Geophysical constraints on continental rejuvenation in central China: Implications for outward growth of the Tibetan Plateau
Yi-Peng Zhang, Pei-Zhen Zhang, Richard O. Lease, Min-Juan Li, Renjie Zhou, Bin-Bin Xu, Si-Yuan Chen, Xu-Zhang Shen, Wen-Jun Zheng, Xiao-Hui He, Wei-Tao Wang, Yue-Jun Wang
2024, GSA Bulletin (136) 3690-3704
Continental rejuvenation results from the tectonic reactivation of crustal structures and lithospheric reworking by mantle flow. Geochemical observations and field mapping have traditionally provided the primary evidence for the secular evolution of crustal composition and tectonic processes during continental rejuvenation. Nonetheless, the...
Upper limits for post-wildfire floods and distinction from debris flows
Brian A. Ebel
2024, Science (10)
Upper magnitude limits and scaling with basin size for post-wildfire floods are unknown. An envelope curve was estimated defining post-wildfire flood upper limits as a function of basin area. We show the importance of separating peak flows by floods versus debris flows. Post-wildfire flood maxima are a constant 43 m3 s−1 km−2 for...
Tracking cycles of Phanerozoic opening and closing of ocean basins using detrital rutile and zircon geochronology and geochemistry
Margaret L. Odlum, Tomas N. Capaldi, Kelly David Thomson, Daniel F. Stockli
2024, Geology (52) 357-361
Sedimentary basins provide a deep time archive of tectonic and Earth-surface processes that can be leveraged by detrital mineral U-Pb dating and geochemistry to track paleogeography, magmatism, and crustal evolution. Zircon preserves the long-term (billions of years) record of supercontinent cycles; however, it...
Sex-specific recruitment rates contribute to male-biased sex ratio in Adélie penguins
Virginia Morandini, Katie Dugger, Annie Schmidt, Arvind Varsani, Amelie Lescroel, Grant Ballard, Phil O'B. Lyver, Kerry Barton, David Ainley
2024, Ecology and Evolution (14)
Sex-related differences in vital rates that drive population change reflect the basic life history of a species. However, for visually monomorphic bird species, determining the effect of sex on demographics can be a challenge. In this study, we investigated the effect of sex on apparent survival, recruitment, and breeding propensity...
The 3D Elevation Program—Supporting Florida's economy
Xan Fredericks, Chris Cretini
2024, Fact Sheet 2023-3037
IntroductionFlorida has the longest coastline of any State in the contiguous United States, and its coastal resources are one of the main drivers of its economic growth. High-quality elevation data are beneficial for use in emergency management, especially for hurricane response, recovery, and mitigation, as well as for coastal zone...
Conceptual risk framework—Havasupai perspective
Carletta Tilousi, Jo Ellen Hinck
2024, General Information Product 240
The conceptual risk framework, previously developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, for uranium mining was updated to include indigenous knowledge components informed by the Havasupai Tribe perspective. This General Information Product was designed to show the contaminant risk framework from the Havasupai perspective....
Contaminant exposure framework—Havasupai perspective
Carletta Tilousi, Jo Ellen Hinck
2024, General Information Product 239
The conceptual risk framework, previously developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, for uranium mining was updated to include indigenous knowledge components informed by the Havasupai Tribe perspective. This General Information Product was designed to show the contaminant exposure framework from the Havasupai perspective....
Are threatened seabird colonies of the Pacific Ocean genetically vulnerable? The case of the red-tailed tropicbird, Phaethon rubricauda, as a model species
Andrea I. Varela, Katherina Brokordt, Juliana A. Vianna, Maria Jose Frugone, Stefanie M.H. Ismar-Rebitz, Chris P. Gaskin, Nicholas Carlile, Terence O’Dwyer, Josh Adams, Eric A. Vanderwerf, Guillermo Luna-Jorquera
2024, Biodiversity and Conservation (33) 1165-1184
Oceanic seabirds have suffered population declines and extirpations due to human disturbance and still face multiple threats. Here, we assessed the potential genetic vulnerability of the red-tailed tropicbird, Phaethon rubricauda, a seabird species threatened by human disturbance and listed as ‘least concern’ by the IUCN. Using Single...
Paleoproterozoic reworking of Archean crust and extreme back-arc metamorphism in the enigmatic southern Trans-Hudson orogen
Ian William Hillenbrand, Amy K. Gilmer, Michael L. Williams, Amanda Souders, Michael J. Jercinovic, Heather A. Lowers, Jorge A. Vazquez
2024, Geophysical Research Letters (51)
The crustal evolution of the southernmost ∼2000–1800 Ma Trans-Hudson orogen (THO) is enigmatic due to burial by Phanerozoic sediments. We provide new insights through petrochronologic analysis of a paragneiss drill core sample. Detrital zircon age peaks at 2625, 2340, and 1880 Ma and Hf isotopes suggest Paleoproterozoic arc development...
Monitoring polar ice change in the twilight zone
Theodore A. Scambos, Christopher Shuman, Mark Fahnestock, Tasha Snow, Christopher J. Crawford
2024, Eos, American Geophysical Union
Landsat’s new extended data collection program is mapping Arctic and Antarctic regions year-round, even in polar twilight....
Defining the hafnium isotopic signature of the Appalachian orogen through analysis of detrital zircons from modern fluvial sediments
John W. Counts, William H. Craddock, Jared T. Gooley
2024, Journal of Geology (131) 199-219
Fluvial sediments are the product of erosion, weathering, and transport of bedrock within a well-defined catchment area, and their constituent grains may therefore record valuable information about the lithological and geochemical properties of geologic units within the upstream drainage. Analysis of U-Pb ages and Lu/Hf isotopic values in detrital zircon...
Exposure to and biomarker responses from legacy and emerging contaminants along three drainages in the Milwaukee Estuary, Wisconsin, USA
Christine M. Custer, Thomas W. Custer, Paul M. Dummer, Sandra L. Schultz, Natalie Karouna-Renier, Chi Yen Tseng, Cole W. Matson
2024, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (43) 856-877
Legacy contaminants and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) were assessed in tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) tissue and diet samples from three drainages in the Milwaukee estuary, Wisconsin, USA, to understand exposures and possible biomarker responses. Two remote Wisconsin lakes were assessed for comparative purposes....
Novel approach for ranking DEMs: Copernicus DEM improves one arc second open global topography
Conrad Bielski, Carlos Lopez-Vazquez, Carlos H. Grohmann, Peter L. Guth, Laurence Hawker, Dean B. Gesch, Sebastiano Trevisani, Virginia Herrera-Cruz, Serge Riazanoff, Axel Corseaux, Hannes I. Reuter, Peter Strobl
2024, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (62)
We present a practical approach to intercompare a range of candidate digital elevation models (DEMs) based on predefined criteria and a statistically sound ranking approach. The presented approach integrates the randomized complete block design (RCBD) into a novel framework for DEM comparison. The method presented provides a flexible, statistically sound,...
Climate and landform interact to control the source and transport of nitrate in Pacific Northwest rivers
Elizabeth J. Elmstrom, Gordon W. Holtgrieve, Mark David Scheuerell, Andrew J. Schauer, Karrin Leazer
2024, Communications Earth and Environment (5)
The hydrological effects of climate change are documented in many regions; however, climate-driven impacts to the source and transport of river nutrients remain poorly understood. Understanding the factors controlling nutrient dynamics across river systems is critical to preserve ecosystem function yet challenging given the complexity of landscape and climate interactions....
GRACE and GRACE Follow-On gravity observations of intermediate-depth earthquakes contrasted with those of shallow events
Shin-Chan Han, Jeanne Sauber, Taco Broerse, Frederick Pollitz, Emile Okal, Taehwan Jeon, Ki-Weon Seo, Richard Stanaway
2024, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (129)
Earthquakes involve mass redistribution within the solid Earth and the ocean, and as a result, perturb the Earth's gravitational field. For most of the shallow (<60 km) earthquakes with Mw > 8.0, the GRACE satellite gravity measurements suggest considerable volumetric disturbance of rocks. At a spatial scale of hundreds of km, the effect of...
PFAS river export analysis highlights the urgent need for catchment-scale mass loading data
Patrick Byrne, William M. Mayes, Alun L. James, Sean Comber, Emma Biles, Alex Riley, Robert L. Runkel
2024, Environmental Science & Technology Letters (11) 266-272
Source apportionment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) requires an understanding of the mass loading of these compounds in river basins. However, there is a lack of temporally variable and catchment-scale mass loading data, meaning identification and prioritization of sources of PFAS to rivers for management...
How quickly do oil and gas wells “Water Out”? Quantifying and contrasting water production trends
Seth S. Haines, Brian A. Varela, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Nicholas J. Gianoutsos
2024, Natural Resources Research (33) 591-608
Water production from petroleum (oil and natural gas) wells is a topic of increasing environmental and economic importance, yet quantification efforts have been limited to date, and patterns between and within petroleum plays are largely unscrutinized. Additionally, classification of reservoirs as “unconventional” (also known as “continuous”)...
Adaptive resource management: Achieving functional eradication of invasive snakes to benefit avian conservation
Melia Gail Nafus, Amanda Reyes, Thomas Fies, Scott Michael Goetz
2024, Journal of Applied Ecology (61) 733-745
Natural resource management often co-occurs with considerable uncertainty. One approach to mitigating uncertainty is through adaptive resource management (ARM), a specialized form of structured decision-making that modifies management decisions or actions through monitoring and implementation.Here, we present a case study on the attempted...
Revisiting the physical processes controlling the tropical atmospheric circulation changes during the Mid-Piacenzian Warm Period
Ke Zhang, Yong Sun, Xuan Zhang, Christian Stepanek, Ran Feng, Daniel Hill, Gerrit Lohmann, Aisling M Dolan, Alan M Haywood, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Bette Otto-Bliesner, Camille Contoux, Deepak Chandan, Gilles Ramstein, Harry J. Dowsett, Julia C. Tindall, Michiel Baatsen, Ning Tan, William Richard Peltier, Qiang Liu, Wing-Le Chan, Xin Wang, Xu Zhang
2024, Quaternary International (682) 46-59
The Mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (MPWP; 3.0–3.3 Ma), a warm geological period about three million years ago, has been deemed as a good past analog for understanding the current and future climate change. Based on 12 climate model outputs from Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project Phase 2 (PlioMIP2), we investigate tropical atmospheric...
Precipitation uncertainty estimation and rainfall-runoff model calibration using iterative ensemble smoothers
Davide Zoccatelli, Daniel B. Wright, Jeremy T. White, Michael N. Fienen, Guo Yu
2024, Advances in Water Resources (186)
The introduction of iterative ensemble smoothers (IES) for parameter calibration opens avenues for expanding parameter space in surface water hydrologic modeling. Here, we have introduced independent parameters into a model calibration experiment to estimate errors in rainfall forcing data. This...
Declining pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) population productivity caused by woody encroachment and oil and gas development
Victoria M. Donovan, Jeffrey L. Beck, Carissa L. Wonkka, Caleb Powell Roberts, Craig R. Allen, Dirac Twidwell
2024, Global Change and Ecology (50)
Conservation is increasingly focused on preventing losses in species’ populations before they occur. Tracking changes in demographic parameters that can impact a population’s resilience in response to drivers of global change can support early conservation efforts. We assessed trends in population productivity...
Assessing trade-offs in developing a landscape-scale nest monitoring programme for a threatened shorebird
Kristen S. Ellis, Michael J. Anteau, Garrett J. MacDonald, Megan M. Ring, Mark H. Sherfy, Rose J. Swift, Dustin L. Toy
2024, Ecological Solutions and Evidence (5)
Effective monitoring of wildlife species requires thorough planning and development of survey programmes that can address management and conservation objectives. Decisions about monitoring programmes include where to survey, survey design and how much effort to allocate at survey sites are typically predicated on limited budgets and available resources. When...
Comparison of longitudinal stream temperature profiles and significant thermal features from airborne thermal infrared and float surveys of the Skykomish, Snoqualmie, and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers, King and Snohomish Counties, Washington, summer 2020 and 2021
Daniel E. Restivo, Mousa Diabat, Chris Miwa, Valerie A.L. Bright
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5146
Summer water temperatures in the Skykomish, Snoqualmie, and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers in western Washington have in recent decades exceeded the water temperature criteria for aquatic life uses set by the Washington Department of Ecology. This temperature increase is of particular concern because these rivers provide critical habitat for several...
Nitrate exposure from drinking water and dietary sources among Iowa farmers using private wells
T. Skalaban, D.A. Thompson, J. Madrigal, B. Blount, M.M. Espinosa, Dana W. Kolpin, N.C. Deziel, R.R. Jones, L.B. Freeman, J.N. Hofmann, M.H. Ward
2024, Science of the Total Envionrment (919)
Nitrate levels are increasing in water resources across the United States and nitrate ingestion from drinking water has been associated with adverse health risks in epidemiologic studies at levels below the maximum contaminant level (MCL). In contrast, dietary nitrate ingestion has generally been associated with beneficial health effects. Few studies...
Fish conservation in streams of the agrarian Mississippi Alluvial Valley: Conceptual model, management actions, and field verification
K.J. Killgore, J.J. Hoover, Leandro E. Miranda, W.T. Slack, David R. Johnson, Neil H. Douglas
2024, Frontiers in Freshwater Science (2)
The effects of agriculture and flood control practices accrued over more than a century have impaired aquatic habitats and their fish communities in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, the historic floodplain of the Lower Mississippi River prior to leveeing. As a first step to conservation planning and adaptive management, we...
