A prototype feature system for feature retrieval using relationships
J. Choi, E.L. Usery
2009, Cartography and Geographic Information Science (36) 331-345
Using a feature data model, geographic phenomena can be represented effectively by integrating space, theme, and time. This paper extends and implements a feature data model that supports query and visualization of geographic features using their non-spatial and temporal relationships. A prototype feature-oriented geographic information system (FOGIS) is then developed...
Microbial abundance in the deep subsurface of the Chesapeake Bay impact crater: Relationship to lithology and impact processes
Charles S. Cockell, Aaron L. Gronstal, Mary A. Voytek, Julie D. Kirshtein, Kai Finster, Ward E. Sanford, Mihaela Glamoclija, Gregroy S. Gohn, David S. Powars, J. Wright Horton Jr.
2009, GSA Special Papers (458) 941-950
Asteroid and comet impact events are known to cause profound disruption to surface ecosystems. The aseptic collection of samples throughout a 1.76-km-deep set of cores recovered from the deep subsurface of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure has allowed the study of the subsurface biosphere in a region disrupted by an...
The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 96, September 2009
M.K. Weisberg, C. Smith, G. Benedix, C.D.K. Herd, K. Righter, H. Haack, A. Yamaguchi, Aoudjehane H. Chennaoui, J. N. Grossman
2009, Meteoritics and Planetary Science (44) 1355-1397
The Meteoritical Bulletin No. 96 contains a total of 1590 newly approved meteorite names with their relevant data. These include 12 from specific locations within Africa, 76 from northwest Africa, 9 from the Americas, 13 from Asia, 1 from Australia, 2 from Europe, 950 from Antarctica recovered by the Chinese...
Endogenic carbonate sedimentation in Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho, over the last two glacial-interglacial cycles
W.E. Dean
2009, Special Paper of the Geological Society of America 169-196
Sediments deposited over the past 220,000 years in Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho, are predominantly calcareous silty clay, with calcite as the dominant carbonate mineral. The abundance of siliciclastic sediment indicates that the Bear River usually was connected to Bear Lake. However, three marl intervals containing more than 50% CaCO3...
Prevalence of West Nile virus in migratory birds during spring and fall migration
Robert J. Dusek, R. G. McLean, L.D. Kramer, S. R. Ubico, A.P. Dupuis II, G.D. Ebel, S.C. Guptill
2009, American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (81) 1151-1158
To investigate the role of migratory birds in the dissemination of West Nile virus (WNV), we measured the prevalence of infectious WNV and specific WNV neutralizing antibodies in birds, principally Passeriformes, during spring and fall migrations in the Atlantic and Mississippi flyways from 2001-2003. Blood samples were obtained from 13,403...
Hurricane frequency and landfall distribution for coastal wetlands of the Gulf coast, USA
T.W. Doyle
2009, Wetlands (29) 35-43
The regularity and severity of tropical storms are major determinants controlling ecosystem structure and succession for coastal ecosystems. Hurricane landfall rates vary greatly with high and low frequency for given coastal stretches of the southeastern United States. Site-specific meteorological data of hurricane wind speeds and direction, however, are only available...
Feeding ecology of arctic-nesting sandpipers during spring migration through the prairie pothole region
J.L. Eldridge, Gary L. Krapu, Douglas H. Johnson
2009, Journal of Wildlife Management (73) 248-252
We evaluated food habits of 4 species of spring-migrant calidrid sandpipers in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North Dakota. Sandpipers foraged in several wetland classes and fed primarily on aquatic dipterans, mostly larvae, and the midge family Chironomidae was the primary food eaten. Larger sandpiper species foraged in deeper...
CHRONOS architecture: Experiences with an open-source services-oriented architecture for geoinformatics
D. Fils, C. Cervato, J. Reed, P. Diver, X. Tang, G. Bohling, D. Greer
2009, Computers & Geosciences (35) 774-782
CHRONOS's purpose is to transform Earth history research by seamlessly integrating stratigraphic databases and tools into a virtual on-line stratigraphic record. In this paper, we describe the various components of CHRONOS's distributed data system, including the encoding of semantic and descriptive data into a service-based architecture. We give examples of...
Structural evolution of the Ural-Tian Shan junction: A view from Karatau ridge, South Kazakhstan
D.V. Alexeiev, H. E. Cook, V.M. Buvtyshkin, L.Y. Golub
2009, Comptes Rendus - Geoscience (341) 287-297
The deformation history of the Late Palaeozoic Ural-Tian Shan junction is discussed for the example of the Karatau ridge in southern Kazakhstan. Three deformation events are recognized. The Late Carboniferous D1 event is characterized by Laramide-style thrust-and-fold structures on the southern margin of Kazakhstan with shortening in a NE-SW direction....
Territoriality of feral pigs in a highly persecuted population on Fort Benning, Georgia
B.D. Sparklin, M.S. Mitchell, L.B. Hanson, D.B. Jolley, S.S. Ditchkoff
2009, Journal of Wildlife Management (73) 497-502
We examined home range behavior of female feral pigs (Sus scrofa) in a heavily hunted population on Fort Benning Military Reservation in west-central Georgia, USA. We used Global Positioning System location data from 24 individuals representing 18 sounders (i.e., F social groups) combined with markrecapture and camera-trap data to evaluate...
Accumulation of iron and arsenic in the Chandina alluvium of the lower delta plain, Southeastern Bangladesh
A. Zahid, M.Q. Hassan, G. N. Breit, K.-D. Balke, M. Flegr
2009, Environmental Geochemistry and Health (31) 69-84
Accumulations of iron, manganese, and arsenic occur in the Chandina alluvium of southeastern Bangladesh within 2.5 m of the ground surface. These distinctive orange-brown horizons are subhorizontal and consistently occur within 1 m of the contact of the aerated (yellow-brown) and water-saturated (gray) sediment. Ferric oxyhydroxide precipitates that define the...
Coastline shifts and probable ship landing site submerged off ancient Locri-Epizefiri, southern Italy
J.M. Tennent, J.-D. Stanley, P. E. Hart, M.P. Bernasconi
2009, Journal of Coastal Research (25) 488-499
A geophysical survey provides new information on marine features located seaward of Locri-Epizefiri (Locri), an ancient Greek settlement on the Ionian coastal margin in southern Italy. The study supplements previous work by archaeologists who long searched for the site's harbor and recently identified what was once a marine basin that...
Web services in the U.S. geological survey streamstats web application
J. D. Guthrie, C. Dartiguenave, Kernell G. Ries III
2009, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the International Conference on Advanced Geographic Information Systems and Web Services, GEOWS 2009
StreamStats is a U.S. Geological Survey Web-based GIS application developed as a tool for waterresources planning and management, engineering design, and other applications. StreamStats' primary functionality allows users to obtain drainage-basin boundaries, basin characteristics, and streamflow statistics for gaged and ungaged sites. Recently, Web services have been developed that provide...
Unusual raptor nests around the world
D. H. Ellis, T. Craig, E. Craig, S. Postupalsky, C.T. LaRue, R.W. Nelson, D. W. Anderson, Charles J. Henny, J. Watson, B.A. Millsap, J.W. Dawson, K.L. Cole, E.M. Martin, A. Margalida, P. Kung
2009, Journal of Raptor Research (43) 175-198
From surveys in many countries, we report raptors using unusual nesting materials (e.g., paper money, rags, metal, antlers, and large bones) and unusual nesting situations. For example, we documented nests of Steppe Eagles Aquila nipalensis and Upland Buzzards Buteo hemilasius on the ground beside well-traveled roads, Saker Falcon Falco cherrug...
Obliquity-paced Pliocene West Antarctic ice sheet oscillations
T. Naish, R. Powell, R. Levy, G. Wilson, R. Scherer, F. Talarico, L. Krissek, F. Niessen, M. Pompilio, T. Wilson, L. Carter, R. DeConto, P. Huybers, R. McKay, D. Pollard, J. Ross, D. Winter, P. Barrett, G. Browne, R. Cody, E. Cowan, J. Crampton, G. Dunbar, N. Dunbar, F. Florindo, C. Gebhardt, I. Graham, M. Hannah, D. Hansaraj, D. Harwood, D. Helling, S. Henrys, L. Hinnov, G. Kuhn, P. Kyle, A. Laufer, P. Maffioli, D. Magens, K. Mandernack, W. McIntosh, C. Millan, R. Morin, C. Ohneiser, T. Paulsen, D. Persico, I. Raine, J. Reed, C. Riesselman, L. Sagnotti, D. Schmitt, C. Sjunneskog, P. Strong, M. Taviani, S. Vogel, T. Wilch, T. Williams
2009, Nature (458) 322-328
Thirty years after oxygen isotope records from microfossils deposited in ocean sediments confirmed the hypothesis that variations in the Earth's orbital geometry control the ice ages1, fundamental questions remain over the response of the Antarctic ice sheets to orbital cycles2. Furthermore, an understanding of the behaviour...
Late Quaternary sedimentary features of Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho
J. P. Smoot
2009, Special Paper of the Geological Society of America 49-104
Bear Lake sediments were predominantly aragonite for most of the Holocene, reflecting a hydrologically closed lake fed by groundwater and small streams. During the late Pleistocene, the Bear River flowed into Bear Lake and the lake waters spilled back into the Bear River drainage. At that time, sediment deposition was...
Seasonal source-sink dynamics at the edge of a species' range
L.L. Kanda, T.K. Fuller, P.R. Sievert, R.L. Kellogg
2009, Ecology (90) 1574-1585
The roles of dispersal and population dynamics in determining species' range boundaries recently have received theoretical attention but little empirical work. Here we provide data on survival, reproduction, and movement for a Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) population at a local distributional edge in central Massachusetts (USA). Most juvenile females that...
Spatial pattern of groundwater arsenic occurrence and association with bedrock geology in greater augusta, maine
Q. Yang, H.B. Jung, C.W. Culbertson, R.G. Marvinney, M.C. Loiselle, D.B. Locke, H. Cheek, H. Thibodeau, Yen Zheng
2009, Environmental Science & Technology (43) 2714-2719
In New England, groundwater arsenic occurrence has been linked to bedrock geology on regional scales. To ascertain and quantify this linkage at intermediate (100-101 km) scales, 790 groundwater samples from fractured bedrock aquifers in the greater Augusta, Maine area are analyzed, and 31% of the sampled wells have arsenic concentrations...
Hybridization rapidly reduces fitness of a native trout in the wild
C.C. Muhlfeld, S.T. Kalinowski, T.E. McMahon, M.L. Taper, S. Painter, R.F. Leary, F.W. Allendorf
2009, Biology Letters (5) 328-331
Human-mediated hybridization is a leading cause of biodiversity loss worldwide. How hybridization affects fitness and what level of hybridization is permissible pose difficult conservation questions with little empirical information to guide policy and management decisions. This is particularly true for salmonids, where widespread introgression among non-native and native taxa has...
Environmental and climatic variables as potential drivers of post-fire cover of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) in seeded and unseeded semiarid ecosystems
D.J. Shinneman, W.L. Baker
2009, International Journal of Wildland Fire (18) 191-202
Cheatgrass, a non-native annual grass, dominates millions of hectares in semiarid ecosystems of the Intermountain West (USA). Post-fire invasions can reduce native species diversity and alter ecological processes. To curb cheatgrass invasion, land managers often seed recently burned areas with perennial competitor species. We sampled vegetation within burned (19 years...
The moon as a radiometric reference source for on-orbit sensor stability calibration
T.C. Stone
2009, Conference Paper, International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS)
The wealth of data generated by the world's Earth-observing satellites, now spanning decades, allows the construction of long-term climate records. A key consideration for detecting climate trends is precise quantification of temporal changes in sensor calibration on-orbit. For radiometer instruments in the solar reflectance wavelength range (near-UV to shortwave-IR), the...
Rock-avalanche and ocean-resurge deposits in the late Eocene Chesapeake Bay impact structure: Evidence from the ICDP-USGS Eyreville cores, Virginia, USA
Gregory Gohn, David S. Powars, H. Dypvik, Lucy E. Edwards
2009, Special Paper of the Geological Society of America 587-615
An unusually thick section of sedimentary breccias dominated by target-sediment clasts is a distinctive feature of the late Eocene Chesapeake Bay impact structure. A cored 1766-m-deep section recovered from the central part of this marine-target structure by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP)-U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) drilling project contains...
Generalized analytical model for benthic water flux forced by surface gravity waves
J.N. King, A.J. Mehta, R.G. Dean
2009, Journal of Geophysical Research C: Oceans (114)
A generalized analytical model for benthic water flux forced by linear surface gravity waves over a series of layered hydrogeologic units is developed by adapting a previous solution for a hydrogeologic unit with an infinite thickness (Case I) to a unit with a finite thickness (Case II) and to a...
Intra-annual NDVI validation of the Landsat 5 TM radiometric calibration
G. Chander, D.P. Groeneveld
2009, International Journal of Remote Sensing (30) 1621-1628
Multispectral data from the Landsat 5 (L5) Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor provide the backbone of the extensive archive of moderate‐resolution Earth imagery. Even after more than 24 years of service, the L5 TM is still operational. Given the longevity of the satellite, the detectors have aged and the sensor's radiometric...
Measured river leakages using conventional streamflow techniques: The case of Souhegan River, New Hampshire, USA
P. T. Harte, R.G. Kiah
2009, Hydrogeology Journal (17) 409-424
Multiple streamflow measurements were made at coupled discharge measurement stations to quantify rates of aquifer recharge and discharge on two reaches of the Souhegan River, New Hampshire, USA, flowing within a glacial-drift river-valley aquifer. The reaches included a predominantly losing (aquifer recharge) reach and a variable (aquifer recharge and discharge)...