Geochemistry Commons^™

Mining-Contaminated Sediment And Metal Storage In Channel Deposits In Turkey Creek, Tri-State Mining District, Missouri And Kansas, Max Quinn Hillermann

MSU Graduate Theses

The Joplin subdistrict, within the Tri-State Mining District (TSMD), was a major producer of lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) ore between the 1880s to 1920s. Metalliferous mining wastes are still stored in the channel deposits of local streams raising environmental and health concerns. This study quantifies the volume, sediment size, and metal concentrations in channel bed, bar, bench, and chute deposits to quantify the spatial variability of contaminated sediment storage in Turkey Creek (119 km²). Sample reaches (n=14) contained metal concentrations elevated above the Tri-State Mining District specific probable effects concentration at every site with mean concentrations in …

U-Pb Apatite Chronometry Of Intrusions In An Accretionary Metamorphic Belt In Western Idaho, Usa, Colleen Grace Rankin

MSU Graduate Theses

The Salmon River suture zone in west-central Idaho, USA records the tectonic processes where island arcs, similar to modern-day Japan, were accreted to the North American continent in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (160-90 million years ago). This suture zone contains metamorphic rocks that were buried deep within the crust at depths of 20 kilometers or more and have subsequently been brought to the surface. The exhuming processes responsible for the metamorphic rocks in the Salmon River suture zone remains unclear. Two competing hypotheses have been proposed to explain the transport of the rocks from the Salmon River suture zone …

Usability Value Of The Yenicekale Formation Exposure Around The Pazarcık (Kahramanmaraş) As A Cement Raw Material, Güldemin Darbaş, Fatma Bayrak, Ali Gürel

Bulletin of the Mineral Research and Exploration

The study area is located around Pazarcık - Narlı, Kahramanmaraş province. The aim of the study is to investigate the value of units belonging to the Yenicekale Formation Kışla Marl Member as cement raw material. As a result of XRD studies, it was determined that Yenicekale formation Kışla Marn Member which is exposed to large areas in the region is composed of illite, quartz, dolomite, calcite, and chlorite minerals by rock analyzed. By geochemical analysis, SiO₂, Al₂O₃, Fe₂O₃, CaO, MgO, K₂O, Na₂O, SO₃ contents of …

Petrology, Geochemistry, And Experimental Studies Of Mafic Enclaves And Amphibole At Shiveluch Volcano, Kamchatka, Andrea Elizabeth Goltz

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis connects mineralogical, chemical, and physical observables in quenched mafic inclusions from Shiveluch Volcano in Kamchatka and high pressure and temperature experiments to elucidate the water content of primitive magmas at Shiveluch, the timing of magmatic recharge events relative to eruption, and the petrogenetic history of andesites erupted at Shiveluch. Using the petrology of basaltic andesite mafic inclusions erupted from Shiveluch, in Chapter 2, the water content of primitive magmas at Shiveluch is found to be 8-10 wt%, which is two to three times higher than the global average determined by other methods, and the temperature of primitive magmas …

Potassium Isotope Cosmochemistry, Zhen Tian

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Chapter 1, I review the geochemical and cosmochemical properties of potassium (K). Classified as a moderately volatile element, K serves as a robust proxy for understanding the key processes during nebular/planetary evaporation events. I review different mechanisms of volatile depletion among various planetary materials: mass-dependent variations in “nebular” processes; mass-independent variations among different nucleosynthetic sources; or planetary-scale volatile depletion processes. Furthermore, I provide an optimized K purification procedure via ion-exchange chromatography and a high-precision K isotope analysis technique using Neptune plus Multiple Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (MC-ICPMS) in both “cold plasma” and “dry plasma” methods. I also …

Paleo-Environmental Pollution Of The Bronze Production During The Shang Period At Anyang, Henan Province, China, Yi-Ling Lin

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Paleo-environmental pollution is invested in both identifying anthropogenic activities and evaluating the environmental condition and its impact on humans to understand human-environment relationships and the human experience of the past. This project first investigates the environmental and health consequences of bronze production during the Shang period at Anyang. As a contribution to the growing scholarship in paleo-environmental and archaeological studies, this dissertation uses Shang bronze production in Anyang as a case study into how paleo- environmental pollution study can inform us about the on environmental and health conditions of lives in the Bronze Age China. Through geochemical analysis (ICP-MS, ICP-OES) …

Iron And Manganese Oxidation By Oxyhalogen Species: Implications For Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction On Mars, Kaushik Mitra

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the nearest planetary neighbor with potential earlier habitable conditions, Mars is replete with minerals that hold clues to its past chemistry and evolution of the aqueous systems. Oxidized iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) minerals on Mars are geochemical markers of such environments in which they formed and record past pH, redox conditions, and intensity of water-rock interaction. Fe and Mn oxides can therefore be used to reconstruct past Martian environmental conditions from settings where aqueous fluids were active. Various processes that form Fe and Mn oxide minerals on Mars have been previously proposed, including chemical oxidation using molecular oxygen …

Identifying Biogeochemical Factors Responsible For The Cyclical Precipitation Of Sphalerite And Galena In Low Temperature Mississippi Valley Type Ore Deposits, Daniel John Makowsky

Theses and Dissertations

Mississippi Valley Type (MVT) lead and zinc deposits provide a significant source of sedimentary galena and sphalerite. However, geochemical characteristics and genesis including the source and production of hydrogen sulfide required for galena and sphalerite ore formation and the reasoning for quick, episodic mineralization is not fully understood. By simulating regional MVT brines, the input and effect of biological by-products during the development of these ores as well as the cause of cyclicity within MVT deposits have been observed. Experiments using compositions from MVT fluid inclusions were conducted over two-week periods. Variables during the experiments included temperature, CO2, hydrogen sulfide …

Stratigraphic Analysis Of The Capps Limestone In The North Norton Oil Field In Runnels County, Texas, William Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Desmoinesian (Middle Pennsylvanian) Capps Limestone Member of the Mineral Wells Formation is a carbonate reservoir located in North Central Texas. It consists of interbedded limestone, sandstone, and shale units. Much of the Capps Limestone exists in the subsurface of Brown, Coleman, Runnels, Coke, Nolan, and Taylor counties, however, the Capps Limestone outcrops on the surface in Brown, Eastland, and Palo Pinto counties.

The cored interval from Runnels County was deposited in a marginal marine environment during the Middle Pennsylvanian Period. Although the Capps Limestone was first described in the 1890s, there is still much to be discovered about its …

Quantification Of Mineral Reactivity Using Machine Learning Interpretation Of Micro-Xrf Data, Julie J. Kim, Florence Ling, Dan A. Plattenberger, Andres F. Clarens, Catherine A. Peters

Environmental Science Faculty Work

Accurate characterizations of mineral reactivity require mapping of spatial heterogeneity, and quantifications of mineral abundances, elemental content, and mineral accessibility. Reactive transport models require such information at the grain-scale to accurately simulate coupled processes of mineral reactions, aqueous solution speciation, and mass transport. In this work, millimeter-scale mineral maps are generated using a neural network approach for 2D mineral mapping based on synchrotron micro x-ray fluorescence (μXRF) data. The approach is called Synchrotron-based Machine learning Approach for RasTer (SMART) mapping, which reads μXRF scans and provides mineral maps of the same size and resolution. The SMART mineral classifier is trained …

In Situ Study Of Geological Fluid Inclusions Using 23na Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Stephen Pilar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

²³Na Magic Angle Spinning Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (MAS SS NMR) spectroscopy has been used to study natural geological samples of halite, fluorite, and quartz to evaluate the efficacy of NMR spectroscopy for in situ fluid inclusion analysis. NaCl calibration standards yielded a strong linear correlation (R²=0.9919) for salinity, albeit only over a ~1 ppm breadth of chemical shift. Fluid inclusions were successfully identified in all three types of minerals studied using MAS NMR. Chemical analysis with Inductively Coupled Plasma -- Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) was employed to quantify elemental contaminants in halite samples. Powder X-Ray Diffraction …

Sorption Of 2-Naphthalene Sulfonate To Organic Carbon In Natural Saturated Porous Media, Jiyan Hatami

Theses and Dissertations

Organic carbon (OC) in aquifer sediments serves as a key geochemical control on contaminant fate and transport, potentially immobilizing or delaying mass transport downgradient. Quantifying the abundance of OC in aquifer sediments is therefore imperative in developing a conceptual understanding of local contaminant transport. Traditional methods involve time-intensive coring and lab analyses for total OC (TOC) at distinct intervals with depth. These methods fail to account for the heterogeneity between discrete points and do not interrogate TOC along groundwater flow pathways. 2-naphthalene sulfonate (2-NS), a novel groundwater tracer, was investigated here as a possible sorptive tracer for estimating the relative …

Analyzing Weathering Patterns In Modern And Paleolake Deposits Of Tecopa, California: Implications For The Detection Of Paleolakes On Mars, Jason Benjamin Carman

Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on two stratigraphic sections from the Tecopa paleolake and samples from the modern Tecopa and Amargosa River basins as a terrestrial analogue to Martian paleolakes. Previous work shows that the later stages of Pleistocene Lake Tecopa were highly alkaline and saline due to evaporation, which led to the formation of authigenic lacustrine minerals such as zeolites, clays, and precipitates that are potentially similar to Martian paleolakes. Paleolakes can provide information on past aqueous processes, such as the changes in the hydrologic cycle that a particular area experienced over the lifespan of a lake on Earth or Mars. …

Using Sedimentary Mercury Geochemistry To Evaluate The Niagara-Salina Transition, Silurian Michigan Basin, Usa, Sara Hayes

Masters Theses

The Niagara-Salina boundary in the Michigan Basin is marked by an abrupt transition from carbonates to evaporites. Though the cause is uncertain, previous work suggests the onset of Salina evaporites was driven by basin restriction, but the presence of several global carbon isotope excursions (CIE) suggest a global driver. This study builds on this discussion using two relatively new geochemical proxies - elemental mercury concentrations [Hg] and Hg isotopes.

Mercury concentrations [Hg] were measured in 88 samples from the State Kalkaska #2-15 core from 6604.03 ft to 6797.42 ft. [Hg] ranges from 0.11 to 0.62 mg/kg and [Hg]/TOC from 0.038 …

Analysis Of Titan's Fluvial Features Using Numerical Modeling, Jeshurun Horton

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

River channels have been observed near the Huygens probe landing site on the surface of Titan, along with evidence of rounded water ice boulders transported through fluid flow. Evidence near the landing site suggests active flow of liquid methane, which has motivated the study of the effects of sediment load and channel sizes on Titan’s fluvial features. A numerical model is used to determine the viscosity, flow velocity, and critical boulder transport diameter based on channel size, slope, and a range of sediment concentrations. This model achieves two ends: first, observed boulder diameters are used to determine the ideal channel …

Geochemical Investigation Of Monogenetic Volcanoes From The Pribilof Islands, Bering Sea, Alaska, Clayton L. Reinier

MSU Graduate Theses

Small-volume basaltic magmas found at continental intraplate environments have not been as extensively studied compared to their polygenetic counterparts. Specifically, regions such as the Bering Sea basalt province, described as a diffuse igneous province, have commonly been overlooked. Assumptions that these systems are invoked by simple, single batches of magma has subsequently left a gap in understanding the processes responsible for primary magma generation away from plate boundaries with little tectonic influence. The following studies that constitute this thesis focus on an in-depth geochemical investigation at the crystal and sub-crystal scale to evaluate lithospheric mantle heterogeneities, processes that govern primary …

Influence Of Physical Variability Of Highly Weathered Sedimentary Rock On Nitrate In Area 3 Of The Enigma Field Research Site At Y-12, Erin Kelly

Masters Theses

Uranium processing and waste storage in unlined waste ponds leached contaminants into the groundwater at Y-12, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, from the 1950s to 1980s. Groundwater wells near the S-3 ponds have had the highest nitrate concentrations of groundwater anywhere in the world (>10,000 mg/L). For reference, the maximum contaminant level for nitrate in drinking water set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is 10 mg/L. Since 2012, the ENIGMA (Ecosystems and Networks Integrated with Genes and Molecular Assemblies) group has been characterizing, monitoring, and conducting field experiments to understand the interactions between contaminants, microbes, and the subsurface. The goals …

Low Impact Sampling Of Speleothems – Reconciling Scientific Study With Cave Conservation, Claire L.V. Macgregor, John C. Hellstrom, Jon D. Woodhead, Russell N. Drysdale, Rolan S. Eberhard

International Journal of Speleology

Speleothems are increasingly valued as important paleoclimate archives and yet the removal of samples from caves can come at a cost to natural heritage, impacting delicate environments with limited mechanisms for repair. Conservation of cave environments is a key responsibility for scientists and, with this in mind, we are working to develop and implement techniques that allow us to extract valuable scientific data, with minimal impact. In this study, we demonstrate the utility of low-impact reconnaissance dating surveys on caves in southern Tasmania and southwest Western Australia as a precursor to the removal of stalagmites for paleoclimate reconstruction. Small flakes …

Revisiting The Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary In Western Kentucky, Usa, Jarred Asselta

Scholars Week

This study revisits a Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) sedimentary section in western Kentucky to determine the nature of this boundary and the depositional environments. Although previous pollen work identified the boundary over four decades ago, to our knowledge no work has been carried out at this important K-Pg boundary site. A combination of stratigraphy and sedimentology were used to characterize the section in detail. Bulk and oriented samples were collected for grain-size, geochemical, and petrographic analysis. We relocated the site and measured 1.5m of section that includes the K-Pg boundary. Four distinct units were identified and from base to top of section …

Hydrological Feedbacks On Peatland Ch4 Emission Under Warming And Elevated Co2: A Modeling Study, Fenghui Yuan, Yihui Wang, Daniel M. Ricciuto, Xiaoying Shi, Fengming Yuan, Thomas Brehme, Scott Bridgham, Jason Keller, Jeffrey M. Warren, Natalie A. Griffiths, Stephen D. Sebestyen, Paul J. Hanson, Peter E. Thornton, Xiaofeng Xu

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Peatland carbon cycling is critical for the land–atmosphere exchange of greenhouse gases, particularly under changing environments. Warming and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (eCO₂) concentrations directly enhance peatland methane (CH₄) emission, and indirectly affect CH₄ processes by altering hydrological conditions. An ecosystem model ELM-SPRUCE, the land model of the E3SM model, was used to understand the hydrological feedback mechanisms on CH₄ emission in a temperate peatland under a warming gradient and eCO₂ treatments. We found that the water table level was a critical regulator of hydrological feedbacks that affect peatland CH₄ dynamics; the …