Master's Thesis Template
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UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE THE ENIGMATIC QUATERNARY SHELL BED DEPOSITS OF LAKE TANGANYIKA, TANZANIA: LINKING ANTHROPOGENIC LAND-USE WITH NEARSHORE SEDIMENTATION A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE By JAMES FRANCIS BUSCH Norman, Oklahoma 2017 THE ENIGMATIC QUATERNARY SHELL BED DEPOSITS OF LAKE TANGANYIKA, TANZANIA: LINKING ANTHROPOGENIC LAND-USE WITH NEARSHORE SEDIMENTATION A THESIS APPROVED FOR THE CONOCOPHILLIPS SCHOOL OF GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS BY ______________________________ Dr. Michael Soreghan, Chair ______________________________ Dr. Gerilyn Soreghan ______________________________ Dr. Kirsten de Beurs © Copyright by JAMES FRANCIS BUSCH 2017 All Rights Reserved. Acknowledgements This work was funded by the National Science Foundation (grant EAR- 1424907). We also thank the DigitalGlobe Foundation for providing proprietary satellite imagery data for the study; Colin Apse and Dan Kelly (The Nature Conservancy) for their support in sharing GIS data and providing consultation; the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI) for their support and collaboration; Mupape Mukuli, Patrick Ryan, Joseph Lucas, and Anna Gravina for their assistance and collaboration in the field. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................. viii List of Figures .................................................................................................................. ix Abstract ............................................................................................................................ xi Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 Background ....................................................................................................................... 4 Geological History and Limnology of Lake Tanganyika ..................................... 4 Sedimentological Characteristics of the Shell Beds of Lake Tanganyika ............ 5 Land-Use Change, Sedimentation, and Aquatic Fauna in Lake Tanganyika ....... 7 Methods .......................................................................................................................... 10 Field Methods ........................................................................................................... 10 Sampling Transects ............................................................................................ 10 Shell Sample Collection ..................................................................................... 10 Sediment Sample Collection .............................................................................. 11 Photographic Underwater Surveys ..................................................................... 11 Sidescan Sonar Collection .................................................................................. 11 Bathymetry Data Acquisition ............................................................................. 12 Sponge Abundance Calculation ......................................................................... 12 Shell Bed Percent Cover Calculations ................................................................ 12 Laboratory Methods ................................................................................................. 13 Weight % Grain Size .......................................................................................... 13 Loss On Ignition (LOI) Estimation of Organic Matter ...................................... 13 v Laser Particle Grain Size Analysis ..................................................................... 14 GIS and Remote Sensing Methods ........................................................................... 14 Landsat Images ................................................................................................... 14 DigitalGlobe Images ........................................................................................... 15 Image Processing ................................................................................................ 15 Climate Data Acquisition ................................................................................... 15 Land Cover, Watershed, and Elevation Data Acquisition .................................. 16 Rainfall Statistics for the Mahale Mountains Region ......................................... 16 Sediment Plume Area Calculations .................................................................... 16 Normalized Burn Ratio Calculations .................................................................. 17 NDVI Calculations ............................................................................................. 18 Shoreline Mapping and Progradation Calculations ............................................ 18 Statistical Methods ................................................................................................... 19 Hypothesis Testing ............................................................................................. 19 Principal Component Analysis (PCA) ................................................................ 19 Results ............................................................................................................................ 21 Grain Size Data ................................................................................................... 21 LOI based Organic Carbon and Inorganic Carbon Data .................................... 21 Laser Particle Grain Size Analysis ..................................................................... 22 Sponge Abundance Data .................................................................................... 24 Shell Bed % Cover Data ..................................................................................... 24 Land Cover Summary (2001-2014) and Watershed Characteristics .................. 24 Rainfall Data ....................................................................................................... 25 vi Sediment Plume Area Calculations .................................................................... 25 NDVI and NBR Calculations ............................................................................. 26 Shoreline Progradation Calculations .................................................................. 27 PCA Results ........................................................................................................ 27 Discussion ....................................................................................................................... 29 Variation in Sedimentologic Data ...................................................................... 29 Onshore Disturbance and Potential Impacts on Offshore Sedimentation .......... 31 Temporal Changes in Shoreline Progradation .................................................... 33 Impact of Land-Use Change on Nearshore Sedimentation ................................ 34 Impact of Sediment Texture and Substrate Composition on the Benthic Ecosystem ............................................................................................... 39 Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 43 Figures ............................................................................................................................ 45 Tables ............................................................................................................................ 62 References ...................................................................................................................... 68 Appendix A: LPSA Operation Methodology ................................................................. 74 Appendix B: Land Cover Methodology from Daniel Kelly (TNC) ............................... 75 Appendix C: Summary of Sediment Plume Area Calculations ...................................... 77 Appendix D: Summary Metadata for Landsat Imagery ................................................. 78 Appendix E: Grain-Size Data Summary ........................................................................ 81 Appendix F: Loss on Ignition (LOI) Data Summary ..................................................... 88 Appendix G: LPSA Mud-Fraction Grain Size Data Summary ...................................... 93 vii List of Tables Table 1 Summary of physical attributes for three largest watersheds in the study area 62 Table 2 Summary of land cover types (2001-2014) for the study area watersheds ....... 63 Table 3 Annual rainfall totals for the Mahale Mountains region, Tanzania .................. 64 Table 4 Summary of watershed normalized burn ratio (NBR) computations ................ 65 Table 5 Contribution of each eigenvector to the observed variance .............................. 66 Table 6 Summary of loading values of the variables for each of the principal components. .................................................................................................................... 67 viii List of Figures Figure 1 Location of Lake Tanganyika in Africa (inset) and its major structural elements. Hinged littoral platforms are shaded dark grey.. ...........................................