Changing the Scholarly Sources Landscape with Geomorphology Undergraduate Students

Science is a core discipline in academia yet the focus of most undergraduate technical writing is generally on the data and results, not the literature review. The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) librarian and a new geology professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) collaborated to develop an information literacy session for students in a geomorphology class. Here we outline the background of the campus STEM initiatives and the assignment as well as the library instruction activity, learning outcomes, and assessment components. The activity improved student use of scholarly sources and we provide suggested activity modifications for future teaching and assessment efforts

Geomorphology: Changing the scholarly sources landscape with geology students

Find out how we changed the landscape for geology students from a popular sources wasteland to a lush garden of scholarly sources through a library instruction intervention. Data from before and after the library instruction will be shared, showing student growth from Wikipedia in first drafts to meeting ACRL Information Literacy Standards for Science through the use of scholarly sources in the final paper. The library instruction activity, learning outcomes, and assessment components are included

Guidebook for Omaha\u27s Urban Geology and Anthropocene Nebraska Well Drillers 2022 Field Trip

This geologic field trip focus is somewhat atypical but arguably reflects an ongoing evolution within the geosciences. Instead of traveling out into rural settings to look at outcrops and the stratigraphy exposed, or rural landforms and their geologic history, this field trip is focused on built and engineered environments in the Omaha area and the ‘modified’ associated geologic processes such as surface and groundwater flow, weathering, and soil formation. The ongoing evolution includes an increase in a multidisciplinary system science approach and is driven by a need to address environmental and resource management challenges using new tools and conceptual frameworks. One example is the concept of the critical zone, the zone encompassing the vegetation canopy down to groundwater. This framework is crucial to understanding endeavors at Glacier Creek Preserve and provides an example of an application of a system science approach and the role that technology plays. These topics are also part of the environmental geology courses we teach at UNO where we explore the interplay between geologic knowledge and human endeavors.https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/geoggeolfacbooks/1006/thumbnail.jp

Research on Cognitive Domain in Geoscience Learning: Quantitative Reasoning, Problem Solving, and Use of Models

Models (from simple mental models to complex computational models) are used by geoscientists to conceptualize and better understand the Earth system and to make predictions. Earth processes affect the human condition and result in hazards and complex issues that require both expert and citizenry decision-making about mitigation and adaptation. In addition, a wide range of Earth materials (e.g., mineral, rock, water) are valued resources that need sustainable management. All of these challenges require recognition of the problem (problem-finding), and the development and application of problem-solving skills. In addition, Earth system understanding and problem-solving benefit strongly from quantitative reasoning. Quantitative reasoning, problem-solving, and use of models present many daunting challenges to both students and instructors. All are valued by the professional geoscience community and by employers, and all would benefit from more education research. In this chapter, grand challenges and recommended strategies for each of these areas are identified and described

INSIGHTS INTO GROUNDWATER FLOW PATHS IN AN INTENSIVELY MANAGED CRITICAL ZONE IN NEBRASKA

Glacier Creek, a groundwater-fed stream located in Glacier Creek Preserve (GCP) near Omaha, Nebraska, flows through restored tallgrass prairie and agricultural land (corn-soy rotation) draining a 4 km2 area. The 1 km wide watershed developed on Peoria Loess that overlies Sangamon age glacial till; Glacier Creek itself flows through the glacial till. Previous work concerning land use impacts on solute fluxes indicated a distinct distribution and flux of solutes through restored prairie and agricultural land. Inputs into the subsurface on agricultural land are slow and more concentrated but are diluted by precipitation along shallow flow paths to the north fork of Glacier Creek. In contrast, subsurface flow paths through the restored prairie are more rapid and deeper, leading to less concentrated water in the south fork of Glacier Creek. However, little is known about the subsurface stratigraphy and hydrogeology of the groundwater that provides year-round flow into Glacier Creek. Here we present the initial interpretation of a series of sediment cores and aquifer tests from the ridgetop, midslope, and foot slope topographic positions of agriculture and restored prairie. Sediment cores from the southern, restored prairie portion of GCP show loess overlying glacial till (identified by the appearance of gravel-sized rock fragments). The stratigraphy of the northern, agricultural portion of GCP is much more complex: while loess does overlie glacial till, there are also a series of sandy outwash deposits that cannot be correlated across the landscape. Under both land uses, the local groundwater table lies within the glacial till as referenced by water depth measurements in monitoring wells and gleyed sediments present in cores. Slug tests conducted in ridgetop and foot slope wells indicate that the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the sediments underlying the agricultural land range from two-fold to an order of magnitude greater than those underlying restored prairie, consistent with the presence of sandy layers that conduct water at a quicker rate. Furthermore, the higher flow rates explain why the north fork of Glacier Creek (draining agriculture) produces more water despite being a smaller portion of the watershed. Given these new findings, we modify our conceptual model of subsurface flow at GCP

Multi-criteria analysis of landslide susceptibility, Afghanistan

This presentation was given as part of the GIS Day@KU symposium on November 16, 2016. For more information about GIS Day@KU activities, please see http://gis.ku.edu/gisday/2016/.Landslides are among the most destructive forces of nature. Estimating susceptibility through modeling is an essential tool for planning and mitigation efforts. Some regions, however, are too dangerous or lack the capacity to develop extensive inventories for rigorous analyses. Remote sensing and GIS allow for initial risk assessment and hazard planning. Data derived primarily from remote sensing, or developed before and during war efforts of the last few decades were used for this study of landslide susceptibility in Afghanistan.Platinum Sponsors: KU Department of Geography and Atmospheric Science. Gold Sponsors: Enertech, KU Environmental Studies Program, KU Libraries. Silver Sponsors: Douglas County, Kansas, KansasView, State of Kansas Data Access & Support Center (DASC) and the KU Center for Global and International Studies

Natural and anthropogenic processes contributing to metal enrichment in surface soils of central Pennsylvania

Metals in soils may positively or negatively affect plants as well as soil micro-organisms and mesofauna, depending on their abundance and bioavailability. Atmospheric deposition and biological uplift commonly result in metal enrichment in surface soils, but the relative importance of these processes is not always resolved. Here, we used an integrated approach to study the cycling of phosphorus and a suite of metals from the soil to the canopy (and back) in a temperate watershed. The behavior of elements in these surface soils fell into three categories. First, Al, Fe, V, Co, and Cr showed little to no enrichment in the top soil layers, and their concentrations were determined primarily by soil production fluxes with little influence of either atmospheric inputs or biological activity. Second, P, Cu, Zn and Cd were moderately enriched in surface soils due to a combination of atmospheric deposition and biological uplift. Among the metals we studied, Cu, Zn and Cd concentrations in surface soils were the most sensitive to changes in atmospheric deposition fluxes. Finally, Mo and Mn showed strong enrichment in the top soil layer that could not be explained strictly by either current atmospheric deposition or biological recycling processes, but may reflect both their unique chemistry and remnants of past anthropogenic fluxes. Mn has a long residence time in the soil partly due to intense biological uplift that retains Mn in the top soil layer. Mo, in spite of the high solubility of molybdate, remains in the soil because of strong binding to natural organic matter. This study demonstrates the need to consider simultaneously the vegetation and the soils to understand elemental distribution within soil profiles as well as cycling within watersheds

Shale weathering rates across a continental-scale climosequence

A transect of sites has been established in North America and England as part of the Critical Zone Exploration Network (CZEN) to investigate the rates of soil formation across a climate gradient. Sites reported here are all underlain by an organic-poor, iron-rich Silurian-age shale, providing a constant parent material lithology from which soil is forming. This climosequence includes relatively cold and wet sites in Wales, New York and Pennsylvania, with temperature increasing to the south in Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama. Puerto Rico provides a warm/wet end member for the transect, although this site does not lie on the same shale formation as the Appalachian Mountain sites. Geochemical, mineralogical, and cosmogenic isotope analyses are being completed similarly at all sites to allow direct comparisons and eventual modelling of the weathering processes. Preliminary results from Wales, Pennsylvania and Virginia show soils become more sodium-depleted and the depth to bedrock is significantly deeper at the wet/warm site in Virginia. The fraction of Na lost relative to parent material composition at each site varies linearly as a function of mean annual temperature. Overall, results from the transect will promote a better understanding of how climate changes and human activities impact soil formation rates

Shale weathering rates across a continental-scale climosequence

A transect of sites has been established in North America and England as part of the Critical Zone Exploration Network (CZEN) to investigate the rates of soil formation across a climate gradient. Sites reported here are all underlain by an organic-poor, iron-rich Silurian-age shale, providing a constant parent material lithology from which soil is forming. This climosequence includes relatively cold and wet sites in Wales, New York and Pennsylvania, with temperature increasing to the south in Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama. Puerto Rico provides a warm/wet end member for the transect, although this site does not lie on the same shale formation as the Appalachian Mountain sites. Geochemical, mineralogical, and cosmogenic isotope analyses are being completed similarly at all sites to allow direct comparisons and eventual modelling of the weathering processes. Preliminary results from Wales, Pennsylvania and Virginia show soils become more sodium-depleted and the depth to bedrock is significantly deeper at the wet/warm site in Virginia. The fraction of Na lost relative to parent material composition at each site varies linearly as a function of mean annual temperature. Overall, results from the transect will promote a better understanding of how climate changes and human activities impact soil formation rates