Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

An Experiment To Determine Mineral-Associated Organic Matter Turnover In A Sandy Clay Loam, Samantha Abel

All Master's Theses

Soil is an important terrestrial carbon sink. Through regenerative land management, which includes minimizing soil disturbance, the carbon content of soil can be raised towards preindustrial levels. This feat requires effectively storing carbon in a natural system that is inclined to cyclicity. The most stable form of soil organic matter is mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM). This carbon labelling experiment was designed to identify short-term CO₂ fluxes within the soil-plant-atmosphere system, particularly those related to MAOM turnover in the rhizosphere. Basil (Ocimum basilicum) was planted on a plot at the campus farm at Central Washington University. Another plot …

The Effects Of Channel Incision And Land Use On Surface-Water/Groundwater Interactions In The Teanaway River Basin, Washington, Usa, Joseph Petralia

All Master's Theses

The Teanaway River basin, a major tributary to the Yakima River, is host to several restoration projects with the intention of returning the river channel to a more natural state and improving riparian habitat. These projects may also increase aquifer storage and potentially increase summertime streamflows. This study of the Teanaway Valley Family Farm, an 88-hectare parcel on the main-stem Teanaway River that was recently purchased by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, provides hydrogeologic data that will inform these restoration projects. Following the purchase of this land, ten wells were installed within and slightly above the floodplain in order …

Organic-Input Impacts On Soil Carbon Flux, Storage, And Budget In Conservation Agricultural Soils, Central Washington, Usa, Jessica Hartman

All Master's Theses

The increase in global atmospheric CO₂ over the last 200 years has generated an urgent need for strategies for sequestering carbon (C). Soil C, which has been depleted by land use change and agricultural practices, is a prime target for C storage. Land management practices, including no-till, cover cropping and crop rotation, and the application of C amendments such as compost and biochar, are suggested to increase C in the soil. Spoon Full Farm, near Thorp, WA, was a conventional hay farm until 2016, when management practices changed to implement some of these C sequestration strategies. A prior CWU …

Applying Garnet And Zircon Ree Linkages To Determine Timing Of P-T Conditions And Tectonic Implications For Uhp Eclogites And Hp Granulites, Dulan Uhp Terrane, China, Wesley Weisberg

All Master's Theses

The Dulan ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) terrane in western China hosts rocks that record continental collision, however; the timing of peak P-T conditions in UHP eclogites and HP granulites, and the tectonic significance of their spatial relationship within the Dulan UHP terrane are not well understood. This study, (1) evaluates rare earth element (REE) equilibrium between garnet and zircon, to assess coeval growth; (2) links timing (from zircon) to the P-T history (from garnet) to constrain the P-T-t path of the Dulan UHP terrane and interpret implications for zircon growth; (3) refines P-T conditions for HP granulite; and (4) evaluates the tectonic …

The Role Of Cumulate Plagioclase Entrainment In The Steens Basalt, Se Oregon: Insights From The Magma Chamber Simulator, Valerie Strasser

All Master's Theses

The Steens Basalt, located in SE Oregon, is the oldest and most mafic member of the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG). Because the Steens Basalt contains large (up to 6 cm) and abundant (up to 40%) plagioclase crystals, it is classified as a Giant Plagioclase basalt (GPB). Understanding the origin of these giant plagioclase yields insight into magmatic processes like recharge, crustal assimilation, cumulate entrainment, and fractional crystallization. Because large and abundant plagioclase are found in other flood basalt provinces worldwide, these results could also enhance understanding of magma evolution and storage conditions for GPB worldwide. The Steens basalt is …

Recovering Lost Information From Avocational Projectile Point Collections, Mackenzie Hughes

All Master's Theses

Human prehistory in North America has sparked the interest of private citizens for decades, sometimes leading to an accumulation of avocational artifact collections that lack site-level provenience. The Wild/Clymer artifacts (n = 1,371) are one such collection where precise site provenience was lost. The analysis aims to recover regional provenience by using morphology, raw material sourcing, and typology to create a data set. The avocational collection data set was analyzed by comparing it to the professionally recorded archaeological data sets from within 100 miles of Frenchglen, Oregon. A paradigmatic classification approach identified 606 typeable points in the avocational collection, in …

Seasonal Soil Carbon Fluxes In Transitioning Agricultural Soils In Central Washington State: Relations To Land-Use, Environmental Factors And Soil Carbon-Nitrogen Characteristics, Brandon Kautzman

All Master's Theses

Changing agricultural land-use practices to increase soil carbon sequestration contributes to climate change mitigation and improved food security by moving CO₂ from the atmosphere into soil as soil organic carbon (SOC). In 2016, a farm in Thorp, Washington, Spoon Full Farm, began converting land historically farmed using conventional methods of tillage and synthetic fertilizers to conservation farming methods with direct seeding and organic soil amendments with a goal of sequestering carbon in the soil. This project evaluates relationships of soil CO₂ respiration and net ecological exchange (NEE) with land-use types, seasonal environmental factors (air temperature, relative humidity, soil …

Abandoned Mine Land Impacts On Tributaries In The Upper Yakima River Watershed, Eastern Cascades, Washington, Scott Kugel

All Master's Theses

Effluent from abandoned mine lands (AMLs) in several drainages in Washington’s Eastern Cascades flows into the Yakima River. Similar sites in Idaho and Colorado are known producers of heavy metals and acid mine drainage. I determined the effects of nine AMLs on water quality in four tributaries to the Yakima River. Archival work was conducted to determine sites that were mined and contained a mill. Each site was characterized by physical features. Water and sediment samples were collected above, at, and below each AML. Samples were analyzed for pH and heavy metal content, and evaluated to determine if the AMLs …

Giant Plagioclase In The Steens Basalt, Se Oregon: Cumulate Entrainment Revealed By Textural And In Situ Chemical Analysis, Conner H. Toth

All Master's Theses

Many of the lava flows comprising the Steens Basalt in SE Oregon, the oldest and most mafic formation of the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG), contain exceptionally large (up to 5 cm) and abundant (up to 40 modal %) plagioclase crystals. This thesis presents a model for giant plagioclase formation in a complex system that integrates petrographic and in situ plagioclase compositional analyses with whole-rock data and computational modeling to explain systematic textural and chemical differences between plagioclase of the lower and upper Steens Basalt sub-sections. Lower Steens plagioclase are typically more chemically homogenous than upper Steens plagioclase and exhibit …

The Origin Of Dark Mats At The Sunrise Ridge Borrow Pit Site (45pi408) Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, Sean Stcherbinine

All Master's Theses

The Sunrise Ridge Borrow Pit Site is a precontact archaeological site located in the upland forest soils of Mount Rainier National Park. Site stratigraphy is complicated, consisting of tephra deposits from mostly known origins that are intercalated with dark sediments of unknown origin, referred to here as dark mats. Precontact occupation has been split previously into two components based on the ambiguous depositional history of the dark mats, notably their unknown parent material, depositional environment, and relationship with adjacent tephra strata. Stratigraphic samples from excavation units, features, and one off-site excavation unit was used to investigate these data gaps. Grain …

Quantifying Crustal Assimilation In Historical To Recent (1329-2005) Lavas At Mt. Etna, Italy: Insights From Thermodynamic Modeling, Marie Takach

All Master's Theses

The nearly continuous volcanic eruption record at Mt. Etna dating back approximately 700 years provides an excellent opportunity to investigate the geochemical evolution of a highly active volcano. Of particular interest is elucidating the cause of a selective enrichment in alkali elements (K, Rb, Cs) and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr. This alkali enrichment trend, which began in the 17^th century and accelerated after 1971, was accompanied by an increase in the volume, frequency, and explosivity of eruptions. To explain this enrichment, two major arguments are invoked: (1) crustal contributions (e.g., assimilation of the sedimentary basement), and (2) changes in …

Actively Forming Kuroko-Type Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulfide (Vhms) Mineralization At Iheya North, Okinawa Trough, Japan, Christopher J. Yeats, Steven P. Hollis, Angela Halfpenny, Juan-Carlos Corona, Crystal Laflamme, Gordon Southam, Marco Fiorentini, Richard J. Herrington, John Spratt

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Modern seafloor hydrothermal systems provide important insights into the formation and discovery of ancient volcanic-hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) deposits. In 2010, Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 331 drilled five sites in the Iheya North hydrothermal field in the middle Okinawa Trough back-arc basin, Japan. Hydrothermal alteration and sulfide mineralization is hosted in a geologically complex, mixed sequence of coarse pumiceous volcaniclastic and fine hemipelagic sediments, overlying a dacitic to rhyolitic volcanic substrate. At site C0016, located adjacent to the foot of the actively venting North Big Chimney massive sulfide mound, massive sphalerite-(pyrite-chalcopyrite ± galena)-rich sulfides were intersected (to 30.2% …

Isotope Investigation Of Nitrate In Soils And Agricultural Drain Waters Of The Lower Yakima Valley, Washington, Dallin Jensen

All Master's Theses

Nitrate in the groundwater of the Lower Yakima Valley, Washington has long been known to frequently exceed the EPA maximum contaminant level standard for potable water (10 mg/L), adversely impacting communities with disadvantaged socio-economic status. In this research, nitrogen and oxygen isotopic signatures were determined for nitrate soil leachates and irrigation return flow collected in the Lower Yakima Valley, Washington and compared to previous isotopic studies of nitrate in Central Washington. δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O and Δ¹⁷O values are used to constrain sources of to groundwater. Isotope signatures for nitrate from soil leachate largely overlapped with …

Using Strontium Isotopes In Conjunction With Major, And Trace Elements To Identify Water/Rock Interaction In The Upper Kittitas County, Washington, James Patterson, Carey Gazis

All Master's Theses

The complex bedrock lithologies in the Upper Kittitas County provide an ideal setting for developing isotopic methodology to identify groundwater sources and track flow paths through water-rock interaction. A wide range of 87Sr/86Sr (0.7040 to 0.7068) in surface waters, springs, and groundwater from wells was found, allowing for identification of the individual signatures of lithologic units. Rock leachates from different lithology were compared to water samples to determine a general 87Sr/86Sr signature of the water-rock interaction for that lithology. The signatures identified were systematically lower than their associated waters, but similar enough to identify the expected 87Sr/86Sr of water-rock interaction …

Spatiotemporal Slip Rate Variations Along Surprise Valley Fault In Relation To Pleistocene Pluvial Lakes, Brian N. Marion

All Master's Theses

Using mapped paleoshoreline features with high-resolution topographic data and obtained radiocarbon dates on paleoshoreline tufas, I documented precise fault offsets of dated features over the last 25 ka along the Surprise Valley Fault (SVF). Fault offset measured in three lake sections within Surprise Valley ranged from 3.6 m in the southern section to 14.4 m in the central section. The offset paleoshorelines are dated to the late Pleistocene (<22 >ka) and were formed during the latest impoundment of pluvial Lake Surprise since the last glacial maximum. Slip rates vary along strike, assuming a fault dip of 68° with 0.25 ± …

Documenting Mantle And Crustal Contributions To Flood Basalt Magmatism Via Computational Modeling Of The Steens Basalt, Southeast Oregon, Sylvana J. Bendaña

All Master's Theses

Flood basalts are enormous volcanic events with volumes of volcanic cover and intrusive equivalents that are affected by and significantly affect the crust. Steens Basalt represents 31,800 km³ of flood basalt lavas that erupted in eastern Oregon ~16.8 Ma in less than 300,000 years. Analytical data of flows from a 1 km vertical exposure at Steens Mtn. documents time-transgressive changes in composition of two geochemically distinct units: (1) lower Steens, MgO-rich lavas with lower incompatible trace element concentrations and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, and (2) upper Steens, MgO-poor, with higher incompatible trace element concentrations and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr. …

Evolution Of A Flood Basalt Crustal Magmatic System: In Situ Mineral Data And Computational Modeling Of The Steens Basalt, Megan Graubard

All Master's Theses

Flood basalts are gigantic basaltic eruptions that modify the mass of the crust via intrusion of mantle-derived magma, and change its composition through interaction between magma and crust. The Steens Basalt, located in southeast Oregon, erupted approximately 16.8 million years ago, and is the oldest member of the Columbia River Basalt Group, the youngest and best-exposed flood basalt province on Earth. The Steens Basalt has an eruption volume of approximately 31,800 km³ and the duration of eruption is estimated to be between ~50,000 and 300,000 years. Major- and trace element whole rock data from 111 stratigraphically controlled samples from …

Fluid Release During Eclogite Formation, North Qaidam Terrane, Western China, Jake M. Meyer

All Master's Theses

Ultrahigh-pressure (UHP, depths ≳100 km) eclogite samples from the Dulan area of the North Qaidam Terrane, western China, preserve evidence of fluid release along a prograde pressure-temperature (P-T) path. Eclogite sample D126A, Grt + Omp + Qtz + Zo + Amp + Phe + minor Rt + Hem, contains garnet porphyroblasts that preserve strong Ca zoning, recording higher core values (Grs₃₄), lower inner mantle values (Grs₂₅), increasing outer mantle values (Grs₂₈), and lower rim values (Grs₂₆). Isochemical phase diagrams (pseudosections), assuming H₂O saturation, produce a P-T path constrained by multiple …

Enriched Continental Flood Basalts From Depleted Mantle Melts: Modeling The Lithospheric Contamination Of Karoo Lavas From Antarctica, Jussi S. Heinonen, Arto V. Luttinen, Wendy A. Bohrson

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Continental flood basalts (CFBs) represent large-scale melting events in the Earth’s upper mantle and show considerable geochemical heterogeneity that is typically linked to substantial contribution from underlying continental lithosphere. Large-scale partial melting of the cold subcontinental lithospheric mantle and the large amounts of crustal contamination suggested by traditional binary mixing or assimilation-fractional crystallization models are difficult to reconcile with the thermal and compositional characteristics of continental lithosphere, however. The well-exposed CFBs of Vestfjella, western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, belong to the Jurassic Karoo large igneous province and provide a prime locality to quantify mass contributions of lithospheric and sublithospheric sources …

Timing And Source Of Alkali Enrichment At Mt. Etna, Sicily: Constraints From Clinopyroxene Geobarometry And In Situ Sr Isotope Data, Kaitlyn Nelson

All Master's Theses

Since 1971, Mt. Etna, Europe’s largest and most active volcano, has exhibited increased eruption frequency and explosivity. Associated with this increased activity, researchers have documented higher abundances of alkali elements (K, Rb, Cs) as well as elevated ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in Etnean lavas. The source of this alkali-enrichment has been hotly debated, with end-member hypotheses involving mantle vs. crustal contributions. To further characterize the evolution of the subvolcanic magma storage and transport system, as well as the timing and source of alkali-enrichment, clinopyroxene from ten samples erupted between 1329 and 2004 was targeted for in situ textural, major element …

Iron Sources And Dissolved-Particulate Interactions In The Seawater Of The Western Equatorial Pacific, Iron Isotope Perspectives, M. Labatut, F. Lacan, C. Pradoux, J. Chmeleff, A. Radic, J. W. Murray, F. Poitrasson, Anne M. Johansen, F. Thil

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

This work presents iron isotope data in the western equatorial Pacific. Marine aerosols and top core margin sediments display a slightly heavy Fe isotopic composition (δ⁵⁶Fe) of 0.33 ± 0.11‰ (2SD) and 0.14 ± 0.07‰, respectively. Samples reflecting the influence of Papua New Guinea runoff (Sepik River and Rabaul volcano water) are characterized by crustal values. In seawater, Fe is mainly supplied in the particulate form and is found with a δ⁵⁶Fe between −0.49 and 0.34 ± 0.07‰. The particulate Fe seems to be brought mainly by runoff and transported across continental shelves and slopes. …

Geochemical Constraints On Groundwater Recharge In The Royal Slope Area, Grant County, Washington, Zoe Danielle Weis

All Master's Theses

Groundwater, the primary source for potable water in the Columbia Plateau, has experienced significant declines over the past 25 years. Groundwater geochemistry and multivariable statistics were employed to identify and characterize the hydrofacies present, constrain recharge sources, and assess mixing of groundwater in the Royal Slope area of the Columbia Plateau. Geochemical analyses for major ions, stable isotopes, and radiogenic isotopes (14C and tritium) for age dating were performed on groundwater samples collected in 2010 from 24 wells in the study area. The results confirmed that the groundwater evolution in the study area follows the typical Columbia River Basalt Group …

Bulk Rock Composition And Geochemistry Of Olivine-Hosted Melt Inclusions In The Grey Porri Tuff And Selected Lavas Of The Monte Dei Porri Volcano, Salina, Aeolian Islands, Southern Italy., Angela L. Doherty, Robert J. Bodnar, Benedetto De Vivo, Wendy A. Bohrson, Harvey E. Belkin, Antonia Messina, Robert J. Tracy

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

The Aeolian Islands are an arcuate chain of submarine seamounts and volcanic islands, lying just north of Sicily in southern Italy. The second largest of the islands, Salina, exhibits a wide range of compositional variation in its erupted products, from basaltic lavas to rhyolitic pumice. The Monte dei Porri eruptions occurred between 60 ka and 30 ka, following a period of approximately 60,000 years of repose. The bulk rock composition of the Monte dei Porri products range from basaltic-andesite scoria to andesitic pumice in the Grey Porri Tuff (GPT), with the Monte dei Porri lavas having basaltic-andesite compositions. The typical …

Size And Exhumation Rate Of Ultrahigh-Pressure Terranes Linked To Orogenic Stage, Andrew R.C. Kylander-Clark, Bradley R. Hacker, Chris G. Mattinson

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

A growing set of data indicates a stark contrast between the evolution of two types of ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) terranes: large terranes that evolved slowly (over 10–30 Myr), and small terranes that formed and were exhumed on timescales of < 10 Myr. Here we compare the characteristics – area, thickness, formation rate, exhumation rate, age, and tectonic setting – of these two endmember types of UHP terrane worldwide. We suggest that the two UHP terrane types may form during different orogenic stages because of variations in the buoyancy and traction forces due to different proportions of subducting crust and mantle lithosphere or to different rates of subduction. The initial stages of continent collision involve the subduction of thin continental crust or microcontinents, and thus tectonic forces are dominated by the density of the oceanic slab; subduction rates are rapid and subduction angles are initially steep. However, as collision matures, thicker and larger pieces of continental material are subducted, and the positive buoyancy of the down-going slab becomes more prominent; subduction angles become gentle and convergence slows. Assessing the validity of this hypothesis is critical to understanding the physical and chemical evolution of Earth's crust and mantle.

Included here is the post-print copy of this article. The final publication is available via ScienceDirect at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X11007564

Geochemistry, Geothermobarometry And Geochronology Of High-Pressure Granulites And Implications For The Exhumation History Of Ultrahigh-Pressure Terranes: Dulan, Western China, Benjamin David Joseph Christensen

All Master's Theses

The Dulan ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) rocks of the North Qaidam terrane, Western China, represent continental crust that has been subducted ~100 km during continental collision. Adjacent granulites representing burial to ~50 km could either be overprinted eclogites or a separate high-pressure-high-temperature (HP-HT) granulite unit. Overprinted eclogites and HP-HT granulites imply different P-T-t paths for UHP rocks. Metamorphic conditions for the granulites are 750–880 °C and 14–17 kbar. Zircon U-Pb geochronology, REE patterns and Ti-in-zircon thermometry indicate an increase in temperature from ~800 °C (449 Ma) to ~900 °C (418 Ma). This temperature increase could explain the presence of granulite leucosomes and …

Paragneiss Zircon Geochronology And Trace Element Geochemistry, North Qaidam Hp/Uhp Terrane, Western China, Chris G. Mattinson, Joseph L. Wooden, Jian-Xin Zhang, D. K. Bird

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

In the southeastern part of the North Qaidam terrane, near Dulan, paragneiss hosts minor peridotite and UHP eclogite. Zircon geochronology and trace element geochemistry of three paragneiss samples (located within a ∼3 km transect) indicates that eclogite-facies metamorphism resulted in variable degrees of zircon growth and recrystallization in the three samples. Inherited zircon core age groups at 1.8 and 2.5 Ga suggest that the protoliths of these rocks may have received sediments from the Yangtze or North China cratons. Mineral inclusions, depletion in HREE, and absence of negative Eu anomalies indicate that zircon U-Pb ages of 431 ± 5 Ma …

Coesite In Eclogite From The North Qaidam Mountains And Its Implications, Jian-Xin Zhang, Fan-Cong Meng, Jin-Ping Li, Chris G. Mattinson

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Coesite provides direct evidence for ultrahigh pressure metamorphism. Although coesite has been found as inclusions in zircon in paragneiss of the north Qaidam Mountains, it has never been identified in eclogite. In this contribution, based on petrographic observations and in situ Raman microprobe spectroscopy, coesite was identified as inclusions in garnet of eclogite from the Aercituoshan, Dulan UHP metamorphic unit, north Qaidam Mountains. Coesite is partly replaced by quartz, showing a palisade texture. This is the first report on coesite in eclogite from the north Qaidam Mountains, and is also supported by garnet-omphacite-phengite geothermobarometry (2.7–3.25 GPa, 670–730°C). Coesite and its …

Exhumation Of The Inyo Mountains, California: Implications For The Timing Of Extension Along The Western Boundary Of The Basin And Range Province And Distribution Of Dextral Fault Slip Rates Across The Eastern California Shear Zone, Jeffrey Lee, Daniel F. Stockli, Lewis A. Owen, Robert C. Finkel, Roman Kislitsyn

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

New geologic mapping, tectonic geomorphologic, ¹⁰Be terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide, and (U-Th)/He zircon and apatite thermochronometric data provide the first numerical constraints on late Cretaceous to late Quaternary exhumation of the Inyo Mountains and vertical slip and horizontal extension rates across the eastern Inyo fault zone, California. The east-dipping eastern Inyo fault zone bounds the eastern flank of the Inyo Mountains, a prominent geomorphic feature within the western Basin and Range Province and eastern California shear zone. (U-Th)/He zircon and apatite thermochronometry yield age patterns across the range that are interpreted as indicating: (1) two episodes of moderate to rapid …

Middle Crustal Ductile Deformation Patterns In Southern Tibet: Insights From Vorticity Studies In Mabja Dome, Jackie Langille

All Master's Theses

Mabja Dome, southern Tibet, exposes mid-crustal rocks proposed to have originated from a southward flowing mid-crustal channel. Kinematic, mean kinematic vorticity (Wm), and metamorphic petrography analyses on these mid-crustal rocks were performed to test this hypothesis. Kinematic indicators show a transition with structural depth from top-north and top-south shear to solely top-south shear. Along the northernmost transects, Wm in schists and orthogneisses range from 0.52–0.84 (63–36% pure shear). Wm for quartzites ranges from 0.9–0.99 (27–1% pure shear). Deformation temperatures increase from ~450 °C in the chloritoid-zone to ~700 °C in the sillimanite-zone and were recorded between ~35–16 Ma. These patterns …

Energy-Constrained Recharge, Assimilation, And Fractional Crystallization (Ec-Raxfc): A Visual Basic Computer Code For Calculating Trace Element And Isotope Variations Of Opensystem Magmatic Systems, Wendy A. Bohrson, Frank J. Spera

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Volcanic and plutonic rocks provide abundant evidence for complex processes that occur in magma storage and transport systems. The fingerprint of these processes, which include fractional crystallization, assimilation, and magma recharge, is captured in petrologic and geochemical characteristics of suites of cogenetic rocks. Quantitatively evaluating the relative contributions of each process requires integration of mass, species, and energy constraints, applied in a self-consistent way. The energy-constrained model Energy-Constrained Recharge, Assimilation, and Fractional Crystallization (EC-RaxFC) tracks the trace element and isotopic evolution of a magmatic system (melt + solids) undergoing simultaneous fractional crystallization, recharge, and assimilation. Mass, thermal, and compositional (trace …