Reconnaissance sediment budget for selected watersheds of West Maui, Hawai‘i
Jonathan D. Stock, Kim A. Falinski, Tova Callender
2016, Open-File Report 2015-1190
Episodic runoff brings suspended sediment to the nearshore waters of West Maui, Hawaiʻi. Even small rainfalls create visible plumes over a few hours. We used mapping, field experiments, and analysis of recent (July 19–20, 2014) and historic rainfall to estimate sources of land-based pollution for two watersheds in West...
Evaluation of the hydraulic and biological performance of the portable floating fish collector at Cougar Reservoir and Dam, Oregon, 2014
John W. Beeman, Scott D. Evans, Philip V. Haner, Hal C. Hansel, Amy C. Hansen, Gabriel S. Hansen, Tyson W. Hatton, Jamie M. Sprando, Collin D. Smith, Noah S. Adams
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1003
The biological and hydraulic performance of a new portable floating fish collector (PFFC) located in a cul-de-sac within the forebay of Cougar Dam, Oregon, was evaluated during 2014. The purpose of the PFFC was to explore surface collection as a means to capture juvenile salmonids at one or more sites...
Evaluating Landsat 8 evapotranspiration for water use mapping in the Colorado River Basin
Gabriel Senay, MacKenzie Friedrichs, Ramesh K. Singh, Naga Manohar Velpuri
2016, Remote Sensing of Environment (185) 171-185
Evapotranspiration (ET) mapping at the Landsat spatial resolution (100 m) is essential to fully understand water use and water availability at the field scale. Water use estimates in the Colorado River Basin (CRB), which has diverse ecosystems and complex hydro-climatic regions, will be helpful to water planners and managers. Availability of...
A semi-structured MODFLOW-USG model to evaluate local water sources to wells for decision support
Daniel T. Feinstein, Michael N. Fienen, Howard W. Reeves, Christian D. Langevin
2016, Ground Water (54) 532-544
In order to better represent the configuration of the stream network and simulate local groundwater-surface water interactions, a version of MODFLOW with refined spacing in the topmost layer was applied to a Lake Michigan Basin (LMB) regional groundwater-flow model developed by the U.S. Geological. Regional MODFLOW models commonly use coarse...
USGS lidar science strategy—Mapping the technology to the science
Jason M. Stoker, John Brock, Christopher E. Soulard, Kernell G. Ries, Larry J. Sugarbaker, Wesley E. Newton, Patricia K. Haggerty, Kathy Lee, John A. Young
2016, Open-File Report 2015-1209
Summary The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) utilizes light detection and ranging (lidar) and enabling technologies to support many science research activities. Lidar-derived metrics and products have become a fundamental input to complex hydrologic and hydraulic models, flood inundation models, fault detection and geologic mapping, topographic and land-surface mapping, landslide and volcano...
Determination of pesticides and pesticide degradates in filtered water by direct aqueous-injection liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry
Mark W. Sandstrom, Leslie K. Kanagy, Cyrissa A. Anderson, Christopher J. Kanagy
2016, Techniques and Methods 5-B11
A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed for determination of 229 pesticides compounds (113 pesticides and 116 pesticide degradates) in filtered water samples from stream and groundwater sites. The pesticides represent a broad range of chemical classes and were selected based on criteria such as current-use intensity, probability...
Assessment of undiscovered continuous gas resources of the Ordos Basin Province, China, 2015
Ronald R. Charpentier, Timothy R. Klett, Christopher J. Schenk, Michael E. Brownfield, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Phuong A. Le, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kristen R. Marra, Tracey J. Mercier
2016, Fact Sheet 2015-3087
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean resources of 28 trillion cubic feet of tight gas and 5.6 trillion cubic feet of coalbed gas in upper Paleozoic rocks in the Ordos Basin Province, China....
A thermodynamical model for the surface tension of silicate melts in contact with H2O gas
Simone Colucci, Maurizio Battaglia, Raffaello Trigila
2016, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (175) 113-127
Surface tension plays an important role in the nucleation of H2O gas bubbles in magmatic melts and in the time-dependent rheology of bubble-bearing magmas. Despite several experimental studies, a physics based model of the surface tension of magmatic melts in contact with H2O is lacking. This paper employs gradient theory...
Using standardized fishery data to inform rehabilitation efforts
Jonathan J. Spurgeon, Nathaniel T. Stewart, Mark A. Pegg, Kevin L. Pope, Mark T. Porath
2016, Lake and Reservoir Management (32) 41-50
Lakes and reservoirs progress through an aging process often accelerated by human activities, resulting in degradation or loss of ecosystem services. Resource managers thus attempt to slow or reverse the negative effects of aging using a myriad of rehabilitation strategies. Sustained monitoring programs to assess the efficacy of rehabilitation strategies...
Evolution of fracture permeability of ultramafic rocks undergoing serpentinization at hydrothermal conditions: An experimental study
Aida Farough, Diane E. Moore, David A. Lockner, R.P. Lowell
2016, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (17) 44-55
We performed flow-through laboratory experiments on five cylindrically cored samples of ultramafic rocks, in which we generated a well-mated through-going tensile fracture, to investigate evolution of fracture permeability during serpentinization. The samples were tested in a triaxial loading machine at a confining pressure of 50 MPa, pore pressure of 20...
Iterative ecological forecasting: Needs, opportunities, and challenges
Mike Dietze, Andrew Fox, Julio L. Betancourt, Mevin Hooten, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Tim H. Keitt, Melissa Kenney, Christine Laney, Laurel Larsen, Henry W. Loescher, Claire Lunch, Bryan Pijanowski, James T. Randerson, Emily Read, Andrew T. Tredennick, Kathleen Weathers, Ethan P. White
2016, Conference Paper
A fundamental environmental challenge facing humanity in the 21st century and beyond is predicting the impacts of global environmental change. This challenge is complicated by the fact that we live on a non-stationary, unreplicated planet that is rapidly moving outside the envelope of natural variability into an historical non-analog world....
Water-magma interaction and plume processes in the 2008 Okmok eruption, Alaska
Joel A. Unema, Michael H. Ort, Jessica D Larsen, Christina A. Neal, Janet R. Schaefer
2016, Geological Society of America Bulletin (128) 792-806
Eruptions of similar explosivity can have divergent effects on the surroundings due to differences in the behavior of the tephra in the eruption column and atmosphere. Okmok volcano, located on Umnak Island in the eastern Aleutian Islands, erupted explosively between 12 July and 19 August 2008. The basaltic andesitic eruption...
Geostatistical analysis of tritium, groundwater age and other noble gas derived parameters in California
A. Visser, J. E. Moran, D. Hillegonds, M. Singleton, Justin T. Kulongoski, Kenneth Belitz, B. Esser
2016, Water Research (91) 314-330
Key characteristics of California groundwater systems related to aquifer vulnerability, sustainability, recharge locations and mechanisms, and anthropogenic impact on recharge are revealed in a spatial geostatistical analysis of a unique data set of tritium, noble gases and other isotopic analyses unprecedented in size at nearly 4000 samples.The correlation...
Identifying long term empirical relationships between storm characteristics and episodic groundwater recharge
Arik Tashie, Benjamin B. Mirus, Tamlin Pavelsky
2016, Water Resources Research (52) 21-35
Shallow aquifers are an important source of water resources and provide base flow to streams; yet actual rates of groundwater recharge are difficult to estimate. While climate change is predicted to increase the frequency and magnitude of extreme precipitation events, the resulting impact on groundwater recharge remains poorly understood. We...
Long-term changes in sediment and nutrient delivery from Conowingo Dam to Chesapeake Bay: Effects of reservoir sedimentation
Qian Zhang, Robert M. Hirsch, William P. Ball
2016, Environmental Science & Technology (50) 1877-1886
Reduction of suspended sediment (SS), total phosphorus (TP), and total nitrogen is an important focus for Chesapeake Bay watershed management. The Susquehanna River, the bay’s largest tributary, has drawn attention because SS loads from behind Conowingo Dam (near the river’s mouth) have been rising dramatically. To better understand these changes,...
Response of periphyton fatty acid composition to supplemental flows in the upper Esopus Creek, Catskill Mountains, New York
Scott D. George, Anne G. Ernst, Barry P. Baldigo, Dale C. Honeyfield
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5161
Fatty acid analysis of periphyton is an emerging tool for assessing the condition of a stream ecosystem on the basis of its water quality. The study presented in this report was designed to test the hypothesis that periphyton communities have a fatty acid profile that can detect excessive turbidity and...
Paleomagnetic record determined in cores from deep research wells in the Quaternary Santa Clara basin, California
Edward A. Mankinen, Carl M. Wentworth
2016, Geosphere (12) 35-57
Paleomagnetic study of cores from six deep wells provides an independent temporal framework for much of the alluvial stratigraphy of the Quaternary basin beneath the Santa Clara Valley. This stratigraphy consists of 8 upward-fining cycles in the upper 300 m of section and an underlying 150 m or more of...
Evaluating potential sources of variation in Chironomidae catch rates on sticky traps
Joshua T. Smith, Jeffrey D. Muehlbauer, Theodore A. Kennedy
2016, Marine and Freshwater Research (67) 1987-1990
Sticky traps are a convenient tool for assessing adult aquatic insect population dynamics, but there are many practical questions about how trap sampling artefacts may affect observed results. Utilising study sites on the Colorado River and two smaller streams in northern Arizona, USA, we evaluated whether catch rates and sex...
Post-disaster supply chain interdependent critical infrastructure system restoration: A review of data necessary and available for modeling
Varun Ramachandran, Suzanna K. Long, Thomas G. Shoberg, Steven Corns, Hector J. Carlo
2016, Data Science Journal (15)
The majority of restoration strategies in the wake of large-scale disasters have focused on short-term emergency response solutions. Few consider medium- to long-term restoration strategies to reconnect urban areas to national supply chain interdependent critical infrastructure systems (SCICI). These SCICI promote the effective flow of goods, services, and information vital...
Assessing models of speciation under different biogeographic scenarios; An empirical study using multi-locus and RNA-seq analyses
Taylor Edwards, Marc Tollis, PingHsun Hsieh, Ryan N. Gutenkunst, Zhen Liu, Kenro Kusumi, Melanie Culver, Robert W. Murphy
2016, Ecology and Evolution (6) 379-396
Evolutionary biology often seeks to decipher the drivers of speciation, and much debate persists over the relative importance of isolation and gene flow in the formation of new species. Genetic studies of closely related species can assess if gene flow was present during speciation, because signatures of past introgression often...
Evaluation of the 8310-N-S manufactured by Sutron–Results of bench, temperature, and field deployment testing
Gerald A. Kunkle
2016, Open-File Report 2015-1210
The Sutron 8310-N-S (8310) data collection platform (DCP) manufactured by Sutron Corporation was evaluated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF) for conformance to the manufacturer’s specifications for recording and transmitting data. The 8310-N-S is a National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA)-enclosed DCP with a built-in Geostationary Operational...
The effect of particle size distribution on the design of urban stormwater control measures
William R. Selbig, Michael N. Fienen, Judy A. Horwatich, Roger T. Bannerman
2016, Water (8)
An urban pollutant loading model was used to demonstrate how incorrect assumptions on the particle size distribution (PSD) in urban runoff can alter the design characteristics of stormwater control measures (SCMs) used to remove solids in stormwater. Field-measured PSD, although highly variable, is generally coarser than the widely-accepted PSD characterized...
Ca, Sr and Ba stable isotopes reveal the fate of soil nutrients along a tropical climosequence
Thomas D. Bullen, Oliver A. Chadwick
2016, Chemical Geology (422) 25-45
Nutrient biolifting is an important pedogenic process in which plant roots obtain inorganic nutrients such as phosphorus (P) and calcium (Ca) from minerals at depth and concentrate those nutrients at the surface. Here we use soil chemistry and stable isotopes of the alkaline earth elements Ca, strontium (Sr) and barium...
The relative influence of road characteristics and habitat on adjacent lizard populations in arid shrublands
Kaylan A. Hubbard, Anna D. Chalfoun, Kenneth G. Gerow
2016, Journal of Herpetology (50) 29-36
As road networks continue to expand globally, indirect impacts to adjacent wildlife populations remain largely unknown. Simultaneously, reptile populations are declining worldwide and anthropogenic habitat loss and fragmentation are frequently cited causes. We evaluated the relative influence of three different road characteristics (surface treatment, width, and traffic volume) and habitat...
The impacts of human recreation on brown bears (Ursus arctos): A review and new management tool
Jennifer Fortin-noreus, Karyn D. Rode, Grant V. Hilderbrand, James Wilder, Sean Farley, Carole Jorgensen, Bruce G. Marcot
2016, PLoS ONE (11) 1-26
Increased popularity of recreational activities in natural areas has led to the need to better understand their impacts on wildlife. The majority of research conducted to date has focused on behavioral effects from individual recreations, thus there is a limited understanding of the potential for population-level or cumulative effects. Brown...
