Geophysics and Seismology Commons^™

Geologic Map Of The Welcome Quadrangle And An Adjacent Part Of The Wells Quadrangle, Elko County, Nevada, Allen J. Mcgrew, Arthur W. Snoke

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Located in central Elko County, the Welcome and adjacent part of the Wells quadrangles expose a remarkable array of critical relationships for understanding the geologic history of the State of Nevada and the interior of the southwestern U.S. Cordillera. Covering the northern end of the East Humboldt Range and adjacent Clover Valley and Clover Hill, this map includes the northern terminus of the Ruby Mountains-East Humboldt Range metamorphic core complex. The oldest rocks in the State of Nevada (the gneiss complex of Angel Lake), and Nevada’s only exposures of Archean rock, form the core of a multikilometer scale, southward-closing recumbent …

Refraction Microtremor Analysis Of Areas Surrounding California State University San Bernardino, Malcolm D. Thomas

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The San Andreas Fault stretches for over 800 miles through California. Along the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains, areas in close proximity to the San Andreas Fault Zone may be subject to site amplification of ground motion caused by seismic activity via wave propagation through the subsurface. These seismic hazards are being addressed via the Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Faulting Zone Act and the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). Shear wave velocity of the subsurface has served as a proxy for ground motion amplification and is therefore a useful parameter to help analyze and reduce seismic hazards. Low shear wave …

The Monica (Monitoring Of Ice Within Caves) Project: A Multidisciplinary Approach For The Geophysical And Paleoclimatic Characterization Of Permanent Ice Deposits In The Southeastern Alps, Renato R. Colucci, Emanuele Forte, Barbara Stenni, Marco Basso Bondini, Mauro Colle Fontana, Costanza Del Gobbo, Daniele Fontana, Doriana Belligoi, Valter Maggi, Marco Filipazzi

The International Workshop on Ice Caves

On days 30 September and 1-2 October 2013, a 7.8 m long ice core has been extracted from a permanent ice cave deposit in the Southeastern Alps (Vasto’s cave, Mt.Canin - Julian Alps). Each 20 to 100 cm long section of the ice core have been immediately stored in plastic bags and preserved thanks to dry ice. The ice samples, thanks to the helicopter, has been subsequently brought on valley and promptly stored in a refrigerated van, made available by BoFrost. Thus the ice cores has been transported intact to the EUROCOLD laboratory in Milan. These operations have been carried …

New Research In Cave Ledenica In Bukovi Vrh On Velebit Mt In Croatian Dinaric Karst, Mladen Garasic

The International Workshop on Ice Caves

No abstract provided.

Using Seismic Reflection To Locate A Tracer Testing Complex South Of Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada, Levi Kryder

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Tracer testing in the fractured volcanic aquifer near Yucca Mountain, and in the alluvial aquifer south of Yucca Mountain, Nevada has been conducted in the past to determine the flow and transport properties of groundwater in those geologic units. However, no tracer testing has been conducted across the alluvium/volcanic interface. This thesis documents the investigative process and subsequent analysis and interpretations used to identify a location suitable for installation of a tracer testing complex, near existing Nye County wells south of Yucca Mountain.

The work involved evaluation of existing geologic data, collection of wellbore seismic data, and a detailed surface …

Slides: Thoughts On Regulatory Mechanisms For Natural Resource Development: Alternatives To Command And Control, Including A Look At Open Source Approaches, Stanley Dempsey

Natural Resource Industries and the Sustainability Challenge (Martz Winter Symposium, February 27-28)

Presenter: Stanley Dempsey, Chairman, Royal Gold

17 slides

Depth To Curie Temperature Across The Central Red Sea From Magnetic Data Using The De-Fractal Method, Ahmed Salem, Chris Green, Dhananjay Ravat, Kumar Hemant Singh, Paul East, J. Derek Fairhead, Saad Mogren, Ed Biegert

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

The central Red Sea rift is considered to be an embryonic ocean. It is characterised by high heat flow, with more than 90% of the heat flow measurements exceeding the world mean and high values extending to the coasts — providing good prospects for geothermal energy resources. In this study, we aim to map the depth to the Curie isotherm (580 °C) in the central Red Sea based on magnetic data. A modified spectral analysis technique, the “de-fractal spec- tral depth method” is developed and used to estimate the top and bottom boundaries of the magnetised layer. We use a …

Brownfield Action: Dissemination Of A Sencer Model Curriculum And The Creation Of A Collaborative Stem Education Network, Peter Bower, Ryan Kelsey, Joseph Liddicoat, Doug M. Thompson, Angelo Lampousis, Bret Bennington, Bess Greenbaum Seewald, Arthur D. Kney, Saugata Datta, Lawrence D. Lemke, Briane Sorice Miccio, Tamara Graham

Publications and Research

Brownfield Action (BA) is a web-based environmental site assessment (ESA) simulation in which students form geotechnical consulting companies and work together to solve problems in environmental forensics. Developed at Barnard College with the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, BA has been disseminated to ten colleges, universities, and high schools, resulting in a collaborative network of educators. The experiences of current users are presented describing how they have incorporated the BA curriculum into their courses, as well as how BA affected teaching and learning. The experiences demonstrate that BA can be used in whole or in part, is …

Application Of The Kalman Filter On Full Tensor Gravity Gradiometry Data Around The Vinton Salt Dome, Louisiana, Mahnaz Sepehrmanesh

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Full tensor gravity (FTG) data are known for their high resolution but also for higher noise in its components due to the dynamic nature of the platform used for data acquisition. Although a review of the literature suggests steady increase in the success of gravity gradiometry, we still cannot take advantage of the full potential of the method, mostly because of the noise with the same amplitude and wavenumber characteristics as the signal that affects these data. Smoothing from common low pass filters removes small wavelength features and makes it difficult to detect structural features and other density variations of …

Reconstruction Of The Hirnantian (Late Ordovician) Palaeotopography In The Upper Yangtze Region, Linna Zhang, Junxuan Fan, Qing Chen, Shuang-Ye Wu

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Reconstruction of the Hirnantian (Late Ordovician) palaeotopography in South China is important for understanding the distribution pattern of the Hirnantian marine depositional environment. In this study, we reconstructed the Hirnantian palaeotopography in the Upper Yangtze region based on the rankings of the palaeo-water depths, which were inferred according to the lithofacies and biofacies characteristics of the sections. Data from 374 Hirnantian sections were collected and standardized through the online Geobiodiversity Database. The Ordinary Kriging interpolation method in the ArcGIS software was applied to create the continuous surface of the palaeo-water depths, i.e. the Hirnantian palaeotopography. Meanwhile, the line transect analysis …

Study Of Filled Dolines By Using 3d Stereo Image Processing And Electrical Resistivity Imaging, Mateja Breg Valjavec

International Journal of Speleology

This article deals with doline degradation due to uncontrolled waste dumping in the past in the Logatec Polje in Slovenia. It introduces a concept for determining 3D geometric characteristics (shape, depth, radius, area, and volume) of formerly concave landforms (i.e., recently filled dolines) by using a combination of two methods: (1) photogrammetric stereo processing of archival aerial photographs and (2) electrical resistivity imaging (ERI). To represent, visualize, and study the characteristics of the former surface morphology (i.e., the dolines before they were filled), a digital terrain model (DTM) for 1972 (DTM1972) was made using digital photogrammetry processing of five sequential …

Geoelectrical Detection Of Water Table Depth At Two Locations In The Los Osos Groundwater Basin, Hallie A. Douglas

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

The city of Los Osos sits on top of a coastal groundwater aquifer which is the sole supplier of all its residential, agricultural, and industrial water needs. Lacking a sewer system, the upper aquifer became progressively contaminated with nitrates over several decades. Groundwater pumping eventually shifted to the lower aquifer, however seawater intrusion of the lower aquifer caused by over-pumping has further degraded water quality. The Los Osos groundwater basin provides an excellent field region to examine the utility of geophysical methods for characterizing aquifer structure. In this study shallow (<20 >m) electrical resistivity imaging methods were performed at two …

Plains Co2 Reduction (Pcor) Partnership Atlas, Wesley D. Peck, Tera D. Buckley, Earl P. Battle, Megan M. Grove, Joyce M. Riske, Charles D. Gorecki, Edward N. Steadman, John A. Harju

EERC Maps and Infographics

The Plains CO₂ Reduction (PCOR) Partnership Atlas provides a regional profile of CO₂ sources and potential CO₂ storage locations across the PCOR Partnership region. The revised fourth edition provides an update-to-date look at PCOR Partnership activities, including regional characterization and full-scale demonstration activities. Additional background information on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is included to give a better understanding of how CCUS addresses concerns about climate change while allowing future energy needs to be met.

Comparison Of Earthquake Source Models For The 2011 Tohoku Event Using Tsunami Simulations And Near‐Field Observations, Breanyn T. Macinnes, Aditya Riadi Gusman, Randall J. Leveque, Yuichiro Tanioka

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Selection of the earthquake source used in tsunami models of the 2011 Tohoku event affects the simulated tsunami waveform across the near field. Different earthquake sources, based on inversions of seismic waveforms, tsunami waveforms, and Global Positioning System (GPS) data, give distinguishable patterns of simulated tsunami heights in many locations in Tohoku and at near‐field Deep‐ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) buoys. We compared 10 sources proposed by different research groups using the GeoClaw code to simulate the resulting tsunami. Several simulations accurately reproduced observations at simulation sites with high grid resolution. Many earthquake sources produced results within 20% …

Feasibility Of Seismic Monitoring To Identify Avalanche Activity: Snoqualmie Pass, Wa, Kathryn Johnston

All Master's Theses

Avalanches across the Interstate-90 corridor over Snoqualmie Pass, in Washington State, are a concern for winter travelers and backcountry recreation. The temporary closure of the interstate for avalanche mitigation work also affects commerce by delaying transportation of merchandise. The study of seismic signals associated with snow avalanches could allow for greater understanding of avalanche properties, while remote sensing of avalanche activity could help established avalanche control programs and regional avalanche centers with forecasting and mitigation efforts. Two seismic stations were installed near the Alpental ski area on Snoqualmie Pass and recorded seismic activity throughout the winters of 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. …

Propagation Of Interval And Probabilistic Uncertainty In Cyberinfrastructure-Related Data Processing And Data Fusion, Christian Servin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Data uncertainty affects the results of data processing. So, it is necessary to find out how the data uncertainty propagates into the uncertainty of the results of data processing. This problem is especially important when cyberinfrastructure enables us to process large amounts of heterogeneous data. In the ideal world, we should have an accurate description of data uncertainty, and well-justified efficient algorithms to propagate this uncertainty. In practice, we are often not yet in this ideal situation: the description of uncertainty is often only approximate, and the algorithms for uncertainty propagation are often not well-justified and not very computationally efficient. …

Plains Co2 Reduction (Pcor) Partnership Atlas, Wesley D. Peck, Tera D. Buckley, Earl P. Battle, Megan M. Grove, Joyce M. Riske, Charles D. Gorecki, Edward N. Steadman, John A. Harju

EERC Maps and Infographics

The Plains CO₂ Reduction (PCOR) Partnership Atlas provides a regional profile of CO₂ sources and potential CO₂ storage locations across the PCOR Partnership region. The fourth edition provides an update-to-date look at PCOR Partnership activities, including regional characterization and full-scale demonstration activities. Additional background information on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is included to give a better understanding of how CCUS addresses concerns about climate change while allowing future energy needs to be met.

Sedimentology And Geochronology Of Holocene Paleochannel Features In The Lower Ohio River Valley, Indiana, Kathryn G. De Rego, C. Russell Stafford, Mark Cantin

Symposium 2012

Rivers condition human settlement strategy by determining both the location of aquatic resources and the stability of the landscape. Therefore, understanding where the river was and how quickly it migrated in the past aids in predicting buried site potential. This study investigates the sedimentology and geochronology of paleochannel deposits along the Lower Ohio River floodplain. A series of low, wide swales are prominent features in a series of bottoms in a ~40 km section of the river valley downstream from the Falls of the Ohio. Previous studies in Knob Creek Bottom indicate that one of these paleochannel swales was active …

Effectiveness Of Four Water-Bearing Zones Of The Glacierized Basin In Meltwater Runoff Modeling, Umesh K. Haritashya

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Meltwater runoff modeling from glacierized basins needs several input data, including total meltwater contributing area. This study utilizes optical remote sensing data to assess glacierized basins in the central Himalayas where snow and glaciers contribute substantially to the water resources. Result shows that there are four main water-bearing zones in the basin: (a) dry snow, (b) wet snow, (c) exposed glacial ice, and (d) debris-covered glacial ice, and it is possible to differentiate and map these zones and their spatio-temporal variations from satellite sensor data. These zones can then be incorporated in meltwater runoff modeling as separate entities because they …

Evaluating Hydrocarbon Source Rock For Unconventional Shale Oil Play From Seismic And Well Log Data; Kingak Shale, North Slope, Alaska, Sarah Elisabeth Leedberg

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

It has been proposed that Acoustic impedance (AI) responses can be used to estimate total organic carbon (TOC) within thick, clay rich shale. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the effectiveness of the AI inversion technique, and establish a methodology that can be applied to other basins. The Kingak Formation (lower Jurassic to early Cretaceous), located on the North Slope of Alaska, has been extensively evaluated for its unconventional potential. The Kingak is shale and is known to have greater than 30 percent clay. Because clay has ductile properties it makes it difficult to stimulate a well through …

Propagation Of Interval And Probabilistic Uncertainty In Cyberinfrastructure-Related Data Processing And Data Fusion, Christian Servin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Data uncertainty affects the results of data processing. So, it is necessary to find out how the data uncertainty propagates into the uncertainty of the results of data processing.

This problem is especially important when cyberinfrastructure enables us to process large amounts of heterogeneous data.

In the ideal world, we should have an accurate description of data

uncertainty, and well-justified efficient algorithms to propagate this uncertainty. In practice, we are often not yet in this ideal situation:

the description of uncertainty is often only approximate, and the algorithms for uncertainty propagation are often not well-justified and not very computationally efficient. …

Quasi 3-Dimensional Electrical Resistivity Mapping Of Air-Filled Karst Conduits And Policy Implications, Charles W. Mccrackin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study assesses the capability and practical applications of quasi 3-Dimensional (3D) electrical resistivity surveying (ER) for mapping air-filled karst conduits. Vadose zone caves within the Brooksville Ridge of West Central Florida are relatively similar in architecture, with N-S elongation, and do not consist of an interconnected network of conduits. A high resolution quasi-3D ER survey was performed over two mapped cave systems on the Brooksville Ridge. The resultant survey verified the general effectiveness of quasi-3D ER in locating the two known near-surface cave features. Several other locations in the survey show similar or stronger resistivity anomalies trending in a …

Full Conference Program With Abstracts, Jason S. Polk, Leslie A. North

International 2011 Conference on Karst Hydrogeology and Ecosystems

No abstract provided.

Groundwater Research In Middle Earth, Thomas Lapoint

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

My senior project focused on studying saltwater intrusion in a coastal town of New Zealand. I feel lucky that I was able to travel to such a distant place, conduct research that was insightful and interesting, and immerse myself in an international culture all in the name of my education. As a Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies student, I aim to analyze not only the cultural differences and similarities that the foreign environment offers to me but also the detailed, technical, engineering aspect of my research. I believe that my education should be approached with a well rounded perspective that …

Encyclopedia Of Snow, Ice And Glaciers, Vijay P. Singh, Pratap Singh, Umesh K. Haritashya

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

The objective of this encyclopedia is to present the current state of scientific understanding of various aspects of earth’s cryosphere – snow, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, ice shelves, sea ice, river and lake ice, and permafrost – and their related interdisciplinary connections under one umbrella. Therefore, every effort has been made to provide a comprehensive coverage of cryosphere by including a broad array of topics, such as the atmospheric processes responsible for snow formation; snowfall observations; snow cover and snow surveys; transformation of snow to ice and changes in their properties; classification of ice and glaciers and their worldwide …

Timing, Distribution, Amount, And Style Of Cenozoic Extension In The Northern Great Basin, Christopher D. Henry, Allen J. Mcgrew, Joseph P. Colgan, Arthur W. Snoke, Matthew E. Brueseke

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

This field trip examines contrasting lines of evidence bearing on the timing and structural style of Cenozoic (and perhaps late Mesozoic) extensional deformation in northeastern Nevada. Studies of metamorphic core complexes in this region report extension beginning in the early Cenozoic or even Late Cretaceous, peaking in the Eocene and Oligocene, and being largely over before the onset of “modern” Basin and Range extension in the middle Miocene. In contrast, studies based on low- temperature thermochronology and geologic mapping of Eocene and Miocene volcanic and sedimentary deposits report only minor, localized extension in the Eocene, no extension at all in …

Joint Geophysical Data Analysis For Geothermal Energy Exploration, Antony Munika Wamalwa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Geophysical data modelling often yields non-unique results and hence the interpretation of the resulting models in terms of underlying geological units and structures is not a straightforward problem. However, if multiple datasets are available for a region of study, an integrated interpretation of models for each of the geophysical data may results to a more realistic geological description. This study not only demonstrates the strength of resistivity analysis for geothermal fields but also the gains from interpreting resistivity data together with other geophysical data such as gravity and seismic data. Various geothermal fields have been examined in this study which …

Slip Distribution Of The 1952 Kamchatka Great Earthquake Based On Near-Field Tsunami Deposits And Historical Records, Breanyn Macinnes, Robert Weiss, Joanne Bourgeois, Tatiana K. Pinegina

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

We explore the magnitude and slip distribution of the 1952 Kamchatka earthquake (M_W 8.8–9.0) using constraints from the 1952 Kamchatka tsunami. Our new field data provide more comprehensive coverage of the near-field tsunami than had been available to date. We examine the effects of internal slip distribution within complex earthquake ruptures on near-field tsunami runup and evaluate some of the limitations of this approach. Our approach compares tsunami-deposit distribution with simulated runup from tsunamis generated by different configurations of seafloor deformation from hypothetical earthquakes resembling that of the 1952 Kamchatka earthquake. We identify areas of high slip because different …

Plains Co2 Reduction (Pcor) Partnership Atlas, Wesley D. Peck, Katherine K. Anagnost, Barry W. Botnen, Lisa S. Botnen, Daniel J. Daly, Charles D. Gorecki, Megan M. Grove, John A. Harju, Melanie D. Jensen, Michael L. Jones, Steven A. Smith, James A. Sorensen, Edward N. Steadman, Stephanie L. Wolfe, Andrea T. Mcnemar, John T. Litynski, Sean I. Plasynski

EERC Maps and Infographics

The Plains CO₂ Reduction (PCOR) Partnership Atlas, revised 3rd edition, introduces global climate change and a regional profile of CO₂ sources and potential sinks across central North America. Carbon storage offers a promising set of technologies through which CO₂ can be stored for long periods of time.

Geochemical Investigation Of An Offshore Sewage Sludge Deposit, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Michael A. Kruge, Albert Permanyer, Jordi Serra, Danlin Yu

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

For 20 years ending in the 1990’s the city of Barcelona discharged the products from a large primary sewage treatment plant directly into the Mediterranean Sea via underwater conduits. About ca. 3 million m³ of relict sewage sludge, rich in organic matter and heavy metals, has spread over an elongated area offshore, due to successive ruptures of the conduits. The use of the discharge pipes ceased, but he sludge deposit remains in place for the time being.

To understand the history and present state of the sludge deposit in advance of future remediation, a program of geophysical mapping, sampling, …