Geology Commons^™

Quantifying Ephemeral Gully Erosion With Photogrammetry Surveying, C. B. Weerasekara, A. Y. Shechukov

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Early Miocene Quantitative Calcareous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy From The Tropical Atlantic, Waheed A. Albasrawi

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Quantitative analysis for the Lower Miocene of Ocean Drilling Program Hole 959A from the West African margin was performed to document all the calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphic events present. Combined with data from previous investigations of the Lower Miocene from the tropical Atlantic, this research identifies and tests the viability of markers used in current zonation scheme, identifies alternative markers for age boundaries, and examine statistically the most probable order of event in the Lower Miocene using the Ranking and Scaling method (RASC).

The examination of Hole 959A was performed on a 112 samples. Seven additional sites that collectively span the …

A Gis Analysis Of Waulsortian-Like Mounds In The Mississippian Of Kentucky And Tennessee, Philip Roberson

Scholars Week

Following a mass extinction nearly 365 million years ago, bryozoans and crinoids replaced corals and stromatoporoids as the dominant framework organisms in reefs and, during the very earliest part of the Carboniferous period, they built reef-like structures that are known from Europe, North America and Africa. They are characterized by large size, a matrix of carbonate mud, and their major framework organisms.

Waulsortian-like mounds occur in geographically isolated patches in outcrop and in the subsurface of central Tennessee and Kentucky where they are associated with hydrocarbon production. These mounds have the same characteristic organisms as the European mounds and do …

Depositional Model Of A Late Cretaceous Dinosaur Fossil Concentration, Lance Formation, Summer Rose Weeks

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

A large Maastrichtian, nearly monospecific bonebed in the Lance Formation in eastern Wyoming has yielded 13,000 bones and fragments since 1996. Though excavation of the site continues, little is known of the circumstances and processes of deposition. This study aims to provide a depositional model for the bonebed. To accomplish this task we utilized 1D facies analysis of surrounding units and 3D analysis of the bonebed. The nature of the outcrop limited facies analysis to 1D. Four measured stratigraphic sections, each containing the bonebed unit, were taken and used in facies analysis. In addition, laterally continuous units were observed and …

Three-Dimensional Architecture And Hydrostratigraphy Of Cross-Cutting Buried Valleys Using Airborne Electromagnetics, Glaciated Central Lowlands, Nebraska, Usa, Jesse T. Korus Dr., Robert Matthew Joeckel, Dana P. Divine, Jared D. Abraham

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Buried valleys are characteristic features of glaciated landscapes, and their deposits host important aquifers worldwide. Understanding the stratigraphic architecture of these deposits is essential for protecting groundwater and interpreting sedimentary processes in subglacial and ice-marginal environments. The relationships between depositional architecture, topography and hydrostratigraphy in dissected, pre-Illinoian till sheets is poorly understood. Boreholes alone are inadequate to characterize the complex geology of buried valleys, but airborne electromagnetic surveys have proven useful for this purpose. A key question is whether the sedimentary architecture of buried valleys can be interpreted from airborne electromagnetic profiles. This study employs airborne electromagnetic resistivity profiles to …

Optimizing Methods For Extraction Of Organic Compounds From Molluscan Shells, Kaydee Jo West

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mollusk shells contain proteins within and between the crystals of calcium carbonate. These organic molecules play an important role in biomineralization and shell function, and their stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen are also thought to record important ecological information about the animal's diet and nutrient sources. These proteins can be preserved for millions of years, offering potential insight into pre-anthropogenic ecological conditions. However, shell organics in older shells are typically recovered in reduced abundances due to leaching and remaining organics are often converted from insoluble proteins to soluble, free amino acids, making them difficult to detect and recover. …

The Growth And Ecology Of Upper Cambrian Microbialite Biostromes From The Notch Peak Formation In Utah, Ken P. Coulson

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Exposure of carbonate rocks within the uplifted mountains of southwestern Utah presents a unique opportunity to study the growth, morphology and ecology of two upper Cambrian microbialite reefs located within the Hellnmaria Member of the Notch Peak Formation. The first reef contains meter-length, strongly elongate microbialites that grew in a deep, subtidal marine environment. These elongate microbialites formed as a result of coalescence of round ‘algal’ heads, a process known to produce compound microbialite structures in shallow water, but seldom explored as a key factor in the elongation of deep, subtidal forms that grew in ancient environments. The second reef …

The Influence Of The Great Falls Tectonic Zone On The Thrust Sheet Geometry Of The Southern Sawtooth Range, Montana, Usa, Caroline M. Burberry, J. M. Palu

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The reactivation potential of pre-existing deep-seated structures influences deformation structures produced in subsequent compression. This contribution investigates thrust geometries produced in surface thrust sheets of the Sawtooth Range, Montana, USA, deforming over a previously faulted sedimentary section. Surface thrust fault patterns were picked using existing maps and remote sensing. Thrust location and regional transport direction was also verified in the field. These observations were used to design a series of analogue models, involving deformation of a brittle cover sequence over a lower section with varying numbers of vertical faults. A final model tested the effect of decoupling the upper cover …

The Stratigraphic Position Of Fossil Vertebrates From The Pojoaque Member Of The Tesuque Formation (Middle Miocene, Late Barstovian) Near Española, New Mexico, Garrett R. Williamson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The stratigraphy of the Pojoaque Member of the Tesuque Formation near Española, NM is not well understood. This region, during the Middle Miocene, represented a dynamic alluvial fan-fluvial-lacustrine environment within the Española Basin while the Rio Grande Rift was active. Cavazza (1986) identified two paleodrainage systems (lithosome A, basin-margin facies and B, basin-floor facies) by means of sandstone and conglomerate petrology, paleocurrent, and sedimentary facies analyses. After x-ray diffraction analyses of claystones within lithosome B, mordenite was discovered, which is a zeolite mineral commonly found within volcanic rocks. This is significant because the presence of mordenite confirms Cavazza’s (1986) conclusion …

Testing Of The Late-Ordovician Pre-Gice Warm Water Carbonate Hypothesis In Alabama, Brandon Euker, Stacey Law

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The Guttenberg Carbon Isotope Excursion (GICE) (uppermost Sandbian-lower Katian, Late Ordovician) has been suggested to represent the transition from a Cambrian-Ordovician greenhouse world to Late Ordovician icehouse world. This transition is thought to coincide with a proposed shift from deposition of warm water carbonate rocks to cool water carbonate rocks in the North American midcontinent. We used oxygen isotopes (d¹⁸O) of conodonts to test the idea that the rocks below the GICE interval represent a consistently warm environment. Conodonts were isolated from samples of the Chickamauga Group collected at the Tidwell Hollow section in Blount County, AL, from …

Anatomical Markers For Elevated Cognition In Dinosaurs, Thomas Gaetano

Honors Projects

Much research has been conducted on brain evolution within Dinosauria. Dinosaurs were originally believed to be incapable of any advanced cognitive abilities beyond the level observed in modern reptiles. This is likely true for many dinosaurs, but recent discoveries suggest that the non-avian maniraptor dinosaurs shared many physical characteristics with their bird descendants, including body feathers and neural adaptations for flight. By studying cranial endocasts (the braincase of fossilized skulls) using computed tomography (CT), paleontologists are beginning to understand the neural changes that took place across the dinosaur-bird transition. Most of these studies are focused on the development of flight, …

11th New World Luminescence Dating Workshop Scientific Program And Abstracts And Field Trip Guide Book, P.R. Hanson, James B. Swinehart, Joseph Mason

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

New Records Of Colubrids From The Late Hemphillian Gray Fossil Site Of Northeastern Tennessee, Derek J. Jurestovsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Gray Fossil Site is a rich Hemphillian (North American Land Mammal Age) locality located in northeastern Tennessee which has produced tens-of-thousands of fossils of multiple taxa including hundreds of individual snake skeletal remains. Analyzed here are cranial and vertebral fossils identified as belonging to various colubrid taxa including Carphophis sp., Gyalopion sp., Heterodon sp., Natricinae indeterminate, Thamnophis sp., and a new, undescribed genus and species. In addition, multiple new features of snake vertebrae are described, some of which question the validity of the genus Neonatrix. Finally, the distribution and paleoecology of the listed genera allows an interpretation of …

Upper Albian To Lower Cenomanian Calcareous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy Of The Proto-North Atlantic, Shamar Chin

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Lower Cenomanian calcareous nannofossil assemblages from Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Sites 137 and 547 in the proto-North Atlantic Ocean were analyzed quantitatively to examine the fidelity of the widely used CC and UC calcareous nannofossil Zonal schemes. Datasets from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) holes 1050C and 1052E (Blake Nose) and Tanzania Drilling Project (TDP) Site 24 were integrated into this dataset. Four biozones spanning the upper Albian through middle Cenomanian were determined using the method of unitary associations (UA). Data were also used from these sequences to generate a ranking and scaling (RASC) optimum sequence. A new reliability index …

Determining The Age Of A Stabilized Dune Field, Carissa Raymond

UCARE: Research Products

The aim of this project was to assess the development and age of the Kearney Dunefield in central Nebraska through the collection and analysis of sand samples from the inactive dunes. These dunes are not part of the well-known Nebraska Sandhills, and so far have not been thoroughly studied. Similar assessments have been conducted on dune fields throughout the Great Plains, and this study seeks to place the Kearney Dunes into a regional context.

The OSL ages for the Kearney cores fall between approximately 590 and 690 years ago. These dates overlap with a period of activation for the Nebraska …

Geology Of The Platte River Valley Near Kearney, Nebraska, Jeremy S. Dillon, Paul R. Hanson, Ashley Larsen, Jacob Bruihler, Carissa Raymond

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Aquifers Of Nebraska I: The Codell Aquifer In Northeastern Nebraska, Dana Divine, R. Matthew Joeckel, Sue Olafsen Lackey

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Age And Correlation Of The Moorefield Shale (Upper Mississippian) In Its Type Area, Northeastern Arkansas, O. Dalu, W. S. Coffey, W. L. Manger

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

The name Moorefield was proposed by Adams and Ulrich (1904) for exposures of gray to brown, phosphatic shale with a basal limestone, overlying the Lower Mississippian Boone Formation, and underlying the Upper Mississippian Batesville Sandstone, in the vicinity of Moorefield, Independence County, northeastern Arkansas. Gordon (1944) 1) restricted the name Moorefield to the lower limestone-bearing interval, 2) applied a new name, Ruddell, to the succeeding shale section that comprises the bulk of the interval, with a type area near Moorefield, and 3) interpreted the interval contacts as unconformities. The name Ruddell was used for the revised Geological Map of Arkansas …

Regional Geochemical Mapping Of The Superior Upland Province; Ichnology Of The Cretaceous Mesilla Valley Formation, Cerro De Cristo Rey; A New Ichnospecies Of Cardioichnus From The Cretaceous (Albian) Of New Mexico; A Pedagogy For The Cerro De Cristo Rey Tracksite; Walking In The Footprints Of Dino, Eric J. Kappus

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This is a multi-disciplinary study that covers a variety of geoscience topics on both international borders of the continental United States. This Dissertation is the product of several separate investigations. First is a report on the landscape geochemistry of the Superior Upland Province of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, with regional maps of 37 chemical elements interpreted in terms of bedrock, glacial reworking, and anthropogenic influence. The next 2 sections are reports on the invertebrate ichnology of the Cretaceous Mesilla Valley Formation at Cerro de Cristo Rey, including the proposal of a new ichnospecies of echinoid resting trace, Cardioichnus biloba nov. …

Late Glacial And Holocene History Of The Penobscot River In The Penobscot Lowland, Maine, Roger Leb. Hooke, Paul R. Hanson, Danile F. Belknap, Alice R. Kelley

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

When the Laurentide ice sheet retreated rapidly (~150 m/a) across the Penobscot Lowland between ~16 and ~15 ka, the area was isostatically depressed and became inundated by the sea. Silt and clay were deposited, but no significant moraines or deltas were formed. The Penobscot River was reborn at ~14 ka when ice retreated onto land in the upper reaches of the river’s East Branch. As isostatic rebound exceeded sea level rise from melting ice, the river extended itself southward. Between ~13.4 and 12.8 ka, it established a course across marine clay and underlying glacial till in the Lowland. Its gradient …

Nebraska's Public Access Hunting Program: Hunter Preferences And Usage Final Report, Lisa Pennisi, Mark E. Burbach, Namyun Kil, Muhammed Imran Kahn, Andrew J. Tyre

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Changes In Moisture Source And The Upstream Rainout On Stable Isotopes In Precipitation – A Case Study In Nanjing, Eastern China, Y. Tang, H. Pang, W. Zhang, Y. Li, Shuang-Ye Wu, S. Hou

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

In the Asian monsoon region, variations in the stable isotopic composition of speleothems have often been attributed to the "amount effect". However, an increasing number of studies suggest that the "amount effect" in local precipitation is insignificant or even non-existent. To explore this issue further, we examined the variability of daily stable isotopic composition (δ18O) in precipitation from September 2011 to November 2014 in Nanjing, eastern China. We found that intra-seasonal variations of δ18O during summer were not significantly correlated with local rainfall amount but could be linked to changes in the moisture source location and rainout processes in the …

North-Central Nebraska Geology: Niobrara River Valley In Brown, Cherry, And Keya Paha Counties, R. M. Joeckel, L. M. Howard, S. T. Tucker

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Eastern Tropical Pacific Climate And El Niño Variability During The Past Millennium, Gerald Thomas Rustic

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has been implicated in large-scale climate shifts of the past millennia, but paleoclimate records from the dynamically vital eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean (EEP) spanning the past millennium are sparse. This has limited our understanding of tropical Pacific dynamics, leaving questions regarding the source of ENSO variability unanswered. Here I seek to address some of these questions regarding relationship between ENSO and tropical Pacific mean state, and the relationship between the tropical Pacific and large-scale climate. Mean EEP sea surface temperature (SST) for the past millennium was reconstructed using Mg/Ca ratios in Globigerinoides ruber from …

Ecology And Morphology Of The Late Miocene Musk Deer, Longirostromeryx Wellsi (Artiodactyla: Moschidae: Blastomerycinae), Katheryn Y. C. Chen

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Longirostromeryx wellsi, one of the latest surviving members of the extinct clade Blastomerycinae (Artiodactyla: Moschidae), possesses highly derived craniodental morphology that deviates from typical musk deer form. Previous work suggests that the unique anatomy of L. wellsi represents adaptations for occupying open savannas. To test this hypothesis I conduct principal components analysis on five postcranial bones of L. wellsi, comparing them to that of several extant ruminant artiodactyls, which are divided among seven habitat categories. These elements are also compared with the postcrania of other blastomerycines. These analyses indicate that L. wellsi anatomy is most similar to that of other …

Stable Isotope Analysis Of Bison Latifrons And Paleoecological Inferences, Fabian Ceron Hardy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Bison latifrons was a large Pleistocene herbivore that is traditionally hypothesized to have been adapted to living in forest openings and woodlands. According to this view, the species was primarily a browser of high-growing, woody plants. Very little isotopic work has been conducted on this species, and there have been no prior studies of high altitude localities containing this species. This study aims to address both of these issues.

B. latifrons is known from sites in several states, including California, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, and Florida, among others. These sites provide diverse examples of this species’ habitat and the opportunity to …

Paleoclimate Implications From Stable Isotope Analysis Of Sedimentary Organic Carbon And Vertebrate Fossils From The Cedar Mountain Formation, Ut, U.S.A., Garrett Andrew Hatzell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions of fossilized vertebrate teeth and bone were analyzed to determine isotopic values of vertebrate faunal diet from the early Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah. Results for δ18O of PO4 (δ18Op) (Suarez et al., 2014) from the same data set have been compared to the δ18O of CO3 (δ18Oc) portion of teeth and turtle shell to determine if diagenetic alteration of the isotopes has occurred by plotting the line of best fit equation that models the relationship between unaltered δ18OP and δ18OC of modern mammals from Iacumin et al., 1996. Results indicate slight diagenesis of …

Investigating The Paleoecological Consequences Of Supercontinent Breakup: Sponges Clean Up In The Early Jurassic, Frank Corsetti, Kathleen Ritterbush, David Bottjer, Sarah Greene, Yadira Ibarra, Joyce Yager, A. Joshua West, William Berelson, Silvia Rosas, Thorsten Becker, Naomi Levine, Sean Loyd, Rowan Martindale, Victoria Petryshyn, Nathan Carroll, Elizabeth Petsios, Olivia Piazza, Carlie Pietsch, Jessica Stellmann, Jeffrey Thompson, Kirstin Washington, Dylan Wilmeth

Faculty Publications

The continued release of fossil fuel carbon into the atmosphere today means it is imperative to understand Earth system response to CO2 rise, and the geologic record offers unique opportunities to investigate such behavior. Stomatal and paleosol proxies demonstrate a large change in atmospheric pCO2 across the Triassic-Jurassic (T-J) transition, concomitant with the eruption and emplacement of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) and the splitting of Pangea. As one of the “big 5” mass extinctions—when the so-called modern fauna was particularly hard hit—we know the biosphere was severely affected during this time, but the details are relatively poorly understood, …

Microfossils As Proxies For Holocene Climate In Semi-Enclosed Basins: The Hudson River Estuary, New York, Usa And The Marmara Sea, Turkey, Damayanti Gurung

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The transition from the late Pleistocene glacial to the warmer Holocene interglacial occurred within a series of climatic oscillations. The Holocene, a relatively warm and stable period, was also marked by smaller climatic variability of millennial- to-centennial-scale oscillations. Furthermore, during this period global sea level was much lower than at present. My present study will analyze micro-fossils as proxies for their response to these climatic fluctuations, as well as marine influences during the late Pleistocene to Holocene periods. Sediments from marginal basin environments have been selected for the study due to their connection to the open sea and terrestrial environments, …

Using Geometric Morphometrics To Differentiate Lower First Molars Of Microtus Species: A Review Of The Clark’S Cave Bone Deposit, Va, Mark Shelleman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Clark’s Cave contains a large collection of late Pleistocene mammal material. In particular, it contains a sizable amount of Microtus spp. which can be valuable paleoclimate indicators. Identification techniques traditionally used to classify these species have been shown to be unreliable. Recent studies have shown that using geometric morphometric techniques on lower first molars can be more successful. By placing landmarks and running a discriminate analysis on new and previously collected material from the cave, significant differences in Microtus species proportions were found. Specifically, showing the deposit has a larger proportion of M. xanthognathus than previously reported; resulting in a …