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The U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 authorized the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct a national assessment of the potential volume of hydrocarbons recoverable by injection of carbon dioxide (CO2) into known oil reservoirs with historical production. The implementation of CO2 enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) techniques could...

Laboratory experiments that simulate lava flows have been in use by volcanologists for many years. The behavior of flows in the lab, where “eruption” parameters, material properties, and environmental settings are tightly controlled, provides insight into the influence of various factors on flow evolution. A second benefit of laboratory lava...

(Massatti) Introduction: The majority of native plant materials (NPMs) utilized for restoration purposes are developed for widely distributed species that provide a variety of ecosystem services (Wood et al. 2015; Butterfield et al. 2017). Disturbed ecosystems benefit from the use of appropriate NPMs, which are those that display ecological fitness...

Stream stability, flood frequency, and streambed scour potential were evaluated at 20 Alaskan river- and stream-spanning bridges lacking a quantitative scour analysis or having unknown foundation details. Three of the bridges had been assessed shortly before the study described in this report but were re-assessed using different methods or data....

Alteration of the natural streamflow regime by land and water management, such as land-cover change and dams, is associated with aquatic ecosystem degradation. The severity and geographic extent of streamflow alteration at regional and national scales, however, remain largely unquantified. The primary goal of this study is to characterize the...

We conducted gravity surveys of the summit area of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi, in November 2018 and March 2019, with the goal of determining whether there was any mass change at depth following the volcano's May–August 2018 caldera collapse. Surface deformation between the two surveys was minimal, but we measured a...

The October 17th, 2015 Taan Fiord landslide and tsunami generated a runup of 193 m, nearly an order of magnitude greater than most previously surveyed tsunamis. To date, most post-tsunami surveys are from earthquake-generated tsunamis and the geomorphic signatures of landslide tsunamis or their potential for preservation are largely uncharacterized. Additionally,...

In support of projects for forecasting and mitigating the deleterious effects of extreme space-weather storms, an examination is made of the intensities of magnetic superstorms recorded in the Dst index time series (1957-2016). Modified peak-over-threshold and solar-cycle, block-maximum sampling of the Dst time series are performed to obtain compi-lations of...

Otolith microanalysis is often used to assess population age structure and growth of fishes during their early stages. Shoal Bass Micropterus cataractae is a recently described species of conservation concern and little is known regarding factors affecting their recruitment. In 2004, Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GADNR) and...

Background Transcriptomic responses to immune stimulation were investigated in coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) with distinct growth phenotypes. Wild-type fish were contrasted to strains with accelerated growth arising either from selective breeding (i.e. domestication) or genetic modification. Such distinct routes to accelerated growth may have unique implications for relationships and/or trade-offs between...

Reliable estimates of life history parameters and their functional role in animal population trajectories are critical, yet often missing, components in conservation and management. We developed seasonal matrix population models of the Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis jamaicensis in the upper and lower forests of the Luquillo Mountains, Puerto...

This report summarizes a national assessment of flowing waters conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project and addresses several pressing questions about the modification of natural flows in streams and rivers. The assessment is based on the integration, modeling, and synthesis of monitoring data collected by...

Autumn ungulate hunting in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem carries the risk of hunter–grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) conflict and creates a substantial challenge for managers. For Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA, a key information need is whether increased availability of elk (Cervus canadensis) carcasses during a late autumn (Nov–Dec) harvest...

Digital flood-inundation maps for an 8.8-mile reach of the North Platte River, from 1.5 miles upstream from the Highway 92 bridge to 3 miles downstream from the Highway 71 bridge in Scottsbluff County, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Cities of Scottsbluff and Gering,...

Measurements of gas compositions and emission rates play a major role in monitoring restless volcanoes. However, thermodynamic calculations imply that scrubbing by groundwater will prevent most HCl and significant SO2 emissions until dry pathways are established, thus leading to underestimates of gas released from magma and magma volumes. Despite the...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, updated peak-streamflow regression equations for estimating flows with annual exceedance probabilities from 50 to 0.2 percent for the State of Oklahoma. These regression equations incorporate basin characteristics to estimate peak-streamflow magnitude and frequency throughout the State by...

Recent discussions of model selection and multimodel inference highlight a general challenge for researchers, which is how to clearly convey the explanatory content of a hypothesized model or set of competing models. The advice from statisticians for scientists employing multimodel inference is to develop a well‐thought‐out set of candidate models...

In East Africa, accurate grain yield predictions can help save lives and protect livelihoods. Regional grain yield forecasts can inform decisions regarding the availability and prices of key staples, food aid, and large humanitarian responses. Here, we use earth observation (EO) products to develop and evaluate subnational grain yield forecasts...

The present study provides molecular and functional characterization of Na+/K+/2Cl- cotransporter (nkcc1/NKCC1) in the gills of sea lamprey, the most basal extant vertebrate with an osmoregulatory strategy. We report the full-length peptide sequence for the lamprey NKCC1, which we show to group strongly with and occupy a basal position among...

Groundwater withdrawals since the 1940s have lowered water levels, altered groundwater-flow directions, and caused saltwater to intrude within some freshwater-containing sands of the fluvial-deltaic Southern Hills regional aquifer system beneath Baton Rouge, Louisiana. New interpretations of stratigraphic correlations amongst geophysical well logs were utilized to revise a hydrogeologic framework that...

Numerical simulations of hazard cascades downstream from moraine-dammed lakes commonly must specify linkages between models of discrete processes such as wave overtopping, dam breaching, erosion, and downstream floods or debris flows. Such linkages can be rather arbitrary and can detract from the ability to accurately conserve mass and momentum...

The rate of groundwater flow past underground nuclear testing areas in Yucca Flat at the Nevada National Security Site, southern Nevada, was estimated using results from the ER-6-1-2 main multiple-well aquifer test (MWAT), done during February 5–July 23, 2004. Drawdowns in 13 observation wells were evaluated from pumping in well...

Seabed sediment flows called turbidity currents form some of the largest sediment accumulations, deepest canyons and longest channel systems on Earth. Only rivers transport comparable sediment volumes over such large areas; but there are far fewer measurements from turbidity currents, ensuring they are much more poorly understood. Turbidity currents differ...

The clade comprising the soricid tribes Blarinellini (Blarinella) and Blarinini (Blarina and Cryptotis) is notable within the Soricidae (Eulipotyphla) for the large proportion of reportedly semifossorial species. To better define locomotor modes among species in these two tribes, we quantified purported locomotor adaptations by calculating 23 functional indices from postcranial measurements obtained...

The assessment of the Little Snake River coal field and Red Desert area covers approximately 2,300 square miles in the eastern portion of the Greater Green River Basin in south-central Wyoming. Coal-bearing formations are present throughout the Eocene, Paleocene, and Cretaceous strata in the assessment area. Paleogene-age coal beds are...