Hydrology Commons^™

Speleogenesis In Turbulent Flow, Max P. Cooper

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Existing models of speleogenesis neglect the shape of cross-sections, which can hold information related to climate, tectonics, and sediment supply in their widths. The first study of this dissertation simulates cross-sections of phreatic tubes, vadose canyons, and paragenetic galleries using a method developed for bedrock channels. Successful simulation of these cross-sections depends on erosion scaling with shear stress, in conflict with speleogenesis theory. Scaling of equilibrium width in paragenetic galleries was explored through analytical derivation and simulations, showing that width scales positively with discharge to the 1/2 power, and negatively with a weak power of sediment supply. Negative scaling of …

Flow Regime Influences On Stream And Riparian Soil Carbon Dynamics In The Ozark Highlands And Boston Mountains Of Arkansas, Allyn Dodd

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The natural flow regime exerts primacy over lotic ecosystem patterns and processes. However, little work has examined the influence of flow regime on instream and riparian carbon (C) dynamics in minimally-impacted, temperate forested systems. To date, most research efforts have focused on characterizing C movement and transformations across biomes and land use categories; however, flow regime represents an overlooked, finer level of detail that may drive differences in ecosystem function. My dissertation objective was to measure C fixation and movement within and across multiple environmental spheres (e.g. within stream channels, between stream surfaces and the atmosphere, and from riparian soils …

Estimating Watershed Mercury Contribution To Lake Fort Smith State Park, Arkansas, Usa, William Miles Harmon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mercury contamination associated with human activities poses global human health and environmental risks. A fish-consumption advisory has been in effect at Lake Fort Smith in central west Arkansas for more than a decade due to observed methylmercury concentrations in fish tissue. Lake Fort Smith is an important municipal drinking water supply and recreational resource. Water samples from the majority contributing tributary stream, Frog Bayou creek, were collected periodically, under differing hydrologic conditions in order to quantify the allochthonous mercury load delivered to the lake. Temperature, specific conductance, and turbidity data were collected and used to estimate dissolved organic carbon, methylmercury …

Comparative Microbial Community Dynamics In A Karst Aquifer System And Proximal Surface Stream In Northwest Arkansas, Josue Rodriguez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Northwest Arkansas has well-developed karst systems, with numerous sinking streams and springs. Karst conduits make it easy for contaminants to enter groundwater systems, degrading the water quality and destroying fragile karst ecosystems. With the increase of urbanization, potential threats in the form of fecal contamination may prove to be more of a problem. The purpose of this research is to compare the difference between microbial communities within two different settings, a karst aquifer and a surface stream. The microbial communities within Blowing Spring Cave and Little Sugar Creek were detected and identified in water and sediment samples. Samples were also …

Quantifying Carbon Dioxide Fluxes In The Air And Water In Blowing Springs Cave, Arkansas, Holly Young

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prior work has shown that the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) within cave atmospheres is a function of cave airflow patterns. The dynamics of CO2 within karst systems are of increasing interest as they can control periods of precipitation or dissolution in speleothems and influence potential interpretations of paleoclimate records. Similarly, CO2 is an important driver of speleogenesis, and air-water CO2 dynamics can control patterns of cave passage evolution. Karst also plays an uncertain role in the global carbon cycle and understanding CO2 dynamics within karst systems will aid the development of carbon budgets. Here, a monitoring station was deployed …

Applications Of Reservoir Limnology Theory And Steady-State Modeling To Eutrophication Management In Beaver Lake, Arkansas, Matthew Rich

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reservoir limnology theory predicts that phytoplankton biomass (PB) is greatest in riverine-transition zones and least in lacustrine zones leading to an inverse pattern in water clarity. These theoretical patterns were utilized to create a statistical model of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), an indicator of PB, and Secchi transparency (ST), an indicator of Chl-a, in Beaver Lake, Arkansas, a 12,800-ha reservoir, in order to hindcast historical conditions. Sampling for Chl-a, ST, and photic depth occurred semimonthly at 12 locations along a 78-km transect from the river inflow to the dam during the 2015 growing season. The ratio of Chl-a and ST measured at …

Variability In Methane Emissions From West Siberia's Shallow Boreal Lakes On A Regional Scale And Its Environmental Controls, Aleksandr F. Sabrekov, Benjamin R.K. Runkle, Mikhail V. Glagolev, Irina E. Terentieva, Victor M. Stephanenko, Oleg R. Kotsyurbenko, Shamil S. Maksyutov, Oleg S. Pokrovsky

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Small lakes represent an important source of atmospheric CH4 from northern wetlands. However, spatiotemporal variations in flux magnitudes and the lack of knowledge about their main environmental controls contribute large uncertainty into the global CH4 budget. In this study, we measured methane fluxes from small lakes using chambers and bubble traps. Field investigations were carried out in July–August 2014 within the West Siberian middle and southern taiga zones. The average and median of measured methane chamber fluxes were 0.32 and 0.30 mgCH4 m−2 h−1 for middle taiga lakes and 8.6 and 4.1 mgCH4 m−2 h−1 for southern taiga lakes, respectively. …

Comparison Of Flow Dynamics And Bifurcation Angles In Tributary And Distributary Channel Networks, Thomas Coffey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The dynamics of channel mouth bifurcations on river deltas can be understood using theory developed in tributary channel networks. Bifurcations in groundwater-fed tributary networks have been shown to evolve dependent on diffusive ground water flow patterns

directly adjacent to the channel network, producing a critical angle of 72°. We test the hypothesis that bifurcation angles in distributary channel networks are likewise dictated by a diffusive external flow field, in this case the shallow surface water surrounding the subaqueous portion of distributary channels in a deltaic setting. We measured 25 unique distributary bifurcations in an experimental delta and 197 bifurcations in …

Using Cross-Sets For Paleodischarge Estimation And Paleocurrent Vectors In The Parthenon Sandstone, Northwest Arkansas, Sean Robert Parry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, set thicknesses are used to estimate the paleohydraulics (paleodischarge and give magnitudes for paleocurrent directions) of the ancient river system which deposited the Parthenon Sandstone in northwest Arkansas. Set thickness is the vertical thickness of a group of strata conformable series (Mckee and Weir, 1953); set thickness represents truncated dunes. The goal of this thesis is to: 1) obtain paleodischarge estimates of the Parthenon sandstone via cross-sets and compare the results with previously calculated discharge estimates which use basin area to discharge collation techniques and 2) use paleodischarge estimates calculated within this thesis to give magnitude to …

Delta‐Flux: An Eddy Covariance Network For A Climate‐Smart Lower Mississippi Basin, Benjamin R. K. Runkle, James R. Rigby, Michele L. Reba, Saseendran S. Anapalli, Joydeep Bhattacharjee, Ken W. Krauss, Lu Liang, Martin A. Locke, Kimberly A. Novick, Ruixiu Sui, Kosana Suvocarev, Paul M. White Jr.

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Networks of remotely monitored research sites are increasingly the tool used to study regional agricultural impacts on carbon and water fluxes. However, key national networks such as the National Ecological Observatory Network and AmeriFlux lack contributions from the Lower Mississippi River Basin (LMRB), a highly productive agricultural area with opportunities for soil carbon sequestration through conservation practices. The authors describe the rationale to create the new Delta‐Flux network, which will coordinate efforts to quantify carbon and water budgets at seventeen eddy covariance flux tower sites in the LMRB. The network structure will facilitate climate‐smart management strategies based on production‐scale and …

How Do Designers Of The Built Environment Attempt To Make Ecological Sustainability Sensory Legible?, Carly L. Bartow

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper attempts to provide a theoretical framework for making ecosystem function and ecologically sustainable design more perceptible or sensible to people through architecture and the built environment. Design features of the Bertschi School Science Wing and the Bullitt Center in Seattle, Washington are incorporated to illustrate the sensory legibility of ecological sustainability criteria.The criteria are available to designers to help educate a building's occupants on environmentally sustainable design and motivate more sustainable behavior.

A Gis Approach To Modeling Groundwater Levels In The Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer, Josef Orion Lilly

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Groundwater depletion, a subject of growing concern for a significant portion of Arkansas, may lead to future economic challenges for the Arkansas Delta region. The Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer is the uppermost aquifer and features the largest groundwater capacity in the Mississippi Embayment Aquifer System. The Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer, commonly referred to as the “alluvial aquifer”, spans 53,000〖 km〗^2 underlying portions of Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, and Tennessee. As the alluvial aquifer trends southward for approximately 250 miles alongside the Mississippi River, its geographical extent ranges from 50 to 125 miles wide. There is a …

Cryogenic Viscous Liquids On Icy Moons, Danielle Neighbour

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The study of cryogenically viscous liquids such as methane and ethane offers critical insight into the behavior of fluids on icy moons such as Saturn’s moon Titan. Shrouded by a hazy hydrocarbon shield, Titan’s significant nitrogen atmosphere of 1.5 bar, methane-driven hydrological cycle, and lakes and rivers are vaguely similar to our Earthly home. The European-created Huygens probe, carried by the Cassini spacecraft, arrived on Titan’s surface in January 2005 [1]. Upon landing, Huygens photographed its landing site, as seen in Figure 1. The photo depicts rock like objects, thought to be comprised of water ice sitting in a dry …

Optical Water Quality And Human Perceptions Of Rivers, Amie West

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding water quality dynamics in recreational rivers is integral in shaping management strategies that maintain ecosystem health, perceived value and appeal, and regional economic significance in a changing environment. Optical water quality describes the behavior of light in water as governed by its physical and chemical composition, and is among the strongest influences on human perceptions of water quality. Ethnohydrology is the study of culturally constructed knowledge and understanding of water. This work is the culmination of an interdisciplinary approach to water resources research—integrating optical water quality and ethnohydrology methods to recognize the intersection between measured water quality and visible …

Evaluating A Measure-Calculate Method For Determining Sediment Oxygen Demand In Lakes, Adrian Beirise

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A steady-state mass diffusion model used with simple measurable and calculable inputs for determining sediment oxygen demand (SOD) is compared to an intact core incubation (ICI) SOD method using samples from three lakes. The mass diffusion model coupled with inputs is known as the measure-calculate method (M-C) and is a potential alternative to existing methods for measuring SOD which are more complex, time-consuming, and costly. The M-C method requires inputs for volumetric sediment oxygen uptake (Ṅsed), sediment density and porosity, and water properties. Ṅsed was determined by suspending sediment in oxygen-saturated water with a DO probe and determining the steady …

Do Limestone Quarries Act As “Engineered Sinkholes”? Analysis Of Exfiltration Of Groundwater From Limestone Quarries In The Boone Formation, Ozark Physiographic Province, Arkansas, Usa, Noel Turner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Limestone quarries are a source of construction materials that are utilized in our everyday lives. Karst landscapes cover up to 15 percent of the Earth’s surface, and limestone quarries are found in these environmentally sensitive regions where groundwater and surface-water interactions are dynamic and complex. Several studies have provided conceptual models of groundwater flow to and out of quarries. The goal of this research was to describe the geochemistry of water exfiltration from limestone quarries in karst regions via joints, fractures, faulting, or karst features and to determine if limestone quarries are “engineered sinkholes”; that is to say: did quarries, …

Influences Of Channel Dredging On Avulsion Potential At The Atchafalaya River, Gordon William Mccain

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 1950, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) reported a rapid increase of water discharge from the Mississippi River to its distributary channel; the Atchafalaya River. If not prevented by man-made structures, the complete capture of the Mississippi River by the Atchafalaya River was predicted. The USACE report cites multiple causes for the observed increase in discharge partitioning, yet fails to assess the largescale channel dredging operations conducted throughout the Atchafalaya River Basin during the 1930's and 1940's as a potential cause for the increased discharge. To assess the role man-made interventions, specifically channel dredging, played in the increase …

Linear Trend Analysis: Implications For A Structural Fracture System And Applications Of Subsurface Fluid Migration, Northwest Arkansas And Eastern Oklahoma, Loren Labusch

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lineaments are mappable, simple or composite linear or curvilinear features of the Earth’s surface longer than one mile, which differ from the patterns of adjacent features and are presumed to reflect subsurface phenomenon such as faults and fractures. The usage of the term refers to the description Lattman published in 1958 and was the foundation for work by MacDonald in 1977, which is the basis for this project. Remote sensing techniques have provided a valuable means to analyze lineaments on a large scale in a relatively short time in comparison to field mapping methods. The products of such fracture studies …

Upscaling Methane Emission Hotspots In Boreal Peatlands, Fabio Cresto Aleina, Benjamin R. K. Runkle, Tim Brucher, Thomas Kleinen, Victor Brovkin

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Upscaling the properties and effects of small-scale surface heterogeneities to larger scales is a challenging issue in land surface modeling. We developed a novel approach to upscale local methane emissions in a boreal peatland from the micro-topographic scale to the landscape scale. We based this new parameterization on the analysis of the water table pattern generated by the Hummock–Hollow model, a microtopography resolving model for peatland hydrology. We introduce this parameterization of methane hotspots in a global model-like version of the Hummock–Hollow model that underestimates methane emissions. We tested the robustness of the parameterization by simulating methane emissions for the …

Geochemical Processes And Controls Affecting Water Quality Of The Karst Area Of Big Creek Near Mt. Judea, Arkansas, V. Brahana, J. Nix, C. Kuyper, T. Turk, F. Usrey, S. Hodges, C. Bitting, K. Ficco, E. Pollock, R. Quick, B. Thompson, J. Murdoch

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Karst regions typically are considered to be vulnerable with respect to various land-use activities, owing to the intimate association of surface and groundwater and lack of contaminant attenuation provided by most karst aquifers. Inasmuch as the soluble rocks of the karst landscape can be dissolved to create large, rapid-flow zones that compete successfully with surface streams, groundwater and subsurface flow represent a much larger component of the hydrologic budget in karst regions than in areas where non-soluble rocks predominate. Karst areas typically are distinguished by being unique, but some general approaches can be applied to characterize the hydrology of the …

Lower Mississippian Chert Development, Southern Midcontinent Region, J. M. Cains, A. Potra, E. D. Pollock

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

The Lower Mississippian Boone Formation is a chert-bearing, fossiliferous limestone typically 100-115m. thick forming the Springfield Plateau across the tri-state region of northwestern Arkansas, southwestern Missouri, and northeastern Oklahoma. The Boone represents the maximum flooding, highstand, and regressive intervals of a single, third order transgressive-regressive carbonate cycle bounded by regional unconformities. Two types of chert occur in this formation, and provide the basis for subdivision of the Boone into informal lower and upper members in northern Arkansas. The lower Boone represents early Osagean maximum flooding conditions and consists of calcisiltites with interbedded dark, nodular chert. This chert exhibits compaction phenomena …

Hydrology-Biology Response Relationships In The Ozark Highlands, Dustin Thomas Lynch

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I examined flow-ecology relationships among stream communities in the Ozark Highlands, USA. I sampled fish, crayfish, and benthic macroinvertebrates during two consecutive summers, including a drought year (2012) and a flood year (2013). Biological response variables related to community structure were assessed via two different statistical methods: an Information Theoretic approach relating response variables to a priori selected predictor variables incorporating hydrology, habitat, geomorphology, and water quality, and canonical ordination using forward selection to relate these same response variables to a large assortment of hydrologic metrics. In addition to assessing metrics related to predicted natural flow, flow alteration at gaged …

Modified Polysulfone Nanofiltration Membrane Synthesis For Hydraulic Fracturing Water Recycle, Blake Alexander Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The use of hydraulic fracturing has resulted in significant increases in the yield of oil and natural gas, as water pumped into wells at high pressure cracks the formations and releases the hydrocarbons that are locked in the rocks. This process has created large volumes of brackish water that is very difficult to process and is often disposed of into injection wells. Suspended solids and some dissolved solids are more readily removed, but the multivalent ions found in certain salts can precipitate in a well and complicate the reuse of flowback in future hydraulic fracturing operations.

Nanofiltration, a membrane separation …

Modeling Micro-Topographic Controls On Boreal Peatland Hydrology And Methane Fluxes, F. Cresto Aleina, Benjamin R. K. Runkle, T. Kleinen, Lars Kutzbach, J. Schneider, V. Brovkin

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Small-scale surface heterogeneities can influence land-atmosphere fluxes and therefore carbon, water and energy budgets on a larger scale. This effect is of particular relevance for high-latitude ecosystems, because of the great amount of carbon stored in their soils. We introduce a novel micro-topographic model, the Hummock-Hollow (HH) model, which explicitly represents small-scale surface elevation changes. By computing the water table at the small scale, and by coupling the model with a process-based model for soil methane processes, we are able to model the effects of micro-topography on hydrology and methane emissions in a typical boreal peatland. In order to assess …

Metal Mobilization In Groundwater, Bauxite, Ar, Steven Alexander Hamlin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Wilcox Aquifer of Bauxite, AR contains bauxite ore deposits that may contribute heavy metals to groundwater. Twenty-four wells were sampled for aluminum, iron, manganese, zinc, lead, barium, nitrate, sulfate, sodium, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, chloride, pH, total organic carbon, and total dissolved solids. A Wilcoxon Rank-Sum compared the similarity of the three geographic areas covered in the study. All parameters for wells in Bauxite and Sardis failed to reject the null hypothesis, signifying that wells all occupy the Saline Formation. 2/3rds of the parameters from BFI261 and the Bauxite region did not agree, suggesting the two areas do not occupy …

Stable Isotopes As A Tool To Characterize Carbon Cycling And Develop Hydrologic Budgets In Mantled Karst Settings, Katherine Knierim

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Isotopes of water (δ2H/δ18O), carbon dioxide (δ13C-CO2), and dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13C-DIC) were used to explore water quality, trace carbon cycling, and quantify recharge sources through mantled karst and into Blowing Spring Cave (BSC). Of the possible sources of contamination in the BSC recharge area, septic-tank effluent was hypothesized to degrade water quality at the spring outlet of BSC because of the dominance of septic tanks for waste treatment, unsuitable topography and soil for septic-tank absorption fields, increased nitrate and chloride concentrations concomitant with increased urbanization, and increased Escherichia coli with discharge. Carbon cycling between the soil and BSC was …

Effects Of Landscape Disturbances On Autotrophic Processes Within Arkansas Ozark Streams, Bradley J. Austin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Land-use change is one of the most widespread human impacts and can influence abiotic and biotic processes within surrounding streams. For example, streams in agricultural and urban watersheds receive greater light and nutrient inputs that can promote increased algal growth and primary production. Natural gas (NG) infrastructure development, a recent land use change in many regions, may also stimulate forested stream primary production, by reducing forest cover and increasing sediments and nutrient transport. I sampled streams across a NG activity gradient for algal biomass and gross primary production (GPP) to assess potential effects of this emerging land-use type. Algal biomass …

Subsurface Fluid Flow Through The Mississippian Section Of North-Central Oklahoma, Carolyn Brown

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study consisted of using drill stem tests, seismic amplitude data, and well logs to create the parameters needed to construct a groundwater flow model for a portion of Osage County. At the start, a potentiometric map of Osage County, Oklahoma was generated to use as a basis for the initial hydraulic heads and the constant heads in the model. Next, three seismic amplitude images were produced in a seismic interpretation program, OpenDtect, to base the hydraulic conductivity values on. In addition, utilizing Gamma Ray on 12 separate wells east-west across the county, a structural cross-section was created within Petra. …

Controls On Dissolution Rate Variation At A Pair Of Underflow-Overflow Springs At The Savoy Experimental Watershed, Kiefer Allen Vaughn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Physical dissolution experiments and numerical modeling have been used in the past to study limestone dissolution rates. Numerical models have typically used constant dissolution rates, whereas rates in nature vary in time. Limestone tablets allow natural estimation of rates over month time scales, but these rates cannot necessarily be extrapolated to geologic timescales and also do not aid our understanding of short term variability. This study characterizes natural variability in these rates and examines potential causes of that variability from first principles. This may enable more accurate projections of dissolution rates within models. This study combines measurement of physical and …

Habitat Assessment And Ecological Restoration Design For An Unnamed Tributary Of Stone Dam Creek, Conway, Arkansas, Paige E. Boyle, Mary C. Savin, James A. Mccarty, Marty D. Matlock

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Urbanization can lead to increased sedimentation, erosion, pollution, and runoff into streams. The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) Rapid Bioassessment Protocols (RBPs) are sets of guidelines that can be used to assess a habitat’s sedimentology, hydrology, vegetation, and geomorphology to determine impairment. An unnamed tributary of Stone Dam Creek on the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) campus in Conway, Arkansas runs partially underground and through the urbanized UCA campus watershed. The stream was assessed using the USEPA’s RBPs to determine impairment of the stream, and received a RBP score of 71.2 out of 200 compared to 153.5 in a …