The deep sea is a rich environment composed of diverse habitat types. While deep-sea coral habitats have been discovered within each ocean basin, knowledge about the ecology of these habitats and associated inhabitants continues to grow. This report presents information and results from the Lophelia II project that examined deep-sea coral habitats in the Gulf of Mexico. The Lophelia II project focused on Lophelia pertusa habitats along the continental slope, at depths ranging from 300 to 1,000 meters. The chapters are authored by several scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, University of North Carolina Wilmington, and Florida State University who examined the community ecology (from microbes to fishes), deep-sea coral age, growth, and reproduction, and population connectivity of deep-sea corals and inhabitants. Data from these studies are presented in the chapters and appendixes of the report as well as in journal publications. This study was conducted by the Ecosystems Mission Area of the U.S. Geological Survey to meet information needs identified by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171139","collaboration":"Prepared in collaboration with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration","usgsCitation":"Demopoulos, A.W.J., Ross, S.W., Kellogg, C.A., Morrison, C.L., Nizinski, M., Prouty, N.G., Bourque, J.R., Galkiewicz, J.P., Gray, M.A., Springmann, M.J., Coykendall, D.K., Miller, A., Rhode, M., Quattrini, A., Ames, C.L., Brooke, S., McClain-Counts, J., Roark, E.B., Buster, N.A., Phillips, R.M., and Frometa, J., 2017, Deepwater Program: Lophelia II, continuing ecological research on deep-sea corals and deep-reef habitats in the Gulf of Mexico: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1139, 269 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171139.","productDescription":"xviii, 269 p.","numberOfPages":"287","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-057758","costCenters":[{"id":17705,"text":"Wetland and Aquatic Research Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":349831,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1139/coverthb2.jpg"},{"id":349832,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1139/ofr20171139.pdf","text":"Report","size":"10.5 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017–1139"}],"country":"United States","otherGeospatial":"Gulf of Mexico","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -96.48193359375,\n 24\n ],\n [\n -74.81689453125,\n 24\n ],\n [\n -74.81689453125,\n 35\n ],\n [\n -96.48193359375,\n 35\n ],\n [\n -96.48193359375,\n 24\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
U.S. Geological Survey
7920 NW 71st St.
Gainesville, FL 32653
In almost all past inversions of large-earthquake ground motions for rupture behavior, the goal of the inversion is to find the “best fitting” rupture model that predicts ground motions which optimize some function of the difference between predicted and observed ground motions. This type of inversion was pioneered in the linear-inverse sense by Olson and Apsel (1982), who minimized the square of the difference between observed and simulated motions (“least squares”) while simultaneously minimizing the rupture-model norm (by setting the null-space component of the rupture model to zero), and has been extended in many ways, one of which is the use of nonlinear inversion schemes such as simulated annealing algorithms that optimize some other misfit function. For example, the simulated annealing algorithm of Piatanesi and others (2007) finds the rupture model that minimizes a “cost” function which combines a least-squares and a waveform-correlation measure of misfit.
All such inversions that look for a unique “best” model have at least three problems. (1) They have removed the null-space component of the rupture model—that is, an infinite family of rupture models that all fit the data equally well have been narrowed down to a single model. Some property of interest in the rupture model might have been discarded in this winnowing process. (2) Smoothing constraints are commonly used to yield a unique “best” model, in which case spatially rough rupture models will have been discarded, even if they provide a good fit to the data. (3) No estimate of confidence in the resulting rupture models can be given because the effects of unknown errors in the Green’s functions (“theory errors”) have not been assessed. In inversion for rupture behavior, these theory errors are generally larger than the data errors caused by ground noise and instrumental limitations, and so overfitting of the data is probably ubiquitous for such inversions.
Recently, attention has turned to the inclusion of theory errors in the inversion process. Yagi and Fukahata (2011) made an important contribution by presenting a method to estimate the uncertainties in predicted large-earthquake ground motions due to uncertainties in the Green’s functions. Here we derive their result and compare it with the results of other recent studies that look at theory errors in a Bayesian inversion context particularly those by Bodin and others (2012), Duputel and others (2012), Dettmer and others (2014), and Minson and others (2014).
Notably, in all these studies, the estimates of theory error were obtained from theoretical considerations alone; none of the investigators actually measured Green’s function errors. Large earthquakes typically have aftershocks, which, if their rupture surfaces are physically small enough, can be considered point evaluations of the real Green’s functions of the Earth. Here we simulate smallaftershock ground motions with (erroneous) theoretical Green’s functions. Taking differences between aftershock ground motions and simulated motions to be the “theory error,” we derive a statistical model of the sources of discrepancies between the theoretical and real Green’s functions. We use this model with an extended frequency-domain version of the time-domain theory of Yagi and Fukahata (2011) to determine the expected variance 2 τ caused by Green’s function error in ground motions from a larger (nonpoint) earthquake that we seek to model.
We also differ from the above-mentioned Bayesian inversions in our handling of the nonuniqueness problem of seismic inversion. We follow the philosophy of Segall and Du (1993), who, instead of looking for a best-fitting model, looked for slip models that answered specific questions about the earthquakes they studied. In their Bayesian inversions, they inductively derived a posterior probability-density function (PDF) for every model parameter. We instead seek to find two extremal rupture models whose ground motions fit the data within the error bounds given by 2 τ , as quantified by using a chi-squared test described below. So, we can ask questions such as, “What are the rupture models with the highest and lowest average rupture speed consistent with the theory errors?” Having found those models, we can then say with confidence that the true rupture speed is somewhere between those values. Although the Bayesian approach gives a complete solution to the inverse problem, it is computationally demanding: Minson and others (2014) needed 1010 forward kinematic simulations to derive their posterior probability distribution. In our approach, only about107 simulations are needed. Moreover, in practical application, only a small set of rupture models may be needed to answer the relevant questions—for example, determining the maximum likelihood solution (achievable through standard inversion techniques) and the two rupture models bounding some property of interest.
The specific property that we wish to investigate is the correlation between various rupturemodel parameters, such as peak slip velocity and rupture velocity, in models of real earthquakes. In some simulations of ground motions for hypothetical large earthquakes, such as those by Aagaard and others (2010) and the Southern California Earthquake Center Broadband Simulation Platform (Graves and Pitarka, 2015), rupture speed is assumed to correlate locally with peak slip, although there is evidence that rupture speed should correlate better with peak slip speed, owing to its dependence on local stress drop. We may be able to determine ways to modify Piatanesi and others’s (2007) inversion’s “cost” function to find rupture models with either high or low degrees of correlation between pairs of rupture parameters. We propose a cost function designed to find these two extremal models.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171151","usgsCitation":"Spudich, P., Cirella, A., Scognamiglio, L., and Tinti, E., 2017, Analysis of the variability in ground-motion synthesis and inversion: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1151, 39 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171151.","productDescription":"iv, 39 p.","numberOfPages":"44","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-087954","costCenters":[{"id":237,"text":"Earthquake Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":349837,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1151/ofr20171151_.pdf","text":"Report","size":"4.5 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1151"},{"id":349836,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1151/coverthb.jpg"}],"contact":"Director,
Earthquake Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
345 Middlefield Road
Mail Stop 977
Menlo Park, CA 94025
The Navajo (N) aquifer is an extensive aquifer and the primary source of groundwater in the 5,400-square-mile Black Mesa area in northeastern Arizona. Availability of water is an important issue in northeastern Arizona because of continued water requirements for industrial and municipal use by a growing population and because of low precipitation in the arid climate of the Black Mesa area. Precipitation in the area typically is between 6 and 16 inches per year.
The U.S. Geological Survey water-monitoring program in the Black Mesa area began in 1971 and provides information about the long-term effects of groundwater withdrawals from the N aquifer for industrial and municipal uses. This report presents results of data collected as part of the monitoring program in the Black Mesa area from January 2013 to December 2015. The monitoring program includes measurements of (1) groundwater withdrawals (pumping), (2) groundwater levels, (3) spring discharge, (4) surface-water discharge, and (5) groundwater chemistry.
In 2013, total groundwater withdrawals were 3,980 acre-feet (ft), in 2014 total withdrawals were 4,170 acre-ft, and in 2015 total withdrawals were 3,970 acre-ft. From 2013 to 2015 total withdrawals varied by less than 5 percent.
From 2014 to 2015, annually measured water levels in the Black Mesa area declined in 9 of 15 wells that were available for comparison in the unconfined areas of the N aquifer, and the median change was -0.1 feet. Water levels declined in 3 of 16 wells measured in the confined area of the aquifer. The median change for the confined area of the aquifer was 0.6 feet. From the prestress period (prior to 1965) to 2015, the median water-level change for 34 wells in both the confined and unconfined areas was -13.2 feet; the median water-level changes were -1.7 feet for 16 wells measured in the unconfined areas and -42.3 feet for 18 wells measured in the confined area.
Spring flow was measured at four springs in 2014. Flow fluctuated during the period of record for Burro Spring and Unnamed Spring near Dennehotso, but a decreasing trend was statistically significant (p<0.05) at Moenkopi School Spring and Pasture Canyon Spring. Discharge at Burro Spring has remained relatively constant since it was first measured in the 1980s and discharge at Unnamed Spring near Dennehotso has fluctuated for the period of record. Trend analysis for discharge at Moenkopi and Pasture Canyon Springs yielded a slope significantly different (p<0.05) from zero.
Continuous records of surface-water discharge in the Black Mesa area were collected from streamflow-gaging stations at the following sites: Moenkopi Wash at Moenkopi 09401260 (1976 to 2015), Dinnebito Wash near Sand Springs 09401110 (1993 to 2015), Polacca Wash near Second Mesa 09400568 (1994 to 2015), and Pasture Canyon Springs 09401265 (2004 to 2015). Median winter flows (November through February) of each water year were used as an index of the amount of groundwater discharge at the above-named sites. For the period of record of each streamflow-gaging station, the median winter flows have generally remained constant, which suggests no change in groundwater discharge.
In 2014, water samples collected from four springs in the Black Mesa area were analyzed for selected chemical constituents, and the results were compared with previous analyses. Dissolved solids, chloride, and sulfate concentrations increased at Moenkopi School Spring during the more than 25 years of record at that site. Concentrations of dissolved solids, chloride, and sulfate at Pasture Canyon Spring have not varied significantly (p>0.05) since the early 1980s, and there is no increasing or decreasing trend in those data. Concentrations of dissolved solids, chloride, and sulfate at Burro Spring and Unnamed Spring near Dennehotso have varied for the period of record, but there is no increasing or decreasing statistical trend in the data.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171127","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Navajo Nation and the Arizona Department of Water Resources","usgsCitation":"Macy, J.P., and Mason, J.P., 2017, Groundwater, surface-water, and water-chemistry data, Black Mesa area, northeastern Arizona—2013–2015: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1127, 49 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171127.","productDescription":"v., 49 p.","numberOfPages":"58","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-083213","costCenters":[{"id":128,"text":"Arizona Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":349866,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1127/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":349867,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1127/ofr20171127.pdf","text":"Report","size":"2.9 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1127"}],"country":"United States","state":"Arizona","otherGeospatial":"Black Mesa area","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -111.5,\n 35.5\n ],\n [\n -109.5,\n 35.5\n ],\n [\n -109.5,\n 37\n ],\n [\n -111.5,\n 37\n ],\n [\n -111.5,\n 35.5\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director,
Arizona Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
520 N. Park Avenue
Tucson, AZ 85719
Cobalt (Co) is a potentially critical mineral. The vast majority of cobalt is a byproduct of copper and (or) nickel production. Cobalt is increasingly used in magnets and rechargeable batteries. More than 50 percent of primary cobalt production is from the Central African Copperbelt. The Central African Copperbelt is the only sedimentary rock-hosted stratiform copper district that contains significant cobalt. Its presence may indicate significant mafic-ultramafic rocks in the local basement. The balance of primary cobalt production is from magmatic nickel-copper and nickel laterite deposits. Cobalt is present in several carbonate-hosted lead-zinc and copper districts. It is also variably present in Besshi-type volcanogenic massive sulfide and siliciclastic sedimentary rock-hosted deposits in back arc and rift environments associated with mafic-ultramafic rocks. Metasedimentary cobalt-copper-gold deposits (such as Blackbird, Idaho), iron oxide-copper-gold deposits, and the five-element vein deposits (such as Cobalt, Ontario) contain different amounts of cobalt. None of these deposit types show direct links to mafic-ultramafic rocks; the deposits may result from crustal-scale hydrothermal systems capable of leaching and transporting cobalt from great depths. Hydrothermal deposits associated with ultramafic rocks, typified by the Bou Azzer district of Morocco, represent another type of primary cobalt deposit.
In the United States, exploration for cobalt deposits may focus on magmatic nickel-copper deposits in the Archean and Proterozoic rocks of the Midwest and the east coast (Pennsylvania) and younger mafic rocks in southeastern and southern Alaska; also, possibly basement rocks in southeastern Missouri. Other potential exploration targets include—
Office of the Associate Director for Energy and Minerals
U.S. Geological Survey
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive
MS 102
Reston, VA 20192
Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR) offers a mix of open water, marsh, forest, and cropland habitats on 20,307 hectares in coastal North Carolina. In 1934, Federal legislation (Executive Order 6924) established MNWR to benefit wintering waterfowl and other migratory bird species. On an annual basis, the refuge staff decide how to manage 14 impoundments to benefit not only waterfowl during the nonbreeding season, but also shorebirds during fall and spring migration. In making these decisions, the challenge is to select a portfolio, or collection, of management actions for the impoundments that optimizes use by the three groups of birds while respecting budget constraints. In this study, a decision support tool was developed for these annual management decisions.
Within the decision framework, there are three different management objectives: shorebird-use days during fall and spring migrations, and waterfowl-use days during the nonbreeding season. Sixteen potential management actions were identified for impoundments; each action represents a combination of hydroperiod and vegetation manipulation. Example hydroperiods include semi-permanent and seasonal drawdowns, and vegetation manipulations include mechanical-chemical treatment, burning, disking, and no action. Expert elicitation was used to build a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) model that predicts shorebird- and waterfowl-use days for each potential management action. The BBN was parameterized for a representative impoundment, MI-9, and predictions were re-scaled for this impoundment to predict outcomes at other impoundments on the basis of size. Parameter estimates in the BBN model can be updated using observations from ongoing monitoring that is part of the Integrated Waterbird Management and Monitoring (IWMM) program.
The optimal portfolio of management actions depends on the importance, that is, weights, assigned to the three objectives, as well as the budget. Five scenarios with a variety of objective weights and budgets were developed. Given the large number of possible portfolios (1614), a heuristic genetic algorithm was used to identify a management action portfolio that maximized use-day objectives while respecting budget constraints. The genetic algorithm identified a portfolio of management actions for each of the five scenarios, enabling refuge staff to explore the sensitivity of their management decisions to objective weights and budget constraints.
The decision framework developed here provides a transparent, defensible, and testable foundation for decision making at MNWR. The BBN model explicitly structures and parameterizes a mental model previously used by an expert to assign management actions to the impoundments. With ongoing IWMM monitoring, predictions from the model can be tested, and model parameters updated, to reflect empirical observations. This framework is intended to be a living document that can be updated to reflect changes in the decision context (for example, new objectives or constraints, or new models to compete with the current BBN model). Rather than a mandate to refuge staff, this framework is intended to be a decision support tool; tool outputs can become part of the deliberations of refuge staff when making difficult management decisions for multiple objectives.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171052","usgsCitation":"Tavernia, B.G., Stanton, J.D., and Lyons, J.E., 2017, Integrated wetland management for waterfowl and shorebirds at Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1052, 43 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171052.","productDescription":"vii, 43 p.","numberOfPages":"55","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-074603","costCenters":[{"id":531,"text":"Patuxent Wildlife Research Center","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":50464,"text":"Eastern Ecological Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":348384,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1052/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":348385,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1052/ofr20171052.pdf","text":"Report","size":"9.75 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1052"}],"country":"United States","state":"North Carolina","otherGeospatial":"Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -76.36459350585938,\n 35.42262976362149\n ],\n [\n -76.03363037109374,\n 35.42262976362149\n ],\n [\n -76.03363037109374,\n 35.59031875398378\n ],\n [\n -76.36459350585938,\n 35.59031875398378\n ],\n [\n -76.36459350585938,\n 35.42262976362149\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director, Eastern Ecological Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
12100 Beech Forest Road, Ste 4039
Laurel, MD 20708
Managers at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge (CRNWR) desire to update their management plan regarding the operation of select springs including Three Sisters Springs. They wish to refine existing parameters used to predict the presence of federally threatened Trichechus manatus latirostris (Florida manatee) in the springs and thereby improve their manatee management options. The U.S. Geological Survey Sirenia Project has been tracking manatees in the CRNWR area since 2006 with floating Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite-monitored telemetry tags. Analyzing movements of these tagged manatees will provide valuable insight into their habitat use patterns.
A total of 136 GPS telemetry bouts were available for this project, representing 730,009 locations generated from 40 manatees tagged in the Gulf of Mexico north of Tampa, Florida. Dates from October through March were included to correspond to the times that cold ambient temperatures were expected, thus requiring a need for manatee thermoregulation and a physiologic need for warm water. Water level (tide) and water temperatures were obtained for the study from Salt River, Crystal River mouth, Bagley Cove, Kings Bay mouth, and Magnolia Spring. Polygons were drawn to subdivide the manatee locations into areas around the most-used springs (Three Sisters/Idiots Delight, House/Hunter/Jurassic, Magnolia and King), Kings Bay, Crystal/Salt Rivers and the Gulf of Mexico.
Manatees were found in the Crystal or Salt Rivers or in the Gulf of Mexico when ambient temperatures were warmer (>20 °C), while they were found in or near the springs (especially Three Sisters Springs) at colder ambient water temperatures. There was a trend of manatees entering springs early in the morning and leaving in the afternoon. There was a strong association of manatee movements in and out of the Three Sisters/Idiots Delight polygon with tide cycles: manatees were more likely to enter the Three Sisters/Idiots Delight polygon on an incoming tide, and leave the polygon on an outgoing tide. Both movement directions were associated with midtide. Future analysis will incorporate human activity and a finer spatial scale, including movements between Three Sisters Springs and Idiots Delight and nearby canals.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171146","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service","usgsCitation":"Slone, D.H., Butler, S.M., Reid, J.P., and Haase, C.G., 2017, Timing of warm water refuge use in Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge by manatees—Results and insights from Global Positioning System telemetry data: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1146, 17 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171146.","productDescription":"Report: v, 17 p.; Data Release","numberOfPages":"22","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-091745","costCenters":[{"id":17705,"text":"Wetland and Aquatic Research Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":349180,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1146/ofr20171146.pdf","text":"Report","size":"1.58 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017–1146"},{"id":349181,"rank":3,"type":{"id":30,"text":"Data Release"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.5066/F78P5ZGR","text":"USGS data release","description":"USGS Data Release","linkHelpText":"Water temperature in Three Sisters Springs, and water temperature and level in Magnolia Spring: Winter 2014–15"},{"id":349179,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1146/coverthb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"Florida","otherGeospatial":"Crystal River","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -82.850,\n 28.830\n ],\n [\n -82.570,\n 28.830\n ],\n [\n -82.570,\n 28.955\n ],\n [\n -82.850,\n 28.955\n ],\n [\n -82.850,\n 28.830\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
U.S. Geological Survey
7920 NW 71 Street
Gainesville, FL 32653
Red tides (blooms of the harmful alga Karenia brevis) are one of the major sources of mortality for the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris), especially in southwest Florida. It has been hypothesized that the frequency and severity of red tides may increase in the future because of global climate change and other factors. To improve our ecological forecast for the effects of red tides on manatee population dynamics and long-term persistence, we conducted a formal expert judgment process to estimate probability distributions for the frequency and relative magnitude of red-tide-related manatee mortality (RTMM) events over a 100-year time horizon in three of the four regions recognized as manatee management units in Florida. This information was used to update a population viability analysis for the Florida manatee (the Core Biological Model). We convened a panel of 12 experts in manatee biology or red-tide ecology; the panel met to frame, conduct, and discuss the elicitation. Each expert provided a best estimate and plausible low and high values (bounding a confidence level of 80 percent) for each parameter in each of three regions (Northwest, Southwest, and Atlantic) of the subspecies’ range (excluding the Upper St. Johns River region) for two time periods (0−40 and 41−100 years from present). We fitted probability distributions for each parameter, time period, and expert by using these three elicited values. We aggregated the parameter estimates elicited from individual experts and fitted a parametric distribution to the aggregated results.
Across regions, the experts expected the future frequency of RTMM events to be higher than historical levels, which is consistent with the hypothesis that global climate change (among other factors) may increase the frequency of red-tide blooms. The experts articulated considerable uncertainty, however, about the future frequency of RTMM events. The historical frequency of moderate and intense RTMM (combined) in the Southwest region was 0.35 (80-percent confidence interval [CI]: 0.21−0.52), whereas the forecast probability was 0.48 (80-percent CI: 0.30−0.64) over a 40-year projected time horizon. Moderate and intense RTMM events are expected to continue to be most frequent in the Southwest region, to increase in mean frequency in the Northwest region (historical frequency of moderate and intense RTMM events [combined] in the Northwest region was 0, whereas the forecast probability was 0.12 [80-percent CI: 0.02−0.39] over a 40-year projected time horizon) and in the Atlantic region (historical frequency of moderate and intense RTMM events [combined] in the Atlantic region was 0.05 [80-percent CI: 0.005–0.18], whereas the forecast probability was 0.11 [80-percent CI: 0.03−0.25] over a 40-year projected time horizon), and to remain absent from the Upper St. Johns River region.
The impact of red-tide blooms on manatee mortality has been measured for the Southwest region but not for the Northwest and Atlantic regions, where such events have been rare. The expert panel predicted that the median magnitude of RTMM events in the Atlantic and Northwest regions will be much smaller than that in the Southwest; given the large uncertainties, however, they acknowledged the possibility that these events could be larger in their mortality impacts than in the Southwest region.
By its nature, forecasting requires expert judgment because it is impossible to have empirical evidence about the future. The large uncertainties in parameter estimates over a 100-year timeframe are to be expected and may also indicate that the training provided to panelists successfully minimized one common pitfall of expert judgment, that of overconfidence. This study has provided useful and needed inputs to the Florida manatee population viability analysis associated with an important and recurrent source of mortality from harmful algal blooms.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171132","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission","usgsCitation":"Martin, Julien, Runge, M.C., Flewelling, L.J., Deutsch, C.J., and Landsberg, J.H., 2017, An expert elicitation process to project the frequency and magnitude of Florida manatee mortality events caused by red tide (Karenia brevis): U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1132, 17 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171132.","productDescription":"Report: vi, 17 p.; Data Release","numberOfPages":"28","ipdsId":"IP-084079","costCenters":[{"id":17705,"text":"Wetland and Aquatic Research Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":348904,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1132/ofr20171132.pdf","text":"Report","size":"725 kB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017–1132"},{"id":348905,"rank":3,"type":{"id":30,"text":"Data Release"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.5066/F78P5XQG","text":"USGS data release","description":"USGS Data Release","linkHelpText":"An expert elicitation process to project the frequency and magnitude of Florida manatee mortality events caused by red tide (Karenia brevis)"},{"id":348903,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1132/coverthb.jpg"}],"contact":"Director, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
U.S. Geological Survey
7920 NW 71St Street
Gainesville, FL 32653
Most extant giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) populations persist in an agro-ecosystem dominated by rice, which serves as a surrogate to the expansive marshes lost to flood control projects and development of the Great Central Valley of California. Knowledge of how giant gartersnakes use the rice agricultural landscape, including how they respond to fallowing, idling, or crop rotations, would greatly benefit conservation of giant gartersnakes by informing more snake-friendly land and water management practices. We studied adult giant gartersnakes at 11 sites in the rice-growing regions of the Sacramento Valley during an extended drought in California to evaluate their response to differences in water availability at the site and individual levels. Although our study indicated that giant gartersnakes make little use of rice fields themselves, and avoid cultivated rice relative to its availability on the landscape, rice is a crucial component of the modern landscape for giant gartersnakes. Giant gartersnakes are strongly associated with the canals that supply water to and drain water from rice fields; these canals provide much more stable habitat than rice fields because they maintain water longer and support marsh-like conditions for most of the giant gartersnake active season. Nonetheless, our results suggest that maintaining canals without neighboring rice fields would be detrimental to giant gartersnake populations, with decreases in giant gartersnake survival rates associated with less rice production in the surrounding landscape. Increased productivity of prey populations, dispersion of potential predators across a larger landscape, and a more secure water supply are just some of the mechanisms by which rice fields might benefit giant gartersnakes in adjacent canals. Results indicate that identifying how rice benefits giant gartersnakes in canals and the extent to which the rice agro-ecosystem could provide these benefits when rice is fallowed would inform the use of water for other purposes without harm to giant gartersnakes. Our study also suggests that without such understanding, maintaining rice and associated canals in the Sacramento Valley is critical for the sustainability of giant gartersnake populations.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171141","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the California Department of Water Resources","usgsCitation":"Reyes, G.A., Halstead, B.J., Rose, J.P., Ersan, J.S.M., Jordan, A.C., Essert, A.M., Fouts, K.J., Fulton, A.M., Gustafson, K.B., Wack, R.F., Wylie, G.D., and Casazza, M.L., 2017, Behavioral response of giant gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) to the relative availability of aquatic habitat on the landscape: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017-1141, 134 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171141.","productDescription":"vi, 134 p.","numberOfPages":"144","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-086237","costCenters":[{"id":651,"text":"Western Ecological Research Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":348951,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1141/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":348952,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1141/ofr20171141.pdf","text":"Report","size":"9.9 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1141"}],"country":"United States","state":"California","otherGeospatial":"Sacramento Valley","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -122.42340087890624,\n 38.62116234642254\n ],\n [\n -121.36596679687499,\n 38.62116234642254\n ],\n [\n -121.36596679687499,\n 39.605688178320804\n ],\n [\n -122.42340087890624,\n 39.605688178320804\n ],\n [\n -122.42340087890624,\n 38.62116234642254\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Western Ecological Research Center
U.S. Geological Survey
3020 State University Drive
East Sacramento, California 95819
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), reviewed a previously compiled set of linear regression models to assess their utility in defining the response of the aquatic biological community to streamflow depletion.
As part of the 2012 Virginia Healthy Watersheds Initiative (HWI) study conducted by Tetra Tech, Inc., for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Virginia DEQ, a database with computed values of 72 hydrologic metrics, or indicators of hydrologic alteration (IHA), 37 fish metrics, and 64 benthic invertebrate metrics was compiled and quality assured. Hydrologic alteration was represented by simulation of streamflow record for a pre-water-withdrawal condition (baseline) without dams or developed land, compared to the simulated recent-flow condition (2008 withdrawal simulation) including dams and altered landscape to calculate a percent alteration of flow. Biological samples representing the existing populations represent a range of alteration in the biological community today.
For this study, all 72 IHA metrics, which included more than 7,272 linear regression models, were considered. This extensive dataset provided the opportunity for hypothesis testing and prioritization of flow-ecology relations that have the potential to explain the effect(s) of hydrologic alteration on biological metrics in Virginia streams.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171088","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality","usgsCitation":"Rapp, J.L., and Reilly, P.A., 2017, Virginia flow-ecology modeling results—An initial assessment of flow reduction effects on aquatic biota: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1088, 68 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171088.","productDescription":"68 p.","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-086496","costCenters":[{"id":614,"text":"Virginia Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":438149,"rank":3,"type":{"id":30,"text":"Data Release"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.5066/F7ZW1J42","text":"USGS data release","linkHelpText":"Fish and Benthic Macroinvertebrate Flow-Ecology Regression Summary Statistics for Virginia"},{"id":348156,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1088/ofr20171088.pdf","text":"Report","size":"17.7 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1088"},{"id":348155,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1088/coverthb.jpg"}],"country":"United 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\"}}]}","contact":"Director, Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
1730 East Parham Road
Richmond VA 23228
The May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens produced a 2.5-cubic-kilometer debris avalanche that dammed South Fork Castle Creek, causing Castle Lake to form behind a 20-meter-tall blockage. Risk of a catastrophic breach of the newly impounded lake led to outlet channel stabilization work, aggressive monitoring programs, mapping efforts, and blockage stability studies. Despite relatively large uncertainty, early mapping efforts adequately supported several lake breakout models, but have limited applicability to current lake monitoring and hazard assessment. Here, we present the results of a bathymetric survey conducted in August 2012 with the purpose of (1) verifying previous volume estimates, (2) computing an area/capacity table, and (3) producing a bathymetric map. Our survey found seasonal lake volume ranges between 21.0 and 22.6 million cubic meters with a fundamental vertical accuracy representing 0.88 million cubic meters. Lake surface area ranges between 1.13 and 1.16 square kilometers. Relationships developed by our results allow the computation of lake volume from near real-time lake elevation measurements or from remotely sensed imagery.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171145","usgsCitation":"Mosbrucker, A.R., and Spicer, K.R., 2017, Bathymetric map and area/capacity table for Castle Lake, Washington: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1145, 22 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171145.","productDescription":"iv, 22 p.","numberOfPages":"27","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-058706","costCenters":[{"id":617,"text":"Volcano Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":348849,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1145/ofr20171145.pdf","text":"Report","size":"6 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1145"},{"id":348848,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1145/coverthb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"Washington","otherGeospatial":"Castle Lake","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -122.30100631713866,\n 46.231271774559936\n ],\n [\n -122.25088119506836,\n 46.231271774559936\n ],\n [\n -122.25088119506836,\n 46.2668841963711\n ],\n [\n -122.30100631713866,\n 46.2668841963711\n ],\n [\n -122.30100631713866,\n 46.231271774559936\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Contact CVO
Volcano Science Center, Cascades Volcano Observatory
U.S. Geological Survey
1300 SE Cardinal Court, Building 10, Suite 100
Vancouver, WA 98683-9589
Two Eureka Manta2 3.5 water-quality multiprobe sondes by Eureka Water Probes were tested at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF) against known standards over the sonde operating temperatures to verify the manufacturer’s stated accuracy specifications for pH, specific conductance (SC) at 25 degrees Celsius (°C), dissolved oxygen (DO), and turbidity. The Manta2 sondes were evaluated for compliance with the USGS National Field Manual for the Collection of Water-Quality Data (NFM) criteria for continuous water-quality monitors, and for compliance with the manufacturer’s technical specifications. The Manta2 was also evaluated for its compliance to Serial Digital Interface at 1200 baud (SDI-12) version 1.3.
The Manta2 met the NFM recommendations and manufacturer’s accuracy specifications for DO and turbidity at all values tested. The Manta2 pH sensors met the NFM recommendations and manufacturer’s accuracy specification for nominal pH values of 10 and lower. One of the two sensors was out of compliance by 1.2 units for pH 11.16 at 15 °C and by 0.25 unit for pH 10.78 at 40 °C. The Manta2 sensors were within the NFM recommendations for SC, except at 100 microsiemens (μS/cm) at 40 °C, where the SC sensor exceeded the test standard value by as much as 25 percent. One of two sensors was within manufacturer’s accuracy specifications at 25 °C for all the tested SC values, while the other SC sensor was outside the manufacturer’s accuracy specifications at 100 μS/cm, exceeding the test standard value by 9 percent. One of two sensors was outside the manufacturer’s accuracy specifications at 10,000 μS/cm at 15°C, exceeding the test standard value by 3 percent. One Manta2 passed SDI-12 compliance testing with a NR Systems SDI-12 Verifier. One Manta2 was field tested for 6 weeks at USGS station 02492620, National Space Technology Laboratories (NSTL) Station, Mississippi, on the Pearl River and showed overall good agreement with a well-maintained Hydrolab Datasonde 5X site sonde for water temperature, pH, and DO. Differences in SC values between the Manta2 and the site sonde were most likely due to differences in the deployment depth of the sondes.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171118","usgsCitation":"Tillman, E.F., 2017, Evaluation of the Eureka Manta2 Water-Quality Multiprobe Sonde: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1118, 37 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171118. ","productDescription":"vi, 37 p.","numberOfPages":"43","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-076099","costCenters":[{"id":502,"text":"Office of Surface Water","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":347738,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1118/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":347739,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1118/ofr20171118.pdf","text":"Report","size":"1.31 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1118"}],"contact":"Chief, Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility
U.S. Geological Survey
Building 2101
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529
The Columbia River, in Washington and Oregon, and Coos Bay, in Oregon, are economically important shipping channels that are inhabited by several fishes protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Maintenance of shipping channels involves dredge operations to maintain sufficient in-channel depths to allow large ships to navigate the waterways safely. Fishes entrained by dredge equipment often die or experience delayed mortality. Other potential negative effects of dredging include increased turbidity, reductions in prey resources, and the release of harmful contaminants from the dredged sediments. One species of concern is the ESA-listed green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris; Southern Distinct Population Segment). In this study, we used acoustic telemetry to identify habitat use, arrival and departure timing, and the extent of upstream migration of green sturgeon in the Columbia River and Coos Bay to help inform dredge operations to minimize potential take of green sturgeon. Autonomous acoustic receivers were deployed in Coos Bay from the mouth to river kilometer (rkm) 21.6 from October 2009 through October 2010. In the Columbia River Estuary, receivers were deployed between the mouth and rkm 37.8 from April to November in 2010 and 2011. A total of 29 subadult and adult green sturgeon were tagged with temperature and pressure sensor tags and released during the study, primarily in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor, Washington, and the Klamath River, Oregon. Green sturgeon detected during the study but released by other researchers also were included in the study.
The number of tagged green sturgeon detected in the two estuaries differed markedly. In Coos Bay, only one green sturgeon was detected for about 2 hours near the estuary mouth. In the Columbia River Estuary, 9 green sturgeon were detected in 2010 and 10 fish were detected in 2011. Green sturgeon entered the Columbia River from May through October during both years, with the greatest numbers of fish being present in August and September. One green sturgeon was detected at the uppermost receiver station (rkm 37.8), but overall, the number of fish detected upriver decreased rapidly with distance from the estuary mouth. Residence times of fish that were only detected in the lower 4.8 rkm generally were less than 24 hours, but fish detected farther upriver had a median residence time greater than 10 days. Green sturgeon were widely dispersed among channel and non-channel habitats in the lower estuary in 2010. In 2011, the fish were more concentrated near the estuary mouth. The intensity of use, measured as the total number of fish detections at each station, generally was greatest from Point Ellice (rkm 20.1) to Rice Island (rkm 33.0) in channel and shallow shoal areas, and lowest at the stations west of Point Ellice with the exception of the area near the entrance to the Ilwaco Channel.
Sensor tag data indicated that the deeper South and North Channel habitats (bottom depth ≥10 m) were used, as were the more shallow sandy shoal, shoreline, and bay habitats (bottom depth <10 m). Median fish depths among fish and receiver locations ranged from 2.5 to 28.2 m below water surface (bws) and water temperatures ranged from 9.1 to 22.0 °C during late May through mid-October. In the deeper channel habitat, near the Ilwaco Channel, fish inhabited water with median temperatures ranging from 11.4 to 16.7 °C, whereas east of Point Ellice, predominantly in shallow non-channel habitats, fish inhabited water with median temperatures ranging from about 17.0 to 21.0 °C.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171144","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers","usgsCitation":"Hansel, H.C., Romine, J.G., and Perry, R.W., 2017, Acoustic tag detections of green sturgeon in the Columbia River and Coos Bay estuaries, Washington and Oregon, 2010–11: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017-1144, 30 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171144.","productDescription":"vi, 30 p.","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-088817","costCenters":[{"id":654,"text":"Western Fisheries Research Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":348413,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1144/ofr20171144.pdf","text":"Report","size":"1.3 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1144"},{"id":348412,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1144/coverthb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"Oregon","city":"Astoria","otherGeospatial":"Coos Bay","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -124.36283111572264,\n 43.33067209551502\n ],\n [\n -124.12696838378908,\n 43.33067209551502\n ],\n [\n -124.12696838378908,\n 43.476591264232674\n ],\n [\n -124.36283111572264,\n 43.476591264232674\n ],\n [\n -124.36283111572264,\n 43.33067209551502\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n },\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -124.09263610839842,\n 46.14416148780093\n ],\n [\n -123.61129760742186,\n 46.14416148780093\n ],\n [\n -123.61129760742186,\n 46.32559414426375\n ],\n [\n -124.09263610839842,\n 46.32559414426375\n ],\n [\n -124.09263610839842,\n 46.14416148780093\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director, Western Fisheries Research Center
U.S. Geological Survey
6505 NE 65th Street
Seattle, Washington 98115
The demonstration of clear linkages between planning, funding, outcomes, and performance management has created unique challenges for U.S. Federal science programs. An approach is presented here that characterizes science program strategic objectives by one of five “activity types”: (1) knowledge discovery, (2) knowledge development and delivery, (3) science support, (4) inventory and monitoring, and (5) knowledge synthesis and assessment. The activity types relate to performance measurement tools for tracking outcomes of research funded under the objective. The result is a multi-time scale, integrated performance measure that tracks individual performance metrics synthetically while also measuring progress toward long-term outcomes. Tracking performance on individual metrics provides explicit linkages to root causes of potentially suboptimal performance and captures both internal and external program drivers, such as customer relations and science support for managers. Functionally connecting strategic planning objectives with performance measurement tools is a practical approach for publicly funded science agencies that links planning, outcomes, and performance management—an enterprise that has created unique challenges for public-sector research and development programs.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171143","usgsCitation":"Whalen, K.G., 2017, A concept for performance management for Federal science programs: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017-1143, 16 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171143.","productDescription":"iv, 16 p.","numberOfPages":"24","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-090006","costCenters":[{"id":200,"text":"Coop Res Unit Seattle","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":348313,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1143/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":348314,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1143/ofr20171143.pdf","text":"Report","size":"490 KB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1143"}],"contact":"Western Region Unit Supervisor
Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Program
U.S. Geological Survey
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 303
Reston, Virginia 20192
Hurricane Matthew moved adjacent to the coasts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The hurricane made landfall once near McClellanville, South Carolina, on October 8, 2016, as a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) deployed a temporary monitoring network of storm-tide sensors at 284 sites along the Atlantic coast from Florida to North Carolina to record the timing, areal extent, and magnitude of hurricane storm tide and coastal flooding generated by Hurricane Matthew. Storm tide, as defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is the water-level rise generated by a combination of storm surge and astronomical tide during a coastal storm.
The deployment for Hurricane Matthew was the largest deployment of storm-tide sensors in USGS history and was completed as part of a coordinated Federal emergency response as outlined by the Stafford Act (Public Law 92–288, 42 U.S.C. 5121–5207) under a directed mission assignment by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In total, 543 high-water marks (HWMs) also were collected after Hurricane Matthew, and this was the second largest HWM recovery effort in USGS history after Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
During the hurricane, real-time water-level data collected at temporary rapid deployment gages (RDGs) and long-term USGS streamgage stations were relayed immediately for display on the USGS Flood Event Viewer (https://stn.wim.usgs.gov/FEV/#MatthewOctober2016). These data provided emergency managers and responders with critical information for tracking flood-effected areas and directing assistance to effected communities. Data collected from this hurricane can be used to calibrate and evaluate the performance of storm-tide models for maximum and incremental water level and flood extent, and the site-specific effects of storm tide on natural and anthropogenic features of the environment.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171122","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency","usgsCitation":"Frantz, E.R., Byrne, M.J., Sr., Caldwell, A.W., and Harden, S.L., 2017, Monitoring storm tide and flooding from Hurricane Matthew along the Atlantic coast of the United States, October 2016: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1122, 37 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171122.","productDescription":"vi, 37 p.","numberOfPages":"48","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-081187","costCenters":[{"id":13634,"text":"South Atlantic Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":347956,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1122/ofr20171122.pdf","text":"Report","size":"5.25 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1122"},{"id":347955,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1122/coverthb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -78.57421875,\n 36.56260003738545\n ],\n [\n -78.50830078125,\n 35.585851593232356\n ],\n [\n -79.69482421875,\n 34.903952965590065\n ],\n [\n -81.9140625,\n 33.358061612778876\n ],\n [\n -82.44140625,\n 31.70947636001935\n ],\n [\n -82.7490234375,\n 30.713503990354965\n ],\n [\n -82.0458984375,\n 28.998531814051795\n ],\n [\n -81.2548828125,\n 27.00040800352175\n ],\n [\n -81.650390625,\n 25.224820176765036\n ],\n [\n -80.595703125,\n 24.666986385216273\n ],\n [\n -79.3212890625,\n 25.20494115356912\n ],\n [\n -79.4970703125,\n 26.96124577052697\n ],\n [\n -79.82666015625,\n 27.994401411046148\n ],\n [\n -80.26611328125,\n 29.592565403314087\n ],\n [\n -80.35400390625,\n 31.259769987394286\n ],\n [\n -78.57421875,\n 32.80574473290688\n ],\n [\n -76.3330078125,\n 33.46810795527896\n ],\n [\n -74.619140625,\n 34.397844946449865\n ],\n [\n -73.32275390625,\n 36.56260003738545\n ],\n [\n -78.57421875,\n 36.56260003738545\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director, South Atlantic Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
720 Gracern Road
Columbia, SC 29210
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Use Science Project (NWUSP), part of the USGS Water Availability and Use Science Program (WAUSP), has estimated water use in the United States every 5 years since 1950. This report provides an overview of total population, public-supply use, including the population that is served by public-supply systems and the domestic deliveries to those users, and self-supplied domestic water use in the United States for 2015, continuing the task of estimating water use in the United States every 5 years. In this report, estimates for the United States include the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (hereafter referred to as “states” for brevity).
County-level data for total population, public-supply withdrawals and the population served by public-supply systems, and domestic withdrawals for 2015 were published in a data release in an effort to provide data to the public in a timely manner. Data in the current version (1.0) of Dieter and others (2017) contains county-level total withdrawals from groundwater and surface-water sources (both fresh and saline) for public-water supply, the deliveries from those suppliers to domestic users, and the quantities of water from groundwater and surface-water sources for self-supplied domestic users, and total population. Methods used to estimate the various data elements for the public-supply and domestic use categories at the county level are described by Bradley (2017).
This Open-File Report is an interim report summarizing the data published in Dieter and others (2017) at the state and national level. This report includes discussions on the total population, totals for public-supply withdrawals and population served, total domestic withdrawals, and provides comparisons of the 2015 estimates to 2010 estimates (Maupin and others, 2014). Total domestic water use, as described in this report, represents the summation of deliveries from public-water supply to domestic users plus self-supplied domestic withdrawals.
Values for 2010 are the best available data for 2010 from the USGS Aggregate Water-Use Data System (AWUDS). The 2010 values presented in this report may have been revised from 2010 values published in Maupin and others (2014), and therefore values for 2010 in this report may not exactly match values in Maupin and others (2014).
Withdrawal and population values in this report are rounded to three significant figures. All values are rounded independently, so the sums of individually rounded numbers may not equal the totals. Percent change is calculated on unrounded data and is expressed as an integer. Differences between 2010 and 2015 values are calculated on unrounded data, then the differences are rounded.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171131","usgsCitation":"Dieter, C.A., and Maupin, M.A., 2017, Public supply and domestic water use in the United States, 2015: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File ReportDirector, MD-DE-DC Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
5522 Research Park Drive
Baltimore, MD 21228
Trace-metal concentrations in sediment and in the clam Macoma petalum (formerly reported as Macoma balthica), clam reproductive activity, and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure were investigated in a mudflat 1 kilometer south of the discharge of the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (PARWQCP) in south San Francisco Bay, Calif. This report includes the data collected by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists for the period January 2014 to December 2016. These append to long-term datasets extending back to 1974. A major focus of the report is an integrated description of the 2016 data within the context of the longer, multi-decadal dataset. This dataset supports the City of Palo Alto’s Near-Field Receiving Water Monitoring Program, initiated in 1994.
Significant reductions in silver and copper concentrations in sediment and M. petalum occurred at the site in the 1980s following the implementation by PARWQCP of advanced wastewater treatment and source control measures. Since the 1990s, concentrations of these elements appear to have stabilized at concentrations somewhat above (silver) or near (copper) regional background concentrations Data for other metals, including chromium (Cr), mercury (Hg), nickel (Ni), selenium (Se), and zinc (Zn), have been collected since 1994. Over this period, concentrations of these elements have remained relatively constant, aside from seasonal variation that is common to all elements. In 2016, concentrations of silver and copper in M. petalum varied seasonally in response to a combination of site-specific metal exposures and annual growth and reproduction, as reported previously. Seasonal patterns for other elements, including Cr, Ni, Zn, Hg, and Se, were generally similar in timing and magnitude as those for Ag and Cu. This record suggests that legacy contamination and regional-scale factors now largely control sedimentary and bioavailable concentrations of silver and copper, as well as other elements of regulatory interest, at the Palo Alto site.
Analyses of the benthic community structure of a mudflat in south San Francisco Bay over a 40-year period show that changes in the community have occurred concurrent with reduced concentrations of metals in the sediment and in the tissues of the biosentinel clam, M. petalum, from the same area. Analysis of M. petalum shows increases in reproductive activity concurrent with the decline in metal concentrations in the tissues of this organism. Reproductive activity is presently stable (2016), with almost all animals initiating reproduction in the fall and spawning the following spring. The entire infaunal community has shifted from being dominated by several opportunistic species to a community where the species are more similar in abundance, a pattern that indicates a more stable community that is subjected to fewer stressors. In addition, two of the opportunistic species (Ampelisca abdita and Streblospio benedicti) that brood their young and live on the surface of the sediment in tubes have shown a continual decline in dominance coincident with the decline in metals; both species had short-lived rebounds in abundance in 2008, 2009, and 2010 and showed signs of increasing abundance in 2016. Heteromastus filiformis (a subsurface polychaete worm that lives in the sediment, consumes sediment and organic particles residing in the sediment, and reproduces by laying its eggs on or in the sediment) showed a concurrent increase in dominance and, in the last several years before 2008, showed a stable population. H. filiformis abundance increased slightly in 2011–2012 and returned to pre-2011 numbers in 2016. An unidentified disturbance occurred on the mudflat in early 2008 that resulted in the loss of the benthic animals, except for deep-dwelling animals like Macoma petalum. However, within two months of this event animals returned to the mudflat. The resilience of the community suggested that the disturbance was not due to a persistent toxin or anoxia. The reproductive mode of most species present in 2016 is reflective of species that were available either as pelagic larvae or as mobile adults. Although oviparous species were lower in number in this group, the authors hypothesize that these species will return slowly as more species move back into the area. The use of functional ecology was highlighted in the 2016 benthic community data, which showed that the animals that have now returned to the mudflat are those that can respond successfully to a physical, nontoxic disturbance. Today, community data show a mix of species that consume the sediment, or filter feed, have pelagic larvae that must survive landing on the sediment, and those that brood their young. USGS scientists view the 2008 disturbance event as a response by the infaunal community to an episodic natural stressor (possibly sediment accretion or a pulse of freshwater), in contrast to the long-term recovery from metal contamination. We will compare this recovery to the long-term recovery observed after the 1970s when the decline in sediment pollutants was the dominating factor.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171135","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the City of Palo Alto, California","usgsCitation":"Cain, D.J., Thompson, J.K., Parchaso, F., Pearson, S., Stewart, R., Turner, M., Barasch, D., and Luoma, S.N., 2017, Near-field receiving water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in south San Francisco Bay, California; 2016: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1135, 75 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171135.","productDescription":"vi, 75 p.","numberOfPages":"82","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-088104","costCenters":[{"id":438,"text":"National Research Program - Western Branch","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":416202,"rank":7,"type":{"id":22,"text":"Related Work"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20231017","text":"Open-File Report 2023-1017","linkHelpText":"- Near-Field Receiving-Water Monitoring of Trace Metals and a Benthic Community Near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco Bay, California—2020"},{"id":416201,"rank":6,"type":{"id":22,"text":"Related Work"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20211079","text":"Open-File Report 2021-1079","linkHelpText":"- Near-Field Receiving-Water Monitoring of Trace Metals and a Benthic Community Near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco Bay, California—2019"},{"id":416200,"rank":5,"type":{"id":22,"text":"Related Work"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20191084","text":"Open-File Report 2019-1084","linkHelpText":"- Near-Field Receiving-Water Monitoring of Trace Metals and a Benthic Community Near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco Bay, California—2018"},{"id":416199,"rank":4,"type":{"id":22,"text":"Related Work"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181107","text":"Open-File Report 2018-1107","linkHelpText":"- Near-field receiving-water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in south San Francisco Bay, California—2017"},{"id":416198,"rank":3,"type":{"id":22,"text":"Related Work"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20161118","text":"Open-File Report 2016-1118","linkHelpText":"- Near-field receiving water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in south San Francisco Bay, California; 2015"},{"id":347750,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1135/coverthb_.jpg"},{"id":347751,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1135/ofr.20171135.pdf","text":"Report","size":"4.1 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1135"}],"country":"United States","state":"California","city":"Palo Alto","otherGeospatial":"south San Francisco bay","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -122.16590881347656,\n 37.398528132728615\n ],\n [\n -121.91184997558595,\n 37.398528132728615\n ],\n [\n -121.91184997558595,\n 37.54566616715801\n ],\n [\n -122.16590881347656,\n 37.54566616715801\n ],\n [\n -122.16590881347656,\n 37.398528132728615\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"NRP staff
National Research Program
U.S. Geological Survey
345 Middlefield Road, MS-435
Menlo Park, CA 94025
The National Land Cover Database (NLCD) provides thematic land cover and land cover change data at 30-meter spatial resolution for the United States. Although the NLCD is considered to be the leading thematic land cover/land use product and overall classification accuracy across the NLCD is high, performance and consistency in the vast shrub and grasslands of the Western United States is lower than desired. To address these issues and fulfill the needs of stakeholders requiring more accurate rangeland data, the USGS has developed a method to quantify these areas in terms of the continuous cover of several cover components. These components include the cover of shrub, sagebrush (Artemisia spp), big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata spp.), herbaceous, annual herbaceous, litter, and bare ground, and shrub and sagebrush height. To produce maps of component cover, we collected field data that were then associated with spectral values in WorldView-2 and Landsat imagery using regression tree models. The current report outlines the procedures and results of converting these continuous cover components to three thematic NLCD classes: barren, shrubland, and grassland. To accomplish this, we developed a series of indices and conditional models using continuous cover of shrub, bare ground, herbaceous, and litter as inputs. The continuous cover data are currently available for two large regions in the Western United States. Accuracy of the “cross-walked” product was assessed relative to that of NLCD 2011 at independent validation points (n=787) across these two regions. Overall thematic accuracy of the “cross-walked” product was 0.70, compared to 0.63 for NLCD 2011. The kappa value was considerably higher for the “cross-walked” product at 0.41 compared to 0.28 for NLCD 2011. Accuracy was also evaluated relative to the values of training points (n=75,000) used in the development of the continuous cover components. Again, the “cross-walked” product outperformed NLCD 2011, with an overall accuracy of 0.81, compared to 0.66 for NLCD 2011. These results demonstrated that our continuous cover predictions and models were successful in increasing thematic classification accuracy in Western United States shrublands. We plan to directly use the “cross-walked” product, where available, in the NLCD 2016 product.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171119","usgsCitation":"Rigge, M.B., Gass, Leila, Homer, C.G., and Xian, G.Z., 2017, Methods for converting continuous shrubland ecosystem component values to thematic National Land Cover Database classes: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1119, 10 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171119.","productDescription":"iv, 10 p.","numberOfPages":"18","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-089077","costCenters":[{"id":222,"text":"Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":347404,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1119/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":347405,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1119/ofr20171119.pdf","text":"Report","size":"2.43 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017–1119"}],"contact":"Director, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
U.S. Geological Survey
47914 252nd Street
Sioux Falls, SD 57198
In 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an updated assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in the Spraberry Formation of the Midland Basin (Permian Basin Province) in southwestern Texas (Marra and others, 2017). The Spraberry Formation was assessed using both the standard continuous (unconventional) and conventional methodologies established by the USGS for three assessment units (AUs): (1) Lower Spraberry Continuous Oil Trend AU, (2) Middle Spraberry Continuous Oil Trend AU, and (3) Northern Spraberry Conventional Oil AU. The revised assessment resulted in total estimated mean resources of 4,245 million barrels of oil, 3,112 billion cubic feet of gas, and 311 million barrels of natural gas liquids. The purpose of this report is to provide supplemental documentation of the input parameters used in the USGS 2017 Spraberry Formation assessment.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171117","usgsCitation":"Marra, K.R., 2017, U.S. Geological Survey input-data forms for the assessment of the Spraberry Formation of the Midland Basin, Permian Basin Province, Texas, 2017: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1117, 46 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171117.","productDescription":"iii, 46 p.","numberOfPages":"54","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-089773","costCenters":[{"id":164,"text":"Central Energy Resources Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":347263,"rank":3,"type":{"id":22,"text":"Related Work"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20173029","text":"Fact Sheet 2017–3029:","linkHelpText":"Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources in the Spraberry Formation of the Midland Basin, Permian Basin Province, Texas, 2017"},{"id":347257,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1117/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":347258,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1117/ofr20171117.pdf","text":"Report","size":"372 KB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1117"}],"country":"United States","state":"Texas","otherGeospatial":"Spraberry Formation of the Midland Basin","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -103.75,\n 30.3333\n ],\n [\n -99.25,\n 30.3333\n ],\n [\n -99.25,\n 34\n ],\n [\n -103.75,\n 34\n ],\n [\n -103.75,\n 30.3333\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Central Energy Resources Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
Box 25046, MS-939
Denver, CO 80225-0046
The geologic maps and cross sections presented in this report are redrafted and modified versions of the Geologic map and map of useful minerals of the Dusar area (scale 1:50,000) and Geologic sketch map of the Dusar and Namak-sory ore occurrences (scale 1:10,000), located in the Herat Province, Afghanistan. The original maps and cross sections are contained in unpublished Soviet report no. 0290 (Tarasenko and others, 1973) prepared in cooperation with the Ministry of Mines and Industries of the Royal Government of Afghanistan, in Kabul during 1973 under contract no. 50728. The redrafted maps and cross sections (modified from Tarasenko and others, 1973) illustrate the geological structure and mineral occurrences of the Dusar copper-gold-silver-lead-zinc prospect area of western Afghanistan, located within the Dusar-Shaida copper and tin area of interest (AOI), Herat Province, Afghanistan.
Mineralization in the Dusar area is hosted within Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous stratified volcanic and sedimentary rocks associated with numerous diabase and gabbro-diabase intrusive bodies and is generally near a major northeast-trending system of faults and quartz veins. Host rocks consist of quartz keratophyre and quartz-feldspar porphyry, with layers of schist, phyllite, and quartz-chlorite and chlorite-sericite slate; and limestone and shale, with schist and carbonate-chlorite and chlorite slate. Known mineralization includes an extensive quartz vein system, shown on the map as the “northern occurrence,” as well as the Dusar and Namak-sory gossan zones, interpreted to have formed from remnant pyrite mineralization. The veins of the northern occurrence and their altered host rocks are known to contain anomalous to economic concentrations of precious and base metals, with concentrations locally in excess of 2 parts per million gold, 100 parts per million silver, 5 percent copper, and 1 percent lead. These veins occur in swarms, and are hosted along structures that are approximately concordant with the plane of the metamorphic fabric. The veins consist mostly of quartz, with minor carbonate and sulfide minerals, and display weak alteration halos along their margins. The gossans are locally anomalous in these metals, but their size and extent makes them attractive exploration targets for potential massive sulfide mineralization.
The Dusar gossan zone is a massive, ochreous, and siliceous limonitic rock, approximately 2,200 meters long, 30 to 250 meters wide, and 2.0 to 7.2 meters thick. Drilling below the Dusar gossan intersected a siliceous, sericitic, and limonitic rock underlain by quartz keratophyre with abundant disseminated pyrite. Mineralized sections grade 0.06 weight percent copper and up to 0.05 weight percent zinc. The Namak-sory gossan zone contains a similar deposit with anomalous concentrations of copper, zinc, and gold.
The redrafted maps and cross sections reproduce the topology of rock units, contacts, and faults of the original Soviet maps and cross sections, and include minor modifications based on examination of the originals and observations made during two brief field visits by USGS staff in August, 2010, and June, 2013.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171126","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Afghan Geological Survey under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Defense","usgsCitation":"Tucker, R.D., Stettner, W.R., Masonic, L.M., and Bogdanow, A.K., comps., 2017, Geologic map of the Dusar area, Herat Province, Afghanistan; Modified from the 1973 original map compilations of V.I. Tarasenko and others: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1126, 1 sheet, scales 1:50,000 and 1:10,000, https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171126.","productDescription":"57.56 x 39.83 inches","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-050066","costCenters":[{"id":243,"text":"Eastern Geology and Paleoclimate Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":346482,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1126/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":346483,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1126/ofr20171126.pdf","text":"Report","size":"786 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OF 2017-1126"}],"country":"Afghanistan","otherGeospatial":"Dusar Area, Herat Province","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n 61.1,\n 33.5\n ],\n [\n 61.5,\n 33.5\n ],\n [\n 61.5,\n 34.020794936018724\n ],\n [\n 61.1,\n 34.020794936018724\n ],\n [\n 61.1,\n 33.5\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Office of International Programs
U.S. Geological Survey
917 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
The Southern Great Plains Rapid Ecoregional Assessment was conducted in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative. The overall goal of the Rapid Ecoregional Assessments (REAs) is to compile and synthesize regional datasets to facilitate evaluation of the cumulative effects of change agents on priority ecological communities and species. In particular, the REAs identify and map the distribution of communities and wildlife habitats at broad spatial extents and provide assessments of ecological conditions. The REAs also identify where and to what degree ecological resources are currently at risk from change agents, such as development, fire, invasive species, and climate change. The REAs can help managers identify and prioritize potential areas for conservation or restoration, assess cumulative effects as required by the National Environmental Policy Act, and inform landscape-level planning and management decisions for multiple uses of public lands.
Management questions form the basis for the REA framework and were developed in conjunction with the BLM and other stakeholders. Conservation elements are communities and species that are of regional management concern. Core management questions relate to the key ecological attributes and change agents associated with each conservation element. Integrated management questions synthesize the results of the primary core management questions into overall landscape-level ranks for each conservation element.
The ecological communities evaluated as conservation elements are shortgrass, mixed-grass, and sand prairies; all grasslands; riparian and nonplaya wetlands; playa wetlands and saline lakes; and prairie streams and rivers. Species and species assemblages evaluated are the freshwater mussel assemblage, Arkansas River shiner (Notropis girardi), ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis), lesser prairie chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), snowy plover (Charadrius nivosus), mountain plover (Charadrius montanus), long-billed curlew (Numenius americanus), interior least tern (Sternula antillarum athalassos), burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea), black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus), bat assemblage, swift fox (Vulpes velox), and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus).
The Southern Great Plains REA is summarized in a series of three reports and associated datasets. The pre-assessment report (available online at https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2015/1003/) summarizes the process used by the REA stakeholders to select management questions, conservation elements, and change agents. It also provides background information for each conservation element. Volume I of the Southern Great Plains REA report (this volume) addresses the ecological communities. Volume II will address the species and species assemblages. All source and derived datasets used to produce the maps and graphs for REAs are available online at the BLM Landscape Approach Data Portal (https://landscape.blm.gov/geoportal/catalog/REAs/REAs.page).
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171100","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management and the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative","usgsCitation":"Reese, G.C., Burris, Lucy, Carr, N.B., Leinwand, I.I.F., and Melcher, C.P., 2017, Southern Great Plains Rapid Ecoregional assessment—Volume I. Ecological communities: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1100, 126 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171100.","productDescription":"xiii, 126 p.","numberOfPages":"144","onlineOnly":"N","ipdsId":"IP-080929","costCenters":[{"id":291,"text":"Fort Collins Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":346770,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1100/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":346771,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1100/ofr20171100.pdf","text":"Report","size":"15.4 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1100"}],"country":"United States","state":"Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -106.14990234375,\n 30.939924331023445\n ],\n [\n -96.2841796875,\n 30.939924331023445\n ],\n [\n -96.2841796875,\n 43.08493742707592\n ],\n [\n -106.14990234375,\n 43.08493742707592\n ],\n [\n -106.14990234375,\n 30.939924331023445\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director, Fort Collins Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
2150 Centre Ave., Building C
Fort Collins, CO 80526-8118
Most mortality of endangered Lost River (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose (Chasmistes brevirostris) suckers in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, occurs within the first year of life. Juvenile suckers in Clear Lake Reservoir, California, survive longer and may even recruit to the spawning populations. In a previous (2013–2014) study, the health and condition of juvenile suckers and the dynamics of water quality between Upper Klamath Lake and Clear Lake Reservoir were compared. That study found that apparent signs of stress or exposure to irritants, such as peribiliary cuffing in liver tissue and mild inflammation and necrosis in gill tissues, were present in suckers from both lakes and were unlikely to be clues to the cause of differential mortality between lakes. Seasonal trends in energy storage as glycogen and triglycerides were also similar between lakes, indicating prey limitation was not a likely factor in differential mortality. To better understand the relationship between juvenile sucker health and water quality, we examined suckers collected in 2014–2015 from Upper Klamath Lake, where water quality can be dynamic and, at times, extreme.
While there were notable differences in water quality and fish health between years, we were not able to identify any specific water-quality-related causes for differential fish condition. Water quality was generally better in 2014 than in 2015. When considered together afflictions and abnormalities generally indicated healthier suckers in 2014 than 2015. Low dissolved-oxygen events (< 4 milligrams per liter) were less frequent and occurred earlier; high pH events (≥ 9.5) were less frequent and shorter in duration; large diel fluctuations in pH (≥ 1.4) were less frequent; water temperatures were warmer, particularly in July and September; and concentrations of microcystin in both large and small fractions of samples were lower in 2014 than in 2015. Total and therefore also un-ionized ammonia were low in 2014–2015 relative to concentrations known to affect suckers. Petechial hemorrhages of the skin, attached Lernaea spp. and eosinophilic hyaline droplets in the kidney tubules were less prevalent in 2014 than in 2015; however, hyperplastic and hypertrophic gill tissue and trichodinids on the gills were observed more frequently in 2014. There were more suckers with normal liver color and texture in 2014 than in 2015. The prevalence of suckers with liver inflammation was greater in 2014 and only observed in suckers collected after August 5, whereas liver inflammation occurred intermittently in 2015. Liver glycogen among suckers decreased in late-August 2014 and increased from early August to mid-September 2015. Lost River suckers had greater whole-body triglyceride content but a larger proportion with an absence of visceral fat observed in 2014 than in 2015. In contrast, shortnose suckers were similar between years in regard to both whole-body triglyceride and visceral fat. Black-spot-forming parasites (trematode metacercariae) were observed in a higher prevalence on shortnose suckers but not Lost River suckers in 2014 than in 2015. Opercular deformities were less prevalent in both species in 2014 than in 2015.
Neither gross nor histological examination revealed a high prevalence of abnormalities in suckers that clearly indicate a primary mechanism for juvenile mortality in Upper Klamath Lake. Histological abnormalities were almost always focal and minimal or mild except where associated with parasites. Mild to severe focal abnormalities associated with Lernaea sp. attachment sites and encysted digenean (trematode) metacercariae are unlikely to be associated with mortality. Severe and diffuse inflammation and hyperplasia of the gills associated with Ichthyobodo sp. on one Lost River sucker, may indicate a potential cause of mortality. High mortality may have primarily occurred outside our study period (for example, in spring or over winter), or was caused by a factor that could not be detected with our methods (for example, predation). Alternatively, abnormalities in a small percentage of passively captured suckers in Upper Klamath Lake may indicate health-related issues that were more prevalent in populations than in our samples. Temporary decreases in liver glycogen stores may also indicate periods of stress, which may eventually lead to mortality of young suckers.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171134","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation","usgsCitation":"Burdick, S.M., Conway, C.M., Elliott, D.G., Hoy, M.S., Dolan-Caret, Amari, and Ostberg, C.O., 2017, Health and condition of endangered young-of-the-year Lost River and shortnose suckers relative to water quality in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2014–2015: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017-1134, 40 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171134.","productDescription":"vi, 41 p.","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-089897","costCenters":[{"id":654,"text":"Western Fisheries Research Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":347019,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1134/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":347020,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1134/ofr20171134.pdf","text":"Report","size":"2.2 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U.S. Geological Survey
6505 NE 65th Street
Seattle, Washington 98115
Vertical one-dimensional shear wave velocity (VS) profiles are presented for strong-motion sites in Arizona for a suite of stations surrounding the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. The purpose of the study is to determine the detailed site velocity profile, the average velocity in the upper 30 meters of the profile (VS30), the average velocity for the entire profile (VSZ), and the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) site classification. The VS profiles are estimated using a non-invasive continuous-sine-wave method for gathering the dispersion characteristics of surface waves. Shear wave velocity profiles were inverted from the averaged dispersion curves using three independent methods for comparison, and the root-mean-square combined coefficient of variation (COV) of the dispersion and inversion calculations are estimated for each site.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20161208","usgsCitation":"Kayen, R.E., Carkin, B.A., and Corbett, S.C., 2017, Seismic velocity site characterization of 10 Arizona strong-motion recording stations by spectral analysis of surface wave dispersion: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2016–1208, 32 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20161208.","productDescription":"32 p.","numberOfPages":"32","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-060760","costCenters":[{"id":520,"text":"Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":347018,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2016/1208/ofr20161208.pdf","text":"Report","size":"4.5 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2016-1208"},{"id":347017,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2016/1208/coverthb_.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"Arizona","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -114,\n 32.3\n ],\n [\n -111.5,\n 32.3\n ],\n [\n -111.5,\n 34.33\n ],\n [\n -114,\n 34.33\n ],\n [\n -114,\n 32.3\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director,
Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
Pacific Science Center
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During 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment Project (NAWQA), in collaboration with the USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Rivers and Streams Assessment (NRSA), and the EPA Office of Pesticide Programs assessed stream quality across the Midwestern United States. This Midwest Stream Quality Assessment (MSQA) simultaneously characterized watershed and stream-reach water-quality stressors along with instream biological conditions, to better understand regional stressor-effects relations. The MSQA design focused on effects from the widespread agriculture in the region and urban development because of their importance as ecological stressors of particular concern to Midwest region resource managers.
A combined random stratified selection and a targeted selection based on land-use data were used to identify and select sites representing gradients in agricultural intensity across the region. During a 14-week period from May through August 2013, 100 sites were selected and sampled 12 times for contaminants, nutrients, and sediment. This 14-week water-quality “index” period culminated with an ecological survey of habitat, periphyton, benthic macroinvertebrates, and fish at all sites. Sediment was collected during the ecological survey for analysis of sediment chemistry and toxicity testing. Of the 100 sites, 50 were selected for the MSQA random stratified group from 154 NRSA sites planned for the region, and the other 50 MSQA sites were selected as targeted sites to more evenly cover agricultural and urban stressor gradients in the study area. Of the 50 targeted sites, 12 were in urbanized watersheds and 21 represented “good” biological conditions or “least disturbed” conditions. The remaining 17 targeted sites were selected to improve coverage of the agricultural intensity gradient or because of historical data collection to provide temporal context for the study.
This report provides a detailed description of the MSQA study components, including surveys of ecological conditions, routine water sampling, deployment of passive polar organic compound integrative samplers, and stream sediment sampling at all sites. Component studies that were completed to provide finer scale temporal data or more extensive analysis at selected sites, included continuous water-quality monitoring, daily pesticide sampling, laboratory and in-stream water toxicity testing efforts, and deployment of passive suspended-sediment samplers.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171073","collaboration":"National Water-Quality Program Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency","usgsCitation":"Garrett, J.D., Frey, J.W., Van Metre, P.C., Journey, C.A., Nakagaki, Naomi, Button, D.T., and Howell, L.H., 2017, Design and methods of the Midwest Stream Quality Assessment (MSQA), 2013: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1073, 59 p., 4 app., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171073.","productDescription":"Report: x, 57 p.; 4 Appendixes","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-075316","costCenters":[{"id":451,"text":"National Water Quality Assessment Program","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":346657,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1073/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":346658,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1073/ofr20171073.pdf","text":"Report","size":"19.5 MB","description":"OFR 2017-1073"},{"id":346660,"rank":4,"type":{"id":3,"text":"Appendix"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1073/ofr20171073_appendix2_LabSchedules.xlsx","text":"Appendix 2","size":"80.6 KB","linkFileType":{"id":3,"text":"xlsx"},"description":"Appendix 2","linkHelpText":"- Description of the Laboratory Analyses Used for Water, Periphyton, Sediment, Fish Tissue, and Passive Integrated Samples"},{"id":346659,"rank":3,"type":{"id":3,"text":"Appendix"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1073/ofr20171073_appendix1_SiteDetails.xlsx","text":"Appendix 1","size":"149 KB","linkFileType":{"id":3,"text":"xlsx"},"description":"Appendix 1","linkHelpText":"- Additional Site, Reach, and Watershed Characteristics of Selected Sites Assessed as Part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Midwest Stream Quality Assessment (MSQA) in 2013"},{"id":346661,"rank":5,"type":{"id":3,"text":"Appendix"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1073/ofr20171073_appendix3_SampleCounts.xlsx","text":"Appendix 3","size":"50.5 KB","linkFileType":{"id":3,"text":"xlsx"},"description":"Appendix 3","linkHelpText":"- Description of Quality Control Samples"},{"id":346662,"rank":6,"type":{"id":3,"text":"Appendix"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1073/ofr20171073_appendix4_Workplan.xlsx","text":"Appendix 4","size":"27.5 KB","linkFileType":{"id":3,"text":"xlsx"},"description":"Appendix 4","linkHelpText":"- Description of the Sampling Timelines, Matrix, Collection, and Processing for Water, Sediment, and Ecological Samples"}],"country":"United States","state":"Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, 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U.S. Geological Survey
413 National Center
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, VA 20192
The In-Situ Aqua TROLL 400 (Aqua TROLL 400) was tested at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF) against known standards over the Aqua TROLL 400’s operating temperature to verify the manufacturer’s stated accuracy specifications and the USGS recommendations for pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), and specific conductance (SC). The Aqua TROLL 400 manufacturer’s specifications are within the USGS recommendations for all parameters tested, except for DO, which is outside the USGS recommendation at DO concentrations of 8.0 milligrams per liter (mg/L) and higher. The Aqua TROLL 400 was compliant with Serial Digital Interface at 1200 baud (SDI-12) version 1.3. During laboratory testing of pH, the Aqua TROLL 400 sonde met the U.S. Geological Survey “National Field Manual for the Collection of Water-Quality Data” (NFM) recommendations for pH at all values tested, except at 4 degrees Celsius (°C) at pH 9.395 and pH 3.998. The Aqua TROLL 400 met the manufacturer specifications for pH at all values tested, except for pH buffers 3.998, 9.395, and 10.245 at 4 °C; pH 2.990 and 3.998 at 15 °C; and pH 3.040 at 40 °C. The Aqua TROLL 400 met the NFM recommendations at 93.7 percent of the SC values tested and met the manufacturer’s accuracy specifications at 56.3 percent of the SC values tested. During the laboratory testing for DO, the Aqua TROLL 400 met the manufacturer specifications, except at 5.55 mg/L, and met the NFM recommendations at all concentrations tested. An Aqua TROLL 400 was field tested at USGS Station 02492620, National Space Technology Laboratories (NSTL) Station, Mississippi, on the Pearl River for 6 weeks and showed good agreement with the well-maintained site sonde data for pH, DO, temperature, and SC.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171086","usgsCitation":"Tillman, E.F., 2017, HIF evaluation of In-Situ Aqua TROLL 400: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report, 2017–1086, 35 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171086.","productDescription":"vi, 35 p.","numberOfPages":"41","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-076079","costCenters":[{"id":502,"text":"Office of Surface Water","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":346630,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1086/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":346631,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1086/ofr20171086.pdf","text":"Report","size":"856 KB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1086"}],"contact":"Chief, Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility
U.S. Geological Survey
Building 2101
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529
To better assess the reservoir conditions influencing the induced seismicity hazard near a carbon dioxide sequestration demonstration site in Decatur, Ill., core samples from three deep drill holes were tested to determine a suite of physical properties including bulk density, porosity, permeability, Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and failure strength. Representative samples of the shale cap rock, the sandstone reservoir, and the Precambrian basement were selected for comparison. Physical properties were strongly dependent on lithology. Bulk density was inversely related to porosity, with the cap rock and basement samples being both least porous (<3 percent) and densest (~2.6 grams per cubic centimeter [g/cc]). Permeability was highest in the reservoir sandstones (10-15 to 10-18 meters squared [m2]) relative to the cap rock and basement rocks (<10-21 m2). Young’s modulus was distinctly higher in the basement rocks (45 to 80 gigapascal [GPa]) compared to the cap rock and sandstones (19 to 57 GPa). Poisson’s ratio for the sandstones varied widely (0.14 to 0.27), but the highest values were similar to the cap rock and basement rocks (0.24 to 0.28). These physical properties reflect the layered structure of the reservoir and adjacent rocks at the Decatur site. However, within the sandstone there is a great deal of lithologic variety, accounting for the large range in physical parameters for this geologic unit.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171094","usgsCitation":"Morrow, C.A., Kaven, J.O., Moore, D.E., and Lockner, D.A., 2017, Physical properties of sidewall cores from Decatur, Illinois: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1094, 21 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171094.","productDescription":"v, 21 p.","numberOfPages":"27","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-085446","costCenters":[{"id":234,"text":"Earthquake Hazards Program","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":237,"text":"Earthquake Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":300,"text":"Geologic Hazards Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":346914,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1094/ofr2017_1094.pdf","text":"Report","size":"1.1 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1094"},{"id":346913,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1094/coverthb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"Illinois","city":"Decatur","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -88.91,\n 39.87\n ],\n [\n -88.870,\n 39.87\n ],\n [\n -88.870,\n 39.9\n ],\n [\n -88.91,\n 39.9\n ],\n [\n -88.91,\n 39.87\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"USGS Earthquake Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
345 Middlefield Road
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Menlo Park, CA 94025