Tectonics of the Maryland Piedmont along the Potomac River; insight since 1960 and potential transfer to the Pennsylvania Piedmont
C. Scott Southworth
Donald U. Wise, Gary M. Fleeger, editor(s)
2010, Conference Paper, Tectonics of the Susquehanna Piedmont in Lancaster, Dauphin, and York Counties, Pa.: proceedings of a symposium associated with the 75th Field Conference of Pennsylvania Geologists, Lancaster, Pa., September 23, 2010
This is a summary of a half century of research in the Mary land Piedmont and how it may or may not have implications for the Piedmont of Pennsylvania. Much of the field mapping and all of the isotopic analyses of rocks and minerals of the Maryland Piedmont have been...
Gemstones
D.W. Olson
2010, Mining Engineering (62) 50-51
Information on the gemstones industry in 2009 is presented. Specifically, details on U.S. production of natural gemstones and laboratory-created, simulant, and treated gemstones; consumption and uses of gemstones; gemstone prices; imports and exports of gemstones; and the outlook for the sector are provided....
Mineral resource of the month: cesium
Marc A. Angulo
2010, Earth (55) 29-29
The article offers information on cesium, a golden alkali metal derived from the Latin word caesium which means bluish gray. It mentions that cesium is the first element discovered with the use of spectroscopy. It adds that the leading producer and supplier of cesium is Canada and there are 50,000...
Relationship and variation of qPCR and culturable enterococci estimates in ambient surface waters are predictable
Richard L. Whitman, Zhongfu Ge, Meredith B. Nevers, Alexandria B. Boehm, Eunice C. Chern, Richard A. Haugland, Ashley M. Lukasik, Marirosa Molina, Kasia Przybyla-Kelly, Dawn A. Shively, Emily M. White, Richard G. Zepp, Muruleedhara N. Byappanahalli
2010, Environmental Science & Technology (44) 5049-5054
The quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) method provides rapid estimates of fecal indicator bacteria densities that have been indicated to be useful in the assessment of water quality. Primarily because this method provides faster results than standard culture-based methods, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently considering its use as...
Testing mixing models of old and young groundwater in a tropical lowland rain forest with environmental tracers
D. Kip Solomon, David P. Genereux, Niel Plummer, Eurybiades Busenberg
2010, Water Resources Research (46)
We tested three models of mixing between old interbasin groundwater flow (IGF) and young, locally derived groundwater in a lowland rain forest in Costa Rica using a large suite of environmental tracers. We focus on the young fraction of water using the transient tracers CFC‐11, CFC‐12, CFC‐113, SF6, 3H, and bomb 14C....
Ball clay
Robert L. Virta
2010, Mining Engineering (62) 39-40
The article reports on the global market performance of ball clay in 2009 and presents an outlook for its 2010 performance. Several companies mined ball call in the country including Old Hickey Clay Co., Kentucky-Tennessee Clay Co., and H.C. Spinks Clay Co. Information on the decline in ball clay imports...
Groundwater hydrology--coastal flow
Ward E. Sanford
2010, Nature Geoscience (3) 671-672
How groundwater flow varies when long-term external conditions change is little documented. Geochemical evidence shows that sea-level rise at the end of the last glacial period led to a shift in the flow patterns of coastal groundwater beneath Florida....
New software methods in radar ornithology using WSR-88D weather data and potential application to monitoring effects of climate change on bird migration
Reginald Mead, John Paxton, Richard S. Sojda
David A. Swayne, Wanhong Yang, A.A. Voinov, A. Rizzoli, T. Filatova, editor(s)
2010, Conference Paper, 2010 International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software; Modelling for Environment's Sake, Fifth Biennial Meeting, Ottawa, Canada
Radar ornithology has provided tools for studying the movement of birds, especially related to migration. Researchers have presented qualitative evidence suggesting that birds, or at least migration events, can be identified using large broad scale radars such as the WSR-88D used in the NEXRAD weather surveillance system. This is potentially...
Mineral resource of the month: germanium
David Guberman
2010, Earth (55) 27-27
The article provides information on germanium, an element with electrical properties between those of a metal and an insulator. Applications of germanium include its use as a component of the glass in fiber-optic cable, in infrared optics devices and as a semiconductor and substrate used in electronic and solar applications....
Current challenges using models to forecast seawater intrusion: lessons from the Eastern Shore of Virginia, USA
Ward E. Sanford, Jason P. Pope
2010, Hydrogeology Journal (18) 73-93
A three-dimensional model of the aquifer system of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, USA was calibrated to reproduce historical water levels and forecast the potential for saltwater intrusion. Future scenarios were simulated with two pumping schemes to predict potential areas of saltwater intrusion. Simulations suggest that only a few wells...
Diet of lake trout and burbot in northern Lake Michigan during spring: Evidence of ecological interaction
Gregory R. Jacobs, Charles P. Madenjian, David B. Bunnell, Jeffrey D. Holuszko
2010, Journal of Great Lakes Research (36) 312-317
We used analyses of burbot (Lota lota) and lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) diets taken during spring gill-net surveys in northern Lake Michigan in 2006-2008 to investigate the potential for competition and predator-prey interactions between these two species. We also compared our results to historical data from 1932. During 2006-2008, lake...
Cladophora in the Great Lakes: Impacts on beach water quality and human health
M.P. Verhougstraete, Muruleedhara N. Byappanahalli, J.B. Rose, Richard L. Whitman
2010, Water Science and Technology (62) 68-76
Cladophora in the Great Lakes grows rapidly during the warm summer months, detaches, and becomes free-floating mats as a result of environmental conditions, eventually becoming stranded on recreational beaches. Cladophora provides protection and nutrients, which allow enteric bacteria such as Escherichia coli, enterococci, Shigella, Campylobacter, and Salmonella to persist and...
Introduction to special section on phenomenology, underlying processes, and hazard implications of aseismic slip and nonvolcanic tremor
Joan Gomberg
2010, Journal of Geophysical Research (115)
This paper introduces the special section on the "phenomenology, underlying processes, and hazard implications of aseismic slip and nonvolcanic tremor" by highlighting key results of the studies published in it. Many of the results indicate that seismic and aseismic manifestations of slow slip reflect transient shear displacements on the plate...
Aftershocks are well aligned with the background stress field, contradicting the hypothesis of highly-heterogeneous crustal stress
Jeanne L. Hardebeck
2010, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (115)
It has been proposed that the crustal stress field contains small-length-scale heterogeneity of much larger amplitude than the uniform background stress. This model predicts that earthquake focal mechanisms should reflect the loading stress rather than the uniform background stress. So, if the heterogeneous stress hypothesis is correct, focal mechanisms before...
Effects of soil aggregates on debris-flow mobilization: Results from ring-shear experiments
Neal R. Iverson, Janet E. Mann, Richard M. Iverson
2010, Engineering Geology (114) 84-92
Rates and styles of landslide motion are sensitive to pore-water pressure changes caused by changes in soil porosity accompanying shear deformation. Soil may either contract or dilate upon shearing, depending upon whether its initial porosity is greater or less, respectively, than a critical-state porosity attained after sufficiently high strain. We...
Infrasonic harmonic tremor and degassing bursts from Halema'uma'u Crater, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii
David Fee, Milton Garces, Matt Patrick, Bernard Chouet, Phil Dawson, Donald A. Swanson
2010, Journal of Geophysical Research (115)
The formation, evolution, collapse, and subsequent resurrection of a vent within Halema'uma'u Crater, Kilauea Volcano, produced energetic and varied degassing signals recorded by a nearby infrasound array between 2008 and early 2009. After 25 years of quiescence, a vent-clearing explosive burst on 19 March 2008 produced a clear, complex acoustic...
Genetic structure and diversity among brook trout from Isle Royale, Lake Nipigon, and three Minnesota tributaries of Lake Superior
Wendylee Stott, Henry R. Quinlan, Owen T. Gorman, Tim L. King
2010, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (30) 400-411
Brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis from Isle Royale, Michigan, three Minnesota tributaries of Lake Superior, and Lake Nipigon in Ontario were analyzed for genetic variation at 12 microsatellite DNA loci. Analysis of molecular variance, genetic distance measures, and cluster analysis were used to examine the diversity, gene flow, and relatedness among...
Inelastic off-fault response and three-dimensional dynamics of earthquake rupture on a strike-slip fault
D.J. Andrews, Shuo Ma
2010, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (115) B04304
Large dynamic stress off the fault incurs an inelastic response and energy loss, which contributes to the fracture energy, limiting the rupture and slip velocity. Using an explicit finite element method, we model three-dimensional dynamic ruptures on a vertical strike-slip fault in a homogeneous half-space. The material is subjected to...
Fault zone structure from topography: signatures of en echelon fault slip at Mustang Ridge on the San Andreas Fault, Monterey County, California
Stephen B. DeLong, George E. Hilley, Michael J. Rymer, Carol Prentice
2010, Tectonics (29)
We used high-resolution topography to quantify the spatial distribution of scarps, linear valleys, topographic sinks, and oversteepened stream channels formed along an extensional step over on the San Andreas Fault (SAF) at Mustang Ridge, California. This location provides detail of both creeping fault landform development and complex fault zone kinematics....
Genetic diversity of lake whitefish in lakes Michigan and Huron: sampling, standardization, and research priorities
Wendylee Stott, Justin A. VanDeHey, Brian L. Sloss
2010, Journal of Great Lakes Research (36) 59-65
We combined data from two laboratories to increase the spatial extent of a genetic data set for lake whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis from lakes Huron and Michigan and saw that genetic diversity was greatest between lakes, but that there was also structuring within lakes. Low diversity among stocks may be a...
Interdisciplinary studies of eruption at Chaitén volcano, Chile
John S. Pallister, Jon J. Major, Thomas C. Pierson, Richard P. Holitt, Jacob B. Lowenstern, John C. Eichelberger, Lara Luis, Hugo Moreno, Jorge Muñoz, Jonathan M. Castro, Andrés Iroumé, Andrea Andreoli, Julia Jones, Fred Swanson, Charlie Crisafulli
2010, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union (91) 381
High-silica rhyolite magma fuels Earth's largest and most explosive eruptions. Recurrence intervals for such highly explosive eruptions are in the 100- to 100,000-year time range, and there have been few direct observations of such eruptions and their immediate impacts. Consequently, there was keen interest within the volcanology community when the...
Migratory salmonid redd habitat characteristics in the Salmon River, New York
James H. Johnson, Christopher C. Nack, James E. McKenna Jr.
2010, Journal of Great Lakes Research (36) 387-392
Non-native migratory salmonids ascend tributaries to spawn in all the Great Lakes. In Lake Ontario, these species include Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), coho salmon (O. kisutch), steelhead (O. mykiss), and brown trout (Salmo trutta). Although successful natural reproduction has been documented for many of these species, little research has been...
Method for calculating self-noise spectra and operating ranges for seismographic inertial sensors and recorders
John R. Evans, F. Followill, Charles R. Hutt, R.P. Kromer, R.L. Nigbor, A. T. Ringler, J.M. Steim, E. Wielandt
2010, Seismological Research Letters (81) 640-646
Understanding the performance of sensors and recorders is prerequisite to making appropriate use of them in seismology and earthquake engineering. This paper explores a critical aspect of instrument performance, the “self” noise level of the device and the amplitude range it can usefully record. Self noise limits the smallest signals,...
Lake trout population dynamics in the Northern Refuge of Lake Michigan: Implications for future rehabilitation
Charles P. Madenjiana, Timothy J. Desorcie
2010, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (30) 629-641
The Northern Refuge was established in 1985 as part of the lake trout Salvelinus namaycush rehabilitation effort for Lake Michigan. To evaluate progress toward lake trout rehabilitation in the Northern Refuge, we conducted annual (1991–2008) gill-net surveys in the fall to assess the adult population and beam trawl surveys in...
Georeferencing the Large-Scale Aerial Photographs of a Great Lakes Coastal Wetland: A Modified Photogrammetric Method
Kurt P. Kowalski, Joel L. Grapentine
2010, Wetlands (30) 369-374
The geocontrol template method was developed to georeference multiple, overlapping analog aerial photographs without reliance upon conventionally obtained horizontal ground control. The method was tested as part of a long-term wetland habitat restoration project at a Lake Erie coastal wetland complex in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Ottawa National...