Applying a hierarchic 'Milankovitch' orbital forcing model, a fourth-order (400 ka, long eccentricity) sequence and its internal cyclic structure, in the middle part of the Wills Creek Formation, can be correlated between Pinto, Maryland and Mt. Union, Pennsylvania, a distance of 150 km. This fourth-order sequence comprises four fifth­-order (100 ka, short eccentricity) cycles arranged in an asymmetric shallowing-upward pattern, in which the second fifth-order cycle contains a markedly deeper facies or is more carbonate-rich. Fifth-order cycles in the Wills Creek Formation consist of three to five sixth-order (20 ka, precessional) cycles generally arranged in an asymmetric pattern in which the second sixth-order cycle contains the deepest facies. Within sixth-order cycles, the basal deposits (occurring just above surfaces produced by precessionally forced sea-level rises) are carbonate-rich while the upper, shallower parts of cycles are characterized by an abundance of green (or sometimes red) shale. The deepest (most open marine) carbonate facies are oosparites and biosparites. The shallowest facies may be either mudcracked or simply massive (bioturbated?) shale. Within the studied fourth-order sequence at both localities, symmetry, thickness and fifth-order cyclic structure are similar. The most significant difference between the two localities is that the sequence at Mt. Union contains more onshore and/or nonmarine facies than the correlative sequence at Pinto. The consistency in the pattern of hierarchic cyclic structure between such distant and facies-distinctive localities reinforces an interpretation of Milankovitch orbital forcing as an explanation for Wills Creek cyclic stratigraphy. / Earth and Environmental Science / Accompanied by one .pdf file: 1) Brown-Supplemental-1999.pdf

As a result of urbanization, impermeable surfaces cover about 40% of land area around Pennypack Creek (Philadelphia, PA). The resulting increase in stormwater runoff leads to flooding, bank erosion, and stream habitat degradation. Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) have been constructed in the Pennypack Preserve (Montgomery County, PA) to evaluate the effectiveness of various mitigation techniques. The BMPs include a row of 3 infiltration trenches constructed in July 2006 to compare different designs. Water level data were recorded in monitoring wells from December 2006 through June 30, 2009, in addition to controlled infiltration experiments. The monitoring wells in the infiltration trenches allowed monitoring of any gradual loss of mitigation effectiveness and for quantitative comparison of the different trench designs. The right and center trenches are filled with gravel, and the left trench is filled with sand. The center trench is distinguished from the right by a leaf filter. Both seasonal data and controlled experiments showed water in the trenches drained at different rates in the different sections. The right gravel-filled trench tended to have the highest peak water levels followed by the center gravel with filter trench. The center trench showed a slow drainage rate from the beginning of monitoring, thus any effect of the center trench's leaf filter was obscured. The sand-filled trench showed the fastest drainage rate of the 3 trenches. The drainage rate was uniform within each trench over the 2.5 years of monitoring. The seasonal data showed that the right gravel-filled trench showed the most water level peaks, and the center gravel-filled and left sand-filled trenches responded to fewer storms over time. However, the uniform drainage rate suggests this decline in response was not due to degradation but rather a change in water delivery. As of May 2009, water from most storms flowed into only the right gravel trench due to berm erosion. At the end of the study, water level data showed that the trenches continued to receive stormwater without overflowing and drain within 72 hours, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection recommended design limit. Monitoring water level data in the infiltration BMP showed drainage effectiveness over time but also pointed out how unplanned design differences (water delivery and construction variation) affected trench behavior. Monitoring is the key to developing successful designs, implementation, and maintenance of stormwater BMPs. / Earth and Environmental Science / Accompanied by one .pdf file: 1) Jedrzejczyk-Supplemental-2010.pdf

Application of the Milankovitch model of allocyclicity to the New Creek and Corriganville Formations in central Pennsylvania reveals vertically consistent and laterally correlative stacking patterns of fifth-order and sixth-order cycles in below-wave-base shelf facies. Overlying an unconformable third-order sequence boundary (Keyser-New Creek boundary), the formational succession consists of progressively deeper fifth-order sequences traceable throughout Pennsylvania. The New Creek Formation is one fifth-order sequence, consisting of shallow-shelf, bioturbated calcarenite packaged into three meter-scale allocycle or (PACs). This fifth-order sequence, incomplete because of hiatus at the third-order boundary, is asymmetric, shallowing to peritidal facies in the uppermost Pac at Tyrone. In general, the Corriganville Formation is a complete fifth-order sequence consisting of five sixth-order cycles, but is incomplete at Tyrone where the basal PAC is missing. PAC 1 was not deposited at Tyrone because this area was not flooded by the first precessional rise in the Corriganville fifth-order sequence. Unlike New Creek PACs, which are internally gradational, Corriganville PACs contain distinct highstand and lowstand portions separated by a sea-level-­fall surface. Precession-driven eustacy is responsible for the primary cyclic fabric of this stratigraphic interval. Eccentricity functioned as a modulator by enhancing the precessional affect at the fifth-order boundaries and by dampening the precessional affect within the fifth-­order sequence and producing a general shallowing-upward trend. Recognition of these cyclic patterns, at the sixth and fifth-order scale, lends support to the concept of a genetic hierarchy of allocycles. / Earth and Environmental Science

No description available.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been identified as a feasible technology to reduce CO2 emissions whilst permitting the continued use of fossil fuels. Injected CO2 must remain efficiently isolated from the atmosphere on a timescale of the order of 10000 years and greater. Natural CO2-rich sites can be investigated to understand the behaviour of CO2 in geological formations on such a timescale. This thesis examines the reservoir and seal on one such oilfield. Several hydrocarbon fields in the South Viking Graben of the North Sea naturally contain CO2, which is thought to have charged from depth along the western boundary fault of the graben. The Miller oil field which contains ~ 28 mol% CO2, of isotopic composition δ13C = -8.2‰. The Upper Jurassic Brae Formation reservoir sandstones and the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (KCF) seal have been exposed to the CO2 accumulation since its emplacement. Rock samples from the reservoir sandstone and bottom of the seal mudrock were examined using multiple techniques, including XRD, SEM, fluid inclusion and carbonate stable isotope analyses. The sandstones show no features directly attributable to abundant CO2 charge. SEM analyses reveal significant heterogeneities in diagenesis within the KCF. The silt/sand lithologies of the KCF have undergone a diagenetic history similar to that of the Brae Formation sandstones. In contrast, the KCF shales display a distinctly different diagenesis of dominant dissolution of quartz and feldspar with little evidence of mineral precipitation. In both the Brae Formation and the KCF, pore-filling kaolinite, illite and carbonates are relatively late diagenetic events which can be associated with CO2-induced feldspar dissolution. Mudrock X-ray diffraction mineralogical data reveal abrupt vertical mineralogical variations across the reservoir crest in the Miller Field, while such variations are absent in a low-CO2 control well in the same geological settings. This suggests that reactions induced by abundant CO2 dissolved feldspar and produced kaolinite, carbonates and quartz in the seal, while oil emplacement inhibited the reactions in the oil leg. However, petrographic evidence and comparison between different sections argue against CO2 reactions as the sole cause for such large mineralogical variations, especially for quartz. The vertical mineralogical variations to a certain extend represent original sedimentary heterogeneity. Linear variations of carbonate δ13C with depth were discovered in both shale and silt/sand lithologies of the KCF in a 12m zone immediately above the reservoir. These features are absent in the low-CO2 control well. These trends are interpreted as dissolution of original carbonates by CO2 slowly ascending from the reservoir. New carbonates precipitated from a carbon source with upwards decreasing δ13C due to mixing between three carbon sources with different C isotopes at systematically varying ratios. The isotopes in the reservoir and the bottom of the seal suggests initial CO2 charge at about 70-80 Ma. CO2 infiltration rate is estimated at about 9.8×10-7g·cm-2·y-1. Geochemical modelling was applied to reconstruct the reservoir fluid evolution by calibrating it to mineralogy, fluid chemistry, diagenesis and fluid inclusion data. The modelling suggests that CO2 migrated into the reservoir together with a saline basinal fluid derived from the underlying evaporites at ~ 70 Ma. The CO2 and basinal water charge imposed an important influence on the mineral reactions and fluid chemistry. This study suggests that the KCF has formed an excellent CO2 seal, with no substantial breach since its charge at 70-80 Ma.

Life cycle analysis is carried out for 11 predicted configurations of pyrolysis biochar systems to determine greenhouse gas balance, using an original spreadsheet model. System parameters reflect deployment in Scotland, and results demonstrate that all major crop and forestry feedstocks offer greater GHG abatement than other bioenergy technologies, regardless of system configuration. Sensitivity analysis determines the relative importance of uncertain variables in the model and optimistic to pessimistic scenarios are used for system operation. Slow pyrolysis is compared to fast pyrolysis and biomass co-firing for GHG abatement and electricity production, using various scenarios for availability of indigenous Scottish feedstocks.

Conceptualizations of earth's surficial systems pose challenges to scientists, novice teachers, and students alike, because they are variable, non-linear, and dynamic. Developing scientific models of these systems allow users to visualize, manipulate, reason, and organize knowledge about the system under investigation. This dissertation is focused on two research strands using scientific modeling of surficial earth systems. The first strand is focused on a coastal ecosystem impacted by soil salinization and water availability. This study used topography, soil type, soil conductivity, and plant community to develop a conceptualized toposequence of this region to support our understanding of the dominant source of soil salinity. The second strand is twofold: novice understanding of scientific modeling and conceptual model development. The first study evaluates novice science teachers' approach to scientific modeling of a system which they have no prior knowledge about. Through observations, we assessed their science process skills, compared these results to novices and experts working with the same system, and found that novice teachers perform more like novices when faced with scientific investigations. This research will guide future teacher professional development programs to explicitly focus on science process skills and their role in scientific modeling. The second study characterizes the impact of an inquiry-based learning (IBL) module versus a traditionally structured laboratory exercise. The experimental groups were taught using IBL pedagogical techniques through manipulation of large-scale data sets, multiple representations, and a physical model. The control groups were taught traditionally. The groups were not significantly different prior to exposure to the lesson. Pre/post-expressed conceptual models indicate that the experimental group had greater increases in critical thinking. Written reports indicated they further gained in content knowledge, communication of findings, and experimental design. Overall results showed that teaching though IBL coupled with multiple representations had significant positive influence on student's conceptual model development. This synergistic dissertation between science and science education is a model for those wanting to pursue an academic career in geoscience education. This type of synergy between teaching and research allows for greater achievement in and outside the classroom ultimately improving overall education.

The Pleistocene carbonate rock Biscayne Aquifer of south Florida contains laterally-extensive bioturbated ooltic zones characterized by interconnected touching-vug megapores that channelize most flow and make the aquifer extremely permeable. Standard petrophysical laboratory techniques may not be capable of accurately measuring such high permeabilities. Instead, innovative procedures that can measure high permeabilities were applied. These fragile rocks cannot easily be cored or cut to shapes convenient for conducting permeability measurements. For the laboratory measurement, a 3D epoxy-resin printed rock core was produced from computed tomography data obtained from an outcrop sample. Permeability measurements were conducted using a viscous fluid to permit easily observable head gradients (~2 cm over 1 m) simultaneously with low Reynolds number flow. For a second permeability measurement, Lattice Boltzmann Method flow simulations were computed on the 3D core renderings. Agreement between the two estimates indicates an accurate permeability was obtained that can be applied to future studies.

In relation to the constructivist learning theory, understanding what a student may already know in order to use this knowledge as a scaffold for further education is imperative. The online classroom offers a unique and challenging environment for the evaluation of a student’s previous knowledge, especially in the field of geosciences where knowledge may be associated with geographic affiliation. An individual’s geological and meteorological sense of place may play an important role in evaluating a student’s previous knowledge in this field of study. To test this hypothesis, students in an online master’s program were given pre-knowledge surveys to evaluate their previous knowledge in Meteorology and Geology, as well as Geological and Meteorological sense of place surveys (Clary, R.M., and Wandersee, J.H., 2006; Clary, R.M., Wandersee, J.H., and Sumrall, J.L., 2013). Students were then categorized by geographic regions within the United States. Students were also given interest surveys at the end of their first year in the Masters program, and selected students were interviewed during their capstone field experience at the end of the second year of the program. Results suggest that there were subtle differences between regional groups of students throughout the study. More pronounced differences were noticed in the Meteorological pre-surveys than the Geological pre-surveys. Both sense of place surveys also indicated differences across regions, but the Meteorological sense of place survey showed greater regional differences when individual questions were analyzed. Interestingly, the participants who were interviewed at the end of the Masters program showed more geologically specific attachments as opposed to meteorologically specific attachments to areas that they considered to be “home.” The importance of moving and traveling throughout one’s life also became evident during the analysis of the interviews. Overall, this study of an online Master’s program concludes that geographic differences and moving/travel experiences among students matters to education in an online setting. The study emphasizes the importance for online instructors to evaluate teaching techniques based on geological and meteorological sense of place. By taking this into account in an online classroom, geographic disparities could be minimized and content interest levels could be increased.

Geoscience operates at the boundary between two worlds; the visible and the invisible. Increasingly, new geological technologies such as hydraulic fracturing, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and radioactive waste disposal are drawing the public’s attention to the ‘invisible’ world of the geological subsurface. This presents unique communication challenges because these technologies exist in a realm that can never be physically seen. This thesis addresses this issue by examining the psychological perceptions of residents in three villages in the south west of England. A representative sample from each village was qualitatively interviewed and mental models were constructed from the resultant data using the ‘mental models’ technique (Morgan et al, 2002). The mental models were then quantitatively tested using a questionnaire to assess the perceptions that a broader sample of the residents of these locations hold towards the geological subsurface. The results from the mental models assessment identified the principal perceptions held by the majority of the public surveyed. In particular, the study revealed the connection between the visible surface and the invisible subsurface and how different participants engaged with that boundary; choosing either a geoscience-centric or an anthropocentric approach to penetrating the surface. These approaches utilised by non-experts differed from those employed by the experts, who used a regionally specific geoscience-centric approach to visualising the subsurface. The work provides an important empirical baseline from which to develop a science-led strategy to engage the general public with new technologies and to increase our understanding of the more broadly held conceptions of the invisible subsurface.