Earth Sciences Commons^™

Field Pea In The Great Southern, Ian Pritchard, Rodger Beermier, Mark Seymour

All other publications

Semi-leafless field pea like Kaspa have lifted the benchmark set by the previous conventional varieties such as Parafield and Dunwa. Semi-leafless field pea have the same traits as conventional field pea: adaptation to a range of soil types; wide selection of weed control options (including crop topping); nitrogen input; disease break; and reduction in root lesion nematodes. Semi-leafless pea is easier to harvest and is less prone to pod shatter.

Is There A Northern Lesser Antilles Forearc Block?, A. M. Lopez, S. Stein, Timothy H. Dixon, G. Sella, E. Calais, P. Jansma, J. Weber, P. Lafemina

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

A systematic discrepancy exists between slip vectors of thrust fault earthquakes at the Lesser Antilles trench (LAT) and the predicted direction of North American‐Caribbean convergence. A possibility has been that the discrepancy resulted because neither was well constrained. Estimating Caribbean motion has been challenging owing to the limited data along the plate's complex boundaries. Similarly, earlier studies had few slip vectors because interplate thrust events are infrequent. To address these difficulties, we estimate a new Caribbean‐North America Euler vector using recently available GPS data from sites in the presumably stable interior of the Caribbean, and compare the predicted velocities to …

Competitive Effects Of Uranyl-Organic Complexes On U(Vi) Reduction By Shewanella Putrefaciens, Abraham M. Northup

Masters Theses

Haas and DiChristina (2002) have demonstrated that Fe(III) reduction by the facultative Fe(III)-reducing bacterium S. putrefaciens is mediated by competitive speciation among dissolved organic ligands and functional groups on the cell surface. They also showed that rates of Fe(III) reduction by S. putrefaciens correlate with the thermodynamic stability constants of the Fe(III)-organic ligand complexes. S. putrefaciens can also use U(VI) as a terminal electron acceptor, coupling U(VI) reduction to growth. In this study, S. putrefaciens was incubated in experimental media containing U(VI) in the form of aqueous complexes with a variety of organic ligands that differ significantly in structure and …

Thermometric Measurements Of The Molecular Sublayer At The Air-Water Interface, B. Ward

OES Faculty Publications

[1] A series of measurements was conducted in the AirSea Interaction Saltwater Tank (ASIST) to study the response of the air-water interfacial molecular sublayer under various heat flux and wind speed conditions. In-situ gradients were measured with a platinum-plated tungsten wire microthermometer, which resolved the temperature of the thermally conductive sublayer. Air-sea heat flux was controlled by changing the air-water temperature difference (ΔT^AW) and the wind speed, and measurements were made for three ΔT^AW regimes over a range of wind speeds. A function was fitted to the measured temperature profiles as a way of extracting the boundary …

Correlating Late Pleistocene Deposits On The Coastal Plain Of Virginia With The Glacial-Eustatic Sea-Level Curve, Timothy Wullschleger Scott

OES Theses and Dissertations

Late Pleistocene sediments mapped along Virginia's southeastern coastal plain record deposition by high-frequency cycles during isotope stages 5 to 1. Correlations between several geologic units both south (S) and east (E) of the Chesapeake Bay have proven difficult due to insufficient dating methods. To improve these regional correlations, two members of the Tabb Formation on Virginia's southside and two formations on the southern Delmarva Peninsula were selected for stratigraphic analyses. Ground penetrating radar provided geologic details in areas where samples were collected for optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. The stratigraphically older units, Sedgefield Member of the Tabb Formation (S) and …

Hydrological Effects And Groundwater Fluctuations In Interdunal Environments In The Nebraska Sandhills, David Gosselin, Venkataramana Sridhar, F. Edwin Harvey, James Goeke

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Nine years of groundwater monitoring data has documented the important influence that topographic relief and location in the groundwater flow system have on the hydrologic function of interdunal valleys. The western "wet" valley at the Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory in central Nebraska, which is a net discharge area, is more strongly buffered from the effects of annual-scale climatic variability than the eastern "dry" valley. The east valley is generally an area of net recharge and as such is more responsive to climatic variability. This study employed a simple water balance approach to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) from water level measurements in the …

Modeling The Evolution Of Natural Organic Matter In The Environment With An Agent-Based Stochastic Approach, Xiaorong Xiang, Yingping Huang, Gregory Madey, Steve Cabaniss, Leilani Arthurs, Patricia Maurice

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Natural organic matter (NOM) is ubiquitous in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and it plays a crucial role in the evolution of soils, the transport of pollutants, and the global carbon cycle. NOM is a complex mixture of molecules and is thus heterogeneous in structure and composition. As NOM passes through an ecosystem, it is acted upon by a variety of processes, such as microbial degradation, adsorption to mineral surfaces, and photochemical reactions that can change its properties and reactivity. The evolution of NOM in space and time thus is an important research area in biology, geochemistry, ecology, soil science, and …

Evaluation Of Geophysical And Thermal Methods For Detecting Submarine Groundwater Discharge (Sgd) In The Suwannee River Estuary, Florida, Matthew Weiss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) represents a significant portion of the total discharge from coastal aquifers through diffuse seepage and point source springs, but can be difficult to locate. SGD is important as it can be a source of nutrients to estuaries and other coastal ecosystems. In an effort to evaluate geophysical and thermal methods for detecting SGD on the Florida Gulf coast, a suite of water-borne surveys were run in conjunction with aerial thermal imagery over the lower Suwannee River and estuary in March and September 2005. Thermal imagery exploits temperature differences between discharging groundwater and surface water. Thermal images …

Long-Term Volumetric Eruption Rates And Magma Budgets, Scott M. White, Joy A. Crisp, Frank J. Spera

Faculty Publications

A global compilation of 170 time-averaged volumetric volcanic output rates (Qe) is evaluated in terms of composition and petrotectonic setting to advance the understanding of long-term rates of magma generation and eruption on Earth. Repose periods between successive eruptions at a given site and intrusive:extrusive ratios were compiled for selected volcanic centers where long-term (>104 years) data were available. More silicic compositions, rhyolites and andesites, have a more limited range of eruption rates than basalts. Even when high Qe values contributed by flood basalts (9 ± 2 10[1]1 km3/yr) are removed, there is a trend in decreasing average Qe …

Contrasting Silicic Magma Series In Miocene-Pliocene Ash Deposits In The San Miguel De Allende Graben, Guanajuato, Mexico, Eric H. Christiansen, Bart J. Kowallis, Aaron J. Adams, Oscar Carranza-Castaneda, Wade E. Miller

Faculty Publications

The San Miguel de Allende graben, Guanajuato, Mexico, contains numerous rhyolitic volcanic ash beds. Electron microprobe and x-ray fluorescence analyses of glass shards from 14 localities, combined with mineralogic, stratigraphic, radiometric, and paleomagnetic data, allow us to correlate the ash beds (and the intervening sedimentary strata and fossils), understand the timing of volcanism, date the age of extension, and better understand the tectonic and volcanic evolution of central Mexico. Our analyses reveal that at least six separate eruptions of rhyolitic ash occurred during the Late Miocene and Pliocene (5-3 Ma) while the San Miguel Allende basin was subsiding. The fallout …

Cross-Shore Variation Of Wind-Driven Flows On The Inner Shelf In Long Bay, South Carolina, United States, Benjamin T. Gutierrez, George Voulgaris, Paul A. Work

Faculty Publications

The cross-shore structure of subtidal flows on the inner shelf (7 to 12 m water depth) of Long Bay, South Carolina, a concave-shaped bay, is examined through the analysis of nearly 80 days of near-bed (1.7–2.2 m above bottom) current observations acquired during the spring and fall of 2001. In the spring and under northeastward winds (upwelling favorable) a two-layered flow was observed at depths greater than 10 m, while closer to the shore the currents were aligned with the wind. The two-layered flow is attributed to the presence of stratification, which has been observed under similar conditions in the …

Comparative Investigations Of Equatorial Electrodynamics And Low-To-Mid Latitude Coupling Of The Thermosphere-Ionosphere System, M J. Colerico, M Mendillo, C G. Fesen, J Meriwether

Dartmouth Scholarship

The thermospheric midnight temperature maxi-

mum (MTM) is a highly variable, but persistent, large scale

neutral temperature enhancement which occurs at low lati-

tudes. Its occurrence can impact many fundamental upper

atmospheric parameters such as pressure, density, neutral

winds, neutral density, and F-region plasma. Although the

MTM has been the focus of several investigations employ-

ing various instrumentation including photometers, satellites,

and Fabry-Perot interferometers, limited knowledge exists

regarding the latitude extent of its influence on the upper at-

mosphere. This is largely due to observational limitations

which confined the collective geographic range to latitudes

within ±23◦. This paper investigates the …

Mineral-Scale Sr Isotopic Study Of Plagioclase In The Mafic Dikes Of The North American Wall And The Diorite Of The Rockslides, Yosemite Valley, California., Wendy Rae Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

The North American Wall mafic dikes and the diorite of the Rockslides mafic complex in the intrusive suite of Yosemite Valley show evidence of mixing with their host granites as well as with earlier components. Whole rock major element variation diagrams indicate the mafic rocks mixed with a more silicic component, but extrapolating to the silica end member does not yield the same result with each element. Trace element concentrations show a wide variation in concentration of Cr and Ni, with two samples showing enrichment in Cr (>300 ppm) and Ni (~44 ppm) compared to other samples (Cr =13-94 …

A Multidisciplinary Approach To Reservoir Characterization Of The Coastal Entrada Erg-Margin Gas Play, Utah, Will D. Monn

Theses and Dissertations

World-class outcrops of an outermost erg-margin can be observed within the Middle Jurassic Entrada Sandstone near Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. These erg-margin deposits contain isolated reservoir quality sandstone bodies that transition into a muddy tidal flat facies. These high quality reservoirs are dominated by eolian-influenced facies interbedded with sandy interdune facies. They are sealed vertically by muddy and silty facies of associated tidal flat deposits that act as excellent stratigraphic traps in the subsurface. A variety of approaches were used to characterize these Entrada erg-margin reservoirs including: annotated panoramas of outcrops, measured sections, scintillometer measurements of field sections, facies …

Unresolved Problems Involving The Hydrogeology And Sequence Stratigraphy Of The Wasatch Plateau Based On Mapping Of The Wattis 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Carbon And Emery Counties, Utah: Insights Gained From A New Geologic Map, David O. Alderks

Theses and Dissertations

The Wattis 7.5 Minute Quadrangle is located in central Utah, in the transition zone between the Basin and Range province and the Colorado plateau. Two small grabens, located in the quadrangle, are the easternmost evidence of Basin and Range faulting. Sedimentary units exposed are mainly Cretaceous in age and deposited in the Western Cretaceous Interior Seaway. This area is of economical importance due to its large coal deposits, coal bed methane, and groundwater. The Wattis Quadrangle provided an ideal opportunity to test, at a small scale, the applicability of a new groundwater model for stratified mountainous terranes. Water samples had …

Crop Updates 2006 - Cadoux And Calingiri, Raj Malik, Kelly Winfield, David Stephens, Michael Meuleners, Kari-Lee Falconer, Bill Bowden, Narelle Simpson, Anne Wilkins, Nathan Hancock, Peter Newman, Glenn Adam, Andrew Blake, Caroline Peak, Stephen Davies, Chris Gazey, Bob Gilkes, Dan Evans, Tania Liaghati

Crop Updates

This session covers nine papers from different authors

1. Performance of oaten hay varieties in Western Australian environments, Raj Malik and Kellie Winfield, Department of Agriculture

2. Performance of dwarf potential milling varieties in Western Australian environments, Raj Malik and Kellie Winfield, Department of Agriculture

3. 2006 Seasonal outlook, David Stephens, Michael Meuleners and Kari-Lee Falconer, Department of Agriculture

4. Matching nitrogen supply to crop demand in high rainfall cropping, Bill Bowden, Narelle Simpson Department of Agriculture

5. An overview of the potential for a Biofuels Industry in Western Australia, Anne Wilkins and Nathan Hancock, Department of Agriculture

6. IWM performs over 5 years …

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The Earth All Around Us Selected Building Stone In Lincoln, Nebraska, William J. Wayne

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Long-Term Mechanical Behavior Of Yucca Mountain Tuff And Its Variability, Jaak J.K. Daemen, Lumin Ma, Guohua Zhao

Publications (YM)

The study of the long term mechanical behavior of Yucca Mountain tuffs is important for several reasons. Long term stability of excavations will affect accessibility (e.g. for inspection purposes), and retrievability. Long term instabilities may induce loading of drip shields and/or emplaced waste, thus affecting drip shield and/or waste package corrosion. Failure of excavations will affect airflow, may affect water flow, and may affect temperature distributions. The long term mechanical behavior of “hard” rocks remains an elusive topic, loaded with uncertainties. A variety of approaches have been used to improve the understanding of this complex subject, but it is doubtful …

A Preliminary Comparison Of The Sulfur Geochemistry Between Two Gas Hydrate Terranes, Michael D. Spicer, Walter S. Borowski

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

We compare the authigenic sulfide mineral geochemistry of two, different gas hydrate terranes: the accretionary wedge of the Cascadia continental margin (offshore Oregon) and the passive margin of the Blake Ridge region (offshore southeastern US). We expect diagenetic processes effecting sulfide mineral formation (elemental sulfur, iron monosulfides, and pyrite) within these sediments to respond to differing geologic conditions at each setting. In both settings, methane diffuses upward from gas hydrates to the methane-sulfate interface (SMI), where it is consumed by reaction with sulfate during anaerobic methane oxidation (AMO). This microbially-mediated, diagenetic process produces an interstitial environment conducive to authigenic sulfide …

Radiotelemetry And Behavioral Ecology Of Neonate Southern Pacific Rattlesnakes, Alex Figueroa

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

By externally glueing radiotransmitters to the dorsoposterior surface of seven neonate Southern Pacific Rattlesnakes, Crotalus oreganus helleri, I monitored the behavior and ecology of this understudied age-class and species. As an alternative to surgical implantation, external transmitter attachment was less invasive, permitted frequent transmitter replacement, and did not appear to affect neonate behavior. Five neonates tracked through several transmitter replacements (48-125 d) increased 10-38% in mass, indicating successful foraging. Neonates predominately occupied grasslands and coastal sage scrub habitats. Ambush postures were frequently established near rodent features (burrows and runways). Unlike adults, the neonates frequently used arboreal positions (10% of 144 …

General Brochure, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Brochure about the Energy & Environmental Research Center, including its philosophy, program areas, and Centers of Excellence. [This item is an outdated or superseded version and retained for historical purposes only. It may no longer reflect current information, policies, or practices.]

Induced-Polarization Measurements On Unconsolidated Sediments From A Site Of Active Hydrocarbon Biodegradation, Gamal Z. Abdel Aal, Lee D. Slater, Estella A. Atekwana

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

To investigate the potential role that indigenous microorganisms and microbial processes may play in altering low frequency electrical properties, induced-polarization (IP) measurements in the frequency range of 0.1 to 1000 Hz were acquired from sediment samples retrieved from a site contaminated by hydrocarbon undergoing intrinsic biodegradation. Increased imaginary conductivity and phase were observed for samples from the smear zone (contaminated with residual-phase hydrocarbon), exceeding values obtained for samples contaminated with dissolved-phase hydrocarbons, and in turn, exceeding values obtained for uncontaminated samples. Real conductivity, although generally elevated for samples from the smear zone, did not show a strong correlation with contamination. …

Lessons Learned From The St. Francis Dam Failure, J. David Rogers

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The St. Francis Dam (Fig. 1), a curved concrete gravity structure 209-feet high, located in the mountains about 35 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, failed catastrophically near midnight just before March 12, 1928. The failure released 36,180 acre-feet of water down San Francisquito Canyon on a turbulent 55-mile journey to the Pacifica Ocean near Ventura, killing 450 people. As the deadliest American civil engineering failure of the 20th century, the city of Los Angeles paid more than $7 million in restitution to the victims' families and affected landowners. The sudden failure of a new concrete dam constructed by a …

A Geologic Record Of Competing Sulfate-Depletion Processes Within Continental-Rise Sediments Overlying Methane Gas Hydrates Of The Blake Ridge Region (Continental Rise, Offshore Southeastern United States), Walter S. Borowski, Kathryn G. Takacs, Matthew K. Thompson

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Geochemical signals locked within sediments and sedimentary rocks record geochemical processes through geologic time. Sulfide minerals (elemental sulfur, iron monosulfides, and pyrite) are formed within marine sediments as dissolved sulfide is produced by various geochemical processes, which include sulfate reduction and anaerobic methane oxidation (AMO). The concentration and sulfur isotopic composition (d³⁴S) of sulfide minerals gives clues about the relative importance of these competing geochemical processes, and consequently about sedimentation rates and upward methane transport.

Marine sediments of the Blake Ridge(offshore South Carolina and Georgia) contain sulfide minerals that point to AMO as an important diagenetic process both …

Hydrographic Observations During The 2002 Ioc Contaminant Baseline Survey In The Western Pacific Ocean, C. I. Measures, Greg A. Cutter, W. M. Landing, R. T. Powell

OES Faculty Publications

The 2002 IOC Contaminant Baseline Survey in the western Pacific Ocean was the fourth in a series of cruises intended to establish the contemporary concentrations of trace elements and other materials in the major water masses of the ocean and to illuminate the pathways by which materials delivered to the surface ocean are incorporated in the subsurface waters. The expedition occupied 9 vertical profile stations encompassing the subtropical and subarctic gyre of the western North Pacific. In addition, underway surface water samples were collected during transits between the stations. This paper uses the temperature, salinity, nutrient, oxygen, and chlorophyll data …

A 2200-Year Record Of Hydrologic Variability From Foy Lake, Montana, Usa, Inferred From Diatom And Geochemical Data, Lora R. Stevens, Jeffery R. Stone, Josh Campbell, Sherilyn C. Fritz

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

A 2200-yr long, high-resolution (~5 yr) record of drought variability in northwest Montana is inferred from diatoms and δ¹⁸O values of bio-induced carbonate preserved in a varved lacustrine core from Foy Lake. A previously developed model of the diatom response to lake-level fluctuations is used to constrain estimates of paleolake levels derived from the diatom data. High-frequency (decadal) fluctuations in the de-trended δ¹⁸O record mirror variations in wet/dry cycles inferred from Banff tree-rings, demonstrating the sensitivity of the oxygen-isotope values to changes in regional moisture balance. Low frequency (multi-centennial) isotopic changes may be associated with shifts …

Serial Ruptures Of The San Andreas Fault, Carrizo Plain, California, Revealed By Three-Dimensional Excavations, Jing Liu-Zeng, Yann Klinger, Kerry Sieh, Charles Rubin, Gordon Seitz

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

It is poorly known if fault slip repeats regularly through many earthquake cycles. Well‐documented measurements of successive slips rarely span more than three earthquake cycles. In this paper, we present evidence of six sequential offsets across the San Andreas fault at a site in the Carrizo Plain, using stream channels as piercing lines. We opened a latticework of trenches across the offset channels on both sides of the fault to expose their subsurface stratigraphy. We can correlate the channels across the fault on the basis of their elevations, shapes, stratigraphy, and ages. The three‐dimensional excavations allow us to locate accurately …

Forage Testing Program, Michael Judge

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Livestock farmers who need hay can find it right here in Kentucky. Listings of farms with hay for sale can be found on the Hay and Forage Program page of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Web site, www.kyagr.com.

Why Dairy Farmers Need And Want High Quality Alfalfa Hay: Quality Of Hay = Performance And Profitability, Donna M. Amaral-Phillips

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Why do dairy farmers want high quality forages, including alfalfa hay, to feed to their milking herds? Feeding high-quality forages results in greater feed intake and as a result, dairy cows produce more milk, and they often times can produce this milk more economically. With advancing stage of plant maturity, fiber digestibility and protein content of the alfalfa plant decreases while the amount of fiber increases. Consequently, less energy is available to the cow when it consumes more mature alfalfa. Energy is the nutrient that most often limits performance in dairy or beef cattle - not protein. The take home …

Alfalfa Hay For Horses, Robert Coleman

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

When horse owners consider hay for their animals a number of criteria are generally considered. Of major importance is the hay must be free of mold and dust, it needs to contain nutrients needed by the horse and it must be palatable. If these criteria are met, the type of hay should not matter. However, that is not the case with many horse owners. When discussing hay, many owners first consider the type of hay. Can it be alfalfa or should it be a grass or how about a mix of grass and a legume. If a group of horse …