Canada Basin revealed
David C. Mosher, John Shimeld, Deborah R. Hutchinson, D Chian, Nina Lebedeva-Ivanova, Ruth Jackson
2012, Conference Paper, Arctic Technology Conference: Challenges for today, opportunities for tomorrow
More than 15,000 line-km of new regional seismic reflection and refraction data in the western Arctic Ocean provide insights into the tectonic and sedimentologic history of Canada Basin, permitting development of new geologic understanding in one of Earth's last frontiers. These new data support a rotational opening model for southern...
Bats, mines, and citizen science in the Rockies: Volunteers make a difference in Colorado
Mark A. Hayes
2012, BATS Magazine (30) 10-11
Biologists at the Colorado Division of Wildlife faced a big problem back in 1990. They wanted to protect important bat roosts in the state’s abandoned mines, but first they had to find the bats. Colorado’s rich mining history had left more than 23,000 old mines scattered across the landscape, few...
The genetic structure of a relict population of wood frogs
Rick Scherer, Erin Muths, Barry Noon, Sara Oyler-McCance
2012, Conservation Genetics (13) 1521-1530
Habitat fragmentation and the associated reduction in connectivity between habitat patches are commonly cited causes of genetic differentiation and reduced genetic variation in animal populations. We used eight microsatellite markers to investigate genetic structure and levels of genetic diversity in a relict population of wood frogs (Lithobates sylvatica) in Rocky...
3-D reconstructions of subsurface Pleistocene basalt flows from paleomagnetic inclination data and 40Ar/39Ar ages in the southern part of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho (USA)
Mary K. V. Hodges, Duane E. Champion, B. D. Turrin, C. C. Swisher III
2012, Conference Paper
The U. S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, is mapping the distribution of basalt flows and sedimentary interbeds at the Idaho National Laboratory in three dimensions to provide data for refining numerical models of groundwater flow and contaminant transport in the eastern Snake River Plain...
Recreational trails as corridors for alien plants in the Rocky Mountains, USA
Floye H. Wells, William K. Lauenroth, John B. Bradford
2012, Western North American Naturalist (72) 507-533
Alien plant species often use areas of heavy human activity for habitat and dispersal. Roads and utility corridors have been shown to harbor more alien species than the surrounding vegetation and are therefore believed to contribute to alien plant persistence and spread. Recreational trails represent another corridor that could harbor...
Ground water and climate change
Richard G. Taylor, Bridget R. Scanlon, Petra Doll, Matt Rodell, Rens van Beek, Yoshihide Wada, Laurent Longuevergne, Marc Leblanc, James S. Famiglietti, Mike Edmunds, Leonard F. Konikow, Timothy R. Green, Jianyao Chen, Makoto Taniguchi, Marc F.P. Bierkens, Alan MacDonald, Ying Fan, Reed M. Maxwell, Yossi Yechieli, Jason J. Gurdak, Diana M. Allen, Mohammad Shamsudduha, Kevin Hiscock, Pat J.-F. Yeh, Ian Holman, Holger Treidel
2012, Nature Climate Change (3) 322-329
As the world's largest distributed store of fresh water, ground water plays a central part in sustaining ecosystems and enabling human adaptation to climate variability and change. The strategic importance of ground water for global water and food security will probably intensify under climate change as more frequent and intense...
Mechanics of Old Faithful Geyser, Calistoga, CA
M.L. Rudolph, M. Manga, Shaul Hurwitz, Malcolm J. S. Johnston, L. Karlstrom, Chun-Yong Wang
2012, Geophysical Research Letters (39)
In order to probe the subsurface dynamics associated with geyser eruptions, we measured ground deformation at Old Faithful Geyser of Calistoga, CA. We present a physical model in which recharge during the period preceding an eruption is driven by pressure differences relative to the aquifer supplying the geyser. The model...
IOOS modeling subsystem: vision and implementation strategy
Leslie Rosenfeld, Yi Chao, Richard P. Signell
2012, Book
Numerical modeling is vital to achieving the U.S. IOOS® goals of predicting, understanding and adapting to change in the ocean and Great Lakes. In the next decade IOOS should cultivate a holistic approach to coastal ocean prediction, and encourage more balanced investment among the observing, modeling and information management subsystems....
Priorities for IOOS® Data Management and Communications (DMAC)
Corrine Alexander, Joan Thomas, K. Benedict, W. Johnson, R. Morrison, J. Andrechik, E. Stabenau, M. Gierach, K. Casey, Richard P. Signell, H. Norris, R. Proctor, K. Kirby, D. Snowden, J. de La Beaujardière, E. Howlett, S. Uczekaj, K. Narasimhan, E. Key, M. Trice, J. Fredericks
2012, Book
Dramatic increases in the volume of online data and rapid advances in information technology have transformed many aspects of our society. In the coastal ocean, the amount of data is also growing dramatically due to new sensor and modeling technologies. Lagging behind this deluge of ocean data, however, is an...
Walrus distributional and foraging response to changing ice and benthic conditions in the Chukchi Sea
Chadwick V. Jay, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Anthony S. Fischbach
2012, North Pacific Research Board Project Final Report 818
Arctic species such as the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) are facing a rapidly changing environment. Walruses are benthic foragers and may shift their spatial patterns of foraging in response to changes in prey distribution. We used data from satellite radio-tags attached to walruses in 2009-2010 to map walrus foraging...
Dynamic stresses, coulomb failure, and remote triggering: corrected
David P. Hill
2012, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (102) 2313-2336
Dynamic stresses associated with crustal surface waves with 15–30 s periods and peak amplitudes <1 MPa are capable of triggering seismicity at sites remote from the generating mainshock under appropriate conditions. Coulomb failure models based on a frictional strength threshold offer one explanation for instances of rapid‐onset triggered seismicity that develop...
Description of the U.S. Geological Survey Geo Data Portal data integration framework
David L. Blodgett, Nathaniel L. Booth, Thomas C. Kunicki, Jordan I. Walker, Jessica M. Lucido
2012, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing (5) 1687-1691
The U.S. Geological Survey has developed an open-standard data integration framework for working efficiently and effectively with large collections of climate and other geoscience data. A web interface accesses catalog datasets to find data services. Data resources can then be rendered for mapping and dataset metadata are derived directly from...
Surface-wave potential for triggering tectonic (nonvolcanic) tremor-corrected
David P. Hill
2012, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (102) 2337-2355
Source processes commonly posed to explain instances of remote dynamic triggering of tectonic (nonvolcanic) tremor by surface waves include frictional failure and various modes of fluid activation. The relative potential for Love- and Rayleigh-wave dynamic stresses to trigger tectonic tremor through failure on critically stressed thrust and vertical strike-slip faults...
Age, growth, and reproductive biology of three catostomids from the Apalachicola River, Florida
Timothy B. Grabowski, S.P. Young, J. Jeffery Isely, Patrick C. Ely
2012, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (3) 223-237
Riverine catostomids can show a wide range of interspecific variation in life-history characteristics. Understanding these differences is an important consideration in evaluating the sensitivity of these fishes to disturbance and in formulating effective conservation strategies, particularly when dealing with an assemblage consisting of multiple species within a watershed. We collected...
Fish assemblages at engineered and natural channel structures in the lower Missouri river: implications for modified dike structures
J.T. Schloesser, Craig P. Paukert, W.J. Doyle, T. Hill, K.D. Steffensen, Vincent H. Travnichek
2012, River Research and Applications (28) 1695-1707
Large rivers throughout the world have been modified by using dike structures to divert water flows to deepwater habitats to maintain navigation channels. These modifications have been implicated in the decline in habitat diversity and native fishes. However, dike structures have been modified in the Missouri River USA to increase...
Biodegradability of dissolved organic carbon in the Yukon River and its tributaries: Seasonality and importance of inorganic nitrogen
Kimberly P. Wickland, George R. Aiken, Kenna D. Butler, Mark M. Dornblaser, RGM Spencer, Robert G. Striegl
2012, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (26) 1-14
Northern high-latitude rivers transport large amounts of terrestrially derived dissolved organic matter (DOM) from boreal and arctic ecosystems to coastal areas and oceans. Current knowledge of the biodegradability of DOM in these rivers is limited, particularly for large rivers discharging to the Arctic Ocean. We conducted a seasonally comprehensive study...
Digenean metacercariae of fishes from the lagoon flats of Palmyra Atoll, Eastern Indo-Pacific
V. M. Vidal-Martínez, M. L. Aguirre-Macedo, J.P. McLaughlin, R. F. Hechinger, A.G. Jaramillo, J.C. Shaw, A.K. James, A. M. Kuris, Kevin D. Lafferty
2012, Journal of Helminthology (86) 493-509
Although many studies on the taxonomy of digenean trematodes of marine fishes have been completed in the Eastern Indo-Pacific (EIP) marine ecoregion, only a few have considered metacercarial stages. Here, the results are presented of a taxonomic survey of the digenean metacercariae of fishes from Palmyra Atoll, a remote and...
Fifty years of IMOG (International Meetings on Organic Geochemistry)
Keith A. Kvenvolden
2012, Organic Geochemistry (53) 5-7
IMOG2011 is the 25th of a series of international meetings on organic geochemistry that began in 1962. Thus, this 25th meeting marks the 50th anniversary year of IMOG, which has (a) had a rich history with meetings taking place in 11 different countries, (b) published Proceedings, titled “Advances in Organic...
Ungulate management in national parks of the United States and Canada
S. Demarais, L. Cornicelli, R. Kahn, E. Merrill, C. Miller, J.M. Peek, W.F. Porter, G.A. Sargeant
2012, The Wildlife Society Technical Review (12-05)
Enabling legislation—that which gives appropriate officials the authority to implement or enforce the law—impacts management of ungulates in national parks of Canada and the United States (U.S.). The initial focus of such legislation in both countries centered on preserving natural and culturally significant areas for posterity. Although this objective remains...
Assessment of boreal forest historical C dynamics in the Yukon River Basin: relative roles of warming and fire regime change
F.M. Yuan, S.H. Yi, A. D. McGuire, K.D. Johnson, J. Liang, J.W. Harden, E.S. Kasischke, W.A. Kurz
2012, Ecological Applications (22) 2091-2109
Carbon (C) dynamics of boreal forest ecosystems have substantial implications for efforts to mitigate the rise of atmospheric CO2 and may be substantially influenced by warming and changing wildfire regimes. In this study we applied a large-scale ecosystem model that included dynamics of organic soil horizons and soil organic matter...
Sixty thousand years of magmatic volatile history before the caldera-forming eruption of Mount Mazama, Crater Lake, Oregon
Heather M. Wright, Charles R. Bacon, Jorge A. Vazquez, Thomas W. Sisson
2012, Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology (164) 1027-1052
The well-documented eruptive history of Mount Mazama, Oregon, provides an excellent opportunity to use pre-eruptive volatile concentrations to study the growth of an explosive silicic magmatic system. Melt inclusions (MI) hosted in pyroxene and plagioclase crystals from eight dacitic–rhyodacitic eruptive deposits (71–7.7 ka) were analyzed to determine variations in volatile-element...
Record length, mass, and clutch size in the nonindigenous Burmese Python, Python bivittatus Kuhl 1820 (Squamata: Pythonidae), in Florida
Kenneth L. Krysko, Kristen M. Hart, Brian J. Smith, Thomas H. Selby, Michael S. Cherkiss, Nicholas T. Coutu, Rebecca M. Reichart, Leroy P. Nuñez, Frank J. Mazzotti, Ray W. Snow
2012, Reptiles & Amphibians (19) 267-270
The Burmese Python, Python bivittatus Kuhl 1820 (Squamata: Pythonidae), is indigenous to northern India,east to southern China, and south to Vietnam and a few islands in Indonesia (Barker and Barker 2008, Reed and Rodda 2009). This species has been introduced since at least 1979 in southern Florida, USA, where it...
Identifying potential habitat for the endangered Aleutian shield fern using topographical characteristics
Adam Duarte, Daniel M. Wolcott, T. Edwin Ricca Chow Ricca, Mark A.
2012, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (3) 303-310
The Aleutian shield fern Polystichum aleuticum is endemic to the Aleutian archipelago of Alaska and is listed as endangered pursuant to the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Despite numerous efforts to discover new populations of this species, only four known populations are documented to date, and information is needed to prioritize...
Evaluation of stream flow effects on smolt survival in the Yakima River basin, Washington
Courter Ian, Garrison Tommy, Tobias J. Kock, Russell W. Perry
2012, Report
Study Summary The influence of stream flow on salmon smolt emigration survival is a topic of widespread management interest. We collected smolt survival data to inform flow management decisions in the Yakima Basin. The Yakima River watershed drains the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountain Range in central Washington State. The...
Central Basin and Range Ecoregion: Chapter 20 in Status and trends of land change in the Western United States--1973 to 2000
Christopher E. Soulard
2012, Professional Paper 1794-A-20
This chapter has been modified from original material published in Soulard (2006), entitled “Land-cover trends of the Central Basin and Range Ecoregion” (U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2006–5288). The Central Basin and Range Ecoregion (Omernik, 1987; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1997) encompasses approximately 343,169 km² (132,498 mi2) of land...
