Geochemistry Commons^™

Geothermometry Of Two Cascade Geothermal Systems, Donnel Alexander Malkemus

Dissertations and Theses

For this thesis I applied classical and multi-component geothermometry techniques to new water chemistry data from Breitenbush Hot Springs, Oregon and the Wind River Valley, Washington. A total of 20 well, spring, and stream samples from Breitenbush Hot Springs and 4 spring samples from the Wind River Valley were collected and analyzed for major, minor, and select trace anions and cations, as well as stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopes. I used two computer programs, GeoT and RTEst, to conduct multi-component geothermometry reservoir condition estimation on each water sample. Water chemistry data from Breitenbush Hot Springs indicates a range of thermal, …

Characterizing Crystal Populations For The Petrogenesis Of The Post-Collapse Rhyolites In The Long Valley Caldera, California, William Joseph

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Post-collapse rhyolites of the Long Valley in eastern California are the product of remelting of crystal mush bodies via mafic rejuvenation following the eruption of the Bishop Tuff. This is supported by mineral textures and major element geochemistry from the Resurgent Dome rhyolite, the Moat rhyolite, the Hot Creek Flow, and the Deer Mountain rhyolite. New 40Ar/39Ar eruptive ages are reported for the Moat rhyolites (525 ka, 333 ka, 118 – 94 ka), Hot Creek Flow (312 – 295 ka), and the Deer Mountain rhyolite (65 ka). The initial post-collapse eruptions, resulting in the Resurgent Dome rhyolite, appear to be …

Temporal Co2 Variations And The Influence Of Bat Colonies In Speleogenesis: Continuous Co2 Monitoring In War Eagle Cavern, Arkansas, Ginny Sue Holcomb

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dissolved concentrations of CO2 in a karst aquifer are a major control on calcite dissolutional processes, as CO2 combines chemically with water to form carbonic acid. As increasing amounts of CO2 are added to the system, greater resultant water aggressivity generates greater rates of dissolution. Spatial and temporal variations in carbon flux through the system may occur over a range of time scales, and high-resolution data collection is needed to truly understand and characterize such variability. Continuous CO2 monitoring in War Eagle Cavern, Arkansas, will suggest a number of influential parameters with varying degrees of importance throughout an annual cycle. …

Characterization Of Rare Earth Elements In Weathered Coal Combustion Products, Brendon Gordon Tucker

Theses and Dissertations

The economic interest in Rare Earth Elements (REEs) has directed research into the REE content of fresh Combustion Products (CCPs). CCPs are the solid waste produced by coal combustion, which have been noted to weather rapidly in holding ponds to clays that are known to bind up REEs. Sequential leaching experiments using a modified version of Tessier et al. 1979 method were performed to determine the chemical association of the REE content in fresh and weathered CCPs. The leachate of each step was analyzed through ICPMS to determine the REE content in each fraction of the CCP material. Morphological changes …

Synthesis And Carbonation Of Nanocrystalline Fayalite (Fe2sio4), Joshua Manley

Theses and Dissertations

The limited availability of fayalite on Earth has led to the use of synthetic fayalite in studies requiring iron rich olivine. The method presented in Part II is a novel modification of previous sol-gel techniques that produced nanofayalite. This new method uses a different set of reactants that eliminates several steps from the previous method, thus saving time while producing a similar result. Presented in Part III is a scoping experiment investigating carbonation of nanofayalite using slight modification from techniques of previous studies involving nanoforsterite. No previous studies have examined the carbonation of nanofayalite. While it is expected that experimental …

Using Geochemistry And Strontium Isotopic Ratios (87sr/86sr) To Determining Water Mixing And Sources In The Picher Mining District, William Daniel Ketcheside

Theses and Dissertations

The mining of lead and zinc ores in the Tri-State Mining District of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma resulted in some of the most severe environmental degradation in the country. Large amounts of waste rock, known as ‘chat’, were produced during mining and left in surface piles in the surrounding area. These chat piles, located mostly near the town of Picher, Oklahoma contain potentially harmful elements that can be leached from the rock into local streams and sediment. The mines also filled with water after mining ceased and have discharged contaminated water to nearby waterways, as well as resulted in groundwater …

Record Of Massive Upwellings From The Pacific Large Low Shear Velocity Province, Pilar Madrigal, Esteban Gazel, Kennet E. Flores, Michael Bizimis, Brian Jicha

Faculty Publications

Large igneous provinces, as the surface expression of deep mantle processes, play a key role in the evolution of the planet. Here we analyse the geochemical record and timing of the Pacific Ocean Large Igneous Provinces and preserved accreted terranes to reconstruct the history of pulses of mantle plume upwellings and their relation with a deep-rooted source like the Pacific large low-shear velocity Province during the Mid-Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous. Petrological modelling and geochemical data suggest the need of interaction between these deep-rooted upwellings and mid-ocean ridges in pulses separated by ∼10–20 Ma, to generate the massive volumes of melt …

Abrupt Ocean Anoxia During The Late Ordovician Mass Extinction Detected Using Uranium Isotopes Of Marine Carbonates, Rickey Bartlett, Maya Elrick, Yemane Asmerom, Viorel Atudorei

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Ordovician witnessed an explosion in marine biodiversity punctuated by the first of the ‘big-5’ Phanerozoic mass extinctions, the Late Ordovician mass extinction (LOME). The LOME consists of two discrete pulses occurring at the beginning and end of the Hirnantian. Lithologic and geochemical evidence suggests widespread marine anoxia triggered the second LOME pulse; however, most of these redox proxies record local bottom water or porewater conditions rather than global seawater conditions. To evaluate global redox trends, we utilize uranium (U) isotopes and trace element geochemistry of marine carbonates as a global marine redox proxy.

Bulk carbonate samples were collected from …

Abundance Of Archaias Angulatus On The West Florida Coast Indicates The Influence Of Carbonate Alkalinity Over Salinity, Sean Thomas Beckwith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Archaias angulatus, a large symbiont-bearing foraminifer (Order Miliolida) that produces a Mg-calcite shell, is common throughout the Caribbean and warm western Atlantic region. This species lives abundantly in seagrass beds along the Springs Coast of northwest Florida (up to 4 adults per gram of sediment) where spring-fed rivers emerge from a limestone aquifer, and in Florida Bay to the southeast (25 adults/g) where the sediment is primarily biogenic carbonate. In contrast, live specimens are seldom found in the seagrass beds along the central-west coast of Florida, where barrier islands are dominated by quartz sand. My working hypothesis is that substratum …

A Complex Legacy Of Contamination In Urban Estuarine Systems, Michael A. Kruge

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Industrialized urban waterways have typically suffered decades of contamination, varying in source and intensity as manufacturing and transportation practices evolved. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designates locales with particularly severe contamination as Superfund sites. Among these, the Gowanus Canal and lower Passaic River in the New York/New Jersey harbor estuary illustrate a complex range of contamination types.

The 2.2 km Gowanus Canal, with sluggish circulation driven mostly by tides, accumulated fine-grained sediments (average thickness of 3 m) highly enriched in organic carbon (OC, mean 11 % but up to 49 %) derived from hydrocarbons, sewage, coal, char, and biomass, along …

Surficial Geology Of York College Campus (Queens) And Montauk Point (Long Island): An Open Access To Geoscience Education, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Stanley Schleifer, Krishna Mahabir, Erik Menjivar, Ality Aghedo, Dennis Baidoo, Tenzin Choeying, Vanessa Erwin, Jonathan Xavier, Laboni Molla, Akeed Alrubay

Publications and Research

To evaluate compositional and textural differences among the samples collected from York College (YC) campus (Queens), Montauk Point (MP) and Hither Hills (HH), Long Island, emphasis is given to the general geologic setting, overall grain size distribution, and relative abundances of light and heavy mineral assemblages. Geologic setting encompasses outwash plains (York College), fluvioglacial and glacial (Montauk Point) and beach and dune complex (Hither Hills). YC samples were collected from depth ranging 40 cm to 250 cm and are mostly an assortment of medium to coarse sand, granule to cobble sized, minor silt, and clay. Presence of low angle cross …

Compositional Diversity In Arcs: A Record Of Magmatic Processes In The Peru Coastal Batholith, Ica, Ana Maria Martinez Ardila

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Peruvian granitic plutons display evidence for crustal recycling and magma mixing. Evidence of physical and chemical processes operating during the formation of the Ica-Pisco complexes involves magma mixing and mingling as result of felsic and mafic interactions. Evidence of crustal recycling was identified from kilometer-scale cauldron subsidence, meter and centimeter-scale -stoping, and disaggregation. At the petrographic microscope scale, evidence for recycling and mixing between mantle and crustal magma during crystallization is found from disequilibrium features such as reaction rims, resorbed cores, and patchy zoning. Elemental and isotope geochemistry data indicate that mantle magmas have incorporated continental crust material from varying …

Interpreting Southern California Arc Geochemistry By Multivariate And Spatial Methods, Lance R. Pompe

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Exploratory data analysis methods of multivariate statistical techniques and spatial visualization are emerging trends in understanding big datasets. In this project, these techniques are applied to a large igneous geochemical dataset from the southern California segment of the Mesozoic Cordilleran arc to better understand magmatic and plate tectonic processes at a subduction zone. A set of 287 granitic samples collected by Baird and Miesch (1984) from the Peninsular Ranges batholith is analyzed for 38 geochemical elements. Patterns in both the geochemical variation and the spatial variation of this dataset are explored. Since geochemical data are compositional in nature, special treatment …

High-Resolution Signatures Of Oxygenation And Microbiological Activity In Speleothem Fluid Inclusions, Nigel Blamey, Penelope J. Boston, Laura Rosales-Lagarde

International Journal of Speleology

Speleothems frequently host “fossil” fluids that were trapped in small inclusions during growth. Such fluids may provide valuable clues to past microbial, geochemical, and climatic processes during their formation. However, one difficulty is to understand which gases represent background atmosphere and fluids within a given cave system at a particular time, and which may be the product of post-trapping residual microbial activity or abiotic chemical reactions? Do we have any hope of sorting out these differences? The success depends on a quantitative understanding of the gas composition trapped in the inclusions and an understanding of the interactions of cave mineralogy, …

Belowground Rhizomes In Paleosols: The Hidden Half Of An Early Devonian Vascular Plant, Jinzhuang Xue, Zhenzhen Deng, Pu Huang, Kangjun Huang, Michael J. Benton, Ying Cui

Dartmouth Scholarship

The colonization of terrestrial environments by rooted vascular plants had far-reaching impacts on the Earth system. However, the belowground structures of early vascular plants are rarely documented, and thus the plant−soil interactions in early terrestrial ecosystems are poorly understood. Here we report the earliest rooted paleosols (fossil soils) in Asia from Early Devonian deposits of Yunnan, China. Plant traces are extensive within the soil and occur as complex network-like structures, which are interpreted as representing long-lived, belowground rhizomes of the basal lycopsid Drepanophycus. The rhizomes produced large clones and helped the plant survive frequent sediment burial in well-drained soils …

Development And Curation Of The Sample Data Library For The Astrobiogeochemistry Laboratory, Meika R. Nwaomah, Lorenia Jimenez, Michael Tuite

STAR Program Research Presentations

In 2011, the National Science Foundation (NSF) initiated EarthCube, an integrated cyber infrastructure initiative, to tackle challenges within geoscience research. EarthCube’s goal is to improve public access and collaboration within the geoscience community. During the summer of 2015, the Astrobiogeochemistry Laboratory (abcLab) joined the collective efforts of EarthCube by developing the Sample Data Library (SDL) for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The main focus of the SDL concentrates on effectively curating the samples collected by researchers within the Planetary Chemistry and Astrobiology section at JPL. The goal of this summer internship was to assimilate field notes, images, and from data …

A Tribute To Thomas M. Church: Exploring Chemical Oceanography In The Coastal Zone-The History And Future, Gregory A. Cutter, David J. Burdige

OES Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) One can find different historical perspectives on the development of studying the chemistry of oceans as well as names for this study—marine chemistry, chemistry of the sea, marine aquatic chemistry, marine biogeochemistry, or chemical oceanography. It could be argued that chemical oceanography is the most inclusive for an earth science since oceanography itself is an integrated discipline that links the biology, chemistry, geology, and physics together. Regardless of the name, perhaps the first intensive, modern/post-nineteenth century study of the ocean’s chemistry was the GEOSECS Program from ca. 1970–1978. The significance of GEOSECS was that it examined the chemistry …

Geologic, Geochemical, And Geophysical Characterization Of The Gold Deposits Of The Horseshoe Bend Mining District, Idaho: Building A Four Dimensional Model For Ore Exploration, Joshua Ekhoff

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The Eocene aged Trans-Challis Fault System of central Idaho provides the tectonic and magmatic framework for a series of Au-Ag and Cu-Mo ore deposits. From its northernmost extension near Butte, Montana to its southwestern terminus in the Boise Basin of south-central Idaho the Trans-Challis Fault System is associated with some of the richest precious metal deposits found in Idaho. However, the southernmost tip of the Trans-Challis Fault System, composed of the Horseshoe Bend and Pearl mining districts, remains understudied, receiving little economic or academic attention. As a result, how the Pearl to Horseshoe Bend mining districts fit within the established …

Pre-Eruptive Timescales And Processes Of Large Shallow Magma Systems Revealed By Compositional Variability In Silicic Ignimbrites, Amanda C. Laib

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Intracontinental magmas are stored at shallow crustal depths and commonly produce compositionally variable deposits when erupted. A core objective of igneous petrology is to understand the processes and pathways by which these magmas are generated and differentiated. Despite decades of research, debate persists regarding the comparative effects of processes like assimilation, fractional crystallization, and magma mixing in the production of compositional zonation. There are two end member hypotheses of how compositional variability develops in pre-eruptive magma bodies; one proposes long-term storage and crystal fractionation of a mafic or intermediate parent magma, while the other proposes a more transient system resulting …

Protracted Thrusting Followed By Late Rapid Cooling Of The Greater Himalayan Sequence, Annapurna Himalaya, Central Nepal: Insights From Titanite Petrochronology, Jesse Bennett Walters

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Temperature-time (T-t) paths derived from coupled Zr-in-titanite thermometry and U-Pb geochronology are useful for examining middle-crustal tectonic processes. T-t data collected from the titanite-bearing calcsilicates of the upper Greater Himalayan Sequence (GHS) along the Marsyandi River, Annapurna Himalaya, illustrate a significantly different metamorphic history than previously recorded in central Nepal. Combined with traditional thermobarometry, textural relationships, and field mapping, titanite T-t data reveal a protracted history of mid-crustal tectonics. Peak Zr-in-titanite temperatures are 750-850 °C at 10-14 kbar. T-t paths are divided into two groups, which are separated by the Chame Shear Zone (CSZ). Group I (upper) rocks show cooling …

Chlorine Demand Shows Thresholds And Hierarchy With Source Water Quality At Beaver Lake, Arkansas, Jaime M. Gile

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of source water quality in Beaver Lake on the amount of chlorine (Cl) needed to develop decision support system to help guide chlorination practices in pre-treatment of source water. Chlorine demand assays were performed on water samples from Beaver Lake collected from the intake structure at Beaver Water District from March 2014 through August 2015, and using data from these assays, the two points of interest in this study were the Cl dose at which Cl residuals began to accumulate and the mean Cl demand occurring after that dose. Three methods of analysis were used …

The Role Of The Picuris Orogeny In The Tectonic Evolution Of Proterozoic North America, Ruth Frances Aronoff

Open Access Dissertations

North America is a continent that has grown over time by horizontal attachment of material onto its margins. Studying the process of continental growth in the geologic past gives insight into fundamental components of plate tectonics, and sheds light onto processes at work at modern plate boundaries, in which mid- and lower-crustal rocks are generally hidden from view.

This study focuses on the growth of North America during the Proterozoic. Researchers have debated the role of three orogenies in shaping the southwestern margin of North America: the ∼1.80-1.60 Ga Yavapai and Mazatzal orogenies, and the newly recognized ∼1.40 Ga Picuris …

The Role Of Diagenesis In Reservoir Development Of The Big Clifty (Jackson) Sandstone In South-Central Kentucky, Kort H. Butler

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The Big Clifty is a Chesterian-age Mississippian sandstone member of the Golconda Formation that extends from south-central Kentucky into adjacent Illinois and Indiana. Asphaltic deposits and conventional petroleum plays are distributed along the Pennyrile Fault System and Plateau in the southeastern portion of the Illinois basin. In south-central Kentucky anomalous oil-saturation geometries are observed in cored sections of the Big Clifty from wells in Warren and Butler counties along the margin of the Pennyrile Plateau. Petrographic study of the cores has revealed several diagenetic processes that have contributed to, or are directly responsible for, the anomalous oil saturation geometries and …

Evaluating The Influences Of Karst Hydrogeology On Freshwater Harmful Algal Blooms In Kentucky Lakes, Robert T. Schaefer

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A problem exists in Nolin River Lake and Rough River Lake in Kentucky, due to the increasing prevalence of cyanobacterial-based harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) and the threats they pose to local communities. These lakes were developed as artificial reservoirs from embankment. Further complicating the issue, the lakes are located within a heavily karstified region and there exists no plan or method currently for monitoring or managing CyanoHABs in a karst region with regard to groundwater inputs to the lake systems or their tributaries. A mixture of techniques and analysis methods was used to determine the best way to monitor and …

Proportions Of Convective And Stratiform Precipitation Revealed In Water Isotope Ratios, Pradeep K. Aggarwal, Ulrike Romatschke, Luis Araguas-Araguas, Dagnachew Belachew, Fred J. Longstaffe, Peter Berg, Courtney Schumacher, Aaron Funk

Earth Sciences Publications

Tropical and midlatitude precipitation is fundamentally of two types, spatially-limited and high-intensity convective or widespread and lower-intensity stratiform, owing to differences in vertical air motions and microphysical processes governing rain formation. These processes are difficult to observe or model and precipitation partitioning into rain types is critical for understanding how the water cycle responds to climate changes. Here, we combine two independent data sets – convective and stratiform precipitation fractions, derived from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite or synoptic cloud observations, and stable isotope and tritium compositions of surface precipitation, derived from a global network – to show that …

Structure And Geochronology Of The White Fork Pluton, Southern Sierra Nevada, Ian Richard Mahaffey

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

The Sierra Nevada batholith represents an archetypal continental arc, although the style of deformation throughout the history of the arc is only poorly understood, in part due to the voluminous nature of Late Cretaceous magmatism that has overprinted earlier structures. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of pre-Late Cretaceous deformation in the Sierra Nevada batholith through a structural and geochronological study of the Jurassic White Fork pluton. A Jurassic age for the White Fork pluton is indicated by its inclusion of numerous 148 Ma Independence dikes, and geochronology on the White Fork pluton is limited …

A Hydrochemical Assessment Of Groundwater Recharge And Flow In The Broome Sandstone Aquifer, La Grange Area, Western Australia, Glenn A. Harrington, Nikki M. Harrington

Natural resources commissioned reports

The Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia has undertaken a four-year Royalties for Regions funded project in the La Grange Groundwater Area south of Broome. The purpose of the project was to provide improved knowledge and confidence about soil suitability and water availability for potential expansion of irrigated agriculture in the region. A range of complementary techniques have been used to assess the groundwater resources in the Broome Sandstone aquifer, including contemporary approaches such as drilling and aquifer pumping tests, and state-of-the-art approaches such as airborne geophysical surveys and hydrochemistry investigations.

This report presents a synthesis of all hydrochemistry …

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 …