Earth Sciences Commons^™

Receiver Function Imaging Of Mantle Transition Zone Discontinuities Beneath Alaska, Haider Hassan Faraj Dahm

Doctoral Dissertations

"Subduction of tectonic plates is one of the most important tectonic processes, yet many aspects of subduction zone geodynamics remain unsolved and poorly understood, such as the depth extent of the subducted slab and its geometry. The Alaska subduction zone, which is associated with the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the North America plate, has a complex tectonic setting and carries a series of subduction episodes, and represents an excellent target to study such plate tectonic processes. Previous seismological studies in Alaska have proposed different depth estimations and geometry for the subducted slab. The Mantle transition zone discontinuities of …

Acquisition Of Active Multichannel Analysis Of Surface Waves (Masw) Data In Karst Terrain, Ghassan Salem Alsulaimani

Doctoral Dissertations

"This study was designed to verify the effects and data reproducibility when the length of receiver array, receiver spacing, source offset and array orientation parameters are changed for data acquired using multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW), at intended target depth of 30ft (9m), and to compare the results with electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) data obtained for the same study site.

The MASW data acquired for 34 sites, along four profiles for each site using variable source offsets of 10ft (3m) and 30ft (9.1m), and variable receiver spacings of 2.5ft (0.76m) and 5.0ft (0.76m), concurrently. Out of the 272 profiles …

Constraining Boundaries And Extent Of The Charleston Uplift, Northeast New Madrid Seismic Zone, Using Shallow Seismic Reflection Methods, Clara Rose Rucker

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

A recently identified 30 km by 7.2 km subsurface stratigraphic uplift, called the Charleston uplift, exhibits 36 m offset of Paleogene-Quaternary unconformity based on shallow borehole data. Two seismic soundings demonstrated relief in Paleozoic and Cretaceous reflectors across the northern boundary of the uplift, suggesting a structural origin rather than an erosional origin. This study collected and analyzed 18 additional shallow seismic soundings to confirm Paleozoic and Cretaceous offset across the boundaries of the uplift, to better constrain the surface trace of the uplift, and to examine potential extension into western Kentucky. One ground penetrating radar profile was taken in …

Geothermal Play Fairway Analysis Of The Snake River Plain: Phase 2, Lee M. Liberty

CGISS Publications and Presentations

Play Fairway Analysis (PFA) is a methodology adapted from the petroleum industry that integrates data at the regional or basin scale to define favorable plays for exploration in a systematic fashion. Phase 2 of our Play Fairway Analysis of the Western Snake River Plain (WSRP) province in southern Idaho had three primary goals: first, to fill data gaps in critical areas in order to better define potential prospects, second, to integrate these data into new thermal and structural models, and finally, to infer the location of potential resources and drilling targets that could be validated during Phase 3. Prospects in …

Characterizing Mineral Crystallographic Preferred Orientations (Cpos) Along The Eastern North American Margin In The Southern Appalachians: Implications For Middle And Lower Crustal Seismic Anisotropy, Laura Robles

Wayne State University Theses

The Southern Appalachians Mountains have a complex and distinctive tectonic history, characterized by structural deformation extending from late Precambrian throughout the Paleozoic. The Southern Appalachians, known as the Blue Ridge of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, is mainly composed of schists and gneisses, granitic and ultramafic intrusives, as well as a sedimentary portion. The main tool for understanding the composition and structure of the deeper parts of the crust that cannot be directly sampled by seismology. Seismic anisotropy is the directional dependence of seismic velocity, and it is an invaluable tool for interpreting the development of sub-surficial dynamics. Seismic …

Mapping The Nonstationary Internal Tide With Satellite Altimetry, Edward Zaron

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

t Temporal variability of the internal tide has been inferred from the 23 year long combined records of the TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, and Jason-2 satellite altimeters by combining harmonic analysis with an analysis of along-track wavenumber spectra of sea-surface height (SSH). Conventional harmonic analysis is first applied to estimate and remove the stationary components of the tide at each point along the reference ground tracks. The wavenumber spectrum of the residual SSH is then computed, and the variance in a neighborhood around the wavenumber of the mode-1 baroclinic M2 tide is interpreted as the sum of noise, broadband nontidal processes, and …

Provenance And Depositional Environments Of Fluvial-Lacustrine Deposits In A Non-Marine Rift Basin, Lower-Triassic Jiucaiyuan And Shaofanggou Low-Order Cycles Bogda Shan, Nw China, Jaimeson Grigaitis Fredericks

Masters Theses

"The uppermost Carboniferous to Lower Triassic eolian-fluvial-lacustrine deposits of Turpan-Junggar Basin, NW China, record the non-marine sediment-filling processes in a continental rift basin in mid-latitude NE Pangea. This study focuses on the fluvial-lacustrine strata of the Lower Triassic Jiucaiyuan (JCY) and Shaofanggou (SFG) low-order cycles (LCs) in multiple half grabens at the southern and northern foothills of Bogda Shan. Outcrop, paleocurrent, and petrographic analyses indicate a southern provenance. Intermediate to felsic volcanic lithics and metamorphic lithics are interpreted as being derived from Tian Shan to the south while the sedimentary lithics originate from the local rift shoulders. The basaltic lithics …

2-D And 3-D Mapping Of Soil And Rock Structure In Karst Terrain Of Southwestern Missouri Using The Non-Invasive Electrical Resistivity Tomography Method (Ert), Diya Ali Ahmad Alfuqara

Masters Theses

"Electrical resistivity tomography data were acquired in an extensively karstic area of southwestern Missouri. The interpretation of the electrical resistivity tomography data was constrained by multichannel analysis of surface wave data and limited boring control. The objective of the study was to determine if variations in the moisture content of the soil and shallow rock are related to ground surface topography. Analysis of the acquired electrical resistivity tomography data showed that resistivity values of soil and shallow rock beneath and in proximity to identified natural and man-made surface run-off pathways are typically low compared to the resistivity values of soil …

Crustal Thickness And Vp/Vs Ratio Of Yellowstone, Eastern Snake River Plain, Wyoming Province, And The Northern Basin And Range Province Through Receiver Function Analysis, Avikant Dayma

Masters Theses

"For decades, numerous studies have been conducted and contradictory results were achieved about the origin and evolution of the Yellowstone supervolcano and the Eastern Snake River Plain. Whether the 640 km long time-progressive chain of rhyolitic calderas was formed due to mantle-plume or a result of lithospheric extension allowing the emergence of melt on the surface is still a debate. Using receiver function analyses, this study determines the crustal thickness and the Vp/Vs ratio below the Yellowstone Plateau, Wyoming Province (WP), Idaho Batholith (IB), Eastern Snake River Plain (ESRP), and the northern Basin and Range Province (BRP). The thickness is …

Initial Microseismic Recordings At The Onset Of Unconventional Hydrocarbon Development In The Rome Trough, Eastern Kentucky, Andrew Holcomb

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

The Cambrian Rogersville Shale is a part of a hydrocarbon system in the Rome Trough of eastern Kentucky and West Virginia that can only be produced unconventionally. In Kentucky, the Rogersville Shale ranges in depth from ~1,800 to ~3,700 m below the surface with the crystalline basement ~1,000 m lower than the formation’s base. Baseline Rome Trough microseismicity data were collected, focusing on wastewater injection wells and recently completed and planned unconventional hydrocarbon test wells in the Rogersville Shale, using thirteen broadband seismic stations installed between June, 2015 and June, 2016 and existing University of Kentucky and central and eastern …

Potential Field Modeling Across The Neodymium Line Defining The Paleoproterozoic-Mesoproterozoic Boundary Of The Southeastern Margin Of Laurentia, Rachel Lauren Durham

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

A zone of high magnetization along the SE margin of Paleoproterozoic Laurentia in the United States is indicated by magnetic anomaly data. The SE edge corresponds to the geochemical Neodymium mantle derivation model age (T_DM) boundary and the entire anomaly overlies the Paleoproterozoic Mazatzal Province. Two-dimensional gravity and magnetic models across the Nd boundary are created with Moho constrained from receiver functions with gravity, sedimentary thickness and the base of the crustal magnetization. Upper crustal magnetization does not show strong variation across this boundary and much of the strong magnetization appears to lie in the middle crust. Using …

Tidal And Structural Controls On Seismic Events Near The Grounding Line At Beardmore Glacier, Antarctica, Jade Cooley

All Master's Theses

Here I report seismic events occurring over a three-week period during the 2013-2014 austral summer near the grounding line of Beardmore Glacier, Antarctica. The ~24000 events over this time frame had a noticeable temporal pattern that correlates well with the principally diurnal tides of Antarctica. Falling and rising tide each accounted for nearly equal occurrence of events, and most (~42%) events occurred in the last third of any tidal cycle. Event epicenters were located using beamforming, and display a spatial pattern of two distinct clusters. Appearance of event location clusters differ on rising and falling tide. I theorize that, due …

Introducing Global Peat-Specific Temperature And Ph Calibrations Based On Brgdgt Bacterial Lipids, B.D.A. Naafs, G. N. Imglis, Y. Zheng, M. J. Amesbury, H. Biester, R. Bindler, J. Blewett, M. A. Burrows, D. Del Castillo Torres, F. M. Chambers, P. G. Hatcher

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) are membrane-spanning lipids from Bacteria and Archaea that are ubiquitous in a range of natural archives and especially abundant in peat. Previous work demonstrated that the distribution of bacterial branched GDGTs (brGDGTs) in mineral soils is correlated to environmental factors such as mean annual air temperature (MAAT) and soil pH. However, the influence of these parameters on brGDGT distributions in peat is largely unknown. Here we investigate the distribution of brGDGTs in 470 samples from 96 peatlands around the world with a broad mean annual air temperature (−8 to 27 °C) and pH (3–8) range …

Deformation Processes At The Leading Edge Of The Sevier Fold And Thrust Belt, Southwest Utah, William Joseph Michael Chandonia

Masters Theses

"Deformation processes leading to formation and abandonment of 'triangle zones' along the leading edge of the Sevier fold and thrust belt are investigated near Kanarraville, Utah through construction of a detailed geologic map and cross-section along Spring Creek. Here the eastern limb of the Kanarra fold, a Sevier structure, is well exposed along the Hurricane Cliffs due to uplift and erosion of the footwall of the Hurricane Fault. The east-verging Kanarra fold changes from upright to overturned within Spring Creek. Within the fold limb, parasitic folds, minor thrust faults, and duplex structures result in local tectonic overthickening of units and …

Using Underground Radon To Detect Inactive Geological Faults, Germán Rodríguez Ortiz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Thesis presents the results of an investigation of the concentration of radon in soil around a fault in the East Franklin Mountains in the El Paso area in West Texas. The connection between underground radon exhalations near active faults has been known for decades, but possible similar increases of underground radon levels around inactive faults have not been studied as thoroughly. Arguing that the dilatancy-diffusion model used to explain the phenomenon near active faults does not apply to the case of inactive faults, a hypoThesis is formulated under which increased levels of underground radon must be present near inactive …

Seismic Investigation Of The Kunlun Fault: Analysis Of The Indepth Iv 2-D Active-Source Seismic Dataset, William Seelig

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Tibetan Plateau has experienced significant crustal thickening and deformation since the continental subduction and collision of the Asian and Indian plates in the Eocene. Deformation of the northern Tibetan Plateau is largely accommodated by strike-slip faulting. The Kunlun Fault is a 1000-km long strike-slip fault near the northern boundary of the Plateau that has experienced five magnitude 7.0 or greater earthquakes in the past 100 years and represents a major rheological boundary. Active-source, 2-D seismic reflection/ refraction data, collected as part of project INDEPTH IV (International Deep Profiling of Tibet and the Himalaya, phase IV) in 2007, was used …

Investigation Of Earthquake And Geyser Activity From Short-Term Nodal Array Deployment Centered At Old Faithful Geyser, Susana I. Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Yellowstone National Park is home to an active caldera, centrally located on the North American continent. Several studies have concluded the existence of a hotspot that fuels the hydrothermal, geothermal and earthquake activity in the Yellowstone region. The geologic record of Yellowstone contains multiple layers of volcanic deposits that indicate the region experienced three previous massive volcanic eruptions dating back 2.05Mya, 1.2Mya and the most recent 640,000 years ago. Yellowstone is also home to one of the largest geothermal areas in the world. With this study, an in-depth look at seismicity and geyser events recorded within an active geothermal region, …

Spatial Patterns Of Sea Level Variability Associated With Natural Internal Climate Modes, Weiqing Han, Gerald A. Meehl, Detlef Stammer, Aixue Hu, Benjamin Hamlington, Jessica Kenigson, Hindumathi Palanisamy, Philip Thompson

OES Faculty Publications

Sea level rise (SLR) can exert significant stress on highly populated coastal societies and low-lying island countries around the world. Because of this, there is huge societal demand for improved decadal predictions and future projections of SLR, particularly on a local scale along coastlines. Regionally, sea level variations can deviate considerably from the global mean due to various geophysical processes. These include changes of ocean circulations, which partially can be attributed to natural, internal modes of variability in the complex Earth's climate system. Anthropogenic influence may also contribute to regional sea level variations. Separating the effects of natural climate modes …

Detecting Overpressure Zones By Using Model Based Inversion In Kupe Field, New Zealand, Timucin Cakir

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Overpressure is a significant parameter during a drilling process in oil exploration. This phenomenon happens when pore pressure exceeds the limit of hydrostatic pressure in a formation and causes drastic hazards such as blow outs while drilling. This thesis focuses on the determination of possible overpressure areas and studies at three wells in Kupe Field, which is considered to be a natural-gas field in Taranaki Basin. In an effort to identify potential overpressure zones at the Kupe Field, acoustic impedance responses of 3D seismic data for three wells, along with their well log responses were evaluated.

Seismic inversion plays an …

Geophysical Interpretation And Static Reservoir Modeling Of Structurally Complex Reservoir, Rg Oil Field Area, Sirte Basin, Libya, Abdalla A. Abdelnabi

Doctoral Dissertations

"Cambrian-Ordovician and Upper Cretaceous reservoir formations are found in the central western Sirte Basin, the main oil producing region in the Sirte Basin, Libya. As a result of changes in sedimentary environments and structural activities, a number of irregularities in reservoir continuity have developed, which negatively affected the overall performance of the reservoir. Effective simulation of such complex reservoirs can be achieved by integrating geophysical, geological, and petrophysical data to construct a reliable full-field static model, which has the potential to simulate the vertical and lateral variations in the reservoir formations. In this study, 2D and 3D seismic data acquired …

Layered Crustal And Mantle Structure And Anisotropy Beneath The Afar Depression And Malawi Rift Zone, Cory Alexander Reed

Doctoral Dissertations

"Although a wealth of geophysical data sets have been acquired within the vicinity of continental rift zones, the mechanisms responsible for the breakup of stable continental lithosphere are ambiguous. Eastern Africa is host to the largest contemporary rift zone on Earth, and is thus the most prominent site with which to investigate the processes which govern the rupture of continental lithosphere. The studies herein represent teleseismic analyses of the velocity and thermomechanical structure of the crust and mantle beneath the Afar Depression and Malawi Rift Zone (MRZ) of the East African Rift System. Within the Afar Depression, the first densely-spaced …

Magnetic Petrophysics Of The Vulcan Iron Formation (Michigan, Usa), Matthew Laird

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

A detailed investigation of magnetic properties of the iron-bearing Traders and Curry members of the ~1.88 Ga Vulcan Iron Formation (Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula) was conducted using natural remanent magnetization, low-field magnetic susceptibility, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility, thermomagnetic and magnetic hysteresis, and first-order reversal curve analyses. A set of samples were also investigated using electron scanning microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry. Contrary to previously accepted views, our results indicate that the Traders and Curry members have substantially different properties. The older Traders member is a typical banded iron formation characterized by a higher relative amount of magnetite and stronger magnetic …

Rock Magnetic Investigation Of The Michigan Basin Soils And Sediments Overlying The Oil-Bearing Silurian Pinnacle Reefs, Jake Tresnak

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

A relationship between the hydrocarbon migration and magnetic properties of near-surface sediments was investigated from several hundreds of samples collected over the hydrocarbon-bearing Silurian pinnacle reef belt of the Michigan Basin. The collected samples were investigated using several rock magnetic methods and optical microscopy. The investigation has not revealed a straightforward relationship between the magnetic susceptibility and hydrocarbon reservoirs within the reef belt; both anomalously high and low susceptibility values were observed. The elevated values are associated with newly formed magnetite in the form of spheroidal grains produced by hydrocarbon-related diagenesis while the extremely low susceptibilities may reflect dissolution of …

Dissolution-Enlarged Fractures Imaging Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography (Ert), Elnaz Siami-Irdemoosa

Doctoral Dissertations

"In recent years the electrical imaging techniques have been largely applied to geotechnical and environmental investigations. These techniques have proven to be the best geophysical methods for site investigations in karst terrain, particularly when the overburden soil is clay-dominated. Karst is terrain with a special landscape and distinctive hydrological system developed by dissolution of rocks, particularly carbonate rocks such as limestone and dolomite, made by enlarging fractures into underground conduits that can enlarge into caverns, and in some cases collapse to form sinkholes.

Bedding planes, joints, and faults are the principal structural guides for underground flow and dissolution in almost …

Imaging In Karst Terrain Using The Electrical Resistivity And Multichannel Analyses Of Surface Wave Methods, Ragab W. Jaafar

Masters Theses

"Electrical resistivity tomography and multi-channel analyses of surface waves data were acquired at a study area in Phelps County in the south-central part of Missouri. The objectives of the investigation were fourfold: 1) to image the subsurface in the study area to a depth of 70 feet; 2) to compare the ERT images generated using both the dipole-dipole and Wenner-Schlumberger arrays; and 3) to assess how variations in the MASW array configuration affected MASW data quality; and 4) to compare the ERT-estimated depth to top-of-rock and the MASW-generated depth to top-of-rock.

The subsurface in the study area was imaged to …

Near-Surface And High Resolution Seismic Imaging Of The Bennett Thrust Fault In The Indio Mountains Of West Texas, Alan Thomas Vennemann

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

My research investigates the structure of the Indio Mountains in southwest Texas, 34 kilometers southwest of Van Horn, at the UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso) Field Station using newly acquired active-source seismic data. The area is underlain by deformed Cretaceous sedimentary rocks that represent a transgressive sequence nearly 2 km in total stratigraphic thickness. The rocks were deposited in mid Cretaceous extensional basins and later contracted into fold-thrust structures during Laramide orogenesis. The stratigraphic sequence is an analog for similar areas that are ideal for pre-salt petroleum reservoirs, such as reservoirs off the coasts of Brazil and Angola …

An Investigation Into The Origin, Composition, And Commercial Significance Of A Sedimentary Subsalt Formation: Keathley Canyon, Gulf Of Mexico, David Aaron Brassieur

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Sub-salt oil and gas formations in deep-water northern Gulf of Mexico are high priority targets. Advances in seismic processing allow for high-resolution, below-salt imaging. Understanding the modes of salt emplacement provide insight into sub-salt traps and potential drilling hazards.

A sub-salt sedimentary unit lies in the Keathley Canyon protraction. Autosutures created the transport-parallel lineaments of the upper surface of the unit. In addition, highly variable sediment aggradation rates created ramps, flats, and basal cutoffs along the base of the allochthon as salt and sediment competed for space. Seismic models identify modes of salt emplacement, salt/sediment interactions, and mechanisms responsible for …

Anomaly Detection From Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Imagery, Qiandong Guo, Ruiliang Pu, Jun Cheng

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Hyperspectral remote sensing imagery contains much more information in the spectral domain than does multispectral imagery. The consecutive and abundant spectral signals provide a great potential for classification and anomaly detection. In this study, two real hyperspectral data sets were used for anomaly detection. One data set was an Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) data covering the post-attack World Trade Center (WTC) and anomalies are fire spots. The other data set called SpecTIR contained fabric panels as anomalies compared to their background. Existing anomaly detection algorithms including the Reed–Xiaoli detector (RXD), the blocked adaptive computation efficient outlier nominator (BACON), the …

Soil Moduli Obtained From A Back Pressure Constant Rate Of Strain Bender Element Consolidation Apparatus, Yi Zhao

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A back-pressure saturated, constant-rate-of-strain consolidation device was modified to incorporate bender elements (BP-CRS-BE) and thus allowed for shear wave measurements during consolidation tests. This newly fabricated system has many advantages over other previous or current devices: 1) it can be utilized not only for laboratory prepared soil samples but also for field sampled soils such as Shelby tube samples, and 2) continuous compression curves, and continuous values of vertical hydraulic conductivity and coefficient of consolidation can be acquired with a significant reduction in testing time. Soil modulus values such as shear modulus and constrained modulus are also able to be …

Impact Of Spatial Averaging On Radar Reflectivity At Internal Snowpack Layer Boundaries, N. Rutter, H.P. Marshall, K. Tape, R. Essery, J. King

CGISS Publications and Presentations

Microwave radar amplitude within a snowpack can be strongly influenced by spatial variability of internal layer boundaries. We quantify the impact of spatial averaging of snow stratigraphy and physical snowpack properties on surface scattering from near-nadir frequency-modulated continuous- wave radar at 12–18 GHz. Relative permittivity, density, grain size and stratigraphic boundaries were measured in-situ at high resolution along the length of a 9 m snow trench. An optimal range of horizontal averaging (4–6 m) was identified to attribute variations in surface scattering at layer boundaries to dielectric contrasts estimated from centimetre-scale measurements of snowpack stratigraphy and bulk layer properties. Single …