The significance of ultra-refracted surface gravity waves on sheltered coasts, with application to San Francisco Bay
D.M. Hanes, L. H. Erikson
2013, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (133) 129-136
Ocean surface gravity waves propagating over shallow bathymetry undergo spatial modification of propagation direction and energy density, commonly due to refraction and shoaling. If the bathymetric variations are significant the waves can undergo changes in their direction of propagation (relative to deepwater) greater than 90° over relatively short spatial scales....
Petrologic, tectonic, and metallogenic evolution of the southern segment of the ancestral Cascades magmatic arc, California and Nevada
Edward A. du Bray, David A. John, Brian L. Cousens
2013, Geosphere (10) 1-39
Ongoing arc magmatism along western North America was preceded by ancestral arc magmatism that began ca. 45 Ma and evolved into modern arc volcanism. The southern ancestral arc segment, active from ca. 30 to 3 Ma, adjoins the northern segment in northern California across a proposed subducted slab tear....
Differences in extreme low salinity timing and duration differentially affect eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) size class growth and mortality in Breton Sound, LA
Megan K. LaPeyre, Benjamin S. Eberline, Thomas M. Soniat, Jerome F. La Peyre
2013, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (135) 146-157
Understanding how different life history stages are impacted by extreme or stochastic environmental variation is critical for predicting and modeling organism population dynamics. This project examined recruitment, growth, and mortality of seed (25–75 mm) and market (>75 mm) sized oysters along a salinity gradient over two years in Breton Sound, LA. In...
Modeling earthquake rate changes in Oklahoma and Arkansas: possible signatures of induced seismicity
Andrea L. Llenos, Andrew J. Michael
2013, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (103) 2850-2861
The rate of ML≥3 earthquakes in the central and eastern United States increased beginning in 2009, particularly in Oklahoma and central Arkansas, where fluid injection has occurred. We find evidence that suggests these rate increases are man‐made by examining the rate changes in a catalog of ML≥3 earthquakes in Oklahoma,...
Sea-floor geology and topography offshore in northeastern Long Island Sound
L. J. Poppe, K. Y. McMullen, S. D. Ackerman, K.A. Glomb
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1060
Datasets of gridded multibeam bathymetry, covering approximately 52.9 square kilometers, were used to interpret character and geology of the sea floor in northeastern Long Island Sound. Although originally collected for charting purposes during National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hydrographic survey H12012, these acoustic data and the sea-floor sampling and photography...
Land subsidence along the Delta-Mendota Canal in the northern part of the San Joaquin Valley, California, 2003-10
Michelle Sneed, Justin T. Brandt, Mike Solt
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5142
Extensive groundwater withdrawal from the unconsolidated deposits in the San Joaquin Valley caused widespread aquifer-system compaction and resultant land subsidence from 1926 to 1970—locally exceeding 8.5 meters. The importation of surface water beginning in the early 1950s through the Delta-Mendota Canal and in the early 1970s through the California Aqueduct...
Landscape consequences of natural gas extraction in Sullivan and Wyoming Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004–2010
Terry E. Slonecker, Lesley E. Milheim, Coral M. Roig-Silva, Alexander R. Malizia
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1261
Increased demands for cleaner burning energy, coupled with the relatively recent technological advances in accessing unconventional hydrocarbon-rich geologic formations, have led to an intense effort to find and extract natural gas from various underground sources around the country. One of these sources, the Marcellus Shale, located in the Allegheny Plateau,...
Landscape consequences of natural gas extraction in Armstrong and Indiana Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004–2010
Terry E. Slonecker, Lesley E. Milheim, Coral M. Roig-Silva, Alexander R. Malizia
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1263
Increased demands for cleaner burning energy, coupled with the relatively recent technological advances in accessing unconventional hydrocarbon-rich geologic formations, have led to an intense effort to find and extract natural gas from various underground sources around the country. One of these sources, the Marcellus Shale, located in the Allegheny Plateau,...
Geochemistry of soils from the San Rafael Valley, Santa Cruz County, Arizona
Helen W. Folger, Floyd Gray
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1149
This study was conducted to determine whether surficial geochemical methods can be used to identify subsurface mineraldeposits covered by alluvium derived from surrounding areas. The geochemical investigation focused on an anomalous geo-physical magnetic high located in the San Rafael Valley in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. The magnetic high, inferred to...
Iodine-129 in the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer at and near the Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho, 2010-12
Roy C. Bartholomay
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5195
From 1953 to 1988, approximately 0.941 curies of iodine-129 (129I) were contained in wastewater generated at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) with almost all of this wastewater discharged at or near the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC). Most of the wastewater containing 129I was discharged directly into the...
Two flysch belts having distinctly different provenance suggest no stratigraphic link between the Wrangellia composite terrane and the paleo-Alaskan margin
Chad P. Hults, Frederic H. Wilson, Raymond A. Donelick, Paul B. O'Sullivan
2013, Lithosphere (5) 575-594
The provenance of Jurassic to Cretaceous flysch along the northern boundary of the allochthonous Wrangellia composite terrane, exposed from the Lake Clark region of southwest Alaska to the Nutzotin Mountains in eastern Alaska, suggests that the flysch can be divided into two belts having different sources. On the north, the...
Brant (Branta bernnicla)
David H. Ward, Dirk V. Derksen, A. Reed, J.S. Sedinger
2013, Report, The Birds of North America Online
The Brant (called Brent Goose in Europe) is a small dark goose that occurs throughout much of the northern hemisphere. In contrast to other goose species, Brant are characterized by their extensive use of native coastal habitats outside the breeding season. Three to four subspecies are recognized (see Systematics), mainly on the...
Results of repeat bathymetric and velocimetric surveys at the Amelia Earhart Bridge on U.S. Highway 59 over the Missouri River at Atchison, Kansas, 2009-2013
Richard J. Huizinga
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5177
Bathymetric and velocimetric data were collected six times by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Kansas Department of Transportation, in the vicinity of Amelia Earhart Bridge on U.S. Highway 59 over the Missouri River at Atchison, Kansas. A multibeam echosounder mapping system and an acoustic Doppler current meter...
Magnetotelluric survey to locate the Archean-Proterozoic suture zone in the northeastern Great Basin, Nevada, Utah, and Idaho
Jay A. Sampson, Brian D. Rodriguez
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1252
North-central Nevada contains a large amount of gold in linear belts, the origin of which is not fully understood. During July 2008, September 2009, and August 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey, as part of the Assessment Techniques for Concealed Mineral Resources project, collected twenty-three magnetotelluric soundings along two profiles in...
Bedrock geologic and joint trend map of the Pinardville quadrangle, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire
William C. Burton, Thomas R. Armstrong
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1027
The bedrock geology of the Pinardville quadrangle includes the Massabesic Gneiss Complex, exposed in the core of a regional northeast-trending anticlinorium, and highly deformed metasedimentary rocks of the Rangeley Formation, exposed along the northwest limb of the anticlinorium. Both formations were subjected to high-grade metamorphism and partial melting: the Rangeley...
Geologic map of the Mount Sherman 7.5' quadrangle, Lake and Park Counties, Colorado
Robert G. Bohannon, Chester A. Ruleman
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3271
The Mount Sherman 7.5- minute quadrangle is located along the crest of the Mosquito Range in between Leadville and Fairplay, Colorado. There are eleven 13,000-foot peaks and one fourteener, Mount Sherman, within the quadrangle. General elevations range from 10,400–14,036 feet (3,200–4,278 meters). The western half of the quadrangle primarily consists...
Crustal-scale recycling in caldera complexes and rift zones along the Yellowstone hotspot track: O and Hf isotopic evidence in diverse zircons from voluminous rhyolites of the Picabo volcanic field, Idaho
Dana L. Drew, Ilya N. Bindeman, Kathryn E. Watts, Axel K. Schmitt, Bin Fu, Michael McCurry
2013, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (381) 63-77
Rhyolites of the Picabo volcanic field (10.4–6.6 Ma) in eastern Idaho are preserved as thick ignimbrites and lavas along the margins of the Snake River Plain (SRP), and within a deep (>3 km) borehole near the central axis of the Yellowstone hotspot track. In this study we present new O...
Spatial, seasonal, and source variability in the stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition of tap waters throughout the USA
Jurate M. Landwehr, Tyler B. Coplen, David W. Stewart
2013, Hydrological Processes
To assess spatial, seasonal, and source variability in stable isotopic composition of human drinking waters throughout the entire USA, we have constructed a database of δ18O and δ2H of US tap waters. An additional purpose was to create a publicly available dataset useful for evaluating the forensic applicability of these...
The North American Breeding Bird Survey 1966–2011: Summary analysis and species accounts
John R. Sauer, William A. Link, Jane E. Fallon, Keith L. Pardieck, David J. Ziolkowski
2013, North American Fauna (79) 1-32
The North American Breeding Bird Survey is a roadside, count-based survey conducted by volunteer observers. Begun in 1966, it now is a primary source of information on spatial and temporal patterns of population change for North American birds. We analyze population change for states, provinces, Bird Conservation Regions, and the...
A hierarchical nest survival model integrating incomplete temporally varying covariates
Sarah J. Converse, J. Andrew Royle, Peter H. Adler, Richard P. Urbanek, Jeb A. Barzan
2013, Ecology and Evolution (3) 4439-4447
Nest success is a critical determinant of the dynamics of avian populations, and nest survival modeling has played a key role in advancing avian ecology and management. Beginning with the development of daily nest survival models, and proceeding through subsequent extensions, the capacity for modeling the effects of hypothesized factors...
Characterization of cyanophyte biomass in a Bureau of Reclamation reservoir
Nancy S. Simon, Ahmad Abdul Ali, Kyle Michael Samperton, Charles S. Korson, Kris Fischer, Michael L. Hughes
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1156
The purpose of this study was to characterize the cyanophyte Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA) from Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, (UKL) and, based on this description, explore uses for AFA, which would have commercial value. AFA collected from UKL in 2010 from eight sites during a period of approximately 2 weeks were...
Geophysical constraints on Rio Grande rift structure in the central San Luis Basin, Colorado and New Mexico
Benjamin J. Drenth, V. J. Grauch, Brian D. Rodriguez
2013, GSA Special Papers (494) 75-99
Interpretation of gravity, aeromagnetic, and magnetotelluric (MT) data reveals patterns of rifting, rift-sediment thicknesses, distribution of pre-rift volcanic and sedimentary rocks, and distribution of syn-rift volcanic rocks in the central San Luis...
Geochemical and mineralogical data for soils of the conterminous United States
David B. Smith, William F. Cannon, Laurel G. Woodruff, Federico Solano, James E. Kilburn, David L. Fey
2013, Data Series 801
In 2007, the U.S. Geological Survey initiated a low-density (1 site per 1,600 square kilometers, 4,857 sites) geochemical and mineralogical survey of soils of the conterminous United States as part of the North American Soil Geochemical Landscapes Project. Sampling and analytical protocols were developed at a workshop in 2003, and...
Postwildfire debris-flow hazard assessment of the area burned by the 2013 West Fork Fire Complex, southwestern Colorado
Kristine L. Verdin, Jean A. Dupree, Michael R. Stevens
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1259
This report presents a preliminary emergency assessment of the debris-flow hazards from drainage basins burned by the 2013 West Fork Fire Complex near South Fork in southwestern Colorado. Empirical models derived from statistical evaluation of data collected from recently burned basins throughout the intermountain western United States were used to...
The late Holocene dry period: multiproxy evidence for an extended drought between 2800 and 1850 cal yr BP across the central Great Basin, USA
Scott A. Mensing, Saxon E. Sharpe, Irene Tunno, Don W. Sada, Jim M. Thomas, Scott W. Starratt, Jeremy Smith
2013, Quaternary Science Reviews (78) 266-282
Evidence of a multi-centennial scale dry period between ∼2800 and 1850 cal yr BP is documented by pollen, mollusks, diatoms, and sediment in spring sediments from Stonehouse Meadow in Spring Valley, eastern central Nevada, U.S. We refer to this period as the Late Holocene Dry Period. Based on sediment recovered,...
