Geology Commons^™

Cold Atmospheric Plasma Induced Degradation Of Organophosphate Pesticides On Kevlar Swatches, Ta Chun Lin, Victor Somtochukwu Mbanugo, Boluwatife Stephen Ojo, Yue-Wern Huang, Marek Locmelis, Frank Daoru Han

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) was evaluated for degrading organophosphate pesticide (OP) residues (acephate, malathion, and dimethoate) from Kevlar fabrics. Fourier transform-Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM) imaging and tensile strength testing confirmed that CAP treatment preserved Kevlar's structural integrity and mechanical properties. Results show degradation efficiency increased with higher power, shorter discharge gaps, and longer exposure duration. Hyperspectral imaging supported the detection of plasma-induced spectral changes, reinforcing the presence of reactive species. The strong oxidative potential of CAP facilitated the rapid breakdown of OPs into nontoxic byproducts. These findings demonstrate the potential of CAP as a portable, energy-efficient solution …

Investigating Woody Vegetation Recruitment Post Riparian Enhancement Extraction Along The Baduwa't, Rize Martins De Oliveira, Wiley Hughes, Owen Lenox

Forestry, Fire, & Rangeland Management Senior Capstones

The Baduwa’t River in Humboldt County, California, faces a legacy of channelization, poor land management, and severe flooding that has left high, dry floodplain terraces disconnected from the river and dominated by invasive vegetation. In response to sediment deficits during drought years, Riparian Enhancement Extractions (REEs) were introduced as an alternative gravel mining method that simultaneously presented opportunities for habitat restoration. This study evaluates five REEs along the Baduwa’t to identify the construction features and site conditions that promote successful riparian vegetation establishment. Findings show that REEs can create seasonal wetlands conducive to native riparian habitat reestablishment, when excavation is …

Sedimentary Archives Of Late Quaternary Limnological, Ecological, And Environmental Change In The Eastern Sierra Nevada (California, Usa), Bailee Hodelka

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

The Sierra Nevada essentially serve as the headwaters of California, providing crucial freshwater to the state through seasonal snowmelt. This water supply is threatened by climate change in complex ways that are not fully understood. Geological records provide a valuable source of information on how the hydrology, limnology, and ecology of the Sierra Nevada region has responded to climate changes of the past. This dissertation presents new sedimentary and paleoecological research from Mono Lake and Convict Lake (Mono County, California) and aims to shed light on environmental changes in the eastern Sierra Nevada from ~16 ka to present.

At Mono …

Evaluating Tropospheric Delay Modeling For Enhanced Geospatial Accuracy, Adeyinka Olaoluwa Olaseinde

Masters Theses

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is a vital technique for monitoring ground surface deformation across large spatial scales. However, variability in atmospheric water vapor, pressure, and temperature introduces tropospheric delays that can significantly affect measurement accuracy. These delays are often corrected using outputs from numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. RAiDER, an open-source Python package, facilitates this by estimating tropospheric delays using models such as the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR). Previous studies have shown that weather model–based corrections can substantially reduce atmospheric noise in InSAR data but also highlight persistent residual errors, especially at spatial scales smaller than the model grid …

Overall Tropospheric Noise Over The St. Louis Using Isce And Fringe Processing, Maryann Lee

Masters Theses

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is a satellite-based technique that is used to measure various aspects such as ground deformation, earthquakes, volcanic activity, and motions of glaciers. Although the technique has proved very useful, measurements errors such as ionospheric and tropospheric noise, and deformation often cause problems with making precise measurements. InSAR is a tool used in geodesy that is used to measure the change of surface deformation over time through a series of repeated SAR acquisitions. These errors in the acquisitions occur from factors of signal decorrelation, atmospheric delays, and phase unwrapping errors that affect the accuracy and precision …

Permafrost And Structural Controls On Holocene Bedrock Landslide Occurrence Around Eyjafjörður, North‐Central Iceland, Adam Booth, Halldór G. Pétursson

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Rapid, transient, landscape‐scale changes associated with deglaciation can condition slopes for failure and trigger bedrock landslides. However, the mechanisms leading to paleo rock slope failures following the last glacial period are challenging to infer because observations of how both landsliding and potential driving factors were distributed in space and time are limited. Here, we map and analyze the spatiotemporal pattern of 676 post‐glacial bedrock landslides around Eyjafjörður in north‐central Iceland using 2‐m resolution digital elevation data generated from optical stereo satellite imagery. Frequency‐ratio analysis demonstrates that after controlling for slope, landslides are most overrepresented within 2.6 km horizontal distances from …

Visual Understanding Of Rock Wettability Distribution To Contact Angle Regions And Oil Displacement Patterns In The Silty Sand Reservoir Via 2d Pore-Scale Modeling, H. Al-Ajaj, W. Al-Bazzaz, Ralph E. Flori, S. Alsayegh, H. Almubarak, D. S. Ibrahim, H. Al-Saedi

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study, conducted using a silty sand reservoir rock extracted from a Kuwait-producing oilfield, provides crucial insights into fluid distribution patterns and mineralogy, as well as wettability contact angle preferences. The method used for visual identification not only captures rock physics but also suggests effective oil recovery displacement strategies. Visual identification is presented using 2D image technology and a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Analytical data are presented from electron bombardments and backscattering reflections collected in the BSE detector. These analyses were used to characterize the various surface boundary morphology parameters of the silty sand mineral surfaces, including area, perimeter, mineral …

Stratigraphy And Osl Chronology Of Lunette Deposits Indicates That Nebraska’S Rainwater Basins Formed By Aeolian Deflation Between 39 And 25 Ka, P.R. Hanson, Robert Matthew Joeckel

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Predictive Modeling For Optimal Gel Treatment Design In Brownfields Using Ensemble Machine Learning And Data Upsampling Via Generative Ai, Munqith Aldhaheri, Baojun Bai, Mingzhen Wei

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Efficiently designed gel treatments play a vital role in extending the lifespan of brownfields through rejuvenating oil production. Recently, a three-mode mathematical methodology named the VCR approach has been proposed for designing effective treatments. To optimize this approach, it is crucial to determine the appropriate design mode systematically rather than relying solely on the intuitive judgments of field operators. This study introduces an advanced methodology for predicting the optimal design type of gel treatments using 12 reservoir and production variables. The methodology integrates ensemble machine-learning (EML) models with historical data from 65 field projects across 11 countries (1985-2020). The Random …

Characterization And Leaching Feasibility Studies Of Copper Flue Dust For The Recovery Of Main And Trace Metals, Fardis Nakhaei, Marek Locmelis, Lana Alagha, Michael S. Moats, Carlos Eyzaguirre, Cory Smith

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Although copper smelter dust (CSD) is classified as hazardous waste, it also serves as a valuable secondary resource, offering potential for the recovery of critical elements. In this study, CSD samples were collected from the waste heat boiler (WHB) and electrostatic precipitator (ESP) units connected to the flash smelting furnace at a copper smelter. The representative samples were extensively characterized by particle size, and chemical and mineralogical analyses. Following sample characterization, leaching experiments were performed to evaluate the potential extraction of Cu, Fe, As, Zn, Pb, In, Ga, and Ge from the flue dusts. Distilled water, H2SO4, and HCl were …

A Hybrid Method For Source Direction Finding With Radio Frequency Interference And Gaussian White Noise, Yanming Zhang, Wenchao Xu, Antonios Argyriou, A. Long Jin, Tianquan Tang, Peifeng Ma, Lijun Jiang, Steven Gao

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a hybrid data-driven method, termed moving average-Hankel-dynamic mode decomposition (MAHankDMD), for joint direction of arrival (DOA) and frequency estimation in environments affected by both radio frequency interference (RFI) and Gaussian white noise. The proposed approach integrates two key components: (1) a moving average-DMD filter that effectively mitigates Gaussian white noise and separates RFI from the source signal, and (2) a Hankel-DMD method that accurately estimates the DOA of the filtered signal and associates it with the corresponding frequency. The moving average-DMD stage first enhances the signal-to-noise ratio and improves the robustness of the estimation process through noise …

The Petrology Of The Ozerki Meteorite Constrained By Electron Backscatter Diffraction And X-Ray Computed Tomography, Alice Macente, Luke Daly, Sammy Griffin, Maria Gritsevich, Jarmo Moilanen, Josh Franz Einsle, Patrick Trimby, Chris Mulcahy, Jonathan Moffat, Alexander M. Ruzicka

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Combining electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) with X-ray computed tomography (XCT) offers a comprehensive approach to investigate shock deformation and rock texture in meteorites, yet such integration remains uncommon. In this study, we demonstrate the synergistic potential of XCT and EBSD in revealing deformation metrics, thereby enhancing our understanding of petrofabric strength and shock-induced deformation. Our analysis focuses on the Ozerki (L6, S4/5, W0) meteorite fall, which was instrumentally observed on June 21, 2018, and subsequently recovered by the Ural's branch of the Russian Fireball Network (UrFU) recovery expedition a few days later. The trajectory analysis conducted by the Finnish Fireball …

Groundwater Pumping Impacts On Stream Depletion In Humboldt County, Ca: Integrating Analytical Models And Field Data, Andy Hans Heise

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This study addresses the significant concern of stream depletion from groundwater pumping in Humboldt County, CA. The objective of this study is to develop an analytical model for estimating stream depletion and integrating field data into model parameters.

The methodology involved conducting a field study near three operating wells by a stream, installing stream gages upstream and downstream of the wells, and recording pumping rates and schedules for two of the wells. The third well’s pumping data was synthetically generated, for privacy concerns of the well owner. The StreamDepletR package was used for estimating depletion rates in a stream in …

Provenance Of Clastic Sedimentation In Middle Deadfall Lake And Paleoclimate Modelling Of Glacier Fluctuations At Mount Eddy, Eastern Klamath Mountains, California, Usa, Emily Stebbins

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This study reconstructs the timing, extent, and paleoclimate conditions associated with late Pleistocene glaciation in the Mount Eddy region of the eastern Klamath Mountains, northern California and investigates the provenance of clastic sedimentation in Middle Deadfall Lake, just east of Mt Eddy. Using a multi-pronged approach that combines geomorphic mapping, sediment core analysis, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) geochemistry, tephrochronology, and glacier modeling using PalaeoIce 2.0, this research provides new insights into glacial dynamics and climate variability in a region with limited glacially derived paleoclimate datasets, as well as past volcanic eruption deposits.

Field and GIS-based geomorphic mapping identified three generations …

Yukon Dust From Source To Sink: Characterizing The St. Elias Mountains As A High-Latitude Dust Source, Audrey Y. Lemoine

Honors Theses

High-latitude dust is an important, yet poorly understood, component of Earth’s climate system. It impacts weather and albedo by acting as cloud condensation nuclei, directly affects Earth’s radiative balance, and can enhance productivity by supplying nutrients to ecosystems. In order to better understand high-latitude dust dynamics and impacts, we sampled glacial meltwater, surface sediment, and Holocene loess in the Łhù’ààn Mân (Kluane Lake) region of the Yukon Territory, Canada. We found that suspended sediment concentration is correlated with average slope and glaciation within a catchment, and is influenced by river morphology. We present new εNd and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr …

Microbial Mats In Dinosaur Ichnocoenoses, Nora Noffke, Paul C. Murphey, Roger C. Buntin, Martin G. Lockley

OES Faculty Publications

Until now, the significance of microbial mats in preservation of dinosaur tracks and in reconstructing the palaeoenvironment in which dinosaurs roamed was rarely studied. Dinosaur tracks are commonly found close to ancient aquatic bodies where moist sediment had once allowed footstep registration. At such sites, epibenthic or endobenthic microbial mats may have developed as well and may have led to exquisite track preservation. Microbial mats in coastal, lacustrine or flood plain environments cause ‘microbially induced sedimentary structures—MISS’, which are micobialites found in sandy or evaporitic settings. The microbial structures record environmental parameters including meteorological conditions that existed at the time …

Spatial Analysis Of American Chestnut (Castanea Dentata) Distribution And Ecology In Kentucky’S Federal Lands, Jacob Raymond Pease

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic factors have been the cause of the decline of tree species across the globe. From unsustainable logging and development to disease and improper management, threats to forests have taken their toll. The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was once an integral basal tree species in Appalachian forests, but chestnut blight drove the species to functional extinction by the mid-1900s. The recent creation of genetically modified chestnuts gives hope for future restoration of the species throughout its historical range. Despite blight resistance, effective restoration will require optimal site selection for finding and planting chestnuts, which will maximize limited resources. …

Spatiotemporal Economic Impact Analysis Of The Taal Volcano Eruption Using Electricity Consumption And Nighttime Light Data, Ma Flordeliza P. Del Castillo, Toshio Fujimi, Hirokazu Tatano

SOSE Affiliate: Manila Observatory

Analyzing the spatiotemporal dimension of the economic impacts of disasters is critical for providing timely and proportionate support. However, traditional economic impact measures often lack spatiotemporal details. Hence, we estimated the daily electricity consumption (EC) loss using high-frequency EC data and analyzed temporal dimensions of the immediate impacts of Taal Volcano’s eruption on January 12, 2020. Subsequently, we computed the nighttime light (NTL) change using high-resolution NTL data to analyze the spatial distribution of these impacts. The temporal analysis revealed two EC loss peaks. The first peak coincided with the power outage and decreased energy demand, followed by a brief …

Heat Treatment Of Basaltic-Related Sapphire From Binh Thuan Deposit, Southern Vietnam, Yuparat Kwangsawat

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Characteristics of basalt-related sapphires from Binh Thuan in Southern Vietnam were investigated before and after heat treatment. Samples were divided into four group, based on their color and hue including dark blue, blue, greenish blue, and bluish green. After being heated at 700-1000°C, sapphires' blue hue faded noticeably. Blue color turned to be intensified when heated at 1650°C. Subsequently, beryllium-assisted heating by a local professional gem treater was introduced to these sapphire samples which in turn yielded yellow to yellowish-blue hues. Color changes after heating are conclusively involved by trace compositions of sapphire and temperatures of heating. The appropriate treatment …

Early Holocene Interaction Of Aeolian, Alluvial, And Lacustrine Processes In A Dune-Dammed Valley In The Central Nebraska Sand Hills, Gpsia Mahoney, R. D. Mandel, P.R. Hanson, Sherilyn Fritz

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Exploring Nitrate Reduction In A Saturated Riparian Buffer Through A Three-Dimensional Reactive Contaminant Transport Model In An Agricultural Area, Mcclean County Central Illinois, Franklin O. Ijigade

Theses and Dissertations

Saturated Riparian Buffers (SRBs) are engineered systems designed to remove nitrate and other pollutants from subsurface agricultural drainage water before it reaches a stream. This study utilizes a high-resolution coupled flow and reactive transport model to explore nitrate reduction and transformation in an SRB in glacial sediment. The influence of material heterogeneity on nitrate reduction and the effectiveness of the SRB was investigated. The study was conducted in an SRB located next to and receiving tile drainage water that ultimately drains into a 3^rd order stream (T3 stream) in central Illinois, USA. A three-dimensional steady groundwater flow model was …

Geochemical And Sedimentological Signals Of Bottom Water Oxygen Dynamics From Lake Tanganyika (Zambia), Njahi Mwangala

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Lake Tanganyika is a large, ancient freshwater body with exceptional biodiversity that is located in the East African Rift System. Lake Tanganyika’s size and longevity make its sedimentary record useful for understanding environmental changes that cross spatial and temporal boundaries. Lake Tanganyika is known to be susceptible to global warming given its tropical location. Over 12 million people living within Lake Tanganyika’s watershed rely on fishing for their income and nutrition. Changes to limnological function driven by climate could therefore have serious implications for human health and biodiversity conservation. This study focuses on using geochemical properties of modern lake bottom …

Late Holocene Paleolimnology Of Lake Tanganyika (East Africa), Leandro Domingos Luz

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Understanding the long-term responses of ecosystems to climate variability is crucial for predicting and mitigating future changes in the Afrotropics, a region where a significant portion of the population is highly vulnerable to extreme climatic events. Lake Tanganyika, the largest rift lake in East Africa, offers a unique sedimentary archive that can be used to investigate the limnological changes, hydroclimatic shifts, and vegetation dynamics across various timescales. A multi-proxy approach was employed to assess the landscape responses to hydroclimatic fluctuations in the Late Holocene, integrating paleoenvironmental records from radiocarbon-dated sediment cores. This approach involved sedimentology, mineralogy, geochemistry, phytolith analysis, and …

Applications Of Remote Sensing Data To Understanding Geohazards In Wyoming And Kentucky, Meredith Swallom

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Shallow geohazards such as earthquakes, landslides, and floods profoundly impact communities globally. Constraining susceptibility to these hazards is critical for effective hazard mitigation and building more resilient communities. This dissertation includes multiple studies that leverage remotely sensed datasets to address hazard susceptibility, including: (1) characterizing a potential northern extension of the Teton fault system, (2) deriving a vegetation-based metric to improve landslide susceptibility maps in eastern Kentucky, with potential global implications, and (3) combining numerical modeling, landscape models, and field constraints to understand how anthropogenic factors affect flood severity in southern Appalachian catchments.

In the first study, analysis of new …

Monazite Ages In And Fertility Of Crystalline Basement Rocks Of The Eastern Inner Piedmont Province: Potential Source Of Detrital Ree Critical Mineral Resources In The Coastal Plain And Modern Fluvial Systems, Abagale K. Ramsey

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

The southeastern United States has been known for over a century as a potential resource for rare earth elements due to the abundance of monazite in sediments and crystalline basement rocks. However, sedimentary evolution of the monazite from bedrock to placer deposit and the provenance of the monazite remain untested. This study examined samples collected from the basement rocks of the Piedmont terrane in South Carolina and western North Carolina including peraluminous granites, metagranites, mica schists, and biotite gneisses, and heavy-mineral concentrates of first-order streams draining from these rocks, for age comparison and monazite abundance. Monazite grains were analyzed for …

Sem Images And Eds Spectra Of Vapor Deposited Phases, Natalie Zimmermann

Geosciences Research Data

This file contains supplemental data for the JGR manuscript Trace Element Transport and Deposition during Magmatic Degassing: The Effect on Martian Rocks and Fines (Zimmermann et al., in review). It includes SEM images and associated EDS spectra of vapor deposited phases produced in experiments.

Geochemical Assessment Of Sediment Flux In A Sediment Core From A Tidal Flat In A Tropical Estuary, Olumide Ajulo

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Sediment flux in estuaries is influenced by both natural processes and anthropogenic activities. Understanding the historical and current trends in sediment flux inputs and geochemical composition are essential for evaluating the estuary’s response to natural and human-induced changes and for developing effective environmental management strategies. The tropical Wouri Estuary in Cameroon receives water and sediment inputs from three main rivers draining urban, industrial, and agricultural areas, as well as different rock terrains. The complex inputs into the estuary can significantly affect sediment flux, consequently impacting the ecosystem. Thereby making an understanding of the temporal variations in sediment inputs in the …

Global Patterns Of Coseismic Landslide Runout Mobility Differ From Aseismic Landslide Trends, Alex R. R. Grant, Natalie K. Culhane

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Coseismic landslides significantly contribute to human and economic losses during and immediately following earthquakes, yet very little data on the runout of such landslides exist. While well-established behavior of aseismic (e.g., hydrologically triggered) landslide runout mobility suggests strong correlation between landslide size and mobility, limited studies of coseismic landslide runout find conflicting mobility trends. We present a global dataset of runout lengths produced from a new automated method for estimating landslide runout, developed and validated using 1726 manually mapped landslides from five unique earthquakes. We then apply the automated runout tool to 23 global earthquake-induced landslide inventories, producing a compiled …

Investigating Heterogeneity Of Hydraulic Conductivity And Its Influence On Groundwater Flow Dynamics Within A Saturated Riparian Buffer In Central Illinois, Joseph L. Awuku

Theses and Dissertations

The use of Saturated Riparian Buffers (SRBs) in agricultural settings as a means of reducing contamination of surface water and groundwater resources has gained popularity due to their trapping ability and solute removal (nutrient recycling) capacity. In light of SRB’s nutrient-trapping and removal ability, numerous studies have been conducted to characterize the effectiveness of SRBs. However, most studies on SRBs have paid minimal attention to heterogeneity of hydraulic conductivity (K) and groundwater flow dynamics within SRBs. This study investigated the heterogeneity in horizontal K and estimated the vertical groundwater-specific discharge (q_v) between the upper weathered and its …

Hydrogeochemical Characterization Of The Ahtanum Alluvial Fan For Managed Aquifer Recharge, Yakima Basin, Washington, Brook M. Bauer

All Master's Theses

Overallocation of water resources in the Yakima River Basin, central Washington, has prompted investigation into facilitated aquifer recharge to enhance water supply during drought as part of the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan (YBIP). This study evaluates and characterizes the recharge potential of the Ahtanum Creek alluvial fan within the lower Ahtanum Sub-Basin by integrating geologic, hydraulic, and geochemical data.

Four main hydrogeologic units (unconsolidated, semi-consolidated, consolidated basin-fill deposits, and Columbia River Basalt aquifers) were identified from stratigraphic analysis of well logs across seven transects spanning the active fan and abandoned alluvial terrace portions of the alluvial fan study area. Stable …