Due to legal requirements on international imports, it is important for law enforcement and regulatory agencies to identify the geographical provenance of timber. Current methods for geographic identification utilize data generated by direct analysis in real time time-of-flight mass spectrometry (DART TOFMS), genetics, and isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS), but identification methods based on genetics and IRMS data require months to years to create usable databases. This study used machine learning algorithms…

This data publication contains analytical data from direct analysis in real time time-of-flight mass spectrometry (DART TOFMS), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and handheld laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) collected from five populations of Pinus ponderosa located 14 to 72 kilometers apart in Oregon between October 2021 and February 2025. These data were generated to assess the effectiveness of these techniques paired with machine learning models in determining the geographical pr…

In the physics curriculum, students normally learn about Rutherford scattering from charged particles in classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and quantum field theory. This paper provides a pedagogical introduction to the problem of scattering from neutral particles, characterizing an effective charge distribution by a charge radius. Using the Born approximation, the quantum mechanical and field theoretic calculations agree to leading order in the long-wavelength limit but disagree with the classical calculatio…

Abstract Quantifying soil redistribution rates, including both erosion and deposition, is critical for understanding erosion processes, landscape evolution, land management strategies, and the carbon cycle. In the Northeast Pacific coastal temperate rainforest, the interaction of perhumid climate and dense coniferous forest tends to form Spodosols which are soils characterized by a subsurface accumulation of organic matter and iron and aluminum oxides, across a range of contrasting lithologies. Deep Spodosols are …

Abstract Landscape evolution is driven by tectonics, climate and surface denudation. In New Zealand, tectonics and steep climatic gradients cause a dynamic landscape with intense chemical weathering, rapid soil formation, and high soil losses. In this study, soil, and elemental redistribution along two adjacent hillslopes in East Otago, New Zealand, having different landscape settings (ridge versus valley) are compared to identify soil weathering and erosion dynamics. Fallout radionuclides ( 239+240 Pu) show that …