Geology Commons^™

The Mineralogy And Geochemistry Of Illinois Basin Paleosols: Recognizing Detrital, Pedogenic, And Diagenetic Minerals, Julia A. Mcintosh

Earth Sciences Theses and Dissertations

The geochemical compositions of minerals in paleosols are assumed to be homogenous and attained through chemical weathering processes during episodes of pedogenesis in the geologic past. As such, the geochemical composition of minerals from paleosols may be used to reconstruct ancient climates and environments. One problem with this assumption is that paleosols were initially clastic sedimentary rocks or substrate prior to pedogenesis, thus it is likely that some portion of the paleosol is still composed of detrital minerals. Secondly, conditions may change in a sedimentary basin as the basin is buried and later uplifted, potentially triggering new mineralization or transformation …

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.

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 …

The Effects Of Channel Incision And Land Use On Surface-Water/Groundwater Interactions In The Teanaway River Basin, Washington, Usa, Joseph Petralia

All Master's Theses

The Teanaway River basin, a major tributary to the Yakima River, is host to several restoration projects with the intention of returning the river channel to a more natural state and improving riparian habitat. These projects may also increase aquifer storage and potentially increase summertime streamflows. This study of the Teanaway Valley Family Farm, an 88-hectare parcel on the main-stem Teanaway River that was recently purchased by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, provides hydrogeologic data that will inform these restoration projects. Following the purchase of this land, ten wells were installed within and slightly above the floodplain in order …

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 …

Detrital Zircon U-Pb Geochronology Of Upper Mississippian Siltstone, Oklahoma And Arkansas, Linnea Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although Upper Mississippian strata have been characterized extensively using lithostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy, and biostratigraphy across the North American midcontinent, the origin of the silt comprising the Meramec STACK (Sooner Trend Anadarko Basin, Canadian and Kingfisher counties) reservoirs of the Anadarko Basin in west-central Oklahoma and age equivalent units is not well understood, despite its economic importance as an unconventional petroleum reservoir. Previously published models have variously invoked fluvial, marine, and aeolian sediment transport for Upper Mississippian siltstone present along the paleo-shelf edge of the Laurentian craton. This study uses detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology and grain morphology, handheld x-ray fluorescence (hXRF) …

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 …

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 …

New Perspectives On Prolific And Voluminous Rhyolite Volcanism Of The Mahogany Mountain--Three Fingers Rhyolite Field, Eastern Oregon, Robert Andrew Jackson

Dissertations and Theses

Voluminous silicic volcanism of the Mahogany Mountain--Three Fingers rhyolite field (MM--TFrf) is spatially and temporally associated with mid-Miocene flood basalts of the Columbia River Basalt province. Early studies of the area advocated for a two-caldera model consisting of the Mahogany Mountain and the slightly younger Three Fingers caldera with pre- and post-caldera effusive rhyolite eruptions. Although close in time, the calderas were thought to be spatially offset producing the tuff of Leslie Gulch and the tuff of Spring Creek. Finding that the tuff of Spring Creek, that is exposed in Leslie Gulch, is an altered product of the tuff of …

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. …

Linking Human Activities To Water Quality In Coastal New England: Past And Present, Amelia Hurst

University Scholar Projects

This project examines the timing and effect of direct and indirect anthropogenic and natural influences on the marine environment in embayments in southern New England over the past decades to century timescale. We investigated the effects of human land use from colonial through post-industrial times, determined baseline conditions and natural climatic variability, and analyzed the response of marine ecosystems to specific local management actions aimed to improve water quality. A coastal sediment core was taken in Mumford Cove, CT and was analyzed downcore for eutrophication markers (C: N, %C, %N, d¹⁵N, d¹³C) and metals (Hg, Pb, …

Terrestrial Soldier Crab (Coenobita Clypeatus, Fabricius 1787) And Cerion Spp. (Röding 1798) Shell Relationship On San Salvador Island, Bahamas, Harley Hunt

Biology Theses

The Caribbean terrestrial soldier crab, Coenobita clypeatus(Fabricius 1787), coexist and utilize the shells of numerous species of land and marine gastropods. Soldier crabs rely on gastropod shells for protection as the crabs have a soft abdomen, leaving them vulnerable for predation and desiccation, threatening their survival. This creates a strong pressure to obtain well-fitting shells that provide adequate protection against water loss. Cerion of Röding (1798) shells are one of the most commonly used shells among living colonies of C. clypeatuson San Salvador Island. This study is interested in the frequency of shell use by C. clypeatus crabs …

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. …

Biis: The Last British Ice Sheet, A Review Of The Most Recent Major Glaciation Of Great Britain And Ireland, Benediktas Gaskevicius

Honors College Theses

The British Irish Ice Sheet was a substantial ice mass covering the British Isles during the most recent glaciation that ended around 11,700 years ago. Oftentimes referred to as the BIIS, it is subdivided into two sections, a western and eastern side that covered Great Britain and Ireland, with the Irish basin in the middle. Some notable areas of study around Great Britain and Ireland include the ’Bizzle’ in Northern England, which was transformed by the effects of the eastern margin of the BIIS, the Carstair Kames in Scotland, a locality known internationally for its esker system, The Minch region …

357— Dacryoconarids Of The Genundewa And West River Formations, Upper Devonian In Western New York, Emily De Jong

GREAT Day Posters

The Dacryoconarids, small, thin-walled, and cone-shaped, are an extinct taxon in Class Tentaculitoidea, which is of uncertain affinities. Dacryoconarids were widespread throughout the middle Silurian to the Late Devonian when they went extinct. This study focuses on the lower Upper Devonian Dacryoconarids of the Genundewa and West River formations from western New York State. Samples collected from these formations revealed many smooth shelled Styliolinids, however, no difinitive ribbed Dacryoconarids. Calcite was found to have internally filled in the shell of some Styliolinids, showing how thin the external shell is and raising questions about septa orientations. Due to their global occurrence, …

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 …

Rock Glen Wildlife Area: A Landscape History, Gerry Steinauer, Robert Diffendal Jr.

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

Nestled in the hills of southern Jefferson County, Rock Glen Wildlife Management Area, as its name implies, is a rocky land shaped by ancient geological forces, among them, meandering tropical rivers and grinding glacial ice. Euro-American settlers in the region arrived to a picturesque scene: rolling hills cloaked in tallgrass prairie fingered by glens, narrow valleys and canyons, filled with sprawling bur oaks. Too rocky to plow, southern Jefferson County has survived as an island of prairie amidst a sea of cropland. Settlement was not kind to the land. Fire suppression allowed eastern red cedars and other trees to spread, …

Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report 2020, Aaron R. Young, Mark E. Burbach, Leslie M. Howard, Sue Olafsen Lackey, Robert Matthew Joeckel

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The term “groundwater” has come to be all but synonymous with Nebraska. Nearly three-quarters of the total volume of the High Plains Aquifer lies beneath the state. Groundwater maintains our streams, our ecosystems, our people, and our vitally important agricultural economy. Nebraska’s total groundwater resource is vast, yet it is also vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic changes, necessitating a long-term commitment to wise management through informed decision-making. Monitoring, studying, and reporting form the essential basis for such management and, ultimately, for meeting the myriad challenges presented by change.

Characterizing The Geomagnetic Field At High Southern Latitudes: Evidence From The Antarctic Peninsula, Joseph Biasi, Joseph Kirschvink, Roger Fu

Other Staff Materials

Due to a dearth of data from high-latitude paleomagnetic sites, it is not currently clear if the geocentric axial dipole (GAD) hypothesis accurately describes the long-term behavior of the geomagnetic field at high latitudes. Here we present new paleomagnetic and paleointensity data from the James Ross Island (JRI) volcanic group, located on the Antarctic Peninsula. This data set addresses a notable lack of data from the 60°–70°S latitude bin and includes 251 samples from 31 sites, spanning 0.99–6.8 Ma in age. We also include positive fold, conglomerate, and baked contact tests. Paleointensity data from three methods (Thellier- Thellier, pseudo-Thellier, and …

New Hampshire Continental Shelf Geophysical Database: Vibracore Logs And Sediment Data, Larry G. Ward, Rachel C. Morrison, Zachary S. Mcavoy, Maxlimer Coromoto Vallee-Anziani

Data Catalog

The "New Hampshire Continental Shelf Geophysical Database: Vibracore Logs and Sediment Data" contains complete core logs and sediment grain size data from twenty‐three vibracores taken on the New Hampshire shelf in 1984 and 1988. During the present program, the original core descriptions, data, and photographs were verified and significantly expanded, synthesized, and presented in uniform core logs.The vibracore logs, sediment data, and the depositional environments are discussed in detail in Ward et al., 2021 (https://dx.doi.org/10.34051/p/2021.26).