Earth Sciences Commons^™

Comprehensive Silica Removal With Ferric Compounds For Industrial Wastewater Reuse, Ehren D. Baca

Civil Engineering ETDs

Cooling towers, integrated circuit (IC) manufacture and reverse osmosis (RO) generate copious amounts of wastewater high in colloidal and reactive silica inhibiting on-site or synergistic reuse. Silica present in cooling water can reach solubility limits via evaporation and form impervious scale on heat transfer surfaces that decreases efficiency. When water is treated by RO operating at high rejection, silica forms difficult-to-remove scale on the membrane feed side in the form of glassy patches and communities of aggregate particles, inhibiting aspirations for zero liquid discharge. Current methods for silica scale mitigation include abundant dosing with chemical antiscalents or complex operating schemes. …

The Effect Of Diffusive Transport On Mineral Carbonation In Geologic Carbon Sequestration, Wei Xiong

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) is an effective method to mitigate environmental problems due to excessive anthropogenic CO2 emissions. It involves injecting supercritical CO2 into deep geologic formations in which CO2 will ultimately be converted to solid carbonate minerals. Basalt is a promising host rock that is rich in the divalent cations Ca, Mg and Fe that are important for mineral trapping of CO2. Fractures and pores in basalt reservoirs provide substantial surface area for geochemical reactions during carbon sequestration. The transport in fractures and pores is controlled by diffusion. The coupling of diffusive transport and geochemical reactions leads to carbonate …

Geochemical And Petrographic Analysis Of Basaltic Rocks Of The Hawaiian Island: Implications For Their Evolutionary Stage Of Development, Autumn A. Burrell

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Geochemical and petrographic analyses of basaltic rocks were performed from five volcanoes on the Big Island of Hawaii. From north to south these volcanoes include: Kohala; Hualalai; Mauna Kea; Mauna Loa; and Kilauea. These volcanoes have formed through several distinct stages of volcanic growth and development. During each of these stages, the lavas extruded will be composed of a distinctive geochemical signature which corresponds to each of the 4 main phases of development. These include a 1) pre-shield building; 2) main shield building; 3) post-shield building; and 4) a rejuvenated stage.

The geochemical results are used to establish the evolutionary …

Magmatic Hydrothermal Alteration And Secondary Post-Shock Features In Martian Olivine-Phyric Basalt Northwest Africa 10416; Petrology And Geochemistry Of Primitive Achondrite Northwest Africa 11042, Zoltan Vaci

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Martian olivine-phyric basalt Northwest Africa (NWA) 10416 contains large olivine xenocrysts whose cores have been stained brown by hydrothermal alteration and whose rims are composed of pristine olivine overgrowths. Microanalysis of these olivine cores reveals various degrees of amorphization, some of which have been overprinted by terrestrial weathering, evident as part of a weathering rind along the exposed surface of the meteorite. Studies of a completely unweathered terrestrial analogue basalt from southern Colorado reveal similar features and indicate that both basalts were altered in a supersolidus magma chamber setting. The alteration features in NWA 10416 thus imply the presence …

Geochronology Of The Tectonic, Stratigraphic, And Magmatic Evolution Of Neoproterozoic To Early Paleozoic, North American Cordillera And Cryogenian Glaciation, Vincent H. Isakson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Neoproterozoic sedimentary successions contain evidence for some of the most extreme climate fluctuations, breakup of the paleo-supercontinent Rodina, multiple low-latitude global glaciations, and the resultant evolution and radiation of complex life. The stratigraphic record of these events are found on all major continents and have been associated with, in part, global ‘Snowball Earth’ events. However, the understanding and integration of these, and related phenomenon, are limited by disparate and imprecise age constraints that prohibit clear correlation between locations.

This research focused on high-precision geochronology within an integrated framework of sedimentology, stratigraphy, and geochemistry to resolve the timing and duration of …

Hydrocarbon And Co2 Emissions From Oil And Gas Production Well Pad Soils Comparative To Background Soil Emissions In Eastern Utah, Cody S. Watkins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

What effect does the development of oil and gas have on the observed air quality (i.e., increased ozone, carbon dioxide (CO₂), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and/or methane emissions) in northeastern Utah? What percentage of these gases is natural background emissions, and what percentage is due to the recent oil and gas development in the region? Emissions in this text refer to gases released from the earth’s surface to the atmosphere. Methane is the primary compound in natural gas. Natural gas is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas mixture. Emissions of methane, non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC), and CO₂ at 27 …

Depositional Dynamics Of The Upper Eagle Ford (Upper Cretaceous): Karnes And Gonzales Counties, South Texas, Josie Brunick

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The mixed siliciclastic/carbonate late Cretaceous Eagle Ford Formation is commonly divided into the lower Eagle Ford and the upper Eagle Ford. The lower Eagle Ford is arguably the most obvious organic rich interval highlighted with wireline log data; however, the upper Eagle Ford may have just as much potential for hydrocarbon production success as the lower Eagle Ford has had. A better understanding of the upper Eagle Ford will allow a more thorough and educated assessment into its full potential as an unconventional reservoir, and allow its sweet spots for oil or gas to be found and exploited.

This study …

Phosphate Release: The Effect Of Prebiotic Organic Compounds On Dissolution Of Merrillite, Whitlockite, Chlorapatite, And Fluorapatite, Courtney Lea Bartlett

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Phosphate is an essential nutrient on Earth, used by life for ATP, DNA, RNA, and phospholipid membranes. Therefore, if life is or ever was present on Mars, phosphorus may have played an important role in determining the habitability of an environment. Phosphorus does not have a significant volatile phase; its release from minerals is consequently critical to phosphorus availability and prebiotic chemistry. Phosphate release from Mars-relevant minerals such as merrillite and chlorapatite has been previously found to differ significantly from phosphate release from fluorapatite, the dominant phosphate phase on Earth. However, the environments in which phosphate release would have been …

An Elemental Highway: Investigation Of A High Nickel Anomaly In Olivine From The Island Of Niihau, Hawaii, Alexander James Valentine

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The study of volcanic geochemistry is one of the main gateways for investigating the Earth’s mantle. One important topic in the field is that of nickel (Ni) in the mineral olivine. While Ni is a compatible element in olivine, its high concentration at a given MgO content is not well understood. A variety of hypotheses have been proposed, including attributing presence of Ni to pyroxenite source melting, contribution from the core, or variation in peridotite source melting. In addition to the other hypotheses, chemical diffusion may also be a mechanism for enriching olivine Ni concentration. Magnesium-iron (Mg-Fe) isotopic measurements have …

Cyclostratigraphic Trends Of Δ13c In Upper Cambrian Strata, Great Basin, Usa: Implications For Astronomical Forcing, Wesley Donald Weichert

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Composite geochemical studies of carbonate isotope values (δ13C) by other investigators have established that the Cambrian period is punctuated by a series of significant, globally correlated, positive and negative δ13C excursions. However, it remains unclear if low-amplitude secular variations in δ13C values exist superimposed on, or between large-scale perturbations in the Cambrian carbon cycle, especially in cyclic successions. Rocks of Steptoean-Sunwaptan (Paibian-Jiangshanian) stage, exposed in the Great Basin of Utah and Nevada, are excellent candidates for testing the hypothesis that sedimentary cycles record minor variations in Earth's orbit (Milankovitch cycles) through application of high-resolution chemostratigraphic analysis. High-resolution δ13C data was …

Geochronology Of Calc-Alkaline Ash Flow Tuff Units In The Ogollon Datil Volcanic Field, Southern New Mexico: U-Pb In Zircon, Shannon Porter Rentz

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Caldera systems are capable of outputting voluminous quantities of volcaniclastic material with wide ranging negative environmental impacts. Determining the behaviors of previously erupted caldera systems may help inform predictive models used to evaluate hazards and assess risks for analogous currently active volcanic systems. The Mogollon-Datil volcanic field (MDVF) is a 40-24 Ma cluster of caldera activity in southern New Mexico tied to the subduction, and possible delamination, of the Farallon plate beneath the North American plate. A regional ignimbrite flare up from 36-24 Ma produced at least 28 caldera-forming eruptions. The calc-alkaline magmatism of three calderas in this field (the …

Petrography And Geochemistry Of Oligocene Rhyolitic Volcanic Rocks, Western Mogollon-Datil Volcanic Field, New Mexico, Emily Elizabeth Salings

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The Mogollon-Datil volcanic field (MDVF), located in southern New Mexico, is the remnant of extreme and punctuated volcanism over ~12 m.y. of activity. The Bursum caldera is the youngest of three nested calderas in the Mogollon Mountains in the western MDVF. Here I present data from a high-silica, large volume tuff associated with the Bursum caldera, the Bloodgood Canyon Tuff (BCT). Extensive mapping by previous workers have provided a limited whole rock geochemical dataset and descriptions of the unit, but a detailed study had not been conducted. I present new whole-rock major- and trace-element analyses, Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope …

Timing Of Speleogenesis Of Las Karmidas Cave (Mexico): First Description Of Pseudokarst Developed In Ignimbrite, María Del Pilar Aliaga-Campuzano, Rafael López-Martínez, Pablo Dávila-Harris, Ramón Espinasa-Pereña, Adriana Espino Del Castillo, J.P. Bernal

International Journal of Speleology

Las Karmidas Cave (Puebla State, Mexico) is an unusual type of pseudokarstic cavity generated by piping and erosive processes within the contact of a diamicton and an overlying Quaternary ignimbrite. Morphological evidence suggests that the cave was developed in two stages: a phreatic stage and a vadose stage. The latter was characterized by the formation of carbonate speleothems. The absolute upper-age limit for the cave (168 +7.1/-7.5 ka) was established by U-Th dating of zircons grains extracted from the overlying ignimbrite, whilst a minimum age for the transition from a phreatic to vadose regime (95.6 ± 2.1 ka) was constrained …

Catalyzed Synthesis Of Zinc Clays By Prebiotic Central Metabolites, Marcelo I. Guzman, Ruixin Zhou, Kaustuv Basu, Hyman Hartman, Christopher J. Matocha, S. Kelly Sears, Hajatollah Vali

Chemistry Faculty Publications

How primordial metabolic networks such as the reverse tricarboxylic acid (rTCA) cycle and clay mineral catalysts coevolved remains a mystery in the puzzle to understand the origin of life. While prebiotic reactions from the rTCA cycle were accomplished via photochemistry on semiconductor minerals, the synthesis of clays was demonstrated at low temperature and ambient pressure catalyzed by oxalate. Herein, the crystallization of clay minerals is catalyzed by succinate, an example of a photoproduced intermediate from central metabolism. The experiments connect the synthesis of sauconite, a model for clay minerals, to prebiotic photochemistry. We report the temperature, pH, and concentration dependence …

Mineralogy And Geochemistry Of The Heddleston Porphyry Cu-Mo Deposit, Montana, Ben Schubert

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

The Heddleston porphyry Cu-Mo deposit is located in Lewis and Clark County, Montana, near the headwaters of the Blackfoot River. It is immediately west of the historic Mike Horse mine, an important producer of Pb-Zn from polymetallic veins and lodes. The Heddleston property was explored extensively by the Anaconda Company in the 1960s and 1970s, but was never mined. Specimens of polished drill core from the deposit are archived in the Anaconda Research Collection at Montana Tech campus. The purpose of this research project was to use the archived samples to examine the geochemistry and mineralogy of the Heddleston and …

Supergene Mineralization Of The Continental Pit, Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, Kyle Eastman

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

The Butte porphyry Cu-Mo-Ag deposit has been considerably altered by supergene processes that enriched Cu and Ag, and mobilized other metals. Supergene enrichment provided early miners with excellent ore grades, and contributes significantly to current mining operations in Butte. The Continental Pit exhibits the classic leached and enriched vertical zonation that is common in near-surface porphyry systems around the world. Although studied by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company during the mid-20th century, significant and economically relevant questions remain regarding this deposit’s supergene heavy metal geochemistry and its relationship to the local hydrology and tectonic history.

This thesis investigates the paragenesis …

Actively Forming Kuroko-Type Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulfide (Vhms) Mineralization At Iheya North, Okinawa Trough, Japan, Christopher J. Yeats, Steven P. Hollis, Angela Halfpenny, Juan-Carlos Corona, Crystal Laflamme, Gordon Southam, Marco Fiorentini, Richard J. Herrington, John Spratt

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Modern seafloor hydrothermal systems provide important insights into the formation and discovery of ancient volcanic-hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) deposits. In 2010, Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 331 drilled five sites in the Iheya North hydrothermal field in the middle Okinawa Trough back-arc basin, Japan. Hydrothermal alteration and sulfide mineralization is hosted in a geologically complex, mixed sequence of coarse pumiceous volcaniclastic and fine hemipelagic sediments, overlying a dacitic to rhyolitic volcanic substrate. At site C0016, located adjacent to the foot of the actively venting North Big Chimney massive sulfide mound, massive sphalerite-(pyrite-chalcopyrite ± galena)-rich sulfides were intersected (to 30.2% …

Alicyclic And Aromatic Carboxylic Acids In Soil Organic Matter: An Investigation Of Potential Origin And Association With Plutonium Using Advanced Analytical Techniques, Nicole Didonato

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Carboxylic acids are a defining component of soil organic matter, responsible for many of the physical and chemical properties, including metal-organic matter interactions, which govern its role as an important constituent of soils. However, there is a shortage of detailed molecular level information regarding orientation and structural arrangement of carboxylic acids within soil organic matter. This dissertation utilizes electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI-FTICRMS) as well as solid-state and multi-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to investigate the molecular formula composition within several organic matter sources and the primary structures that feature carboxylic acids. Soil organic matter …

Quantity Trumps Quality: Bayesian Statistical Accumulation Modeling Guides Radiocarbon Measurements To Construct A Chronology In Real-Time, Devon Robert Firesinger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The development of an accurate and precise geochronology is imperative to understanding archives containing information about Earth’s past. Unable to date all intervals of an archive, researchers use methods of interpolation to approximate age between dates. Sections of the radiocarbon calibration curve can induce larger chronological uncertainty independent of instrumental precision, meaning even a precise date may carry inflated error in its calibration to a calendar age. Methods of interpolation range from step-wise linear regression to, most recently, Bayesian statistical models. These employ prior knowledge of accumulation rate to provide a more informed interpolation between neighboring dates. This study uses …

Characterizing The Evolution Of Slab Inputs In The Earliest Stages Of Subduction: Preliminary Evidence From The Fluid-Mobile Element (B, Cs, As, Li) Systematics Of Izu-Bonin Boninitic Glasses Recovered During Iodp Expedition 352, Keir Aavon Sanatan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fluid-mobile elements (FMEs) such as B, Cs, As, Li and Tl can mobilize readily under low P-T conditions (0.2-0.5 GPa). This makes them effective geochemical tracers that can be used as a way of tracking fluid-rock exchanges at the shallow depths encountered in the earliest stages of subduction.

The Izu-Bonin-Mariana (IBM) subduction system is unique in that it preserves a record of the sequences produced from the onset of subduction through the development of arc magmatism. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 352 recovered >800m of boninite core material from the earliest IBM magmatic events.

Select boninitic glasses from these …

Dependence Of The Martian Radiation Environment On Atmospheric Depth: Modeling And Measurement, Jingnan Guo, Tony C. Slaba, Cary Zeitlin, Robert F. Wimmer-Schweingruber, Francis F. Badavi, Eckart Böhm, Stephan Böttcher, David E. Brinza, Bent Ehresmann, Donald M. Hassler

Physics Faculty Publications

The energetic particle environment on the Martian surface is influenced by solar and heliospheric modulation and changes in the local atmospheric pressure (or column depth). The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on board the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity on the surface of Mars has been measuring this effect for over four Earth years (about two Martian years). The anticorrelation between the recorded surface Galactic Cosmic Ray-induced dose rates and pressure changes has been investigated by Rafkin et al. (2014) and the long-term solar modulation has also been empirically analyzed and modeled by Guo et al. (2015). This paper employs the …

Secondary Minerals From Salt Caves In The Atacama Desert (Chile): A Hyperarid And Hypersaline Environment With Potential Analogies To The Martian Subsurface, Jo De Waele, Cristina Carbone, Laura Sanna, Marco Vattano, Ermanno Galli, Francesco Sauro, Paolo Forti

International Journal of Speleology

Over the past 15 years several expeditions by French, American and especially Italian cavers have unveiled over 50 caves in the Cordillera de la Sal (Atacama Desert, Northern Chile). Many of these caves contain a variety of speleothems and minerals, some of which have rarely been observed within karst systems. Most of the secondary deposits in these caves are composed of halite, but also other halide, carbonate, sulphate, nitrate, phosphate, and silicate minerals have been found. Among the sixteen cave mineral species recognized, atacamite, darapskite, blödite, leonite, anhydrite, and especially antarcticite are worth mentioning. In one of the samples an …

Petrographical And Geochemical Changes In Bosnian Stalagmites And Their Palaeo-Environmental Significance, Veronica Chiarini, Isabelle Couchoud, Russell Drysdale, Petra Bajo, Simone Milanolo, Silvia Frisia, Alan Greig, John Hellstrom, Jo De Waele

International Journal of Speleology

Detailed petrographic observations have been coupled with trace element and δ¹³C - δ¹⁸O analyses in order to investigate their dynamics in two Holocene Bosnian speleothems. The potential of this multiproxy approach in providing a means to extract palaeo-environmental information from stalagmites whose stable isotope signals are noisy and without obvious trends has been tested. The studied stalagmites are mostly characterized by columnar microcrystalline fabric. At the sub-millimetre scale of lamination, different microcrystalline columnar sub-types (open and closed) have been detected and classified on the basis of the observed porosity and the crystallite size. The presence of …

Inventory And Analysis Of Some Obsidian Artifacts In The James M. Collins Collection, Matthew Boulanger, Alexis Graves

Anthropology Research

An inventory and analysis of four lots of Native American artifacts within the James M. Collins Collection curated at Southern Methodist University reveals the research value of archaeological materials with less than perfect provenience information. All that is known about the origins of these artifacts is that they appear to have come from Oregon. Elemental analysis by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence identifies the most likely geochemical source for all of the obsidian artifacts in these lots. Source profiles identified from the 75 artifacts represent major sources located in southwestern Idaho. Similarly, the morphology of the artifacts is consistent with material …

Mono Lake Data, Larry V. Benson

United States Geological Survey: Datasets

Mono Lake Basin Data\ Depth CalAge TIC TOTC TOC 13C 18O

Mono Lake short cores.xlsx 03.03.2014 19:59:44 0.06 xlsx

Depth PSV age 18O 13C

TIC for Wilson Crk Fm.xlsx 02.03.2014 16:07:10 0.03 xlsx

Ostracode 18O and TE data Wilson Crk Fm.xlsx 10.11.2017 17:43:18 0.12 xlsx

Depth, calendar age, TIC, TOTC, TOC, ¹³C, and ¹⁸O of Mono Lake short cores were reported in:

Benson, L., Linsley, B., Smoot, J., Mensing, S., Lund, S., Stine, S., and Sarna-Wojcicki, A., 2003, Influence of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation on the climate of the Sierra Nevada, California and Nevada: Quaternary Research. Quaternary Research …

Summer Lake Basin Data, Larry V. Benson

United States Geological Survey: Datasets

Summer Lake Basin

Name Date modified Time modified Size MB Extension

Summer Lake Basin\

Depth PSV Age 13C 18O Summer Lake B&B core.xlsx 03.03.2014 16:51:12 0.03 xlsx

In the Summer Lake Basin folder:

Depth, PSV age, ¹⁸O, ¹³C data for Summer Lake core B&B are reported in:

Benson, L., Lund, S., Negrini, R., Linsley, B., and Zic, M. 2003. Response of North American Great Basin lakes to Dansgaard-Oeschger oscillations. Quaternary Science Reviews 22: 2,239-2,251.

General Comment: In most cases an age model based on ¹⁴C analyses is not included with the datasets although ones were created for …

Stable Isotope Investigation Of The Migratory Behavior Of Silverhaired Bats (Lasionycteris Noctivagans) In Eastern North America, Erin E. Fraser, Darin Brooks, Fred J. Longstaffe

Earth Sciences Publications

We investigated the migratory movements of silver-haired bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans) across the eastern extent of the species’ range. We conducted stable hydrogen isotope analysis of fur samples (δ²H_fur) from museum specimens collected across latitudes and at all times of the year. We first used these data to estimate the timing of fur replacement and to develop a model associating δ²H_fur with that of local precipitation (δ²H_precip) at the location where fur replacement occurred. We then used this model to 1) identify individuals that had migrated …

Origin Of Graphite In The Southwestern Grenville Province, Mehmet F. Taner, Cameron Drever, Chris Yakymhuk, Fred Longstaffe

Earth Sciences Publications

Two graphite deposits in the southwestern Grenville Province are investigated to evaluate the origin of graphitic carbon and to test if the graphite mineralization is syngenetic or epigenetic. Graphite mineralization in the Bissett Creek deposit is characterized by homogeneously distributed and disseminated graphite flakes (approximately 1 to 5 mm in size and 2 to 10 vol.%) within graphitic gneisses. The graphite flakes are intergrown with metamorphic minerals, most notably biotite. The Montpellier graphite showing in Qu´ebec contains graphite concentrations of up to 20 vol.%. In contrast to the disseminated and homogenously distributed graphite in the Bissett Creek deposit, graphite mineralization …

Great Basin Surface Water And Precipitation Isotope Data, Larry V. Benson

United States Geological Survey: Datasets

In the Great Basin Surface Water and Precipitation Isotope Data folder:

Farad, Nixon, and Pyramid Lake 18O data were reported in:

Benson, L.V., 1994, Stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen in the Truckee River-Pyramid Lake surface-water system. 1. Data analysis and extraction of paleoclimatic information: Limnology and Oceanography, vol. 39, p. 344-355. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usgsstaffpub/1015

Spring chemistry around Pyramid Lake data were reported in:

Benson, L.V., 1994, Carbonate deposition, Pyramid Lake subbasin, Nevada: 1. Sequence of formation and elevational distribution of carbonate deposits (tufas): Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol. 109, p. 55-87.

Benson, L.V., Kashgarian M., and Rubin, M., 1995, Carbonate deposition, …

Zircon As A Proxy For "Taking The Temperature" Of Granites: An Example Using Zircon Thermometry Applied To Grenvillian Mid-Crustal Magmas In The Blue Ridge Province, Virginia, Samantha Rae Burk

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

The Grenville orogeny was a protracted (~200 m.y.) series of “hot” magmatic- metamorphic events that contributed to the growth of the Laurentian margin in the late Mesoproterozoic. The granites contain remarkably high Zr content, lack xenocrysts, and become zircon saturated at high temperatures, which are all unusual for felsic magmas. The “hot Grenville granite” hypothesis is tested and use of high-Zr granitoids as potential zones of crustal magma generation through: U-Pb geochronology and cathodoluminescence imaging to assess inherited zircon components; quantitative modeling of zircon crystallization history using rhyolite-MELTS; and Ti-in-zircon thermometry. U-Pb zircon ages for two samples from the Virginia …