Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Geology, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

The wide variety of strata, structural features, and landscapes of Capitol Reef National Park result from its complex, yet discoverable history. Our task was to write and design an informative book on this complexity while making it engaging for the public. We approached the design of this book using Stufflebeam's (2007) CIPP model. The CIPP model uses both summative and formative evaluations in the categories of context, input, process, and product. It provides the framework to methodically investigate the value of a product and identify and correct less effective pedagogical and design elements during its development. We demonstrated the use of the CIPP model as we wrote and illustrated pages of our book. Beginning with context, we identified our target audience, decided how we would provide a book that would serve this cohort, and made a plan for what we would accomplish with Exploring the Diverse Geology of Capitol Reef National Park. The input step involved understanding how to make our goals reality, especially concerning the design of the final book. We researched how the brain learns most effectively and incorporated those ideas into our book. We used principles developed by Clark and Mayer (2011) to reduce extraneous cognitive load. Research by James Hartley (1994) guided the instructional design and typography techniques. The process step helped us stay organized and follow our original plans. Finally, the product step enabled us and others to evaluate our product both formatively and summatively to make necessary alterations and plans for possibly future editions.

Utah prairie dogs were transplanted onto the site of a former colony located on Jones Bench in the northwestern corner of Capitol Reef National Park. Shrubs on Jones Bench were significantly taller than those found on active colonies of Ut ah prairie dogs located nearby on the Awapa Plateau. Therefore, the Jones Bench site offered an opportunity to test the hypothesis that shrub height is a major inhibitory factor on occupation of sites by prairie dogs. Four sites of 5 ha each were delimited on Jones Bench prior to the transplanting o~ animals. Vegetation treatments were carried out on three of the sites and the fourth was used as a nonmanipulated control . Mechanical treatments by rotobeating and railing were accomplished in late August, 1978. A herbicidal treatment (2,4-D) was done on the third site in the spring of 1979. Shrub height and percent cover were significantly reduced on all three treatment sites. Post-treatment effects on the vegetation during the first year showed that the greatest percent moisture in herbage was found on the railed site, followed by the herbicide, rotobeaten, and control sites. Herbage production was approximately three times greater on the rotobeaten and railed sites than on the control and herbicide sites. Measurements of the visual obstructions of prairie dogs showed that the rotobeaten site had the greatest visibility followed by the railed, herbicide, and control sites. Prior to release of prairie dogs on the study area, 200 artificial burrows arranged in a matrix, were dug with an enginepowered post-hole auger on each site. In late June and early July, 1979, 200 Utah prairie dogs were live-trapped near Loa, Utah. A total of 50 immature males, immature females, mature males, and mature females were released on each site. The animal's fur was dyed with a specific mark representing their respective transplant site before their release. The transplanted animals were monitored daily for 23 consecutive days following the release of the first animals and biweekly thereafter throughout the summer and early fall. Significant differences were found in the number of animals reestablished on each site except between the herbicide treatment and control site. The majority of all animals transplanted moved onto the rotobeaten site; the railed, herbicide, and control sites were selected in decreasing order. Results indicated that when transplanting animals onto sites of former colonies, particularly sites that are overgrown with shrubs, the chances of a successful transplant could be increased by first reducing shrub height and density. Proof of reestablishment at the Jones Bench site will be evident if reproduction is observed in the spring of 1980.

A new geologic map of the Twin Rocks 7.5 minute quadrangle primarily located within Capitol Reef National Park, south-central Utah, provides stratigraphic and structural detail not previously available. This map has also been instrumental in understanding the evolution and development of fluvial terraces associated with Sulfur Creek and the structural geology of the backlimb of the Miners Mountain uplift. Nine bedrock stratigraphic formations and eight types of Quaternary deposits were mapped throughout the quadrangle. Bedrock stratigraphy ranges in age from Permian to Jurassic. New details absent on previous geologic maps include members of the Chinle and Moenkopi Formations and the Jurassic Page Sandstone, a stratigraphic unit herein separated from the Navajo Sandstone. Terraces associated with Sulfur Creek record the central pathway of ancient streams rather than the lateral extent of the floodplain. Volcanic boulder-rich terrace deposits were likely created as stream channels were clogged with volcanic boulders and subsequently abandoned. The boulder-fill effectively armored the underlying softer bedrock. As the stream moved away from the abandoned, boulder-filled channel, it eroded and downcut into the adjacent softer mudstone bedrock, rather than eroding through the more resistant boulder alluvium. Thus, the abandoned boulder-filled channel becomes elevated relative to the stream. This inverted topography is preserved as elevated fluvial terrace deposits. This style of preservation of linear terraces developed over a broad area is in contrast to nearby terraces along the Fremont River which are preserved as "steps" cut into the resistant sandstones of the Glen Canyon Group along the Waterpocket Fold. These terraces have been used to identify changes in the location of Sulfur Creek through time. Kinematic analysis of structures in the backlimb of the uplift show a principle compressive stress orientation nearly perpendicular to the uplift axis and rotated 30° counter clockwise from the stress indicated by deformation bands measured in the forelimb. These data suggest that stress transmitted through the basement is partitioned and rotated in the backlimb, likely due to decoupling and differential slip in strata with low shear strength. Such decoupling would allow the stress to be rotated perpendicular to the resisting fold axis, rather than parallel to the far-field stress transmitted through the basement. Sandbox models produced in this study display boundary perpendicular structures similar to those measured in the backlimb of the Miners Mountain uplift.

The Golden Throne Quadrangle is located within Capitol Reef National Park, south-central Utah. Geologic mapping of this 1:24,000 scale 7.5 minute quadrangle began in 2003 as the National Parks Service desired to have geologic maps at this scale produced within the park. Stratigraphically, ten bedrock formations and ten Quaternary deposits are exposed within the Golden Throne Quadrangle. Geologic formations range in age from Permian to Jurassic. This map contains details not included on previous geologic maps including; the members of the Carmel, Chinle, and Moenkopi Formations. Additionally, the Page Sandstone is herein mapped as an independent unit. Structurally the Golden Throne Quadrangle encompasses most of the southern quarter of the Miners Mountain uplift. The crest of this southwest verging uplift is cut by the left-lateral strike-slip Teasdale Fault zone. Preparation of a cross-section through the axis of the uplift within the quadrangle has not permitted the use of usual faulting and folding mechanisms (i.e. fault-bend folds and fault-propagation folds) for the creation of the uplift. Two structural models can account for the geometries observed in the field. The first model is a high angle reverse basement fault; the second model is a fold over an inverted basin. The Jurassic Page Sandstone, in the Golden Throne Quadrangle, is composed of the Harris Wash and Thousand Pockets Members, which are divided by the Judd Hollow Tongue, a member of the overlying Carmel Formation It represents an erg deposit and is primarily composed of eolian sandstone. Study of the formation within the Golden Throne Quadrangle helped in the understanding of its local characteristics. Previous research has helped to develop a regional stratigraphic framework for the Page Sandstone. This study cannot be easily incorporated into the regional framework of previous studies. In order to fully understand the sedimentology of the Page Sandstone additional research will need to be accomplished.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Geology, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

A new geologic map of the Deer Point 7.5' quadrangle located in the southern region of Capitol Reef National Park in south-central Utah provides stratigraphic and structural detail not previously available. The Deer Point quadrangle was mapped at a scale of 1:24,000 and is the fourth geologic map completed at this scale in Capitol Reef National Park. Twelve Quaternary units and eighteen bedrock formations and members are exposed in the Deer Point quadrangle. Bedrock formations range in age from Triassic to Cretaceous. The details not available on previous geologic maps include: four alluvial terrace units, two lacustrine units, two mass movement units, and members of the Moenkopi, Chinle, and Carmel Formations. Historically the Page Sandstone has been mapped as part of the Navajo Sandstone or the Carmel Formation. This map identifies the Page Sandstone as a separate and independent unit. The Deer Point quadrangle is cross cut by a portion of a Laramide-age, basement cored, NNW-SSE trending asymmetrical anticline called the Waterpocket Fold. Strikes and dips measured throughout the Deer Point quadrangle identify the vergence of the anticline as eastward with a maximum dip of 49˚ on the forelimb and 7˚ on the backlimb. The maximum dip on the forelimb dramatically decreases in the southern quarter of the quadrangle to 15˚.The Utah Geological Survey is mapping the Hite Crossing 30' x 60' quadrangle at a scale of 1:62.500. The Deer Point quadrangle is one of 32 quadrangles that comprise the Hite Crossing quadrangle. The Utah Geological Survey is working to establish erosion rates on the Colorado Plateau. To do this, they are dating alluvial terrace deposits. Within the Deer Point quadrangle four new terrace levels have been identified that could help with this research. Additional research could use these terrace deposits to better understand erosion rates in the Deer Point quadrangle and the broader Colorado Plateau. Numerous mass movement deposits are found within the Deer Point quadrangle. The largest has been named the Red Slide. Several aspects of the Red Slide are identified including classification, breakaway zone, source, deposit size, composition, debris flow path and depositional history. The Red Slide has been classified as a debris flow. The breakaway zone is a concave cliff 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the west of the debris flow's present location. The flow's scarp is no longer identifiable. The source of the debris flow material is the Chinle Formation and Wingate Sandstone. The Red Slide deposit covers an area of over 16.6 million ft2 (~1.5 million m2). The toe of the debris flow is 1 mile (1.6 km) wide. The estimated maximum thickness of the debris flow is sixty meters. The Red Slide is composed of fine-grained, clay- and silt- sized material, and a small amount of angular pebble- to cobble-sized limestone clasts from the Owl Rock Member of the Chinle Formation. Boulder- to sand-sized grains from the Wingate Sandstone are scattered throughout the deposit with the larger grains forming inversely grading packages. The Red Slide likely occurred as a series of large debris flows, not one catastrophic event, although they may have occurred at about the same time.

Elevation, longitudinal profile, and Schmidt hammer data indicate that strath terraces (specifically the lower elevation terraces) mapped in the Fremont River drainage of Capitol Reef National Park are correlative to the terraces of the smaller Pleasant Creek drainage located approximately ten miles to the south. This correlation suggests that drainage development in this area of the Colorado Plateau was strongly dependent upon a regional-scale forcing mechanism (e.g. climate) rather than strictly independent basin-scale processes. Elevations of mapped strath terraces and their associated black volcanic boulder deposits were calculated from geologic maps, Digital Elevation Models (DEM), and Digital Orthophoto Quadrangles of the Fruita and Golden Throne Quadrangles, Wayne and Garfield Counties, Utah. Terraces in both drainages were placed into twenty foot elevation bins and then gathered into larger terrace levels based upon population breaks and the degree of weathering as seen from Schmidt hammer hardness data. Comparison of the two datasets indicate that the two lowest terrace levels of the Fremont River compare well with the two terrace levels of Pleasant Creek both in elevation above the present stream bed and in Schmidt hammer hardness measurements. Our data demonstrate that the Fremont River drainage is likely much older than the smaller Pleasant Creek drainage. Further, correlative terrace data strongly suggests that glacial-interglacial climate forcing played a dominant role in the landscape evolution of both drainages and by inference, the broader Colorado Plateau. Terrace elevation data were compared with recently published cosmogenic ages for several terrace deposits located within the Fremont River drainage. This comparison provides compelling evidence that highest concentrations of preserved terraces may be time correlative with discrete isotopic stages associated with glacial maximum and/or deglacial conditions. Finally, our data also demonstrate that in this area of the Colorado Plateau incision rates are on the order of ~60 to 85 cm/ka, which is on the high end of reported rates from other researchers.

Riedel shear zones are geometric fault patterns commonly associated with strike-slip fault systems. The progressive evolution of natural Riedel shear zones within the Navajo Sandstone of southern Utah is interpreted from the spatial evolution of small-scale, incipient Proto-Riedel Zones (PRZs) to better-developed Riedel shear zones using field mapping and three-dimensional digital modeling. PRZs nucleate as a tabular zone of localized shearing marked by en èchelon deformation bands, each of which is no more than a few mm wide and tens of cm long, and oriented at 55° - 85° to the trend of the zone. With increasing strain, deformation bands and sedimentary markers are sheared ductily through granular flow and assume a sigmoidal form. The temporal and spatial evolution of bands comprising a Riedel shear zone suggests that PRZs nucleate as transitional-compactional deformation bands under localized, supra-lithostatic fluid pressure. Subsequent bands develop under modified regional stresses as conjugate shear fractures within the strain- hardened axis of the PRZ. These antithetic driven systems are not compatible with traditional synthetic driven models of Riedel shear zones. Unlike most synthetic driven examples, these antithetic driven systems are not controlled by preexisting "basement" structures, thus their geometries reflect a primary propagation or secondary passive deformation mechanism.

Engineers frequently use computerized numeric models to calculate and predict water levels and current patterns for rivers, bays, and other bodies of water. This computation often involves an iterative process known as incremental loading that can cause frustration and consume a lot of time. Although the steering module in the Surface-water Modeling System (SMS) automates incremental loading to minimize user interaction, it can still be very time consuming. This thesis examines the steering module and the incremental loading process to improve its efficiency. Specifically, the RMA2 and FESWMS models are utilized. Two methods of improving efficiency are examined. The first includes creating predicted solution files for each step of the incremental loading process. These predictions allow the steering module to take larger steps and decrease the computation time. The second method changes the algorithm used to determine the size of each step. Finally, the interface to the process was examined and simplified to require minimal input and to make the input more intuitive.