Geology Commons^™

Geomorphology Of Icy Debris Fans: Delivery Of Ice And Sediment To Valley Glaciers Decoupled From Icecaps, R. Craig Kochel, Jeffrey M. Trop, Robert W. Jacob

Faculty Journal Articles

The pace and volume of mass flow processes contributing ice and sediment to icy debris fans (IDFs) were documented at sites in Alaska and New Zealand by integrating field observations, drone and time-lapse imagery, ground penetrating radar, and terrestrial laser scanning. Largely unstudied, IDFs are supraglacial landforms at the mouths of bedrock catchments between valley glaciers and icecaps. Time-lapse imagery recorded 300–2300 events reaching 15 fans during intervals from nine months to two years. Field observations noted hundreds of deposits trapped within catchments weekly that were later remobilized onto fans. Deposits were mapped on images taken three to four times …

Warning Confidence And Perceptions Of Lava Flow Hazard Diversion Strategies At Kīlauea And Mauna Loa Volcanoes, Hawai‘I, Ashleigh Reeves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The 2014-15 lava flow crisis at Kīlauea volcano, Hawai‘i and post-September 2015 elevated unrest at adjacent Mauna Loa volcano provided opportunities to assess households’ psychological and behavioral responses to different levels of volcanic activity. Weused the Protective Action Decision Model to examine stakeholder perceptions and confidence in warnings, in addition toattitudes toward lava flow mitigation strategies, such as diversion by berms and bombing, and people’s acceptance of additional risk to personal property in exchange for protecting important elements of their community, such as schools, major roads, electrical substation, and shopping centers. Respondents’ confidence in events important in decision-making during emergencies …

Quantifying Carbon Dioxide Fluxes In The Air And Water In Blowing Springs Cave, Arkansas, Holly Young

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prior work has shown that the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) within cave atmospheres is a function of cave airflow patterns. The dynamics of CO2 within karst systems are of increasing interest as they can control periods of precipitation or dissolution in speleothems and influence potential interpretations of paleoclimate records. Similarly, CO2 is an important driver of speleogenesis, and air-water CO2 dynamics can control patterns of cave passage evolution. Karst also plays an uncertain role in the global carbon cycle and understanding CO2 dynamics within karst systems will aid the development of carbon budgets. Here, a monitoring station was deployed …

Mapping Lower Austin Chalk Secondary Porosity Using Modern 3-D Seismic And Well Log Methods In Zavala County, Texas, David Kilcoyne

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Establishing fracture distribution and porosity trends is key to successful well design in a majority of unconventional plays. The Austin Chalk has historically been referred to as an unpredictable producer due to high fracture concentration and lateral variation in stratigraphy, however recent drilling activity targeting the lower Austin Chalk has been very successful. The Upper Cretaceous Austin Chalk (AC) and underlying Eagle Ford (EF) units are considered by many to act as a single hydrocarbon system, with communication between these two units largely through expulsion or dewatering fractures, extensional faults or along the AC/EF unconformity. Total porosity for the Eagle …

Stratigraphic Evaluation Of The St. Joe-Boone Boundary Interval, Kinderhookian-Osagean Series, Lower Mississippian System, Tri-State Region, Southern Midcontinent, Forrest Dalton Mcfarlin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Lower Mississippian interval comprises a single, third-order, eustatic cycle subdivided lithostratigraphically into the St. Joe Limestone (Hopkins 1893) and overlying Boone Formation (Branner 1891, Simonds 1891) with type areas in northern Arkansas. Coeval, homotaxial limestones occur in adjacent southwestern Missouri and northeastern Oklahoma. Missouri formation names for the St. Joe interval are recognized in Arkansas as members (ascending order): Bachelor, Compton, Northview, Pierson. The Boone interval in Missouri is represented by the (ascending order): Reeds Spring, Elsey, Burlington-Keokuk undifferentiated, but utilization of those names in Arkansas is problematic. in northern Arkansas, the Boone Formation is subdivided into informal lower …

Estimating Watershed Mercury Contribution To Lake Fort Smith State Park, Arkansas, Usa, William Miles Harmon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mercury contamination associated with human activities poses global human health and environmental risks. A fish-consumption advisory has been in effect at Lake Fort Smith in central west Arkansas for more than a decade due to observed methylmercury concentrations in fish tissue. Lake Fort Smith is an important municipal drinking water supply and recreational resource. Water samples from the majority contributing tributary stream, Frog Bayou creek, were collected periodically, under differing hydrologic conditions in order to quantify the allochthonous mercury load delivered to the lake. Temperature, specific conductance, and turbidity data were collected and used to estimate dissolved organic carbon, methylmercury …

The Occurrence Of The Greta Sandstone, Frio Formation (Late Oligocene), Texas Gulf Coastal Plain, Sean C. Kincade

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Greta sandstone is an informal lithostratigraphic unit of the upper Frio Formation (Oligocene) that occurs across the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain. The Greta sandstone has been known to geologists since it was first drilled in the 1930’s, yet there has been very little research into this un-depleted and overlooked reservoir. This study provides insights into the lateral distribution and reservoir facies of the Greta sandstone. The unit represents an aggradational to transgressive barrier sandstone package grading up to mud-rich open marine inner shelf deposits. The interval is easily recognizable in well logs based on its strong SP and Gamma-ray …

Mitigating Accumulation Of Aeolian Dust Particles On Solar Power Generator Panels Without Water, Sanjana Das

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Accumulation of dust on solar panels poses a serious problem as it can significantly reduce light absorption and electrical energy output. Several factors affect the dust accumulation such as location, dust properties, wind velocity, system orientation, ambient temperature, humidity, and panel surface properties. Experimental and theoretical studies show that short circuit current and maximum power output of photovoltaic panels reduce approximately linearly with dust concentration. Incidentally, the locations with higher solar energy concentrations are also arid or semi-arid regions with higher dust concentrations. In order to avoid loss in power output, most PV installations perform periodic panel cleaning with water. …

The Efficacy Of Raw Malangali Kaolin Clay In The Adsorptive Removal Of Cadmium And Cobalt Ions From Water, Nyemaga Masanje Malima, Esther Hellen Lugwisha, Alinanuswe Simon Mwakaboko

Tanzania Journal of Science

The suitability of raw Malangali kaolin (RMK) clay for the removal of cadmium and cobalt ions from water was investigated using a batch technique whereas the characterization of adsorbent material was performed by XRD, XRF, ATR-FTIR and N2 physisorption techniques. Various experimental parameters were tested for the effectiveness of RMK in removing heavy metals whereby quantitative determination of both Cd2+ and Co2+ ions has shown that, the factors such as adsorbent particle size, solution pH, contact time, adsorbent dose as well as initial metal ion concentration had significant effects on the adsorption processes. The equilibrium data described by Langmuir and …

Holocene Formation History Of Mud Depocenters On The Continental Shelf In The Gulf Of Cadiz, Southwestern Spain, Mary Lee King

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Holocene mud accumulation on the continental shelf in northern Gulf of Cadiz, from the Guadalquivir River to the Tinto-Odiel Estuary, is described as two types of mud depocenters (MDCs): a sheet-like prodelta and mud belt. Despite a substantial number of investigations of this continental shelf (Somoza et al., 1997; Hernández-Molina et al., 2000; Lobo et al., 2001; synthesis: Lobo et al., 2015), information on Holocene sediment facies and a robust stratigraphic age model remained unestablished (Lobo et al., 2002; and Lobo and Ridente, 2014). Objectives of this study are to describe the dynamics of MDC formation in a chrono- and …

Hardbottom Characterization And Relationship To The Geologic Framework In Long Bay, South Carolina, Cathryn J. Wheaton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hardbottom seafloor is a common element among sediment-starved portions of the inner continental shelf along the U.S. Atlantic margin. These areas are characterized by indurated sediment surfaces that are heavily altered by biological and physical processes. Long Bay, in northeastern South Carolina, offers ideal environmental conditions for hardbottom exposure with only patchy Holocene sand deposits, interspersed with extensive hardbottom areas. Here we use high-resolution multibeam bathymetry, CHIRP subbottom profiling and electrical resistivity data, along with surficial sediment samples, hardbottom thin sections, and water column radioisotope (radon-222) analysis to investigate the origin and geologic framework of a region of hardbottom seafloor …

Dynamics Of Magma Recharge And Mixing At Mount Hood Volcano, Oregon -- Insights From Enclave-Bearing Lavas, Molly Kathryn Ellowitz

Dissertations and Theses

Magma recharge events and subsequent mixing processes are understood to precede volcanic eruptions. Textural evidence of intrusion of hot, mafic magma into a cooler, rheologically locked silicic magma is commonplace. Solidified "blobs" of injected magma, called enclaves, are evidence of magma mixing, but the petrological and mechanical conditions during their formation are debated. Mount Hood, Oregon consistently erupts andesite bearing compositionally similar enclaves. These enclaves are evidence of mingling and mixing of two magmas. However, due to the compositional similarity between enclave and host lava (e.g. ~1-5 wt.% difference in SiO₂), it is unclear whether the preserved enclaves …

Relationships Between Landscape Constraints And A Crayfish Assemblage With Consideration Of Competitor Presence, Joshua B. Mouser, Robert Mollenhauer, Shannon K. Brewer

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Aim: Crayfish are globally diverse and one of the most important taxa in North American streams. Despite their importance, many species are of conservation concern and efforts to improve conditions are limited. Here, we address two major impediments to improving conditions: (a) our lack of knowledge of the interplay among natural landscape and human-induced changes; and (b) a very limited understanding of how species interactions affect overall crayfish distributions.

Location: Ozark Highlands ecoregion, USA.

Methods: We used both existing data and field-collected data to examine the relationships between 12 Faxonius species and physicochemical variables at multiple spatial scales. Data were …

Old And Recent Processes In A Warm And Humid Desert Hypogene Cave: ‘A’Rak Na‘Asane, Israel, Amos Frumkin, Shlomi Aharon, Uri Davidovich, Boaz Langford, Yoav Negev, Micka Ullman, Anton Vaks, Shemesh Ya‘Aran, Boaz Zissu

International Journal of Speleology

Recent environmental processes are studied in ʻA’rak Naʻasane Cave at the northern Judean Desert, Israel. The outer zone of the cave is heavily influenced by the outside environment through a large entrance, facilitating entry of air flow, fauna and humans, with minor cave-forming modifications. Conversely, the inner cave sustains humid and warm conditions, favoring modifications by condensation corrosion of convective air flow, associated with deposition of popcorn speleothems at the lower parts of dissolution pockets. The warm humid air of the inner cave may be associated with an underlying thermal water table. Active condensation corrosion is decreasing, possibly because of …

The Global Food-Energy-Water Nexus, Paolo D’Odorico, Kyle Frankel Davis, Lorenzo Rosa, Joel A. Carr, Davide Chiarelli, Jampel Dell’Angelo, Jessica Gephart, Graham K. Macdonald, David A. Seekell, Samir Suweis, Maria Cristina Rulli

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Abstract Water availability is a major factor constraining humanity’s ability to meet the future food and energy needs of a growing and increasingly affluent human population. Water plays an important role in the production of energy, including renewable energy sources and the extraction of unconventional fossil fuels that are expected to become important players in future energy security. The emergent competition for water between the food and energy systems is increasingly recognized in the concept of the “food-energy-water nexus.” The nexus between food and water is made even more complex by the globalization of agriculture and rapid growth in food …

Phase Equilibrium Modelling And Implications For P-T Determinations Of Medium-Temperature Uhp Eclogites, North Qaidam Terrane, China, David Hernández‐Uribe, Chris G. Mattinson, Jianxin Zhang

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

In contrast to low-T eclogites (garnet growth zoning preserved) or high-T eclogites (garnet diffusionally homogenized at peak conditions), medium-temperature eclogites pose additional challenges to P-T determinations due to the partial preservation of garnet zoning. The Dulan area, in the southeastern part of North Qaidam ultrahigh-pressure terrane, exposes minor eclogites hosted by ortho- and paragneisses. Four fresh, medium-temperature eclogites contain the paragenesis Grt+Omp+Rt+Qz/Coe+Ph +/- Ky +/- Zo. In all samples, garnet X-Mg shows little zoning, suggesting diffusional modification, and precludes the use of pyrope+almandine+grossular isopleth intersections to determine a P-T path. However, in one sample, sharp zoning in grossular content suggests …

Dense-Array Teleseismic Imaging Of The Southern Albuquerque Basin, Tori S. Finlay

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The southern Albuquerque basin is a complex area of high extension, multiple orogenies, and ongoing uplift from a midcrustal magma body in which geophysical coverage is sparse. In this thesis, I capitalize on recent innovations in dense-array processing techniques to create virtual source reflection profiles from five teleseismic events during the deployment of the Sevilleta array. The Sevilleta array consisted of ~800 vertical component nodes with ~300 m spacing deployed for 10 days in February of 2015. Virtual source reflection profiles are created by using the free surface of the earth as a virtual seismic source, yielding profiles that mimic …

Variation In Home Range Size And Patterns In Adult Female American Crocodiles Crocodylus Acutus, Jeffrey S. Beauchamp, Kristen M. Hart, Michael S. Cherkiss, Frank J. Mazzotti

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The American crocodile Crocodylus acutus is a threatened species that uses relatively deep, open-water habitats with low salinity. Adult female American crocodiles nest on sandy coastal beaches, islands or human-made berms, assist in the hatching process, and can travel long distances to nesting habitat. We satellite-tracked 15 adult female American crocodiles in 2 hydrologically distinct areas in Everglades National Park, Florida, USA, to quantify the home range sizes, test for intraspecific differences in home range and core area size and structure, and identify important crocodile high-use areas. Overall home ranges (95% kernel density estimate; KDE) for adult female crocodiles in …

Review Of Curbing Catastrophe: Natural Hazards And Risk Reduction In The Modern World, Kira H. Hamman

Numeracy

Timothy H. Dixon. 2017. Curbing Catastrophe: Natural Hazards and Risk Reduction in the Modern World. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press) 300 pp. ISBN 978-1108113663.

In Curbing Catastrophe, Timothy H. Dixon explores commonalities among natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and the meltdown at Fukushima. He identifies communication failure between scientists and policy makers as a major culprit in the devastation that results from such events and offers strategies for improving that communication. He includes optional in-depth scientific and quantitative examinations of the events and the resulting devastation, making the book appropriate for use …

Using Geological Facies To Estimate Chromate Sorption To Soils, Victoria Smith, Daja Scurlock, Chauntilena Butler, Eddie Hollins, Kennedy Smith, Tim Spearman, Christina Fulghum, John Dickson, Daniel I. Kaplan, Miles Denham, Garriet Smith

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Quantifying the extent to which contaminant metals bind to subsurface soils is important for risk assessment, the tendency for a contaminant to migrate, and developing environmental remediation strategies. Unfortunately, subsurface soils vary widely in their composition, which in turn affect their tendency to bind metals. The hypothesis of this study was predicated on how a better understanding of geological facies would reduce uncertainty associated with predicting contaminant metal sorption. Facies are layers of sediment deposited in the subsurface due to similar depositional conditions, including energy of an overlying waterway. As such, facies are expected to have similar assemblages of minerals, …

Effects Of Natural And Anthropogenic Forcing On Marsh Channel Evolution, Jeremiah Robinson

LSU Master's Theses

Wetlands have many ecological and physical properties that are essential for coastal communities. These ecosystems sustain local economies, provide essential habitats, are a source of numerous ecological and biological services, and protect coastal populations from storms. Of the many wetland types, salt marshes are among the most vulnerable to environmental changes. Salt marshes quickly respond to natural and human-driven perturbations and their high rate of loss in the last century is cause for concern.

In this project the rate of marsh loss driven by channel widening was measured through a comparative analysis of modern high resolution images and historic aerial …

Correction To: Organochlorine Chemical Residues In Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis Cardinalis) Eggs From Greater Washington, Dc Usa, Christopher J. Schmitt, Kathy R. Echols, Paul H. Peterman, Carl E. Orazio, K. Christiana Grim, Shirlee Tan, Nora E. Diggs, Peter P. Marra

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The original version of this article contained a mistake. Author name in the text citation and reference in section should be Maldonado et al (2016), it was incorrectly spelled as Maldinado et al (2015).

Theory And Application Of Geophysical Geodesy For Studying Earth Surface Deformation, Makan A. Karegar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An interdisciplinary approach at the interface between geodesy and geophysics has recently resolved several Earth science problems at regional and global scales. I use the term “geophysical geodesy” to distinguish the technical and theoretical aspect of geodesy from geophysical applications of geodetic techniques. Using a wide range of Earth observation data, I study the spatio-temporal characteristics of Earth surface deformation in the United States associated with several geophysical processes, including natural and anthropogenic subsidence and uplift, regional relative sea-level rise, and continental hydrological loading. The theoretical portion of this dissertation applies loading theory and develops a new hybrid method to …

Beyond Spatial Autocorrelation: A Novel Approach Using Reconstructability Analysis, David Percy, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Raster data are digital representations of spatial phenomena that are organized into rows and columns that typically have the same dimensions in each direction. They are used to represent image data at any scale. Common raster data are medical images, satellite data, and photos generated by modern smartphones.
Satellites capture reflectance data in specific bands of wavelength that correspond to red, green, blue, and often some infrared and thermal bands. These composite vectors can then be classified into actual land use categories such as forest or water using automated techniques. These classifications are verified on the ground using hand-held sensors. …

Contrasting Governance Learning Processes Of Climate-Leading And -Lagging Cities: Portland, Oregon, And Phoenix, Arizona, Usa, Jonathan H. Fink

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The contrasting histories and political ecologies of two U.S. cities—Portland Oregon and Phoenix Arizona—shed light on their ability to learn from and influence the climate governance of their peers. Portland's populace, political leadership, and business sectors are motivated by environmental and social values, resulting in a collective sense of responsibility for fixing global problems like climate change. The city's pioneering land-use policies, green infrastructure, and multimodal transportation systems solidify its place at the climate action forefront. In contrast, libertarian Phoenix prioritizes real estate, efficient government, tourism, and protection of individual rights—the antithesis of Portland's altruism. However, because Phoenix's economic success …

Integrated Geophysical Analysis In The Northeastern Gulf Of Mexico, Mei Liu

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The formation of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) relates to the breakup of Pangea and opening of the central Atlantic Ocean. The tectonic history of the basin is still being debated due to lack of geological constraints. This project addresses the crustal architecture in the northeastern GoM from integrative analysis of multiple geophysical datasets to provide constraints for the tectonic reconstruction.

The objectives of this study are: 1) to delineate various tectonic zones (continental and oceanic domains) and map the boundary between them, 2) to derive physical properties of the subsurface rocks, 3) to map the major tectonic structures in …

Estimating Live Fuel Moisture In Southern California Using Remote Sensing Vegetation Water Content Proxies, Shenyue Jia, Seung Hee Kim, Son V. Nghiem, Wonhee Cho, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Wildfires are a major ecological disturbance in Southern California and often lead to great destruction along the Wildland-Urban Interface. Live fuel moisture has been used as an important indicator of wildfire risk in measurements of vegetation water content. However, the limited field measurements of live fuel moisture in both time and space have affected the accuracy of wildfire risk estimations. Traditional estimation of live fuel moisture using remote sensing data was based on vegetation indices, indirect proxies of vegetation water content and subject to influence from weather conditions. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of estimating live fuel moisture …

Shear Wave Tomography Beneath The United States Using A Joint Inversion Of Surface And Body Waves, E. M. Golos, H. Fang, H. Yao, H. Zhang, Scott Burdick, F. Vernon, A. Schaeffer, S. Lebedev, R. D. Van Der Hilst

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

Resolving both crustal and shallow-mantle heterogeneity, which is needed to study processes in and fluxes between crust and mantle, is still a challenge for seismic tomography. Body wave data can constrain deep features but often produce vertical smearing in the crust and upper mantle; in contrast, surface wave data can provide good vertical resolution of lithospheric structure but may lack lateral resolution and are less sensitive to the deeper Earth. These two data types are usually treated and inverted separately, and tomographic models therefore do not, in general, benefit from the complementary nature of sampling by body and surface waves. …

Magma Mixing At Oldoinyo Lengai: A Mineralogical And Trace Element Analysis Of The 2007-8 Eruption., Nicole Thomas, Tobias P. Fischer Dr., Adrian J. Brearley Dr.

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Chapter I:

The 2007-8 eruption at Lengai was highly explosive, reaching plinian proportions, and the anhydrous nature of the nephelinite magma at Lengai, does not explain this highly volatile behavior. The increase in volatiles in a low H2O nephelinite magma could occur from decompression melting of magma injection from a deeper source. Two distinct nephelinite compositions were identified in a mineralogical analyses of the ash erupta: a highly evolved nephelinite (OL2), with less than 3% glass from the magma chamber, as indicated by the highly peralkalinic feldspathoid: combeite (Na2Ca2Si3O9), commonly found in Lengai eruptive products (Dawson 1966, 1998), and a …

Assessing Bald Cypress (Taxodium Distichum) Tree Dynamic Change In Usf Forest Preserve Area Using Mixture-Tuned Matched Filtering And Multitemporal Satellite Imagery, Yujia Wang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Wetlands are the most important and valuable ecosystems on Earth. They are called “kidneys of the Earth”. Vegetation change detection is necessary to understand the condition of a wetland and to support ecosystem sustainable management and utilization. It has been a great challenge to estimate vegetation (including bald cypress trees) coverage of the wetland because it is difficult to access directly. Satellite remote sensing technology can be one important feasible method to map and monitor changes of wetland forest vegetation and land cover over large areas. Remote sensing mapping techniques have been applied to detect and map vegetation changes in …