Earth Sciences Commons^™

Geomorphic Effects Of Engineered Log Structures And Response To A Catastrophic Flood Event In A Missouri Ozarks River, Joseph S. Nash

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Engineered log structures (ELSs) composed of local tree logs have been installed in river channels throughout the Pacific Northwest as a restoration technique. However, ELSs have not been tested for use in the Ozark Highlands until recently. In October 2016 the U.S. Forest Service installed four ELSs to stabilize banks along the North Fork of the White River in Ozark County, Missouri. The purpose here is to report on monitoring studies of pre- and post-restoration channel conditions and to assess geomorphic responses to floods. Over a ten-day period in April 2017 there were two bankfull floods, and on April 30, …

Numerical Modeling Of Wave Dynamics And Sediment Transport Near The Mississippi Birdfoot Delta And Barataria Estuary, Soroush Sorourian

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Barataria Basin is a large estuarine system in Southeastern Louisiana, connected to the Gulf of Mexico through a number of inlets, the most important of which is the Barataria Pass. This research examines, during April-June 2010 including both cold front passage and calm summer-time wind regimes, the wave dynamics in this basin and in its major inlets, morphological evolution near the Barataria Pass, and the budgeting and dispersal of the Mississippi River sediment in the birdfoot delta region. An unstructured grid, terrain following, high resolution coupled FVCOM-SWAVE-SED model is employed and validated in this study. The numerical model results …

Lead Contamination Of Soils In An Abandoned Rifle Range, Augusta County, Virginia, Logan Mahoney

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Presence of high concentrations of Lead within the soil and water could lead to various health related impacts on humans and wildlife. Exposure to Lead short termly or long termly could lead to many detrimental impacts due to Lead poisoning. The overall concentration of Lead in a soil can be measured using an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICPMS) under laboratory conditions. The present study investigates the Lead concentration of contaminated abandoned riffle range located in Augusta County, Virginia. Soil samples were obtained using soil augurs from three locations randomly based on the severity of contamination. Location three, which was …

Grain Size And Vegetation As Controlling Variables Of Stream Channel Morphology, Grant Colip

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Streams are one of the major driving forces that shape the landscapes in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the eastern United States as a whole, and they serve an important role in transporting both water and sediment to the Atlantic Ocean. However, streams are often modified for human use, thus altering their natural equilibrium. These alterations have frequently led to the degradation of channel stability as well as damage to property and infrastructure. A better understanding of how both grain size (D₅₀) and vegetation impact stream sinuosity (S) is needed to analyze the prevalence of channel degradation …

Soil Capability Assessment For Expanding Irrigated Agriculture In The Irwin Focus Area And Surrounding Lands, Edward (Ted) Arnold Griffin, Angela Stuart-Street, Peter Tille

Resource management technical reports

The Midlands groundwater and land assessment is a $4.7 million Water for Food project using Royalties for Regions funding. It is seeking to confirm groundwater availability in focus areas that may form precincts of 2000–3000ha suitable for intensive irrigated horticulture. Irwin is one of these.

The Department of Water identified the Irwin focus area for investigation for irrigated agriculture potential. It covers almost 7000ha to the east of Dongara in the Mid West region of Western Australia.

This report provides the land assessment for the Irwin area. We expanded the investigation to include land outside of the focus area because …

Partitioned By Process: Measuring Post-Fire Debris Flow And Rill Erosion With Structure From Motion, Nicholas Ellett

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In mountainous regions burned by wildfires, profound changes in soil characteristics and combustion of vegetation increase hillslope and channel erosion during storm events. Reduced infiltration and abundant loose sediment produce large post-fire erosional events which endanger human lives and infrastructure and contribute significantly to long-term erosion rates. While the influence of fire in increasing erosion has long been recognized, quantifying volumes and sources of eroded material from burned landscapes is difficult. Pre-erosion high-resolution topographic data (e.g. lidar) are often not available in burned areas and determining specific contributions from post-fire hillslope and channel erosion is challenging. Multiple erosional processes mobilize …

Detecting Coastal Marsh Change From Aerial Imagery Using Spectral And Textural Methods: Pascagoula River Estuary, Mississippi, 1955-2014, Margaret Claire Bell Waldron

Master's Theses

As sea level rise accelerates, coastal marsh ecosystems are increasingly vulnerable. Vertical accretion rates must exceed or keep pace with rates of sea level rise to prevent transition to open water or inland migration of marsh vegetation. While some marsh systems along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast have remained stable, others, e.g., the marshes of the Louisiana Gulf Coast, have experienced high rates of conversion to open water. This study examined the historical extent of intertidal marsh at the mouth of the Pascagoula River in Jackson County, Mississippi to determine whether marsh extent changed during the period 1955-2014 and …

Reconstructing Barrier Island Behavior From Overstepped Deposits And Relict Onshore Morphology : Modeling And Field Approaches, Daniel James Ciarletta

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Barrier Islands comprise 10% of the Earth’s shorelines, fringing every continent except Antarctica. Despite their ubiquity, much about the medium to long-term evolution of these coastal systems remain poorly understood, mostly due to the destruction of the geologic record as barriers migrate landward under the influence of rising sea level. Even where modern barriers and related strandplain systems have prograded and regressed, leaving evidence of their former geometries in the form of relict shorelines, field investigations often require intensive labor and time commitments to interpret past evolution. In this work, several investigations are undertaken to use novel numerical modeling techniques …

Geochemical Analysis Of Mississippian Cherts And Devonian-Mississippian Novaculites, Southern Midcontinent Region, Julie Mary Cains

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study uses trace elements and radiogenic isotopes (Pb, Sr, and Nd) to investigate the origin and mode of formation for the siliceous deposits in the Lower Mississippian Boone Formation and the Devonian-Mississippian Arkansas Novaculite in the southern midcontinent. Mississippi Valley-type Pb-Zn ore deposits in the Tri-State District and the Northern Arkansas District were deposited by hydrothermal fluids, and highly radiogenic Pb isotope ratios suggest a genetic relationship between the Boone Formation chert (206Pb/204Pb ~ 21.59, 207Pb/204Pb ~ 15.87, 208Pb/204Pb ~ 40.10) and the MVT ores. Due to the very low concentration of Pb in the Boone chert (~2 ppm) …

Fun In A Kansas Salt Mine, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

Most people probably do not know that salt deposits hundreds of feet thick lie buried beneath large parts of western Kansas, western Oklahoma and a small part of the northeastern Texas Panhandle. Native Americans and early European explorers found that where the salt deposits came near the land surface (for, example north of Hutchinson, Kansas) salt is dissolved by ground water and increases the salinity of rivers, streams, springs and ponds. This salty water was used as a salt source by these peoples. The Hutchinson Salt, a 275 million-year-old Middle Permian deposit, was discovered in an exploratory drill hole in …

Index

Bulletin of the University of Nebraska State Museum (1924–2023)

No abstract provided.

Sediment Transport And Channel Morphology Of A Natural And A Leveed Alluvial River, Bo Wang

LSU Master's Theses

Alluvial rivers are shaped by interactions of flow and sediment transport. Their lower reaches to the world’s oceans are highly dynamic, often presenting engineering and management challenges. This thesis research aimed to investigate channel dynamics and sediment transport in a natural river and a highly engineered river in South Louisiana, in order to gain much-needed science information for helping develop sustainable practices in river engineering, sediment management, and coastal restoration and protection. Especially, the thesis research examined (1) riverbed deformation from bank to bank in the final 500-km reach of the Mississippi River, (2) bed material transport at the Mississippi-Atchafalaya …

Assessing Paleo-Coastal Caves Evolution And Sea Level Changes In Mallorca: Results From Radiometric Dating Of Speleothems, Giuseppe Lucia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sea level affects the littoral morphology and structure in different ways. In coastal karst basins, dissolutional and depositional processes are strictly related to sea level variation. A great variety of karst-related geomorphological features and cave deposits exist above, below, and at sea level, and are extremely useful to study past changes of relative sea level. Within these, vadose speleothems such as flowstones and stalagmite, can document unequivocal maximum sea level constraints as well as record phreatic phases of sea level rise. Here we present a series of geochronological data from the eastern Mallorca and show the implication of relative sea …

Vulnerability Of Industrial Facilities In The Lower Mississippi River Industrial Corridor To Relative Sea Level Rise And Tropical Cyclone Storm Surge, Joseph Blake Harris

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Relative sea level rise (RSLR) and tropical cyclone-induced storm surge are major threats to the Lower Mississippi River Industrial Corridor (LMRIC) which has approximately 120 industrial complexes located within the corridor. Spatial interpolation methods were applied to the 2004 National Oceanic and Atmospheric published Technical Report #50 subsidence dataset and cross-validation techniques were used to determine the accuracy of each method. Digital elevation models (DEMs) were created for the years 2025, 2050, and 2075, based on these predictive surface of subsidence rates. Future DEMs were utilized to model RSLR and determine the extent of storm surge on the LMRIC by …

Cave Dripwater Isotopic Signals Related To The Altitudinal Gradient Of Mount-Lebanon: Implication For Speleothem Studies, Carole Nehme, Sophie Verheyden, Fadi H. Nader, Jocelyne Adjizian-Gerard, Dominique Genty, Kevin De Bont, Benedicte Minster, Ghada Salem, David Verstraten, Philippe Clayes

International Journal of Speleology

An important step in paleoclimate reconstructions based on vadose cave carbonate deposits or speleothems is to evaluate the sensitivity of the cave environment and speleothems to regional climate. Accordingly, we studied four caves, located at different altitudes along the western flank of Mount-Lebanon (Eastern Mediterranean). The objectives of this study are to identify the present-day variability in temperature, pCO₂, and water isotopic composition and to assess the possible influence of the altitudinal gradient on cave drip waters and cave streams. We present here an overview of the spatial variability of rainwater based on local and regional data, and …

Engaging The Greater Lafayette Community In A Journey Through The Earth Sciences: Purdue’S Eaps Earth Science Passport Day Event, Dara Laczniak, Bradley Garczynski

Engagement & Service-Learning Summit

No abstract provided.

Investigation Into Strath Terrace Production In The Mud Hills, California, Patrick Morley Miller

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

Rainbow Basin and Owl Canyon comprise deeply dissected uplands in the Mud Hills region near Barstow, California in the western portion of the Basin and Range geologic province. These erosional landscapes are formed in sediment deposited in a Miocene-time extensional basin. The basin was then filled with sediment before being inverted due to tectonic uplift beginning roughly 10 Ma. Sometime after 250 to 300 ka strath terraces were produced and preserved in the two drainage basins in Rainbow Basin, but not in the single drainage basin of Owl Canyon. The reason behind this difference is the main problem to be …

Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report 2018, Aaron R. Young, Mark E. Burbach, Leslie M. Howard, Michele M. Waszgis, Sue Olafsen Lackey, Robert Matthew Joeckel

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The term “groundwater” has come to be all but synonymous with Nebraska. Nearly three-quarters of the total volume of the High Plains Aquifer lies beneath the State. Groundwater maintains our streams, our ecosystems, our people, and our vitally important agricultural economy. Nebraska’s total groundwater resource is vast, yet it is also vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic changes, necessitating a long-term commitment to wise management through informed decision making. Monitoring, studying, and reporting form the essential basis for such management and, ultimately, for meeting the myriad challenges presented by change.

The personnel of the Conservation and Survey Division (CSD) are pleased …

Informing Water Use Decision-Making For Waterfowl And Agricultural Production On A Ranch Along The North Platte River, Nebraska, Douglas R. Hallum P.G.

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

In 2014, operators of a ranch along the North Platte River approached Conservation and Survey Division seeking expertise to interpret data collected on their ranch. The interpretations inform ranch decisions to accomplish operators’ goals. This publication documents the work by: 1) characterizing the ranch, 2) summarizing data collected, 3) characterizing hydrogeology of the site and the adjacent reach, and 4) conceptualizing groundwater/surface water interaction.

The ranch is a recreation property and a migratory waterfowl refuge with a few general goals: 1) develop and maintain high-quality wet meadow habitat, 2) maximize the extent and duration of surface water on the property …

First Description Of Subglacial Megalineations From The Late Paleozoic Ice Age In Southern Africa., Graham Dm Andrews, Andrew T. Mcgrady, Shannon M. Maynard

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

We identify late Paleozoic ice age (LPIA) subglacial megalineations from field and geospatial imagery of the Twyfelfontein area of northern Namibia, and present the results of a geomorphometric analysis of those data. Asymmetric 0.1–1.5 km-long megawhalebacks indicate a paleo-ice flow to the northwest. We infer that an ice stream draining the LPIA Kaokoveld ice sheet existed within the proto-Huab River valley and that was comparable to ice streams in modern Antarctica. Recognition of a paleo-ice stream in northern Namibia supports interpretations of glaciogenic sedimentary successions (Itararé Group) in southern Brazil that suggest the presence of major, terrestrial glacial outlet systems …

Monitoring Sediment Dynamics And Vegetation Competition Based On Micro-Topography And Terrestrial Lidar For Wetland Restoration, Xukai Zhang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With the ability to attenuate wave and limit erosion, coastal wetlands are important to protect shoreline for coastal communities. Micro-topography in coastal wetlands has a significant influence on hydrology, habitat variability and ecosystem functions. However, when mapping micro-topography by terrestrial LiDAR in coastal environments, the coverage of dense vegetation leads to a relatively low chance of laser penetration through the canopy to the ground. This dissertation proposes a rapid and flexible terrain mapping solution for the densely vegetated coastal environment by integrating crown structure from terrestrial LiDAR with terrain samples from GPS. The validated results in the study site demonstrate …

Short Communication: Challenges And Applications Of Structure-From-Motion Photogrammetry In A Physical Model Of A Braided River, Peter Ashmore, Pauline Leduc, Sarah Peirce

Geography & Environment Publications

For extending the applications of structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry in river flumes, we present the main challenges and methods used to collect a large dataset ( > 1000 digital elevation models, DEMs) of high-quality topographic data using close-range SfM photogrammetry. Automatic target detection, batch processing, and considerations for image quality were fundamental to the successful implementation of the SfM technique on such a large dataset, which was used primarily for capturing details of gravel-bed braided river morphodynamics and sedimentology. While the applications of close-range SfM photogrammetry are numerous, we include sample results from DEM differencing, which was used to quantify morphology change …

Geoarchaeological Evidence Of Middle-Age Tsunamis At Stromboli And Consequences For The Tsunami Hazard In The Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, M. Rosi, S. T. Levi, M. Pistolesi, A. Bertagnini, D. Brunelli, V. Cannavo, A. Di Renzoni, F. Ferranti, A. Renzulli, D. Yoon

Publications and Research

Large-scale landslides at volcanic islands are one of the most dangerous geological phenomena, able to generate tsunamis whose effects can propagate far from the source. However, related deposits are scarcely preserved on-land in the geologic records, and are often difficult to be interpreted. Here we show the discovery of three unprecedented well-preserved tsunami deposits related to repeated flank collapses of the volcanic island of Stromboli (Southern Italy) occurred during the Late Middle Ages. Based on carbon datings, on stratigraphic, volcanological and archaeological evidence, we link the oldest, highest-magnitude investigated tsunami to the following rapid abandonment of the island which was …

Topovar90m: Global High-Resolution Topographic Variables For Environmental Modeling, Giuseppe Amatulli Dr.

Yale Day of Data

Topographical relief involves the vertical and horizontal variation of the Earth's terrain and it drives processes in hydrology, climatology, geography and ecology. Its assessment and characterization is fundamental for various types of modeling and simulation analysis. In this regard, the Multi-Error-Removed Improved Terrain (MERIT) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) currently provides the best high-resolution DEM globally available, at a 3 arc-second resolution (90m), due to the removal of multiple error components from the underlying SRTM3 and AW3D30 DEMs. To depict topographical variations worldwide, we developed a new dataset comprising different terrain features derived from the MERIT-DEM. The fully standardized topographical variables …

Chronology Of Dune Development In The White River Badlands, Northern Great Plains, Usa, P. E. Baldauf, P. A. Burkhart, Paul R. Hanson, M. Miles, Ashley Larsen

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Aeolian dune field chronologies provide important information on drought history on the Great Plains. The White River Badlands (WRB) dunes are located approximately 60 km north of the Nebraska Sand Hills (NSH), in the western section of the northern Great Plains. Clifftop dunes, sand sheets, and stabilized northwest-southeast trending parabolic dunes are found on upland mesas and buttes, locally called tables. The result of this study is a dune stabilization history determined from samples collected from stratigraphic exposures and dune crests. Thirty-seven OSL ages, from this and previous investigations, show three periods of dune activity: 1) ~21,000 years ago to …

Flood-Inundation Maps For The North Platte River At Scottsbluff And Gering, Nebraska, 2018, Kellan R. Strauch

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Digital flood-inundation maps for an 8.8-mile reach of the North Platte River, from 1.5 miles upstream from the Highway 92 bridge to 3 miles downstream from the Highway 71 bridge in Scottsbluff County, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Cities of Scottsbluff and Gering, Nebraska. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the Flood Inundation Mapping (FIM) Program website at https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/flood-inundation-mapping-fim-program?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage on the North Platte River at Scottsbluff, Nebr. (station number 06680500). Near-real-time …

Mass Wasting Investigation And Assessment In The Midwest: Case Study Of The Minnesota River Valley, New Ulm To St. Peter, Minnesota, Usa, Melissa Kohout

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Many mass- wasting studies have been conducted worldwide, however, investigations have focused in mountainous or coastal regions. This has proven problematic in areas lacking those features yet are experiencing mass wasting. Several anthropogenic risks, economic loss, and environmental issues are associated with mass wasting such as destruction of property, loss of life, and sediment pollution. The midwestern USA, is generally considered a low relief region, therefore limited data exist for mass wasting occurrence. Within the last decade, however, several events have occurred across Minnesota with little understanding of the ongoing hillslope processes leading to failure. The Minnesota River valley is …

Maps Showing The Physical Hydrogeology And Changes In Saturated Thickness (Predevelopment To Spring 2016 And Spring 2011 To Spring 2016) In The Middle Republican Natural Resources District, Southwestern Nebraska., Jesse T. Korus Dr., Leslie M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

This report accompanies fourteen new maps summarizing the hydrogeology and changes in saturated thickness in the Middle Republican Natural Resources District (MRNRD). The purpose of these maps is to assist the MRNRD in their groundwater management programs and in planning and installing an observation well network. Maps include:

• base of the principal aquifer;

• water table surfaces for predevelopment, Spring 2011, and Spring 2016;

• saturated thicknesses for predevelopment, Spring 2011, and Spring 2016;

• changes in saturated thickness (both in absolute magnitude and in percent) from predevelopment to Spring 2016 and from Spring 2011 to Spring 2016;

• …

Response Of Vegetation In Open And Partially Wooded Fens To Prescribed Burning At Seney National Wildlife Refuge, Jane E. Austin, Wesley E. Newton

United States Geological Survey: Publications

The health and function of northern peatlands, particularly for fens, are strongly affected by fire and hydrology. Fens are important to several avian species of conservation interest, notably the yellow rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis). Fire suppression and altered hydrology often result in woody encroachment, altering the plant community and structure. Woody encroachment and its effects on biodiversity have become an increasing concern in the conservation and management of plant communities. This study evaluated the effects of spring and summer prescribed burns on the plant community, cover, and structure in open and partially wooded fens at Seney National Wildlife Refuge, Michigan, using …

Cliff-Top Dunes In The Lower Chippewa River Valley Of West-Central Wisconsin, Jason Millett

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate recently identified cliff-top sand dunes located within the Lower Chippewa River Valley (LCRV), Wisconsin, USA. Research within the LCRV notes the existence of a variety of aeolian deposits, but a comprehensive explanation of their complete spatial distribution, genesis, age, and paleoenvironmental significance does not exist. In particular, stabilized cliff-top dunes with a parabolic form remain poorly understood. This problem is exacerbated by a lack of clarity in the literature regarding the genesis of dunes in a cliff-top position. Therefore, this thesis begins by reviewing the literature concerning sand dunes in cliff-top …