The prominence of the South China Sea comes from its wealth of energy resources, fisheries, and maritime trade that traverses through its waters. These assets entice many southeast Asian countries to stake their claims over the features of the sea. In recent years, China’s rising power has allowed the country to increasingly assert its authority in the territory without much of an opposing force. Of the few actors that are capable of policing China’s actions, the United States is the most promising, yet has failed to meet international expectations. Through two case studies and theoretical analysis, this thesis examines the failures of American deterrence policy through a two-part approach. First, it investigates the incident of the 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff between the Philippines and China, analyzing the consequences of American policy failure. It then examines Chinese island reclamation efforts, and how the failures from the first case study can explain the new Chinese strategy and rationale behind Chinese activities. Lastly, the paper explores the deterrence theory and its applications to gray zone conflicts, pointing out components of successful deterrence in these types of engagements and why American deterrence policy was ineffective.

Shell Key and Mullet Key are two sandy barrier islands on the West Central Florida coast near the mouth of Tampa Bay. These islands are part of an interconnected barrier-inlet system that includes Pass-a-Grille (PAG) and Bunces Pass. Shell Key is a relatively new island about 40-years of age that formed in between the two inlets of Bunces Pass and PAG. Mullet Key is an island to the south of Shell Key situated between Bunces Pass and the main Tampa Bay channel that has demonstrated large scale upward shoaling events. Using numerical modeling, the wave and tidal conditions at the dual-inlet system were investigated in order to understand the hydrodynamic conditions that drive the morphology change. Historical aerial imagery and historical nautical charts were analyzed to determine the large scale accretionary and erosive changes that happened in the study area from 1873 to 2018. Four historical nautical charts, from 1873, 1928, 1966, and 1996 were digitized to create bathymetry maps of the two islands, their adjacent inlets, and the ebb shoals. These historical bathymetry maps were compared with the bathymetry survey by this study in 2016. The research goal of this thesis is to investigate the mechanism of origin and development of two barrier islands along the coast of West Central Florida through a time series of photos combined with numerical modeling. Based on aerial photos from 1984 to 2018, the overall shape and orientation of ebb shoals at both Bunces Pass and PAG were analyzed in order to examine the effect that the 30 year swash bar cycle at Bunces Pass has on a connected inlet system. The ebb shoal orientations were compared to see how swash bar initiation would affect the two ebb shoals; most notably Bunces Pass ebb shoal. A bending of the entire Bunces Pass ebb shoal was identified over the 2002-2018 time span corresponding to the development of a large sand feature located here. Further numerical modeling was conducted at PAG to determine the factors controlling the formation of Shell Key. Before the 1970s, the PAG inlet included two branches, the North PAG Channel and the South PAG Channel. A major dredging event took place at the North PAG Channel in 1966 causing significant widening and deepening of the channel. This dredging event was simulated to quantify the impact to the natural flow pattern. The 1966 dredging project had a significant impact to the overall flow pattern, increasing the ebb jet flow velocity by 0.8 m/s over the dredged area and significantly decreasing flow velocity by -0.4 m/s over a large area where the South PAG Channel was previously located. This artificially induced change of flow pattern resulted in the closure of South PAG Channel and the corresponding development of Shell Key.

During the growing seasons of 1999 and 2000 five experiments were performed to test growth of the seagrass Halodule beaudettei (shoal-grass) in nursery pond conditions. Sediment oxidation state, sediment source, container type, flow regime, and light transmittance were tested to improve nursery pond cultivation techniques and to test assumptions about the decline of seagrasses in Galveston Bay, Texas. Oxidized and reduced sediments exhibited no statistical difference as mean percent change in the number of stems of shoal-grass, after 47 days. Sediment from three source locations, West Bay, East Beach Lagoons, and the experimental pond bottoms, showed no significant difference in the mean percent change in the number of stems of shoal-grass at 48 and 95 days. A statistical difference was seen in the container type experiment, trays versus pots, at 48 days where shoal-grass had double the number of stems produced in trays; however no significant difference was found at 93 days. A significant difference was found in the flow regime experiment, no-flow versus flow, at 47 days in the mean percent change of shoal-grass with double the number of stems produced in the flow regime. Significant differences were observed between the low light and high light treatments with shoal-grass, widgeongrass (Ruppia maritima), star grass (Halophila engelmannii), and turtlegrass (Thalassia testudinum), with survival and growth occurring in the high light treatment and decline and death occurring in the low light treatment. The importance of reduced sediment may have been overstated in the past as sediment reduction occurs rapidly with submersion. It appears that while West Bay sediment did not have a deleterious effect on shoal-grass, West Bay simulated light conditions did. Container type seems to be important at first but not so much in the long term. Some flow, water movement, or current appears to be important.

The South China Sea is a sea with strategically important shipping lanes, an abundance of maritime resources, and potentially large amounts of oil and gas deposits. Because of the significance of the sea, China has claimed almost all of it, which has caused the Association of Southeast Asian Nation members (ASEAN) whose countries surround the sea (Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines) to take a stance against the encroachment. The most important non-Chinese claimant in the dispute is the Philippines, which shares a mutual defense treaty with the United States. The dispute has been analyzed from a bilateral perspective between China and the Philippines. A theoretical analysis of the dispute has been conducted through a Neorealist paradigm. How the two countries define international law and engage in diplomatic and military policies has also been closely examined. China has not sought foreign intervention whether from a nation or international organization, while the Philippines has preferred as much multilateralism as possible. A recent Scarborough Shoal dispute between the two countries has changed the dynamic of the dispute, and in examining the event and its outcome an inevitable conclusion of military action has been reached.

Four modern shoals on the Louisiana continental shelf are proposed to have formed through transgression, marine reworking, and submergence of Mississippi River deltaic lobes. However, one of these shoals, the St. Bernard Shoals, is dissimilar to the other shoals in morphology and stratigraphy. Understanding the processes that lead to these differences resulted in the development of a wholly new model for subaqueous shoal evolution. The results of this study suggest that the St. Bernard Shoals are transgressive remnants of a near shelf-edge delta lobe that was transgressed and truncated by marine processes after fluvial abandonment. Subsequent to truncation, the shoals formed through subaqueous excavation and reworking of coarse grained sediment contained within underlying distributary channels by hurricane related marine currents. As a result the shoals are bound at their base by a ravinement surface and lie directly upon progradational facies associated with previously unrecognized southern progradation of the La Loutre distributary network.

Cette étude s’intéresse au rapport des Anciens Égyptiens au sable, élément naturel omniprésent dans le paysage et le quotidien. Le problème est abordé d’un point de vue textuel et plus particulièrement lexicographique. Pour cela, les mentions de six termes appartenant au vocabulaire du sable sont examinées dans des textes mythologiques et rituels, sur une période comprise entre l’Ancien Empire et l’époque romaine. L’enjeu est de déterminer la perception du sable en contexte et de mettre en évidence les croyances élaborées autour de l’élément. Il s’agit de saisir les principes d’introduction du sable au discours religieux afin de mettre en lumière un mécanisme de pensée spécifique à la religion égyptienne : l’observation naturaliste. / This study focuses on the relations between Ancient Egyptians and sand, a natural element, ever-present in landscape and daily life. It is seen from a textual and especially lexicographical point of view. Therefore, quotes of six words related to the vocabulary of sand are studied in mythological and ritual texts from Old Kingdom to Roman Period. The aim is to establish the perception of sand depending on the context and to reveal the beliefs associated to sand. The introduction of sand in the religious speech is taken into account in order to highlight a way of thinking specific to the Egyptian religion : naturalistic observation.

De har gjorts få studier på akvariesfiskars beteende. För att bemöta intresset för akvariefiskar så behöver vi veta mer om deras beteende i en artificiell miljö. Syftet med den här studien är att jämföra det utforskande beteendet hos vildfångade och odlade diamanttetror som är en vanlig akvariefisk. Hypotesen är att det finns en skillnad i deras beteende där vildfångade är mer djärva än de odlade. Grupper om fem individer av diamanttetra vildfångade och odlade släpptes ner i en ny artificiell miljö. De filmades i 20 minuter från de att de släpptes i. Testet upprepades 10 gånger med nya individer och för varje försök togs tiden det tog för varje individ att lämpa botten av akvariet och sedan mättes storleken på stimmen för varje grupp. Jag hittade en skillnad i hur lång tid fiskarna tog på sig för att lämna botten men det var ingen skillnad i höjd eller längd på stimmen. Detta visar att de vildfångade visade ett djärvare beteende än de odlade genom att lämna botten snabbare. Den här studien gav information om skillnaden i beteende för vildfångade och odlade diamanttetror och informationen kan användas för fortsatta studier kring akvariefisk. / The behaviour of ornamental fish is not well studied. To meet the needs of ornamental fish hobbyists, we need to know more about the behavior of fish in artificial environments. The aim of this study is to compare the explorative behaviour of wild-captured and farmed fish in a common ornamental fish, the diamond tetra. The hypothesis is that there is a difference between the two groups behavior where the wild-captured tetras are bolder. Groups of five individuals of farmed respectively wild-captured diamond tetra were released in a new artificial environment where they were monitored for 20 minutes. The test was repeated 10 times with new individuals, and the time it took for them to leave the bottom of the aquarium was measured as well as the size of the shoal. I found a difference in the time it took for the individuals to leave the bottom, with the wild-captured tetras leaving the bottom earlier than the farmed fish. There were no differences in height or length of the shoal. Thus, the wild diamond tetra were bolder than the farmed tetras. The study gave information about the differences in behavior between wild-captured and farmed diamond tetra and can give information to further studies about ornamental fish.

<p>Magnetic surveys are one of the principal geophysical methods employed to map the structure of basement rocks deeply buried below cover strata. In resource studies, aeromagnetic surveys are commonly acquired at regional scales (100-1000’s km2) while very few studies have attempted to resolve basement structures at site-scale (<10 >km2). In this study, high-resolution lake-based magnetic survey methods were evaluated for mapping of deeply-buried basement faults (Küçükçekmece Lagoon, Turkey; 6 km2) and a suspected meteorite impact crater (Charity Shoal, Lake Ontario; 9 km2). Total magnetic intensity (TMI) surveys were acquired using a single Overhauser magnetometer with 50-150 m line spacing. Interpretation of the magnetic data was aided by forward modelling of TMI data and depth to basement estimates using Euler and analytic signal methods. Total magnetic intensity (TMI) maps of Küçükçekmece Lagoon identify several north-northwest trending (340-350°) magnetic lineaments that are aligned with strike-slip faults mapped from offshore seismic data. The pattern of magnetic anomalies in the lagoon is consistent with extensional normal faulting of bedrock and lake sediments. Magnetic results from Charity Shoal reveal a large (>1400 nT) parabolic-shaped magnetic anomaly centered over the crater basin and an annular magnetic high (40-50 nT) corresponding with the basin rim. Modelling results exclude the origin of the CSS as a shallow glacial erosional or karst sinkhole feature and are most consistent with a pre-Paleozoic meteorite impact in the Precambrian basement.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

Clays and clay mineral distribution studies are important for understanding the geological history of the Gulf of Mexico Basin, but few studies document any subsurface clay mineral distribution in the Gulf of Mexico. Shale samples from nine wells (30 samples) in the South Timbalier protraction were selected near known paleontological markers identifying the Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene boundaries. Bulk mineralogy of each sample, determined by XRD, is primarily mixed-layer smectite and illite with a minor amount of kaolinite. The mixed-layer mineralogies are end-member smectite, mixed-layer smectite, mixed-layer illite, and end-member illite. These clay mineral fractions do not correlate with age. The illite mixed layer percentage correlates with depth, but the correlation decreases when depth is converted to temperature. However, the illite mixed layer fraction does not exhibit a strong correlation in this multiwell study when compared to a single well study in Ship Shoal using identical methods (Totten et al., 2002).

Ten sediment cores (2.0-8.5 m long) from various locations in Lake of the Woods (LOTWs) and Shoal Lake (SL) were recovered in August 2006, using a Kullenberg piston corer. From the study of the macrofossils (primarily ostracodes and thecamoebians) and the sediments in six processed cores, variations in paleoconditions were observed both spatially and temporally, and the timing of these changes were identified in over 10,000 years of postglacial history. Ostracodes disappeared from the LOTWs record from about 9000 to 7600 calendar years before present (BP) (about 5800 in SL), after LOTWs became isolated from glacial Lake Agassiz. Thecamoebians appeared in many cores around 2000 calendar years BP, with the earliest appearance at 9200. Buried paleosols in three cores indicate portions of the lake dried on several occasions during the Hypsithermal, perhaps indicating the region’s future climate response. One core contained a pink clay bed indicative of the Marquette readvance about 11,300 years (BP), and the subsequent input of water from the Superior basin.