Geology Commons^™

Analysis Of Small Faults In A Sandstone Reservoir Analog, San Rafael Desert: Implications For Fluid Flow At The Reservoir-Scale, Leslie Noël Clayton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

We examined small-displacement faults in the Jurassic Entrada Sandstone adjacent to the Iron Wash Fault, central Utah east of the San Rafael Swell, in order to describe the nature and timing of past fluid movement and deformation in the Entrada Sandstone. Using field studies, microscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis, we identified mineralized fractures and cementation features in association with deformation bands and fractures at the interface of the Earthy and Slick Rock Members of the Entrada Sandstone.

Where the faults cross the Earthy-Slick Rock Member interface, deformation band faults in the Slick Rock Member become opening-mode fractures in the Earthy …

Petrogenesis Of Unusual Occurrence Of Amphibole Asbestos In Mohave County, Arizona And Clark County, Nevada, Tomoyo Austin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The term “asbestos” applies to six types of fibrous amphiboles or chrysotile with specific morphologies that are commercially mined and processed. Inhaling asbestos fibers is known to cause many negative health effects, including mesothelioma, several different cancers, various respiratory diseases and non-respiratory diseases, and fatalities. The recent years, several cases of non-occupational exposure to asbestos fibers raised an awareness of environmental exposure to naturally occurring asbestos (NOA) which refers to asbestiform minerals that fall out of the regulatory definition of asbestos.

There are two sources of NOA in the area, Wilson Ridge pluton, AZ, and Boulder City pluton, NV which …

Early Contractional History Of The Funeral Mountains And Its Influence On The Formation Of The Funeral Mountains Metamorphic Core Complex, Death Valley, Ca, Taylor Douglas Craig

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Zones of localized crustal thickening in orogenic belts commonly host low-angle normal faults, which have been controversial since their recognition. The metamorphic core complexes of the Sevier hinterland are localized within a belt that is attributed with the highest degrees of crustal thickening during Sevier orogenesis. This association of deep-rooted detachment faulting and early contractional deformation indicates an important link between the two processes, however repeated tectonic episodes often overprint and obscure the earlier fabrics, making this link difficult to study. The Funeral Mountains metamorphic core complex, located in Death Valley, CA, has a complex history of protracted SE-contraction and …

Ediacaran Depositional Age And Subsequent Fluid-Rock Interactions In The Mutual And Browns Hole Formations Of Northern Utah, Ashley W. Provow

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Constraining the depositional age of Neoproterozoic stratigraphy in western North America has implications for correlating global glaciation and tectonic events. The depositional ages of the Neoproterozoic Mutual and Browns Hole formations of northern Utah are controlled by two conflicting datapoints. However, new U-Pb geochronological data from 95 detrital apatite grains refines the maximum depositional age of the volcanic member of the Browns Hole Formation to 613 ± 12 Ma (2σ). This places new restrictions on the time available for the deposition of underlying units. Due to debate regarding the age models for underlying stratigraphy, two scenarios for sediment accumulation rates …

Structural Control Of Thermal Fluid Circulation And Geochemistry In A Flat-Slab Subduction Zone, Peru, Brandt E. Scott

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Hot spring geochemistry from the Peruvian Andes provide insight on how faults, or fractures in the Earth's crust, are capable of influencing fluid circulation. Faults can either promote or inhibit fluid flow and the goal of this study is test the role of a major fault, such as the Cordillera Blanca detachment, as a channel for transporting deep fluids to the surface. Hot springs are abundant in the Cordillera Blanca and Huayhuash ranges in Peru, and several springs issue along the Cordillera Blanca detachment, making this region an ideal setting for our study. To test the role of the Cordillera …

Metadata And Minerals : A Library – Museum Pilot Project, Christine Baker

Digital Initiatives Symposium

The Arthur Lakes Library and the Geology Museum at Colorado School of Mines (Mines) worked together to explore ways to promote the Museum’s unique collections. A task force formed to conduct a pilot project that involved creating digital access, via Mines Institutional Repository, to a set of the Museum’s mineral specimens from Creede Mining District. The Metadata Librarian collaborated with the Museum Collections Manager throughout this process to establish metadata requirements and workflows. This presentation explains how the pilot project came about and describes the preparation, metadata and workflow development, as well as the collaborative experience and evolution of this …

The Sedimentology Of Cay Sal Bank - An Incipiently Drowned Carbonate Platform, Luis Ramirez

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Sediment on Cay Sal Bank (CSB) is characterized by its coarse-grain size, poor sorting, predominance of skeletal fragments, and relatively depleted d¹⁸O isotope values. CSB is an incipiently drowned platform in close proximity to the Great Bahama Bank (GBB), a carbonate platform which is not incipiently drowned and characterized by fine-grained, non-skeletal sediment. The GBB has locally well-developed oolitic grainstone facies and coral reef margins, which are both lacking on CSB. Platform-top water depths on the GBB are typically 10 m or less, but CSB depth ranges between 7 and 30 m. CSB is devoid of mud, whereas …

Short-Term Effect Of Simulated Salt Marsh Restoration By Sand-Amendment On Sediment Bacterial Communities, François Thomas, James T. Morris, Cathleen Wigand, Stefan M. Sievert

Faculty Publications

Coastal climate adaptation strategies are needed to build salt marsh resiliency and maintain critical ecosystem services in response to impacts caused by climate change. Although resident microbial communities perform crucial biogeochemical cycles for salt marsh functioning, their response to restoration practices is still understudied. One promising restoration strategy is the placement of sand or sediment onto the marsh platform to increase marsh resiliency. A previous study examined the above- and below-ground structure, soil carbon dioxide emissions, and pore water constituents in Spartina alterniflora-vegetated natural marsh sediments and sand-amended sediments at varying inundation regimes. Here, we analyzed samples from the …

Marxist Implementation Of Climate Change As A Geopolitical Fear Tactic, Katelyn Larossa

Senior Honors Theses

In recent years the climate change debate has shifted from the peripheries of international political discussions to center stage, manifesting in the Paris Agreement in November of 2016 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. However, the science behind the climate change debate is disputed and does not support the claims made by global leaders who continue to push for increasing environmental regulations and financial aid to those most adversely affected by the supposed climate change (underdeveloped and developing nations). Examining the geopolitical and economic implications of climate change actions reveals the underlying political philosophies guiding global leaders. …

Fun In A Kansas Salt Mine, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

Most people probably do not know that salt deposits hundreds of feet thick lie buried beneath large parts of western Kansas, western Oklahoma and a small part of the northeastern Texas Panhandle. Native Americans and early European explorers found that where the salt deposits came near the land surface (for, example north of Hutchinson, Kansas) salt is dissolved by ground water and increases the salinity of rivers, streams, springs and ponds. This salty water was used as a salt source by these peoples. The Hutchinson Salt, a 275 million-year-old Middle Permian deposit, was discovered in an exploratory drill hole in …

A Characterization Of Structures Across The Hurricane Ridge Fault In The Southeastern Olympic Peninsula, Wa, Hamma Hamma River Transect, Veronica Catherine Biesiada

Dissertations and Theses

The Olympic Mountains in northwestern Washington, USA are defined by the arcuate shape of the basaltic Crescent Formation (Fm.) that wraps a faulted and folded meta-sedimentary core. This area was developed through accretion and exhumation by subduction-related processes, but how this relates to the deformational history of the area is not fully understood. The region has been mapped geologically, however little focus has been placed on interpreting meso-scale structures. This study investigates structures along a transect where the Hamma Hamma River crosses the Hurricane Ridge Fault, which juxtaposes the meta-sedimentary core (west) and the basaltic Crescent Fm. (east). In the …

Tropospheric And Ionospheric Anomalies Induced By Volcanic And Saharan Dust Events As Part Of Geosphere Interaction Phenomena, Valerio Tramutoli, Francesco Marchese, Alfredo Falconieri, Carolina Filizzola, Nicola Genzano, Katsumi Hattori, Mariano Lisi, Jann-Yenq Liu, Dimitar Ouzounov, Michel Parrot, Nicola Pergola, Sergey Pulinets

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

In this work, we assessed the possible relation of ionospheric perturbations observed by Detection of Electro-Magnetic Emissions Transmitted from Earthquake Regions (DEMETER), Global Positioning System total electron content (GPS TEC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-derived outgoing longwave-Earth radiation (OLR), and atmospheric chemical potential (ACP) measurements, with volcanic and Saharan dust events identified by ground and satellite-based medium infrared/thermal infrared (MIR/TIR) observations. The results indicated that the Mt. Etna (Italy) volcanic activity of 2006 was probably responsible for the ionospheric perturbations revealed by DEMETER on 4 November and 6 December and by GPS TEC observations on 4 November and 12 …

Growth, Condition, And Trophic Relations Of Stocked Trout In Southern Appalachian Mountain Streams, Jesse R. Fischer, Thomas J. Kwak, H. Jared Flowers, W. Gregory Cope, Jacob M. Rash, Douglas A. Besler

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Stream trout fisheries are among the most popular and valuable in the United States, but many are dependent on hatcheries to sustain fishing and harvest. Thus, understanding the ecology of hatchery‐reared trout stocked in natural environments is fundamental to management. We evaluated the growth, condition, and trophic relations of Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis, Brown Trout Salmo trutta, and Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss that were stocked in southern Appalachian Mountain streams in western North Carolina. Stocked and wild (naturalized) trout were sampled over time (monthly; September 2012–June 2013) to compare condition and diet composition and to evaluate temporal dynamics of trophic …

Using Drone Acquired, High-Resolution, Multispectral Imaging To Predict And Monitor Coastal Dune Mobility: An Example From The Southeastern Shore Of Lake Michigan, Jacob T. Stid

18th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2019)

Dune mobility can threaten human infrastructure but is essential to maintaining diverse ecological communities in coastal dunes. Only those patches on a dune with little or no vegetation will migrate. The size of these patches together with their shape, topographic position, and topographic orientation with respect to the direction of strong sand transporting winds affect the sensitivity of the dune surface to mobilization. Images acquired by drone flights over Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area will be used to analyze topography and extent of vegetation of the dune surfaces. The results will be used to create maps showing variations in the sensitivity …

Hydrogeologic Characteristics And Groundwater Sustainability Of A Deep Bedrock Aquifer System In Illinois, Luis Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

Population growth and climate change has made groundwater an increasingly important freshwater resource. This study uses MODFLOW to estimate sustainable yield of a deep St. Peter Aquifer in Bloomington, IL. The city of Bloomington has installed two high capacity wells into the St. Peter Sandstone to meet its growing water demands. The St. Peter Aquifer is confined, receiving almost no modern recharge and is experiencing overexploitation in parts of Northern Illinois. I hypothesize that existing fast depletion of the deep St. Peter occurs due to lower-than-expected aquifer parameters of the aquifer. Further, current pumping of groundwater from the St. Peter, …

Radiative Forcing By Dust And Black Carbon On The Juneau Icefield, Alaska, Sonia A. Nagorski, Susan D. Kaspari, Eran Hood, Jason B. Fellman, S. Mckenzie Skiles

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Here we present the first known data set on black carbon (BC) and mineral dust concentrations in snow from the Juneau Icefield (JIF) in southeastern Alaska, where glacier melt rates are among the highest on Earth. In May 2016, concentrations of BC (0.4–3.1 μg/L) and dust (0.2–34 mg/L) were relatively low and decreased toward the interior of the JIF. The associated radiative forcing (RF) averaged 4 W/m2. In July, after 10 weeks of exposure, the aged snow surface had substantially higher concentrations of BC (2.1–14.8 μg/L) and dust (11–72 mg/L) that were not spatially distributed by elevation or distance from …

Notes And Discussion Piece: Status Of The Topeka Shiner In Iowa, Clay L. Pierce, Nicholas T. Simpson, Alexander P. Bybel, Courtney L. Zambory, Michael J. Weber, Kevin J. Roe

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Topeka shiner Notropis topeka is native to Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota and has been federally listed as endangered since 1998. Our goals were to determine the present distribution and qualitative status of Topeka shiners throughout its current range in Iowa and characterize the extent of decline in relation to its historic distribution. We compared the current (2016–2017) distribution to distributions portrayed in three earlier time periods. In 2016–2017 Topeka shiners were found in 12 of 20 HUC10 watersheds where they occurred historically. Their status was classified as stable in 21% of the HUC10 watersheds, possibly …

Pacific Southwest United States Holocene Droughts And Pluvials Inferred From Sediment Δ18o (Calcite) And Grain Size Data (Lake Elsinore, California), Matthew E.C. Kirby, William Paul Patterson, Matthew Lachniet, James A. Noblet, Michael A. Anderson, Kevin Nichols, Judith Avila

Geoscience Faculty Research

Records of past climate can inform us on the natural range and mechanisms of climate change. In the arid Pacific southwestern United States (PSW), which includes southern California, there exist a variety of Holocene records that can be used to infer past winter conditions (moisture and/or temperature). Holocene records of summer climate, however, are rare from the PSW. In the future, climate changes due to anthropogenic forcing are expected to increase the severity of drought in the already water stressed PSW. Hot droughts are of considerable concern as summer temperatures rise. As a result, understanding how summer conditions changed in …

Determining The Depositional Environment Of Amherstburg Formation, Elizabeth Gaines

Honors Theses

The Amherstburg Formation is a unit that stretches from Ontario to Michigan and was deposited during the Devonian Period. The goal of this project was to determine the depositional environment of the Amherstburg Formation. Facies associations were defined based on observations from three cores in northern and southeastern Michigan and later grouped into facies associations. The four facies associations were reef rubble, lagoonal, lagoonal and reef-rubble, and lagoonal and peritidal environments. These environments were deposited as laterally adjacent environments along a ramp shelf in a humid tropical climate. Sea level was relatively high during the deposition of the Amherstburg Formation. …

Index

Bulletin of the University of Nebraska State Museum (1924–2023)

No abstract provided.

Mercury Chemostratigraphy Across The Cambrian Series 2 – Series 3 Boundary: Evidence For Increased Volcanic Activity Coincident With Extinction?, L. E. Faggetter, P. B. Wignall, S. B. Pruss, D. S. Jones, S. Grasby, M. Widdowson, R. J. Newton

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

Flood basalt volcanism represented by the Kalkarindji Province (Australia) is temporally associated with a trilobite mass extinction at the Cambrian Series 2 – Series 3 boundary, providing one of the oldest potential links between volcanism and biotic crisis in the Phanerozoic. However, the relative timing of flood basalt volcanism (Kalkarindji Province, Australia) and the trilobite extinctions, first recorded in North America, is not known. Mercury (Hg) enrichment in the sedimentary record provides a potential proxy for volcanism which may facilitate improved chronologies of eruption and extinction. Here we report mercury records for three sections from mid-shelf strata of the Great …

Documenting Evolution: Comparing And Contrasting Late Mesozoic And Late Cenozoic Molluscan Patterns, Joshua Slattery

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite major advances, evolutionary theory still has numerous shortcomings in terms of fully understanding the controls on speciation and diversification. A major factor limiting our knowledge is how biology and paleobiology view speciation from separate micro- and macro-evolutionary perspectives, respectively. Biologists typically examine microevolutionary changes within species from various biogeographic, behavioral, morphological, and genetic perspectives, which contrasts to the macroevolutionary approach of most paleobiologists, who have examined the same phenomena at larger scales but with the standpoint of time, have also concentrated on aspects of global or regional diversification (e.g., richness, origination rates, and extinction rates) over the long-term. Noticeably …

Volcanic Electrification: A Multiparametric Case Study Of Sakurajima Volcano, Japan, Cassandra M. Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Electrical activity at volcanoes has been recently recognized as a potential new remote sensing technique for plume-forming eruptions. Volcanic electrical activity takes place in the conduit and plume and therefore has the benefit of being a direct indicator of surface activity. This is unlike seismic signals, which indicate magma/gas movement underground, and infrasound signals, which indicate a surface explosion but not necessarily the formation of an ash plume. There are two distinct types of volcanic electrical discharges: volcanic lightning and continual radio frequency (CRF) impulses. This dissertation explores the relationships between these two electrical signals and other commonly monitored volcanic …

Quaternary Geology Of The Cabinet, Heron And Smeads Bench 7.5’ Quadrangles, With Emphasis On Glacial Lake Missoula Sediments, Emily Welk

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

The primary scientific purpose of this project was to improve geologic knowledge of valley-fill units in the most downstream portion of the Clark Fork River valley in Montana. This was done to help understand the history of glacial Lake Missoula filling and draining cycles in the vicinity of the dam. The secondary purpose was to make a geologic map of the Cabinet, Heron and Smeads Bench 7.5-minute quadrangles and to resolve differences between detailed maps of Idaho (Lewis and others, 2008) and the old map of the Smeads bench, Heron and Cabinet quadrangles in Montana (Harrison and others, 1992; mapping …

The Geology And Geochemistry Of The Golden Chest Gold Deposit, Murray, Idaho, Alexander Brown

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

The Golden Chest Au-W Mine has been intermittently mined since the 1880’s. Mineralized quartz veins have been deposited into the Upper Prichard Formation of the Proterozoic Belt Supergroup. The Golden Chest is located in the Summit Mining District within the Murray Gold Belt region of the greater Coeur d’Alene (CdA) Mining District. A modern geochemical study of the Golden Chest has never been conducted at the Golden Chest.

This thesis investigates, with the collaboration of New Jersey Mining Company (NJMC), the paragenesis of ore forming minerals, the mineralogy of the deposit and the genesis of the ore forming processes. A …

Results Of The March 2019 Geophysical Survey Near Richardton, North Dakota, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Fact sheet describing the results of a March 2019 geophysical survey near Richardton, North Dakota, conducted by the Energy & Environmental Research Center and funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy. This was part of the Red Trail Energy carbon capture and storage (CCS) research effort. [This item is an outdated or superseded version and retained for historical purposes only. It may no longer reflect current information, policies, or practices.]

Completed Geophysical Survey Near Richardton, N.D., University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Fact sheet about an intended geophysical survey near Richardton, North Dakota. Describes the survey’s goal of evaluating the area’s feasibility as a CO₂ storage site, as part of the Red Trail Energy carbon capture and storage research effort. [This item is an outdated or superseded version and retained for historical purposes only. It may no longer reflect current information, policies, or practices.]

Rates Of Relative Sea Level Rise Along The United States East Coast, Jesse N. Beckman, Joseph E. Garcia

Virginia Journal of Science

Recent studies have indicated that some coastal areas, including the East Coast of the United States, are experiencing higher rates of sea level rise than the global average. Rates of relative sea level rise are affected by changes in ocean dynamics, as well as by surface elevation fluctuations due to local land subsidence or uplift. In this study, we derived long-term trends in annual mean relative sea level using tide gauge data obtained from the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level for stations along the United States East Coast. Stations were grouped by location into the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast …

The Effect Of Evapotranspiration On The Groundwater Dome And Past Drought Conditions At Cape Henry, Virginia, Bryce Omar Shoup

OES Theses and Dissertations

First Landing State Park, located in Virginia Beach, is a cuspate foreland developed from a succession of erosional and progradational events forming a series of dunes and interdunal swales. Low-lying swales dominate the southern portion of the park forming many wetlands, but the northern portion of the park has fewer wetlands. An asymmetric groundwater dome has been observed on Cape Henry, cresting north of the geographic center of the cuspate foreland. The purpose of this study was to determine if the wetlands that dominate the southern portion of the park are the major driver of the asymmetric groundwater dome and …

Transitional Granulite-Facies Mafic Xenoliths In The 2.8 Ga Trondjhemite-Tonalite-Granodiorite (Ttg) Gneisses Of The Eastern Beartooth Mountains, Mt/Wy: Evidence For Variable Fluid Interactions, Andrew W. Osborne

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.