Procedures for using the Horiba Scientific Aqualog® fluorometer to measure absorbance and fluorescence from dissolved organic matter
Angela M. Hansen, Jacob Fleck, Tamara E. C. Kraus, Bryan D. Downing, Travis von Dessonneck, Brian A. Bergamaschi
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1096
Advances in spectroscopic techniques have led to an increase in the use of optical measurements (absorbance and fluorescence) to assess dissolved organic matter composition and infer sources and processing. Although optical measurements are easy to make, they can be affected by many variables rendering them less comparable, including by inconsistencies...
U.S. Geological Survey Community for Data Integration 2017 Workshop Proceedings
Leslie Hsu, Vivian B. Hutchison, Madison L. Langseth, Benjamin Wheeler
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1081
Executive SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Community for Data Integration (CDI) Workshop was held May 16–19, 2017 at the Denver Federal Center. There were 183 in-person attendees and 35 virtual attendees over four days. The theme of the workshop was “Enabling Integrated Science,” with the purpose of bringing together the...
Status of selenium in south San Francisco Bay—A basis for modeling potential guidelines to meet National tissue criteria for fish and a proposed wildlife criterion for birds
Samuel N. Luoma, Theresa S. Presser
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1105
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed Aquatic Life and AquaticDependent Wildlife Criteria for Selenium (Se) in California’s San Francisco Bay and Delta (Bay-Delta) in June 2016. Here we apply...
An evaluation of the toxicity of potassium chloride, active compound in the molluscicide potash, on salmonid fish and their forage base
Christine L. Densmore, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Anne P. Henderson, Vicki S. Blazer, Baileigh M. Reed-Grimmett, Lakyn R. Sanders
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1080
Potash, with the active ingredient potassium chloride (KCl) is a chemical that is currently being evaluated for potential use as a molluscicide to combat invasive zebra mussels and quagga mussels in Western United States waters. Although data available for other freshwater fishes indicate that recommended treatment levels of potash as...
Mercury on a landscape scale—Balancing regional export with wildlife health
Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Jacob A. Fleck, Joshua T. Ackerman, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Harry McQuillen
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1092
The Cosumnes River watershed requires a 57–64 percent reduction in loads to meet the new Delta methylmercury (MeHg) total maximum daily load allocation, established by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. Because there are no large point sources of MeHg in the watershed, the focus of MeHg load...
Regional spectral analysis of moderate earthquakes in northeastern North America—Final Report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Project V6240, Task 3
Jack Boatwright
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1073
We analyze the Fourier spectra of S+Lg+surface wave groups from the horizontal and vertical components of broadband and accelerogram recordings of 120 small and moderate (2< Mw <6) earthquakes recorded by Canadian and American stations sited on rock at distances from 3 to 600 kilometers. There are seven Mw 4.0–4.5,...
A guide to processing bat acoustic data for the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat)
Brian E. Reichert, Cori Lausen, Susan Loeb, Ted Weller, Ryan Allen, Eric Britzke, Tara Hohoff, Jeremy Siemers, Braden Burkholder, Carl Herzog, Michelle Verant
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1068
The North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) aims to improve the state of conservation science for all species of bats shared by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. To accomplish this goal, NABat offers guidance and standardized protocols for acoustic monitoring of bats. In this document, “A Guide to Processing...
Bedrock geologic map of the Littleton and Lower Waterford quadrangles, Essex and Caledonia Counties, Vermont, and Grafton County, New Hampshire
Douglas W. Rankin
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1087
The bedrock geologic map of the Littleton and Lower Waterford quadrangles covers an area of approximately 107 square miles (277 square kilometers) north and south of the Connecticut River in east-central Vermont and adjacent New Hampshire. This map was created as part of a larger effort to produce a new...
Reexamination of the subsurface fault structure in the vicinity of the 1989 moment-magnitude-6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake, central California, using steep-reflection, earthquake, and magnetic data
Edward Zhang, Gary S. Fuis, Rufus D. Catchings, Daniel S. Scheirer, Mark Goldman, Klaus Bauer
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1093
We reexamine the geometry of the causative fault structure of the 1989 moment-magnitude-6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake in central California, using seismic-reflection, earthquake-hypocenter, and magnetic data. Our study is prompted by recent interpretations of a two-part dip of the San Andreas Fault (SAF) accompanied by a flower-like structure in the Coachella...
Preliminary geologic framework developed for a proposed environmental monitoring study of a deep, unconventional Marcellus Shale drill site, Washington County, Pennsylvania
Robert G. Stamm
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1057
BackgroundIn the fall of 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was afforded an opportunity to participate in an environmental monitoring study of the potential impacts of a deep, unconventional Marcellus Shale hydraulic fracturing site. The drill site of the prospective case study is the “Range Resources MCC Partners L.P. Units...
On the feasibility of real-time mapping of the geoelectric field across North America
Jeffrey J. Love, E. Joshua Rigler, Anna Kelbert, Carol A. Finn, Paul A. Bedrosian, Christopher C. Balch
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1043
A review is given of the present feasibility for accurately mapping geoelectric fields across North America in near-realtime by modeling geomagnetic monitoring and magnetotelluric survey data. Should this capability be successfully developed, it could inform utility companies of magnetic-storm interference on electric-power-grid systems. That real-time mapping of geoelectric fields is...
Toxicity assessment of sediments collected upstream and downstream from the White Dam in Clarke County, Georgia
Peter J. Lasier
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1036
The White Dam in Clarke County, Georgia, has been proposed for breaching. Efforts to determine potential risks to downstream biota included assessments of sediment collected in the vicinity of the dam. Sediments collected from sites upstream and downstream from the dam were evaluated for toxicity in 42-day exposures using the...
Freshwater mussel survey for the Columbia Dam removal, Paulins Kill, New Jersey
Heather S. Galbraith, Carrie J. Blakeslee, Jeffrey C. Cole, Erik L. Silldorff
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1074
Semi-quantitative mussel surveys, conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy, were completed in the vicinity of the Columbia Dam, on the Paulins Kill, New Jersey, in August 2017 in order to document the mussel species composition and relative abundance prior...
A preliminary study of variation of Trapa in Japan
Yasuro Kadono
Nancy B. Rybicki, Vincent Lai, editor(s)
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1075
SummaryFrequent occurrence of intermediate forms and poor knowledge on the variability of characters have caused some difficulties in the taxonomy of Trapa in Japan. Thus I made a preliminary analysis on the variation of nuts collected from 21 populations in Southwestern Japan. Attention was paid to some morphometrical characters of...
Assessment of capacity-building activities for forest measurement, reporting, and verification, 2011–15
Elitsa I. Peneva-Reed, J. Erika Romijn
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1031
This report was written as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey, SilvaCarbon, and Wageningen University with funding provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the European Space Agency, respectively, to address a pressing need for enhanced result-based monitoring and evaluation of delivered capacity-building activities. For this...
Rio Grande transboundary integrated hydrologic model and water-availability analysis, New Mexico and Texas, United States, and Northern Chihuahua, Mexico
Randall T. Hanson, Andre B. Ritchie, Scott E. Boyce, Ian Ferguson, Amy E. Galanter, Lorraine E. Flint, Wesley R. Henson
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1091
Errata**September 28, 2018: The purpose of a USGS Open-file report (OFR) is dissemination of information that must be released immediately to fill a public need or information that is not sufficiently refined to warrant publication in one of the other USGS series. As part of that refinement process, an error...
Evaluation of social attraction measures to establish Forster’s tern (Sterna forsteri) nesting colonies for the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, San Francisco Bay, California—2017 Annual Report
C. Alex Hartman, Joshua T. Ackerman, Mark P. Herzog, Yiwei Wang, Cheryl Strong
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1090
Forster’s terns (Sterna forsteri), historically one of the most numerous colonial-breeding waterbirds in South San Francisco Bay, California, have had recent decreases in the number of nesting colonies and overall breeding population size. The South Bay Salt Pond (SBSP) Restoration Project aims to restore 50–90 percent of former salt evaporation...
Streamflow, water quality, and constituent loads and yields, Scituate Reservoir Drainage Area, Rhode Island, water year 2015
Kirk Smith
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1065
Streamflow and concentrations of sodium and chloride estimated from records of specific conductance were used to calculate loads of sodium and chloride during water year (WY) 2015 (October 1, 2014, through September 30, 2015) for tributaries to the Scituate Reservoir, Rhode Island. Streamflow and water-quality data used in the study...
Comparison of NEXRAD multisensor precipitation estimates to rain gage observations in and near DuPage County, Illinois, 2002–12
Ryan R. Spies, Thomas M. Over, Terry Ortel
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1061
In this report, precipitation data from 2002 to 2012 from the hourly gridded Next-Generation Radar (NEXRAD)-based Multisensor Precipitation Estimate (MPE) precipitation product are compared to precipitation data from two rain gage networks—an automated tipping bucket network of 25 rain gages operated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and 51 rain...
Assessment of skin and liver neoplasms in brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) collected at the Ashtabula River Area of Concern and associated reference site, Ohio, in 2016
Vicki S. Blazer, Heather L. Walsh, Ryan P. Braham
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1072
Brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) is a commonly used indicator species for tumor surveys at Great Lakes Areas of Concern. The “fish tumors or other deformities” is one of the beneficial use impairments at the Ashtabula River Area of Concern. In May 2016, 150 brown bullhead were collected in the lower...
Effects of experimental removal of Barred Owls on population demography of Northern Spotted Owls in Washington and Oregon—2017 progress report
J. David Wiens, Katie M. Dugger, Damon B. Lesmeister, Krista E. Dilione, David C. Simon
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1086
Populations of Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina; hereinafter referred to as Spotted Owl) are declining throughout this subspecies’ geographic range. Evidence indicates that competition with invading populations of Barred Owls (S. varia) has contributed significantly to those declines. A pilot study in California showed that localized removal of Barred...
Analysis of groundwater response to tidal fluctuations, Operable Unit 2, Area 8, Naval Base Kitsap, Keyport, Washington
Chad C. Opatz, Richard S. Dinicola
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1082
Operable Unit 2, Area 8, at Naval Base Kitsap, Keyport is the site of a former chrome-plating facility that released metals (primarily chromium and cadmium), chlorinated volatile organic compounds, and petroleum compounds into the local environment. To ensure long-term protectiveness, as stipulated in the Fourth Five-Year Review for the...
Science support for evaluating natural recovery of polychlorinated biphenyl concentrations in fish from Crab Orchard Lake, Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, Illinois
Bethany K. Kunz, Jo Ellen Hinck, Robin D. Calfee, Greg L. Linder, Edward E. Little
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1006
IntroductionCrab Orchard Lake in southern Illinois is one of the largest and most popular recreational lakes in the state. Construction of the nearly 7,000-acre reservoir in the late 1930s created employment opportunities through the Works Progress Administration, and the lake itself was intended to supply water, control flooding, and provide...
Effects of the proposed California WaterFix North Delta Diversion on survival of juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, northern California
Russell W. Perry, Adam C. Pope
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1078
The California Department of Water Resources and Bureau of Reclamation propose new water intake facilities on the Sacramento River in northern California that would convey some of the water for export to areas south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (hereinafter referred to as the Delta) through tunnels rather...
A comparison of photograph-interpreted and IfSAR-derived maps of polar bear denning habitat for the 1002 Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska
George M. Durner, Todd C. Atwood
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1083
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in Alaska use the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for maternal denning. Pregnant bears den in snow banks for more than 3 months in winter during which they give birth to and nurture young. Denning is one of the most vulnerable times in polar bear...
