Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Flow Of Power: Addressing Asymmetric Flood Risk In The Upper Valley, Eric Vr Hryniewicz

Geography Undergraduate Senior Theses

Floods are the most damaging natural disasters in America. Land use change in upland watersheds can increase the probability and severity of floods (Bronstert, Niehoff, & Burger, 2002). When watersheds are divided by political and private property boundaries it leads to a misalignment of incentives in which downstream users lack recourse for upstream land use decisions contributing to flood risk. In this thesis, researchers interrogate the attributes of town officials and towns that determine what motivates town governments to act on flooding and what motivates and enables town officials to collaborate on planning and how do they collaborate in practice. …

Acid Mine Drainage In The Shamokin Creek Watershed: A Spatial Analysis Of Economic And Environmental Consequences Of Coal Mining, Ben Shimer

Student Project Reports

No abstract provided.

Genetic Freedom Of The Seas In The Age Of Extractivism: Marine Genetic Resources In Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, Irus Braverman

Contributions to Books

Areas beyond national jurisdiction are the largest environment on earth and marine genetic resources are its new, and perhaps final, frontier. It is no wonder, then, that the scope and protection of marine genetic resources in this oceanic space have been hotly contested and that a new doctrine for ocean governance has been coined in this context: mare geneticum. This chapter examines different definitions of marine genetic resources debated in the ongoing treaty negotiations over areas beyond national jurisdiction (the BBNJ), the conflicting interests involved, and how the law-science relationship has figured in these debates. Ultimately, many of the debates …

Amphibious Legal Geographies: Toward Land–Sea Regimes, Irus Braverman

Contributions to Books

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the juridical thinking that has enshrined the land/sea divide into contemporary governmental infrastructures, disciplinary traditions, and regulatory apparatuses, and charts the disastrous implications that such a legal fixation on the land/sea binary has wrought on human and other-than-human lifeworlds. As the collection proceeds, a second broad theme emerges, building on the first: when one rethinks the abstraction of law as played out on the ground, the “ground” itself shifts and fundamental divisions between land and sea that serve as the …

Structural Geology And Cenozoic Deformation: Western Northern Range, Trinidad, Abigail Faye Clark

Geology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

The Northern Range, Trinidad underwent deformation due to oblique collision of Caribbean plate with northern South America, which was then followed by transform plate motion. Deformation began in the late Miocene when sedimentary protoliths were ductility deformed and metamorphosed to greenschist facies; this event and subsequent transform deformation drove exhumation of these rocks to the surface and created their high topography. This project provides constraints of the structural history of the western Northern Range where bedrock mapping and structural analyses are most complete. Initial geologic mapping of Northern Range, which continued from the 1950s,1960s, and 1990s, focused on attempting to …

Geolocation Of Monitoring Wells Using Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Joel Deyoung

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Groundwater monitoring wells are commonly installed on a property as part of an environmental investigation to observe hydrological subsurface conditions, facilitate the collection of groundwater samples, and predict the flow of groundwater across a site. In addition to their installation, monitoring wells should be surveyed or mapped as accurately as possible. Traditional surveying techniques have employed the use of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) technologies or other surveying equipment. A common surveying approach is to use real-time kinematic (RTK) GNSS to accurately measure the coordinates of each monitoring well on the site.In recent years, drones, or small unmanned aircraft systems …

Snow-Albedo Feedback In Northern Alaska: How Vegetation Influences Snowmelt, Lucas C. Reckhaus

Theses and Dissertations

This paper investigates how the snow-albedo feedback mechanism of the arctic is changing in response to rising climate temperatures. Specifically, the interplay of vegetation and snowmelt, and how these two variables can be correlated. This has the potential to refine climate modelling of the spring transition season. Research was conducted at the ecoregion scale in northern Alaska from 2000 to 2020. Each ecoregion is defined by distinct topographic and ecological conditions, allowing for meaningful contrast between the patterns of spring albedo transition across surface conditions and vegetation types. The five most northerly ecoregions of Alaska are chosen as they encompass …

Lidar-Based Sinkhole Detection And Mapping In Knox County, Tennessee, J Clint Shannon, David Moore, Yingkui Li, Cathy Olsen

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

Sinkholes are one of the major causes of damage to roads, buildings, and other infrastructure throughout the US. Sinkholes near or on roads are especially costly and occasionally deadly. Knox County and much of East Tennessee are located within karst areas (comprised of porous and soluble limestone and dolomite), deeming it at risk for sinkholes. Currently, Knox County uses contour maps to manually identify sinkholes. Supported by a geographic information system (GIS), we developed a streamlined model to identify the locations and extents of potential sinkholes using 1.3-ft resolution LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data and applied it to the …

An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Snowpack And Groundwater Across Utah Watersheds., Samuel Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined what type of relationship existed between snow water equivalence (SWE) volume and groundwater elevation within six sub-watersheds in Utah. Data was gathered on SWE from seventeen SNOTEL sites and groundwater elevation data was gathered from six continuously monitored groundwater wells. This data was gathered for January through May for 2011, 2013, and 2014 in order to represent the water conditions that were above average, below average, and average respectively. Using MLR formulas the total SWE for each sub-watershed was determined for each year/month. Afterwards a correlation analysis was performed to determine if any association existed between SWE …

The Application Of Geographic Information Technology And Ground-Penetrating Radar In The Study Of The Evolution Of The Charles River Basin, Lars E. Anderas

Graduate Masters Theses

A two-part study was conducted on the evolution of the shoreline of the Charles River basin on a city-wide scale as well as in finer detail in Magazine Beach Park, along the Cambridge shore of the river. Both parts of the study utilized geographic information technology (GIT) to integrate and analyze data from modern and historical sources, including maps, digital elevation models (DEMs), and orthographic and oblique photography. The city-scale portion of the study produced estimates of the total area of new land made within the study area since Boston's founding in 1630, 14.3 km², of which 6.5 …

Protocols For Characterizing Aeolian Mass-Flux Profiles, Jean Ellis, Bailiang Li, Eugene Farrell, Douglas Sherman

Jean Taylor Ellis

No abstract provided.

Measuring The Transport Of Aeolian Sand With A Microphone System, Jean Ellis, Rebecca Morrison, Barry Priest

Jean Taylor Ellis

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Sampling Frequency On Wave Characterization, Jean Ellis, Douglas Sherman

Jean Taylor Ellis

No abstract provided.

A Coastal Environment Field And Laboratory Activity For An Undergraduate Geomorphology Course, Jean Ellis, Paul Rindfleisch

Jean Taylor Ellis

A field and laboratory exercise for an undergraduate geomorphology class is described that focuses on the beach. The project requires one day of fieldwork and two laboratory sessions. In the field, students measure water surface fluctuations (waves) with a pressure sensor, survey beach profiles, collect sediment samples, and observe the beach state. In the laboratory, students wash and dry sediments, complete a grain size analysis, and determine sediment volumes. Students produce a report that includes analysis of wave data and beach profiles and a discussion of their findings.

Variations In Vulnerability To Climate Change In Southeast Asia, Kelsey Margaret Allard

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Politics, Engineering And Aridity—Sustainable Use Of Water In Arizona, Michael J. Brophy

Sustainable Use of the West's Water (Summer Conference, June 12-14)

26 pages (includes illustrations).

Fort Collins And The Cache La Poudre River: An Integrated Greenway Vision, Kari V. Henderson

Water Organizations in a Changing West (Summer Conference, June 14-16)

16 pages.

Contains references.

Gully Evolution In The Upper Delaware River Basin Northeastern Kansas, Iona L. Meyer

Student Work

A small gully network developed across a pasture in the Dissected Till Plain of northeastern Kansas was monitored for one year to assess gully evolution in non-loessial materials. The objectives of this investigation were to identify stable and unstable drainage elements within the gully network; identify zones of net erosion and deposition; estimate the volume of sediment removed or deposited during the monitoring period; determine rates of headcut advancement; determine processes that advance and widen gullies, and to determine the historic development of the gully network.

Portions of the gully network were measured after every rain event exceeding 1.5 cm …

The Effects Of Geographical And Climatic Setting On The Economic Advantages Of Alternative Flood Control Measures, Clyde R. Dempsey, L. Douglas James

KWRRI Research Reports

It has long been realized that tributary urban development and channel improvement greatly affect the flow regime in a given watershed. A previous study used the Stanford Watershed Model to derive relationships expressing how the flood peaks in Sacramento, California, might be expected to vary with changing conditions of urbanization, channelization, and tributary drainage area. In order to observe the effects of climatic setting and geographical location on these relationships, the same type of analysis was applied to a drainage area near Louisville, Kentucky.

If reservoir storage is to be considered in a flood control program, it is necessary to …