Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 11 of 11
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Impact Of Glacial Proximity On The Elemental Composition Of Leachate Derived From Sediment Weathering, Karoline Ford
The Impact Of Glacial Proximity On The Elemental Composition Of Leachate Derived From Sediment Weathering, Karoline Ford
Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects
This study assesses chemical weathering trends as they relate to glacial retreat. The chemical environment of surfaces exposed to the atmosphere differs significantly from beneath a glacier. As a glacier melts, changes to the biogeochemical processes generate environmental gradients. This study analyzed chemical weathering signals at different distances from a glacial front by comparing the elemental composition of leachate derived from sediments in southeastern Greenland. Samples from proglacial, nonglacial, and moraine locations were weathered in a laboratory setting, and ion chromatography was used to determine the elemental composition of the products. Divergent trends in leachate composition were observed as distance …
Quantitative Analyses Of Cirques On The Faroe Islands: Evidence For Time Transgressive Glacier Occupation, Keyleigh N. Wallick, Sarah M. Principato
Quantitative Analyses Of Cirques On The Faroe Islands: Evidence For Time Transgressive Glacier Occupation, Keyleigh N. Wallick, Sarah M. Principato
Student Publications
This study presents the first analysis of ice‐free cirques on the Faroe Islands using a Geographical Information System (GIS) and the Automated Cirque Metric Extraction (ACME) tool. The length, width, area, circularity, mean aspect, mean slope, and elevation range, minimum, and maximum were calculated using ACME. Cirque distance to coastline was measured using ArcGIS. A total of 116 cirques were identified. Mean cirque length is 950 m and mean cirque width is 890 m. Average cirque area is 0.8 km2 and mean elevation is 386 m a.s.l. The modal orientation of the aspect of cirques is north‐northeast, with a vector …
Applications Of Digital Remote Sensing To Quantify Glacier Change In Glacier And Mount Rainier National Parks, Brianna Clark
Applications Of Digital Remote Sensing To Quantify Glacier Change In Glacier And Mount Rainier National Parks, Brianna Clark
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Digital remote sensing and geographic information systems were employed in performing area and volume calculations on glacial landscapes. Characteristics of glaciers from two geographic regions, the Intermountain Region (between the Rocky Mountain and Cascade Ranges) and the Pacific Northwest, were estimated for the years 1985, 2000, and 2015. Glacier National Park was studied for the Intermountain Region whereas Mount Rainier National Park was representative of the glaciers in the Pacific Northwest. Within the thirty year period of the study, the glaciers in Glacier National Park decreased in area by 27.5 percent while those on Mount Rainier only decreased by 5.7 …
Geochemical Flux Analysis Of Glacial River Runoff For Sólheimajökull, Iceland, Jessica Garrison
Geochemical Flux Analysis Of Glacial River Runoff For Sólheimajökull, Iceland, Jessica Garrison
Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects
Geochemical fluxes in aqueous studies are an essential component of research to understand weathering and changes in a hydrologic system. These data can indicate any discrepancies, outliers, or gradual changes in a water environment to gain information on pollutants, carbon cycles, biological input, etc. Glacial melt is the majority of the surface water present throughout the country. The melting amount is increasing with the temperatures, which can be monitored by the changes in geochemical flux during increased discharge in glacial rivers. A high-resolution data set of Sόlheimajökull Glacier in Iceland was used to determine how changing climatic conditions for the …
Testing The Potential For Using Structure From Motion Photogrammetry Methods To Estimate Seasonal Mass Balance On Lower Easton Glacier, Mount Baker, Wa, Elizabeth Kimberly
Testing The Potential For Using Structure From Motion Photogrammetry Methods To Estimate Seasonal Mass Balance On Lower Easton Glacier, Mount Baker, Wa, Elizabeth Kimberly
WWU Graduate School Collection
The traditional glaciological method of measuring glacier mass balance is labor-intensive and relies on broad extrapolation of sparse ablation stake data collected in the field to assess mass change across the glacier. In contrast, digital elevation models (DEMs) obtained from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery and Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry resolve a spatially distributed data set of surface elevation change. In this study, I compare seasonal mass balance estimated by field-based glaciological methods and UAV-SfM methods during summer 2018 on the Easton Glacier, Mount Baker, WA. Total snow and ice surface melt was measured at five ablation stakes between May 20th …
Evolution And Controls Of Large Glacial Lakes In The Nepal Himalaya, Umesh K. Haritashya, Jeffrey S. Kargel, Dan H. Shugar, Gregory J. Leonard, Katherine Strattman, C. Scott Watson, David Shean, Stephan Harrison, Kyle T. Mandli, Dhananjay Regmi
Evolution And Controls Of Large Glacial Lakes In The Nepal Himalaya, Umesh K. Haritashya, Jeffrey S. Kargel, Dan H. Shugar, Gregory J. Leonard, Katherine Strattman, C. Scott Watson, David Shean, Stephan Harrison, Kyle T. Mandli, Dhananjay Regmi
Umesh K. Haritashya
Glacier recession driven by climate change produces glacial lakes, some of which are hazardous. Our study assesses the evolution of three of the most hazardous moraine-dammed proglacial lakes in the Nepal Himalaya—Imja, Lower Barun, and Thulagi. Imja Lake (up to 150 m deep; 78.4 x 106 m3 volume; surveyed in October 2014) and Lower Barun Lake (205 m maximum observed depth; 112.3 x 106 m3 volume; surveyed in October 2015) are much deeper than previously measured, and their readily drainable volumes are slowly growing. Their surface areas have been increasing at an accelerating pace from a …
Quantifying The Magnitude And Spatial Variability Of Bedrock Erosion Beneath The Sisters Glacier, Washington, Using Cosmogenic 3he Concentrations, Sarah W. Francis
Quantifying The Magnitude And Spatial Variability Of Bedrock Erosion Beneath The Sisters Glacier, Washington, Using Cosmogenic 3he Concentrations, Sarah W. Francis
WWU Graduate School Collection
Cosmogenic 3He analyses provide a tool to infer spatial variation of cirque-glacial bedrock erosion. 3He accumulates in bedrock exposed at the surface as a result of cosmic ray bombardment; the concentration of cosmogenic 3He increases with exposure time as well as proximity to the surface. The Twin Sisters range, North Cascades, WA is an ideal location to use cosmogenic 3He to infer cirque-glacial erosion depths and rates, due to the dunite bedrock and the detailed record of Holocene glaciation from the nearby Mount Baker. We used field mapping, lidar data and aerial imagery to identify bedrock …
Assessing Ground Penetrating Radar's Ability To Image Subsurface Characteristics Of Icy Debris Fans In Alaska And New Zealand, Robert W. Jacob, Jeffrey M. Trop, R. Craig Kochel
Assessing Ground Penetrating Radar's Ability To Image Subsurface Characteristics Of Icy Debris Fans In Alaska And New Zealand, Robert W. Jacob, Jeffrey M. Trop, R. Craig Kochel
Faculty Journal Articles
Icy debris fans have recently been described as fan shaped depositional landforms associated with (or formed during) deglaciation, however, the subsurface characteristics remain essentially undocumented. We used ground penetrating radar (GPR) to non-invasively investigate the subsurface characteristics of icy debris fans (IDFs) at McCarthy Glacier, Alaska, USA and at La Perouse Glacier, South Island of New Zealand. IDFs are largely unexplored paraglacial landforms in deglaciating alpine regions at the mouths of bedrock catchments between valley glaciers and icecaps. IDFs receive deposits of mainly ice and minor lithic material through different mass-flow processes, chiefly ice avalanche and to a lesser extent …
The 2015 Landslide And Tsunami In Taan Fiord, Alaska, Bretwood Higman, Breanyn Macinnes, Colin Bloom
The 2015 Landslide And Tsunami In Taan Fiord, Alaska, Bretwood Higman, Breanyn Macinnes, Colin Bloom
All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences
Glacial retreat in recent decades has exposed unstable slopes and allowed deep water to extend beneath some of those slopes. Slope failure at the terminus of Tyndall Glacier on 17 October 2015 sent 180 million tons of rock into Taan Fiord, Alaska. The resulting tsunami reached elevations as high as 193 m, one of the highest tsunami runups ever documented worldwide. Precursory deformation began decades before failure, and the event left a distinct sedimentary record, showing that geologic evidence can help understand past occurrences of similar events, and might provide forewarning. The event was detected within hours through automated seismological …
Evolution And Controls Of Large Glacial Lakes In The Nepal Himalaya, Umesh K. Haritashya, Jeffrey S. Kargel, Dan H. Shugar, Gregory J. Leonard, Katherine Strattman, C. Scott Watson, David Shean, Stephan Harrison, Kyle T. Mandli, Dhananjay Regmi
Evolution And Controls Of Large Glacial Lakes In The Nepal Himalaya, Umesh K. Haritashya, Jeffrey S. Kargel, Dan H. Shugar, Gregory J. Leonard, Katherine Strattman, C. Scott Watson, David Shean, Stephan Harrison, Kyle T. Mandli, Dhananjay Regmi
Geology Faculty Publications
Glacier recession driven by climate change produces glacial lakes, some of which are hazardous. Our study assesses the evolution of three of the most hazardous moraine-dammed proglacial lakes in the Nepal Himalaya—Imja, Lower Barun, and Thulagi. Imja Lake (up to 150 m deep; 78.4 x 106 m3 volume; surveyed in October 2014) and Lower Barun Lake (205 m maximum observed depth; 112.3 x 106 m3 volume; surveyed in October 2015) are much deeper than previously measured, and their readily drainable volumes are slowly growing. Their surface areas have been increasing at an accelerating pace from a …
Updated Glacial Chronology Of The South Fork Hoh River Valley, Olympic Peninsula, Washington Through Detailed Stratigraphy And Osl Dating, Cianna E. Wyshnytzky, Tammy M. Rittenour, Glenn D. Thackray
Updated Glacial Chronology Of The South Fork Hoh River Valley, Olympic Peninsula, Washington Through Detailed Stratigraphy And Osl Dating, Cianna E. Wyshnytzky, Tammy M. Rittenour, Glenn D. Thackray
Cianna E Wyshnytzky
Four glacial advances are preserved and exposed in the stratigraphy of the South Fork Hoh River valley. The oldest of these advances extended beyond the South Fork valley into the Hoh River valley. The three younger advances are preserved in the stratigraphy cut bank exposures in the valley and geomorphically by moraines and outwash plains. One of these advances represents a re-advance to the same terminal position of the previous advance and has not previously been recognized in this valley or other glaciated valleys in the western Olympic Mountains. This finding advocates for a detailed sedimentologic and stratigraphic approach to …