Earth Sciences Commons^™

Rock Glaciers In The Eastern Cascades, Washington, Mark Weidenaar

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The eastern portion of Washington State's Cascade Range is a place not previously examined for rock glaciers, due to proximity to the Pacific Ocean and its associated marine­-influenced climate. The objectives of this study were to determine spatial, activity, and genesis patterns, and paleoclimatic implications of Eastern Cascade rock glaciers. Using Google Earth, I found l 03 rock glaciers in the study area. Rock glaciers are more common further east of the Cascade crest and more north in latitude, with the largest concentrations occurring east of Lake Chelan (22) and in the Pasayten Wilderness (28) in the North Cascades. None …

Oil Pollution In Water Bodies Of Restricted Circulation, Michael A. Kruge

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Coastal lagoons and embayments near urban centers around the world share many common characteristics and problems. Physical impediments to free water circulation (spits, barrier islands, internal islands, tombolos, submerged sills) often lead to water stagnation and, in the presence of excess nutrients, eutrophication. Urban and industrial activities provoke (usually accidental) spills of hazardous materials into these confined water bodies, such as crude petroleum and refined petroleum products, leading to difficulties for resident biota and potential hazards for human health. The sluggish turnover of these water bodies (or low-energy zones within them) may retard the natural attenuation of the spilled contaminants. …

The Tilt Of The Boron Triangle In Tourmaline, Charles J. Badgerow

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The tourmaline mineral group has a highly complex chemical composition and provides a wealth of information on Earth's processes. Past research has revealed numerous mysteries regarding the structure of the boron triangle within tourmaline, especially as it bonds to the Z- and Z'- cation sites. Although the Z- and Z' - are nominally the same site, the Z'-site has a greater effect on the stereochemistry of the boron triangle. Further, the Z' -site has a shorter bond-length with the boron triangle than the Z-site. We hypothesize that this variation affects the stereochemistry of the boron triangle, and have analyzed a …

Development Of A Mathematical Model, Vump (Vinasse Utilization For Methane Production), Lucina MáRcia-De-Mello Kuusisto

Earth & Environmental Sciences Dissertations - Archive

Environmental pollution causes ongoing problems. Many countries are faced with the dilemma of finding alternative energy sources that are cost-effective and environmentally friendly. Biofuels have received much attention of late as potential alternative fuels. Although biofuels are indeed attractive energy sources, their manufacturing also brings environmental pollution. One of the most prominent biofuels is ethanol. In the US, the main feedstock for ethanol manufacturing is corn. In Brazil, as well as in some other countries, the main raw material is sugarcane. Although ethanol presents many advantages as a biofuel, including the fact that it is manufactured from renewable resources, there …

Morphology, Mechanisms, And Processes For The Formation Of A Non-Bifurcating Fluvial-Deltaic Channel Prograding Into Grapevine Reservoir, Texas, Gary D. Tomanka

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

Non-bifurcating channels in modern reservoirs, tie channels, and the Mississippi River Bird-Foot Delta share a common morphology that is likely due to an underlying common mechanism. Data analysis indicates that the Denton Creek Delta has prograded into Grapevine Reservoir for 56 years, adhering to the buried pre-impoundment channel without alteration. The hydrodynamic mechanism that controls this adherence is that of a turbulent jet. The properties of the turbulent jet create a dynamic two-phase process, whereby prodelta clays and rare mouth bar sands are eroded while the jet contemporaneously builds sandy levees. An upward tapering channel acts to focus and intensify …

Motion And Rigidity Of The Caribbean Plate And Geodetic Observations Of Dominica, Lesser Antilles, Jamie Annette Miller

Earth & Environmental Sciences Dissertations - Archive

The currently accepted kinematic model of the Caribbean plate presented by DeMets et al. (2007), is based on velocities from 6 continuous and 14 campaign GPS sites. This work attempts to refine the current plate model by evaluating data from an expanded number of stations with an improved spatial distribution. As a measure to better constrain the eastern margin, a study has been conducted on the island of Dominica which includes campaign GPS data collected over the last decade. The analysis of data from 117 sites includes campaign data in addition to the data from the continuous GPS stations that …

Appalachian Delta Plain Paleoecology Of The Cretaceous Woodbine Formation At The Arlington Archosaur Site, North Texas, Derek Jason Main

Earth & Environmental Sciences Dissertations - Archive

The Arlington Archosaur Site (AAS) is a North Texas fossil locality that preserves a Mid- Cretaceous ecosystem along a low lying coastal plain. The site lies within the Cenomanian (95 Mya) rocks of the Woodbine Formation in North Arlington, Tarrant County, TX. The depositional environment of the AAS is a coastal delta plain, principally a peat bog. The vertebrates recovered from the AAS include dinosauria (ornithopod and theropod), crocodyliform, chelonian and dipnoan. A large, nearly complete crocodyliform was excavated in the summer of 2009, and proved to be a new taxon; Deltasuchus motherali. The name of the new taxon was …

Reducing Pb Bioaccessibility In Soil Through The Addition Of Apatite Ii, Zachary Robert Tondre

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

This study was an investigation of the bioaccessibility of Pb in the presence of phosphate acting as an immobilizing constituent in the form of fish bone material, specifically Apatite II. Phosphate-induced Pb immobilization refers to the process by which Pb ions replace calcium ions and form insoluble Pb-phosphate. A commercially available A-horizon soil was spiked with dried Pb-bearing paint containing various Pb forms (e.g., carbonates, sulfates, and oxides). The paints were added to the soil at 2% weight for weight (w/w). The paints (in solid form) were initially ground and sieved through a <100 micron mesh to provide a <100 μm size fraction. Once a paint was mixed with a soil, typically in duplicate, replicates were either retained or further amended with Apatite II. Soil columns were created using a series of 250 mL syringes individually filled with each paint spiked soil sample, some of which were amended with Apatite II at 5% w/w. For six months the columns were eluted regularly with Milli-Q water and at six months, subsamples were removed from the top of each soil column in order to evaluate any change in potential bioaccessibility of the Pb associated with soil. Thus, this work focuses on the bioaccessibility of Pb in a group of soil column samples based on the weak acid solubility of the Pb in the soil, and on an electron microscopic analysis of the Pb in the soils. Each soil column sample was subjected to an in vitro relative bioaccessibility assessment (RBA), in which a simulated gastric fluid (SGF) was used to simulate and project the effects of digestion on the Pb contaminated soils. The SGF was intended to mimic the acidic quality of the human stomach and yields approximate results of how much Pb could potentially be released into the acid solution through human digestion. The SGF solution was essentially composed of hydrochloric acid (HCL) adjusted to a pH of 2.5. From the soil columns, 3g of soil were removed and 1g was added to 100 mL of SGF and then tumbled for 1 hour at 37°C in a modified toxicity characteristic leaching procedure system. After this time a sample of the fluid was collected an the amount of Pb in the fluid was measured. Photomicrographs of each soil column were obtained using a scanning electron microscope with a back-scattered electron detector and an energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer. These digital images were used to determine the chemical nature of various Pb-bearing constituents within each soil sample. This study concluded that the addition of Apatite II led to a reduction in the bioaccessibility of Pb in some of the test soils, determined through differences in in vitro RBA and through the recognition of Pb-phosphate particle phases in the soil samples. Previous studies have found that the addition of Apatite II as a remediation technique for Pb contaminated soil can be successful, however this is the first time that Pb contamination of the soil has been in the form of Pb-bearing paint. Furthermore, this study is notable for identifying changes in Pb bioaccessibility of Pb derived from Pb-bearing paint over the short time-span of six months.

Chemostratigraphy Of The Mississippian-Age Barnett Formation, Fort Worth Basin, Wise County, Texas Usa, Chizoba Charity Nsianya

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

The Mississippian- age Barnett Formation is a shale-gas system dominated by fine grained clay- to silt -size particles deposited in the Fort Worth Basin, a peripheral foreland basin that formed during the late Paleozoic as a result of continental collision between Laurasia and Gondwana. A detailed assessment of the chemostratigraphy and depositional environment of the Barnett Formation in the northern end of Fort Worth Basin, Texas will be studied using a variety of geochemical methods. One drill core located in the south-eastern part of Wise County (Texas, USA) was scanned at high resolution (~ 2 inch interval) using a hand- …

A Model Of Short Term Surface Deformation Of Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat Constrained By Gps Geodesy, Erin Elizabeth Mcpherson

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

Geodetic surveying is a core volcano monitoring technique. Measurements of how the crust deforms can give valuable insight into the mechanisms and processes that drive an eruption, and the way in which they change (Odbert et al., 2012). Campaign and continuous GPS geodetic measurements on Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat are reported here from 1995 to 2010, spanning three dome growth and repose episodes extending the results of Mattioli et al. (2010). Soufriere Hills Volcano (SHV), Montserrat, in the Lesser Antilles island arc, became active in 1995, and for nearly two decades, geodetic surveys have been conducted using both continuous and …

Effect Of Oil Viscosity Change On Oil Production: Co₂ Enhanced Oil Recovery In The Permian Basin And Potential In The Gabon Basin, Christel Simon Obame Bivegue

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

With most oil fields around the world reaching maturation it is not uncommon for oil companies to investigate the possibility of implementing CO₂ Enhanced Oil Recovery. The injection of CO₂ in a reservoir reduces the oil viscosity within the reservoir, which can later be more easily pushed towards a producing well. Computer simulators such as BOAST NFR are key tools in order to simulate the response of a reservoir to CO₂ EOR and predict oil production. This thesis investigates an example of CO₂ EOR in the Gabon Basin where such technique has yet to be implemented. Oil production has been …

Drought Planning Research In The United States: An Overview And Outlook, Xinyu Fu, Zhenghong Tang, Jianjun Wu, Kevin Mcmillan

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Drought is widely known as an insidious hazard due to its complex and unique characteristics. Drought disasters have brought tremendous economic losses and significant social and environmental impacts to communities across the globe. To further understand the hazard drought poses and provide insights into planning for drought preparedness, this article conducts a thorough literature review of drought hazard and drought planning frameworks within the United States. Two main approaches and three major forms of drought planning are discussed and summarized. Based on this review, a preliminary overview of drought planning status in the United States is presented. This study provides …

Chemostratigraphy Of The Early Pliocene Diatomite Interval From Mis And-1b Core (Antarctica): Paleoenvironment Implications, Giovanna Scopelliti, Adriana Bellanca, Donata Monien, Gerhard Kuhn

ANDRILL Research and Publications

The AND-1B drill core (1285 m-long) was recovered, inside the ANDRILL (ANtarctic geological DRILLing) Program, during the austral summer of 2006/07 from beneath the floating McMurdo Ice Shelf. Drilling recovered a stratigraphic succession of alternating diamictites, diatomites and volcaniclastic sediments spanning about the last 14 Ma. A core portion between 350 and 480 mbsf, including a 80 m-thick diatomite interval recording the early Pliocene warming event, was investigated in term of opal biogenic content and element geochemistry. Across the diatomite interval, in spite of the lithological uniformity, a fluctuating biogenic opal profile mirrors the δ18O record, testifying a decrease in …

Climate Change: What Does It Mean For Nebraska?, Martha D. Shulski, Natalie A. Umphlett, Tapan B. Pathak, Kenneth G. Hubbard

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Because Nebraska’s location on the North American continent is far removed from large bodies of water, Nebraskans experience a strong continental type climate. As such, residents do not benefit from the moderating influence of the ocean, and temperatures can have wide swings from day to day and season to season. Typical characteristics for a continental climate at this latitude are large temperature variability with warm summers dominated by convective thunderstorms, and cold winters influenced by snow and wind from mid-latitude cyclones.

U.S. Drought Monitor, January 1, 2013, Richard R. Heim Jr.

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of the United States for January 1, 2013 (1/1/13) 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 hay, cattle, and winter wheat.

Predicting The Dynamic Behavior Of Coal Mine Tailings Using State-Of-Practice Geotechnical Field Methods, Ali Salehian

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

This study is focused on developing a method to predict the dynamic behavior of mine tailings dams under earthquake loading. Tailings dams are a by-product of coal mining and processing activities. Mine tailings impoundments are prone to instability and failure under seismic loading as a result of the mechanical behavior of the tailings. Due to the existence of potential seismic sources in close proximity to the coal mining regions in the United States, it is necessary to assess the post-earthquake stability of these tailings dams.

To develop the aforementioned methodology, 34 cyclic triaxial tests along with vane shear tests were …

Geology Of The Gordon Natural Area: Making Mountains Out Of Molehills - A Service-Learning Investigation By Students In Ess 405/505 Petrology, Fall 2009–2012, Leeann Srogi, John Kost

Gordon Natural Area Geology Studies Documents

No abstract provided.

Geo402/585: Field Methods; Labs 4-5 Gordon Natural Area Carbon Stock Pilot Study, Joy Fritschle

Gordon Natural Area-related Curricula Documents

No abstract provided.

2013-2014 Kentucky & Tennessee Tobacco Production Guide, Kenneth W. Seebold, Robert C. Pearce, William A. Bailey, Lowell P. Bush, Jonathan D. Green, Robert D. Miller, Laura A. Powers, William M. Snell, Lee H. Townsend, Mark Purschwitz, Larry G. Wells, John H. Wilhoit, Margarita Velandia, Steve Bost, Gene Burgess, Frank Hale, Darrell Hensley, Paul Denton, Neil Rhodes

Agriculture and Natural Resources Publications

Tobacco growers in Kentucky and Tennessee have faced many challenges during the past two years, including weather, labor availability, and rising production costs. However, there have been opportunities as well. Some buying stations have closed or moved, but new buyers have come into the market and contract volumes have been stable overall. Good quality burley tobacco is in relatively short supply, and this has offered opportunities to those who have been able to overcome weather and labor challenges and produce good crops. These changes have had different impacts in different regions of both states, based largely on where buying stations …

Tectonics Of The South Georgia Rift, David Michael Heffner

Theses and Dissertations

Triassic rifting of the supercontinent Pangea left behind numerous basins on what is now the eastern North American margin. The South Georgia Rift (SGR) was thought to be the best preserved of these basins having been capped by thick basalt flows of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) and later buried beneath the Cretaceous and younger Coastal Plain. Because it is buried beneath the Coastal Plain, the SGR is only known through sparse drilling and geophysical methods. Despite this limited dataset, the SGR is the only one of the eastern North American Triassic basins known to overlie the ancient Alleghanian …

Influence Of Organic Groundcovers On Mycorrhizal Colonization And Symbiosis Of Organically Managed Fruit Crops, Raven Anai Bough, Curt R. Rom

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Ground covers have the potential to impact the crop rhizosphere biology, which includes organisms such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which in turn affect the crop host plant through symbiosis. There has been evidence that a ground cover that provides a suitable environment for colonization of AMF and subsequent symbiosis could be a tool in organic fruit production. The objective of this research was to compare colonization of AMF in strawberry plant (Frageria x ananassa cv. Radiance) and apple rootstocks (Malus x domestica, cv. M. 26) grown in a greenhouse affected by various ground cover treatments. Inoculation was achieved by …

The Influence Of Poultry Litter Biochar On Early Season Cotton Growth, Taylor D. Coomer, David E. Longer, Derrick M. Oosterhuis, Dimitra A. Loka

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Cotton is known for being sensitive to cool, wet soils, especially in the early stages of growth. Amendments to soil can aid cotton seedlings in development and nutrient uptake. However, soil amendments can be costly and detrimental to the environment, and alternatives such as the addition of biochar have been considered. Biochar is produced from biomass that has gone through pyrolysis and has been shown to improve plant yield, microbial response, soil structure, soil cation–exchange capacity, and water use efficiency. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of biochar on early season cotton growth. The aim of this study …

Evaluation Of Cover Crops In High Tunnel Vegetable Rotation, Tyler A. Patrick, Neal Mays, Jason Mcafee, Curt R. Rom

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Organic vegetable production within high tunnels allows for an extended growing season, crop protection, and environmental control. The USDA National Organic Program (NOP) standards mandate evidence that the soil has been maintained and improved over the course of production. Previous studies have indicated the potential of cover crops for reducing competitive vegetation, and improving soil quality, thus resulting in greater plant growth, nutrient uptake, and yield. However, there has been limited work in the confines of high tunnels as part of a tunnel-system rotation. Ten nitrogen-fixing and ten non-legume cover crops were established under a high tunnel and evaluated for …

Depositional Setting And Sequence Stratigraphic Analysis Of The Lower Permian Lower Hueco Formation On The Western Margin Of The Orogrande Basin, South Central New Mexico, Jonathon Eric Stautberg

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

On the western margin of the Orogrande Basin in south-central New Mexico, eight outcrop datasets, in the form of measured stratigraphic sections from the lower interval of the Lower Permian Lower Hueco Formation were analyzed in regard to depositional facies distribution and sequence stratigraphy. Based on petrographic analysis of 247 samples and associated field relationships, 11 depositional facies are recognized: 1) quartz sandstone, 2) quartz siltstone and shale, 3) fenestral dolomudstone, 4) microbial intraclast packstone, 5) dolomudstone, 6) green-algal packstone to grainstone, 7) ostracode foram wackestone, 8) oolitic packstone, 9) fossiliferous packstone and grainstone, 10) fusulinid packstone and grainstone, 11) …

Software Development For A 3d Gravity Inversion And Application To Study Of The Border Ranges Fault System, South-Central Alaska, Rolando Cardenas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Border Ranges Fault System (BRFS) bounds the Cook Inlet and Susitna Basins, and is an important petroleum province within south-central Alaska. A primary goal of our research is to test several plausible models of structure along the BRFS using a novel three-dimensional inversion technique utilizing gravity data, constrained with other geophysical, borehole and surface geological information. This research involves the development of 3D inversion modeling software using C++ Builder from Embarcadero's XE2 Suite. The novel inversion approach directly models known geology with a priori uncertainties assigned to the geologic model to allow researchers to compare alternative interpretations. This technique …

A Block Operator Splitting Method For Heterogeneous Multiscale Poroelasticity, Paul M. Delgado

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Traditional models of poroelastic deformation in porous media assume relatively homogeneous material properties such that macroscopic constitutive relations lead to accurate results. Many realistic applications involve heterogeneous material properties whose oscillatory nature require multiscale methods to balance accuracy and efficiency in computation.

The current study develops a multiscale method for poroelastic deformation based on a fixed point iteration based operator splitting method and a heterogeneous multiscale method using finite volume and direct stiffness methods. To characterize the convergence

of the operator splitting method, we use a numerical root finding algorithm to determine a threshold surface in a non-dimensional parameter space …

Geology And Geochemistry Of The Sierra Blanca Rare Earth Complex, Sierra Blanca, Texas, Nicole Kyger

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

With an increasing standard of living comes an increase in demand for high tech goods, environmentally friendly (green) and military technologies, and the inherent need to procure the necessary raw materials. Demand for the rare earth elements (REE) is on the rise, and there is no foreseeable decline in the need for accessible deposits. Between 2010 and present, the United States Congress has heard numerous reports on the importance of REE, and in 2012 the Department of Defense(DoD)declared REE a critical resource, with implications for national security. The Sierra Blanca laccoliths, 150 kilometers southeast of El Paso, TX represent a …

On Different Techniques For The Calculation Of Bouguer Gravity Anomalies For Joint Inversion And Model Fusion Of Geophysical Data In The Rio Grande Rift, Azucena Zamora

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Density variations in the Earth result from different material properties, which reflect the tectonic processes attributed to a region. Density variations can be identified through measurable material properties, such as seismic velocities, gravity field, magnetic field, etc. Gravity anomaly inversions are particularly sensitive to density variations but suffer from significant non-uniqueness. However, using inverse models with gravity Bouguer anomalies and other geophysical data, we can determine three dimensional structural and geological properties of the given area. We explore different techniques for the calculation of Bouguer gravity anomalies for their use in joint inversion of multiple geophysical data sets and a …

Amplitude Vs. Offset Effects On Gas Hydrates At Woolsey Mound, Gulf Of Mexico, Walter R. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the estimated massive quantities of natural methane hydrates, they represent one of the largest sources of future alternative energy on Earth. Methane hydrates have been found in the shallow sub-seafloor of the Northern Gulf of Mexico where the water depth is in excess of ~900 m. Mississippi Canyon Block 118 has been chosen by the Gulf of Mexico Hydrates Research Consortium to be the site of a multi-sensor, multi-discipline sea-floor observatory for gas hydrate research. First evidence for gas hydrates at MC 118 was observed at Woolsey Mound. Subsurface evidence for gas hydrates has subsequently been substantiated by …

Tidal Flux Of Trace Metals And Rare Earth Elements In A Barrier Island Salt Marsh, Ryan Antle

Theses and Dissertations

Barrier island salt marshes are known as sources of nutrients to the coastal ocean but it is unclear whether they are also sources or sinks of trace metals in regards to coastal waters. Salt marshes are characterized by steep redox and biogeochemical gradients, which constantly fluctuate as a result of tidal pumping. While several studies have examined metal budgets between terrestrial fresh water, estuarine subterranean fluids, and coastal saline waters, there is little data regarding fluid chemistry for metals in salt water estuaries in the absence of fresh water input. This study investigated a back barrier salt marsh on Cabretta …