Earth Sciences Commons^™

A Comparison Of High-End Methods For Topographic Modelling Of A Coastal Dune Complex, Chen Suo, Eugene Mcgovern, Alan Gilmer, Conor Cahalane

Articles

In recent years, increasing tourism and development in the coastal dune area of the South East of Ireland have resulted in greater pressure on the environment, resulting in issues including soil erosion, flooding and habitat loss. Topographic mapping across a dune field is important for the development of targeted land management actions that maintain biodiversity and ecological functions. Developments in surveying technology, including LiDAR, terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) and aerial surveying from Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), have enabled high-resolution and high-accuracy spatial data to be gathered quickly and relatively easily for 3D topographic modelling of a coastal dune complex. …

A Machine Learning And Data-Driven Prediction And Inversion Of Reservoir Brittleness From Geophysical Logs And Seismic Signals: A Case Study In Southwest Pennsylvania, Central Appalachian Basin, Tobi Micheal Ore

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In unconventional reservoir sweet-spot identification, brittleness is an important parameter that is used as an easiness measure of production from low permeability reservoirs. In shaly reservoirs, production is realized from hydraulic fracturing, which depends on how brittle the rock is–as it opens natural fractures and also creates new fractures. A measure of brittleness, brittleness index, is obtained through elastic properties of the rock. In practice, problems arise using this method to predict brittleness because of the limited availability of elastic logs.

To address this issue, machine learning techniques are adopted to predict brittleness at well locations from readily available geophysical …

Physical And Chemical Properties Of Clastic Sediments From Two Caves In The Northern Karst Region Of Puerto Rico, Autum R. Downey

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Geochemical properties and organic characteristics are essential to understanding the general depositional dynamics of a cave. Most work on clastic cave sediments focuses on physical properties of sediments. Little work has been done on bulk organic matter and geochemical properties.

This project reports physical and geochemical characterization of cave sediments from two caves in the northern karst region of Puerto Rico: El Tallonal Cave and Cueva Clara. Core and grab samples were collected and analyzed for particle size, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, organic matter characteristics using fluorescence spectroscopy, and major and minor elements using X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The sediments …

Investigating Effects Of Carbonate Minerals On Shale- Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Interactions In The Marcellus Shale, Brennan Matthew Ferguson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Natural gas extracted from tight shale formations, such as the Marcellus Shale, represent an important and developing front in energy exploration. By fracturing these formations using pressurized fracturing fluid, previously unobtainable hydrocarbon reserves may be tapped. While pursuing this resource hydraulic fracturing operations leave chemically complex fluids in the shale formation for at least two weeks. This provides a substantial opportunity for the hydraulic fracturing fluid (HFF) to react with the shale formation at reservoir temperature and pressure. In this study, we investigated the effects of the carbonates on shale-HFF reactions with a focus on the Marcellus Shale. We determined …

Relating Recharge Mechanisms To Chemical Changes In An Updip Appalachian Coal Mine Discharge: A Case Study From Lambert Run, West Virginia, Matthew Lewis Bell

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Impaired drainage from active and abandoned mines degrades the water quality of receiving streams and aquifers. Coal mine drainage (CMD) has been studied for decades in Appalachia, but unknowns and uncertainties are still present, including the influence of mine hydrogeology on the outflow chemistry of above-drainage mines. To evaluate the influence of recharge type on above-drainage mine chemistry, samples were collected every two weeks at a CMD outflow treatment system in Harrison County, West Virginia.

Samples were collected to measure geochemical changes taking place in the mine workings and along the flowpath of the passive treatment system. Samples were divided …

Evolution Of Extreme Continental Saline Environments: A Sedimentological Investigation Of Permo-Triassic Redbeds And Evaporites In Northern Ireland And Kansas, Anna Sofia S. Andeskie

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The Permo-Triassic was a time of extreme environments, unusually warm and arid climates, and biotic crises. This study investigates Pangean environments and climate leading to extreme acid saline lake systems represented by the Permian Nippewalla Group of Kansas and the Triassic Mercia Mudstone Group of Northern Ireland. Sedimentological observations of the underlying rocks, the Permian Hutchinson Salt Member of Kansas and the Permian Belfast Harbour Evaporite Formation of Northern Ireland, help to understand trends in environmental and climatic conditions leading to these extreme environments. This dissertation also refines the geographic extent of extreme acid saline lake and groundwater systems through …

Paleoecological Successions From Shallow-Marine Depositional Environments In Upper Silurian Carbonate Rocks Of Blair County, Pennsylvania, Shadya El-Ashkar

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Studies of paleoenvironment and paleoecology are important for investigating relationships between the different environmental and biological variables that influenced biodiversification patterns during the Silurian Period. The mixed carbonate and siliciclastic rocks of the Bloomsburg and Mifflintown Formations in central Pennsylvania represent transitions between carbonate ramp and deltaic settings. The goal of this study was to assess changes in depositional environment and paleoecology of an undescribed Bloomsburg/Mifflintown locality in Bellwood, Pennsylvania. In central Pennsylvania, the interfingered relationship of mixed carbonate and siliciclastic mudstones of the Mifflintown Formation with red fine-grained sandstones and shales of the Bloomsburg Formation presented challenges for deciphering …

Knickzones In Southwest Pennsylvania Streams Indicate Accelerated Pleistocene Landscape Evolution, Mark D. Swift

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A set of 22 southwestern Pennsylvania streams flowing into the Monongahela and Ohio rivers with drainage areas ranging from 8 km² to >512 km² exhibit knickzones, when compared to Mackin’s (1948) idealized graded stream profile. Watersheds delineated from LiDAR-derived 1 m DEMs were processed using Esri’s ArcGIS for Desktop 10.6 to extract stream elevation data used to create stream profiles. These data were exported to MS Excel, where gradients were calculated and compared. This study used a new methodology in which gradient was calculated using incremental measurement distances (d) at every meter along the length of …

Leaf Angle And Leaf Stomata Responses To Experimental Drought In Quercus Velutina And Acer Saccharum, Brittany Nichole Casey

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The possibility of increased severity and frequency of drought conditions, as a result of global climate variability, greatly complicates our ability to forecast future forest functions such as productivity and carbon sequestration. Assessing how tree species vary in their response to drought can aid in predicting the impact on forest ecosystems as a whole. Throughfall exclusion (TfE) experiments are potentially useful tools to simulate realistic drought conditions within intact forest ecosystems. We employed a TfE experiment during the 2018 growing season within the WV Land Trust’s Elizabeth’s Woods Nature Preserve, near Morgantown, WV, to assess the leaf angle and leaf …

Process Based Analysis Of Fluvial Stratigraphic Record: Middle Pennsylvanian Allegheny Formation, North-Central Wv, Oluwasegun O. Abatan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Fluvial deposits represent some of the best hydrocarbon reservoirs, but the quality of fluvial reservoirs varies depending on the reservoir architecture, which is controlled by allogenic and autogenic processes. Allogenic controls, including paleoclimate, tectonics, and glacio-eustasy, have long been debated as dominant controls in the deposition of fluvial strata. However, recent research has questioned the validity of this cyclicity and may indicate major influence from autogenic controls. To further investigate allogenic controls on stratal order, I analyzed the facies architecture, geomorphology, paleohydrology, and the stratigraphic framework of the Middle Pennsylvanian Allegheny Formation (MPAF), a fluvial depositional system in the Appalachian …

Household Water Security: An Analysis Of Water Affect In The Context Of Hydraulic Fracturing In West Virginia, Appalachia, Bethani Turley, Martina Angela Caretta

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Hydraulic fracturing has been booming in the last decade in the United States. While natural gas extraction and production has improved the national energy security, it has raised questions around the water security of those communities where extraction is taking place. Both scientists and residents are concerned about hydraulic fracturing’s impacts on surface- and groundwater, especially regarding how hydraulic fracturing impacts residents’ access to safe household well water. In the past decade, the Marcellus Shale has been developed in Northwestern West Virginia, yet the human geography dimensions of oil and gas extraction in West Virginia remain to be investigated. This …

Larger-Scale Ocean-Atmospheric Patterns Drive Synergistic Variability And World-Wide Volatility Of Wheat Yields, Ehsan Najafi, Indrani Pal, Reza Khanbilvardi

Advanced Science Research Center

Diagnosing potential predictability of global crop yields in the near term is of utmost importance for ensuring food supply and preventing socio-economic consequences. Previous studies suggest that a substantial proportion of global wheat yield variability depends on local climate and larger-scale ocean-atmospheric patterns. The science is however at its infancy to address whether synergistic variability and volatility (major departure from the normal) of multi-national crop yields can be potentially predicted by larger-scale climate drivers. Here, using observed data on wheat yields for 85 producing countries and climate variability from 1961–2013, we diagnose that wheat yields vary synergistically across key producing …

Deuterium Excess And 17o-Excess Variability In Meteoric Water Across The Pacific Northwest, Usa, John Bershaw, Dougal Hansen, Andrew Schauer

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

High-precision triple oxygen isotope analysis of water has given rise to a novel second-order parameter, ¹⁷O-excess (often denoted as δ¹⁷O), which describes the deviation from a reference relationship between δ¹⁸O and δ¹⁷O. This tracer, like deuterium excess (d-excess), is affected by kinetic fractionation (diffusion) during phase changes within the hydrologic cycle. However, unlike d-excess, ¹⁷O-excess is present in paleowater proxy minerals and is not thought to vary significantly with temperature. This makes it a promising tool in paleoclimate research, particularly in relatively arid continental regions where traditional approaches have produced equivocal results. …

The Role Of Warm, Dry Summers And Variation In Snowpack On Phytoplankton Dynamics In Mountain Lakes, Isabella A. Olesky, Whitney S. Beck, Roderick W. Lammers, Cara E. Steger, Codie Wilson, Kyle R. Christianson, Kim Vincent, Gunnar Forrest Johnson, Pieter T.J. Johnson, Jill S. Baron

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate change is altering biogeochemical, metabolic, and ecological functions in lakes across the globe. Historically, mountain lakes in temperate regions have been unproductive because of brief ice-free seasons, a snowmelt-driven hydrograph, cold temperatures, and steep topography with low vegetation and soil cover. We tested the relative importance of winter and summer weather, watershed characteristics, and water chemistry as drivers of phytoplankton dynamics. Using boosted regression tree models for 28 mountain lakes in Colorado, we examined regional, intraseasonal, and interannual drivers of variability in chlorophyll a as a proxy for lake phytoplankton. Phytoplankton biomass was inversely related to the maximum snow …

Internet Of Things For Sustainable Forestry, Abdul Salam

Computer Information Technology Faculty Publications

Forests and grasslands play an important role in water and air purification, prevention of the soil erosion, and in provision of habitat to wildlife. Internet of Things has a tremendous potential to play a vital role in the forest ecosystem management and stability. The conservation of species and habitats, timber production, prevention of forest soil degradation, forest fire prediction, mitigation, and control can be attained through forest management using Internet of Things. The use and adoption of IoT in forest ecosystem management is challenging due to many factors. Vast geographical areas and limited resources in terms of budget and equipment …

Paleohydrology And Machine-Assisted Estimation Of Paleogeomorphology Of Fluvial Channels Of The Lower Middle Pennsylvanian Allegheny Formation, Birch River, Wv, Oluwasegun O. Abatan, Amy Weislogel

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Rivers transport sediments in a source to sink system while responding to allogenic controls of the depositional system. Stacked fluvial sandstones of the Middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian Stage, ∼310–306 Ma) Allegheny Formation (MPAF) exposed at Birch River, West Virginia exhibit change in sedimentary structure and depositional style, reflecting changes in allogenic behavior. Paleohydrologic and numerical analysis were used to quantify geomorphological and paleohydrologic variations reflected by MPAF fluvial deposits with the goal of understanding the controls on resulting fluvial sandstone architecture in these different systems. Channel body geometry, sedimentary structures, and sandstone grain size distribution were used to reconstruct the paleoslope …

The Transition From Planar To En Echelon Morphology In A Single Vein In Shale: Insights From X-Ray Computed Tomography Scanning, Graham Dm Andrews, Sarah R. Brown, Johnathan Moore, Dustin Crandall, Paige Mackey

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

En echelon fractures and veins are among the most common and distinctive geological structures, yet their three-dimensional forms and relationships to surrounding structures are commonly unclear. X-ray computed tomography (CT) offers an unrivaled ability to examine structures within rocks in three dimensions, and it is applied here to a sample of drill core from the Marcellus Shale of southwestern Pennsylvania (USA). CT images yield qualitative and quantitative data on the transition from a pyrite-rich planar vein to an en echelon veinlet array, and on the heterogeneity of veinlets within the array. Using a combination of three- and two-dimensional images, geometric …

Agricultural And Environmental Weeds Of South Texas And Their Management, Pushpa Soti, John A. Goolsby, Alexis Racelis

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

The Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) in south Texas is one of the most productive agricultural regions in southern United States. With subtropical climate and highly fertile soils, this region provides a year-round growing condition for crops. Along with citrus, major crops grown in the region are sorghum cotton and corn in the summer and vegetables in winter. Thus, a fallow period of 3-6 months between successive crops is common in the region. Growers in this region report weeds as their number one economic and agronomic problem affecting crop yield and quality and increasing the cost of production and weeds …

A Basilosaurid Archaeocete (Cetacea, Pelagiceti) From The Late Eocene Of Oregon, Usa, Mark D. Uhen, David Taylor

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Basilosaurid archaeocetes are known from the Late Eocene of virtually all coastlines bearing coeval marine rocks except the North Pacific Basin, until now. Here we report on three consecutive posterior thoracic vertebrae of a large, basilosaurid archaeocete from a Late Eocene horizon in the Keasey Formation in Oregon.

Methods: These vertebrae were morphologically and morphometrically compared to other vertebrae of similar age from around the world.

Results: The specimens were determined to be different from all currently named species of fossil cetacean, but most similar to those found in the Gulf Coast region of North America. …

Predicted Responses Of Beaches, Bays, And Inner-Shelf Sand Supplies To Potential Sea Level Rise (0.5-1.0 M) In Three Small Littoral Subcells In The High-Wave-Energy Northern Oregon Coast, Usa, Curt D. Peterson, Debra Lee Doyle, Charles L. Rosenfeld, Kara E. P. Kingen

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Three small subcells (Nehalem, Tillamook, and Netarts) totaling ~55 km shoreline length in the high-wave energy northern Oregon coast are evaluated for potential beach sand loss from sea level rise (SLR) of 0.5–1.0 m during the next century. The predicted erosion is based on beach sand displacement from the narrow beaches (average ~120 m width) to increased submarine accommodation spaces in the innermost-shelf (to 30 m water depth) and in the subcell estuaries (Tillamook Bay, Netarts Bay, and Nehalem Bay), following predicted near-future SLR. Beach sand sources from local rivers, paleo-shelf deposits, and/or sea cliff retreat are discriminated by distinctive …

Northward Migration Of The Oregon Forearc On The Gales Creek Fault, Ray E. Wells, Richard J. Blakely, Sean Bemis

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Gales Creek fault (GCF) is a 60-km-long, northwest-striking dextral fault system (west of Portland, Oregon) that accommodates northward motion and uplift of the Oregon Coast Range. New geologic mapping and geophysical models confirm inferred offsets from earlier geophysical surveys and document ∼12 km of right-lateral offset of a basement high in Eocene Siletz River Volcanics since ca. 35 Ma and ∼8.8 km of right-lateral separation of Miocene Columbia River Basalt at Newberg, Oregon, since 15 Ma (∼0.62 ± 0.12 mm/yr, average long-term rate). Relative uplift of Eocene Coast Range basalt basement west of the fault zone is at least …

Onset And Cause Of Increased Seismic Activity Near Pecos, West Texas, United States, From Observations At The Lajitas Txar Seismic Array, Clive Frohlich, Chris Hayward, Julia Rosenblit, Chastity Aiken, Peter Henning, Alexandros Savvaidis, Casee Lemons, Elizabeth Horne, Multiple Additional Authors

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent years, numerous small earthquakes have occurred near the town of Pecos in West Texas; however, when this activity began and whether it was caused by increased petroleum industry activity has been uncertain because prior to 2017 there were few permanent seismograph stations in the region. We identify and locate earthquakes using data recorded since 2000 at TXAR, a sensitive 10‐station seismic array situated about 240 km south of Pecos. We thus show that in 2007, one earthquake occurred near Pecos, in 2009 several more occurred, and subsequently, activity has increased considerably, with more than 2000 events identified in …

The Seasonal Evolution Of Albedo Across Glaciers And The Surrounding Landscape Of Taylor Valley, Antarctica, Anna Bergstrom, Michael N. Gooseff, Peter T. Doran, Julian M. Cross

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) of Antarctica are a polar desert ecosystem consisting of alpine glaciers, ice-covered lakes, streams, and expanses of vegetation-free rocky soil. Because average summer temperatures are close to 0 Cel., the MDV ecosystem in general, and glacier melt dynamics in particular, are both closely linked to the energy balance. A slight increase in incoming radiation or change in albedo can have large effects on the timing and volume of meltwater. However, the seasonal evolution or spatial variability of albedo in the valleys has yet to fully characterized. In this study, we aim to understand the drivers …

Transforming Agriculture In The Pilbara: Processing Airborne Electromagnetic (Aem) Data, Aaron C. Davis, Mike Donn, John A. Simons, Christopher Schelfhout Dr, Olga Barron

Natural resources commissioned reports

This report focusses on pre-processing, inversion, and post-processing of airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data from a SkyTEM 312M helicopter-borne time-domain AEM survey conducted north of Newman, Western Australia in October and November 2019. Flight lines for the survey were chosen to trend east-west at 400 m line-spacing in order to produce gridded products at 100 m by 100 m resolution. The line directions were chosen in order to best intersect the Fortescue River Fault which separates the Wittenoom Formation from the Pinjian Chert Formation and Manganese Group, and to map the distribution of transported materials in the alluvial fan north of …