Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Comparison Of Flow Dynamics And Bifurcation Angles In Tributary And Distributary Channel Networks, Thomas Coffey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The dynamics of channel mouth bifurcations on river deltas can be understood using theory developed in tributary channel networks. Bifurcations in groundwater-fed tributary networks have been shown to evolve dependent on diffusive ground water flow patterns

directly adjacent to the channel network, producing a critical angle of 72°. We test the hypothesis that bifurcation angles in distributary channel networks are likewise dictated by a diffusive external flow field, in this case the shallow surface water surrounding the subaqueous portion of distributary channels in a deltaic setting. We measured 25 unique distributary bifurcations in an experimental delta and 197 bifurcations in …

Lost Names In The Paleozoic Lithostratigraphy Of Arkansas, Noah Morris

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The geology of Arkansas has been studied for nearly 160 years, and our understanding of it is continually evolving. Part of this ever-changing study is the nomenclature of the stratigraphy. From the early reports to today, several lithostratigraphic names have been proposed and abandoned to improve the accuracy and clarity of the understanding of Arkansas’ geology. Over these 160 years of study, 214 names have been proposed for the Paleozoic beds of Arkansas, with nearly 80 of them currently in use today. These names are a testimony and legacy of the history of Arkansas’ natural resource development and Arkansas’ geologists. …

Stratigraphy And Depositional Environment Of The Middle Atoka Formation, Central Arkoma Basin, Western Arkansas, Yueyang Wang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Wire line logs are widely used in analysis of the subsurface stratigraphy of the middle Atoka Formation, Central Arkoma Basin, Western Arkansas. SP log, Gamma ray log, resistivity log and conductivity log provide valuable information to construct cross sections.

The middle Atoka formation is composed of a succession of shale and sandstone alternations with thickness reaching approximately 3000 feet in the study area. It contains several sandstone units which include Morris, Tackett, Areci, Bynum, Casey and Dunn”A” separated by shale intervals. The purpose of this study is to identify these units and predict sequence stratigraphy and depositional environment by constructing …

Sedimentary Petrology Of The Hartshorne Formation, Southeastern Arkoma Basin, Arkansas, Ruizhe Yin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Pennsylvanian Hartshorne Sandstone crops out in an east trending belt across central Arkansas immediately north of the Ouachita orogenic belt and south of the Boston Mountains. The unit, composed of massive to cross bedded sandstone ranging to 150m in thickness, was deposited by a west-flowing river system that extended from central Arkansas to southeastern Oklahoma. The source of the sediment has been extensively discussed but not completely established. The object of this thesis is to constrain the source area and terrain based on thin section mineralogy and texture. Thin sections were prepared from outcrops in the Arkoma Basin and …

Temporal Co2 Variations And The Influence Of Bat Colonies In Speleogenesis: Continuous Co2 Monitoring In War Eagle Cavern, Arkansas, Ginny Sue Holcomb

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dissolved concentrations of CO2 in a karst aquifer are a major control on calcite dissolutional processes, as CO2 combines chemically with water to form carbonic acid. As increasing amounts of CO2 are added to the system, greater resultant water aggressivity generates greater rates of dissolution. Spatial and temporal variations in carbon flux through the system may occur over a range of time scales, and high-resolution data collection is needed to truly understand and characterize such variability. Continuous CO2 monitoring in War Eagle Cavern, Arkansas, will suggest a number of influential parameters with varying degrees of importance throughout an annual cycle. …

Do Limestone Quarries Act As “Engineered Sinkholes”? Analysis Of Exfiltration Of Groundwater From Limestone Quarries In The Boone Formation, Ozark Physiographic Province, Arkansas, Usa, Noel Turner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Limestone quarries are a source of construction materials that are utilized in our everyday lives. Karst landscapes cover up to 15 percent of the Earth’s surface, and limestone quarries are found in these environmentally sensitive regions where groundwater and surface-water interactions are dynamic and complex. Several studies have provided conceptual models of groundwater flow to and out of quarries. The goal of this research was to describe the geochemistry of water exfiltration from limestone quarries in karst regions via joints, fractures, faulting, or karst features and to determine if limestone quarries are “engineered sinkholes”; that is to say: did quarries, …

Implications For The North American Lower Crustal 7.Xx Km/S Layer From An Exhumed Crustal Root, Western Canadian Shield, Calvin Everette Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Studies of the Thorsby magnetic low, the southern extent of the 2,800 km-long Snowbird

Tectonic Zone (STZ) in Alberta, Canada, show pronounced lower crustal seismic reflectivity and preservation of a crustal root. These features may be correlative to the well-exposed central STZ, where two lower crustal tectonic events have been identified at 2.6-2.55 Ga and 1.92-1.89 Ga. High-resolution cross-sections of the central STZ reveal the late-stage interaction of Paleoproterozoic intracontinental thrust and strike-slip shear zones responsible for juxtaposing ca. >20,000 km2 of lower continental crust (0.9-1.5 GPa) with middle continental crust (0.5 GPa) (Mahan and Williams, 2005; Dumond et al., …

Early And Middle Atokan Lithostratigraphy And Reservoir Development, Northern Arkoma Basin, Northwestern Arkansas, Matthew Alan Blaylock

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Arkoma Basin is a peripheral foreland arc basin associated with the Ouachita orogenic belt. In Arkansas, the basin is bounded by the Ouachita belt to the south and the Ozark Dome to the north. Sedimentary rocks of early to middle Atokan age are present in the shallow subsurface at the northern margin of the Arkoma Basin in northwestern Arkansas. Sedimentary units of this time interval reflect basinal subsidence, and the transition of the Arkoma Basin from a passive margin shelf to a rapidly evolving foreland arc basin. Sediment sources from the north and east produced a thickened Lower and …

3d Seismic Interpretation Of Paleokarst Sinkholes, Boone Limestone, Lower Mississippian: Subsurface Eastern Arkoma Basin, Conway County, Arkansas, Daniel James Moser

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Unconventional natural gas discoveries in the Fayetteville Shale of the eastern Arkoma Basin have led to improved understanding of subsurface geology in central Arkansas. This study interprets 3D seismic data for evidence of paleokarst within the Mississippian formations in a portion of the subsurface of Conway County, Arkansas. Quantitative data interpretation suggests that sinkholes developed during the Mississippian portion of the eastern Arkoma Basin record.

In a nine square mile area, 3D seismic mapping of Mississippian formations show 14 closed depressions interpreted as karst sinkholes. Time and depth structure maps were created and utilized to estimate the timing of dissolution …

Stratigraphic Interpretation And Reservoir Implications Of The Arbuckle Group (Cambrian-Ordovician) Using 3d Seismic, Osage County, Oklahoma, Ryan Marc Keeling

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Arbuckle Group in northeastern Oklahoma consists of multiple carbonate formations, along with several relatively thin sandstone units. The group is a part of the “Great American Carbonate Bank” of the mid-continent and can be found regionally as far east as the Arkoma Basin in Arkansas, and as far west as the Anadarko Basin in Oklahoma. The Arbuckle is part of the craton-wide Sauk sequence, which is both underlain and overlain by regional unconformities.

Arbuckle is not deposited directly on top of a source rock. In order for reservoirs within the Arbuckle to become charged with hydrocarbons, they must be …

Influences Of Channel Dredging On Avulsion Potential At The Atchafalaya River, Gordon William Mccain

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 1950, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) reported a rapid increase of water discharge from the Mississippi River to its distributary channel; the Atchafalaya River. If not prevented by man-made structures, the complete capture of the Mississippi River by the Atchafalaya River was predicted. The USACE report cites multiple causes for the observed increase in discharge partitioning, yet fails to assess the largescale channel dredging operations conducted throughout the Atchafalaya River Basin during the 1930's and 1940's as a potential cause for the increased discharge. To assess the role man-made interventions, specifically channel dredging, played in the increase …

Linear Trend Analysis: Implications For A Structural Fracture System And Applications Of Subsurface Fluid Migration, Northwest Arkansas And Eastern Oklahoma, Loren Labusch

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lineaments are mappable, simple or composite linear or curvilinear features of the Earth’s surface longer than one mile, which differ from the patterns of adjacent features and are presumed to reflect subsurface phenomenon such as faults and fractures. The usage of the term refers to the description Lattman published in 1958 and was the foundation for work by MacDonald in 1977, which is the basis for this project. Remote sensing techniques have provided a valuable means to analyze lineaments on a large scale in a relatively short time in comparison to field mapping methods. The products of such fracture studies …

A Geochemical Analysis Of The Arkansas Novaculite And Comparison To The Siliceous Deposits Of The Boone Formation, John Byron Scott Philbrick

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Geochemical analyses of the Arkansas Novaculite, located within core structures of the Ouachita Mountains in west-central Arkansas, and penecontemporaneous chert of the lower Boone Formation, located atop the Springfield Plateau of southwest Missouri, northwest Arkansas, and northeast Oklahoma, have identified a significant concentration of both aluminum and potassium. This would seem to eliminate a biogenic origin and favor a volcanic source of the silica that comprises these units. Trace and rare earth element (REE) analysis also suggests that the Arkansas Novaculite and the chert in the lower Boone Formation may have both been formed from the same volcanic source.

The …

Statistical Analysis Of Fluvial Channel Belts, Kyle Ryan Spencer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As meandering rivers laterally migrate over time, they build channel belts. The accumulation of all previous flow paths creates the channel belt. To better understand these ancient rivers, modern river systems are being mapped to find statistical relationships between current flow path and the channel belt of river systems. It is important to examine a wide range of systems in terms of age, size, and location. The rivers are being mapped using an ImageJ, interpretations from Saucier (1994) and Google Earth. Three channel belt morphologies are mapped for 15 modern channel belts; the width of the river in relation to …

Resolving Paragneiss Provenance At Grollier Lake In The Athabasca Granulite Terrane, Western Canadian Shield, Dustin Ply

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

U-Pb crystallization ages of metamorphic and detrital zircons from all three paragneiss samples fall into the range of ca. 1.85-2.59 Ga, excluding two much older grains. Evidence suggests that the paragneiss of Grollier Lake record deformation exclusively from the Taltson and Trans-Hudson orogenies. It is apparent from geochronological data that the Taltson orogeny played an exceedingly larger role in the deformation of these rocks than the Trans-Hudson. Deposition of the paragneiss protoliths most likely culminated between ca. 2037-1994 Ma with metamorphism ceasing by 1852.1 ± 11.1 Ma. The oldest overgrowth considered to be concordant is 1994 ± 12 Ma and …

Isotopic Identification Of Multiple Contributors Of Metal Ions In Mississippi Valley-Type Ore Deposits Along The Cincinnati Arch In South-Central Kentucky, William Travis Garmon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mississippi Valley-Type (MVT) ores are economically-viable deposits of sulfide minerals, often dominated by sphalerite (zinc-sulfide) in carbonate facies, and galena (lead-sulfide) in siliciclastic facies. MVT ores precipitate from migrating fluids, which carry base metals often complexed with chlorine ions within a basinal brine. This study identifies metal-contributing source-regions of the Burkesville MVT deposit using Pb-isotope ratios within sphalerite samples collected from the Burkesville deposit. The deposit is found in south-central Kentucky within the Middle-Tennessee ore district along the crest of the Cincinnati Arch, which is the anticlinal divide between the Appalachian Basin and the Illinois Basin. Competing theories argue that …

The Mass Flux Of Non-Renewable Energy For Humanity, Edwin Dale Solomon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The global energy supply relies on non-renewable energy sources, coal, crude oil, and natural gas, along with nuclear power from uranium and these finite resources are located within the upper few kilometers of the Earth’s crust. The total quantity of non-renewable energy resources consumed relative to the total quantity available is an essential question facing humanity. Analyses of energy consumption was conducted for the period 1800 – 2014 using data from the U. S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and World Energy Production, 1800-1985 to determine the balance between non-renewable energy resources consumed and ultimately recoverable reserves. Annual energy consumption was …

Stratigraphic And Structural Analysis Of Middle Atoka Formation In Aetna Gas Field, Franklin, Johnson And Logan Counties, Arkansas, Ikramuddin Bahram

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Arkoma basin is a prolific natural gas basin. The defining feature of this basin is the Atoka Formation that was deposited in the early-middle Pennsylvanian. The Atoka is held equivalent to the tectonic and structural evolution of the basin. This study focuses on one of the many gas fields in the Arkoma Basin in Arkansas to assess the stratigraphic and structural evolution that the strata in this particular field display.

Aetna Gas Field extends from T. 8N. R. 27 W to T. 9 N, R. 27 W and T. 8 N, R. 26 W to 8N, R. 27. Geographically, Aetna …

Reservoir Characterization And Depositional System Of The Atokan Grant Sand, Fort Worth Basin, Texas, Victoria Wood

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Atokan Grant Sands are a tight gas sand play that would add new reserves to the Fort Worth Basin. The Fort Worth Basin is located in north-central Texas just west of Dallas, Texas. Within the basin, the study area consists of Denton, Wise, Tarrant, and Parker Counties in Texas. The basin is bounded to the north by the Red River Arch, to the west by the Bend Arch, to the south by the Llano uplift, to the east by the Ouachita structural front, and to the northeast by the Muenster Arch. The Grant Sands are approximately 1,500 ft stratigraphically …

Metal Mobilization In Groundwater, Bauxite, Ar, Steven Alexander Hamlin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Wilcox Aquifer of Bauxite, AR contains bauxite ore deposits that may contribute heavy metals to groundwater. Twenty-four wells were sampled for aluminum, iron, manganese, zinc, lead, barium, nitrate, sulfate, sodium, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, chloride, pH, total organic carbon, and total dissolved solids. A Wilcoxon Rank-Sum compared the similarity of the three geographic areas covered in the study. All parameters for wells in Bauxite and Sardis failed to reject the null hypothesis, signifying that wells all occupy the Saline Formation. 2/3rds of the parameters from BFI261 and the Bauxite region did not agree, suggesting the two areas do not occupy …

Lithologic Controls On Bedrock Channel Morphology In The Buffalo River Basin, Evan A. Thaler

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The longevity of high relief terrains in passive margin systems remains an explained phenomenon in geomorphology. Current landscape evolution models assume an equilibrium state between rock uplift rates and erosion rates. However, analysis of chi gradients of bedrock channels across several lithologies in the Buffalo River Basin reveals disequilibrium in the basin controlled by the presence of a thick interval of Pennsylvanian sandstone that caps many of the plateaus in the basin. Headwater channels beneath the caprock tend to have higher chi gradient values in all lithologies than headwater channels in basins where the sandstone caprock is absent. High chi …

Paleoclimate Implications From Stable Isotope Analysis Of Sedimentary Organic Carbon And Vertebrate Fossils From The Cedar Mountain Formation, Ut, U.S.A., Garrett Andrew Hatzell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions of fossilized vertebrate teeth and bone were analyzed to determine isotopic values of vertebrate faunal diet from the early Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah. Results for δ18O of PO4 (δ18Op) (Suarez et al., 2014) from the same data set have been compared to the δ18O of CO3 (δ18Oc) portion of teeth and turtle shell to determine if diagenetic alteration of the isotopes has occurred by plotting the line of best fit equation that models the relationship between unaltered δ18OP and δ18OC of modern mammals from Iacumin et al., 1996. Results indicate slight diagenesis of …

Terrestrial Impacts Of The Central Atlantic Magmatic Province On Western Pangea, Todd Kenneth Knobbe

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Earth's climate is predominantly controlled by the fluctuation of greenhouse gases, specifically CO2 and CH4, over geologic time. The late Triassic is a period of abrupt climate change that has been associated with a disruption to the global carbon cycle due the emplacement of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP). Evidence has shown that this global carbon cycle perturbation may be the culprit for the end-Triassic extinction. The Whitmore Point Member of the Moenave Formation is a lacustrine deposit with a disputed age of either late Triassic or early Jurassic and currently no absolute dating techniques can be applied to …

Controls On Dissolution Rate Variation At A Pair Of Underflow-Overflow Springs At The Savoy Experimental Watershed, Kiefer Allen Vaughn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Physical dissolution experiments and numerical modeling have been used in the past to study limestone dissolution rates. Numerical models have typically used constant dissolution rates, whereas rates in nature vary in time. Limestone tablets allow natural estimation of rates over month time scales, but these rates cannot necessarily be extrapolated to geologic timescales and also do not aid our understanding of short term variability. This study characterizes natural variability in these rates and examines potential causes of that variability from first principles. This may enable more accurate projections of dissolution rates within models. This study combines measurement of physical and …

Subsurface Fluid Flow Through The Mississippian Section Of North-Central Oklahoma, Carolyn Brown

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study consisted of using drill stem tests, seismic amplitude data, and well logs to create the parameters needed to construct a groundwater flow model for a portion of Osage County. At the start, a potentiometric map of Osage County, Oklahoma was generated to use as a basis for the initial hydraulic heads and the constant heads in the model. Next, three seismic amplitude images were produced in a seismic interpretation program, OpenDtect, to base the hydraulic conductivity values on. In addition, utilizing Gamma Ray on 12 separate wells east-west across the county, a structural cross-section was created within Petra. …

Interpretation Of Late Cretaceous Volcanic Mounds And Surrounding Gulfian Series Formations Using 3d Seismic Data In Zavala County, Texas, Laura Claire Bennett

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Late Cretaceous Gulfian series is a prominent and important series across the State of Texas that has been extensively studied since the nineteenth century. It is composed of series of southeast-dipping shelf carbonates and clastics deposited on the northwest margin of the Gulf of Mexico Basin. In south Texas, the Gulfian series was deposited in the Rio Grande Embayment and Maverick Basin and is comprised of the Eagle Ford Group, Austin Group, Anacacho Limestone, San Miguel Formation, Olmos Formation, and Escondido Formation that crop out and continue basinward in the subsurface. Late Cretaceous volcanism formed volcanic mounds composed of …

An Investigation Of 3d Seismic Deep Basement Events In Osage County, Oklahoma, Kevin Matthew Liner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Deep basement events seen in 3D seismic surveys located in Osage County, Oklahoma can be observed and may have affect overlying sedimentary formations. The 3D surveys used in this study are on the Chautauqua platform about fifty miles northwest of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Stratigraphy of the work area spans base of the Permian to Precambrian formations, with basement depth averaging around 5000 ft in the area of the 3D seismic surveys. Cores spanning Precambrian to Pennsylvanian were examined in the area of the 3D seismic surveys. Hydrothermal minerals were observed in Mississippian age cores. The basement events where tracked using OpendTect …

Toolstone Use In Ozark Prehistory: Assessing Adaptations To A Lithic Dichotomy In The Boston Mountains And Springfield Plateau, Luke Allen Morris

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Toolstone use in the Ozark Mountains is a reactionary process reliant on how the landscape provides or constrains chipped stone for prehistoric populations. These technological adaptations are recognized at sites throughout the area, but no regional assessment of lithic assemblages provides answers as to why certain stones are used at a particular location. This thesis employs a five step mass analysis of lithic assemblages, and GIS visualizations to observe how the organization of stone technologies vary based on location within contrasting geologic contexts. The chert-bearing Springfield Plateau, and the Boston Mountains with siltstone, are two neighboring dichotomous landscapes that illustrate …

Petrology And Weathering Environment Of Sub-Unconformity Limestone Unit: The Kessler Limestone Member Of The Bloyd Formation, Morrowan (Pennsylvanian) Northwest Arkansas, Thomas Daniels Dolan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In northwest Arkansas the thin, widespread Pennsylvanian Kessler Limestone of the Bloyd Formation is exposed in numerous locations. Comparison of various exposures shows the Kessler is heterogeneous in thickness and lithology. Thickening of the Kessler occurs southward into the Arkoma Basin where the interval has been commonly used as a horizon for natural gas exploration. The Kessler Limestone is underlain by the Dye Shale Member of the Bloyd Formation and overlain by the Trace Creek Shale of the Atoka Formation. The contact between the Kessler Limestone Member and the Trace Creek is a regional unconformity in the midcontinent, marked by …

Pennsylvanian Subsurface Sequence Stratigraphy Based On 3d Seismic And Wireline Data In Western Osage County, Oklahoma, Alexander West

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Pennsylvanian System in the Mid-Continent United States has been studied for nearly a century. In north central Oklahoma, the Pennsylvanian is primarily composed of cyclothems. These cyclothems are sequences of alternating carbonate, clastic, and shale members. Because of this, these zones can be difficult to differentiate. This project provides valuable insight into better understanding the Pennsylvanian System in western Osage County, Oklahoma. The scope of this project is to perform a subsurface study to produce a detailed interpretation of the depositional history and stratigraphy of Pennsylvanian sequences in western Osage County.

This study features 3D seismic and well log …