Geology Commons^™

Southern Rio Grande Rift Kinematics And Geochronology, Big Bend Fold Geometry, And The Use Of Real Data In Geoscience Education: Contributions To The Understanding Of Big Bend Geology And To Public Geoscientific Literacy, Jessica Kelsch

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Big Bend region of Trans-Pecos Texas preserves a rich record of Rio Grande rifting and Laramide-age contraction that provide intrigue to national and state park visitors and field trips for undergraduate geology students. Despite its well-exposed geologic record, the Big Bend region remains an underutilized natural laboratory for studying these two tectonic events. This dissertation combines structural studies of Rio Grande rift and Laramide structures with public outreach and geoscience education studies focused on the Big Bend region. In Chapter 2, existing extensional-kinematic studies from parts of this region are compiled with new fault kinematic and U-Pb geochronologic data …

Alteration And Mineralization Of The Deep Extension Of The Giant Chuquicamata Porphyry Copper Deposit, Northern Chile, Claudio Andres Araya Torres

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Porphyry copper deposits are the major source of copper and molybdenum in the world. The deposits consist of large volumes of rock altered by hydrothermal fluids released by shallow, intermediate composition magma chambers, with metallic mineralization present in veins, breccias, and disseminations; ore grades are typically 0.3-1.0 wt.% Cu. The subject of this study, the Chuquicamata porphyry copper deposit in northern Chile, is one of the most productive such deposits in the world, with over 45 million tons of Cu produced since large scale, open pit mining started early in the XXth century. Current production at Chuquicamata is from an …

Preliminary Assessment For Critical Minerals In The Terlingua Quicksilver District, Texas And Tres Marias Mine, Chihuahua, Mexico, Eduardo Lee Zuniga

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Terlingua Quicksilver district was discovered around the 1880s and was a mercury producing district from 1900 through 1946. The most productive years were during World War one and two. From 1900-1946 the Terlingua Quicksilver District (TQD) produced 150,000 flasks; 80% came from three mines: the Rainbow-Chisos, Mariposa, and Study Butte mines. The structural controls of the Mercury mineralization within these mines are breccia pipes and fractures, often located near igneous intrusions. This study will assess the potential for Critical Minerals and Rare Earth Elements in the Terlingua Quicksilver District. Fifty-five samples have been collected and analyzed for forty-four different …

Growth Of Purple Sulfur Bacteria Allochromatium Vinosum On Solid Phase Metal Sulfides As Sulfur And Electron Sources, Hugo Alarcon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Purple sulfur bacteria (PSB) are photosynthetic microorganisms known for their vital roles in geochemical cycles, especially the sulfur cycle, within anoxic photic environments. PSB are also key contributors to the nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen cycles. This study focuses on the autotrophic growth of Allochromatium vinosum, a model strain of PSB, that utilize solid-phase metal sulfides (MS) as both sulfur and electron donors. Through characterizing the growth profiles of A. vinosum on pyrite (FeS2), nickel sulfide (NiS), and iron monosulfide (FeS) nanoparticles, respectively, and investigating the bacteria-MS interaction mechanisms, this work expands our current knowledge of the metabolic capabilities and flexibility …

Quantifying The Contribution Of Atmospheric And Land Surface Characteristics To The Prediction Of Sub-Pixel Scale Surface Soil Moisture In The Jornada Experimental Range Through Interpretable Machine Learning, Stephanie Nicole Marquez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study presents machine learning-based approaches for understanding and predicting plot-scale soil moisture's spatial variability using hydrometeorological and biogeophysical data from in-situ, multi-sensor and remote sensing sources. The high-resolution input features include numerical and categorical data such as land surface temperature, ground albedo, 1-day, 1-week and 2-week antecedent precipitation, soil type, land cover type, distance to nearest vegetation individual, terrain slope and elevation, and normalized differenced vegetation index (NDVI). Soil moisture measurements are collected within a 3 km x 3 km desert grid with Campbell Scientific Hydrosense II-12 soil moisture sensors and validated with a gravimetric method of measuring volumetric …

Paradox Diapir Inclusions As A Window Into Diapiric Processes In Proximity To The Uncompahgre Uplift And The Early History Of The Paradox Basin, Utah And Colorado, Madison Clare Woelfel

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Layered evaporite sequences, cyclic, kilometer-thick deposits of salt, are among the most unusual and fascinating lithologies that geologists encounter. There is no recent analogue to their formation, and their ability to flow when subject to differential pressure makes them unique. Salt structures serve as sources for halite, bittern salts, metals, and hydrocarbons and can be used for storage of materials, including hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and nuclear waste. Basins in which layered evaporite sequences are deposited receive detrital input sporadically from adjacent areas, depositing inclusions of non-evaporite lithologies that are entrained when salt flows. These inclusions are exposed in a …

Geological Mapping Of Ferric And Ferrous Irons In The Apache Hills, New Mexico: Applying Landsat 8 (Oli), Spectrometry, And Geographic Information System (Gis) Methods, Sergio Gerardo Macias

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Mineral discoveries are typically tangible on surface studies. Previous research describes mineral deposits of ferric and ferrous irons in the lithology, structures, and alluvial fans in the Apache Hills in southwest New Mexico. The research for this thesis combines and models four methods for validating and mapping the presence of Ferric and Ferrous Irons developed in weathered zones above mineral deposits. A beneficial steppingstone before exploration and discovery begins with extensive research. This study began with data acquisition and reviewing previous research and was essential for the project methods. The study combines four techniques: spectral geology (e.g., remote sensing and …

Field Observations And Stable Isotope Analysis Of Alunite At The Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine, Clear Lake, California, David Edward Muller

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Sulphur Bank mercury mine is a historic mine located in Lake County, California, first exploited in the 1860s. Underground mining of mercury took place from 1873 to 1906 and open-pit mining of mercury was done from 1927 to 1957. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency listed the Sulphur Bank mine and the adjacent Clear Lake as a Superfund site in 1990 due to mercury contamination at the mine site and in the sediment and food web of Clear Lake. Previous studies have described the vein material mineralogy and wall-rock alteration at Sulphur Bank as well as the composition of water …

Enhancing Basic Geology Skills With Artificial Intelligence: An Exploration Of Automated Reasoning In Field Geology, Perry Ivan Quinto Houser

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the use of Artificial Intelligence, specifically semantics, ontologies, and reasoner techniques, to improve field geology mapping. The thesis focuses on two use cases: 1) identifying a geologic formation based on observed characteristics; and 2) predicting the geologic formation that might be expected next based upon known stratigraphic sequence. The results show that the ontology was able to correctly identify the geologic formation for the majority of rock descriptions, with higher search results for descriptions that provided more detail. Similarly, the units expected next were correctly given and if incorrect, would provide a flag to the field geologist …

Incorporating Community Science In Improving Environmental Data Quality Through Model Based Reasoning Techniques, John Gilbert Olgin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation will address the questions: In what ways can MBR theory be applied to designtraining that will improve the capacity of Citizen scientists to collect and analyze high quality scientific data? To what degree does this training impact their ability to formulate complex understandings of environmental problems in their Citizen? The project will be comprised of three research objectives focused in three sections, carried out with NASAâ??s GLOBE Observer Citizen Science Program:

Section 1: An analysis of existing GLOBE data will be conducted, identifying whereerrors in data collection originate. At least three principal errors will be selected from this …

The Geology Of El Paso, William Cornell, Diane Doser, Richard Langford, Joshua Villalobos, Jason Ricketts

Books & Monographs

The Geology of El Paso describes the history of El Paso, Texas and its surrounding region from the Precambrian formation of the continent to the modern use of geologic resources. This book is written in an easy to digest format, with definitions or links for specific geologic terms and references for further reading. It reviews the formation and evolution of local landmark features such as the Franklin Mountains, Cerro Cristo Rey, and the Sierra de Juarez. Fossils and stratigraphic units of the El Paso area are described as well as important geologic features. The book puts the events that shaped …

Using Ground Penetrating Radar To Investigate Controls On Pedogenic Calcium Carbonate Distribution In Dryland Critical Zones, Nohemi Valenzuela Garay

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Caliche or pedogenic calcium carbonate (CaCO3) layers are a common feature of arid soils, but the environmental controls on their distribution are not fully understood. Caliche layers are thought to play an important role in shallow subsurface water storage and movement, due to their water retention capacity and ability to impede vertical water transport (Hennessy et al., 1983). Therefore, caliche distribution and stability play a role in controlling water distribution in arid lands. However, due to its largely subsurface nature, caliche can be difficult to investigate and map without significant effort. I hypothesize that noninvasive geophysical methods, such as ground-penetrating …

Glacier Segmentation From Remote Sensing Imagery Using Deep Learning, Bibek Aryal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Large-scale study of glaciers improves our understanding of global glacier change and is imperative for monitoring the ecological environment, preventing disasters, and studying the effects of global climate change. In recent years, remote sensing imagery has been preferred over riskier and resource-intensive field visits for tracking landscape level changes like glaciers. However, periodic manual labeling of glaciers over a large area is not feasible due to the considerable amount of time it requires while automatic segmentation of glaciers has its own set of challenges. Our work aims to study the challenges associated with segmentation of glaciers from remote sensing imagery …

Applications Of Micro-X-Ray Fluorescence (Μxrf) Techniques To Ore Formation Questions In Economic Geology, Hannah Adwoa Buamono

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Advances in x-ray optics over the past decade have enabled a new generation of benchtop micro energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence (µXRF/EDS) instruments to analyze samples with an x-ray spot size of 25 microns or less and detection limits of tens to hundreds of parts per million. The analysis of samples from mineral (ore) deposits may illustrate some of the capabilities and limitations of these instruments applied to geoscience problems. The qualitative elemental analysis process allows the production of detailed elemental maps which, together with line scan profiles and other petrographic and geochemical evidence, leads to a better definition of key chemical, …

Implementation Of Structure From Motion (Sfm) Technology For Edcuational Lessons, Valeria Veronica Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Education is the most important obligation the humanity race has in order to evolve and thrive in the modern world. There are various applications for educators to teach valuable lessons to students, and not all deliveries will be the same for every lesson and for every student. Lesson being taught, the lesson delivery from educator to student often changes every time the lesson is implemented, depending on the learning ability of the students. Students have the ability to learn in different ways, such as the visual, auditory, kinesthetic, reading and writing learners (Oxford 2003). As educators aware of the four …

Hydrothermal Alteration Targeting And Geophysical Mineral Exploration Of Eureka And Sylvanite Mining Districts, Southwest New Mexico, Kenneth Singh

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As part of the southwestern North American porphyry copper province, mining of natural resources in New Mexico has historically played a crucial role in economic development for over 150 years including this project area in the Little Hatchet Mountains. The northern half of the Little Hatchet Mountains lies in Grant County and includes the Eureka Mining District (EMD) whereas the southern half is in Hidalgo County and includes the Sylvanite Mining District (SMD), 38 miles southeast of Lordsburg. The EMD, a copper and silver-lead mining district from 1880-1961, had a total estimated production from the Laramide veins of 2.9 million …

Decision Making Under Uncertainty With A Special Emphasis On Geosciences And Education, Laxman Bokati

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In many practical situations, we need to make a decision. In engineering, we need to decideon the best design of a system, and, for existing systems - on the best control strategy. In financial applications, we need to decide what is the best way to invest money. In geosciences, we need to decide whether we should explore a possible mineral deposit - or whether we should perform more experiments and measurements (and what exactly). In some cases, we can compute the exact consequences of each decision - e.g., if we are controlling a satellite. However, in many other cases, we …

Water Sourcing Strategies Of Desert Vegetation In Varying Soil Textures With Vegetation Competition: A Stable Isotope Analysis, Martha Elizabeth Gardea

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Recent studies have suggested an ecohydrological separation of water exists in the northern Chihuahuan Desert, where vegetation types, rainfall regimes, and location in the terrain seem to determine the type of water (e.g. isotopically depleted or enriched in 18O and 2H) plants are able to source and use throughout their growing cycle. That work found evidence of creosote (Larrea tridentata) and mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) using tightly bound soil water at both a site on an ephemeral channel and a site in higher elevated flat area because the isotopic signature of plant water at the beginning of the study did not …

Characterization And Evolution Of The Professor Valley Pennsylvanian Salt Body (Paradox Basin, Ut) Using Gravity And Magnetotellurics, Derek Scott

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Syndepositional halokinetic movement of the Pennsylvanian Paradox Formation in the Paradox Basin, UT & CO behaved as a control over the development of depositional systems during the Late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic periods (Trudgill, 2011). Understanding the controls on halokinetic evolution in the area serves as an invaluable outcrop analogue for similar subsurface salt bodies in petroleum-bearing basins and provides key insights for hydrocarbon exploration in salt basins world wide. Professor Valley, located 15 miles Northeast of Moab, UT is situated between the Fisher Valley (Onion Creek) and Cache/Salt Valley salt walls. It includes an anomalous, isolated 0.5 km² outcrop …

Tectonomagmatic Evolution Of Northwestern Mexico, And Applications Of Machine Learning In Economic Geology, Jose Antonio Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The work presented here was conducted in two study areas: La Preciosa mining project (Chapters 1 and 2) and Ray Mine (Chapter 3). Chapter 1 of this dissertation contributes to the tectonomagmatic evolution of northwestern Mexico by focusing on the temporal changes in magma source(s) regions, magma generation processes, and tectonic implications. In this chapter, I provide thin section analyses, whole rock geochemistry, in-situ zircon U-Pb ages and Hf isotope compositions of subsurface lithologies from La Preciosa mining project; located in the northwestern corner of Mesa Central, Durango, Mexico. The newly acquired data identified five magmatic events. The first consists …

Reconstructing The Transition From Laramide Contraction To Rio Grande Rift Extension, Aaron Conley

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Exposure of tilted Eocene-Oligocene volcanic and sedimentary units unconformably overlying folded and thrusted Mesozoic rocks in the southern Indio Mountains provide an important geologic record of the transition from Laramide contraction to Rio Grande rift extension. Detailed geologic mapping and cross-section reconstruction combined with sedimentary analysis and geo/thermochronologic methods are used to test the hypothesis that Laramide contractional structures and post-Laramide topography focused ignimbrite and sedimentary deposition within two paleovalleys located in the northwest and northeast portions of the study area. Laramide deformation in the study area is confined to Mesozoic units and includes a series of low-angle thrust faults …

Structural And Stratigraphic History Of A Deformed Diapir Margin, Onion Creek Salt Diapir, Paradox Basin, Utah, David Lankford-Bravo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Onion Creek Salt Diapir (OCSD) located in the northern Paradox Basin in Utah is a 0.6 km wide X 3.6 km long X 1.6 km tall salt diapir surrounded by variably deformed Paleozoic through Cenozoic strata. The area is a classic area for the study of deformation around salt diapirs. This study uses high-resolution GPS-enabled-tablet and 3D photogrammetric outcrop model-based field mapping, section measuring, thin section petrography, structural restorations, and newly developed 3D modelling workflows to document the styles, timing, nature, and distribution of deformation in strata surrounding the OCSD. Permian Cutler Group sediments on the northern margin of …

Global Analysis Of The Hydrologic Sensitivity To Climate Variability, Marisol Dominguez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Identifying the regions with greatest changes in their hydrologic behavior under extreme weather events in the 21st century, constitutes a study priority of global impact. Here, we present a global assessment assessing the sensitivity of the world’s water landscapes to climate variability during 2001-2016, using a new metric called the Hydrologic Sensitivity Index (HSi). This equation is based on the well-known Budyko curve that uses annual values of Potential and Actual Evapotranspiration (PET and AET), and Precipitation (P), to assess the hydrologic behavior of a location under a given climatic condition by plotting the Evaporative Index (AET/P) against the Dryness …

Structural Analysis Of Deformed Caprock Associated With A Salt Shoulder At Gypsum Valley Salt Wall, Paradox Basin, Colorado, Hanah Draper

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study documents the style and distribution of deformation present in Triassic-age gypsic and carbonate caprock associated with the Gypsum Valley Salt Wall Salt Shoulder in the Paradox Basin, Colorado in order to determine the mechanism and timing of deformation. Mapping of gypsic and carbonate capstone facies shows that the caprock layering that was generated during formation has been deformed by large-and-small-scale folding and faulting, brecciation, and boudinage. Deformation within the caprock resulted in widely variable orientations along the length of the salt shoulder, that also varies locally in intensity of deformation and with proximity to the passively rising diapir …

Fluvial Interactions Of The Jurassic Salt Wash Member Of The Morrison Formation With The Gypsum Valley Salt Diapir, Co, Clair Henry Bailey

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Gypsum Valley diapir in Gypsum Valley Colorado is an ideal location to investigate the interaction between a fluvial system and a diapir going through late stage collapse and rise. The outcrop exposures in Gypsum Valley allow for the analysis in changes of the fluvial system of the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation as it gets redirected by the salt wall and deposits sediment on top of, on the margins, and in the Disappointment and Dry Creek minibasins. Previous work has focused on understanding and predicting how fluvial systems react when they encounter a salt diapir, but all the …

Shallow Seismic Modeling Of The Hydrothermal Plumbing System Beneath Old Faithful Geyser In The Upper Geyser Basin Of Yellowstone National Park, Jordan Rigdon Caylor

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In November 2016, a 2-D and 3-D seismic survey was performed around Old Faithful Geyser in the southeastern portion of the Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. The survey consisted of 521 3-component seismic receiver locations including 39 receivers on a ~1km NE-SW trending line crossing Old Faithful Geyser. A 5.4kg sledgehammer striking a metal plate was our source with a dominant frequency of ~40Hz. Our 2-D line crosses Old Faithful in a NE-SW direction with station spacing at 25-30m with ~100m spacing on either side of Old Faithful and a total length of 1024m. Our 3-D seismic grid …

Uranium Series Dating And Geochemistry Of Fault Zone Precipitated Secondary Carbonates: Insights Into Paleo Fluid Sources, Tectonics And Climate In The Rio Grande Rift, Victor Higareda Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Fault zones in the shallow crust impact a variety of geological processes including mineral deposition, fluid flow patterns in shallow and deep groundwater aquifers, and most importantly seismic activity. The specific interplays of fault zones, seismicity, and groundwater flows are complex and not well understood despite the importance they have to society. The Rio Grande rift is a region impacted by seismic and volcanic activity that place the first order control on mineral formation and fluid flow patterns. It is also a region that is often disregarded as a seismic hazard due to its inferred low tectonic rates and long …

Utilizing Zircon (U-Th)/He And 40ar/39ar Thermochronology To Refine The Thermal History Of The Great Unconformity Within New Mexico And Colorado, Jacoup Roiz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Great Unconformity beneath Paleozoic strata represents 100-1000 m.y. of missing rock record that formed through extensive weathering and erosion. Despite its global extent, the timing of Precambrian crystalline rock exhumation prior to Phanerozoic sediment deposition remains relatively unresolved in many locations. I utilized zircon (U-Th)/He (ZHe) thermochronology in order to constrain the long-term thermal history of Precambrian rocks in Colorado and New Mexico, and test my hypoThesis that these units below the Great Unconformity experienced multiple cooling and reheating episodes resulting in a compound surface representing multiple unconformities. In addition to a synThesis of previously reported data in the …

Supra-Salt Syndepositional Folding Within The Jurassic Morrison Formation, Big Gypsum Valley, Colorado, Alondra Soltero

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Paradox Basin, along the Utah and Colorado border, exposes salt diapirs that form elongate "salt walls". Most exposures of sediments that were deposited during salt movement are hundreds of meters from the contacts. However, in the southeastern part of the Gypsum Valley diapir, a set of tight folds within the Jurassic Morrison Formation are preserved along the diapir margins where they overlie salt. These are best exposed at the southeastern end of Big Gypsum Valley. Previous interpretations suggested that the Morrison Formation folding and faulting occurred during dissolution of the diapir. However, field mapping reported here reveals that the …

Why Gamma Distribution Of Seismic Inter-Event Times: A Theoretical Explanation, Laxman Bokati, Aaron A. Velasco, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

It is known that the distribution of seismic inter-event times is well described by the Gamma distribution. Recently, this fact has been used to successfully predict major seismic events. In this paper, we explain that the Gamma distribution of seismic inter-event times can be naturally derived from the first principles.