The Lower to Middle Ordovician Garden City Formation and Pogonip Group are coeval successions of mixed carbonate and siliciclastic rocks deposited under normal marine conditions on a shallow carbonate ramp on the western margin of Laurentia. The Garden City Formation was deposited in the Northern Utah Basin and the Pogonip Group was deposited in the Ibex Basin. These two basins experienced different rates of thermal subsidence following Neoproterozoic rifting along the western margin of Laurentia resulting in significant thickness differences between rock units and varying lithologic expressions of eustatic change. This study provides a unique opportunity to examine the lithologic, geochemical, and paleontological responses to eustatic oscillations of two coeval sedimentary basins in Utah that formed under different tectonic settings and subsidence rates. The Garden City Formation is composed of fourteen lithotypes and the Pogonip Group is composed of eleven lithotypes. These lithotypes mainly represent depositional environments ranging from inner ramp and middle ramp with minor outer ramp deposits. Many lithologies appear to be storm influenced due to the presence of abundant rip-up clasts (intraclasts), fragmented bioclasts, and occasional mega-ripples. Other lithologies have been extensively bioturbated and burrowed. Nine stratigraphic sequences have previously been identified within the Pogonip Group. Eight equivalent, albeit compressed, sequences within the Garden City Formation were located using biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic correlations, and increases in insoluble residues often found at the bases of sequence boundaries. Sequences are expressed as deepening-upward packages containing silty/sandy lowstand deposits that transition into wackestones and lime mudstone-rich highstand deposits. Several sequence boundaries appear to coincide with conodont and/or trilobite extinction events. Important sequence boundaries mark the Sauk III-m and Sauk IV-m transition and the Ibexian- Whiterockian Series boundary. Meter-scale cycles are common and likely related to Milankovitch cyclicity. Insoluble residue increases upsection at each location which may indicate a gradual overall drop in sea level due to the onset of the regressive upper portion of the Sauk III supersequence. Insoluble residue from the Pogonip Group ranges from 1.2 to 84.7 wt. % with an average of 16.0 wt. % ± 0.7 wt. %. Insoluble residue from the Garden City Formation ranges from 1.5 to 63.8 wt. % with an average of 13.4 wt. % ± 1.0 wt. %. New stable carbon isotope data (δ13C) from the Garden City Formation and the Pogonip Group range from -2.92 to 1.23 ‰ V-PDB and -2.19 to 0.56 ‰ V-PDB, respectively. Four distinct δ13C trends are recognized in both sections: 1) a drop in δ13C from positive values between 0.2-1.0 ‰ to negative values approaching -1.0 ‰ near the base of the Ordovician, 2) a 0.5 to 1.0 ‰ positive δ13C excursion near the top of the Rossodus manitouensis Zone, 3) a drop in δ13C values to near -2.0 ‰ through most of the Acodus deltatus –Oneotodus costatus Zone, and 4) a gradual increase in δ13C from - 2.0 ‰ to -1.0 ‰ throughout the remainder of the sections. δ13C of the Garden City Formation and the Pogonip Group appear to be correlative based on these distinct trends. This correlative relationship was verified by the lowest occurrence of conodont species Scolopodus filosus and Scalpellodus n. sp. A of the Low Diversity Interval which coincides with the positive δ13C excursion in both the Garden City Formation and the Pogonip Group. New δ13C data likely represent global primary seawater chemistry based on the correlation of similar δ13C trends from the Argentine Precordillera and western Newfoundland.

The stratal architecture of the upper Ely Limestone and Mormon Gap Formation (Pennsylvanian-early Permian) in western Utah reflects the interaction of icehouse sea-level change and tectonic activity in the distal Antler-Sonoma foreland basin. Eighteen physically and biostratigraphically corelated stratigraphic sections provide a database for tracing Permo-Carboniferous boundary strata over a north-south distance of 60 km. These formations comprise 14 unconformity-bounded depositional sequence: three in the upper Ely (UE1-UE3) and 11 in the Mormon Gap Formation (MG1-MG11). Conodont and fusulinid faunas provide precise biostratigraphic information for a number of parasequences in the upper Ely and Mormon Gap formations. This paleontological information clarifies the tectonostratigraphic evolution of the distal foreland basin (study area) and permits correlation with events in the proximal foreland (Nevada) and with depositional sequences in the North American midcontinent. The stratigraphic succession is divided into three depositional intervals (I-III) with distinctive differences in constituent facies and facies stacking patterns, the regional continuity of cycles, the relative abundance of dolomite and limestone, calculated sediment accumulation rates, and the frequency and inferred duration of sequence-bounding hiatuses. These reflect the interaction of high-frequency sea-level change on an intermittently subsiding distal foreland basin. Subsidence is generally continuous during the Bashkirian through middle Moscovian (Interval I) and again during the Artinskian (Interval II). During the late Moscovian through Sakmarian stages (Interval III), subsidence rates dropped and sedimentation occurred mainly in consequence of second-order sea-level rise associated with the highstand of the Lower Absaroka II seas. Strata in the distal foreland are bounded by low-relief disconformities of variable duration in stark contrast to the angular unconformities and intensely deformed tectonostratigraphic domains that characterize the proximal foreland basin in north-central Nevada.

The nitrogen budgets of Eurotia lanata (Pursh.) Moq. and Atriplex confertifolia (Torr. and Frem.) S. Wats salt desert shrub plant communities were investigated. In each, a complete biomass and organic nitrogen inventory was made. In addition, investigations of the nitrogen fixation potential of soil surface microflora and inorganic soil nitrogen relationships were carried out. Greater total biomass and organic nitrogen was found in the above-ground portions, annual shoot productivity, and litter of the Atriplex community. However, the Atriplex community was exceeded by the Eurotia community in root biomass. Roots accounted for 74 and 87 percent of the plant biomass and 83 and 90 percent of the associated organic nitrogen in Eurotia and Atriplex communities respectively. Root biomass distribution at various depths was markedly different in the two communities. Differences between communities in relative amounts of various plant parts and litter are related to contrasting plant growth habit, and differences in soil texture and soil salinity. Total plant biomass estimates, which were 18,480 and 17,300 kilograms per hectare for Eurotia and Atriplex communities, were not significantly different and reflect the overriding influence of macroclimate and associated moisture limitation. Under laboratory conditions the soil surface microflora of the Atriplex community was able to fix significant amounts of atmospheric nitrogen while that of the Eurotia community did not. Nitrogen fixation potential in the Atriplex community was associated with the presence of abundant lichen cover and associated heterocvstcontaining blue-green algae of lichen interspaces. Differences between communities were found in rates of mineralization, downward flux, and pattern of utilization of inorganic soil nitrogen. Soil salinity appeared to strongly limit inorganic soil nitrogen mineralization as well as root growth and nitrogen uptake in the lower part of the Atriplex soil profile; however, this lack of biological activity was compensated for by a greater downward flux of inorganic soil nitrogen from decomposing litter and surface soil in the Atriplex community. Shoot and root litter appears to be the most readily available source of inorganic soil nitrogen for plant growth in salt desert shrub plant communities.

Lead ingestion adversely affects humans and over 130 species of wildlife. Wild chukars (Alectoris chukar) are documented to ingest lead, but the causes and consequences of this ingestion are poorly understood. The objectives of this research were to 1) examine the influence of habitat use, the hunting season, and seasonal climate on the extent and severity of lead ingestion by chukars in western Utah, 2) assess the effects of habitat use, feeding behaviors, and lead density on the causes of lead-pellet ingestion in captive and wild chukars, and 3) investigate the consequences of lead-pellet ingestion in captive chukars as a function of lead weathering, diet, and wild onion (Allium spp.) supplementation. I documented that 11.5% (n=54) of my sample of wild-harvested chukars contained an ingested lead pellet or increased liver lead (≥ 0.5 ppm). In conjunction with data from captive chukars dosed with lead, I was able to differentiate between bone-lead concentrations resulting from chronic or acute exposure to lead. I documented individuals from seven different mountain ranges with an ingested lead pellet or increased liver lead. I recorded 19 instances of ingested lead during June-October (n=221) and 20 during November-January (n=193). I observed 14 events of increased liver lead for June-October (n=97), but did not find a single occurrence during November-January (n=24). The frequency of lead-pellet ingestion by captive chukars increased significantly when given a greater density of lead pellets with food and when fed a diet with seeds and grit pebbles that were similar visually to lead pellets. I estimated a density of 1,712,134 pellets/Ha in soils at an area used for target shooting. I found significantly more lead pellets in soils near springs than near guzzlers or reference points. I calculated that as many as 58,600 pellets/Ha may be present in soils near springs, and up to 2,445 pellets/Ha in soils surrounding guzzlers and reference points. One #6 lead pellet was able to induce morbidity and mortality in captive chukars. A mixed-seed diet and lead weathering exacerbated the effects of lead ingestion, whereas wild onion supplementation alleviated them.