The prospect of using U.S.G.S. Digital Elevation Models (DEM's) to locate sinkholes has been investigated. Three quadrangle maps, those of Blacksburg, Ironto and Newport, were selected as these areas are dotted with sinkholes. An algorithm was developed to extract sinkholes from DEM's. Sinkholes were also digitized from the topographic maps to check the accuracy of those extracted by the program from DEM's. This was done by overlaying pits extracted from DEM's with digitized sinkholes. Discriminant Analysis was run to compare the characteristics of sinkholes identified by the program from those that were not. It was found that few sinkholes could be located using the available integer elevation data of 30m resolution. Noise in the data, even after running a filter, precluded satisfactory results. It was concluded that elevation data of finer resolution and in real format should be used for this analysis. / Master of Science

M. S.

In recent years, particularly during the past decade, there has been a definite and an ever increasing movement of industry and commerce from the northeastern part of the United States into the South. This ever increasing shift of industry and commerce into the southern states has been and still is the result of a number of factors. High tax rates imposed by all levels of government in the North, the high cost of labor, scarcity of favorable industrial sites, and frequent union troubles are but a few of the undesirable conditions that harass industry and commerce in the North. By contrast, the South offers industrial and commercial firms many excellent sites with relatively low tax rates, and, in many cases, prospective industries are offered special tax concessions by local governments to induce them to locate a particular area. In addition, labor costs in the South are lower than in the crowded northeastern states. Many portions of the southeastern United States have a relative abundance of water which is essential to most industrial and many commercial firms. With some exceptions, unions in the South have not developed to the point where they cause frequent and expensive strikes as is the case in the North. For these as well as other reasons, many industrial and commercial firms presently located in the North are seeking new locations and are building in communities throughout the southern part of the country. In connection with this movement of industry into the South, this writer is of the opinion that the area involved in this study, i.e. Montgomery County and Radford, Virginia, has not only developed as a partial result of this relocation process, but will benefit to an even greater extent in the future. This writer believes that the current study is timely in that it brings into focus the rate and nature of commercial and industrial development of the area during the past twenty-five years which, in turn, presents a clear and useful grasp of trends for future years. Secondly, the study serves as a valid indicator of the potential facilities which the area can offer as well as limitations which would have to be considered by interested firms. / Master of Science

This study was threefold: first, to determine the facies relationships of the limestones between the top of the Knox group and the base of the Liberty Hall shale; second, to study the faunas of the limestones; and third, to determine the relief of the erosion surface developed on the surface of the Knox group prior to the deposition of the overlying sediments. Study of the area in the North Fork of the Roanoke River was begun in the fall of 1950 and the work was continued in the summer of 1951. The lithologic divisions of the Middle Ordovician limestones was mapped. The 15-minute Blacksburg quadrangle was used es a base map with a modified scale of approximately 1:30,000. Sections were measured with a Brunton compass and a steel tape at several localities, and faunas were collected from several stratigraphic horizons. The facies relationships of the limestones were determined by detailed mapping, measurement and comparison of sections, and by tracing key beds. The thickness of the middle Ordovician limestones was determined by measuring in the direction of dip. Minor warps and possible collapse in places complicated the measurement, The variation of the strike and dip is probably related to the structural position of the beds in the Paris-Catawba Mountain syncline. Faunas were collected from the Middle Ordovician limestones. The lowest of these faunas came from a ledge about 10 feet above the Knox group, whereas the youngest of the faunas came from a horizon about 40 feet below the base of the Botetourt limestone. Species of these faunas have been identified and correlated with faunas from other Middle Ordovician limestones elsewhere. The following conclusions seem to be warranted by evidence presented in this paper: 1. The relief on the Knox group is about 225 feet in the area discussed in this report. 2. The limestone units discussed mw be correlated in the following way: a. The Ellett siltstone member of the New Market limestone is equivalent to the red shales reported in the Blackford formation in Tazewell County. However, the Blackford there included overlying impure limestones and dolomites that overlie the Ellett in the Valley of the North Fork of the Roanoke River. b. The impure magnesian limestones that overlie the Ellett are a lithofacies of the New Market limestone. c. The entire New Market limestone of the Valley of the North Fork of the Roanoke River is the equivalent of the New Market limestone of the Shenandoah Valley area in northern Virginia. d. The Whistle Greek limestone of the Valley of the North Fork of the Roanoke River is the equivalent of the Whistle week limestone of the areas in northern Virginia and Maryland. Fossils indicate a correlation with the New York Chazy. e. The beds herein called "Lincolnshire limestone" occupy the same position ae the Lincolnshire limestone of the northern areas of Virginia. f. The Botetourt limestone occupies the same stratigraphic position in the Valley of the North Fork of the Roanoke River as the unit named Botetourt by Cooper and Cooper in the Shenandoah Valley area. / Master of Science

A key year is a year in which a significant number of trees had a wider or narrower growth ring than the previous year. A non-key year is a year which there vas not a significant number of trees that had greater or less growth than the previous year. A key-year pattern is a series of key years that are separated in time by non-key years. Keyyear patterns have proven useful in determining the date of construction of buildings of historical significance (Heikkenen 1980). A white ash key-year pattern was constructed, using 4 radii from 3 tree heights of 16 trees. Radii from a tree height of 0.3. (1 ft) above ground were found to have higher agree.ent with the white ash key-year pattern than radii from positions higher in the tree. Long radii (from off-centered piths) were found to have higher agreement than the shorter radii. The long radii from lower heights had twice the level of agreement as the short radii at upper heights. The amount of agreement decreased as the number of trees used to construct the key-year pattern was dropped from 16 to 8. At least 8 samples of long radii from lower tree heights were needed to construct a key-year pattern. At least 12 samples were needed from short radii at upper tree heights to construct a key-year pattern. Twelve samples were sufficient to produce a key-year pattern, when sampling from unknown heights and radial lengths (i.e. log houses). / Master of Science

This thesis investigates the role of open space planning within the context of a growth management planning philosophy. For contextual framing, the principles of growth management are presented followed by tools and techniques used in preserving open space. The literature review chapter concludes with a look at the development of an open space plan. To bound the scope of this paper, the focus is on open space preserved for passive and active recreation and natural conservation. Montgomery County, Maryland is used as a case example. The qualitative data comes from interviews with planning personnel from the community and park planning departments. As part of the process, the relationship and roles between these two departments regarding open space preservation are explored. This case study helps us to understand what Montgomery County has learned from the past that is influencing the open space preservation for tomorrow. / Master of Landscape Architecture

The basis of any human existence is a space to inhabit to support that existence. Space, given by nature or created by man is always determined by the "planes" by which the particular space is enclosed. The issue, (what kind of materials these planes are made of - a roof, a wall , a column), is most important for the impression the space creates on the inhabitants. Having layers of different materials create, articulate and order the spacial layout for a building is the central theoretical statement. In order to translate this theoretical Q statement from the realm of the written words into the language of architecture - sketches, drawings and models examples of two designs are offered. / Master of Architecture

The Fries Fault, a 1.2-2.3 km wide zone near Riner, is a major tectonic discontinuity in the Blue Ridge geologic province, characterized by progressive stages of continuous ductile deformation. Trending northeast with a shallow to moderate southeast dip, this fault juxtaposes Little River Gneiss on the southeast against Pilot Gneiss and the Chilhowee Formation to the northwest. A 0.8-1.2 km wide subzone of protomylonite within the Little River Gneiss grades into a 0.5-1.0 km wide mylonite subzone, the latter containing narrow bands of phyllotactic ultramylonite ranging in width from centimeters to tens of meters. Mylonitization is reflected by a marked reduction in grain size, elongation of quartz and fracturing of feldspar, all concomitant with the development of a mylonitic foliation (S_m). Ductile deformation processes involving grain elongation, recovery and recrystallization, combined with chemical processes (primarily pressure solution), are the dominant strain-accommodation mechanisms in the formation of S_m. Rocks within the fault zone have undergone four phases of Paleozoic deformation. An early S₁ foliation has been nearly completely transposed by S_m(S₂), which dominates across most of the area. The development of S_m was accompanied by a retrogressive metamorphism that altered basement rocks from lower amphibolite to greenschist facies. Chilhowee Group rocks remained at lower greenschist facies. Post-faulting deformation produced an S₃ crenulation cleavage associated with northeast trending, overturned F₃ folds. Subsequent refolding produced open, northwest trending F₄ folds. Although the bulk deformation is progressive simple shear, flattening is increasingly dominant during the later stages of deformation. / Master of Science

Black education was unique in Montgomery County, Virginia, during Jim Crow segregation because African American students were able to attend Christiansburg Institute (C.I.), a black secondary school with an excellent reputation. C.I. initially emphasized vocational education, but in the late 1940s administrators expanded the curriculum to include a college preparatory program. C.I. nurtured black activism and culture. Because it was a regional school, it facilitated the development of an extended black community. Blacks organized first for equalization within segregated schools, and then they challenged segregation itself. After the Supreme Court declared school segregation unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), white Virginians resisted desegregation. White Montgomery County residents were committed to segregation, yet they were unwilling to commit to Virginia's "massive resistance” to integration. Desegregation came quietly and relatively quickly to Montgomery County due to bi-racial cooperation, a comparatively small black population, and the growth of the state university located in the county. Once integration was complete in 1966, the county closed C.I. White Virginians, especially those in eastern Virginia, fought so hard to avoid desegregation; yet in Montgomery County it was black residents who paid the highest price for integration -- their school. An institution that held high expectations for its graduates, while providing them with the tools to succeed in a segregated world, is now gone. This thesis explores the costs, the benefits, and the process of desegregation in one predominantly white county in western Virginia. / Master of Arts

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