Earth Sciences Commons^™

Spatiotemporal Slip Rate Variations Along Surprise Valley Fault In Relation To Pleistocene Pluvial Lakes, Brian N. Marion

All Master's Theses

Using mapped paleoshoreline features with high-resolution topographic data and obtained radiocarbon dates on paleoshoreline tufas, I documented precise fault offsets of dated features over the last 25 ka along the Surprise Valley Fault (SVF). Fault offset measured in three lake sections within Surprise Valley ranged from 3.6 m in the southern section to 14.4 m in the central section. The offset paleoshorelines are dated to the late Pleistocene (<22 >ka) and were formed during the latest impoundment of pluvial Lake Surprise since the last glacial maximum. Slip rates vary along strike, assuming a fault dip of 68° with 0.25 ± …

Seismic Reflection Profiling Near Middletown, Ohio And Interpretation Of Precambrian Deformational Settings, David Joseph Peterman

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The reprocessing of four vibroseis seismic reflection lines at the AK Steel facility in Middletown, Ohio, provides new insight on the age, deposition, and structural deformation of the pre-Mount Simon sedimentary sequence below Butler and Warren Counties. Processing was focused on the pre-Mt. Simon reflections to reveal gently west-southwest dipping reflectors that make a slight angular unconformity with the overlying Paleozoic sedimentary strata. This pre-Mount Simon sedimentary sequence has been encountered in several wells from western Ohio, Indiana, and northern Kentucky and has been identified as the Middle Run Formation. Examination of the weak and discontinuous seismic character of the …

Application Of Time-Frequency Analysis To Characterize Gas Shadows From The Clinton Interval In Ohio Seismic Reflection Data, Fangzhou Yan

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The Smoothed Pseudo Wigner-Ville Distribution (SPWVD) is one method to simultaneously resolve time series in both time and frequency domains, allowing determination of frequency variation with time in non-stationary signals. Also, SPWVD reduces the cross-term interference. This analysis was applied to stacked, migrated seismic reflection data from Ohio to characterize gas shadows produced by known and potential gas reservoirs in the Clinton interval. In northeast Ohio, the Clinton interval is identified as occurring immediately beneath the Dayton Limestone, which is known as the driller’s Packer Shell in the subsurface. The analysis was first applied to a seismic reflection line acquired …

A Geophysical Investigation At The Potrillo Maar, Manuel Moncada Gutierrez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Potrillo Volcanic Field (PVF) is a unique geological site located in Doña Ana County the southernmost part of New Mexico, and part of northern part of Chihuahua, Mexico. The main feature of the southern PVF is Potrillo Maar. This maar-volcano straddles the international boundary between United States and Mexico and lies within the southern part of the Rio Grande Rift. The Potrillo Maar was formed about 20,000 years ago in three major events that formed basalt lava flows and ejecta deposits that consist of crustal and mantle xenoliths.

The purpose of this Thesis is to determine the area of …

Insights Into Volcanic Processes Using Seismic Data Techniques, Ezer Patlan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

We present in this study numbers of technique to understand the volcanic processes using seismology. The types of techniques we used are earthquake location (double difference travel-time, cross-correlation tremor technique, and time reversal), stresses (b-values, focal mechanism), and tomography imagery (ambient noise tomography). The areas of study we focus on are in two different tectonic settings. The East Africa Rift System at Kenya, studying four volcanoes: Menengai Caldera, Silali, Paka, and Korosi volcanoes. The other area of study is located in a subduction zone in Central America, Salvador at San Miguel volcano.

In this study we aim to calculate accurate …

Spatial Scaling Of Crustal And Lithospheric Deformation In The Western United States, Cody W. Bomberger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Deformation of continental lithosphere can extend great distances laterally from tectonic plate boundaries. This extent has been used to argue for a variety of constitutive laws for continental materials, based on the underlying principles in continuum mechanics that identify a relationship between characteristic spatial scale and material properties. Although the relationship between observed deformation and material models is always non-unique, quantifying one or more characteristic scales of deformation in a region can rule out some models of how the lithosphere deforms. In the western United States active deformation occurs at the plate boundary between North America and either the Pacific …

Stabilized Least Squares Migration, Graham Ganssle

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Before raw seismic data records are interpretable by geologists, geophysicists must process these data using a technique called migration. Migration spatially repositions the acoustic energy in a seismic record to its correct location in the subsurface. Traditional migration techniques used a transpose approximation to a true acoustic propagation operator. Conventional least squares migration uses a true inverse operator, but is limited in functionality by the large size of modern seismic datasets. This research uses a new technique, called stabilized least squares migration, to correctly migrate seismic data records using a true inverse operator. Contrary to conventional least squares migration, this …

Fluid Uptake Of The Goddard Shale In Southeastern Oklahoma, Usa, Paul Huggins

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

The South Central Oklahoma Oil Province is the current play for the Goddard shale and is also the main field for the underlying Woodford Formation. As of September 2015, an estimated 40 wells have been drilled to evaluate and produce the Goddard shale in the southeastern portion of the Anadarko Basin. With companies reporting initial production rates ranging from 1,000 boe/d to nearly 2,000 boe/d and 30 day reports averaging around 800 boe/d, the amount of recovery from this tight shale reservoir has exceptional potential. Continental Resources Inc. estimates a gross recovery of 940,000 boe per lateral well. Understanding the …

Seismic-Hazard Map Of Southeast Missouri And Likely Magnitude Of The February 1812 New Madrid Earthquake, Jaewon Chung, J. David Rogers

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The New Madrid seismic zone lies beneath the upper Mississippi Embayment, straddling the border between southeastern Missouri and northwestern Tennessee. In late 1811 and early 1812, it produced five earthquakes of magnitudes >6.5, violently shaking the central and eastern United States (CEUS). Its magnitude and recurrence are of concern to today's central United States regions. By considering the effects of local geology, deterministic scenario maps (M_w 7.3 and 7.7) were produced for ground motions intended to simulate the 7 February 1812 event (NM3), which was the largest felt. These maps include spatial estimates of peak ground acceleration and of …

Analysis Of Paleokarst Sinkholes In The Arkoma Basin Using 3-D Seismic, Michael Kumbalek

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Paleokarst features are important to understand, both with regards to research geologists and to the petroleum industry. In terms of geology, understanding paleokarst features can yield more information about the depositional and surface environments of past times, and how diagenetic alteration affected the environment during the formation of karst features. In the petroleum industry, paleokarst features can have positive or negative consequence resulting in a potential reservoir with enhanced porosity due to the paleokarst features, or as a geo-hazard to prepare for or avoid when drilling.

Inspired by issues faced when drilling in the Ft. Worth basin, this study utilizes …

Results Of Archaeogeophysical Investigations Of The Fowler - Clark Farm Mattapan, Boston, Massachusetts, Brian N. Damiata, John M. Steinberg

Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research Publications

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) and Frequency-Domain Electromagnetic (FDEM) surveys were employed over an extensively modified 50 m x 65 m city lot containing a farmhouse initially constructed between 1786 and 1806 and a later barn. Both geophysical methods suggested that most of the lot had experienced substantial disturbance and that there was limited sub - surface preservation. Both the GPR and EM surveys indicated a scatter of metallic debris and other disturbance s in the back yard at depths up to 1 m. Most of the front yard also presents as disturbed, except for two unusual but limited buried surfaces …

Gravity And Magnetic Investigations Into Possible Economic Mineral Deposits Within The Northwest St. Francois Terrane, Southeastern Missouri, Brandon Todd Ives

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The exposed Precambrian St. Francois Mountains in southeast Missouri are a well-studied terrane of rhyolites, granites, and basaltic dikes, but much of the buried basement lithology west of the exposed region is still poorly delineated. The western St. Francois is host to large hydrothermal Pb-Zn and Fe-oxide ore deposits, some of which were located with previous geophysical investigations. The economic ore deposits specifically in the Pea Ridge Mine in Washington County contain known economic minerals and rare earth element deposits. In order to further investigate the Precambrian basement lithologies and the possible locations of additional economic ore deposits, a gravity …

Bedrock Mapping Using Shear Wave Velocity Characterization And H/V Analysis, James P. Gonsiewski

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An experiment was conducted to constrain the HVSR (Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio) or H/V spectral ratio method at a glaciated site in northeast Ohio. Multiple methods were used to determine the shear wave velocity (Vs) and depth (h) to bedrock in relation to the fundamental resonant frequency (f_o) determined from 3-component seismic data, as defined by the relationship f₀=Vs/4h. The shear wave velocity structure was determined at three sites using MASW (Multi-channel Analysis of Surface Waves) and shear wave refraction methods, and the fundamental resonant frequency was passively observed using 3-component Guralp broadband seismometers. The …

Atmospheric Effects On Radar/Ladar Detection Of Seismic Activity, Michelle Frances Via

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This thesis investigates how well ground vibrations can be detected at ladar or radar wavelengths and how the atmosphere may impact the observation of such activity. First understanding atmospheric hindrances at each of these wavelengths is helpful to prioritize by those yielding best transmission results. A prerequisite to the outdoor field experiment performed for this study involves analyzing atmospheric effects characterization at six probable wavelengths using the Laser Environmental Effects Definition and Reference tool (LEEDR) developed by the Air Force Institute of Technology's (AFIT) Center for Directed Energy (CDE). These wavelengths, selected from the shortwave infrared and microwave portions of …

Seeing Below The Surface With Electrical Resistivity Tomography: Exploring The Deepest Reaches Of Arkansas' Tallest Prehistoric Mounds, James Robert Zimmer-Dauphinee

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite decades of research and over a century of public interest, the most prominent features at Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park, Mound A and Mound B, remain virtually unexamined by modern archaeological techniques, and poorly understood. The tremendous scale and importance of these mounds makes most standard research methods difficult if not impossible. Electrical Resistivity Tomography, a geophysical technique rarely used in North America, was employed to survey both Mound A and Mound B, resulting in models of the subsurface that provide insights into the construction, modification and condition of the mounds.

Particle Swarms In Confining Geometries, Eric Robert Boomsma

Open Access Dissertations

The transport of micro- and nano-particles in subsurface fluid deposits is an area of increasing interest due to the rising use of these particles for consumer and industrial purposes. Subsurface particle transport is complicated by the presence of fractures and fracture networks which govern the paths that particles will be able to take. In this thesis, subsurface particle transport will be investigated using particle swarms; collections of hydro-dynamically interacting particles which exhibit group behavior. The effects of fluid viscosity, particle properties, fracture geometry, and fracture aperture on swarm behavior were experimentally investigated. ^ Swarm parameters were examined in time with …

Mechanical Stratigraphy Of The Mississippian In Osage County, Oklahoma, Caleb James Jennings

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Mississippian formation of Oklahoma and Kansas has recently developed as a world class unconventional reservoir with wells producing up to 800 bbl/day. The Mississippian is composed of multiple distinct lithologic zones including limestone, hard chert, and soft tripolitic chert. These zones are difficult to discern with traditional log correlation, but mechanical stratigraphy has the potential to improve previous correlations of the Mississippian.

This study uses full wave sonic logs from Osage County, OK to analyze the elastic properties of the Mississippian. Our work computes isotropic elastic parameters in an effort to partition the Mississippian section into units that may …

Slides: Thoughts On Regulatory Mechanisms For Natural Resource Development: Alternatives To Command And Control, Including A Look At Open Source Approaches, Stanley Dempsey

Natural Resource Industries and the Sustainability Challenge (Martz Winter Symposium, February 27-28)

Presenter: Stanley Dempsey, Chairman, Royal Gold

17 slides

Seismic Attributes Of The Clinton Interval Reservoir In The Dominion East Ohio Gabor Gas Storage Field Near North Canton, Ohio, Dominique Miguel Haneberg-Diggs

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Wright State University acquired two vibroseis-sourced seismic reflection lines over the Dominion East Ohio Gabor Gas Storage field near Canton, Ohio. The data were gathered over a fully charged reservoir within the Clinton interval. Seismic attributes were applied to the seismic data for interpretation. The seismic response of nearby wells was modeled for comparison with the seismic lines. Within the seismic data a gas shadow was observed. The gas shadow coincides with an area of high initial production of wells targeting the Clinton interval for production. The gas shadow is also associated with broadening of the Packer Shell sidelobe. Modelling …

Processing And Interpretation Of Illinois Basin Seismic Reflection Data, Katherine M. Gigandet

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An anonymous oil company released 2D dynamite reflection data from the Illinois basin to be reprocessed and interpreted by Wright State University. The aim of the project is to exhaustively apply different seismic processing methods to the data to determine if any improvement in the imaging and interpretation may be accomplished. The data interpretation procedure convolved extracted wavelets from the final migrated section with reflectivity calculated from well log data provided. Once major formation tops were identified attribute analysis was applied to locate potential oil volumes of interest.

The raw shot records from this impulse data are dominated by guided …

Seismic Characterization Of The J-Reflector Near The Meizoseismal Area Of The 1886 Charleston Earthquake For Lithologic Constraint, Craig Cunningham

Theses and Dissertations

Investigations into the relationship between geologic structure and seismicity in and around the meizoseismal area of the 1886 Charleston earthquake have been ongoing since the 1970s. Seismic reflection profiles collected in this area display a prominent, laterally continuous, high amplitude, low frequency, two cycle reflection at ~0.7-1.2 s TWT, termed the "J" reflector, which has been correlated with Lower to Middle Jurassic tholeiitic basalt flows encountered in the Clubhouse Crossroads wells. The "J" reflector was also extended offshore onto the continental shelf. Recent reevaluation of sub Coastal Plain wells within the South Georgia Rift (SGR) Basin, including wells around the …

Geoelectrical Detection Of Water Table Depth At Two Locations In The Los Osos Groundwater Basin, Hallie A. Douglas

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

The city of Los Osos sits on top of a coastal groundwater aquifer which is the sole supplier of all its residential, agricultural, and industrial water needs. Lacking a sewer system, the upper aquifer became progressively contaminated with nitrates over several decades. Groundwater pumping eventually shifted to the lower aquifer, however seawater intrusion of the lower aquifer caused by over-pumping has further degraded water quality. The Los Osos groundwater basin provides an excellent field region to examine the utility of geophysical methods for characterizing aquifer structure. In this study shallow (<20 >m) electrical resistivity imaging methods were performed at two …

Integrated Geophysical Exploration Of A Known Geothermal Resource: Neal Hot Springs, Clinton Ryan Colwell

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

I present an integrated geophysical characterization of the Neal Hot Springs geothermal system in eastern Oregon. This newly established 23 MW geothermal production site is located in a region of complex geology and intersecting faults associated with two major extensional systems; the Oregon-Idaho Graben and the western Snake River Plain. The intersection of two dominant fault orientations, coupled with a high geothermal gradient from relatively thin continental crust and radioactive decay from a shallow granitic body, produces the pathways and heat needed for deep water circulation at Neal Hot Springs. New geologic mapping, geochemistry, and measurements from several boreholes in …

Seismic Slip Deficit In The Kashmir Himalaya From Gps Observations, Celia Schiffman, Bikram Singh Bali, Walter Szeliga, Roger Bilham

Faculty Scholarship for the Cascadia Hazards Institute

GPS measurements in Kashmir Himalaya reveal rangenormal convergence of 11±1 mm/yr with dextral shear of 5±1 mm/yr. The transition from a fully locked 170 km wide décollement to the unrestrained descending Indian plate occurs at ~25 km depth over an ~23 km wide transition zone. The convergence rate is consistent with the lower bounds of geological estimates for the Main Frontal Thrust, Riasi, and Balapora fault systems, on which no surface slip has been reported in the past millennium. Of the 14 damaging Kashmir earthquakes since 1123, none may have exceeded M_w = 7.6. Therefore, either a seismic moment …

Discontinuities And Alfvenic Fluctuations In The Solar Wind, G. Paschmann, S. Haaland, B. Sonnerup, T. Knetter

Dartmouth Scholarship

We examine the Alfvenicity of a set of 188 solar wind directional discontinuities (DDs) identified in the Cluster data from 2003 by Knetter (2005), with the objective of separating rotational discontinuities (RDs) from tangential ones (TDs). The DDs occurred over the full range of solar wind velocities and magnetic shear angles. By performing the Walen test in the de Hoffmann–Teller (HT) frame, we show that 77 of the 127 crossings for which a good HT frame was found had plasma flow speeds exceeding 80 % of the Alfven speed at an average angular deviation of 7.7◦; 33 cases had speeds …

Evolution Of Dike Opening During The March 2011 Kamoamoa Fissure Eruption, Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai'i, Paul Lundgren, Michael Poland, Asta Miklius, Tim Orr, Sang-Ho Yun, Eric Fielding, Zhen Liu, Scott Hensley, Susan Owen, Akiko Tanaka, Walter Szeliga

Faculty Scholarship for the Cascadia Hazards Institute

The 5–9 March 2011 Kamoamoa fissure eruption along the east rift zone of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai`i, followed months of pronounced inflation at Kīlauea summit. We examine dike opening during and after the eruption using a comprehensive interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data set in combination with continuous GPS data. We solve for distributed dike displacements using a whole Kīlauea model with dilating rift zones and possibly a deep décollement. Modeled surface dike opening increased from nearly 1.5 m to over 2.8 m from the first day to the end of the eruption, in agreement with field observations of surface fracturing. …

A Geophysical Investigation To Locate Missing Graves Utilizing Ground Penetrating Radar, Electromagnetic, And Magnetic Methods, Jared Wyatt Shank

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Old cemeteries often have graves that are unmarked because gravestones are missing or degraded and the graves are in areas for which maps or other historical documents are incomplete. This is the case for one cemetery in southwestern Ohio, known as Stevenson Cemetery, which contains graves of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 veterans. The immediate goal of this study is to locate unmarked graves in this cemetery using geophysical techniques. The broader goal is to evaluate three geophysical techniques to determine the effectiveness of each.

The three geophysical techniques evaluated in this study are magnetics, electro-magnetics, and ground-penetrating radar. …

Software Development For A 3d Gravity Inversion And Application To Study Of The Border Ranges Fault System, South-Central Alaska, Rolando Cardenas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Border Ranges Fault System (BRFS) bounds the Cook Inlet and Susitna Basins, and is an important petroleum province within south-central Alaska. A primary goal of our research is to test several plausible models of structure along the BRFS using a novel three-dimensional inversion technique utilizing gravity data, constrained with other geophysical, borehole and surface geological information. This research involves the development of 3D inversion modeling software using C++ Builder from Embarcadero's XE2 Suite. The novel inversion approach directly models known geology with a priori uncertainties assigned to the geologic model to allow researchers to compare alternative interpretations. This technique …

Modeling Lithospheric Rheology From Modern Measurements Of Bonneville Shoreline Deformation, Eric P. Beard

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Here I develop a new method for estimating differences in elevation between pairs of paleo-lake shoreline features. This method is applied to Lake Bonneville, a large lake that inundated nearly 1/3 of the state of Utah as well as parts of Nevada and Idaho from 34 to 11.5 thousand years ago. Under the weight of the lake water load, the surface of the Earth was depressed by up to 75 m. This occurred as Earth mantle rock at depth flowed outward in response to the weight of the lake. I use this new methodology to compile here a denser sample …

Gps Constraints On Indo-Asian Convergence In The Bhutan Himalaya: Segmentation And Potential For A 8.2-8.8 Mw Earthquake, Dowchu Drukpa, Phuntsho Pelgay, Anjan Bhattacharya, Phillipe Vernant, Walter Szeliga, Roser Bilham

Faculty Scholarship for the Cascadia Hazards Institute

The seismogenic setting of Bhutan is unusual due to its lower-than-average 20th century seismic moment release (Drukpa et al. 2006), its absence of a reliable historical record, and its unusual location near the Shillong plateau where a great earthquake in 1897 resulted in ≈10 m of N/S shortening of the Indian plate to its south (Gahalaut et al. 2011). Despite these indicators that lower than normal convergence velocities should currently prevail, the GPS velocity between Shillong and Lhasa suggests that convergence in Sikkim and Bhutan occurs at velocities exceeding 20 mm/yr. GPS points between the Greater Himalaya and the Shillong …