Changes in the saltwater interface corresponding to the installation of a seepage barrier near Lake Okeechobee, Florida
Scott T. Prinos, Robert Valderrama
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1256
In 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began monitoring the saltwater interface near Lake Okeechobee to evaluate changes in interface depth that could possibly be related to the repair of the Herbert Hoover Dike. A seepage barrier (or cut-off wall), installed by the U.S....
Water-level and wave measurements in the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, 2012 and 2013
Patrick J. Dickhudt, Christopher R. Sherwood, Nancy T. DeWitt
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1246
This report documents measurements of atmospheric pressure, water levels, and waves made by the U.S. Geological Survey in the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, during 2012 and 2013 as part of the Barrier Island Evolution Research project. Simple, inexpensive pressure sensors mounted in shallow wells were buried in the beach and left...
Water-level measurements in Dauphin Island, Alabama, from the 2013 Hurricane Season
Patrick J. Dickhudt, Christopher R. Sherwood, Nancy T. DeWitt
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1245
This report describes the instrumentation, field measurements, and processing methods used by the U.S. Geological Survey to measure atmospheric pressure, water levels, and waves on Dauphin Island, Alabama, in 2013 at part of the Barrier Island Evolution Research project. Simple, inexpensive pressure sensors mounted in shallow wells were buried in...
Population genetic structure and disease in montane boreal toads: More heterozygous individuals are more likely to be infected with amphibian chytrid
Brett Addis, Winsor Lowe, Blake R. Hossack, Fred Allendorf
2015, Conservation Genetics (16) 833-844
Amphibians are more threatened than any other vertebrate group, with 41 % of species classified as threatened. The causes of most declines are not well understood, though many declines have been linked to disease. Additionally, amphibians are physiologically constrained to moist habitats and considered poor dispersers; thus, they may suffer genetic...
U.S. Geological Survey activities related to American Indians and Alaska Natives: Fiscal years 2009 and 2010
Monique Fordham, Maria R. Montour
2015, Circular 1403
The U.S. Geological Survey is the earth and natural science bureau within the U.S. Department of the Interior. The U.S. Geological Survey provides impartial information on the health of our ecosystems and environment, the natural hazards that threaten us, the natural resources we rely on, the negative effects of climate...
Global land cover mapping using Earth observation satellite data: Recent progresses and challenges
Yifang Ban, Peng Gong, Chandra Giri
2015, ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (103) 1-6
Land cover is an important variable for many studies involving the Earth surface, such as climate, food security, hydrology, soil erosion, atmospheric quality, conservation biology, and plant functioning. Land cover not only changes with human caused land use changes, but also changes with nature. Therefore, the state of land...
Evaluation of aquifer interconnection from aquifer characteristics computed by using specific capacity data within the vicinity of the Tremont Barrel Fill site, Clark County, Ohio
Amy M. Gahala
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1026
The Tremont Barrel Fill site is immediately north of the Tremont City Landfill near Tremont City, Clark County, Ohio. The site was an unlined pit used as a repository for disposing industrial liquid wastes and sludge from 1976 through 1979. Previous investigations led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to...
Water-level conditions in the confined aquifers of the New Jersey Coastal Plain, 2008
Vincent T. DePaul, Robert Rosman
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5232
Groundwater-level altitudes in 10 confined aquifers of the New Jersey Coastal Plain were measured and evaluated to provide an overview of regional groundwater conditions during fall 2008. Water levels were measured in more than 900 wells in New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and northern Delaware and potentiometric surface maps prepared for...
Taxonomic revision of deep-sea Ostracoda from the Arctic Ocean
Moriaki Yasuhara, Anna Stepanova, Hisayo Okahashi, Thomas M. Cronin, Elisabeth M. Brouwers
2015, Micropaleontology (60) 399-444
Taxonomic revision of deep-sea Ostracoda from the Arctic Ocean was conducted to reduce taxonomic uncertainty that will improve our understanding of species ecology, biogeography and relationship to faunas from other deep-sea regions. Fifteen genera and 40 species were examined and (re-)illustrated with high-resolution scanning electron microscopy images, covering most of...
Predicting locations of post-fire debris-flow erosionin the San Gabriel Mountains of southern California
Joseph E. Gartner, P.M Santi, Susan H. Cannon
2015, Natural Hazards (77) 1305-1321
Timely hazard assessments are needed to assess post-fire debris flows that may impact communities located within and adjacent to recently burned areas. Implementing existing models for debris-flow probability and magnitude can be time-consuming because the geographic extent for applying the models is manually defined. In this study, a model is presented for predicting locations...
Establishing a definition of polar bear (Ursus maritimus) health: A guide to research and management activities
Kelly A. Patyk, Colleen G. Duncan, Pauline Nol, C. Sonne, Kristin L. Laidre, Martyn E. Obbard, Øystein Wiig, Jon Aars, Eric V. Regehr, L. Gustafson, Todd C. Atwood
2015, Science of the Total Environment (514) 371-378
The meaning of health for wildlife and perspectives on how to assess and measure health, are not well characterized. For wildlife at risk, such as some polar bear (Ursus maritimus) subpopulations, establishing comprehensive monitoring programs that include health status is an emerging need. Environmental changes, especially loss of sea ice...
Long-term groundwater depletion in the United States
Leonard F. Konikow
2015, Groundwater (53) 2-9
The volume of groundwater stored in the subsurface in the United States decreased by almost 1000 km3 during 1900–2008. The aquifer systems with the three largest volumes of storage depletion include the High Plains aquifer, the Mississippi Embayment section of the Gulf Coastal Plain aquifer system, and the Central Valley of California....
The integration of geophysical and enhanced Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Normalized Difference Vegetation Index data into a rule-based, piecewise regression-tree model to estimate cheatgrass beginning of spring growth
Stephen P. Boyte, Bruce K. Wylie, Donald J. Major, Jesslyn F. Brown
2015, International Journal of Digital Earth (8) 116-130
Cheatgrass exhibits spatial and temporal phenological variability across the Great Basin as described by ecological models formed using remote sensing and other spatial data-sets. We developed a rule-based, piecewise regression-tree model trained on 99 points that used three data-sets – latitude, elevation, and start of season time based on remote...
Mapping and monitoring cheatgrass dieoff in rangelands of the Northern Great Basin, USA
Stephen P. Boyte, Bruce K. Wylie, Donald J. Major
2015, Rangeland Ecology and Management (68) 18-28
Understanding cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) dynamics in the Northern Great Basin rangelands, USA, is necessary to effectively manage the region’s lands. This study’s goal was to map and monitor cheatgrass performance to identify where and when cheatgrass dieoff occurred in the Northern Great Basin and to discover how this phenomenon was affected by...
Detrital zircon U-Pb reconnaissance of the Franciscan subduction complex in northwestern California
Trevor Dimitru, W. Gary Ernst, Jeremy K. Hourigan, Robert J. McLaughlin
2015, International Geology Review 1-35
In northwestern California, the Franciscan subduction complex has been subdivided into seven major tectonostratigraphic units. We report U-Pb ages of ≈2400 detrital zircon grains from 26 sandstone samples from 5 of these units. Here, we tabulate each unit's interpreted predominant sediment source areas and depositional age range, ordered from the...
Earthquake hypocenters and focal mechanisms in central Oklahoma reveal a complex system of reactivated subsurface strike-slip faulting
Daniel E. McNamara, Harley M. Benz, Robert B. Herrmann, Eric A. Bergman, Paul S. Earle, Austin F. Holland, Randy W. Baldwin, A. Gassner
2015, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 2742-2749
The sharp increase in seismicity over a broad region of central Oklahoma has raised concern regarding the source of the activity and its potential hazard to local communities and energy industry infrastructure. Since early 2010, numerous organizations have deployed temporary portable seismic stations in central Oklahoma in order to record...
Effects of water-resource development on Yellowstone River streamflow, 1928-2002
Cheryl A. Eddy-Miller, Katherine J. Chase
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3004
Major floods in 1996 and 1997 intensified public concern about the effects of human activities on the Yellowstone River in Montana. In 1999, the Yellowstone River Conservation District Council, whose members are primarily representatives from the conservation districts bordering the main stem of the Yellowstone River, was formed to promote...
Magnetotelluric data collected to characterize aquifers in the San Luis Basin, New Mexico
Chad E. Ailes, Brian D. Rodriguez
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1248
The U.S. Geological Survey is conducting a series of multidisciplinary studies of the San Luis Basin as part of the Geologic Framework of Rio Grande Basins project. Detailed geologic mapping, high-resolution airborne magnetic surveys, gravity surveys, magnetotelluric surveys, and hydrologic and lithologic data are being used to better understand the...
Strike-parallel and strike-normal coordinate system around geometrically complicated rupture traces: use by NGA-West2 and further improvements
Paul A. Spudich, Brian Chiou
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1028
We present a two-dimensional system of generalized coordinates for use with geometrically complex fault ruptures that are neither straight nor continuous. The coordinates are a generalization of the conventional strike-normal and strike-parallel coordinates of a single straight fault. The presented conventions and formulations are applicable to a single curved trace,...
Simulation of acceleration field of the Lushan earthquake (Ms7.0, April 20, 2013, China)
Wang Guoxin, Ding Yang, Roger D. Borcherdt
2015, Engineering Geology (189) 84-97
The acceleration field of the Lushan earthquake (Ms7.0, April 20, 2013, China) is simulated using a new modified version of the stochastic finite-fault method (EXSIM) based on a dynamic corner frequency approach. To incorporate the effect of heterogeneous slip distribution on the variation of source spectrum, we adopt an...
Repeated landscape-scale treatments following fire suppress a non-native annual grass and promote recovery of native perennial vegetation
Seth M. Munson, A. Lexine Long, Cheryl E. Decker, Katie A. Johnson, Kathleen Walsh, Mark E. Miller
2015, Biological Invasions (17) 1915-1926
Invasive non-native species pose a large threat to restoration efforts following large-scale disturbances. Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass) is a non-native annual grass in the western U.S. that both spreads quickly following fire and accelerates the fire cycle. Herbicide and seeding applications are common restoration practices to break the positive fire-invasion feedback loop and...
Model-based interpretation of sediment concentration and vertical flux measurements in a shallow estuarine environment
Andreas Brand, Jessica R. Lacy, Steve Gladding, Rusty Holleman, Mark T. Stacey
2015, Limnology and Oceanography (60) 463-481
A one-dimensional numerical model describing tidally varying vertical mixing and settling was used to interpret sediment concentrations and vertical fluxes observed in the shoals of South San Francisco Bay by two acoustic Doppler velocimeters (ADVs) at elevations of 0.36 m and 0.72 m above bed. Measured sediment concentrations changed by...
Geomorphic, flood, and groundwater-flow characteristics of Bayfield Peninsula streams, Wisconsin, and implications for brook-trout habitat
Faith A. Fitzpatrick, Marie C. Peppler, David A. Saad, Dennis M. Pratt, Bernard N. Lenz
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5007
In 2002–03, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a study of the geomorphic, flood, and groundwater-flow characteristics of five Bayfield Peninsula streams, Wisconsin (Cranberry River, Bark River, Raspberry River, Sioux River, and Whittlesey Creek) to determine the physical limitations for brook-trout habitat. The goals of the study were threefold: (1) to...
Climate change: evaluating your local and regional water resources
Lorraine E. Flint, Alan L. Flint, James H. Thorne
2015, Fact Sheet 2014-3098
The BCM is a fine-scale hydrologic model that uses detailed maps of soils, geology, topography, and transient monthly or daily maps of potential evapotranspiration, air temperature, and precipitation to generate maps of recharge, runoff, snow pack, actual evapotranspiration, and climatic water deficit. With these comprehensive environmental inputs and experienced scientific...
Map of assessed continuous (unconventional) oil resources in the United States, 2014
U.S. Geological Survey National Assessment of Oil and Gas Resources Team
2015, Data Series 69-JJ
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducts quantitative assessments of potential oil and gas resources of the onshore United States and associated coastal State waters. Since 2000, the USGS has completed assessments of continuous (unconventional) resources in the United States based on geologic studies and analysis of well-production data and has...
