Earth and Space Sciences
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Chronology, Lithology and Paleoenvironmental Interpretation of the Penultimate Ice-Sheet Advance into the Puget Lwoland, Washington
University of Washington Abstract Chronology, Lithology and Paleoenvironmental Interpretations of the Penultimate Ice-Sheet Advance into the Puget Lowland, WA Kathy Goetz Troost Chair of Supervisory Committee: Dr. Derek ... -
Glaciers, erosion and climate change in the Himalaya and St. Elias Range, SE Alaska
The important roles of glaciers in topographic evolution, relief development, and sediment production are well recognized but understanding remains rather limited largely because of the inherent complexity of glacial erosion ... -
Characterizing Habitable Environments on Mars Using Infrared Spectroscopy from Orbit
Until recently, the search for habitable environments on Mars has mostly been driven by the motto “follow the water”, as water is thought to be one of the fundamental requirements for life. Over the last several decades, ... -
Thermodynamic Controls on the Global Ocean Overturning Circulation
This dissertation explores the fundamental relationship between the spatial distribution of air-sea flux and the structure of the ocean's Global Overturning Circulation (GOC). The GOC describes the circulation of ocean ... -
The Role of Corals on Tsunami Dynamics in an Island Setting: A Case Study of Tutuila Island
On September 29, 2009 at 17:48 UTC, an Mw = 8.1 earthquake in the Tonga Trench generated a tsunami that caused heavy damage across Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga. One of the worst localities hit was the volcanic island ... -
Planetary Penetrators for Sample Return Missions
University of Washington Abstract Planetary Penetrators for Sample Return Missions Chad A. Truitt Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Robert M. Winglee Earth and Space Sciences Sample return missions offer a ... -
Quantifying ice-shelf basal melt and ice-stream dynamics using high-resolution DEM and GPS time series
This dissertation describes methods to generate high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) of the Earth's ice sheets, and combines these observations with in situ GPS measurements to study basal melting beneath the ... -
The influence of meltwater on the thermal structure and flow of the Greenland Ice Sheet
As the climate has warmed over the past decades, the amount of melt on the Greenland Ice Sheet has increased, and areas higher on the ice sheet have begun to melt regularly. This increase in melt has been hypothesized to ... -
The Complexity of Arc Magmatism: A Geochemical Investigation of Crustal Processes Beneath a Highly Productive Volcanic Center, Kamchatka, Russia
(University of Washington Graduate School, 2012)Understanding crustal modification of magmas in volcanic arcs is a fundamental problem of igneous petrology and geochemistry. This dissertation examines the role of crustal processes including crustal assimilation, magma ... -
Could narrow marine embayments prevent sea-glacier invasion, and protect photosynthetic life during a Snowball Earth?
During the Snowball Earth events of the Neoproterozoic, the Earth’s oceans may have been completely covered in ice. This ice would have been thick enough to prohibit the transmission of light to the liquid water underneath ... -
Wave-Propagation Modeling and Inversion Using Frequency-Domain Integral Equation Methods
Full waveform inverse methods describe the full physics of wave propagation and can potentially overcome the limitations of ray theoretic methods. This work explores the use of integral equation based methods for simulation ... -
Thermal regime and sublimation rates of subsurface ice in Antarctica and on Mars under current and past environmental conditions: Insights from modeling and ground data
Subsurface ice is common in regions where mean annual temperatures are below the freezing point of water. Once present, this ice may persist for long periods of time even under unfavorable environmental conditions. Subsurface ... -
Fundamental controls on triple oxygen-isotope ratios in Antarctic precipitation and ice cores
Stable isotope ratios of water (δD and δ18O) in polar precipitation and ice cores have long been used to study past climate variations and the hydrological cycle. Recently-developed methods permit the precise measurement ... -
Re-Evaluating the Late Devonian Mass Extinction: A Geochemical Investigation of the Relationship between Carbon Isotope Fluctuations, Faunal Turnover, and Paleoenvironmental Change Recorded in Upper Devonian Carbonates of the Lennard Shelf, Western Australia
The primary goal of this dissertation is to increase understanding of the so-called Late Devonian mass extinction through the use of stable isotope geochemistry. Despite decades of research, the timing, cause(s), and extent ... -
Measured and modeled albedos of sea-ice surfaces with implications for Snowball Earth
The Snowball Earth episodes were extensive glaciations that occurred during the Neoproterozoic, between 600 and 800 million years ago, during which ice covered much or all of the oceans. These glaciations were a result of ... -
Unlocking the secrets of slow slip in Cascadia using low-frequency earthquakes
Recent discoveries in subduction zones worldwide--including here in Cascadia--have illuminated the once shrouded process of plate convergence below the seismogenic zone. Early geodetic [Dragert, et al., 2001] and seismic ... -
Early evolution of environments and metabolism: insights from nitrogen, selenium and sulfur isotopes
The evolution of planet Earth and its biosphere are tightly linked through global biogeochemical cycles, and this dissertation seeks to explore this linkage during the Precambrian with new strategies and geochemical ... -
Nutrients, Productivity, and Redox Conditions during Greenhouse Extinctions in the Panthalassic Ocean
This study aims to better understand the series of events leading up to and following the Permian-Triassic mass extinction as it took place in the Panthalassic Ocean basin, with a particular focus on the oceanographic ... -
Physical Abrasion of Mafic Minerals and Basalt Grains: Application to Martian Aeolian Deposits
Sediment maturity, or the mineralogical and physical characterization of sediment deposits, has been used to locate of sediment source, transport medium and distance, weathering processes, and paleoenvironments on Earth. ... -
The persistence of rapid exhumation in the eastern Himalayan syntaxis
At the eastern margin of the Indian-Eurasian plate collision, margin-normal plate convergence transitions to dextral strike-slip motion, warping tectonic units southward to form the eastern Himalayan syntaxis. Large southeast ...
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