Accretion in the wake of terrane collision: The Neogene accretionary wedge off Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
J. Fruehn, Roland E. von Huene, M. A. Fisher
1999, Tectonics (18) 263-277
Subduction accretion and repeated terrane collision shaped the Alaskan convergent margin. The Yakutat Terrane is currently colliding with the continental margin below the central Gulf of Alaska. During the Neogene the terrane's western part was subducted after which a sediment wedge accreted along the northeast Aleutian Trench. This wedge incorporates...
The epipelagic fish community of Beaufort Sea coastal waters, Alaska
L. E. Jarvela, Lyman K. Thorsteinson
1999, Arctic (52) 80-94
A three-year study of epipelagic fishes inhabiting Beaufort Sea coastal waters in Alaska documented spatial and temporal patterns in fish distribution and abundance and examined their relationships to thermohaline features during summer. Significant interannual, seasonal, and geographical differences in surface water temperatures and salinities were observed. In 1990, sea ice...
A new magnetic view of Alaska
R. W. Saltus, T. L. Hudson, G. G. Connard
1999, GSA Today (9)
A new, publicly available aeromagnetic data compilation spanning Alaska enables analysis of the regional crustal character of this tectonically diverse and poorly understood part of the North American Cordillera. The merged data were upward-continued by 10 km (mathematically smoothed without assumptions about sources) to enhance crustal-scale magnetic features and facilitate...
Comparison of TOMS and AVHRR volcanic ash retrievals from the August 1992 eruption of Mt. Spurr
N.A. Krotkov, O. Torres, C. Seftor, A.J. Krueger, A. Kostinski, William I. Rose Jr., G.J.S. Bluth, D. Schneider, S.J. Schaefer
1999, Geophysical Research Letters (26) 455-458
On August 19, 1992, the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) onboard NOAA-12 and NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) onboard the Nimbus-7 satellite simultaneously detected and mapped the ash cloud from the eruption of Mt. Spurr, Alaska. The spatial extent and geometry of the cloud derived from the two...
Time of day of ovulation by three duck species in subarctic Alaska
Daniel Esler
1999, Condor (101) 422-425
I examined variation in ovulation times of Northern Pintails (Anas acuta), American Wigeon (A. americana), and Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) breeding in subarctic Alaskan wetlands. Ovulation times and, by extension, egg-laying times were highly variable in all three species, with ovulations occurring during all hours of the day. Only Lesser...
Incubation behavior of Spectacled Eiders on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska
Paul L. Flint, J.B. Grand
1999, Condor (101) 413-416
We studied incubation behavior of Spectacled Eiders (Somateria fischeri) on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in 1996. We trapped 19 females on their nests and weighed them in early incubation and again at hatch. Average daily weight loss for incubating females was 16.6 ± 1.0 g day-1, which resulted in a...
Mass-balance measurements in Alaska and suggestions for simplified observation programs
D.C. Trabant, R.S. March
1999, Geografiska Annaler, Series A: Physical Geography (81) 777-789
US Geological Survey glacier fieldwork in Alaska includes repetitious measurements, corrections for leaning or bending stakes, an ability to reliably measure seasonal snow as deep as 10 m, absolute identification of summer surfaces in the accumulation area, and annual evaluation of internal accumulation, internal ablation, and glacier‐thickness changes.Prescribed field...
Vocalizations of the Kittlitz's Murrelet
Thomas I. van Pelt, John F. Piatt, Gus B. Van Vliet
1999, Condor (101) 395-398
We present the first documentation of Kittlitz's Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) vocalizations, based on recordings made in Glacier Bay, Alaska, in 1994. We identified two apparently related types of calls: groan and quack. The Kittlitz's Murrelet calls were markedly different from the most common calls of the congeneric Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus...
Late Pleistocene environments of the western Noatak basin, northwestern Alaska
S. A. Elias, T. D. Hamilton, M. E. Edwards, J. E. Beget, A.P. Krumhardt, C. Lavoie
1999, Geological Society of America Bulletin (111) 769-789
Glacial Lake Noatak formed repeatedly during middle and late Pleistocene time as expanding glaciers from the DeLong Mountains blocked the Noatak River valley. Downcutting by the Noatak River has exposed thick sediment successions in bluffs up to 86 m high. Two river bluffs, Nk-26 and Nk-29A, contain correlative organic-rich flood-plain...
Seismic hazard map of the western hemisphere
K. M. Shedlock, J.G. Tanner
1999, Annals of Geophysics (42) 1199-1214
Vulnerability to natural disasters increases with urbanization and development of associated support systems (reservoirs, power plants, etc.). Catastrophic earthquakes account for 60% of worldwide casualties associated with natural disasters. Economic damage from earthquakes is increasing, even in technologically advanced countries with some level of seismic zonation, as shown by the...
Stratigraphic framework of Holocene volcaniclastic deposits, Akutan Volcano, east-central Aleutian Islands, Alaska
C. F. Waythomas
1999, Bulletin of Volcanology (61) 141-161
Akutan Volcano is one of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian arc, but until recently little was known about its history and eruptive character. Following a brief but sustained period of intense seismic activity in March 1996, the Alaska Volcano Observatory began investigating the geology of the volcano and...
Distribution and diurnal behavior of Steller's Eiders wintering on the Alaska Peninsula
M.K. Laubhan, K.A. Metzner
1999, Condor (101) 694-698
We studied the distribution and activities of adult Steller's Eiders (Polysticta stelleri) during winter and spring on a deep-water embayment and a shallow lagoon along the Alaska Peninsula from September 1980 to May 1981. During the remigial molt, eiders were observed on Izembek Lagoon but not on Cold Bay. Following...
Dendrochronology and late Holocene history of Bering piedmont glacier, Alaska
G.C. Wiles, A. Post, E.H. Muller, B. F. Molnia
1999, Quaternary Research (52) 185-195
Fluctuations of the piedmont lobe of Bering Glacier and its sublobe Steller Glacier over the past two millennia are reconstructed using 34 radiocarbon dates and tree-ring data from 16 sites across the glaciers' forelands. The general sequence of glacial activity is consistent with well-dated fluctuations of tidewater and land-terminating glaciers...
Harlequin Duck recovery from the Exxon Valdez oil spill: A population genetics perspective
Richard B. Lanctot, Buddy L. Goatcher, Kim T. Scribner, Sandra L. Talbot, Barbara J. Pierson, Daniel Esler, Denny Zwiefelhofer
1999, The Auk (116) 781-791
Concerns about Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) population recovery following the Exxon Valdez oil spill led biologists to ask whether birds located in different molting and wintering areas belong to genetically distinct and, thus, demographically independent populations. Owing to the lack of direct observations of movements among marine areas, three classes...
Population demographics and genetic diversity in remnant and translocated populations of sea otters
James L. Bodkin, Brenda E. Ballachey, M. A. Cronin, K.T. Scribner
1999, Conservation Biology (13) 1378-1385
The effects of small population size on genetic diversity and subsequent population recovery are theoretically predicted, but few empirical data are available to describe those relations. We use data from four remnant and three translocated sea otter ( Enhydra lutris) populations to examine relations among magnitude and duration of minimum population...
Summary of Quaternary geology of the Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska
H. R. Schmoll, L. A. Yehle, R. G. Updike
1999, Quaternary International (60) 3-36
Quaternary geology of the Upper Cook Inlet region is dominated by deposits of glacier retreats that followed repeated advances from both adjacent and more distant mountains. At several levels high on the mountains, there are remnant glacial deposits and other features of middle or older Pleistocene age. Late Pleistocene lateral...
Use of female nest characteristics in the sexual behaviour of male sockeye salmon
T.R. Hamon, C.J. Foote, G.S. Brown
1999, Journal of Fish Biology (55) 459-471
On three island beaches in Iliamna Lake, Alaska, large numbers of male sockeye salmon gathered and spawned in artificial excavations that mimicked a female's nest immediately prior to spawning, while apparently ignoring the control site. The number of males attracted was correlated positively with changes in the operational sex ratio....
Surgical and immediate postrelease mortality of harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) implanted with abdominal radio transmitters with percutaneous antennae
Daniel M. Mulcahy, Daniel Esler
1999, Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine (30) 397-401
Radiotelemetry is an essential tool in the study of free-ranging bird populations, and a variety of transmitter-attachment methods have been developed. A promising new method is abdominal implantation of a transmitter with a percutaneous antenna. Researchers using this technique should be concerned about and aware of mortality during surgery and...
At-sea distribution of Spectacled Eiders: A 120-year-old mystery resolved
Margaret R. Petersen, William W. Larned, David C. Douglas
1999, The Auk (116) 1009-1020
The at-sea distribution of the threatened Spectacled Eider (Somateria fischeri) has remained largely undocumented. We identified migration corridors, staging and molting areas, and wintering areas of adult Spectacled Eiders using implanted satellite-transmitters in birds from each of the three extant breeding grounds (North Slope and Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Alaska and...
Dynamics of food availability, body condition and physiological stress response in breeding Black-legged Kittiwakes
A.S. Kitaysky, J.C. Wingfield, John F. Piatt
1999, Functional Ecology (13) 577-584
1. The seasonal dynamics of body condition (BC), circulating corticosterone levels (baseline, BL) and the adrenocortical response to acute stress (SR) were examined in long-lived Black-legged Kittiwakes, Rissa tridactyla, breeding at Duck (food-poor colony) and Gull (food-rich colony) Islands in lower Cook Inlet, Alaska. It was tested whether the dynamics...
Temporal and geographic variation in fish communities of lower Cook Inlet, Alaska
Martin D. Robards, John F. Piatt, Arthur B. Kettle, Alisa A. Abookire
1999, Fishery Bulletin (97) 962-977
Nearshore and shelf fish communities were studied in three areas of lower Cook Inlet, Alaska: the Barren Islands (oceanic and well-mixed waters), Kachemak Bay (mixed oceanic waters with significant freshwater runoff), and Chisik Island (estuarine waters). Fish were sampled with beach seines (n=413 sets) and midwater trawls (n=39 sets). We...
Community reorganization in the Gulf of Alaska following ocean climate regime shift
P.J. Anderson, John F. Piatt
1999, Marine Ecology Progress Series (189) 117-123
A shift in ocean climate during the late 1970s triggered a reorganization of community structure in the Gulf of Alaska ecosystem, as evidenced in changing catch composition on long-term (1953 to 1997) small-mesh trawl surveys. Forage species such as pandalid shrimp and capelin declined because of recruitment failure and predation,...
Seasonal variability in hydrologic-system response to intense rain events, Matanuska Glacier, Alaska, U.S.A.
J.C. Denner, D. E. Lawson, G.J. Larson, E.B. Evenson, R. B. Alley, J.C. Strasser, S. Kopczynski
1999, Annals of Glaciology (28) 267-271
Two rain events at Matanuska Glacier illustrate how subglacial drainage system development and snowpack conditions affect hydrologic response at the terminus. On 21 and 22 September 1995, over 56 mm of rain fell in the basin during a period usually characterized by much drier conditions. This event caused an 8-fold...
Benthic marine debris, with an emphasis on fishery-related items, surrounding Kodiak Island, Alaska, 1994-1996
N.A. Hess, C. A. Ribic, I. Vining
1999, Marine Pollution Bulletin (38) 885-890
Composition and abundance of benthic marine debris were investigated during three bottom trawl surveys in inlet and offshore locations surrounding Kodiak Island, Alaska, 1994-1996. Debris items were primarily plastic and metal regardless of trawl location. Plastic bait jars, fishing line, and crab pots were the most common fishery-related debris items...
Trace-element geochemistry of metabasaltic rocks from the Yukon-Tanana Upland and implications for the origin of tectonic assemblages in east-central Alaska
Cynthia Dusel-Bacon, K.M. Cooper
1999, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (36) 1671-1695
We present major- and trace- element geochemical data for 27 amphibolites and six greenstones from three structural packages in the Yukon-Tanana Upland of east-central Alaska: the Lake George assemblage (LG) of Devono-Mississippian augen gneiss, quartz-mica schist, quartzite, and amphibolite; the Taylor Mountain assemblage (TM) of mafic schist and gneiss, marble,...
