Resolving hyporheic and groundwater components of streambed water flux
Aditi S. Bhaskar, Judson W. Harvey, Eric J. Henry
2012, Water Resources Research (48)
Hyporheic and groundwater fluxes typically occur together in permeable sediments beneath flowing stream water. However, streambed water fluxes quantified using the thermal method are usually interpreted as representing either groundwater or hyporheic fluxes. Our purpose was to improve understanding of co-occurring groundwater and hyporheic fluxes using streambed temperature measurements and...
Demand surge following earthquakes
Anna H. Olsen
2012, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 15th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering (15WCEE), Lisbon, Portugal, September 24-28
Demand surge is understood to be a socio-economic phenomenon where repair costs for the same damage are higher after large- versus small-scale natural disasters. It has reportedly increased monetary losses by 20 to 50%. In previous work, a model for the increased costs of reconstruction labor and materials was developed...
Hillslope hydrology and stability
Ning Lu, Jonathan Godt
2012, Book
Landslides are caused by a failure of the mechanical balance within hillslopes. This balance is governed by two coupled physical processes: hydrological or subsurface flow and stress. The stabilizing strength of hillslope materials depends on effective stress, which is diminished by rainfall. This book presents a cutting-edge quantitative approach to...
Holocene behavior of the Brigham City segment: implications for forecasting the next large-magnitude earthquake on the Wasatch fault zone, Utah
Stephen F. Personius, Christopher B. DuRoss, Anthony J. Crone
2012, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (102) 2265-2281
The Brigham City segment (BCS), the northernmost Holocene‐active segment of the Wasatch fault zone (WFZ), is considered a likely location for the next big earthquake in northern Utah. We refine the timing of the last four surface‐rupturing (~Mw 7) earthquakes at several sites near Brigham City (BE1, 2430±250; BE2, 3490±180;...
Extraordinary distance limits of landslides triggered by the 2011 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake
Randall W. Jibson, Edwin L. Harp
2012, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (102) 2368-2377
The 23 August 2011 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake (Mw 5.8) was the largest to strike the eastern U.S. since 1897 and was felt over an extraordinarily large area. Although no large landslides occurred, the shaking did trigger many rock and soil falls from steep river banks and natural cliffs in the...
Physical controls and predictability of stream hyporheic flow evaluated with a multiscale model
Susa H. Stonedahl, Judson W. Harvey, Joel Detty, Antoine Aubeneau, Aaron I. Packman
2012, Water Resources Research (48)
Improved predictions of hyporheic exchange based on easily measured physical variables are needed to improve assessment of solute transport and reaction processes in watersheds. Here we compare physically based model predictions for an Indiana stream with stream tracer results interpreted using the Transient Storage Model (TSM). We parameterized the physically...
Effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on Louisiana black bear habitat
Joseph D. Clark, Jennifer L. Murrow
2012, Ursus (23) 192-205
The Louisiana black bear (Ursus americanus luteolus) is comprised of 3 subpopulations, each being small, geographically isolated, and vulnerable to extinction. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts in 2005, potentially altering habitat occupied by this federally threatened subspecies. We used data collected on radio-telemetered bears from...
Shale Gas Development and Brook Trout: Scaling Best Management Practices to Anticipate Cumulative Effects
David Smith, Craig D. Snyder, Nathaniel P. Hitt, John A. Young, Stephen P. Faulkner
2012, Environmental Practice (14) 366-381
Shale gas development may involve trade-offs between energy development and benefits provided by natural ecosystems. However, current best management practices (BMPs) focus on mitigating localized ecological degradation. We review evidence for cumulative effects of natural gas development on brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and conclude that BMPs should account for potential...
Fingerprinting of glacial silt in lake sediments yields continuous records of alpine glaciation (35–15 ka), western USA
Joseph G. Rosenbaum, Richard L. Reynolds, Steven M. Colman
2012, Quaternary Research (78) 333-340
Fingerprinting glacial silt in last glacial-age sediments from Upper Klamath Lake (UKL) and Bear Lake (BL) provides continuous radiocarbon-dated records of glaciation for the southeastern Cascade Range and northwestern Uinta Mountains, respectively. Comparing of these records to cosmogenic exposure ages from moraines suggests that variations in glacial flour largely reflect...
Fold-to-fault progression of a major thrust zone revealed in horses of the North Mountain fault zone, Virginia and West Virginia, USA
Randall C. Orndorff
2012, Journal of Geological Research (2012)
The method of emplacement and sequential deformation of major thrust zones may be deciphered by detailed geologic mapping of these important structures. Thrust fault zones may have added complexity when horse blocks are contained within them. However, these horses can be an important indicator of the fault development holding information...
Estrogenic compounds decrease growth hormone receptor abundance and alter osmoregulation in Atlantic salmon
Darren T. Lerner, Mark A. Sheridan, Stephen D. McCormick
2012, General and Comparative Endocrinology (179) 196-204
Exposure of Atlantic salmon smolts to estrogenic compounds is shown to compromise several aspects of smolt development. We sought to determine the underlying endocrine mechanisms of estrogen impacts on the growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) axis. Smolts in freshwater (FW) were either injected 3 times over 10 days...
Effects of low-density feeding on elk–fetus contact rates on Wyoming feedgrounds
Tyler G. Creech, Paul C. Cross, Brandon M. Scurlock, Eric Maichak, Jared D. Rogerson, John C. Henningsen, Scott Creel
2012, Journal of Wildlife Management (76) 877-886
High seroprevalance for Brucella abortus among elk on Wyoming feedgrounds suggests that supplemental feeding may influence parasite transmission and disease dynamics by altering the rate at which elk contact infectious materials in their environment. We used proximity loggers and video cameras to estimate rates of elk-to-fetus contact (the primary source...
Arctic shorebirds in North America: A decade of monitoring
Jonathan R. Bart, Victoria H. Johnston, editor(s)
2012, Studies in Avian Biology 44
Each year shorebirds from North and South America migrate thousands of miles to spend the summer in the Arctic. There they feed in shoreline marshes and estuaries along some of the most productive and pristine coasts anywhere. With so much available food they are able to reproduce almost explosively; and...
Geologic isolation of nuclear waste at high latitudes: the role of ice sheets
M. Person, J. McIntosh, N. Iverson, C. E. Neuzil, V. Bense
2012, Geofluids (12) 1-6
Geologic isolation of high-level nuclear waste from the biosphere requires special consideration in countries at high latitudes (>40°N) owing to the possibility of future episodes of continental glaciation (Talbot 1999). It is now widely recognized that Pleistocene continental glaciations have had a profound effect on rates of sediment erosion (Cuffey...
Introduced and invasive species in novel rangeland ecosystems: friends or foes?
Jayne Belnap, John A. Ludwig, Bradford P. Wilcox, Julio L. Betancourt, W. Richard J. Dean, Benjamin D. Hoffmann, Sue J. Milton
2012, Rangeland Ecology and Management (65) 569-578
Globally, new combinations of introduced and native plant and animal species have changed rangelands into novel ecosystems. Whereas many rangeland stakeholders (people who use or have an interest in rangelands) view intentional species introductions to improve forage and control erosion as beneficial, others focus on unintended costs, such as increased...
Lichens: Unexpected anti-prion agents?
Cynthia M. Rodriguez, James P. Bennett, Christopher J. Johnson
2012, Prion (6) 11-16
The prion diseases sheep scrapie and cervid chronic wasting disease are transmitted, in part, via an environmental reservoir of infectivity; prions released from infected animals persist in the environment and can cause disease years later. Central to controlling disease transmission is the identification of methods capable of inactivating these agents...
Does translocation influence physiological stress in the desert tortoise?
K.K. Drake, K.E. Nussear, T. C. Esque, A.M. Barber, K.M. Vittum, P.A. Medica, C.R. Tracy, K.W. Hunter
2012, Animal Conservation (15) 560-570
Wildlife translocation is increasingly used to mitigate disturbances to animals or habitat due to human activities, yet little is known about the extent to which translocating animals causes stress. To understand the relationship between physiological stress and translocation, we conducted a multiyear study (2007–2009) using a population of desert tortoises...
Estimating discharge measurement uncertainty using the interpolated variance estimator
T. Cohn, J. Kiang, R. Mason Jr.
2012, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering (139) 502-510
Methods for quantifying the uncertainty in discharge measurements typically identify various sources of uncertainty and then estimate the uncertainty from each of these sources by applying the results of empirical or laboratory studies. If actual measurement conditions are not consistent with those encountered in the empirical or laboratory studies, these...
Mercury bioaccumulation in wood frogs developing in seasonal pools
Cynthia S. Loftin, Aram J.K. Calhoun, Sarah J. Nelson, Adria Elskus, Kevin S. Simon
2012, Northeastern Naturalist (19) 579-600
Seasonal woodland pools contribute significant biomass to terrestrial ecosystems through production of pool-breeding amphibians. The movement of amphibian metamorphs potentially transports toxins bioaccumulated during larval development in the natal pool into the surrounding terrestrial environment. We documented total mercury (THg) in seasonal woodland pool water, sediment, litter, and Lithobates sylvaticus LeConte (Wood...
Strategies to control a common carp population by pulsed commercial harvest
Michael E. Colvin, Clay Pierce, Timothy W. Stewart, Scott E. Grummer
2012, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (32) 1251-1264
Commercial fisheries are commonly used to manage nuisance fishes in freshwater systems, but such efforts are often unsuccessful. Strategies for successfully controlling a nuisance population of common carp Cyprinus carpio by pulsed commercial harvest were evaluated with a combination of (1) field sampling, (2) population estimation and CPUE indexing, and (3) simulation...
Breeding season survival and breeding incidence of female Mottled Ducks on the upper Texas gulf coast
Elizabeth A. Rigby, David A. Haukos
2012, Waterbirds (35) 260-269
Previous Mottled Duck (Anas fulvigula) studies suggested that high female breeding season survival may be caused by low nesting effort, but few breeding season estimates of survival associated with nesting effort exist on the western Gulf Coast. Here, breeding season survival (N = 40) and breeding incidence (N = 39)...
Evaluation of listener-based anuran surveys with automated audio recording devices
A. F. Shearin, A.J.K. Calhoun, C.S. Loftin
2012, Wetlands (32) 737-751
Volunteer-based audio surveys are used to document long-term trends in anuran community composition and abundance. Current sampling protocols, however, are not region- or species-specific and may not detect relatively rare or audibly cryptic species. We used automated audio recording devices to record calling anurans during 2006–2009 at wetlands in Maine,...
Hotspot: the Snake River Geothermal Drilling Project--initial report
J.W. Shervais, D. Nielson, T. Lachmar, E. H. Christiansen, L. Morgan, Wayne C. Shanks, C. Delahunty, D.R. Schmitt, L.M. Liberty, D.D. Blackwell, J. M. Glen, J.A. Kessler, K.E. Potter, M.M. Jean, C.J. Sant, T. Freeman
2012, Geothermal Resources Council Transactions (36) 767-772
The Snake River volcanic province (SRP) overlies a thermal anomaly that extends deep into the mantle; it represents one of the highest heat flow provinces in North America. The primary goal of this project is to evaluate geothermal potential in three distinct settings: (1) Kimama site: inferred high sub-aquifer geothermal...
Mineral resource of the month: dimension stone
Thomas P. Dolley
2012, Earth (57) 65-65
The article offers information on dimension stone (DS) that are quarried as natural rock for a specific size and dimension chosen for its color, strength, durability. Varieties of metamorphic, igneous or sedimentary rocks are used but DS rocks are mainly marble, granite and slate that can be found from Maine...
Mineral resource of the month: boron
Robert D. Crangle Jr.
2012, Earth (57) 23-23
The article offers information on the mineral, boron. Boron compounds, particularly borates, have more commercial applications than its elemental relative which is a metalloid. Making up the 90% of the borates that are used worldwide are colemanite, kernite, tincal, and ulexite. The main borate deposits are located in the Mojave...