Hydrology Commons^™

Publications And Other Works By R. F. Diffendal, Jr., Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Articles
Chapters in Books
Books
Field Guides
Geologic Maps
Other Maps
Cover Photographs
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Newspaper and Other Articles
Test-Hole Logs
Television Programs
Geonotes
Abstracts
Reviews
Manuscripts Accepted (A), Submitted (S), or in Preparation (P)
Geologic Maps in Press
Geologic Maps-Nebraska
Public Documents
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Editing

Updated March 2024

Environmental Fate Of Sulfur In Sulphur Creek, Valles Caldera, Nm: Implications For Metal Transport And Water Quality, Daniel Lavery

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The 1.2 Ma Valles Caldera in north-central New Mexico hosts a young igneous volcanic hydrothermal system after the model proposed in Goff and Janik (2000). The Sulphur Springs area within Valles Caldera is an acid-sulfate area typical of this model, discharging acidic waters (pH 1.5-3) formed by oxidation of magmatic H₂S at the surface. We report on samples obtained from springs and streams collected between October 2021 and May 2023 in the Sulphur Creek and Alamo watersheds. Sulphur Creek receives input from Sulphur Springs and exhibits low pH (2-4) and high concentrations of Al (≤110 mg/L), Fe (≤60 …

Metagenomic Investigation Of Microbial Dark Carbon Fixation, Viral Interactions, And Horizonal Gene Transfer Within A Convergent Margin Subsurface Ecosystem, Timothy Joseph Rogers

Doctoral Dissertations

Convergent margins are geological regions where two or more tectonic plates collide, and the denser “subducting slab” is pushed beneath the less dense overriding plate. As the slab descends, it devolatilizes under higher temperatures and pressures, allowing dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and redox active volatile rich fluids to cycle between the upper crust and Earth’s mantle. These fluids migrate through cracks and fissures in the upper mantle and crust, fueling chemolithoautotrophy-based microbial ecosystems in the subsurface before they are expelled on the surface in the form of hydrothermal seeps and springs. Chemolithoautotrophic ecosystems, such as those in the Costa Rican …

Understanding The Connection Between Gypsum Blooms And Human Health At The Salton Sea, Isabel Ichiyama

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Salton Sea is a closed hypersaline lake in Southern California that has been receiving little input over the past few decades, leading to desiccation that is rapidly increasing every year. This large-scale evaporation of the sea has led to increased dissolved solutes, high salinity, and gypsum blooms. Gypsum blooms, the precipitation of gypsum (CaSO42H2O) in the sea, have been a prominent facet of the sea and their distribution is well known. However, much of their chemistry and potential health hazards are still undetermined. Potential health effects from gypsum salt, an atmospheric dust particle present at the sea, have known …

Size, Timing, And Landscape Impacts Of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods In The Channeled Scabland Of Eastern Washington, Usa, Karin E. Lehnigk

Doctoral Dissertations

Extreme floods have dramatically altered landscapes on Earth and Mars through bedrock erosion, sediment deposition, and canyon formation. The Channeled Scabland of the Columbia Plateau in eastern Washington, USA, is perhaps the most striking example of such a landscape, where outburst floods from an ice-dammed glacial Lake Missoula eroded immense canyons and transported large volumes of sediment during the late Pleistocene. Despite advances in numerical modeling and geochemical exposure dating methods, it has remained a challenge to untangle the complex interactions between floodwater, bedrock, and glacial ice to link the size of a flood with its impact on the landscape. …

Dye Tracing And The Effects Of Infrastructure In Hidden River Cave, Horse Cave, Ky, Alexa G. Franks

Master's Theses

Hidden River Cave is a stream cave system found in Horse Cave, KY with continuous water flow of its two branches, Wheet River and East River. The infrastructure of the city of Hose Cave, KY was originally designed to utilize natural sinkholes for drainage of all wastewaters. The city uses many of these, now modified, sinkholes for wastewater disposal and storm water drainage. Historically, Hidden River Cave has been severely impacted by unmonitored dumping of contamination. To better understand and identify specific flow paths from sinkholes and infrastructure into Hidden River Cave, this study documented various sinkholes and other infrastructure, …

Geology And Hydrogeology Of Northeastern Nebraska: Geology, Water Management And Geological Hazards, Nebraska Geological Society Field Trip 2021, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., Sue Olafsen Lackey, Douglas R. Hallum

Conservation and Survey Division

The 2021 Nebraska Geological Society field trip will provide an overview of the geology and hydrogeology of northeast Nebraska, the groundwater quality and quantity issues unique to the region, water management issues and decision-making, and ongoing work relating to water quality and geologic (hydrostratigraphic) framework, along the lower Niobrara and Missouri rivers Between Spencer Dam and Homer Nebraska. This program will be comprised of an auto tour with multiple stops on Saturday October 16 through Monday October 18 as illustrated in Map 1. The tour will begin with an examination of the Spencer Dam site and several locations in and …

Hydrogeophysical Characterization And Imaging In The Mangrove Lakes Region Of Everglades National Park And Big Pine Key, Florida, Usa, Michael Eyob Kiflai

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Coastal groundwater aquifers are susceptible to saltwater intrusion from natural and anthropogenic sources. Everglades National Park (ENP) has been adversely impacted by past human activities that altered freshwater flow through the system. In Big Pine Key (BPK), the flat and low-lying topography less than 2m makes the freshwater lens vulnerable to tidal and storm surge events. This study investigated different inversion scenarios and used Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) and Electromagnetic (EM) survey to characterize the spatial and temporal change of the groundwater chemistry and image the aquifers. In Big Pine Key, Hurricane Irma made landfall as a category 4 storm …

Geochemical Flux Analysis Of Glacial River Runoff For Sólheimajökull, Iceland, Jessica Garrison

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Geochemical fluxes in aqueous studies are an essential component of research to understand weathering and changes in a hydrologic system. These data can indicate any discrepancies, outliers, or gradual changes in a water environment to gain information on pollutants, carbon cycles, biological input, etc. Glacial melt is the majority of the surface water present throughout the country. The melting amount is increasing with the temperatures, which can be monitored by the changes in geochemical flux during increased discharge in glacial rivers. A high-resolution data set of Sόlheimajökull Glacier in Iceland was used to determine how changing climatic conditions for the …

Interpretive Geologic Maps And Cross Sections For Phelps, Kearney, And Adams Counties In Nebraska, Dana Divine, Leslie M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division

Data from thousands of test-hole and well logs were interpreted to improve understanding and management of the High Plains aquifer in a three-county study area adjacent to the Big Bend reach of the Platte River. Five principal conclusions resulted from these interpretations: (1) the extent of Neogene Ogallala deposits beneath the study area is different than previously mapped; (2) a large paleovalley incised into Cretaceous bedrock probably cuts across Kearney and Adams counties and may be the course of the ancestral Platte River prior to formation of the Big Bend; (3) a groundwater mound created by irrigation canals artificially raises …

Fun In A Kansas Salt Mine, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

Most people probably do not know that salt deposits hundreds of feet thick lie buried beneath large parts of western Kansas, western Oklahoma and a small part of the northeastern Texas Panhandle. Native Americans and early European explorers found that where the salt deposits came near the land surface (for, example north of Hutchinson, Kansas) salt is dissolved by ground water and increases the salinity of rivers, streams, springs and ponds. This salty water was used as a salt source by these peoples. The Hutchinson Salt, a 275 million-year-old Middle Permian deposit, was discovered in an exploratory drill hole in …

Investigations Of The Potential For Irrigated Agriculture On The Bonaparte Plains: Bore Completion Report, 2nd Edition, D L. Bennett

Resource management technical reports

Drilling programs were undertaken in 2013 and 2016 by the former Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia and in 2017 by DPIRD, at 10 sites in the Bonaparte Plains area, north of Kununurra in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia (WA).

These drilling programs were a component of resource availability and risk investigations conducted to determine the potential for developing irrigated agriculture on 30 000 hectares of Cockatoo Sands — free-draining loamy soils that have the potential to support crops in the wet and dry seasons. There was limited hydrogeological information available at a suitable scale for the …

Geology Of Southeastern Nebraska, Robert Matthew Joeckel, Dana Divine, Leslie M. Howard, Kathleen Cameron, Michele M. Waszgis

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Groundwater Hydrogeolgy And Hydrochemistry Of Karst Springs In The Eastern Peninsula Of Fort Hood Military Installation, William Scribner Welles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The eastern peninsula of Fort Hood Military Installation is underlain by a complex karst spring network. These springs are a primary water source in a protected habitat for endangered songbirds, which has only recently begun to be fully investigated. These Fredericksburg Group springs express both epigenetic and hypogenetic karst signatures. The study area is part of a paleo reef trend, a hydraulically disconnected segment of the northern section of the Edwards Aquifer. This study utilized standard ion index values, repeated measures, and principal component analyses on the chemical profiles of six perennial springs to classify spring water sources and their …

Margaret White Springs Recharge Study, Buffalo National River, North-Central Arkansas, Usa, Ashlon Elizabeth Leonard

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Margaret White Springs (MWS) is one of the largest springs in the middle section of the Buffalo National River (BNR) and contributes several tens of cubic feet per second of flow to river discharge on average, yet the source of the water has not been fully studied or documented. The spring is located approximately 4 miles downstream from Robertson Hole, a losing reach of the river. At Robertson Hole the river loses a significant amount of flow to groundwater, which during the dry season (summer) can be as much as 100%. Flow in the main channel is re-established at MWS; …

New Insights Into Carboniferous Cyclothems. The Fourth Biennial Field Conference Of The American Association Of Petroleum Geologists (Aapg) Midcontinent Section Fourth Biennial Field Conference Abstracts And Guidebook, Robert Matthew Joeckel, Christopher R. Fielding

Conservation and Survey Division

The term “cyclothem” was coined by Wanless & Weller (1932) to describe repetitive stratigraphic successions of Carboniferous age in Illinois. Nonetheless, comparable rhythmicity had been identified in Carboniferous rocks both in the central and eastern USA, and in Europe during the preceding century. Cyclothems were found to comprise repetitive vertical successions of sandstones, heterolithic (thinly interbedded) sandstones and mudrocks, mudrocks, limestones, and coals, in many cases with pedogenic overprinting of these lithologies. As usage of the term “cyclothem” increased, so did the diversity of successions to which the term was applied, to the point where many geologists advocated abandonment of …

Grain Size Analysis Of Massie’S Creek Near Flax Pond And Community Park, Andrew R. Rivera

The Research and Scholarship Symposium (2013-2019)

The goal of this research is to better understand the stream bed conditions at the confluence of North Fork and South Fork Massie’s Creek next to Community Park in downtown Cedarville, OH. Stream depth as well as sediment type where determined as a result of field work done for this project. The depth data was then used to create a contour map of the pool behind the low-head dam that defines the lower boundary of the confluence area. Sediment distribution is represented on this map based on laboratory particle size analysis and gross piratical size analysis done in the field. …

Geology Of Northeastern Nebraska And Environs: Cedar, Dakota, And Dixon Counties In Nebraska, And Plymouth And Woodbury County In Iowa, Robert Matthew Joeckel, Dana Divine, P.R. Hanson, Leslie M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Geology And Paleontology Along Part Of The Niobrara River In Northern Nebraska, Robert Matthew Joeckel, S. T. Tucker, Leslie M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Evaporite Karst In Italy: A Review, Jo De Waele, Leonardo Piccini, Andrea Columbu, Giuliana Madonia, Marco Vattano, Chiara Calligaris, Ilenia D’Angeli, Mario Parise, Mauro Chiesi, Michele Sivelli, Bartolomeo Vigna, Luca Zini, Veronica Chiarini, Francesco Sauro, Russell Drysdale, Paolo Forti

International Journal of Speleology

Although outcropping rarely in Italy, evaporite (gypsum and anhydrite) karst has been described in detail since the early 20^th century. Gypsum caves are now known from almost all Italian regions, but are mainly localised along the northern border of the Apennine chain (Emilia Romagna and Marche), Calabria, and Sicily, where the major outcrops occur. Recently, important caves have also been discovered in the underground gypsum mines in Piedmont. During the late 80s and 90s several multidisciplinary studies were carried out in many gypsum areas, resulting in a comprehensive overview, promoting further research in these special karst regions. More recent …

Geology Of The Platte River Valley Near Kearney, Nebraska, Jeremy S. Dillon, Paul R. Hanson, Ashley Larsen, Jacob Bruihler, Carissa Raymond

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Experimental Limestone Dissolution And Changes In Multiscale Structure Using Small- And Ultra Small- Angle Neutron Scattering, Chad Alan Novack

Masters Theses

Small angle neutron scattering (SANS), ultra-small angle neutron scattering (USANS), and backscatter electron (BSE) imaging, along with neutron computed tomography (NCT) were used in this study to experimentally quantify pore size, distribution, and connectivity of dissolved limestone geometries. Eight samples of Indiana limestone of two different initial permeabilities (2-4 mD and 70 mD ) [millidarcy] were reacted with HCl [hydrochloric acid] solutions at differing pH (2 and 4), and flow rates (0.1 and 10 cm³/min) [cubic centimeters per minute] to describe a broad range of parameters that affect limestone dissolution. NCT was first used to image the dissolution …

North-Central Nebraska Geology: Niobrara River Valley In Brown, Cherry, And Keya Paha Counties, R. M. Joeckel, L. M. Howard, S. T. Tucker

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Cockatoo Sands In The Victoria Highway And Carlton Hill Areas, East Kimberley: Land Capability Assessment For Developing Irrigated Agriculture, Henry Smolinski, Shahab Pathan, Paul Galloway, Kus Kuswardiyanto, Justin Laycock

Resource management technical reports

This report identifies areas of Cockatoo Sands adjacent to the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA), Kununurra, with high potential for developing irrigated agriculture. It builds on a reconnaissance soil survey conducted in 2009 which identified significant areas of sandy and loamy soils in the Kununurra area that could be suitable for agriculture.

Impact Of Antecedent Groundwater Heads And Transient Aquifer Storage On Flood Peak Attenuation In An Unconfined Karst Aquifer: Study Of The Upper Suwannee River, Florida, Usa., Jeremy Loucks

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Flood peak attenuation is an important aspect of understanding flooding and its effects. Few studies exist that look at the effects of ground-surface water interactions in regards to peak attenuation, and fewer still focus on karst environments. In the karstic, variably confined Suwannee River Basin, discharge, river stage, and water table data that were collected over a ten-year period were analyzed to determine the relationship between antecedent groundwater head and flood peak attenuation. Flooding causes high hydraulic heads in the river, which rise faster than corresponding groundwater heads. Springs which normally feed groundwater into the river reverse flow, and conduits …

Groundwater Trend Analysis And Salinity Risk Assessment For The South-West Agricultural Region Of Western Australia, 2007–12, G Paul Raper, Russell Speed, John Andrew Simons, A L. Killen, Andrew Blake, A T. Ryder, Rosemary H. Smith, Grant Stainer, L Bourke

Resource management technical reports

Dryland salinity is a hydrologically driven land degradation hazard in the south-west agricultural region of Western Australia (WA). Shallow-rooted annual crops and pastures transpire significantly less water than the native vegetation they replaced, leading to an increase in recharge, rising groundwater levels and the development of shallow watertables in areas where often none existed previously. Rising groundwater levels mobilise soluble salts, naturally stored at high concentrations in the regolith. These salts can be concentrated in the root zone of vegetation by evapotranspiration.

Field Trip Guidebook For The Nebraska Well Drillers Association, Duane A. Eversoll, Matt Joeckel, Lee Orton

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Hydrogeology Of The Little River Animal Agriculture Environmental Research Unit And Impacts Of Dairy Operations On Groundwater, Robert Wesley Hunter

Masters Theses

This thesis describes the development of an integrated hydrogeologic/hydrologic site assessment and groundwater/surface water quality monitoring program at the University of Tennessee – Little River Dairy Farm, located near Townsend, TN. Hydrologic/hydrogeologic investigations of streams and groundwater at the site have been underway for more than 5 years, and these are expected to provide background data for assessing impacts of dairy wastes. The lower half of the ~180 ha site consists of low-relief fields used for row crops, which are underlain by 4 – 9 m of alluvial deposits on top of black shale or limestone that include sinkhole features. …

Azimuthal Seismic First-Arrival Tomography As A Proxy For Hydraulically Conductive Subsurface Fracture Networks, Matthew Brooks Edmunds

Masters Theses

The Oak Ridge Field Research Center (ORFRC) was established by the Environmental Sciences Division (ESD) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, TN, in order to study the various biogeochemical processes involved in the remediation as well as natural attenuation of a large contaminant plume that is extant in the vicinity of the ORIFRC. A part of this work has been to characterize the movement of this groundwater/contaminant plume with the use of azimuthal seismic first-arrival tomography (ASFT).

Within the general area of the ORIFRC, a 0-2 m layer of generally isotropic anthropogenic fill and unconsolidated soil …

Soil Assessment Of The Weaber Plain (Goomig) Farmlands, Henry Smolinski, Justin Laycock, Jim Dixon

Resource management technical reports

In 2008, the Ord Irrigation Expansion Project was approved by the Western Australian Government to develop irrigated agriculture on the Weaber Plain (Goomig)

As part of the environmental planning and approvals process, the WA Government was required to prepare a groundwater management plan and a hydrodynamic plan.

As a result, the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) was requested to lead an investigative program to support a second phase of modelling. The project was divided into five components: two addressing deficiencies related to groundwater, two relating to soils and subsoils, and one addressing surface and groundwater quality aspects. …