A framework for quantitative assessment of impacts related to energy and mineral resource development
Seth S. Haines, James Diffendorfer, Laurie S. Balistrieri, Byron R. Berger, Troy A. Cook, Donald L. Gautier, Tanya J. Gallegos, Margot Gerritsen, Elisabeth Graffy, Sarah Hawkins, Kathleen Johnson, Jordan Macknick, Peter McMahon, Tim Modde, Brenda Pierce, John H. Schuenemeyer, Darius J. Semmens, Benjamin Simon, Jason Taylor, Katherine Walton-Day
2013, Natural Resources Research (23) 3-17
Natural resource planning at all scales demands methods for assessing the impacts of resource development and use, and in particular it requires standardized methods that yield robust and unbiased results. Building from existing probabilistic methods for assessing the volumes of energy and mineral resources, we provide an algorithm for consistent,...
Relating hyporheic fluxes, residence times, and redox-sensitive biogeochemical processes upstream of beaver dams
Martin A. Briggs, Laura Lautz, Danielle K. Hare
2013, Freshwater Science (32) 622-641
Abstract. Small dams enhance the development of patchy microenvironments along stream corridors by trapping sediment and creating complex streambed morphologies. This patchiness drives intricate hyporheic flux patterns that govern the exchange of O2 and redox-sensitive solutes between the water column and the stream bed. We used multiple tracer techniques, naturally...
The contribution of cold winter temperatures to the 2003 alewife population collapse in Lake Huron
Erin Dunlop, Stephen C. Riley
2013, Journal of Great Lakes Research (39) 682-689
The Lake Huron ecosystem has recently undergone dramatic changes. As part of those changes, the once highly abundant non-native alewife Alosa pseudoharengus population crashed in 2003 and has yet to recover. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether temperature played a role in the population crash, because historically...
Biogeochemistry of beetle-killed forests: Explaining a weak nitrate response
Charles C. Rhoades, James H. McCutchan, Leigh A. Cooper, David W. Clow, Thomas M. Detmer, Jennifer S. Briggs, John D. Stednick, Thomas T. Veblen, Rachel M. Ertz, Gene E. Likens, William M. Lewis
2013, PNAS (110) 1756-1760
A current pine beetle infestation has caused extensive mortality of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) in forests of Colorado and Wyoming; it is part of an unprecedented multispecies beetle outbreak extending from Mexico to Canada. In United States and European watersheds, where atmospheric deposition of inorganic N is moderate to low...
Soil diversity and hydration as observed by ChemCam at Gale crater, Mars
P.-Y. Meslin, O. Gasnault, O. Forni, S. Schroder, A. Cousin, G. Berger, S.M. Clegg, J. Lasue, S. Maurice, V. Sautter, S. Le Mouélic, R. C. Wiens, C. Fabre, W. Goetz, D.L. Bish, N. Mangold, B. Ehlmann, N. Lanza, A.-M. Harri, Ryan B. Anderson, E. Rampe, T.H. McConnochie, P. Pinet, D. Blaney, Leveille, D. Archer, B. Barraclough, S. Bender, D. Blake, J.G. Blank, N. Bridges, B. C. Clark, L. DeFlores, D. Delapp, G. Dromart, M.D. Dyar, M. R. Fisk, B. Gondet, J. Grotzinger, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, J. Johnson, J.-L. Lacour, Y. Langevin, L. Leshin, E. Lewin, M.B. Madsen, N. Melikechi, Alissa Mezzacappa, M.A. Mischna, J.E. Moores, H. Newsom, A. Ollila, Perez, N. Renno, J.B. Sirven, R. Tokar, M. de la Torre, L. d’Uston, D. Vaniman, A. Yingst
2013, Science (341)
The ChemCam instrument, which provides insight into martian soil chemistry at the submillimeter scale, identified two principal soil types along the Curiosity rover traverse: a fine-grained mafic type and a locally derived, coarse-grained felsic type. The mafic soil component is representative of widespread martian soils and is similar in composition...
The major-ion composition of Cenozoic seawater: the past 36 million years from fluid inclusions in marine halite
Sean T. Brennan, Tim K. Lowenstein, Dioni I. Cendon
2013, American Journal of Science (313) 713-775
Fluid inclusions from ten Cenozoic (Eocene-Miocene) marine halites are used to quantify the major-ion composition (Mg2+, Ca2+, K+, Na+, SO42−, and Cl−) of seawater over the past 36 My. Criteria used to determine a seawater origin of the halites include: (1) stratigraphic, sedimentologic, and paleontologic observations; (2) Br− in halite;...
US Topo–A new national map series, 2012 update
Laurence R. Moore
2013, Directions Magazine
The U.S. Geological Survey's Larry Moore provides an update on the US Topo effort, the Survey’s general purpose, digital, quadrangle map series. He outlines the successes thus far and the obstacles still ahead in 2013....
Extreme drought: summary of hydrologic conditions in Georgia, 2011
Andrew E. Knaak, Eric R. Frantz, Michael F. Peck
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3002
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Georgia Water Science Center (GaWSC) maintains a long-term hydrologic monitoring network of more than 320 realtime streamgages, including 10 real-time lake-level monitoring stations and 63 realtime water-quality monitors. Additionally, the GaWSC operates more than 180 groundwater wells, 35 of which are real-time. One of...
The water cycle for kids
Stephanie Neno, Jim Morgan, Gabriele Zonolli, Howard Perlman, Gerard Gonthier
2013, General Information Product 146
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have created a water-cycle diagram for use in elementary and middle schools. The diagram is available in many languages. This diagram is part of the USGS's Water Science School, in...
Estimated sediment thickness, quality, and toxicity to benthic organisms in selected impoundments in Massachusetts
Robert F. Breault, Jason R. Sorenson, Peter K. Weiskel
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5191
The U.S. Geological Survey and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, Division of Ecological Restoration, collaborated to collect baseline information on the quantity and quality of sediment impounded behind selected dams in Massachusetts, including sediment thickness and the occurrence of contaminants potentially toxic to benthic organisms. The thicknesses of...
Application of sediment characteristics and transport conditions to resource management in selected main-stem reaches of the Upper Colorado River, Colorado and Utah, 1965-2007
Cory A. Williams, Keelin R. Schaffrath, John G. Elliott, Rodney J. Richards
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5195
The Colorado River Basin provides habitat for 14 native fish, including 4 endangered species protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973. These endangered fish species once thrived in the Colorado River system, but water-resource development, including the building of numerous diversion dams and several large reservoirs, and the...
The conservation status of the world’s reptiles
Monika Böhm, Robert P. Reynolds, and others
2013, Biological Conservation (157) 372-385
Effective and targeted conservation action requires detailed information about species, their distribution, systematics and ecology as well as the distribution of threat processes which affect them. Knowledge of reptilian diversity remains surprisingly disparate, and innovative means of gaining rapid insight into the status of reptiles are needed in order to...
Sampling efficiency of the Moore egg collector
Thomas A. Worthington, Shannon K. Brewer, Timothy B. Grabowski, Julia Mueller
2013, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (33) 79-88
Quantitative studies focusing on the collection of semibuoyant fish eggs, which are associated with a pelagic broadcast-spawning reproductive strategy, are often conducted to evaluate reproductive success. Many of the fishes in this reproductive guild have suffered significant reductions in range and abundance. However, the efficiency of the sampling gear used...
Summary and interpretation of discrete and continuous water-quality monitoring data, Mattawoman Creek, Charles County, Maryland, 2000-11
Jeffrey G. Chanat, Cherie V. Miller, Joseph M. Bell, Brenda Feit Majedi, David P. Brower
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5265
Discrete samples and continuous (15-minute interval) water-quality data were collected at Mattawoman Creek (U.S. Geological Survey station number 01658000) from October 2000 through January 2011, in cooperation with the Charles County (Maryland) Department of Planning and Growth Management, the Maryland Department of the Environment, and the Maryland Geological Survey. Mattawoman...
Accuracy assessment of NLCD 2006 land cover and impervious surface
James D. Wickham, Stephen V. Stehman, Leila Gass, Jon Dewitz, Joyce A. Fry, Timothy G. Wade
2013, Remote Sensing of Environment (130) 294-304
Release of NLCD 2006 provides the first wall-to-wall land-cover change database for the conterminous United States from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data. Accuracy assessment of NLCD 2006 focused on four primary products: 2001 land cover, 2006 land cover, land-cover change between 2001 and 2006, and impervious surface change between 2001...
Movement mysteries unveiled: spatial ecology of juvenile green sea turtles
Donna J. Shaver, Kristen M. Hart, Ikuko Fujisaki, Cynthia Rubio, Autumn R. Sartain-Iverson
William I. Lutterschmidt, editor(s)
2013, Book chapter, Reptiles in research: investigations of ecology, physiology, and behavior from desert to sea
Locations of important foraging areas are not well defined for many marine species. Unraveling these mysteries is vital to develop conservation strategies for these species, many of which are threatened or endangered. Satellite-tracking is a tool that can reveal movement patterns at both broad and fine spatial scales, in all...
Book review: Gyrfalcons and Ptarmigan in a changing world
Charles J. Henny
2013, Journal of Raptor Research (47) 83-86
The Peregrine Fund has published proceedings of several conferences over the years and has become experts, and this 2 volume set is no exception. The title of the proceedings sounded especially interesting in this era of almost daily accounts in the media about climate change, its causes and its effects...
Final report and archive of the swath bathymetry and ancillary data collected in the Puerto Rico Trench region in 2002 and 2003
Uri S. ten Brink, William W. Danforth, Christopher F. Polloni
2013, Open-File Report 2006-1210
In 2002 and 2003, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), conducted three exploration cruises that mapped for the first time the morphology of the entire tectonic plate boundary stretching from the Dominican Republic in the west to the Lesser Antilles in...
Avoiding The Inevitable? Capacity Loss From Reservoir Sedimentation
John R. Gray, Timothy J. Randle, Kent L. Collins
2013, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union (94) 4-4
The inexorable loss of capacity of the nation's reservoirs—sooner or later threatening water supplies for municipal, agricultural, and industrial uses—is but one of a number of deleterious effects wrought by sediment deposition. Trapped sediments can also damage or bury dam outlets, water intakes, and related infrastructure. Downstream effects of sediment...
Predicting thermal reference conditions for USA streams and rivers
Ryan A. Hill, Charles P. Hawkins, Daren M. Carlisle
2013, Freshwater Science (32) 39-55
Temperature is a primary driver of the structure and function of stream ecosystems. However, the lack of stream temperature (ST) data for the vast majority of streams and rivers severely compromises our ability to describe patterns of thermal variation among streams, test hypotheses regarding the effects of temperature on macroecological...
Approaches in highly parameterized inversion: bgaPEST, a Bayesian geostatistical approach implementation with PEST: documentation and instructions
Michael N. Fienen, Marco D'Oria, John E. Doherty, Randall J. Hunt
2013, Techniques and Methods 7-C9
The application bgaPEST is a highly parameterized inversion software package implementing the Bayesian Geostatistical Approach in a framework compatible with the parameter estimation suite PEST. Highly parameterized inversion refers to cases in which parameters are distributed in space or time and are correlated with one another. The Bayesian aspect of...
Tamarix as wildlife habitat
Heather L. Bateman, Eben H. Paxton, William S. Longland
Anna Sher, Martin F. Quigley, editor(s)
2013, Book chapter, Tamarix: a case study of ecological change in the American West
Effects of best-management practices in Bower Creek in the East River priority watershed, Wisconsin, 1991-2009
Steven R. Corsi, Judy A. Horwatich, Troy D. Rutter, Roger T. Bannerman
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5217
Hydrologic and water-quality data were collected at Bower Creek during the periods before best-management practices (BMPs), and after BMPs were installed for evaluation of water-quality improvements. The monitoring was done between 1990 and 2009 with the pre-BMP period ending in July 1994 and the post-BMP period beginning in October 2006....
A review of episodes of zinc phosphide toxicosis in wild geese (Branta spp.) in Oregon (2004−2011)
Rob J. Bildfell, Wilson K. Rumbeiha, Krysten L. Schuler, Carol U. Meteyer, Peregrine L. Wolff, Colin M. Gillin
2013, Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation (25) 162-167
Epizootic mortality in several geese species, including cackling geese (Branta hutchinsii) and Canada geese (Branta canadensis), has been recognized in the Willamette Valley of Oregon for over a decade. Birds are generally found dead on a body of water or are occasionally observed displaying neurologic clinical signs such as an...
The coming megafloods
Michael D. Dettinger, B. Lynn Ingram
2013, Scientific American (308) 64-71
Geologic evidence shows that truly massive floods, caused by rainfall alone, have occurred in California about every 200 years. The most recent was in 1861, and it bankrupted the state. Such floods were most likely caused by atmospheric rivers: narrow bands of water vapor about a mile above the ocean...
