Oldham County Research Articles

Arctium minus (Asteraceae): historical review, ecological consequences, and addition to Texas flora

Arctium minus, a European native, is currently known to have been introduced throughout most of continental United States except for Florida, Delaware, and Texas. The species is reported in Texas in the Flora of North America, but without specimen documentation. Numerous historical nomenclature complexities and confusion involved in proper documentation of this species’ spread and distribution are discussed. It is here reported as new to Texas, based upon a collection in Oldham County in the northern Panhandle. The species is considered to be weedy and may have the potential to be invasive in the High Plains and Rolling Plains regions of Texas. Brief descriptions of historic distribution and spread based on early botanical literature, and various economic and ecological associations of A. minus are summarized.

Northern Bobwhite Survival, Nest Success, and Habitat Use in Kentucky During the Breeding Season

Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) populations have experienced protracted declines over much of their range. There has been an annual decrease of 2.61% since the 1960s in Kentucky, an area representative of the Mid-South where there is a lack of data on basic population parameters. Much of the decline is attributed to prevailing land-use practices and associated habitat loss. We monitored northern bobwhite on a 515-ha farm in Oldham County, Kentucky to assess survival rates, nest success rates, and habitat use in the Mid- South. The farm consisted of row crops, cool-season pastures and hay (primarily tall fescue), fallow native warm-season grass fields, and woods. We captured birds using baited funnel traps and fitted them with harness radio transmitters and monitored them daily during April–August, 2009 and 2010. We radiomarked 88 birds (40 females, 48 males) and monitored 24 nests, 9 (37.5%) of which were successful, over the 2 years. Survival rates were 25.3 and 27.9% for 2009 and 2010, respectively, based on estimates from Program MARK. Home range size (54.0, range 1⁄4 38.0–55.9 ha) did not differ by sex, age, or year (P .0.05). Quail favored food plots in both years and avoided developed areas.

Partnering: Winning the Infrastructure Derby

This article discusses a partnering project by the Oldham (Kentucky) County Sewer District (OCSD) and Veolia Water North America (VWNA) to handle the maintenance and operations of the wastewater district in a public‐private partnership. VWNA specializes in utility management problems and was able to work with state officials to obtain grant funds to undertake emergency rehabilitation of the county's treatment plants. VWNA did more than $1 million of capital work on the system in the first year, implemented a best practices standard internal to Veolia, and virtually eliminated unauthorized bypasses. VWNA's management team was able to bring the 13 plants owned by OCSD into compliance in dramatic fashion.

Foot deformity of unknown etiology in a prehistoric skeleton from Texas

An unusual foot deformity in an archaeological specimen from Oldham County, Texas, is presented. It is hoped that through description and radiographic and photographic examination the readers will be able to offer opinions concerning the frequency or possible etiology of the condition.

Depositional Environment and Reservoir Characteristics of Middle Pennsylvanian Granite Wash, Northern Palo Duro Basin, Oldham County, Texas: ABSTRACT

The Lambert 1, Hryhor, and Sundance fields in Oldham County, Texas, produce oil from the Middle Pennsylvanian Canyon granite wash. Canyon granite wash conglomerates and sandstones have a maximum thickness of approximately 450 ft (140 m) and were derived from granitic rocks of the Bravo dome. The sediment was transported across carbonate platforms by streams and deposited into the Oldham trough as fan deltas. The granite wash deposits consist primarily of imbricated gravels and cross-stratified sands. Debris-flow deposits are also present. The sediment is dominantly feldspar, granitic rock fragments, and quartz. Carbonate cement averages 5% of the bulk composition. The overall geometry of the granite wash deposits is lobate. Parts of the reservoir show high lateral variability with no continuity between wells on 40-ac spacing. These reservoir facies are thus limited in areal extent and drainage area. However, some intervals can be correlated between wells, which suggests that part of the reservoir may be simulated as layered with no crossflow. The reservoir conglomerates and sandstones have an average porosity of 18% and an average permeability of 75 md/ft. Reasonable net-pay cutoff values in these granite wash reservoirs are 9.5% for porosity and 1.5 md for permeability, and were established bymore » crossplots and cumulative volume capacity.« less

Radiometric Dating of Wolfcamp Ground Water Using 4He and 40Ar: ABSTRACT

Hydrologic investigations of the Wolfcamp aquifer, Palo Duro basin, Texas Panhandle, report slow flow rates and long travel paths, which lead to a prediction of very old ages for the ground water. Because the expected ages are about 10 million years, many methods of dating ground water are unsuitable. The U, Th^rarr4He and 40K^rarr40Ar clocks are suitable. All ground water samples have large amounts of radiogenic 4He and 40Ar. Using these 4He and 40Ar data and a mixture of estimated and measured values for K, U, and Th contents, water-rock ratios, and release factors, the initial age estimate for the ground water is about 100 million years at two wells, Stone and Webster 1 Sawyer in Donley County Texas, and Stone and Webster 1 Zeeck in Swisher County, Texas. At a third well, Stone and Webster 1 Mansfield in Oldham County, Texas, the concentrations of 4He and 40Ar are much higher, and the apparent ages are about 250 million years. Other isotopic and chemical data (^dgrD, ^dgr18O, Br/Cl) for ground water from this third well indicate a different origin and/or history. The current working hypothesis is that ground water sampled in the 1 Mansfield well is a mixture of meteoric water and a deep-basin ground water. The 4He ages for the 1 Sawyer well and 1 Zeeck well samples appear to be valid and are presently assigned errors of about a factor of two, determined almost entirely by uncertainties in U and Th concentrations and water-rock ratios. The 40Ar ages remain suspect because data are currently too few to confirm or negate the possibility that a significant fraction of the 40Ar is inherited from detrital minerals. End_of_Article - Last_Page 542------------

Tectonic History and Influence on Sedimentation of Rhomb Horsts and Grabens Associated with Amarillo Uplift, Texas Panhandle: ABSTRACT

The Amarillo uplift consists of an en echelon series of fault blocks separating the Anadarko basin from the Palo Duro basin. The uplift is part of a northwest-southeast zone of basement weakness that extends from the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma to southeastern Colorado. Initial faulting, related to the opening of the southern Oklahoma aulacogen, took place from late Precambrian through Middle Cambrian time. Renewed movement in the Late Mississippian or Early Pennsylvanian, probably of a left-lateral transcurrent nature, broke the Amarillo uplift into a series of rhomb grabens and rhomb horsts. The Lefors basin, for example, in Gray County is a small rhomb graben 4 mi (6.4 km) by 8 mi (12.8 km) that contains in excess of 4,000 ft (1,200 m) of Pennsylvanian and Wolfcampian arkose (granite wash). The Amarillo uplift continued to subtly affect depositional patterns following its burial in Wolfcampian time. Salt beds in the Clear Fork Formation (Leonardian) are purer and thicker in grabens where salt deposition proceeded at a faster rate relative to horsts. Recurrent motion on the Potter County fault in northern Potter and northeastern Oldham County produced cumulative displacements of 1,600 ft (488 m) on top of the Pennsylvanian, 800 ft (244 m) on Wolfcampian strata, 600 ft (183 m) on top of the Clear Fork Formation, and 450 ft (137 m) on the Dockum Group (Triassic). Post-Permian displacements are the result of both salt dissolution and minor structural movement. There is no direct evidence for Quaternary faulting, although the uplift is seismically active. End_of_Article - Last_Page 511------------

Geologic Interpretation Based on Dipmeter Data--Field Study: ABSTRACT

The Lambert Granite Wash field was discovered in Oldham County, Texas, in 1979. With the exception of the discovery well, every well in the field was logged with a 4-arm high-resolution dipmeter, and the log data were processed by computer. The data interpretation identified the paleoenvironment of the field and determined the source of the granite wash and how it was transported. Log data indicated that a subsea distributary-channel system transported the detrital granite, and that the deposition was influenced by the remnants of a small Precambrian ridge. The channels were diverted around the ridge until it was eventually buried. The deposition continued, from the west, until the source of granite was depleted. Through analysis of the dipmeter data, the Bravo dome was identified as the source of the granite, and it was determined that the channel system was located on the north side of the dome in Oldham County. During Late Pennsylvanian time, a horst formed in the area as a result of basin subsidence. Log data indicate this horst is a suitable structure for the accumulation of hydrocarbons and has overlying shale which forms a stratigraphic trap. End_of_Article - Last_Page 245------------

Court-Ordered Busing and Housing Searches

Although conceptualized as an important component in a household's relocation behavior, stress/strain relations have been difficult to operationalize. This study uses a quasi-experimental research design to investigate the impact of a stressful event, court-ordered busing, on housing search procedures. Specifically, the context is the occasion in which school-aged children come under a court-ordered busing plan in Jefferson County (Louisville), Kentucky. A survey of a 10% sample of households with school-aged children who were recent movers into an adjacent county, Oldham County, reveals that the impact of the stressful event did induce temporal and spatial constrictions on the housing search procedure. An argument is developed calling for a better understanding of relocation decision making under all kinds of stressful situations.

Developments in Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles in 1957

Exploratory drilling activity in the Panhandle District during 1957 surpassed 1956 by 12%. In all, 205 exploratory tests were drilled, of which 70 (34%) were successful. Field development wells declined slightly from 1956 as the success ratio dropped to 91%. Discoveries were predominantly from Pennsylvanian reservoirs, within the Anadarko basin, with 55% of these being completed from the Morrow series. Geophysical activity remained high, with a 10% increase in seismic crew-weeks. Leasing activity continued at a high peak as the Palo Duro basin underwent a large lease play after discovery of Pennsylvanian oil in Oldham County, Texas.

New Stations for Asplenosorus ebenoides

In June, 1950, W. H. Shackleton showed the writer a single plant of the hybrid fern Asplenosorus ebenoides (Scott) Wherry (Scott's spleenwort) growing in a crevice of a calcareous outcrop on a high bank of Hite's Branch, a tributary of the South Fort of Harrods Creek in Oldham County, Kentucky. Leaves were taken without disturbing the roots and these leaf specimens are in the herbarium at the University of Louisville. S. C. Thacher, an excellent amateur botanist of Louisville, informed the writer that he had discovered, in 1942, two locations of this hybrid, one in Clark County, Indiana, and the other in Bullitt County, Kentucky. The Clark County station is on a shady limestone outcrop above Fourteen Mile Creek, at the Tunnel Mill Boy Scout Camp. After two hours search with Mr. Thacher on June 10, 1951, only two plants were located. Originally this colony contained 13 plants but collectors have taken most of them. Previous reports from Indiana are those of Coulter' for stations in Crawford and Jefferson Counties, and Kriebel2 for Lawrence County. The Bullitt County station, which originally contained 3 plants, is on a shaded limestone outcrop near Indian Charles Spring at the Girl Scout Camp. A careful search of this area on September 28, 1951, did not yield a single one. As others knew of this station, they may have taken all the plants for specimens. Only one other report has been published for Kentucky: Linney3 found it growing on a fallen mass of sandstone near Salt Lick Creek, in Marion County. McCoy omitted it from