Geology Commons^™

An Evaluation Of Modified Bed Load Sediment Transport Equations For Enhanced Sediment Transport Quantification In Steep Mountain Streams – Case Study Little Fountain Creek, Colorado Springs, Co., James Emerson Smith Iv

LSU Master's Theses

In mountainous regions, extreme floods occur every year, placing societies and infrastructures at risk. Communities rely on local, state, and federal agencies to emplace flood structures, perform flood risk assessments, and simulate catastrophic events. While, our ability to quantify and predict the movement of sediment in streams with low gradients is well developed (Bathurst, 1987), our ability to quantify and predict the movement of sediment along steep mountain streams (SMS) has not been developed to a similar degree (Yager, 2012; Schneider, 2016). To most effectively manage mountainous watersheds and understand the risk associated with flood events, scientists must better understand …

Analysis Of Fluvial Scroll Bar Development With Surface Wave Inversion: False River, Louisiana, Blake Odom

LSU Master's Theses

The development of ridge-and-swale scroll bar topography of meandering river point bars is not well understood. We hypothesize that scroll bars formed during lateral accretion by the landward migration of transverse bars. To explore this, we relate the scroll bar topography to the internal sedimentary structure. We acquire, invert, and interpolate three pseudo-2D shear wave velocity profiles in two regions of the False River point bar, a Mississippi river oxbow lake in Pointe Coupee Parish Louisiana. Prior studies provide electrical conductivity well logs and cores as well as SH seismic reflection images along the same seismic surveys. LiDAR elevation data …

The Sedimentology And Origins Of A Giant Mass Transport Complex: The Nataraja Slide, Arabian Sea, Sarah Dailey

LSU Master's Theses

A giant mass transport complex (MTC) was recently discovered in the eastern Arabian Sea exceeding in volume all but one other known complex on passive margins worldwide. The complex, named the Nataraja Slide, was drilled by IODP Expedition 355 in two locations where it is ~300 m (Site U1456) and ~200 m thick (Site U1457). The top is defined by the presence of both reworked microfossil assemblages and deformation structures, such as folding and faulting. The deposit consists of two main phases of mass wasting, each which consists of smaller pulses, with generally fining upward cycles, all emplaced just prior …

Mass-Transport Deposits In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico And Their Implications For Hydrocarbon Exploration, Michael Raymond Arthur

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study investigates Mio-Pliocene mass-transport deposits (MTDs) in an understudied, hydrocarbon-rich region of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. The research utilizes a high-quality 3D seismic dataset with an area of 635 km2, along with wireline logs and biostratigraphic data. With the help of quantitative seismic geomorphology techniques, detailed mapping of MTDs suggests a complex erosional and depositional history. Deposition of a MTD unit resulted in a 180 m topographic high that substantially influenced the distribution and morphology of subsequent MTDs, specifically the bifurcation of later mass-transport flows. This bifurcation contributed to the generation of a non-shielded erosional remnant with an …

New Insights Into Carboniferous Cyclothems. The Fourth Biennial Field Conference Of The American Association Of Petroleum Geologists (Aapg) Midcontinent Section Fourth Biennial Field Conference Abstracts And Guidebook, Robert Matthew Joeckel, Christopher R. Fielding

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The term “cyclothem” was coined by Wanless & Weller (1932) to describe repetitive stratigraphic successions of Carboniferous age in Illinois. Nonetheless, comparable rhythmicity had been identified in Carboniferous rocks both in the central and eastern USA, and in Europe during the preceding century. Cyclothems were found to comprise repetitive vertical successions of sandstones, heterolithic (thinly interbedded) sandstones and mudrocks, mudrocks, limestones, and coals, in many cases with pedogenic overprinting of these lithologies. As usage of the term “cyclothem” increased, so did the diversity of successions to which the term was applied, to the point where many geologists advocated abandonment of …

Late Holocene Spit Evolution On Centennial Timescales In The Southeast Delaware Bay, Usa, Ryan Eli Phillip

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between barrier spit growth and longshore drift is well established. However, the role of storm activity in spit evolution on an intermediate (centennial) timescale is more of a mystery due to a knowledge gap between decadal-scale shoreline processes and millennial-scale stratigraphic data. Recent studies in the northwestern Atlantic basin using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and optically-stimulated luminescence (OSL) are providing the opportunity to study centennial-scale shoreline evolution and examine similar age storm activity. Cape Henlopen, Delaware exhibits preserved remnants of a long-term northward-growing spit coastline that evolved from a recurved spit complex, to a cuspate spit, to the present-day …

County-Wide Assessment Of Irrigation Expansion On Air Temperature, Humidity And Evapotranspiration Rates In Nebraska, 1979-2015, Jozsef Szilagyi

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Total irrigated land area has been expanding in Nebraska over the last 40 years, propelling the state into a leading position within the US in terms of irrigated acreages. Typically, those counties which display the largest degree of irrigation development had a significant portion of their land area already irrigated in 1978. Large-scale irrigation in Nebraska affects its atmospheric environment. During the typical irrigation season of May to August, counties with the largest rate of irrigation expansion have cooled by about 0.2 – 0.3 °F per decade in the summer months of June, July and August, while counties with the …

Comparative Microbial Community Dynamics In A Karst Aquifer System And Proximal Surface Stream In Northwest Arkansas, Josue Rodriguez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Northwest Arkansas has well-developed karst systems, with numerous sinking streams and springs. Karst conduits make it easy for contaminants to enter groundwater systems, degrading the water quality and destroying fragile karst ecosystems. With the increase of urbanization, potential threats in the form of fecal contamination may prove to be more of a problem. The purpose of this research is to compare the difference between microbial communities within two different settings, a karst aquifer and a surface stream. The microbial communities within Blowing Spring Cave and Little Sugar Creek were detected and identified in water and sediment samples. Samples were also …

The Occurrence Of The Greta Sandstone, Frio Formation (Late Oligocene), Texas Gulf Coastal Plain, Sean C. Kincade

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Greta sandstone is an informal lithostratigraphic unit of the upper Frio Formation (Oligocene) that occurs across the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain. The Greta sandstone has been known to geologists since it was first drilled in the 1930’s, yet there has been very little research into this un-depleted and overlooked reservoir. This study provides insights into the lateral distribution and reservoir facies of the Greta sandstone. The unit represents an aggradational to transgressive barrier sandstone package grading up to mud-rich open marine inner shelf deposits. The interval is easily recognizable in well logs based on its strong SP and Gamma-ray …

Review Of Curbing Catastrophe: Natural Hazards And Risk Reduction In The Modern World, Kira H. Hamman

Numeracy

Timothy H. Dixon. 2017. Curbing Catastrophe: Natural Hazards and Risk Reduction in the Modern World. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press) 300 pp. ISBN 978-1108113663.

In Curbing Catastrophe, Timothy H. Dixon explores commonalities among natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and the meltdown at Fukushima. He identifies communication failure between scientists and policy makers as a major culprit in the devastation that results from such events and offers strategies for improving that communication. He includes optional in-depth scientific and quantitative examinations of the events and the resulting devastation, making the book appropriate for use …

New Insights On Secondary Minerals From Italian Sulfuric Acid Caves, Ilenia M. D'Angeli, Cristina Carbone, Maria Nagostinis, Mario Parise, Marco Vattano, Giuliana Madonia, Jo De Waele

International Journal of Speleology

Sulfuric acid minerals are important clues to identify the speleogenetic phases of hypogene caves. Italy hosts ~25% of the known worldwide sulfuric acid speleogenetic (SAS) systems, including the famous well-studied Frasassi, Monte Cucco, and Acquasanta Terme caves. Nevertheless, other underground environments have been analyzed, and interesting mineralogical assemblages were found associated with peculiar geomorphological features such as cupolas, replacement pockets, feeders, sulfuric notches, and sub-horizontal levels. In this paper, we focused on 15 cave systems located along the Apennine Chain, in Apulia, in Sicily, and in Sardinia, where copious SAS minerals were observed. Some of the studied systems (e.g., …

Spatial Trends And Variability Of Marsh Accretion Rates In Barataria Basin, Louisiana, Usa Using 210pb And 137cs Radiochemistry, Samuel Bryant Shrull

LSU Master's Theses

Coastal Louisiana is presently experiencing large amounts of coastal land loss with estimated rates exceeding 50 km² lost per year. In an attempt to mitigate or reverse land loss, billions of dollars are earmarked for restoration projects that promote land reclamation, habitat stabilization, and defending against saline intrusion. This study was performed in an effort to better understand spatial trends of accretion rates in Barataria Basin in coastal Louisiana. Data for this project came from twenty-five shallow cores extracted over a broad span of the entire basin, from freshwater to saline environments. Cores were processed for ¹³⁷Cs and …

A Sedimentological Record Of Early Miocene Ice Advance And Retreat, And-2a Drill Hole, Mcmurdo Sound, Antarctica, B. D. Field, G. H. Browne, Christopher R. Fielding, Fabio Florindo, David M. Harwood, Shelley Judge, Lawrence Krissek, Kurt S. Panter, Sandra Passchier, Stephen Pekar, Sonia Sandroni, Franco M. Talarico

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The lowest 501 m (∼1139–638 m) of the AND-2A core from southern McMurdo Sound is the most detailed and complete record of early Miocene sediments in Antarctica and indicates substantial variability in Antarctic ice sheet activity during early Miocene time. There are two main pulses of diamictite accumulation recorded in the core, and three significant intervals with almost no coarse clasts. Each diamictite package comprises several sequences consistent with ice advance-retreat episodes.

The oldest phase of diamictite deposition, Composite Sequence 1 (CS1), has evidence for grounded ice at the drill site and has been dated around 20.2–20.1 Ma. It likely …

The Carnivores Of Agate Fossil Beds National Monument: Miocene Dens And Waterhole In The Valley Of A Dryland Paleoriver, Robert M. Hunt Jr., Robert Skolnick, Joshua Kaufman

Zea E-Books Collection

In 1981 University of Nebraska paleontologists came upon an unexpected concentration of carnivore dens at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in northwest Nebraska. The discovery of bones of Miocene beardogs, mustelids, and canids in their burrows was unparalleled and marked an exceptional event in the fossil record. Survey and excavation (1981–1990) established that six species of carnivores had, over time, occupied the dens with traces of their prey: juvenile and adult oreodonts, camels, and a neonatal rhinoceros. At least nine individuals of the wolf-like beardog Daphoenodon superbus, the most common carnivore, were identified from remains of young, mature, and aged …

Results Of Test-Hole Drilling For Observation Well Planning In The Lower Loup Natural Resources District, Spring 2017, Douglas R. Hallum P.G., Sue Olafsen Lackey, Steven S. Sibray

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The High Plains Aquifer underlies much of Nebraska. It is the primary source of groundwater within the Lower Loup Natural Resources District (LLNRD) of central Nebraska. Water derived from the aquifer is an important natural resource for the area and supplies water for recreation, wildlife and agriculture, as well as domestic, municipal, and industrial uses. Falling spring water levels measured in existing observation and irrigation wells have raised concerns about possible changes in water availability, groundwater-surface water relationships and water quality in the area, prompting the LLNRD to propose test holes and the collection of additional groundwater data in the …

Petrographic And Stratigraphic Analysis Along The Lower Cretaceous Strata, In Kimble County Texas, Austin C. Wilkerson

Student Publications

The upper Trinity Group is predominantly a carbonate system with minor clastic couplets that were deposited during the Middle Cretaceous in the south Llano Uplift region. The upper Trinity Group was deposited on a southward dipping platform in the Kimble County area. Stratigraphic units of the upper Trinity Group are the Hensel Formation, determined to be supratidal claystones, the Glen Rose Formation, which are mudstones that were deposited in a carbonate lagoon, and the Walnut and Fort Terrett formations, which are wackestones to packstones interpreted to have been deposited on a shallow carbonate shelf.

Nine stratigraphic sections were measured along …

Stratigraphic Reconstruction Of A Late Pleistocene Bald Cypress Forest Discovered On The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Continental Shelf, Suyapa Michell Gonzalez Rodriguez

LSU Master's Theses

A previously buried bald cypress forest (Taxodium distichum) was discovered on the continental shelf, offshore of Orange Beach, Alabama, USA, in ~20 m water depth. The forest was exhumed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and is now exposed as stumps in life position in a trough located in the northern Gulf of Mexico continental shelf seafloor. We are investigating the local stratigraphy, paleo-landscape, and mode of forest preservation of this unique site. In August 2015 and July 2016, submersible vibracores (18 in total) were collected. Core analysis included: bulk density and imaging via Geotek multi sensor core logger, …

Regional Stratigraphy And Distribution Of The Coastal Group, St. Elizabeth Parish, Southwestern Jamaica, Brett M. Kenning

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This contribution examines the characteristics and ages of sedimentary units in the Coastal Group located along the southwestern Jamaica coast between Great Pedro Bluff and Fort Charles Bay in southwestern St. Elizabeth Parish. The coastline is characterized by laterally discontinuous low cliff exposures, separated by modern beach deposits and tectonically raised shore platforms composed of the White Limestone Group (mid-Eocene to mid-Miocene) and coral rudstone to floatstone and calcareous sandstone of the Coastal Group (late Pleistocene). Electron-Spin Resonance spectroscopy conducted on corals collected from a coral rudstone to floatstone facies yielded an estimated age of 120 ka. The coral facies …

Structural Cross Sections And Subsurface Maps Of The Atoka Formation In The Northern Arkoma Basin, Western And Northwestern Arkansas, David Nance

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Arkoma Basin is one of several peripheral foreland basins situated on the front of the Ouachita orogenic fold and thrust belt. The transition from the foredeep to the Ozark Plateaus is a short one in terms of latitude. The Atoka Formation in Arkansas comprises the bulk of the sediments in the Arkoma Basin. Three divisions of the Atoka Formation have been informally assigned as the Upper, Middle, and Lower based on differences in sedimentary response to tectonic processes that occurred during the formation and subsidence of the Arkoma Basin. In the Arkansas portion of the Arkoma Basin, the lower …

Regional Stress Regime Study Of East Texas Based On Orientation Of Fractures In The Weches Formation, Cory D. Ellison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fractures in the Weches Formation in a roughly 50 mile radius around Nacogdoches, Texas were documented and analyzed using data obtained at various outcrops. This data was used to infer information about the regional stress regime based on the direction of maximum/minimum horizontal stresses (SHmax / SHmin) that formed the fractures. This is based on the principle that systematic, steeply dipping, mode I joints propagate in the direction of SHmax and normal to the direction of SHmin. Joints in the Weches Formation are typically iron filled and are predominantly opening mode, indicated by crack-seal formation, steep dip (700 – 900) …

Vertical Sediment Accretion In Jamaica Bay Wetlands, New York, Ryan Christopher Clarke

LSU Master's Theses

Over the last century, ~60% of the saltmarsh wetlands in Jamaica Bay (in the Gateway National Recreation Area of the Greater New York City region) have been converted to intertidal or subtidal unvegetated mudflats and projections suggest that all of Jamaica Bay’s saltmarsh wetlands may disappear within the next two decades. After landfall of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and to better understand environmental controls on the maintenance of the remaining Jamaica Bay wetlands, cores were collected from twelve saltmarsh locations in the bay to study the chronology of wetland vertical accretion and mineral sediment accumulation. In association with the United …

The Stability Of Sand Waves In A Tidally-Influenced Shipping Channel, Tampa Bay, Florida, John Willis Gray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tidally-influenced sandwaves are common coastal features present in various settings, including shipping channels. The main shipping channel in Tampa Bay under the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge (a.k.a. the Skyway Bridge) contains such sandwave bedforms. Between the years 2000 and 2017, these bedforms have been surveyed with multibeam echosounders (MBES) on 21 occasions with ranging coverage and quality of returns. Surveys between 2000 and 2009 used a 300 kHz Kongsberg EM3000; surveys between 2015 and 2017 used a 400 kHz Reson Seabat 7125. For comparable surveys, bathymetry, backscatter, slope, curvature, planform curvature, and profile curvature maps were created and analyzed. …

Signal Propagation, Provenance, And Climate Records In The Indus Submarine Canyon Since The Last Deglacial, Yuting Li

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Monsoon is one of the most powerful climatic phenomena on Earth and controls environments in South Asia. Erosion and weathering patterns are influenced by monsoon variations and can be reconstructed through marine sediment records. However, such reconstruction is based on the assumption that such sediments are representative of the onshore basins from which they are sourced. Debate continues regarding the degree to which storage and recycling homogenize short-term variations in sediment compositions. The Indus Submarine Canyon links the river mouth and the deep-water fan of the Indus drainage system. Determining how sediment fluxes through this canyon is important if …

Fossils On The Floor In The Nebraska State Capitol: A Coloring And Activities Book, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The Nebraska State Capitol is a wonderful place. This building is home to great treasures of art owned by the people of Nebraska. The floor of the Capitol Rotunda has beautiful works of art. Maybe you have seen this art. Small pieces of two kinds of rocks make pictures of people, their tools, the natural resources they used, and pictures of fossil animals and plants. These kinds of pictures are called mosaics [moe ZAY icks]. The animals and plants follow one another in a curved ribbon around the floor. In that ribbon of pictures are many kinds of fossil animals …

Natural And Anthropogenic Impacts On Sediment Dynamics And Preservation In Contrasting Mississippi Deltaic Coastal Environments, Jiaze Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Deltas worldwide share the same sinking problem in face of pressure from natural and anthropogenic activities. Many restoration strategies are being planned or have been implemented in the coasts around the world. However, many conventional hard structure constructions are energy-intensive. There are also associated uncertainties and limitations on the effectiveness and sustainability of these restoration plans. Soft or ecological engineering strategies normally take advantage of or mimic the coastal system self-response and feedbacks to natural and anthropogenic activities. The successful implementation of soft strategies relies on process-based studies on the change of complex coastal system. In addition, post-implementation monitoring work …

Combining Hydraulic Head Analysis With Airborne Electromagnetics To Detect And Map Impermeable Aquifer Boundaries, Jesse T. Korus

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Impermeable aquifer boundaries affect the flow of groundwater, transport of contaminants, and the drawdown of water levels in response to pumping. Hydraulic methods can detect the presence of such boundaries, but these methods are not suited for mapping complex, 3D geological bodies. Airborne electromagnetic (AEM) methods produce 3D geophysical images of the subsurface at depths relevant to most groundwater investigations. Interpreting a geophysical model requires supporting information, and hydraulic heads offer the most direct means of assessing the hydrostratigraphic function of interpreted geological units. This paper presents three examples of combined hydraulic and AEM analysis of impermeable boundaries in glacial …

The Groundwater Atlas Of Red Willow County, Nebraska, Dana Divine, Duane Eversoll, Leslie M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The purpose of this groundwater atlas is to synthesize a wealth of hydrogeologic data for Red Willow County that has not been published in readily accessible formats previously. Many of the maps presented here are based on geologic information from registered wells and test holes that is publically available on-line, which becomes more valuable when compiled, analyzed, and discussed as a whole.

In Red Willow County, the aquifers are alluvial sand and gravel in the river and stream valleys and the High Plains aquifer beneath the uplands. The High Plains aquifer in Red Willow County consists primarily of the Ogallala …

Stratigraphy And Organic Geochemistry Reveal Patterns Of Late Quaternary Paleo-Productivity At Mono Lake, California, Bailee Nicole Hodelka

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Mono Lake (CA) is a hydrologically closed lacustrine basin well-known for its paleo-shorelines, which record fluctuations in water level for the last deglacial and late Holocene. Mono Lake is a sentinel of California’s water supply, situated in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada, a mountain range whose snowpack is a vital source of freshwater for urban and agricultural districts to the west and south. Recent droughts, floods, and wildfires show that California is threatened by climate change, but how these changes impact and get recorded by Mono Lake sediments remains poorly known. Here, we use a new radiocarbon-dated deepwater …

Occurrence And Attributes Of Two Echinoderm-Bearing Faunas From The Upper Mississippian (Chesterian; Lower Serpukhovian) Ramey Creek Member, Slade Formation, Eastern Kentucky, U.S.A., Ann Well Harris

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Well-preserved echinoderm faunas are rare in the fossil record, and when uncovered, understanding their occurrence can be useful in interpreting other faunas. In this study, two such faunas of the same age from separate localities in the shallow-marine Ramey Creek Member of the Slade Formation in the Upper Mississippian (Chesterian) rocks of eastern Kentucky are examined. Of the more than 5,000 fossil specimens from both localities, only 9–34 percent were echinoderms from 3–5 classes. Nine non-echinoderm (8 invertebrate and one vertebrate) classes occurred at both localities, but of these, bryozoans, brachiopods and sponges dominated. To understand the attributes of both …

Attributes Of The Fisher Valley Megaflap And Comparison To The Gypsum Valley Megaflap, Paradox Basin, Utah And Colorado: Implications For Controls On Megaflap Formation, Kate Grisi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Megaflaps are panels of steeply dipping to overturned strata that extend kilometers up the side of a salt diapir or equivalent weld. They often form important components of salt-diapir related hydrocarbon systems, though little is known about their geologic characteristics or how they form. In this study, I collected structural, stratigraphic, and sedimentologic data of the Fisher Valley megaflap and compared these attributes to the previous studied Gypsum Valley megaflap to test the differential sediment loading model proposed for initiation of megaflap formation. This model predicts that the sediment source proximal megaflap of Fisher Valley should have started rotation earlier, …