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As part of the first-ever U.S. Geological Survey global assessment of undiscovered copper resources, data common to several regional spatial databases published by the U.S. Geological Survey, including one report from Finland and one from Greenland, were standardized, updated, and compiled into a global copper resource database. This integrated collection...

In 2015, as part of an on-going screening program for contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8, surface waters at 18 locations in or near seven national park units within the Northern Colorado Plateau Network (NCPN) were sampled for pesticides and pesticide...

When Rudyard Kipling wrote The Jungle Book in 1894 and included the famous line "For the strength of the Wolf is the Pack, and the strength of the Pack is the Wolf," he would have had no idea that over a century later, scientific research would back up his poetic...

The mid-Piacenzian is known as a period of relative warmth when compared to the present day. A comprehensive understanding of conditions during the Piacenzian serves as both a conceptual model and a source for boundary conditions as well as means of verification of global climate model experiments. In...

Alaska, the largest State within the United States, and mainly located north of latitude 60°, is an important part of the Circum-Arctic region. Alaska is a richly endowed region with a long and complex geologic history. The mining history is short by world standards but nevertheless there are a number...

Play fairway analysis in geothermal exploration derives from a systematic methodology originally developed within the petroleum industry and is based on a geologic and hydrologic framework of identified geothermal systems. We are tailoring this methodology to study the geothermal resource potential of the Snake River Plain and surrounding region. This...

Considerable advances have been made in knowledge about Golden-winged Warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera) in the past decade. Recent employment of molecular analysis, stable-isotope analysis, telemetry-based monitoring of survival and behavior, and spatially explicit modeling techniques have added to, and revised, an already broad base of published knowledge. Here, we synthesize findings...

Natural resource professionals have frequently criticized universities for poorly preparing graduates to succeed in their jobs. We surveyed members of the American Fisheries Society to determine which job skills and knowledge of academic topics employers, students, and university faculty members deemed most important to early-career success of fisheries professionals. Respondents...

This report and accompanying geologic map portray the eruptive history of Mammoth Mountain and a surrounding array of contemporaneous volcanic units that erupted in its near periphery. The moderately alkaline Mammoth eruptive suite, basaltic to rhyodacitic, represents a discrete new magmatic system, less than 250,000 years old, that followed decline...

A synthesis of Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous collision-related metamorphic events in the Arctic Alaska–Chukotka microplate clarifies its likely movement history during opening of the Amerasian and Canada basins. Comprehensive tectonic reconstructions of basin opening have been problematic, in part, because of the large size of the microplate, uncertainties...

Two aeromagnetic surveys were flown to promote further understanding of the geology and structure in northwest Utah and adjacent parts of Nevada and Idaho by serving as a basis for geophysical interpretations and by supporting geological mapping, water and mineral resource investigations, and other topical studies. Although this area is...

Health of humans, animals, plants, and ecosystems are intertwined. Disturbance tips the balance in favor of weedy species, vectors, and disease agents. Biodiversity is important to prevent imbalance in nature. However, more scholarship is needed, and there is still much more to study, understand, and manage than we currently know....

This chapter enumerates the steps required in designing and planning field studies on the ecology and conservation of reptiles, as these involve a high level of uncertainty and risk. To this end, the chapter differentiates between goals (descriptions of what one intends to accomplish) and objectives (the...

Surplus nitrogen (N) estimates, principal component analysis (PCA), and end-member mixing analysis (EMMA) were used in a multisite comparison contrasting the fate of N in diverse agricultural watersheds. We applied PCA-EMMA in 10 watersheds located in Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, Mississippi, and Washington ranging in size from 5 to 1254...

Invasion of North American waters by nonnative Dreissena polymorpha and D. rostriformis bugensishas resulted in declines of the Unionidae family of native North American mussels. Dreissenid mussels biofoul unionid mussels in large numbers and interfere with unionid movement, their acquisition of food, and the native mussels' ability to open and close their shells....

Corrosive groundwater, if untreated, can dissolve lead and other metals from pipes and other components in water distribution systems. Two indicators of potential corrosivity—the Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) and the Potential to Promote Galvanic Corrosion (PPGC)—were used to identify which areas in the United States might be more susceptible to...

The “Judas” technique is based on the idea that a radio-tagged individual can be used to “betray” conspecifics during the course of its routine social behavior. The Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is an invasive constrictor in southern Florida, and few methods are available for its control....

In western North America, where infestations of mountain pine beetles continue to ravage thousands of acres of forest lands, Landsat satellites bear witness to the onslaught in a way that neither humans nor most other satellites can see....

Phosphorus data were collected from the Kent Park Lake watershed in Johnson County, Iowa, in 2014 and 2015 to obtain information to assist in the management of the water quality in the lake. Phosphorus concentrations were measured for sediment from several ponds in the watershed and sediment deposited in the...

A wildfire’s devastation of forest and rangeland seldom ends when the last embers die. In the western United States, rain on a scorched mountainside can turn ash into mudslides. Debris flows unleashed by rainstorms can put nearby homes into harm’s way and send people scrambling for safety. The infrared capabilities...

Introduction The Hells Canyon Complex (HCC) is a hydroelectric project built and operated by the Idaho Power Company (IPC) that consists of three dams on the Snake River along the Oregon and Idaho border (fig. 1). The dams have resulted in the creation of Brownlee, Oxbow, and Hells Canyon Reservoirs, which have a combined storage capacity...

This study describes channel changes following completion of the Provo River Restoration Project (PRRP), the largest stream restoration project in Utah and one of the largest projects in the United States in which a gravel-bed river was fully reconstructed. We summarize project objectives and the design process, and we analyze...

Suspended-sediment characteristics can be computed using acoustic indices derived from acoustic Doppler velocity meter (ADVM) backscatter data. The sediment acoustic index method applied in these types of studies can be used to more accurately and cost-effectively provide time-series estimates of suspended-sediment concentration and load, which is essential for informed solutions...

Summary In response to the recent removal of international sanctions on Iran, including the lifting of “secondary” sanctions by the United States on investment into and trade with Iran, the U.S. Geological Survey National Minerals Information Center compiled and analyzed available information on the current state of Iran’s nonfuel minerals industry....

Livestock fences have been hypothesized to significantly contribute to mortality of lesser prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus); however, quantification of mortality due to fence collisions is lacking across their current distribution. Variation in fence density, landscape composition and configuration, and land use could influence collision risk of lesser prairie-chickens. We monitored fences...