Evaluating connection of aquifers to springs and streams, Great Basin National Park and vicinity, Nevada
David E. Prudic, Donald S. Sweetkind, Tracie R. Jackson, K. Elaine Dotson, Russell W. Plume, Christine E. Hatch, Keith J. Halford
2015, Professional Paper 1819
Federal agencies that oversee land management for much of the Snake Range in eastern Nevada, including the management of Great Basin National Park by the National Park Service, need to understand the potential extent of adverse effects to federally managed lands from nearby groundwater development. As a result, this study...
Benthic response to water quality and biotic pressures in lower south San Francisco Bay, Alviso Slough, and Coyote Creek
Francis Parchaso, Janet K. Thompson, Jeff S. Crauder, Rosa I. Anduaga, Sarah A. Pearson
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1234
Benthic invertebrate communities are monitored because the composition of those communities can effect and be affected by the water quality of an aquatic system. Benthic communities use and sometimes regulate the cycling of essential elements (for example, carbon). Benthic invertebrate taxa may also indicate acutely and chronically stressful environments...
Surficial geology and shaded seafloor relief of Georges Bank, Fundian Channel and Northeast Channel, Gulf of Maine
B.J. Todd, Page C. Valentine
2015, Report, Geological Survey of Canada Open File series
Georges Bank is a shallow submarine bank that lies south of Nova Scotia and east of Cape Cod and bounds the seaward side of the Gulf of Maine. The international boundary between Canada and the United States transects the bank, and the eastern part of the bank (~7500 square kilometres)...
Estimating natural recharge in San Gorgonio Pass watersheds, California, 1913–2012
Joseph A. Hevesi, Allen H. Christensen
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5122
A daily precipitation-runoff model was developed to estimate spatially and temporally distributed recharge for groundwater basins in the San Gorgonio Pass area, southern California. The recharge estimates are needed to define transient boundary conditions for a groundwater-flow model being developed to evaluate the effects of pumping and climate on...
Establishing conservation baselines with dynamic distribution models for bat populations facing imminent decline
Thomas J. Rodhouse, Patricia C. Ormsbee, Kathryn M. Irvine, Lee A. Vierling, Joseph M. Szewczak, Kerri T. Vierling
2015, Diversity and Distributions (21) 1401-1413
Aim Bat mortality rates from white-nose syndrome and wind power development are unprecedented. Cryptic and wide-ranging behaviours of bats make them difficult to survey, and population estimation is often intractable. We advance a model-based framework for making spatially explicit predictions about summertime distributions of bats from capture and acoustic surveys. Motivated...
The U.S. Geological Survey coal quality (COALQUAL) database version 3.0
Curtis A. Palmer, Charles L. Oman, Andy J. Park, James A. Luppens
2015, Data Series 975
Since the mid-1970s, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has maintained a coal quality database of national scope named USCHEM, which currently contains data for over 13,000 samples. A subset of the USCHEM database called COALQUAL Version 1.3 was initially published in 1994 and was followed by Version 2.0 in 1997....
Simulated responses of streams and ponds to groundwater withdrawals and wastewater return flows in southeastern Massachusetts
Carl S. Carlson, Donald A. Walter, Jeffrey R. Barbaro
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5168
Water use, such as withdrawals, wastewater return flows, and interbasin transfers, can alter streamflow regimes, water quality, and the integrity of aquatic habitat and affect the availability of water for human and ecosystem needs. To provide the information needed to determine alteration of streamflows and pond water levels in southeastern...
Regional potentiometric surface of the Ozark aquifer in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, November 2014–January 2015
Anna M. Nottmeier
2015, Scientific Investigations Map 3348
The Ozark aquifer, within the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system (herein referred to as the “Ozark system”), is the primary groundwater source in the Ozark Plateaus physiographic province (herein referred to as the “Ozark Plateaus”) of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Groundwater from the Ozark system has historically been an important...
U.S. Geological Survey assessment of reserve growth outside of the United States
Timothy R. Klett, Troy A. Cook, Ronald R. Charpentier, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Phuong A. Le
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5091
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated volumes of potential additions to oil and gas reserves for the United States by reserve growth in discovered accumulations. These volumes were derived by using a new methodology developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and reviewed by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Committee on...
A hidden view of wildlife conservation: How camera traps aid science, research and management
Allan F. O’Connell
2015, The Wildlife Professional (9) 56-59
Florida panthers are among the world’s most endangered — and elusive — animals. For approximately four decades, scientists have been researching this small population of panthers that inhabit the dense forests and swamps of south Florida. Because of their wide habitat range along with an absence of clear visual features,...
Quality of surface water in Missouri, water year 2014
Miya N. Barr
2015, Data Series 971
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, designed and operates a series of monitoring stations on streams and springs throughout Missouri known as the Ambient Water-Quality Monitoring Network. During the 2014 water year (October 1, 2013, through September 30, 2014), data were collected at...
Beyond annual streamflow reconstructions for the Upper Colorado River Basin: a paleo-water-balance approach
Subhrendu Gangopadhyay, Gregory J. McCabe, Connie A. Woodhouse
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 9763-9774
In this paper, we present a methodology to use annual tree-ring chronologies and a monthly water balance model to generate annual reconstructions of water balance variables (e.g., potential evapotrans- piration (PET), actual evapotranspiration (AET), snow water equivalent (SWE), soil moisture storage (SMS), and runoff (R)). The method involves resampling monthly...
Monitoring of vegetation response to elk population and habitat management in Rocky Mountain National Park, 2008–14
Linda Zeigenfuss, Therese L. Johnson
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1216
Since 2008, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado has been implementing an elk and vegetation management plan with the goal of managing elk populations and their habitats to improve the condition of key vegetation communities on elk winter range. Management actions that have been taken thus far include small reductions...
Trans-Amazon Drilling Project (TADP): origins and evolution of the forests, climate, and hydrology of the South American tropics
P.A. Baker, S.C. Fritz, C.G. Silva, C.A. Rigsby, M.L. Absy, R.P. Almeida, Maria C. Caputo, C.M. Chiessi, F.W. Cruz, C.W. Dick, S.J. Feakins, J. Figueiredo, K.H. Freeman, C. Hoorn, C.A. Jaramillo, A. Kern, E.M. Latrubesse, M.P. Ledru, A. Marzoli, A. Myrbo, A. Noren, W.E. Piller, M.I.F. Ramos, C.C. Ribas, R. Trinadade, A.J. West, I. Wahnfried, Debra A. Willard
2015, Scientific Drilling (20) 41-49
This article presents the scientific rationale for an ambitious ICDP drilling project to continuously sample Late Cretaceous to modern sediment in four different sedimentary basins that transect the equatorial Amazon of Brazil, from the Andean foreland to the Atlantic Ocean. The goals of this project are to document the evolution...
Upstream factors affecting Tualatin River algae—Tracking the 2008 Anabaena algae bloom to Wapato Lake, Oregon
Stewart A. Rounds, Kurt D. Carpenter, Kristel J. Fesler, Jessica L. Dorsey
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5178
Significant Findings A large bloom that included floating mats of the blue-green algae Anabaena flos-aquae occurred in the lower 20 miles of the Tualatin River in northwestern Oregon between July 7 and July 17, 2008. The floating bloom was deemed a hazard to recreational users of the river due to the potential...
csa2sac—A program for computing discharge from continuous slope-area stage data
Stephen M. Wiele
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1229
Introduction Continuous Slope-Area (CSA) gages were developed by the Arizona Water Science Center to enable the estimation of hydrographs when direct measurements of discharge cannot be made (Smith and others, 2010). CSA gages extend standard U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) methods for determining peak discharges to mid and high flows over a...
Coastal landforms and processes at the Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts—A primer
Graham S. Giese, S. Jeffress Williams, Mark Adams
2015, Circular 1417
Anyone who spends more than a few days on Cape Cod (the Cape) quickly becomes a coastal geologist, quickly learning the rhythms of daily tides and the seasonal cycles of beaches growing and being swept away by storms; swimmers and surfers track how the breakers appear, and dog-walkers notice the...
Avian influenza ecology in North Atlantic sea ducks: Not all ducks are created equal
Jeffrey S. Hall, Robin E. Russell, J. Christian Franson, Catherine Soos, Robert J. Dusek, R. Bradford Allen, Sean W. Nashold, Joshua L. Teslaa, Jon Einar Jonsson, Jennifer R. Ballard, Naomi Jnae Harms, Justin D. Brown
2015, PLoS ONE (10) 1-16
Wild waterfowl are primary reservoirs of avian influenza viruses (AIV). However the role of sea ducks in the ecology of avian influenza, and how that role differs from freshwater ducks, has not been examined. We obtained and analyzed sera from North Atlantic sea ducks and determined the seroprevalence in those...
Land-cover types, shoreline positions, and sand extents derived From Landsat satellite imagery, Assateague Island to Metompkin Island, Maryland and Virginia, 1984 to 2014
Julie Bernier, Steven H. Douglas, Joseph F. Terrano, John A. Barras, Nathaniel G. Plant, Christopher G. Smith
2015, Data Series 968
The U.S. Geological Survey has a long history of responding to and documenting the impacts of storms along the Nation’s coasts and incorporating these data into storm impact and coastal change vulnerability assessments. These studies, however, have traditionally focused on sandy shorelines and sandy barrier-island systems, without consideration of impacts...
Assessment of undiscovered shale gas and shale oil resources in the Mississippian Barnett Shale, Bend Arch–Fort Worth Basin Province, North-Central Texas
Kristen R. Marra, Ronald R. Charpentier, Christopher J. Schenk, Michael D. Lewan, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Timothy R. Klett, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Phuong A. Le, Tracey J. Mercier, Janet K. Pitman, Marilyn E. Tennyson
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3078
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean volumes of 53 trillion cubic feet of shale gas, 172 million barrels of shale oil, and 176 million barrels of natural gas liquids in the Barnett Shale of the Bend Arch–Fort Worth Basin Province of Texas....
Fall and winter movements and habitat use of the introduced American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeiana) in a Montana pond
Adam J. Sepulveda, Megan J. Layhee
2015, Herpetological Conservation and Biology (10) 978-984
American Bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus) have been introduced across the globe, including in many northern latitude habitats where wetlands are ice-covered for part of the year. Because bullfrogs are less mobile at low temperatures, greater knowledge about their overwintering habitat may provide additional opportunities for control. Here, we described fall and...
Standard operating procedures for collection of soil and sediment samples for the Sediment-bound Contaminant Resiliency and Response (SCoRR) strategy pilot study
Shawn C. Fisher, Timothy J. Reilly, Daniel K. Jones, William Benzel, Dale W. Griffin, Keith A. Loftin, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Jonathan A. Cohl
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1188-B
An understanding of the effects on human and ecological health brought by major coastal storms or flooding events is typically limited because of a lack of regionally consistent baseline and trends data in locations proximal to potential contaminant sources and mitigation activities, sensitive ecosystems, and recreational facilities where exposures are...
Functional response of ungulate browsers in disturbed eastern hemlock forests
Stephen DeStefano
2015, Forest Ecology and Management (32) 177-183
Ungulate browsing in predator depleted North American landscapes is believed to be causing widespread tree recruitment failures. However, canopy disturbances and variations in ungulate densities are sources of heterogeneity that can buffer ecosystems against herbivory. Relatively little is known about the functional response (the rate of consumption in relation to...
Quantifying 10 years of improved earthquake-monitoring performance in the Caribbean region
Daniel E. McNamara, Christa Hillebrandt-Andrade, Jean-Marie Saurel, V. Huerfano-Moreno, Lloyd Lynch
2015, Seismological Research Letters (87)
Over 75 tsunamis have been documented in the Caribbean and adjacent regions during the past 500 years. Since 1500, at least 4484 people are reported to have perished in these killer waves. Hundreds of thousands are currently threatened along the Caribbean coastlines. Were a great tsunamigenic earthquake to occur in...
Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus maculosus ) spatial distribution, breeding water depth, and use of artificial spawning habitat in the Detroit River
Jaquelyn M. Craig, David A. Mifsud, Andrew S. Briggs, James C. Boase, Gregory W. Kennedy
2015, Herpetological Conservation and Biology (10) 926-934
Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus maculosus) populations have been declining in the Great Lakes region of North America. However, during fisheries assessments in the Detroit River, we documented Mudpuppy reproduction when we collected all life stages from egg through adult as by-catch in fisheries assessments. Ten years of fisheries sampling resulted in...
