Geochemistry Commons^™

Support For Infiltration And Seepage Studies In Exploratory Studies Facility Niches And Alcoves, Irene Farnham, Klaus J. Stetzenbach, Amy J. Smiecinski

Publications (YM)

This report details the analyses performed under Task 9 of the University and Community College System of Nevada (UCCSN) Cooperative Agreement with the US Department of Energy (DOE). This task, titled "Analysis of Chemical Tracers in Conjunction with the Vadose Zone Infiltration and Seepage Studies", provided for the development of analytical procedures and the analysis of samples from a tracer test currently in progress at Alcove 8 /Niche 3 in the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF). The concentration of two tracers (bromide andpentafluorobenzoic acid) were quantified in the initial injectate solution and also the seepage samples collected from Niche 3. Samples …

Organic Geochemical Analysis Of Late-Glacial And Early-Holocene Ecosystem Changes: A Case Study From Northern New England Lakes, Michael A. Kruge, Andrea Lini

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The lacustrine sedimentary archive of organic remains provides important evidence for the reconstruction of the environmental histories of lakes and their watersheds, recording the response of the Earth's biota to changes on scales varying from the local to the global. The last Glacial-Interglacial transition presents an opportunity to investigate how, and at what rates, watershed and lake ecosystems were established on once glaciated, carbon and nutrient-poor landscapes. The small lakes of northern Vermont (USA) provide an appropriate setting in which to investigate such changes.

As part of a multidisciplinary study of three Vermont lake sediment cores, samples ranging in age …

Thermochronological Evolution Of Calcite Formation At The Proposed Yucca Mountain Repository Site, Nevada: Part 1, Secondary Mineral Paragenesis And Geochemistry, Jean S. Cline, Amy J. Smiecinski, Robert Bodnar

Publications (YM)

In the near future a decision will be made as to whether or not Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada is a suitable site for a permanent, underground, high level nuclear waste repository. A major factor in determining the suitability of Yucca Mountain as a repository is the potential for the site to be flooded by water during the regulatory lifetime. The current study was undertaken to examine the past fluid history at the site, to gain a better understanding of the possibility of flooding in the near geologic future. To estimate the past fluid flux into …

Chemical, Isotopic, And Hydrogeologic Investigations Of An Agriculturally Impacted Area, Nottawa Creek Watershed, Calhoun County, Michigan, Gerald A. Unterreiner

Dissertations

A 4 km2 agricultural area within the somewhat poorly drained Nottawa Creek Watershed, south central Michigan, was investigated to help understand transport and transformation processes of nutrients and herbicides to surface water. Geology o f the study area is comprised of a thin glacial drift cover overlying shale bedrock. A one layer, two-dimensional numerical triangular finite element groundwater flow model was developed to evaluate regional groundwater flow. Selected horizontal hydraulic conductivities ranged from 3 x 10‘3 m/day to 107 m/day. Field-scale infiltration modeling with the computer program GLEAMS, substantiated with water level measurements, suggest significant recharge events occur during summer, …

Nitrate Anomaly In The Upper Nutricline In The Northern South China Sea - Evidence For Nitrogen Fixation, George T. F. Wong, Shi-Wei Chung, Fuh-Kwo Shiah, Chung-Chi Chen, Liang-Saw Wen, Kon-Kee Liu

OES Faculty Publications

[1] Up to 2 μM of nitrate anomaly, N*, were found in the upper nutricline at the South East Asia Time-series Study (SEATS) site in the northern South China Sea (SCS). These concentrations were among the higher values reported in the Pacific and indicate the significant contribution of the remineralization of nitrogen-rich organic matter formed by nitrogen fixation to the nutrient dynamics of the area. The concentrations were systematically higher, by up to 2.5 μM, in the Fall through the early Spring, during the northeast monsoon, than in the Summer, suggesting that the impact of nitrogen fixation was higher during …

The Use Of A Synthetic Binary Solid Solution To Model Igneous Textural Evolution, Elizabeth Scott

Geology Theses and Dissertations

Crystallization experiments using a synthetic igneous analog have shown that grain boundary migration can take place in melt-present environments (Means and Park, 1994). In order to evaluate the importance of metamorphic processes during the textural evolution of a crystal mush, microstructural evidence is needed to link them with final igneous textures. In natural magmatic systems, plagioclase may provide a microstructural link; plagioclase solid solution enables the process of chemical zoning and preserves a record of crystal morphology (and chemistry) during growth. If metamorphic processes are common, they should affect the zoning patterns of plagioclase crystals.
A petrographic stage heater apparatus …

Development Of A Circa 2000 Landcover Database For The United States, Collin Homer, Chengquan Huang, Limin Yang, Bruce K. Wylie

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Multi-Resolution Land Characterization 2000 (MRLC 2000) is a second-generation federal consortium to create an updated pool of nation-wide Landsat 7 imagery, and derive a second-generation National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2000). This multi-layer, multisource database will include a suite of 30-meter resolution data that will serve as standardized ingredients for the production of land cover – both nationally and locally. This database will also provide the framework to allow flexibility in developing and applying suites of independent data layers. These nationally standardized independent data layers or components, will be useful not only within the land-cover classification but as data themes …

Derivation Of A Tasseled Cap Transformation Based On Landsat 7 At-Satellite Reflectance, C. Huang, Bruce K. Wylie, Limin Yang, Collin Homer, Gregory Zylstra

United States Geological Survey: Publications

A new tasseled cap transformation based on Landsat 7 at-satellite reflectance was developed. This transformation is most appropriate for regional applications where atmospheric correction is not feasible. The brightness, greenness and wetness of the derived transformation collectively explained over 97% of the spectral variance of the individual scenes used in this study.

Assessment Of Elemental Concentrations In Streams Of The New Lead Belt In Southeastern Missouri, 2002–05, William G. Brumbaugh, Thomas W. May, John M. Besser, Ann L. Allert, Christopher J. Schmitt

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Concerns about possible effects of lead-mining activities on the water quality of federally protected streams located in southeastern Missouri prompted a suite of multidisciplinary studies to be conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey. As part of this investigation, a series of biological studies were initiated in 2001 for streams in the current mining region and the prospecting area. In this report, results are examined for trace elements and other selected chemical measurements in sediment, surface water, and sediment interstitial (pore) water sampled between 2002 and 2005 in association with these biological studies. Compared to reference sites, fine sediments collected downstream …

Strontium Isotopic Signatures Of The Streams And Lakes Of Taylor Valley, Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica: Chemical Weathering In A Polar Climate, W. B. Lyons, Carmen A. Nezat, Larry V. Benson, Thomas D. Bullen, Elizabeth Y. Graham, Jesicca Kidd, Kathleen A. Welch, James M. Thomas

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We have collected and analyzed a series of water samples from three closed-basin lakes (Lakes Bonney, Fryxell, and Hoare) in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, and the streams that flow into them. In all three lakes, the hypolimnetic waters have different ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios than the surface waters, with the deep water of Lakes Fryxell and Hoare being less radiogenic than the surface waters. The opposite occurs in Lake Bonney. The Lake Fryxell isotopic ratios are lower than modern-day ocean water and most of the whole-rock ratios of the surrounding geologic materials. A conceivable source of Sr to the system …

The Meeting Of Two Microbial Worlds: Geochemistry Of The Sulfate-Methane Interface, Walter S. Borowski, Charles K. Paull, William Ussler Iii

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Intra-Annual Variation In The Stable Oxygen And Carbon And Trace Element Composition Of Sclerosponges, P. K. Swart, S. Thorrold, B. Rosenheim, A. Eisenhauer, C. G. A. Harriason, M. Grammer, C. Latkoczy

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

This paper presents data to support the presence of (1) intra-annual signals in the chemical composition (δ¹⁸O and Sr/Ca) of the skeletons ofsclerosponges from the Bahamas and (2) variable rates of skeletal accretion. These conclusions are based on data obtained by using a microsampling method for the stable oxygen and carbon isotopes in which material was extracted at a resolution of one sample every 34 μm and a laser microprobe which obtained trace element data every 20 μm (Sr, Mg, and Pb). An age model was established using a combination of changes in the concentration of Pb, the …

From Sand To Sandstone: Documenting The Total Change During Diagenesis, Wilfrido Solano-Acosta

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study is to provide a more comprehensive picture of sandstone diagenesis from a different perspective; starting from an analog sand serving as a precursor of a lithified sandstone.

The Petrology And Geochemistry Of Volcán Huaynaputina, Southern Peru, Steven R. Schubring

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The 1600 eruption of Vol can Huaynaputina in Southern Peru was one of the largest historic eruptions (VEl 6). The eruption proceeded in three stages containing the same mineral assemblage of plagioclase>homblende>biotite> Fe-Ti oxides±apatite. Differences in crystal content, vesicularity, volatile content, temperature estimates, and the presence of disequilibrium textures have brought into question the petrogenesis of the 1600 eruption products. This work strives to quantify the pre- and syn-eruption magmatic conditions in order to ascertain the petrogenesis of the eruption products. Stage I was less evolved(~ 73% Si02), volatile rich (:S 5.3% H20), crystal poor (17- 26 wt. …

The Distribution Of Airborne Coal Dust In Soil Profiles Of Norfolk, Va And Its Implication For Arsenic Loading To These Soils, William Joseph Bounds

OES Theses and Dissertations

Norfolk, Virginia is home to the Northern Hemisphere's largest coal terminal the Lamberts Point Docks. The coal loading process of this terminal creates large amounts of coal dust, which subsequently is distributed throughout the local region by atmospheric transport and deposition. While the coal dust itself poses only minor health hazards, certain trace elements within the coal, particularly arsenic, may pose environmental as well as significant health hazards. Within coal, arsenic occurs primarily in the mineral pyrite. As pyrite in the coal dust is subsequently oxidized via exposure to the atmosphere and/or meteoric water, arsenic may be released to the …

Carbon Dynamics In Peat Bogs: Insights From Substrate Macromolecular Chemistry, Kuder Tomasz, Michael A. Kruge

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The macromolecular compositions of subfossil plants from boreal Sphagnum bogs and restiad bogs (New Zealand) have been studied by pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to evaluate the extent of degradation in the anoxic zone (catotelm) of a peat bog. Degradation of vascular plant polysaccharides was apparent only into the upper catotelm. Sphagnum was degraded more slowly than vascular plants, but no cessation of degradation was observed. The inferred rate of degradation varied depending on type of plant, extent of aerobic, precatotelmic degradation, and mode of litter deposition (rooting versus at the surface). Environmental forcing on anaerobic carbon dynamics would potentially be largest …

An Environmental Geochemical Study Of Connecticut Marsh Sediments, Nicole A. Heller, Michael A. Kruge, Johan C. Varekamp, Tabitha Zierzow

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Core material from Spartina-dominated Housatonic and Connecticut River estuarine sites (ranging from low to high marsh) were investigated in order to test the hypothesis that organic and inorganic pollutants preferentially accumulate in the low marsh environment. Radiometric data indicate that the low marsh setting experienced sedimentation rates an order of magnitude greater than that of the mid to high marsh. The low marsh sediments from the Housatonic tend to have significantly higher concentrations of trace metals (e.g., Cu and Zn, likely contributed by brass mills formerly active upstream). Petrographic examination of the samples under reflected white and blue light …

At-Satellite Reflectance: A First Order Normalization Of Landsat 7 Etm+ Images, Chengquan Huang, Limin Yang, Collin Homer, Bruce K. Wylie, James E. Vogelmann, Thomas Defelice

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Regional Landsat applications often rely on clear and near cloud-free images. With the spectral value being represented by digital number (DN), however, such images contain substantial noises. A significant proportion of such noises can be normalized by converting the DN to at-satellite reflectance value. Being physically based and ready to automate, the conversion method can serve as a first order normalization of Landsat 7 images, making it possible to derive land surface information from such images more consistently.

A Strategy For Estimating Tree Canopy Density Using Landsat 7 Etm+ And High Resolution Images Over Large Areas, C. Huang, Limin Yang, Bruce K. Wylie, Collin Homer

United States Geological Survey: Publications

INTRODUCTION

The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) consortium was initiated in early 1990s to address the need for consistently developed national and regional land cover data (Loveland and Shaw, 1996). Through this consortium, a 1992-vintage National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) was developed for the conterminous United States (Vogelmann et al., 2001), and a second generation National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD 2000) will be developed using 2000-vintage Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images and ancillary data. The 2000 NLCD will consist of a suite of data layers relevant to many applications, including a tree canopy density layer describing percentage of …

Data Report: Carbon Isotopic Composition Of Dissolved Co2, Co2 Gas, And Methane, Blake-Bahama Ridge And Northeast Bermuda Rise, Odp Leg 172, Walter S. Borowski, Namik Cagatay, Y Tournois, Charles K. Paull

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Carbon isotopic data of interstitial dissolved CO2 (ΣCO2), CO2 gas, and methane show that a variety of microbial diagenetic processes produce the observed isotopic trends. Anaerobic methane oxidation (AMO) is an important process near the sulfate-methane interface (SMI) that strongly influences the isotopic composition of ΣCO2 in the sulfate reduction and upper methanogenic zones, which in turn impacts methane isotopic composition. Dissolved CO2 and methane are maximally depleted in 3C near the SMI, where C values are as light as –31.8‰ and –101‰ PDB for ΣCO2 and methane, respectively. CO2 reduction links the CO2 and methane pools in the methanogenic …

Comparisons Of Gravity Anomalies At Pseudofaults, Fracture Zones, And Nontransform Discontinuities From Fast To Slow Spreading Areas, Sarah E. Kruse, Sarah F. Tebbens, David F. Naar, Qingyuan Y. Lou, Robert T. Bird

Geology Faculty Publications

Published mechanisms for rift tip propagation at spreading centers include extensional deformation and an initial period of slow spreading. We investigate whether the gravity signal and inferred crustal structure at pseudofaults formed in medium to superfast spreading environments resemble the gravity signal at fracture zones or nontransform discontinuities formed in slow spreading environments. We find that altimetry-based gravity anomalies on the Mathematician, Bauer, Easter, Juan Fernandez, and northern Chile Ridge pseudofaults, located in 75–150 mm/yr (full rate) seafloor spreading environments, are similar in amplitude and form to Atlantic fracture zones with 20–30 mm/yr spreading rates. A 5–15 mGal positive mantle …

Biogeochemistry And Contaminant Geochemistry Of Marine And Estuarine Sediments, New Haven, Connecticut (Usa), Michael A. Kruge, Gaboury Benoit

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The urbanized shore areas of Long Island Sound in the vicinity of New Haven, Connecticut (USA) have a long history of exposure to point and non-point sources of pollution, New Haven having been one of the birthplaces of the industrial revolution. As an unintended consequence of such activities, the region's sedimentary systems have incorporated a complex mixture of organic and inorganic contaminants. With its long and varied pollution history and the multiplicity of sedimentary environments (fluvial, estuarine, intertidal, marsh, etc.) present in a compact geographical area, the region is ideal natural laboratory for field testing new contamination assessment techniques. The …

Evolution Of The Kangmar Dome, Southern Tibet: Structural, Petrologic, And Thermochronologic Constraints, Jeffrey Lee, Bradley R. Hacker, William S. Dinklage, Yu Wang, Phillip Gans, Andrew Calvert, Jinglin Wan, Wenji Chen, Ann E. Blythe, William Mcclelland

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Structural, thermobarometric, and thermochronologic investigations of the Kangmar Dome, southern Tibet, suggest that both extensional and contractional deformational histories are preserved within the dome. The dome is cored by an orthogneiss which is mantled by staurolite + kyanite zone metasedimentary rocks; metamorphic grade dies out up section and is defined by a series of concentric kyanite-in, staurolite-in, garnet-in, and chloritoid-in isograds. Three major deformational events, two older penetrative events and a younger doming event, are preserved. The oldest event, D1, resulted in approximately E-W trending tight to isoclinal folds of bedding with an associated moderately to steeply north dipping axial …

Land Cover Trends Dataset, 1973–2000, Christopher E. Soulard, William Acevedo, Roger F. Auch, Terry L. Sohl, Mark A. Drummond, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Daniel G. Sorenson, Steve Kambly, Tamara S. Wilson, Janis L. Taylor, Kristi L. Sayler, Michael P. Stier, Christopher A. Barnes, Steve C. Methven, Thomas R. Loveland, Rachel Headley, Mark S. Brooks

United States Geological Survey: Publications

The U.S. Geological Survey Land Cover Trends Project is releasing a 1973–2000 time-series land-use/land-cover dataset for the conterminous United States. The dataset contains 5 dates of land-use/land-cover data for 2,688 sample blocks randomly selected within 84 ecological regions. The nominal dates of the land-use/land-cover maps are 1973, 1980, 1986, 1992, and 2000. The land-use/land-cover maps were classified manually from Landsat Multispectral Scanner, Thematic Mapper, and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus imagery using a modified Anderson Level I classification scheme. The resulting land-use/land-cover data has a 60-meter resolution and the projection is set to Albers Equal-Area Conic, North American Datum of 1983. …

Determination Of Thermal Maturity And Organic Matter Type By Principal Components Analysis Of The Distributions Of Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds, Michael A. Kruge

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The thermal maturity and organofacies sensitivity of polycyclic aromatic compound (PAC) distributions was explored by examination of the aromatic fractions of solvent extracts from a diverse set of 53 shales, coals and kerogen macerals which have undergone either natural or artificial maturation and which represent all three principal sedimentary organic matter (OM) types. Systematic changes with maturation were observed in the following groups of isomers: tri- and tetramethylnaphthalenes, methyl- and dimethylphenanthrenes, methyl- and dimethyldibenzothiophenes, methylpyrenes, and methylchrysenes. The maturity differences were quantified by mathematical ratios of the relative concentrations of the more thermally stable isomers to the less stable, on …

Multibeam Sonar Backscatter Lineaments And Anthropogenic Organic Components In Lacustrine Silty Clay, Evidence Of Shipping In Western Lake Ontario, C F Michael Lewis, L A. Mayer, Prasanta K. Mukhopadhyay, Michael A. Kruge, John P. Coakley, M D. Smith

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

A multibeam sonar survey (95 kHz) covering more than 500 km² of western Lake Ontario revealed anomalous lineaments of relatively high backscatter. The lineaments did not align with or parallel the most prominent structural zones beneath the lake as expected. Instead, the principal lineaments lay on lines between ports on opposite sides of the lake, especially between Toronto and Welland Canal, and Toronto and Niagara River mouth. As the lineaments underlie current and historical shipping routes used during the steamship era, they are interpreted as an acoustic response to shipping debris cumulated in the near-surface bottom sediment. An exploratory …

Nitrogen Isotopic Composition Of Pore Water Ammonium, Blake Ridge, Site 997, Odp Leg 164, Walter S. Borowski, Charles K. Paull

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Ammonium (NH4 +) concentration profiles in piston-core sediments of the Carolina Rise and Blake Ridge generally have linear concentration profiles within the sulfate reduction zone (Borowski, 1998). Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Site 533, located on the Blake Ridge, also displayed a linear ammonium concentration profile through the sulfate reduction zone and the profile linearity continues into the upper methanogenic zone to a depth of ~200 meters below seafloor (mbsf), where the first methane gas hydrates probably occur (Jenden and Gieskes, 1983; Kvenvolden and Barnard, 1983). Sediments from the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 164 deep holes (Sites 994, 995, …

Significance Of Anaerobic Methane Oxidation In Methane-Rich Sediments Overlying The Blake Ridge Gas Hydrates, Walter S. Borowski, Tori M. Hoehler, Mark J. Alperin, Namcy M. Rodriguez, Charles K. Paull

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

A unique set of geochemical pore-water data, characterizing the sulfate reduction and uppermost methanogenic zones, has been collected at the Blake Ridge (offshore southeastern North America) from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 164 cores and piston cores. The δ13 C values of dissolved CO2(Σ CO2) are as 13 C-depleted as –37.7‰ PDB (Site 995) at the sulfate-methane interface, reflecting a substantial contribution of isotopically light carbon from methane. Although the geochemical system is complex and difficult to fully quantify, we use two methods to constrain and illustrate the intensity of anaerobic methane oxidation in Blake Ridge sediments. An estimate using …

Mineral Paragenesis And Ore Fluids At The Turquoise Ridge Gold Deposit, Nevada, Michiko Shigehiro

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this study, mineral assemblages and related fluid inclusions at the Turquoise Ridge Carlin-type gold deposit were examined to answer the following questions: (1) What is the ore-stage mineral paragenesis? (2) At what pressures and temperatures did the deposits form? (3) What are the sources of ore fluids?

Pyrite with gold, jasperoid quartz, stibnite, orpiment, realgar, and calcite were successively deposited at Turquoise Ridge. Microthermometric data and isotopic ratios of inclusion fluids in ore-related minerals indicate entrapment of multiple generations of fluids in pre-ore, ore-, and late-ore stage minerals. Primary fluid inclusions in an ore-stage jasperoid quartz crystal have salinities …

Zinc Speculation And Ligand Fluxes In Chesapeake Bay And Elizabeth River Pore Waters, Duncan Glover Byers

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Presented here are the first data on the vertical concentrations, complexation, speciation, and fluxes of total dissolved zinc and zinc complexing ligands, and zinc speciation in sediment pore waters in the Chesapeake Bay and Elizabeth River, Virginia.

Sediment pore waters were collected in mid and southern Chesapeake Bay in November 1997 and in the Elizabeth River (Pinner's Point) in March, April, and July 1998. Flux experiments were conducted in Elizabeth River sediment cores in April and July 1998. [TDZn] and zinc complexation were determined using differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry at a hanging mercury drop electrode (DPASV-HMDE).

[TDZn] in the …