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The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is working with Federal, State, and local partners to monitor and evaluate perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the State’s groundwater and surface waters. PFAS are synthetic chemicals with widespread commercial and industrial use that can take a very long time to break down in...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is working with Federal, State, and local partners to monitor and evaluate microplastics in our lakes, rivers, and coastal waters. Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic, some-times so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye. The USGS is taking an active...

Monitoring dynamics of volcanic eruptions with geophysics is challenging. In August and November 2012, two small eruptions from Mount Tongariro provided a unique opportunity to image subsurface changes caused by the eruptions. A detailed magnetotelluric survey of the Tongariro volcanic complex completed prior to the eruption (2008–2010)...

We explored how a geographic information system modeling approach could be used to quantify supporting ecosystem services related to the type, abundance, and distribution of landscape components. Specifically, we use the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs model to quantify habitats that support amphibians and birds, floral resources that...

Sea-level rise will radically redefine the coastline of the 21st century. For many coastal regions, projections of global sea-level rise by the year 2100 (e.g., 0.5–2 meters) are comparable in magnitude to today’s extreme but short-lived increases in water level due to storms. Thus, the 21st century will...

Groundwater samples have been collected in California as part of statewide investigations of groundwater quality conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey for the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Priority Basin Project (PBP) since 2004. The GAMA-PBP is being conducted in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board...

This five-year science plan outlines short-term and long-term goals for improving three-dimensional seismic velocity models in the greater San Francisco Bay region as well as how to foster a community effort in reaching those goals. The short-term goals focus on improving the current U.S. Geological Survey San Francisco Bay region...

Ecological research and management programs are increasingly using autonomous monitoring units (AMUs) to collect large volumes of acoustic and/or photo data to address pressing management objectives or research goals. The data management requirements of an AMU-based monitoring effort are often overwhelming, with a considerable amount of processing to translate raw...

Ecological research and management programs are increasingly using autonomous monitoring units (AMUs) to collect large volumes of acoustic and/or photo data to address pressing management objectives or research goals. The data management requirements of an AMU-based monitoring effort are often overwhelming, with a considerable amount of processing to translate...

We observed Ceres at three epochs in 2015 November and 2017 September and October with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 12 m array and in 2017 October with the ALMA Compact Array (ACA), all at ~265 GHz continuum (wavelengths of ~1.1 mm) to map the temperatures of...

There is a pressing need to monitor and understand the rapid land change happening around the world. The U.S. Geological Survey is developing a new capability, called Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP), to innovate the understanding of land change. This capability is the Earth Resources Observation and Science Center's...

IntroductionPassive groundwater sampling is defined as the collection of a water sample from a well without the use of purging by a pump or retrieval by a bailer (Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council [ITRC], 2006; American Society for Testing and Materials [ASTM], 2014). No purging means that advection of water...

Nutrient enrichment has degraded many of the world’s estuaries by amplifying algal production, leading to hypoxia/anoxia, loss of vascular plants and fish/shellfish habitat, and expansion of harmful blooms (HABs). Policies to protect coastal waters from the effects of nutrient enrichment require information to determine if a water body is impaired...

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 4.6 billion barrels of oil and 561 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Lower Silurian Shale Total Petroleum System of the Arabian Peninsula....

The amounts of trace metals and metalloids that have been introduced into aquatic ecosystems due to anthropogenic activities have increased in recent decades. Some of these elements like mercury are easily transferred from one trophic level to another and can accumulate to toxic quantities in organisms at the top of...

Groundwater piezometers and lake stilling wells were deployed as paired sets at 10 locations in Upper Klamath Lake in south-central Oregon from May to October 2017 to measure hydraulic heads in and beneath the lake. Continuous water-level data from piezometers and stilling wells were then used to calculate the...

Counting bands via the gastric mill is a potential direct approach for ageing crayfish; however, the validity of ageing crustaceans using the gastric mill is unknown. Our study objectives were to 1) compare gastric mill age estimates to a traditional aging technique, 2) compare ageing precision among the ossicles, and...

Keys to Lark Bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys) management include providing short vegetation with protective nest cover and tailoring grazing systems to the type of grassland. Lark Buntings have been reported to use habitats with 6–72 centimeter (cm) average vegetation height, 2–11 cm visual obstruction reading, 13–71 percent grass cover, less than...

Drought, coupled with rising temperatures, is an emerging threat to many forest types across the globe. At least to a degree, we expect management actions that reduce competition (e.g., thinning, prescribed fire, or both) to improve growth of residual trees during drought. The influences of management actions and drought on...

Mercury (Hg) concentrations and isotopic compositions in a range of sample types collected from the legacy Abbadia San Salvatore Mine (ASSM) area were used to evaluate the distribution of Hg in the region. The district generated more than 100,000 metric tons of Hg releasing extensive amounts of gaseous Hg...

Time series of position estimates from Global Navigational Satellite System (GNSS) are used to measure the velocities of points on the surface of the Earth. Along with the velocity estimates, a measure of the precision is needed to assess the quality of the velocity measurement. Here,...

Sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico, which are listed as either threatened or endangered under the US Endangered Species Act, face numerous threats from many sources but are particularly susceptible to the effects of light pollution on nesting beaches. Light pollution affects the distribution, density, and placement of nests...

The North Carolina Turnpike Authority plans to improve transportation in the Currituck Sound area by constructing a two-lane bridge—the Mid-Currituck Bridge—across Currituck Sound from the mainland to the Outer Banks, North Carolina. The results of the final environmental impact statement for the project indicate potential water-quality and habitat effects for...

For sample mounting, organic petrology laboratories typically use cold-setting epoxy-resin (e.g., 40 °C, used by Oklahoma Geological Survey, OGS) or heat-setting thermoplastic (e.g., 180 °C, used by U.S. Geological Survey, USGS). Previous workers have suggested a systematic huminite/vitrinite reflectance (VRo) increase was associated with the thermoplastic preparation process, relative to epoxy mounting,...

Fluorescence spectroscopy via confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was used to analyze ancient sedimentary organic matter, including Tasmanites microfossils in Devonian shale and Gloecapsomorpha prisca (G. prisca) in Ordovician kukersite from North American basins. We examined fluorescence emission as a function of excitation laser wavelength,...