X-Ray Fluorescence Applications In Mudrock Characterization: Investigations Into Middle Devonian Stratigraphy, Appalachian Basin, Usa, Keithan Garrett Martin

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Mudrocks are characterized by nanometer-scale pore sizes and nano-darcy permeability, which plays a significant role in hydrocarbon flow during production. Resulting from these characteristics, mudrocks were exclusively considered a source rock, which charged overlying, more porous mediums. Hydraulic fracturing, a technology used to create artificial fractures to liberate hydrocarbons from the reservoir, enabled natural gas to be produced from mudrock reservoirs economically. Over the last fifteen years, this technology motivated research efforts to understand reservoir characteristics of mudrock. These investigations significantly improved our knowledge of mudrock systems, but have also highlighted key areas that are undeveloped and/or where conflicting hypotheses …

Miocene Sediment Mineralogy Of The Lower Chelif Basin (Nw Algeria):Implications For Weathering And Provenance, Fatiha Hadji, Abbas Marok, Ali Mokhtar-Samet

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Mineralogical investigations of clay and nonclay minerals were conducted on the Miocene sediments from three sections of the lower Chelif basin, northern Algeria. Bulk rock analyses of Miocene sediments show that these clastic sediments are dominated by variable mineralogical compositions and concentrations. Quartz is the dominant mineral through the three stratigraphic intervals and calcite (except in the upper layers) and dolomite are lacking in the Messinian deposits. The clay mineralogy is dominated by smectite (24%) and mixed-layer illite-smectite (I-S) (22%) during the Burdigalian-Langhian, illite (36%) and kaolinite (28%) in the Tortonian, and illite (49%) and I-S (20%) in the Messinian …

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 …

Geophysical Studies Of The Three Sisters Andesite, West El Paso, Texas, Alexander D'Marco Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Three Sisters andesite intrusion is part of series of three small igneous bodies that crop out in western El Paso to the north of the more extensive intrusions found on the University of Texas at El Paso campus and at Mount Cristo Rey. These Oligocene age intrusions are believed to form part of a deeper, more extensive igneous body that may lie beneath much of western El Paso and the southern Mesilla Valley. I used several geophysical techniques to determine the size and shape of the Three Sisters intrusion to better understand its connection to other andesite outcrops and …

Petrophysical, Geostatistical And Geo-Spatial Analysis Of Round Top Mountain Rhyolite (Hudspeth County, West Texas, Usa), Lorraine Marie Negron

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This project consists of three separate projects that all investigate Round Top Mountain, a rhyolite laccolith located in Sierra Blanca, west Texas in Hudspeth County (U.S.A). The three projects will explore and analyze the petrophysical, geostatistical and geo-spatial aspects of this unique deposit.

Project 1:

This petrophysical study examines the porosity and micro-permeability of the Round Top rhyolite at a scale, roughly 5 to 10 mm or pebble sized, similar to anticipated heap leach crush sizes. Large voids and fluid paths, such as faults and joints in the massive rock (meter to km scale, boulder to outcrop size), are not …

Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of Hydrothermal Minerals And Sources Of Hydrothermal Fluids Inferred From Light Stable Isotopes, Keweenaw Peninsula Native Copper District, Michigan, Thomas Bodden

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Hydrothermal native copper deposits are hosted by Mesoproterozoic Midcontinent Rift-filling volcanic and sedimentary rocks in Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. The genesis of the native copper deposits has been a point of interest since their discovery. Native copper and associated mineral assemblages vary temporally and spatially. A refined mineral paragenesis is presented and used as the basis to spatially compare mineral assemblages as it is essential that spatial comparison involve only minerals that are temporally/genetically, related to each other. The main-stage minerals associated with precipitation of native copper are spatially zoned. The higher-grade zones correspond to the area of native copper deposits …

Military Applications Of Geological Engineering, Stephen H. Tupper

Doctoral Dissertations

"This work examines the premise that military engineering and geological engineering are intellectually paired and overlapped in practice to a significant extent. Geological engineering is an established, albeit young, academic discipline that enjoys wide industry and civil demand and is supported by many professional organizations. In contrast, military engineering is an ancient, empirically derived training or "OJT" program with practice-based trade-associations that has narrow government-only utility. The premise is formed by decades-long observation of U. S. Army military engineer officers completing a Master of Science degree in geological engineering as a complement to their practice-based training in military engineering at …

Organic Geochemical Characteristics Of Coal Deposits In Lampang Province, Patthapong Chaiseanwang

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

ถ่านหินและหินตะกอนจำนวน 31 ตัวอย่างจากแหล่งถ่านหินแม่ตีบและแหล่งถ่านหินแม่ทานที่ตั้งอยู่ในจังหวัดลำปางทางตอนเหนือของประเทศไทยถูกนำมาศึกษาลักษณะเฉพาะทางธรณีเคมีอินทรีย์ (Organic geochemistry) ผลจากการวิเคราะห์ปริมาณสารอินทรีย์ทั้งหมด (Total organic carbon) พบว่าตัวอย่างถ่านหินจากแหล่งแม่ตีบมีค่าระหว่าง 30.12 - 73.71 wt. % และสูงกว่าตัวอย่างถ่านหินของแหล่งแม่ทานซึ่งมีค่าระหว่าง 23.48 - 52.50 wt. % หินดินดานจากทั้งสองแหล่งมีค่าใกล้เคียงกันระหว่าง 4.82 - 19.49 wt. % ในแหล่งแม่ตีบ และ 14.00 - 24.87 wt. % ในแหล่งแม่ทาน ค่าที่น้อยที่สุดของปริมาณสารอินทรีย์ทั้งหมดปรากฏในตัวอย่างหินโคลนซึ่งมีค่าระหว่าง 0.88 – 4.92 wt. % ในแหล่งแม่ตีบ และค่าระหว่าง 0.59 – 5.98 wt. % การวิเคราะห์ปริมาณสารอินทรีย์ที่สกัดได้ (Extractable organic matter) ในตัวอย่างหินของแหล่งแม่ตีบมีค่าระหว่าง 1,277 - 9,764 ppm ในขณะที่ตัวอย่างหินของแหล่งแม่ทานมีค่ามากกว่าโดยอยู่ระหว่าง 1,256-16,421 ppm จากข้อมูลข้างต้นทั้งสองแหล่งมีศักยภาพการเป็นชั้นหินต้นกำเนิดของแหล่งปิโตรเลียมอยู่ในเกณฑ์ดีถึงดีเยี่ยมยกเว้นหินโคลนบางตัวอย่าง ข้อมูลลักษณะเฉพาะทางธรณีเคมีอินทรีย์ศึกษาจากแก๊สโครมาโตแกรม (Gas chromatogram) ได้มาจากการวิเคราะห์โดยใช้เครื่องมือแก๊สโครมาโตกราฟี-แมสสเปกโตมิเตอร์ (Gas chromatography-mass spectrometer) ซึ่งให้ข้อมูลของตัวชี้วัดทางชีวภาพ (Biomarker and non-biomarker) ที่มีประโยชน์ในการตีความทั้งระดับความพร้อมสมบูรณ์ (Maturity) ชนิดของอินทรีย์วัตถุ (Organic matter input) และสภาพแวดล้อมการสะสมตัวในอดีต (Depositional environment) ในการศึกษานี้ถ่านหินมีระดับความพร้อมสมบูรณ์เทียบเคียงกับระดับถ่านหิน (coal rank) อยู่ในระดับลิกไนต์ถึงบิทูมินัสสารระเหยสูงระดับซี (Lignite – high volatile bituminous C) อ้างอิงจากตัวชี้วัดความพร้อมสมบูรณ์ทางชีวภาพ (Biomarker maturity) ซึ่งบ่งชี้ว่าตัวอย่างหินมีระดับความพร้อมสมบูรณ์อยู่ในระดับตอนต้น (immature-early mature stage) แก๊สโครมาโตแกรมของแอลเคนสายตรง (n-alkanes) …

Tsunamigenic Potential Of The Baiyun Slide Complex In The South China Sea, Linlin Li, Fengyan Shi, Gangfeng Ma, Qiang Qiu

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The Baiyun slide complex contains geological evidence for some of the largest landslide ever discovered in the continental slopes of the South China Sea. High-resolution seismic data suggest that a variety of landslides with varied scales have occurred repeatedly in this area. The largest landslide reconstructed from bathymetric and seismic data has an estimated spatial coverage of ~5,500 km² and a conservative volume of ~1,035 km³. Here, using geomorphological and geotechnical data, we construct a series of probable landslide scenarios and assess their tsunamigenic capacity. By treating the slides as deformable mudflows, we simulate the dynamics of …

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 …

Groundwater Model Parameter Estimation With Simultaneous And Sequential Use Of Hydraulic Head And Travel Time Measurements, Mohsen Kheirabadi

Master's Theses

This study is an effort to investigate two parameter estimation approaches in groundwater modeling, sequential and combined. Most researches imply that simultaneous use of flow and transport observations would be more beneficial in parameter estimation, however some other researchers rise questions about this approach. They believe due to the differing geological properties of aquifers and consequently differing mathematical basis of groundwater flow compared to transport simultaneous use of different observations might not be useful in every cases. Despite the fact that parameter estimation or inverse modeling is not a new method in groundwater modeling, most modelers tend to use forward …

Delineation Of Karst Potential Using Lidar And Gis Analyses, Fort Hood Military Installation, Texas, Colby Reece

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Traditional karst surveys require extensive field investigations to completely characterize large areas. They are often time-consuming, requiring up to several years to collect and categorize data. Bias is given to areas that are most easily accessible and false negatives are common. The implementation of geographic information systems (GIS) has aided in the aggregation and standardization of karst data; however, these systems have also been used to develop terrain models that allow the user to remotely delineate sinkholes and other surficial features. The Fort Hood Military Installation is a karst landscape that has been altered significantly for use in military …

Exploring Potential Water-Ice Occurrence On Asteroid 4 Vesta Using Orbital Radar Observations By The Dawn Mission, Elizabeth M. Palmer

Dissertations

Airless, differentiated planetesimals in the inner solar system were presumed to have been depleted of most of their initial volatile content during formation. However, water-ice has been discovered at the lunar poles (Li et al., 2018), is inferred to exist in polar craters on Mercury (e.g., Butler, Slade & Muhleman, 1993, and suggested to survive beneath the dusty regolith of objects in the main asteroid belt if buried at sufficient depths—at least one meter for small-bodies in the outer main-belt (Schorghofer, 2008). Hence, the study of volatile occurrence, past or present, on airless, desiccated small-bodies provides insights into the timing, …

Crustal Composition Beneath Southern Idaho: Insights From Teleseismic Receiver Functions, Thomas Branson Harper

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Receiver functions derived from teleseismic earthquakes contain seismic amplitude and velocity information that relate to compositional changes within the Earth’s crust and upper mantle. The receiver function waveform is a combination of P-S converted waves that have reverberated within the lithosphere. Although the largest seismic velocity boundary is found at the base of the crust, I explore the use of lower amplitude receiver function arrivals that represent smaller velocity contrasts within the crust. In my thesis, I calculate and model receiver functions via a Metropolis algorithm approach to extract seismic velocity distributions in the lithosphere. I use the results to …

Bounding The Moment Deficit Rate On Crustal Faults Using Geodetic Data: Application To Southern California, Jeremy Maurer, Kaj Johnson, Paul Segall

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The interseismic moment deficit rate (MDR) constrains the potential for future moment release in earthquakes. Published estimates of the geodetic MDR in Southern California vary by a factor of 3 depending on the type of forward model, method of estimation, and data quality. It is our aim to determine to what degree these discrepancies may be explained by quantifying the uncertainty for a given class of forward models, accounting for data errors and limited model resolution. We apply a new method, the Constrained Optimization Bounding Estimator, to bound the MDR in Southern California using geodetic data and an elastic plate-block …

U–Pb-Dated Flowstones Restrict South African Early Hominin Record To Dry Climate Phases, Robyn Pickering, Andy I.R. Herries, Jon D. Woodhead

KIP Articles

The Cradle of Humankind (Cradle) in South Africa preserves a rich collection of fossil hominins representing Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Homo1. The ages of these fossils are contentious2,3,4 and have compromised the degree to which the South African hominin record can be used to test hypotheses of human evolution. However, uranium–lead (U–Pb) analyses of horizontally bedded layers of calcium carbonate (flowstone) provide a potential opportunity to obtain a robust chronology5. Flowstones are ubiquitous cave features and provide a palaeoclimatic context, because they grow only during phases of increased effective precipitation6,7, ideally in closed caves. Here we show that flowstones from eight …

A 3,000‐Year Lag Between The Geological And Ecological Shutdown Of Florida's Coral Reefs, Lauren T. Toth, Isla B. Kuffner, Anastasios Stathakopoulos, Eugene Shinn

Marine Science Faculty Publications

The global‐scale degradation of coral reefs has reached a critical threshold wherein further declines threaten both ecological functionality and the persistence of reef structure. Geological records can provide valuable insights into the long‐term controls on reef development that may be key to solving the modern coral‐reef crisis. Our analyses of new and existing coral‐reef cores from throughout the Florida Keys reef tract (FKRT) revealed significant spatial and temporal variability in reef development during the Holocene. Whereas maximum Holocene reef thickness in the Dry Tortugas was comparable to elsewhere in the western Atlantic, most of Florida's reefs had relatively thin accumulations …

Crustal Azimuthal Anisotropy Beneath The Southeastern Tibetan Plateau And Its Geodynamic Implications, Tuo Zheng, Zhifeng Ding, Jieyuan Ning, Lijun Chang, Xingchen Wang, Fansheng Kong, Kelly H. Liu, Stephen S. Gao

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The fast orientation and magnitude of crustal azimuthal anisotropy beneath the southeastern Tibetan Plateau and adjacent areas are measured by analyzing the sinusoidal moveout of the P to S converted phase from the Moho. Beneath the tectonically active plateau, the mean magnitude is 0.48 ±Â 0.13 s, which is about twice as large as that observed in the stable Sichuan Basin (0.23 ±Â 0.10 s). The two areas are separated by the Longmenshan fault zone, a zone of devastating earthquakes including the 12 May 2008 M_W 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake. Fault orthogonal fast orientations observed in the southern Longmenshan fault …

When The Well Runs Dry: Why Water-Rich States Need To Prepare For Climate Change And Protect Their Groundwater, Danielle Takacs

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

It may seem surprising to see such concern over groundwater usage in a state like Wisconsin. While known for its dairy and cheese production, Wisconsin is first in the nation for producing snap beans and cranberries. Agriculture contributes $88.3 billion annually to Wisconsin’s economy alone. In addition to bordering two of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, Wisconsin boasts that it is home to about 15,000 lakes. And this does not include the numerous rivers and streams throughout the state. These facts alone may make Wisconsin seem an unlikely place for disputes over groundwater, as water seems to …

The Trump Administration And Lessons Not Learned From Prior National Monument Modifications, John C. Ruple

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

In the debate surrounding President Trump’s monument reductions, a critical and as-yet unanswered question is whether prior presidential monument reductions create a precedent for contemporary actions through the doctrine of congressional acquiescence. This article undertakes a historical survey of prior presidential reductions to determine whether—and if so to what extent—there is a pattern of presidential action sufficient to support the congressional acquiescence argument.

Velocity Model For Co2 Sequestration In The Southeastern United States Atlantic Continental Margin, John Ollmann

Theses and Dissertations

The sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) is emerging as a major player in offsetting anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. With 40% of the United States’ anthropogenic CO2 emissions originating in the southeast, characterizing potential CO2 sequestration sites is vital to reducing the United States’ emissions. The overall goal of this research project, funded by the Department of Energy, is to estimate the CO2 storage potential for the Southeastern United States Atlantic Continental Margin. Previous studies find storage potential in the Atlantic continental margin. Up to 16 Gt and 175 Gt of storage potential are estimated for the Upper Cretaceous and Lower …

Hope On The Horizon For Offshore Wind Development? An Examination Of The Regulatory Framework Rhode Island Navigated To Make The Nation’S First Offshore Wind Farm A Reality, And The Implication For California’S Ability To Adopt A Similar Approach Under The Coastal Zone Management Act, Lauren Perkins

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

After establishing the reasons for why creating a more efficient permitting system is crucial, this Article examines the question of under what conditions BOEM, the lead agency in the offshore wind permitting process, delegates authority to a state so that it may permit a project in federal waters under the CZMA without running into federal preemptory roadblocks. This question is of utmost significance in California and Hawaii where projects utilizing floating turbine technology are proposed to be located in federal waters to take advantage of optimal wind gusts farther offshore. After examining the conditions favorable for federal delegation of the …

From Megaproject To White Elephant: Lessons From The Philippines’S Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, Ronald U.; Mendoza, Donald Jay; Bertulfo, Jerome Patrick; Cruz

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

Drawing from recent literature on white elephant projects, thisarticle examines the case of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP)—the paradigmatic example of a white elephant project in the Philippines. The BNPP megaproject had massive implications for the country’s fiscal standing and long-term economic prospects, offering lessons for future projects of this size and significance. By revisiting the BNPP’s problematic history as well as the continuing infrastructure governance challenges in the post-Marcos period, this study outlines the repercussions of such dynamics for the Philippine government’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program, the most ambitious since the Marcos era.KEYWORDS: BATAAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT …

The Dual Role Of Amazonian Rivers In The Generation And Maintenance Of Avian Diversity, Luciano N. Naka, Robb T. Brumfield

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2018 The Authors. The Amazon River and its major tributaries delimit the distributions of hundreds of terrestrial taxa. It remains unclear whether river-bounded distributions and taxon replacements reflect the historical role of rivers in generating species diversity as vicariant forces, or are the result of their role as secondary barriers, maintaining current levels of species diversity by inhibiting gene flow and population introgression. We use a community-wide comparative phylogeographic and phylogenetic approach to address the roles that the Rio Negro and the Rio Branco play in the avian speciation process in the Guiana Shield. Examining 74 pairs of …

Kinematics And Dynamics Of The Pamir, Central Asia And Main Ethiopian Rift, Cassidy N. Jay Seymour

Open Access Dissertations

Plate tectonic theory predicts that deformation is localized in narrow zones along plate boundaries, but geodetic, seismic, and geological observations show that deformation of continents is diffuse and complex. Furthermore, dense, recently published GPS velocities hint at regional heterogeneities within two of the most widely studied continental deformation zones in the world: the India-Eurasia collision zone and East African Rift System. Here, we use numerical models to investigate deformation in the Pamir, a region west of the Tibetan Plateau, and the Main Ethiopian Rift, the northernmost segment of the East African Rift System. Inverse and forward numerical models are constrained …

Middle Permian (Late Guadalupian) Back-Reef Carbonate Of Panther Canyon, Apache Mountains, Trans-Pecos Texas, Joshua Caleb Moore

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

In the Apache Mountains of West Texas, Middle Permian (Guadalupian) strata a portion of the Delaware Basin part of the Capitan Reef is well exposed in many canyons that cut through the northern escarpment in the eastern part of the mountains. In Panther Canyon, the massive part of the Capitan Reef is well exposed and overlain by a stratigraphic sequence of lagoonal carbonate deposits referred to the Yates and Tansill Formations. At the entrance to Panther Canyon, two sections of these stratified carbonate rocks have been measured and described: the PC7 section, 31.8 meters thick, with eight distinct packages and …

Sequence Stratigraphy Of Campanian-Maastrichtian Strata In Eastern Alabama, David Simmons

Master's Theses

Eastern Alabama is an area of interest due to the transition from the Gulf Coastal Plain to the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Coastal Plain investigations have been sparse compared to research conducted in the oil rich areas down dip in the Gulf of Mexico. A sequence stratigraphic framework using the T-R cycle methodology of Embry (2002) has been established by integrating surface and subsurface lithologic data with biostratigraphic zonations into Petra ®. High sedimentation from the ancestral Chattahoochee River and lower relative sea-level formed an additional depositional sequence within the Santonian-Campanian aged Blufftown Formation in eastern Alabama. The sequence is approximately …

Living With Earthquake Hazards In South And South East Asia, Afroz Ahmad Shah, Talha Qadri, Sheeba Khwaja

ASEAN Journal of Community Engagement

A large number of geological studies have shown that most of the Asian regions are prone to earthquake risks, and this is particularly significant in SE Asia. The tectonics of this region allow the geological investigators to argue for severe vulnerability to major and devastating earthquakes in the near future. This remind us of the devastations of Nepal in 2015, of Japan in 2011, and significant destruction of life and property at Acehnese and Thai coasts in 2004, and of Kashmir and New Orleans in 2005. Such example of destructions could be minimized to a greater extent if proper scientific …

Unconfined Hypogene Evaporite Karst: West Texas And Southeastern New Mexico, Usa, Kevin W. Stafford, Jon T. Ehrhart, Adam F. Majzoub, Jessica M. Shields, Wesley A. Brown

International Journal of Speleology

Diverse karst phenomena occur throughout the Gypsum Plain where the Castile Formation crops out over ~1800 km² in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Hypergene karst is extensive and widespread, while traditional hypogene karst manifestations (both caves and intrastratal dissolution) occur in high frequency in the western outcrop region where surface denudation has been the greatest so as to induce surficial breaching. Unconfined hypogene karst occurrences have been recently identified, including two general variations: 1) artesian-like discharge features; and 2) venting structures. Artesian-like discharge features arise at surficially-breached hypogene caves and through high permeability regions on the margins of …

Estimating Epikarst Water Storage By Time-Lapse Surface-To-Depth Gravity Measurements, Cédric Champollion, Sabrina Deville, Jean Chéry, Erik Doerflinger, Nicolas Le Moigne, Roger Bayer, Philippe Vernant, Naomi Mazzilli

KIP Articles

The magnitude of epikarstic water storage variation is evaluated in various karst settings using a relative spring gravimeter. Gravity measurements are performed over a 1.5-year period at the surface and inside caves at different depths on three karst hydro-systems in southern France: two limestone karst systems and one dolomite karst system. We find that significant water storage variations occur in the first 10 m of karst unsaturated zone. The subsurface water storage is also evidenced by complementary magnetic resonance sounding. The comparison between sites of the depth gravity measurements with respect to net water inflow suggests that seasonal water storage …