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I Am is a creative thesis in the form of a theatrical play. This play creates a new Appalachian legend based around the Biblical Story of Moses, feminism, and the African Deity Mami Wata.

The thermal and diagenetic evolution of Carboniferous sandstones in the central Appalachian basin has been resolved using various techniques. Paleothermometers including vitrinite reflectance and fluid inclusions indicate that burial of Lower and Upper Pennsylvanian strata of the Appalachian Plateau in West Virginia exceeded 4.4 km during the late Permian and occurred at a rate of ~100 m/m.y. Exhumation rates of ~10-30 m/m.y. from maximum burial to present depth were constrained using published apatite fission track and radiogenic helium ages. Quartz, lithic and feldspar-rich sandstones from different stratigraphic intervals and locations were sampled from core (95 %) and outcrop (5%) to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate sandstone diagenesis. A compositional multivariate data set compiled from point counts served as the basis for quantitative analysis of controls on sandstone diagenesis such as framework grain composition, paleoclimate and depositional environment. A priori groups (independent variables) corresponding to the controls were compared using digenetic products (dependent variables). Major conclusions of the analysis are, first, minerals that formed early appear to have been influenced by stratigraphic position. The distribution of siderite and iron-oxide/oxyhydroxide may reflect the second order paleoclimatic signature recognized throughout the Carboniferous, where siderite formed during everwet periods and iron-oxide/oxyhydroxide during semi-arid conditions, reflecting differences in redox. Second, framework grain composition controlled the distribution of diagenetic alterations and quartz cementation in the burial environment. Lithic arenites are deficient in authigenic quartz, yet have undergone various degrees of illitization. The quartz deficiency is attributed to compaction-related loss of primary porosity relatively early, which inhibited flow of silica-bearing fluids. Finally, no correlation can be demonstrated between depositional environment and diagenesis. Anomalously high fluid inclusion homogenization temperatures (> 215 °C) from Upper Pennsylvanian sandstones adjacent to the Alleghany Thrust Front indicate that tectonic setting played an important role in quartz authigenesis. The discrepancy between the fluid inclusion and vitrinite reflectance data imply that warm silica-bearing fluids, likely sourced from low-grade metamorphic reactions, were injected into Pennsylvanian sandstone aquifers during thrust loading associated with the Alleghanian orogeny. / Ph. D.

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No description available.

No description available.

A collection of poetry that primarily deals with Appalachian voice and environmental issues, navigating queer identities in rural spaces, and violence against the female body. / MFA

This thesis explores the potential for communities to become involved in efforts to develop ecologically sustainable societies. As the concept of community is often ill defined, this thesis explores traditional and interest-based ideas of community, and develops a conceptualization of a work-based community. The history and development of the Appalachian Trail is reviewed as an example of how private citizens can reshape unbuilt environments through physical work and dedication to a common goal. Through the work of maintaining a 2,100-mile hiking trail, trail managers come to share common experiences and goals, as well as developing relationships with people and places that make it possible to recognize these maintainers as a work-based community. The A.T. management community exemplifies the potential for communities to have substantive in efforts to develop more ecologically sustainable and socially equitable ways for humans to live, work, and play in built and unbuilt environments. / Master of Arts

The goal of this study is to assess the quality of family planning services in rural areas of Virginia. Through interviews with the public and not-for profit clinics, I collected various facts and through client survey, I obtained women's perceptions and feeling about the services provided to them. The goal was to reconcile responses wherever possible, and furthermore, identify differences between facts provided by the clinics and perceptions of clients. From the client surveys, I found that the majority of women are satisfied with the family planning services. Moreover, Appalachian women report higher satisfaction with the family planning services than non-Appalachian women. However, accessibility remains one of the major problems and obstacles to the family planning services. Women that report long waiting time and lack of transportation also have lower satisfaction scores with the services. From qualitative interviews, it is apparent that staff is doing a good job at assisting rural Appalachian women. However, as in client survey, staff reported problems with access to family planning services, such as transportation, unawareness of women of existing services, financial difficulties, and the need of more days and hours of clinic operation. / Master of Science

This research seeks to compare and contrast fictional Appalachian writings by Lee Smith and Mildred Haun to contemporary historical sources in an attempt to trace the development of Appalachian music between the mid-nineteenth century and the late twentieth century. The thesis examines two novels by Lee Smith (The Devil’s Dream and Oral History) and the collection The Hawk’s Done Gone by Mildred Haun, which includes a short novel and several short stories. Contemporary primary sources and scholarly secondary sources were used to compare the fictional works’ depictions of Appalachian music to their historical counterparts. Also included within the thesis is a discussion of Smith and Haun’s personal and research backgrounds and their connections to Appalachian music. Overall, the study found Smith and Haun’s works accurate and based in historical fact, in part due to both writers’ use of historical research and interviews to inform their fiction.