Watershed Continuum Monitoring Approach: Combining multiple water quality patterns along stream and river flowpaths to track sources, pathways, and processing of pollutants
Sujay Kaushal, Ashley Mon, Stanley Grant, Paul M. Mayer, Aaron J. Porter, Andrew J. Sekellick, Jason Hamilton Chase, Shantanu Bhide, John D. Jastram, Tammy Newcomer-Johnson, Sydney A. Shelton, Alexis M. Yaculak, Joseph T. Malin, Carly Marcella Maas, Nicholas Salanitri, Daniel J. Silberstein, Steven P. Hohman, Ashley B. Dann, Weston M Slaughter, Megan A. Rippy, Ahmed Monofy, Ruth R. Shatkay, Jenna E. Reimer, Madeleine Seppi, Randi Noel, Julianna Mussa, Bennett Kellmayer, Gwendolyn Sivirichi, Melissa Grese, Walter L.M. Boger, Jeffrey G. Chanat, Shuiwang Duan, Kenneth T. Belt
2026, Ecological Engineering (229)
There is a growing need to improve and expand water quality monitoring approaches to more accurately track the sources, fate, and transport of multiple chemicals and pollutants holistically and quantify the effects of best management practices (BMPs) at the watershed scale. An overarching question raised by scientists, environmental managers, and...
Effects of wildfire on soil hydraulic properties in the western Oregon Cascades
Cedric Pimont, Evan A. Thaler, Brian A. Ebel, Kevin D. Bladon
2026, JGR Biogeosciences (131)
Wildfires can substantially impact the hydrology of forested watersheds, increasing the risk of hydrologic hazards such as flash floods and debris flows. Soil hydraulic properties related to infiltration are a key control in determining the timing and magnitude of these hydrogeomorphic events. In our study, we collected 445 soil cores...
Hydrogeologic framework and conceptual groundwater-flow model of the panhandle and northwest parts of the High Plains (Ogallala) aquifer in Oklahoma, 1998–2022
Amy S. Morris, Colin A. Baciocco, Isaac A. Dale, Chloe Codner, Ethan A. Kirby, Grant M. Graves, Derrick L. Wagner, Eric G. Fiorentino, Alan LePera, Jon E. Sanford, Lara Joy
2026, Scientific Investigations Report 2026-5009
This study was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, to update the hydrogeologic framework and conceptual flow model for the panhandle and northwest parts of the High Plains (Ogallala) aquifer in Oklahoma, which together compose the Ogallala aquifer focus area. The study...
Hazard potential of compound flooding from rainfall, storm surge, and groundwater in coastal New York and Connecticut
Robin L. Glas, Liv M. Herdman, Salme Ellen Cook, Archi Howlader, Kristina Kirkyla Masterson
2026, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (26) 2169-2188
Compound flood events, the co-occurrence of multiple flood drivers, can result in flood hazard potential exceeding that of any single driver alone. To evaluate compound flooding in a semi-urbanized coastal area, historical records dating back to 1970 are used to study the co-occurrences of high precipitation, storm surge, and shallow...
Quantitative mineral resource assessment of lithium pegmatite deposits in the southern Appalachian orogen
Joshua Mark Rosera, Kelsey Elizabeth Crocker, Laura Pianowski, Jacob T. Murchek, Ashton M. Wiens, Margaret M. Sanders, Lucas Leonidus Evart, Jacob DeAngelo, Graham W. Lederer, Joshua A. Coyan
2026, Natural Resources Research
The first quantitative mineral resource assessment for undiscovered lithium pegmatite deposits in the southern Appalachian region of the United States was conducted. Permissive tracts for lithium pegmatite deposits were delineated by integrating lithological, tectonic, geochemical, geophysical and mineral occurrence data. Lithium pegmatite prospectivity of the tracts was ranked with simplified...
Not so fatal attraction: Captive female Burmese Python lures do not improve wild python detection
Alex D. Potash, Maggie Jones, Michael Kirkland, Jenna Cole, Kristen Hart, Robert A. McCleery
2026, Southeastern Naturalist (25) 191-200
The ongoing invasion of Python bivittatus (Burmese Python; henceforth, Python) across the Greater Everglades Ecosystem (GEE) has led to near total collapse of the affected mammal community over the past few decades. Management efforts to eliminate Pythons and control their spread have been hampered by the Python's low detectability, which may be...
Accounting for emigration reveals high survival and bimodal size at departure from a loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) foraging area
Caroline M. Blommel, Margaret Lamont, William L. Kendall
2026, Marine Biology (173)
The life history of hard-shelled sea turtles includes several ontogenetic shifts in habitat use and these complex permanent emigration patterns can impact estimates of stage-specific population rates, including survival. We developed several multistate mark recapture models to estimate survival of adult and juvenile loggerhead turtles from a coastal bay in...
Tropicalization of the temperate zone: Spatiotemporal variability of winter warming and declining freeze days across the United States
Vincent M. Brown, Derek T. Thompson, Buren B. DeFee, Michael Osland, Barry D. Keim
2026, International Journal of Climatology
We investigate changes in cool-season and winter daily minimum (Tmin) and maximum (Tmax) temperatures, and the occurrence of freeze days, from 1952 to 2024 across the conterminous United States (CONUS). Emphasis is placed on the tropical-temperate transition zone (TTTz) in the southeastern CONUS. During winter, ~70% of the land area...
Variability and consistency in wildfire susceptibility: Insights from a national compilation
Aaron Daniel Russell, Lucas Bair, James R. Meldrum, Todd Hawbaker
2026, International Journal of Wildland Fire (35)
BackgroundWildfire risk in the United States is rising and remains a land management priority. The quantitative wildfire risk assessment (QWRA) framework integrates fuels, topography, weather and values at risk to estimate the potential change in value from wildfire. Within this, response functions (RFs) represent how values respond to fire...
Patterns of floodplain forest mortality and recruitment along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers: Associations with forest fragmentation and flood inundation
Nathan R. De Jager, Jason J. Rohweder, Molly Van Appledorn, Shelby A. Weiss, Matthew Trumper, Lyle J. Guyon
2026, Landscape Ecology (41)
ContextDifferent rates of floodplain forest recruitment and mortality can reveal important changes in ecosystem processes that drive forest dynamics, resulting in net changes in forest cover, thereby influencing a wide range of river habitat and morphological characteristics.ObjectivesWe evaluated characteristics of forest change areas in the Upper...
Temporal and spatial changes in seismic attenuation associated with inferred fluid migration in the 2016 central Apennines earthquake sequence
Luca Malagnini, Francesco Pio Lucente, Irene Munafo, Douglas S. Dreger, Thomas E. Parsons, Roland Burgmann
2026, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
Prior work suggests that high‐frequency seismic attenuation acts as a highly sensitive proxy for crustal permeability and fluid mobility in fractured media. We test the hypothesis that the fault system responsible for the 2016–2017 Amatrice–Visso–Norcia–Capitignano sequence acted as an impermeable seal, compartmentalizing pressurized fluids until dynamic rupture triggered widespread fluid...
Publisher correction: Strong nickel enrichment co-located with redox-organic interactions in Neretva Vallis, Mars
H. T. Manelski, R. C. Wiens, A. Broz, J. A. Hurowitz, M. Tice, S. M. Clegg, E. Dehouck, N. Randazzo, S. A. Connell, O. Forni, S. J. VanBommel, S. Scrhoder, L. Mandon, Travis S.J. Gabriel, C. Bedford, R. K. Martinez, E. A. Cloutis, A. Cousin, M. L. Cable
2026, Nature Communications (17)
Correction to: Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70081-3, published online 31 March 2026...
Refinement of a framework for Moving Aircraft River Velocimetry (MARV) and application to particle tracking along Alaskan rivers
Carl J. Legleiter, Paul J. Kinzel, Mark Laker, Jeff Conaway
2026, Water Resources Research (62)
Information on river velocities enhances understanding flood hazards, evaluating habitat conditions, and predicting the transport of floating materials. In this follow-up study, we used data from two new sites, one with a more complex morphology and the other with a lower suspended sediment concentration, to provide further evidence that Moving...
Simulation of groundwater flow to evaluate hydrogeologic controls on a PFAS plume, Coakley Landfill Superfund site, Rockingham County, New Hampshire
Philip T. Harte, Andrew L. Collins
2026, Scientific Investigations Report 2026-5008
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), have been detected at combined concentrations above 2,000 nanograms per liter (ng/L) at groundwater seep locations near the Coakley Landfill Superfund site, in North Hampton, New Hampshire. The landfill was active from 1972 to 1985. An impermeable...
Landscape connectivity and wildlife access to water across an international border: Barriers and opportunities for facilitating transboundary movement
Bogdan Chivoiu, Erin L. Koen, Michael Osland, Christopher A. Gabler, Jerald T. Garrett, Ernesto Reyes, Stephanie A. Bilodeau, Mitch A. Sternberg, Miguel L. Villarreal, Eric K. Waller, Samuel N. Chambers, Jude A. Benavides, Robert S. Lawson, James Martinez
2026, Global Change Biology (32)
Rapid global acceleration in the construction of physical barriers along international borders has greatly influenced biodiversity and animal movement. Physical barriers can fragment landscapes, hinder access to essential resources, impact long-distance migrations, and inhibit dispersal and gene flow. The effects of physical barriers on animal movement and landscape connectivity can...
Walleye In our hands
Holly Susan Embke
2026, Report
No abstract available....
Bank-dwelling beavers contribute to the wood regime in a dryland river
Casey A. Pennock, William W. Macfarlane, Phaedra E. Budy, Julianne Scamardo, Daniel C. White
2026, Ecology (107)
Our findings suggest that the influence of dwelling beavers on large wood budgets may substantially determine the structure and function of medium to large rivers, particularly in dryland systems such as the White River. Recognizing the role of bank-dwelling beavers expands our understanding of biotic drivers of riverscape complexity and...
Regression models for estimating suspended sediment concentrations and loads and comparison with acoustic surrogate model on the Snake River, Weiser, Idaho, 1977–2022
Megan K. Kenworthy
2026, Scientific Investigations Report 2026-5007
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Idaho Power, developed streamflow- based regression models to estimate suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and loads on the Snake River at Weiser, Idaho site (U.S. Geological Survey streamgage 13269000; hereafter referred to as “Snake at Weiser site”). This site sits upstream from the dams...
Fossil footprints and Ice Age ecosystems of White Sands National Park
Kathleen B. Springer, Jeffrey S. Pigati, David Bustos, Thomas M. Urban, Matthew R. Bennett
2026, Fact Sheet 2025-3046
IntroductionIn September 2021, National Park Service staff, U.S. Geological Survey scientists, and an international team of researchers revealed evidence in the form of human footprints at White Sands National Park, New Mexico, that showed people were present in North America between 23,000 and 21,000 years ago. This time was during...
Water use in Louisiana, 2020
Angela L. Robinson
2026, Scientific Investigations Report 2026-5135
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, collected water-withdrawal and water-use data from a 2020 inventory of water withdrawals in Louisiana. In 2020, approximately 8,700 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) of water was withdrawn from groundwater and surface-water sources in Louisiana, which...
Reconstructing ancient sedimentary source-to-sink systems – Examples from southern Laurentia’s Proterozoic accretionary orogens
Ian William Hillenbrand, Kelly David Thomson
2026, GSA Bulletin
Provenance analysis is a powerful tool for investigating sediment delivery networks, constraining magmatic histories, and reconstructing the tectonic evolution of orogenic belts and basins. Basin analysis studies increasingly use detrital zircon (DZ) U-Pb forward mixture modeling to enhance provenance interpretations by quantifying the relative contributions of different sources. Forward mixture...
Riverine pesticide trends in the United States: Assessing a decade of national-scale monitoring
Megan E. Shoda, Sara E. Breitmeyer, Elise Danica Hinman, Sarah M. Stackpoole
2026, Environmental Science & Technology Water (ES&T Water)
Pesticides in freshwater systems can compromise water availability by degrading water quality, with implications for human health and aquatic life. Despite recognition of the need for national-scale monitoring and analysis, few studies have documented long-term trends in surface water pesticide contamination across the US. This study addresses that need by...
Cook Inlet beluga whale calling varies by group characteristics, behavior, and tidal state
Arial M. Brewer, Amy M. Van Cise, Christopher Garner, Andrea Gilstad, Manuel Castellote, Sarah J. Converse, Kimberly T. Goetz, Andrew M. Berdahl
2026, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (80)
Communication allows social species to exchange information among group members. In aquatic environments, acoustic signals are among the most effective forms of communication and are important for many species, including cetaceans. Beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) are highly social and vocal, yet little is known about the functionality...
Acoustic measurements and modeling of sub-bottom layers on the summit of the Atlantis II Seamount
Tzu-Ting Chen, Matthew A. Milone, Jason Chaytor, James H. Miller, Gopu R. Potty, William S.. Hodgkiss, Ying-Tsong Lin
2026, JASA Express Letters (6)
Sub-bottom profiler images taken from the summit plateau of the Atlantis II Seamount reveal distinct seabed stratigraphy, including marine sediment, limestone, and basalt layers. Acoustic reflection data also show arrivals reflecting from this sub-bottom structure. A wavenumber integration model with elastic geoacoustic properties is able to reproduce the arrival pattern...
Life history traits and population dynamics of Freshwater Drum across large river gradients
Kristen L. Bouska, Levi E. Solomon, Andrew Bartels, Steven A. DeLain, Eric J. Gittinger, Travis Kueter, Kristopher A. Maxson, John L. West, James T. Lamer, Hae H. Kim, Quinton Phelps
2026, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
ObjectiveMonitoring and assessment of nongame native fishes is limited, but conservation interest in these species is growing. Freshwater Drum Aplodinotus grunniens are a wide-ranging species that serve important functional roles and could serve as an indicator for similar but less common species. Our overall objectives were to quantify...
