Anatidae brood records in Maine during studies of Anas rubripes (American black duck), 1977–94
Jerry R. Longcore, Christine M. Bunck, Daniel G. McAuley, David A. Clugston
2024, Data Report 1200
This report describes a compilation of brood observations for Anatidae species breeding in Maine during an 18-year period (1977–94) that were made by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center while it was operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. During four focused studies, variables affecting the declining...
Using crustal-scale refraction data of joint inversions of Rayleigh-wave dispersion curves and H/V spectral ratios for Atlantic Coastal Plain velocity structure, eastern U.S.
Thomas L. Pratt, Stefano Parolai, Valerio Poggi, Ilaria Dreossi
2024, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (115) 270-295
Shallow shear‐wave velocities (Vs) sometimes are estimated from joint inversions of horizontal‐to‐vertical (H/V) spectral ratios and surface‐wave dispersion curves derived from ambient noise or small active sources. Here, we evaluate carrying out these inversions using Rayleigh‐wave dispersion curves computed from crustal‐scale P‐wave seismic refraction data. We use data from...
Brittle regime slip partitioned damage and deformation mechanisms along the eastern Denali fault zone in southwestern, Yukon
Jonathan Saul Caine, Omero F. Orlandini, Frederick W. Vollmer, Heather A. Lowers
2024, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (129)
Rare bedrock exposures of the eastern Denali fault zone in southwestern Yukon allow for the measurement, sampling, and analyses of brittle regime fault slip data and deformation mechanisms to explore relations to far field, oblique plate motions. Host rock lithologies and associated slip surfaces show episodic damage zone‐related deformation and...
Seismicity zoning at Coso geothermal field and stress changes from fluid production and migration
Sui Tung, Joern Ole Kaven, Manoochehr Shirzaei, Timothy Masterlark, Herbert F. Wang, Wei-Chung Huang, Kurt L. Feigl
2024, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (646)
The Coso geothermal field is a major geothermal power production site in the western United States. It has been observed that low-magnitude seismic events (M < 3.71) are unevenly distributed in three distinct zones, namely, nearfield (<3 km), midfield (3–6 km), and...
Three-dimensional temperature maps of the Williston Basin, USA: Implications for deep hot sedimentary and enhanced geothermal resources
Sarah E. Gelman, Erick R. Burns
2024, Geothermics (125)
As part of U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) efforts to identify and assess geothermal energy resources of the US, a three-dimensional (3D) geologic and thermal model has been constructed for the Williston Basin, USA. The geologic model consists of all sedimentary units above the Proterozoic and Archean crystalline rock (called basement...
Peak streamflow trends in South Dakota and their relation to changes in climate, water years 1921–2020
Nancy A. Barth, Steven K. Sando
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5064-I
Peak-flow (flood) frequency analysis is essential to water-resources management applications, including the design of critical infrastructure such as bridges and culverts, and floodplain mapping. Federal guidelines for performing peak-flow flood frequency analyses are presented in a U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods Report known as Bulletin 17C. A basic assumption...
Deep syntectonic burial of the Anthracite belt, Eastern Pennsylvania
Mark A. Evans, Aaron M. Jubb
2024, International Journal of Coal Geology (295)
Fluid inclusion microthermometry and Raman spectroscopy of fluid inclusions in quartz veins from the Pennsylvanian rocks of the Anthracite belt, eastern Pennsylvania support a deep burial model of coalification in favor of focused orogenic hot fluid flow. High-temperature (250 to 255 °C) trapping of CH4 ± CO2 saturated aqueous fluids and CH4 ± CO2 inclusions indicate fluid...
Depths in a day - A new era of rapid-response Raman-based barometry using fluid inclusions
Charlotte DeVitre, Penny E. Wieser, Alexander T. Bearden, Araela Richie, Berenise Rangel, Matthew Gleeson, John Grimsich, Kendra J. Lynn, Drew T. Downs, Natalia I. Deligne, Katherine M. Mulliken
2024, Journal of Petrology (65)
Rapid-response petrological monitoring is a major advance for volcano observatories, allowing them to build and validate models of plumbing systems that supply eruptions in near-real-time. The depth of magma storage has recently been identified as high-priority information for volcanic observatories, yet this information is not currently obtainable via petrological monitoring...
Trends and environmental impacts of virtual water trade
Mesfin M. Mekonnen, Mahlet M. Kebede, Betelhem W. Demeke, Joel A. Carr, Ashok Chapagain, Carole Dalin, Peter Debaere, Paolo D’Odorico, Landon Marston, Chittaranjan Ray, Lorenzo Rosa, La Zhuo
2024, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (5) 890-905
Virtual water describes water embedded in the production of goods and offers meaningful insights about the complex interplay between water, trade and sustainability. In this Review, we examine the trends, major players, traded products and key drivers of virtual water trade (VWT). Roughly 20% of water used in global food...
Reducing uncertainty with iterative model updating parses effects of competition and environment on salamander occupancy
Jo Avital Werba, Graziella Vittoria DiRenzo, Adrianne Brand, Evan H. Campbell Grant
2024, Oecologia (206) 305-316
Making timely management decisions is often hindered by uncertainty. Monitoring reduces two key types of uncertainty. First, it serves to reduce structural uncertainty of how the system works and provides support for expectations of how a system works. Second, it serves to reduce parametric uncertainty of the drivers of system...
Ceanothus: Taxonomic patterns in life history responses to fire
Jon Keeley, V. Thomas Parker, Paul H. Zedler, R. Brandon Pratt
2024, American Journal of Botany (111)
Premise: Ceanothus (Rhamnaceae) is a large genus of shrubs that dominate California chaparral and are resilient to fires. Persistence is ensured by resprouting and/or seedling recruitment from dormant seed banks. Some species do both and others, the obligate seeders, are entirely dependent on seedling recruitment. The distribution of these two modes...
Geologic map of the southern Stillwater Range, Nevada
David A. John, Joseph P. Colgan, Margaret E. Berry, Christopher D. Henry, Norman J. Silberling
2024, Scientific Investigations Map 3521
The southern Stillwater Range in west-central Nevada contains the western part of the Oligocene Stillwater-Clan Alpine caldera complex, which extends about 55 kilometers (km) east from the west side of the Stillwater Range to the northwestern Desatoya Mountains. The complex consists of at least seven nested ignimbrite calderas and subjacent...
Quality of groundwater used for domestic supply in the eastern Sacramento Valley and adjacent foothills, California
George L. Bennett V
2024, Open-File Report 2024-1061
SummaryMore than 2 million Californians rely on groundwater from privately owned domestic wells for drinking-water supply. This report summarizes a water-quality survey of domestic and small-system drinking-water supply wells in the eastern Sacramento Valley and adjacent foothills where more than 25,000 residents are estimated to use privately owned domestic wells....
Climate-smart agriculture for Ukraine: Winter wheat breeding for food security and climate adaptation
Veronica Romero, August Raleigh Schultz, Kathryn Powlen, Sachin D. Shah
2024, Report
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, people have experienced food insecurity challenges because of increased prices of staple food commodities and loss of income or livelihood. Globally, countries with limited capacity to adapt have struggled to recover from pandemic-related disruptions and are further challenged to address...
Detecting trajectories of regime shifts and loss of resilience in coastal wetlands using remote sensing
Melinda Martinez, Marcelo L Ardon, Joshua Gray
2024, Ecosystems (27) 1060-1075
Many freshwater forested wetlands along the southeastern United States coastline are rapidly transitioning from forest to marsh or open water, due to climate change-related disturbances. Recent studies have found early warning signals (EWS) of regime shifts in other ecosystems, but it is unclear if these can be detected for coastal...
Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources in the Norphlet Formation, U.S. Gulf Coast region, 2023
John W. Counts, William H. Craddock, Jared T. Gooley, Marc L. Buursink, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Christopher J. Schenk
2024, Fact Sheet 2024-3034
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 16 million barrels of oil and 348 billion cubic feet of gas in conventional reservoirs of the Norphlet Formation in the U.S. Gulf Coast region....
Population structure of Desmophyllum pertusum found along the United States eastern continental margin
Alexis Marie Weinnig, Aaron Aunins, Veronica J. Salamone, Andrea M. Quattrini, Martha S. Nizinski, Cheryl Morrison
2024, BMC Research Notes (17)
ObjectiveThe connectivity and genetic structuring of populations throughout a region influence a species’ resilience and probability of recovery from anthropogenic impacts. By gaining a comprehensive understanding of population connectivity, more effective management can be prioritized. To assess the connectivity and population genetic structure of a common cold-water coral...
Tissue distribution and temporal and spatial assessment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) in the mid-Atlantic United States
Vicki S. Blazer, Heather L. Walsh, Cheyenne R. Smith, Stephanie E. Gordon, Brandon J. Keplinger, Timothy Wertz
2024, Environmental Science and Pollution Research (p.) 59302-59319
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have become an environmental issue worldwide. A first step to assessing potential adverse effects on fish populations is to determine if concentrations of concern are present in a region and if so, in which watersheds. Hence, plasma from adult smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu collected at 10 sites...
Self-potential tomography preconditioned by particle swarm optimization— Application to monitoring hyporheic exchange in a bedrock river
Scott Ikard, Kenneth C. Carroll, Scott C. Brooks, Dale F. Rucker, Gladisol Smith-Vega, Aubrey Elwes
2024, Water Resources Research (60)
A self-potential (SP) data-inversion algorithm was developed and tested on an analytical model of electrical-potential profile data attributed to single and multiple polarized electrical sources. The developed algorithm was then validated by an application to SP-monitoring field data measured on the floodplain of East Fork Poplar Creek, Oak Ridge, Tennessee,...
The geometry of fault reactivation and uplift along the central part of the Maacama fault zone, northern California Coast Ranges (USA)
Benjamin L. Melosh, Robert J. McLaughlin, Henry Ohlin
2024, Geosphere (20) 1511-1532
Fault reactivation of bedrock structures in active fault zones influences stress state and earthquake rupture phenomena through the introduction of weak slip surfaces that impact fault zone geometry and width. Yet, geometric relationships between modern faults and older reactivated faults are difficult to quantify in rocks that have experienced multiple...
Predicted occurrence of Eastern Newts (Notophthalmus viridescens viridescens) across the northeastern United States
Lindsey Pekurny, Evan H. Campbell Grant, Brittany A. Mosher
2024, Herpetologica (80) 307-313
Effective conservation is becoming more difficult as threats to wildlife increase. Natural resource managers are pressured to make difficult decisions with limited resources, and in many instances, large uncertainty. Scientists and managers tasked with the conservation of a species need tools to help guide efficient decision-making. Often, information for management...
Evaluating hydrologic model performance for characterizing streamflow drought in the conterminous United States
Caelan Simeone, Sydney Foks, Erin Towler, Timothy O. Hodson, Thomas M. Over
2024, Water (16)
Hydrologic models are the primary tools that are used to simulate streamflow drought and assess impacts. However, there is little consensus about how to evaluate the performance of these models, especially as hydrologic modeling moves toward larger spatial domains. This paper presents a comprehensive multi-objective approach to systematically evaluating the...
Produced water geochemistry from hydraulically stimulated Niobrara Formation petroleum wells: Origin of salinity and temporal perspectives on treatment and reuse
Aaron M. Jubb, Jenna L. Shelton, Bonnie McDevitt, Kaela K. Amundson, Amanda Sha Herzberg, Jessica Chenault, Andrew Laurence Masterson, Matthew S. Varonka, Glenn D. Jolly, Christina A. DeVera, Elliott P. Barnhart, Michael J. Wilkins, Madalyn S. Blondes
2024, Science of the Total Environment (955)
Produced water (i.e., a mixture of returned injection fluids and geologic formation brines) represents the largest volumetric waste stream associated with petroleum production in the United States. As such, produced water has been the focus of intense study with emphasis on understanding the...
Temporal, spatial, and chemical evolution of Quaternary high-silica rhyolites in the Mineral Mountains, Utah
Tiffany A. Rivera, Brian R. Jicha, Stefan Kirby, Hannah B. Peacock
2024, Professional Paper 1890-K
The Mineral Mountains in southwestern Utah are a structurally controlled core complex at the confluence of the Colorado Plateau and the Basin and Range physiographic provinces. Aside from hosting Utah’s largest batholith, the Mineral Mountains host some of the State’s youngest high-silica rhyolites, which have been linked to a magma...
The solar cycle, geology, and geoelectric hazards for power grids
Jeffrey J. Love, Steven Sobieszczyk, E. Joshua Rigler, Anna Kelbert, Kristen A. Lewis
2024, Fact Sheet 2024-3036
When sunspots are large and numerous, intense magnetic storms are likely to occur on the Earth. Magnetic storms can generate electric fields in the Earth, and these fields can, in turn, interfere with electric power transmission grids that are grounded at the Earth’s surface. Across the contiguous United States, geoelectric...
