Of Science March 1, 2020, R. Larell Nielson, Mike Read, Mindy Faulkner, Hannah C. Chambers, Jessica O'Neal

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.