Alkalic-type epithermal gold deposit model
Karen D. Kelley, Paul G. Spry, Virginia T. McLemore, David L. Fey, Eric D. Anderson
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5070-R
This report summarizes the primary characteristics of alkalic-type epithermal gold (Au) deposits and provides an updated descriptive model. These deposits, primarily of Mesozoic to Neogene age, are among the largest epithermal gold deposits in the world. Considered a subset of low-sulfidation epithermal deposits, they are spatially and genetically linked to...
History of U.S. Geological Survey scientific peer review and approval, 1879–2019
Keith Kirk, Carolyn Reid, Sandra Cooper
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3050
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a bureau within the U.S. Department of the Interior, has valued and used a scientific peer review and approval process since its creation in 1879. Bureau approval, formerly called Director’s approval, has been described in several USGS documents since 1900, and peer review has been...
Spatial variability in seasonal snowpack trends across the Rio Grande headwaters (1984 - 2017)
Graham A. Sexstone, Colin A. Penn, Glen Liston, Kelly Gleason, C. David Moeser, David W. Clow
2020, Journal of Hydrometeorology (21) 2713-2733
This study evaluated the spatial variability of trends in simulated snowpack properties across the Rio Grande headwaters of Colorado using the SnowModel snow evolution modeling system. SnowModel simulations were performed using a grid resolution of 100 m and 3-hourly time step over a 34-yr period (1984–2017). Atmospheric forcing was provided...
A synthesis of patterns of environmental mercury inputs, exposure and effects in New York State
David C. Evers, Amy K. Sauer, Douglas A. Burns, Nicholas S Fisher, Diane Bertok, Evan M. Adams, Mark E H Burton, Charles T. Driscoll
2020, Ecotoxicology (29) 1565-1589
Mercury (Hg) pollution is an environmental problem that adversely affects human and ecosystem health at local, regional, and global scales—including within New York State. More than two-thirds of the Hg currently released to the environment originates, either directly or indirectly, from human activities. Since the early...
Global challenges for nitrogen science-policy interactions: Towards the International Nitrogen Management System (INMS) and improved coordination between multi-lateral environmental agreements
Mark A. Sutton, Clare M. Howard, Will J. Brownlie, David Kanter, Wim de Vries, Tapan Adhiya, Jean Ometto, Jill S. Baron, Wilfried Winiwarter, Xiaotang Ju, Cargele Masso, Oene Oenema, N. Raghuram, Hans J.M. van Grinsven, Isabelle Van der Beck, Christopher J. Cox, Steffen Hansen, Ramesh Ramachandran, W. Kevin Hicks
2020, Book chapter, Just enough nitrogen
Human interference with the nitrogen cycle has doubled reactive nitrogen inputs to the global biosphere over the past century, leading to changes across multiple environmental issues that require urgent action. Nitrogen fertilizers and biological nitrogen fixation have allowed benefits of increased crop harvest and livestock production, while in...
Trihalomethane precursors: Land use hot spots, persistence during transport, and management options
Robert S. Eckard, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Brian A. Pellerin, Tamara E. C. Kraus, Peter J. Hernes
2020, Science of the Total Environment (742)
To meet drinking water regulations, rather than investing in costly treatment plant operations, managers can look for ways to improve source water quality; this requires understanding watershed sources and fates of constituents of concern. Trihalomethanes (THMs) are one of the major classes of regulated disinfection byproducts, formed when a specific fraction of the organic...
The INI North American Regional Nitrogen Center: 2011–2015 nitrogen activities in North America
Jill S. Baron, Eric A. Davidson
2020, Book chapter, Just enough nitrogen
The North American Nitrogen Center (NANC) carries out three main charges: (1) conducting assessments on nitrogen (N) flows within North America and the consequences for human health, water resources, biodiversity, and greenhouse gas emissions; (2) facilitating efforts to develop solutions to the problem of excess nitrogen in agricultural,...
Exploring overlap of feather molting and migration in Tundra Swans using δ2H analysis
Nathan Wolf, T. Scott Smeltz, Jeffrey Welker, Matthew Rogers, Craig R. Ely
2020, Animal Migration (7) 58-66
Determining the processes that shape the relative timing of energetically-costly events in the annual cycle of migrating birds is important to our understanding of avian phenology and ecology. We paired satellite tracking and hydrogen stable isotope analysis (δ2H) to examine the relative timing of two such events – migration and...
Diets of double-crested cormorants in the Winnebago System, Wisconsin
Ryan P. Koenigs, Daniel J. Dembkowski, Charles D. Lovell, Daniel A. Isermann, Adam Nickel
2020, Fisheries Management and Ecology (28) 183-193
Double-crested cormorant Phalacrocorox auritus Lesson (cormorant) populations have increased throughout the Great Lakes region of North America causing concern related to the impact of cormorant predation on fish communities. A recent decline in yellow perch Perca flavescens (Mitchill) abundance within the Lake Winnebago System, Wisconsin, USA, prompted an assessment of cormorant diets to evaluate...
Shorebird reproductive response to exceptionally early and late springs varies across sites in Arctic Alaska
Rebecca L McGuire, Richard B. Lanctot, Sarah T. Saalfeld, Daniel R. Ruthrauff, Joe Liebezeit
2020, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (8)
While increases in overall temperatures are widely reported in the Arctic, large inter-annual variation in spring weather, with extreme early and late conditions, is also occurring. Using data collected from three sites in Arctic Alaska, we explored how shorebird breeding density, nest initiation, nest synchrony, nest survival, and...
Ecological insights from three decades of animal movement tracking across a changing Arctic
Sarah C Davidson, Gil Bohrer, Eliezer Gurarie, Scott LaPoint, Peter J Mahoney, Natalie Boelman, Jan UH Eitel, Laura R. Prugh, Lee A. Vierling, Jyoti Jennewein, Emma Grier, Ophelie Couriot, Allicia P Kelly, Arjan JH Meddens, Ruth Y Oliver, Roland Kays, Martin Wikelski, Tomas Aarvak, Josh T. Ackerman, Monica Almeida e Silva, José A. Alves, Erin Bayne, Bryan Bedrosian, Jerrold L. Belant, Andrew M Berdahl, Alicia Berlin, Dominique Berteaux, Joel Bety, Dmitrij Boiko, Travis L. Booms, Bridget L Borg, Stan Boutin, W. Sean Boyd, Kane Brides, Stephen C. Brown, Victor N. Bulyuk, Kurt K Burnham, David Cabot, Michael L. Casazza, Katherine S. Christie, Erica H. Craig, Shanti E. Davis, Tracy Davison, Dominic Demma, Christopher R. DeSorbo, Andrew E. Dixon, Robert Domenech, Gotz Eichhorn, Kyle Elliott, Joseph R. Evenson, Klaus-Michael Exo, Steven Ferguson, Wolfgang Fiedler, Aaron T. Fisk, J. Fort, Alastair Franke, Mark R. Fuller, Stefan Garthe, Gilles Gauthier, Grant Gilchrist, Petr Glazov, Carrie E. Gray, David Gremillet, Larry Griffin, Mike Hallworth, Autumn-Lynn Harrison, Holly Hennin, J Mark Hipfner, James Hodson, James A. Johnson, Kyle Joly, Kimberly Jones, Todd E. Katzner, Jeff W Kidd, Elly Knight, Michael N. Kochert, Andrea Kolzsch, Helmut Kruckenberg, Benjamin J Lagassé, Sandra Lai, Jean-François Lamarre, Richard B. Lanctot, Nicholas C Larter, A David Latham, Christopher J. Latty, James P. Lawler, Don-Jean Leandri-Breton, Hansoo Lee, Stephen B. Lewis, Oliver P. Love, Jesper Madsen, Mark Maftei, Mark L. Mallory, Buck Mangipane, Mikhail Y. Markovets, Peter P. Marra, Rebecca L McGuire, Carol McIntyre, Emily A McKinnon, Tricia A. Miller, Sander Moonen, Tong Mu, Gerhard JDM Muskens, Janet Ng, Kerry L Nicholson, Ingar Jostein Oien, Cory T. Overton, Patricia A Owen, Allison G. L. Patterson, Aevar Petersen, Ivan Pokrovsky, Luke L. Powell, Rui Prieto, Petra Quillfeldt, Jennie Rausch, Kelsey Russell, Sarah T. Saalfeld, Hans Schekkerman, Joel A. Schmutz, Philipp Schwemmer, Dale R. Seip, Adam Shreading, Mónica A. Silva, Brian W. Smith, Fletcher Smith, Jeff P. Smith, Katherine RS Snell, Aleksandr Sokolov, Vasiliy Sokolov, Diana V Solovyeva, Mathew S Sorum, Grigori Tertitski, J. F. Therrien, Kasper Thorup, T. Lee Tibbitts, Ingrid Tulp, Brian D. Uher-Koch, Rob van Bemmelen, Steve Van Wilgenburg, Andrew L. Von Duyke, Jesse Watson, Bryan D Watts, Judy A Williams, Matthew Wilson, Jay Wright, Michael A Yates, David Yurkowski, Ramūnas Žydelis, Mark Hebblewhite
2020, Science (370) 712-715
The Arctic is entering a new ecological state, with alarming consequences for humanity. Animal-borne sensors offer a window into these changes. Although substantial animal tracking data from the Arctic and subarctic exist, most are difficult to discover and access. Here, we present the new Arctic Animal Movement Archive (AAMA), a...
Bedrock geologic map of the 15' Sleetmute A-2 quadrangle, southwestern Alaska
Robert Blodgett, Frederic H. Wilson, Nora B. Shew, James G. Clough
2020, Scientific Investigations Map 3450
Twelve unnamed, bedrock stratigraphic units are recognized within the Sleetmute A-2 1:63,360-scale quadrangle of southwestern Alaska. These units range in age from late(?) Proterozoic through Devonian and can be divided into two distinct facies belts: (1) a southern facies of dominantly shallow-water platform carbonate and minor siliciclastic rocks (including Early...
Towards a U.S. national program for monitoring native bees
Hollis Woodward, Sarah Federman, Rosalind R. James, Bryan Danforth, Terry Griswold, David W. Inouye, Quinn McFrederick, Lora Morandin, Deborah Paul, Elizabeth Sellers, James P. Strange, Mace Vaughan, Neal M. Williams, Michael Branstetter, Casey T. Burns, James Cane, Alison B Cariveau, Daniel Cariveau, Anna Childers, Christopher Childers, Diana L. Cox-Foster, Elaine Evan, Kelsey K. Graham, Kevin Hackett, Kimberly Huntzinger, Rebecca Irwin, Shalene Jha, Sarah Lawson, Christina Liang, Margarita M. Lopez-Uribe, Andony Melathopoulos, Heather Moylett, Clint Otto, Lauren Ponisio, Leif L Richardson, Robyn Rose, Rajwinder Singh, Wayne Wehling
2020, Biological Conservation (252)
North America has more than 4000 bee species, yet we have little information on the health, distribution, and population trends of most of these species. In the United States, what information is available is distributed across multiple institutions, and efforts to...
Literature reviewed estimates of riparian consumptive water use in the drylands of Northeast Arizona, USA
Pamela L. Nagler
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1129
This report provides the best estimates of riparian area evapotranspiration (ET) on the rivers and streams of the Navajo Nation by (1) quantifying the natural riparian vegetation water use within the Little Colorado River watershed using a literature search for comparable riparian ET estimates, and (2) in conjunction with the...
Shorebird research at the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Science Center
Dan Ruthrauff, T. Lee Tibbitts, John Pearce
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3056
Shorebirds—which include sandpipers, plovers, and oystercatchers—are perhaps best known by their presence on sandy beaches, running along the water’s edge while they probe for food. But they are probably less recognized for their impressive long-distance migrations. Millions of individuals travel from across the globe to breed throughout Alaska each spring,...
The cascading origin of the 2018 Kīlauea eruption and implications for future forecasting
Matthew R. Patrick, Bruce F. Houghton, Kyle R. Anderson, Michael P. Poland, Emily K. Montgomery-Brown, Ingrid A. Johanson, Weston Thelen, Tamar Elias
2020, Nature Communications (11)
The 2018 summit and flank eruption of Kīlauea Volcano was one of the largest volcanic events in Hawaiʻi in 200 years. Data suggest that a backup in the magma plumbing system at the long-lived Puʻu ʻŌʻō eruption site caused widespread pressurization in the volcano, driving magma into the lower flank....
The firn meltwater Retention Model Intercomparison Project (RetMIP): Evaluation of nine firn models at four weather station sites on the Greenland ice sheet
Baptiste Vandecrux, Ruth Mottram, Peter Langen, Robert Fausto, Martin Olesen, C. Max Stevens, Vincent Verjans, Amber Lee, Stefan Ligtenberg, Peter Kuipers Munneke, Sergey S. Marchenko, Ward van Pelt, Colin R. Meyer, Sebastian B. Simonsen, Achim Heilig, Samira Samimi, Shawn J. Marshall, Horst Machguth, Michael J. MacFerrin, Masashi Niwano, Olivia L. Miller, Clifford I. Voss, Jason E. Box
2020, The Cryosphere (14) 3785-3810
Perennial snow, or firn, covers 80 % of the Greenland ice sheet and has the capacity to retain surface meltwater, influencing the ice sheet mass balance and contribution to sea-level rise. Multilayer firn models are traditionally used to simulate firn processes and estimate meltwater retention. We present, intercompare and evaluate outputs...
High prevalence of biliary neoplasia in white perch Morone americana: Potential roles of bile duct parasites and environmental contaminants
Mark A Matsche, Vicki S. Blazer, Erin Pulster, Patricia M. Mazik
2020, Diseases of Aquatic Organisms (141) 195-224
Recent surveys of white perch Morone americana from Chesapeake Bay, USA, revealed a high prevalence of hepatic and biliary lesions, including neoplasia, and bile duct parasites. Here, we describe lesions in the liver and gallbladder and evaluate for statistical associations among lesions, parasites, and biomarkers of chemical exposure in fish from 2...
Short-term impact of sediment addition on plants and invertebrates in a southern California salt marsh
Kaelin J McAtee, Karen M. Thorne, Christine R Whitcraft
2020, PLoS ONE (15)
The implementation and monitoring of management strategies is integral to protect coastal marshes from increased inundation and submergence under sea-level rise. Sediment addition is one such strategy in which sediment is added to marshes to raise relative elevations, decrease tidal inundation, and enhance ecosystem processes. This...
Comparison of groundwater storage changes from GRACE satellites with monitoring and modeling of major U.S. aquifers
Ashraf Rateb, Bridget R. Scanlon, Donald R. Pool, Alexander Y. Sun, Zizhan Zhang, Jianli Chen, Brian R. Clark, Dianna M. Crilley, Connor J. Haugh, Christopher M. Hobza, Mary C Hill, Virginia L. McGuire, Meredith Reitz, Hannes Muller Schmied Schmied, Edwin H. Sutanudjaja, Sean Swenson, David Wiese, Youlong Xia, Wesley O. Zell
2020, Water Resources Research (56)
GRACE satellite data are widely used to estimate groundwater storage (GWS) changes in aquifers globally; however, comparisons with GW monitoring and modeling data are limited. Here we compared GWS changes from GRACE over 15 yr (2002–2017) in 14 major U.S. aquifers with groundwater-level (GWL) monitoring data in ~23,000...
Historically unprecedented Northern Gulf of Mexico hurricane activity from 650 to 1250 CE
Jessica R. Rodysill, Jeffrey P. Donnelly, Richard Sullivan, Philip D. Lane, Michael Toomey, Jonathan D. Woodruff, Andrea D. Hawkes, Dana MacDonald, Nicole d’Entremont, Kelly McKeon, Elizabeth Wallace, Peter J. van Hengstum
2020, Scientific Reports (10)
Hurricane Michael (2018) was the first Category 5 storm on record to make landfall on the Florida panhandle since at least 1851 CE (Common Era), and it resulted in the loss of 59 lives and $25 billion in damages across the southeastern U.S. This event placed...
Development and testing of species-specific quantitative PCR assays for environmental DNA applications
Katy E. Klymus, Dannise Vannesa Ruiz-Ramos, Nathan Thompson, Catherine A. Richter
2020, JOVE Journal Of Visualized Experiments (165)
New, non-invasive methods for detecting and monitoring species presence are being developed to aid in fisheries and wildlife conservation management. The use of environmental DNA (eDNA) samples for detecting macrobiota is one such group of methods that is rapidly becoming popular and being implemented in national management programs. Here we...
Understanding the storage conditions and fluctuating eruption style of a young monogenetic volcano: Blue Lake crater (<3 ka), High Cascades, Oregon
Emily Renee Johnson, Katharine V. Cashman
2020, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (408)
Blue Lake crater (<3 ka) is monogenetic volcano that produced one of the youngest eruptions in the central Oregon Cascades. Understanding monogenetic volcano behavior – from storage through eruption – is imperative in planning for future eruptions. Here we combine physical volcanology and geochemistry to determine the pre-eruptive storage conditions, ascent...
Assessing uranium and select trace elements associated with breccia pipe uranium deposits in the Colorado River and main tributaries in Grand Canyon, USA
Fred D. Tillman, Jessica R. Anderson, Joel A. Unema, Thomas Chapin
2020, PLoS ONE (15)
Assessing chemical loading from streams in remote, difficult-to-access watersheds is challenging. The Grand Canyon area in northern Arizona, an international tourist destination and sacred place for many Native Americans, is characterized by broad plateaus divided by canyons as much as two-thousand meters deep and hosts some of the highest-grade uranium...
An assessment of the thiamine status of Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieu) in the Susquehanna River watershed
Daniel E. Spooner, Dale C. Honeyfield, Kristin Laura Boggs, Dustin R. Shull, Timothy Wertz, Stephanie Sweet
2020, Northeastern Naturalist (27) 596-611
Unpredictable recruitment and physical abnormalities (sores and lesions) have been observed in populations of Micropterus dolomieu (Smallmouth Bass) throughout the Susquehanna River basin. Malnutrition has been proposed as one of among several potential stressors, yet little to no information was available to critically assess its feasibility as...
