Geology Commons^™

Age And Petrogenesis Of The Roaring Mountain Rhyolites, Yellowstone Volcanic Field, Wyoming, Kathleen Marie Wooton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Extracaldera rhyolites in the Norris-Mammoth Corridor of the Yellowstone Volcanic Field (YVF) appear to be unrelated to intracaldera volcanism, resulting instead from a new crustal magma source derived from northeastward propagation of the Yellowstone “melting anomaly.” The youngest extracaldera rhyolite unit, the Roaring Mountain Member (RM), is chemically distinct from the previous extracaldera lavas, reverting to more primitive compositions.

This study suggests that the majority of the RM rhyolites erupted from the same large-scale silicic magma system. Based on geochemistry and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology, the Crystal Spring mingled rhyolite and Obsidian Cliff rhyolite erupted concurrently at 59.1 ± 2.0 ka. The …

Late Paleozoic Deformation In The Osgood Mountains And Dry Hills, Northern Nevada, Samuel A. Siebenaler

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Pennsylvanian (IP) and Permian (P) deposits (Etchart Formation) and structures in the northern Osgood Mountains and Dry Hills are identified and interpreted to reconstruct a late Paleozoic tectonic history for the time between the Antler and Sonoma orogenies. Mapping, field observations, fusulinid-based unit ages, and structural analysis are used to identify three fold and fault sets, a fault set, a fold set, and at least two angular unconformities. The faults consist of N to S striking normal faults (fault set 1) that are cross cut by WSW-ENE striking thrust faults (fault set 2). Fault sets 1 and 2 are cross …

Kinematics And Vorticity In Kangmar Dome, Southern Tibet: Testing Midcrustal Channel-Flow Models For The Himalaya, Tom Wagner, Jeffrey Lee, Bradley R. Hacker, Gareth Seward

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Kinematic, kinematic vorticity (W_m), and deformation temperature analyses were completed to test the hypothesis that midcrustal rocks exposed in the core of the Kangmar gneiss dome, southern Tibet record ductile deformation patterns of a “frozen” segment of a southward flowing midcrustal channel. Microscopic and mesoscopic kinematic indicators exhibit a downward transition from a subequal mix of top-north and top-south shear in garnet zone rocks to dominantly top-north shear in staurolite/kyanite zone and deeper rocks. Kinematic vorticity values indicate an increase in pure shear component with depth from ∼48% pure shear in chloritoid zone rocks through ∼62% in …

Rare Earth Element Transport In The Yucca Mountain Region, Liqiong Zhang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In sync with environmental pollution of solutes in nature, from source, process to consequence, geochemical processes (leaching and sorption) and hydraulic transportation of the rare earth elements (REEs) have been investigated at Yucca Mountain (YM), Nevada. This research includes the leaching behavior of trace elements (including REEs) from aquifer rocks, the surface complexation reactions of REEs in synthetic groundwater, and transportation of reactive REEs in the local-scale groundwater system of YM. This dissertation includes three projects. These studies indicate that surface complexation reactions may retard the transportation of REEs along groundwater paths in YM, which suggests a similar behavior of …

Heavy Metal Concentrations In Water And Surface Sediments Of Wilgreen Lake, Madison County, Kentucky, Chad Von Gruenigen, Walter S. Borowski

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Heavy metal pollution remains problematic in natural waters, particularly for localities near plausible anthropogenic sources. We assayed the level of heavy metals in surface waters and within surface sediments of Wilgreen Lake, whose watershed drains industrial, urban, agricultural, and residential areas near Richmond, Kentucky. Water samples were treated according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) protocols and digested with trace-metal-grade nitric and hydrochloric acids. Sediment samples were collected with a grab sampler and digested using established EPA procedures with hydrogen peroxide and trace-metal-grade nitric acid. Both water samples and sediment samples were sent to Activation Laboratories for analysis, and were measured …

Estimates Of The Hydraulic Parameters Of Aquifers In Cache Valley, Utah And Idaho, Paul C. Inkenbrandt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Hydraulic parameters of aquifers in Cache Valley were compiled from existing but largely unpublished data, from specific capacity data reported in well drillers' records, and from aquifer tests conducted for this study. A GIS database was also created to organize this information.

A complete and thorough literature review was performed, which included obtaining unpublished aquifer test data from state and federal agencies, as well as reviewing Drinking Water Source Protection plans for each municipality in the valley.

Well drillers' records were obtained from the Utah Division of Water Rights website and examined for pertinent information. Screened unit intervals from 1,314 …

Policy And Science Of Geothermal Heat Use At Mcmurdo Station, Antarctica, Joe Alvine

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

My thesis research project deals with the use of geothermal heat in Antarctica. Currently it is not allowed due to article 7 of the 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection that placed a 50 moratorium on the exploitation of mineral resources. The US main base in Antarctica, McMurdo Station is currently powered by diesel generators that are inefficient, cause environmental damage, and is expensive to run. By exploring alternative energy options, McMurdo Station can reduce its dependence on non-renewable energy sources. By determining the geothermal potential of McMurdo Station, this project explores the possibilities and benefits that would occur with the …

Integrated Approach For The Assessment And Development Of Groundwater Resources In Arid Lands: Applications In The Quetta Valley, Pakistan, Zhanay Sagintayev

Dissertations

The lack of adequate field measurements (e.g., precipitation and stream flow) and difficulty in obtaining them often hampers the construction and calibration of rainfall-runoff models over many of the world's watersheds, leaving key· elements of the hydrologic cycle unconstrained. I adopted methodologies that rely heavily on readily available remote sensing datasets as viable alternatives and useful tools for assessing, managing, and modeling the water resources of such remote and inadequately gauged regions.

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool was selected for continuous (1998-2005) rainfall-runoff modeling of the northeast part of the Pishin Lora basin (NEPL), a politically unstable area that …

Geophysics At The Interface: Response Of Geophysical Properties To Solid-Fluid, Fluid-Fluid, And Solid-Solid Interfaces, Rosemary Knight, Laura J. Pyrak-Nolte, Lee D. Slater, Estella A. Atekwana, Anthony L. Endres, Jil T. Geller, David P. Lesmes, Seiji Nakagawa, Andre Revil, Mukul M. Sharma, Christian Straley

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Laboratory studies reveal the sensitivity of measured geophysical properties to solid-fluid, fluid-fluid, and solid-solid interfaces in granular and fractured materials. In granular materials, electrical properties and nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation times exhibit a strong dependence on the size and properties of the solid-fluid interface. The electrical and seismic properties of granular materials and the seismic properties of fractured materials reveal a dependence on the size or geometry of fluid-fluid interfaces. Seismic properties of granular and fractured materials are affected by the effective stress and cementing material at solid-solid interfaces. There have been some recent studies demonstrating the use of field-scale …

Seismic Anisotropy Beneath The Afar Depression And Adjacent Areas: Implications For Mantle Flow, Stephen S. Gao, Kelly H. Liu, Mohammed G. Abdel Salam

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Shear wave splitting is a robust tool to infer the direction and strength of seismic anisotropy in the lithosphere and underlying asthenosphere. Previous shear wave splitting studies in the Afar Depression and adjacent areas concluded that either Precambrian sutures or vertical magmatic dikes are mostly responsible for the observed anisotropy. Here we report results of a systematic analysis of teleseismic shear wave splitting using all the available broadband seismic data recorded in the Afar Depression, Main Ethiopian Rift (MER), and Ethiopian Plateau. We found that while the ~450 measurements on the Ethiopian Plateau and in the MER show insignificant azimuthal …

Testing Mechanisms Of Subduction Zone Segmentation And Seismogenesis With Slip Distributions From Recent Andean Earthquakes, John P. Loveless, M. E. Pritchard, K. Kukowski

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

A long-standing goal of subduction zone earthquake studies is to determine whether or not there are physical processes that control seismogenesis and the along-strike segmentation of the megathrust. Studies of individual earthquakes and global compilations of earthquakes find favorable comparison between coseismic interplate slip distributions and several different long-lived forearc characteristics, such as bathymetry, coastline morphology, crustal structure, and interplate frictional properties, but no single explanation seems to govern the location and slip distribution of all earthquakes. One possible reason for the lack of a unifying explanation is that the inferred earthquake parameters, most importantly the slip distribution, calculated in …

Modern Variation In Predation Intensity: Constraints On Assessing Predator-Prey Relationships In Paleoecologic Reconstructions, James Funderburk

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The complex interaction between predators and their prey is rarely preserved in the fossil record. However, predation of marine mollusks by drilling gastropods leaves a diagnostic hole in the shell of the prey, possibly allowing for quantitative analysis of this ecological interaction. Drilling frequency, as measured in marine mollusks both in the Modern and fossil record, has been heralded as a potential opportunity to quantify these ecological interactions and use these values in the testing of hypotheses.

This study employed the collection, tallying, and analysis of bulk samples derived from shelly deposits on 45 Modern beaches along the contiguous coast …

Exhumation Mechanisms Of The Greater Himalayan Sequence, Garhwal Region, India, Christopher James Spencer

Theses and Dissertations

Geothermobarometric, micro- and macro-structural data indicate that peak metamorphic pressure and temperature of the Greater Himalayan Sequence (GHS) of the Garhwal Region of India increase dramatically across the Main Central Thrust (MCT). Metamorphic pressure and temperature increase from ~5 kbar and ~550 ºC in the Lesser Himalayan Crystalline Sequence (LHCS) in the footwall to ~14 kbar and ~850 ºC at ~3 km above the MCT in the hanging wall (GHS). Pressures decrease slightly upsection to ~8 kbar and temperatures remain nearly constant at ~850 ºC to the structurally overlying South Tibetan Detachment (STD). The LHCS exhibits a high temperature-depth gradient …

Applied Technologies And Prospects Of Conformance Control Treatments In China, Yuzhang Liu, Baojun Bai, Yefei Wang

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

China is the largest user of chemical-based conformance control treatments and a series of technologies have been successfully developed and deployed in recent years. This paper first shows the milestones of development and application of conformance control technologies in China. Then integrated conformance control technologies are reviewed followed by the lessons we have learned, and then a few major specific conformance control technologies are addressed, including tracer injection and channels explanation, potentiometric testing to identify areal sweep efficiency, Pressure Index (PI) decisionmaking technology to select well candidate, complementary decision-making technology to select well candidate and design application parameters, and major …

A New Carnosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) From The Upper Morrison Formation (Late Jurassic, Tithonian) Of Colorado, Sebastian Dalman

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

A disarticulated skeleton of a theropod from the Late Jurassic (Tithonian) strata of McElmo Canyon in Montezuma County, Colorado was discovered in 1953 by the late J. T. Gregory and D. Techter. For nearly 55 years the specimen remained unnoticed in the collection of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Connecticut. Several cranial and postcranial elements are relatively well preserved and include the premaxilla, maxilla, dentary, teeth, quadratojugal, braincase, metacarpals, partial pubis and ischium, astragalus, partial tibia and fibula, metatarsals, pedal phalanges, and several partially preserved ribs. The specimen represents a new genus and species of …

Spatial Similarities And Differences Of Attributes Of Three Subwatersheds Within The Middle Smoky Hill River Watershed And Their Relationship To Instream Total Suspended Solids, Dustin Fross

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

The objective of this study was to spatially analyze the attributes of three subwatersheds, Hydrological Unit Code 12 (HUC 12), of the Middle Smoky Hill River Watershed in west-central Kansas and relate the variances of the attributes to the concentrations of total suspended solids (TSS) entering the Smoky Hill River during storm events. This was accomplished by comparing land cover, including cropland, grassland, and urban factors; agricultural practices, such as tillage methods, condition of terraces, and the presence of grass waterways; geomorphology, including soil types, topography, and visible erosion; and lastly, precipitation variance. The three HUC 12s that were studied …

Book Review: Stars Above, Earth Below: A Guide To Astronomy In The National Parks, T. D. Oswalt

Publications

This document is Dr. Oswalt’s review of Stars Above, Earth Below : a Guide to Astronomy in the National Parks by Tyler Nordgren. Springer/Praxis, 2010 444p, 9781441916488 $29.95.

Upper Cretaceous Peay Bentonites (North-Central Wyoming): Provenance And Tectonics Interpretation From Ash Composition, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Carl F. Vondra, Karl E. Seifert, Malek Shami, Rochelle Cardinale, Thakur Chaturgan

Publications and Research

The Peay bentonites belong to the basal Frontier Formation (Bighorn Basin, north-central Wyoming), primarily outcrop in the Bighorn Basin, rest on an extensively bioturbated sandstone unit, the Peay Sandstone, and are generally the thinner bentonitic unit. Beds of very light gray to greenish gray bentonite are also abundant in the lower Frontier units between Kaycee and Mayoworth (Powder River Basin) and are very rarely as much as 3 m thick. Bentonite occurs within the interstratified shale, sandstone, and siltstone sequences of the lower Frontier unit throughout much of the southwestern Powder River Basin. The purpose of this study is to …

Bedrock Erosion By Root Fracture And Tree Throw: A Coupled Biogeomorphic Model To Explore The Humped Soil Production Function And The Persistence Of Hillslope Soils, Emmanuel Gabet, Simon Mudd

Faculty Publications

In 1877, G. K. Gilbert reasoned that bedrock erosion is maximized under an intermediate soil thickness and declines as soils become thinner or thicker. Subsequent analyses of this “humped” functional relationship proposed that thin soils are unstable and that perturbations in soil thickness would lead to runaway thinning or thickening of the soil. To explore this issue, we developed a numerical model that simulates the physical weathering of bedrock by root fracture and tree throw. The coupled biogeomorphic model combines data on conifer population dynamics, rootwad volumes, tree throw frequency, and soil creep from the Pacific Northwest (USA). Although not …

Geogram 2010, David J. Keeling Editor, Wku Department Of Geography And Geology

Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences Publications

No abstract provided.

Geospatial Data Portals: Librarians Add Expertise In The Development Of Gis Metadata Catalogs, Adonna Fleming

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Searching a geospatial data catalog can be frustrating for many GIS data users. Geospatial data catalogs are built on records created to a specific metadata standard, such as ISO 19115. The search query is often limited to searching a few tags within the record, such as title, publisher, spatial extent, content theme, and content type. GIS personnel tend to create metadata records with little thought into how it will be discovered by others. On the other hand, library catalogs are developed for a broad spectrum of users with varying knowledge of the subject. Librarians can bring this expertise in creating …

A Trekker’S Guide To The Khumbu Himalaya: Trailside Geology Along The Everest Base Camp Trek, Brigit Anderson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Himalaya is the youngest and highest mountain range in the world. It thus provides a wonderful field lab for studying the mountain building process in action. The trek in the Khumbu (northeastern Nepal) from Lukla to Everest Base Camp takes you through the Higher Himalaya and some interesting geological features. This project gives an introduction to the larger Himalaya geology and more specifically geology of the Khumbu Region. It then follows the Lukla-Everest Base Camp (EBC) trekking route pointing out interesting geologic features along the way. Some of the concepts explained in this project are somewhat technical. For this …

Experimental Estimation Of The Gpr Groundwave Sampling Depth, Katherine R. Grote, Taylor Crist, Crystal Nickel

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Monitoring near-surface soil water content is essential for efficient water management and for understanding hydrologic processes in soils. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) groundwaves are an approach that can be used to monitor the near-surface soil water content, but the efficacy of this technique is currently limited by the uncertainty surrounding the groundwave sampling depth. This research experimentally determines the sampling depth of GPR groundwaves under dry and saturated conditions in a sandy soil. Data were acquired using 250, 500, and 1000 MHz antennas within an experimental tank containing soil layers of contrasting electromagnetic velocities. Results show that the groundwave sampling depth …

Comparison Of Ice Core Dissolved Organic Matter From A Greenland Ice Core By Nanospray Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry, Joshua Jeremiah Shiloh Marsh

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Recent studies of ice cores have embarked on the task of determining the classes of dissolved organic matter (DOM) present in melt-water from the cores collected in numerous locations in the northern and southern hemispheres. This DOM originally derives from wet precipitation and is thought to reflect atmospheric organic matter derived from anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic sources. Because the amount of DOM is so low, previous studies have necessarily used large sample volumes (greater than 500 mL) to concentrate sufficient ice core DOM necessary for mass spectral analysis. Solid phase extraction (SPE) with C₁₈ resins was followed by evaporative concentration …

Characterization Of Soil Water Content Variability And Soil Texture Using Gpr Groundwave Techniques, Katherine R. Grote, Cale T. Anger, Bridget Kelly, Susan Sharpless Hubbard, Yoram N. Rubin

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Accurate characterization of near-surface soil water content is vital for guiding agricultural management decisions and for reducing the potential negative environmental impacts of agriculture. Characterizing the near-surface soil water content can be difficult, as this parameter is often both spatially and temporally variable, and obtaining sufficient measurements to describe the heterogeneity can be prohibitively expensive. Understanding the spatial correlation of near-surface soil water content can help optimize data acquisition and improve understanding of the processes controlling soil water content at the field scale. In this study, ground penetrating radar (GPR) methods were used to characterize the spatial correlation of water …

Sensitivity Of Geoelectrical Measurements To The Presence Of Bacteria In Porous Media, Gamal Z. Abdel Aal, Estella A. Atekwana, Silvia Rossbach, D. Dale Werkema

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We investigated the sensitivity of low-frequency electrical measurements (0.1-1000 Hz) to (1) microbial cell density, (2) live and dead cells, and (3) microbial attachment onto mineral surfaces of clean quartz sands and iron oxide-coated sands. Three strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (wild type and rhlA and pilA mutant) with different motility and attachment properties were used. Varying concentrations of both live and dead cells of P. aeruginosa wild type in sand columns showed no effect on the real conductivity component (σ′). However, the imaginary conductivity component (σ″) increased linearly with increasing concentrations of live cells in sand columns, whereas minimal …

Design Of A Conditioner For Smoothing Wind Turbine Output Power, Murali Bottu, Mariesa Crow, A. Curt Elmore

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

As a result of wind speed intermittency, highly variable wind power output can adversely impact local loads. We propose a conditioner to smooth the variable wind power by utilizing the energy of an ultracapacitor. The conditioner is based on a single phase voltage source inverter (VSI) connected between the grid interconnection point and the ultracapacitor. The shunt VSI injects or absorbs active power from the line to smooth the wind power by utilizing the short term storage capabilities of the ultracapacitor. The ultracapacitor is connected to the DC link through a DC-DC converter, which maintains the voltage of the DC …

Great Basin Center For Geothermal Energy, Wendy Calvin

Nevada Renewable Energy Consortium Meeting

The second annual Nevada Renewable Energy Consortium meeting took place at UNLV on August 20. The meeting focused on the current three NVREC program areas: Solar, Biomass and Geothermal. Presentations were made by participating entities and a poster session followed.

Chronostratigraphy And Paleontology Of The Mid-Cretaceous Wayan Formation Of Eastern Idaho, With A Description Of The First Oryctodromeus Specimens From Idaho, Laurel J. Krumenacker

Theses and Dissertations

The mid-Cretaceous Wayan Formation of Idaho consists of floodplain-deposited siltstones and mudstones, with subordinate fluvial sandstones and conglomerates. Deposition occurred in a tectonic foredeep at the toe of the Sevier thrust complex. Measurement of two incomplete and one complete section indicates a thickness of roughly 1,344 meters in the study area. No laterally extensive marker beds are present but the lower Wayan contains distinct chert pebble conglomerates, and the middle Wayan may contain a higher relative abundance of fluvial sandstone. Known fossil localities are limited to the lower and middle portions of the formation. The Wayan Formation, as currently defined, …

Secondary Enrichment Of Copper At The Madison Gold Skarn Deposit, Silver Star District, Montana, Christopher H. Gammons, Jill Sotendahl, Dan Everett

Geological Engineering

Secondary Enrichment of Copper at the Madison Gold Skarn Deposit, Silver Star District, Montana. This paper focuses on the chemical reactions responsible for secondary enrichment of copper...we argue that most of the secondary Cu enrichment occurred during a late hydrothermal event that replaced the high temperature skarn mineral assemblage with hematitic jasperoid. Evidence favoring this "hypogene" Cu enrichment hypothesis is presented.