Assessing juvenile salmon rearing habitat and associated predation risk in a lower Snake River reservoir
Kenneth F. Tiffan, James R. Hatten, David A Trachtenbarg
2015, River Research and Applications (32) 1030-1038
Subyearling fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Columbia River basin exhibit a transient rearing strategy and depend on connected shoreline habitats during freshwater rearing. Impoundment has greatly reduced the amount of shallow-water rearing habitat that is exacerbated by the steep topography of reservoirs. Periodic dredging creates opportunities to strategically place...
Detecting mismatches of bird migration stopover and tree phenology in response to changing climate
Jherime L. Kellermann, Charles van Riper III
2015, Oecologia (178) 1227-1238
Migratory birds exploit seasonal variation in resources across latitudes, timing migration to coincide with the phenology of food at stopover sites. Differential responses to climate in phenology across trophic levels can result in phenological mismatch; however, detecting mismatch is sensitive to methodology. We examined patterns of migrant abundance and tree...
Hydrologic budget and conditions of Permian, Pennsylvanian, and Mississippian aquifers in the Appalachian Plateaus physiographic province
Kurt J. McCoy, Richard M. Yager, David L. Nelms, David E. Ladd, Jack Monti, Jr., Mark D. Kozar
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5106
In response to challenges to groundwater availability posed by historic land-use practices, expanding development of hydrocarbon resources, and drought, the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater Resources Program began a regional assessment of the Appalachian Plateaus aquifers in 2013 that incorporated a hydrologic landscape approach to estimate all components of the hydrologic...
Strong ground motion inferred from liquefaction caused by the 1811-1812 New Madrid, Missouri, earthquakes
Thomas L. Holzer, Thomas E. Noce, Michael J. Bennett
2015, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (105) 2589-2603
Peak ground accelerations (PGAs) in the epicentral region of the 1811–1812 New Madrid, Missouri, earthquakes are inferred from liquefaction to have been no greater than ∼0.35g. PGA is inferred in an 11,380 km2 area in the Lower Mississippi Valley in Arkansas and Missouri where liquefaction was extensive in 1811–1812. PGA was inferred...
U.S. Geological Survey Noble Gas Laboratory’s standard operating procedures for the measurement of dissolved gas in water samples
Andrew G. Hunt
2015, Techniques and Methods 5-A11
This report addresses the standard operating procedures used by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Noble Gas Laboratory in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A., for the measurement of dissolved gases (methane, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide) and noble gas isotopes (helium-3, helium-4, neon-20, neon-21, neon-22, argon-36, argon-38, argon-40, kryton-84, krypton-86, xenon-103, and xenon-132) dissolved...
Distribution and movements of Alaska-breeding Steller's Eiders in the nonbreeding period
Philip D. Martin, David C. Douglas, Tim Obritschkewitsch, Shannon Torrence
2015, The Condor (117) 341-353
Simulation of groundwater flow and analysis of the effects of water-management options in the North Platte Natural Resources District, Nebraska
Steven M. Peterson, Amanda T. Flynn, Joseph Vrabel, Derek W. Ryter
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5093
The North Platte Natural Resources District (NPNRD) has been actively collecting data and studying groundwater resources because of concerns about the future availability of the highly inter-connected surface-water and groundwater resources. This report, prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the North Platte Natural Resources District, describes a...
Streamflow gains and losses in the Colorado River in northwestern Burnet and southeastern San Saba Counties, Texas
Christopher L. Braun, Scott D. Grzyb
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5098
In October 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Central Texas Groundwater Conservation District, began an assessment to better understand if and where groundwater from the Ellenburger-San Saba aquifer is discharging to the Colorado River, and if and where Colorado River streamflow is recharging the Ellenburger-San Saba...
Organic and inorganic composition and microbiology of produced waters from Pennsylvania shale gas wells
Denise M. Akob, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Darren S. Dunlap, Elisabeth L. Rowan, Michelle M. Lorah
2015, Applied Geochemistry (60) 116-125
Hydraulically fractured shales are becoming an increasingly important source of natural gas production in the United States. This process has been known to create up to 420 gallons of produced water (PW) per day, but the volume varies depending on the formation, and the characteristics of individual hydraulic fracture. PW...
Normalization of stable isotope data for carbonate minerals: implementation of IUPAC guideline
Sang-Tae Kim, Tyler B. Coplen, Juske Horita
2015, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (158) 276-289
Carbonate minerals provide a rich source of geochemical information because their δ13C and δ18O values provide information about surface and subsurface Earth processes. However, a significant problem is that the same δ18O value is not reported for the identical carbonate sample when analyzed in different isotope laboratories in spite...
Median nitrate concentrations in groundwater in the New Jersey Highlands Region estimated using regression models and land-surface characteristics
Ronald J. Baker, Mary M. Chepiga, Stephen J. Cauller
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5075
Nitrate-concentration data are used in conjunction with land-use and land-cover data to estimate median nitrate concentrations in groundwater underlying the New Jersey (NJ) Highlands Region. Sources of data on nitrate in 19,670 groundwater samples are from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Information System (NWIS) and the NJ Private...
Introduction to this special issue on ocean acidification: the pathway from science to policy
Jeremy T. Mathis, Sarah R. Cooley, Kimberly K. Yates, Phillip Williamson
2015, Oceanography (28) 10-15
Ocean acidification (OA) is a progressive decrease in the pH of seawater over decades, caused primarily by uptake of excess atmospheric CO2 and accompanied by changes in seawater carbonate chemistry. Scientific studies designed to examine the effects of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on global carbon fluxes have also led...
Transdisciplinary science: A path to understanding the interactions among ocean acidification, ecosystems, and society
Kimberly K. Yates, Carol Turley, Brian M. Hopkinson, Anne E. Todgham, Jessica N. Cross, Holly Greening, Phillip Williamson, Ruben Van Hooidonk, Dimitri D. Deheyn, Zackary Johnson
2015, Oceanography (28) 212-225
The global nature of ocean acidification (OA) transcends habitats, ecosystems, regions, and science disciplines. The scientific community recognizes that the biggest challenge in improving understanding of how changing OA conditions affect ecosystems, and associated consequences for human society, requires integration of experimental, observational, and modeling approaches from many disciplines over...
How well can wave runup be predicted? comment on Laudier et al. (2011) and Stockdon et al. (2006)
Nathaniel G. Plant, Hilary F. Stockdon
2015, Coastal Engineering (102) 44-48
Laudier et al. (2011) suggested that there may be a systematic bias error in runup predictions using a model developed by Stockdon et al. (2006). Laudier et al. tested cases that sampled beach and wave conditions that differed from those used to develop the Stockdon et al. model. Based on...
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in sandstone reservoirs of the Cotton Valley Group, U.S. Gulf Coast, 2015
Jennifer D. Eoff, Laura R.H. Biewick, Michael E. Brownfield, Lauri Burke, Ronald R. Charpentier, Russell F. Dubiel, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Nicholas J. Gianoutsos, Scott A. Kinney, Timothy R. Klett, Heidi M. Leathers, Tracey J. Mercier, Stanley T. Paxton, Ofori N. Pearson, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Katherine J. Whidden
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3050
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered mean volumes of 14 million barrels of conventional oil, 430 billion cubic feet of conventional gas, 34,028 billion cubic feet of continuous gas, and a mean total of 391 million barrels of natural gas liquids in sandstone reservoirs of the Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous Cotton Valley Group in onshore...
Origins of geothermal gases at Yellowstone
Jacob B. Lowenstern, Deborah Bergfeld, William C. Evans, Andrew G. Hunt
2015, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (302) 87-101
Gas emissions at the Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field (YPVF) reflect open-system mixing of gas species originating from diverse rock types, magmas, and crustal fluids, all combined in varying proportions at different thermal areas. Gases are not necessarily in chemical equilibrium with the waters through which they vent, especially in acid...
Earthquake shaking hazard estimates and exposure changes in the conterminous United States
Kishor S. Jaiswal, Mark D. Petersen, Kenneth S. Rukstales, William S. Leith
2015, Earthquake Spectra (31) 201-220
A large portion of the population of the United States lives in areas vulnerable to earthquake hazards. This investigation aims to quantify population and infrastructure exposure within the conterminous U.S. that are subjected to varying levels of earthquake ground motions by systematically analyzing the last four cycles of the U.S....
Understory vegetation as an indicator for floodplain forest restoration in the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley, U.S.A.
Diane De Steven, Stephen Faulkner, Bobby D. Keeland, M.J. Baldwin, John W. McCoy, Steven C. Hughes
2015, Restoration Ecology (23) 402-412
In the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley (MAV), complete alteration of river-floodplain hydrology allowed for widespreadconversion of forested bottomlands to intensive agriculture, resulting in nearly 80% forest loss. Governmental programs haveattempted to restore forest habitat and functions within this altered landscape by the methods of tree planting (afforestation)and...
Behavioral evidence for a role of chemoreception during reproduction in lake trout
Tyler J. Buchinger, Weiming Li, Nicholas S. Johnson
2015, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (72) 1847-1852
Chemoreception is hypothesized to influence spawning site selection, mate search, and synchronization of gamete release in chars (Salvelinus spp.), but behavioral evidence is generally lacking. Here, we provide a survey of the behavioral responses of reproductive male and female lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) to natural conspecific chemosensory stimuli. A flow-through...
Geochemical, modal, and geochronologic data for 1.4 Ga A-type granitoid intrusions of the conterminous United States
Edward A. du Bray, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma, Carma A. San Juan, Karen Lund, Wayne R. Premo, Ed DeWitt
2015, Data Series 942
Introduction The purpose of this report is to present available geochemical, modal, and geochronologic data for approximately 1.4 billion year (Ga) A-type granitoid intrusions of the United States and to make those data available to ongoing petrogenetic investigations of these rocks. A-type granites, as originally defined by Loiselle and Wones (1979),...
Earthquake forewarning in the Cascadia region
Joan S. Gomberg, Brian F. Atwater, Nicholas M. Beeler, Paul Bodin, Earl Davis, Arthur D. Frankel, Gavin P. Hayes, Laura McConnell, Tim Melbourne, David H. Oppenheimer, John G. Parrish, Evelyn A. Roeloffs, Gary D. Rogers, Brian L. Sherrod, John Vidale, Timothy J. Walsh, Craig S. Weaver, Paul M. Whitmore
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1151
This report, prepared for the National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council (NEPEC), is intended as a step toward improving communications about earthquake hazards between information providers and users who coordinate emergency-response activities in the Cascadia region of the Pacific Northwest. NEPEC charged a subcommittee of scientists with writing this report about...
Pulse-drought atop press-drought: unexpected plant responses and implications for dryland ecosystems
David L. Hoover, Michael C. Duniway, Jayne Belnap
2015, Oecologia (179) 1211-1221
In drylands, climate change is predicted to cause chronic reductions in water availability (press-droughts) through reduced precipitation and increased temperatures as well as increase the frequency and intensity of short-term extreme droughts (pulse-droughts). These changes in precipitation patterns may have profound ecosystem effects, depending on the sensitivities of the dominant...
Eruptive and environmental processes recorded by diatoms in volcanically-dispersed lake sediments from the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand
Margaret A. Harper, Shirley A. Pledger, Euan G. C. Smith, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Colin J. N. Wilson
2015, Journal of Paleolimnology (54) 263-277
Late Pleistocene diatomaceous sediment was widely dispersed along with volcanic ash (tephra) across and beyond New Zealand by the 25.4 ka Oruanui supereruption from Taupo volcano. We present a detailed analysis of the diatom populations in the Oruanui tephra and the newly discovered floras in two other eruptions from the...
Muskellunge growth potential in northern Wisconsin: implications for trophy management
Matthew D. Faust, Daniel A. Isermann, Mark A. Luehring, Michael J. Hansen
2015, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (35) 766-774
The growth potential of Muskellunge Esox masquinongy was evaluated by back-calculating growth histories from cleithra removed from 305 fish collected during 1995–2011 to determine whether it was consistent with trophy management goals in northern Wisconsin. Female Muskellunge had a larger mean asymptotic length (49.8 in) than did males (43.4 in). Minimum ultimate...
Development of a grazing monitoring program for Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado
Linda Zeigenfuss, Kathryn A. Schoenecker
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1136
National parks in the United States face the difficult task of managing natural resources within park boundaries that are influenced to a large degree by historical land uses or by forces outside of the park’s protection and mandate. Among the many challenges faced by parks is management of wildlife populations...
