Earth Sciences Commons^™

Supplemental Water Supplies Policy Issue Study: A Contract Report For The State Water Planning And Review Process-Nebraska Natural Resources Commission.

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Asymmetrical Distribution Of Quaternary Alluvial Fills, Pumpkin Creek Drainage Basin, Western Nebraska, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., R. George Corner

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

A remnant alluvial fill of early Pleistocene age exposed in Pumpkin Creek Valley, Banner and Morrill counties, Nebraska, has yielded fossils of Mammuthus meridionalis (Nesti) and Equus sp. cf. E. scotti Gidley. Younger fill remnants of trunk and tributary streams allow a refinement of earlier views on the development of the Pumpkin Creek drainage basin during the Quaternary Period. Ancestral Pumpkin Creek both shifted to the north and entrenched its valley several times during the Quaternary Period leaving alluvial fills at three levels or more south of the present creek. Piracy of the headwaters of ancestral Pumpkin Creek took …

Government Response To Drought In The United States: With Particular Reference To The Great Plains, Donald A. Wilhite

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Drought relief has become an expected response of the federal government to periods of widespread drought in the United States. A wide range of emergency, short-term and long-term drought programs were formulated to deal with the extreme drought of the 1930's. By 1977 there were 40 separate programs administered by 16 different federal agencies. This paper traces the development of federal drought relief bureaucracy, including drought designation criteria and procedures.

Two obvious deficiencies of past drought relief efforts in the United States are noted. First, drought relief organizations and programs have been hastily assembled during periods of crisis. This has …

Turbulent Exchange Of Carbon Dioxide, Water Vapor, Heat And Momentum Over Crop Surfaces, Dean E. Anderson

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

No abstract provided.

Paleotemperature Oscillations In The Middle And Late Miocene Of The Northeastern Pacific, John A. Barron, Gerta Keller

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic history of the Middle and Late Miocene marginal eastern North Pacific as been studied in a north-to-south transect encompassing DSDP Site 173, the Newport Beach surface section, and DSDP Site 470, based on quantitative diatom and planktic foraminiferal analyses. Fourteen cold and 12 warm events that show close agreement with other microfossil studies as well as oxygen isotope records from low-latitude Pacific sites have been identified. Hiatuses are recognized at 7 to 6.5 Ma. 9.8 to 8.5 Ma, and 12 to 11 Ma at the three reference localities, and they correspond to widely recognized deep-sea hiatuses …

Jurassic Calcareous Nannofossil Zonation And Overview With New Evidence From Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 534, Peter H. Roth, Alan W. Medd, David K. Watkins

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

A zonation is presented for the oceanic late Middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic of the Atlantic Ocean. The oldest zone, the Stephenolithion bigotii Zone (subdivided into a Stephanolithion hexum Subzone and a Cyclagelosphaera margerelii Subzone), is middle Callovian to early Oxfordian. The Vagalapilla stradneri Zone is middle Oxfordian to Kimmeridgian. The Conusphaera mexicana Zone, subdivided into a lower Hexapodorhabdus cuvillieri Subzone and a Polycostella beckmannii Subzone, is the latest Kimmeridgian to Tithonian. Direct correlation of this zonation with the boreal zonation established for Britain and northern France (Barnard and Hay, 1974; Medd, 1982; Hamilton, 1982) is difficult because of poor …

Chemical Composition Of Ground Water And The Locations Of Permeable Zones In The Yucca Mountain Area, Nevada, Larry Benson, J. H. Robison, R. K. Blankennagel, A. E. Ogard

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Ten wells in the Yucca Mountain area of southern Nevada have been sampled for chemical analysis. Samples were obtained during pumping of water from the entire well bore (composite sample) and in one instance by pumping water from a single isolated interval in well UE-25b#1. Sodium is the most abundant cation and bicarbonate the most abundant anion in all water samples. Although the general chemical compositions of individual samples are similar, there are significant differences in uncorrected carbon-14 age and in inorganic and stable-isotope composition. Flow surveys of seven wells performed using iodine-131 as a tracer indicate that ground-water production …

Forest City Basin Maps: Lineament Map, R. R. Burchett, R. R. Anderson, L. L. Brady, K. L. Deason

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Wetland Inventories Of Nebraska's Sandhills, D. C. Rundquist

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

A Hydrochemical Reconnaissance Study Of The Walker River Basin, California And Nevada, Larry Benson, R. J. Spencer

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

During 1975 and 1976, a large number of water and sediment samples were collected from the Walker River Basin. Additional surface water samples were collected during 1980 and 1981. Data are given herein for chemical analyses of snowmelt, tributary, river, spring, well, lake, reservoir, lake sediment pore fluid, tufa, lake and river sediment samples. These data provide the basis for consideration of processes which govern the chemical evolution of large closed basin hydrologic systems in the Basin and Range Province of the Southwestern United States.

The Walker River Basin, a part of the Basin and Range Province, is located i~ …

Reassessment Of The Rates At Which Oil From Natural Sources Enters The Marine Environment, Keith A. Kvenvolden, John W. Harbaugh

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Previous estimates of the world-wide input of oil to the marine environment by natural seeps ranged from 0 ·2 to 6 ·0 million (metric) tonnes per year with a 'best estimate' of 0 ·6 million tonnes per year. Based on considerations of the availability of oil for seepage from the world's known and assumed oil resources, we believe that the world-wide natural oil seepage over geological time should be revised to about 0 ·2 million tonnes per ),ear with a range upward or downward of a factor of ten leading to estimates between 0 ·02 and 2 million tonnes per …

In Situ Studies Of Velocity In Fractured Crystalline Rocks, Daniel Moos, Mark D. Zoback

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A study of the effects of macroscopic fractures on P and S wave velocities has been conducted in four wells drilled in granitic rock to depths between 0.6 and 1.2km. The effect of macroscopic fractures is to decrease both V_p, and V_s and increase V_p/V_s. In wells with a relatively low density of macroscopic fractures, the in situ velocitiys similar to that of saturated core samples under confining pressure in the laboratory, and there is a clear correlation between zones with macroscopic fractures and anomalously low velocities. In wells with numerous macroscopic fractures, …

State Of Stress In The Lithosphere, Mark D. Zoback

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Recent estimates of the magnitude and orientation of lithospheric stresses are
reviewed. Data come from a variety of sources including earthquake focal mechanisms, fault slip data, young volcanic dikes and feeders, in-situ stress measurements at depth, lithospheric flexure models, microstructure paleopiezometry, and consideration of constraints on maximum stress differences from laboratory-determined friction and flow laws.

Miocene Burrows Of Extinct Bear Dogs: Indication Of Early Denning Behavior Of Large Mammalian Carnivores, Robert M. Hunt Jr., Xue Xiang-Xu, Joshua Kaufman

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Partial skeletons off our species of extinct carnivores have been found in their dens excavated in the floodplain of an early Miocene ephemeral braided stream at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska. Bear dogs (Carnivora: Amphicyonidae) were the principal occupants; their den dimensions and body size are similar to those of living wolves and hyenas. Discovery of this predator community extends the record of denning behavior of large mammalian carnivores to the early Miocene, 20 million years ago.

Annual Departures From Average Annual Precipitation In Nebraska, 1850-1982, Conservation Survey Division

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Nebraska Mineral Operations Review, 1982, Raymond R. Burchett, Duane A. Eversoll

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Annual Departures From Average Annual Precipitation In Nebraska, 1850-1982, Conservation And Survey Division

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Monitoring Nebraska's Sandhills Lakes, D. W. Buckwalter

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Nebraska Groundwater Level (Decline & Rise) And Location Of Registered Wells, 1983

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Variation Of Whole Body Components As An Indicator Of Habitat Quality In Geomys Bursarius And Peromyscus Maniculatus, Joseph W. Nietfeldt

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

No abstract provided.

Mass And Energy Exchanges Of Soybeans: Microclimate–Plant Architectural Interactions, Dennis D. Baldocchi

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

No abstract provided.

Gully, Scour Hole, And Pothole Development At The Base Of The Gering Formation (Miocene?), Southeastern Banner County, Nebraska, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

Several sediment-filled paleovalleys belonging to the Arikaree Group of Miocene (?) age occur in southeastern Banner County, Nebraska. One gully and a main paleovalley exhibit, respectively, erosional features like those in modern gullies in the area and like those on the bedrock floors of modern straight streams carrying an appreciable sediment load. Scour holes and a pothole on the valley floor of the main paleovalley are similar to those produced experimentally on the bed of a straight stream.

Early History Of The Atlantic Ocean And Gas Hydrates On The Blake Outer Ridge: Results Of The Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 76, Robert E. Sheridan, Felix M. Gradstein, Leo A. Barnard, Deborah M. Bliefnick, Dan Habib, Peter D. Jenden, Hideo Kagami, Everly M. Keenan, John Kostecki, Keith A. Kvenvolden, Michel Moullade, James Ogg, Alastair H.F. Robertson, Peter H. Roth, Thomas H. Shipley, Larry Wells, Jay L. Bowdler, Pierre H. Cotillon, Robert B. Halley, Hajimu Kinoshita, James W. Patton, Kenneth A. Pisciotto, Isabella Premoli-Silva, Margaret M. Testarmata, Richard V. Tyson, David K. Watkins

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Leg 76 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project achieved two major scientific objectives. The first objective was met at Site 533, where on the Blake Outer Ridge, gas hydrates were identified by geophysical, geochemical, and geological studies. Gas-hydrate decomposition produced a volumetric expansion of 20:1 of gas volume to pore-fluid volume; this expansion exceeded by about a factor of four the volume of gas that could be released from solution in pore water under similar conditions. The gas hydrate includes methane, ethane, propane, and isobutane but apparently excluded normal butane and higher molecular weight hydrocarbons as predicted from gas hydrate …

Nebraska's Platte River: A Graphic Analysis Of Flows, Ray Bentall

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

WSP-53

Groundwater Levels In Nebraska, 1981, Martin S. Johnson, Darryll T. Pederson

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Geometries And General Features Of Some Cenozoic Valleys And Valley Fills, Western Nebraska, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Portions of Tertiary and Quaternary valleys and valley fills have been exhumed by recent stream erosion at many sites in western Nebraska. Paleovalleys vary from narrow, steep-sided, high gradient tributary gullies less than 0.1 km wide to broad, flat-floored valleys produced by lateral erosion. Segments of valley floors may be nearly smooth in the case of a Quaternary example, or may be very irregular with potholes and other deep scour features. Paleovalley sides, when exposed, are often steeply sloping, and approaching or possibly going beyond the vertical where the valleys have been eroded into the Brule Formation. Paleovalleys range in …

Harrisburg Quadrangle, Banner County, Nebraska, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

7.5' topgraphic quadrangle showing exposures of bedrock formations and other geologic information.

41° 30' — 41° 37'30"

103° 37'30" — 103° 45'

Scale 1:24,000

Completed May 10, 1982 (?)

High resolution .tif file attached below as supplemental file

Nebraska Groundwater Level (Decline & Rise) And Location Of Registered Wells, 1982

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Threshold Friction Velocities And Rupture Moduli For Crusted Desert Soils For The Input Of Soil Particles Into The Air, Dale A. Gillette, John Adams, Daniel R. Muhs, Rolf Kihl

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Desert soils having clay crusts, mostly from the Mojave Desert, were tested for threshold friction velocity (the friction velocity at which soil erosion begins) with an open-bottomed wind tunnel. The soils were also tested for content of clay, water-soluble material, calcium carbonate, organic material, mineralogy of clay and of salts, soil moisture, modulus of rupture, and crust thickness. If no loose material existed on the soil surface, crusts having modulus of rupture greater than 0.7 bar and crust thickness of 0.7 cm to 0.3 cm were effective in protecting against wind erosion. Disturbed clay crusts having modulus of rupture before …

Diatom Biostratigraphy And Paleoecology Of The Type Section Of The Luisian Stage, Central California, Jack G. Baldauf, John A. Barron

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Diatoms from the type section of the Luisian Stage in central California correlate with the lowermost part of the Denticulopsis lauta Zone through the lower part of subzone "a" of the Denticulopsis hustedtii –D. lauta Zone and are early Middle Miocene in age (about 16.0 to 14.0 Ma}. Rocks assigned to the Luisian Stage by benthic foraminifers elsewhere in California exhibit little diachroneity in terms of diatom biostratigraphy; however, detailed studies of boundaries have not been done. Planktic diatoms dominate the assemblages, although an increase in benthic and tychopelagic diatoms in the overlying Hames Member of the Monterey Formation probably …