Simultaneous estimation of local-scale and flow path-scale dual-domain mass transfer parameters using geoelectrical monitoring
Martin A. Briggs, Frederick D. Day-Lewis, John B. Ong, Gary P. Curtis, John W. Lane Jr.
2013, Water Resources Research (49) 5615-5630
Anomalous solute transport, modeled as rate-limited mass transfer, has an observable geoelectrical signature that can be exploited to infer the controlling parameters. Previous experiments indicate the combination of time-lapse geoelectrical and fluid conductivity measurements collected during ionic tracer experiments provides valuable insight into the exchange of solute between mobile and...
Information to support to monitoring and habitat restoration on Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
G. Gary Scoppettone
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1022
The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge staff focuses on improving habitat for the highest incidence of endemic species for an area of its size in the continental United States. Attempts are being made to restore habitat to some semblance of its pre-anthropogenic undisturbed condition, and to provide habitat conditions to...
Nutrient and sediment concentrations, yields, and loads in impaired streams and rivers in the Taunton River Basin, Massachusetts, 1997-2008
Jeffrey R. Barbaro, Jason R. Sorenson
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5277
Rapid development, population growth, and the changes in land and water use accompanying development are placing increasing stress on water resources in the Taunton River Basin. An assessment by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection determined that a number of tributary streams to the Taunton River are impaired for a...
Application of environmental DNA for inventory and monitoring of aquatic species
David S. Pilliod, Caren S. Goldberg, Matthew B. Laramie, Lisette P. Waits
2013, Fact Sheet 2012-3146
This fact sheet was created to help biologists and resource managers understand emerging methods for detecting environmental DNA and their potential application for inventorying and monitoring aquatic species. It is a synthesis of published information....
Bedrock geologic map of the Nashua South quadrangle, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, and Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Gregory J. Walsh, Richard H. Jahns, John N. Aleinikoff
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3200
The bedrock geology of the 7.5-minute Nashua South quadrangle consists primarily of deformed Silurian metasedimentary rocks of the Berwick Formation. The metasedimentary rocks are intruded by a Late Silurian to Early Devonian diorite-gabbro suite, Devonian rocks of the Ayer Granodiorite, Devonian granitic rocks of the New Hampshire Plutonic Suite including...
Hydrogeologic framework, hydrology, and water quality in the Pearce Creek Dredge Material Containment Area and vicinity, Cecil County, Maryland, 2010-11
Cheryl A. Dieter, Michael T. Koterba, Otto S. Zapecza, Charles W. Walker, Donald E. Rice
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5263
In 2009, to support an evaluation of the feasibility of reopening the Pearce Creek Dredge Material Containment Area (DMCA) in Cecil County, Maryland, for dredge-spoil disposal, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began to implement a comprehensive study designed to improve the understanding of the hydrogeologic framework, hydrology, and water quality...
Estimated anthropogenic nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to the land surface of the conterminous United States--1992, 1997, and 2002
Lori A. Sprague, Jo Ann M. Gronberg
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5241
Anthropogenic inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus to each county in the conterminous United States and to the watersheds of 495 surface-water sites studied as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program were quantified for the years 1992, 1997, and 2002. Estimates of inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus...
User’s manual to update the National Wildlife Refuge System Water Quality Information System (WQIS)
Kimberly A. Chojnacki, Chad J. Vishy, Jo Ellen Hinck, Susan E. Finger, Michael J. Higgins, Kevin Kilbride
2013, Techniques and Methods 11-C8
National Wildlife Refuges may have impaired water quality resulting from historic and current land uses, upstream sources, and aerial pollutant deposition. National Wildlife Refuge staff have limited time available to identify and evaluate potential water quality issues. As a result, water quality–related issues may not be resolved until a problem...
Landsat surface reflectance quality assurance extraction (version 1.7)
J. W. Jones, M.J. Starbuck, Calli B. Jenkerson
2013, Techniques and Methods 11-C7
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Land Remote Sensing Program is developing an operational capability to produce Climate Data Records (CDRs) and Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) from the Landsat Archive to support a wide variety of science and resource management activities from regional to global scale. The USGS Earth Resources Observation...
Hydraulic and Geomorphic Assessment of the Merced River and Historic Bridges in Eastern Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California: Sacramento, California
J. Toby Minear, Scott Wright
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1016
The Merced River in the popular and picturesque eastern-most part of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California, USA, has been extensively altered since the park was first conceived in 1864. Historical human trampling of streambanks has been suggested as the cause of substantial increases in stream width, and the...
What is the economic value of satellite imagery?
Ronald P. Raunikar, William M. Forney, Susan P. Benjamin
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3003
Does remote-sensing information, such as that from Landsat and similar Earth-observing satellites, provide economic benefits to society, and can this value be estimated? Using satellite data for northeastern Iowa, U.S. Geological Survey scientists modeled the relations among land uses, agricultural production, and dynamic nitrate (NO3-) contamination of aquifers. They demonstrated...
Historic distribution of Common Loons in Wisconsin in relation to changes in lake characteristics and surrounding land use
Kevin P. Kenow, Paul J. Garrison, Timothy J. Fox, Michael W. Meyer
2013, Book chapter, Potential effects of climate change on inland glacial lakes and implications for lake dependent biota in Wisconsin
A study was conducted to evaluate changes in water quality and land-use change associated with lakes that are south of the current breeding range of Common Loons in Wisconsin but that historically supported breeding loons. Museum collection records and published accounts were examined to identify lakes in southern Wisconsin with...
Seasonal flux and assemblage composition of planktic foraminifers from a sediment-trap study in the northern Gulf of Mexico
Richard Z. Poore, Jessica W. Spear, Kathy A. Tedesco
2013, Journal of Coastal Research 6-19
Sediment-trap samples from the northern Gulf of Mexico reveal that Globorotalia truncatulinoides, Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, Pulleniatina spp. (includes P. obliquiloculata and P. finalis), and the Globorotalia menardii group (includes Gt. menardii, Gt. tumida, and Gt. ungulata) generally occur in cold months. Globigerinoides ruber (white and pink varieties) and Globigennoides sacculifer occur...
Comprehensive assessment of hormones, phytoestrogens, and estrogenic activity in an anaerobic swine waste lagoon
Erin E. Yost, Michael T. Meyer, Julie E. Dietze, Benjamin M. Meissner, Mike Williams, Lynn Worley-Davis, Boknam Lee, Seth W. Kullman
2013, Environmental Science & Technology (47) 13781-13790
In this study, the distribution of steroid hormones, phytoestrogens, and estrogenic activity was thoroughly characterized within the anaerobic waste lagoon of a typical commercial swine sow operation. Three independent rounds of sampling were conducted in June 2009, April 2010, and February 2011. Thirty-seven analytes in lagoon slurry and sludge were...
Climate-associated population declines reverse recovery and threaten future of an iconic high-elevation plant
Paul D. Krushelnycky, Lloyd L. Loope, Thomas W. Giambelluca, Forest Starr, Kim Starr, Donald R. Drake, Andrew D. Taylor, Robert H. Robichaux
2013, Global Change Biology (19) 911-922
Although climate change is predicted to place mountain-top and other narrowly endemic species at severe risk of extinction, the ecological processes involved in such extinctions are still poorly resolved. In addition, much of this biodiversity loss will likely go unobserved, and therefore largely unappreciated. The Haleakalā silversword is restricted to...
Ammocoetes of Pacific lamprey are not susceptible to common fish rhabdoviruses of the U.S. Pacific Northwest
Gael Kurath, C J. Jolley, Tarin M. Thompson, D. Thompson, A.T. Whitesel, S. Gutenberger, James R. Winton
2013, Journal of Aquatic Animal Health (25) 274-280
Pacific Lampreys Entosphenus tridentatus have experienced severe population declines in recent years and efforts to develop captive rearing programs are under consideration. However, there is limited knowledge of their life history, ecology, and potential to harbor or transmit pathogens that may cause infectious disease. As a measure of the possible...
A framework for quantitative assessment of impacts related to energy and mineral resource development
Seth S. Haines, James Diffendorfer, Laurie S. Balistrieri, Byron R. Berger, Troy A. Cook, Donald L. Gautier, Tanya J. Gallegos, Margot Gerritsen, Elisabeth Graffy, Sarah Hawkins, Kathleen Johnson, Jordan Macknick, Peter McMahon, Tim Modde, Brenda Pierce, John H. Schuenemeyer, Darius J. Semmens, Benjamin Simon, Jason Taylor, Katherine Walton-Day
2013, Natural Resources Research (23) 3-17
Natural resource planning at all scales demands methods for assessing the impacts of resource development and use, and in particular it requires standardized methods that yield robust and unbiased results. Building from existing probabilistic methods for assessing the volumes of energy and mineral resources, we provide an algorithm for consistent,...
Relating hyporheic fluxes, residence times, and redox-sensitive biogeochemical processes upstream of beaver dams
Martin A. Briggs, Laura Lautz, Danielle K. Hare
2013, Freshwater Science (32) 622-641
Abstract. Small dams enhance the development of patchy microenvironments along stream corridors by trapping sediment and creating complex streambed morphologies. This patchiness drives intricate hyporheic flux patterns that govern the exchange of O2 and redox-sensitive solutes between the water column and the stream bed. We used multiple tracer techniques, naturally...
The contribution of cold winter temperatures to the 2003 alewife population collapse in Lake Huron
Erin Dunlop, Stephen C. Riley
2013, Journal of Great Lakes Research (39) 682-689
The Lake Huron ecosystem has recently undergone dramatic changes. As part of those changes, the once highly abundant non-native alewife Alosa pseudoharengus population crashed in 2003 and has yet to recover. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether temperature played a role in the population crash, because historically...
Biogeochemistry of beetle-killed forests: Explaining a weak nitrate response
Charles C. Rhoades, James H. McCutchan, Leigh A. Cooper, David W. Clow, Thomas M. Detmer, Jennifer S. Briggs, John D. Stednick, Thomas T. Veblen, Rachel M. Ertz, Gene E. Likens, William M. Lewis
2013, PNAS (110) 1756-1760
A current pine beetle infestation has caused extensive mortality of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) in forests of Colorado and Wyoming; it is part of an unprecedented multispecies beetle outbreak extending from Mexico to Canada. In United States and European watersheds, where atmospheric deposition of inorganic N is moderate to low...
Soil diversity and hydration as observed by ChemCam at Gale crater, Mars
P.-Y. Meslin, O. Gasnault, O. Forni, S. Schroder, A. Cousin, G. Berger, S.M. Clegg, J. Lasue, S. Maurice, V. Sautter, S. Le Mouélic, R. C. Wiens, C. Fabre, W. Goetz, D.L. Bish, N. Mangold, B. Ehlmann, N. Lanza, A.-M. Harri, Ryan B. Anderson, E. Rampe, T.H. McConnochie, P. Pinet, D. Blaney, Leveille, D. Archer, B. Barraclough, S. Bender, D. Blake, J.G. Blank, N. Bridges, B.C. Clark, L. DeFlores, D. Delapp, G. Dromart, M.D. Dyar, M. R. Fisk, B. Gondet, J. Grotzinger, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, J. Johnson, J.-L. Lacour, Y. Langevin, L. Leshin, E. Lewin, M.B. Madsen, N. Melikechi, Alissa Mezzacappa, M.A. Mischna, J.E. Moores, H. Newsom, A. Ollila, Perez, N. Renno, J.B. Sirven, R. Tokar, M. de la Torre, L. d’Uston, D. Vaniman, A. Yingst
2013, Science (341)
The ChemCam instrument, which provides insight into martian soil chemistry at the submillimeter scale, identified two principal soil types along the Curiosity rover traverse: a fine-grained mafic type and a locally derived, coarse-grained felsic type. The mafic soil component is representative of widespread martian soils and is similar in composition...
The major-ion composition of Cenozoic seawater: the past 36 million years from fluid inclusions in marine halite
Sean T. Brennan, Tim K. Lowenstein, Dioni I. Cendon
2013, American Journal of Science (313) 713-775
Fluid inclusions from ten Cenozoic (Eocene-Miocene) marine halites are used to quantify the major-ion composition (Mg2+, Ca2+, K+, Na+, SO42−, and Cl−) of seawater over the past 36 My. Criteria used to determine a seawater origin of the halites include: (1) stratigraphic, sedimentologic, and paleontologic observations; (2) Br− in halite;...
Extreme drought: summary of hydrologic conditions in Georgia, 2011
Andrew E. Knaak, Eric R. Frantz, Michael F. Peck
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3002
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Georgia Water Science Center (GaWSC) maintains a long-term hydrologic monitoring network of more than 320 realtime streamgages, including 10 real-time lake-level monitoring stations and 63 realtime water-quality monitors. Additionally, the GaWSC operates more than 180 groundwater wells, 35 of which are real-time. One of...
US Topo–A new national map series, 2012 update
Laurence R. Moore
2013, Directions Magazine
The U.S. Geological Survey's Larry Moore provides an update on the US Topo effort, the Survey’s general purpose, digital, quadrangle map series. He outlines the successes thus far and the obstacles still ahead in 2013....
The water cycle for kids
Stephanie Neno, Jim Morgan, Gabriele Zonolli, Howard Perlman, Gerard Gonthier
2013, General Information Product 146
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have created a water-cycle diagram for use in elementary and middle schools. The diagram is available in many languages. This diagram is part of the USGS's Water Science School, in...
