Review of revised Klamath River Total Maximum Daily Load models from Link River Dam to Keno Dam, Oregon
Stewart A. Rounds, Annett B. Sullivan
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1136
Flow and water-quality models are being used to support the development of Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plans for the Klamath River downstream of Upper Klamath Lake (UKL) in south-central Oregon. For riverine reaches, the RMA-2 and RMA-11 models were used, whereas the CE-QUAL-W2 model was used to simulate pooled...
Uranium(VI) interactions with mackinawite in the presence and absence of bicarbonate and oxygen
Tanya J. Gallegos, Christopher C. Fuller, Samuel M. Webb, William J. Betterton
2013, Environmental Science & Technology (47) 7357-7364
Mackinawite, Fe(II)S, samples loaded with uranium (10-5, 10-4, and 10-3 mol U/g FeS) at pH 5, 7, and 9, were characterized using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction to determine the effects of pH, bicarbonate, and oxidation on uptake. Under anoxic conditions, a 5 g/L suspension of mackinawite lowered 5...
Land loss due to recent hurricanes in coastal Louisiana, U.S.A.
Monica Palaseanu-Lovejoy, Christine J. Kranenburg, John A. Barras, John Brock
2013, Journal of Coastal Research 97-109
The aim of this study is to improve estimates of wetland land loss in two study regions of coastal Louisiana, U.S.A., due to the extreme storms that impacted the region between 2004 and 2009. The estimates are based on change-detection-mapping analysis that incorporates pre and postlandfall (Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav,...
Sea-level-induced seismicity and submarine landslide occurrence
Daniel S. Brothers, Karen M. Luttrell, Jason D. Chaytor
2013, Geology (41) 979-982
The temporal coincidence between rapid late Pleistocene sea-level rise and large-scale slope failures is widely documented. Nevertheless, the physical mechanisms that link these phenomena are poorly understood, particularly along nonglaciated margins. Here we investigate the causal relationships between rapid sea-level rise, flexural stress loading, and increased seismicity rates along passive...
USGS quarterly report: July 2012 to September 2012
Anne Ballmann, C. LeAnn White, Barb Bodenstein, Jennifer Buckner
2013, WDA Newsletter (2013) 5-7
Streamflow characterization and summary of water-quality data collection during the Mississippi River flood, April through July 2011
Heather L. Welch, Kimberlee K. Barnes
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1106
From April through July 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey collected surface-water samples from 69 water-quality stations and 3 flood-control structures in 4 major subbasins of the Mississippi River Basin to characterize the water quality during the 2011 Mississippi River flood. Most stations were sampled at least monthly for field parameters...
Changing Arctic ecosystems--the role of ecosystem changes across the Boreal-Arctic transition zone on the distribution and abundance of wildlife populations
Lance McNew, Colleen M. Handel, John M. Pearce, Anthony R. DeGange, Leslie Holland-Bartels, Mary E. Whalen
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3054
Arctic and boreal ecosystems provide important breeding habitat for more than half of North America’s migratory birds as well as many resident species. Northern landscapes are projected to experience more pronounced climate-related changes in habitat than most other regions. These changes include increases in shrub growth, conversion of tundra to...
Topographic and hydrographic GIS datasets for the Afghan Geological Survey and U.S. Geological Survey 2013 mineral areas of interest
Brittany N. Casey, Peter G. Chirico
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1124
Afghanistan is endowed with a vast amount of mineral resources, and it is believed that the current economic state of the country could be greatly improved through investment in the extraction and production of these resources. In 2007, the “Preliminary Non-Fuel Resource Assessment of Afghanistan 2007” was completed by members...
Conifer seedling recruitment across a gradient from forest to alpine tundra: effects of species, provenance, and site
C. Castanha, M.S. Torn, M.J. Germino, Bettina Weibel, L.M. Kueppers
2013, Plant Ecology and Diversity (6) 307-318
Background: Seedling germination and survival is a critical control on forest ecosystem boundaries, such as at the alpine–treeline ecotone. In addition, while it is known that species respond individualistically to the same suite of environmental drivers, the potential additional effect of local adaptation on seedling success has not been evaluated. Aims:...
Nonstructural leaf carbohydrates dynamics of Pinus edulis during drought-induced tree mortality reveal role for carbon metabolism in mortality mechanism
Henry D. Adams, Matthew J. Germino, David D. Breshears, Greg A. Barron-Gafford, Maite Guardiola-Claramonte, Chris B. Zou, Travis E. Huxman
2013, New Phytologist (197) 1142-1151
* Vegetation change is expected with global climate change, potentially altering ecosystem function and climate feedbacks. However, causes of plant mortality, which are central to vegetation change, are understudied, and physiological mechanisms remain unclear, particularly the roles of carbon metabolism and xylem function. * We report analysis of foliar nonstructural carbohydrates...
Application of the SPARROW model to assess surface-water nutrient conditions and sources in the United States Pacific Northwest
Daniel R. Wise, Henry M. Johnson
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5103
The watershed model SPARROW (Spatially Referenced Regressions on Watershed attributes) was used to estimate mean annual surface-water nutrient conditions (total nitrogen and total phosphorus) and to identify important nutrient sources in catchments of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States for 2002. Model-estimated nutrient yields were generally higher in...
Uranium redox transition pathways in acetate-amended sediments
John R. Bargar, Kenneth H. Williams, Kate M. Campbell, Philip E. Long, Joanne E. Stubbs, Elenal I. Suvorova, Juan S. Lezama-Pacheco, Daniel S. Alessi, Malgorzata Stylo, Samuel M. Webb, James A. Davis, Daniel E. Giammar, Lisa Y. Blue, Rizlan Bernier-Latmani
2013, PNAS (110) 4506-4511
Redox transitions of uranium [from U(VI) to U(IV)] in low-temperature sediments govern the mobility of uranium in the environment and the accumulation of uranium in ore bodies, and inform our understanding of Earth’s geochemical history. The molecular-scale mechanistic pathways of these transitions determine the U(IV) products formed, thus influencing uranium...
Holocene fire occurrence and alluvial responses at the leading edge of pinyon–juniper migration in the Northern Great Basin, USA
Kerrie N. Weppner, Jennifer L. Pierce, Julio L. Betancourt
2013, Quaternary Research (80) 143-157
Fire and vegetation records at the City of Rocks National Reserve (CIRO), south-central Idaho, display the interaction of changing climate, fire and vegetation along the migrating front of single-leaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla) and Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma). Radiocarbon dating of alluvial charcoal reconstructed local fire occurrence and geomorphic...
Geologic controls on regional and local erosion rates of three northern Gulf of Mexico barrier-island systems
David C. Twitchell, James G. Flocks, Elizabeth A. Pendleton, Wayne E. Baldwin
2013, Journal of Coastal Research 32-45
The stratigraphy of sections of three barrier island systems in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico (Apalachicola, Mississippi, and Chandeleur) have been mapped using geophysical and coring techniques to assess the influence of geologic variations in barrier lithosomes and adjoining inner shelf deposits on long-term rates of shoreline change at regional...
Forest cutting and impacts on carbon in the eastern United States
Decheng Zhou, Shuguang Liu, Jennifer Oeding, Shuqing Zhao
2013, Scientific Reports (3)
Forest cutting is a major anthropogenic disturbance that affects forest carbon (C) storage and fluxes. Yet its characteristics and impacts on C cycling are poorly understood over large areas. Using recent annualized forest inventory data, we estimated cutting-related loss of live biomass in the eastern United States was 168 Tg C...
Nutrient enrichment and fish nutrient tolerance: Assessing biologically relevant nutrient criteria
Michael R. Meador
2013, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (49) 253-263
Relationships between nutrient concentrations and fish nutrient tolerance were assessed relative to established nutrient criteria. Fish community, nitrate plus nitrite (nitrate), and total phosphorus (TP) data were collected during summer low-flow periods in 2003 and 2004 at stream sites along a nutrient-enrichment gradient in an agricultural basin in Indiana and...
New thermochronometric constraints on the Tertiary landscape evolution of the central and eastern Grand Canyon, Arizona
John P. Lee, Daniel F. Stockli, S.A. Kelley, J. Pederson, K. E. Karlstrom, T.A. Ehlers
2013, Geosphere (9) 216-228
Thermal histories are modeled from new apatite (U-Th)/He and apatite fission-track data in order to quantitatively constrain the landscape evolution of the Grand Canyon region. Fifty new samples and their associated thermochronometric ages are presented here. Samples span from Lee’s Ferry in the east to Quartermaster Canyon in the west...
The airspace is habitat
Robert H. Diehl
2013, Trends in Ecology and Evolution (28) 377-379
A preconception concerning habitat persists and has gone unrecognized since use of the term first entered the lexicon of ecological and evolutionary biology many decades ago. Specifically, land and water are considered habitats, while the airspace is not. This might at first seem a reasonable, if unintended, demarcation, since years...
Land-use change, economics, and rural well-being in the Prairie Pothole Region of the United States
William R. Gascoigne, Dana L.K. Hoag, Rex R. Johnson, Lynne M. Koontz, Catherine Cullinane Thomas
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3046
This fact sheet highlights findings included in a comprehensive new report (see USGS Professional Paper 1800) which investigated land-use change, economic characteristics, and rural community well-being in the Prairie Pothole Region of the United States. Once one of the largest grassland-wetlands ecosystems on earth, the North American prairie has experienced...
Revision of Fontes & Garnier's model for the initial 14C content of dissolved inorganic carbon used in groundwater dating
Liang-Feng Han, Niel Plummer
2013, Chemical Geology (351) 105-114
The widely applied model for groundwater dating using 14C proposed by Fontes and Garnier (F&G) (Fontes and Garnier, 1979) estimates the initial 14C content in waters from carbonate-rock aquifers affected by isotopic exchange. Usually, the model of F&G is applied in one of two ways: (1) using a single 13C...
Deforestation trends of tropical dry forests in central Brazil
Carlos A. Bianchi, Susan M. Haig
2013, Biotropica (45) 395-400
Tropical dry forests are the most threatened forest type in the world yet a paucity of research about them stymies development of appropriate conservation actions. The Paranã River Basin has the most significant dry forest formations in the Cerrado biome of central Brazil and is threatened by intense land conversion...
Exploring Hawaiian volcanism
Michael P. Poland, Paul G. Okubo, Ken Hon
2013, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union (94) 72-72
In 1912 the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) was established by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Thomas A. Jaggar Jr. on the island of Hawaii. Driven by the devastation he observed while investigating the volcanic disasters of 1902 at Montagne Pelée in the Caribbean, Jaggar conducted a worldwide search and decided...
Management, morphological, and environmental factors influencing Douglas-fir bark furrows in the Oregon Coast Range
Christopher D. Sheridan, Klaus J. Puettmann, Manuela M.P. Huso, Joan C. Hagar, Kristen R. Falk
2013, Western Journal of Applied Forestry (28) 97-106
Many land managers in the Pacific Northwest have the goal of increasing late-successional forest structures. Despite the documented importance of Douglas-fir tree bark structure in forested ecosystems, little is known about factors influencing bark development and how foresters can manage development. This study investigated the relative importance of tree size,...
U.S. Geological Survey water-resource monitoring activities in support of the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative
Suzanna Soileau, Kirk Miller
2013, WLCI Fact Sheet 4
The quality of the Nation’s water resources are vital to the health and well-being of both our communities and the natural landscapes we value. The U.S. Geological Survey investigates the occurrence, quantity, quality, distribution, and movement of surface water and groundwater and provides this information to engineers, scientists, managers, educators,...
Impact of Late Holocene climate variability and anthropogenic activities on Biscayne Bay (Florida, U.S.A.): Evidence from diatoms
Anna Wachnicka, Evelyn Gaiser, G. Lynn Wingard, Henry Briceno, Peter Harlem
2013, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (371) 80-92
Shallow marine ecosystems are experiencing significant environmental alterations as a result of changing climate and increasing human activities along coasts. Intensive urbanization of the southeast Florida coast and intensification of climate change over the last few centuries changed the character of coastal ecosystems in the semi-enclosed Biscayne Bay, Florida. In...
