Geology Commons^™

Evidence Of Limited Recruitment Of Pallid Sturgeon In The Lower Missouri River, Kirk D. Steffensen, Kimberly Chojnacki, Jeffrey A. Kalie, Meredith L. Bartron, Edward J. Heist, Kyle R. Winders, Nathan C. Loecker, Wyatt J. Doyle, Timothy L. Welker

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Pallid Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus are endemic to the Missouri and Mississippi river basins and are rare throughout their range. The species was listed as federally endangered with little to no evidence of natural recruitment. Since population augmentation was initiated as a recovery objective in the early 1990s, thousands of hatchery-origin Pallid Sturgeon have been stocked in the lower Missouri River (Gavins Point Dam [river kilometer 1,305.1] to the confluence of the Mississippi River [river kilometer 0.0]). Efforts to discriminate natural reproduction and recruitment of wild-origin Pallid Sturgeon from hatchery-origin fish has been hampered by tag loss in hatchery-origin sturgeon, inconsistent …

Paleoseismology Of The Central Garlock Fault In Searles Valley, California, Kyle Pena

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In this study, a paleoseismic trench with limited age constraints that was previously excavated in 1990 across the central Garlock Fault near Christmas Canyon, in Searles Valley, California, was reopened to take advantage of new advances in luminescence dating techniques to investigate potential temporal variability in earthquake recurrence on the Garlock fault and to analyze previously unexposed older earthquake evidence. The trench exposed interbedded alluvial sand and pebble-gravels, with well-sorted, rounded, lacustrine sand from the most recent highstand of pluvial Lake Searles present at the base of the trench. Preliminary findings suggest at least 10 surface rupturing earthquake events occurred …

A Granger Causality Analysis Of Groundwater Patterns Over A Half-Century, Nitin K. Singh, David M. Borrok

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Groundwater depletion in many areas of the world has been broadly attributed to irrigation. However, more formal, data-driven, causal mechanisms of long-term groundwater patterns have not been assessed. Here, we conducted the first Granger causality analysis to identify the "causes" of groundwater patterns using the rice-producing parishes of Louisiana, USA, as an example. Trend analysis showed a decline of up to 6 m in groundwater level over 51 years. We found that no single cause explained groundwater patterns for all parishes. Causal linkages were noted between groundwater and area harvested, number of irrigation wells, summer precipitation totals, and drought. Bi-directional …

Manus Descriptions Of An Undescribed Mastodon From The Latest Miocene-Earliest Pliocene Gray Fossil Site, With Comparisons To Other North American Proboscidean Taxa, Brenna Hart-Farrar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A detailed morphological description of a proboscidean manus from the Gray Fossil Site (GFS), Gray, Tennessee is provided. Manus elements from an American mastodon (Mammut americanum), a Britt’s shovel-tusker (Amebelodon britti), an undescribed small gomphothere species, and a Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) are used for comparisons. Linear measurements indicate proportional differences between the GFS mastodon and other proboscidean taxa ranging from the Hemphillian to Rancholabrean land mammal ages. Possible pathologies are also described. The purpose of this study is to determine how the GFS mastodon differs in manus morphology and locomotion from different proboscidean …

Evolution Of The Book Cliffs Dryland Escarpment In Central Utah - Establishing Rates And Testing Models Of Escarpment Retreat, Nicholas R. Mccarroll

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Since the earliest explorations of the Colorado Plateau, geologists have suspected that cliffs are retreating back laterally. Clarence Dutton envisioned “the beds thus dissolving edge wise until after the lapse of millions of centuries their terminal cliffs stand a hundred miles or more back from their original position” when he wrote about the landscape in 1882. While many geologic studies have determined how fast rivers cut down through the Plateau, only a few studies have calculated how quickly cliffs retreat laterally, and geologists have been arguing since the 1940’s what exactly drives cliffs to retreat in the first place. We …

Fracture Analysis Of The Lower Oceanic Crust, Atlantis Bank, Southwest Indian Ridge, Trent Jackson

Master's Theses

Atlantis Bank (AB) is an oceanic core complex (OCC), formed at the slow-spreading (spreading rate/yr) Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR)-Atlantis II transform junction. AB is a domal massif composed of lower crustal and upper mantle rocks exhumed along a normal-sense detachment shear zone/fault. OCCs are of high interest since oceanic crust comprises the majority of Earth’s crust and OCCs form up to 15% of the crust that is formed at slow-spreading ridges. Brittle deformation, such as faults and fractures provide pathways for fluids to interact with the crust, which increases heat and mass exchange between the crust and hydrosphere, and is …

Characterizing Hydrothermal System Groundwater Dynamics Using Conservative And Non-Conservative Tracers: Insights And Implications Drawn From Study At The Taupo Volcanic Zone (New Zealand) And Valles Caldera (Usa), Joshua Michael Blackstock

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hydrothermal systems constitute an important component of heat and mass transport within Earth’s crust having direct and indirect impacts to society. Investigating contemporary hydrochemical differences and change are critical to evaluating and deconvolving factors that influence geothermal systems through time. In this dissertation, groundwater mixing approaches were used to study hydrochemical differences in two globally significant hydrothermal areas, which included fabrication of a low-cost dissolved CO2 monitoring for dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). In the Taupo Volcanic Zone (New Zealand), empirical spatial relations were used to derive low-temperature groundwater end-members of Cl and Cl/Br for end-member mixing analysis (EMMA). Using EMMA, …

An Investigation Of Metal Sulfides As The Source Of The Low Emissivity Anomaly On The Highlands Of Venus, Sara Taeko Port

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since its detection in the 1960s the source of the unusual radar emissivity signal seen on several highlands on Venus has long eluded researchers. Researchers have determined that a mineral with a high dielectric constant could explain the signal. Using a Venus simulation chamber, we experimentally investigated this enigma to build upon the candidate mineral list that has been compiled over the last several decades. We tested the stability of 8 different minerals and elements at two to three different temperature/pressure regimes in three different gas mixtures meant to simulate the conditions found on Venus for a period of no …

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 …

Evidence Of Variable Climate And Resources During The Late Pleistocene And Holocene At Gona, Ethiopia, Marie White

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

The African Humid Period (AHP) spanned a period of approximately 15 to 5 thousand years ago (ka) and resulted in Northern and Eastern Africa being wetter than today. This climate change event impacted flora, fauna, and humans to an unknown extent. Much of the work on the AHP across Eastern Africa utilizes lacustrine and marine proxies rather than river-based (fluvial). Gona, located in the Afar region of Ethiopia, is known for its extensive archaeological and fossil records in fluvial deposits. However, the paleoenvironment of the AHP at Gona has not been investigated. This study uses stratigraphy, geochronology, and paleopedology to …

Crustal Density Variation Of The Eastern U.S., Henglei Zhang, Dhananjay Ravat, Anthony R. Lowry

Earth and Environmental Sciences Research Data

EarthScope’s USArray Transportable Array (TA) has shortcomings for the purpose of interpreting geologic features of wavelengths less than the 70 km TA station spacing, but these can be overcome by using higher spatial resolution gravity data. In this study, we exploit USArray receiver functions to reduce non-uniqueness in the interpretation of gravity anomalies. We model gravity anomalies from previously-derived density variations of sedimentary basins, crustal Vp/Vs variation, Moho variation, and upper mantle density variation derived from body-wave imaging informed by surface wave tomography to estimate Vp/Vs. Although average densities and density contrasts for these seismic variations can be derived, …

Sampling Methods For Luminescence Dating Of Subsurface Deposits From Cores, Michelle Nelson, Tammy M. Rittenour, Harriet Cornachione

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Study of subsurface deposits often requires coring or drilling to obtain samples for sedimentologic and geochemical analysis. Geochronology is a critical piece of information for stratigraphic correlation and rate calculations. Increasingly, luminescence dating is applied to sediment cores to obtain depositional ages. This paper provides examples and discussion of guidelines for sampling sediment core for luminescence dating. Preferred protocols are dependent on the extraction method, sedimentology, core integrity, and storage conditions. The methods discussed include subsampling of sediment in opaque core-liners, cores without liners, previously open (split) cores, bucket auger samples, and cuttings, under red lighting conditions. Two important factors …

Postmagmatic Tectonic Evolution Of The Outer Izu‐Bonin Forearc Revealed By Sediment Basin Structure And Vein Microstructure Analysis: Implications For A 15 Ma Hiatus Between Pacific Plate Subduction Initiation And Forearc Extension, Walter Kurz, Peter Micheuz, Gail L. Christeson, M. Reagan, John W. Shervais, Steffen Kutterolf, A. Robertson, Kurt Krenn, K. Michibayashi, D. Quandt

Geosciences Faculty Publications

International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 352 recovered sedimentary‐volcaniclastic successions and extensional structures (faults and extensional veins) that allow the reconstruction of the Izu‐Bonin forearc tectonic evolution using a combination of shipboard core data, seismic reflection images, and calcite vein microstructure analysis. The oldest recorded biostratigraphic ages within fault‐bounded sedimentary basins (Late Eocene to Early Oligocene) imply a ~15 Ma hiatus between the formation of the igneous basement (52 to 50 Ma) and the onset of sedimentation. At the upslope sites (U1439 and U1442) extension led to the formation of asymmetric basins reflecting regional stretch of ~16–19% at strain rates of …

The Peculiar Nature Of Florida’S Sandhill Wetlands, Ponds & Lakes— Their Ecohydrology, Relationship With The Regional Aquifer & Importance Within The Landscape., Renae Starr Nowicki

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the ecohydrology of Florida’s peculiar and poorly studied sandhill wetland and water features, particularly those located in west-central Florida. The primary research goals include: compilation and summarization of the available ecohydrologic information for features across Florida; comparison of water level and water geochemistry data between sandhill wetlands and waters and the regional aquifer to provide evidence of regional hydrologic control; and use of geophysical applications to examine the hydraulic connections between sandhill wetlands and waters and the regional aquifer.

From this research, a natural history of sandhill wetland and water ecohydrology is presented, highlighting: the differences between …

Mapping Crustal Shear Wave Velocity Structure And Radial Anisotropy Beneath West Antarctica Using Seismic Ambient Noise, J. P. O'Donnell, Audrey D. Huerta, J. Paul Winberry

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Using 8- to 25-s-period Rayleigh and Love wave phase velocity dispersion data extracted from seismic ambient noise, we (i) model the 3-D shear wave velocity structure of the West Antarctic crust and (ii) map variations in crustal radial anisotropy. Enhanced regional resolution is offered by the UK Antarctic Seismic Network. In the West Antarctic Rift System (WARS), a ridge of crust ∼26–30km thick extending south from Marie Byrd Land separates domains of more extended crust (∼22km thick) in the Ross and Amundsen Sea Embayments, suggesting along-strike variability in the Cenozoic evolution of the WARS. The southern margin of the WARS …

Seismic Evidence For Significant Melt Beneath The Long Valley Caldera, California, Usa, Ashton F. Flinders, David R. Shelly, Philip B. Dawson, David P. Hill, Barbara Tripoli, Yang Shen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A little more than 760 ka ago, a supervolcano on the eastern edge of California (United States) underwent one of North America’s largest Quaternary explosive eruptions. Over this ~6-day-long eruption, pyroclastic flows blanketed the surrounding ~50 km with more than 1400 km3 of the now-iconic Bishop Tuff, with ashfall reaching as far east as Nebraska. Collapse of the volcano’s magma reservoir created the restless Long Valley Caldera. Although no rhyolitic eruptions have occurred in 100 k.y., beginning in 1978, ongoing uplift suggests new magma may have intruded into the reservoir. Alternatively, the reservoir could be approaching final crystallization, with present-day …

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 …

Sandy Dredge Pit Sedimentation – Characteristics And Processes In Caminada Borrow Area, Ship Shoal, Louisiana Shelf, Usa, Zehao Xue

LSU Master's Theses

Mississippi River Deltaic Plain’s barrier islands are undergoing rapid disintegration due to high rates of subsidence and a deficit in coastal sediment supply. To mitigate for barrier island land loss, Louisiana has implemented a restoration program that supplements coastal sediment deficits by introducing sand from outside of the active coastal system. Ship Shoal is an inner-shelf submarine shoal with large amounts of restoration quality sand that was dredged in 2013-2016 for the Caminada Headland Restoration Project in central Louisiana, USA.

Vibracore samples (1.5 - 3.5 m deep) collected in 2017 and 2018 in Caminada Borrow Area revealed new silts and …

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 …

Effects Of Reservoir Conditions And Trace Co-Contaminant Gases On Geological Carbon Sequestration, Ram Kumar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Geological carbon sequestration in a saline formation is a promising technology for large-scale carbon dioxide (CO2) mitigation. Several factors such as temperature, pressure, salinity, hydraulic conductivity, and mineralogy of a formation affect the CO2 sequestration in saline formations. These factors can vary widely depending upon the type of formation or the degree of heterogeneity within a formation. In addition to these properties of the repositories, the CO2-rich flue gas streams captured from point sources often contains small amounts of impurities such as sulfur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), which may have serious implications on the chemistry of the repositories …