The Kansas Geological Survey (KGS), a research and service division of the University of Kansas, is charged by statute with studying and providing information on the geologic resources of Kansas. The KGS has no regulatory authority and does not take positions on natural resource issues.Research at the KGS focuses primarily on energy, water, and the environment and addresses natural resource challenges facing the state of Kansas. The KGS also generates new information about the state's geology and develops tools and techniques for studying the state's surface and subsurface through its geophysics and mapping programs. Primary users of this information include local, State, and Federal agencies; oil and gas exploration companies; engineering companies and geotechnical consultants dealing with construction, environmental, and geologic hazard issues; educators; and private citizens wanting to learn more about the state's geology and resources.The KGS is located in Lawrence on the west campus of the University of Kansas and has a Well Sample Library in Wichita. With a staff of 74 full-time employees and about 30 student employees, the KGS has an annual state-appropriated budget of approximately $5.9 million. Another $11.7 million in grants and contracts was awarded in fiscal year 2012. The KGS reports to the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies at the University of Kansas and has a 12-member advisory council to provide review and guidance.
The Tuscaloosa Group (Grp), the basal unit of Upper Cretaceous strata in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM), formed during the late Cenomanian transgression across the southeastern United States. Despite its significance, comprehensive sequence stratigraphic analyses of the Tuscaloosa Grp within the southcentral Mississippi Embayment (MSE) are limited. This study integrates core data, wireline logs, and field observations to characterize its depositional evolution and sequence stratigraphic architecture, delineating stratigraphic surfaces, systems tracts, and depositional sequences, and examining controlling factors. Four third-order sequences were identified from four sequence boundaries, two transgressive surfaces, and three maximum flooding surfaces. Sequence 1 (S1) includes a lowstand systems tract (LST), transgressive systems tract (TST), and highstand systems tract (HST); Sequence 2 (S2) has a TST and HST; Sequence 3 (S3) contains a LST, TST, and HST; and Sequence 4 (S4) includes a LST and TST. S1 comprises fluvial and incised valley deposits (LST), transitioned to deltaic TST during rising sea levels, and culminated in barrier island and shelf HST. S2 features distal shelf TST deposits followed by a prograding deltaic HST. S3 records a full cycle: fluvial LST, retrograding deltaic TST, and progradational deltaic HST. S4 is less developed, with fluvial LST and localized retrograding deltaic TST deposits. The Tuscaloosa's evolution was driven by accommodation space changes and sediment supply. Subsidence of the MSE in the Late Cretaceous may have increased accommodation and facilitated TST formation in the Upper Tuscaloosa. The Appalachian Highlands supplied most sediments, with the Ouachita Highlands as a secondary source. (c) 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
An 18-layer, U-shaped convolutional neural network was trained to predict Vs models and identify near-surface void locations. To enhance seismic inversion accuracy for real world applications, the model is trained on synthetic data sets augmented with field noise. While models trained on noise-augmented data showed poorer performance on synthetic testing data sets, they achieved lower root-mean-square error values and the best results on field data. The velocity model resulting from full-waveform inversion based on noise-augmented model accurately detected a void-like low-velocity zone near the known void location. This approach shows that training with field-noise-augmented data allows machine learning models to generalize better to real-world conditions, increasing their reliability for velocity inversion in noisy environments. The results highlight the strong potential of this strategy, particularly if a diverse range of real noise samples is incorporated during training.
Nothing is known about coccidians (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) from the Pacific blue-tailed skink, Emoia caeruleocauda. Here, we report mensural and morphometric data on a new species of Isospora from E. caeruleocauda from Guam, US Territory. Feces from four E. caeruleocauda collected by hand in November 2023 were placed in individual vials containing 2.5
Volcanic ash beds are unrivaled as geochronological marker horizons because radiometric dates from volcanic minerals yield high-precision absolute ages of deposition. Such chronostratigraphic information is difficult to obtain however because tephras are rare. Our study tests the hypothesis that paleosols are significant reservoirs for volcanogenic zircons representing the depositional age of continental strata. Paleosols, as time-rich stratigraphic horizons, are likely to incorporate airfall zircons from volcanic eruptions that overlapped with extended periods of landscape stability and pedogenesis, even in areas where volcanicity is low or volcanic sources are far away. Zircon-bearing ashes from late Miocene calderas on the Snake River Plain were deposited along with the Ogallala Formation on the Great Plains. The combination of nearly continuous volcanic activity and the high stratigraphic frequency of paleosols in the Ogallala Formation make it an ideal testbed of the application of ancient soils as repositories for chronostratigraphically significant zircons. We sampled ten paleosols in the Ogallala Formation in the central Great Plains for U-Pb zircon dating. Six paleosols produced maximum depositional ages (MDAs) ranging from 11.4 +/- 0.4 Ma to 6.3 +/- 0.3 Ma and correct order of superposition. Paleosols are the only facies in the study areas that yield Miocene MDAs likely to coincide closely with depositional ages. This methodology has the clear potential to greatly decrease uncertainties in paleontological and biostratigraphic studies. In addition, our results suggest that paleosol geochronology can be used on regional or basin-wide scales to make higher order correlations. Future work using paleosols as geochronometers could unravel the complex depositional history of the Cenozoic Great Plains succession and resolve previously problematic internal heterogeneities.
The long-term viability of the iconic Joshua tree of the Mojave Desert is being evaluated. In 2022, we measured the abundance and heights of Joshua tree stems on 62 1000 m2 plots in the eastern Mojave Desert of California. The 2022 plots were represented by 33 plots in a population of western Joshua trees ( Yucca brevifolia ) and 29 plots in a population of eastern Joshua trees ( Y. jaegeriana ). Five plots had no Joshua trees; two of which in the western Joshua tree population were destroyed by fire. The 57 plots with Joshua trees supported 627 stems ranging from stems less than 25 cm to mature trees. The plots were examined by abundance and four size classes of the stems, as indicated by their height and indicative of their reproductive status. The western Joshua tree population had more stems (407) than the eastern population (220 stems) although the median difference was not significant. The western population had significantly more stems in pre-reproductive size classes, juvenile (> 25 cm to one-meter, p = 0.001) and sub_adult (> one- to two-meters, p = 0.001), than the eastern population but significantly fewer adult (> two-meters, p < 0.001) stems. The eastern population had significantly greater mean height of adult trees (302 cm +/- 75.3 cm) than the western population (263 cm +/- 52.9 cm) and a larger proportion of stems taller than two-meters (56%) than the western population (39%). In contrast, the western population has 77% of its population in younger size classes (> 25 cm to < 2 meters). These abundance and size class measures alone do not predict whether either population has sufficient natural stand regeneration for long term persistence, but the younger size class structure of the western population suggests greater long-term resilience than for the eastern population. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. This project was funded by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey Interagency Agreement.
