Earth Sciences Commons^™

Geotherms From The Temperature-Depth–Constrained Solutions Of 1-D Steady-State Heat-Flow Equation, Dhananjay Ravat, P. Morgan, A. R. Lowry

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

We use the Curie depth derived from spectral analysis of near-surface magnetic anomaly data to constrain the solution of a one-dimensional (1-D) steady-state heat-flow equation. The method, in addition to anchoring the geotherm at deep levels in the crust, yields the ratio of radiogenic heat pro- duction to thermal conductivity. We evaluate the utility of this constraint in two granitic regions in the United States where radiogenic heat production, thermal conductivity, and heat flow are well determined. We also examine the results of this method in the context of previous research in the central Red Sea and coastal Saudi Arabia. …

Hazard Identification And Coastal Stratigraphy In Crescent Harbor, Northeast Whidbey Island, Washington, Brian Ostrom

All Master's Theses

Crescent Harbor marsh, on northeastern Whidbey Island, records evidence of co-seismic land-level change 1825 to 1925 cal. yrs. BP. The lithostratigraphy and diatom microfossil assemblages reveal a marsh peat abruptly overlain by intertidal mud, indicating rapid subsidence. Analysis of the modern-day position of depositional facies indicates subsidence from a high marsh to a tidal-flat environment representing an estimated 1.7 m elevation change. The timing of subsidence fits within the dates of a rupture found on the nearby Utsalady Point fault between 1,100 and 2,200 years BP (Johnson et al. 2004). Likely, the stratigraphy at Crescent Harbor records the same event …

Late Glacial And Holocene History Of The Penobscot River In The Penobscot Lowland, Maine, Roger Leb. Hooke, Paul R. Hanson, Danile F. Belknap, Alice R. Kelley

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

When the Laurentide ice sheet retreated rapidly (~150 m/a) across the Penobscot Lowland between ~16 and ~15 ka, the area was isostatically depressed and became inundated by the sea. Silt and clay were deposited, but no significant moraines or deltas were formed. The Penobscot River was reborn at ~14 ka when ice retreated onto land in the upper reaches of the river’s East Branch. As isostatic rebound exceeded sea level rise from melting ice, the river extended itself southward. Between ~13.4 and 12.8 ka, it established a course across marine clay and underlying glacial till in the Lowland. Its gradient …

Nebraska's Public Access Hunting Program: Hunter Preferences And Usage Final Report, Lisa Pennisi, Mark E. Burbach, Namyun Kil, Muhammed Imran Kahn, Andrew J. Tyre

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Sequence Stratigraphic Framework Of Carbonate Diagenesis Within Neogene Glaciomarine Sandstones Of The Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica: Insights Into Reservoir Quality In Polar Settings, Daniel P. Dunham

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The controls on reservoir quality of most clastic sedimentary deposits are well-documented and understood. However, comparatively little is known about the reservoir potential of glaciogenic and glaciomarine deposits. This study investigates the Neogene strata of the AND-2A core recovered by the ANDRILL-Southern McMurdo Sound Project in the Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica, as an analog for assessing controls on reservoir quality in glaciomarine deposits. A petrographic analysis was conducted on 60 sandstone samples from various depths throughout the core, and carbonate diagenetic phases and morphologies were documented. Four sequences were examined in detail. Point counting on all samples was done to …

Depositional Facies And Sequence Stratigraphy Of Niagaran-Lower Salina Reef Complex Reservoirs Of The Guelph Formation, Michigan Basin, Matthew J. Rine

Masters Theses

Hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Niagara-Lower Salina Reef Complex in the Michigan Basin have been extensively studied since the early 1960’s. These reservoirs host an immense hydrocarbon resource, existing as closely-spaced, highly-compartmentalized reservoirs that have produced >500 million barrels of oil and 2.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Previous studies depict these “pinnacle reefs” as tall, symmetrical towers with a random distribution of facies. This study utilizes abundant core data (32 cores, 20-acre spacing), thin-section petrography, and petrophysical wire-line logs to reconstruct the geometry, facies distributions, depositional history, and sequence stratigraphy of the Columbus III Reef Complex within the Southern …

Stratigraphic And Structural Analysis Of Middle Atoka Formation In Aetna Gas Field, Franklin, Johnson And Logan Counties, Arkansas, Ikramuddin Bahram

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Arkoma basin is a prolific natural gas basin. The defining feature of this basin is the Atoka Formation that was deposited in the early-middle Pennsylvanian. The Atoka is held equivalent to the tectonic and structural evolution of the basin. This study focuses on one of the many gas fields in the Arkoma Basin in Arkansas to assess the stratigraphic and structural evolution that the strata in this particular field display.

Aetna Gas Field extends from T. 8N. R. 27 W to T. 9 N, R. 27 W and T. 8 N, R. 26 W to 8N, R. 27. Geographically, Aetna …

A College Level Geology Field Trip In Western Connecticut And Vicinity, Stanley Schleifer, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Keshaw Narine, Ezazul Haque, Ratan Dhar

Publications and Research

There are a number of excellent locations for field exposure for college students in, and around Western Connecticut. These are accessible for a one day field trip within striking distance of New York City, Bridgeport and New Haven, CT and other nearby locations. They are also suitable for an expanded weekend field trip. The field locations include; Kent Falls State Park, Kent, CT, Dinosaur State Park, Rocky Hill, CT, the Hubbard Mining Museum, Kent, CT, Bash Bish Falls in Mt. Washington, Massachusetts, Macedonia Brook State Park in Kent, CT and various outcrops exposed along U. S. Route 7 north of …

Sinkhole Vulnerability Mapping: Results From A Pilot Study In North Central Florida, Clint Kromhout, Alan E. Baker

Sinkhole Conference 2015

At the end of June in 2012, Tropical Storm Debby dropped a record amount of rainfall across Florida which triggered hundreds, if not thousands, of sinkholes to form which resulted in tremendous damage to property. The Florida Division of Emergency Management contracted with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Florida Geological Survey to produce a map depicting the state’s vulnerability to sinkhole formation. The three-year project began with a pilot study in three northern Florida counties: Columbia, Hamilton and Suwannee. Utilizing the statistical modeling method Weights of Evidence, results from the pilot study yielded a 93 percent success rate of …

Seeps And Springs At A Platteville “Observatory” On The River Bluffs, Bj Bonin, Greg Brick, Julia R. Steenberg

Sinkhole Conference 2015

Residential building construction along the Mississippi River bluffs in the 1970s created a unique enclosed outcrop of the Late Ordovician Platteville Formation at Lilydale, Minnesota. This outcrop was examined in early 2013 after a newly-formed spring flooded an elevator shaft the previous year, drawing attention to the foundation conditions. The Lexington Riverside property is a six story condominium complex constructed within the top of the bluff. A two-level underground parking garage was built into the bluff. Bedrock was mechanically excavated to accommodate the construction of the building, creating an unweathered rock surface. The space between the structure and the excavated …

Effects Of Changes In Moisture Source And The Upstream Rainout On Stable Isotopes In Precipitation – A Case Study In Nanjing, Eastern China, Y. Tang, H. Pang, W. Zhang, Y. Li, Shuang-Ye Wu, S. Hou

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

In the Asian monsoon region, variations in the stable isotopic composition of speleothems have often been attributed to the "amount effect". However, an increasing number of studies suggest that the "amount effect" in local precipitation is insignificant or even non-existent. To explore this issue further, we examined the variability of daily stable isotopic composition (δ18O) in precipitation from September 2011 to November 2014 in Nanjing, eastern China. We found that intra-seasonal variations of δ18O during summer were not significantly correlated with local rainfall amount but could be linked to changes in the moisture source location and rainout processes in the …

North-Central Nebraska Geology: Niobrara River Valley In Brown, Cherry, And Keya Paha Counties, R. M. Joeckel, L. M. Howard, S. T. Tucker

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Identifying Glacial Movement Through Fluvial Sediment Analysis, Alexis D. Freeman

STAR Program Research Presentations

The primary purpose of this study is to better understand how climate affects river dynamics. It is also important to understand the relationship between glaciers and the transportation of sediments, as this allows us to study changes in transport through time. The studied sediments were gathered from outcrops located in Fresno Ca, off of Friant road. The origin of these sediments are the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Mesozoic metasedimentary and metavolcanic sediments are derived from the foothills, while the granitic sediments are derived from higher up in the mountains. The sediments are characterized by both their degree of rounding, and their …

Structure From Motion Elevation Model For Adding Topographic Correction To Ground Penetrating Radar, Leslie A. Mowbray

Student Research Symposium

High resolution elevation models have become a standard tool in environmental, geological and archaeological investigations, however; the cost of acquiring Lidar in remote areas, on small project sites or over repeated time intervals remains prohibitively expensive. Here, open-source software and GIS are used to create a digital elevation model (DEM) from aerial photos in a process known as Structure from Motion (SfM). This process is a fraction of the cost of Lidar acquisition, and is shown to produce a model with comparable resolution. The photos used here were taken from a camera hung from a balloon flown at Mickey Springs …

Basic Guide For Description Of Cuttings From Boreholes In Nebraska, Dana P. Divine, R. M. Joeckel, Jesse T. Korus

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Pennsylvanian Subsurface Sequence Stratigraphy Based On 3d Seismic And Wireline Data In Western Osage County, Oklahoma, Alexander West

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Pennsylvanian System in the Mid-Continent United States has been studied for nearly a century. In north central Oklahoma, the Pennsylvanian is primarily composed of cyclothems. These cyclothems are sequences of alternating carbonate, clastic, and shale members. Because of this, these zones can be difficult to differentiate. This project provides valuable insight into better understanding the Pennsylvanian System in western Osage County, Oklahoma. The scope of this project is to perform a subsurface study to produce a detailed interpretation of the depositional history and stratigraphy of Pennsylvanian sequences in western Osage County.

This study features 3D seismic and well log …

Stratigraphic Analysis With Respect To Aggregate Potential In The Duffield Quarry In Gum Log, Arkansas, Brock Evan Langford

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The crushed stone mining industry is valued at nearly one billion dollars in Arkansas alone. Physical properties of the rock dictate whether or not an area may be suited for the establishment of an aggregate quarry. The Gum Log quarry located 10 miles northeast of Russellville, Arkansas is geographically well situated near areas in need of aggregate material, as well as physically competent rock. The rock mined in Gum Log is located in the Upper Atoka Formation, a Middle Pennsylvanian aged member of the Arkoma Basin. There are five different lithologic facies identifiable in the quarry (Facies 1-5 respectively): A …

Stratigraphic Characterization And Depositional History Of The Barnett Shale Within The Fort Worth Basin In Denton County, Texas, Matthew Loren Cope

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Barnett shale, located in the Fort Worth Basin, is a geologic unit that has undergone extensive study and currently holds great economic importance. It contains well-known stratigraphy, but still holds questions with regard to the specific stratigraphic variation over much of its area. Denton County contains a large geographic area of the Barnett shale, and holds many answers to the varying stratigraphy of the Barnett shale, as well as an explanation into its depositional history. The investigation involved the use of two cross sections utilizing 32 and 26 wells respectively in the western region of Denton County, Texas. From …

Geologic Controls On Oil And Gas Accumulation And Production From Missourian Stage Granite Wash Reservoirs In The Western Anadarko Basin, Wheeler County, Texas, Derrell Mathis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Up-to-date regional and local Granite Wash data of any form is either too scarce to reference or highly privatized by exploration and production companies operating in the region. The objective of this research is to correlate horizontal production data with mapped depositional trends from Upper Pennsylvanian (Missourian Stage) Granite Wash reservoirs in the Western Anadarko Basin in northeastern Wheeler County, Texas. The correlation of raster logs to define various trap type and geometries in Missourian Granite Wash reservoirs of Wheeler County, Texas is used to understand the geologic controls on oil and gas accumulation and production. The analysis includes detailed …

Early Miocene Antarctic Glacial History: New Insights From Heavy Mineral Analysis From Andrill And–2a Drill Core Sediments, Francesco Iacoviello, Giovanna Giorgetti, Isabella Turbanti Memmi, Sandra Passchier

ANDRILL Research and Publications

The present study deals with heavy mineral analysis of late Early Miocene marine sediments recovered in the McMurdo Sound region (Ross Sea, Antarctica) during the ANDRILL— SMS Project in 2007. The main objective is to investigate how heavy mineral assemblages reflect different source rocks and hence different provenance areas. These data contribute to a better understanding of East Antarctica ice dynamics in the Ross Sea sector during the Early Miocene (17.6–20.2 Ma), a time of long-term global warming and sea level rise. The AND-2A drill core recovered several stratigraphic intervals that span from Early Miocene to Pleistocene and it collected …

The Groundwater Atlas Of Saunders County, Nebraska, Dana Divine

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Schoenophyllum Aggregatum Zone: Stratigraphic Marker For Investigations Of Mississippian Limestones In Western Kentucky, Garland R. Dever Jr., Preston Mcgrain

Report of Investigations--KGS

Schoenophyllum aggregatum, a Mississippian colonial rugose coral, has a widespread geographic distribution and narrow stratigraphic range in the upper Ste. Genevieve Limestone of western Kentucky. This coral zone serves as a useful stratigraphic marker for commercial and geologic investigations of the extensive limestone deposits formed by the Ste. Genevieve and enclosing limestone units in the region. S. aggregatum is also present in rocks correlative with the Ste, Genevieve that occur in the Monteagle Limestone Slade Formation of south-central Kentucky and the Newman Limestone of southeastern Kentucky.

Katian Gssp And Carbonates Of The Simpson And Arbuckle Groups In Oklahoma, Jesse R. Carlucci, Daniel Goldman, Carlton E. Brett, Stephen R. Westrop, Stephen A. Leslie

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

This guidebook was written for the 2015 International Symposium on the Ordovician System (ISOS) as a synopsis of the recent work (e.g., Goldman et al. 2007; Carlucci et al. 2014, forthcoming work for the ISOS meeting) on Ordovician-Silurian rocks of south-central and south-eastern Oklahoma. This new research and past studies (e.g., Harris 1957; Longman 1976; Longman 1982a, b; Fay et al. 1982a; Fay et al. 1982b) underscore the scientific importance of this region. The global stratotype section and point for the Katian Stage of the Upper Ordovician Series is examined on this trip. The first appearances of important graptolites, conodonts …

Geologic Map Of The Welcome Quadrangle And An Adjacent Part Of The Wells Quadrangle, Elko County, Nevada, Allen J. Mcgrew, Arthur W. Snoke

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Located in central Elko County, the Welcome and adjacent part of the Wells quadrangles expose a remarkable array of critical relationships for understanding the geologic history of the State of Nevada and the interior of the southwestern U.S. Cordillera. Covering the northern end of the East Humboldt Range and adjacent Clover Valley and Clover Hill, this map includes the northern terminus of the Ruby Mountains-East Humboldt Range metamorphic core complex. The oldest rocks in the State of Nevada (the gneiss complex of Angel Lake), and Nevada’s only exposures of Archean rock, form the core of a multikilometer scale, southward-closing recumbent …

Hydrophobic Organic Contaminant Transport Property Heterogeneity In The Borden Aquifer, Richelle M. Allen-King, Indra Kalinovich, David F. Dominic, Guohui Wang, Reid Polmanteer, Dana Divine

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

We determined that the spatial heterogeneity in aquifer properties governing the reactive transport of volatile organic contaminants is defined by the arrangement of lithofacies. We measured permeability (k) and perchloroethene sorption distribution coefficient (K_d) for lithofacies that we delineated for samples from the Canadian Forces Base Borden Aquifer. We compiled existing data and collected 57 new cores to characterize a 30 m section of the aquifer near the test location of Mackay et al. (1986). The k and K_d were measured for samples taken at six elevations from all cores to create a data set consisting of …

Hydrophobic Organic Contaminant Transport Property Heterogeneity In The Borden Aquifer, Richelle M. Allen-King, Indra Kalinovich, David F. Dominic, Guohui Wang, Reid Polmanteer, Dana Divine

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

We determined that the spatial heterogeneity in aquifer properties governing the reactive transport of volatile organic contaminants is defined by the arrangement of lithofacies. We measured permeability (k) and perchloroethene sorption distribution coefficient (K_d) for lithofacies that we delineated for samples from the Canadian Forces Base Borden Aquifer. We compiled existing data and collected 57 new cores to characterize a 30 m section of the aquifer near the test location of Mackay et al. (1986). The k and K_d were measured for samples taken at six elevations from all cores to create a data …

Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report 2015, A. R. Young, M. E. Burbach, L. M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

North-Central Nebraska Geology: Niobrara River Valley In Brown, Cherry, And Keya Paha Counties, R. M. Joeckel, L. M. Howard, S T. Tucker

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Strontium, Lead, And Oxygen Isotopic Signatures Of Mid-Miocene Silicic Volcanism In Eastern Oregon, Emily Nancy Hess

Dissertations and Theses

Widespread, mid-Miocene rhyolite volcanism of eastern Oregon that are coeval or slightly postdate flood basalts of the Columbia River Basalt Province allows for mapping crustal domains using radiogenic and stable isotopes. Rhyolites are thought to be derived in large part by partial melting of the crust and thus yield direct information on the composition of the crust. Silicic volcanism is expressed in the form of numerous domes and tuffs exposed over a wide area (~300 km in N-S dimension and ~200 km in E-W dimension) west of the presumed craton boundary, which runs parallel but mostly east of the Oregon-Idaho …

Field Trip Guidebook For The Nebraska Well Drillers Association, Duane A. Eversoll, Matt Joeckel, Lee Orton

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.