Moderate-resolution sea surface temperature data and seasonal pattern analysis for the Arctic Ocean ecoregions
Meredith C. Payne, Deborah A. Reusser, Henry Lee II
2012, Open-File Report 2011-1246
Sea surface temperature (SST) is an important environmental characteristic in determining the suitability and sustainability of habitats for marine organisms. In particular, the fate of the Arctic Ocean, which provides critical habitat to commercially important fish, is in question. This poses an intriguing problem for future research of Arctic environments...
In situ optical water-quality sensor networks - Workshop summary report
Brian A. Pellerin, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Jeffery S. Horsburgh
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1044
Advanced in situ optical water-quality sensors and new techniques for data analysis hold enormous promise for furthering scientific understanding of aquatic systems. These sensors measure important biogeochemical parameters for long deployments, enabling the capture of data at time scales over which they vary most meaningfully. The high-frequency, real-time water-quality data...
Preliminary geologic map of the Big Costilla Peak area, Taos County, New Mexico, and Costilla County, Colorado
Christopher J. Fridrich, Ralph R. Shroba, Adam M. Hudson
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1041
This map covers the Big Costilla Peak, New Mex.‒Colo. quadrangle and adjacent parts of three other 7.5 minute quadrangles: Amalia, New Mex.‒Colo., Latir Peak, New Mex., and Comanche Point, New Mex. The study area is in the southwesternmost part of that segment of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains known as...
Socioeconomic issues for the Bear River Watershed Conservation Land Area Protection Plan
Catherine Cullinane Thomas, Christopher Huber, William Gascoigne, Lynne Koontz
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1039
The Bear River Watershed Conservation Area is located in the Bear River Watershed, a vast basin covering fourteen counties across three states. Located in Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho, the watershed spans roughly 7,500 squares miles: 1,500 squares miles in Wyoming; 2,700 squares miles in Idaho; and 3,300 squares miles in...
Shallow coal exploration drill-hole data—Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas
Brett Valentine, Kristin O. Dennen
2012, Open-File Report 2011-1261-A
Coal exploration drill-hole data from over 24,000 wells in 10 States are discussed by State in the chapters of this report, and the data are provided in an accompanying spreadsheet. The drill holes were drilled between 1962 and 1984 by Phillips Coal Company, a division of Phillips Petroleum Company (Phillips)....
Ecological requirements for pallid sturgeon reproduction and recruitment in the Lower Missouri River: Annual report 2010
Aaron J. DeLonay, Robert B. Jacobson, Diana M. Papoulias, Mark L. Wildhaber, Kimberly A. Chojnacki, Emily K. Pherigo, Justin D. Haas, Gerald E. Mestl
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1009
The Comprehensive Sturgeon Research Project is a multiyear, multiagency collaborative research framework developed to provide information to support pallid sturgeon recovery and Missouri River management decisions. The project strategy integrates field and laboratory studies of sturgeon reproductive ecology, early life history, habitat requirements, and physiology. The project scope of work...
Megaporosity and permeability of Thalassinoides-dominated ichnofabrics in the Cretaceous karst-carbonate Edwards-Trinity aquifer system, Texas
Kevin J. Cunningham, Michael C. Sukop
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1021
Current research has demonstrated that trace fossils and their related ichnofabrics can have a critical impact on the fluid-flow properties of hydrocarbon reservoirs and groundwater aquifers. Most petroleum-associated research has used ichnofabrics to support the definition of depositional environments and reservoir quality, and has concentrated on siliciclastic reservoir characterization and,...
Streamflow and water-quality monitoring in response to young-of-year smallmouth bass (micropterus dolomieu) mortality in the Susquehanna River and major tributaries, with comparisons to the Delaware and Allegheny Rivers, Pennsylvania, 2008-10
Jeffrey J. Chaplin, J. Kent Crawford
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1019
Since 2005, spring hatched young-of-year (YOY) smallmouth bass in Pennsylvania reaches of the Susquehanna River have experienced above-normal mortality when summertime streamflows are near or lower than normal. Stress factors include, but are not limited to, low dissolved oxygen and elevated water temperatures during times critical for survival and development...
Enhanced surveillance strategies for detecting and monitoring chronic wasting disease in free-ranging cervids
Daniel P. Walsh, editor(s)
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1036
The purpose of this document is to provide wildlife management agencies with the foundation upon which they can build scientifically rigorous and cost-effective surveillance and monitoring programs for chronic wasting disease (CWD) or refine their existing programs. The first chapter provides an overview of potential demographic and spatial risk factors...
Sea-floor geology and sedimentary processes in the vicinity of Cross Rip Channel, Nantucket Sound, offshore southeastern Massachusetts
L. J. Poppe, K. Y. McMullen, S. D. Ackerman, J. D. Schaer, D.B. Wright
2012, Open-File Report 2011-1222
Gridded multibeam bathymetry covers approximately 10.4 square kilometers of sea floor in the vicinity of Cross Rip Channel in Nantucket Sound, offshore southeastern Massachusetts. Although originally collected for charting purposes during National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hydrographic survey H12007, these acoustic data, and the sea-floor sediment sampling and bottom photography...
Sea-floor geology of Long Island Sound north of Duck Pond Point, New York
K. Y. McMullen, L. J. Poppe, W. W. Danforth, D.S. Blackwood, J. D. Schaer, K.A. Glomb, E. F. Doran
2012, Open-File Report 2011-1149
The U.S. Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection are mapping the sea floor in coastal areas of the northeastern United States. As part of the project, more than 100 square kilometers of multibeam-echosounder data, 23 sediment samples, bottom video, and...
Plant distributions in the southwestern United States; a scenario assessment of the modern-day and future distribution ranges of 166 Species
Kathryn A. Thomas, Patricia P. Guertin, Leila Gass
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1020
The authors developed spatial models of the predicted modern-day suitable habitat (SH) of 166 dominant and indicator plant species of the southwestern United States (herein referred to as the Southwest) and then conducted a coarse assessment of potential future changes in the distribution of their suitable habitat under three climate-change...
Coastal circulation and potential coral-larval dispersal in Maunalua Bay, O'ahu, Hawaii—Measurements of waves, currents, temperature, and salinity, June-September 2010
M. Katherine Presto, Curt D. Storlazzi, Joshua B. Logan, Thomas E. Reiss, Kurt J. Rosenberger
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1040
This report presents a summary of fieldwork conducted in Maunalua Bay, O'ahu, Hawaii to address coral-larval dispersal and recruitment from June through September, 2010. The objectives of this study were to understand the temporal and spatial variations in currents, waves, tides, temperature, and salinity in Maunalua Bay during the summer...
Deep-Sea Turbidites as Guides to Holocene Earthquake History at the Cascadia Subduction Zone—Alternative Views for a Seismic-Hazard Workshop
Brian F. Atwater, Gary B. Griggs
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1043
This report reviews the geological basis for some recent estimates of earthquake hazards in the Cascadia region between southern British Columbia and northern California. The largest earthquakes to which the region is prone are in the range of magnitude 8-9. The source of these great earthquakes is the fault down...
Patterns of larval sucker emigration from the Sprague and lower Williamson Rivers of the Upper Klamath Basin, Oregon, after the removal of Chiloquin Dam - 2009-10 Annual Report
Craig M. Ellsworth, Barbara A. Martin
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1037
Executive Summary In 2009 and 2010, drift samples were collected from six sites on the lower Sprague and Williamson Rivers to assess drift patterns of larval Lost River suckers (Deltistes luxatus) (LRS) and shortnose suckers (Chasmistes brevirostris) (SNS). The objective of this study was to characterize the drift timing, relative abundance,...
U.S. Department of the Interior Southeast Climate Science Center Science and Operational Plan
Sonya A. Jones, Melinda S. Dalton
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1034
Climate change challenges many of the basic assumptions routinely used by conservation planners and managers, including the identification and prioritization of areas for conservation based on current environmental conditions and the assumption those conditions could be controlled by management actions. Climate change will likely alter important ecosystem drivers (temperature, precipitation,...
Monitoring inland storm tide and flooding from Hurricane Irene along the Atlantic Coast of the United States, August 2011
Brian E. McCallum, Jaime A. Painter, Eric R. Frantz
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1022
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) deployed a temporary monitoring network of water-level sensors at 212 locations along the Atlantic coast from South Carolina to Maine during August 2011 to record the timing, areal extent, and magnitude of inland hurricane storm tide and coastal flooding generated by Hurricane Irene. Water-level sensor...
Quality of water and bottom material in Breckenridge Reservoir, Virginia, September 2008 through August 2009
Russell Lotspeich
2012, Open-File Report 2011-1305
Breckenridge Reservoir is located within the U.S. Marine Corps Base in Quantico, which is in the Potomac River basin and the Piedmont Physiographic Province of northern Virginia. Because it serves as the principal water supply for the U.S. Marine Corps Base in Quantico, an assessment of the water-quality of Breckenridge...
Deepwater Program: Studies of Gulf of Mexico lower continental slope communities related to chemosynthetic and hard substrate habitats
Steve W. Ross, Amanda W.J. Demopoulos, Christina A. Kellogg, Cheryl L. Morrison, Martha S. Nizinski, Cheryl L. Ames, Tara L. Casazza, Daniel Gualtieri, Kaitlin Kovacs, Jennifer P. McClain, Andrea M. Quattrini, Adela Y. Roa-Varon, Andrew D. Thaler
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1032
This report summarizes research funded by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW) on the ecology of deep chemosynthetic communities in the Gulf of Mexico. The research was conducted at the request of the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation...
Surficial geologic map of the Norton-Manomet-Westport-Sconticut Neck 23-quadrangle area in southeast Massachusetts
Byron D. Stone, Janet Radway Stone, Mary L. DiGiacomo-Cohen, Kevin A. Kincare
2012, Open-File Report 2006-1260-F
The surficial geologic map shows the distribution of nonlithified earth materials at land surface in an area of 23 7.5-minute quadrangles (919 mi2 total) in southeastern Massachusetts. Across Massachusetts, these materials range from a few feet to more than 500 ft in thickness. They overlie bedrock, which crops out in...
Summary of chemical data from onsite and laboratory analyses of groundwater samples from the surficial aquifer, Las Vegas, Nevada, April and August 1993 and September 1994
Michael M. Reddy, Charmaine D. Gunther
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1029
This report presents a summary of data collected during April and August 1993 and September 1994. These results are to be used as a wet-site analog to southern Nevada soils located at the Amargosa Desert Research Site near Beatty, Nevada. The samples were collected and analyzed in conjunction with the...
Effects of prescribed burning on marsh-elevation change and the risk of wetland loss
Karen L. McKee, James B. Grace
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1031
Marsh-elevation change is the net effect of biophysical processes controlling inputs versus losses of soil volume. In many marshes, accumulation of organic matter is an important contributor to soil volume and vertical land building. In this study, we examined how prescribed burning, a common marsh-management practice, may affect elevation dynamics...
Concentrations of mercury and other metals in black bass (Micropterus spp.) from Whiskeytown Lake, Shasta County, California, 2005
Jason T. May, Roger L. Hothem, Marissa L. Bauer, Larry R. Brown
2012, Open-File Report 2011-1297
This report presents the results of a reconnaissance study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to determine mercury (Hg) and other selected metal concentrations in Black bass (Micropterus spp.) from Whiskeytown Lake, Shasta County, California. Total mercury concentrations were determined by cold-vapor atomic absorption spectroscopy (CVAAS) in fillets and...
Behavior and passage of juvenile salmonids during the evaluation of a behavioral guidance structure at Cowlitz Falls Dam, Washington, 2011
Tobias J. Kock, Theresa L. Liedtke, Brian K. Ekstrom, Ryan G. Tomka, Dennis W. Rondorf
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1030
Executive Summary A radiotelemetry evaluation was conducted during April–October 2011 to describe movement patterns, forebay behavior, and passage of juvenile steelhead, coho salmon, and Chinook salmon at Cowlitz Falls Dam, Washington. The primary focus of the study was to describe fish behavior near a behavioral guidance structure (BGS) and floating surface...
Preparation and characterization of "Libby Amphibole" toxicological testing material
Heather Lowers, Stephen A. Wilson, Todd M. Hoefen, William Benzel, Gregory P. Meeker
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1012
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) began work in Libby, Mont. in 1999 when an Emergency Response Team was sent to investigate local concern and media reports regarding asbestos-contaminated vermiculite. Since that time, the site has been granted Superfund status and site remediation to a safe level of asbestos has...
