Improving predictive power of physically based rainfall-induced shallow landslide models: a probablistic approach
S. Raia, M. Alvioli, M. Rossi, R.L. Baum, J. W. Godt, F. Guzzetti
2013, Geoscientific Model Development and Discussions (6) 1367-1426
Distributed models to forecast the spatial and temporal occurrence of rainfall-induced shallow landslides are deterministic. These models extend spatially the static stability models adopted in geotechnical engineering and adopt an infinite-slope geometry to balance the resisting and the driving forces acting on the sliding mass. An infiltration model is used...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Wisconsin
William J. Carswell Jr.
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3032
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Wisconsin, elevation data are critical for agriculture and precision farming, natural resources conservation, flood risk management, infrastructure and construction management, water supply...
Hydrogeology of the West Branch Delaware River basin, Delaware County, New York
Richard J. Reynolds
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5025
In 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, began a study of the hydrogeology of the West Branch Delaware River (Cannonsville Reservoir) watershed. There has been recent interest by energy companies in developing the natural gas reserves that are trapped within...
In situ quantification of Br and Cl in minerals and fluid inclusions by LA-ICP-MS: a powerful tool to identify fluid sources
Johannes Hammerli, Brian Rusk, Carl Spandler, Poul Emsbo, Nicholas H.S. Oliver
2013, Chemical Geology (337-338) 75-87
Bromine and chlorine are important halogens for fluid source identification in the Earth's crust, but until recently we lacked routine analytical techniques to determine the concentration of these elements in situ on a micrometer scale in minerals and fluid inclusions. In this study, we evaluate the potential of in situ...
Resilience thinking and a decision-analytic approach to conservation: strange bedfellows or essential partners?
Fred A. Johnson, Byron K. Williams, James D. Nichols
2013, Ecology and Society (18)
There has been some tendency to view decision science and resilience theory as opposing approaches, or at least as contending perspectives, for natural resource management. Resilience proponents have been especially critical of optimization in decision science, at least for those cases where it is focused on the aggressive pursuit of...
Field survey and damage assessment of the Mineral, Virginia, earthquake of August 23, 2011
Helen R. Thomas, Katharine Turkle
2013, Open-File Report 2012-1198
The town of Mineral, Virginia (Va.), underwent an M=5.8 earthquake on August 23, 2011. A U.S. Geological Survey team was sent to visually inspect and document the damage in the cities of Richmond, Charlottesville, Louisa, and Mineral, Va. Our inspection concluded that the Modified Mercalli Intensity rating of moderate (V)...
Ecology of potential West Nile virus vectors in southeastern Louisiana: enzootic transmission in the relative absence of Culex quinquefasciatus
Marvin S. Godsey Jr., Raymond J. King, Kristen Burkhalter, Mark Delorey, Leah Colton, Dawn Charnetzky, Genevieve Sutherland, Vanessa O. Ezenwa, Lawrence A. Wilson, Michelle Coffey, Lesley E. Milheim, Viki G. Taylor, Charles Palmisano, Dawn M. Wesson, Stephen C. Guptill
2013, American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (88) 986-996
A study of West Nile virus (WNV) ecology was conducted in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, from 2002 to 2004. Mosquitoes were collected weekly throughout the year using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) light traps placed at 1.5 and 6 m above the ground and gravid traps. A total...
Monitoring and understanding changes in heat waves, cold waves, floods, and droughts in the United States: State of knowledge
Thomas C. Peterson, Richard R. Heim Jr., Robert M. Hirsch, Dale P. Kaiser, Harold Brooks, Noah S. Diffenbaugh, Randall M. Dole, Jason P. Giovannettone, Kristen Guirguis, Thomas R. Karl, Richard W. Katz, Kenneth E. Kunkel, Dennis P. Lettenmaier, Gregory J. McCabe, Christopher J. Paciorek, Karen R. Ryberg, BS Silva K Wolter, Siegfried Schubert, Viviane B. S. Silva, Brooke C. Stewart, Aldo V. Vecchia, Gabriele Villarini, Russell S. Vose, John Walsh, Michael Wehner, David Wolock, Klaus Wolter, Connie A. Woodhouse, Donald Wuebbles
2013, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (June 2013) 821-834
Weather and climate extremes have been varying and changing on many different time scales. In recent decades, heat waves have generally become more frequent across the United States, while cold waves have been decreasing. While this is in keeping with expectations in a warming climate, it turns out that decadal...
New perspectives on the geometry of the Albuquerque Basin, Rio Grande rift, New Mexico: Insights from geophysical models of rift-fill thickness
V. J. Grauch, Sean D. Connell
2013, Special Paper of the Geological Society of America (494) 427-462
Discrepancies among previous models of the geometry of the Albuquerque Basin motivated us to develop a new model using a comprehensive approach. Capitalizing on a natural separation between the densities of mainly Neogene basin fill (Santa Fe Group) and those of older rocks, we developed a three-dimensional (3D) geophysical model...
The storage time, age, and erosion hazard of laterally accreted sediment on the floodplain of a simulated meandering river
D. Nathan Bradley, Gregory E. Tucker
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (118) 1308-1319
A sediment particle traversing the fluvial system may spend the majority of the total transit time at rest, stored in various sedimentary deposits. Floodplains are among the most important of these deposits, with the potential to store large amounts of sediment for long periods of time. The virtual velocity of...
Identical metabolic rate and thermal conductance in Rock Sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis) subspecies with contrasting nonbreeding life histories
Daniel R. Ruthrauff, Anne Dekinga, Robert E. Gill Jr., Theunis Piersma
2013, The Auk (130) 60-68
Closely related species or subspecies can exhibit metabolic differences that reflect site-specific environmental conditions. Whether such differences represent fixed traits or flexible adjustments to local conditions, however, is difficult to predict across taxa. The nominate race of Rock Sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis) exhibits the most northerly nonbreeding distribution of any shorebird...
Human and biophysical influences on fire occurrence in the United States
Todd Hawbaker, Volker C. Radeloff, Susan I. Stewart, Roger B. Hammer, Nicholas S. Keuler, Murray K. Clayton
2013, Ecological Applications (23) 565-582
National-scale analyses of fire occurrence are needed to prioritize fire policy and management activities across the United States. However, the drivers of national-scale patterns of fire occurrence are not well understood, and how the relative importance of human or biophysical factors varies across the country is unclear. Our research goal...
Groundwater well inventory and assessment in the area of the proposed Normally Pressured Lance natural gas development project, Green River Basin, Wyoming, 2012
Michael J. Sweat
2013, Data Series 770
During May through September 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, inventoried and assessed existing water wells in southwestern Wyoming for inclusion in a possible groundwater-monitor network. Records were located for 3,282 wells in the upper Green River Basin, which includes the U.S. Geological...
History and evaluation of national-scale geochemical data sets for the United States
David B. Smith, Steven M. Smith, John D. Horton
2013, Geoscience Frontiers (4) 167-183
Six national-scale, or near national-scale, geochemical data sets for soils or stream sediments exist for the United States. The earliest of these, here termed the ‘Shacklette’ data set, was generated by a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) project conducted from 1961 to 1975. This project used soil collected from a depth...
Properties of basin-fill deposits, a 1971–2000 water budget, and surface-water-groundwater interactions in the upper Humboldt River basin, northeastern Nevada
Russell W. Plume, J. LaRue Smith
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5077
This study was done in cooperation with Elko County, Nevada in response to concerns over growing demand for water within the county and increasing external demands that are occurring statewide. The upper Humboldt River basin encompasses 4,360 square miles in northeastern Nevada and includes the headwaters area of the Humboldt...
Controls of biological soil crust cover and composition shift with succession in sagebrush shrub-steppe
E. Dettweiler-Robinson, J.D. Bakker, J.B. Grace
2013, Journal of Arid Environments (94) 96-104
Successional stage may determine strength and causal direction of interactions among abiotic and biotic factors; e.g., species that facilitate the establishment of other species may later compete with them. We evaluated multivariate hypotheses about abiotic and biotic factors shaping biological soil crusts (BSCs) in early and late successional stages. We...
Do hummocks provide a physiological advantage to even the most flood tolerant of tidal freshwater trees?
Jamie A. Duberstein, Ken W. Krauss, William H. Conner, William C. Bridges Jr., Victor B. Shelburne
2013, Wetlands (33) 399-408
Hummock and hollow microtopography is pervasive in tidal freshwater swamps. Many tree species grow atop hummocks significantly more than in hollows, leading to the hypothesis that hummocks provide preferred locations for maximizing physiological proficiency of inhabiting trees that experience repeated flooding. We used thermal dissipation probes to measure the ecophysiological...
Development of a numerical model to simulate groundwater flow in the shallow aquifer system of Assateague Island, Maryland and Virginia
John P. Masterson, Michael N. Fienen, Dean B. Gesch, Carl S. Carlson
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1111
A three-dimensional groundwater-flow model was developed for Assateague Island in eastern Maryland and Virginia to simulate both groundwater flow and solute (salt) transport to evaluate the groundwater system response to sea-level rise. The model was constructed using geologic and spatial information to represent the island geometry, boundaries, and physical properties...
Phytotoxicity of zinc and manganese to seedlings grown in soil contaminated by zinc smelting
W. N. Beyer, C.E. Green, M. Beyer, R. L. Chaney
2013, Environmental Pollution (179) 167-176
Historic emissions from two zinc smelters have injured the forest on Blue Mountain near Palmerton, Pennsylvania, USA. Seedlings of soybeans and five tree species were grown in a greenhouse in a series of mixtures of smelter-contaminated and reference soils and then phytotoxic thresholds were calculated. As little as 10% Palmerton...
Conservation of avian diversity in the Sierra Nevada: moving beyond a single-species management focus
Angela M. White, Elise F. Zipkin, Patricia N. Manley, Matthew D. Schlesinger
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
Background: As a result of past practices, many of the dry coniferous forests of the western United States contain dense, even-aged stands with uncharacteristically high levels of litter and downed woody debris. These changes to the forest have received considerable attention as they elevate concerns regarding the outcome of...
Flagging versus dragging as sampling methods for nymphal Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae)
Eric L. Rulison, Isis Kuczaj, Genevieve Pang, Graham J. Hickling, Jean I. Tsao, Howard S. Ginsberg
2013, Journal of Vector Ecology (38) 163-167
The nymphal stage of the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae), is responsible for most transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi, the etiologic agent of Lyme disease, to humans in North America. From 2010 to fall of 2012, we compared two commonly used techniques, flagging and dragging, as sampling methods for nymphal...
Understanding how social networking influences perceived satisfaction with conference experiences
Carena J. van Riper, Charles van Riper III, Gerard T. Kyle, Martha E. Lee
2013, Annals of Leisure Research (16) 103-114
Social networking is a key benefit derived from participation in conferences that bind the ties of a professional community. Building social networks can lead to satisfactory experiences while furthering participants' long- and short-term career goals. Although investigations of social networking can lend insight into how to effectively engage individuals and...
Summary of science, activities, programs, and policies that influence the rangewide conservation of Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus)
D.J. Manier, David J.A. Wood, Z.H. Bowen, R.M. Donovan, M.J. Holloran, L.M. Juliusson, K.S. Mayne, S.J. Oyler-McCance, F.R. Quamen, D.J. Saher, A.J. Titolo
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1098
The Greater Sage-Grouse, has been observed, hunted, and counted for decades. The sagebrush biome, home to the Greater Sage-Grouse, includes sagebrush-steppe and Great Basin sagebrush communities, interspersed with grasslands, salt flats, badlands, mountain ranges, springs, intermittent creeks and washes, and major river systems, and is one of the most widespread...
Mercury in wetlands at the Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge, northwestern Minnesota, 2007-9
Timothy K. Cowdery, Mark E. Brigham
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5068
The Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge was established in 2004 on land in northwestern Minnesota that had previously undergone extensive wetland and prairie restorations. About 7,000 acres of drained wetlands were restored to their original hydrologic function and aquatic ecosystem. During 2007–9, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the...
Landscape consequences of natural gas extraction in Fayette and Lycoming Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004–2010
E.T. Slonecker, L.E. Milheim, C.M. Roig-Silva, A.R. Malizia, B.H. Gillenwater
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1119
Increased demands for cleaner burning energy, coupled with the relatively recent technological advances in accessing unconventional hydrocarbon-rich geologic formations, have led to an intense effort to find and extract natural gas from various underground sources around the country. One of these sources, the Marcellus Shale, located in the Allegheny Plateau,...
