Digital Commons Network^™

New Hampshire Beaches: Sediment Characterization, Larry G. Ward, Kaitlyn A. Mcpherran, Zachary S. Mcavoy, Maxlimer Coromoto Vallee-Anziani

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

The grain size of the natural sediment composing the major New Hampshire beaches under summer equilibrium conditions was determined as a first step in assessing the optimal sediment size that would be needed for beach nourishment. In summer, 2015, seven major beaches including Wallis Sands, Foss Beach, Jenness Beach, North Hampton Beach, North Beach, Hampton Beach, and Seabrook Beach were sampled along three to five transects extending from the dunes or engineering structures (e.g., seawalls) to the low water line. In addition, the beach cross-section was profiled using a rover GPS system or the Emery method (profile rods and the …

An Investigation Of Ams In Oman Ophiolite Gabbros, Sarah D. Trutner

Honors Papers

Crustal accretion processes at mid-ocean ridges are still poorly understood, and several competing models exist that try to explain exactly how magma from the mantle is incorporated into oceanic crust at a crustal spreading center. Ophiolites, or fragments of oceanic crust exposed on land, are useful sites at which to conduct rock fabric studies to understand oceanic crust formation processes. This study focuses on samples of upper foliated gabbros taken from the Oman ophiolite in order to characterize their fabric orientations and contribute to a better model of crustal formation. Much of the focus of this study is on using …

Seismic Reflection, Well Log, And Gravity Analysis Of The Thrace Basin, Northwestern Turkey, Murat Kuvanc

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The Thrace basin is located between the Paleogene the Istranca and Rhdope massifs in the northwestern part of Turkey. Sediments in the Thrace basin accumulated during the early Eocene to the late Miocene, and the basin includes normal and strike-slip faults that were mainly formed in the Miocene. The hydrocarbon potential of the Thrace basin has been investigated by analyzing seismic reflection, well log, and gravity data since the 1930s; the basin has a huge gas reservoir potential and contains the first gas production field in Turkey. To determine the geologic and geophysics features of a portion of the basin …

Apparent Glacially Induced Structural Controls On Limestone Conduit Development In Ohio Caverns, United States, Adrienne M. Watts, Ira D. Sasowsky

International Journal of Speleology

Rock discontinuities such as bedding planes and joints are important controls on the form that caves take. We examined structural controls on the development of Ohio Caverns. The cave formed in Devonian limestone underlying a small bedrock knob (Mt. Tabor) within the Interior Lowland province, United States. The area has been overridden by continental glaciation multiple times. The bedrock is pervasively fractured, with many curved and wavy near-vertical fractures showing many different orientations. In the case of Ohio Caverns, it appears that the controlling fractures in map view may not be joints sensu stricto, but rather some combination of …

An Investigation Of Groundwater Flow In The Vicinity Of Patoka Dam, Indiana, Lee Anne Bledsoe

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Several dams throughout the United States have been built on karst terrains, where soluble limestone bedrock has been dissolved to form features such as caves, sinkholes, and underground rivers. In such karst regions, subsurface hydrology can play an integral role in the condition, operation, and safety of dams and should be considered during risk assessment. Patoka Dam, near Jasper, Indiana, is situated on a well-developed karst landscape/aquifer system, faces significant potential challenges, and recently underwent risk assessment. A groundwater flow investigation using multiple fluorescent tracer tests, analysis of water-table elevations, isopach mapping of the Glen Dean Limestone, and spring hydrograph …

Cordilleran Front Range Structural Features In Northwest Montana Interpreted From Vintage Seismic 2 Reflection Data, Mason Porter

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Industry seismic reflection data were collected in 1983 in the Rocky Mountain Cordillera front ranges of northwest Montana. These seismic profiles represent 160 km of deep reflection data that cross the eastern Purcell anticlinorium, Rocky Mountain Trench (RMT), Rocky Mountain Basal Detachment (RMBD), and Lewis thrust. We have reprocessed these data using modern processing techniques including refraction statics, pre-stack time migration (PSTM), and pre- and post-stack depth migration. The RMT contains Tertiary fill to 1 km depth and the RMT fault system has a minimum of 3-4 km of normal displacement. The RMT and Flathead fault systems are interpreted to …

Geological Controls On Stratigraphy And Sedimentation Of The Mississippian Marshall Formation, Michigan Basin, U.S.A., Joseph G. Adducci

Masters Theses

An understanding of regional orogenic, climatic, and eustatic processes is critical to the interbasinal correlation of Paleozoic strata in eastern North America. Tectonic activity associated with the culmination of Appalachian Orogenic events has been shown to have regional influence on paleostructure and sediment dispersal in the Appalachian foreland basin and adjacent intracratonic Illinois and Michigan basins. The culmination of the Acadian Orogeny at the end of the Devonian represents the beginning of a period of general tectonic quiescence extending throughout the early and middle Mississippian in eastern North America. Early Mississippian strata in the Michigan basin is distinctive and marks …

Factors Affecting Terrigenous Sedimentation In Coastal Bays With Coral Reefs: Implications For Monitoring The Effectiveness Of Watershed Restoration, Whitney Sears

Theses

In the Caribbean, sedimentation has been identified as a serious threat to coral reef communities. Although land-based sediment delivery to coastal waters harboring coral reefs occurs under natural conditions, human activities in the watersheds above reefs increases the erosion and delivery of terrigenous sediment to the reefs. Delivery of terrigenous sediment into marine areas below developed watersheds affects sedimentation rates, alters the composition and texture of sediments that are suspended in the water column, and/or sediments that are deposited on the sea floor and on corals.

St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands is an ideal location to study the effects of …

The Unusual Temporal And Spatial Slip History Of The Wassuk Range Normal Fault, Western Nevada (Usa): Implications For Seismic Hazard And Walker Lane Deformation, Benjamin E. Surpless, Glenn C. Kroeger

Earth and Environmental Geosciences Faculty Research

We document temporal and spatial variations in vertical displacement rate across 6 temporal orders of magnitude to better under stand how the 100-km-long, east-dipping Wassuk Range normal fault system has accommodated strain in the context of the Walker Lane, a tectonically active, NNWtrending zone of dextral and extensional deformation that affects significant portions of western Nevada and eastern California. We combine ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al cosmonuclide exposure ages with shallow seismic and gravity data from the buried hanging wall of the Wassuk fault to derive a post-113 ka (10⁵ yr time scale) vertical displacement rate of 0.82 ± …

A Comparison Of Habitat And Geomorphic Changes On East Ship Versus Sand Islands Mississippi, 2007-2014, Carlton Peter Anderson

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

A COMPARISON OF HABITAT AND GEOMORPHIC CHANGES ON EAST SHIP VERSUS SAND ISLANDS MISSISSIPPI, 2007-2014

by Carlton Peter Anderson

May 2015

The islands of the Mississippi-Alabama (MS-AL) barrier island chain along the micro-tidal northern Gulf of Mexico are highly dynamic coastal features subject to rapid changes in habitat, geomorphology, and elevation by natural and anthropogenic disturbances, such as hurricanes, subsidence, sea-level rise, and dredging activities. The purpose of this study was to compare elevation, total volume, habitat-type coverage, and short-term change between “naturally” formed East Ship Island and “man-made” Sand Island (Disposal-Area 10). This study used a combination of …

Petrology And Weathering Environment Of Sub-Unconformity Limestone Unit: The Kessler Limestone Member Of The Bloyd Formation, Morrowan (Pennsylvanian) Northwest Arkansas, Thomas Daniels Dolan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In northwest Arkansas the thin, widespread Pennsylvanian Kessler Limestone of the Bloyd Formation is exposed in numerous locations. Comparison of various exposures shows the Kessler is heterogeneous in thickness and lithology. Thickening of the Kessler occurs southward into the Arkoma Basin where the interval has been commonly used as a horizon for natural gas exploration. The Kessler Limestone is underlain by the Dye Shale Member of the Bloyd Formation and overlain by the Trace Creek Shale of the Atoka Formation. The contact between the Kessler Limestone Member and the Trace Creek is a regional unconformity in the midcontinent, marked by …

Cockatoo Sands In The Victoria Highway And Carlton Hill Areas, East Kimberley: Land Capability Assessment For Developing Irrigated Agriculture, Henry Smolinski, Shahab Pathan, Paul Galloway, Kus Kuswardiyanto, Justin Laycock

Resource management technical reports

This report identifies areas of Cockatoo Sands adjacent to the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA), Kununurra, with high potential for developing irrigated agriculture. It builds on a reconnaissance soil survey conducted in 2009 which identified significant areas of sandy and loamy soils in the Kununurra area that could be suitable for agriculture.

Ecological Changes In Two Contrasting Lakes Associated With Human Activity And Dust Transport In Western Wyoming, Janice Brahney, Ashley P. Ballantyne, P. Kociolek, P. R. Leavitt, G. L. Farmer, Jason C. Neff

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

The atmospheric transport and deposition of aerosols has the potential to influence the chemistry and biology of oligotrophic alpine lakes. In recent decades, dust and nitrogen emissions to alpine ecosystems have increased across large areas of the western U.S., including Wyoming. Here, we use sediment geochemistry and 87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd/144Nd isotopes to examine historical dust deposition rates to alpine lakes in the southwestern region of the Wind River Range, Wyoming. We evaluate the biological response using diatom fossil assemblages and sediment pigment concentrations. Sediment core analyses indicated that prior to a recent rise in dust flux, phosphorus concentrations and species …

Thermal Perturbations Beneath The Incipient Okavango Rift Zone, Northwest Botswana, Khumo Leseane, Estella A. Atekwana, Kevin Lee Mickus, Mohamed G. Abdel Salam, Elisha M. Shemang, Eliot A. Atekwana

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We used aeromagnetic and gravity data to investigate the thermal structure beneath the incipient Okavango Rift Zone (ORZ) in northwestern Botswana in order to understand its role in strain localization during rift initiation. We used three-dimensional (3-D) inversion of aeromagnetic data to estimate the Curie Point Depth (CPD) and heat flow under the rift and surrounding basement. We also used two-dimensional (2-D) power-density spectrum analysis of gravity data to estimate the Moho depth. Our results reveal shallow CPD values (8-15 km) and high heat flow (60-90 mW m^-2) beneath a ∼60 km wide NE-trending zone coincident with major …

Determining The Main Strand Of The Eskişehir Strike-Slip Fault Zone Using Subsidiary Structures And Seismicity: A Hypothesis Tested By Seismic Reflection Studies, Gürol Seyi̇toğlu, Gali̇p Berkan Ecevi̇toğlu, Bülent Kaypak, Yücel Güney, Muammer Tün, Korhan Esat, Uğur Avdan, Abi̇di̇n Temel, Alper Çabuk, Sevgi̇ Telsi̇z, Güzi̇n Gülsev Uyar Aldaş

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The Eskişehir Fault Zone is one of the major neotectonic structures of Turkey, extending from İnegöl (Bursa) to Cihanbeyli (Konya). The fault zone presents a considerable seismic risk for the city of Eskişehir but the exact locations of active segments and the source of the major seismic event, the 1956 earthquake (M = 6.5) that occurred in the instrumental period (from 1900 to 2013), have been debated in recent literature. The structural data obtained from field studies indicate an approximately N60W-trending main strand of the right lateral strike-slip Eskişehir Fault Zone. This trend corresponds to the en echelon bends on …

Early Permian Conodont Fauna And Stratigraphy Of The Garden Valley Formation, Eureka County, Nevada, Bruce R. Wardlaw, Dora M. Gallegos, Valery V. Chernykh, Walter S. Snyder

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The lower part of the Garden Valley Formation yields two distinct conodont faunas. One of late Asselian age dominated by Mesogondolella and Streptognathodus and one of Artinskian age dominated by Sweetognathus with Mesogondolella. The Asselian fauna contains the same species as those found in the type area of the Asselian in the southern Urals including Mesogondolella dentiseparata, described for the first time outside of the Urals. Apparatuses for Sweetognathus whitei, Diplognathodus stevensi, and Idioprioniodus sp. are described. The Garden Valley Formation represents a marine pro-delta basin and platform, and marine and shore fan delta complex deposition. …

Evaluating Methods Of Field-Based 3d Visualization And Their Application To Mapping Metamorphic Terranes: An Example From The Panamint Mountains, California, Jade Ashley Brush

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Field geology has traditionally relied on 2D, paper-based workflows, but digital mapping techniques are rapidly replacing these outdated methods because they allow for more efficient and accurate mapping. This research applies digital mapping techniques and two terrestrially-based 3D visualization technologies, photogrammetry and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), to the study of metamorphic terranes in the Panamint Mountains, California. This study reports on the spatial accuracy of TINs (triangulated irregular networks) generated from both photogrammetry and ground-based LiDAR using a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) and discusses how spatial accuracy can be increased. Two levels of comparison were used to test spatial …

Mesoamerican Sacred Geography And Archeological Landscapes: A Case Study In The Volcanic Highlands Of Michoacan, Mexico, Jarod Scott Drozdowski

All Master's Theses

US and Mexican teams have investigated the La Alberca Structure Complex with the community of Parangaricutiro. Their forest reserve, located near San Juan Nuevo in Michoacan, Mexico, contains several volcanic cones, including the famous Paricutin cinder cone. Sixteen earthen-rock structures have been mapped using aerial photography, GPS, GIS, and total station surveys. The structures range from 300 to 2,400 cubic meters in volume. The larger mound-like structures are traditionally called yacatas. Early radiocarbon dates for two of the three central structures (ca. 5200-2000 BCE) bracket dates for the Late Archaic burial in the La Alberca caldera. Arrangements of the larger …

Reinterpretation Of The Mesozoic Thrust Complex Of The Southern Spring Mountains, Nevada, Warren Harding Allen

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The east verging Keystone thrust fault in the southern Spring Mountains west of Goodsprings, Nevada, is mapped with a sharp bend in its trace near Keystone Wash. This bend was previously explained in the context of out-of-sequence thrusting and a salient-recess relationship along the thrust system; a simple redirection of the Keystone thrust to a north verging thrust. Recent geochronological studies indicate that the east verging Keystone thrust to the north of Keystone Wash formed between 83-103Ma. Approximately 5 kilometers to the east a north verging branch of the fault system overlies rocks as young as 99Ma. At the location …

Total Variation Regularization Of Geodetically And Geologically Constrained Block Models For The Western United States, Eileen L. Evans, John P. Loveless, Brendan J. Meade

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

Geodetic observations of interseismic deformation in the Western United States provide con- straints on microplate rotations, earthquake cycle processes, and slip partitioning across the Pacific–North America Plate boundary. These measurements may be interpreted using block models, in which the upper crust is divided into microplates bounded by faults that accumulate strain in a first-order approximation of earthquake cycle processes. The number and geometry of microplates are typically defined with boundaries representing a limited subset of the large number of potentially seismogenic faults. An alternative approach is to include a large number of potentially active faults bounding a dense array of …

Receiver Function Analysis To Study Crustal Structure Of The Northern Nepal And Tibetan Plateau, Mohan Pant

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The teleseismic P-waveform receiver function analysis is a commonly used technique in earthquake seismology to study the crustal structure beneath a broadband seismic station. To understand the structure of the Northern Nepal and Tibetan plateau different studies have used the receiver function method to estimate the Moho depth and Vp/Vs ratio. The value suggested was ~ 30 km in the south and the ~ 75 km in the north. Other studies have used teleseismic body wave data to perform the travel time residuals to model the lithosphere structure. In our study, we analyzed data from 261 seismic stations to establish …

A Geophysical Study Of The Castle Mountain Fault System And Matanuska-Susitna Valley Near Anchorage, Alaska, Shane Michael Schinagel

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Castle Mountain Fault (CMF) is the closest (~50 km) active fault to Anchorage, Alaska. Located within the Matanuska and Susitna (Matsu) Valleys, the CMF shows repeated, unmistakable evidence for Holocene motion. Recent geologic studies estimate that this fault is capable of producing earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 - 7.1. The Anchorage metropolitan area (which includes the Matsu Valley) contains most of Alaska's population as well as vital shipping and transportation facilities that serve much of inland Alaska. Expected magnitude >7 earthquakes pose seismic hazards to the expanding Anchorage area.

While several mapping and trenching studies have been conducted along the …

The Geologic Implications Of The Factors That Affected Relative Sea-Level Positions In South Carolina During The Pleistocene And The Associated Preserved High-Stand Deposits, William Richardson Doar Iii

Theses and Dissertations

This work utilizes the current understanding of South Carolina geology to provide a stratigraphic review of the late-Pliocene and Pleistocene marine deposits. Almost two centuries of recorded geological study includes geomorphic and stratigraphic units that were described, proposed, revised, abandoned, and revived. Along with the history of the age assignments, changes in geological time scales, and the changes in the understanding of geological concepts, this review is necessary because two concurrent and conflicting stratigraphies exist for late-Pliocene and Pleistocene marine sediments that record multiple sea-level transgressions that were more often destructive than constructive. The result, when tested against existing geological …

Structural And Hydrological Controls On The Development Of A River Cave In Marble (Tapagem Cave - Se Brazil), William Sallun Filho, Bruna Medeiros Cordeiro, Ivo Karmann

International Journal of Speleology

Tapagem Cave (or Devil’s Cave) is a river cave developed in the dolomite marble karst of the Serra do André Lopes (State of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil). Although this region is a plateau with significant variation in elevation and a humid subtropical climate, the cave is an anomalous feature in the André Lopes karst because there are few other caves. The marble, which is in a synclinal structure with subjacent phyllites, is a karst aquifer perched above the regional base level (Ribeira River) and has little allogenic recharge. The cave developed on a secondary anticline on the northwest flank of …

Geochemical Tracers Of Holocene Environmental Change Along The East Antarctic Margin, Natalie Romanoff

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Marine sediment geochemistry targeting both organic and inorganic compounds can be used for the reconstruction of paleoenvironmental conditions. Part 1 of this study was a qualitative organic geochemical analysis implemented on sediment cores from the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) and East Antarctic Margin (EAM). Intervals of organic or diatomaceous rich sediment were analyzed by Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectroscopy (Py-GC/MS) with the goal of identifying soft-bodied algae responsible for elevated wt% carbon levels in horizons where diatoms are absent, and identifying the presence of methanogens in basins where cold seeps are likely to be present. The identification of biomarkers in Antarctic sediment was …

Tectonic Studies Of The Atlantic Margin In The Southeastern United States, Andrew C. Pollack

Theses and Dissertations

Reanalysis of published seismic and well data from the South Georgia Embayment provides important new constraints on the geologic structure and evolution of the Eastern North American margin. A lower Paleozoic stratigraphic section (Silurian to Devonian) sampled in offshore wells drilled in the late 1970’s, can be correlated continuously along the entire ~250 km N-S length of the BA-3 profile acquired in 1989. Other than gentle warping and minor fault offsets, this Paleozoic section is essentially undeformed, precluding both Paleozoic contractional deformation associated with Appalachian orogeny, or subsequent Mesozoic extensional deformation and magmatism associated with continental rifting and formation of …

Carbon Cycling Dynamics Inferred From Carbon Isotope Sourcing In A Mid-Latitude Karst-Influenced River, Kegan N. Mcclanahan

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

As ever-increasing levels of carbon dioxide alter the chemistry of the Earth’s atmosphere, understanding the global carbon cycle becomes increasingly important. A particularly important component is the riverine carbon cycle, as rivers are the primary conduits for dissolved inorganic carbon from terrestrial watersheds to ocean basins. Stable carbon isotopes (13C/12C) were collected weekly and input into the mixing model IsoSource to delineate seasonal carbon sourcing along two nested basins in the upper Green River System, Kentucky. In the more siliciclastic upstream catchment, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) was primarily derived from soil respiration (34%). Groundwater dissolving carbonate bedrock and carbonate dissolution/precipitation …

Porphyry Copper Exploration Of The Hualapai Mountains, Mohave County, Arizona, Usa: A Multi-Faceted Approach, Patrick Kevin Meazell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A variety of exploration methods including geologic mapping, trace- and major-level geochemical analyses, fluid inclusion petrography, remote sensing, and SWIR clay spectroscopy were used to investigate the potential for porphyry Cu-Mo mineralization at the Wikieup prospect, in the southern Hualapai Mountains of northwestern Arizona. Aspects of the Mineral Park mine were used as an analogue to guide exploration due to the proximity and similar geology of the area.

The Hualapai Mountains are a series of northwest-trending Precambrian gneisses, schists, granitoids and amphibolites that have been cut by younger intrusive rocks. Within the Wikieup study area, the intrusive rocks include aplite …

Along Strike Variability Of Thrust-Fault Vergence, Scott Royal Greenhalgh

Theses and Dissertations

The kinematic evolution and along-strike variation in contractional deformation in overthrust belts are poorly understood, especially in three dimensions. The Sevier-age Cordilleran overthrust belt of southwestern Wyoming, with its abundance of subsurface data, provides an ideal laboratory to study how this deformation varies along the strike of the belt. We have performed a detailed structural interpretation of dual vergent thrusts based on a 3D seismic survey along the Wyoming salient of the Cordilleran overthrust belt (Big Piney-LaBarge field). The complex evolution of the thrust faults that parallel the overthrust belt is demonstrated by the switching of the direction of thrust …

Dust And Pleistocene Ice Ages: Eolian Sediments And Climate Change At Ziegler Reservoir, Snowmass Village, Colorado, Jeffrey S. Honke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The discovery of the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site near Snowmass Village, Colorado presents an opportunity to examine subalpine ecosystem response, during a relatively unknown period, in which climate conditions were similar to present. Finegrained sediments at Ziegler Reservoir represent continuous deposition between ~140–55 ka (thousand years before present), spanning the close of the Bull Lake glacial period [marine isotope stage (MIS) 6], the Sangamon interglacial (MIS 5) and the early stages of the Pinedale (early Wisconsin) glacial period (MIS 4). Ziegler Reservoir is positioned on top of a ridge, at an elevation of 2705 m, and has a small watershed …