Earth Sciences Commons^™

Groundwater Study Of The Bakers Hill Townsite, Damien Addison

Resource management technical reports

A groundwater study was carried out for the townsite of Bakers Hill with the aim of accelerating the implementation of effective salinity management options. The study consisted of a drilling investigation and installation of a piezometer network, a pumping test, groundwater flow modelling and a flood risk analysis.

Movement Of Rainbow And Brown Trout In Relation To Water Quality And Food Availability In Lake Ogallala, Nebraska, Corey M. Huxoll

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

No abstract provided.

The Distribution Of Macroinvertebrates Along The Impounded Middle Chattahoochee River, Page Jones

Theses and Dissertations

This project was part of a series of investigations designed by the Columbus (Georgia) Water Works to evaluate composition of the macroinvertebrate fauna of the mainstem of the middle Chattahoochee River, as well as its tributaries. An additional objective of the survey was to characterize impacts of storm events on urban streams and the mainstem of the Chattahoochee River. This portion of the study was designed to assess composition of benthic communites of an urbanized river in which flow regime is altered by a series of impoundments. Nine dams currently regulate flow of the mainstem of the middle reach of …

Impact Of A Historical Translocation On Populations Of White-Tailed Deer Odocoileus Virginianus, Nathan Kendall Boddie

Theses and Dissertations

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was used to study the impact of a historical translocation event on populations of white-tailed deer in Georgia. The technique may also serve as a model by which management practices for other rare species can be studied. Populations from an original translocation source in Wisconsin, another Wisconsin population, and three populations in Georgia were sampled during management hunts. RAPD PCR was used to produce a genetic fingerprint for individuals of each population. Resulting band data were analyzed using PHYLIP genetic analysis software. A consensus tree of 100 bootstrapped replicates showed significant similarity between Georgia …

Environmental Change And The Central Great Plains, Carbon Sequestration, Mark A. Mesarch

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Groundwater Study Of The Beacon Townsite, F Lewis

Resource management technical reports

A hydrogeological investigation and a flood risk analysis were carried out for the town of Beacon with the aim of accelerating the implementation of effective salinity management options.

Lithospheric Structure Of The Basin And Range Province-Southwestern Colorado Plateau. Southeastern California, Southern Nevada, And Western Arizona, Nigel Oakley Hicks

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Basin and Range Province of the western United States is an unusually wide continental rift zone and its structure and evolution have been the topic of much debate. Active source seismic surveys within the Basin and Range Province have delineated a relatively uniform crustal thickness (-30 km) despite varying magnitudes of crustal extension (<10-300 km). Large scale Cenozoic crustal extension has exhumed midcrustal rocks (from 10-20 km depth) along low angle detachment faults to create metamorphic core complexes (exposed lower plate rocks). In contrast to the extreme amounts of extension and internal deformation of the Basin and Range, the Colorado Plateau has remained a relatively rigid block, with a crustal thickness of 40-50 km, apparently resistant to the deformation processes that have shaped the Basin and Range observed today. In general, geophysical surveys reveal a significant contrast in crustal structure between the Basin and Range and it's transition into the Colorado Plateau.

The debate about the origin of the Basin and Range has underscored the need for additional geophysical constraints. Thus in this study, a regional analysis of lithospheric structure in the region of southeastern California, southern Nevada, and western Arizona that includes the Basin and Rangesouthwestern …

Signature Lipids And Stable Carbon Isotope Analyses Of Octopus Spring Hyperthermophilic Communities Compared With Those Of Aquificales Representatives, Linda L. Jahnke, Wolfgang Eder, Robert Huber, Janet M. Hope, Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, John M. Hayes, David J. Des Marais, Sherry L. Cady, Roger E. Summons

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The molecular and isotopic compositions of lipid biomarkers of cultured Aquificales genera have been used to study the community and trophic structure of the hyperthermophilic pink streamers and vent biofilm from Octopus Spring. Thermocrinis ruber, Thermocrinis sp. strain HI 11/12, Hydrogenobacter thermophilus TK-6, Aquifex pyrophilus, and Aquifex aeolicus all contained glycerol-ether phospholipids as well as acyl glycerides. The n-C20:1 and cy-C21 fatty acids dominated all of the Aquificales, while the alkyl glycerol ethers were mainly C18:0. These Aquificales biomarkers were major constituents of the lipid extracts of two Octopus Spring samples, a biofilm associated with the siliceous vent walls, and …

Post-Tillage Dynamics Of Soil Structural And Hydraulic Properties Induced By Capillary Forces And External Loading, Teamrat Afewerki Ghezzehei

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Tillage modifies the soil structure to create conditions favorable for plant growth. However, the resulting loose structure is susceptible to collapse by internal capillary forces and external compactive stresses with concurrent changes in soil hydraulic properties. Presently, limited understanding of these complex processes often leads to consideration of the soil plow-layer as a static porous medium. The objective of this dissertation was to develop physically based modeling of soil structural dynamics at the pore scale, based on soil mechanical and rheological properties. The basic geometrical framework of the models was based on regular packing of monosized spherical aggregates forming unit-cells. …

Genesis And Evolution Of Proterozoic Crustal Boundaries In The Southern Rocky Mountains., Colin Arthur Shaw

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The lithosphere of the southwestern United States is a mosaic of Proterozoic arc terranes assembled to the southern margin of the Archean Wyoming craton between 1.8 and 1.6 Ga. This mosaic was profoundly transformed by ca. 1.4 Ga intracontinental plutonism, metamorphism, and tectonism. These processes of assembly and tectonic reactivation during the early stages of continental evolution laid the foundation for the development of the continental architecture of the southwestern United States.

This dissertation comprises three independent studies focused on different aspects of the Proterozoic evolution of tectonic boundaries exposed in the Southern Rocky Mountains. The first study is a …

Historical Water-Quality Data For The High Plains Regional Ground-Water Study Area In Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, And Wyoming, 1930–98, David W. Litke

United States Geological Survey: Publications

The High Plains aquifer underlies 174,000 square miles in parts of eight States and includes eight primary hydrogeologic units, including the well-known Ogallala Formation. The High Plains aquifer is an important resource, providing water for 27 percent of the Nation’s irrigated agricul¬tural lands in an otherwise dry landscape. Since the 1980’s there has been concern over the sustainability of the aquifer due to water-level declines caused by substantial pumping. Water quality of the aquifer is a more recent concern. As part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water-Quality Assessment Program, historical water-quality data have been gathered for the High Plains …

Late Quaternary Climate And Hydrology Of Tropical South America Inferred From An Isotopic And Chemical Model Of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia And Peru, Scott L. Cross, Paul A. Baker, Geoffrey O. Seltzer, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Robert B. Dunbar

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

A simple mass balance model provides insight into the hydrologic, isotopic, and chemical responses of Lake Titicaca to past climatic changes. Latest Pleistocene climate of the Altiplano is assumed to have been 20% wetter and 5°C colder than today, based on previous modeling. Our simulation of lacustrine change since 15,000 cal yr B.P. is forced by these modeled climate changes. The latest Pleistocene Lake Titicaca was deep, fresh, and overflowing. The latest Pleistocene riverine discharge from the lake was about 8 times greater than the modern average, sufficient to allow the expansion of the great paleolake Tauca on the central …

Contributions From Mafic Alkaline Magmas To The Bingham Porphyry Cu-Au-Mo Deposit, Utah, U.S.A., Daniel T. Maughan

Theses and Dissertations

The Bingham porphyry Cu-Au-Mo deposit, Utah, may only be world-class because of substantial contributions of sulfur and metals from mafic alkaline magma to an otherwise unremarkable calc-alkaline system. Volcanic mafic alkaline rocks in the district are enriched in Cr, Ni, and Ba as well as ore-related constituents of Cu, Au, platinum group elements (PGE) and S. The bulk of the volcanic section that is comagmatic with ore-related porphyries is dacitic to trachytic in composition, but has inherited the geochemical signature of high Cr, Ni, and Ba from magma mixing with the mafic alkaline rocks. The volcanic section that most closely …

Application Of Neuro-Fuzzy Technique+2:9s To Predict Ground Water Vulnerability In Northwest Arkansas, B. Dixon, H. D. Scott, J. V. Brahana, A. Mauromoustakos

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

Contamination of ground water has been a major concern in recent years of local, state and federal agencies involved with the management, quality, and quantity of water and their relationships with human health. The Springfield Plateau aquifer, which lies beneath the study area in northwest Arkansas, has been shown to have higher nitrate-N (NO3-N) concentrations than the national median. The dominant landuse (LULC) of this area is agriculture (primarily pasture/cattle and woodlands) and an encroaching urbanization. The major sources of nitrogen in the study area are poultry/cattle wastes, inorganic fertilizers (Peterson et. al., 1998) and septic filter fields. Many of …

Groundwater Study Of The Wagin Townsite, Edward K. Crossley

Resource management technical reports

A groundwater study was carried out for the townsite of Wagin with the aim of accelerating the implementation of effective salinity management options.

Determination Of Surface Heterogeneity And Enthalpies Of Ca-K And Pb-K Systems In Tropical Soil Using Flow Adsorption Calorimetry, Chip Appel, Lena Ma, Dean Rhue, Bill Reve

Earth and Soil Sciences

No abstract provided.

Influence Of The Earthquake Cycle And Lithospheric Rheology On The Dynamics Of The Eastern California Shear Ζone, R. Malservisi, K. Furlong, Timothy H. Dixon

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The Eastern California Shear Zone is bounded by the high heat flow region of the Basin and Range province and the low heat flow region of the Sierra Nevada block. This difference in thermal state influences the rheology of the lower crust/upper mantle, resulting in a viscosity contrast between the two regions. We analyze the effect of such a contrast on the kinematics and dynamics of the shear zone with numerical models. This viscosity contrast drives asymmetric strain accumulation in the upper crust, producing an asymmetric surface velocity field. An additional consequence of this strain pattern is the potential for …

Organic Grapes And Wine : A Guide To Production, Gerry Parlevliet, Steven Mccoy

Bulletins 4000 -

The tastebuds, health concerns and environmental conscience of affluent consumers are demanding more organically grown food than producers worldwide can supply. Growing consumer concerns about the effects of synthetic chemical pesticides and fertilisers on human health and the environment have boosted world trade in organic products by a rate of about 20-30 per cent a year for the past 10 years. World trade was estimated to be worth $US 21.6 billion in 2000 and is expected to reach US$100 billion by the year 2006.

The Australian market for organic products alone is valued at $200-$250 million - with exports estimated …

Dynamical Sedimentary Models Of Shallow Marine Environments, Yong Zhang

OES Theses and Dissertations

This treatise represents a contribution of quantitative, dynamical sedimentary modeling to the analytical understanding of sedimentary processes in shallow marine environments. The dynamical sedimentary models in this treatise numerically simulate the sedimentary processes from an event time scale, based on the fundamental physics of sediment dynamics in coastal and shelf depositional environments, to a longer, facies time scale. The simulated geologic processes serve to the illustrate shoreface equilibrium profile, shelf storm bed generation, and the shelf sedimentary facies system.

This treatise presents a nearshore profile evolution model for the abandoned Huanghe Delta, a two-dimensional storm deposition model, and a sedimentary …

Mantle Deformation Beneath Southern Africa, Paul G. Silver, Stephen S. Gao, Kelly H. Liu, Kaapvaal Seismic Group

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Seismic anisotropy from the southern African mantle has been inferred from shear-wave splitting measured at 79 sites of the Southern African Seismic Experiment. These data provide the most dramatic support to date that Archean mantle deformation is preserved as fossil mantle anisotropy. Fast polarization directions systematically follow the trend of Archean structures and splitting delay times exhibit geologic control. The most anisotropic regions are Late-Archean in age (Zimbabwe craton, Limpopo belt, western Kaapvaal craton), with delay times reduced dramatically in off-craton regions to the southwest and Early-Archean regions to the southeast. While thin lithosphere can account for weak off-craton splitting, …

Water Infiltration Study On Slopes, Tian Huat Low

Student Works (2000-2009)

Study was carried out in the field using infiltrometer and in the laboratory using “sprinkler model”. Studies on infiltration have always been part of hydrology and Irrigation engineering. Infiltration forms the link between surface and subsurface hydrology. Infiltrated water must be quantified and subtracted from the surface runoff in flood prediction studies and surface water management. Numerous researchers have actually incorporated infiltration into the slope stability analysis of the residual soils, e.g., Othman (1990), Affendi et. al.(1992, 1996) and Suhaimi and Abdul Rahman (1997). In most analysis of slope stability, the infiltration rate of the slopes is assumed uniform throughout …

Ecosystems And Immune Systems: Hierarchical Response Provides Resilience Against Invasions, Craig R. Allen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Janssen (2001) provides the stimulus for thoughtful comparison and consideration of the ranges of responses exhibited by immune systems and ecological systems in the face of perturbations such as biological invasions. It may indeed be informative to consider the similarities of the responses to invasions exhibited by immune systems and ecological systems. Clearly, both types of systems share a general organizational structure with all other complex hierarchical systems. Their organization provides these systems with resilience. However, when describing the response of ecological-economic systems to invasions, Janssen emphasizes the human-economic response. I would like to expand on his comparison by focusing …

Low-Flow Test, San Juan River, Final Environmental Assessment, United States Department Of Interior, Bureau Of Reclamation

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

This final environmental assessment (EA) is prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (Public Law 91-190) to evaluate test flows from Navajo Dam into the San Juan River.

The underlying need for this proposed test is to evaluate the effect of low summer flows on various resources. The information obtained will be used in preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) on operating Navajo Reservoir to mimic a natural hydrograph in critical habitat of the San Juan River for the benefit of downstream endangered fish and to allow for future water development.

Distributions Of Roosting Sandhill Cranes As Identified By Aerial Thermography, Tierny L. Parrish, Wayne A. Hubert, Stanley H. Anderson, Michael Pucherelli, Warren Mangus

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We used aerial thermography to determine the location of sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) roosting sites during a single night over a 142-km reach of the Platte River, Nebraska. We assessed the influences of human disturbance features, screening of disturbance features by woody vegetation, distance to surrounding cropland of various types and channel width on distribution patterns of sandhill crane roosting sites with the aid of a geographic information system (GIS). We found that roosting sites were farther from bridges and paved roads than random points along the river channel; a visual woody screen mitigated the effect of bridges …

The Geochemistry Of A Leaf Composting Leachate Plume, Asylum Lake, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Eric G. Steeves

Masters Theses

Since the implementation of legislation that bans yard waste from landfills, there has been a need to characterize the impact that large scale composting has on groundwater quality. Allen (1993) and Weaver (1995) have attempted to characterize a leaf composting leachate plume located at the WMU-Asylum Lake Well Field #2 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Allen was not able to base any conclusions on geochemical results and Weaver delineated the plume using fewer monitoring wells than are now available.

The data from twenty-one monitoring wells indicates that local groundwater is being impacted by the large-scale composting operation. The plume is characterized by …

In Situ Biosurfactant Production At Carson City Park, Michigan, Andrew J. Hudak

Masters Theses

Crude oil refining operations conducted by the Crystal Refining Company in Carson City, Michigan have led to the contamination of the soil and groundwater at Carson City Park with petroleum hydrocarbons. In situ biosurfactant production, occurring as a result of the biodegradation activities of hydrocarbon degrading microorganisms, was investigated.

Background hydrogeological and biogeochemical data were collected from the groundwater from thirteen monitoring wells at Carson City Park. Further analysis included the identification of biosurfactant producing microorganisms and biosurfactants present in the soil and groundwater.

Results showed that Pseudomonas aeruginosa was producing both monorhamnolipids and dirhamnolipids (glycolipid biosurfactants) in the contaminated …

Apoptosis Following Peripheral Sensory Deafferentation In The Olfactory Blub Of Adult Zebrafish, Danio Rerio, Akiko M. Vankirk

Masters Theses

Removal of the olfactory organ in the adult zebrafish results in a significant decrease in volume of the ipsilateral olfactory bulb. Our lab has been investigating the potential role of apoptosis in this phenomenon. My hypothesis is that cells in the adult olfactory bulb normally undergo minimal apoptosis and that apoptosis will increase when sensory stimulation is removed. The TUNEL method allowed detection of cells undergoing DNA-fragmentation, which indicates an apoptotic response. Double-label immunohistochemistry was used to mark which apoptotic cells are neurons by using antibody to Hu, a neuron specific protein. Triple-labeling with bis-benzirnide confirmed the apoptotic nature of …

Controls On Floc Size In A Continental Shelf Bottom Boundary Layer, Paul S. Hill, George Voulgaris, John H. Trowbridge

Faculty Publications

Simultaneous in situ observations of floc size, waves, and currents in a continental shelf bottom boundary layer do not support generally accepted functional relationships between turbulence and floc size in the sea. In September and October 1996 and January 1997, two tripods were deployed in 70 m of water on the continental shelf south of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. On one a camera photographed particles in suspension 1.2 m above the bottom that had equivalent circular diameters larger than 250 um, and on the other, three horizontally displaced acoustic current meters measured flow velocity 0.35 m above the bottom. The …

Seismicity In The Vicinity Of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, For The Period October 1, 1997 To September 20, 1999, David H. Von Seggern, Ken Smith, Glenn Biasi

Publications (YM)

Starting on October 1, 1995 the monitoring of seismicity within the southern Great Basin near Yucca Mountain was performed with a new digital network. This network features three-component recording with 24-bit A/D conversion in the field. Continuous data is collected at 20 sps, and event triggered windows are collected at 100 samples per second. A seismic bulletin of events is made by associating triggers occurring within a prescribed time window. classifying the local earthquake events, and locating the earthquakes and computing their magnitudes with conventional methods. This report covers the operational and seismic results of the third and fourth full …

The Search For A Meteorite Concentration Mechanism In The Allan Hills Icefields, Luke Probst

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.