Apparent earthquake rupture predictability
M.-A. Meier, P. Ampuero, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Morgan T. Page
2021, Geophysical Journal International (225) 657-663
To what extent can the future evolution of an ongoing earthquake rupture be predicted? This question of fundamental scientific and practical importance has recently been addressed by studies of teleseismic source time functions (STFs) but reaching contrasting conclusions. One study concludes that the initial portion of STFs is the...
A ground‐motion prediction model for shallow crustal earthquakes in Greece
David Boore, Jonathan P. Stewart, Andreas Skarlatoudis, Emel Seyhan, Basil Margaris, Nikos Theodoulidis, Emmanual Scordilis, Ionnis Kalogeras, Nikos Klimis, Nikos Melis
2021, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (111) 857-874
Using a recently completed database of uniformly processed strong‐motion data recorded in Greece, we derive a ground‐motion prediction model (GMPM) for horizontal‐component peak ground velocity, peak ground acceleration, and 5% damped pseudoacceleration response spectra, at 105 periods ranging from 0.01 to 10 s. The equations were developed by modifying a global...
Red imported fire ants reduce invertebrate abundance, richness, and diversity in Gopher Tortoise burrows
Deborah Mardeane Epperson, Craig R. Allen, Katharine F.E. Hogan
2021, Diversity
Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) burrows support diverse commensal invertebrate communities that may be of special conservation interest. We investigated the impact of red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) on the invertebrate burrow community at 10 study sites in southern Mississippi, sampling burrows (1998–2000) before and...
Effects-based monitoring of bioactive chemicals discharged to the Colorado River before and after a municipal wastewater treatment plant replacement
J.E. Cavallin, William A. Battaglin, Jon Beihoffer, Bradley D. Blackwell, Paul M. Bradley, AR Cole, Drew R. Ekman, R Hofer, J Kinsey, Kristen Keteles, R Weissinger, Dana L. Winkelman, Daniel L. Villeneuve
2021, Environmental Science and Technology (55) 974-984
Monitoring of the Colorado River near the Moab, Utah, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) outflow has detected pharmaceuticals, hormones, and estrogen-receptor (ER)-, glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARγ)-mediated biological activities. The aim of the present multi-year study was to assess effects of a WWTP replacement on bioactive chemical (BC)...
Lithium in groundwater used for drinking-water supply in the United States
Bruce D. Lindsey, Kenneth Belitz, Charles A. Cravotta III, Patricia Toccalino, Neil M. Dubrovsky
2021, Science of the Total Environment (767)
Lithium concentrations in untreated groundwater from 1464 public-supply wells and 1676 domestic-supply wells distributed across 33 principal aquifers in the United States were evaluated for spatial variations and possible explanatory factors. Concentrations nationwide ranged from <1 to 396 μg/L (median of 8.1) for public supply...
A unified model of crustal stress heterogeneity from borehole breakouts and earthquake focal mechanisms
Karen Luttrell, Jeanne L. Hardebeck
2021, JGR Solid Earth (126)
Observations of crustal stress orientation from the regional inversion of earthquake focal mechanisms often conflict with those from borehole breakouts, possibly indicating local stress heterogeneity, either laterally or with depth. To investigate this heterogeneity, we compiled SHmax estimates from previous studies for 57 near‐vertical boreholes with measured breakout azimuths across...
Shared functional traits explain synchronous changes in long‐term count trends of migratory raptors
Patricia Kaye T. Dumandan, Keith L. Bildstein, Laurie J. Goodrich, Andrii Zaiats, Trevor Caughlin, Todd E. Katzner
2021, Global Ecology and Biogeography (30) 640-650
AimAssessing long‐term shifts in faunal assemblages is important to understand the consequences of ongoing global environmental change. One approach to assess drivers of assemblage changes is to identify the traits associated with synchronous shifts in count trends among species. Our research identified traits influencing trends in 73 years...
A watershed moment: Analysis of sub-basins refocuses the geography of turtle conservation across the globe
Joshua R. Ennen, Mickey Agha, Sarah C. Sweat, Wildredo A. Matamoros, Jeffrey E. Lovich, John B. Iverson, Anders G.J. Rhodin, Robert C. Thomson, H. Bradley Shaffer, Christopher W. Hoagstrom
2021, Biological Conservation (253)
Conservation planners use a variety of decision-making tools, many of which require identifying and prioritizing spatial units based on their biodiversity and levels of imperilment. Turtles are highly imperiled, but present schemes for determining global priority areas are focused mostly on broad regional scales. We conduct the first global evaluation...
The occurrence and distribution of strontium in U.S. groundwater
MaryLynn Musgrove
2021, Applied Geochemistry (126)
Groundwater samples from 32 principal aquifers across the United States (U.S.) provide a broad spatial scope of the occurrence and distribution of strontium (Sr) and are used to assess environments and factors that influence Sr concentration. Strontium is a common trace element in soils, rocks, and water and is ubiquitous...
Using turbulence to identify preferential areas for grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) larvae in streams: A laboratory study
Andres F. Prada, Amy E. George, Benjamin H. Stahlschmidt, P. Ryan Jackson, Duane Chapman, Rafael O. Tinoco
2021, Water Resources Research (57)
In this experimental series, we studied the swimming capabilities and response of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) larvae to flow turbulence in a laboratory flume. We compared three different experimental configurations, representing in‐stream obstructions commonly found in natural streams (e.g., a gravel bump, a single vertical cylinder,...
Crossroads of highly pathogenic H5N1: overlap between wild and domestic birds in the Black Sea-Mediterranean impacts global transmission
Nichola J. Hill, Lacy M. Smith, Sabir B. Muzaffar, Jessica L. Nagel, Diann Prosser, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Kyle A. Spragens, Carlos A. DeMattos, Cecilia C. Demattos, Lu’ay El Sayed, Kiraz Erciyas-Yavuz, C. Todd Davis, Joyce Jones, Zoltan Kis, Ruben O. Donis, Scott H. Newman, John Y. Takekawa
2021, Virus Evolution (7)
Understanding transmission dynamics that link wild and domestic animals is a key element of predicting the emergence of infectious disease, an event that has highest likelihood of occurring wherever human livelihoods depend on agriculture and animal trade. Contact between poultry and wild birds is a key driver of the emergence...
Lake-wide annual status of Mysis diluviana population in Lake Michigan in 2015
Toby J. Holda, Lars G. Rudstam, Steven A. Pothoven, David Warner, Dmytro S. Krystenko, James M. Watkins
2021, Journal of Great Lakes Research (47) 190-203
Mysis diluviana is one of the most abundant zooplankton by biomass in the Laurentian Great Lakes of North America, a predator of other zooplankton and an important prey for fishes. Studies of long-term trends in Lake Michigan have shown 2005–2016 densities to be 50–80% lower than 1990s densities, but these observations...
Rupture process of the M6.5 Stanley, Idaho, earthquake inferred from seismic waveform and geodetic data
Frederick Pollitz, William C. Hammond, Charles Wicks
2021, Seismological Research Letters (92) 699-709
The 2020 M 6.5 Stanley, Idaho, earthquake produced rupture in the north of the active Sawtooth fault in the northern basin and range at depth, without any observable surface rupture. Global Positioning System (GPS) and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data yield several millimeters of static offsets out to ∼100 km from the...
The impacts of the 2015/2016 El Niño on California's sandy beaches
Schuyler A Smith, Patrick L. Barnard
2021, Geomorphology (377)
The El Niño Southern Oscillation is the most dominant mode of interannual climate variability in the Pacific. The 2015/2016 El Niño event was one of the strongest of the last 145 years, resulting in anomalously high wave energy across the U.S. West Coast, and record...
Geometry of obstacle marks at instream boulders-Integration of laboratory investigations and field observations
Oliver Schlomer, Paul E. Grams, Daniel D. Buscombe, Jurgen Herget
2021, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (46) 659-679
Obstacle marks are instream bedforms, typically composed of an upstream frontal scour hole and a downstream sediment accumulation in the vicinity of an obstacle. Local scouring at infrastructure (e.g. bridge piers) is a well‐studied phenomenon in hydraulic engineering, while less attention is given to the time‐dependent...
Rapid sensitivity analysis for reducing uncertainty in landslide hazard assessments
Rex L. Baum
2021, Conference Paper, WLF 2020: Understanding and reducing landslide disaster risk
One of the challenges in assessing temporal and spatial aspects of landslide hazard using process-based models is estimating model input parameters, especially in areas where limited measurements of soil and rock properties are available. In an effort to simplify and streamline parameter estimation, development of a simple, rapid...
Intrinsic and extrinsic drivers of life-history variability for a south-western cutthroat trout
Brock M. Huntsman, Colleen A. Caldwell, Abigail J. Lynch, Fitsum Abadi
2021, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (30) 100-114
The impacts of climate change on cold-water fishes will likely negatively manifest in populations at the trailing edge of their distributions. Rio Grande cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii virginalis, RGCT) occupy arid south-western U.S. streams at the southern-most edge of all cutthroat trout distributions, making RGCT particularly...
Estimating the impact of seep methane oxidation on ocean pH and dissolved inorganic radiocarbon along the U.S. mid‐Atlantic Bight
Fenix Garcia-Tigreros, Mihai Leonte, Carolyn D. Ruppel, Angel Ruiz-Angulo, DoongJoo Joung, Benjamin Young, John D. Kessler
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research- Biogeosciences (126)
Ongoing ocean warming can release methane (CH4) currently stored in ocean sediments as free gas and gas hydrates. Once dissolved in ocean waters, this CH4 can be oxidized to carbon dioxide (CO2). While it has been hypothesized that the CO2 produced from aerobic CH4 oxidation could enhance ocean acidification, a...
On the use of statistical analysis to understand submarine landslide processes and assess their hazard
Uri S. ten Brink, Eric L. Geist
2021, Book chapter, Understanding and reducing landslide disaster risk
Because of their inaccessibility, submarine landslides are typically studied individually and at great effort and expense to provide knowledge of the specific site conditions where these landslides occur. Statistical analysis of submarine landslide scars can offer generalized perspectives on the processes that initiate submarine landslides and can help toward hazard...
Progress and lessons learned from responses to landslide disasters
Brian D. Collins, Mark E. Reid, Jeffrey A. Coe, Jason W. Kean, Rex L. Baum, Randall W. Jibson, Jonathan W. Godt, Stephen Slaughter, Greg M. Stock
2021, Book chapter, Understanding and reducing landslide disaster risk
Landslides have the incredible power to transform landscapes and also, tragically, to cause disastrous societal impacts. Whereas the mechanics and effects of many landslide disasters have been analyzed in detail, the means by which landslide experts respond to these events has garnered much less attention. Herein, we evaluate nine landslide...
Identifying information gaps in predicting winter foraging habitat for juvenile Gulf Sturgeon
Leah L. Dale, James P. Cronin, Virginia Brink, Blair Tirpak, John M. Tirpak, William E. Pine III
2021, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (150) 222-241
The Gulf Sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi is an anadromous species that inhabits Gulf of Mexico coastal waters from Louisiana to Florida and is listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Seasonal cues (e.g., freshwater discharge) determine the timing of spawning and migration and may influence the...
Assessing the hydrologic and physical conditions of a drainage basin
Waite Osterkamp, Mark K. Briggs, David J. Dean, Alfredo Rodriquez
2021, Book chapter, Renewing our rivers—Stream corridor restoration in dryland regions
An assessment of a drainage basin and its stream corridor will provide the data and information needed to understand current biophysical conditions and trends. Developing an understanding of the drivers of change is the next essential step for restoration success (Osterkamp and Toy, 1997; Corenbilt et al., 2007; Briggs and...
Effect of organic matter concentration and characteristics on mercury mobilization and methylmercury production at an abandoned mine site
Chris S. Eckley, Todd P. Luxton, Brooks Stanfield, Austin K. Baldwin, JoAnn M. Holloway, John McKernan, Mark Johnson
2021, Environmental Pollution (271)
Thousands of abandoned mines throughout the western region of North America contain elevated total-mercury (THg) concentrations. Mercury is mobilized from these sites primarily due to erosion of particulate-bound Hg (THg-P). Organic matter-based soil amendments can promote vegetation growth on mine tailings, reducing erosion and...
Snowpack signals in North American tree rings
Bethany L. Coulthard, Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Gregory T. Pederson, Edward R Cook, Jeremy Littell, Dan J. Smith
2021, Environmental Research Letters (16)
Climate change has contributed to recent declines in mountain snowpack and earlier runoff, which in turn has intensified hydrological droughts in western North America. Climate model projections suggest that continued and severe snowpack reductions are expected over the 21st century, with profound consequences for ecosystems and human welfare. Yet the...
Spatial clustering of aftershocks impacts the performance of physics‐based earthquake forecasting models
Jeanne L. Hardebeck
2021, JGR Solid Earth (126)
I explore why physics‐based models of earthquake triggering rarely outperform statistical models in prospective testing, outside of limited spatial‐temporal windows. Pseudo‐prospective tests on suites of synthetic aftershock sequences show that a major factor is the level of unmodeled spatial clustering of the direct aftershocks triggered by the mainshock. The synthetic...
