RUI: Sedimentology of the Fluvial to Mid-Estuarine Facies of PA-Aged Valley-Fill Deposits

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9405123 Lanier The involvement of undergraduate students in faculty research can play a critical role in enhancing the preparedness of these students to pursue advanced degrees in the sciences as well as preparation for careers in science education. This proposal requests funding to support undergraduate research concerning the sedimentology of the fluvial to mid-estuarine transitions of Pennsylvanian incised valley-fill deposits from the Douglas Group (Missourian-Virgilian) of eastern Kansas. The research project involves the acquisition of drill cores to study the sedimentological details of these paleoestuarine facies transitions. Given the fine-grained, silty-through-muddy lithologies which characterize these facies, they form few good surface exposures. However, the existing outcrops have been analyzed in great detail in terms of their sedimentology, stratigraphy, and paleontology, which will allow for a similarly detailed projection of this information into the subsurface. Although regional in its focus, these studies have broad implications with regard to the sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of incised valley-fill successions. The research is ideally suited for undergraduates insofar as it well-defined in its goals, scientifically significant in its application, and confined in its scope.