Earth Sciences Commons^™

Water Balance Monitoring For Two Bioretention Gardens In Omaha, Nebraska, 2011–14, Kellan R. Strauch, David L. Rus, Kent E. Holm

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

Document abstract

Bioretention gardens are used to help mitigate stormwater runoff in urban settings in an attempt to restore the hydrologic response of the developed land to a natural predevelopment response in which more water is infiltrated rather than routed directly to urban drainage networks. To better understand the performance of bioretention gardens in facilitating infiltration of stormwater in eastern Nebraska, the United States Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Douglas County Environmental Services and the Nebraska Environmental Trust, assessed the water balance of two bioretention gardens located in Omaha, Nebraska by monitoring the amount of stormwater entering and …

Significant Recent Warming Over The Northern Tibetan Plateau From Ice Core Δ18o Records, W. An, S. Hou, W. Zhang, Y. Wang, Y. Liu, Shuang-Ye Wu, H. Pang

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Stable oxygen isotopic records in ice cores provide valuable information about past temperature, especially for regions with scarce instrumental measurements. This paper presents the δ¹⁸O result of an ice core drilled to bedrock from Mt. Zangser Kangri (ZK), a remote area on the northern Tibetan Plateau (TP). We reconstructed the temperature series for 1951–2008 from the δ¹⁸O records. In addition, we combined the ZK δ¹⁸O records with those from three other ice cores in the northern TP (Muztagata, Puruogangri, and Geladaindong) to reconstruct a regional temperature history for the period 1951–2002 (RTNTP). The RTNTP …

Soil Functional Zone Management: A Vehicle For Enhancing Production And Soil Ecosystem Services In Row-Crop Agroecosystems, Alwyn Williams, Daniel A. Kane, Patrick M. Ewing, Lesley W. Atwood, Andrea Jilling, Meng Li, Yi Lou, Adam S. Davis, A. Stuart Grandy, Sheri C. Huerd, Mitchell C. Hunter, Roger T. Koide, David A. Mortensen, Richard G. Smith, Sieglinde S. Snapp, Kurt A. Spokas, Anthony C. Yannarell, Nicholas R. Jordan

Faculty Publications

There is increasing global demand for food, bioenergy feedstocks and a wide variety of bio-based products. In response, agriculture has advanced production, but is increasingly depleting soil regulating and supporting ecosystem services. New production systems have emerged, such as no-tillage, that can enhance soil services but may limit yields. Moving forward, agricultural systems must reduce trade-offs between production and soil services. Soil functional zone management (SFZM) is a novel strategy for developing sustainable production systems that attempts to integrate the benefits of conventional, intensive agriculture, and no-tillage. SFZM creates distinct functional zones within crop row and inter-row spaces. By incorporating …

Petrologic Comparison Of The Beaver Dam And Mineral Mountains Metamorphic Complexes, Scott Zylstra, Jake Voorhees, Dr. Ron Harris

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Utah’s rocks, though incredibly complete in later eons, hold very little information about what was occurring in that area before 700 million years ago. In Southern Utah, only two relatively small exposures of these ancient Precambrian exist, in the west of the Beaver Dam Mountains west of St. George and the west of the Mineral Mountains west of Beaver. Therefore, it is vitally important to study these exposures, as they constitute the only clues to what was happening in Utah 1.7 billion years ago.

Sediment Loads And Transport At Constructed Chutes Along The Missouri River-Upper Hamburg Chute Near Nebraska City, Nebraska, And Kansas Chute Near Peru, Nebraska, Brenda K. Densmore, David L. Rus, Matthew T. Moser, Brent M. Hall, Michael J. Andersen

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

The United States Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, monitored suspended sediment within constructed Missouri River chutes during March through October 2012. Chutes were constructed at selected river bends by the US Army Corps of Engineers to help mitigate aquatic habitat lost through the creation and maintenance of the navigation channel on the Missouri River. The restoration and development of chutes is one method for creating shallow-water habitat within the Missouri River to meet requirements established by the amended 2000 Biological Opinion. Understanding geomorphic channel-evolution processes and sediment transport is important for the …

Upper Mantle Structure Of Central And West Antarctica From Array Analysis Of Rayleigh Wave Phase Velocities, David S. Heeszel, Douglas A. Wiens, Sridhar Anandakrishnan, Richard C. Aster, Ian W.D. Dalziel, Audrey D. Huerta, Andrew A. Nyblade, Terry J. Wilson, J. Paul Winberry

Geological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

The seismic velocity structure of Antarctica is important, both as a constraint on the tectonic history of the continent and for understanding solid Earth interactions with the ice sheet. We use Rayleigh wave array analysis methods applied to teleseismic data from recent temporary broadband seismograph deployments to image the upper mantle structure of central and West Antarctica. Phase velocity maps are determined using a two–plane wave tomography method and are inverted for shear velocity using a Monte Carlo approach to estimate three-dimensional velocity structure. Results illuminate the structural dichotomy between the East Antarctic Craton and West Antarctica, with West Antarctica …

Slow Slip Events And Time-Dependent Variations In Locking Beneath Lower Cook Inlet Of The Alaska-Aleutian Subduction Zone, Shanshan Li, Jeffrey Freymueller, Robert Mccaffrey

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

We identify a series of abrupt changes in GPS site velocities in Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska, in late 2004, early 2010, and late 2011. The site motions during each time period are nearly linear. The surface deformations inferred from GPS for pre-2004 and 2010–2011 are similar to each other, as are 2004–2010 and post-2011. We estimate the slip distribution on the Alaska-Aleutian subduction plate interface accounting for upper plate block rotations and interpret this toggling between two deformation patterns as caused by transient slip. We find that by allowing negative slip deficit rates (i.e., creep rates in excess of relative …

U.S. Drought Monitor, February 2, 2016, Anthony Artusa

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for February 2, 2016 (2/2/16) 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.

Trace Element Analysis Of Quartz Grains In The Wah Wah Springs Tuff And Granodiorite Intrusion, Michael Jensen, Dr. Eric Christiansen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Wah Wah Springs Tuff and the Wah Wah Springs Intrusive Granodiorite are both part of the Indian Peak caldera complex in southwest Utah, an area of intense volcanic activity 30 million years ago. This time period is known for explosive silicic activity due to the subduction of the Farallon Plate along North America’s western edge. In the eruption connected with the Wah Wah Springs an estimated 5,900 km³ of magma came out of the Earth, making it one of the largest known explosive eruptions in our planet’s history. This massive eruption was partially dependent upon the changing temperatures …

Agriculture Causes Nitrate Fertilization Of Remote Alpine Lakes, Elizabeth J. Hundey, Sam S.D. Russell, Fred Longstaffe, Katrina A. Moser

Earth Sciences Publications

Humans have altered Earth’s nitrogen cycle so dramatically that reactive nitrogen (Nr) has doubled. This has increased Nr in aquatic ecosystems, which can lead to reduced water quality and ecosystem health. Apportioning sources of Nr to specific ecosystems, however, continues to be challenging, despite this knowledge being critical for mitigation and protection of water resources. Here we use D¹⁷O, d¹⁸O and d¹⁵N from Uinta Mountain (Utah, USA) snow, inflow and lake nitrate in combination with a Bayesian-based stable isotope mixing model, to show that at least 70% of nitrates in aquatic systems are anthropogenic …

Magnetic Properties Of Sediments Of The Red River: Effect Of Sorting On The Source-To-Sink Pathway And Its Implications For Environmental Reconstruction, Thi Thu Hien Nguyen, Weiguo Zhang, Zhen Li, Jie Li, Can Ge, Jinyan Liu, Xuexin Bai, Huan Feng, Lizhong Yu

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We conducted a mineral magnetic study of river bank and subaqueous delta sediments from the Red River, in order to examine the role of sedimentary sorting on the variation of sedimentary magnetic properties from source to sink. The magnetic mineralogy mainly consists of magnetite and hematite. Bulk sediment particle-size variations have a strong influence on magnetic properties, with the frequently used magnetic parameters χ fd %, χ ARM , χ ARM /χ, and χ ARM /SIRM exhibiting positive correlations with the < 4 μm fraction, while S-ratios are negatively correlated with this fraction. Compared with river bank sediments and shallow shoreface (< 5 m water depth) sediments, sediments from the deeper (>5 m water depth) part of the subaqueous delta have lower χ and SIRM values, a finer ferrimagnetic grain-size …

Cone-In-Cone And Beef Mineralization Associated With Triassic Growth Basin Faulting And Shallow Shale Diagenesis, Edgeøya, Svalbard, Harmon D. Maher Jr., Kei Ogata, Alvar Braathen

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

Cone-in-cone (CIC) and beef (BF) carbonate lenses ornament detachment zone faults underlying Triassic growth basins on Edgeøya. Field relationships place CIC and BF growth as during early diagenesis and a transition from hydroplastic to a later brittle-style of faulting that is marked by coarser calcite veining. Deformation is constrained to have occurred at<300 mdepth. Multiple models exist for CIC formation. For the Edgeøya example, textural analysis of thin-sections suggests that small tensile fractures and carbonate shell fragments nucleated development of calcite aggregates with CIC and BF morphology within unconsolidated to poorly consolidated sediment to form asymmetric antitaxial tensile aggregates subparallel to bedding and fault surfaces. The conical forms result from differential growth on stepped, cleavage-parallel faces of fibres facing host sediment, with preferential inclusion incorporation at inner corners. The preferred directions of calcite growth are attributed to local stresses and seepage flow associated with pore pressure gradients. Substantial framboidal pyrite in the sediments represents an early phase of microbially driven sulphate reduction, which may have induced calcite mineralization. The transition to brittle-style faulting was marked by development of deformation twins in CIC/BF fibres, and a transition to coarse, blocky calcite growth in relay arrays of steeply oriented microveins. This indicates local fault-related stresses substantially changed during shallow diagenesis and lithification, an evolution attributed to changing pore pressures, seepage forces and material moduli. Calcite mineralizations at Edgeøya track the very significant changes in mechanical properties and stress states that occur during synlithification deformation at very shallow crustal levels.

Distributed Modeling Of Ablation (1996–2011) And Climate Sensitivity On The Glaciers Of Taylor Valley, Antarctica, Matthew J. Hoffman, Andrew G. Fountain, Glen E. Liston

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica host the coldest and driest ecosystem on Earth, which is acutely sensitive to the availability of water coming from glacial runoff. We modeled the spatial variability in ablation and assessed climate sensitivity of the glacier ablation zones using 16 years of meteorological and surface mass-balance observations collected in Taylor Valley. Sublimation was the primary form of mass loss over much of the ablation zones, except for near the termini where melt, primarily below the surface, dominated. Microclimates in ~10 m scale topographic basins generated melt rates up to ten times higher than over smooth …

Ultra‐Long‐Range Hydroacoustic Observations Of Submarine Volcanic Activity At Monowai, Kermadec Arc, D. Metz, A. B. Watts, I. Grevemeyer, Mel Rodgers, M. Paulatto

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Monowai is an active submarine volcanic center in the Kermadec Arc, Southwest Pacific Ocean. During May 2011, it erupted over a period of 5 days, with explosive activity directly linked to the generation of seismoacoustic T phases. We show, using cross‐correlation and time‐difference‐of‐arrival techniques, that the eruption is detected as far as Ascension Island, equatorial South Atlantic Ocean, where a bottom moored hydrophone array is operated as part of the International Monitoring System of the Comprehensive Nuclear‐Test‐Ban Treaty Organization. Hydroacoustic phases from the volcanic center must therefore have propagated through the Sound Fixing and Ranging channel in the South Pacific …

Climate, Ecology, And Human Evolution During The Plio-Pleistocene, Scott Adam Blumenthal

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A major goal of paleoanthropology is to identify the selective pressures associated with hominin biological and behavioral evolution, yet establishing cause-effect relationships between climate, ecology, and human evolution remains problematic. This dissertation seeks to investigate hominin paleoecology in eastern Africa by reconstructing aspects of climate and ecology using stable isotope analysis.

The first part of this dissertation is focused on the ecology of primates and hominins. Modern tropical African ecosystems provide a useful model for understanding the ecological correlates of isotopic variation in the fossil record, and living primates provide a useful model for understanding the ecological significance of isotopic …

Review Of Land Capability Assessment For The Swan Valley, Peter Tille, Angela Stuart-Street

Resource management technical reports

Land capability review for the Swan Valley.

The land capability review of the Swan Valley examined and updated previous soil and capability studies done in the area, which are still considered highly relevant for the planning requirements of the Swan Valley. As a result we have updated information on the potential for irrigated agriculture in the Swan Valley which will guide decision-making in the future.

This review uses a modified version of a new approach to presenting information for land use planning, developed by DAFWA in the Mid West region.

The main findings of the review include:

• The alluvial terraces …

Distributed Visualization Of Gridded Geophysical Data: The Carbon Data Explorer, Version 0.2.3, Kevin Arthur Endsley, Michael G. Billmire

Michigan Tech Research Institute Publications

Due to the proliferation of geophysical models, particularly climate models, the increasing resolution of their spatiotemporal estimates of Earth system processes, and the desire to easily share results with collaborators, there is a genuine need for tools to manage, aggregate, visualize, and share data sets. We present a new, web-based software tool – the Carbon Data Explorer – that provides these capabilities for gridded geophysical data sets. While originally developed for visualizing carbon flux, this tool can accommodate any time-varying, spatially explicit scientific data set, particularly NASA Earth system science level III products. In addition, the tool's open-source licensing and …

Photo Highlights Of The 14th Heart Of America Grazing Conference, Heart Of America Grazing Conference

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.

Picking Apples Off The Grazing Tree: How Far Can We Extend The Grazing Season Profitably?, Greg S. Halich

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Will grazing more and feeding less hay always increase profitability? There are many cases where cattle farmers could graze more days profitably. I would guess that more than half the cattlemen in Kentucky and the region could find ways to do so. But the statement is not universally correct and we need to evaluate the specific situation to determine if increasing grazing days will pay off.

Grazing Corn To Maximize Late Summer And Fall Gains, Jeff Lehmkuhler, Eric Vanzant

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Corn is a warm-season grass with a growth pattern dependent on temperatures. Warmer temperatures accelerate growth while cooler temperatures slow maturation. Thermal time is often referred to as Growing Degree Days (GGD) and calculated as GGD = ((Max Temp – Min Temp)/2) – 50 when calculating in Fahrenheit (Nielsen, 2012). In the upper transition zone, corn thrives and is the major planted crop. The warmer temperatures of the summer months combined with adequate precipitation allows this crop to be a potentially high yielding crop.

Native Warm-Season Grasses: Naturally Adapted Productive Pastures, Pat Keyser

Kentucky Grazing Conference

The series of severe droughts between 2007 and 2012 resulted in substantial decreases in cattle numbers – and enterprises – in our region. Some of the impact of these droughts may have been offset if producers in the region had reliable, drought-resilient summer forages. For all of the benefits of tall fescue, it was never meant to provide our summer forage. After all, it is a cool-season grass. What we have been learning about toxicosis in recent years further emphasizes the value of having alternative forages available during summer months.

How Diversity Extends The Grazing Season At Dogwood Farm, Debby Dulworth

Kentucky Grazing Conference

This article was previously published in Cow Country News.

Cattle are a valuable resource these days, in ways that most people, consumers and producers alike, haven’t yet realized. Putting some other resources into making the change for a better grazing system makes sense, especially here in Kentucky, where grass has, in the past, been the basis of a healthy and expansive economy. Grass can once again be the basis for a healthy economy, if enough people with the vision to see its possibilities get involved and make it happen. A truly healthy economy begins with good human health and …

Putting Some Pop Back In Your Crop: Alfalfa In Crop Rotations, Ben M. Goff

Kentucky Grazing Conference

While alfalfa is often recognized as the “Queen of the Forages”, corn may be considered “King of the Crops” and currently ranks as the nation’s largest acreage crop with over 87 million acres. The corn acreage U.S. has continued to increase in recent years for various reasons including greater market demand, a shift towards larger farms that focus on a fewer number of crops, and the development of improved varieties and management practices. According to the U.S. Census of Agriculture, the acreage devoted to corn and soybeans has risen by 64 and 255%, respectively, over the last 30 years, while …

Reduced Or Low Lignin Alfalfa: Advantages For Hay And Grazing, S. Ray Smith

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Lignin is an essential structural component of all land plants. It fills spaces in the cell wall between cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin. Lignin provides the strength to plants from giant Sequoia trees to alfalfa growing in hay fields. A good analogy is that lignin is like the steel reinforcing rods in concrete. Life on earth would not be possible without lignin to allow plants to grow upright. The limitation for livestock is that lignin is indigestible. Forage breeders have long realized that the quickest way to improve forage quality would be to reduce lignin concentration, but if lignin is reduced …

Grazing Alfalfa: Producer Perspective, Bob Hall

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Scott County native Robert (Bob) Hall, Jr. is a man of many hats. He and his wife Bonnie have embarked on many ventures on their farm including sheep, hogs and tobacco. Hall was born and raised on the farm outside of Georgetown, where he currently resides and operates a stocker operation. Some may recognize Hall for the feed mill he purchased in the 1960’s known as Hallway Feeds. Early in the Mill’s history over 90 percent of their sales were to dairy producers. Now 95 percent of company’s sales go to the equine industry. Hallway Feed is sold and distributed …

'Lacefield Maxqll' Novel Tall Fescue, Timothy D. Phillips

Kentucky Grazing Conference

The goal of deploying novel endophyte strains in tall fescue varieties has been to achieve forage yields, stress tolerance, and persistence similar to toxic endophyte tall fescue varieties (mainly ‘Kentucky 31’ endophyte infected with the common toxic endophyte strain), but with the superior animal performance results seen with endophyte-free tall fescue varieties or other non-toxic forage species (orchardgrass, alfalfa, etc.). In addition to better stand persistence, less weed encroachment has been reported in novel endophyte (and toxic endophyte) tall fescue varieties compared to their endophyte-free versions (Rudgers et al., 2010; Bouton et al., 2002). The improved competitive ability of endophyte-containing …

Soy Hulls: More Than Just A Feed Supplement, Glen E. Aiken, Michael Flythe

Kentucky Grazing Conference

There is approximately 35 million acres of tall fescue in the USA, with most of this acreage being utilized in hay meadows and grazed pastures in a region between the temperate northeast and subtropical southeast and commonly referred to as the Fescue Belt. Popularity of the grass is due to its productivity, persistence, and low cost of management. Unfortunately, a fungal endophyte that infects most plants of tall fescue produces ergot alkaloid toxins that cause a toxicosis in cattle and other grazing livestock. Fescue toxicosis may reduce reproductive performance of cow herds and weaning weights, and reduce post-weaning weight gain …

The Secret Ingredients Of Clover: Biochanin A And Isoflavonoids, Michael Flythe, Glen Aiken, Isabelle Kagan

Kentucky Grazing Conference

It is well known that the value of clover is in nitrogen. Clovers fix their own nitrogen so that an input of nitrate fertilizer is not required. Furthermore, they are rich in protein-nitrogen, and can be used to meet the protein requirements of ruminants. Clovers also contain a class of chemicals called isoflavones, and we have recently discovered evidence that the isoflavones positively influence the way that ruminants digest protein.

Foreword And Conference Information [2016], S. Ray Smith, Krista Lea

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.

U.S. Drought Monitor, January 26, 2016, Mark D. Svoboda

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for January 26, 2016 (1/26/16) 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.