Below are theses and dissertations of graduates of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Department of Geoscience.
For the entire collection of UNLV theses and dissertations, visit UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
Theses/Dissertations from 2023
Study of Trace Elements in Southern Nevada Spring Waters and Lakes, Hyejeong Lee
Critical Metals: From Granitic Pegmatites to the Anthropogenic Cycle, Dalton Mccaffrey
Characterization of Hematite Coated Bedrock Fault Scarps in the Northern Colorado River Extensional Corridor Near Lake Mead, Nevada, Molly E. Pickerel
Morphologic Comparisons of Recrystallized and Neocrystallized Fibrous Amphibole Asbestos: Implications for Corresponding Health Risk Potential, Natalie G. Renkes
Theses/Dissertations from 2022
Fault Development and Interaction by Compaction, Tectonism, and Linkage: Examples from Quaternary Fault Development in Southern Nevada, Shaimaa Mohamed Ali Abdelhaleem
Age and Genesis of W-Mo-Cu Mineralization, Gold Hill, Utah, Nathan J. Carey
Antler Foreland Basin Evolution Recorded in Detrital Zircon U-Pb Geochronology, James Duncan
Redox Change Across the Late Cambrian Steptoean Carbon Isotope Excursion (SPICE) in the Southern Great Basin, USA, Chin Chai Huan
Calcite Spherulite Formations and Their Controls in Halophilic Bacterial Cultures, Zakaria Jibrin
Miocene Ichnofaunas and Mammalian Communities in the Great Basin Region, Nevada and California, AnnMarie R. Jones
Source and Parental Melts of Poikilitic Shergottites: Implications for Martian Magmatism, Evan W. O'neal
Along Strike Tectonic Evolution of the Neogene Bermejo Foreland Basin and Eastern Precordillera Thrust Front, Argentina (30-32ºs), Zoey Catherine Plonka
Paleoenvironmental Changes Across the Devonian-Carboniferous Transition, Audrey M. Warren
Theses/Dissertations from 2021
Petrogenesis of Hawaiian Lavas: Investigations Using Radiogenic and Non-Traditional Stable Isotopes, Christopher Defelice
A 155-year tree-ring based record of warm and dry snow droughts for the Cascade Range, USA, Laura A. Dye
Extreme Event Reconstructions for the Upper Fraser River Basin, British Columbia, Canada, Inga K. Homfeld
Chronicling Magma Transit Beneath Hawaiian Volcanoes: Every Isotope a Word, Every Crystal a Story, Jonathan Pinko
Theses/Dissertations from 2020
Tectonic Evolution of the Tucki Mountain Metamorphic Core Complex, Southeastern California: Evidence for Late Cretaceous Extension within the Sevier-Laramide Orogen, William Killey Barba
Three-Dimensional (3D) Characterization of the Middle Ordoovician (Darriwilian) Strata in the Southern Great Basin, Western United States, Uday Mohamed Baheej Kara Ali
Experimental Polycrystal Stress Mapping Using Raman Spectroscopy, Genevieve C. Kidman
Paleoecology of Columbian and Pygmy Mammoths in Southern Nevada and California: How Terminal Pleistocene Ecosystems Shaped Mammoths at the Individual, Population, and Community Level, Lauren Elizabeth Parry
Infiltration into Water-Repellent Sand: The Role of Sorptivity, Rose Marie Shillito
Microbe-Mineral Interactions During Exceptional Fossil Preservation, Stromatolite Formation, and Desert Varnish Growth, Michael Strange
Initial Measurements on the Effect of Stress on P- and S-wave Velocities in Olivine, Taryn Traylor
Theses/Dissertations from 2019
Petrogenesis of Unusual Occurrence of Amphibole Asbestos in Mohave County, Arizona and Clark County, Nevada, Tomoyo Austin
Early Contractional History of the Funeral Mountains and its Influence on the Formation of the Funeral Mountains Metamorphic Core Complex, Death Valley, CA, Taylor Douglas Craig
Petrogenesis of the El Rechuelos Rhyolite, Jemez Mountains Volcanic Field, New Mexico, USA, Kelsy Jo Konkright
Moisture Dynamics of a Near-Surface Desert Soil, Yuan Luo
Utility of Bench Scale Sand Tank Experiments at Assessing Permeable Reactive Barrier Design, Brandon Meier
Examination of Maskelynite through Static Recompression and Dynamic Compression, Justin James Reppart
Assessing Simulated Transmissivity in Numerical Flow Models of Complex Hydrogeology, Afan Tarar
Theses/Dissertations from 2018
Holocene Climate Evolution of Continental Western Eurasia Constrained By Stable-Isotope and Cation Geochemistry of U-Th-Dated Speleothems and Meteogenic Travertine, Jonathan Lloyd Baker
Petrology and Geochemistry of the Enriched Poikilitic Shergottite Northwest Africa 10169: Insight into the Martian Interior, Logan Matthew Combs
Structural Evolution and Regional Implications of the Arrowhead Mine Fault within the Pahranagat Shear Zone, Nevada, USA, Michael Dennis Evans
Miocene-Quaternary Deformation along the Central Maynard Lake Fault, Pahranagat Shear Zone, Nevada, Alexander Peck
Petrogenesis of Enriched and Intermediate Poikilitic Shergottites: From Magmatic Source to Emplacement, Rachel Rahib
A Novel Approach to Analyzing Strain Heterogeneity in Polycrystalline Quartz Specimens Deformed at High Pressure and Temperature, Nolan Ambrose Regis
Theses/Dissertations from 2017
Phosphate Release: The Effect of Prebiotic Organic Compounds on Dissolution of Merrillite, Whitlockite, Chlorapatite, and Fluorapatite, Courtney Lea Bartlett
Behavioral Paleoecology of Lower Cambrian Deposit Foragers: Reinterpreting Looping and Meandering Traces using Optimal Foraging Theory and Quantitative Analysis, Zachary Andrew Jensen
Environmental Changes across the Early Mississippian Carbon Isotope Excursion, Dev Krishna Maharjan
Miocene-Pliocene(?) Folds, Normal Faults and the Left-Lateral Buckhorn Fault with Regional Implications, Pahranagat Shear Zone, Nevada, Thomas Godfrey Price
Phase equilibria, compressibility, and thermal analysis of bastnaesite-(La), Richard Lee Rowland
An Elemental Highway: Investigation of a High Nickel Anomaly in Olivine from the Island of Niihau, Hawaii, Alexander James Valentine
Theses/Dissertations from 2016
Characterizing the Earliest Stages of Partial Melting: A Study of the Pyrometamorphic Aureole of Miocene Mt. Perkins Pluton, Northwest Arizona, Mathew Beshears
(U-Th)/He Studies of the Southern Snake Range Metamorphic Core Complex, NV and Gypsum Valley Salt Wall, Paradox Basin, CO, USA, Sarah Lynn Evans
Patterns of Synorogenic Sedimentation Associated with the Unroofing of the Willard-Paris-Meade Thrust Sheets, Sevier Fold-Thrust Belt, Amanda Gentry
Effects of Hydraulic Connections on Unsaturated Flow in Dual-Permeability Media, Jeevan Jayakody
Characterizing Crystal Populations for the Petrogenesis of the Post-Collapse Rhyolites in The Long Valley Caldera, California, William Joseph
Water Balance and Moisture Dynamics of an Arid and Semi-Arid Soil: A Weighing Lysimeter and Field Study, Jeremy E. Koonce
Structural Evolution of the Maynard Lake Fault Within the Left-Lateral Pahranagat Shear Zone, Nevada, USA, Mahmud Mustafa Muhammad
Assessing a Potential Paleothermal Anomaly near a Salt Wall Using (U-TH)/HE Thermochronology and Silica Cementation Analysis, Onion Creek, Utah, Richard Gregory Ness
Canovas Canyon Rhyolites, Jemez Volcanic Field, New Mexico: Discrete Source Magmas, or a Potential Caldera Forming Magma System?, Penelope Marie Padmore
Theses/Dissertations from 2015
Kinematics and timing of the Miocene-Quaternary deformation in Nellis Dunes Recreational Area, Nevada, Shaimaa Abdelhaleem
Rewetting of Artificially Desiccated Soils: Effect of Gravity on Vapor-Phase Diffusion, Taylor Arland Ball
Glass shards at Pinnacle Point rock shelter 5-~6, South Africa: Are they from the last super-~eruption of Toba?, Amber Elizabeth Ciravolo
Trace Element Variations in a Stalagmite from Southwest Mexico: Implications for Paleoclimate, Chad Michael Crotty
An Investigation into Transitions in Clay Mineral Chemistry on Mars, Seth Gainey
Predictive Modeling of Terrestrial Radiation Exposure from Geologic Materials, Daniel A. Haber
Stable Isotope Analysis of Bison latifrons and Paleoecological Inferences, Fabian Ceron Hardy
Modeling Background Radiation using Geochemical Data, Kara Marsac
Characterization of Gold and Related Mineralization at the North Bullion Carlin System, Railroad Project, a Nevada Carlin-~type Gold Prospect, Melanie Nicole Newton
Ediacaran ocean redox evolution, Swapan Kumar Sahoo
Dissolution of Nontronite in Low Water Activity Brines and Implications for the Aqueous History of Mars, Michael Henry Steiner
Carbon Isotope Variations Associated with a Middle Ordovician Karstic Unconformity, Patricia Suzanne Williams
Theses/Dissertations from 2014
Mars-Relevant Phosphate Minerals and Implications for Martian Habitability, Christopher Adcock
The effect of single crystal elastic and plastic anisotropy on stress and strain heterogeneity: comparison of olivine to other common minerals, Christopher Joseph Cline Ii
Ore Classification and Breccia Formation in the 144 Zone Gold Deposit: A Chemical Replacement Model, Bare Mountain Range, Nevada, William Thomas Fischer
Ore Characterization of the Estelle Property in the South-~Central Alaska Range, Ember Flagg
Subalklaine Volcanism in the Eastern Basin and Range Province: Examples from the Miocene McCullough Range Volcanic Field and the Pliocene to Holocene Black Rock Desert Volcanic Field, Racheal Leighann Johnsen
Porphyry Copper Exploration of the Hualapai Mountains, Mohave County, Arizona, USA: A Multi-faceted Approach, Patrick Kevin Meazell
Thermal Impacts of Salt on Sandstones and Mudstones in the Lusitanian Basin, Portugal, Brett Perry
New early Miocene 40Ar/39Ar ages for Nakwai, northwest Kenya, Africa, and Paleontological analysis of Meroehyrax kyongoi dentition, Dawn Elena Reynoso
Kinematics and Timing of Superposed Deformation in the Funeral Mountains Metamorphic Core Complex, Death Valley, CA, Katrina Marie Sauer
Modern to Late Pleistocene Stable Isotope Climatology of Alaska, Alison Sloat
Estimating Aquifer Characteristics and Identification of a Sub-Basin for Artificial Storage and Recovery, Northeastern Ivanpah Valley, Nevada, Nikolas James Taranik
Theses/Dissertations from 2013
Paleoecology of Late Pleistocene megaherbivores: Stable isotope reconstruction of environment, climate, and response, Aubrey Mae Bonde
Cretaceous and Eocene U-Pb Zircon Migmatite Ages from the East Humboldt Range Metamorphic Core Complex, Nevada, Jordan Drew
Application of (U-Th)/He and 40Ar/39Ar Thermochronology to the Age of Thrust Faulting in the Sevier Orogenic Belt, Michael Giallorenzo
Impacts of climate changes on the spatiotemporal distribution of precipitation in the western United States, Peng Jiang
Pennsylvanian to Cretaceous folds and thrusts in south-central Nevada: evidence from the Timpahute Range, Angela Giovanna Russo
Ichnology and paleoecology of the Jurassic Aztec Sandstone, Heather Marie Stoller
The Evaluation of Water Storage in Death Valley using GRACE Satellite Data, Maile Sweigart
Dissolution Rates of Amorphous Al- and Fe-Phosphates and their Relevance to Phosphate Mobility on Mars, Valerie Tu
Theses/Dissertations from 2012
Natural and constructed wetlands for ecosystem and engineering services in the arid and semi-arid regions, Achyut Raj Adhikari
Burial and Exhumation History of Mississippian Strata in East-Central Nevada, Yuki Yunika Agulia
Deciphering the Evolution of Ore Fluids at The Batu Hijau Copper-~Gold Porphyry Deposit, Sumbawa, Indonesia, Jordan Thomas Armstrong
Evaluating Recharge and Dynamics of Flow in the Lower Virgin River Basin, USA: Interpretation of Hydrochemical and Stable Isotopic Data, Joseph Asante