River mainstem thermal regimes influence population structuring within an Appalachian brook trout population
Aaron W. Aunins, J. Todd Petty, Tim L. King, Mariya Schilz, Patricia M. Mazik
2015, Conservation Genetics (16) 15-29
Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) often exist as highly differentiated populations, even at small spatial scales, due either to natural or anthropogenic sources of isolation and low rates of dispersal. In this study, we used molecular approaches to describe the unique population structure of brook trout inhabiting the Shavers Fork watershed,...
Intercontinental genetic structure and gene flow in Dunlin (Calidris alpina), a potential vector of avian influenza
Mark P. Miller, Susan M. Haig, Thomas D. Mullins, Luzhang Ruan, Bruce Casler, Alexei Dondua, H. River Gates, J. Matthew Johnson, Steven J. Kendall, Pavel S. Tomkovich, Diane Tracy, Olga P. Valchuk, Richard B. Lanctot
2015, Evolutionary Applications (8) 149-171
Waterfowl (Anseriformes) and shorebirds (Charadriiformes) are the most common wild vectors of influenza A viruses. Due to their migratory behavior, some may transmit disease over long distances. Migratory connectivity studies can link breeding and nonbreeding grounds while illustrating potential interactions among populations that may spread diseases. We investigated Dunlin (Calidris...
Chemical constituents in groundwater from multiple zones in the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho, 2009-13
Roy C. Bartholomay, Candice B. Hopkins, Neil V. Maimer
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5002
From 2009 to 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Project office, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, collected water-quality samples from multiple water-bearing zones in the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer. Water samples were collected from 11 monitoring wells completed in about 250–750 feet of the...
Assessment of surface water chloride and conductivity trends in areas of unconventional oil and gas development — Why existing national data sets cannot tell us what we would like to know
Zachary H. Bowen, Gretchen P. Oelsner, Brian S. Cade, Tanya J. Gallegos, Aida M. Farag, David N. Mott, Christopher J. Potter, Peter J. Cinotto, Melanie L. Clark, William M. Kappel, Timothy M. Kresse, Cynthia P. Melcher, Suzanne S. Paschke, David D. Susong, Brian A. Varela
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 704-715
Heightened concern regarding the potential effects of unconventional oil and gas development on regional water quality has emerged, but the few studies on this topic are limited in geographic scope. Here we evaluate the potential utility of national and publicly available water-quality data sets for addressing questions regarding unconventional oil...
Digital geospatial presentation of geoelectrical and geotechnical data for the lower American River and flood plain, east Sacramento, California
Lyndsay B. Ball, Bethany L. Burton, Michael H. Powers, Theodore H. Asch
2015, Data Series 902
To characterize the extent and thickness of lithologic units that may have differing scour potential, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has performed several geoelectrical surveys of the lower American River channel and flood plain between Cal Expo and the Rio Americano High...
Future wave and wind projections for United States and United-States-affiliated Pacific Islands
Curt D. Storlazzi, James B. Shope, Li H. Erikson, Christine A. Hegermiller, Patrick L. Barnard
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1001
Changes in future wave climates in the tropical Pacific Ocean from global climate change are not well understood. Spatially and temporally varying waves dominate coastal morphology and ecosystem structure of the islands throughout the tropical Pacific. Waves also impact coastal infrastructure, natural and cultural resources, and coastal-related economic activities of...
Instrumenting caves to collect hydrologic and geochemical data: case study from James Cave, Virginia
Madeline E. Schreiber, Benjamin F. Schwartz, William Orndorff, Daniel H. Doctor, Sarah D. Eagle, Jonathan D. Gerst
2015, Book chapter, Advances in watershed science and assessment
Karst aquifers are productive groundwater systems, supplying approximately 25 % of the world’s drinking water. Sustainable use of this critical water supply requires information about rates of recharge to karst aquifers. The overall goal of this project is to collect long-term, high-resolution hydrologic and geochemical datasets at James Cave, Virginia,...
Large-scale dam removal on the Elwha River, Washington, USA: source-to-sink sediment budget and synthesis
Jonathan A. Warrick, Jennifer A. Bountry, Amy E. East, Christopher S. Magirl, Timothy J. Randle, Guy R. Gelfenbaum, Andrew C. Ritchie, George R. Pess, Vivian Leung, Jeff J. Duda
2015, Geomorphology (246) 729-750
Understanding landscape responses to sediment supply changes constitutes a fundamental part of many problems in geomorphology, but opportunities to study such processes at field scales are rare. The phased removal of two large dams on the Elwha River, Washington, exposed 21 ± 3 million m3, or ~ 30 million tonnes (t), of sediment that had been deposited...
Growth rates and variances of unexploited wolf populations in dynamic equilibria
L. David Mech, John Fieberg
2015, Wildlife Society Bulletin (39) 41-48
Several states have begun harvesting gray wolves (Canis lupus), and these states and various European countries are closely monitoring their wolf populations. To provide appropriate perspective for determining unusual or extreme fluctuations in their managed wolf populations, we analyzed natural, long-term, wolf-population-density trajectories totaling 130 years of data from 3...
The quality of our nation's waters: water quality in the Principal Aquifers of the Piedmont, Blue Ridge, and Valley and Ridge regions, eastern United States, 1993-2009
Bruce D. Lindsey, Tammy M. Zimmerman, Melinda J. Chapman, Charles A. Cravotta III,, Zoltan Szabo
2015, Circular 1354
The aquifers of the Piedmont, Blue Ridge, and Valley and Ridge regions underlie an area with a population of more than 40 million people in 10 states. The suburban and rural population is large, growing rapidly, and increasingly dependent on groundwater as a source of supply, with more than 550...
Hydrogeology of the Ramapo River-Woodbury Creek valley-fill aquifer system and adjacent areas in eastern Orange County, New York
Paul M. Heisig
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5156
The hydrogeology of the valley-fill aquifer system and surrounding watershed areas was investigated within a 23-mile long, fault-controlled valley in eastern Orange County, New York. Glacial deposits form a divide within the valley that is drained to the north by Woodbury Creek and is drained to the south by the...
Soil greenhouse gas emissions and carbon budgeting in a short-hydroperiod floodplain wetland
Jackie Batson, Gregory B. Noe, Cliff R. Hupp, Ken W. Krauss, Nancy B. Rybicki, Edward R. Schenk
2015, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (120) 77-95
Understanding the controls on floodplain carbon (C) cycling is important for assessing greenhouse gas emissions and the potential for C sequestration in river-floodplain ecosystems. We hypothesized that greater hydrologic connectivity would increase C inputs to floodplains that would not only stimulate soil C gas emissions but also sequester more C...
Patterns of floodplain sediment deposition along the regulated lower Roanoke River, North Carolina: annual, decadal, centennial scales
Cliff R. Hupp, Edward R. Schenk, Daniel Kroes, Debra A. Willard, Phil A. Townsend, Robert K. Peet
2015, Geomorphology (228) 666-680
The lower Roanoke River on the Coastal Plain of North Carolina is not embayed and maintains a floodplain that is among the largest on the mid-Atlantic Coast. This floodplain has been impacted by substantial aggradation in response to upstream colonial and post-colonial agriculture between the mid-eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries. Additionally,...
Geochemical evolution of groundwater in the Mud Lake area, eastern Idaho, USA
Gordon W. Rattray
2015, Environmental Earth Sciences (73) 8251-8269
Groundwater with elevated dissolved-solids concentrations—containing large concentrations of chloride, sodium, sulfate, and calcium—is present in the Mud Lake area of Eastern Idaho. The source of these solutes is unknown; however, an understanding of the geochemical sources and processes controlling their presence in groundwater in the Mud Lake area is needed...
Central Appalachian basin natural gas database: distribution, composition, and origin of natural gases
Yomayra A. Roman Colon, Leslie F. Ruppert
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1207
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has compiled a database consisting of three worksheets of central Appalachian basin natural gas analyses and isotopic compositions from published and unpublished sources of 1,282 gas samples from Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The database includes field and reservoir...
Evaluation of development options for Alaska North Slope viscous and heavy oil
Emil D. Attanasi, Philip A. Freeman
2015, Natural Resources Research (24) 85-106
Current estimates of discovered viscous and heavy oil in Alaska’s North Slope are 12 billion barrels of oil-in-place and 12–18 billion barrels of oil-in-place, respectively (see Appendix 1 for conversion to SI units). Since the early 1990s to the end of 2010, cumulative viscous oil production has amounted to...
Detrital zircon U-Pb provenance of the Colorado River: A 5 m.y. record of incision into cover strata overlying the Colorado Plateau and adjacent regions
David L. Kimbrough, Marty Grove, George E. Gehrels, Rebecca J. Dorsey, Keith A. Howard, Oscar Lovera, Andres Aslan, Kyle House, Philip A. Pearthree
2015, Geosphere (11) 1719-1748
New detrital zircon U-Pb age distributions from 49 late Cenozoic sandstones and Holocene sands (49 samples, n = 3922) record the arrival of extra-regional early Pliocene Colorado River sediment at Grand Wash (western USA) and downstream locations ca. 5.3 Ma and the subsequent evolution of the river’s provenance signature. We...
Simulations of potential future conditions in the cache critical groundwater area, Arkansas
Haveen M. Rashid, Brian R. Clark, Hanan H. Mahdi, Hanadi S. Rifai, Haydar J. Al-Shukri
2015, Environmental & Engineering Geoscience (21) 1-19
A three-dimensional finite-difference model for part of the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer in the Cache Critical Groundwater Area of eastern Arkansas was constructed to simulate potential future conditions of groundwater flow. The objectives of this study were to test different pilot point distributions to find reasonable estimates of aquifer...
Kilauea's 5-9 March 2011 Kamoamoa fissure eruption and its relation to 30+ years of activity from Pu'u 'Ō'ō
Tim R. Orr, Michael P. Poland, Matthew R. Patrick, Weston A. Thelen, A.J. Sutton, Tamar Elias, Carl R. Thornber, Carolyn Parcheta, Kelly M. Wooten
Rebecca Carey, Valerie Cayol, Michael P. Poland, Dominique Weis, editor(s)
2015, Book chapter, Hawaiian volcanoes: From source to surface
Lava output from Kīlauea's long-lived East Rift Zone eruption, ongoing since 1983, began waning in 2010 and was coupled with uplift, increased seismicity, and rising lava levels at the volcano's summit and Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō vent. These changes culminated in the four-day-long Kamoamoa fissure eruption on the East Rift...
Shippingport, Kentucky, is the type locality for the white-footed mouse, Peromyscus leucopus (Rafinesque, 1818) (Mammalia: Rodentia: Cricetidae)
Neal Woodman
2015, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington (182) 152-163
The white-footed mouse, Musculus leucopus Rafinesque, 1818 (= Peromyscus leucopus), is a common small mammal that is widespread in the eastern and central United States. Its abundance in many habitats renders it ecologically important, and its status as a reservoir for hantavirus and Lyme disease gives the species medical and...
Ants of the national park of American Samoa
Paul C. Banko, Robert W. Peck
2015, Technical Report HCSU-061
American Samoa makes up the eastern end of the Samoan Archipelago. On the islands of Tutuila, Taʽū and Ofu, the National Park of American Samoa (NPSA) protects about 4,000 ha of coastal, mid-slope and ridge-top forest. While the ant fauna of the Samoan Archipelago is considered relatively well documented, much...
Continuous monitoring of meteorological conditions and movement of a deep-seated, persistently moving rockslide along Interstate Route 79 near Pittsburgh
Francis Ashland, Helen L. Delano
2015, Pennsylvania Geology (45) 22-26
A large inventory of landslides exists for Allegheny County, Pa., and historical movement of manyof these has resulted in considerable damage to property, roads, and infrastructure. Along InterstateRoute 79, a subset of the landslide inventory includes deep-seated rockslides, two of which reactivatedduring construction of the highway in the late 1960s...
Potential nitrogen critical loads for northern Great Plains grassland vegetation
Amy J. Symstad, Anine T. Smith, Wesley E. Newton, Alan K. Knapp
2015, Natural Resource Report NPS/NGPN/NRR - 2015/989
The National Park Service is concerned that increasing atmospheric nitrogen deposition caused by fossil fuel combustion and agricultural activities could adversely affect the northern Great Plains (NGP) ecosystems in its trust. The critical load concept facilitates communication between scientists and policy makers or land managers by translating the complex effects...
Cenozoic stratigraphy and structure of the Chesapeake Bay region
David S. Powars, Lucy E. Edwards, Susan M. Kidwell, J. Stephen Schindler
2015, Book
The Salisbury embayment is a broad tectonic downwarp that is filled by generally seaward-thickening, wedge-shaped deposits of the central Atlantic Coastal Plain. Our two-day field trip will take us to the western side of this embayment from the Fall Zone in Washington, D.C., to some of the bluffs along Aquia...
Oxic to anoxic transition in bottom waters during formation of the Citronen Fjord sediment-hosted Zn-Pb deposit, North Greenland
John F. Slack, Diogo Rosa, Hendrik Falck
2015, Conference Paper, 13th Biennial Meeting of the Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits
Bulk geochemical data acquired for host sedimentary rocks to the Late Ordovician Citronen Fjord sediment-hosted Zn-Pb deposit in North Greenland constrain the redox state of bottom waters prior to and during sulphide mineralization. Downhole profiles for one drill core show trends for redox proxies (MnO, Mo, Ce anomalies) that suggest...