Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Evaluating The Relationship Between Floodplain Topography And Channel Avulsion: Evidence From The Devonian Catskill Formation, North-Central Pennsylvania, Usa, Molly O'Halloran

Honors Theses

Topographic complexity on floodplains can route flow, control sediment dispersal, and influence channel behavior, but studying floodplain-channel interactions in modern rivers is challenging because of human modifications and the short timescales of observable data. This project assesses the link between different types of floodplain microtopography and avulsion style in the Devonian Catskill Formation, north-central Pennsylvania, where thick stacks of fluvial strata provide a lengthy record of channel-floodplain interaction. Using a combination of field observations and computer modeling, this study identifies sedimentary features indicative of floodplain complexity and analyzes their impact on avulsion style at fourteen Catskill Formation outcrops.

Based on …

Interaction With Augmented Reality Sandbox Does Not Produce Greater Gains In Topographic Map Skills For Undergraduate Students, Celeste Kenworthy

Honors Theses

The augmented reality (AR) sandbox allows students to interact with topographic maps in a 3D space. Being able to understand topographic maps is important to geologists and they are taught in many introductory geology courses. Recent research has focused on whether the AR sandbox can improve students’ topographic map skills. Previous studies have found that students who interact with the AR sandbox do not score significantly better on topographic map assessments (TMAs) than their peers. One proposed reason for this is the limited time students have to interact with the AR sandbox. This study sought to address this by creating …

Fluvial Sedimentology And Architecture Of Two Latest Devonian Lower Huntley Mountain Formation Outcrops, North-Central Pennsylvania, Usa, Evan W. Filion

Honors Theses

Thick successions of river deposits accumulated in the north-central Pennsylvania region of the Appalachian foreland basin during Late Devonian time (~380-360 Ma). The properties and morphologies of these paleorivers are not well characterized. Latest Devonian tectonic, climatic, and eustatic controls on river dynamics and basin infilling also remain unclear. This study assesses the sedimentology, facies architecture, paleochannel depths, and grain size of a 133 m thick section of fluvial strata exposed across two outcrops, Blossburg South (older) and Blossburg West (younger), mapped as lower Huntley Mountain Formation near Blossburg, Pennsylvania. Field-based lithofacies observations, high-resolution panoramic photography, terrestrial lidar scanning, and …

Late Devonian Sedimentary Record Of Appalachian Tectonics And Erosion: Geochronology And Geochemistry Of Detrital Muscovite And Zircon From Central Pennsylvania Strata, Cole T. Gardner

Honors Theses

Foreland basin sediment deposition in North-Central Pennsylvania during Late Devonian time records erosion of hinterland source terranes exhumed during regional plate convergence, including the collisional Acadian orogeny. The Catskill clastic wedge preserves a coarsening-upwards stratigraphic succession from marine to fluvial environments associated with sediment progradation and sea-level regression, yet depositional timescales and quantitative provenance data are largely unconstrained.

Detailed facies analysis of eight outcrops spanning >2 km of stratigraphy in Lycoming Co., Pennsylvania documents distinct upsection changes, interpreted to reflect changes in depositional environments consistent with previous sedimentology of the Catskill clastic wedge. Stratigraphy displays a transition from nearshore marine …

Biodiversity And Distribution Of Benthic Foraminifera In Harrington Sound, Bermuda: The Effects Of Physical And Geochemical Factors On Dominant Taxa, Nam Le

Honors Theses

Harrington Sound, Bermuda, is a nearly enclosed lagoon acting as a subtropical/tropical, carbonate-rich basin in which carbonate sediments, reef patches, and carbonate-producing organisms accumulate. Here, one of the most important calcareous groups is the Foraminifera. Analyses of common benthic orders, including miliolids (Quinqueloculina and Triloculina spp.) and rotaliids (Homotrema rubrum, Elphidium spp., and Ammonia beccarii), are essential in understanding past and present environmental conditions affecting the island's coastal environment. These taxa have been studied previously; however, factors explaining their individual patterns of abundance in the Sound are not well detailed. The goal of this study is …

Sedimentology Of A Small Estuarine Marsh Along East (Pensacola) Bay, Florida, Jesse Pfadenhauer

Honors Theses

Sediment samples from a marsh along East (Pensacola) Bay were analyzed using various laboratory techniques. The color, magnetic susceptibility, organic content, carbonate content, and sediment size distribution of each sample was measured to attain an overall profile of the sedimentary characteristics of the area. Using the GPS coordinates of each collection site, samples were categorized into sub-environments based on their position within the marsh. The trends within the study area and sub-environments were evaluated and interpreted. The data indicate that this marsh is a siliciclastic, fining-inland area that is frequently inundated with tidal fluctuations and storm surges. These storm surges …

Late Glacial-Holocene Climate Change Recorded In Proglacial Lake Sediment Cores From The Huaguruncho Massif, Central Peruvian Andes, Dane O'Neil

Honors Theses

Alpine glaciers respond rapidly to changes in climate and the growth and decay of alpine glaciers is recorded in sediment cores extracted from lakes immediately downvalley from the margins of former glaciers. These records provide continuous archives of glaciation and climate change that complement the inherently discontinuous records of glaciation preserved by moraines. The aim of this study is to generate a continuous record of glaciation in Jaico cirque from lake sediment cores, which is located on the southeastern side of the quartz-monzonite dominated Huaguruncho Massif (5789 masl) in the eastern Peruvian Andes. The lakes are Laguna Jaico (10.56° S, …

Exhumation Of The Baranof Schist In Whale Bay Alaska Determined Through Zircon Fission Track Dating, Kate Kaminski

Honors Theses

During the Eocene in the North Pacific, the Kula, Farallon, and Pacific plates met in a trench-ridge-trench triple junction, bordered to the east by a continental margin along the edge of the North American plate. The flysch of the Chugach-Prince William terrane, a deformed accretionary complex, accreted onto this margin in the late Cretaceous to Paleocene. This terrane is framed to the north by the Border Ranges fault, a large strike-slip fault system that has accommodated northward movement of the Chugach-Prince William since the Eocene. One of the easternmost units of the Chugach-Prince William is the Baranof Schist on Baranof …

The History Of Mining In Cerro De Pasco And Heavy Metal Deposition In Lake Junin Peru, Erin M. Delman

Honors Theses

Lake Junín covers 530-km2 and is located at 4,430-m in an intermontane basin between the eastern and western cordillera of the central Peruvian Andes. The lake sits between the large sulfide mining districts of La Oroya and Cerro de Pasco. Designated a National Reserve in 1974, Lake Junín drains northward to the Río San Juan, which joins the Río Mantaro within several kilometers of the lake. Dam construction by the Cerro de Pasco Copper Corporation on the Río Mantaro in 1932 caused the Río San Juan, the principal river draining Cerro de Pasco, to back up into the lake. Using …

A Continuous Late Holocene Record Of Paleoclimate Change From Grinnell Lake Sediment Cores, Glacier National Park, Montana, Jonathan G. Griffith

Honors Theses

Grinnell Lake is a glacially-fed alpine lake in the northern Rocky Mountains of Montana. Limnological parameters and radiocarbon ages from a ~1.17 -meter-long sediment core from Grinnell Lake provide a ~1,200 year-long climate record. The objective of this thesis is to develop a multi-proxy record of glaciation by distinguishing periods of positive and negative mass balance chronologically. Two overlapping sediment cores (1P-1B-1 and 1C-2B-1) were described, photographed, and sampled at 0.5 cm, 1 cm, and 5 cm intervals and analyzed for % organic carbon, % inorganic carbon, mineral composition, bulk density, biogenic silica, and clastic sediment flux. Glacial fluctuations were …

Detrital Zircon Fission Track Ages Of The Paleocene Orca Group Of Eastern Prince William Sound Near Cordova Alaska, Tyler M. Izykowski

Honors Theses

The Prince William terrane is a major component of the Mesozoic-Tertiary accretionary complex of the North American Cordillera that is well exposed for ~2200 km in southern Alaska and is inferred to be one of the thickest accretionary complexes in the world. Detrital zircons from Prince William terrane record the thermal evolution and exhumation history of the accretionary wedge. Samples of the Paleocene-Eocene Orca Group of the Prince William terrane were analyzed using detrital zircon fission track techniques to understand the thermochronology of the region near Cordova. Six sandstones from the Orca Group and one sample of the Sheep Bay …

Geochemical And Petrographic Analysis Of Gore Mountain Garnets, Adirondacks Ny, Elizabeth R. Morgan

Honors Theses

The mine at Gore Mountain is famous for its giant garnets and long history of garnet abrasive production. This location, Warrensburg (Wall St.), and others were examined to attempt to better understand the petrogenesis of these remarkable rocks. Our studies have emphasized the geochemistry of bulk rocks and rock and mineral separates (122 analyses), thin section petrology, and thermodynamic modeling of mineral assemblages. At Gore Mtn. the ore has the assemblage hornblende-plagioclase-garnet-OPX-biotite, and formed over a ~2 m thick transition zone from a layered olivine corona gabbro, metamorphosed at granulite facies. Petrographically the delicate corona structures and fine-grained garnets were …

Design And Implementation Of An Rf Data Communication System, Aung K. Soe

Honors Theses

Located just 8 miles northeast of Union College is Ballston Lake, a unique lake, which offers excellent research opportunities for faculty and students. The south basin of the lake is permanently stratified, and there has been no intermixing between water layers for thousands of years. The lower water layers contain no oxygen (anoxic). The Union College Geology Department is interested in a ten year study of Ballston Lake. Currently, there is no commercially available automatic system for collecting and transmitting data from a sensor package at the bottom of the lake to the lake shore and finally to Union College …