Daniel Sturmer | University of Cincinnati (original) (raw)
Papers by Daniel Sturmer
Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, 2021
This work presents an analysis of a debris flow deposit below Earth’s surface in the Mammoth Cave... more This work presents an analysis of a debris flow deposit below Earth’s surface in the Mammoth Cave System in Kentucky, USA, and is the first study to characterize an in-cave debris flow to this level of detail. The deposit, named Mt. Ararat by cavers, has a maximum thickness of 7 m, a head-to-tail length of 75 m, and a total volume of about 3400 m3, as determined by terrestrial LiDAR and electrical resistivity surveys. The deposit is chaotic, angular, matrix-supported, and roughly inversely graded, with grain sizes, quantified through various grain-size distribution measuring techniques, ranging from clay through boulders larger than 1 m. The clasts are predominantly Mississippian Big Clifty sandstone, which is allochthonous in this part of the cave. The angularity of the blocks in the deposit indicate that they had not experienced significant erosion; and therefore, are determined to have been transported only a relatively short distance over a short time. The deposit profile is com...
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 2021
Mineral precipitation results from reaction path geochemical modeling of reacting 11 mafic rock s... more Mineral precipitation results from reaction path geochemical modeling of reacting 11 mafic rock samples from Nevada, USA with CO2 at a fixed concentration and SO2 at three concentrations. Data are all reported in moles.
Life, 2021
Identifying microbial fossils in the rock record is a difficult task because they are often simpl... more Identifying microbial fossils in the rock record is a difficult task because they are often simple in morphology and can be mimicked by non-biological structures. Biosignatures are essential for identifying putative fossils as being definitively biological in origin, but are often lacking due to geologic effects which can obscure or erase such signs. As such, there is a need for robust biosignature identification techniques. Here we show new evidence for the application of trace elements as biosignatures in microfossils. We found elevated concentrations of magnesium, aluminum, manganese, iron, and strontium colocalized with carbon and sulfur in microfossils from Drummond Basin, a mid-Paleozoic hot spring deposit in Australia. Our results also suggest that trace element sequestrations from modern hot spring deposits persist through substantial host rock alteration. Because some of the oldest fossils on Earth are found in hot spring deposits and ancient hot spring deposits are also th...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY One option for decreasing the amount of greenhouse gas that is added to the atm... more EXECUTIVE SUMMARY One option for decreasing the amount of greenhouse gas that is added to the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels is to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) and react it with certain minerals found in rocks. This report investigates the potential for ...
The experiment involves a series of long ReMi lines using ambient noise to constrain the deep Vs ... more The experiment involves a series of long ReMi lines using ambient noise to constrain the deep Vs structure of two basins in western Nevada. This includes two N-S lines near the Carson rangefront in Washoe Valley and N-S and E-W lines in Hidden Valley.
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs
... Thanks to Spirit and Flo for the years of love, I miss you. Thanks to Izzy and Faye for helpi... more ... Thanks to Spirit and Flo for the years of love, I miss you. Thanks to Izzy and Faye for helping me through a difficult period. ... (1997). Page 32. 18 more northward, striking northeast to north-northeast (Figure 5; Sanders and Slemmons, 1979, 1996; Briggs and Wesnousky, 2005). ...
The Antelope Valley Limestone (AVL, upper Pogonip Group) consists of laminated mudstones and skel... more The Antelope Valley Limestone (AVL, upper Pogonip Group) consists of laminated mudstones and skeletal wackestones and packstones deposited on the western Laurentian passive margin carbonate shelf during Middle Ordovician time. The AVL is exposed on the west side of Lone Mountain and is unconformably overlain by the Ordovician Eureka Quartzite and a sequence of Upper Ordovician through Devonian carbonates. For this study, the diagenetic history of the AVL was interpreted using thin-section petrography. The AVL has undergone a long and complex diagenetic history. Following deposition, initial marine diagenesis is represented by the presence of micritic envelopes surrounding skeletal allochems. Evidence for the first stage of meteoric diagenesis (both vadose and phreatic zones) is the dissolution of skeletal allochem cores and peloids, and the formation of early calcite isopachous, blocky and meniscus cements. Fine-grained euhedral dolomite locally replaced micrite during meteoric or early burial diagenesis. Burial diagenetic silica (chalcedony and chert) cements locally occluded secondary porosity formed during meteoric diagenesis. The void-filling textures of the silica cements are consistent with pore filling and not replacement. Further evidence of burial diagenesis is the presence of sutured (locally stylolitic) contacts and fractured grains. Several generations of spar-occluded cross-cutting fractures are present. Sparry calcite crystals containing inclusions of the silica burial cement formed either during late-stage burial or post-burial meteoric diagenesis. Tertiary porosity was formed by dissolution of earlier calcite cements during a second stage of meteoric diagenesis, possibly during exhumation as calcite grains show strain, an indication of tectonism. A final stage of fine-grained splotchy dolomitization partially replaces depositional, early meteoric, burial, and post-burial calcite. This diagenetic history is consistent with the multiple phases of Late Paleozoic and Mesozoic compressional tectonism and Miocene to recent basin-and-range extension documented in the Lone Mountain area.
International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2020
Basaltic rocks are being considered as a key host for carbon dioxide (CO2) storage. This is a fun... more Basaltic rocks are being considered as a key host for carbon dioxide (CO2) storage. This is a function of their global distribution and relative reactivity, resulting in CO2 mineralization. However, the reactivity of mafic minerals allows for reaction and sequestration of other gases associated with point source emissions. Though many mechanisms exist to separate CO2 from flue gas, these can be costly system additions for existing point source emitters. In this study, we model the effect of adding minor amounts of SO2 to CO2 during ex-situ mineral carbonation of basalt samples from Nevada, USA. We compare reaction path geochemical models at temperatures between 0° and 200 °C and at three different SO2 concentrations. Results from these models are compared to published data evaluating the interaction of these samples with CO2 only. The models have carbon trapped in four minerals (magnesite, siderite, dolomite, and dawsonite). Sulfur is sequestered as one sulfide (pyrite) and up to fo...
Chemical Engineering Journal
Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, 2021
This work presents an analysis of a debris flow deposit below Earth’s surface in the Mammoth Cave... more This work presents an analysis of a debris flow deposit below Earth’s surface in the Mammoth Cave System in Kentucky, USA, and is the first study to characterize an in-cave debris flow to this level of detail. The deposit, named Mt. Ararat by cavers, has a maximum thickness of 7 m, a head-to-tail length of 75 m, and a total volume of about 3400 m3, as determined by terrestrial LiDAR and electrical resistivity surveys. The deposit is chaotic, angular, matrix-supported, and roughly inversely graded, with grain sizes, quantified through various grain-size distribution measuring techniques, ranging from clay through boulders larger than 1 m. The clasts are predominantly Mississippian Big Clifty sandstone, which is allochthonous in this part of the cave. The angularity of the blocks in the deposit indicate that they had not experienced significant erosion; and therefore, are determined to have been transported only a relatively short distance over a short time. The deposit profile is com...
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 2021
Mineral precipitation results from reaction path geochemical modeling of reacting 11 mafic rock s... more Mineral precipitation results from reaction path geochemical modeling of reacting 11 mafic rock samples from Nevada, USA with CO2 at a fixed concentration and SO2 at three concentrations. Data are all reported in moles.
Life, 2021
Identifying microbial fossils in the rock record is a difficult task because they are often simpl... more Identifying microbial fossils in the rock record is a difficult task because they are often simple in morphology and can be mimicked by non-biological structures. Biosignatures are essential for identifying putative fossils as being definitively biological in origin, but are often lacking due to geologic effects which can obscure or erase such signs. As such, there is a need for robust biosignature identification techniques. Here we show new evidence for the application of trace elements as biosignatures in microfossils. We found elevated concentrations of magnesium, aluminum, manganese, iron, and strontium colocalized with carbon and sulfur in microfossils from Drummond Basin, a mid-Paleozoic hot spring deposit in Australia. Our results also suggest that trace element sequestrations from modern hot spring deposits persist through substantial host rock alteration. Because some of the oldest fossils on Earth are found in hot spring deposits and ancient hot spring deposits are also th...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY One option for decreasing the amount of greenhouse gas that is added to the atm... more EXECUTIVE SUMMARY One option for decreasing the amount of greenhouse gas that is added to the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels is to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) and react it with certain minerals found in rocks. This report investigates the potential for ...
The experiment involves a series of long ReMi lines using ambient noise to constrain the deep Vs ... more The experiment involves a series of long ReMi lines using ambient noise to constrain the deep Vs structure of two basins in western Nevada. This includes two N-S lines near the Carson rangefront in Washoe Valley and N-S and E-W lines in Hidden Valley.
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs
... Thanks to Spirit and Flo for the years of love, I miss you. Thanks to Izzy and Faye for helpi... more ... Thanks to Spirit and Flo for the years of love, I miss you. Thanks to Izzy and Faye for helping me through a difficult period. ... (1997). Page 32. 18 more northward, striking northeast to north-northeast (Figure 5; Sanders and Slemmons, 1979, 1996; Briggs and Wesnousky, 2005). ...
The Antelope Valley Limestone (AVL, upper Pogonip Group) consists of laminated mudstones and skel... more The Antelope Valley Limestone (AVL, upper Pogonip Group) consists of laminated mudstones and skeletal wackestones and packstones deposited on the western Laurentian passive margin carbonate shelf during Middle Ordovician time. The AVL is exposed on the west side of Lone Mountain and is unconformably overlain by the Ordovician Eureka Quartzite and a sequence of Upper Ordovician through Devonian carbonates. For this study, the diagenetic history of the AVL was interpreted using thin-section petrography. The AVL has undergone a long and complex diagenetic history. Following deposition, initial marine diagenesis is represented by the presence of micritic envelopes surrounding skeletal allochems. Evidence for the first stage of meteoric diagenesis (both vadose and phreatic zones) is the dissolution of skeletal allochem cores and peloids, and the formation of early calcite isopachous, blocky and meniscus cements. Fine-grained euhedral dolomite locally replaced micrite during meteoric or early burial diagenesis. Burial diagenetic silica (chalcedony and chert) cements locally occluded secondary porosity formed during meteoric diagenesis. The void-filling textures of the silica cements are consistent with pore filling and not replacement. Further evidence of burial diagenesis is the presence of sutured (locally stylolitic) contacts and fractured grains. Several generations of spar-occluded cross-cutting fractures are present. Sparry calcite crystals containing inclusions of the silica burial cement formed either during late-stage burial or post-burial meteoric diagenesis. Tertiary porosity was formed by dissolution of earlier calcite cements during a second stage of meteoric diagenesis, possibly during exhumation as calcite grains show strain, an indication of tectonism. A final stage of fine-grained splotchy dolomitization partially replaces depositional, early meteoric, burial, and post-burial calcite. This diagenetic history is consistent with the multiple phases of Late Paleozoic and Mesozoic compressional tectonism and Miocene to recent basin-and-range extension documented in the Lone Mountain area.
International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2020
Basaltic rocks are being considered as a key host for carbon dioxide (CO2) storage. This is a fun... more Basaltic rocks are being considered as a key host for carbon dioxide (CO2) storage. This is a function of their global distribution and relative reactivity, resulting in CO2 mineralization. However, the reactivity of mafic minerals allows for reaction and sequestration of other gases associated with point source emissions. Though many mechanisms exist to separate CO2 from flue gas, these can be costly system additions for existing point source emitters. In this study, we model the effect of adding minor amounts of SO2 to CO2 during ex-situ mineral carbonation of basalt samples from Nevada, USA. We compare reaction path geochemical models at temperatures between 0° and 200 °C and at three different SO2 concentrations. Results from these models are compared to published data evaluating the interaction of these samples with CO2 only. The models have carbon trapped in four minerals (magnesite, siderite, dolomite, and dawsonite). Sulfur is sequestered as one sulfide (pyrite) and up to fo...
Chemical Engineering Journal