Earth Sciences Commons^™

Understanding And Measuring Net Positive Business Strategies, Luke Ruffner Robinson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite their attempts to mitigate ecological impacts through sustainability initiatives, businesses are a major cause of the world's ecological problems. Some progressive businesses are attempting to move beyond “net zero” in terms of achieving neutral environmental impacts and instead are now pursuing a goal of net positive. Net positive refers to the idea that business activities could contribute value-added benefits to earth’s ecological systems, for example, by using technologies that sequester and store carbon. However, except for a handful of high-profile corporate case studies, little is known about how companies are developing their strategies to become net positive and …

Emotional Response To Climate Change Learning: An Existential Inquiry, Jennifer Hutchinson

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This qualitative study aims to explore and explain the existential underpinnings of learning about climate change and potential emotional responses to climate change learning. Undergraduate students in environmental sciences and studies classes at the University of Washingrounded theory on in Seattle, WA participated in semi-structured interviews. Participants were asked about their experiences learning about climate change and how they responded emotionally to the learning. This dissertation examines the responses from those interviews and builds a theory out of the data analyzed. Constructivist Grounded theory as outlined by Kathy Charmaz (2014) was used to analyze the interviews. Codes were created and …

Mapping Surficial Geology In The New River Gorge National River And Bluestone National Scenic River, West Virginia, Using Lidar-Derived Digital Elevation Data, Marla K. Denicola

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this thesis was to determine if the surficial geology of Bluestone National Scenic River (BLUE) and New River Gorge National River (NERI), two areas of similar geology, can be mapped using visual interpretation methods applied to digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data. Surficial geology in BLUE was field mapped using GPS, following definitions and characterizations for surficial geology units established with the guidance of Dr. J. Steven Kite. A 2m x 2m LiDAR-derived DEM was used for BLUE and most of NERI using US Army Corps of Engineers (USCOE) LiDAR data, …

The Impacts Of Accessibility On Vulnerability Of Place In Comfort Castle, Jamaica, Heather Thole

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Jamaica experiences meteorological, hydrological, and geological natural hazards that can produce island-wide impacts. The island’s exposure to multiple hazard types requires effective and sustainable mitigation and disaster risk management to lessen potential impacts, especially for vulnerable populations and communities. Comfort Castle, a small rural farming community, sits in the upper Rio Grande Valley of Portland parish and experiences earthquakes, landslides, hurricanes, heavy rainfall, and floods. Steep terrain and remoteness due to geographic location affect the community’s geophysical vulnerability. Their social vulnerability results from a lack of employment, health, educational, and livelihood resources within the community. Together, geophysical, and social factors …

Predictive Geohazard Mapping Using Lidar And Satellite Imagery In Missouri And Oklahoma, Usa, Olufeyisayo B. Ososami

Doctoral Dissertations

”Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and satellite imagery have become the most utilized remote sensing technologies for compiling inventories of surficial geologic conditions. Point cloud data obtained from multi-spectral remote sensing methods provide a detailed characterization of the surface features, in particular, the detailed surface manifestations of underlying geologic structures. When combined, point clouds eliminate bias from visual inconsistencies and/or statistical values. This research explores the competence of point clouds derived from LiDAR and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) as a predictive tool in evaluating various geohazards. It combines these data sets with other remote sensing techniques to evaluate the sensitivity …

Quantifying Water Recharge And Water Use In Hand Dug Wells: A Case Study Of Thiawor, Senegal, West Africa, Celine Carus

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

For many rural communities in Senegal, water is an essential life-giving need received only through a network of hand dug wells. Increasing rainfall variability in the Sahel has driven greater water insecurity for those communities that rely on rain-irrigated systems for agriculture. This study investigates the retrieval, purposes, and quantities of seasonal water usage on a small domestic scale, as well as an analysis of perceived water availability in the wells during the rainy season. Additionally, using a combination of interview data and pumping test data obtained from the village wells, water usage and estimated daily needs are calculated and …

Using Archaeological Remote Sensing To Evaluate Land Use And Constructed Space In Chaco Canyon, Jennie Odessa Sturm

Anthropology ETDs

Archaeological remote sensing includes a suite of non-invasive methods that can be used to study elements of the archaeological record that may not be achievable otherwise. Using primarily geophysical remote sensing, and especially ground-penetrating radar (GPR), three studies involving questions of “use” were conducted in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. The first used GPR to study the built interior features of a single room in Pueblo Bonito to evaluate use and function of that room. Three categories of features were identified in the GPR data and confirmed with subsequent excavation. The second study used GPR to re-evaluate an enigmatic land use …

Late Jurassic Dinosaurs On The Move, Gastroliths And Long-Distance Migration, Josh Malone

Geography: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

The Jurassic Morrison Formation of the Rocky Mountain and Colorado Plateau regions is famous for its dinosaur fossils. The Morrison Formation (150-157 Ma) is comprised mostly of sandstone and mudstone that was deposited in a terrestrial deposition system that included fluvial, paludal, and lacustrine environments. Paleocurrent data indicates that Morrison sediment was transported to the north and east. Within the Morrison Formation, we find exotic pebble and cobble-size durable clasts of quartzite, chert and vein quartz weathering out of the mudstone paleosols. We interpret these exotic clasts as gastroliths, carried within the gastric mills of dinosaurs. For this study, we …

Vegetation Classification And Mapping, Missouri National Recreational River, Tom Baldvins, Matt Ley, David Jones, Joe Stevens, Hannah Pilkington

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The vegetation inventory project at Missouri National Recreational River (MNRR) classified and mapped vegetation within the park administrative boundary and estimated thematic map accuracy quantitatively. The project was conducted over a four year period from the summer of 2015 to the winter of 2019.

The project follows guidance provided by the National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Mapping Inventory (VMI) Program. The overall process includes initial planning and scoping, imagery procurement, field data collection, data analysis, imagery interpretation and classification, and accuracy assessment. The initial planning and scoping meetings to support study plan development took place in December, 2009, …

Suitability Assessment For Integrated Urban Development In Makkah City Of Saudi Arabia, Mislat Alotaibi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Makkah – the third most populated city in Saudi Arabia with a population of 1,684,408 according to the 2010 demographic survey conducted by the Saudi General Authority for Statistics – is experiencing urban sprawl, which can be defined as an unplanned urban expansion that might degrade the environment and diminish the aesthetic view. This is a persisting problem in Makkah driven by multitude of processes involving the random expansion in its undeveloped land and the removal of its historic mountains surrounding Al-Masjid Al-Haram (the Holy Mosque) in an attempt to push the city limit of urban capacity within its administrative …

Improving Earthquake Disaster Models With Post-Event Data: Insights From The 2015 Gorkha, Nepal Earthquake, Bradley Steven Wilson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Immense amounts of data are collected following earthquake disasters. Yet, it remains unclear how researchers’ might take full advantage of diverse post-disaster datasets. Using data from the 2015 Gorkha Nepal earthquake, this dissertation explores three ways in which post- disaster survey and assessment datasets can be used to inform models of seismic risk, vulnerability, and recovery processes. The first article presents an empirical analysis of scale issues in disaster vulnerability indices using a novel dataset of 750,000 households. This study finds that using aggregated household data to create social vulnerability indices can produce results that are meaningfully different from equivalent …

Comparison Of Extraction Methods For Recovering Ancient Microbial Dna From Paleofeces, Richard W. Hagan, Courtney A. Hofman, Alexander Hübner, Karl Reinhard, Stephanie Schnorr, Cecil M. Lewis Jr., Krithivasan Sankaranarayanan, Christina G. Warinner

Anthropology Faculty Research

Objectives Paleofeces are valuable to archeologists and evolutionary biologists for their potential to yield health, dietary, and host information. As a rich source of preserved biomolecules from host‐associated microorganisms, they can also provide insights into the recent evolution and changing ecology of the gut microbiome. However, there is currently no standard method for DNA extraction from paleofeces, which combine the dual challenges of complex biological composition and degraded DNA. Due to the scarcity and relatively poor preservation of paleofeces when compared with other archeological remains, it is important to use efficient methods that maximize ancient DNA (aDNA) recovery while also …

Spatiotemporal Analysis Of Lake Water Quality Indicators On Small Lakes, Lake Bloomington And Evergreen Lake In Central Illinois, Using Satellite Remote Sensing, Gare Ambrose-Igho

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the use of Sentinel-2 satellite to determine the spatiotemporal patterns of lake water quality indicators (e.g. chlorophyll a) in Lake Bloomington and Evergreen Lake. Lake water quality issues related to algal blooms is a serious problem in basins with abundant agricultural lands causing harmful effects to freshwater ecosystems such as pollution of beaches, taste and odor problems in drinking water, depletion of oxygen levels causing fish kills and the issue of water exceeding safe drinking water standards. Developing monitoring techniques using various water quality indicators of algal blooms is crucial. In this project, remote sensing and field …

Soil Erosion Analysis Of The Monroe County’S Watersheds In Indiana, Danielli De Melo Moura, Jie Shan

Purdue GIS Day

This study was carried out to spatially predict the amount of soil loss (tons/ha/year ) of Monroe County’s watersheds using Geographic Information System (GIS). Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) was used to estimate potential soil losses by using information such as rainfall data for calculating the rainfall erosivity (R) , soil map for calculating the soil erodibility (K), digital elevation model for obtaining the topography factor (LS) and vegetation/cropland cover for calculating the cover management factor (C) and support practice factor (P). The result of the analysis depicted that the soil loss rate in Moroe’s watersheds ranges from 0 …

Integrating Geochronologic And Instrumental Approaches Across The Bengal Basin, Elizabeth L. Chamberlain, Steven L. Goodbred, Richard Hale, Michael S. Steckler, Jakob Willinga, Carol Wilson

OES Faculty Publications

Constraining time is of critical importance to evaluating the rates and relative contributions of processes driving landscape change in sedimentary basins. The geomorphic character of the field setting guides the application of geochronologic or instrumental tools to this problem, because the viability of methods can be highly influenced by geomorphic attributes. For example, sediment yield and the linked potential for organic preservation may govern the usefulness of radiocarbon dating. Similarly, the rate of sediment transport from source to sink may determine the maturity and/or light exposure of mineral grains arriving in the delta and thus the feasibility of luminescence dating. …

The Relationship Between Forest Management And Stream Discharge In Mazumbai And Baga Ii Forest Reserves, Tanga Region, Tanzania, Shannon Duffy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Deforestation is known to alter hydrology by reducing interception, transpiration and infiltration capacity, and increasing runoff which all leads to higher stream discharge. For rural Tanzanian communities, surface water resources are crucial for meeting basic needs, so the integrity of headwater catchments need to be maintained to ensure their reliability. The objectives of this study were to a) map the streams in the two forests because none currently exist and b) determine the effect of deforestation on discharge variability. Over fifteen days of data collection, this study analyzed variability of discharge and the degree of correlation between discharge and rainfall …

Impacts Of Agricultural Practices On Soil Quality And The Resulting Soil Conservation Implication In Kizanda Village, Lushoto Region, Tanzania, Sarah Maccormick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examined soil conservation in Kizanda Village which is in the Lushoto District, Tanga Region in the West Usambara Mountains of Tanzania. In Tanzania, and more specifically, the rural montane area, agriculture is an important part of both social and economic development. Due to a reported high rate of land degradation in Tanzania, this development is threatened though the lack of soil conservation. This study conducted structured interviews with farmers in Kizanda through snowball sampling to collect information about local agricultural practices and farmers’ perceptions on soil conservation issues. Soil samples were then collected from the corresponding farms (n= …

An Evaluation Of Soils On Sólheimajökull Glacier Foreland: Using Invertebrates And Decomposition As Bio-Indicators Of Soil Quality, Carolyn Weisman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Anthropogenic climate change has led to the retreat of glaciers globally. As glaciers melt, they expose the underlying land- termed the glacier foreland. These forelands provide a natural laboratory for studying ecological succession after a massive disturbance, which is in this case glaciation. In this study, soil invertebrates and decomposition are used as bio-indicators of the soil quality in the foreland of Sólheimajökull Outlet Glacier. Soil cores were collected from five sites (A-E) located 300m apart moving away from the glacier terminus. The abundance of each observed invertebrate taxa and the dissolved oxygen (DO) levels were taken for 30 soil …

Regional Scale Dryland Vegetation Classification With An Integrated Lidar-Hyperspectral Approach, Hamid Dashti, Andrew Poley, Nancy Glenn, Nayani Ilangakoon, Lucas Spaete, Dar Roberts, Et. Al.

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The sparse canopy cover and large contribution of bright background soil, along with the heterogeneous vegetation types in close proximity, are common challenges for mapping dryland vegetation with remote sensing. Consequently, the results of a single classification algorithm or one type of sensor to characterize dryland vegetation typically show low accuracy and lack robustness. In our study, we improved classification accuracy in a semi-arid ecosystem based on the use of vegetation optical (hyperspectral) and structural (lidar) information combined with the environmental characteristics of the landscape. To accomplish this goal, we used both spectral angle mapper (SAM) and multiple endmember spectral …

Oldowan Tool Behaviors Through Time On The Homa Peninsula, Kenya, Emma M. Finestone

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The adaptive significance of tool use to genus Homo is a central theme in human origins. However, what we know from the early Oldowan sites suggests that persistent technology may have begun as an opportunistic behavior with minimal investment, rather than a habitual and widespread adaptive revolution. This dissertation seeks to investigate investment in Oldowan tool production on the Homa Peninsula, Kenya, considering raw material selection, transport, and lithic production at two newly discovered Oldowan localities: Nyayanga (ca. 2.6 Ma) and Sare River (ca. 1.7 Ma).

The first section of this dissertation outlines a method that enables the comparison of …

The Importance Of Landscape Position Information And Elevation Uncertainty For Barrier Island Habitat Mapping And Modeling, Nicholas Matthew Enwright

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Barrier islands provide important ecosystem services, including storm protection and erosion control to the mainland, habitat for fish and wildlife, and tourism. As a result, natural resource managers are concerned with monitoring changes to these islands and modeling future states of these environments. Landscape position, such as elevation and distance from shore, influences habitat coverage on barrier islands by regulating exposure to abiotic factors, including waves, tides, and salt spray. Geographers commonly use aerial topographic lidar data for extracting landscape position information. However, researchers rarely consider lidar elevation uncertainty when using automated processes for extracting elevation-dependent habitats from lidar data. …

The Archaeology Of Mississippian Vulnerability And Resilience In The New Madrid Seismic Zone, Michelle Megan Rathgaber

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work examines the vulnerability and resilience of Mississippian people in the Central Mississippi Valley to the large-scale New Madrid seismic zone earthquakes of the late15th to early 16th century. This is done using the theory of eventful archaeology/anthropology to look at cultural materials both before and after an event (such as an earthquake and sand blows) to look for evidence of changes to the schema and resources on which a society relies. If changes are present, the event can be labeled as such, if there are no changes, it means that the society affected did not see the event …

Regional Variation In Grass, Sedge, And Cereal Cultivation During The Viking Age In Skagafjörður, North Iceland, Melissa M. Ritchey

Graduate Masters Theses

In Viking Age and Medieval Iceland, livestock forage was a critical resource in the Norse agropastoral economy. Cereal cultivation, typically an important part of the Norse economy, may have been more limited in marginal sub-Arctic Iceland. An analysis of macrobotanical seed assemblages from archaeological excavations at 42 Viking Age and Medieval farmsteads in the Skagafjörður region of North Iceland suggests both broad trends and substantial variation over time and space in agropastoral production practices. This study finds that the main components of livestock forage (grass, sedge, and perhaps cereal) are highly variable between regions and over time. Interestingly, barley (Hordeum …

Stable Isotope And Geochemical Characterization Of Nutrient Sources In The Big Creek Watershed Of Northwest Arkansas, Kelly Robin Sokolosky

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The establishment of a concentrated animal-feeding operation (CAFO) in Newton County, Arkansas near Big Creek, a tributary of the Buffalo National River, has raised concern over potential degradation of water-quality in the watershed. In this study, isotopic tools were combined with standard geochemical approaches to characterize nutrient sources and dynamics in Big Creek. An isotopic and geochemical reference library of potential nutrient sources in the Big Creek watershed was established by direct sampling of representative potential sources, including septic-system effluent, poultry litter, swine and cattle manure, and CAFO waste lagoons. Representative nutrient sources and Big Creek stream samples were analyzed …

The Structure And Dynamics Of A River Delta Are Related Through Its Nourishment Area, Suggesting Optimality, Christopher A. Cathcart

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scaling relations in tributary network geomorphology are well understood with respect to optimality. However, the scaling relations between structure and dynamics in distributary network geomorphology are less well understood. This is primarily due to the fact that nourishment area boundaries are difficult to map compared to tributary network catchment area boundaries. Furthermore, most previous work has focused either on the distributary channel networks or the delta’s partitioning of discharge. Here we show that, on the Wax Lake Delta (WLD) in Louisiana, the asymmetry in nourishment areas and downstream nourishment boundary width (∏) at a channel bifurcation, acts as a control …

Lidar-Based Sinkhole Detection And Mapping In Knox County, Tennessee, J Clint Shannon, David Moore, Yingkui Li, Cathy Olsen

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

Sinkholes are one of the major causes of damage to roads, buildings, and other infrastructure throughout the US. Sinkholes near or on roads are especially costly and occasionally deadly. Knox County and much of East Tennessee are located within karst areas (comprised of porous and soluble limestone and dolomite), deeming it at risk for sinkholes. Currently, Knox County uses contour maps to manually identify sinkholes. Supported by a geographic information system (GIS), we developed a streamlined model to identify the locations and extents of potential sinkholes using 1.3-ft resolution LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data and applied it to the …

An Early Modern Human Outside Africa, Eric Delson

Publications and Research

Analysis of two fossils from a Greek cave has shed light on early hominins in Eurasia. One fossil is the earliest known specimen of Homo sapiens found outside Africa; the other is a Neanderthal who lived 40,000 years later.

A Tourism Impact Index For Water-Based Natural Attractions Field-Tested In Subarctic And Maritime Climates, Jason Fox

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Tourism in cold and cool-climate regions is largely characterized by recreational and sightseeing activities at water-based natural attractions such as beaches, coastal cliffs, and waterfalls. While the economic benefits of the tourism industry can contribute to a sustainable future for these regions, the environmental implications of a hastilydeveloped industry cannot be ignored given that cold-climate and cool-climate landscapes are at risk of rapid environmental change from a warming climate and other environmental concerns. This study consisted of the development of the Tourism Impact Index for Water-Based Natural Sites, the first of its kind, and its application and refinement in the …

The Effectiveness Of Mobile Eye-Tracking To Enhance Guided Show Cave Experiences, Jenna Michele Hammond

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Karst terrains are landscapes with a distinctive hydrology and set of landforms that arise from a combination of high bedrock solubility and well-developed secondary (fracture) porosity. Karst areas are easily polluted due to the rapid transport of unfiltered percolating water through the systems. While many individuals are able to identify karst landforms such as sinkholes and caves, an understanding of the interconnectedness of the surface and subsurface in karst landscapes, as well as the vulnerability of karst areas to degradation, is often limited. Show caves, which are caves made accessible to visitation by humans through built infrastructure, can serve as …

Rethinking Map Literacy And An Analysis Of Quantitative Map Literacy, Ming Xie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Maps are increasingly being used in traditional and virtual media, and civic discourse on political, social, and environmental issues, among others, is more and more becoming influenced by them. The often-used expression of a “picture tells a 1000 words” has never been so apt in our progressively more visual world. Despite this increased role and importance of maps, map literacy, as a field of research, remains rather underdeveloped. This is especially so for thematic maps, the very type of map that is finding increasing currency in discourse. As part of this under-developed nature of map literacy, the quantitative skills used …