Geology Commons^™

Policy Analysis Of Emissions Cap And Trade: The United State And The European Union, Drew Bealby

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Effects of climate change are appearing each day therefore proactive steps need to be made to reduce these effects. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) notes that humans producing greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane, and nitrous oxide are the main reason the Earth’s overall temperature is rising (NASA 2019). A policy analysis was done on the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) along with comparisons to the United States’ emissions policies that are in place currently. The European Union (E.U.) itself is both an economic and political union of 27 countries in …

A Karst Feature Predictability Model Within Barber County, Kansas, Gary M. Kelner

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

This research consisted of two topics: 1) geographic predictive models of karst features and 2), a petrographic study examining the lithology of the study area. The study area is a privately owned ranch in the Gypsum Hills of Barber County, Kansas and is known to have karst features. Two predictive models for karst features were utilized. Previously identified features, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) imagery aided in the creation of these predictive models. These predictability models also used the ESRI ArcMap software platform. The data for these models consists of slope, …

Analysis Of Clastic Cave Sediment In A Fluviokarst System, Russell Cave, Northeast Alabama, Jonathan Camelo

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Russell Cave is part of a fluviokarst system located along the edge of the Cumberland Plateau in northeast Alabama. The cave system acts as a surface-subsurface drainage system transporting, depositing, and accumulating large influxes of terrestrial-derived materials (sediments, organic material, and magnetic minerals) into the subsurface system forming sediment traps. Five core sites along various discontinuous sediment banks were collected and sampled in 2 cm intervals. Data collection involved Red-Green-Blue (RGB) color, loss on ignition (LOI), magnetic susceptibility (MS) grain-size analysis, end member mixing analysis (EMMA), and ¹⁴C radiocarbon dating. The goals for this research were to identify the …

Weighing The Impacts Of Airbnb In Iceland: Multivariate Perspectives, Alexa Gorlick

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

This research sought to evaluate if the sharing economy leader, Airbnb, creates impacts that residents of Iceland feel they experience. The study also aimed to discover if rural and urban inhabitants have similar perspectives on Airbnb impacts. Airbnb’s entrepreneurial encroachment into the accommodation sector has caused a multitude of localities to manage an assortment of complex affairs. These matters are difficult to solve due to their changing, contradictory, and incomplete premise. The purpose of this research is to determine if Airbnb activity is prominent in Iceland and therefore causing the country to experience similar issues that officials are struggling to …

Gypsum Karst Speleogenesis In Barber County, Kansas Of The Permian Blaine Formation, Kaitlyn Gauvey

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Field reconnaissance examining the Permian Blaine Formation and the karst features within those rocks were conducted on two ranches in Barber County, Kansas. Karst features are developed dominantly in gypsum and include caves, sinkholes, losing streams, springs, and other surficial karst features. The Blaine Formation is known as a significant karst unit and major aquifer system in Oklahoma; however, little work has been conducted in Kansas. This study identifies the processes that lead to karst development in the Blaine Formation in Kansas and represents the first stage of a karst study to develop predictive karst models. This survey of caves …

Heat/Mortality Sensitivities In Los Angeles During Winter: A Unique Phenomenon In The United States, Adam J. Kalkstein, Laurence S. Kalkstein, Jennifer K. Vanos, David P. Eisenman, Paul Grady Dixon Ph.D.

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Background: Extreme heat is often associated with elevated levels of human mortality, particularly across the mid-latitudes. Los Angeles, CA exhibits a unique, highly variable winter climate, with brief periods of intense heat caused by downsloping winds commonly known as Santa Ana winds. The goal is to determine if Los Angeles County is susceptible to heat-related mortality during the winter season. This is the first study to specifically evaluate heat-related mortality during the winter for a U.S. city. Methods: Utilizing the Spatial Synoptic Classification system in Los Angeles County from 1979 through 2010, we first relate daily human mortality to synoptic …

Prospecting For Coal Bed Uranium In Kansas Through The Use Of Arcgis And Uranium Proxies, Logan Howell

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

The potential implications for the discovery of coal bed uranium in Kansas not only have a significant scientific and human health interest impact, but also a possible future economic one as well. This study sought to look for coal bed uranium within the Cretaceous Dakota Formation located in north-central of Kansas. This study utilized the two coal bed uranium proxies of historic subbituminous coal production and radon, and ArcGIS to produce a field-site selection map. This map was used to pick counties within Kansas to collect samples from. Once samples were collected, they were scanned for radiation using all available …

Spatial Patterns Of Precipitation Trends In The Continental United States, 1950-2016, Shayne O'Brien

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Identifying trends in aspects of meteorology is becoming increasingly important to understanding how climate can be expected to change, and how those affected may plan contingencies. Analyzing spatial patterns of precipitation trends allows for associations to be discovered to better understand regional climatology. For this study, daily precipitation data were collected from The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Global Historical Climate Network (GHCN) at stations across the continental United States, with selection based on distance from each other within a state, as well as percent completeness of observation data. Two stations per state were selected, with some exceptions for …

Effects Of Carbon Dioxide And Clouds On Temperature, Hyunsoo Lee, Hee Woon Cheong

Geosciences Faculty Publications

With the observed rise in temperature, many researchers have tried to identify the causes of such climate change to help mitigate its effects. The objective of this study is to determine whether, under the same carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentrations, CO 2 with lower cloud coverage would raise the temperature at a greater rate than CO 2 with higher cloud coverage. The hypothesis was tested through big data analysis and modeling. The relationships between the temperature and the CO 2 emissions, the temperature and the cloud coverage, and the CO 2 emissions and the cloud coverage were identified using …

Osteohistology And Skeletochronology Of An Ontogenetic Series Of Clidastes (Squamata: Mosasauridae): Growth And Metabolism In Basal Mosasaurids, Cyrus C. Green

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Clidastes was a large marine reptile from the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of North America. Though the remains of Clidastes have been found in the Cretaceous chalks and shales for over 150 years, little is known about their growth rates.

Osteohistology is a well-documented technique used to investigate growth in extinct animals. Previous histological studies of Clidastes have hypothesized higher growth rates in basal mosasaurids than varanids due to higher vascularity. These studies focused on adult specimens but did not look at ontogenetic changes in growth rates. Isotopic studies of Clidastes indicate high metabolic temperatures, leading to speculation these …

Exploring The Relationship Between The Nemaha Uplift And The Mid-Continent Rift Using 3d Mapping Visual Analysis, Faris Abanumay

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

The present study presents and explains the relationship between Nemaha uplift and Mid-continent rift (MCR), where the understanding of the faulting systems around the study region were extremely important with regard to finding the relationship. The Nemaha is located in Kansas State in the Central United States with a total area of about 719 square miles. It was formed around the pre- Mississippian era. The compression and rifting processes that led to formation of faults, volcanoes, ridges and oceanic plates controls the faulting in the Nemaha region. The MCR system is a major tectonic feature in North America that is …

Characterizing Basement Structures To Evaluate Their Influence On Overlaying Sedimentary Layers: Case Study Of Three Fields In The Central Kansas Uplift, Muhammad S. Karim

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Potential field and well log data were used to investigate basement features and the overlaying sedimentary layers across four counties in the Central Kansas Uplift. The objective of this study was to (1) investigate and determine the orientation of basement structures/features, (2) estimate the depth to basement, and (3) examine the influence (if any) and relationship between the basement features and the overlaying sedimentary deposits of three oil fields in the study area. Aeromagnetic data was used to interpret and map basement features by applying derivative filters. Well log data was used to pick formation top values and create contour …

Re–Os Isotope Geochronology Of The Shangbao Pyrite–Flourite Deposit In Southeastern Hunan, South China: Evidence For Multiple Mineralization Events And The Role Of Crust–Mantle Interaction In Polymetallic Deposits, Cheng Cheng Huang, Hai Feng Guo, Jie Li, Qiang Wang, Chunfu Zhang, Derek Wyman, Gong Jian Tang

Geosciences Faculty Publications

In South China, both crustal reworking and crust–mantle interaction were important geological processes during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. However, the relationships between these two processes and metal mineralization are still unknown. Here we report rhenium and osmium isotopic data for pyrite grains from a pyrite deposit associated with a granite intrusion in the Shangbao area, southeastern Hunan Province (South China). Two pyrite samples, both containing many euhedral pyrite grains, were collected from the same locality, but the samples yield distinct ages. Six euhedral pyrite grains from one sample yield an isochronal age of 279 ± 12 Ma, with an …

High-Pressure Granulite Facies Overprinting During The Exhumation Of Eclogites In The Bangong-Nujiang Suture Zone, Central Tibet: Link To Flat-Slab Subduction, Xiu Zheng Zhang, Qiang Wang, Yong Sheng Dong, Chunfu Zhang, Qing Yun Li, Xiao Ping Xia, Wang Xu

Geosciences Faculty Publications

The geometric transformation of a descending plate, such as from steep to flat subduction in response to a change from normal to overthickened oceanic crust during subduction, is a common and important geological process at modern or fossil convergent margins. However, the links between this process and the metamorphic evolution of the exhumation of oceanic (ultra)high-pressure eclogites are poorly understood. Here we report detailed petrological, mineralogical, phase equilibria, and secondary ion mass spectrometry zircon and rutile U-Pb age data for the Dong Co eclogites at the western segment of the Bangong-Nujiang suture zone, central Tibet. Our data reveal that the …

Morphometric Changes In Semicircular Canal Shape Within Theropoda (Dinosauria: Saurischia) And Their Dietary Implications, James Logan King

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Theropods were a suborder of dinosaurs that displayed a large variety of dietary preferences throughout the Mesozoic and into the Cenozoic as modern birds. Being ancestrally carnivorous, many of the large-bodied early theropods were hypercarnivorous; however, members of Theropoda diversified their diets into omnivory and herbivory. Modern vertebrates with different dietary preferences have different spatial sensitivities to changes in head and body movement. In order to test if theropod diet plays a major role in the rostral (RSC), caudal (CSC), and lateral (LSC) semicircular canal shape, therizinosaurs, tyrannosaurids, ratites, an allosaurid, an ornithomimid, and a phorusrhacid were analyzed via 2D …

The Relationship Among Suture Complexity, Shell Form, And Stratigraphic Formation In Ammonites Of The Western Interior Seaway, Darrah Jorgensen

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Throughout ammonite evolution, shell suture patterns grew increasingly more complex, but the purpose of these sutures has long been debated. One hypothesis is that suture complexity is related to the structural integrity of the shell under pressure. To test this hypothesis, suture complexity was compared to shell form and stratigraphic formation to determine if there were significant differences in suture complexity, as a proxy for structural integrity, among shell forms or stratigraphic formations. Highly complex sutures might have allowed for the tightly coiled form of many ammonites, an advantage compared to less coiled forms because the pressure is distributed over …

Analysis Of Big Creek Aquifer Alluvial Facies And Associated Phreatic Surface Contour Maps Hays, Ellis County, Kansas, Krisopher John Neuhauser

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Three contour maps of groundwater elevation levels below Hays, Kansas generated in 2016 show that the phreatic surface in eight monitoring wells declined 3.6 inches to 1 foot 9.6 inches over a three-month period of July, August, and September. They also indicate that groundwater flows in curvilinear directions toward Big Creek. Analyses of ten north-south oriented structural cross sections of the alluvial fill beneath the central region of Hays provide evidence of buried low-sinuosity and meandering streams, floodplains, and possibly adjoining tributaries and abandoned channels. Correlation of the more porous and permeable sand and gravel facies along a northwest to …

Uas-Collected Multispectral Imagery For The Identification Of Rangeland Vegetation In A Southern Mixed-Grass Prairie, Adam Rusk

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

The interest in using unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for remote sensing of natural resources and ecology has grown rapidly in recent years and continues to develop. Recent improvements in the cost, size, and accessibility of consumer-grade UASs are now facilitating image collection on low-flying UAS platforms. Rangelands provide a unique opportunity to explore the uses of UAS remote sensing due to their large spatial extent and spatial and temporal heterogeneity. This study focuses on the use of UAS’s to identify rangeland vegetation in a southern mixed-grass prairie in Kansas. Two primary questions were asked: 1) Do small UASs with low-cost …

Stable Isotope Diet Analysis Of Teleoceras Fossiger From The High Plains Of Kansas, Patrick J. Wilson

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Stable isotope geochemistry provides a way of examining both modern and ancient ecosystems. One important use of stable carbon isotopes is to determine the amount of C3 versus C4 plant biomass in the diet of herbivorous mammals. C3 plants have a more negative stable carbon isotope ratio (δ13C) than C4 plants because of the different photosynthetic pathways each type uses. These different δ13C values are preserved in the hydroxyapatite of herbivores upon consumption of the different plant types. The purpose of this study it to use δ13C values from serial samples of tooth enamel from six isolated permanent molars of …

Hydrogeological Study Of A Municipal Groundwater Well Field In Central Kansas, Tyler Saryerwinnie

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

The City of Victoria is a small town of approximately 1,200 people situated in Central Kansas. Along with other communities in Kansas, recent drought has made the issue of water quality and availability a pressing concern with local officials. This city relies heavily on the use of ground-water wells located south of the town near the Big Creek channel. It is the purpose of this study to define the hydrogeological conditions effecting the City’s well field, and in turn apply this information to define an area of influence and outline potential hazards for the well field. Utilizing previous studies, along …

Dental Microwear Variation In Teleoceras Fossiger (Rhinocerotidae) From The Miocene (Hemphillian) Of Kansas, With Consideration Of Masticatory Processes And Enamel Microstructure, Kelsie Abrams

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Dental microwear analysis is the study of microscopic features on the surfaces of teeth, and is used to reconstruct and analyze diet in extinct and extant animals. Microwear analysis on ungulates is typically conducted on the paracone or protoconid of the second molar, as these cusps are usually the first point of contact between upper and lower teeth during the chewing stroke. However, the exact method of mastication varies in different groups of ungulates, and the influence of mastication on the location and production of microwear features has been studied very little. Additionally, the role of highly specialized enamel microstructure …

Petrophysical Attributes, Depositional Environment, And Diagenetic History Of A Mississippian Interval From Mcpherson County, Kansas, Usa, John Hunter Green

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Siliceous – carbonate intervals in the Mid-­‐Continent are proven producible hydrocarbon reservoirs, however they have been understudied compared to more classic type reservoirs because of difficulties in characterization and correlations due to the heterogeneity and complex nature of their lithofacies. Understanding the characteristics of siliceous – carbonate lithofacies through macro and micro scale analysis can enhance the assessment of reservoir attributes and quality. Core, thin sections, and well logs were used to determine characteristics of a Mississippian (Osagean – Meramecian) interval (2,906 ft. and 2,946 ft.) from Canton SWD 1-36 located in McPherson County, Kansas, USA. Qualitative and quantitative analyses …

The Relationship Between Elevation Roughness And Tornado Activity: A Spatial Statistical Model Fit To Data From The Central Great Plains, James B. Elsner, Tyler Fricker, Holly M. Widen, Carla M. Castillo, John Humphreys, Jihoon Jung, Shoumik Rahman, Amanda Richard, Thomas H. Jagger, Tachanat Bhatrasataponkul, Christian Gredzens, Paul Grady Dixon Ph.D.

Geosciences Faculty Publications

The statistical relationship between elevation roughness and tornado activity is quantified using a spatial model that controls for the effect of population on the availability of reports. Across a large portion of the central Great Plains the model shows that areas with uniform elevation tend to have more tornadoes on average than areas with variable elevation. The effect amounts to a 2.3% [(1.6%, 3.0%) = 95% credible interval] increase in the rate of a tornado occurrence per meter of decrease in elevation roughness, defined as the highest minus the lowest elevation locally. The effect remains unchanged if the model is …

Analysis Of Carbon Dioxide And Cloud Effects On Temperature In Northeast China, Hyunsoo Lee

Geosciences Faculty Publications

With the observed rise in temperature, many researchers have tried to identify the causes of such climate change to help mitigate its effects. The objective of this study is to determine whether, under the same carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, CO2 with lower cloud coverage would raise the temperature at a greater rate than CO2 with higher cloud coverage. The hypothesis was tested through data analysis and modeling. The relationships between the temperature and the CO2 emissions, the temperature and the cloud coverage, and the CO2 emissions and the cloud coverage were identified using Pearson's correlation test. The data analysis concluded …

Geostatistical And Statistical Classification Of Sea-Ice Properties And Provinces From Sar Data, Ute C. Herzfeld, Scott Williams, John Heinrichs, James Maslanik, Steven Sucht

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Recent drastic reductions in the Arctic sea-ice cover have raised an interest in understanding the role of sea ice in the global system as well as pointed out a need to understand the physical processes that lead to such changes. Satellite remote-sensing data provide important information about remote ice areas, and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data have the advantages of penetration of the omnipresent cloud cover and of high spatial resolution. A challenge addressed in this paper is how to extract information on sea-ice types and sea-ice processes from SAR data. We introduce, validate and apply geostatistical and statistical approaches …

An Integrated Analysis Of The Oppliger And Harkness Oil Fields Using Well Log Data And 3d Seismic Data, Casey B. Langdon

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Subsurface mapping from well points and 3D seismic interpretation are essential techniques used to study and locate structures in petroleum exploration. In this study, subsurface structure maps, detailed well log facies analysis, 3D seismic interpretation, and attribute analysis were used to map a Mississippian interval and middle Pennsylvanian age interval from two oil fields in Ness County, Kansas. The objective of this study is to analyze formation properties and facies distribution, map middle Pennsylvanian Cherokee channel deposits using seismic data, and to construct a structural model highlighting important features effecting oil production. Results show that the stratigraphic succession of this …

3d Geometric Morphometrics In Modern And Extinct Foot-Propelled Diving Birds: An Evaluation Of The Tarsometatarsus For Species Identification, Mackenzie E. Kirchner-Smith

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Hesperornithiformes (Aves: Ornithurae) were flightless foot-propelled diving birds that lived during the Late Cretaceous and have a good fossil record compared to most Mesozoic birds. Extinct taxa are often identified using fragmentary or isolated specimens, and several species of Hesperornis have been named from the morphology of the tarsometatarsus, often relying on size for taxonomic differentiation. However, little has been done to examine intraspecific variation in this bone and evaluate its use for taxonomic identification. To test for intraspecific and interspecific variation in the tarsometatarsus of hesperornithiforms, variation in extant members of the foot-propelled diving Gaviidae (loons) and Podicipedidae (grebes) …

Redescription Of A Specimen Of Pentaceratops (Ornithischia: Ceratopsidae) And Phylogenetic Evaluation Of Five Referred Specimens From The Upper Cretaceous Of New Mexico, Joshua J. Fry

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Pentaceratops sternbergi is a late Campanian ceratopsian predominately known from the San Juan Basin in New Mexico. Previous specimen descriptions and cladistic analyses are based on partial skulls and composite specimens, which places Pentaceratops as an intermediate form between Chasmosaurus and Triceratops. Recent reports have questioned the taxonomic validity of several referred specimens, leading to taxonomic confusion. To address taxonomic issues, Museum of Northern Arizona specimen MNA V1747 (formerly MNA Pl. 1747) is redescribed and included in the first specimen-based phylogenetic analysis. Additional preparation since the initial description has made available additional skull elements and revealed MNA V1747 to be …

A New Ankylosaurid Dinosaur From The Upper Cretaceous (Kirtlandian) Of New Mexico With Implications For Ankylosaurid Diversity In The Upper Cretaceous Of Western North America, Victoria M. Arbour, Michael E. Burns, Robert M. Sullivan, Spencer G. Lucas, Amanda K. Cantrell, Joshua Fry, Thomas L. Suazo

Geosciences Faculty Publications

A new ankylosaurid (Ankylosauria: Dinosauria), Ziapelta sanjuanensis, gen. et sp. nov., is based on a complete skull, an incomplete first cervical half ring, a possible fragment of the second cervical half ring, and additional fragmentary osteoderms. The holotype specimen is from the Upper Cretaceous (Upper Campanian, Kirtlandian Land-Vertebrate Age) Kirtland Formation (De-na-zin Member) at Hunter Wash, San Juan Basin, in northwestern New Mexico, USA. Diagnostic characters of Ziapelta include: a large, prominent triangular median nasal caputegulum; a mixture of flat and bulbous frontonasal caputegulae; ventrolaterally oriented squamosal horns with a sharp, prominent dorsal keel; and the ventral surface of basicranium …

Identification And Paleoecology Of Mammoth Teeth From The Vertebrate Paleontology Collection At The Sternberg Museum Of Natural History, Hays, Kansas, Elizabeth Deering

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Thirty-five mammoth teeth from the Vertebrate Paleontology Collection at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, Kansas were examined to determine the species and palaeoecological association. Quantitative and qualitative descriptions of tooth length, width, height, enamel thickness, lamellar frequency, condition, shape, and size, were determined. Thirty-four of the teeth were identified as Mammuthus columbi and one was identified as M. jeffersonii, indicating that M. columbi was the dominant mammoth cycles that resulted in cool, mesic, boreal coniferous forests and prairie (steppe) environments throughout the Pleistocene. M. columbi and M. jeffersonii would have thrived in these environments and would have …