Nitrosation and nitration of fulvic acid, peat and coal with nitric acid
Kevin A. Thorn, Larry G. Cox
2016, PLoS ONE (11)
Nitrohumic acids, produced from base extraction of coals and peats oxidized with nitric acid, have received considerable attention as soil ammendments in agriculture. The nitration chemistry however is incompletely understood. Moreover, there is a need to understand the reaction of nitric acid with natural organic matter (NOM) in general, in...
Regional oxygen reduction and denitrification rates in groundwater from multi-model residence time distributions, San Joaquin Valley, USA
Christopher T. Green, Bryant C. Jurgens, Yong Zhang, Jeffrey Starn, Michael J. Singleton, Bradley K. Esser
2016, Journal of Hydrology (145) 47-55
Rates of oxygen and nitrate reduction are key factors in determining the chemical evolution of groundwater. Little is known about how these rates vary and covary in regional groundwater settings, as few studies have focused on regional datasets with multiple tracers and methods of analysis that account for effects of...
The potassic sedimentary rocks in Gale Crater, Mars, as seen by ChemCam Onboard Curiosity
Laetitia Le Deit, Nicolas Mangold, Olivier Forni, Agnes Cousin, Jeremie Lasue, Susanne Schröder, Roger C. Wiens, Dawn Y. Sumner, Cecile Fabre, Katherine M. Stack, Ryan B. Anderson, Diana L. Blaney, Samuel M. Clegg, Gilles Dromart, Martin Fisk, Olivier Gasnault, John P. Grotzinger, Sanjeev Gupta, Nina Lanza, Stephane Le Mouelic, Sylvestre Maurice, Scott M. McLennan, Pierre-Yves Meslin, Marion Nachon, Horton E. Newsom, Valerie Payre, William Rapin, Melissa Rice, Violaine Sautter, Allan H. Treiman
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research (121) 784-804
The Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity encountered potassium-rich clastic sedimentary rocks at two sites in Gale Crater, the waypoints Cooperstown and Kimberley. These rocks include several distinct meters thick sedimentary outcrops ranging from fine sandstone to conglomerate, interpreted to record an ancient fluvial or fluvio-deltaic depositional system. From ChemCam Laser-Induced...
Freshwater wrack along Great Lakes coasts harbors Escherichia coli: Potential for bacterial transfer between watershed environments
Meredith Nevers, Kasia Przybyla-Kelly, Ashley Spoljaric, Dawn A. Shively, Richard L. Whitman, Muruleedhara Byappanahalli
2016, Journal of Great Lakes Research (42) 760-767
We investigated the occurrence, persistence, and growth potential of Escherichia coli associated with freshwater organic debris (i.e., wrack) frequently deposited along shorelines (shoreline wrack), inputs from rivers (river CPOM), and parking lot runoffs (urban litter). Samples were collected from 9 Great Lakes beaches, 3 creeks, and 4 beach parking lots....
Effects of variations in flow characteristics through W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam on downstream water quality in the Caloosahatchee River Estuary and in McIntyre Creek in the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, southern Florida, 2010–13
Amanda Booth, Lars E. Soderqvist, Travis M. Knight
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5033
The U.S. Geological Survey studied water-quality trends at the mouth of McIntyre Creek, an entry point to the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, to investigate correlations between flow rates and volumes through the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam and water-quality constituents inside the refuge from March 2010 to December...
Preliminary investigation of groundwater flow and trichloroethene transport in the Surficial Aquifer System, Naval Industrial Reserve Ordnance Plant, Fridley, Minnesota
Jeffrey N. King, J. Hal Davis
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1066
Industrial practices at the Naval Industrial Reserve Ordnance Plant, in Fridley, Minnesota, caused soil and groundwater contamination. Some volatile organic compounds from the plant might have discharged to the Mississippi River, forced by the natural hydraulic gradient in the surficial aquifer system. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency included the Naval...
Lithospheric flexure under the Hawaiian volcanic load: Internal stresses and a broken plate revealed by earthquakes
Fred W. Klein
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (121) 2400-2428
Several lines of earthquake evidence indicate that the lithospheric plate is broken under the load of the island of Hawai`i, where the geometry of the lithosphere is circular with a central depression. The plate bends concave downward surrounding a stress-free hole, rather than bending concave upward as with past assumptions. Earthquake focal mechanisms show...
Wind energy development: Methods for assessing risks to birds and bats pre-construction
Todd E. Katzner, Victoria Bennett, Tricia A. Miller, Adam E. Duerr, Melissa A. Braham, Amanda Hale
2016, Human-Wildlife Interactions (10) 42-52
Wind power generation is rapidly expanding. Although wind power is a low-carbon source of energy, it can impact negatively birds and bats, either directly through fatality or indirectly by displacement or habitat loss. Pre-construction risk assessment at wind facilities within the United States is usually required only on public lands....
Wind energy development: Methods to assess bird and bat fatality rates post-construction
Manuela M. Huso, Daniel Dalthorp, T. J. Miller, Dawn Bruns
2016, Human-Wildlife Interactions (10) 62-70
Monitoring fatalities at wind energy facilities after they have been constructed can provide valuable information regarding impacts of wind power development on wildlife. The objective of this monitoring is to estimate abundance of a super-population of carcasses that entered the area within a designated period of time. By definition, the...
Exotic plant infestation is associated with decreased modularity and increased numbers of connectors in mixed-grass prairie pollination networks
Diane L. Larson, Paul A. Rabie, Sam Droege, Jennifer L. Larson, Milton Haar
2016, PLoS ONE (11) 1-18
The majority of pollinating insects are generalists whose lifetimes overlap flowering periods of many potentially suitable plant species. Such generality is instrumental in allowing exotic plant species to invade pollination networks. The particulars of how existing networks change in response to an invasive plant over the course of its phenology...
Announcement—guidance document for acquiring reliable data in ecological restoration projects
Martin A. Stapanian, Karen Rodriguez, Timothy E. Lewis, Louis Blume, Craig J. Palmer, Lynn Walters, Judith Schofield, Molly M. Amos, Adam Bucher
2016, Restoration Ecology (24) 570-572
The Laurentian Great Lakes are undergoing intensive ecological restoration in Canada and the United States. In the United States, an interagency committee was formed to facilitate implementation of quality practices for federally funded restoration projects in the Great Lakes basin. The Committee's responsibilities include developing a guidance document that will...
Novel insights from NMR spectroscopy into seasonal changes in the composition of dissolved organic matter exported to the Bering Sea by the Yukon River
Xiaoyan Cao, George R. Aiken, Robert G. M. Spencer, Kenna D. Butler, Jingdong Mao, Klaus Schmidt-Rohr
2016, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (181) 72-88
Seasonal (spring freshet, summer–autumn, and winter) variability in the chemical composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from the Yukon River was determined using advanced one- and two-dimensional (2D) solid-state NMR spectroscopy, coupled with isotopic measurements and UV–visible spectroscopy. Analyses were performed on two major DOM fractions, the hydrophobic organic acid...
Calorific value and compositional ultimate analysis with a case study of a Texas lignite
Ricardo A. Olea, James Luppens, Juan J. Egozcue, Vera Pawlowsky-Glahn
2016, International Journal of Coal Geology (162) 27-33
Measurements to determine coal quality as fuel include proximate analysis, ultimate analysis and calorific value. The latter is an attribute taking non-negative real values, so a simple transformation is sufficient for its spatial modeling applying geostatistics. The analyses, however, involve proportions that follow the properties of compositional data, thus requiring special preprocessing for an adequate...
Hydrogeochemistry and coal-associated bacterial populations from a methanogenic coal bed
Elliott P. Barnhart, Edwin P. Weeks, Elizabeth Jones, Daniel J. Ritter, Jennifer C. McIntosh, Arthur C. Clark, Leslie F. Ruppert, Alfred B. Cunningham, David S. Vinson, William H. Orem, Matthew W. Fields
2016, International Journal of Coal Geology (162) 14-26
Biogenic coalbed methane (CBM), a microbially-generated source of natural gas trapped within coal beds, is an important energy resource in many countries. Specific bacterial populations and enzymes involved in coal degradation, the potential rate-limiting step of CBM formation, are relatively unknown. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has established a field...
The tectonics of Titan: Global structural mapping from Cassini RADAR
Zac Yung-Chun Liu, Jani Radebaugh, Ron A. Harris, Eric H. Christiansen, Catherine D. Neish, Randolph L. Kirk, Ralph D. Lorenz, Cassini RADAR Team
2016, Icarus (270) 14-29
The Cassini RADAR mapper has imaged elevated mountain ridge belts on Titan with a linear-to-arcuate morphology indicative of a tectonic origin. Systematic geomorphologic mapping of the ridges in Synthetic Aperture RADAR (SAR) images reveals that the orientation of ridges is globally E–W and the ridges are more common near the...
Nature, distribution, and origin of Titan’s Undifferentiated Plains
Rosaly Lopes, M. J. Malaska, A. Solomonidou, Gall A. Le, M.A. Janssen, Catherine D. Neish, E. P. Turtle, S. P. D. Birch, A. G. Hayes, J. Radebaugh, A. Coustenis, A. Schoenfeld, B.W. Stiles, Randolph L. Kirk, K. L. Mitchell, E. R. Stofan, K. J. Lawrence, Cassini RADAR Team
2016, Icarus (270) 162-182
The Undifferentiated Plains on Titan, first mapped by Lopes et al. (Lopes, R.M.C. et al., 2010. Icarus, 205, 540–588), are vast expanses of terrains that appear radar-dark and fairly uniform in Cassini Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. As a result, these terrains are often referred to as “blandlands”. While the...
Fluvial erosion as a mechanism for crater modification on Titan
Catherine D. Neish, J. L. Molaro, J. M. Lora, A.D. Howard, Randolph L. Kirk, P. Schenk, V.J. Bray, R. D. Lorenz
2016, Icarus (270) 114-129
There are few identifiable impact craters on Titan, especially in the polar regions. One explanation for this observation is that the craters are being destroyed through fluvial processes, such as weathering, mass wasting, fluvial incision and deposition. In this work, we use a landscape evolution model to determine whether or...
Quantifying resilience
Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler
2016, Journal of Applied Ecology (53) 617-624
The biosphere is under unprecedented pressure, reflected in rapid changes in our global ecological, social, technological and economic systems. In many cases, ecological and social systems can adapt to these changes over time, but when a critical threshold is surpassed, a system under stress can undergo catastrophic change and reorganize...
Decadal-scale export of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment from the Susquehanna River basin, USA: Analysis and synthesis of temporal and spatial patterns
Qian Zhang, William P. Ball, Douglas L. Moyer
2016, Science of the Total Environment (563-564) 1016-1029
The export of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and suspended sediment (SS) is a long-standing management concern for the Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA. Here we present a comprehensive evaluation of nutrient and sediment loads over the last three decades at multiple locations in the Susquehanna River basin (SRB), Chesapeake's largest tributary...
Linkages between unpaved forest roads and streambed sediment: why context matters in directing road restoration
Robert K. Al-Chokhachy, Tom A. Black, Cameron Thomas, Charlie H. Luce, Bruce Rieman, Richard Cissel, Anne Carlson, Shane Hendrickson, Eric K. Archer, Jeffrey L. Kershner
2016, Restoration Ecology (24) 589-598
Unpaved forest roads remain a pervasive disturbance on public lands and mitigating sediment from road networks remains a priority for management agencies. Restoring roaded landscapes is becoming increasingly important for many native coldwater fishes that disproportionately rely on public lands for persistence. However, effectively targeting restoration opportunities requires a comprehensive...
Modeled effects of soil acidification on long-term ecological and economic outcomes for managed forests in the Adirondack region (USA)
Jesse Caputo, Colin M. Beier, Timothy J. Sullivan, Gregory B. Lawrence
2016, Science of the Total Environment (565) 401-411
Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is among the most ecologically and economically important tree species in North America, and its growth and regeneration is often the focus of silvicultural practices in northern hardwood forests. A key stressor for sugar maple (SM) is acid rain, which depletes base cations from poorly-buffered forest...
Long-term trends in naturalized rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) populations in the upper Esopus Creek, Ulster County, New York, 2009–15
Scott D. George, Barry P. Baldigo
2016, Data Series 992
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, surveyed fish communities annually on the main stem and tributaries of the...
Reply to comments by Riley and Dunlop on He et al. (2015)
James R. Bence, Charles P. Madenjian, Ji X. He, David G. Fielder, Steven A. Pothoven, Norine E. Dobiesz, James E. Johnson, Mark P. Ebener, R. Adam Cottrill, Lloyd C. Mohr, Scott R. Koproski
2016, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (73) 865-868
He et al. (2015) described piscivory patterns in the main basin of Lake Huron 1984-2010, during which there was also a pattern of stepwise declines in the abundance of dominant prey fish species. The approach of He et al. (2015) was to couple age-structured stock assessment and fish bioenergetics models...
Rangewide genetic analysis of Lesser Prairie-Chicken reveals population structure, range expansion, and possible introgression
Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Randall W DeYoung, Jennifer A. Fike, Christian A. Hagen, Jeff A. Johnson, Lena C. Larsson, Michael Patten
2016, Conservation Genetics (17) 643-660
The distribution of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) has been markedly reduced due to loss and fragmentation of habitat. Portions of the historical range, however, have been recolonized and even expanded due to planting of conservation reserve program (CRP) fields that provide favorable vegetation structure for Lesser Prairie-Chickens....
QRev—Software for computation and quality assurance of acoustic doppler current profiler moving-boat streamflow measurements—User’s manual for version 2.8
David S. Mueller
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1052
The software program, QRev computes the discharge from moving-boat acoustic Doppler current profiler measurements using data collected with any of the Teledyne RD Instrument or SonTek bottom tracking acoustic Doppler current profilers. The computation of discharge is independent of the manufacturer of the acoustic Doppler current profiler because QRev applies...
