Earth Sciences Commons^™

Managing The Geodiversity In Baia Mare Region: From The Scientific To The Public Interest, Alexandrina Fülöp, Marinel Kovacs

Studia UBB Geologia

The management of the geodiversity develops around the geological sites with scientific significance, which may be used for education. It is a key component of the natural resources in the Baia Mare region, which encompasses the Oaş and Gutâi Mts. and the adiacent Oaş, Maramureş and Baia Mare basins. After the decline of the mining-derived activities in the region, the development of the scientific and public interest on the geodiversity can be an alternative for the future. The scientific value of the geodiversity in the Baia Mare region is justified by the complex geology of the Neogene magmatic rocks and …

Reproducibility Of Soil Moisture Ensembles When Representing Soil Parameter Uncertainty Using A Latin Hypercube-Based Approach With Correlation Control, Alejandro N. Flores, Dara Entekhabi, Rafael L. Bras

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Representation of model input uncertainty is critical in ensemble‐based data assimilation. Monte Carlo sampling of model inputs produces uncertainty in the hydrologic state through the model dynamics. Small Monte Carlo ensemble sizes are desirable because of model complexity and dimensionality but potentially lead to sampling errors and correspondingly poor representation of probabilistic structure of the hydrologic state. We compare two techniques to sample soil hydraulic and thermal properties (SHTPs): (1) Latin Hypercube (LH) based sampling with correlation control and (2) random sampling from SHTP marginal distributions. A hydrology model is used to project SHTP uncertainty onto the soil moisture state …

A Sequence Stratigraphic And Isotopic Study Of Uppermost Pennsylvanian–Lower Permian Carbonate Strata, Orogrande Basin, New Mexico, Jesse Koch

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Determining how the tropics respond to glaciation is important for improving our global understanding of icehouse worlds. The impetus behind this study is to identify the far-field impacts of Gondwanan glaciation during the Early Permian. Impacts including climate and sea-level change should be evident in sensitive carbonate systems, such as the upper Paleozoic paleotropical strata in the Orogrande Basin. A sequence stratigraphic and stable isotopic approach is used to examine the effects of late Paleozoic climate change in the Orogrande Basin during the acme and subsequent demise of the late Paleozoic ice age.

Sequence stratigraphic analysis suggests the occurrence of …

Tufa Diagenesis In A Carbonate Karst Fluvial Environment [Abstract], Janette England, Amanda Suter, Kevin W. Stafford

Faculty Presentations

No abstract provided.

Integrated Remote Sensing, Structural And Petroleum Systems Modeling Of The Iraqi‐Kurdish Fold Belt, Caroline M. Burberry, Matthias D. Greb, Matthew Laughland, Beth Dudley-Murphy, Gregory Nash, Ministry Of Natural Resources, Iraqi Kurdistan Region

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

An integrated two‐dimensional remote sensing, structural and petroleum systems modeling study was carried out for the Iraqi‐Kurdish Fold Belt to analyze potential trap structures as well as the driving mechanisms of petroleum generation, migration and accumulation in the structural complex thrust belt area.

Processing of Landsat‐7 ETM data has been used to create false color images, highlighting lithological differences, from which geological maps can be generated. Analysis of lineaments in these images is used to generate fault and fracture maps, producing a suite of geological surface maps. In addition, analysis of drainage patterns and erosional features is used to understand …

Sustainable Portland: Implementation Series 3, New England Environmental Finance Center

Climate Change

This report is the third in a series of efforts by students at the Muskie School of Public Service, Community Planning and Development Master’s program, in a core class called “Sustainable Communities.” In this course students seek to understand principles of sustainability and how efforts to implement Sustainability programs can become more successful. The report assembles term papers students completed on particular efforts by municipalities, universities, and other groups to achieve sustainability goals. Students worked on each project in a service learning format with real world clients. They were asked to fashion their papers around lessons learned by other organizations …

Seismicity Associated With Geothermal Systems, Randi Walters

McNair Scholars Research Journal

Studying natural and induced seismicity associated with geothermal systems can provide information regarding the location and magnitude of hydraulic fracturing. Understanding the fracture system can aid geothermal exploration. In addition, seismicity can affect the output of a geothermal reservoir, and potentially be a seismic hazard to the surrounding area. This study focuses on two geothermal systems: the Raft River Geothermal System (RRGS) in southern Idaho and the Mt. Princeton Geothermal System (MPGS) in central Colorado. The seismic data analyzed for the RRGS is from the broadband sensors that are part of the EarthScope Project’s Transportable Array (TA), while the seismic …

Geochemical Analysis Of Cenozoic Fossil Conifers At High Latitudes: Implications For Molecular Preservation And Environmental Change, Caitlyn Witkowski

Honors Projects in Science and Technology

Fossil materials record ancient life and their adapted environment. Arctic plant fossils are critical for our understanding of the Earth’s paleoenvironment when high latitudes were under ice-free conditions. All Arctic plant fossils in this research are conifers, plants conducive for morphological and molecular study because of their incredible genetic stability. Miocene (15 million year old) and Pliocene (5 million year old) conifer leaves were collected from Banks Island, Canada (Williams et al., 2008). Samples were analyzed and compared with Paleocene (60 million year old) and Eocene (45 million year old) samples from Axel Heiberg Island, Canada and with modern equivalent …

Adaptivearc And The Future Of The Energy Industry, Trevor Chase

Earth and Soil Sciences

No abstract provided.

Suspended Sediment Transport Dynamics And Sediment Yields In Relation To Watershed Characteristics, Upper Green River Basin, Kentucky, James Nii Aboh Otoo

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Sediment delivery is a major problem in the Green River, Kentucky, home of 71 of the state’s 103 known mussel species and 151 fish species. The river also provides water for many of its surrounding counties. This research focuses on how suspended sediment loads, grain size, and sediment concentration during runoff events are related to watershed characteristics.

The research characterized suspended sediment loads, grain size, and sediment concentration during runoff events and how they were related to watershed characteristics such as hydro-climatic regime, watershed size, geology and soils, topography and landuse conditions and land cover conditions. The study focused on …

Droughtscape, Spring 2010, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

NDMC and NC Drought Council Team Up

Drought to Intensify in Northwest and Hawaii

International Work

Impacts Recorded in Hawaii and Western States

U.S. Drought Monitor Archives Enhanced

Low-Water Impact Surveys Completed

K-12 Drought Outreach

The Impact Of Community Consultation To Set Resource Condition Targets For Dryland Salinity, Rebecca Heath, Susan Murphy-White, Jamie Bowyer

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Book Review Of James Lovelock: In Search Of Gaia, By John Gribbin And Mary Gribbin, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

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

My book review editor asked me what might be relevant to the Great Plains in a biography of James Lovelock, a book I’d suggested as worth reviewing in Great Plains Research. I assured him that much in it either is or should be relevant to the Great Plains and to science researchers working on studies of aspects of the Great Plains.

James Ephraim Lovelock, born on July 26, 1919, of fairly humble origins, did not do well in school, partly because he was dyslexic. In spite of this and other health problems over the years, he went on to …

Minimum Riparian Buffer Width For Maintaining Water Quality And Habitat Along Stevens Creek, Sammi Bray

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

ABSTRACT Riparian buffer zones are important sites of biodiversity, sediment trapping, pollutant removal, and hydrologic regulation that have significant implications for both people and wildlife. Urbanization’s influence on and need for adequate water quality increases the need for careful planning in regards to riparian areas. Wildlife are key components in the ecosystem functions of riparian zones and require consideration in peri-urban planning as well. This study reviews relevant literature to determine the recommended minimum riparian buffer width for maintaining water quality and habitat along Stevens Creek in Lincoln, Nebraska. Only sources that listed a specific purpose related to water quality …

Yellowstone Super-Volcano: Evaluation, Potential Threats, And Possible Effects On Nebraska Citizens Health And Prosperity, Jennie Korgie

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Abstract Yellowstone National Park is located over a hot spot under the North American tectonic plate and holds a potentially explosive super-volcano that has the ability to cause deadly consequences on the North American continent. After an eruption the surrounding region would see the greatest devastation, covered by pyroclastic deposits and thick ash fall exterminating most all life and destroying all structures in its path. In landscapes of greater distance from the event the consequences will be less dramatic yet still substantial. Records of previous eruption data from the Yellowstone super-volcano show that the ash fall out from the eruption …

Cellulosic Ethanol: The Benefits, Obstacles, And Implications For Nebraska, Cassidee Lin Thompson

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Abstract Ethanol is a biofuel that has unique capabilities to mitigate global climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously supporting rural economies and decreasing the United States’ dependence on foreign oil. Currently, the state of Nebraska depends on corn ethanol, which may be unsustainable. Cellulosic ethanol is a promising alternative but it is not without its problems, including high production costs and potential environmental damage. This thesis is an attempt to understand the benefits, downfalls, and processes of corn-based and cellulosic ethanol and the potential implications to Nebraska. This research should shed some light on the current obstacles …

Distribution Of Dioecious Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus Virginiana) Along An Environmental Gradient In Ogallala, Ne, Taylor Sloey

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study the sex distribution and energy allocation of dioecious Eastern Red Cedars (Juniperus virginiana) along an environmental resource gradient. The trees surveyed were growing in a canyon located at the University of Nebraska’s Cedar Point Biological Research Station in Ogallala, Nebraska. Due to the geography of this canyon, environmental factors necessary for plant growth should vary depending on the tree’s location within the canyon. These factors include water availability, sun exposure, ground slope, and soil nitrogen content, all of which are necessary for carbon acquisition.

Juniperus virginiana is a dioecious conifer. Dioecious …

Baseline Rockfall Rates And Rockfall Protection In Virginia, Brian Bruckno

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Current approaches to rockfall hazard and risk mitigation have been dominated by a model in which rockfall is treated as a global slope stability phenomenon which is mainly triggered by precipitation, freeze-thaw, or root wedging. The methods implemented by many public agencies and private entities developed from this conceptualization. These methods, such as the Rockfall Hazard Rating System, Key Block and Key Group Analysis, and remote sensing using LIDAR or digital images, are best applied to the end-members of slopes, such as pure engineered soil or structurally simple and consistent rock slopes. Slopes exhibiting complex structure, slopes that cross formations …

Intensity, Magnitude, Location, And Attenuation In India For Felt Earthquakes Since 1762, Walter Szeliga, Susan Hough, Stacey Martin, Roger Bilham

Faculty Scholarship for the Cascadia Hazards Institute

A comprehensive, consistently interpreted new catalog of felt intensities for India (Martin and Szeliga, 2010, this issue) includes intensities for 570 earthquakes; instrumental magnitudes and locations are available for 100 of these events. We use the intensity values for 29 of the instrumentally recorded events to develop new intensity versus attenuation relations for the Indian subcontinent and the Himalayan region. We then use these relations to determine the locations and magnitudes of 234 historical events, using the method of Bakun and Wentworth (1997). For the remaining 336 events, intensity distributions are too sparse to determine magnitude or location. We evaluate …

A Catalog Of Felt Intensity Data For 570 Earthquakes In India From 1636 To 2009, Stacey Martin, Walter Szeliga

Faculty Scholarship for the Cascadia Hazards Institute

Eight thousand three hundred thirty-nine intensity observations have been evaluated for earthquakes that occurred on the Indian subcontinent and surrounding plate boundaries from the seventeenth century to the present. They characterize 570 earthquakes, more than 90% of which occurred in the past two centuries. The electronic supplement to this article lists these data using European Macroseismic Scale (EMS-98) intensities with their geographic coordinates. We summarize these data graphically in the form of a spatially averaged intensity map for the subcontinent, a map that emphasizes the features of many previously published earthquake hazard maps for the Indian plate, but which more …

Analysis Of Streamflow In The St. Croix River: A Hydrologic Model, Stephanie A. Kleinschmidt

Geography Honors Projects

This project assesses how streamflow is affected by anthropogenic changes to the environment, looking specifically at the St. Croix River Basin. In 2004 the United States Geologic Survey (USGS) published a report on streamflow in the St. Croix River at two gaging stations: Danbury and St. Croix Falls. The streamflow at the upstream station near Danbury, Wisconsin remained stable over time, while an increase was observed at the station in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin further downstream. In order to evaluate this disparity, this project utilizes a GIS hydrologic model to analyze the factors expected to be influencing the flow rate. …

Changing Depositional Environments In An Upper Ordovician Stratigraphic Sequence, Ashlock Formation, Madison County, Kentucky, Kevin G. Greff, Walter S. Borowski

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

We investigate the sedimentology, stratigraphy, and depositional environments of a 7-meter, Upper Ordovician limestone sequence cropping out in Richmond, Madison County, Kentucky. The stratigraphic section lies within the Ashlock Formation with good lateral exposure stretching along 200 meters of a highway roadcut. We took approximately 20 samples from the measured section, focusing on representative samples and lithologic transitions. We use standard laboratory procedures in slabbing rock samples and making thin sections.

The Ashlock Formation here consists of alternating layers of limey mudstone and limestone (field units A through F). Megafossils - brachiopods, bryozoans, trilobites, gastropods, ostracodes, coralline algae, and bivalves …

Relatin Dissolved Oxygen Concentration To Fish Distribution In Jarecki Lake, Adam Sutton

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Abstract Water temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO) profiles were measured once every month from mid July to mid February in a relatively deep sand-pit lake in southeast Nebraska. These profiles showed depleted DO concentrations below the thermocline during summer stratification indicating areas fish will likely avoid in summer months. Colder temperatures in fall caused complete mixing of the water column allowing fish to inhabit all depths of the lake. An inverse temperature stratification occurred directly below the ice during winter months as ice cover cooled the surface water to below 4 degrees Celsius. Ice cover also blocked air – water …

Centers For Renewable Energy & Biomass Utilization, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Brochure on the Energy & Environmental Research Center's (EERC's) Centers for Renewable Energy & Biomass Utilization, funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy. Outlines EERC capabilities and the Centers' areas of expertise. [This item is an outdated or superseded version and retained for historical purposes only. It may no longer reflect current information, policies, or practices.]

Normal And Reverse Faulting Driven By The Subduction Zone Earthquake Cycle In The Northern Chilean Forearc, John P. Loveless, Richard W. Allmendinger, Matthew E. Pritchard, Gabriel González

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

Despite its location in a convergent tectonic setting, the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile between 21°S and 25°S is dominated by structures demonstrating extension in the direction of plate convergence. In some locations, however, normal faults have been reactivated as reverse faults, complicating the interpretation of long-term strain. In order to place these new observations in a tectonic context, we model stress changes induced on these faults by the subduction earthquake cycle. Our simulations predict that interseismic locking on the plate boundary encourages normal slip on fore-arc faults, which may result from elastic rebound due to interplate earthquakes or from …

Contribution Of Soil Moisture Feedback To Hydroclimatic Variability, Nir Krakauer, B. I. Cook, M. J. Puma

Publications and Research

While a variety of model experiments and analyses of observations have explored the impact of soil moisture variation on climate, it is not yet clear how large or detectable soil moisture feedback is across spatial and temporal scales. Here, we study the impact of dynamic versus climatological soil moisture in the GISS GCM ModelE (with prescribed sea-surface temperatures) on the variance and on the spatial and temporal correlation scale of hydrologically relevant climate variables (evaporation, precipitation, temperature, cloud cover) over the land surface. We also confirm that synoptic variations in soil moisture have a substantial impact on the mean climate …

Assessing The Potential To Detect Oil Spills In And Under Snow Using Airborne Ground-Penetrating Radar, John H. Bradford, David F. Dickens, Per Johan Brandvik

CGISS Publications and Presentations

With recent increased interest in oil and gas exploration and development in the Arctic comes increased potential for an accidental hydrocarbon release into the cryosphere, including within and at the base of snow. There is a critical need to develop effective and reliable methods for detecting such spills. Numerical modeling shows that ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is sensitive to the presence of oil in the snow pack over a broad range of snow densities and oil types. Oil spills from the surface drain through the snow by the mechanisms of unsaturated flow and form geometrically complex distributions that are controlled by …

Testing Models Related To The Laramide Uplift Of The Uinta Mountains And Geologic Mapping Of The Jessen Butte 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Dagget County, Utah And Sweetwater County, Wyoming, Coreen Hurst

Theses and Dissertations

Geologic mapping of the Jessen Butte 7.5 minute quadrangle and the gathering of structural data throughout the quadrangle was used to determine the paleostress regime during the Laramide Orogeny along the north flank of the Uinta Mountains. The Henrys Fork thrust fault and the Uinta thrust fault are major north bounding faults and within the Jessen Butte quadrangle these faults transfer deformation from one to the other. The Jessen Butte thrust fault is a fault splay that splits off from the Henrys Fork thrust fault. Complex fold geometries were created by the interaction of the faults. Bedding plane orientation, mode …

Integrating Facies Analysis, Terrestrial Sequence Stratigraphy, And The First Detrital Zircon (U-Pb) Ages Of The Twist Gulch Formation, Utah, Usa: Constraining Paleogeography And Chronostratigraphy, Tyson L. Perkes

Theses and Dissertations

The Jurassic Twist Gulch Formation of central Utah was deposited in the active Arapien sub-basin of the Western Cordillera foreland trough. We herein demonstrate the utility of integrating facies analysis, terrestrial sequence stratigraphy, and detrital zircon (U-Pb) ages to improve paleogeographic reconstructions as well as identify regional unconformities, locate fluvial depocenters, and infer sediment supply/accommodation space ratios. Strata of the Twist Gulch Formation in Pigeon Creek Canyon (PCC) near Levan, Utah consists primarily of alluvial deposits, while in Salina Canyon (SC) the Twist Gulch Formation is comprised of a mix of alluvial and marginal marine deposits associated with the Jurassic …

Slab Window Migration And Terrane Accretion Preserved By Low‐Temperature Thermochronology Of A Magmatic Arc, Northern Antarctic Peninsula, William R. Guenthner, David L. Barbeau Jr, Peter W. Reiners, Stuart N. Thomson

Faculty Publications

Existing paleogeographic reconstructions indicate that the northern Antarctic Peninsula was central to several Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonic events that have implications for ocean circulation and continental margin evolution. To evaluate the exhumational record of these processes, we collected new samples and measured fission track and (U‐Th)/He cooling ages of apatite and zircon from 13 Jurassic and Cretaceous granitoids in western Graham Land between the northern tip of the peninsula and the Antarctic Circle. Apatite He data reveal distinct ages and systematic age patterns north and south of Anvers Island, near the midpoint of the study area: To the south, apatite …