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My work explores hallucinatory landscapes of the US American West by using a combination of painting styles outside of the Western painting canon. I cross-reference painting and cinema, interweaving video, acrylic paint and the panorama to create a satirical homage to the history and present state of the USA. However, through an earnest devotion to the medium - both painting and cinema - I find my criticisms also yearn to hold onto a belief in a myth I know to be false. This is an American History conversation about artifice and consumerism through advertising. I use Las Vegas and the Mojave Desert as my metaphor. Las Vegas’ rapidly expanding population has displaced actual plants and animals to replace them with artificial sculptures of the desert cactus and coyote. This desert landscape occupies what was previously Mexico and before that Indigenous lands. TV and hallucinogens play a part in my work - as a means to tap into the psychological staticky holiness of the desert, and I use certain painting techniques to mimic the optical effects of these phenomena. These techniques reference my experience with theater backdrop painting and psychedelic movie posters as well as kitsch hobbyist landscape painting. My focus is the specific territory outside of the National Parks service, the government lands leased to mining companies and housing developers. These are the mystical desert tracts of spacious landscape, just as ecologically important to the whole, yet considered “not quite pretty enough” to warrant a National Park sign or roaming ranger.

Troops, requested by the federal government for the security during the Civil War of the overland mail, telegraph, and emigrant routes, were provided by California for those portions of the routes which crossed the territories of Utah and Nevada. A force, never exceeding 1, 200 in strength, commanded by Patrick Edward Connor, was assigned a geographic responsibility, the Military District of Utah. Connor's California Volunteers established principal troop locations at Fort Churchill and Fort Ruby in Nevada, and at Camp Douglas and Fort Bridger in Utah Territory during mid-1862. Major actions were conducted against the Indians at the battle of Bear River and by the campaign of Spanish Fork canyon, both in early 1863. Thereafter, a series of treaties achieved peace with various Indian tribes. Connor also utilized his troops in a variety of activities peripheral to his primary military mission. Important examples were a colonization effort at Soda Springs, continued and thorough area reconnaissance, and early efforts to develop the territorial mineral resources. Considerations of Mormon intentions, often believed by Connor to be inimical to Union interests, occupied much of Connor's time. Many writers record a generally unfavorable impression of Connor in Utah. However, it is the view of this author that the missions assigned to the federal troops in the District of Utah during the Civil War were important and were effectively carried out.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2005. / "December 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-78). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Several species of small, cavity-nesting owls occur in the Sierra Nevada, including in areas impacted by human activities. The owls typically use standing dead trees (snags) for nest sites. Although descriptive studies exist regarding habitats associations around nest and roost sites, few studies have examined habitat associations at larger spatial scales or relative to certain snag characteristics (e.g., density, decay class). To improve our understanding of the habitat associations of these owls, I compared habitat characteristics at 2 spatial scales around areas of owl detection and non-detection. I also examined distances between conspecifics and heterospecifics to determine if clustering of conspecifics or avoidance of predators occurred. I conducted owl broadcast surveys and snag sampling during the spring and summer of 2006 and 2007 in the Lake Tahoe Basin of central Sierra Nevada. I measured additional habitat variables (e.g., vegetation cover, distance to roadways) from pre-existing geographical information system layers. I used stepwise logistic regression to ascertain which variables were influential in predicting owl occurrence. The northern saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadicus) was the only species detected in sufficient numbers for statistical analysis, with a detection probability of 0.25. I detected saw-whets in a wide range of conditions and it appeared that few factors influenced their distribution in the basin. Areas dominated by white fir, however, were correlated with the absence of saw-whets at both the macrohabitat and microhabitat scales. White fir-dominated areas tend to occur on the west side of the basin and it is possible white fir was acting as a proxy for other factors not measured in this study, such as microclimate conditions or prey availability. I was also more likely to find a saw-whet within 1000 m of another saw-whet than within 1000 m of a non-use point, indicating clustering of conspecifics in the basin. While it appears saw-whet needs are being met in the basin, restoration projects are ongoing to decrease both the number of snags and relative abundance of white fir. Continued monitoring of the species is essential to understand potential effects of restoration activities. Suggestions are provided for appropriate timing and effort of future surveys.

Le sommet du Frasnien est une époque difficile pour la biodiversité sur la Terre, en particulier pour les organismes d’eaux chaudes et peu profondes. Cette étude vise à établir un lien entre l’activité tectonique et la crise biologique. Trois coupes d’Amérique du Nord, de la marge ouest du paléocontinent Laurentia, liées au front orogénique Antler ont été étudiées pour leurs rapports isotopiques 87Sr/86Sr dans les carbonates. La coupe de Devils Gate dans le centre Nevada (USA) présente au sommet du Frasnien des faciès de turbidites carbonatées de bassin. Trois pics successifs de 87Sr/86Sr s’observent au sommet du Frasnien, entre le deux niveaux anoxiques Kellwasser. Le dernier pic est le plus élevé, il est contemporain du début du second Kellwasser et présente un rapport isotopique de 0,7094. La coupe de North Antelope Range proche de celle de Devils Gate, présente des dépôts extrêmement homogènes et réguliers de “debris-flow” carbonatés dans un bassin d’avant-pays. Un pic du 87Sr/86Sr plus modéré y est enregistré. La coupe de Mount Cinquefoil est située dans l’Alberta (Canada), dans un contexte de rampe formant une transition entre un important complexe récifal et un bassin. A nouveau un pic de 87Sr/86Sr est enregistré au début de l’événement anoxique alors que le reste de la coupe est fort homogène. Un autre pic important du 87Sr/86Sr est présent dans la partie inférieure de la coupe à la base du premier niveau Kellwasser identifié par l’étude sédimentologique. Les différents pics du 87Sr/86Sr enregistrés dans la Zone à conodontes linguiformis sur les trois coupes présentent des points communs. D’une part ils occupent la même position par rapport à la courbe de susceptibilité magnétique enregistrée dans les trois coupes, ce qui tend à montrer qu’ils sont contemporains. D’autre part ils sont systématiquement liés à des teneurs plus fortes en éléments (Al, Ti, Si, ...) de la phase détritique dans les roches, ce qui permet d’établir un lien direct entre l’activité tectonique régionale, l’érosion continentale accentuée et les rapports isotopiques élevés du Sr. De plus ces pics du 87Sr/86Sr semblent liés à la mise en place des périodes d’anoxie des horizons Kellwasser par eutrophisation des eaux. La chemostratigraphie permet de reconnaître des phases bien distinctes de la sédimentologie détritique, en lien avec le contexte tectonique de chaque coupe. Enfin, la comparaison avec d’autres données de la littérature pose la question de la simultanéité des événements à la surface de la Terre.

Studies are currently underway to determine the suitability of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the nation's first high-level nuclear waste repository. Values of net infiltration are required to determine pre-waste emplacement groundwater travel times and the performance of the repository as a waste containment system. The objective of this study was to develop a numerical model to perform water balance calculations and predict rates of net infiltration for the site. The model included processes of precipitation, runoff, evapotranspiration, infiltration, and redistribution of water within a soil profile. The watershed was divided into 477 grid cells 75.7 x 75.7 m. The elevation, slope, aspect, and hydrologic properties were assumed to be constant within a grid cell but varied from one cell to the next Water balance calculations were performed for each cell using a one-dimensional form of Richards equation. The solution was obtained using the finite difference method with Newton-Raphson iteration. The model was calibrated using water content data obtained from neutron-moisture meter measurements in boreholes located in Pagany Wash Watershed Measurements were made in channel and terrace alluvium and in tuffs. Computer simulations reproduced water content data for a major precipitation event that occurred in 1984. Simulations verified the importance of antecedent soil water content in controlling the occurrence of runoff. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the soil and alluvium grain-size distributions, which are used to calculate unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, can greatly affect predicted rates of water movement / Graduation date: 1991

The thesis area consists of 33 square miles in the south-central Pueblo Mountains of Humboldt County, Nevada and Harney County, Oregon. The Pueblo Mountains are tilted fault block mountains found in the extreme northwestern part of the Basin and Range province and were produced during Early Tertiary Basin and Range orogeny. Northwest and northeast trending faults of Late Tertiary time have since cut the entire stratigraphic sequence. The oldest rocks exposed are metamorphosed Permian to Triassic eugeosynclinal sedimentary rocks. The metamorphic sequence is intruded by several granitic plutons of Late Jurassic to Middle Cretaceous age. A thick sequence of Miocene basalt flows unconformably overlies the pre- Tertiary rocks. A slight angular unconformity separates the basalt sequence from overlying Miocene tuffaceous sedimentary rocks, sillar flows, and welded tuffs. Unconsolidated deposits of Quaternary alluvium include alluvial fan and lacustrine sediments. Mineralization within the area includes several gold prospects, a mercury prospect, and a possible copper deposit. The copper prospect consists of a large gossan (6, 000 feet by 3, 000 feet). Mineralization and alteration from a Cretaceous porphyritic quartz monzonite intrusion has produced potassic and quartz sericite hydrothermal alteration in the host. Oxidation and weathering has removed the sulfides from the surface leaving goethite, hematite, and limonite residues. / Graduation date: 1971

Several species of small, cavity-nesting owls occur in the Sierra Nevada, including in areas impacted by human activities. The owls typically use standing dead trees (snags) for nest sites. Although descriptive studies exist regarding habitats associations around nest and roost sites, few studies have examined habitat associations at larger spatial scales or relative to certain snag characteristics (e.g., density, decay class). To improve our understanding of the habitat associations of these owls, I compared habitat characteristics at 2 spatial scales around areas of owl detection and non-detection. I also examined distances between conspecifics and heterospecifics to determine if clustering of conspecifics or avoidance of predators occurred. I conducted owl broadcast surveys and snag sampling during the spring and summer of 2006 and 2007 in the Lake Tahoe Basin of central Sierra Nevada. I measured additional habitat variables (e.g., vegetation cover, distance to roadways) from pre-existing geographical information system layers. I used stepwise logistic regression to ascertain which variables were influential in predicting owl occurrence. The northern saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadicus) was the only species detected in sufficient numbers for statistical analysis, with a detection probability of 0.25. I detected saw-whets in a wide range of conditions and it appeared that few factors influenced their distribution in the basin. Areas dominated by white fir, however, were correlated with the absence of saw-whets at both the macrohabitat and microhabitat scales. White fir-dominated areas tend to occur on the west side of the basin and it is possible white fir was acting as a proxy for other factors not measured in this study, such as microclimate conditions or prey availability. I was also more likely to find a saw-whet within 1000 m of another saw-whet than within 1000 m of a non-use point, indicating clustering of conspecifics in the basin. While it appears saw-whet needs are being met in the basin, restoration projects are ongoing to decrease both the number of snags and relative abundance of white fir. Continued monitoring of the species is essential to understand potential effects of restoration activities. Suggestions are provided for appropriate timing and effort of future surveys.

Late Pleistocene displacement along the Lone Mountain fault suggests the Silver Peak-Lone Mountain (SPLM) extensional complex is an important structure in accommodating and transferring strain within the eastern California shear zone (ECSZ) and Walker Lane. Using geologic and geomorphic mapping, differential global positioning system surveys, and terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) geochronology, we determined rates of extension across the Lone Mountain fault in western Nevada. The Lone Mountain fault is the northeastern component of the SPLM extensional complex, and is characterized by a series of down-to-the-northwest normal faults that offset the northwestern Lone Mountain and Weepah Hills piedmonts. We mapped eight distinct alluvial fan deposits and dated three of the surfaces using ¹⁰BE TCN geochronology, yielding ages of 16.5 +/- 1.2 ka, 92.3 +/- 8.6 ka, and 142.2 +/- 19.5 ka for the Q3b, Q2c, and Q2b deposits, respectively. The ages were combined with scarp profile measurements across the displaced fans to obtain minimum rates of extension; the Q2b and Q2c surfaces yield an extension rate between 0.1 +/- 0.1 and 0.2 +/- 01 mm/yr and the Q3b surface yields a rate of 0.2 +/-.1 to 0.4 +/- 0.1 mm/yr, depending on the dip of the fault. Active extension on the Lone Mountain fault suggests that it helps partition strain off of the major strike-slip faults in the northern ECSZ and transfers deformation around the Mina Deflection northward into the Walker Lane. Combining our results with estimates from other faults accommodating dextral shear in the northern ECSZ reveals an apparent discrepancy between short- and long-term rates of strain accumulation and release. If strain rates have remained constant since the late Pleistocene, this could reflect transient strain accumulation, similar to the Mojave segment of the ECSZ. However, our data also suggest an increase in strain rates between ~92 ka and ~17 ka, and possibly to present day, which may also help explain the mismatch between long- and short-term rates of deformation in the region.