PHY103FINALPROJECT (1)
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Jan 9, 2024
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Preliminary Report of Environmental Findings
1
Final Project:
Preliminary Report of Environmental Findings
PHY 103 SNHU
Preliminary Report of Environmental Findings
2
Our client has asked us to evaluate a potential project site for a subdivision in a region in
Walterville.
Attached to this report are the findings of potential hazards within the region, and
an analysis of the land.
The report consists of geological, streams, tectonic, and weather reports,
as well as historical data dating back to 1940.
The site is on a fault line, and 60 miles from
Mount Jefferson.
As part of my geological analysis of the potential project site, we analyzed the rocks and
discovered that there are mostly sedimentary rocks at the potential project site, these are rocks
that were once formed and then broken down by weathering to form new rocks, and there were
traces of metamorphic and volcanic rocks.
There is a large fault line and streams in this area
that could be harmful to the landscape.
We will go over the types of rocks and soil found at the
site,
and how water can cause erosion and changes in the environment.
Part of the top layer is a mix of limestone and sandstone, which are sedimentary rocks.
Limestone’s primary component is calcite.
Limestone breaks away easily and is soluble.
Sandstone is a silicate material and is broken down into sand-size grains.
These are typically
found on the Earth’s surface (Lutgens et al., 2021).
These materials occupy layers A, B, C, and
G.
As we go deeper into the ground we see very thin layers D and F, which consists of coal.
Coal is an organic sedimentary rock, also known as a biochemical rock because of the way it is
formed.
The reason why coal exists in this area could be from a large number of plants that were
once in the area and have decomposed forming coal.
Further down we see a larger layer of
siltstone at E.
Siltstone is a bit different than sandstone because it is made of silt or clay, also
known as mud, a much finer and compacted grain (Lutgens et al., 2021).
From the findings of
coal and siltstone, I believe this area was a marshland at one point.
A slow and quiet current
allowed siltstone to build and finer materials to lay on top, while the heavier materials stayed on
Preliminary Report of Environmental Findings
3
the bottom and compacted.
This also allowed for plants to survive at a point in time, which is
how the coal was made.
Schist occupies layer H.
Schist is a metamorphic rock that can come
from siltstone (Lutgens et al., 2021).
And lastly, the bottom layer, but not the oldest,
travels up
to the sandstone layer, consisting of volcanic rocks, granite, and andesite.
These rocks came
from cooling magma, but andesite is a fine-grained rock, while granite is more coarse-grained.
This layer is intrusive because it cuts through and goes into the other layers.
Based on the law of superposition, we can say that the top layer of rocks is the youngest,
and the bottom layers are the oldest.
But because layer I metamorphosed the other layers, it is
actually not the oldest, even if most of the layer is at the bottom (MikeSammartano, 2014).
And
by further analyzing the cross-section, we can see that the site has been uplifted by the fault.
Below I have listed a sequence of events from the deposition of layers.
Also, the intrusion of
layer I implies that there is volcanic activity nearby.
Sequence of Events:
1.
Deposition of layer H- Oldest layer, Schist
2.
Deposition of layer G- Sandstone
3.
Deposition of layer F- Coal
4.
Deposition of layer E- Siltsone
5.
Deposition of layer D- Coal
6.
Deposition of layer C- Limestone
7.
Deposition of layer B- Sandstone
8.
Deposition of layer I- volcanic rocks- Granite, Andesite (intrusive)
9.
Faulting (crack forming)
10. Deposition of layer A- Youngest layer, Limestone
Preliminary Report of Environmental Findings
4
11. Erosion
While analyzing three different soil locations at the site, we found there are 4 types
present.
Type O is organic material usually on the very top, type A is the topsoil and has a mix of
organic materials and minerals from the parent material, type B, the subsoil is an even greater
mix of parent material, bedrock, and organic materials, type C is the parent material, and at the
bottom of all this soil is bedrock (MooMooMath, 2020).
In the first soil profile, there is a thin
layer of organic material on top, then we see proportionate layers of type A, B, and C soils with a
very thin layer of bedrock on the bottom.
In the second soil profile, there is an even thinner
layer of organic materials on top, a thin layer of type A soil,
type B soil which is about three
times the depth as the type A, and a large layer of type C, which is also about three times the
depth as type B.
Under all of these soils is a small layer of bedrock.
In the third soil profile,
there is an extremely thin layer of organic material on top, a thin layer of type B soil, a thicker
layer of type C soil, and a very large layer of bedrock.
In this third soil profile, there is no type
A soil.
When we take into consideration all of the soil profiles, and rock types, where the
faultline is, there will be some instability.
Also, some of the volcanic rock is closer to the
surface which suggests it can be newer, and magma can potentially ruin our site in the future if
there continues to be volcanic activity.
The areas that haven't experienced as much weathering
have more of a stable bedrock (Bozemanscience1, 2015).
And where there is much more topsoil,
there is a bigger potential for erosion.
Also, the areas that have more weathering are more
susceptible to flooding, so in the first and second soil profiles we see a greater potential for
flooding because there is more silt and clay in these areas.
Now we will go over my analysis of the Waterville topographic map and the streams that
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