Earth Sciences Commons^™

Cloudsat-Based Assessment Of Gpm Microwave Imager Snowfall Observation Capabilities, Giulia Panegrossi, Jean-François Rysman, Daniele Casella, Anna Cinzia Marra, Mark Kulie

Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences Publications

The sensitivity of Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) high-frequency channels to snowfall at higher latitudes (around 60^◦N/S) is investigated using coincident CloudSat observations. The 166 GHz channel is highlighted throughout the study due to its ice scattering sensitivity and polarization information. The analysis of three case studies evidences the important combined role of total precipitable water (TPW), supercooled cloud water,and background surface composition on the brightness temperature (TB) behavior for different snow-producing clouds. A regression tree statistical analysis applied to the entire GMI-CloudSat snowfall dataset indicates which variables influence the 166 GHz polarization difference (166∆TB)and its …

Satellite Observed Water Quality Changes In The Laurentian Great Lakes Due To Invasive Species, Anthropogenic Forcing, And Climate Change, Robert A. Shuchman, Karl Bosse, Michael J. Sayers, Gary L. Fahnenstiel, George Leshkevich

Michigan Tech Research Institute Publications

Long time series of ocean and land color satellite data can be used to measure Laurentian Great Lakes water quality parameters including chlorophyll, suspended minerals, harmful algal blooms (HABs), photic zone and primary productivity on weekly, monthly and annual observational intervals. The observed changes in these water quality parameters over time are a direct result of the introduction of invasive species such as the Dreissena mussels as well as anthropogenic forcing and climate change. Time series of the above mentioned water quality parameters have been generated based on a range of satellite sensors, starting with Landsat in the 1970s and …

Eureka! Discovering A New Mineral: Meralaniite, John A. Jaszczak

TechTalks

A series of serendipitous events and four years of collaborative research has led to the discovery and description of a new mineral- merelaniite. It is a natural nanocomposite composed primarily of MoS2 and PbS layers from the famous tanzanite gem mines in northern Tanzania. It's crystal structure and chemistry is unusual and complex, and forms unusual silvery, scroll-like whiskers. It was selected by the International Mineralogical Association as the 2016 Mineral of the Year.

Copper Isotope Constraints On The Genesis Of The Keweenaw Peninsula Native Copper District, Michigan, Usa, T. J. Bornhorst, Ryan Mathur

A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum Publications

The Keweenaw Peninsula native copper district of Michigan, USA is the largest concentration of native copper in the world. The copper isotopic composition of native copper was measured from stratabound and vein deposits, hosted by multiple rift-filling basalt-dominated stratigraphic horizons over 110 km of strike length. The δ⁶⁵Cu of the native copper has an overall mean of +0.28‰ and a range of −0.32‰ to +0.80‰ (excluding one anomalous value). The data appear to be normally distributed and unimodal with no substantial differences between the native copper isotopic composition from the wide spread of deposits studied here. This suggests …

Climate, Wildfire, And Erosion Ensemble Foretells More Sediment In Western Usa Watersheds, John B. Sankey, Jason Kreitler, Todd J. Hawbaker, Jason L. Mcvay, Mary Ellen Miller, Erich R. Mueller, Nicole M. Vaillant, Scott E. Lowe, Temuulen T. Sankey

Michigan Tech Research Institute Publications

The area burned annually by wildfires is expected to increase worldwide due to climate change. Burned areas increase soil erosion rates within watersheds, which can increase sedimentation in downstream rivers and reservoirs. However, which watersheds will be impacted by future wildfires is largely unknown. Using an ensemble of climate, fire, and erosion models, we show that postfire sedimentation is projected to increase for nearly nine tenths of watersheds by >10% and for more than one third of watersheds by >100% by the 2041 to 2050 decade in the western USA. The projected increases are statistically significant for more than eight …

Reference Data Set Of Volcanic Ash Physicochemical And Optical Properties, A. Vogel, S. Diplas, A. J. Durant, A. S. Azar, M. F. Sunding, William I. Rose, A. Sytchkova, C. Bonadonna, K. Krüger, A. Stohl

Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences Publications

Uncertainty in the physicochemical and optical properties of volcanic ash particles creates errors in the detection and modeling of volcanic ash clouds and in quantification of their potential impacts. In this study, we provide a data set that describes the physicochemical and optical properties of a representative selection of volcanic ash samples from nine different volcanic eruptions covering a wide range of silica contents (50–80 wt % SiO₂). We measured and calculated parameters describing the physical (size distribution, complex shape, and dense-rock equivalent mass density), chemical (bulk and surface composition), and optical (complex refractive index from ultraviolet to …

Volcanology - Multidisciplinary Science For A Versatile Campus, Simon Carn

Distinguished Lecture Series

Dr. Simon Carn was nominated by Dr. John Gierke and selected from a highly competitive pool of candidates as the Spring 2017 Distinguished Lecturer. His lecture, Volcanology — Multidisciplinary Science for a Versatile Campus, was presented in April 2017.

Volcanology – the study of volcanoes – is a truly multidisciplinary endeavor that encompasses numerous fields including geology, physics, chemistry, material science and social science. Arguably, Michigan Tech owes its very existence to volcanic activity, which is ultimately responsible for the area’s rich copper deposits and the development of mining in the Keweenaw.

Discovery And Geology Of The Guinness World Record Lake Copper, Lake Superior, Michigan, Theodore J. Bornhorst, Robert Barron

A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum Publications

No abstract provided.

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 …

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 …

Developing A Gis Tool For Infinite Slope Stability Analysis (Gis-Tissa), Jonathon Sanders

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Probabilistic Infinite Slope Analysis model (PISA-m) is a widely used computer program that uses infinite slope equations to calculate the spatially varying Factor of Safety of slopes. ESRI’s ArcGIS software and accompanying geoprocessing tools have become a mainstay in spatial data processing, and received full support for Python with the release of version 10. With many of the geoprocessing tools now available as a Python function, the software can be used for physics-based spatial landslide hazard analysis. A model that mimics PISA-m and its processing of normally distributed soil properties was created using the Python utility as a tool …

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 …

Using Lidar To Map The Geology And Morphology Of Alluvial Fans: Salton Sea Area, California, Eric Alexander Macleod

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The main result of this study has been to show that detailed maps of the geology and morphology of alluvial fans can be generated from high spatial resolution (1-meter) DEM’s (Digital Elevation Models) obtained from LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data. DEMs with spatial resolutions of 1-meter, 10-meters and 30-meters were all examined but it was determined that only the 1-meter LiDAR data had sufficient spatial resolution to produce satisfactory maps of the geology and morphology. A case study on an alluvial fan in the Santa Rosa mountains northeast of the Salton Sea (California) showed that 1-meter spatial resolution LiDAR …

Novel Methods For Quantifying Spatio-Temporal Change In Glaciated And Subaqueous Environments, Jordan Mertes

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In many scientific fields, it is important to actively develop new approaches to monitoring and quantifying changes within different systems. Often adapting existing tools or applying techniques from alternative fields can greatly improve our ability to monitor spatial and temporal changes. In this dissertation, I present four studies aimed at demonstrating new innovative ways at improving our ability to observe and quantify changes occurring on glaciers, submerged cultural resources (SCRs) and supraglacial lakes by using technology such as Structure from Motion + Multi-view stereo photogrammetry (SfM) and ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveying combined with facies analysis.

I have successfully reconstructed …

Biomass Offsets Little Or None Of Permafrost Carbon Release From Soils, Streams, And Wildfire: An Expert Assessment, Benjamin W. Abbott, Jeremy B. Jones, Edward A.G. Schuur, F Stuart Chapin |||, William B. Bowden, Syndonia Bret-Harte, Nancy H.F. French, Et Al.

Michigan Tech Research Institute Publications

As the permafrost region warms, its large organic carbon pool will be increasingly vulnerable to decomposition, combustion, and hydrologic export. Models predict that some portion of this release will be offset by increased production of Arctic and boreal biomass; however, the lack of robust estimates of net carbon balance increases the risk of further overshooting international emissions targets. Precise empirical or model-based assessments of the critical factors driving carbon balance are unlikely in the near future, so to address this gap, we present estimates from 98 permafrost-region experts of the response of biomass, wildfire, and hydrologic carbon flux to climate …

Fire Disturbance Effects On Land Surface Albedo In Alaskan Tundra, Nancy H. F. French, Matthew A. Whitley, Liza K. Jenkins

Michigan Tech Research Institute Publications

The study uses satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer albedo products (MCD43A3) to assess changes in albedo at two sites in the treeless tundra region of Alaska, both within the foothills region of the Brooks Range, the 2007 Anaktuvuk River Fire (ARF) and 2012 Kucher Creek Fire (KCF). Results are compared to each other and other studies to assess the magnitude of albedo change and the longevity of impact of fire on land surface albedo. In both sites there was a marked decrease of albedo in the year following the fire. In the ARF, albedo slowly increased until 4 years after …

Comparative Transcriptome And Proteome Analysis To Reveal The Biosynthesis Of Gold Nanoparticles In Arabidopsis, Manish Tiwari, Sneha Krishnamurthy, Devesh Shukla, Jeffrey Kiiskila, Ajay Jain, Rupali Datta, Nilesh Sharma, Shivendra V. Sahi

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

© 2016, Nature Publishing Group. All rights reserved. A large number of plants have been tested and exploited in search of a green chemistry approach for the fabrication of gold or other precious metal nanomaterials. Despite the potential of plant based methods, very little is known about the underlying biochemical reactions and genes involved in the biotransformation mechanism of AuCl4 into gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). In this research, we thus focused on studying the effect of Au on growth and nanoparticles formation by analyses of transcriptome, proteome and ionome shift in Arabidopsis. Au exposure favored the growth of Arabidopsis seedling and …

Distributed Visualization Of Gridded Geophysical Data: The Carbon Data Explorer, Version 0.2.3, Kevin Arthur Endsley, Michael G. Billmire

Michigan Tech Research Institute Publications

Due to the proliferation of geophysical models, particularly climate models, the increasing resolution of their spatiotemporal estimates of Earth system processes, and the desire to easily share results with collaborators, there is a genuine need for tools to manage, aggregate, visualize, and share data sets. We present a new, web-based software tool – the Carbon Data Explorer – that provides these capabilities for gridded geophysical data sets. While originally developed for visualizing carbon flux, this tool can accommodate any time-varying, spatially explicit scientific data set, particularly NASA Earth system science level III products. In addition, the tool's open-source licensing and …

Experimental Study Of The Flow Of Ferrofluid In A Porous Media Under A Magnetic Field, Muskaan Khurana

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This research presents results from a laboratory-scale experimental setup that was designed to visualize the behavior of ferrofluid percolation through a porous media. Ferrofluids are colloidal suspensions made of magnetic particles of a few nanometers and stabilized in carrier liquids like water or mineral oil. Ferrofluids get magnetized and align themselves in the direction of a magnetic field when a field gradient is applied.

With the help of this experiment we investigate the viability of controlling fluid flow in porous medium by a magnetic field in vicinity. The experiments show that ferrofluids can be used as a transporting media to …

Diffuse Co2 Degassing And The Origin Of Volcanic Gas Variability From Rincón De La Vieja, Miravalles And Tenorio Volcanoes, Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica, Aurelia Liegler

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Volcanic gas emissions are an important key component for monitoring volcanic activity and magmatic input of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as well as the assessment of geothermal potential in volcanic regions. Diffuse soil degassing of CO₂ at Rincón de la Vieja and Miravalles volcanoes, assessed with the commonly accepted accumulation chamber method, showed the concentration of gas emissions in evident hydrothermal surface features in secondary gas emission zones of the volcanoes. Analyses of fumarolic gases were conducted to investigate similarities and differences between the volcanoes and the possibility of continued magma injection into their source(s). An output of …

Reservoir Estimation In The Penobscot 3d Seismic Volume Using Constrained Sparse Spike Inversion, Offshore Nova Scotia, Canada, Mengchu Xiao

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Penobscot study area is located offshore Nova Scotia, Canada. There are two wells, which penetrate the highest potentially commercial bodies in the Abenaki Formation. In order to investigate the potential for locating additional hydrocarbon reservoirs, well log data was used and the Penobscot 3D seismic dataset was analyzed using Constrained Sparse Spike Inversion. From the well log data, low GR and SP values are an indication of a permeable sand layer, which provides the target zone in this study. Impedance – porosity crossplots gave the relationship between impedance and porosity, where a low impedance sand layer is correlated with …

A Small-Scale Water Budget Approach And Water Quality Assessment: A Case Study For Calderas Lake, Guatemala, Edrick Ramos

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Increases in water demand and urban development in Calderas community over the past decade have led to questions about the hydrology, water quality, quantity and sustainable management of Calderas Lake micro-basin. However, studies on baseline hydrology are limited for rural communities located inside volcanic origin watersheds of Guatemala. The scope of this study was to characterize the hydrology and establish a method to: 1) quantify a water budget, and 2) qualify the water quality of a lacustrine system that supply water for about 17,000 inhabitants on the state limits or rural Guatemala City. Mean annual rainfall and temperature at the …

Nonlinear Inversion Strategies Applied To Source Characterization And 3d Earthquake Tomography In Volcanic Environments: A Case Study At Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala, Federica Lanza

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Full-waveform moment tensor inversion of volcanic seismic signals and travel-time 3D tomography of local earthquakes have been widely used to explore source processes related to magma transport as well as to image the location and size of magma storage systems. However, the inversion solutions and the associated reliability estimates are non-unique and bear intrinsic uncertainties due to simplifying assumptions about the source, inaccuracies in the velocity models, dependence on network configuration, and other a priori constraints imposed by the modeler.

This work addresses the non-uniqueness and uncertainties of the model results by introducing non-linear inversion techniques that allow sampling the …

Comparisons Of Seismic Interferometry By Cross Correlation, Deconvolution, And Cross Coherence, Haitao Cao

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Ambient noise seismic interferometry (ANSI) has been applied widely for geophysical investigations including earthquake tomography, civil engineering and seismic exploration purposes. Comparing this approach with the traditional active seismic survey, the application of ANSI is cost effective, environmentally friendly and easily repeatable. Conventional seismic interferometry by cross correlating wavefields recorded at different receivers has already obtained fruitful results.

Even though the application of seismic interferometry (SI) by cross correlation has been successful, different methods for the processing workflow such as cross coherence and deconvolution have been conducted in an effort to improve the resolution. While these three methods have been …

Can Seismic Velocity Stacking Errors Result In The Low-Frequency Shadow?, Umit Serhan Inan

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The low-frequency shadow is the area on reflection seismic data, underneath gas reservoirs, that exhibits anomalously low frequency. This phenomenon has been related to the highly attenuating nature of the gas reservoir, which could explain the low-frequency shadows observed underneath extremely thick reservoirs, but not the ones underneath thin reservoirs. There are several other mechanisms that could be responsible, however detailed analysis of these possible explanations is yet to be found in the literature.

The main focus of this research is to test the possible contribution of stacking of offset seismic data, namely, their mis-stacking, to the generation of the …

Comparison Of Different Seismic Filtering Techniques On Prestack Inversion For Penobscot Area-Nova Scotia, Omer Emre Uygun

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The goal of this study is to compare three different type of seismic filtering according to their inversion results and their quality of data improvements. To do this bandpass filter, Inverse Q, and Radon transform are applied to the original NMO corrected pre-stack data from Nova-Scotia offshore Canada.

The seismic data used was provided as pre-stack data of generally good quality. The test for quality of data improvement comes from the results of inversion based on different types of filtering performed on the pre-stack gathers.

Bandpass filter, Inverse Q, and Radon transform are applied to the migrated prestack data, over …

Effects Of Wildfire And Post-Fire Salvage Logging On Rill Networks And Sediment Delivery In California Forests, Will Olsen

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Wildfires can increase soil erosion by orders of magnitude over rates in unburned forests and negatively impact aquatic resources. Rill erosion is a dominant erosion and sediment transport mechanism in burned forests, and hydrologically connected rills can form networks on burned hillslopes. At the swale scale (< 10,000 m²), little is known about how rill networks develop under different burn severities over time, their relationship with sediment yields, and the effect of post-fire salvage logging on rill networks and sediment yields.

The first study assessed rill networks and sediment yields in three burn severities in the inland Coast Range of …

The Role Of Amino Acids In The Nitrogen Cycle Of Peatlands, Tia Scarpelli

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Future release of carbon from peatlands in response to climate change may be impacted by nitrogen limitation. The current study considers the role of amino acids as a nitrogen source in peatlands. The total free amino acid (TFAA) concentration for peats ranged from 0-2.3 µM, and leucine was the primary contributor. The dominance of sedge or ericaceous shrub plant types did not significantly impact the TFAA pool. Ammonium concentrations were much greater than TFAA and nitrate concentrations. TFAA concentrations were greatest in spring and least in fall. The springtime maxima and summer decrease in concentrations were simulated in a modeling …

Influence Of The Weathered Layer On Retrieving Body Wave Using Passive Siesmic Interferometry, Boming Wu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Passive seismic interferometry (SI) is an increasingly popular seismic method due to its cost-efficient advantage because it does not need an active source. Techniques in using SI to retrieve surface waves are relatively well established, but using SI to retrieve body waves is still under development by many authors. These geophysicists have proved that many factors, such as average duration of the natural sources, the number of natural sources that occurred during recording time, source distribution, etc., influence the quality of body waves retrieved. In this research, I focus on how to make use of the attenuation property of weathered …

Rhyolite And Trachyte Formation At Lake City Caldera: Insight From Quantitative Textural And Geochemical Analyses, Jordan Lubbers

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Lake City Caldera (22.93 ± 0.02 Ma) is the youngest of 15 Tertiary calderas found within the Southern Rocky Mountain Volcanic Field (SRMVF). Extreme topographical relief of the area reveals the three dimensional exposure of a complex, high-k calc-alkaline, magmatic system, which provides us with the opportunity to study, in detail, how large silicic magmas evolve in the subsurface. The Lake City igneous system is comprised of two major units: a resurgent syenite intrusion and the Sunshine Peak Tuff (Lower, Middle, and Upper). Bulk-rock analyses indicate that the Lower and Middle Sunshine Peak tuff are crystal poor and rhyolitic in …