How to reduce the risks of introducing and spreading invasive species in a major disaster
Invasive Species Council
2024, Report
Disaster impacts are exacerbated by invasive species, which are harmful, non-native organisms that can be introduced and spread by disasters, including disaster response and recovery operations. Mechanisms are available to reduce risks from invasive species in a disaster, but those mechanisms are rarely used because invasive species experts and emergency...
Elemental composition and potential toxicity of the riverine macrophyte Podostemum ceratophyllum Michx. reflects land use in eastern North America
James Wood, Lee H. Dietterich, Douglas R. Leasure, Sarah Jantzi, Thomas Maddox, Seth J. Wenger, Jonathan Skaggs, Amy D. Rosemond, Mary Freeman
2024, Science of the Total Environment (954)
Land use influences surface water quality, often alleviating stoichiometric constraints on primary production and altering biogeochemical cycling. However, land use effects on nutrient content and potential trace metal accumulation in aquatic plants remain unclear, and high concentrations of metals and altered nutrient ratios could impact the health of herbivores and...
Fish health altered by contaminants and low water temperatures compounded by prolonged regional drought in the Lower Colorado River Basin, USA
Steven L Goodbred, Reynaldo Patino, David A. Alvarez, Darren Johnson, Deena Hannoun, Kathy R. Echols, Jill Jenkins
2024, Toxics (12)
The goal of this study was to assess health of male Common Carp (carp, Cyprinus carpio) at four sites with a wide range in environmental organic contaminant (EOC) concentrations and water temperatures in Lake Mead National Recreation Area NV/AZ, US, and the potential influence of regional drought. Histological and reproductive...
The Khonkho tephra: A large-magnitude volcanic eruption coincided with the rise of Tiwanaku in the Andes
Erik J. Marsh, Christopher Harpel, David Damby
2024, The Holocene (34) 1865-1874
We report a tephra deposit in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin, Bolivia, which was deposited by a major, previously unrecognized eruption sometime between AD 400 and 720. Archaeological data suggest these centuries were characterized by a substantial community migration to Tiwanaku, where social interaction networks gave birth to one of...
Estimating groundwater level records using MOVE.1 and computing monthly percentiles from estimated groundwater records in Massachusetts
Elizabeth A. Ahearn, Dee-Ann E. Crozier
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5080
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, performed record extensions on groundwater levels at select wells using the Maintenance of Variance Extension type 1 (MOVE.1) method. The groundwater levels estimated from these record extensions were used to compute monthly percentiles to improve future determinations...
Rare Earth Elements in coal fly ash and their potential recovery
James Hower, Allan Kolker, Heileen Hsu-Kim, Desiree Platta
Athanasios Karamalidis, Roderick Eggert, editor(s)
2024, Book chapter, Rare Earth Elements: Sustainable recovery, processing, and purification
Coal fly ash is a potential resource of valuable elements, such as rare earth elements (REEs), which are retained and concentrated upon combustion. Understanding REE occurrence within fly ash is vital to developing recovery methods. Some of the highest REE contents occur in fly ash derived from U.S. Appalachian Basin...
An evaluation of fin ray microchemistry to describe movement of White Sturgeon in the Kootenai River basin: Insights and limitations
Courtnie Ghere, Michael Quist, Ryan S. Hardy, Malte Willmes, Levi Lewis, Sean Wilson, Troy Smith
2024, Frontiers in Freshwater Science (2)
Introduction: White Sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus in the Kootenai River basin is listed as endangered in the United States and Canada. Declines have been mainly attributed to poor recruitment exacerbated by the environmental effects of Libby Dam in Montana. Reduced primary production downstream of Libby Dam has been identified as one factor limiting...
Extending the Boore and Abrahamson (2023) modified square-root-impedance method for the development of site amplifications consistent with the full-resonance approach to a range of VS30 values
Linda Al Atik, David Boore
2024, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (114) 3093-3102
The square-root-impedance (SRI) method is commonly used to approximate the seismic site amplifications computed using the full-resonance (FR) method for gradient shear-wave velocity (VS) profiles that are smoothly varying with depth. The SRI site amplifications have been observed to systematically underpredict the FR site amplifications by a ratio of FR/SRI...
Evaluation of the lithium resource in the Smackover Formation brines of southern Arkansas using machine learning
Katherine J. Knierim, Madalyn S. Blondes, Andrew Laurence Masterson, Philip A. Freeman, Bonnie McDevitt, Amanda Sha Herzberg, Peng Li, Ciara Mills, Colin A. Doolan, Aaron M. Jubb, Scott Ausbrooks, Jessica Chenault
2024, Science Advances (10)
Global demand for lithium, the primary component of lithium-ion batteries, greatly exceeds known supplies, and this imbalance is expected to increase as the world transitions away from fossil fuel energy sources. High concentrations of lithium in brines have been observed in the Smackover Formation in southern Arkansas (>400 milligrams per...
Length-weight relationships of native and non-native fishes in the lower Red River catchment, USA
Mariaguadalupe Vilchez, John Dattilo, Shannon K. Brewer
2024, Journal of Applied Ichthyology (2024)
Length-weight relationships are useful for stock assessments and modeling alternative conservation and management strategies for both native and non-native fishes. We developed length-weight relationships for 18 native and non-native riverine fishes in the lower Red River catchment. Fishes were sampled in the summer and autumn seasons between May 2021 and...
Framework for mapping liquefaction hazard–Targeted design ground motions
Andrew James Makdisi, Steven L. Kramer
2024, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (150)
Liquefaction-induced ground failure poses substantial challenges to geotechnical earthquake engineering design. Current approaches for designing against liquefaction hazards, as specified in most seismic provisions, focus on estimating a liquefaction factor of safety (𝐹𝑆𝐿) and typically characterize earthquake loading using design parameters based on probabilistic or deterministic ground...
Transdisciplinary research supports the sustainability of barrier island systems threatened by climate change
Patrick L. Barnard, Davina Passeri
2024, Earth's Future (12)
The management of developed barrier islands is often piece-meal and reactionary despite the complex, dynamic nature of these systems, and sustainable practices will become increasingly difficult due to heightened pressures of climate change. Adaptation actions, including nature-based solutions, need to be thoroughly evaluated prior to implementation to...
Trace organic contaminants in U.S. national park surface waters: Prevalence and ecological context☆
Sarah M. Elliott, Kerensa A. King, Aliesha L. Krall, David D. VanderMeulen
2024, Environmental Pollution (362) 125006
Surface water samples were collected from 264 sites across 46 U.S national parks during the period of 2009–2019. The number of sites within each park ranged from 1 to 31 and the number of samples collected within each park ranged from 1 to...
Vegetation community recovery on restored bottomland hardwood forests in northeast Indiana, USA
Matthew Struckhoff, Keith Grabner, Janice L. Albers, Michael J. Hooper
2024, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (20) 1917-1938
Vegetation communities in restored bottomland hardwood forests in northeast Indiana were studied 6–21 years after restoration to assess progress toward restoration objectives. The study focused on four sites that were restored to compensate for resource injuries after contaminant releases. The restored sites were compared...
Beyond the wedge: Impact of tidal streams on salinization of groundwater in a coastal aquifer stressed by pumping and sea-level rise
Mary C. Hingst, R.M. Housego, C. He, Burke J. Minsley, Lyndsay B. Ball, Holly A. Michael
2024, Water Resources Research (60)
Saltwater intrusion (SWI) is a well-studied phenomenon that threatens the freshwater supplies of coastal communities around the world. The development and advancement of numerical models has led to improved assessment of the risk of salinization. However, these studies often fail to include the impact of surface waters...
True metabolizable energy of foods consumed by lesser scaup (Aythya affinis)
Lauren Larson, Christopher Jacques, Joseph D. Lancaster, Heath Hagy, Michael J. Anteau, Auriel M. V. Fournier
2024, Wildlife Society Bulletin (48)
The energy derived from available foods is an important factor used in conservation planning for migratory species. Estimating true metabolizable energy (TME) of available foods has become a common method for resource managers to increase reliability in energetic carrying-capacity estimates....
Simulated mean monthly groundwater-transported nitrogen loads in watersheds on the north shore of Long Island Sound, 1993–2022
Janet R. Barclay, Madeleine J. Holland, John R. Mullaney
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5090
Elevated nitrogen loads are pervasive in the Long Island Sound, an estuary that receives freshwater and nutrients from both surface-water and groundwater discharge. Surface-water nitrogen loads to the Long Island Sound are relatively well characterized, but less is known about groundwater-transported nitrogen loads. Prior work on the northern shore of...
The value of hyperparameter optimization in phase-picking neural networks
Yongsoo Park, David R. Shelly
2024, The Seismic Record (4) 231-239
The effectiveness of using neural networks for picking seismic phase arrival times has been demonstrated through several case studies, and seismic monitoring programs are starting to adopt the technology into their workflows. However, published models were designed and trained using rather arbitrary choices of hyperparameters, limiting their performance. In this...
Stream nitrate dynamics driven primarily by discharge and watershed physical and soil characteristics at intensively monitored sites: Insights from deep learning
Galen Gorski, Laurel Larsen, Jordan Wingenroth, Liang Zhang, Dino Bellugi, Alison P. Appling
2024, Water Resources Research (60)
We developed a suite of models using deep learning to make hindcast predictions of the 7‐day average backward‐looking nitrate concentration at 46 predominantly agricultural sites across the midwestern and eastern United States. The models used daily observations of discharge and meteorological variables and watershed attributes describing anthropogenic modification to hydrology, nitrogen...
Groundwater quality near the Placerita Oil Field, California, 2018
Jennifer S. Stanton, Matthew K. Landon, David H. Shimabukuro, Justin T. Kulongoski, Andrew G. Hunt, Peter B. McMahon, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Robert Anders, Theron A. Sowers
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5042
Groundwater-quality data and potential fluid-migration pathways near the Placerita Oil Field in Los Angeles County, California, were examined by the U.S. Geological Survey to determine if oil-field fluids (water and gas from oil-producing and non-producing zones) have mixed with groundwater resources. Six of the 13 new groundwater samples collected for...
A framework for estimating economic impacts of ecological restoration
Catherine Cullinane Thomas, Christopher Huber, Kristin E. Skrabis, Timothy B. Hoelzle
2024, Environmental Management (74) 1239-1259
Ecological restoration projects are designed to improve natural and cultural resources. Spending on restoration also stimulates economic impacts to the restoration economy through the creation or support of jobs and business activity. This paper presents accessible methods for quantifying the economic impacts supported by restoration spending...
Factors contributing to pesticide contamination in riverine systems: The role of wastewater and landscape sources
Samuel Adam Miller, Kaycee E. Faunce, Larry B. Barber, Jacob Fleck, Daniel Walter Burns, Jeramy Roland Jasmann, Michelle Hladik
2024, Science of the Total Environment (954)
Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharges can be a source of organic contaminants, including pesticides, to rivers. An integrated model was developed for the Potomac River watershed (PRW) to determine the amount of accumulated wastewater percentage of streamflow (ACCWW) and calculate predicted environmental concentrations...
Cross-fade sampling: Extremely efficient Bayesian inversion for a variety of geophysical problems
Sarah E. Minson
2024, Geophysical Journal International (239) 1629-1649
This paper introduces cross-fade sampling, a computationally efficient Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation method that uses a semi-analytical approach to quickly solve Bayesian inverse problems that do not themselves have an analytical solution. Cross-fading is efficient in two ways. First, it requires fewer samples to obtain the same quality...
Pesticides in surface water downstream of and near agricultural and developed land in Hawai‘i, 2015–19
Adam G. Johnson, Joseph J. Kennedy, David A. Alvarez
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5071
Pesticides and pesticide degradates (herein referred to as pesticides) in surface water were assessed at 78 sites on 4 Hawaiian Islands (Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Maui, and Island of Hawaiʻi) during 2015–19. Each site was downstream of or near agricultural land, developed land, or both. Most (58) sites were streams; the remaining...
Projected sea-level rise and high tide flooding at San Juan National Historic Site, Puerto Rico
Hana R. Thurman, Nicholas M. Enwright, Michael J. Osland, Davina L. Passeri, Richard H. Day, Bethanie M. Simons
2024, Fact Sheet 2024-3021
IntroductionNational parks and preserves in the South Atlantic-Gulf Region contain valuable coastal habitats such as tidal wetlands and mangrove forests, as well as irreplaceable historic buildings and archeological sites located in low-lying areas. These natural and cultural resources are vulnerable to accelerated sea-level rise and escalating high tide flooding events....
