Earth Sciences Commons^™

Integrated Approach For Sinkhole Evaluation And Evolution Prediction In The Central Ebro Basin (Ne Spain), Oscar Pueyo Anchuela, Andrés Pocoví Juan, Antonio M. Casas Sainz, Javier Gracia Abadias, Carlos L. Liesa Carrera

International Journal of Speleology

Evaluation of karst hazards benefits from the integration of different techniques, methodologies and approaches. Each one presents a different signature and is sensitive to certain indicators related to karst hazards. In some cases, detailed analysis permits the evaluation of representativeness either from isolated approaches or by means of integrated analyses. In this study, we present the evaluation of an area with high density of karstic collapses at different evolutionary stages through the integration of surficial, historical, geomorphological and geophysical data in order to finally define the evolutionary model for karst activity development. The obtained dataset permits to identify different steps …

Karst Development Of An Evaporitic System And Its Hydrogeological Implications Inferred From Gis-Based Analysis And Tracing Techniques, José M. Gil-Márquez, Juan A. Barberá, Matías Mudarra, Bartolomé Andreo, Jorge Prieto-Mera, Damián Sánchez, L. David Rizo-Decelis, Manuel Argamasilla, José M. Nieto, Beatríz De La Torre

International Journal of Speleology

The geomorphological characteristics and hydrogeological functioning of a geologically heterogeneous evaporitic karst plateau in Southern Spain were studied. Land surface information (LiDAR data) was used to analyze the shape and distribution of closed depressions. An artificial tracer test and monitoring of the natural responses of the main spring have allowed to infer the karstic development of the studied system. Three dyes were injected in selected swallow holes to trace the main groundwater flowpaths and to estimate the dimension of the conduit network. Discharge, electrical conductivity and temperature were monitored in the groundwater that drains the evaporitic plateau during an individual …

Hydrogeological Flow In Gypsum Karst Areas: Some Examples From Northern Italy And Main Circulation Models, Bartolomeo Vigna, Ilenia M. D'Angeli, Adriano Fiorucci, Jo De Waele

International Journal of Speleology

A Messinian succession containing gypsum beds crops out in northern Italy, mainly in Piedmont and along the northern flank of the Apennine mountains in Emilia-Romagna. These gypsum bodies have been extensively quarried at the surface, in outcrops, and through underground quarries. In Emilia-Romagna these gypsum outcrops can be rather extensive, several km long and up to 1 km wide, while in Piedmont they are mostly covered by silty-marly deposits of Upper Messinian and Pliocene age and show only sparse and small outcrops. The underground quarrying of these evaporite bodies in Piedmont has allowed studying in detail their hydrogeology, and the …

Integration Of Multi-Criteria And Nearest Neighbour Analysis With Kernel Density Functions For Improving Sinkhole Susceptibility Models: The Case Study Of Enemonzo (Ne Italy), Chiara Calligaris, Stefano Devoto, Jorge P. Galve, Luca Zini, José V. Pérez-Peña

International Journal of Speleology

The significance of intra-mountain valleys to infrastructure and human settlements and the need to mitigate the geo-hazard affecting these assets are fundamental to the economy of Italian alpine regions. Therefore, there is a real need to recognize and assess possible geo-hazards affecting them. This study proposes the use of GIS-based analyses to construct a sinkhole susceptibility model based on conditioning factors such as land use, geomorphology, thickness of shallow deposits, distance to drainage network and distance to faults. Thirty-two models, applied to a test site (Enemonzo municipality, NE Italy), were produced using a method based on the Likelihood Ratio (λ) …

Possible Evaporite Karst In An Interior Layered Deposit In Juventae Chasma, Mars, Davide Baioni, Mario Tramontana

International Journal of Speleology

This paper describes karst landforms observed in an interior layered deposit (ILD) located within Juventae Chasma a trough of the Valles Marineris, a rift system that belongs to the Tharsis region of Mars. The ILD investigated is characterized by spectral signatures of kieserite, an evaporitic mineral present on Earth. A morphologic and morphometric survey of the ILD surface performed on data of the Orbiter High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) highlighted the presence of depressions of various shapes and sizes. These landforms interpreted as dolines resemble similar karst landforms on Earth and in other regions of Mars. The observed karst …

The 2016 North Atlantic Hurricane Season: A Season Of Extremes, Jennifer Collins, David R. Roache

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The 2016 North Atlantic hurricane season had an early start with a rare and powerful storm for January impacting the Azores at hurricane force. Likewise, the end of season heralded Otto which was record breaking in location and intensity being a high‐end Category 2 storm at landfall over southern central America in late November. We show that high precipitable water, positive relative vorticity, and low sea level pressure allowed for conducive conditions. During the season, few storms occurred in the main development region. While some environmental conditions were conducive for formation there (such as precipitable water, relative vorticity, and shear), …

Strain Release At The Trench During Shallow Slow Slip: The Example Of Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica, Yan Jiang, Zhen Liu, Earl E. Davis, Susan Y. Schwartz, Timothy H. Dixon, Nicholas K. Voss, Rocco Malservisi, Marino Protti

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The near‐trench behavior of subduction megathrust faults is critical for understanding earthquake hazard and tsunami generation. The shallow subduction interface is typically located in unconsolidated sediments that are considered too weak to accumulate elastic strain. However, the spectrum of shallow fault slip behavior is still elusive, due in large part to the lack of near‐field observations. Here we combine measurements from seafloor pressure sensors near the trench and an onshore GPS network in a time‐dependent inversion to image the initiation and migration of a well‐documented slow slip event (SSE) in 2007 at the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica. Our results show …

High-Resolution Dem Generation From Multiple Remote Sensing Data Sources For Improved Volcanic Hazard Assessment - A Case Study From Nevado Del Ruiz, Colombia, Fanghui Deng, Mel Rodgers, Tim Dixon, Sylvain J. Charbonnier, Elisabeth Gallant, Nicholas Voss, Surui Xie, Rocco Malservisi, Milton Ordoñez, Cristian López

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Eruptions of active volcanoes in the presence of snow and ice can cause dangerous floods, avalanches and lahars,threatening millions of people living close to such volcanoes. Colombia’s deadliest volcanic hazard in recordedhistory was caused by Nevado del Ruiz Volcano. On November 13, 1985, a relatively small eruption triggeredenormous lahars, killing over 23,000 people in the city of Armero and 2,000 people in the town of Chinchina.Meltwater from a glacier capping the summit of the volcano was the main contributor to the lahars. From 2010 topresent, increased seismicity, surface deformation, ash plumes and gas emissions have been observed at Nevadodel Ruiz. …

Timing Of Speleogenesis Of Las Karmidas Cave (Mexico): First Description Of Pseudokarst Developed In Ignimbrite, María Del Pilar Aliaga-Campuzano, Rafael López-Martínez, Pablo Dávila-Harris, Ramón Espinasa-Pereña, Adriana Espino Del Castillo, J.P. Bernal

International Journal of Speleology

Las Karmidas Cave (Puebla State, Mexico) is an unusual type of pseudokarstic cavity generated by piping and erosive processes within the contact of a diamicton and an overlying Quaternary ignimbrite. Morphological evidence suggests that the cave was developed in two stages: a phreatic stage and a vadose stage. The latter was characterized by the formation of carbonate speleothems. The absolute upper-age limit for the cave (168 +7.1/-7.5 ka) was established by U-Th dating of zircons grains extracted from the overlying ignimbrite, whilst a minimum age for the transition from a phreatic to vadose regime (95.6 ± 2.1 ka) was constrained …

Evaporite Karst Geohazards In The Delaware Basin, Texas: Review Of Traditional Karst Studies Coupled With Geophysical And Remote Sensing Characterization, Kevin W. Stafford, Wesley A. Brown, Jon T. Ehrhart, Adam F. Majzoub, Jonathan D. Woodard

International Journal of Speleology

Evaporite karst throughout the Gypsum Plain of west Texas is complex and extensive, including manifestations ranging from intrastratal brecciation and hypogene caves to epigene features and suffosion caves. Recent advances in hydrocarbon exploration and extraction has resulted in increased infrastructure development and utilization in the area; as a result, delineation and characterization of potential karst geohazards throughout the region have become a greater concern. While traditional karst surveys are essential for delineating the subsurface extent and morphology of individual caves for speleogenetic interpretation, these methods tend to underestimate the total extent of karst development and require surficial manifestation of karst …

Open Data And Digital Morphology, Thomas G. Davies, Imran A. Rahman, Stephan Lautenschlager, John A. Cunningham, Robert J. Asher, Paul M. Barrett, Karl T. Bates, Stefan Bengtson, Roger B. J. Benson, Doug M. Boyer, José Braga, Jen A. Bright

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Over the past two decades, the development of methods for visualizing and analysing specimens digitally, in three and even four dimensions, has transformed the study of living and fossil organisms. However, the initial promise that the widespread application of such methods would facilitate access to the underlying digital data has not been fully achieved. The underlying datasets for many published studies are not readily or freely available, introducing a barrier to verification and reproducibility, and the reuse of data. There is no current agreement or policy on the amount and type of data that should be made available alongside studies …

Evolution Characteristics Of Landscape Ecological Risk Patterns In Coastal Zones In Zhejiang Province, China, Jialin Li, Ruiliang Pu, Hongbo Gong, Xu Luo, Mengyao Ye, Baixiang Feng

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Analyzing evolution characteristics of landscape ecological risk patterns would help establish ecological risk early warning mechanism, reduce the ecological risk probability and promote coastal landscape pattern optimization. In this study, landscape pattern indices were first calculated by using multitemporal Landsat TM images acquired in years 1990, 2000 and 2010, then landscape ecological risk pattern evolution models and the spatiotemporal evolutions of ecological risk patterns of coastal zones in Zhejiang province, China were constructed and analyzed. The results demonstrate that (1) greater changes have taken place in landscape structures during the two decades, and (2) the areas of cropland, sea, woodland …

Holocene Winter Climate Variability In Central And Eastern Europe, Aurel Perşoiu, Bogdan P. Onac, Jonathan G. Wynn, Maarten Blaauw, Monica Ionita, Margareta Hansson

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Among abundant reconstructions of Holocene climate in Europe, only a handful has addressed winter conditions, and most of these are restricted in length and/or resolution. Here we present a record of late autumn through early winter air temperature and moisture source changes in East-Central Europe for the Holocene, based on stable isotopic analysis of an ice core recovered from a cave in the Romanian Carpathian Mountains. During the past 10,000 years, reconstructed temperature changes followed insolation, with a minimum in the early Holocene, followed by gradual and continuous increase towards the mid-to-late-Holocene peak (between 4-2 kcal BP), and finally by …

Quantity Trumps Quality: Bayesian Statistical Accumulation Modeling Guides Radiocarbon Measurements To Construct A Chronology In Real-Time, Devon Robert Firesinger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The development of an accurate and precise geochronology is imperative to understanding archives containing information about Earth’s past. Unable to date all intervals of an archive, researchers use methods of interpolation to approximate age between dates. Sections of the radiocarbon calibration curve can induce larger chronological uncertainty independent of instrumental precision, meaning even a precise date may carry inflated error in its calibration to a calendar age. Methods of interpolation range from step-wise linear regression to, most recently, Bayesian statistical models. These employ prior knowledge of accumulation rate to provide a more informed interpolation between neighboring dates. This study uses …

Using Remote Sensing To Evaluate Wetland Recovery In The Northern Tampa Bay Area Following Reduction In Groundwater Withdrawals, Amor Elder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the past, the Northern Tampa Bay Area (NTBA) wetlands saw severe declines in hydrologic conditions due to excessive groundwater withdrawal rates. Eventually these rates were reduced to allow the wetlands to recover. To monitor this recovery, the Southwest Florida Water Management district (SWFWMD) set up a fieldwork based scoring methodology, called the Wetlands Assessment Procedure (WAP). WAP has been used in many studies of the area since groundwater withdrawal reductions; with many of those studies finding the recovery to be mixed at best. However, these studies were very limited in the number of wetlands they could assess due to …

3d Cave And Ice Block Morphology From Integrated Geophysical Methods: A Case Study At Scărişoara Ice Cave, Romania, Jackson Durain Hubbard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scărişoara Ice Cave has been a catalyst of scientific intrigue and effort for over 150 years. These efforts have revealed and described countless natural phenomena – and in the process have made it one of the most studied caves in the world.

Of especial interest is the massive ice block located within its Great Hall and scientific reservations. The ice block, which is the oldest and largest known to exist in a cave, has been the focus of multiple surveying and mapping efforts, typically ones utilizing traditional equipment. In this study, the goals were to reconstruct the ice block/cave floor …

Characterizing The Evolution Of Slab Inputs In The Earliest Stages Of Subduction: Preliminary Evidence From The Fluid-Mobile Element (B, Cs, As, Li) Systematics Of Izu-Bonin Boninitic Glasses Recovered During Iodp Expedition 352, Keir Aavon Sanatan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fluid-mobile elements (FMEs) such as B, Cs, As, Li and Tl can mobilize readily under low P-T conditions (0.2-0.5 GPa). This makes them effective geochemical tracers that can be used as a way of tracking fluid-rock exchanges at the shallow depths encountered in the earliest stages of subduction.

The Izu-Bonin-Mariana (IBM) subduction system is unique in that it preserves a record of the sequences produced from the onset of subduction through the development of arc magmatism. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 352 recovered >800m of boninite core material from the earliest IBM magmatic events.

Select boninitic glasses from these …

Spatio-Temporal Dynamics Of Soil Composition And Accumulation Rates In Mangrove Wetlands, Joshua L. Breithaupt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coastal wetlands are globally important environments for biogeochemical cycling and are the object of intensive research related to the sequestration and exchange of carbon with oceans, continents, and the atmosphere. Wetland soil core records of organic carbon (OC) provide insights about future ecosystem responses to global change by identifying temporal variability in the context of environmental changes including sea level rise (SLR), anthropogenic reductions in freshwater flow, and landscape-scale disturbance events. My studies of Gulf of Mexico mangroves involved the use of radiometrically-dated soil cores to identify spatial and temporal accumulation trends of various constituents including organic and carbonate carbon, …

Evaporite Karst In Italy: A Review, Jo De Waele, Leonardo Piccini, Andrea Columbu, Giuliana Madonia, Marco Vattano, Chiara Calligaris, Ilenia D’Angeli, Mario Parise, Mauro Chiesi, Michele Sivelli, Bartolomeo Vigna, Luca Zini, Veronica Chiarini, Francesco Sauro, Russell Drysdale, Paolo Forti

International Journal of Speleology

Although outcropping rarely in Italy, evaporite (gypsum and anhydrite) karst has been described in detail since the early 20^th century. Gypsum caves are now known from almost all Italian regions, but are mainly localised along the northern border of the Apennine chain (Emilia Romagna and Marche), Calabria, and Sicily, where the major outcrops occur. Recently, important caves have also been discovered in the underground gypsum mines in Piedmont. During the late 80s and 90s several multidisciplinary studies were carried out in many gypsum areas, resulting in a comprehensive overview, promoting further research in these special karst regions. More recent …

Effects Of Anthropogenic Activity On The Green Swamp Preserve Ecosystem, Barbara Ann Nordheim-Shelt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Green Swamp Preserve is a large geographic area that has sustained many changes since Europeans settled in Florida. There has been little published research on the impacts of anthropogenic activity on this system. This thesis research seeks to document more recent changes in the Green Swamp and to evaluate the effects of various human activities on the system. The study period is from 1985 to 2015. For this time period changes in land use and landcover were examined using neural network classifications. Changes in vegetation health were evaluated by examining Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Green Vegetation Index …

Scaling And Functional Morphology In Strigiform Hind Limbs, Meen A. Madan, Emily J. Rayfield, Jen A. Bright

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Strigiformes are an order of raptorial birds consisting exclusively of owls: the Tytonidae (barn owls) and the Strigidae (true owls), united by a suite of adaptations aiding a keen predatory lifestyle, including robust hind limb elements modified for grip strength. To assess variation in hind limb morphology, we analysed how the dimensions of the major hind limb elements in subfossil and modern species scaled with body mass. Comparing hind limb element length, midshaft width, and robusticity index (RI: ratio of midshaft width to maximum length) to body mass revealed that femoral and tibiotarsal width scale with isometry, whilst length scales …

City Of Gainesville Urban Forest Ecological Analysis 2016, Michael G. Andreu, David A. Fox, Shawn M. Landry, Robert J. Northrop, Caroline A. Hament

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Bat Urea-Derived Minerals In Arid Environment. First Identification Of Allantoin, C4H6N4O3, In Kahf Kharrat Najem Cave, United Arab Emirates, Philippe Audra, Pavel Bosák, Fernando Gázquez, Didier Cailhol, Roman Skála, Lenka Lisá, Šárka Jonášová, Amos Frumkin, Martin Knez, Tadej Slabe, Nadja Zupan Hajna, Asma Al-Farraj

International Journal of Speleology

Kahf Kharrat Najem Cave is a small cave in United Arab Emirates (UAE) that hosts a bat colony which is the source of guano deposits and peculiar centimeter-long yellowish stalactites. The mineralogy and geochemistry of these deposits were analyzed using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopic microanalysis (EDX), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and stable isotope composition (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N). Urea CO(NH₂)₂ was found to be the main compound of these stalactites, while allantoin C₄H₆N₄O₃ was found to be an accessory urea byproduct. This paper …

Estimating The Frequency Of Volcanic Ash Clouds Over Northern Europe, Elizabeth J. Watson, Graeme T. Swindles, Ivan P. Savov, Ian T. Lawson, Charles B. Connor, J. A. Wilson

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Fine ash produced during explosive volcanic eruptions can be dispersed over a vast area, where it poses a threat to aviation, human health and infrastructure. Here, we focus on northern Europe, which lies in the principal transport direction for volcanic ash from Iceland, one of the most active volcanic regions in the world. We interrogate existing and newly produced geological and written records of past ash fallout over northern Europe in the last 1000 years and estimate the mean return (repose) interval of a volcanic ash cloud over the region to be 44±7 years. We compare tephra records …

Mega-Evolutionary Dynamics Of The Adaptive Radiation Of Birds, Christopher R. Cooney, Jen A. Bright, Elliot J. R. Capp, Angela M. Chira, Emma C. Hughes, Christopher J. A. Moody, Lara O. Nouri, Zoë K. Varley, Gavin H. Thomas

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The origin and expansion of biological diversity is regulated by both developmental trajectories^1,2 and limits on available ecological niches^3,4,5,6,7. As lineages diversify, an early and often rapid phase of species and trait proliferation gives way to evolutionary slow-downs as new species pack into ever more densely occupied regions of ecological niche space^6,8. Small clades such as Darwin’s finches demonstrate that natural selection is the driving force of adaptive radiations, but how microevolutionary processes scale up to shape the expansion of phenotypic diversity over …

Secondary Minerals From Salt Caves In The Atacama Desert (Chile): A Hyperarid And Hypersaline Environment With Potential Analogies To The Martian Subsurface, Jo De Waele, Cristina Carbone, Laura Sanna, Marco Vattano, Ermanno Galli, Francesco Sauro, Paolo Forti

International Journal of Speleology

Over the past 15 years several expeditions by French, American and especially Italian cavers have unveiled over 50 caves in the Cordillera de la Sal (Atacama Desert, Northern Chile). Many of these caves contain a variety of speleothems and minerals, some of which have rarely been observed within karst systems. Most of the secondary deposits in these caves are composed of halite, but also other halide, carbonate, sulphate, nitrate, phosphate, and silicate minerals have been found. Among the sixteen cave mineral species recognized, atacamite, darapskite, blödite, leonite, anhydrite, and especially antarcticite are worth mentioning. In one of the samples an …

Petrographical And Geochemical Changes In Bosnian Stalagmites And Their Palaeo-Environmental Significance, Veronica Chiarini, Isabelle Couchoud, Russell Drysdale, Petra Bajo, Simone Milanolo, Silvia Frisia, Alan Greig, John Hellstrom, Jo De Waele

International Journal of Speleology

Detailed petrographic observations have been coupled with trace element and δ¹³C - δ¹⁸O analyses in order to investigate their dynamics in two Holocene Bosnian speleothems. The potential of this multiproxy approach in providing a means to extract palaeo-environmental information from stalagmites whose stable isotope signals are noisy and without obvious trends has been tested. The studied stalagmites are mostly characterized by columnar microcrystalline fabric. At the sub-millimetre scale of lamination, different microcrystalline columnar sub-types (open and closed) have been detected and classified on the basis of the observed porosity and the crystallite size. The presence of …

Toxicity Of Fluorescent Tracers And Their Degradation Byproducts, Philippe Gombert, Hugues Biaudet, René De Sèze, Pascal Pandard, Jean Carré

International Journal of Speleology

Tracer tests are frequently used to delineate catchment area of water supply springs in karstic zones. In the karstic chalk of Normandy, the main tracers used are fluorescent: uranine, sulforhodamine B, naphtionate, and Tinopal®. In this area, a statistical analysis shows that less than half of the injected tracers joins the monitored restitution points and enters the drinking water system where they undergo chlorination. Most of the injected tracers is absorbed in the rock matrix or is thrown out of the aquifer via karstic springs: then it can join superficial waters where it is degraded due to the sun and …

A Twenty-Year Look At “Computational Geology,” An Evolving, In-Discipline Course In Quantitative Literacy At The University Of South Florida, Victor J. Ricchezza, H. L. Vacher

Numeracy

Since 1996, the Geology (GLY) program at the USF has offered “Computational Geology” as part of its commitment to prepare undergraduate majors for the quantitative aspects of their field. The course focuses on geological-mathematical problem solving. Over its twenty years, the course has evolved from a GATC (geometry-algebra-trigonometry-calculus) in-discipline capstone to a quantitative literacy (QL) course taught within a natural science major. With the formation of the new School of Geosciences in 2013, the merging departments re-examined their various curricular programs. An online survey of the Geology Alumni Society found that “express quantitative evidence in support of an argument” was …

The Acceleration Of Dissolved Cobalt's Ecological Stoichiometry Due To Biological Uptake, Remineralization, And Scavenging In The Atlantic Ocean, Mak A. Saito, Abagail E. Noble, Nicholas Hawco, Benjamin S. Twining, Daniel C. Ohnemus, Seth G. John, Phoebe Lam, Tim M. Conway, Rod Johnson, Dawn Moran, Matthew Mcilvin

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The stoichiometry of biological components and their influence on dissolved distributions have long been of interest in the study of the oceans. Cobalt has the smallest oceanic inventory of inorganic micronutrients and hence is particularly vulnerable to influence by internal oceanic processes including euphotic zone uptake, remineralization, and scavenging. Here we observe not only large variations in dCo:P stoichiometry but also the acceleration of those dCo:P ratios in the upper water column in response to several environmental processes. The ecological stoichiometry of total dissolved cobalt (dCo) was examined using data from a US North Atlantic GEOTRACES transect and from a …