Hematite spherules at Meridiani: results from MI, Mini-TES, and Pancam
W. M. Calvin, J.D. Shoffner, J. R. Johnson, A.H. Knoll, J.M. Pocock, S. W. Squyres, C.M. Weitz, R. E. Arvidson, J.F. Bell III, P. R. Christensen, P. A. de Souza Jr., W. H. Farrand, T.D. Glotch, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, B.L. Jolliff, A.T. Knudson, S. M. McLennan, A.D. Rogers, S.D. Thompson
2008, Journal of Geophysical Research (113)
We report on observations of hematite‐bearing spherules at Meridiani Planum made using the Microscopic Imager (MI), Mini‐Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini‐TES), and Panoramic Camera (Pancam) instruments on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. Spherules were observed on soil surfaces and in outcrop rocks, both on undisturbed surfaces and in abraded surfaces ground...
Releases of whooping cranes to the Florida nonmigratory flock: a structured decision-making approach: report to the International Whooping Crane Recovery Team, September 22, 2008
Clinton T. Moore, Sarah J. Converse, Martin J. Folk, Robin Boughton, Bill Brooks, John B. French, Timothy O’Meara, Michael Putnam, James Rodgers, Marilyn Spalding
2008, FWRI Inhouse Report 2008-009
We used a structured decision-making approach to inform the decision of whether the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission should request of the International Whooping Crane Recovery Team that additional whooping crane chicks be released into the Florida Non-Migratory Population (FNMP). Structured decision-making is an application of decision science that...
Origin and paleoclimatic significance of late Quaternary loess in Nebraska: Evidence from stratigraphy, chronology, sedimentology, and geochemistry
Daniel R. Muhs, E. Arthur Bettis III, John N. Aleinikoff, John P. McGeehin, Jossh Beann, Gary Skipp, Brian D. Marshall, Helen M. Roberts, William C. Johnson, Rachel Benton
2008, GSA Bulletin (120) 1378-1407
Loess is one of the most extensive surficial geologic deposits in midcontinental North America, particularly in the central Great Plains region of Nebraska. Last-glacial-age loess (Peoria Loess) reaches its greatest known thickness in the world in this area. New stratigraphic, geochronologic, mineralogic, and geochemical data yield information about the age...
Isotopic evidence for the diversity of late Quaternary loess in Nebraska: Glaciogenic and nonglaciogenic sources
John N. Aleinikoff, Daniel R. Muhs, E. Arthur Bettis III, William C. Johnson, C. Mark Fanning, Rachel Benton
2008, GSA Bulletin (120) 1362-1377
Pb isotope compositions of detrital K-feldspars and U-Pb ages of detrital zircons are used as indicators for determining the sources of Peoria Loess deposited during the last glacial period (late Wisconsin, ca. 25–14 ka) in Nebraska and western Iowa. Our new data indicate that only loess adjacent to the Platte...
Molecular epidemiology of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus in the Great Lakes region
James Winton, Gael Kurath, William Batts
2008, Fact Sheet 2008-3003
Viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) is considered by many nations and international organizations to be one of the most important viral pathogens of finfish (Office International des Epizooties 2007). For several decades following its initial characterization in the 1950s, VHSV was thought to be limited to Europe where it was...
The USGS Earthquake Notification Service (ENS): Customizable notifications of earthquakes around the globe
Lisa A. Wald, David J. Wald, Stan Schwarz, Bruce Presgrave, Paul S. Earle, Eric Martinez, David Oppenheimer
2008, Seismological Research Letters (79) 103-110
At the beginning of 2006, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program (EHP) introduced a new automated Earthquake Notification Service (ENS) to take the place of the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) "Bigquake" system and the various other individual EHP e-mail list-servers for separate regions in the United States....
Contaminant levels in eggs of American white pelicans, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, from Chase Lake, North Dakota
Pamela J. Pietz, Marsha A. Sovada, Christine M. Custer, Thomas W. Custer, Kevin M. Johnson
2008, Canadian Field-Naturalist (122) 312-315
American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) are colonial nesters, making them susceptible to site-specific mortality factors. One of the largest known breeding colonies is at Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge in North Dakota. In 2004, this colony suffered total reproductive failure. In 2005, we collected abandoned eggs from this colony to...
An exploration of Bureau of Reclamation approaches for managing conflict over diverging science
Nina Burkardt, Emily Ruell, Douglas Clark
2008, Technical Memorandum 86-68211-09-01
As a major institutional agent supplying Western water resources, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) provides important leadership, technical, and financial resources in water management, serving as the West's "water broker" (Bowersox 2000; Pisani 2003). In recent years, growing numbers of constituencies using water and the over-allocation of water resources have...
National Wildlife Health Center's quarterly wildlife mortality report
Mark Jankowski, Krysten Schuler, Jennifer Bradsby
2008, Newsletter of the Wildlife Disease Association (2008) 9-15
Miocene Total Petroleum System -- Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province: Chapter 13 in Petroleum systems and geologic assessment of oil and gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California
Donald L. Gautier, Allegra Hosford Scheirer
2008, Professional Paper 1713-13
The confirmed stratigraphic and structural-stratigraphic Southeast Stable Shelf Assessment Unit (AU) of the Miocene Total Petroleum System (San Joaquin Basin Province) comprises all hydrocarbon accumulations within the geographic limits of the AU. Traps typically display low dip angles, gentle folds, and normal faults. Reservoirs, which range in age from fractured...
Age, distribution, and stratigraphic relationship of rock units in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California: Chapter 5 in Petroleum systems and geologic assessment of oil and gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California
Allegra Hosford Scheirer, Leslie B. Magoon
2008, Professional Paper 1713-5
The San Joaquin Basin is a major petroleum province that forms the southern half of California’s Great Valley, a 700-km-long, asymmetrical basin that originated between a subduction zone to the west and the Sierra Nevada to the east. Sedimentary fill and tectonic structures of the San Joaquin Basin record the...
California Cenozoic Biostratigraphy -- Paleogene: Chapter 4 in Petroleum systems and geologic assessment of oil and gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California
Kristin McDougall
2008, Professional Paper 1713-4
The time transgressive nature of the California benthic foraminiferal stages is in most cases the result of poor taxonomy, use of local species ranges, and a lack of understanding about the type sections. Correcting these problems allows the stages to be consistently applied and enhances their ability to identify coeval...
Winters-Domengine Total Petroleum System—Northern Nonassociated Gas Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province: Chapter 21 in Petroleum systems and geologic assessment of oil and gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California
Allegra Hosford Scheirer, Leslie B. Magoon
2008, Professional Paper 1713-21
The Northern Nonassociated Gas Assessment Unit (AU) of the Winters-Domengine Total Petroleum System of the San Joaquin Basin Province consists of all nonassociated gas accumulations in Cretaceous, Eocene, and Miocene sandstones located north of township 15 South in the San Joaquin Valley. The northern San Joaquin Valley forms a northwest-southeast...
National Wildlife Health Center's quarterly wildlife mortality report
Nathan G. Ramsay, Anne Ballmann, Krysten Schuler, Rachel Guy
2008, Newsletter of the Wildlife Disease Association (2008) 5-10
No abstract available....
Some guidelines for helping natural resources adapt to climate change
Jill S. Baron, Susan Herrod Julius, Jordan M. West, Linda A. Joyce, Geoffrey Blate, Charles H. Peterson, Margaret Palmer, Brian D. Keller, Peter Kareiva, J. Michael Scott, Brad Griffith
2008, IHDP Update 46-52
The changes occurring in mountain regions are an epitome of climate change. The dramatic shrinkage of major glaciers over the past century – and especially in the last 30 years – is one of several iconic images that have come to symbolize climate change. Climate creates the context for ecosystems,...
Co-precipitation of dissolved organic matter by calcium carbonate in Pyramid Lake, Nevada
Jerry A. Leenheer, Michael M. Reddy
2008, Annals of Environmental Science (2) 11-25
Our previous research has demonstrated that dissolved organic matter (DOM) influences calcium carbonate mineral formation in surface and ground water. To better understand DOM mediation of carbonate precipitation and DOM co-precipitation and/or incorporation with carbonate minerals, we characterized the content and speciation of DOM in carbonate minerals and in the...
Modeling landslide recurrence in Seattle, Washington, USA
Diana Salciarini, Jonathan W. Godt, William Z. Savage, Rex L. Baum, Pietro Conversini
2008, Engineering Geology (102) 227-237
To manage the hazard associated with shallow landslides, decision makers need an understanding of where and when landslides may occur. A variety of approaches have been used to estimate the hazard from shallow, rainfall-triggered landslides, such as empirical rainfall threshold methods or probabilistic methods based on historical records. The wide...
Delineation of landform and lithologic units for Ecological Landtype-Association analysis in Glacier Bay National Park, Southeast Alaska
David A. Brew
2008, Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5183
Landform and generalized bedrock lithologic units have been delineated for ecological landtype association analysis in Glacier Bay National Park in southeast Alaska (as the Park boundaries were defined before the 1971 Alaska National Interest Lands expansion). Related U.S. Forest Service efforts have covered (1) the whole region at coarse ecological- unit...
The National Map product and services directory
Mark R. Newell
2008, Fact Sheet 2008-3065
As one of the cornerstones of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Geospatial Program (NGP), The National Map is a collaborative effort among the USGS and other Federal, state, and local partners to improve and deliver topographic information for the Nation. It has many uses ranging from recreation to scientific...
Responses in bird communities to wildland fires in southern California
Mark B. Mendelsohn, Cheryl S. Brehme, Carlton J. Rochester, Drew C. Stokes, Stacie A. Hathaway, Robert N. Fisher
2008, Fire Ecology (4) 63-82
There is a growing body of literature covering the responses of bird species to wildland fire events. Our study was unique among these because we investigated the effects of large-scale wildland fires on entire bird communities across multiple vegetation types. We conducted avian point counts during the breeding seasons for...
Reevaluation of mid-Pliocene North Atlantic sea surface temperatures
Marci M. Robinson, Harry J. Dowsett, Gary S. Dwyer, Kira T. Lawrence
2008, Paleoceanography (23)
Multiproxy temperature estimation requires careful attention to biological, chemical, physical, temporal, and calibration differences of each proxy and paleothermometry method. We evaluated mid-Pliocene sea surface temperature (SST) estimates from multiple proxies at Deep Sea Drilling Project Holes 552A, 609B, 607, and 606, transecting the North Atlantic Drift. SST estimates derived...
Radargrammetry on three planets
Randolph L. Kirk, Elpitha Howington-Kraus
Jun Chen, Jie Jiang, Shailesh Nayak, editor(s)
2008, Conference Paper, Proceedings: XXIst ISPRS Congress, Technical Commission IV
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can provide useful images in situations where passive optical imaging cannot, either because the microwaves used can penetrate atmospheric clouds, because active imaging can "see in the dark," or both. We have participated in the NASA Magellan mission to Venus in the 1990s and the current...
Environmental occurrence and shallow ground water detection of the antibiotic monensin from dairy farms
N. Watanabe, T.H. Harter, B.A. Bergamaschi
2008, Journal of Environmental Quality (37) S78-S85
Pharmaceuticals used in animal feeding operations have been detected in various environmental settings. There is a growing concern about the impact on terrestrial and aquatic organisms and the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of microorganisms. Pharmaceutical use in milking cows is relatively limited compared with other livestock operations, except for the...
Paleowetlands and regional climate change in the central Atacama Desert, northern Chile
Jay Quade, Jason A. Rech, Julio L. Betancourt, Claudio Latorre, Barbra Quade, Kate Aasen Rylander, Timothy Fisher
2008, Quaternary Research (69) 343-360
Widespread, organic-rich diatomaceous deposits are evidence for formerly wetter times along the margins of the central Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth today. We mapped and dated these paleowetland deposits at three presently waterless locations near Salar de Punta Negra (24.5°S) on the western slope of the...
Light-toned salty soils and co-existing Si-rich species discovered by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in Columbia Hills
Alian Wang, J.F. Bell III, Ron Li, J. R. Johnson, W. H. Farrand, E.A. Cloutis, R. E. Arvidson, L. Crumpler, S. W. Squyres, S. M. McLennan, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, S. W. Ruff, A.T. Knudson, Wei Chen, R. Greenberger
2008, Journal of Geophysical Research (113) 1-35
Light-toned soils were exposed, through serendipitous excavations by Spirit Rover wheels, at eight locations in the Columbia Hills. Their occurrences were grouped into four types on the basis of geomorphic settings. At three major exposures, the light-toned soils are hydrous and sulfate-rich. The spatial distributions of distinct types of salty...
