Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Pfas Mass Balance, Donovan Vitale

Honors Theses

First-generation, PFOS-dominant Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) concentrate of approximately 200 gallons was released to the sewer system from the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport on March 30, 2021. The AFFF release migrated to the Kalamazoo Water Reclamation Plant (KWRP), raising plant effluent above the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) PFOS water quality standard for a total of 46 days post-spill, although the influent concentrations exhibited sharp declines after only 7 days. By sampling influent, effluent, and biosolids daily, the only known long duration, high-frequency PFAS data set of an accidental AFFF release was generated. This study has …

A Framework For Assessing The 4th Rank Dispersivity Tensor Under Anisotropic Axial Symmetries, Xiang Fan

Dissertations

Multi-dimensional expansion of the advection-dispersion equation necessitated the representation of dispersivity as a 4th rank tensor. This tensorial form of dispersivity has 81 terms in three-dimensions with a maximum of 36 independent terms that may be used to describe Fickian spreading of a dissolved contaminant plume according to intrinsic properties of a porous medium. The complexity of the 4th rank tensor has led to the common practice of simplifying the tensor to only 2 or 3 independent terms by assuming isotropic conditions, although isotropic porous media are uncommon in nature as many natural geologic systems exhibit pronounced anisotropy. A broad …

Remote Sensing Application For Landslide Detection: Monitoring Along Eastern Lake Michigan (Miami Park, Mi), Guzalay Sataer

Dissertations

I assessed the nature and spatial and temporal patterns of deformation over the Miami Park bluffs on the eastern margin of Lake Michigan and investigated the factors controlling its observed deformation. Our approach involved the following steps: (1) extracting bluff deformation rates (velocities along the line of sight of the satellite) using a stack of Sentinel-1A radar imagery in ascending acquisition geometry acquired between 2017 and 2021 and applying the Intermittent Small Baseline Subset (ISBAS) InSAR time series analysis method; (2) generating high-resolution (5 cm) elevation models and orthophotos from temporal unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveys acquired in 2017, 2019, …

“This Isn't Working For Me. Can We Do It A Different Way?" The Lived Experiences Of Geoscience Students With Learning Disabilities, Nina Morris

Masters Theses

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study is to better understand the lived experiences of geoscience students with learning disabilities in their geoscience classes. Students with learning disabilities bring a unique perspective while also facing unique challenges in post-secondary education. In the literature, there is limited information on what support and teaching strategies are beneficial to this population. Undergraduate and graduate geoscience students who identify as having a learning disability from colleges and universities in the United States were recruited. Six students consented to participate in the study, and each completed a semi-structured interview. Semi-structured interviews were designed to prompt …

Exploring The Effects Of Tree Roots On Infiltration Process, Nazife Onaral

Masters Theses

Effects of the root structures on soil infiltration dynamics are not clearly defined. Imaging the complex tree root structures and movement of water through the root ball is a challenging task to achieve without damaging the trees and roots by conventional methods. Commonly used methods are invasive, labor-intensive, and not easily accessible. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) has commonly been used to characterize soil profiles and it can be a reliable tool to map complex root structures with a novel high-resolution circular data collection technique. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is another reliable geophysical method to image infiltration processes by the change …

Evidence For An Early Saginaw Lobe Ice Retreat And Drainage Adjustments Across Southern Michigan, Usa, Nathan Erber

Dissertations

The Saginaw lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS), flowed out of Saginaw Bay, across Lower Michigan and into northern Indiana. As it retreated, the Saginaw lobe deposited the Sturgis moraine, a recessional moraine of the lobe in southern Michigan. Positioned to the west and east of the Saginaw lobe were the Lake Michigan and Huron-Erie lobes, respectively. These lobes retreated across the region asynchronously, with the Saginaw lobe retreating first. The asynchronous behavior of the lobes allowed for the Lake Michigan and Huron-Erie lobes to overprint and alter landscapes once occupied by the Saginaw lobe ice.

The Kalamazoo moraine, …

Characterization Of Mumian And Host Rock In Al-Amerat Cave, Oman., Sara Alqamshouai

Honors Theses

Mumian is a sticky black-brown material found in the Mumian cave in Wadi Al Mayh, Al Amerat, Oman. Mumian has been used for centuries as traditional medicine by the local Omani people. Though commonly ingested orally to resolve a variety of common ailments, very little is known about the Mumian material in terms of its chemical composition. The principle aim of this study is to characterize the Mumian and the host rock in terms of the mineralogy and chemical characteristics using a variety of analytic instruments, including XRD, NMR, FT-IR, XRF, and UV- VIS. A secondary goal of this study …

Mid To Late Neogene (5.9-3.7 Ma) Epeirogenic Uplift And Associated Ultramafic Volcanism, Canterbury Basin, New Zealand, Katherine Anne Dvorak

Dissertations

Cored marine sediments from Canterbury Basin Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 317 shelf sites U1351, U1353, and upper slope Site U1352 have been resampled with emphasis on benthic foraminifera from the Late Eocene to Late Pliocene. These new data coupled with paleo water-depth and age data from the nearby Clipper-1 petroleum exploration well, are used to develop a 1-dimensional basin subsidence model for the Canterbury Basin. Our model indicates there was widespread epeirogenic uplift of 890  350m, in the mid-Neogene (5.9-3.7 million years ago), which took place during concomitant ultramafic volcanism. Close association of uplift and volcanism could …

A Remote Sensing And Machine Learning-Based Approach To Forecast The Onset Of Harmful Algal Bloom (Red Tides), Moein Izadi

Dissertations

In the last few decades, harmful algal blooms (HABs, also known as “red tides”) have become one of the most detrimental natural phenomena all around the world especially in Florida’s coastal areas due to local environmental factors and global warming in a larger scale. Karenia brevis produces toxins that have harmful effects on humans, fisheries, and ecosystems. In this study, I developed and compared the efficiency of state-of-the-art machine learning models (e.g., XGBoost, Random Forest, and Support Vector Machine) in predicting the occurrence of HABs. In the proposed models, the K. brevis abundance is used as the target, and 10 …

Experimental Insights Into The Origin Of Microcrystalline Calcites, Mohammed Hashim

Dissertations

A significant proportion of modern marine calcium carbonate sediments is dominated by metastable aragonite and high Mg calcite that either dissolves or stabilizes to low-Mg-calcite (calcite) or dolomite during diagenesis. Sediment dissolution and stabilization have implications for the CaCO3 budget in the ocean and carbon burial rates. Yet, the diagenetic conditions that promote each process and their relative importance are poorly understood. Further, stabilization most commonly produces calcite microcrystals that exhibit various textures and host micropores. Despite their ubiquity in the rock record, the controls on microcrystal textures remain unclear. Here, laboratory experiments were used to investigate aragonite-to-calcite stabilization as …

Instructor Selection And Use Of Virtual Field Experiences In College Geoscience Course, Kristen Foley

Masters Theses

Virtual Field Experiences (VFEs) are a growing supplement and gateway to traditional fieldwork in the geosciences. With VFEs becoming more accepted for use in college geoscience courses, how instructors find and choose VFEs for their students is critical to creating greater accessibility and future resources. VFEs that are not easily accessed by instructors may go unused, and the effort put into making them would have been wasted. This phenomenological descriptive study utilized five focus groups of college geoscience instructors in the United States. Each 1-to-1.5-hour focus group session of 3-7 participants took place on video conferencing software, which was recorded …