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<p>Understanding climate-driven changes in global land-based ice volume is a critical component in our capability to predict how global sea level will rise as a consequence of the current human-driven climate change. At the last glacial maximum (LGM, which peaked around 20 ka), ephemeral ice sheets covered vast regions of the northern hemisphere while both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets were more extensive than at present. As global temperatures rose at the transition into the Holocene, driving the LGM deglaciation, eustatic sea level rose by approximately 125 m. The east Antarctic ice sheet (EAIS) is the largest ice sheet on Earth today, holding an ice volume equivalent to ca. 53 m rise in global sea level. Considering current trends in global climate, specifically rapidly increasing atmospheric CO₂ levels and global temperature, it is important to improve our understanding of how the EAIS will respond to global warming so that we can make better predictions of future sea level changes to guide community adaptation and planning efforts. Numerical ice sheet models which inform projections of future ice volume changes, and can, therefore, yield projections of sea level rise, rely on empirical data to test their ability to accurately represent former and present ice configurations. However, there is a general lack of data on the paleoglaciology of the EAIS along the western Dronning Maud Land (DML) margin. In order to address this situation, the paleoglaciology of western DML forms the focus of the work presented in this thesis.</p><p><b> </b></p><p>Together with collaborators within the MAGIC-DML consortium (Mapping, Measuring and Modelling Antarctic Geomorphology and Ice Change in Dronning Maud Land) that provides the funding for this MS project, the author has performed geomorphological mapping across western DML; an area of approximately 200,000 km². The results of the mapping presented in this thesis will provide the basis for a detailed glacial reconstruction of the region. The geomorphological mapping was completed almost entirely by remote sensing using very high-resolution (sub-meter in the panchromatic) WordView-2 and WorldView-3 (WV) satellite imagery, combined with ground validation studies during field work. Compared to Landsat products, the improved spatial resolution provided by WV imagery has fundamentally changed the scale and detail at which remote sensing based geomorphological mapping can be completed. The mapping presented here is focused on the glacial geomorphology of mountain summits and flanks that protrude through the ice sheet’s surface (nunataks). In our study area of western DML these nunatak surfaces make up <0.2 % of the total surface area, and the landforms mapped here are generally smaller than can be identified from Landsat products (30 m spatial resolution). The detail achieved in our mapping, across such a vast, remote area that presents numerous obstacles to accessibility highlights the benefits of utilizing the new VHR WV data. As such an evaluation of the WV data, as applied to geomorphological mapping is presented here together with our mapping of the glacial geomorphology of western DML. The results of which provides evidence of ice having overridden sites at all elevations across the entire study area; from the highest elevation inland nunataks that form the coast-parallel escarpment, to low-elevation emerging nunataks close to the coast. Hence from our studies of the glacial geomorphology of this region we can ascertain that, at some point in the glacial history of western DML, ice covered all of the mountain summits that are exposed today, indicating an ice sheet surface lowering of up to 700 m in some places.</p>

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For several decades, the idea of flying and landing a less-than-man-rated nuclear reactor for planetary surface applications has been considered. This approach promises significant mass savings and therefore reduction in launch cost. To compensate for the lack of shielding, it has been suggested the use of in-situ materials for providing radiation protection. This would take the form of either raw dirt walls or processed soil materials into blocks or tile elements. As a first step in determining the suitability of this approach, it is necessary to understand the neutron activation characteristics of these soils. A simple assessment of these activation characteristics was conducted for both Martian and Lunar soils using ORIGEN2.2. An average composition for these soils was assumed. As a baseline material, commonly used NBS-03 concrete was compared against the soils. Preliminary results indicate that over 2.5 times more gamma-radiation production of these soils vs. concrete took place during the irradiation phase (a baseline of 2.4 x 1011 neutrons/sec-cm2 was assumed). This was due primarily to radiative capture on Na23 and Mn55 and subsequent decay of their activation products. This is does not necessarily disqualify these materials as potential shielding material since the -radiation output was only in the order of 4.2 x 108 photons/cm3-sec. Furthermore, these soils did not show any significant activity after shutdown of the neutron source (the reactor), since all activation products had very short half lives. Their performance in this area was comparable to that of NBS-03 concrete. / text

The oldest parts of continents, so-called cratons, are the focus of worldwide research not only because they represent primary constraints for our understanding of the early evolution of the Earth, but also because of their significant mineral potential. This work contributes to the understanding of the geological and geomorphological evolution of the West African Craton, by an integrated analysis of airborne geophysical and satellite remote sensing data constrained by field structural, lithological, geophysical, and geomorphological observations acquired around Houndé, Boromo and Banfora greenstone belts and associated granitoid domains in western Burkina Faso. The results of this integration suggest that the granitoid domains of western Burkina Faso are formed by numerous small- to medium-sized plutons, and the magnetic data provided a better definition of the actual pluton shapes. Airborne gamma ray spectrometry data aided in the mapping process in areas with less regolith cover. Three deformation events (D1-D3) can be distinguished in western Burkina Faso. A megacrystic tholeiitic basalt unit allowed us to establish stratigraphic correlations between the two belts and propose a crustal scale anticline (D1). The D1 penetrative structures, resulting from an E-W to WNW-oriented compression are...

From the Proceedings of the 1977 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 15-16, 1977, Las Vegas, Nevada / The root system of shrub live oak (Quercus turbinella) was studied in an initial effort to classify the major Arizona chaparral shrubs as potential users of soil water based on root system characteristics. The root system was of the generalized type with a taproot, many deeply penetrating roots, and a strong lateral root system. Roots penetrated 21 feet to bedrock through cracks and fractures in the rocky regolith. A dense network of small surface laterals radiated from the root crown and permeated the upper foot of soil. Because of its root system, shrub live oak is well adapted to utilize both ephemeral surface soil moisture as well as deeply stored moisture. Emphasis is placed on the importance of a knowledge of the root systems of chaparral shrubs and depth of the regolith in planning vegetation conversions to increase water yield.