Geology Commons^™

A Methodology For The Creation Of Volcanic Gas Hazard Maps Using Satellite-Derived Sulfur Dioxide, Sanna J. Mairet

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Sulfur dioxide (SO₂) gas has been shown to be detrimental to human and environmental health and is emitted continuously from anthropogenic and volcanic sources. Sulfur dioxide is the main target gas used for the detection of hazardous volcanic plumes due to its ease of detection by satellite sensors. However, quantitative information on potential ground-level exposure to volcanic SO₂ (i.e., a volcanic gas ‘hazard map’) is currently unavailable for the vast majority of active volcanoes. Utilizing sulfur dioxide vertical column densities retrieved from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA’s Aura satellite, Gridded Population of the World v.4, planetary …

Origin And Distribution Of Diffuse Soil Co2 Gas Emissions Across Turrialba And Irazú Volcanoes, Costa Rica, Katie Nelson

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

We characterized large-scale volatile emissions across the summit and flanks of the actively degassing Turrialba volcano, Costa Rica, using soil gas flux measurements and ¹³C isotopes. The objectives of this study were the following: 1) to monitor changes in the magmatic activity and identify source contributions over Turrialba using measurements of CO₂ soil gas emissions since the volcano last erupted in 2014-2015, and 2) to identify the location and extent of magma at depth, and the structures that allow gas transport to the surface. Degassing at the summit is concentrated along one normal fault lineament, the trace of …

2021 Nebraska Water Leaders Academy Final Report, Mark E. Burbach, Robert Matthew Joeckel, Brooke Mott, Gina S. Matkin

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Seventeen participants completed the 2021 Water Leaders Academy bringing the total number of graduates to 153 since the inception of the program in 2011. Assessments of participants’ transformational leadership skills, champion of innovation skills, water knowledge, engagement with water issues, civic capacity, entrepreneurial leadership behaviors, and boundary spanner abilities showed significant increases over the course of the year, according to both the participants and their raters. Feedback from the participants was highly positive and constructive. Academy planners are addressing participant concerns. Only minor changes are planned for the 2022 Academy curriculum. Results of the program assessment indicate that the curriculum …

Annual Report 2020 Conservation And Survey Division, Robert Matthew Joeckel

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The Conservation and Survey Division (Nebraska Geological Survey), the natural resource survey component of the School of Natural Resources, is a unique, multi-disciplinary research, service and data-collection organization established by state statute in 1921.

The Division's mission is to investigate and record information about Nebraska's geologic history, its rock and mineral resources, the quantity and quality of its water resources, land cover and other aspects of its geography, as well as the nature, distribution and uses of its soils.

Terrestrial Ecological Risk Analysis Via Dietary Exposure At Uranium Mine Sites In The Grand Canyon Watershed (Arizona, Usa), Jo Ellen Hinck, Danielle Cleveland, Bradley E. Sample

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The U.S. Department of the Interior recently included uranium (U) on a list of mineral commodities that are considered critical to economic and national security. The uses of U for commercial and residential energy production, defense applications, medical device technologies, and energy generation for space vehicles and satellites are known, but the environmental impacts of uranium extraction are not always well quantified. We conducted a screening-level ecological risk analysis based on exposure to miningrelated elements via diets and incidental soil ingestion for terrestrial biota to provide context to chemical characterization and exposures at breccia pipe U mines in northern Arizona. …

Metabarcoding Assays For The Detection Of Freshwater Mussels (Unionida) With Environmental Dna, Katy E. Klymus, Catherine A. Richter, Nathan Thompson, Jo Ellen Hinck, Jess W. Jones

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Freshwater mussels of the order Unionida are a widely distributed taxon that are important in maintaining freshwater ecosystems and are also highly imperiled throughout the world. Monitoring of mussel populations with environmental DNA (eDNA) is an attractive alternative to traditional methods because it is noninvasive and requires less labor and taxonomic knowledge from field personnel. We developed eDNA metabarcoding assays specific to freshwater mussels and tested them at six sites in the Clinch River, located in the southeastern United States. Our objective was to determine the utility of eDNA metabarcoding for future monitoring of mussel populations and restoration efforts in …

The Marine Terraces Of Santa Cruz Island, California: Implications For Glacial Isostatic Adjustment Models Of Last-Interglacial Sea-Level History, Daniel R. Muhs, R. Randall Schumann, Lindsey T. Groves, Kathleen R. Simmons, Christopher R. Florian

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models hypothesize that along coastal California, last interglacial (LIG, broadly from ~130 to ~115 ka) sea level could have been as high as +11 m to +13 m, relative to present, substantially higher than the commonly estimated elevation of +6 m. Areas with low uplift rates can test whether such models are valid. Marine terraces on Santa Cruz Island have previously been reported to occur at low (<10 m) elevations, but ages of many such localities are not known. Using lidar imagery as a base, marine terraces on Santa Cruz Island were newly mapped, elevations were measured, fossils were collected for U-series dating (corals), strontium isotope compositions and amino acid geochronology (mollusks), and paleozoogeography (all taxa). Sr isotope compositions of mollusks from the highest of three marine terraces give ages of ~2.5 Ma to 1.9 Ma, along with Pliocene ages, fromshells interpreted to be reworked. U-series ages of corals fromthewestern part of the island indicate that low-elevation terraces north of the Santa Cruz Island fault correlate to the LIG. Where corals are lacking, amino acid ratios and faunal aspects support terrace correlation to the LIG high stand of sea. Elevations of most terrace localities north of the east-west trending Santa Cruz Island fault, in both thewestern and eastern parts of the island, range from5.75mto 8mabove sea level, well belowthe modeled paleo-sealevel range. Subsidence is ruled out as a mechanism for explaining the lower-than-modeled elevations, because higher-elevation terraces are present alongmuch of the Santa Cruz Island coast north of the fault, indicating longterm tectonic uplift. The low elevations of the LIG terrace fragments are, however, consistent with a low rate of uplift derived from the higher, ~2.5–1.9 Ma terrace. A number of other localities on the Pacific Coast, also dated to the LIG, have marine terrace elevations below the modeled level. GIA models may have overestimated last interglacial sea level by a substantial amount and need to be revised if used for forecasts for future sea-level rise.

Workshop Outcomes Report: 1st International Workshop On Seismic Resilience Of Arctic Infrastructure And Social Systems, Majid Ghayoomi, Katharine Duderstadt, Alexander Kholodov, Alexander Shiklomanov, Matthew Turner, Elham Ajorlou

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Diatoms And Their Response To Tectonic Gateway Changes: Case Studies From Southern Hemisphere Sites, Jason James Coenen

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation covers three major transitions in Earth's climate system throughout theCenozoic (the past 65 million years of Earth's history). The progressive breakup of the super continent Pangea and the ultimate change in ocean circulation (and redistribution of heat) as a result of tectonic events dating back to the Mesozoic, primed Earth's climate system for cooling and ultimately bipolar glaciation. Climate transitions in three distinct environments were studied using absolute diatom abundance, diatom assemblages, and geochemical tracers of diatoms (i.e., biogenic silica weight%). Two geographic regions are the focus of this dissertation work. Region one is the Ross Embayment of …

Hydrocarbons In The Niobrara Formation, Powder River Basin, Northeast Wyoming, From Geophysical Well Logs, Jennifer Shilo James

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Powder River Basin, located in Wyoming, is a moderate producer of hydrocarbons with production hovering around 100 million barrels of oil per year. Recently the Niobrara Formation has garnered attention for hydrocarbon exploration and production using both conventional and unconventional drilling. A quick-look method for evaluating organic content, using either existing or real time data sets gathered from geophysical well logs, provides an opportunity to rapidly, accurately, and economically assess the formation’s organic content and thus hydrocarbon bearing potential. The popular Schmoker method determines organic content by relating gamma ray intensity to formation density. It has been successfully employed …

Alteration Reactions In A Hornblende-Biotite-Anthophyllite-Fluid System: Implications For Cu-Au Ore Deposits, James Mitchell Lightner

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

High-grade porphyry Cu-Au ore deposits are typically contained in the potassic alteration zone, which forms through the alteration of preexisting country rock by a magmatic volatile phase (MVP) exsolved from an igneous intrusion. The MVP is a H2O dominant phase that contains high concentrations of NaCl, KCl, FeCl2, HCl, sulfur (as H2S or SO2) and minor concentrations of metals. The minerals in the potassic alteration zone are predominantly K-feldspar and biotite with a shreddy texture. Shreddy biotite forms from the replacement of prismatic-tabular shaped hornblende crystals, resulting in a characteristic shreddy texture. The alteration of hornblende to biotite can neutralize …

Investigation Of A Possible Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary Layer In The Hell Creek Formation Near Ekalaka, Montana, U.S.A., Joshua Marvin Schwartz

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Hell Creek Formation is known for its abundant vertebrate fossils from the end of the Cretaceous. Its internal stratigraphy is poorly defined and it is therefore difficult to determine the precise stratigraphic location of a paleontological feature. This challenge could be overcome if a consistently appearing easily recognizable time horizon, such as the Chicxulub impact debris, or a well defined formational contact could be identified over a wide area of the Hell Creek Formation exposure, but these have been difficult to establish in some localities. The Carthage Institute of Paleontology (CIP) has collected Hell Creek specimens near Ekalaka, Montana …

Trondhjemite Leucosomes Generated By Partial Melting Of A Hornblende-Gabbro (Alvand Plutonic Complex, Hamedan, Nw Iran), Adel Saki, Federico Lucci, Mirmohammad Miri, John C. White

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This work describes the petrogenesis of in situ and in-source trondhjemite leucosomes generated by low-degree partial melting of the Jurassic Cheshmeh-Ghasaban hornblende-gabbros in the northern Alvand batholith (Hamedan, NW Iran). These leucosomes occur in a metatexite migmatite as patches, net-structures, veinlets, and dikes at scales ranging from a few millimetres to a few metres. They have high SiO2 (mean ≈ 78 wt%) and Na2O (4–5 wt%) with low Al2O3 (wt%), K2 O (

Analysis Of Vibracores From The New Hampshire Continental Shelf From 1984 And 1988, Larry G. Ward, Rachel C. Morrison, Zachary S. Mcavoy, Maxlimer Coromoto Vallee-Anziani

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

During this study, the twenty-three vibracores taken in 1984 and 1988 were reexamined, original descriptions verified and significantly expanded, and the cores sampled to provide complete grain size data (i.e. the original sediment grain size analyses were limited). The vibracores were grouped by location with respect to major physiographic features (geoforms) or surficial sediment type including Offshore Marine-Modified Glacial Features (Drumlins and Lodgement Till Deposits), Northern Sand Body, Isles of Shoals, Nearshore Marine-Modified Glacial Features (Eskers and Drumlins), Nearshore Sheet Sand, and Offshore Seafloor Plain.

The Northern Sand Body (NSB), located near the Isles of Shoals ~10 km from shore, …

New Hampshire And Vicinity Continental Shelf: Sand And Gravel Resources, Larry G. Ward, Zachary S. Mcavoy, Maxlimer Coromoto Vallee-Anziani

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

The continental shelf off New Hampshire (NH) has extensive marine-modified glacial deposits and associated shoals. These features are potential targets for sand and gravel resources for beach nourishment and other efforts to build coastal resiliency. The distribution of sand and gravel deposits was evaluated based on the synthesis of relatively recent high-resolution bathymetry, new surficial sediment and geoform maps, and an extensive data archive that includes over ~1280 km of seismic profiles, ~750 grain size analyses, and 23 vibracores. This work heavily utilizes the results of previous research on mineral resources on the NH shelf by Birch (1984) …

Surficial Geology Of The Continental Shelf Off New Hampshire: Morphologic Features And Surficial Sediment, Larry G. Ward, Zachary S. Mcavoy, Maxlimer Coromoto Vallee-Anziani, Rachel C. Morrison

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

The continental shelf off New Hampshire (NH) in the Western Gulf of Maine (WGOM) is extremely complex and includes extensive bedrock outcrops, marine-modified glacial deposits, marine-formed shoals, seafloor plains, and associated features that are composed of a range of sediment types from mud to gravel. Furthermore, the physiography and composition of the seafloor frequently changes dramatically over relatively short distances (tens of meters). The complexity of the WGOM seafloor results from the interplay of glaciations, sea-level fluctuations, and marine processes (waves and currents). High-resolution multibeam echosounder (MBES) bathymetry and backscatter surveys, along with ground truth consisting of archived seismic reflection …

Seasonal Changes In Sediment Grain Size Of New Hampshire Atlantic Beaches, Larry G. Ward, Nathan W. Corcoran, Zachary S. Mcavoy, Rachel C. Morrison

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

The beaches along the New Hampshire Atlantic coast are essential to the local and regional economy and are one of the major attractions of the seacoast. Beyond their economic importance, the beaches also have great aesthetic and ecological value that are vital to the character and history of New Hampshire. Unfortunately, climate change and an acceleration in sea-level rise, coupled with a major reduction in sediment supply and extensive development (including engineering structures along the coast), has led to loss of elevation and narrowing of many of the beaches. The forecast is that these trends will continue and likely become …

Erosion And Accretion Trends Of New Hampshire Beaches From December 2016 To March 2020: Results Of The Volunteer Beach Profile Monitoring Program, Larry G. Ward, Rachel C. Morrison, Alyson L. Eberhardt, Wellsley J. Costello, Zachary S. Mcavoy, Caitlin P. Mandeville

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

New Hampshire Atlantic beaches were monitored from December 2016 to March 2020 to determine seasonal changes in morphology and elevation, assess the response of the beaches to storms with respect to erosion and subsequent recovery, and develop a baseline to determine long-term trends in beach size, elevation, and position. A unique aspect of this study was the involvement of community volunteers working together with the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, UNH Cooperative Extension, New Hampshire Sea Grant, and the New Hampshire Geological Survey. The monitoring network consisted of thirteen stations located at six of …

Investigation Of Statistical Seismology In Thailand-Laos-Myanmar Borders, Manunchaya Neanudorn

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The purpose of this research is to understand more about the statistical seismology of the Thailand-Laos-Myanmar border in order to monitor earthquake activity and locate potentially dangerous area. The seismicity data was collected from the Thailand Meteorological Department. Following that, the catalog's homogeneity and completeness were improved. The first step is to identify the earthquake activity by using the adaptive frequency-magnitude distribution. The results are that Nan province, Thailand, and south Luang Prabang, Laos are the highest activity areas which can generate a maximum magnitude of 5.1 ML, 5.6 ML, 6.3 ML, and 6.7 ML in 5, 10, 30, 50 …

Analysis Of Ancient Storm Deposits Along Coastal Areas Of Andaman Sea, Thailand And Coastal Areas Of South China Sea, Vietnam, Stapana Kongsen

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The frequency of high energy storm and tsunami events is crucial for apprehending the vulnerability of coastal communities. Identifying and dating sedimentary evidence deposited by such high energy events can assist in the planning and installation of suitable protection measurements. The Andaman Sea coast of Thailand is particularly vulnerable to such events as illustrated by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004 IOT) and the South China Sea coast of Vietnam has been experienced from the past severe storm event. Here, the authors study the high energy sediments. The selected area of Andaman Sea coast Thailand is Laem Son National park, …