Theses/Dissertations - Geosciences
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Taphonomic and mass-extinction research from an ichnological perspective.
(2018-05-31)The assemblage of Pleistocene megafauna at Waco Mammoth National Monument (WMNM) and the terrestrial Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary at Big Bend National Park are just two examples that demonstrate the peril effects ... -
Paleoclimate and paleoenvironment reconstruction of early Miocene Tinderet sites in western Kenya, and its implications for hominoid evolution.
(2018-07-27)Early Miocene Tinderet sites in western Kenya preserve some the earliest occurrences of large bodied hominoids like Proconsul. The sites preserve different catarrhine fossil assemblages, with some species found in all sites ... -
High-resolution age constraints and fluvial sedimentology of Late Cretaceous to early Paleocene terrestrial deposits of the southwestern USA.
(2018-03-26)A well-constrained age model is a critical piece of information in geologic studies. This dissertation focuses on two successions of fossiliferous fluvial strata within the southwestern US that prior to this work were ... -
A hydrologic assessment of water chemistry and aquifer properties in the Middle Trinity Aquifer in Bell and McLennan Counties in Texas.
(2018-05-02)The Middle Trinity Aquifer is part of a freshwater aquifer spanning southern Oklahoma and Central Texas. Increasing demand from population growth has promoted a need to better understand productivity and associated aquifer ... -
Organic matter structural changes during catagenesis : implications of kerogen chemical structure on petroleum yield and composition.
(2018-04-16)This work describes the machining of cost-efficient hydrous pyrolysis reactors and furnaces used to simulate natural oil forming (catagenesis) processes. These reactors were used to generate petroleum products from both ... -
Reconstruction of the paleo-redox conditions of reservoir facies using chemostratigraphy and core descriptions of the Devonian Marcellus Formation, Pennsylvania.
(2017-11-08)The Marcellus Formation near Clinton County Pennsylvania has of average TOC of 2.8 wt%. TOC values found near the bottom of the Union Spring Member are >5 wt% and were created by high organic production which allowed for ... -
Miocene paleoenvironments and paleosol pH proxies.
(2017-10-27)Paleoenvironmental analysis is an interdisciplinary endeavor that draws on sedimentology, stratigraphy, geochemistry, and geostatistics. This dissertation includes two paleoenvironmental case studies and the development ... -
Characterizing the reservoir quality of Marcellus Formation Mudrocks through a comparison of chemostratigraphic character and petrophysical response in north-central Pennsylvania.
(2017-11-02)This study combines robust geochemical data with core descriptions and wireline logs to gain new insight into the paleoceanographic conditions during Marcellus deposition and the resulting quality and distribution of ... -
Factor influencing headcut migration within a cohesive Texas Black-Land gully.
(2017-12-01)Gully erosion degrades the Black-Land Prairies (BLP) (Texas), affecting agricultural productivity. It is initiated by rill and inter-rill erosive processes and exacerbated by storm frequency and duration. Few studies have ... -
Numerical simulation of a single fracture with various parameters.
(2017-06-15)Hydraulic fracturing is the process of enhancing host rock permeability through injection of pressurized fluid in order to obtain oil and natural gas. Typically, microseismicity is used during the fracturing process to ... -
Sedimentary organic matter diagenesis : oxidative transformations and dynamics upon pyrolysis.
(2017-07-07)The organic matter fraction preserved in ancient sediments is the largest carbon pool on earth, and holds immense importance in the context of global biogeochemical cycling and as petroleum source rock. This dissertation ... -
Reservoir characterization and prediction of the Lower Cretaceous Glauconite Member at Jenner-Suffield Field, Alberta, Canada.
(2017-06-09)Significant hydrocarbon reserves at Jenner and Suffield fields of southern Alberta, Canada, occur within the Lower Cretaceous Glauconitic Member of the Upper Mannville Formation. The Glauconitic Member accumulated within ... -
Spatial correlation of selected earthquakes with the Dog Valley Fault in northern California using LiDAR and GPS data.
(2017-07-28)The 1966 M6.0 Truckee earthquake has a reported location of 39.438°N 120.160°W at ~10 km depth (Ryall et al., 1968), ~5 km southwest of the Stampede Dam, an earth-fill structure built in 1970 to impound 226,500 acre-feet ... -
The stratigraphic controls on development potential within the Lower Cretaceous glauconitic member sandstone, Jenner Field area, Southern Alberta, Canada.
(2017-08-02)The Glauconitic Member of the Lower Cretaceous Upper Mannville Group consists of incised valley filling multi-story fluvial quartzose sandstone deposits that accumulated during a marine transgression. This study delineates ... -
Multi Objective Optimization for Seismology (MOOS), with application to the Middle East, the Texas Gulf Coast, and the Rio Grande Rift.
(2016-03-24)We develop and apply new modeling methods that make use of disparate but complementary seismic “functionals,” such as receiver functions and dispersion curves, and model them using a global optimization method called “Very ... -
Application of direct current resistivity method to environmental and hydrological problems.
(2016-04-13)The direct current resistivity (DCR) method is a well-established geophysical method that is widely used in environmental, civil engineering, and hydrological investigations. DCR has the advantage of producing spatial and ... -
Correlation of selected earthquakes with seismogenic faults, central Oklahoma.
(2016-02-29)Hypocenter locations for over 3000 earthquakes of M≥2.0 in central Oklahoma between the years 2014 and 2015 were used to attempt to locate seismogenic faults near the city of Guthrie. Focal mechanisms from 29 earthquakes ... -
Applied forensic investigation of elevated arsenic levels in the Central Texas Trinity Aquifer system.
(2015-07-22)A recent change in EPA regulation lowered the maximum contaminate limit (MCL) of arsenic in drinking water from 50 to 10 μg/l. Lowering the MCL has put numerous water systems in Texas over the limit. An arsenic “hot spot” ... -
Petrophysical facies mapping of the Pennsylvanian Cline Shale, Midland Basin, West Texas.
(2015-07-31)The Cline Shale is a Pennsylvanian unconventional shale resource play located in the Midland Basin, west Texas. This study evaluates the depositional, stratigraphic and petrologic controls on Cline Shale reservoir quality ... -
Effects of surface heterogeneity on the colloidal stability, protein adsorption and bacterial interaction of nanoparticles.
(2014-01-28)Interfacial processes like aggregation and deposition control the transport and fate of natural and engineering nanoparticles (NPs) in the environment, which are relevant to important environmental processes, applications, ...
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