The historical distribution of Gunnison Sage-Grouse in Colorado
Clait E. Braun, Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Jennifer A. Nehring, Michelle L. Commons, Jessica R. Young, Kim M. Potter
2014, Wilson Journal of Ornithology (126) 207-217
The historical distribution of Gunnison Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus minimus) in Colorado is described based on published literature, observations, museum specimens, and the known distribution of sagebrush (Artemisia spp.). Historically, Gunnison Sage-Grouse were widely but patchily distributed in up to 22 counties in south-central and southwestern Colorado. The historical distribution of this...
The vertical structure of the circulation and dynamics in Hudson Shelf Valley
Steven J. Lentz, Bradford Butman, Courtney K. Harris
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research (119) 3694-3713
Hudson Shelf Valley is a 20–30 m deep, 5–10 km wide v-shaped submarine valley that extends across the Middle Atlantic Bight continental shelf. The valley provides a conduit for cross-shelf exchange via along-valley currents of 0.5 m s−1 or more. Current profile, pressure, and density observations collected during the winter of...
Relationships between water and gas chemistry in mature coalbed methane reservoirs of the Black Warrior Basin
Jack C. Pashin, Marcella R. McIntyre-Redden, Steven D. Mann, David C. Kopaska-Merkel, Matthew S. Varonka, William H. Orem
2014, International Journal of Coal Geology (126) 92-105
Water and gas chemistry in coalbed methane reservoirs of the Black Warrior Basin reflects a complex interplay among burial processes, basin hydrodynamics, thermogenesis, and late-stage microbial methanogenesis. These factors are all important considerations for developing production and water management strategies. Produced water ranges from nearly potable sodium-bicarbonate water to...
Evaluation of the importance of clay confining units on groundwaterflow in alluvial basins using solute and isotope tracers: the case of Middle San Pedro Basin in southeastern Arizona (USA)
Candice B. Hopkins, Jennifer C. McIntosh, Chris Eastoe, Jesse E. Dickinson, Thomas Meixner
2014, Hydrogeology Journal (22) 829-849
As groundwater becomes an increasingly important water resource worldwide, it is essential to understand how local geology affects groundwater quality, flowpaths and residence times. This study utilized multiple tracers to improve conceptual and numerical models of groundwater flow in the Middle San Pedro Basin in southeastern Arizona (USA) by determining...
Associations of wintering birds with habitat in semidesert and plains grasslands in Arizona
Janet M. Ruth, Thomas R. Stanley, Caleb E. Gordon
2014, Southwestern Naturalist (59) 199-211
We studied associations with winter habitat for seven species of birds, one species-group (eastern and western meadowlarks combined), and total sparrows at seven sites in the semidesert and plains grasslands of southeastern Arizona from 1999–2001, sampling with mist-nets and survey-transects. We measured structure and composition of vegetation, assessing vegetative differences...
Glacial geology of the Shingobee River headwaters area, north-central Minnesota
Robert C. Melchior
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5165
During middle and late Wisconsin time in the Shingobee River headwaters area, the Laurentide Wadena lobe, Hewitt and Itasca phases, produced terminal and ground moraine along with a variety of associated glacial features. The stratigraphic record is accessible and provides details of depositional mode as well as principal glacial events...
Organic substances in produced and formation water from unconventional natural gas extraction in coal and shale
William H. Orem, Calin A. Tatu, Matthew S. Varonka, Harry E. Lerch, Anne L. Bates, Mark A. Engle, Lynn M. Crosby, Jennifer McIntosh
2014, International Journal of Coal Geology (126) 20-31
Organic substances in produced and formation water from coalbed methane (CBM) and gas shale plays from across the USA were examined in this study. Disposal of produced waters from gas extraction in coal and shale is an important environmental issue because of the large volumes of water involved and the...
Insights into biodegradation through depth-resolved microbial community functional and structural profiling of a crude-oil contaminant plume
Nicole Fahrenfeld, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Zach Bailey, Amy Pruden
2014, Microbial Ecology (68) 453-462
Small-scale geochemical gradients are a key feature of aquifer contaminant plumes, highlighting the need for functional and structural profiling of corresponding microbial communities on a similar scale. The purpose of this study was to characterize the microbial functional and structural diversity with depth across representative redox zones of a hydrocarbon...
The search for geologic evidence of distant-source tsunamis using new field data in California
Rick Wilson, Eileen Hemphill-Haley, Bruce Jaffe, Bruce Richmond, Robert Peters, Nick Graehl, Harvey Kelsey, Robert Leeper, Steve Watt, Mary McGann, Don F. Hoirup, Catherine Chague-Goff, James Goff, Dylan Caldwell, Casey Loofbourrow
2014, Open-File Report 2013-1170-C
A statewide assessment for geological evidence of tsunamis, primarily from distant-source events, found tsunami deposits at several locations, though evidence was absent at most locations evaluated. Several historical distant-source tsunamis, including the 1946 Aleutian, 1960 Chile, and 1964 Alaska events, caused inundation along portions of the northern and central California...
Impacts of white-tailed deer on red trillium (Trillium recurvatum): defining a threshold for deer browsing pressure at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Noel B. Pavlovic, Stacey A. Leicht-Young, Ralph Grundel
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5070
Overabundant white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) have been a concern for land managers in eastern North America because of their impacts on native forest ecosystems. Managers have sought native plant species to serve as phytoindicators of deer impacts to supplement deer surveys. We analyzed experimental data about red trillium (Trillium recurvatum),...
Geochemical and mineralogical maps for soils of the conterminous United States
David B. Smith, William F. Cannon, Laurel G. Woodruff, Federico Solano, Karl J. Ellefsen
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1082
The U.S. Geological Survey began sampling in 2007 for a low-density (1 site per 1,600 square kilometers, 4,857 sites) geochemical and mineralogical survey of soils in the conterminous United States as part of the North American Soil Geochemical Landscapes Project. The sampling protocol for the national-scale survey included, at each...
Earthquake catalog for estimation of maximum earthquake magnitude, Central and Eastern United States: Part A, Prehistoric earthquakes
Russell L. Wheeler
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1025-A
Computation of probabilistic earthquake hazard requires an estimate of Mmax, the maximum earthquake magnitude thought to be possible within a specified geographic region. This report is Part A of an Open-File Report that describes the construction of a global catalog of moderate to large earthquakes, from which one can estimate...
Water levels and water quality in the Sparta-Memphis aquifer (middle Claiborne aquifer) in Arkansas, spring-summer 2011
T.P. Schrader
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5044
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission and the Arkansas Geological Survey, has monitored water levels in the Sparta Sand of Claiborne Group and Memphis Sand of Claiborne Group (herein referred to as “the Sparta Sand” and “the Memphis Sand,” respectively) since the 1920s. Groundwater...
The shallow stratigraphy and sand resources offshore from Cat Island, Mississippi
Jack L. Kindinger, Jennifer L. Miselis, Noreen A. Buster
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1070
In collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center collected over 487 line kilometers (> 300 miles) of high-resolution geophysical data around Cat Island, Mississippi, to improve understanding of the island's geologic evolution and identify potential...
Invasive lionfish use a diversity of habitats in Florida
Pamela J. Schofield, Lad Akins, Denise R. Gregoire-Lucente, Rachel J. Pawlitz
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3032
Two species of lionfish (Pterois volitans and Pterois miles) are the first marine fishes known to invade and establish self-sustaining populations along the eastern seaboard of the United States. First documented off the coast of Florida in 1985, lionfish are now found along the Atlantic coast of the United States...
Investigating the importance of sediment resuspension in Alexandrium fundyense cyst population dynamics in the Gulf of Maine
Bradford Butman, Alfredo L. Aretxabaleta, Patrick J. Dickhudt, P. Soupy Dalyander, Christopher R. Sherwood, Donald M. Anderson, Bruce A. Keafer, Richard P. Signell
2014, Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography (103) 79-95
Cysts of Alexandrium fundyense, a dinoflagellate that causes toxic algal blooms in the Gulf of Maine, spend the winter as dormant cells in the upper layer of bottom sediment or the bottom nepheloid layer and germinate in spring to initiate new blooms. Erosion measurements were made on sediment cores collected...
Nutrient budgets, marsh inundation under sea-level rise scenarios, and sediment chronologies for the Bass Harbor Marsh estuary at Acadia National Park
Thomas G. Huntington, Charles W. Culbertson, Christopher C. Fuller, Patricia Glibert, Luke Sturtevant
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1031
Eutrophication in the Bass Harbor Marsh estuary on Mount Desert Island, Maine, is an ongoing problem manifested by recurring annual blooms of green macroalgae species, principally Enteromorpha prolifera and Enteromorpha flexuosa, blooms that appear in the spring and summer. These blooms are unsightly and impair the otherwise natural beauty of...
Late Paleozoic fusulinids from Sonora, Mexcio: importance for interpretation of depositional settings, biogeography, and paleotectonics
Calvin H. Stevens, Forrest G. Poole, Ricardo Amaya-Martinez
2014, Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas (31) 14-27
Three sets of fusulinid faunas in Sonora, Mexico, discussed herein, record different depositional and paleotectonic settings along the southwestern margin of Laurentia (North America) during Pennsylvanian and Permian time. The settings include: offshelf continental rise and ocean basin (Rancho Nuevo Formation in the Sonora allochthon), shallow continental shelf (La Cueva...
Preliminary analysis of the role of lake basin morphology on the modern diatom flora in the Ruby Mountains and East Humboldt Range, Nevada, USA
Scott W. Starratt
2014, Mountain Views (8) 8-13
As paleolimnologists, we often look at the world through a 5-cm-diameter hole in the bottom of a lake, and although a number of studies have shown that a single core in the deepest part of a lake does not necessarily reflect the entire diatom flora, time and money often limit...
Brittle deformation and slope failure at the North Menan Butte tuff cone, Eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho
Chris H. Okubo
2014, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (278–279) 86-95
The manifestation of brittle deformation within inactive slumps along the North Menan Butte, a basaltic tuff cone in the Eastern Snake River Plain, is investigated through field and laboratory studies. Microstructural observations indicate that brittle strain is localized along deformation bands, a class of structural discontinuity that is predominant within...
Bouse Formation in the Bristol basin near Amboy, California, USA
David M. Miller, Robert E. Reynolds, Jordan E. Bright, Scott W. Starratt
2014, Geosphere (10) 462-475
Limestone beds underlain and overlain by alluvial fan conglomerate near Amboy, California, are very similar in many respects to parts of the Bouse Formation, suggesting that an arm of the Pliocene Bouse water body extended across a wide part of the southern Mojave Desert. The deposits are north of the...
An evaluation of remote sensing technologies for the detection of fugitive contamination at selected Superfund hazardous waste sites in Pennsylvania
E. Terrence Slonecker, Gary B. Fisher
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1081
This evaluation was conducted to assess the potential for using both traditional remote sensing, such as aerial imagery, and emerging remote sensing technology, such as hyperspectral imaging, as tools for postclosure monitoring of selected hazardous waste sites. Sixteen deleted Superfund (SF) National Priorities List (NPL) sites in Pennsylvania were imaged...
Characterization of the structure, clean-sand percentage, dissolved-solids concentrations, and estimated quantity of groundwater in the Upper Cretaceous Nacatoch Sand and Tokio Formation, Arkansas
Jonathan A. Gillip
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5068
The West Gulf Coastal Plain, Mississippi embayment, and underlying Cretaceous aquifers are rich in water resources; however, large parts of the aquifers are largely unusable because of large concentrations of dissolved solids. Cretaceous aquifers are known to have large concentrations of salinity in some parts of Arkansas. The Nacatoch Sand...
The USGS at Embudo, New Mexico: 125 years of systematic streamgaging in the United States
Mark A. Gunn, Anne Marie Matherne, Mason Jr.
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3034
John Wesley Powell, second Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, had a vision for the Western United States. In the late 1800s, Powell explored the West as head of the Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region. He devoted a large part of “Report on the Lands of...
Gravity, magnetic, and radiometric data for Newberry Volcano, Oregon, and vicinity
Jeff Wynn
2014, Data Series 830
Newberry Volcano in central Oregon is a 3,100-square-kilometer (1,200-square-mile) shield-shaped composite volcano, occupying a location east of the main north-south trend of the High Cascades volcanoes and forming a transition between the High Lava Plains subprovince of the Basin and Range Province to the east and the Cascade Range to...
