Earth Sciences Commons^™

Spatio-Temporal Variability Of Processes Across Antarctic Ice-Bed–Ocean Interfaces, Florence Colloni, Laura De Santis, Christine S. Siddoway, Andrea Bergamasco, Nicholas R. Golledge, Gerrit Lohmann, Sandra Passchier, Martin J. Siegert

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Understanding how the Antarctic ice sheet will respond to global warming relies on knowledge of how it has behaved in the past. The use of numerical models, the only means to quantitatively predict the future, is hindered by limitations to topographic data both now and in the past, and in knowledge of how subsurface oceanic, glaciological and hydrological processes interact. Incorporating the variety and interplay of such processes, operating at multiple spatio-temporal scales, is critical to modeling the Antarctic’s system evolution and requires direct observations in challenging locations. As these processes do not observe disciplinary boundaries neither should our future …

Stratigraphic Evaluation Of Trinity Aquifers In Hays And Western Travis County And Implications For Groundwater Availability, Nicholas Soto-Kerans, B. Hunt, B. Smith

School of Geosciences Student Publications

Trinity Aquifers are very important groundwater resources in central Texas. However, they show signs of hydrologic stress and depletion in some areas. This study focused on detailed stratigraphic evaluations to better understand hydrologic variations in the Trinity Aquifer system. The study consisted of seven wells located throughout the Western Travis and Northern Hays County area spanning XX miles. All the wells had cuttings and geophysical logs. Two of the wells are multiport monitor wells providing detailed hydrologic data. Geophysical logs, cuttings, thin sections (where available), and outcrop descriptions were compiled, integrated and correlated. Stratigraphic cross sections were constructed and hydrologic …

Editorial To “Heat Flow: Recent Advances”, Vladimir Cermak, Shaopeng Huang, Dhananjay Ravat, Massimo Verdoya

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Disaster Risk In The Lake Nyos Area, Cameroon: Effects Of The Gas Hazard And Socially Produced Vulnerability, Mary Witucki

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Effective disaster risk reduction (DRR) efforts depend on comprehensive risk assessments that consider potential hazard events and social vulnerability. The Lake Nyos Disaster (LND) caused the deaths of about 1,700 people, forced another 4,000 people from their homes, and left survivors more vulnerable to future hazards. There is considerable research on the gas hazard and some work on local vulnerability; however studies rarely consider both aspects of disaster risk (DR). This study addresses both the hazard and vulnerability and uses several qualitative and quantitative methods which have never been applied to LND survivor vulnerability or gas hazard. Interviews, participant observation, …

Stormwater Capture In The Built Watershed: Fostering Public Awareness Of Water Conservation Through A Parcel-Level Approach To Stormwater Management, Benjamin Rigby

Pitzer Senior Theses

As California contends with climate change and more extreme cycles of drought and deluge, water management agencies and conservation groups are looking towards solutions to the decreasing reliability of imported water supplies. Stormwater has historically been perceived as a threat to development but when captured properly, it presents a resource that can augment local water supplies. Solutions to water supply issues in California have traditionally employed technical and centrally controlled methods for importing water, but there is a growing understanding that parcel-level capture through vegetated swales presents an opportunity for reducing the impact that development has on California’s hydrology. Vegetated …

The Prairie Post Quarterly Newsletter Of The High Plains Regional Climate Center- January 2018, Natalie Umphlett, Crystal J. Stiles

Prairie Post: Quarterly Newsletter of the High Plains Regional Climate Center

Inside this issue:

Message from the interim director........................................1

Weather photo of the quarter.................................................. 1

2017 - year in review..............2

2017 climate in the High Plains............................................3

Update on La Niña..................3

Update on regional climate conditions..................................4

Product Highlight....................4

HPRCC Turns 30........................5

Recent and upcoming travel and activities.............................6

Conservation Limnogeology And Benthic Habitat Mapping In Central Lake Tanganyika (Tanzania), Joseph S. Lucas

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Small scale protected zones are valuable for helping the health and productivity of fisheries at Lake Tanganyika (East Africa). Spatial placement of protected areas relies on accurate maps of benthic habitats, consisting of detailed bathymetry data and information on lake-floor substrates. This information is unknown for most of Lake Tanganyika. Fish diversity is known to correlate with rocky substrates in ≤ 30 m water depth, which provide spawning grounds for littoral and pelagic species. These benthic habitats form important targets for protected areas, if they can be precisely located.

At the NMVA, echosounding defined the position of the 30-m isobath …

Assessing Intra-Event Phosphorus Dynamics In Drainage Water Using Phosphate Stable Oxygen Isotopes, William Ford Iii, Mark R. Williams, Megan B. Young, Kevin W. King, Eric Fischer

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Quantifying fluxes and pathways of dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) in tile-drained landscapes has been hampered by a lack of measurements that are sensitive to P fate and transport processes. One potential tool to help understand these dynamics is the oxygen isotope signature of phosphate (δ¹⁸O_PO4); however, its potential benefits and limitations are not well understood for intra-event dynamics at the field scale. The objectives of this study were to quantify intra-event variability of δ¹⁸O_PO4 signatures in tile drainage water and assess the efficacy of δ¹⁸O_PO4 to elucidate mechanisms and flow …

Geothermal Play Fairway Analysis, Phase 3: A Provisional Conceptual Model Of The Camas Prairie, Snake River Plain, Idaho, Lee M. Liberty

CGISS Publications and Presentations

The Snake River Plain (SRP) Geothermal Play Fairway Analysis team identified two regions of interest during Phase 2 studies: the western SRP near Mountain Home, Idaho and Camas Prairie, Idaho. New geological, geochemical, and geophysical (gravity, magnetic, MT, seismic) studies of both areas led to a focus on Camas Prairie for validation during Phase 3. Camas Prairie is an EW-trending half-graben bounded on the north by the Idaho Batholith and on the south by the Mount Bennett Hills. Camas Prairie is bisected by a major NW-trending fault system (The Pothole fault) that separates NW-trending faults to east from ENE-trending faults …

Assessment Of Ground-Based And Aerial Cloud Seeding Using Trace Chemistry, James M. Fisher, Marion L. Lytle, Shawn G. Benner

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Targeting seedable clouds with silver iodide in complex terrain adds considerable uncertainty in weather modification studies. This study explores the geographic and temporal distribution of silver iodide associated with an active cloud seeding program in central Idaho snowpack using trace chemistry. Over 4,000 snow samples were analyzed for the presence of a cloud seeding silver iodide (AgI) signature over two winter seasons. The results indicate the following. (1) At sites within 70 km of AgI sources, silver enrichments were detected at 88% of cases involving seeding efforts from ground generators, but none from aircraft seeded cases. (2) Real-time snow collection …

Lead In Tap Water From The City Of Dayton, Ohio, Kayla Marie Haman

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Lead (Pb) in public tap water is a national health concern and is the main pathway of human exposure to Pb. The City of Dayton has verified Pb pipelines and homes with Pb plumbing; thus, residents are at risk to Pb leaching into their tap water. I sampled water from 130 residential and 24 public water taps and measured Pb and copper (Cu). Five percent of samples exceeded the action level for Pb (> 15 [micro]g/L) and none exceeded the action level for Cu. The City of Dayton's lead pipeline map identifies potential Pb exposure from Pb distribution pipes. However, …

An Integrated Machine Learning Geological Field Tool In The Age Of Big Data And Drones, Guillermo Vargas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and machine learning are relatively new research tools in the geosciences that can be used to collect and analyze large data sets rapidly. We combine the power of rapid data collection using unmanned aerial vehicles with machine learning algorithms to develop a field-based system to identify targeted geological features. For data collection, we have used a commercial-grade UAV which carried visible-wavelength and multispectral (visible- infrared) cameras. We analyzed the data with machine learning and machine vision algorithms that can classify rock units exposed in a field area. We have identified algorithms that in previous literature have …

Comparison Of Mesoscopic Fracture Analysis Techniques: A Case Study Near Onion Creek Diapir, Paradox Basin, Utah, Muhammed Tarik Iraz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Faults and fractures are abundant along the diapir contact in the Onion Creek Diapir in eastern Utah and relate to the mechanisms of diapir formation. Western Onion Creek exhumes two spectacular exposures of the diapir contact and adjacent wall rocks providing two nearly orthogonal transects oriented ~E-W and S-N. In this study, I used field measurements from natural outcrops and a 3D model developed using Structure-from-Motion/Multiview Stereo photogrammetry to evaluate fracture reservoir development along diapir margins. The 3D-Model was developed using Agisoft Photoscan from ~3200 ground-based images and was georeferenced using 76 ground control points located with a GPS unit …

Onshore-Offshore Velocity Models North Of The Mendocino Triple Junction In Northern California, Alan Jacquez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Mendocino Triple Junction (MTJ) marks the boundary where the Gorda plate, North American Plate, and Pacific Plate meet, separating the Cascadia subduction zone to the North from transform tectonics of the San Andreas plate boundary. This actively deforming region experiences high seismic activity and young geological features. Here we examine offshore and onshore seismic wide-angle reflection and refraction data north of the MTJ crossing the Cascadia subduction zone from offshore northern California to the Western edge of the Sierra Nevada. We image subsurface structures in this region by creating P-wave velocity models using datasets collected in 1993 to 1994 …

Characterization And Geochemistry Of Carbonate Caprock Associated With The Gypsum Valley Salt Wall, Paradox Basin, Colorado: Implications For Understanding Lateral Caprock Emplacement, Piper Lee Poe

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

On the northeastern side of Gypsum Valley salt wall in the Paradox Basin of Colorado, discontinuous exposures of layered gypsum and carbonate rocks were previously mapped as the contact between diapiric Paradox Formation and marine limestone of the Pennsylvanian Honaker Trail Formation. Utilizing new and existing mapping, petrographic and isotopic geochemical analyses, this study reinterprets this zone to represent lateral gypsum and carbonate caprock that formed in the Triassic during passive rise of the Gypsum Valley salt wall. Gypsum Valley lateral carbonate caprock can be distinguished from Pennsylvanian and Permian depositional carbonate strata exposed elsewhere on the salt wall by …

Population Dynamics And Water Resource Consumption In Spokane, Wa, Daniel Jesus Castillo

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Effectiveness Of Conventional And Lid Stormwater Management Approaches With Swmm Modeling: Rocky Branch Watershed, Columbia, Sc, John M. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Increases in percent impervious area and storm-sewer densities in an urbanized watershed lead to increased flood risk in urban areas. Conventional flood-risk management strategies such as detention ponds and low impact development (LID) can reduce peak flows. Research is needed to resolve questions about which strategy is best-suited for stormwater management under various schemes of sizing, distribution, and cost. Conventional and LID strategies differ in associated costs and benefits in addition to effectiveness and location feasibility. Previous research suggests that conventional strategies require less initial investment for design and construction, though LID is more cost effective in the long-term due …

A Shift From Drought To Extreme Rainfall Drives A Stable Landslide To Catastrophic Failure, Alexander L. Handwerger, Mong-Han Haung, Eric Jameson Fielding, Adam M. Booth, Roland Burgmann

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The addition of water on or below the earth’s surface generates changes in stress that can trigger both stable and unstable sliding of landslides and faults. While these sliding behaviours are well-described by commonly used mechanical models developed from laboratory testing (e.g., critical-state soil mechanics and rate-and-state friction), less is known about the field-scale environmental conditions or kinematic behaviours that occur during the transition from stable to unstable sliding. Here we use radar interferometry (InSAR) and a simple 1D hydrological model to characterize 8 years of stable sliding of the Mud Creek landslide, California, USA, prior to its rapid acceleration …

The Littlefield Rhyolite And Associated Mafic Lavas: Bimodal Volcanism Of The Columbia River Magmatic Province, With Constraints On Age And Storage Sites Of Grande Ronde Basalt Magmas, Brian Mcculloch Webb, Martin J. Streck, William C. Mcintosh, Mark L. Ferns

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present data that distinguishes the long-known Littlefield Rhyolite of eastern Oregon (northwestern United States) into two distinct, voluminous, Snake River–type, high-temperature rhyolite lava packages that erupted in short sequence overk.y., with minimum volumes of 100 and 150 km3 respectively, contemporaneous with flood basalt volcanism of the Grande Ronde Basalt phase of the Columbia River Basalt Group. Contemporaneity of rhyolites with flood basalts is exceptionally demonstrated within the Malheur Gorge by intercalated mafic units belonging to the Grande Ronde Basalt that are stratigraphically constrained by underlying and overlying Littlefield Rhyolite flows, and the underlying Dinner Creek Tuff (unit 1). Our …

A Simplified, Object-Based Framework For Efficient Landslide Inventorying Using Lidar Digital Elevation Model Derivatives, Michael D. Bunn, Ben A. Leshcinsky, Michael J. Olsen, Adam M. Booth

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Landslide inventory maps are critical to understand the factors governing landslide occurrence and estimate hazards or sediment delivery to channels. Numerous semi-automated approaches for landslide inventory mapping have been proposed to improve the efficiency and objectivity of the process, but these methods have not been widely adopted by practitioners because of the use of input parameters without physical meaning, a lack of transparency in machine-learning based mapping techniques, and limitations in resulting products, which are not ordinarily designed or tested on a large-scale or in diverse geologic units. To this end, this work presents a new semi-automated method, called the …

New Geologic Mapping Of The Northwestern Willamette Valley, Oregon, And Its American Viticultural Areas (Avas)— A Foundation For Understanding Their Terroir, Ray E. Wells, Ralph Haugerud, Alan Niem, Lina Ma, Ian Madin, Russell Evarts

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

A geologic map of the greater Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area is planned that will document the region’s complex geology (currently in review: “Geologic map of the greater Portland metropolitan area and surrounding region, Oregon and Washington,” by Wells, R.E., Haugerud, R.A., Niem, A., Niem, W., Ma, L., Evarts, R., Madin, I., and others). The map, which is planned to be published as a U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map, will consist of 51 7.5′ quadrangles covering more than 2,500 square miles, and it will represent more than 100 person-years of geologic mapping and studies. The region was mapped at the …

Grenvillian Tectonomagmatic Evolution Of Southwestern Laurentia; Virtual Tour Of Multidimensional Orders Of Scale; Two Methods To Describe The Vastness Of Time; Math Concepts Utilizing Google Earth; Systematic Approach To Motion Analyses; Mathematics And Earth Science-Based Knowledge And Learning, Anthony M. Alvarez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation is the product of several individual multi-disciplinary investigations that cover a variety of topics in mathematics, physics, geology, and geoscience education. The first chapter formulates a better understanding of the timings, magma source, and relationships between dikes and associated magmatic bodies of the Red Bluff Granitic Complex to provide a clearer picture of the evolution of post-Grenville magmatism and tectonism of southwestern USA. The second chapter provides an improved method for representing spatial information in the form of a multidimensional virtual tour where the background map is used as a central object. The third chapter describes two methods …

Biologically Available Phosphorus In Biocrust-Dominated Soils Of The Chihuahuan Desert, Grace Margaret Crain

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In desert soils, phosphorus (P) is an important limiting nutrient and its cycling characteristics are less understood compared to nitrogen and carbon. Phosphorus cycling is controlled by both geochemical and biological factors. Traditionally, P availability has been characterized via sequential extraction analyses such as Hedley fractionation, but newly developed extraction methods allow for the examination of more biologically relevant P fractions, providing insight on mechanisms of P acquisition by plants and microbes. We examined these P cycling features in the context of biological soil crusts (biocrusts), which have been found to be important drivers of nutrient cycling and have the …

Evaluating Fold And Thrust Systems Within An Inverted Basin: Indio Mounntains, West Texas, Myra Guerrero

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Fold and thrust belts often are complicated by out of sequence thrust faulting and inverted basins display these structures particularly often due to reactivation of original normal faults as well as complex topographic evolution. The Indio Mountains lie along the northern margin of the Chihuahua trough which formed as a mid-Cretaceous extensional basin and was subsequently shortened during the Laramide orogeny, making the Indio Mountains an exceptional site for studies of structures produced by large scale basin inversion. This study focuses on the subsurface structures in a complexly imbricated thrust window developed along the paleo rift basin margin.

This study …

Mapping Complex Fold-Thrust Systems In An Inverted Rift Basin: Indio Mountains, West Texas, Samantha Ramirez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study reports on new geologic mapping in the southern Indio Mountains of west Texas, where minimal research has been done since development of modern fold-thrust belt concepts. This study integrated an analysis of structure and the stratigraphy of the region. A stratigraphic column of the middle Cretaceous upper Yucca Formation was measured to 1) compare the lithology to that of the section previously measured in the hanging wall of the Squaw Peak thrust in the footwall of the Indio normal fault, 2) create informal members in the formation to aid mapping; and 3) identify previously unmapped structures in the …

Geophysical Studies Of Southwestern Part Of The North American Craton, Luis Martin Sandoval Magallanes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The present study, based on combined geophysical, geochronological and isotopic data identifies a cratonic block which we call the Western Chihuahua-Mesa Central megablock (WCMB) in northern Mexico. New Bouguer and isostatic gravity anomaly maps revealed a conspicuously distinct, spatially-extensive gravity minima over a region extending from north western Chihuahua to as far south as the Mesa Central (MC). This region can be differentiated from the surrounding mobile belts with significantly higher gravity anomaly values. Gravity modeling combined with sparse seismically determined crustal thickness estimates indicate that the proposed WCMB region has crustal thicknesses ranging from 38 to 42 km. The …

Travel To Extraterrestrial Bodies Over Time: Some Exploratory Analyses Of Mission Data, Venkat Kodali, Rohith Kumar Reddy Duggirala, Richard S. Segall, Hyacinthe Aboudja, Daniel Berleant

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

This paper discusses data pertaining to space missions to astronomical bodies beyond earth. The analyses provide summarizing facts and graphs obtained by mining data about (1) missions launched by all countries that go to the moon and planets, and (2) Earth satellites obtained from a Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) dataset and lists of publically available satellite data.

Optimum Magnetometer Transect Spacing To Locate Legacy Oil And Gas Wells: Preliminary Results, Jason A. Patton, Michael G. Davis, Kenyon J. Gowing, Hunter B. Vickers

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

The purpose of this project was to examine the optimum transect spacing to locate legacy oil and gas wells using an Overhauser magnetometer. Widely known to be a potential environmental hazard, legacy oil and gas wells may act as a conduit for methane and/or deeper subsurface fluids (naturally occurring brines, injected waste fluids, or injected CO₂) to the surface or shallow subsurface. Many plugged wells have all surface equipment removed leaving no visible trace at the surface and thus making the environmental assessment of these wells difficult. Using a magnetometer along a set of predefined transects, magnetic anomalies …

Tree Ring Dating Of The Ficklin-Imboden Log Structures, Powhatan Historic State Park, Arkansas, Kaylee R. Mcadoo, David W. Stahle

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Powhatan Historic State Park in Powhatan, Arkansas preserves and interprets five historical structures from 19^th century Arkansas, including the Ficklin-Imboden Log House. This structure, which is actually two separate log buildings with uncertain construction dates and functions, is believed to be the earliest surviving structure at Powhatan State Park and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Powhatan State Park contracted with the University of Arkansas Tree-Ring Laboratory to develop a more accurate dating and interpretation of the log structures.

Dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) was used to determine the true felling dates of logs in both buildings. Core specimens …

Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Soil Applied Nitrogen Fertilizers, Samuel Thies

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Greenhouse gases (GHG) absorb and emit radiant energy in the thermal range. Their concentrations in the atmosphere are increasing and becoming an ever increasing issue as the Earth’s average temperature continues to rise. Agricultural practices, such as applying nitrogen fertilizer to increase crop yield can be a major source of GHG emissions and methods are needed to decrease these emissions. The measurements of GHG emissions have been difficult, expensive, and erratic. However, advancing technologies have increased the accuracy and confidence in measuring GHG emissions. The objectives of this study were to determine the 1) effects of different nitrogen fertilizer sources, …