Thesis (D.Sc.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, 2002. / "April 2002" Includes bibliographical references and list of the publications and papers submitted.

Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of History. / Bibliography: leaves [156]-162.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Geography. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-118).

Thesis (M.A.)-- Brigham Young University Graduate Dept. of Art. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-131).

Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of History. / Electronic thesis. Bibliography: leaves [156]-162. Also available in print ed.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-97).

From the Pioneer Company of 1847 to the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, approximately 60,000 Mormon pioneers made the journey from Winter Quarters to the Salt Lake Valley. Although some years have received more attention, every footprint placed on the prairie is part of the epic pioneer story. This thesis examines the major challenges and characteristics of the 1848 Mormon pioneers crossing of the plains. The sacrifices and contributions of the 1848 pioneers are as significant to the legacy of the Mormon westward migration as any other year. In order to explore, develop, and explain the thesis statement, this work includes five chapters. Chapter I: Introduction provides the historical setting of the 1848 Mormon pioneers. Chapter II: The L.D.S migration of 1848 in historical context. Chapter III: The general characteristics of the 1848 Mormon migration. Chapter IV: Relief efforts. Chapter V: Conclusion. The primary evidence for this thesis comes from journals of the 1848 Mormon pioneers. This research has discovered that the 1848 pioneers had the largest company in Mormon pioneer history. It is also the only year that each member of the First Presidency led a pioneer company across the plains. The companies' immense size coupled with insufficient provisions and an unusually dry spring required sacrifice and cooperation. Topics researched include: route and distances traveled, role of women, expressions of devotion, livestock issues, Indian relations, sickness, injury, and death. The 1848 pioneers received significant relief from 1847 migrants, who returned to the trail to assist.

Windblown dust events can be defined as windblown dust emitted from the Earth's surface to the atmosphere. These events have significant impact on local air quality. Predicting the location and magnitude of these events is vital for Utah air quality assessment and planning. Previous modeling studies have focused only on past dust events. This work utilized a state-of-the-science software framework based on the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) v5.3.1 modeling system to predict dust events in Utah. The framework was verified using previous studies for dust events in April 2017 and March 2010. Once verified, the framework was used to predict the impact of future land use properties on dust events. Two scenarios were studied – shrinking of the Great Salt Lake and the addition of large-scale solar farms west of the Wasatch Front. Both showed increases in dust concentrations overpopulated areas using the meteorological conditions from the April 2017 dust event. Such information from future impact studies can assess potential impacts from climate change and can guide government water and land use policies to mitigate dust event impacts.

Phosphate deposits in the western United States have been the subject of considerable discussion in the last decade, and during the last few years much interest has been aroused in them. Phosphate was first discovered in this area in 1889, but it was not until 1906 that the United States Government took active interest in the study of these deposits. The investigation by the government of the occurrence of western phosphate was begun by Weeks and Ferrier (10), and later carried on by others. On December 9, 1908 the western phosphate reserve was created and many acres of land were withdrawn from all kinds of entry. In the summer of 1909 two parties were detailed by the United States Geological Survey to examine lands withdrawn from public entry.

The fluid circulation patterns, temperature distributions, and density gradients of the South Arm of the Great Salt Lake were modeled using the Estuary, Lake, and Coastal Ocean Model (ELCOM) from the Centre for Water Research at the University of Western Australia. The effort is part of a research study in conjunction with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Utah Water Research Lab located at Utah State University. The model was simulated for several different cases of salinity gradients over different time periods, using temperature and wind data from 2006. The model is then used to identify factors which may provide a transport mechanism of heavy metals such as selenium and mercury from the sediment layers to the upper brine layers where it is introduced into the food chain.