11.12 - Volatile hydrocarbons and fuel oxygenates
Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
2014, Book chapter, Treatise on Geochemistry
Petroleum hydrocarbons and fuel oxygenates are among the most commonly occurring and widely distributed contaminants in the environment. This chapter presents a summary of the sources, transport, fate, and remediation of volatile fuel hydrocarbons and fuel additives in the environment. Much research has focused on the transport and transformation processes...
Tick control: Trapping, bio-control, host management and other alternative strategies
Howard S. Ginsberg
Daniel E. Sonenshine, R. Michael Roe, editor(s)
2014, Book chapter, Biology of ticks
Biology of Ticks is the most comprehensive work on tick biology and tick-borne diseases. This second edition is a multi-authored work, featuring the research and analyses of renowned experts across the globe. Spanning two volumes, the book examines the systematics, biology, structure, ecological adaptations, evolution, genomics and the molecular processes...
Alternative waste residue materials for passive in situ prevention of sulfide-mine tailings oxidation: A field evaluation
Peter Nason, Raymond H. Johnson, Clara Neuschutz, Lena Alakangas, Bjorn Ohlander
2014, Journal of Hazardous Materials (267) 245-254
Novel solutions for sulfide-mine tailings remediation were evaluated in field-scale experiments on a former tailings repository in northern Sweden. Uncovered sulfide-tailings were compared to sewage-sludge biosolid amended tailings over 2 years. An application of a 0.2 m single-layer sewage-sludge amendment was unsuccessful at preventing oxygen ingress to underlying tailings. It merely...
Sustainability of water-supply at military installations, Kabul Basin, Afghanistan
Thomas J. Mack, Michael P. Chornack, Ingrid M. Verstraeten
Igor Linkov, editor(s)
2014, Book chapter, Sustainable cities and military installations
The Kabul Basin, including the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, is host to several military installations of Afghanistan, the United States, and other nations that depend on groundwater resources for water supply. These installations are within or close to the city of Kabul. Groundwater also is the potable supply for the...
Use of natural and applied tracers to guide targeted remediation efforts in an acid mine drainage system, Colorado Rockies, USA
Rory Cowie, Mark W. Williams, Mike Wireman, Robert L. Runkel
2014, Water (6) 745-777
Stream water quality in areas of the western United States continues to be degraded by acid mine drainage (AMD), a legacy of hard-rock mining. The Rico-Argentine Mine in southwestern Colorado consists of complex multiple-level mine workings connected to a drainage tunnel discharging AMD to passive treatment ponds that discharge to...
“Our vanishing glaciers”: One hundred years of glacier retreat in Three Sisters Area, Oregon Cascade Range
James E. O’Connor
2014, Oregon Historical Society Quarterly (114) 402-427
In August 1910, thirty-nine members of the Mazamas Mountaineering Club ascended the peaks of the Three Sisters in central Oregon. While climbing, geologist Ira A. Williams photographed the surrounding scenery, including images of Collier Glacier. One hundred years later, U.S. Geological Survey research hydrologist Jim E. O’Connor matched those documented...
Debris flows: Behavior and hazard assessment
Richard M. Iverson
2014, Geology Today (30) 15-20
Debris flows are water-laden masses of soil and fragmented rock that rush down mountainsides, funnel into stream channels, entrain objects in their paths, and form lobate deposits when they spill onto valley floors. Because they have volumetric sediment concentrations that exceed 40 percent, maximum speeds that surpass 10 m/s, and...
Ecological and evolutionary consequences of benthic community stasis in the very deep sea (>1500 m)
Martin A. Buzas, Lee-Ann C. Hayek, Stephen J. Culver, Bruce W. Hayward, Lisa E. Osterman
2014, Paleobiology (40) 102-112
An enigma of deep-sea biodiversity research is that the abyss with its low productivity and densities appears to have a biodiversity similar to that of shallower depths. This conceptualization of similarity is based mainly on per-sample estimates (point diversity, within-habitat, or α-diversity). Here, we use a measure of between-sample within-community...
Geographic variability in elevation and topographic constraints on the distribution of native and nonnative trout in the Great Basin
Dana R. Warren, Jason B. Dunham, David Hockman-Wert
2014, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (143) 205-218
Understanding local and geographic factors influencing species distributions is a prerequisite for conservation planning. Our objective in this study was to model local and geographic variability in elevations occupied by native and nonnative trout in the northwestern Great Basin, USA. To this end, we analyzed a large existing data set...
Deep-sea coral record of human impact on watershed quality in the Mississippi River Basin
Nancy G. Prouty, E. Brendan Roark, Alan E. Koenig, Amanda W.J. Demopoulos, Fabian C. Batista, Benjamin D. Kocar, David Selby, Matthew D. McCarthy, Furu Mienis
2014, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (28) 29-43
One of the greatest drivers of historical nutrient and sediment transport into the Gulf of Mexico is the unprecedented scale and intensity of land use change in the Mississippi River Basin. These landscape changes are linked to enhanced fluxes of carbon and nitrogen pollution from the Mississippi River, and persistent...
Leave no trace in the outdoors
Jeffrey L. Marion
2014, Book
The essential guide for enjoying the outdoors without harming the environment. - Details the seven core principles of Leave No Trace ethics and practices - Covers hiking, campfires, food storage, and personal hygiene - Endorsed by the USDI National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and...
Effects of climate change and urban development on the distribution and conservation of vegetation in a Mediterranean type ecosystem
Bray Beltran, Janet Franklin, Alexandra D. Syphard, Helen M. Regan, Lorraine E. Flint, Alan L. Flint
2014, International Journal of Geographical Information Science (28) 1561-1589
Climate and land-use changes are projected to threaten biodiversity over this century. However, few studies have considered the spatial and temporal overlap of these threats to evaluate how ongoing land-use change could affect species ranges projected to shift outside conservation areas. We evaluated climate change and urban development effects on...
An ontology design pattern for surface water features
Gaurav Sinha, David Mark, Dave Kolas, Dalia Varanka, Boleslo E. Romero, Chen-Chieh Feng, E. Lynn Usery, Joshua Liebermann, Alexandre Sorokine
2014, Conference Paper, Geographic Information Science: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference, GIScience
Surface water is a primary concept of human experience but concepts are captured in cultures and languages in many different ways. Still, many commonalities exist due to the physical basis of many of the properties and categories. An abstract ontology of surface water features based only on those physical properties...
Uncertainty and extreme events in future climate and hydrologic projections for the Pacific Northwest: providing a basis for vulnerability and core/corridor assessments
Jeremy S. Littell, Guillaume S. Mauger, Eric P. Salathe, Alan F. Hamlet, Se-Yeun Lee, Matt R. Stumbaugh, Marketa Elsner, Robert Norheim, Eric R. Lutz, Nathan J. Mantua
2014, Report
The purpose of this project was to (1) provide an internally-consistent set of downscaled projections across the Western U.S., (2) include information about projection uncertainty, and (3) assess projected changes of hydrologic extremes. These objectives were designed to address decision support needs for climate adaptation and resource management actions. Specifically,...
Fossil plants from a proximal alluvial-fan complex: Implications for late Paleozoic sedimentary processes in western tropical Pangea
Jacqueline E. Huntoon, Krystle Boks, Len Mankowski, Tara L. Campbell Wyrembelski, Russell F. Dubiel, John D. Stanesco
2014, Book chapter, Geology of Utah's far south
No abstract available....
Arsenic speciation in solids using X-ray absorption spectroscopy
Andrea L. Foster, Chris S. Kim
2014, Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry (79) 257-369
Synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is an in situ, minimally-destructive, element-specific, molecular-scale structural probe that has been employed to study the chemical forms (species) of arsenic (As) in solid and aqueous phases (including rocks, soils, sediment, synthetic compounds, and numerous types of biota including humans) for more than 20 years....
Pictorial account and landscape evolution of the crevasses near Fort St. Philip, Louisiana
Glenn M. Suir, William R. Jones, Adrienne L. Garber, John A. Barras
2014, MRG&P Report 2
Quantifying the effects of active natural and constructed crevasses is critical to the planning and success of future ecosystem restoration activities. This document provides a historical overview of landscape changes within the vicinity of the natural crevasses near Fort St. Philip, Louisiana. A significant event influencing landscape change within the...
Interrelations among the soil-water retention, hydraulic conductivity, and suction-stress characteristic curves
Ning Lu, Murat Kaya, Jonathan W. Godt
2014, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (140)
The three fundamental constitutive relations that describe fluid flow, strength, and deformation behavior of variably saturated soils are the soil-water retention curve (SWRC), hydraulic conductivity function (HCF), and suction-stress characteristic curve (SSCC). Until recently, the interrelations among the SWRC, HCF, and SSCC have not been well established. This work sought...
Elk monitoring in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park: 2008-2012 synthesis report
Paul C. Griffin, Kurt J. Jenkins, Carla Cole, Chris Clatterbuck, John Boetsch, Katherine Beirne
2014, Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/NCCN/NRTR--2014/837
Maintaining elk (Cervus elaphus roosevelti) herds that frequent Lewis and Clark National Historical Park (NHP) is central to the park’s purpose of preserving the historic, cultural, scenic, and natural resources associated with the winter encampment of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Elk were critically important to the Lewis and Clark...
Resource selection and space use by sea ducks during the non-breeding season: Implications for habitat conservation planning in urbanized estuaries
Susan E. W. De La Cruz, John M. Eadie, A. Keith Miles, Julie Yee, Kyle A. Spragens, Eric C. Palm, John Y. Takekawa
2014, Biological Conservation (169) 68-78
Wide-ranging marine birds rely on multiple habitats for wintering, breeding, and migrating, and their conservation may be dependent on protecting networks of key areas. Urbanized estuaries are critical wintering and stopover areas for many declining sea ducks in North America; however, conservation measures within estuaries are difficult to establish given...
Automated Cropland Classification Algorithm (ACCA) for California using multi-sensor remote sensing
Zhuoting Wu, Prasad S. Thenkabail, James Verdin
2014, Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing (80) 81-90
Increasing pressure to feed the growing population with scarce water resources requires accurate and routine cropland mapping. This paper develops and implements a rule-based automated cropland classification algorithm (ACCA) using multi-sensor remote sensing data. Pixel-by-pixel accuracy assessments showed that ACCA produced an overall accuracy of 96 percent (Khat = 0.8) when...
Source and progression of a submarine landslide and tsunami: The 1964 Great Alaska earthquake at Valdez
Thomas E. Parsons, Eric L. Geist, Holly F. Ryan, Homa J. Lee, Peter J. Haeussler, Patrick Lynett, Patrick E. Hart, Ray W. Sliter, Emily C. Roland
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth (119) 8502-8516
Like many subduction zone earthquakes, the deadliest aspects of the 1964 M = 9.2 Alaska earthquake were the tsunamis it caused. The worst of these were generated by local submarine landslides induced by the earthquake. These caused high runups, engulfing several coastal towns in Prince William Sound. In this paper, we study one...
Processes of zinc attenuation by biogenic manganese oxides forming in the hyporheic zone of Pinal Creek, Arizona
Christopher C. Fuller, John R. Bargar
2014, Environmental Science & Technology (48) 2165-2172
The distribution and speciation of Zn sorbed to biogenic Mn oxides forming in the hyporheic zone of Pinal Creek, AZ, was investigated using extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and microfocused synchrotron X-ray fluorescence (μSXRF) mapping, and chemical extraction. μSXRF and chemical extractions show that contaminant Zn co-varied with Mn...
Powell Center Newsletter, Volume 1, Issue 2
Marcia McNiff
2014, Report
Bi-annual newsletter for the John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis, covering news from the last half of FY2014...
Interspecific hybridization contributes to high genetic diversity and apparent effective population size in an endemic population of mottled ducks (Anas fulvigula maculosa)
Jeffrey L. Peters, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Philip Lavretsky, Michael Rezsutek, William P. Johnson, Kevin G. McCracken
2014, Conservation Genetics (15) 509-520
Under drift-mutation equilibrium, genetic diversity is expected to be correlated with effective population size (Ne). Changes in population size and gene flow are two important processes that can cause populations to deviate from this expected relationship. In this study, we used DNA sequences from six independent loci to examine the...
