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Full-Text Articles in Geology

Microplastics In The Marine Environment And Deep-Sea Sediment Contamination: A Review, Elizabeth Sangiolo Aug 2022

Microplastics In The Marine Environment And Deep-Sea Sediment Contamination: A Review, Elizabeth Sangiolo

Honors Program Theses and Projects

This review discusses what microplastics are and how they are continuously impacting the marine environment, and ultimately, human life. Plastic has been the number one used material for decades for industrial and recreational purposes. Its cost effectiveness, durability, and lightness are what manufacturers and consumers desire most, making plastic the most abundant pollutant in the world. Understanding how plastic pollution is broken down into microplastics and how these fragmented pieces of waste are classified can help researchers identify ways to prevent the additional input of microplastics in the marine environment. These microscopic particles of debris have been sampled from deep-sea …


Detecting Ocean Microplastics With Remote Sensing In The Near-Infrared: A Feasibility Study, Jandlyn Bentley May 2019

Detecting Ocean Microplastics With Remote Sensing In The Near-Infrared: A Feasibility Study, Jandlyn Bentley

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Since plastic began entering the oceans in the 1950s, trends have shown that this pollution has been and will continue to increase in the future. The only method to estimate the abundance and distribution of ocean plastic pollution is by computer-generated models using data from in-situ plankton net tows, which are costly, time consuming, and cover a relatively small scale. This project investigates the potential of detecting ocean microplastics with satellite remote sensing based on theoretically elevated near-infrared (NIR) reflectance. Emphasis was placed on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Ocean, notorious for its extremely high concentration …


Size-Frequency Distribution Of Orbitolina Texana Foraminifera, Jeremy Foote Jan 2014

Size-Frequency Distribution Of Orbitolina Texana Foraminifera, Jeremy Foote

Undergraduate Review

This study examined size-frequency distributions for an extinct Cretaceous-age benthic foraminifera called Orbitolina Texana in order to determine the health of this foram community during the time of accumulation. Forams were collected from limestone outcrops of the Glen Rose Formation in central Texas. Based on paleontological and sedimentological evidence, Orbitolina Texana are interpreted to be a shallow water (<10 m) benthic organism that was most abundant in back-reef environments. Sizefrequency distributions were generated from the diameters of 4,245 Orbitolina Texana fossils. The results indicate that the Orbitolina Texana population is characterized by a Gaussian (normal) size distribution. Size-frequency distributions of fossilized foraminifera in the stratigraphic record are controlled by two principle variables; environmental controls that affect the biology of the organisms (e.g., environmental stressors, like food availability and ambient conditions) and sedimentological controls that affect how the organisms are distributed (e.g., hydrodynamic parameters, like waves and currents). Based on a sedimentological characterization of the host limestone including lack of high-energy sedimentary structures, high mud content and back-reef position on the depositional profile, hydrodynamic parameters are interpreted to not have exerted a significant effect on the distribution of the forams preserved in the rock record. As such, the biological controls are interpreted to be the dominate control on the foram sizefrequency distribution. Therefore, the Gaussian (normal) size distribution suggests that the mortality rate is independent of size/age, which is classified as Type II survivorship. As this result is consistent with similar taxon, the results indicate that this Orbitolina Texana population was a healthy biologic community, despite the low biologic diversity observed in the Glen Rose Formation.


Stable Isotopic Constraints Of The Turpan Basin In Northwestern China, Allen J. Schaen Jan 2011

Stable Isotopic Constraints Of The Turpan Basin In Northwestern China, Allen J. Schaen

Undergraduate Review

Stable isotopic analysis of sedimentary rocks can be used to reconstruct past geologic changes in the elevation and climate of topographic features such as mountain ranges and plateaus. The Tibetan Plateau is an ideal field laboratory for conducting this type of study because of the Plateau’s extreme topographic relief and relatively recent geologic growth. Here we present oxygen and carbon isotope compositions from a suite of sedimentary rock samples taken from the western Turpan Basin in northwestern China. This area of the basin collects sediment from weathering and erosion of the Bogda Shan located to the north. The goal of …


Regional Vs. Local Impact Of Wind On Glaciers In The Andes Mountains, Derek Ferris Jan 2010

Regional Vs. Local Impact Of Wind On Glaciers In The Andes Mountains, Derek Ferris

Undergraduate Review

Northern Peru will face critical water resource issues in the near future as permanent ice in the Andes Mountains continues to rapidly melt. Ironically, the melt-water from these glaciers supports the culture of 100s of thousands of people living at lower elevations, particularly during the dry season, and predictions suggest some glaciers may be gone in less than 100 years. The impact of local warming of “U” shaped valleys running down the dryer western slope of the Andes range is largely disregarded in current climate model predictions because of the complexity of simulating the complex topography. Studies that compare the …


A Two-Dimensional, Linear–Elastic Model To Explain Radial Extensional Fractures, Pantheon Fossae, Caloris Basin, Mercury, Brianne Mcdonough Jan 2010

A Two-Dimensional, Linear–Elastic Model To Explain Radial Extensional Fractures, Pantheon Fossae, Caloris Basin, Mercury, Brianne Mcdonough

Undergraduate Review

In this study, two-dimensional linear elasticity theory is used to model the lithospheric stress field that produces radial extensional fractures observed at Pantheon Fossae in the Caloris Basin of Mercury. These fractures were imaged by the MESSENGER mission flyby of Mercury on January 14, 2008 and show radial fractures extending outward from a 40-kilometer impact crater named Apollodorus. Recent studies have proposed several different mechanisms to explain these fractures, including magmatic processes, central basin uplift, and stresses produced by the formation of the impact crater itself.


Unraveling The Geologic History Of The Avalon Terrane In Ma, Erin Nevens Jan 2006

Unraveling The Geologic History Of The Avalon Terrane In Ma, Erin Nevens

Undergraduate Review

No abstract provided.


Origin Of Gabbroic Xenoliths Within The Lone Mountain Dacite Intrusion, Big Sky, Montana: A Field And Petrographic Analysis, Emily Clement Jan 2006

Origin Of Gabbroic Xenoliths Within The Lone Mountain Dacite Intrusion, Big Sky, Montana: A Field And Petrographic Analysis, Emily Clement

Undergraduate Review

No abstract provided.


Microstructural Analysis Of The Rhode Island Formation, Narragansett Basin, Ma, Elizabeth Connell Jan 2006

Microstructural Analysis Of The Rhode Island Formation, Narragansett Basin, Ma, Elizabeth Connell

Undergraduate Review

No abstract provided.


Field, Petrographic, And Geochemical Characteristics Of Price Creek, Russ Mccormack Jan 2006

Field, Petrographic, And Geochemical Characteristics Of Price Creek, Russ Mccormack

Undergraduate Review

No abstract provided.


Microstructural Analysis Of A Drill Core From The Rhode Island Formation: Upper 750 Feet, Ashlee Kirkwood Jan 2006

Microstructural Analysis Of A Drill Core From The Rhode Island Formation: Upper 750 Feet, Ashlee Kirkwood

Undergraduate Review

No abstract provided.


News From Cart, Michael A. Krol, Julia Stakhnevich Dec 2002

News From Cart, Michael A. Krol, Julia Stakhnevich

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.