Tectonics and Structure Commons^™

The Relationship Between Lineaments And Cave Passages In Unfaulted Gently-Folded Strata, Snail Shell Cave, Central Tennessee, Usa, Mark Abolins, Joseph Firkaly-Paciera, Blake King, Cris Ocasio-Valentin, Jackson Slighter, Teagan Sullivan, Justin Whited

International Journal of Speleology

Near Snail Shell Cave in central Tennessee, USA, seven image interpreters independently mapped lineaments using a 3DEP LiDAR DTM, revealing geomorphic and structural differences in and near different parts of the cave. MANOVA comparison of lineament and cave passage trend for Western, Central, and Eastern Snail Shell caves reveals statistically significant differences (p <0.05). The Western cave (mean depth 44 m) is in the gently-dipping limb of the Snail Shell anticline, and the Central cave (mean depth 31 m) is in the anticline hinge. In contrast, many Eastern cave passages (mean depth 40 m) cut across the anticline hinge and part of the limb of the Overall syncline. For both the Western and Central caves, a post-hoc Tukey’s HSD test fails to show that lineament trend within 235 m of the cave differs significantly from passage trend, and the test fails to show that the two differ significantly within 235 and 433 m of the Eastern cave. Additional statistical testing fails to show a difference between Western passage trend and bed strike, indicating the likelihood that lineaments and passages developed within strike-joints. However, testing shows a statistically significant difference between passage trend and bed strike for the Central and Eastern caves. The strike of joints inside the Eastern cave shows that it is within a joint zone which penetrates to depths of at least 80 m and is expressed at the surface as an ~4.2 km-long belt of elevated lineament line density. The lack of a statistically significant difference between Eastern passage trend and the trend of a nearby topographic escarpment suggests that many joints are stress release fractures formed during relatively recent erosion. For the Eastern cave, intersections between lineaments and structures would be attractive targets for groundwater exploration at depths typical of wells in carbonates.

Role Of Hypogenesis In The Evolution Of Karst In The Taurus Mountains Range, Turkey, Serdar C. Bayari, Naciye Nur Özyurt, Lütfi Nazik, Koray A. Törk, Noyan İ. Güner, Emrah Pekkan, Pınar Avcı

International Journal of Speleology

Field observations and laboratory data collected from the Taurus Mountains Range, Turkey during the last two decades provided evidence for the link between the evolution of hypogene karst and the geodynamic history. Major evidence includes; carbonate-hosted secondary ore deposits that are converted from primarily hypogene minerals by epigene, oxygen-rich groundwater circulating at local to intermediate depths. Another piece of evidence of hypogene karst in the Tauride is the Kırkgöz springs’ huge submerged cave/conduit system, which formed the Antalya Travertine Plateau, which is the world’s largest deposit precipitated by cool karst groundwater. The obruks in central Tauride are giant collapse dolines …

Dynamic Relationship Study Between The Observed Seismicity And Spatiotemporal Pattern Of Lineament Changes In Palghar, North Maharashtra (India), Biswajit Nath, Ramesh P. Singh, Vineet K. Gahalaut, Ajay P. Singh

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The Palghar region (north Maharashtra, India), located in the northwestern part of the stable continental region of India, experienced a low magnitude earthquake swarm, which was initiated in September 2018 and is continuing to date (as of October 2021). From December 2018 to December 2020, ~5000 earthquakes with magnitudes from M1.2 to M3.8 occurred in a small region of 20 × 10 km². These earthquakes were probably triggered by fluid migration during seasonal rainfall. In this study, we have used multi-temporal Landsat satellite data of the year 2000, 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2020, extracted lineaments, and studied the …

Characterization Of Landslide Processes From Radar Remote Sensing And Hydromechanical Modeling, Yuankun Xu

Earth Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Landsides are a natural geomorphic process yet a dangerous hazard which annually causes thousands of casualties and billions of property loss in a global scale. Understanding landslide motion kinematics from early initiation to final deposition is critical for monitoring, assessing, and forecasting landslide movement in order to mitigate their hazards. Landslides occur under diverse environmental settings and appear in variable types; however, all types of landslides can be mechanically attributed to shearing failure at the basal surface due to stress regime shift contributed by internal and/or external forcing. Typical internal factors include soil/rock weathering, whereas typical external triggering forces encompass …

A Karst Feature Prediction Model For Prince Of Wales Island, Alaska Based On High Resolution Lidar Imagery, Alexander Lyles

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Investigation into surface karst formation is significant to hazard prediction, hydrogeologic drainage, and land management. Southeast Alaska contains over 600,000 acres of mapped carbonate bedrock, and some of the fastest recorded karst dissolution in the world. The objectives of this study are to develop and compare multiple semi-automated models to map and delineate karst features from bare-earth LiDAR imagery using ArcGIS Desktop 10.7, and to apply a preliminary geostatistical analysis of sinkhole morphometric parameters to highlight potential spatial patterns of karst evolution on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. A semi-automated approach of mapping karst features provides a dataset that minimizes …

Quantifying Bedrock Recharge In Two Paired Mountainous Watersheds, Kimberly Bolhuis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study focuses on 1) estimating the magnitude of bedrock recharge and 2) mean transit time as a function of bedrock permeability in two paired catchments underlain by different lithology. Networks of bedrock wells and stream gauges were installed in two adjacent catchments of approximately the same size in west central Montana. Fracture network properties for both lithologies were characterized from borehole core logging and scan lines on exposed outcrop. Recharge was evaluated using the Water Table Fluctuation (WTF) method on bedrock well hydrographs installed in both catchments. Stable water isotope samples, collected approximately monthly, from precipitation and stream water …

Neogene And Quaternary Events Shaped Diversification And Speciation In Bhutanese Rheophilic Fishes Of The Family Nemacheilidae (Cypriniformes) And Sisoridae (Siluriformes), Karma Wangchuk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biogeography of the Himalayan region [to include the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP)] evolved over a ~30M year span, catalyzed by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates. The resulting uplift produced major ecological and climatic effects, that in turn drove the diversification of biodiversity. As a result, the QTP is designated as a global biodiversity hotspot particularly vulnerable to cumulative climatic effects, including shrinking distributions, declining numbers, and local extinctions. Understanding how the biodiversity within the Himalaya/ QTP was established and maintained is a necessary first step in prioritizing conservation efforts.

Fishes in global montane regions, such as the Himalaya, …

Toward Near‐Field Tsunami Forecasting Along The Cascadia Subduction Zone Using Rapid Gnss Source Models, Amy L. Williamson, Diego Melgar, Brendan W. Crowell, Diego Argas, Timothy I. Melbourne, Yong Wei, Kevin Kwong

Geological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

Over the past 15 years and through multiple large and devastating earthquakes, tsunami warning systems have grown considerably in their efficacy in providing timely and accurate forecasts to affected communities. However, one part of tsunami warning that still needs improvement is forecasts catered to local, near‐field communities in the time after an earthquake rupture but before coastal inundation. In this study, we test a rapid, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)‐driven earthquake characterization model using a large data set of synthetic megathrust ruptures for its near‐field tsunami forecasting potential. We also provide a framework for tsunami forecasting that focuses on the …

Engaging The Greater Lafayette Community In A Journey Through The Earth Sciences: Purdue’S Eaps Earth Science Passport Day Event, Dara Laczniak, Bradley Garczynski

Engagement & Service-Learning Summit

No abstract provided.

Groundwater Level Response To The Wenchuan Earthquake Of May 2008, Anhua He, Ramesh Singh

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We have comprehensively analysed the co-seismic response of the groundwater levels of 280 wells in mainland China that were associated with the Wenchuan earthquake (Mw 7.9) that occurred on 12 May 2008. The observed co-seismic responses can be classified as step-like changes in 138 wells, variations in 69 wells and non-responses in 73 wells. After a quantitative analysis of spatial distribution, there was no spatially coherent signal found in the step-like changes (positive values indicate a step-like rise, and negative values indicate a step-like fall), even within 300 km of the epicenter. The amplitude and the phase shift of the …

A Study Of Marine Terrace Formation Along The California Central Coast, Mary C. Devlin

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

Marine terrace formation is in many instances attributed to wave action, and shore platforms are often called “wave-cut”. However, alternative models for marine terrace formation suggest that other types of physical and chemical weathering have a more central role in the formation of marine terraces than is widely acknowledged. Roering and Retallack (2012) concluded that the roles of subaerial physical and chemical weathering are significant, and played a major role in the formation of the terraces. In this study, weathering of beach cliffs and shore platforms associated with marine terraces at eight sites in two different locations along the central …

Characterization And Delineation Of Karst Geohazards Along Rm652 Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography, Culberson County, Texas, Adam F. Majzoub

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Delaware Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico is the major western subdivision of the Permian Basin and a northern extension of the Chihuahuan Desert. The major evaporite unit within the Delaware Basin is the Castile Formation, which consists of gypsum/anhydrite and is highly susceptible to dissolution and karsting. Manifestations of karst within the Castile outcrop are abundant and include sinkholes, subsidence features and caves, both epigene and hypogene in origin.

Land reconnaissance surveys conducted during the summer of 2015 documented abundant karst landforms in close proximity to a major thoroughfare, RM 652, in Culberson County, Texas. 2D …

Birth And Evolution Of The Rio Grande Fluvial System In The Last 8 Ma:Progressive Downward Integration And Interplay Between Tectonics, Volcanism, Climate, And River Evolution, Marisa N. Repasch

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Rio Grande-Rio Chama (RG-RC) fluvial system has evolved dramatically over the last 8 Ma, undergoing channel migrations, drainage capture and integration events, volcanic damming, and carving and refilling of paleocanyons. Volcanism concurrent with the development of the river system provides a unique opportunity to apply multiple geochronometers to the study of its incision and drainage evolution. This paper reports 19 new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar basalt ages and 19 detrital mineral samples (zircon and sanidine) collected from RG-RC alluvium overlain by dated basalt flows in the context of a compilation of published ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar basalt ages. The …

An Investigation Of Hydrogeologic, Stratigraphic, And Structural Controls On Acer Grandidentatum Communities In A Karst Landscape, Owl Mountain Province, Fort Hood Military Installation, Texas, Melinda S. Faulkner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Owl Mountain Province is located within the Fort Hood Military Installation, an approximately 880 km2 installation established in the 1940s in Bell and Coryell counties, Texas, which has undergone extensive land use changes associated with military training, maintaining much of the vegetation in early succession. This study investigates thelithologic, stratigraphic, and structural controls on the hydrologic, hydrogeologic, and geomorphologic evolution of the Owl Mountain Province as expressed by mesic vegetation communities, including Pleistocene relicts Acer grandidentatum, within karst terrains. These systems exhibit complexly overprinted speleogenetic evolutions within a dynamic groundwater regime resulting from regional climate shifts throughout the …

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 …

Relay Ramp Structures And Their Influence On Groundwater Flow In The Edwards And Trinity Aquifers, Hays And Travis Counties, Central Texas, Brian B. Hunt, Brian A. Smith, Alan Andrews, Douglas Wierman, Alex S. Broun, Marcus Gary

Sinkhole Conference 2015

The Cretaceous Edwards and Middle Trinity Aquifers of central Texas are critical groundwater resources for human and ecological needs. These two major karst aquifers are stratigraphically stacked (Edwards over Trinity) and structurally juxtaposed (normal faulting) in the Balcones Fault Zone (BFZ). Studies have long recognized the importance of faulting on the development of the karstic Edwards Aquifer. However, the influence of these structures on groundwater flow is unclear as groundwater flow appears to cross some faults, but not others. This study combines structural and hydrological data to help characterize the potential influence of faults and relay ramps on groundwater flow …

Effects Of Changes In Moisture Source And The Upstream Rainout On Stable Isotopes In Precipitation – A Case Study In Nanjing, Eastern China, Y. Tang, H. Pang, W. Zhang, Y. Li, Shuang-Ye Wu, S. Hou

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

In the Asian monsoon region, variations in the stable isotopic composition of speleothems have often been attributed to the "amount effect". However, an increasing number of studies suggest that the "amount effect" in local precipitation is insignificant or even non-existent. To explore this issue further, we examined the variability of daily stable isotopic composition (δ18O) in precipitation from September 2011 to November 2014 in Nanjing, eastern China. We found that intra-seasonal variations of δ18O during summer were not significantly correlated with local rainfall amount but could be linked to changes in the moisture source location and rainout processes in the …

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

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

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

Structural And Hydrological Controls On The Development Of A River Cave In Marble (Tapagem Cave - Se Brazil), William Sallun Filho, Bruna Medeiros Cordeiro, Ivo Karmann

International Journal of Speleology

Tapagem Cave (or Devil’s Cave) is a river cave developed in the dolomite marble karst of the Serra do André Lopes (State of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil). Although this region is a plateau with significant variation in elevation and a humid subtropical climate, the cave is an anomalous feature in the André Lopes karst because there are few other caves. The marble, which is in a synclinal structure with subjacent phyllites, is a karst aquifer perched above the regional base level (Ribeira River) and has little allogenic recharge. The cave developed on a secondary anticline on the northwest flank of …

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

The International Workshop on Ice Caves

No abstract provided.

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

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

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

Glacier Slip And Seismicity Induced By Surface Melt, Peter L. Moore, J. Paul Winberry, Neal R. Iverson, Knut A. Christianson, Sridhar Anandakrishnan, Miriam Jackson, Mark E. Mathison, Denis Cohen

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Many of the key processes governing fast glacier flow involve interaction between a glacier and its basal hydrological system, which is hidden from direct observation. Passive seismic monitoring has shown promise as a tool for remotely monitoring basal processes, but lack of glacier-bed access prevents clear understanding of the relationships between subglacial processes and corresponding seismic emissions. Here we describe direct measurements of basal hydrology, sliding, and broadband seismicity made in a unique subglacial facility in Norway during the onset of two summer melt seasons. In the most pronounced of these episodes, rapid delivery of surface meltwater to the bed …

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

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

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

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

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

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

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

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

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

A Study Of Fold Characteristics And Deformation Style Using The Evolution Of The Land Surface: Zagros Simply Folded Belt, Iran, Caroline M. Burberry, John W. Cosgrove, Jian-Guo Liu

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Deformation styles within a fold-thrust belt can be understood in terms of the spatial organization and geometry of the fold structures. In young fold-thrust belts such as the Zagros, this geometry is reflected topographically by concordant landform morphology. Thus, the distribution of deformation structures can be characterized using satellite image analysis, digital elevation models, the drainage network and geomorphological indicators. The two distinct fold types considered in this study (fault-bend folds and detachment folds) both trending NW-SE, interact with streams flowing NE-SW from the High Zagros Mountains into the Persian Gulf. Multiple abandoned stream channels cross fault-bend folds related to …

Understanding Paleoclimate And Human Evolution Through The Hominin Sites And Paleolakes Drilling Project, Andrew Cohen, Ramon Arrowsmith, Anna K. Behrensmeyer, Christopher Campisano, Craig Feibel, Shimeles Fisseha, Roy Johnson, Zelalem Bedaso, Charles Lockwood, Emma Mbua, Daniel Olago, Richard Potts, Kaye Reed, Robin Renaut, Jean-Jacques Tiercelin, Mohammed Umer

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Understanding the evolution of humans and our close relatives is one of the enduring scientific issues of modern times. Since the time of Charles Darwin, scientists have speculated on how and when we evolved and what conditions drove this evolutionary story. The detective work required to address these questions is necessarily interdisciplinary, involving research in anthropology, archaeology, human genetics and genomics, and the earth sciences. In addition to the difficult tasks of finding, describing, and interpreting hominin fossils (the taxonomic tribe which includes Homo sapiens and our close fossil relatives from the last 6 Ma), much of modern geological research …

The Global Stratotype Section And Point (Gssp) For The Base Of The Katian Stage Of The Upper Ordovician Series At Black Knob Ridge, Southeastern Oklahoma, Usa, Daniel Goldman, Stephen A. Leslie, Jaak Nõlvak, Seth Young, Stig M. Bergström, Warren D. Huff

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

The International Subcomission on Ordovician Stratigraphy (ISOS) of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) recently defined the base of the global Upper Ordovician Series to be at the first appearance datum (FAD) of the graptolite species Nemagraptus gracilis in the Fågelsång GSSP in southern Sweden. This designation recognized the tremendous utility for global correlation of the first appearance of a cosmopolitan taxon that occurs within a consistent succession of other first appearance datums (e.g., Finney and Bergström, 1986; Bergström et al., 2000). Current efforts by the ISOS have focused on subdividing the Upper Ordovician into three stages and choosing appropriate …

Geostatistical And Stochastic Study Of Radionuclide Transport In The Unsaturated Zone At Yucca Mountain, Feng Pan, Ming Ye, Jianting Zhu

Publications (YM)

Motivation: Why Study of Unsaturated Zone? The unsaturated zone (UZ), where the proposed repository would be located, acts as a critical natural barrier by delaying the arrival of radionuclides at the saturated zone and by reducing radionuclide concentrations in groundwater through dispersion and dilution Quantitative prediction of radionuclide transport in the unsaturated zone becomes critical for performance assessment and design of the proposed repository of the Yucca Mountain Project

Prevailing Weather Conditions During Summer Seasons Around Gangotri Glacier, Pratap Singh, Umesh K. Haritashya, K. S. Ramasastri, Naresh Kumar

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Meteorological data collected near the snout of the Gangotri Glacier suggest that the study area receives less rainfall. The average seasonal rainfall is observed to be about 260 mm. The rainfall distribution does not show any monsoon impact. Amount of seasonal rainfall is highly variable (131.4-368.8 mm) from year to year, but, in general, August had the maximum rainfall. A verage daily maximum and minimum temperatures were 14.7 and 4.1°C respectively, whereas average mean temperature was 9.4°C. July was recorded as the warmest month. During daytime, wind speed was four times higher than that at night-time. The average daytime and …