Earth Sciences Commons^™

Salinity And Water Potential Sensor For Evaluation Of Soil Water Quality, Melvin Dee Campbell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The objective of this study was to evaluate response times of a salinity sensor and a soil psychrometer. Influences of pressure, temperature and molar concentration changes were to be measured.

Salinity sensor response times ranged from 50 to 130 minutes during solution adsorption while desorption response times were perhaps ten times as long. Temperature affected both response times and equilibrium values, but pressure did not affect either.

Soil psychrometer response times ranged from from 40 to 80 minutes for either adsorption or desorption of solution. However, other factors probably related to indirectness of measurement made the soil psychrometer fail to …

Catalytic Effect Of Soil Components On The Nitrite Transformation In Buffer Acid Solutions, Laxman G. Kuratti

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Nitrite decomposition in buffer solutions of pH 3, 4, and 5 was observed to be a first order reaction with rate constants (k) 6.39 x 10^-3, 1.15 x 10^-3, and 0.17 x 10^-3, respectively. When 10 grams of two different soils were introduced, the reaction was catalyzed in all three pH conditions studied. This effect, however, was more pronounced in pH 5.

When 10 grams of soil were introduced, all the added nitrite was not recovered. The deficit ranged from 17 to 30 parts per million when 150 parts per million nitrite nitrogen was …

Environmental Analysis Of The Swan Peak Formation In The Bear River Range, North-Central Utah And Southeastern Idaho, Philip L. Vandorston

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Swan Peak Formation in the Bear River Range of northern Utah and southeastern Idaho varies in thickness from 0 feet to over 400 feet. It consists of three units: (1) a lower unit of interbedded quartzites, shales, and limestones; (2) A middle unit of interbedded quartzites and shales; (3) An upper unit of nearly homogeneous quartzites. The different sedimentary structures, ichnofossils, body fossils, and mineral compositions of each unit represent different environments of deposition. The lower unit probably was deposited in a shallow-shelf environment, and its sediments grade upward into probably shoreface-, tidal-flat-, and lagoonal deposits of the middle …

The Hyrum And Beirdneau Formations Of North-Central Utah And Southeastern Idaho, James F. Eliason

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Hyrum and Beirdneau Formations of North-central Utah and Southeastern Idaho represent rocks of late Middle Devonian (Givetian) to upper Upper Devonian (Famennian) age. They are disconformably underlain by the Early Devonian Water Canyon Formation in most cases and disconformably overlain by the Devonian-Mississippian Leatham Formation or the Mississippian Lodgepole Formation.

The Hyrum Formation is divided into five members based on lithology and color changes. The five members are: (1) Samaria, (2) Lower Dolomite, (3) Lower Carbonate-detritus, (4) Upper Dolomite, and (5) Upper Carbonate-detritus Members. The Samaria Member is the only fossiliferous unit within the Hyrum Formation.

The Beirdneau Formation …

Some Aspects Of Geochemistry And Mineralogy Of Bear Lake Sediments, Utah-Idaho, Dean F. Davidson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Bear Lake is located in southeastern Idaho and north-central Utah. The lake has a maximum altitude of 5923 feet and an area of approximately 110 square miles. Surrounding the lake are carbonates, shales, and sandstones of lower Paleozoic through middle Mesozoic ages. The many streams and springs that originate in these rocks are probably the main contributors to the chemistry of the lake. Water from Bear River, which flows into the north end of the lake, also contributes to its chemistry.

Quartz, aragonite, dolomite, calcite and clay minerals are the main minerals in the lake-bottom sediments. Quartz is generally the …

Structural Geology Of Southeastern Margin Of Bear River Range, Idaho, Clinton L. Davis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Seven Cambrian formations and two Ordovician formations, with a total thickness of 9,000 feet, crop out west of the Paris thrust fault and comprise the upper plate. Slices of three Ordovician formations, one Silurian formation, two Mississippian formations, and one formation each of Pennsylvanian and Permian age comprise the low plate. Mesozoic units are not present in the mapped area. Two Tertiary formations and unconsolidated Quaternary deposits are also present.

The major structural feature is the Paris thrust fault which extends north-south throughout the area. It was active during the Laramide orogeny. This fault involved eastward movement and placed Cambrian …

A Formula To Express Evapotranspiration As A Function Of Soil Moisture And Evaporative Demands Of The Atmosphere, Aldo L. Norero

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A mathematical expression was developed and tested which describes the relation between evapotranspiration and soil moisture. A general premise of this mathematical model is that the evapotranspiration-soil moisture relationship is determined by interaction of climatic, soil and plant factors. The basic model is

dETa/dYs = -ke[1-(ET_a/ET_mx)]

in which ET_a is the actual evapotranspiration, Ψ_s is the total soil water potential, k is a proportionality coefficient, ∈ is the soil moisture extraction capacity of the atmosphere , and ET_mx is the evapotranspiration that would occur from a particular crop-soil unit when soil moisture was …

Paleoecology Of The Lowermost Part Of The Jurassic Carmel Formation, San Rafael Swell, Emery County, Utah, R. Joseph Dover

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Paleoecology of the lowermost Carmel Formation, San Rafael Swell, Emery County, Utah, was studied at nine localmes 2 to 21 miles apart. Eight of the sections contain fossiliferous calcilutites and oölmc limestones in the basal 35 to 135 feet measured. Thickness of the fossiliferous beds ranges up to 10 feet. Beds of barren calcilutites, calcarenites, oölmc limestones, intraclastic limestones, calcareous sandstones, and bedded gypsum, separate the fossiliferous beds. A parallel-bedded, basal quartz sandstone, 0.5 to 7 feet thick, everywhere overlies the Navajo Formation.

Molluscs dominate faunal assemblages. Shells are recrystallised to calcite, but external sculpture is preserved in sufficient detail …