This study has presented a comprehensive overview of the status and ecology of walleye and sauger in the Wabash River, Indiana. Populations of walleye and sauger are relatively low in numbers. Both species exhibited a trend of increased abundance with river km from the mouth of the Wabash River. Summer walleye habitat use and movements were examined in the upper Wabash River. Walleye preferred run habitat over riffle or pool habitat. Lateral position, substrate use, and mean depth appeared to be influenced by discharge. Movements were generally short and occurred within a relatively small home range of 1.7 km. The population size limits the fisheries potential for walleye and sauger in the Wabash River mainstem. The upper Wabash River supports higher abundances of these species than the middle Wabash River and may provide a focal point for future management efforts. / Department of Biology

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2010. / Title from screen (viewed on July 19, 2010). Department of History, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Robert G. Barrows, Annie Gilbert Coleman, Xin Zhang. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-121).

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

This creative project has taken the form of a 16 millimeter color documentary film that analyzed the proposed alteration of a major natural resource in Indiana; i.e., the Wabash River. The agency responsible for studying the proposed alteration was the U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, which was acting in response to Congressional authorization.The film analyzed the proposed alteration, known as Wabash Navigation, from the perspectives of history, ecology, economics, and philosophy; differing world views inherent in the global ecological crisis were found to exist in the values of waterway advocates and opponents.The Corps of Engineers found this particular project to be non-feasible. However, the historical and philosophical point is made that non-feasibility does not mean that efforts to promote the waterway would necessarily be dropped. Viewers are asked to analyze the issue from the various perspectives represented in the film and formulate their own opinions.

This study describes the population characteristics of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) and flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris) in the lower 200 miles of the Wabash River in 1998. Densities of channel and flathead catfish did not differ over the study reach for either species. Electrofishing captured twice as many channel as flathead catfish, and hoop nets captured twice as many flatheads as channel catfish. Growth rates of channel catfish were fast as compared to documented growth in other rivers in the United States, with ages ranging from 1-8. Flathead catfish growth was average when compared to that reported in other United States rivers with ages ranging from 0-7. Length-frequency analysis for both species revealed the populations were comprised of small individuals with mortality higher than expected in older fish. This study will aid in the management of the Wabash River, as historic data are limited. / Department of Biology

The local substrate composition of large rivers varies with local current velocity and high flow events. We evaluated effects of hydrology on local substrate variation for 28 Wabash River sites from 2005-08, and subsequent variation in fish assemblages using multivariate analyses. Sites were 500-m in length and fish were collected by boat electrofisher. Substrate collection methods were compared by way of habitat pole, developed by Ohio River Valley Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO), and substrate grabs. We characterized hydrologic variation with the Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) software. We determined important driving variables of fish assemblages, substrates, and hydrology with Principle Components Analysis. Temporal effects of hydrology and substrate variation on taxonomic and functional fish assemblages were determined by repeated measures ANOVA. The analyses resulted in annual variation in fish assemblage structure, substrates and hydrologic variation. Significant relationships were found for fish assemblage structure, substrate variation, and hydrologic variation. . Our Mantel tests resulted in significant concordance among hydrology, local substrate variation, and fish assemblage structure variables in years 2005, 2006, and 2008, but not in 2007. These results demonstrated that Wabash River fish assemblages respond to substrate variation and substrate variation is controlled largely by hydrology. A comparison of substrate quantification approaches demonstrated that the habitat pole and substrate grabs are both effective ways to describe fish assemblages but the costs of grabs outweigh the cost of the pole method. / Department of Biology

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

The Wabash Valley Seismic Zone (WVSZ) has produced three moderate sized earthquakes greater than or equal to mb 5.0 in the past 50 years. The majority of Wabash Valley faults originate near the junction of the Rough Creek and Cottage Grove faults and extend northeastward along the Wabash River. These faults extend through the Paleozoic and into the Precambrian and are believe to be associated with the Reelfoot Rift. Two of these moderate sized earthquakes have occurred north of the terminus of the Wabash Valley faults that the WVSZ is commonly associated with. This suggests that other sources of seismicity exist. The La Salle anticline, a Precambrian basement feature, is oriented NW to SE just north of the termination of these faults. The La Salle anticline creates up to a 750 meter uplift in the above Paleozoic strata. This uplift creates faults within the Paleozoic strata and within the La Salle anticline. This study uses seismometers arranged in a phased array near the southern terminus of the La Salle anticline to analyze the seismicity of the region. Analyzing the seismicity of the region over a 6-month period found 834 events. The vast majority were determined to be mine blasts or otherwise human induced. Two small earthquakes (~M 1.0) located near the La Salle anticline. These earthquakes likely occur on faults associated with the anticline. The lack of earthquakes suggested the b-value of the La Salle region could be as low as 0.56. This is lower than the typical value of 1, but consistent with other intraplate regions and previous studies of the WVSZ finding values nearer 0.7.

A study of 12 cores and 2 wells with cuttings through the Silurian (444 to 416 m..y.) succession of the Wabash Platform, Indiana was done to establish the high resolution sequence stratigraphy of a sediment-starved low-latitude epeiric sea platform during the transition from Ordovician icehouse to Devonian greenhouse. The Wabash Platform (approximately 200,000 square km area) is bounded to the north by the Michigan Basin, to the east by the Appalachian Basin, and passed to the southwest into the Vincennes Basin, which was open to the ocean. Facies developed include: crinoidal grainstone-packstone sheets (updip shoals), buildup facies (stromatactis wackestone - lime mudstone, below storm wave-base settings; stromatoporoid skeletal wackestone - floatstone, storm wave-base to fair-weather wave-base; and crinoidal rudstone to packstone; flank facies); non-cherty, skeletal packstone, wackestone, mudstone (sub-fair-weather- to storm wave-base); and cherty, skeletal wackestone - mudstone and variably argillaceous carbonate mudstone (below storm wave-base). Eight thin sequences (1.3 to 4 m.y. duration) occur and range from 2 m to 10 m, with the upper two sequences up to 20 m downdip; most of the sequences can be correlated to global cycles. Except for the lower three disconformity-bounded sequences, most sequences are relatively conformable and lack well defined sequence boundaries or subaerial exposure surfaces. The most easily mapped surfaces are the transgressive surfaces, given that the correlative conformities are cryptic. Lowstand system tracts probably include downdip grainy facies and the deep ramp seaward of updip late highstand deposits. Transgressive systems tracts are upward deepening, upward fining carbonate units, some of which become more argillaceous and silty upward. This contrasts with the usual association of clastic-prone units with lowstand to early transgressive systems tracts. Highstand systems tracts are subtly upward coarsening from carbonate mudstone to skeletal wackestone/packstone and rarely skeletal grainstone. During deposition of the uppermost two sequences, mudmound barrier banks grew upward into shallow water buildups to form a discontinuous raised rim (40 m relief) to the ramp. Even though subsidence rates were very low (<1 cm/k.y.), the low sedimentation rates (0.3 cm/k.y. to 0.8 cm/k.y.) generally prevented the seafloor from building to sea level except for the basal three sequences in which Early Silurian third order glacio-eustacy generated disconformable boundaries. Thus the ramp remained subtidal through most of the relatively ice-free greenhouse later Silurian except over the buildups which locally shallowed to sea level. Parasequence development in high accommodation settings elsewhere in North America are compatible with the transition from moderate ice-sheets to an ice free world. However, this is poorly expressed on the Wabash Platform due to the dominantly deeper subtidal setting. The Silurian provides a window into climate change from a global cool period to global hothouse, which may have implications for understanding future climate change. / Master of Science

Relationships between fish assemblage composition and substrate variation is poorly understood in large rivers. Information on fishes occurrence and behavior and substrate variation were examined in field observations for the Middle Wabash River and fine scale artificial streams experiments. The results from field observations suggested strong concordance for variation in abundance of fishes with habitat variation among sites, resulting in a longitudinal river gradient as dominant in the Middle Wabash River. In addition, shifts in fish behavior within artificial stream experiments demonstrated that species-specific habitat selection behaviors were influenced by interactions within a fish assemblage. The combination of artificial stream experiments and field observations can identify fine scale trends that bioassessment surveys cannot tease apart, and highlighting the need to examine species-habitat relationships at more than one scale. / Department of Biology