Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Simulation Of Wave Propagation In Granular Particles Using A Discrete Element Model, Syed Tahmid Hussan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The understanding of Bender Element mechanism and utilization of Particle Flow Code (PFC) to simulate the seismic wave behavior is important to test the dynamic behavior of soil particles. Both discrete and finite element methods can be used to simulate wave behavior. However, Discrete Element Method (DEM) is mostly suitable, as the micro scaled soil particle cannot be fully considered as continuous specimen like a piece of rod or aluminum. Recently DEM has been widely used to study mechanical properties of soils at particle level considering the particles as balls. This study represents a comparative analysis of Voigt and Best …

The Upper Ocean At The End Of An Ice Age: Using Proxies In Benthic Foraminifera To Investigate Intermediate Water Changes During The Last Glacial Termination, Cassandre R. Stirpe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ocean is an important component of the global climate system and plays a key role as a storage reservoir for heat and carbon. Under glacial conditions, the ocean sequestered carbon from the atmosphere, contributing to a cooler global climate. During the last glacial termination, that carbon was released back into the atmosphere, but the exact timing and mechanisms of this transfer are still not fully understood. This study examines waters from the intermediate depths of the Southern Ocean to gain insight into deglacial processes. Intermediate waters are capable of reacting to climate change on decadal timescales, making them a …

Stratigraphic Analysis Of The Capps Limestone In The North Norton Oil Field In Runnels County, Texas, William Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Desmoinesian (Middle Pennsylvanian) Capps Limestone Member of the Mineral Wells Formation is a carbonate reservoir located in North Central Texas. It consists of interbedded limestone, sandstone, and shale units. Much of the Capps Limestone exists in the subsurface of Brown, Coleman, Runnels, Coke, Nolan, and Taylor counties, however, the Capps Limestone outcrops on the surface in Brown, Eastland, and Palo Pinto counties.

The cored interval from Runnels County was deposited in a marginal marine environment during the Middle Pennsylvanian Period. Although the Capps Limestone was first described in the 1890s, there is still much to be discovered about its …

Deposition And Diagenesis Of The Blossom Sand, Panola County, Texas, Hannah Chambers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Late Cretaceous Blossom Sand within the Austin Group is a historic gas reservoir in the East Texas basin, located at depths of approximately 2,000 ft below the surface. Since the discovery of the Carthage Field in 1918 in the East Texas Basin, the Blossom Sand has produced approximately 26 BCF of gas with minor amounts of oil. Despite its notoriety in the Carthage Field, there is very little research that has been conducted on this unit, although it crops out in northeast Texas and is found in the subsurface of southwest Arkansas, western Louisiana, and the East Texas Basin. …

Delineating Of The Utica Shale/Point Pleasant Formation Play System To Determine Influence Of The Precambrian Basement In Northeastern Ohio, Jarrod R. Bridges

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Utica Shale/Point Pleasant Formation system has recently become a highly developed unconventional target for oil and natural gas production, leading to an increased desire for knowledge of the controls on deposition of this system. Precambrian basement features have long been known to affect deposition of older strata near these features across Ohio, but the effects of far field tectonics is not fully agreed upon. Precambrian faults and lineaments are known to exist and have been mapped, but are thought to have ceased their influence on deposition by the time of the Knox unconformity during the Cambrian. In the case …

Variations In The Southern Hemisphere Westerlies Over The Last 23,000 Years From Lake Records In The Falkland Islands, Meghan M. Spoth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Southern Hemisphere Westerlies (SHW) are an important driver of climate in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. Abrupt latitudinal migration of this coupled atmospheric-oceanic system is thought to be linked to the onset of the Termination at the end of the last ice age and to subsequent climatic variation through the late-glacial period and Holocene. However, the timing and spatial extent of these shifts, as well as variations in wind intensity, are poorly constrained, hindering our understanding of abrupt climate change in the Southern Hemisphere. In addition, future changes in the position and intensity of the SHW are a …

Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction Of Quaternary Saltville, Virginia, Using Ostracode Autecology, Austin Gause

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Saltville valley in southwestern Virginia is home to Quaternary localities containing paleontological and archaeological remains. Historically the valley has been mined for salt and the small lakes, ponds and springs along the valley floor have a brackish signature. A preliminary report on the site’s ostracode fauna suggested that the site’s water was not always saline. This study analyzed modern and Quaternary ostracodes to understand the valley’s hydrologic and chemical evolution. Sediments contained primarily freshwater species, including the environmentally sensitive Candona crogmaniana. The presence of Pelocypris tuberculatum and a new Fabaeformiscandona species throughout a vertical section spanning the latest Pleistocene …

Utilizing The Public On Public Lands: The Application Of Community Science To Monitor And Model Erosion In National Forests, Jacob L. Hansen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Unpaved forest roads are adversely affecting coldwater streams through excessive erosion and the subsequent sedimentation of adjacent waterways. To help identify areas of concern, Trout Unlimited (TU) in the Southern Appalachian region developed a Community Science initiative to gather data on sediment sources and stream-road crossings. Volunteers were recruited and trained to monitor road and trail conditions and collect and submit data using a Survey123 application on their cell phones. Analysis of the contributed data reveals statistical connections between drainage type and both erosion level and stream sedimentation. The contributed data were also included as a calibration for the lite …

Studies Of Quaternary Depositional Systems Of The Coastal Plain And Inner Continental Shelf Along The Georgia Bight: South Carolina And Georgia, U.S.A., Joshua H. Long

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Quaternary stratigraphy of the continental shelf offshore of South Carolina consists of stratigraphic units deposited in coastal plain, shallow marine, and shelfal environments bound by composite erosional surfaces that developed in response to numerous glacioeustatic cycles and overprinted by regional uplift. These units are commonly distributed laterally rather than stacked vertically, a function of the long-term, low shelf gradient and the resulting lack of accommodation. This study integrates high-resolution geological and geophysical data sets acquired offshore and onshore with existing data onshore into a comprehensive conceptual model describing the Quaternary geologic evolution of the coastal plain and continental shelf …

Chemostratigraphy Of Carbonate Gravity Flows Of The Wolfcamp Formation In Crockett County, Midland Basin, Texas, Alex Blizzard, Julie Bloxson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sediment gravity flows into deep-water environments are important stratigraphic traps in lithologically diverse reservoirs generating multiple plays for hydrocarbon exploration. These highly heterogeneous deposits can be studied by utilizing chemostratigraphy and higher-order sequence stratigraphy; being an accurate method for reservoir characterization. Studying these gravity flows along a carbonate platform’s slope can further expand an understanding of the stratigraphy that is filling adjacent basins. The application of elemental analyses can support in identifying mineralogy that impact reservoir quality, especially when conventional testing cannot be applied.

This study utilizes five cores containing the Wolfcamp Formation from the southeastern slope of the Central …

Analyzing The Effects Of Of Seasonal Land Cover And Precipitation On The Sediment Delivery Ratio Of An Agriculture Dominated Watershed., Jonah Liebman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Soil erosion is of escalating importance as increasing population and climate change have put increasing pressures on agricultural food production. Vegetation and precipitation are two factors that control the amount of soil erosion extant within a region. Sediment delivery ratios (SDRs) assess the ratio of soil eroded from a watershed system that is permanently removed from the system through stream sediment discharge. Using 1) river discharge and sediment concentration data and 2) the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), this thesis analyzes fluctuations in monthly SDRs for an average hydroclimatological crop-harvest season for the Senachwine Creek watershed, IL. Through calculating …

An Algorithm To Estimate Suspended Particulate Matter Concentrations And Associated Uncertainties From Remote Sensing Reflectance In Coastal Environments, Juliana Tavora

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) is a major constituent in coastal waters, involved in processes such as light attenuation, pollutant propagation, and waterways blockage. The spatial distribution of SPM is an indicator of deposition and erosion patterns in estuaries and coastal zones and a necessary input to estimate the material fluxes from the land through rivers to the sea. In-situ methods to estimate SPM provide limited spatial data in comparison to the coverage that can be obtained remotely. Ocean color remote sensing complements field measurements by providing estimates of the spatial distributions of surface SPM concentration in natural waters, with high …

Facies And Diagenesis Analyses Of The Fort Terrett Formation Of The Lower Cretaceous Edwards Group, Near Junction, Texas, Richard Alden Urwin Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Fort Terrett Formation was deposited on the western edge of the Comanche Shelf in central Texas. The predominate lithology of the Fort Terrett Formation is limestone which caps the hills that surround Junction, Texas. Deposition of the Fort Terrett Formation occurred within shallow, quiet waters during the Lower Cretaceous. Rose (1974) developed a general stratigraphic correlation and lithostratigraphic framework for the Cretaceous Shelf and established a regional correlation. Four stratigraphic divisions have been recognized in the Fort Terrett Formation. These are: a basal nodular unit, a burrowed unit, a dolomitic unit, and the Kirschberg evaporites. Wilkerson (2018) provided the …

Depositional Environment And Facies Analyses Of The Owl Mountain Province, Fort Hood Military Installation, Bell And Coryell Counties, Texas, Jacob Meinerts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Owl Mountain Province is a plateaued, karst landscape located in the eastern section of the Fort Hood Military Installation and is characterized by Lower Cretaceous Fredericksburg Group carbonates. The topography is capped by thick sequences of the Edwards limestone; steep scarps and incised valleys along the edges of the plateaus host inter-fingering outcrops of the Edwards and Comanche Peak limestones, and the lower valleys are covered by alluvial sediments and intermittent outcrops of the Walnut Clay. These formations were deposited to the north and west of the main Edwards trend, and are thought to be part of a series …

Late Holocene Spit Evolution On Centennial Timescales In The Southeast Delaware Bay, Usa, Ryan Eli Phillip

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between barrier spit growth and longshore drift is well established. However, the role of storm activity in spit evolution on an intermediate (centennial) timescale is more of a mystery due to a knowledge gap between decadal-scale shoreline processes and millennial-scale stratigraphic data. Recent studies in the northwestern Atlantic basin using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and optically-stimulated luminescence (OSL) are providing the opportunity to study centennial-scale shoreline evolution and examine similar age storm activity. Cape Henlopen, Delaware exhibits preserved remnants of a long-term northward-growing spit coastline that evolved from a recurved spit complex, to a cuspate spit, to the present-day …

Regional Stress Regime Study Of East Texas Based On Orientation Of Fractures In The Weches Formation, Cory D. Ellison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fractures in the Weches Formation in a roughly 50 mile radius around Nacogdoches, Texas were documented and analyzed using data obtained at various outcrops. This data was used to infer information about the regional stress regime based on the direction of maximum/minimum horizontal stresses (SHmax / SHmin) that formed the fractures. This is based on the principle that systematic, steeply dipping, mode I joints propagate in the direction of SHmax and normal to the direction of SHmin. Joints in the Weches Formation are typically iron filled and are predominantly opening mode, indicated by crack-seal formation, steep dip (700 – 900) …

Geophysical Delineation Of Megaporosity And Fluid Migration Pathways For Geohazard Characterization Within The Delaware Basin, Culberson County, Texas, Jonathan David Woodard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Differential dissolution of gypsum karst within the Delaware Basin poses a significant threat to infrastructure that society depends on. The study area is located in Culberson County, Texas and traverses a distance of approximately 54 kilometers along RM 652 within the Gypsum Plain which is situated on the northern margin of the Chihuahua Desert and includes outcrops of Castile and Rustler strata that host karst geohazards. Regions of karst geohazard potential have been physically surveyed proximal to the study area in evaporites throughout the Castile Formation outcrop; minimal hazards, in comparison to the Castile Formation, have been documented in …

The Sequence Stratigraphic Context Of Mixed Basin Margin Evaporites In The Harrisburg Member Of The Permian Kaibab Formation, Northern Arizona And Southern Utah, Cole Hendrickson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Kaibab Formation is a mixed carbonate system including evaporites and siliciclastics deposited on a westward dipping epeiric carbonate ramp during the middle Permian in northern Arizona, southern Utah, and eastern Nevada. It consists of the Fossil Mountain Member deposited in open-marine conditions and the overlying Harrisburg Member deposited in restricted conditions. The Harrisburg Member includes facies and depositional environments ranging from open-marine shallow-subtidal wackestone - packstone, restricted subtidal dolomitic mudstone, dolomitic sandstone, peritidal oolitic grainstone as well as gypsum and red siltstones deposited in a sabkha environment.

Fourteen stratigraphic sections were measured across northern Arizona and southern Utah to …

The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale: Geologic History, Depositional Analysis, And Exploration Potential, Jessica D. Pair

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) was deposited across southern Louisiana and Mississippi during the Upper Cretaceous. The study focuses on a core region containing vast deposits of Cretaceous-aged sediments that have economic importance for oil and gas exploration. This region has been conventionally drilled for decades, focusing on the recovery of the Cretaceous hydrocarbons. Explorers within this region had traditionally targeted the massive sand units of the Lower and Upper Tuscaloosa Group while neglecting the middle Tuscaloosa Marine Shale unit. With the onset of unconventional drilling technology, new explorers to the region have begun to delineate the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale’s …

Characterization And Delineation Of Karst Geohazards Along Rm652 Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography, Culberson County, Texas, Adam F. Majzoub

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Delaware Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico is the major western subdivision of the Permian Basin and a northern extension of the Chihuahuan Desert. The major evaporite unit within the Delaware Basin is the Castile Formation, which consists of gypsum/anhydrite and is highly susceptible to dissolution and karsting. Manifestations of karst within the Castile outcrop are abundant and include sinkholes, subsidence features and caves, both epigene and hypogene in origin.

Land reconnaissance surveys conducted during the summer of 2015 documented abundant karst landforms in close proximity to a major thoroughfare, RM 652, in Culberson County, Texas. 2D …

Sediment Accumulations Patterns In The Damariscotta River Estuary, Emily A. Chandler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The tidally dominated Damariscotta River estuary is located on the south-central Maine coast. The elongate, north-south orientation of the estuary is characteristic of the indented shoreline in this region and a consequence of the bedrock structural framework, comprised of Paleozoic high-grade metasedimentary rocks. Pegmatite sills form bedrock constriction points that divide the estuary into seven distinct basins. The narrow, bending geometry and sill and basin morphology impact the distribution of sediment within the estuary and the hydrodynamics of the system. This study employs multibeam bathymetry surveys, sediment grab samples and radionuclide analysis (²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs) of sediment …

Characterization Of Lower Permian Carbonate Subaqueous Gravity Flows In Crockett County, Texas, Wesley L. Turner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transitional sediments on carbonate ramp slopes act as a link to relatively well-studied platform and basin depositional environments. In the southern Midland Basin, the key to understanding the relationship between these environments lies in the allochthonous gravity flow sediments found on the slope. Here, a succession of various gravity flow deposits is used to interpret how base level fluctuations affect the type of deposits found on the slope and their effect on the deep basinal environment. This study utilizes core samples from the Wolfcamp Formation adjacent to the Central Basin Platform in five wells in Northwest Crockett County, Texas. The …

Fluvial Deposition, El Nino And Landscape Construction In Northern Coastal Peru, Paul M. Pluta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The El Nino global climate anomaly is a major cause of weather variation that can have far-reaching effects on human populations around the world. Northern coastal Peru is an area of historically major impacts where strong El Nino events have resulted in catastrophic flooding and mass wasting, leading to significant social disruption. There is a growing body of literature on the prehistoric chronology of El Nino and how it affected human populations of the past, but more work is needed. In order to address the timing and characteristics of past El Nino events I investigated the alluvial sedimentary sequences at …

The Characteristics That Control The Stability Of Eroding Coastal Bluffs In Maine, Corinn C. Keblinsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bluffs of glacigenic sediment exist along 53% of the tidal shoreline of Maine. Under the current regime of rising sea level, waves, groundwater, and sub-aerial processes easily erode these materials. The hazardous nature of the bluffs is not widely recognized by the public, and new homeowners are often shocked to find out that their property is disappearing. To better educate the public, the Maine Geological Survey is mapping the stability of coastal bluffs. This report utilizes that database along with other available data to determine what controls the relative stability of bluffs. A geographic information system (GIs) was used to …

Formation And Age Of Raised Marine Beaches, Northern Scott Coast, Antarctica, Nathan Gardner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is a key problem because of its potential effect on global sea level and climate. Some geologic evidence suggests that the ice sheet has collapsed in the past, which, if correct, implies that future disintegration is possible. Isolation of the mechanism(s) that have affected WAIS behavior since the last glacial maximum (LGM) may yield information about factors that control it today. Previous studies have indicated thatrecession of the WAIS from the LGM position occurred in the middle to late Holocene. However, the data come fiom points too far south to assess …

Distribution Of Patterned Ground And Surficial Deposits On A Debris-Covered Glacier Surface In Mullins Valley And Upper Beacon Valley, Antarctica, Andrew M. Lorrey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Beacon Valley is located in the western Dry Valleys, Antarctica, adjacent to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS). The surficial material on the floor of Beacon Valley is segmented into large polygonal landforms separated by trenches. Buried beneath the polygons and surficial material is massive ground ice. One hypothesis is that the buried ice in upper Beacon Valley is glacier ice originating from local debris-covered glaciers. The networks of polygons and trenches form as the buried ice undergoes thermal contraction and sublimation. Contraction cracks that penetrate the surficial material and buried ice in Beacon Valley contain Late Miocene age volcanic …

Evolution Of Seabed Pockmarks In Penobscot Bay, Maine, Allen M. Gontz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Seafloor depressions, called pockmarks, have been known to exist in Penobscot Bay, Maine since the mid 1980's (Knebel and Scanlon, 1985). Earlier workers (Ostericher, 1965) recognized "channels" on sonoprobe records that are in the sanle area as the pockmarks recognized by Knebel and Scanlon (1985). Their origins and pathways of evolution are unknown. Much speculation about the sources of pore fluids, levels of activity, and evolutionary pathways has occurred since their discovery. Two surveys of Belfast Bay, in 1998 and 1989, have shown differences in the pockmark field population. Over the course of a decade, 36% of the field's 1998 …

Evolution Of Sprague Neck Bar, Machias Bay, Maine, Rebecca A. Nestor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sprague Neck Bar is a recurved barrier spit located in Machias Bay, Maine. Principle geomorphic features associated with Sprague Neck Bar include bedrock, coastal bluffs, till in grounding line (the Pond Ridge Moraine) and washboard moraines, mudflats, sand and gravel beaches, and a salt marsh. Sprague Neck Bar is attached to the western end of the Pond Ridge Moraine (Sprague Neck) and extends northward toward the head of Machias Bay for 845 meters before the system recurves to the southeast for 232 meters. The recurve system forms a broad tidal flat with evidence for northward and eastward migration of the …