Earth Sciences Commons^™

Cenozoic Structural And Stratigraphic Evolution Of The Southeastern Salmon Basin, East-Central Idaho, James J. Blankenau

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The southeastern Salmon basin (SB) of east-central Idaho is a complex east-dipping half graben containing four unconformity-bounded sequences of Tertiary volcanic, alluvial fan, lacustrine, and fluvial deposits. From oldest to youngest these are the Challis volcanic group, sedimentary rocks of Tendoy (new name), sedimentary rocks of Sacajaweja (new name), and Quaternary-Tertiary deposits . The thick sequence of volcanic rocks was deposited in a southeast-trending paleovalley . New mapping, cross-cutting relationships, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age determinations, and angular unconformities show that the SB has experienced at least four episodes of extension, and that it lies in the core of an …

Sequence Stratigraphy And Paleoecology Of The Middle Cambrian Spence Shale Member Of The Langston Formation Of Northeastern Utah And Southeastern Idaho, Scott H. Wright

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Middle Cambrian Spence Shale Member contains meter-scale, shallowing-up cycles (parasequences) and record approximately 360 ky of deposition. These meter-scale cycles are nested within transgressive systems tracts (TST) and highstand systems tracts (HST) which reflect different stages of a lower-order, higher-magnitude sea-level excursion.

Fossil assemblages are located in stratigraphic positions within the Spence Shale Member that can be predicted on the basis of sequence architecture. The cycle architecture, taphonomy, and geochemistry of the Spence parasequences confirm synthetic sections and theoretical models of meter-scale cycles developed in other studies. Delineation of meter-scale cycles, based on taphonomic and sedimentologic criteria, allows high-resolution …

Prediction Of Suburban Encroachment On The Ethan Allen Firing Range And Camp Johnson, Chittenden County, Vermont, John D. Calandrelli

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Suburban encroachment is a growing concern for many National Guard training installations. The Ethan Allen. Firing Range and Camp Johnson, Vermont, are either experiencing or are completely enclosed by urban encroachment. The objective of this study was to analyze the trends of suburban growth within Chittenden County, Vermont, to evaluate growth and explore future training site viability of the Ethan Allen Firing Range and Camp Johnson.

This study focused on historical data, recent real estate transactions, population projections, and county plans for growth. Using historical and contemporary data, I developed a predictive model of suburban encroachment on Camp Johnson and …

Molecular Characterization Of Soil Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria Based On The Genes Encoding Ammonia Monooxygenase, Jose Javier Alzerreca

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) are chemolithotrophs that oxidize ammonia/ammonium to nitrite in a two-step process to obtain energy for survival. AOB are difficult to isolate from the environment and iso lated strains may not represent the diversity in soil. A genetic database and molecular tools were developed based on the ammonia monooxygenase (AMO) encoding genes that can be used to assess the diversity of AOB that exist in soil and aquatic environments without the isolation of pure cultures. The amo genes have excellent potential as molecular markers; since AMO is only found in the AOB and is essential for their metabolism, …

Tertiary Stratigraphy And Structural Geology, Wellsville Mountains To Junction Hills, North-Central Utah, Kathryn M. Goessel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study integrates detailed mapping of Tertiary deposits along the divide between the lower Bear River basin and the Cache Valley basin with several other techniques to generate a depositional model, define extension-related structures, and compile a geologic history for this part of the northeastern Basin and Range province. The study area is situated along the topographic divide between Box Elder and Cache Counties, Utah, from the Wellsville Mountains north almost to Clarkston Mountain. These ranges are cored by folded and thrusted Paleozoic rocks. They are bound on the west by normal faults of the Wasatch fault zone and on …

Pretty Tree Bench Vegetation Project, Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Usda Forest Service

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

This Draft Environmental Impact Statement documents the analysis of the No Action, Proposed Action, and three action alternatives developed for the Pretty Tree Bench Project area. The Proposed Action and action alternatives considered in detail, are consistent with current management direction. Each alternative responds differently to the issues associated with the Proposed Action.

The Proposed Action prescribes disturbances within a number of different vegetation types throughout the project area. One disturbance practice uses prescribed fire. The acres of treatment by vegetation type through the use of prescribed fire are: Sagebrush (200-250 acres), Gambel Oak (450-500 acres), Pinyon/Juniper (3000-3500 acres), Ponderosa …

Classification Of Great Basin Plant Communities Occurring On Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, Vel Emrick, Alison Hill

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

No abstract provided.

Geology Of The Oquirrh Mountains, Utah, United States Geological Survey

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

The Oquirrh Mountains are located in north-central Utah, immediately south of the Great Salt Lake, in the easternmost part of the Basin and Range physiographic province. The range consists of northerly-trending aligned peaks 56 kilometers long flanked on the west by Tooele and Rush Valleys and on the east by Jordan and Cedar Valleys. The range hosts several of the more prominent base- and precious-metal and desseminated-gold mining areas in the western United States. The 130-year old Bingham porphyry copper mining district, which is of world-class magnitude in the central part of the range, is still active. The Mercur mining …

A Case For Site Acclimation In The Reintroduction Of The Endangered Razorback Sucker (Xyrauchen Texanus), United States Geological Survey

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

Two site-acclimation studies (Mueller and Marsh 1998, Foster and Mueller 1999) were conducted in 1997 and 1998. The primary emphasis was habitat use and dispersal but we also examined if the rapid dispersal, typically associated with hatchery-produced razorback suckers (suckers), could be mitigated by allowing fish a period of time to recover from stocking-induced stress. Findings of those studies and existing physiological literature suggest that current stocking protocols may subject stocked fish to unnecessary behavioral or physiological stress that could impact performance and ultimately survival. This report presents those findings and recommends an evaluation of existing stocking procedures for the …

Description Of The Pelagic Zooplankton And Fish Communities Of Lakes Powell And Mead, United States Geological Survey

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

Fishery biologists from Arizona, Nevada, and Utah have been faced with the imposing dilemma of monitoring the pelagic fishery of Lakes Powell and Mead. Standard sampling procedures typically used to monitor shoreline fisheries are simply inadequate for the deep volumes of pelagic habitat found in these two reservoirs. Nearly a decade ago, Arizona and Nevada biologists recommended that hydroacoustics be used to monitor these communities (Persons and Dreyer 1987a,b, NDOW 1994). However, for various reasons an acoustical monitoring program was never fully implemented. This study represents the first attempt to describe the pelagic fishery of either reservoir using acoustic technology.

Flood Insurance Study, City Of Santa Clara, Utah, Washington County, Federal Emergency Management Agency

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

This Flood Insurance Study revises and updates a previous Flood Insurance Rate Map for the City of Santa Clara, Washington County, Utah. This information will be used by the City of Santa Clara to update existing floodplain regulations as part of the Regular Phase of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The Information will also be used by local and regional planners to further promote sound land use and floodplain development.

Stratigraphy And Tectonics Of Tertiary Strata Of Southern Cache Valley, North-Central Utah, R. Q. Oaks Jr., K. A. Smith, Susanne U. Janecke, M. E. Perkins, W. P. Nash

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Southern Cache Valley occupies one of several large north-trending valleys in the northeastern part of the Basin and Range Province. It lies between the Wellsville Mountains in the west and the Bear River Range in the east. Paleozoic rocks exposed in the two mountain ranges dip easterly adjacent to the north part of the study area and in a narrow horst along the valley center in the south, but curve to a northerly dip in the southwest. A complex depositional and tectonic evolution of Tertiary strata in southern Cache Valley was determined in this study. Detailed photogeologic and field mapping, …

Folded And Faulted Salt Lake Formation Above The Miocene To Pliocene New Canyon And Clifton Detachment Faults, Malad And Bannock Ranges, Idaho: Field Trip Guide To The Deep Creek Half Graben And Environs, Susanne U. Janecke, J. C. Evans

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Previous studies identified a major detachment terrane in southeast Idaho in the Oxford Ridge area of the Bannock Range. This study shows that these top-to-the-WSW detachment faults are late Cenozoic in age, not Mesozoic to early Tertiary as previously inferred. Provenance and facies patterns in the Miocene-Pliocene Salt Lake Formation in the Deep Creek supradetachment basin show that deposition was syntectonic to slip on the detachment faults. The highly extended Bannock detachment terrane likely persists north to the Snake River Plain and south into Utah. The breakaway for this system lies in the Portneuf Range to the east. At least …

Highline Breaks Watershed [Microform] : Otero County, Colorado, Pueblo County, Colorado : Watershed Plan And Environmental Assessment, United States Natural Resources Conservation Service, Colorado State Soil Conservation Board

Environmental Assessments (NV)

No abstract provided.

Characterization Of Dielectric Properties Of Earth Materials At Low Frequencies, Tarrah Dawn Henrie

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Sharma and de Lima (1992) have proposed a model based on Fixman's theoretical development of charged macromolecules in external fields (1980). There are three types of charges considered: the fixed surface charges that are covalently bonded, the layer of bound counterions, and the diffuse layer (Fixman, 1980, Lyklema, 1983 ). Figure (1) shows these different layers. Other common theories, such as Schurr's only consider the bound counterions and the diffuse layer. Schurr assumes that the diffuse layer ions can exchange with the electrolyte. A consequence of this assumption is the lack of polarization of the diffuse layer. This leads to …

A Preliminary Analysis Of The Fluid History Of A Normal Fault In The Keno Pit, Alligator Ridge Mining District, White Pine County, Nevada, John G. Solum

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The flow of oil along faults is only poorly understood. In many cases a fault is the only means of transportation for the oil from its area of deposition to its current location. This assumption is reasonable due to chemical fingerprinting of oil. In some cases the oil in a reservoir and the oil in a fault zone have been analyzed chemically and found to be the same. The problem is this; early in a fault's history it produces a thin layer of fine-grained material between its fault surfaces. This condition is not conductive to fluid flow. Therefore another mechanism …

Utilization Of Spatially Distributed Soil Resources By Several Species Common To The Great Basin, Sarah Duke

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Heterogeneous spatial and temporal distributions of soil resources important to plant growth have been documented in the sagebrush steppe ecosystem. There can exist as much variability in soil resources within the root zone of individual plants as exists across an entire field. The objective of this dissertation research was to evaluate how plants respond to, utilize and influence the spatial heterogeneity of soil resources. The three specific sets of questions addressed are outlined in the three main chapters of this dissertation.

My first study addressed how the number and concentration of phosphorus (P) patches in the root zone of an …

Small Strike-Slip Faults In Granitic Rock: Implications For Three-Dimensional Models, Siang Joo Lim

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The geometry and mineralization features of small left-lateral strike-slip faults and associated fractures in Lake Edison Granodiorite of the central Sierra Nevada, California, were examined in order to model the three-dimensional structure of strike-slip faults. These faults, which are reactivated joints, were also examined to determine fault sizes, starting joint size, and evidence for fluid flow.

The associated secondary fractures are usually found in the dilational quadrants of fault-tip regions. The longest fault-segment trace is 32.14 m; the longest joint trace is 22 m. The joint population length (l) is represented by a power-law distribution (l^{-n …}

Late Pleistocene Glacial Chronology Of The Western Ahklun Mountains, Southwestern Alaska, Jason P. Briner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

New glacial mapping and 35 cosmogenic ³⁶Cl surface exposure ages, the first ever reported from Alaska, constrain the extent and timing of late Pleistocene glacial fluctuations in the western Ahklun Mountains, southwestern Alaska. Morphometric and soil relative-age data characterize two main drift units deposited during the Arolik Lake and Klak Creek glaciations, named herein. During the Arolik Lake glaciation (early Wisconsin), outlet glaciers emanated from an ice cap over the central portion of the Ahklun Mountains and deposited moraines at or beyond the modern coast. These moraines have slope angles averaging about 11° and crests averaging about 35 m …

Quaternary Amino Acid Geochronology Of The Lahontan Basin, Nevada, And The Chewaucan Basin, Oregon, Jeffrey Bigelow

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Amino acid geochronology based on fossil molluscs provides a useful approach to determining the Quaternary history of Great Basin lakes. The Lahontan basin, Nevada, and the Chewaucan basin, Oregon, in the northwest corner of the Great Basin, both contained lakes during the Quaternary. The aim of this study is to improve the Quaternary geochronology in these two basins by measuring time-dependent changes in amino acids preserved in fossil molluscan shells. The abundance of D-alloisoleucine relative to Lisoleucine (All) characterizes the extent of racemization, which increases with age and Ul forms the basis of relative and correlated ages. An age-calibration curve …

Three-Dimensional Structure Of Small Strike-Slip Fault Zones In Granitic Rock: Implications For Fault-Growth Models, Kim R. Robeson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Three small strike-slip fault zones exposed in granitic rock in the central Sierra Nevada, California, provide field-based data to construct three-dimensional representations of each fault zone in order to compare with the geometries predicted by existing fault-growth models. All three fault zones are nearly vertical, strike -N60°E, and have left-lateral slip. The fault zones range from 60 to 140 m in length and 1 to 12 m wide. Each fault zone consists primarily of parallel to subparallel fracture and fault traces 2 to 56 m long and is separated 25 cm to 7 m by intact rock. One fault zone …

Selected Hydrologic Data For The Central Virgin River Basin Area, Washington And Iron Counties, Utah 1915-97, United States Geological Survey

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

Hydrologic data were collected in Washington and Iron Counties, Utah, from 1995 to 1997 to better understand the hydrologic system. Data from earlier years also are presented. Data collected from wells include well-completion data, water-level measurements, and physical properties of the water. Data collected from springs and surface-water sites include discharge and physical properties of the water. Selected water samples collected from ground- and surface-water sites were analyzed for isotopes, chlorofluorocarbons and dissolved gases.

Post-Stocking Dispersal Habitat Use, And Behavioral Acclimation Of Juvenile Razorback Suckers (Xyrauchen Texanus) In Two Colorado River Reservoirs, United States Geological Survey

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

Information pertaining to post-stocking dispersal and habitat use of endangered razorback sucker (Xyrauchen Texanus) is primarily limited to the adult life stage. Radio or sonic transmitters are normally surgically implanted in the fish's abdominal cavity.

Flood Insurance Study, Town Of Elsinore, Utah, Sevier County, Federal Emergency Management Agency

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

This Flood Insurance Study investigates the existence and severity of flood hazards in the Town of Elsinore, Sevier County, Utah, and aids in the administration of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 and the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973. This study has developed flood-risk data for various areas of the community that will be used to establish actuarial flood insurance rates and to assist the community in its efforts to promote sound floodplain management. Minimum floodplain management requirements for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) are set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations 44 CFR, …

Flood Insurance Study, City Of St. George, Utah, Washington County, Federal Emergency Management Agency

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

This Flood Insurance Study investigates the existence and severity of flood hazards in the City of St. George, Washington County, Utah, and aids in the administration of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1964 and the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1971. This study has developed flood risk data for various areas of the community that will be used to establish actuarial flood insurance rates and assist the community in its efforts to promote sound flood plain management. Minimum flood plain management requirements for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) are set forth in the Code of Federal …

Strawberry Valley Assessment, A Cooperative Project Between The Mitigation Commission & The U.S. Forest Service, Mitigation Commission, U.S. Forest Service

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

No abstract provided.

Quaternary Bear River Paleohydrogeography Reconstructed From The 87sr/86sr Composition Of Lacustrine Fossils, David P. Bouchard

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Diverted from its former course to the Pacific Ocean by basalt flows in Gem Valley, Idaho, the Bear River presently flows south into the Bonneville Basin. Constraining the timing of the river's diversion is pivotal to understanding the hydrologic budgets, and thus the climatological implications of the Bonneville Basin lakes. This study employs strontium (Sr) isotopes in mollusc fossils as a tracer of the Bear River water that entered Lake Thatcher, a small, closed-basin lake into which the redirected river flowed en route to the Bonneville Basin. The Sr ratios, combined with the temporal control afforded by amino acid geochronology …

Channel Narrowing Of The Green River Near Green River, Utah: History, Rates, And Processes Of Narrowing, Tyler M. Allread

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Previous scientific research has documented channel narrowing on the Green River near Green River, Utah, but the exact timing, rates, and causal mechanisms of that narrowing have been the source of disagreement in the scientific literature. This thesis demonstrates that the Green River has narrowed in two separate periods during the last 100 years. The narrowing is driven primarily by changes in the hydrologic regime and not by the invasion of saltcedar. The channel narrowed between 1930 and 1938, when a shift from wetter than normal conditions to a period of draught led to a reduction in river discharge. Channel …

Identification Of Belowground Woody Structures Using Molecular Biomarkers, Benny R. Bobowski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Within the last two decades substantial progress has been made in understanding seed bank dynamics and the contribution of the soil seed bank to a post-disturbance plant community. There has been relatively little progress, however, in understanding perennial bud bank dynamics and the contribution of the soil bud bank to secondary succession. This lack of information is due primarily to the inability to reliably identify roots, rhizomes, and lignotubers that lie dormant beneath the soil surface. This scientific investigation, therefore, addressed the issue of identification of belowground woody structures.

The first objective was to develop a methodology that utilizes molecular …

Modelling Vegetation Cover Types Using Multiseasonal Remotely Sensed Data To Compare Ecotones At Multiple Spatial And Spectral Resolutions, Kimberly Patraw

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Army National Guard Bureau has implemented a cooperative project with Utah State University to help with the use, display, and evaluation of environmental data for maintaining land condition. Camp Grayling, Michigan, is comprised of deciduous and evergreen forest types. Use of remote sensing for classification has been limited in this region due to the difficulty of species-level classification using single-date remote-sensing techniques. Also, remote sensing has traditionally focused on mapping homogenous zones rather than vegetation boundaries, while one of the concerns for land managers is the nature of vegetation edges (ecotones).

This study analyzed each season and band from …