Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Estimating Streambank Erosion Using Gps-Based Watershed-Scale Video Mapping And Usepa Bancs For The Development Of Sediment Tmdls, Kelsey Jo Hensley

Masters Theses

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), sediment is one of the most common water pollutants in the nation’s rivers. Consequently, the identification of streambank locations with high erosion potential is important in reducing sediment input via management and monitoring practices. Furthermore, the estimation of erosion rates and sediment loads can assist in the development of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs). The objective of this study was to integrate two USEPA-recommended approaches with the Streambank Video Mapping System (SVMS) in order to predict site-specific Total Daily Sediment Loads (TDSLs) and calculate sediment TMDLs for streambank erosion over several …

Investigating The Effects Of Urbanization On Residual Forest Soils In Knox Co., Tennessee, Benjamin Lee Reichert

Masters Theses

As the process of urbanization advances across the country, so does the importance of urban forests, which include both trees and the soils in which they grow. Soil microbial biomass, which plays a critical role in nutrient transformation in urban ecosystems, is affected by factors such as soil type and the availability of water, carbon, and nitrogen. However, the microbial dynamics of urban forest soils remain largely unknown. A key mechanistic link between plant species diversity and ecosystem function is heterotrophic microbial communities that inhabit the soil and mediate principal processes that control ecosystem carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling. …

Impacts Of Climate Change On The Evolution Of The Electrical Grid, Melissa Ree Allen

Doctoral Dissertations

Maintaining interdependent infrastructures exposed to a changing climate requires understanding 1) the local impact on power assets; 2) how the infrastructure will evolve as the demand for infrastructure changes location and volume and; 3) what vulnerabilities are introduced by these changing infrastructure topologies. This dissertation attempts to develop a methodology that will a) downscale the climate direct effect on the infrastructure; b) allow population to redistribute in response to increasing extreme events that will increase under climate impacts; and c) project new distributions of electricity demand in the mid-21^st century.

The research was structured in three parts. The first …

New Remote Sensing Methods For Detecting And Quantifying Forest Disturbance And Regeneration In The Eastern United States, Michael Joseph Hughes

Doctoral Dissertations

Forest disturbances, such as wildfires, the southern pine beetle, and the hemlock woolly adelgid, affect millions of hectares of forest in North America with significant implications for forest health and management. This dissertation presents new methods to quantify and monitor disturbance through time in the forests of the eastern United States using remotely sensed imagery from the Landsat family of satellites, detect clouds and cloud-shadow in imagery, generate composite images from the clear-sky regions of multiple images acquired at different times, delineate the extents of disturbance events, identify the years in which they occur, and label those events with an …

Measuring Carbon Dioxide (Co2) Flux Of Agricultural Practices In Sub-Saharan Africa, Debra Blumberg O'Dell

Masters Theses

Agriculture has an important role in addressing two of the world’s most pressing problems: meeting global food demand and mitigating climate change. If agriculture is not practiced sustainably it will fail to meet future food demand and likely intensify the pace of global climate change. There are some agricultural practices, such as Conservation Agriculture, that can produce food sustainably and have the potential to mitigate climate change. However it is not clear which agricultural practices contribute to climate mitigation and by how much. By measuring the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of specific agricultural practices, the ability of practices to sequester …

Vehicle Multi-Pass Rut Volume And Mobility Power Study, William W. Barbour

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

This paper presents the relationship between applied power by a wheeled vehicle to soil and the rutting effects. Specifically, a strong positive relationship was found between cumulative applied power and total rut volume across multiple passes by the vehicle over the same tracks. Field-testing was conducted using a high-mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicle (HMMWV) and two distinct soil types. Sensors on the vehicle measured torque and angular velocity of each of the four wheels, from which applied power was calculated. A rut profile meter was used to document the shape of the rut after set numbers of passes and this profile …

Geospatial Characterization Of Fluvial Wood In A Midwestern, Semi-Confined Alluvial River System, Derek Joseph Martin

Doctoral Dissertations

Large woody debris (LWD) has become universally recognized as a key component of the ecological and geomorphological function of river systems. The use of LWD as a restoration tool in Midwestern river systems is widespread, yet LWD-related restoration strategies are primarily supported by research from the Pacific Northwest or other physiographically similar regions. The purpose of this dissertation research was to investigate the longitudinal arrangement patterns of LWD and to characterize LWD and its effects on sediment storage within the Big River, a Midwestern river system located in the Missouri Ozarks. I adopted a multi-scale approach to analyze (1) large-scale …

Stability, Erosion, And Morphology Considerations For Sustainable Slope Design, Isaac Andres Jeldes Halty

Doctoral Dissertations

The construction of more natural and sustainable earth slopes requires the consideration of erosion and runoff characteristics as an integral part of the design. These effects not only result in high costs for removal of sediment, but also a profound damage to the ecosystem. In this dissertation, innovative techniques are developed such that more natural appearing slopes can be designed to minimize sediment delivery, while meeting mechanical equilibrium requirements. This was accomplished by: a) examining the fundamental failure modes of slopes built with minimum compaction (FRA) to enhance quick establishment of forest, b) investigating the geomechanical and erosion stability of …

A Multidimensional Analysis Of The Great Green Wall: The Environmental And Social Effects Of Reafforestation In Senegal, Anna Eugenia Alsobrook

Masters Theses

The north-central region of Senegal is home to the Great Green Wall (GGW)—a reafforestation project aimed at restoring decades–old, degraded land conditions by establishing tree belts and community gardens. Its presence on the ground has changed the local landscape and altered the social institutions governing the daily lives of the people it aims to protect.

My study is an in-progress assessment of the GGW towards its two major goals: 1) improving the lives of the people of the Sahel and increasing their capacity to adapt to climate change and drought, and 2) improving the state of the ecosystem and increasing …

Freshwater Mussels (Bivalvia: Margaritiferidae And Unionidae) Of The Buffalo River Drainage, Tennessee, Matthew Philip Reed

Masters Theses

The Buffalo River in Tennessee once hosted a rich population of freshwater mussels. During the 1980s, monitoring efforts demonstrated evidence of drastic declines and extirpation of entire assemblages. Increases in municipal development in the headwater tributaries and agriculture in the main stem of the Buffalo River are suspected causes for mussel community declines throughout the river. In 2011, collection data documented evidence of recovery in the lower Buffalo River. The aims of this project were: 1) to update the status, distribution, and species composition of mussels in the Buffalo River and its major tributaries through qualitative sampling, and 2) to …

Spatial Co-Variation Between Distance From Mining Activity And Water Chemistry On East Tennessee's Northern Cumberland Plateau, Bryan Benjamin Bozeman

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.