Sediment characteristics of northwestern Wisconsin’s Nemadji River, 1973–2016
Faith A. Fitzpatrick
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1003
In 2015–16, a comparison study of stream sediment collection techniques was done for a U.S. Geological Survey streamgage on the Nemadji River near South Superior, Wisconsin (U.S. Geological Survey station number 04024430) to provide an adjustment factor for comparing suspended-sediment rating curves for two historical periods 1973–86 and 2006–16. During...
Investigation of otolith microstructure and composition for identification of rearing strategies and associated Baker Lake sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) smolt production, Washington, 2016–17
Kimberly A. Larsen, Lisa A. Wetzel, Karl D. Stenberg, Angie M. Lind-Null
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1032
Baker River (Washington, USA) sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) are a recovering Puget Sound stock that are aided by trap-and-haul and hatchery programs to mitigate for the presence of a high head dam. The relative contribution of hatchery and natural adults to overall production of smolts and recruits is unknown....
Evaporation from Lake Mead and Lake Mohave, Nevada and Arizona, 2010–2019
Katherine J. Earp, Michael T. Moreo
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1022
Evaporation-rate estimates at Lake Mead and Lake Mohave, Nevada and Arizona, were based on eddy covariance and available energy measurements from March 2010 through April 2019 at Lake Mead and May 2013 through April 2019 at Lake Mohave. The continuous data needed to compute monthly evaporation were collected from floating-platform...
Methodology and technical input for the 2021 review and revision of the U.S. Critical Minerals List
Nedal T. Nassar, Steven M. Fortier
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1045
Pursuant to Section 7002 (“Mineral Security”) of Title VII (“Critical Minerals”) of the Energy Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–260, December 27, 2020, 116th Cong.), the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, is tasked with reviewing and revising the methodology used to evaluate...
Survival and growth of suckers in mesocosms at three locations within Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2018
Summer M. Burdick, Carla M. Conway, Carl O. Ostberg, Ryan J. Bart, Diane G. Elliott
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1036
Executive SummaryDue to high mortality in the first year or two of life, Lost River (Deltistes luxatus sp.) and Shortnose suckers (Chasmistes brevirostris sp.) in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon rarely reach maturity. In 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began the Sucker Assisted Rearing Program (SARP) to improve...
Community for Data Integration 2019 annual report
Leslie Hsu, Amanda N. Liford
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1016
The Community for Data Integration is a community of practice whose purpose is to advance the U.S. Geological Survey’s data integration capabilities. In fiscal year 2019, the Community for Data Integration held 9 monthly forums, facilitated 11 collaboration areas, held several workshops and training events, and funded 14 projects. The...
Final report on the assessment of the U.S. Geological Survey’s bureauwide Research Grade Evaluation (RGE) process
U.S. Geological Survey Research Grade Evaluation Review Team
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1035
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) formed the internal Research Grade Evaluation (RGE) Review Team in May 2017. The Team undertook a 2-year comprehensive review of RGE practices and policies at the USGS that included (1) the first-ever quantitative assessment of the USGS workforce evaluated under the RGE process, (2) a...
Assessment of wave attenuation, current patterns, and sediment deposition and erosion during winter storms by living shoreline structures in Gandys Beach, New Jersey
H. Wang, William D. Capurso, Q. Chen, Ling Zhu, Lukasz M. Niemoczynski, Gregg Snedden
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1040
This study was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and Northeastern University in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy. This report summarizes field investigation and analysis of waves, current patterns, and sediment deposition and erosion along the Gandys Beach, New Jersey, salt marsh vegetated...
Water-quality, bed-sediment, and invertebrate tissue trace-element concentrations for tributaries in the Clark Fork Basin, Montana, October 2018–September 2019
Gregory D. Clark, Michelle I. Hornberger, Eric J. Hepler, Thomas E. Cleasby, Terry L. Heinert
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1027
Water, bed sediment, and invertebrate tissue were sampled in streams from Butte to near Missoula, Montana, as part of a monitoring program in the Clark Fork Basin. The sampling program was completed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to characterize aquatic resources in...
Triangle Area Water Supply Monitoring Project, North Carolina—Summary of monitoring activities, quality assurance, and data, October 2017–September 2019
Cassandra A. Pfeifle, Jessica L. Cain, Ryan B. Rasmussen
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1020
Surface-water supplies are important sources of drinking water for residents in the Triangle area of North Carolina, which is located within the upper Cape Fear and Neuse River Basins. Since 1988, the U.S. Geological Survey and a consortium of local governments have tracked water-quality conditions and trends in several of...
Coking coal of the United States—Modern and historical coking coal mining locations and chemical, rheological, petrographic, and other data from modern samples
Michael H. Trippi, Leslie F. Ruppert, Cortland F. Eble, James C. Hower
2021, Open-File Report 2020-1113
Coking coal, or metallurgical coal, has been produced in the United States for nearly 200 years. Coking coal is primarily used in the production of coke for use in the steel industry, and for other uses (for example, foundries, blacksmithing, heating buildings, and brewing). Currently, U.S. coking coal is produced...
Connectivity of Mojave Desert tortoise populations—Management implications for maintaining a viable recovery network
Roy C. Averill-Murray, Todd Esque, Linda J. Allison, Scott Bassett, Sarah K. Carter, Kirsten E. Dutcher, Steven J. Hromada, Kevin T. Shoemaker, Kenneth E. Nussear
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1033
Executive SummaryThe historic distribution of Mojave desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) was relatively continuous across the range, and the importance of tortoise habitat outside of designated tortoise conservation areas (TCAs) to recovery has long been recognized for its contributions to supporting gene flow between TCAs and to minimizing impacts and edge...
Red-throated loon (Gavia stellata) use of nearshore marine habitats—Results from a 2019 pilot study in northern Alaska
Brian D. Uher-Koch, Christopher J. Latty, Joel A. Schmutz
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1029
Red-throated loons (Gavia stellata) are a species of conservation concern in Alaska due to recent evidence of a population decline on the Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP) in northern Alaska. In 2019, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a pilot study to evaluate diet...
Geophysical and video logs of selected wells at and near the former Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 2017-19
Lisa A. Senior, J. Alton Anderson, Philip H. Bird
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1025
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collected borehole geophysical and video logs in 17 open-hole wells in Northampton, Warminster, and Warwick Townships, Bucks County, Pennsylvania during 2017–19 to support detailed groundwater investigations at and near the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) Warminster, where groundwater contamination with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...
Characterization of water-resource threats and needs for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuges in the Legacy Mountain-Prairie Region, 2020
Nancy J. Bauch, Michael S. Kohn, Brian S. Caruso
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1007
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), began a study in 2019 to complete the compilation and quality assurance of water-resource threats and needs data for the 117 National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) in the FWS Legacy Mountain-Prairie Region (LMPR) and to characterize the...
Executive summary and annotated bibliography of selected references from “Microbial and viral indicators of pathogens and human health risks from recreational exposure to waters impaired by fecal contamination” with related project ideas for Gwinnett County, Georgia
Anna M. McKee, Marcella A. Cruz
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1028
This document was prepared in cooperation with Gwinnett County, Georgia, to supplement the journal article “Microbial and Viral Indicators of Pathogens and Human Health Risks from Recreational Exposure to Waters Impaired by Fecal Contamination” (published in Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment). The document includes an...
Linear regression model documentation and updates for computing water-quality constituent concentrations or densities using continuous real-time water-quality data for the Kansas River, Kansas, July 2012 through September 2019
Thomas J. Williams
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1018
The Kansas River provides drinking water to about 800,000 people in northeastern Kansas. Water-treatment facilities that use the Kansas River as a water-supply source use chemical and physical processes during water treatment to remove contaminants before public distribution. Advanced notification of changing water-quality conditions near water-supply intakes allows water-treatment facilities...
Synthesis of geochronologic research on Late Pliocene to Holocene emergent shorelines in the lower Savannah River area of southeastern Georgia, USA
Helaine W. Markewich, Milan J. Pavich, Shannon A. Mahan, Paul R. Bierman, Wilma B. Aleman-Gonzalez, Arthur P. Schultz
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1015
Emergent late Pliocene and Pleistocene shoreline deposits, morphologically identifiable Pleistocene shoreline units, and seaward-facing scarps characterize the easternmost Atlantic Coastal Plain (ACP) of the United States of America. In some areas of the ACP, these deposits, units, and scarps have been studied in detail. Within these areas, temporal and spatial...
Implementation plan for the southern Pacific Border and Sierra-Cascade Mountains provinces
Victoria E. Langenheim, Russell W. Graymer, Robert E. Powell, Kevin M. Schmidt, Donald S. Sweetkind
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1012
IntroductionThe National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP) is publishing a strategic plan titled Renewing the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program as the Nation’s Authoritative Source for Modern Geologic Knowledge (Brock and others, in press). The plan provides a vision, mission, and goals for the program during the years 2020–2030, which...
Range-wide greater sage-grouse hierarchical monitoring framework—Implications for defining population boundaries, trend estimation, and a targeted annual warning system
Peter S. Coates, Brian G. Prochazka, Michael S. O’Donnell, Cameron L. Aldridge, David R. Edmunds, Adrian P. Monroe, Mark A. Ricca, Gregory T. Wann, Steve E. Hanser, Lief A. Wiechman, Michael P. Chenaille
2021, Open-File Report 2020-1154
Incorporating spatial and temporal scales into greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) population monitoring strategies is challenging and rarely implemented. Sage-grouse populations experience fluctuations in abundance that lead to temporal oscillations, making trend estimation difficult. Accounting for stochasticity is critical to reliably estimate population trends and investigate variation related to deterministic factors...
Renewing the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program as the Nation’s authoritative source for modern geologic knowledge
John Brock, Karen Berry, James Faulds, Richard Berg, Kyle House, Michael Marketti, Darcy McPhee, Kevin M. Schmidt, James Schmitt, David R. Soller, David Spears, Ren A. Thompson, Harvey Thorleifson, Gregory J. Walsh
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1013
This document presents the renewed vision, mission, and goals for the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP). The NCGMP, as authorized by the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-285, 106 Stat. 166 and its reauthorizations), is tasked with expediting the production of a geologic database for...
Field methods, quality-assurance, and data management plan for water-quality activities and water-level measurements, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho
Roy C. Bartholomay, Neil V. Maimer, Amy J. Wehnke, Samuel L. Helmuth
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1004
IntroductionWater-quality activities and water-level measurements conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Project Office coincide with the USGS mission of appraising the quantity and quality of the Nation’s water resources. The activities are conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Idaho Operations...
Distribution, abundance, and genomic diversity of the endangered antioch dunes evening primrose (Oenothera deltoides subsp. howellii) surveyed in 2019
Karen M. Thorne, Amy G. Vandergast, editor(s)
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1017
Sand dune ecosystems are highly dynamic landforms found along coastlines and riverine deltas where a supply of sand-sized material is available to be delivered by aquatic and wind environments. These unique ecosystems provide habitat for a variety of endemic and rare plant and animal species. Sand dunes have been affected...
Groundwater, surface-water, and water-chemistry data, Black Mesa area, northeastern Arizona—2016–2018
Jon P. Mason
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1124
The Navajo (N) aquifer is the primary source of groundwater in the 5,400-square-mile Black Mesa area in northeastern Arizona. Availability of water is an important issue in the Black Mesa area because of continued water requirements for industrial and municipal use by a growing population and because of its arid...
Black abalone surveys at Naval Base Ventura County, San Nicolas Island, California—2020, annual report
Michael C. Kenner
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1023
The U.S. Geological Survey monitors a suite of intertidal black abalone sites at San Nicolas Island, California, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, which owns the island. The nine rocky intertidal sites were established in 1980 to study the potential impact of translocated sea otters on the intertidal black abalone...