Tectonics and Structure Commons^™

Satellite Observation Of Ch4 And Co Anomalies Associated With The Wenchuan Ms 8.0 And Lushan Ms 7.0 Earthquakes In China, Y. Cui, Dimitar Ouzounov, N. Hatzopoulos, K. Sun, Z. Zou, J. Du

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Spatial and temporal variations of total column of CH4 and CO (TotCH4 and TotCO) associated with the 12 May 2008 Wenchuan and 20 April 2013 Lushan earthquakes in western Sichuan, China were investigated using satellite data from AQUA AIRS in order to understand the lithospheric and atmospheric interactions during the seismic activity. The Wenchuan MS 8.0 and Lushan MS7.0 earthquakes occurred in the Longmenshan fault zone. It was observed that large amounts of gases emitted from the earth's crust into the atmosphere before, during and after the earthquakes. The anomalies of TotCH4 and TotCO occurred along the …

Gravitational Study Of The Hastings Salt Dome And Associated Faults In Brazoria And Galveston Counties,Texas, Francis C. Okocha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Salt domes are important geological structures because they are potential major hydrocarbon traps and have a profound effect on overlying strata in the subsurface. Over five hundred salt domes have been located on the United States Gulf Coast region, including the Hastings Salt Dome. Hastings Oil Field is located about 40.2 km (25 miles) southeast of Houston, Texas. The Hasting oil field was discovered in 1934 and it was considered the largest oil reserve on the Gulf Coast. Its peak production of 75,000 BOPD (barrels of oil per day) was recorded in 1977 and it had a cumulative production of …

Structural And Stratigraphic Reconstruction Of The Whiting Dome Salt Structure In Viosca Knoll-Mississippi Canyon, Gom, Using 3d Seismic Data, Matthew R. Worrell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the complexities of salt tectonics is one of the most important factors regarding seismic interpretation of stratigraphy, structure, and geomorphology in the Gulf of Mexico. Evaluating the processes affecting recent mobilization of salt in the shallow, well-imaged section can help provide analogues for older, similar occurrences in the deeper section, thereby providing structural models for the autochthonous salt and its effect on stratigraphy and even potential timing and migration issues of hydrocarbons.

Progradation of delta front and shelf to slope transitional sediments has expulsed and emplaced an allochthonous salt structure (Whiting Dome) in the Viosca Knoll and Mississippi Canyon …

Basement And Cover Structural Analysis Along The Eagle River Gorge, Sawatch Range, Colorado, Kaitlin Lee Askelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Sawatch Range within the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado exposes Paleoproterozoic basement and overlying Paleozoic sedimentary rocks with a complex history of ductile and brittle deformation.

The goal of this study is to conduct analyses of brittle structures that occur in the basement and cover units to determine geometric relationships between the structures, provide a detailed description of structures and refine a geologic history for structures along the basement-cover contact in the northeastern Sawatch Range along the Eagle River canyon and U.S. Highway 24 from Red Cliff to Gilman, Colorado. Paleoproterozoic basement rocks include the Cross Creek granite, diorites, …

Investigations On The Mesozoic Geologic And Tectonic History Of The Jackson Mountains, Northwest Nevada, Thomas Anthony Colby

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

New geologic mapping, high-precision U-Pb zircon geochronology, and isotope geochemistry provide insight into the early Mesozoic paleogeography and magmatic, stratigraphic, and structural evolution of the Jackson Mountains in the Black Rock Desert region of northwest Nevada. The magmatic history of the Jackson Mountains records Late Triassic to Early Jurassic (~215-195 Ma) marine deposition of the Boulder Creek Beds adjacent to the arc followed by the Early Jurassic (~193-189 Ma) eruption and emplacement of the Happy Creek Igneous Complex and associated plutons of the Early Mesozoic Intrusive Suite. Pb, Sr, and Nd isotopic data from Early Jurassic intrusive rocks of the …

Impacts On The Stakeholders Of The Nexus Pipeline, Jessica A. Speweike

Honors Projects

This journalistic feature covers the different impacts on those individuals who are involved with or affected by the Nexus Gas Transmission pipeline. Testimony from Ohio landowners, activists, scientists and public officials cover a variety of opinions and concerns raised by the pipeline. Private property rights, environmental impact, and possible economic implications are detailed by those who have been involved with the Nexus pipeline since its early stages of implementation.

A Geophysical Analysis Of The Great Falls Tectonic Zone And The Surrounding Area, Montana Usa, Travis Lane Fultz

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The Great Falls Tectonic Zone (GFTZ) is a northeast trending zone of high angle faults and lineaments extending from northeastern Idaho into Saskatchewan, Canada. The GFTZ is believed to have facilitated the collision between the Archean Wyoming and Hearne cratons. Previous geophysical studies have analyzed seismic refraction data across the boundary between the Paleoproterozoic GFTZ and Archean Wyoming Craton (WC), this indicated the lower crustal layer thickens as it dips beneath the boundary towards the WC. In this study, three 2 dimensional (2D) gravity models that crossed the central region of the GFTZ were produced using constraints from existing geologic …

Lithospheric Evaluation Of The Mid-Continental Rift System In Iowa From A Gravity And Magnetic Analysis, Moamen Mohamed Almaz

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The Proterozoic Midcontinent Rift System (MCRS) is considered one of the most important tectonic features in North America and was formed during a continental breakup event at 1.1 Ga (billion years). The MCRS is totally covered by Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks except in the Lake Superior region. Consequently, the geological characteristics of the MCRS are primarily inferred from extrapolations from the outcrop areas, drill holes, and from a variety of geophysical investigations. Iowa has a large segment of the MCRS which to date has only been partially investigated geophysically with little information regarding the lower crustal and upper mantle structure under …

Actively Forming Kuroko-Type Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulfide (Vhms) Mineralization At Iheya North, Okinawa Trough, Japan, Christopher J. Yeats, Steven P. Hollis, Angela Halfpenny, Juan-Carlos Corona, Crystal Laflamme, Gordon Southam, Marco Fiorentini, Richard J. Herrington, John Spratt

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Modern seafloor hydrothermal systems provide important insights into the formation and discovery of ancient volcanic-hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) deposits. In 2010, Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 331 drilled five sites in the Iheya North hydrothermal field in the middle Okinawa Trough back-arc basin, Japan. Hydrothermal alteration and sulfide mineralization is hosted in a geologically complex, mixed sequence of coarse pumiceous volcaniclastic and fine hemipelagic sediments, overlying a dacitic to rhyolitic volcanic substrate. At site C0016, located adjacent to the foot of the actively venting North Big Chimney massive sulfide mound, massive sphalerite-(pyrite-chalcopyrite ± galena)-rich sulfides were intersected (to 30.2% …

Controls On Fracture Network Characteristics Of The Middle Member Of The Bakken Formation, Elm Coulee Field, Williston Basin, Usa, Shashank Khatri

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

The Bakken formation in the Elm Coulee Field of the Williston Basin consists of three members: 1) upper shale member, 2) middle silty dolostone member, and 3) lower shale member. The upper and lower members act as excellent source rocks and the main reservoir is the middle member with an average porosity of 3 to 9% and average permeability of 0.04md. The Bakken oil play in this area is a stratigraphic trap with a pinch-out to the southwest and a diagenetic facies change in the northeast. The main production is interpreted to come from matrix permeability in the field area. …

Impact Of Icebergs On Net Primary Productivity In The Southern Ocean, Shuang-Ye Wu, Shugui Hou

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Productivity in the Southern Ocean (SO) is iron-limited, and supply of iron dissolved from aeolian dust is believed to be the main source from outside the marine environment. However, recent studies show that icebergs could provide a comparable amount of bioavailable iron to the SO as aeolian dust. In addition, small-scale areal studies suggest increased concentrations of chlorophyll, krill, and seabirds surrounding icebergs. Based on previous research, this study aims to examine whether iceberg occurrence has a significant impact on marine productivity at the scale of the SO, using remote sensing data of iceberg occurrences and ocean net primary productivity …

Timing Of Mid-Crustal Ductile Extension In The Northern Snake Range Metamorphic Core Complex, Nevada: Evidence From U/Pb Zircon Ages, Jeffrey Lee, Terrence Blackburn, Scott Johnston

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Metamorphic core complexes within the western U.S. record a history of Cenozoic ductile and brittle extensional deformation, metamorphism, magmatism, and exhumation within the footwalls of high-angle Basin and Range normal faults. In models proposed for the formation of metamorphic core complexes there is a close temporal and spatial link between upper crustal normal faulting, lower crustal ductile extension and flow, and detachment faulting. To provide constraints on the timing of ductile extension in the northern Snake Range metamorphic core complex (Nevada) and thereby test these models, we present new 238U-206Pb dates on zircons from both deformed and undeformed rhyolite dikes …

Delayed Warming Hiatus Over The Tibetan Plateau, Wenling An, Shugui Hou, Yongyun Hu, Shuang-Ye Wu

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

A reduction in the warming rate for the global surface temperature since the late 1990s has attracted much attention and caused a great deal of controversy. During the same time period, however, most previous studies have reported enhanced warming over the Tibetan Plateau (TP). In this study we further examined the temperature trend of the TP and surrounding areas based on the homogenized temperature records for the period 1980–2014, we found that for the TP regions lower than 4000 m the warming rate has started to slow down since the late 1990s, a similar pattern consistent with the whole China …

Ground-Rupturing Earthquakes On The Northern Big Bend Of The San Andreas Fault, California, 800 A.D. To Present, Katherine Scharer, Ray J. Weldon Ii, Glenn Biasi, Ashley Streig, Thomas Fumal

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Paleoseismic data on the timing of ground-rupturing earthquakes constrain the recurrence behavior of active faults and can provide insight on the rupture history of a fault if earthquakes dated at neighboring sites overlap in age and are considered correlative. This study presents the evidence and ages for 11 earthquakes that occurred along the Big Bend section of the southern San Andreas Fault at the Frazier Mountain paleoseismic site. The most recent earthquake to rupture the site was the Mw7.7–7.9 Fort Tejon earthquake of 1857. We use over 30 trench excavations to document the structural and sedimentological evolution of a small …

Unusual Geologic Evidence Of Coeval Seismic Shaking And Tsunamis Shows Variability In Earthquake Size And Recurrence In The Area Of The Giant 1960 Chile Earthquake, M. Cisternas, E. Garrett, R. Wesson, T. Dura, Lisa L. Ely

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

An uncommon coastal sedimentary record combines evidence for seismic shaking and coincident tsunami inundation since AD 1000 in the region of the largest earthquake recorded instrumentally: the giant 1960 southern Chile earthquake (Mw 9.5). The record reveals significant variability in the size and recurrence of megathrust earthquakes and ensuing tsunamis along this part of the Nazca-South American plate boundary. A 500-m long coastal outcrop on Isla Chiloé, midway along the 1960 rupture, provides continuous exposure of soil horizons buried locally by debris-flow diamicts and extensively by tsunami sand sheets. The diamicts flattened plants that yield geologically precise ages to correlate …

The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale: Geologic History, Depositional Analysis, And Exploration Potential, Jessica D. Pair

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) was deposited across southern Louisiana and Mississippi during the Upper Cretaceous. The study focuses on a core region containing vast deposits of Cretaceous-aged sediments that have economic importance for oil and gas exploration. This region has been conventionally drilled for decades, focusing on the recovery of the Cretaceous hydrocarbons. Explorers within this region had traditionally targeted the massive sand units of the Lower and Upper Tuscaloosa Group while neglecting the middle Tuscaloosa Marine Shale unit. With the onset of unconventional drilling technology, new explorers to the region have begun to delineate the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale’s …

Explaining Creep-Like Deformation In The Marmara Sea: Results From Avo-Derived Vp/Vs And Pore Pressure Analysis, Rahmi M. Bolat

Earth Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Recent studies suggest that high pore pressures have caused seafloor creep-like deformation and slope failure in the Marmara Sea (e.g. Shillington et al., 2012). Stratigraphic analysis provides evidence for creep-like deformation in Marmara Sea sediments, however, no detailed quantitative geophysical analysis has been conducted to determine whether elevated fluid pressures exist in the Marmara Sea sediments today, or if these sediments are potentially near-critically stressed. If fluid pressures are high and the sediments are close to failure, only minor ground accelerations from earthquakes along the active Northern Anatolian Fault might trigger failure. For this study, I use high resolution multichannel …

Structural Analysis Of A Triangle Zone Culmination, Comb Rock, Lewis And Clark County, Montana, Shane S. Fussell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A triangle zone is a structure commonly found at the leading edge of a thrust belt, characterized by a triangular cross-section of thrust faults. In the Montana triangle zone, west-dipping thrust faults intersect east-dipping ones above a regional detachment fault. Most studies of triangle zones focus on the structure in a cross-sectional sense, but little work addresses variations along the trend. The Canadian Rocky Mountain triangle zone has long been a productive petroleum province, so understanding the southern extent of this zone, where it enters Montana, is of interest for economic purposes as well as geologic understanding. Previous studies have …

Potential Field Modeling Across The Neodymium Line Defining The Paleoproterozoic-Mesoproterozoic Boundary Of The Southeastern Margin Of Laurentia, Rachel Lauren Durham

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

A zone of high magnetization along the SE margin of Paleoproterozoic Laurentia in the United States is indicated by magnetic anomaly data. The SE edge corresponds to the geochemical Neodymium mantle derivation model age (T_DM) boundary and the entire anomaly overlies the Paleoproterozoic Mazatzal Province. Two-dimensional gravity and magnetic models across the Nd boundary are created with Moho constrained from receiver functions with gravity, sedimentary thickness and the base of the crustal magnetization. Upper crustal magnetization does not show strong variation across this boundary and much of the strong magnetization appears to lie in the middle crust. Using …

Pressure Dependence Of Polycrystalline Magnesite And Dolomite, Cole Blasko

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Intermediate depth (170-400 km) deep focus earthquakes are observed in subducting slabs, but unlike shallow (50-170 km) and deep (400-660 km) deep focus earthquakes, the mechanism(s) responsible for them are not clear. Two common alteration products observed in peridotites, magnesite and dolomite, are stable along the pressure-temperature path of a subducting slab. Low pressure experiments indicate that these minerals are weaker than olivine, but there are no data about the pressure dependence of the strength of magnesite or dolomite. Magnesite and dolomite cylinders (1mm by 1mm) were deformed in stacked series to 25-30% strain using the deformation-DIA (DDIA) at Argonne …

Mechanisms Of Shear Zone Localization And Raman Thermobarometry In Spinel Peridotites From The Alpine Fault, New Zealand, Emily J. Lubicich

Dissertations and Theses

A suite of xenoliths from two localities on South Island, New Zealand, exhibit rare microstructures and provide information on deformation during the early stages of development of the Alpine Fault. The first set of samples has evidence of dislocation creep with subgrains, recrystallized grains, undulose extinction and a lattice preferred orientation. These samples also show evidence of post deformation static grain growth with polygonal grains, 120° triple junctions, and euhedral grains within larger grains of the same phase. Samples from the second locality also show evidence of dislocation creep but with minimal static grain growth. This set also has a …

Surface Offset And Slip Rates For The Winter Rim Fault System In The Summer Lake Basin, Oregon, Jennifer Hall

All Master's Theses

The 66-km-long Winter Rim Fault (WRF) system, located in the northwestern Basin and Range Province, encompasses several Holocene fault scarps within the Summer Lake basin that include the WRF system, a normal fault divided into three segments: Slide Mountain (SMF), Winter Ridge, and Ana River (ARF), and the newly-mapped Thousand Springs fault (TSF). The current least-compressive stress field is oriented ~264° (Crider, 2001). The USGS estimates a slip rate of 0.43 mm/yr, earthquake magnitudes of 6.5-7.19, and recurrence interval of 3.1 ka (Crone et al., 2009). However, these estimates are only based upon ARF and the unfavorably slip-oriented SMF. With …

Archived Rock Samples From Jane Selverstone's Research Collection, Jane Selverstone

Earth and Planetary Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

This Excel spreadsheet lists all of the rock samples from Jane Selverstone's research collection that have been archived into the Earth and Planetary Sciences Collections at the University of New Mexico. All samples are listed by original (published) sample number and by an affiliated International GeoSample Number. Samples are grouped by research project, and doi information is given for all publications resulting from work on each project. Rock samples include various combinations of hand specimens, powders, thin sections, and billets from which thin sections were prepared. Information is included to identify the drawers within which each sample can be found …

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 …

Record Of Massive Upwellings From The Pacific Large Low Shear Velocity Province, Pilar Madrigal, Esteban Gazel, Kennet E. Flores, Michael Bizimis, Brian Jicha

Publications and Research

Global tomography and numerical models suggest that mantle plume occurrences are closely linked to the margins of large low-shear velocity provinces (LLSVPs)1–4. In these marginal zones the ascent of material from the core-mantle boundary connects deep mantle dynamics with surface processes through mantle plume activity, forming large igneous provinces (LIPs) and some of the modern hotspot volcanoes5,6. Petrological7 and geodynamic8 evidence suggest a link between the formation of oceanic plateaus and the interactions of mantle plumes and mid-ocean ridges (MORs). Even though the causality relationship between both processes is still unclear (either rifting is initiated by plume impact or it …

Future Changes In Mean And Extreme Monsoon Precipitation In The Middle And Lower Yangtze River Basin, China, In The Cmip5 Models, Yanjuan Wu, Shuang-Ye Wu, Jiahong Wen, Felipe Tagle, Ming Xu, Jianguo Tan

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

In this study, the potential future changes of mean and extreme precipitation in the middle and lower Yangtze River basin (MLYRB), eastern China, are assessed using the models of phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). Historical model simulations are first compared with observations in order to evaluate model performance. In general, the models simulate the precipitation mean and frequency better than the precipitation intensity and extremes, but still have difficulty capturing precipitation patterns over complex terrains. They tend to overestimate precipitation mean, frequency, and intensity while underestimating the extremes. After correcting for model biases, the spatial variation …

Plate Boundary Observatory And Related Networks: Gps Data Analysis Methods And Geodetic Products, Thomas A. Herring, Timothy I. Melbourne, Mark H. Murray, Michael A. Floyd, Walter M. Szeliga, Robert W. King, David A. Phillips, Christine M. Puskas, Marcelo Santillan, Lei Wang

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

The Geodesy Advancing Geosciences and EarthScope (GAGE) Facility Global Positioning System (GPS) Data Analysis Centers produce position time series, velocities, and other parameters for approximately 2000 continuously operating GPS receivers spanning a quadrant of Earth’s surface encompassing the high Arctic, North America, and Caribbean. The purpose of this review is to document the methodology for generating station positions and their evolution over time and to describe the requisite trade-offs involved with combination of results. GAGE GPS analysis involves formal merging within a Kalman filter of two independent, loosely constrained solutions: one is based on precise point positioning produced with the …

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 …

Possible Recent Warming Hiatus On The Northwestern Tibetan Plateau Derived From Ice Core Records, Wenling An, Shugui Hou, Wangbin Zhang, Shuang-Ye Wu, Hao Xu, Hongxi Pang, Yetang Wang, Yaping Liu

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Many studies have reported enhanced warming trend on the Tibetan Plateau (TP), even during the warming hiatus period. However, most of these studies are based on instrumental data largely collected from the eastern TP, whereas the temperature trend over the extensive northwestern TP remains uncertain due to few meteorological stations. Here we combined the stable isotopic δ¹⁸O record of an ice core recovered in 2012 from the Chongce glacier with the δ¹⁸O records of two other ice cores (i.e., Muztagata and Zangser Kangri) in the same region to establish a regional temperature series for the northwestern …

Geologic, Geochemical, And Geophysical Characterization Of The Gold Deposits Of The Horseshoe Bend Mining District, Idaho: Building A Four Dimensional Model For Ore Exploration, Joshua Ekhoff

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The Eocene aged Trans-Challis Fault System of central Idaho provides the tectonic and magmatic framework for a series of Au-Ag and Cu-Mo ore deposits. From its northernmost extension near Butte, Montana to its southwestern terminus in the Boise Basin of south-central Idaho the Trans-Challis Fault System is associated with some of the richest precious metal deposits found in Idaho. However, the southernmost tip of the Trans-Challis Fault System, composed of the Horseshoe Bend and Pearl mining districts, remains understudied, receiving little economic or academic attention. As a result, how the Pearl to Horseshoe Bend mining districts fit within the established …