Lidar-Based Rock-Fall Hazard Characterization of Cliffs
Brian D. Collins, Greg M.Stock
2017, Conference Paper
Rock falls from cliffs and other steep slopes present numerous challenges for detailed geological characterization. In steep terrain, rock-fall source areas are both dangerous and difficult to access, severely limiting the ability to make detailed structural and volumetric measurements necessary for hazard assessment. Airborne and terrestrial lidar survey methods can...
Identification of the Polaris Fault using lidar and shallow geophysical methods
Lewis E. Hunter, Michael H. Powers, Bethany L. Burton
2017, Conference Paper, Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems 2010
As part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) Dam Safety Assurance Program, Martis Creek Dam near Truckee, CA, is under evaluation for earthquake and seepage hazards. The investigations to date have included LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and a wide range of geophysical surveys. The LiDAR data led...
Overview of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission collaborative research program to assess tsunami hazard for nuclear power plants on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts
A.M. Kammerer, Uri S. ten Brink, V.V. Titov
2017, Conference Paper, 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering
In response to the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US NRC) initiated a long-term research program to improve understanding of tsunami hazard levels for nuclear facilities in the United States. For this effort, the US NRC organized a collaborative research program with the...
A water-budget analysis of Medina and Diversion Lakes and the Medina/Diversion Lake system, with estimated recharge to Edwards aquifer, San Antonio area, Texas
Richard N. Slattery, Lisa D. Miller
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5209
In January 2001, the U.S. Geological Survey—in cooperation with the Edwards Aquifer Authority—began a study to refine and, if possible, extend previously derived (1995–96) relations between the stage in Medina Lake and recharge to the Edwards aquifer to include the effects of reservoir stages below 1,018 feet and greater than...
Streamflow and estimated loads of phosphorus and dissolved and suspended solids from selected tributaries to Lake Ontario, New York, water years 2012–14
Brett A. Hayhurst, Benjamin N. Fisher, James E. Reddy
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5084
This report presents results of the evaluation and interpretation of hydrologic and water-quality data collected as part of a cooperative program between the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Streamflow, phosphorus, and solids dissolved and suspended in stream water were the focus of monitoring by the U.S....
The South Carolina bridge-scour envelope curves
Stephen T. Benedict, Toby D. Feaster, Andral W. Caldwell
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5121
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the South Carolina Department of Transportation, conducted a series of three field investigations to evaluate historical, riverine bridge scour in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions of South Carolina. These investigations included data collected at 231 riverine bridges, which lead to the development...
Digital elevations and extents of regional hydrogeologic units in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system from Long Island, New York, to North Carolina
Jason P. Pope, David C. Andreasen, E. Randolph Mcfarland, Martha K. Watt
2016, Data Series 996
Digital geospatial datasets of the extents and top elevations of the regional hydrogeologic units of the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system from Long Island, New York, to northeastern North Carolina were developed to provide an updated hydrogeologic framework to support analysis of groundwater resources. The 19 regional hydrogeologic units...
Characterization of water-quality and bed-sediment conditions in Currituck Sound, North Carolina, prior to the Mid-Currituck Bridge construction, 2011–15
Chad R. Wagner, Sharon Fitzgerald, Dominick J. Antolino
2016, Open-File Report 2015-1208
The North Carolina Turnpike Authority, a division of the North Carolina Department of Transportation, is planning to make transportation improvements in the Currituck Sound area by constructing a two-lane bridge from U.S. Highway 158 just south of Coinjock, North Carolina, to State Highway 12 on the Outer Banks just south...
Nutrient, organic carbon, and chloride concentrations and loads in selected Long Island Sound tributaries—Four decades of change following the passage of the Federal Clean Water Act
John R. Mullaney
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5189
Trends in long-term water-quality and streamflow data from 14 water-quality monitoring sites in Connecticut were evaluated for water years 1974–2013 and 2001–13, coinciding with implementation of the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the Connecticut Nitrogen Credit Exchange program, as part of an assessment of nutrient and chloride concentrations and...
TopoLens: Building a cyberGIS community data service for enhancing the usability of high-resolution National Topographic datasets
Hao Hu, Xingchen Hong, Jeff Terstriep, Yan Liu, Michael P. Finn, Johnathan Rush, Jeffrey Wendel, Shaowen Wang
2016, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the XSEDE16 Conference on Diversity, Big Data, and Science at Scale
Geospatial data, often embedded with geographic references, are important to many application and science domains, and represent a major type of big data. The increased volume and diversity of geospatial data have caused serious usability issues for researchers in various scientific domains, which call for innovative cyberGIS solutions. To address...
Data from exploratory sampling of groundwater in selected oil and gas areas of coastal Los Angeles County and Kern and Kings Counties in southern San Joaquin Valley, 2014–15: California oil, gas, and groundwater project
David B. Dillon, Tracy A. Davis, Matthew K. Landon, Michael T. Land, Michael T. Wright, Justin T. Kulongoski
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1181
Exploratory sampling of groundwater in coastal Los Angeles County and Kern and Kings Counties of the southern San Joaquin Valley was done by the U.S. Geological Survey from September 2014 through January 2015 as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board’s Water Quality in Areas of Oil...
Records of continental slope sediment flow morphodynamic responses to gradient and active faulting from integrated AUV and ROV data, offshore Palos Verdes, southern California Borderland
Katherine L. Maier, Daniel S. Brothers, Charles K. Paull, Mary McGann, David W. Caress, James E. Conrad
2016, Marine Geology (393) 47-66
Variations in seabed gradient are widely acknowledged to influence deep-water deposition, but are often difficult to measure in sufficient detail from both modern and ancient examples. On the continental slope offshore Los Angeles, California, autonomous underwater vehicle, remotely operated vehicle, and shipboard methods were used to collect a dense grid...
An investigation of soil-structure interaction effects observed at the MIT Green Building
Ertugrul Taciroglu, Mehmet Çelebi, S. Farid Ghahari, Fariba Abazarsa
2016, Earthquake Spectra (32) 2425-2448
The soil-foundation impedance function of the MIT Green Building is identified from its response signals recorded during an earthquake. Estimation of foundation impedance functions from seismic response signals is a challenging task, because: (1) the foundation input motions (FIMs) are not directly measurable, (2) the as-built properties of the super-structure...
PhasePApy: A robust pure Python package for automatic identification of seismic phases
Chen Chen, Austin Holland
2016, Seismological Research Letters (87) 1384-1396
We developed a Python phase identification package: the PhasePApy for earthquake data processing and near‐real‐time monitoring. The package takes advantage of the growing number of Python libraries including Obspy. All the data formats supported by Obspy can be supported within the PhasePApy. The PhasePApy has two subpackages: the PhasePicker and...
Assessing the seismic risk potential of South America
Kishor S. Jaiswal, Mark D. Petersen, Stephen Harmsen, Gregory M. Smoczyk
2016, Conference Paper
We present here a simplified approach to quantifying regional seismic risk. The seismic risk for a given region can be inferred in terms of average annual loss (AAL) that represents long-term value of earthquake losses in any one year caused from a long-term seismic hazard. The AAL are commonly measured...
The Impacts of flow alterations to crayfishes in Southeastern Oklahoma, with an emphasis on the mena crayfish (orconectes menae)
Shannon K. Brewer, Joseph J. Dyer
2016, Report
Human activities can alter the environment to the point that it is unsuitable to the native species resulting in a loss of biodiversity. Ecologists understand the importance of biodiversity and the conservation of vulnerable species. Species that are narrowly endemic are considered to be particularly vulnerable because they often use...
A comparison of NLCD 2011 and LANDFIRE EVT 2010: Regional and national summaries.
Alexa McKerrow, Jon Dewitz, Donald G. Long, Kurtis Nelson, Joel A. Connot, Jim Smith
2016, Report
In order to provide the land cover user community a summary of the similarity and differences between the 2011 National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) and the Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools Program Existing Vegetation 2010 Data (LANDFIRE EVT), the two datasets were compared at a national (conterminous U.S.)...
Regional geophysics of western Utah and eastern Nevada, with emphasis on the Confusion Range
Edward A. Mankinen, Peter D. Rowley, Gary L. Dixon, Edwin H. McKee
2016, Book
As part of a long term geologic and hydrologic study of several regional groundwater flow systems in western Utah and eastern Nevada, the U.S. Geological Survey was contracted by the Southern Nevada Water Authority to provide geophysical data. The primary object of these data was to enable construction of the...
Prediction of lake depth across a 17-state region in the United States
Samantha K. Oliver, Patricia A. Soranno, C. Emi Fergus, Tyler Wagner, Luke A. Winslow, Caren E. Scott, Katherine E. Webster, John A. Downing, Emily H. Stanley
2016, Inland Waters (6) 314-324
Lake depth is an important characteristic for understanding many lake processes, yet it is unknown for the vast majority of lakes globally. Our objective was to develop a model that predicts lake depth using map-derived metrics of lake and terrestrial geomorphic features. Building on previous models that use local topography...
Regional water table (2014) in the Mojave River and Morongo Groundwater Basins, southwestern Mojave Desert, California
Nick F. Teague, Meghan C. Dick, Sally F. House, Dennis A. Clark
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1105
Data for static water-levels measured in about 610 wells during March-April 2014 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Mojave Water Agency (MWA), and other local water districts were compiled to construct a regional water-table map. This map shows the...
Use of multiple age tracers to estimate groundwater residence times and long-term recharge rates in arid southern Oman
Th. Muller, K. Osenbruck, G. Strauch, S. Pavetich, K.-S. Al-Mashaikhi, C. Herb, S. Merchel, G. Rugel, W. Aeschbach, Ward E. Sanford
2016, Applied Geochemistry (74) 67-83
Multiple age tracers were measured to estimate groundwater residence times in the regional aquifer system underlying southwestern Oman. This area, known as the Najd, is one of the most arid areas in the world and is planned to be the main agricultural center of the Sultanate of Oman in the...
A comparison of observed and predicted ground motions from the 2015 MW7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake
Susan E. Hough, Stacey S. Martin, V. Gahalaut, A. Joshi, M. Landes, R. Bossu
2016, Natural Hazards (84) 1661-1684
We use 21 strong motion recordings from Nepal and India for the 25 April 2015 moment magnitude (MW) 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake together with the extensive macroseismic intensity data set presented by Martin et al. (Seism Res Lett 87:957–962, 2015) to analyse the distribution of...
Northern long-eared bat day-roosting and prescribed fire in the central Appalachians
W. Mark Ford, Alexander Silvis, Joshua B. Johnson, John W. Edwards, Milu Karp
2016, Fire Ecology (12) 13-27
The northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis Trovessart) is a cavity-roosting species that forages in cluttered upland and riparian forests throughout the oak-dominated Appalachian and Central Hardwoods regions. Common prior to white-nose syndrome, the population of this bat species has declined to functional extirpation in some regions in the Northeast and...
Fire effects on wildlife in Central Hardwoods and Appalachian regions
Craig A. Harper, W. Mark Ford, Marcus A. Lashley, Christopher Moorman, Michael C. Stambaugh
2016, Fire Ecology (12) 127-159
Fire is being prescribed and used increasingly to promote ecosystem restoration (e.g., oak woodlands and savannas) and to manage wildlife habitat in the Central Hardwoods and Appalachian regions, USA. However, questions persist as to how fire affects hardwood forest communities and associated wildlife, and how fire should be used to...
Fluid-faulting evolution in high definition: Connecting fault structure and frequency-magnitude variations during the 2014 Long Valley Caldera, California earthquake swarm
David R. Shelly, William L. Ellsworth, David P. Hill
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research (212) 1776-1795
An extended earthquake swarm occurred beneath southeastern Long Valley Caldera between May and November 2014, culminating in three magnitude 3.5 earthquakes and 1145 cataloged events on 26 September alone. The swarm produced the most prolific seismicity in the caldera since a major unrest episode in 1997-1998. To gain insight into...
