Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-186). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Dactylography - History, Present and Future This thesis introduces one of the most important identification methods - dactylography (or dactyloscopy), e.g. the method based on analysis and classification of patterns of friction ridges (especially fingerprints). This thesis consists of three main chapters considering its name. The first chapter describes interesting history of this method from first discoveries, through various breakthroughs, to reaching the status of forensic evidence. This chapter mainly focuses on individual pioneers on the field of dactylography, but tells as well the story of Czechoslovak dactylography and reminds cases, that were very close to prove this method wrong at its fragile beginning. The second chapter focuses on the present of dactylography. This chapter starts with three basic laws of dactylography, but the essence of it lies in the term "dactyloscopic evidence". The methods of revelation, analysis and preservation of dactyloscopic evidence are described here as well as their comparison. If it comes to analysis, I am trying to compare two approaches used today (holistic and numerical) and offer my opinion which one is better. Also, I am trying to answer the question, if it is possible to tell how old the dactyloscopic evidence is. The third and the last chapter...

FINGERPRINTING - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE The objective of this thesis is to present the forensic fingerprinting as a scientific method which, although in comparison with other forensic sciences being one of the oldest, is not out-dated at all, quite to the contrary - it presents an ever-changing and continuously developing field of science. The objective is approached through three distinctive and yet intertwined chapters corresponding with the title of the thesis - past, present and future of the fingerprinting. They are also designed, at least in part, to capture this constant forward motion. Accordingly, the first chapter aims to describe briefly scientific roots of the method, the way it drew in its beginnings from various scientific discoveries, inspired by the rise of Darwinism. Particular emphasis is put on the description of the formulation and empirical confirmation of three physiological laws of fingerprinting that even today serve as its grounds. The second chapter deals with and tries to describe the current state of knowledge and particular methods used in detection, development and preservation of fingerprints, especially latent ones. To do this it seems to be necessary to describe briefly the anatomy and physiology of friction ridge skin, as it enables to fully comprehend the way in...

Concept and nature of dactyloscopy The aim of the thesis is to provide a comprehensive view on the issue of dactyloscopy. Especially, to introduce readers about dactyloscopy and institutes related to this method. The thesis is systematically divided into several chapters. The thesis is complemented by visual and textual appendices for the better and easier understanding of the various institutes. The introduction contains basic information about dactyloscopy and the outline of what the thesis will contain. Chapter One deals with the subject, concept and importance of the dactyloscopy. Chapter Two is divided into two parts. The first subchapter concerns the historical development of forensic dactyloscopy in the world. First of all, there are described the beginnings of knowledge of fingerprints and then personalities and their influence on the development of the dactyloscopy. As an example of these significant personalities, William James Herschel, Henry Faulds or Juan Vucetich can be cited. The second subchapter is focused on the development of the dactyloscopy in the territory of the Czech countries. In particular, the place is given for Jan Evangelista Purkyně well known as a pioneer in the area of papilary ridges. Because it was him who as the first described and classified the papilary ridges....

The mechanism of Holocene barrier formation aids in determining island geomorphologic responses to modifying climatic processes of the surrounding environment. The geometry and composition of local antecedent topography plays a role in barrier formation by providing an elevated base, nucleus for sedimentation and local sediment supply. Investigation of barriers' subsurface geology provides insight into island formation and evolution. High-resolution shallow seismic data acquired in the island's nearshore zone and interior canals, correlated with existing drillcore data, reveal that Cat Island, MS is situated over an Oxygen Isotope Stage 3 Phase 3 paleochannel located between two topographic high-grounds of the Pleistocene surface. Beach ridge strandplain sets on Cat Island provide additional evidence supporting the island's formation over a relict depocenter. A new, 4-stage model for Cat Island development and evolution incorporating the influence of pre-existing topographic high-grounds and abundant local sediment supply provided by a backfilling fluvial channel is presented here.

In this thesis, I present results that broadly fall into two themes. The first involves understanding active tectonic and magmatic processes at mid-ocean ridges. The second involves using small stress changes due to the tides to probe earthquake processes at mid-ocean ridges. The four main results of my thesis are as follow: (1) The spatiotemporal evolution of an eruption at a fast-spreading mid-ocean ridge, the East Pacific Rise, is now characterized and understood to be mainly controlled by the buildup of tectonic stress to a critical level rather than magma overpressure. (2) Microearthquakes at the East Pacific Rise are found to be strongly modulated by tides in the years before an eruption but not immediately after the eruption, suggesting the potential utility of tidal triggering strength for eruption forecasting. (3) Earthquake size-frequency distribution, often quantified using the b value, is shown to vary systematically with tidal stresses which lends support to the use of earthquake b value as an in-situ stressmeter. (4) The 2015 Axial Seamount eruption is revealed to be preceded by variable rates of melt influx into the shallow reservoir, highlighting the short-timescale variability of magmatic systems as they are primed for an eruption.

In this dissertation, I use seismic imaging techniques to constrain the physical state of the upper mantle beneath regions of young oceanic lithosphere. Mantle convection is investigated beneath the Galápagos Archipelago and then beneath the Juan de Fuca (JdF) plate, with a focus on the JdF and Gorda Ridges before turning to the off-axis asthenosphere. In the Galápagos Archipelago, S-to-p receiver functions reveal a discontinuity in seismic velocity that is attributed to the dehydration of the upper mantle. The depth at which dehydration occurs is shown to be consistent with prior constraints on mantle temperature. A comparison between results from receiver functions, seismic tomography and petrology shows that mantle upwelling and melt generation occur shallower than the depth of the discontinuity, despite the expectation of high viscosities in the dehydrated layer. Beneath the JdF and Gorda Ridge, low Vs anomalies are too large to be explained by the cooling of the lithosphere and are attributed to partial melt. The asymmetry, large Vs gradients, and sinuosity of the anomalies beneath the JdF Ridge are consistent with models of buoyancy-driven upwelling. However, deformation zone processes appear to dominate mantle flow over seafloor spreading beneath the Explorer and Gorda diffuse plate boundaries. Finally, S-to-p receiver functions reveal a seismic discontinuity beneath the JdF plate that can only be attributed to seismic anisotropy. Synthesis of the receiver function results with prior SKS splitting results requires heterogeneous anisotropy between the crust and the discontinuity. Models of anisotropy feature increasing anisotropy before the decrease at the discontinuity, but well below the base of the lithosphere, and a clockwise rotation of the fast direction with increasing depth. In these results and even in the SKS splitting results, additional driving mechanisms for mantle flow such as density or pressure anomalies are required.

In this dissertation, I use seismic imaging methods to constrain the evolution of the oceanic upper mantle across the Juan de Fuca (JdF) and Gorda plates. This work begins by studying the geometry of the mantle magmatic system and patterns of mantle flow beneath the northern JdF ridge in relation to ridge-parallel changes in accretionary processes. I find that the dynamics of lithospheric rifting exert the primary control on the distribution of shallow mantle melts and variations in crustal thickness and composition. The orientation of mantle divergence beneath the JdF ridge, as inferred from seismic anisotropy, is oblique to the overlying plate divergence direction. Similar observations made at the East Pacific Rise and Mid-Atlantic ridge suggest plate motions alone do not control mantle flow patterns. On the contrary, stresses exerted at the base of the plate by the asthenospheric flow field may contribute to changes in plate motion prompting a reorientation of oceanic spreading segments. The mantle anisotropic fabric of the JdF plate interior is then investigated to identify whether the rotated mantle flow field observed beneath the JdF ridge persisted throughout the recent geologic past. However, observations suggest that the anisotropic structure created at the ridge partially reorganizes off-axis obscuring the paleo-flow geometry. Next, I focus on how the physical state of the oceanic lithosphere evolves with time. Using local earthquake arrival times I test whether the seismic velocity structure of the upper mantle lithosphere is thermally controlled or dominated by heterogeneities introduced upon accretion at the ridge or by subsequent deformation off axis. Despite extensive surficial evidence of faulting across the Gorda plate, deformation appears to be restricted to crustal depths and mantle velocities are explained by conductive cooling. In contrast, the velocity structure of the JdF plate is inconsistent with conductively-cooled mantle. Hydration of the mantle lithosphere associated with tectonic discontinuities is invoked to explain anomalously slow P-wave speeds. Lastly, a joint inversion of teleseismic body and surface wave data is proposed to image the geometry of mantle upwelling and melt production beneath the JdF and Gorda Ridges. This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished coauthored material.

We apply a variety of teleseismic methodologies to investigate the upper mantle structure in extensional environments. Using a body wave dataset collected from a regional deployment in the Woodlark Rift, Papua New Guinea, we image anisotropic velocity structure of a rapidly extending rift on the cusp of continental breakup. In the process, we develop a technique for azimuthal anisotropy tomography that is generally applicable to regions of relatively simple anisotropic structure. The Cascadia Initiative ocean bottom seismometer (OBS) deployment provides coverage of an entire oceanic plate in unprecedented detail; we measure attenuation and velocities of teleseisms to characterize the temperature and melt structure from ridge to trench. Our study of shear wave splitting reveals strong azimuthal anisotropy within the Woodlark Rift with fairly uniform fast directions parallel to extension. This observation differs markedly from other continental rifts and resembles the pattern seen at mid-ocean ridges. This phenomenon is best explained by extension-related strain causing preferential alignment of mantle olivine. We develop a simple relationship that links total extension to predicted splitting, and show that it explains the apparent dichotomy in rifts’ anisotropy. Finite frequency tomography using a dataset of teleseismic P- and S-wave differential travel times reveals the upper mantle velocity structure of the Woodlark Rift. A well developed slow rift axis extending >250 km along strike from the adjacent seafloor spreading centers demonstrates the removal of mantle lithosphere prior to complete crustal breakup. We argue that the majority of this rift is melt-poor, in agreement with geochemical results. A large temperature gradient arises from the juxtaposition of upwelled axial asthenosphere with a previously unidentified cold structure north of the rift that hosts well located intermediate depth earthquakes. Localization of upper mantle extension is apparent from the velocity structure of the rift axis and may result from the presence of water following recent subduction. In order to resolve potential tradeoffs between anisotropy and velocity gradients, we develop a novel technique for the joint inversion of ∆Vs and strength of azimuthal anisotropy using teleseismic direct S-waves. This approach exploits the natural geometry of the regional tectonics and the relative consistency of observed splits; the imposed orthogonality of anisotropic structure takes care of the non-commutative nature of multi-layer splitting. Our tomographic models reveal the breakup of continental lithosphere in the anisotropy signal, as pre-existing fabric breaks apart and is replaced by upwelling asthenosphere that simultaneously advects and accrues an extension-related fabric. Accounting for anisotropy removes apparent noise in isotropic travel times and clarifies the velocity model. Taken together, our results paint a detailed and consistent picture of a highly extended continental rift. Finally, we collect a dataset of differential travel time (δT) and attenuation (∆t*) measurements of P- and S-waves recorded on OBS stations that span the Juan de Fuca and Gorda plates. We observe large gradients in ∆t*, with values as high as 2.0 s for S-waves at the ridge axes. Such high values of differential attenuation are not compatible with a purely thermal control, nor are they consistent with focusing effects. We assert that melt, grainsize, and water enhance anelastic effects beneath the ridge. The combination of attenuation and velocity measurements enables us to place quantitative constraints on the properties of the upper mantle in the vicinity of the spreading axis.

Extensive shell ridges frame the edges of marsh platforms in parts of the Biloxi Marsh of southeast Louisiana. The exact sources of the shells in these accumulations have not been clearly identified but the most likely source is a combination of shells from modern offshore and shells excavated from buried St. Bernard delta deposits. Larger or fetch-protected ridges remain stable through time, whereas ridges facing open water are more mobile, moving as much as 38 m inland from July 2017 to January 2018. Behind stable ridges, marsh platform biomass is relatively unaffected. When ridges are mobile, vegetation is smothered, leaving an exposed platform that lacks aboveground vegetation to dampen wave energy and fragments into “blocks” along its terraced edge, which in turn are deposited onshore. In the future, marshes will likely erode fastest in areas where shell ridges are mobile and remain resistant where shell ridges are stable.