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First Insight On The Genesis Of Iron Oxide-Hydroxide Biospeleothems In Rancho Chico Lava Tube, Mexico, Rafael López-Martínez, Elizabeth Solleiro-Rebolledo, Rocio Alcántara-Hernández, Teresa Pi Puig, Sergey Sedov, Daisy Valera Fernández, M. Nayeli Luis-Vargas, Yasmany Lima Vera, Jesús Solé, Ramon Espinasa-Pereña

International Journal of Speleology

Iron is a common element in lava tube systems, typically observed as thin crusts or inferred from the reddish coloration of secondary mineral deposits. In this study, we describe iron oxide-hydroxide biospeleothems discovered in the Rancho Chico Lava Tube, located within the Xalapa Monogenetic Volcanic Field in Mexico. We adopt an integrative approach combining petrography, soil micromorphology, scanning electron microscopy, mineralogy, and 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding. DNA sequencing reveals the presence of microorganisms such as Acidithiobacillus, Gallionella, and members of the Leptospirillaceae family, which may be involved in the oxidation of Fe²⁺ within the lava tube. The source …

Stratigraphic Evidence Of Backwater Morphodynamics And Lowland River Deltas In The Northern Hemisphere Of Mars, C.M. Hughes, J.B. Shaw, A.M. Fernandes, T.E. Swanson

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Backwater morphodynamics describe feedbacks between hydraulics and sedimentation in fluvio-deltaic systems in the coastal backwater zone. On Earth, normalized channel belt width decreases approaching the coastline and drops sharply at the start of the backwater zone. This systematic decrease allows a backwater/belt-width window to be defined, one backwater length upstream from the coast with normalized widths from 2 to 6. We use the backwater/belt-width window to interpret backwater morphodynamics and estimate backwater length on Mars using narrowing channel belts at Aeolis Dorsa. We measure nine belts from martian delta deposits and compare normalized width to distance upstream from an ancient …

Sea Turtle Nesting On Nourished Beaches With Different Construction Designs: A Case Study In Southeast Florida, Usa., Lara Novalvos Hernandez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the influences of different beach nourishment designs and subsequent post-nourishment profile adjustments on loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and green (Chelonia mydas) sea turtles nest survival and reproductive success. Data on time-series post-nourishment beach-profile changes, positions and elevations of turtle tracks and nest/false-crawl apices, and sea turtle nest hatch/emergence success were collected on five high density nesting beaches along the east coast of Florida: Melbourne Beach, Jensen Beach, Jupiter Island Beach, Juno Beach, and South Hutchinson Island Beach. The field data collection was conducted in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022 with the main goal of documenting and comparing turtle …

Quantifying Wellbore Effects During Co2 Sequestration In A Saline Aquifer, Uzoma Johnpaul Ajugwe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a strategy for mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from large stationary sources like fossil-fuel-fired power stations. One method of CCS involves carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration in deep saline aquifers, where supercritical CO2 is injected into an aquifer. The success of such projects depends on accurate predictions of CO2 behavior within the subsurface, which are obtained through numerical simulations.

TOUGHREACT, a renowned simulation tool, models subsurface fluid flow, geochemical interactions, and solute transport, providing insights into the feasibility of CO2 sequestration projects. A critical aspect of these simulations is the apportioning of …

The Discovery, Communication, And Implementation Of New Geologic Findings: Examining The Cascadia Earthquake, Saylor Brainard

University Honors Theses

The Cascadia Subduction Zone, located off the Coast of the Pacific Northwest, is at risk of generating a 9.0 magnitude earthquake in the near future. Despite its significance, the discovery of the seismic potential of Cascadia didn't occur until 1987, when geologist Brian Atwater searched for non-traditional forms of earthquake evidence. As decades of continued research fleshed out Atwater's initial discovery, the implications associated with the discovery became apparent, presenting Washington and Oregon with the high probability that a massive earthquake will take place within the next century. Communicating the severity of this geologic discovery to both the public and …

Characterization Of The Quaternary Active Twin Lakes Fault, Mount Hood, Oregon, Johnathan Peterson

University Honors Theses

The High Cascades chain of volcanoes results from Cascade Arc volcanism and is responsible for the generation of the highest topography in the state of Oregon. Surrounding Mt. Hood at the crest of the Cascade chain in northern Oregon is the Mt. Hood Fault Zone, an extensional fault zone of generally north-south trending normal faults that down-drop this high volcanic topography. The Twin Lakes Fault is located just south of Mt. Hood and is one of the southernmost faults in the Mt. Hood Fault Zone, previously mapped as approximately 12-13 km in length. This study provides the first in-depth characterization …

Perchlorate Brine Formation From Frost At The Viking 2 Landing Site, Vincent F. Chevrier

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The presence and stability of brines on Mars’s surface remain a significant mystery in planetary exploration. Previous mechanisms proposed for brine formation include melting of ice-salt mixtures and salt deliquescence. However, melting lacks a recharge mechanism, and deliquescence is impeded by Mars’s extreme surface aridity. This study explores an underexplored process: the role of seasonal frost in brine formation. Utilizing meteorological data from the Viking 2 lander—the only mission, with Phoenix, to observe in situ water frost formation—I demonstrate that brines can form over approximately 30 sols at the end of winter as frost sublimates. The stable brines exhibit a …

Siliciclastic Cave Or Diamond Mine? Multiapproach Investigation In Igatu Village, Chapada Diamantina, Northeastern Brazil, Raphael Parra, Ricardo G. F. De A. Pereira, Leonardo F. Vieira, Rubson P. Maia

International Journal of Speleology

The territory around Igatu, as that of many villages in southeastern Chapada Diamantina (Bahia, Brazil), was deeply modified by diamond mine activity. Caves were special targets for miners, since they can act as diamond-bearing sediment traps, and the Canal da Fumaça Cave was one of the most important and rich of them. The question that arises is whether the formation is a natural cave or an artificial diamond mine. In order to answer this question, we developed speleological and geological studies with detailed cave surveys, remote sensing and field measurements for structural analysis, optical and electronic microscope for petrographic characterization, …

Short Communication: Multiscale Topographic Complexity Analysis With Pytopocomplexity, L. S.-H. Lai, Adam Booth, A. R. Duvall, E. Herzig

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

TopoComplexity is a Python package designed for efficient and customizable quantification of topographic complexity using four advanced methods: two-dimensional continuous wavelet transform analysis, fractal dimension estimation, rugosity index, and terrain position index calculations. This package addresses the lack of open-source software for these advanced terrain analysis techniques essential for modern geomorphology and geohazard research, enhancing data comparison and reproducibility. By assessing topographic complexity across multiple spatial scales, pyTopoComplexity allows users to identify characteristic morphological scales of studied landforms. The software repository also includes a Jupyter Notebook that integrates components from the surface-process modeling platform Landlab (Hobley et al., 2017), facilitating …

Classifying Detrital Zircon U-Pb Age Distributions Using Automated Machine Learning, Jack W. Fekete, Glenn R. Sharman, Xiao Huang

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The prodigious use of detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology for provenance studies in recent decades has led many researchers to amass extensive datasets (>100,000 dates). When displayed as age distributions, individual samples are traditionally compared using visual inspection and statistical methods, which can become timeconsuming and challenging when using large datasets. We propose that machine learning (ML) can more efficiently classify a sample by its source using detrital zircon U-Pb age distributions. Specifically, we hypothesize that automated machine learning (AutoML), which optimizes algorithm selection and hyperparameters, will outperform an unoptimized Random Forest (RF) classifier and the cross-correlation coefficient (R-2), a …

Investigation Of Retention And Dehydration Of Preformed Particle Gel For Conformance Control In Fractured Carbonates, Abdulaziz A. Almakimi, Abdullah O. Almansour, Junchen Liu, Baojun Bai, Ibnelwaleed A. Hussein

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Preformed particle gel (PPG) treatment has proved to be among the most effective methods to reduce excessive water production in fractured reservoirs. The blocking ability of PPGs to fractures or fracture-like features is highly dependent on injected gel properties and volume. Gel dehydration during extrusion through fracture is common and has a considerable effect on gel properties, transport, and plugging efficiency. As the gel particles propagate through the fracture, continuous dehydration is often associated and causes the gel to concentrate and require high-pressure gradients to move. Dehydration might be desirable to a certain limit because it can help to form …

Sequestrichnia In Complex Ophiomorpha Isp. From Late Pleistocene Grainstones In The Bahamas, With Modern Analogue Comparisons, H. Allen Curran, Koji Seike, Bosiljka Glumac

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

An important scientific contribution of ichnological research is to expand knowledge of animal behavior through the study of trace fossils. Ophiomorpha isp. is the dominant trace fossil preserved in Late Pleistocene shallow-marine grainstones throughout the Bahama Archipelago. These large, distinctive, and complex burrows commonly display elements reflecting specialized activities. Pouchlike structures of Ophiomorpha from two Exuma sites are interpreted as sequestrichnia—in this case, chambers constructed by callichirid shrimp specifically for storage of seagrasses and algae as food resources. Two morphologies are recognized: structures with radiating arms and blunt endings, and rectangular forms with pairs of arms separated by a short …

Revealing Watery Geologies: Softening The Mississippi River Bluffs In Saint Paul, Minnesota, Chloe Kahn

Masters Theses

How is a place shaped by the geologies beneath it? In Saint Paul, Minnesota, the geologic ground tells the story of the different forces and processes that shaped it through time, but in the most recent geologic period of the anthropocene, industrialization and urban development have covered up these stories. On the edge of downtown, where the city meets the Mississippi River, an eighty foot concrete wall replaces the natural form of the bluff shaped by glacial and riverine activity. This thesis peels back the anthropogenic materials we encounter every day and explores Saint Paul through deep time– exploring how …

Latah Formation: History And Case Studies, Kylee M. Woodworth

2025 Symposium

The Latah Formation is a series of discontinuous sedimentary interbeds between the flows of the Columbia River Flood Basalts outcropping across northern Idaho and eastern Washington. Ages ranging between the Middle to Upper Miocene, the sediments represent varied fluvio-lacustrine environments. The deposits are predominantly composed of claystones and shales as alternating, laminated couplets, many containing a variety of fossils. Though the sediments may appear similar across localities, they come from different source rocks, ranging from ashes from Yellowstone hotspot to metamorphic rock from nearby hills. These ancient lacustrine and fluvial environments allowed for great preservation of fossils, often in great …

Structural Analysis Of Catawissa Quadrangle, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, Kylee M. Woodworth

2025 Symposium

Catawissa Mountain within Columbia County, Pennsylvania is a part of a much large system of mountains called the Appalachian Mountains. Though little more than hills today, the Appalachian Mountains are some of the oldest mountains in the Americas, dating back to after the separation of the supercontinent, Pangea. This presentation is about the structure interpretations of the Catawissa 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, located in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, including fold analysis of the SW trending Catawissa Syncline, formed from Appalachian fold-thrust belt. These analyses are to decipher how the mountain formed from the surrounding regional tectonics and the timeframe of when the …

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 …

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

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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. …

Magma Evolution And Eruptive History Of Three Fingered Jack: A Mafic Composite Volcano In The Central High Cascades Of Oregon, Javaria Aziz

Dissertations and Theses

The central High Cascades graben in Oregon has been a center for mafic volcanism since its initiation. Three Fingered Jack is one of the larger mafic composite cones in the graben, located 20km south of Mount Jefferson. Three Fingered Jack erupted between 142.1 - 150.8ka, based on Ar⁴⁰/Ar³⁹ age dates. This study provides stratigraphic, compositional and petrographic evidence to understand the eruptive history of Three Fingered Jack and the processes involved in generating compositionally diverse basaltic andesites here.

The basaltic andesites of Three Fingered Jack show three compositional trends of magma evolution: 1) enrichment, 2) depletion and …

Recent U.S. Government Policy Literature On Critical And Strategic Minerals, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Critical and strategic minerals have become increasingly important in U.S. government civilian and military policymaking in recent years. This is demonstrated by the heavy use of such minerals in many critical civilian and military infrastructures. This work will discuss how this subject has been addressed in laws, presidential documents, and works by government agencies along with congressional oversight committees and support agencies. It will stress how the United States is heavily dependent on strategic minerals from adversarial foreign countries such as China and will examine U.S. efforts to increase its ability to produce such materials in the United States by …

Impacts Of Water Conservation Cost-Share Programs On Irrigated Rice Extensification And Intensification In Critical Groundwater Areas Of The Arkansas Delta, Joshua Michael Blackstock, Oladipo S. Obembe, Aaron Shew, Michele Reba, Joseph M. Massey, Phillip R. Owens, Christopher D. Delhom

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

We analyzed the impact of government cost-shares for irrigation water management (IWM) conservation practices on the expansion and cropping intensity of rice (Oryza spp.) acreage in the Arkansas Delta. We used the correlated random effects probit model to control for unobserved effects and exploit changes in government spending over time. We found that government-spending impacts are heterogeneous across Critical Groundwater Area (CGA) designations. A 10% increase in government spending in counties fully within CGAs would reduce the propensity to expand rice acreage by 1.2 percentage points and the likelihood to rotate rice after rice by 7.6 percentage points. In counties …

Survey Of A Paired Gravity Anomaly Within The Benton Uplift Of The Ouachita Mountains, Isaac B. Prud'homme

Physics Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Benton Uplift west of Hot Springs, AR is underlain by a paired gravity anomaly on the order of 80 mGal. Nicholas & Rozendal (1975) have theorized that the gravitational low is caused by a “downwarp of the crust into the mantle”1 however the cause of the gravitational high is still debated. This paired gravity anomaly within the Benton Uplift follows the Ouachita orogenic belt southwest for 500 miles where it meets the Marathon uplift in southwest Texas. We conducted a gravity survey along a 108-km-long transect east of two previous gravity surveys.2,3 We corrected the data from this transect …

Reevaluating The Drumian Carbon Isotope Excursion (Dice) In Western-Central Utah, Michelle M. Norman

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The Drumian Stage of the Cambrian Period is defined by the First Appearance Datum (FAD) of the cosmopolitan trilobite Ptychagnostus atavus in 504.5 Ma strata deposited on the slope and shelf of the Laurentia margin. The Drumian Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP), showing the best preserved example of P. atavus compared to global outcrops, is defined in the Drum Mountains of west-central Utah. Due to the inconsistent nature of fossil preservation, researchers have sought secondary proxies to identify Drumian-aged strata in the absence of age-diagnostic fauna. One key proxy is the Drumian Carbon Isotope Excursion (DICE), an ~-2.5‰ carbon …

Earthscape Ai Dataset V1.1, Matthew Massey, Abdullah-Al-Zubaer Imran

Research Data--KGS

EarthScape v1.1 Dataset Download Links:

esv1p1_smokeset.zip (197 MB)

esv1p1_splits.zip (2.5 MB)

esv1p1_usa_ky_data.zip (1 MB)

esv1p1_usa_ky_hardin_howevalley.zip (26.3 GB)

esv1p1_usa_ky_hardin_sonora.zip (26.3 GB)

esv1p1_usa_ky_warren.zip (166 GB)

Surficial geologic mapping is essential for understanding Earth surface processes and supporting applications in engineering, hazard assessment, and resource management. However, traditional mapping approaches are labor-intensive, limiting spatial coverage and introducing subjectivity. To address these challenges, we introduce EarthScape, a multimodal, AI-ready geospatial dataset designed for surficial geologic mapping and Earth surface analysis. EarthScape integrates high-resolution aerial RGB and near-infrared (NIR) imagery, digital elevation models (DEM), multi-scale terrain features derived from DEMs, and hydrologic and infrastructure vector …