Gas hydrate prospecting using well cuttings and mud-gas geochemistry from 35 wells, North Slope, Alaska
T.D. Lorenson, Timothy S. Collett
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5195
Gas hydrate deposits are common on the North Slope of Alaska around Prudhoe Bay; however, the extent of these deposits is unknown outside of this area. As part of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Bureau of Land Management gas hydrate research collaboration, well-cutting and mud-gas samples have been collected...
Using data from an encounter sampler to model fish dispersal
A. Obaza, D.L. DeAngelis, J.C. Trexler
2011, Journal of Fish Biology (78) 495-513
A method to estimate speed of free-ranging fishes using a passive sampling device is described and illustrated with data from the Everglades, U.S.A. Catch per unit effort (CPUE) from minnow traps embedded in drift fences was treated as an encounter rate and used to estimate speed, when combined with an...
Impact of mine and natural sources of mercury on water, sediment, and biota in Harley Gulch adjacent to the Abbott-Turkey Run mine, Lake County, California
James J. Rytuba, Roger L. Hothem, Brianne E. Brussee, Daniel N. Goldstein
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1265
Executive SummaryStable-isotope data indicate that there are three sources of water that effect the composition and Hg concentration of waters in Harley Gulch: (1) meteoric water that dominates water chemistry during the wet season; (2) thermal water effluent from the Turkey Run mine that effects the chemistry at sample site...
Bathymetry and digital elevation models of Coyote Creek and Alviso Slough, South San Francisco Bay, California
Amy C. Foxgrover, David P. Finlayson, Bruce E. Jaffe, Theresa A. Fregoso
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1315
In 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center completed three cruises to map the bathymetry of the main channel and shallow intertidal mudflats in the southernmost part of south San Francisco Bay. The three surveys were merged to generate comprehensive maps of Coyote Creek (from...
Non-genetic data supporting genetic evidence for the eastern wolf
L. David Mech
2011, Northeastern Naturalist (18) 521-526
Two schools of thought dominate the molecular-genetics literature on Canis spp. (wolves) in the western Great Lakes region of the US and Canada: (1) they are hybrids between Canis lupus (Gray Wolf) and Canis latrans (Coyote), or (2) they are hybrids between the Gray Wolf and Canis lycaon (Eastern Wolf)....
The influence of the Atlantic Warm Pool on the Florida panhandle sea breeze
Vasubandhu Misra, Lauren Moeller, Lydia Stefanova, Steven Chan, James J. O’Brien, Thomas J. Smith III, Nathaniel Plant
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres (116)
In this paper we examine the variations of the boreal summer season sea breeze circulation along the Florida panhandle coast from relatively high resolution (10 km) regional climate model integrations. The 23 year climatology (1979–2001) of the multidecadal dynamically downscaled simulations forced by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–Department...
Pathogenic bacteria and microbial-source tracking markers in Brandywine Creek Basin, Pennsylvania and Delaware, 2009-10
Joseph W. Duris, Andrew G. Reif, Leif E. Olson, Heather E. Johnson
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5164
The City of Wilmington, Delaware, is in the downstream part of the Brandywine Creek Basin, on the main stem of Brandywine Creek. Wilmington uses this stream, which drains a mixed-land-use area upstream, for its main drinking-water supply. Because the stream is used for drinking water, Wilmington is in need of...
Potential climate change effects on water tables and pyrite oxidation in headwater catchments in Colorado
Richard M. Webb, M. Alisa Mast, Andrew H. Manning, David W. Clow, Donald H. Campbell
C. Nicholas Medley, Glenn Patterson, Melanie J. Parker, editor(s)
2011, Conference Paper, Observing, studying, and managing for change - Proceedings of the Fourth Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2011–5169
A water, energy, and biogeochemical model (WEBMOD) was constructed to simulate hydrology and pyrite oxidation for the period October 1992 through September 1997. The hydrologic model simulates processes in Loch Vale, a 6.6-km² granitic watershed that drains the east side of the Continental Divide. Parameters describing pyrite oxidation were derived...
Severe bill deformity of an American Kestrel wintering in California
William M. Iko, Robert J. Dusek
2011, Western Birds (42) 251-254
During a recent survey for West Nile virus in wild birds around the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge, Imperial County, California (Dusek et al. 2010), we captured a female American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) with a severe bill deformity (Figure 1). The kestrel was captured on 9 March 2006,...
Notes on the distribution of eastern woodrats and hispid cotton rats in south-central Nebraska
H.D. Wills, Keith Geluso, E.J. Smits, J.T. Springer, W.E. Newton
2011, Prairie Naturalist (43) 127-129
The eastern woodrat (Neotoma floridana) and hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) reach distributional limits in southern Nebraska (Jones 1964, Farney 1975). In the last half century, both species have expanded their distributional ranges in the region (Kugler and Geluso 2009, Wright et al. 2010). Herein, we report new localities of...
Nesting success and resource selection of greater sage grouse in South Dakota: Chapter 8
Nicholas W. Kaczor, Kent C. Jensen, Robert W. Klaver, Mark A. Rumble, Katie M. Herman-Brunson, Christopher C. Swanson
Brett K. Sandercock, Kathy Martin, Gernot Segelbacher, editor(s)
2011, Studies in Avian Biology; Ecology, Conservation, and Management of Grouse (39) 107-118
Declines of Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in South Dakota are a concern because further population declines may lead to isolation from populations in Wyoming and Montana. Furthermore, little information exists about reproductive ecology and resource selection of sage grouse on the eastern edge of their distribution. We investigated Greater Sage-Grouse...
Timing of seasonal migration in mule deer: effects of climate, plant phenology, and life-history characteristics
Kevin L. Monteith, Vernon C. Bleich, Thomas R. Stephenson, Beck M. Pierce, Mary M. Conner, Robert W. Klaver, R. Terry Bowyer
2011, Ecosphere (2)
Phenological events of plants and animals are sensitive to climatic processes. Migration is a life-history event exhibited by most large herbivores living in seasonal environments, and is thought to occur in response to dynamics of forage and weather. Decisions regarding when to migrate, however, may be affected by differences in...
The dazed and confused identity of Agassiz's land tortoise, Gopherus agassizii (Testudines, Testudinidae) with the description of a new species, and its consequences for conservation
Robert K. Murphy, Kristin Berry, Taylor Edwards, Alan E. Leviton, Amy Lathrop, J. Daren Riedle
2011, ZooKeys (113) 39-71
We investigate a cornucopia of problems associated with the identity of the desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii Cooper. The date of publication is found to be 1861, rather than 1863. Only one of the three original cotypes exists, and it is designated as the lectotype of the species. Another cotype is...
Use of cranial characters in taxonomy of the Minnesota wolf (Canis sp.)
L. David Mech, Ronald M. Nowak, Sanford Weisberg
2011, Canadian Journal of Zoology (89) 1188-1194
Minnesota wolves (Canis sp.) sometimes are reported to have affinity to a small, narrow-skulled eastern form (Canis lupus lycaon Schreber, 1775) and sometimes to a larger, broader western form (Canis lupus nubilus Say, 1823). We found that pre-1950 Minnesota wolf skulls were similar in size to those of wolves from...
Baseline hydrologic studies in the lower Elwha River prior to dam removal
Christopher S. Magirl, Christopher A. Curran, Rich W. Sheibley, Jonathan A. Warrick, Jonathan A. Czuba, Christiana R. Czuba, Andrew S. Gendaszek, Patrick B. Shafroth, Jeffrey J. Duda, James R. Foreman
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5120-4
After the removal of two large, long‑standing dams on the Elwha River, Washington, the additional load of sediment and wood is expected to affect the hydrology of the lower river, its estuary, and the alluvial aquifer underlying the surrounding flood plain. To better understand the surface-water and groundwater characteristics of...
Key science issues in the central and eastern United States for the next version of the USGS National Seismic Hazard Maps
M.D. Peterson, C.S. Mueller
2011, Conference Paper, Seismological Society of America, 2011 Annual Meeting
The USGS National Seismic Hazard Maps are updated about every six years by incorporating newly vetted science on earthquakes and ground motions. The 2008 hazard maps for the central and eastern United States region (CEUS) were updated by using revised New Madrid and Charleston source models, an updated seismicity catalog...
Coastal processes of the Elwha River delta: Chapter 5 in Coastal habitats of the Elwha River, Washington--biological and physical patterns and processes prior to dam removal
Jonathan A. Warrick, Andrew W. Stevens, Ian M. Miller, Guy Gelfenbaum
Jeffrey J. Duda, Jonathan A. Warrick, Christopher S. Magirl, editor(s)
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5120-5
To understand the effects of increased sediment supply from dam removal on marine habitats around the Elwha River delta, a basic understanding of the region’s coastal processes is necessary. This chapter provides a summary of the physical setting of the coast near the Elwha River delta, for the purpose of...
Cambarus (Puncticambarus) smilax, a new species of crayfish (Crustacea: Decapoda: Cambaridae) from the Greenbrier River basin of West Virginia
Zachary J. Loughman, Thomas P. Simon, Stuart A. Welsh
2011, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington (124) 99-111
Cambarus (Puncticambarus) smilax is a stream-dwelling crayfish that appears to be endemic to the Greenbrier River basin in the Valley and Ridge province of West Virginia. Within the Greenbrier system it occurs primarily in tributaries to the Greenbrier mainstem, with stable populations in the East and West Fork, and Thorny, Knapp, and Deer...
Persistence of the longnose darter (P. nasuta) in Lee Creek, Oklahoma
Michael R. Gatlin, James M. Long
2011, Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science (91) 11-14
The longnose darter Percina nasuta (Bailey) is one of Oklahoma’s rarest fish species (1) and is listed by the state as endangered. Throughout the rest of its range, which includes Missouri, Arkansas and the far eastern portion of Oklahoma, the longnose darter is classified as “rare” or “threatened” (2, 3,...
Guidance manual for forensic analysis of perchlorate in groundwater using chlorine and oxygen isotopic analyses
2011, Report
Increased health concerns about perchlorate (ClO4-) during the past decade and subsequent regulatory considerations have generated appreciable interest in source identification. The key objective of the isotopic techniques described in this guidance manual is to provide evidence concerning the origin of ClO4- in soils and groundwater and, more specifically, whether...
The role of backbarrier infilling in the formation of barrier island systems
Christopher J. Hein, Duncan M. FitzGerald, Emily A. Carruthers, Byron D. Stone, Allen M. Gontz
2011, Conference Paper, The Proceedings of the Coastal Sediments 2011
Barrier islands develop through a variety of processes, including spit accretion, barrier elongation, and inlet filling. New geophysical and sedimentological data provide a means of documenting the presence of a paleoinlet within a barrier lithosome in the western Gulf of Maine, illuminating the process of backbarrier infilling and its effect...
Traverse of the major fault systems of the Taconian deformational front, the Vermont Valley and core of the Green Mountain massif, southern Vermont
Nicholas M. Ratcliffe, Michael J. Kunk, William C. Burton, Gregory J. Walsh
2011, Conference Paper, Guidebook for field trips in Vermont and adjacent New York
No abstract available....
Introduction
Peter D. Warwick
2011, Natural Resources Research (20) 279-280
The Energy Minerals Division (EMD) of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) is a membership-based, technical interest group having the primary goal of advancing the science of geology, especially as it relates to exploration, discovery, and production of unconventional energy resources. Current research on unconventional energy resources is rapidly...
Managing white-tailed deer: Eastern North America
Duane R. Diefenbach, Stephen M. Shea
2011, Book chapter, Biology and management of white-tailed deer
The ability of the white-tailed deer to adapt to and thrive in a wide variety of habitats requires different approaches to managing this species. Variation in both the population dynamics of the species and in the social and political factors that inuence how humans value white-tailed deer also necessitate different...
Postwildfire preliminary debris flow hazard assessment for the area burned by the 2011 Las Conchas Fire in north-central New Mexico
Anne C. Tillery, Michael J. Darr, Susan H. Cannon, John A. Michael
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1308
The Las Conchas Fire during the summer of 2011 was the largest in recorded history for the state of New Mexico, burning 634 square kilometers in the Jemez Mountains of north-central New Mexico. The burned landscape is now at risk of damage from postwildfire erosion, such as that caused by...
