Moments, magnitudes, and radiated energies of non-volcanic tremor near Cholame, CA, from ground motion spectra at UPSAR
Joe B. Fletcher, Art McGarr
2011, Geophysical Research Letters (38)
By averaging the spectra of events within two episodes of tremor (on Jan. 21 and 24, 2005) across the 12 stations of UPSAR, we improved the S/N sufficiently to define source spectra. Analysis of eleven impulsive events revealed attenuation-corrected spectra of displacement similar to those of earthquakes, with a low-frequency...
Treading lightly on shifting ground: The direction and motivation of future geological research
A.C. Witt
2011, Episodes (34) 78-81
The future of the geosciences and geological research will involve complex scientific challenges, primarily concerning global and regional environmental issues, in the next 20-30 years. It is quite reasonable to suspect, based on current political and socioeconomic events, that young geoscientists will be faced with and involved in helping to...
Analysis of group-velocity dispersion of high-frequency Rayleigh waves for near-surface applications
Y. Luo, J. Xia, Y. Xu, C. Zeng
2011, Journal of Applied Geophysics (74) 157-165
The Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) method is an efficient tool to obtain the vertical shear (S)-wave velocity profile using the dispersive characteristic of Rayleigh waves. Most MASW researchers mainly apply Rayleigh-wave phase-velocity dispersion for S-wave velocity estimation with a few exceptions applying Rayleigh-wave group-velocity dispersion. Herein, we first compare sensitivities of fundamental surface-wave phase velocities...
Exploring geophysical processes influencing U.S. West Coast precipitation and water supply
F.M. Ralph, K. Prather, D. Cayan
2011, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union (92) 352
CalWater Science Workshop; La Jolla, California, 8-10 June 2011 CalWater is a multiyear, multiagency research project with two primary research themes: the effects of changing climate on atmospheric rivers (ARs) and associated extreme events, and the potential role of aerosols in modulating cloud properties and precipitation, especially regarding orographic precipitation...
Spatial variability of biotic and abiotic tree establishment constraints across a treeline ecotone in the Alaska Range
K.M. Stueve, R.E. Isaacs, L.E. Tyrrell, R.V. Densmore
2011, Ecology (92) 496-506
Throughout interior Alaska (USA), a gradual warming trend in mean monthly temperatures occurred over the last few decades (∼∼2-–4°°C). The accompanying increases in woody vegetation at many alpine treeline (hereafter treeline) locations provided an opportunity to examine how biotic and abiotic local site conditions interact to control tree establishment patterns...
A case study of alternative site response explanatory variables in Parkfield, California
E.M. Thompson, L.G. Baise, R. E. Kayen, E.C. Morgan, J. Kaklamanos
2011, Conference Paper, Geotechnical Special Publication
The combination of densely-spaced strong-motion stations in Parkfield, California, and spectral analysis of surface waves (SASW) profiles provides an ideal dataset for assessing the accuracy of different site response explanatory variables. We judge accuracy in terms of spatial coverage and correlation with observations. The performance of the alternative models is...
Effects of environmental temperature on the dynamics of ichthyophoniasis in Juvenile Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasii)
J.L. Gregg, Johanna J. Vollenweider, C.A. Grady, R.A. Heintz, P.K. Hershberger
2011, Journal of Parasitology Research (2011)
The effects of temperature and infection by Ichthyophonus were examined in juvenile Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) maintained under simulated overwinter fasting conditions. In addition to defining parameters for a herring bioenergetics model (discussed in Vollenweider et al. this issue), these experiments provided new insights into factors influencing the infectivity and...
Does small-perimeter fencing inhibit mule deer or pronghorn use of water developments?
R.T. Larsen, John Bissonette, J.T. Flinders, A.C. Robinson
2011, Journal of Wildlife Management (75) 1417-1425
Wildlife water development can be an important habitat management strategy in western North America for many species, including both pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). In many areas, water developments are fenced (often with small-perimeter fencing) to exclude domestic livestock and feral horses. Small-perimeter exclosures could limit wild...
A carbon isotopic and sedimentological record of the latest Devonian (Famennian) from the Western U.S. and Germany
P.M. Myrow, J.V. Strauss, J.R. Creveling, K.R. Sicard, R. Ripperdan, Charles Sandberg, S. Hartenfels
2011, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (306) 147-159
New carbon isotopic data from upper Famennian deposits in the western United States reveal two previously unrecognized major positive isotopic excursions. The first is an abrupt ~ 3‰ positive excursion, herein referred to as ALFIE (A Late Famennian Isotopic Excursion), recorded in two sections of the...
Spatial variation in transient water table responses: Differences between an upper and lower hillslope zone
D.R.W. Haught, H. J. Van Meerveld
2011, Hydrological Processes (25) 3866-3877
To better understand storage-runoff dynamics, transient groundwater responses were examined in one of the steep watersheds in British Columbia's coastal mountains. Streamflow and piezometric data were collected for 1year to determine the spatial and temporal relations between transient groundwater levels and discharge. Correlations between piezometer responses and lag-time analysis were...
Wetland vegetation in Manzala lagoon, Nile Delta coast, Egypt: Rapid responses of pollen to altered nile hydrology and land use
C.E. Bernhardt, J.-D. Stanley, B. P. Horton
2011, Journal of Coastal Research (27) 731-737
The pollen record in a sediment core from Manzala lagoon on the Nile delta coastal margin of Egypt, deposited from ca. AD 1860 to 1990, indicates rapid coastal wetland vegetation responses to two primary periods of human activity. These are associated with artificially altered Nile hydrologic regimes in proximal areas and distal...
Impacts of past climate and sea level change on Everglades wetlands: placing a century of anthropogenic change into a late-Holocene context
Debra A. Willard, C.E. Bernhardt
2011, Climatic Change (107) 59-80
We synthesize existing evidence on the ecological history of the Florida Everglades since its inception ~7 ka (calibrated kiloannum) and evaluate the relative impacts of sea level rise, climate variability, and human alteration of Everglades hydrology on wetland plant communities. Initial freshwater peat accumulation began between 6 and 7 ka...
InSAR observations of aseismic slip associated with an earthquake swarm in the Columbia River flood basalts
Charles Wicks, W. Thelen, C. Weaver, J. Gomberg, A. Rohay, P. Bodin
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (116)
In 2009 a swarm of small shallow earthquakes occurred within the basalt flows of the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG). The swarm occurred within a dense seismic network in the U.S. Department of Energys Hanford Site. Data from the seismic network along with interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data from...
Denitrification and inference of nitrogen sources in the karstic Floridan Aquifer
J.B. Heffernan, A.R. Albertin, M.L. Fork, B. G. Katz, M.J. Cohen
2011, Biogeosciences Discussions (8) 10247-10294
Aquifer denitrification is among the most poorly constrained fluxes in global and regional nitrogen budgets. The few direct measurements of denitrification in groundwaters provide limited information about its spatial and temporal variability, particularly at the scale of whole aquifers. Uncertainty in estimates of denitrification may also lead to underestimates of...
Upscaling carbon fluxes over the Great Plains grasslands: Sinks and sources
Li Zhang, Bruce K. Wylie, Lei Ji, Tagir G. Gilmanov, Larry L. Tieszen, Daniel M. Howar
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (116) 1-13
Previous studies suggested that the grasslands may be carbon sinks or near equilibrium, and they often shift between carbon sources in drought years and carbon sinks in other years. It is important to understand the responses of net ecosystem production (NEP) to various climatic conditions across the U.S. Great Plains...
Seabird use of discards from a nearshore shrimp fishery in the South Atlantic Bight, USA
Patrick G.R. Jodice, Lisa C. Wickliffe, Elena B. Sachs
2011, Marine Biology (158) 2289-2298
Shrimp trawling is common throughout the southeastern and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the USA and is the primary contributor to fisheries discards in these regions. Tens of thousands of nearshore seabirds nest near shrimp trawling grounds in the USA, but to date, there has been no assessment of the...
Adapting generalization tools to physiographic diversity for the united states national hydrography dataset
B.P. Buttenfield, L.V. Stanislawski, C.A. Brewer
2011, Cartography and Geographic Information Science (38) 289-301
This paper reports on generalization and data modeling to create reduced scale versions of the National Hydrographic Dataset (NHD) for dissemination through The National Map, the primary data delivery portal for USGS. Our approach distinguishes local differences in physiographic factors, to demonstrate that knowledge about varying terrain (mountainous, hilly or...
The formation of illite from nontronite by mesophilic and thermophilic bacterial reaction
Deb P. Jaisi, Dennis D. Eberl, Hailiang Dong, Jinwook Kim
2011, Clays and Clay Minerals (59) 21-33
The formation of illite through the smectite-to-illite (S-I) reaction is considered to be one of the most important mineral reactions occurring during diagenesis. In biologically catalyzed systems, however, this transformation has been suggested to be rapid and to bypass the high temperature and long time requirements. To understand the factors...
Effect of commercially available egg cures on the survival of juvenile salmonids
S. Clements, R. Chitwood, C.B. Schreck
2011, PLoS ONE (6)
There is some concern that incidental consumption of eggs cured with commercially available cures for the purpose of sport fishing causes mortality in juvenile salmon. We evaluated this by feeding juvenile spring Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead (O. mykiss) with eggs cured with one of five commercially available cures. We...
Wave-current interaction in Willapa Bay
Maitane Olabarrieta, John C. Warner, Nirnimesh Kumar
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research C: Oceans (116)
This paper describes the importance of wave-current interaction in an inlet-estuary system. The three-dimensional, fully coupled, Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST) modeling system was applied in Willapa Bay (Washington State) from 22 to 29 October 1998 that included a large storm event. To represent the interaction between waves and currents, the...
The magnitude distribution of earthquakes near Southern California faults
M.T. Page, D. Alderson, J. Doyle
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (116)
We investigate seismicity near faults in the Southern California Earthquake Center Community Fault Model. We search for anomalously large events that might be signs of a characteristic earthquake distribution. We find that seismicity near major fault zones in Southern California is well modeled by a Gutenberg-Richter distribution, with no evidence...
Optical maturity variation in lunar spectra as measured by Moon Mineralogy Mapper data
J.W. Nettles, M. Staid, S. Besse, J. Boardman, R. N. Clark, D. Dhingra, P. Isaacson, R. Klima, G. Kramer, C.M. Pieters, L.A. Taylor
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (116)
High spectral and spatial resolution data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument on Chandrayaan-1 are used to investigate in detail changes in the optical properties of lunar materials accompanying space weathering. Three spectral parameters were developed and used to quantify spectral effects commonly thought to be associated with increasing...
Terrestrial source to deep-sea sink sediment budgets at high and low sea levels: Insights from tectonically active Southern California
J.A. Covault, B.W. Romans, S.A. Graham, A. Fildani, G.E. Hilley
2011, Geology (39) 619-622
Sediment routing from terrestrial source areas to the deep sea influences landscapes and seascapes and supply and filling of sedimentary basins. However, a comprehensive assessment of land-to-deep-sea sediment budgets over millennia with significant climate change is lacking. We provide source to sink sediment budgets using cosmogenic radionuclide–derived terrestrial denudation rates...
Multiplets: Their behavior and utility at dacitic and andesitic volcanic centers
W. Thelen, S. Malone, M. West
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (116)
Multiplets, or groups of earthquakes with similar waveforms, are commonly observed at volcanoes, particularly those exhibiting unrest. Using triggered seismic data from the 1980-1986 Mount St. Helens (MSH) eruption, we have constructed a catalog of multiplet occurrence. Our analysis reveals that the occurrence of multiplets is related, at least in...
Assessment of clinical pathology and pathogen exposure in sea otters (Enhydra lutris) bordering the threatened population in Alaska
Tracey Goldstein, Verena A. Gill, Pamela A. Tuomi, Daniel H. Monson, Alexander Burdin, Patricia A. Conrad, J. Lawrence Dunn, Cara L. Field, Christine K. Johnson, David A. Jessup, James L. Bodkin, Angela M. Doroff
2011, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (47) 579-592
Northern sea otter (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) abundance has decreased dramatically over portions of southwest Alaska, USA, since the mid-1980s, and this stock is currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. In contrast, adjacent populations in south central Alaska, USA, and Russia have been stable to increasing during the...