Digital Commons Network^™

Late Eocene Record Of Hydrology And Temperature From Prydz Bay, East Antarctica, Emily J. Tibbett, Howie D. Scher, Sophie Warny, Jessica E. Tierney, Sandra Passchier, Sarah J. Feakins

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT) marks the onset of Antarctic glaciation at 33.7 Ma. Although the benthic oxygen isotope record defines the major continental ice sheet expansion, recent sedimentary and geochemical evidence suggests the presence of earlier ephemeral ice sheets. Sediment cores from Ocean Drilling Program Legs 119 and 188 in Prydz Bay provide an archive of conditions in a major drainage system of East Antarctica. We study biomarker and microfossil evidence to discern how the vegetation and climate shifted between 36 and 33 Ma. Pollen was dominated by reworked Permian Glossopterid gymnosperms; however, penecontemporaneous Eocene pollen assemblages indicate that some …

The Salas Y Gómez And Nazca Ridges: A Review Of The Importance, Opportunities And Challenges For Protecting A Global Diversity Hotspot On The High Seas, Daniel Wagner, Liesbeth Van Der Meer, Matthias Gorny, Javier Sellanes, Carlos F. Gaymer, Eulogio H. Soto, Erin E. Easton, Alan M. Friedlander, Dhugal J. Lindsay, Tina N. Molodtsova

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The Salas y Gómez and Nazca ridges are two seamount chains of volcanic origin, which include over 110 seamounts that collectively stretch across over 2,900 km in the southeastern Pacific. Ecosystems in this region are isolated by the Atacama Trench, the Humboldt Current System, and an extreme oxygen minimum zone. This isolation has produced a unique biodiversity that is marked by one of the highest levels of marine endemism on Earth. These areas also provide important habitats and ecological stepping stones for whales, sea turtles, corals, and a multitude of other ecologically important species, including 82 species that are threatened …

Representing Methane Emissions From Wet Tropical Forest Soils Using Microbial Functional Groups Constrained By Soil Diffusivity, Debjani Sihi, Xiaofeng Xu, Mónica Salazar Ortiz, Christine S. O'Connell, Whendee L. Silver, Carla López-Lloreda, Julia M. Brenner, Ryan K. Quinn, Jana R. Phillips, Brent D. Newman, Melanie A. Mayes

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Tropical ecosystems contribute significantly to global emissions of methane (CH₄), and landscape topography influences the rate of CH₄ emissions from wet tropical forest soils. However, extreme events such as drought can alter normal topographic patterns of emissions. Here we explain the dynamics of CH₄ emissions during normal and drought conditions across a catena in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. Valley soils served as the major source of CH₄ emissions in a normal precipitation year (2016), but drought recovery in 2015 resulted in dramatic pulses in CH₄ emissions from all topographic positions. Geochemical parameters …

On The Genesis Of Aluminum-Rich Speleothems In A Granite Cave Of Nw Spain, Jorge Sanjurjo-Sanchez, Carlos Arce Chamorro, Juan Ramón Vidal Romaní, Marcos Vaqueiro-Rodríguez, Victor Barrientos, Joeri Kaal

International Journal of Speleology

Granite massifs often contain caves, with dimensions ranging from a few meters up to 1,000 m, also referred to as pseudokarst. The speleothems in such caves are mostly composed of either Si-rich (commonly opal-A) or Al-rich authigenic mineraloids. Whereas the formation and geochemical composition of opal-A biospeleothems have been studied and are fairly well understood, knowledge on the Al-rich analogues is scarce. This work reports for the first time a study on the composition, accretion process, age and growth rate of an Al-rich speleothem type flowstone from the A Trapa Cave System (Galicia, NW Spain), developed in a granite cave. …

Synergies Among Environmental Science Research And Monitoring Networks: A Research Agenda, J. A. Jones, P. M. Groffman, J. Blair, F. W. Davis, H. Dugan, E. E. Euskirchen, Serita D. Frey, T. K. Harms, E. Hinckley, M. Kosmala, S. Loberg, S. Malone, K. Novick, S. Malone, K. Novick, S. Record, A. V. Rocha, B. L. Ruddell, E. H. Stanley, C. Sturtevant, A. Thorpe, T. White, W. R. Wieder, L. Zhai, K. Zhu

Faculty Publications

Many research and monitoring networks in recent decades have provided publicly available data documenting environmental and ecological change, but little is known about the status of efforts to synthesize this information across networks. We convened a working group to assess ongoing and potential cross-network synthesis research and outline opportunities and challenges for the future, focusing on the US-based research network (the US Long-Term Ecological Research network, LTER) and monitoring network (the National Ecological Observatory Network, NEON). LTER-NEON cross-network research synergies arise from the potentials for LTER measurements, experiments, models, and observational studies to provide context and mechanisms for interpreting NEON …

Estimated 2020 Co2 Emission Reductions In Virginia’S Transportation Sector From Covid-19, Eden E. Rakes, Pamela R. Grothe, Jeremy S. Hoffman

Virginia Journal of Science

The initial lockdown phase of the COVID-19 pandemic presented an unfortunate opportunity to observe how abrupt, large-scale changes in traffic volume can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study explores how carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from Virginia’s transportation sector may have been affected by the changes in activity stemming from COVID-19 to inform more carbon-neutral policies as the state recovers from the economic downfall. Emission savings were calculated by multiplying the percent change from 2019 to 2020 in traffic volume from the Virginia Department of Transportation with the business-as-usual 2020 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimate of CO₂ emissions …

New Magnetostratigraphic Insights From Iceberg Alley On The Rhythms Of Antarctic Climate During The Plio-Pleistocene, Brendan T. Reilly, Lisa Tauxe, Stefanie Brachfeld, Maureen Raymo, Ian Bailey, Sidney Hemming, Michael E. Weber, Trevor Williams, Marga Garcia, Michelle Guitard, Yasmina M. Martos, Lara F. Pérez, Xufeng Zheng, Linda Armbrecht, Fabricio G. Cardillo, Zhiheng Du, Gerson Fauth, Anna Glueder, Marcus Gutjahr, Iván Hernández-Almeida, Frida S. Hoem, Ji Hwan Hwang, Mutsumi Iizuka, Yuji Kato, Bridget Kenlee, Suzanne O’Connell, Victoria Peck, Thomas A. Ronge, Osamu Seki, Shubham Tripathi, Jonathan Warnock

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 382 in the Scotia Sea’s Iceberg Alley recovered among the most continuous and highest resolution stratigraphic records in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica spanning the last 3.3 Myr. Sites drilled in Dove Basin (U1536/U1537) have well-resolved magnetostratigraphy and a strong imprint of orbital forcing in their lithostratigraphy. All magnetic reversals of the last 3.3 Myr are identified, providing a robust age model independent of orbital tuning. During the Pleistocene, alternation of terrigenous versus diatomaceous facies shows power in the eccentricity and obliquity frequencies comparable to the amplitude modulation of benthic δ¹⁸O records. …

Digitization Of Ecological History In The Driftless Area Of Minnesota, St. Mary's University Of Minnesota-Geospatial Services, Winona State University-Library Special Collections

Ecological History StoryMaps

The Winona County Historical Society (WCHS) and Winona State University (WSU) collaborated on applying for a Heritage Partnership grant to produce shared resources with the goal to educate the Winona community about the local ecological history of the area. The grant provided the opportunity to hire St. Mary's University of Minnesota - GeoSpatial Services to reconstruct a map fo the vegetative communities in the city of Winona based on a 1855 land survey and other available data. An 1862 transcription of the 1855 of the land survey was found in the WCHS Laird Norton Archive, which was the starting point …

A Novel Strategy To Reconstruct Ndvi Time-Series With High Temporal Resolution From Modis Multi-Temporal Composite Products, Linglin Zeng, Brian Wardlow, Shun Hu, Xiang Zhang, Guoqing Zhou, Guozhang Peng, Daxiang Xiang, Rui Wang, Ran Meng, Weixiong Wu

Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies: Publications

Vegetation indices (VIs) data derived from satellite imageries play a vital role in land surface vegetation and dynamic monitoring. Due to the excessive noises (e.g., cloud cover, atmospheric contamination) in daily VI data, temporal compositing methods are commonly used to produce composite data to minimize the negative influence of noise over a given compositing time interval. However, VI time series with high temporal resolution were preferred by many applications such as vegetation phenology and land change detections. This study presents a novel strategy named DAVIR-MUTCOP (DAily Vegetation Index Reconstruction based on MUlti-Temporal COmposite Products) method for normalized difference vegetation index …

Great South Bay, Long Island, New York Summer Phytoplankton Identification & Monitoring Program, Cercom, Molloy University, John Tanacredi Ph.D., Kyle F. Maurelli

CERCOM Reports

Phytoplankton Collection Methodologies: 80 micron Plankton Tow Net with sample bottle attachment

Phytoplankton Protocol: 1.Gather Samples 2.Make one slide per sample 3.View slides using microscope connected with computer 4. Record findings using “ Row # “ and “ Colum letter “ 5. Record using “ Tally’s “ per species found within sample 6. Capture anything interesting “ Take Picture “ 7.Duplicate pictures taken 8.Make sure measurement of species found is taken 9. Email Jennifer Maucher at [email protected] , include pictures, questions and names of the species you “guess” you found.

Community-Scale Beach Nourishment And Groin Construction Decisions Along Human-Modified Coasts : The Interplay Between Socioeconomics, Coordination, Tourism, And Shoreline Change, Arye Max Janoff

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

In response to coastal erosion driven by storms, sea-level rise, and local gradients in sediment supply, communities defend their homes and maintain beach recreation by widening beaches via soft engineering (i.e., beach nourishment) or hard engineering (i.e., groins). Past research has found that, at regional scales, the net effect of these interventions has in many cases not only counteracted historically observed beach erosion, but has reversed erosional trends, on average shifting shorelines seaward. While groins trap sediments locally at and upcoast of the structure relative to the direction of alongshore transport, however, they often have adverse downcoast impacts, resulting in …

Marine Anoxia And Ocean Acidification During The End-Permian Extinction: An Integrated View From Δ238u And Δ44/40ca Proxies And Earth System Modeling, Ying Cui, Feifei Zhang, Jiuyuan Wang, Shijun Jiang, Shuzhong Shen

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The largest mass extinction event in the Phanerozoic, known as the end-Permian mass extinction (or EPME, ca. 252 Ma) is coincident with the main eruption phase of Siberian Traps volcanism (ca. 252 to 250 Ma), a large igneous province (LIP). This LIP is estimated to have a volume larger than 2 × 10⁶ km³ and to have released both mantle carbon dioxide (CO2) through extrusions and thermogenic methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) through intrusions. The climatic consequences of these greenhouse gases is detrimental to both marine and terrestrial life and may have delayed the recovery of ecosystems …

The Quantitative Assessment Of Pond Scum: An Examination Of The Biogeochemistry Of Phosphorus Cycling In The Belgrade Lakes, Abbey M. Sykes

Honors Theses

The internal recycling phosphorus in freshwater lake bottom sediments represents a significant source of hypolimnetic phosphorus (P) release for many of Maine’s lakes. In summer months, Maine lakes often thermally stratify and the lake hypolimnion develops anoxia, leading to a reduction in redox potential at the sediment-water interface. These reducing conditions facilitate the reductive dissolution of ferric iron, and, since phosphorus is often present in freshwater lake sediments as solid FeOOH-PO₄ complexes, results in release of soluble phosphorus into the water column. Our current study presents field and laboratory data from sediment fractionation extractions designed to quantify concentrations of …

Forum Reply: A 23 M.Y. Record Of Low Atmospheric Co2, Brian A. Schubert, Ying Cui, A. Hope Jahren

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Vegetation Effects On Coastal Foredune Initiation: Wind Tunnel Experiments And Field Validation For Three Dune-Building Plants, Bianca Reo Charbonneau, Stephanie M. Dohner, John P. Wnek, Don Barber, Phoebe Zarnetske, Brenda B. Casper

Geology Faculty Research and Scholarship

As the land-sea interface, foredunes buffer upland habitats with plants acting as ecosystem engineers shaping topography, and thereby affecting storm response and recovery. However, many ecogeomorphic feedbacks in coastal foredune formation and recovery remain uncertain in this dynamic environment. We carried out a series of wind tunnel experiments testing how the morphology, density, and configuration of three foredune pioneer dune building plant species influence the most basic stage of dune initiation — nebkha formation around individual plants. We established monocultures of native Ammophila breviligulata and Panicum amarum and invasive Carex kobomugi in 1 m × 1 m planter boxes of …

Adequately Reflecting The Severity Of Tropical Cyclones Using The New Tropical Cyclone Severity Scale, Nadia Bloemendaal, Hans De Moel, Jantsje M. Mol, Priscilla R.M. Bosma, Amy Polen, Jennifer M. Collins

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

For decades, meteorologists and governments have been warning communities in coastal areas for an imminent tropical cyclone (TC) using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (SSHWS). The SSHWS categorizes a TC based on its maximum wind speed, and is used in defining evacuation strategies and humanitarian response. However, the SSHWS considers only the wind hazard of a TC, whereas a TC can also cause severe conditions through its high storm surges and extreme rainfall, triggering coastal and inland flooding. Consequently, the SSHWS fails to mirror the TC's total severity. This becomes evident when looking at past events such as Hurricane Harvey …

The Rise And Fall Of Wiñaymarka: Rethinking Cultural And Environmental Interactions In The Southern Basin Of Lake Titicaca, Maria C. Bruno, José M. Capriles, Christine A. Hastorf, Sherilyn C. Fritz, D. Marie Weide, Alejandra I. Domic, Paul A. Baker

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Investigations of how past human societies managed during times of major climate change can inform our understanding of potential human responses to ongoing environmental change. In this study, we evaluate the impact of environmental variation on human communities over the last four millennia in the southern Lake Titicaca basin of the Andes, known as Lake Wiñaymarka. Refined paleoenvironmental reconstructions from new diatom-based reconstructions of lake level together with archaeological evidence of animal and plant resource use from sites on the Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia, reveal frequent climate and lake-level changes within major cultural phases. We posit that climate fluctuations alone do …

Answers In The East: An Examination Of China's Renewable Energy And Its Application To Central Appalachia, Lillian Hamm

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

While much of China’s electrification has depended on coal, recent decades illustrate the country is heavily investing in and implementing renewable energy as a power source. Even China’s coal-rich provinces, like the northeastern province of Shanxi, have been making the transition to renewable energy. The central Appalachian states comprised of eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, western Virginia, and northeastern Tennessee share many characteristics with China’s Shanxi province including economic resources, climate, and geography. Yet, central Appalachia has not been able to easily transition to renewable energy. However, there are various cultural, political, and technological differences between the two regions to explain …

Glacial Deposits, Vol. 46, 2021, Department Of Geography, Geology, And The Environment

Glacial Deposits

Newsletter of the Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment

Sediment Nutrient Dynamics In Fondriest Agricultural Settling Pond, Marie Grace Bezold

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Excess loading of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) is a serious global problem and has numerous negative impacts on water quality of aquatic ecosystems including eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, and hypoxia. Anthropogenic activities (such as the Haber-Bosch process, burning of fossil fuels, sewage treatment, and manure reuse) have led to excess N loading to aquatic systems. Sediment N dynamics were examined from Oct 2019 – Oct 2020 in an agricultural settling pond connected to a constructed wetland adjacent to an agricultural field. Intact sediment cores were amended with 15N for continuous-flow incubations to measure denitrification and N fixation rates, as …

Internal Loading Of Nitrogen (N) And Phosphorus (P), Reduced N Forms, And Periodic Mixing Support Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms (Habs) In Shallow, Eutrophic Honeoye Lake (New York, Usa), Justin Adam Myers

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Cyanobacteria are important primary producers, but large cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (HABs) have many negative ecological and health impacts and are becoming increasingly common. Honeoye Lake (New York, USA) is a shallow, eutrophic lake characterized by increasingly frequent HABs. Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loads often drive HABs in lakes, and sediment processes can contribute to N removal (e.g., denitrification) or loading (e.g., N fixation, remineralization). Sediment cores and lake water were collected during May–October (2016–2018) at two sites and incubated with no amendments (controls) or 15N stable isotopes to measure sediment nutrient fluxes and N cycling dynamics in Honeoye …

Soil Response Of Helicopter Liming In The Monongahela National Forest, Jarrett Douglas Fowler

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Soils in the Monongahela National Forest (MNF) are acidic due to sandstone parent material, acid deposition, uptake of base cations by vegetation, and release of organic acids by organic matter (OM) decomposition. Increases in soil acidity have caused declines in forest health and changed species composition and nutrient status. Liming can neutralize soil acidity, but no large-scale liming projects have been done on acid forest soils in the USA. In anticipation of acquiring funding for a proposed liming project in the MNF, in 2007 and 2009 10 sites were selected to sample and analyze soils before lime was applied. In …

Our Past Creates Our Present: A Brief Overview Of Racism And Colonialism In Western Paleontology, Pedro M. Monarrez, Joshua B. Zimmt, Annaka M. Clement, William Gearty, John J. Jacisin Iii, Kelsey M. Jenkins, Kristopher Mm. Kusnerik, Carmi Milagros Thompson, Ashley W. Poust, Selina V. Robson, Judith A. Sclafani, Kelsey T. Stilson, Shamindri D. Tennakoon

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

As practitioners of a historical science, paleontologists and geoscientists are well versed in the idea that the ability to understand and to anticipate the future relies upon our collective knowledge of the past. Despite this understanding, the fundamental role that the history of paleontology and the geosciences plays in shaping the structure and culture of our disciplines is seldom recognized and therefore not acted upon sufficiently. Here, we present a brief review of the history of paleontology and geology in Western countries, with a particular focus on North America since the 1800s. Western paleontology and geology are intertwined with systematic …

Surficial Geology Of The Continental Shelf Off New Hampshire: Morphologic Features And Surficial Sediment, Larry G. Ward, Zachary S. Mcavoy, Maxlimer Coromoto Vallee-Anziani, Rachel C. Morrison

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

The continental shelf off New Hampshire (NH) in the Western Gulf of Maine (WGOM) is extremely complex and includes extensive bedrock outcrops, marine-modified glacial deposits, marine-formed shoals, seafloor plains, and associated features that are composed of a range of sediment types from mud to gravel. Furthermore, the physiography and composition of the seafloor frequently changes dramatically over relatively short distances (tens of meters). The complexity of the WGOM seafloor results from the interplay of glaciations, sea-level fluctuations, and marine processes (waves and currents). High-resolution multibeam echosounder (MBES) bathymetry and backscatter surveys, along with ground truth consisting of archived seismic reflection …

The Development Of A Procedure For The Pxrf Analysis Of Soil Cation Exchange Capacity In Collaboration With Colorado Farmers, Claire E. Wineman

Senior Independent Study Theses

Discrepancies between farmers’ and scientists’ knowledge systems and experiences have long prevented the success and mutual beneficiality of collaborative research efforts between these two groups. The development of agricultural technologies, such as portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) for the analysis of soil cation exchange capacity in the field, creates a promising overlap point for farmers and scientists to cooperatively study issues within their sociocultural context and with access to institutional resources. In this study, the generation of an in-field PXRF method in collaboration with Colorado farmers helps to provide a prospective model for scientists and farmers looking to use collaborative research …

Founding Monsters, Maggie Colangelo, Bernard Means

Founding Monsters

The Founding Monsters comic book was created as a science-friendly graphical storytelling framework that tells the story of the Founding Fathers and their obsession with prehistoric megafauna, especially mastodons and giant ground sloths. Founding Monsters combines sequential art (e.g. comic book style) with historical and scientific data. The first mastodon (Mammut americanum) fossils were found in New York in the early 18th century. Later in the 18th century, Thomas Jefferson was sent fossils from what is now West Virginia for what were eventually identified as bones from a giant ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersoni). The founding fathers, …

The 3H/3He Groundwater Age-Dating Method And Applications, Troy E. Gilmore, Mikaela L. Cherry, Didier Gastmans, Douglas Kip Solomon, Eric Christopher Humphrey

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Groundwater age-dating is an important tool for quantifying and managing water resources. Groundwater age is the elapsed time between recharge (at the land surface or water table) and the time when groundwater is sampled. If groundwater is sampled at the point of discharge from an aquifer, then the age represents the groundwater transit time. Groundwater that has recharged in recent decades is considered young groundwater. In many areas, the quality and quantity of young groundwater has been impacted by human activities and groundwater age-dating is useful for quantifying current and historical water and contaminant fluxes into and through aquifers. This …

Identification Of Ice-Rafted Debris In The Weddell Sea To Characterize Glaciation At The Eocene-Oligocene Transition, Josie Horowitz

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

At the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT), approximately 34 million years ago (Ma), the Earth’s climate changed from a warm greenhouse to a cooler climate which resulted in ice-sheet growth and stable continental-scale ice sheets in Antarctica. Hole 696B of the Ocean Drilling Program Leg 113 drilled in 650 m of water depth on the South Orkney Microcontinent spans the entire EOT. Cores 53R and 54R are dated at lower Oligocene (~33.1 to ~33.5 Ma) and total ~14 meters in thickness from ~549 to ~564 mbsf. Ice-rafted debris (IRD) in sediment cores gives insight into the extent of glaciation in West Antarctica, …

Species Distribution Modeling For Arid Adapted Habitat Specialists In Zion National Park, Sam Driver, Chris M. Schalk, Daniel Unger, David Kulhavy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Arizona toad (Anaxyrus microscaphus) and Jones’ waxy dogbane (Cycladenia humilis var. jonesii) are habitat specialists with historical ranges in the desert southwest and specifically, Zion National Park (ZION). The machine learning method, MaxEnt, constructed species distribution models (SDMs) in ZION for the two study species at 30 m and 900 m spatial resolutions using climate, topographic, and remotely sensed data. Additionally, 900 m forecasting models were constructed to observe the shifts in suitable habitat for the years 2050 and 2070, based off two representative concentration pathway scenarios. Results indicate promising predictive power for both high …

The Legacy Of Contamination By Lead Smelters In Missouri, Robert S. Armstrong

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Missouri has a rich history of lead mining. In the smelting process lead particles are emitted, which may be toxic to plants and animals. This study focuses on two primary lead smelters, Herculaneum and Glover, in Missouri. Smelting operations have ceased at these two sites, and unlike Herculaneum, Glover has no reported lead concentrations. Findings from air and sediments of these two sites were compared to background conditions and to each other. Thirty-three samples were collected from Herculaneum and Glover (thirty samples and three replicates) and eleven samples (ten samples and one replicate) for background. For Herculaneum sediment, lead levels …