Verification of and Expansion Upon the Use of Cave Scallops in Recreating Hydrogeologic Conditions in Karst Aquifers

Verification of and Expansion Upon the Use of Cave Scallops in Recreating Hydrogeologic Conditions in Karst Aquifers

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hall, Andrew Wesley
Language:English
Published: Ohio University / OhioLINK 2019
Subjects:
Geology
Geomorphology
Hydrology
Cave
Cave Scallops
Karst
Hydrogeology
Online Access:http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1554989185960227
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spelling ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ohiou15549891859602272021-08-03T07:10:08Z Verification of and Expansion Upon the Use of Cave Scallops in Recreating Hydrogeologic Conditions in Karst Aquifers Hall, Andrew Wesley Geology Geomorphology Hydrology Cave Cave Scallops Karst Hydrology Hydrogeology Turbulent flow across soluble bedrock can form concave dissolution features known as scallops. Scallops have been used to recreate paleoflow conditions in caves by deriving floodwater velocities and discharge from scallop lengths. The goal of this study was to verify and extend the application of scallops in recreating hydrogeologic conditions. We tested for the constancy of flow rates throughout a given passage (continuity), uniform vs. non-uniform flow, the effect on scallop lengths due to vertical position in a cave passage, correlations between sediment grain size and scallop-derived shear stresses in passages, and finally the effect of comparatively large scallop lengths (~outliers) on the derived discharge values. In order to test these hypotheses, we measured scallops and sediments from a multitude of caves in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, and by performing statistical analyses on the measurements. We attempted to replicate previous findings of continuity and were partially successful in doing so. We looked for a difference in the variances of scallops in curving and straight passages, which could be used to identify non-uniform flow, and concluded that variance is not able to be used as such. We then compared scallop lengths at various heights in a given passage cross-section and found that their derived specific discharges vary randomly with height with no upward increase of specific discharge. Sediment-derived and scallop-derived floodwater velocities were similar to each other and may represent the same flow conditions. Monte Carlo simulations of the effect of extreme scallop lengths for varied sample sizes revealed that the comparatively large scallop lengths significantly impact the Sauter mean when using smaller sample sizes. The standard deviation of Sauter means nearly doubled from sample sizes of 30 to 10 scallop lengths. Taken together, this study’s findings confirmed and expanded the use of scallops in recreating paleoflow conditions but shows more work is needed to understand the complexity of cave specific paleoflow conditions. 2019-06-10 English text Ohio University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1554989185960227 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1554989185960227 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
topic Geology
Geomorphology
Hydrology
Cave
Cave Scallops
Karst
Hydrology
Hydrogeology
spellingShingle Geology
Geomorphology
Hydrology
Cave
Cave Scallops
Karst
Hydrology
Hydrogeology
Hall, Andrew Wesley
Verification of and Expansion Upon the Use of Cave Scallops in Recreating Hydrogeologic Conditions in Karst Aquifers
author Hall, Andrew Wesley
author_facet Hall, Andrew Wesley
author_sort Hall, Andrew Wesley
title Verification of and Expansion Upon the Use of Cave Scallops in Recreating Hydrogeologic Conditions in Karst Aquifers
title_short Verification of and Expansion Upon the Use of Cave Scallops in Recreating Hydrogeologic Conditions in Karst Aquifers
title_full Verification of and Expansion Upon the Use of Cave Scallops in Recreating Hydrogeologic Conditions in Karst Aquifers
title_fullStr Verification of and Expansion Upon the Use of Cave Scallops in Recreating Hydrogeologic Conditions in Karst Aquifers
title_full_unstemmed Verification of and Expansion Upon the Use of Cave Scallops in Recreating Hydrogeologic Conditions in Karst Aquifers
title_sort verification of and expansion upon the use of cave scallops in recreating hydrogeologic conditions in karst aquifers
publisher Ohio University / OhioLINK
publishDate 2019
url http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1554989185960227
work_keys_str_mv AT hallandrewwesley verificationofandexpansionupontheuseofcavescallopsinrecreatinghydrogeologicconditionsinkarstaquifers
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