Six years of fluvial response to a large dam removal on the Carmel River, California, USA
Amy E. East, Lee R. Harrison, Douglas P. Smith, Joshua B. Logan, Rosealea Bond
2023, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (48) 1487-1501
Measuring river response to dam removal affords a rare, important opportunity to study fluvial response to sediment pulses on a large field scale. We present a before–after/control–impact study of the Carmel River, California, measuring fluvial geomorphic and grain-size evolution over 8 years, six of which postdated removal of a 32 m-high...
Climate change hotspots and implications for the global subsea telecommunications network
M.A. Clare, I.A. Yeo, L. Bricheno, Y Askenov, J. Browning, I.D. Haigh, T. Wahl, J. A. Hunter, C. Sams, Jason Chaytor, B.J. Bett, L. Carter
2023, Earth Science Reviews (237)
A global network of subsea telecommunications cables underpins our daily lives, enabling >95% of global digital data transfer, $trillions/day in financial trading, and providing critical communications links, particularly to remote, low-income countries. Despite their importance, subsea cables and their landing...
Recent history of glacial lake outburst floods, analysis of channel changes, and development of a two-dimensional flow and sediment transport model of the Snow River near Seward, Alaska
Robin A. Beebee
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5099
Snow Lake, a glacially dammed lake on the Snow Glacier near Seward, Alaska, drains rapidly every 14 months–3 years, causing flooding along the Snow River. Highway, railroad, and utility infrastructure on the lower Snow River floodplain is vulnerable to flood damage. Historical hydrology, geomorphology, and two-dimensional hydraulic and sediment transport...
Luminescence ages and new interpretations of the timing and deposition of Quaternary sediments at Natural Trap Cave, Wyoming
Shannon A. Mahan, John R. Wood, Dave M Lovelace, Juan Laden, Jenny McGuire, Julie Meachen
2023, Quaternary International (647-648) 22-35
Natural Trap Cave, located in the Big Horn Mountains of north-central Wyoming, has a history of trapping and preserving a range of North American fauna that plummeted into the deep vertical entrance. These animal remains were buried and preserved within sediments of the main chamber and, in turn, have...
Virginia Bridge Scour Pilot Study—Hydrological Tools
Samuel H. Austin
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5059
Hydrologic and geophysical components interact to produce streambed scour. This study investigates methods for improving the utility of estimates of hydrologic flow in streams and rivers used when evaluating potential pier scour over the design-life of highway bridges in Virginia. Recent studies of streambed composition identify potential bridge design cost...
Sixty years of channel adjustments to dams in the two segments of the Missouri National Recreational River, South Dakota and Nebraska
Caroline M. Elliott, Robert B. Jacobson
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5087
The Missouri National Recreational River (MNRR) consists of two Missouri River segments managed by the National Park Service on the border of South Dakota and Nebraska. Both river segments are unchannelized and maintain much of their pre-dam channel form, but upstream dams have caused reductions in peak flow magnitudes and...
Exploring and mitigating plague for One Health purposes
David A. Eads, Dean E. Biggins, Jeffrey Wimsatt, Rebecca J. Eisen, B. Joseph Hinnebusch, Marc R. Matchett, Amanda R. Goldberg, Travis Livieri, Gregory Hacker, Mark Novak, Danielle Buttke, Shaun M. Grassel, John Hughes-Clarke, Linda Atiku
2022, Current Tropical Medicine Reports (9) 169-184
Purpose of ReviewIn 2020, the Appropriations Committee for the U.S. House of Representatives directed the CDC to develop a national One Health framework to combat zoonotic diseases, including sylvatic plague, which is caused by the flea-borne bacterium Yersinia pestis. This review builds upon that multisectoral objective. We aim to...
Floodplains and climate change
Annika Keeley, Shruti Khanna, Nicole Kwan, Bryan G. Matthias, Catarina Pien, Marissa L. Wulff
Samuel M. Bashevkin, Larry R. Brown, Eva Bush, Gonzalo Castillo, Denise Colombano, Rosemary Hartman, Bruce Herbold, Shruti Khanna, Annika Keeley, Nicole Kwan, Peggy W. Lehman, Brian Mahardja, Timothy D. Malinich, Ryan McKenzie, Bryan G. Matthias, Catarina Pien, Marissa L. Wulff, editor(s)
2022, IEP Technical Report 99-4
Floodplains are landscape features that are periodically inundated by water from adjacent rivers (Opperman et al. 2010). Ecologically, functional floodplains are characterized by three primary elements: connectivity, flow regime, and spatial scale. Water quantity flowing over floodplains can vary greatly. Based on a flood’s effects on the floodplain, three flood...
Mega-depressions on the Cocos Ridge: Links between volcanism, faults, hydrothermal circulation, and dissolution
Jared W. Kluesner, Eli Silver, Nathaniel Bangs, Cesar Ranero, Stephanie Nale, James Gibson, Kirk McIntosh
2022, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (23)
High-resolution bathymetry and 3D seismic data along the Cocos Ridge reveal a 245 km2 field of ∼1 to 4 km in diameter seafloor depressions. The seafloor depressions are part of a two-tiered honeycomb pattern. The lower-tier depressions have steep faults that truncate strata with chaotic internal reflections consistent...
Evaluating the use of video cameras to estimate bridge scour potential at four bridges in southwestern Montana
Daniel W. Armstrong, Stephen R. Holnbeck, Katherine J. Chase
2022, Fact Sheet 2022-3040
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Montana Department of Transportation, installed cameras and large-scale particle image velocimetry (LSPIV) recording equipment at four sites where the U.S. Geological Survey and Montana Department of Transportation are monitoring bridge scour using other methods. Determination of stream velocities is an important component...
The applicability of time-integrated unit stream power for estimating bridge pier scour using noncontact methods in a gravel-bed river
Laura A. Hempel, Helen F. Malenda, John W, Fulton, Mark F. Henneberg, Jay Cederberg, Tommaso Moramarco
2022, Remote Sensing (14)
In near-field remote sensing, noncontact methods (radars) that measure stage and surface water velocity have the potential to supplement traditional bridge scour monitoring tools because they are safer to access and are less likely to be damaged compared with in-stream sensors. The objective of this study was to evaluate the...
Implementing a rapid deployment bridge scour monitoring system in Colorado, 2019
Mark F. Henneberg, Rodney J. Richards
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5023
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Colorado Department of Transportation, installed and operated real-time scour monitoring instrumentation at two bridges in Colorado in 2016 and 2017 to measure streambed elevations in real-time. The instrumentation included acoustic echosounder depth sensors mounted to the bridge substructure units with rigid conduit...
The use of continuous sediment-transport measurements to improve sand-load estimates in a large sand-bedded river: The Lower Chippewa River, WI
David J. Dean, David J. Topping, D. D. Buscombe, Joel T. Groten, Jeffrey R. Ziegeweid, Faith A. Fitzpatrick, J. William Lund, Erin Nicole Coenen
2022, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (47) 2006-2023
Accurately determining sediment loads is necessary for managing river environments but is difficult because multiple processes can lead to large discharge-independent changes in sediment transport. Thus, estimations of sediment load using discharge–sediment rating curves fit to sparse or historical sediment-transport measurements can be inaccurate, necessitating alternative approaches to reduce uncertainty....
Atlantic circulation change still uncertain
K. Halimeda Kilbourne, Alan D. Wanamaker, Paola Moffa-Sanchez, David J. Reynolds, Daniel E. Amrhein, Paul G. Butler, Marlos Goes, Malte Jansen, Christopher M. Little, Madelyn Jean Mette, Eduardo Moreno-Chamarro, Pablo Ortega, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Thomas Rossby, James Scourse, Nina M. Whitney
2022, Nature Geoscience (15) 165-167
Deep oceanic overturning circulation in the Atlantic (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)) is projected to decrease in the future in response to anthropogenic warming. Caesar et al.1 argue that an AMOC slowdown started in the nineteenth century and intensified during the mid-twentieth century. Although the argument and selected evidence proposed...
Bathymetric and velocimetric surveys at highway bridges crossing the Missouri River near Kansas City, Missouri, August 2019, August 2020, and October 2020
Richard J. Huizinga
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5098
Bathymetric and velocimetric data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Transportation, near 9 bridges at 8 highway crossings of the Missouri River near Kansas City, Missouri, on August 13–14, 2019. A multibeam echosounder mapping system was used to obtain channel-bed elevations for...
Geomorphic responses of fluvial systems to climate change: A habitat perspective
Kyle E. Juracek, Faith A. Fitzpatrick
2022, River Research and Applications (38) 757-775
Fluvial systems provide a variety of habitats that support thousands of species including many that are threatened or endangered. Moreover, these habitats, which range from aquatic and riparian to floodplain, are important for the variety of ecosystem services they provide. In addition to water temperature and streamflow change, geomorphic change...
Climate extremes as drivers of surface-water-quality trends in the United States
Karen R. Ryberg, Jeffrey G. Chanat
2022, Science of the Total Environment (809)
Surface-water quality can change in response to climate perturbations, such as changes in the frequency of heavy precipitation or droughts, through direct effects, such as dilution and concentration, and through physical processes, such as bank scour. Water quality might also change through indirect mechanisms,...
Late Quaternary deglaciation of Prince William Sound, Alaska
Peter J. Haeussler, Ari Matmon, Maurice Arnold, Georges Aumaitre, Didier Bourles, Karim Keddadouche
2022, Quaternary Research (105) 115-134
To understand the timing of deglaciation of the northernmost marine-terminating glaciers of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet (CIS), we obtained 26 10Be surface-exposure ages from glacially scoured bedrock surfaces in Prince William Sound (PWS), Alaska. We sampled six elevation transects between sea level and 620 m and spanning...
Influence of antecedent geology on the Holocene formation and evolution of Horn Island, Mississippi, USA
Nina S Gal, Davin J Wallace, Michael Miner, Robert S Hollis, Clayton H Dike, James Flocks
2021, Marine Geology (431)
Horn Island, one of the two most stable barriers along the Mississippi-Alabama chain (Cat, East and West Ship, Horn, West Petit Bois, Petit Bois, and Dauphin), provides critical habitat, helps regulate estuarine conditions in the Mississippi Sound, and reduces wave energy...
Streambed scour of salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) redds in the Sauk River, Northwestern Washington
Andrew S. Gendaszek
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5133
The autumn and winter flood season of western Washington coincides with the incubation period of many Pacific salmon (Onchorhynchus spp.) populations. During this period, salmon embryos incubating within gravel nests called “redds” are vulnerable to mobilization of surrounding sediment during floods. As overlying sediment is transported downstream, the vertical...
Riverscape-scale modeling of fundamentally suitable habitat for mussel assemblages in an Ozark River system, Missouri
K. Keymanesh, Amanda E. Rosenberger, G. Lindner, Kristen L. Bouska, Stephen E. McMurray
2021, Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation (24) 43-58
Identifying the physical habitat characteristics associated with riverine freshwater mussel assemblages is challenging but crucial for understanding the causes of mussel declines. The occurrence of mussels in multispecies beds suggests that common physical factors influence or limit their occurrence. Fine-scale geomorphic and hydraulic factors (e.g., scour, bed stability) are predictive...
Flooding duration and volume more important than peak discharge in explaining 18 years of gravel–cobble river change
Arielle Gervasi, Gregory Pasternack, Amy E. East
2021, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (46) 3194-3212
Floods play a critical role in geomorphic change, but whether peak magnitude, duration, volume, or frequency determines the resulting magnitude of erosion and deposition is a question often proposed in geomorphic effectiveness studies. This study investigated that question using digital elevation model differencing to compare and...
Timing of iceberg scours and massive ice-rafting events in the subtropical North Atlantic
Alan Condron, Jenna C. Hill
2021, Nature Communications (12)
High resolution seafloor mapping shows extraordinary evidence that massive (>300 m thick) icebergs once drifted >5,000 km south along the eastern United States, with >700 iceberg scours now identified south of Cape Hatteras. Here we report on sediment cores collected from several buried scours that show multiple plow marks align with Heinrich...
Borehole sampling of surficial sediments in Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland
Peter G. Chirico, Jessica D. DeWitt, Sarah E. Bergstresser
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1038
From 2014 to 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Florence Bascom Geoscience Center (FBGC) entered into an inter-agency agreement with the Federal Highway Administration’s Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) to assist in field site selection and auger drilling fieldwork. The TFHRC was developing a device to measure the erosional properties of...
A massive rock and ice avalanche caused the 2021 disaster at Chamoli, Indian Himalaya
D. H. Shugar, Mylene Jacquemart, D. Shean, S. Bhushan, K. Upadhyay, A. Sattar, W. Schwanghart, Sara K. McBride, M. Van Wyk de Vries, M. Mergili, A. Emmer, C. Deschamps-Berger, M. McDonnell, R. Bhambri, S. Allen, E. Berthier, J.L. Carrivick, J.J. Clague, M. Dokukin, S.A. Dunning, Herbert Frey, S. Gascoin, U. K. Haritashya, C. Huggel, A. Kaab, J.S. Kargel, J.L. Kavanaugh, P. Lacroix, D. N. Petley, S. Rupper, M.F. Azam, S.J. Cook, A.P. Dimri, M. Eriksson, D. Farinotti, J. Fiddes, K.R. Gnyawali, S. Harrison, M.K. Jha, M. Koppes, S. Kumar, S. Leiness, U. Majeed, S. Mai, A. Muhuri, J. Noetzli, F. Paul, I. Rashid, K. Sain, J. Steiner, F. Ugalde, C.S. Watson, M.J. Westoby
2021, Science
On 7 Feb 2021, a catastrophic mass flow descended the Ronti Gad, Rishiganga, and Dhauliganga valleys in Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India, causing widespread devastation and severely damaging two hydropower projects. Over 200 people were killed or are missing. Our analysis of satellite imagery, seismic records, numerical model...
