Deepwater Program: Lophelia II, continuing ecological research on deep-sea corals and deep-reef habitats in the Gulf of Mexico
Amanda W.J. Demopoulos, Steve W. Ross, Christina A. Kellogg, Cheryl L. Morrison, Martha S. Nizinski, Nancy G. Prouty, Jill R. Bourque, Julie P. Galkiewicz, Michael A. Gray, Marcus J. Springmann, D. Katharine Coykendall, Andrew Miller, Mike Rhode, Andrea Quattrini, Cheryl L. Ames, Sandra D. Brooke, Jennifer P. McClain-Counts, E. Brendan Roark, Noreen A. Buster, Ryan M. Phillips, Janessy Frometa
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1139
The deep sea is a rich environment composed of diverse habitat types. While deep-sea coral habitats have been discovered within each ocean basin, knowledge about the ecology of these habitats and associated inhabitants continues to grow. This report presents information and results from the Lophelia II project that examined deep-sea...
Analysis of the variability in ground-motion synthesis and inversion
Paul A. Spudich, Antonella Cirella, Laura Scognamiglio, Elisa Tinti
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1151
In almost all past inversions of large-earthquake ground motions for rupture behavior, the goal of the inversion is to find the “best fitting” rupture model that predicts ground motions which optimize some function of the difference between predicted and observed ground motions. This type of inversion was pioneered in the...
Groundwater, surface-water, and water-chemistry data, Black Mesa area, northeastern Arizona—2013–2015
Jamie P. Macy, Jon P. Mason
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1127
The Navajo (N) aquifer is an extensive aquifer and the primary source of groundwater in the 5,400-square-mile Black Mesa area in northeastern Arizona. Availability of water is an important issue in northeastern Arizona because of continued water requirements for industrial and municipal use by a growing population and because of...
Cobalt—Styles of deposits and the search for primary deposits
Murray W. Hitzman, Arthur A. Bookstrom, John F. Slack, Michael L. Zientek
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1155
Cobalt (Co) is a potentially critical mineral. The vast majority of cobalt is a byproduct of copper and (or) nickel production. Cobalt is increasingly used in magnets and rechargeable batteries. More than 50 percent of primary cobalt production is from the Central African Copperbelt. The Central African Copperbelt is the...
Integrated wetland management for waterfowl and shorebirds at Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina
Brian G. Tavernia, John D. Stanton, James E. Lyons
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1052
Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR) offers a mix of open water, marsh, forest, and cropland habitats on 20,307 hectares in coastal North Carolina. In 1934, Federal legislation (Executive Order 6924) established MNWR to benefit wintering waterfowl and other migratory bird species. On an annual basis, the refuge staff decide how...
Timing of warm water refuge use in Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge by manatees—Results and insights from Global Positioning System telemetry data
Daniel H. Slone, Susan M. Butler, James P. Reid, Catherine G. Haase
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1146
Managers at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge (CRNWR) desire to update their management plan regarding the operation of select springs including Three Sisters Springs. They wish to refine existing parameters used to predict the presence of federally threatened Trichechus manatus latirostris (Florida manatee) in...
An expert elicitation process to project the frequency and magnitude of Florida manatee mortality events caused by red tide (Karenia brevis)
Julien Martin, Michael C. Runge, Leanne J. Flewelling, Charles J. Deutsch, Jan H. Landsberg
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1132
Red tides (blooms of the harmful alga Karenia brevis) are one of the major sources of mortality for the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris), especially in southwest Florida. It has been hypothesized that the frequency and severity of red tides may increase in the future because of global climate...
Behavioral response of giant gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) to the relative availability of aquatic habitat on the landscape
Gabriel A. Reyes, Brian J. Halstead, Jonathan P. Rose, Julia S. M. Ersan, Anna C. Jordan, Allison M. Essert, Kristen J. Fouts, Alexandria M. Fulton, K. Benjamin Gustafson, Raymund F. Wack, Glenn D. Wylie, Michael L. Casazza
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1141
Most extant giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) populations persist in an agro-ecosystem dominated by rice, which serves as a surrogate to the expansive marshes lost to flood control projects and development of the Great Central Valley of California. Knowledge of how giant gartersnakes use the rice agricultural landscape, including how...
Virginia flow-ecology modeling results—An initial assessment of flow reduction effects on aquatic biota
Jennifer L. Rapp, Pamela A. Reilly
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1088
BackgroundThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), reviewed a previously compiled set of linear regression models to assess their utility in defining the response of the aquatic biological community to streamflow depletion.As part of the 2012 Virginia Healthy Watersheds Initiative (HWI) study...
Bathymetric map and area/capacity table for Castle Lake, Washington
Adam R. Mosbrucker, Kurt R. Spicer
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1145
The May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens produced a 2.5-cubic-kilometer debris avalanche that dammed South Fork Castle Creek, causing Castle Lake to form behind a 20-meter-tall blockage. Risk of a catastrophic breach of the newly impounded lake led to outlet channel stabilization work, aggressive monitoring programs, mapping...
Evaluation of the Eureka Manta2 Water-Quality Multiprobe Sonde
Evan F. Tillman
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1118
Two Eureka Manta2 3.5 water-quality multiprobe sondes by Eureka Water Probes were tested at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF) against known standards over the sonde operating temperatures to verify the manufacturer’s stated accuracy specifications for pH, specific conductance (SC) at 25 degrees Celsius (°C), dissolved oxygen...
Acoustic tag detections of green sturgeon in the Columbia River and Coos Bay estuaries, Washington and Oregon, 2010–11
Hal C. Hansel, Jason G. Romine, Russell W. Perry
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1144
The Columbia River, in Washington and Oregon, and Coos Bay, in Oregon, are economically important shipping channels that are inhabited by several fishes protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Maintenance of shipping channels involves dredge operations to maintain sufficient in-channel depths to allow large ships to navigate the...
A concept for performance management for Federal science programs
Kevin G. Whalen
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1143
The demonstration of clear linkages between planning, funding, outcomes, and performance management has created unique challenges for U.S. Federal science programs. An approach is presented here that characterizes science program strategic objectives by one of five “activity types”: (1) knowledge discovery, (2) knowledge development and delivery, (3) science support,...
Monitoring storm tide and flooding from Hurricane Matthew along the Atlantic coast of the United States, October 2016
Eric R. Frantz, Michael J. Byrne Sr., Andral W. Caldwell, Stephen L. Harden
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1122
IntroductionHurricane Matthew moved adjacent to the coasts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The hurricane made landfall once near McClellanville, South Carolina, on October 8, 2016, as a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) deployed a temporary monitoring network of...
Public supply and domestic water use in the United States, 2015
Cheryl A. Dieter, Molly A. Maupin
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1131
IntroductionThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Use Science Project (NWUSP), part of the USGS Water Availability and Use Science Program (WAUSP), has estimated water use in the United States every 5 years since 1950. This report provides an overview of total population, public-supply use, including the population that is...
Near-field receiving water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in south San Francisco Bay, California; 2016
Daniel J. Cain, Janet K. Thompson, Francis Parchaso, Sarah A. Pearson, A. Robin Stewart, Mathew Turner, David Barasch, Samuel N. Luoma
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1135
Trace-metal concentrations in sediment and in the clam Macoma petalum (formerly reported as Macoma balthica), clam reproductive activity, and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure were investigated in a mudflat 1 kilometer south of the discharge of the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (PARWQCP) in south San Francisco Bay,...
Methods for converting continuous shrubland ecosystem component values to thematic National Land Cover Database classes
Matthew B. Rigge, Leila Gass, Collin G. Homer, George Z. Xian
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1119
The National Land Cover Database (NLCD) provides thematic land cover and land cover change data at 30-meter spatial resolution for the United States. Although the NLCD is considered to be the leading thematic land cover/land use product and overall classification accuracy across the NLCD is high, performance and consistency in...
U.S. Geological Survey input-data forms for the assessment of the Spraberry Formation of the Midland Basin, Permian Basin Province, Texas, 2017
Kristen R. Marra
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1117
In 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an updated assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in the Spraberry Formation of the Midland Basin (Permian Basin Province) in southwestern Texas (Marra and others, 2017). The Spraberry Formation was assessed using both the standard continuous (unconventional) and conventional...
Geologic map of the Dusar area, Herat Province, Afghanistan; Modified from the 1973 original map compilations of V.I. Tarasenko and others
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1126
The geologic maps and cross sections presented in this report are redrafted and modified versions of the Geologic map and map of useful minerals of the Dusar area (scale 1:50,000) and Geologic sketch map of the Dusar and Namak-sory ore occurrences (scale 1:10,000), located in the Herat Province, Afghanistan. The...
Southern Great Plains Rapid Ecoregional assessment—Volume I. Ecological communities
Gordon C. Reese, Lucy Burris, Natasha B. Carr, Ian I.F. Leinwand, Cynthia P. Melcher
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1100
The Southern Great Plains Rapid Ecoregional Assessment was conducted in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative. The overall goal of the Rapid Ecoregional Assessments (REAs) is to compile and synthesize regional datasets to facilitate evaluation of the cumulative effects of change agents...
Health and condition of endangered young-of-the-year Lost River and Shortnose suckers relative to water quality in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2014–2015
Summer M. Burdick, Carla M. Conway, Diane G. Elliott, Marshal S. Hoy, Amari Dolan-Caret, Carl O. Ostberg
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1134
Most mortality of endangered Lost River (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose (Chasmistes brevirostris) suckers in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, occurs within the first year of life. Juvenile suckers in Clear Lake Reservoir, California, survive longer and may even recruit to the spawning populations. In a previous (2013–2014) study, the health and...
Seismic velocity site characterization of 10 Arizona strong-motion recording stations by spectral analysis of surface wave dispersion
Robert E. Kayen, Brad A. Carkin, Skye C. Corbett
2017, Open-File Report 2016-1208
Vertical one-dimensional shear wave velocity (VS) profiles are presented for strong-motion sites in Arizona for a suite of stations surrounding the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. The purpose of the study is to determine the detailed site velocity profile, the average velocity in the upper 30 meters of the profile...
Design and methods of the Midwest Stream Quality Assessment (MSQA), 2013
Jessica D. Garrett, Jeffrey W. Frey, Peter C. Van Metre, Celeste A. Journey, Naomi Nakagaki, Daniel T. Button, Lisa H. Nowell
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1073
During 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment Project (NAWQA), in collaboration with the USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Rivers and Streams Assessment (NRSA), and the EPA Office of Pesticide Programs assessed stream quality across the Midwestern United States. This Midwest...
HIF evaluation of In-Situ Aqua TROLL 400
Evan F. Tillman
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1086
The In-Situ Aqua TROLL 400 (Aqua TROLL 400) was tested at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF) against known standards over the Aqua TROLL 400’s operating temperature to verify the manufacturer’s stated accuracy specifications and the USGS recommendations for pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), and specific conductance (SC)....
Physical properties of sidewall cores from Decatur, Illinois
Carolyn A. Morrow, J. Ole Kaven, Diane E. Moore, David A. Lockner
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1094
To better assess the reservoir conditions influencing the induced seismicity hazard near a carbon dioxide sequestration demonstration site in Decatur, Ill., core samples from three deep drill holes were tested to determine a suite of physical properties including bulk density, porosity, permeability, Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and failure strength....
