Documentation and hydrologic analysis of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey, October 29–30, 2012
Thomas P. Suro, Anna Deetz, Paul Hearn
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5085
In 2012, a late season tropical depression developed into a tropical storm and later a hurricane. The hurricane, named “Hurricane Sandy,” gained strength to a Category 3 storm on October 25, 2012, and underwent several transitions on its approach to the mid-Atlantic region of the eastern coast of the United...
Spatial and temporal variation of stream chemistry associated with contrasting geology and land-use patterns in the Chesapeake Bay watershed—Summary of results from Smith Creek, Virginia; Upper Chester River, Maryland; Conewago Creek, Pennsylvania; and Difficult Run, Virginia, 2010–2013
Kenneth E. Hyer, Judith M. Denver, Michael J. Langland, James S. Webber, J. K. Böhlke, W. Dean Hively, John W. Clune
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5093
Despite widespread and ongoing implementation of conservation practices throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed, water quality continues to be degraded by excess sediment and nutrient inputs. While the Chesapeake Bay Program has developed and maintains a large-scale and long-term monitoring network to detect improvements in water quality throughout the watershed, fewer...
Insect community responses to climate and weather across elevation gradients in the Sagebrush Steppe, eastern Oregon
David S. Pilliod, Ashley T. Rohde
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1183
Executive SummaryIn this study, the U.S. Geological Survey investigated the use of insects as bioindicators of climate change in sagebrush steppe shrublands and grasslands in the Upper Columbia Basin. The research was conducted in the Stinkingwater and Pueblo mountain ranges in eastern Oregon on lands administered by the Bureau...
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...
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....
Population dynamics of mallards breeding in eastern Washington
Bruce D. Dugger, John M. Coluccy, Katie M. Dugger, Trevor T. Fox, Donald K. Kraege, Mark J. Petrie
2016, Journal of Wildlife Management (80) 500-509
Variation in regional population trends for mallards breeding in the western United States indicates that additional research into factors that influence demographics could contribute to management and understanding the population demographics of mallards across North America. We estimated breeding incidence and adult female, nest, and brood survival in eastern Washington...
Cretaceous–Cenozoic burial and exhumation history of the Chukchi shelf, offshore Arctic Alaska
William H. Craddock, David W. Houseknecht
2016, AAPG Bulletin (100) 63-100
Apatite fission track (AFT) and vitrinite reflectance data from five exploration wells and three seafloor cores illuminate the thermal history of the underexplored United States Chukchi shelf. On the northeastern shelf, Triassic strata in the Chevron 1 Diamond well record apatite annealing followed by cooling, possibly during the Triassic to...
Characterization of sediment and measurement of groundwater levels and temperatures, Camas National Wildlife Refuge, eastern Idaho
Brian V. Twining, Gordon W. Rattray
2016, Data Series 1024
The Camas National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) in eastern Idaho, established in 1937, contains wetlands, ponds, and wet meadows that are essential resting and feeding habitat for migratory birds and nesting habitat for waterfowl. Initially, natural sources of water supported these habitats. However, during the past few decades, climate change...
Environmental drivers of differences in microbial community structure in crude oil reservoirs across a methanogenic gradient
Jenna L. Shelton, Denise M. Akob, Jennifer C. McIntosh, Noah Fierer, John R. Spear, Peter D. Warwick, John E. McCray
2016, Frontiers in Microbiology (7)
Stimulating in situ microbial communities in oil reservoirs to produce natural gas is a potentially viable strategy for recovering additional fossil fuel resources following traditional recovery operations. Little is known about what geochemical parameters drive microbial population dynamics in biodegraded, methanogenic oil reservoirs. We investigated if microbial community structure was...
Scale-dependent seasonal pool habitat use by sympatric Wild Brook Trout and Brown Trout populations
Lori A. Davis, Tyler Wagner
2016, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (145) 888-902
Sympatric populations of native Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis and naturalized Brown Trout Salmo truttaexist throughout the eastern USA. An understanding of habitat use by sympatric populations is of importance for fisheries management agencies because of the close association between habitat and population dynamics. Moreover, habitat use by stream-dwelling salmonids may...
Chemical and isotopic changes in Williston Basin brines during long-term oil production: An example from the Poplar dome, Montana
Zell E. Peterman, Joanna N. Thamke
2016, AAPG Bulletin (100) 1619-1632
Brine samples were collected from 30 conventional oil wells producing mostly from the Charles Formation of the Madison Group in the East and Northwest Poplar oil fields on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana. Dissolved concentrations of major ions, trace metals, Sr isotopes, and stable isotopes (oxygen and hydrogen) were...
Pb-Sr isotopic and geochemical constraints on sources and processes of lead contamination in well waters and soil from former fruit orchards, Pennsylvania, USA: A legacy of anthropogenic activities
Robert A. Ayuso, Nora K. Foley
2016, Journal of Geochemical Exploration (170) 125-147
Isotopic discrimination can be an effective tool in establishing a direct link between sources of Pb contamination and the presence of anomalously high concentrations of Pb in waters, soils, and organisms. Residential wells supplying water containing up to 1600 ppb Pb to houses built on the former Mohr orchards commercial site,...
Evaluation of gas production potential from gas hydrate deposits in National Petroleum Reserve Alaska using numerical simulations
Manish S. Nandanwar, Brian J. Anderson, Taiwo Ajayi, Timothy S. Collett, Margarita V. Zyrianova
2016, Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering (36) 760-772
An evaluation of the gas production potential of Sunlight Peak gas hydrate accumulation in the eastern portion of the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska (NPRA) of Alaska North Slope (ANS) is conducted using numerical simulations, as part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) gas hydrate Life Cycle Assessment program. A field...
Multiple browsers structure tree recruitment in logged temperate forests
Edward K. Faison, Stephen DeStefano, David R. Foster, Joshua M. Rapp, Justin A. Compton
2016, PLoS ONE (11) 1-14
Historical extirpations have resulted in depauperate large herbivore assemblages in many northern forests. In eastern North America, most forests are inhabited by a single wild ungulate species, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and relationships between deer densities and impacts on forest regeneration are correspondingly well documented. Recent recolonizations by moose (Alces...
Evaluation of fisher (Pekania pennanti) restoration in Olympic National Park and the Olympic Recovery Area: 2015 final annual progress report
Patricia J. Happe, Kurt J. Jenkins, Thomas J. Kay, Kristie Pilgrim, Michael K. Schwartz, Jeffrey C. Lewis, Keith B. Aubry
2016, Natural Resource Report NPS/OLYM/NRR—2016/1274
With the translocation and release of 90 fishers (Pekania pennanti) from British Columbia to Olympic National Park during 2008–2010, the National Park Service (NPS) and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) accomplished the first phase of fisher restoration in Washington State. Beginning in 2013, we initiated a new research...
Uncertainty in biological monitoring: a framework for data collection and analysis to account for multiple sources of sampling bias
Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez, Melvin B. Hooten, Evan H. Campbell Grant
2016, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (7) 900-909
Biological monitoring programmes are increasingly relying upon large volumes of citizen-science data to improve the scope and spatial coverage of information, challenging the scientific community to develop design and model-based approaches to improve inference.Recent statistical models in ecology have been developed to accommodate false-negative errors, although current...
Environmental factors influence lesser scaup migration chronology and population monitoring
Taylor A. Finger, Alan D. Afton, Michael L. Schummer, Scott A. Petrie, Shannon S. Badzinski, Michael A. Johnson, Michael L. Szymanski, Kevin J. Jacobs, Glenn H. Olsen, M.E. Mitchell
2016, Journal of Wildlife Management (80) 1437-1449
Identifying environmental metrics specific to lesser scaup (Aythya affinis; scaup) spring migration chronology may help inform development of conservation, management and population monitoring. Our objective was to determine how environmental conditions influence spring migration of lesser scaup to assess the effectiveness of the Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey in...
Snake fungal disease: An emerging threat to wild snakes
Jeffrey M. Lorch, Susan Knowles, Julia S. Lankton, Kathy Michell, Jaime L. Edwards, Joshua M. Kapfer, Richard A. Staffen, Erik R. Wild, Katie Z. Schmidt, Anne Ballmann, Doug Blodgett, Terence M. Farrell, Brad M. Glorioso, Lisa A. Last, Steven J. Price, Krysten L. Schuler, Christopher Smith, James F. X. Wellehan Jr., David S. Blehert
2016, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (371)
Since 2006, there has been a marked increase in the number of reports of severe and often fatal fungal skin infections in wild snakes in the eastern USA. The emerging condition, referred to as snake fungal disease (SFD), was initially documented in rattlesnakes, where the infections were believed to pose...
Assessment of hydrogeologic terrains, well-construction characteristics, groundwater hydraulics, and water-quality and microbial data for determination of surface-water-influenced groundwater supplies in West Virginia
Mark D. Kozar, Katherine S. Paybins
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5048
In January 2014, a storage tank leaked, spilling a large quantity of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol into the Elk River in West Virginia and contaminating the water supply for more than 300,000 people. In response, the West Virginia Legislature passed Senate Bill 373, which requires the West Virginia Department of Health and...
Simulated effects of groundwater withdrawals from aquifers in Ocean County and vicinity, New Jersey
Stephen J. Cauller, Lois M. Voronin, Mary M. Chepiga
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5035
Rapid population growth since the 1930s in Ocean County and vicinity, New Jersey, has placed increasing demands upon the area’s freshwater resources. To examine effects of groundwater withdrawals, a three-dimensional groundwater-flow model was developed to simulate the groundwater-flow systems of five area aquifers: the unconfined Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer system and...
Maximum magnitude (Mmax) in the central and eastern United States for the 2014 U.S. Geological Survey Hazard Model
Russell L. Wheeler
2016, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (106) 2154-2167
Probabilistic seismic‐hazard assessment (PSHA) requires an estimate of Mmax, the moment magnitude M of the largest earthquake that could occur within a specified area. Sparse seismicity hinders Mmax estimation in the central and eastern United States (CEUS) and tectonically similar regions worldwide (stable continental regions [SCRs]). A new global catalog...
Geologic framework, age, and lithologic characteristics of the North Park Formation in North Park, north-central Colorado
Ralph R. Shroba
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5126
Deposits of the North Park Formation of late Oligocene and Miocene age are locally exposed at small, widely spaced outcrops along the margins of the roughly northwest-trending North Park syncline in the southern part of North Park, a large intermontane topographic basin in Jackson County in north-central Colorado. These outcrops...
Occurrence and distribution of arsenic and radon in water from private wells in the Rancocas aquifer, southern New Castle and northern Kent Counties, Delaware, 2015
Judith M. Denver
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1143
Water samples were collected and analyzed for arsenic and radon from 36 private, mostly domestic wells that tap the Rancocas aquifer in southern New Castle and northern Kent Counties, Delaware, during the summer of 2015. Both arsenic and radon are from natural mineral sources, in particular glauconitic and other marine-derived...
Potential effects of climate change on streamflow for seven watersheds in eastern and central Montana
Katherine J. Chase, Adel E. Haj, R. Steven Regan, Roland J. Viger
2016, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies (7) 69-81
Study regionEastern and central Montana.Study focusFish in Northern Great Plains streams tolerate extreme conditions including heat, cold, floods, and drought; however changes in streamflow associated with long-term climate change may render some prairie streams uninhabitable for current fish species. To better understand future hydrology of these...
Far-field pressurization likely caused one of the largest injection induced earthquakes by reactivating a large pre-existing basement fault structure
William L. Yeck, Matthew Weingarten, Harley M. Benz, Daniel E. McNamara, E. Bergman, R.B Herrmann, Justin L. Rubinstein, Paul S. Earle
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (43) 10,198-10,207
The Mw 5.1 Fairview, Oklahoma, earthquake on 13 February 2016 and its associated seismicity produced the largest moment release in the central and eastern United States since the 2011 Mw 5.7 Prague, Oklahoma, earthquake sequence and is one of the largest earthquakes potentially linked to wastewater injection. This energetic sequence has produced...
