Geology Commons^™

Origin Of Tunnel Valley And Esker Assemblages In The Saginaw Lobe, Barry County, Michigan, Caleb J. Woolever

Masters Theses

Surficial mapping, borehole analysis, and ground penetrating radar surveys are used to reconstruct conditions leading to the formation of tunnel valley and esker networks within the Dowling 7 .5 minute quadrangle. The relationship between tunnel valleys and eskers has important implications on the subglacial hydrology beneath the Saginaw Lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.

Surficial mapping reveals northeast-southwest trending tunnel valleys, some containing eskers of the same orientation, in hummocky topography mapped as the Saginaw Kalamazoo Moraine. A borehole hole drilled through one such tunnel valley and esker pair reveals sand and gravel fining upwards to fine sand. Stratigraphy suggests …

Influence Of Bioirrigation On Metal Distribution Within Burrows, Terri Shattuck

Masters Theses

Bioirrigation is the increase of solute transport resulting from introduction of oxygenated water from the surface into the more reduced environment deep within the burrow. Fe and Mn hydr-(oxides) accumulate on burrow margins in response to the oxygen flux into suboxic porewaters. This has been shown to trap trace metals (Harding and Risk, 1986; Tessier and Campbell, 1988; Tessier et al., 1979, 1982). The diagenesis, mobility, and transport of metals contribute to the bioavailability of metals in the environment possibly to the extent of harming ecosystems; especially in coastal areas with buried waste. This study assesses Fe and trace metal …

Remote Sensing Studies For The Assessment Of Geohazards: Toxic Algal Blooms In The Lower Great Lakes, And The Land Subsidence In The Nile Delta, Richard H. Becker

Dissertations

Remote sensing techniques provide valuable tools for assessing a wide variety of environmental phenomena. They have been used for monitoring and assessment of various types of geologic and environmental hazards occurring on land, in the air, or in oceans. I present results from two studies, the first of which examines the spatial and temporal distribution of algal blooms in the Great Lakes; the second measures subsidence in the Nile Delta.

In the first study, methodologies to investigate the extent and distribution (temporally and spatially) of algal blooms in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario are studied. Millions of people in the …

Analysis Of Pore Architecture And Correlation To Sonic Velocity Values In Silurian (Niagaran) Reefs Of The Michigan Basin, Amy Kathryn Noack

Masters Theses

Recent work has shown that there is a complex relationship among porosity, permeability, and rock fabric in carbonate rocks. Porosity/permeability transforms are of limited value when evaluating carbonate reservoirs because permeability is controlled by pore type. Vuggy, moldic, or fenestral pore types have high porosity but poor permeability; in contrast, intergranular and intercrystalline pore networks have high porosity and high permeability. Visible pore types of key facies in five Middle Silurian (Niagaran) Reef reservoirs of the Michigan Basin were evaluated to better understand related permeability. Image analysis was performed on key facies to understand pore geometries and pore connectivity. Facies …

Remote Sensing Solutions For Estimating Runoff And Recharge In Arid Environments, Adam M. Milewski

Dissertations

Efforts to understand and to quantify the interplay between precipitation, runoff, and recharge are often hampered by the paucity of appropriate monitoring systems. We developed methodologies for rainfall-runoff and groundwater recharge computations that heavily rely on observations extracted from a wide-range of global remote sensing data sets (TRMM, SSM/I, AVHRR, and AMSR-E,) using the arid Sinai Peninsula (SP; area: 61,000 km²) and the Eastern Desert (ED; area: 220,000 km²) of Egypt as our test sites. A two-fold exercise was conducted. Temporal remote sensing data (TRMM, AVHRR and AMSR-E) were extracted from global data sets over the …

Morphological Analysis Of The Charlevoix-Antrim And Northport Drumlin Fields, Michigan Using Digital Elevation Models, Alan M. Lefever

Masters Theses

The Charlevoix-Antrim and Northport drumlin fields, located in northwest Lower Michigan, lie on opposite sides of Grand Traverse Bay. Morphological measurements were derived from topographic maps and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), combined with grain size analyses performed on collected drumlin sediments. Comparison of the morphological results demonstrates that statistical analysis of equal or better accuracy can be performed on drumlins using high resolution DEMs. The grain size analysis determined that the drumlins contain more gravel near the coast and become sandier to the south and east.

Spindle drumlins are the dominant drumlin form in both the Charlevoix-Antrim and Northport fields. …

Backstripping The Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure: Differentiating Regional Tectonics From Impact Effects, Travis Gary Hayden

Masters Theses

The Chesapeake Bay impact structure is a ca. 35.4 Ma old crater located on the coastal plain of Virginia along the eastern seaboard of North America. The impact generated a crater between 85 and 90 km in diameter, and over 2000 meters deep. Deposition returned to normal shortly after impact, resulting in a unique record of both the impact related and subsequent passive margin sedimentation. We use backstripping to show that the impact strongly affected sedimentation for 7 m.y. through a combination of impact derived crustal scale tectonics, dominated by the introduction and subsequent removal of a negative thermal anomaly, …