Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Virtual Worlds With Cultural Algorithms: Ancient Alpena-Amberley Land Bridge, Thomas Joseph Palazzolo

Wayne State University Dissertations

In this thesis the Land Bridge system (DEEPDIVE) is described. The goal of the project is to use Artificial Intelligence technology to aid Archaeologists in the discovery of ancient prehistoric sites, now underwater. The example used here is the Alpena-Amberley Land Bridge that stretched across Lake Huron from Alpena in Michigan to Amberley in Ontario. During the Ice Age (around 10,000 years ago) it was above water for several thousand years. It was postulated that during that time it was used as a migration pathway for caribou, a major food source then. AI techniques were used to create a virtual …

Marsbee Preliminary Design Analysis Tool, Hunter Dunne

Theses

The Marsbee is a novel bioinspired flapping flight vehicle concept for aerial Martian exploration. The Marsbee design addresses the challenges of flying on Mars by mimicking the unsteady lift generation mechanisms seen in terrestrial insects. To enable the comparison of the Marsbee system to other flying Martian exploration concepts, a systems-based analyzer was created, consisting of several physics-based models. Constraints were used to maintain dynamic similarity between the Marsbee and insects on Earth. The current analyzer only models hovering flight. The functionality of the analyzer was demonstrated by analyzing 2 million randomly generated two-wing and 2 million randomly generated four-wing …

From 'Wonderful Grandeur' To 'Awful Things': What The Antiquities Act And National Monuments Reveal About The Statue Statutes And Confederate Monuments, Zachary Bray

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Future Vision For Autonomous Ocean Observations, Christopher Whitt, Jay Pearlman, Brian Polagye, Frank Caimi, Frank Muller-Karger, Andrea Copping, Heather Spence, Shyam Madhusudhana, William Kirkwood, Ludovic Grosjean, Bilal Muhammad Fiaz, Satinder Singh, Sikandra Singh, Dana Manalang, Ananya Sen Gupta, Alain Maguer, Justin J. H. Buck, Andreas Marouchos, Malayath Aravindakshan Atmanand, Ramasamy Venkatesan, Vedachalam Narayanaswamy, Pierre Testor, Elizabeth Douglas, Sebastien De Halleux, Siri Jodha Khalsa

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Autonomous platforms already make observations over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales, measuring salinity, temperature, nitrate, pressure, oxygen, biomass, and many other parameters. However, the observations are not comprehensive. Future autonomous systems need to be more affordable, more modular, more capable and easier to operate. Creative new types of platforms and new compact, low power, calibrated and stable sensors are under development to expand autonomous observations. Communications and recharging need bandwidth and power which can be supplied by standardized docking stations. In situ power generation will also extend endurance for many types of autonomous platforms, particularly autonomous surface …

Paleoecology Of Bivalves In The Carmel Formation (Middle Jurassic, Bajocian) Of Utah, Evan L. Shadbolt

Senior Independent Study Theses

The Carmel Formation of the Middle Jurassic has many mysteries. One of these enigmas is its bivalves. The formation contains the famous oyster balls called ostreoliths. Despite bivalves making up 80 percent of the fossils found in the Carmel Formation, it is not understood how the bivalves lived in this community. The formation is located in southwestern and central Utah. It was deposited when an epicontinental seaway covered most of Utah. The paleoclimate of Utah was hot and dry, which meant that the environment was evaporite heavy. This also meant that the seawater at the southernmost extent of the seaway …

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 …

Evaluation Of Engineering Properties Of Soil In Al Butayn, Mudarraj Al Qassim And Turubah - Hail Saudi Arabia, Turki Essam A. Sehly

Masters Theses

"Fractures, sinkhole, building cracks, and ground subsidence have spread in many regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, some of which are related to seismic activity, others due to the presence of unstable soils (collapsing soils and Expansive soils) and others because of faults, while others result from drawing groundwater at great rates. The current study has several facts related to the formation of cracks and landslides, including:
1) A general study of geomorphology and geology of the study areas.
2) The causes affecting the formation of cracks and subsidence.
3) Detailed geomorphological and geological studies of the locations of …

Major Lower Paleozoic Horizons Of The Southern Illinois Basin, John B. Hickman

Report of Investigations--KGS

The geology exposed at the surface in the southern Illinois Basin has been mapped in great detail by countless workers over the past century. With the exception of limited and scattered exposures in incised river valleys, the oldest rocks exposed outside of the Jessamine, Nashville, and Ozark Domes surrounding the Illinois Basin are Mississippian in age. Extensive deposits of Cambrian–Devonian sediments occur in the subsurface above crystalline basement in this region, however. All available data for the region were analyzed to produce a single, comprehensive set of interpretations. The data used in this study include 1:24,000-scale geologic quadrangle maps, oil …

Effects Of Target Properties On The Formation Of Lunar Impact Craters In The Simple-To-Complex Transition, Mitali Chandnani

Geosciences

The transition from simple to complex crater morphology in impact craters with increase in crater size has been modelled and observed in planetary bodies across the Solar System. The transition diameter depends upon the strength and gravity of the planetary body. On the Moon, this transition takes place over a diameter range of several kilometers. This range spans a diversity of crater morphologies including simple, transitional and complex craters. The diameter range of 15 20 km falls within the lunar simple-to-complex transition. All other impactor properties held constant, the 15-20 km range corresponds to a factor of three in the …

Landscape Evolution Of The Southern Colorado Plateau Using Low-Temperature Apatite Thermochronology And Detrital Zircon And Sanidine Provenance Studies, Carmen L. Winn

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Chapter 1: Westernmost Grand Canyon

Conflicting hypotheses about the timing of carving of the Grand Canyon involve either a 70 Ma (“old”) or < 6 Ma (“young”) Grand Canyon. This paper evaluates the controversial westernmost segment of the Grand Canyon where the following lines of published evidence firmly favor a “young” Canyon. 1) North-derived Paleocene Hindu Fanglomerate was deposited across the present track of the westernmost Grand Canyon, which therefore was not present at ~55 Ma. 2) The 19 Ma Separation Point basalt is stranded between high relief side canyons feeding the main stem of the Colorado River and was emplaced before these tributaries and the main canyon were incised. 3) Geomorphic constraints indicate that relief generation in tributaries and on plateaus adjacent to the westernmost Grand Canyon took place after 17 Ma. 4) The late Miocene-Pliocene Muddy Creek Formation constraint shows that no river carrying far-traveled materials exited at the mouth of the Grand Canyon until after 6 Ma.

Interpretations of previously-published low-temperature thermochronologic data conflict with these lines of evidence, but are reconciled in this paper via the integration of three methods of analyses on the same sample: apatite (U-Th)/He ages (AHe), ⁴He/³He thermochronometry (⁴He/³He), and apatite fission-track ages and lengths (AFT). “HeFTy” software was used to generate time-temperature (t-T) paths that predict all new and published ⁴He/³He, AH, and AFT data to within assumed …

Globe Mining Co. V. Anderson, Harold E. Meier

Wyoming Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Safer Future With Clues From Earthquakes Past, L Menegon, I Stewart

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Understanding the short- and long-term mechanical behaviour of the lower crust is of fundamental importance when trying to understand the earthquake cycle and related hazard along active fault zones. In some regions some 20% of intracontinental earthquakes of magnitude > 5 nucleates in the lower crust at depth of 30-40 km. For example, a significant proportion of seismicity in the Himalaya, as well as aftershocks associated with the destructive 2001 Bhuj earthquake in India, nucleated in the granulitic lower crust of the Indian shield. Earthquakes in the continental interiors are often devastating and, over the past century, have killed significantly more …

The Response Of Utah Lake's Plant And Algal Community Structure To Cultural Eutrophication, Leighton R. King

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Human activities have long had a negative impact on the water quality of freshwater lakes around the world. Utah Lake, located in north-central Utah, has been a subject of such impacts, as the lake experiences recurrent harmful algal blooms during the summer months. Lake warnings and closures have made the public increasingly aware of the ecological and economic impact of these blooms. The objectives of this study were to: 1) compare historical and present-day water quality and ecosystem conditions using environmental data contained in sediment cores, 2) identify whether, and when, Utah Lake transitioned from clearwater to turbid conditions, and …

Evolution Of The Book Cliffs Dryland Escarpment In Central Utah - Establishing Rates And Testing Models Of Escarpment Retreat, Nicholas R. Mccarroll

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Since the earliest explorations of the Colorado Plateau, geologists have suspected that cliffs are retreating back laterally. Clarence Dutton envisioned “the beds thus dissolving edge wise until after the lapse of millions of centuries their terminal cliffs stand a hundred miles or more back from their original position” when he wrote about the landscape in 1882. While many geologic studies have determined how fast rivers cut down through the Plateau, only a few studies have calculated how quickly cliffs retreat laterally, and geologists have been arguing since the 1940’s what exactly drives cliffs to retreat in the first place. We …

Evidence For Large Holocene Earthquakes Along The Denali Fault In Southwest Yukon, Canada, Andrée Blais-Stevens, John J. Clague, Janice Brahney, Panya Lipovsky, Peter J. Haeussler, Brian Menounos

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

The Yukon–Alaska Highway corridor in southern Yukon is subject to geohazards ranging from landslides to floods and earthquakes on faults in the St. Elias Mountains and Shakwak Valley. Here we discuss the late Holocene seismic history of the Denali fault, located at the eastern front of the St. Elias Mountains and one of only a few known seismically active terrestrial faults in Canada. Holocene faulting is indicated by scarps and mounds on late Pleistocene drift and by tectonically deformed Pleistocene and Holocene sediments. Previous work on trenches excavated against the fault scarp near the Duke River reveals paleoseismic sediment disturbance …

Marcian D. Bleahu (1924-2019), Bogdan P. Onac

International Journal of Speleology

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Law Of Detrital Zircon: La-Icp-Ms And Ca-Tims Geochronology Of Jurassic Forearc Strata, Cook Inlet, Alaska, Usa, Trystan M. Herriott, James L. Crowley, Mark D. Schmitz, Marwan A. Wartes, Robert J. Gillis

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Uranium-lead (U-Pb) geochronology studies commonly employ the law of detrital zircon: A sedimentary rock cannot be older than its youngest zircon. This premise permits maximum depositional ages (MDAs) to be applied in chronostratigraphy, but geochronologic dates are complicated by uncertainty. We conducted laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and chemical abrasion-thermal ionization mass spectrometry (CA-TIMS) of detrital zircon in forearc strata of southern Alaska (USA) to assess the accuracy of several MDA approaches. Six samples from Middle–Upper Jurassic units are generally replete with youthful zircon and underwent three rounds of analysis: (1) LA-ICP-MS of ∼115 grains, with one date per …

Review Of Naturally Occurring Ammonia In Groundwater And Its Effect On Using Chloramines For Drinking Water Disinfection In Louisiana, Athena Lindsay

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Fortuitous Major, Jody Record

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Into Arabia: Lehi And Sariah’S Escape From Jerusalem, Warren P. Aston

BYU Studies

In his exhaustively reasoned paper “Dating the Departure of Lehi from Jerusalem,” Jeffrey Chadwick moved the discussion of the timing of the Lehite departure significantly further. Those like myself, who have long assumed that the Book of Mormon’s dating for the departure (about six hundred years before Christ’s birth) is simply a round, approximate number, now have additional reasons to see that the dating may, in fact, be literal and that a definitive year for the event might be within reach.

Earthquake-Rotated Headstones As A Means Of Re-Evaluating Epicentral Location Of The 1944 Massena-Cornwall Earthquake: New York, United States And Ontario, Canada, Sandra L. Walser, Alexander K. Stewart

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

The Massena-Cornwall earthquake (September 5th, 1944) is the largest earthquake in New York state history. Two epicenters have been previously proposed (Milne, 1949; Dewey and Gordon, 1984); however, they are separated by 15 km, an error that could associate each proposed epicenter with two different local faults. Due to the lack of standardized seismic-array data, there is value in approaching this event using an unconventional data set. The methodology of MacDonald and Wentworth (1952) was executed through ArcMap 10.5.1 to yield an area most likely to contain the epicenter. One-hundred fifty-four earthquake-rotated headstones from 15 cemeteries within ~35 km of …

Orientation Of Paleostress Of Raplee Ridge Anticline, Loren Randall Holyoak, John S. Maclean

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

During the Laramide Orogeny several major folds were formed in Southern Utah, one of those being the Raplee Ridge anticline. Raplee Ridge is approximately eight miles from Mexican Hat, Utah. The San Juan River cuts through the anticline, exposing the Honaker Trail Formation’s beds of shale and limestone with chert nodules. Accompanying the mountain-scale ductile deformation of the Raplee Ridge anticline are decimeter-scale brittle conjugate fractures in the limestone’s chert nodules. The objective of this study is to compare the orientation of paleostress that formed the Raplee Ridge anticline with the conjugate fractures within the chert nodules to see if …

Seismic Source Characterization Of Faults In The Portland And Tualatin Basins And A Paleoseismic Study Of The Gales Creek Fault, Or, Alison Elizabeth Horst

Dissertations and Theses

Portland, OR lies within the tectonically active forearc of the Cascadia subduction zone. Several, potentially hazardous, northwest striking faults in and around the Portland Basin are classified as Quaternary active by the USGS, but little is known about their Holocene activity. Geologic and geodetic studies in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) document ongoing clockwise rotation of the region since at least 16 Ma. Models for crustal deformation in the PNW suggest northwest trending faults accommodate dextral shear inferred from increasing clockwise rotation rates west of Portland. I compiled structural information to improve the seismic source characterization of these faults, and using …

Brunobuilt, Inc. V. Strata, Inc. Appellant's Reply Brief Dckt. 46638

Idaho Supreme Court Records & Briefs, All

No abstract provided.

Sedimenting Territory: A Political Geology Of Oil, Earth, And Spatial Politics In Turkey, Zeynep Oguz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Building on the recent turn to the material and earthly aspects of resources and political power in environmental anthropology and political geography, this work historically and ethnographically examines the kinds of territorial politics that oil’s materiality, geological qualities, and infrastructures have generated in Turkey. Despite being surrounded by oil-rich neighbors in the Middle East, Turkey’s domestic oil reserves supply only 7 percent of the country’s oil, all of which has been drilled in the Kurdish provinces of Batman, Diyarbakır, and Adıyaman in Turkey’s southeast, where the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) has been fighting the Turkish state since 1984 for cultural …

Allopatric Speciation In Asia Contributed To The Diversity Anomaly Between Eastern Asia And Eastern North America: Evidence From Anchored Phylogenomics Of Stewartia (Theaceae), Jianhua Li, Peter Del Tredici, Alan R. Lemmon, Emily Moriarty Lemmon, Yunpeng Zhao, Chengxin Fu

Faculty Publications

Premise of research. The disjunct distribution of plant genera between eastern Asia (EA) and eastern North America (ENA) has long attracted the attention of biologists and biogeographers. For most genera that have been studied, there are more species in EA than in ENA, and the diversity anomaly may have resulted from the greater physiographical heterogeneity in EA than in ENA in conjunction with climate and sea level changes. However, few empirical studies have explicitly tested the association between species diversity and allopatric speciation events. The genus Stewartia (Theaceae) displays this diversity anomaly, with two species in ENA and 21 …

Stratigraphic Interpretations Of Eocene Winona And Tallahatta Formations In The Duffee Quadrangle, Ms, Sydney Kennedy

Honors Theses

Outcrops and exposures of the Winona and Tallahatta formations in the Duffee Quadrangle in Newton and Lauderdale counties were mapped and analyzed. The rock type, composition, structures, and fossils were identified at each site; unit thicknesses were measured, and stratigraphic relationships were analyzed for available exposures. Using GPS coordinates, each site was mapped on Google Earth Pro. The data collected at each site, aerial photographs, and topographic maps were used to identify each formation. The variability between previous works and this study was analyzed. The primary rock type found in the Tallahatta Formation is siliciclastic silty claystone and sandstone; some …

Comparing Structure From Motion Photogrammetry And Computer Vision For Low-Cost 3d Cave Mapping: Tipton-Haynes Cave, Tennessee, Clinton Elmore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Natural caves represent one of the most difficult environments to map with modern 3D technologies. In this study I tested two relatively new methods for 3D mapping in Tipton-Haynes Cave near Johnson City, Tennessee: Structure from Motion Photogrammetry and Computer Vision using Tango, an RGB-D (Red Green Blue and Depth) technology. Many different aspects of these two methods were analyzed with respect to the needs of average cave explorers. Major considerations were cost, time, accuracy, durability, simplicity, lighting setup, and drift. The 3D maps were compared to a conventional cave map drafted with measurements from a modern digital survey instrument …

Dextral, Normal, And Sinistral Faulting Across The Eastern California Shear Zone-Mina Deflection Transition, California-Nevada, Usa, Kevin Delano, Jeffrey Lee, Rachelle Roper, Andrew Calvert

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Strike-slip faults commonly include extensional and contractional bends and stepovers, whereas rotational stepovers are less common. The Volcanic Tableland, Black Mountain, and River Spring areas (California and Nevada, USA) (hereafter referred to as the VBR region) straddle the transition from the dominantly NW-striking dextral faults that define the northwestern part

of the eastern California shear zone into a rotational stepover characterized by dominantly NE-striking sinistral faults that define the southwestern Mina deflection. New detailed geologic mapping, structural studies, and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology across the VBR region allow us to calculate Pliocene to Pleistocene fault slip rates and test predictions for the …

Determining The Effect Of Mission Design And Point Cloud Filtering On The Quality And Accuracy Of Sfm Photogrammetric Products Derived From Suas Imagery, Daniel Shay Hostens

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This research investigates the influence that various flight plan and mission design strategies for collecting small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) imagery have on the accuracy of the resulting three-dimensional models to find an optimal method to achieve a result. This research also explores the effect that using gradual selection to reduce the sparse point cloud has on product accuracy and processing details. Imagery was collected in the spring of 2018 during leaf-off conditions at six field sites along the North Fork of the White River. The aerial imagery was collected using a DJI Phantom Pro 4 sUAS. Four different image …