Earth Sciences Commons^™

Effects Of Aerial Exposure On Preservation Of Low-Temperature Calothrix Biosignatures In Silica Sinter From Queen's Laundry, Yellowstone National Park, Usa, Shana Kendall

Dissertations and Theses

Mineral-depositing hydrothermal ecosystems, such as the hot springs in Yellowstone National Park, provide an unparalleled opportunity to document how microbial biosignatures form and contribute to the body of evidence indicative of the microbial inhabitants of active hot springs. Mineralization of microbial communities in silica-depositing hot springs can result in the preservation of microbial biofacies in the geologic record. To determine the effects of prolonged aerial exposure on the preservation potential of mid-to-low temperature cyanobacteria dominated microbial communities that are typically permineralized in the siliceous sinter, modern biofacies samples of such communities were collected from the active and inactive parts of …

Hydrogeologic Investigation Of A Pumice Aquifer, Fremont/Winema National Forest, Oregon, Jonathan Michael Weatherford

Dissertations and Theses

The middle Holocene cataclysmic eruption of Mount Mazama blanketed Walker Rim, in south central Oregon, with 270 cm to 300 cm of pumice, causing capture of surface water systems by groundwater, stream relocation, and the formation of biologically diverse fens and seasonal wetlands. The pumice aquifer at Round Meadow, an 8.6 km² basin, hosts both a fen and seasonally ponded wetlands. The Round Meadow watershed lies within a closed basin between the upper Klamath and Deschutes river basins. As the highest meadow at Walker Rim, it is a relatively well-constrained system to study the effects of hydrological disruption.

A …

Glacier Change On The Three Sisters Volcanoes, Oregon: 1900-2010, Justin George Ohlschlager

Dissertations and Theses

A glacier responds to changes in climate by subsequent retreat and advance as a result of changes in snow inputs and outputs. Understanding these changes is important because shrinking glaciers limit and diminish local water resources. They contribute to alpine runoff in the late-summer months by delaying the maximum runoff until late in the melt season. A comprehensive glacier and perennial snowfield inventory has not been completed for the Three Sisters in Central Oregon. Using aerial photography, Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), previous studies, and historical ground based photographs these glacier and perennial snowfields were defined and their surface area change …

A Multivariate Modeling Approach For Generating Ensemble Climatology Forcing For Hydrologic Applications, Sepideh Khajehei

Dissertations and Theses

Reliability and accuracy of the forcing data plays a vital role in the Hydrological Streamflow Prediction. Reliability of the forcing data leads to accurate predictions and ultimately reduction of uncertainty. Currently, Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models are developing ensemble forecasts for various temporal and spatial scales. However, it is proven that the raw products of the NWP models may be biased at the basin scale; unlike model grid scale, depending on the size of the catchment. Due to the large space-time variability of precipitation, bias-correcting the ensemble forecasts has proven to be a challenging task. In recent years, Ensemble Pre-Processing …

Evaluating Global Sensitivity Analysis Methods For Hydrologic Modeling Over The Columbia River Basin, Maysoun Ayad Hameed

Dissertations and Theses

Global Sensitivity Analysis (GSA) approach helps to identify the effectiveness of model parameters or inputs and thus provides essential information about the model performance. The effects of 14 parameters and one input (forcing data) of the Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting (SAC-SMA) model are analyzed by using two GSA methods: Sobol' and Fourier Amplitude Sensitivity Test (FAST). The simulations are carried out over five sub-basins within the Columbia River Basin (CRB) for three different periods: one-year, four-year, and seven-year. The main parameter sensitivities (first-order) and the interactions sensitivities (second-order) are evaluated in this study. Our results show that some hydrological processes …

Naturally Occurring Background Levels Of Arsenic In The Soils Of Southwestern Oregon, Heather Ann Hurtado

Dissertations and Theses

This study examines the natural background concentrations of arsenic in the soils of southwest Oregon, using new samples in addition to data collected from previous theses (Khandoker, 1997 and Douglas, 1999). The original 213 samples were run by ICP-AES with a reporting limit of 20 ppm, and only three samples had detected values. The original samples were tested again (2013) at a lower reporting limit of 0.2 ppm by ICP-MS, as were 42 new samples (2013), to better ascertain the natural levels of arsenic in undisturbed soils. The aim is to add to the existing DEQ data set, which has …

Defining The Terroir Of The Columbia Gorge Wine Region, Oregon And Washington, Usa Using Geographic Information Systems (Gis), Hilary Whitney

Dissertations and Theses

The Columbia Gorge Wine Region (CGWR) is an emerging wine producing area that extends for about 100km along the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington State in which the number of vineyards, wineries and physical terroir conditions have yet to be defined. To better understand the physical factors affecting Oregon and Washington wine, this project analyzes climate, topography, geology and soil at vineyards in the CGWR. This was accomplished using Geographic Information Systems, existing earth science databases and field work. The region, which includes the Columbia Gorge American Viticulture Area (AVA) and the southwest portion of the Columbia Valley AVA, …

Landforms Along The Lower Columbia River And The Influence Of Humans, Charles Matthew Cannon

Dissertations and Theses

River systems, such as the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest, USA have been influenced by human activities, resulting in changes to the physical processes that drive landform evolution. This work describes an inventory of landforms along the Columbia River estuary between the Pacific Ocean and Bonneville Dam in Oregon and Washington. Groupings of landforms are assigned to formative process regimes that are used to assess historical changes to floodplain features. The estuary was historically a complex system of channels with a floodplain dominated by extensive tidal wetlands in the lower reaches and backswamp lakes and wetlands in upper reaches. …

A Novel Approach To Flow And Sediment Transport Estimation In Estuaries And Bays, Hamed Moftakhari Rostamkhani

Dissertations and Theses

Reliable estimates of river discharge and sediment transport to the ocean from large tidal rivers are vital for water resources management, efficient river and harbor management, navigational purposes, and climate analyses. Due to the difficulties inherent in measuring tidal-river discharge, hydrological and sedimentological records are typically too short to adequately characterize long-term (decadal) trends. Also, uncertainties associated with observation and calibration of hydrological models suggest a need for more accurate methods based on longer records of hydrodynamic parameters (e.g. tides). Tidal theory indicates that tides and river discharge interact through quadratic bed friction, which diminishes and distorts the tidal wave …

Synoptic Patterns Associated With Northeast And South East Ice Storms, Ricardo Vargas

Dissertations and Theses

Wintertime storms that produce precipitation events such as snow, freezing rain, and ice pellets cause significant damage to utility services and disrupt travel. These synoptic systems involve deep isothermal regions where warm, moist air over-runs surface sub-freezing air. Much attention has been focused on Northeast ice storms, where a study by Cortinas et al. (2004) identified the Northeast as the region with the highest spatial distribution of freezing rain and ice pellets. Castellano (2012) also identified 2 types events where ice storms occur in the Northeast as a result of cold-air intrusions from Canada and from an absence of cold …

Characterization Of Tropical Clouds Using Multi-Satellite Observations, Ricardo Anderson

Dissertations and Theses

Clouds an important component of the earth-climate system and play a critical role in affecting energy and water cycle of the planet. In particular, tropical convective clouds account for the majority of the precipitation that fall on the Earth's surface. Multiple active satellite missions in recent decade such as TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission), and CloudSat have provided fruitful new insight into the internal structures of these tropical convective clouds. In conjunction with cloud data from ISCCP (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project), that is based passive remote sensing technology in the visible and infrared spectrum, this allows for a more …

Intra- And Inter-Seasonal Variability Of Supra-Glacial 1 Streams And Lakes Over The West Greenland Ice Sheet 2 From High-Resolution Satellite Optical Data, Michael Gregory Brown

Dissertations and Theses

The Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) is one of the largest glacial ice masses on Earth, second only to the Antarctic ice sheet. The surface hydrology of the GrIS plays a crucial role on the surface energy and mass balance budgets of the ice sheet as a whole. Surface water, known as supra-glacial water, is seasonally found in the ablation zone and feeds the en-glacial and sub-glacial hydrological environments of the ice sheet. The spatial distribution of surface streams is poorly understood and their temporal variability is (to our knowledge) unknown. One of the reasons for the lack of knowledge on …

Integrated Hydrologic Land Surface State Climate Indicators, Brian Lamb

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

The Geology And Petrology Of Enigmatic Rhyolites At Graveyard And Gordon Buttes, Mount Hood Quadrangle, Oregon, Elizabeth G. Westby

Dissertations and Theses

Rhyolite lava flows are found at two dome complexes at Graveyard Butte and Gordon Butte, Mount Hood Quadrangle, Oregon. At Graveyard Butte, the White River has cut a winding canyon 150 m deep, exposing at its base, a 40-meter-thick outcrop of flow-banded rhyolite (73 wt.% SiO₂, 3.67±0.01 Ma) that laterally extends along the canyon wall for about 1 km. Stratigraphically above the flow-banded rhyolite is locally-erupted iron-rich andesites (lava flows, agglutinate and other pyroclastic rocks as well as clastic debris), a rhyolitic ash-flow tuff (74 wt.% SiO₂), and the 2.77±0.36 Ma tholeiitic basalt lava flows of …

Applications Of Remote Sensing To The Study Of Estuarine Physics: Suspended Sediment Dynamics In The Columbia River Estuary, Austin Scott Hudson

Dissertations and Theses

Estuarine circulation and its associated transport processes drive the environmental integrity of many near-shore habitats (the coastal ocean, rivers, estuaries and emergent wetlands). A thorough understanding and consideration of this circulation is, therefore, vital in the proper management of these habitats. The aim of this study is to bring together theory and new satellite observations in the Columbia River Estuary to increase our understanding of estuarine circulation and transport. Surface reflectance measurements gathered by the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are first compared to in situ observations to develop an empirical model for remotely derived surface turbidity. Results indicate that MODIS …

Strontium, Lead, And Oxygen Isotopic Signatures Of Mid-Miocene Silicic Volcanism In Eastern Oregon, Emily Nancy Hess

Dissertations and Theses

Widespread, mid-Miocene rhyolite volcanism of eastern Oregon that are coeval or slightly postdate flood basalts of the Columbia River Basalt Province allows for mapping crustal domains using radiogenic and stable isotopes. Rhyolites are thought to be derived in large part by partial melting of the crust and thus yield direct information on the composition of the crust. Silicic volcanism is expressed in the form of numerous domes and tuffs exposed over a wide area (~300 km in N-S dimension and ~200 km in E-W dimension) west of the presumed craton boundary, which runs parallel but mostly east of the Oregon-Idaho …

Chemical And Petrographic Survey Of Large, Igneous-Textured Inclusions In Ordinary Chondrites, Katherine Armstrong

Dissertations and Theses

Our inventory of material from the early solar system includes large, igneous-textured inclusions in O chondrites, whose origin and relationship to their host meteorite is unclear. These inclusions occur in approximately 4% of O chondrites, and are mineralogically, petrographically, and chemically diverse. Petrographic and chemical data from 29 inclusions from 23 host meteorites were collected with optical light and scanning electron microscopy, allowing for the determination of major phase modal abundance and major element bulk chemistry. No correlation between any inclusion property and host meteorite type were found, but some trends were observed. Nine of the inclusions show strong evidence, …

Investigating The Link Between Surface Water And Groundwater In The Tule Lake Subbasin, Oregon And California, Esther Maria Pischel

Dissertations and Theses

Water allocation in the upper Klamath Basin of Oregon and California has been challenging. Irrigators have increasingly turned to groundwater to make up for surface water shortages because of shifts in allocation toward in-stream flows for Endangered Species Act listed fishes. The largest increase in groundwater pumping has been in and around the Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Irrigation Project, which includes the Tule Lake subbasin in the southern part of the upper Klamath Basin. Previous groundwater flow model simulations indicate that water level declines from pumping may result in decreased flow to agricultural drains in the Tule Lake subbasin. Agricultural …

Automatic Calibration Of Water Quality And Hydrodynamic Model (Ce-Qual-W2), Nasim Shojaei

Dissertations and Theses

One of the most important purposes of surface water resource management is to develop predictive models to assist in identifying and evaluating operational and structural measures for improving water quality. To better understand the effects of external and internal nutrient and organic loading and the effects of reservoir operation, a model is often developed, calibrated, and used for sensitivity and management simulations. The importance of modeling and simulation in the scientific community has drawn interest towards methods for automated calibration. This study addresses using an automatic technique to calibrate the water quality model CE-QUAL-W2 (Cole and Wells, 2013). CE-QUAL-W2 is …

Complex Thermal Histories Of L Melt Breccias Nwa 5964 And Nwa 6580, Kristy Lee Schepker

Dissertations and Theses

To constrain the thermal histories of two complex L chondrite melt breccia samples (NWA 5964 and NWA 6580) we compare textures and chemical compositions of metal and sulfide to L melt rock (NWA 6454 and NWA 6579) and strongly shocked (shock stage S6) (NWA 4860) samples. The inferred thermal histories can be used to evaluate formation settings on the L chondrite parent body. The L melt samples probably formed as different melt units within warm but largely unmelted material relatively close to the surface of the parent body, and the same is true for the S6 sample, except it experienced …

Macroinvertebrates And Excessive Fine Sediment Conditions In Oregon Coastal Streams, Patrick M. Edwards

Dissertations and Theses

The Pacific Coastal ecoregion contains large tracts of economically important forest lands that also serve as critical stream habitat for endangered Salmonids. Excessive fine sediment deposition in streams of this region is a major environmental concern in the region but difficult to measure directly. The use of stream invertebrates to monitor fine sediment conditions in streams requires careful consideration of several important factors that complicate their use as bioindicators including high spatial and temporal variability and covariance with other environmental variables.

To evaluate the use of stream invertebrates as bioindicators of excessive fine sediment, three hypotheses were tested. The first …

Relational Database Analysis Of Dated Prehistoric Shorelines To Establish Sand Partitioning In Late Holocene Barriers And Beach Plains Of The Columbia River Littoral Cell, Washington And Oregon, Usa, Tamara Causer Linde

Dissertations and Theses

Studies of episodic shoreline accretion of the Columbia River Littoral Cell (CRLC) have been ongoing since 1964. In this study, the sediment volumes in the late Holocene barriers and beach plains are compiled and formatted in GIS compatible databases for the four sub-cells of the CRLC.

Initial evaluation involved the creation of a geodatabase of 160 dated retreat scarp positions, that were identified on across-shore GPR and borehole profiles. Ten primary timelines were identified throughout the CRLC (0-4700 ybp) and those were used to develop polygon cells. Elevation, distance measurements, and position information were all linked to the polygon through …

The West Tidewater Earthflow, Northern Oregon Coast Range, Barry A. Sanford

Dissertations and Theses

The West Tidewater earthflow, one of the largest in Oregon's history, occurred in December of 1994. The earthflow is located approximately 15 km north of Jewel, Oregon near the summit ofthe Northern Oregon Coast Range Mountains. The earthflow is 900 m long and 250 m wide, giving it a surface area of 9 ha, or 22 acres. Volume is 3.5 million m³. The earthflow occurred in low strength, well-bedded, tuffaceous, carbonaceous, micaceous, clay-rich mudstone, and very fine-grained, feldspathic, clay-rich siltstone of the lower Miocene age Northrup Creek Formation. The soil clay fractions contain up to 90% smectite with …

Revisiting Volcanology And Composition Of Rhyolites And Associated Ree Rich Mafic Clasts Of The Three Fingers Caldera, Se Oregon, Phillip Ira Marcy

Dissertations and Theses

Two adjacent caldera systems, the Mahogany Mountain and the Three Fingers caldera constitute voluminous rhyolitic volcanic deposits on the eastern margin of the Oregon-Idaho graben during the middle-Miocene. Both calderas are part of the Lake Owyhee volcanic field that in turn is part of widespread rhyolite deposits associated with the Columbia River Basalt province. We focus on establishing relationships between intracaldera units of Three Fingers caldera and caldera-forming tuff of Spring Creek and surveying the distribution of entrained mafic clasts which often display anomalous concentrations of rare earth elements.

Previous mapping identified two intra-caldera facies and one outflow facies of …

Towards Improving Drought Forecasts Across Different Spatial And Temporal Scales, Shahrbanou Madadgar

Dissertations and Theses

Recent water scarcities across the southwestern U.S. with severe effects on the living environment inspire the development of new methodologies to achieve reliable drought forecasting in seasonal scale. Reliable forecast of hydrologic variables, in general, is a preliminary requirement for appropriate planning of water resources and developing effective allocation policies. This study aims at developing new techniques with specific probabilistic features to improve the reliability of hydrologic forecasts, particularly the drought forecasts. The drought status in the future is determined by certain hydrologic variables that are basically estimated by the hydrologic models with rather simple to complex structures. Since the …

Simultaneous Adsorption Of 11 Volatile Organic Compounds By An Activated Carbon Made From Polystyrene Sulfonic Acid-Based Organic Salt, Alejandro Smith

Dissertations and Theses

Activated carbon is used in water treatment worldwide due to its ability to adsorb many different contaminants from water. The high adsorption capacity of activated carbon is linked to its high internal surface area and micro/meso- porosity. In this work an activated carbon obtained from polystyrene sulfonic acid-based organic salt was examined to simultaneously adsorb eleven volatile organic compounds from aqueous solution. Adsorption data were modeled with different isotherms to determine the equilibrium adsorptive capacities for these compounds. The performance of the polymer-based activated carbon was then compared with that of a commercial wood-based activated carbon. The results indicate that …

Comparative Phylogeography Of Glassfrogs (Vitreorama) Endemic To The Brazilian Altantic Rainforest, Zoe Spanos

Dissertations and Theses

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest harbors one of the most diverse faunas of the world, including 2-3% of all known vertebrate species. Understanding the role of both climate and landscape in shaping current biodiversity patterns has been the focus of many recent phylogeographic studies. Here I explore multiple factors thought to have impacted the generation of local diversity in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (AF) using two montane, stream-associated species of glassfrogs – V. eurygnatha and V. uranoscopa. I integrate species distribution modeling, path analysis, and molecular data to test the role of climatic stability, rivers, mountain chains, and geographic distance in …

Faulty Measurements And Shaky Tools: An Exploration Into Hazus And The Seismic Vulnerabilities Of Portland, Or, Brittany Ann Brannon

Dissertations and Theses

Events or forces of nature with catastrophic consequences, or "natural disasters," have increased in both frequency and force due to climate change and increased urbanization in climate-sensitive areas. To create capacity to face these dangers, an entity must first quantify the threat and translate scientific knowledge on nature into comprehensible estimates of cost and loss. These estimates equip those at risk with knowledge to enact policy, formulate mitigation plans, raise awareness, and promote preparedness in light of potential destruction. Hazards-United States, or Hazus, is one such tool created by the federal government to estimate loss from a variety of threats, …

Characterization Of The Shallow Subsurface Geohydrology Of The Ni-Les'tun Unit On The Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, Christopher Madison Beard

Dissertations and Theses

The Bandon Marsh is a large marsh restoration project located in southwest Oregon. The land has been previously used for dairy farms and much of the marsh was used for cattle grazing. The goal of the restoration is to recreate a natural habitat for shorebirds and fish. The purpose of this thesis is to gather and analyze data on the geology of the marsh and both ground and surface water quality to evaluate its ability to support biology.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service began restoration on the Bandon marsh in 2005. Research on the Ni-les'tun Unit began in that …

Grounding Zone Processes: Ice Mechanics And Margin Lakes, Kamb Ice Stream And Whillans Ice Stream, West Antarctica, Mason Joseph Fried

Dissertations and Theses

The lateral "corners" where Kamb and Whillans Ice Streams (KIS and WIS) discharge into the Ross Ice Shelf share common geometries and ice mechanical settings. At both corners of the now-stagnant KIS outlet, shear margins of apparently different ages confine regions with a relatively flat, smooth surface expression. These features are called the "Duckfoot" on the northern, right-lateral side and the "Goosefoot" on the other. It has been suggested, on evidence found in ice internal layers, that the flat ice terrains on KIS were afloat in the recent past, at a time when the ice stream grounding line was upstream …