Geology Commons^™

Groundwater Flow And Elastoplastic Stress-Strain Model For Cohesive Soils With Application To Channel Bank Stability, Richard A. Rohlf, Billy J. Barfield, Gary K. Felton

KWRRI Research Reports

A saturated-unsaturated groundwater flow and elastoplastic stress-strain finite element model was developed for simulating the mechanical behavior of rill and gully sized channel banks. The model coupled the two-dimensional saturated-unsaturated groundwater flow equation with a plane strain formulation of the virtual work equation. The constitutive relationship used the modified Cam clay yield function. The model included the effects of seepage force and variation in soil cohesive strength due to changes in water content and void ratio. A staggered solution procedure was used in which the groundwater equation was solved first to determine seepage force and soil cohesive force, and then …

Landslide Inventory And Susceptibility Mapping Of The Upper Canyon Creek Basin, Cascade Range, Skamania County, Washington, Lawrence P. Growney

Dissertations and Theses

Contact relations, and bedrock and overburden characteristics for approximately 8100 ha of the upper Canyon Creek basin, Skamania County, Washington, have been assessed in order to determine the causes and extent of failures and to assign slope failure susceptibilities to the area. The study area is located in the western Cascade Range on land administered by the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Clear-cutting over the past 30 years has impacted between 50% to 80% of the study area.

The total surface area occupied by failure deposits (198.6 ha) is less than 2.5% of the study area. Failures occur by one of …

The Influence Of Saprolite Composition Texture And Structure On Groundwater Flow In The Piedmont Province Henry County Virginia, John Thomas Russell

OES Theses and Dissertations

At a 500 acre site in Henry County, Virginia, differences in vertical hydraulic conductivity (K_V) and lateral hydraulic conductivity (K_H) measured in saprolites formed from the Fork Mountain biotite gneiss and the Leatherwood granite reflect the control of the fabric, texture, and structure of the parent rock preserved within the saprolite horizon. Using subsurface data collected from approximately 350 boreholes in conjunction with published information enabled various maps to be generated that identify the spatial relationships between geology and topography and their influence on the nature of the saprolite aquifer.

Measurements of K_H determined from …

The Geology Of Parrett Mountain, Oregon, And Its Influences On The Local Groundwater Systems, Brett Todd Brodersen

Dissertations and Theses

A geologic study of the Parrett Mountain area, located twenty miles (32 kms) south-southwest of Portland, Oregon, was initiated by the Oregon Water Resources Department. The main goal was to create a stratigraphic and structural model of Parrett Mountain in order to better understand the local basalt aquifers present there.

Previous geologic studies of the area revealed the mountain to be composed of Columbia River basalt. Field mapping and hand lithologic and geochemical analyses allowed the basalt to be subdivided into eleven basalt flows. These flows are as follows: (from oldest to youngest) the Wapshilla Ridge (WpR), the Ortley-Grouse Creek …

Sediment Yield Analysis Of Reservoir #1, Bull Run Watershed, West Cascade Mountains, Oregon, Doann M. Hamilton

Dissertations and Theses

Bull Run Watershed was set aside in late the 1800s as the water supply source for the City of Portland. Other than two dams being constructed, Reservoir #1 (1929) and Reservoir #2 (1962), development of the land had been minimal as public access was restricted. In the early 1960s, land management changed with increased road building and timber removal raising concerns about increased sediment discharge into the reservoirs. The objective of this study is to evaluate how much and how fast the sediment has accumulated in Reservoir #1, and to determine if the rate of sediment accumulation has changed over …

Coastal Crossing Of The Elastic Strain Zero-Isobase, Cascadia Margin, South Central Oregon Coast, Gregory George Briggs

Dissertations and Theses

The analysis of marsh cores from the tidal zones of the Siuslaw, Umpqua, and Coos River systems on the south-central Oregon coast provides supporting evidence of coseismic subsidence resulting from megathrust earthquakes and reveals the landward extent of the zero-isobase. The analysis is based on lithostratigraphy, paleotidal indicators, microfossil paleotidal indicators, and radiocarbon age. Coseismic activity is further supported by the presence of anomalous thin sand layers present in certain cores. The analysis of diatom assemblages provides evidence of relative sea-level displacement on the order of 1 to 2 m. The historic quiescence of local synclinal structures in the Coos …

Asymmetric Upwarp Of The Asthenosphere Beneath The Baikal Rift Zone, Siberia, Stephen S. Gao, Paul M. Davis, Kelly H. Liu, Philip D. Slack, Yu A. Zorin, Nikolai A. Logatchev, M. Kogan, P. D. Burkholder, Robert P. Meyer

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In the summer of 1991 we installed 27 seismic stations about lake Baikal, Siberia, aimed at obtaining accurately timed digital seismic data to investigate the deep structure and geodynamics of the Baikal rift zone and adjacent regions. Sixty-six teleseismic events with high signal-to-noise ratio were recorded. Travel time and Q analysis of teleseisms characterize an upwarp of the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary under Baikal. Theoretical arrival times were calculated by using the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's interior 1991 Earth model, and travel time residuals were found by subtracting computed arrival times from observed ones. A three-dimensional downward …

Total Organic Carbon In A Glacial Aquifer: Measurement And Effects Upon Transport Of Organic Compounds, Jiang Wu

Masters Theses

Organic contaminant transport processes in subsurface systems have been paid increasing attention recently. Sorption of organic compounds on the aquifer solid matrix (retardation) is one of the most important processes influencing contaminant transport. The extent of sorption has been estimated by determination of organic carbon in aquifer materials and assumptions concerning sorption constants.

This paper focuses upon the sensitivity of organic contaminant transport to the total organic carbon (TOC) content in a natural aquifer. This study was composed of two phases. The first phase was methodology development and laboratory analysis of organic carbon contents in soil samples. Acidification and furnace …

Problems Associated With Using Ground Penetrating Radar To Locate A Lnapl Plume, Jodie Mcneil

Masters Theses

The Crystal Refinery in Carson City, Michigan was the site used to test the hypothesis that Ground Penetrating Radar can locate LNAPL plumes. The contamination at the site is in the form of two tree product plumes and a dissolved plume. Three Ground Penetrating Radar antennas were used, a 100 MHz, a 300 MHz and a 500 MHz. Borings with a hand auger were made on some of the GPR lines. Gravel and coarse sand along with product in the form of residual stain and tree product were found in some locations. A vertical electrical sounding and a resistivity profile …

Role Of Acetic Acid In Siliciclastic Diagenesis: An Experimental Study, Gina Marian Bagnetto Waters

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Role Of Acetic Acid In Siliciclastic Diagenesis: An Experimental Study, Gina Bagnetto Waters

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Ua66/8/3 Annual Report, Wku Geography & Geology

WKU Administration Documents

Annual report created by and about WKU Geography & Geology.

The Effects Of A Wetland On Ground-Water Quality In An Agriculturally Impacted Aquifer, Marilyn Ann Betts

Masters Theses

Nitrate concentrations in excess of U.S. EPA standards have been documented for farm wells in an area where hog production and row crops are the predominant forms of agribusiness. The aquifer serving this area is in glacial deposits of interbedded sand, clay, gravel and till. The upper, unconfined, sand and gravel unit of the aquifer is connected to a flow-through wetland. Five well nests, with wells at various depths, were installed in and around the wetland. Samples were taken from the wells in both winter and summer to establish temporal and spatial changes in ground-water quality parameters.

Concentrations of nitrate, …

Banded Agates, Origins And Inclusions, Roger K. Pabian, Andrejs Zarins

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Magmatic Evolution And Eruptive History Of The Granitic Bumping Lake Pluton, Washington: Source Of The Bumping River And Cash Prairie Tuffs, John Frederick King

Dissertations and Theses

The 25 Ma Bumping Lake pluton ranges in composition from quartz diorite to granite with the granitic facies comprising approximately 90% of the pluton's surface area. The granite may be classified as calcalkaline, peraluminous and I-type with some Stype characteristics. A late-stage, mafic-poor facies fills cooling related extensional fractures. The pluton was passively emplaced into the Ohanapecosh Formation at a shallow level in the crust. Contact relationships vary from sharp where the contact is vertical to gradational at the roof of the pluton. Where gradational, stoped xenoliths from the roof of the pluton increase in size, angularity and retain more …

Geologic Framework Of The Niobrara River Drainage Basin And Adjacent Areas In South Dakota Generally East Of The 100th Meridian West Longitude And West Of The Missouri River, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., Michael R. Voorhies

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

General geology and stratigraphy of the Niobrara River drainage basin in Nebraska and adjacent parts of South Dakota generally west of the Missouri River is reviewed. Of particular importance are the correlation of the Long Pine Formation of Pliocene age in Nebraska with the Herrick Gravels in South Dakota, the recognition of the members of the Ogallala Group named by Skinnner, Skinner and Gooris (1968) and by Skinner and Johnson (1984) in the basin, the acceptance of the relationships of the Miocene and older Tertiary units in the basin to those in the part of the study area in South …

Sedimentology And Foraminiferal Taphonomy In Siliciclastic Environments: The Northern Gulf Of California, Mexico, Liping Zhang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Holocene sediments from intertidal and shallow subtidal zones in Bahia la Choya, Mexico exhibit significant differences based on their mineralogical content, constituent composition, textural parameters, and foraminiferal assemblages. The intertidal sediments are characterized by low calcium carbonate content, being dominated by quartz, and are moderately well sorted and coarse skewed with a fine mean grain size {M_z = 2.73 phi}. Total numbers {living and dead} of benthonic Foraminifera per ml of sediment are relatively low (12/ml) in the intertidal zones. In contrast, the subtidal sediments are characterized by high calcium carbonate content, being dominated by molluscan shell fragments, and …

The Tectonic Evolution Of The Panther Creek Half-Graben In East-Central Idaho, Brian F. Hammond

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

An integrated field, petrographic, structural, and geophysical analysis of the Panther Creek half-graben (PCHG), in east-central Idaho, was undertaken to determine its tectonic origin. Two competing theories as to the origin of the PCHG exist. One suggests that it formed as part of the TransChallis fault system (TCFS), a system of northeast-trending normal faults, eruptive centers, and graben that formed in Middle Eocene time. The graben of this system are bounded by northeast-striking normal faults, and show evidence of syn-tectonic deposition of basin-filling volcanic strata. The other theory suggests that the PCHG may have evolved as a result of a …

Hydrogeology And Hydrochemistry Of The East-Central Portion Of The Salt Lake Valley, Utah, As Applied To Wellhead Protection In A Confined To Semiconfined Aquifer, Jeff W. Gadt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Safe Drinking Water Act includes provisions for state wellhead protection programs which address wellhead protection areas. In Utah, these areas are called drinking water source protection (DWSP) zones. Zones Two and Three are delineated according to analytical or numerical techniques, which are based on hydrogeological and time-of-travel data, as well as recharge information, accumulated through the use of hydrogeologic and hydrochemical techniques. The primary conclusions of this research are:

1. A fence diagram and site hydrostratigraphic diagram show that the hydrogeology is more complex than previously has been thought. The principal aquifer at the target well site comprises a sequence …

Magnitude Of Displacement And Styles Of Deformation On The Paris And Laketown Thrust Faults, Northern Utah, Richard D. Kendrick

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Surface geology is combined with abundant industry seismic-reflection and drill­-hole data in the central Bear River Range and Bear Lake Plateau to depict the forms and interactions of the Paris-Woodruff-Willard, Laketown-Meade-Home Canyon, and Crawford thrust faults. Displacement on the Paris thrust diminished to the south, and died out in splays where displacement was transferred to the Willard thrust. West of Woodruff, Utah, splays of the Laketown thrust deformed a complex footwall imbricate of the Willard thrust. To the east, a major northeast-striking Crawford thrust splay exhibits a change in slip vectors from east to southeast. Reorientation of these slip vectors …

The Relationship Between Basement Structure And Overlying Sediments In The Michigan Basin: A Detailed Gravity Investigation, Mitchell Joseph Gutaj

Masters Theses

A detailed gravity study consisting of 945 measurements was carried out in Branch County, Michigan. The objectives of this study are to determine if: (a) structural trends interpreted from regional gravity data in southwestern Michigan are also observed in a more detailed survey in Branch County and (b) any relationship exists between observed geophysical anomalies, geological structures and overlying basin sediments.

The resulting gravity map indicates that NW-SE, NE-SW, and N-S trends are more clearly identified comprising several elliptical highs and lows. Variations in the isopachs of some of the overlying Phanerozoic formations area are also coincident with gravity anomalies. …

Studies Of The Effect Of Hydrophobic Filter Packs In Free Product Hydrocarbon Recovery Wells, Stephen J. Shank

Masters Theses

Most free product hydrocarbon recovery wells are filter packed in order to prevent aquifer material from entering the well and to increase their effective diameter. Historically there are five factors in filter pack designs: grain size, grain shape, mineralogy, uniformity, and the filter pack diameter. Previous laboratory experiments found that filter packs treated with a water repellant chemical could dramatically improve well performance. This adds wettability as a sixth factor.

A desorption experiment was conducted to determine the feasibility of using a chemically treated filter pack in the subsurface. Analytical results of the leachate from the chemically treated sand indicated …

Sporomorphs And Palynological Interpretations Of Lower Oligocene Strata From The Eastern Gulf Coast, U.S.A., Lisa M. Reeves

Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experience Program (OURE)

The Vicksburg Group in the eastern Gulf Coast of the United States belongs to one of the most complete and continuous Paleogene strata in the world. Previous studies in this region have neglected the rich palynomorph assemblages of the Lower Oligocene units of the Vicksburg Group. Four samples from Wayne County Mississippi were analyzed for palynological information on the Vicksburg Group. The initial objective of the study was to understand the principles of palynology and the basis for sporomorph identification. A minimum of 300 specimens were counted per slide to determine the distribution of sporomorphs in the sediments. Two hundred …

Retrieval Of Sizes And Total Masses Of Particles In Volcanic Clouds Using Avhrr Bands 4 And 5, Shiming Wen, William I. Rose

Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences Publications

The advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) sensor on polar orbiting NOAA satellites can discriminate between volcanic clouds and meteorological clouds using two-band data in the thermal infrared. This paper is aimed at developing a retrieval of the particle sizes, optical depth, and total masses of particles from AVHRR two-band data of volcanic clouds. Radiative transfer calculations are used with a semi-transparent cloud model that is based on assumptions of spherical particle shape, a homogeneous underlying surface, and a simple thin cloud parallel to the surface. The model is applied to observed AVHRR data from a 13-hour old drifting cloud …

Fundamentals Of Groundwater Contamination, Darryll T. Pederson

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Environments Of Aeolian Deposition In South-Central Nebraska During The Last Glacial Maximum, Zhao-Dong Feng, William C. Johnson, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

The Peoria loess of south-central Nebraska, deposited approximately during the last Glacial Maximum, can be subdivided into three zones: an upper laminated loess and a lower massive loess, separated by a dark gley zone in which bison bones and spruce charcoal are found. The lower Peoria unit is characterized by high organic matter content, relatively high bulk density, and common root channels. The upper Peoria unit has rhythmic patterns of two orders: strongly gleyed and weakly gleyed zones alternating in couplets about 2-5 m thick, and coarse- and fine-grained laminae of second order, about 2-4 mm thick. The strongly gleyed …

Geomorphic And Structural Features Of The Alliance 1º × 2º Quadrangle, Western Nebraska, Discernible From Synthetic-Aperture Radar Imagery And Digital Shaded-Relief Maps, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

The digital shaded-relief map of the United States and the synthetic-aperture radar map of the Alliance Nebraska 1º x 2º area prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in the former case and for the USGS in the latter show oriented landforms and lineaments in northwest Nebraska. Parallel and subparallel hills and valleys developed on different geologic materials ranging from shales through sandstones to loess and eolian sand appear to be wind erosional features subsequently modified by running water. The long axes of these hills and valleys generally trend between N40"W and N50"W. Similar features also occur across major areas …

Snake: The Plain And Its People, E. B. Bentley, Bill Bonnichsen, John C. Freemuth, Bill Hackett, Glenn Oakley, F. Ross Peterson, Mark G. Plew, Todd Shallat, Steve Stuebner

Faculty & Staff Authored Books

Idaho's longest river curves west through desert landscapes, cutting deep through ancient formations, flowing through space and time. How have humans dealt with the desert? How have we been shaped by the land? SNAKE: The Plain and Its People explores the physical and ecological roots of Idaho civilization through science, social science, photography and art.

An Inventory And Condition Survey Of The Murchison River Catchment, Western Australia, Peter James Curry, A L. Payne, K A. Leighton, P Hennig, D A. Blood

Technical Bulletins

The inventory and condition survey of the Murchison River catchment and surrounds, undertaken by the Department of Agriculture between 1985 and 1988, describes and maps the natural resources of the region’s pastoral leasehold land. This survey report provides a baseline record of the existence and condition of the natural area’s resources, to assist with the planning and implementation of land management practices. The report identified and described the condition of soils, landforms, vegetation, habitat, ecosystems, and declared plants and animals. It also assessed the impact of pastoralism and made land management recommendations. The area surveyed by field work during 1985-88 …

An Inventory And Condition Survey Of Rangelands In The North-Eastern Goldfields, Western Australia, H J. Pringle, S A. Gilligan, A M E Van Vreeswyk

Technical Bulletins

The inventory and condition survey of the north-eastern Goldfields, undertaken by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) between 1988 and 1990, describes and maps the natural resources of the region’s pastoral leasehold land. This survey report provides a baseline record of the existence and condition of the natural area’s resources, to assist with the planning and implementation of land management practices. The report identified and described the condition of soils, landforms, vegetation, habitat, ecosystems, and declared plants and animals. It also assessed the impact of pastoralism and made land management recommendations. The area surveyed covers about 100 …