The Sequence Stratigraphic Context Of Mixed Basin Margin Evaporites In The Harrisburg Member Of The Permian Kaibab Formation, Northern Arizona And Southern Utah, Cole Hendrickson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Kaibab Formation is a mixed carbonate system including evaporites and siliciclastics deposited on a westward dipping epeiric carbonate ramp during the middle Permian in northern Arizona, southern Utah, and eastern Nevada. It consists of the Fossil Mountain Member deposited in open-marine conditions and the overlying Harrisburg Member deposited in restricted conditions. The Harrisburg Member includes facies and depositional environments ranging from open-marine shallow-subtidal wackestone - packstone, restricted subtidal dolomitic mudstone, dolomitic sandstone, peritidal oolitic grainstone as well as gypsum and red siltstones deposited in a sabkha environment.

Fourteen stratigraphic sections were measured across northern Arizona and southern Utah to …

Gravitational Study Of The Hastings Salt Dome And Associated Faults In Brazoria And Galveston Counties,Texas, Francis C. Okocha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Salt domes are important geological structures because they are potential major hydrocarbon traps and have a profound effect on overlying strata in the subsurface. Over five hundred salt domes have been located on the United States Gulf Coast region, including the Hastings Salt Dome. Hastings Oil Field is located about 40.2 km (25 miles) southeast of Houston, Texas. The Hasting oil field was discovered in 1934 and it was considered the largest oil reserve on the Gulf Coast. Its peak production of 75,000 BOPD (barrels of oil per day) was recorded in 1977 and it had a cumulative production of …

Structural And Stratigraphic Reconstruction Of The Whiting Dome Salt Structure In Viosca Knoll-Mississippi Canyon, Gom, Using 3d Seismic Data, Matthew R. Worrell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the complexities of salt tectonics is one of the most important factors regarding seismic interpretation of stratigraphy, structure, and geomorphology in the Gulf of Mexico. Evaluating the processes affecting recent mobilization of salt in the shallow, well-imaged section can help provide analogues for older, similar occurrences in the deeper section, thereby providing structural models for the autochthonous salt and its effect on stratigraphy and even potential timing and migration issues of hydrocarbons.

Progradation of delta front and shelf to slope transitional sediments has expulsed and emplaced an allochthonous salt structure (Whiting Dome) in the Viosca Knoll and Mississippi Canyon …

Basement And Cover Structural Analysis Along The Eagle River Gorge, Sawatch Range, Colorado, Kaitlin Lee Askelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Sawatch Range within the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado exposes Paleoproterozoic basement and overlying Paleozoic sedimentary rocks with a complex history of ductile and brittle deformation.

The goal of this study is to conduct analyses of brittle structures that occur in the basement and cover units to determine geometric relationships between the structures, provide a detailed description of structures and refine a geologic history for structures along the basement-cover contact in the northeastern Sawatch Range along the Eagle River canyon and U.S. Highway 24 from Red Cliff to Gilman, Colorado. Paleoproterozoic basement rocks include the Cross Creek granite, diorites, …

Oysters And Mammoths: Fossils In Central Texas–Texas Academy Of Science 2017, Chris Barker, R. Larell Nielson

Faculty Publications

Texas Academy of Science, 2017 Field Trip

This year's Texas Academy of Science Geology Field Trip takes you to two very different fossil sites in central Texas. Stop 1 is along a quiet road in the Hill Country where you can collect abundant invertebrate fossils from the Lower Cretaceous Comanche Peak Limestone and Walnut Clay. The second stop of the trip is at one of the newest units of America's park service: the Waco Mammoth National Monument. At this site you will see a spectacular fossil discovery that is now one of the main mammoth sites in North America. And …

The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale: Geologic History, Depositional Analysis, And Exploration Potential, Jessica D. Pair

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) was deposited across southern Louisiana and Mississippi during the Upper Cretaceous. The study focuses on a core region containing vast deposits of Cretaceous-aged sediments that have economic importance for oil and gas exploration. This region has been conventionally drilled for decades, focusing on the recovery of the Cretaceous hydrocarbons. Explorers within this region had traditionally targeted the massive sand units of the Lower and Upper Tuscaloosa Group while neglecting the middle Tuscaloosa Marine Shale unit. With the onset of unconventional drilling technology, new explorers to the region have begun to delineate the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale’s …

Evaporite Karst Geohazards In The Delaware Basin, Texas: Review Of Traditional Karst Studies Coupled With Geophysical And Remote Sensing Characterization, Kevin W. Stafford, Wesley A. Brown, Jon T. Ehrhart, Adam F. Majzoub, Jonathan D. Woodard

Faculty Publications

Evaporite karst throughout the Gypsum Plain of west Texas is complex and extensive, including manifestations ranging from intrastratal brecciation and hypogene caves to epigene features and suffosion caves. Recent advances in hydrocarbon exploration and extraction has resulted in increased infrastructure development and utilization in the area; as a result, delineation and characterization of potential karst geohazards throughout the region have become a greater concern. While traditional karst surveys are essential for delineating the subsurface extent and morphology of individual caves for speleogenetic interpretation, these methods tend to underestimate the total extent of karst development and require surficial manifestation of karst …

Geologic And Geochemical Characterization Of Cross-Communication Potential Within The Northern Edwards Aquifer System, Texas, Ingrid J. Eckhoff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Edwards Aquifer is a large, complex groundwater system located throughout Central Texas in association with the Balcones Fault Zone. The San Antonio and Barton Spring segments of the Edwards Aquifer have been extensively studied in the past because they provide groundwater resources to the largely urbanized areas of San Antonio and Austin, respectively, and smaller communities along the Interstate 35 corridor. Previous research has been conducted on these southern and central portions of the Edwards Aquifer system, which have characterized the structural, hydrogeological and geochemical variations within the highly karsted region. However, the Northern Segment of the Edwards Aquifer …

Geotechnical Properties Of The Travis Peak (Hosston) Formation In East Texas: A Compressive And Tensile Strength Analysis Using Regression Analysis., Pawan Kakarla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The estimation of rock mass strength is a key parameter in geotechnical engineering which is used in the design of geotechnical structures like tunnels, dams and slopes. Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering which works on the principles of soil and rock mechanics to evaluate subsurface conditions, stability of slopes, foundations of structures and construction of earthworks. The main focus of this study was to calculate the strength of Lower Cretaceous Travis Peak Formation rocks of East Texas and to check the accuracy by comparing it with Regression analysis. The parameters which were used were the Uniaxial Compression …

Characterization And Delineation Of Karst Geohazards Along Rm652 Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography, Culberson County, Texas, Adam F. Majzoub

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Delaware Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico is the major western subdivision of the Permian Basin and a northern extension of the Chihuahuan Desert. The major evaporite unit within the Delaware Basin is the Castile Formation, which consists of gypsum/anhydrite and is highly susceptible to dissolution and karsting. Manifestations of karst within the Castile outcrop are abundant and include sinkholes, subsidence features and caves, both epigene and hypogene in origin.

Land reconnaissance surveys conducted during the summer of 2015 documented abundant karst landforms in close proximity to a major thoroughfare, RM 652, in Culberson County, Texas. 2D …

Speleogenesis And Delineation Of Megaporosity And Karst Geohazards Through Geologic Cave Mapping And Lidar Analyses Associated With Infrastructure In Culberson County, Texas, Jon T. Ehrhart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Gypsum Plain region of the Delaware Basin hosts approximately 1800 km² of the Castile Formation outcrop. A myriad of karstic developments from closed sinkholes to large multi-kilometer cave systems have been documented within the region. Karst studies on the distribution and speleogenetic evolution within Castile strata began within the last decade with ever increasing data resolution. In this study, a combination of both physical field surveys and analyses of high resolution (~30 cm accuracy) LiDAR data was used to create a theoretical model for karst development across the region. This idealized model considers speleogenetic formation type variations (hypogene …

Cone In Cone Concretions Of The Stanley Group In Southeastern Oklahoma, Kyle B. Ayres

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cone in cone concretions found in the Stanley Group of Southeastern Oklahoma have a variety of external and internal attributes which allow diagenetic and theoretical models of formation to be hypothesized. Stanley Group carbonate cone in cone concretions are initially formed in sulfur reducing horizons at shallow burial depths in a poorly circulated possibly deep trough containing siliceous sediments and organic matter. Collected concretions near the town of Smithville, Oklahoma displayed four different external morphologies and four variations of mineral constituents. All concretions contained microscopic cones which initiated diffusion and/or fluid patterns and is an early cementation process that directly …

Characterization Of Lower Permian Carbonate Subaqueous Gravity Flows In Crockett County, Texas, Wesley L. Turner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transitional sediments on carbonate ramp slopes act as a link to relatively well-studied platform and basin depositional environments. In the southern Midland Basin, the key to understanding the relationship between these environments lies in the allochthonous gravity flow sediments found on the slope. Here, a succession of various gravity flow deposits is used to interpret how base level fluctuations affect the type of deposits found on the slope and their effect on the deep basinal environment. This study utilizes core samples from the Wolfcamp Formation adjacent to the Central Basin Platform in five wells in Northwest Crockett County, Texas. The …

An Investigation Of Hydrogeologic, Stratigraphic, And Structural Controls On Acer Grandidentatum Communities In A Karst Landscape, Owl Mountain Province, Fort Hood Military Installation, Texas, Melinda S. Faulkner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Owl Mountain Province is located within the Fort Hood Military Installation, an approximately 880 km2 installation established in the 1940s in Bell and Coryell counties, Texas, which has undergone extensive land use changes associated with military training, maintaining much of the vegetation in early succession. This study investigates thelithologic, stratigraphic, and structural controls on the hydrologic, hydrogeologic, and geomorphologic evolution of the Owl Mountain Province as expressed by mesic vegetation communities, including Pleistocene relicts Acer grandidentatum, within karst terrains. These systems exhibit complexly overprinted speleogenetic evolutions within a dynamic groundwater regime resulting from regional climate shifts throughout the …

Speleogenesis Of Critchfield Bat Caves And Associated Hydrogeology Of The Northern Edwards Aquifer, Williamson County, Texas, Ashley N. Landers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Karst development in the Edwards Aquifer has been significantly studied in the San Antonio and Barton Spring Segments; however, karst development remains poorly studied in the Northern Segment. Detailed characterization of the Northern Segment is vital for future water conservation because of increasing urban sprawl along the Interstate 35 corridor. The Northern Segment of the Edwards Aquifer consists of Lower Cretaceous strata of the Comanche Peak, Edwards, and Georgetown formations. The stratigraphy is dominated by Edwards Limestone as it is the only formation that crops out in the study area.

Karst, stratigraphic, GIS, and geochemical studies were conducted to evaluate …

The Stratigraphic Position Of Fossil Vertebrates From The Pojoaque Member Of The Tesuque Formation (Middle Miocene, Late Barstovian) Near Española, New Mexico, Garrett R. Williamson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The stratigraphy of the Pojoaque Member of the Tesuque Formation near Española, NM is not well understood. This region, during the Middle Miocene, represented a dynamic alluvial fan-fluvial-lacustrine environment within the Española Basin while the Rio Grande Rift was active. Cavazza (1986) identified two paleodrainage systems (lithosome A, basin-margin facies and B, basin-floor facies) by means of sandstone and conglomerate petrology, paleocurrent, and sedimentary facies analyses. After x-ray diffraction analyses of claystones within lithosome B, mordenite was discovered, which is a zeolite mineral commonly found within volcanic rocks. This is significant because the presence of mordenite confirms Cavazza’s (1986) conclusion …

Evaluation Of Groundwater Quality In Paleozoic Aquifers Using Gis Techniques, Central Texas, Garrett R. Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lab analyses of groundwater chemistry from monitoring wells completed in the Paleozoic Aquifers surrounding the Llano Uplift of Central Texas has been recorded and made available to the public through the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB). This study evaluated the results of these data dating back to the 1940s to determine changes over time, the dynamics of the hydrologic system, and the locations where hydraulic connectivity is most probable. The initial results established two distinct hydrologic systems that required the separation of the northern from the southern region. The northern sub-region (NSR) contains the largest expanse of continuity of both …

Geology Of The Northern Llano Uplift, Junction To Llano, Texas, R. Larell Nielson, Chris Barker

Faculty Publications

This year's Texas Academy of Science Geology Field Trip will visit nine interesting locations in two different areas in the Texas Hill Country (Figure 1). In the first area we will look at the Cretaceous stratigraphy around Junction, Texas (Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4). The expedition will then travel to the northern part of the Llano uplift and study Cambrian and Precambrian stratigraphy and structure of the northern Llano Uplift (Figures 4 and 5). Stop 9 will be at Cooper’s BBQ for lunch.

Linking Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (Inaa) With Geology In The Ancestral Caddo Region, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

This poster illustrates the success of a novel method of INAA that was employed to reveal geochemical signatures in Caddo ceramic vessel sherds that correlate with local surficial geology. The geochemical data from the sherd assemblage were used within an exploration of potential ceramic provenance, which was successful at demarcating sherds from ceramic vessels made from clays in either the Claiborne or Wilcox Groups. Further geochemical segregation was also apparent between the Recklaw Formation in the Claiborne Group, and the Weches Formation in the Wilcox Group. These results point to a high degree of geochemical variability within the East Texas …

At The Confluence Of Gis And Geochemistry: Identifying Geochemical Correlates Of Ripley Engraved Caddo Ceramics, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Timothy K. Perttula

CRHR: Archaeology

In this poster, we discuss a new approach to the identification and definition of spatial trends in archeologically-recovered ceramics associated with geochemical results produced using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Using all of the Ripley Engraved INAA samples, we posit that clays in the Claiborne and Wilcox Groups can be successfully demarcated by sodium (Na), cerium (Ce), and zinc (Zn). Using a subset of those data from the Big Cypress Creek basin, we find that ceramics manufactured in three different Caddo political communities can be successfully demarcated based upon differential concentrations of arsenic (As), iron (Fe), and vanadium (V) found …

The 17 May 2012 M4.8 Earthquake Near Timpson, East Texas: An Event Possibly Triggered By Fluid Injection, Cliff Frohlich, William Ellsworth, Wesley A. Brown, Michael Brunt, Jim Luetgert, Tim Macdonald, Steve Walter

Faculty Publications

This study summarizes our investigation of the 17 May 2012 MW‐RMT4.8 earthquake near Timpson, Texas, the largest earthquake recorded historically in eastern Texas. To identify preshocks and aftershocks of the 17 May event we examined the arrivals recorded at Nacogdoches (NATX) 30 km from the 17 May epicenter, at nearby USArray Transportable Array stations, and at eight temporary stations deployed between 26 May 2012 and mid‐2013. At NATX we identified seven preshocks, the earliest occurring in April 2008. Reliably located aftershocks recorded by the temporary stations lie along a 6 km long NW‐SE linear trend corresponding to a …

K-12 Geoscience Workshops And Freshman Field Camp: Txkorp Outreach [Abstract], Kevin W. Stafford, Melinda G. Shaw-Faulkner, Wesley A. Brown

Faculty Presentations

No abstract provided.

Geoanalytical Analysis Of Speleogenetic Development In The Owl Mountain And Nolan Creek Provinces: Fort Hood Military Installation, Texas (Abstract], Melinda G. Shaw-Faulkner, Kevin W. Stafford, Aaron W. Bryant

Faculty Presentations

No abstract provided.

Geology Of The Western Llano Uplift, Fredericksburg To Mason, Texas, R. Larell Nielson, Chris Barker

Faculty Publications

This year's Texas Academy of Science Geology Field Trip will visit six interesting locations in the Texas Hill Country (Figure 01). At Bear Mountain quarry, former location of Balanced Rock, the contact between the Precambrian Bear Mountain Pluton and surrounding Cretaceous Edwards Group will be examined. Along Crab Apple Creek, south of Enchanted Rock, excellent exposures of the Hickory Sandstone provide the opportunity to study sedimentary structures and cross-bedding that represent the Sauk sequence deposited during the Cambrian Period (Figure 02). Next we will look at a Gypsum Mine and deposits of evaporites from the Cretaceous Kirschberg Lagoon (Figure 03 …

Delineation And Classification Of Karst Depressions Using Lidar: Fort Hood Military Installation, Texas, Melinda G. Shaw-Faulkner, Kevin W. Stafford, Aaron W. Bryant

Faculty Publications

The Fort Hood Military Installation is a karst landscape characterized by Cretaceous-age limestone plateaus and canyons in Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas. The area is located in the Lampasas Cut Plain region of the Edwards Plateau and is stratigraphically defined by exposures of the Fredericksburg Group. Spatial interpolation of 105 km2 of the Fort Hood Military Installation provided depression data that were delineated and classified using geoanalytical methods. Most of the karst features within the study area are predominantly surficial expressions of collapse features, creating windows into karst conduits with surficial exposures of epikarst spatially limited.

The increasing capabilities of …

Ceramic Petrofacies: Modeling The Angelina River Basin In East Texas, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

Ceramic provenance studies remain the basis of worldwide archaeological research concerned with reconstructing exchange networks, tracing migrations, and informing upon ceramic economy. Unfortunately, Texas archaeologists have been plagued with an inability to trace ceramic production sources to the same extent as researchers within other regions. Ceramic petrofacies models have been employed successfully in archaeological contexts at the San Pedro Valley, Tonto basin, Tucson basin, Agua Fria, and Gila and Phoenix basins in Arizona, but have not yet been employed east of Arizona. Data resulting from the construction of an actualistic petrofacies model in the prehistoric coastal environment of East Texas …

Epistemology And Synthesis: Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis And The Caddo Tradition, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

The statistical groupings illustrated herein represent the current iteration of Caddo INAA compositional groups based upon the chemical composition of archaeologically-recovered ceramics. For some time, a number of Caddo archaeologists have thought these results to be lacking. This poster symbolizes the first step toward a new interpretation of chemical composition groups, and the initial instancce within which GIS has been employed as an analytical tool.

Radiocarbon Trends And The East Texas Caddo Tradition (Ca. A.D. 800-1680), Robert Z. Selden Jr., Timothy K. Perttula

CRHR: Archaeology

Through the employment of radiocarbon (¹⁴C) dates as data, we use the date combination process to refine site-specific summed probability distributions for 555 dates from Caddo sites (n = 19) in East Texas with 10 or more ¹⁴C dates. Summed probability distributions are then contrasted across river basins and natural regions with the remainder of the East Texas Caddo Radiocarbon Database (n = 338 dates from 132 other Caddo sites), highlighting the temporal and spatial character of Caddo archaeological sites throughout East Texas.

Consilience: Radiocarbon, Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis, And Litigation In The Ancestral Caddo Region, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

Through the creation and analysis of databases for radiocarbon, instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), and law, macro-level trends are exposed that form the framework of a broader research program aimed at advancing ideas of craft specialization and archaeological theory in the ancestral Caddo region of Southwest Arkansas, Northwest Louisiana, Northeast Texas, and Southeast Oklahoma. The findings of this investigation illustrate the research potential that remains buried within the context of cultural resource management (CRM) reports and legal databases (Westlaw and LexisNexis) that is awaiting consumption within regional research designs aimed at exploring the nuances and trends that appear through synthetic …

Evaporite Karst And Hydrogeology Of The Castile Formation: Culberson County, Texas And Eddy County, New Mexico, Kevin W. Stafford

Faculty Publications

Karst development in Permian Castile evaporites has resulted in complex speleogenetic evolution with multiple phases of diagenetic overprinting. More than 10,000 surficial features, primarily sinkholes, occur throughout Culberson County, Texas, and Eddy County, New Mexico, based on GIS-analyses where laminated Castile sulfates crop out. Cave development is largely the result of hypogene processes, where ascending fluids from the underlying Bell Canyon Formation migrate near vertically through the Castile Formation, creating caves up to 100 meters deep and over 500 meters long, which have been breached through a combination of collapse and surface denudation. Numerous small and laterally limited epigene features …