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Age-Distribution Estimation For Karst Groundwater: Issues Of Parameterization And Complexity In Inverse Modeling By Convolution, Andrew J. Long, Larry D. Putnam

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Convolution modeling is useful for investigating the temporal distribution of groundwater age based on environmental tracers. The framework of a quasi-transient convolution model that is applicable to two-domain flow in karst aquifers is presented. The model was designed to provide an acceptable level of statistical confidence in parameter estimates when only chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and tritium (³H) data are available. We show how inverse modeling and uncertainty assessment can be used to constrain model parameterization to a level warranted by available data while allowing major aspects of the flow system to be examined. As an example, the model was …

Use Of Osl Dating To Establish The Stratigraphic Framework Of Quaternary Eolian Sediments, Anton Scarp Upper Trench, Northeastern Colorado High Plains, Usa, Shannon A. Mahan, David C. Noe, James P. Mccalpin

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

This paper contains the results of the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) datingused to establish stratigraphic ages and relationships of eolian sediments in a trench in northeastern Colorado,USA. This trench was located in the upper face of the Anton scarp, a major topographic lineament trending NW–SE for a distance of 135 km, in anticipation of intersecting near-surface faulting. The trench was 180 m long, 4.5–6.0 m deep, and exposed 22 m of stratigraphic section, most of which dipped gently west and was truncated by gulley channeling at the face of the scarp. No direct evidence of faulting was found in the …

Behavior And Reproductive Success Of Rock Sandpipers Breeding On The Yukon-Kuskokwim River Delta, Alaska, Matthew Johnson, Jesse R. Conklin, Branden L. Johnson, Brian J. Mccaffery, Susan M. Haig, Jeffrey R. Walters

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We studied Rock Sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis) breeding behavior and monitored reproductive success from 1998 to 2005 on the Yukon-Kuskokwim River Delta, Alaska, USA. We banded 24 adults and monitored 45 nests. Annual return rate of adults ranged between 67 and 100%. Six pairs of Rock Sandpipers bred at our study site for ≥ 2 years, and among these we did not observe mate change (i.e., when both members of a pair returned and each mated with a new individual). Nests were typically initiated by mid-May and 53% of females laid second clutches if first clutches were lost through …

The Neoglacial Landscape And Human History Of Glacier Bay, Glacier Bay National Park And Preserve, Southeast Alaska, Usa, Cathy Connor, Greg Streveler, Austin Post, Daniel Monteith, Wanye Howell

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Neoglacial landscape of the Huna Tlingit homeland in Glacier Bay is recreated through new interpretations of the lower Bay’s fjordal geomorphology, late Quaternary geology and its ethnographic landscape. Geological interpretation is enhanced by 38 radiocarbon dates compiled from published and unpublished sources, as well as 15 newly dated samples. Neoglacial changes in ice positions, outwash and lake extents are reconstructed for c. 5500–200 cal. yr ago, and portrayed as a set of three landscapes at 1600–1000, 500–300 and 300–200 cal. yr ago. This history reveals episodic ice advance towards the Bay mouth, transforming it from a fjordal seascape into …

Porosity And Permeability In Ternary Sediment Mixtures, Jason Dennis Esselburn

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Porosity and permeability were measured in mixtures of fine, medium, and coarse sand, where the volume fraction of each of the three components was systematically varied. The porosity varies non-linearly with the volume fractions, and can be modeled with a piecewise-linear approach. The permeability also varies non-linearly with the volume fractions. Permeability can be modeled with the Kozeny-Carman equation using a recursive approach for computing the representative grain size from those of the components in the mixture.

Radiocarbon Date List Xi: Radiocarbon Dates From Marine Sediment Cores Of The Iceland, Greenland, And Northeast Canadian Arctic Shelves And Nares Strait, U. Quillmann, J.T. Andrews, A.E. Jennings, J. Bendle, H. Jonsdottir, G.B. Kristjansdottir, J. Lloyd, S. Olafsdottir, Sarah M. Principato

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Radiocarbon Date List XI contains an annotated listing of 178 AMS radiocarbon dates on samples from marine (169 samples) and lake (9 samples) sediment cores. Marine sediment cores, from which the samples for dating were taken, were collected on the Greenland Shelf, Baffin Bay, and the Eastern Canadian Arctic shelf. About 80% of the marine samples for dating were collected on the SW to N Icelandic shelf. The lake sediment cores were collected in northwestern Iceland. For dating of the marine samples, we submitted molluscs (117 samples), benthic and planktic foraminifera (45 samples), plant macrofauna (3 samples), and one serpulid …

Review Of Hard Road West: History And Geology Along The Gold Rush Trail By Keith Heyer Meldahl, Harmon D. Maher Jr.

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

The dust jacket of Hard Road West promises familiar pleasures to John McPhee lovers, and so I picked the book up with great anticipation. McPhee’s works have greatly heightened the interest of writers and readers in the genre of creative nonfiction, and while for me, Keith Meldahl’s work does not quite reach McPhee’s stratospheric heights, for the right audience it is definitely a very good read.

Droughtscape, Winter 2009, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Bastrop TX: Feb. 12 Central CA: Feb. 24, 26

La Niña May Keep West and Gulf Coast Dry

Big Canoes to Launch

2008 in Review

U.S. Feels Drought Impacts in 2008

NDMC Welcomes Widhalm, Sakamoto

Climate Modelers at Workshop Look to Sea Surface Temperatures for Drought Prediction

Barriers And Drivers Influencing Adoption Of Perennial Pastures On The South Coast Of Wa, Jamie Bowyer, Rebecca Heath

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Farming For The Future : Industry Practice Baselines, Danielle England, Susan Murphy-White, John Noonan, Marie Shanks, Jon Warren

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Markov Models For Linking Environments And Facies In Space And Time (Recent Arabian Gulf, Miocene Paratethys), Bernhard Riegl, Samuel J. Purkis

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

If, as comparative sedimentology maintains, knowledge of the Recent can sometimes be helpful to explain the past (and vice-versa), common quantitative denominators might exist between Recent and fossil systems. It may also be possible to describe dynamics and find linkages between space and time with a unique set of quantitative tools. To explore such conceptual links, spatial facies patterns mapped using satellite imagery were compared with temporal patterns in analogous ancient outcropping facies using Markov chains and graphs. Landsat and Ikonos satellite imagery was used to map benthic facies in a nearshore carbonate ramp (Ras Hasyan) and offshore platform system …

Using Gis To Quantify Patterns Of Glacial Erosion On Northwest Iceland: Implications For Independent Ice Sheets, Sarah M. Principato, Jeremiah S. Johnson

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Glacial erosion patterns on northwest Iccliind are quantified using a Geographic Information System (GIS) in order to interpret subglacial characteristics of part of northwest Iceland affected by ice sheet glaciation. Ice scour lake density is used as a proxy for glacial erosion. Erosion classes are interpreted from variations in the density of lake basins. Lake density was calculated using two dilTerent methods: the first is sensitive to the total number of lakes in a specific area, and the second is sensitive to total lake area in a specific area. Both of these methods result in a value for lake density, …

Sedimentology, Ichnology, Depositional Environment Interpretation, And Reservoir Characterization In The Cotton Valley Formation Sandstone In The Amoco Grace Lowry #1, Harrison County, Texas, Justin D. Bagley

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

The Cotton Valley formation in east Texas and north Louisiana is a proven hydrocarbon producing tight gas sand reservoir. Understanding the depositional environment, sandstone body geometries and reservoir properties are important for exploration and development. Two hundred and thirty eight feet of conventional core, over the Cotton Valley sandstone interval, was described and interpreted from the Amoco Grace Lowry #1, located in Harrison County, Texas. The sedimentology and ichnology as well as the net sandstone isopachous maps provided the basis for the depositional environment interpretation. Core plug derived porosity and permeability, electric logs, and thin sections were utilized for reservoir …

A Geologic Map And Stratigraphy Of Upper Guadalupian - Lower Ochoan (Permian) Strata Along And East Of Fm 2185 In The Northwestern Apache Mountains Near Van Horn, West Texas, Michael James Sweatt

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

A surface geologic map is constructed for an area of approximately four square miles east of Texas FM 2185, 35 miles northeast of Van Horn, West Texas in the northwestern part of the Apache Mountains. Middle Permian Guadalupian-Late Permian Ochoan age strata containing Capitan Reef debris and shelf to basinal beds are exposed and can be correlated to similar age strata of the Guadalupe Mountains to the north and northwest of the map area. In the area of study, three formations of the uppermost Middle and Upper Permian, Bell Canyon, Castile, and Rustler, expose strata that can be seen in …

A Computational Study Of Tsunami Runup As A Function Of Coastline Morphology, Kevin Ewell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Tsunamis are surface waves with wavelengths on the order of tens to hundreds of kilometers. Modeling the propagation of a tsunami as it approaches shore requires detailed knowledge of bathymmetry in order to correctly capture the evolution of the wave as it slows down. Most published studies of terminal tsunami behavior (such as wave height and runup) are done for specific sites, often comparing model "postdictions" to recorded events. The goal of the present study is to understand in a general way how coastline indentations (such as bays and inlets) affect tsunami runup and wave height. The COMCOT tsunami propagation …

Processes Controlling Magma Chamber Evolution Beneath Mt. Rainier, Washington, Sean Ross Scott

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mt. Rainier is an active composite volcano located in the Cascade volcanic arc, ~90km southeast of Seattle, Washington. Based on a compilation of data representing basaltic andesites through dacites, thermodynamic simulations have been run to constrain the mechanisms of formation of the typical liquid line of descent. Using a variety of parental magmas and iterating through parameters such as water content, pressure, and oxygen fugacity, the best fit models suggest magmas are stored at shallow levels and have initial water contents of~ 1-2.0 wt. % and oxygen fugacity of ~QFM+ 1 to +2. One lava flow, classified as a spessartite, …

Precise Location Of San Andreas Fault Tremors Near Cholame, California Using Seismometer Clusters: Slip On The Deep Extension Of The Fault?, David R. Shelly, William L. Ellsworth, Trond Ryberg, Christian Haberland, Gary S. Fuis, Janice Murphy, Robert M. Nadeau, Roland Bürgemann

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We examine a 24-hour period of active San Andreas Fault (SAF) tremor and show that this tremor is largely composed of repeated similar events. Utilizing this similarity, we locate the subset of the tremor with waveforms similar to an identified low frequency earthquake (LFE) ‘‘master template,’’ located using P and S wave arrivals to be ~26 km deep. To compensate for low signal-to-noise, we estimate event-pair differential times at ‘‘clusters’’ of nearby stations rather than at single stations. We find that the locations form a near-linear structure in map view, striking parallel to the SAF and near the surface trace. …

Chapter 13: Space- And Ground-Based Studies Of Lightning Signatures, Timothy Hamlin, Kyle Wiens, Abram Jacobson, Tracey E. L. Light, Kenneth B. Eack

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

This article provides a brief survey of the space- and ground-based studies of lightning performed by investigators at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The primary goal of these studies was to further understand unique lightning signatures known as Narrow Bipolar Events (NBEs). First, an overview is presented of the Fast On-orbit Recording of Transient Events (FORTE) satellite and of the ground-based Los Alamos Sferic Array (LASA). This is followed by a summary of the phenomenology, physics, and meteorological context of NBEs and NBE-related discharges. This article also discusses additional radio frequency and optical observations of lightning made by the FORTE …

The Dilemma Of Disappearing Diatoms: Incorporating Diatom Dissolution Data Into Paleoenvironmental Modeling And Reconstruction, David B. Ryves, Richard W. Battarbee, Sherilyn C. Fritz

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Taphonomic issues pose fundamental challenges for Quaternary scientists to recover environmental signals from biological proxies and make accurate inferences of past environments. The problem of microfossil preservation, specifically diatom dissolution, remains an important, but often overlooked, source of error in both qualitative and quantitative reconstructions of key variables from fossil samples, especially those using relative abundance data. A first step to tackling this complex issue is establishing an objective method of assessing preservation (here, diatom dissolution) that can be applied by different analysts and incorporated into routine counting strategies. Here, we establish a methodology for assessment of diatom dissolution under …

Inventories And Mobilization Of Unsaturated Zone Sulfate, Fluoride, And Chloride Related To Land Use Change In Semiarid Regions, Southwestern United States And Australia, Bridget R. Scanlon, David A. Stonestrom, Robert C. Reedy, Fred W. Leaney, John B. Gates, Richard G. Cresswell

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Unsaturated zone salt reservoirs are potentially mobilized by increased groundwater recharge as semiarid lands are cultivated. This study explores the amounts of pore water sulfate and fluoride relative to chloride in unsaturated zone profiles, evaluates their sources, estimates mobilization due to past land use change, and assesses the impacts on groundwater quality. Inventories of water-extractable chloride, sulfate, and fluoride were determined from borehole samples of soils and sediments collected beneath natural ecosystems (N = 4), nonirrigated ("rain-fed") croplands (N = 18), and irrigated croplands (N = 6) in the southwestern United States and in the Murray Basin, …

The Nature And Origin Of Decadal To Millennial Scale Climate Variability In The Southern Tropics Of South America: The Holocene Record Of Lago Umayo, Peru, Paul A. Baker, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Stephen J. Burns, Erik Ekdahl, Catherine A. Rigsby

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

This paper serves two purposes: to review current ideas about the nature and forcing of decadal to millennial scale precipitation variation in the southern tropics of South America during the late Quaternary and to present a new methodology for the reconstruction of precipitation as applied to a Holocene stable isotopic record of carbonate sediments in a tropical Andean lake, Lago Umayo, Peru. The basic thesis of the first part of the paper is that, although modern instrumental records suffice for deducing climate variability at decadal and shorter time scales, these records cannot adequately characterize the nature and forcing of lower-frequency …

On The Sensitivity Of Ocean Circulation To Arctic Freshwater Pulses During The Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum, Jesse Tiner Cope

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

The Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) corresponds to a period characterized by extreme global warming caused by a massive carbon input into the ocean and atmosphere. Approximately 55 Ma in the early Cenozoic, evidence suggests an ice-free Arctic exchanged relatively fresh water with the remainder of the global ocean. In this study we use the Community Climate Systems Model version 3 (CCSM-3), including a carbon cycle model, to examine the sensitivity of deep-water formation and circulation within the global ocean to freshwater exchange from the Arctic Ocean during the PETM. Past modeling experiments show how alterations to seaway exchanges can have …

Seismic Inversion In Fluvial Reservoirs: Building A Geologic Model-Based Inversion For The Stratton Field 3d Survey, Richard Charles Odom

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

Seismic surveys, in particular 3-D surveys, are an important tool for imaging geologic structure in the subsurface; they are routinely applied to map structural trends and geometry to define the reservoir structure. Many of the world's oil and gas reservoirs are sands deposited by river systems but the scales of fluvial architectural elements challenge the resolution of the seismic method. One such challenging field is the Stratton field in the FR-4 Gas Play of south Texas; the reservoir is Frio formation, a thick collection (greater than 3000 feet) of stacked fluvial deposits consisting of thin channels and splays of reservoir …

The Nature Of Boulder-Rich Deposits In The Upper Big Flat Brook Drainage, Sussex County, New Jersey, Gregory A. Pope, Andrew J. Temples, Sean I. Mclearie, Joanne C. Kornoelje, Thomas J. Glynn

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The upper reaches of the Big Flat Brook drainage, northwest of Kittatinny Mountain, contain a variety of glacial, pro-glacial, and periglacial deposits from the Late Quaternary. The area is dominated by recessional moraines and ubiquitous ground moraine, along with meltwater deposits, drumlins, and possible postglacial periglacial features. We have identified a curious boulder-rich deposit in the vicinity of Lake Ocquittunk and Lake Wapalanne on upper Big Flat Brook. The area where these boulder deposits occur is mapped (1:24,000 surficial geology) as till. As mapped and observed, larger cobbles and boulders within the till are quartz-pebble conglomerate, quartzite, sandstone, and shale. …

Geochemistry Of Molybdenum In The Aquia Aquifer, Maryland, Usa, Teresa Iafelice Valle

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

The present study contributes to the understanding of controls on and behavior of molybdenum (Mo) in an aquifer, and its potential as an indicator of changing redox conditions along the groundwater flowpath. The central hypothesis of the present work is that the hydrogeochemical evolution along two separate groundwater flowpaths of the Aquia Aquifer, Maryland, USA, one each on the Eastern and Western Shore of Chesapeake Bay, consists of chemical weathering and oxidation-reduction reactions that dictate the degree of Mo mobilization, as well as mineral co-precipitation/re-adsorption reactions that dictate the degree of Mo immobilization (i.e., scavenging). This hypothesis is evaluated by …

Removal Of Butylene And Propylene Gas Using Biofiltration, Madhu Rani

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

Air pollutants are produced from a variety of anthropogenic activities such as food production, wastewater treatment plants, painting, industrial activities, and biomass combustion. Such pollutants are becoming a cause of concern worldwide because of their harmful effects on ecosystems, human health, and the atmosphere. One technology for treatment of these hazardous, odorous, and ozone-forming compounds is biofiltration. Biofilters are relatively inexpensive to install and operate, and can achieve high pollution removal efficiencies. This research was carried out to determine the removal efficiency of pollutants propylene and butylene using biofilter technology. In a biofilter column, air is passed through a packed …

Cave Minerals Of San Salvador Island, Bahamas, Bogdan P. Onac, Jonathan Sumrall, John E. Mylroie, Joe B. Kearns

Environmental Sustainability Books

This volume describes the results of a 2009 fieldwork season focusing on the cave minerals found in karst environments throughout San Salvador Island in the Bahamian archipelago. The caves visited represent a sampling of pit and flank margin caves. Each cave description includes a map.

Significance Of The Trace Fossil Zoophycos In Pliocene Deposits, Antarctic Continental Margin (Andrill 1b Drill Core), Molly F. Miller, Ellen A. Cowan, Simon H. H. Nielsen

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Zoophycos is a complex three dimensional trace fossil that is abundant in deep ocean sediments worldwide, but has not been described previously from Cenozoic continental margin deposits of Antarctica. In the ANDRILL 1B core drilled through the north-west McMurdo ice shelf, Zoophycos occurs in a 17m thick unit of interglacial sediments bounded above and below by glacial surfaces of erosion. This unit was deposited during the transition from the relatively warm Early Pliocene characterized by productive open waters to the cooler Late Pliocene with fluctuating subpolar ice sheets. Globally, Late Cenozoic Zoophycos are most abundant at great depths (.1000 m), …

Ecosystem Jenga!, Natalie Umphlett, Tierney Brosius, Ramesh Laungani, Diandra L. Leslie-Pelecky

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Students are often taught that ecosystems are "delicately balanced," But what. exactly, does this mean? How do we help students relate what they learn in the classroom about ecosystems to the world immediately around them?

As scientists who work closely with middle school students as part of a National Science Foundation-funded Graduate Fellows in K-12 Education program called Project Fulcrum. we have learned that abstract concepts, such as "delicately balanced ecosystem," are often not truly understood. We addressed this concern in a seventh-grade science classroom in Lincoln. Nebraska. by introducing students to locally threatened saline wetlands and the endangered Salt …

Models Of Garnet Differential Geochronology, Matthew J. Kohn

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Rayleigh distillation models are developed to describe theoretical growth zoning of Lu, Hf, Rb, Sr, Sm and Nd in typical garnet crystals from metapelites and metabasites. Effects of diffusion limited transport within the matrix and intracrystalline diffusion are also considered qualitatively. Theoretical zoning profiles show strong depletions of Lu in garnet rims compared to cores, but virtually invariant Hf, Rb, Sr, Sm, and Nd profiles, generally consistent with natural profiles for Lu and Hf and previously published models. Theoretical isochron diagrams for Lu-Hf exhibit distinctive arcuate distributions and high MSWD’s consistent both with Himalayan data, and with expectations that garnet …