Late Holocene slip rate of the Mojave section of the San Andreas Fault near Palmdale, California
Elaine Young, Eric Cowgill, Katherine M. Scharer, Emery Anderson-Merritt, Amanda Keen-Zebert, Ray J. Weldon
2021, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (111) 3204-3225
The geologic slip rate on the Mojave section of the San Andreas fault is poorly constrained, despite its importance for understanding earthquake hazard, apparent discrepancies between geologic and geodetic slip rates along this fault section, and long‐term fault interactions in southern California. Here, we...
Cape Romain partnership for coastal protection
Mitchell J. Eaton, Fred A. Johnson, Jessica Mikels-Carrasco, David J. Case, Julien Martin, Bradley Stith, Simeon Yurek, Bradley Udell, Laura Villegas, Laura Taylor, Zulquarnain Haider, Hadi Charkhgard, Changhyun Kwon
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1021
This final report summarizes activities, outcomes, and lessons learned from a 3-year project titled “Climate Change Adaptation for Coastal National Wildlife Refuges” with the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and local partners in the surrounding South Carolina Lowcountry. The Lowcountry is classified as the 10-county area encompassing the coastal...
A roadmap for sampling and scaling biological nitrogen fixation in terrestrial ecosystems
Fiona M. Soper, Benton Taylor, Joy Winbourne, Michelle Wong, Katherine A Dynarski, Carla R. G. Reis, Mark Peoples, Cory Cleveland, Sasha C. Reed, Duncan Menge, Steven Perakis
2021, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (12) 1122-1137
Accurately quantifying rates and patterns of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in terrestrial ecosystems is essential to characterize ecological and biogeochemical interactions, identify mechanistic controls, improve BNF representation in conceptual and numerical modelling, and forecast nitrogen limitation constraints on future carbon (C) cycling.While many resources address the technical advantages and...
U.S. Geological Survey—Department of the Interior Region 11, Alaska —2020 annual science report
Elizabeth M. Powers, Dee M. Williams, editor(s)
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1010
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mission: The USGS national mission is to monitor, analyze, and predict current and evolving dynamics of complex human and natural Earth-system interactions and to deliver actionable information at scales and timeframes relevant to decision-makers. Consistent with the national mission, the USGS in Alaska provides...
Assessment of water availability in the Osage Nation using an integrated hydrologic-flow model
Jonathan P. Traylor, Shana L. Mashburn, Randall T. Hanson, Steven M. Peterson
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5141
The Osage Nation of northeastern Oklahoma, conterminous with Osage County, covers about 2,900 square miles. The area is primarily rural with 62 percent of the land being native prairie grass, and much of the area is used for cattle ranching and extraction of petroleum and natural gas. Protection of water...
The making of the NEAM Tsunami Hazard Model 2018 (NEAMTHM18)
Roberto Basili, Beatriz Brizuela, Andre Herrero, Sarfraz Iqbal, Stefano Lorito, Francesco Emanuele Maesano, Shane Murphy, Paolo Perfetti, Fabrizio Romano, Antonio Scala, Jacopo Selva, Matteo Taroni, Mara Monica Tiberti, Hong Kie Thio, R. Tonini, Manuela Volpe, Sylfest Glimsdal, Carl B. Harbitz, Finn Lovholt, Maria Ana Baptista, Fernando Carrilho, Luis M. A. Matias, Rachid Omira, Andrey Babeyko, Andreas Hoechner, Mucahit Gurbuz, Onur Pekcan, A. Yalciner, Miquel Canals, Galderic Lastras, Apostolos Agalos, Gerassimo Papadapoulos, Ioanna Triantafyllou, Sabah Benchekroun, Hedi Agrebi Jaouadi, Samir Ben Abdallah, Atef Bouallegue, Hassene Hamdi, Foued Oueslati, A. Amato, Alberto Armigliato, Jorn Behrens, Gareth Davies, Daniela Di Bucci, Mauro Dolce, Eric L. Geist, Jose Manuel Gonzalez Vida, Mauricio Gonzalez, Jorges Macias Sanchez, C. Meletti, Ceren Ozer Sozdinler, Marco Pagani, Tom Parsons, Jascha Polet, William Power, Mathilde B. Sorensen, Andrey Zaytsev
2021, Frontiers in Earth Science (8)
The NEAM Tsunami Hazard Model 2018 (NEAMTHM18) is a probabilistic hazard model for tsunamis generated by earthquakes. It covers the coastlines of the North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and connected seas (NEAM). NEAMTHM18 was designed as a three-phase project. The first two phases were dedicated to the model development...
A lagrangian-to-eulerian metric to identify estuarine pelagic habitats
Paul Stumpner, Jon R. Burau, Alexander L. Forrest
2021, Estuaries and Coasts (44) 1231-1249
Estuaries are among the world’s most productive ecosystems, but recent natural and anthropogenic changes have stressed these ecosystems. Tools to assess estuarine pelagic habitats are important to support and maintain healthy ecosystem function. In this work, we demonstrate that estuarine pelagic habitats can be identified by...
Stress gradients interact with disturbance to reveal alternative states in salt marsh: Multivariate resilience at the landscape scale
Scott Jones, Camille Stagg, Erik S. Yando, W. Ryan James, Kevin Buffington, Mark W. Hester
2021, Journal of Ecology (109) 3211-3223
Stress gradients influence many ecosystem processes and properties, including ecosystem recovery from and resistance to disturbance. While recent analytical approaches have advanced multivariate metrics of ecosystem resilience that allow quantification of conceptual resilience models and identification of thresholds of state change, these approaches are not often translated to landscape...
Transport and speciation of uranium in groundwater-surface water systems impacted by legacy milling operations
Patrick A. Byrne, Christopher C. Fuller, David L. Naftz, Robert L. Runkel, Niklas J Lehto, William L Dam
2021, Science of the Total Environment (761)
Growing worldwide concern over uranium contamination of groundwater resources has placed an emphasis on understanding uranium transport dynamics and potential toxicity in groundwater-surface water systems. In this study, we utilized novel in-situ sampling methods to establish the location and magnitude of contaminated groundwater entry into a receiving surface water environment,...
Quantifying and mapping inundation regimes within a large river‐floodplain ecosystem for ecological and management applications
Molly Van Appledorn, Nathan R. De Jager, Jason J. Rohweder
2021, River Research and Applications (37) 241-255
Spatial information on the distribution of ecosystem patterns and processes can be a critical component of designing and implementing effective management programs in river‐floodplain ecosystems. For example, translating how flood pulses detected within a stream gauge record are spatially manifested across a river‐valley bottom can be used to evaluate whether...
Recent planform changes in the Upper Mississippi River
James T. Rogala, Faith A. Fitzpatrick, Jon S. Hendrickson
2020, Long Term Resource Monitoring Technical Report LTRM-2019GC8
Geomorphic changes in the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) have long been a concern of river agencies charged with maintaining and restoring river habitat (GREAT 1980; Jackson et al. 1981; USFWS 1992). Large meandering alluvial rivers like the UMR are expected to constantly change and adjust their fluvial landforms within their...
Landscape and climatic influences on actual evapotranspiration and available water using the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) Model in eastern Bernalillo County, New Mexico, 2015
Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin, Ryan J. McCutcheon, Aurelia C. Mitchell, Gabriel B. Senay
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5095
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bernalillo County Public Works Division, conducted a 1-year study in 2015 to assess the spatial and temporal distribution of evapotranspiration (ET) and available water within the East Mountain area in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. ET and available water vary spatiotemporally because of...
Keeping up with the times: Mapping range-wide habitat suitability for endangered species in a changing environment
Eamon J. Harrity, Bryan S. Stevens, Courtney J. Conway
2020, Biological Conservation (250)
Biologists and policy-makers have the difficult task of allocating limited resources to habitat conservation and management for endangered species in the face of changing environmental conditions. Satellite remote sensing can inform conservation because it is an efficient means to obtain environmental data over broad spatial and temporal extents. Yet, the...
Application of the RSPARROW modeling tool to estimate total nitrogen sources to streams and evaluate source reduction management scenarios in the Grande River Basin, Brazil
Matthew P. Miller, Marcelo L de Souza, Richard B Alexander, Lillian E. Gorman Sanisaca, Alexandre de Amorim Teixeira, Alison P. Appling
2020, Water (12)
Large-domain hydrological models are increasingly needed to support water-resource assessment and management in large river basins. Here, we describe results for the first Brazilian application of the SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) model using a new open-source modeling and interactive decision support system tool (RSPARROW) to quantify the...
How and why is the timing and occurrence of seasonal migrants in the Gulf of Maine changing due to climate?
Adrian Jordaan, Daniel Pendleton, Chris Sutherland, Michelle Staudinger
2020, Report
Plants and animals undergo certain recurring life-cycle events, such as migrations between summer and winter habitats or the annual blooming of plants. Known as phenology, the timing of these events is very sensitive to changes in climate (and changes in one species’ phenology can impact entire food webs and ecosystems)....
Impact of unburned remnant sagebrush versus outplants on post-fire landscape rehabilitation
Cara Applestein, Trevor Caughlin, Matthew Germino
2020, Report
Nearly half of the vast sagebrush steppe in the western United states has lost many or nearly all native plant species, largely due to the interaction of invasive species and increased wildfire. Re-establishing sagebrush, a keystone component of these ecosystems, has become a management focus in recent decades using aerial...
Drones provide a better method to find nests and estimate nest survival for colonial waterbirds: A demonstration with Western Grebes
Deo Lachman, Courtney J. Conway, Kerri Vierling, Ty Matthews
2020, Wetlands Ecology and Management (28) 837-845
Drone use in wildlife biology has greatly increased as they become cheaper and easier to deploy in the field. In this paper we describe a less invasive method of using drones and exploring their limitations for studying colonial nesting waterbirds. Western Grebes, like most colonial nesting waterbirds, can be very...
Hydrothermal alteration on composite volcanoes: Mineralogy, hyperspectral imaging and aeromagnetic study of Mt Ruapehu, New Zealand
Gabor Kereszturi, Lauren N. Schaefer, Craig A. Miller, Stuart Mead
2020, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (21)
Prolonged volcanic activity can induce surface weathering and hydrothermal alteration that is a primary control on edifice instability, posing a complex hazard with its challenges to accurately forecast and mitigate. This study uses a frequently active composite volcano, Mt Ruapehu, New Zealand, to develop a conceptual model of surface weathering...
Fate and behavior tools related to inland spill response—Workshop on the U.S. Geological Survey’s role in Federal science support
Daniel J. Sullivan, Faith A. Fitzpatrick
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1063
Executive SummaryThere is a growing body of tools available for science support for determining the fate and behavior of industrial and agricultural chemicals that are rapidly injected (“spilled”) into aquatic environments. A 2-day roundtable-style workshop was held by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Middleton, Wisconsin, in December 2017 to...
An invasive disease, sylvatic plague, increases fragmentation of black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colonies
Krystal M. Keuler, Gebbiana M. Bron, Randall Griebel, Katherine Richgels
2020, PLoS ONE (15)
ContextA disease can be a source of disturbance, causing population declines or extirpations, altering species interactions, and affecting habitat structure. This is particularly relevant for diseases that affect keystone species or ecosystem engineers, leading to potentially cascading effects on ecosystems.<div...
Evaluating the utility of principal component analysis on EDS x-ray maps to determine bulk mineralogy
Karen Spaleta, Sarah M. Hayes, Rainer Newberry, Nadine M. Piatak
2020, Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research (44) 821-843
Due to advances in EDS technology, electron microscopy techniques have become an important tool to determine the relative abundance of mineral phases. However, few studies have directly compared EDS X‐ray mineralogy with traditional techniques for assessing bulk mineralogy and elemental composition. We show that analysing a...
Geology and eruptive history of Bogoslof volcano
Christopher F. Waythomas, Matthew Warren Loewen, Kristi L. Wallace, Cheryl E. Cameron, Jessica F. Larsen
2020, Bulletin of Volcanology (82)
Bogoslof volcano is a shallow submarine/subaerial volcano in the southern Bering Sea about 100 km west of the community of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The subaerial parts of the volcano consist of two small islands, Bogoslof Island and Fire Island, that together have a total area of about...
Statewide assessment of karst aquifers in New York with an inventory of closed-depression and focused-recharge features
William M. Kappel, James E. Reddy, Jonathan Casey Root
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5030
Karst is a landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble rock or rock containing minerals that are easily dissolved from within the rock. The landscape is characterized by sinkholes, caves, losing streams, springs, and underground drainage systems, which rapidly move water through the karst. The two forms of karst in...
USGS “Did You Feel It?” — Science and lessons from twenty years of citizen science-based macroseismology
Vince Quitoriano, David J. Wald
2020, Frontiers in Earth Science (8)
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) “Did You Feel It?” (DYFI) system is an automatic method for rapidly collecting macroseismic intensity data from Internet users’ shaking and damage reports and for generating intensity maps immediately following felt earthquakes. DYFI has been in operation for nearly two decades (1999-2019) in the United...
Mapping the thermal landscape of the Upper Mississippi River
Kathi Jo Jankowski, Larry R. Robinson, John Kalas, Alicia Carhart, Brian R. Lubinski, Janis Ruhser
2020, Long Term Resource Monitoring Technical Report LTRMP-2017TL2
Temperature has a fundamental influence on physical, chemical and biological processing in aquatic ecosystems. River temperatures respond to a diverse array of drivers including air temperature, streamflow, and thermal inputs, but the physical template has been shown to play a significant role in structuring spatial and temporal variation in water...
