Tri-colored bats are on track to be listed as an endangered species, however insufficient information is available on their roost sites. The aim of this project is to determine which culverts in Texas, more specifically Tarrant County, are likely to be used as winter roosts for the Tri-colored bat species. The project will utilize available culvert data from TxDOT and data on the potential ranges of Tri-colored bats. Analysis will begin by categorizing the culverts into individual layers by features such as height, length, and material.

The ephemeral DeGrey River of northwestern Australia’s Pilbara region presents unusual very high relief double levees of up to 5.8 m that are still poorly understood. This study aims to take advantage of excellent exposures of these double levees to assess their likely origin. Accessing and studying these features in a modern setting constitute a unique opportunity to better understand their geomorphology and evaluate their reservoir potential as an analogue for the subsurface.
We investigated these levees using shallow augering, percussion coring, digging of shallow pits, and ground-penetrating radar (GPR), calibrated using dGPS surveys. Remote sensing data, such as LIDAR and photogrammetric drone surveys, were also used to identify and visualize fluvial geomorphologic features, which were then ground truth by pedestrian surveys and general field observations. Core and auger samples were described according to grain texture using the USDA classification and a Munsell color atlas. to distinguish the similarities or differences from sediments by depth. Grain size was further assessed in sand and gravel using a Brunton Grain Size Card.
These levees were primarily developed by water during multiple large flooding events which exceeded their height limit, as opposed to the alternative hypothesis that these were large eolian features coincidental with levee positions at the channel margin. This is evidenced by the common layers of gravelly and poorly sorted coarse sand dispersed within the levee strata. Similarly, sedimentary structures of lower and upper flow regimes typical of water flood are observed for these strata. Locally, the outer part of the two levees was found to include an eolian cap, which provided additional height to the levee locally. These strata were fine-grained and well-sorted by contrast, typical of aeolian origins.
Cyclone-driven floods control the activation of the DeGrey River and associated sedimentation. These double levees form through rapid sediment deposition in unusually energetic overbank flows. The high permeability and sandy stratification of these levees provide opportunistic reservoir potential. This contrasts with silty levee deposits observed in perennial rivers with lower discharge variation. The high double levees of the DeGrey River appear to be a hydrologic and geomorphic feature characteristic of ephemeral river systems.

The Tremp-Graus basin, located in Northern Spain, is a foreland piggyback basin that sits on the foot of Pyrenees Mountains. More specifically within the Montsec range, North of the Montsec thrust belt. The basin is a result of an east to west trending syncline area between the Boxial and Montsec Thrusts, North and South of Tremp, Spain, respectively. During the end of the Cretaceous period, syntectonic sedimentation began and carried throughout the Miocene. Thus, forming the basin that is structurally open in the west and open in the east, possibly due to structural events and quite possibly a shallow sea that protruded the area during the Ypresian (56 – 47.8 Ma). The sediments came from sources in the North, East, and the South in less quantities. The Pyrenees Mountains to the north are the main source of the sedimentation in the area as an influx of sediment occurred over time as the thrust sheets became proximal to the basin. The Boxial thrust supplied alluvial fans during the Maastrichtian in a localized setting (Arevalo, 2022; Busquests, 2022).
There is an overall transition from continental to deltaic sediments in the east to a western section that is mainly slope mudstones, thin-bedded turbidite wedges, proximal turbidites, channel-fills, distal turbidities and basin-plain deposits. This study will focus on a vertical section in the Coll del Montllobar Cliffs to help identify and differentiate channel characteristics as the rocks shift from continental/terrestrial deposits to marine influence deposits (tracking transgressive-regressive cycles) within the Upper Ager Group through the Lower Montanyana Group. The study will include at least five highly detailed measured sections, fluvial mapping conducted through drone footage and 3D modeling as well as possible point counting root density within the sections. In the conclusion of this study researchers will have a reliable Type Section as well as a basic understanding of how transgressive – regressive cycles alter channel behavior within the region, as well as the defining characteristics of the fluvial channels.

This study aims to investigate how the growth and expansion of Tarrant County has potentially increased average temperatures from 1985 to 2020. The study will utilize satellite imagery from the USGS, weather data from the NWS, and population and land cover data to better understand the relationship between urban growth and temperature change. We speculate that the rapid growth and development of Tarrant County has led to a measurable increase in average daytime temperatures due to the urban heat island effect.

This project will analyze the relationship between land cover in Texas coastal counties and dissolved oxygen levels in the Gulf of Mexico. Utilizing GIS, we aim to understand land cover changes in Texas coastal counties from 2021 to 2023 and corresponding changes in dissolved oxygen levels in the Gulf of Mexico during this time frame. The analysis will examine spatial data from the Gulf of Mexico and Texas, focusing on urban areas, agricultural land, coastal wetlands, and freshwater wetlands.