Geochemistry Commons^™

Characterization Of Residual Mineral Content Of Bauxite Stockpiles In Saline County, Arkansas: An Xrd Analysis Approach, Andrew Kaze Sezibera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Saline Mining District of central Arkansas once led U.S. alumina production and hosts extensive bauxite and nepheline syenite deposits. With the depletion of highgrade ore, renewed interest in bauxite stockpiles has focused on critical mineral potential. Previous X-ray Fluorescence studies have identified critical elements in significant concentrations, including uranium (U), thorium (Th), gallium (Ga), molybdenum (Mo), and lanthanides (Ln). This study examines five stockpiles (SP1, Clay, SP2, SP3, and SP4) in Section 20 of the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) Saline County bauxite mine, using Xray Diffraction (XRD) on 25 samples to characterize mineral phases and compare them with …

Evaluating The Usefulness Of Geochronometers In The Packsaddle Domain For Refining The Timing Of Metamorphism Via High-Resolution Petrography, Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, Llano Uplift, Texas, Haylee Vike

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Llano uplift, central Texas, exhumes Mesoproterozoic rocks with a complex history of metamorphism, deformation, and magmatism. There are three recognized metamorphic events related to the Grenville orogeny (~1.3-0.9 Ga). The timing of these metamorphic events is not well resolved due to past methods, technology, and lack of published geologic context for many of the current dates. These current time constraints on metamorphic timing could be further refined through modern geochronologic and petrochronologic methods.

A majority of U-Pb zircon dates from the Valley Spring (~1366-1232 Ma), Coal Creek (~1326-1275 Ma), and Packsaddle (~1257-1215 Ma) domains are interpreted as crystallization ages …

Depositional Facies Analysis Of The Cotton Valley Group Sandstones Of The Blackburn Field, Northern Louisiana Using Well Logs And Cores; Implications For Carbon Sequestration, Frederick Owusu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Cotton Valley Group (CVG) consists of tight sandstones with heterogeneous reservoir properties due to variations in depositional environments and diagenesis, spanning across eastern Texas through the Florida panhandle. It has served as a hydrocarbon target since the 1940s, and with recent technological advances, there is renewed exploration of the tight reservoirs within the group. Across northern Louisiana, the CVG has moderate to good reservoir properties, whereas those south extending westward across the Sabine uplift into east Texas decrease in porosity and permeability. With reservoir depletion coupled with its relatively simple mineralogy, these sandstone units may serve as good, localized …

Investigation Of Residual Mineral Content Of Bauxite Stockpiles, Saline Mining District, Arkansas, U.S.A., Melanie L. Ertons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The former mining town of Bauxite is in the Saline County Mining District, in central Arkansas. Bauxite is located approximately 40 km (25 mi) southwest of Little Rock just east of Benton, Arkansas. This area contains extensive deposits of bauxite ore and nepheline syenite previously mined by Aluminum Company of America using open pit and subsurface mining techniques. This study incorporates five bauxite stockpiles (SP1, Clay, SP2, SP3, SP4) with varying amounts of alumina content situated on approximately 10 acres of land within an area of the former mine recognized as Section 20. Over the past several years, there has …

Silting Dynamics And Metal Contaminants In The Georgetown Inner Harbor, Ezekiel Wil Meyers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Georgetown inner harbor is an abandoned oxbow-like river loop and a vital historic site with a wealth of traditional businesses and heavy local industry located within Winyah Bay. Since the modification of the Sampit River in 1949, chronic rapid silting has plagued the inner harbor. With these substantial amounts of fine-grained material accumulating inside the inner harbor, business operations along the waterfront, navigational and maritime operations, and contamination within the harbor are of major concern. The goals of this study were to (a) understand the silting dynamics inside the inner harbor, (b) identify heavy metals which might be of …

Geochemical Characterization Of The Louann Salt, Puma Field, Green Canyon, Gulf Of Mexico Basin – Using Xrf And Xrd, Brian Lesh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Jurassic-aged Louann Salt is an evaporite sequence deposited in the Gulf of Mexico Basin (GOMB). It is an important component of the GOMB petroleum system and influences the facies pattern in overlying strata and the distribution of petroleum stratigraphic traps. The Louann Salt is composed primarily of halite with intercalated anhydrites and silty or sandy-halite intervals, with overall thicknesses in excess of four kilometers (~13,000 feet). Suture zones occur intermittently within the Louann Salt, formed by the collision of allochthonous evaporite layers. The mineralogy and geochemistry of the suture zones are currently understudied and can be hazardous during drilling …

Geochemical Characterization Of The Bone Spring Formation, Delaware Basin, Using Chemostratigraphy And Integrated Petrophysics, David Tonner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Delaware Basin forms part of West Texas's and New Mexico’s famous petroleum-generating Permian Basin. The Bone Spring Formation is a prolific hydrocarbon producer within this basin, creating one of the world’s richest oil shales. This formation has lithological sequences that are characterized by repeating carbonate and siliciclastic intervals of a third-order cycle which can largely be correlated to highstand and lowstand systems tracts, respectively. Lithological complexity and facies change are manifested by debris flows, turbidites, and slumps. In addition to glacio-eustasy, both tectonism and broader Milankovitch cycles have influenced the depositional history. Previous investigations have utilized cores and wireline …

Stratigraphic Analysis Of The Capps Limestone In The North Norton Oil Field In Runnels County, Texas, William Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Desmoinesian (Middle Pennsylvanian) Capps Limestone Member of the Mineral Wells Formation is a carbonate reservoir located in North Central Texas. It consists of interbedded limestone, sandstone, and shale units. Much of the Capps Limestone exists in the subsurface of Brown, Coleman, Runnels, Coke, Nolan, and Taylor counties, however, the Capps Limestone outcrops on the surface in Brown, Eastland, and Palo Pinto counties.

The cored interval from Runnels County was deposited in a marginal marine environment during the Middle Pennsylvanian Period. Although the Capps Limestone was first described in the 1890s, there is still much to be discovered about its …

Impacts Of Oil And Gas Wastes On Landfill Leachate, Sewage Treatment Plants, And The Environment, Lauren Badertscher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Between January 2011 and March 2021 oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania produced

305,637,795 barrels of liquid waste and 6,992,957 tons of solid waste with the majority from

Marcellus Shale unconventional wells. This waste is not considered hazardous and over 89% of

the solid waste generated by unconventional and conventional oil and gas extraction has been

disposed of in landfills over the past decade. This study examined trends in the quantity of waste

produced and methods of disposal. Landfills accepting this waste were identified and their

general method of leachate treatment, using onsite facilities or offsite at wastewater treatment

plants, …

Develop A Multi-Functional Green Pervious Concrete (Mgpc) Pavement With Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Pahs) Removal Function., Hong Shang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stormwater runoff induced Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) contaminant increasingly imperils the groundwater quality and the sustainable development of human society due to the potential carcinogenic risks. Pavement can be considered as the first line of defense for contaminant removal of the stormwater runoff. New construction materials with stormwater runoff quantity and quality control are in urgent demand for updating the existing pavement system. An innovative material called Multi-functional Green Pervious Concrete (MGPC) was developed in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of Louisville. This material uses organoclay as the amendment to enhance the PAHs removal capacity of …

The Persistence Of Acid Mine Drainage At An East Texas Coal Mine, Sarah Zagurski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to estimate the time it will take for acid forming materials (pyrite) to be weathered to a state of equilibrium and thus cease to produce acid in ground and surface waters within Oak Hill Mine. This was accomplished using an ex-situ kinetic leaching study incorporating a humidity cell in a controlled laboratory setting. Leaching was conducted on soil cores obtained from the vadose zone at Oak Hill Mine and the humidity cell was used to accelerate oxidation of the pyrite within the cores.

An in-situ field study was also conducted that monitored groundwater conditions …

Chemostratigraphy Of Carbonate Gravity Flows Of The Wolfcamp Formation In Crockett County, Midland Basin, Texas, Alex Blizzard, Julie Bloxson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sediment gravity flows into deep-water environments are important stratigraphic traps in lithologically diverse reservoirs generating multiple plays for hydrocarbon exploration. These highly heterogeneous deposits can be studied by utilizing chemostratigraphy and higher-order sequence stratigraphy; being an accurate method for reservoir characterization. Studying these gravity flows along a carbonate platform’s slope can further expand an understanding of the stratigraphy that is filling adjacent basins. The application of elemental analyses can support in identifying mineralogy that impact reservoir quality, especially when conventional testing cannot be applied.

This study utilizes five cores containing the Wolfcamp Formation from the southeastern slope of the Central …

Temporal Transport Dynamics Of The Amazon River Plume Revealed Using Radium Isotope Analysis, Elana J. Ames

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Amazon River is the largest river by discharge in the world. It carries terrestrial nutrients into the Western Tropical North Atlantic via a buoyant freshwater plume, conveying water hundreds to thousands of kilometers away and driving critical biogeochemical cycles near the coast. Factors controlling the delivery of nutrients offshore by the plume are complicated and interconnected, yet these nutrients impact the foundation of phytoplankton community structures across the entire plume ecosystem. To better understand the temporal dynamics of this massive, highly influential region, we employ naturally occurring radium isotopes (223Ra, 224Ra, 226Ra, and 228Ra) to analyze mixing and transport …

The Potential Of Radium-224 As A Tracer Of Timescales Of Gulf Of Mexico Crude Oil Exposure To The Marine Environment, Matthew T. Kurpiel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Petroleum pollution in the marine environment can be deleterious to coastal and marine ecosystems and can have sustained effects for years. While oil slicks on the surface of the ocean are tracked with relative ease using satellite-based technology, deep sea, neutrally-buoyant hydrocarbon plumes remain exceedingly difficult to track. We provide evidence for the utility of Ra-224 as a potential hydrocarbon tracer to determine the marine exposure time of crude oil. We employed time course incubations to constrain a time dependent Ra-224 release signature and tested a variety of timescales, temporal resolutions, oil sources, seawater, and experimental treatments to determine potential …

Evaluating Fluid Fluxes From Deep-Sea Seepage Habitats, Leigha E. Peterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The permanently dark deep-sea, located at oceanic water depths greater than 200 m, represents the largest potential habitat space on Earth. The physicochemical conditions of the planet’s largest biome are tightly coupled to the exchange of matter and energy from terrestrial and sea-floor end-members. In fact, global ocean and climate systems are significantly impacted by deep-sea processes. Seafloor vents and seeps appear to act as geologic exchange conduits, returning recycled materials to the hydrosphere to sustain another generation of life. Despite submarine seepage having control on global elemental cycling, it is estimated that less than 1% of the deep-sea has …

The Medicine Hat Block And The Assembly Of Laurentia: New Interpretations From Single-Grain Zircon Analyses, Blake Oswell Ladouceur

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Medicine Hat Block (MHB) is one of the core cratonic elements that amalgamated in the Paleoproterozoic to form Laurentia. However the role of the MHB in the formation of Laurentia is poorly constrained due to virtually all of the MHB being concealed by Proterozoic and younger supracrustal sequences limiting availability of data. The primary sources of samples from the MHB are 1) xenoliths of variable metamorphic grade including gneisses amphibolites and meta-plutonic rocks collected from Eocene volcanic rock; and 2) similar lithologies recovered from boreholes that penetrate to the MHB basement. Previous work on samples from the MHB yielded …

Mercury In Big Cypress Bayou And Caddo Lake Watersheds In Marion And Harrison Counties Texas, Joseph Watkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Caddo Lake has been included on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality 303(d) list for impairment due to mercury (Hg) content since 1996. One of the primary tributaries, Big Cypress Bayou, flows across Eocene-aged rocks and sediments associated with the Wilcox Group; the Wilcox is of interest because it contains lignite coal, which has a direct link to mercury. Previous research has focused on dry deposition from fossil fuel combustion as the primary source of mercury but has not addressed the potential watershed contribution to mercury concentrations in Caddo Lake.

Big Cypress Bayou flows through Harrison and Marion counties in …

Groundwater Hydrogeolgy And Hydrochemistry Of Karst Springs In The Eastern Peninsula Of Fort Hood Military Installation, William Scribner Welles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The eastern peninsula of Fort Hood Military Installation is underlain by a complex karst spring network. These springs are a primary water source in a protected habitat for endangered songbirds, which has only recently begun to be fully investigated. These Fredericksburg Group springs express both epigenetic and hypogenetic karst signatures. The study area is part of a paleo reef trend, a hydraulically disconnected segment of the northern section of the Edwards Aquifer. This study utilized standard ion index values, repeated measures, and principal component analyses on the chemical profiles of six perennial springs to classify spring water sources and their …

Hardbottom Characterization And Relationship To The Geologic Framework In Long Bay, South Carolina, Cathryn J. Wheaton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hardbottom seafloor is a common element among sediment-starved portions of the inner continental shelf along the U.S. Atlantic margin. These areas are characterized by indurated sediment surfaces that are heavily altered by biological and physical processes. Long Bay, in northeastern South Carolina, offers ideal environmental conditions for hardbottom exposure with only patchy Holocene sand deposits, interspersed with extensive hardbottom areas. Here we use high-resolution multibeam bathymetry, CHIRP subbottom profiling and electrical resistivity data, along with surficial sediment samples, hardbottom thin sections, and water column radioisotope (radon-222) analysis to investigate the origin and geologic framework of a region of hardbottom seafloor …

Geophysical Delineation Of Megaporosity And Fluid Migration Pathways For Geohazard Characterization Within The Delaware Basin, Culberson County, Texas, Jonathan David Woodard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Differential dissolution of gypsum karst within the Delaware Basin poses a significant threat to infrastructure that society depends on. The study area is located in Culberson County, Texas and traverses a distance of approximately 54 kilometers along RM 652 within the Gypsum Plain which is situated on the northern margin of the Chihuahua Desert and includes outcrops of Castile and Rustler strata that host karst geohazards. Regions of karst geohazard potential have been physically surveyed proximal to the study area in evaporites throughout the Castile Formation outcrop; minimal hazards, in comparison to the Castile Formation, have been documented in …

Cone In Cone Concretions Of The Stanley Group In Southeastern Oklahoma, Kyle B. Ayres

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cone in cone concretions found in the Stanley Group of Southeastern Oklahoma have a variety of external and internal attributes which allow diagenetic and theoretical models of formation to be hypothesized. Stanley Group carbonate cone in cone concretions are initially formed in sulfur reducing horizons at shallow burial depths in a poorly circulated possibly deep trough containing siliceous sediments and organic matter. Collected concretions near the town of Smithville, Oklahoma displayed four different external morphologies and four variations of mineral constituents. All concretions contained microscopic cones which initiated diffusion and/or fluid patterns and is an early cementation process that directly …

An Investigation Of Hydrogeologic, Stratigraphic, And Structural Controls On Acer Grandidentatum Communities In A Karst Landscape, Owl Mountain Province, Fort Hood Military Installation, Texas, Melinda S. Faulkner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Owl Mountain Province is located within the Fort Hood Military Installation, an approximately 880 km2 installation established in the 1940s in Bell and Coryell counties, Texas, which has undergone extensive land use changes associated with military training, maintaining much of the vegetation in early succession. This study investigates thelithologic, stratigraphic, and structural controls on the hydrologic, hydrogeologic, and geomorphologic evolution of the Owl Mountain Province as expressed by mesic vegetation communities, including Pleistocene relicts Acer grandidentatum, within karst terrains. These systems exhibit complexly overprinted speleogenetic evolutions within a dynamic groundwater regime resulting from regional climate shifts throughout the …

The Stratigraphic Position Of Fossil Vertebrates From The Pojoaque Member Of The Tesuque Formation (Middle Miocene, Late Barstovian) Near Española, New Mexico, Garrett R. Williamson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The stratigraphy of the Pojoaque Member of the Tesuque Formation near Española, NM is not well understood. This region, during the Middle Miocene, represented a dynamic alluvial fan-fluvial-lacustrine environment within the Española Basin while the Rio Grande Rift was active. Cavazza (1986) identified two paleodrainage systems (lithosome A, basin-margin facies and B, basin-floor facies) by means of sandstone and conglomerate petrology, paleocurrent, and sedimentary facies analyses. After x-ray diffraction analyses of claystones within lithosome B, mordenite was discovered, which is a zeolite mineral commonly found within volcanic rocks. This is significant because the presence of mordenite confirms Cavazza’s (1986) conclusion …

Evaluation Of Groundwater Quality In Paleozoic Aquifers Using Gis Techniques, Central Texas, Garrett R. Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lab analyses of groundwater chemistry from monitoring wells completed in the Paleozoic Aquifers surrounding the Llano Uplift of Central Texas has been recorded and made available to the public through the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB). This study evaluated the results of these data dating back to the 1940s to determine changes over time, the dynamics of the hydrologic system, and the locations where hydraulic connectivity is most probable. The initial results established two distinct hydrologic systems that required the separation of the northern from the southern region. The northern sub-region (NSR) contains the largest expanse of continuity of both …

Source Apportionment Of Atmospheric Particulate Matter In Developing Countries Using Trace Elements And Stable Metal Isotope Ratios, Nitika Dewan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The work presented herein details the source apportionment of atmospheric particulate matter in developing countries (Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, metropolitan cities in Northern India, and Shenzhen in China) using trace elements and stable metal isotope ratios. The first study focused on the development of a novel method for the concomitant separation of rare-earth elements in environmental samples of any geological origin. The separation procedure is based on three extraction chromatographic materials, referred to as Sr.Spec, TRU.Spec, and Ln.Spec. This triple column arrangement enables the simultaneous isolation of pure Sr and Nd fractions in less than one day and with great …

Using Kriging, Cokriging, And Gis To Visualize Fe And Mn In Groundwater, Crystal Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For aesthetic, economic, and health-related reasons, allowable concentrations of iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) found present in drinking water are 0.3 mg/L and 0.05 mg/L, respectively. Water samples taken from private drinking wells in the rural communities within Buncombe County, North Carolina contain amounts of these metals in concentrations higher than the suggested limits. This study focused on bedrock geology, elevation, saprolite thickness, and well depth to determine factors affecting Fe and Mn. Using ArcGIS 10.2, spatial trends in Fe and Mn concentrations ranges were visualized, and estimates of the metal concentrations were interpolated to unmonitored areas. Results from this …