Brittle structures and their role in controlling porosity and permeability in a complex Precambrian crystalline-rock aquifer system in the Colorado Rocky Mountain front range
Jonathan S. Caine, S.R.A. Tomusiak
2003, Geological Society of America Bulletin (115) 1410-1424
Expansion of the Denver metropolitan area has resulted in substantial residential development in the foothills of the Rocky Mountain Front Range. This type of sub-urban growth, characteristic of much of the semiarid intermountain west, often relies on groundwater from individual domestic wells and is exemplified in the Turkey Creek watershed....
Calculation of Estimated Ultimate Recovery for wells in continuous-type oil and gas accumulations of the Uinta-Piceance Province
T. Cook
2003, International Journal of Coal Geology (56) 39-44
The calculation of Estimated Ultimate Recovery (EUR) from oil and gas production data of individual wells and the development of EUR distributions from all producing wells in an assessment unit are important steps in the quantitative assessment of continuous-type hydrocarbon resources. The U.S. Geological Survey has developed a method of...
Landscape trends in Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States ecoregions
J. A. Griffith, S.V. Stehman, Thomas R. Loveland
2003, Environmental Management (32) 572-588
Landscape pattern and composition metrics are potential indicators for broad-scale monitoring of change and for relating change to human and ecological processes. We used a probability sample of 20-km × 20-km sampling blocks to characterize landscape composition and pattern in five US ecoregions: the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain, Southeastern Plains,...
Native weeds and exotic plants: Relationships to disturbance in mixed-grass prairie
D.L. Larson
2003, Plant Ecology (169) 317-333
Disturbance frequently is implicated in the spread of invasive exotic plants. Disturbances may be broadly categorized as endogenous (e.g., digging by fossorial animals) or exogenous (e.g., construction and maintenance of roads and trails), just as weedy species may be native or exotic in origin. The objective of this study was...
High-resolution seismic stratigraphy of an Holocene lacustrine delta in western Lake Geneva (Switzerland)
I. Baster, S. Girardclos, A. Pugin, W. Wildi
2003, Ecologae Geologicae Helvetiae (96)
A high-resolution seismic survey was conducted in western Lake Geneva on a small delta formed by the Promenthouse, the Asse and the Boiron rivers. This dataset provides information on changes in the geometry and sedimentation patterns of this delta from Late-glacial to Present. The geometry of the deposits of the...
Bottom-current and wind-pattern changes as indicated by Late Glacial and Holocene sediments from western Lake Geneva (Switzerland)
S. Girardclos, I. Baster, W. Wildi, A. Pugin, A. #NAME? Rachoud-Schneider
2003, Ecologae Geologicae Helvetiae (96)
The Late-Glacial and Holocene sedimentary history of the Hauts-Monts area (western Lake Geneva, Switzerland) is reconstructed combining high resolution seismic stratigraphy and well-dated sedimentary cores. Six reflections and seismic units are defined and represented by individual isopach maps, which are further combined to obtain a three-dimensional age-depth model. Slumps, blank...
Surface water qualit: Revisiting nitrate concentrations in the Des Moines River: 1945 and 1976-2001
G.F. McIsaac, R.D. Libra
2003, Journal of Environmental Quality (32) 2280-2289
Recent compilations of historical and contemporary riverine nitrate (NO3) concentrations indicate that concentrations in many rivers in the north-central USA increased during the second half of the 20th century. The Des Moines River near Des Moines, Iowa, however, was reported to have had similar NO3 concentrations in 1945 and the 1980s,...
Percolation induced heat transfer in deep unsaturated zones
N. Lu, G.D. LeCain
2003, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (129) 1040-1053
Subsurface temperature data from a borehole located in a desert wash were measured and used to delineate the conductive and advective heat transfer regimes, and to estimate the percolation quantity associated with the 1997-1998 El Ni??no precipitation. In an arid environment, conductive heat transfer dominates the variation of shallow subsurface...
Web-based data delivery services in support of disaster-relief applications
Brenda K. Jones, Ron R. Risty, M. Buswell
2003, Conference Paper, Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
The U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation Systems Data Center responds to emergencies in support of various government agencies for human-induced and natural disasters. This response consists of satellite tasking and acquisitions, satellite image registrations, disaster-extent maps analysis and creation, base image provision and support, Web-based mapping services for product...
Isotopic age of the Black Forest Bed, Petrified Forest Member, Chinle Formation, Arizona: An example of dating a continental sandstone
N. R. Riggs, S.R. Ash, A. P. Barth, G. E. Gehrels, J. L. Wooden
2003, Geological Society of America Bulletin (115) 1315-1323
Zircons from the Black Forest Bed, Petrified Forest Member, Chinle Formation, in Petrified Forest National Park, yield ages that range from Late Triassic to Late Archean. Grains were analyzed by multigrain TIMS (thermal-ionization mass spectrometry), single-crystal TIMS, and SHRIMP (sensitive, high-resolution ion-microprobe). Multiple-grain analysis yielded a discordia trajectory with a...
Atmospheric deposition maps for the Rocky Mountains
L. Nanus, K. Campbell, G.P. Ingersoll, D. W. Clow, M.A. Mast
2003, Atmospheric Environment (37) 4881-4892
Variability in atmospheric deposition across the Rocky Mountains is influenced by elevation, slope, aspect, and precipitation amount and by regional and local sources of air pollution. To improve estimates of deposition in mountainous regions, maps of average annual atmospheric deposition loadings of nitrate, sulfate, and acidity were developed for the...
Fluorescence excitation-emission matrix regional integration to quantify spectra for dissolved organic matter
W. Chen, P. Westerhoff, J.A. Leenheer, K. Booksh
2003, Environmental Science & Technology (37) 5701-5710
Excitation−emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy has been widely used to characterize dissolved organic matter (DOM) in water and soil. However, interpreting the >10,000 wavelength-dependent fluorescence intensity data points represented in EEMs has posed a significant challenge. Fluorescence regional integration, a quantitative...
Athena Microscopic Imager investigation
Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, S. W. Squyres, J.F. Bell III, J.N. Maki, H.M. Arneson, P. Bertelsen, D.I. Brown, S.A. Collins, A. Dingizian, S.T. Elliott, W. Goetz, E.C. Hagerott, A. G. Hayes, M. J. Johnson, Randolph L. Kirk, S. McLennan, R.V. Morris, L.M. Scherr, M.A. Schwochert, L.R. Shiraishi, G.H. Smith, Laurence A. Soderblom, J. N. Sohl-Dickstein, M.V. Wadsworth
2003, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (108)
The Athena science payload on the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) includes the Microscopic Imager (MI). The MI is a fixed‐focus camera mounted on the end of an extendable instrument arm, the Instrument Deployment Device (IDD). The MI was designed to acquire images at a spatial resolution of 30 microns/pixel over...
The Hula Valley subsurface structure inferred from gravity data
M. Rybakov, L. Fleischer, Uri S. ten Brink
2003, Israel Journal of Earth Sciences (52) 113-122
We use the 3-D gravity inversion technique to model the shape of the Hula basin, a pull-apart basin along the Dead Sea Transform. The interpretation was constrained using the Notera-3-well density logs and current geological knowledge. The model obtained by inversion shows a rhomb-shaped graben filled with approximately 4 km...
Imaging spectroscopy: Earth and planetary remote sensing with the USGS Tetracorder and expert systems
Roger N. Clark, Gregg A. Swayze, K. Eric Livo, Raymond F. Kokaly, Steve J. Sutley, J. Brad Dalton, Robert R. McDougal, Carol A. Gent
2003, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (108) 1-44
Imaging spectroscopy is a tool that can be used to spectrally identify and spatially map materials based on their specific chemical bonds. Spectroscopic analysis requires significantly more sophistication than has been employed in conventional broadband remote sensing analysis. We describe a new system that is effective at material identification and...
High-resolution topomapping of candidate MER landing sites with Mars Orbiter Camera narrow-angle images
Randolph L. Kirk, Elpitha Howington-Kraus, Bonnie L. Redding, Donna M. Galuszka, Trent M. Hare, Brent A. Archinal, Laurence A. Soderblom, Janet M. Barrett
2003, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (108)
We analyzed narrow‐angle Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC‐NA) images to produce high‐resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) in order to provide topographic and slope information needed to assess the safety of candidate landing sites for the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) and to assess the accuracy of our results by a variety of...
Importance of geology to fisheries management: Examples from the northeastern Gulf of Mexico
Kathryn M. Scanlon, Christopher C. Koenig, Felicia C. Coleman, Margaret W. Miller
2003, American Fisheries Society Symposium (2003) 95-99
Seafloor mapping of shelf-edge habitats in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico demonstrates how sidescan-sonar imagery, seismic-reflection profiling, video data, geologic mapping, sediment sampling, and understanding the regional geologic history can enhance, support, and guide traditional fisheries research and management. New data from the Madison Swanson and Steamboat Lumps Marine Reserves...
Geology of the MER 2003 "Elysium" candidate landing site in southeastern Utopia Planitia, Mars
Kenneth L. Tanaka, Michael H. Carr, James A. Skinner, Martha S. Gilmore, Trent M. Hare
2003, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (108)
The NASA Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Project has been considering a landing-site ellipse designated EP78B2 in southeastern Utopia Planitia, southwest of Elysium Mons. The site appears to be relatively safe for a MER landing site because of its predicted low wind velocities in mesoscale atmospheric circulation models and its low...
Entropy and generalized least square methods in assessment of the regional value of streamgages
M. Markus, Knapp H. Vernon, Gary D. Tasker
2003, Journal of Hydrology (283) 107-121
The Illinois State Water Survey performed a study to assess the streamgaging network in the State of Illinois. One of the important aspects of the study was to assess the regional value of each station through an assessment of the information transfer among gaging records for low, average, and high...
Atmospheric microbiology in the northern Caribbean during African dust events
Dale W. Griffin, C.A. Kellogg, V.H. Garrison, J.T. Lisle, T.C. Borden, E.A. Shinn
2003, Aerobiologia (19) 143-157
Between July 2000 and August 2001 forty-three air samples were collected in the northern Caribbean: Twenty-six in the US Virgin Islands, and 17 samples aboard ship during two 1-week cruises. Samples were collected during African dust events and non-dust conditions and screened for the presence of culturable bacteria and fungi....
Evaluation of specific ultraviolet absorbance as an indicator of the chemical composition and reactivity of dissolved organic carbon
J.L. Weishaar, George R. Aiken, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Miranda S. Fram, Roger Fujii, K. Mopper
2003, Environmental Science & Technology (37) 4702-4708
Specific UV absorbance (SUVA) is defined as the UV absorbance of a water sample at a given wavelength normalized for dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration. Our data indicate that SUVA, determined at 254 nm, is strongly correlated with percent aromaticity as determined by 13C NMR for 13 organic matter isolates...
Stratigraphy and palaeoclimatic significance of Late Quaternary loess-palaeosol sequences of the Last Interglacial-Glacial cycle in central Alaska
D.R. Muhs, T. A. Ager, E. Arthur Bettis III, J. McGeehin, J.M. Been, J. E. Beget, M.J. Pavich, Thomas W. Stafford Jr., D.A.S.P. Stevens
2003, Quaternary Science Reviews (22) 1947-1986
Loess is one of the most widespread subaerial deposits in Alaska and adjacent Yukon Territory and may have a history that goes back 3 Ma. Based on mineralogy and major and trace element chemistry, central Alaskan loess has a composition that is distinctive from other loess bodies of the world,...
Oxygen isotopes in nitrate: New reference materials for 18O:17O:16O measurements and observations on nitrate-water equilibration
J.K. Böhlke, S.J. Mroczkowski, T.B. Coplen
2003, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry (17) 1835-1846
Despite a rapidly growing literature on analytical methods and field applications of O isotope-ratio measurements of NO3− in environmental studies, there is evidence that the reported data may not be comparable because reference materials with widely varying δ18O values have not been readily available. To address this problem, we prepared...
Subcellular compartmentalization of Cd and Zn in two bivalves. II. Significance of trophically available metal (TAM)
W.G. Wallace, Samuel N. Luoma
2003, Marine Ecology Progress Series (257) 125-137
This paper examines how the subcellular partitioning of Cd and Zn in the bivalves Macoma balthica and Potamocorbula amurensis may affect the trophic transfer of metal to predators. Results show that the partitioning of metals to organelles, Œenzymes¹ and metallothioneins (MT) comprise a subcellular compartment containing trophically available metal (TAM; i.e. metal trophically...
Biological effect of low-head sea lamprey barriers: Designs for extensive surveys and the value of incorporating intensive process-oriented research
D.B. Hayes, J.R. Baylis, L.M. Carl, H.R. Dodd, J.D. Goldstein, R. L. McLaughlin, D.L.G. Noakes, L.M. Porto
2003, Conference Paper, Journal of Great Lakes Research
Four sampling designs for quantifying the effect of low-head sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) barriers on fish communities were evaluated, and the contribution of process-oriented research to the overall confidence of results obtained was discussed. The designs include: (1) sample barrier streams post-construction; (2) sample barrier and reference streams post-construction; (3)...
