Lithostratigraphic, borehole-geophysical, hydrogeologic, and hydrochemical data from the East Bay Plain, Alameda County, California
Michelle Sneed, Patricia Orlando, James W. Borchers, Rhett R. Everett, Michael Solt, Mary McGann, Heather Lowers, Shannon Mahan
2015, Data Series 890
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the East Bay Municipal Utility District, carried out an investigation of aquifer-system deformation associated with groundwater-level changes at the Bayside Groundwater Project near the modern San Francisco Bay shore in San Lorenzo, California. As a part of the Bayside Groundwater Project, East...
Analysis of storm-tide impacts from Hurricane Sandy in New York
Christopher Schubert, Ronald Busciolano, Paul P. Hearn Jr., Ami N. Rahav, Riley Behrens, Jason S. Finkelstein, Jack Monti Jr., Amy E. Simonson
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5036
The hybrid cyclone-nor’easter known as Hurricane Sandy affected the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States during October 28-30, 2012, causing extensive coastal flooding. Prior to storm landfall, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) deployed a temporary monitoring network from Virginia to Maine to record the storm tide and coastal flooding generated by...
Water resources during drought conditions and postfire water quality in the upper Rio Hondo Basin, Lincoln County, New Mexico, 2010-13
Lauren R. Sherson, Steven E. Rice
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5086
Stakeholders and water-resource managers in Lincoln County, New Mexico, have had long-standing concerns over the impact of population growth and groundwater withdrawals. These concerns have been exacerbated in recent years by extreme drought conditions and two major wildfires in the upper Rio Hondo Basin, located in south-central New Mexico. The...
Simulation of groundwater flow and chloride transport in the “1,200-foot” sand with scenarios to mitigate saltwater migration in the “2,000-foot” sand in the Baton Rouge area, Louisiana
Charles E. Heywood, John K. Lovelace, Jason M. Griffith
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5083
Groundwater withdrawals have caused saltwater to encroach into freshwater-bearing aquifers beneath Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The 10 aquifers beneath the Baton Rouge area, which includes East and West Baton Rouge Parishes, Pointe Coupee Parish, and East and West Feliciana Parishes, provided about 184.3 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) for public supply...
Geospatial compilation of results from field sample collection in support of mineral resource investigations, Western Alaska Range, Alaska, July 2013
Michaela R. Johnson, Garth E. Graham, Bernard E. Hubbard, William Benzel
2015, Data Series 943
This Data Series summarizes results from July 2013 sampling in the western Alaska Range near Mount Estelle, Alaska. The fieldwork combined in situ and camp-based spectral measurements of talus/soil and rock samples. Five rock and 48 soil samples were submitted for quantitative geochemical analysis (for 55 major and trace elements),...
The hydrogeology of urbanization: The lost springs of Washington, D.C., late Tertiary and Quaternary sediments of D.C., and the Baltimore Long Term Ecological Research site (LTER): Chapter
Aditi Bhaskar, Milan J. Pavich, John M. Sharp
2015, Book chapter, Tripping from the Fall Line: Field Excursions for the GSA Annual Meeting, Baltimore, 2015
Urbanization is a major process now shaping the environment. This field trip looks at the hydrogeology of the general Washington, D.C., area and focuses on the city's lost springs. Until 150 years ago, springs and shallow dug wells were the main source of drinking water for residents of Washington, D.C....
Adaptive harvest management: Adjustments for SEIS 2013
Scott Boomer, Fred A. Johnson, Guthrie S. Zimmerman
2015, Report
This report provides a summary of revised methods and assessment results based on updated adaptive harvest management (AHM) protocols developed in response to the preferred alternative specified in the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the Issuance of Annual Regulations Permitting the Hunting of Migratory Birds (SEIS; U.S. Department of...
A long-term earthquake rate model for the central and eastern United States from smoothed seismicity
Morgan P. Moschetti
2015, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (6) 2928-2941
I present a long-term earthquake rate model for the central and eastern United States from adaptive smoothed seismicity. By employing pseudoprospective likelihood testing (L-test), I examined the effects of fixed and adaptive smoothing methods and the effects of catalog duration and composition on the ability of the models to forecast...
The geology of Burnsville Cove, Bath and Highland Counties, Virginia
Christopher S. Swezey, John T. Haynes, Richard A. Lambert, William B. White, Philip C. Lucas, Christopher P. Garrity
2015, Book chapter, The Caves of Burnsville Cove, Virginia
Burnsville Cove is a karst region in Bath and Highland Counties of Virginia. A new geologic map of the area reveals various units of limestone, sandstone, and siliciclastic mudstone (shale) of Silurian through Devonian age, as well as structural features such as northeast-trending anticlines and synclines, minor thrust faults, and...
Water levels of the Ozark aquifer in northern Arkansas, 2013
Tony P. Schrader
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5088
The Ozark aquifer is the largest aquifer, both in area of outcrop and thickness, and the most important source of freshwater in the Ozark Plateaus physiographic province, supplying water to northern Arkansas, southeastern Kansas, southern Missouri, and northeastern Oklahoma. The study area includes 16 Arkansas counties lying completely or partially...
Genetic characterization of hybridization between native and invasive bittersweet vines (Celastrus spp.)
David N. Zaya, Stacey A. Leicht-Young, Noel B. Pavlovic, Kevin A. Feldheim, Mary V. Ashley
2015, Biological Invasions (17) 2975-2988
Hybridization associated with species introductions can accelerate the decline of native species. The main objective of this study was to determine if the decline of a North American liana (American bittersweet, Celastrus scandens) in the eastern portion of its range is related to hybridization with an introduced congener (oriental bittersweet,...
Installation of a groundwater monitoring-well network on the east side of the Uncompahgre River in the Lower Gunnison River Basin, Colorado, 2012
Judith C. Thomas, L. R. Arnold
2015, Data Series 923
The east side of the Uncompahgre River Basin has been a known contributor of dissolved selenium to recipient streams. Discharge of groundwater containing dissolved selenium contributes to surface-water selenium concentrations and loads; however, the groundwater system on the east side of the Uncompahgre River Basin is not well characterized. The...
Alteration, slope-classified alteration, and potential lahar inundation maps of volcanoes for the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Volcano Archive
John C. Mars, Bernard E. Hubbard, David Pieri, Justin Linick
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5035
This study identifies areas prone to lahars from hydrothermally altered volcanic edifices on a global scale, using visible and near infrared (VNIR) and short wavelength infrared (SWIR) reflectance data from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and digital elevation data from the ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model...
Primative components, crustal assimilation, and magmatic degassing of the 2008 Kilauea summit eruption
Michael C. Rowe, Carl R. Thornber, Tim R. Orr
2015, Book chapter, Hawaiian volcanoes, from source to surface
Simultaneous summit and rift zone eruptions at Kīlauea starting in 2008 reflect a shallow eruptive plumbing system inundated by a bourgeoning supply of new magma from depth. Olivine-hosted melt inclusions, host glass, and bulk lava compositions of magma erupted at both the summit and east rift zone demonstrate chemical continuity...
Shear Wave Velocity and Site Amplification Factors for 25 Strong-Motion Instrument Stations Affected by the M5.8 Mineral, Virginia, Earthquake of August 23, 2011
Robert E. Kayen, Brad A. Carkin, Skye C. Corbett, Aliza Zangwill, Ivan Estevez, Lena Lai
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1099
Vertical one-dimensional shear wave velocity (Vs) profiles are presented for 25 strong-motion instrument sites along the Mid-Atlantic eastern seaboard, Piedmont region, and Appalachian region, which surround the epicenter of the M5.8 Mineral, Virginia, Earthquake of August 23, 2011. Testing was performed at sites in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, the...
Tsunami recurrence in the eastern Alaska-Aleutian arc: A Holocene stratigraphic record from Chirikof Island, Alaska
Alan R. Nelson, Richard W. Briggs, Tina Dura, Simon E. Engelhart, Guy Gelfenbaum, Lee-Ann Bradley, S.L. Forman, Christopher H. Vane, K.A. Kelley
2015, Geosphere (11) 1203
Despite the role of the Alaska-Aleutian megathrust as the source of some of the largest earthquakes and tsunamis, the history of its pre–twentieth century tsunamis is largely unknown west of the rupture zone of the great (magnitude, M 9.2) 1964 earthquake. Stratigraphy in core transects at two boggy lowland sites...
Methods used to parameterize the spatially-explicit components of a state-and-transition simulation model
Rachel Sleeter, William Acevedo, Christopher E. Soulard, Benjamin M. Sleeter
2015, AIMS Environmental Science (2) 668-693
Spatially-explicit state-and-transition simulation models of land use and land cover (LULC) increase our ability to assess regional landscape characteristics and associated carbon dynamics across multiple scenarios. By characterizing appropriate spatial attributes such as forest age and land-use distribution, a state-and-transition model can more effectively simulate the pattern and spread of...
Tectonic and sedimentary linkages between the Belt-Purcell basin and southwestern Laurentia during the Mesoproterozoic ca. 1.60-1.40 Ga
James V. Jones III, Christohper G Dainel, Michael F Doe
2015, Lithosphere (7) 465-472
Mesoproterozoic sedimentary basins in western North America provide key constraints on pre-Rodinia craton positions and interactions along the western rifted margin of Laurentia. One such basin, the Belt-Purcell basin, extends from southern Idaho into southern British Columbia and contains a >18-km-thick succession of siliciclastic sediment deposited ca. 1.47–1.40 Ga. The...
Early Holocene Great Salt Lake
Charles G. Oviatt, David B. Madsen, David M. Miller, Robert S. Thompson, John P. McGeehin
2015, Quaternary Research (84) 57-68
Shorelines and surficial deposits (including buried forest-floor mats and organic-rich wetland sediments) show that Great Salt Lake did not rise higher than modern lake levels during the earliest Holocene (11.5–10.2 cal ka BP; 10–9 14C ka BP). During that period, finely laminated, organic-rich muds (sapropel) containing brine-shrimp cysts and...
Statistical analysis of soil geochemical data to identify pathfinders associated with mineral deposits: An example from the Coles Hill uranium deposit, Virginia, USA
Denise M. Levitan, Carl E. Zipper, Patricia Donovan, Madeline E. Schreiber, Robert R. Seal, Mark A. Engle, John A. Chermak, Robert J. Bodnar, Daniel K. Johnson, Joseph G. Aylor Jr.
2015, Journal of Geochemical Exploration (154) 238-251
Soil geochemical anomalies can be used to identify pathfinders in exploration for ore deposits. In this study, compositional data analysis is used with multivariate statistical methods to analyse soil geochemical data collected from the Coles Hill uranium deposit, Virginia, USA, to identify pathfinders associated with this deposit. Elemental compositions and...
The distribution of selected elements and minerals in soil of the conterminous United States
Laurel G. Woodruff, William F. Cannon, David B. Smith, Federico Solano
2015, Journal of Geochemical Exploration (154) 49-60
In 2007, the U.S. Geological Survey initiated a low-density (1 site per 1600 km2, 4857 sites) geochemical and mineralogical survey of soil of the conterminous United States as part of the North American Soil Geochemical Landscapes Project. Three soil samples were collected, if possible, from each site; (1) a sample from...
Hydraulic fracturing water use variability in the United States and potential environmental implications
Tanya J. Gallegos, Brian A. Varela, Seth S. Haines, Mark A. Engle
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 5839-5845
Until now, up-to-date, comprehensive, spatial, national-scale data on hydraulic fracturing water volumes have been lacking. Water volumes used (injected) to hydraulically fracture over 263,859 oil and gas wells drilled between 2000 and 2014 were compiled and used to create the first U.S. map of hydraulic fracturing water use. Although median...
Evaluating the relationship between biomass, percent groundcover and remote sensing indices across six winter cover crop fields in Maryland, United States
Kusuma Prabhakara, W. Dean Hively, Greg W. McCarty
2015, International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (39) 88-102
Winter cover crops are an essential part of managing nutrient and sediment losses from agricultural lands. Cover crops lessen sedimentation by reducing erosion, and the accumulation of nitrogen in aboveground biomass results in reduced nutrient runoff. Winter cover crops are planted in the fall and are usually terminated in early...
Geologic map of the Simcoe Mountains Volcanic Field, main central segment, Yakama Nation, Washington
Wes Hildreth, Judy Fierstein
2015, Scientific Investigations Map 3315
Mountainous parts of the Yakama Nation lands in south-central Washington are mostly covered by basaltic lava flows and cinder cones that make up the Simcoe Mountains volcanic field. The accompanying geologic map of the central part of the volcanic field has been produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on...
Geochemical reanalysis of historical U.S. Geological Survey sediment samples from the Inmachuk, Kugruk, Kiwalik, and Koyuk River drainages, Granite Mountain, and the northern Darby Mountains, Bendeleben, Candle, Kotzebue, and Solomon quadrangles, Alaska
Melanie B. Werdon, Matthew Granitto, Jaime S. Azain
2015, Report
The State of Alaska’s Strategic and Critical Minerals (SCM) Assessment project, a State-funded Capital Improvement Project (CIP), is designed to evaluate Alaska’s statewide potential for SCM resources. The SCM Assessment is being implemented by the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS), and involves obtaining new airborne-geophysical, geological, and...
