Landscape consequences of natural gas extraction in Allegheny and Susquehanna Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004--2010
E.T. Slonecker, L.E. Milheim, C.M. Roig-Silva, A.R. Malizia
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1025
Increased demands for cleaner burning energy, coupled with the relatively recent technological advances in accessing unconventional hydrocarbon-rich geologic formations, have led to an intense effort to find and extract natural gas from various underground sources around the country. One of these sources, the Marcellus Shale, located in the Allegheny Plateau,...
Paleomagnetic correlation and ages of basalt flow groups in coreholes at and near the Naval Reactors Facility, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho
Duane E. Champion, Linda C. Davis, Mary K.V. Hodges, Marvin A. Lanphere
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5012
Paleomagnetic inclination and polarity studies were conducted on subcore samples from eight coreholes located at and near the Naval Reactors Facility (NRF), Idaho National Laboratory (INL). These studies were used to characterize and to correlate successive stratigraphic basalt flow groups in each corehole to basalt flow groups with similar paleomagnetic...
Representation of ecological systems within the protected areas network of the continental United States
Jocelyn L. Aycrigg, Anne Davidson, Leona K. Svancara, Kevin J. Gergely, Alexa McKerrow, J. Michael Scott
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
If conservation of biodiversity is the goal, then the protected areas network of the continental US may be one of our best conservation tools for safeguarding ecological systems (i.e., vegetation communities). We evaluated representation of ecological systems in the current protected areas network and found insufficient representation at three vegetation...
Geophysical and hydrologic analysis of an earthen dam site in southern Westchester County, New York
Anthony Chu, Frederick Stumm, Peter K. Joesten, Michael L. Noll
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5247
Ninety percent of the drinking water for New York City passes through the Hillview Reservoir facility in the City of Yonkers, Westchester County, New York. In the past, several seeps located downslope from the reservoir have flowed out from the side of the steepest slope at the southern end of...
Lateglacial and Holocene climate, disturbance and permafrost peatland dynamics on the Seward Peninsula, western Alaska
Stephanie D. Hunt, Zicheng Yu, Miriam C. Jones
2013, Quaternary Science Reviews (63) 42-58
Northern peatlands have accumulated large carbon (C) stocks, acting as a long-term atmospheric C sink since the last deglaciation. How these C-rich ecosystems will respond to future climate change, however, is still poorly understood. Furthermore, many northern peatlands exist in regions underlain by permafrost, adding to the challenge of projecting...
Lead isotope determinations from sulfide mineral occurrences--Russian Far East
Stan E. Church, Nikolai A. Goryachev, Vladimir I. Shpikerman
2013, Data Series 743
The lead isotope database for sulfide deposits and occurrences in the Russian Far East was funded by the Mineral Resources Program, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in conjunction with the collaborative studies of mineral resources by the Russian Academy of Sciences and the U. S. Geological Survey (Nokleberg and others, 1996)....
Movements and dive patterns of short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) released from a mass stranding in the Florida Keys
Randall S. Wells, Erin M. Fougeres, Arthur G. Cooper, Robert O. Stevens, Micah Brodsky, Robert Lingenfelser, Chris Dold, David C. Douglas
2013, Aquatic Mammals (39) 61-72
Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) are among the most common cetaceans to engage in mass strandings in the southeastern United States. Because these are primarily pelagic, continental shelf-edge animals, much of what is known about this species has derived from mass stranding events. Post-release monitoring via satellite-linked telemetry was conducted...
The United States-Mexican Border - A land of conflict and opportunity: Chapter 1 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science
Randall G. Updike
2013, Circular 1380-1
The boundary between the United States and Mexico was created for convenient expediency through political debate and agreements (fig. 1–1). With the exception of the eastern segment of the border, which follows the course of the Rio Grande (known as the Rio Bravo in Mexico), the defining of this border...
Hydrologic data and groundwater flow simulations in the vicinity of Long Lake, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, near Gary, Indiana
David C. Lampe, E. Randall Bayless
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5003
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collected data and simulated groundwater flow to increase understanding of the hydrology and the effects of drainage alterations to the water table in the vicinity of Long Lake, near Gary, Indiana. East Long Lake and West Long Lake (collectively known as Long Lake) make up...
Characterization of the Hosgri Fault Zone and adjacent structures in the offshore Santa Maria Basin, south-central California
C. Richard Willingham, Jan D. Rietman, Ronald G. Heck, William R. Lettis
2013, Bulletin 1995-CC
The Hosgri Fault Zone trends subparallel to the south-central California coast for 110 km from north of Point Estero to south of Purisima Point and forms the eastern margin of the present offshore Santa Maria Basin. Knowledge of the attributes of the Hosgri Fault Zone is important for petroleum development,...
Groundwater-quality data in the Cascade Range and Modoc Plateau study unit, 2010-Results from the California GAMA Program
Jennifer L. Shelton, Miranda S. Fram, Kenneth Belitz
2013, Data Series 688
Groundwater quality in the 39,000-square-kilometer Cascade Range and Modoc Plateau (CAMP) study unit was investigated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from July through October 2010, as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program’s Priority Basin Project (PBP). The GAMA...
Near real-time monitoring of volcanic surface deformation from GPS measurements at Long Valley Caldera, California
Kang Hyeun Ji, Thomas A. Herring, Andrea L. Llenos
2013, Geophysical Research Letters (40) 1054-1058
Long Valley Caldera in eastern California is an active volcanic area and has shown continued unrest in the last three decades. We have monitored surface deformation from Global Positioning System (GPS) data by using a projection method that we call Targeted Projection Operator (TPO). TPO projects residual time series with...
Short-term effects of small dam removal on freshwater mussel assemblage
Ryan J. Heise, W. Gregory Cope, Thomas J. Kwak, Chris B. Eads
2013, WALKERANA (16) 41-52
Dam removal is increasingly used to restore lotic habitat and biota, but its effects on freshwater mussels (family Unionidae) are not well known. We conducted a four-year study to assess short-term effects on mussels after removal of a small hydropower dam on the Deep River (Cape Fear River drainage), North...
Upper crustal structure of Alabama from regional magnetic and gravity data: Using geology to interpret geophysics, and vice versa
Mark G. Steltenpohl, J. Wright Horton Jr., Robert D. Hatcher, Isidore Zietz, David L. Daniels, Michael W. Higgins
2013, Geosphere (9) 1044-1064
Aeromagnetic and gravity data sets obtained for Alabama (United States) have been digitally merged and filtered to enhance upper-crustal anomalies. Beneath the Appalachian Basin in northwestern Alabama, broad deep-crustal anomalies of the continental interior include the Grenville front and New York–Alabama lineament (dextral fault). Toward the east and south, high-angle...
U-Pb ages of detrital zircons from the Tertiary Mississippi River delta plain in central Louisiana: Insights into sediment provenance
William H. Craddock, Andrew R. C. Kylander-Clark
2013, Geosphere (9) 1832-1851
The sources of the tremendous amount of Cenozoic siliciclastic sediment deposited in the Gulf of Mexico region remain debated because of a lack of definitive provenance-identifying characteristics. In an effort to build on prior provenance analysis, we present 101–160 single-grain detrital zircon U-Pb ages for each of 10 outcrop samples...
Correlation of geothermal springs with sub-surface fault terminations revealed by high-resolution, UAV-acquired magnetic data
Jonathan M.G. Glen, A.E. Egger, C. Ippolito, N.Athens
2013, Conference Paper, Proceedings Thirty-eighth Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering
There is widespread agreement that geothermal springs in extensional geothermal systems are concentrated at fault tips and in fault interaction zones where porosity and permeability are dynamically maintained (Curewitz and Karson, 1997; Faulds et al., 2010). Making these spatial correlations typically involves geological and geophysical studies in order to map...
Where fast weathering creates thin regolith and slow weathering creates thick regolith
Ekaterina Bazilevskaya, Marina Lebedeva, Milan J. Pavich, Susan L. Brantley, Gernot Rother, Dilworth Y. Parkinson, David Cole
2013, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 847-858
Weathering disaggregates rock into regolith – the fractured or granular earth material that sustains life on the continental land surface. Here, we investigate what controls the depth of regolith formed on ridges of two rock compositions with similar initial porosities in Virginia (USA). A priori, we predicted that the regolith...
Drought and deluge: Effects of recent climate variability on groundwater levels in eastern Arkansas
John B. Czarnecki, T.P. Schrader
2013, Fact Sheet 2012-3135
Arkansas experienced wide extremes in climate variability during the period of 2005 to 2010, recording the largest annual precipitation ever recorded in the State (100.05 inches) in 2009. Many weather stations across the State reported between 80 to 90 inches of rainfall in 2009. For comparison, the average annual precipitation...
Effects of recent climate variability on groundwater levels in eastern Arkansas
John B. Czarnecki, T.P. Schrader
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5258
Water-level fluctuations in wells completed in the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer in eastern Arkansas were compared to variability in annual precipitation, an indicator of climate variability. The wettest year on record in Little Rock, Arkansas, occurred in 2009 with 81.79 inches of precipitation compared to an average of 47.1...
Aquatic assessment of the Pike Hill Copper Mine Superfund site, Corinth, Vermont
Nadine M. Piatak, Denise M. Argue, Robert R. Seal II, Richard G. Kiah, John M. Besser, James F. Coles, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Denise M. Levitan, Jeffrey R. Deacon, Christopher G. Ingersoll
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5288
The Pike Hill Copper Mine Superfund site in Corinth, Orange County, Vermont, includes the Eureka, Union, and Smith mines along with areas of downstream aquatic ecosystem impairment. The site was placed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) National Priorities List in 2004. The mines, which operated from about 1847...
Groundwater quality in the Madera and Chowchilla subbasins of the San Joaquin Valley, California
Jennifer L. Shelton, Miranda S. Fram, Kenneth Belitz
2013, Fact Sheet 2012-3099
Groundwater provides more than 40 percent of California’s drinking water. To protect this vital resource, the State of California created the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The Priority Basin Project of the GAMA Program provides a comprehensive assessment of the State’s untreated groundwater quality and increases public access...
Defining a data management strategy for USGS Chesapeake Bay studies
Cassandra Ladino
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1005
The mission of U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Chesapeake Bay studies is to provide integrated science for improved understanding and management of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. Collective USGS efforts in the Chesapeake Bay watershed began in the 1980s, and by the mid-1990s the USGS adopted the watershed as one of its...
New vitrinite reflectance data for the Wind River Basin, Wyoming
Mark J. Pawlewicz, Thomas M. Finn
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1002
The Wind River Basin is a large Laramide (Late Cretaceous through Eocene) structural and sedimentary basin that encompasses about 7,400 square miles in central Wyoming. The basin is bounded by the Washakie Range and Owl Creek and southern Bighorn Mountains on the north, the Casper arch on the east and...
Reconnaissance studies of potential petroleum source rocks in the Middle Jurassic Tuxedni Group near Red Glacier, eastern slope of Iliamna Volcano
Richard G. Stanley, Trystan M. Herriott, David L. LePain, Kenneth P. Helmold, C. Shaun Peterson
2013, Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Preliminary Interpretive Report 2013-1B
Previous geological and organic geochemical studies have concluded that organic-rich marine shale in the Middle Jurassic Tuxedni Group is the principal source rock of oil and associated gas in Cook Inlet (Magoon and Anders, 1992; Magoon, 1994; Lillis and Stanley, 2011; LePain and others, 2012; LePain and others, submitted). During...
Preliminary hydrogeologic assessment near Tassi and Pakoon Springs, western part of Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, Arizona
Margot Truini
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5276
Tassi and Pakoon Springs are both in the Grand Wash Trough in the western part of Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument on the Arizona Strip. The monument is jointly managed by the National Park Service (NPS) and the Bureau of Land Management. This study was in response to NPS’s need to...
