Geology Commons^™

The Neoglacial Landscape And Human History Of Glacier Bay, Glacier Bay National Park And Preserve, Southeast Alaska, Usa, Cathy Connor, Greg Streveler, Austin Post, Daniel Monteith, Wanye Howell

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Neoglacial landscape of the Huna Tlingit homeland in Glacier Bay is recreated through new interpretations of the lower Bay’s fjordal geomorphology, late Quaternary geology and its ethnographic landscape. Geological interpretation is enhanced by 38 radiocarbon dates compiled from published and unpublished sources, as well as 15 newly dated samples. Neoglacial changes in ice positions, outwash and lake extents are reconstructed for c. 5500–200 cal. yr ago, and portrayed as a set of three landscapes at 1600–1000, 500–300 and 300–200 cal. yr ago. This history reveals episodic ice advance towards the Bay mouth, transforming it from a fjordal seascape into …

Radiocarbon Date List Xi: Radiocarbon Dates From Marine Sediment Cores Of The Iceland, Greenland, And Northeast Canadian Arctic Shelves And Nares Strait, U. Quillmann, J.T. Andrews, A.E. Jennings, J. Bendle, H. Jonsdottir, G.B. Kristjansdottir, J. Lloyd, S. Olafsdottir, Sarah M. Principato

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Radiocarbon Date List XI contains an annotated listing of 178 AMS radiocarbon dates on samples from marine (169 samples) and lake (9 samples) sediment cores. Marine sediment cores, from which the samples for dating were taken, were collected on the Greenland Shelf, Baffin Bay, and the Eastern Canadian Arctic shelf. About 80% of the marine samples for dating were collected on the SW to N Icelandic shelf. The lake sediment cores were collected in northwestern Iceland. For dating of the marine samples, we submitted molluscs (117 samples), benthic and planktic foraminifera (45 samples), plant macrofauna (3 samples), and one serpulid …

Using Gis To Quantify Patterns Of Glacial Erosion On Northwest Iceland: Implications For Independent Ice Sheets, Sarah M. Principato, Jeremiah S. Johnson

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Glacial erosion patterns on northwest Iccliind are quantified using a Geographic Information System (GIS) in order to interpret subglacial characteristics of part of northwest Iceland affected by ice sheet glaciation. Ice scour lake density is used as a proxy for glacial erosion. Erosion classes are interpreted from variations in the density of lake basins. Lake density was calculated using two dilTerent methods: the first is sensitive to the total number of lakes in a specific area, and the second is sensitive to total lake area in a specific area. Both of these methods result in a value for lake density, …

Metal Concentrations In Native Yupik Foodstuffs From St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, Judith Kricheff

Geology Theses and Dissertations

The Yupik people of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska have a traditional subsistence lifestyle with the majority of their diet consisting of local birds, fish, seal, walrus, and whale. Diets based on fish and marine mammals, such as the Yupik diet, are potential pathways for exposure to mercury and other toxic metals. At St. Lawrence Island, metal contaminants may come from local sources such as weathered rock or two abandoned U.S. military bases or remote sources through atmospheric deposition or seasonal migration of animals to the island.
The main goals of this study are to determine the total concentrations of copper …

Toxicity Of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (De-71) In Chicken (Gallus Gallus), Mallard (Anas Platyrhynchos), And American Kestrel (Falco Sparverius) Embryos And Hatchlings, Moira A. Mckernan, Barnett A. Rattner, Robert C. Hales, Mary Ann Ottinger

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Embryonic survival, pipping and hatching success, and sublethal biochemical, endocrine, and histological endpoints were examined in hatchling chickens (Gallus gallus), mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), and American kestrels (Falco sparverius) following air cell administration of a pentabrominated diphenyl ether (penta-BDE; DE-71) mixture (0.01–20 µg/g egg) or polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congener 126 (3,3’,4,4’,5-pentachlorobiphenyl; 0.002 µg/g egg). The penta-BDE decreased pipping and hatching success at concentrations of 10 and 20 µg/g egg in kestrels but had no effect on survival endpoints in chickens or mallards. Sublethal effects in hatchling chickens included ethoxyresorufin-O-dealkylase (EROD) induction and histological …

Atmospheric Soluble Dust Records From A Tibetan Ice Core: Possible Climate Proxies And Teleconnection With The Pacific Decadal Oscillation, B. Grigholm, P. A. Mayewski, S. Kang, Y. Zhang, Susan Kaspari, S. B. Sneed, Q. Zhang

Geological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

In autumn 2005, a joint expedition between the University of Maine and the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research recovered three ice cores from Guoqu Glacier (33°34′37.8″N, 91°10′35.3″E, 5720 m above sea level) on the northern side of Mt. Geladaindong, central Tibetan Plateau. Isotopes (δ¹⁸O), major soluble ions (Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, Cl⁻, NO₃⁻, SO₄²⁻), and radionuclide (β‐activity) measurements from one of the cores revealed a 70‐year record (1935–2005). Statistical analysis of major ion time series suggests that atmospheric soluble …

Possible Sources Of Archaeological Maize Found In Chaco Canyon And Aztec Ruin, New Mexico, Larry Benson, J. R. Stein, H. E. Taylor

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Maize played a major role in Chaco’s interaction with outlying communities in the southern Colorado Plateau. This paper seeks to determine where archaeological corn cobs brought to Chaco Canyon were grown. Strontium-isotope and trace-metal ratios of 180 soil-water and 18 surface-water sites in the Southern Colorado Plateau have revealed possible source areas for some of 37 archaeological corn cobs from Chaco Canyon and 10 archaeological corn cobs from Aztec Ruin, New Mexico. The most probable source areas for cobs that predate the middle-12th-century drought include several Upper Rio Chaco sites (not including Chaco Canyon). There are many potential source areas …

A Robust, Multisite Holocene History Of Drift Ice Off Northern Iceland: Implications For North Atlantic Climate, John T. Andrews, Dennis Darby, Dennis Eberle, Anne E. Jennings, Matthias Moros, Astrid Ogilvie

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

An important indicator of Holocene climate change is provided by evidence for variations in the extent of drift ice. A proxy for drift ice in Iceland waters is provided by the presence of quartz. Quantitative xray diffraction analysis of the < 2 mm sediment fraction was undertaken on 16 cores from around Iceland. The quartz weight (wt.)% estimates from each core were integrated into 250-yr intervals between −0.05 and 11.7 cal. ka BP. Median quartz wt.% varied between 0.2 and 3.4 and maximum values ranged between 2.8 and 11.8 wt.%. High values were attained in the early Holocene and minimum values were reached 6–7 cal. ka BP. Quartz wt.% then rose steadily during the late Holocene. Our data exhibit no correlation with counts on haematite-stained quartz (HSQ) grains from VM129-191 west of Ireland casting doubt on the ice-transport origin. A pilot study on the provenance of Fe oxide grains in two cores that cover the last 1.3 and 6.1 cal. ka BP indicated a large fraction of the grains between 1 and 6 cal. ka BP were from either Icelandic or presently unsampled sources. However, there was a dramatic increase in Canadian and Russian sources from the Arctic Ocean ~1 cal. ka BP. These data may indicate the beginning of an Arctic Oscillation-like climate mode.

History Of Wildlife Toxicology, Barnett A. Rattner

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The field of wildlife toxicology can be traced to

the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Initial

reports included unintentional poisoning of birds from

ingestion of spent lead shot and predator control agents,

alkali poisoning of waterbirds, and die-offs from maritime

oil spills. With the advent of synthetic pesticides in the

1930s and 1940s, effects of DDT and other pesticides were

investigated in free-ranging and captive wildlife. In

response to research findings in the US and UK, and the

publication of Silent Spring in 1962, public debate on the

hazards of pollutants arose and national contaminant

monitoring programs were initiated. …

Climate Trends Of The North American Prairie Pothole Region 1906–2000, Bruce Millett, W. Carter Johnson, Glenn Guntenspergen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) is unique to North America. Its millions of wetlands and abundant ecosystem goods and services are highly sensitive to wide variations of temperature and precipitation in time and space characteristic of a strongly continental climate. Precipitation and temperature gradients across the PPR are orthogonal to each other. Precipitation nearly triples from west to east from approximately 300 mm/year to 900 mm/year, while mean annual temperature ranges from approximately 1°C in the north to nearly 10°C in the south. Twentieth-century weather records for 18 PPR weather stations representing 6 ecoregions revealed several trends. The climate generally …

Climate Trends Of The North American Prairie Pothole Region 1906–2000, Bruce Millett, W. Carter Johnson, Glenn R. Guntenspergen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) is unique to North America. Its millions of wetlands and abundant ecosystem goods and services are highly sensitive to wide variations of temperature and precipitation in time and space characteristic of a strongly continental climate. Precipitation and temperature gradients across the PPR are orthogonal to each other. Precipitation nearly triples from west to east from approximately 300 mm/year to 900 mm/year, while mean annual temperature ranges from approximately 1◦C in the north to nearly 10◦C in the south. Twentieth-century weather records for 18 PPR weather stations representing 6 ecoregions revealed several trends. The climate generally …

Geoelectrical Response Of Surfactant Solutions In A Quartzitic Sand Analog Aquifer, Meghan Therese Magill

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this project, the resistivity and phase shift of ten surfactant aqueous solutions in a sand matrix were measured using spectral induced polarization (SIP). In addition, specific conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, and dielectric constant measurements of the solutions were also evaluated. The frequency range assessed was 0.091-12000Hz. The surfactants, which are typically used in the remediation of tetrachloroethylene, were Aerosol MA 80-I, Dowfax 8390, and Steol CS-330. The surfactants were mixed into solutions of both deionized and tap water at varying concentrations and injected into a closed system of silica sand. The surfactant treatments altered resistivity, specific conductivity, and pH …

Desert Varnish As An Indicator Of Modern-Day Air Pollution In Southern Nevada, Piotr Nowinski

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Rock varnish, often called desert varnish, is a slow-growing, manganese-rich coating that accumulates on exposed rock surfaces. The mechanism of varnish formation is not fully understood, however, most authors agree that varnishes derive their components from the atmosphere. The main goal of this study was to demonstrate the potential use of desert varnish as a passive environmental monitor of present and past atmospheric pollution. Analysis of varnishes is a new field that can potentially provide records of pre-anthropogenic levels of atmospheric metals and other environmental pollutants. To evaluate the potential of desert varnish as an environmental monitoring tool, the following …

Atrazine Contamination And Suspended Sediment Transport Within Logsdon River, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, Julie Eileen Schenck Brown

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Understanding the potential for karst aquifer contamination by sediment-sorbed pesticides is important for cave conservation efforts in agricultural landscapes. Flow rate, water quality parameters and suspended sediment concentrations were measured in Logsdon River, a ~10km karst conduit within the Turnhole Spring Groundwater Basin of Mammoth Cave National Park to determine characteristics of storm-period transport of sediment-sorbed atrazine through a conduit-flow karst aquifer.

Analysis of two independent precipitation events occurring in the Spring of 2008 from May 2-4 and May 27-29 demonstrated the rapid response of the Logsdon River to precipitation events with detections of atrazine increasing during the initial turbidity …

Watershed Condition Assessment For Little River Canyon National Preserve, Alabama, Nathan Demille Rinehart

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

No abstract provided.

What Is Ccs?, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Fact sheet about carbon capture and storage (CCS) and the Plains CO₂ Reduction (PCOR) Partnership. Outlines the three phases of U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory’s Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership program. [This item is an outdated or superseded version and retained for historical purposes only. It may no longer reflect current information, policies, or practices.]

Pcor Partnership Atlas, Wesley D. Peck, Barry W. Botnen, Lisa S. Botnen, Daniel J. Daly, John A. Harju, Melanie D. Jensen, Erin M. O'Leary, Steven A. Smith, James A. Sorensen, Edward N. Steadman, Stephanie L. Wolfe, Darin R. Damiani, John T. Litynski, David W. Fischer

EERC Maps and Infographics

The Plains CO₂ Reduction (PCOR) Partnership Atlas, revised 2nd edition, introduces global climate change and provides a regional profile of CO₂ sources and potential sinks across the PCOR Partnership region. Carbon sequestration offers a promising set of technologies through which CO₂ can be stored for long periods of time.

Geology And Hydrology Of Karst In West-Central And North-Central Florida, Lee J. Florea

Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences Faculty Publications

The state of Florida is blessed with the highest density of large springs in North America and hundreds of smaller springs where the water from limestone aquifers returns to the surface (Scott et al., 2004). Spectacular underwater caves supply water to these springs. Lesser known are the equally fantastic air-filled caves of Florida and South Georgia (Florea, 2006; Lane, 1986). This paper features these underwater and airfilled caves, explores the impact of changes in sea level on karst in this near-coastal environment, and establishes several geologic and hydrologic characteristics that distinguish karst in the limestones of the southeast from karst …

The Economic Impact Of The Kentucky Green River Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (Crep), Lorie B. Owen

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This study examines the impact of the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) on fourteen Kentucky counties. The CREP program is an advancement of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) which began nationally in 1985. The primary intention of both programs is to improve water quality and reduce soil erosion. Thus, in order to stimulate conservation efforts, farmers are given an opportunity to remove land from current production and still reap financial benefits. When CREP was introduced to Kentucky in 2002, the program provided far more lucrative incentives than the parent program. In 2007 CREP underwent an amendment process that broadened the …

A New Global Model For P Wave Speed Variations In Earth's Mantle, Chang Li, Robert D. Van Der Hilst, E. Robert Engdahl, Scott Burdick

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

We document our tomographic method and present a new global model of three-dimensional (3-D) variations in mantle P wave velocity. The model is parameterized by means of rectangular cells in latitude, longitude, and radius, the size of which adapts to sampling density by short-period (1 Hz) data. The largest single data source is ISC/NEIC data reprocessed by Engdahl and coworkers, from which we use routinely picked, short-period P, Pg, Pn, pP, and pwP data (for earthquakes during the period 1964∼2007). To improve the resolution in the lowermost and uppermost mantle, we use differential times of core phases (PKPAB − PKPDF, …

Regional Co2 Sequestration Potential – Field Validation Tests, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Fact sheet about the four field validation tests conducted by the Plains CO₂ Reduction (PCOR) Partnership to test the efficacy of CO₂ sequestration. The project was included in Phase II of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership Initiative. [This item is an outdated or superseded version and retained for historical purposes only. It may no longer reflect current information, policies, or practices.]

A Post-Project Assessment Of The Provo River Restoration Project: Channel Design, Reconfiguration, And The Re-Establishment Of Critical Physical Processes, Randy Ray Goetz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A physical assessment of the Provo River Restoration Project was undertaken in order to determine how alterations to the channel were designed, the nature of as-built channel morphology, and the performance of the reconfigured channel in terms of achieving frequent (2-year recurrence) bankfull discharge and increasing transient storage. Measures of channelized and reconfigured channel morphology were obtained using total station survey, digital aerial photography, and pebble counts. Results of geomorphic analysis were compared with similar measurements made by a regional consulting company, and stream channel design data, in order to determine that intended mitigation included reducing channel capacity, increasing sinuosity, …

Co2 Sequestration Validation Test In A Deep Oil Field In The Williston Basin, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Fact sheet about the Williston Basin Field Validation Test conducted by the Plains CO₂ Reduction (PCOR) Partnership. [This item is an outdated or superseded version and retained for historical purposes only. It may no longer reflect current information, policies, or practices.]

The Weyburn Oil Field – A Model For Value-Added Direct Co2 Sequestration, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Fact sheet about the Weyburn Oil Field. Discusses CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (EOR) at Weyburn and research on combining EOR and CO₂ sequestration at the site. [This item is an outdated or superseded version and retained for historical purposes only. It may no longer reflect current information, policies, or practices.]

What Is Co2 Sequestration?, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Fact sheet about the CO₂ sequestration and the Plains CO₂ Reduction (PCOR) Partnership. Defines CO₂ sequestration and lists Phase I partners. [This item is an outdated or superseded version and retained for historical purposes only. It may no longer reflect current information, policies, or practices.]

Pcor Partnership Phase Iii – Commercial-Scale Demonstrations Of Geologic Co2 Storage In The Northern Great Plains, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Fact sheet on Phase III of the Plains CO₂ Reduction (PCOR) Partnership, conducted under the U.S. Department of Energy. Includes information on commercial-scale demonstrations of CO₂ geologic sequestration. [This item is an outdated or superseded version and retained for historical purposes only. It may no longer reflect current information, policies, or practices.]

Zama Acid Gas Eor, Co2 Sequestration, And Monitoring Project, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Fact sheet about the Zama Field acid gas demonstration site, a Plains CO₂ Reduction (PCOR) Partnership CO₂ sequestration validation project. [This item is an outdated or superseded version and retained for historical purposes only. It may no longer reflect current information, policies, or practices.]

California Drought, An Update April 2008, Baryohay Davidoff, Fawzi Karajeh, Dean Reynolds, Eric Senter, John Woodling

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1. RECENT HYDROLOGIC CONDITIONS AND IMPACTS

Introduction....................................................... 1

Water Year 2007 .................................................. 1

Drought in the Colorado River Basin ..................................................... 5

Drought and Dry Conditions in the Early 2000s .................................... 7

The 2001 Klamath Basin Drought Emergency ............................... 11

CHAPTER 2. PROGRAMMATIC AND INSTITUTIONAL UPDATES

The San Francisco Bay-Sacramento/San Joaquin River Delta.................................................................. 15

The Colorado River .................................................................... 16

State Financial Assistance to Local Agencies.................................... 17

Urban Water Management Planning ................................................... 20

Water Transfers .............................................................................. 20

Small Water Systems and Drought Preparedness ................................. 21

The Influence Of Metal Exposure History And Ultraviolet-B Radiation On Benthic Communities In Colorado Rocky Mountain Streams, Robert E. Zuellig, Donna R. Kashian, Marjorie L. Brooks, Peter M. Kiffney, William H. Clements

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

Interest in understanding the influence of ultraviolet-B (UVB; 280–320 nm) radiation in aquatic ecosystems has increased since the early 1990s. Pollution from historic mining operations coupled with physicochemical characteristics of Rocky Mountain streams that increase exposure of benthic communities to UVB provided an opportunity to examine how UVB interacted with heavy metal contamination to structure stream communities. We integrated a series of UVB addition experiments done in stream microcosms with a large-scale UVB shading experiment to test the hypothesis that effects of UVB were greater on benthic communities from metal-polluted streams than from reference streams. Microcosm experiments involved short-term exposure …

Visualization Of Groundwater Flow Within Touching-Vu And Matrix Porosity In An Eogenetic Karst Aquifer, Lee J. Florea, Kevin J. Cunningham, Stephen Altobelli

Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences Faculty Publications

In this study, we use an innovative, non-invasive technology, nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI), to visualize the direction and magnitude of groundwater flow in field samples of late Pleistocene limestone of the Biscayne aquifer. Specific goals of the first set of NMRI experiments are to map the advective velocity of water flowing at two rates of specific discharge (0.00025 and 0.00013 m/s) through a 10-cm-diameter cylindrical, epoxy-resin model. The model interior accurately reproduces a well-connected maze of ichnologically influenced, centimeter-scale, touching-vug macroporosity common within preferred flow zones in parts of the Biscayne aquifer. A second set of NMRI experiments investigates …