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Ecogeomorphic Feedbacks And Flood Loss Of Riparian Tree Seedlings In Meandering Channel Experiments, Li Kui, John C. Stella, Anne Lightbody, Andrew C. Wilcox

Geosciences Faculty Publications

During floods, fluvial forces interact with riparian plants to influence evolution of river morphology and floodplain plant community development. Understanding of these interactions, however, is constrained by insufficient precision and control of drivers in field settings, and insufficient realism in laboratory studies. We completed a novel set of flume experiments using woody seedlings planted on a sandbar within an outdoor meandering stream channel. We quantified effects on local sedimentation and seedling loss to scour and burial across realistic ranges of woody plant morphologies (Populus versus Tamarix species), densities (240 plants m^-2 versus 24 m^-2), and sediment …

Warming Reduces Tall Fescue Abundance But Stimulates Toxic Alkaloid Concentrations In Transition Zone Pastures Of The U.S., Rebecca L. Mcculley, Lowell P. Bush, Anna E. Carlisle, Huihua Ji, Jim A. Nelson

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Tall fescue pastures cover extensive acreage in the eastern half of the United States and contribute to important ecosystem services, including the provisioning of forage for grazing livestock. Yet little is known concerning how these pastures will respond to climate change. Tall fescue's ability to persist and provide forage under a warmer and wetter environment, as is predicted for much of this region as a result of climate change, will likely depend on a symbiotic relationship the plant can form with the fungal endophyte, Epichloë coenophiala. While this symbiosis can confer environmental stress tolerance to the plant, the endophyte …

Sigma Gamma Epsilon Undergraduate Research, Larry E. Davis

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

Fifty-two abstracts of student-authored research have been accepted for presentation in the Sigma Gamma Epsilon Undergraduate Research poster session at the Geological Society of America annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The poster session will be held on Tuesday, 21 October 2014, 9:00 AM to 6:30 PM, in the Vancouver Convention Centre-West Exhibition Hall C. Authors will be present from 9:00 to 11:00 AM, and 5:00 to 6:30 PM.

The Relationship Between Environmental Factors And Cyanobacteria Population In Lake Bloomington And Evergreen Lake In Mclean County, Illinois, Matthew Douglas Meyers

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates cyanobacteria on two lakes in McLean County, Illinois from the months of August to October. Data was collected every other week.Cyanobacteria are prokaryotes that may be unicellular, colonial or filamentous in form. These cells can be known to be toxic or non-toxic. The factors that control the reproduction of cyanobacteria are the temperature and nutrients of nitrogen and phosphorus. These microorganisms are located in marine and terrestrial settings worldwide. The focus of this study was at two man-made lakes which are Lake Bloomington and Lake Evergreen. Sampling and collection of data was done on two lakes to …

Iron Sources And Dissolved-Particulate Interactions In The Seawater Of The Western Equatorial Pacific, Iron Isotope Perspectives, M. Labatut, F. Lacan, C. Pradoux, J. Chmeleff, A. Radic, J. W. Murray, F. Poitrasson, Anne M. Johansen, F. Thil

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

This work presents iron isotope data in the western equatorial Pacific. Marine aerosols and top core margin sediments display a slightly heavy Fe isotopic composition (δ⁵⁶Fe) of 0.33 ± 0.11‰ (2SD) and 0.14 ± 0.07‰, respectively. Samples reflecting the influence of Papua New Guinea runoff (Sepik River and Rabaul volcano water) are characterized by crustal values. In seawater, Fe is mainly supplied in the particulate form and is found with a δ⁵⁶Fe between −0.49 and 0.34 ± 0.07‰. The particulate Fe seems to be brought mainly by runoff and transported across continental shelves and slopes. …

The Effects Of Altitude And Micro-Spatial Habitats On The Physiognomic Characteristics Of Syzygium Guineense In Mazumbai Forest Reserve, Erin Brynn Zalmanek

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In order to examine the affects that altitude and micro-spatial habitat have on the physiognomy of Syzygium Guineense; buttress sphere size, number of buttresses, relative size of the buttresses, DBH, and height were measured in three different altitudinal bands (1400 - 1500 m, 1500 - 1600 m, and 1600 - 1700 m) and three different habits portraying concave, convex, and intermediate landscapes. Micro-spatial habits showed to have weak to no effect on all measured physiognomic variables giving insignificant p-values according to ANOVA. However, correlation tests against leaf litter depth and slope showed to have some relation to the size and …

Geogram 2014, David J. Keeling Editor, Wku Department Of Geography And Geology

Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences Publications

No abstract provided.

Geosciences Newsletter - 2014, Department Of Geosciences

Geological and Environmental Sciences News

Vol. 7, No. 1

• Faculty Updates
• Michigan Geological Survey
• News from MGRRE
• WMU Geosciences Advisory Council
• Meet our Students
• Geology Club
• In Remembrance
• Meet Our New Graduate Students
• CoreKids: our K-12 Outreach Program
• 2014 Geosciences Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient
• Gifts to Geosciences

Hyperspectral Measurements Of Wet, Dry And Saline Soils From The Mcmurdo Dry Valleys: Soil Moisture Properties From Remote Sensing, Joseph S. Levy, Anne Nolin, Andrew G. Fountain, James W. Head

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Soil moisture is a spatially heterogeneous quantity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica that exerts a large influence on the biological community and on the thermal state of Dry Valleys permafrost. The goal of this project was to determine whether hyperspectral remote sensing techniques could be used to determine soil moisture conditions in the Dry Valleys. We measured the spectral reflectance factors of wetted soil samples from the Dry Valleys under natural light conditions and related diagnostic spectral features to surface layer soil moisture content. Diagnostic water absorption features in the spectra at 1.4 mu m and 1.9 mu …

The Biogeochemical Cycling Of Zinc And Zinc Isotopes In The North Atlantic Ocean, Tim M. Conway, Seth G. John

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Zinc (Zn) is a marine micronutrient, with an overall oceanic distribution mirroring the major macronutrients, especially silicate. Seawater Zn isotope ratios (δ⁶⁶Zn) are a relatively new oceanographic parameter which may offer insights into the biogeochemical cycling of Zn. To date, the handful of published studies of seawater δ⁶⁶Zn show the global deep ocean to be both remarkably homogeneous (approximately +0.5‰) and isotopically heavier than the marine sources of Zn (+0.1 to +0.3‰). Here we present the first high‐resolution oceanic section of δ⁶⁶Zn, from the U.S. GEOTRACES GA03 North Atlantic Transect, from Lisbon to …

Vegetation And Soil Characteristics Of Pine Plantations And Naturally Regenerated Hardwood Forests On The Hoosier National Forest, Patrick James Duffy

Open Access Theses

During the 1930s there was widespread erosion on farmland and subsequent land abandonment. As a result, Pinus strobus L. (white pine), P. resinosa Aiton (red pine), and P. echinata Mill. (shortleaf pine) were planted in the Midwest to prevent erosion and rehabilitate sites. These species were selected due to their wide availability at the time. Currently, it is the goal of the U.S. Forest Service to provide a more natural and sustainable landscape, in part by removing these non-native Pinus stands and by replacing them with native hardwood species. The ultimate success of hardwood restoration depends, in part, on the …

Assessing Positional Accuracy And Correcting Point Data For Digital Soil Mapping At Varying Scales, Minerva J. Dorantes

Open Access Theses

Accuracy, timeliness, and the effect of scale of soil maps are rarely assessed. The recent increase in the use of GIS technologies and modelling software in natural resources and land management, has increased the demand for soil information at a finer resolution worldwide. Most of the world's developing countries rely on soils information at a scale that is too coarse for practical planning, and have obstacles impeding collection of new data, such as civil war and a lack of collection resources. The United States has an exhaustive collection of soils data at a fine scale. However, its location information is …

Watershed Delineation In The Field: A New Approach For Mobile Applications Using Lidar Elevation Data, Samuel Adam Noel

Open Access Theses

With the advancement of mobile devices, opportunities to take watershed management tasks out of the office and into the field can be realized. In turn, field workers can utilize these technologies to expedite the decision-making process so that they may focus on meeting with clients and addressing agricultural watershed management issues. High-resolution (∼1.5 m postspacing) elevation data gathered by light detection and ranging (LiDAR) provides the topographic detail necessary to model hydrology at the field-scale (∼1 km2).

Non-artifactual surface depressions lead to erroneous surface flow patterns when using existing algorithms. So a sequential depression-filling algorithm (SDFA) has been developed to …

Liquid Swine Manure Application Timing And Instincttm Impacts On Net Soil Nitrogen Mineralization And Corn Yield, Min Xu

Open Access Theses

Nitrogen (N) is one of the most expensive variable input costs for corn production. Optimized manure management is essential to ensure maximum crop N utilization and to reduce the risk of N loss. A field study was conducted in central Indiana from 2011-2013 to assess liquid swine ( Sus scrofa L.) manure N availability when applied at different times or co-applied with InstinctTM , a microencapsulated form of nitrapyrin. Soil inorganic N contents, soil N mineralization, corn yield, grain N content, whole plant N concentrations of corn at the V6 growth stage, and ear leaf N concentrations of corn at …

Soil Quality And Nitrogen Cycling Dynamics Altered By Fertility Amendments In Intensively Managed Vegetable Production Systems, Matt A. Rudisill

Open Access Dissertations

Fresh market vegetable production in the Midwest U.S. is growing rapidly as a result of increased demand for locally-sourced food. High tunnels are becoming increasingly popular among Midwest vegetable growers as these structures offer many production benefits including season extension. However, vegetables require substantial fertility inputs, particularly nitrogen (N), in order to meet desired levels of productivity, and some fertility management strategies can negatively impact soil and environmental quality. This can be particularly problematic in high tunnels, where longer production periods and modification of the growing environment put these systems at greater risk for soil degradation. Identification of fertility practices …

Carbon And Nitrogen Dynamics From Slow Pools Of Soil Organic Matter In A Temperate Forest: Pyrogenic Organic Matter And And Root Litter, Fernanda Dos Santos

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Soil organic matter (SOM) is the dominant reservoir of organic carbon (OC) in terrestrial ecosystems, storing approximately three times the size of the C pool in the atmosphere. In temperate forests, a major fraction of the SOM consists of slowly decaying soil organic C (SOC) pools. While slowly cycling C pools constitute a large reservoir of stable C in soils, the dominant environmental factors controlling this C pool remain unresolved. This research investigates two significant, but poorly characterized slowly decaying C pools: fine root litter (< 2mm) and thermally altered plant biomass (pyrogenic organic matter, PyOM). Specifically, I used compound-specific stable isotope analysis (¹³C and ¹⁵N) as my main methodological approach to examine the (1) …

Water Quality Monitoring Protocol For Wadeable Streams And Rivers In The Northern Great Plains Network, Standard Operating Procedures Version 1.0, Marcia H. Wilson, Stephen K. Wilson

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The Water Quality Monitoring Protocol includes two parts: a Narrative and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The Water Quality Monitoring Protocol Narrative Version 1.0 describes a general overview of the status of water resources throughout the parks in the National Park Service’s Northern Great Plains Network (NGPN), the objectives, the field methods, and the sampling design selected for this long-term monitoring program. This report includes the detailed SOPs for the NGPN’s Water Quality Monitoring Protocol. All water quality monitoring is conducted by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) through Interagency Agreements. The USGS North Dakota Water Science Center …

First Record Of The Tropical House Gecko Hemidactylus Mabouia (Moreau De Jonnès, 1818) In Texas, Alejandro Fierro-Cabo, August Rentfro

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Invasions of the tropical house gecko Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnes, 1818) in the tropical Americas are well documented. While this gecko has been reported as well established and expanding its range in Florida, here we document the first record in the United States outside of this state. We detected a small reproducing population in Cameron County, Brownsville, Texas. We expect a rapid colonization of buildings by this species in southern Texas. We consider that this potential invasion poses novel obstacles to the continued presence of the earlier invasive Mediterranean gecko Hemidactylus turcicus (Linnaeus, 1758) across Texas

The Impact Of Ice Layers On Gas Transport Through Firn At The North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (Neem) Site, Greenland, K. Keegan, M. R. Albert, I. Baker

Dartmouth Scholarship

Typically, gas transport through firn is modeled in the context of an idealized firn column. However, in natural firn, imperfections are present, which can alter transport dynamics and therefore reduce the accuracy of reconstructed climate records. For example, ice layers have been found in several firn cores collected in the polar regions. Here, we examined the effects of two ice layers found in a NEEM, Greenland firn core on gas transport through the firn. These ice layers were found to have permeability values of 3.0 and 4.0 × 10⁻¹⁰ m², and are therefore not impermeable layers. However, …

The Interaction Between Arsenic And Struvite During Coprecipitation And Adsorption Processes, Ning Ma

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The formation of struvite, MgNH4PO4*6H2O (MAP), from wastes is one of the methods that can be used to recover P from wastes efficiently. However, since there are usually toxic components in the wastes, like arsenic (As), the possibility of having toxic contaminants in MAP is a big concern. So, the interaction between As and MAP during coprecipitation (CPT) and adsorption (ADS) processes were studied at pH 8-11. MAP precipitated without As at pH 8-11 was also characterized.

During CPT process, the MAP was precipitated from a MgCl2-(NH4)2HPO4-NaCl-H2O system spiked with As at an initial pH (pHi) of 8-11. The batch …

Paleoecology Of Late Cretaceous Methane Cold-Seeps Of The Pierre Shale, South Dakota, Kimberly Cynthia Handle

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Most investigations of ancient methane seeps focus on either the geologic or paleontological aspects of these extreme environments. In contrast, this thesis encompasses both disciplines to evaluate the paleoecology of these systems with greater detail than previously published either within the Western Interior Basin or elsewhere. This thesis addresses the following questions: 1) Are the changes in mineralogy of a seep discernable and predictable as a seep shifts from a clay-based environment to a carbonate-based environment? 2) What are the foundation organism(s) of Late Cretaceous methane cold-seeps? 3) Is there a correlation to the mineralogic changes and shifts in community …

Warming, Competition, And Bromus Tectorum Population Growth Across An Elevation Gradient, Aldo Compagnoni, Peter B. Adler

Green Canyon Environmental Research Area, Logan Utah

Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is one of the most problematic invasive plant species in North America and climate change threatens to exacerbate its impacts. We conducted a two‐year field experiment to test the effect of warming, competition, and seed source on cheatgrass performance across an elevation gradient in northern Utah. We hypothesized that warming would increase cheatgrass performance, but that warming effects would be limited by competing vegetation and by local adaptation of cheatgrass seed sources. The warming treatment relied on open top chambers, we removed vegetation to assess the effect of competition from neighboring vegetation, and we reciprocally …

Carbon Losses From Pyrolysed And Original Wood In A Forest Soil Under Natural And Increased N Deposition, B. Maestrini, S. Abiven, N. Singh, J. Bird, M. W. I. Schmidt

Publications and Research

Pyrogenic organic matter (PyOM) plays an important role as a stable carbon (C) sink in the soils of terrestrial ecosystems. However, uncertainties remain about in situ turnover rates of fire-derived PyOM in soil, the main processes leading to PyOM-C and nitrogen (N) losses from the soil, and the role of N availability on PyOM cycling in soils. We measured PyOM and native soil organic carbon losses from the soil as carbon dioxide and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) using additions of highly 13C-labelled PyOM (2.03 atom %) and its precursor pinewood during 1 year in a temperate forest soil. The field …

A New Ankylosaurid Dinosaur From The Upper Cretaceous (Kirtlandian) Of New Mexico With Implications For Ankylosaurid Diversity In The Upper Cretaceous Of Western North America, Victoria M. Arbour, Michael E. Burns, Robert M. Sullivan, Spencer G. Lucas, Amanda K. Cantrell, Joshua Fry, Thomas L. Suazo

Geosciences Faculty Publications

A new ankylosaurid (Ankylosauria: Dinosauria), Ziapelta sanjuanensis, gen. et sp. nov., is based on a complete skull, an incomplete first cervical half ring, a possible fragment of the second cervical half ring, and additional fragmentary osteoderms. The holotype specimen is from the Upper Cretaceous (Upper Campanian, Kirtlandian Land-Vertebrate Age) Kirtland Formation (De-na-zin Member) at Hunter Wash, San Juan Basin, in northwestern New Mexico, USA. Diagnostic characters of Ziapelta include: a large, prominent triangular median nasal caputegulum; a mixture of flat and bulbous frontonasal caputegulae; ventrolaterally oriented squamosal horns with a sharp, prominent dorsal keel; and the ventral surface of basicranium …

Application Of High-Resolution Spectral Absorbance Measurements To Determine Dissolved Organic Carbon Concentration In Remote Areas, Armine Avagyan, Benjamin R. K. Runkle, Lars Kutzbach

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Accurate quantification of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in surface and soil pore waters is crucial for understanding changes in water resources under the influence of climate and land use changes. Sampling and laboratory analysis of DOC content at a sufficient temporal frequency are especially difficult to achieve for natural DOC sources like the extensive boreal and arctic mire landscapes due to their remoteness. Therefore, the goals of this paper are (1) to investigate the performance of a portable, high-resolution ultraviolet–visible light spectroscopic method for determining the DOC content of surface and soil pore water samples from a boreal mire complex …

Geophysical Signatures Of Disseminated Iron Minerals: A Proxy For Understanding Subsurface Biophysicochemical Processes, Gamal Z. Abdel Aal, Estella A. Atekwana, Andre Revil

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Previous studies have linked biogeophysical signatures to the presence of iron minerals resulting from distinct biophysicochemical processes. Utilizing geophysical methods as a proxy of such biophysicochemical processes requires an understanding of the geophysical signature of the different iron minerals. Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the complex conductivity and magnetic susceptibility signatures of five iron minerals disseminated in saturated porous media under variable iron mineral content and grain size. Both pyrite and magnetite show high quadrature and inphase conductivities compared to hematite, goethite, and siderite, whereas magnetite was the highly magnetic mineral dominating the magnetic susceptibility measurements. The quadrature conductivity …

Postglacial Early Permian (Late Sakmarian– Early Artinskian) Shallow-Marine Carbonate Deposition Along A 2000 Km Transect From Timor To West Australia, Vladimir I. Davydov

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Late Sakmarian to early Artinskian (Early Permian) carbonate deposition was widespread in the marine intracratonic rift basins that extended into the interior of Eastern Gondwana from Timor in the north to the northern Perth Basin in the south. These basins spanned about 20° of paleolatitude (approximately 35°S to 55°S). This study describes the type section of the Maubisse Limestone in Timor-Leste, and compares this unit with carbonate sections in the Canning Basin (Nura Nura Member of the Poole Sandstone), the Southern Carnarvon Basin (Callytharra Formation) and the northern Perth Basin (Fossil Cliff Member of the Holmwood Shale). The carbonate units …

Speleothem And Biofilm Formation In A Granite/Dolerite Cave, Northern Sweden, Therese Sallstedt, Magnus Ivarsson, Johannes Lundberg, Rabbe Sjöberg, Juan Ramón Vidal Romaní

International Journal of Speleology

Tjuv-Antes grotta (Tjuv-Ante's Cave) located in northern Sweden is a round-abraded sea cave ('tunnel cave'), about 30 m in length, formed by rock-water abrasion in a dolerite dyke in granite gneiss. Abundant speleothems are restricted to the inner, mafic parts of the cave and absent on granite parts. The speleothems are of two types: cylindrical (coralloid, popcorn-like), and flowstone (thin crusts). Coralloids correspond to terrestrial stromatolite speleothems in which layers of light calcite alternate with dark, silica-rich laminae. The dark laminae are also enriched in carbon and contain incorporated remains of microorganisms. Two types of microbial communities can be distinguished …

Caves In Caves: Evolution Of Post-Depositional Macroholes In Stalagmites, Nurit Shtober-Zisu, Henry P. Schwarcz, Tom Chow, Christopher R. Omelon, Gordon Southam

International Journal of Speleology

In a previous paper (Shtober-Zisu et al., 2012) we described millimeter to centime-sized fluid-free holes within the interiors of stalagmites of widely varying origin. We present here further observations of this phenomenon, using X-ray tomography, macroscopic and microscopic observation of sections of twenty-six stalagmites from various sites in North America and the Caribbean region. We can distinguish three types of cavities in speleothems: primary µm-sized fluid inclusions; mm to cm sized holes, aligned along the stalagmite growth axis which are clearly syngenetic; and µm to cm-sized holes away from the growth axis (“off-axis holes or OAHs”) deeply buried inside their …

Sedimentology Of Marine Vertebrate Burial In The Miocene Pisco Fm., Peru, Monte A. Fleming

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The Miocene Pisco Basin of Peru is known for abundant, well-preserved marine vertebrate fossils (Esperante et al. 2000). Cetacean fossils are particularly abundant—so much so that we were able to locate 10 outcrops containing specimens in cross section, which allowed us to do detailed sedimentological studies of the beds surrounding the whales. We discovered that six of the 10 specimens were buried in channels; the details of the other four burials are too disparate to meaningfully group together in categories. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 describe and discuss the six specimens found in channels, while Appendix A contains descriptions and …