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Full-Text Articles in Geology

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 Dec 2015

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

No abstract provided.


Shallow Depressions In The Florida Coastal Plain: Karst And Pseudokarst, Sam B. Upchurch, Thomas M. Scott, Michael C. Alfieri, Thomas L. Dobecki Oct 2015

Shallow Depressions In The Florida Coastal Plain: Karst And Pseudokarst, Sam B. Upchurch, Thomas M. Scott, Michael C. Alfieri, Thomas L. Dobecki

Sinkhole Conference 2015

In Florida, shallow depressions (i.e., depressions <1-2 m in depth) on the land surface are often attributed to sinkhole development. However, it has become evident that there are at least six different mechanisms through which these depressions can form in geologically young cover sediments. These mechanisms include: 1. Cover-subsidence sinkholes over shallow limestone; 2. Suffosion sinkholes over shallow limestone; 3. Cover settlement over shallow shell beds; 4. Large, aeolian deflation areas that resemble “Carolina bays;” 5. Depressions that mimic landforms developed on a shallow paleosol; and 6. Depressions created by pedodiagenesis (i.e., conversion of smectite to kaolinite) in a soil-forming environment. Of these, only the first two appear to represent traditional mechanisms for sinkhole development in eogenetic karst. Cover settlement over shell beds is poorly understood and incorrectly attributed to sinkhole development processes. This type of depression has serious limitations in terms of cover thickness and shell content of the substrate. The last three mechanisms are pseudokarst created by aeolian and soil-forming processes. In this paper we present examples of each and discuss their constraints and evidence.


Using Electrical Resistivity Imaging To Characterize Karst Hazards In Southeastern Minnesota Agricultural Settings, Toby Dogwiler, Blake Lea Oct 2015

Using Electrical Resistivity Imaging To Characterize Karst Hazards In Southeastern Minnesota Agricultural Settings, Toby Dogwiler, Blake Lea

Sinkhole Conference 2015

Much of the Driftless Area of southeastern Minnesota is underlain by karstified carbonate bedrock. Land use in this karst terrain is dominated by agriculture, including row crop and dairy operations. The karst in this region is often mantled with up to 15 m of soil and unconsolidated sediments. As a result, underlying karst hazards such as incipient sinkholes are often hidden until they are suddenly revealed by the collapse of subsurface voids. Regionally, the economics of the dairy industry is causing a trend toward the consolidation and expansion of existing operations. As concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) or feedlots expand, …


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 Oct 2015

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

Geology 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 Oct 2015

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

No abstract provided.


Naturally Occurring Background Levels Of Arsenic In The Soils Of Southwestern Oregon, Heather Ann Hurtado Jul 2015

Naturally Occurring Background Levels Of Arsenic In The Soils Of Southwestern Oregon, Heather Ann Hurtado

Dissertations and Theses

This study examines the natural background concentrations of arsenic in the soils of southwest Oregon, using new samples in addition to data collected from previous theses (Khandoker, 1997 and Douglas, 1999). The original 213 samples were run by ICP-AES with a reporting limit of 20 ppm, and only three samples had detected values. The original samples were tested again (2013) at a lower reporting limit of 0.2 ppm by ICP-MS, as were 42 new samples (2013), to better ascertain the natural levels of arsenic in undisturbed soils. The aim is to add to the existing DEQ data set, which has …


Defining The Terroir Of The Columbia Gorge Wine Region, Oregon And Washington, Usa Using Geographic Information Systems (Gis), Hilary Whitney Jun 2015

Defining The Terroir Of The Columbia Gorge Wine Region, Oregon And Washington, Usa Using Geographic Information Systems (Gis), Hilary Whitney

Dissertations and Theses

The Columbia Gorge Wine Region (CGWR) is an emerging wine producing area that extends for about 100km along the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington State in which the number of vineyards, wineries and physical terroir conditions have yet to be defined. To better understand the physical factors affecting Oregon and Washington wine, this project analyzes climate, topography, geology and soil at vineyards in the CGWR. This was accomplished using Geographic Information Systems, existing earth science databases and field work. The region, which includes the Columbia Gorge American Viticulture Area (AVA) and the southwest portion of the Columbia Valley AVA, …


Insights Into The Evolution Of The Great Plains Grassland Ecosystem Over The Last 5 Million Years From Paleotemperature And Paleovegetation Records, Anne Fetrow May 2015

Insights Into The Evolution Of The Great Plains Grassland Ecosystem Over The Last 5 Million Years From Paleotemperature And Paleovegetation Records, Anne Fetrow

Honors Program Theses

Over the last 10 million years, the Great Plains transitioned to the modern C4 grass dominated ecosystem. Well-preserved late Miocene to Holocene fossils and paleosols make the Meade Basin in southwest Kansas, USA a unique place to determine how paleoenvironmental conditions changed during C4 grassland evolution. δ18O values of paleosol carbonates (δ18Ocarb) in the Meade Basin decreased from the Miocene to Holocene while δ13C values increased; these trends were interpreted as an increase in temperature and/or in aridity coincident with an increase of C4 grass biomass on the landscape. …


Basic Guide For Description Of Cuttings From Boreholes In Nebraska, Dana P. Divine, R. M. Joeckel, Jesse T. Korus May 2015

Basic Guide For Description Of Cuttings From Boreholes In Nebraska, Dana P. Divine, R. M. Joeckel, Jesse T. Korus

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.


Cockatoo Sands In The Victoria Highway And Carlton Hill Areas, East Kimberley: Land Capability Assessment For Developing Irrigated Agriculture, Henry Smolinski, Shahab Pathan, Paul Galloway, Kus Kuswardiyanto, Justin Laycock May 2015

Cockatoo Sands In The Victoria Highway And Carlton Hill Areas, East Kimberley: Land Capability Assessment For Developing Irrigated Agriculture, Henry Smolinski, Shahab Pathan, Paul Galloway, Kus Kuswardiyanto, Justin Laycock

Resource management technical reports

This report identifies areas of Cockatoo Sands adjacent to the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA), Kununurra, with high potential for developing irrigated agriculture. It builds on a reconnaissance soil survey conducted in 2009 which identified significant areas of sandy and loamy soils in the Kununurra area that could be suitable for agriculture.


Naturally-Occurring Metals Concentrations In Michigan Soils: A 2015 Survey, Zachary Lowell Spotts May 2015

Naturally-Occurring Metals Concentrations In Michigan Soils: A 2015 Survey, Zachary Lowell Spotts

Masters Theses

Closure of hazardous waste sites can be aided through the use of a soil background survey for metals. Data for these studies come from either field sampling or publicly available environmental files. Previous studies were conducted in Michigan, known as the Michigan Background Soil Survey (MBSS). The current update is a refinement and improvement of the 2005 update. New data was collected from publicly available environmental files and other sources. Both the current update and the 2005 update differentiated data by soil type and glacial lobe. GIS analysis was used to observe spatial distribution of the data and to determine …


On The Influence Of Ionic Strength On Radium And Strontium Sorption To Sandy Loam Soils, Brian A. Powell, Todd Miller, Daniel I. Kaplan Apr 2015

On The Influence Of Ionic Strength On Radium And Strontium Sorption To Sandy Loam Soils, Brian A. Powell, Todd Miller, Daniel I. Kaplan

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Models which can estimate environmental transport of radioactive contaminants in natural and engineered systems are required to 1) deploy effective remediation strategies for contaminated sites, 2) design waste repositories for future waste streams, and 3) ensure protection of human and environmental health in all cases. These models require accurate transport parameters in order to correctly predict how these contaminants will move in the subsurface. This work aimed to determine more accurately the distribution coefficients for radium and strontium sorption to Savannah River Site (SRS) soils. Radium and strontium sorption to the soils was found to be highly dependent upon ionic …


Natural And Anthropogenic Processes Contributing To Metal Enrichment In Surface Soils Of Central Pennsylvania, A. M.L. Kraepiel, Ashlee L.D. Dere, E. M. Herndon, Susan L. Brantley Mar 2015

Natural And Anthropogenic Processes Contributing To Metal Enrichment In Surface Soils Of Central Pennsylvania, A. M.L. Kraepiel, Ashlee L.D. Dere, E. M. Herndon, Susan L. Brantley

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

Metals in soils may positively or negatively affect plants as well as soil micro-organisms and mesofauna, depending on their abundance and bioavailability. Atmospheric deposition and biological uplift commonly result in metal enrichment in surface soils, but the relative importance of these processes is not always resolved. Here, we used an integrated approach to study the cycling of phosphorus and a suite of metals from the soil to the canopy (and back) in a temperate watershed. The behavior of elements in these surface soils fell into three categories. First, Al, Fe, V, Co, and Cr showed little to no enrichment in …


Biotic Controls On Solute Distribution And Transport In Headwater Catchments, E. M. Herndon, Ashlee L.D. Dere, P. L. Sullivan, D. Norris, B. Reynolds, Susan L. Brantley Jan 2015

Biotic Controls On Solute Distribution And Transport In Headwater Catchments, E. M. Herndon, Ashlee L.D. Dere, P. L. Sullivan, D. Norris, B. Reynolds, Susan L. Brantley

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

Solute concentrations in stream water vary with discharge in patterns that record complex feedbacks between hydrologic and biogeochemical processes. In a comparison of headwater catchments underlain by shale in Pennsylvania, USA (Shale Hills) 5 and Wales, UK (Plynlimon), dissimilar concentration-discharge behaviors are best explained by contrasting landscape distributions of soil solution chemistry – especially dissolved organic carbon (DOC) – that have been established by patterns of vegetation. Specifically, elements that are concentrated in organic-rich soils due to biotic cycling (Mn, Ca, K) or that form strong complexes with DOC (Fe, Al) are spatially heteroge- 10 neous in pore waters because …


Geologic Map Of The Welcome Quadrangle And An Adjacent Part Of The Wells Quadrangle, Elko County, Nevada, Allen J. Mcgrew, Arthur W. Snoke Jan 2015

Geologic Map Of The Welcome Quadrangle And An Adjacent Part Of The Wells Quadrangle, Elko County, Nevada, Allen J. Mcgrew, Arthur W. Snoke

Geology Faculty Publications

Located in central Elko County, the Welcome and adjacent part of the Wells quadrangles expose a remarkable array of critical relationships for understanding the geologic history of the State of Nevada and the interior of the southwestern U.S. Cordillera. Covering the northern end of the East Humboldt Range and adjacent Clover Valley and Clover Hill, this map includes the northern terminus of the Ruby Mountains-East Humboldt Range metamorphic core complex. The oldest rocks in the State of Nevada (the gneiss complex of Angel Lake), and Nevada’s only exposures of Archean rock, form the core of a multikilometer scale, southward-closing recumbent …


The Groundwater Atlas Of Saunders County, Nebraska, Dana Divine Jan 2015

The Groundwater Atlas Of Saunders County, Nebraska, Dana Divine

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.


Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report 2015, A. R. Young, M. E. Burbach, L. M. Howard Jan 2015

Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report 2015, A. R. Young, M. E. Burbach, L. M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.


North-Central Nebraska Geology: Niobrara River Valley In Brown, Cherry, And Keya Paha Counties, R. M. Joeckel, L. M. Howard, S T. Tucker Jan 2015

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

No abstract provided.


Hydrophobic Organic Contaminant Transport Property Heterogeneity In The Borden Aquifer, Richelle M. Allen-King, Indra Kalinovich, David F. Dominic, Guohui Wang, Reid Polmanteer, Dana Divine Jan 2015

Hydrophobic Organic Contaminant Transport Property Heterogeneity In The Borden Aquifer, Richelle M. Allen-King, Indra Kalinovich, David F. Dominic, Guohui Wang, Reid Polmanteer, Dana Divine

Conservation and Survey Division

We determined that the spatial heterogeneity in aquifer properties governing the reactive transport of volatile organic contaminants is defined by the arrangement of lithofacies. We measured permeability (k) and perchloroethene sorption distribution coefficient (Kd) for lithofacies that we delineated for samples from the Canadian Forces Base Borden Aquifer. We compiled existing data and collected 57 new cores to characterize a 30 m section of the aquifer near the test location of Mackay et al. (1986). The k and Kd were measured for samples taken at six elevations from all cores to create a data …


Hydrophobic Organic Contaminant Transport Property Heterogeneity In The Borden Aquifer, Richelle M. Allen-King, Indra Kalinovich, David F. Dominic, Guohui Wang, Reid Polmanteer, Dana Divine Jan 2015

Hydrophobic Organic Contaminant Transport Property Heterogeneity In The Borden Aquifer, Richelle M. Allen-King, Indra Kalinovich, David F. Dominic, Guohui Wang, Reid Polmanteer, Dana Divine

Conservation and Survey Division

We determined that the spatial heterogeneity in aquifer properties governing the reactive transport of volatile organic contaminants is defined by the arrangement of lithofacies. We measured permeability (k) and perchloroethene sorption distribution coefficient (Kd) for lithofacies that we delineated for samples from the Canadian Forces Base Borden Aquifer. We compiled existing data and collected 57 new cores to characterize a 30 m section of the aquifer near the test location of Mackay et al. (1986). The k and Kd were measured for samples taken at six elevations from all cores to create a data set consisting of …