Geophysics and Seismology Commons^™

Hardbottom Characterization And Relationship To The Geologic Framework In Long Bay, South Carolina, Cathryn J. Wheaton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hardbottom seafloor is a common element among sediment-starved portions of the inner continental shelf along the U.S. Atlantic margin. These areas are characterized by indurated sediment surfaces that are heavily altered by biological and physical processes. Long Bay, in northeastern South Carolina, offers ideal environmental conditions for hardbottom exposure with only patchy Holocene sand deposits, interspersed with extensive hardbottom areas. Here we use high-resolution multibeam bathymetry, CHIRP subbottom profiling and electrical resistivity data, along with surficial sediment samples, hardbottom thin sections, and water column radioisotope (radon-222) analysis to investigate the origin and geologic framework of a region of hardbottom seafloor …

Tephra From The 3 March 2015 Sustained Column Related To Explosive Lava Fountain Activity At Volcán Villarrica (Chile), Jeffrey B. Johnson

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Exceptionally intense lava fountains at open conduit volcanoes are infrequent, hazardous and little-warned events. Studying their tephra falls may reveal conduit dynamics, eruption source parameters and fragmentation mechanisms. Villarrica Volcano (Southern Andes of Chile) has sustained persistent open conduit activity, associated with a dynamic lava lake since at least 1984–85. Increased seismicity and degassing in August 2014 were followed by Strombolian activity starting in February 2015 and culminated with a 1.5 km-high lava fountain on 3 March 2015. This eruption produced tephra fallout, spatter agglutination, clastogenic lavas and mixed avalanche deposits. Here we characterized for first time Villarrica's 3 March …

Dense-Array Teleseismic Imaging Of The Southern Albuquerque Basin, Tori S. Finlay

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The southern Albuquerque basin is a complex area of high extension, multiple orogenies, and ongoing uplift from a midcrustal magma body in which geophysical coverage is sparse. In this thesis, I capitalize on recent innovations in dense-array processing techniques to create virtual source reflection profiles from five teleseismic events during the deployment of the Sevilleta array. The Sevilleta array consisted of ~800 vertical component nodes with ~300 m spacing deployed for 10 days in February of 2015. Virtual source reflection profiles are created by using the free surface of the earth as a virtual seismic source, yielding profiles that mimic …

Review Of Curbing Catastrophe: Natural Hazards And Risk Reduction In The Modern World, Kira H. Hamman

Numeracy

Timothy H. Dixon. 2017. Curbing Catastrophe: Natural Hazards and Risk Reduction in the Modern World. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press) 300 pp. ISBN 978-1108113663.

In Curbing Catastrophe, Timothy H. Dixon explores commonalities among natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and the meltdown at Fukushima. He identifies communication failure between scientists and policy makers as a major culprit in the devastation that results from such events and offers strategies for improving that communication. He includes optional in-depth scientific and quantitative examinations of the events and the resulting devastation, making the book appropriate for use …

Identification Of Erosional Terraces On Seamounts: Implications For Interisland Connectivity And Subsidence In The Galápagos Archipelago, Darin M. Schwartz, S. Adam Soule, V. Dorsey Wanless, Meghan R. Jones

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Shallow seamounts at ocean island hotspots and in other settings may record emergence histories in the form of submarine erosional terraces. Exposure histories are valuable for constraining paleo-elevations and sea levels in the absence of more traditional markers, such as drowned coral reefs. However, similar features can also be produced through primary volcanic processes, which complicate the use of terraced seamounts as an indicator of paleo-shorelines. In the western Galápagos Archipelago, we utilize newly collected bathymetry along with seafloor observations from human-occupied submersibles to document the location and depth of erosional terraces on seamounts near the islands of Santiago, Santa …

Eleven Years Of Mountain Weather, Snow, Soil Moisture And Streamflow Data From The Rain–Snow Transition Zone – The Johnston Draw Catchment, Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed And Critical Zone Observatory, Usa, James P. Mcnamara

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Detailed hydrometeorological data from the rain-to-snow transition zone in mountain regions are limited. As the climate warms, the transition from rain to snow is moving to higher elevations, and these changes are altering the timing of downslope water delivery. To understand how these changes impact hydrological and biological processes in this climatologically sensitive region, detailed observations from the rain-to-snow transition zone are required. We present a complete hydrometeorological dataset for water years 2004 through 2014 for a watershed that spans the rain-to-snow transition zone (https://doi.org/10.15482/usda.adc/1402076). The Johnston Draw watershed (1.8km²), ranging from 1497 to 1869m in elevation, is …

Theory And Application Of Geophysical Geodesy For Studying Earth Surface Deformation, Makan A. Karegar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An interdisciplinary approach at the interface between geodesy and geophysics has recently resolved several Earth science problems at regional and global scales. I use the term “geophysical geodesy” to distinguish the technical and theoretical aspect of geodesy from geophysical applications of geodetic techniques. Using a wide range of Earth observation data, I study the spatio-temporal characteristics of Earth surface deformation in the United States associated with several geophysical processes, including natural and anthropogenic subsidence and uplift, regional relative sea-level rise, and continental hydrological loading. The theoretical portion of this dissertation applies loading theory and develops a new hybrid method to …

Integrated Geophysical Methods To Characterize Subsidence In Butte, Montana, U.S.A., Kristen Prudhomme

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Geophysical investigations, designed to characterize unique subsidence features of unknown natural origin, provide imaging analysis of potential causes of subsidence. Recent subsidence in the alluvial plain in Butte, Montana is unrelated to historic mining in the area. This study aims to utilize a combined application of shallow electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), self-potential (SP), and frequency-domain electromagnetic (FDEM) methods in order to develop a better understanding of the particular set of hydrogeological and environmental conditions that contribute to this unique phenomena. Geophysical measurements provide lateral and vertical variations of electrical resistivity in the subsurface to a depth of 10 m while …

Hyporheic Source And Sink Of Nitrous Oxide, W. Jeffery Reeder, Annika M. Quick, Tiffany B. Farrell, Shawn G. Benner, Kevin P. Feris, Alessandra Marzadri, Daniele Tonina

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a potent greenhouse gas with an estimated 10% of anthropogenic N₂O coming from the hyporheic zone of streams and rivers. However, difficulty in making accurate fine-scale field measurements has prevented detailed understanding of the processes of N₂O production and emission at the bedform and flowline scales. Using large-scale, replicated flume experiments that employed high-density chemical concentration measurements, we have been able to refine the current conceptualization of N₂O production, consumption, and emission from the hyporheic zone. We present a predictive model based on a Damköhler-type transformation (τ̃) in …

Integrated Geophysical Analysis In The Northeastern Gulf Of Mexico, Mei Liu

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The formation of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) relates to the breakup of Pangea and opening of the central Atlantic Ocean. The tectonic history of the basin is still being debated due to lack of geological constraints. This project addresses the crustal architecture in the northeastern GoM from integrative analysis of multiple geophysical datasets to provide constraints for the tectonic reconstruction.

The objectives of this study are: 1) to delineate various tectonic zones (continental and oceanic domains) and map the boundary between them, 2) to derive physical properties of the subsurface rocks, 3) to map the major tectonic structures in …

Single-Station Seismo-Acoustic Monitoring Of Nyiragongo's Lava Lake Activity (D.R. Congo), Jeffrey B. Johnson

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since its last effusive eruption in 2002, Nyiragongo has been an open-vent volcano characterized by the world's largest persistent lava lake. This lava lake provides a unique opportunity to detect pressure change in the magmatic system by analyzing its level fluctuations. We demonstrate that this information is contained in the seismic and infrasound signals generated by the lava lake's activity. The continuous seismo-acoustic monitoring permits quantification of lava lake dynamics, which is analyzed retrospectively to identify periods of volcanic unrest. Synchronous, high-resolution satellite SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) images are used to constrain lava lake level by measuring the length of …

Infrasound Tornillos Produced By Volcán Cotopaxi’S Deep Crater, J. B. Johnson, M. C. Ruiz, H. D. Ortiz, L. M. Watson, G. Viracucha, P. Ramon, M. Almeida

CGISS Publications and Presentations

We characterize and interpret a new type of infrasound signal originating from the summit of Volcán Cotopaxi (Ecuador) that was primarily observed between September 2015 and March 2016, following the 2015 eruptive period. This infrasound waveform is a slowly decaying sinusoid with exceptional low-frequency (f_p = 0.2 Hz) and high quality factor (Q = ~10) and resembles the shape of tornillo seismic waveforms. The repeating events, occurring about once per day in early 2016, are stable in frequency content, and we attribute them to excitation of a vertical-walled crater, with radius of about 125mand length of 300 …

Seismic Imaging Of The Main Frontal Thrust In Nepal Reveals A Shallow Décollement And Blind Thrusting, Rafael V. Almeida, Judith Hubbard, Lee Liberty, Anna Foster, Soma Nath Sapkota

CGISS Publications and Presentations

Because great earthquakes in the Himalaya have an average recurrence interval exceeding 500 yr, most of what we know about past earthquakes comes from paleoseismology and tectonic geomorphology studies of the youngest fault system there, the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT). However, these data are sparse relative to fault segmentation and length, and interpretations are often hard to validate in the absence of information about fault geometry. Here, we image the upper two km of strata in the vicinity of the fault tip of the MFT in central Nepal (around the town of Bardibas) applying a pre-stack migration approach to two …

Shergottite Northwest Africa 6963: A Pyroxene‐Cumulate Martian Gabbro, Justin Filiberto, Juliane Gross, Arya Udry, Jarek Trela, Axel Wittmann, Kevin M. Cannon, Sarah Penniston-Dorland, Richard Ash, Victoria E. Hamilton, Andrea L. Meado, Paul Carpenter, Brad Jolliff, Eric C. Ferré

Geoscience Faculty Research

Northwest Africa (NWA) 6963 was found in Guelmim‐Es‐Semara, Morocco, and based on its bulk chemistry and oxygen isotopes, it was classified as a Martian meteorite. On the basis of a preliminary study of the textures and crystal sizes, it was resubclassified as a gabbroic shergottite because of the similarity with terrestrial and lunar gabbros. However, the previous work was not a quantitative investigation of NWA 6963; to supplement the original resubclassification and enable full comparison between this and other Martian samples; here we investigate the mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry, quantitative textural analyses, and spectral properties of gabbroic shergottite NWA 6963 to …

Joint Geodetic And Seismic Analysis Of Englacial And Subglacial Hydraulic Effects On Surface Crevassing Near A Seasonal, Glacier-Dammed Lake On Gornergletscher, Switzerland, Louis Stephen Garcia

LSU Master's Theses

Glacial outburst floods are difficult to predict and threaten human life. These events are characterized by rapid draining of glacier-dammed lakes via the sub/englacial hydraulic network to the proglacial stream. The glacier-dammed lake on Gornergletscher in Switzerland, which fills and drains each summer, provides an opportunity to study this hazard. For three drainages (2004, 2006, and 2007), icequakes (IQ) are tracked as well as on-ice GPS movement. The seasonal seismic networks had 8 – 24 three-component stations and apertures of about 300 – 400 m on the glacier surface. The seasonal GPS arrays contained 4 – 8 GPS antennae on …

3-D Reconstructions And Numerical Simulations Of Precarious Rocks In Southern California, Christine E. Wittich, Tara C. Hutchinson, J. Desanto, D. Sandwell

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Reliable estimates of seismic hazard are essential for the development of resilient communities; however, estimates of rare, yet high intensity earthquakes are highly uncertain due to a lack of observations and recordings. Lacking this data, seismic hazard analyses may be based on extrapolations from earthquakes with more moderate return periods, which can lead to physically unrealistic earthquake scenarios. However, the existence of certain precariously balanced rocks (PBRs) has been identified as an indicator of an upper bound ground motion, which precludes toppling of the balanced rock, over its lifetime. To this end, a survey of PBRs was conducted in proximity …

Detection Of Bedrock Fractures And Joints Beneath Cover: Geophysical Approaches To An Engineering Geology Problem, Muthanna Yousif Yaqoob Aldiney

Dissertations

This research used geophysical methods to detect the presence of sub-vertical failure planes, their direction(s), and their frequency in bedrock beneath soil or glacial drift overburden. Azimuthal measurements using the seismic, electrical resistivity (ER), and electromagnetic conductivity were made to evaluate which techniques might provide the best indication of the bedrock joints, faults, or shear zones. Measurements were made at multiple sites near each of three locations: Jackson, Alpena, and Grand Ledge, Michigan. The first two are former limestone quarries and the third is underlain by sandstone. Seismic measurements began with one or two linear refraction spreads, used to establish …

Landscape Analysis Of Soil Methane Flux Across Complex Terrain, Kendra E. Kaiser, Brian L. Mcglynn, John E. Dore

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Relationships between methane (CH₄) fluxes and environmental conditions have been extensively explored in saturated soils, while research has been less prevalent in aerated soils because of the relatively small magnitudes of CH₄ fluxes that occur in dry soils. Our study builds on previous carbon cycle research at Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest, Montana, to identify how environmental conditions reflected by topographic metrics can be leveraged to estimate watershed scale CH₄ fluxes from point scale measurements. Here, we measured soil CH₄ concentrations and fluxes across a range of landscape positions (7 riparian, 25 upland), utilizing topographic and …

Steering Operational Synergies In Terrestrial Observation Networks: Opportunity For Advancing Earth System Dynamics Modelling, Roland Baatz, Pamela L. Sullivan, Li Li, Samantha R. Weintraub, Henry W. Loescher, Michael Mirtl, Peter M. Groffman, Diana H. Wall, Michael Young, Tim White, Hang Wen, Steffen Zacharias, Ingolf Kühn, Jianwu Tang, Jérôme Gaillardet, Isabelle Braud, Alejandro N. Flores, Praveen Kumar, Henry Lin, Teamrat Ghezzehei, Julia Jones, Henry L. Gholz, Harry Vereecken, Kris Van Looy

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Advancing our understanding of Earth system dynamics (ESD) depends on the development of models and other analytical tools that apply physical, biological, and chemical data. This ambition to increase understanding and develop models of ESD based on site observations was the stimulus for creating the networks of Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER), Critical Zone Observatories (CZOs), and others. We organized a survey, the results of which identified pressing gaps in data availability from these networks, in particular for the future development and evaluation of models that represent ESD processes, and provide insights for improvement in both data collection and model integration. …

Determining Principal Stress Orientations And Magnitudes In The Fort Worth Basin, Texas, Louis Quinones

Earth Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Since 2008, the Fort Worth Basin in northern Texas has experienced over 30 M3.0+ earthquakes, including one M4.0. Earthquakes have primarily occurred on Precambrian basement faults and within the overlying Ellenburger limestone unit, which is the primary wastewater disposal formation used in the basin. The most productive earthquake sequences (Azle, Irving- Dallas, and Venus) have been recorded using local seismic networks containing a mix of SMU broadband, IRIS short period, and USGS NetQuakes stations and by regional seismic networks operated under the Advanced National Seismic System and the Texas Seismic Network (TexNet).

Using the data recorded by the local seismic …

Characterization Of Ground Deformation Associated With Shallow Groundwater Processes Using Satellite Radar Interferometry, Xie Hu

Earth Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Shallow groundwater processes maylead to ground deformation and even geohazards. With the features of day-and-night accessibility and large-scale coverage, time-series interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) has proven a useful tool for mapping the deformation over various landscapes at cm to mm level with weekly to monthly updates. However, it has limitations such as, decorrelation,atmospheric artifacts, topographic errors, andunwrapping errors, in particular for the hilly, vegetated, and complicated deformation patterns. In this dissertation, I focus on characterizing the ground deformation over landslides, aquifer systems, and mine tailings impoundment, using the designed advanced time-series InSAR strategy, as well as theinterdisciplinary knowledge of …

A Geophysical Delineation Of A Normal Fault Within The Gulf Coastal Plain, Montgomery County, Texas, Danielle Minteer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Gulf Coast of Texas has been a known hydrocarbon basin for many years with various structural trapping mechanisms such as anticlines, faults and salt domes. While most large salt domes have been extensively studied in the Gulf Coastal Plain, many smaller normal faults have not been studied in detail. This research study employs an integrated geophysical approach to mapping the Big Barn fault in Montgomery County, Texas. This fault is located on the Gulf Coastal Plain and is approximately 20 miles north of Houston, Texas. Most normal faults in the Gulf Coastal Plain formed as a result of the …

Lava, Ash Flows, Mudslides And Nasty Gases: Good Reasons To Respect Volcanoes, Brittany Brand

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Volcanoes are beautiful and awe-inspiring, but the ongoing eruption of Kilauea on Hawaii’s Big Island is showing how dangerous these events can be. So far this event has destroyed dozens of homes and displaced hundreds of people, but no deaths or serious injuries have been reported. Other volcanic eruptions have had deadlier impacts.

Liquefaction-Induced Dragload And/Or Downdrag On Deep Foundations Within The New Madrid Seismic Zone, Ishimwe Elvis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Deep foundation elements are typically used to transfer structural loads for multi-story buildings and large-span bridges to a competent soil layer when 1) the soil close to the ground surface has no sufficient bearing capacity, and when 2) liquefiable soils are encountered. The majority of the bridges constructed within seismic zones rely upon the stability of earthen embankments and deep foundation that are installed above or within liquefiable soil deposits. Despite large factor of safety values or different load and resistance factors being used to adequately design deep foundations within seismic areas, soil liquefaction may cause extensive damage to the …

Local, Regional, And Remote Seismo‐Acoustic Observations Of The April 2015 Vei 4 Eruption Of Calbuco Volcano, Chile, Robin S. Matoza, David Fee, David N. Green, Alexis Le Pichon, Julien Vergoz, Matthew M. Haney, T. Dylan Mikesell, Luis Franco, O. Alberto Valderrama, Megan R. Kelley, Kathleen Mckee, Lars Ceranna

CGISS Publications and Presentations

The two major explosive phases of the 22–23 April 2015 eruption of Calbuco volcano, Chile, produced powerful seismicity and infrasound. The eruption was recorded on seismo-acoustic stations out to 1,540 km and on five stations (IS02, IS08, IS09, IS27, and IS49) of the International Monitoring System (IMS) infrasound network at distances from 1,525 to 5,122 km. The remote IMS infrasound stations provide an accurate explosion chronology consistent with the regional and local seismo-acoustic data and with previous studies of lightning and plume observations. We use the IMS network to detect and locate the eruption signals using a brute-force, grid-search, cross-bearings …

Estimation Of Porosity And Water Saturation In Dual-Porosity Pyroclastic Deposits From Joint Analysis Of Compression, Shear, And Electromagnetic Velocities, Andrew C. Gase, John H. Bradford, Brittany D. Brand

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

In situ measurements of porosity and water saturation of pyroclastic deposits have the potential to improve interpretations of geology and hydrology in volcanic regions, and to provide more accurate estimates of dense rock equivalent for volcanic eruptions. However, rock-property models must consider the dual-porosity structure of pyroclastic deposits (i.e., vesicles within pumices and intergranular pores). Vesicularity, intergranular porosity, and water saturation all affect the density, elasticity, and dielectric properties of pyroclastic materials, which control seismic and electromagnetic velocities. The data from active seismic and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) techniques may improve porosity and water saturation estimation if the responses of seismic …

Multi-Channel Ground-Penetrating Radar For The Continuous Quantification Of Snow And Firn Density, Depth, And Accumulation, Tate Meehan

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

A priority of ice sheet surface mass balance (SMB) prediction is ascertaining the surface density and annual snow accumulation. These forcing data are inputs for firn density models and can be used to inform remotely sensed ice sheet surface processes and to assess Regional Climate Model (RCM) skill. The Greenland Traverse for Accumulation and Climate Studies (GreenTrACS) retrieved 16 shallow firn cores and dug 42 snow pits along the Western percolation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) during May and June of 2016 and 2017. I deployed and maintained a multi-channel 500 MHz ground-penetrating radar in a multi-offset configuration …

Crustal Structure Of The Bhutanese Himalaya: New Insights From A Gravity Analysis In Western And Central Bhutan, Kinzang Duba

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

To expand the current understanding of lithospheric structure within Bhutan Himalaya, a detailed gravity survey was conducted for the first time along the all major roads within western and central Bhutan in 2015-2017. The acquired Bouguer gravity anomaly data were analyzed and interpreted using map methods (wavelength filtering and Euler deconvolution) which clearly indicate that there are substantial anomalies due to crustal density sources and a complex Himalayan geology. Four two-dimensional gravity models across the Himalayan tectonostratigraphic units were constructed to determine the crustal density structure using constraints from the geological and geophysical studies. The results support that the long …

Geology Of The Purgatory Saddle 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, And Gravity And Magnetic Analysis Of Accreted Terrane Boundary, Western Idaho, Sourav Krishna Nandi

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Western Idaho (USA) contains deformation associated with the Mesozoic accretion of volcanic island arc terranes of the Blue Mountains Province to Laurentia. The near vertical boundary between the accretionary orogeny and Precambrian North America is represented by the transpressional western Idaho shear zone, which lies east of metamorphic rocks in the Salmon River suture zone. The Blue Mountains Province in western Idaho contains four accreted crustal blocks: the Wallowa, Olds Ferry, Baker, and Izee terranes. The purpose of this study is to understand the structural relationship of the pre-accretionary, syn-accretionary and post-accretionary tectonic features along the accreted terrane boundary in …

Interpretation And Fracture Characterization Of Early-Cretaceous Buda Limestone Formation Using Post-Stack 3d Seismic Data In Zavala County, Texas, Andrey Smirnov

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Buda Limestone is a naturally fractured Early Cretaceous carbonate formation in south Texas which unconformably underlies the Eagle Ford Shale. Matrix porosity of the Buda is less than 6%, therefore natural fractures improve the potential for commercial hydrocarbon production from this tight limestone formation. This presents a challenge for producers to identify these zones using well log and post stack 3D seismic data typically available to medium or small exploration companies. This project provides a workflow based on well log analysis tied to seismic acoustic impedance (AI) inversion to locate areas of probable natural fractures. Acoustic impedance inversion was …