Geomorphology Commons^™

Integrating Remote Digital Tools Into Post-Pandemic Geologic Fieldwork To Effectively Disseminate Content Delivery And Assist In Overall Understanding Of Various Geologic Phenomena: Summer 2022 Field Mapping Exercises, Nazrul I. Khandaker

Publications and Research

INTEGRATING REMOTE DIGITAL TOOLS INTO POST-PANDEMIC GEOLOGIC FIELDWORK TO EFFECTIVELY DISSEMINATE CONTENT DELIVERY AND ASSIST IN OVERALL UNDERSTANDING OF VARIOUS GEOLOGIC PHENOMENA: SUMMER 2022 FIELD MAPPING EXERCISES

SHAMI, Malek, BETHEL, Cherise, NUNEZ, Eddy, RAYHAN, Salam, KHANDAKER, Nazrul and CABAROY, Charren C.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol 54, No. 5, https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2022AM-379779

SHAMI, Malek¹, BETHEL, Cherise², NUNEZ, Eddy³, RAYHAN, Salam³, KHANDAKER, Nazrul² and CABAROY, Charren C.¹, (1)Geology Discipline, AC-2F09, York College of CUNY, 9420 Guy R. Brewer Blvd., Jamaica, NY 11451, (2)Geology Discipline, York College of CUNY, …

Assessing Student Performance And Interest From The Start Of The Covid-19 Pandemic To Present Using Engagement, Attendance, And Grades As Indicators, Nazrul I. Khandaker

Publications and Research

ASSESSING STUDENT PERFORMANCE AND INTEREST FROM THE START OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC TO PRESENT USING ENGAGEMENT, ATTENDANCE, AND GRADES AS INDICATORS

SINGH, Andrew, KHANDAKER, Nazrul, ZARINE, Ali, ROBBINS, Kathy H., JACKSON, Shirley and AHMED, Masud,

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol 54, No. 5, https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2022AM-379409

SINGH, Andrew¹, KHANDAKER, Nazrul², ZARINE, Ali³, ROBBINS, Kathy H.⁴, JACKSON, Shirley³ and AHMED, Masud⁵, (1)Earth and Physical Sciences, York College of CUNY, 9420 Guy R Brewer Blvd, AC-2F09, Jamaica, NY 11451-0001, (2)Geology Discipline, York College of CUNY, 9420 Guy R Brewer …

Hydrodynamic Limitations To Mangrove Seedling Retention In Subtropical Estuaries, Kelly M. Kibler, Christian Pilato, Linda Walters, Melinda Donnelly, Jyotismita Taye

Flow-biota Interaction and Natural Infrastructure Design

Mangrove forest sustainability hinges upon propagule recruitment and seedling retention. This study evaluates biophysical limitations to mangrove seedling persistence by measuring anchoring force of two mangrove species (Rhizophora mangle and Avicennia germinans). Anchoring force was measured in 362 seedlings via lateral pull-tests administered in mangrove forests of two subtropical estuaries and in laboratory-based experiments. Removal mechanism varied with seedling age: newly-established seedlings failed due to root pull-out while seedlings older than 3 months failed by root breakage. Anchoring force of R. mangle seedlings was consistently and significantly greater than A. germinans (GLM: p = 0.002), however force to …

The Impact Of Shoreline Stabilization On Sediment Supply And Ecogeomorphology: Assessing Marsh Response To Altered Wave Energies, Lake Borgne, Louisiana, Jessica J. Villers

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Shoreline protection structures are a common response to lateral erosion in marshes, but limited studies exist on how they influence sediment supply and the resulting ecogeomorphology. This study investigates the impacts of marine mattresses, geotextile cages filled with riprap, in Lake Borgne, LA. A field study was conducted during cold front passages at a site with marine mattresses and a proximal control site without, collecting measurements of water depth, wave energy, lateral erosion, sediment accumulation, vegetation, and sediment characteristics. Wetlands with marine mattresses attenuated waves more than their natural marsh edge counterparts, which have limited conditions favorable for sedimentation. However, …

Land Use Effects On Fish Assemblages In Mississippi River Tributaries In Scott County, Ia And Rock Island County, Il, Benjamin Ford, Kevin Geedey

Urban Watershed Project

Fish assemblages are viable indicators of stream quality because they respond predictably to changes in abiotic and biotic factors, such as habitat and water quality, and human exploitation and species additions. In this a study we examined the relationship between fish abundance, diversity, and IBI (Index of Biotic Integrity), and urban and agricultural land use in Scott County, IA and Rock Island County, IL. Fish were sampled during the summer of 2021 within 12 local watersheds, which contain a variety of land use types. We followed a standardized sampling method of a single pass with a backpack electrofishing unit through …

Landslide Detection In The Himalayas Using Machine Learning Algorithms And U-Net, Sansar Raj Meena, Lucas Pedrosa Soares, Carlos H. Grohmann, Cees Van Westen, Kushanav Bhuyan, Ramesh P. Singh, Mario Floris, Filippo Catani

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Event-based landslide inventories are essential sources to broaden our understanding of the causal relationship between triggering events and the occurring landslides. Moreover, detailed inventories are crucial for the succeeding phases of landslide risk studies like susceptibility and hazard assessment. The openly available inventories differ in the quality and completeness levels. Event-based landslide inventories are created based on manual interpretation, and there can be significant differences in the mapping preferences among interpreters. To address this issue, we used two different datasets to analyze the potential of U-Net and machine learning approaches for automated landslide detection in the Himalayas. Dataset-1 is composed …

Distribution Of Particulate Organic Carbon – Fluxes And Inventories – In Growth-Faulted Coastal Wetlands, Samuel Joel Whitehead

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Coastal wetlands along the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOMx) are critically important but threatened environments which provide significant and diverse economic, social, and environmental value. These environments are essential components to the global carbon cycle, serving as one of the most efficient terrestrial carbon sinks. Since onset of the Industrial Revolution increasing rates of coastal wetland loss have been documented due to a variety of anthropogenic activities, neotectonic processes, subsidence, and rising sea-levels. This research utilized an array of methods and sedimentological analyses to test the hypothesis that growth-fault induced changes at Earth’s surface affects the delivery to, and storage …

Downstream Dispersal Of Fine Tailings, Chat And Metals In Channel Sediment Of Big River, Old Lead Belt, Southeast Missouri, Jennifer Pace Witt

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

In St. François County, Missouri, compromised above-ground tailings piles and containment ponds from historical mining activities in the Old Lead Belt released considerable amounts of dolomitic, Pb- and Zn-contaminated waste sediments to the Big River, contributing to significant downstream floodplain and channel sediment contamination. Previous studies have documented the effects of heavy metals on Big River biota and water quality, as well as benthic habitat disruption resulting from the influx of small sediments. Few have considered the effects and future contamination risk of the coarse waste sediments (2-16 mm in diameter), locally called “chat”, which retain high Pb and Zn …

Mining-Contaminated Sediment And Metal Storage In Channel Deposits In Turkey Creek, Tri-State Mining District, Missouri And Kansas, Max Quinn Hillermann

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The Joplin subdistrict, within the Tri-State Mining District (TSMD), was a major producer of lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) ore between the 1880s to 1920s. Metalliferous mining wastes are still stored in the channel deposits of local streams raising environmental and health concerns. This study quantifies the volume, sediment size, and metal concentrations in channel bed, bar, bench, and chute deposits to quantify the spatial variability of contaminated sediment storage in Turkey Creek (119 km²). Sample reaches (n=14) contained metal concentrations elevated above the Tri-State Mining District specific probable effects concentration at every site with mean concentrations in …

Decadal-Scale Effects Of Large Wood Restoration On Channel Morphology And Groundwater Connectivity, Taneum Creek, Wa, Samuel Fixler

All Master's Theses

The importance of large wood (LW) in creating channel complexity is widely recognized; however, few LW projects have been in place long enough to track meaningful channel changes on a decadal timescale. Taneum Creek, located in central Washington, is one of the earliest LW restoration areas (2008) in the Yakima River Basin and the central Cascade Mountains. The flood in 2011, with an estimated discharge of 69 m³/s (2,400-2,800 cfs), provided further channel change by mobilizing LW and channel sediments. Three reaches with similar channel characteristics and LW additions were compared with a control reach without LW additions …

Coastal Landform Change Influences On Endangered Five-Lined Skink Distribution At Northwest Beach, Point Pelee National Park, Canada, Evan Fortushniok

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As park visitation increased to Point Pelee National Park up until its peak in 1963, the installation of infrastructure for the purpose of supporting the recreational interest grew with it. At Northwest Beach, large parking lots were built into the coastal landscape and by the 1970s large areas of sand dunes continued to be heavily impacted by the installation of visitor associated infrastructure. The infrastructure resulted in the stabilization of sand on the beach side of the parking lot, resulting in an artificially stabilized and heavily vegetated dune. Over the last few decades, the park slowly reduced the size and …

Fine Scale Mapping Of Laurentian Mixed Forest Natural Habitat Communities Using Multispectral Naip And Uav Datasets Combined With Machine Learning Methods, Parth P. Bhatt

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Natural habitat communities are an important element of any forest ecosystem. Mapping and monitoring Laurentian Mixed Forest natural communities using high spatial resolution imagery is vital for management and conservation purposes. This study developed integrated spatial, spectral and Machine Learning (ML) approaches for mapping complex vegetation communities. The study utilized ultra-high and high spatial resolution National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) datasets, and Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Complex natural vegetation community habitats in the Laurentian Mixed Forest of the Upper Midwest. A detailed workflow is presented to effectively process UAV imageries in a dense forest environment …

Determination Of Sustainable Zones For Groundwater Abstraction From The Multi-Layered Aquifer System In The Bengal Basin, Bangladesh, Anwar Zahid, Muhammad Qumrul Hassan, Nazrul I. Khandaker

Publications and Research

The use of deep groundwater (±300 m deep) is becoming an important issue in the Bengal Basin, due to both water quality problems and an acute shortage of available water in upper aquifers. In southeastern Bangladesh, multi-layered aquifer conditions exist with arsenic contamination at shallow depths, and high iron and brackish groundwater occurring mainly in the deeper layers. Many previous studies have offered explanations for the high concentrations of dissolved arsenic in groundwater - most of which proposed that the arsenic is derived from geo-genic sources and its release in groundwater is through natural processes, not the result of anthropogenic …

The Importance Of Monitoring To Assess The Impact Of Climate Change On Groundwater Resources In Bangladesh, Muhammad Qumrul Hassan, Anwar Zahid, Nazrul I. Khandaker

Publications and Research

Groundwater is the major source of fresh water across much of the world, but there has been very little study on the impacts of climate change on this precious and finite resource. Rising levels of greenhouse gases are likely to increase the global average surface temperature over the next 100 years, raise sea levels and reduce soil moisture. The amount of water stored in the soil is fundamentally important to agriculture and influences the rate of actual evaporation, groundwater recharge and runoff. Rising sea levels would cause the tidal saltwater wedge to intrude further upstream in rivers, with resulting changes …

Assessment Of The Impacts Of Urbanization On Land-Use And Land-Cover Changes Using Remote Sensing And Python At Gazipur District, Bangladesh, Atika Rahman Akji, Nowshin Ahsan Priyanka, Anwar Zahid, Muhammad Qumrul Hassan, Jowaher Raza, Nazrul I. Khandaker

Publications and Research

Urbanization has been the central demographic trend, not only in the Asia-Pacific region, but also for the entire world. Local geo-mapping is the vital tool for analyses of land-use and land-cover. This study attempts to classify land-use in unsupervised settings and create land-cover map by using open-source Landsat data integrated with GIS technologies and other ancillary resources. This work concentrates on Gazipur Sadar (an upazila or sub-district of the Gazipur District in central Bangladesh, part of the Dhaka Division) and Kaliakair, which are rapidly growing unplanned urban and industrial zones. The usage of python coding greatly assisted accomplishing the post-classification …

Using An Inventory Of Unstable Slopes To Prioritize Probabilistic Rockfall Modeling And Acid Base Accounting In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Thomas A. O'Shea

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An inventory of unstable slopes along transportation corridors and performance modeling are important components of geotechnical asset management in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM). Hazards and risk were assessed for 285 unstable slopes along 151 miles of roadway. A multi-criteria model was created to select fourteen sites for two-dimensional probabilistic rockfall simulations and Acid Base Accounting (ABA) tests. Simulations indicate that rock material would likely enter the roadway at all fourteen sites. ABA test results indicate that influence of significant acid-producing potential is generally confined to slaty rocks of the Anakeesta Formation and graphitic schist of the Wehutty Formation. …

Leveraging Natural Resources Toward Resilience: Outreach, Restoration, And Monitoring For A Resilient Nh Coast, Alyson Eberhardt, David M. Burdick, Gregg E. Moore

Faculty Publications

Both sound science and meaningful community engagement are critical to creating resilient coastlines given that important natural resources and high population densities coexist in these areas. Salt marshes and sand dunes provide important benefits to the people who live near them, such as mitigating flood impacts, when the condition of the ecosystem is robust enough to support such functions. To enhance the ability of these systems to perform ecosystem services, the goals of this project were to 1. Empower landowners to sustainably manage their own property to support coastal ecosystems and the benefits they provide, 2. Restore eroded sand dunes …

Characterization Of Landslide Processes From Radar Remote Sensing And Hydromechanical Modeling, Yuankun Xu

Earth Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Landsides are a natural geomorphic process yet a dangerous hazard which annually causes thousands of casualties and billions of property loss in a global scale. Understanding landslide motion kinematics from early initiation to final deposition is critical for monitoring, assessing, and forecasting landslide movement in order to mitigate their hazards. Landslides occur under diverse environmental settings and appear in variable types; however, all types of landslides can be mechanically attributed to shearing failure at the basal surface due to stress regime shift contributed by internal and/or external forcing. Typical internal factors include soil/rock weathering, whereas typical external triggering forces encompass …

Joint Spacing In The Caples Lake Granodiorite Of The Sierra Nevada Batholith In Eldorado National Forest, California: A Comparative Analysis Of Joint Sets And Data Resolution, Jimmy Wood

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Joints are the most common deformation structure in the Earth’s upper crust and exert a significant influence on structural stability, landscape morphology, and fluid flow . Therefore, a greater understanding of fracture parameters (e.g., length, aperture, etc.) allows us to more accurately predict their presence, persistence, and prevalence, in the subsurface . We study the fracture spacing of two sub-orthogonal joint sets—66 NE-246 SW and 330 NW-150 SE—in the Caples Lake granodiorite of the Sierra Nevada Batholith, California. Specifically, we investigate 1) their spacing distributions with a keen interest in power-law (fractal) spacing, 2) distribution comparisons between master and cross …

Coastal Watershed Monitoring And Management: Geomorphology, Geochemistry, And Hydrologic Modeling Of Los Peñasquitos Creek, Ca, Ravleen Khalsa-Basra

Theses

Rivers in semi-arid climates are directly influenced by local geographic and hydrologic conditions and impacted by modifications to hydrology via urbanization. Changes can influence erosion, morphology, habitat sustainability, and watershed health. In highly urbanized southern California coastal regions, these rare open spaces provide vital ecosystem services. Los Peñasquitos Creek in San Diego County is one such watershed. Using stream surveying and laboratory methods we quantified channel characteristics, grain size distribution, total metal concentration [M], organic carbon (%OC), and phosphate to longitudinally characterize the creek for improved management. Results identified three distinct reaches in the watershed (upper, middle, lower). Downstream, depth …

Bed Particle Displacements And Morphological Development In A Wandering Gravel-Bed River, Ryan Mcqueen, Peter Ashmore, T Millard, N Goeller

Geography & Environment Publications

Bed particles were tracked using passive integrated transponder tags in a wandering reach of the San Juan River, British Columbia, Canada, to assess particle movement around three major bars in the river. In-channel topographic changes were monitored through repeat LiDAR surveys during this period and used in concert with the tracer data set to assess the relationship between particle displacements and changes in channel morphology, specifically, the development and re-working of bars. This has direct implications for virtual velocity and morphologic based estimates of bedload flux, which rely on accurate estimates of the variability and magnitude of particle path lengths …

Mapping Michigan's Historic Coastlines, Ryan A. Williams

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This five-year project, sponsored by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, is working to map how Michigan’s Great Lakes shorelines have changed over the past 80+ years. Products of this project include publicly available digital, georeferenced, historic aerial photography datasets, as well as map layers depicting the locations of historic shorelines and bluff lines from 1938, 1980, 2009, 2016, 2018, and 2020. Additional products include bluff retreat risk areas, shoreline rate of change map layers, and tools to assist in the development of future Coastal Vulnerability Index projects for the Great Lakes. All products are available as …

A Karst Feature Prediction Model For Prince Of Wales Island, Alaska Based On High Resolution Lidar Imagery, Alexander Lyles

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Investigation into surface karst formation is significant to hazard prediction, hydrogeologic drainage, and land management. Southeast Alaska contains over 600,000 acres of mapped carbonate bedrock, and some of the fastest recorded karst dissolution in the world. The objectives of this study are to develop and compare multiple semi-automated models to map and delineate karst features from bare-earth LiDAR imagery using ArcGIS Desktop 10.7, and to apply a preliminary geostatistical analysis of sinkhole morphometric parameters to highlight potential spatial patterns of karst evolution on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. A semi-automated approach of mapping karst features provides a dataset that minimizes …

Erosion And Accretion Trends Of New Hampshire Beaches From December 2016 To March 2020: Results Of The Volunteer Beach Profile Monitoring Program, Larry G. Ward, Rachel C. Morrison, Alyson L. Eberhardt, Wellsley J. Costello, Zachary S. Mcavoy, Caitlin P. Mandeville

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

New Hampshire Atlantic beaches were monitored from December 2016 to March 2020 to determine seasonal changes in morphology and elevation, assess the response of the beaches to storms with respect to erosion and subsequent recovery, and develop a baseline to determine long-term trends in beach size, elevation, and position. A unique aspect of this study was the involvement of community volunteers working together with the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, UNH Cooperative Extension, New Hampshire Sea Grant, and the New Hampshire Geological Survey. The monitoring network consisted of thirteen stations located at six of …

Modeling Vegetation Effects On Barrier Island Evolution, Eric W. Schoen

Theses and Dissertations

Barrier islands play a significant role in protecting coastlines and harboring coastal habitats. In an effort to study and better understand the evolution of barrier island systems, a cellular model capturing various meteorological and environmental processes is proposed. Erosion due to wind, gravity, and marine processes are coupled with plant population effects. We demonstrate the inhibition of plant cover on sediment mobility, island migration, and erosion in the presence of sea level rise.

Species Distribution Modeling For Arid Adapted Habitat Specialists In Zion National Park, Sam Driver, Daniel R. Unger, David L. Kulhavy, Chris M. Schalk

Student Publications

The Arizona toad (Anaxyrus microscaphus) and Jones’ waxy dogbane (Cycladenia humilis var. jonesii) are habitat specialists with historical ranges in the desert southwest and specifically, Zion National Park (ZION). The machine learning method, MaxEnt, constructed species distribution models (SDMs) in ZION for the two study species at 30 m and 900 m spatial resolutions using climate, topographic, and remotely sensed data. Additionally, 900 m forecasting models were constructed to observe the shifts in suitable habitat for the years 2050 and 2070, based off two representative concentration pathway scenarios. Results indicate promising predictive power for both high …

Species Distribution Modeling For Arid Adapted Habitat Specialists In Zion National Park, Sam Driver, Chris M. Schalk, Daniel Unger, David Kulhavy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Arizona toad (Anaxyrus microscaphus) and Jones’ waxy dogbane (Cycladenia humilis var. jonesii) are habitat specialists with historical ranges in the desert southwest and specifically, Zion National Park (ZION). The machine learning method, MaxEnt, constructed species distribution models (SDMs) in ZION for the two study species at 30 m and 900 m spatial resolutions using climate, topographic, and remotely sensed data. Additionally, 900 m forecasting models were constructed to observe the shifts in suitable habitat for the years 2050 and 2070, based off two representative concentration pathway scenarios. Results indicate promising predictive power for both high …

The Role Of Eolian-Fluvial Interactions And Dune Dams In Landscape Change, Late Pleistocene-Holocene, Mojave Desert, Usa, Mark R. Sweeney, Eric V. Mcdonald, Lucas P. Chabela, Paul R. Hanson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The formation of the Kelso Dunes in the eastern Mojave Desert, California, was a landscape-changing event triggered by an increase in sediment supply that followed the incision of Afton Canyon by the Mojave River ca. 25 ka. Eastward migration of sand dunes occurred along a well-defined eolian trans­port corridor. Dunes temporarily blocked washes resulting in substantial aggradation of eolian and fluvial sediments. Stratigraphic exposures reveal numerous fining-up sequences with interbedded eolian sands that provide evidence of dune dams and subsequent aggradation. Luminescence ages reveal that dune blocking and aggradation correspond to a regional pulse of alluvial fan sedimentation that occurred …

The Multidisciplinary Enrichment Of Undergraduate Environmental Geology Students From International Summer Programs. Case Study: Summer 2019 3mugis, Russia, Ruslana Baker, Malek Shami, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Stanley Schleifer

Publications and Research

Hosted by the People’s Friendly University of Russia (RUDN), the Modeling, Monitoring, and Managing of Urban Green Infrastructure (3MUGIS) summer program was organized by the collaboration of the New York City Urban Soil Institute (NYC-USI), City University of New York – Brooklyn College, and under the auspices of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS). The program consisted of one-week lecture sessions and two-weeks of fieldwork across five bioclimatic zones, ranging from the sub-arctic tundra of the Kola Peninsula to the Southern Steps of Rostov, Black Sea. Faculty and guest lecturers included scientists with various expertise from Germany, USA, Russia, …

The Urban Heat Island Effect And Its Impact On The Climate And Landscape Of Phoenix, Arizona, Gurwinder Sahota, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Ali Zarine, Malek Shami

Publications and Research

This paper examines the impact of the urban heat island effect on the climate and landscape of Phoenix, Arizona. Urbanization is quickly becoming the most influential environmental factor because of the exponential growth in the human population coupled with industrialization, modernization, and commercialization, which has become the allure of urban centers worldwide. While urbanization offers numerous advantages, it comes at the cost of altering the environment by replacing permeable natural soils and vegetation with impermeable urban surfaces, such as pavements, buildings, and other such structures. This impervious modification results in absorption of solar energy that is taken up by the …