Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Cottonwood Ranch Riparian Management Case Study, Sherman Swanson, Kent Mcadoo, Agee Smith, Sandra Wyman

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Daily Precipitation From The Era5 Global Reanalysis Against Ghcn Observations In The Northeastern United States, Caitlin C. Crossett, Alan K. Betts, Lesley Ann L. Dupigny-Giroux, Arne Bomblies

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Precipitation is a primary input for hydrologic, agricultural, and engineering models, so making accurate estimates of it across the landscape is critically important. While the distribution of in-situ measurements of precipitation can lead to challenges in spatial interpolation, gridded precipitation information is designed to produce a full coverage product. In this study, we compare daily precipitation accumulations from the ERA5 Global Reanalysis (hereafter ERA5) and the US Global Historical Climate Network (hereafter GHCN) across the northeastern United States. We find that both the distance from the Atlantic Coast and elevation difference between ERA5 estimates and GHCN …

Assess Physical Functioning Of Riparian Systems With An Eye Toward Management, Sherman Swanson, Sandra Wyman, Kent Mcadoo

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Stream-Groundwater Exchange On Seasonal Nitrate Loads In An Urban Stream, Julio I. Beltran

Theses - ALL

Urbanization negatively impacts water quality in streams by reducing stream-groundwater interactions, which reduces the stream’s ability to naturally attenuate nitrate. Meadowbrook Creek, a first order urban stream in Syracuse, New York, has a negative urbanization gradient that results in urbanized headwaters that are disconnected from the floodplain, and downstream reaches that have intact riparian floodplains and connection to riparian aquifers. This system allows us to assess how stream-aquifer interactions in urban streams impact the net sources and sinks of nitrate at the reach scale. We used continuous (15-minute) streamflow measurements, along with weekly grab samples at three gauging stations positioned …

High-Resolution Timeseries Analysis Of Dynamic Geochemistry: A 27-Well Survey Of Contaminated Groundwater Downstream Of The Former S-3 Ponds, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Emma Dixon

Masters Theses

Spatiotemporal variability of geochemistry of contaminated groundwater has large implications on overall water quality and ability to respond to remedial applications. Gaining knowledge of how geochemistry changes over time in an area can help establish response trends to changing external conditions like weather and level of contamination. In this study, a spatiotemporal survey was performed on 27 wells at the Y-12 Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This was completed to measure diurnal fluxes in geochemistry from seasonal changes and extreme weather conditions in three areas of historically different contamination levels from a single point contamination source. Measurements were gathered over …

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 …

Fluvial Geomorphic And Hydrologic Evolution And Climate Change Resilience In Young Volcanic Landscapes: Rhyolite Plateau And Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park, Benjamin Newell Burnett

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Quaternary volcanism associated with the last caldera cycle in Yellowstone National Park included emplacement of ash-flow tuffs, massive rhyolite flows ranging from 79 to 484 ka, and valley-filling basalts. This study examines (1) the evolution of spring hydrology with flow age on the Rhyolite Plateau, (2) initial development and evolution of stream networks on the rhyolite flows, and (3) the impact of the 630 ka caldera formation and volcanic flow emplacement on Lamar Valley incision rates.

Integrated stream networks formed within 79 kyr on the Rhyolite Plateau. Incision is focused on steep flow margins and knickpoints and is dependent on …

Hydrogeophysical Characterization And Imaging In The Mangrove Lakes Region Of Everglades National Park And Big Pine Key, Florida, Usa, Michael Eyob Kiflai

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Coastal groundwater aquifers are susceptible to saltwater intrusion from natural and anthropogenic sources. Everglades National Park (ENP) has been adversely impacted by past human activities that altered freshwater flow through the system. In Big Pine Key (BPK), the flat and low-lying topography less than 2m makes the freshwater lens vulnerable to tidal and storm surge events. This study investigated different inversion scenarios and used Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) and Electromagnetic (EM) survey to characterize the spatial and temporal change of the groundwater chemistry and image the aquifers. In Big Pine Key, Hurricane Irma made landfall as a category 4 storm …

Hydrogeochemical Characterization And Speleogenesis Of Sistema Huautla In Oaxaca, Mexico, Fernando Hernandez

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Sierra Mazateca, Mexico is home to Sistema Huautla, the deepest cave in the Western hemisphere with 1,560 meters of depth and 90 kilometers of passage, including 26 entrances distributed in a high-relief, karstified terrain, within the Sistema Huautla Karst Groundwater Basin. Exploration of the cave has generated research questions about its evolution and geomorphology given the different vadose and phreatic zones impacted by tectonic and incision processes. Dye traces during this study of Cueva de La Peña Colorada confirmed it is a fossil resurgence of the cave system. An additional cave, Cueva Elysium, was connected hydrologically in 2019, expanding the …

Exploring The Potential Of Nutrient Retention And Recycling With Wetlaculture Systems In Ohio With Physical And Landscape Models, Bingbing Jiang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Significant expansion of agricultural land use has been widely recognized for leading to global and regional negative environmental impacts, especially increased eutrophication of surface water systems for the last half-century. The landscape-scale environmental problem of overloading nutrients to lakes and streams by excessive fertilizer use and increased human-caused N-fixation is in urgent need of a sustainable landscape-scale solution. Wetlands have long been considered as an effective way to remove nutrients from surface water. However, the influence of regional seasonality and hydrologic conditions on agricultural runoff treatment wetlands still needs more investigation. A new approach, “wetlaculture,” has recently described as a …

Compound Flooding In Coastal Areas Emanating From Inland And Offshore Events, Hamed Behzad Koochaksaraii

Dissertations

The vulnerability of urban populations to natural hazards and climate change is a major theme in many reports on coastal cities with flooding ranking highly among the climate change concerns. Flooding could occur as a result of runoff for inland rainfall that accumulates at the mouth of the estuary to the sea or it could occur due to a storm surge emanating from the ocean. The techniques for modeling the flooding from these events are very different, as they were developed in different scientific fields: hydrology and hydraulic engineering for inland rainfall versus coastal oceanography and coastal engineering for offshore …

Calibration Optimization Of A Stream Temperature Model Applied To The Nooksack River, Ian Edgar

Scholars Week

The River Basin Model (RBM) is used to assess how stream temperatures will change in the Nooksack River due to warming climates by tracking heat exchanges along stream segments. Before modeling forecasted climate scenarios, I first calibrated the model to observed historical stream temperatures. The calibration of the RBM to a stream network involves the adjustment of eleven different variables until the simulated temperatures match observed historical stream temperatures. Because the manual process of calibrating the model is extremely time consuming, I developed a Python script to converge on the optimal variables required for the RBM calibration. The script adjusts …

Protean Caves And Cyrenean Grottos: The Subterranean World Of Vergil's Fourth Georgic, Kirby Schoephoerster

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using the studies and methodologies spearheaded by the burgeoning field of geomythology, this project aims to reevaluate one of the most famous works of ancient literature, the Georgics of Vergil, within the context of karst geology. In other words, I plan to critically investigate the famous myth of Aristaeus using a geomythological lens that focuses on how Vergil treats caves and cave systems as related to (his) myth. The didactic poem as a whole, and much less so the myth of Aristaeus, has been assessed relatively little by archaeologists, and by geomythologists not at all. Yet, book four contains an …

Changes In Land Use Land Cover (Lulc), Surface Water Quality And Modelling Surface Discharge In Beaver Creek Watershed, Northeast Tennessee And Southwest Virginia, Tosin James

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Beaver Creek is an impaired streams that is not supporting its designated use for recreation due to Escherichia coli (E.coli), and sediment. To address this problem, this thesis was divided into two studies.

The first study explored changes in Land Use Land Cover (LULC), and its impact on surface water quality. Changes in E.coli load between 1997-2001 and 2014-2018 were analyzed. Also, Landsat data of 2001, and 2018 were examined in Terrset 18.31. Mann-Whitney test only showed a significant reduction in E.coli for one site. Negative correlation was established between E.coli load, and Developed LULC, Forest LULC, and …

Earth Observation And Cloud Computing In Support Of Two Sustainable Development Goals For The River Nile Watershed Countries, Wenzhao Li, Hesham El-Askary, Venkat Lakshmi, Thomas Piechota, Daniele Struppa

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

In September 2015, the members of United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with universal applicability of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets. The SDGs are consequential for the development of the countries in the Nile watershed, which are affected by water scarcity and experiencing rapid urbanization associated with population growth. Earth Observation (EO) has become an important tool to monitor the progress and implementation of specific SDG targets through its wide accessibility and global coverage. In addition, the advancement of algorithms and tools deployed in cloud computing platforms provide an equal opportunity to use EO …

Modeling Drought, Drought Teleconnection, And Its Effect On Groundwater Level Dynamics In The Biscayne Aquifer, Anteneh Z. Abiy

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Developing a self-sufficient water supply system in Southeast Florida is one input to the success of the ongoing restoration effort in the Everglades. Maintaining a high groundwater level in the urban side of the Biscayne Aquifer (BA) is important to sustain the urban water supply. However, the long-term groundwater table condition in the Biscayne Aquifer (BA) is threatened by a combination of drought, groundwater pumping, and sea-level rise. Further, the long-term drought pattern, drought drivers, and the aquifer’s response to drought and other stress conditions are not well known. As a result, options that would help to maintain a high …

Physical And Biological Factors Controlling The Fate Of Nitrate In A Louisiana Coastal Deltaic Floodplain, Alexandra Christensen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Mississippi River Delta is threatened by a growing pressure to support large human populations in the United States both with food production, navigation systems, and urban development in the Mississippi River Basin. Nitrate-nitrogen load in the Mississippi River, up to 100 Tg N yr^-1 from agricultural and urban runoff, leads to phytoplankton blooms and hypoxia across the Louisiana continental shelf, creating dead zones of low dissolved oxygen threatening a significant commercial fishery. Along the coast and river corridors, floodplain ecosystems have the capacity to retain and remove nitrate. This dissertation explores the role of productive, actively growing coastal …

Influence Of Forest-To-Silvopasture Conversion And Drought On Components Of Evapotranspiration, Adam P. Coble, Alexandra R. Contosta, Richard G. Smith, Nathan W. Siegert, Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur, Katie A. Jennings, Anthony J. Stewart, Heidi Asbjornsen

Natural Resources & the Environment

The northeastern U.S. is projected to experience more frequent short-term (1-2 month) droughts interspersed among larger precipitation events. Agroforestry practices such as silvopasture may mitigate these impacts of climate change while maintaining economic benefits of both agricultural and forestry practices. This study evaluated the effects of forest-to-silvopasture (i.e., 50% thinning) conversion on the components of evapotranspiration (transpiration, rainfall interception, and soil evaporation) during the growing season of 2016. The study coincided with a late-summer drought throughout the northeastern U.S., which allowed us to also evaluate the effects of forest-to-silvopasture conversion on drought responses of multiple tree species, including Pinus strobus, …

Hydrologic Response Of A Montane Meadow From Conifer Removal And Upslope Forest Thinning, Christopher Surfleet, Noel Fie, John Jasbinsek

Physics

This study evaluates the hydrologic response of restoration of a montane meadow by removal of encroached Pinus contorta and thinning of the adjacent forest. It is now a follow-up with four years of post-restoration data, on a previous analysis of a hydrologic response of the same meadow one year following restoration. A hydrologic change was evaluated through a statistical comparison of soil moisture and depth to groundwater between the restored Marian Meadow and a Control Meadow. Meadow water budgets and durations of water table depths during the growing season were evaluated. The four years following restoration of Marian Meadow had …

Tidal-Groundwater Study Of The Slaughter Beach Salt Marsh In Slaughter Beach, De, Michael Powers

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Seasonal and decadal monitoring of salt marsh at Slaughter Beach, DE documented long-term and short-term variations in number and sizes of salt ponds. Over 400 salt ponds ranging in size between 0.5 m² to 0.11 km² were identified on 5.5 km² salt marsh platform. The purpose of this study is to quantify hydrologic conditions and measure groundwater discharge of a salt marsh, particularly the impact of tidal forces on groundwater fluctuation.

Four wells with nests of mini-piezometers with ONSET Pressure Transducers were installed along a transect crossing the largest salt pond (0.11 km²) in the …

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 …

Spatial And Temporal Controls On Streamflow Variability In The San Juan Mountains, Colorado, Christopher Lewis Hancock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project characterizes and examines changes to the annual hydroclimatic cycle throughout alpine regions of Colorado with a focus on trends in snowpack and snowmelt hydrology. Datasets analyzed for this research include 79 SNOTEL sites throughout Colorado (24 in the San Juan Mountains) which provide climate metrics for Water Years 1988-2018. Impacts on streamflow are evaluated in the San Juan Region through a network of 11 USGS stream gauges. Correlation matrices and linear regression methods examine the relative controls on the magnitude and timing of discharge, and trend detection using the regional Kendall test quantifies the rate of change within …

Detecting Groundwater Discharge In The Clark Fork River Near Stone Container Using Spectral Alpha Decay Detection For Dissolved Radon In Surface Water Samples Abstract, Daniel William Forsland

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Radon-222 (²²²Rn) was measured along 8.7 kilometers of the Clark Fork River, between Harper’s Bridge and Frenchtown, MT. Twelve water samples were taken along the stretch. Samples 1 through 4 and 10 through 12 were collected on a 1 km interval, samples 5 through 9 were taken on a 500 meter interval. Samples were analyzed for dissolved ²²²Rn using a RAD7 spectral alpha decay detector. Instream ²²²Rn was modeled to quantify groundwater discharge to the river. Literature on the Missoula Valley aquifer was analyzed, revealing an alluvial aquifer system to the east consisting of interbedded gravel, …

A Spatially Distributed Investigation Of Stream Water Temperature In A Contemporary Mixed-Land-Use Watershed, Jason P. Horne

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Stream water temperature is an important physical variable that influences many biological and abiotic water quality processes. The land-use/land-cover (LULC) types and corresponding variability in stream water temperature (Tw) processes in contemporary mixed-land-use watersheds necessitate research to advance management and policy decisions. Water temperature was analyzed from 21 gauging sites using a nested-scale experimental watershed study design. Results showed that forested land use was significantly negatively correlated (α = 0.05) with mean and maximum Tw. Agricultural land use was significantly positively correlated (α = 0.05) with maximum Tw except during the spring season. Mixed development and Tw were significantly correlated …

Modeling The Effects Of Climate Change On Streamflow And Stream Temperature In The South Fork Of The Stillaguamish River, Katherine Mary Clarke

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Stillaguamish River in northwest Washington State is an important regional water resource for local agriculture, industry, and First Nations tribes and a critical habitat for several threatened and endangered salmonid species, including the Chinook salmon. The river is currently subject to a temperature total maximum daily load, so it is important to understand how projected climate change will affect future stream temperatures and thus salmon populations. Snowpack is the main contributor to spring and summer streamflow and helps to mitigate stream temperatures as air temperatures rise through the summer in the South Fork of the Stillaguamish River. I used …

Late Holocene Paleoflood Hydrology Of The Snake River In The Lower Hells Canyon, Idaho, Kent C. Allen

All Master's Theses

The Snake River watershed spans a large geographic region from the Rocky Mountains to the inland Pacific Northwest, and a comprehensive paleoflood chronology on the mainstem of the river is key to identifying the frequency and magnitude of large prehistoric floods within the region. We examined and compared four sites of slackwater deposits along a 20-km reach of the Lower Hells Canyon on the Snake River, Idaho. The sites contain evidence of up to 34 paleofloods within the last 1700 years. Stratigraphic breaks, soils, and in-situ plant or archaeological materials demarcate distinct layers that represent discrete paleoflood events. Radiocarbon dates …

Characterizing The Hydrological Function Of Treed Bogs In The Zone Of Discontinuous Permafrost, Brenden Disher

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The loss of permafrost has produced a wholesale conversion from forest to wetland, and many studies have analyzed the effects of permafrost thaw-induced land cover change on the hydrology and ecology of landscapes within the Taiga Plains. The permafrost thaw driven areal shrinkage of forested plateaux and their replacement by treeless wetlands is well documented, and the co-occurrence of permafrost and black spruce forest cover is the basis for areal estimates of the former. However, field studies conducted at a peatland dominated landscape near Fort Simpson, NWT indicate that tree canopy may persist following the loss of permafrost and the …

Impact Of Seismic Lines On The Hydrology Of Wetlands In The Discontinuous Permafrost Zone, Southwestern Northwest Territories, Angela Hamilton

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Previous studies in the southern Northwest Territories have shown the underlying discontinuous permafrost is sensitive to disturbances such as the creation of seismic lines. Their creation has resulted in compaction topsoil and tree removal causing accelerated permafrost thaw. The loss of permafrost has caused seismic lines’ surface elevation to subside, which allows water to conjugate. This increases the soil moisture of a seismic line, which results in preferential thaw along the seismic line edges. Thaw along the edges over time has connected more previously isolated wetlands to seismic lines. This leads to more water entering, resulting in higher water levels …