Quantifying seepage using heat as a tracer in selected irrigation canals, Walker River Basin, Nevada, 2012 and 2013
Ramon C. Naranjo, David W. Smith
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5133
The Walker River is an important source of water for western Nevada. The river provides water for agriculture and recharge to local aquifers used by several communities. Farmers began diverting water from the Walker River in the 1860s to support growing agricultural development. Over time, the reduced inflows into...
Potash—A vital agricultural nutrient sourced from geologic deposits
Douglas B. Yager
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1167
This report summarizes the primary sources of potash in the United States. Potash is an essential nutrient that, along with phosphorus and nitrogen, is used as fertilizer for growing crops. Plants require sufficient potash to activate enzymes, which in turn catalyze chemical reactions important for water uptake and photosynthesis. When...
Assessment of undiscovered continuous oil resources in the Wolfcamp shale of the Midland Basin, Permian Basin Province, Texas, 2016
Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Kristen R. Marra, Paul G. Lillis, Tracey J. Mercier, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Christopher J. Schenk, Timothy R. Klett, Phuong A. Le, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Sarah J. Hawkins, Michael E. Brownfield, Janet K. Pitman, Thomas M. Finn
2016, Fact Sheet 2016-3092
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey assessed technically recoverable mean resources of 20 billion barrels of oil and 16 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Wolfcamp shale in the Midland Basin part of the Permian Basin Province, Texas....
Using structural equation modeling to link human activities to wetland ecological integrity
E. William Schweiger, James B. Grace, David Cooper, Ben Bobowski, Mike Britten
2016, Ecosphere (7) 1-30
The integrity of wetlands is of global concern. A common approach to evaluating ecological integrity involves bioassessment procedures that quantify the degree to which communities deviate from historical norms. While helpful, bioassessment provides little information about how altered conditions connect to community response. More detailed information is needed for conservation...
Critical considerations for the application of environmental DNA methods to detect aquatic species
Caren S. Goldberg, Cameron R. Turner, Kristy Deiner, Katy E. Klymus, Philip Francis Thomsen, Melanie A. Murphy, Stephen F. Spear, Anna McKee, Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Robert S. Cornman, Matthew B. Laramie, Andrew R. Mahon, Richard F. Lance, David S. Pilliod, Katherine M. Strickler, Lisette P. Waits, Alexander K. Fremier, Teruhiko Takahara, Jelger E. Herder, Pierre Taberlet
2016, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (7) 1299-1307
Species detection using environmental DNA (eDNA) has tremendous potential for contributing to the understanding of the ecology and conservation of aquatic species. Detecting species using eDNA methods, rather than directly sampling the organisms, can reduce impacts on sensitive species and increase the power of field surveys for...
An optimal sample data usage strategy to minimize overfitting and underfitting effects in regression tree models based on remotely-sensed data
Yingxin Gu, Bruce K. Wylie, Stephen P. Boyte, Joshua J. Picotte, Danny Howard, Kelcy Smith, Kurtis Nelson
2016, Remote Sensing (8) 1-13
Regression tree models have been widely used for remote sensing-based ecosystem mapping. Improper use of the sample data (model training and testing data) may cause overfitting and underfitting effects in the model. The goal of this study is to develop an optimal sampling data usage strategy for any dataset and...
Role of riparian shade on the fish assemblage of a reservoir littoral
C. D. Raines, Leandro E. Miranda
2016, Environmental Biology of Fishes (99) 753-760
Research into the effects of shade on reservoir fish assemblages is lacking, with most investigations focused on streams. Unlike many streams, the canopy in a reservoir shades only a narrow fringe of water adjacent to the shoreline, and may not have the influential effect on the aquatic environment reported in...
Forecasting inundation from debris flows that grow during travel, with application to the Oregon Coast Range, USA
Mark E. Reid, Jeffrey A. Coe, Dianne Brien
2016, Geomorphology (273) 396-411
Many debris flows increase in volume as they travel downstream, enhancing their mobility and hazard. Volumetric growth can result from diverse physical processes, such as channel sediment entrainment, stream bank collapse, adjacent landsliding, hillslope erosion and rilling, and coalescence of multiple debris flows; incorporating these varied phenomena into physics-based debris-flow...
Effects of climate and water balance across grasslands of varying C3 and C4 grass cover
Dana L. Witwicki, Seth M. Munson, David P. Thoma
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Climate change in grassland ecosystems may lead to divergent shifts in the abundance and distribution of C3 and C4 grasses. Many studies relate mean climate conditions over relatively long time periods to plant cover, but there is still much uncertainty about how the balance of C3and C4 species will be...
Aquatic-macroinvertebrate communities of Prairie-Pothole wetlands and lakes under a changed climate
Kyle I. McLean, David M. Mushet, David A. Renton, Craig A. Stockwell
2016, Wetlands (36) 423-435
Understanding how aquatic-macroinvertebrate communities respond to changes in climate is important for biodiversity conservation in the Prairie Pothole Region and other wetland-rich landscapes. We sampled macroinvertebrate communities of 162 wetlands and lakes previously sampled from 1966 to 1976, a much drier period compared to our 2012–2013 sampling timeframe. To identify...
Sensitivity of the projected hydroclimatic environment of the Delaware River basin to formulation of potential evapotranspiration
Tanja N. Williamson, Elizabeth A. Nystrom, Paul C.D. Milly
2016, Climatic Change (139) 215-228
The Delaware River Basin (DRB) encompasses approximately 0.4 % of the area of the United States (U.S.), but supplies water to 5 % of the population. We studied three forested tributaries to quantify the potential climate-driven change in hydrologic budget for two 25-year time periods centered on 2030 and 2060, focusing on...
Beryllium—A critical mineral commodity—Resources, production, and supply chain
Graham W. Lederer, Nora K. Foley, Brian W. Jaskula, Robert A. Ayuso
2016, Fact Sheet 2016-3081
Beryllium is a lightweight metallic element used in a wide variety of specialty and industrial applications. As a function of its unique chemical and physical properties, such as a high stiffness-to-weight ratio, resistance to temperature extremes, and high thermal conductivity, beryllium cannot be easily replaced by substitute materials in applications...
Smartphone-based distributed data collection enables rapid assessment of shorebird habitat suitability
E. Robert Thieler, Sara L. Zeigler, Luke Winslow, Megan Hines, Jordan S. Read, Jordan I. Walker
2016, PLoS ONE (11)
Understanding and managing dynamic coastal landscapes for beach-dependent species requires biological and geological data across the range of relevant environments and habitats. It is difficult to acquire such information; data often have limited focus due to resource constraints, are collected by non-specialists, or lack observational uniformity. We developed an open-source...
Quality of surface water in Missouri, water year 2015
Miya N. Barr, David C. Heimann
2016, Data Series 1023
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, designed and operates a series of monitoring stations on streams and springs throughout Missouri known as the Ambient Water-Quality Monitoring Network. During water year 2015 (October 1, 2014, through September 30, 2015), data were collected at 74...
Competitive exclusion over broad spatial extents is a slow process: Evidence and implications for species distribution modeling
Charles B. Yackulic
2016, Ecography (40) 305-313
There is considerable debate about the role of competition in shaping species distributions over broad spatial extents. This debate has practical implications because predicting changes in species' geographic ranges in response to ongoing environmental change would be simpler if competition could be ignored. While this debate has been the subject...
Assessment of undiscovered continuous oil and shale-gas resources in the Bazhenov Formation of the West Siberian Basin Province, Russia, 2016
Timothy R. Klett, Christopher J. Schenk, Michael E. Brownfield, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Tracey J. Mercier, Janet K. Pitman, Marilyn E. Tennyson
2016, Fact Sheet 2016-3083
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean continuous resources of 12 billion barrels of oil and 75 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Bazhenov Formation of the West Siberian Basin Province, Russia....
Sea level driven marsh expansion in a coupled model of marsh erosion and migration
Matthew L. Kirwan, David C. Walters, William G. Reay, Joel A. Carr
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (43) 4366-4373
Coastal wetlands are among the most valuable ecosystems on Earth, where ecosystem services such as flood protection depend nonlinearly on wetland size and are threatened by sea level rise and coastal development. Here we propose a simple model of marsh migration into adjacent uplands and couple it with existing models...
Climate change impacts on ecosystems and ecosystem services in the United States: Process and prospects for sustained assessment
Nancy B. Grimm, Peter M Groffman, Michelle D. Staudinger, Heather Tallis
2016, Climatic Change (135) 97-109
The third United States National Climate Assessment emphasized an evaluation of not just the impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems, but also the impacts of climate change on the benefits that people derive from nature, known as ecosystem services. The ecosystems, biodiversity, and ecosystem services component of the...
Defining ecosystem assets for natural capital accounting
Lars Hein, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Bram Edens, Carl Obst, Rixt de Jong, Jan Peter Lesschen
2016, PLoS ONE (11)
In natural capital accounting, ecosystems are assets that provide ecosystem services to people. Assets can be measured using both physical and monetary units. In the international System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, ecosystem assets are generally valued on the basis of the net present value of the expected flow of ecosystem services....
Community exposure to potential climate-driven changes to coastal-inundation hazards for six communities in Essex County, Massachusetts
Nina Abdollahian, Jamie L. Ratliff, Nathan J. Wood
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1187
IntroductionUnderstanding if and how community exposure to coastal hazards may change over time is crucial information for coastal managers tasked with developing climate adaptation plans. This report summarizes estimates of population and asset exposure to coastal-inundation hazards associated with sea-level-rise and storm scenarios in six coastal communities of the Great...
Alaska geology revealed
Frederic H. Wilson, Keith A. Labay
2016, General Information Product 168
This map shows the generalized geology of Alaska, which helps us to understand where potential mineral deposits and energy resources might be found, define ecosystems, and ultimately, teach us about the earth history of the State. Rock units are grouped in very broad categories on the basis of age...
Sedimentation survey of Lago Caonillas, Utuado, Puerto Rico, September–November 2012
Luis R. Soler-Lopez
2016, Scientific Investigations Map 3368
During September–November 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, conducted a sedimentation survey of Lago Caonillas to estimate current (2012) reservoir storage capacity and the recent (2000–2012) reservoir sedimentation rate by comparing the 2012 bathymetric survey data with the February 2000 data....
St. Louis area earthquake hazards mapping project; seismic and liquefaction hazard maps
Chris H. Cramer, Robert A. Bauer, Jae-won Chung, David Rogers, Larry Pierce, Vicki Voigt, Brad Mitchell, David Gaunt, Robert Williams, David Hoffman, Gregory L. Hempen, Phyllis Steckel, Oliver S. Boyd, Connor M. Watkins, Kathleen Tucker, Natasha McCallister
2016, Seismological Research Letters (88) 206-223
We present probabilistic and deterministic seismic and liquefaction hazard maps for the densely populated St. Louis metropolitan area that account for the expected effects of surficial geology on earthquake ground shaking. Hazard calculations were based on a map grid of 0.005°, or about every 500 m, and are thus higher...
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Mississippian Sunbury shale and Devonian–Mississippian Chattanooga shale in the Appalachian Basin Province, 2016
Debra K. Higley, William A. Rouse, Catherine B. Enomoto, Michael H. Trippi, Timothy R. Klett, Tracey J. Mercier, Michael E. Brownfield, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Ronald M. Drake II, Thomas M. Finn, Nicholas J. Gianoutsos, Ofori N. Pearson, Colin A. Doolan, Phuong A. Le, Christopher J. Schenk
2016, Fact Sheet 2016-3085
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered, technically recoverable continuous resources that total 464 million barrels of oil and 4.08 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Lower Mississippian Sunbury Shale and Middle Devonian–Lower Mississippian Chattanooga Shale of the Appalachian Basin Province....
Integrating remote sensing with species distribution models; Mapping tamarisk invasions using the Software for Assisted Habitat Modeling (SAHM)
Amanda M. West, Paul H. Evangelista, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Nicholas E. Young, Thomas J. Stohlgren, Colin Talbert, Marian Talbert, Jeffrey Morisette, Ryan Anderson
2016, Journal of Visualized Experiments (116)
Early detection of invasive plant species is vital for the management of natural resources and protection of ecosystem processes. The use of satellite remote sensing for mapping the distribution of invasive plants is becoming more common, however conventional imaging software and classification methods have been shown to be unreliable. In...
