Earth Sciences Commons^™

Field Trip Guide (For The Nebraska Well Drillers Association) Central Nebraska Geology, James W. Goeke, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., Duane A. Eversoll

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Field trip guide, for the Nebraska Well Drillers Association, covering Central Nebraska Geology from September 2002.

Field Guide To The Geology Of The Harlan County Lake Area, Harlan County, Nebraska, With A History Of Events Leading To Construction Of Harlan County Dam, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., Duane R. Mohlman, R. George Corner, F. Edwin Harvey, K. J. Warren, Scott Summerside, Roger K. Pabian, Duane A. Eversoll

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The year 2002 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of completion of the Harlan County Dam and Multi-Purpose Reservoir. This seems a good time to write about the history of and reasons for building the dam, the effects of the dam and reservoir on the Republican River valley, and the geologic features seen along the shores of the lake and areas nearby. As many junior authors helped produced this educational circular, they are listed in the table of contents. All other sections were written by the senior author.

Includes July 2016 update: Addendum of photographs showing fault traces on drought-exposed lake …

Effectiveness Of Frightening Devices For Reducing Deer Damage In Cornfields, Jason M. Gilsdorf

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

No abstract provided.

A Regional Gis-Based Analysis Of Elk Habitat Suitability In Northeast Nebraska, J W. Fisher

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

No abstract provided.

Influence Of Light And Nutrients On Atrazine Toxicity To Freshwater Algae, Crystal J. Hansen

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

No abstract provided.

Field Trip Guide (For The Nebraska Well Drillers Association) Southwestern Nebraska Geology, Duane Eversoll, Jim Goeke

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

The Mount Feather Diamicton Of The Sirius Group: An Accumulation Of Indicators Of Neogene Antarctic Glacial And Climatic History, G. A. Wilson, J. A. Barron, A. C. Ashworth, R. A. Askin, J. A. Carter, M. G. Curren, D. H. Dalhuisen, E. I. Friedmann, D. G. Fyodorov-Davidov, D. A. Gilichinsky, M. A. Harper, David M. Harwood, J. F. Hiemstra, T. R. Janecek, K. J. Licht, V. E. Ostroumov, R. D. Powell, E. M. Rivkina, S. A. Rose, A. P. Stroeven, P. Stroeven, J. J. M. Van Der Meer, M. C. Wizevich

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

A paucity of data from the Antarctic continent has resulted in conflicting interpretations of Neogene Antarctic glacial history. Much of the debate centres on interpretations of the glacigene Sirius Group strata that crop out as discrete deposits along the length of the Transantarctic Mountains and in particular on its age and the origin of the siliceous microfossils it encloses. Pliocene marine diatoms enclosed within Sirius Group strata are inferred to indicate a dynamic East Antarctic ice sheet that was much reduced, compared with today, in the early-middle Pliocene and then expanded again in the late Pliocene. However, the geomorphology of …

Geomorphic Effectiveness, Sandur Development, And The Pattern Of Landscape Response During Jökulhlaups: Skeiöarársandur, Southeastern Iceland, F. J. Magilligan, B. Gomez, L. A. K. Mertes, L. C. Smith, Norman D. Smith, D. Finnegan, J. B. Garvin

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

By contrast with other historical outburst floods on Skeióarársandur, the 1996 jökulhlaup was unprecedented in its magnitude and duration, attaining a peak discharge of ~53,000 m³/s in <17 h. Using a combination of field sampling and remote sensing techniques (Landsat TM, SAR interferometry, airphotos, and laser altimetry), we document the sandur-wide geomorphic impacts of this event. These impacts varied widely across the Skeióarársandur and cannot be singularly attributed to jökulhlaup magnitude because pre-jökulhlaup glacial dynamics and the extant setting largely conditioned the spatial pattern, type, and magnitude of these impacts. Topographic lowering and asymmetric retreat of the ice front during the late twentieth century has decoupled the ice sheet from the moraine/sandur complex along the central and western sandur. This glacial control, in combination with the convex topography of the proximal sandur, promoted a shift from a primarily diffuse-source braided outwash system to a more point-sourced, channelized discharge of water and sediment. Deposition dominated within the proglacial depression, with approximately 3.8*10⁷ m³ of sediment, and along channel systems that remained connected to subglacial sediment supplies. This shift to a laterally dissimilar, channelized routing system creates a more varied depositional pattern that is not explicitly controlled by the concave longitudinal profile down-sandur. Laterally contiguous units, therefore, may vary greatly in age and sediment character, suggesting that current facies models inadequately characterize sediment transfers when the ice front is decoupled from its …

Beginning A New Era Of Drought Monitoring Across North America, Jay Lawrimore, Richard R. Heim Jr., Mark D. Svoboda, Val Swail, Phil J. Englehart

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Drought experts from the United States, Canada, and Mexico met at the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina, for a three-day workshop in late April 2002 to discuss the United States Drought Monitor program and to develop a plan for initiating a new program of drought monitoring for North America. Since its inception in 1999, the U.S. Drought Monitor (DM) has been extremely successful in assessing and communicating the state of drought in the United States on a weekly basis. This success, and the recognition that an ongoing comprehensive and integrated drought assessment was needed throughout all three …

Structural And Geomorphological Evolution Of Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), Anhui Province, China, Pei-Hua Huang, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., Ming-Qing Yang

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) is an 1864-m granite massif situated at 30° 10′ N and 118° 11′ E, south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The granite formed during the Early Cretaceous and was subsequently uplifted several times along faults. After the initial uplift, about 54 Ma, erosion proceeded to wear away the mountain for the next 30 Ma. By 24 Ma the Bright Summit Peneplain had formed. Renewed uplift in the Miocene along the same fault systems produced a mountain in the same place as the original one. This mountain was eroded to produce a second mature denudational …

Public Attitudes And Knowledge Of The Black-Tailed Prairie Dog: A Common And Controversial Species, Donna Lybecker, Berton Lee Lamb, Phadrea Ponds

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus; hereafter, prairie dogs) are native to the short-grass prairie region of North America from Mexico to Canada (figure 1).According to government documents (64 Federal Register 57 at 14426–14427), before the 19th century expansion of the United States, prairie dogs inhabited millions of acres of the Great Plains and lived in huge colonies west of the Missouri River. Settlement of the Great Plains and the transformation of vast areas from native grassland to tilled farmland forever changed the prairie ecosystem and prairie dog habitat.
Over the course of the last century, the habitat range …

Groundwater Flow To A Horizontal Or Slanted Well In An Unconfined Aquifer, Hongbin Zhan, Vitaly A. Zlotnik

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

New semianalytical solutions for evaluation of the drawdown near horizontal and slanted wells with finite length screens in unconfined aquifers are presented. These fully three-dimensional solutions consider instantaneous drainage or delayed yield and aquifer anisotropy. As a basis, solution for the drawdown created by a point source in a uniform anisotropic unconfined aquifer is derived in Laplace domain. Using superposition, the point source solution is extended to the cases of the horizontal and slanted wells. The previous solutions for vertical wells can be described as a special case of the new solutions. Numerical Laplace inversion allows effective evaluation of the …

Distribution Of Channel Catfish Life Stages In A Prairie River Basin, Jason C. Vokoun, Charles F. Rabeni

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

To describe the pattern of use by age 0, juvenile, and adult channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) in a prairie river basin, we collected concurrent samples from tributaries and mainstem study sites in the Grand River basin of northern Missouri. Using standardized methods, we made collections in June, August, and October of 1997 and 1998. Age 0 channel catfish were found in all three streams in August, but rarely were observed in the tributaries during October. Juveniles (ages 1-3) and adults were observed in all three streams in all three months sampled. Tag returns suggested that age 2 and …

Selection Of Nesting Habitat By Sharptailed Grouse In The Nebraska Sandhills, Bart L. Prose, Brian S. Cade, Dale Hein

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We evaluated nesting habitat selection (disproportionate use compared to availability) by plains sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus jamesi) on rangelands grazed by cattle (Bas taurus) relative to height, density, and heterogeneity of residual herbaceous vegetation remaining from previous growing seasons. Residual cover is critical for nesting sharp-tailed grouse and can be lacking on grazed rangelands. Aerial photography and a geographic information system were used to analyze residual cover height classes and several measures of residual cover heterogeneity in nest (n = 38) and random (n = 38) plots. Height classes corresponded to visual obstruction readings (YORs), the …

Early Warming Of Tropical South America At The Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition, G. O. Seltzer, D. T. Rodbell, P. A. Baker, Sherilyn C. Fritz, P. M. Tapia, H. D. Rowe, R. B. Dunbar

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Glaciation in the humid tropical Andes is a sensitive indicator of mean annual temperature. Here, we present sedimentological data from lakes beyond the glacial limit in the tropical Andes indicating that deglaciation from the Last Glacial Maximum led substantial warming at high northern latitudes. Deglaciation from glacial maximum positions at Lake Titicaca, Peru/Bolivia (16°S), and Lake Junin, Peru (11°S), occurred 22,000 to 19,500 calendar years before the present, several thousand years before the Bølling-Allerød warming of the Northern Hemisphere and deglaciation of the Sierra Nevada, United States (36.5° to 38°N). The tropical Andes deglaciated while climatic conditions remained regionally wet, …

The Lacustrine Carbon Cycle As Illuminated By The Waters And Sediments Of Two Hydrologically Distinct Headwater Lakes In North-Central Minnesota, U.S.A., Walter E. Dean, Antje Schwalb

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The accumulation rates of CaCO₃ and organic carbon (OC) in lake sediments are delicately balanced between production in the epilimnion and destruction in the hypolimnion. The cycling of these two forms of carbon makes a ‘‘carbon pump’’ that greatly affects the biogeochemical cycles of other elements. To further understand these biogeochemical dynamics, the lakes, streams, and wetlands of the Shingobee River headwater area of north-central Minnesota have been subjected to intensive hydrologic and biogeochemical studies. Williams Lake, situated close to the highest point in the regional flow system, is hydrologically closed, with no surface inlet or outlet, and ground …

Physical And Chemical Heterogeneity In The Subsurface: Spatial Distribution Of Transport Parameters And Their Relation To Depositional Processes, Dana Divine

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

This thesis consists of two parts. The goal of first section is to better understand the influence of heterogeneity on contaminant transport. This objective is approached by quantifying the heterogeneity that may have affected transport of the Stanford-Waterloo tetrachloroethene (PCE) plume. Specifically, I determine the statistical distribution of the PCE sorption distribution coefficient (K_d) at Canadian Forces Base Borden, identify the spatial distribution of K_d, and determine the cross-correlation structure between PCE Kd and permeability (k). The results show that K_d is not lognormally distributed, and that variance is insufficient to …

The Drought Monitor, Mark D. Svoboda, Doug Lecomte, Mike Hayes, Richard Heim, Karin Gleason, Jim Angel, Brad Rippey, Rich Tinker, Mike Palecki, David Stooksbury, David Miskus, Scott Stephens

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

There is a need for improved drought monitoring and assessment methods in the United States. Drought is the most costly natural disaster [Federal Emergency Management Agancy (FEMA 1995; Wilhite 2000)], but it is often neglected by developers of assessment and forecast products. Drought is more nebulous than other disasters and does not lend itself to traditional assessments or forecast methods. Its relatively slow onset and the complexity of its impacts are reasons for the new assessment methodology. Improvements in drought monitoring and forecasting techniques will allow for better preparation, lead to better management practices, and reduce the vulnerability of society …

Late-Quaternary Lowstands Of Lake Titicaca: Evidence From High-Resolution Seismic Data, Karin D'Agostino, Geoffrey Seltzer, Paul A. Baker, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Robert Dunbar

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Approximately 600 km of high-resolution seismic reflection data were collected to investigate the late-Quaternary stratigraphic development of Lake Titicaca. The focus of this report is on two seismic sequence boundaries, which are interpreted as erosional surfaces formed at times of low lake level. The younger erosional surface occurs as much as 90 m below the present lake level and up to 8 m below the present sediment–water interface. This erosional surface is interpreted to be coeval with a well-documented early- to mid-Holocene lowstand, dated between ~8,000 and 3,600 cal yr BP. An earlier and previously unknown erosional surface occurs at …

Dynamic Interpretation Of Slug Tests In Highly Permeable Aquifers, Brian R. Zurbuchen, Vitalya. Zlotnik, James J. Butler Jr.

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Considerable progress has been made in developing a theoretical framework for modeling slug test responses in formations with high hydraulic conductivity K. However, several questions of practical significance remain unresolved. Given the rapid and often oscillatory nature of test responses, the traditional hydrostatic relationship between the water level and the transducer-measured head in the water column may not be appropriate. A general dynamic interpretation is proposed that describes the relationship between water level response and transducer-measured head. This theory is utilized to develop a procedure for transforming model-generated water level responses to transducer readings. The magnitude of the difference …

Vocs, Pesticides, Nitrate, And Their Mixtures In Groundwater Used For Drinking Water In The United States, Paul Squillace, Jonathon Scott, Michael Moran, B. T. Nolan, Dana Kolpin

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Samples of untreated groundwater from 1255 domestic drinking-water wells and 242 public supply wells were analyzed as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program of the U.S. Geological Survey between 1992 and 1999. Wells were sampled to define the regional quality of the groundwater resource and, thus, were distributed geographically across large aquifers, primarily in rural areas. For each sample, as many as 60 volatile organic compounds (VOCs), 83 pesticides, and nitrate were analyzed. On the basis of previous studies, nitrate concentrations as nitrogen ≥3 mg/L were considered to have an anthropogenic origin. VOCs were detected more frequently (44%) than …

Pharmaceuticals, Hormones, And Other Organic Wastewater Contaminants In U.S. Streams, 1999-2000: A National Reconnaissance, Dana Kolpin, Edward Furlong, Michael Meyer, E. Michael Thurman, Steven Zaugg, Larry Barber, Herbert Buxton

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

To provide the first nationwide reconnaissance of the occurrence of pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants (OWCs) in water resources, the U.S. Geological Survey used five newly developed analytical methods to measure concentrations of 95 OWCs in water samples from a network of 139 streams across 30 states during 1999 and 2000. The selection of sampling sites was biased toward streams susceptible to contamination (i.e. downstream of intense urbanization and livestock production). OWCs were prevalent during this study, being found in 80% of the streams sampled. The compounds detected represent a wide range of residential, industrial, and agricultural origins …

Depositional History And Neotectonics In Great Salt Lake, Utah, From High-Resolution Seismic Stratigraphy, Steven M. Colman, Kerry R. Kelts, David A. Dinter

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

High-resolution seismic-reflection data from Great Salt Lake show that the basinal sediment sequence is cut by numerous faults with N–S and NE–SW orientations. This faulting shows evidence of varied timing and relative offsets, but includes at least three events totaling about 12 m following the Bonneville phase of the lake (since about 13.5 ka). Several faults displace the uppermost sediments and the lake floor. Bioherm structures are present above some faults, which suggests that the faults served as conduits for sublacustrine discharge of fresh water. A shallow, fault-controlled ridge between Carrington Island and Promontory Point, underlain by a well-cemented pavement, …

Upper Cretaceous Diatom Biostratigraphy Of The Arctic Archipelago And Northern Continental Margin, Canada, Pedro M. Tapia, David M. Harwood

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Strata in the Canadian Arctic contain diverse and moderately well-preserved Late Cretaceous siliceous microfossil assemblages. One-hundred-twelve samples were analyzed from a composite stratigraphic section (1094m-thick) of the Smoking Hills, Mason River and Kanguk formations. Four sections were examined: (1) Slidre Fjord on Ellesmere Island; (2) Hoodoo Dome on Ellef Ringnes Island; (3) Cape Nares on Eglinton Island; and (4) Horton River on the Anderson Plains, Northwest Territories. Two hundred- three diatom taxa were identified in forty-nine productive samples. Four Upper Cretaceous diatom zones are proposed for the Canadian Arctic based on the biostratigraphic distribution of diatoms: (i) the Upper Cenomanian …

Effects Of Surface Run-Off On The Transport Of Agricultural Chemicals To Ground Water In A Sandplain Setting, Geoffrey N. Delin, Matthew K. Landon

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

An experiment was conducted at a depressional (lowland) and an upland site in sandy soils to evaluate the effects of surface run-off on the transport of agricultural chemicals to ground water. Approximately 16.5 cm of water was applied to both sites during the experiment, representing a natural precipitation event with a recurrence interval of approximately 100 years. Run-off was quantified at the lowland site and was not detected at the upland site during the experiment. Run-off of water to the lowland site was the most important factor affecting differences in the concentrations and fluxes of the agricultural chemicals between the …

Land Use Change And Modification Of Near-Surface Thermal Records In The Northern Great Plains, Rezaul Mahmood, Ken Hubbard, Christy Carlson

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

The North American Great Plains have experienced a rapid overturning of natural grasslands to agricultural land use over the last century. Moreover, in some areas more than 80% of the land use has changed from dry land to irrigated agriculture during the second half of the twentieth century. It is speculated that these changes have modified near-surface atmospheric condition and our modeling study seems to support this. To identify changes in land surface- atmospheric modifications we have applied a soil moistureenergy balance model at three locations in Nebraska: Mead, York, and McCook. The model was applied for three land uses …

Morrill County Test Hole Logs, Vernon L. Souders, James B. Swinehart

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Passing The Torch Of Wildlife And Fisheries Management: Comparing The Attitudes And Values Of Younger And Older Conservation Professionals, Robert M. Muth, Rodney R. Zwick, Martha E. Mather, John F. Organ

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Wildlife-related values in American society are undergoing considerable change. Within the last few decades, non-consumptive recreational use of wildlife has increased dramatically; groups that subscribe to animal protection values (ranging from animal welfare to animal rights to animal liberation) are exercising increasing influence over wildlife policy, and the ranks of people who practice wildlife rehabilitation have grown significantly. In this time of questioning and change, it should not be surprising that the attitudes and values of conservation professionals are in transition as well. Within many agencies and academic institutions, the traditional focus on game management (Geist et al. 2001) is …

Progress On Geoenvironmental Models For Selected Mineral Deposit Types, Robert R. Seal Ii, Nora K. Foley

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Since the beginning of economic geology as a subdiscipline of the geological sciences, economic geologists have tended to classify mineral deposits on the basis of geological, mineralogical, and geochemical criteria, in efforts to systematize our understanding of mineral deposits as an aid to exploration. These efforts have lead to classifications based on commodity, geologic setting (Cox and Singer, 1986), inferred temperatures and pressures of ore formation (Lindgren, 1933), and genetic setting (Park and MacDiarmid, 1975; Jensen and Bateman, 1979). None of these classification schemes is mutually exclusive; instead, there is considerable overlap among all of these classifications. A natural outcome …

Development Of A Circa 2000 Landcover Database For The United States, Collin Homer, Chengquan Huang, Limin Yang, Bruce K. Wylie

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Multi-Resolution Land Characterization 2000 (MRLC 2000) is a second-generation federal consortium to create an updated pool of nation-wide Landsat 7 imagery, and derive a second-generation National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2000). This multi-layer, multisource database will include a suite of 30-meter resolution data that will serve as standardized ingredients for the production of land cover – both nationally and locally. This database will also provide the framework to allow flexibility in developing and applying suites of independent data layers. These nationally standardized independent data layers or components, will be useful not only within the land-cover classification but as data themes …