Faulted terrace risers place new constraints on the late Quaternary slip rate for the central Altyn Tagh fault, northwest Tibet
R.D. Gold, E. Cowgill, J.R. Arrowsmith, X. Chen, W.D. Sharp, K.M. Cooper, X.-F. Wang
2011, Geological Society of America Bulletin (123) 958-978
The active, left-lateral Altyn Tagh fault defines the northwestern margin of the Tibetan Plateau in western China. To clarify late Quaternary temporal and spatial variations in slip rate along the central portion of this fault system (85°–90°E), we have more than doubled the number of dated offset markers along the...
Spatial organization of northern flying squirrels, Glaucomys sabrinus: Territoriality in females?
J.R. Smith, D.H.V. Vuren, D.A. Kelt, M.L. Johnson
2011, Western North American Naturalist (71) 44-48
We determined home-range overlap among northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus) to assess their spatial organization. We found extensive home-range overlap among females, and though this overlap could reflect social behavior, we found no evidence of attraction among females, with only one instance of den sharing. Instead, our results...
Biogeochemical factors affecting the presence of 210Po in groundwater
R. L. Seiler, L.L. Stillings, N. Cutler, L. Salonen, I. Outola
2011, Applied Geochemistry (26) 526-539
The discovery of natural 210Po enrichment at levels exceeding 500 mBq/L in numerous domestic wells in northern Nevada, USA, led to a geochemical investigation of the processes responsible for its mobilization. 210Po activities in 63 domestic and public-supply wells ranged from below 1 mBq/L to 6590 ± 590 mBq/L, among...
Summary of intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting detection probability of marsh birds
Courtney J. Conway, J.P. Gibbs
2011, Wetlands (31) 403-411
Many species of marsh birds (rails, bitterns, grebes, etc.) rely exclusively on emergent marsh vegetation for all phases of their life cycle, and many organizations have become concerned about the status and persistence of this group of birds. Yet, marsh birds are notoriously difficult to monitor due to their secretive...
College and university environmental programs as a policy problem (Part 1): Integrating Knowledge, education, and action for a better world?
S.G. Clark, M.B. Rutherford, M.R. Auer, D.N. Cherney, R.L. Wallace, David J. Mattson, D. A. Clark, L. Foote, N. Krogman, P. Wilshusen, T. Steelman
2011, Environmental Management (47) 701-715
The environmental sciences/studies movement, with more than 1000 programs at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, is unified by a common interest—ameliorating environmental problems through empirical enquiry and analytic judgment. Unfortunately, environmental programs have struggled in their efforts to integrate knowledge across disciplines and educate students to...
Recent storm and tsunami coarse-clast deposit characteristics, southeast Hawai'i
B. M. Richmond, Sebastian Watt, M. Buckley, B. E. Jaffe, G. Gelfenbaum, R.A. Morton
2011, Marine Geology (283) 79-89
Deposits formed by extreme waves can be useful in elucidating the type and characteristics of the depositional event. The study area on the southeast coast of the island of Hawaiʻi is characterized by the presence of geologically young basalts of known age that are mantled by recent wave-derived sedimentary deposits....
Real-time monitoring of CO2 storage sites: Application to Illinois Basin-Decatur Project
G. Picard, T. Berard, E. Chabora, S. Marsteller, S. Greenberg, R.J. Finley, U. Rinck, R. Greenaway, C. Champagnon, J. Davard
2011, Energy Procedia (4) 5594-5598
Optimization of carbon dioxide (CO2) storage operations for efficiency and safety requires use of monitoring techniques and implementation of control protocols. The monitoring techniques consist of permanent sensors and tools deployed for measurement campaigns. Large amounts of data are thus generated. These data must be managed and integrated for interpretation...
Application of the CO2-PENS risk analysis tool to the Rock Springs Uplift, Wyoming
P.H. Stauffer, R.J. Pawar, R.C. Surdam, Z. Jiao, H. Deng, B.C. Lettelier, H.S. Viswanathan, D.L. Sanzo, G. N. Keating
2011, Energy Procedia (4) 4084-4091
We describe preliminary application of the CO2-PENS performance and risk analysis tool to a planned geologic CO2 sequestration demonstration project in the Rock Springs Uplift (RSU), located in south western Wyoming. We use data from the RSU to populate CO2-PENS, an evolving system-level modeling tool developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory....
Ages and sources of components of Zn-Pb, Cu, precious metal, and platinum group element deposits in the goodsprings district, Clark County, Nevada
Peter G. Vikre, Quentin J. Browne, Robert J. Fleck, Albert H. Hofstra, Joseph L. Wooden
2011, Economic Geology (106) 381-412
The Goodsprings district, Clark County, Nevada, includes zinc-dominant carbonate replacement deposits of probable late Paleozoic age, and lead-dominant carbonate replacement deposits, copper ± precious metal-platinum group element (PGE) deposits, and gold ± silver deposits that are spatially associated with Late Triassic porphyritic intrusions. The district encompasses ~500 km2 although the...
Alteration of streamflow magnitudes and potential ecological consequences: A multiregional assessment
Daren M. Carlisle, David M. Wolock, Michael R. Meador
2011, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (9) 264-270
Human impacts on watershed hydrology are widespread in the US, but the prevalence and severity of stream‐flow alteration and its potential ecological consequences have not been quantified on a national scale. We assessed streamflow alteration at 2888 streamflow monitoring sites throughout the conterminous US. The magnitudes of mean annual (1980–2007)...
Chronological framework for the deglaciation of the Lake Michigan lobe of the Laurentide ice sheet from ice-walled lake deposits
B. Curry, J. Petras
2011, Journal of Quaternary Science (26) 402-410
A revised chronological framework for the deglaciation of the Lake Michigan lobe of the south‐central Laurentide Ice Sheet is presented based on radiocarbon ages of plant macrofossils archived in the sediments of low‐relief ice‐walled lakes. We analyze the precision and accuracy of 15 AMS 14C ages of plant macrofossils obtained from...
Geographic profiling to assess the risk of rare plant poaching in natural areas
J.A. Young, F.T. Van Manen, C.A. Thatcher
2011, Environmental Management (48) 577-587
We demonstrate the use of an expert-assisted spatial model to examine geographic factors influencing the poaching risk of a rare plant (American ginseng, Panax quinquefolius L.) in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, USA. Following principles of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), we identified a hierarchy of 11 geographic factors deemed important...
A distribution-based parameterization for improved tomographic imaging of solute plumes
Adam Pidlisecky, K. Singha, F. D. Day-Lewis
2011, Geophysical Journal International (187) 214-224
Difference geophysical tomography (e.g. radar, resistivity and seismic) is used increasingly for imaging fluid flow and mass transport associated with natural and engineered hydrologic phenomena, including tracer experiments, in situ remediation and aquifer storage and recovery. Tomographic data are collected over time, inverted and differenced against a background image to produce ‘snapshots’...
Sphene and zircon in the Highland Range volcanic sequence (Miocene, southern Nevada, USA): Elemental partitioning, phase relations, and influence on evolution of silicic magma
L.L. Colombini, C. F. Miller, G.A.R. Gualda, J. L. Wooden, J.S. Miller
2011, Mineralogy and Petrology (102) 29-50
Sphene is prominent in Miocene plutonic rocks ranging from diorite to granite in southern Nevada, USA, but it is restricted to rhyolites in coeval volcanic sequences. In the Highland Range volcanic sequence, sphene appears as a phenocryst only in the most evolved rocks (72–77 mass% SiO2; matrix glass 77–78 mass%...
Zircon from historic eruptions in Iceland: Reconstructing storage and evolution of silicic magmas
T.L. Carley, C. F. Miller, J. L. Wooden, I.N. Bindeman, A. P. Barth
2011, Mineralogy and Petrology (102) 135-161
Zoning patterns, U-Th disequilibria ages, and elemental compositions of zircon from eruptions of Askja (1875 AD), Hekla (1158 AD), Öræfajökull (1362 AD) and Torfajökull (1477 AD, 871 AD, 3100 BP, 7500 BP) provide insights into the complex, extended, histories of silicic magmatic systems in Iceland. Zircon compositions, which are correlated...
Redefinition of the crater-density and absolute-age boundaries for the chronostratigraphic system of Mars
S.C. Werner, K. L. Tanaka
2011, Icarus (215) 603-607
For the boundaries of each chronostratigraphic epoch on Mars, we present systematically derived crater-size frequencies based on crater counts of geologic referent surfaces and three proposed “standard” crater size–frequency production distributions as defined by (a) a simple −2 power law, (b) Neukum and Ivanov, (c) Hartmann. In turn, these crater...
Sex-related differences in habitat associations of wintering American Kestrels in California's Central Valley
E.R. Pandolfino, M.P. Herzog, Z. Smith
2011, Journal of Raptor Research (45) 236-243
We used roadside survey data collected from 19 routes over three consecutive winters from 2007–08 to 2009–10 to compare habitat associations of male and female American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) in the Central Valley of California to determine if segregation by sex was evident across this region. As a species,...
Shallow degassing events as a trigger for very-long-period seismicity at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i
Matthew Patrick, David Wilson, David Fee, Tim R. Orr, Donald A. Swanson
2011, Bulletin of Volcanology (73) 1179-1186
The first eruptive activity at Kīlauea Volcano’s summit in 25 years began in March 2008 with the opening of a 35-m-wide vent in Halema‘uma‘u crater. The new activity has produced prominent very-long-period (VLP) signals corresponding with two new behaviors: episodic tremor bursts and small explosive events, both of which represent...
Toxicity of methylmercury injected into eggs when dissolved in water versus corn oil
Gary H. Heinz, Daivd J. Hoffman, Jon D. Klimstra, Katherine R. Stebbins, Shannon L. Kondrad
2011, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (30) 2103-2106
In a previous study, the embryotoxicity of methylmercury dissolved in corn oil was compared among 26 species of birds. Corn oil is not soluble in the water‐based matrix that constitutes the albumen of an egg. To determine whether the use of corn oil limited the usefulness of this earlier study,...
Programed oil generation of the Zubair Formation, Southern Iraq oil fields: Results from Petromod software modeling and geochemical analysis
T. K. Al-Ameri, Janet K. Pitman, M.E. Naser, J. Zumberge, H. A. Al-Haydari
2011, Arabian Journal of Geosciences (4) 1239-1259
1D petroleum system modeling was performed on wells in each of four oil fields in South Iraq, Zubair (well Zb-47), Nahr Umr (well NR-9), West Qurna (well WQ-15 and 23), and Majnoon (well Mj-8). In each of these fields, deposition of the Zubair Formation was followed by continuous burial, reaching...
Cover sequences at the northern margin of the Antongil Craton, NE Madagascar
W. Bauer, G. J. Walsh, B. De Waele, Ronald J. Thomas, M. S. A. Horstwood, L. Bracciali, D. I. Schofield, U. Wollenberg, D. J. Lidke, I.T. Rasaona, M.H. Rabarimanana
2011, Precambrian Research (189) 292-312
The island of Madagascar is a collage of Precambrian, generally high-grade metamorphic basement domains, that are locally overlain by unmetamorphosed sedimentary rocks and poorly understood low-grade metasediments. In the Antalaha area of NE Madagascar, two distinct cover sequences rest on high-grade metamorphic and igneous basement rocks of the Archaean Antongil...
Oil and gas resource potential north of the Arctic Circle
Donald L. Gautier, Kenneth J. Bird, Ronald Charpentier, Arthur Grantz, David W. Houseknecht, Timothy R. Klett, Thomas E. Moore, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk, J.H. Schuenemeyer, K. Sorensen, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Zenon C. Valin, Craig J. Wandrey
2011, Geological Society Memoir (35) 151-161
The US Geological Survey recently assessed the potential for undiscovered conventional petroleum in the Arctic. Using a new map compilation of sedimentary elements, the area north of the Arctic Circle was subdivided into 70 assessment units, 48 of which were quantitatively assessed. The Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal (CARA) was a geologically...
Modeling regional coral reef responses to global warming and changes in ocean chemistry: Caribbean case study
R. W. Buddemeier, D.R. Lane, J.A. Martinich
2011, Climatic Change (109) 375-397
Climatic change threatens the future of coral reefs in the Caribbean and the important ecosystem services they provide. We used a simulation model [COMBO (“COral Mortality and Bleaching Output”)] to estimate future coral cover in the part of the eastern Caribbean impacted by a massive coral bleaching event in 2005....
Projected evolution of California's San Francisco bay-delta-river system in a century of climate change
James E. Cloern, Noah Knowles, Larry R. Brown, Daniel R. Cayan, Michael D. Dettinger, Tara L. Morgan, David H. Schoellhamer, Mark T. Stacey, Mick Van der Wegen, R.W. Wagner, Alan D. Jassby
2011, PLoS ONE (6)
Background: Accumulating evidence shows that the planet is warming as a response to human emissions of greenhouse gases. Strategies of adaptation to climate change will require quantitative projections of how altered regional patterns of temperature, precipitation and sea level could cascade to provoke local impacts such as modified water supplies,...
Black-footed ferret areas of activity during late summer and fall at Meeteetse, Wyoming
K.A. Fagerstone, E. Biggins
2011, Journal of Mammalogy (92) 705-709
Radiotelemetry was used during 1983 and 1984 to collect information on short-term areas of activity for black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes) near Meeteetse, Wyoming. This population ultimately provided ferrets for the captive-breeding program that bred and released offspring into the wild since 1991. We fitted 5 adult ferrets and 13 juveniles...
