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2017

Earth Sciences

Brigham Young University

Articles 1 - 22 of 22

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Dissolved Organic Carbon And Dissolved Metal Pulses During Snowmelt Runoff In The Upper Provo River Watershed, Utah, Usa, Hannah Nicole Checketts Dec 2017

Dissolved Organic Carbon And Dissolved Metal Pulses During Snowmelt Runoff In The Upper Provo River Watershed, Utah, Usa, Hannah Nicole Checketts

Theses and Dissertations

Snowmelt river systems exhibit seasonal fluxes in water chemistry, potentially affecting the water supply of one-sixth of the worlds population. In this study, we examined water chemistry of the upper Provo River, northern Utah, which supplies water to over two million people along the urban Wasatch Front. Seasonal changes in water chemistry were characterized by analyzing discharge and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) with dissolved trace metal and cation concentrations (La, Pb, Cu, Al, Be, Sr and K) over three consecutive water years 20142016, with intensive sampling during snowmelt runoff. To better understand links between metal movement and DOC, we sampled …

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Dissolved Organic Carbon And Dissolved Metal Pulses During Snowmelt Runoff In The Upper Provo River Watershed, Utah, Usa, Hannah Nicole Checketts Dec 2017

Dissolved Organic Carbon And Dissolved Metal Pulses During Snowmelt Runoff In The Upper Provo River Watershed, Utah, Usa, Hannah Nicole Checketts

Theses and Dissertations

Snowmelt river systems exhibit seasonal fluxes in water chemistry, potentially affecting the water supply of one-sixth of the worlds population. In this study, we examined water chemistry of the upper Provo River, northern Utah, which supplies water to over two million people along the urban Wasatch Front. Seasonal changes in water chemistry were characterized by analyzing discharge and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) with dissolved trace metal and cation concentrations (La, Pb, Cu, Al, Be, Sr and K) over three consecutive water years 2014”2016, with intensive sampling during snowmelt runoff. To better understand links between metal movement and DOC, we sampled …

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Quantitative Morphological Classification Of Planetary Craterforms Using Multivariate Methods Of Outline-Based Shape Analysis, Thomas Joseph Slezak Dec 2017

Quantitative Morphological Classification Of Planetary Craterforms Using Multivariate Methods Of Outline-Based Shape Analysis, Thomas Joseph Slezak

Theses and Dissertations

Craters formed by impact and volcanic processes are among the most fundamental planetary landforms. This study examines the morphology of diverse craterforms on Io, the Moon, Mars, and Earth using quantitative, outline-based shape analysis and multivariate statistical methods to evaluate the differences between different types of. Ultimately, this should help establish relationships between the form and origin of craterforms. Developed in the field of geometric morphometrics by paleontological and biological sciences communities, these methods were used for the analysis of the shapes of crater outlines. The shapes of terrestrial ash-flow calderas, terrestrial basaltic shield calderas, martian calderas, Ionian paterae, and …

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Digitizing Dinosaur National Monument's Carnegie Quarry, Rebecca Esplin Dec 2017

Digitizing Dinosaur National Monument's Carnegie Quarry, Rebecca Esplin

Theses and Dissertations

The Carnegie Quarry in northeastern Utah is world-renowned for the dinosaur skeletons it has produced and for its in situ display of dinosaur bones. The specimens excavated at Carnegie Quarry are displayed and curated in 20 repositories, most in North America. Data on these specimens in the forms of notes, photographs, publications, field maps, and so on, are scattered in an array of formats and institutions. The primary goal of this thesis is to develop a database linking these data with a digital map (GIS system) to make them readily accessible. To this end, a relational database was created using …

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Copper Mineralogy In The Oxide Zone Of The Lone Star Porphyry Copper Deposit, Eastern Arizona, Jeff G. Selck Dec 2017

Copper Mineralogy In The Oxide Zone Of The Lone Star Porphyry Copper Deposit, Eastern Arizona, Jeff G. Selck

Theses and Dissertations

The Lone Star porphyry copper deposit in the Safford District of southeastern Arizona was discovered in the late 1800's but never mined on a large scale. In addition to typical copper oxide species such as chrysocolla, the upper part of the deposit has zones of mineralization in which the chemical assays of core samples have higher amounts of copper than can be visually assigned to the observed copper-bearing minerals. The goal of this study is to identify the Cu-bearing minerals, which is crucial because the efficiency of the extraction processes is strongly dependent upon the mineralogy. Samples from seven cores …

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40Ar/39Ar Ages, Compositions, And Likely Source Of The Eocene Fallout Tuffs In The Duchesne River Formation, Northeastern Utah, Michael Seth Jensen Nov 2017

40Ar/39Ar Ages, Compositions, And Likely Source Of The Eocene Fallout Tuffs In The Duchesne River Formation, Northeastern Utah, Michael Seth Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

Thin fallout tuffs in the Duchesne River Formation in the Uinta Basin, Utah are evidence that volcanism was active in northern Nevada and Utah in the late Eocene. The Uinta Basin is a sedimentary basin that formed during the Laramide orogeny. Ponded lakes of various salinity filled and emptied and during the late Eocene the northern rim was dominated by a wetland/floodplain depositional setting. Most of the tuffs have rhyolitic mineral assemblages including quartz, biotite, sanidine, and allanite. Rhyolitic glass shards were also found in one of the ash beds. Biotite compositions have Fe/(Fe+Mg) ratios typical of calc-alkaline igneous rocks …

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40ar/39ar Ages, Compositions, And Likely Source Of The Eocene Fallout Tuffs In The Duchesne River Formation, Northeastern Utah, Michael Seth Jensen Nov 2017

40ar/39ar Ages, Compositions, And Likely Source Of The Eocene Fallout Tuffs In The Duchesne River Formation, Northeastern Utah, Michael Seth Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

Thin fallout tuffs in the Duchesne River Formation in the Uinta Basin, Utah are evidence that volcanism was active in northern Nevada and Utah in the late Eocene. The Uinta Basin is a sedimentary basin that formed during the Laramide orogeny. Ponded lakes of various salinity filled and emptied and during the late Eocene the northern rim was dominated by a wetland/floodplain depositional setting. Most of the tuffs have rhyolitic mineral assemblages including quartz, biotite, sanidine, and allanite. Rhyolitic glass shards were also found in one of the ash beds. Biotite compositions have Fe/(Fe+Mg) ratios typical of calc-alkaline igneous rocks …

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Evaluating The East Java Tsunami Hazard: What Can Newly-Discovered Imbricate Coastal Boulder Accumulations Near Pacitan And At Pantai Papuma, Indonesia Tell Us?, William Nile Meservy Oct 2017

Evaluating The East Java Tsunami Hazard: What Can Newly-Discovered Imbricate Coastal Boulder Accumulations Near Pacitan And At Pantai Papuma, Indonesia Tell Us?, William Nile Meservy

Theses and Dissertations

Our paleotsunami surveys of the southern Java coast led to the discovery of five imbricate coastal boulder fields near Pacitan, Indonesia that may date to the mid-to-late 19th century or prior and two similar fields at Pantai Papuma and Pantai Pasir Putih that were tsunami-emplaced during the 1994 7.9 Mw event in East Java. Estimated ages for the fields near Pacitan are based on historical records and radiocarbon analyses of coral boulders. The largest imbricated boulders in fields near Pacitan and in East Java are similar in size (approximately 3 m^3) and are primarily composed of platy beachrock dislodged from …

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Development And Testing Of The Valence Multipole Model Oh Potential For Use In Molecular Dynamics Simulation, Charles Stephen Andros Oct 2017

Development And Testing Of The Valence Multipole Model Oh Potential For Use In Molecular Dynamics Simulation, Charles Stephen Andros

Theses and Dissertations

Here we describe the fitting and testing, via molecular dynamics simulation, of a bond-order potential for water with a unique force field parameterization. Most potentials for water, including some bond-order (reactive) potentials, are based on a traditional, many-body decomposition to describe water's structure with bond stretch, angle bend, electrostatics, and non-bonded terms. Our model uses an expanded version of the Bond Valence Model, the Valence Multipole Model, to describe all aspects of molecular structure using multibody, bond-order terms. Prior work successfully related these multibody, bond order terms to energy, provided the structures were close to equilibrium. The success of this …

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Characterizing The Low Net-To-Gross, Fluviodeltaic Dry Hollow Member Of The Frontier Formation, Western Green River Basin, Wyoming, Scott Romney Meek Aug 2017

Characterizing The Low Net-To-Gross, Fluviodeltaic Dry Hollow Member Of The Frontier Formation, Western Green River Basin, Wyoming, Scott Romney Meek

Theses and Dissertations

The Frontier Formation in the Green River Basin of southwestern Wyoming consists of Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) marine and non-marine sandstones, siltstones, mudstones and coals deposited on the western margin of the Cretaceous Interior Seaway. Tight gas reservoirs exist in subsurface fluviodeltaic sandstones in the upper Frontier Formation (Dry Hollow Member) on the north-south trending Moxa Arch within the basin. These strata crop out in hogback ridges of the Utah-Idaho-Wyoming Thrust Belt approximately 40 km west of the crest of the Moxa Arch. Detailed, quantitative outcrop descriptions were constructed using emerging photogrammetric techniques along with field observations and measured sections at …

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Geologic Mapping Of The Vernal Nw Quadrangle, Uintah County, Ut, And Stratigraphic Relationships Of The Duchesne River Formation And Bishop Conglomerate, Casey Andrew Webb Aug 2017

Geologic Mapping Of The Vernal Nw Quadrangle, Uintah County, Ut, And Stratigraphic Relationships Of The Duchesne River Formation And Bishop Conglomerate, Casey Andrew Webb

Theses and Dissertations

Detailed mapping (1:24,000), measured sections, and clast counts in conglomerates of the Duchesne River Formation and Bishop Conglomerate in the Vernal NW quadrangle in northeastern Utah reveal the middle Cenozoic stratigraphic geometry, the uplift and unroofing history of the eastern Uinta Mountains, and give evidence for the pulsed termination of Laramide uplift. The Unita Mountains are an EW-trending reverse fault bounded and basement-cored, Laramide uplift. The oldest unit of the Duchesne River Formation, the Eocene Brennan Basin Member, contains 80-90% Paleozoic clasts and <20% Precambrian clasts. Proximal to the Uinta uplift the conglomerates of this member are dominated by Paleozoic Madison Limestone clasts (70-90% of all clasts). Farther out into the basin, Paleozoic clasts still dominate in Brennan Basin Member conglomerates, but chert clasts are more abundant (up to 43%) showing the efficiency of erosion of the carbonate clasts over a short distance (~5 km). Conglomerates in the progressively younger Dry Gulch Creek, Lapoint, and Starr Flat members show a significant upward increase in Precambrian clasts with 34-73% Uinta Mountain Group and 8-63% Madison Limestone. Duchesne River Formation has a significant increase in coarse-grained deposits from the southern parts of the quadrangle (20-50% coarse) to the northern parts (75% coarse) nearer the Uinta uplift. The lower part of the Duchesne River Formation exhibits a fining upward sequence representing a tectonic lull. Clast count patterns show that pebbly channel deposits in the south maintain similar compositions to their alluvial fan counterparts. To the north, the fine-grained Lapoint and Dry Gulch Creek members of the Duchesne River Formation appear to pinch out completely. This can be explained by erosion of these fine-grained deposits or by lateral facies shifts before deposition of the next unit. Starr Flat Member conglomerates were deposited above Lapoint Member siltstones and represent southward progradation of alluvial fans away from the uplifting mountain front. Similarities in composition and sedimentary structures have caused confusion surrounding the contact between the Starr Flat Member and the overlying Bishop Conglomerate. Within the Vernal NW quadrangle, we interpret this contact as an angular unconformity (the Gilbert Peak Erosion Surface) developed on the uppermost tilted red siltstone of the Starr Flat Member sometime after 37.9 Ma. Stratigraphic and structural relationships reveal important details about the development of a Laramide mountain range: 1) sequential unroofing sequences in the Duchesne River Formation, 2) progradation of alluvial fans to form the Starr Flat Member, 3) and the unconformable nature of the Gilbert Peak Erosion Surface lead to the conclusion that there were at least 3 distinct episodes of uplift during the deposition of these formations. The last uplift episode upwarped the Starr Flat Member constraining the termination of Laramide uplift in the Uinta Mountains to be after deposition of the Starr Flat Member and prior to deposition of the horizontal Bishop Conglomerate starting at about 34 Ma. This, combined with 40Ar/39Ar ages of 39.4 Ma from the Dry Gulch Creek and Lapoint member, show …

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Characterizing The Fate And Mobility Of Phosphorus In Utah Lake Sediments, Matthew Chambers Randall Aug 2017

Characterizing The Fate And Mobility Of Phosphorus In Utah Lake Sediments, Matthew Chambers Randall

Theses and Dissertations

An increasing number of lakes worldwide are impacted by eutrophication and harmful algal blooms due to nutrient inputs. Utah Lake is a unique eutrophic freshwater lake that is naturally shallow, turbid, and alkaline with high dissolved oxygen levels. Recently, the Utah Division of Water Quality has proposed a new limitation of phosphorus (P) loading to Utah Lake from wastewater treatment plants in an effort to mitigate eutrophication. However, reducing external P loads may not lead to immediate improvements in water quality due to the legacy pool of nutrients in lake sediments. The purpose of this study was to characterize the …

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Lithofacies And Sequence Architecture Of The Lower Desert Creek Sequence, Middle Pennsylvanian, Aneth, Utah, Chanse James Rinderknecht Jul 2017

Lithofacies And Sequence Architecture Of The Lower Desert Creek Sequence, Middle Pennsylvanian, Aneth, Utah, Chanse James Rinderknecht

Theses and Dissertations

Middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian) strata of the Lower Desert Creek (LDC) sequence within the sub-surface Greater Aneth Field (GAF) reflect a hierarchy of 4th and 5th order carbonate-dominated cycles. The Lower Desert Creek sequence, along the studied transect are composed of eight carbonate facies deposited on an east-facing shelf. There is a lateral transition from open marine algal buildup from the southeast (cores R-19, Q-16, O-16, and J-15) to a more restricted lagoonal environment to the northwest (core K-430 and E-313). The Lower Desert Creek sequence within the GAF contains three main parasequence sets: a basal, relatively deep-water unit (LDC 1), …

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Characterizing Great Salt Lake Dust Relative Other Regional Dust Sources, Colin Hale, Carling Greg Jun 2017

Characterizing Great Salt Lake Dust Relative Other Regional Dust Sources, Colin Hale, Carling Greg

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Dust storms occur frequently along the Wasatch Front. These dust events may have negative effects on human health and agriculture. To help understand dust events along the Wasatch Front, this study focuses on analyzing dust deposition to better locate dust emission sources. Understanding the source of dust events is important. This is important because Great Salt Lake water levels are dropping exposing lakebed. This newly expose lakebed may result in increased frequency and intensity of dust events. To understand if this lakebed is affecting the Wasatch Front and acting as an emission source.

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Trace Element Analysis Of Quartz Grains In The Wah Wah Springs Tuff And Granodiorite Intrusion, Joel Barker, Dr. Eric Christiansen Jun 2017

Trace Element Analysis Of Quartz Grains In The Wah Wah Springs Tuff And Granodiorite Intrusion, Joel Barker, Dr. Eric Christiansen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Wah Wah Springs tuff and cogenetic granodiorite were part of the creation of the Indian Peak-Caliente Caldera Complex, which lies on the Nevada-Utah border (Skidmore, 2013). The complex formed during the middle Cenozoic (36-18 Ma) during an episode of explosive silicic activity (Best et al., 2013). Rollback of the subducting lithosphere likely caused the silicic activity, evidenced by the migration of magmatism southward (Best et al., 2013). The dehydration of the subducting oceanic lithosphere caused mafic magmas high in water to rise and fractionate in continental crust before eruption (Skidmore, 2013). Over twenty-four different ignimbrites have been found in …

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Seeing The World Through New Eyes: Implementing Map-Based Mobile Apps In Field Trips And Research, Mariah Chambers, Ron Harris Jun 2017

Seeing The World Through New Eyes: Implementing Map-Based Mobile Apps In Field Trips And Research, Mariah Chambers, Ron Harris

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Mobile apps are a resource that can aid in field trip instruction and enhance students’ learning. Because the specific location of the field trip is often an important element in overall understanding, map-based learning materials can be used to integrate information with the place, providing context for the concepts that will be learned on the field trip. The purpose of this project was twofold. One purpose was to provide professors with information and instructions for using map-based mobile apps to prepare students for, and provide resources during, field trips and study abroad experiences. A second purpose was to implement the …

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Sedimentology And Taphonomy Of The Abydosaurus Mcintoshi Quarry, (Naturita Formation, Early Cretaceous, Latest Albian), Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, Aaron Daniel Holmes Jun 2017

Sedimentology And Taphonomy Of The Abydosaurus Mcintoshi Quarry, (Naturita Formation, Early Cretaceous, Latest Albian), Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, Aaron Daniel Holmes

Theses and Dissertations

The holotypic locality of the brachiosaurid titanosauriform sauropod, Abydosaurus mcintoshi, is quarry DNM-16, located in Dinosaur National Monument. The bones are preserved near the base of a heterolithic, trough cross stratified to planar bedded sandstone channel complex. The trough cross to planar bedded sandstones mark times of variable flow with times of high flow velocity based on bones whose upper surfaces were eroded before final burial. The abundance of mud with the dominant medium to fine sand, and poorly confined sandstone channels indicate the bones were transported and buried in medial to distal intermittent flows of a distributive fluvial …

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Formation Of Rapakivi Feldspars In The Deer Isle Granite Complex, Coastal Maine: In Situ Lead Isotope And Trace Element Analysis, William Desmond Obrien Jun 2017

Formation Of Rapakivi Feldspars In The Deer Isle Granite Complex, Coastal Maine: In Situ Lead Isotope And Trace Element Analysis, William Desmond Obrien

Theses and Dissertations

Rapakivi and alkali feldspar phenocrysts from the Deer Isle Granite Complex were investigated using in situ trace element and Pb isotope geochemistry to see if magma mixing or isothermal decompression was responsible for their formation. Pb isotope and trace element profiles, along with CL imagery of quartz phenocrysts, indicate compositional changes in the magma chamber occurred during rapakivi and alkali feldspar growth. Repeated episodes of magma mixing/replenishment by relatively isotopically primitive and LREE enriched magmas (along with hybridized variations with the host magma) created localized disequilibration. Alkali feldspar phenocrysts proximal to these zones of thermal perturbation were first resorbed and …

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Weathering Sequence Of Young Basalts: A Case Study From Kohala, Hawaii, Kimberly Francis Sowards Apr 2017

Weathering Sequence Of Young Basalts: A Case Study From Kohala, Hawaii, Kimberly Francis Sowards

Theses and Dissertations

Exposed weathering profiles of a series of Pololu lava flows in Kohala, Hawaii are ideal for investigating the sequence of reactions/reaction pathways of weathered basalt. Weathering reactions for saprolites show mineral sequences that include feldspar → halloysite ± gibbsite + solutes; clinopyroxene → hematite + minor halloysite + solutes; olivine → hematite + solutes; magnetite → hematite or other Fe-oxides/hydroxides. However, the presence of smectite in four samples suggests that smectite-group clays may form as short lived intermediates at the base of the weathering profile. Regionally, on Kohala, soils and saprolites are dominated by halloysite with small quantities of other …

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Near-Salt Stratal Geometries And Implications For The Evolution Of The Onion Creek Diapir Moab, Ut, Ethan L. Cook Apr 2017

Near-Salt Stratal Geometries And Implications For The Evolution Of The Onion Creek Diapir Moab, Ut, Ethan L. Cook

Theses and Dissertations

The Onion Creek Diapir is one of many salt domes proximal to the Uncompahgre thrust front of the ancestral rockies in the Paradox Basin. It is comprised of Paradox Formation evaporites and large blocks of Honaker Trail Formation carbonates that were deformed by loading of Permian Cutler Formation progradational alluvial to fluvial fans. The history of salt movement in the Onion Creek Diapir is recorded in the near-salt strata. Large salt bodies and their adjacent mini-basins evolve conforming to a complex relationship between salt withdrawal, creating localized accommodation, and sediment deposition. Migrating mini-basin depo-centers, thinned and folded strata, and spatial …

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A Quaternary Climate Record From A Uinta Mountains, Usa, Fen Core With Emphasis On Sediment Pyrolysis, Samuel Abraham Hillam Mar 2017

A Quaternary Climate Record From A Uinta Mountains, Usa, Fen Core With Emphasis On Sediment Pyrolysis, Samuel Abraham Hillam

Theses and Dissertations

The northern slopes of the Uinta Mountains, Utah were previously glaciated and contain many landslides. The Tokewanna Landslide is very large and lacks Quaternary faults. Presumably, increased moisture was the failure trigger. A Quaternary climate record from a cored fen, developed in a small basin between hummocks, was reconstructed using sediment pyrolysis, biomass balance, and magnetic susceptibility. Pyrolysis is used to define Hydrogen Indices that are used to delineate wetter and drier conditions based on the kerogen type - Type III being drier, and Type II wetter. The data were matched to a time/depth curve and compared to other Uinta …

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Facies Analysis, Sedimentary Petrology, And Reservoir Characterization Of The Lower Triassic Sinbad Limestone Member Of The Moenkopi Formation, Central Utah: A Synthesis Of Surface And Subsurface Data, Kristopher Michael Powell Feb 2017

Facies Analysis, Sedimentary Petrology, And Reservoir Characterization Of The Lower Triassic Sinbad Limestone Member Of The Moenkopi Formation, Central Utah: A Synthesis Of Surface And Subsurface Data, Kristopher Michael Powell

Theses and Dissertations

Lower Triassic strata in the Wellington Flat and Tully cores reflect a lateral transition from shallow water strata (Wellington Flats core) to strata that indicate deposition on a relatively more distal, storm-dominated ramp (Tully core). The Sinbad Member, along with the upper part of the underlying Black Dragon Member and the lower part of the overlying Torrey Member (Moenkopi Formation), are composed of ten carbonate, siliciclastic and mixed carbonate/siliciclastic facies deposited on a west-facing ramp/shelf that reached maximum flooding during Smithian time. Individual beds and facies display a large degree of lateral homogeneity and regional persistence in the study area. …

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