Earth Sciences Commons^™

Summer River Water Temperature Changes In The Musconetcong River And Their Potential Impact On Aquatic Habitat, Joseph Anthony Kowalski

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Water temperature changes in rivers can happen quickly for multiple reasons, and can drastically impact the river in many ways. The potential for temperature shifts to impact rivers is especially important in the summer, for aquatic habitats, as the warm temperatures can stress populations. This is especially true for trout populations, a temperature-sensitive fish. Since temperature is the most important factor in the growth of trout, these temperature changes can be life threatening. Therefore it is important to monitor temperatures in the Musconetcong River, classified as trout maintenance waters (Musconetcong Advisory Committee et al., 2003), because of the potential negative …

The Effects Of Changes In Population Density On Discharges For The Midwestern United States, Catherine Konieczny

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

River baseflow is the river discharge supported predominantly by groundwater, and can be greatly impacted by changes in land. Intuitively, the baseflow of a river would decrease with increased urbanization, as urbanization increases the amount of impervious surfaces, limiting the ability of precipitation to infiltrate into the ground and recharge the local groundwater. However, evidence suggests that the baseflow of rivers in urbanized areas can increase as a result of leaky subsurface water infrastructures that add water to groundwater and replenish baseflow. Another reason for the baseflow increase in urbanized watersheds is that water supply systems are over-pressurized by design …

Spatial Distribution Of Greenhouse Commercial Horticulture In Kenya And The Role Of Demographic, Infrastructure And Topo-Edaphic Factors, Faith Justus, Danlin Yu

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Greenhouse commercial horticulture in Kenya started more than two decades ago and has evolved to be a significant sector to the national economy. So far no studies have explored the spatial patterns and dynamics of the area under greenhouse cultivation. Google Earth archives alongside data from various portals provided an opportunity to study those farms' spatial distribution. The roles of selected topo-edaphic, infrastructure and demographics factors that might influence current location within sub-watersheds in central highlands of Kenya are also examined. Results reveal a non-uniform spread with two high clusters; one in the semi-Arid sub-watersheds 3AB shared by Kajiado and …

Evaluation Of Groundwater Recharge Estimates In A Partially Metamorphosed Sedimentary Basin In A Tropical Environment: Application Of Natural Tracers, Felix Oteng Mensah, Clement Alo, Sandow Mark Yidana

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study tests the representativeness of groundwater recharge estimates through the chloride mass balance (CMB) method in a tropical environment. The representativeness of recharge estimates using this methodology is tested using evaporation estimates from isotope data, the general spatial distribution of the potential field, and the topographical variations in the area. This study suggests that annual groundwater recharge rates in the area ranges between 0.9% and 21% of annual precipitation. These estimates are consistent with evaporation rates computed from stable isotope data of groundwater and surface water in the Voltaian Basin. Moreover, estimates of groundwater recharge through numerical model calibration …

Rollover, Drowning, And Discontinuous Retreat: Distinct Modes Of Barrier Response To Sea-Level Rise Arising From A Simple Morphodynamic Model, Jorge Lorenzo Trueba, Andrew Dale Ashton

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We construct a simple morphodynamic model to investigate the long-term dynamic evolution of a coastal barrier system experiencing sea-level rise. Using a simplified barrier geometry, the model includes a dynamic shoreface profile that can be out of equilibrium and explicitly treats barrier sediment overwash as a flux. With barrier behavior primarily controlled by the maximum potential overwash flux and the rate of shoreface response, the modeled barrier system demonstrates four primary behaviors: height drowning, width drowning, constant landward retreat, and a periodic retreat. Height drowning occurs when overwash fluxes are insufficient to maintain the landward migration rate required to keep …

Geochemical And Rock-Magnetic Analyses Of Kasten Cores And Surface Grab Samples From The Joinville-D'Urville Trough, Northeastern Antarctic Peninsula : Results And Correlation With The Western Antarctic Peninsula, Rachel B. Darley

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Two sediment cores were recovered from the Joinville-d’Urville Trough on the Northeastern Antarctic Peninsula (AP) during United States Antarctic Program cruise LMG04-04. KC3 was recovered from a sediment drift off Joinville Island. KC16 was recovered from a small basin west of the drift. Both cores show a two-part magnetic susceptibility profile: the upper section shows regularly spaced highs and lows, followed by a large amplitude drop. The susceptibility profiles of these two cores are similar to those found on the western side of the AP. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the same processes drive magnetic susceptibility …

Updated Pressure And Temperature Determinations For The Metapelites Of The Western Hudson Highlands, Ny, Eric W. Sonnenwald

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Pelitic sedimentary material was deposited along the eastern margin of North America in the Mesoproterozoic (~1300-1200 Ma) in an active continental arc basin setting and was subsequently metamorphosed during the Ottawan Orogeny (~1080-1030 Ma) as a part of a closing ocean basin between two continents (Volkert and Drake, 1999). The resulting metapelitic gneisses now exposed in the western Hudson Highlands in Harriman State Park, New York were analyzed to determine the sedimentary protolith and the peak metamorphic pressure-temperature (P-T) conditions during the Ottawan Orogeny that affected this region during the final assembly of Rodinia. The protolith, a clay-bearing arkosic sandstone, …

A Historical, Empirical Analysis Of The Relationship Between Urbanization And Stream Baseflow In The Eastern United States, Jared Michael Lopes

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The population density of the United States has more than tripled over the last century causing increased urbanization and greater anthropogenic influences in previously rural watersheds. Urbanization leads to increased impervious surfaces and the compaction of soils, both of which combine to reduce infiltration rates. Reduced baseflow can directly limit water availability for approximately half the U.S. population that depends on surficial waters for their drinking water. This project empirically investigated the baseflow-urbanization relationship on a geographic and temporal scale that has not been previously investigated. USGS river gage data in 11 eastern U.S. states (NY south of the Adirondacks, …

Climate Evolution Of The Antarctic Peninsula Over The Last 1,000 Years : An Environmental Magnetism Analysis Of Two High Resolution Sediment Cores, Brendan Reilly

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Two marine sediment cores from very different depositional environments, off the coast of western and northeastern Graham Land, Antarctic Peninsula (AP), record high resolution climatic records of the last 1,000 years. This study finds evidence in the sedimentary magnetic signature for a regional shift from warmer to colder climatic conditions around 1100-1400 AD. The first core, from middle Barilari Bay, western AP, displays a shift from seasonally open marine conditions to sub/proximal ice shelf ca. 1100 AD, with evidence for multiple grounding line advances in the magnetic mineral distributions during the first half of the last millennium. Prior to the …

Fe(Vi) As A New Chemical Agent For Treatment Of Landfill Leachate, Christopher Gravesen

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

More than 50% municipal solid waste (MSW) is being disposed of within landfills in the United States. Despite many benefits, landfills inevitably produce highly contaminated wastewater - landfill leachate. Landfill leachate represents one of the most challengeable wastewaters in the world. Refractory organic matters and ammonia nitrogen are two major persistent traditional contaminants in landfill leachate. The contaminants ought to be properly removed prior to discharge into natural water resources.

Ferrate (FeO₄^2-) is a potential water treatment chemical agent in which iron is in its + 6 oxidation state. In engineering practice, Fe(VI) can concurrently function as …

Investigating Planetary Magnetic Fields : 1. Paleosecular Variation And Relative Paleointensity Curves From Maxwell Bay, Antarctica 2. Rock Magnetic And Remanence Properties Of Natural And Synthetic Martian Basalts, Deepa Shah

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This thesis study investigates two individual projects to determine the paleomagnetic records from sediment core NBP0502-1B from Maxwell Bay Antarctica and SNC Martian meteorite Yamato-908459. Core NBP0502-1B from Maxwell Bay, South Shetland Islands, recovered a 108 m sedimentary record dating between 14.1-14.8 ka. The core has a silty-clay lithology and a calcite based radiocarbon chronology, making this an ideal site to reconstruct an independently dated record of paleosecular variation (PSV) and relative paleointensity (RPI). The interval 0-72 mbsf displays a normal sedimentary fabric, with K_mjn inclination values nearly vertical and K_int and K_max distributed within the bedding …

Orbitally Paced Shifts In The Particle Size Of Antarctic Continental Shelf Sediments In Response To Ice Dynamics During The Miocene Climatic Optimum, Sandra Passchier, Candice J. Falk, Fabio Florindo

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The AND-2A drill hole (ANDRILL [Antarctic Geological Drilling Program] Southern McMurdo Sound Project), ∼10 km from the East Antarctica coastline, records nearly 6 m.y. of sedimentation across the Miocene climatic optimum at a high-latitude site. Sedimentological studies of bedforms and particle size distributions indicate that the paleoenvironment was strongly affected by waves and currents, consistent with deposition in a glacially influenced neritic environment. We document abrupt shifts in mud percent within glacial-interglacial cycles ca. 17.8 Ma and between ca. 16.7 and 15.7 Ma that we attribute to the hydrodynamic effects of wave stirring tied to episodes of ice growth and …

Oil Pollution In Water Bodies Of Restricted Circulation, Michael A. Kruge

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Coastal lagoons and embayments near urban centers around the world share many common characteristics and problems. Physical impediments to free water circulation (spits, barrier islands, internal islands, tombolos, submerged sills) often lead to water stagnation and, in the presence of excess nutrients, eutrophication. Urban and industrial activities provoke (usually accidental) spills of hazardous materials into these confined water bodies, such as crude petroleum and refined petroleum products, leading to difficulties for resident biota and potential hazards for human health. The sluggish turnover of these water bodies (or low-energy zones within them) may retard the natural attenuation of the spilled contaminants. …

Early Eocene To Middle Miocene Cooling And Aridification Of East Antarctica, Sandra Passchier, Steven M. Bohaty, Francisco J. Jiménez‐Espejo, Jörg Pross, Ursu Röhl, Tina Van De Flierdt, Carlota Escutia, Henk Brinkhuis

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

[1] Few high‐latitude terrestrial records document the timing and nature of the Cenozoic “Greenhouse” to “Icehouse” transition. Here we exploit the bulk geochemistry of marine siliciclastic sediments from drill cores on Antarctica's continental margin to extract a unique semiquantitative temperature and precipitation record for Eocene to mid‐Miocene (~54–13 Ma). Alkaline elements are strongly enriched in the detrital mineral fraction in fine‐grained siliciclastic marine sediments and only occur as trace metals in the biogenic fraction. Hence, terrestrial climofunctions similar to the chemical index of alteration (CIA) can be applied to the alkaline major element geochemistry of marine sediments on continental margins …

Citizens’ Perspectives Of Access To The Decision Making Process And Community Improvement As Determinants Of Brownfields Redevelopment Success, Shevon Jean Letang

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Brownfields redevelopment is acclaimed as a successful program that has revitalized struggling urban communities and returned unproductive, underutilized, and abandoned industrial and commercial properties to municipalities’ tax rolls. Despite a major brownfields' redevelopment goal being to improve the communities and their citizens' quality of life, to date, the program has not been evaluated from the mainstreams' perspective as to its impact on their neighborhoods and their quality of life. A survey of 129 citizens from urban, suburban and exsuburban municipalities in Passaic County New Jersey sought to evaluate the social outcomes of three redeveloped projects from the affected mainstreams' perspective. …

Chemical Contaminants As Stratigraphic Markers For The Anthropocene, Michael A. Kruge

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Thousands and even millions of years from now, widespread anthropogenic contaminants in sediments would likely persist, incorporated into the geological record. They would inadvertently preserve evidence of our present era (informally designated as the Anthropocene Epoch) characterized by large human populations engaged in intensive industrial and agricultural activities.

Hypothetical geologists in the distant future would likely find unusually high concentrations of a wide variety of contaminants at stratigraphic levels corresponding to our present time, analogous to the iridium anomaly marking the bolide impact event at the close of the Cretaceous Period. These would include both organic and inorganic substances, such …

Changes In Precipitation Seasonality In West Africa Predicted By Regcm3 And The Impact Of Dynamic Vegetation Feedback, Guiling Wang, Clement Alo

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Using a regional climate model asynchronously coupled to a dynamic vegetation model, this study examines future climate predictions for the West Africa region and how dynamic vegetation feedback may influence such predictions. Without accounting for the impact of vegetation dynamics, the model predicts a future decrease of annual rainfall over Sahel. Dynamic vegetation feedback reverses this trend, leading to a substantial increase of annual rainfall. Regardless of how vegetation is treated, the predicted future trend of precipitation in the Sahel region follows a specific seasonal pattern, with a decrease during the pre- and early-monsoon season (May-June and early July) due …

The Case Of Canoe Brook Wells In Glacial Sand And Gravel, Livingston, New Jersey : Establishing The Hydraulic Signs Of Well Contamination Risk Using Topography, Brian Frank

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

When little groundwater level data is available, the potential energy gradients reflected in the topography, assumed to be saturated to the surface, can be used to estimate the directions and relative rates of groundwater flow (flow systems). Darcy’s law conveniently relates groundwater water levels to the rate of groundwater flow. Toth (1963) related topography to groundwater flow systems. Flow systems can transport surface contamination, if present, to wells. The topography and likely contamination point source surface locations were used to create and contrast the flow systems impacting two wells in order to assess contamination risk. The two wells, Canoe Brook …

Chronostratigraphic Framework For The Iodp Expedition 318 Cores From The Wilkes Land Margin: Constraints For Paleoceanographic Reconstruction, Lisa Tauxe, Catherine E. Stickley, Saiko Sugisaki, Peter K. Bijl, Steven M. Bohaty, Henk Brinkhuis, Carlota Escutia, J. A. Flores, A. J. P. Houben, M. Iwai, Francisco J. Jiménez‐Espejo, Robert Mckay, Sandra Passchier, Jörg Pross, Christina Riesselman, Ursula Röhl, Francesca Sangiorgi, Kevin Welsh, Adam Klaus, Annick Fehr, James Bendle, Robert B. Dunbar, J. Gonzàlez, T. Hayden, K. Katsuki, M. P. Olney, Stephen Pekar, P. K. Shrivastava, Tina Van De Flierdt, Trevor Williams, M. Yamane

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

[1] The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 318 to the Wilkes Land margin of Antarctica recovered a sedimentary succession ranging in age from lower Eocene to the Holocene. Excellent stratigraphic control is key to understanding the timing of paleoceanographic events through critical climate intervals. Drill sites recovered the lower and middle Eocene, nearly the entire Oligocene, the Miocene from about 17 Ma, the entire Pliocene and much of the Pleistocene. The paleomagnetic properties are generally suitable for magnetostratigraphic interpretation, with well‐behaved demagnetization diagrams, uniform distribution of declinations, and a clear separation into two inclination modes. Although the sequences were discontinuously …

Geochemistry Of The Hudson Highlands Migmatites And Relation To Post-Ottawan Deformation, Justin Wayne Kulick

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The 1010 Ma Canada Hill Granite represents a small post-orogenic granitoid body that can be found intermingled with Middle Proterozoic rocks in the Hudson Highlands, NY and postdates the thermal peak of the Ottawan Orogeny. The Canada Hill Granite is part of a chemically diverse group of plutonic rocks that formed from crustal melting during late to post-Ottawan dextral transpression and lithospheric thinning.

Thirty-two samples were collected of the Canada Hill Granite and surrounding rocks from the Hudson Highlands, NY in the West Point-Bear Mountain area, from which new major- and trace-element data have been obtained. The Canada Hill Granite …

Fate Of Cerium Oxide (Ceo₂), Nanoparticles In Landfill Leachate, Casey Marie Ezyske

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Nanomaterial (NM) based manufacturing is predicted to grow to 15% of the global manufacturing economy by 2014. Subsequent to their use, most of the engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), man-made particles with at least dimension between 1 and 100 nm, will be disposed of in landfills. Landfill leachate is highly contaminated wastewater containing a variety of constituents that may affect the fate and transport of the nanomaterials. In this study, the size and zeta potential of cerium oxide (CeO₂), an industrially important nanomaterial, was investigated in different solution matrices (Milli-Q water, a real landfill leachate, KC1 solution, and humic acid …

The Role Of Self-Interest As A Determining Factor Of Environmental Concerns, Eleftherios Papaioannou

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

While it may be quite evident that people perform environmentally harmful acts, the psychological origin of environmentally destructive behaviors and attitudes has been largely avoided and set-aside. This research offers an insight claiming that environmental concerns only exist when there is no self-interest. Self-interest was narrowed down to the self and the focus placed on the T . The study conducted was aimed at bringing about a correlational relationship between selfism and environmental concerns, with the hypothesis stating that a negative correlation should exist.

Scientific research has devised environmental concern measurements according to various ideas of what it is that …

Geochemistry Of The Diorite Pluton From The Stony Point Complex, New York, And Its Relation To The Cortlandt Complex, Andrew James Temples

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The Cortlandt-Beemerville magmatic belt of probable late Ordovician age is bound in the west by the Beemerville alkaline complex, New Jersey, and in the east by the calc-alkalic to alkalic Cortlandt complex, New York. Connecting the Cortlandt and Beemerville plutonic complexes is a string of east-west trending lamprophyre and felsic dike rocks (Eby, 2004). The Stony Point complex on the western side of the Hudson River is linked to the Cortlandt complex on the eastern side of the river, as well as the Rosetown complex further to the west through similar mineralogical and chemical compositions. Due to a lack of …

Multicomponent Cubic Oxide Exsolution In Synthetic Basalts: Temperature Dependence And Implications For Magnetic Properties, Julie A. Bowels, Lisa Tatsumi-Petrochilos, Julie E. Hammer, Stefanie A. Brachfeld

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Although the compositional unmixing of cubic-structured iron oxides has profound effects on the magnetic properties of rocks that contain them, a basic understanding of the kinetics and thermodynamics of this process has not been achieved in experimental studies due to sluggish reaction rates in binary oxide phases. Exploiting the fact that many natural Fe-oxides contain multiple additional cations, including Ti, Mg and Al, we perform novel “forward” laboratory experiments in which cubic-cubic phase exsolution proceeds from initially homogeneous multicomponent oxides. A variety of Fe-Ti-Mg-Al cubic iron oxides were nucleated and grown in synthetic, multicomponent basalt under different ƒO2 environments, and …

Exploring The Role Of Organic Matter Accumulation On Delta Evolution, Jorge Lorenzo Trueba, Vaughan Voller, Chris Paola, Robert Twilley, Azure Bevington

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We explore the role of plant matter accumulation in the sediment column in determining the response of fluvial-deltas to base-level rise and simple subsidence profiles. Making the assumption that delta building processes operate to preserve the geometry of the delta plain, we model organic sedimentation in terms of the plant matter accumulation and accommodation (space made for sediment deposition) rates. A spatial integration of the organic sedimentation, added to the known river sediment input, leads to a model of delta evolution that estimates the fraction of organic sediments preserved in the delta. The model predicts that the maximum organic fraction …

Characterizing The Sediment Provenance Of East Antarctica's Weak Underbelly: The Aurora And Wilkes Sub-Glacial Basins, Elizabeth L. Pierce, Trevor Williams, Tina Van De Flierdt, Sidney R. Hemming, Steven L. Goldstein, Stefanie A. Brachfeld

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

[1] The Wilkes and Aurora basins are large, low-lying sub-glacial basins that may cause areas of weakness in the overlying East Antarctic ice sheet. Previous work based on ice-rafted debris (IRD) provenance analyses found evidence for massive iceberg discharges from these areas during the late Miocene and Pliocene. Here we characterize the sediments shed from the inferred areas of weakness along this margin (94°E to 165°E) by measuring40Ar/39Ar ages of 292 individual detrital hornblende grains from eight marine sediment core locations off East Antarctica and Nd isotopic compositions of the bulk fine fraction from the same sediments. We further expand …

Linkages Between East Antarctic Ice Sheet Extent And Southern Ocean Temperatures Based On A Pliocene High‐Resolution Record Of Ice‐Rafted Debris Off Prydz Bay, East Antarctica, Sandra Passchier

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

[1] Ice‐rafted debris mass accumulation rates (IRD MAR) at a drill site on the Antarctic continental margin are investigated to evaluate the linkages between East Antarctic Ice Sheet extent and Southern Ocean temperatures in the early to mid‐Pliocene. ODP Site 1165 is within 400 km of the Antarctic coastline and in the direct pathway of icebergs released by the Amery Ice Shelf. The Amery Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf in East Antarctica and it buttresses the Lambert Glacier drainage system, which accounts for 14% of the outflow from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. IRD MAR were low during …

Effects Of Weathering On Aromatic Compounds In Beach Tars From The Deepwater Horizon Disaster, Gulf Of Mexico Coast, Usa, Michael A. Kruge

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Operators aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform lost control of the Macondo No. 1 well about 90 km southwest of the Louisiana coast on April 20, 2010, leading to a catastrophic release of ca. 550 Gg of crude oil over the next 86 days [1]. Oil from the spill soon found its way to nearby coastal areas, leaving tarry deposits on beaches and marshes. Oil was reported on the beach at Gulf Shores, Alabama (180 km northeast of the well) on June 5 and the relatively fresh sample discussed herein (GSA) was collected that same day. Oil reached the beach …

The Vinylguaiacol/Indole Or Vgi ("Veggie") Ratio: Assessing Relative Contributions Of Terrestrial And Aquatic Organic Matter To Sediments, Michael A. Kruge, Kevin K. Olsen, Jaroslaw W. Slusarczyk, Elaine Gomez

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In studies of the organic matter (OM) fraction of marine, estuarine, fluvial, or lacustrine sediments, one of the most fundamental distinctions to be made is that between terrestrial and aquatic OM. To supplement the parameters commonly used for this purpose (e.g., C/N and stable isotope ratios), we proposed the Vinylguaiacol/Indole or VGI ("Veggie") ratio, defined as [vinylguaiacol / (indole + vinylguaiacol)] using data produced by analytical pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of dried, homogenized sediment samples [1]. The ratio employs the peak areas of these two compounds on the mass chromatograms of their molecular ions (m/z 150 and 117, respectively). Major pyrolysis …

Geochemical Analysis Of Long Island Sound Sediments, Jaroslaw W. Slusarczyk

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

As one of the largest estuarine systems in the northeastern United States, Long Island Sound (LIS) has been exposed to human activities for many centuries. Human settlement and population growth in the last 200 years has caused heavy pollution in LIS through inland and shore industrial and municipal releases. The geochemistry of one sediment core and numerous surface sediment samples were analyzed using environmental forensic techniques. This study employed use of pyrolysis gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) in conjunction with previously analyzed geochemical and radiometric data to study contamination sources and patterns though LIS. Geochemical analysis of samples was focused …