Significance of a near-source tephra-stratigraphic sequence to the eruptive history of Hayes Volcano, south-central Alaska
Kristi L. Wallace, Michelle L. Coombs, Leslie A. Hayden, Christopher F. Waythomas
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5133
Bluffs along the Hayes River valley, 31 km northeast and 40 km downstream from Hayes Volcano, reveal volcanic deposits that shed new light on its eruptive history. Three thick (>10 cm) and five thin (<10 cm) tephra-fall deposits are dacitic in whole rock composition and contain high proportions of amphibole...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Michigan
William J. Carswell Jr.
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3107
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Michigan, elevation data are critical for agriculture and precision farming, natural resources conservation, flood risk management, water supply and quality, infrastructure and...
A 19-year record of chemical and isotopic composition of water from springs of the Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, 1995-2014
Eurybiades Busenberg, Niel Plummer, Tyler B. Coplen, Michael W. Doughten, Peggy K. Widman, Gerolamo C. Casile, Julian E. Wayland, David L. Nelms
2014, Data Series 893
During October 1995 through March 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the National Park Service, Luray, Virginia Station collected and analyzed samples of selected springs, air and unsaturated-zone gases in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. The 19-year record of measurements of chemical and isotopic composition of water discharging from...
Quaternary landscape development, alluvial fan chronology and erosion of the Mecca Hills at the southern end of the San Andreas Fault zone
Harrison J. Gray, Lewis A. Owen, Craig Dietsch, Richard A. Beck, Marc A. Caffee, Robert B. Finkelman, Shannon Mahan
2014, Quaternary Science Reviews (105) 66-85
Quantitative geomorphic analysis combined with cosmogenic nuclide 10Be-based geochronology and denudation rates have been used to further the understanding of the Quaternary landscape development of the Mecca Hills, a zone of transpressional uplift along the southern end of the San Andreas Fault, in southern California. The similar timing of convergent uplifts...
Methods for estimating magnitude and frequency of floods in Arizona, developed with unregulated and rural peak-flow data through water year 2010
Nicholas V. Paretti, Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Lovina A. Turney, Andrea G. Veilleux
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5211
Flooding is among the worst natural disasters responsible for loss of life and property in Arizona, underscoring the importance of accurate estimation of flood magnitude for proper structural design and floodplain mapping. Twenty-four years of additional peak-flow data have been recorded since the last comprehensive regional flood frequency analysis conducted...
Evaluation of the magnitude and frequency of floods in urban watersheds in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona
Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Nicholas V. Paretti
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5121
Flooding in urban areas routinely causes severe damage to property and often results in loss of life. To investigate the effect of urbanization on the magnitude and frequency of flood peaks, a flood frequency analysis was carried out using data from urbanized streamgaging stations in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. Flood...
Methods for estimating magnitude and frequency of 1-, 3-, 7-, 15-, and 30-day flood-duration flows in Arizona
Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Nicholas V. Paretti, Andrea G. Veilleux
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5109
Large floods have historically caused extensive damage in Arizona. Although peak-flow frequency estimates are required for managing the risk posed by floods, estimates of the frequency of sustained flood flow (flood-duration flow) are also useful for planning and assessing the adequacy of retention and conveyance structures and for water-resource planning....
Hybridization of two megacephalic map turtles (testudines: emydidae: Graptemys) in the Choctawhatchee River drainage of Alabama and Florida
James Godwin, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Joshua R. Ennen, Brian R. Kreiser, Brian Folt, Chris Lechowicz
2014, Copeia (2014) 725-742
Map turtles of the genus Graptemys are highly aquatic and rarely undergo terrestrial movements, and limited dispersal among drainages has been hypothesized to drive drainage-specific endemism and high species richness of this group in the southeastern United States. Until recently, two members of the megacephalic “pulchra clade,” Graptemys barbouri andGraptemys ernsti, were presumed to be...
Predicting spatial and temporal distribution of Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans) in Biscayne Bay through habitat suitability modeling
Nicholas A. Bernal, Donald L. DeAngelis, Pamela J. Schofield, Kathleen Sullivan Sealey
2014, Biological Invasions (17) 1603-1614
Invasive species may exhibit higher levels of growth and reproduction when environmental conditions are most suitable, and thus their effects on native fauna may be intensified. Understanding potential impacts of these species, especially in the nascent stages of a biological invasion, requires critical information concerning spatial and temporal distributions of...
Quality-assurance and data-management plan for water-quality activities in the Kansas Water Science Center, 2014
Teresa J. Rasmussen, Trudy J. Bennett, Guy M. Foster, Jennifer L. Graham, James E. Putnam
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1233
As the Nation’s largest water, earth, and biological science and civilian mapping information agency, the U.S. Geological Survey is relied on to collect high-quality data, and produce factual and impartial interpretive reports. This quality-assurance and data-management plan provides guidance for water-quality activities conducted by the Kansas Water Science Center. Policies...
A sight "fearfully grand": eruptions of Lassen Peak, California, 1914 to 1917
Michael A. Clynne, Robert L. Christiansen, Peter H. Stauffer, James W. Hendley II, Heather A. Bleick
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3119
On May 22, 1915, a large explosive eruption at the summit of Lassen Peak, California, the southernmost active volcano in the Cascade Range, devastated nearby areas and rained volcanic ash as far away as 280 miles to the east. This explosion was the most powerful in a series of eruptions...
The California Volcano Observatory: Monitoring the state's restless volcanoes
Wendy K. Stovall, Mae Marcaida, Margaret T. Mangan
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3120
Volcanic eruptions happen in the State of California about as frequently as the largest earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault Zone. At least 10 eruptions have taken place in California in the past 1,000 years—most recently at Lassen Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park (1914 to 1917) in the northern...
Hydrogeologic framework and groundwater/surface-water interactions of the South Fork Nooksack River Basin, northwestern Washington
Andrew S. Gendaszek
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5221
A hydrogeologic framework of the South Fork (SF) Nooksack River Basin in northwestern Washington was developed and hydrologic data were collected to characterize the groundwater-flow system and its interaction with surface‑water features. In addition to domestic, agricultural, and commercial uses of groundwater within the SF Nooksack River Basin, groundwater has...
Water quality in Indiana: trends in concentrations of selected nutrients, metals, and ions in streams, 2000-10
Martin R. Risch, Aubrey R. Bunch, Aldo V. Vecchia, Jeffrey D. Martin, Nancy T. Baker
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5205
Water quality in Indiana streams generally improved during the 2000–10 study period, based on trends in selected nutrients, metals, and ions. This study combined water-quality data from the Indiana Fixed Station Monitoring Program (FSMP) with streamflow data from nearby U.S. Geological Survey streamgages. A parametric time-series model, QWTREND, was used...
Establishing a baseline for regional scale monitoring of eelgrass (Zostera marina) habitat on the lower Alaska Peninsula
Kyle R. Hogrefe, David H. Ward, Tyrone F. Donnelly, Niels Dau
2014, Remote Sensing (6) 12447-12477
Seagrass meadows, one of the world’s most widespread and productive ecosystems, provide a wide range of services with real economic value. Worldwide declines in the distribution and abundance of seagrasses and increased threats to coastal ecosystems from climate change have prompted a need to acquire baseline data for monitoring and...
Small crater modification on Meridiani Planum and implications for erosion rates and climate change on Mars
M.P. Golombek, N.H. Warner, V. Ganti, M.P. Lamb, T. J. Parker, Robin L. Fergason, R. Sullivan
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (119) 2522-2547
A morphometric and morphologic catalog of ~100 small craters imaged by the Opportunity rover over the 33.5 km traverse between Eagle and Endeavour craters on Meridiani Planum shows craters in six stages of degradation that range from fresh and blocky to eroded and shallow depressions ringed by planed off rim blocks....
Seepage investigation on the Rio Grande from below Caballo Reservoir, New Mexico, to El Paso, Texas, 2012
Mark A. Gunn, D. Michael Roark
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5197
A seepage investigation was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, along an approximately 106-mile reach of the Rio Grande from below Caballo Reservoir, New Mexico, to El Paso, Texas, during June 26–28, 2012, to determine gain or loss of streamflow due...
Quaternary geologic map of the north-central part of the Salinas River Valley and Arroyo Seco, Monterey County, California
Emily M. Taylor, Donald S. Sweetkind
2014, Scientific Investigations Map 3260
Arroyo Seco, a perennial drainage in the central Coast Range of California, records a sequence of strath terraces. These terraces preserve an erosional and depositional history, controlled by both climate change and regional tectonics. These deposits have been mapped and correlated on the basis of field investigations, digital terrain analysis,...
Competitive replacement of invasive congeners may relax impact on native species: Interactions among zebra, quagga, and native unionid mussels
Lyubov E. Burlakova, Brianne L. Tulumello, Alexander Y. Karatayev, Robert A. Krebs, Donald W. Schloesser, Wendy L. Paterson, Traci A. Griffith, Mariah W. Scott, Todd D. Crail, David T. Zanatta
2014, PLoS ONE (9) 1-20
Determining when and where the ecological impacts of invasive species will be most detrimental and whether the effects of multiple invaders will be superadditive, or subadditive, is critical for developing global management priorities to protect native species in advance of future invasions. Over the past century, the decline of freshwater...
Distance to human populations influences epidemiology of respiratory disease in desert tortoises
Kristin H. Berry, no longer USGS Ashley A. Coble, Julie L. Yee, Jeremy S. Mack, William M. Perry, Kemp M. Anderson, Mary B. Brown
2014, Journal of Wildlife Management (79) 122-136
We explored variables likely to affect health of Agassiz's desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) in a 1,183-km2 study area in the central Mojave Desert of California between 2005 and 2008. We evaluated 1,004 tortoises for prevalence and spatial distribution of 2 pathogens, Mycoplasma agassizii and M. testudineum, that cause upper respiratory...
Water-level changes and change in water in storage in the High Plains aquifer, predevelopment to 2013 and 2011-13
Virginia L. McGuire
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5218
The High Plains aquifer underlies 111.8 million acres (about 175,000 square miles) in parts of eight States—Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. Water-level declines began in parts of the High Plains aquifer soon after the beginning of substantial irrigation with groundwater in the aquifer area...
Potash: a global overview of evaporate-related potash resources, including spatial databases of deposits, occurrences, and permissive tracts
Greta J. Orris, Mark D. Cocker, Pamela Dunlap, Jeff C. Wynn, Gregory T. Spanski, Deborah A. Briggs, Leila Gass, James D. Bliss, Karen S. Bolm, Chao Yang, Bruce R. Lipin, Stephen Ludington, Robert J. Miller, Miroslaw Slowakiewicz
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5090-S
Potash is mined worldwide to provide potassium, an essential nutrient for food crops. Evaporite-hosted potash deposits are the largest source of salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form, including potassium chloride, potassium-magnesium chloride, potassium sulfate, and potassium nitrate. Thick sections of evaporitic salt that form laterally continuous strata in sedimentary...
Lidar point density analysis: implications for identifying water bodies
Bruce B. Worstell, Sandra K. Poppenga, Gayla A. Evans, Sandra Prince
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5191
Most airborne topographic light detection and ranging (lidar) systems operate within the near-infrared spectrum. Laser pulses from these systems frequently are absorbed by water and therefore do not generate reflected returns on water bodies in the resulting void regions within the lidar point cloud. Thus, an analysis of lidar voids...
Acute survivorship of the deep-sea coral Lophelia pertusa from the Gulf of Mexico under acidification, warming, and deoxygenation
Jay J. Lunden, Conall G. McNicholl, Christopher R. Sears, Cheryl L. Morrison, Erik E. Cordes
2014, Frontiers in Marine Science (78) 1-12
Changing global climate due to anthropogenic emissions of CO2 are driving rapid changes in the physical and chemical environment of the oceans via warming, deoxygenation, and acidification. These changes may threaten the persistence of species and populations across a range of latitudes and depths, including species that support diverse biological...
Mercury and halogens in coal
Allan Kolker, Jeffrey C. Quick
Evan J. Granite, Henry W. Pennline, Constance L. Senior, editor(s)
2014, Book chapter, Mercury control: For coal-derived gas streams
Apart from mercury itself, coal rank and halogen content are among the most important factors inherent in coal that determine the proportion of mercury captured by conventional controls during coal combustion. This chapter reviews how mercury in coal occurs, gives available concentration data for mercury in U.S. and international commercial...
