Developing and implementing the use of predictive models for estimating water quality at Great Lakes beaches
Donna S. Francy, Amie M. G. Brady, Rebecca B. Carvin, Steven R. Corsi, Lori M. Fuller, John H. Harrison, Brett A. Hayhurst, Jeremiah Lant, Meredith B. Nevers, Paul J. Terrio, Tammy M. Zimmerman
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5166
Predictive models have been used at beaches to improve the timeliness and accuracy of recreational water-quality assessments over the most common current approach to water-quality monitoring, which relies on culturing fecal-indicator bacteria such as Escherichia coli (E. coli.). Beach-specific predictive models use environmental and water-quality variables that are easily and...
Water quality, sediment characteristics, aquatic habitat, geomorphology, and mussel population status of the Clinch River, Virginia and Tennessee, 2009-2011
Jennifer L. Krstolic, Gregory C. Johnson, Brett J.K. Ostby
2013, Data Series 802
Chemical, physical, and biological data were collected during 2009-2011 as part of a study of the Clinch River in Virginia and Tennessee. The data from this study, data-collection methods, and laboratory analytical methods used in the study are documented in this report. The study was conducted to describe the conditions...
Organic wastewater compounds in water and sediment in and near restored wetlands, Great Marsh, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, 2009–11
Amanda L. Egler, Martin R. Risch, David A. Alvarez, Paul M. Bradley
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5186
A cooperative investigation between the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service was completed from 2009 through 2011 to understand the occurrence, distribution, and environmental processes affecting concentrations of organic wastewater compounds in water and sediment in and near Great Marsh at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in Beverly...
Climate change and fire effects on a prairie-woodland ecotone: projecting species range shifts with a dynamic global vegetation model
David A. King, Dominique M. Bachelet, Amy J. Symstad
2013, Ecology and Evolution (3) 5076-5097
Large shifts in species ranges have been predicted under future climate scenarios based primarily on niche-based species distribution models. However, the mechanisms that would cause such shifts are uncertain. Natural and anthropogenic fires have shaped the distributions of many plant species, but their effects have seldom been included in future...
Evaluation of intake efficiencies and associated sediment-concentration errors in US D-77 bag-type and US D-96-type depth-integrating suspended-sediment samplers
Thomas A. Sabol, David J. Topping
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5208
Accurate measurements of suspended-sediment concentration require suspended-sediment samplers to operate isokinetically, within an intake-efficiency range of 1.0 ± 0.10, where intake efficiency is defined as the ratio of the velocity of the water through the sampler intake to the local ambient stream velocity. Local ambient stream velocity is defined as...
Landscape consequences of natural gas extraction in Sullivan and Wyoming Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004–2010
Terry E. Slonecker, Lesley E. Milheim, Coral M. Roig-Silva, Alexander R. Malizia
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1261
Increased demands for cleaner burning energy, coupled with the relatively recent technological advances in accessing unconventional hydrocarbon-rich geologic formations, have led to an intense effort to find and extract natural gas from various underground sources around the country. One of these sources, the Marcellus Shale, located in the Allegheny Plateau,...
Landscape consequences of natural gas extraction in Armstrong and Indiana Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004–2010
Terry E. Slonecker, Lesley E. Milheim, Coral M. Roig-Silva, Alexander R. Malizia
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1263
Increased demands for cleaner burning energy, coupled with the relatively recent technological advances in accessing unconventional hydrocarbon-rich geologic formations, have led to an intense effort to find and extract natural gas from various underground sources around the country. One of these sources, the Marcellus Shale, located in the Allegheny Plateau,...
Size-dependent trophic patterns of pallid sturgeon and shovelnose sturgeon in a large river system
William E. French, Brian D. S. Graeb, Katie N. Bertrand, Steven R. Chipps, Robert A. Klumb
2013, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (4) 41-52
This study compared patterns of δ15N and δ13C enrichment of pallid sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus and shovelnose sturgeon S. platorynchus in the Missouri River, United States, to infer their trophic position in a large river system. We examined enrichment and energy flow for pallid sturgeon in three segments of the Missouri...
The importance of mineralogical input into geometallurgy programs
K. Olson Hoal, J.D. Woodhead, Kathleen S. Smith
2013, Conference Paper
Mineralogy is the link between ore formation and ore extraction. It is the most fundamental component of geomet programs, and the most important aspect of a life-of-project approach to mineral resource projects. Understanding orebodies is achieved by understanding the mineralogy and texture of the materials, throughout the process, because minerals hold...
Location-only and use-availability data: analysis methods converge
Lyman McDonald, Bryan Manly, Falk Huettmann, Wayne Thogmartin
2013, Journal of Animal Ecology (82) 1120-1124
This Special Feature arose from a session on a topic of the same name that took place during The Wildlife Society meeting in Kona, Hawaii, from 5 to 10 November, 2011. The purpose of that session and this Special Feature is to compare methods for predictive modelling of species geographical...
Water resources of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana
Lawrence B. Prakken, John K. Lovelace
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3075
This fact sheet presents a brief overview of groundwater and surface-water resources in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. Information on the availability, past and current use trends, and water quality from groundwater and surface-water sources in the parish is discussed. Previously published reports and data stored in the U.S. Geological Survey’s National...
Performance of quantitative vegetation sampling methods across gradients of cover in Great Basin plant communities
David S. Pilliod, Robert S. Arkle
2013, Rangeland Ecology and Management (66) 634-647
Resource managers and scientists need efficient, reliable methods for quantifying vegetation to conduct basic research, evaluate land management actions, and monitor trends in habitat conditions. We examined three methods for quantifying vegetation in 1-ha plots among different plant communities in the northern Great Basin: photography-based grid-point intercept (GPI), line-point intercept...
USGS science at work in the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta estuary
Michelle K. Shouse, Dale A. Cox
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3037
The San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta form one of the largest estuaries in the United States. The “Bay-Delta” system provides water to more than 25 million California residents and vast farmlands, as well as key habitat for birds, fish, and other wildlife. To help ensure the health of...
Borehole-explosion and air-gun data acquired in the 2011 Salton Seismic Imaging Project (SSIP), southern California: description of the survey
Elizabeth J. Rose, Gary S. Fuis, Joann M. Stock, John A. Hole, Annie M. Kell, Graham Kent, Neal W. Driscoll, Mark Goldman, Angela M. Reusch, Liang Han, Robert R. Sickler, Rufus D. Catchings, Michael J. Rymer, Coyn J. Criley, Daniel S. Scheirer, Steven M. Skinner, Coye J. Slayday-Criley, Janice M. Murphy, Edward G. Jensen, Robert McClearn, Alex J. Ferguson, Lesley A. Butcher, Max A. Gardner, Iain D. Emmons, Caleb L. Loughran, Joseph R. Svitek, Patrick C. Bastien, Joseph A. Cotton, David S. Croker, Alistair J. Harding, Jeffrey M. Babcock, Steven H. Harder, Carla M. Rosa
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1172
The Imperial and Coachella Valleys are being formed by active plate-tectonic processes. From the Imperial Valley southward into the Gulf of California, plate motions are rifting the continent apart. In the Coachella Valley, the plates are sliding past one another along the San Andreas and related faults (fig. 1). These...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Alabama
William J. Carswell Jr.
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3105
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 Alabama, elevation data are critical for flood risk management; infrastructure and construction management; wildfire management, planning, and response; natural resources conservation; geologic...
Geochemistry of soils from the San Rafael Valley, Santa Cruz County, Arizona
Helen W. Folger, Floyd Gray
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1149
This study was conducted to determine whether surficial geochemical methods can be used to identify subsurface mineraldeposits covered by alluvium derived from surrounding areas. The geochemical investigation focused on an anomalous geo-physical magnetic high located in the San Rafael Valley in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. The magnetic high, inferred to...
Ups and Downs of Burbot and their predator Lake Trout in Lake Superior, 1953-2011
Owen T. Gorman, Shawn P. Sitar
2013, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (142) 1757-1772
The fish community of Lake Superior has undergone a spectacular cycle of decline and recovery over the past 60 years. A combination of Sea Lamprey Petromyzon marinus depredation and commercial overfishing resulted in severe declines in Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush, which served as the primary top predator of the community....
Hyporheic zone denitrification: controls on effective reaction depth and contribution to whole-stream mass balance
Judson W. Harvey, John Karl Böhlke, Mary A. Voytek, Durelle Scott, Craig R. Tobias
2013, Water Resources Research (49) 6298-6316
Stream denitrification is thought to be enhanced by hyporheic transport but there is little direct evidence from the field. To demonstrate at a field site, we injected 15NO3−, Br (conservative tracer), and SF6 (gas exchange tracer) and compared measured whole-stream denitrification with in situ hyporheic denitrification in shallow and deeper...
Obligate brood parasites show more functionally effective innate immune responses: an eco-immunological hypothesis
D. Caldwell Hahn, Scott G. Summers, Kenneth J. Genovese, Haiqi He, Michael H. Kogut
2013, Evolutionary Biology (40) 554-561
Immune adaptations of obligate brood parasites attracted interest when three New World cowbird species (Passeriformes, Icteridae, genus Molothrus) proved unusually resistant to West Nile virus. We have used cowbirds as models to investigate the eco-immunological hypothesis that species in parasite-rich environments characteristically have enhanced immunity as a life history adaptation....
Evaluation of permeability and non-Darcy flow in vuggy macroporous limestone aquifer samples with lattice Boltzmann methods
Michael C. Sukop, Haibo Huang, Pedro F. Alvarez, Evan A. Variano, Kevin J. Cunningham
2013, Water Resources Research (49) 216-230
Lattice Boltzmann flow simulations provide a physics-based means of estimating intrinsic permeability from pore structure and accounting for inertial flow that leads to departures from Darcy's law. Simulations were used to compute intrinsic permeability where standard measurement methods may fail and to provide better understanding of departures from Darcy's law...
Iodine-129 in the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer at and near the Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho, 2010-12
Roy C. Bartholomay
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5195
From 1953 to 1988, approximately 0.941 curies of iodine-129 (129I) were contained in wastewater generated at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) with almost all of this wastewater discharged at or near the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC). Most of the wastewater containing 129I was discharged directly into the...
Effect of tidal fluctuations on transient dispersion of simulated contaminant concentrations in coastal aquifers
Ivana La Licata, Christian D. Langevin, Alyssa M. Dausman, Luca Alberti
2013, Hydrogeology Journal (19) 1313-1322
Variable-density groundwater models require extensive computational resources, particularly for simulations representing short-term hydrologic variability such as tidal fluctuations. Saltwater-intrusion models usually neglect tidal fluctuations and this may introduce errors in simulated concentrations. The effects of tides on simulated concentrations in a coastal aquifer were assessed. Three analyses are reported: in...
Paleomagnetic contributions to the Klamath Mountains terrane puzzle-a new piece from the Ironside Mountain batholith, northern California
Edward A. Mankinen, C. Sherman Gromme, W. Porter Irwin
2013, Tectonophysics (608) 401-407
We obtained paleomagnetic samples from six sites within the Middle Jurassic Ironside Mountain batholith (~170 Ma), which constitutes the structurally lowest part of the Western Hayfork terrane, in the Klamath Mountains province of northern California and southern Oregon. Structural attitudes measured in the coeval Hayfork Bally Meta-andesite were used...
Water-table and Potentiometric-surface altitudes in the Upper Glacial, Magothy, and Lloyd aquifers beneath Long Island, New York, April-May 2010
Jack Monti Jr., Michael D. Como, Ronald Busciolano
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3270
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with State and local agencies, systematically collects groundwater data at varying measurement frequencies to monitor the hydrologic conditions on Long Island, New York. Each year during April and May, the USGS conducts a synoptic survey of water levels to define the spatial distribution...
Post-fire debris-flow hazard assessment of the area burned by the 2013 Beaver Creek Fire near Hailey, central Idaho
Kenneth D. Skinner
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1273
A preliminary hazard assessment was developed for debris-flow hazards in the 465 square-kilometer (115,000 acres) area burned by the 2013 Beaver Creek fire near Hailey in central Idaho. The burn area covers all or part of six watersheds and selected basins draining to the Big Wood River and is at...
