Geographic Information Sciences Commons^™

Creation Of Soil Liquefaction Susceptibility Maps For San Luis Obispo & Marin Counties Using Geographic Information Systems., Amelia M. Lowman

Earth and Soil Sciences

Liquefaction of soils in response to earthquake shaking is a pressing issue in the state of California. Using Geographic Information Systems, Geological and lithology layers, along with criteria in order to separate out the data into four risk categories, a liquefaction risk assessment map was created for San Luis Obispo and Marin Counties. The accuracy of these maps was then assessed using liquefaction occurrences for San Luis Obispo County, and it was determined that while the map is somewhat accurate, in order to obtain a greater amount of accuracy and increase the usefulness of these maps, more data would need …

Using Conservative And Biological Tracers To Better Understand The Transport Of Agricultural Contaminants From Soil Water Through The Epikarstic Zone, Brian Ham

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Agriculture contamination is very common in karst systems due to the vulnerability of these aquifers. Animal waste is often spread across crop land to enrich the soil with nitrates and phosphates. Herbicides and pesticides are also applied to the crops. The transport of these pollutants through the soil and epikarst is a difficult process to monitor due to the complex, heterogeneous behavior of the groundwater as it makes its way down to the aquifer below.

An experimental site at Crumps Cave lended a unique opportunity to monitor the vadose zone at a waterfall in the cave below. A previous dye …