Contact relations, and bedrock and overburden characteristics for approximately 8100 ha of the upper Canyon Creek basin, Skamania County, Washington, have been assessed in order to determine the causes and extent of failures and to assign slope failure susceptibilities to the area. The study area is located in the western Cascade Range on land administered by the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Clear-cutting over the past 30 years has impacted between 50% to 80% of the study area. The total surface area occupied by failure deposits (198.6 ha) is less than 2.5% of the study area. Failures occur by one of seven processes, in decreasing order of abundance: rockfall (53.6%), rock avalanche (25.3%), slumps (15.6%), streambank failures (3.4%), soil and debris slips (1%), snow avalanches (debris falls) (1%), and translational slides (0.1%). Integrity of the bedrock is primarily influenced by jointing characteristics, in particular: dilation, orientation and continuity. Groundwater is an important constituent in the failure of fragmental igneous bedrock, but has very little impact in inducing failure in compact igneous bedrock. Areas underlain by fragmental igneous bedrock have a proportionally greater number of translational and rotational failures. With increasing compact igneous bedrock content, small volume rockfall failures become more predominant. Sixteen to twenty percent of the roadbed surfaces in the study area are experiencing some type of failure. Up to 99 percent of roadbed failures are confined to the roadfill prism. Failure due to degradation of the subgrade is rarely obseived. Arcuate and sliver-like cracks, offsets, sinkholes, concentrations of potholes, broad slumps and chute formation in the roadfill are indicators of failure. Ditches without culverts, or with poorly placed, damaged or leaking culverts, result in oversaturation and piping within the fill which may lead to failure of the road. The potential for slope failure is assigned a rating of low, moderate or high. These ratings are based on a qualitative assessment of the impact of various factors on the factor of safety, through their ability to reduce the cohesion and friction of affected rock and soil masses. Low susceptibility areas cover approximately 10 percent of the area (810 ha). Slopes are less than 3.5 degrees. Nearly 70 percent of the study area can be classified as moderately susceptable (5670 ha). Slopes in these areas range up to the natural angle of repose. The high susceptibility category covers areas with near vertical slopes, continuous rockfall, previous failures or strong indications of potential failure. These areas cover about 20 percent of the basin ( 1620 ha) and include areas of actual failure and adjacent areas which have not failed but possess similar bedrock, cultural and groundwater characteristics.

Radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas produced as one of the decay products of soil/rock uranium and thorium, is considered to be a leading cause of pulmonary disease. Gamma spectrometry of 146 samples of soil were used to quantify radon source potential relative to lithology by measuring Bi 214 activity of the U 238 decay series. Additional soil radio nuclide data (Th 232, Ac 228, K40 and Cs137 ) were used to help identify regional source provenance geochemistry and soil development. Ac 228, Bi. 214 and Th232 activities in northwest Oregon soils range from five to 55 Bq/kg, while K40 activities range from 53 to 750 Bq/kg. In northwest Oregon, three radon potential zones are defined by soil Bi 214 activity: 62% falls within Low 1 zones (less than 25 Bq/kg), 35% falls within Low 2 zones (25 to 45 Bq/kg) and 3% falls within Moderate zones (greater than 45 Bq/kg). Low 1 zones are significantly influenced by proximal volcanic source provenances, while Low 2 zones and Moderate zones are considered to reflect distal plutonic and/or metamorphic source provenances. Soil radionuclide activity has been shown to vary with soil deve1opment. Th 232:K40 soi1 activity ratios and Bi214 soil activity are found to increase with soil development. Th 232 :K40 soil activity ratios of soils developed on, or from previously unweathered rock and sediment range between 0.03 and 0.08. Th232 :K40 activity ratios of soils developed on, or from previously weathered rock and sediment are often greater than 0.12. Soil radionuclide activity data of this study do not identify areas with known elevated indoor radon. Soil permeability data provided by the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) do identify the Alameda Ridge area of north and northeast Portland, an area with known elevated indoor radon. In Salem, Soil Conservation Service soil permeability data do not identify areas with elevated indoor radon. However, some areas of Salem with elevated indoor radon have landslides capable of affecting subsurface permeabilities. There is a possibility that subsurface soil permeabilities, favorable for convective soil gas transport and elevated indoor radon, exist at depths greater than those measured by the Soil Conservation Service.

For this thesis I applied classical and multi-component geothermometry techniques to new water chemistry data from Breitenbush Hot Springs, Oregon and the Wind River Valley, Washington. A total of 20 well, spring, and stream samples from Breitenbush Hot Springs and 4 spring samples from the Wind River Valley were collected and analyzed for major, minor, and select trace anions and cations, as well as stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopes. I used two computer programs, GeoT and RTEst, to conduct multi-component geothermometry reservoir condition estimation on each water sample. Water chemistry data from Breitenbush Hot Springs indicates a range of thermal, nonthermal, and mixed waters in wells and springs. Isotope data from Breitenbush Hot Springs indicates that thermal water is a mix between "andesitic waters" (6-10%) and meteoric water (90-94%) from the crest of the Oregon Cascades. Classical and multi-component geothermometry conducted for Breitenbush samples for this thesis suggest a reservoir temperature of approximately 137º C, which is close to the bottom hole temperature recorded in the nearby 2,457 meter deep SUNEDCO well of 141º C, but contrasts with previous applications of geothermometry which estimate a reservoir temperature between 170 and 180º C for the system. Reservoir estimates from this thesis for the Wind River Valley hot spring samples range from 80 to 100º C, which is consistent with previous studies. Multi-component geothermometry optimization indicates a loss of CO2 (i.e. degassing) during the water's ascent at both Breitenbush Hot Springs and the Wind River Valley, and that dilution from nonthermal water occurs in some samples from both areas. Multi-component geothermometry estimates were generally consistent between RTEst and GeoT; inconsistencies were primarily due to differences between the thermodynamic databases used for each program. Appendices A-E are included here as supplemental files.

The cosmogenic nuclide 10Be is a tool for quantifying earth surface processes that occur on millennial timescales. 10Be is produced in the atmosphere (meteoric 10Be) or in mineral grains (in situ 10Be). Well-understood nuclear physics, physical mixing processes, and the denudation of regolith control concentrations of in situ 10Be; in contrast, a combination of geomorphic, pedogenic, geochemical, and biological processes influence meteoric 10Be concentrations. Some have hypothesized that meteoric 10Be can be used as a tracer of sediment movement if meteoric 10Be is normalized against the concentration of native 9Be in grain coatings. This study aims to better understand Be dynamics in river sediment systems by further characterizing a large dataset of fluvial sediments (202 total samples from 7 study areas) that have previously been analyzed for in situ and meteoric 10Be. I determined 9Be and major element compositions of grain coatings (as the acid-extractable fraction) and grains (by total digestion) of fluvial sediments. I compiled the emical data with characteristics of sample watersheds that I acquired using ArcGIS and with meteoric and in situ 10Be data from previous studies. With this dataset, I performed a statistical analysis testing relationships between the concentration of meteoric 10Be and 9Be in acid-extractable grain coatings, meteoric 10Be/9Be ratios, 9Be concentrations in mineral grains, watershed characteristics, and major element compositions of fluvial sediment grains and grain coatings. I calculated meteoric 10Be/9Be-derived denudation rates using a published mass balance model and compared them to in situ 10Be-derived denudation rates. Though this thesis focuses on fluvial sediment samples, I also measured 9Be concentrations of soil, suspended sediment, and glacial lake sediment samples with known meteoric 10Be or in situ 10Be concentrations, which can be used in future studies of 9Be and 10Be dynamics. I find that meteoric 10Be and 9Be concentrations in grain coatings are significantly influenced by geochemical and geomorphic conditions in watersheds. HCl-extracted 9Be is significantly correlated to total meteoric 10Be concentrations in all but one study area, suggesting that meteoric 10Be and 9Be are well mixed in most, but not all, soil systems. Trends in meteoric 10Be do not mirror trends in in situ 10Be. Though normalizing meteoric 10Be against 9Be concentrations improves the correlation between meteoric 10Be and in situ 10Be in fluvial sediments, the spatial variation in parent 9Be concentrations and meteoric 10Be delivery rates, combined with the observation that meteoric 10Be and 9Be are not always well mixed, makes it difficult to interpret changes in meteoric 10Be/9Be across study areas. A mass balance model for deriving meteoric 10Be/9Be denudation rates helps control for some variation in 9Be concentrations and meteoric 10Be delivery rates across study areas, but uncertainties in quantifying these variables for each watershed introduce noise into the correlations between meteoric 10Be/9Be -derived denudation rates and 10Beis-derived denudation rates. When considering all samples, meteoric 10Be/9Be-derived and 10Beis-derived denudation rates are significantly correlated and have similar central tendencies. However, the 10Bemet/9Bereactive -derived measure is less sensitive to changes in denudation than the 10Beis –derived measure.

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To replenish and restore sandbars and thus preserve aquatic and riparian habitats along the Colorado River, four high-flow controlled floods were conducted as part of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program. While studies of the most recent flood event in November 2012 are not yet available, scientific research has been completed on the March-April 1996, November 2004, and March 2008 artificial floods. Ground based research on pre- and post-dam sediment-transport has yielded insights into the process of sedimentation, the types of sediments conducive to sandbar formation, the significance of antecedent sand supply, and the effect of high-flow discharges from Glen Canyon Dam along seven reaches of the Colorado River where substantial data were collected over the years. On the basis of GIS data collected before and after the 2004 flood and assembled into an overall image in ArcGIS, this study tests the hypothesis that the post-flood sandbar area and volume show substantial increases over the pre-flood measurements. Analyzing extensive reaches along the main stem of the river allows a comprehensive overview of sandbar movement and development that may serve as a predictive tool for future high-flow experiments.

Coral morphology is highly homoplastic, and reconstructing coral phylogeny based on morphological characters has long been problematic. Coral skeletal micromorphology and skeletal microstructure may be less homoplastic than traditional skeletal macromorphology. Micromorphology includes characteristics of septal teeth and associated features, such as granules. Microstructure is the internal structure of septa, walls and dissepiments. These micro-features can be visualized using light and scanning electron microscopy, and transverse thin sections, respectively. Although coral micro-features have been of interest to coral workers for decades, few have attempted using micro features for phylogenetic analyses. A phylogenetic analysis of the coral family Mussidae using micro-features as characters found that, in this family, phylogenies based on a combination of macromorphology and micro-features are more consistent with molecular phylogenies than phylogenetic analyses based on traditional macromorphological characters alone. Further exploration of micro-features using a quantitative method to assess septal dentition also supports the potential utility of micro-features in coral taxonomy. An elliptic Fourier analysis of septal tooth curvature within the coral family Mussidae reveals that there is quantifiable inter-specific variation in septal tooth shape. Although differences in septal tooth shape have long been described qualitatively, a quantitative assessment of this particular micro-feature confirms the objectivity of septal tooth shape variation. This outline analysis represents an important step toward novel approaches to exploring coral micro-features.