The influence of maximum magnitude on seismic-hazard estimates in the Central and Eastern United States
C.S. Mueller
2010, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (100) 699-711
I analyze the sensitivity of seismic-hazard estimates in the central and eastern United States (CEUS) to maximum magnitude (mmax) by exercising the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) probabilistic hazard model with several mmax alternatives. Seismicity-based sources control the hazard in most of the CEUS, but data seldom provide an objective basis...
Attributes for MRB_E2RF1 Catchments by Major River Basins in the Conterminous United States: Artificial Drainage (1992) and Irrigation (1997)
Michael Wieczorek, Andrew E. LaMotte
2010, Data Series 491-01
This tabular data set represents the estimated area of artifical drainage for the year 1992 and irrigation types for the year 1997 compiled for every MRB_E2RF1 catchment of Major River Basins (MRBs, Crawford and others, 2006). The source data sets were derived from tabular National Resource Inventory (NRI) data...
Using chloride and other ions to trace sewage and road salt in the Illinois Waterway
W.R. Kelly, S.V. Panno, Keith C. Hackley, H.-H. Hwang, A.T. Martinsek, M. Markus
2010, Applied Geochemistry (25) 661-673
Chloride concentrations in waterways of northern USA are increasing at alarming rates and road salt is commonly assumed to be the cause. However, there are additional sources of Cl- in metropolitan areas, such as treated wastewater (TWW) and water conditioning salts, which may be contributing to Cl- loads entering surface...
The 2009 Samoa-Tonga great earthquake triggered doublet
T. Lay, C.J. Ammon, H. Kanamori, L. Rivera, K.D. Koper, Alexander R. Hutko
2010, Nature (466) 964-968
Great earthquakes (having seismic magnitudes of at least 8) usually involve abrupt sliding of rock masses at a boundary between tectonic plates. Such interplate ruptures produce dynamic and static stress changes that can activate nearby intraplate aftershocks, as is commonly observed in the trench-slope region seaward of a great subduction...
Land-use pressure and a transition to forest-cover loss in the Eastern United States
Mark A. Drummond, Thomas R. Loveland
2010, BioScience (60) 286-298
Contemporary land-use pressures have a significant impact on the extent and condition of forests in the eastern United States, causing a regional-scale decline in forest cover. Earlier in the 20th century, land cover was on a trajectory of forest expansion that followed agricultural abandonment. However, the potential for forest regeneration...
Pyrethroid insecticide concentrations and toxicity in streambed sediments and loads in surface waters of the San Joaquin Valley, California, USA
Joseph L. Domagalski, Donald P. Weston, Minghua Zhang, Michelle L. Hladik
2010, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (29) 813-823
Pyrethroid insecticide use in California, USA, is growing, and there is a need to understand the fate of these compounds in the environment. Concentrations and toxicity were assessed in streambed sediment of the San Joaquin Valley of California, one of the most productive agricultural regions of the United States. Concentrations...
Valuing ecosystem services from wetlands restoration in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley
W.A. Jenkins, B. C. Murray, R.A. Kramer, S.P. Faulkner
2010, Ecological Economics (69) 1051-1061
This study assesses the value of restoring forested wetlands via the U.S. government's Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley by quantifying and monetizing ecosystem services. The three focal services are greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, nitrogen mitigation, and waterfowl recreation. Site- and region-level measurements of these ecosystem services...
Influence of roads, rivers, and mountains on natal dispersal of white-tailed deer
E.S. Long, Duane R. Diefenbach, B.D. Wallingford, C.S. Rosenberry
2010, Journal of Wildlife Management (74) 1242-1249
Natural and anthropogenic landscape features, such as rivers, mountain ranges, and roads can alter animal dispersal paths and movement patterns. Consequently landscape, through its effects on dispersal, may influence many ecological processes, including disease transmission, invasion dynamics, and gene flow. To investigate influences of landscape features on dispersal patterns of...
Reactive transport modeling to study changes in water chemistry induced by CO2 injection at the Frio-I Brine Pilot
T. Xu, Y.K. Kharaka, C. Doughty, B.M. Freifeld, T.M. Daley
2010, Chemical Geology (271) 153-164
To demonstrate the potential for geologic storage of CO2 in saline aquifers, the Frio-I Brine Pilot was conducted, during which 1600 tons of CO2 were injected into a high-permeability sandstone and the resulting subsurface plume of CO2 was monitored using a variety of hydrogeological, geophysical, and geochemical techniques. Fluid samples...
Migration patterns and movements of sandhill cranes wintering in central and southwestern Louisiana
Sammy L. King, Aaron R. Pierce, Kent Hersey, Nicholas Winstead
Barry K. Hartup, editor(s)
2010, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the eleventh North American crane workshop
In this study we trapped wintering sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) in Louisiana and fitted them with satellite transmitters to determine their migration routes. Four of the 6 sandhill cranes with validated locations and a terminus point used the Central Flyway for spring migration; 2 of these 4 (the only 2...
Judging a brook by its cover: The relation between ecological condition of a stream and urban land cover in new England
J.F. Coles, T. F. Cuffney, G. McMahon, C. J. Rosiu
2010, Northeastern Naturalist (17) 29-48
The US Geological Survey conducted an urban land-use study in the New England Coastal Basins (NECB) area during 2001 to determine how urbanization relates to changes in the ecological condition of streams. Thirty sites were selected that differed in their level of watershed development (low to high). An urban intensity...
Timing and duration of garnet granulite metamorphism in magmatic arc crust, Fiordland, New Zealand
H. Stowell, A. Tulloch, C. Zuluaga, A. Koenig
2010, Chemical Geology (273) 91-110
Pembroke Granulite from Fiordland, New Zealand provides a window into the mid- to lower crust of magmatic arcs. Garnet Sm-Nd and zircon U-Pb ages constrain the timing and duration of high-P partial melting that produced trondhjemitic high Sr/Y magma. Trace element zoning in large, euhedral garnet is compatible with little...
Attributes for MRB_E2RF1 Catchments by Major River Basins in the Conterminous United States: Base-Flow Index, 2002
Michael Wieczorek, Andrew E. LaMotte
2010, Data Series 491-04
This tabular data set represents the mean base-flow index expressed as a percent, compiled for every catchment of MRB_E2RF1 catchments of Major River Basins (MRBs, Crawford and others, 2006). Base flow is the component of streamflow that can be attributed to ground-water discharge into streams. The source data set is...
Hierarchical spatial models for predicting pygmy rabbit distribution and relative abundance
T.L. Wilson, J.B. Odei, M.B. Hooten, T.C. Edwards Jr.
2010, Journal of Applied Ecology (47) 401-409
Conservationists routinely use species distribution models to plan conservation, restoration and development actions, while ecologists use them to infer process from pattern. These models tend to work well for common or easily observable species, but are of limited utility for rare and cryptic species. This may be because honest accounting...
Carbon dioxide emission factors for U.S. coal by origin and destination
J.C. Quick
2010, Environmental Science & Technology (44) 2709-2714
This paper describes a method that uses published data to calculate locally robust CO2 emission factors for U.S. coal. The method is demonstrated by calculating CO2 emission factors by coal origin (223 counties, in 1999) and destination (479 power plants, in 2005). Locally robust CO2 emission factors should improve the...
Abundances and distribution of minerals and elements in high-alumina coal fly ash from the Jungar Power Plant, Inner Mongolia, China
S. Dai, L. Zhao, S. Peng, C. L. Chou, X. Wang, Y. Zhang, D. Li, Y. Sun
2010, International Journal of Coal Geology (81) 320-332
The fly ash from the Jungar Power Plant, Inner Mongolia, China, is unique because it is highly enriched in alumina (Al2O3>50%). The fly ash mainly consists of amorphous glass and mullite and trace amounts of corundum, quartz, char, calcite, K-feldspar, clay minerals, and Fe-bearing minerals. The mullite content in fly...
Influence of sulfur-bearing polyatomic species on high precision measurements of Cu isotopic composition
M.J. Pribil, R. B. Wanty, W.I. Ridley, D.M. Borrok
2010, Chemical Geology (272) 49-54
An increased interest in high precision Cu isotope ratio measurements using multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) has developed recently for various natural geologic systems and environmental applications, these typically contain high concentrations of sulfur, particularly in the form of sulfate (SO42-) and sulfide (S). For example, Cu, Fe,...
Abundance and sexual size dimorphism of the giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) in the Sacramento valley of California
G.D. Wylie, Michael L. Casazza, C.J. Gregory, B.J. Halstead
2010, Journal of Herpetology (44) 94-103
The Giant Gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) is restricted to wetlands of the Central Valley of California. Because of wetland loss in this region, the Giant Gartersnake is both federally and state listed as threatened. We conducted markrecapture studies of four populations of the Giant Gartersnake in the Sacramento Valley (northern Central...
Striped Bass, morone saxatilis, egg incubation in large volume jars
C.J. Harper, B.M. Wrege, Isely J. Jeffery
2010, Journal of the World Aquaculture Society (41) 633-639
The standard McDonald jar was compared with a large volume jar for striped bass, Morone saxatilis, egg incubation. The McDonald jar measured 16 cm in diameter by 45 cm in height and had a volume of 6 L. The experimental jar measured 0.4 m in diameter by 1.3 m in...
Evaluation of the use of performance reference compounds in an oasis-HLB adsorbent based passive sampler for improving water concentration estimates of polar herbicides in freshwater
N. Mazzella, S. Lissalde, S. Moreira, F. Delmas, P. Mazellier, J.N. Huckins
2010, Environmental Science & Technology (44) 1713-1719
Passive samplers such as the Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Sampler (POCIS) are useful tools for monitoring trace levels of polar organic chemicals in aquatic environments. The use of performance reference compounds (PRC) spiked into the POCIS adsorbent for in situ calibration may improve the semiquantitative nature of water concentration estimates...
Population dynamics of American horseshoe crabs-historic climatic events and recent anthropogenic pressures
S. Faurby, T.L. King, M. Obst, E.M. Hallerman, C. Pertoldi, P. Funch
2010, Molecular Ecology (19) 3088-3100
Populations of the American horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, have declined, but neither the causes nor the magnitude are fully understood. In order to evaluate historic demography, variation at 12 microsatellite DNA loci surveyed in 1218 L. polyphemus sampled from 28 localities was analysed with Bayesian coalescent-based methods. The analysis showed...
Monitoring on-orbit calibration stability of the Terra MODIS and Landsat 7 ETM+ sensors using pseudo-invariant test sites
G. Chander, X. Xiong, T. Choi, A. Angal
2010, Remote Sensing of Environment (114) 925-939
The ability to detect and quantify changes in the Earth's environment depends on sensors that can provide calibrated, consistent measurements of the Earth's surface features through time. A critical step in this process is to put image data from different sensors onto a common radiometric scale. This work focuses on...
Time-dependent seismic tomography
B.R. Julian, G.R. Foulger
2010, Geophysical Journal International (182) 1327-1338
Of methods for measuring temporal changes in seismic-wave speeds in the Earth, seismic tomography is among those that offer the highest spatial resolution. 3-D tomographic methods are commonly applied in this context by inverting seismic wave arrival time data sets from different epochs independently and assuming that differences in the...
Spatial variation in keystone effects: Small mammal diversity associated with black-tailed prairie dog colonies
J.F. Cully, S.K. Collinge, R. E. Van Nimwegen, C. Ray, W.C. Johnson, Bala Thiagarajan, D.B. Conlin, B.E. Holmes
2010, Ecography (33) 667-677
Species with extensive geographic ranges may interact with different species assemblages at distant locations, with the result that the nature of the interactions may vary spatially. Black-tailed prairie dogs Cynomys ludovicianus occur from Canada to Mexico in grasslands of the western Great Plains of North America. Black-tailed prairie dogs alter...
Spectral assessment of new ASTER SWIR surface reflectance data products for spectroscopic mapping of rocks and minerals
J.C. Mars, L. C. Rowan
2010, Remote Sensing of Environment (114) 2011-2025
ASTER reflectance spectra from Cuprite, Nevada, and Mountain Pass, California, were compared to spectra of field samples and to ASTER-resampled AVIRIS reflectance data to determine spectral accuracy and spectroscopic mapping potential of two new ASTER SWIR reflectance datasets: RefL1b and AST_07XT. RefL1b is a new reflectance dataset produced for this...
