Variations of iron flux and organic carbon remineralization in a subterranean estuary caused by interannual variations in recharge
Moutusi Roy, Jonathan B. Martin, Jaye E. Cable, Christopher G. Smith
2013, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (103) 301-315
We determine the inter-annual variations in diagenetic reaction rates of sedimentary iron (Fe ) in an east Florida subterranean estuary and evaluate the connection between metal fluxes and recharge to the coastal aquifer. Over the three-year study period (from 2004 to 2007), the amount of Fe-oxides reduced at the...
Geologic map of the Valley Mountain 15’ quadrangle, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, California
Keith A. Howard, John Bacheller, Todd T. Fitzgibbon, Robert E. Powell, Charlotte M. Allen
2013, Geologic Quadrangle 1767
The Valley Mountain 15’ quadrangle straddles the Pinto Mountain Fault, which bounds the eastern Transverse Ranges in the south against the Mojave Desert province in the north. The Pinto Mountains, part of the eastern Transverse Ranges in the south part of the quadrangle expose a series of Paleoproterozoic gneisses and...
The role of vermetid gastropods in the development of the Florida Middle Ground, northeast Gulf of Mexico
Christopher D. Reich, Richard Z. Poore, Todd D. Hickey
2013, Journal of Coastal Research 46-57
The Florida Middle Ground is a complex of north to northwest trending ridges that lie approximately 180 km northwest of Tampa Bay, Florida. The irregular ridges appear on the otherwise gently sloping West Florida shelf and exhibit between 10-15 m of relief. Modern studies interpret the ridges as remnants of...
Hydrogeology, groundwater seepage, nitrate distribution, and flux at the Raleigh hydrologic research station, Wake County, North Carolina, 2005-2007
Kristen Bukowski McSwain, Richard E. Bolich, Melinda J. Chapman
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5041
rom 2005 to 2007, the U.S. Geological Survey and the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Water Quality, conducted a study to describe the geologic framework, measure groundwater quality, characterize the groundwater-flow system, and describe the groundwater/surface-water interaction at the 60-acre Raleigh hydrogeologic research station (RHRS)...
Pb-Sr-Nd isotopes in surficial materials at the Pebble Porphyry Cu-Au-Mo Deposit, Southwestern Alaska: can the mineralizing fingerprint be detected through cover?
Robert A. Ayuso, Karen D. Kelley, Robert G. Eppinger, Francesca Forni
2013, Economic Geology (108) 543-563
The Cretaceous Pebble porphyry Cu-Au-Mo deposit is covered by tundra and glacigenic sediments. Pb-Sr-Nd measurements were done on sediments and soils to establish baseline conditions prior to the onset of mining operations and contribute to the development of exploration methods for concealed base metal deposits of this type. Pebble rocks...
Atmospheric mercury and fine particulate matter in coastal New England: implications for mercury and trace element sources in the northeastern United States
Allan Kolker, Mark A. Engle, Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Nicholas J. Geboy, David P. Krabbenhotft, Michael H. Bothner, Michael T. Tate
2013, Atmospheric Environment (79) 760-768
Intensive sampling of ambient atmospheric fine particulate matter was conducted at Woods Hole, Massachusetts over a four-month period from 3 April to 29 July, 2008, in conjunction with year-long deployment of the USGS Mobile Mercury Lab. Results were obtained for trace elements in fine particulate matter concurrently with determination of...
Abundance, distribution, and population trends of the iconic Hawaiian Honeycreeper, the ʻIʻiwi (Vestiaria coccinea) throughout the Hawaiian Islands
Eben H. Paxton, P. Marcos Gorresen, Richard J. Camp
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1150
Naturalists in the 1800s described the ʻIʻiwi (Vestiaria coccinea) as one of the most abundant forest birds, detected in forested areas from sea level to tree line across all the major Hawaiian Islands. However, in the late 1800s, ʻIʻiwi began to disappear from low elevation forests, and by the mid-1900s,...
Analytical approaches used in stream benthic macroinvertebrate biomonitoring programs of State agencies in the United States
James L. Carter, Vincent H. Resh
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1129
Biomonitoring programs based on benthic macroinvertebrates are well-established worldwide. Their value, however, depends on the appropriateness of the analytical techniques used. All United States State, benthic macroinvertebrate biomonitoring programs were surveyed regarding the purposes of their programs, quality-assurance and quality-control procedures used, habitat and water-chemistry data collected, treatment of macroinvertebrate...
Susceptibility of eastern U.S. habitats to invasion of Celastrus orbiculatus (oriental bittersweet) following fire
Stacey A. Leicht-Young, Noel B. Pavlovic, Ralph Grundel
2013, Forest Ecology and Management (302) 85-96
Fire effects on invasive species are an important land management issue in areas subjected to prescribed fires as well as wildfires. These effects on invasive species can be manifested across life stages. The liana Celastrus orbiculatus (oriental bittersweet) is a widespread invader of eastern US habitats including those where fire...
TerraSAR-X interferometry reveals small-scale deformation associated with the summit eruption of Kilauea Volcano, Hawai‘i
Nichole Richter, Michael P. Poland, Paul R. Lundgren
2013, Geophysical Research Letters (40) 1279-1283
On 19 March 2008, a small explosive eruption at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i, heralded the formation of a new vent along the east wall of Halema‘uma‘u Crater. In the ensuing years, the vent widened due to collapses of the unstable rim and conduit wall; some collapses impacted an...
Evaluation of the rhenium-osmium geochronometer in the Phosphoria petroleum system, Bighorn Basin of Wyoming and Montana, USA
Paul G. Lillis, David Selby
2013, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (118) 312-330
Rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) geochronometry is applied to crude oils derived from the Permian Phosphoria Formation of the Bighorn Basin in Wyoming and Montana to determine whether the radiogenic age reflects the timing of petroleum generation, timing of migration, age of the source rock, or the timing of thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR)....
Evidence for deposition of 10 million tonnes of impact spherules across four continents 12,800 y ago
James H. Wittke, James C. Weaver, Ted E. Bunch, James P. Kennett, Douglas J. Kennett, Andrew Moore, Gordon C. Hillman, Kenneth B. Tankersly, Albert C. Goodyear, Christopher R. Moore, I. Randolph Daniel Jr., Jack H. Ray, Neal H. Lopinot, David Ferraro, Isabel Israde-Alcantara, James L. Bischoff, Paul S. DeCarli, Robert E. Hermes, Johan B. Kloosterman, Zsolt Revay, George A. Howard, David R. Kimbel, Gunther Kletetschka, Ladislav Nabelek, Carl P. Lipo, Sachiko Sakai, Allen West, Richard B. Firestone
2013, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (110) E2088-E2097
Airbursts/impacts by a fragmented comet or asteroid have been proposed at the Younger Dryas onset (12.80 ± 0.15 ka) based on identification of an assemblage of impact-related proxies, including microspherules, nanodiamonds, and iridium. Distributed across four continents at the Younger Dryas boundary (YDB), spherule peaks have been independently confirmed in...
Dating North America's oldest petroglyphs, Winnemucca Lake subbasin, Nevada
Larry V. Benson, E.M. Hattori, J. Southon, B. Aleck
2013, Journal of Archaeological Science (40) 4466-4476
On the west side of the Winnemucca Lake subbasin, Nevada, distinctive deeply carved meter-scale petroglyphs are closely spaced, forming panels on boulder-sized surfaces of a partially collapsed tufa mound. The large, complex motifs at this side are formed by deeply carved lines and cupules. A carbonate crust deposited between 10...
Reconnaissance geologic map of the Kuskokwim Bay region, southwest Alaska
Frederic H. Wilson, Chad P. Hults, Solmaz Mohadjer, Warren L. Coonrad
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3100
The rocks of the map area range from Proterozoic age metamorphic rocks of the Kanektok metamorphic complex (Kilbuck terrane) to Quaternary age mafic volcanic rocks of Nunivak Island. The map area encompasses much of the type area of the Togiak-Tikchik Complex. The geologic maps used to construct this compilation were,...
Predicting the likelihood of altered streamflows at ungauged rivers across the conterminous United States
Ken Eng, Daren M. Carlisle, David M. Wolock, James A. Falcone
2013, River Research and Applications (29) 781-791
An approach is presented in this study to aid water-resource managers in characterizing streamflow alteration at ungauged rivers. Such approaches can be used to take advantage of the substantial amounts of biological data collected at ungauged rivers to evaluate the potential ecological consequences of altered streamflows. National-scale random forest statistical...
Petroleum system analysis of the Hunton Group in West Edmond field, Oklahoma
Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Debra K. Higley
2013, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin (97) 1163-1179
West Edmond field, located in central Oklahoma, is one of the largest oil accumulations in the Silurian–Devonian Hunton Group in this part of the Anadarko Basin. Production from all stratigraphic units in the field exceeds 170 million barrels of oil (MMBO) and 400 billion cubic feet of gas (BCFG),...
Seismic evidence for a slab tear at the Puerto Rico Trench
Hallie E. Meighan, Jay Pulliam, Uri S. ten Brink, Alberto M. Lopez-Venegas
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (118) 2915-2923
The fore-arc region of the northeast Caribbean plate north of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands has been the site of numerous seismic swarms since at least 1976. A 6 month deployment of five ocean bottom seismographs recorded two such tightly clustered swarms, along with additional events. Joint analyses of...
Partitioning of selected trace elements in coal combustion products from two coal-burning power plants in the United States
Sharon M. Swanson, Mark A. Engle, Leslie F. Ruppert, Ronald H. Affolter, Kevin B. Jones
2013, International Journal of Coal Geology (113) 116-126
Samples of feed coal (FC), bottom ash (BA), economizer fly ash (EFA), and fly ash (FA) were collected from power plants in the Central Appalachian basin and Colorado Plateau to determine the partitioning of As, Cr, Hg, Pb, and Se in coal combustion products (CCPs). The Appalachian plant burns a...
Archive of digital boomer subbottom data collected during USGS cruises 99FGS01 and 99FGS02 offshore southeast and southwest Florida, July and November, 1999
Arnell S. Forde, Shawn V. Dadisman, Dana S. Wiese, Daniel C. Phelps
2013, Data Series 773
In July (19 - 26) and November (17 - 18) of 1999, the USGS, in cooperation with the Florida Geological Survey (FGS), conducted two geophysical surveys in: (1) the Atlantic Ocean offshore of Florida's east coast from Orchid to Jupiter, FL, and (2) the Gulf of Mexico offshore of Venice,...
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...
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...
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...
