Geologic map of the Glen Canyon Dam 30’ x 60’ quadrangle, Coconino County, northern Arizona
George H. Billingsley, Susan S. Priest
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3268
The Glen Canyon Dam 30’ x 60’ quadrangle is characterized by nearly flat lying to gently dipping Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary strata that overlie tilted Proterozoic strata or metasedimentary and igneous rocks similar to those exposed at the bottom of Grand Canyon southwest of the quadrangle. Mississippian to Permian rocks...
Geologic map of the Lead Mountain 15’ quadrangle, San Bernardino County, California
Keith A. Howard, Keith J. Jagiello, Todd T. Fitzgibbon, Barbara E. John
2013, Geologic Quadrangle 1766
The Lead Mountain 15’ quadrangle in the Mojave Desert contains a record of Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary magmatism. Small amounts of Mesoproterozoic(?) augen gneiss and Paleozoic and Mesozoic(?) metasedimentary rocks are preserved in small patches; they are intruded by voluminous Jurassic plutons of quartz diorite to granite composition and...
Water levels in the aquifers of the Nacatoch Sand of southwestern and northeastern Arkansas and the Tokio Formation of southwestern Arkansas, February–March 2011
T. P. Schrader, Kirk D. Rodgers
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5130
The aquifers in the Nacatoch Sand and Tokio Formation in southwestern Arkansas and the Nacatoch Sand in northeastern Arkansas are sources of water for industrial, public supply, domestic, and agricultural uses. Potentiometric-surface maps were constructed from water-level measurements made in 47 wells completed in the Nacatoch Sand and 45 wells...
Assessment of regional change in nitrate concentrations in groundwater in the Central Valley, California, USA, 1950s-2000s
Karen R. Burow, Bryant C. Jurgens, Kenneth Belitz, Neil M. Dubrovsky
2013, Environmental Earth Sciences (69) 2609-2621
A regional assessment of multi-decadal changes in nitrate concentrations was done using historical data and a spatially stratified non-biased approach. Data were stratified into physiographic subregions on the basis of geomorphology and soils data to represent zones of historical recharge and discharge patterns in the basin. Data were also stratified...
New service interface for River Forecasting Center derived quantitative precipitation estimates
David L. Blodgett
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3035
For more than a decade, the National Weather Service (NWS) River Forecast Centers (RFCs) have been estimating spatially distributed rainfall by applying quality-control procedures to radar-indicated rainfall estimates in the eastern United States and other best practices in the western United States to producea national Quantitative Precipitation Estimate (QPE) (National...
Measuring environmental change in forest ecosystems by repeated soil sampling: a North American perspective
Gregory B. Lawrence, Ivan J. Fernandez, Daniel D. Richter, Donald S. Ross, Paul W. Hazlett, Scott W. Bailey, Oiumet, Richard A.F. Warby, Arthur H. Johnson, Henry Lin, James M. Kaste, Andrew G. Lapenis, Timothy J. Sullivan
2013, Journal of Environmental Quality (42) 623-639
Environmental change is monitored in North America through repeated measurements of weather, stream and river flow, air and water quality, and most recently, soil properties. Some skepticism remains, however, about whether repeated soil sampling can effectively distinguish between temporal and spatial variability, and efforts to document soil change in forest...
California State Waters Map Series: Offshore of Carpinteria, California
Samuel Y. Johnson, Peter Dartnell, Guy R. Cochrane, Nadine E. Golden, Eleyne L. Phillips, Andrew C. Ritchie, Rikk G. Kvitek, H. Gary Greene, Charles A. Endris, Gordon G. Seitz, Ray W. Sliter, Mercedes D. Erdey, Florence L. Wong, Carlos I. Gutierrez, Lisa M. Krigsman, Amy E. Draut, Patrick E. Hart
Samuel Y. Johnson, Susan A. Cochran, editor(s)
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3261
In 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California’s State Waters. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps through collection, integration,...
Sustainably connecting children with nature: an exploratory study of nature play area visitor impacts and their management
Matthew H.E.M. Browning, Jeffrey L. Marion, Timothy G. Gregoire
2013, Landscape and Urban Planning (119) 104-112
Parks are developing nature play areas to improve children's health and “connect” them with nature. However, these play areas are often located in protected natural areas where managers must balance recreation with associated environmental impacts. In this exploratory study, we sought to describe these impacts. We also investigated which ages,...
Advancements in understanding the aeromagnetic expressions of basin-margin faults—An example from San Luis Basin, Colorado
V. J. Grauch, Paul A. Bedrosian, Benjamin J. Drenth
2013, The Leading Edge (32) 882-891
Advancements in aeromagnetic acquisition technology over the past few decades have led to greater resolution of shallow geologic sources with low magnetization, such as intrasedimentary faults and paleochannels. Detection and mapping of intrasedimentary faults in particular can be important for understanding the overall structural setting of...
The LANDFIRE Refresh strategy: updating the national dataset
Kurtis J. Nelson, Joel A. Connot, Birgit E. Peterson, Charley Martin
2013, Fire Ecology (9) 80-101
The LANDFIRE Program provides comprehensive vegetation and fuel datasets for the entire United States. As with many large-scale ecological datasets, vegetation and landscape conditions must be updated periodically to account for disturbances, growth, and natural succession. The LANDFIRE Refresh effort was the first attempt to consistently update these products nationwide....
Regional demographic trends from long-term studies of saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) across the northern Sonoran Desert
Elizabeth A. Pierson, Julio L. Betancourt, Raymond M. Turner
2013, Journal of Arid Environments (88) 57-69
Ten saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) populations in the northern Sonoran Desert were monitored from 1959 to 2005 to discriminate how climate influences plant growth, abundance, reproductive potential, survivorship, age structure and regeneration trends. Thousands of saguaros were measured to determine site-specific growth rates and survivorship through time. Observed growth rates were...
Late Quaternary stream piracy and strath terrace formation along the Belle Fourche and lower Cheyenne Rivers, South Dakota and Wyoming
John F. Stamm, Robert R. Hendricks, J. Foster Sawyer, Shannon Mahan, Brent J. Zaprowski, Nicholas M. Geibel, David C. Azzolini
2013, Geomorphology (197) 10-20
Stream piracy substantially affected the geomorphic evolution of the Missouri River watershed and drainages within, including the Little Missouri, Cheyenne, Belle Fourche, Bad, and White Rivers. The ancestral Cheyenne River eroded headward in an annular pattern around the eastern and southern Black Hills and pirated the headwaters of the ancestral...
Potential effects of deepening the St. Johns River navigation channel on saltwater intrusion in the surficial aquifer system, Jacksonville, Florida
Jason C. Bellino, Rick M. Spechler
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5146
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has proposed dredging a 13-mile reach of the St. Johns River navigation channel in Jacksonville, Florida, deepening it to depths between 50 and 54 feet below North American Vertical Datum of 1988. The dredging operation will remove about 10 feet of sediments from...
Refinement of late-Early and Middle Miocene diatom biostratigraphy for the east coast of the United States
John A. Barron, James Browning, Peter Sugarman, Kenneth G. Miller
2013, Geosphere (9) 1286-1302
Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 313 continuously cored Lower to Middle Miocene sequences at three continental shelf sites off New Jersey, USA. The most seaward of these, Site M29, contains a well-preserved Early and Middle Miocene succession of planktonic diatoms that have been independently correlated with the geomagnetic polarity...
Eastern musk turtle (Sternotherus odoratus)
Brad M. Glorioso
2013, Book chapter, The Reptiles of Tennessee
No abstract available....
Land-cover change in the conterminous United States from 1973 to 2000
Benjamin M. Sleeter, Terry L. Sohl, Thomas R. Loveland, Roger F. Auch, William Acevedo, Mark A. Drummond, Kristi L. Sayler, Stephen V. Stehman
2013, Global Environmental Change (23) 733-748
Land-cover change in the conterminous United States was quantified by interpreting change from satellite imagery for a sample stratified by 84 ecoregions. Gross and net changes between 11 land-cover classes were estimated for 5 dates of Landsat imagery (1973, 1980, 1986, 1992, and 2000). An estimated 673,000 km2(8.6%) of the...
The variability of California summertime marine stratus: impacts on surface air temperatures
Sam F. Iacobellis, Daniel R. Cayan
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres (118) 9105-9122
This study investigates the variability of clouds, primarily marine stratus clouds, and how they are associated with surface temperature anomalies over California, especially along the coastal margin. We focus on the summer months of June to September when marine stratus are the dominant cloud type. Data used include satellite cloud...
Quantifying wetland–aquifer interactions in a humid subtropical climate region: An integrated approach
Itza Mendoza-Sanchez, Mantha S. Phanikumar, Jie Niu, Jason R. Masoner, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Jennifer T. McGuire
2013, Journal of Hydrology (498) 237-253
Wetlands are widely recognized as sentinels of global climate change. Long-term monitoring data combined with process-based modeling has the potential to shed light on key processes and how they change over time. This paper reports the development and application of a simple water balance model based on long-term climate, soil,...
Geologic effects on groundwater salinity and discharge into an estuary
Christopher J. Russonielloa, Cristina Fernandeza, John F. Bratton, Joel F. Banaszakc, David E. Krantzc, Scott Andresd, Leonard F. Konikow, Holly A. Michaela
2013, Journal of Hydrology (498) 1-12
Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) can be an important pathway for transport of nutrients and contaminants to estuaries. A better understanding of the geologic and hydrologic controls on these fluxes is critical for their estimation and management. We examined geologic features, porewater salinity, and SGD rates and patterns at an estuarine...
National assessment of geologic carbon dioxide storage resources: Results
U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Carbon Dioxide Storage Resources Assessment Team
2013, Circular 1386
In 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an assessment of the technically accessible storage resources (TASR) for carbon dioxide (CO2) in geologic formations underlying the onshore and State waters area of the United States. The formations assessed are at least 3,000 feet (914 meters) below the ground surface. The...
National assessment of geologic carbon dioxide storage resources: Data
U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Carbon Dioxide Storage Resources Assessment Team
2013, Data Series 774
In 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed the national assessment of geologic carbon dioxide storage resources. Its data and results are reported in three publications: the assessment data publication (this report), the assessment results publication (U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Carbon Dioxide Storage Resources Assessment Team, 2013a, USGS Circular 1386),...
National assessment of geologic carbon dioxide storage resources: Summary
U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Carbon Dioxide Storage Resources Assessment Team
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3020
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed an evaluation of the technically accessible storage resource (TASR) for carbon dioxide (CO2) for 36 sedimentary basins in the onshore areas and State waters of the United States. The TASR is an estimate of the geologic storage resource that may be available for...
Estimating age ratios and size of Pacific walrus herds on coastal haulouts using video imaging
Daniel H. Monson, Mark S. Udevitz, Chadwick V. Jay
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
During Arctic summers, sea ice provides resting habitat for Pacific walruses as it drifts over foraging areas in the eastern Chukchi Sea. Climate-driven reductions in sea ice have recently created ice-free conditions in the Chukchi Sea by late summer causing walruses to rest at coastal haulouts along the Chukotka and...
Reproductive health of yellow perch, Perca flavescens, in Chesapeake Bay Tributaries
Vicki Blazer, A.E. Pinkney, James H. Uphoff
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3055
Yellow perch live in creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes, and estuaries across the central and eastern United States and Canada. In Chesapeake Bay, they tolerate salinities up to one-third that of seawater. The adults reside in the brackish waters of the bay’s tributaries and migrate upstream to spawn. Yellow perch are...
Naturally occurring contaminants in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge crystalline-rock aquifers and Piedmont Early Mesozoic basin siliciclastic-rock aquifers, eastern United States, 1994–2008
Melinda J. Chapman, Charles A. Cravotta III,, Zoltan Szabo, Bruce D. Lindsay
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5072
Groundwater quality and aquifer lithologies in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge Physiographic Provinces in the eastern United States vary widely as a result of complex geologic history. Bedrock composition (mineralogy) and geochemical conditions in the aquifer directly affect the occurrence (presence in rock and groundwater) and distribution (concentration and mobility)...