The δ2H and δ18O of tap water from 349 sites in the United States and selected territories
Tyler B. Coplen, Jurate M. Landwehr, Haiping Qi, Jennifer M. Lorenz
2013, Data Series 703
Because the stable isotopic compositions of hydrogen (δ2H) and oxygen (δ18O) of animal (including human) tissues, such as hair, nail, and urine, reflect the δ2H and δ18O of water and food ingested by an animal or a human and because the δ2H and δ18O of environmental waters vary geographically, δ2H...
Linking river management to species conservation using dynamic landscape scale models
Mary Freeman, Gary R. Buell, Lauren E. Hay, W. Brian Hughes, Robert B. Jacobson, John Jones, S.A. Jones, Jacob H. LaFontaine, Kenneth R. Odom, James T. Peterson, Jeffrey W. Riley, J. Stephen Schindler, C. Shea, J.D. Weaver
2013, River Research and Applications (29) 906-918
Efforts to conserve stream and river biota could benefit from tools that allow managers to evaluate landscape-scale changes in species distributions in response to water management decisions. We present a framework and methods for integrating hydrology, geographic context and metapopulation processes to simulate effects of changes in streamflow on fish...
Comparison of bird community indices for riparian restoration planning and monitoring
Jock S. Young, Elisabeth M. Ammon, Peter J. Weisburg, Thomas E. Dilts, Wesley E. Newton, Diane C. Wong-Kone, Lisa G. Heki
2013, Ecological Indicators (34) 159-167
The use of a bird community index that characterizes ecosystem integrity is very attractive to conservation planners and habitat managers, particularly in the absence of any single focal species. In riparian areas of the western USA, several attempts at arriving at a community index signifying a functioning riparian bird community...
Chemical and biological consequences of using carbon dioxide versus acid additions in ocean acidification experiments
Kimberly K. Yates, Christopher M. DuFore, Lisa L. Robbins
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5063
Use of different approaches for manipulating seawater chemistry during ocean acidification experiments has confounded comparison of results from various experimental studies. Some of these discrepancies have been attributed to whether addition of acid (such as hydrochloric acid, HCl) or carbon dioxide (CO2) gas has been used to adjust carbonate system...
Does calving matter? Evidence for significant submarine melt
Timothy C. Bartholomaus, Christopher F. Larsen, Shad O’Neel
2013, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (380) 21-30
During the summer in the northeast Pacific Ocean, the Alaska Coastal Current sweeps water with temperatures in excess of 12 °C past the mouths of glacierized fjords and bays. The extent to which these warm waters affect the mass balance of Alaskan tidewater glaciers is uncertain. Here we report hydrographic measurements...
Surface mineral maps of Afghanistan derived from HyMap imaging spectrometer data, version 2
Raymond F. Kokaly, Trude King, Todd M. Hoefen
2013, Data Series 787
This report presents a new version of surface mineral maps derived from HyMap imaging spectrometer data collected over Afghanistan in the fall of 2007. This report also describes the processing steps applied to the imaging spectrometer data. The 218 individual flight lines composing the Afghanistan dataset, covering more than 438,000...
Sediment distribution and hydrologic conditions of the Potomac aquifer in Virginia and parts of Maryland and North Carolina
Randolph E. McFarland
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5116
Sediments of the heavily used Potomac aquifer broadly contrast across major structural features of the Atlantic Coastal Plain Physiographic Province in eastern Virginia and adjacent parts of Maryland and North Carolina. Thicknesses and relative dominance of the highly interbedded fluvial sediments vary regionally. Vertical intervals in boreholes of coarse-grained sediment...
The influence of stream thermal regimes and preferential flow paths on hyporheic exchange in a glacial meltwater stream
Karen D. Cozzetto, Kenneth E. Bencala, Michael N. Gooseff, Diane M. McKnight
2013, Water Resources Research (49) 5552-5569
Given projected increases in stream temperatures attributable to global change, improved understanding of relationships between stream temperatures and hyporheic exchange would be useful. We conducted two conservative tracer injection experiments in a glacial meltwater stream, to evaluate the effects of hyporheic thermal gradients on exchange processes, including preferential flow paths...
Submergence Vulnerability Index development and application to Coastwide Reference Monitoring System Sites and Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act projects
Camille L. Stagg, Leigh A. Sharp, Thomas E. McGinnis, Gregg A. Snedden
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1163
Since its implementation in 2003, the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) in Louisiana has facilitated the creation of a comprehensive dataset that includes, but is not limited to, vegetation, hydrologic, and soil metrics on a coastwide scale. The primary impetus for this data collection is to assess land management activities,...
Shear-wave velocity-based probabilistic and deterministic assessment of seismic soil liquefaction potential
R. Kayen, R.E.S. Moss, E.M. Thompson, R.B. Seed, K.O. Cetin, A. Der Kiureghian, Y. Tanaka, K. Tokimatsu
2013, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (139) 407-419
Shear-wave velocity (Vs) offers a means to determine the seismic resistance of soil to liquefaction by a fundamental soil property. This paper presents the results of an 11-year international project to gather new Vs site data and develop probabilistic correlations for seismic soil liquefaction occurrence. Toward that objective, shear-wave velocity...
Environmental consequences of the Retsof Salt Mine roof collapse
Richard M. Yager
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1174
In 1994, the largest salt mine in North America, which had been in operation for more than 100 years, catastrophically flooded when the mine ceiling collapsed. In addition to causing the loss of the mine and the mineral resources it provided, this event formed sinkholes, caused widespread subsidence to land,...
Is there room for all of us? Renewable energy and Xerospermophilus mohavensis
Richard D. Inman, Todd C. Esque, Kenneth E. Nussear, Philip Leitner, Marjorie D. Matocq, Peter J. Weisberg, Tomas E. Dilts, Amy G. Vandergast
2013, Endangered Species Research (20) 1-18
Mohave ground squirrels Xerospermophilus mohavensis Merriam are small ground-dwelling rodents that have a highly restricted range in the northwest Mojave Desert, California, USA. Their small natural range is further reduced by habitat loss from agriculture, urban development, military training and recreational activities. Development of wind and solar resources for renewable...
Monitoring plan for mercury in fish tissue and water from the Boise River, Snake River, and Brownlee Reservoir, Idaho and Oregon
Christopher A. Mebane, Dorene E. MacCoy
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1068
The methylmercury criterion adopted as a water-quality standard in the State of Idaho is a concentration in fish tissue rather than a concentration in water. A plan for monitoring mercury in fish tissue and water was developed to evaluate whether fish in the Boise River, Idaho, upstream and downstream of...
A network extension of species occupancy models in a patchy environment applied to the Yosemite toad (Anaxyrus canorus)
Eric L. Berlow, Roland A. Knapp, Steven M. Ostoja, Richard J. Williams, Heather McKenny, John R. Matchett, Qinghau Guo, Gary M. Fellers, Patrick Kleeman, Matthew L. Brooks, Lucas Joppa
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
A central challenge of conservation biology is using limited data to predict rare species occurrence and identify conservation areas that play a disproportionate role in regional persistence. Where species occupy discrete patches in a landscape, such predictions require data about environmental quality of individual patches and the connectivity among high...
Titanium: light, strong, and white
Laurel Woodruff, George Bedinger
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3059
Titanium (Ti) is a strong silver-gray metal that is highly resistant to corrosion and is chemically inert. It is as strong as steel but 45 percent lighter, and it is twice as strong as aluminum but only 60 percent heavier. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has a very high refractive index, which...
Constraints on the upper crustal magma reservoir beneath Yellowstone Caldera inferred from lake-seiche induced strain observations
Karen Luttrell, David Mencin, Oliver Francis, Shaul Hurwitz
2013, Geophysical Research Letters (40) 501-506
Seiche waves in Yellowstone Lake with a ~78-minute period and heights <10 cm act as a load on the solid earth observed by borehole strainmeters with subnanostrain sensitivity throughout the Yellowstone Caldera. The far-field strain induced by the load of the seiche waves calculated with a homogeneous elastic model representing...
Soil Seed Bank Responses to Postfire Herbicide and Native Seeding Treatments Designed to Control Bromus tectorum in a Pinyon–Juniper Woodland at Zion National Park, USA
Matthew L. Brooks, graduate student Hondo Brisbin, Professor Andrea Thode, graduate student Karen Weber
2013, Invasive Plant Science and Management (6) 118-129
The continued threat of an invasive, annual brome (Bromus) species in the western United States has created the need for integrated approaches to postfire restoration. Additionally, the high germination rate, high seed production, and seed bank carryover of annual bromes points to the need to assay soil seed banks as...
A new model for the growth of basaltic shields based on deformation of Fernandina volcano, Galápagos Islands
Marco Bagnardi, Falk Amelung, Michael P. Poland
2013, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (377-378) 358-366
Space-geodetic measurements of surface deformation produced by the most recent eruptions at Fernandina – the most frequently erupting volcano in the Galápagos Archipelago – reveal that all have initiated with the intrusion of subhorizontal sills from a shallow magma reservoir. This includes eruptions from fissures that are oriented both radially...
Factors influencing detection of eDNA from a stream-dwelling amphibian
David S. Pilliod, Caren S. Goldberg, Robert S. Arkle, Lisette P. Waits
2013, Molecular Ecology Resources (14) 109-116
Environmental DNA (eDNA) methods for detecting and estimating abundance of aquatic species are emerging rapidly, but little is known about how processes such as secretion rate, environmental degradation, and time since colonization or extirpation from a given site affect eDNA measurements. Using stream-dwelling salamanders and quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis, we...
Landscape-scale effects of fire severity on mixed-conifer and red fir forest structure in Yosemite National Park
Van R. Kane, James A. Lutz, Susan L. Roberts, Douglas F. Smith, Robert J. McGaughey, Nicholas A. Povak, Matthew L. Brooks
2013, Forest Ecology and Management (287) 17-31
While fire shapes the structure of forests and acts as a keystone process, the details of how fire modifies forest structure have been difficult to evaluate because of the complexity of interactions between fires and forests. We studied this relationship across 69.2 km2 of Yosemite National Park, USA, that was...
Distribution of indoor radon concentrations in Pennsylvania, 1990-2007
Eliza L. Gross
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5143
Results from 548,507 indoor radon tests from a database compiled by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Radiation Protection, Radon Division, are evaluated in this report in an effort to determine areas where concentrations of radon are highest. Indoor radon concentrations were aggregated according to geologic unit and...
Detecting annual and seasonal changes in a sagebrush ecosystem with remote sensing-derived continuous fields
Collin G. Homer, Debra K. Meyer, Cameron L. Aldridge, Spencer Schell
2013, Journal of Applied Remote Sensing (7)
Climate change may represent the greatest future risk to the sagebrush ecosystem. Improved ways to quantify and monitor gradual change resulting from climate influences in this ecosystem are vital to its future management. For this research, the change over time of five continuous field cover components including bare ground, herbaceous,...
Internet-based Modeling, Mapping, and Analysis for the Greater Everglades (IMMAGE; Version 1.0): web-based tools to assess the impact of sea level rise in south Florida
Paul Hearn, David Strong, Eric Swain, Jeremy Decker
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1185
South Florida's Greater Everglades area is particularly vulnerable to sea level rise, due to its rich endowment of animal and plant species and its heavily populated urban areas along the coast. Rising sea levels are expected to have substantial impacts on inland flooding, the depth and extent of surge from...
Analytical properties of some commercially available nitrate reductase enzymes evaluated as replacements for cadmium in automated, semiautomated, and manual colorimetric methods for determination of nitrate plus nitrite in water
Charles J. Patton, Jennifer R. Kryskalla
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5033
A multiyear research effort at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) evaluated several commercially available nitrate reductase (NaR) enzymes as replacements for toxic cadmium in longstanding automated colorimetric air-segmented continuous-flow analyzer (CFA) methods for determining nitrate plus nitrite (NOx) in water. This research culminated in USGS...
Water-level data for the Albuquerque Basin and adjacent areas, central New Mexico, period of record through September 30, 2012
Joseph E. Beman
2013, Data Series 790
The Albuquerque Basin, located in central New Mexico, is about 100 miles long and 25–40 miles wide. The basin is defined as the extent of consolidated and unconsolidated deposits of Tertiary and Quaternary age that encompasses the structural Rio Grande Rift within the basin. Drinking-water supplies throughout the basin were...
