New Publications of the U.S. Geological Survey, April-June 2002
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2002, Report
A list of USGS publications and articles by U.S. Geological Survey personnel in non-U.S. Geological Survey journals and books that were published in April to June of the year 2002....
Evidence for the timing and duration of the last interglacial period from high-precision uranium-series ages of corals on tectonically stable coastlines
D.R. Muhs
2002, Quaternary Research (58) 36-40
The last interglacial period has a timing and duration that can be estimated from U-series dating of emergent, coral-bearing deposits on tectonically stable coastlines. High-precision dating from Bermuda, the Bahamas, Hawaii, and Australia suggests that the last interglacial period had a sea level at least as high as present from...
Does bird community structure vary with landscape patchiness? A Chihuahuan Desert perspective
K.J. Gutzwiller, W.C. Barrow Jr.
2002, Oikos (98) 284-298
During the springs of 1995-1997, we studied birds and landscapes at 70 sites in the Chihuahuan Desert to assess relations between bird community structure and landscape patchiness. Within each of two spatial extents (1-kin and 2-km-radius areas centered on each site), we measured the number of patches of individual land-cover...
Impact of selenium and other trace elements on the endangered adult razorback sucker
Steven J. Hamilton, Kathy M. Holley, Kevin J. Buhl, Fern A. Bullard, L. Ken Weston, Susan F. McDonald
2002, Environmental Toxicology (17) 297-323
A study was conducted with endangered the razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus) to determine if environmental exposure to selenium in flooded bottomland sites affected survival, growth, and egg-hatching success. Adults were stocked at three sites adjacent to the Colorado River near Grand Junction, Colorado, in July 1996: hatchery ponds at Horsethief...
Primary surface rupture associated with the Mw 7.1 16 October 1999 Hector Mine earthquake, San Bernardino County, California
J.A. Treiman, K.J. Kendrick, W. A. Bryant, T. K. Rockwell, S.F. McGill
2002, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (92) 1171-1191
The Mw 7.1 Hector Mine earthquake occurred within the Mojave Desert portion of the eastern California shear zone and was accompanied by 48 km of dextral surface rupture. Complex northward rupture began on two branches of the Lavic Lake fault in the northern Bullion Mountains and also propagated southward onto...
Regional estimates of radiated seismic energy
J. Boatwright, G. L. Choy, L. C. Seekins
2002, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (92) 1241-1255
We revise the spectral technique for estimating radiated energy from recordings of large earthquakes at regional distances (Δ < 200 km) by correcting for geometric spreading and for site amplification as explicit functions of frequency. We analyze 65 recordings of the 1999 Hector Mine earthquake as functions of frequency, distance,...
Effects of topography on the transport of agricultural chemicals to groundwater in a sand-plain setting
G. N. Delin, M.K. Landon
2002, Hydrogeology Journal (10) 443-454
Geochemical data were collected to investigate the effects of topography and focused recharge on the transport of agricultural chemicals to groundwater through sandy soils. The research was done at a topographically high (upland) site and a depressional (lowland) site within a corn field. Agricultural chemicals that move readily with water...
Experiences from the testing of a theory for modelling groundwater flow in heterogeneous media
S. Christensen, R.L. Cooley
2002, Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Geologica (46) 8-11
Usually, small-scale model error is present in groundwater modelling because the model only represents average system characteristics having the same form as the drift and small-scale variability is neglected. These errors cause the true errors of a regression model to be correlated. Theory and an example show that the errors...
The significance of pockmarks to understanding fluid flow processes and geohazards
M. Hovland, J.V. Gardner, A.G. Judd
2002, Geofluids (2) 127-136
Underwater gas and liquid escape from the seafloor has long been treated as a mere curiosity. It was only after the advent of the side-scan sonar and the subsequent discovery of pockmarks that the scale of fluid escape and the moonlike terrain on parts of the ocean floor became generally...
Evaluating remedial alternatives for an acid mine drainage stream: Application of a reactive transport model
R.L. Runkel, B. A. Kimball
2002, Environmental Science & Technology (36) 1093-1101
A reactive transport model based on one-dimensional transport and equilibrium chemistry is applied to synoptic data from an acid mine drainage stream. Model inputs include streamflow estimates based on tracer dilution, inflow chemistry based on synoptic sampling, and equilibrium constants describing acid/base, complexation, precipitation/dissolution, and sorption reactions....
Grid-cell-based crop water accounting for the famine early warning system
J. Verdin, R. Klaver
2002, Hydrological Processes (16) 1617-1630
Rainfall monitoring is a regular activity of food security analysts for sub-Saharan Africa due to the potentially disastrous impact of drought. Crop water accounting schemes are used to track rainfall timing and amounts relative to phenological requirements, to infer water limitation impacts on yield. Unfortunately, many rain gauge reports are...
The cascading effects of fire exclusion in Rocky Mountain ecosystems
R.E. Keane, K.C. Ryan, T. Veblen, Craig D. Allen, J. Logan, B. Hawkes
Jill Baron, editor(s)
2002, Book chapter, Rocky Mountain futures: An ecological perspective
No abstract available....
Preliminary evaluation of the coalbed methane potential of the Gulf Coastal Plain, USA and Mexico
Peter D. Warwick, Charles E. Barker, John R. SanFilipo
S.D. Schwochow, V. F. Nuccio, editor(s)
2002, Book chapter, Coalbed Methane of North America II
Several areas in the Gulf Coast have potential for coalbed gas accumulations. These areas include parts of southern Alabama and Mississippi, north-central Louisiana, northeast, east-central and south Texas and northeastern Mexico. The coal deposits in these areas vary in rank, thickness, lateral extent and gas content, and range in age...
Dieback of Acacia koa in Hawaii: Ecological and pathological characteristics of affected stands
R. C. Anderson, D.E. Gardner, C.C. Daehler, F.C. Meinzer
2002, Forest Ecology and Management (162) 273-286
Koa (Acacia koa) is an endemic Hawaiian tree that serves as a keystone species in the upper elevation forests of all the main islands. In the Mauna Loa Strip area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, mature koa stands are suffering from an unexplained dieback that has increased in severity since...
Selection of nesting habitat by sharp-tailed grouse in the Nebraska sandhills
Bart L. Prose, Brian S. Cade, Dale Hein
2002, Prairie Naturalist (34) 85-105
We evaluated nesting habitat selection (disproportionate use compared to availability) by plains sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus jamesi) on rangelands grazed by cattle (Bos taurus) relative to height, density, and heterogeneity of residual herbaceous vegetation remaining from previous growing seasons. Residual cover is critical for nesting sharp-tailed grouse and can be...
Natural history notes: Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta (Black rat snake). Predation
Kimberly G. Smith, J. L. Waldron, William J. Barichivich
2002, Herpetological Review (33) 213-214
No abstract available....
Factors influencing the distribution of Myxobolus cerebralis, the causative agent of whirling disease, in the Cache la Poudre River, Colorado
M. Brady Allen, Eric P. Bergersen
2002, Diseases of Aquatic Organisms (49) 51-60
Oligochaetes, triactinomyxons (TAMs), and age-0 trout were sampled in the upper Cache la Poudre River, Colorado, to determine the distribution of Myxobolus cerebralis during 1997 and 1998. Densities of the intermediate host, the oligochaete Tubifex tubifex, were 3.5 orders of magnitude higher in the M. cerebralis-infected Poudre Rearing Unit (PRU) trout rearing ponds than...
Distribution, abundance and habitat use of American White Pelicans in the Delta Region of Mississippi and along the Western Gulf of Mexico Coast
D.T. King, T.C. Michot
2002, Waterbirds (25) 410-416
Aerial surveys of American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) were conducted over coastal Louisiana and the delta region of Mississippi on 1-2 days during December, February, and April each year from 1997 to 1999. Additional surveys were conducted in coastal Texas and Mexico during January 1998 and 1999. The numbers,...
Estimating total human-caused mortality from reported mortality using data from radio-instrumented grizzly bears
S. Cherry, M.A. Haroldson, J. Robison-Cox, C.C. Schwartz
2002, Ursus (13) 175-184
Tracking mortality of the Yellowstone grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) is an essential issue of the recovery process. Problem bears removed by agencies are well documented. Deaths of radiocollared bears are known or, in many cases, can be reliably inferred. Additionally, the public reports an unknown proportion of deaths of uncollared bears....
Timing and magnitude of Broad-winged Hawk migration at Montclair Hawk Lookout, New Jersey, and Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Pennsylvania
Mark W. Miller, E. M. Greenstone, W. Greenstone, Keith L. Bildstein
2002, The Wilson Bulletin (114) 479-484
The Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) breeds in eastern and central Canada and the United States, and winters in Central America and northern and central South America. Birders and ornithologists count migrating Broad-winged Hawks at dozens of traditional watch sites throughout the northeastern United States. We modeled counts of migrating...
Feeding habits of the endangered Ozark big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii ingens) relative to prey abundance
David M. Leslie Jr., B.S. Clark
2002, Acta Chiropterologica (4) 173-182
Feeding habits of the endangered Ozark big-cared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii ingens) in eastern Oklahoma, USA, were studied from July 1987 through July 1988. Diets were determined from microscopic analysis of fecal pellets and compared with arthropods collected in Malaise traps. Although lepidopterans comprised only 21.5% of the available prey, they...
Comparison of subyearling fall chinook salmon's use of riprap revetments and unaltered habitats in Lake Wallula of the Columbia river
R.D. Garland, K.F. Tiffan, D.W. Rondorf, L.O. Clark
2002, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (22) 1283-1289
Subyearling fall chinook salmon's Oncorhynchus tshawytscha use of unaltered and riprap habitats in Lake Wallula of the Columbia River was determined with point abundance data collected by electrofishing in May 1994 and 1995. We documented the presence or absence of subyearlings at 277 sample sites and collected physical habitat information...
Potential preservation of native American petroglyphs at Steamboat Butte, Montana, using ethyl silicate solution treatments
D.A. Grisafe
2002, Plains Anthropologist (47) 77-84
Samples of the Tongue River Sandstone, collected from the top of Steamboat Butte in central Montana, were treated with an ethyl silicate solution. The samples showed a large increase in compressive strength and freeze-thaw resistance, relative to untreated samples, and indicates the treatment(s) significantly consolidate(s) the stone, thus providing a...
Ecological perspectives on Pacific salmon: Can we sustain biodiversity and fisheries?
E. Eric Knudsen
Kristine D. Lynch, Michael L. Jones, William W. Taylor, editor(s)
2002, Book chapter, Sustaining North American salmon: Perspectives across regions and disciplines
No abstract available....
Magmatic activity beneath the quiescent Three Sisters volcanic center, central Oregon Cascade Range, USA
Charles W. Wicks Jr., Daniel Dzurisin, Steven E. Ingebritsen, Wayne R. Thatcher, Zhong Lu, Justin Iverson
2002, Geophysical Research Letters (29) 26-1-26-4
Images from satellite interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) reveal uplift of a broad ~10 km by 20 km area in the Three Sisters volcanic center of the central Oregon Cascade Range, ~130 km south of Mt. St. Helens. The last eruption in the volcanic center occurred ~1500 years ago. Multiple...
