Concurrent photolytic degradation of aqueous methylmercury and dissolved organic matter
Jacob A. Fleck, Gary W. Gill, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Tamara E.C. Kraus, Bryan D. Downing, Charles N. Alpers
2014, Science of the Total Environment (484) 263-275
Monomethyl mercury (MeHg) is a potent neurotoxin that threatens ecosystem viability and human health. In aquatic systems, the photolytic degradation of MeHg (photodemethylation) is an important component of the MeHg cycle. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is also affected by exposure to solar radiation (light exposure) leading to changes in DOM...
Determination of human-use pharmaceuticals in filtered water by direct aqueous injection: high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry
Edward T. Furlong, Mary C. Noriega, Christopher J. Kanagy, Leslie K. Kanagy, Laura J. Coffey, Mark R. Burkhardt
2014, Techniques and Methods 5-B10
This report describes a method for the determination of 110 human-use pharmaceuticals using a 100-microliter aliquot of a filtered water sample directly injected into a high-performance liquid chromatograph coupled to a triple-quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer using an electrospray ionization source operated in the positive ion mode. The pharmaceuticals were separated...
Water withdrawals, use, and trends in Florida, 2010
Richard L. Marella
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5088
In 2010, the total amount of water withdrawn in Florida was estimated to be 14,988 million gallons per day (Mgal/d). Saline water accounted for 8,589 Mgal/d (57 percent) and freshwater accounted for 6,399 Mgal/d (43 percent). Groundwater accounted for 4,166 Mgal/d (65 percent) of freshwater withdrawals, and surface water accounted...
Assessment of the fish tumor beneficial use impairment in brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) at selected Great Lakes Areas of Concern
Vicki Blazer, Patricia M. Mazik, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Ryan P. Braham, Cassidy M. Hahn, Heather L. Walsh, Adam J. Sperry
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1105
A total of 878 adult Brown Bullhead were collected at 11 sites within the Lake Erie and Lake Ontario drainages from 2011 to 2013. The sites included seven Areas of Concern (AOC; 670 individuals), one delisted AOC (50 individuals) and three non-AOC sites (158 individuals) used as reference sites. These...
Past, present, and future of water data delivery from the U.S. Geological Survey
Robert M. Hirsch, Gary T. Fisher
2014, Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education 4-15
We present an overview of national water databases managed by the U.S. Geological Survey, including surface-water, groundwater, water-quality, and water-use data. These are readily accessible to users through web interfaces and data services. Multiple perspectives of data are provided, including search and retrieval of real-time data and historical data, on-demand...
Sensor data as a measure of native freshwater mussel impact on nitrate formation and food digestion in continuous-flow mesocosms
Jeremy S. Bril, Jonathan J. Durst, Brion M. Hurley, Craig L. Just, Teresa J. Newton
2014, Freshwater Science (33) 417-424
Native freshwater mussels can influence the aquatic N cycle, but the mechanisms and magnitude of this effect are not fully understood. We assessed the effects of Amblema plicata and Lampsilis cardium on N transformations over 72 d in 4 continuous-flow mesocosms, with 2 replicates of 2 treatments (mesocosms with and...
Nesting ecology and nest survival of lesser prairie-chickens on the Southern High Plains of Texas
Blake A. Grisham, Philip K. Borsdorf, Clint W. Boal, Kathy K. Boydston
2014, Journal of Wildlife Management (78) 857-866
The decline in population and range of lesser prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) throughout the central and southern Great Plains has raised concerns considering their candidate status under the United States Endangered Species Act. Baseline ecological data for lesser prairie-chickens are limited, especially for the shinnery oak-grassland communities of Texas. This information...
Three-dimensional imaging, change detection, and stability assessment during the centerline trench levee seepage experiment using terrestrial light detection and ranging technology, Twitchell Island, California, 2012
Gerald W. Bawden, James Howle, Sandra Bond, Michelle Shriro, Peter Buck
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1092
A full scale field seepage test was conducted on a north-south trending levee segment of a now bypassed old meander belt on Twitchell Island, California, to understand the effects of live and decaying root systems on levee seepage and slope stability. The field test in May 2012 was centered on...
Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources: Alaska North Slope and Kandik Basin, Alaska
William H. Craddock, Marc L. Buursink, Jacob A. Covault, Sean T. Brennan, Colin A. Doolan, Ronald M. Drake II, Matthew D. Merrill, Tina L. Roberts-Ashby, Ernie R. Slucher, Peter D. Warwick, Madalyn S. Blondes, P.A. Freeman, Steven M. Cahan, Christina A. DeVera, Celeste D. Lohr
Peter D. Warwick, M.D. Corum, editor(s)
2014, Open-File Report 2012-1024-I
This report presents fourteen storage assessment units (SAUs) from the Alaska North Slope and two SAUs from the Kandik Basin of Alaska. The Alaska North Slope is a broad, north-dipping coastal plain that is underlain by a thick succession of sedimentary rocks that accumulated steadily throughout much of the Phanerozoic...
Identification and characterization of Highlands J virus from a Mississippi sandhill crane using unbiased next-generation sequencing
S. Ip, Michael R. Wiley, Renee Long, Palacios Gustavo, Valerie Shearn-Bochsler, Chris A. Whitehouse
2014, Journal of Virological Methods (206) 42-45
Advances in massively parallel DNA sequencing platforms, commonly termed next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, have greatly reduced time, labor, and cost associated with DNA sequencing. Thus, NGS has become a routine tool for new viral pathogen discovery and will likely become the standard for routine laboratory diagnostics of infectious diseases in...
Validating a method for transferring social values of ecosystem services between public lands in the Rocky Mountain region
Benson C. Sherrouse, Darius J. Semmens
2014, Ecosystem Services (8) 166-177
With growing pressures on ecosystem services, social values attributed to them are increasingly important to land management decisions. Social values, defined here as perceived values the public ascribes to ecosystem services, particularly cultural services, are generally not accounted for through economic markets or considered alongside economic and ecological values in...
Strategies for preventing invasive plant outbreaks after prescribed fire in ponderosa pine forest
Amy J. Symstad, Wesley E. Newton, Daniel J. Swanson
2014, Forest Ecology and Management (324) 81-88
Land managers use prescribed fire to return a vital process to fire-adapted ecosystems, restore forest structure from a state altered by long-term fire suppression, and reduce wildfire intensity. However, fire often produces favorable conditions for invasive plant species, particularly if it is intense enough to reveal bare mineral soil and...
Flood inundation maps for the Wabash and Eel Rivers at Logansport, Indiana
Kathleen K. Fowler
2014, Scientific Investigations Map 3293
Digital flood-inundation maps for an 8.3-mile reach of the Wabash River and a 7.6-mile reach of the Eel River at Logansport, Indiana (Ind.), were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through...
Multiseason occupancy models for correlated replicate surveys
James E. Hines, James D. Nichols, Jaime Collazo
2014, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (5) 583-591
Occupancy surveys collecting data from adjacent (sometimes correlated) spatial replicates have become relatively popular for logistical reasons. Hines et al. (2010) presented one approach to modelling such data for single-season occupancy surveys. Here, we present a multiseason analogue of this...
Hydrogeologic framework, groundwater movement, and water budget of the Kitsap Peninsula, west-central Washington
Wendy B. Welch, Lonna M. Frans, Theresa D. Olsen
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5106
This report presents information used to characterize the groundwater-flow system on the Kitsap Peninsula, and includes descriptions of the geology and hydrogeologic framework, groundwater recharge and discharge, groundwater levels and flow directions, seasonal groundwater-level fluctuations, interactions between aquifers and the surface‑water system, and a water budget. The Kitsap Peninsula is...
Karst geomorphology and hydrology of the Shenandoah Valley near Harrisonburg, Virginia
Daniel H. Doctor, Wil Orndorff, Joel Maynard, Matthew J. Heller, Gerolamo C. Casile
2014, GSA Field Guides (35) 161-213
The karst of the central Shenandoah Valley has characteristics of both shallow and deep phreatic formation. This field guide focuses on the region around Harrisonburg, Virginia, where a number of these karst features and their associated geologic context can be examined. Ancient, widespread alluvial deposits cover much of the carbonate...
Simulating future residential property losses from wildfire in Flathead County, Montana
Tony Prato, Travis B Paveglio, Yan Barnett, Robin Silverstein, Michael Hardy, Robert Keane, Rachel A. Loehman, Anthony Clark, Daniel B. Fagre, Tyron Venn, Keith Stockmann
2014, Book chapter, Advances in environmental research
Wildfire damages to private residences in the United States and elsewhere have increased as a result of expansion of the wildland-urban interface (WUI) and other factors. Understanding this unwelcome trend requires analytical frameworks that simulate how various interacting social, economic, and biophysical factors influence those damages. A methodological framework is...
Compositional and stable carbon isotopic fractionation during non-autocatalytic thermochemical sulfate reduction by gaseous hydrocarbons
Xinyu Xia, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Qisheng Ma, Yongchun Tang
2014, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (139) 472-486
The possibility of autocatalysis during thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR) by gaseous hydrocarbons was investigated by examination of previously reported laboratory and field data. This reaction was found to be a kinetically controlled non-autocatalytic process, and the apparent lack of autocatalysis is thought to be due to the absence of the...
Completion summary for boreholes USGS 140 and USGS 141 near the Advanced Test Reactor Complex, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho
Brian V. Twining, Roy C. Bartholomay, Mary K.V. Hodges
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5098
In 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, drilled and constructed boreholes USGS 140 and USGS 141 for stratigraphic framework analyses and long-term groundwater monitoring of the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer at the Idaho National Laboratory in southeast Idaho. Borehole USGS 140 initially...
National Land Imaging Requirements (NLIR) Pilot Project summary report: Summary of moderate resolution imaging user requirements
Carolyn Vadnais, Gregory L. Stensaas
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1107
Under the National Land Imaging Requirements (NLIR) Project, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is developing a functional capability to obtain, characterize, manage, maintain and prioritize all Earth observing (EO) land remote sensing user requirements. The goal is a better understanding of community needs that can be supported with land remote...
Chesapeake Bay hypoxic volume forecasts and results: June 10, 2014
Donald Scavia, Mary Anne Evans
2014, Report
The 2014 Forecast - Given the average Jan-May 2014 total nitrogen load of 200,165 kg/day, this summer’s hypoxia volume forecast is 8.2 km3, slightly larger than average size for the period of record and the observed size last year....
Land subsidence, groundwater levels, and geology in the Coachella Valley, California, 1993-2010
Michelle Sneed, Justin T. Brandt, Mike Solt
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5075
Land subsidence associated with groundwater-level declines has been investigated by the U.S. Geological Survey in the Coachella Valley, California, since 1996. Groundwater has been a major source of agricultural, municipal, and domestic supply in the valley since the early 1920s. Pumping of groundwater resulted in water-level declines as much as...
Reducing fatigue damage for ships in transit through structured decision making
J.M. Nichols, P.L. Fackler, K. Pacifici, K.D. Murphy, J.D. Nichols
2014, Marine Structures (38) 18-43
Research in structural monitoring has focused primarily on drawing inference about the health of a structure from the structure’s response to ambient or applied excitation. Knowledge of the current state can then be used to predict structural integrity at a future time and, in principle, allows one to take action...
Pluvial lakes in the Great Basin of the western United States: a view from the outcrop
Marith C. Reheis, Kenneth D. Adams, Charles G. Oviatt, Steven N. Bacon
2014, Quaternary Science Reviews (97) 33-57
Paleo-lakes in the western United States provide geomorphic and hydrologic records of climate and drainage-basin change at multiple time scales extending back to the Miocene. Recent reviews and studies of paleo-lake records have focused on interpretations of proxies in lake sediment cores from the northern and central parts of the...
Modeling Hawaiian ecosystem degradation due to invasive plants under current and future climates
Adam E. Vorsino, Lucas B. Fortini, Fred A. Amidon, Stephen E. Miller, James D. Jacobi, Jonathan P. Price, Sam `Ohukani`ohi`a Gon III, Gregory A. Koob
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
Occupation of native ecosystems by invasive plant species alters their structure and/or function. In Hawaii, a subset of introduced plants is regarded as extremely harmful due to competitive ability, ecosystem modification, and biogeochemical habitat degradation. By controlling this subset of highly invasive ecosystem modifiers, conservation managers could significantly reduce native...
