Stratigraphic Context of Old Crow Tephra, Holitna Lowland, Interior Southwest Alaska
C. F. Waythomas, P.D. Lea, R.C. Walter
1993, Quaternary Research (40) 20-29
A thick deposit of Old Crow tephra was discovered in a bluff exposure along the middle Holitna River near the Kulukbuk Hills (61??20???N latitude, 157??10???W longitude) in interior southwest Alaska. This locality is the southwesternmost-known deposit of Old Crow tephra in Alaska. Thickness and grain-size data from this site support...
Reconnaissance guidelines for gold exploration in Central Alaska
T.D. Light, S. H. Moll, S. W. Bie, G. K. Lee
1993, Journal of Geochemical Exploration (47) 89-108
Distribution of more than 300 gold-bearing samples from the Livengood (Tolovana) and parts of the Fairbanks and Rampart mining districts in central Alaska, USA, indicate that the concentration of gold in placers is spatially related both to structural features and to Late Cretaceous and (or) Tertiary felsic plutons. The regional...
A Coast Mountains provenance for the Valdez and Orca groups, southern Alaska, based on Nd, Sr, and Pb isotopic evidence
G. L. Farmer, R. Ayuso, George Plafker
1993, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (116) 9-21
Nd, Sr, and Pb isotopic data were obtained for fourteen fine- to coarse-grained samples of accreted flysch of the Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary Valdez and Orca Groups in southern Alaska to determine the flysch provenance. Argillites and greywackes from the...
Cub adoption by brown bears (Ursus arctos middendorffi) on Kodiak Island, Alaska
V. Barnes Jr., R. Smith
1993, Canadian Field-Naturalist (107) 365-367
We report three cases where female Brown Bears (Ursus arctos middendorffi) with new (1 winter season. The adoptions occurred in a sampling of 104 litters produced by 89 different females on Kodiak Island, Alaska during 1982-1990. A maximum of six cubs were reared from litters that probably would have produced...
Age-specific reproduction in female sea otters (Enhydra lutris) from south-central Alaska: Analysis of reproductive tracts
James L. Bodkin, Daniel M. Mulcahy, Calvin J. Lensink
1993, Canadian Journal of Zoology (71) 1811-1815
We estimated age at sexual maturity and age-specific reproductive rates by examining carcasses and reproductive tracts from 177 female sea otters (Enhydra lutris). Carcasses were recovered from south-central Alaska, Primarily from western Prince William Sound, as a result of the T/V Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. We found 65%...
Perinatal mortality in caribou from the Porcupine herd, Alaska
T.J. Roffe
1993, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (29) 295-303
During the 1989 caribou (Rangifer tarandus) calving season on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska (USA), 61 calf carcasses were examined for cause of death and associated pathology. Dead calves were located by low-level aerial searches with two fixed-wing aircraft and a helicopter...
Possible connection between two Alaskan catastrophes occurring 25 yr apart (1964 and 1989)
K.A. Kvenvolden, P.R. Carlson, C. N. Threlkeld, A. Warden
1993, Geology (21) 813-816
On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez supertanker grounded on Bligh Reef, spilling North Slope crude oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska. Tracking the geochemical fate of this spilled oil has revealed, in addition to weathered products from the spill, minor oil residues on beaches...
Natural gas hydrates of the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk River area, North Slope, Alaska
Timothy S. Collett
1993, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin (77) 793-812
Gas hydrates are crystalline substances composed of water and gas, mainly methane, in which a solid-water lattice accommodates gas molecules in a cage-like structure, or clathrate. These substances commonly have been regarded as a potential unconventional source of natural gas because of their enormous gas-storage capacity. Significant quantities of naturally...
Petrology and isotopic composition of Quaternary basanites dredged from the Bering Sea continental margin near Navarin Basin
A. S. Davis, S.H. Gunn, L.-B. Gray, M. S. Marlow, F. L. Wong
1993, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (30) 975-984
Quaternary basanites were recovered from shallow water depth from the continental margin of the Bering Sea (58°39.0′N, 177°12.9′W) near Navarin Basin. The basanites are highly vesicular flow rock and hyaloclastites similar to other alkalic volcanic rocks erupted repeatedly during the late Cenozoic on islands in the Bering Sea region and...
Dutrochus, a new microdomatid (Gastropoda) genus from the Middle Devonian (Eifelian) of west-central Alaska
R. B. Blodgett
1993, Journal of Paleontology (67) 194-197
A new gastropod genus, Dutrochus, is established for members of the family Microdomatidae that are characterized by a reticulate ornament of spiral cords and intersecting, finer collabral threads, with all but one spiral cord being of nearly equal strength, and the single remaining cord being of stronger...
Annual and Spatial Variation of the Kelp Forest Fish Assemblage at San Nicolas Island, California
R.J. Cowen, James L. Bodkin
1993, Conference Paper, Third California Islands Symposium
The kelp forest fishes of San Nicolas Island, California were studied from 1981-1986 to examine the causes of among-site and among-year variation in the fish assemblages. Fish counts and seven physical and biological variables were recorded at six sites around the island every spring and fall. Over the study period,...
Epiguruk: A late Quaternary environmental record from northwestern Alaska
T. D. Hamilton, G.M. Ashley
1993, Geological Society of America Bulletin (105) 583-602
Epiguruk, a prominent bluff along the Kobuk River in northwestern Alaska, exposes a rich depositional record of Quaternary eolian and fluvial sand, with associated loess, paleosols, and periglacial features. Three major complexes of alluvial and eolian deposits are separated by two conspicuous organic-rich paleosols which formed during cool-moist interstadial intervals....
Methane in permafrost - Preliminary results from coring at Fairbanks, Alaska
K.A. Kvenvolden, T.D. Lorenson
1993, Conference Paper, Chemosphere
Permafrost has been suggested as a high-latitude source of methane (a greenhouse gas) during global warming. To begin to assess the magnitude of this source, we have examined the methane content of permafrost in samples from shallow cores (maximum depth, 9.5m) at three sites in Fairbanks, Alaska, where discontinuous permafrost...
Mercury, arsenic, antimony, and selenium contents of sediment from the Kuskokwim River, Bethel, Alaska, USA
H. E. Belkin, H.M. Sparck
1993, Environmental Geology (22) 106-110
The Kuskokwim River at Bethel, Alaska, drains a major mercury-antimony metallogenic province in its upper reaches and tributaries. Bethel (population 4000) is situated on the Kuskokwim floodplain and also draws its water supply from wells located in river-deposited sediment. A boring through overbank and floodplain sediment has provided material to...
Human disturbances of denning polar bears in Alaska
Steven C. Amstrup
1993, Arctic (46) 246-250
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) give birth in dens of snow and ice. The altricial neonates cannot leave the den for >2 months post-partum and are potentially vulnerable to disturbances near dens. The coastal plain (1002) area of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) lies in a region of known polar...
Directions of the US Geological Survey Landslide Hazards Reduction Program
G. F. Wieczorek
1993, Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria (16) 21-25
The US Geological Survey (USGS) Landslide Hazards Reduction Program includes studies of landslide process and prediction, landslide susceptibility and risk mapping, landslide recurrence and slope evolution, and research application and technology transfer. Studies of landslide processes have been recently conducted in Virginia, Utah, California, Alaska, and Hawaii, Landslide susceptibility maps...
Distribution and mode of occurrence of selenium in US coals
L. Coleman, L. J. Bragg, R. B. Finkelman
1993, Environmental Geochemistry and Health (15) 215-227
Selenium excess and deficiency have been established as the cause of various health problems in man and animals. Combustion of fossil fuels, especially coal, may be a major source of the anthropogenic introduction of selenium in the environment. Coal is enriched in selenium relative to selenium's concentration in most other...
Sex identification of polar bears from blood and tissue samples
Steven C. Amstrup, G.W. Garner, M. A. Cronin, J.C. Patton
1993, Canadian Journal of Zoology (71) 2174-2177
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) can be adversely affected by hunting and other human perturbations because of low population densities and low reproduction rates. The sustainable take of adult females may be as low as 1.5% of the population. Females and accompanying young are most vulnerable to hunting, and hunters have...
Volcanic activity in Alaska: September 1991-September 1992
Game McGimsey
1993, Earthquakes & Volcanoes (USGS) (24) 60-73
More than 40 historically active volcanic centers, each consisting of one or more volcanoes, are located on the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands (see map on next page). On average, at least one of these volcanoes erupts each year....
Earthquakes, May-June 1993
W. J. Person
1993, Earthquakes & Volcanoes (USGS) (24) 147-152
A major earthquake (7.0≤M<8.0) occurred on June 8 during this reporting period. This magnitude 7.3 earthquake was centered off the east coast of Kamchatka. there were no earthquake-related deaths during the months of May and June. Seismicity in the United States included two strong earthquakes in Alaska. The first, a magntidue...
Conservation genetics of managed ungulate populations
Kim T. Scribner
1993, Acta Theriologica (38) 89-101
Natural populations of many species are increasingly impacted by human activities. Perturbations are particularly pronunced for large ungulates due in part to sport and commercial harvest, to reductions and fragmentation of native habitat, and as the result of reintroductions. These perturbations affect population size, sex and age composition, and population...
Seabirds of the central North Pacific
P.J. Gould, John F. Piatt
Kees Vermeer, K.T. Briggs, K.H. Morgan, D. Siegel-Causey, editor(s)
1993, Conference Paper, The status, ecology and conservation of marine birds of the North Pacific
No abstract available....
Status and ecology of kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla and R. brevirostris) in the North Pacific
Scott A. Hatch, G.V. Byrd, D.B. Irons, G.L. Hunt Jr.
Kees Vermeer, K.T. Briggs, K.H. Morgan, D. Siegel-Causey, editor(s)
1993, Conference Paper, The status, ecology and conservation of marine birds of the North Pacific
Black-legged Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) are widely distributed in the subarctic North Pacific and adjacent seas, with a total breeding population of about 2.6 million individuals. Red-legged Kittiwakes (R. brevirostris) breed in four locations, and at least 95% of their estimated world population of 230,000 birds nest on one island (St....
Population dynamics of the Laysan and other albatrosses in the North Pacific
Patrick J. Gould, Rod Hobbs
J. Ito, W. Shaw, R.L. Burgner, editor(s)
1993, Bulletin of the International North Pacific Fisheries Comission 53(III)
Laysan albatrosses (Diomedea immutabilis) are among the most prominent bird species which interact with commercial fisheries in the North Pacific. They are attracted to fishing nets and vessels and feed extensively on animals caught in nets, waste fish, offal, and refuse discarded from vessels. Approximately 17,500 individuals were killed in...
Implementation of biomarker-based studies
John J. Stegeman, Brenda E. Ballachey, J. Bickham, B. Hocker, S. Kennedy, H. Thompson, A.D. Vethaak
David B. Peakall, Lee R. Shugart, editor(s)
1993, Book chapter, Biomarkers: Research and application in the assessment of environmental health: Proceedings of the NATO advanced research workshop on biological markers
Biomarkers may be used to determine chemical exposure and effects in several important ways. These include (1) evaluation of new agricultural or industrial chemicals for effects, (2) screening of municipal or industrial effluents, (3) determining the geographic distribution of chemical effects in the environment and their changes over time, (4)...
