Kicking Up Dust On Utah's Off-Road Vehicle Trails: Pi-Swerl Assessment Of Anthropogenic Dust Emissions, Wyatt A. Wiebelhaus

Honors Thesis

Upward trends in the use of off-highway vehicles (OHV) and the creation of new OHV trails facilitate an increase in soil disturbance and dust emissions in Utah. Anthropogenic destruction of soil crusts and the removal of vegetation by OHVs exposes soil and destroys soil structure, making the soil easier to erode by the wind. We used the PI-SWERL (Portable In Situ Wind Erosion Laboratory) to measure dust concentrations of disturbed and undisturbed soil. We tested soils at several popular OHV areas with landforms composed of sand dunes, playas, and Lake Bonneville sediments. Soil crust strength, grain size, and salinity were …

Publications And Other Works By R. F. Diffendal, Jr., Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Articles
Chapters in Books
Books
Field Guides
Geologic Maps
Other Maps
Cover Photographs
Other Photographs
Newspaper and Other Articles
Test-Hole Logs
Television Programs
Geonotes
Abstracts
Reviews
Manuscripts Accepted (A), Submitted (S), or in Preparation (P)
Geologic Maps in Press
Geologic Maps-Nebraska
Public Documents
Miscellaneous Publications
Editing

Updated March 2024

Geodatabase And Modeling Code Used For Dynamic Landslide Hazard Maps In Eastern Kentucky, Nathaniel O'Leary, L. Sebastian Bryson

Earth and Environmental Sciences Research Data

We developed spatiotemporal landslide hazard maps (LHMs) using soil, hydrologic, and geomorphic parameters from the subaerial infinite slope factor of safety (FS) equation under unsaturated conditions. Soil properties were extracted from the NRCS WSS, while geomorphic variables were derived from a 1.5 m LiDAR-based DEM and ArcGIS Online. Soil moisture from Hydrus-1D, driven by precipitation and evapotranspiration (ET) data from Irrigation Manager, introduced temporal variability. Validation against known landslide sites showed spatial and temporal FS accuracy despite some false positives. We also developed a landslide susceptibility maps (LSM) after comparing three machine learning algorithms, with bagged trees achieving the highest …

Fauna, Flora, And Land Cover Changes Over The Last Two Decades In The Mobile-Tensaw River Delta, Gabriel De Oliveria, Steven R. Schultze, Guilherme Mataveli

Technical Reports

A technical report documenting ecosystem changes to the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta region due to urban expansion over approximately two decades (2001-2019).

A Comparison Of Sediment Accumulation Effectiveness Behind Beaver Dam Analogues, One Rock Dams, And Post-Assisted Log Structures On East Foster Creek, Douglas County, Wa, Griffin Hansen

All Master's Theses

Waterways are valuable resources for communities and habitats, but are subject to degradation in the form of incision. This is a type of streambed erosion where streams narrow and deepen. Sediment control dams were placed on East Foster Creek in Douglas County, WA to control incision following the 2020 Pearl Hill fire. This study examined sediment capture in the ponds behind these dams, which included beaver dam analogues (BDAs), one rock dams (ORDs), and post-assisted log structures (PALS). Sediment capture may be influenced by several factors, including dam type, height, width, distance between dams, vegetation, land use, topography, soil type, …

Beach Erosion And Recovery Since Hurricane Ivan In 2004 Along A Headland-Bay Coast In Treasure Beach, Jamaica, Elandé Engelbrecht

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Anthropogenic climate change is causing sea-level rise and shoreline changes that threaten the environment and economy of coastal communities in Caribbean Island nations. To assess this risk, this study quantifies shoreline changes at Treasure Beach in St. Elizabeth Parish on the south coast of Jamaica from 2001 to 2023. The effects of storm events on erosion were also assessed. Over 10 km of shoreline are assessed with about half being sandy pocket beaches ranging from 300 to 900 m in length, separated by rocky headlands and beach rock outcrops. Sand beach erosion trends since 2001 are assessed for seven sandy …

Quantifying Chemical Erosion In The Lithologically-Heterogenous Appalachian Valley And Ridge, Amelia Jayne Zanoni

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Quantifying chemical erosion in the lithologically-heterogenous Appalachian Valley and Ridge

Amelia J. Zanoni

The interplay between physical and chemical erosion is well understood in landscapes underlain by a uniform rock type, but many regions are underlain by a mixture of rock types with varying erosion resistance and solubility. We used measurements of stream-water chemistry to estimate chemical erosion rates in the Appalachian Valley and Ridge, a region where the mechanisms of lithologic control over topography are poorly understood. Newly acquired stream water samples were collected from 51 locations across the research area during the Fall of 2023. The sampled waters …

Modeling The Peak Ground Acceleration And Assessing The Economic Loss And Casualty Due To Potential Earthquakes Of Various Magnitudes In The New Madrid Seismic Zone, Mahmud Afroz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) is one of the active tectonic zones capable of producing big earthquakes in the southcentral USA. The objective of this study was to assess the economic losses and casualties that might be caused by various magnitudes of seismic events in the NMSZ. The manifestation is the estimation for each magnitude which is using the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) that might occur during an earthquake. It is calculated using an attenuation function that correlates the intensity of local ground movement, the earthquake magnitude, and the distance from its epicenter. The assessment of casualties was conducted …

The Tidal Prism, Viable Eelgrass Habitat, And The Effects Of Sea Level Rise In Morro Bay, Kaden A. Caliendo

Master's Theses

The tidal prism, or the volume of water exchanged from the sea to an estuary from mean low to mean high tide, influences system hydrodynamics and ecological functioning. Since 1884, the tidal prism in Morro Bay, California has been estimated to be decreasing over time due to sedimentation from upstream practices. What is the current tidal prism in Morro Bay and how will that change with sea level rise? How will eelgrass respond to rising sea levels?

For this study, inexpensive tidal gauges were deployed at four locations in Morro Bay from March to August 2023 to measure spatially varying …

Book Review: Australian Caves And Karst Systems, John Webb, Susan White, Garry K. Smith, Jo De Waele

International Journal of Speleology

No abstract provided.

Preliminary Data Of Potentially Hazardous Radon Concentrations In Modrič Cave (Croatia), Robert Lončarić, Vanja Radolić, Maša Surić, Igor Miklavčić, Matea Šatalić, Dalibor Paar, Lukrecija Obšivač

International Journal of Speleology

Instigated by relatively high cave-air CO₂ concentrations in Modrič Cave (Croatia) recorded for the purpose of speleothem-based paleoclimate research, we established preliminary monitoring of radon (²²²Rn) concentrations within the cave for a 4.5-year period (2018–2022). As radioactive geogenic gas, radon, which often correlates with cave-air CO₂ concentrations, presents a potential health hazard in cases of longer exposure time in high concentration conditions. Since the Modrič Cave is open to tourists and long-term scientific research has been performed within, a safety assessment for radon concentrations was essential. The integrated measurements of radon concentrations were performed by passive …

Downstream Gradients In Unit Stream Power Influence Log Jam Location And Process Domain, Eliza H. Malakoff

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Growing calls for the use of natural materials and processes to meet management goals have positioned artificial log jams as a compelling alternative to hard engineering instream and floodplain habitat. Deep uncertainties remain, however, about where and how wood should be placed to best mimic natural river processes. In this study, I test whether at-a-point or downstream gradients in unit stream power, an estimate of a river’s ability to do work, exert control over where and how log jams form. Using field observations of 360 log jams in New Hampshire and Vermont and an additional 320 previously published locations of …

Benthic Habitat Mapping Of Mountain Top Bank Within The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Through Integrated Geophysical And Visual Data Analysis, Bethany Pertain

Master's Theses

Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) are among the seafloor ecosystems that have been poorly studied throughout the world’s oceans, but they are a vital and diverse ecosystem that should be prioritized for future mapping and ecological studies. Priority should be given to them because they possess natural, social, and economic values, and face a variety of threats, all of which, if not better understood will result in the loss of this unique ecosystem. Insights into these ecosystems, among other deep-sea environments, are lacking due to difficulty accessing them, inherent lag between data collection by an autonomous system and observation by a …

Sediment Transport And Geomorphological Evolution In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Kelli Moran

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the mechanisms driving sediment transport and deposition on the continental shelf and within the bays of the northern Gulf of Mexico via a suite of geophysical methods and sediment cores on a variety of timescales. This dissertation is comprised of three main chapters, each focusing on a different location, environment, and process but tied together using geophysical survey, a thematic focus on geomorphic change and sediment transport within the deltaic cycle and deltaic plain environments, and the implications this change poses for both past and future sediment transport and environmental change in response to sea level change. …

Evaluating River Morphology Change With A Geomorphic Form Variation Approach, Corey Dawson, Peter Ashmore, Robert Corry

Geography & Environment Publications

Geomorphic river design strives for natural resilience by encouraging geomorphic form complexity and morphological processes linked to greater habitat diversity. Increasing availability of high-resolution topographic data and spatial feature mapping methods provide advantages for morphological analysis and river restoration planning. We propose and evaluate an approach to quantifying topographic variability of geomorphic form and pixel-level surface roughness resulting from channel planform geometry differences using spatially continuous variety computation applied to component metrics including flow direction, aspect and planform curvature. We define this as the geomorphic form variation (GFV) approach and found it scalable, repeatable and a multi-stage analytical metric for …

Evaluating Benthic Macroinvertebrate Populations In Response To Scouring Events In The Trinity River, Ca, Liam Hay, Michael W. O'Neil, Chloe Pieper-Wasem

Environmental Science & Management Senior Capstones

River systems across California have been impacted by appurtenant structures such as dams and diversions. These structures have had an adverse impact on Benthic invertebrate (BMI) communities by regulating river systems and changing the natural hydraulic pulses that follow seasonal precipitation. Benthic invertebrates are a critical food resource for salmonids and serve as an indicator of ecosystem health. Our study was interested in seeing the effects of scouring events on BMI in the Trinity River of Trinity County, C.A. Following a large precipitation event that occurred in the region in December 2022, an influx of water entered the river through …

Estimating Evapotranspiration And Analyzing Soil Moisture And Heat Flux Parameters At Taneum Creek, Central Washington, Edward Vlasenko

All Master's Theses

In the past two decades, stream restoration work, primarily in the form of wood emplacement, has been undertaken in the Taneum Creek watershed, resulting in increased channel-floodplain connectivity. One of the goals of stream restoration was to boost dry season groundwater storage in the shallow floodplain aquifer. However, any gains in groundwater due to increased connectivity may be nullified by increased evapotranspiration (ET) losses because of denser floodplain vegetation. Within the floodplain aquifer budget, ET is a major flow of water out of the system and is not well quantified.

In order to quantify ET, a monitoring site was established …

Floodplain Aquifer Storage Capacity In Upper Yakima River Tributaries, Kittitas County, Wa, Emily Polizzi

All Master's Theses

Large wood (LW) restoration projects were recently implemented in the Upper Yakima Basin following the destructive logging practices of the early 20^th Century, which stripped Upper Yakima River tributaries of LW. The removal of natural LW increased incision, isolating channels from floodplain aquifers, and degrading resident and anadromous fish habitat. Returning streams to their natural state through instream LW installations is believed to increase floodplain groundwater storage by decreasing channel incision, increasing floodplain-channel connectivity, and raising the water table elevation. Additional storage in floodplain aquifers can help combat the adverse effects of climate change, namely decreasing snowpack and earlier …

Windblown Snow Bedforms And Their Effects On Snow Water Content Wenatchee Range, Washington, Ryan Hampton

All Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

WINDBLOWN SNOW BEDFORMS AND THEIR

EFFECTS ON SNOW WATER CONTENT

WENATCHEE RANGE, WASHINGTON

by

Ryan C. Hampton

June 2023

Windblown snow bedforms (WBSBF) are formations of distinct sizes, shapes, and patterns, resulting from the interaction of wind and snow particles. Due to the extreme nature of the formation of WBSBF, which occur in remote high elevation mountain environments during severe weather events, it makes it difficult to not only study these dramatic formations in real time but also predict their occurrence with any regularity. The purpose of this research was to 1) establish a method to actively monitor WBSBF …

Bibliography, Chris Groves

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Bibliography of publications by Chris Groves.

Land Systems, Soils And Vegetation Of The Southern Goldfields And Great Western Woodlands Of Western Australia - Volume 1, Peter-Jon A. Waddell, Paul Galloway

Technical Bulletins

This technical bulletin defines and maps the land resources of the southern Goldfields region of Western Australia (WA). The southern Goldfields region, as featured in this bulletin, covers 151,753 km². The western and eastern borders are variable because they align with various cadastral boundaries. The western survey border, which in part follows the WA State Barrier Fence, demarcates cleared agricultural land from the intact, western extent of the Great Western Woodlands. The eastern border abuts the westernmost Nullarbor pastoral lease boundaries, except for the north-easternmost and south-easternmost edges which continue into Crown land. Major towns are Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie …

Land Systems, Soils And Vegetation Of The Southern Goldfields And Great Western Woodlands Of Western Australia - Volume 2, Peter-Jon A. Waddell, Paul Galloway

Technical Bulletins

This technical bulletin defines and maps the land resources of the southern Goldfields region of Western Australia (WA). The southern Goldfields region, as featured in this bulletin, covers 151,753 km². The western and eastern borders are variable because they align with various cadastral boundaries. The western survey border, which in part follows the WA State Barrier Fence, demarcates cleared agricultural land from the intact, western extent of the Great Western Woodlands. The eastern border abuts the westernmost Nullarbor pastoral lease boundaries, except for the north-easternmost and south-easternmost edges which continue into Crown land. Major towns are Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie …

Hydrologic Outcomes For Ecological Meadow Restoration In The Northern Sierra Nevada, Emma Sevier

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Ecologically functioning meadows provide critical ecosystem services including improving a catchment’s water yield, flood dispersion and attenuation, fostering groundwater-dependent ecosystems, and creating natural fire breaks (Loheide and Booth 2011). Degradation from past and current land use has resulted in incised channels that change the magnitude and timing of watershed and meadow fluxes and cause water table decline. Process-based restoration (PBR) is an approach which leverages fluvial processes to increase restoration efficiency. Though PBR is a promising tool to restore degraded meadow ecosystems, more studies are needed to understand its hydrologic outcomes and whether hydrodynamic modeling can be used as a …

The Uncertain Future Of Landscapes Subjected To Mountaintop Removal Mining, Samuel James Bower

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Increased erosion following human land disturbance is a global issue for ecosystem health and land management. Mountaintop removal (MTR) mining – a type of surface mining predominately found in the Central Appalachian Coalfields region – is one of the most significant examples of human perturbation to a natural landscape. A post-MTR landscape, when compared to its natural state, has significantly different erosive potential due to the rearrangement of topography from mining and reclamation practices. Removal of vegetation and alterations to soil further influence erosion by raising the effective erodibility of substrate subjected to MTR. We quantify the changes in erosion …

Storm Intensity And Forward Speed Controls On Back-Barrier And Shoreface Sediment Dynamics Along The Louisiana Coast, Md Mohiuddin Sakib

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

High energetic storms import sediment to back-barrier bays and marshes and produce a perennial footprint that contributes to the long-term evolution of the inner shelf, bays, and marsh platform. The magnitude of sedimentation in back-barrier bays and marshes varies with storm characteristics (e.g., storm intensity, forward speed, size, and track). However, quantifying the impacts of storm characteristics on the sediment exchange between the inner shelf, bays, and marshes and documenting the resulting net sediment import and export patterns across these interfaces remains largely unexplored. Here we applied a calibrated Delft3D hydrodynamics and sediment transport model to a microtidal bay-marsh complex …

Geology, Soils And Climate Of Western Australia's Wine Regions, Peter J. Tille, Angela Stuart-Street, Peter S. Gardiner

Bulletins 4000 -

This bulletin details what is special and unique about the geology, soil and climate of the south-west of Western Australia (WA), an area that encompasses the state’s 9 wine regions.

We have arranged the information into 2 parts:

• In Part 1, we broadly describe the special geological, soil and climate features of the south-west of WA to provide context for the wine regions.

• In Part 2, we describe the geology, soil and climate of the regions and subregions of the Geographical Indications (GI) scheme (administered by Wine Australia) for WA.

Through this work we have found that the wine regions …

How Impervious Are Solar Arrays? On The Need For Geomorphic Assessment Of Energy Transition Technologies, Charles Shobe

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Staying within manageable global temperature rise scenarios (i.e., 1.5° C) requires rapid decarbonization of energy sources. Research on the energy transition typically focuses on engineering, socioeconomic, and political challenges related to implementation of renewable energy technologies. Yet many facets of the energy transition are intricately intertwined with earth surface processes. Projects that advance the energy transition affect surface hydrology, sediment transport, and landscape evolution. Geomorphic processes likewise set the feasibility of energy transition projects. Here I use the lens of a recent policy debate to examine a case study that illustrates the key role of surface processes in determining the …

Assessing Vegetation Pattern Using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Modis) Images Along The Western Coastal Area Of Bangladesh, Nazrul I. Khandaker

Publications and Research

ASSESSING VEGETATION PATTERN USING MODERATE RESOLUTION IMAGING SPECTRORADIOMETER (MODIS) IMAGES ALONG THE WESTERN COASTAL AREA OF BANGLADESH

AKHI, Atika Rahman, AHMED, Asib, HASSAN, Muhammad Qumrul, and KHANDAKER, Nazrul

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol 54, No. 5, https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2022AM-379769

AKHI, Atika Rahman, Department of Environmental Science, Bangladesh University of Professionals, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh, AHMED, Asib, Department of Geography and Environment, Dhaka University, Agargaon, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh, HASSAN, Muhammad Qumrul, Department of Geology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh and KHANDAKER, Nazrul, Geology Discipline, York College of CUNY, 9420 Guy R Brewer Blvd, AC-2F09, Jamaica, NY 11451-0001

The …

Geochemical Analysis Of Recent Volcanic Ash Blanketing Barbados And Constraints On Magma Composition (V32e-0112), Nazrul I. Khandaker, Krishna Mahabir, Surendranauth Mahabir, Lloyd Kiefer, Juan C. Campo, Andrew M. Singh

Publications and Research

Preliminary field and geochemical investigations were conducted on ash samples from Barbados to chemically characterize and decipher magma chemistry associated with a recent volcanic event. A thick plume of volcanic ash from the La Soufriere Volcano in St Vincent, which erupted on April 9, 2021, caused lower visibility due to ash clouds which engulfed the region for some time. Three authors from the research team visited Barbados during the summer subsequent and completed a reconnaissance investigation on recent ashfall. St Vincent is a small volcanic island in the Eastern Caribbean and lies in the southern part of the Lesser Antilles …

Changing Behavior Of Cyclone In Bangladesh And Its Risk Assessment For Adaptation, Sareea Rahman Heea, Muhammad Qumrul Hassan, Abdul Mannan, Nazrul I. Khandaker

Publications and Research

Tropical cyclone (TC) is one of the most crucial topics not only for the natural loss but also for physical and economical loss of any country. The Bay of Bengal (BoB) generates number of tropical cyclones in each year. Bangladesh also experiences a number of cyclones. The surface temperature of the sea and air temperature is observed from NOAA high resolution satellite image. The Sea Surface Temperature (SST) of about 27°C and its higher is one of the prerequisite conditions for formation of a TC. But SST has increased by 1.2°C since last 40 years. It can be settled that …