Developing a national stream morphology data exchange: needs, challenges, and opportunities
Mathias J. Collins, John R. Gray, Marie C. Peppler, Faith A. Fitzpatrick, Joseph P. Schubauer-Berigan
2012, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union (93) 195
Stream morphology data, primarily consisting of channel and foodplain geometry and bed material size measurements, historically have had a wide range of applications and uses including culvert/ bridge design, rainfall- runoff modeling, food inundation mapping (e.g., U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency food insurance studies), climate change studies, channel stability/sediment source...
The 2011 Virginia earthquake: what are scientists learning?
J. Wright Horton Jr., Robert A. Williams
2012, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union (93) 317-318
Nearly 1 year ago, on 23 August, tens of millions of people in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada were startled in the middle of their workday (1:51 P.M. local time) by the sudden onset of moderate to strong ground shaking from a rare magnitude (M) 5.8 earthquake in...
Social.Water - A crowdsourcing tool for environmental data acquisition
Michael N. Fienen, Christopher Lowry
2012, Computers & Geosciences (49) 164-169
Remote telemetry has a long history of use for collection of environmental measurements. With the rise of mobile phones and SMS text-messaging capacity, many members of the general pubic carry communications equipment in their pockets at all times. Enabling the general public to provide environmental data through text messages has...
Varying sediment sources (Hudson Strait, Cumberland Sound, Baffin Bay) to the NW Labrador Sea slope between and during Heinrich events 0 to 4
John T. Andrews, D.C. Barber, A. E. Jennings, D. D. Eberl, B. Maclean, M.E. Kirby, J.S. Stoner
2012, Journal of Quaternary Science (27) 475-484
Core HU97048-007PC was recovered from the continental Labrador Sea slope at a water depth of 945 m, 250 km seaward from the mouth of Cumberland Sound, and 400 km north of Hudson Strait. Cumberland Sound is a structural trough partly floored by Cretaceous mudstones and Paleozoic carbonates. The record extends from ∼10 to...
Formation of replicating saponite from a gel in the presence of oxalate: implications for the formation of clay minerals in carbonaceous chondrites and the origin of life
Dirk Schumann, Hyman Hartman, Dennis D. Eberl, S. Kelly Sears, Reinhard Hesse, Hojatollah Vali
2012, Astrobiology (12) 549-561
The potential role of clay minerals in the abiotic origin of life has been the subject of ongoing debate for the past several decades. At issue are the clay minerals found in a class of meteorites known as carbonaceous chondrites. These clay minerals are the product of aqueous alteration of...
Peralkaline- and calc-alkaline-hosted volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits of the Bonnifield District, East-Central Alaska
Cynthia Dusel-Bacon, Nora K. Foley, John E. Slack, Alan E. Koenig, Robert L. Oscarson
2012, Economic Geology (107) 1403-1432
Volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag-Au deposits of the Bonnifield mining district formed during Late Devonian-Early Mississippian magmatism along the western edge of Laurentia. The largest deposits, Dry Creek and WTF, have a combined resource of 5.7 million tonnes at 10% Zn, 4% Pb, 0.3% Cu, 300 grams per tonne (g/t)...
Distribution of arsenic, selenium, and other trace elements in high pyrite Appalachian coals: evidence for multiple episodes of pyrite formation
S. F. Diehl, M. B. Goldhaber, A.E. Koenig, H.A. Lowers, L.F. Ruppert
2012, International Journal of Coal Geology (94) 238-249
Pennsylvanian coals in the Appalachian Basin host pyrite that is locally enriched in potentially toxic trace elements such as As, Se, Hg, Pb, and Ni. A comparison of pyrite-rich coals from northwestern Alabama, eastern Kentucky, and West Virginia reveals differences in concentrations and mode of occurrence of trace elements in...
Holocene seasonal variability inferred from multiple proxy records from Crevice Lake, Yellowstone National Park, USA
Cathy Whitlock, Walter E. Dean, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Lora R. Stevens, Jeffery R. Stone, Mitchell J. Power, Joseph R. Rosenbaum, Kenneth L. Pierce, Brandi B. Bracht-Flyr
2012, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (331-332) 90-103
A 9400-yr-old record from Crevice Lake, a semi-closed alkaline lake in northern Yellowstone National Park, was analyzed for pollen, charcoal, geochemistry, mineralogy, diatoms, and stable isotopes to develop a nuanced understanding of Holocene environmental history in a region of northern Rocky Mountains that receives both summer and winter precipitation. The...
Distribution of potentially bioavailable natural organic carbon in aquifer sediments at a chloroethene-contaminated site
L.K. Thomas, M.A. Widdowson, F. H. Chapelle, J.T. Novak, J.E. Boncal, C. A. Lebron
2012, Journal of Environmental Engineering (139) 54-60
The distribution of natural organic carbon was investigated at a chloroethene-contaminated site where complete reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethene (PCE) to vinyl chloride and ethene was observed. In this study, operationally defined potentially bioavailable organic carbon (PBOC) was measured in surficial aquifer sediment samples collected at varying depths and locations in...
Potentially bioavailable natural organic carbon and hydrolyzable amino acids in aquifer sediments
Lashun K. Thomas, Mark A. Widdowson, John T. Novak, Francis H. Chapelle, Ronald Benner, Karl Kaiser
2012, Ground Water Monitoring and Remediation (32) 92-95
This study evaluated the relationship between concentrations of operationally defined potentially bioavailable organic -carbon (PBOC) and hydrolyzable amino acids (HAAs) in sediments collected from a diverse range of chloroethene--contaminated sites. Concentrations of PBOC and HAA were measured using aquifer sediment samples collected at six selected study sites. Average concentrations of...
The first direct evidence of pre-columbian sources of palygorskite for Maya Blue
Dean E. Arnold, Bruce F. Bohor, Hector Neff, Gary M. Feinman, Patrick Ryan Williams, Laure Dussubieux, Ronald Bishop
2012, Journal of Archaeological Science (39) 2252-2260
Maya Blue, a nano-structured clay–organic complex of palygorskite and indigo, was used predominantly before the Spanish Conquest. It has fascinated chemists, material scientists, archaeologists and art historians for decades because it is resistant to the effect of acids, alkalis, and other reagents, and its rich color has persisted for centuries...
Structure and mechanism of diet specialisation: testing models of individual variation in resource use with sea otters
M. Tim Tinker, Paulo R. Guimaraes Jr., Mark Novak, Flavia Maria Darcie Marquitti, James L. Bodkin, Michelle Staedler, Gena B. Bentall, James A. Estes
2012, Ecology Letters (15) 475-483
Studies of consumer-resource interactions suggest that individual diet specialisation is empirically widespread and theoretically important to the organisation and dynamics of populations and communities. We used weighted networks to analyze the resource use by sea otters, testing three alternative models for how individual diet specialisation may arise. As expected, individual...
Reply to Blaauw et al., Boslough, Daulton, Gill et al., and Hardiman et al.: Younger Dryas impact proxies in Lake Cuitzeo, Mexico
I. Israde-Alcántara, J. L. Bischoff, P.S. DeCarli, G. Domínguez-Vázquez, T.E. Bunch, R.B. Firestone, J.P. Kennett, A. West
2012, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (109) E2245-E2247
No abstract available....
Very high-temperature impact melt products as evidence for cosmic airbursts and impacts 12,900 years ago
Ted E. Bunch, Robert E. Hermes, Andrew Moore, Douglas J. Kennett, James C. Weaver, James H. Wittke, Paul S. DeCarli, James L. Bischoff, Gordon C. Hillman, George A. Howard, David R. Kimbel, Gunther Kletetschka, Carl P. Lipo, Sachiko Sakai, Zsolt Revay, Allen West, Richard B. Firestone, James P. Kennett
2012, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (109) E1903-E1912
It has been proposed that fragments of an asteroid or comet impacted Earth, deposited silica-and iron-rich microspherules and other proxies across several continents, and triggered the Younger Dryas cooling episode 12,900 years ago. Although many independent groups have confirmed the impact evidence, the hypothesis remains controversial because some groups have...
Paleoseismic and geomorphologic evidence of recent tectonic activity of the Pozohondo Fault (Betic Cordillera, SE Spain)
M.A. Rodriguez-Pascua, R. Perez-Lopez, V.H. Garduño-Monroy, J. L. Giner-Robles, P.G. Silva, M.A. Perucha-Atienza, V.M. Hernandez-Madrigal, J. Bischoff
2012, Journal of Iberian Geology (38) 255-267
Instrumental and historical seismicity in the Albacete province (External Prebetic Zone) has been scarcely recorded. However, major strike-slip faults showing NW-SE trending provide geomorphologic and paleoseismic evidence of recent tectonic activity (Late Pleistocene to Present). Moreover, these faults are consistently well oriented under the present stress tensor and therefore, they...
A multiproxy reconstruction of the palaeoenvironment and palaeoclimate of the Late Pleistocene in northeastern Iberia: Cova dels Xaragalls, Vimbodí-Poblet, Paratge Natural de Poblet, Catalonia
Juan Manuel Lopez-Garcia, Hugues-Alexandre Blain, Maria Bennasar, Itxaso Euba, Sandra Banuls, James Bischoff, Esther Lopez-Ortega, Palmira Saladie, Paloma Uzquiano, Josep Vallverdu
2012, Boreas (41) 235-249
The Cova dels Xaragalls is a small open karst system, located in the municipality of Vimbodí-Poblet (Tarragona, Catalonia, NE Spain). It is an important Holocene archaeological site that was inspected in the 1970s but from which little has been published. New excavations starting in 2008 have exposed a deep Late...
Evidence from central Mexico supporting the Younger Dryas extraterrestrial impact hypothesis
Isabel Israde-Alcántara, James L. Bischoff, Gabriela Dominguez-Vazquez, Hong-Chun Li, Paul S. DeCarli, Ted E. Bunch, James H. Wittke, James C. Weaver, Richard B. Firestone, Allen West, James P. Kennett, Chris Mercer, Sujing Xie, Eric K. Richman, Charles R. Kinzie, Wendy S. Wolbach
Steven M. Stanley, editor(s)
2012, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (109) E738-E747
We report the discovery in Lake Cuitzeo in central Mexico of a black, carbon-rich, lacustrine layer, containing nanodiamonds, microspherules, and other unusual materials that date to the early Younger Dryas and are interpreted to result from an extraterrestrial impact. These proxies were found in a 27-m-long core as part of...
Introduction: CRevolution 2: origin and evolution of the Colorado River System II
Karl E. Karlstrom, L. Sue Beard, Kyle House, Richard A. Young, Andres Aslan, George Billingsley, Joel Pederson
2012, Geosphere (8) 1170-1176
A 2010 Colorado River symposium held in Flagstaff, Arizona, in May 2010, had 70 participants who engaged in intense debate about the origin and evolution of the Colorado River system. This symposium, built on two previous decadal scientific meetings, focused on forging scientific consensus where possible, while also articulating continued...
Development and application of methods used to source prehistoric Southwestern maize: a review
Larry V. Benson
2012, Journal of Archaeological Science (39) 791-807
Archaeological cobs free of mineral contaminants should be used to source the soils in which they were grown. Mineral contaminants often contain much higher concentrations of metals than vegetal materials and can alter a cob’s apparent metal and heavy-isotope content. Cleaning a cob via immersion in an acid solution for...
StreamStats in North Carolina: a water-resources Web application
J. Curtis Weaver, Silvia Terziotti, Katharine R. Kolb, Chad R. Wagner
2012, Fact Sheet 2012-3137
A statewide StreamStats application for North Carolina was developed in cooperation with the North Carolina Department of Transportation following completion of a pilot application for the upper French Broad River basin in western North Carolina (Wagner and others, 2009). StreamStats for North Carolina, available at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/streamstats/north_carolina.html, is a Web-based Geographic...
Ambient response of a unique performance-based design building with dynamic response modification features
Mehmet Çelebi, Moh Huang, Antony Shakal, John Hooper, Ron Klemencic
2012, Conference Paper, Proceedings of SMIP12 seminar on utilization of strong-motion data
A 64-story, performance-based design building with reinforced concrete core shear-walls and unique dynamic response modification features (tuned liquid sloshing dampers and buckling-restrained braces) has been instrumented with a monitoring array of 72 channels of accelerometers. Ambient vibration data recorded are analyzed to identify modes and associated frequencies and damping. The...
Note: Rotaphone, a new self-calibrated six-degree-of-freedom seismic sensor
Johana Brokesova, Jiri Malek, John R. Evans
2012, Review of Scientific Instruments (83)
We have developed and tested (calibration, linearity, and cross-axis errors) a new six-degree-of-freedom mechanical seismic sensor for collocated measurements of three translational and three rotational ground motion velocity components. The device consists of standard geophones arranged in parallel pairs to detect spatial gradients. The instrument operates in a high-frequency range...
Detection of tamarisk defoliation by the northern tamarisk beetle based on multitemporal Landsat 5 thematic mapper imagery.
Ran Meng, Philip E. Dennison, Levi Jamison, Charles van Riper III, Pamela L Nagler, Kevin Hultine, Dan W. Bean, Tom Dudley
2012, GIScience & Remote Sensing (49) 510-537
The spread of tamarisk (Tamarix spp., also known as saltcedar) is a significant ecological disturbance in western North America and has long been targeted for control, leading to the importation of the northern tamarisk beetle (Diorhabda carinulata) as a biological control agent. Following its initial release along the Colorado River near...
Strategies for soil quality assessment using VNIR gyperspectral spectroscopy in a western Kenya Chronosequence
Rintaro Kinoshita, Bianca N. Moebius-Clune, Harold M. van Es, W. Dean Hively, A. Volkan Bilgilis
2012, Soil Science Society of America Journal (76) 1776-1788
Visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (VNIRS) is a rapid and nondestructive method that can predict multiple soil properties simultaneously, but its application in multidimensional soil quality (SQ) assessment in the tropics still needs to be further assessed. In this study, VNIRS (350–2500 nm) was employed to analyze 227 air-dried soil...
Global trophic position comparison of two dominant mesopelagic fish families (Myctophidae, Stomiidae) using amino acid nitrogen isotopic analyses
C. Anela Choy, Peter C. Davison, Jeffrey C. Drazen, Adrian Flynn, Elizabeth J. Gier, Joel C. Hoffman, Jennifer P. McClain-Counts, Todd W. Miller, Brian N. Popp, Steve W. Ross, Tracey T. Sutton
2012, PLoS ONE (7) 1-8
The δ15N values of organisms are commonly used across diverse ecosystems to estimate trophic position and infer trophic connectivity. We undertook a novel cross-basin comparison of trophic position in two ecologically well-characterized and different groups of dominant mid-water fish consumers using amino acid nitrogen isotope compositions. We found that trophic...
