Geology Commons^™

Structural Analysis Of The Northwest Wind Mountain Quadrangle, New Mexico: Proterozoic Shearing To Cenozoic Brittle Faulting In The Burro Mountains, Jensen Kohl Angelloz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Preliminary investigation of the Bullard Peak metamorphic series (BPMS) in the northwestern Wind Mountain quadrangle within the Burro Mountains of southwestern New Mexico suggests a possible previously unidentified shear zone, prompting detailed (1:12,000) geologic mapping and collection of structural data. The study area has a complex tectonic history, including 1) ~1.65 Ga metamorphism during accretion of the Mazatzal terrane to Laurentia’s southern margin; 2) ~1.4 Ga intrusion of Granite and Rhyolite Province granitoids; 3) significant uplift during the formation of the Ancestral Rockies (~300 Ma) and the Rocky Mountains (~70-50 Ma); and 4) inversion tectonics with reactivation of compressional faults …

Geology Of The Northern Alto Relex Area, Big Bend National Park, Brewster County, Texas, Robert Schoen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Detailed, 1:12,000-scale geologic field mapping was conducted around Alto Relex in the northern Sierra Del Carmen Mountains in Big Bend National Park. Alto Relex is a prominent, near vertical, ~1000 foot-high fault-line scarp. Cretaceous rocks in the area were folded and faulted by Laramide compression, intruded by Tertiary sills and overprinted by high-angle normal faults from Basin and Range extension. During the Laramide Orogeny and Basin and Range extension, the underlying basement shear zone called, the Texas Lineament, was reactivated creating a transpressional and transtensional regimes. The general geology of this area was outlined by Moustafa (1988) working primarily from …

Geological Framework Of The Continental Shelf Of South Carolina Winyah Bay: Paleodrainage, Transgressions And Essential Fish Habitat, Amanda Roach

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A regional geophysical survey of the inner continental shelf off central South Carolina was completed on a cooperative cruise between NOAA and Coastal Carolina University in July 2015. An integrated mapping suite comprised of subbottom echosounder, side scan, multibeam and split beam sonars was used to define the regional geologic framework, including paleodrainage patterns across the shelf and to identify potential fish habitat locations that will provide additional inputs to a thematic habitat mapping routine developed by NOAA. Results from the thematic mapper characterization suggest that large-scale framework elements such as paleochannel networks may play a role in determining benthic …

Geophysical Delineation Of Megaporosity And Fluid Migration Pathways For Geohazard Characterization Within The Delaware Basin, Culberson County, Texas, Jonathan David Woodard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Differential dissolution of gypsum karst within the Delaware Basin poses a significant threat to infrastructure that society depends on. The study area is located in Culberson County, Texas and traverses a distance of approximately 54 kilometers along RM 652 within the Gypsum Plain which is situated on the northern margin of the Chihuahua Desert and includes outcrops of Castile and Rustler strata that host karst geohazards. Regions of karst geohazard potential have been physically surveyed proximal to the study area in evaporites throughout the Castile Formation outcrop; minimal hazards, in comparison to the Castile Formation, have been documented in …

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 …

In Situ Dating Of Multiple Events In Granulite-Facies Rocks Of The Larsemann Hills, Prydz Bay, East Antarctica Using Electron Microprobe Analysis Of Monazite, Steven K. Spreitzer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The metamorphic rocks exposed along the southeast coast of Prydz Bay were affected by several metamorphic and plutonic events associated with collision in the Neoproterozoic and Cambrian. Critical units exposed in the Larsemann Hills and nearby ice-free areas include (1) basement Søstrene Orthogneiss, (2) cover sequence Brattstrand Paragneiss and (3) anatectic pegmatites intrusive into the Brattstrand Paragneiss. Zircon U-Pb data from previous studies yielded a maximum depositional age of 1023 ± 19 Ma for the Brattstrand Paragneiss, but only approximate ca. 900 Ma to ca. 1000 Ma and ca. 530 Ma ages for two metamorphic events. In order to constrain …

Groundwater Flow Tracing In Carter Saltpeter Cave And Toll Branch, Carter County, Tn, Aaron G. Doyka

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Groundwater tracing studies have shown a well-developed conduit system in the karst aquifer beneath the Buffalo Creek Watershed of Carter County, TN. Groundwater can quickly travel beneath topographic divides, transporting contaminants. Using GIS and field reconnaissance, two sites were selected for a two phase dye trace study. In May-June 2016 groundwater resurgences were located using activated carbon samplers, and in October-December 2016 flow velocities were measured using ISCO automatic water samplers. In study 1, a stream sinking in the back of Carter Saltpeter Cave was traced to its resurgence at Cave Springs Cave. In study 2, the dye mass centroid …

Constraining The Spatial Extent Of Strain Localization At The Base Of The Seismogenic Zone: A Case Study From The Sandhill Corner Shear Zone, Maine, Usa, Erik Kristian Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge of the structure and processes of strain localization at the base of the seismogenic zone can provide constraints on the rheologic evolution of shear zones at depth and the spatial extent that seismicity influences the surrounding rock. Such knowledge is hindered by limitations of borehole measurements from such depths and a lack of structural/mineralogical preservation of original rock fabric. The Sandhill Corner Shear Zone, Maine, USA provides an opportunity to study well-preserved structures relating to strain localization along major faults exhumed from seismogenic depths. In south-central Maine, this shear zone juxtaposes two rock types: the Cape Elizabeth Formation and …

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, …

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 …

Paleodrainage Insights Into The Fluvial And Glacial History Of The Western Chukchi Margin, Arctic Alaska, Brittany A. Stockmaster

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chirp subbottom data collected from the Chukchi shelf, offshore of northwest Alaska, revealed extensive paleodrainage networks that incised the margin during sea level lowstands. These features are cut into folded Cretaceous bedrock strata and represent multiple sea level cycles. Several large incised valleys, 10s of km wide and up to 54 m deep, as well as numerous smaller, individual channels were identified. Sources of fluvial input include several, smaller rivers on the northwest Alaskan coast, such as the Kokolik, Kuk, Kukpowruk, and the Utukok Rivers. Correlation of sediment infill patterns provided insight to paleochannels and paleovalleys as well as outlined …

Detection Of Sedimentary Depositional Cycles In The Salado Formation, Southeastern New Mexico, Scott Paul Milo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An abundance of evaporitic features is preserved throughout the approximately 2,000-foot-thick Salado formation that is present across west Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The formation and preservation of evaporitic features are largely influenced by hydrology, and so those found in the Salado represent an uninterrupted record of hydrogeologic conditions in what is now the southwestern United States during the late Permian. Because it is home to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) repository chamber, the salado has been the subject of countless studies ranging from areas of sedimentology, to geochemistry, to geotechnical engineering, to hydrology. However, until now there have …

Re-Evaluating The Tectonic Model For The Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma By Spatial And Geometric Analysis Of Stratigraphic And Structural Trends, Dakota James Kolb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the spatial distribution and geometric relations between stratigraphy and structural features can allow for a more accurate tectonic timeline to be considered for not only the Arbuckle Mountains but for the assembly of modern North America. The Arbuckle Mountains in south central Oklahoma exhibit structurally complex stratigraphy associated with regional features like the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen, the Arbuckle Anticline and the Washita Valley fault. Camp Classen YMCA and Turner Falls city park in Davis, OK, hosts observed, but largely unmapped, small scale structural features that best represent the magnitude of deformation. The goal of this study was to determine …

Carbon Cycle Trends Recorded By Organic Carbon Stable Isotopes In Paleocene Strata, Benton County, Mississippi: Implications For Chronostratigraphy Of The Porters Creek And Naheola Formations, Erica Gerweck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The paleocene-eocene thermal maximum (petm) is one of the most studied carbon isotope excursions in earth's history. The petm occurred 55 million years ago when excess isotopically heavy carbon (c13) was added into earth's carbon cycle, resulting in ecological and environmental changes. The petm is marked by a negative stable carbon isotope excursion (cie) in marine and continental strata around the globe. The paleocene and eocene boundary is contained in the sedimentary fill of the Mississippi embayment so there is high potential to produce new petm stable isotope datasets. The purpose of this project is to analyze the boundary for …

Co2 Adsorption On Volcanic Ash: Net Contribution Of Volcanic Eruptions To The Global Carbon Cycle, Lee New

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Adsorption of co2 on mineral surfaces accounts for a small percentage of the terrestrial co2 sink. Volcanic ash is virtually free of co2 when erupted and has a high surface area resulting in a high capacity for co2 adsorption. Volcanism is commonly assumed to be only a source of co2, but pyroclastic eruptions can also potentially serve as a sink. Adsorption was investigated for 6 volcanic ash samples of andesitic composition from four volcanoes: Okmok, Redoubt, Spurr, and Tungurahua. The eruption of volcano redoubt released 0.75 x 109 metric tons of co2 and 55 x 109 kg of ash throughout …