Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Debris Flow Susceptibility Map For Mount Rainier, Washington Based On Debris Flow Initiation Zone Characteristics From The November, 2006 Climate Event In The Cascade Mountains, Kassandra Lindsey

Dissertations and Theses

In November 2006 a Pineapple Express rainstorm moved through the Pacific Northwest generating record precipitation, 22 to 50 cm in the two-day event on Mt. Rainier. Copeland (2009) and Legg (2013) identified debris flows in seven drainages in 2006; Inter Fork, Kautz, Ohanapecosh, Pyramid, Tahoma, Van Trump, and West Fork of the White River. This study identified seven more drainages: Carbon, Fryingpan, Muddy Fork Cowlitz, North Puyallup, South Mowich, South Puyallup, and White Rivers. Twenty-nine characteristics, or attributes, associated with the drainages around the mountain were collected. Thirteen were used in a regression analysis in order to develop a susceptibility …

Dendrochronology And Middle Miocene Petrified Oak: Modern Counterparts And Interpretation, William E. Wright, Martin J. Streck, Christopher Baisan, W. Walton Wright, Paul Szejner

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study reports the first successful statistical crossdating among many ring width time series from petrified wood, thus providing a replicable continuous annual resolution window into tree growth and environmental influences during the middle Miocene. The petrified samples, of the genus Quercus, originated at the Stinking Water (SW) locality in Oregon, a Miocene-aged exposure associated with the Columbia River Basalts. ⁴⁰AR/³⁹AR dating on pillow basalt from the locality yielded a weighted Plateau Age of 13.79 ±0.09 Ma placing the death of the trees at the end of the Langhian Stage of the Middle Miocene (15.97±0.05 to 13.65±0.05 …

Quaternary Chronology And Stratigraphy Of Mickey Springs, Oregon, Leslie Allen Mowbray

Dissertations and Theses

Mickey Springs in the Alvord Desert, southeast Oregon, is analogous to other Basin and Range hydrothermal systems where the requisite conditions of heat source and permeable pathways are met through crustal thinning due to normal faulting. This study examines the morphology and lifespan of near-surface spring features through use of ground penetrating radar, thermoluminescence (TL) dating, and elevation modeling. Duration of hydrothermal activity at Mickey Springs has not previously been determined, and age determinations of sinter at the site are conflicting. The reason for and timing of this change in silica saturation in the hydrothermal fluid has not been resolved. …

Exploring, Exploiting And Evolving Diversity Of Aquatic Ecosystem Models: A Community Perspective, Annette B.G. Janssen, George B. Arhonditsis, Arthur Beusen, Karsten Bolding, Louise Bruce, Jorn Bruggeman, Raoul-Marie Couture, Andrea S. Downing, J. Alex Elliott, Marieke A. Frassl, Gideon Gal, Daan J. Gerla, Matthew R. Hipsey, Fenjuan Hu, Stephen C. Ives, Jan H. Janse, Erik Jeppesen, Klaus D. Jöhnk, David Kneis, Xiangzhen Kong, Jan J. Kuiper, Moritz K. Lehmann, Carsten Lemmen, Deniz Özkundakci, Thomas Petzoldt, Karsten Rinke, Barbara J. Robson, René Sachse, Sebastiaan A. Schep, Martin Schmid, Huub Scholten, Sven Teurlincx, Dennis Trolle, Tineke A. Troost, Anne A. Van Dam, Luuk P.A. Van Gerven, Mariska Weijerman, Scott A. Wells, Wolf M. Mooij

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Here, we present a community perspective on how to explore, exploit and evolve the diversity in aquatic ecosystem models. These models play an important role in understanding the functioning of aquatic ecosystems, filling in observation gaps and developing effective strategies for water quality management. In this spirit, numerous models have been developed since the 1970s. We set off to explore model diversity by making an inventory among 42 aquatic ecosystem modellers, by categorizing the resulting set of models and by analysing them for diversity. We then focus on how to exploit model diversity by comparing and combining different aspects of …

Effects Of Aerial Exposure On Preservation Of Low-Temperature Calothrix Biosignatures In Silica Sinter From Queen's Laundry, Yellowstone National Park, Usa, Shana Kendall

Dissertations and Theses

Mineral-depositing hydrothermal ecosystems, such as the hot springs in Yellowstone National Park, provide an unparalleled opportunity to document how microbial biosignatures form and contribute to the body of evidence indicative of the microbial inhabitants of active hot springs. Mineralization of microbial communities in silica-depositing hot springs can result in the preservation of microbial biofacies in the geologic record. To determine the effects of prolonged aerial exposure on the preservation potential of mid-to-low temperature cyanobacteria dominated microbial communities that are typically permineralized in the siliceous sinter, modern biofacies samples of such communities were collected from the active and inactive parts of …

Hydrogeologic Investigation Of A Pumice Aquifer, Fremont/Winema National Forest, Oregon, Jonathan Michael Weatherford

Dissertations and Theses

The middle Holocene cataclysmic eruption of Mount Mazama blanketed Walker Rim, in south central Oregon, with 270 cm to 300 cm of pumice, causing capture of surface water systems by groundwater, stream relocation, and the formation of biologically diverse fens and seasonal wetlands. The pumice aquifer at Round Meadow, an 8.6 km² basin, hosts both a fen and seasonally ponded wetlands. The Round Meadow watershed lies within a closed basin between the upper Klamath and Deschutes river basins. As the highest meadow at Walker Rim, it is a relatively well-constrained system to study the effects of hydrological disruption.

A …

Glacier Change On The Three Sisters Volcanoes, Oregon: 1900-2010, Justin George Ohlschlager

Dissertations and Theses

A glacier responds to changes in climate by subsequent retreat and advance as a result of changes in snow inputs and outputs. Understanding these changes is important because shrinking glaciers limit and diminish local water resources. They contribute to alpine runoff in the late-summer months by delaying the maximum runoff until late in the melt season. A comprehensive glacier and perennial snowfield inventory has not been completed for the Three Sisters in Central Oregon. Using aerial photography, Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), previous studies, and historical ground based photographs these glacier and perennial snowfields were defined and their surface area change …

Deformation And Thermal Histories Of Ordinary Chondrites: Evidence For Postdeformation Annealing And Syn-Metamorphic Shock, Alexander M. Ruzicka, Richard Hugo, Melinda Hutson

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

We show that olivine microstructures in seven metamorphosed ordinary chondrites of different groups studied with optical and transmission electron microscopy can be used to evaluate the post-deformation cooling setting of the meteorites, and to discriminate between collisions affecting cold and warm parent bodies. The L6 chondrites Park (shock stage S1), Bruderheim (S4), Leedey (S4), and Morrow County (S5) were affected by variable shock deformation followed by relatively rapid cooling, and probably cooled as fragments liberated by impact in near-surface settings. In contrast, Kernouvé (H6 S1), Portales Valley (H6/7 S1), and MIL 99301 (LL6 S1) appear to have cooled slowly after …

A Multivariate Modeling Approach For Generating Ensemble Climatology Forcing For Hydrologic Applications, Sepideh Khajehei

Dissertations and Theses

Reliability and accuracy of the forcing data plays a vital role in the Hydrological Streamflow Prediction. Reliability of the forcing data leads to accurate predictions and ultimately reduction of uncertainty. Currently, Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models are developing ensemble forecasts for various temporal and spatial scales. However, it is proven that the raw products of the NWP models may be biased at the basin scale; unlike model grid scale, depending on the size of the catchment. Due to the large space-time variability of precipitation, bias-correcting the ensemble forecasts has proven to be a challenging task. In recent years, Ensemble Pre-Processing …

Evaluating Global Sensitivity Analysis Methods For Hydrologic Modeling Over The Columbia River Basin, Maysoun Ayad Hameed

Dissertations and Theses

Global Sensitivity Analysis (GSA) approach helps to identify the effectiveness of model parameters or inputs and thus provides essential information about the model performance. The effects of 14 parameters and one input (forcing data) of the Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting (SAC-SMA) model are analyzed by using two GSA methods: Sobol' and Fourier Amplitude Sensitivity Test (FAST). The simulations are carried out over five sub-basins within the Columbia River Basin (CRB) for three different periods: one-year, four-year, and seven-year. The main parameter sensitivities (first-order) and the interactions sensitivities (second-order) are evaluated in this study. Our results show that some hydrological processes …

Naturally Occurring Background Levels Of Arsenic In The Soils Of Southwestern Oregon, Heather Ann Hurtado

Dissertations and Theses

This study examines the natural background concentrations of arsenic in the soils of southwest Oregon, using new samples in addition to data collected from previous theses (Khandoker, 1997 and Douglas, 1999). The original 213 samples were run by ICP-AES with a reporting limit of 20 ppm, and only three samples had detected values. The original samples were tested again (2013) at a lower reporting limit of 0.2 ppm by ICP-MS, as were 42 new samples (2013), to better ascertain the natural levels of arsenic in undisturbed soils. The aim is to add to the existing DEQ data set, which has …

Defining The Terroir Of The Columbia Gorge Wine Region, Oregon And Washington, Usa Using Geographic Information Systems (Gis), Hilary Whitney

Dissertations and Theses

The Columbia Gorge Wine Region (CGWR) is an emerging wine producing area that extends for about 100km along the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington State in which the number of vineyards, wineries and physical terroir conditions have yet to be defined. To better understand the physical factors affecting Oregon and Washington wine, this project analyzes climate, topography, geology and soil at vineyards in the CGWR. This was accomplished using Geographic Information Systems, existing earth science databases and field work. The region, which includes the Columbia Gorge American Viticulture Area (AVA) and the southwest portion of the Columbia Valley AVA, …

Nwa 8614: The Least Heated Winonaite, Karla Farley, Alexander M. Ruzicka, Katherine Armstrong

Student Research Symposium

Northwest Africa 8614 is classified as a winonaite on the basis of oxygen isotope ratios, mineralogy, and highly reduced chemistry. Unlike other winonaites, it contains numerous and readily apparent chondrules. Here we discuss various features of NWA 8614 and the possible significance of the meteorite.

Petrological and chemical analyses were performed using optical microscopy with a DM2500 Leica petrographic microscope and a Zeiss Sigma VP-FEG scanning electron microscope (SEM) with a high-efficiency energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). Oxygen isotopes were analyzed by Karen Ziegler at the University of New Mexico on acid-washed samples to remove terrestrial weathering products.

Owing to the …

Structure From Motion Elevation Model For Adding Topographic Correction To Ground Penetrating Radar, Leslie A. Mowbray

Student Research Symposium

High resolution elevation models have become a standard tool in environmental, geological and archaeological investigations, however; the cost of acquiring Lidar in remote areas, on small project sites or over repeated time intervals remains prohibitively expensive. Here, open-source software and GIS are used to create a digital elevation model (DEM) from aerial photos in a process known as Structure from Motion (SfM). This process is a fraction of the cost of Lidar acquisition, and is shown to produce a model with comparable resolution. The photos used here were taken from a camera hung from a balloon flown at Mickey Springs …

On The Temporal Evolution Of Long-Wavelength Mantle Structure Of The Earth Since The Early Paleozoic, Shijie Zhong, Maxwell L. Rudolph

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The seismic structure of the Earth’s lower mantle is characterized by a dominantly degree-2 pattern with the African and Pacific large low shear velocity provinces (i.e., LLSVP) that are separated by circum-Pacific seismically fast anomalies. It is important to understand the origin of such a degree-2 mantle structure and its temporal evolution. In this study, we investigated the effects of plate motion history and mantle viscosity on the temporal evolution of the lower mantle structure since the early Paleozoic by formulating 3-D spherical shell models of thermochemical convection. For convection models with realistic mantle viscosity and no initial structure, it …

Landforms Along The Lower Columbia River And The Influence Of Humans, Charles Matthew Cannon

Dissertations and Theses

River systems, such as the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest, USA have been influenced by human activities, resulting in changes to the physical processes that drive landform evolution. This work describes an inventory of landforms along the Columbia River estuary between the Pacific Ocean and Bonneville Dam in Oregon and Washington. Groupings of landforms are assigned to formative process regimes that are used to assess historical changes to floodplain features. The estuary was historically a complex system of channels with a floodplain dominated by extensive tidal wetlands in the lower reaches and backswamp lakes and wetlands in upper reaches. …

A Novel Approach To Flow And Sediment Transport Estimation In Estuaries And Bays, Hamed Moftakhari Rostamkhani

Dissertations and Theses

Reliable estimates of river discharge and sediment transport to the ocean from large tidal rivers are vital for water resources management, efficient river and harbor management, navigational purposes, and climate analyses. Due to the difficulties inherent in measuring tidal-river discharge, hydrological and sedimentological records are typically too short to adequately characterize long-term (decadal) trends. Also, uncertainties associated with observation and calibration of hydrological models suggest a need for more accurate methods based on longer records of hydrodynamic parameters (e.g. tides). Tidal theory indicates that tides and river discharge interact through quadratic bed friction, which diminishes and distorts the tidal wave …

Core Evolution Driven By Mantle Global Circulation, Peter Olson, Renaud Deguen, Maxwell L. Rudolph, Shijie Zhong

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reconstructions of the Phanerozoic history of mantle global circulation that include past plate motions are used to constrain the thermochemical evolution of the core. According to our mantle global circulation models, the present-day global average heat flux at the core-mantle boundary lies in the range 80-90 mW.m^-2, with peak-to-peak, long wavelength lateral variations up to 100 mW.m^-2 associated with compositional and thermal heterogeneity in the D”-layer. For core thermal conductivity in the range k=100-130 W.m^-1.K^-1 we infer that the present-day outer core is thermally unstable beneath the high seismic velocity regions in the …

Beyond The Angle Of Repose: A Review And Synthesis Of Landslide Processes In Response To Rapid Uplift, Eel River, Northern Eel River, Northern California, Joshua J. Roering, Benjamin H. Mackey, Alexander L. Handwerger, Adam M. Booth, David A. Schmidt, Georgina L. Bennett, Corina Cerovski-Darriau

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In mountainous settings, increases in rock uplift are often followed by a commensurate uptick in denudation as rivers incise and steepen hillslopes, making them increasingly prone to landsliding as slope angles approach a limiting value. For decades, the threshold slope model has been invoked to account for landslide-driven increases in sediment flux that limit topographic relief, but the manner by which slope failures organize themselves spatially and temporally in order for erosion to keep pace with rock uplift has not been well documented. Here, we review past work and present new findings from remote sensing, cosmogenic adionuclides, suspended sediment records, …

Bubble Mobility In Mud And Magmatic Volcanoes, Aaron Tran, Maxwell L. Rudolph, Michael Manga

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The rheology of particle-laden fluids with a yield stress, such as mud or crystal-rich magmas, controls the mobility of bubbles, both the size needed to overcome the yield stress and their rise speed. We experimentally measured the velocities of bubbles and rigid spheres in mud sampled from the Davis-Schrimpf mud volcanoes adjacent to the Salton Sea, Southern California. Combined with previous measurements in the polymer gel Carbopol, we obtained an empirical model for the drag coefficient and bounded the conditions under which bubbles overcome the yield stress. Yield stresses typical of mud and basaltic magmas with sub-mm particles can immobilize …

Current State Of Strain In The Central Cascadia Margin Derived From Changes In Distance Between Gps Stations, Kenneth M. Cruikshank, Curt D. Peterson

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Using continuously operating Global Positioning Stations in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, over 100 station-station baseline length changes were determined along seven West-East transects, two North-South transects and in three localized areas to determine both the average annual strains over the past several years, and the variation in strain over the central Cascadia convergent margin. The North-South transects (composed of multiple baselines) show shortening. Along West-East transects some baselines show shortening and others extension. The direction of the principle strains calculated for two areas 100 km from the deformation front are close to per-pendicular to the deformation front. …

Glacier Status And Contribution To Streamflow In The Olympic Mountains, Usa, Jon L. Riedel, Steve Wilson, William Baccus, Michael Larrabee, T.J. Fudge, Andrew G. Fountain

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Olympic Peninsula, Washington, USA, currently holds 184 alpine glaciers larger than 0.01 km² and their combined area is 30.2 ± 0.95km². Only four glaciers are >1km² and 120 of the others are -¹ (1900–80) to 0.54 km² a^-¹ (1980–2009). Thinning rates on four of the largest glaciers averaged nearly 1ma^-¹ from 1987 to 2010, resulting in estimated volume losses of 17–24%. Combined glacial snow, firn and ice melt in the Hoh watershed is in the range 63–79 ± 7 × 10⁶m³, or 9–15% of total May–September streamflow. In the critical August–September …

Isolation Of Diverse Members Of The Aquificales From Geothermal Springs In Tengchong, China, Brian P. Hedlund, Anna-Louise Reysenbach, Liuquin Huang, John C. Ong, Zizhang Liu, Jeremy A. Dodsworth, Reham Ahmed, Amanda J. Williams, Brandon R. Briggs, Yitai Liu, Weiguo Hou, Hailiang Dong

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The order Aquificales (phylum Aquificae) consists of thermophilic and hyperthermophilic bacteria that are prominent in many geothermal systems, including those in Tengchong, Yunnan Province, China. However, Aquificales have not previously been isolated from Tengchong. We isolated five strains of Aquificales from diverse springs (temperature 45.2–83.3°C and pH 2.6–9.1) in the Rehai Geothermal Field from sites in which Aquificales were abundant. Phylogenetic analysis showed that four of the strains belong to the genera Hydrogenobacter, Hydrogenobaculum, andSulfurihydrogenibium, including strains distant enough to likely justify new species ofHydrogenobacter and Hydrogenobaculum. The additional strain may represent a …

Geotechnical Statistical Evaluation Of Lahore Site Data And Deep Excavation Design, Aiza Malik

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

Geotechnical characterization for foundation design is critical during preliminary planning, designing and feasibility studies of various engineering projects. In this research, an effort has been made to develop a geotechnical database for the city of Lahore, Pakistan. This database would aid geologists and engineers involved in the geotechnical design and planning of engineering projects in Lahore. The project area has been divided into zones geographically. Soil profiles have been developed for all zones, which provide ranges of soil properties and SPT-N values at regular intervals. Furthermore, the research also focuses on deep excavations in urban areas of Lahore, Pakistan and …

Patterns And Processes Of Salt Efflorescences In The Mcmurdo Region, Antarctica, Kelsey M. Bisson, Kathleen A. Welch, Susan A. Welch, Julia Meyer Sheets, W. Berry Lyons, Joseph S. Levy, Andrew G. Fountain

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Evaporite salts are abundant around the McMurdo region, Antarctica (~78°S) due to very low precipitation, low relative humidity, and limited overland flow. Hygroscopic salts in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) are preferentially formed in locations where liquid water is present in the austral summer, including along ephemeral streams, ice-covered lake boundaries, or shallow groundwater tracks. In this study, we collected salts from the Miers, Garwood, and Taylor Valleys on the Antarctic continent, as well as around McMurdo Station on Ross Island in close proximity to water sources with the goal of understanding salt geochemistry in relationship to the hydrology of …