Coastal change from a massive sediment input: Dam removal, Elwha River, Washington, USA
Jonathan A. Warrick, Guy R. Gelfenbaum, Andrew W. Stevens, Ian M. Miller, George M. Kaminsky, Melissa M. Foley
2015, Conference Paper, The Proceedings of the Coastal Sediments 2015
The removal of two large dams on the Elwha River, Washington, provides an ideal opportunity to study coastal morphodynamics during increased sediment supply. The dam removal project exposed ~21 million cubic meters (~30 million tonnes) of sediment in the former reservoirs, and this sediment was allowed to erode by natural...
Flooding in the South Platte River and Fountain Creek Basins in eastern Colorado, September 9–18, 2013
Robert A. Kimbrough, Robert R. Holmes Jr.
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5119
On September 9, 2013, rain began to fall in eastern Colorado as a large low-pressure system pulled plumes of tropical moisture northward from the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. By September 16, 2013, as much as 12 to 20 inches of rain had fallen in the foothills of...
Landsat—Earth observation satellites
U.S. Geological Survey
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3081
Since 1972, Landsat satellites have continuously acquired space-based images of the Earth’s land surface, providing data that serve as valuable resources for land use/land change research. The data are useful to a number of applications including forestry, agriculture, geology, regional planning, and education. Landsat is a joint effort of the...
Research on the effects of wildland fire and fire management on federally listed species and their habitats on San Clemente Island, Southern California
Jon E. Keeley, Teresa J. Brennan
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1194
This report is temporarily unavailable....
Health and condition of endangered juvenile Lost River and shortnose suckers relative to water quality and fish assemblages in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, and Clear Lake Reservoir, California
Summer M. Burdick, Diane G. Elliott, Carl O. Ostberg, Carla M. Conway, Amari Dolan-Caret, Marshal S. Hoy, Kevin P. Feltz, Kathy R. Echols
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1217
Executive Summary Most mortality of endangered Lost River (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose (Chasmistes brevirostris) suckers in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, appears to occur within the first year of life. However, juvenile suckers in Clear Lake Reservoir, California, appear to survive longer and may even recruit to the spawning populations. Our goal...
Unconventional energy resources: 2015 review. Shale gas and liquids
Neil S. Fishman, Kent Bowker, Harris Cander, Brian Cardott, Marc Charette, Kenneth Chew, Thomas Chidsey, Russell F. Dubiel, Sven O. Egenhoff, Catherine B. Enomoto, Ursula Hammes, William Harrison, Shu Jiang, Julie A. LeFever, Jock McCracken, Stephen Nordeng, Richard Nyahay, Stephen Sonnenberg, Michael Vanden Berg
American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Energy Minerals Division, editor(s)
2015, Natural Resources Research (24) 467-470
Introduction As the source rocks from which petroleum is generated, organic-rich shales have always been considered an important component of petroleum systems. Over the last few years, it has been realized that in some mudrocks, sufficient hydrocarbons remain in place to allow for commercial development, although...
Disparity between state fish consumption advisory systems for methylmercury and US Environmental Protection Agency recommendations: A case study of the South Central United States
Kimberly Adams, Ray W. Drenner, Matthew M. Chumchal, David I. Donato
2015, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (35) 247-251
Fish consumption advisories are used to inform citizens in the United States about noncommercial game fish with hazardous levels of methylmercury (MeHg). The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) suggests issuing a fish consumption advisory when concentrations of MeHg in fish exceed a human health screening value of 300 ng/g. However, states...
Changes in seasonality and timing of peak streamflow in snow and semi-arid climates of the north-central United States, 1910–2012
Karen R. Ryberg, F. Adnan Akyuz, Gregg J. Wiche, Wei Lin
2015, Hydrological Processes (30) 1208-1218
Changes in the seasonality and timing of annual peak streamflow in the north-central USA are likely because of changes in precipitation and temperature regimes. A source of long-term information about flood events across the study area is the U.S. Geological Survey peak streamflow database. However, one challenge of answering climate-related...
Aquifer geometry, lithology, and water levels in the Anza–Terwilliger area—2013, Riverside and San Diego Counties, California
Matthew K. Landon, Andrew Y. Morita, Joseph M. Nawikas, Allen H. Christensen, Claudia C. Faunt, Victoria E. Langenheim
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5131
The population of the Anza–Terwilliger area relies solely on groundwater pumped from the alluvial deposits and surrounding bedrock formations for water supply. The size, characteristics, and current conditions of the aquifer system in the Anza–Terwilliger area are poorly understood, however. In response to these concerns, the U.S. Geological Survey,...
Integrating resource selection into spatial capture-recapture models for large carnivores
Kelly M. Proffitt, Joshua Goldberg, Mark Hebblewite, Robin E. Russell, Ben Jimenez, Hugh S. Robinson, Kristine Pilgrim, Michael K. Schwartz
2015, Ecosphere (6)
Wildlife managers need reliable methods to estimate large carnivore densities and population trends; yet large carnivores are elusive, difficult to detect, and occur at low densities making traditional approaches intractable. Recent advances in spatial capture-recapture (SCR) models have provided new approaches for monitoring trends in wildlife abundance and these methods...
Effects of sediment burial on grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idella (Valenciennes,1844), eggs
Amy E. George, Duane Chapman, Joseph E. Deters, Susannah O. Erwin, Cari-Ann Hayer
2015, Journal of Applied Ichthyology (31) 1120-1126
It is thought that grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) eggs must remain suspended in the water column in order to hatch successfully. Using sand, the effects of varying sediment levels on grass carp eggs were tested at different developmental states and temperatures. Survival was high (15–35%, depending on temperature and trial)...
Hydrogeology, hydrologic effects of development, and simulation of groundwater flow in the Borrego Valley, San Diego County, California
Claudia C. Faunt, Christina L. Stamos, Lorraine E. Flint, Michael T. Wright, Matthew K. Burgess, Michelle Sneed, Justin T. Brandt, Peter Martin, Alissa L. Coes
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5150
Executive Summary The Borrego Valley is a small valley (110 square miles) in the northeastern part of San Diego County, California. Although the valley is about 60 miles northeast of city of San Diego, it is separated from the Pacific Ocean coast by the mountains to the west and is...
Onshore industrial wind turbine locations for the United States up to March 2014
James E. Diffendorfer, Louisa Kramer, Zachary H. Ancona, Christopher P. Garrity
2015, Scientific Data
Wind energy is a rapidly growing form of renewable energy in the United States. While summary information on the total amounts of installed capacity are available by state, a free, centralized, national, turbine-level, geospatial dataset useful for scientific research, land and resource management, and other uses did not exist. Available...
Yellowstone wolf (Canis lupus) denisty predicted by elk (Cervus elaphus) biomass
L. David Mech, Shannon Barber-Meyer
2015, Canadian Journal of Zoology (93) 499-502
The Northern Range (NR) of Yellowstone National Park (YNP) hosts a higher prey biomass density in the form of elk (Cervus elaphus L., 1758) than any other system of gray wolves (Canis lupus L., 1758) and prey reported. Therefore, it is important to determine whether that wolf–prey system fits a long-standing model...
Persistent U(IV) and U(VI) following in-situ recovery (ISR) mining of a sandstone uranium deposit, Wyoming, USA
Tanya J. Gallegos, Kate M. Campbell, Robert A. Zielinski, P.W. Reimus, J.T. Clay, N. Janot, J. J. Bargar, William Benzel
2015, Applied Geochemistry (63) 222-234
Drill-core samples from a sandstone-hosted uranium (U) deposit in Wyoming were characterized to determine the abundance and distribution of uranium following in-situ recovery (ISR) mining with oxygen- and carbon dioxide-enriched water. Concentrations of uranium, collected from ten depth intervals, ranged from 5 to 1920 ppm. A...
Groundwater/surface-water interactions in the Bad River Watershed, Wisconsin
Andrew T. Leaf, Michael N. Fienen, Randall J. Hunt, Cheryl A. Buchwald
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5162
A groundwater-flow model was developed for the Bad River Watershed and surrounding area by using the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) finite-difference code MODFLOW-NWT. The model simulates steady-state groundwater-flow and base flow in streams by using the streamflow routing (SFR) package. The objectives of this study were to: (1) develop an...
Factors controlling Li concentration and isotopic composition in formation waters and host rocks of Marcellus Shale, Appalachian Basin
Thai T. Phan, Rosemary C Capo, Brian W. Stewart, Gwen Macpherson, Elisabeth L. Rowan, Richard W. Hammack
2015, Chemical Geology (420) 162-179
In this study, water and whole rock samples from hydraulically fractured wells in the Marcellus Shale (Middle Devonian), and water from conventional wells producing from Upper Devonian sandstones were analyzed for lithium concentrations and isotope ratios (δ7Li). The distribution of lithium concentrations in different mineral groups was determined using...
Geohydrology and water quality of the stratified-drift aquifers in Upper Buttermilk Creek and Danby Creek Valleys, Town of Danby, Tompkins County, New York
Todd S. Miller
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5138
In 2006, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Town of Danby and the Tompkins County Planning Department, began a study of the stratified-drift aquifers in the upper Buttermilk Creek and Danby Creek valleys in the Town of Danby, Tompkins County, New York. In the northern part of the...
NEXRAD quantitative precipitation estimates, data acquisition, and processing for the DuPage County, Illinois, streamflow-simulation modeling system
Terry W. Ortel, Ryan R. Spies
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3076
Next-Generation Radar (NEXRAD) has become an integral component in the estimation of precipitation (Kitzmiller and others, 2013). The high spatial and temporal resolution of NEXRAD has revolutionized the ability to estimate precipitation across vast regions, which is especially beneficial in areas without a dense rain-gage network. With the improved precipitation...
Development of an Assessment Tool for Agricultural Best Management Practice Implementation in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Priority Watersheds—Eagle Creek, Tributary to Maumee River, Ohio
Katherine R. Merriman
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3066
Introduction The Great Lakes face a number of serious challenges that cause damage to water quality, habitat, ecology, and coastal health. Excess nutrients from point and nonpoint sources have a history of causing harmful algal blooms (HABs); since the late 1990s, a resurgence of HABs have forced beach closures and resulted...
Development of an Assessment Tool for Agricultural Best Management Practice Implementation in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Priority Watersheds—Upper East River, Tributary to Green Bay, Wisconsin
Katherine R. Merriman
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3065
Introduction The Great Lakes face a number of serious challenges that cause damage to water quality, habitat, ecology, and coastal health. Excess nutrients from point and nonpoint sources have a history of causing harmful algal blooms (HABs); since the late 1990s, a resurgence of HABs have forced beach closures and resulted...
Development of an Assessment Tool for Agricultural Best Management Practice Iimplementation in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Priority Watersheds—Alger Creek, Tributary to Saginaw River, Michigan
Katherine R. Merriman
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3067
The Great Lakes face a number of serious challenges that cause damage to water quality, habitat, ecology, and coastal health. Excess nutrients from point and nonpoint sources have a history of causing harmful algal blooms (HABs); since the late 1990s, a resurgence of HABs have forced beach closures and resulted...
A one-dimensional model of solid-earth electrical resistivity beneath Florida
Cletus Blum, Jeffrey J. Love, Kolby Pedrie, Paul A. Bedrosian, E. Joshua Rigler
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1185
An estimated one-dimensional layered model of electrical resistivity beneath Florida was developed from published geological and geophysical information. The resistivity of each layer is represented by plausible upper and lower bounds as well as a geometric mean resistivity. Corresponding impedance transfer functions, Schmucker-Weidelt transfer functions, apparent resistivity, and phase responses...
What is in a contour map? A region-based logical formalization of contour semantics
E. Lynn Usery, Torsten Hahmann
2015, Book chapter, Spatial information theory: 12th International Conference, COSIT 2015 Santa Fe, NM, USA, October 12–16, 2015, proceedings
Contours maps (such as topographic maps) compress the information of a function over a two-dimensional area into a discrete set of closed lines that connect points of equal value (isolines), striking a fine balance between expressiveness and cognitive simplicity. They allow humans to perform many common sense reasoning tasks...
Biofilm formation of Francisella noatunensis subsp. orientalis
Esteban Soto, Iona Halliday-Wimmonds, Stewart Francis, Michael T. Kearney, John D. Hansen
2015, Veterinary Microbiology (181) 313-317
Francisella noatunensis subsp. orientalis (Fno) is an emergent fish pathogen in both marine and fresh water environments. The bacterium is suspected to persist in the environment even without the presence of a suitable fish host. In the present study, the influence of different abiotic factors such as salinity and temperature were used to...
