Earth Sciences Commons^™

Geology Of The Porter Gap 7.5–Minute Quadrangle, Alabama, And Stretched Pebble Analysis Within The Western Blue Ridge Of The Southern Appalachians, Tessa Mills

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The Porter Gap 7.5–minute quadrangle in eastern Alabama contains portions of the undifferentiated sedimentary Knox Group of the Valley and Ridge province, the metamorphic Talladega Group of the western Blue Ridge, and the metamorphic Ashland Supergroup of the eastern Blue Ridge. Three major faults separate the rock units, including the Talladega-Cartersville fault, the Hillabee thrust fault, and the Hollins Line fault. Deformation and metamorphism of rocks within the Talladega Group occurred during the middle to late Mississippian (~334–320 Ma) recorded by stretched pebbles within the Cheaha Quartzite member of the Lay Dam Formation. Stretched pebbles within the Cheaha Quartzite have …

Ecosystem Damage Leading To A Possible Human Extinction, Meagan Wilburn, Matthew Balentine

Scholar's Day

While there are many factors that could lead to possible human extinction, the interaction between humans and the planet is something that needs to be monitored and changed, in order to prevent any more harm to the environment. By shaping the ecosystem and environment in a way that only benefits humans, there has been a tremendous loss of biodiversity. This will affect humans’ way of life. As everything is connected, it is important to understand the risks of how humans are treating the planet, so conservation efforts can be implemented based on the current state of the environment.

การพัฒนาหลักสูตรฝึกอบรมระยะสั้นเพื่อพัฒนาสมรรถนะบุคลากรวัยทำงานรองรับการจัดการความเสี่ยงและภัยพิบัติ, ปภาดา บุบผาสวรรค์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อค้นหาความต้องการด้านความรู้ ทักษะ และคุณลักษณะที่จำเป็นสำหรับบุคลากรวัยทำงานในการจัดการความเสี่ยงและภัยพิบัติ และเพื่อพัฒนาหลักสูตรฝึกอบรมระยะสั้นสำหรับพัฒนาสมรรถนะบุคลากรวัยทำงานรองรับการจัดการความเสี่ยงและภัยพิบัติ การวิจัยครั้งนี้เป็นการวิจัยเชิงคุณภาพ โดยกลุ่มตัวอย่างที่ใช้ในงานวิจัยนี้ คือ ผู้บริหารบริษัทเอกชนขนาดกลางและขนาดใหญ่ ในเขตกรุงเทพมหานคร ที่มีประสบการณ์ทำงานในด้านการบริหารเป็นเวลาอย่างน้อย 5 ปี และมีส่วนรับผิดชอบการจัดการความเสี่ยงในองค์กร จากบริษัทเอกชนขนาดกลางและขนาดใหญ่ รวมทั้งสิ้น 6 ราย ใช้วิธีการสัมภาษณ์เชิงลึก (In-depth interview) เป็นเครื่องมือในการรวบรวมข้อมูล ผลการวิจัยพบว่า ความรู้ที่จำเป็นสำหรับบุคลากรวัยทำงานในการจัดการความเสี่ยงและภัยพิบัติ คือ การจัดการความเสี่ยงและภัยพิบัติ การบริหารความต่อเนื่องทางธุรกิจ และกฎหมายเกี่ยวกับการจัดการความเสี่ยงและภัยพิบัติ ทักษะที่จำเป็นสำหรับบุคลากรวัยทำงานในการจัดการความเสี่ยงและภัยพิบัติ คือ ทักษะการสื่อสาร ทักษะการคิดวิเคราะห์ และทักษะการคิดอย่างเป็นระบบ คุณลักษณะที่จำเป็นสำหรับบุคลากรวัยทำงานในการจัดการความเสี่ยงและภัยพิบัติ คือ ความกระตือรือร้น วิสัยทัศน์ มองการณ์ไกล ความรอบคอบ การมีเหตุมีผล ความรู้สึกถึงความเร่งด่วน ความฉลาดทางอารมณ์ ความเสียสละ ความรับผิดชอบ การมีมนุษยสัมพันธ์ ความรู้สึกเป็นเจ้าของ และความช่างสังเกต ซึ่งใช้ข้อมูลความรู้ ทักษะ และคุณลักษณะในการพัฒนาหลักสูตรฝึกอบรมสำหรับบุคลากรวัยทำงานรองรับการจัดการความเสี่ยงและภัยพิบัติ โดยจะเป็นแนวทางสำหรับสถาบันการศึกษาในการพัฒนาบุคลากรวัยทำงานต่อไป

Coastal Hazard Vulnerability Assessment Along The Coast Of Pranburi – Sam Roi Yot, Yrachuap Khiri Khan Province, Somruedee Kawlomlerd

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Pranburi - Sam Roi Yot coastal area consists of various coastal landforms such as rocky coasts, beaches, mangroves, and estuaries. These include several important places such as natural resources, tourist attractions, and significant economic areas of the province. In addition, there are a broad range of land use in this region, including agriculture, conservation, residence, hotels, and resorts. However, this coastal area is vulnerable to natural disasters, which can damage the local ecosystem and population. The objective of this study is to assess the physical damage from coastal hazards by using the Coastal Hazard Wheel (CHW) approach and also to …

Contributions Of Agroforestry Systems To Food Provisioning Of Peasant Households: Conflicts And Synergies In Chiapas, Mexico, Lorena Soto-Pinto, Sandra Escobar Colmenares, Marina Benítez Kanter, Angelita López Cruz, Erin Estrada Lugo, Balente Herrera Hernández, Estelí Jiménez-Soto

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Traditional agroforestry systems are widely recognized for their contributions to provisioning, support, regulation, and cultural services. However, because of the advancement of industrial agriculture and a corporative food system, peasants' food systems are rapidly undergoing transformation. We identify the contributions of four types of agroforestry systems (AFS)—shade cocoa agroforest, shade coffee agroforest, milpas and homegardens—to food provisioning in peasant families and discuss conflicts between traditional food systems and the contemporary industrial model of production and consumption confronted by peasants and semi-proletarian migrants. We carried out research in 17 peasant communities in Chiapas, Mexico, and conducted 97 semi-structured interviews and agroecological …

Glacial Deposits, Vol. 47, 2022, Department Of Geography, Geology, And The Environment

Glacial Deposits

Newsletter of the Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment

Data From: Inventory Of Glaciers And Perennial Snowfields Of The Conterminous Usa, Andrew G. Fountain, Bryce Glenn, Christopher Mcneil

Geology Faculty Datasets

This is an updated inventory of glaciers and perennial snowfields of the contiguous United States. All perennial snow and ice features greater than 0.01 km² are included. Outlines are mostly derived from aerial imagery provided by the National Agricultural Imagery Program, US Department of Agriculture with some satellite imagery in places where aerial imagery was not suitable. Imagery dates range from 2013 to 2020. Most (70%) of the outlines were acquired from 2015 imagery.

Phosphorus Use And Management Based On Fertilizer Placement, Rate Of Application, And Soil Biota In No-Till Situations, Brennan Alexander Bingham Lewis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Phosphorus (P) pollution has become a concern among multiple scientific organizations as it leads to eutrophication, an algal bloom that depletes lacustrine and marine ecosystems of native species. Multiple strategies can be implemented to reduce phosphorus loss from agriculture fields, which is often implicated as a cause of eutrophication. Soil phosphorus chemistry results in phosphate fertilizers absorbing to clay minerals over time. Soil phosphorus is lost from agricultural fields primarily through wind and water erosion. No-till practices prevent soil erosion, which reduces the phosphorus from loading into waterways. Fertilizer placement affects phosphorus loss. Surface application of phosphorus fertilizers increases the …

The Potential Of Diabase Sills In Eastern Pennsylvania To Store Co2 And H2, Rhiannon R. Schmitt

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

With anthropogenic CO₂ concentrations rising, geologic carbon sequestration and H₂ storage are essential processes in mitigating climate change. Typical geologic carbon sequestration involves the capture of anthropogenic CO₂ and injection into depleted oil/gas reservoirs or saline formations with an impermeable cap rock to prevent the buoyant migration of CO₂. The risk of eventual CO₂ migration through these low permeability cap rocks adds expensive monitoring costs to this traditional sequestration strategy. Another method for CO₂ sequestration utilizes the reaction of CO₂ with mafic and ultramafic rocks. CarbFix, a sequestration project in Iceland, has …

Quantifying Water Security In West Virginia And The Potomac River Basin, Eric Carl Edvard Sinius Sjostedt

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

All healthy ecosystems, communities, and economies are founded on access to clean, adequate water sources to support ecosystem services, provide clean drinking water, and allow the production of water-intensive goods and services. The state of available water resources must be analyzed through the lens of water security, defined as the capability to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for people, the economy, and ecosystems. Mountain regions are sources of freshwater resources for downstream regions, which produce disproportionately higher runoff than downstream regions. As a result, mountain regions are often referred to as natural water towers …

Application Of Artificial Intelligence For Co2 Storage In Saline Aquifer (Smart Proxy For Snap-Shot In Time), Marwan Mohammed Alnuaimi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology have grown in popularity. Smart Proxy Models (SPM) are AI/ML based data-driven models which have proven to be quite crucial in petroleum engineering domain with abundant data, or operations in which large surface/ subsurface volume of data is generated. Climate change mitigation is one application of such technology to simulate and monitor CO2 injection into underground formations.

The goal of the SPM developed in this study is to replicate the results (in terms of pressure and saturation outputs) of the numerical reservoir simulation model (CMG) for CO2 injection into …

Frayed Connections: How Long-Term Nitrogen Additions Disrupt Plant-Soil Interactions And The Carbon Cycle Of A Temperate Forest, Brooke A. Eastman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Forests are expected to mitigate some of the negative effects of climate change by sequestering anthropogenic carbon (C) from the atmosphere, but the degree to which they drawn down C will depend on the availability of key nutrients, such as nitrogen (N). There is a fair amount of uncertainty in the future of the forest C sink, mostly owing to the fate of soil organic matter (SOM) and soil heterotrophic respiration to future conditions. In N limited systems, plants allocate a significant amount of their photosynthate belowground for the acquisition of nutrients, but under conditions of chronic N deposition, plants …

Using Landsat-Based Phenology Metrics, Terrain Variables, And Machine Learning For Mapping And Probabilistic Prediction Of Forest Community Types In West Virginia, Faith M. Hartley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study investigates the mapping of forest community types for the entire state of West Virginia, USA using Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) Phenology Metrics analysis ready data (ARD) derived from the Landsat time series and digital terrain variables derived from a digital terrain model (DTM). Both classifications and probabilistic predictions were made using random forest (RF) machine learning (ML) and training data derived from ground plots provided by the West Virginia Natural Heritage Program (WVNHP). The primary goal of this study is to explore the use of globally consistent ARD data for operational forest type mapping over a …

Understanding Surface Water--Groundwater Connectivity And Discharge In Arctic Deltas, Lindsey N. Aman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Increased warming is driving unprecedented hydrologic changes within arctic deltas with implications for water storage, solute processing, and terrestrial and marine ecology. Thermokarst lakes within Arctic deltas store flood waters and filter solutes and sediments, thus moderating the impact of flood water discharge to arctic seas. However, this moderating influence is diminishing as lakes shrink on annual and seasonal time scales, especially close to active channels where lakes are shrinking most rapidly. This study investigates surface water-groundwater connectivity in arctic delta plains with coupled flow and heat transport models to provide a mechanistic understanding of how lake-channel proximity will impact …

Chemical Characterization Of Clastic Cave Sediments And Insights Into Particle Transport And Storage In Karst Aquifers, Jill L. Riddell

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Abstract

Chemical characterization of clastic cave sediments and insights into particle transport and storage in karst aquifers

Jill L. Riddell

Cave sediments can be divided into two groups: precipitates and clastics. Precipitates are speleothems, or lithologic or mineral features that are chemically precipitated in the cave environment. Clastic cave sediments are frequently described by depositional facies, sorting, and particle size (Bosch and White, 2004). Robust analytical chemical analyses of these sediments to quantify their physical and chemical components is rarely performed although some chemical characterization of mineralogy and paleomagnetism has become prevalent in recent years (Chess et al., 2010; Sasowsky …

Colonial Markets, Consumers, And Trade: A Comparative Analysis Of Historic Ceramics From The Bluefields Bay Area, Westmoreland, Jamaica, Lacy Risner

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

The ceramic assemblages from a British colonial settlement in Bluefields Bay, Jamaica, provide a unique window into the market availability, exchange routes, and consumption patterns of the eighteenth century. This study compares the historic ceramics collected from two sites in Bluefields Bay to one another and to other intra-island (Jamaica), intraregional (Lesser Antilles), and international (North America) colonial and postcolonial sites to reveal patterns of individual and global ceramic consumption and distribution in the emergent capitalist networks and markets of the colonial era. Integrating small British colonial sites into the networks of other more extensive studies focusing primarily on plantations …

The Burning Bush: Linking Lidar-Derived Shrub Architecture To Flammability, Michelle S. Bester

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) sensors are powerful tools for characterizing vegetation structure and for constructing three-dimensional (3D) models of trees, also known as quantitative structural models (QSM). 3D models and structural traits derived from them provide valuable information for biodiversity conservation, forest management, and fire behavior modeling. However, vegetation studies and 3D modeling methodologies often only focus on the forest canopy, with little attention given to understory vegetation. In particular, 3D structural information of shrubs is limited or not included in fire behavior models. Yet, understory vegetation is an important component of forested ecosystems, …

Characterization Of Site-Specific Vegetation Activity In Alaskan Wet And Dry Tundra As Related To Climate And Soil State, Michael Gregory Brown, Kyle C. Mcdonald, Reiner Zimmermann, Nicholas Steiner, Stephanie Devries, Laura Bourgeau-Chavez

Advanced Science Research Center

We present discrete (2-h resolution) multi-year (2008–2017) in situ measurements of seasonal vegetation growth and soil biophysical properties from two sites on Alaska's North Slope, USA, representing dry and wet sedge tundra. We examine measurements of vertical active soil layer temperature and soil moisture profiles (freeze/thaw status), woody shrub vegetation physiological activity, and meteorological site data to assess interrelationships within (and between) these two study sites. Vegetation phenophases (cold de-hardening start, physiological function start, stem growth start, stem growth end, physiological function end, cold hardening completion) were found to have greater interannual day of year (DOY) occurrence variability at the …

Has Winter Weather In Southwest Ohio Been Affected By The El Niño Southern Oscillation, The North Atlantic Oscillation, The Pacific Decadal Oscillation, And The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation?, John A. Blue

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Winter temperature and precipitation in Southwest Ohio over the last century were examined for anomalies attributable to teleconnections with large-scale atmospheric perturbations caused by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). The record of temperature gives evidence of a teleconnection with the NAO, ENSO, and PDO, with the strongest link being for phases of the NAO. Most winters during positive NAO phases had mean monthly temperature warmer than the century long mean, and the majority of negative NAO phase winters had colder temperatures. The difference …

Integrating Deep Learning And Hydrodynamic Modeling To Improve The Great Lakes Forecast, Pengfei Xue, Aditya Wagh, Gangfeng Ma, Yilin Wang, Yongchao Yang, Tao Liu, Chenfu Huang

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The Laurentian Great Lakes, one of the world’s largest surface freshwater systems, pose a modeling challenge in seasonal forecast and climate projection. While physics-based hydrodynamic modeling is a fundamental approach, improving the forecast accuracy remains critical. In recent years, machine learning (ML) has quickly emerged in geoscience applications, but its application to the Great Lakes hydrodynamic prediction is still in its early stages. This work is the first one to explore a deep learning approach to predicting spatiotemporal distributions of the lake surface temperature (LST) in the Great Lakes. Our study shows that the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network, …

Laterally Heterogeneous Seismic Anisotropy Investigated By Shear Wave Splitting Analyses, Yan Jia

Doctoral Dissertations

"Numerous geophysical studies suggest that seismic anisotropy is a nearly ubiquitous property of the Earth’s crust and upper mantle. In this study, we utilize the shear wave splitting technique to investigate the piercing-point-dependent azimuthal anisotropy beneath the northeastern edge of the Sichuan Basin in central China, and the spatial and temporal variations of anisotropy near the 2019 M7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake in California, respectively. A clear back azimuthal dependence of the splitting parameters and the lack of a 90° or 180° periodicity of azimuthal variation in the observed fast orientations provide strong evidence for the existence of piercing-point-dependent anisotropy beneath the …

Mantle Flow And Transition Zone Discontinuities Beneath The Carribean Plate: Constraints From Shear Wave Splitting And Receiver Function Analyses, Tu Xue

Doctoral Dissertations

"Azimuthal anisotropy quantified by teleseismic SKS, SKKS, PKS (“XKS”) and local S wave splitting parameters is used to investigate lithospheric deformation and asthenospheric flow beneath the boundary zone of the North American and Caribbean plates and adjacent areas. A total of 4915 XKS and 1202 pairs of local S wave splitting parameters were obtained at 24 broad band seismic stations. The XKS observations can be divided into two groups based on the spatial distribution of the resulting fast polarization orientations. Those observed on the Caribbean Plate are mostly WNW-ESE which are roughly trench-parallel. In contrast, the fast orientations observed on …

A Comparison Of Predicted And Observed Ocean Tidal Loading Displacements Around The Puget Sound, Tanessa Caitlyn Morris

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Around coastlines and in shallow oceans, models of ocean tidal loading (OTL) are not highly accurate and can create sources of error in OTL analysis. OTL is tides moving ocean water that cause the surface of Earth to deform. In this study, forward-modelled predictions of OTL are compared to observations from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data to explore the elastic deformation response of Earth to OTL around the Puget Sound. Data from 75 stations were processed to yield position estimates at intervals of 5 minutes for a year. The OTL model used for comparison was the FES2014b ocean-tide model …

Stream Recovery Post Channelization: A Case Study Of Low-Gradient Streams In Central Illinois, Usa, Joseph P. Becker, Eric W. Peterson

Faculty Publications - Geography, Geology, and the Environment

Stream channelization, which entails reducing the sinuosity of a stream, widening, and in some cases deepening the stream channel, is a widespread practice in agricultural regions. Channelization efforts in central Illinois have significant impacts on the geomorphology, flow regime, and sediment transport both in and adjacent to modified reaches. The goal of this study was to characterize the changes in stream channels by comparing three streams that are at various stages of recovery post channelization, 5 years (1900N), 7 years (Frog), and 35 years (Bray), to an unmodified stream reach (Crooked) and estimate a recovery rate. Measured channel slopes within …

Devonian Upper Ocean Redox Trends Across Laurussia: Testing Potential Influences Of Marine Carbonate Lithology On Bulk Rock I/Ca Signals, Ruliang He, Maya Elrick, James Day, Wanyi Lu, Zunli Lu

Faculty Publications - Geography, Geology, and the Environment

The Devonian is characterized by major changes in ocean-atmosphere O2 concentrations, colonialization of continents by plants and animals, and widespread marine anoxic events associated with rapid d13C excursions and biotic crises. However, the long-term upper ocean redox trend for the Devonian is still not well understood. This study presents new I/Ca data from well-dated Lower Devonian through Upper Devonian limestone sections from the Great Basin (western Laurussia) and the Illinois Basin (central Laurussia). In addition, to better address potential influences of lithology and stratigraphy on I/Ca redox signals, I/Ca data are reported here as carbonate lithology-specific. Results indicate that lithologic …

Synthesis Of Rna Nucleotides Under Probable Prebiotic Conditions, Ryan Stimson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

RNA being composed of multiple covalently linked nucleotides is thought to have been a precursor to life circa 4.3-3.8 billion years ago. Non-enzymatically formed adenosine monophosphate (AMP), more specifically, is a vitally important subtopic of the self-assembly of the first RNA sequence. The goal of this study was to synthesize AMP non-enzymatically under benign conditions that are likely to have existed on early Earth. In this experiment, 3’,5’-cAMP was successfully formed using wet-dry cycles at 80°C paired with the minerals zeolite beta, hydroxyapatite, and aerosil 300 in the presence of adenosine, urea, and pyrophosphate. A nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer was …

The Influence Of Hydrogen Peroxide On The Enrichment Of Fe(Iii) Reducing Bacteria From Acid Mine Drainage, Susami Seth

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

It is hypothesized that the ocean of Europa, a Jupiter moon, hosts bacteria on its oceanic floor. Understanding how Fe(III) reducing bacteria (FeRB) from AMD utilize organic materials within its surrounding environment outlines how FeRB could thrive and tolerate extreme conditions. FeRB are known to tolerate metals and highly reactive oxidants species (ROS), but in this experiment, H₂O₂ was the experimental factor to further test FeRB tolerance. H₂O₂ is a common ROS and is damaging to living material such as proteins, DNA, and RNA. A range of H₂O₂ concentrations were fed …

Effect Of Pre-Existing Fault Orientation On Strain Localization In A Foliated Granitic Gneiss, Geoffrey Hilliard

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The effect of fault orientation relative to the applied stress on reactivation of pre-existing brittle faults instead of forming new faults is well-explained by Mohr-Coulomb theory. However, Mohr-Coulomb theory does not explain the effect of orientation on reactivation of faults with a ductile rheology and no work has been performed to assess the effect of orientation of a pre-existing ductile fault on fault strength. In order to determine how rock strength and localization of strain into a ductile fault is affected when the orientation of the pre-existing fault (artificial fault) is changed, experiments were performed on pre-faulted cores of a …

An Agronomic-Economic Approach To Connect Manure Nutrients Back To Grain-Producing Regions, Joshua M. Duke, Joshua M. Mcgrath

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Stakeholders for nutrient-impaired watersheds have long discussed the causes and consequences of nutrient surpluses associated with intensive livestock production. Nonetheless, nutrient surpluses relative to crop requirement, particularly with phosphorus (P), persist and continue to contribute to water quality impairment. Nutrient life-cycle analysis shows that mineral P, from soil minerals or mined fertilizer P, flows to livestock regions from grain-producing regions. Although creating a return flow of these nutrients to grain fields seems like an easy solution, significant economic obstacles exist to creating a connected manureshed over large geographic distances. To limit the impact of manure use on local surface water, …

Bedrock Anisotropy At Sycamore Farms: An Investigation Using Azimuthal Resistivity And Electromagnetic Induction, Cody M. Kessler

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Azimuthal resistivity surveys coupled with an electromagnetic survey were completed at Sycamore Farms with the goal of investigating bedrock fracturing at the site. Previous work on this subject matter was completed at the site using similar geophysical tools, however, this study utilizes a unique method of azimuthal resistivity and higher resolution electromagnetic data. 72 azimuthal surveys were completed, and the electromagnetic survey covered all fields in which azimuthal surveys were completed. The results from the two methods were compared to identify zones of bedrock fracturing. Although correlation between the two data sets was limited it was found that the electromagnetic …