Earth Sciences Commons^™

Rapid Reservoir Erosion, Hyperconcentrated Flow, And Downstream Deposition Triggered By Breaching Of 38 M Tall Condit Dam, White Salmon River, Washington, Andrew C. Wilcox, Jim E. O'Connor, Jon J. Major

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Condit Dam on the White Salmon River,Washington, a 38m high dam impounding a large volume (1.8 million m³) of fine-grained sediment (60% sand, 35% silt and clay, and 5% gravel), was rapidly breached in October 2011. This unique dam decommissioning produced dramatic upstream and downstream geomorphic responses in the hours and weeks following breaching. Blasting a 5 m wide hole into the base of the dam resulted in rapid reservoir drawdown, abruptly releasing ~1.6 million m³ of reservoir water, exposing reservoir sediment to erosion, and triggering mass failures of the thickly accumulated reservoir sediment. Within 90 min …

Evolution And Equilibration Of Artificial Morphologic Perturbations In The Form Of Nearshore Berm Nourishments Along The Florida Gulf Coast, Katherine Emily Brutsché

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Inlets and channels are dredged often to maintain navigation safety. It is beneficial to reintroduce the dredged material back into the littoral system, in the form of beach or nearshore nourishments. Nourishment in the nearshore is becoming an increasingly utilized method, particularly for dredged material that contains more fine sediment than the native beach. This research examines the morphologic evolution of two different nearshore nourishments. A nearshore berm was constructed at Fort Myers Beach, Florida using mixed-sized sediment dredged from a nearby channel. The nearshore berm was placed in water depths between 1.2 and 2.4 m with the berm crest …

Volcanism-Induced Karst Landforms And Speleogenesis, In The Ankarana Plateau (Madagascar). Hypothesis And Preliminary Research, Eric Gilli

International Journal of Speleology

The Ankarana is a limestone plateau in the northern part of Madagascar, where a cave system, more than 120 km long, has been explored. The plateau is bordered by volcanoes and is cut across by several canyons. An analysis of surface landforms and caves suggests that the karst genesis was probably initiated by volcanism beneath an impervious cover. Volcanic bulging and magma intrusions may have favored a basalt-limestone assimilation process and metamorphism. The ascent of deep volcanic fluids (CO₂ and SO₂) from magma degassing and from limestone metamorphism, may explain the speleogenesis. Once denuded, the karst evolved …

Hydrostratigraphic Interpretation Of Test-Hole And Borehole Geophysical Data, Kimball, Cheyenne, And Deuel Counties, Nebraska, 2011-12, Christopher M. Hobza, Steven S. Sibray

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

Recently (2004) adopted legislation in Nebraska requires a sustainable balance between long-term supplies and uses of surface-water and groundwater and requires Natural Resources Districts to understand the effect of groundwater use on surface-water systems when developing a groundwater-management plan. The South Platte Natural Resources District (SPNRD) is located in the southern Nebraska Panhandle and overlies the nationally important High Plains aquifer. Declines in water levels have been documented, and more stringent regulations have been enacted to ensure the supply of ground-water will be sufficient to meet the needs of future generations. Because an improved understanding of the hydrogeologic characteristics of …

Turbidimetric Determination Of Anionic Polyacrylamide In Low Carbon Soil Extracts, James Jihoon Kang, Tyler D. Sowers, Owen W. Duckworth, Aziz Amoozegar, Joshua L. Heitman, Richard A. Mclaughlin

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Concerns over runoff water quality from agricultural lands and construction sites have led to the development of improved erosion control practices, including application of polyacrylamide (PAM). We developed a quick and reliable method for quantifying PAM in soil extracts at low carbon content by using a turbidimetric reagent, Hyamine 1622. Three high-molecular weight anionic PAMs differing in charge density (7, 20, and 50 mol%) and five water matrices, deionized (DI) water and extracts from four different soils, were used to construct PAM calibration curves by reacting PAM solutions with hyamine and measuring turbidity development from the PAM–hyamine complex. The PAM …

U.S. Drought Monitor, June 24, 2014, Eric Luebehusen

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for June 24, 2014 (6/24/14) 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.

Wetlands On The Thousand Lake Mountain Mega-Landslide As Paleoclimate Proxies, Ryan Andros Shurtliff

Theses and Dissertations

The Windy Ridge mega-landslide in Wayne and Sevier Counties originated in Lates tPleistocene time as established by 14C ages on basal organic-rich clay and peat sediment from bogs that developed on the slide. The contact depth between bog and landslide was estimated using high-resolution seismic reflection to find the thickest sediment. Four bogs were cored at their depocenters, and organic material at the slide contact was used for age determinations. The oldest bog sediments ages are 10,600 ± 46, 10,556 ± 34, 12,511 ± 134, and 12,886 ± 91 calibrated years BP. Ages represent two sliding events. First, at the …

U.S. Drought Monitor, June 17, 2014, Eric Luebehusen

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for June 17, 2014 (6/17/14) 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.

Dendrochronological Analysis Of The Austin House

Historic Structures

Dating historical structures using dendrochronology. The Historical Structures collection consists of reports that are the result of dendochronological analysis of timbers from structures in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Contributors: McGrath, Sarah; Reinthal, Mary; Starr, Kaitlin; Wiesenberg, Nicholas; Wiles, Greg

Sand Sea Extents And Sediment Volumes On Titan From Dune Parameters, Karl D. Arnold

Theses and Dissertations

Linear dunes are one of the most abundant and important features on the surface of Titan. We present a model for estimating the volume of dune sediment using the area coverage of Titan's sand seas along with dune widths, spacings, and heights. This helps to reveal local sediment transport and deposition. We refine global dune area estimates from Cassini SAR (Synthetic Aperture RADAR) of 20 million km2 or 24 ± 3% of Titan's surface based on ~50% Cassini RADAR global coverage. Additionally, the global area of sand seas is estimated from a joint analysis of Cassini SAR and ISS (Imaging …

Complex Thermal Histories Of L Melt Breccias Nwa 5964 And Nwa 6580, Kristy Lee Schepker

Dissertations and Theses

To constrain the thermal histories of two complex L chondrite melt breccia samples (NWA 5964 and NWA 6580) we compare textures and chemical compositions of metal and sulfide to L melt rock (NWA 6454 and NWA 6579) and strongly shocked (shock stage S6) (NWA 4860) samples. The inferred thermal histories can be used to evaluate formation settings on the L chondrite parent body. The L melt samples probably formed as different melt units within warm but largely unmelted material relatively close to the surface of the parent body, and the same is true for the S6 sample, except it experienced …

Independent Evaluation Of The Snodas Snow Depth Product Using Regional Scale Lidar-Derived Measurements, A. R. Hedrick, H. P. Marshall, A. Winstral, K. Elder, S. Yueh, D. Cline

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Repeated Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) surveys are quickly becoming the de facto method for measuring spatial variability of montane snowpacks at high resolution. This study examines the potential of a 750 km² LiDAR-derived dataset of snow depths, collected during the 2007 northern Colorado Cold Lands Processes Experiment (CLPX-2), as a validation source for an operational hydrologic snow model. The SNOw Data Assimilation System (SNODAS) model framework, operated by the US National Weather Service, combines a physically-based energy-and-mass-balance snow model with satellite, airborne and automated ground-based observations to provide daily estimates of snowpack properties at nominally 1 km resolution …

Along Strike Variability Of Thrust-Fault Vergence, Scott Royal Greenhalgh

Theses and Dissertations

The kinematic evolution and along-strike variation in contractional deformation in overthrust belts are poorly understood, especially in three dimensions. The Sevier-age Cordilleran overthrust belt of southwestern Wyoming, with its abundance of subsurface data, provides an ideal laboratory to study how this deformation varies along the strike of the belt. We have performed a detailed structural interpretation of dual vergent thrusts based on a 3D seismic survey along the Wyoming salient of the Cordilleran overthrust belt (Big Piney-LaBarge field). The complex evolution of the thrust faults that parallel the overthrust belt is demonstrated by the switching of the direction of thrust …

P‐Nexfs Analysis Of Aerosol Phosphorus Delivered To The Mediterranean Sea, Amelia F. Longo, Ellery D. Ingall, Julia M. Diaz, Michelle Oakes, Laura E. King, Athanasios Nenes, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, Kaliopi Violaki, Anna Avila, Claudia R. Benitez-Nelson, Jay Brandes, Ian Mcnulty, David J. Vine

Faculty Publications

Biological productivity in many ocean regions is controlled by the availability of the nutrient phosphorus. In the Mediterranean Sea, aerosol deposition is a key source of phosphorus and understanding its composition is critical for determining its potential bioavailability. Aerosol phosphorus was investigated in European and North African air masses using phosphorus near‐edge X‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy (P‐NEXFS). These air masses are the main source of aerosol deposition to the Mediterranean Sea. We show that European aerosols are a significant source of soluble phosphorus to the Mediterranean Sea. European aerosols deliver on average 3.5 times more soluble phosphorus than North African aerosols …

U.S. Drought Monitor, June 10, 2014, Matthew Rosencrans

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for June 10, 2014 (6/10/14) 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.

A New Geophysical Strategy For Measuring The Thickness Of The Critical Zone, Johnathan R. Yaede

Theses and Dissertations

Estimates of the depth and variation of lateritic weathering profiles are especially important in tropical areas such as Oahu, HI. Shear-wave velocity data were obtained by a new application of Multi-channel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) to map the base of the critical zone, to show variations in the LWP, and to derive weathering rates. The MASW technique proved highly capable of imaging the base of the critical zone, confirmed by lithological well data and direct field measurements. Profile thickness can be obtained without drilling, which has applications in engineering and geochemical studies. The measured rate of advance of the …

Macroinvertebrates And Excessive Fine Sediment Conditions In Oregon Coastal Streams, Patrick M. Edwards

Dissertations and Theses

The Pacific Coastal ecoregion contains large tracts of economically important forest lands that also serve as critical stream habitat for endangered Salmonids. Excessive fine sediment deposition in streams of this region is a major environmental concern in the region but difficult to measure directly. The use of stream invertebrates to monitor fine sediment conditions in streams requires careful consideration of several important factors that complicate their use as bioindicators including high spatial and temporal variability and covariance with other environmental variables.

To evaluate the use of stream invertebrates as bioindicators of excessive fine sediment, three hypotheses were tested. The first …

Facies Analysis, Sequence Stratigraphy And Paleogeography Of The Middle Jurassic (Callovian) Entrada Sandstone: Traps, Tectonics, And Analog, George R. Jennings Iii

Theses and Dissertations

The late Middle Jurassic (Callovian) Entrada Sandstone has been divided into two general facies associations consisting primarily of eolian sandstones in eastern Utah and "muddy" redbeds in central Utah. Sedimentary structures within the redbed portion are explained by the interfingering of inland sabkha, alluvial, and eolian depositional systems. A complete succession from the most basinward facies to the most terrestrial facies in the Entrada Sandstone consists of inland sabkha facies overlain by either alluvial or eolian facies. Where both alluvial and eolian facies interfinger, alluvial facies overlain by eolian facies is considered a normal succession. Sequence boundaries, often identified by …

U.S. Drought Monitor, June 3, 2014, Richard Tinker

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for June 3, 2014 (6/3/14) 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.

New Insights Into Skeletal Morphology Of The Oldest Known Silicoflagellates : Variramus, Cornua And Gleserocha Gen. Nov. = Nouvelles Connaissances Sur La Morphologie Du Squelette Des Plus Anciennes Silicoflagellés Connus : Variramus, Cornua Et Gleserocha Gen. Nov., Kevin Mccartney, Jakub Witkowski, David M. Harwood

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Two of the oldest known silicoflagellate-bearing sediments, lower Albian at Ocean Drilling Program Site 693 in the Weddell Sea of Antarctica and Santonian in the Devon Island sequence of the Canadian Archipelago, are re-examined with a focus on silicoflagellate genera Variramus, Cornua, and Gleserocha that lack basal rings, a feature appearing during late Santonian/early Campanian time within the genus Corbisema. The extraordinary variability of Variramus aculeifera is studied, and a new genus Gleserocha is proposed for taxa with apical structures made of three struts, but without pikes. This new genus includes previously described Variramus wisei and Cornua …

Climate Change And Forest Fires Synergistically Drive Widespread Melt Events Of The Greenland Ice Sheet, Kaitlin M. Keegan, Mary R. Albert, Joseph R. Mcconnell, Ian Baker

Dartmouth Scholarship

In July 2012, over 97% of the Greenland Ice Sheet experienced surface melt, the first widespread melt during the era of satellite remote sensing. Analysis of six Greenland shallow firn cores from the dry snow region confirms that the most recent prior widespread melt occurred in 1889. A firn core from the center of the ice sheet demonstrated that exceptionally warm temperatures combined with black carbon sediments from Northern Hemisphere forest fires reduced albedo below a critical threshold in the dry snow region, and caused the melting events in both 1889 and 2012. We use these data to project the …

Toward A Reliable Prediction Of Seasonal Forecast Uncertainty: Addressing Model And Initial Condition Uncertainty With Ensemble Data Assimilation And Sequential Bayesian Combination, Caleb Matthew Dechant, Hamid Moradkhani

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Uncertainties are an unfortunate yet inevitable part of any forecasting system. Within the context of seasonal hydrologic predictions, these uncertainties can be attributed to three causes: imperfect characterization of initial conditions, an incomplete knowledge of future climate and errors within computational models. This study proposes a method to account for all threes sources of uncertainty, providing a framework to reduce uncertainty and accurately convey persistent predictive uncertainty. In currently available forecast products, only a partial accounting of uncertainty is performed, with the focus primarily on meteorological forcing. For example, the Ensemble Streamflow Prediction (ESP) technique uses meteorological climatology to estimate …

Investigating Meter Scale Topographic Variation As A Factor Of Monterey Pine (Pinus Radiata) Growing Conditions At Kenneth Norris Rancho Marino Reserve, Cambria, Ca, William J. Meyst

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

Endemic Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) is limited to three locations in California due to its unique ecological requirements. This project was conducted to investigate spatial growth patterns ofMonterey pine over complex ground surfaces. The coastal hills of Rancho Marino Reserve, Cambria, were surveyed using four 150-m transects to quantify and record ground surface features and growing conditions ofMonterey pine. Changes in elevation of each transect were measured using an Abney level. Linear ground surfaces were found at 86% (344 of 400) of survey nodes. Convex ground surfaces were found at 10.5% of survey nodes (42 of 400). Of …

The Effect Of Increasing Rates Of Biochar On Corn Grown In Salinas Clay Loam, Joshua Fridlund

Agricultural Education and Communication

In order to sustain the ever growing global population, agriculture needs to not only increase yields but to increase yields in a way that is sustainable and is either environmentally neutral or has a positive effect on the environment. Biochar offers a solution to this challenge with numerous environmental benefits, as well as agricultural benefits (Lehman and Joseph 2009). The agricultural benefits of biochar have been well documented in tropical climates, with the benefits of biochar for other climates, such as temperate climates and Mediterranean climates, relatively unknown (Blackwell et. al. 2009). To determine the effect of biochar on agricultural …

Nitrate Deposition To Surface Snow At Summit, Greenland, Following The 9 November 2000 Solar Proton Event, Katherine A. Duderstadt, Jack E. Dibb, Charles H. Jackman, Cora E. Randall, Stanley C. Solomon, Michael J. Mills, Nathan A. Schwadron, Harlan E. Spence

Earth Sciences

Abstract

This study considers whether spikes in nitrate in snow sampled at Summit, Greenland, from August 2000 to August 2002 are related to solar proton events. After identifying tropospheric sources of nitrate on the basis of correlations with sulfate, ammonium, sodium, and calcium, we use the three-dimensional global Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) to examine unaccounted for nitrate spikes. Model calculations confirm that solar proton events significantly impact HO_x, NO_x, and O₃ levels in the mesosphere and stratosphere during the weeks and months following the major 9 November 2000 solar proton event. However, solar …

Ala Schedule Place Poster Announcement, Place Project Group

PLACE Project

Page from the ALA Conference Schedule announcing the PLACE Poster Session.

The University Of Nebraska State Museum, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

I first walked through the doors of Morrill Hall on the main or City Campus of the University of Nebraska on a day late in August of 1962 and thought that I had entered paleontology heaven. Morrill Hall then housed the University of Nebraska State Museum (UNSM). most of the Geology Department, and some other parts of university units. I was a new graduate student hoping to pursue research in invertebrate paleontology in the Department of Geology and was on my way to see the department chairman for the first time. When I entered the building I walked through a …

Dust And Pleistocene Ice Ages: Eolian Sediments And Climate Change At Ziegler Reservoir, Snowmass Village, Colorado, Jeffrey S. Honke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The discovery of the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site near Snowmass Village, Colorado presents an opportunity to examine subalpine ecosystem response, during a relatively unknown period, in which climate conditions were similar to present. Finegrained sediments at Ziegler Reservoir represent continuous deposition between ~140–55 ka (thousand years before present), spanning the close of the Bull Lake glacial period [marine isotope stage (MIS) 6], the Sangamon interglacial (MIS 5) and the early stages of the Pinedale (early Wisconsin) glacial period (MIS 4). Ziegler Reservoir is positioned on top of a ridge, at an elevation of 2705 m, and has a small watershed …

U-Pb Zircon Geochronology Of Roxbury Conglomerate, Boston Basin, Massachusetts: Tectono-Stratigraphic Implications For Avalonia In And Beyond Se New England, Margaret D. Thompson, Jahandar Ramezani, James L. Crowley

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

High-precision CA-TIMS ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U zircon dates from sandstone and Brighton igneous rocks associated with Roxbury Conglomerate in the Boston Basin, eastern Massachusetts provide constraints on the age and tectonic significance of these deposits. Detrital zircon suites from Roxbury-related sandstones representing, in ascending order, the Franklin Park Member (proposed name), the Brookline Member and the Squantum Member establish closely comparable maximum depositional ages of 595.14 ± 0.90, 598.87 ± 0.71 and 596.39 ± 0.79 Ma, respectively. The youngest of these is the best maximum age estimate of the conglomerate. Brighton dacite near the base of the Brookline Member and …

Detrital Zircon Geochemistry Of The Nacimiento Block, Santa Ynez Mountains, California, Vincent Zhao

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

The long-lived California section of the North American Cordillera is one of the most studied continental margins in the world; however, erosion and deformation in areas along the San Andreas Fault and the Sur-Nacimiento Fault has erased sections of the Cordillera which could provide insight in Cordilleran processes. The lost sections are partially preserved in detrital zircons deposited alongside the arc in fore-arc basins such as in the Toro Formation of the Nacimiento block which represents the coastal central California equivalent to the Great Valley Group, located in the Santa Ynez Mountains. Geochemical analysis of the detrital zircons from the …