Complex explosive volcanic activity on the Moon within Oppenheimer crater
Kristen A Bennett, Briony H. N. Horgan, Lisa R. Gaddis, Benjamin T Greenhagen, Carlton C. Allen, Paul O. Hayne, James F. Bell, David A. Paige
2016, Icarus (273) 296-314
Oppenheimer Crater is a floor-fractured crater located within the South Pole-Aitken basin on the Moon, and exhibits more than a dozen localized pyroclastic deposits associated with the fractures. Localized pyroclastic volcanism on the Moon is thought to form as a result of intermittently explosive Vulcanian eruptions under low effusion rates,...
Geochemistry, petrologic evolution, and ore deposits of the Miocene Bodie Hills Volcanic Field, California and Nevada
Edward A. du Bray, David A. John, Brian L. Cousens, Leslie A. Hayden, Peter G. Vikre
2016, American Mineralogist (101) 644-677
The southern segment of the ancestral Cascades magmatic arc includes numerous volcanic fields; among these, the Bodie Hills volcanic field (BHVF), astride the California-Nevada border north of Mono Lake, is one of the largest (>700 km2) and most well studied. Episodic magmatism in the BHVF spanned about 9 million years...
On the deterministic and stochastic use of hydrologic models
William H. Farmer, Richard M. Vogel
2016, Water Resources Research (52) 5619-5633
Environmental simulation models, such as precipitation-runoff watershed models, are increasingly used in a deterministic manner for environmental and water resources design, planning, and management. In operational hydrology, simulated responses are now routinely used to plan, design, and manage a very wide class of water resource systems. However, all such models...
First record of the common sandpiper for the Hawaiian Islands
Thane K. Pratt
2016, Western Birds (47) 167-169
With a breeding range spanning Eurasia and a winter range extending from Africa to Australasia, the Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) is indeed the common and familiar sandpiper of the Old World. It is the Old World counterpart of the Spotted Sandpiper (A. macularius) of the Americas and its only congener....
Managing water and riparian habitats on the Bill Williams River with scientific benefit for other desert river systems
John Hickey, Woodrow Fields, Andrew Hautzinger, Steven Sesnie, Patrick B. Shafroth, Dick Gilbert
2016, Report
This report details modeling to: 1) codify flow-ecology relationships for riparian species of the Bill Williams River as operational guidance for water managers, 2) test the guidance under different climate scenarios, and 3) revise the operational guidance as needed to address the effects of climate change. Model applications detailed herein...
Budgets and chemical characterization of groundwater for the Diamond Valley flow system, central Nevada, 2011–12
David L. Berger, C. Justin Mayers, C. Amanda Garcia, Susan G. Buto, Jena M. Huntington
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5055
The Diamond Valley flow system consists of six hydraulically connected hydrographic areas in central Nevada. The general down-gradient order of the areas are southern and northern Monitor Valleys, Antelope Valley, Kobeh Valley, Stevens Basin, and Diamond Valley. Groundwater flow in the Diamond Valley flow system terminates at a large playa...
Observations of cocooned Hydrobaenus (Diptera: Chironomidae) larvae in Lake Michigan
Taaja R. Tucker, Patrick L. Hudson, Stephen Riley
2016, Journal of Great Lakes Research (42) 1129-1135
Larvae of the family Chironomidae have developed a variety of ways to tolerate environmental stress, including the formation of cocoons, which allows larvae to avoid unfavorable temperature conditions, drought, or competition with other chironomids. Summer cocoon formation by younger instars of the genus Hydrobaenus Fries allows persistence through increased temperatures and/or intermittent...
Hydrogeologic investigations of the Miocene Nogales Formation in the Nogales Area, Upper Santa Cruz Basin, Arizona
William R. Page, Floyd Gray, Mark W. Bultman, Christopher M. Menges
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5087
Hydrogeologic investigations were conducted to evaluate the groundwater resource potential for the Miocene Nogales Formation in the Nogales area, southern Arizona. Results indicate that parts of the formation may provide new, deeper sources of groundwater for the area. Geologic mapping determined the hydrogeologic framework of the formation by defining lithologic,...
Soil data for a vegetation gradient located at Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research Site, interior Alaska
Kristen L. Manies, Jennifer W. Harden, Christopher C. Fuller, Xiaomei Xu, John P. McGeehin
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1034
Boreal soils play an important role in the global carbon cycle owing to the large amount of carbon stored within this northern region. To understand how carbon and nitrogen storage varied among different ecosystems, a vegetation gradient was established in the Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site,...
Seasonal flux and assemblage composition of planktic foraminifera from the northern Gulf of Mexico, 2008–14
Caitlin E. Reynolds, Julie N. Richey
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1115
The U.S. Geological Survey anchored a sediment trap in the northern Gulf of Mexico in January 2008 to collect seasonal time-series data on the flux and assemblage composition of live planktic foraminifers. This report provides an update of the previous time-series data to include continuous results from January 2013 through...
ChemCam activities and discoveries during the nominal mission of the Mars Science Laboratory in Gale crater, Mars
Sylvestre Maurice, Samuel M. Clegg, Roger C. Wiens, O. Gasnault, W. Rapin, O. Forni, Agnes Cousin, V. Sautter, Nicolas Mangold, L. Le Deit, Marion Nachon, Ryan B. Anderson, Nina Lanza, Cecile Fabre, Valerie Payre, Jeremie Lasue, Pierre-Yves Meslin, Richard A. LeVeille, Bruce Barraclough, Pierre Beck, Steven C. Bender, Gilles Berger, John C. Bridges, Nathan Bridges, Gilles Dromert, M. Darby Dyar, Raymond Francis, Jens Frydenvang, B. Gondet, Bethany L. Ehlmann, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, Jeffrey R. Johnson, Yves Langevin, Madsen Morten B., N. Melikechi, J.-L. Lacour, Stephane Le Mouelic, Eric Lewin, Horton E. Newsom, Ann M. Ollila, Patrick Pinet, S. Schroder, Jean-Baptiste Sirven, Robert L. Tokar, M.J. Toplis, Claude d’Uston, David Vaniman, Ashwin R. Vasavada
2016, Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (31) 863-889
At Gale crater, Mars, ChemCam acquired its first laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) target on Sol 13 of the landed portion of the mission (a Sol is a Mars day). Up to Sol 800, more than 188 000 LIBS spectra were acquired on more than 5800 points distributed over about 650 individual...
Osmoregulatory physiology and rapid evolution of salinity tolerance in threespine stickleback recently introduced to fresh water
Jeffrey N Divino, Michelle Y. Monette, Stephen D. McCormick, Paul H. Yancey, Kyle G. Flannery, Michael A. Bell, Jennifer L. Rollins, Frank A. von Hippel, Eric T. Schultz
2016, Evolutionary Ecology Research (17) 179-201
Background: Post-Pleistocene diversification of threespine stickleback in fresh water offers a valuable opportunity to study how changes in environmental salinity shape physiological evolution in fish. In Alaska, the presence of both ancestral oceanic populations and derived landlocked populations, including recent lake introductions, allows us to examine rates and direction of evolution...
Ordinary kriging as a tool to estimate historical daily streamflow records
William H. Farmer
2016, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (20) 2721-2735
Efficient and responsible management of water resources relies on accurate streamflow records. However, many watersheds are ungaged, limiting the ability to assess and understand local hydrology. Several tools have been developed to alleviate this data scarcity, but few provide continuous daily streamflow records at individual streamgages within an entire region....
Agricultural irrigated land-use inventory for the counties in the Suwannee River Water Management District in Florida, 2015
Richard L. Marella, Joann F. Dixon, Darbi R. Berry
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1111
A detailed inventory of irrigated crop acreage is not available at the level of resolution needed to accurately estimate agricultural water use or to project future water demands in many Florida counties. A detailed digital map and summary of irrigated acreage during the 2015 growing season was developed for 13...
Regional flow duration curves: Geostatistical techniques versus multivariate regression
Alessio Pugliese, William H. Farmer, Attilio Castellarin, Stacey A. Archfield, Richard M. Vogel
2016, Advances in Water Resources (96) 11-22
A period-of-record flow duration curve (FDC) represents the relationship between the magnitude and frequency of daily streamflows. Prediction of FDCs is of great importance for locations characterized by sparse or missing streamflow observations. We present a detailed comparison of two methods which are capable of predicting an FDC at ungauged...
Evaluation of leaf removal as a means to reduce nutrient concentrations and loads in urban stormwater
William R. Selbig
2016, Science of the Total Environment (571) 124-133
While the sources of nutrients to urban stormwater are many, the primary contributor is often organic detritus, especially in areas with dense overhead tree canopy. One way to remove organic detritus before it becomes entrained in runoff is to implement a city-wide leaf collection and...
A field ornithologist’s guide to genomics: Practical considerations for ecology and conservation
Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Kevin Oh, Kathryn Langin, Cameron L. Aldridge
2016, The Auk (133) 626-648
Vast improvements in sequencing technology have made it practical to simultaneously sequence millions of nucleotides distributed across the genome, opening the door for genomic studies in virtually any species. Ornithological research stands to benefit in three substantial ways. First, genomic methods enhance our ability to parse and simultaneously analyze both...
Quantifying the eroded volume of mercury-contaminated sediment using terrestrial laser scanning at Stocking Flat, Deer Creek, Nevada County, California, 2010–13
James F. Howle, Charles N. Alpers, Gerald W. Bawden, Sandra Bond
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5179
High-resolution ground-based light detection and ranging (lidar), also known as terrestrial laser scanning, was used to quantify the volume of mercury-contaminated sediment eroded from a stream cutbank at Stocking Flat along Deer Creek in the Sierra Nevada foothills, about 3 kilometers west of Nevada City, California. Terrestrial laser scanning was...
Granitic boulder erosion caused by chaparral wildfire: Implications for cosmogenic radionuclide dating of bedrock surfaces
Katherine J. Kendrick, Camille Partin, Robert C. Graham
2016, Journal of Geology (124)
Rock surface erosion by wildfire is significant and widespread but has not been quantified in southern California or for chaparral ecosystems. Quantifying the surface erosion of bedrock outcrops and boulders is critical for determination of age using cosmogenic radionuclide techniques, as even modest surface erosion removes the accumulation of the...
Soil microbial community profiles and functional diversity in limestone cedar glades
Jennifer M. Cartwright, E. Kudjo Dzantor, Bahram Momen
2016, Catena (147) 216-224
Rock outcrop ecosystems, such as limestone cedar glades (LCGs), are known for their rare and endemic plant species adapted to high levels of abiotic stress. Soils in LCGs are thin (< 25 cm), soil-moisture conditions fluctuate seasonally between xeric and saturated, and summer soil temperatures commonly exceed 48 °C. The...
Catalog of microscopic organisms of the Everglades, Part 1—The cyanobacteria
Barry H. Rosen, Jan Mares
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1114
The microscopic organisms of the Everglades include numerous prokaryotic organisms, including the eubacteria, such as the cyanobacteria and non-photosynthetic bacteria, as well as several eukaryotic algae and protozoa that form the base of the food web. This report is part 1 in a series of reports that describe microscopic organisms...
Evaluating the effectiveness of wildlife detection and observation technologies at a solar power tower facility
Robert H. Diehl, Ernest W. Valdez, Todd M. Preston, Mike J. Wellik, Paul M. Cryan
2016, PLoS ONE (7) e0158115
Solar power towers produce electrical energy from sunlight at an industrial scale. Little is known about the effects of this technology on flying animals and few methods exist for automatically detecting or observing wildlife at solar towers and other tall anthropogenic structures. Smoking objects are sometimes observed co-occurring with reflected,...
The effect of submerged aquatic vegetation expansion on a declining turbidity trend in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta
E.L. Hestir, David H. Schoellhamer, Jonathan Greenberg, Tara L. Morgan-King, S.L. Ustin
2016, Estuaries and Coasts (39) 1100-1112
Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) has well-documented effects on water clarity. SAV beds can slow water movement and reduce bed shear stress, promoting sedimentation and reducing suspension. However, estuaries have multiple controls on turbidity that make it difficult to determine the effect of SAV on water clarity. In this study, we...
Water resources of Livingston Parish, Louisiana
Vincent E. White, Lawrence B. Prakken
2016, Fact Sheet 2016-3048
Information concerning the availability, use, and quality of water in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, is critical for proper water-resource management. The purpose of this fact sheet is to present information that can be used by water managers, parish residents, and others for stewardship of this vital resource. Information on the availability,...
Water resources of St. Helena Parish, Louisiana
Vincent E. White, Lawrence B. Prakken
2016, Fact Sheet 2016-3047
Information concerning the availability, use, and quality of water in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, is critical for proper water-resource management. The purpose of this fact sheet is to present information that can be used by water managers, parish residents, and others for stewardship of this vital resource. Information on the...