Lower Bound On Preserved Flood Duration In Fluvial Bedform Stratigraphy (Experimental Dataset), Robert C. Mahon, Vamsi Ganti, Madeline M. Kelley, Debsmita Das, Victoria Sanchez, Giancarlo Portocarrero, Mayson Fredricks

Lower Bound on Preserved Flood Duration in Fluvial Bedform Stratigraphy (experimental dataset)

This data is collected to assess the role of hydrograph timescale relative to dune migration on the preservation of cross sets in the stratigraphic record. The data presented here are of dune evolution under steady-state conditions, as well as three hydrographs of the same magnitude but varying timescales.

Methodology:

We collected data from four experiments tracking bedform evolution in a 22-m-long, 0.56-m-wide, 0.9-m-deep flume at the University of New Orleans Dynamics of Sedimentation laboratory. We conducted an equilibrium experiment (discharge value 0.027 m3/s) and three flood experiments, which were characterized by a symmetrical flood wave. In all flood experiments, the …

Stage And Discharge Prediction From Documentary Time-Lapse Imagery, Kenneth W. Chapman, Troy E. Gilmore, Mehrube Mehrubeoglu, Christian D. Chapman, Aaron R. Mittelstet, John E. Stranzl Jr.

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Imagery from fixed, ground-based cameras is rich in qualitative and quantitative information that can improve stream discharge monitoring. For instance, time-lapse imagery may be valuable for filling data gaps when sensors fail and/or during lapses in funding for monitoring programs. In this study, we used a large image archive (>40,000 images from 2012 to 2019) from a fixed, ground-based camera that is part of a documentary watershed imaging project (https://plattebasintimelapse.com/). Scalar image features were extracted from daylight images taken at one-hour intervals. The image features were fused with United States Geological Survey stage and discharge data as response variables …

Analysis Of Legacy Gravity Data Reveals Sediment-Filled Troughs Buried Under Flathead Valley, Montana, Usa, Ali Gebril, Mohamed A. Khalil, Robert Matthew Joeckel, James Rose

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Shallow, dominantly silt- and clay-filled erosional troughs in Quaternary sediments under the Flathead Valley (northwestern Montana, USA) are very likely to be hydraulic barriers limiting the horizontal flow of groundwater. Accurately mapping them is important because of increasing demand for groundwater.We used a legacy Bouguer gravity map measured in 1968. The directional derivatives of the map are computed, and the map was enhanced by implementing edge detection tools.We produced generalized derivative, maximum horizontal gradient, total gradient and tilt gradient maps through two-dimensional Fourier transform analysis. These maps were remarkably successful in locating buried troughs in the northern and northwestern parts …

Geodatabase And Modeling Code Used For Dynamic Landslide Hazard Maps In Eastern Kentucky, Nathaniel O'Leary, L. Sebastian Bryson

Earth and Environmental Sciences Research Data

We developed spatiotemporal landslide hazard maps (LHMs) using soil, hydrologic, and geomorphic parameters from the subaerial infinite slope factor of safety (FS) equation under unsaturated conditions. Soil properties were extracted from the NRCS WSS, while geomorphic variables were derived from a 1.5 m LiDAR-based DEM and ArcGIS Online. Soil moisture from Hydrus-1D, driven by precipitation and evapotranspiration (ET) data from Irrigation Manager, introduced temporal variability. Validation against known landslide sites showed spatial and temporal FS accuracy despite some false positives. We also developed a landslide susceptibility maps (LSM) after comparing three machine learning algorithms, with bagged trees achieving the highest …

A Field-Based Study Of Dust Emissivity In The Northern Chihuahuan Desert, U.S.: Testing The Preferential Dust Source Scheme, Gwenn L Harsha

Dissertations and Theses

We characterized spatiotemporal dust emissivity in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert (New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona, U.S.) using the Portable In-Situ Wind Erosion Lab (PI-SWERL) and measurements of soil crust strength, soil texture and soil moisture. Field-based measurements of emissivity were compared to the results of the Preferential Dust Source (PDS) scheme (Bullard et al., 2011) in the Chihuahuan Desert (Baddock et al., 2011) where 48% of satellite-observed plumes were sourced from ephemeral and dry lakes. Six landforms were tested: 1) ephemeral and 2) dry lake, 3) high and 4) low relief alluvial, and aeolian 5) sand sheet and 6) dunes. …

Geodatabase And Automation Code Used For Past And Real-Time Dynamic Landslide Hazard Maps In Eastern Kentucky, Nathaniel O'Leary, L. Sebastian Bryson, Jason M. Dortch

Earth and Environmental Sciences Research Data

We developed spatiotemporal landslide hazard maps (LHMs) using soil, hydrologic, and geomorphic parameters from the subaerial infinite slope factor of safety (FS) equation under unsaturated conditions. Soil properties were sourced from the NRCS WSS, while geomorphic variables were derived from a 1.5 m LiDAR-based DEM and ArcGIS Online. Soil moisture from Hydrus-1D, driven by precipitation and evapotranspiration (ET) data from Irrigation Manager, introduced temporal variability. Validation against known landslide sites demonstrated FS accuracy both spatially and temporally, despite some false positives. To reduce false positives and enhance slope stability representation, novel depth-to-bedrock (DTB) and soil root cohesion maps were incorporated …

Post-Glacial Landscape Evolution Of The Lower St. Croix River Valley: The Enigma Of Glacial Lake Grantsburg, The Osceola Bench, And The St. Croix Dells, Hunter Delikowski

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The St. Croix River valley (SCRV) is the product of dyssynchronous glacial advance and retreat of several glacial lobes during regional deglaciation of the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene transition. Additionally, the SCRV has been dramatically shaped by multiple proglacial lake drainage episodes. Therefore, the SCRV is an important case study to understanding the impacts of proglacial lake spillover processes. However, the magnitude, frequency, timing, duration, and geomorphic impacts of these floods remain enigmatic. We focus on a specific reach of the SCRV, which we name the Lower SCRV for the purpose of this study. The lower SCRV contains several anomalous landforms …

Joint Interpretation Of Ert And Self-Potential Data To Characterize The Subsurface Geology And Hydrodynamics Along The Sutherland Supply Canal And Paxton Siphon Inlet, Paxton, Nebraska., M. K. Aboushanab, D. R. Hallum, R. M. Joeckel

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Migrating Whooping Crane Activity Near U.S. Air Force Bases And Airfields In Oklahoma, David A. Brandt, Aaron T. Pearse, Mark T. Bidwell, John Conkin, Matthew Butler

United States Geological Survey: Publications

The Aransas-Wood Buffalo population of Grus americana (Linnaeus, 1758; whooping cranes) migrates through the United States Great Plains, encountering places substantially altered by human activity. Using telemetry data from 2017 to 2022, we investigated whooping crane migration behavior around U.S. Air Force bases in Oklahoma. Our study focused on potential collision risks between whooping cranes and aircraft, a substantial concern for aviation safety. We determined that activity was greatest at Kegelman Air Force Auxiliary Airfield, near whooping crane critical habitat. On average, 61 percent of marked whooping cranes used locations west of Kegelman Air Force Auxiliary Airfield and Vance Air …

Leveraging High Resolution Classifications And Random Forests For Hindcasting Decades Of Mesic Ecosystem Dynamics In The Landsat Time Series, N. E. Kolarik, Nawaraj Shrestha, T. Caughlin, J. S. Brandt

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report 2023, Aaron R. Young, Mark E. Burbach, Sue Olafsen Lackey, Robert Matthew Joeckel, Nawaraj Shrestha, Jeffrey Westrop

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

This report is a synthesis of groundwater-level monitoring programs in Nebraska. It is a continuation of the series of annual reports and maps produced by the Conservation and Survey Division (CSD) of the University of Nebraska in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) since the 1950s. Groundwater-level monitoring began in Nebraska in 1930 to survey the state’s groundwater resources and observe changes in its availability on a regular basis. The CSD and USGS cooperatively developed, maintained, and operated an observation-well network throughout the state. These two agencies were responsible for collecting and archiving this information, and for making it …

Transient Electromagnetic (Tem) Survey For Targeted Drilling On The Kurtzhals Property, Cedar County, Nebraska, Jesse Korus, Katherine (Katie) Cameron, Michele Waszgis

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The Kurtzhals property is in Section 19, Township 30N, Range 3 in Cedar County, Nebraska. The present land use is agricultural row crop, but past use included hog production. Two active irrigation wells are located on adjacent properties to the west and southwest. An irrigation well was installed in the northwest corner of the property in 2022. Due to the low yield (300 gallons per minute) of this well, Mr. Kurtzhals seeks to install an additional irrigation well to supplement the first. Several unsuccessful test holes had been drilled prior to the present survey. The purpose of this survey was …

Zircon Luminescence Dating Re-Visited, C. Schmidt, T. Halter, P.R. Hanson, A. Ulianov, B. Putlitz, G. E. King, S. Kreutzer

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Age Dating Young Groundwater: How To Determine Groundwater Age From Environmental Tracer Data, D. K. Solomon, T. E. Gilmore

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Visualizing And Automating Past, Real-Time, And Forecast Dynamic Hazard Maps For Shallow Colluvial Landslides In Eastern Kentucky, Nathaniel O'Leary

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Landslide hazards are a persistent threat to communities and infrastructure in Eastern Kentucky, where steep slopes, shallow colluvial soils, and variable hydrological conditions make slope failures frequent. This thesis presents an integrated approach to landslide hazard mapping (LHM) through the development of dynamic, spatiotemporal LHMs for shallow colluvial landslides. Two studies within this work investigate and refine the use of the Lu and Godt (2008) factor of safety (FS) equation to improve landslide predictions. The first study establishes a novel LHM workflow using Hydrus-1D to simulate soil moisture infiltration and fluctuations from precipitation and evapotranspiration (ET) data. This study also …

The Effects Of Environmental Factors On Tsunami Propagation And Inundation: A Comparison Of Earth With Other Planetary Bodies, Austin Halstead

All Master's Theses

Tsunamis are a universal hazard in any environment with oceans or lakes. Having a firm understanding of them is essential because of this. However, the vast number of tsunami studies have been solely on Earth, despite the growing evidence of oceans and lakes being on, or having once existed on, other planets and moons. In this study, I investigated tsunami behavior in non-Earth environments by testing the effects of varying viscosity and gravity. I conducted simulations using GeoClaw, Flow3D®, and VolcFlow on established tsunami benchmarks to identify consistent patterns in tsunami flow patterns and inundation. The results show …

Beach Erosion And Recovery Since Hurricane Ivan In 2004 Along A Headland-Bay Coast In Treasure Beach, Jamaica, Elandé Engelbrecht

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Anthropogenic climate change is causing sea-level rise and shoreline changes that threaten the environment and economy of coastal communities in Caribbean Island nations. To assess this risk, this study quantifies shoreline changes at Treasure Beach in St. Elizabeth Parish on the south coast of Jamaica from 2001 to 2023. The effects of storm events on erosion were also assessed. Over 10 km of shoreline are assessed with about half being sandy pocket beaches ranging from 300 to 900 m in length, separated by rocky headlands and beach rock outcrops. Sand beach erosion trends since 2001 are assessed for seven sandy …

Multiscale Characterization Of Splays Produced By A Historic, Rain-On-Snow Flood On A Large Braided Stream (Platte River, Central Usa), J. T. Korus, R. M. Joeckel, A. R. Mittelstet, N. Shrestha

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Locating And Assessing Oregon Trail Ruts With Aerial Stereophotographs, Satellite Imagery And Lidar, P.R. Hanson, Robert Matthew Joeckel, L. M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Landscape And Paleoenvironmental Change In Stream Valleys Of The Central Great Plains, North America During Marine Isotope Stage 3 (Ca. 59-27 Ka)., T. Layzell, K. Andrzejewski, R. D. Mandel, P.R. Hanson

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Integrated Geochronological And Chemostratigraphic Study Of Middle Miocene Strata (Ogallala Group) At The Eastern Margin Of The North American Great Plains, J. J. Smith, Robert Matthew Joeckel, H. L. Field, G. A. Ludvigson, A. Moller, A. Layzell, S. T. Tucker

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Wetlands In The Nebraska Sandhills, Nawaraj Shrestha

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Infographic titled “Status of Wetlands in the Nebraska Sandhills” showing multiple maps and charts. The top left features a color-coded wetland persistence map where blue indicates more consistent wetlands and red indicates intermittent wetlands. Additional inset maps show a regional zoom and a U.S. location map highlighting Nebraska. A large scatter plot displays wetland occurrence percentages over time using MODIS (green points) and Sentinel (blue points) satellite data from 2000 to 2024. Text explains how wetlands vary seasonally and annually and how satellite imagery tracks these changes. A smaller bottom chart shows long-term wetland trends, noting increasing occurrence since 1984. …

Geology Of The Bishop 7.5-Minute Quadrangle And Geophysical Modeling To Constrain Syndepositional Deformation Of The Black Warrior Foreland Basin, Joseph Edward Lane

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The Black Warrior basin is a foreland basin formed by the Ouachita–Appalachian orogeny during the late Paleozoic Era. Mississippian strata record the transition from the carbonate platform within the Tuscumbia Limestone to the clastic-rich units within the overlying Pride Mountain Formation and Hartselle Sandstone. The western and southern-most fringes of the Black Warrior basin are covered by thin, post orogenic Cretaceous sediments of the East Gulf Coastal Plain. Geological mapping of the Bishop 7.5-Minute quadrangle revealed subtle deformation in Mississippian strata in the form of gentle folds (

(Non-) Recovery Of An Agricultural Stream From Straightening And Dredging, Aras Anderson Mann

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In recent history, natural, meandering streams have been straightened and dredged to reduce flooding. While this practice can be effective in reducing flooding locally, it often results in the degradation of stream water quality and aquatic ecosystems. A straighter channel inherently increases the stream gradient, which could increase flow velocity, shear stress, and potentially downstream sediment yield. Studies have shown that straightened, channelized streams often begin to return to a meandering pattern 35-50 years post-channelization. Yet cross-sectional surveys and air photo analysis of the stream reach in this study, Deckers Creek, indicate little to no observable trend of the stream …

10be Dating Of Last Glacial Maximum Moraines And Subsequent Glacial Retreat In Chirripó National Park, Costa Rica, Caleb Emeka Okpala

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ~26-19 ka) and Termination 1 (~19-12 ka), the expansion and retreat of glaciers across the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, as well as other paleoclimate proxies, document a complex pattern of global climate change. While the timing and magnitude of LGM cooling and subsequent warming is relatively well constrained in mid- and high-latitude regions across both hemispheres, less information is available about climate changes in the tropics. To provide more information about tropical climate conditions during the LGM and Termination 1, I mapped and dated the extents of past glaciers in two valleys in Chirripó …

River Response To Removal Of A Small Dam And Replacement With A Roughened Channel, Chandler Sabin

All Master's Theses

Relatively few studies have analyzed how the removal of small dams and re-engineering of the channel affect river channel processes. The low-head Nelson Dam was built in 1920 on the Naches River in central Washington, causing two miles of aggraded sediments. This resulted in upstream flooding and excessive downstream incision that led to ineffective irrigation diversions, and hindered fish spawning. Nelson Dam was removed in 2021 and replaced with a graded, roughened, nature-like channel and a newly engineered diversion that was completed in 2023. The research presented here quantifies the effects of the Nelson Dam removal and channel redesign on …

Quantifying Chemical Erosion In The Lithologically-Heterogenous Appalachian Valley And Ridge, Amelia Jayne Zanoni

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Quantifying chemical erosion in the lithologically-heterogenous Appalachian Valley and Ridge

Amelia J. Zanoni

The interplay between physical and chemical erosion is well understood in landscapes underlain by a uniform rock type, but many regions are underlain by a mixture of rock types with varying erosion resistance and solubility. We used measurements of stream-water chemistry to estimate chemical erosion rates in the Appalachian Valley and Ridge, a region where the mechanisms of lithologic control over topography are poorly understood. Newly acquired stream water samples were collected from 51 locations across the research area during the Fall of 2023. The sampled waters …

Reverse Pseudo-Gours: A New Sub-Type Of Folia Observed In The Nerja Cave (Se Spain), Cristina Liñán Baena, Concepción Jiménez De Cisneros, Yolanda Del Rosal, Paolo Forti

International Journal of Speleology

A new sub-type of folia named “reverse pseudo-gour” has been observed and described in the Nerja Cave, southern Spain. It consists of fairly vertical, thin barriers (about 5 mm high and 2 mm thick) that develop on the underside of a sub-horizontal surface (shelfstone) and grow in the opposite direction to normal gours (rimstone dams), generating sinuous shapes. Their mineral composition is essentially calcium carbonate, although globular aggregates composed of clay and phosphate minerals have also been identified. The genesis and evolution of these reverse pseudo-gours occur just at the air-water interface and are controlled by (1) the sub-horizontality of …

Comparative Lineament And Geomorphic Analysis Of Chaotic Terrains And Noctis Labyrinthus, Mars, Sarah A. Walton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Noctis Labyrinthus (NL) is an extensional trough network connecting the Tharsis rise and Valles Marineris on Mars. Chaotic terrains are a group of polygonally-fractured surface features commonly associated with subsidence due to rapid fluid loss within the subsurface. Polygonal surface patterns are seen at both sites, where geometric topographic highs are bounded by low troughs. Lineaments, topography, and geomorphology of NL and chaotic terrains were analyzed to determine tectonics and fluid influence in the formation and evolution of both sites. NL shows preferential fracture patterns associated with regional extension. Lineaments within chaotic terrains do not show cumulative preferential trends but …

The Broadwater Formation (Pliocene) Of Nebraska And Southeastern Wyoming, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., James B. Swinehart

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

The Broadwater Formation, initially defined in 1945, is a Pliocene-aged coarse-grained alluvial deposit in Nebraska and southeastern Wyoming. It is characterized by a complex stratigraphic history and debated geologic interpretations. The formation is a rich resource of groundwater for the citizens of Nebraska and the Central Great Plains. We aim to synthesize and redefine the Broadwater Formation, shedding light on its distribution, geological characteristics, and paleoenvironmental significance. While historical hypotheses on Broadwater Formation paleovalley trajectories suggested northwest-southeast trending valleys, later investigations proposed wind-driven erosional patterns to explain the unique topographic features observed. The Broadwater is divided into an unnamed Upper …