Large woody debris (LWD) in rivers can increase fish and macroinvertebrate habitat, but also increases the risk of flooding and reduces channel navigability. This research aims to better understand the river hydraulics associated with LWD in order to find a balance between the beneficial and detrimental effects. By modifying equations of turbulent pipe flow, we attempt to estimate the vertical velocity profile of flow under LWD jams and compare the estimated profile to measured profiles from flume-simulated LWD jams.

Summary of a mathematical modeling contest submission investigating the impact that climate change bears upon state fragility index, as defined by the Fund for Peace. Parameters used in this model include total annual precipitation and percentage of water made available to rural populations over a span of 24 years. From our model, we find that states that are fragile and vulnerable will be affected by climate change.

Theories attempting to unify the Standard Model and General Relativity often include features that violate the Weak Equivalence Principle and gravitational Inverse-Square Law. Motivated by these considerations, undergraduates and faculty at Humboldt State University are operating an experiment to probe gravitational interactions below the 50-micron length scale. The experiment employs a torsion pendulum whose twist is measured as an attractor mass is oscillated nearby. The size and distance dependence of the torque variation provides a means to determine the existence of deviations from expected behavior at untested scales.

Many metals in seawater are key micronutrients, essential in small quantities for the growth of phytoplankton. Analysis of these metals can be challenging due to their low concentration and the complex seawater matrix. Properly quantifying the blanks of the analytical method is critical to obtaining excellent results. In this work, we present preliminary data on accurately and precisely quantifying the blanks due to the analytical process of measuring metals in seawater. Once the blanks are properly quantified and minimized, the method can be used with seawater samples.

For my internship I have been working with the Northcoast Environmental Center to use geospatial analysis and cartography to map their Adopt-A-Beach program. For my poster I would like to display the process and final outcome of the work I have been doing.

River otter sightings from watercourses and coastlines in Humboldt, Del Norte, and adjacent counties are sought by citizens in order for population status to be assessed and monitored. The project is run by Professor Jeff Black and students of Humboldt State University's Wildlife Department.

Over the past few decades, trace metals have been shown to have a significant impact on marine biogeochemical cycles. Certain trace metals are essential components in the control of marine primary producer populations. Because of the significant effects that trace metals can have on marine environments, there’s an increasing need for multi-element analytical methods that allow for high sample throughput and quantification over a broad range of element concentrations that reflect the range observed in the oceans. As such, the main objective of this research project is to determine appropriate standards to accurately quantify trace metals in seawater.

I used the Scanning Electron Microscope in Science B to compare chromium spinels from a volcanic eruption related to Shasta, and spinels from the proximal Trinity ophiolite which has been inferred to lie beneath Shasta by previous authors.

The Long Canyon Dome (LCD) is a 185 ka rhyolite dome in south-central Sierra Nevada, California. The rhyolite pumice from the pre-eruption contains less SiO2 and a different mineralogy, than the rhyolite magma erupted from LCD. This suggests the dome was tapping into two different rhyolite magma bodies during one eruption, or a hotter rhyolitic magma intruded into a cooler magma, triggering the eruption. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy’s (EDS) point and shoot method was used to measure the chemical signature of sanidine crystals in pre and post eruption sample. The rhyolite pumices’ at LCD represents similar but slightly different magmas compositions.

The Ironside Mountain Batholith located in the Western Hayfork terrane in the Klamath Mountains province represents crustal derived plutonism that pre-dates the Nevadan Orogeny by 20Ma. Redating the Ironside Mountain Batholith will be done via U-Pb laser ablation of accessory zircons, this will yield an age of crystallization thus providing an age of emplacement, and constrain the pre-Nevadan orogeny. Barnes and Petersen dated the Ironside Mountain Batholith in 1992 using U-Pb, Pb-Pb, and K-Ar dating methods, and yielded a date in the Mid Jurassic from 169 Ma (K-Ar) to 174 Ma (U-Pb), with an accepted age of 170Ma.