Great gray owls (Strix nebulosa) in Yosemite National Park: on the importance of food, forest structure, and human disturbance
Charles van Riper III, Joseph J. Fontaine, Jan W. van Wagtendonk
2013, Natural Areas Journal (33) 286-295
We studied great gray owls (Strix nebulosa Forster) in Yosemite National Park, California, measuring variables that could potentially influence patterns of occurrence and conservation of this stateendangered species. We found that owl presence was closely tied to habitat (red fir (Abies magnified A. Murray) and the abundance of meadows), prey,...
Water levels and water quality in the Sparta-Memphis aquifer (middle Claiborne aquifer) in Arkansas, spring-summer 2009
T.P. Schrader
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5100
The U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission and the Arkansas Geological Survey has monitored water levels in the Sparta Sand of Claiborne Group and Memphis Sand of Claiborne Group (herein referred to as the Sparta Sand and the Memphis Sand, respectively) since the 1920s. Groundwater...
Analysis and inundation mapping of the April-May 2011 flood at selected locations in northern and eastern Arkansas and southern Missouri
Drew A. Westerman, Katherine R. Merriman, Jeanne L. De Lanois, Charles Berenbrock
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5148
Precipitation that fell from April 19 through May 3, 2011, resulted in widespread flooding across northern and eastern Arkansas and southern Missouri. The first storm produced a total of approximately 16 inches of precipitation over an 8-day period, and the following storms produced as much as 12 inches of precipitation...
Reconnaissance investigation of the alluvial gold deposits in the North Takhar Area of Interest, Takhar Province, Afghanistan
Peter G. Chirico, Katherine C. Malpeli, Thomas W. Moran
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1180
This study is a reconnaissance assessment of the alluvial gold deposits of the North Takhar Area of Interest (AOI) in Takhar Province, Afghanistan. Soviet and Afghan geologists collected data and calculated the gold deposit reserves in Takhar Province in the 1970s, prior to the development of satellite-based remote-sensing platforms and...
Reconnaissance investigation of the placer gold deposits in the Zarkashan Area of Interest, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan
Katherine C. Malpeli, Peter G. Chirico, Isabel H. McLoughlin
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1179
This study is a reconnaissance investigation of the placer gold deposits in the Zarkashan Area of Interest (AOI) in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. Detailed investigations of the Zarkashan gold deposits were conducted by Soviet and Afghan geologists in the 1960s and 1970s, prior to the development of satellite-based remote-sensing platforms and...
Coastal change from Hurricane Sandy and the 2012-13 winter storm season: Fire Island, New York
Cheryl J. Hapke, Owen Brenner, Rachel E. Henderson, B.J. Reynolds
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1231
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) mounted a substantial effort in response to Hurricane Sandy including an assessment of the morphological impacts to the beach and dune system at Fire Island, New York. Field surveys of the beach and dunes collected just prior to and after landfall were used to quantify...
Assessing hazards along our Nation's coasts
Hilary F. Stockdon, Cheryl J. Hapke, E. Robert Thieler, Nathaniel G. Plant
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3077
Coastal areas are essential to the economic, cultural, and environmental health of the Nation, yet by nature coastal areas are constantly changing due to a variety of events and processes. Extreme storms can cause dramatic changes to our shorelines in a matter of hours, while sea-level rise can profoundly alter...
Stratigraphy of lower to middle Paleozoic rocks of northern Nevada and the Antler orogeny
Keith B. Ketner
2013, Professional Paper 1799
Commonly accepted concepts concerning the lower Paleozoic stratigraphy of northern Nevada are based on the assumption that the deep-water aspects of Ordovician to Devonian siliceous strata are due to their origin in a distant oceanic environment, and their presence where we find them is due to tectonic emplacement by the...
Epidote from the Zard Mountains, Kharan, Balochistan, Pakistan
Michael E. Brownfield, Heather Lowers, William K. Betterton
2013, Mindat.org
The authors received two unusual crystals of epidote from Rock Currier, Jewel Tunnel Imports, in 2012. The mineral specimens were collected at Zard Mountain (Zard Koh), in the central part of the Ruskoh Mountains (Rusk Koh), west of Kharan, Balochistan, Pakistan (written communication, Rock Currier, 2013). The epidote locality was...
Effects of fire on the thermal stability of permafrost in lowland and upland black spruce forests of interior Alaska in a changing climate
Elchin E. Jafarov, Vladimir E. Romanovsky, Helene Genet, Anthony D. McGuire, Sergey S. Marchenko
2013, Environmental Research Letters (8)
Fire is an important factor controlling the composition and thickness of the organic layer in the black spruce forest ecosystems of interior Alaska. Fire that burns the organic layer can trigger dramatic changes in the underlying permafrost, leading to accelerated ground thawing within a relatively short time. In this study,...
Carolinas coastal change processes project data report for nearshore observations at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
Brandy N. Armstrong, John C. Warner, George Voulgaris, Jeffrey H. List, Robert Thieler, Marinna A. Martini, Ellyn T. Montgomery, Jesse E. McNinch, Jeffrey W. Book, Kevin Haas
2013, Open-File Report 2012-1219
An oceanographic field study conducted in February 2010 investigated processes that control nearshore flow and sediment transport dynamics at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. This report describes the project background, field program, instrumentation setup, and locations of the sensor deployments. The data collected, and supporting meteorological and streamflow observations, are presented...
Florida Panhandle
Lawrence R. Handley, Kathryn A. Spear, Barbara Albrecht, Karen Bruening, Alison McDowell, René Baumstark, Ryan Moyer, Cindy A. Thatcher
2013, Report, Emergent wetlands status and trends in the northern Gulf of Mexico: 1950-2010
Throughout the past century, emergent wetlands have been declining across the Gulf of Mexico. Emergent wetland ecosystems provide a multitude of resources, including plant and wildlife habitat, commercial and recreational economic activity, and natural barriers against storms. As emergent wetland losses increase, so does the need for information on the...
Juvenile movement among different populations of cutthroat trout introduced as embryos to vacant habitat
Tessa M. Andrews, Bradley B. Shepard, Andrea R. Litt, Carter G. Kruse, Alexander V. Zale, Steven T. Kalinowski
2013, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (33) 795-805
Translocations are frequently used to increase the abundance and range of endangered fishes. One factor likely to affect the outcome of translocations is fish movement. We introduced embryos from five Westslope Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi populations (both hatchery and wild) at five different locations within a fishless watershed. We then examined...
Landscape-level estimation of nitrogen removal in coastal Louisiana wetlands: potential sinks under different restoration scenarios
Victor H. Rivera-Monroy, Benjamin Branoff, Ehab Meselhe, Alex McCorquodale, Mark Dortch, Gregory D. Steyer, Jenneke Visser, Hongqing Wang
2013, Journal of Coastal Research (Summer 2013) 75-87
Coastal eutrophication in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is the primary anthropogenic contributor to the largest zone of hypoxic bottom waters in North America. Although biologically mediated processes such as denitrification (Dn) are known to act as sinks for inorganic nitrogen, it is unknown what contribution denitrification makes to...
Effects of surface applications of biosolids on groundwater quality and trace-element concentrations in crops near Deer Trail, Colorado, 2004-2010
Tracy J.B. Yager, James G. Crock, David B. Smith, Edward T. Furlong, Philip L. Hageman, William T. Foreman, James L. Gray, Rhiannon C. ReVello
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5065
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with Metro Wastewater Reclamation District (Metro District), studied biosolids composition and the effects of biosolids applications on groundwater quality and trace-element concentrations in crops of the Metro District properties near Deer Trail, Colorado, during 2004 through 2010. Priority parameters for each monitoring component...
Predicting the toxicity of metal mixtures
Laurie S. Balistrieri, Christopher A. Mebane
2013, Science of the Total Environment (466-467) 788-799
The toxicity of single and multiple metal (Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) solutions to trout is predicted using an approach that combines calculations of: (1) solution speciation; (2) competition and accumulation of cations (H, Ca, Mg, Na, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) on low abundance, high affinity and high abundance,...
User’s guide and reference to Ash3d—A three-dimensional model for Eulerian atmospheric tephra transport and deposition
Larry G. Mastin, Michael J. Randall, Hans F. Schwaiger, Roger P. Denlinger
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1122
Ash3d is a three-dimensional Eulerian atmospheric model for tephra transport, dispersal, and deposition to study and forecast hazards of volcanic ash clouds and tephra fall. In this report, we explain how to set up simulations using a web interface, and how to view and interpret model output. We also summarize...
Leaf gas exchange and nutrient use efficiency help explain the distribution of two Neotropical mangroves under contrasting flooding and salinity
Pablo Cardona-Olarte, Ken W. Krauss, Robert R. Twilley
2013, International Journal of Forestry Research
Rhizophora mangle and Laguncularia racemosa co-occur along many intertidal floodplains in the Neotropics. Their patterns of dominance shift along various gradients, coincident with salinity, soil fertility, and tidal flooding. We used leaf gas exchange metrics to investigate the strategies of these two species in mixed culture to simulate competition under...
Forecasting the effects of coastal protection and restoration projects on wetland morphology in coastal Louisiana under multiple environmental uncertainty scenarios
Brady R. Couvillion, Gregory D. Steyer, Hongqing Wang, Holly J. Beck, John M. Rybczyk
2013, Journal of Coastal Research 29-50
Few landscape scale models have assessed the effects of coastal protection and restoration projects on wetland morphology while taking into account important uncertainties in environmental factors such as sea-level rise (SLR) and subsidence. In support of Louisiana's 2012 Coastal Master Plan, we developed a spatially explicit wetland morphology model and...
Dissolved pesticide concentrations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Grizzly Bay, California, 2011-12
James L. Orlando, Megan McWayne, Corey Sanders, Michelle Hladik
2013, Data Series 779
Surface-water samples were collected from sites within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Grizzly Bay, California, during the spring in 2011 and 2012, and they were analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey for a suite of 99 current-use pesticides and pesticide degradates. Samples were collected and analyzed as part of a...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Idaho
William J. Carswell Jr.
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3053
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Idaho, elevation data are critical for agriculture and precision farming, natural resources conservation, infrastructure and construction management, geologic resource assessment and hazard...
Analysis of long-term trends (1950–2009) in precipitation, runoff and runoff coefficient in major urban watersheds in the United States
N.M. Velpuri, G.B. Senay
2013, Environmental Research Letters (8)
This study investigates the long-term trends in precipitation, runoff and runoff coefficient in major urban watersheds in the United States. The seasonal Mann–Kendall trend test was performed on monthly precipitation, runoff and runoff coefficient data from 1950 to 2009 obtained from 62 urban watersheds covering 21 major urban centers in...
Time-lapse analysis of methane quantity in Mary Lee group of coal seams using filter-based multiple-point geostatistical simulation
C. Özgen Karacan, Ricardo A. Olea
2013, Mathematical Geosciences (45) 681-704
Coal seam degasification and its success are important for controlling methane, and thus for the health and safety of coal miners. During the course of degasification, properties of coal seams change. Thus, the changes in coal reservoir conditions and in-place gas content as well as methane emission potential into mines...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Virginia
William J. Carswell Jr.
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3052
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the Commonwealth of Virginia, elevation data are critical for urban and regional planning, natural resources conservation, flood risk management, agriculture and precision farming, resource mining,...
Method to support Total Maximum Daily Load development using hydrologic alteration as a surrogate to address aquatic life impairment in New Jersey streams
Jonathan G. Kennen, Melissa L. Riskin, Pamela A. Reilly, Susan J. Colarullo
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5089
More than 300 ambient monitoring sites in New Jersey have been identified by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) in its integrated water-quality monitoring and assessment report (that is, the 305(b) Report on general water quality and 303(d) List of waters that do not support their designated uses)...
