Secondary Mineral Deposits and Evidence of Past Seismicity and Heating of the Proposed Repository Horizon at Yucca Mountain, Nevada
Josheph F. Whelan
2004, Water-Resources Investigations Report 2003-4321
The Drift Degradation Analysis (DDA) (BSC, 2003) for the proposed high-level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, describes model simulations of the effects of pre- and post-closure seismicity and waste-induced heating on emplacement drifts. Based on probabilistic seismic hazard analyses of the intensity and frequency of future seismic events...
Great Basin Paleozoic carbonate platform: Facies, facies transitions, depositional models, platform architecture, sequence stratigraphy, and predictive mineral host model
Harry E. Cook, James J. Corboy
2004, Open-File Report 2004-1078
No abstract available....
Predicted seafloor facies of Central Santa Monica Bay, California
Peter Dartnell, James V. Gardner
2004, Open-File Report 2004-1081
Summary -- Mapping surficial seafloor facies (sand, silt, muddy sand, rock, etc.) should be the first step in marine geological studies and is crucial when modeling sediment processes, pollution transport, deciphering tectonics, and defining benthic habitats. This report outlines an empirical technique that predicts the distribution of seafloor facies for...
Deposition, erosion, and bathymetric change in South San Francisco Bay: 1858-1983
Amy C. Foxgrover, Shawn A. Higgins, Melissa K. Ingraca, Bruce E. Jaffe, Richard E. Smith
2004, Open-File Report 2004-1192
Since the California Gold Rush of 1849, sediment deposition, erosion, and the bathymetry of South San Francisco Bay have been altered by both natural processes and human activities. Historical hydrographic surveys can be used to assess how this system has evolved over the past 150 years. The National Ocean Service...
Estimates of hydraulic properties from a one-dimensional numerical model of vertical aquifer-system deformation, Lorenzi site, Las Vegas, Nevada
Michael T. Pavelko
2004, Water-Resources Investigations Report 2003-4083
Land subsidence related to aquifer-system compaction and ground-water withdrawals has been occurring in Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, since the 1930's, and by the late 1980's some areas in the valley had subsided more than 5 feet. Since the late 1980's, seasonal artificial-recharge programs have lessened the effects of summertime pumping...
The value of long-term monitoring in the development of ground-water-flow models
Daniel T. Feinstein, David J. Hart, James T. Krohelski
2004, Fact Sheet 116-03
As environmental issues have come to the forefront of public concern, so has the awareness of the importance of ground water in the overall water cycle and as a source of the Nation’s drinking water. Heightened interest has spawned a host of scientific enterprises (Taylor and Alley, 2001). Some...
Catalog of significant historical earthquakes in the Central United States
W. H. Bakun, M. G. Hopper
2004, Open-File Report 2004-1086
We use Modified Mercalli intensity assignments to estimate source locations and moment magnitude M for eighteen 19th-century and twenty early- 20th-century earthquakes in the central United States (CUS) for which estimates of M are otherwise not available. We use these estimates, and locations and M estimated elsewhere, to compile a...
Evaluation of strategies for balancing water use and streamflow reductions in the upper Charles River basin, eastern Massachusetts
Jack R. Eggleston
2004, Water-Resources Investigations Report 2003-4330
The upper Charles River basin, located 30 miles southwest of Boston, Massachusetts, is experiencing water shortages during the summer. Towns in the basin have instituted water-conservation programs and water-use bans to reduce summertime water use. During July through October, streamflow in the Charles River and its tributaries regularly falls below...
Granular avalanches across irregular three-dimensional terrain: 2. Experimental tests
Richard M. Iverson, Matthew Logan, Roger P. Denlinger
2004, Journal of Geophysical Research Earth Surface (109)
Scaling considerations indicate that miniature experiments can be used to test models of granular avalanches in which the effects of intergranular fluid and cohesion are negligible. To test predictions of a granular avalanche model described in a companion paper, we performed bench top experiments involving avalanches of dry sand across...
Granular avalanches across irregular three-dimensional terrain: 1. Theory and computation
Roger P. Denlinger, Richard M. Iverson
2004, Journal of Geophysical Research Earth Surface (109)
To establish a theoretical basis for predicting and interpreting the behavior of rapid mass movements on Earth's surface, we develop and test a new computational model for gravity-driven motion of granular avalanches across irregular, three-dimensional (3-D) terrain. The principles embodied in the model are simple and few: continuum mass and...
Content Metadata Standards for Marine Science: A Case Study
Rebecca L. Riall, Fausto Marincioni, Frances L. Lightsom
2004, Open-File Report 2004-1002
The U.S. Geological Survey developed a content metadata standard to meet the demands of organizing electronic resources in the marine sciences for a broad, heterogeneous audience. These metadata standards are used by the Marine Realms Information Bank project, a Web-based public distributed library of marine science from academic institutions and...
Compilation of Data to Support Development of a Pesticide Management Plan by the Yankton Sioux Tribe, Charles Mix County, South Dakota
Bryan D. Schaap
2004, Open-File Report 2004-1032
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is working with the Yankton Sioux Tribe to develop a pesticide management plan to reduce potential for contamination of ground water that may result from the use of registered pesticides. The purpose of this study was to compile technical information to support development of a...
SAM 2.1—A computer program for plotting and formatting surveying data for estimating peak discharges by the slope-area method
J.E. Hortness
2004, Fact Sheet 2004-3028
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) measures discharge in streams using several methods. However, measurement of peak discharges is often impossible or impractical due to difficult access, inherent danger of making measurements during flood events, and timing often associated with flood events. Thus, many peak discharge values often are calculated after...
Emergency Assessment of Debris-Flow Hazards from Basins Burned by the Padua Fire of 2003, Southern California
Susan H. Cannon, Joseph E. Gartner, Michael G. Rupert, John A. Michael
2004, Open-File Report 2004-1072
Results of a present preliminary assessment of the probability of debris-flow activity and estimates of peak discharges that can potentially be generated by debris flows issuing from basins burned by the Padua Fire of October 2003 in southern California in response to 25-year, 10-year, and 2-year recurrence, 1-hour duration rain...
Surveying Cross Sections of the Kootenai River Between Libby Dam, Montana, and Kootenay Lake, British Columbia, Canada
Gary J. Barton, Edward H. Moran, Charles Berenbrock
2004, Open-File Report 2004-1045
The declining population of Kootenai River white sturgeon, which was listed as an Endangered Species in 1994, has prompted a recovery team to assess the feasibility of various habitat enhancement scenarios to reestablish white sturgeon populations. As the first phase in this assessment, the U.S. Geological Survey collected stream channel...
Evaluation of volatilization as a natural attenuation pathway for MTBE
Matthew A. Lahvis, Arthur L. Baehr, Ronald J. Baker
2004, Groundwater (42) 258-267
Volatilization and diffusion through the unsaturated zone can be an important pathway for natural attenuation remediation of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) at gasoline spill sites. The significance of this pathway depends primarily on the distribution of immiscible product within the unsaturated zone and the relative magnitude of aqueous-phase advection (ground...
Gross primary productivity of the true steppe in central Asia in relation to NDVI: scaling up CO2 fluxes
Tagir G. Gilmanov, Douglas A. Johnson, Nicanor Z. Saliendra, Kanat Akshalov, Bruce K. Wylie
2004, Environmental Management (33) S492-S508
Compared to other characteristics of CO2 exchange, gross primary productivity (P g ) is most directly related to photosynthetic activity. Until recently, it was considered difficult to obtain measurement-based P g . The objective of our study was to evaluate if P g can be estimated from continuous CO2 flux measurements using nonlinear identification...
Record of late Pleistocene glaciation and deglaciation in the southern Cascade Range: II. Flux of glacial flour in a sediment core from Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon
Joseph G. Rosenbaum, Richard L. Reynolds
2004, Journal of Paleolimnology (31) 235-252
During the late Wisconsin, glacial flour from alpine glaciers along the east side of the Cascade Range in southern Oregon was deposited in Upper Klamath Lake. Quantitative interpretation of magnetic properties and grain-size data of cored sediments from Caledonia Marsh on the west side of the lake provides a continuous...
Estimating the magnitude of bankfull flows for streams in Idaho
Jon Hortness, Charles Berenbrock
2004, Water-Resources Investigations Report 2003-4261
Methods for estimating magnitudes of peak flows with recurrence intervals of 1.5 and 2.33 years were developed for ungaged sites on streams throughout Idaho. These peak flows represent the magnitudes at and near bankfull stage and are needed for quantification of water rights required to maintain or restore fish and wildlife habitats and riparian vegetation. Data from...
A spatial regression procedure for evaluating the relationship between AVHRR-NDVI and climate in the northern Great Plains
Lei Ji, Albert J. Peters
2004, International Journal of Remote Sensing (25) 297-311
The relationship between vegetation and climate in the grassland and cropland of the northern US Great Plains was investigated with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) (1989–1993) images derived from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), and climate data from automated weather stations. The relationship was quantified using a spatial...
A Floristic Quality Assessment system for the coastal prairie of Louisiana
Larry K. Allain, Latimore Smith, Charles Allen, Malcolm Vidrine, James B. Grace
2004, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 19th North American prairie conference: The conservation legacy lives on
Evaluation systems to assess the biotic integrity of plant communities exist for some ecosystems, but not the increasingly rare coastal prairies of Louisiana. A list of plant species occurring in Louisiana's coastal prairie was created and coefficients of conservatism (C) were assigned for each species. A Floristic...
Gravity, magnetic, and high‐precision relocated seismicity profiles suggest a connection between the Hayward and Calaveras Faults, northern California
David A. Ponce, Robert W. Simpson, Russell W. Graymer, Robert C. Jachens
2004, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (5) 1-39
Gravity, magnetic, and seismicity data profiled across the Hayward Fault Zone were generated as part of ongoing studies to help determine the geologic and tectonic setting of the San Francisco Bay region. These data, combined with previous geophysical studies that indicate that the Hayward Fault Zone dips 75°NE near San...
Chapter 11 The phosphoria formation: A model for forecasting global selenium sources to the environment
Theresa S. Presser, David Z. Piper, Kenneth J. Bird, J. P. Skorupa, S. J. Hamilton, S. J. Detwiler, M.A. Huebner
2004, Handbook of Exploration and Environmental Geochemistry (8) 299-319
Mining of the Permian Phosphoria Formation — a marine, oil-generating, phosphatic shale — provided the selenium (Se) source implicated in the recent deaths of livestock in southeast Idaho. Field studies and the geohydrologic balance of Se in southeast Idaho confirm risk to animals from exposure to Se through leaching...
Chapter 14 Rex Chert member of the Permian Phosphoria Formation: Composition, with emphasis on elements of environmental concern
James R. Hein, B.R. McIntyre, R.B. Perkins, David Z. Piper, J. G. Evans
2004, Book chapter, Handbook of exploration and environmental geochemistry
We present bulk chemical and mineralogical compositions, as well as petrographic and outcrop descriptions, of rocks collected from three measured outcrop sections of the Rex Chert Member of the Phosphoria Formation in southeast Idaho. The three measured sections were chosen from 10 outcrops of Rex Chert that were described...
Chapter 4 The meade peak member of the phosphoria formation: Temporal and spatial variations in sediment geochemistry
R.B. Perkins, David Z. Piper
2004, Handbook of Exploration and Environmental Geochemistry (8) 73-110
Variations in the geochemistry of rocks from the Meade Peak Member of the Phosphoria Formation were examined using ratios of elements associated with either the +terrigenous or marine sediment fractions. Inter-element relationships in the terrigenous fraction appear useful for chemo-stratigraphic correlation. A sharp decrease upsection in K2O/AI2O3 ratios occurs in...
