A novel method for conducting a geoenvironmental assessment of undiscovered ISR-amenable uranium Resources: Proof-of-concept in the Texas Coastal Plain
Tanya J. Gallegos, Victoria G. Stengel, Katherine Walton-Day, Johanna Blake, Andrew Teeple, Delbert G Humberson, Steven M. Cahan, Douglas Yager, Kent D Becher
2022, Minerals (12)
A geoenvironmental assessment methodology was developed to estimate waste quantities and disturbances that could be associated with the extraction of undiscovered uranium resources and identify areas on the landscape where uranium and other constituents of potential concern (COPCs) that may co-occur with uranium deposits in this region are likely...
Processes and mechanisms of coastal woody-plant mortality
Nate G. McDowell, Marilyn Ball, Ben Bond-Lamberty, Matthew L. Kirwan, Ken Krauss, J. Patrick Megonigal, Maurizio Mencuccini, Nicholas D. Ward, Michael N. Weintraub, Vanessa Bailey
2022, Global Change Biology (28) 5881-5900
Observations of woody plant mortality in coastal ecosystems are globally widespread, but the overarching processes and underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. This knowledge deficiency, combined with rapidly changing water levels, storm surges, atmospheric CO2, and vapor pressure deficit, creates large predictive uncertainty regarding how coastal ecosystems will respond to global...
Vadose zone thickness limits pore-fluid pressures and acceleration in a large, slow-moving landslide
C.R. Murphy, N.J. Finnegan, Ferdinand K.J. Oberle
2022, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface (127)
The rate and timing of hydrologically forced landslides is a complex function of precipitation patterns, material properties, topography, and groundwater hydrology. In the simplest form, however, slopes fail when subsurface pore pressure grows large enough to exceed the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. The capacity for pore pressure rise...
A lesser scaup (Aythya affinis ) naturally infected with Eurasian 2.3.4.4 highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus – Movement ecology and host factors
Diann Prosser, Hannah Schley, Nathan Simmons, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Josh Homyack, Matthew M. Weegman, Glenn H. Olsen, Alicia Berlin, Rebecca L. Poulson, David E. Stallknecht, Christopher K. Williams
2022, Transboundary and Emerging Diseases (69) e2653-e2660
Despite the recognized role of wild waterfowl in the potential dispersal and transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, little is known about how infection affects these birds. This lack of information limits our ability to estimate viral spread in the event of an HPAI outbreak, thereby limiting our...
Turbidity and estimated phosphorus retention in a reconnected Lake Erie coastal wetland
Glenn Carter, Kurt P. Kowalski, Michael Eggleston
2022, Water (14)
Nearly all of the wetlands in the coastal zone of Lake Erie have been degraded or destroyed since the 1860s, and most of those that remain are separated from their watersheds by earthen dikes. Hydrologic isolation of these wetlands disrupts ecosystem benefits typical to Great Lakes coastal wetlands, particularly the...
Montana and Landsat
U.S. Geological Survey
2022, Fact Sheet 2022-3041
The landscapes beneath Montana’s big sky are as breathtaking as the State’s nickname would suggest. Visitors to the 41st State's "Big Sky Country" can take in the stunning icy hues of aquamarine at Glacier National Park; explore the northern swaths of Yellowstone National Park; or hike, bike, or boat through...
The role of pH up-regulation in response to nutrient-enriched, low-pH groundwater discharge
Nancy G. Prouty, Marlene Wall, J. Fietzke, Olivia M. Cheriton, Eleni Anagnostou, Brian Phillip, Adina Paytan
2022, Marine Chemistry (243)
Coral reefs and their ecosystems are threatened by both global stressors, including increasing sea-surface temperatures and ocean acidification (OA), and local stressors such as land-based sources of pollution that can magnify the effects of OA. Corals can physiologically control the chemistry of their internal calcifying fluids (CF) and can thereby regulate their...
Dynamic rating method for computing discharge from time-series stage data
Marian M. Domanski, Robert R. Holmes Jr., Elizabeth N. Heal
2022, Open-File Report 2022-1031
Ratings are used for a variety of reasons in water-resources investigations. The simplest rating relates discharge to the stage of the river. From a pure hydrodynamics perspective, all rivers and streams have some form of hysteresis in the relation between stage and discharge because of unsteady flow as a flood...
Water storage decisions and consumptive use may constrain ecosystem management under severe sustained drought
Lindsey Ann Bruckerhoff, Kevin Wheeler, Kimberly L. Dibble, B.A. Mihalevich, B.T. Nielson, J. Wang, Charles B. Yackulic, J.C. Schmidt
2022, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (58) 654-672
Drought has impacted the Colorado River basin for the past 20 years and is predicted to continue. In response, decisions about how much water should be stored in large reservoirs and how much water can be consumptively used will be necessary. These decisions have the potential to...
Dissolved organic matter within oil and gas associated wastewaters from U.S. unconventional petroleum plays: Comparisons and consequences for disposal and reuse
Bonnie McDevitt, Aaron M. Jubb, Matthew S. Varonka, Madalyn S. Blondes, Mark A Engle, Tanya J. Gallegos, Jenna L. Shelton
2022, Science of the Total Environment (838)
Wastewater generated during petroleum extraction (produced water) may contain high concentrations of dissolved organics due to their intimate association with organic-rich source rocks, expelled petroleum, and organic additives to fluids used for hydraulic fracturing of unconventional (e.g., shale) reservoirs. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) within...
Assessment of mercury in sediments and waters of Grubers Grove Bay, Wisconsin
Evan J. Routhier, Sarah E. Janssen, Michael T. Tate, Jacob M. Ogorek, John F. DeWild, David P. Krabbenhoft
2022, Open-File Report 2022-1051
Mercury is a global contaminant that can be detrimental to wildlife and human health. Anthropogenic emissions and point sources are primarily responsible for elevated mercury concentrations in sediments and waters. Mercury can physically move and chemically transform in the environment, resulting in biomagnification of mercury, in the form of methylmercury,...
Addressing stakeholder science needs for integrated drought science in the Colorado River Basin
Anne C. Tillery, Sally House, Rebecca J. Frus, Sharon L. Qi, Daniel K. Jones, William J. Andrews
2022, Fact Sheet 2022-3010
Stakeholders need scientific data, analysis, and predictions of how drought the will impact the Colorado River Basin in a format that is continuously updated, intuitive, and easily accessible. The Colorado River Basin Actionable and Strategic Integrated Science and Technology Pilot Project was formed to demonstrate the effectiveness of addressing complex...
Ephemeral stream network extraction from lidar-derived elevation and topographic attributes in urban and forested landscapes
Marina J. Metes, Daniel K. Jones, Matthew E. Baker, Andrew J. Miller, Dianna M. Hogan, J.V. Loperfido, Kristina G. Hopkins
2022, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (58) 547-565
Under-representations of headwater channels in digital stream networks can result in uncertainty in the magnitude of headwater habitat loss, stream burial, and watershed function. Increased availability of high-resolution (<2 m) elevation data makes the delineation of headwater channels more attainable. In this study, elevation data derived from...
Repeated genetic targets of natural selection underlying adaptation of euryhaline fishes to changing salinity
Jonathan P Velotta, Stephen D. McCormick, Andrew Whitehead, Catherine S Durso, Eric T. Schultz
2022, Integrative and Comparative Biology (62) 357-375
Ecological transitions across salinity boundaries have led to some of the most important diversification events in the animal kingdom, especially among fishes. Adaptations accompanying such transitions include changes in morphology, diet, whole-organism performance, and osmoregulatory function, which may be particularly prominent since divergent salinity regimes make opposing demands on systems...
Tracking heat in the Willamette River system, Oregon
Stewart A. Rounds, Laurel E. Stratton Garvin
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5006
The Willamette River Basin in northwestern Oregon is home to several cold-water fish species whose habitat has been altered by the Willamette Valley Project, a system of 13 dams and reservoirs operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Water-resource managers use a variety of flow- and temperature-management strategies...
The thermal landscape of the Willamette River—Patterns and controls on stream temperature and implications for flow management and cold-water salmonids
Laurel E. Stratton Garvin, Stewart A. Rounds
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5035
Water temperature is a primary control on the health, diversity, abundance, and distribution of aquatic species, but thermal degradation resulting from anthropogenic influences on rivers is a challenge to threatened species worldwide. In the Willamette River Basin, northwestern Oregon, spring-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and winter-run steelhead (O. mykiss)...
Assessment of habitat availability for juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead (O. mykiss) in the Willamette River, Oregon
James S. White, James T. Peterson, Laurel E. Stratton Garvin, Tobias J. Kock, J. Rose Wallick
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5034
The Willamette River, Oregon, is home to two salmonid species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, Upper WIllamette River spring Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and Upper Willamette River winter steelhead (O. mykiss). Streamflow in the Willamette River is regulated by upstream dams, 13 of which are operated...
Updates to models of streamflow and water temperature for 2011, 2015, and 2016 in rivers of the Willamette River Basin, Oregon
Laurel E. Stratton Garvin, Stewart A. Rounds, Norman L. Buccola
2022, Open-File Report 2022-1017
Mechanistic river models capable of simulating hydrodynamics and stream temperature are valuable tools for investigating thermal conditions and their relation to streamflow in river basins where upstream water storage and management decisions have an important influence on river reaches with threatened fish populations. In the Willamette River Basin in...
Regional walrus abundance estimate in the United States Chukchi Sea in autumn
Anthony S. Fischbach, Rebecca L. Taylor, Chadwick V. Jay
2022, Journal of Wildlife Management (86)
Human activities (e.g., shipping, tourism, oil, gas development) have increased in the Chukchi Sea because of declining sea ice. The declining sea ice itself and these activities may affect Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) abundance; however, previous walrus abundance estimates have been notably imprecise. When sea...
Maize yield forecasts for Sub-Saharan Africa using Earth Observation data and machine learning
Donghoon Lee, Frank Davenport, Shraddhanand Shukla, Gregory Husak, W. Chris Funk, Laura Harrison, Amy McNally, Michael Budde, James Rowland, James Verdin
2022, Global Food Security (33)
Food insecurity continues to grow in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In 2019, chronically malnourished people numbered nearly 240 million, or 20% of the population in SSA. Globally, numerous efforts have been made to anticipate potential droughts, crop conditions, and food shortages in order to improve...
Maintenance and dissemination of avian-origin influenza A virus within the northern Atlantic Flyway of North America
Diann Prosser, Jiani Chen, Christina Ahlstrom, Andrew B. Reeves, Rebecca L. Poulson, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Daniel McAuley, Carl R. Callahan, Peter C. McGowan, Justin Bahl, David E. Stallknecht, Andrew M. Ramey
2022, PLoS Pathogens (18)
Wild waterbirds, the natural reservoirs for avian influenza viruses, undergo migratory movements each year, connecting breeding and wintering grounds within broad corridors known as flyways. In a continental or global view, the study of virus movements within and across flyways is important to understanding virus diversity,...
Streamflow reconstructions from tree rings and variability in drought and surface water supply for the Milk and St. Mary River basins
Justin T. Martin, Gregory T. Pederson
2022, Quaternary Science Reviews (288)
The Milk and St. Mary Rivers are international waterways straddling the United States and Canada and traversing four Tribal Nations before draining into the Missouri and South Saskatchewan Rivers respectively. Management of water resources in the region is challenged by the...
A three-dimensional Lagrangian particle tracking model for predicting transport of eggs of rheophilic-spawning carps in turbulent rivers
Geng Li, Bin Wang, Caroline M. Elliott, Bruce Call, Duane Chapman, R. B. Jacobson
2022, Ecological Modelling (470) 110035
Grass carp, bighead carp, and silver carp spawn in flowing water. Their eggs, and then larvae, develop while drifting. Hydraulic conditions and water temperature control spawning locations, egg survival, and the downstream distance traveled before the hatched larvae can swim for low velocity...
Petrogenesis and rare earth element mineralization of the Elk Creek carbonatite, Nebraska, USA
Philip Verplanck, G. Lang Farmer, Richard M. Kettler, Heather A. Lowers, Craig A. Johnson, Alan E. Koenig, Michael J. Blessington
2022, Ore Geology Reviews (146)
Although carbonatites are the primary source of the world’s rare earth elements (REEs), the processes responsible for ore-grade REE enrichment in carbonatites are still poorly understood. In this study, we present a petrologic, geochemical, and isotopic evaluation of the Elk Creek carbonatite in southeast Nebraska...
Methods for computing 7Q2 and 7Q20 low-streamflow statistics to account for possible trends
Luther Schalk, Robert W. Dudley, Annalise G. Blum
2022, Open-File Report 2021-1111
Low-streamflow statistics, such as the annual minimum 7-day streamflow (which is the 7-day streamflow likely to be exceeded in 9 out of 10 years on average [7Q10]), that are computed by using the full historical streamflow record may not accurately represent current conditions at sites with statistically significant trends in...
