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Quaternary Evolution Of The Colorado River At Lees Ferry, Arizona, William Scott Cragun

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A well-exposed suite of Colorado River fill terraces preserved at Lees Ferry records the oscillating history of this major river superimposed on its overall downcutting of the Colorado Plateau. Detailed mapping, sedimentology, cross-sectional surveys, and the use of two geochronometers have been used in order to establish a detailed chronostratigraphy for the area. Eight distinct deposits have been identified along the Colorado River (Ml -M7, and S3), and four deposits have been identified along the Paria River (Pl -P4).

Geochronology of six of these deposits using optically stimulated luminescence and cosmogenic ¹⁰Be exposure techniques indicates a long-term average bedrock …

Sequence Stratigraphy Of The Middle Cambrian Marjum Formation: Response Of Sedimentary Facies And Biota To Sea-Level Changes, Douglas D. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Research on the Marjum Formation provides insight into facies transitions in the House Range embayment of southwestern Utah during the Middle Cambrian. Sections of the Marjum Formation and equivalents were measured in strata representing shallow- (Drum Mountains), intermediate- (Wheeler Amphitheater), and deep-ramp (Marjum Pass) environments. This traverse across the embayment reveals strong litho- and biofacies changes. The Drum Mountains strata (343 m thick) are dominated by thick-bedded shallow-water limestone facies containing polymerid trilobites and stromatolites. The Wheeler Amphitheater locality (392 m thick) provides an example of intermediate deposits between deep-water and shallow-water environments and is characterized by limestone and subordinate …

Effects Of Quaternary Climate Change On Tributary Sedimentation And Geomorphology In Eastern Grand Canyon, Benjamin D. Dejong

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Climate variability has had a dramatic impact on eastern Grand Canyon tributaries over the past ~100 ky. This is readily observed in the Lava Chuar and Comanche catchments, which host well preserved colluvial remnants and river terraces that resulted from several climate-induced cycles of aggradation and incision. This study investigates these climate responses using surveying, sedimentology, and luminescence geochronology methods to investigate the mechanisms and timing of their deposition.

The survey data demonstrate that the concavity of terrace treads is lower than modern drainages. The sedimentology suggests the prevalence of stream-flow reworking of debris flow deposits and portrays an expected …

Does The Southern Farmington Canyon Complex Record A Late Archean/Early Proterozoic Accretionary Complex?, Kyle C. Andreasen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Farmington Canyon Complex, situated along the Wasatch front in northern Utah, has been the target for many studies. The FCC has been interpreted to be a passive margin sedimentary wedge. Previous studies have yielded isotopic ages that broadly support an Archean age of formation, and a prominent mid-proterozoic amphibolite grade metamorphic event.

Based on this study, a new interpretation for the FCC is presented. Field relations and whole-rock geochemistry as well as recent advances in understanding Archean crustal processes have resulted in the FCC to be considered as an accretionary complex that formed along the SW margin of the …

Re-Evaluation Of The Jesse Ewing Canyon Formation: Implications For Neoproterozoic Paleogeography And Tectonic Setting Of Northeastern Utah, Andrew M. Brehm

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Detailed analysis of the basal unit of the Uinta Mountain Group, the Jesse Ewing Canyon Formation, of northeastern Utah and northwestern Colorado, expands on previous work by further documenting the character of the unit and proposing a revision of the description of the formation and interpretation. The Jesse Ewing Canyon Formation is ~≤1,000 meters thick as opposed to ≤225 meters thick, and the dominant lithology is not conglomerate, but rather finer-grained facies. The Jesse Ewing Canyon Formation reveals multiple alluvial fan point sources feeding a shallow body of water in an active rift basin at ~781 Ma.

Stratigraphic mapping, measured …

Structural Characterization Of Three Southeast Segments Of The Clark Fault, Salton Trough California, Benjamin E. Belgarde

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

We examine the structural complexities of a 28-km long part of the Clark fault of the San Jacinto fault zone in southern California in order to better document its lateral extent and the style of deformation of its southeast end. Changes in structural style are observed as the Clark fault’s damage zone widens from ~ 1-2 km in crystalline rocks of the Peninsular Ranges southeastward to ~ 18 km in the sedimentary rocks of the San Felipe-Borrego subbasin of the Salton Trough. The Clark fault extends into the San Felipe-Borrego subbasin as the Arroyo Salada segment for ~ 11-12 km …

The Timing And Magnitude Of Channel Adjustments In The Upper Green River Below Flaming Gorge Dam In Browns Park And Lodore Canyon, Colorado: An Analysis Of The Pre- And Post-Dam River Using High-Resolution Dendrogeomorphology And Repeat Topographic Surveys, Jason S. Alexander

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Channel narrowing on the Green River in Utah and Colorado has been well documented by several authors and has been attributed to reductions in flow after 1930, the construction of Flaming Gorge Dam (FGD), and the invasion of the woody riparian plant Tamarisk (tamarix ramosissima). Narrowing has occurred through the deposition of inset floodplains, which have vertically accreted within a previously larger active channel. Prior to closure of FGD, lower magnitude floods aggraded surfaces in the areas of the channel that had the highest divergence in the velocity flow field (i.e. bars and banks). These surfaces later became …

Dynamics Of Spatial Pattern Formation: Cases Of Spikes And Droplets, Yuya Sasaki

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis studies the gradient system that forms spatial patterns such that the minimum distances of pairs among various points are maximized in the end. As this problem innately involves singularity issues, an extended system of the gradient system is proposed. Motivated by the spatial pattern suggested by a numerical example, this extended system is applied to a three-point problem and then to a two-point problem in a quotient space of ℝ² modulo a lattice.

The Red Top Model: A Landscape-Scale Integrodifference Equation Model Of The Mountain Pine Beetle-Lodgepole Pine Forest Interaction, Justin Heavilin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Under normative conditions the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) has played a regulating role in healthy lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) forests. However, recently eruptive outbreaks that result from large pine beetle populations have destroyed vast tracts of valuable forest. The outbreaks in North America have received a great deal of attention from both the timber industry and government agencies as well as biologists and ecologists.

In this dissertation we develop a landscape-scaled integrodifference equation model describing the mountain pine beetle and its effect on a lodgepole pine forest. The model is built upon a stage-structured model …

Structural Properties Of Formal Polynomial Algebras In Noncommuting Or Nonassociating Indeterminates, Serge C. Ballif

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In order to enlarge the class of equations provided by traditional polynomials over a binary algebra A to a more useful class of equations, we introduce polynomials in noncommuting or nonassociating indeterminates. We discuss algebraic properties of these formal polynomial algebras and their accompanying polynomial function algebras. We present certain basis results for polynomial algebras, which are used to address the question of zero divisors in a polynomial algebra. We give an analog of the remainder theorem and the factor theorem for polynomials. Particular emphasis is placed on showing the difference between polynomials and polynomial functions. We also provide a …

A Classification Of Real Indecomposable Solvable Lie Algebras Of Small Dimension With Codimension One Nilradicals, Alan R. Parry

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis was concerned with classifying the real indecomposable solvable Lie algebras with codimension one nilradicals of dimensions two through seven. This thesis was organized into three chapters.

In the first, we described the necessary concepts and definitions about Lie algebras as well as a few helpful theorems that are necessary to understand the project. We also reviewed many concepts from linear algebra that are essential to the research.

The second chapter was occupied with a description of how we went about classifying the Lie algebras. In particular, it outlined the basic premise of the classification: that we can use …

Climatology Of Middle And Low-Latitude F-Region Plasma Drifts From Satellite Measurements, John W. Jensen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

We used ion drift observations from the DE-2 satellite to study for the first time the longitudinal variations of middle and low latitude F-region zonal plasma drifts during quiet and disturbed conditions. The daytime quiet-time drifts do not change much with longitude. In the dusk-premidnight period, the equinoctial middle latitude westward drifts are smallest in the European sector, and the low latitude eastward drifts are largest in the American-Pacific sector. The longitudinal variations of the late night-early morning drifts during June and December solstice are anti-correlated. During geomagnetically active time s, there are large westward perturbation drifts in the late …

A Bayesian Method For Groundwater Quality Monitoring Network Analysis, Khalil A. Ammar

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Water resources management is best done when an efficient and reliable information system is available that provides data about the state of the water system being managed. Herein, a new methodology is developed and demonstrated that incorporates different aspects of monitoring, including vulnerability assessment, environmental health risk, the value of information, and redundancy reduction in an existing monitoring network. These various objectives reflect a desire for cost- efficiency, while taking into account uncertainty in predictions of groundwater contamination potential. This methodology is presented within an integrated approach to groundwater quality monitoring that includes several multi-objective aspects associated with decisions about …

The History And Dynamics Of The Plasma Impedance Probe, Wayne G. Sanderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

For over 40 years Utah State University / Space Dynamics Laboratory and their predecessors have built instruments to measure electron density in the ionosphere. These instruments have incrementally improved as new measuring techniques have developed and new technologies have been introduced. This thesis introduces the properties and measurement of electron density in the ionosphere. It maps the instrument advancements from the early radio frequency probes of the 1960's to the present Plasma Impedance Probe (PIP), with emphasis on the introduction of the phase lock looped Plasma Frequency Probe (PFP) and the rediscovery of the Swept Impedance Probe (SIP). The current …

Wavelet Techniques In Time Series Analysis With An Application To Space Physics, Agnieszka Jach

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Several wavelet techniques in the analysis of time series are developed and applied to real data sets.

Methods for long-memory models include wavelet-based confidence intervals for the self-similarity parameter in potentially heavy-tailed observations. Empirical coverage probabilities are used to assess the procedures by applying them to Linear Fractional Stable Motion with many choices of parameters. Asymptotic confidence intervals provide empirical coverage often much lower than nominal and it is recommended to use subsampling confidence intervals. A procedure for monitoring the constancy of the self-similarity parameter is proposed and applied to Ethernet data sets.

A test to distinguish a weakly dependent …

Secondary Electron Production And Transport Mechanisms By Measurement Of Angle-Energy Resolved Cross Sections Of Secondary And Backscattered Electron Emission From Gold, Jason T. Kite

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This work provides information about interactions that produce emitted electrons from polycrystalline Au. Emission energy- angle- dependent electron spectra from a polycrystalline Au surface have been measured at several incident electron beam energies. The range of incident energies (~100 eV to 2500 eV) extends from below the first crossover energy, through E_maxo, to above the second crossover energy. The conventional distinction between secondary electrons (SE) (<50 eV) is found to be crude for the investigation of electron yields using these energy- angle- resolved measurements. A more realistic boundary occurs at the local minima of the emission spectra; this feature is studied as a function of incident energy and emission angle. In addition, deviations observed in the angular resolved emission spectra from isotropic behavior suggests that residual signatures exist in the emission spectra resulting from the anisotropic SE production mechanisms. Based on the disparity between our observations and recent modeling of the emission spectra, the most recent theory and simulation studies may overestimate the occurrence of randomizing collisions of scattered secondary electrons in the model of the transport mechanism. Finally, description of extensive modification to instrumental and analysis methods are described, and their effectiveness is evaluated.

Fundamentals Of Mountain Resort Base Village Design: A Critical Review Of Existing Resort Developments With Recommendations For Future Development Practices, Bryan P. Harding

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The North American ski industry has grown over the past century from a small, family-owned and -operated industry, to a multi-billion dollar industry dominated by corporate management organizations. The rise of corporate resort ownership has led to the trend of the construction base village developments at ski resorts around the country to attract guests, and therefore revenue, to their resorts. Though many base villages have been very successful in attracting skiers, examples of poor landscape architectural design practices abound in the industry. This study examines several design elements considered to be the "fundamental elements of designed space," applies these elements …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of A Telepresence-Enabled Cognitive Apprenticeship Model Of Teacher Professional Development, R. Shawn Edmondson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This exploratory research used a mixed-methods design to compare the effectiveness of a telepresence-enabled cognitive apprenticeship model of teacher professional development (TEAM-PD) to that of a traditional workshop model by examining outcomes in teacher pedagogy and student achievement. Measures of the degree to which teachers in both groups enacted mathematics pedagogy provided mixed results. Both groups demonstrated similar patterns of behavior and cognition, indicating modest levels of pedagogy implementation. Although the experimental group demonstrated higher levels of enactment of the mathematics pedagogy, the comparison group demonstrated a faster rate of growth. Student outcome data were clear: students of teachers in …

Remapping The Cliff Chipmunk (Neotamias Dorsalis) Distribution And Creating A Habitat Association Model In Southern Idaho, Masako Niwa

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The distribution of the cliff chipmunk in Idaho was previously considered to include only the Raft River Valley and the Goose Creek Basin. A pilot study was conducted in 2003 and 2004. Thirty-five cliff chipmunk presence locations and 124 absence locations were recorded. Habitat variables of elevation, slope, deviation from south, distance to water, and vegetation type were extracted for all of the absence and presence points by means of GIS analysis. The data were analyzed by implementing a classification tree, and a "GIS habitat association model" was created. The model was tested in 2005, and the overall model accuracy …

Highway Effects On Small Mammal Communities And Effectiveness Of A Deer-Vehicle Collision Mitigation Strategy, Silvia A. S. Rosa

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

My work focused on the study of road effects and mitigation of negative impacts of roads on wildlife. Two different studies were conducted on Interstate 15, in southern Utah. My first study reported on road effects on small mammal communities. The results suggested that overall, there was no clear effect on small mammal populations relative to distance from the road. Most small mammal species did not appear to be negatively affected by the presence of the road. Instead, the road seemed to have either a neutral or a positive effect. The abundance and diversity of small mammals responded more markedly …

Environmental, Chemical, And Genetic Reduction Of Ethylene Sensitivity In Crop Plants, Timothy J. Hudelson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Ethylene is an endogenously synthesized plant hormone that dissipates quickly in field conditions and seldom exceeds five nmol mol^-1. Ethylene can accumulate to 1000 times this level in closed environments. The best-known effects of ethylene are its impacts on fruit ripening and senescence, yet ethylene influences growth and development throughout the plant life cycle. At low, continuous concentrations (20 to 50 nmol mol^-1), ethylene reduces yield of many plants. Clean-air treatment during critical stages of floral development, silver thiosulfate (STS), and 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) may delay flower senescence and reduce the detrimental effects of ethylene on peas …

Lower Paleozoic Sequence Stratigraphy, Deposystems And Paleogeography Of Northwestern Ordos Basin, North China, Benjamin J. Kessel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Ordos basin rests upon the North China Block and is one of the largest sedimentary basins in north China, with more than 15 km of Phanerozoic strata. Published estimates suggest that over 2000 m of carbonates and lesser amounts of siliciclastics were deposited on the North China Carbonate Platform (NCCP) from the Lower Can1brian through the Middle Ordovician. However, lower Paleozoic facies successions and deposystems of northwestern Ordos basin remain poorly represented in western literature. This paper constrains depositional environments, lithologies, facies relationships and sea-level history of the northwestern part of the North China block (NCB) in an effort …

The Evolution From Late Miocene West Salton Detachment Faulting To Cross-Cutting Pleistocene Oblique Strike-Slip Faults In The Sw Salton Trough, Southern California, Alexander N. Steely

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Field studies in the southwest Salton Trough between Yaqui Ridge and Borrego Mountain show that the West Salton detachment fault was active during the Pliocene and may have initiated during the latest Miocene. At Yaqui Ridge dominantly east-directed extension is recorded by slickenlines on the NW-striking detachment fault, and shows that the fault is actually a low-angle dextral oblique strike-slip fault. Crustal inheritance is responsible for the position of the fault at Yaqui Ridge, which reactivates a late Cretaceous reverse-sense mylonite zone at map scale.

Late Miocene to Pliocene basin fill deposits at Borrego Mountain display progressive unconformities, contain detritus …

Minimal Nodal Domains For Strictly Elliptic Partial Differential Equations With Homogeneous Boundary Conditions, Charles E. Miller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This work presents a proof of the dependence of the first eigenvalue for uniformly elliptic partial differential equations on the domain in a less abstract setting than that of Ivo Babušhka and Rudolf Výborný in 1965. The proof contained here, under rather mild conditions on the boundary of the domain, ∂Ω, demonstrates that the first eigenvalue of elliptic partial differential equation

{Lu + λu = 0 in Ω

{u = 0 on ∂Ω

depends continuously on the domain in the following sense. If a sequence of domains is such that Ω_i → Ω in …

The Labour Of Her Own Hands: Nineteenth Century Gardening Discourses And The Work Of Jane Webb Loudon, Kelli Lee Towers

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Jane Webb Loudon, wife of eminent horticulturist and landscape architect John Claudius Loudon, has been largely ignored by historians and literary critics. Yet in her brief career she produced some of the most practical and influential gardening works of the early nineteenth-century. Beginning with Gardening for Ladies in 1840, Loudon published seventeen books and edited two magazines on gardening, botany, and natural history, most of them specifically directed to a female audience. These books would educate an entirely new class of gardeners, and allow women in particular to engage not only with gardening, but also with aesthetics, social reform, morality, …

Movement Behavior And Habitat Selection Of The Endangered June Sucker (Chasmistes Liorus) In Utah Lake, Utah, Kris A. Buelow

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The June sucker (Chasmistes liorus) is a pelagic feeding sucker endemic to Utah Lake, Utah. It has been listed as an endangered species with the present population being estimated with as few as 300 individuals. Efforts to reinvigorate the population by placing breeding age individuals and augmenting the population with hatchery-reared fish have proved to have had limited success. At this stage there is an imperative to understand the behavioral traits and life history of June sucker to retrieve them from the brink. Previous efforts have been hampered by few individuals and a difficult habitat to study. Utah …

Vascular Plant Species Richness And Distribution In A Heterogeneous Landscape, Kelly J. Mccloskey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The distribution of vascular plant species and species richness in a mid-elevation Rocky Mountain landscape can be attributed to a number of variables. The distribution of species with respect to physiognomic type, patch size, shape, and environmental heterogeneity was assessed for a mosaic landscape comprised of conifer forest, deciduous forest, and shrub-steppe physiognomic types in the southwest comer of Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. This vegetation is representative of that found in other montane landscapes of the central Rocky Mountains. The vegetation was mapped to physiognomic type; distinct vegetation patches were sampled using one or more small (50 m^{2 …}

Examination Of Exhumed Faults In The Western San Bernardino Mountains, California: Implications For Fault Growth And Earthquake Rupture, Joseph R. Jacobs

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The late Miocene Cedar Springs fault system is a high-angle transpressional system in the Silverwood Lake area, western San Bernardino Mountains, southern California. This thesis presents the study of oblique-slip faults with modest amounts of slip, which represent the early stages of fault development by using slip as a proxy for maturity. A structural and geochemical characterization is provided for six fault zones ranging from 39 m of slip to 3.5 km of offset in order to develop a model of fault zone geometry and composition. Basic geometric and kinematic results are provided for an additional 29 small-displacement (cm- to …

Measurements Of The Secondary Electron Emission Properties Of Insulators, Clint D. Thomson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Measurements of the electron-induced electron emission properties of insulators are important to many applications including spacecraft charging, scanning electron microscopy, electron sources, and particle detection technology. However, these measurements are difficult to make since insulators can charge either negatively or positively under charge particle bombardment that in turn alters insulator emissions. In addition, incident electron bombardment can modify the conductivity, internal charge distribution, surface potential, and material structure in ways that are not well understood. A primary goal of this dissertation work has been to make consistent and accurate measurements of the uncharged electron yields for insulator materials using innovative …

Calibration And Results Of The Equis Ii Plasma Impedance Probe (Pip), Seth D. Humphries

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis presents the calibration process and analysis results for the two Plasma Impedance Probe (PIP) units that were flown as part of the NASA Equis-I I campaign from the Kwajalein Atoll. The work of calibration that was presented by Krishna Kurra for the PIP on the Floating Potential Measurement Unit (FPMU) is improved and extended herein. The sweeping impedance probe (SIP), the instrument formerly known as plasma sweeping probe (PSP), is an integral part of the PIP. For the SIP, the calibration presented in this work, calibration error less than 5% error is achieved. The calibration is applied to …