Earth Sciences Commons^™

Detrital Zircon Analysis Of The Taza-Guercif Basin And The Adjacent Rif And Middle Atlas Mountains Of Morocco And X-Ray Fluorescence Chemofacies Analysis Of The Maness Shale Of East Texas, Jonathan Richard Pratt

Theses and Dissertations

The research in this compilation encompasses three studies leveraging quantitative chemical analyses to interpret the sedimentary record to reconstruct geologic history. The first study surveys the detrital zircon U-Pb and zircon fission-track geochronology of the sedimentary Cretaceous Ketama and Tisiren units of the Rif Mountains, and the Bou Rached sandstones of the Middle Atlas Mountains. All analyzed samples contain a population of Mesoproterozoic crystallization ages formerly unknown to northwest Africa. Possible sources for these ages include the Avalonian terranes now present on the northeastern seaboard of North America, and/or zircons derived from the Amazonian craton and preserved in the Pan-African …

Water Quality, Chemistry, And Hydrology Of Salt Creek In Northeastern Illinois, Luke Lampo

Celebration of Learning

Salt Creek flows through the metropolitan area of Chicago and into the Des Plaines River. Its urban environment provides multiple sources of contamination, including storm runoff, combined sewer overflow, and wastewater treatment plant discharge. The purpose of this study is to determine how water chemistry changes downstream, whether the presence and levels of metals meet IPCB (Illinois Pollution Control Board) and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) water quality standards, and how water chemistry changes during periods of storm flow and base flow. The study area consists of 10 sites along a 37 km stretch of Salt Creek. Water samples were taken …

Geochemical Analysis Of Surface Materials Surrounding The Bautsch-Gray Mine Superfund Site Near Galena, Illinois, Ryan Plath

Celebration of Learning

The Bautsch-Gray zinc and lead mine, near Galena, Ill., was in operation from the early 1900s until closing in 1975. The mine’s tailings pile has documented elevated lead and zinc concentrations in the surface materials surrounding the site. Numerous floods have caused contaminated sediment to migrate off the mine tailings pile, across Blackjack Road and into an outwash basin, and towards Smallpox Creek. Since this site was designated an EPA priority list superfund site in 2010, there have been numerous remediation efforts.

This study attempts to develop a better understanding of the contamination within the soils of the outwash basin …

U.S. Drought Monitor, May 5, 2015, Mark D. Svoboda

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for May 5, 2015 (5/5/15) 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.

Water Balance Of Flooded Rice In The Tropics, Siva Sivapalan

Books & book chapters

Department of Agriculture and Food, WA staff member authored "Water Balance of Flooded Rice in the Tropics" in the publication Irrigation and Drainage - Sustainable Strategies and Systems’, edited by Muhammad Salik Javaid, published by INTECH, May 2015

Chapter Summary: Excess groundwater recharge rates under irrigated agriculture may lead to problems such as rising watertable, waterlogging and salinity. In irrigated areas, growers may need to manage this water and hence, understanding what leakage is attributed to what crops will become more important. In this study, evaporation, transpiration, and deep percolation losses were estimated for ponded rice culture, using a …

Aerosol Size Distribution Measurements During The 2014 Nasa Sarp Campaign In The Central Valley And Sierra Nevada Mountains In California, Victoria A. Hampton

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Aerosols are directly and indirectly related to global climate by scattering radiation and also by seeding cloud formation. As a part of the 2014 NASA Student Airborne Research Program (SARP), research flights were conducted over the Central California region to better understand air quality in large urban California cities and also in the Central Valley. Using a Droplet Measurement Technologies Ultra High Sensitivity Aerosol Spectrometer (DMT-UHSAS), aerosol size distributions were measured across geographic regions of interest. Previous research has suggested that aerosols originating in the Central Valley may travel eastward to the Sierra Nevada and, once lifted orographically, could suppress …

The Effect Of Substrate On Quartz Precipitation Rates, Victoria Igoe

Honors Projects

The role of substrate on the precipitation of quartz from solution is a confused subject based on past research. The two types of surfaces examined in this project, weathered surfaces and freshly fractured surfaces, may or may not influence the rate of precipitation of quartz from aqueous solution. Precipitation rates on these surfaces are compared via 'sandwich' type experiments, where both naturally weathered quartz grains and freshly fractured synthetic quartz grains are placed in weld-sealed gold tubes, separated by a cement source of amorphous silica. The experiments were run at 450 degrees Celsius and about 150 MPa for varying amounts …

Inferring The Oriented Elastic Tensor From Surface Wave Observations: Preliminary Application Across The Western United States, Jiayi Xie, Michael H. Ritzwoller, S. J. Brownlee, B. R. Hacker

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

Radial and azimuthal anisotropy in seismic wave speeds have long been observed using surface waves and are believed to be controlled by deformation within the Earth’s crust and uppermost mantle. Although radial and azimuthal anisotropy reflect important aspects of anisotropic media, few studies have tried to interpret them jointly. We describe a method of inversion that interprets simultaneous observations of radial and azimuthal anisotropy under the assumption of a hexagonally symmetric elastic tensor with a tilted symmetry axis defined by dip and strike angles. We show that observations of radial anisotropy and the 2ψ component of azimuthal anisotropy for Rayleigh …

Geochemical Analysis Of Surface Materials Surrounding The Bautsch-Gray Mine Superfund Site Near Galena, Illinois, Ryan Plath

Geology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

The Bautsch-Gray zinc and lead mine, near Galena, IL, was in operation from the early 1900s until closing in 1975. The mine’s tailings pile has documented elevated lead and zinc concentrations in the surface materials surrounding the site. Numerous floods have caused contaminated sediment to migrate off the mine tailings pile, across Blackjack Road and into an outwash basin, and towards Smallpox Creek. Since this site was designated an EPA priority list Superfund site in 2010, the EPA has conducted numerous remediation efforts. This study attempts to develop a better understanding of the contamination within the soils of the outwash …

Rapid Response Tools And Datasets For Post-Fire Modeling: Linking Earth Observations And Process-Based Hydrological Models To Support Post-Fire Remediation, Mary Ellen Miller, Michael Billmire, William J. Elliot, K. A. Endsley, P. R. Robichaud

Michigan Tech Research Institute Publications

Preparation is key to utilizing Earth Observations and process-based models to support post-wildfire mitigation. Post-fire flooding and erosion can pose a serious threat to life, property and municipal water supplies. Increased runoff and sediment delivery due to the loss of surface cover and fire-induced changes in soil properties are of great concern. Remediation plans and treatments must be developed and implemented before the first major storms in order to be effective. One of the primary sources of information for making remediation decisions is a soil burn severity map derived from Earth Observation data (typically Landsat) that reflects fire induced changes …

Stable Isotopes As A Tool To Characterize Carbon Cycling And Develop Hydrologic Budgets In Mantled Karst Settings, Katherine Knierim

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Isotopes of water (δ2H/δ18O), carbon dioxide (δ13C-CO2), and dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13C-DIC) were used to explore water quality, trace carbon cycling, and quantify recharge sources through mantled karst and into Blowing Spring Cave (BSC). Of the possible sources of contamination in the BSC recharge area, septic-tank effluent was hypothesized to degrade water quality at the spring outlet of BSC because of the dominance of septic tanks for waste treatment, unsuitable topography and soil for septic-tank absorption fields, increased nitrate and chloride concentrations concomitant with increased urbanization, and increased Escherichia coli with discharge. Carbon cycling between the soil and BSC was …

Cockatoo Sands In The Victoria Highway And Carlton Hill Areas, East Kimberley: Land Capability Assessment For Developing Irrigated Agriculture, Henry Smolinski, Shahab Pathan, Paul Galloway, Kus Kuswardiyanto, Justin Laycock

Resource management technical reports

This report identifies areas of Cockatoo Sands adjacent to the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA), Kununurra, with high potential for developing irrigated agriculture. It builds on a reconnaissance soil survey conducted in 2009 which identified significant areas of sandy and loamy soils in the Kununurra area that could be suitable for agriculture.

Geochemical Characterization Of The Mountain Home Geothermal System, Trevor Alex Atkinson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Mountain Home (MH) geothermal system of the western Snake River Plain (SRP) magmatic province was discovered in 2012 by the Snake River Geothermal Drilling Project. Artesian flowing water with a temperature of 150°C was encountered at a depth of 1745 m below ground surface (mbgs) and extensive mineralized fracture networks of pectolite-prehnite, calcite, and laumontite were discovered in the recovered core. The objectives of this study are to: 1) describe the thermal and compositional history of past geothermal fluids, and 2) compare these fluids to modern fluids in order to characterize the evolution of the MH geothermal system and …

Sequence Stratigraphy, Depositional Environments And Geochemistry Of The Middle Cambrian Bloomington Formation In Northern Utah, Christopher Ryan Jensen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Bloomington Formation (~425 m thick) is a latest Middle Cambrian (~506.5-505 Ma.), mixed warm water, carbonate and shale unit on the Cordilleran passive margin in northern Utah and southern Idaho. The Hodges Shale and Calls Fort Shale Members are shale dominated and the Middle Limestone Member is a thick carbonate. Fossil diversity and abundance is surprisingly low for a Middle Cambrian carbonate/shale formation. Present, however, are 10-50 cm thrombolite mud mounds, associated with Girvanella oncoliths. These mud mounds represent shallow water carbonates that experienced a small flooding event that gives the mud mounds time and proper conditions to build …

Enigmatic Rift-Parallel, Strike-Slip Faults Around Eyjafjörður, Northern Iceland, James Arthur Proett

Theses - ALL

Strike-slip faults along mid-ocean ridge and subaerial spreading centers are generally thought to be restricted to transform boundaries connecting rift segments. Faults that are parallel to spreading centers are generally assumed to be normal faults associated with tectonic extension. However, clear evidence of north-south (rift-parallel), strike-slip displacements occur widely around the southern portion of Eyjafjörður, northern Iceland about 50 km west of the actively spreading Northern Rift Zone. The area is south of the southernmost strand (Dalvík Lineament) of the NW-SE-trending, dextral-slip, Tjörnes Fracture Zone (where N-S, sinistral, strike-slip “bookshelf” faulting occurs). Faults in the Eyjafjörður area cut 8.5-10 Ma …

Multiple Generations Of Faulting: A Kinematic Analysis Of The Lagarfljót Region, Northeast Iceland, Keegan Runnals

Theses - ALL

The North American/Eurasian plate boundary in Iceland is structurally diverse with oblique rifts, volcanic fissure swarms, and transform zones, and a hotspot. Lagarfljót is a lake located in the Tertiary flood basalts of East Iceland, that range in age from ~7 to 3 Ma. The lake is approximately 50 km east of the actively spreading, NS-trending, Northern Rift Zone (NVZ), and occupies a northeast-trending depression in an area of strong NS lineaments. A flexure zone, or zone of steeply dipping lavas, runs N-S across the southern part of the lake, and predates an angular unconformity in the regional lava pile. …

Filling The Gap: New Precise Early Cretaceous Radioisotopic Ages From The Andes, Beatriz Aguirre-Urreta, Marina Lescano, Mark D. Schmitz, Maisa Tunik, Andrea Concheyro, Peter F. Rawson, Victor A. Ramos

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Two tuffs in the Lower Cretaceous Agrio Formation, Neuquén Basin, provided U–Pb zircon radioisotopic ages of 129.09 ± 0.16 Ma and 127.42 ± 0.15 Ma. Both horizons are well constrained biostratigraphically by ammonites and nannofossils and can be correlated with the ‘standard’ sequence of the Mediterranean Province. The lower horizon is very close to the base of the Upper Hauterivian and the upper horizon to the Hauterivian/Barremian boundary, indicating that the former lies at c. 129.5 Ma and the latter at c. 127 Ma. These new radioisotopic ages fill a gap of over 8 million years in the …

Seismic Imaging To Help Understand And Manage Water Quality In Coastal Bénin, West Africa, Kyle Lindsay, John Bradford, Steve Silliman, Nicaise Yalo, Moussa Boukari

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

We collected seismic data along 15 transects to characterize the geometry of a coastal aquifer in Bénin, West Africa, that is being contaminated by saltwater. We used standard high-resolution seismic methods to image the upper ∼200 m using a sledgehammer source and a 120-channel recording system. Three transects were processed with an iterative updating flow that includes prestack depth migration, residual moveout analysis, and reflection tomography, and the remaining 12 transects were processed with routine processing flows and poststack time migration. We identified one unconfined aquifer and three confined aquifers separated by reflective confining clay layers. Some transects showed areas …

Vegetative And Climatic Controls On Holocene Wildfire And Erosion Recorded In Alluvial Fans Of The Middle Fork Salmon River, Idaho, Kerry Riley, Jennifer Pierce, Grant A. Meyer

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Middle Fork Salmon River watershed spans high-elevation mixed-conifer forests to lower-elevation shrub-steppe. In recent decades, runoff from severely burned hillslopes has generated large debris flows in steep tributary drainages. These flows incised alluvial fans along the mainstem river, where charcoal-rich debris-flow and sheetflood deposits preserve a record of latest Pleistocene to Holocene fires and geomorphic response. Through deposit sedimentology and ¹⁴C dating of charcoal, we evaluate the processes and timing of fire-related sedimentation and the role of climate and vegetation change. Fire-related deposits compose ~66% of the total measured fan deposit thickness in more densely forested upper basins …

Westward Growth Of Laurentia By Pre–Late Jurassic Terrane Accretion, Eastern Oregon And Western Idaho, United States, Todd A. Lamaskin, Rebecca J. Dorsey, Jeffrey D. Vervoort, Mark D. Schmitz, Kyle P. Tumpane, Nicholas O. Moore

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

New U-Pb and Sm-Nd data from the Blue Mountains province, eastern Oregon and western Idaho, clarify terrane correlations and regional evolution of the western Laurentian plate margin during Mesozoic time. We report an Early Jurassic age for a red tuff unit at Pittsburg Landing, Idaho, which is 25 m.yr. older than previous Middle Jurassic estimates. In the Coon Hollow Formation at Pittsburg Landing and at the type location on the Snake River, chemical abrasion thermal ionization mass spectrometry U-Pb zircon ages on interbedded tuff and detrital zircon U-Pb maximum depositional ages indicate that deposition spanned ca. 160–150Ma, entirely during Late …

On The Temporal Evolution Of Long-Wavelength Mantle Structure Of The Earth Since The Early Paleozoic, Shijie Zhong, Maxwell L. Rudolph

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The seismic structure of the Earth’s lower mantle is characterized by a dominantly degree-2 pattern with the African and Pacific large low shear velocity provinces (i.e., LLSVP) that are separated by circum-Pacific seismically fast anomalies. It is important to understand the origin of such a degree-2 mantle structure and its temporal evolution. In this study, we investigated the effects of plate motion history and mantle viscosity on the temporal evolution of the lower mantle structure since the early Paleozoic by formulating 3-D spherical shell models of thermochemical convection. For convection models with realistic mantle viscosity and no initial structure, it …

An Assessment Of The Accuracy Of Ppp In Remote Areas In Oman, Audrey Martin, Rashid Al Alawi

Conference Papers

Traditionally, high accuracy Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) positioning has involved differential techniques. Such techniques significantly reduce or eliminate inherent biases in the GNSS measurement by referencing simultaneous measurements to one or more known reference stations. On a national scale, these differential techniques rely heavily on a costly spatial infrastructure of accurately known points usually occupied by Continually Operating Reference Stations (CORS). In recent years, the development of Precise Point Positioning (PPP) techniques have been shown to reduce many of the inherent observation errors and biases in GNSS solutions which eliminate the need for a ground based reference station. Such …

An Assessment Of New Jersey Trout Production Systems : A Movement Towards Sustainability, Luke J. Diglio

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

New Jersey supports reproducing populations of three lotic salmonids. Only Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) are native and until approximately 100 years ago, were found in abundance throughout the northern part of the state. Presently, native populations have been documented in 115 streams or stream sections and declines are thought to be in response to anthropogenically originated environmental stressors. To evaluate the deterioration extent and assess numbers of breeding non-native Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) and Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), comparisons are made between sets of historical (1968-1977) and modern (2001-2010) young-of-the-year presence/absence and abundance data …

Unraveling Controls On Fracture Stratigraphy In Carbonates: The Influence Of Regional Stress, Mechanical Properties, And Diagenesis, Matthew H. Peppers

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

Fracture characteristics analyzed from outcrops provide key insights into the migration pathways of subsurface hydrocarbons, and allow for a detailed understanding of the tectonic history in an area. This study looks to assess the impacts that various controlling factors have on the development of fracture characteristics. To complete this objective, a succession of Ordovician to Mississippian rocks was examined. The logged section includes the Cotter Dolomite, Chattanooga Shale, St. Joe Formation, and the Boone Formation (subdivided into informal Upper and Lower members). Located in northwestern Arkansas and southwestern Missouri, data were collected from roadcut exposures along Highway 71. Collected fracture …

Hydrologic Mediation Of The Spatial And Temporal Variability Of The Soil Carbon Dioxide Stable Isotopic Composition Of A Subalpine Watershed, Theresa Marie Lorenzo

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The stable carbon isotopic composition of CO₂ (δ¹³C-CO₂) has been studied as an indicator of changes in ecosystem CO₂ exchange. Soil moisture is an important factor in ecosystem CO₂ exchange through its influence on physiological and soil physical processes. However, the majority of previous research analyzing the influence of soil moisture on soil and soil-respired δ¹³C-CO₂ has been conducted with limited consideration of topographical variation, which controls the distribution of soil moisture across a landscape. This study characterized the stable isotopic composition (δ¹³C) and concentrations of soil CO …

Stratigraphy And Depositional Environment Of The Mesaverde Group In The Northern Bighorn Basin Of Wyoming, Gordon Adams

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

A sedimentological, stratigraphical and palynological study was conducted on the upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Mesaverde Group over 27.5 km of a north-south-orientated outcrop belt in the northern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. During the Campanian, the study area lay in the western part of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway. The study aims to provide a stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental analysis of the Mesaverde Group and to integrate findings with data from outcrop belts to the south (southern Bighorn Basin), north (Montana) and east (Powder River Basin).

The Mesaverde Group (371 - 515 m thick) comprises a succession of mainly coarsening-upward stratal cycles, with some …

The Unusual Temporal And Spatial Slip History Of The Wassuk Range Normal Fault, Western Nevada (Usa): Implications For Seismic Hazard And Walker Lane Deformation, Benjamin E. Surpless, Glenn C. Kroeger

Earth and Environmental Geosciences Faculty Research

We document temporal and spatial variations in vertical displacement rate across 6 temporal orders of magnitude to better under stand how the 100-km-long, east-dipping Wassuk Range normal fault system has accommodated strain in the context of the Walker Lane, a tectonically active, NNWtrending zone of dextral and extensional deformation that affects significant portions of western Nevada and eastern California. We combine ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al cosmonuclide exposure ages with shallow seismic and gravity data from the buried hanging wall of the Wassuk fault to derive a post-113 ka (10⁵ yr time scale) vertical displacement rate of 0.82 ± …

Recent Shoreline Erosion Rates Along Black River Bay, Jamaica: Erosion And Recovery After Hurricane Ivan In 2004, Karen Louise Zelzer

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Rising sea level is threatening coastal areas, particularly those in the Caribbean which rely heavily on tourism and marine resources to support local economies. The purpose of this study is to analyze shoreline position along the south coast of Jamaica to determine the locations and rates of coastal change. IKONOS satellite imagery sets for 2003, 2007 and 2012 were used to monitor land use and shoreline changes along Black River Bay, including Galleon Beach Fish Sanctuary, in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. In particular, the effect of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 on shoreline changes was evaluated. Erosion rates were significantly higher during …

Seismic Imaging To Constrain Groundwater Models For A Better Understanding And Management Of Water Quality In Coastal Benin, West Africa: A Saltwater Intrusion Problem, Kyle Michael Lindsay

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The coastal city of Cotonou in Bénin, West Africa, is a large population center that is facing a serious threat to the sustainability of its fresh water supply. Cotonou relies on groundwater derived from the Godomey aquifer for its domestic water supply. The aquifer is undergoing saltwater intrusion due to an increase in pumping to accommodate a growth in population. Hence, there is substantial interest in better characterizing the groundwater system for the purpose of determining appropriate management strategies to ensure sustainability of this freshwater resource.

I collected seismic reflection data along 15 transects to characterize the geometry of the …

Carbon Isotope Variations Associated With A Middle Ordovician Karstic Unconformity, Patricia Suzanne Williams

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Large negative carbon isotope (δ¹³C) excursions have been documented from late Neoproterozoic-Paleozoic successions. These δ¹³C excursions have been widely used for regional and global stratigraphic correlation, particularly in strata with limited paleontological and radiometric age controls. Recent studies, however, argued that some negative δ¹³C excursions from stratigraphic record may have been resulted from meteoric/burial diagenesis, which commonly shifts both carbon and oxygen isotopes toward lower values. Testing the diagenetic origin of δ¹³C excursions in stratigraphic successions without independent stratigraphic framework has been difficult because it evolves into circular arguments about stratigraphic completeness …