Earth Sciences Commons^™

Geomorphic Response To Catastrophic Flooding In A Karst Mountain Stream System, Brighton-Blue Hole Watershed, Southwest Jamaica, Sarah M. Letarte

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The geomorphic effects of flooding are poorly understood in the karst, mountain watersheds along the southwest coast of Jamaica. This study describes the flow path and geomorphic response of an extreme flood event in the Brighton-Blue Hole watershed (BBHW) (6.8 km²) near Belmont, Westmoreland, Jamaica. A tropical depression classified as a >100-year rainfall event produced 32 inches of rain in a 24 hour period in Westmoreland on June 12, 1979. For this study, geomorphic indicators of flood disturbance in BBHW were assessed in 2017-18, finding that channel system responded to the flood with channel incision, debris flows, and …

An In-Situ Study Of The Aqueous Speciation Of Uranium (Vi) Under Hydrothermal Conditions, Diwash Dhakal

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Rigorous study of the speciation distribution of uranyl-chloride bearing solutions under hydrothermal conditions is important to understand the transport mechanism of uranium underground, which is of uttermost interest to parties studying the geological uranium deposits and those studying the possibilities of geological repositories for spent nuclear waste. I report an in-situ Raman spectroscopic study of the speciation distribution of aqueous uranyl-chloride complexes upto 500°C conducted using a HDAC as the high PT spectroscopic cell. The samples studied contained the species UO₂²⁺, UO₂Cl⁺, UO₂Cl₂⁰ and UO₂Cl₃^{- …}

Numerical Modeling Of Wave Dynamics And Sediment Transport Near The Mississippi Birdfoot Delta And Barataria Estuary, Soroush Sorourian

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Barataria Basin is a large estuarine system in Southeastern Louisiana, connected to the Gulf of Mexico through a number of inlets, the most important of which is the Barataria Pass. This research examines, during April-June 2010 including both cold front passage and calm summer-time wind regimes, the wave dynamics in this basin and in its major inlets, morphological evolution near the Barataria Pass, and the budgeting and dispersal of the Mississippi River sediment in the birdfoot delta region. An unstructured grid, terrain following, high resolution coupled FVCOM-SWAVE-SED model is employed and validated in this study. The numerical model results …

Toward The Ultrasonic Sensing Of Organic Carbon In Seagrass-Bearing Sediments, Gabriel R. Venegas, Abdullah Rahman, Kevin M. Lee, Megan S. Ballard, Preston S. Wilson

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Ten percent of all organic carbon (Corg) absorbed by the ocean each year is stored in seagrass-bearing sediments. The preservation of these carbon stores is considered a vital method to mitigate climate change. Seagrass-bearing sediments have been correlated with sediment geophysical properties yet have not been related to sediment acoustic properties. For this purpose, sediment cores were collected from a Thalassia testudinum seagrass meadow in South Texas, USA, where geophysical, acoustical, and Corg properties were measured. It is hypothesized that when deposits of Corg adsorb onto mineral surfaces and are stored in pore spaces, compliant layers between grain contacts and …

Cave Temperature And Management Implications In Lehman Caves, Great Basin National Park, Usa, Stanka Šebela, Gretchen Baker, Barbara Luke

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Cave air temperature was measured at six locations in Lehman Caves (USA) for one year at hourly intervals. Lehman is a show cave in a national park, treasured for its geological and biological resources. The two monitoring locations that are off of the tour route and, also, relatively distant from the cave’s entrances displayed nearly constant air temperature during the year. The other four sites, along the tour route, show daily temperature variation as well as annual fluctuation. After visitation levels decreased in the autumn, cave temperatures lagged but eventually reached an equilibrium which demonstrates recovery in the quiet winter. …

Quantifying Lithochemical Diversity Of Martian Materials Using Hierarchical Clustering And A Similarity Index For Classification, Michael Conner Bouchard

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

We are currently living in the golden age of robotic exploration of Mars, with a continued robotic presence there since 1997. Next to Earth, Mars is the planet about which we have gathered the most geologic information. Unlike Earth, Mars does not appear to have plate tectonics, and the planet’s primary and secondary crust is dominated by basalts. Understanding the compositional diversity of the materials that make up the martian crust will give us a better insight into the geologic processes that formed the planet and its subsequent evolution. One large and growing source of martian surface compositions is the …

The Effect Of Depositional Environment And Early Marine Diagenesis On Carbonate-Associated Sulfate, Jocelyn Ann Richardson

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The long-term redox state of Earth’s surface environments is governed by the relative burial proportions of redox-sensitive carbon and sulfur species throughout geologic time. The sulfur isotopic signature of seawater sulfate (δ34SSO4) traces the relative proportions of sulfur buried as sulfide (commonly pyrite) and sulfate (as evaporites, barite or carbonate-associated sulfate) and weathering source to the ocean. Thus, δ34SSO4 is a powerful tool to understand the evolution of redox conditions and the marine biogeochemical sulfur cycle. Due to the spatial and temporal extent of carbonates in the rock record, carbonate-associated sulfate (δ34SCAS) is a common proxy for the isotopic composition …

Local Environmental Controls On Sulfur Isotope Ratios In Marine Sedimentary Iron Sulfide Minerals, Roger Nicholas Bryant

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The controls on the bulk sulfur isotopic composition of marine sedimentary iron sulfides (often referred to simply as pyrite; δ34Spyr) are poorly understood. Nevertheless, many have employed δ34Spyr in efforts to reconstruct the past operation of the biogeochemical sulfur cycle, from the planetary scale down to individual microbial metabolisms. This practice has been thrown into doubt by a growing body of evidence that suggests δ34Spyr is strongly controlled by local environmental conditions. This dissertation describes efforts to determine the mechanisms responsible for the link between local environmental conditions and δ34Spyr. In order to do this, we developed novel laboratory procedures …

Understanding The Meaning Of Microbialites As Geobiological Archives, Scott Randall Beeler

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Microbialites, sedimentary structures formed from the interaction of microorganisms with their environment, provide one of the oldest and most complete records of life on Earth, making them an invaluable tool in the field of geobiology. However, much of the information that could be gained from microbialites remains obscured due to our incomplete understanding of how variability in the microbial, geochemical, and physical processes driving their formation affect their morphological and geochemical characteristics. Modern environments of active microbialite formation provide the opportunity to study the relationship between variability in these environmental processes and the resultant mineral product and can act as …

Detecting Ocean Microplastics With Remote Sensing In The Near-Infrared: A Feasibility Study, Jandlyn Bentley

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Since plastic began entering the oceans in the 1950s, trends have shown that this pollution has been and will continue to increase in the future. The only method to estimate the abundance and distribution of ocean plastic pollution is by computer-generated models using data from in-situ plankton net tows, which are costly, time consuming, and cover a relatively small scale. This project investigates the potential of detecting ocean microplastics with satellite remote sensing based on theoretically elevated near-infrared (NIR) reflectance. Emphasis was placed on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Ocean, notorious for its extremely high concentration …

Graduate Student Mahyar Aboutalebi Receives Spie Award, Utah Water Research Laboratory

News

Graduate student Mahyar Aboutalebi recently received the Best Paper Award at the SPIE 'Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping IV' Conference in Baltimore, MD, April 2019. This is the second year in a row that Mahyar has received an award for an SPIE paper, since his entry last year was awarded runner up for Best Paper.

Floodwater Impact On Galveston Bay Phytoplankton Taxonomy, Pigment Composition And Photo-Physiological State Following Hurricane Harvey From Field And Ocean Color (Sentinel-3a Olci) Observations, Eurico D'Sa

Faculty Publications

Phytoplankton taxonomy, pigment composition and photo-physiological state were studied in Galveston Bay (GB), Texas (USA), following the extreme flooding associated with Hurricane Harvey (25-29 August 2017) using field and satellite ocean color observations. The percentage of chlorophyll a (Chl a) in different phytoplankton groups was determined from a semi-analytical IOP (inherent optical property) inversion algorithm. The IOP inversion algorithm revealed the dominance of freshwater species (diatom, cyanobacteria and green algae) in the bay following the hurricane passage (29 September 2017) under low salinity conditions associated with the discharge of floodwaters into GB. Two months after the hurricane (29-30 October 2017), …

Land – Atmosphere – Meteorological Coupling Associated With The 2015 Gorkha (M 7.8) And Dolakha (M 7.3) Nepal Earthquakes, Feng Jing, Ramesh P. Singh, Xuhui Shen

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Multiple parameters (brightness temperature, soil moisture, surface latent heat flux, surface air temperature and carbon monoxide) before and after the 2015 Nepal M7.8 Gorkha main earthquake and M7.3 Dolakha aftershock were analysed using satellite observation data. The thermal anomalies from optical and microwave data appear about two months prior to the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. Some of the parameters show anomalous changes at different altitudes about 20 days prior to the main earthquake event and 10 days prior to the strong aftershock. Our results show that pre-earthquake anomalous signals propagate from the in situ to the top of atmosphere, and the …

Pressure-Induced Phase Transition In 1,3,5-Triamino-2,4,6-Trinitrobenzene (Tatb), Brad A. Steele, Samantha M. Clarke, Matthew P. Kroonblawd, I-Feng W. Kuo, Philip F. Pagoria, Sergey N. Tkachev, Jesse S. Smith, Sorin Bastea, Laurence E. Fried, Joseph M. Zaug, Elissaios Stavrou, Oliver Tschauner

Geoscience Faculty Research

Determining the unreacted equation of state of 1,3, 5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) is challenging because it exhibits low crystal symmetry and low X-ray scattering strength. Here, we present the first high-pressure single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SXD) study of this material. Our SXD results reveal a previously unknown transition to a monoclinic phase above 4 GPa. No abrupt change of the volume occurs but the compressibility changes. Concomitant first principles evolutionary crystal structure prediction USPEX calculations confirm this transition and show that it involves a pressure-induced in-plane shift of the layers of TATB molecules with respect to the ambient-pressure phase.

Fluid Transport In Porous Media For Engineering Applications, Eric M. Benner

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

This doctoral dissertation presents three topics in modeling fluid transport through porous media used in engineering applications. The results provide insights into the design of fuel cell components, catalyst and drug delivery particles, and aluminum- based materials. Analytical and computational methods are utilized for the modeling of the systems of interest. Theoretical analysis of capillary-driven transport in porous media show that both geometric and evaporation effects significantly change the time dependent behavior of liquid imbibition and give a steady state flux into the medium. The evaporation–capillary number is significant in determining the time-dependent behavior of capillary flows in porous media. …

Root Hair Single Cell Type Specific Profiles Of Gene Expression And Alternative Polyadenylation Under Cadmium Stress, Jingyi Cao, Congting Ye, Guijie Hao, Carole Dabney-Smith, Arthur G. Hunt, Qingshun Q. Li

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Transcriptional networks are tightly controlled in plant development and stress responses. Alternative polyadenylation (APA) has been found to regulate gene expression under abiotic stress by increasing the heterogeneity at mRNA 3′-ends. Heavy metals like cadmium pollute water and soil due to mining and industry applications. Understanding how plants cope with heavy metal stress remains an interesting question. The Arabidopsis root hair was chosen as a single cell model to investigate the functional role of APA in cadmium stress response. Primary root growth inhibition and defective root hair morphotypes were observed. Poly(A) tag (PAT) libraries from single cell types, i.e., root …

Development Of Digital Bathymetry Maps For Lakes Azuei And Enriquillo Using Sonar And Remote Sensing Techniques, Michael Piasecki, Mahrokh Moknatian, Fred Moshary, Jorge Gonzalez

Publications and Research

This article presents an improved algorithm for optimization and development of a digital bathymetric model (DBM) for Lake Azuei (LA) (Haiti) and Lake Enriquillo (LE) (Dominican Republic) using the ANUDEM method. Both sonar data and contour lines of the lakes’ layout extracted using Landsat imagery were compiled for bathymetry development. We show that the performance of the ANUDEM method was strongly dependent on the density and irregularity of the spatial distribution of the data. Changing the resolution of the output grids and deriving auxiliary topographically corrected contours improved the ANUDEM performance and minimized the systematic errors of the method. Statistical …

Chloride Signature And Transport In An Urban-Agricultural Watershed, Andrew Oberhelman

Theses and Dissertations

Manual and high frequency observations (n = 535) of chloride (Cl-), bromide (Br-), nitrate (NO3-N), sodium (Na+), calcium (Ca2+), and potassium (K+) of stream and tile-drain waters were conducted in an urban-agricultural watershed (8% urban, 87% agriculture) to investigate the importance of stormflow to Cl- transport and to explore potential differences in the signature of Cl- originating from an urban source as compared to an agricultural source. The study was conducted in Evergreen Lake Watershed (ELW) located in central Illinois. Manual samplings were conducted on a weekly interval from February 2018 to February 2019 at three station along Six Mile …

A Cooperative Overlay Approach At The Physical Layer Of Cognitive Radio For Digital Agriculture, Abdul Salam, Umit Karabiyik

Computer Information Technology Faculty Publications

In digital agriculture, the cognitive radio technology is being envisaged as solution to spectral shortage problems by allowing agricultural cognitive users to co-exist with noncognitive users in the same spectrum on the field. Cognitive radios increase system capacity and spectral efficiency by sensing the spectrum and adapting the transmission parameters. This design requires a robust, adaptable and flexible physical layer to support cognitive radio functionality. In this paper, a novel physical layer architecture for cognitive radio based on cognition, cooperation, and cognitive interference avoidance has been developed by using power control for digital agriculture applications. The design is based on …

Cluster Chondrite Accretion Temperatures Determined With Electron Backscatter Diffraction, Secana Goudy, Alexander Ruzicka

Student Research Symposium

We studied ordinary chondrites with cluster chondrite lithologies using electron backscatter diffraction to measure the temperatures of their olivine grains during deformation. Samples analyzed with the technique are shock classified as S1 and are type 3, so the deformation analyzed is inferred to represent the temperatures of the chondrules during accretional deformation. It was found that the studied samples are of a mixture of chondrules at mostly hot temperatures (>850°C) and some at cold.

Glacial Meltwater Modeling To Simulate Streamflow And Lake Levels In Taylor Valley, Antarctica, Julian M. Cross, Andrew G. Fountain

Student Research Symposium

The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) are the largest ice-free region (4,500 km²) in Antarctica. The MDV are a polar desert with an average annual temperature of -18˚C and minimal precipitation, < 50 mm w.e. a^-1. In Taylor Valley (77°35’ S, 163°00’ E), a closed-basin, perennially ice-covered lakes occupy the valley floor. Ephemeral streams transfer glacier meltwater for ~10 weeks each summer. Glacial meltwater accounts for nearly the total inflow to these streams and lakes, groundwater is essentially non-existent. A microbially-dominated ecosystem in Taylor Valley depends on glacier runoff and thus is highly sensitive to changes to the hydroclimatic regime. A model …

Morphological And Mineralogical Evidence For Ancient Bat Presence In Cova Des Pas De Vallgornera (Llucmajor, Mallorca, Western Mediterranean), Antoni Merino, Joan J. Fornós, Antoni Mulet, Joaquín Ginés

International Journal of Speleology

Cova des Pas de Vallgornera is a unique karst cave located at the Llucmajor coastal platform that stands out not only because of its length, more than 78 km, but also for its particular morphological suite, richness and variety of speleothems and mineral infillings. Although the mineralogy of speleothems and minerals related to hypogene morphologies has been studied and described, the existence of minerals derived from guano deposits was still poorly investigated. The cave hosted bat colonies until the collapse of its natural entrances, circa 2.4 My ago, since then until its discovery in 1968, the cave remained sealed. These …

Lead Contamination Of Soils In An Abandoned Rifle Range, Augusta County, Virginia, Logan Mahoney

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Presence of high concentrations of Lead within the soil and water could lead to various health related impacts on humans and wildlife. Exposure to Lead short termly or long termly could lead to many detrimental impacts due to Lead poisoning. The overall concentration of Lead in a soil can be measured using an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICPMS) under laboratory conditions. The present study investigates the Lead concentration of contaminated abandoned riffle range located in Augusta County, Virginia. Soil samples were obtained using soil augurs from three locations randomly based on the severity of contamination. Location three, which was …

Grain Size And Vegetation As Controlling Variables Of Stream Channel Morphology, Grant Colip

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Streams are one of the major driving forces that shape the landscapes in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the eastern United States as a whole, and they serve an important role in transporting both water and sediment to the Atlantic Ocean. However, streams are often modified for human use, thus altering their natural equilibrium. These alterations have frequently led to the degradation of channel stability as well as damage to property and infrastructure. A better understanding of how both grain size (D₅₀) and vegetation impact stream sinuosity (S) is needed to analyze the prevalence of channel degradation …

Multi-Proxy Characterization Of Acex Subunit 1/5 (The “Zebra” Interval) To Better Understand Sediment Deposition At This Critical Age Boundary And Paleoceanographic Transition, Victoria Hojnacki

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Sediment cores recovered from the Lomonosov Ridge on IODP Expedition 302, the Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX), provided the first major insights into long-term Cenozoic history of climate and ocean conditions in the central Arctic. However, the ACEX record is hampered by a major hiatus or severely condensed interval (depending on age-model interpretations) at 198.7 mcd separating the middle Eocene and Miocene records. Lithologic subunit 1/5 lies above this depth horizon, and is informally called the “zebra interval” because of distinctive stripes - black and gray tilted and cross-banded silty-clay layers, up to 3 cm thick that characterize the lower ~2.5 …

Repairing Landsat Satellite Imagery Using Deep Machine Learning Techniques, Griffin J. Lane, Patricia Goresen, Robert Slater

SMU Data Science Review

Satellite Imagery is one of the most widely used sources to analyze geographic features and environments in the world. The data gathered from satellites are used to quantify many vital problems facing our society, such as the impact of natural disasters, shore erosion, rising water levels, and urban growth rates. In this paper, we construct machine learning and deep learning algorithms for repairing anomalies in the Landsat satellite imagery data which arise for various reasons ranging from cloud obstruction to satellite malfunctions. The accuracy of GIS data is crucial to ensuring the models produced from such data are as close …

Machine Learning Vs Conventional Analysis Techniques For The Earth’S Magnetic Field Study, Sheri Loftin, Sarah J. Fite, Laura V. Bishop, Stavros Kotsiaros

SMU Data Science Review

Abstract. Current techniques for calculating and generating models used for analyzing the Earth’s magnetic field are laborious and time-consuming. We assert that machine learning can have a significant impact on building magnetic field models more quickly and on various levels of complexity, specifically as it pertains to data cleansing and sorting. Our approach to this problem uses a reverse iterative multi-phase process for data cleansing, in which, initially, the CHAOS-6 model data is examined to determine if machine learning can be used to differentiate between useful data components for spherical harmonics, versus data noise. During this phase, six different machine …

On The Relationship Between North India Summer Monsoon Rainfall And East Equatorial Indian Ocean Warming, Ramesh Kumar Yadav, Mathew Koll Roxy

Plants, Soils and Climate Student Research

Generally, a strong north India summer-monsoon rainfall (NISR) is associated with anomalous upper troposphere ridge over northwest of India. This ridge triggers anomalous northerly winds over Tibetan Plateau and easterlies over India. The easterly anomaly over India reduces the tropospheric wind shear, while the northerly at Tibetan plateau allows frequent intrusions of high-latitude dry and cold meridional winds to interact with the lower-level relatively warm and moist easterly monsoonal flow, enhancing the NISR. The current study, using a suite of observations, reanalysis products and numerical model sensitivity experiments, explores the changes in NISR, and its association with the warming in …

Approximating Input Data To A Snowmelt Model Using Weather Research And Forecasting Model Outputs In Lieu Of Meteorological Measurements, Scott Havens, Danny Marks, Katelyn Fitzgerald, Matt Masarik, Alejandro N. Flores, Patrick Kormos, Andrew Hedrick

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Forecasting the timing and magnitude of snowmelt and runoff is critical to managing mountain water resources. Warming temperatures are increasing the rain–snow transition elevation and are limiting the forecasting skill of statistical models relating historical snow water equivalent to streamflow. While physically based methods are available, they require accurate estimations of the spatial and temporal distribution of meteorological variables in complex terrain. Across many mountainous areas, measurements of precipitation and other meteorological variables are limited to a few reference stations and are not adequate to resolve the complex interactions between topography and atmospheric flow. In this paper, we evaluate the …

Soil Capability Assessment For Expanding Irrigated Agriculture In The Irwin Focus Area And Surrounding Lands, Edward (Ted) Arnold Griffin, Angela Stuart-Street, Peter Tille

Resource management technical reports

The Midlands groundwater and land assessment is a $4.7 million Water for Food project using Royalties for Regions funding. It is seeking to confirm groundwater availability in focus areas that may form precincts of 2000–3000ha suitable for intensive irrigated horticulture. Irwin is one of these.

The Department of Water identified the Irwin focus area for investigation for irrigated agriculture potential. It covers almost 7000ha to the east of Dongara in the Mid West region of Western Australia.

This report provides the land assessment for the Irwin area. We expanded the investigation to include land outside of the focus area because …