Geology Commons^™

Somatic Prosthetics For Planetary Resonance, Disha Dharesh Kumar R

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates how industrial design can transcend extractive technological paradigms in favor of relational interfaces that foster planetary attunement. Framing the climate crisis as a 'crisis of imagination', the research challenges the Western bifurcation of nature and culture by drawing on Indic cosmologies- which recognize stones, plants, and ecosystems as conscious at different levels and participants in a shared cosmic field. By synthesizing research in Biosemiotics, Quantum Information Pansycishm, and Neuroscience, the project redefines intelligence as a distributed, more-than-human phenomenon.

The research materializes as a speculative design artifact: a device that functions as a somatic prosthetic for planetary resonance. …

Using Triple Oxygen Isotopes To Investigate Water Usage In Desert Ecosystems, Cloe V. Knutson

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

In arid environments, maintaining water balance can be more critical for survival than obtaining food. As droughts intensify, understanding how animals manage body water is essential. Triple oxygen isotope analysis provides a novel way to trace water sources in animals, distinguishing contributions from free water, food-derived oxygen, and atmospheric O₂. We developed an equilibration method using CO₂–H₂O oxygen exchange and measured δ^’18O and Δ^’17O values via tunable infrared laser direct spectroscopy (TILDAS). Validated against traditional fluorination methods, this technique enables streamlined analysis of whole blood and plant samples. Applied to …

From Land To Lagoon: The Spatiotemporal Biogeochemical Dynamics Of Arctic Coastal Erosion In Elson Lagoon, Alaska, Sasha Victoria Peterson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

TThe Arctic is warming rapidly, driving widespread environmental change across coastal landscapes, including permafrost thaw, shoreline erosion, and shifts in sediment and carbon dynamics, pose growing challenges for predicting carbon cycling and climate feedbacks. This dissertation investigates the spatiotemporal variability of erosion, decomposition, and nearshore turbidity in Elson Lagoon, Alaska (1955–2023), to better understand how carbon, nitrogen, and sediment are mobilized, transformed, and potentially emitted as greenhouse gases in Arctic coastal systems. Chapter 2 presents a high-resolution analysis of shoreline change and erosion-driven material fluxes spanning nearly seven decades. Drawing on 795 soil data points, airborne LiDAR, and five shoreline …

Spatial Analysis Of American Chestnut (Castanea Dentata) Distribution And Ecology In Kentucky’S Federal Lands, Jacob Raymond Pease

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic factors have been the cause of the decline of tree species across the globe. From unsustainable logging and development to disease and improper management, threats to forests have taken their toll. The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was once an integral basal tree species in Appalachian forests, but chestnut blight drove the species to functional extinction by the mid-1900s. The recent creation of genetically modified chestnuts gives hope for future restoration of the species throughout its historical range. Despite blight resistance, effective restoration will require optimal site selection for finding and planting chestnuts, which will maximize limited resources. …

Effects Of Climate Change On (Semi)-Arid Ecosystems In The Southwestern United States, Charlotte Van Der Nagel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Climate change is considered amongst the most severe threats to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems globally. Ecosystems in the southwestern United States have specifically been impacted by intense drought conditions since 2000. Higher temperatures combined with altered precipitation stresses many ecosystems; however, ecosystem specific responses to such stressors may vary. Here, the effects of climate change on semi-arid ecosystems are analyzed for some of the most vulnerable ecosystems in the southwestern United States: lacustrine, riparian, and dryland ecosystems.

Lakes and reservoirs in arid environments often serve as drinking water sources and recreational areas where high water quality is essential. Climate change …

Phylogenetic And Biogeographic Patterns Of Devonian Proetid Trilobites, Katherine Jane Jordan

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Ecological disruption events such as mass extinctions can result in the permanent alteration in clades and ecosystems. A pivotal time of change during the history of life on Earth can be seen in the Devonian Period. During this time, major transitions in marine and terrestrial system resulted in a different world at the end of the period in comparison to the beginning. One such group most heavily impacted were trilobites. Trilobites were reduced to one order by the end of the Devonian: Proetida. My dissertation focuses on phylogenetic, biogeographic, and paleocommunity patterns of this group, known as the last of …

National Parks Field Journal, Isadora Davis

Art and Design Student Scholarship and Projects

A handwritten, richly illustrated field journal by Binghamton University art major Isadora Davis, recording a trip through national parks in the American West via SUNY Broome's BIO 217: Ecology of National Parks. Davis uses colored pencil drawings and pressed botanical specimens to record landscapes, birds, mammals, and plant life in Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Wind Cave, and Badlands National Parks, as well as Custer State Park. Davis's sketches and diagrams visually explore how to decode past landscapes from current formations, while her written entries explain species diversity, animal behavior, and the mechanisms causing geological formations and geothermal events. Part memoir of …

Paleoecology Of The Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway And Gulf Coastal Plain, Ceara Kathleen Quinn Purcell

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

This dissertation presents research into the paleobiogeography and paleoecology of the Western Interior Seaway (WIS) and Gulf Coastal Plain (GCP) during the Late Cretaceous. The dataset utilized here includes an extensive record of marine invertebrates from over 200 years of fossil collecting and sedimentary data collated from over 45 different literature sources, representing approximately 17 million years of deposition. The high-resolution of this dataset, and its extensive geographic distribution and temporal duration, make it ideal for exploring various ecological questions. Using these data, I have attempted to reconstruct paleobiogeographic provinces as published in prior works, explore functional diversity patterns, and …

The Behemoth Of The Last Ice Age: The Evolutionary Saga Of The Columbian Mammoth In North America, Nathaniel Valentine

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

The Columbian’s mammoth evolutionary history can be traced back to the origin of life and its evolutionary lineage can be tracked down by examining select species over geologic time. I conducted a literature review with multiple scientific journals to identify key transitional species that trace their lineage to the Columbian mammoth. Transitional species were selected from the Precambrian and the various periods of the Phanerozoic which exhibited vertebrate-like body structures and behaviors. Evidence suggests that early vertebrate-like animals were present by the Cambrian period. Mammal evolution would continue in the Mesozoic era and radiate in the Cenozoic era. The Columbian …

Assessing Ecological Relationships Among Late Triassic Vertebrates In Petrified Forest National Park, Alexandra Davis Apgar

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The complex vertebrate ecosystem of the Late Triassic has not yet been fully understood, largely due to oversimplification of hypothesized trophic hierarchies and limited preservation of direct evidence of faunal interaction. Paleocommunity reconstruction attempts can also fall victim to taphonomic biases, time-averaging inaccuracies, and non-analogue paleoecologies. Utilizing a combination of PAIRS analysis and NMDS ordination, we highlight vertebrate faunal relationships within the Adamanian and Revueltian faunachrons of Petrified Forest National Park, assess the likelihood that these patterns have ecological rather than preservational drivers, and examine how these potential interactions may have been impacted by the Adamanian-Revueltian turnover event. We are …

Lesson Plans In Astronomy, Ecology And Biology, Admin Stem For Success

STEM for Success Showcase

This document contains various lesson plan ideas for concepts within the fields of biology, ecology, astronomy, and geology.

Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 25. Wallace And The 'Physical Environment'., Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Alfred Russel Wallace’s natural selection essay of 1858 has been held to frame a greater role for the physical environment in forcing selection regimes than we find in Darwin’s writings, but here that verdict is challenged by a re-examination of both the essay itself, and period usage of the term ‘physical.’

Comparison Of Groundwater Chemistry And Associated Biodiversity Of Sulfidic Karst Habitats In Southcentral Kentucky, Kendall Wheeler

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In most ecosystems, primary production is conducted by plants or photosynthetic microbes; however, extremophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria can use hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S) as an electron donor to produce metabolic energy in a type of metabolism called chemoautotrophy. These ecosystems are a prominent feature of some karst landscapes, and two have been observed in the Mammoth Cave system, Sulphur River in Parker Cave and Marianne’s Pass in Mammoth Cave National Park respectively.

Sulfidic water is ubiquitous in southcentral Kentucky and is strongly associated with hydrocarbon deposits. This oil boom of the 1880s in this region predates most environmental regulation and records …

The Anatomy And Phylogeny Of A New Large Plioplatecarpine Mosasaur From The Campanian Bearpaw Shale Of Montana (Usa), Richard A. Carr

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

In 2018, a large and associated plioplatecarpine mosasaur skull, pectoral girdle, and rib cage, whose total body length may have exceeded five meters, was uncovered in the Late Campanian Bearpaw Shale of Northeast Montana (USA). Phylogenetic analysis of this specimen, MOR 10855, recovers this individual as a basal member of the genus Plioplatecarpus. This specimen, is unique in that it is estimated to be nearly twice the size of any of the other species of Plioplatecarpus found in the Western Interior Seaway during this part of the Cretaceous. While the included phylogenetic study suggests MOR 10855 represents a new …

An Integrative Salt Marsh Conceptual Framework For Global Comparisons, Erik S. Yando, Scott F. Jones, W. Ryan James, Denise D. Colombano, Diana I. Montemayor, Stefanie Nolte, Jacqueline L. Raw, Shelby L. Ziegler, Luzhen Chen, Daniele Daffonchio, Marco Fusi, Kerrylee Rogers, Liudmila Sergienko

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Salt marshes occur globally across climatic and coastal settings, providing key linkages between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. However, salt marsh science lacks a unifying conceptual framework; consequently, historically well-studied locations have been used as normative benchmarks. To allow for more effective comparisons across the diversity of salt marshes, we developed an integrative salt marsh conceptual framework. We review ecosystem-relevant drivers from global to local spatial scales, integrate these multi-scale settings into a framework, and provide guidance on applying the framework using specific variables on 11 global examples. Overall, this framework allows for appropriate comparison of study sites by accounting for …

Land Systems, Soils And Vegetation Of The Southern Goldfields And Great Western Woodlands Of Western Australia - Volume 1, Peter-Jon A. Waddell, Paul Galloway

Technical Bulletins

This technical bulletin defines and maps the land resources of the southern Goldfields region of Western Australia (WA). The southern Goldfields region, as featured in this bulletin, covers 151,753 km². The western and eastern borders are variable because they align with various cadastral boundaries. The western survey border, which in part follows the WA State Barrier Fence, demarcates cleared agricultural land from the intact, western extent of the Great Western Woodlands. The eastern border abuts the westernmost Nullarbor pastoral lease boundaries, except for the north-easternmost and south-easternmost edges which continue into Crown land. Major towns are Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie …

Land Systems, Soils And Vegetation Of The Southern Goldfields And Great Western Woodlands Of Western Australia - Volume 2, Peter-Jon A. Waddell, Paul Galloway

Technical Bulletins

This technical bulletin defines and maps the land resources of the southern Goldfields region of Western Australia (WA). The southern Goldfields region, as featured in this bulletin, covers 151,753 km². The western and eastern borders are variable because they align with various cadastral boundaries. The western survey border, which in part follows the WA State Barrier Fence, demarcates cleared agricultural land from the intact, western extent of the Great Western Woodlands. The eastern border abuts the westernmost Nullarbor pastoral lease boundaries, except for the north-easternmost and south-easternmost edges which continue into Crown land. Major towns are Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie …

Extraction, Analysis, And Comparison Of Microplastics In Sc Marsh Substrates, Austin G. Sige

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The global, rapid increase in plastic production is a widespread problem for coastal environments such as marshes that present favorable conditions for plastic retention. This study looked at the microplastic abundance within three previously unstudied South Carolina marshes located in Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet, and Waties Island. A comparison between the microplastic types and abundances between locations provided knowledge about the impacts of sediment composition (sand, silt, clay, and organic matter) on microplastic sequestration. This study also produced a novel microplastic extraction methodology for cohesive marsh sediment that used elutriation to effectively break apart aggregates prior to chemical digestion and …

Charcoal Whirlwinds And Post-Fire Observations In Serengeti National Park Savannahs, Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi, Heleen C. Vos, Rob Marchant, Colin Beale

Tanzania Journal of Science

Whirlwinds and visible dust devils occur over semi-arid ecosystems and entrain particles from the ground surface. Fires produce abundant charcoal across savannahs and the resulting blackened surfaces create a large albedo contrast. Whirlwinds have been observed associated with active fires; yet, there are few published observations on post-fire landscapes. Spatiotemporal patterns of whirlwinds have been documented for a limited number of regions and have not been made for the ecosystems of eastern Africa. From field-based sightings in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, we report on whirlwinds over burned savannah patches that entrained large quantities of charcoal to produce black coloured …

Terrestrial Soldier Crab (Coenobita Clypeatus, Fabricius 1787) And Cerion Spp. (Röding 1798) Shell Relationship On San Salvador Island, Bahamas, Harley Hunt

Biology Theses

The Caribbean terrestrial soldier crab, Coenobita clypeatus(Fabricius 1787), coexist and utilize the shells of numerous species of land and marine gastropods. Soldier crabs rely on gastropod shells for protection as the crabs have a soft abdomen, leaving them vulnerable for predation and desiccation, threatening their survival. This creates a strong pressure to obtain well-fitting shells that provide adequate protection against water loss. Cerion of Röding (1798) shells are one of the most commonly used shells among living colonies of C. clypeatuson San Salvador Island. This study is interested in the frequency of shell use by C. clypeatus crabs …

Taphonomy Of Late Jurassic (Tithonian) Morrison Formation Apatosaurus Sp. Vertebrae Found Associated With Teeth From Allosaurus Sp. And Ceratosaurus Sp., And Body Size Extrapolation From The Associated Theropod Teeth., Greg C. Agyan

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

An Apatosaurus sp. locality from Dinosaur National Monument designated DNM-15 was excavated in 1985, and associated with two Allosaurus teeth and one Ceratosaurus tooth that were near one of the caudal vertebrae. The Ceratosaurus tooth was buried between an overlying rib and that same caudal vertebra. The caudal vertebrae of the DNM-15 Apatosaurus were intact and articulated, but the anterior skeleton was mostly absent, with a row of articulated sacral vertebrae in close association with a femur. Two other Allosaurus teeth were reported near the preserved ilium of the Apatosaurus, but they could not be located in the collections. …

Preclassic Cultural Eutrophication Of Lake Petén Itzá, Lowland Guatemala, By The Early Maya Of Nixtun-Ch'ich', Brooke A. Birkett

Masters Theses

"Paleolimnological evidence indicates the ancient Maya transformed lowland terrestrial ecosystems by felling forest vegetation to construct large civic-ceremonial centers and expand agriculture. The effects of prehistoric Maya land alterations on lake trophic status, however, remain poorly understood. We analyzed a 515-cm-long sediment core from Lake Petén Itzá, lowland Guatemala, to infer paleoenvironmental changes resulting from Maya occupation of the riparian archaeological site of Nixtun-Ch'ich'. Substantial increases in charcoal and fecal stanol concentrations indicate Maya occupation of the Candelaria Peninsula by the late Early Preclassic period beginning ca. 1400 cal yr Before the Common Era (hereafter BCE), despite scant archaeological evidence …

Ecological Controls On The Campanian Distribution Of Hesperornis (Aves: Hesperornithiformes) In The Western Interior Seaway, Blake Chapman

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

The epicontinental Western Interior Seaway (WIS) of Late Cretaceous North America provided a unique marine habitat for cephalopods, fish, marine reptiles, and the foot-propelled diving seabird Hesperornis. While several predator-prey relationships among Hesperornis or other hesperornithiforms and other WIS animals have been hypothesized based on gut contents, bite marks, and coprolites/colonites, ecological relationships have not been quantitatively tested. Paleontological species distribution modeling (SDM) studies have focused on extinct non-marine taxa and marine invertebrates, with only two marine vertebrate studies of extant taxa. Here, two SDM methods were used to test the influence of vertebrate faunas, sedimentary rock type, paleogeography, …

A Framework For Aquatic Invasive Species Surveillance Site Selection And Prioritization In The Us Waters Of The Laurentian Great Lakes, Andrew J. Tucker, W. Lindsay Chadderton, Gust Annis, Alisha D. Davidson, Joel Hoffman, Jon Bossenbroek, Stephen Hensler, Michael Hoff, Erika Jensen, Donna R. Kashian, Sarah Lesage, Timothy Strakosh

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

Risk-based prioritization for early detection monitoring is of utmost importance to prevent and mitigate invasive species impacts and is especially needed for large ecosystems where management resources are not sufficient to survey all locations susceptible to invasion. In this paper we describe a spatially-explicit and quantitative approach for identifying the highest risk sites for aquatic invasive species (AIS) introduction into the United States’ waters of the Laurentian Great Lakes, a vast inland sea with a surface area of 246,049 square km and a shoreline length of 16,431 km. We compiled data from geospatial metrics available across all of the US …

Environmental Influences On Tree-Driven Karst Bedrock Physical Weathering, Cole Robert Jimerson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The role of tree roots as stressors that contribute to physical weathering processes and thus soil generation remains an open question in critical zone science. While evidence suggests roots may be able to damage rock by accessing pre-existing fractures, where they can expand due to water uptake or generate forces on rock in response to wind gusts, these processes have not been investigated in temperate karst regions until now. I monitored forces at the root-rock interface for an American elm and Hackberry tree between September 2019 and May 2020. I used piezoelectric force sensors to determine if differences in species, …

136— Predation On Microbivalves By Juvenile Naticid Gastropods On San Salvador Island, The Bahamas, Eliza Merges

GREAT Day Posters

Predator-prey interactions, where snails eat clams, evolutionarily has been a key interaction within marine molluscan communities. There is evidence of molluscan extinctions in the fossil record that are marked by changes in predation ratios. In this study, we will investigate predation of microbivalves by juvenile naticid gastropods in a shallow marine setting on San Salvador Island in the Bahamas. We propose to test predation density within different environments (facies) of a lagoonal setting. Significantly different ratios between these facies in one time period can indicate that predator-prey interactions can change over time from one environment to another. It is more …

Rockhounding, Seafaring, And Other Material Tales For The End Of The World, Noemie Fortin

The Goose

In the face of accelerated environmental degradation and climate instability, the future of the Earth and of all life on earth is difficult to visualize. Therefore, the different mediums through which we consider environmental issues are just as important as the actions we take to address them. Focusing on three projects combining art, science, and activism, this article suggests a compilation of material tales. They tell stories of plastic rocks and aluminum nuggets where the protagonists are partly finely crafted objects, partly waste materials, and sometimes both at once. Artists Kelly Jazvac, Yesenia Thibeault-Picazo, and the collective Studio Swine collaborate …

The Role Of Warm, Dry Summers And Variation In Snowpack On Phytoplankton Dynamics In Mountain Lakes, Isabella A. Olesky, Whitney S. Beck, Roderick W. Lammers, Cara E. Steger, Codie Wilson, Kyle R. Christianson, Kim Vincent, Gunnar Forrest Johnson, Pieter T.J. Johnson, Jill S. Baron

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate change is altering biogeochemical, metabolic, and ecological functions in lakes across the globe. Historically, mountain lakes in temperate regions have been unproductive because of brief ice-free seasons, a snowmelt-driven hydrograph, cold temperatures, and steep topography with low vegetation and soil cover. We tested the relative importance of winter and summer weather, watershed characteristics, and water chemistry as drivers of phytoplankton dynamics. Using boosted regression tree models for 28 mountain lakes in Colorado, we examined regional, intraseasonal, and interannual drivers of variability in chlorophyll a as a proxy for lake phytoplankton. Phytoplankton biomass was inversely related to the maximum snow …

Sampling The Local Fare: Fishes At The Sam Israel House Pit (45gr76), Soap Lake, Washington, Adam Fruge

All Master's Theses

The Sam Israel site is a precontact archaeological complex with numerous fish bones at the north end of Soap Lake, Washington. Excavated in 1976, the fish remains recovered from there were never fully analyzed prior to this research. Since this inland Columbia Plateau site had thousands of fish bones, it contained untapped potential for our understanding of ancient local fish procurement. As such, I conducted a detailed analysis of 2,862 fish bone specimens from the Sam Israel House Pit locus to: study a larger sample of fish bones in greater detail than was done before; compare the distribution of fishes …

The Peculiar Nature Of Florida’S Sandhill Wetlands, Ponds & Lakes— Their Ecohydrology, Relationship With The Regional Aquifer & Importance Within The Landscape., Renae Starr Nowicki

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the ecohydrology of Florida’s peculiar and poorly studied sandhill wetland and water features, particularly those located in west-central Florida. The primary research goals include: compilation and summarization of the available ecohydrologic information for features across Florida; comparison of water level and water geochemistry data between sandhill wetlands and waters and the regional aquifer to provide evidence of regional hydrologic control; and use of geophysical applications to examine the hydraulic connections between sandhill wetlands and waters and the regional aquifer.

From this research, a natural history of sandhill wetland and water ecohydrology is presented, highlighting: the differences between …