Geology Commons^™

New Hampshire Continental Shelf Geospatial Database: Surficial Geology Maps And Sediment Grain Size Data, Larry G. Ward, Zachary S. Mcavoy, Rachel C. Morrison

Data Catalog

The “New Hampshire Continental Shelf Geospatial Database: Surficial Geology Maps and Sediment Grain Size Data” consists of high-resolution surficial geology maps of the continental shelf off New Hampshire to Jeffreys Ledge in the Western Guff of Maine (WGOM) and supporting sediment grain size information. The surficial geology maps cover ~3,250 km² (Figure 1). The maps depict three different classifications based on the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standards (CMECS; FGDC, 2012): Geoforms (major morphologic or physiographic features; Figure 2; Table 1), Geologic Substrate Subclass (Figure 3; Table 2), and Geologic Substrate Group (Figure 4; Table 2). The maps are …

Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report 2021, Aaron R. Young, Mark E. Burbach, Leslie M. Howard, Sue Olafsen Lackey, Robert Matthew Joeckel

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 in an effort to survey the state’s groundwater resources and to observe changes in its availability on a continuing 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, …

Baseflow And Water Resilience Variability In Two Water Management Units In Southeastern Brazil, Lucas Vituri Santarosa, Didier Gastmans, Troy E. Gilmore, Jan Boll, Sebastian Balbin Betancur, Vitor Fidelis Monteiro Gonçalves

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Changes in climate and water demand in densely populated regions increasingly affect hydrological systems, and, in turn, impact socioeconomic conditions. In this case study, we identify how the hydrogeological frameworks of two water resource management units, Tietê-Jacaré (TJ) and Piracicaba-Capivari-Jundiaí (PCJ) in Sao Paulo state (Brazil), control the baseflow processes and resilience in the face of streamflow fluctuations in response to anthropogenic activities and climate variation. The results reveal between 40% and 75% contributions of baseflow to total streamflow in basins overlying crystalline and sedimentary aquifers. The basins in PCJ which mostly overly crystalline aquifers, have shorter water residence times …

2022 Nebraska Water Leaders Academy Final Report, Mark E. Burbach, Robert Matthew Joeckel, Brooke Mott, Gina S. Matkin

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Fifteen participants completed the 2022 Water Leaders Academy bringing the total number of graduates to 168 since the inception of the program in 2011. Assessments of participants’ transformational leadership skills, champion of innovation skills, water knowledge, engagement with water issues, civic capacity, entrepreneurial leadership behaviors, and boundary spanning skills increased significantly over the course of the year, according to both the participants and their raters. Feedback from the participants was highly positive and constructive. Academy planners are addressing participant concerns. Results of the program assessment indicate that the curriculum is meeting Academy objectives. Therefore, only minor changes are planned for …

Amphibians And Reptiles Of Nebraska Coloring Pages, John Lokke

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Black and white images from original art by John Lokke. Suitable for coloring pages. Published by the Nebraska Maps & More Store at the School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska - Lincoln.

Distribution Of Particulate Organic Carbon – Fluxes And Inventories – In Growth-Faulted Coastal Wetlands, Samuel Joel Whitehead

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Coastal wetlands along the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOMx) are critically important but threatened environments which provide significant and diverse economic, social, and environmental value. These environments are essential components to the global carbon cycle, serving as one of the most efficient terrestrial carbon sinks. Since onset of the Industrial Revolution increasing rates of coastal wetland loss have been documented due to a variety of anthropogenic activities, neotectonic processes, subsidence, and rising sea-levels. This research utilized an array of methods and sedimentological analyses to test the hypothesis that growth-fault induced changes at Earth’s surface affects the delivery to, and storage …

Geology Of The Jacksonville 7.5 Minute Quadrangle And U–Pb And (U–Th)/He Reveal Sediment Routing And Uplift In The Southern Appalachian Valley And Ridge Province, Derek L. Spurgeon

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The southern Appalachian Mountains have experienced multiple deformation events having undergone two full Wilson cycles. The foreland Valley and Ridge province is composed of sedimentary Paleozoic rock that range in age from earliest Cambrian to Middle Pennsylvanian. This sedimentary basin was intensely folded and faulted during the collision of Gondwana during the Middle to Late Carboniferous Period. From previous geologic structural mapping that has taken place, some large-scale structures in the Valley and Ridge Province seem to be out of sequence. To better understand the relationships in these structures, geologic mapping in high detail at the 1:24,000 scale coupled with …

Evaluating The Relationship Between Floodplain Topography And Channel Avulsion: Evidence From The Devonian Catskill Formation, North-Central Pennsylvania, Usa, Molly O'Halloran

Honors Theses

Topographic complexity on floodplains can route flow, control sediment dispersal, and influence channel behavior, but studying floodplain-channel interactions in modern rivers is challenging because of human modifications and the short timescales of observable data. This project assesses the link between different types of floodplain microtopography and avulsion style in the Devonian Catskill Formation, north-central Pennsylvania, where thick stacks of fluvial strata provide a lengthy record of channel-floodplain interaction. Using a combination of field observations and computer modeling, this study identifies sedimentary features indicative of floodplain complexity and analyzes their impact on avulsion style at fourteen Catskill Formation outcrops.

Based on …

Using Geochemical Composition To Determine Paleo Environmental Conditions And Source Inputs In Paleozoic Rocks Within The Central Kansas Uplift Usa, Christiana Fumnanya Eziashi

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Paleoenvironmental conditions, sediment characteristics and lateral continuity using chemostratigraphy are not well established for stratigraphic units associated with some small fields within the Central Kansas Uplift (CKU). Samples of drill cuttings recovered from six wells (Hottman #1, and Hottman-Furthmeyer#1, Yocemento #1, Mong Benno #2, Rhian #3 and Worcester #1) at 10 ft intervals between 3150 ft and 3900 ft below ground level, were processed and analyzed using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD). The XRF technique was used to determine elemental compositions, and XRD was used to determine mineral content. The composition of the rock cuttings was used to …

Strange Stones Of Skull Creek: Basalt Glacial Erratics And Omars In Eastern Nebraska, Robert M. Joeckel, Jesse T. Korus, Judith Turk, C. C. Arps, N. V. Arps, Leslie M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

We describe unusual stream- reworked glacially transported rocks (erratics) from a locality 50 km east of the limit of all pre- Illinoian (pre- 190 ka) Pleistocene glaciations in the central USA. Almost all these erratics consist of the igneous rock basalt, and of those, the vast majority have at least one fl at, smooth face. Some have two or more such faces that meet at obtuse angles along one or more well- defi ned, straight edges. We attribute these features, as well as laminations, plumose marks, and other features, to columnar jointing in ancient lava fl ows and shallow intrusions. …

The Impact Of Sampling Methodology On Soil Bulk Density Measurement By The Clod Method, Aldi J. Airori, Trinity Baker, Judith Turk

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The clod method is a widely used and accurate bulk density method. However, its use is limited to sampling from soil pits. This study was conducted to: 1) determine whether clods collected from cores provide similar bulk density measurements to those collected from soil pits and 2) evaluate the impact of various clod bulk density methods on carbon stock calculation. Clods were collected from soil pits, 5.1 cm soil cores, and 8.9 cm soil cores. Three-dimensional laser scanning was used to measure the volume of the soil clods before and after oven-drying and bulk density was calculated as the dry …

Regional Correlation And Depositional History Using Well Log And Core Data Of The Geneseo-Burket From The Poseidon 8m Well, Westmoreland County Pa, Usa, Spencer Leonard Williams Jr.

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Abstract

Regional Correlation and Depositional History using Well Log and Core Data of the Geneseo-Burket from the Poseidon 8M Well, Westmoreland County PA, USA

Spencer Williams

Natural gas producers have invested billions of dollars in Pennsylvania and West Virginia to establish significant gas production from the Devonian Marcellus Shale and the deeper Ordovician Utica-Point Pleasant interval. In addition, commercial gas production has been reported from several other Devonian shale units in the Appalachian region, including the Rhinestreet, Levanna, and Geneseo-Burket. The Marcellus Shale is the largest natural gas play in the United States. The Marcellus is located directly under the …

Geomorphic History And Preservation Of Archaeologically Significant Areas In The Hanford Reach Of The Columbia River, Washington State, Benjamin Deans

All Master's Theses

Archaeological sites near rivers may be preserved through burial, altered by exposure, or destroyed through erosion. Preserved because of the unusual needs of the Manhattan Project, the Hanford Reach is the only remaining free-flowing reach of the Columbia River and ideal for research into the geomorphic settings of archaeological sites along this river. The 1894 (742,000 cfs [20,900 m³/s]) and 1948 (690,000 cfs [19,000 m³/s]) floods were the largest in the historical record through the reach, but their relationship with geomorphic change and site preservation are less understood. To understand how floods have preserved and destroyed …

Stratigraphic Analysis Of The Capps Limestone In The North Norton Oil Field In Runnels County, Texas, William Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Desmoinesian (Middle Pennsylvanian) Capps Limestone Member of the Mineral Wells Formation is a carbonate reservoir located in North Central Texas. It consists of interbedded limestone, sandstone, and shale units. Much of the Capps Limestone exists in the subsurface of Brown, Coleman, Runnels, Coke, Nolan, and Taylor counties, however, the Capps Limestone outcrops on the surface in Brown, Eastland, and Palo Pinto counties.

The cored interval from Runnels County was deposited in a marginal marine environment during the Middle Pennsylvanian Period. Although the Capps Limestone was first described in the 1890s, there is still much to be discovered about its …

Fine Grained Delta Front Sediment Transport, Sarah Noel

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Insights into transformative coastal processes are unlocked though understanding sediment transport mechanisms in fine-grained delta front environments. Movement of fine-grained sediments on delta fronts is not wholly explained through advection settling models. While advection settling models generally assume deposition into a still body, numerical modeling of sediment re-entrainment suggests there may be tidal, wave, and/or non-steady hydrograph influences allowing particles to reach greater distances by altering the decelerating velocity field. This research explores both an advection settling model and a mass conservation Rouse profile model to understand the irreducible delta front processes controlling sediment deposition. Using field data collected on …

Machine Learning Applied To A Modern-Pleistocene Petrographic Dataset: The Global Prediction Of Sand Mineralogy (Gloprsm) Model, Isaac Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Petrography has long been used as a tool to decipher the sedimentary provenance of sand and sandstone from the relative proportions of framework grain types. Petrographers have also related the proportions of quartz (Q), feldspar (F), and lithic (L) grains to the processes that form and modify sediments within sediment routing systems. This past work has shown that factors including source lithology, climate, transport history, and tectonism work in concert to modify the framework mineralogy of sand. However, there is a lack of a quantitative understanding of the interactions and feedbacks between these factors and how they modify sand mineralogy. …

The Morphodynamic Interaction Of River Deltas And Their Marshes, Kelly M. Sanks

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Globally, many of the largest river deltas contain vast marsh platforms that are currently threatened due to a combination of anthropogenic alterations to rivers and increasing relative sea level rise. Restoration and management plans for river deltas depend on optimizing riverine sediment accumulation in marsh platforms. However, the accumulation of organic material in marsh platforms is often neglected in predictive models and the interaction of ecogeomorphic processes governing marsh accumulation with the physical processes governing river delta growth is poorly understood.

Herein, I investigate this complex relationship through a combination of field and experimental studies. I show that in coastal …

Revisiting The Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary In Western Kentucky, Usa, Jarred Asselta

Scholars Week

This study revisits a Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) sedimentary section in western Kentucky to determine the nature of this boundary and the depositional environments. Although previous pollen work identified the boundary over four decades ago, to our knowledge no work has been carried out at this important K-Pg boundary site. A combination of stratigraphy and sedimentology were used to characterize the section in detail. Bulk and oriented samples were collected for grain-size, geochemical, and petrographic analysis. We relocated the site and measured 1.5m of section that includes the K-Pg boundary. Four distinct units were identified and from base to top of section …

Recharge Assessment In The Context Of Expanding Agricultural Activity: Urucuia Aquifer System, Western State Of Bahia, Brazil, Glauco Z.S. Eger, Gerson C. Silva Junior, Eduardo A.G. Marques, Bernardo R.C. Leão, Diana G.T.B. Da Rocha, Troy E. Gilmore, Luís G.H. Do Amaral, Juremá A.O. Silva, Christopher Neale

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Groundwater recharge rate estimation is crucial to sustainable development of aquifers in intensely pumped regions, such as the Urucuia Aquifer System (UAS). A sedimentary aquifer in Western Bahia, Brazil, that underlies one of the major agricultural areas of the country where there has been major growth of irrigated areas. This study seeks to evaluate the recharge component of the water budget in the UAS area, based on three complementary techniques. The double-ring infiltrometer test was used to evaluate surface infiltration capacity, an important control on recharge. Water level data from wells (2011–2019 period, 19 wells) in the Brazilian Geological Survey’s …

Geology And Hydrogeology Of Northeastern Nebraska: Geology, Water Management And Geological Hazards, Nebraska Geological Society Field Trip 2021, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., Sue Olafsen Lackey, Douglas R. Hallum

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The 2021 Nebraska Geological Society field trip will provide an overview of the geology and hydrogeology of northeast Nebraska, the groundwater quality and quantity issues unique to the region, water management issues and decision-making, and ongoing work relating to water quality and geologic (hydrostratigraphic) framework, along the lower Niobrara and Missouri rivers Between Spencer Dam and Homer Nebraska. This program will be comprised of an auto tour with multiple stops on Saturday October 16 through Monday October 18 as illustrated in Map 1. The tour will begin with an examination of the Spencer Dam site and several locations in and …

The Morphology And Evolution Of Transverse Aeolian Ridges On Mars, Timothy Paul Nagle-Mcnaughton

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Transverse aeolian ridges (TARs) are enigmatic and largely relict bedforms on the surface of Mars. TARs are sparsely distributed but common on Mars, but their history, preservation, and past role in the sediment cycle is not well understood. First described in 2003, and detailed extensively in 2008, our study of TARs has been narrowly focused in the last decade, with more and more research noting their presence, but little investigation of the features themselves. Recent work has mostly focused on identifying Terran analogues for TARs, but TARs remain largely a unique Martian feature. In this manuscript, I clarify and refine …

Palynology And Paleoclimatology Of The Chicxulub Impact Crater In The Early Paleogene, Vann Smith

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

At the end of the Cretaceous Period, a large bolide impacted the Earth and formed the Chicxulub impact crater in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. In 2016, International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 364 Site M0077 drilled into the buried peak ring of the crater, recovering a marine Paleocene to early Eocene post-impact section deposited on top of the impact breccia. Palynological analysis of 195 samples from the post-impact section has yielded the first pre-Holocene vegetational record from inside the Chicxulub impact crater and the first palynological record of the recovery of life following the end-Cretaceous mass extinction from inside the …

Modeling The Lafourche Delta Network In The Mississippi Delta Complex, Byong-Suk Chun

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The distributary channel network morphology on deltas is important for the delta evolution study because channels are the primary conduit for carrying and distributing water, sediment, and nutrients to the coast. Numerical models of river deltas and their channels have improved remarkably over the past two decades. However, the long-term (millennial scale) simulation of real delta systems remains rare. Here, we attempt to reconstruct the Lafourche Delta channel network, active 1600-600 years before present, with a simple numerical model (Moving Boundary Model for Distributary Network, MB_DCN). The model was run for 9 possible paleo basin boundaries and 6 water discharge …

Ductile And Brittle Deformation Of Slackwater Deposits In The Tucannon River Valley, Chelsi K. Howard

Geosciences Student Work

The Tucannon River valley in eastern Washington is home to a number of ductile and brittle soft-sediment deformation. This project aims to look at ductile deformation by classifying and comparing styles of clastic dikes in the field and to look at brittle deformation by analyzing small faults in localized outcrops. Clastic dikes are sedimentary intrusions into other sedimentary strata. There are three main types of clastic dikes: injection, extrusion, and sugtrusion. In addition, two subcategories of clastic dikes are described as sheeted dikes and fault injection dikes. Ductile and brittle deformation occurs in “slackwater” deposits associated with margins of glacial …

Deposition And Diagenesis Of The Blossom Sand, Panola County, Texas, Hannah Chambers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Late Cretaceous Blossom Sand within the Austin Group is a historic gas reservoir in the East Texas basin, located at depths of approximately 2,000 ft below the surface. Since the discovery of the Carthage Field in 1918 in the East Texas Basin, the Blossom Sand has produced approximately 26 BCF of gas with minor amounts of oil. Despite its notoriety in the Carthage Field, there is very little research that has been conducted on this unit, although it crops out in northeast Texas and is found in the subsurface of southwest Arkansas, western Louisiana, and the East Texas Basin. …

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. …

Small-Scale Resuspension And Redistribution Of Surface Sediments In The Northeast Gulf Of Mexico, Austin Harris

Master's Theses

Following the release of ~4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from the Macondo wellhead, a vast area of the seafloor contained recently deposited marine sediments contaminated by the oil spill. The initial deposition of these contaminated marine sediments was likely not the end of the journey for the particles. Downslope gravitational processes and events of increased current speed in the deep ocean setting can result in recently deposited sediments to resuspend and be moved laterally with the current flow, increasing the area effected by the oil spill. Erosion experiments performed in a closed-loop resuspension flume were …

Carbon-Isotope Chemostratigraphy And Fluvial Sedimentology Of The Moenave Formation, Utah, Jordan Oefinger

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The end Triassic extinction (ETE) is one of the largest mass extinction events of the Phanerozoic, and it has been hypothesized that this event, as well as the Triassic-Jurassic (TJ) boundary, are preserved within the Moenave Formation of the Colorado Plateau. Identification of this boundary within southwest Utah sections of the Colorado Plateau region is critical for better understanding the relationship between climate change and the ETE in terrestrial, low latitude paleoenvironments. The Moenave Formation is well exposed in Blacks Canyon of Zion National Park and in the nearby Warner Valley, where detailed sedimentologic observations and carbon isotope sampling have …

Diversity – Independent Factors Predict Elevated Extinction Rates, Dustin Perriguey, Corinne Myers, Jason Moore, Louis Scuderi

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Multiple linear regression was used to determine the relationships between diversity-independent factors (i.e., abiotic, climatic) 2, 5, and 10 Myrs-prior to the most elevated Phanerozoic extinctions. We constructed five abiotic variables from Phanerozoic proxy records1–5 to compare to extinction rates: mean temperature, temperature instability, carbon cycle instability, continental weathering rates, and habitat instability. All three models were statistically significant (P < 0.05) and explained > 70% of the variation in Alroy’s6 three-timer generic extinction rates. However, the 2 Myr-prior model explained the most variance in extinction rates and had the most predictive power, based on adjusted and predictive R2 (~ 72% and 41%, respectively). Carbon …

Hydro-Morphodynamics Of Sandy Coastal Embayments, Shamim Murshid

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the hydro-morphodynamics of two major components of a sandy coastal environment: tidal inlets and embayment shorelines. In the first study, I focused on the evolution of inlet geometry by compiling and analyzing a database with 226 inlets worldwide with a special attention given to their width to depth ratio (or aspect ratio). I found that the aspect ratio has a weak dependency on tidal range and wave height, and they lie in different ranges for three types of tidal inlets: engineered, natural single-thread, and natural compound. I also developed a 2D hydro-morphodynamic model of an idealized barrier-inlet …