In-situ geotechnical testing of surficial sediment layers in areas of active sediment dynamics can provide essential information about physical and geotechnical variations of sediment properties with regards to active sediment remobilization processes. For example, portable free fall penetrometers (PFFPs) can assist with the detection of mobile sediment layers. They are easy to deploy, and can provide a large spatial coverage in a time- and cost-effective manner. However, they often struggle to provide more detailed information about the properties of mobile sediment layers due to a lack of calibration and validation in existing data sets. Currently, existing sediment samplers often disturb, or ignore the uppermost sediment layers. Simultaneous sediment sampling and geotechnical profiling is needed to fill this gap, and to drive data interpretation forward. A field investigation of surficial sediments was conducted in the wetland waterways of coastal Louisiana in 2014. In-situ tests were conducted using PFFP, and disturbed sediment samples were collected in selected locations. The results allowed us to map changes in sediment strength and stratification, and correlate the geotechnical results to local site characteristics. However, the need for high quality sediment samples for calibration and validation was emphasized by the results. Three different sediment sampler add-on units targeting mobile layers were designed and manufactured based on lessons-learned from the literature. The designs were tested in the laboratory and in the field (Yakutat, Alaska and York River, Virginia) in 2017. The samples were analyzed to understand the influence of different sampler characteristics on collected sample quality, and, to define mobile layer sampler characteristics that enable simultaneous geotechnical testing and the collection of high quality samples. Following field survey campaigns in the York River, Virginia in 2016 allowed to assess surficial sediment layer characteristics and behavior based on a coupled analysis of geotechnical data from in-situ PFFP tests and the sedimentological data collected using box cores and the novel sediment sampler. In summary, novel strategies and instrumentation to carry out simultaneous sediment sampling and geotechnical profiling of seabed surface layers were tested, and new pathways for geotechnical data analysis for the investigation of mobile seabed layers were presented. / PHD

No description available.

Here we examine seasonal grain-size trends on 18 beaches in the Northeastern US and dispersed along the post-glacial coast of Massachusetts (USA) in order to explore the mechanisms influencing median grain size and slope. Over 800 grain size samples were collected along 200 summer and winter cross-shore beach elevation surveys. Obtained grain size and beach slope data are compared to coastal morphology, sediment source, wave height, and tidal magnitude in order to ascertain controls on beach characteristics. In general, median grain size increases with intertidal beach slope in the study region. However, grain sizes along post-glaciated beaches in the study are as much as an order of magnitude coarser for the same beach slopes when compared to beaches for other regions of the US. Grain size and slope for beaches in the northeastern US also exhibit less correlation with oceanographic processes (i.e. wave climate and tidal magnitude). Instead, grain size trends are primarily driven by the composition of nearby glacial deposits that serve as the primary source of sediment to beaches in the study region. Results provide quantitative support for the distribution and composition of legacy glacial deposits rather than oceanographic conditions serving as the predominant governor of beach grain size along post-glaciated coastlines of the Atlantic continental margin.

Increasingly, teachers are encouraged to use data resources in their classrooms, which are becoming more widely available on the web through organizations such as Digital Library for Earth System Education, National Science Digital Library, Project Kaleidoscope, and the National Science Teachers Association. As "real" data becomes readily accessible, studies are needed to assess and describe how to effectively use data to convey both content material and the nature of scientific inquiry and discovery. In this study, we created two introductory undergraduate physical geology lab modules for calculating plate motion. One engages students with a model-driven approach using contrived data. Students are taught a descriptive model and work with a set of contrived data that supports the model. The other lab exercise uses a data-driven approach with real data. Students are given the real data and are asked to make sense of it. They must use the data to create a descriptive model. Student content knowledge and understanding of the nature of science were assessed in a pretest-posttest experimental design using a survey containing 11 Likert-like scale questions covering the nature of science and 9 modified true/false format questions covering content knowledge. Survey results indicated that students gained content knowledge and increased their understanding of the nature of science with both approaches. Lab observations and written interviews indicate these gains resulted from students experiencing different pedagogical approaches used in each of the two labs. / Master of Science

Process domains categorizes sections of streams according to its local dominant processes. These processes often reflect on the local ecology and the streams appearance. But the underlying reason why these different process domains are formed are still not completely certain. In this study the distribution of the process domains: lakes, rapids and slow-flowing reaches in the Bjur River catchment were compared to the geological factors of slope, surficial geology and landforms to see if any connections could be found. The possibility of using GIS (geographic information systems) and remote data to distinguish these stream types and to connect them to the different studied geological factors were also examined. The hypothesis for this study is that the geological factors of slope, surficial geology and landforms all should have an influence over the distribution of the process domains in Bjur River. The analysis was executed through map-studies in ArcGIS and statistical analysis in Excel. All process domains showed statistical significance towards the studied geological factors. The slope was generally steeper in the rapids than in slow-flowing reaches and lakes. The surficial geology displayed more fine-grained sediment (peat) in proximity to lakes and slow-flowing reaches whilst till was more abundant close to rapids. Hilly moraine landscapes were most common around lakes, while rapids displayed a high percentage of glacio-fluvially eroded area. Slow-flowing reaches also showed to have around 44% of its studied points around glacio-fluvially eroded area, and 43% at areas without any major landforms. Even if the statistical analysis and figures display a difference between the different process domains, it is still difficult to say which of these geological factors that plays the most crucial role for their development. However, by using remote data and through studies over slope, adjacent surficial geology and landforms the different process domains can be differentiated from one another.

Submitted by Biblioteca de Pós-Graduação em Geoquímica BGQ (bgq@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-09-11T16:53:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇAO FERNANDA LAGOEIRO.pdf: 2000959 bytes, checksum: 76bc23adde3524dc614b7249095d11c5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-11T16:53:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇAO FERNANDA LAGOEIRO.pdf: 2000959 bytes, checksum: 76bc23adde3524dc614b7249095d11c5 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo / Universidade Federal Fluminense. Instituto de Química. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geoquímica, Niterói, RJ / Neste estudo foi caracterizada a sedimentação recente de matéria orgânica da Lagoa do Caçó (MA), localizada em uma região fortemente influenciada pela Zona de Convergência Intertropical (ZCIT), uma das responsáveis pela dinâmica climática do Brasil. Foram coletados cinco testemunhos ao longo de um perfil batimétrico com respectivamente 1.5; 3; 4; 6 e 9 metros de coluna d’água. Este perfil apresenta uma clara zonação biológica com presença de macrófitas na margem (0 a 0.5m), passando por uma região com macrófitas associadas a algas epifíticas (0.5 a 2m), a uma região com vegetação submersa (2 a 5.5m), até completa ausência de vegetação (acima de 5.5 m). A caracterização da sedimentação recente da lagoa foi feita através da análise de marcadores orgânicos, que possuem a propriedade de identificar a origem e o estado de preservação da matéria orgânica depositada. Foram utilizados os seguintes marcadores: conteúdo de carbono, nitrogênio e razão C:N; composição isotópica do carbono e do nitrogênio; petrografia da matéria orgânica (identificação e classificação de fragmentos microscópicos) e quantificação de derivados de clorofila. Os resultados demonstraram uma alta produtividade na margem da lagoa, que decresce com a profundidade, gerando, portanto, dados característicos para cada ambiente, permitindo, então, que os registros obtidos sejam utilizados como padrões para avaliação das paleoprofundidades da Lagoa do Caçó (MA). A razão entre a matéria orgânica não vascular e a matéria orgânica vascular mostrou ser o melhor marcador de profundidade. A análise dos testemunhos curtos possibilitou dividir o período estudado em cinco fases segundo os dados gerados pelos marcadores orgânicos. Os resultados sugerem a elevação do nível do lago durante as fases I a IV e em seguida uma diminuição do nível do lago até a fase V representada pelos dias atuais. Variações no nível do lago foram relacionadas com as precipitações anuais e os casos de secas (causadas pelos eventos El Niño) e chuvas abundantes (causadas pela La Niña), que possibilitaram sugerir a influência desses mecanismos no nível do lago / Elemental, isotopic compositions and palynofacies observations of organic matter in surficial sediments from a transect across Lagoa do Caçó (MA – Brazil) have been analyzed to investigate the processes that participate in the production and deposition of sedimentary organic matter. Five cores were collected along a bathymetric profile with 1,5; 3; 4; 6 and 9 meters respectively. This transverse profile starts in a margin (0 to 0,5m), provides a clear biological zonation with the occurrence of emergent macrophytes, declines through a region with macrophytes in association with epiphytic algae (0,5 to 2 m), exceeds a region with submerged vegetation (2 to 5,5 m) up to a complete absence of vegetation (over 5,5 m). The variation of these parameters shows in the marginal zone a gradient between 0 to 4 meters decreasing for TOC, C/N, chlorophyll derivates, and d13Co/oo and increasing for d15N o/oo values. They start at 0,5 m with values around 22, 14, -25 o/oo and between 0 and 1 o/oo and reach 10, 8, -29 o/oo and 5 o/oo respectively at 4 meters water deep characterizing therefore this emergent macrophytes vegetation. These values remain stable between 4 and 10 meters to the phytoplanktonic production with weaker marginal influence. The palynofacies results show a same pattern marked by an increase of the terrestrial organic matter from the margin to the center. Concluding, it is strictly relevant to consider that the bulk and isotopic compositions mark the biological zonation of Lagoa do Caçó (MA- Brazil), which show that the high productivity occurs in the marginal area linked to macrophyte vegetation and tend to decrease until disappear at 4 meters. The variations of these elemental, isotopic and petrographyc parameters obtained from the five cores collected in those different zones of Caçó Lake have provided 5 paleohydrological phases marked by an increase of the lake level until the last unit when it starts to decrease. These lake level changes are probably linked to the regional hydrological balance whic h is associated to the annual rainfall distributions influenced, at the same time, by the Pacific and Atlantic variability.

Restoration of stream channels have become a common way of trying to restore both the channels and the ecosystems that earlier have been channelized mainly to facilitate the movement of timber. According to previous studies a lot of the restoration has been performed without a sufficiently detailed plan and with too little focus on how the landscape interplay with the restoration, which makes the potential to learn from possible mistakes minimal. In this study, a hydrological analysis of Hjuken river was done to examine if remote data through an analysis using GIS could be used for identifying three different process domains (lake, slow-flowing reaches and rapids), and if it is possible to determine which process domain it is by examining three different variables: channel slope, surficial geology and the geomorphologic characteristics in the landscape. Based on the statistical treatment and the analysis of the data, the result shows a significant difference between every process domain and variable except for the channel slope when it comes to slow-flowing reaches and rapids. This tells us that all the variables that has been analysed could be a crucial factor in most of the cases. However, the result does not seem reliable compared to previous studies. The conclusion of the study is that the error from the identification of the process domains is from the orthophotos. Remote data is too weak to use as the only source for this kind of analysis. However, the definition of process domains is probably more diffuse than today’s description. There needs to be more studies on each process domain, it is probably not enough with three different types, either there should be subclasses for each process domain or even more process domains.

When we consider the nature of the scientific community in conjunction with a sense of typical economic circumstances we find that there are two distinct paths for development. One path involves hypothesis testing and evolution of strategies that are linked with iterations in equipment advances. A second, more complicated scenario, can involve external influences whether economic, political, or otherwise, such as the government closure of NASA's space program in 2011 which will no doubt influence research in associated fields. The following chapters are an account of examples of two statistical techniques and the importance of both on the two relatively unrelated geological fields of coastal geomorphology and ground water hydrology. The first technique applies a multi-dimensional approach to defining groundwater water table response based on precipitation in areas where it can reasonably be assumed to be the only recharge. The second technique applies a high resolution multi-scalar approach to a geologic setting most often restricted to either high resolution locally, or low resolution regionally. This technique uses time-frequency analysis to characterize cuspate patterns in LIDAR data are introduced using examples from the Atlantic coast of Florida, United States. These techniques permit the efficient study of beachface landforms over many kilometers of coastline at multiple spatial scales. From a LIDAR image, a beach-parallel spatial series is generated. Here, this series is the shore-normal position of a specific elevation (contour line). Well-established time-frequency analysis techniques, wavelet transforms, and S-Transforms, are then applied to the spatial series. These methods yield results compatible with traditional methods and show that it is useful for capturing transitions in cuspate shapes. To apply this new method, a land-based LIDAR study allowing for rapid high-resolution surveying is conducted on Melbourne Beach, Florida and Tairua Beach, New Zealand. Comparisons and testing of two different terrestrial scanning stations are evaluated during the course of the field investigation. Significant cusp activity is observed at Melbourne Beach. Morphological observations and sediment analysis are used to study beach cusp morphodynamics at the site. Surveys at Melbourne were run ~500 m alongshore and sediment samples were collected intertidally over a five-day period. Beach cusp location within larger scale beach morphology is shown to directly influence cusp growth as either predominantly erosional or accretional. Sediment characteristics within the beach cusp morphology are reported coincident with cusp evolution. Variations in pthesis size distribution kurtosis are exhibited as the cusps evolve; however, no significant correlation is seen between grain size and position between horn and embayment. During the end of the study, a storm resulted in beach cusp destruction and increased sediment sorting. In the former technique using multi-dimensional studies, a test of a new method for improving forecasting of surficial aquifer system water level changes with rainfall is conducted. The results provide a more rigorous analysis of common predictive techniques and compare them with the results of the tested model. These results show that linear interpretations of response-to-rainfall data require a clarification of how large events distort prediction and how the binning of data can change the interpretation. Analyses show that the binning ground water recharge data as is typically done in daily format may be useful for quick interpretation but only describes how fast the system responds to an event, not the frequency of return of such a response. Without a secure grasp on the nonlinear nature of water table and rainfall data alike, any binning or isolation of specific data carries the potential for aliasing that must be accounted for in an interpretation. The new model is proven capable of supplanting any current linear regression analysis as a more accurate means of prediction through the application of a multivariate technique. Furthermore, results show that in the Florida surficial aquifer system response-to-rainfall ratios exhibit a maxima most often linked with modal stage.

A formação de camadas de cargas elétricas na superfície de Hélio liquido e em filmes de H´leio sobre um substrato está bem estabelecida tanto teórica quanto experimentalmente. Não existia, porém, até o presente, um cálculo auto-consistente para essas camadas de cargas, pois no regime de baixas densidades eletrônicas, estes sistemas podem ser tratados como o problema de 1-elétron. Em nosso trabalho incluímos os efeitos de muitos corpos usando a aproximação de Hartree-Fock e, via cálculos auto-consistentes, mostramos que estes efeitos tornam-se relevantes para densidades a partir de 108 e/cm2 para elétrons sobre Hélio e 103 e/ cm2 para elétrons sobre filme de Hélio. Calculamos também a mobilidade desses elétrons, em superfície de Hélio, incluindo dois mecanismos diferentes de espalhamento; as interações elétron-ripplons e elétrons-átomos de vapor. Usando nossos cálculos auto-consistentes obtivemos resultados que melhores concordam com dados experimentais para a mobilidade, em regimes de altas densidades eletrônicas / The formation of electric charged layers outside liquid Helium and outside films are well understood experimentally as well as theoretically. But, until today, there was not a self-consistent calculation for these electronic layers because, at low densities, these system can be treated as a one-electron problem. In this work we have included the many-body effects using the Hartree-Fock approximations and, via self-consistent calculations, we pointed out that these effects are relevants for densities above 108 e/cm2 for liquid Helium and 103 e/ cm2 for Helium films. We also have calculated the electronic mobility due to different scattering mechanisms: electron-ripplon and electron-vapour interactions. Using our self-consistents calculations we have obtained results that fit very well the experimental data, at high densities

The city of Wellington has a high population concentration and lies within a geologically active landscape at the southern end of the North Island, New Zealand. Wellington has a high seismic risk due to its close proximity to several major fault systems, with the active Wellington Fault located in the north-western central city. Varying soil depth and properties in combination with the close proximity of active faults mean that in a large earthquake rupture event, ground shaking amplification is expected to occur in Thorndon, Te Aro and around the waterfront. This thesis focuses on the area bounded by Thorndon Overbridge in the north, Wellington Hospital in the south, Kelburn in the west, and Oriental Bay in the east. It includes many of the major buildings and infrastructural elements located within the central Wellington commercial area. The main objectives were to create an electronic database which allows for convenient access to all available data within the study area, to create a 3D geological model based upon this data, and to define areas of different seismic subsoil class and depth to rock within the study area at a scale that is useful for preliminary geotechnical analysis (1:5,000. Borelogs from 1025 holes with accompanying geological and geotechnical data obtained from GNS Science and Tonkin & Taylor were compiled into a database, together with the results from SPAC microtremor testing at 12 sites undertaken specifically for this study. This thesis discusses relevant background work and defines the local Wellington geology. A 3D geological model of the central Wellington commercial area, along with ten ArcGIS maps including surficial, depth to bedrock, site period, Vs30, ground shaking amplification hazard and site class (NZS 1170.5:2004) maps were created. These outputs show that a significant ground shaking amplification risk is posed on the city, with the waterfront, Te Aro and Thorndon areas most at risk.