Mass-Transport Deposits In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico And Their Implications For Hydrocarbon Exploration,
2018
Western Kentucky University
Mass-Transport Deposits In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico And Their Implications For Hydrocarbon Exploration, Michael Raymond Arthur
Masters Theses & Specialist Projects
This study investigates Mio-Pliocene mass-transport deposits (MTDs) in an understudied, hydrocarbon-rich region of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. The research utilizes a high-quality 3D seismic dataset with an area of 635 km2, along with wireline logs and biostratigraphic data. With the help of quantitative seismic geomorphology techniques, detailed mapping of MTDs suggests a complex erosional and depositional history. Deposition of a MTD unit resulted in a 180 m topographic high that substantially influenced the distribution and morphology of subsequent MTDs, specifically the bifurcation of later mass-transport flows. This bifurcation contributed to the generation of a non-shielded erosional remnant with an …
Unroofing History Of The Northwestern Ethiopian Plateau: Insights From Low-Temperature Apatite Thermochronology,
2018
Western Kentucky University
Unroofing History Of The Northwestern Ethiopian Plateau: Insights From Low-Temperature Apatite Thermochronology, Shelby Bowden
Masters Theses & Specialist Projects
The geology of Ethiopia is dominated by the Ethiopian Plateau that is similar in elevation to, but aerially larger than, the Colorado Plateau. Several rivers have incised through the plateau, creating gorges that reach up to 1.5 km in depth. The plateau uplifted to its current elevation and was subsequently incised sometime after the Oligocene flood basalt event that signaled the arrival of the African Superplume below Kenya and Ethiopia. Due to its size and extent, published climate modeling has indicated that Late Cenozoic plateau formation could have been a driving force in the East African Cenozoic climate changes. Although …
Indirect Greenhouse Gas Dynamics In Karst Groundwater Systems Under Agricultural Land Use,
2018
Western Kentucky University
Indirect Greenhouse Gas Dynamics In Karst Groundwater Systems Under Agricultural Land Use, Stacy Wayne Antle
Masters Theses & Specialist Projects
Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are a major global environmental concern, because their concentrations have continuously increased over the past few centuries, due to global population growth, fossil fuel dependency, and the Industrial Revolution. Since these gases are naturally occurring phenomena, they will never be completely eliminated. Efforts to reduce them span numerous scientific attempts, with minimal improvements in reducing their atmospheric concentrations. In agricultural land practices, greenhouse gases are common byproducts that affect the atmosphere and, potentially, the groundwater where livestock and fertilizers are key contributors. Little is known about the fate of such greenhouse gases in dissolved form, known as …
Controls On Speleogenesis In The Upper-Mississippian Pennington Formation On The Western Cumberland Plateau Escarpment,
2018
Western Kentucky University
Controls On Speleogenesis In The Upper-Mississippian Pennington Formation On The Western Cumberland Plateau Escarpment, Hali Steinmann
Masters Theses & Specialist Projects
Much of the pioneering work on caves of the Cumberland Plateau (province spanning Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Georgia) has been stratigraphically located within the Mississippian Bangor and Monteagle Limestones, wherein some of the region’s largest and most spectacular caves occur. Of interest to the understanding of this karst landscape, but severely underrepresented in the literature thereof, are caves and karst features in a heterogeneous sequence of clastics and carbonates known collectively as the Pennington Formation (Upper Mississippian). This work consisted of a regional study of Pennington caves on the western Cumberland Plateau escarpment (Alabama and Tennessee), and a case study …
Land-Use Impacts On The Hydrology Of The Hidden River Groundwater Subbasin, Horse Cave, Hart County, Kentucky,
2018
Western Kentucky University
Land-Use Impacts On The Hydrology Of The Hidden River Groundwater Subbasin, Horse Cave, Hart County, Kentucky, Cesalea N. Osborne
Masters Theses & Specialist Projects
No abstract provided.
New Insights Into Carboniferous Cyclothems. The Fourth Biennial Field Conference Of The American Association Of Petroleum Geologists (Aapg) Midcontinent Section Fourth Biennial Field Conference Abstracts And Guidebook,
2018
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
New Insights Into Carboniferous Cyclothems. The Fourth Biennial Field Conference Of The American Association Of Petroleum Geologists (Aapg) Midcontinent Section Fourth Biennial Field Conference Abstracts And Guidebook, Robert Matthew Joeckel, Christopher R. Fielding
Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications
The term “cyclothem” was coined by Wanless & Weller (1932) to describe repetitive stratigraphic successions of Carboniferous age in Illinois. Nonetheless, comparable rhythmicity had been identified in Carboniferous rocks both in the central and eastern USA, and in Europe during the preceding century. Cyclothems were found to comprise repetitive vertical successions of sandstones, heterolithic (thinly interbedded) sandstones and mudrocks, mudrocks, limestones, and coals, in many cases with pedogenic overprinting of these lithologies. As usage of the term “cyclothem” increased, so did the diversity of successions to which the term was applied, to the point where many geologists advocated abandonment of …
Small Shelly Fossil Preservation And The Role Of Early Diagenetic Redox In The Early Triassic,
2018
Smith College
Small Shelly Fossil Preservation And The Role Of Early Diagenetic Redox In The Early Triassic, Sara B. Pruss, Nicholas J. Tosca, Courcelle Stark
Geosciences: Faculty Publications
Minute fossils from a variety of different metazoan clades, collectively referred to as small shelly fossils, represent a distinctive taphonomic mode that is most commonly reported from the Cambrian Period. Lower Triassic successions of the western United States, deposited in the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction, provide an example of small shelly style preservation that significantly post-dates Cambrian occurrences. Glauconitized and phosphatized echinoderms and gastropods are preserved in the insoluble residues of carbonates from the Virgin Limestone Member of the Moenkopi Formation. Echinoderm plates, spines and other skeletal elements are preserved as stereomic molds; gastropods are preserved as steinkerns. …
Explosive Dust Test Vessel Comparison Using Pulverized Pittsburgh Coal,
2018
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Explosive Dust Test Vessel Comparison Using Pulverized Pittsburgh Coal, Jacob Miller, Jay Schafler, Phillip R. Mulligan, Robert Eades, Kyle A. Perry, Catherine E. Johnson
Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works
Explosions of coal dust are a major safety concern within the coal mining industry. The explosion and subsequent fires caused by coal dust can result in significant property damage, loss of life in underground coal mines and damage to coal processing facilities. The United States Bureau of Mines conducted research on coal dust explosions until 1996 when it was dissolved. In the following years, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) developed a test standard, ASTM E1226, to provide a standard test method characterizing the “explosibility” of particulate solids of combustible materials suspended in air. The research presented herein …
Late Holocene Spit Evolution On Centennial Timescales In The Southeast Delaware Bay, Usa,
2018
Coastal Carolina University
Late Holocene Spit Evolution On Centennial Timescales In The Southeast Delaware Bay, Usa, Ryan Eli Phillip
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The relationship between barrier spit growth and longshore drift is well established. However, the role of storm activity in spit evolution on an intermediate (centennial) timescale is more of a mystery due to a knowledge gap between decadal-scale shoreline processes and millennial-scale stratigraphic data. Recent studies in the northwestern Atlantic basin using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and optically-stimulated luminescence (OSL) are providing the opportunity to study centennial-scale shoreline evolution and examine similar age storm activity. Cape Henlopen, Delaware exhibits preserved remnants of a long-term northward-growing spit coastline that evolved from a recurved spit complex, to a cuspate spit, to the present-day …
Further Evidence For The Invasion And Establishment Of Pterois Volitans (Teleostei: Scorpaenidae) Along The Atlantic Coast Of The United States,
2018
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Marine Resources Research Institute,
Further Evidence For The Invasion And Establishment Of Pterois Volitans (Teleostei: Scorpaenidae) Along The Atlantic Coast Of The United States, H. Scott Meister, David M. Wyanski, Joshua K. Loefer, Steve W. Ross, Andrea M. Quattrini, Kenneth J. Sulak
United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications
We document the continues population expansion of red lionfish, Pterois volitans, the first documented successful introduction of an invasive marine fish species from the western Pacific to Atlantic coastal water of the United States. Red lionfish are indigenous to the Indo-Pacific and have apparently established one or more breeding population on reefs off the southeastern United States. Fifty-nine specimens, most presumably adult red lionfish, were documented or collected on live-bottom reefs North Carolina, South Caroline, and Florida, and on a manmade structure off Georgia. Observation/collection depths and bottom water temperatures for these fish ranged from 4-99 m and 13.8-24.4 …
The Three-Stage Petrochemical Evolution Of The Steens Basalt [Southeast Oregon, Usa] Compared To Large Igneous Provinces And Layered Mafic Intrusions,
2018
Oregon State University
The Three-Stage Petrochemical Evolution Of The Steens Basalt [Southeast Oregon, Usa] Compared To Large Igneous Provinces And Layered Mafic Intrusions, N. E. Moore, A. L. Grunder, Wendy A. Bohrson
All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences
The Steens Basalt, southeast Oregon, USA, initiated at 17 Ma as the earliest pulse of the Columbia River Flood Basalt of the northwestern USA. New and existing stratigraphically controlled data reveal temporal changes in lava flow character, and whole-rock and mineral compositions, which we use to evaluate how the balance of magma differentiation processes change in time. Temporal petrochemical variations in the Steens Basalt are analogous to the transition from Imnaha Basalt to Grande Ronde Basalt units of the Columbia River Flood Basalt and have parallels to the temporal evolution of the Deccan and Siberian traps, in India and Russia, …
Marine Threats Overlap Key Foraging Habitat For Two Imperiled Sea Turtle Species In The Gulf Of Mexico,
2018
Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey
Marine Threats Overlap Key Foraging Habitat For Two Imperiled Sea Turtle Species In The Gulf Of Mexico, Kristen M. Hart, Autumn R. Iverson, Ikuko Fujisaki, Margaret M. Lamont, David Bucklin, Donna J. Shaver
United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications
Effective management of human activities affecting listed species requires understanding both threats and animal habitat-use patterns. However, the extent of spatial overlap between high-use foraging areas (where multiple marine species congregate) and anthropogenic threats is not well-known. Our modeling approach incorporates data on sea turtle spatial ecology and a suite of threats in the Gulf of Mexico to identify and map “hot spots” of threats to two imperiled turtle species. Of all 820 “high” threats grid cells, our tracked turtles foraged at least 1 day in 77% of them. Although threat data were not available outside the U.S. Exclusive Economic …
The Crust And Upper Mantle Structure Of Central And West Antarctica From Bayesian Inversion Of Rayleigh Wave And Receiver Functions,
2018
Washington University in St. Louis
The Crust And Upper Mantle Structure Of Central And West Antarctica From Bayesian Inversion Of Rayleigh Wave And Receiver Functions, Weisen Shen, Audrey D. Huerta, J. Paul Winberry
All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences
We construct a new seismic model for central and West Antarctica by jointly inverting Rayleigh wave phase and group velocities along with P wave receiver functions. Ambient noise tomography exploiting data from more than 200 seismic stations deployed over the past 18 years is used to construct Rayleigh wave phase and group velocity dispersion maps. Comparison between the ambient noise phase velocity maps with those constructed using teleseismic earthquakes confirms the accuracy of both results. These maps, together with P receiver function waveforms, are used to construct a new 3-D shear velocity (Vs) model for the crust and uppermost mantle …
Estimating Dominant Runoff Modes Across The Conterminous
United States,
2018
Seattle University
Estimating Dominant Runoff Modes Across The Conterminous United States, Brian Buchanan, Daniel A. Auerbach, James Knighton, Darrick Evensen, Daniel R. Fuka, Zachary Easton, Michael Wieczorek, Josephine A. Archibald, Brandon Mcwilliams, Todd Walter
United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications
Effective natural resource planning depends on understanding the prevalence of runoff generating processes. Within a specific area of interest, this demands reproducible, straightforward information that can complement available local data and can orient and guide stakeholders with diverse training and backgrounds. To address this demand within the contiguous United States (CONUS), we characterized and mapped the predominance of two primary runoff generating processes: infiltration‐excess and saturation‐excess runoff (IE vs. SE, respectively). Specifically, we constructed a gap‐filled grid of surficial saturated hydraulic conductivity using the Soil Survey Geographic and State Soil Geographic soils databases. We then compared surficial saturated hydraulic conductivity …
The Sisal Database: A Global Resource To Document Oxygen And Carbon Isotope Records From Speleothems,
2018
Reading University
The Sisal Database: A Global Resource To Document Oxygen And Carbon Isotope Records From Speleothems, Kamolphat Atsawawaranunt, Laia Comas-Bru, Sahar Amirnezhad Mozhdehi, Michael Deininger, Sandy P. Harrison, Andy Baker, Meighan Boyd, Nikita Kaushal, Syed Masood Ahmad, Yassine Ait Brahim, Monica Arienzo, Petra Bajo, Kerstin Braun, Yuval Burstyn, Sakonvan Chawchai, Wuhui Duan, István Gábor Hatvani, Jun Hu, Zoltán Kern, Inga Labuhn, Matthew Lachniet, Franziska A. Lechleitner, Andrew Lorrey, Carlos Pérez-Mejías, Robyn Pickering, Nick Scroxton, Sisal Working Group Members
Geoscience Faculty Research
Stable isotope records from speleothems provide information on past climate changes, most particularly information that can be used to reconstruct past changes in precipitation and atmospheric circulation. These records are increasingly being used to provide out-of-sample evaluations of isotope-enabled climate models. SISAL (Speleothem Isotope Synthesis and Analysis) is an international working group of the Past Global Changes (PAGES) project. The working group aims to provide a comprehensive compilation of speleothem isotope records for climate reconstruction and model evaluation. The SISAL database contains data for individual speleothems, grouped by cave system. Stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon (δ18O, δ13C) measurements are …
Sulfur (34S/32S) Isotope Composition Of Gypsum And Implications For Deep Cave Formation On The Nullarbor Plain, Australia,
2018
Anton Melik Geographical Institute
Sulfur (34S/32S) Isotope Composition Of Gypsum And Implications For Deep Cave Formation On The Nullarbor Plain, Australia, Matej Lipar, Mateja Ferk, Sonja Lojen, Milo Barham
International Journal of Speleology
Large deep caves with little relation to surface topography are distinctive karst features on the Nullarbor Plain of Australia. The presence of gypsum deposits and chemoautotrophic bacteria within the caves have been suggested as evidence for cave formation and (or) enlargement via sulfuric acid speleogenesis. To test this hypothesis, the stable sulfur isotope compositions (δ34S) of both cave gypsum and surface gypsum were measured. Analyses yielded relatively high, positive δ34S values from both cave gypsum and surface gypsum, arguing against gypsum genesis via microbial chemoautotrophy, and more broadly, sulfuric acid speleogenesis. Instead, the gypsum is interpreted …
The 2015 Landslide And Tsunami In Taan Fiord, Alaska,
2018
Ground Truth Trekking, Seldovia, Alaska
The 2015 Landslide And Tsunami In Taan Fiord, Alaska, Bretwood Higman, Breanyn Macinnes, Colin Bloom
All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences
Glacial retreat in recent decades has exposed unstable slopes and allowed deep water to extend beneath some of those slopes. Slope failure at the terminus of Tyndall Glacier on 17 October 2015 sent 180 million tons of rock into Taan Fiord, Alaska. The resulting tsunami reached elevations as high as 193 m, one of the highest tsunami runups ever documented worldwide. Precursory deformation began decades before failure, and the event left a distinct sedimentary record, showing that geologic evidence can help understand past occurrences of similar events, and might provide forewarning. The event was detected within hours through automated seismological …
Gps Constraints On Deformation In Northern Central America From 1999 To 2017, Part 1 – Time-Dependent Modelling Of Large Regional Earthquakes And Their Post-Seismic Effects,
2018
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Gps Constraints On Deformation In Northern Central America From 1999 To 2017, Part 1 – Time-Dependent Modelling Of Large Regional Earthquakes And Their Post-Seismic Effects, A. Ellis, Charles Demets, P. Briole, Beatriz Cosenza, Omar Flores, Shannon E. Graham, Robert Mccaffrey, Multiple Additional Authors
Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations
We use continuous and campaign measurements from 215 GPS sites in northern Central America and southern Mexico to estimate coseismic and afterslip solutions for the 2009 Mw = 7.3 Swan Islands fault strike-slip earthquake and the 2012 Mw = 7.3 El Salvador and Mw = 7.4 Guatemala thrust-faulting earthquakes on the Middle America trench. Our simultaneous, time-dependent inversion of more than 350 000 daily GPS site positions gives the first jointly consistent estimates of the coseismic slips for all three earthquakes, their combined time-dependent post-seismic effects and secular station velocities corrected for both the coseismic and post-seismic …
On The Interaction Of The North Andes Plate With The Caribbean And South American Plates In Northwestern South America From Gps Geodesy And Seismic Data,
2018
Simón Bolivar University, Caracas
On The Interaction Of The North Andes Plate With The Caribbean And South American Plates In Northwestern South America From Gps Geodesy And Seismic Data, Omar J. Pérez, Steven G. Wesnousky, Roberto De La Rosa, Julio Márquez, Redescal Uzcátegui, Christian Quintero, Luis Liberal, Héctor Mora-Páez, Walter Szeliga
All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences
We examine the hypocentral distribution of seismicity and a series of geodetic velocity vectors obtained from Global Positioning System observations between 1994 and 2015 both offshore and mainland northwestern South America (66°W–77°W; 8°N–14°N). Our analysis, that includes a kinematic block modelling, shows that east of the Caribbean–South American–North Andes plates’ triple junction at ∼68°W; 10.7°N, right-lateral easterly oriented shear motion (∼19.6 ± 2.0 mm yr−1) between the Caribbean and South America plates is split along two easterly striking, right-lateral strike-slip subparallel fault zones: the San Sebastián fault that runs off-shore the Venezuelan coast and slips about 17.0±0.5mm …
Gps Constraints On Deformation In Northern Central America From 1999 To 2017, Part 1 – Time-Dependent Modelling Of Large Regional Earthquakes And Their Post-Seismic Effects,
2018
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Gps Constraints On Deformation In Northern Central America From 1999 To 2017, Part 1 – Time-Dependent Modelling Of Large Regional Earthquakes And Their Post-Seismic Effects, A. Ellis, Charles Demets, P. Briole, Beatriz Cosenza, Omar Flores, Shannon Graham, Marco Guzmán-Speziale, Douglas Hernandez, Vladimir Kostoglodov, Peter Lafemina, Neal Lord, Cécile Lasserre, Hélène Lyon-Caen, Manuel Rodriguez Maradiaga, Robert Mccaffrey, Enrique Molina, Jeffrey Rivera, Robert Rogers, Alejandra Staller
Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations
We use continuous and campaign measurements from 215 GPS sites in northern Central America and southern Mexico to estimate coseismic and afterslip solutions for the 2009 Mw = 7.3 Swan Islands fault strike-slip earthquake and the 2012 Mw = 7.3 El Salvador and Mw = 7.4 Guatemala thrust-faulting earthquakes on the Middle America trench. Our simultaneous, time-dependent inversion of more than 350 000 daily GPS site positions gives the first jointly consistent estimates of the coseismic slips for all three earthquakes, their combined time-dependent post-seismic effects and secular station velocities corrected for both the coseismic and post-seismic deformation. Our geodetic …
