Middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian) strata of the Lower Desert Creek (LDC) sequence within the sub-surface Greater Aneth Field (GAF) reflect a hierarchy of 4th and 5th order carbonate-dominated cycles. The Lower Desert Creek sequence, along the studied transect are composed of eight carbonate facies deposited on an east-facing shelf. There is a lateral transition from open marine algal buildup from the southeast (cores R-19, Q-16, O-16, and J-15) to a more restricted lagoonal environment to the northwest (core K-430 and E-313). The Lower Desert Creek sequence within the GAF contains three main parasequence sets: a basal, relatively deep-water unit (LDC 1), a middle skeletal to algal unit (LDC 2-4), and a shallow, open-marine/restricted lagoon unit (LDC 5-7). The southeast cores (R-19, Q-16, O-16, and J-15) contain the dolomitized basal unit in parasequence LDC 1. The northwest cores (K-430 and E-313) also contain the dolomitized basal unit in LDC 1, but show a deeper facies succession through LDC 2-4. Parasequences LDC 2-4 are the heart of the algal buildup in the GAF particularly in the southern part of the transect. The upper few parasequences (LDC 5-7) are dominated by an open marine environment represented by robust fauna. The upper parasequences (LDC 5-7) show the same shallowing upward trends with algal facies in K-430 and restricted lagoon facies in E-313. Shoaling upward trends that characterize the Lower Desert Creek sequence terminate with an exposure surface at the 4th order (Lower Desert Creek-Upper Desert Creek) sequence boundary. Porosity and permeability is weakly correlated to facies. Diagenesis within the algal reservoir is the most important factor in porosity and permeability. Marine diagenesis is observed in the form of micritization of Ivanovia, a phylloid algae. Thin fibrous isopachous rims of cloudy cement also indicate early marine diagenesis. Ghost botryoidal cements are leached during meteoric diagenesis. Meteoric drusy dog tooth cements as well as sparry calcite fill most depositional porosity. Neomorphism of micrite and the isopachous rim cements reflect meteoric diagenesis. Burial diagenesis is represented by baroque dolomite cement, compaction, and mold-filling anhydrite cement.

The Greater Aneth Buildup (GAB) is comprised of the 3rd-order middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian) Desert Creek sequence of the Paradox Formation. A hierarchy of 4th- and 5th order, carbonate-dominated cycles comprise the Upper Desert Creek (UDC) 4th-order sequence. A SE to NW trending transect line, utilizing core and petrophysical data from six oil and gas wells (from SE to NW wells R-19, Q-16, O-16, J-15, K-430, E-313), revealed deposition of seven carbonate facies within four 5th-order parasequences in the UDC. While each of the seven carbonate facies are present across the transect line, the UDC parasequences are dominated by a shallow-water oolite facies. Laterally and vertically, a general facies transition is evident in each of the four parasequences from a dominantly deeper-water succession of facies in the SE, to a more shallow-water, open marine to restricted lagoon, succession of facies to the NW. Parasequence UDC-3 contains the best representation of this facies transition with the SE wells (R-19, Q-16, and O-16) displaying the deeper-water/mixed algal facies grades into the shoaling oolite facies in the NW wells (J-15, K-430, and E-313). Within UDC strata, porosity and permeability correlate well to each other, but poorly to facies type. Porosity and permeability are predominantly controlled by diagenesis. Minor appearances of fibrous isopachus rim cements, and more common micritization (both whole grain and envelope) suggest that early-marine diagenesis occurred within the oolite facies. Meteoric diagenesis is demonstrated by abundant calcite spar, and drusy dogtooth cements within oomoldic pores, intraparticle pores, and interparticle pores, in addition to neomorphism of early marine diagenetic fabrics. Spastolithic ooids, stylolitization, and grain brecciation are representative of burial diagenesis within these strata. Dolomitization is present in each of the six studied core, but only in minor amounts. The Upper Desert Creek 3rd-order sequence has preserved laminamoldic diagenetic fabric that is the oldest known example of selective leaching in a meteoric vadose environment. Lithofacies trends along transect line A to A' demonstrate an increase in ooid-rich grainstone NSCF both vertically and laterally from the SE to the NW. Lithofacies type, combined with diagenesis, are the major drivers for porosity and permeability creation and destruction within Upper Desert Creek strata. NSCF, specifically ooid grainstones, have the greatest diagenetic potential of the seven UDC lithofacies.

The Greater Aneth Buildup (GAB) is comprised of the 3rd-order middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian) Desert Creek sequence of the Paradox Formation. A hierarchy of 4th- and 5th order, carbonate-dominated cycles comprise the Upper Desert Creek (UDC) 4th-order sequence. A SE to NW trending transect line, utilizing core and petrophysical data from six oil and gas wells (from SE to NW wells R-19, Q-16, O-16, J-15, K-430, E-313), revealed deposition of seven carbonate facies within four 5th-order parasequences in the UDC. While each of the seven carbonate facies are present across the transect line, the UDC parasequences are dominated by a shallow-water oolite facies. Laterally and vertically, a general facies transition is evident in each of the four parasequences from a dominantly deeper-water succession of facies in the SE, to a more shallow-water, open marine to restricted lagoon, succession of facies to the NW. Parasequence UDC-3 contains the best representation of this facies transition with the SE wells (R-19, Q-16, and O-16) displaying the deeper-water/mixed algal facies grades into the shoaling oolite facies in the NW wells (J-15, K-430, and E-313). Within UDC strata, porosity and permeability correlate well to each other, but poorly to facies type. Porosity and permeability are predominantly controlled by diagenesis. Minor appearances of fibrous isopachus rim cements, and more common micritization (both whole grain and envelope) suggest that early-marine diagenesis occurred within the oolite facies. Meteoric diagenesis is demonstrated by abundant calcite spar, and drusy dogtooth cements within oomoldic pores, intraparticle pores, and interparticle pores, in addition to neomorphism of early marine diagenetic fabrics. Spastolithic ooids, stylolitization, and grain brecciation are representative of burial diagenesis within these strata. Dolomitization is present in each of the six studied core, but only in minor amounts. The Upper Desert Creek 3rd-order sequence has preserved laminamoldic diagenetic fabric that is the oldest known example of selective leaching in a meteoric vadose environment. Lithofacies trends along transect line A to A<&trade> demonstrate an increase in ooid-rich grainstone NSCF both vertically and laterally from the SE to the NW. Lithofacies type, combined with diagenesis, are the major drivers for porosity and permeability creation and destruction within Upper Desert Creek strata. NSCF, specifically ooid grainstones, have the greatest diagenetic potential of the seven UDC lithofacies.

abstract: Understanding and predicting climate changes at the urban scale have been an important yet challenging problem in environmental engineering. The lack of reliable long-term observations at the urban scale makes it difficult to even assess past climate changes. Numerical modeling plays an important role in filling the gap of observation and predicting future changes. Numerical studies on the climatic effect of desert urbanization have focused on basic meteorological fields such as temperature and wind. For desert cities, urban expansion can lead to substantial changes in the local production of wind-blown dust, which have implications for air quality and public health. This study expands the existing framework of numerical simulation for desert urbanization to include the computation of dust generation related to urban land-use changes. This is accomplished by connecting a suite of numerical models, including a meso-scale meteorological model, a land-surface model, an urban canopy model, and a turbulence model, to produce the key parameters that control the surface fluxes of wind-blown dust. Those models generate the near-surface turbulence intensity, soil moisture, and land-surface properties, which are used to determine the dust fluxes from a set of laboratory-based empirical formulas. This framework is applied to a series of simulations for the desert city of Erbil across a period of rapid urbanization. The changes in surface dust fluxes associated with urbanization are quantified. An analysis of the model output further reveals the dependence of surface dust fluxes on local meteorological conditions. Future applications of the models to environmental prediction are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Mechanical Engineering 2019

abstract: This research investigates the biophysical and institutional mechanisms affecting the distribution of metals in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. To date, a long-term, interdisciplinary perspective on metal pollution in the region has been lacking. To address this gap, I integrated approaches from environmental chemistry, historical geography, and institutional economics to study the history of metal pollution in the desert. First, by analyzing the chemistry embodied in the sequentially-grown spines of long-lived cacti, I created a record of metal pollution that details biogeochemical trends in the desert since the 1980s. These data suggest that metal pollution is not simply a legacy of early industrialization. Instead, I found evidence of recent metal pollution in both the heart of the city and a remote, rural location. To understand how changing land uses may have contributed to this, I next explored the historical geography of industrialization in the desert. After identifying cities and mining districts as hot spots for airborne metals, I used a mixture of historical reports, maps, and memoirs to reconstruct the industrial history of these polluted landscapes. In the process, I identified three key transitions in the energy-metal nexus that drove the redistribution of metals from mineral deposits to urban communities. These transitions coincided with the Columbian exchange, the arrival of the railroads, and the economic restructuring that accompanied World War II. Finally, to determine how legal and political forces may be influencing the fate of metals, I studied the evolution of the rights and duties affecting metals in their various forms. This allowed me to track changes in the institutions regulating metals from the mining laws of the 19th century through their treatment as occupational and public health hazards in the 20th century. In the process, I show how Arizona’s environmental and resource institutions were often transformed by extra-territorial concerns. Ultimately, this created an institutional system that compartmentalizes metals and fails to appreciate their capacity to mobilize across legal and biophysical boundaries to accumulate in the environment. Long-term, interdisciplinary perspectives such as this are critical for untangling the complex web of elements and social relations transforming the modern world. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Sustainability 2019

The speaker of The Desert Survival Guide is seeking to reconcile his own disconnection, from the natural world, the cosmos, his family, and from his sense of his own humanity. The poems in The Desert Survival Guide are a healing ceremony, to come to a place of acceptance regarding the loss of my father. The semi-autobiographical speaker of these poems has lost the immediate physical presence of his father in his life but still retains a deep memory imprint of the father and an unresolved need to process the absence of the father. He is gradually establishing a new connection to the land on which his father lived out his life and was buried. Impressions of his father bloom out from the geologic features of the landscape, the natural flora and fauna, all a realm of immediate waking dream. The speaker is something of an Orphean Shaman; he wanders the landscape howling his pain and loss, his love, his passions, as Orpheus did his songs. He seeks to pierce through the veil of death in order to reconcile the loss of his loved ones; he seeks to go beyond the human created world into the mystic experience of the desert through the power of utterance and by honoring virile animal familiars. He journey’s to the beyond, for much the same purposes as the shaman, a purpose common to poets, mystics, and scientists, to see beyond immediate knowing. He follows the most primal of human directives, the need to understand and communicate the experiences of his life which have struck him with great intensity.

VS is a poetic exercise in rhyme and rhythm. An exercise attempting to camouflage ideas in humor, in song, in lyrical overtures, and in social media pop culture lingo to highlight the damaging effects technology and social media have on the human relationship with the earth. VS is a mirror, is an attempt to selfie the world we have lost touch with by contemplating where our role as caretakers for our planet lies. Through varying poetic forms, VS displays and critiques the limited perspective forced upon us when we socialize and experience life solely through phones and screens. In this manuscript, the speaker is fluid and mainly seen in the first person plural, or the collective, “we.” This voice includes the average media-driven American, as well as one who is considering how social media impacts their current lifestyles. In VS, the speaker represents various voices of faceless social media users who are separated from the physical world by the screens themselves and by digital avatars disguising further what is real. And yet, the speaker also represents a voiceless natural world—such as if it had the ability to forbid our modern ways of life from diminishing the world’s natural resources and curb further global pollution—while always questioning how these ways of life are being preserved on the physical land we live on and alongside.

A series of severe and prolonged droughts occurred throughout the Northern Hemisphere between approximately 1150 BP to 600 BP. This phenomenon is referred to as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly and has been shown to have differentially impacted various regions of the world. Previous studies have suggested causal links between the Medieval Climatic Anomaly and observed culture change. The goal of this study was to examine the Antelope Valley region of the Mojave Desert for evidence of impacts on human populations related to the Medieval Climatic Anomaly. To achieve this goal, a sample selection of archaeological sites was chosen from lands within Edwards Air Force Base. These sites represented occupations which occurred immediately before, during, and after the Medieval Climatic Anomaly. Site assemblages were analyzed and compared by cultural period, with cross-comparisons made of artefactual and ecofactual constituents. Site densities and areal extents were also examined and compared. These analyses showed the emergence of trends concurrent with the introduction of the Medieval Climatic Anomaly. The data supports the hypothesis that humans who populated the Antelope Valley region of the Mojave Desert during this period may have engaged in population aggregation, with a tethered nomadism subsistence strategy. The data also shows evidence that upon the amelioration of the environment after the Medieval Climatic Anomaly, site characteristics within the region saw a significant shift. While the evidence generated by this study does suggest a link between climatic change experienced during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly and change observed within the archaeology of the Antelope Valley, it does not suggest climate as a sole, or even primary, causal factor. Rather, the intent of this study was to identify one possible variable responsible for observed change that occurred in the region. With this in mind, the Medieval Climatic Anomaly was found to have been significant enough to have either directly or indirectly impacted the prehistoric occupants of the study region.

Silver Sands is a thirty-minute documentary film and accompanying installation that traces the story of Marc Hampton, a gay, desert-dwelling Vietnam vet, former Playgirl model, and vintage car collector who lost two lovers to AIDS. Drawing on videotaped interviews, shots of his house and environs, and extensive use of his personal photographic archive, this work addresses evolving ideas of memory and representation within the queer community. The film is divided into various chapters which function as meditations on masculinity, aging, loss, spirituality and intergenerational relationships. Marc becomes an archetypal figure––the survivor––whose meandering recollections illustrate some of the complexities of gay experience in the past fifty years, and the difficulty of historicizing them. By emphasizing overlooked stories and forgotten spaces, exploring the tension between visibility and invisibility, and summoning the ghosts of the AIDS era, Silver Sands proposes remembering as a form of resistance.

Approximately 46 million acres or 88 per cent of the land area of the state of Utah has been classified by Reuss and Blanch (1951) as "range land open for grazing." Although some of this area cannot be grazed because of inaccessibility, lack of water, poison plants, and similar factors, it is estimated that some 40 million acres or 78 per cent of the total land area is available for grazing. Most of this grazing land is federally owned (73 per cent), while only 22 per cent is privately held, and 5 per cent is state owned.