Geomorphology Commons^™

Mapping And Interpreting The Glacial Geology Of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan, Sarah M. Vandermeer

Dissertations

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is among the most popular parks in Michigan, yet prior to this study, it was the only National Park that lacked a detailed surficial geology map characterizing the distribution of sediments and landforms. Additionally, much of the landscape remained unexplored. These factors prevented thorough interpretations of landscape development and evolution. This research aims to map and further explore the relationship of glacial sediments and landforms throughout Pictured Rocks to refine and expand the current understanding of glacial events that shaped this landscape.

A new, detailed (1:24,000-scale) surficial geology map of the ten 7.5-minute quadrangles that contain …

High Resolution Monitoring Of River Bluff Erosion Reveals Failure Mechanisms And Geomorphically Effective Flows, Sara A. Kelly, Patrick Belmont

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Using a combination of Structure from Motion and time lapse photogrammetry, we document rapid river bluff erosion occurring in the Greater Blue Earth River (GBER) basin, a muddy tributary to the sediment-impaired Minnesota River in south central Minnesota. Our datasets elucidated dominant bluff failure mechanisms and rates of bluff retreat in a transient system responding to ongoing streamflow increases and glacial legacy impacts. Specifically, we document the importance of fluvial scour, freeze–thaw, as well as other drivers of bluff erosion. We find that even small flows, a mere 30% of the two-year recurrence interval flow, are capable of causing bluff …

Topographic Control On Post-Lgm Groundings Of The West Antarctic Ice Sheet In The Whales Deep Basin, Eastern Ross Sea, Matthew Danielson

LSU Master's Theses

By the peak of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) had advanced to the outer continental shelf of eastern Ross Sea trough basins. During the post-LGM retreat, the WAIS paused several times within 75 km of the Whales Deep Basin (WDB) shelf edge. An overlapping stack of seven grounding zone wedges (GZWs) records the locations of these groundings. Here we used ~7500 km of seismic reflection data to map the subglacial unconformity that was eroded when WAIS was grounded at the shelf edge, i.e., prior to the deposition of the backstepping GZWs. With respect to …

The Stability Of Sand Waves In A Tidally-Influenced Shipping Channel, Tampa Bay, Florida, John Willis Gray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tidally-influenced sandwaves are common coastal features present in various settings, including shipping channels. The main shipping channel in Tampa Bay under the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge (a.k.a. the Skyway Bridge) contains such sandwave bedforms. Between the years 2000 and 2017, these bedforms have been surveyed with multibeam echosounders (MBES) on 21 occasions with ranging coverage and quality of returns. Surveys between 2000 and 2009 used a 300 kHz Kongsberg EM3000; surveys between 2015 and 2017 used a 400 kHz Reson Seabat 7125. For comparable surveys, bathymetry, backscatter, slope, curvature, planform curvature, and profile curvature maps were created and analyzed. …

Sediment And Plant Dynamics In A Degrading Coastal Louisiana Landscape, Glenn Michael. Suir

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Alterations to Louisiana’s river systems and local hydrology have resulted in reduced freshwater, sediment, and nutrient inputs into wetland landscapes, causing significant negative impacts on marsh productivity and stability. To combat these losses many restoration projects have been constructed or planned throughout coastal Louisiana. Typical goals of wetland restoration efforts are to conserve, create, or enhance wetland form, and to achieve wetland function that approaches natural conditions. Failure to adequately maintain wetland elevation and hydrology can have serious implications on sedimentation and vegetation processes, which significantly reduces the likelihood of reaching structural and functional targets. Measures of wetland condition have …

Landscapes From The Waves—Marine Terraces Of California, Marjorie Schulz, Corey Lawrence, Daniel R. Muhs, Carol Prentice, Sam Flanagan

United States Geological Survey: Publications

M any coastlines around the world have stair-step landforms, known as marine terraces. Marine terraces make up a large part of coastal California’s landscape—from San Diego to Crescent City. Find out how these landscapes form, why marine terraces are of interest to scientists, and where you can explore these landscapes.

Marine terraces result from the interaction of two geologic processes: uplift of the land surface and the natural rise and fall of sea level over hundreds of thousands of years. As sea level rises, waves move underwater sediment—sand and gravel—back and forth against bedrock, acting like sandpaper to hone bedrock …

Fossils On The Floor In The Nebraska State Capitol: A Coloring And Activities Book, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The Nebraska State Capitol is a wonderful place. This building is home to great treasures of art owned by the people of Nebraska. The floor of the Capitol Rotunda has beautiful works of art. Maybe you have seen this art. Small pieces of two kinds of rocks make pictures of people, their tools, the natural resources they used, and pictures of fossil animals and plants. These kinds of pictures are called mosaics [moe ZAY icks]. The animals and plants follow one another in a curved ribbon around the floor. In that ribbon of pictures are many kinds of fossil animals …

Expanding The "Active Layer", Peter Ashmore, Sarah Peirce, Pauline Leduc

Geography & Environment Publications

Church and Haschenburger (2017) make helpful distinctions around the issue of defining the active layer, with which we agree. We propose expanding discussion and definition of the ”active layer” in fluvial bedload transport to include the concept of the “morphological active layer”. This is particularly applicable to laterally unstable rivers (such as braided rivers) in which progressive morphological change over short time periods is the process by which much of the bedload transport occurs. The morphological active layer is also distinguished by variable lateral and longitudinal extent continuity over a range of flows and transport intensity. We suggest that the …

First Assessment On The Air Co2 Dynamic In The Show Caves Of Tropical Karst, Vietnam, Duc A. Trinh, Quan H. Trinh, Angel Fernández-Cortés, David Mattey, Javier G. Guinea

International Journal of Speleology

In this study, air, water, and host rock in show caves in a Vietnam’s karst region was monitored and analyzed to identify the ventilation regime and track the cave air CO₂ sources. In general, the studied caves are well ventilated. In dynamic – multiple entrance caves, air ventilation is described with the use of U shape model. In static – single entrance cave, air circulation is explained by cold air trap model. Both ventilation models suggest that air is more circulated in winter than in summer. Seasonally, the cave air CO₂ increases from early spring to summer. Value …

Natural And Anthropogenic Impacts On Sediment Dynamics And Preservation In Contrasting Mississippi Deltaic Coastal Environments, Jiaze Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Deltas worldwide share the same sinking problem in face of pressure from natural and anthropogenic activities. Many restoration strategies are being planned or have been implemented in the coasts around the world. However, many conventional hard structure constructions are energy-intensive. There are also associated uncertainties and limitations on the effectiveness and sustainability of these restoration plans. Soft or ecological engineering strategies normally take advantage of or mimic the coastal system self-response and feedbacks to natural and anthropogenic activities. The successful implementation of soft strategies relies on process-based studies on the change of complex coastal system. In addition, post-implementation monitoring work …

Highway Construction Or Stream Destruction: A Water Quality Analysis In The Black Warrior Basin, Walker County, Alabama, Cayla Baughn

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In 2012, residents along Freeman Branch Creek in Eldridge, Alabama observed unusual orange discoloration along the stream and on stream vegetation; an unprecendented black veneer coating pebbles along the streambed; and life in the stream seemed to have vanished. Freeman Branch Creek is located in Walker County, Alabama, which is known for its production of coal and natural gas from the underlying Pennsylvanian-aged Pottsville Formation, which is the uppermost geologic layer within the the Black Warrior Basin. Concerns for environmental safety related to intensive mining operations include the concern that shallow aquifers will be contaminated by mining in deep reservoir …

Evidence Of The 1762 Arakan And Prior Earthquakes In The Northern Sunda Subduction, Dhiman Ranjan Mondal

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The objective of this dissertation is to understand the seismic hazard associated with Arakan segment of the northern Sunda subduction along SE Bangladesh. In order to do that, it is necessary to document geologic evidence for the 1762 Arakan earthquake and prior events, to help estimate the recurrence interval (repeat time) for that earthquake. Historical records described that the 1762 earthquake caused extensive damage along the Arakan segment of the Sunda subduction system. But the geologic evidence for the earthquake farther north is necessary to better understand its associated seismic hazard to the densely populated nation of Bangladesh. This dissertation …

Lidar-Based Characterization And Conservation Of The First Theropod Dinosaur Trackways From Arkansas, Usa, Brian F. Platt, Celina A. Suarez, Stephen K. Boss, Malcolm Williamson, Jackson Cothren, Jo Ann C. Kvamme

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

LIDAR-based analyses of the first theropod dinosaur trackways known from the state of Arkansas, USA are reported. The trackways were found on a limestone bedding plane in the Albian De Queen Formation in an active gypsum quarry. Because limited access precluded thorough field study, fieldwork focused on preserving the entire site digitally with ground-based LIDAR, and detailed measurements were later taken digitally from point cloud data. The site contains eight tridactyl trackways associated with sauropod trackways and numerous isolated tracks. Although there appear to be two different tridactyl morphotypes, we show that the tracks are all likely from a single …

Review Of The Ends Of The World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, And Our Quest To Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions, By Peter Brannen, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

In his new best-selling book, Peter Brannen, award-winning science writer, takes you on a fascinating trip through the run-up to the end of the Cretaceous extinction event and the K-Pg (Cretaceous/Paleogene) boundary, formerly called the K-T (Cretaceous/Tertiary) boundary.

Brannen interviewed many scientists who studied these events and went on field trips with them to major Cretaceous sites and to those where earlier and later extinction events happened. He presents clear explanations of what is known and not known about all of these events in a largely error-free book. Brannen details the other four big extinction events in geologic history: the …

Flume Tests On Fluvial Erosion Mechanisms In Tillbed Channels, L Pike, Peter Ashmore, S Gaskin

Geography & Environment Publications

Semi-alluvial stream channels eroded into till and other glacial sediments are common in areas of extensive glacial deposition such as the Great Lakes region and northern interior plains of North America. The mechanics of erosion and erosional weakness of till results in the dominance of fluvial scour and mass erosion due to spontaneous fracture at planes of weakness under shearing flow. There have been few controlled tests looking at erosional mechanisms and resistance of till in river channels.We subjected small blocks of till to unidirectional flows in a laboratory flume to measure the threshold shear stress for erosion and observed …

Transforming Toronto's Rivers: A Socio-Geomorphic Perspective, Peter Ashmore

Geography & Environment Publications

No abstract provided.

The Pothole Hydrology-Linked Systems Simulator (Phyliss)—Development And Application Of A Systems Model For Prairie-Pothole Wetlands, Owen P. Mckenna, David M. Mushet, Eric J. Scherff, Kyle I. Mclean, Christopher T. Mills

United States Geological Survey: Publications

The North American Prairie Pothole Region covers about 770,000 square kilometers of the United States and Canada (including parts of 5 States and 3 provinces: North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Iowa, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta). The Laurentide Ice Sheet shaped the landscape of the region about 12,000 to 14,000 years ago. The retreat of the ice sheet left behind low-permeability glacial till and a landscape dotted with millions of depressions known today as prairie potholes. The wetlands that subsequently formed in these depressions, prairie-pothole wetlands, provide critical migratory-bird habitat and support dynamic aquatic communities. Extensive grasslands and productive agricultural …

Appendix 1. Testing The Influence Of Management Regime And Year On Vegetation Structure Variables On Two Grass Types On Federal Lands Managed Under An Adaptive-Management Framework By The U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service In North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, And Montana, 2011–13, J.J Gannon, T.L. Shaffer, C.T. Moore

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Generalized linear mixed model (assuming a beta distribution with a logit link) testing the influence of management regime and year on mean bare-ground cover (percent) on two grass types on Federal lands managed under an adaptive-management framework by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Gannon and others, 2013) in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana, 2011–13.

A Simplified, Object-Based Framework For Efficient Landslide Inventorying Using Lidar Digital Elevation Model Derivatives, Michael D. Bunn, Ben A. Leshcinsky, Michael J. Olsen, Adam M. Booth

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Landslide inventory maps are critical to understand the factors governing landslide occurrence and estimate hazards or sediment delivery to channels. Numerous semi-automated approaches for landslide inventory mapping have been proposed to improve the efficiency and objectivity of the process, but these methods have not been widely adopted by practitioners because of the use of input parameters without physical meaning, a lack of transparency in machine-learning based mapping techniques, and limitations in resulting products, which are not ordinarily designed or tested on a large-scale or in diverse geologic units. To this end, this work presents a new semi-automated method, called the …

Valley Bottom Position And The Occurrence Of Paleosols Affect Soc Dynamics, Benedict W. Ferguson

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in depositional zones has been a growing topic of interest in recent years as these areas may be sinks of SOC. However, SOC dynamics greater than 1 m in depth in river valley bottom soils are not well understood. This study examines the soil organic carbon along three alluvial landscape positions in the forested, humid-subtropical setting of the Clarks River in the western Kentucky portion of the Mississippi River basin. These soil and depositional profiles range in age from ~8,000 years ago to modern, 21 cal yr. BP, (BP = AD 2010). The mean surface …

The Origin Of Dark Mats At The Sunrise Ridge Borrow Pit Site (45pi408) Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, Sean Stcherbinine

All Master's Theses

The Sunrise Ridge Borrow Pit Site is a precontact archaeological site located in the upland forest soils of Mount Rainier National Park. Site stratigraphy is complicated, consisting of tephra deposits from mostly known origins that are intercalated with dark sediments of unknown origin, referred to here as dark mats. Precontact occupation has been split previously into two components based on the ambiguous depositional history of the dark mats, notably their unknown parent material, depositional environment, and relationship with adjacent tephra strata. Stratigraphic samples from excavation units, features, and one off-site excavation unit was used to investigate these data gaps. Grain …

Assessing The Impact Of The Conservation Reserve Program On Honey Bee Health, Otto, C.R.V., O'Dell, S., Bryant, R.B., Euliss, N.H., Bush

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Insect pollinators are critically important for maintaining U.S. food production and ecosystem health. The upper Midwest is home to more than 40 percent of all U.S. honey bee colonies and is considered by many beekeepers to be America’s last beekeeping refuge. Beekeepers come to this region because their honey bees require high-quality grassland and bee-friendly agricultural crops to make honey and to improve bee health. Agricultural grassland, such as those enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), support flowers that provide bees with the pollen and nectar they need. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. …

Adaptive Management In Native Grasslands Managed By The U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service—Implications For Grassland Birds, Lawrence D. Igl, Welsey E. Newton, Todd A. Grant, Cami S. Dixon

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Burning and grazing are natural processes in native prairies that also serve as important tools in grassland management to conserve plant diversity, to limit encroachment of woody and invasive plants, and to maintain or improve prairies. Native prairies managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the Prairie Pothole Region of the northern Great Plains have been extensively invaded by nonnative, cool-season species of grasses. These invasions were believed to reflect a common management history of long-term rest and little or no defoliation by natural processes (burning and grazing). To address the challenges associated with these invasive species, …

Combining Hydraulic Head Analysis With Airborne Electromagnetics To Detect And Map Impermeable Aquifer Boundaries, Jesse T. Korus

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Impermeable aquifer boundaries affect the flow of groundwater, transport of contaminants, and the drawdown of water levels in response to pumping. Hydraulic methods can detect the presence of such boundaries, but these methods are not suited for mapping complex, 3D geological bodies. Airborne electromagnetic (AEM) methods produce 3D geophysical images of the subsurface at depths relevant to most groundwater investigations. Interpreting a geophysical model requires supporting information, and hydraulic heads offer the most direct means of assessing the hydrostratigraphic function of interpreted geological units. This paper presents three examples of combined hydraulic and AEM analysis of impermeable boundaries in glacial …

The Groundwater Atlas Of Red Willow County, Nebraska, Dana Divine, Duane Eversoll, Leslie M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The purpose of this groundwater atlas is to synthesize a wealth of hydrogeologic data for Red Willow County that has not been published in readily accessible formats previously. Many of the maps presented here are based on geologic information from registered wells and test holes that is publically available on-line, which becomes more valuable when compiled, analyzed, and discussed as a whole.

In Red Willow County, the aquifers are alluvial sand and gravel in the river and stream valleys and the High Plains aquifer beneath the uplands. The High Plains aquifer in Red Willow County consists primarily of the Ogallala …

Abandoned Mine Land Impacts On Tributaries In The Upper Yakima River Watershed, Eastern Cascades, Washington, Scott Kugel

All Master's Theses

Effluent from abandoned mine lands (AMLs) in several drainages in Washington’s Eastern Cascades flows into the Yakima River. Similar sites in Idaho and Colorado are known producers of heavy metals and acid mine drainage. I determined the effects of nine AMLs on water quality in four tributaries to the Yakima River. Archival work was conducted to determine sites that were mined and contained a mill. Each site was characterized by physical features. Water and sediment samples were collected above, at, and below each AML. Samples were analyzed for pH and heavy metal content, and evaluated to determine if the AMLs …

A Shift From Drought To Extreme Rainfall Drives A Stable Landslide To Catastrophic Failure, Alexander L. Handwerger, Mong-Han Haung, Eric Jameson Fielding, Adam M. Booth, Roland Burgmann

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The addition of water on or below the earth’s surface generates changes in stress that can trigger both stable and unstable sliding of landslides and faults. While these sliding behaviours are well-described by commonly used mechanical models developed from laboratory testing (e.g., critical-state soil mechanics and rate-and-state friction), less is known about the field-scale environmental conditions or kinematic behaviours that occur during the transition from stable to unstable sliding. Here we use radar interferometry (InSAR) and a simple 1D hydrological model to characterize 8 years of stable sliding of the Mud Creek landslide, California, USA, prior to its rapid acceleration …

Persistence Of Stream Restoration With Large Wood, Redwood National And State Parks, California, Diedra L. Rodriguez

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The conservation and recovery of anadromous salmonids (Oncorhynchus sp.) depend on stream restoration and protection of freshwater habitats. In-stream large wood dictates channel morphology, increases retention of terrestrial inputs such as organic matter, nutrients and sediment, and enhances the quality of fish habitat. Historic land use/land cover changes have resulted in aquatic systems devoid of large wood. Restoration by placement of large wood jams is intended to restore physical and biological processes. An important question for scientists and restoration managers, in addition to the initial effectiveness of restoration, is the persistence and fate of large wood installations. In this …

Geomorphic Consequences Of Hydroelectricity And Transportation Development Near Celilo Falls, Lower Mid-Columbia River, Washington, Noah I. Oliver

All Master's Theses

Along the Columbia River, hundreds of miles of transportation infrastructure and over sixty hydroelectric dams have been constructed. This altered a rich cultural landscape with evidence of 10,000 years of continuous occupation. Researchers have attempted to understand the impacts of anthropogenic factors on the Columbia River, focusing on the riverine environment. However, the effect of transportation and hydroelectricity developments to eolian landforms on the floodplains and adjoining slopes have not been studied. Focusing on 2,800 acres near Celilo Falls, this study 1) establishes a baseline condition of eolian landforms from 1805 to 1900; 2) conducts an air photo increment analysis …

Onshore-Offshore Velocity Models North Of The Mendocino Triple Junction In Northern California, Alan Jacquez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Mendocino Triple Junction (MTJ) marks the boundary where the Gorda plate, North American Plate, and Pacific Plate meet, separating the Cascadia subduction zone to the North from transform tectonics of the San Andreas plate boundary. This actively deforming region experiences high seismic activity and young geological features. Here we examine offshore and onshore seismic wide-angle reflection and refraction data north of the MTJ crossing the Cascadia subduction zone from offshore northern California to the Western edge of the Sierra Nevada. We image subsurface structures in this region by creating P-wave velocity models using datasets collected in 1993 to 1994 …