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Earth News, Fall 1992, Department Of Earth Science, University Of Northern Iowa.

Earth News

Inside this issue:

--- Year in Review
--- Staff News
--- Sigma Gamma Epsilon
--- Earth Science Seminars Fall, 1992
--- Graduating Seniors - Department of Earth Science - 1992
--- News from Alumni

Book Review, Peter C. Christensen

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Review of: MARY R. ENGLISH, SITING LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL FACILITIES: THE PUBLIC POLICY DILEMMA. (Quorum Books 1992) [278 pp.], Appendices, index, introduction, references. LC-91-42774; ISBN 0-89930-560-1. [$49.95 cloth. One Madison Avenue, New York NY 10010.]

Risk Estimation And Expert Judgment: The Case Of Yucca Mountain, Kristin Shrader-Frechette

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Professor Shrader-Frechette discusses factors responsible for acute disagreement between the federal government and Nevada citizens over potential Risks at Yucca Mountain and focuses on the use of expert judgment, concluding that some of them appear to exemplify "bad science." That aside, she argues that 1,000 year predictions cannot be made from current knowledge of geology or, e.g., institutional behavior and concludes that permanent disposal of radioactive waste is currently impossible.

Arkansas Agricultural Chemical Ground-Water Management Plan - Appendices, Gerald King, Darryl Little, Tim Jessup, Charles Armstrong

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

The Arkansas Agricultural Chemical Ground-Water Management Plan (SMP) is based on the Draft State Pesticide Ground- Water Management Plan Guidance and The Pesticides and Ground-Water Protection Strategy prepared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The need for a plan to protect ground water from contamination by agricultural chemicals and agents arises from evidence nationwide that using these chemicals can, in some instances, lead to contamination. In February 1988, EPA proposed a strategy to regulate certain pesticides by prohibiting their use in areas vulnerable to leaching unless a state develops and implements an acceptable management plan. The advantage of a …

Mat Movement In Coastal Louisiana Marshes: Effect Of Salinity And Inundation On Vegetation And Nutrient Levels, Christopher Martin Swarzenski

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The present research compared and contrasted the physical structure of floating and rooted marshes, their differing responses to open-water salinities and inundation, as well as the nutrient distribution in the porewaters and sediment. The effects of the physical differences in the two marsh types on the ocurrence of the dominant emergent vegetation was discussed.

The main difference in physical structure of the two marsh types was the presence of a mineral, non-buoyant layer at 25-45 cm depth in the rooted marsh, which could serve as an anchor for the overlying highly organic mat layer found in both marsh types. Porewater …

Gis Characterization Of Beaver Watershed, H. D. Scott, J. M. Mckimmey

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

Beaver Reservoir watershed is located in Northwest Arkansas including portions of Madison, Washington, Benton, Carroll, Franklin and Crawford counties. This watershed is important to the Northwest Arkansas region because it supplies most of the drinking water for the major towns and cities, and several rural water systems. The watershed consists of 308,971 ha with elevations ranging from approximately 341 m to 731 m above mean sea level. It includes the Springfield Plateau and the Boston Mountains provinces within the Ozark Plateau physiographic region. There are approximately 581 km of streams, 532 km of shore line, and 3712 km of roads …

Evaluation Of The Water Quality Impacts Of Land Application Of Poultry Litter, T. C. Daniels, D. R. Edwards

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

Evaluating the effect of land application of animal waste on water quality is fraught with inherent variability due to differing infiltration rates, slope, rainfall intensity and etc . Simulated rainfall technology has been used in erosion research for decades. Generally, this technology is used on plots of sufficient size (25 x 5 m) to develop rill and interrill erosion. The object of this investigation was to adapt and modify existing rainfall simulation technology used in soil erosion research for use in evaluating water quality impacts of land application of animal waste, and to test, evaluate and demonstrate it's scientific validity. …

Ua66/8/3 Annual Report, Wku Geography & Geology

WKU Administration Documents

Annual report created by and about WKU Geography & Geology.

Effect Of Land Application Of Poultry Waste On Pesticide Loss, T. C. Daniel, D. R. Edwards

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

The poultry industry in Arkansas is a large, concentrated, growing industry that produces a high volume of fecal waste. Most of this waste is surface applied as pasture fertilizer. Pesticides are commonly used in the poultry industry for fly and litter beetle contro land are often a component of the surface-applied poultry waste. No information exists in the scientific literature regarding the transport of this pesticide component to nearby water supplies.Our research focused on cyromazine, a feed-through larvicide used to control flies in caged-layer hen houses. Tetrachlorvinphos and carbaryl are also used in poultry waste, but these pesticides have a …

Groundwater Flow In A Compressible Unconfined Aquifer With Uniform Circular Recharge, Vitaly A. Zlotnik, Glenn Ledder

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The distributions of the hydraulic head and velocity components of the transient groundwater flow in an unconfined compressible aquifer of finite thickness under constant uniform circular recharge are obtained from the linearized mathematical model by the use of integral transforms. The result generalizes Dagan’s (1967) solution which was derived by neglecting the compressibility. By treating the compressibility parameter as a small value, the formula for the hydraulic head is analyzed by asymptotic methods, resulting in approximations to the exact solutions for the head and velocities on small and large time scales. The hydraulic head and flow velocities can be accurately …

Groundwater Flow In Closed Desert Basins: Insights From Numerical Experiments, Ying Fan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research examines density driven groundwater flow (free convection) in closed desert basins as controlled by various physical factors. It addresses three issues. The occurrence of free convection under field conditions is first examined, based on an extensive literature review of field investigations. It discusses the evidence for or against the hypothesis of free convection and the various physiographic factors that determine the conditions for free convection. The research then turns to a more quantitative and systematic investigation of the closed basin hydrogeologic system. With dimensional analysis, the numerous variables in the system are transformed into fewer dimensionless and physically …

Hydrogeologic Characterization Of A Multi-Aquifer System At Station 11 In Kalamazoo, Michigan, Linda G. Jones

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the hydraulic connection between the upper and lower confined glacial drift aquifers. The results of this study are based primarily upon the geologic profiles, a comparison of the head differences within each aquifer, potentiometric surfaces and different lag times for precipitation to reach each aquifer.

Results of the aquifer test showed that the upper confining layer pinches out in the western part of the well field. This area also provided significant recharge to the well field during the aquifer test. Data collected during the aquifer test and the increases in water levels …

The Application Of A Statistical Trend Analysis Program To Ground-Water Quality Monitoring Data From Eight Western Michigan Solid Waste Landfills, Amy Decosta Lachance

Masters Theses

A statistical analysis and interpretation of ground-water chemistry data from eight landfills in Western Michigan was performed. Data were collected over approximately the past ten years, pursuant to the requirements of Michigan's Solid Waste Management Act. A statistical regression model was used to reduce the data to identifiable trends and estimated magnitudes. These results were analyzed with respect to each landfill's characteristics and hydrogeological setting. Comparisons were made concerning the landfills' relative potential for environmental harm. Also, the effectiveness and applicability of this model to the analysis of ground-water monitoring data was assessed.

It was concluded that this analysis and …

Compact – A Reclamation Soil Compaction Model Part I. Model Development, Ronald L. Bingner, Larry G. Wells

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

A physically based, event oriented soil compaction model, known as COMPACT, was developed as a management or research tool to evaluate the effect of surface mining systems on compaction of soil material during reclamation. Simulation of compaction throughout the soil profile at a surface mining reclamation site requires information describing how equipment moves on the site. The compaction processes that are caused by vehicles throughout the soil profile are described by applying the pressure distribution of the surface contact area of a tire or track to determine stresses in the soil profile. A virgin compression curve is then used to …

Compact – A Reclamation Soil Compaction Model Part Ii. Sensitivity Analysis And Applications, Ronald L. Bingner, Larry G. Wells

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

COMPACT, a physically based, event-oriented compaction model, was developed as a management or research tool to evaluate the influence of a surface mining system on compaction of soil material during reclamation. Two systems of area mining reclamation operations were simulated by COMPACT. The first system involved scrapers and bulldozers and the second also included trucks. Scrapers or trucks were used to pick up and deposit the soil material. Bulldozers were then used to shape the site for reclamation. The simulated results were compared with measured results and show how equipment patterns and soil parameters can affect overall soil compaction. This …

The Paleontology And Paleoenvironments Of The Kanawha Black Flint Member And Related Facies, Kanawha Formation (Middle Pennsylvanian), Northwest Boone County And Vicinity, West Virginia, Matthew B. Watson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The Kanawha Black Flint member of the Kanawha Formation was deposited in a shallow marine coastal setting with low sand supply and low wave energy. The Kanawha Black Flint member and adjacent coal zones are divisible into five sedimentary facies based on lithology, body and trace fossils and sedimentary structures. Coastal swamps and lakes are represented by thinly laminated carbonaceous shales and coals containing rooted seat rocks and crevasse sandstones with root traces and vertical Calamites trunks.

The offshore facies consists of a gray laminated sideritic shale. Phosphatic and calcareous brachiopods and shallow burrowing bivalves predominate in the offshore assemblage. …

Marine Sediment Classification Using The Chirp Sonar, Lester R. Leblanc, Larry A. Mayer, Manuel Rufino, Steven G. Schock, John King

Affiliate Scholarship

The chirpsonar is a calibrated wideband digital FMsonar that provides quantitative, high‐resolution, low‐noise subbottom data. In addition, it generates an acoustic pulse with special frequency domain weighting that provides nearly constant resolution with depth. The chirpsonar was developed with the objective of remote acoustic classification of seafloor sediments. In addition to producing high‐resolution images, the calibrated digitally recorded data are processed to estimate surficial reflection coefficients as well as a complete sediment acoustic impulse profile. In this paper, surficial sediments in Narragansett Bay, RI are used to provide ground truth for an acoustic model. Quantitative acoustic returns from the chirpsonar …

Seabeam And Seismic Reflection Surveys On The Ontong Java Plateau, Larry A. Mayer, Tom H. Shipley, Edward L. Winterer, David Mosher, Rick A. Hagen

Affiliate Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Vedernikov's Number As A Measure Of Flow Stability, Cheng-Lung Chen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

In 1946, Vedernikov developed a stability criterion for uniform flow in open channels. A global parameter proposed by Vedernikov has been widely accepted as a measure of flow stability. Recognizing the significance of the role of the parameter playing in the stability of open-channel flows, hydraulicians have thenceforth called it the Vedernikov number. Alternatively, the Vedernikov number may be considered as an extended form of the Froude number because it equals the Froude number mUltiplied by an exponent of the hydraulic radius in the uniform-flow formula and a shape factor of channel section. A stability criterion can thus be formulated …

Agriculture Irrigation And Water Use, Rajinder S. Bajwa, William M. Crosswhite, John E. Hostetler, Olivia W. Wright, United States Department Of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

The 17 Western States, plus Arkansas, Florida, and Louisiana, account for 91 percent of all U.S. irrigated acreage, with the Western States alone contributing over 85 percent. This report integrates data on the distribution, characteristics, uses, and management of water resources from a wide variety of data sources. The report includes charts and tables on water use in irrigation; farm data comparing selected characteristics of irrigated and nonirrigated farms; and data on water application systems, sources of water, pump energy expenses by energy type, values of irrigated and nonirrigated land, and cash rents.

Wspro Files For Slope-Area Computations, Janice M. Fulford

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A new program based on the U. S. Geological Survey slope-area program for indirectly computing peak discharges allows users to employ input data formats used by the water surface profile program WSPRO. The program source is written in Fortran 77 and can be ported easily to any computer that has standard Fortran 77 compilers. The program has been run on mini-computers and personal computers and does not use or require graphics capability, a color monitor, or a mouse.

Mesh-Generating Computer Program For The Feswms-2dh Surface-Water Flow Model, Kirk G. Thibodeaux

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A mesh-generating computer program, GNMESH, has been developed to generate two-dimensional finite element meshes for the U.S. Federal Highway Administration's FESWMS-2DH, a two-dimensional depth averaged finite element flow model. GNMESH uses a modified mapping technique that incorporates piecewise Hermitian and weighted interpolation schemes to layout the generated mesh within given or calculated flow tubes. Minimum required input data for GNMESH is required when the program is run using its default settings. These input data consists of the X, Y, and Z coordinates of points defining a minimum of three cross sections, the roughness coefficients at the given cross sections, an …

Rainfall-Runoff Relations For The Puget Sound Area, R. S. Dinicola

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The characteristics of rainfall-runoff relations were hypothesized for the study area using existing information. These hypotheses were incorporated into the Hydrologic Simulation Program-FORTRAN, and the model was calibrated concurrently at 21 stream-gage sites in the study area. The simulation errors after model calibration were not large enough to reject the hypothesized characteristics. A proxy-basin validation effort was performed.

Characteristics Of U.S. Geological Survey Discharge Measurements For Water Year 1990, Janice M. Fulford

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Resources Division makes ten of thousands of stream discharge measurements each year throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. The majority of the measurements requires the use of point velocity instrumentation. Interest in new instrumentation technology and the performance of in-use instrumentation prompted a survey of current-meter usage and discharge measurement data for water year 1990. This paper is a summary of survey results: the velocity, discharge and depth ranges measured; the types of meters used; and the measurement problems encountered.

Watershed Models For Resources Management Decisions, Alan M. Lumb

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Comprehensive hydrologic analyses can be very effective for the assessment of hydrologic effects of land use and climate changes, but the costs and expertise is often prohibitive. Progress has been made in four areas to reduce the costs and expertise required: (1) Watershed Data Management (WDM) system for the storage and retrieval of data used and generated by the model, (2) an expert system for the calibration of the model, (3) use of Geographical Information Systems to generate distributed parameters for the model, and (4) easy to use software for applications of the model.

Bridge Scour Data Management, Mark N. Landers

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A Bridge Scour Data Management System has been developed by the U.S. Geological Survey to support preparation, compilation, and analysis of bridge scour measurement data. Users may interactively store, retrieve, select, update, and display bridge scour and associated data. Interactive processing makes use of full-screen menus and form fill-ins, and an instruction window. Optional help and limits windows provide additional information for each of about 150 items in the data set for each bridge-scour site. The data set items include all of the essential information from a detailed scour measurement. Each data set has four categories of information: site data; …

First- And Second-Order Patterns Of Stress In The Lithosphere: The World Stress Map Project, Mary Lou Zoback

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

To date, more than 7300 in situ stress orientations have been compiled as part of the World Stress Map project. Of these, over 4400 are considered reliable tectonic stress indicators, recording horizontal stress orientations to within < ±25 °. Remarkably good correlation is observed between stress orientations deduced from in situ stress measurements and geologic observations made in the upper 1-2 km, well bore breakouts extending to 4-5 km depth and earthquake focal mechanisms to depths of-20 km. Regionally uniform stress orientations and relative magnitudes permit definition of broad-scale regional stress patterns often extending 20-200 times the approximately 20-25 km thickness of the upper brittle lithosphere. The "first-order" midplate stress fields are believed to be largely the result of compressional forces applied at plate boundaries, primarily ridge push and continental collision. The orientation of the intraplate stress field is thus largely controlled by the geometry of the plate boundaries. There is no evidence of large lateral stress gradients (as evidenced by lateral variations in stress regime) which would be expected across large plates if simple resistive or driving basal drag tractions (parallel or antiparallel to absolute motion) controlled the intraplate stress field. Intraplate areas of active extension are generally associated with regions of high topography: western U.S. Cordillera, high Andes, Tibetan plateau, western Indian Ocean plateau. Buoyancy stresses related to crustal thickening and/or lithospheric thinning in these regions dominate the intraplate compressional stress field due to plate-driving forces. These buoyancy forces are just one of several categories of "second-order" stresses, or local perturbations, that can be identified once the first-order stress patterns are recognized. These second-order stress fields can often be associated with specific geologic or tectonic features, for example, lithospheric flexure, lateral strength contrasts, as well as the lateral density contrasts which give rise to buoyancy forces. These second-order stress patterns typically have wavelengths ranging from 5 to 10+ times the thickness of the brittle upper lithosphere. A two-dimensional analysis of the amount of rotation of regional horizontal stress orientations due to a superimposed local stress constrains the ratio of the magnitude of the horizontal regional stress differences to the local uniaxial stress. For a detectable rotation of 15 °, the local horizontal uniaxial stress must be at least twice the magnitude of the regional horizontal stress differences. Examples of local rotations of S_Hmax orientations include a 750-85 ° rotation on the
northeastern Canadian continental shelf possibly related to margin-normal extension derived from sediment-loading flexural stresses, a 50 °-60 ° rotation within the East African rift relative to western Africa due to extensional buoyancy forces caused by lithospheric thinning, and an approximately 90 ° rotation along the northern margin of the Paleozoic Amazonas rift in central Brazil. …

A Reconnaissance Study Of Herbicides And Their Metabolites In Surface Water Of The Midwestern United States Using Immunoassay And Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry, E. Michael Thurman, Donald A. Goolsby, Michael Meyer, Margaret Mills, Michael L. Pomes, Dana W. Kolpin

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Preemergent herbicides and their metabolites, particularly atrazine, deethylatrazine, and metolachlor, persisted from 1989 to 1990 in the majority of rivers and streams in the midwestern United States. In spring, after the application of herbicides, the concentrations of atrazine, alachlor, and simazine were frequently 3-10 times greater than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant level (MCL). The concentration of herbicides exceeded the MCLs both singly and in combination. Two major degradation products of atrazine (deisopropylatrazine and deethylatrazine) also were found in many of the streams. The order of persistence of the herbicides and their metabolites in surface water was atrazine …

Stubble : Friend And Foe, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Several articles in this issue of the Journal of Agriculture discuss some of the important issues of stubble management. The articles are condensed from some of the papers presented at a stubble workshop at Geraldton in 1991.

New Yellow Serradella Varieties For Low Rainfall Pastures, Clinton Revell

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Large areas of acidic, sandy soils in Western Australia's low and medium rainfall, wheatsheep areas are suited to the pasture legume, yellow serradella.

In the past, a lack of varieties with suitable maturity has limited the use of this species.

New varieties developed in Western Australia and significantly earlier in maturity than traditional types can now extend the use of yellow serradella into these regions.