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GEOMORPHIC CONTROLS ON MEADOW ECOSYSTEMS – INSIGHTS INTO LOCAL PROCESSES USING NEAR-SURFACE SEISMIC TECHNIQUES AND GROUND PENETRATING RADAR
Citation:
STURTEVANT, K. A., G. S. BAKER, J. MILLER, M. LORD, D. G. JEWETT, D. GERMANOSKI, AND J. CHAMBERS. GEOMORPHIC CONTROLS ON MEADOW ECOSYSTEMS – INSIGHTS INTO LOCAL PROCESSES USING NEAR-SURFACE SEISMIC TECHNIQUES AND GROUND PENETRATING RADAR. Presented at 2007 International Meeting of the Society for Range Management, Reno, NV, February 12 - 16, 2007.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
Geomorphic controls on riparian meadows in the Central Great Basin of Nevada are an important aspect in determining the formation of and planning the management of these systems. The current hypothesis is that both alluvial fan sediment and faulted bedrock steps interact to control the formation of the riparian meadows by restricting groundwater flow at the downstream end. In order to test this hypothesis, three different geophysical techniques were utilized in six meadows across the Central Great Basin. Seismic reflection and seismic refraction tomography data were collected to analyze bedrock structure and topography, while ground penetrating radar (GPR) data were collected to determine the stratigraphic variability throughout the meadow. Existing borehole data were integrated to ground-truth the geophysical data. The preliminary results of these data support the hypothesis. Correlated bedrock surfaces are identifiable on both the seismic reflection and seismic refraction tomography data. The GPR data in conjunction with borehole information confirms and extends areas of alluvial fan related sediment distribution. The use of all three of these techniques provides more information about the geomorphic controls than using one single technique, thereby increasing the quality of the geophysical data and the accuracy of its results.