Ecological health in the Nation's streams
Daren M. Carlisle, Michael D. Woodside
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3033
Aquatic biological communities, which are collections of organisms, are a direct measure of stream health because they indicate the ability of a stream to support life. This fact sheet highlights selected findings of a national assessment of stream health by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program of the U.S. Geological...
Can law foster social-ecological resilience?
Ahjond S. Garmestani, Craig R. Allen, Melinda H. Benson
2013, Ecology and Society (18)
Law plays an essential role in shaping natural resource and environmental policy, but unfortunately, many environmental laws were developed around the prevailing scientific understanding that there was a “balance of nature” that could be managed and sustained. This view assumes that natural resource managers have the capacity to predict the...
Bayesian inversion of data from effusive volcanic eruptions using physics-based models: Application to Mount St. Helens 2004--2008
Kyle Anderson, Paul Segall
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (118) 2017-2037
Physics-based models of volcanic eruptions can directly link magmatic processes with diverse, time-varying geophysical observations, and when used in an inverse procedure make it possible to bring all available information to bear on estimating properties of the volcanic system. We develop a technique for inverting geodetic, extrusive flux, and other...
The simulated effects of wastewater-management actions on the hydrologic system and nitrogen-loading rates to wells and ecological receptors, Popponesset Bay Watershed, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Donald A. Walter
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5060
The discharge of excess nitrogen into Popponesset Bay, an estuarine system on western Cape Cod, has resulted in eutrophication and the loss of eel grass habitat within the estuaries. Septic-system return flow in residential areas within the watershed is the primary source of nitrogen. Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for...
Assessment of managed aquifer recharge at Sand Hollow Reservoir, Washington County, Utah, updated to conditions in 2012
Thomas M. Marston, Victor M. Heilweil
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5057
Sand Hollow Reservoir in Washington County, Utah, was completed in March 2002 and is operated primarily for managed aquifer recharge by the Washington County Water Conservancy District. From 2002 through 2011, surface-water diversions of about 199,000 acre-feet to Sand Hollow Reservoir have allowed the reservoir to remain nearly full since...
Hydrologic and geochemical characterization of the Santa Rosa Plain watershed, Sonoma County, California
Tracy Nishikawa
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5118
The Santa Rosa Plain is home to approximately half of the population of Sonoma County, California, and faces growth in population and demand for water. Water managers are confronted with the challenge of meeting the increasing water demand with a combination of water sources, including local groundwater, whose future availability...
Stratigraphy and chronology of Provo shoreline deposits and lake-level implications, Late Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, eastern Great Basin, USA
David M. Miller, Charles G. Oviatt, John P. McGeehin
2013, Boreas (42) 342-361
The Provo shoreline of Lake Bonneville formed following the Bonneville flood, and, based on previous dating, was formed during a period of overflow from about 17.5 to 15.0 cal. ka. In many places the Provo shoreline consists of a pair of distinct shorelines, one ∼3 m higher than the other. We...
Atmospheric propagation modeling indicates homing pigeons use loft-specific infrasonic ‘map’ cues
Jonathan T. Hagstrum
2013, Journal of Experimental Biology (216) 687-699
Results from an acoustic ray-tracing program using daily meteorological profiles are presented to explain ‘release-site biases’ for homing pigeons at three experimental sites in upstate New York where W. T. Keeton and his co-workers at Cornell University conducted extensive releases between 1968 and 1987 in their investigations of the avian...
Linkages between lake shrinkage/expansion and sublacustrine permafrost distribution determined from remote sensing of interior Alaska, USA
Steven M. Jepsen, Clifford I. Voss, Michelle Ann Walvoord, Burke J. Minsley, Jennifer Rover
2013, Geophysical Research Letters (40) 882-887
[1] Linkages between permafrost distribution and lake surface-area changes in cold regions have not been previously examined over a large scale because of the paucity of subsurface permafrost information. Here, a first large-scale examination of these linkages is made over a 5150 km2 area of Yukon Flats, Alaska, USA, by...
Groundwater quality and water-well characteristics in the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma Jurisdictional Area, central Oklahoma, 1948--2011
Carol Becker
2013, Open-File Report 2012-1255
In 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma, compiled historical groundwater-quality data collected from 1948 to 2011 and water-well completion information in parts of Lincoln, Oklahoma, and Pottawatomie Counties in central Oklahoma to support the development of a comprehensive water-management plan for the Tribe’s...
Erosion monitoring along the Coosa River below Logan Martin Dam near Vincent, Alabama, using terrestrial light detection and ranging (T-LiDAR) technology
Dustin R. Kimbrow, Kathryn G. Lee
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5128
Alabama Power operates a series of dams on the Coosa River in east central Alabama. These dams form six reservoirs that provide power generation, flood control, recreation, economic opportunity, and fish and wildlife habitats to the region. The Logan Martin Reservoir is located approximately 45 kilometers east of Birmingham and...
Marine benthic habitat mapping of the West Arm, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska
Timothy O. Hodson, Guy R. Cochrane, Ross D. Powell
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3253
Seafloor geology and potential benthic habitats were mapped in West Arm, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska, using multibeam sonar, groundtruthed observations, and geological interpretations. The West Arm of Glacier Bay is a recently deglaciated fjord system under the influence of glacial and paraglacial marine processes. High glacially derived...
Observations on the crystallization of spodumene from aqueous solutions in a hydrothermal diamond-anvil cell
Jianking Li, I-Ming Chou, Shunda Yuan, Robert A. Burruss
2013, Geofluids (13) 467-474
Crystallization experiments were conducted in a new type of hydrothermal diamond-anvil cell (HDAC; type V) using LiAlSi2O6 (S) gel and H2O (W) as starting materials. A total of 21 experiments were performed at temperatures up to 950°C and pressures up to 788 MPa. In the samples with relatively low W/S...
A high-resolution bioclimate map of the world: a unifying framework for global biodiversity research and monitoring
Marc J. Metzger, Robert G.H. Bunce, Rob H.G. Jongman, Roger G. Sayre, Antonio Trabucco, Robert Zomer
2013, Global Ecology and Biogeography (22) 630-638
Aim: To develop a novel global spatial framework for the integration and analysis of ecological and environmental data. Location: The global land surface excluding Antarctica. Methods: A broad set of climate-related variables were considered for inclusion in a quantitative model, which partitions geographic space into bioclimate regions. Statistical screening produced a subset...
Natural-color and color-infrared image mosaics of the Colorado River corridor in Arizona derived from the May 2009 airborne image collection
Philip A. Davis
2013, Data Series 780
The Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) periodically collects airborne image data for the Colorado River corridor within Arizona (fig. 1) to allow scientists to study the impacts of Glen Canyon Dam water release on the corridor’s natural and cultural resources. These data...
Quaternary geophysical framework of the northeastern North Carolina coastal system
E.R. Thieler, D.S. Foster, D. J. Mallinson, E. A. Himmelstoss, J. E. McNinch, J. H. List, E. S. Hammar-Klose
2013, Open-File Report 2011-1015
The northeastern North Carolina coastal system, from False Cape, Virginia, to Cape Lookout, North Carolina, has been studied by a cooperative research program that mapped the Quaternary geologic framework of the estuaries, barrier islands, and inner continental shelf. This information provides a basis to understand the linkage between geologic framework,...
Modeling crustal deformation near active faults and volcanic centers: a catalog of deformation models and modeling approaches
Maurizio Battaglia, Peter F. Cervelli, Jessica R. Murray
2013, Techniques and Methods 13-B1
This manual provides the physical and mathematical concepts for selected models used to interpret deformation measurements near active faults and volcanic centers. The emphasis is on analytical models of deformation that can be compared with data from the Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), leveling surveys,...
Geologic map of the Jam Up Cave and Pine Crest quadrangles, Shannon, Texas, and Howell Counties, Missouri
David J. Weary, Randall C. Orndorff, John E. Repetski
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3248
The Jam Up Cave and Pine Crest 7.5-minute quadrangles are located in south-central Missouri within the Salem Plateau region of the Ozark Plateaus physiographic province. About 2,400 to 3,100 feet (ft) of flat-lying to gently dipping Lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, mostly dolomite, chert, sandstone, and orthoquartzite, overlie Mesoproterozoic igneous basement...
Statewide summary for Florida
Lawrence R. Handley, Kathryn A. Spear, René Baumstark, Ryan Moyer, Cindy A. Thatcher
2013, Report, Emergent wetlands status and trends in the northern Gulf of Mexico: 1950-2010
Throughout the past century, emergent wetlands have been declining across the Gulf of Mexico. Emergent wetland ecosystems provide a multitude of resources, including plant and wildlife habitat, commercial and recreational economic activity, and natural barriers against storms. As emergent wetland losses increase, so does the need for information on the...
Ore genesis constraints on the Idaho cobalt belt from fluid inclusion gas, noble gas isotope, and ion ratio analyses--a reply
Albert H. Hofstra, Gary P. Landis
2013, Economic Geology (108) 1213-1214
Burlinson (2013) questions the veracity of the H2 concentrations reported for fluid inclusion extracts from minerals in the Idaho cobalt belt (Table 2; Landis and Hofstra, 2012) and suggests that they are an analytical artifact of electron-impact mass spectrometry. He also declares that H2 should not be present in fluid...
Flood-inundation maps for the Saddle River from Upper Saddle River Borough to Saddle River Borough, New Jersey, 2013
Kara M. Watson, Heidi L. Hoppe
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3262
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 4.1-mile reach of the Saddle River from 0.6 miles downstream from the New Jersey-New York State boundary in Upper Saddle River Borough to 0.2 miles downstream from the East Allendale Road bridge in Saddle River Borough, New Jersey, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey...
Overview of Chaitén Volcano, Chile, and its 2008-2009 eruption
Jon J. Major, Luis E. Lara
2013, Andean Geology (40) 196-215
Chaitén Volcano erupted unexpectedly in May 2008 in one of the largest eruptions globally since the 1990s. It was the largest rhyolite eruption since the great eruption of Katmai Volcano in 1912, and the first rhyolite eruption to have at least some of its aspects monitored. The eruption consisted of...
Comparative mineral mapping in the Colorado Mineral Belt using AVIRIS and ASTER remote sensing data
Barnaby W. Rockwell
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3256
This report presents results of interpretation of spectral remote sensing data covering the eastern Colorado Mineral Belt in central Colorado, USA, acquired by the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensors. This study was part of a multidisciplinary mapping and data integration...
Origin of the Sinai-Negev erg, Egypt and Israel: mineralogical and geochemical evidence for the importance of the Nile and sea level history
Daniel R. Muhs, Joel Roskin, Haim Tsoar, Gary Skipp, James R. Budahn, Amihai Sneh, Naomi Porat, Jean-Daniel Stanley, Itzhak Katra, Dan G. Blumberg
2013, Quaternary Science Reviews (69) 28-48
The Sinai–Negev erg occupies an area of 13,000 km2 in the deserts of Egypt and Israel. Aeolian sand of this erg has been proposed to be derived from the Nile Delta, but empirical data supporting this view are lacking. An alternative source sediment is sand from the large Wadi El...
Modeling the Water - Quality Effects of Changes to the Klamath River Upstream of Keno Dam, Oregon
Annett B. Sullivan, I. Ertugrul Sogutlugil, Stewart A. Rounds, Michael L. Deas
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5135
The Link River to Keno Dam (Link-Keno) reach of the Klamath River, Oregon, generally has periods of water-quality impairment during summer, including low dissolved oxygen, elevated concentrations of ammonia and algae, and high pH. Efforts are underway to improve water quality in this reach through a Total Maximum Daily Load...
