Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Human Decomposition Ecology At The University Of Tennessee Anthropology Research Facility, Franklin Edward Damann

Doctoral Dissertations

The University of Tennessee Anthropology Research Facility (ARF) is well known for its unique history as a site of human decomposition research in a natural environment. It has been integral to our understanding of the processes of human decomposition. Over the last 30 years 1,089 bodies have decomposed at this 1.28 acre facility, producing a density of 850 corpses per acre of land. This project evaluated the abiotic and biotic characteristics of the soil exposed to various levels of human decomposition in order to determine the effect on the physicochemical properties and the indigenous bacterial communities.

Specifically, 75 soil samples …

Transport Of Explosive Residue Surrogates In Saturated Porous Media, Bethsheba Lavoie

Masters Theses

Contamination of soils by munitions constituents is pervasive on Department of Defense operational ranges. Low-order detonations result in the heterogeneous distribution of explosives residues (ER) at shallow depths. At a limited number of ranges ER contamination of groundwater has been observed.

Previous studies have shown that the downward migration of colloid-sized contaminants can significantly impact groundwater quality. The goal of this study was to investigate if colloid transport plays a role in the migration of ER contaminants. Our primary objective was to determine the transport potential of fine (<5>um) ER particles under ideal conditions for colloid transport. A secondary …

Geophysical Study At Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park, Manchester, Tennessee, Stephen Jay Yerka

Masters Theses

The Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park covers over 800 acres within Manchester, Tennessee, and is owned and managed by the Tennessee Division of State Parks. The central archaeological site within the park boundary is The Old Stone Fort mounds that enclose about 50 acres on a plateau above the convergence of the Big Duck and the Little Duck Rivers. The hilltop enclosure dates to the Middle Woodland Period, and radiocarbon dates obtained at the site range from the first to the fifth century A. D. Because of its size and apparent complexity, previous investigations of the site have been …

Surface And Subsurface Structures Of The Western Valley And Ridge In Tennessee And Geometry And Kinematics That Permit Reconstruction Of The Tennessee Salient, Southern Appalachians, Jennifer Kathleen Whisner

Doctoral Dissertations

The southern and central Appalachian foreland fold-thrust belt comprises a series of orogen -scale curves that extend from Alabama to New York. One of these is the Tennessee salient, a foreland-convex curve that extends from Cartersville, Georgia, to Roanoke, Virginia. Development of a kinematic model for deformation in the salient has been hindered by a paucity of penetrative deformation in this generally low temperature, low volume-loss portion of the orogen.

Industry seismic reflection lines provide greater resolution of subsurface geometry of both the basement surface and the overlying fold-thrust belt, confirming some previous interpretations and changing others. A series of …

The Effects Of Changes In Water Content On Uranium(Vi) Leaching In Sediment Mixtures Containing Gravel, Andrew Weber Moore

Masters Theses

This study is aimed at understanding the physical and chemical effects that changes in water content have on uranium leaching in sediment containing gravel. It was hypothesized that leaching will be more efficient under unsaturated conditions because flow will be restricted to the smallest pores and will have the most contact with the uranium contaminated sediment. Under saturated conditions, a large portion of the flow will bypass the < 2 mm material, and in turn not come into contact with uranium contaminated material. Batch adsorption and desorption experiments were performed on < 2 mm ERDF sediment to determine the linearity and reversibility of sorption processes and to aid in the interpretation of the leaching experiments. Results of the desorption experiments on aged, contaminated sediments show that the mass percent of sorbed U(VI) released to solution decreased as the sorbed concentration of U(VI) decreased. The opposite trend was observed on freshly contaminated sediments. This indicated that aging increased U(VI) affinity for the solid phase and was attributed to either the crystallization of calcite, which incorporated a portion of the sorbed U(VI) as it crystallized, or the presence of voids in basaltic lithic fragments accessed by diffusion. Column leaching experiments were performed at two water contents on artificially contaminated sediment collected from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hanford Site, Washington state. The sediment contained 81.3% gravel (> 2 mm) by mass. Non-reactive tracers were well fit with the convection-dispersion equation (CDE) at both high and low water contents indicating physical equilibrium. The column experimental data were fitted to an …

The Relationships Of Streambank Angles And Shapes To Streambank Erosion Rates In The Little River Watershed, Tn, William Ryan Foster

Masters Theses

Sediment is a leading cause of water quality impairment throughout the United States. In the Little River watershed in eastern Tennessee, several tributaries have been classified as impaired due primarily to sedimentation. Researchers at The University of Tennessee, in collaboration with a group of local and state organizations, began monitoring Little River tributaries to better understand their sources of pollution. To investigate the rates and processes of streambank erosion, erosion-pin monitoring sites were established on 32 banks in the watershed. This thesis complements the erosion-pin monitoring efforts by determining bank characteristics and examining the relationships of streambank angles and shapes …

A Morphological And Geochemical Investigation Of Grypania Spiralis: Implications For Early Earth Evolution, Miles Anthony Henderson

Masters Theses

Macroscopic “carbonaceous” fossils such as Grypania, Katnia, Chuaria, and Tawuia play a critical role in our understanding of biological evolution in the Precambrian and their environmental implications. Unfortunately, understanding of these fossils remains limited by their relative simplicity of form, mode of preservation, and broad taphonomic variability. As a result, debate continues as to even the fundamental taxonomic affinity of the organisms. Megascopic coiled forms (i.e. Grypania and Katnia), for instance, have been interpreted as trace fossils, multicellular algae, prokaryotic filaments, macroscopic bacteria, cyanobacteria, or a transitional form from macroscopic to megascopic bacterial life. Similarly, Chuaria …

An Investigation For The Need Of Secondary Treatment Of Residential Wastewater When Applied With A Subsurface Drip Irrigation System, Boone S. Hillenbrand

Masters Theses

The objective of this study was to investigate the need for domestic wastewater to receive secondary treatment when being applied to the soil by subsurface drip irrigation (SDI). SDI uniformly distributes wastewater into the soil, which optimizes the soil’s chemical, physical, and biological capacity to remove waste constituents. Because of these advantages, many regulatory jurisdictions are allowing SDI at sites that previously were prohibited from using conventional trench-based soil application systems because of shallow soil restrictions. However, most of these regulatory agencies also require that the wastewater receives secondary treatment (dissolved organic carbon reduction) before the SDI system. At issue …

Structural And Metamorphic Evolution Of The West-Central Newton Window, Eastern Inner Piedmont, Burke, Catawba, And Lincoln Counties, North Carolina, William George Gilliam

Masters Theses

Rocks of the western and eastern Inner Piedmont, along with the eastern Blue Ridge, comprise the Neoacadian metamorphic core of the southern Appalachians. The composite Inner Piedmont consists of the eastern Tugaloo (western Inner Piedmont) and Cat Square (eastern Inner Piedmont) terranes, which are separated by the Brindle Creek fault. Geochronologic evidence established the Brindle Creek fault as a terrane boundary within the Inner Piedmont, separating terranes of Laurentian and mixed Laurentian/Avalonian (peri-Gondwanan) zircon suites. The Newton window exposes Tugaloo terrane rocks of the Tallulah Falls Formation in the footwall of the Brindle Creek thrust sheet.

Detailed geologic mapping in …

Tectonic Evolution Of The West-Central Portion Of The Newton Window, North Carolina Inner Piedmont: Timing And Implications For The Emplacement Of The Paleozoic Vale Charnockite, Walker Top Granite, And Mafic Complexes, Heather Elizabeth Byars

Masters Theses

Detailed geologic mapping of portions of the Banoak, Reepsville, Lincolnton West, and Cherryville 7.5-minute quadrangles has confirmed the easternmost exposure of the Brindle Creek fault, which frames the Newton window. The Brindle Creek fault is a terrane boundary that separates the overlying Siluro-Devonian assemblage of metasedimentary rocks and Devonian-Mississippian anatectic plutons of the Cat Square terrane from the Neoproterozoic(?)-Ordovician metasedimentary and igneous rocks of the Tugaloo terrane. Structures related to six deformational events have been identified in this portion of the Inner Piedmont. The Brindle Creek fault has been folded multiple times, resulting in a sinuous outcrop pattern and the …

Tectonic Evolution Of The Southern Appalachian Inner Piedmont: Identification And Interpretation Of Crustal Features From Aeromagnetic Data And Detailed Geologic Mapping In Central Georgia, Brittany Allison Davis

Masters Theses

The Inner Piedmont (IP) is the Neoacadian migmatitic orogenic core of the southern Appalachians, exhibiting the widest area of high-grade metamorphism; regional upper amphibolite facies with isolated pods of granulite grade metamorphism. Peak P-T conditions in central GA reached 4.0-7.6 kbars and 630-715 ̊ C. The Brindle Creek fault (BCf) separates high-grade metasedimentary rocks of the eastern Tugaloo terrane (Tt) and Cat Square terrane (CSt). The Tt consists of the Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic(?) Tallulah Falls Formation, Chauga River Formation, and the Mid-Ordovician Poor Mountain Formation, intruded by Early to Middle Ordovician granitoids. The CSt consists of Siluro-Devonian metasedimentary rocks, …

Quartz Grain Microtextures And Sediment Provenance: Using Scanning Electron Microscopy To Characterize Tropical Highland Sediments From Costa Rica And The Dominican Republic, Sarah Marie Deane

Masters Theses

Microtextures recorded on quartz sand grain surfaces provide evidence of past environment. Environmental processes, such as transport by glacial ice, create unique microtextures on sand grain surfaces that can be observed under high magnification with a scanning electron microscope. These microtextures and their proportions tend to be unique to environment type, allowing investigators to infer the environmental conditions to which sediments have been exposed, for example to distinguish sediments from fluvial versus mass-wasted environments. Microtextural evidence also allows inferences about the history of sediments of unknown origin.

This thesis determines the qualitative and quantitative microtextural fingerprint of glacigenic quartz sand …

Utk Geography Newsletter 10 (2009-2010), Department Of Geography

UTK Geography Newsletter

No abstract provided.