Stratigraphy Commons^™

Major Lower Paleozoic Horizons Of The Southern Illinois Basin, John B. Hickman

Report of Investigations--KGS

The geology exposed at the surface in the southern Illinois Basin has been mapped in great detail by countless workers over the past century. With the exception of limited and scattered exposures in incised river valleys, the oldest rocks exposed outside of the Jessamine, Nashville, and Ozark Domes surrounding the Illinois Basin are Mississippian in age. Extensive deposits of Cambrian–Devonian sediments occur in the subsurface above crystalline basement in this region, however. All available data for the region were analyzed to produce a single, comprehensive set of interpretations. The data used in this study include 1:24,000-scale geologic quadrangle maps, oil …

Improving Aquifer Characterization Through Integration Of Airborne Electromagnetics (Aem) And Well Hydrographs, Jacqueline Polashek

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The objective of this study is to evaluate methods of hydrostratigraphic modeling using geophysics and well hydrographs at the eastern edge of the High Plains aquifer (HPA) in Platte and Colfax counties within Nebraska, USA. The HPA is very heterogeneous in the study area, being hosted by architecturally complex glacial sediments and having many irregular hydraulic boundaries. Further, the HPA exhibits local variations between unconfined and confined conditions. Pumping in such bounded aquifers can be unsustainable because of cost increases and lost agricultural productivity. Moreover, the large drawdowns typical of confined aquifers can contribute to well interference during heavy pumping. …

The Shelf To Basin Transition And Tectonostratigraphy Of The Atoka Formation (Lower Pennsylvanian) In The Arkoma Basin, Northwest Arkansas, Travis Gibson White

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The east-to-west oriented Arkoma Basin is a peripheral foreland basin or depositional trough that developed during the Carboniferous Period. This formation covers an aerial extent of approximately 33,800 square miles and spans from west-central Arkansas into southeastern Oklahoma (McGilvery, Manger, and Zachry, 2016; Perry, 1995). The Atoka Formation, deposited during the early Pennsylvanian, is the largest Paleozoic formation by aerial extent in the state of Arkansas and is located within and comprises the bulk of Arkoma Basin sediments (McFarland, 2004; Nance, 2018). This formation has been informally divided into three divisions, the lower, middle, and upper, based on their stratigraphic …

Chemostratigraphic Correlations Across The First Major Trilobite Extinction And Faunal Turnovers Between Laurentia And South China, Jih-Pai Lin, Frederick A. Sunberg, Ganqing Jiang, Isabel P. Montanez, Thomas Wotte

Geoscience Faculty Research

During Cambrian Stage 4 (~514 Ma) the oceans were widely populated with endemic trilobites and three major faunas can be distinguished: olenellids, redlichiids, and paradoxidids. The lower–middle Cambrian boundary in Laurentia was based on the first major trilobite extinction event that is known as the Olenellid Biomere boundary. However, international correlation across this boundary (the Cambrian Series 2–Series 3 boundary) has been a challenge since the formal proposal of a four-series subdivision of the Cambrian System in 2005. Recently, the base of the international Cambrian Series 3 and of Stage 5 has been named as the base of the Miaolingian …

Reinterpreting The Tectonic Model Of The Southern Part Of The Taconic Orogeny Through A Provenance Study Of Late Ordovician Sandstones, Juan Carlos Guerrero

LSU Master's Theses

A provenance study of quartz arenites that stratigraphically are closely associated with major Ordovician K-bentonites has been conducted in order to further our understanding of the tectonic setting of eastern Laurentia during the Late Ordovician. Using laser ablation ICP-MS, detrital zircons separated from Ordovician sandstone samples in the southeastern Appalachian Mountains (Virginia to Alabama) were dated using U-Pb geochronology. Analytical results show three dominate age ranges for the zircons from these sandstones: ~440-490 Ma, ~900-1300 Ma, and ~1300-1500 Ma. In addition, some zircon ages grouped into older ranges of ~1600-1800 Ma, ~1800-1900 Ma, and ~2600-2800 Ma. Zircon ages from ~900-2800 …

Streambed Flux Measurement Informed By Distributed Temperature Sensing Leads To A Significantly Different Characterization Of Groundwater Discharge, Troy E. Gilmore, Mason Johnson, Jesse T. Korus, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Marty A. Briggs, Vitaly A. Zlotnik, Sydney Corcoran

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Groundwater discharge though streambeds is often focused toward discrete zones, indicating that preliminary reconnaissance may be useful for capturing the full spectrum of groundwater discharge rates using point-scale quantitative methods. However, many direct-contact reconnaissance techniques can be time-consuming, and remote sensing (e.g., thermal infrared) typically does not penetrate the water column to locate submerged seepages. In this study, we tested whether dozens of groundwater discharge measurements made at “uninformed” (i.e., selected without knowledge on high-resolution temperature variations at the streambed) point locations along a reach would yield significantly dierent Darcy-based groundwater discharge rates when compared with “informed” measurements, focused at …

Investigation Of Subsurface Stratigraphy And Groundwater Dynamics In The Mississippi River Delta, An Li

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Mississippi River Delta (MRD) is socioeconomically important to the state of Louisiana and the United States. Various types of land-water system data have been collected in the MRD. However, very few efforts have been made to utilize these datasets in modeling regional stratigraphy and groundwater dynamics in the MRD, especially for the upper 50 m of the depth. In this interval of depth, the Mississippi River and surrounding interdistributary bays intensively interact with the groundwater system. The lack of knowledge in regional stratigraphy and groundwater dynamics hinder an understanding of how hydrogeological setting affects processes such as surface-groundwater interaction, …

Coupled Landscape And Channel Dynamics Across The Ganges-Brahmaputra Tidal-Fluvial Continuum, Southwest Bangladesh, Edwin Jefferson Bomer Iv

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Ganges-Brahmaputra (G-B) Delta of Bangladesh and India is widely considered to be one of the most vulnerable coastal systems in the world, owing to locally-accelerated sea level rise and landscape modification by human activities. Recent research efforts have identified pronounced elevation differences between natural and embanked areas in the G-B tidal delta plain, suggesting that natural landscapes are keeping pace with sea-level rise while anthropogenic locations are actively subsiding. However, this observation represents a singular point in time, and longitudinal trends of surface elevation in these regions are presently unknown. For communities residing in upstream regions of G-B delta …

Utilizing Dplot, Sedlog, And Arcgis Pro To Enhance Geologic Field Skills: Rosendale, Ulster County New York, Malek Shami, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Stanley Schleifer, Zarine Ali, Leonardo Sanchez, Gugu Ginindza, Tyn Tyn Nai

Publications and Research

Capstone geologic field mapping courses in undergraduate geoscience programs aim to compliment the academic knowledge with technical field skills. As a pilot study, these tools were used to collect field data using folded lower Paleozoic to mid-Paleozoic sedimentary outcrops consisting of clastic, non-clastic and occasional mixed siliciclastics in Rosendale, Ulster County, New York. Rosendale is known for its classic geological outcrops with variable structural, stratigraphic, paleontological and sedimentological complexities – ideal for a field mapping course. Traditionally, students’ data acquisition in the field and its subsequent laboratory analysis to produce a final geologic field report utilized acetate overlays to produce …

Positive Outcomes Of Involving Undergraduate And High School Students In Broader Aspect Of Earth System Science Through Peer Mentoring And Research Activities, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Shuayb Siddique, Matthew Khargie, Juanpablo Rodriguez, Adacia Teemal, Krishna Mahabir, Michael Robinson, Ality Aghedo, Zachary A. Sanichar, Sol De Leon, Tamzid Mubin, Elton Selby

Publications and Research

The importance of involving undergraduates and high school students in field-and-laboratory research investigations at an early stage through peer mentoring has been clearly demonstrated as a critical tool for essential training to fully comprehend academic content and a deeper understanding of the various STEM, geoscience-and- environmental science related topics. As far as we are concerned, student presenters/participants (over 1000) in our topical sessions since 2004 have always found face-to-face presentation through poster sessions to be an ideal scientific venue where exchange of knowledge and discussion are fruitful, constructive and encouraging. It is quite revealing to note that among the student …

Paleoenvironment Of The Devonian Fossiliferous Glenerie Limestone, Rosendale, Upstate New York, Gugu Ginindza, B'Jorn K. Forde, Sebastian R. Agustin, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Malek Shami, Stanley Schleifer

Publications and Research

The Devonian Glenerie limestone outcrops throughout the Hudson Valley and is believed to correlate with the glauconite-rich Oriskany sandstone elsewhere in upstate New York. Field inspection of well-preserved outcrops in Rosendale, upstate New York, indicated the Glenerie formation to be composed of both thin and thickly-bedded chert, interbedded shale, and both calcareous to arenaceous limestone. The Glenerie formation is dominated by spirifer arenosis fossil, which is the index fossil for this formation. The goal of this research is to determine the conditions of the paleoenvironment prevalent to the deposition of the Glenerie formation. Within the arenaceous layers are the spirifer …

Orientation Of Paleostress Of Raplee Ridge Anticline, Loren Randall Holyoak, John S. Maclean

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

During the Laramide Orogeny several major folds were formed in Southern Utah, one of those being the Raplee Ridge anticline. Raplee Ridge is approximately eight miles from Mexican Hat, Utah. The San Juan River cuts through the anticline, exposing the Honaker Trail Formation’s beds of shale and limestone with chert nodules. Accompanying the mountain-scale ductile deformation of the Raplee Ridge anticline are decimeter-scale brittle conjugate fractures in the limestone’s chert nodules. The objective of this study is to compare the orientation of paleostress that formed the Raplee Ridge anticline with the conjugate fractures within the chert nodules to see if …

The Spatial And Temporal Evolution Of The Portland And Tualatin Basins, Oregon, Usa, Darby Patrick Scanlon

Dissertations and Theses

The Portland and Tualatin basins are part of the Puget-Willamette Lowland in the Cascadia forearc of Oregon and Washington. The Coast Range to the west has undergone Paleogene transtension and Neogene transpression, which is reflected in basin stratigraphy. To better understand the tectonic evolution of the region, I modeled three key stratigraphic horizons and their associated depocenters (areas of maximum sediment accumulation) through space and time using well log, seismic, outcrop, aeromagnetic, and gravity data. Three isochore maps were created to constrain the location of Portland and Tualatin basin depocenters during 1) Pleistocene to mid-Miocene (0-15 Ma), 2) eruption of …

Gage County Preliminary Ground Water Study (Gm-20): Reed, E.C. Conservation And Survey Division , Size 8.5" X 11"., E.C. Reed

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Lithological Character And Sequence Stratigraphy Of The Ste. Genevieve Limestone In Western Kentucky, Zachary Dalton Creech

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The Ste. Genevieve Limestone is a Mississippian-aged, carbonate-dominated stratigraphic unit that is a prominent hydrocarbon producer in the Illinois Basin, and is widely distributed in states such as Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. There has been relatively limited study focused on characterizing the Ste. Genevieve Limestone in terms of lithofacies, stacking patterns, and sequence stratigraphic context via analysis of roadcut exposures of the unit in western Kentucky.

The focus of this study is to use lithologic data collected from roadcuts and draft these data into cross sections for presentation of detailed stratigraphic columns that are locally correlative. Seven roadcuts were …

Rare Earth Geochemistry Of Apatitic Fossils From The Middle-Upper Ordovician Southern Margin Of Laurentia, Rafael Adrian Villanueva

LSU Master's Theses

Widespread deposition of phosphate and a transition from tropical to cool water carbonates is seen throughout Middle-Upper Ordovician Nashville Dome area spanning the M4/M5 sequence boundary. Hypotheses explaining the onset of these lithologic changes have included the onset of glaciation, drawdown of CO₂ related to the Guttenburg Isotope Carbon Excursion (GICE), and siliciclastic weathering, yet none of these studies have provided definitive evidence that shows any of these are the sole factor driving paleoenvironmental changes across the M4/M5 boundary. In order to test whether rapid subsidence along the southeastern margin of Laurentia may have caused an influx of phosphate …

Geochemical Analysis Of The Chinchín Formation In Southern Ecuador, Katherine Ludwig

Celebration of Learning

The subduction of the Nazca Plate under the South American Plate has led to the uplift of the majority of the Andes Mountains, but in Ecuador, the Nazca Plate subducts underneath the North Andes Plate, which then collides with the South American Plate. This tectonic setting has formed two parallel mountain chains as well as a complex series of basins between them. However, the formations that make up these basins are poorly understood. This study focuses on the Chinchín Formation, an ~3.5 km thick, volcanic formation that serves as the bedrock of the Quingeo Basin in southern Ecuador. This study …

Middle Miocene To Holocene History Of The Delacroix Island Fault System, Jarrett Leigh Levesh

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

An in-depth field study of the Delacroix Island producing field illustrates the evolution of the east-trending Delacroix Island Fault during the last 13 My. Well log correlations and 3-D seismic interpretation of 22 subsurface bio-stratigraphic horizons across the fault reveal variable stratigraphic thicknesses and displacement. Wells, with well log curve data as shallow as 31 m (100 ft) below the surface, were used to calculate interval thicknesses, expansion indices, sediment accumulation rates, burial history and magnitudes of displacement. Through these analyses, a correlation was found between the positioning of ancient Miocene depocenters over Delacroix Island and a period of increased …

Facies And Diagenesis Analyses Of The Fort Terrett Formation Of The Lower Cretaceous Edwards Group, Near Junction, Texas, Richard Alden Urwin Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Fort Terrett Formation was deposited on the western edge of the Comanche Shelf in central Texas. The predominate lithology of the Fort Terrett Formation is limestone which caps the hills that surround Junction, Texas. Deposition of the Fort Terrett Formation occurred within shallow, quiet waters during the Lower Cretaceous. Rose (1974) developed a general stratigraphic correlation and lithostratigraphic framework for the Cretaceous Shelf and established a regional correlation. Four stratigraphic divisions have been recognized in the Fort Terrett Formation. These are: a basal nodular unit, a burrowed unit, a dolomitic unit, and the Kirschberg evaporites. Wilkerson (2018) provided the …

Stratigraphy And Depositional Characterization Of The Moorefield Shale (Middle-Late Mississippian) In Its Type Area, Northeastern Arkansas (Eastern Arkoma Basin), Griffin Warner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Moorefield Shale represents the Meramecian Series in the Eastern Arkoma Basin in northern Arkansas. Lying on the margin of the Mississippi Embayment and Reelfoot Rift, sequence stratigraphic interpretations have labelled the Moorefield Shale a lowstand wedge succeeding the Early Mississippian (Osagean) Boone Limestone conformably and overlain conformably by the Hindsville Limestone/Batesville Sandstone. The unit contains a basal brown-black limestone and succeeding brown-black phosphatic shale. The Moorefield Shale was deposited along the broad, stable cratonic platform on the southern flank of Laurasia, before it’s collision with Gondwanaland to form the supercontinent Pangea at the end of the Paleozoic. During this …

Fun In A Kansas Salt Mine, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

Most people probably do not know that salt deposits hundreds of feet thick lie buried beneath large parts of western Kansas, western Oklahoma and a small part of the northeastern Texas Panhandle. Native Americans and early European explorers found that where the salt deposits came near the land surface (for, example north of Hutchinson, Kansas) salt is dissolved by ground water and increases the salinity of rivers, streams, springs and ponds. This salty water was used as a salt source by these peoples. The Hutchinson Salt, a 275 million-year-old Middle Permian deposit, was discovered in an exploratory drill hole in …

Modeling Land Subsidence Using Insar And Airborne Electromagnetic Data, Ryan G. Smith, R. Knight

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Land subsidence as a result of groundwater overpumping in the San Joaquin Valley, California, is associated with the loss of groundwater storage and aquifer contamination. Although the physical processes governing land subsidence are well understood, building predictive models of subsidence is challenging because so much subsurface information is required to do so accurately. For the first time, we integrate airborne electromagnetic data, representing the subsurface, with subsidence data, mapped by interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), to model deformation. By combining both data sets, we are able to solve for hydrologic and geophysical properties of the subsurface to effectively model the …

Exploring Geochemical Proxies For Identifying Cryptic Sequence Boundaries In The Geologic Past Using Modern Bahamian Analogues, Evan B. Magette

LSU Master's Theses

Previous studies of carbonate diagenesis have suggested that bulk Sr concentrations and inorganic δ¹³C values may be a useful proxy for identifying cryptic sequence boundaries in meteorically altered limestones due to geochemical processes associated with carbonate mineral stabilization in cement precipitation in the meteoric diagenetic environment. However, it is possible that natural geochemical variation in sediments may produce geochemical shift which could be misinterpreted as a cryptic sequence boundary. To test this, the Two Pines roadcut containing a previously identified protosol on Eleuthera, Bahamas, which has been affected by vadose meteoric diagenesis was sampled for bulk geochemical analysis. …

Mississippian-Devonian Black Shales Of Kentucky: East-West Transect In Five Cores From The Appalachian Basin To The Illinois Basin, Patrick J. Gooding, Frank R. Ettensohn

Map and Chart--KGS

Devonian-Mississippian black shales are widespread across North America and underlie nearly 70 percent of Kentucky (Kepferle and Roen, 1981; Ettensohn and others, 1988). These black-shale units are among the most thoroughly investigated format ions in the commonwealth, because t hey have sourced most of t he conventional hydrocarbons (Gooding and Ettensohn, 2008; Gooding, 2013), have been major producers of gas in both the Illinois and Appalachian Basins, and have major potential as unconventional producers in both basins. In fact, maturation indicators such as vitrinite reflectance and total organic carbon, from both basins, show that the shales are most ly mature …

Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report 2018, Aaron R. Young, Mark E. Burbach, Leslie M. Howard, Michele M. Waszgis, Sue Olafsen Lackey, Robert Matthew Joeckel

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The term “groundwater” has come to be all but synonymous with Nebraska. Nearly three-quarters of the total volume of the High Plains Aquifer lies beneath the State. Groundwater maintains our streams, our ecosystems, our people, and our vitally important agricultural economy. Nebraska’s total groundwater resource is vast, yet it is also vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic changes, necessitating a long-term commitment to wise management through informed decision making. Monitoring, studying, and reporting form the essential basis for such management and, ultimately, for meeting the myriad challenges presented by change.

The personnel of the Conservation and Survey Division (CSD) are pleased …

Informing Water Use Decision-Making For Waterfowl And Agricultural Production On A Ranch Along The North Platte River, Nebraska, Douglas R. Hallum P.G.

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

In 2014, operators of a ranch along the North Platte River approached Conservation and Survey Division seeking expertise to interpret data collected on their ranch. The interpretations inform ranch decisions to accomplish operators’ goals. This publication documents the work by: 1) characterizing the ranch, 2) summarizing data collected, 3) characterizing hydrogeology of the site and the adjacent reach, and 4) conceptualizing groundwater/surface water interaction.

The ranch is a recreation property and a migratory waterfowl refuge with a few general goals: 1) develop and maintain high-quality wet meadow habitat, 2) maximize the extent and duration of surface water on the property …

Maps Showing The Physical Hydrogeology And Changes In Saturated Thickness (Predevelopment To Spring 2016 And Spring 2011 To Spring 2016) In The Middle Republican Natural Resources District, Southwestern Nebraska., Jesse T. Korus Dr., Leslie M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

This report accompanies fourteen new maps summarizing the hydrogeology and changes in saturated thickness in the Middle Republican Natural Resources District (MRNRD). The purpose of these maps is to assist the MRNRD in their groundwater management programs and in planning and installing an observation well network. Maps include:

• base of the principal aquifer;

• water table surfaces for predevelopment, Spring 2011, and Spring 2016;

• saturated thicknesses for predevelopment, Spring 2011, and Spring 2016;

• changes in saturated thickness (both in absolute magnitude and in percent) from predevelopment to Spring 2016 and from Spring 2011 to Spring 2016;

• …

A Record Of The Precambrian-Cambrian Transition In Sw Montana: A Late Neoproterozoic To Early Cambrian Stratigraphic Window, Fortunian Biostratigraphic Assemblage And Treptichnus Pedum, R. Reid Trippe

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study documents a Late Neoproterozoic through Early Cambrian stratigraphic record in the Humbolt anticline of southwestern Montana. The Precambrian-Cambrian transition includes a Fortunian-aged biostratigraphic trace-fossil assemblage with the ichnofossil Treptichnus pedum. The Humbolt anticline represents an inverted paleo-graben that exposes a stratigraphic window interpreted to be a record of rifting along the Cordilleran miogeoclinal margin, linked with the breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent. The graben subsided and captured sediment during late-stage rifting and final-stage dissociation along the rift margin. Its structural axis paralleled the rift margin. Sevier/Laramide orogenic thrusting inverted the graben into the Humbolt anticline. The Late …

Geology Of Southeastern Nebraska, Robert Matthew Joeckel, Dana Divine, Leslie M. Howard, Kathleen Cameron, Michele M. Waszgis

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

A Joint Xrf-Δ13CCarb Chemostratigraphic Approach For Characterizing Paleo-Environmental Processes In The Mudstone-Dominated Wolfcamp Formation Of West Texas, Frank Tamakloe

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

The Late Paleozoic Ice Age represents a dynamic period in Earth system history recording a shift from icehouse to greenhouse conditions. Concomitant with this change was a series high-frequency, high-amplitude sea level fluctuations leading to the deposition of “Kansas type” cyclothems in the Mid-Continent, and a similar rhythmic expression of interbedded shales and carbonates in the Midland Basin. Stable isotope geochemistry is a particularly powerful tool when examining these mud-rich successions because changes in organic matter partitioning may be recorded first in δ¹³C_DIC of sea-water and consequently in δ¹³C_carb of marine rocks. The δ …