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Dynamic Evolutionary Patterns Of High-Temperature Steam Seepage And Thermal Strains Of Coals During Heat Injection, Li Zhiqiang, Zhang Ningchao, Chen Jinsheng, Chen Liwei, Feng Wenxiang, Liu Longwei, Wang Yungang May 2025

Dynamic Evolutionary Patterns Of High-Temperature Steam Seepage And Thermal Strains Of Coals During Heat Injection, Li Zhiqiang, Zhang Ningchao, Chen Jinsheng, Chen Liwei, Feng Wenxiang, Liu Longwei, Wang Yungang

Coal Geology & Exploration

Background Thermal stimulation of coal seams using high-temperature steam is recognized as a highly promising technology used to increase gas production. Steam permeability serves as a critical parameter for characterizing the injection capacity of thermal fluids. However, the seepage patterns and evolutionary mechanism of steam in coals remain unclear, and exploring these issues holds critical scientific significance for gas production enhancement via heat injection. Methods Through experiments on the seepage and thermal strains of coals during the injection of high-temperature steam performed using the steady-state method, this study investigated the dynamic time variation patterns of the steam permeability and thermal …


Assessing The Potential And Suitability Of Geothermal Resources Using Monte Carlo Simulation And Game-Based Combination Weighting Method, He Yixiang, Ding Pengpeng, Liu Shaohua, Wang Mingzhu, Zhu Lei May 2025

Assessing The Potential And Suitability Of Geothermal Resources Using Monte Carlo Simulation And Game-Based Combination Weighting Method, He Yixiang, Ding Pengpeng, Liu Shaohua, Wang Mingzhu, Zhu Lei

Coal Geology & Exploration

Background Geothermal energy in porous sandstone reservoirs is recognized as stable, efficient clean energy. However, these reservoirs feature heterogeneity and exploration uncertainty, posing serious challenges to probabilistic resource assessment and the identification of suitability for resource development.Methods This study investigated the geothermal resources in the Guantao Formation within the northwest Shandong plain. Using the volumetric method and Monte Carlo simulation, this study assessed the uncertainty of the resource potential. Then, considering the characteristics of geothermal resources, the attributes of geological structures, and the social economy, this study developed a multi-dimensional evaluation index system for the suitability of sandstone geothermal …


Table Of Contents, The Editors May 2025

Table Of Contents, The Editors

Coal Geology & Exploration

No abstract provided.


Sedimentary Patterns And Exploitation Practices Of Tight-Sand Gas Reservoirs In Coal Measure Strata: A Case Study Of The 3rd Submember Of The Second Member Of The Permian Shanxi Formation In The Daning-Jixian Block, Zhang Lei, Huang Li, Zhao Longmei, Wang Feng, Zhang Yixin, Shi Shi, Zhang Wen, Zhao Haoyang, Chen Tong, Tong Jiangnan May 2025

Sedimentary Patterns And Exploitation Practices Of Tight-Sand Gas Reservoirs In Coal Measure Strata: A Case Study Of The 3rd Submember Of The Second Member Of The Permian Shanxi Formation In The Daning-Jixian Block, Zhang Lei, Huang Li, Zhao Longmei, Wang Feng, Zhang Yixin, Shi Shi, Zhang Wen, Zhao Haoyang, Chen Tong, Tong Jiangnan

Coal Geology & Exploration

Background The third submember of the second member of the Permian Shanxi Formation (also referred to as the Shan 23 submember) in the Daning-Jixian block along the eastern margin of the Ordos Basin is identified as a primary target layer for tight-sand gas production in the block. In the early stage of the block development, play fairways were initially identified through fundamental studies on provenance areas and sedimentary systems. Accordingly, a gas field with an annual production of 10 × 108 m3 was constructed in the block. However, further exploitation reveals that the sandstones in the Shan …


Application Of A Uav-Borne Gpr System In The Detection Of Water Bodies And Cavities, Wang Ying, Sun Chenchen, Zhang Lu, Chen Yifei, Lu Song, Zhou Feng May 2025

Application Of A Uav-Borne Gpr System In The Detection Of Water Bodies And Cavities, Wang Ying, Sun Chenchen, Zhang Lu, Chen Yifei, Lu Song, Zhou Feng

Coal Geology & Exploration

Objective and Methods The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-borne ground-penetrating radar (GPR) system, enjoying the advantages of high resolution and non-contact detection, is applicable to the detection of water accumulation in coal seams and goaves in mines. Therefore, this study proposed a rapid detection method based on a UAV-borne air-coupled GPR system to enhance the exploration efficiency of mining areas and reduce the time and risks of manual explorations. Given the limitations of the test scenarios in actual coal mines, this study investigated the water body of the Fanxiong reservoir in Ezhou City and surrounding drainage culverts for equivalent validation, aiming …


Transparent Prevention And Control System For Water Hazards In Mine Floors Under Empowerment Based On Spatiotemporal Information Fusion, Liu Zaibin, Yan Junsheng, Wang Jianghong, Gao Yaoquan, Yang Hui, Bai Baojun, Lu Jingjin, Wang Hongwei, Wang Gang May 2025

Transparent Prevention And Control System For Water Hazards In Mine Floors Under Empowerment Based On Spatiotemporal Information Fusion, Liu Zaibin, Yan Junsheng, Wang Jianghong, Gao Yaoquan, Yang Hui, Bai Baojun, Lu Jingjin, Wang Hongwei, Wang Gang

Coal Geology & Exploration

Background Water hazards in coal mines frequently cause heavy casualties, severely affecting the safe mining of coal mines. Methods With the continuous advancements in both the construction of real scene 3D views and coal mine intelligentization, this study examined the development of the intelligent geological guarantee system for the Tangjiahui Coal Mine in Inner Mongolia, as well as the prevention and control of water hazards in the Ordovician limestones in the coal mine floor. Accordingly, this study elaborated on enhancing the prevention and control capacity against water hazards in coal mines during the mining cycle of a mining face using …


Experimental Study On Unloading Confining Pressure Deformation And Damage Failure Of Multi-Source Coal-Based Solid Waste Cemented Backfill, He Xiang, Wei Longqiang, Yang Ke, Zhang Tong, Zhang Cun, Zhang Zilong, Chen Yanjun May 2025

Experimental Study On Unloading Confining Pressure Deformation And Damage Failure Of Multi-Source Coal-Based Solid Waste Cemented Backfill, He Xiang, Wei Longqiang, Yang Ke, Zhang Tong, Zhang Cun, Zhang Zilong, Chen Yanjun

Coal Geology & Exploration

Objective The preparation of multi-source coal-based solid waste into filling materials for interval strip filling mining is one of the important means of green coal mining. The deformation and failure law of multi-source coal-based solid waste cemented backfill during strip coal pillar mining directly affects the stability of the stope.Methods Five typical solid wastes were mixed with cement to prepare cemented backfill. The conventional triaxial and constant axial pressure unloading confining pressure stress tests of backfill specimens were carried out. The stress-strain curves and failure characteristics of backfill under two stress loading paths were analyzed. The evolution law of …


Fluoride Ion Removal From Mine Water Via Nucleation Crystallization Pelleting Process, Zhang Xiyu, Dong Shuning, Wang Hao, Jin Pengkang, Wang Xiaodong, Wang Qiangmin, Zhang Tao May 2025

Fluoride Ion Removal From Mine Water Via Nucleation Crystallization Pelleting Process, Zhang Xiyu, Dong Shuning, Wang Hao, Jin Pengkang, Wang Xiaodong, Wang Qiangmin, Zhang Tao

Coal Geology & Exploration

Objective The mine water associated with coal mining tends to be rich in fluoride ions. If discharged directly without effective treatment, such water will cause severe pollution to regional ecology, affecting the quality of water resources and the stability of the ecosystem. Methods This study focuses on the challenging treatment of the fluoride pollution caused by coal mining-associated mine water. To overcome the bottlenecks including low efficiency and weak anti-interference of traditional methods for fluoride removal, this study designed a setup for fluoride removal using the nucleation crystallization pelleting (NCP) processing and proposed a novel fluoride removal method—NCP chemical precipitation. …


A Seismic Random Noise Suppression Method Based On Cnn-Mamba, Wei Xiujuan, Liu Xingye, Zhou Huailai May 2025

A Seismic Random Noise Suppression Method Based On Cnn-Mamba, Wei Xiujuan, Liu Xingye, Zhou Huailai

Coal Geology & Exploration

Background Seismic random noise suppression is recognized as a key step to improve the quality of seismic data. Data-driven deep learning provides an intelligent solution for the noise suppression. However, mainstream random noise intelligent methods based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are constrained by their local receptive fields. This limitation results in insufficient collaborative optimization between local details and macroscopic structures during denoising, further reducing the noise suppression accuracy. Transformer models, which are widely applied to global feature extraction, can effectively capture long-distance dependencies through the self-attention mechanism, theoretically overcoming the limitations of CNNs in global modeling. However, these models …


Fired And Fractured: An Analysis Of Broken Ceramics, Evan Mcguire May 2025

Fired And Fractured: An Analysis Of Broken Ceramics, Evan Mcguire

Honors Projects

How does the construction of a ceramic object affect how it breaks? How does the force applied affect this break? These questions are based on my first-hand observations of the multitude of ceramic fragments found in different states of decay at archaeological sites. To answer these questions, I created samples that imitate ancient ceramics and then broke them in different ways. I then analyzed the fracture surfaces and looked for evidence of weak points in the objects. Pieces that were hit by a blunt force, such as a hammer, had radial fractures that formed along paths that had clusters of …


The Future Of The Us Marine Seafloor And Subseafloor Sampling Capabilities, Future 2024 Pi-Team, Olga Libman‐Roshal May 2025

The Future Of The Us Marine Seafloor And Subseafloor Sampling Capabilities, Future 2024 Pi-Team, Olga Libman‐Roshal

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Recent changes in US oceanographic assets are impacting scientists' ability to access seafloor and sub-seafloor materials and thus constraining progress on science critical for societal needs. Here we identify national infrastructure needs to address critical science questions. This commentary reports on community-driven discussions that took place during the 3-day FUTURE of US Seafloor Sampling Capabilities 2024 Workshop, which used an “all-hands-on-deck” approach to assess seafloor and sub-seafloor sampling requirements of a broad range of scientific objectives, focusing on capabilities that could be supported through the US Academic Research Fleet (US-ARF) now or in the near future. Cross-cutting issues identified …


Investigating Potential Sugar-Related Uncertainties In A Proxy For Ancient Co2, Liam Cooper May 2025

Investigating Potential Sugar-Related Uncertainties In A Proxy For Ancient Co2, Liam Cooper

Student Theses and Dissertations

The εp proxy for ancient pCO2 can potentially estimate ancient pCO2 as from the evolution of rubisco-based photosynthesis, using the difference in stable carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) between fixed and inorganic carbon, assuming this difference is proportional to pCO2. This study aims to address uncertainty with the use of photosynthetic microbes in proxies for ancient pCO2. While previous studies address uncertainties related to the δ13C of initial fixed photosynthate (e.g., growth rate), we aim to address the effects of downstream carbon allocation. Specifically, if a significant fraction of fixed …


Investigating The Microbial Communities In Freshwaters Of Northern Sweden, Maizy Wilcox May 2025

Investigating The Microbial Communities In Freshwaters Of Northern Sweden, Maizy Wilcox

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Climate change is shifting the stability of sensitive ecosystems in the Arctic region due to global warming, with widespread impacts on permafrost regions, including the Stordalen Mire region of Sweden. Due to climate change, the Stordalen Mire is composed of thawing permafrost shifting into a wetland (V onk et al., 2015). As permafrost thaws, the landscape transforms due to changing water environmental conditions, causing lower pH changes and higher temperatures in the water, impacting the underlying soil chemistry and biology, vegetation, and microbial communities (Webb et al., 2022). The increased temperature can enhance methanogenic microbial growth by expanding the groundwater …


Seismological Applications To Crustal Deformation And Explosion Discrimination, Olumide Adedeji May 2025

Seismological Applications To Crustal Deformation And Explosion Discrimination, Olumide Adedeji

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

There are many outstanding questions in seismology and plate tectonics that remain unresolved due to the complexity of seismic wave propagation, fault system evolution, and sedimentary-tectonic interactions. In this dissertation, I analyze seismic and acoustic data to improve event discrimination, understand strain partitioning along a transpressive plate boundary, and investigate the influence of tectonic deformation on sedimentary processes. Using seismic arrays, I assess the detectability of Ground Coupled Airwaves (GCA) generated by shallow borehole explosions and earthquakes, demonstrating that GCA detections are highly dependent on source type, environmental conditions and sensor distribution. Along the Queen Charlotte Plate Boundary, I analyze …


Aerial Robotic Studies Of Volcanic Co2 Emissions, John Ericksen May 2025

Aerial Robotic Studies Of Volcanic Co2 Emissions, John Ericksen

Computer Science ETDs

Volcanic systems are inherently complex, involving dynamic interactions among magma flow, gas emissions, and atmospheric dispersion. This dissertation focuses on developing and analyzing autonomous UAS algorithms for efficiently surveying volcanic CO2 plumes, introducing several novel methods: the LoCUS algorithm, a swarm coordination and self-healing algorithm that supports gradient-based plume tracking, a transect-based technique that employs a 2D Gaussian fit to calculate CO2 plume flux, and the Sketch algorithm for rapid plume boundary tracing. By treating multiple UAS as a single scientific instrument, these methods leverage swarm algorithms to use in-situ data in ways impossible with individual drones. Validated through simulations …


Assessment Of Water Quality And Remediation Of Heavy Metals In A Coastal System, Christiana Fumnanya Eziashi May 2025

Assessment Of Water Quality And Remediation Of Heavy Metals In A Coastal System, Christiana Fumnanya Eziashi

Theses and Dissertations

This research focuses on a three-part study to assess water quality in a coastal system and evaluate the absorption capacity of modified biochar and algae to remediate cadmium (Cd). The first chapter introduces the hypothesis and objectives, and the second chapter provides a detailed literature review. The third chapter focuses on the first study, where surface water samples and water quality data collected from a manned boat and a novel autonomous surface vessel (ASV) in the Western Mississippi Sound (WMS) in the summer of 2021 and 2022 were analyzed and the interrelationship between the nutrient, trace metals, salinity, and chlorophyll-a …


Apatite Entrapment Of Iodine For Nuclear Waste Disposal Applications, William E. Laird May 2025

Apatite Entrapment Of Iodine For Nuclear Waste Disposal Applications, William E. Laird

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to provide baseline knowledge of iodine incorporation into calcium phosphate minerals, specifically apatite. Iodine-129 is a fission product in Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) that can administer significant amounts of radiation in small quantities. Apatite (Ca10(PO4)6 (OH, F, Cl)) has been studied for the use of radionuclide confinement. Experimental design was set up to mimic temperatures expected in geologic repositories from 40 to 250℃. Experiments are broken into 2 groups based on iodine species being examined. The first group focuses on iodate (IO3-) which is prevalent under oxidized conditions, and the second handles iodide (I-) …


Earth Analogue Analysis Of Volcanic/Tectonic Interactions With Applications To Venusian Stresses, Michael Ortigoza May 2025

Earth Analogue Analysis Of Volcanic/Tectonic Interactions With Applications To Venusian Stresses, Michael Ortigoza

Theses and Dissertations

Venus shares many geological similarities with Earth, yet its tectonic processes and magma injection mechanisms remain poorly understood. A key question in planetary geology is how effusive volcanism persists despite the intense horizontal compression terrestrial bodies experience over time. To explore these issues, we examine the Spanish Peaks dike swarm in Colorado which serves as an ideal site for investigating magma intrusion under compressive stress conditions. Through field mapping, orientation measurements, and structural analysis, we identify a strong relationship between pre-existing joints and dike orientations, suggesting that these fractures serve as critical magma pathways in compressive regimes. Additionally, evidence of …


Insights Into Fluid-Rock Interactions On The Cv3 Chondrite Parent Body Through The Use Of Secondary Garnets In The Allende Cv3 Chondrite And Terrestrial Skarns, Jessica Marie Johnson May 2025

Insights Into Fluid-Rock Interactions On The Cv3 Chondrite Parent Body Through The Use Of Secondary Garnets In The Allende Cv3 Chondrite And Terrestrial Skarns, Jessica Marie Johnson

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Garnets are valuable for studying geologic processes, particularly fluid-rock interactions in terrestrial skarns. This dissertation examines secondary garnets and associated Ca-Fe silicates in Allende-like CV3 chondrites and terrestrial skarns to assess garnets as recorders of fluid-rock interactions. Chapter 2 investigates garnets from the Willsboro-Lewis skarn, revealing that mineral separate techniques misrepresent rare earth element (REE) signatures. Chapter 3 examines garnets and clinopyroxenes from the Victorio Mining District skarn, showing that REE incorporation was controlled by fluid composition rather than crystal chemistry. Chapters 4 and 5 focus on extraterrestrial samples. Chapter 4 finds that garnets and pyroxenes in Allende CV3 matrix …


Turtle Creek Tree Restoration Project, Rebecca Beneroff, Risa Kanefsky, Max Dicerbo, Pj Newhart, Amanda Mitchell May 2025

Turtle Creek Tree Restoration Project, Rebecca Beneroff, Risa Kanefsky, Max Dicerbo, Pj Newhart, Amanda Mitchell

Final Reports in ENST 411: Environmental Community Projects

Over the course of this project our group members Rebecca, Max, PJ, Amanda, and Risa worked closely with Jim Knight and Brian Auman from Turtle Creek Park to help research, plan, and execute a tree transplanting event that would be efficiently implemented and environmentally sound. This work involved extensive preparatory work in the park including soil testing, bare leaf tree identification, tree and shrub species characterization, and recommendation. The entire process was rooted in the most up to date literature and scientific practices surrounding bare root tree nurseries, existing land management plans, invasive species and public park management, ecological succession, …


Climate Change And Hydropower Development Impacts In The Lower Mekong Basin, Nudthawud Homtong May 2025

Climate Change And Hydropower Development Impacts In The Lower Mekong Basin, Nudthawud Homtong

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Mekong River Basin is vital to East and Southeast Asia, supporting over 60 million people and sustaining critical ecological systems. However, the basin faces dual threats from climate change and hydropower development, jeopardizing its ecological balance, hydrological patterns, and resource reliability. This research focuses on the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB), where aggressive hydropower expansion and climate variability have intensified concerns about sustainable water management. The study is divided into three interconnected parts. Part I examines spatial and temporal precipitation patterns in the Chi-Mun Basin (CMB) and Lower Mekong River (LMR) from 1950 to 2008, using linear regression and Mann-Kendall …


Life Cycle Assessment Of Co-Located Floating Solar And Offshore Wind, Danela Sadikaj, Meghann Smith May 2025

Life Cycle Assessment Of Co-Located Floating Solar And Offshore Wind, Danela Sadikaj, Meghann Smith

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Is combining floating solar and offshore wind platforms feasible for increasing energy capacity while displacing the environmental impacts that each of these systems has independently? In recent years offshore wind has become a very popular option to decarbonize the energy sector without overtaking valuable land. While floating solar is not a new technology, using solar in a marine environment is still in an experimental phase. This research proposes a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) model of co-located solar technology within the proposed offshore wind farms near New Jersey’s coastline. While both technologies themselves are zero-emission while operating, they each require a …


Reducing Emissions And Increasing Resource Efficiency In Offshore Wind Turbines: Insight From Life Cycle Analysis, Jean Claire Pineda, Meghann Smith May 2025

Reducing Emissions And Increasing Resource Efficiency In Offshore Wind Turbines: Insight From Life Cycle Analysis, Jean Claire Pineda, Meghann Smith

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Globally, offshore wind (OSW) has been identified as a key technology for decarbonization. While OSW’s development timeline remains uncertain in the United States, New Jersey has set the ambitious goal of 11 GW by 2040. OSW produces zero carbon emissions; however, it relies heavily on resource-intensive materials like steel, rare earth elements, and copper, and manufacturing those materials have numerous environmental impacts, including carbon emissions. Supply chain disruptions—from COVID-19, rising material costs, and geopolitical challenges—add further complexity. Previous research modelled the environmental impacts of Atlantic Shores OSW South Project with an established domestic supply chain, producing 0.013kg CO2 per kWh. …


Visualization Of Coastal Carbonate Lithosomes: Color-Intensity Patterns And Georadar Imaging Of A Semi-Lithified Strandplain, Eleuthera Island, The Bahamas, Ilya Buynevich, Michael Savarese, H. Allen Curran May 2025

Visualization Of Coastal Carbonate Lithosomes: Color-Intensity Patterns And Georadar Imaging Of A Semi-Lithified Strandplain, Eleuthera Island, The Bahamas, Ilya Buynevich, Michael Savarese, H. Allen Curran

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

Quaternary carbonate strandplains serve as archives of land–sea interaction, including the impacts of storms and tsunamis. Incipient lithification, especially of compound beach/dune ridges within the action zone of salt spray, presents challenges to geological research, which is often limited to exposures. This study combines aerial image analysis with geophysical datasets to assess the morphostratigraphy and internal structure of the Freedom Beach Strandplain along southern Eleuthera Island, The Bahamas. Color-intensity analysis of field photographs and satellite images revealed general patterns that can be used to distinguish between areas with different grayscale parameters (sand-covered surfaces, lithified ridges, vegetation, etc.). Cross-shore (dip-section) high-resolution …


Escalating Hydrological Extremes And Whiplashes In The Western U.S.: Challenges For Water Management And Frontline Communities, Wenzhao Li, Surendra Maharjan, Joshua B. Fisher, Thomas Piechota, Hesham El-Askary May 2025

Escalating Hydrological Extremes And Whiplashes In The Western U.S.: Challenges For Water Management And Frontline Communities, Wenzhao Li, Surendra Maharjan, Joshua B. Fisher, Thomas Piechota, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The Western U.S. is experiencing significant changes in its hydrological dynamics, marked by increased variability and rapid “whiplash” shifts between extreme drought and flood conditions. This study quantified these changes using a customized hydrological water year index, which correlated better with surface water storage in the basins than other drought/wetness indicators. Application of the index revealed heightened hydrological extremes and whiplash events post-2015 in all Western U.S. basins, with nearly 72% of stations facing critically dry conditions in 2021 and over 54% experiencing extreme wet conditions in 2023. Future projections indicate a decline of 8.5%–13.2% in non-extreme water year types …


Proceedings Of The 12th Research Symposium At Mammoth Cave National Park, Pat Kambesis Editor, Lee Anne Bledsoe Editor, Ana K. Celis Editor May 2025

Proceedings Of The 12th Research Symposium At Mammoth Cave National Park, Pat Kambesis Editor, Lee Anne Bledsoe Editor, Ana K. Celis Editor

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Proceedings of the 12th Research Symposium at Mammoth Cave National Park: Celebrating 100 Years of Scientific Research & Resource Management in the Mammoh Cave Region.


Remotely Sensed High-Resolution Soil Moisture And Evapotranspiration: Bridging The Gap Between Science And Society, Jingyi Huang, Vinit Sehgal, Laura V. Alvarez, Luca Brocca, Shuohao Cai, Rui Cheng, Xinghua Cheng, Jinyang Du, Bassil El Masri, K. Arthur Endsley, Yilin Fang, Jie Hu, Mahesh Jampani, Md Golam Kibria, Gerbrand Koren, Lingcheng Li, Laibao Liu, Jiafu Mao, Hernan A. Moreno, Angela Rigden, Mingjie Shi, Xiaoying Shi, Yaoping Wang, Xi Zhang, Joshua B. Fisher May 2025

Remotely Sensed High-Resolution Soil Moisture And Evapotranspiration: Bridging The Gap Between Science And Society, Jingyi Huang, Vinit Sehgal, Laura V. Alvarez, Luca Brocca, Shuohao Cai, Rui Cheng, Xinghua Cheng, Jinyang Du, Bassil El Masri, K. Arthur Endsley, Yilin Fang, Jie Hu, Mahesh Jampani, Md Golam Kibria, Gerbrand Koren, Lingcheng Li, Laibao Liu, Jiafu Mao, Hernan A. Moreno, Angela Rigden, Mingjie Shi, Xiaoying Shi, Yaoping Wang, Xi Zhang, Joshua B. Fisher

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

This paper reviews the current state of high-resolution remotely sensed soil moisture (SM) and evapotranspiration (ET) products and modeling, and the coupling relationship between SM and ET. SM downscaling approaches for satellite passive microwave products leverage advances in artificial intelligence and high-resolution remote sensing using visible, near-infrared, thermal-infrared, and synthetic aperture radar sensors. Remotely sensed ET continues to advance in spatiotemporal resolutions from MODIS to ECOSTRESS to Hydrosat and beyond. These advances enable a new understanding of bio-geo-physical controls and coupled feedback mechanisms between SM and ET reflecting the land cover and land use at field scale (3–30 m, daily). …


Temperature-Driven Air Circulation In Caves With Blind Passages, Chris Hendy Dr, David J. Merritt, Shannon Corkill, Cross Cross May 2025

Temperature-Driven Air Circulation In Caves With Blind Passages, Chris Hendy Dr, David J. Merritt, Shannon Corkill, Cross Cross

International Journal of Speleology

Two blind-passage show-caves in the Waitomo district of New Zealand, Ruakuri Cave and Aranui Cave, have been monitored for the impact of visitors on their environment, especially focusing on partial pressures of carbon dioxide because high levels cause speleothem degradation. In Ruakuri Cave, annual cycles of daily mean pCO2 correspond with annual cycles of visitor numbers, both peaking in summer. The origin of the high pCO2 had been assumed to be anthropogenic due to respiration from visitors. Prolonged intervals with no visitation during the Covid-19 pandemic saw the daily mean pCO2 continuing to show the annual cycle, …


Evaluating Subduction Zone Processes In Early Paleozoic Rocks Of The Northern Appalachian Orogen, John Mark Brigham May 2025

Evaluating Subduction Zone Processes In Early Paleozoic Rocks Of The Northern Appalachian Orogen, John Mark Brigham

Dissertations - ALL

The study of rocks presently exposed at the surface in mountain ranges such as the Appalachian Mountains can offer insight into the evolution of orogenic and subduction zone processes over geologic time. To better understand the timing, conditions (i.e., pressure and temperature), and tectonic setting of mineral formation in former subduction settings, geologists conduct geochronology, geochemistry, and thermobarometry analyses on rocks and minerals in paleo-subduction zones. This dissertation contains three chapters that focus on serpentinization, hydrothermal alteration of mafic rocks during serpentinization (rodingitization), and high-pressure metamorphism that occurred in a subduction setting during the first phase of the Appalachian Orogeny. …


Body Size Trends Of Late Devonian Dacryoconarid Tentaculitoids And Protocol Development For I/Ca Analysis In Corals By La-Icp-Ms, Ashley Prow-Fleischer May 2025

Body Size Trends Of Late Devonian Dacryoconarid Tentaculitoids And Protocol Development For I/Ca Analysis In Corals By La-Icp-Ms, Ashley Prow-Fleischer

Dissertations - ALL

Paleoclimatology provides context for understanding the timescales and animal responses to environmental change under modern climate change scenarios. The key drivers of climate variability are identified using proxies for environmental conditions. Biological archives are especially useful for linking changing conditions to ecosystem responses. This dissertation establishes the foundation for utilizing dacryoconarid microfossils as biostratigraphic indicators of environmental change in the Paleozoic. It also presents a protocol for measuring iodine-to-calcium (I/Ca) ratios—an established proxy for localized hypoxia—in coral skeletons using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Studying Paleozoic microfossils presents challenges due to the high degree of induration of …