Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2016, Environmental Science

In this project I worked with a team of analysts, and together we sought to develop new ways to analyze geologic, geochemical, and geophysical data that would increase the prospects of geothermal exploration and development. We collected, organized, and analyzed data sets from southwest New Mexico in the context of an integrated framework that combines the data sets for various signatures of a geothermal resource into a cohesive analysis of the presence of heat, fluid, and permeability. We incorporated data sets on structural characteristics (earthquakes, geophysical logs, fault location and age, basement depth), surface topography, water table elevation, conservative ion concentrations, and thermal information (heat flow, bottom hole temperature, discharge temperature, and basement heat generation). These data sets were combined to create maps that indicate structural analysis, slope, geothermometry, and heat. We also mapped discharge areas (to constrain elevations where groundwater may be discharged through modern thermal springs or paleo-thermal springs) and subcrops: possible erosionally- or structurally-controlled breaches in regional-scale aquitards that form the basis of our hydrogeologic windows concept. These two maps were particularly useful in identifying known geothermal systems and narrowing the search for unknown geothermal prospects. I further refined the “prospectivity” of the areas within the subcrops and discharge areas by developing and applying a new method for spatial association analysis to data on known and inferred faults, earthquakes, geochemical thermometers, and heat flow. This spatial association analysis method determines the relationships of the location and magnitudes of observations of these data with known geothermal sites. The results of each of the six spatial association analyses were weighted between 0 and 1 and summed to produce a prospectivity score between 0 and a theoretical maximum of 9, with 9 indicating highest geothermal (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jeffrey Bielicki Prof. (Advisor); Gajan Sivandran Prof. (Committee Member); Desheng Liu Prof. (Committee Member) Subjects: Environmental Science

MA, Kent State University, 2014, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Geography

COAKLEY, CORRINE, M.A. AUGUST 2014 GEOGRAPHY ACTIVITY SPACE IN A TERMINAL CLASSIC MAYA HOUSEHOLD, XEUNKAL, YUCATAN, MEXICO (222 pp) Director of Thesis: Mandy Munro-Stasiuk The Terminal Classic Maya period in the Northern Yucatan was a time of political upheaval, when long established cities such as Uxmal collapsed and Chichen Itza began to rise to power. Xuenkal, a site about 40 km north of Chichen Itza, was located directly on trade routes that would have supplied the city of Chichen Itza with imported goods and prestige items during this transition. Xuenkal itself shows several occupational phases, from a monumental phase during the Classic period, to abandonment, to a third phase in which population expanded during the Terminal Classic and new structures were built upon the former monumental, ritual spaces from the Classic period. These new structures include the subject of this research, Structure 9L-31, a walled complex of three buildings built on the platform of Xuenkal's most impressive structure, Structure 10M-62, the site's Classic period temple. Focusing on the social construction of place and scale, this thesis uses concepts from feminist geography and time geography to determine activity spaces across Structure 9L-31. Household scale analysis includes type variety analysis of the ceramics found at Structure 9L-31 and source and production stage analysis on the lithic artifacts. Through the use of artifact patterns as social behavior proxies, residents' space use and behavioral patterns are explored. Methods used include the use of descriptive statistics, Getis Ord Gi* analysis, and geostatistical prediction surfaces. Specifically, gendered use of space, production and domestic uses of space, and household vs. prestige artifact patterns are examined. Traditional archaeological ceramic analysis is compared to geostatistical techniques to inform upon both practices and answer the question of how the residents of Structure 9L-31 used their space. Re (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mandy Munro-Stasiuk Ph.D. (Advisor); T. Kam Manahan Ph.D (Advisor); Jacqueline Curtis Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Archaeology; Geographic Information Science; Geography