Episodic deflation-inflation events at Kīlauea Volcano and implications for the shallow magma system
Kyle R. Anderson, Michael P. Poland, Jessica H. Johnson, Asta Miklius
Rebecca Carey, Valerie Cayol, Michael P. Poland, Dominique Weis, editor(s)
2015, Book chapter, Hawaiian volcanoes: From source to surface
Episodic variations in magma pressures and flow rates at Kīlauea Volcano, defined by a characteristic temporal evolution and termed deflation-inflation (DI) events, have been observed since at least the 1990s. DI events consist of transient, days-long deflations and subsequent reinflations of the summit region, accompanied since 2008 by fluctuations in...
The Yellowstone “hot spot” track results from migrating basin-range extension
Gillian R. Foulger, Robert L. Christiansen, Don L. Anderson
Gillian R. Foulger, Michele Lustrino, Scott D. King, editor(s)
2015, Book chapter, The interdisciplinary earth: A volume in honor of Don L. Anderson (GSA Special Papers volume 514)
Whether the volcanism of the Columbia River Plateau, eastern Snake River Plain, and Yellowstone (western U.S.) is related to a mantle plume or to plate tectonic processes is a long-standing controversy. There are many geological mismatches with the basic plume model as well as logical flaws, such as citing data...
REE enrichment in granite-derived regolith deposits of the southeast United States: Prospective source rocks and accumulation processes
Nora K. Foley, Robert A. Ayuso
G.J. Simandl, M. Neetz, editor(s)
2015, Conference Paper, Symposium on strategic and critical materials proceedings (British Columbia Geological Survey Paper 2015-3)
The Southeastern United States contains numerous anorogenic, or A-type, granites, which constitute promising source rocks for REE-enriched ion adsorption clay deposits due to their inherently high concentrations of REE. These granites have undergone a long history of chemical weathering, resulting in thick granite-derived regoliths, akin to those of South China,...
Vegetation composition, nutrient, and sediment dynamics along a floodplain landscape
Nancy B. Rybicki, Gregory E. Noe, Cliff R. Hupp, Myles Robinson
2015, River Systems (21) 109-123
Forested floodplains are important landscape features for retaining river nutrients and sediment loads but there is uncertainty in how vegetation influences nutrient and sediment retention. In order to understand the role of vegetation in nutrient and sediment trapping, we quantified species composition and the uptake of nutrients in plant material...
Reaction modeling of drainage quality in the Duluth Complex, northern Minnesota, USA
Robert R. Seal, Kim Lapakko, Nadine M. Piatak, Laurel G. Woodruff
2015, Conference Paper
Reaction modeling can be a valuable tool in predicting the long-term behavior of waste material if representative rate constants can be derived from long-term leaching tests or other approaches. Reaction modeling using the REACT program of the Geochemist’s Workbench was conducted to evaluate long-term drainage quality affected by disseminated Cu-Ni-(Co-)-PGM...
Geology and neotectonism in the epicentral area of the 2011 M5.8 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake
William C. Burton, David B. Spears, Richard W. Harrison, Nicholas H. Evans, J. Stephen Schindler, Ronald C. Counts
2015, Field Guides (35) 103-127
This fi eld guide covers a two-day west-to-east transect across the epicentral region of the 2011 M5.8 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake, the largest ever recorded in the Central Virginia seismic zone. The fi eld trip highlights results of recent bedrock and surficial geologic mapping in two adjoining 7.5-min quadrangles, the Ferncliff...
Atmospheric particulate matter in proximity to mountaintop coal mines: Sources and potential environmental and human health impacts
Laura Kurth, Allan Kolker, Mark A. Engle, Nicholas J. Geboy, Michael Hendryx, William H. Orem, Michael McCawley, Lynn M. Crosby, Calin A. Tatu, Matthew S. Varonka, Christina A. DeVera
2015, Environmental Geochemistry and Health (37) 529-544
Mountaintop removal mining (MTM) is a widely used approach to surface coal mining in the US Appalachian region whereby large volumes of coal overburden are excavated using explosives, removed, and transferred to nearby drainages below MTM operations. To investigate the air quality impact of MTM, the geochemical characteristics of atmospheric...
Joint inversion of seismic and magnetotelluric data in the Parkfield Region of California using the normalized cross-gradient constraint
Ninfa L. Bennington, Haijiang Zhang, Cliff Thurber, Paul A. Bedrosian
2015, Pure and Applied Geophysics (172) 1033-1052
We present jointly inverted models of P-wave velocity (Vp) and electrical resistivity for a two-dimensional profile centered on the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD). Significant structural similarity between main features of the separately inverted Vp and resistivity models is exploited by carrying out a joint inversion of the...
Stafford fault system: 120 million year fault movement history of northern Virginia
David S. Powars, Rufus D. Catchings, J. Wright Horton Jr., J. Stephen Schindler, Milan J. Pavich
2015, GSA Special Papers (509) 407-431
The Stafford fault system, located in the mid-Atlantic coastal plain of the eastern United States, provides the most complete record of fault movement during the past ~120 m.y. across the Virginia, Washington, District of Columbia (D.C.), and Maryland region, including displacement of Pleistocene terrace gravels. The Stafford fault system is...
Predicting Brook Trout occurrence in stream reaches throughout their native range in the eastern United States
Jefferson Tyrell DeWeber, Tyler Wagner
2015, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (144) 11-24
The Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis is an important species of conservation concern in the eastern USA. We developed a model to predict Brook Trout population status within individual stream reaches throughout the species’ native range in the eastern USA. We utilized hierarchical logistic regression with Bayesian estimation to predict Brook...
The 2011 Virginia M5.8 earthquake: Insights from seismic reflection imaging into the influence of older structures on eastern U.S. seismicity
Thomas L. Pratt, J. Wright Horton Jr., D.B. Spear, A.K. Gilmer, Daniel E. McNamara
2015, Geological Society of America Special Papers (509) 285-294
The Mineral, Virginia (USA), earthquake of 23 August 2011 occurred at 6– 8 km depth within the allochthonous terranes of the Appalachian Piedmont Province, rupturing an ~N36°E striking reverse fault dipping ~50° southeast. This study used the Interstate Highway 64 seismic refl ection profi le acquired ~6 km southwest of...
Late Holocene sea- and land-level change on the U.S. southeastern Atlantic Coast
Andrew C. Kemp, Christopher E. Bernhardt, Benjamin P. Horton, Robert E. Kopp, Christopher H. Vane, W. Richard Peltier, Andrea D. Hawkes, Jeffrey P. Donnelly, Andrew C. Parnell, Niamh Cahill
2015, Marine Geology (357) 90-100
Late Holocene relative sea-level (RSL) reconstructions can be used to estimate rates of land-level (subsidence or uplift) change and therefore to modify global sea-level projections for regional conditions. These reconstructions also provide the long-term benchmark against which modern trends are compared and an opportunity to understand the response of sea...
Dietary mercury exposure to endangered California Clapper Rails in San Francisco Bay
Michael L. Casazza, Mark A. Ricca, Cory T. Overton, John Y. Takekawa, Angela Merritt, Joshua T. Ackerman
2015, Marine Pollution Bulletin (86) 254-260
California Clapper Rails (Rallus longirostris obsoletus) are an endangered waterbird that forage in tidal-marsh habitats that pose risks from mercury exposure. We analyzed total mercury (Hg) in six macro-invertebrate and one fish species representing Clapper Rail diets from four tidal-marshes in San Francisco Bay, California. Mercury concentrations among individual taxa...
Potential future land use threats to California's protected areas
Tamara Sue Wilson, Benjamin Michael Sleeter, Adam Wilkinson Davis
2015, Regional Environmental Change (15) 1051-1064
Increasing pressures from land use coupled with future changes in climate will present unique challenges for California’s protected areas. We assessed the potential for future land use conversion on land surrounding existing protected areas in California’s twelve ecoregions, utilizing annual, spatially explicit (250 m) scenario projections of land use for...
Pore characteristics of Wilcox Group Coal, U.S. Gulf Coast Region: Implications for the occurrence of coalbed gas
Sharon M. Swanson, Maria D. Mastalerz, Mark Engle, Brett J. Valentine, Peter D. Warwick, Paul C. Hackley, Harvey E. Belkin
2015, International Journal of Coal Geology (139) 80-94
Pore characteristics of 27 subbituminous coal samples (16 mesh splits) from the Paleocene–Eocene Wilcox Group of north Louisiana (Ouachita and Caldwell Parishes) and south Texas (Zavala County) were examined in relation to desorbed gas content. Coal gas of the Wilcox Group is primarily biogenic in origin; thermogenic gas also may be present...
Models of invasion and establishment of African Mustard (Brassica tournefortii)
Kristin H. Berry, Timothy A. Gowan, David M. Miller, Matthew L. Brooks
2015, Invasive Plant Science and Management (7) 599-616
Introduced exotic plants can drive ecosystem change. We studied invasion and establishment ofBrassica tournefortii (African mustard), a noxious weed, in the Chemehuevi Valley, western Sonoran Desert, California. We used long-term data sets of photographs, transects for biomass of annual plants, and densities of African mustard collected at irregular intervals between 1979...
The 2011 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake and its significance for seismic hazards in eastern North America: overview and synthesis
J. Wright Horton Jr., Martin C. Chapman, Russell A. Green
2015, Special Paper of the Geological Society of America (509) 1-25
The 23 August 2011 Mw (moment magnitude) 5.7 ± 0.1, Mineral, Virginia, earthquake was the largest and most damaging in the central and eastern United States since the 1886 Mw 6.8–7.0, Charleston, South Carolina, earthquake. Seismic data indicate that the earthquake rupture occurred on a southeast-dipping reverse fault and consisted of three...
East versus West: organic contaminant differences in brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) eggs from South Carolina, USA and the Gulf of California, Mexico
Stacy S. Vander Pol, Daniel W. Anderson, Patrick G.R. Jodice, Joyce E. Stuckey
2015, Science of the Total Environment (438) 527-532
Brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) were listed as endangered in the United States in 1970, largely due to reproductive failure and mortality caused by organochlorine contaminants, such as DDT. The southeast population, P.o. carolinensis, was delisted in 1985, while the west coast population, P.o. californicus, was not delisted until 2009. As fish-eating coastal...
The 17 May 2012 M4.8 earthquake near Timpson, East Texas: An event possibly triggered by fluid injection
Cliff Frohlich, William L. Ellsworth, Wesley Brown, Michael Brunt, James Luetgert, Tim G. MacDonald, Steven Walters
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (119) 581-593
This study summarizes our investigation of the 17 May 2012 MW-RMT4.8 earthquake near Timpson, Texas, the largest earthquake recorded historically in eastern Texas. To identify preshocks and aftershocks of the 17 May event we examined the arrivals recorded at Nacogdoches (NATX) 30 km from the 17 May epicenter, at nearby...
Modeling ash fall distribution from a Yellowstone supereruption
Larry G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Jacob B. Lowenstern
2014, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (15) 3459-3475
We used the volcanic ash transport and dispersion model Ash3d to estimate the distribution of ashfall that would result from a modern-day Plinian supereruption at Yellowstone volcano. The simulations required modifying Ash3d to consider growth of a continent-scale umbrella cloud and its interaction with ambient wind fields. We simulated eruptions...
USGS geologic Mapping and karst research in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, Missouri, USA
David J. Weary, Victoria M Grant
2014, George Wright Society Forum (31) 157-167
The Ozark National Scenic Riverways (ONSR) was created in 1964 to protect 134 miles of the Current River and its major tributary, the Jacks Fork, that are located in south-central Missouri (fig. 1). The park includes numerous large karst springs including Big Spring, by flow volume this is the largest...
A regional neural network model for predicting mean daily river water temperature
Tyler Wagner, Jefferson Tyrell DeWeber
2014, Journal of Hydrology (517) 187-200
Water temperature is a fundamental property of river habitat and often a key aspect of river resource management, but measurements to characterize thermal regimes are not available for most streams and rivers. As such, we developed an artificial neural network (ANN) ensemble model to predict mean daily water temperature in...
Modeling spatially-varying landscape change points in species occurrence thresholds
Tyler Wagner, Stephen R. Midway
2014, Ecosphere (5) 1-16
Predicting species distributions at scales of regions to continents is often necessary, as large-scale phenomena influence the distributions of spatially structured populations. Land use and land cover are important large-scale drivers of species distributions, and landscapes are known to create species occurrence thresholds, where small changes in a landscape characteristic...
Status of important prey fishes in the U.S. waters of Lake Ontario, 2013: Introduction and methods
Maureen Walsh, Brian Weidel, Michael J. Connerton
2014, NYSDEC Lake Ontario Annual Report 2013-12
Lake Ontario has a mean depth of 86 m (282 ft) and a maximum depth of 244 m (801 ft) (Herdendorf 1982). The southern, New York portion of the lake has the deepest water (Figure 1). In New York waters, about 67% of the lake is <160 m (525 ft)...
Offset of latest pleistocene shoreface reveals slip rate on the Hosgri strike-slip fault, offshore central California
Samuel Y. Johnson, Stephen R. Hartwell, Peter Dartnell
2014, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (104) 1650-1662
The Hosgri fault is the southern part of the regional Hosgri–San Gregorio dextral strike‐slip fault system, which extends primarily in the offshore for about 400 km in central California. Between Morro Bay and San Simeon, high‐resolution multibeam bathymetry reveals that the eastern strand of the Hosgri fault is crossed by an...
