Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Intraplate Seismicity In The Midwest, Alexa Fernández

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Intraplate seismicity represents a notable occurrence within the stable North American Craton. This research explores the potential sources of stresses that could reactivate older faults and influence seismic activity within this region. Among these sources, the enduring impact of the last glacial period is considered, which includes continued glacial isostatic adjustments (GIA). During GIA the lithosphere rebounds due to the retreating ice, and the forebulge caused by far-field flexure in response to the glacial load, collapses. This results in significant faulting, fracturing, and seismic activity associated with the deglaciation phase. The adjustment of the lithosphere manifests as both near surface …

Age Dating Young Groundwater: How To Determine Groundwater Age From Environmental Tracer Data, D. K. Solomon, T. E. Gilmore

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

The Impacts Of Site Formation Processes On Excavation Methodology: The Study Of A World War Ii B-24 Crash Site In Munster, Germany, Alicia J. Lawson

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Academic partnerships between universities and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) are a recent development to provide top research universities resources to assist in recovering and identifying MIA service members since World War II. A University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL)/DPAA Partner excavation revisited a WWII B-24H crash site in Münster, Germany in the summer of 2022. B-24H [redacted] crashed into three agricultural fields on 23 March 1945. Utilizing quantitative and qualitative data collected on the incident-related and archaeological osseous remains and artifacts recovered from the fields and the fields’ land use history, this thesis focuses on analyzing the site formation processes …

3d Hydrostratigraphic And Hydraulic Conductivity Modeling Using Supervised Machine Learning, T. A. Tilahun, Jesse T. Korus Dr.

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Very High Middle Miocene Surface Productivity On The U.S. Mid-Atlantic Shelf Amid Glacioeustatic Sea Level Variability, Marci M. Robinson, Harry J. Dowsett, Timothy D. Herbert

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO) provides important insights into how the climate system operates under elevated temperatures and atmospheric CO₂ levels. Few western North Atlantic paleotemperature or paleoecological records exist from the MCO, despite their importance for understanding both regional and global climate dynamics. Here we present quantitative MCO paleoecological data from the western North Atlantic, specifically from the Baltimore Gas & Electric (BG&E) marine sediment core from southern Maryland, USA. We examine alkenones and planktic foraminifera and document the first sea surface temperature (SST) and productivity estimates for the MCO and the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (MMCT) from …

Differentiating Early From Later Diagenesis Cretaceous Sandstone And Petroleum Reservoir Of The Cedar Mountain Formation In Utah, C. Robertson, G.A. Ludvigson, R.M. Joeckel, S. Mohammadi, J.I. Kirkland

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reconstruction Of Pre-Illinoian Ice Margins And Glaciotectonic Structures From Airborne Electromagnetic (Aem) Surveys At The Western Limit Of Laurentide Glaciation, Midcontinent U.S.A., Jesse T. Korus, Robert M. Joeckel, Jared D. Abraham, Anne-Sophie Høyer, Flemming Jørgensen

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Early and early Middle Pleistocene glaciations in midcontinental USA are poorly understood relative to more recent Illinoian and Wisconsinan glaciations, largely because pre-Illinoian glacial landforms and deposits are eroded and buried. In this paper, we present a new interpretation of buried, pre-Illinoian glacial features along the Laurentide glacial margin in northeastern Nebraska using Airborne ElectroMagnetics (AEM) supplemented with borehole logs and 2m LiDAR elevation data. We detect and map large-scale (101–102 km) geological features using contrasts in electrical resistivity. The Laurentide glacial limit is marked by a continuous (>120 km) contrast between conductive (<15 Ω-m), clayey tills and resistive (>40 Ω-m) sandy sediments. Several …

Age And Paleoenvironmental Significance Of The Frazer Beach Member—A New Lithostratigraphic Unit Overlying The End-Permian Extinction Horizon In The Sydney Basin, Australia, Stephen Mcloughlin, Robert S. Nicoll, James L. Crowley, Vivi Vajda, Chris Mays, Christopher R. Fielding, Tracy D. Frank, Alexander Wheeler, Malcolm Bocking

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The newly defined Frazer Beach Member of the Moon Island Beach Formation is identified widely across the Sydney Basin in both outcrop and exploration wells. This thin unit was deposited immediately after extinction of the Glossopteris flora (defining the terrestrial end- Permian extinction event). The unit rests conformably on the uppermost Permian coal seam in most places. A distinctive granule-microbreccia bed is locally represented at the base of the member. The unit otherwise consists of dark gray to black siltstone, shale, mudstone and, locally, thin lenses of fine-grained sandstone and tuff. The member represents the topmost unit of the Newcastle …

Geoscience Education Research: Trends And Applications In Undergraduate Courses, Diane Lally

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Water resources are progressively under pressure from anthropogenic uses. Students need to learn about water systems as they are the future decision-makers and problem solvers who will be faced with unknown challenges in the future. The overarching goals of this dissertation were: 1) to identify ways in which geoscience instructors are incorporating systems thinking and science modeling in their teaching along with the accompanying methods for improving systems thinking and modeling implementation and 2) explore how the implementation of science modeling and systems thinking increase student evaluation of models and the understanding of hydrologic content. Data for these studies came …

Interpretive Geologic Maps And Cross Sections For Phelps, Kearney, And Adams Counties In Nebraska, Dana Divine, Leslie M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Data from thousands of test-hole and well logs were interpreted to improve understanding and management of the High Plains aquifer in a three-county study area adjacent to the Big Bend reach of the Platte River. Five principal conclusions resulted from these interpretations: (1) the extent of Neogene Ogallala deposits beneath the study area is different than previously mapped; (2) a large paleovalley incised into Cretaceous bedrock probably cuts across Kearney and Adams counties and may be the course of the ancestral Platte River prior to formation of the Big Bend; (3) a groundwater mound created by irrigation canals artificially raises …

Civil Engineering Design Of Cornhusker Council's Outdoor Education Center, Kelly Weiler

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

A team of geotechnical, structural, hydraulic, environmental, and transportation experts collaborated to provide engineering solutions to the Cornhusker Council in an effort to solve the current problems facing their Outdoor Education Center. This results of this project provided the structural design of three bridges on the property, transportation plans for two parking lots and roadway design, geotechnical recommendations for soil testing and erosion prevention, and an environmental and hydraulic analysis of the property. A major challenge in the design of this project is the consideration of the dangers and regulations that accompany the floodway and floodplain regions on site. Various …

Plant Root Systems Preserved In The Permian Cedar Mesa Sandstone At Moki Dugway, Southeastern Utah, David Loope

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Rooted green plants represent the base of the food chain for most terrestrial ecosystems, but, compared to animal burrows, root systems are relatively rarely recognized in ancient sedimentary rocks. Plant roots that penetrate unconsolidated sand dunes, especially those containing not only quartz grains, but also abundant grains of calcite (CaCO₃), are commonly replaced by fine crystals of calcite (Klappa, 1980). These structures (known by geologists as rhizoliths from the Greek for “root rock”) are one form of calcite cemented soil and sediment called caliche (Figure 1). Caliche crystallizes well above the water table and its calcite crystals are …

Cut, Fill, Repeat: Slot Canyons Of Dry Fork, Kane County, David Loope

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The slot canyons of southern Utah (figure 1) have become popular destinations for hikers, climbers, and photographers. For most of these canyons, the geology is simple: sediment carried by flowing water abrades a thick, homogeneous sandstone. As time passes, the rate of down-cutting is rapid compared to the rate of cliff retreat. End of story. The strange abundance and configuration of the slot canyons along Dry Fork Coyote (a tributary of Coyote Gulch and the Escalante River), however, have a convoluted geologic history that is climate-driven and involves canyon cutting, canyon filling, and more canyon cutting.

Exploring The Northwest Margin Of The High Plains Aquifer: Structure, Depositional History And Hydrogeology, Nebraska Geological Society Field Trip, Doug Hallum, Dennis O. Terry, Jr., Michael Leite, Jennifer Balmat

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The northwest portion of the High Plains Aquifer in Nebraska corresponds with the western Sandhills, Box Butte, Sioux and Dawes County tablelands, and the Nebraska Pine Ridge in northwest Nebraska. This field excursion will travel beyond the margins of the High Plains aquifer into the White River valley and onto the Oglala National Grasslands. These areas are not only rich in natural resources, but rich in history as well. While this excursion will explore earth history, depositional environments and a portion of the High Plains Aquifer, the authors encourage all attendees to take additional time to explore the cultural, military …

Plant Root Systems Preserved In The Permian Cedar Mesa Sandstone At Moki Dugway, Southeastern Utah, David Loope

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Rooted green plants represent the base of the food chain for most terrestrial ecosystems, but, compared to animal burrows, root systems are relatively rarely recognized in ancient sedimentary rocks. Plant roots that penetrate unconsolidated sand dunes, especially those containing not only quartz grains, but also abundant grains of calcite (CaCO₃), are commonly replaced by fine crystals of calcite (Klappa, 1980). These structures (known by geologists as rhizoliths from the Greek for “root rock”) are one form of calcite cemented soil and sediment called caliche (figure 1). Caliche crystallizes well above the water table and its calcite crystals are …

Eliza Calvert Hall, A Book Of Hand-Woven Coverlets, And Collecting Coverlet Patterns In Early Twentieth Century Appalachia, Philis Alvic

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In her 1912 book, Eliza Calvert Hall describes looking out of her window and seeing coverlets thrown over tobacco wagons on way to market. She would run out and try to bargain with the owner for the coverlet. She collected coverlets, their design names, and their patterns. Since Hall supported herself with her writing, she counted on her coverlet book appealing to the wide audience of people interested in the Colonial Revival in home decoration. Although hall published the book, she was just the more visible of those interested in coverlets during the early twentieth century. Throughout Appalachia, there were …

A Pilot Study For Examining Population Movement During The Peri-Medieval Climatic Anomaly In The Nebraska Sand Hills, Nora C. Greiman

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

The Sand Hills of Nebraska comprise a dynamic environment of sand dunes that has changed much over the millennia since their formation. Periods of dune reactivation have occurred throughout history, including one such period at approximately A.D. 900-1300 associated with the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA). Much is known about the geologic activity during this period but little is known about how human populations responded to changing environments. I examine the chronology of three sites occupied during the peri-MCA and the change or stasis in population movements via chemical characterization of ceramic artifacts. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was performed on …

Sandstones And Utah’S Canyon Country: Deposition, Diagenesis, Exhumation, And Landscape Evolution, David Loope, Richard Kettler, Kendra Murray, Joel Pederson, Peter Reiners

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

South-central Utah’s prominent sandstones and deeply dissected landscapes are the focus of this four-day trip, which begins and ends in Grand Junction, Colorado. Studies of the apatite grains in sandstones adjacent to igneous intrusions are revealing new information on the timing and rate of Cenozoic erosion. Iron-oxide-cemented concretions in other rocks record how reduced-iron carbonates and subsurface microbes interacted when near-surface, oxygenated waters started to flush the reducing, CO₂-rich waters from Colorado Plateau aquifers. New geochronologic techniques that are being applied to the plateau rocks have the potential to expand our knowledge of how diagenetic episodes relate to …

Sedimentological And Stratigraphic Study Of A Falling-Stage Delta Complex In The Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Ferron Sandstone Member Of The Mancos Shale, South-Central Utah, Usa, Fares Alaboud

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The character and distribution of lithofacies in falling-stage deltas are incompletely documented. This paper presents a sedimentological and stratigraphic evaluation of a superbly-exposed interval of Cretaceous deltaic strata that are believed to be of falling stage origin. The studied interval forms part of the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale in the southernmost Henry Mountains Basin of south-central Utah, USA. The interval of interest is exposed in three dimensions over a 20 km² area in a series of canyon walls. Observed facies include fine-grained mudrocks (offshore basin), mudrocks with thinly interlaminated sandstone (prodelta), thinly interbedded …

A New Spatio-Temporal Data Mining Method And Its Application To Reservoir System Operation, Abhinaya Mohan

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis develops a spatio-temporal data mining method for uncertain water reservoir data. The goal of the data mining method is to learn from a history human reservoir operations in order to derive an automated controller for a reservoir system. Spatio-temporal data mining is a challenging task due to the reasons: (1) spatio-temporal datasets are usually much larger than spatial data sets, (2) many common spatial techniques are unable to deal with objects that change location, size or shape, and (3) complex and often non-linear spatio-temporal relationships cannot be separated into pure spatial and pure temporal relationships.

Support Vector Machines …

Early And Late Iron Diagensis In The Upper Triassic Shinarump Member Of The Chinle Formation (Utah And Arizona), Derek T. Burgess

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The fluvial Shinarump Member of the Chinle Formation in southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona contains several distinct types of diagenetic iron accumulations. They range to more than 50 cm in diameter, and are dominantly composed of iron-oxide cement, but siderite, rhodochrosite and pyrite cements are common. Iron-oxide cements occur in all facies, but are most abundant in channel sandstone bodies. There, iron-oxide-cement occurs as wonderstone fabric (rinds & staining), dispersed rhombic pseudomorphs, and as discoidal concretions within intraformational conglomerates. Evidence from Shinarump sediment indicates that the ferrous carbonate mineral siderite (FeCO₃) was the precursor mineral for current iron-oxide …

Drill Hole Data For Coal Beds In The Powder River Basin, Montana And Wyoming, Jon E. Haacke, David C. Scott

United States Geological Survey: Publications

This report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) of the Powder River Basin (PRB) of Montana and Wyoming is part of the U.S. Coal Resources and Reserves Assessment Project. Essential to that project was the creation of a comprehensive drill hole database that was used for coal bed correlation and for coal resource and reserve assessments in the PRB. This drill hole database was assembled using data from the USGS National Coal Resources Data System, several other Federal and State agencies, and selected mining companies. Additionally, USGS personnel manually entered lithologic picks into the database from geophysical logs of coalbed …

Hawaiian Forest Birds: The Past, Present And Future Status Of An Endangered Avifauna, Dennis A. Lapointe, Carter T. Atkinson, Paul C. Banko, Richard J. Camp, P. Marcos Gorresen, James D. Jacobi, Thane K. Pratt, Michael D. Samuel

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Hawaiian forest birds are among the most endangered avifauna of the world. Entire bird groups have disappeared from the Hawaiian Islands, and of the more than fifty, historically-known species of Hawaiian honeycreeper, only 17 remain. Due to the extreme geographical isolation, few birds colonized the Hawaiian Islands but, released from direct competition, predation, and disease, these founders flourished and evolved amid the heterogeneous geography of the archipelago. This process of colonization and speciation is best characterized by the honeycreepers; the largest radiation of endemic forest birds in the Hawaiian Islands, or for that matter, birds on any oceanic archipelago. …

Chapter 5 Biotic Interactions And Temporal Patterns Forlandslide Ecology, Lawrence R. Walker, Aaron B. Shiels

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

1. Landslide succession is the sequential replacement of plant communities following landslide creation. It is affected by biotic interactions and abiotic conditions and occurs in the intervals between recurrent erosion events.

2. Plant species can facilitate or inhibit landslide succession by direct species interactions or indirectly by the alteration of resources including light levels, soil stability, soil moisture, or soil nutrients. Species replacements may also occur due to differences in the life histories of landslide colonizers.

3. Herbivores, pathogens, and non-native species influence landslide succession and contribute to the variety of successional trajectories found on landslides, potentially with long-term consequences. …

Evolution Of The Calcareous Nannofossil Genus Biscutum In The Mid- To Upper Cretaceous North American Mid-Latitudes, Bobbi J. Brace

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The calcareous nannofossil genus Biscutum is ubiquitous in mid to Upper Cretaceous pelagic sediments and is an important paleoceanographic proxy for surface water fertility. Most work on the evolution of Biscutum has been conducted on high latitude sections or Lower Cretaceous or Jurassic sediments, leaving a gap in the understanding of Biscutum evolution in mid-latitudes during the mid to Late Cretaceous. This study documents the evolution of Biscutum during the mid to Late Cretaceous in a mid-latitude composite section from North America. Six new species of Biscutum are presented herein, in addition to an emended Biscutum constans species concept. An …

Pharmacists' Role In Safe And Legal Medication Disposal, Allyson Lamb

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

No abstract provided.

Evolution Of The Earliest Horses Driven By Climate Change In The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Ross Secord, Jonathan I. Bloch, Stephen G. B. Chester, Doug M. Boyer, Aaron R. Wood, Scott L. Wing, Mary J. Kraus, Francesca A. Mcinerney, John Krigbaum

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Body size plays a critical role in mammalian ecology and physiology. Previous research has shown that many mammals became smaller during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), but the timing and magnitude of that change relative to climate change have been unclear. A high-resolution record of continental climate and equid body size change shows a directional size decrease of ~30% over the first ~130,000 years of the PETM, followed by a ~76% increase in the recovery phase of the PETM. These size changes are negatively correlated with temperature inferred from oxygen isotopes in mammal teeth and were probably driven by shifts …

Hydrostratigraphic Interpretation Of Test-Hole And Surface Geophysical Data, Elkhorn And Loup River Basins, Nebraska, 2008 To 2011, Christopher M. Hobza, Paul A. Bedrosian, Benjamin R. Bloss

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

The Elkhorn-Loup Model (ELM) was begun in 2006 to understand the effect of various groundwater-management scenarios on surface-water resources. During phase one of the ELM study, a lack of subsurface geological information was identified as a data gap. Test holes drilled to the base of the aquifer in the ELM study area are spaced as much as 25 miles apart, especially in areas of the western Sand Hills. Given the variable character of the hydrostratigraphic units that compose the High Plains aquifer system, substantial variation in aquifer thickness and characteristics can exist between test holes. To improve the hydrogeologic understanding …

The Ringed Crayfish, Orconectes Neglectus Neglectus, In Nebraska With A Revision Of Its Distributional Range, Steven C. Schainost

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Collections of crayfishes in Nebraska have yielded much new information on the distribution of the ringed crayfish, Orconectes neglectus neglectus. The distributional range of this species had been described as southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas with extensions into Kansas and Oklahoma. Isolated, disjunct populations in northeastern Colorado, southwestern Nebraska, and northwestern and east-central Kansas were thought to be relict populations. Between 1995 and 2009, collections of crayfishes were made throughout Nebraska using various techniques including seining, trapping, dip-netting, and handgrabbing. To date, the ringed crayfish has been found in 56 streams in eight of Nebraska’s 13 river basins. In …

Hydrostratigraphic Interpretation Of Test-Hole And Geophysical Data, Upper Loup River Basin, Nebraska, 2008-10, Christopher M. Hobza, Theodore H. Asch, Paul A. Bedrosian

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

Nebraska's Upper Loup Natural Resources District is currently (2011) participating in the Elkhorn-Loup Model to understand the effect of various groundwater-management scenarios on surface-water resources. During Phase 1 of the Elkhorn-Loup Model, a lack of subsurface geological information in the Upper Loup Natural Resources District, hereafter referred to as the upper Loup study area, was identified as a gap in current knowledge that needed to be addressed. To improve the understanding of the hydrogeology of the upper Loup study area, the United States Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Upper Loup Natural Resources District and the University of Nebraska Conservation …