Geology Commons^™

A Paleoenvironmental Study Of A Middle Wisconsinan Biota Site, Russell County, Virginia, Thomas C. Wynn

OES Theses and Dissertations

The study area lies in a first-order valley on the northwestern slope of Clinch Mountain that drains into Moccasin Creek. The deposit is 50 m long, 25 m wide and approximately 10 m thick and overlies the Ordovician Moccasin Formation. Preserved within the deposit are mammoth and mastodon bones, logs, and plant macrofossils. Radiocarbon analyses indicate the age of the organic-rich sediments ranges from 29, I 00 BP to >44,000 BP, a time period with no fossil remains reported in this region of the Appalachians. Analyses of field observations, textural data, organic carbon content, and plant macrofossils indicate the organic-rich …

Groundwater Hydraulics And Slope Stability Analysis: Elements For Prediction Of Shoreline Recession, William W. Montgomery

Dissertations

Studies documenting the roles that geologic materials and groundwater play in Great Lakes bluff recession are rare. This study reports findings concerning relationships between bluff lithology, bluff hydrology, and bluff recession along a 10-mile stretch of eastern Lake Michigan shoreline in heterogeneous Pleistocene deposes. According to a newly-developed, field-tested, GIS-based methodology, bluffs in the study area can be characterized lithologically as sand, clay, or mixed sand/clay, and can be characterized hydrologically as exhibiting either high head or low head.

Geotechnical analysis indicates that Atterberg limits, index properties, consolidation state, and drainage conditions affect the shear strength of bluff materials. Silty …

A Generic Multi-Electrode Automated/Semi-Automated Field Resistivity System, Douglas D. Werkema

Masters Theses

Geophysical field exploration using electrical resistivity typically employs the use of four electrodes which are progressively relocated to positions that differ from a few meters to hundreds of meters. Consequently, field operations are tiresome and often lead to imprecise locations of electrodes and poor data quality. This project develops an automated field resistivity system.

This automation of resistivity measurements is accomplished by using multiple sets of field electrodes, a programmable switch box, remotely controlling the acquisition instrument and digitally storing the results. Controlling the process is the Acquisition Control^©software, for Windows 95^© .The prototype switch box has …

Vertical Resistivity Electrode Arrays For Detecting Hydrocarbon Movement And Content In Sands, Kirt Elliott

Masters Theses

In many contamination sites where hydrocarbon is involved an accurate thickness of the contaminant can not be achieved through the most commonly used methods. The purpose of this study is to find an alternate method of determining a precise thickness and monitor the contaminant movement in conjunction with the current methods. Vertical resistivity electrode arrays were tested in a lab environment on singular probes and between probes. The arrays tested were the Wenner, dipole dipole, gradient, parallel and down-hole 3-arrays. Electrode pipes were constructed and placed into a sand tank where the hydrocarbon thickness and the water level could be …

Factors Governing The Rate Of Appearance Of Fuels In Monitoring Wells, Bradley A. Green

Masters Theses

Delays in the appearance of free product (e.g. fuels) in groundwater monitoring wells often cause costly delays in site evaluation. Little is known about how monitoring well design and installation affect this rate of appearance. This study examined the effects of well screen open area, filter pack grain size and wettability, and well development methods on the rate of appearance and subsequent thickness of free product in wells.

Laboratory and field results indicate that free product appears faster in hydrophilic filter packs than in hydrophobic filter packs. Hydrophobic filter packs with a finer grain size than the "industry standard", seem …

Sm-Nd Systematics As Indicators Of Displaced Plutons: A Test In The Idaho Batholith-Boulder Batholith Region, Christine J. Brand

Masters Theses

In east-central Idaho and western Montana a 400km-long Cretaceous and Tertiary magmatic corridor extends from the Wallowa-Seven Devils terrane to the Helena Salient. Three basement provinces underlie this area: Archean basement to the east, Permo-Triassic basement to the west, and Proterozoic basement in-between. Ideally, if Cretaceous plutons were decapitated and translated eastward along thrusts over a different basement province, then the Cretaceous pluton and the in-place Tertiary pluton would show different isotopic signatures. Pluton samples from locations evenly spaced throughout the magmatic corridor were analyzed for ε⁰_Nd, ε^t_Nd, and ¹⁴⁷Sm/¹⁴³Nd model ages …

The Neoproterozoic Keraf Suture In Ne Sudan: Sinistral Transpression Along The Eastern Margin Of West Gondwana, Mohamed G. Abdel Salam, Robert James Stern, Peter Copeland, Elfadil M. Elfaki, Bushra Elhur, Fathelrahman M. Ibrahim

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Keraf Suture, formed during the Neoproterozoic consolidation of Gondwana, is a ~500 km long, ~50 km wide, N-trending suture between the Neoproterozoic Arabian-Nubian Shield in the east and the older Nile Craton to the west. The Keraf Suture is superimposed on E- and NE-trending structures on both sides. The northern part of the suture is dominated by N-trending, upright folds, whereas the southern part is characterized by N- and NNW-trending, sinistral, strike-slip faults. A major antiform defines a structural divide between the northern and southern parts of the suture. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages on biotite and hornblendes separated …

Morphology, Eruption Rates, And Rheology Of Lava Domes: Insights From Laboratory Models, Jonathan H. Fink, Ross W. Griffiths

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The growth of lava domes can be either quiescent or violent, with transitions between styles of behavior commonly occurring with little warning. Here we propose that the behavior depends on the eruption rate, the magma rheology, and the thickness ofthe cooling surface. We present a model, based on laboratory simulations, field measurements, and photographic analysis, that relates the morphology and texture of a dome to the thickness of its cooled carapace, and thence to eruption conditions. A sequence of four main types of dome (spiny, lobate, platy, and axisymmetric) is identified in laboratory analog experiments with a Bingham plastic. These …

Narrow Hybrid Zone Between Two Subspecies Of Big Sagebrush (Artemisia Tridentata: Aeteraceae). V. Soil Properties, Han Wang, David W. Byrd, Jeffrey L. Howard, E. Durant Mcarthur, John H. Graham, D. Carl Freeman

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

We studied soils of the big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) hybrid zone at two locations in Utah. The elemental composition, depth, and pH of soil in the basin and mountain big sagebrush habitats differed significantly from each other and from the hybrid zone soil. The hybrid zone soil is not just a simple blend of the two parental habitat soils. Rather, it possesses novel characteristics found in neither parental habitat and is more variable than the parental habitat soils. Correspondence analyses show that the sites occupied by each parental taxon are chemically distinct. Moreover, the principal axes from the two study …

The Petrography Of The Buck Creek Dunite Body, Clay County, Nc: Implications About Its Origin And Emplacement, Trista L. Thornberry

Honors Papers

The Buck Creek dunite body, which is part of the Chunky Gal mafic and ultramafic complex, is well exposed on Corundum Knob in Clay County, North Carolina. These ultramafic rocks are surrounded here by mafic schists and gneisses. Gradational geochemical / mineralogical contacts between the mafic and ultramafic rocks of the this complex imply the same protolith for both rock types. They may have originated as distinct parts of an ophiolitic suite beneath a mid-ocean spreading ridge. The metamorphic history of these ophiolitic rocks suggest further that they were subdued to depths of -18km before being emplaced along fault zones …

The Physical And Hydrological Characteristics Of A South Coast Sandplain Site : East Howick Site Survey, Robert Anthony Sudmeyer

Resource management technical reports

This Technical Report documents the physical and hydrological characteristics of a farmland site on the Esperance Sandplain. The site was located on 'Belalie Farm East' 110 km east of the town of Esperance in the locality of Howick (AMG 488900, 6277500) The site was typical of the sandplain landsystem which covers 35% (0.72 million ha) of the Esperance Agricultural Region. The farm was cleared over a number of years beginning in the 1970's and an extensive network of windbreaks established.

Total Coal Thickness Of The Lower Elkhorn Coal In Eastern Kentucky, Ernest E. Thacker, Gerald A. Weisenfluh, William M. Andrews Jr.

Map and Chart--KGS

This map is one of a series that shows the regional characteristics of the Lower Elkhorn coal. The maps were prepared as part of the U.S. Geological Surveys National Coal Assessment Program, which compiles regional maps and databases that provide a comprehensive assessment of the most important coal beds in the nation. The Lower Elkhorn coal is one of the leading producers in the state of Kentucky and has, in some areas, a reputation as an excellent metallurgical-grade coal. It is known locally as the Pond Creek, Imboden, Path Fork, Blue Gem, Straight Creek, Bruin, or Vires coal bed. This …

Selected Hydrologic Data For The Central Virgin River Basin Area, Washington And Iron Counties, Utah 1915-97, United States Geological Survey

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

Hydrologic data were collected in Washington and Iron Counties, Utah, from 1995 to 1997 to better understand the hydrologic system. Data from earlier years also are presented. Data collected from wells include well-completion data, water-level measurements, and physical properties of the water. Data collected from springs and surface-water sites include discharge and physical properties of the water. Selected water samples collected from ground- and surface-water sites were analyzed for isotopes, chlorofluorocarbons and dissolved gases.

Post-Stocking Dispersal Habitat Use, And Behavioral Acclimation Of Juvenile Razorback Suckers (Xyrauchen Texanus) In Two Colorado River Reservoirs, United States Geological Survey

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

Information pertaining to post-stocking dispersal and habitat use of endangered razorback sucker (Xyrauchen Texanus) is primarily limited to the adult life stage. Radio or sonic transmitters are normally surgically implanted in the fish's abdominal cavity.

Magnetostratigraphy Of Cueva Del Aleman, Isla De Mona, Puerto Rico And The Species Duration Of Audobon's Shearwater, Bruce C. Panuska, John M. Mylroie, Darrell Armentrout, Donald A. Mcfarlane

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

Magnetostratigraphic analysis of deposits exposed in Cueva del Aleman shows two reversed and two normal chronozones. The lower normal polarity event is observed in a clastic dike and probably predates initial cave formation. Sediments deposited inside the cave proper show a R-N-R sequence and probably date to at least 1.8 Ma. A fossiliferous clastic dike contains normal polarity with an overlying reversed magnetozone. Audubon’s Shearwater (bird) bones occur in the dike, which is tentatively correlated with the lower N polarity zone predating cave formation. If this correlation is correct, the Audubon’s Shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri) range can be extended back to …

An Inventory And Condition Survey Of The Sandstone-Yalgoo-Paynes Find Area, Western Australia, A L. Payne, A M E Van Vreeswyk, K A. Leighton, H J. Pringle, P Hennig

Technical Bulletins

The inventory and condition survey of the Sandstone-Yalgoo-Paynes Find area, undertaken by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) between 1992 and 1993, describes and maps the natural resources of the region’s pastoral leasehold land. This survey report provides a baseline record of the existence and condition of the area’s natural resources, to assist with the planning and implementation of land management practices. The report identified and described the condition of soils, landforms, vegetation, habitat, ecosystems, and declared plants and animals. It also assessed the impact of pastoralism and made land management recommendations. The area surveyed covers about …

An Evaluation Of Methods For Identifying And Interpreting Buried Soils In Late Quaternary Loess In Alaska, Daniel R. Muhs, Thomas A. Ager, Josh M. Been, Joseph G. Rosenbaum, Richard L. Reynolds

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The presence of buried soils in Alaskan loess is controversial, and therefore criteria for identifying buried soils in these deposits need to be evaluated. In this paper, morphologic and chemical criteria for identifying buried soils are evaluated by studying modern soils developed mostly in Holocene loess under tundra, boreal forest, and transitional coastal-boreal forest vegetation in different parts of Alaska. Data from modern Alaskan soils that developed under vegetation similar to that of the present indicate that soil morphology, organic-matter concentrations, and P concentrations can be useful diagnostic tools for identifying buried soils. Soil morphologic criteria, particularly horizon colors and …

Water Quality In The Central Nebraska Basins, Nebraska, 1992-95, S. A. Frenzel, R. B. Swanson, T. L. Huntzinger, J. K. Stamer, P. J. Emmons, Ronald B. Zelt

United States Geological Survey: Publications

This report is intended to summarize major findings that emerged between 1992 and 1995 from the water-quality assessment of the Central Nebraska Basins Study Unit and to relate these findings to water-quality issues of regional and national concern. The information is primarily intended for those who are involved in waterresource management. Indeed, this report addresses many of the concerns raised by regulators, water-utility managers, industry representatives, and other scientists, engineers, public officials, and members of stakeholder groups who provided advice and input to the USGS during this NAWQA Study-Unit investigation. Yet, the information contained here may also interest those who …

Hydrogeology In The Vicinity Of The Nebraska Management Systems Evaluation Area Site, Centra! Nebraska, Virginia L. Mcguire, John M. Kilpatrick

United States Geological Survey: Publications

From 1991 to 1992, the U.S. Geological Survey participated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in research activities at the Nebraska Management Systems Evaluation Area (MSEA) site near Shelton, Nebraska. The purpose of the U.S. Geological Survey study was to define the hydrogeologic system in the vicinity of the Nebraska MSEA site to aid the interpretation of ground-water sampling results by other researchers. The primary aquifer in the study area is the High Plains aquifer, which consists of an unconfined part, the shallow aquifer; a silt and clay unit that acts as a confining layer; …

Bahamian Coral Reefs Yield Evidence Of A Brief Sea-Level Lowstand During The Last Interglacial, Brian White, H. Allen Curran, Mark A. Wilson

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

The growth of large, bank-barrier coral reefs on the Bahamian islands of Great Inagua and San Salvador during the last interglacial was interrupted by at least one major cycle of sea regression and transgression. The fall of sea level resulted in the development of a wave-cut platform that abraded early Sangamon corals in parts of the Devil's Point reef on Great Inagua, and produced erosional breaks in the reefal sequences elsewhere in the Devil's Point reef and in theCockburnTown reef on SanSalvador. Minor red caliche and plant trace fossils formed on earlier interglacial reefal rocks during the low stand. The …

Comparison Of Recent Coral Life And Death Assemblages To Pleistocene Reef Communities: Implications For Rapid Faunal Replacement On Recent Reefs, Benjamin J. Greenstein, Lora A. Harris, H. Allen Curran

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

Marine ecologists and paleoecologists are increasingly recognizing that the Pleistocene and Holocene fossil record of coral reefs is the exclusive database from which an assessment of the long-term responses of reef communities to environmental perturbations may be obtained. The apparent persistence of coral communities in the face of intense fluctuations in sea level and sea surface temperature during glacial and interglacial stages of Pleistocene time is in marked contrast to dramatic fluctuations in reef community structure documented by short-term monitoring studies. We compared the taxonomic structure of live and dead coral communities on a modem patch reef currently undergoing a …

Ophiomorpha Nodosa In Estuarine Sands Of The Lower Miocene Calvert Formation At The Pollack Farm Site, Delaware, Molly F. Miller, H. Allen Curran, Ronald L. Martino

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Isotope Geochemistry Of Proterozoic Talc Occurrences In Archean Marbles Of The Ruby Mountains, Southwest Montana, U.S.A, John B. Brady, John T. Cheney, Amy Larson Rhodes, Angela Vasquez, Chris Green, Mathieu Duvall, Ari Kogut, Lewis Kaufman, Dana Kovaric

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

Talc occurs as massive, economic deposits in upper amphibolite facies marbles of Archean age in southwestern Montana. Previous workers have demonstrated that the talc is a replacement of the marble that resulted from interaction with a large volume of fluid. δ18O (SMOW) values for dolomite and calcite range from 20-25‰ for the unaltered Archean marbles to as little as 8-10‰ in the talc deposits, suggesting that the metasomatic fluids had low δ18O values. In contrast, δ13C values for calcite and dolomite are similar for all samples (-2 to +2‰ PDB). Therefore, it is likely that the metasomatic fluids were oxygen-rich …

Resource Notes-Academic Year 1997-98

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

A Preliminary Assessment Of Wave, Current, And Sediment Interactions On The Louisiana Shoreface Adjacent To The Isles Dernieres, David A. Pepper, Gregory W. Stone, Ping Wang

Geology Faculty Publications

The Louisiana coast is generally characterized as a low wave-energy environment where sediment transport is dominated by the influence of the Mississippi and the Atchafalaya Rivers. Winter cold fronts, however, generate waves and currents that have a significant impact on a variety of Louisiana’s coastal environments, although field data regarding their influence on the inner shelf are extremely sparse. During a 12-d period that included the passage of two cold fronts, waves and near-bed currents were measured on the Louisiana inner-shelf (depth-8 m) using a sophisticated bottom-mounted instrumentation system. Bottom boundary layer parameters were then calculated using wave-current interaction models, …

Optical Digital Fragmentation Measuring Systems -- Inherent Sources Of Error, Norbert H. Maerz, Wei Zhou

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Automated optical imaging systems of measuring fragmentation are increasingly being used in the mining, comminution, and materials handling industries. These methods have been well received in many of the industries involved. Considering that in many of these applications there are no alternative ways of sizing material, having even a rudimentary measurement of size distributions allows evaluations of explosive, blast design, detonator performance, crusher and milling performance, and material degradation due to transport.

Optical methods have inherent limitations, which reflect on accuracy, precision, and reproducibility of measurement results. This stems from the fact that there are myriads of variables, which affect …

Oil And Gas Map Of The Hazard 30 X 60 Minute Quadrangle, Kentucky, Brandon C. Nuttall

Map and Chart--KGS

No abstract provided.

Kentucky's Coal Industry: Historical Trends And Future Opportunities, Gerald A. Weisenfluh, James C. Cobb, John C. Ferm, Carol L. Ruthven

Information Circular--KGS

Coal has been produced in Kentucky since the late 18th century. In the early years, all mining was by underground methods, but surface mining became the dominant method during and after World War II. In recent years, surface-mine production in both fields has decreased while underground mining has increased.

In the last half of this century, the traditional steam coal market for locomotives has virtually disappeared, leaving electric power generation and coking coal for the steel industry as the principal markets. More than half of all coal produced in the State has been produced in the last 25 years. Whether …

Spatial And Temporal Variability In Seepage Between A Contaminated Aquifer And Tributaries To The Ohio River, Alan E. Fryar, David L. Brown, David B. Wenner, Todd C. Rasmussen, Eric J. Wallin

KWRRI Research Reports

Because interactions between ground water and tributaries may influence contaminant loading to rivers, we delineated seepage along Little Bayou and Bayou Creeks in McCracken County, Kentucky, during a two-year period. From the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, on the divide between the creeks, trichloroethene and technetium-99 plumes extend several km toward the Ohio River. Gaining conditions occur where the creeks are incised into coarse sediments in the river's flood plain. Such conditions were marked by upward hydraulic gradients within the bed; maximum specific discharge (q) > 0.24 m d^-1; relatively narrow ranges of stream, piezometer, and bed temperatures; relatively cool …

A Methodology For Studying Denitrification By Recently Formed Sulfides, Bethany A. Bolles

Theses and Dissertations

Nitrate (N03) contamination due to anthropogenic sources is a serious and widespread health problem. In many groundwater systems, N03-can be reduced to a harmless gas, N2, through the bacterially mediated process of denitrification. During this process, bacteria gain energy by transferring electrons from an "electron donor" to nitrate, the "electron acceptor". It is typically believed that organic carbon is the most important electron donor in the denitrification process; however, increasing amounts of research suggest the importance of inorganic electron donors. The most extensive studies involving the reduction ofN03- by inorganic species have focused on pyrite (FeS2) and Fe(II). Few studies …