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Influence Of Karst Landscape On Planetary Boundary Layer Atmosphere: A Weather Research And Forecasting (Wrf) Model–Based Investigation, Ronnie Leeper, Rezaul Mamood, Arturo I. Quintanar

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Karst hydrology provides a unique set of surface and subsurface hydrological components that affect soil moisture variability. Over karst topography, surface moisture moves rapidly below ground via sink holes, vertical shafts, and sinking streams, reducing surface runoff and moisture infiltration into the soil. In addition, subsurface cave blockage or rapid snowmelt over karst can lead to surface flooding. Moreover, regions dominated by karst may exhibit either drier or wetter soils when compared to nonkarst landscape. However, because of the lack of both observational soil moisture datasets to initialize simulations and regional land surface models (LSMs) that include explicit karst hydrological …

Stratigraphy, Sedimentology And Palynology Of The Neogene-Pleistocene(?) Rocks Around Akçaşehir- Tire-İzmir (Küçük Menderes Graben, Western Anatolia), Tahi̇r Emre, Meti̇n Tavlan, Mehmet Serkan Akki̇raz, İsmai̇l İşi̇ntek

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The basement rocks located in the central part of the southern edge of the Küçük Menderes Graben, around Akçaşehir-Tire are composed of marbles, schists, gneisses and metagabbros of the Ödemiş-Kiraz submassif of the Menderes Massif, and schists, marbles and meta-olistostromes of the Cycladic Complex. The basement is unconformably overlain by Neogene-Quaternary continental sediments. These continental basin fills are comprised of the Ayaklıkırı Formation, the Aydoğdu Formation and alluvium that unconformably overlies them. The Lower-Upper Miocene Ayaklıkırı Formation consists of lacustrine and fluvial deposits. The Plio-Pleistocene (?) Aydoğdu Formation is made up of alluvial fan deposits. Vast plains of alluvium cover …

Distribution And Properties Of Vesicular Horizons In The Western United States, Judith K. Turk, Robert C. Graham

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Vesicular horizons are thin (usuallycm) surface or near-surface horizons characterized by the predominance of vesicular porosity. Th ey are widespread in arid and semiarid lands, occurring on every continent and covering 156,000 km2 of the western United States. Vesicular horizons have critical implications for management due to their role in controlling surface hydrology and dust mobilization. Th is study evaluates the distribution and varia-tion in expression of vesicular horizons across the western United States using the soil databases available from the USDA. A vesicular horizon index (VHI) that incorporates vesicular horizon thickness and the size and quantity of vesicular pores …

Encyclopedia Of Snow, Ice And Glaciers, Vijay P. Singh, Pratap Singh, Umesh K. Haritashya

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

The objective of this encyclopedia is to present the current state of scientific understanding of various aspects of earth’s cryosphere – snow, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, ice shelves, sea ice, river and lake ice, and permafrost – and their related interdisciplinary connections under one umbrella. Therefore, every effort has been made to provide a comprehensive coverage of cryosphere by including a broad array of topics, such as the atmospheric processes responsible for snow formation; snowfall observations; snow cover and snow surveys; transformation of snow to ice and changes in their properties; classification of ice and glaciers and their worldwide …

Relationships Between Snake River Paleofloods, Occupational Patterns And Archaeological Preservation At Redbird Beach Archaeological Site In Lower Hells Canyon, Idaho, Tabitha Trosper

All Master's Theses

The Snake River basin drains 282,000 km² of the northwestern U.S. and is the largest tributary to the Columbia River. Redbird Beach, an archaeological site located in the lower Hells Canyon reach of the Snake River, contains extensive vertical exposures of archaeological materials interbedded with Snake River flood sediments. Redbird Beach formed in the lee of the Redbird Creek debris fan, is composed of interfingering deposits from large floods on the Snake River and locally-derived alluvial sediments from Redbird Creek. Through stratigraphic analyses of slackwater deposits, this study compares the temporal and spatial patterns of human occupation at Redbird …

Mass Wasting As A Geologic Hazard In The Province Of Salta, Argentina, William J. Wayne

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The north-south orient ation ofthe mo unta inous part ofthe Province ofSalta form s a massive barrier to easy communication between the more populate d region in the central pan of the provin ce and the communities to the west. Routes follow deeply entrenched valleys th at are frequ entl y th e sites ofdebris flows that cause disruptions in th e flow of traffic during the months of December through March , wh en most of the precipitation of the region is recorded . The steep topography and the tecton ic settings have resulted in nearly 150 large landslides …

Designing And Using Virtual Field Environments To Enhance And Extend Field Experience In Professional Development Programs In Geology For K-12 Teachers, Frank Douglas Granshaw

Dissertations and Theses

Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used to acquaint geoscience novices with some of the observation, data gathering, and problem solving done in actual field situations by geoscientists. VR environments in a variety of forms are used to prepare students for doing geologic fieldwork, as well as to provide proxies for such experience when venturing into the field is not possible. However, despite increased use of VR for these purposes, there is little research on how students learn using these environments, how using them impacts student field experience, or what constitutes effective design in light of emerging theories of geocognition.

To …

Speleothems In The Dry Cave Parts Of The Gamslöcher-Kolowrat Cave, Untersberg Near Salzburg (Austria), Anna Bieniok, Georg Zagler, Uwe Brendel, Franz Neubauer

International Journal of Speleology

New, remarkably dry parts of the Gamslöcher-Kolowrat Cave at 728 to 853 m depth have been explored in the Untersberg near Salzburg in Austria. This region is called the Desert, its greatest cavity is called the White Hall. The new cave part is characterized by various white speleothems. The predominant ones are snow-like calcite powder with an extremely low density, and fine gypsum needles. Gypsum also occurs in the form of balls stuck to vertical walls. In addition, fluorescent hydromagnesite crusts, Mg₅(CO₃)₄(OH)₂·4H₂O, as well as the sodium sulfate mineral mirabilite …

Iron Oxide And Calcite Associated With Leptothrix Sp. Biofilms Within An Estavelle In The Upper Floridan Aquifer, Lee J. Florea, Chasity L. Stinson, Josh Brewer, Rick Fowler, B Joe Kearns, Anthony M. Greco

International Journal of Speleology

In Thornton’s Cave, an estavelle in west-central Florida, SEM, EDS, and XRD data reveal biofilms that are predominantly comprised of FeOOH-encrusted hollow sheaths that are overgrown and intercalated with calcite. Fragments of this crystalline biofilm adhere to the walls and ceiling as water levels vary within the cave. Those on the wall have a ‘cornflake’ appearance and those affixed to the ceiling hang as fibrous membranes. PCR of DNA in the active biofilm, combined with morphologic data from the tubes in SEM micrographs, point to Leptothrix sp., a common Fe-oxidizing bacteria, as the primary organism in the biofilm. Recent discoveries …

Estimating Hydraulic Conductivity For The Martian Subsurface Based On Drainage Patterns — A Case Study In The Mare Tyrrhenum Quadrangle, Wei Luo, Bartosz Grudzinski, Darryll T. Pederson

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Hydraulic conductivity K, as the coefficient of proportionality in Darcy’s Law, is critical in understanding the past Martian hydrologic cycle, climate, and landform evolution. However, K and its spatial variability on Mars are thus far poorly constrained due to lack of accessibility. Using an innovative method based on surface drainage dissection patterns, which has been successfully tested in the Oregon Cascades on Earth, we estimated K in the Mare Tyrrhenum Quadrangle on Mars. The basic assumption is that under long-term dynamic equilibrium conditions, the overall dissection pattern in a watershed as reflected in drainage density is controlled by the …

Late Pleistocene Dune Activity In The Central Great Plains, Usa, Joseph A. Mason, James B. Swinehart, Paul R. Hanson, David Loope, Ronald J. Goble, Xiaodong Miao, Rebecca L Schmeisser

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Stabilized dunes of the central Great Plains, especially the megabarchans and large barchanoid ridges of the Nebraska Sand Hills, provide dramatic evidence of late Quaternary environmental change. Episodic Holocene dune activity in this region is now well-documented, but Late Pleistocene dune mobility has remained poorly documented, despite early interpretations of the Sand Hills dunes as Pleistocene relicts. New optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages from drill cores and outcrops provide evidence of Late Pleistocene dune activity at sites distributed across the central Great Plains. In addition, Late Pleistocene eolian sands deposited at 20–25 ka are interbedded with loess south of the …

The Spatial Distribution Of Solar Radiation Under A Melting Arctic Sea Ice Cover, Karen E. Frey, Donald K. Perovich, Bonnie Light

Geography

The sea ice cover of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas is currently undergoing a fundamental shift from multiyear ice to first-year ice. Field observations of sea ice physical and optical properties were collected in this region during June-July 2010, revealing unexpectedly complex spatial distributions of solar radiation under the melt-season ice cover. Based on our optical measurements of first-year ice, we found the under-ice light field in the upper ocean to be spatially heterogeneous and dependent on wavelength, ice thickness, and the areal and geometric distribution of melt ponded and bare ice surfaces. Much of the observed complexity in radiation …

Spatial And Interannual Variability Of Dissolved Organic Matter In The Kolyma River, East Siberia, Observed Using Satellite Imagery, Claire G. Griffin, Karen E. Frey, John Rogan, Robert M. Holmes

Geography

The Kolyma River basin in northeastern Siberia, the sixth largest river basin draining to the Arctic Ocean, contains vast reserves of carbon in Pleistocene-aged permafrost soils. Permafrost degradation, as a result of climate change, may cause shifts in riverine biogeochemistry as this old source of organic matter is exposed. Satellite remote sensing offers an opportunity to complement and extrapolate field sampling of dissolved organic matter in this expansive and remote region. We develop empirically based algorithms that estimate chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the Kolyma River and its major tributaries in the vicinity of …

Detection Of The Timing And Duration Of Snowmelt In The Hindu Kush-Himalaya Using Quikscat, 2000-2008, Prajjwal K. Panday, Karen E. Frey, Bardan Ghimire

Geography

The Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region holds the largest mass of ice in Central Asia and is highly vulnerable to global climate change, experiencing significant warming (0.21 ± 0.08 °C/decade) over the past few decades. Accurate monitoring of the timing and duration of snowmelt across the HKH region is important, as this region is expected to experience further warming in response to increased greenhouse gas forcing. Despite the many advantages and applications of satellite-derived radar scatterometer data shown for capturing ice and snow melt dynamics at high latitudes, similar comprehensive freeze/thaw detection studies at lower latitudes (including the HKH region) are …

Using Water Balance Models To Approximate The Effects Of Climate Change On Spring Catchment Discharge : Mt. Hanang, Tanzania , Randall E. Fish

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This project addresses the potential impacts of changing climate on dry-season water storage and discharge from a small, mountain catchment in Tanzania. Villagers and water managers around the catchment have experienced worsening water scarcity and attribute it to increasing population and demand, but very little has been done to understand the physical characteristics and hydrological behavior of the spring catchment. The physical nature of the aquifer was characterized and water balance models were calibrated to discharge observations so as to be able to explore relative changes in aquifer storage resulting from climate changes.

To characterize the shallow aquifer supplying water …

An Integrated Geographic Information Systems (Igis) Analysis And Definition Of The Tectonic Framework Of Northern Mexico, Carlos Manuel Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Crustal rupture structures reactivated in the course of the tectonic history of northern Mexico are the surface expressions of planes of weakness, in the form of simple or composite rectilinear features or slightly curved, defined as lineaments. Unless otherwise defined as strike-slip faults, lineaments are part of parallel and sub-parallel oblique convergent or oblique divergent tectonic zones cross cutting the Sierra Madre Occidental and northern Mexico, in a NW trend. These shear zones are the response to the oblique subduction of the Farallon plate beneath North America.

Kinematic analysis of five selected sites in northern Mexico, three basins and two …

Palaeoclimatic Significance Of Perennial Ice Accumulations In Caves: An Example From Scarisoara Ice Cave, Romania, Aurel Persoiu Tiritu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stable isotopes in ice cores drilled in the polar and high-mountain region have been used intensively to reconstruct past climatic changes and atmospheric dynamics. However, no similar studies have been conducted on perennial ice accumulations in caves due to a limited understanding of the links between the external and cave environments, and the way in which the climatic signal can be recorded by the cave ice.

In this thesis, we successfully designed and build a research methodology for the reconstruction of past climatic changes based on perennial ice accumulation in caves, using as example the Scarisoara Ice Cave, Romania. The …

Pce Groundwater Quality Assessment Of The University Of Northern Iowa Campus Area, Brian Gedlinske

Graduate Research Papers

Perchloroethylene (PCE), is a colorless, nonflammable, and relatively insoluble chlorinated solvent once widely used for dry cleaning and metal degreasing operations. Because of its past widespread use, poor solvent management practices, and environmental persistence, PCE is a common contaminant found in groundwater supplies. Potential health concerns include liver problems and increased cancer risk.

This research paper presents the findings of an effort to better characterize the spatial, temporal, and transport attributes of a PCE groundwater plume that exists within the Devonian aquifer underlying the University of Northern Iowa campus and the surrounding area in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Findings reveal the …

Crustal Structure And Evolution Beneath The Colorado Plateau And The Southern Basin And Range Province, Lamuail Bashir

Doctoral Dissertations

"Stacking of about 15,500 P-to-S receiver functions recorded at 72 USArray and other broadband seismic stations placed on the Colorado Plateau and the SBRP in Arizona revealed systematic spatial variations in crustal Vp/Vs, crustal thickness and amplitude of P-to-S converted phases. Our results reveal that the BRP is characterized by a thin crust (28.2 ± 0.5 km), a mean Vp/Vs of 1.761 ± 0.014 and a mean amplitude (R) of P - to - S converted wave (relative to that of the direct P wave) of 0.181 ± 0.014 that are similar to a typical continental crust, consistent with the …

Glacial Deposits, Vol. 39, 2010-2011, Department Of Geography-Geology

Glacial Deposits

Newsletter of the Department of Geography-Geology

Geomicrobiology Of Louisiana Coastal Marshes Before And After The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Chang Liu

LSU Master's Theses

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico not only impacted open ocean and shoreline geochemical and ecological environments, but it served to promote research of microbial ecosystems in poorly studied habitats, such as Louisiana marshes. Sediment and water samples from four main marshes in southern Louisiana were collected in May 2010 (pre-oil), September 2010 (oiled), and June 2011 (post-oil). Sites near the Mississippi River had exceptionally low salinity in the immediate months following the oil spill due to freshwater diversion efforts; salinity increased by an order of magnitude one year later. Microbial diversity was evaluated from …

Urbanization And Land Surface Temperature In Pinellas County, Florida, Bruce Coffyn Mitchell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since the early 1800's, many studies have recognized increased heat in urban areas, known as the urban heat island (UHI) effect, as one of the results of human modification to the natural landscape. UHI is related to differences in land surface temperature (LST) between rural areas and urban areas where factors of the built environment such as the thermodynamic capacities of materials, structural geometry, and heat generating activities cause increased storage and re-radiation of heat to the atmosphere. This thesis examines the correlation between factors of urbanization and differences in land surface temperature (LST) in the subtropical climate of Pinellas …

Alunite Formation Within Silica Stalactites From The Sydney Region, South-Eastern Australia, R. A.L. Wray

International Journal of Speleology

This paper presents X-ray diffraction and SEM evidence for the formation of alunite, and possibly small quantities of natroalunite, within opal-A stalactites formed on quartz sandstone near Sydney in south-eastern, Australia. Alunite has been reported as a speleogenetic mineral from sediments within a number of caves around the world, but this is believed to be the first report of speleothemic alunite in opaline silica speleothems. Individual alunite crystals have not been visually identified, but SEM X-ray element mapping suggests the alunite has formed amongst kaolinite clay. Sedimentary alunite and natroalunite formation is usually associated with the reaction of sulphuric acid …

Due Diligence And Demographic Disparities: Effects Of The Planning Of U.S.- Mexico Border Fence On Marginalized Populations, J. Gaines Wilson, Jude A. Benavides, Karen Engle, Denise Gilman, Anthony Reisinger, Jessica Spangler, Joe Lemen

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

In the buildup to the construction the U.S.-Mexico border fence by the United States Department of Homeland Security (USDHS), much attention was drawn to security, drug enforcement, and immigration issues. However, there was little quantitative analysis regarding which populations were most likely to be affected by the proposed fence. Using a geographic information system, we classified census blocks in Cameron County, Texas into one of two categories: either ‘fence’ or ‘gap’. A total of 14 demographic factors were tested for disparities between those living in gap areas and those living in areas exposed to the fence. Twelve of fourteen factors …

Ua668/4 Ogden College Of Science & Engineering Geography & Geology Administration, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about the administration of the Geography & Geology department.

Rapid Landscape Transformation In South Island, New Zealand, Following Initial Polynesian Settlement, David B. Mcwethy, Cathy Whitlock, Janet M. Wilmshurst, Matt S. Mcglone, Mairie Fromont, Xun Li, Ann Dieffenbacher-Krall, William O. Hobbs, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Edward R. Cook

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Humans have altered natural patterns of fire for millennia, but the impact of human-set fires is thought to have been slight in wet closed-canopy forests. In the South Island of New Zealand, Polynesians (Māori), who arrived 700–800 calibrated years (cal y) ago, and then Europeans, who settled ∼150 cal y ago, used fire as a tool for forest clearance, but the structure and environmental consequences of these fires are poorly understood. High-resolution charcoal and pollen records from 16 lakes were analyzed to reconstruct the fire and vegetation history of the last 1,000 y. Diatom, chironomid, and element concentration data were …

Radiative Forcing Over The Conterminous United States Due To Contemporary Land Cover Use Change And Sensitivity To Snow And Interannual Albedo Variability, Christoper A. Barnes, David P. Roy

GSCE Faculty Publications

Satellite‐derived land cover land use (LCLU), snow and albedo data, and incoming surface solar radiation reanalysis data were used to study the impact of LCLU change from 1973 to 2000 on surface albedo and radiative forcing for 58 ecoregions covering 69% of the conterminous United States. A net positive surface radiative forcing (i.e., warming) of 0.029 Wm−2 due to LCLU albedo change from 1973 to 2000 was estimated. The forcings for individual ecoregions were similar in magnitude to current global forcing estimates, with the most negative forcing (as low as −0.367 Wm−2) due to the transition to forest and the …

Farmers' Markets In Kentucky: A Geospatial, Statistical, And Cultural Analysis, Elizabeth Ann Schmitz

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

To assess what factors are driving the exponential growth of farmers’ markets in Kentucky, geospatial and statistical analysis of a database of 121 farmers’ markets was conducted. A statewide survey of market leaders and a case study of a single farmers’ market both identified reasons for growing support of farmers’ markets in Kentucky.

Market distribution, vendor levels, and gross sales were mapped against a backdrop of county urban classification, median household income, and education levels. Kruskal-Wallace analysis was used to identify if Kentucky’s rural, micropolitan, and metropolitan markets differ significantly in terms of their age, number of vendors, and market …

Internet Gis As A Historic Place-Making Tool For Mammoth Cave National Park, Ann E. Epperson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This project laid the groundwork for an Internet-delivered Public Participation Geographic Information System to facilitate exploration and discovery of the past communities of the Mammoth Cave Park area. The emergence of Internet Web 2.0 design along with distributed GIS services allows for anyone to interact with and add to the information found on central Internet sites. Historical geography often relies upon public participation from individuals outside the academic world to provide narrative descriptions, photographs and manuscripts of past places and events to augment information held by institutions and academia. A public-participation website for the Mammoth Cave Historic GIS (MCHGIS) created …

An Application And Refinement Of The Karst Disturbance Index Through Evaluating Variability In Island Karst Disturbance In Puerto Rico, Brandon Lee Porter

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Karst environments are unique landscapes that contain important resources, including freshwater aquifers and specialized ecosystems, which are easily disturbed due to the interconnected nature of the surface and subsurface. The anthropogenic impacts on karst are deleterious to the ecosystems that are dependent on the karst environment and also to groundwater supplies. The Karst Disturbance Index (KDI) is a holistic tool used to measure anthropogenic impacts associated with karst environments, which has been applied and refined through studies performed in Florida and Italy, yet still remains untested and susceptible to modification for other areas. Application of the KDI in Arecibo, Puerto …