An Overview
Program: RESESS Boulder
Major: Environmental Geoscience, Sustainability Studies minor
Academic Affiliation: University of North Dakota
Biography
Makayla Mather is a McNair Scholar at the University of North Dakota. As a junior, they study environmental geoscience with a minor in sustainability studies. Their interest in geoscience started during an internship in Alaska. At the National park, they were able to fly over glaciers and around volcanoes learning about the landscape.
For service, Makayla is an active member of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. They served as a student representative for the upper Midwest region of the US. Makayla plans to attend graduate school. There they will look into using remote sensing to evaluate the changing climate and link how it is affecting Indigenous communities.
Abstract
Mapping the deformation patterns of the Greenville 1×2 degree quadrangle in the southern Appalachians surface in comparison to seismic anisotropy
Seismic anisotropy is the variation of velocities in rocks by the direction of passage of the wave through rock. This method was applied to investigate the formation and structure of the southern Appalachian Mountains. The purpose of this study is to correlate mapped surface structural fabrics (bedding, foliation, lineation, and mylonite foliation) with modeled seismic anisotropy. Digitization of the Greenville 1 x 2-degree quadrangle was accomplished with GeolMapDataExtractor. Spatial analysis was done within 15-minute quadrants throughout the entire map. We conducted qualitative and quantitative analysis using a stereonet and ArcGIS Pro. We found that foliation is the largest contributor to modeled seismic anisotropy.