3-D Photogrammetry for LiDAR Calibration

The growth of drone technology has provided an avenue to create 3-D images of a desired region. We combined photographs to create a point cloud model which we compared to a point cloud created from the LiDAR (Light Detection And Radar) data. By comparing these two point clouds, we can later determine calibration variables for the LiDAR system.https://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/urp_aug_2018/1007/thumbnail.jp

A Ground Penetrating Radar Survey of the Unexcavated 24BE2206 Site Near Dewey, in the Big Hole Valley of Montana

Stone fire hearths and associated sub-surface cultural remains were the target of a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey at a pre-historic Native American archeological site near Dewey, Montana. GPR is a non-invasive geophysical survey technique. The GPR uses a transmitting antenna with a frequency of 1-1000 MHz to emit electromagnetic waves into the ground. The receiving antenna detects reflections caused by boundaries of contrasting electrical properties. As the distance of a survey progresses, ensuing measurements produce an image based on the returning reflections.https://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/urp_aug_2017/1006/thumbnail.jp

Analysis of temperatures in sedimentary basins

Master of ScienceGeologyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/114099/1/39015006144862.pd

Numerical Modeling of the Test Pit for Falling Weight Deflectometer Calibration

Contract # 9921-806Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) planned to replace the soft clay layer of their test pit for Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) calibration with a geofoam layer hoping to increase the operational lifetime of the test pit. In this research, the possibility of replacing the clay layer with a geofoam layer was investigated using dynamic response analyses. A three-dimensional explicit finite volume model was developed and calibrated using the results of previous calibration tests conducted by MDT. The model was then used to determine if the geofoam can be used instead of clay as the soft layer in the FWD calibration test pit. Based on the results of the numerical models, it was concluded that geofoam can be used instead of the clay layer. In fact, 30 different setups were designed using two types of geofoam, i.e., EPS 19 and EPS 29. A decision matrix analyses approach was proposed to rank these designs from best to worst based on five criteria, i.e., AASHTO R32-11 maximum deflection requirements, reducing the possible noise, proper damping, construction cost, and variability. Based on the proposed decision matrix analyses it was determined that the best 12 ft wide-15 ft long geofoam setup would be composed of a 28 (in.) thick geofoam EPS 19, overlaying 3 (in.) of sand at the bottom of the test pit, and 23 (in.) of sand above the geofoam layer. A 5 (in.) thick concrete slab would be placed on the top of this setup

Downhole logging of the AND-2A borehole, Victoria Land Basin, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

Under the framework of the ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound (SMS) Project successful downhole experiments were conducted in the 1138.54 metre (m)-deep AND-2A borehole. Wireline logs successfully recorded were: magnetic susceptibility, spectral gamma ray, sonic velocity, borehole televiewer, neutron porosity, density, calliper, geochemistry, temperature and dipmeter. A resistivity tool and its backup both failed to operate, thus resistivity data were not collected. Due to hole conditions, logs were collected in several passes from the total depth at ~1138 metres below sea floor (mbsf) to ~230 mbsf, except for some intervals that were either inaccessible due to bridging or were shielded by the drill string. Furthermore, a Vertical Seismic Profile (VSP) was created from ~1000 mbsf up to the sea floor. The first hydraulic fracturing stress measurements in Antarctica were conducted in the interval 1000-1138 mbsf. This extensive data set will allow the SMS Science Team to reach some of the ambitious objectives of the SMS Project. Valuable contributions can be expected for the following topics: cyclicity and climate change, heat flux and fluid flow, seismic stratigraphy in the Victoria Land Basin, and structure and state of the modern crustal stress field

Early to middle Miocene ice sheet dynamics in the westernmost Ross Sea (Antarctica): Regional correlations

The present-day morpho-stratigraphy of the Ross Sea is the result of Cenozoic tectonic and cryospheric events, and constitutes a key record of Antarctica's cryospheric evolution. An enduring problem in interpreting this record in a broader regional context is that the correlation between eastern and western Ross Sea stratigraphy has remained uncertain due to the limited number of drill sites. We correlate the glacial-related features observed on a dense network of seismic reflection profiles in McMurdo Sound with those identified in the Nordenskjöld and Drygalski Basins, as well as the basins farther east in the central Ross Sea. We present an improved correlation of the regional patterns of early to middle Miocene ice-sheet variance across the Ross Sea constrained by new evaluation of seismic facies and age models from one site recovered by the Antarctic Drilling Project (ANDRILL) in the southwestern most part of McMurdo Sound. We also integrate this correlation with the recently published seismic framework in the central Ross Sea. The formation of U-shaped valleys during the early Miocene in McMurdo Sound, together with prograding sedimentary wedges in the western-most basins, and the central Ross Sea, suggest two major phases of overall advance of a marine-terminating ice sheet between ~18 Ma and ~ 17.4 Ma. Widespread formation of turbiditic channel-levee systems in McMurdo Sound and rapid sediment deposition in Nordernskjöld Basin point to subsequent ice-sheet retreat between ~17.4 Ma and ~ 15.8 Ma, coinciding with the onset of the Miocene Climate Optimum (MCO; ~17–14.5 Ma). However, the carving of troughs and formation of irregular morphologic features suggest that an extensive ice sheet still remained along the western Ross margin at ~17.4 Ma and a brief episode of ice-sheet advance occurred at ~16.8 Ma in the earliest interval of the MCO. Subsequent marine-based ice sheet advance during the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (MMCT, ~14.0–13.8 Ma) is indicated by widespread erosional features. Our results reconcile the semi-continouous seismic and drill core stratigraphy of the offshore Ross Sea continental shelf with inferences of ice sheet dynamics from continuous far-field deep sea and sea level records, as well as the highly discontinous (and heavily debated) onshore records of pre-MMCT glaciation and aridification of the Transantarctic Mountains at 14 Ma