Earth Sciences Commons^™

Radiaxial-Fibrous And Fascicular-Optic Mg-Calcitic Cave Cements: A Characterization Using Electron Backscattered Diffraction (Ebsd), Detlev K. Richter, Adrian Immenhauser, Rolf Dieter Neuser, Augusto Mangini

International Journal of Speleology

Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) applied to crystal fabric research in speleothems aids in our understanding of the origin of those fabrics. A significant advantage of this approach is the three dimensional data set of crystal c-axes. Here, we show a rare case of both convergent (radiaxial-fibrous) and divergent (fascicular-optic) orientations of the c-axes in pool calcites. The seemingly defective structure of the calcite lattice resulting in radiaxial-fibrous crystal orientations is probably caused by differential incorporation of Mg during crystal growth. The observation that radiaxial-fibrous and fascicular-optic fabrics co-exist in the same pool environment is remarkable and documents the complexity of …

The Petrology Of The Coconino Sandstone (Permian), Arizona, Usa, John Whitmore, Raymond Strom, Stephen Cheung, Paul A. Garner

Science and Mathematics Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to give a description of the overall petrology of the Permian Coconino Sandstone that outcrops prominently in Arizona, including the Grand Canyon. The Coconino is often regarded as something like a “type” of the many similar Permian cross-bedded sandstones that occur around the world. It is generally accepted that the Coconino is an eolian sandstone and that its sand grains are well-sorted and well-rounded. However, until now, no detailed petrographic work has ever been published to substantiate these assumptions. We widely sampled the thickness and lateral extent of the formation and then studied hundreds …

Structural And Hydrological Controls On The Development Of A River Cave In Marble (Tapagem Cave - Se Brazil), William Sallun Filho, Bruna Medeiros Cordeiro, Ivo Karmann

International Journal of Speleology

Tapagem Cave (or Devil’s Cave) is a river cave developed in the dolomite marble karst of the Serra do André Lopes (State of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil). Although this region is a plateau with significant variation in elevation and a humid subtropical climate, the cave is an anomalous feature in the André Lopes karst because there are few other caves. The marble, which is in a synclinal structure with subjacent phyllites, is a karst aquifer perched above the regional base level (Ribeira River) and has little allogenic recharge. The cave developed on a secondary anticline on the northwest flank of …

U.S. Drought Monitor, December 9, 2014, Anthony Artusa

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for December 9, 2014 (12/9/14) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Water-Level Changes And Change In Water In Storage In The High Plains Aquifer, Predevelopment To 2013 And 2011-13, Virginia L. Mcguire

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

The High Plains aquifer underlies 111.8 million acres (about 175,000 square miles) in parts of eight States—Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. Water-level declines began in parts of the High Plains aquifer soon after the beginning of substantial irrigation with groundwater in the aquifer area (about 1950). This report presents water-level changes in the High Plains aquifer from predevelopment (generally before 1950) to 2013 and from 2011 to 2013. The report also presents change in water in storage in the High Plains aquifer from predevelopment to 2013 and from 2011 to 2013.

The methods to …

Strontium, Lead, And Oxygen Isotopic Signatures Of Mid-Miocene Silicic Volcanism In Eastern Oregon, Emily Nancy Hess

Dissertations and Theses

Widespread, mid-Miocene rhyolite volcanism of eastern Oregon that are coeval or slightly postdate flood basalts of the Columbia River Basalt Province allows for mapping crustal domains using radiogenic and stable isotopes. Rhyolites are thought to be derived in large part by partial melting of the crust and thus yield direct information on the composition of the crust. Silicic volcanism is expressed in the form of numerous domes and tuffs exposed over a wide area (~300 km in N-S dimension and ~200 km in E-W dimension) west of the presumed craton boundary, which runs parallel but mostly east of the Oregon-Idaho …

Chemical And Petrographic Survey Of Large, Igneous-Textured Inclusions In Ordinary Chondrites, Katherine Armstrong

Dissertations and Theses

Our inventory of material from the early solar system includes large, igneous-textured inclusions in O chondrites, whose origin and relationship to their host meteorite is unclear. These inclusions occur in approximately 4% of O chondrites, and are mineralogically, petrographically, and chemically diverse. Petrographic and chemical data from 29 inclusions from 23 host meteorites were collected with optical light and scanning electron microscopy, allowing for the determination of major phase modal abundance and major element bulk chemistry. No correlation between any inclusion property and host meteorite type were found, but some trends were observed. Nine of the inclusions show strong evidence, …

Morphological And Structural Mapping Of The Oudemans Impact Crater Layered Central Uplift, Mars, Bahareh Kasmai

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Central uplifts in large meteorite impact craters provide valuable information about the subsurface geology of planetary bodies. Compared to impact craters on Earth, Martian central uplifts can be well exposed and can be mapped in detail by using satellite imagery. Central uplifts preserve morphological and structural features formed as result of the combination of emplacement during the impact process, post impact modification, and erosion over time. In this study, the Oudemans Crater central uplift (the largest central uplift with layers on Mars) was investigated. Oudemans (9.89 S, 268.1 E) is 124 km in diameter and is located in the Sinai …

Soil Respiration Patterns And Controls In Limestone Cedar Glades, Jennifer Cartwright, Dafeng Hui

Biology Faculty Research

Aims

Drivers of soil respiration (R s ) in rock outcrop ecosystems remain poorly understood. We investigated these drivers in limestone cedar glades, known for their concentrations of endemic plant species and for seasonal hydrologic extremes (xeric and saturated conditions), and compared our findings to those in temperate grasslands and semi-arid ecosystems.

Methods

We measured R s , soil temperature (T s ), volumetric soil water content (SWC), soil organic matter (SOM), soil depth, and vegetation cover monthly over 16 mo and analyzed effects of these variables on R s .

Results

Seasonally, R s primarily tracked T …

Geochemistry Of The Great Valley Group: An Integrated Provenance Record, Kathleen Surpless

Kathleen D. Surpless

Sedimentary geochemistry of fine-grained strata of the Great Valley Group (GVG) in California documents a provenance signal that may better represent unstable, mafic minerals and volcanic clasts within sediment source regions than the provenance signal documented in the petrofacies and detrital zircon analysis of coarser sedimentary fractions. Geochemistry of the GVG provides an overall provenance framework within which to interpret sandstone petrofacies and detrital zircon age signatures. The geochemical signature for all Sacramento Valley samples records an overall continental arc source, with significant variation but no clear spatial or temporal trends, indicating that the geochemical provenance signal remained relatively consistent …

Does The Great Valley Group Contain Jurassic Strata? Reevaluation Of The Age And Early Evolution Of A Classic Forearc Basin, Kathleen D. Surpless, Stephan A. Graham, Jacob A. Covault, Joseph L. Wooden

Kathleen D. Surpless

The presence of Cretaceous detrital zircon in Upper Jurassic strata of the Great Valley Group may require revision of the lower Great Valley Group chronostratigraphy, with significant implications for the Late Jurassic–Cretaceous evolution of the continental margin. Samples (n = 7) collected from 100 km along strike in the purported Tithonian strata of the Great Valley Group contain 20 Cretaceous detrital zircon grains, based on sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe age determinations. These results suggest that Great Valley Group deposition was largely Cretaceous, creating a discrepancy between biostratigraphy based on Buchia zones and chronostratigraphy based on radiometric age dates. These …

Lithofacies Control In Detrital Zircon Provenance Studies: Insights From The Cretaceous Methow Basin, Southern Canadian Cordillera, Kathleen Surpless, J. Mahoney, Joseph Wooden, Michael Mcwilliams

Kathleen D. Surpless

High-frequency sampling for detrital zircon analysis can provide a detailed record of fine-scale basin evolution by revealing the temporal and spatial variability of detrital zircon ages within clastic sedimentary successions. This investigation employed detailed sampling of two sedimentary successions in the Methow/Methow-Tyaughton basin of the southern Canadian Cordillera to characterize the heterogeneity of detrital zircon signatures within single lithofacies and assess the applicability of detrital zircon analysis in distinguishing fine-scale provenance changes not apparent in lithologic analysis of the strata. The Methow/Methow-Tyaughton basin contains two distinct stratigraphic sequences of middle Albian to Santonian clastic sedimentary rocks: submarine-fan deposits of the …

Detrital Zircon Provenance Analysis Of The Great Valley Group, California: Evolution Of An Arc-Forearc System, Kathleen Surpless, Stephan Graham, Joseph Wooden, Michael Mcwilliams

Kathleen D. Surpless

The improved resolution of sediment provenance from detrital zircon analysis of Great Valley stratigraphy enables recognition of previously undocumented arc magmatism and the evolution of regional drainage systems within the Cretaceous arc-forearc system related to uplift, magmatism, and structure in the arc. Great Valley detrital zircon age data confirm previous studies that indicate that the locus of the sediment source in the southern Sierra Nevada arc migrated east with the active volcanic front and suggest rapid rates of uplift and unroofing of the southern arc. Sacramento Valley detrital zircon age data indicate a more complex history of drainage in the …

Provenance Of The Pythian Cave Conglomerate, Northern California: Implications For Mid-Cretaceous Paleogeography Of The U.S. Cordillera, Kathleen D. Surpless, Gregory Alan Augsburger

Kathleen D. Surpless

Provenance analysis of middle Cretaceous sedimentary rocks can help distinguish between disparate tectonic models of Cretaceous Cordilleran paleogeography by establishing links between sediment and source, as well as between currently separated basins. This study combines new detrital zircon age data and compositional data with existing provenance data for the Pythian Cave conglomerate, an informally-named unit deposited unconformably on the eastern Klamath Mountains, to test possible correlations between the Pythian Cave conglomerate and similar-age deposits in the Hornbrook Formation and the Great Valley Group. These provenance results indicate that restoring Late Cretaceous clockwise rotation of the Blue Mountains adds a significant …

Understanding A Critical Basinal Link In Cretaceous Cordilleran Paleogeography: Detailed Provenance Of The Hornbrook Formation, Oregon And California, Kathleen Surpless, Emily Beverly

Kathleen D. Surpless

The Hornbrook Formation is a Cretaceous overlap assemblage that rests unconformably on accreted terranes and plutons of the Klamath Mountains in southern Oregon and northern California. The combined results of sandstone petrography, detrital zircon U-Pb age and Hf isotopic systematics, and whole-rock Nd analysis document an abrupt change in sediment sources for the Hornbrook Formation during the Late Cretaceous. The lower members of the Hornbrook Formation record provenance in the Klamath Mountains and the Sierran Foothills belt that is characterized by detrital zircon age distributions with large Jurassic and Early Cretaceous peaks (170-130 Ma) and positive zircon Hf and whole-rock …

Evolution And Stratigraphic Architecture Of Marine Slope Gully Complexes: Monterey Formation (Miocene), Gaviota Beach, California, Kathleen Surpless, Richard Ward, Stephan Graham

Kathleen D. Surpless

Three small headlands in the sea cliffs west of Gaviota Beach, California, are the remnant fill of three discrete submarine gullies incised into the late Miocene submarine slope environment. These promontories provide excellent, three-dimensional exposure of the gully fill in outcrop, permitting documentation of their complex internal stratigraphic architecture. Detailed study of these exposures elucidates the sedimentologic processes that occur in the filling of slope gullies, guides interpretation of the acoustic records of otherwise unsampled modern gully systems on continental slopes, and provides insight into the heterogeneity that may characterize slope gully petroleum reservoirs. We develop a comprehensive facies scheme …

East-Derived Strata In The Methow Basin Record Rapid Mid-Cretaceous Uplift Of The Southern Coast Mountains Batholith, Kathleen Surpless, Zachary Sickmann, Trevor Koplitz

Kathleen D. Surpless

The Jurassic–Cretaceous Methow basin of northern Washington State and southern British Columbia forms an overlap sequence linking several small tectonostratigraphic terranes. Sandstone petrography, sandstone and mudrock geochemistry, and detrital zircon U–Pb age and Hf analysis of mid-Cretaceous, east-derived Methow strata together document a remarkably uniform provenance signature that suggests proximal, abundant, and unchanging sediment sources throughout deposition. The eastern belt of the Coast Mountains batholith, intruded into Stikine and related inboard terranes of the Intermontane superterrane, along with Jurassic and Cretaceous plutons of the westernmost Okanogan Range, provide the best match to the provenance signature of east-derived sediment in the …

Proterozoic Metamorphism Of The Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana, John Cheney, John Brady, Kara Tierney, Kathleen Surpless, Heidi Mohlman, Jessica Frisch, Christine Hatch, Michael Steiner, Sarah Carmichael, Robin Fisher, Carrie Tuit, Kurt Steffen, Pamela Cady, Josh Lowell, Leandra Archuleta, Jillian Hirst, Karl Wegmann, Brian Monteleone

Kathleen D. Surpless

Textures and mineral assemblages of metamorphic rocks of the Tobacco Root Mountains are consistent with metamorphism of all rocks during the Big Sky orogeny (1.77 Ga) at relatively high pressure (P >1.0 GPa) followed by differential reequilibration on a clockwise P-T path at lower pressures (0.6–0.8 GPa). The highest pressures are documented by coarse-grained kyanite and orthopyroxene in aluminous orthoamphibolites, which require P ≥ 1.0 GPa. Other higher-pressure mineral assemblages of note include kyanite + orthoamphibole and kyanite + K-feldspar. Abundant textural evidence for partial melting in pelitic and basaltic rocks includes leucosomes, very large (several cm across) porphyroblasts of …

A Niobium Deposit Hosted By A Magnetite-Dolomite Carbonatite, Elk Creek Carbonatite Complex, Nebraska, Usa, Michael J. Blessington

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The Elk Creek Carbonatite Complex (ECCC) is a large Early Cambrian carbonatite complex that intrudes Precambrian basement rocks in Southeast Nebraska. This dolomitic carbonatite complex includes a magnetite-dolomite rock with accessory barite, ilmenite, rutile, and quartz. This rock is identified by a characteristic enrichment in niobium due to accessory pyrochlore mineralization in the form of disseminations and inclusions in ilmenite and magnetite. Pyrochlore is also present in other carbonatite rocks in the complex as an accessory mineral with sporadic local high-grade intercepts in drill cores.

Carbonatite rock samples are characterized by transmitted-light microscopy, cathodoluminescent microscopy, backscattered electron imaging (BEI), and …

Analyzing Drone Footage To Assess Necessary Streetlight Placement: Where In New Washington Heights And Poe Mill Are Streetlights Most Necessary?, Savannah Jennings, Billy Tutt

Earth and Environmental Sciences Presentations

New Washington Heights and Poe Mill are low income neighborhoods with high crime rates and the people living there feel that more street lights would make the areas more safe at night. In our project, we aimed to answer the question: where are streetlights most appropriate in these neighborhoods? And can footage taken from the recent drone flyover help to improve our ability to accurately model streetlights in these neighborhoods? We will present our findings to the residents of Poe Mill and New Washington Heights in order to aid their efforts in making their streets safer. This question is relevant …

Spartanburg Humane Society Data Analysis: Hotspots And Resource Management, Leigh Robertson

Earth and Environmental Sciences Presentations

A data set from the Spartanburg Humane Society was provided with the hope that the use of GIS could show patterns and hotspots of dog and cat pickup locations. With a better understanding of where the majority of the animals come from, the Humane Society can better distribute their man power and resources to help as many homeless animals as possible. According to Beck (1973) the main reasons for stray and abandoned animals is negligence causing pet releases or escapes, and also breeding. Therefore, finding and targeting areas where there are many strays (potentially as a result of a release, …

Farmers Markets In Urban Us Counties: The Relationship Between Income, Obesity, And Access, Mia El-Hamaki

Earth and Environmental Sciences Presentations

In the last decade there has been a convergence of factors that have contributed to an increase in food deserts, obesity, and income inequality in the US. Two-thirds of US adults are overweight or obese. This prevalence disproportionately affects low income areas with high minority populations (Ruelas et al., 2012). Simultaneously, research shows that grocery stores are tending to move away from low income, inner city communities and towards affluent urban and suburban areas. In order to combat the growing food deserts and obesity rates as a result of this shift, farmers markets have been proposed and utilized as a …

A Comparison Of Trout Streams: Examining The Reasons For Angler Visitation To Certain Counties Around North Carolina, Rob George

Earth and Environmental Sciences Presentations

Recreational fishing is a popular and profitable sport for states across the country (Ditton et al., 2002). Mountain trout angling provides as much as 174 million dollars annually to the state of North Carolina (NCWRC, 2009). This number shows that recreational trout fishing is an important economic factor for North Carolina. The goal of this project is to determine what variables correlate to the popularity of a county among trout anglers. Through personal experience, academic articles, and interviews with fly fishermen a list of variables was created in order to compare two streams in different counties. These variables include household …

Wing And Fin Outfitters: Using Gis To Determine The Ideal Location For A Tackle Shop In Charleston, Sc, Matt Giordano

Earth and Environmental Sciences Presentations

A few years down the road I hope to open a tackle shop in Charleston, South Carolina with my current college roommate. I have been fishing my entire life and since coming down to school I have spent many breaks down in Charleston. My interest in the area really blossomed during the summer of 2013 which I spent in Charleston fishing and working around the water. During my time in Charleston I have realized that many local shops are in good locations but they do not provide excellent service. Shops seem to get by on reputation rather than actual service. …

Urban Garden Survival, Phoebe Ferguson, Rachel Martin

Biology Presentations

Urban gardens are community led plots designated for agricultural purposes in residential and urban areas. Greenville County has seen a recent growth in urban gardens with the assistance of non-profit groups like Gardening for Good. The current total in Greenville County stands at 79 with new gardens added every year. While the growth is encouraging, some gardens have failed. This study uses GIS to explore the social and ecological factors that correlate with urban garden survival in an effort to provide garden managers with information that will help them develop gardens that thrive and persist.

Optical Characterization And Distribution Of Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter (Cdom) In Soil Porewater From A Salt Marsh Ecosystem, Catherine D. Clark, Paige Aiona, Jason K. Keller, Warren J. De Bruyn

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

To characterize chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in marsh porewaters and its contribution as a carbon source, optical properties (absorbance, fluorescence indices, 3-dimensional excitation-emission matrices [EEMs]) of soil porewater and surface water were measured in a southern Californian salt marsh. Absorption coefficients and fluorescence intensities were higher in porewater than in overlying surface waters, consistent with higher CDOM concentration at depth. Humic-type peaks A and C were observed in EEMs in all samples, and peak M was observed in surface waters and shallow porewater to -5 cm depth. Fluorescence:absorbance (flu:abs) ratios and spectral slopes (S) decreased across the surface interface, …

U.S. Drought Monitor, December 2, 2014, Anthony Artusa

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for December 2, 2014 (12/2/14) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Earthquake And Tsunami Forecasts: Relation Of Slow Slip Events To Subsequent Earthquake Rupture, Timothy H. Dixon, Yan Jiang, Rocco Malservisi, Robert Mccaffrey, Nicholas Voss, Marino Protti, Victor Gonzalez

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The 5 September 2012 Mw 7.6 earthquake on the Costa Rica subduction plate boundary followed a 62-y interseismic period. High-precision GPS recorded numerous slow slip events (SSEs) in the decade leading up to the earthquake, both up-dip and down-dip of seismic rupture. Deeper SSEs were larger than shallower ones and, if characteristic of the interseismic period, release most locking down-dip of the earthquake, limiting down-dip rupture and earthquake magnitude. Shallower SSEs were smaller, accounting for some but not all interseismic locking. One SSE occurred several months before the earthquake, but changes in Mohr–Coulomb failure stress were probably too small to …

Ensemble Prediction And Data Assimilation For Operational Hydrology, Dong-Jun Seo, Yuqiong Liu, Hamid Moradkhani, Albrecht Weerts

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This special section in the Journal of Hydrology will discuss the need for advancing hydrologic ensemble prediction and DA.

Identification Of Groundwater Sources For Municipal Wells Using Geochemical Data On The Platte Alluvial Aquifer And Underlying Limestone At The Lincoln Water Well Field Near Ashland Nebraska, Juanita Cruz Torres

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Alluvial aquifer systems where pumping of municipal wells induces recharge from the adjacent river are the primary source of water for many cities. The city of Lincoln, NE has a primary water source in an alluvial aquifer adjacent to the Platte River. The Lincoln Water System manages the stream/aquifer system by using integrated models for a better understanding during periods of high stress such as a drought. The integrated models set the limestone aquifer as an impermeable boundary to understand the alluvial aquifer system without having a secondary water source. The limestone aquifer is permeable and the purpose of this …