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Full-Text Articles in Paleontology

Sediment Provenance Of Tsunami Deposits: Implications For Assessing The Relative Intensity Of Paleotsunamis From The Sendai Coastline Of Japan, Tiffany Otai Dec 2020

Sediment Provenance Of Tsunami Deposits: Implications For Assessing The Relative Intensity Of Paleotsunamis From The Sendai Coastline Of Japan, Tiffany Otai

Master's Theses

The 2011 Tohoku tsunami impacted the northeastern coast of Japan and caused unexpected damages due to the underestimation of this type of hazard. Of particular importance is the fact that geologic evidence for a predecessor event, the Jogan tsunami (CE 869), could have forecasted the severity of the 2011 Tohoku event. While the timing of tsunamis is important for effective hazard mitigation, outside of the 2011 Tohoku event, the intensity of past tsunamis remains unclear. To understand paleotsunami intensity, it is important to document characteristics of modern analogues like the 2011 event. This study utilizes surface distributions of foraminifera from …


Paleoecology Of Bivalves In The Carmel Formation (Middle Jurassic, Bajocian) Of Utah, Evan L. Shadbolt Jan 2020

Paleoecology Of Bivalves In The Carmel Formation (Middle Jurassic, Bajocian) Of Utah, Evan L. Shadbolt

Senior Independent Study Theses

The Carmel Formation of the Middle Jurassic has many mysteries. One of these enigmas is its bivalves. The formation contains the famous oyster balls called ostreoliths. Despite bivalves making up 80 percent of the fossils found in the Carmel Formation, it is not understood how the bivalves lived in this community. The formation is located in southwestern and central Utah. It was deposited when an epicontinental seaway covered most of Utah. The paleoclimate of Utah was hot and dry, which meant that the environment was evaporite heavy. This also meant that the seawater at the southernmost extent of the seaway …


Paleoenvironments Containing Coryphodon In The Fort Union And Willwood Formations Spanning The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (Petm), Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, Emily N. Randall Jan 2020

Paleoenvironments Containing Coryphodon In The Fort Union And Willwood Formations Spanning The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (Petm), Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, Emily N. Randall

Senior Independent Study Theses

Preliminary data point toward a new hypothesis in which Coryphodon lived in wetter habitats before the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), but was able to adapt to drier habitats in order to survive post-PETM. Early Paleogene nonmarine strata are extensively exposed in the Bighorn Basin of northwestern Wyoming. The Fort Union and Willwood Formations represent alluvial deposition within a Laramide Basin formed from the Paleocene through early Eocene. Therefore, the basin is an ideal place to study the local effects of the PETM, a rapid global warming event that occurred about 55.5 million years ago at the Paleocene–Eocene boundary. During this …


Interpretive Geologic Maps And Cross Sections For Phelps, Kearney, And Adams Counties In Nebraska, Dana Divine, Leslie M. Howard Jan 2020

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 …