Digital Commons Network^™

Super-Resolution Remote Sensing Datasets For Application To Caral–Supe Archeological Sites Employing Sar And Dems, Jungrack Kim, Ramesh P. Singh

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Publicly accessible spaceborne remote sensing datasets often lack the spatial resolution required to reliably distinguish archeological features from their surrounding geomorphological contexts. In this study, we assess the potential of super-resolution (SR) products derived from multiple public-domain remote sensing datasets for a systematic archeological survey in the Caral–Supe region. We focus on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and topographic datasets—including Sentinel-1, Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR), and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs)—because of their capacity to detect subtle surface expressions and shallow subsurface structures obscured by vegetation or sediment cover. Using state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms, …

Response Of Botovskaya Cave To Local And Regional Environmental Dynamics, Jade Margerum, Oksana Gutareva, Franziska Lechleitner, Maria Box, Stuart Umbo, Anton Vaks, Hanno Meyer, Aleksandr Kononov, Aleksander Osintsev, Dimitri Sokol'nikov, Norbert Marwan, Ola Kwiecien, Sebastian Breitenbach

International Journal of Speleology

Speleothems from caves in near-permafrost regions can provide unique insights into the climatic history of temperature-sensitive environments. These regions are often remote and only seasonally accessible, which makes cave monitoring – a requirement for speleothem-based proxy interpretation – challenging. We document ventilation, the infiltration regime, and the isotopic composition of dripwater in Botovskaya Cave in southern Siberia, a host to speleothems previously used to reconstruct Quaternary permafrost dynamics in continental Eurasia. We explore surface and cave temperature records, cave air CO₂ concentration data and stable isotopes in precipitation and dripwater and evaluate infiltration conditions and the sensitivity of speleothems …

Ice Temperature And Heat Transfer Processes In Cave Glaciers, Aurel Persoiu

International Journal of Speleology

Cave glaciers (i.e., perennial ice accumulations in caves), found throughout mountainous regions in Europe and North America are at risk of extinction due to rising air temperature and altered rainfall patterns. Their formation and subsequent preservation is the result of accumulation of ice during winter months and limited ablation in summer. These processes, in turn, are controlled by air temperature, which determines the overall mass balance of ice. One important aspect is the heat the ice mass loses in winter, which increases its resilience during summer. While ice caves’ climate has been intensively studied in the past, investigations of ice …

College Of Natural Sciences 2025 Year-End Publication, College Of Natural Sciences

College of Natural Sciences Newsletters and Reports

Page 2 Dean's Message 
Page 3 Department Highlights 
Page 4 One Day for State 
Page 5 Ice cores reveal volcanic eruptions in 13th century 
Page 5 How do our cells interpret stress 
Page 6-7 Faculty Excellence
Page 8 New chemical biology consortium will accelerate cancer research
Page 9 SDSU to combat crop disease, biofilms in new NSF-back project 
Page 9 Science as Art Competition 
Page 10-11 Student Excellence  
Page 12 SDSU researcher developing natural alternative to synthetic dyes
Page 12 Browning Retired
Page 13 Quantum technologies through NSF-backed project
Page 13 NASA Funds CNS Development of Model
Page 14 GGS …

Cultural Science Night, Jiyoon Yoon

Mavs Open Press Open Educational Resources - Archive

This book is to learn water and weather by integrating with other cultures. This textbook is organized around two interconnected components. The first component provides cultural knowledge of China, India, Korea, and Mexico. The second component focuses on culturally responsive science instruction created for the Cultural Science Night event, an occasion in which teachers present hands-on, culturally responsive science activities in collaboration with students.

If you need an accessibility accommodation or have questions about the use of this text, please contact Mavs Open Press.

A Probabilistic Deep Learning Framework For Retrieving Chlorophyll-A From Hyperspectral Imagery: Integrating Channel Attention And Mixture Density Networks, Wenzhao Li, Surendra Maharjan, Rejoice Thomas, Junde Chen, Hesham Morgan, Michael J. Garay, Olga V. Kalashnikova, Shahryar Fazli, Charles Ichoku, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Accurate monitoring of Chlorophyll-a (Chla) is critical for assessing aquatic ecosystem health, yet ecological complexity often leads to ambiguous spectral signatures in satellite data. Traditional deterministic models assume a one-to-one mapping between spectra and pigments, often failing to capture these high-dimensional analytical challenges. In this study, we propose a novel deep learning architecture, the Channel Attention-Mixture Density Network (CA-MDN), to retrieve Chla from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) hyperspectral mission. The CA-MDN integrates an attention mechanism to dynamically select ecologically relevant spectral bands and employs a probabilistic output layer to quantify …

Monitoring Strategies In Cave Microclimate Studies, Nenad Buzjak, Dalibor Paar, Aurel Persoiu, Christos Pennos, Franci Gabrovšek, Valerija Rossi

International Journal of Speleology

Cave atmospheres are spatially confined but dynamical systems that influence subterranean ecosystems, geomorphological processes, registration and preservation of climatic signals in sedimentary archives, cultural heritage, and conservation management. Despite major advances in cave climatology, methodological approaches to microclimate monitoring remain fragmented and are in some cases still shaped by the long-standing assumption that cave air temperature simply reflects the mean annual surface temperature. This paper revisits that assumption and develops an experience- and literature-based methodological framework for cave microclimate research. Key terminology is addressed by distinguishing between cave climate, cave microclimate, and cave meteorology, and by situating microclimatic variability within …

The World's Largest Saddle Dam At Risk: Multisensor Geohazard Analysis And Downstream Impacts, Hesham El-Askary, Hesham Morgan, Surendra Maharjan, Ali Elgendy, Wenzhao Li, Rejoice Thomas, Austin Madson, Cyril Rakovski

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) Saddle Dam, which holds approximately 89% of the main reservoir's live storage, is one of the largest and most critical auxiliary dams globally; its construction on Ethiopia's Blue Nile has consequently raised significant regional and international concerns regarding potential environmental impacts and geohazard risks. This study presents a comprehensive risk assessment of the GERD Saddle Dam by integrating high-resolution satellite data (GRACE, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, WorldView-3), hydrological modeling (SWAT), Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI), geospatial analysis, and advanced statistical techniques. The results highlight critical structural vulnerabilities, including groundwater infiltration estimated at approximately 41 ± 6.2 billion …

Rivers Reimagined: Floods, Droughts, And The Future Of Hydrologic Systems In Aotearoa, Ryan Anderson '26

Annual Student Research Poster Session

Hydroelectric power plays a crucial role in New Zealand’s renewable energy system and depends on consistent and reliable rainfall and river flow. This study analyzes hydrologic variability in two Wairoa River catchments in the Northland Region of New Zealand, the Mangahahuru River (Site 46674) and the Kaihu River at Gorge (Site 46611). Over four months, streamflow data provided by the University of Otago, Department of Geography was analyzed using R in RStudio to examine flood frequency, seasonal drought periods, and long-term flow trends. Both catchments were evaluated with approximately 95% completeness. The comparison in flow trends between the rivers highlights …

Supporting Data – Urban Stream, Cardinal Court, Isu, Normal, November 9, 2023 To May 1, 2025, Eric Wade Peterson, Ava Miller

Faculty Publications - Geography, Geology, and the Environment

Between November 9, 2023 to May 1, 2025, water samples were collected upstream and downstream along a segment of a stream adjacent to Cardinal Court on the Illinois State University campus. At each location, samples were collected at the surface. In-situ measurements of Dissolved Oxygen, Specific Conductance, and Temperature were recorded with a YSI 85. Anion samples were analyzed using a Ion Chromatograph for fluoride (F^-), chloride (Cl^-), nitrate as nitrogen (NO3-N), phosphate (PO₄^3-), and sulfate (SO₄^2-). The available dataset provides the recorded field parameters and the analyzed ion concentrations.

Pitfalls Of Multiplied 3d Landforms Projection: Mapping Deep Multilevel Cave Systems In The Alps (Gamssteig Cave System, Göll Massif), Mateusz Golicz, Jacek Szczygieł

International Journal of Speleology

Cave mapping represents one of the most complex challenges in geomorphological cartography, as it must convey the true three-dimensional geometry of subterranean spaces such as overlapping passages, irregular cross-sections, and variable ceiling and floor morphologies, within a two-dimensional framework. This study examines the methodological and interpretive challenges of cave mapping, utilizing the Gamssteighöhle cave in the Austrian Alps as a case study. During the 11 years of exploration, over 10 km of passages were surveyed using the DistoX vector survey method. Yet, the complex morphological forms necessitated deviations from the standard symbology recommended by the International Union of Speleology. Several …

Long-Term Changes In Relative Humidity And Soil Wetness: Implications On Agriculture And Environmental Sustainability In Western Himalaya, Ashwani Ashwani, Pankaj Kumar

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

Long-term climate changes in humidity and soil wetness in the cold deserts of the Western Himalaya are still not well researched. Understanding the long-term trends of relative humidity (RH) and soil moisture is crucial in high-altitude, cold desert regions for effective agricultural management and environmental sustainability. The study was conducted in a part of the western Himalaya, which is an ecologically fragile zone with a highly sensitive agricultural region that is vulnerable to climatic variations. A comprehensive study was conducted to evaluate the spatiotemporal variability of RH and soil wetness by means four techniques: Mann-Kendall, Modified Mann-Kendall, Sen’s slope estimator, …

Flood-Regime Shifts Across The Lower Midwest, Usa: Identifying Patterns Through Flood Magnitude–Frequency Analysis And Clustering, Kaiser Mostafiz

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Flood regimes describe how flood behavior changes in magnitude, recurrence, and occurrence through time. Changes in these flood characteristics can affect flood hazards, river systems, infrastructure, and floodplain management. This thesis examines flood-regime change across the Lower Midwest, focusing on Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri from 1961 to 2020. Records from 1,452 U.S. Geological Survey gaging stations were initially compiled, and 208 stations were retained after screening for record availability and analytical consistency. Flood-regime change was evaluated between two 30-year study periods: Period 1 (1961–1990) and Period 2 (1991–2020). The analysis combined Log-Pearson Type III flood-frequency analysis using L-moments in …

A Geospatial Assessment Of Groundwater Salinization In A Multi-Aquifer System: Durango, Mexico, Juan Lopez-Sierra

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Groundwater salinization poses a critical environmental concern for water resource sustainability in arid and semi-arid regions. This study evaluates spatial and temporal patterns of groundwater salinity across the state of Durango, Mexico, using total dissolved solids (TDS), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), as salinity indicators and nitrate-nitrogen (NO₃–N) as an anthropogenic indicator. Groundwater quality data were obtained from (CONAGUA), a Mexican water agency. To assess salinity variations with respect to time, while minimizing interannual sampling bias, two multi-year sampling periods were selected: 2012-2013, and 2020-2021. Final datasets consisted of 122 wells for 2012–2013 and 131 wells for 2020–2021. The wells were …

Soil Organic Carbon And Soil Health Property Responses To Land Management Across Topographic Positions, Mia D. Makovsky

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

uring the last ice age, ice sheets advanced and retreated across the upper Midwest, leaving behind a landscape characterized by poorly drained hummocky topography. Well-aerated soils have formed on uplands and lowlands are dominated by hydric soils. These wetlands and hydric soils have potential to store large quantities of carbon, particularly compared to the well-aerated uplands, but many have been drained and cultivated for decades. Conservation agriculture methods have emerged to protect and conserve soil health from negative effects due to cultivation.The purpose of this study is to determine how agricultural management practices and landscape properties (e.g, topographic position) affect …

Below The Rows, Beyond The Roots: An Art Exhibition Depicting Agriculture Across The Globe, Maggie Enoch

Honors Theses and Capstones

In Below the Rows, Beyond the Roots, artist Maggie Enoch creates multimedia works inspired by her exposure to diverse agricultural systems and perspectives while studying geography and sustainable agriculture/food systems around the world. By integrating complex histories with the contemporary realities of farming, Maggie paints vivid pictures of the power of food in this five-piece exhibition.

Last Glacial Maximum And Late Glacial Aeolian Sand Activity, South-Central Indiana, Usa, H. M. Loope, J. L. Antinao, P.R. Hanson, P. M. Jacobs, D. A. Grimley

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Ecological Feedbacks In The Earth System, Eugene J. Murphy, Jessica J. Williams, Isla H. Myers-Smith, Vivienne P. Groner, David M. P. Jacoby, Lester Kwiatkowski, Jess Melbourne-Thomas, Emma Ransome, Cristina Banks-Leite, Laurent Bopp, Marion Gehlen, Eileen E. Hofmann, Babette Hoogakker, Nadine M. Johnston, Yadvinder Malhi, Emma L. Cavan

CCPO Publications

Ecological feedbacks are fundamental features of the Earth system, affecting physical processes and chemical cycles. Our understanding of the interactions underlying these feedbacks at different spatial and temporal scales and the extent to which feedbacks affect Earth system functioning remains limited. Climate change and other anthropogenic pressures are already negatively affecting ecological processes in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems. These will most likely be amplified in the coming decades under our current warming and socioeconomic pathways. The knock-on impacts on ecological feedbacks have the potential to cause rapid perturbations to the Earth system, and may significantly impact the structure and …

Regional Oceanographic Controls On Water Column Nitrogen Fixation In Northern Australian Waters, Douglas G. Capone, Ajit Subramaniam, Yubin Raut, Joseph P. Montoya, Margaret R. Mulholland, Rachel Ann Foster, Miles Furnas, Edward J. Carpenter

OES Faculty Publications

Large blooms of the diazotrophic cyanobacteria, Trichodesmium, have been re-ported along the north coast of Australia and are readily evident in remote sensing images. During a research cruise in November 1999, we sampled from Townsville to Broome, examined Trichodesmium population densities and their rates of carbon and N₂ fixation alongside microscopy-based cell counts of them and other cyanobacte-rial diazotrophs. Additionally, we also enumerated the picophytoplankton community using flow-cytometry, measured bulk chlorophyll concentrations, carbon and N₂ fixation rates, and water column hydrography, enabling comparison of diazotrophic and picophytoplankton functional groups across the system. Agglomerative hierarchical clustering analysis of physicochemical oceanographic …

Characterizing A Low-Gradient Stream In Central Illinois As Gaining Or Losing And Observing Seasonal Changes In This Behavior, Eric Timothy Brunner

Theses and Dissertations

While the seasonal behaviors of low-gradient streams have been studied, the behavior of surface water and groundwater interactions within low-gradient streams in glaciated terrain is not fully understood. A third order, low-gradient glacial stream with a saturated riparian buffer in central Illinois was studied to determine the direction of flow between the surface water and groundwater. The goals of this study were to determine 1) whether the stream was gaining or losing water, and 2) whether the gaining or losing nature of the stream-aquifer system changes seasonally. At both an upgradient and downgradient location, two wells were installed: one in …

Using Remote Sensing Technology To Develop A Framework For Improving Hydrologic Models, Marissa Cook

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

With increased storm intensity due to climate change and urbanization, flash flooding has become an increasingly significant issue globally and regionally. Although the factors influencing urban flash flooding are well-known, there is a growing need for technology to accurately and remotely predict the chance of a flash flood occurring from any given rain event to give people time to prepare. This study aims to use multispectral satellite imagery to provide a framework for improving near real-time flood predictions in an urban area of a high gradient, fourth order stream impacted by flooding. Specifically, we utilize satellite imagery to create the …

A New Parsimony-Based Method For Reconstructing Sequences Of Developmental Events And Estimating Rates Of Intraspecific Variation, With Applications To Trilobites, Alexander Benjamin Bradley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Ontogenetic Sequence Analysis (OSA) is a method for reconstructing multiple sequences of abrupt phenotypic transformations (developmental events) for sampled populations of any kind of organism. It makes use of cladistic parsimony software to produce a network, or graph, whose vertices represent unique phenotypes at different stages of maturity (“semaphoronts”) and whose edges describe the developmental events occurring between semaphoronts. It is a powerful tool for constraining the range of developmental variation possible for a given species and generating sample statistics capable of identifying both the most common and the outlier ontogenetic sequences. However, OSA has seen little use since its …

New Fossil Mygalomorph Spiders (?Idiopidae, Pycnothelidae) From The Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation Of Brazil, Elis Maria Gomes Santana

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The infraorder Mygalomorphae represents one of the earliest-diverging lineages of spiders, but its fossil record remains sparse relative to the modern diversity of the group. This is a reflection of both ecological and preservational biases, such as the predominantly fossorial habits of many mygalomorphs and the strong bias of the spider fossil record toward amber deposits. Compression fossils from rock deposits are therefore especially important for documenting the evolutionary history of the group. Here, two new mygalomorph fossils from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation, Araripe Basin (Brazil) are described. The first specimen is tentatively referred to ?Idiopidae based on male …

Comparing Unet And Hrnet For Geomorphic Feature Extraction From Digital Terrain Model-Derived Land Surface Parameters, Behnam Solouki

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Automated extraction of geomorphic features from high spatial resolution terrain data is important for environmental monitoring, geohazard assessment, and landscape change analysis. This study compares two convolutional neural network architectures, UNet and High-Resolution Network (HRNet), for semantic segmentation of mine benches and sinkholes from lidar-derived digital terrain models and land surface parameters. Mine benches represent anthropogenic, elongated, stepped landforms associated with historic surface mining, whereas sinkholes are natural, compact depressions common in karst terrain. Three terrain-derived input layers were used: square-root-transformed slope, broad-scale topographic position index, and fine-scale annulus topographic position index. Models were trained using five training sample sizes, …

Sedimentological And Geochemical Investigation Of The Origin Of Upper Pennsylvanian Black Shales, East-Central Appalachian Basin, Tyler Hickey

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In the east-central Allegheny foreland basin, laminated black shales overlying Upper Pennsylvanian Glenshaw Fm. coal seams record paleoenvironmental conditions associated with the termination of peat swamp deposition before, during, and after the Carboniferous Coal Forest Collapse (CCFC), a major paleobotanical evolutionary event during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) that contributed to extinction of lepidodendrons near the Desmoinesian-Missourian boundary (~306 Ma). Previous investigations of the CCFC commonly implicate an episode of aridification during intensification of LPIA glaciation that stressed the lepidodendrons beyond their ecological tipping point; however, the cause of this aridification is unclear. An investigation of Glenshaw Fm. black …

Paleoflood Chronology For The West Branch Of The Susquehanna River Using Abandoned Chute Channel Sediments, Pennsylvania, Usa, Juliette A. Vanluven

Honors Theses

Anthropogenic climate change is altering the hydrologic cycle, increasing flood frequency and severity, with associated increased risks in population exposure. This is associated with increasing risks to the population of the Susquehanna River Valley, which supports over 600,000 people today. However, our understanding of the frequencies of large floods is limited by relatively short instrumental records. By studying sediments from an abandoned chute channel in the Robert Allen Natural Area near Williamsport, PA, we can extend the existing flood records using paleoflood slackwater sediments along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.  Sylvan Dell is an abandoned chute channel that …

Spatial Patterns And Morphometric Evolution Of Sinkholes In Response To Watershed Hydrogeomorphology: Examples From A Karst Landscape In The Missouri Ozarks, Usa, Marcell Tóth

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Sinkholes are characteristic enclosed depressions with internal drainage connecting the surface and subsurface karst hydrologic system. Their morphological evolution involves gradual subsidence of the ground surface and hazardous collapses. Therefore, understanding sinkhole morphometry and linked spatial distribution is critical for managing geohazards in karst watersheds. Sinkhole occurrence shows spatial variability based on watershed geomorphological attributes, surficial hydrological patterns, hydrogeological and geological settings. The aim of this research is to investigate morphometric properties and distribution of sinkholes in the carbonate karst-dominated lands of Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri, USA. The specific objectives were to (1) identify sinkhole clusters based on …

Applied Machine Learning In Mineral Prospectivity Mapping In The South Pass-Granite Mountains Of Wyoming, Carl D. York

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The South Pass-Granite Mountains, comprised of Archean to Tertiary rocks embedded with an Archean greenstone belt in Central Wyoming, have historically been mined for gold, iron, steel, and silver. Rare earth elements have been of increasing interest in the region and thus, several datasets have become available. Knowledge driven and data driven models are used in mineral prospectivity mapping with input data including geological mapping, geochemical data, geophysical (USGS Critical Mineral magnetic and gravity data), radiometric (U, Th, K) data and multispectral remote sensing data. Mineral prospectivity has seen a rapid improvement in recent years using advancements in machine learning …

Flow Regime Shifts And Channel Morphological Adjustments In Response To Changing Climate Patterns: Examples From Gasconade River, Missouri, Usa, Katherine E. Brand

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Recent changes in climate patterns due to anthropogenic inputs (i.e. greenhouse gases/CO₂) have caused alterations to precipitation events leading to altered flow regimes. Changes in the magnitude and frequency of flood events results in physical adjustments to river morphology, including changes in width and depth. As rivers experience more frequent and larger flood events, they accommodate by changing their morphological characteristics. The Gasconade River, a tributary of the Missouri River located in southcentral Missouri, USA, has exhibited recent patterns of acute bank erosion with limited understanding of its causes and effects on the river. This study aims to understand how …

Workshop Outcomes Report: 2nd International Workshop On Seismic Resilience Of Arctic Infrastructure And Social Systems, Majid Ghayoomi, Daniela Morganti

Faculty Publications

The report provides an overview of the second international workshop on Seismic Resilience of Arctic Infrastructure and Social Systems. The report discusses agenda, workshop activities, interdisciplinary working groups, and results. It ends with several strategic questions and investigation plans that were developed as part of the workshop activities.