Earth Sciences Commons^™

Methylmercury Fate In The Hypersaline Environment Of The Great Salt Lake: A Critical Review Of Current Knowledge, Danielle Barandiaran

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Methylmercury (MeHg) is a highly potent neurotoxic form of the environmental pollutant Mercury (Hg). The processes that are responsible for the conversion of Hg to MeHg are known to be both biotic and abiotic in freshwater systems. Although MeHg contamination is well documented in Great Salt Lake (GSL), the conversion of Hg into MeHg is not well-understood in saline environments much less in hypersaline waters such as GSL. The GSL is a broad, shallow high altitude (1280 m above sea level) lake that is exposed to large amounts of ultraviolet radiation and evaporation, which lead to great volatilization losses of …

Long-Term Residue And Water Management Effects On Soil Respiration And Soil Aggregate Stability In A Wheat-Soybean, Double-Crop System In Eastern Arkansas, Sharon Faye Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sustainability in agriculture is paramount to assuring continued production from our most naturally fertile soils. Storing carbon (C) in soil as organic matter through sustainable agricultural management practices can both remove atmospheric C and improve soil quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate the long-term effects of water management (irrigation and dryland), residue management [burn and no-burn, conventional (CT) and no-tillage (NT)] and residue/fertility level (high and low) on soil respiration and aggregate stability in a wheat- (Triticum aestivum L.) soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], double-crop system in a silt-loam soil (Aquic Fraglossudalf) in the Mississippi River Delta …

Quantitative Trait Loci Associated With Waterlogging Tolerance In A Soft Red Winter Wheat Mapping Population, Diana Carolina Ballesteros Benavides

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Waterlogging is caused when water stays superficially in the soil for an extended period of time, creating an anaerobic environment which decreases plant growth and grain yield at maturity. Despite the impact of waterlogging on wheat production both globally and in the southeastern U.S., very little is known about the genetic control of waterlogging tolerance in wheat. The objective of this study was to determine the amount of genetic variation for vegetative stage waterlogging tolerance present within a wheat recombinant inbred line (RIL) population and to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with tolerance and productivity. Experiments were carried out …

Bedrock Geological Map Of The Rockhouse Quadrangle, Carroll And Madison Counties, Arkansas, Douglas Eben Jones

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A digital geologic map of the Rockhouse quadrangle, Carroll and Madison counties, Arkansas, was created on a 1:24,000 scale using ArcMap 10 and Photoshop CS4. The data obtained in the field are digitized onto the United States Geological Survey (USGS) digital raster graphic (DRG) of the Rockhouse quadrangle. The geology in the Rockhouse quadrangle consist entirely of sedimentary rocks that are Paleozoic ranging from Lower Ordovician to Mississippian in age. The Ordovician System is represented by the Cotter, Powell, Everton, and St. Peter Formations. The Cotter and Powell are the prominent bluff forming units throughout the quadrangle and along the …

Hydrogeology And Chemical Characterization Of Hydrocarbon In Domestic Water Wells, Rancho Villa Subdivision, Rogers, Arkansas, Janelle Renee Sherman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project is centered on the Rancho Villa community in Rogers, Arkansas where several residents have had hydrocarbon contamination in their domestic water wells. The goal of this project was to understand the hydrogeology in the study area, characterize the contaminant chemically, and determine the source of the contaminant. The hydrogeology of the area was determined from previous theses. Seventeen samples were taken from the wells in the Rancho Villa community; each sample was analyzed for geochemical parameters and by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) for organic compounds analysis. Four of the 17 samples had a visible non-aqueous layer of hydrocarbon …

Infrared Spectra Analysis Of Thermally Altered Iron Phyllosilicates And The Implications For Mars, William Thomas Bryan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study looks at two iron-rich phyllosilicates, which may be present on Mars. The minerals, greenalite and hisingerite, are rich in iron-II and iron-III, respectively. Small samples (~0.40 grams) of each mineral were crushed and heated in a Lindberg Tube Oven for approximately twenty-four hours at temperatures selected to mimic lava flows and impact events. Following heating, each sample was placed in a Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer to collect the near- and mid-infrared spectra. The spectra allowed for these terrestrial analogs to be analyzed with regards to how their structure breaks down with increasing temperature. The samples' colors were …

Sedimentary Provenance Of The Wedington Member, Fayetteville Shale, From Age Relations Of Detrital Zircons, William Tyson Cains

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

U-Pb geochronology of detrital zircons collected from the Chesterian Wedington Sandstone allows interpretation of sediment provenance and dispersal patterns in the southern midcontinent during the Late Mississippian. Detrital zircons analyzed from six samples of Wedington Sandstone yielded a final result of 565 concordant analyses used for interpretation. Results are plotted as Probability-Density Plots to interpret the spectrum of ages. Significant peaks occurred at 350-500 Ma, 950-1250 Ma, 1300-1500 Ma, 1600-1800 Ma, 1800-2300 Ma, and >2500 Ma. These peaks are interpreted as sourced by crystalline rocks within the Laurentian craton from Taconic-Acadian, Grenville, Midcontinent Granite-Rhyolite, Yavapai-Mazatzal, Paleoproterozoic, and Superior Provinces. The …

Utilizing Persistent Scatterer Interferometry To Investigate The Nature And Factors Controlling Nile Delta Subsidence, El Hachemi Yousef Bouali

Masters Theses

The Nile Delta in Egypt is being threatened by two continuous and relatively slow hazards: encroachment from the Mediterranean Sea as sea levels rise and land subsidence of the delta itself. The magnitude of sea level rise has been actively monitored, while the subsidence of the Nile Delta has not been adequately quantified spatially and temporally. Instead, all previous studies have either focused on measuring average Holocene subsidence rates or modern subsidence rates on local scales (point- or city-scale).

The overall study objective is three-fold: (1) to measure and map the spatial variations in subsidence rates across the entire Nile …

Origin Of High Levels Of Ammonium In Groundwater, Ottawa County, Michigan, Derrick Lingle

Masters Theses

Groundwater from wells located in and around Hemlock Crossing Park in Ottawa County, Michigan has elevated levels of ammonium. High ammonium concentrations in potable water wells are a common indicator of anthropogenic impact, such as landfill leachate or agricultural activity. Ammonium can also occur in groundwater through the decay of natural organic material. Along with the retrieval of a complete glacial sediment core via rotasonic drilling, numerous chemical and isotopic parameters were used to determine the source of ammonium in the impacted aquifer.

Buried organic material, deposited during the Athens subepisode interglacial period, is in contact with groundwater containing elevated …

Stratigraphic Controls On Diagenetic Pathways In The St. Peter Sandstone, Michigan Basin, Stephen A. Zdan

Masters Theses

The Middle Ordovician St. Peter Sandstone in the Michigan Basin is a target for hydrocarbon exploration/production, and carbon sequestration and geologic storage. The St. Peter is predominantly a marine sandstone with four dominant lithofacies. The uppermost facies contains zones of porosity and good reservoir quality. Because of the mostly uniform detrital composition, diagenesis must play a leading role in reservoir quality development. This study tests stratigraphic controls on diagenesis and reservoir quality development. The distribution of diagenetic regimes is believed to result from depositional setting and related geologic processes, including variations in sediment accumulation rate. Early carbonate cements preserve pre-compaction …

Recent Accumulation Variability In Northwest Greenland From Ground-Penetrating Radar And Shallow Cores Along The Greenland Inland Traverse, Robert L. Hawley, Zoe R. Courville, Laura M. Kehrl, Eric R. Lutz, Erich C. Osterberg, Thomas B. Overly, Gifford J. Wong

Dartmouth Scholarship

Accumulation is a key parameter governing the mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet. Several studies have documented the spatial variability of accumulation over wide spatial scales, primarily using point data, remote sensing or modeling. Direct measurements of spatially extensive, detailed profiles of accumulation in Greenland, however, are rare. We used 400 MHz ground-penetrating radar along the 1009 km route of the Greenland Inland Traverse from Thule to Summit during April and May of 2011, to image continuous internal reflecting horizons. We dated these horizons using ice-core chemistry at each end of the traverse. Using density profiles measured along the …

La Yeguada Volcanic Vomplex In The Republic Of Panama: An Assessment Of The Geologic Hazards Using 40ar/39ar Geochronology, Karinne L. Knutsen, William I. Rose, Brian Jicha

Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences Publications

La Yeguada volcanic complex is one of three Quaternary volcanic centers in Panama. To assess potential geologic hazards, new samples were analyzed using argon analysis (⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar), and obtained the following: the most recent eruption occurred approximately 32,000 years ago at the Media Luna cinder cone; the youngest dated eruption from the main dome complex occurred 357 ± 19 ka, producing the Castillo dome unit; Cerro Picacho, a separate dacite dome 1.5 km east of the main complex is 4.47 ± 0.23 Ma; and the El Satro Pyroclastic Flow unit surrounds the northern portion of the volcanic …

U.S. Drought Monitor, November 26, 2013, Richard R. Heim Jr.

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of the United States for November 26, 2013 (11/26/13) plus: United States crop areas experiencing drought (map), an approximate percentage of crop located in drought by state (bar graph), and the percentage of crop area located in drought during the past 52 weeks (line graph) for corn, soybeans, hay, cattle, and winter wheat.

Imls Place Grant: Campus Journal Press Release, Place Project Group

PLACE Project

Campus Journal press release describing the PLACE (Position-based Location Archive Coordinate Explorer) project that is funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services. The University of New Hampshire (UNH) library partnered with the UNH Earth Systems Research Center to develop a geospatial interface that is searchable by geospatial coordinates.

U.S. Drought Monitor, November 19, 2013, Richard R. Heim Jr.

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of the United States for November 19, 2013 (11/19/13) plus: United States crop areas experiencing drought (map), an approximate percentage of crop located in drought by state (bar graph), and the percentage of crop area located in drought during the past 52 weeks (line graph) for corn, soybeans, hay, cattle, and winter wheat.

The Surface Charging Behavior Of The Gibbsite (001) Surface: An Evaluation Of The Music Model, T. J. Campbell, Dr. Barry Bickmore

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The struggle to find and maintain sources of clean water faces billions of people throughout the world. Increases in groundwater contamination have made this problem even more severe. It is therefore of great importance to understand how contaminants travel and interact in the subsurface. Chemical reactions with the surrounding rock often control the movement of these contaminants. Mineral surfaces can become charged, attracting oppositely charged contaminant particles and slowing their progress. This surface charging is dependent on the reactivity of the individual functional groups on mineral surfaces. Reliable predictions of the reactivity of these groups are necessary to improve the …

A Comparison Of Computational Efficiency: Cholesky Decomposition And Spectral Methods For The Generation Of Fractional Brownian Motion, Micah S. Allred, Dr. David Clark

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Since its popularization by Mandelbrot and Von Ness in the early 60’s, Fractional Brownian Motion (fBm), has found a great many applications in such fields as Option Pricing, Signal Processing, Internet Traffic, Hydrology, and Geology. This process is an extension of Brownian Motion which allows for a process with long memory, that is, the next increment is influenced by the evolution of increments in the past. Contrast this to Brownian Motion which is the continuous time analog to coin flipping. Here, each flip of the coin is completely independent and unaffected by past flips. As many processes exhibit dependent, rather …

Kinetic Fractionation Of Gases By Deep Air Convection In Polar Firn, K. Kawamura, J. P. Severinghaus, M. R. Albert, Z. R. Courville

Dartmouth Scholarship

A previously unrecognized type of gas fractiona- tion occurs in firn air columns subjected to intense convec- tion. It is a form of kinetic fractionation that depends on the fact that different gases have different molecular diffusivi- ties. Convective mixing continually disturbs diffusive equi- librium, and gases diffuse back toward diffusive equilibrium under the influence of gravity and thermal gradients. In near- surface firn where convection and diffusion compete as gas transport mechanisms, slow-diffusing gases such as krypton (Kr) and xenon (Xe) are more heavily impacted by convec- tion than fast diffusing gases such as nitrogen (N2) and ar- gon …

U.S. Drought Monitor, November 12, 2013, David Simeral

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for November 12, 2013 (11/12/13) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Polyphase Laramide Structures And Possible Folded Tertiary(?) Sills At Dagger Mountain, Big Bend National Park, Texas, Jeff Cullen, Nathan K. Knox, Jacob Crouch, Joseph I. Satterfield

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

Dagger Mountain, in Sierra del Carmen within Big Bend National Park, Texas, is a 5 km-long, doubly-plunging, southwest-vergent anticline adjacent to a doubly plunging syncline. Dagger Mountain lies near the eastern margins of the Cordilleran orogen and the Basin and Range province. Mapping at 1:12,000 scale reveals details about three phases of Laramide and Basin and Range structures. Mapping and descriptive structural analysis complement previous mapping at 1:12,000 – 1:75,000 scales (Poth, 1979; Moustafa, 1988; Cooper and others, 2011; Turner and others, 2011; Maxwell and others, 1967). Four distinctive formations of Cretaceous age crop out on Dagger Mountain: Santa Elena …

Showcasing The Geology Of American’S National Parks And Monuments, Larry E. Davis

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

Among America’s great treasures are its national parks, monuments, nature preserves, and historical sites. Many of America’s national parks feature unique and spectacular geology. Sigma Gamma Epsilon chapters, geology clubs, and individuals are encouraged to organize and submit a photo array featuring the geology of a particular national park or monument.

Timing Of Thermal Overprints In The Silvermines Granite And Associated Diabase Intrusions, St. Francois Mountains, Missouri, Renee C. Rohs

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

Igneous rocks exposed in the St. Francois Mountains record the geologic history of volcanic activity and plutonic intrusions contributing to the growth and stabilization of the continental crust during the Precambrian. These igneous rocks also contain evidence of thermal overprinting both in the isotope chemistry and the crystalline structures. This study presents new isotopic, mineral and petrologic data to support the timing of dike emplacement and thermal overprinting in the host rock. The study area for this research is along the East Fork of the St. Francis River at the Silver Mines Recreation Area where diabase dikes intrude the surrounding …

Seismic Slip Deficit In The Kashmir Himalaya From Gps Observations, Celia Schiffman, Bikram Singh Bali, Walter Szeliga, Roger Bilham

Faculty Scholarship for the Cascadia Hazards Institute

GPS measurements in Kashmir Himalaya reveal rangenormal convergence of 11±1 mm/yr with dextral shear of 5±1 mm/yr. The transition from a fully locked 170 km wide décollement to the unrestrained descending Indian plate occurs at ~25 km depth over an ~23 km wide transition zone. The convergence rate is consistent with the lower bounds of geological estimates for the Main Frontal Thrust, Riasi, and Balapora fault systems, on which no surface slip has been reported in the past millennium. Of the 14 damaging Kashmir earthquakes since 1123, none may have exceeded M_w = 7.6. Therefore, either a seismic moment …

Stable Isotope And Modelling Evidence For Co2 As A Driver Of Glacial-Interglacial Vegetation Shifts In Southern Africa, F. J. Bragg, I. C. Prentice, S. P. Harrison, G. Eglinton, P. N. Foster

Dartmouth Scholarship

Atmospheric CO2 concentration is hypothesized to influence vegetation distribution via tree-grass competition, with higher CO2 concentrations favouring trees. The stable carbon isotope (delta C-13) signature of vegetation is influenced by the relative importance of C-4 plants (including most tropical grasses) and C-3 plants (including nearly all trees), and the degree of stomatal closure - a response to aridity in C-3 plants. Compound-specific delta C-13 analyses of leaf-wax biomarkers in sediment cores of an offshore South Atlantic transect are used here as a record of vegetation changes in subequatorial Africa. These data suggest a large increase in C3 relative to C4 …

Reverse-Time Migration-Based Reflection Tomography Using Teleseismic Free Surface Multiples, S. Burdick, M. V. De Hoop, R. D. Van Der Hilst

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

Converted and multiply reflected phases from teleseismic events are routinely used to create structural images of the crust–mantle boundary (Moho) and the elasticity contrasts within the crust and upper mantle. The accuracy of these images is to a large extent determined by the background velocity model used to propagate these phases to depth. In order to improve estimates of 3-D velocity variations and, hence, improve imaging, we develop a method of reverse-time migration-based reflection tomography for use with wavefields from teleseismic earthquakes recorded at broad-band seismograph arrays. Reflection tomography makes use of data redundancy—that is, the ability to generate numerous …

Unh Library Imls Place Grant News Announcement, Place Project Group

PLACE Project

UNH Library Website News announcement about the IMLS Grant for PLACE, November 7, 2014.

U.S. Drought Monitor, November 5, 2013, David Simeral

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for November 5, 2013 (11/5/13) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Where To Find 1.5 Million Yr Old Ice For The Ipics "Oldest Ice" Ice Core, H. Fischer, J. Severinghaus, E. Brook, E. Wolff, M. Albert

Dartmouth Scholarship

Abstract. The recovery of a 1.5 million yr long ice core from Antarctica represents a keystone of our understanding of Quaternary climate, the progression of glaciation over this time period and the role of greenhouse gas cycles in this pro- gression. Here we tackle the question of where such ice may still be found in the Antarctic ice sheet. We can show that such old ice is most likely to exist in the plateau area of the East Antarctic ice sheet (EAIS) without stratigraphic distur- bance and should be able to be recovered after careful pre- site selection studies. Based …

Icaverns: Interpretation, There's An App For That!, Sandra Dianne Joop

National Cave and Karst Management Symposium 2013

A quarter of a century ago, cave and karst resources were declared irreplaceable with the passing of the Federal Cave Resources Protection Act. Yet, today, few understand the importance or fragility of these resources. Human interactions in karst areas make these resources highly susceptible to damage. Nonpersonal interpretation digital media products could serve as an important tool to bridge this informational gap.

Worldwide, there are hundreds of parks or parklike attractions focusing on cave, spring, or sinkhole resources. Their visitors have a built-in curiosity about these places. Engaging this audience in interpretive programming could greatly increase their speleological knowledge. Paradoxically, …

The Western Kentucky University Crumps Cave Research & Education Preserve, Chris Groves, Jason Polk, Ben Miller, Pat Kambesis, Carl Bolster, Sean Vanderhoff, Beth Tyrie

Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences Faculty Publications

Crumps Cave is located about one kilometer northeast of Smiths Grove, Kentucky (Figures 1, 2, and 3). The only known entrance was purchased by Western Kentucky University (WKU) in 2009 through a grant from the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund and the cave is managed as the focal point of a research and education preserve to study a wide range of environmental conditions and dynamics, and their interactions, using high-resolution electronic monitoring along with geochemical sampling, analysis and modeling. Crews from WKU’s Hoffman Environmental Research Institute visit the cave weekly for sampling, data downloading, and equipment maintenance, with a major …