School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Undergraduate Research Option Theses
The Research Option offers students majoring in earth and atmospheric sciences the opportunity for a substantial, in-depth research experience. Students are strongly encouraged at the end of their experience to work with their faculty mentor to develop a journal publication or conference presentation on the research in addition to the actual thesis.
All materials in SMARTech are protected under U.S. Copyright Law and all rights are reserved. Such materials may be used, quoted or reproduced for educational purposes only with prior permission, provided proper attribution is given. Any redistribution, reproduction or use of the materials, in whole or in part, is prohibited without prior permission of the author.
Recent Submissions
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Provenance Analysis of the Bouse Formation, Lower Colorado River from Detrital Zircon (U-Th)/Pb Geochronology
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-01-18)The timing and mechanism of Colorado River integration from the Grand Canyon to the Gulf of California have long been debated. Early research proposed river integration developed “bottom-up” due to Pliocene marine incursion ... -
Sorption of Rare Earth Elements onto Kaolinite
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2022-05)Rare earth elements (REEs), defined as yttrium (Y), scandium (Sc), and the 15 lanthanides, have become prominent areas of focus in the geochemistry field. REEs are used in many alternative energy technologies and as ... -
Mapping and Quantifying Tortuous Ridges on Europa
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-05)Double ridges are the most common surface feature on Europa and account for both some of the oldest and newest surface features on the moon. Ridges with linear and cycloidal trajectories have been well-studied, with ... -
The Impact of Elevation-SMB Feedbacks on the Evolution of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-05)The Amundsen Region of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is one of the major active contributors to global sea level rise. Thwaites Glacier is a large, fast-flowing glacier in this region which is experiencing mass loss, flow ... -
A Proposed Improvement for Measuring Hydroxylamine in Seawater
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-12)Hydroxylamine is a chemical intermediate in the nitrogen cycle that can quickly react via biotic and abiotic processes to yield nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas. Because of its high reactivity, hydroxylamine tends ... -
Characterizing iron reducing microorganisms from anoxic ferruginous lake sediments
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-12)Lake Matano, Indonesia is a well-known ancient ocean analogue as its anoxic ecosystem in the subsurface sediments allow the growth of microorganisms capable of mediating anaerobic oxidation coupled to iron reduction. An ... -
Earth's oxygen and phosphorus cycle and the evolution of animal life
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-05)The purpose of this study is to reconstruct an environmental context for the emergence and expansion of early animal life during the Middle Proterozoic (∼1.8–0.8 billion years ago). Specifically, we examined the spatially ... -
Transport Pathways of Shelf Source Micronutrients to the Southern Ocean
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2015-08-18)We use a numerical ocean model to evaluate the hypothesis that the continental shelves are significant sources of dissolved iron to the Southern Ocean. We simulate the distribution of passive tracers released from the 18 ... -
Measuring present-day strain rates along the Fish Lake Valley fault system, Pacific-North America plate boundary
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012-05-07)The eastern California shear zone (ECSZ) is located east of the San Andreas fault and contains a complex network of structures that accommodate ~25% of the relative displacement between the Pacific and North American plates. ... -
Stream Terraces in the Critical Zone - Lower Gordon Gulch, Colorado
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-05-09)As bedrock weathers into soil, erosional processes often carry loose sediment down slope into a stream channel. Higher weathering rates produce larger amounts of erodible soil, which then causes sediment in the stream to ... -
Modeling energetic-charged particles within the Europa-Jupiter environment
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-05-09)Europa, one of Jupiter's Galilean moons, is one of the few planetary bodies in our solar system thought to have the prospect of life. The Jupiter-Europa Orbiter (JEO), part of a new flagship mission, will be sent to the ... -
The Role of Iron Oxides in Marine Phosphorus Cycling
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-05-04)Dissolved and particulate phase iron (Fe) and phosphorus (P) concentrations were characterized in Effingham Inlet, a fjord located on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The effect of redox conditions on Fe and P cycling ...
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