Digital Commons Network^™

The Nature Of Extreme Natural Risks In The Natural Environment, Denis Binder

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

This paper suggests a paradigm change to recognize the uncontrollable risks of extreme natural hazards. All areas of the country face extreme geological and meteorological risks. This paper discusses the historic American approach to the natural environment, the underlying nature of extreme natural hazards in Washington State, California, and the New Orleans-Mississippi River, and proposals to address these hazards. It also lays out two historic limitations on action: the Fifth Amendment and human nature.

Aeromagnetic And Spectral Expressions Of Rare Earth Element Deposits In Gallinas Mountains Area, Central New Mexico, Usa, Mo Li

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

The Gallinas Mountains located in the conjunction of Lincoln County and Torrance County, New Mexico, USA are a series of alkaline volcanic rocks intruded into Permian sedimentary rocks. The Gallinas Mountains area is known to host fluorite and copper as veins containing bastnasite while hydrothermally altered rocks associated with iron oxides have been found in the area as well. In this study, multispectral band ratio method was used for surface mineral interpretation by processing satellite image, while aeromagnetic inversion method was applied using aeromagnetic data, digital elevation model and physical properties for 2-D subsurface structure modeling. Bastnasite has higher magnetic …

A Hybrid Seabed Classification Method Using Airborne Laser Bathymetric Data, Yung-Da Sun, Shiahn-Wern Shyue

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

In recent years, Airborne Bathymetric Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) has been applied intensively to map coastal depth as well as for seabed classification. In this study, we proposed a hybrid K-means and Support Vector Machine (KSVM) algorithm based on depth-derived gray-level co-occurrence matrices (GLCM) from bathymetric LiDAR. First, the calculated GLCM data set was used to sort K-means into various clusters. Second, training samples were selected on merged clusters before applying SVM classification. Finally, we evaluated the proposed hybrid algorithm in overall accuracy and the Kappa index. Compared to pure SVM, the proposed hybrid KSVM improved the overall accuracy …

Pleistocene Deposits In The Southern Egyptian Sahara: Lithostratigraphic Relationships Of Sediments And Landscape Dynamics At Bir Tarfawi, Christopher L. Hill, Romuald Schild

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The sedimentological and lithostratigraphic record from north-central Bir Tarfawi documents the presence of Pleistocene basin-fill deposits. Three topographic basins were created as a result of deflation during climate episodes associated with lowering of the local groundwater table. In each case, the three deflational basins or topographic depressions were subsequently filled with sediments; these basin aggradations coincided with changes from arid climate conditions to wetter conditions and a rise in the groundwater table. The oldest and highest sedimentary remnant is associated with Acheulian artifacts and may reflect spring-fed pond and marsh conditions during a Middle Pleistocene wet climate episode. Lithofacies for …

Environmental Diversity And Resource Use In The Salton Basin Of The Colorado Desert, Lindsay A. Porras

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Prehistoric life in the Colorado Desert endured a variety of environmental extremes. Episodic flooding and shifts in the course of the Colorado River resulted in the infilling of the Salton Basin and created a large freshwater lake known as Lake Cahuilla. Settlement along the different segments of the lakeshore is considered variable and may reflect accessibility to nearby viable resources. Remains from archaeological excavations at lakeshore sites show that lacustrine resources and fishing opportunities attracted prehistoric groups to the ancient lake. How prehistoric groups organized themselves and utilized lakeshore and nearby resources offer opportunities to explore the subsistence and mobility …

Systematics, Biogeography, And Species Delimitation Of The Malagasy Psorospermum (Hypericaceae), Heritiana S. Ranarivelo

Dissertations

Psorospermum belongs to the tribe Vismieae (Hypericaceae). Morphologically, Psorospermum is very similar to Harungana, which also belongs to Vismieae along with another genus, Vismia. Interestingly, Harungana occurs in both Madagascar and mainland Africa, as does Psorospermum; Vismia occurs in both Africa and the New World. However, the phylogeny of the tribe and the relationship between the three genera are uncertain. Using freshly collected specimens from my fieldwork as well as extant herbarium specimens, I aimed first, to generate a phylogeny of Psorospermum; second, to investigate its biogeography; and third, to investigate species boundaries within Malagasy Psorospermum …

Environmental Forensics: An Innovative Technique Using Bone To Identify Mercury And Stable Isotope Levels In Internal Tissues Of Wildlife In A Changing Western Alaska Environment, Bonita Hope Dainowski

Chemistry and Biochemistry

We evaluated if total mercury (THg) concentrations of keratin-based and bone-based tissues can predict THg concentrations in skeletal muscle, renal medulla, renal cortex, and liver. The THg concentration in matched tissues of 65 red foxes, Vulpes vulpes, from western Alaska was determined. Hair THg concentration had a significant positive correlation with liver, renal medulla, renal cortex, and muscle. The THg concentration is moderately predictive of THg concentration in the renal cortex and liver for these foxes based on R² values (R² = 0.61 and 0.63, respectively), but was not moderately predictive of THg for renal medulla R² = 0.50 and …

Feasibility Study Of In-Situ Heat Generation For Oil Reservoirs Underlying The Permafrost, Mohammad Ali Kargarpour

Engineering

Development of a heavy oil reservoir is a challenging issue in the oil industry. One of the major issues in heavy oil recovery is its high viscosity; so, using heating methods for producing oil have been developed and employed from the early 1950s. The existing relatively thick permafrost layer which overlays the heavy oil reservoirs of the North Slope of Alaska creates additional complexities for development of these heavy oil reservoirs. Applying any heating oil recovery process in regular way to these heavy oil Alaskan reservoirs would potentially jeopardize the permafrost layer. A down-hole heat generation system has been developed …

Evolution Of Olivine Crystallographic Preferred Orientation In The Upper Mantle -- Implications For The Interpretation Of Seismic Anisotropy, Yuval Boneh

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Earth’s plate tectonics is the outermost manifestation of mantle convection. Understanding plate tectonics at the global scale requires understanding of regional processes near plate boundaries. Flow patterns in the upper mantle are generally inferred from observations of anisotropy of seismic wave speed. In plate interiors, where flow patterns are assumed to be simple, interpretation of seismic anisotropy is straightforward. However, near plate boundaries, where flow patterns are complex, different strategies for interpreting seismic anisotropy may be required. This dissertation examines, using experimental and numerical tools, the effects of complex flow patterns on the evolution of olivine crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO). …

Our "Father Of Waters": A Story Of The Mississippi River, Then And Now, Steve Matzker

Research Papers

The story of the Mississippi River is rich and complex. As a visual storyteller, the goal of my final project is to provide a creative, yet informative, web-based documentary that provides an interactive component wherein users control the narrative. To achieve this, I used qualitative research in the form of interviews as well as qualitative research, including data collection and historical research to better understand the ways in which the river itself has changed, how it has informed us as individuals and as a society. This paper supplements the web-based interactive documentary:

“Our “Father of Waters”: A Story of the …

Erosion In The Valley Of The Southwest, Kirk Bryan

New Mexico Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Contributors, University Of New Mexico Press

New Mexico Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, University Of New Mexico Press

New Mexico Quarterly

No abstract provided.

A Megabreccia With Associated Stratigraphy Of The Cherry Canyon And Bell Canyon Formations Transition (Guadalupian, Middle Permian), Southern Delaware Mountains, West Texas, Johnathon Lee Bogacz

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

The Cherry Canyon and Bell Canyon Formations (Guadalupian, Middle Permian) are well exposed in the southern part of the Delaware Mountains, West Texas and are marked by the presence of several distinct and widespread debris flows. Various lithostratigraphic units (members) of these two formations were originally named for exposures in the Guadalupe Mountains and the northern part of the Delaware Mountains, West Texas. These units are not easily recognized litho-stratigraphically in the southern part of the Delaware Mountains, but some correlations can be made by using biostratigraphic methods. One of the easily recognizable debris flows in the southern Delaware Mountains …

Paleoimagery: The Artistic Restoration Of Dinosaurs And Prehistoric Life, Colin Mcnulty

Honors Projects

My purpose in creating this paper is to research a holistic view of paleontological illustration (also called paleoimagery or paleoart). A thorough history of paleoimagery is outlined from its roots in biblical illustration in the 17^th and 18^th centuries approaching the modern day. A two-fold examination of the utility of art to communicate science and its use within the science of paleontology is also given. This includes discussions of the specific components of art pieces that help them to successfully communicate scientific ideas and examples of how paleoimagery contributes to paleontology. The author then outlines the conception and …

Investigating Patterns Of Fluvial Form And Incision Near The Yellowstone Hotspot — Alpine Canyon Of The Snake River, Wyoming, Daphnee Tuzlak

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The shape of a landscape is created by rivers, which erode the underlying bedrock and carve through mountains. The Snake River flows across the uplifting hotspot plume of the Yellowstone region, cuts through the Snake River Range, and ultimately enters the low-lying eastern Snake River Plain. Although there is a good understanding of the track of the Yellowstone hotspot over geologic time and shorter timescales, measurements over Quaternary timescales and an understanding of how uplift influences the rivers and landscape in the Yellowstone region are absent. We study the Snake River and its past deposits where it cuts through Alpine …

Evaluation Of Electrocoagulation For Chloride And Ammonium Removal From The Reject Brine Effluent Pretreated By Solvay Process, Miada Abubaker Ali

Theses

Excessive use of desalination, due to the increase in freshwater demand, results in large productions of reject brine. Therefore, the development of an efficient treatment process of the reject brine becomes vital. The Solvay process is one of the main treatment technologies, wherein NH₃ is introduced to convert soluble Na⁺ into insoluble NaHCO₃. However, in this process, Cl^- is not removed and NH₄⁺ is introduced, and therefore electrocoagulation has been proposed for their removal. The experiment was designed using Minitab with different initial concentrations of chloride (7400 – 32600 mg/l), current densities (0.033 …

Submarine Deposits From Pumiceous Pyroclastic Density Currents Traveling Over Water: An Outstanding Example From Offshore Montserrat (Iodp 340), M. Jutzeler, M. Manga, J. D. L. White, P. J. Talling, Alexander A. Prusevich, S. F. L. Watt, M. Cassidy, R. N. Taylor, A. Le Friant, O. Ishizuka

Faculty Publications

Pyroclastic density currents have been observed to both enter the sea, and to travel over water for tens of kilometers. Here, we identified a 1.2-m-thick, stratified pumice lapilli-ash cored at Site U1396 offshore Montserrat (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program [IODP] Expedition 340) as being the first deposit to provide evidence that it was formed by submarine deposition from pumice-rich pyroclastic density currents that traveled above the water surface. The age of the submarine deposit is ca. 4 Ma, and its magma source is similar to those for much younger Soufrière Hills deposits, indicating that the island experienced large-magnitude, subaerial caldera-forming explosive …

Engineering Characteristics Of Rocks In Qatar; Applications On Excavation And Tunneling, Ahmed Fawzy Kassem

Theses and Dissertations

Excavation as well as tunneling have become fundamental operations in the advanced civil engineering field. In Qatar, many subsurface construction operations take place in rocks. However, the lack of studies and research that analyze the subsurface rock components from a geotechnical engineering perspective has created unexpected construction conditions. Most of similar studies handled concerns about properties related to oil and gas fields. This research aims to provide a geotechnical study for rocks in Qatar, and to illustrate the impact of the existence of these rock layers on two civil applications; namely excavation and tunneling. During this study, soil investigation reports …

Zooarchaeological And Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction Of Newly Excavated Middle Pleistocene Deposits From Elandsfontein, South Africa, Frances L. Forrest

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Increased consumption of animal tissue is arguably one of the most important adaptive transitions in early hominin behavior. A dietary shift toward regular tool-assisted meat consumption and increased competition with the carnivore paleoguild likely helped shape many important hominin adaptations such as foraging patterns, habitat preferences, and social behaviors. Yet, the ecological and behavioral implications for increased hominin carnivory remain poorly understood. This dissertation examines the zooarchaeological and paleoenvironmental history of an important Acheulean hominin locality, Elandsfontein, South Africa (ca. 1.0 – 0.6 Ma). The goal is to begin addressing under-investigated aspects of Acheulean hominin behavioral ecology and place Acheulean …

Table Of Contents

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

No abstract provided.

Campus Vol Ix N 4, Mike Cook, Bruce Mcintosh, Joen Pritchard, Prentice Stout, John Hodges, C. Tuttle, George M. Fenberg, Midge Greenlee, John Miller, Beth Hodge, Tip Rasor, Shaw Kull

Campus

Howard Studio. Cover. Picture. 1.

Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 4.

Cook, Mike. "misty Mood". Prose. 5.

McIntosh, Bruce. "Misty Mood". Picture. 5.

Pritchard, Joen. "In the Good 'Ole Summertime...". Prose. 6.

Stout, Prentice. "In the Good 'Ole Summertime...". Picture. 6.

Hodges, John. "How to Choose a Roommate". Prose. 7.

Tuttle, C. Untitled. Cartoon. 7.

Fenberg, Geo. M. "Students---". Prose. 3.

Wood and Knapp. "Jokes From the Jazz Age as Flips From Flappers". Prose. 8.

Greenlee, Midge. "Nine to Five". Prose. 10.

Anonymous. "Mr. and Miss Campus-1954". Picture. 11.

Anonymous. "Well Shut My Mouth!". Prose. 14.

Tuttle, C. Untitled. Cartoon. 14.; Miller, …

Multi-Tests For Pore Structure Characterization-A Case Study Using Lamprophyre, Zhen Li, Guorui Feng, Yi Luo, Shengyong Hu, Tingye Qi, Haina Jiang, Jun Guo, Jinwen Bai, Xianjie Du, Lixun Kang

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The pore structure plays an important role to understand methane adsorption, storage and flow behavior of geological materials. In this paper, the multi-tests including N2 adsorption, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and CT reconstruction have been proposed on Tashan lamprophyre samples. The main findings are listed: (1) The pore size distribution has a broad range ranging from 2-100000nm, among which the adsorption pores (<100nm) occupies the mainly specific surface areas and pore volume while the seepage pores (>100nm) only account for 34% of total pore volume. (2) The lamprophyre open pores are mainly slit-like/plate-like and ink-bottle-shaped pores on a two-dimensional level. The lamprophyre 3D pore structure shows more stochastic and anisotropic extension on the …

Taxonomy And Paleolimnology Of The Bacillariophyceae (Diatoms) From Lacustrine Sequences In The Pliocene Hadar Formation, Afar Regional State, Ethiopia, Joseph Mohan

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A taxonomic description of three novel species and update of two previously described Bacillariophyta (Diatom) species from the Pliocene Hadar Formation, Afar Depression of Ethiopia is presented. The taxonomic description preludes a quantitative reconstruction of the environmental conditions of Paleolake Hadar, also presented herein. This thesis plays an integral role in the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP), an interdisciplinary investigation into the climate, environment, and ecological context of human and hominin evolution in East Africa. The HSPDP aims to provide a continuous record of paleo-conditions that influenced hominin evolution. This thesis focuses on the Northern Awash Werenso drill-core …

Marine Effects On Vertical Electrical Soundings Along Shorelines, Emi̇n Uğur Ulugergerli̇

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Onshore applications of direct current resistivity (DCR) along shorelines suffer a short-circuit-like phenomenon due to electrical current flowing through a more conductive body of water rather than ground. Our study of the numerical simulation of DCR data with a three-dimensional forward model demonstrated that the apparent resistivity was reduced as a function of the sea depth and the distance of measurement site to the shoreline. Furthermore, it was concluded that the "marine effects" on DCR data (i.e. reduction in apparent resistivity) become nonnegligible as the ratio of half-electrode expansion (AB/2) to the distance to the shoreline is larger than one. …

Paleoenvironment Of The Late Oligocene From The Kağızman-Tuzluca Basin (Northeastern Anatolia) Based On The Micro- And Macrofloras, Mi̇ne Sezgül Kayseri̇ Özer, Recep Hayretti̇n Sancay, Şevket Şen, Koray Sözeri̇, Gregoire Métais, Turhan Ayyildiz, Baki̇ Erdoğan Varol

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The Kağızman-Tuzluca Basin in East Anatolia is still poorly documented for its stratigraphy and in particular its paleofloral assemblages. In this study, the microfloras from the Kağızman-Kötek and Kömürlü areas and the macroflora from the Tuzluca area in this basin have been defined to overcome this deficiency. Sedimentary sequences of the Kağızman-Kömürlü area have been deposited in terrestrial conditions different from the sequences of the Kağızman-Kötek and Tuzluca areas, which were deposited in brackish conditions near a shallow marine environment. Paleovegetation in eastern Anatolia is represented by mixed mesophytic and coniferous forests restricted to high and middle altitudes (e.g. Pinus, …

Groundwater Management Of A Highly Dynamic Karst By Assessing Baseflow And Quickflow With A Rainfall-Discharge Model (Dardennes Springs, Se France, Cécile Baudement, Bruno Arfib, Naomi Mazzilli, Johan Jouves, Thierry Lamarque, Yves Guglielmi

KIP Articles

This paper aims at characterizing the groundwater flow in a highly dynamic karst aquifer using a global modeling approach based on rainfall and spring discharge time series. The Dardennes aquifer (SE France) was studied as it is used for drinking water supply and it also produces karst flash floods that increase the flood hazard downstream in urban areas. Three years of data were available, including a normal rainy year, a wet year and a dry year. Modeling was performed with the new platform KarstMod, a rainfall-discharge model with calibration tools. The Dardennes aquifer model was structured with three interconnected reservoirs: …

Groundwater Management Of A Highly Dynamic Karst By Assessing Baseflow And Quickflow With A Rainfall-Discharge Model (Dardennes Springs, Se France), Cécile Baudement, Bruno Arfib, Naomi Mazzilli, Johan Jouves, Thierry Lamarque, Yves Guglielmi

KIP Articles

This paper aims at characterizing the groundwater flow in a highly dynamic karst aquifer using a global modeling approach based on rainfall and spring discharge time series. The Dardennes aquifer (SE France) was studied as it is used for drinking water supply and it also produces karst flash floods that increase the flood hazard downstream in urban areas. Three years of data were available, including a normal rainy year, a wet year and a dry year. Modeling was performed with the new platform KarstMod, a rainfall-discharge model with calibration tools. The Dardennes aquifer model was structured with three interconnected reservoirs: …

Geologic Map Of The Lima Peaks 7.5' Quadrangle, Beaverhead County, Montana, Betty Skipp, William J. Perry Jr., Susanne U. Jänecke

Geosciences Faculty Publications

The Lima Peaks quadrangle is located in southwestern Beaverhead County in southwestern-most Montana, near the southern terminus of the Beaverhead Mountains (fig. 1). Rocks and deposits of Mississippian through Quaternary age are present along the eastern margin of the Cretaceous to early Tertiary Sevier fold-and-thrust belt. This area is structurally complex because rocks of older, Laramide Blacktail-Snowcrest uplift (Perry and others, 1988; Skipp, 1988; Lonn and others, 2006).

Antibiotic Resistance Genes In Minnesota Soil Bacteria From Areas Of High And Low Ferric Iron, Gunner L. Drossel, Presley Martin Phd

Departmental Honors Projects

Naturally-occurring antibiotic resistance genes in soil bacteria represent a potentially important reservoir of genes that could contribute to antibiotic resistance of human pathogens. It has been reported that over 40 genes in bacterial genomes are controlled by concentrations of ferric iron. We examined the effect of soil metal content on the level of resistance to two antibiotics, ampicillin (Amp) and tetracycline (Tet), and the presence of multiple genes that code for efflux pump-mediated resistance. These pumps act to export toxins (e.g. heavy metals and antibiotics, perhaps). Because of this, growth in heavy metal-contaminated soils might select for antibiotic resistance. Ninety-six …