Geology Commons^™

Post-Fire Debris Flow Initiation Potential Based On Forensic Analysis Of Debris Flow Occurrence From The 2020 El Dorado Wildfire On Yucaipa Ridge, San Bernardino County California, Seth Clemen D. Saludez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study focuses on the potential debris flow initiation and effect in areas affected by the El Dorado Fire in the Southern San Bernardino Mountains. It uses novel technology combining drone-based photography and LiDAR imaging to create surface models of areas where potential debris flows could initiate, flow, and be deposited. The scans were repeated as geomorphic change occurred through the wet season to document spatial and volumetric changes resulted from the flows. These measurements were combined with traditional fire assessment and observational methods to characterize pertinent conditions.

As we investigated potential debris flow risk in this study area, we …

The Petm: A Window Into Earth's Future Climate, Jacalyn M. Wittmer Malinowski

Climate Change and the Individual, 2025-26

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is not just an event that occurred in Earth’s distant past (~55 million years ago) but is a crucial lesson for today’s meteoric climate change. The PETM offers a historical parallel of rapid flux of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that caused global warming, ocean acidification, dramatic changes in weather, and extinctions. This global warming event was the result of 20,000 years of “rapid” warming (in geological terms) however, we are experiencing rates of warming that are 5-10x higher than PETM levels. We are not experiencing rapid warming today, in comparison to the past, we …

The Human Legacy: Agriculture, Civilizations, Strife, And Pandemics Changing Our Climate, Jacalyn M. Wittmer Malinowski

Climate Change and the Individual, 2025-26

For most of human history, climate has shaped our lives, while our influence on it remained minimal. However, the notion that early humans had no measurable impact on the climate before industrialization is inaccurate. Early in human history, activities – such as the rise of agriculture, the growth of civilizations, periods of conflict, and pandemics – altered greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. These changes contributed to significant periods of climate change long before the burning of fossil fuels set us on the path to today’s global climate crisis.

From Land To Lagoon: The Spatiotemporal Biogeochemical Dynamics Of Arctic Coastal Erosion In Elson Lagoon, Alaska, Sasha Victoria Peterson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

TThe Arctic is warming rapidly, driving widespread environmental change across coastal landscapes, including permafrost thaw, shoreline erosion, and shifts in sediment and carbon dynamics, pose growing challenges for predicting carbon cycling and climate feedbacks. This dissertation investigates the spatiotemporal variability of erosion, decomposition, and nearshore turbidity in Elson Lagoon, Alaska (1955–2023), to better understand how carbon, nitrogen, and sediment are mobilized, transformed, and potentially emitted as greenhouse gases in Arctic coastal systems. Chapter 2 presents a high-resolution analysis of shoreline change and erosion-driven material fluxes spanning nearly seven decades. Drawing on 795 soil data points, airborne LiDAR, and five shoreline …

Characterization Of Residual Mineral Content Of Bauxite Stockpiles In Saline County, Arkansas: An Xrd Analysis Approach, Andrew Kaze Sezibera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Saline Mining District of central Arkansas once led U.S. alumina production and hosts extensive bauxite and nepheline syenite deposits. With the depletion of highgrade ore, renewed interest in bauxite stockpiles has focused on critical mineral potential. Previous X-ray Fluorescence studies have identified critical elements in significant concentrations, including uranium (U), thorium (Th), gallium (Ga), molybdenum (Mo), and lanthanides (Ln). This study examines five stockpiles (SP1, Clay, SP2, SP3, and SP4) in Section 20 of the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) Saline County bauxite mine, using Xray Diffraction (XRD) on 25 samples to characterize mineral phases and compare them with …

Lidar-Based Delineation Of Karst Features In The Gypsum Plain, Eddy County, New Mexico And Culberson County, Texas, Kaitlyn Rae Levassar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Gypsum Plain of the Delaware Basin encompasses approximately 1,800 km² of massive to laminated gypsum (anhydrite in the subsurface) outcrop of early Ochoan Castile and Salado strata. These extensive Permian-age evaporites host significant karst phenomena as a result of the region's complex hydrogeologic system which has continuously evolved since the early Paleogene. Karst features that manifest surficially as sinkholes when breached range from extensive hypogene cave systems to epigene features and suffosion caves. In contrast, paleo-collapse structures forming breccia pipes attesting to more ancient karst within these strata often manifest as topographic highs across the Gypsum Plain.

Until …

Identifying Salt Suture Zones And Lithological Changes Of The Louann Salt In The Gulf Of Mexico Basin, La. U.S.A., Jamie Dale Singer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Louann Salt, a key evaporite unit in the Gulf of Mexico Basin, influences salt tectonics, hydrocarbon migration, and basin evolution. This study examines Louann Salt deposition and deformation within the Puma Diapir, focusing on mineralogical, geochemical, and structural features of suture zones in three offshore wells (Puma 2(w), Puma 3, and Panther). Using drill cuttings, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), well-log data, and 3D seismic interpretation, the study analyzed salt composition and suture formation. Results show the salt primarily consists of halite, with minor anhydrite, gypsum, and sylvite, indicating continuous precipitation. Geochemical …

Geochemical Analysis For Potential Critical Mineral Resources In Carbon Fly Ash, Korei D. Patterson Teer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The growing demand for critical minerals, coupled with the increasing supply chain vulnerabilities, has intensified the need for alternative domestic resources of critical minerals beyond traditional mining. Many of these critical minerals are essential for advanced technologies, energy storage, and national security, yet the United States remains heavily dependent on foreign imports, particularly from China. This study evaluates the economic potential of critical mineral recovery from Carbon Fly Ash (CFA), a byproduct of coal combustion, to determine its viability as a secondary source of critical minerals. A geochemical and mineralogical assessment was conducted on CFA samples from various storage sites …

A New Method Using Lidar And Well Logs To Identify And Correlate The Pennsylvanian Atoka Formation Subdivisions In The Surface Outcrops Of The Boston Mountains, Arkansas, Robert Brent Boyd

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The surface outcrops of the Boston Mountains in northwest Arkansas primarily consist of the Pennsylvanian Atoka formation. Where fully preserved in the Arkoma Basin to the south, the Atoka formation exceeds 18,000 ft of sand and shale. However, it remains undifferentiated on the surface geological map of Arkansas. This study investigates the possibility of identifying and correlating the subsurface subdivisions of the Atoka Formation to the surface outcrops of the Boston Mountains using a new method. Recognizing the Atoka subdivisions in surface outcrops using standard lithology and biostratigraphy correlation techniques has been challenging. The subdivision of the Atoka has instead …

Evidence For Distal Bolide Impact And Tsunami Deposits In The Upper Atlantic Coastal Plain Of Moore County (North Carolina, Usa) Generated By The Eocene Chesapeake Bay Bolide Impact, G. Robert Ganis, Ralph H. Willoughby, David J. Cicimurri, G. Richard Whittecar, Steven J. Hageman

OES Faculty Publications

Beds interpreted as Eocene bolide-generated impact and tsunami deposits occur at Paint Hill in the Upper Atlantic Coastal Plain of Moore County, North Carolina, USA. These strata, herein named the Mount Helicon Formation, consist of four distinct beds comprising about one meter of total section. Bed 1 (the basal bed) is approximately 43 cm thick and consists of sandy carbonaceous clay with carbon glass and rock fragments and contains 14-18 parts per billion (ppb) iridium (interpreted as bolide impact ejecta). Bed 2 is approximately 9 cm thick and consists of non-cohesive silt-size particles and loosely bound sand-size accretionary lapilli-like masses …

Unraveling The Causal Influences Of Drought And Crop Production On Groundwater Levels Across The Contiguous United States, Nitin K. Singh, Sheila M. Saia, Ruchi Bhattacharya, Hoori Ajami, David M. Borrok

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Groundwater depletion in agricultural-dominated regions is attributed to climate and irrigation withdrawals that support crop production. However, despite decades of effort, knowledge gaps remain in understanding the relative influence of drought and crop production on groundwater levels at the continental scale. Here, utilizing empirical observations, we simultaneously track how long-term trajectories of groundwater levels, crop production of seven crops, and drought have evolved over time, and then integrate these observations with a causality-based attribution framework to unravel the relative impact of drought and crop production on groundwater levels across the contiguous United States (CONUS). We find a dominant pattern of …

Comprehensive Global Data Set Of Uniformly Processed Shear-Wave Splitting Measurements, Jonathan Wolf, Thorsten W. Becker, Edward Garnero, Kelly H. Liu, John D. West

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Seismic anisotropy can inform us about convective flow in the mantle. Shear waves traveling through azimuthally anisotropic regions split into fast and slow pulses, and measuring the resulting shear-wave splitting provides some of the most direct insights into Earth's interior dynamics. Shear-wave splitting is a constraint for path-averaged azimuthal anisotropy and is often studied regionally. Global compilations of these measurements also exist. Such compilations include measurements obtained using different data processing methodologies (e.g., filtering), which do not necessarily yield identical results, and reproducing a number of studies can be challenging given that not all provide the required information, for example, …

Leveraging Machine Learning Models For Enhanced Landslide Prediction In Western North Carolina, Andrew Edmonds

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Landslides pose significant hazards to human safety, infrastructure, and the environment, particularly in regions of high elevation that experience extended periods of heavy rainfall. This research focuses on preparing and evaluating landslide susceptibility maps (LSMs) for the Blue Ridge Mountains, a portion of the Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina, utilizing three machine learning algorithms: Logistic Regression, Random Forest, and Gradient Boosting Regression. Sixteen landslide conditioning factors, reflecting topographic, geological, environmental, and anthropogenic influences, were identified for model input. The landslide inventory database, comprising 7,350 locations, was randomly divided into training (80%) and testing (20%) sets. The performance of each …

Insights From Automated Mineralogic Analysis Of Modern Sand, Quinten Jones

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Methods for determining and categorizing the modal compositions of sand and sandstone have long been a subject of debate in the field of sedimentary geology. Point counting is the most commonly used technique for determining modal compositions from petrographic slides, which are then categorized based on relative proportions of quartz, feldspar, and rock (or lithic) fragments. However, this approach fails to adequately preserve relevant textural data, such as grain size and sorting, which play an important role in diagenesis and in influencing reservoir quality. Additionally, the categorical nature of point counting results in a lack of specificity and loss of …

The 1991 California 'Miracle March': Precipitation Myth Or Miracle?, Cody D. Poulsen, Rachel E.S. Clemesha, Ian M. Howard, Alexander Gershunov, Michael D. Dettinger, Zhenhai Zhang, Rosa Luna-Nino, David W. Stahle, Ralph F. Martin

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The term 'Miracle March' is colloquially used in California to describe an anomalously wet spring that alleviates drought conditions caused by a winter precipitation deficit. This study centers on the influential water year 1991, which is the standard reference point for this phenomenon. The spring precipitation impact on water year totals and the geographic extent of the spring precipitation anomaly during the 1991 'Miracle March' (MM91) is without equal in the observational record. This exceptional precipitation episode was initiated by a week-long sequence of extreme atmospheric rivers that started landfalling on February 27th. To this day, MM91 is routinely referenced …

Older Groundwater Reservoirs In Nebraska, Marvin P. Carlson, Steven S. Sibray

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Sedimentary rocks below Nebraska's regional water table are saturated down to the crystalline igneous and metamorphic rocks of Precambrian age. The total thickness of these sedimentary rocks ranges from about 600 feet to over 10,000 feet. Nearly all current wells in Nebraska produce water from the near-surface, unconsolidated or partly consolidated rocks. Most studies to date -- interpretive reports, test drilling, inventory of wells, monitoring water levels, and water quality determinations -- have concentrated on these near-surface sources of groundwater.

Extracting Metamorphic Histories Utilizing U-Pb Laser Ablation Zircon Geochronology From The Southern Appalachians Crystalline Rocks And Detrital Sediment, Meredith Kay Love Gawai

Theses and Dissertations

The southern Appalachian mountain belt is an accretionary orogen that formed in the southeastern United States through several phases of oceanic subduction and continental collision during the Paleozoic Era and culminated in the formation of the supercontinent Pangaea. Although many U-Pb zircon ages have been collected from the igneous, metaigneous and metasedimentary rocks in the crystalline core of the southern Appalachians, there remain opportunities to better reconstruct the metamorphic and magmatic history of the southern Appalachians through the lens of zircon geochronology. Such data are valuable in identifying genetic relationships between candidate terranes of the orogen. Herein, I present laser-ablation …

Method For Low-Cost In Situ Measurement Of Dissolved Total Volatile Organic Compound Concentrations In Surface Waters, Teagan A. Jones

ATU Scholars Symposium

Increases in volatile organic compounds (VOC) in developing areas poses risks to aquatic health. Water quality changes in surface waters, if measured, are often only for field parameters of pH, specific conductance, water temperature, and major ions, e.g. Ca2+, Mg2+, Na, Cl. Elevated VOC concentrations can negatively impact aquatic ecosystems even at low concentrations, but do not cause changes in commonly measured parameters and may go undetected based on monitoring these common parameters. Traditional sampling and benchtop analysis for VOC can be both time and cost prohibitive. Here we demonstrate the use of a low-cost in situ dissolved total VOC …

The Effects Of Climate Change On The Advancement Of West Nile Virus, Mackenzie R. Epperson

ATU Scholars Symposium

The West Nile virus (WNV) first emerged in the United States in the year 1999 within the state of New York and has become endemic throughout the country over time. This virus is contracted from an avian species acting as the reservoir host, by the vector species which are mosquitoes. From this point, the mosquitoes transmit the virus to humans and other mammals, which are the dead end hosts. The WNV often presents itself as flu-like symptoms, but in serious cases can cause severe arboviral neurological disease. Since this is an arbovirus, it is important to have the ability to …

Estimated Amounts Of Terrestrial Carbon Mobilized And Sequestered By The 1980 Mount St. Helens Eruption, Washington State, Usa, Lizzet G. Reyes

Dissertations and Theses

Volcanic eruptions significantly influence the geologic carbon cycle by emitting CO₂ and mobilizing terrestrial carbon pools. The 1980 Mount St. Helens (MSH) eruption offers a unique case study, triggering a massive landslide that displaced 2.7 km³ of sediment, buried 600 km² of forest, and disrupted regional carbon dynamics. Pre-eruption terrestrial carbon stocks, including aboveground biomass (AGB), dead biomass (D), and soil organic carbon (S), averaged 209.5 tC/ha. Post-eruption, total carbon density fell to 118.7 tC/ha, driven mainly by a 51% reduction in AGB, modest declines in D, and redistribution of S. Over 36 years, ecosystem recovery increased …