Water-budget analysis of the Upper Big Sandy Designated Ground-water Basin alluvial aquifer, Elbert, El Paso, and Lincoln Counties, Colorado, 2016
Michael S. Kohn, Jeannette H. Oden, L. R. Arnold
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5049
The U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Colorado Water Conservation Board and the Upper Big Sandy Groundwater Management District carried out a study in 2016 to evaluate potential groundwater storage changes within the Upper Big Sandy Designated Groundwater Basin (UBSDGB) alluvial aquifer, including groundwater flow between the UBSDGB alluvial...
Distribution of contaminants in the environment and wildlife habitat use: A case study with lead and waterfowl on the Upper Texas Coast
Brian Kearns, Stephen K. McDowell, Jena A. Moon, Elizabeth A. Rigby, Warren C. Conway, David A. Haukos
2019, Ecotoxicology (28) 809-824
The magnitude and distribution of lead contamination remain unknown in wetland systems. Anthropogenic deposition of lead may be contributing to negative population-level effects in waterfowl and other organisms that depend on dynamic wetland habitats, particularly if they are unable to detect and differentiate levels of environmental...
Assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations in southern Lake Powell, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona and Utah, 2016–17
Alissa L. Coes, Nicholas V. Paretti, David A. Alvarez, Jamie P. Macy
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5065
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon contamination related to boat use is one of the most important water-quality issues affecting Lake Powell. High concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water are common around marinas and other areas with extensive motorboat activity because of releases of uncombusted or partially combusted oil and gasoline from...
Seismic loss and damage in light-frame wood buildings from sequences of induced earthquakes
Robert E Chase, Abbie B. Liel, Nico Luco, Bridger W Baird
2019, Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics (48) 1365-1383
Activities related to oil and gas production, especially deep disposal of wastewater, have led to sequences of induced earthquakes in the central U.S. This study aims to quantify damage to and seismic losses for light-frame wood buildings when subjected to sequences of induced, small to moderate magnitude, events. To conduct...
Twenty-first century California, USA, wildfires: Fuel-dominated vs. wind-dominated fires
Jon Keeley, Alexandra D. Syphard
2019, Fire Ecology (15)
Since the beginning of the twenty-first century California, USA, has experienced a substantial increase in the frequency of large wildfires, often with extreme impacts on people and property. Due to the size of the state, it is not surprising that the factors driving these changes differ across this region. Although...
Linking demographic and food-web models to understand management trade-offs
Martina Kadin, Morten Frederiksen, Susa Niiranen, Sarah J. Converse
2019, Ecology and Evolution (9) 8587-8600
Alternatives in ecosystem-based management often differ with respect to trade-offs between ecosystem values. Ecosystem or food-web models and demographic models are typically employed to evaluate alternatives, but the approaches are rarely integrated to uncover conflicts between values. We applied multi-state models to a capture-recapture dataset on common guillemots Uria aalge...
Developing and testing physically based triggering thresholds for runoff‐generated debris flows
Hui Tang, Luke A. McGuire, Francis K. Rengers, Jason W. Kean, Dennis M. Staley, Joel B. Smith
2019, Geophysical Research Letters (46) 8830-8839
Runoff in steep channels is capable of transitioning into debris flows with hazardous implications for downstream communities and infrastructure, particularly in alpine landscapes with minimal vegetation and areas recently disturbed by wildfire. Here, we derive thresholds for the initiation of runoff‐generated debris flows based on critical...
FLUXNET-CH4 synthesis activity: Objectives, observations, and future directions
Sara H. Knox, Robert B. Jackson, Benjamin Poulter, Gavin McNicol, Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, Zhen Zhang, Gustaf Hugelius, Philippe Bousquet, Josep G Canadell, Marielle Saunois, Dario Papale, Housen Chu, Trevor F. Keenan, Dennis Baldocchi, Margaret S. Torn, Ivan Mammarella, Carlo Trotta, Mika Aurela, Gil Bohrer, David I. Campbell, Alessandro Cescatti, Samuel D. Chamberlain, Jiquan Chen, Weinan Chen, Sigrid Dengel, Ankur R. Desai, Eugenie S. Euskirchen, Thomas Friborg, Daniele Gasbarra, Ignacio Goded, Mathias Goeckede, Martin Heimann, Manuel Helbig, Takashi Hirano, David Y. Hollinger, Hiroki Iwata, Minseok Kang, Janina Klatt, Ken Krauss, Lars Kutzbach, Annalea Lohila, Bhaskar Mitra, Timothy H Morin, Mats B. Nilsson, Shuli Niu, Asko Noormets, Walter C. Oechel, Matthias Peichl, Olli Peltola, Michele L. Reba, Andrew D. Richardson, Benjamin R. K. Runkle, Youngryel Ryu, Torsten Sachs, Karina V R Schafer, Hans Peter Schmid, Narasinha Shurpali, Oliver Sonnentag, Angela C I Tang, Masahito Ueyama, Rodrigo Vargas, Timo Vesala, Eric Ward, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Georg Wohlfahrt, Donatella Zona
2019, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (100) 2607-2632
This paper describes the formation of, and initial results for, a new FLUXNET coordination network for ecosystem-scale methane (CH4) measurements at 60 sites globally, organized by the Global Carbon Project in partnership with other initiatives and regional flux tower networks. The objectives of the effort are presented along with an...
The Aleutian Low – Beaufort Sea Anticyclone: A climate index for predicting the timing of springtime melt in the Pacific Arctic cryosphere
Christopher J. Cox, Robert S. Stone, David C. Douglas, Diane Stanitski, Michael Gallagher
2019, Geophysical Research Letters (46) 7464-7473
Early and late extremes in the timing of snowmelt have recently been observed in the Pacific Arctic. Subseasonal-to-seasonal forecasts of this timing are important for industry, environmental management and Arctic communities. In northern Alaska, the timing is influenced by the advection of marine air from the north Pacific by the...
Geographic context affects the landscape change and fragmentation caused by wind energy facilities
James E. Diffendorfer, Monica Dorning, Jolene Keen, Louisa Kramer, Robert Taylor
2019, PeerJ (7)
Wind energy generation causes transformation of landscapes as new roads, pads, and transmission lines are constructed. Limiting the landscape change and fragmentation caused by these facilities likely minimizes impacts to biodiversity and sensitive wildlife species. We examined the effects of wind energy facilities’ geographic context on changes in landscape patterns....
Influences of potential oil and gas development and future climate on Sage-grouse declines and redistribution
Julie A. Heinrichs, Michael S. O’Donnell, Cameron L. Aldridge, Steven L. Garman, Collin G. Homer
2019, Ecological Applications (29)
Multiple environmental stressors impact wildlife populations, but we often know little about their cumulative and combined influences on population outcomes. We generally know more about past effects than potential future impacts, and direct influences such as changes of habitat footprints than indirect, long-term responses...
Spatial capture-recapture reveals age- and sex-specific survival and movement in stream amphibians
R. Ken Honeycutt, Justin M Garwood, Winsor H. Lowe, Blake R. Hossack
2019, Oecologia (190) 821-833
Life history information sets the foundation for our understanding of ecology and conservation requirements. For many species, this information is lacking even for basic demographic rates such as survival and movement. When survival and movement estimates are available, they are often derived from mixed demographic groups and do not consider...
Assessment of continuous oil resources in the Eastern Great Basin Province of Nevada, Utah, and Idaho, 2018
Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Thomas M. Finn, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Kristen R. Marra, Phuong A. Le, Michael E. Brownfield, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Ronald M. Drake II, Scott A. Kinney
2019, Fact Sheet 2019-3002
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) quantitatively assessed the potential for undiscovered, technically recoverable continuous oil and gas resources in the Eastern Great Basin Province (Anna and others, 2007) of Nevada, Utah, and Idaho (fig. 1). The assessment focused on the area of the province between the Roberts Mountains and Sevier thrust systems (Peterson, 1994). The...
Estimating minimum streamflow from measurements at ungauged sites in regions with streamflow‐gauging networks
Christopher P. Konrad
2019, Hydrological Processes (33) 2057-2067
Estimation of low flows in rivers continues to be a vexing problem despite advances in statistical and process‐based hydrological models. We develop a method to estimate minimum streamflow at seasonal to annual timescales from measured streamflow based on regional similarity in the deviations of daily streamflow from minimum streamflow for a period of interest....
Offshore shallow structure and sediment distribution, Point Sur to Point Arguello, central California
Samuel Y. Johnson, Stephen R. Hartwell, Janet T. Watt, Jeffrey W. Beeson, Peter Dartnell
2019, Open-File Report 2018-1158
This publication consists of three map sheets that display shallow geologic structure, along with sediment distribution and thickness, for an about 225-km-long offshore section of the central California coast between Point Sur and Point Arguello. Each map sheet includes three maps, at scales of either 1:150,000 or 1:200,000, as well...
Cohesive framework for modeling plant cover class data
Kathryn Irvine, Wilson J. Wright, Erin K. Shanahan, Thomas J. Rodhouse
2019, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (10) 1749-1760
The study of plant distribution and abundance is a fundamental pursuit in ecology and conservation biology. Measuring plant abundance by visually assessing percent cover and recording a cover class is a common field method that yields ordinal data. Statistical models for ordinal data exist but entail cumbersome interpretations and...
Crustal architecture beneath the southern Midcontinent (USA) and controls on Mesoproterozoic iron-oxide mineralization from 3D geophysical models
Anne E. McCafferty, Jeffrey D. Phillips, Albert H. Hofstra, Warren C. Day
2019, Ore Geology Reviews (111)
Several types of critical mineral-bearing ore deposits in the southern Midcontinent region of the U.S. are hosted in Mesoproterozoic igneous rocks largely concealed beneath Paleozoic cover. Discerning the architecture of igneous intrusions and volcanic centers in the crust is fundamental to understanding the geologic evolution of this vast region and...
Thermotectonic history of the Kluane Ranges and evolution of the eastern Denali Fault Zone in southwestern Yukon, Canada
Robert G. McDermott, Alexis K. Ault, Jonathan S. Caine, Stuart N. Thomson
2019, Tectonics (38) 2983-3010
Exhumation and landscape evolution along strike‐slip fault systems reflect tectonic processes that accommodate and partition deformation in orogenic settings. We present 17 new apatite (U‐Th)/He (He), zircon He, apatite fission‐track (FT), and zircon FT dates from the eastern Denali fault zone (EDFZ) that bounds the Kluane Ranges in Yukon, Canada....
Effects of infiltration characteristics on the spatial-temporal evolution of stability of an interstate highway embankment
Eric Hinds, Ning Lu, Benjamin B. Mirus, Alexandra Wayllace
2019, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (145)
Infiltration-induced landslides are among the most common natural disasters threatening modern civilization, but conventional methods for studying the triggering mechanisms and predicting the occurrence of these slides are limited by incomplete consideration of underlying physical processes and the lack of precision inherent in limit-equilibrium analyses. To address this problem the...
The dream and the reality: Meeting decision-making time frames while incorporating ecosystem and economic models into management strategy evaluation
J.J. Deroba, S.K. Gaichas, Min-Yang Lee, Rachael G. Feeney, D. Boelke, Brian J. Irwin
2019, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (76)
Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) in the Northwest Atlantic have been managed with interim harvest control rules (HCRs). A stakeholder-driven management strategy evaluation (MSE) was conducted that incorporated a broad range of objectives. The MSE process was completed within 1 year. Constant catch, conditional constant catch, and a biomass-based (BB) HCR...
Black bears alter movements in response to anthropogenic features with time of day and season
Katherine A. Zeller, David Wattles, Laura Conlee, Stephen DeStefano
2019, Movement Ecology (7)
BackgroundWith the growth and expansion of human development, large mammals will increasingly encounter humans, elevating the likelihood of human-wildlife conflicts. Understanding the behavior and movement of large mammals, particularly around human development, is important for crafting effective conservation and management plans for these species.MethodsWe used GPS...
Heat flow in the Western Arctic Ocean (Amerasian Basin)
Carolyn D. Ruppel, A.H. Lachenbruch, Deborah Hutchinson, Robert Munroe, David Mosher
2019, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (124) 7562-7587
From 1963 to 1973 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) measured heat flow at 356 sites in the Amerasian Basin (Western Arctic Ocean) from a drifting ice island (T-3). The resulting measurements, which are unevenly distributed on Alpha-Mendeleev Ridge (AMR) and in Canada and Nautilus basins, greatly expand available heat flow...
Bundle adjustment using space based triangulation method for improving the Landsat global ground reference
James C. Storey, R. Rengarajan, Mike Choate
Michael J. Choate, editor(s)
2019, Remote Sensing (11)
There is an ever-increasing interest and need for accurate geo-registration of remotely sensed data products to a common global geometric reference. Although the geo-registration has improved significantly in the last decade, the lack of an accurate global ground reference dataset poses serious issues for data providers seeking to make geometrically stackable...
First examination of diet items consumed by wild-caught black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) in the U.S.
Barry C. Poulton, Patrick Kroboth, George Aiken, Duane Chapman, J. Bailey, Stephen E. McMurray, John S. Faiman
2019, The American Midland Naturalist (182) 89-108
Black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) were imported to the U.S. in the 1970s to control snails in aquaculture ponds and have since escaped from captivity. The increase in captures of wild fish has raised concerns of risk to native and imperiled unionid mussels given previous literature classified this species a molluscivore....
Precipitation regime change in Western North America: The role of atmospheric rivers
Alexander Gerhunov, Tamara Shulgina, Rachel Clemesha, Kristen Guirguis, David Pierce, Michael D. Dettinger, David A. Lavers, Daniel Cayan, Suraj Polade, Julie Kalansky, Martin Ralph
2019, Scientific Reports (9)
Daily precipitation in California has been projected to become less frequent even as precipitation extremes intensify, leading to uncertainty in the overall response to climate warming. Precipitation extremes are historically associated with Atmospheric Rivers (ARs). Sixteen global climate models are evaluated for realism in modeled historical AR behavior and contribution...
