Geology Commons^™

Spatial Distributions Of Perchloroethylene Reactive Transport Parameters In The Borden Aquifer, Richelle M. Allen-King, Dana Divine, Michel J. L. Robin, J. Richard Alldredge, David R. Gaylord

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

We determined the descriptive statistical and spatial geostatistical properties of the perchloroethene ln K_d and the ln k of a 1.5 m thick by 10 m horizontal transect of the Borden aquifer near the location of the Stanford-Waterloo (SW) tracer experiment. The ln K_d distribution is not normal and is right skewed because of a few high values that occur localized in two regions of the transect. In contrast, the ln k data can be characterized by a normal distribution. A linear regression of ln K_d on ln k yields a statistically significant positive correlation, also shown …

Use Of Mammal Manure By Nesting Burrowing Owls: A Test Of Four Functional Hypotheses, Matthew D. Smith, Courtney J. Conway

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Animals have evolved an impressive array of behavioural traits to avoid depredation. Olfactory camouflage of conspicuous odours is a strategy to avoid depredation that has been implicated only in a few species of birds. Burrowing owls, Athene cunicularia, routinely collect dried manure from mammals and scatter it in their nest chamber, in the tunnel leading to their nest and at the entrance to their nesting burrow. This unusual behaviour was thought to reduce nest depredation by concealing the scent of adults and juveniles, but a recent study suggests that manure functions to attract arthropod prey. However, burrowing owls routinely …

Renewing The Conservation Commitment, Frank W. Davis, Dale D. Goble, J. Michael Scott

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

As we write this in early 2005 there are several ESA-related pieces of legislation pending before Congress. Most of the proposed legislation is championed by Republican leaders from western states, who promise to strengthen the use of science or ensure fairer treatment of private landowners. Ir has become a perennial drama on the American political stage: "conservatives" rally to rein in a law that they believe has reached too far and "conservationists" mobilize ro defend the law that they believe offers the best ho pe for protecting biodiversity from relentless economic exploitation. There is much posturing, finger pointing, and, ultimately, …

Introduction To "The Endangered Species Act At Thirty, Volume 2", Frank W. Davis, J. Michael Scott, Dale D. Goble

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

More than thirty years after its passage, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 continues to be a corners tone of U.S. biodiversity policy and among our most powerful environmentallaws. The ESA set the nation's biodiversity conservation policy on a path that emphasized species-based conservation and triggered action only when a species faced imminent extinction. However, promoting recovery has proven more challenging than the original designers of the law anticipated. The number of listed species has mushroomed from 78 in 1973 to 1,267 in 2005, while in that time only 13 species have recovered sufficiently to be removed from the …

Introduction To "The Endangered Species Act At Thirty, Volume 1", J. Michael Scott, Dale D. Goble, Frank W. Davis

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

This book examines one legislative effoft to resolve the dilemma, the Endangered Speeies Aet of 1973 (ESA 1973). The ESA was an idealistic and perhaps naive attempt to preserve humanity by preserving other species in the ecological support system that makes life possible. In the words of the House report accompanying the bill:

A certain humility, and a sense of urgency seem indicated .... One might analogize the case to one in which one copy of all the books ever printed were gathered together in one huge building. The position in which we find ourselves today is that of custodians …

By The Numbers, J. Michael Scott, Dale D. Goble, Leona K. Svancara, Anna Pidgorna

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The current endangered species list has its administrative beginnings in 1964 when the Department of the Interior's Committee on Rare and Endangered Wildlife Species published a preliminary list of 62 species at risk of extinction (Goble, forthcoming). Following the enactment of the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 (ESPA), the secretary of the interior in 1967 published the first official list of 78 "native fish and wildlife threatened with extinction" (ESPA sec. l(c); U.S. Department of the Interior 1967; Wilcove and McMillan, this volume). By the time the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was adopted in 1973, there were 392 species …

Breeding Biology And Success Of A Reintroduced Population Of The Critically Endangered Puaiohi (Myadestes Palmeri), Erik J. Tweed, Jeffrey T. Foster, Bethany L. Woodworth, William B. Monahan, Jherime L. Kellerman, Alan Lieberman

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The ultimate success of reintroduction programs for endangered species depends on the ability of reintroduced animals to breed in the wild. We studied the nesting success and breeding biology of a reintroduced population of Puaiohi (Myadestes palmeri) on the island of Kaua‛i, Hawaii. Thirty-four captive-bred Puaiohi were released into the Alaka‛i Swamp in 1999–2001 and monitored using radiotelemetry. Ten females and two males paired with wild and other released birds, including one polygynous trio. From March to September, 31 nests were built. Mean clutch size was 2.0 eggs, daily nest survival was 0.97 ± 0.01 (mean ± SE) …

Reply To The Discussion By F. Lagroix And S.K. Banerjee Of “Geochemical Evidence For The Origin Of Late Quaternary Loess In Central Alaska”, Daniel R. Muhs, James R. Budahn

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We thank F. Lagroix and S.K. Banerjee (2006) for their Muhs and Budahn 1895 interest in our recent paper and welcome this opportunity to clarify our thoughts on the issues they raise. ...

The loess deposits of central Alaska contain a long and detailed record of sedimentation and soil formation. However, we are convinced that this history is a complex one and, therefore, we again thank Lagroix and Banerjee (2006) for the opportunity to articulate some additional thoughts on the geologic record here. We applaud the use of new methods, such as those of Lagroix and Banerjee (2002, 2004), in …

Carbon Dioxide Sequestration In Cement Kiln Dust Through Miner Carbonation, Deborah N. Huntzinger

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The feasibility of carbon sequestration in cement kiln dust (CKD) was investigated in a series of batch and column experiments conducted under ambient temperature and pressure conditions. The significance of this work is the demonstration that alkaline wastes, such as CKD, are highly reactive with carbon dioxide (CO₂). In the presence of water, CKD can sequester greater than 80% of its theoretical capacity for carbon without any amendments or modifications to the waste. Other mineral carbonation technologies for carbon sequestration rely on the use of mined mineral feedstocks as the source of oxides. The mining, pre-processing and reaction …

Analyzing The Effects Of Vertical Acceleration And Deceleration In Multi-Phase, Debris-Flow Sediment-Column Experiments / By Christine Marie Williams., Christine Marie Williams

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Water-saturated debris flows are among some of the most destructive mass movements. Their complex nature presents a challenge for quantitative description and modeling. In order to improve understanding of the dynamics of these flows, it is important to seek a simplified dynamic system underlying their behavior. Models currently in use to describe the motion of debris flows employ depth-averaged equations of motion, typically assuming negligible effects from vertical acceleration. However, in many cases debris flows experience significant vertical acceleration as they move across irregular surfaces, and it has been proposed that friction associated with vertical forces and liquefaction merit inclusion …

Unconfined Versus Confined Speleogenetic Settings: Variations Of Solution Porosity, Alexander Klimchouk

International Journal of Speleology

Speleogenesis in confined settings generates cave morphologies that differ much from those formed in unconfined settings. Caves developed in unconfined settings are characterised by broadly dendritic patterns of channels due to highly competing development. In contrast, caves originated under confined conditions tend to form two- or three-dimensional mazes with densely packed conduits. This paper illustrates variations of solution (channel) porosity resulted from speleogenesis in unconfined and confined settings by the analysis of morphometric parameters of typical cave patterns. Two samples of typical cave systems formed in the respective settings are compared. The sample that represents unconfined speleogenesis consists of solely …

Relationships Between Deflector Faults, Collapse Dolines And Collector Channel Formation: Some Examples From Slovenia, France Šušteršič

International Journal of Speleology

In some Slovenian caves collector channels gather sinking underground streams and redirect them for potentially long distances parallel to certain faults. The collector channels formed due to ongoing long-term collapse of cave roofs at the points where passages break through the faults, which function as a kind of screen and are termed deflector faults. The fault trends are marked by collapse within the caves, and by active collapse dolines at the surface.

Salt Ingestion Caves, Charles A. Lundquist, William W. Varnedoe Jr.

International Journal of Speleology

Large vertebrate herbivores, when they find a salt-bearing layer of rock, say in a cliff face, can produce sizable voids where, over generations, they have removed and consumed salty rock. The cavities formed by this natural animal process constitute a unique class of caves that can be called salt ingestion caves. Several examples of such caves are described in various publications. An example in Mississippi U.S.A., Rock House Cave, was visited by the authors in 2000. It seems to have been formed by deer or bison. Perhaps the most spectacular example is Kitum Cave in Kenya. This cave has been …

Tracer-Test Design For Losing Stream–Aquifer Systems, Malcolm S. Field

International Journal of Speleology

Hydrological tracer testing is an effective way for assessing the significance and extent of leakage through the bed of an influent (losing and sinking) stream. In karstic terranes, leakage from losing and sinking streams typically resurge at downstream springs, but flow may be intercepted by production wells. Although sinking streams that disappear into swallow holes and caves are relatively easy to trace, developing a tracer test design for a losing stream that allows slow percolation through its bed is complicated by the lack of basic knowledge regarding leakage rate, leakage locations along its length, and temporal variability. To overcome these …

Caves And Speleogenesis At Blomstrandsøya, Kongsfjord, W. Spitsbergen, Stein-Erik Lauritzen

International Journal of Speleology

Blomstrandsøya, at Kongsfjord (78° 57’N), Spitsbergen, is within the high arctic, a completely permafrozen zone. The bedrock consists of Paleozoic marbles and has yielded a surprising amount of karst features. Early phases of hydrothermal, possibly Caledonian, speleogenesis and subsequent Devonian karstification with redbed deposits is well documented. 62 active seacaves, and more than 30 relict karst caves were found in the coastal cliffs and in escarpment faces around the island. All caves have very limited extent; they are either quite short, like most of the active sea caves, or they are soon choked by frozen sediments and ground ice after …

Thermal Variations In The Hyporheic Zone Of A Karst Stream, Toby Dogwiler, Carol Wicks

International Journal of Speleology

This investigation quantifies how temperatures in the streambed sediments of a karst stream fluctuate in relation to discharge, seasonal, and diurnal temperature variations as the stream passes through a karst window. Furthermore, the linkages between meteorological processes and temperature variation in the hyporheic zone are delineated. Examination of a high-resolution, three dimensional record of temperature variation in a karst stream substrate provides insight into thermal disturbances in the hyporheic zone. Temperatures in the upper portion of the hyporheic zone are strongly linked to air temperatures via the surface water. The variation is considerably less as depth increases. The annual temperature …

Vashegyite From Gaura Cu Muscă Cave (Locvei Mountains, Romania): A New And Rare Phosphate Occurrence, Bogdan P. Onac, Luminiţa Zaharia, Joe Kearns, Daniel Veres

International Journal of Speleology

This study investigated the occurrence of vashegyite from a guano-rich deposit located in the Gaura cu Muscă Cave, Romania. Analytical methods used include optical microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron-microscopy (SEM), inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), thermal investigations and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) analyses. Vashegyite occurs as friable, chalky white, irregular nodules of up to 2.5 cm in diameter, within a 15 cm thick sequence of organic and minerogenic sediments. The chemical structural formula is: (Al_10.91Fe³⁺_0.06Na_0.1Ca_0.02Mg_0.08)_Σ=11.17[(PO₄)_8.78(SiO₄)_0.056]_Σ=8.83(OH) …

The Distribution Of Diatom Flora In Ice Caves Of The Northern Yukon Territory, Canada: Relationship To Air Circulation And Freezing, Bernard Lauriol, Clément Prévost, Denis Lacelle

International Journal of Speleology

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, various media in karst environments in the Northern Yukon Territory were examined for their diatom content. Cryogenic cave calcite powders, grus and various ice formations (ice plugs, ice stalagmites and floor ice) were collected from three freezing caves and one slope cave to make an inventory of the diatom content, and to explain the spatial distribution of the diatoms within the caves. The results show that approximately 20% of diatoms in the caves originate from external biotopes and habitats (e.g., river, lake, stream), with the remaining 80% of local origin (i.e., from subaerial …

Studies Of Condensation/Evaporation Processes In The Glowworm Cave, New Zealand, C. R. De Freitas, A. Schmekal

International Journal of Speleology

The condensation/evaporation process is important in caves, especially in tourist caves where there is carbon dioxide enriched air caused by visitors. The cycle of condensation and evaporation of condensate is believed to enhance condensation corrosion. The problem is condensation is difficult to measure. This study addresses the problem and reports on a method for measuring and modelling condensation rates in a limestone cave. Electronic sensors for measuring condensation and evaporation of the condensate as part of a single continuous process of water vapour flux are tested and used to collect 12 months of data. The study site is the Glowworm …

Radon In Caves: Clinical Aspects, Stephen A. Craven, Berend J. Smit

International Journal of Speleology

Historical, experimental and clinical evidence is presented to suggest that radon constitutes a relatively small carcinogenic risk for casual visitors to caves. The risk is dependent on radon levels and the smoking of tobacco. Show cave guides, chronically exposed to radon, may be at increased risk for lung cancer due to the effects of radon, especially if they are smokers of tobacco.

Identification Of Cave Minerals By Raman Spectroscopy: New Technology For Non-Destructive Analysis, William B. White

International Journal of Speleology

The identification of minerals from caves generally requires that samples be removed from the cave for analysis in the laboratory. The usual tools are X-ray powder diffraction, the optical microscope, and the scanning electron microscope. X-ray diffraction gives a definitive fingerprint by which the mineral can be identified by comparison with a catalog of reference patterns. However, samples must be ground to powder and unstable hydrated minerals may decompose before analysis is complete. Raman spectroscopy also provides a fingerprint useful for mineral identification but with the additional advantage that some a-priori interpretation of the spectra is possible (distinguishing carbonates from …

Loss Of Nutrients From Croplands As A Result Of Soil Erosion, Munns Creek Watershed, Grundy County, Iowa, Jihyo Chong

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The temporal distribution of chloride, nitrate, and sulfate in the hydrologic environment were studied in Grundy County, Iowa from June to September 2004. The goal of the project was to investigate the rate of soil erosion and the subsequent loss of nutrients from the agricultural fields of the study area. Water samples were collected weekly from 6 different sites along Munns Creek in the study area near Grundy Center, Iowa. Each sample was analyzed for chloride, nitrate, and sulfate by ion chromatography. Soil core samples were collected from 22 locations in the surrounding agricultural fields. At each location, soil was …