Tectonics and Structure Commons^™

Response Of Surface And Atmospheric Parameters Associated With The Iran M 7.3 Earthquake, Feng Jing, Ramesh P. Singh

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Multiparameter observed from satellite, including microwave brightness temperature, skin temperature, air temperature, and carbon monoxide, have been analyzed to identify the anomalous signals associated with the M 7.3 Iran earthquake of November 12, 2017. Besides removing the multiyear variability of parameters as background, the effect of surface and atmosphere of a dust storm event in Middle East region during October 29–November 1 is considered to distinguish the possible anomalies associated with the earthquake. The characteristic behaviors of surface and atmospheric parameters clearly show the signals associated with the M 7.3 earthquake and the dust storm event. The multiple parameters at …

Investigating The Thermodynamics And Seismic Profile Of The Europan Hydrosphere Through Pure-Water Modeling And Saltwater Experiments, Samantha Rosenfeld

Honors Theses

We explore the properties of the hydrosphere on Europa involving both a modeling technique and experimental methods. We perform a computational analysis of the thermodynamic properties for an ideal, pure-water Europan ice shell using a Python programming framework called SeaFreeze. We create four models assuming surface temperatures of either 50 K or 140 K and ice shell thicknesses of either 3 km or 30 km. We observe mostly linear trends for the density and seismic wave velocities with respect to depth and find that surface temperature has the greatest effect on the models. Simultaneously, we experimentally investigate the phase diagram …

Neogene And Quaternary Events Shaped Diversification And Speciation In Bhutanese Rheophilic Fishes Of The Family Nemacheilidae (Cypriniformes) And Sisoridae (Siluriformes), Karma Wangchuk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biogeography of the Himalayan region [to include the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP)] evolved over a ~30M year span, catalyzed by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates. The resulting uplift produced major ecological and climatic effects, that in turn drove the diversification of biodiversity. As a result, the QTP is designated as a global biodiversity hotspot particularly vulnerable to cumulative climatic effects, including shrinking distributions, declining numbers, and local extinctions. Understanding how the biodiversity within the Himalaya/ QTP was established and maintained is a necessary first step in prioritizing conservation efforts.

Fishes in global montane regions, such as the Himalaya, …

Toward Near‐Field Tsunami Forecasting Along The Cascadia Subduction Zone Using Rapid Gnss Source Models, Amy L. Williamson, Diego Melgar, Brendan W. Crowell, Diego Argas, Timothy I. Melbourne, Yong Wei, Kevin Kwong

Geological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

Over the past 15 years and through multiple large and devastating earthquakes, tsunami warning systems have grown considerably in their efficacy in providing timely and accurate forecasts to affected communities. However, one part of tsunami warning that still needs improvement is forecasts catered to local, near‐field communities in the time after an earthquake rupture but before coastal inundation. In this study, we test a rapid, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)‐driven earthquake characterization model using a large data set of synthetic megathrust ruptures for its near‐field tsunami forecasting potential. We also provide a framework for tsunami forecasting that focuses on the …

Late Cretaceous Stratigraphy And Paleoceanographic Evolution In The Great Australian Bight Basin Based On Results From Iodp Site U1512, K. G. Macleod, Lloyd T. White, Carmine C. Wainman, Mathieu Martinez, Matthew M. Jones, Sietske J. Batenburg, Laurent Riquier, Shannon J. Haynes, David K. Watkins, K. A. Bogus, H.-J. Brumsack, R. Do Monte Guerra, Kirsty M. Edgar, Trine Edvardsen, Dennis Harry, Takashi Hasegawa, R. W. Hobbs, Brian T. Huber, T. Jiang, J. Kuroda, E. Y. Lee, Yong-Xiang Li, Alessandro Maritatai, Lauren K. O'Connor, Maria Rose Petrizzo, Tracy M. Quan, C. Richter, Maria Luisa Garcia Tejada, G. Tagliaro, Erik Wolfgring, Zhaokai Xu

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The Upper Cretaceous sedimentary sequence at International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1512 in the Ceduna Sub-basin of the Great Australian Bight represents a continuous, N 690 m thick interval of black silty clay and claystone spanning the lower Turonian through Lower Campanian (~10 million years). Sediments were deposited in an elongate, ~E-W oriented, ~2500 km long rift system that developed between Australia and Antarctica with an open-ocean connection to the west and a continental bridge to the east. Site U1512 cores provide a unique, continuous record of Late Cretaceous deposition in the Ceduna Sub-basin on the hanging wall of the …

Review Of Curbing Catastrophe: Natural Hazards And Risk Reduction In The Modern World, Kira H. Hamman

Numeracy

Timothy H. Dixon. 2017. Curbing Catastrophe: Natural Hazards and Risk Reduction in the Modern World. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press) 300 pp. ISBN 978-1108113663.

In Curbing Catastrophe, Timothy H. Dixon explores commonalities among natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and the meltdown at Fukushima. He identifies communication failure between scientists and policy makers as a major culprit in the devastation that results from such events and offers strategies for improving that communication. He includes optional in-depth scientific and quantitative examinations of the events and the resulting devastation, making the book appropriate for use …

A Study Of Marine Terrace Formation Along The California Central Coast, Mary C. Devlin

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

Marine terrace formation is in many instances attributed to wave action, and shore platforms are often called “wave-cut”. However, alternative models for marine terrace formation suggest that other types of physical and chemical weathering have a more central role in the formation of marine terraces than is widely acknowledged. Roering and Retallack (2012) concluded that the roles of subaerial physical and chemical weathering are significant, and played a major role in the formation of the terraces. In this study, weathering of beach cliffs and shore platforms associated with marine terraces at eight sites in two different locations along the central …

Satellite Observation Of Ch4 And Co Anomalies Associated With The Wenchuan Ms 8.0 And Lushan Ms 7.0 Earthquakes In China, Y. Cui, Dimitar Ouzounov, N. Hatzopoulos, K. Sun, Z. Zou, J. Du

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Spatial and temporal variations of total column of CH4 and CO (TotCH4 and TotCO) associated with the 12 May 2008 Wenchuan and 20 April 2013 Lushan earthquakes in western Sichuan, China were investigated using satellite data from AQUA AIRS in order to understand the lithospheric and atmospheric interactions during the seismic activity. The Wenchuan MS 8.0 and Lushan MS7.0 earthquakes occurred in the Longmenshan fault zone. It was observed that large amounts of gases emitted from the earth's crust into the atmosphere before, during and after the earthquakes. The anomalies of TotCH4 and TotCO occurred along the …

Actively Forming Kuroko-Type Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulfide (Vhms) Mineralization At Iheya North, Okinawa Trough, Japan, Christopher J. Yeats, Steven P. Hollis, Angela Halfpenny, Juan-Carlos Corona, Crystal Laflamme, Gordon Southam, Marco Fiorentini, Richard J. Herrington, John Spratt

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Modern seafloor hydrothermal systems provide important insights into the formation and discovery of ancient volcanic-hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) deposits. In 2010, Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 331 drilled five sites in the Iheya North hydrothermal field in the middle Okinawa Trough back-arc basin, Japan. Hydrothermal alteration and sulfide mineralization is hosted in a geologically complex, mixed sequence of coarse pumiceous volcaniclastic and fine hemipelagic sediments, overlying a dacitic to rhyolitic volcanic substrate. At site C0016, located adjacent to the foot of the actively venting North Big Chimney massive sulfide mound, massive sphalerite-(pyrite-chalcopyrite ± galena)-rich sulfides were intersected (to 30.2% …

Arctic Ocean Bathymetry: A Necessary Geospatial Framework, Martin Jakobsson, Larry A. Mayer, Dave Monahan

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

Most ocean science relies on a geospatial infrastructure that is built from bathymetry data collected from ships underway, archived, and converted into maps and digital grids. Bathymetry, the depth of the seafloor, besides having vital importance to geology and navigation, is a fundamental element in studies of deep water circulation, tides, tsunami forecasting, upwelling, fishing resources, wave action, sediment transport, environmental change, and slope stability, as well as in site selection for platforms, cables, and pipelines, waste disposal, and mineral extraction. Recent developments in multibeam sonar mapping have so dramatically increased the resolution with which the seafloor can be portrayed …

The Extraordinary Voyage Of Kamome; A Tsunami Boat Comes Home, Lori Dengler, Amya Miller, Amy Uyeki

Trade & Scholarly Monographs

This sweet story, intended for lower elementary grades, is intended to provide a window for discussing earthquakes, tsunamis, marine debris, preparedness and cultural awareness in the classroom and within families.

On April 7, 2013, a little over two years after the magnitude 9 Tohoku-oki Japan earthquake triggered a massive tsunami off the coast of northeastern Japan, a lone boat washed up on the shores of Crescent City, California. The confirmation of the boat as belonging to a high school in Rikuzentakata was first step in an amazing story that has linked two tsunami-vulnerable communities on opposite sides of the Pacific …

A Paleoclimate Modeling Experiment To Calculate The Soil Carbon Respiration Flux For The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, David M. Tracy

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) (55 million years ago) stands as the largest in a series of extreme warming (hyperthermal) climatic events, which are analogous to the modern day increase in greenhouse gas concentrations. Orbitally triggered (Lourens et al., 2005, Galeotti et al., 2010), the PETM is marked by a large (-3‰) carbon isotope excursion (CIE). Hypothesized to be methane driven, Zeebe et al., (2009) noted that a methane based release would only account for 3.5°C of warming. An isotopically heavier carbon, such as that of soil and C3 plants, has the potential to account for the …

Complementary Nature Of Surface And Atmospheric Parameters Associated With Haiti Earthquake Of 12 January 2010, Ramesh P. Singh, Waseem Mehdi, Manish Sharma

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The present paper describes surface (surface air temperature) and atmospheric parameters (relative humidity, surface latent heat flux) over the epicenter (18A degrees 27A ' 25A ' A ' N 72A degrees 31A ' 59A ' A ' W) of Haiti earthquake of 12 January 2010. Our analysis shows pronounced changes in surface and atmospheric parameters few days prior to the main earthquake event. Changes in relative humidity are found from the surface up to an altitude of 500 hPa clearly show atmospheric perturbations associated with the earthquake event. The purpose of this paper is to show complementary nature of the …

Seafloor Characterization From Spatial Variation Of Multibeam Backscatter Vs. Grazing Angle, Tianhang Hou, Lloyd C. Huff, Yuri Rzhanov, Larry A. Mayer

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

Backscatter vs. grazing angle, which can be extracted from multibeam backscatter data, depend on characteristics of the multibeam system and the angular responses of backscatter that are characteristic of different seafloor properties, such as sediment hardness and roughness. Changes in backscatter vs. grazing angle that are contributed by the multibeam system normally remain fixed over both space and time. Therefore, they can readily be determined and removed from backscatter data. The variation of backscatter vs. grazing angle due to the properties of sediments will vary from location to location, as sediment type changes. The sediment component of variability can be …

Improvement To The International Bathymetric Chart Of The Arctic Ocean (Ibcao): Updating The Data Base And The Grid Model, Martin Jakobsson, Norman Cherkis

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

The project to develop the IBCAO grid model was initiated in 1997 with the objective of providing to the Arctic research community an improved portrayal of the seabed north of 64-deg N, in a form suitable for digital manipulation and visualization. The model was constructed from a compilation of all single-beam and multibeam echo soundings that were available for the polar region, complemented where appropriate by newly released contour information. The grid features a cell size of 2.5 x 2.5 km on a polar stereographic projection; it is constructed on the WGS 84 datum, with true scale at 75-deg N. …

Book Review: Quaternary Geology And Geomorphology Of South America By C. Clapperton, William J. Wayne

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Dr. Clapperton is to be commended for having taken on the monumental task of a review of the present state of knowledge of the Quaternary of the entire continent of South America. Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology of South America is a massive, interestingly written, but expensive volume that covers exactly what its title suggests. In spite of the paucity of information on many aspects of the Quaternary geology of this continent, which extends from north of the equator nearly to the Antarctic, the author has succeeded in reviewing and synthesizing most of the material that does exist. To do so …

Geologic And Tectonic Setting Of The Mark Area, R. S. Detrick, P. J. Fox, N. Schulz, R. Pockalny, L. Kong, Larry A. Mayer, W.B. F. Ryan

Affiliate Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Oceanic Transform Boundaries On The Generation And Evolution Of Oceanic Lithosphere, David G. Gallo

Geology Theses and Dissertations

The first-order geologic and morphologic relationships at, along and proximal to ridge-transform-ridge plate boundaries are used to construct an empirical and speculative tectonic model. The geometry of a ridge-transform intersection necessitates the juxtaposition of relatively cold, thick lithosphere against the truncated end of an accreting plate boundary. The cold face of lithosphere cools the adjacent wedge of asthenosphere rising beneath the axis of accretion and restricts the amount of partial melting thus attenuating the amount of basaltic melt segregated from the asthenosphere per unit time. The manifestation of this cold edge effect is a thinner oceanic crust. At depth, upper …

The Geology Of The Oceanographer Transform Fault, Richard H. Moody Jr.

Geology Theses and Dissertations

A detailed survey of the Oceanographer transform fault and environs at 35º N, 35ºW has yielded detailed information with respect to the generation and evolution of seafloor at a slowly accreting plate margin. From this data detailed bathymetric maps and maps of depth to basement have been constructed for a swath of seafloor 1800 km long and 100-200 km wide centered about the offset region. This data was used to subdivide major phases of seafloor spreading during the Tertiary. The ridge crest and all major topographic features near the transform appear to be affected by their proximity to the transform. …

Geologic Investigations In The Cayman Trough And The Nature Of The Plutonic Foundation Of The Oceanic Crust, Janet B. Stroup

Geology Theses and Dissertations

A survey of the literature that deals with the gabbroic rocks believed to comprise the foundation of the oceanic crust indicates that the overwhelming majority of these rocks are recovered from escarpments associated with transform faults. The wide range of mineral and chemical compositions characterizing oceanic gabbroic rocks suggests that the lower oceanic crust is much more heterogeneous in nature than was previously suggested by the results of geophysical investigations. The examination of gabbroic rocks recovered in situ from the walls of the Mid-Cayman Rise rift valley by the submersible ALVIN not only supports the notion that oceanic gabbroic rocks …

Geology Of The Mafic/Ultramafic Transition, Table Mountain, Western Newfoundland, Suzanne O'Connell

Geology Theses and Dissertations

A thin (<200 m.) mafic suite and well developed mafic/ultramafic transition zone are exposed above a flat lying peridotite contact on northwestern Table Mountain. The igneous layering and sedimentary features indicate mineral deposition under conditions which promoted adcumulate growth, were capable of minor transport, and were subjected to at least minor tectonic activity during consolidation. Feldspathic,. mafic, and ultramafic dikes and veins cross-cut the layering. Microscopic futures indicate deformation at elevated temperature and/or low strain rates. Deformation is best developed within the transition zone, but cataclastic zones are most common in the hornblende gabbros. Orientations of layering, foliation, and lineation indicate a variable mafic/ultramafic transition and macroscopic folding. Geometric analysis indicates three distinct fold axis orientations: an east-west horizontal fold axis, a northeast trending modestly plunging axis, and a vertical though poorly defined axis. Such features demonstrate that an apparently simple contact relationship may be extremely complex. This has important implications for ocean floor accretion. The relatively simple ocean floor seismic stratigraphy masks very complex petrological and structural processes. Such processes may involve deposition in an actively convecting magma chamber with a differentially subsiding wedge (Dewey and Kidd, 1977), in which folding occurs in response to the steepening angle between the cumulate banding and the base of the magma chamber. The instability is enhanced by the different accumulation rates and densities of the minerals involved. The lineation may originally be a sedimentary feature indicative of transport direction from the convection cell, and perpendicular to the compressive stress which produced. the folding. The different orientations of lineations and fold axes could be produced by rotation of the ocean crustal blocks during lateral transport along the ocean floor and/or obduction. Further detailed study of ophiolite complexes will continue to shed light upon the nature and development of oceanic crust.

Petrology Of The Oceanographer Fracture Zone (35ºn35ºw), Tsugio Shibata

Geology Theses and Dissertations

During a geological and geophysical survey of the Oceanographer Fracture Zone (35°N, 35°W), seventeen dredge hauls containing a variety of rocks were obtained. Petrographic study shows that these rock samples can be classified into six main rock types: fresh basalt, weathered basalt, metabasalt, gabbro, metagabbro, and serpentinite. Most of the dredge hauls were positioned on the steep, southern wall of the fracture zone, and an inference from the dredging results suggests that basalt is the most abundant rock type which outcrops at the junction between the rift valley and the fracture zone; however, as we move away from the junction, …

Shelf Observations - Hydrography Cruise Of August 21-26, 1962, Maynard M. Nichols, Robert C. Barnes

Reports

No abstract provided.

Ua94/6/2/14 Physiography Notebook, Annie Reis

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

Physiography notebook kept by student Annie Reis in 1910. Notebook includes notes and drawings related to physical geography such as solar systems, rivers, faults, weather and glaciers.