Earth Sciences Commons^™

Soil Cores For Kentucky Science Education, Mark S. Coyne, Carol Hanley, Amber Harris

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Book Gallery

No abstract provided.

Rocks To Roads To Ruin: A Brief History Of Western Kentucky’S Rock-Asphalt Industry, 1888–1957, J. Richard Bowersox

Information Circular--KGS

The history of western Kentucky’s rock-asphalt industry required substantial research of primary sources to correct the disjointed and often conflicting record published to date. Its history is checkered with characters from visionary entrepreneurs and ambitious businessmen to financial scoundrels. The earliest evidence of exploitation of bitumen resources at the surface in western Kentucky is in Native American artifacts recovered from several sites. Early settlers in the region used heavy oil and bitumen found in seeps as lubricants and wood preservatives, among other uses. The commercial value of the widespread western Kentucky rock-asphalt deposits was first recognized in the 1880’s, leading …

Mapped Karst Groundwater Basins In The Elizabethtown 30 X 60 Minute Quadrangle, James C. Currens, Robert J. Blair

Map and Chart--KGS

This map shows karst groundwater basins in the Elizabethtown 30 x 60 minute quadrangle, determined primarily by groundwater tracer studies. It can be used to quickly identify the groundwater basins and springs to which a site may drain. Major springs and the relative size of their catchment areas can be evaluated for potential as water supplies. The map also serves as a geographic index to literature on karst groundwater in the area.

Heavy-Oil And Bitumen Resources Of The Western Kentucky Tar Sands, J. Richard Bowersox

Report of Investigations--KGS

Heavy-oil and bitumen resources in western Kentucky are present in the Upper Mississippian Big Clifty and Hardinsburg Sandstones and Lower Pennsylvanian Kyrock and Bee Spring Sandstone Members of the Caseyville Formation in a belt extending from Logan County on the south to Breckinridge and Hardin Counties on the north.

Net oil-saturated intervals in the tar sands range from 2.5 to 4.7 m thick, largely in downthrown fault blocks in and bounding the Rough Creek Graben. Records from 1,500 wells, analysis of reservoir properties from 3,769 plugs from 135 coreholes, and bulk volume of hydrocarbon calculated in 139 surface samples were …

Earthquake Hazard Mitigation In The New Madrid Seismic Zone: Science And Public Policy, Alice M. Orton, Zhenming Wang, Lanmin Wang, Edward W. Woolery

Report of Investigations--KGS

In the central United States, earthquake sources that are not well defined, long earthquake recurrence intervals, and uncertain ground-motion attenuation models have contributed to an overstatement of seismic hazard for the New Madrid Seismic Zone on the national seismic hazard maps published by the U.S. Geological Survey. A series of informal interviews in western Kentucky with local businesspersons, public officials, and other professionals in occupations associated with seismic-hazard mitigation discussed seismic-mitigation policies in relation to depressed local economy. Scientific and relative economic analysis was then performed using scenario earthquake models developed with the Federal Emergency management Agency's Hazus-MH software. The …

Petrography, Mineralogy, And Geochemistry Of Greenish- And Reddish-Gray Siltstones Straddling The Vertebrate-Defined Permian–Triassic Boundary In South Africa, Jiawen Li

Honors Theses

The Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME) is considered the largest in Earth’s history, yet the terrestrial response is not well understood. The Karoo Basin, South Africa, hosts abundant exposures of terrestrial deposits that span the Permian– Triassic Boundary (PTB). The terrestrial PTB is defined by a turnover in vertebrate assemblage zones and has been associated with a transition from greenish-gray to reddish-gray siltstone. The current PTME model states that the siltstone color change is a reflection of aridification and eolian deposition, which is believed to represent rapid climate change directly linked with the event. Greenish- and reddish-gray siltstones were collected from …

Determination Of Volcanic Impact On Perchlorate Using Polar Ice Cores, Alex Georgiev, Collin Livingston, Cody Ward

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Arctic (Greenland) ice core samples covering the time period of 1638-1646 were analyzed for perchlorate and sulfate concentrations. The sulfate data show a signal corresponding to the 1640 eruption of the Komaga-Take volcano in Japan. Perchlorate concentrations show a significant increase at the time of the Komaga-Take eruption. It is concluded that a positive correlation likely exists between stratospheric volcanic eruptions and perchlorate concentration in the environment. When a volcano has enough explosive force to inject substances into the stratosphere, some of the substances, such as sulfate, can remain in the stratosphere for months and spread all over the global …

Geologic Time, John J. Renton, Thomas Repine

Readings and Notes

It is not surprising that humans have wondered how long Earth has existed. At one extreme, there were the Brahmans of India who believe that Earth never had a beginning and will never have an end. Others were of the opinion that Earth was old, but perhaps not eternally old. In 450 BC, for example, a Greek historian named Herodotus (484 - 425 BC) expressed the opinion that Earth was very old, basing his estimate on the results of his studies of the Nile Delta. He observed that the delta was growing layer by layer as a result of the …

Earthquakes And Seismology, John J. Renton, Thomas Repine

Readings and Notes

The great majority of earthquakes are caused by the movement of faults. Two terms are used to determine the location of an earthquake, focus and epicenter. The focus of an earthquake is the point along a fault where the rocks slipped and released the energy previously stored during the elastic phase of deformation. Because faults represent brittle deformation, the highest frequency of earthquakes occurs at Earth's surface and decreases with depth as rocks become less brittle and more plastic. The deepest earthquake foci occur at depths of about 640 km. ( 400 mi.) which is the deepest penetration of subducting …

Earthquakes, John J. Renton, Thomas Repine

Readings and Notes

For centuries, earth scientists have known where the major earthquakes occurred. They also knew they occurred in the same locales as the most violent volcanoes, a fact that led to centuries of arguments as to which was the cause of the other. Now we know that they are not cause and effect; they are both associated with the convergent plate margins. During the mid-1900s, another major zone of both volcanic and earthquake activity was discovered, namely the divergent margins, the most important site being the oceanic ridges. Since then, we have also come to understand the occurrence of volcanic activity …

The Triassic Period And The Beginning Of The Mesozoic Era, John J. Renton, Thomas Repine

Readings and Notes

The Triassic Period is the first period of the Mesozoic Era, a span of time from 245 million years ago to 66 million years ago. Although the Mesozoic era commonly known as the "Age of the Dinosaurs,', it should be pointed out that there were other important evolutionary developments taking place such as the appearance of the first mammal birds and flowering plans. The onset of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic Period, was also a time of profound tectonic activity affecting the entire North American craton. In the east, the primary event was the breakup of Pangea and the formation …

Coal Genesis, John J. Renton, Thomas Repine

Readings and Notes

Most textbooks classify coal as a sedimentary rock even though it does not fit the definition of a sedimentary rock. While a sedimentary rock is a "rock formed from the products of weathering and erosion", coal forms from the remains of land plants. In fact, coal doesn't even fit the definition of a rock. A rock is defined as "mixture of minerals" and minerals are defined as "natural occurring, solid, inorganic substances ..• " Coal is composed largely (􀀴90+%) of organic substances (macerals) which, by definition, are not minerals. If coal must be classified as a rock, because it forms …

Nitrogen Removal And Recycling By Sediments In The Lower Great Miami River, Ohio, Lee A. Slone

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The Lower Great Miami River (LGMR) has recently experienced algal blooms due to excess nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). Some Ohio water treatment plants were ordered to reduce the amount of P that they release into the river, but N also can stimulate eutrophication and algal blooms, either alone or in combination with P. In this study, LGMR sediment N transformations and effects of river impoundments on N cycling were compared with external N loads during different flow conditions to determine the extent to which N is removed or recycled within the system. Sediment nutrient fluxes, sediment N sinks and …

Deserts And Wind, John J. Renton, Thomas Repine

Readings and Notes

About one third of Earth's land surface is either arid (< 10" ppt./yr or semi-arid (10" to 20" pt./yr). While most precipitation is in the form of rain, some may be provided by melting snow, mist, or fog. With limited availability of water, rocks are not subjected to chemical weathering but rather to physical weathering.

Igneous Rocks, John J. Renton, Thomas Repine

Readings and Notes

No abstract provided.

Modeling Bedrock Transmissivity; Implications For Contaminant Transport In An Overlying Glacial Aquifer System, Amanda Pruehs

Wayne State University Theses

This study evaluated alternative representations of bedrock surface and bedrock transmissivity on advective transport predictions in an 11 km x 15 km x 116 m groundwater model. Bedrock topography, initially based on a map by Kunkle (1961), was reinterpreted using data from 227 additional bedrock penetrations drilled in the last 55 years. Varying assumptions of hydraulic conductivity were employed to model a range of bedrock conductivity from 1 to 3 orders of magnitude less than the overlying glacial aquifer system. MODPATH forward particle tracking and MT3DMS advective-dispersive transport modeling were employed to explore the influence of bedrock configuration and conductivity …

Deuterium And Oxygen-18 Diffusion In A Confined Aquifer: A Numerical Model Of Stable Isotope Diffusion Across Aquitard-Aquifer Boundaries, Benjamin J. Currens

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

The stable isotopes ²H and ¹⁸O, combined with noble gases and radioisotopes (e.g., ³H, ¹⁴C, ³⁶Cl), are used to infer groundwater age and climate during recharge. Flow regimes within low-velocity flowpaths and long residence times could allow an aquitard-aquifer diffusive flux to alter isotope abundance. Consequently, the diffusion of isotopes (e.g., ¹⁴C, ²H and ¹⁸O) between aquifers and confining layers needs to be considered in such conditions. In this study, COMSOL Multiphysics was used to determine if diffusion of ¹⁸O (and ²H by proxy) from a bounding aquitard could explain …

Use And Evaluation Of Lidar For Mapping Sinkholes In Royal Spring Groundwater Basin, Fidele Nsonguh Tibouo

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

This study utilizes a digital elevation model of the surface derived from high-resolution LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and aerial-image technologies to map sinkholes in the Royal Spring groundwater basin. Shade-relief maps, with vertical exaggeration, were very helpful in the initial characterization of depressions. Then, aerial-photography sets were likewise helpful in identifying man-made structures such as retention basins, swimming pools, and parking lots, and to identify new sinkholes.

Field checking was necessary to further define depressions into two categories: 1.) potential sinkholes and 2.) probable sinkholes. This study had a lower success rate (50 percent) for identifying sinkholes via LiDAR …

Egg On Hegranes: Geophysical Prospection, Coring, & Test Excavations—Report 2016, John M. Steinberg, Brian N. Damiata, Rita S. Shepard, Kathryn Anne Catlin, John W. Schoenfelder

Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research Publications

This report describes the 2016 archaeological work at the farm of Egg is in the southernmost part of Hegranes, North Iceland.

Effects Of Folding On Mineral Cpos In Gneiss: Implications For Lower Crustal Seismic Anisotropy, Alexia K. Sarnowsky

Wayne State University Theses

Isotropic seismic properties are not sufficient to distinguish between many rock types believed to make up the middle and lower continental crust. Seismic anisotropy is the directional dependence of seismic velocity, which we can use to improve our understanding of the composition and structure of the middle and lower continental crust. Our rationale is that seismic anisotropy in the middle and lower crust is controlled by the crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) of minerals. The effects of folding on mineral CPO in a folded gneiss from the Coweeta Group in North Carolina is used for this study, and we should be …

Soil Properties Affect Establishment Of Invasive Species, Celastrus Orbiculatus, In A Lower Hudson River Riparian Ecosystem, Shabana Hoosein Hoosein

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The Hudson River Estuary has been colonized by numerous terrestrial invasive plant species, due in part to its history of anthropogenic and natural disturbance riparian dynamics. This study investigates the spatial patterns of a widespread invasion by Oriental (or Asiatic) bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb.) in Schodack Island State Park, Rensselaer and Columbia Counties. The Park is home to rare species and communities, several of which are threatened by the encroachment of bittersweet. Bittersweet populations were mapped and surveyed on a fixed grid throughout the island, to determine distribution patterns. Stem densities were approximately 50% higher in sites with dredged material …

Geochemistry Of Proterozoic Clastic Rocks Of The Kerur Formation Of Kaladgi-Badami Basin, North Karnataka, South India: Implications For Paleoweathering And Provenance, Ariputhiran Ramachandran, Jayagopal Madhavaraju, Sooriamuthu Ramasamy, Yong Il Lee, Sesha Rao, David Lalhmingliana Chawngthu, Kasilingam Velmurugan

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Major, trace, and rare earth element (REE) studies have been conducted on the Proterozoic clastic rocks of the Kerur Formation of the Kaladgi-Badami Basin, South India, to determine their paleoweathering conditions and provenance characteristics. Geochemically, these sedimentary rocks are classified as quartz arenite, arkose, litharenite, and sublitharenite. The chemical index of alteration values and the A-CN-K diagram suggest that the clastics rocks in this study underwent moderate to intensive weathering. Chondrite-normalized REE patterns with light REE enrichment, flat heavy REE, and a negative Eu anomaly also attribute felsic source-rock to sedimentary rocks of the Kerur Formation. In addition, Eu/Eu* (~0.77), …

Geochemistry Of Aegean Sea Sediments: Implications For Surface- And Bottom-Water Conditions During Sapropel Deposition Since Mis 5, Ekrem Bursi̇n İşler, Ali̇ Engi̇n Aksu, Richard Nicholas Hiscott

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Piston cores collected from the Aegean Sea provide a record of sapropel sequence S1, S3-S5. Primary productivity calculations using the equations of Müller and Suess suggest surface paleoproductivities ranged from 180 to 995 g C m-2 year-1 for sapropels and from 40 to 180 g C m-2 year-1 for nonsapropel sediments with corresponding total organic carbon values of 9%-12% and 1%-3%, respectively. The higher paleoproductivities exceed those in the most fertile modern upwelling zones, so are probably overestimated. Instead, enhanced preservation, particularly for S4 and S5, likely resulted from poor bottom-water ventilation beneath a salinity-stratified water column. If the preservation …

Geological, Geochemical, And Fluid Inclusion Evidences For The Origin Of The Ravanj Pb?Ba?Ag Deposit, North Of Delijan City, Markazi Province, Iran, Mostafa Nejadhadad, Batoul Taghipour, Alireza Zarasvandi, Alireza Karimzadeh Somarin

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The Lower Cretaceous sequences of the Ravanj anticline in Iran host the Ravanj Pb-Ba-Ag mineralization. Economic orebodies are restricted to the thrust zone within the brecciated massive limestone and immediately above the Jurassic shale and/or shale-limestone intercalations of the Lower Cretaceous. Paragenetic sequence and distinct zoning of mineral assemblages indicate that ore-forming fluid migrated through thrust zones along the NE-trending faults. The REE pattern of mineralized host rock is characterized by HREE-enrichment ((La/Lu)PAAS = 0.24). The Ce/Ce* ratio of mineralized host samples shows negative Ce anomalies, which is most likely inherited from seawater. The positive Eu/Eu* anomaly suggests high ?O2 …

Notes On Beyrichiacean Ostracodes From The Early Devonian Of Nw Turkey Andtheir Palaeobiogeographical Relations, Ati̇ke Nazi̇k, Helga Groos-Uffenorde

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Recently found materials of large beyrichiacean ostracodes from the Early Devonian of the Darlık, Korucuköy, and Kabalakdere sections in NW Anatolia stimulated the restudy of ostracode collections from the İstanbul area, including the Toula collection (GBA Vienna) and Endriss collection (previously in GPI Marburg and currently in SMF Frankfurt), and their biostratigraphical and palaeogeographical significance. The species Gibba kayseri, Gibba schmidti, Zygobeyrichia roemeri, Zygobeyrichia subcylindrica, and Zygobeyrichia onusta are documented and beyrichiid gen. et sp. indet. is described. There are great similarities with ostracode faunas from Early Devonian shallow-water sediments of Europe and North Africa (in Germany from the Rhenish …

Facies Evolution And Depositional Model Of An Arid Microtidal Coast: Example From The Coastal Plain At The Mouth Of Wadi Al-Hamd, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, Ibrahim Mohamed Ghandour, Hamad A. Al-Washmi, Rabea A. Haredy, Aaid G. Al-Zubieri

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

This study describes the subsurface sedimentary facies of a modern Red Sea coastal plain at the mouth of Wadi Al-Hamd, northern Saudi Arabia, in an attempt to infer the influence of aridity and limited tidal range on facies characteristics. The study provides criteria to delineate the fluviomarine transition in a setting where tidal signatures and other marine influences are weak. Six manually collected cores (1.4 to 1.75 m long) from the channels at the wadi mouth, beach ridge, intertidal flat, strandplain, and supratidal flat enabled the identification of 23 sedimentary facies. The sediments displayed rapid and tremendous variability in facies …

The Depth Effect Of Earthquakes On Tsunami Heights In The Sea Of Okhotsk, Andrey Zaytsev, Irina Kostenko, Andrey Kurkin, Efim Pelinovsky, Ahmet Cevdet Yalçiner

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The earthquake of magnitude Mw = 8.3 that occurred on 24 May 2013 in the Sea of Okhotsk was the most powerful earthquake in the region. Fortunately, the generated tsunami was small because of the deep focal depth (609 km) and was only detected by the nearest Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) buoy records. However, the event highlighted the fact that any earthquakes with similar magnitudes at shallower focal depths would have caused considerable tsunamis. In order to evaluate the effects of possible tsunamis in the Sea of Okhotsk, we simulated water displacements due to the 24 May …

Geochemistry, Zircon U-Pb Age, And Tectonic Constraints On The Bazman Granitoid Complex, Southeast Iran, Mohammad Reza Ghodsi, Mohammad Boomeri, Sasan Bagheri, Daizo Ishiyama, Fernando Corfu

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The Bazman granitoid complex (BGC), including a large zoned pluton, intrudes into the upper Paleozoic sedimentary cover of the Lut block. It crops out on the southern slope of the Bazman volcano in Baluchestan Province of Iran. The intrusive rocks range from gabbro to various metaluminous to weakly peraluminous granites, and they are classified as I-type magmatic series. They display geochemical characteristics of typical volcanic arc magmatism at continental margins. Major- and trace-element variation diagrams show that fractional crystallization was the major process and crustal contamination, a subordinate process during the evolution of the BGC. The decrease in CaO, MgO, …

Assimilation And Fractional Crystallization Of Foid-Bearing Alkaline Rocks:Buzlukdağ Intrusives, Central Anatolia, Turkey, Kiymet Deni̇z, Yusuf Kağan Kadioğlu

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Felsic intrusive rocks within the Central Anatolian Crystalline Complex provide a window into the geodynamic processes in operation during the final closure of the Neotethys Ocean. Previous studies were largely restricted to the calc-alkaline granitoids, and the structural and petrogenetic relations of syenitoids are poorly studied. The Buzlukdağ Intrusive Complex is a silica-undersaturated alkaline syenite that is differentiated into three concentric subgroups according to texture and grain size. Mineral compositions do not vary between the subgroups but differentiation has resulted in different mineral proportions. Mafic microgranular enclaves are present throughout the suite, indicating mingling and mixing between the coeval felsic …

Distribution Of Natural Radioactivity And Assessment Of Radioactive Dose Of Western Anatolian Plutons, Turkey, Argyrios Papadopoulos, Şafak Altunkaynak, Antonis Koroneos, Alp Ünal, Ömer Kamaci

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The distribution of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in 70 granite samples obtained from 13 Western Anatolian plutons (Turkey) was measured by using γ-ray spectroscopy. The activities of the measured radionuclides varied up to 259 Bq kg-1 for 226Ra, up to 241 Bq kg?1 for 232Th, and up to 2518 Bq kg-1 for 40K, with mean values of 66 (±44), 90 (±47), and 1097 (±410) Bq kg-1, respectively, which are smaller than the mean values given for granites worldwide. The mean value of the increase on the external γ-radiation effective dose rate is 0.21 (±0.09) mSv year-1, varying by <1 mSv year-1. The mean value of the internal α-radiation was 0.15 (±0.10) mSv year-1, varying <0.5 mSv year-1. Most of the samples cause an increase to both the external and internal dose by <30%, which is smaller than the permitted limit. Therefore, there is no radiological risk from the usage of the samples studied as decorative and ornamental building materials.