Sedimentology Commons^™

Effects Of Climate Change On Spring Ecosystem Hydroecology As A Guide To Developing Alternative Water Policies, Scott Mensing, Saxon E. Sharpe, Scott Bassett, Don Sada, Jim Thomas

Climate Change Seminar Series (NNE)

Hydroecology: the interface of ecological systems and water which combines the scientific disciplines of hydrology and ecology

Goal: evaluate the hydrologic and climate history using pollen, loss on ignition, total inorganic carbon, and invertebrates from spring sediments in Spring Valley, Eastern Nevada and Snake Valley, Western Utah

The Role Of Underflows And Climate On Sediment Distribution In Glacial-Fed Lake Linné, Svalbard, Norway, Diana Zamora-Reyes^, Vanessa L. Lougheed, Alan Werner, Steven Roof*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2011

Linnévatnet (78° 2’N, 13° 49’E), is a glacial-fed lake located in Svalbard, an archipelago north of Norway. Sediments found in the lake are supplied by the Linné Glacier, 8km south of the lake, and are transported by the melt stream into the lake, creating laminations with a strong signal of seasonal deposition. Due to its immaculate environment and recent rapid increase in temperature, this site is an ideal place to study past-climate proxies and determine how the changing environment is affecting the area. The objective of this study is to determine the frequency of water underflows influencing sediment distribution and …

Changing Precipitation And Land Cover Increasing Sedimentation In The Panama Canal Watershed, Tiffany Keeton, Cory Manberg, Josh Myrick

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Benthic Ecology From Space: Optics And Net Primary Production In Seagrass And Benthic Algae Across The Great Bahama Bank, Heidi M. Dierssen, Richard C. Zimmerman, Lisa A. Drake, David J. Burdige

OES Faculty Publications

Development of repeatable and quantitative tools are necessary for determining the abundance and distribution of different types of benthic habitats, detecting changes to these ecosystems, and determining their role in the global carbon cycle. Here we used ocean color remote sensing techniques to map different major groups of primary producers and estimate net primary productivity (NPP) across Great Bahama Bank (GBB). Field investigations on the northern portion of the GBB in 2004 revealed 3 dominant types of benthic primary producers: seagrass, benthic macroalgae, and microalgae attached to sediment. Laboratory measurements of NPP ranged from barely net autotrophic for grapestone sediment …

Markov Models For Linking Environments And Facies In Space And Time (Recent Arabian Gulf, Miocene Paratethys), Bernhard Riegl, Samuel J. Purkis

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Books and Book Chapters

This special publication Perspectives in Carbonate Geology is a collection of papers most of which were presented at a symposium to honor the 80th birthday of Bob Ginsburg at the meeting of Geological Society of America in Salt Lake City in 2005. The majority of the papers in this publication are connected with the study of modern carbonate sediments. Bob Ginsburg pioneered the concept of comparative sedimentology - that is using the modern to compare to and relate to and understand the ancient. These studies are concerned with Bob's areas of passion: coral reefs and sea-level; submarine cementation and formation …

Markov Models For Linking Environments And Facies In Space And Time (Recent Arabian Gulf, Miocene Paratethys), Bernhard Riegl, Samuel J. Purkis

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

If, as comparative sedimentology maintains, knowledge of the Recent can sometimes be helpful to explain the past (and vice-versa), common quantitative denominators might exist between Recent and fossil systems. It may also be possible to describe dynamics and find linkages between space and time with a unique set of quantitative tools. To explore such conceptual links, spatial facies patterns mapped using satellite imagery were compared with temporal patterns in analogous ancient outcropping facies using Markov chains and graphs. Landsat and Ikonos satellite imagery was used to map benthic facies in a nearshore carbonate ramp (Ras Hasyan) and offshore platform system …

Origin And Paleoclimatic Significance Of Late Quaternary Loess In Nebraska: Evidence From Stratigraphy, Chronology, Sedimentology, And Geochemistry, Daniel R. Muhs, E. Arthur Bettis Iii, John N. Aleinikoff, John P. Mcgeehin, Jossh Beann, Gary Skipp, Brian D. Marshall, Helen M. Roberts, William C. Johnson, Rachel Benton

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Loess is one of the most extensive surficial geologic deposits in mid-continental North America, particularly in the central Great Plains region of Nebraska. Last-glacial-age loess (Peoria Loess) reaches its greatest known thickness in the world in this area. New stratigraphic, geochronologic, mineralogic, and geochemical data yield information about the age and provenance of Peoria Loess, as well as evaluation of recent climate models.

Rates Of Carbonate Dissolution In Permeable Sediments Estimated From Porewater Profiles: The Role Of Sea Grasses, David J. Burdige, Richard C. Zimmerman, Xinping Hu

OES Faculty Publications

In this study we estimate sediment carbonate dissolution rates for sandy sea grass sediments on the Bahamas Bank using an inverse pore-water advection/diffusion/reaction model constrained by field observations. This model accounts for sea grass O₂ input to these sediments, and also parameterizes pore-water advection through these permeable sediments as a nonlocal exchange process. The resulting rates of carbonate dissolution are positively correlated with sea grass density, and are comparable with previous rate estimates for Florida Bay sediments. In contrast, the advective uptake of O₂ by these sediments decreased with increasing sea grass density. This suggests that the competing …

Correlating Late Pleistocene Deposits On The Coastal Plain Of Virginia With The Glacial-Eustatic Sea-Level Curve, Timothy Wullschleger Scott

OES Theses and Dissertations

Late Pleistocene sediments mapped along Virginia's southeastern coastal plain record deposition by high-frequency cycles during isotope stages 5 to 1. Correlations between several geologic units both south (S) and east (E) of the Chesapeake Bay have proven difficult due to insufficient dating methods. To improve these regional correlations, two members of the Tabb Formation on Virginia's southside and two formations on the southern Delmarva Peninsula were selected for stratigraphic analyses. Ground penetrating radar provided geologic details in areas where samples were collected for optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. The stratigraphically older units, Sedgefield Member of the Tabb Formation (S) and …

Evaluating The Deep-Sea Coral Acanella From Hawaii As A Paleoceanographic Archive, Geraldine Hourigan Lantier

Geology Theses and Dissertations

Deep-sea corals have emerged as potential proxies of changing paleoceanographic properties. The utility of deep-sea corals for the purpose of interpreting paleoclimatic reconstructions is still in the discovery phase. However, long life spans, a relatively stable habitat, and unique growth geometry provide support to the growing body of research that has identified deep-sea corals as indicators of past climate and ocean properties. Two colonies of Acanella were collected from the permanent thermocline at depths between 414 and 437 m in the Makapuu Coral Bed, Oahu, HI in 1997 by submersible. Here I present results from a pilot study of the …

Interaction Of Sea Ice Sediments And Surface Sea Water In The Arctic Ocean: Evidence From Excess 210Pb, M. Baskaran

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

We measured the activities of ²¹⁰Pb, ²²⁶Ra, ²³⁸U and ¹³⁷Cs in a suite of ice-rafted sediments (IRS) from the Arctic Ocean in an attempt to assess the interaction of sea ice sediments and surface water. The concentrations of these nuclides were compared to those of the benthic sediments in the coastal and shelf regions of the Arctic Ocean, which are believed to be the major source region for the IRS. The concentration factors (CF = activity of a nuclide in IRS/average activity in benthic sediments) are ∼1 and 4-92 for ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb, respectively. …

Burial Of Terrestrial Organic Matter In Marine Sediments: A Re-Assessment, David J. Burdige

OES Faculty Publications

Calculations based on recent observations indicate that approximately one third of the organic matter presently being buried in marine sediments may be of terrestrial origin, with the majority of this terrestrial organic matter (TOM) burial occurring in muddy, deltaic sediments. These calculations further suggest that the remineralization of terrestrial organic matter in the oceans is also much less efficient than that of marine organic matter. These two underappreciated observations have important implications in terms of our understanding of the controls on the global carbon cycle. From a paleoceanographic perspective, the results presented here also suggest that changes in TOM burial …

Impact Of Black Shale Weathering On Sediment Quality, G. M. Ogendi, R. E. Hannigan, Jerry L. Farris, D. Smith

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Weathering of black shales leads to elevated metal concentrations in both surface water and stream sediments. In spite of the recent focus on black shales, few data exist on the ecological impacts of this process particularly on aquatic organisms. The key objective of this study was to determine the impact of trace metal concentrations in sediments upon aquatic organisms. To achieve the above objective, stream sediment samples were collected from streams draining black shale and limestone (used as a reference stream) lithologies located in central Arkansas between June 2003 and January 2004. Trace metal concentrations were measured by the dynamic …

Holocene Paleoflood Hydrology Of The Lower Deschutes River, Oregon, Kurt J. Hosman, Lisa L. Ely, Jim E. O'Connor

Student Published Works

Flood deposits at four sites along the lower Deschutes River, Oregon, were analyzed to determine magnitude and frequency of late Holocene flooding. Deposit stratigraphy was combined with hydraulic modeling at two sites to determine ranges of likely discharges for individual deposits. Combining these results with gaged flood data provides improved flood frequency estimates at the Axford site. The completeness and age spans of preserved flood chronologies differed among the four sites, but results were consistent for the largest floods of the last 5000 years. Single floods exceeded 2860-3800 mVs -4600 cal yr BP, 1060-1810 mVs -1300 cal yr BP, and …

Organic Geochemical Analysis Of Late-Glacial And Early-Holocene Ecosystem Changes: A Case Study From Northern New England Lakes, Michael A. Kruge, Andrea Lini

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The lacustrine sedimentary archive of organic remains provides important evidence for the reconstruction of the environmental histories of lakes and their watersheds, recording the response of the Earth's biota to changes on scales varying from the local to the global. The last Glacial-Interglacial transition presents an opportunity to investigate how, and at what rates, watershed and lake ecosystems were established on once glaciated, carbon and nutrient-poor landscapes. The small lakes of northern Vermont (USA) provide an appropriate setting in which to investigate such changes.

As part of a multidisciplinary study of three Vermont lake sediment cores, samples ranging in age …

Rates Of Sedimentation In The Central Arctic Ocean, Jan Backman, Martin Jakobsson, Reidar Lovlie, Leonid Polyak

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

The Arctic Ocean is presently undergoing geoscientific investigations of the type that occurred during the late 1940's through 1960's in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. Seismic reflection and refraction data are scarce in the Arctic Ocean and large areas are virtually unsampled with respect to piston or gravity coring. The vast majority of available cores are less than10 m in length and largely lack biostratigraphically useful calcareous and siliceous microfossils. No drill cores exist from the ridges or deep basins in the central Arctic Ocean. Considering the limited geophysical and geological data available, it is not surprising that current …

Modifications Of The C37 Alkenone And Alkenoate Composition In The Water Column And Sediment: Possible Implications For Sea Surface Temperature Estimates In Paleoceanography, Joan O. Grimalt, Jürgen Rullkötter, Marie-Alexandrine Sicre, Roger Summons, John Farrington, H. Rodger Harvey, Miguel Goñi, Ken Sawada

OES Faculty Publications

The literature pertaining to C37 alkenone and C37 and C38 alkenoate production and diagenesis has been reviewed and evaluated for issues that might jeopardize their usefulness in paleotemperature estimation. We also examined the use of the C37 alkenones as paleoproductivity indicators, the stability of their δ13C isotopic compositions, and their incorporation into the nonsolvent extractable organic matter fraction. Biological transformation of organic matter by bacteria and zooplankton does not appear to cause significant changes to the ratio of C37:2 and C37:3 alkenones, but there are major alterations in the relative composition of alkenoates. Studies of water column processes and postdepositional …

Response Of A First-Order Stream In Maine To Short-Term In-Stream Acidification, S. A. Norton, R. Wagai, T. Navratil, J. M. Kaste, F. A. Rissberger

Dartmouth Scholarship

An experimental short-term acidification with HCl at a first-order stream in central Maine, USA was used to study processes controlling the changes in stream chemistry and to assess the ability of stream substrate to buffer pH. The streambed exerted a strong buffering capacity against pH change by ion exchange during the 6-hour acidification. Streambed substrates had substantial cation and anion exchange capacity in the pH range of 4.1 to 6.5. The ion exchange for cations and SO₄^2- were rapid and reversible. The speed of release of cations from stream substrates was Na¹⁺> Ca²⁺ > Mg²⁺ > Al …

Alteration Processes Of Alkenones And Related Lipids In Water Columns And Sediments, H. Rodger Harvey

OES Faculty Publications

Alkenones produced by the haptophyte algae are currently being used as indices of sea surface temperature in recent and past ocean environments, but limited information is available concerning the impact of biotic and abiotic processes on the integrity of these long chain lipids. This synthesis provides selected background information on major alteration processes that must be considered before such indices can be used with confidence. A number of processes in the water column and surface sediments have the potential to impact the structural integrity of alkenones and compromise their ability as temperature markers. Processes discussed include the alteration of alkenone …

The Biogeochemical Cycling Of Dissolved Organic Nitrogen In Estuarine Sediments, David J. Burdige, Shilong Zheng

OES Faculty Publications

Benthic fluxes and pore-water profiles of dissolved organic nitrogen and carbon (DON and DOC, respectively) were determined in seasonal studies at contrasting sites in Chesapeake Bay. Pore-water dissolved organic matter (DOM) concentrations were elevated over bottom-water values, generally increased with depth, and ranged from 15 to similar to 160 μM for DON and ~200-2000 μM for DOC. Pore-water DOM concentrations and the C:N ratio of this material showed spatial (depth) and temporal changes that varied among the sites studied. These trends appeared to be related to differences in the types of sediment organic matter (SOM) undergoing remineralization, as well as …

A Geochemical Study Of Marine Sediments From The Mac. Robertson Shelf, East Antarctica: Initial Results And Palaeoenvironmental Implications, Peter N. Sedwick, P. T. Harris, L. G. Robertson, G. M. Mcmurtry, M. D. Cremer, P. Robinson

OES Faculty Publications

Sediments from the Antarctic continental margin may provide detailed palaeoenvironmental records for Antarctic shelf waters during the late Quaternary. Here we present results from a palaeoenvironmental study of two sediment cores recovered from the continental shelf off Mac. Robertson Land, East Antarctica. These gravity cores were collected approximately 90 km apart from locations on the inner and outer shelf. Both cores are apparently undisturbed sequences of diatom ooze mixed with fine, quartz-rich sand. Core stratigraphies have been established from radiocarbon analyses of bulk organic carbon. Down-core geochemical determinations include the lithogenic components Al and Fe, biogenic components opal and organic …

Fluxes Of Copper-Complexing Ligands From Estuarine Sediments, Stephen A. Skrabal, John R. Donat, David J. Burdige

OES Faculty Publications

Most studies of the organic complexation of Cu in natural waters have focused on distributions and processes in the water column, where a significant fraction of Cu-complexing ligands may be biologically produced. We present direct evidence for a flux of Cu-complexing ligands from estuarine sediments, demonstrating that sediments are a significant, yet previously unrecognized source of the ligands. Fluxes of Cu-complexing ligands from Chesapeake Bay sediments range from 300 to 1,200 nmol m^-2 d^-1, exceeding fluxes of total dissolved Cu by 3->40-fold, suggesting that any Cu fluxing from the sediments is likely to be organically complexed. …

Swath Mapping On The Continental Shelf And Slope: The Eel River Basin, Northern California, John A. Goff, Larry A. Mayer, John E. Hughes Clarke, Lincoln F. Pratson

Affiliate Scholarship

First Paragraph

The STRATAFORM program sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (Nittrouer and Kravitz, 1996, this issue) seeks to understand how sedimentary processes lead to the formation of the stratigraphic sequences on continental margins. A central challenge facing this effort is to understand the transport of sediments in shore-parallel as well as shore-perpendicular directions• Multidimensionality is necessary to describe, for example, the accumulation of sediments from river inputs, the distribution of gullies and canyons on the slope, the meandering of channels, and the structure of slumps and slides.

The Implications Of Turbidite-Driven Redox Changes In Sediments Of The Iberia Abyssal Plain, Timothy J. Shaw, P. A. Meyers

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reference Sediment Selection In The Lower Mississippi Delta, M. T. Moore, C. D. Milam, Jerry L. Farris

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Floodplain deposition has been a critical part in the evolution of Arkansas' Delta ecoregion, and because ofits high potential for such events, this region is highly enriched and extremely fertile. Historically, water quality in the area has been the subject ofscientific study, and as a result littlehas been published on the effects of underlying sediment with associated benthic communities. Sediment analysis is critical to many of the ongoing aquatic studies because ofits significance as both a habitat for benthic organisms and a sink for contaminants. Seven rivers and one creek within the Delta ecoregion were examined for water chemistry, sediment …

Bulletin 4279 - Streamlining - An Environmentally Sustainable Drainage Network For The Swan Coastal Plain (Peel-Harvey Catchment), Garry Heady, Neil Guise

Bulletins 4000 -

Community Catchment Centre Pinjarra

A network of over 1400 kilometres of drains and modified natural waterways constructed by the Public Works Department criss-crosses the Peel-Harvey catchment. There are also over 3300 kilometres of minor drains and natural waterways in this same region.

The expansion of agriculture relied on this extensive drainage network, which was designed to ensure rapid drainage of the region. Unfortunately there was little regard to future environmental consequences.

Along with drainage water, these same drains now carry high loads of silt and nutrients. Many of the drains are also degraded and require expensive maintenance annually.

The Dinoflagellate Flora Of The Late Oligocene - Early Miocene Old Church Formation Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain, Alan P. Hoffmeister

OES Theses and Dissertations

The Old Church Formation contains the only presently known exposed Oligocene sediments in the North American mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain. Some ambiguity concerning the exact age of the Old Church Formation exists because it may include both Oligocene and Miocene sediments. Two outcrops and four cores containing the Old Church Formation were examined for dinoflagellates to determine the composition of the dinoflagellate flora in the Old Church Formation, the age of the Old Church Formation as indicated by this flora, general depositional environment of the Old Church Formation and correlative relationships of the Old Church Formation with other Coastal Plain units. …

Probable Glacial Climatic Conditions In Source Areas During Deposition Of Parts Of The Ash Hollow Formation, Ogallala Group (Late Tertiary), Of Western Nebraska, Patricia E. Helland, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

Evidence of the climatic conditions in the mountain sediment source areas for the late Tertiary Ash Hollow Formation of the Ogallala Group in western Nebraska has been sought in an SEM (scanning electron microscope) study of surface features on detrital quartz grains from these deposits. The following lines of indirect evidence raised the possibility of glacial conditions: uplift of up to 3500 m in the source areas, paleohydrologic parameters indicative of a transport system analogous to the modern North Saskatchewan River, and possible cold climate surface features on cobbles from the deposits. SEM analysis shows that five of the nine …

Acoustic Properties Of Fine‐Grained Sediments From Emerald Basin: Toward An Inversion For Physical Properties Using The Biot–Stoll Model, Robert C. Courtney, Larry A. Mayer

Affiliate Scholarship

Acoustic data from two long cores, comprising marine clays and silts taken from Emerald Basin off Nova Scotia, are presented. High‐resolution measurements of compressional wavevelocity,attenuation, and power law exponent are made using ultrasonic frequencies between 100 to 1000 kHz. The observed values of the frequency dependence of attenuation suggest that a nonconstant Q mechanism is needed to explain these data, and Biot–Stoll theory is used to model the experimental results. An inversion scheme is used to constrain physical parameters in the Biot–Stoll dispersion relation. The inversion shows that there is a restricted range of permeability and grain size. By assigning …

Paleobathymetric Interpretation Of Pleistocene Sediments In The South Padre Island Area, Northwestern Gulf Of Mexico, Using Benthic Foraminiferal Morphology, Karen Ianthe Kruebbe-Belwood

OES Theses and Dissertations

This study tested the validity of using intraspecific variation in benthic foraminifera as a means for determining Pleistocene paleobathymetry. Canonical variate analysis was used as a means for determining visually undetectable but statistically significant differences in the morphology of selected species. Two species, Cassidulina subglobosa and Uvigerina peregrina, were collected from Pleistocene well cuttings from the northwest Gulf of Mexico. The canonical analysis involved comparing the intraspecific variation of these Pleistocene species to their counterparts occurring in the modern Gulf of Mexico, where intraspecific variation was previously analyzed and found to be sufficient to allow detection of bathymetric differences …