Land loss due to recent hurricanes in coastal Louisiana, U.S.A.
Monica Palaseanu-Lovejoy, Christine J. Kranenburg, John A. Barras, John Brock
2013, Journal of Coastal Research 97-109
The aim of this study is to improve estimates of wetland land loss in two study regions of coastal Louisiana, U.S.A., due to the extreme storms that impacted the region between 2004 and 2009. The estimates are based on change-detection-mapping analysis that incorporates pre and postlandfall (Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav,...
Topographic and hydrographic GIS datasets for the Afghan Geological Survey and U.S. Geological Survey 2013 mineral areas of interest
Brittany N. Casey, Peter G. Chirico
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1124
Afghanistan is endowed with a vast amount of mineral resources, and it is believed that the current economic state of the country could be greatly improved through investment in the extraction and production of these resources. In 2007, the “Preliminary Non-Fuel Resource Assessment of Afghanistan 2007” was completed by members...
Application of the SPARROW model to assess surface-water nutrient conditions and sources in the United States Pacific Northwest
Daniel R. Wise, Henry M. Johnson
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5103
The watershed model SPARROW (Spatially Referenced Regressions on Watershed attributes) was used to estimate mean annual surface-water nutrient conditions (total nitrogen and total phosphorus) and to identify important nutrient sources in catchments of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States for 2002. Model-estimated nutrient yields were generally higher in...
Forest cutting and impacts on carbon in the eastern United States
Decheng Zhou, Shuguang Liu, Jennifer Oeding, Shuqing Zhao
2013, Scientific Reports (3)
Forest cutting is a major anthropogenic disturbance that affects forest carbon (C) storage and fluxes. Yet its characteristics and impacts on C cycling are poorly understood over large areas. Using recent annualized forest inventory data, we estimated cutting-related loss of live biomass in the eastern United States was 168 Tg C...
New thermochronometric constraints on the Tertiary landscape evolution of the central and eastern Grand Canyon, Arizona
John P. Lee, Daniel F. Stockli, S.A. Kelley, J. Pederson, K. E. Karlstrom, T.A. Ehlers
2013, Geosphere (9) 216-228
Thermal histories are modeled from new apatite (U-Th)/He and apatite fission-track data in order to quantitatively constrain the landscape evolution of the Grand Canyon region. Fifty new samples and their associated thermochronometric ages are presented here. Samples span from Lee’s Ferry in the east to Quartermaster Canyon in the west...
Holocene fire occurrence and alluvial responses at the leading edge of pinyon–juniper migration in the Northern Great Basin, USA
Kerrie N. Weppner, Jennifer L. Pierce, Julio L. Betancourt
2013, Quaternary Research (80) 143-157
Fire and vegetation records at the City of Rocks National Reserve (CIRO), south-central Idaho, display the interaction of changing climate, fire and vegetation along the migrating front of single-leaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla) and Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma). Radiocarbon dating of alluvial charcoal reconstructed local fire occurrence and geomorphic...
Revision of Fontes & Garnier's model for the initial 14C content of dissolved inorganic carbon used in groundwater dating
Liang-Feng Han, Niel Plummer
2013, Chemical Geology (351) 105-114
The widely applied model for groundwater dating using 14C proposed by Fontes and Garnier (F&G) (Fontes and Garnier, 1979) estimates the initial 14C content in waters from carbonate-rock aquifers affected by isotopic exchange. Usually, the model of F&G is applied in one of two ways: (1) using a single 13C...
Impact of Late Holocene climate variability and anthropogenic activities on Biscayne Bay (Florida, U.S.A.): Evidence from diatoms
Anna Wachnicka, Evelyn Gaiser, G. Lynn Wingard, Henry Briceno, Peter Harlem
2013, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (371) 80-92
Shallow marine ecosystems are experiencing significant environmental alterations as a result of changing climate and increasing human activities along coasts. Intensive urbanization of the southeast Florida coast and intensification of climate change over the last few centuries changed the character of coastal ecosystems in the semi-enclosed Biscayne Bay, Florida. In...
Geometry and earthquake potential of the shoreline fault, central California
Jeanne L. Hardebeck
2013, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (103) 447-462
The Shoreline fault is a vertical strike‐slip fault running along the coastline near San Luis Obispo, California. Much is unknown about the Shoreline fault, including its slip rate and the details of its geometry. Here, I study the geometry of the Shoreline fault at seismogenic depth, as well as the...
Evolution of dike opening during the March 2011 Kamoamoa fissure eruption, Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai`i
Paul Lundgren, Michael P. Poland, Asta Miklius, Tim R. Orr, Sang-Ho Yun, Eric Fielding, Zhen Liu, Akiko Tanaka, Walter Szeliga, Scott Hensley, Susan Owen
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (118) 897-914
The 5–9 March 2011 Kamoamoa fissure eruption along the east rift zone of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai`i, followed months of pronounced inflation at Kīlauea summit. We examine dike opening during and after the eruption using a comprehensive interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data set in combination with continuous GPS data. We...
Environmental management of mosquito-borne viruses in Rhode Island
Howard S. Ginsberg, Alan Gettman, Elisabeth Becker, Ananda S. Bandyopadhyay, Roger A. LeBrun
2013, Rhode Island Medical Journal (96) 37-41
West Nile Virus (WNV) and Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus (EEEV) are both primarily bird viruses, which can be transmitted by several mosquito species. Differences in larval habitats, flight, and biting patterns of the primary vector species result in substantial differences in epidemiology, with WNV more common, primarily occurring in urban...
Simulation of groundwater flow in the "1,500-foot" sand and "2,000-foot" sand and movement of saltwater in the "2,000-foot" sand of the Baton Rouge area, Louisiana
Charles E. Heywood, Jason M. Griffith
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1153
Groundwater withdrawals have caused saltwater to encroach into freshwater-bearing aquifers beneath Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Groundwater investigations in the 1960s identified a freshwater-saltwater interface located at the Baton Rouge Fault, across which abrupt changes in water levels occur. Aquifers south of the fault generally contain saltwater, and aquifers north of the...
Accuracy assessment of a mobile terrestrial lidar survey at Padre Island National Seashore
Samsung Lim, Cindy A. Thatcher, John Brock, Dustin R. Kimbrow, Jeffrey J. Danielson, B.J. Reynolds
2013, International Journal of Remote Sensing (34) 6355-6366
The higher point density and mobility of terrestrial laser scanning (light detection and ranging (lidar)) is desired when extremely detailed elevation data are needed for mapping vertically orientated complex features such as levees, dunes, and cliffs, or when highly accurate data are needed for monitoring geomorphic changes. Mobile terrestrial lidar...
Preliminary stratigraphic and hydrogeologic cross sections and seismic profile of the Floridan aquifer system of Broward County, Florida
Ronald S. Reese, Kevin J. Cunningham
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1141
To help water-resource managers evaluate the Floridan aquifer system (FAS) as an alternative water supply, the U.S. Geological Survey initiated a study, in cooperation with the Broward County Environmental Protection and Growth Management Department, to refine the hydrogeologic framework of the FAS in the eastern part of Broward County. This...
Stratigraphy and chronology of Provo shoreline deposits and lake-level implications, Late Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, eastern Great Basin, USA
David M. Miller, Charles G. Oviatt, John P. McGeehin
2013, Boreas (42) 342-361
The Provo shoreline of Lake Bonneville formed following the Bonneville flood, and, based on previous dating, was formed during a period of overflow from about 17.5 to 15.0 cal. ka. In many places the Provo shoreline consists of a pair of distinct shorelines, one ∼3 m higher than the other. We...
Groundwater quality and water-well characteristics in the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma Jurisdictional Area, central Oklahoma, 1948--2011
Carol Becker
2013, Open-File Report 2012-1255
In 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma, compiled historical groundwater-quality data collected from 1948 to 2011 and water-well completion information in parts of Lincoln, Oklahoma, and Pottawatomie Counties in central Oklahoma to support the development of a comprehensive water-management plan for the Tribe’s...
Erosion monitoring along the Coosa River below Logan Martin Dam near Vincent, Alabama, using terrestrial light detection and ranging (T-LiDAR) technology
Dustin R. Kimbrow, Kathryn G. Lee
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5128
Alabama Power operates a series of dams on the Coosa River in east central Alabama. These dams form six reservoirs that provide power generation, flood control, recreation, economic opportunity, and fish and wildlife habitats to the region. The Logan Martin Reservoir is located approximately 45 kilometers east of Birmingham and...
Geologic map of the Jam Up Cave and Pine Crest quadrangles, Shannon, Texas, and Howell Counties, Missouri
David J. Weary, Randall C. Orndorff, John E. Repetski
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3248
The Jam Up Cave and Pine Crest 7.5-minute quadrangles are located in south-central Missouri within the Salem Plateau region of the Ozark Plateaus physiographic province. About 2,400 to 3,100 feet (ft) of flat-lying to gently dipping Lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, mostly dolomite, chert, sandstone, and orthoquartzite, overlie Mesoproterozoic igneous basement...
Flood-inundation maps for the Saddle River from Upper Saddle River Borough to Saddle River Borough, New Jersey, 2013
Kara M. Watson, Heidi L. Hoppe
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3262
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 4.1-mile reach of the Saddle River from 0.6 miles downstream from the New Jersey-New York State boundary in Upper Saddle River Borough to 0.2 miles downstream from the East Allendale Road bridge in Saddle River Borough, New Jersey, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey...
Comparative mineral mapping in the Colorado Mineral Belt using AVIRIS and ASTER remote sensing data
Barnaby W. Rockwell
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3256
This report presents results of interpretation of spectral remote sensing data covering the eastern Colorado Mineral Belt in central Colorado, USA, acquired by the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensors. This study was part of a multidisciplinary mapping and data integration...
Optimization of water-level monitoring networks in the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer using a kriging-based genetic algorithm method
Jason C. Fisher
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5120
Long-term groundwater monitoring networks can provide essential information for the planning and management of water resources. Budget constraints in water resource management agencies often mean a reduction in the number of observation wells included in a monitoring network. A network design tool, distributed as an R package, was developed to...
Geohydrology, water quality, and simulation of groundwater flow in the stratified-drift aquifer system in Virgil Creek and Dryden Lake Valleys, Town of Dryden, Tompkins County, New York
Todd S. Miller, Edward F. Bugliosi
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5070
In 2002, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Tompkins County Planning Department and the Town of Dryden, New York, began a study of the stratified-drift aquifer system in the Virgil Creek and Dryden Lake Valleys in the Town of Dryden, Tompkins County. The study provided geohydrologic data needed...
Modeling the colonization of Hawaii by hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus)
Frank J. Bonaccorso, Liam P. McGuire
2013, Book chapter, Bat Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation
The Hawaiian archipelago, the most isolated cluster of islands on Earth, has been colonized successfully twice by bats. The putative “lava tube bat” of Hawaii is extinct, whereas the Hawaiian Hoary Bat, Lasiurus cinereus semotus, survives as an endangered species. We conducted a three-stage analysis to identify conditions under which...
Nest site characteristics and nesting success of the Western Burrowing Owl in the eastern Mojave Desert
Kathleen M. Longshore, Dorothy E. Crowe
2013, Journal of Arid Environments (94) 113-120
We evaluated nest site selection at two spatial scales (microsite, territory) and reproductive success of Western Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) at three spatial scales (microsite, territory, landscape) in the eastern Mojave Desert. We used binary logistic regression within an information-theoretic approach to assess factors influencing nest site choice and...
Delivering integrated HAZUS-MH flood loss analyses and flood inundation maps over the Web
Hearn Jr., Herbert E. Longenecker III, John J. Aguinaldo, Ami N. Rahav
2013, Journal of Emergency Management (11) 293-302
Catastrophic flooding is responsible for more loss of life and damages to property than any other natural hazard. Recently developed flood inundation mapping technologies make it possible to view the extent and depth of flooding on the land surface over the Internet; however, by themselves these technologies are unable to...
