Conditions and processes affecting sand resources at archeological sites in the Colorado River corridor below Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona
Amy E. East, Brian D. Collins, Joel B. Sankey, Skye C. Corbett, Helen C. Fairley, Joshua J. Caster
2016, Professional Paper 1825
This study examined links among fluvial, aeolian, and hillslope geomorphic processes that affect archeological sites and surrounding landscapes in the Colorado River corridor downstream from Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona. We assessed the potential for Colorado River sediment to enhance the preservation of river-corridor archeological resources through aeolian sand deposition...
Depth calibration of the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar, EAARL-B
C. Wayne Wright, Christine J. Kranenburg, Rodolfo J. Troche, Richard W. Mitchell, David B. Nagle
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1048
Introduction The original National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL) was extensively modified to increase the spatial sampling density and to improve performance in water ranging from 3 to 44 meters (m). The new (EAARL-B) sensor features a higher spatial density that was achieved by optically...
Regional oxygen reduction and denitrification rates in groundwater from multi-model residence time distributions, San Joaquin Valley, USA
Christopher T. Green, Bryant C. Jurgens, Yong Zhang, Jeffrey Starn, Michael J. Singleton, Bradley K. Esser
2016, Journal of Hydrology (145) 47-55
Rates of oxygen and nitrate reduction are key factors in determining the chemical evolution of groundwater. Little is known about how these rates vary and covary in regional groundwater settings, as few studies have focused on regional datasets with multiple tracers and methods of analysis that account for effects of...
Freshwater wrack along Great Lakes coasts harbors Escherichia coli: Potential for bacterial transfer between watershed environments
Meredith Nevers, Kasia Przybyla-Kelly, Ashley Spoljaric, Dawn A. Shively, Richard L. Whitman, Muruleedhara Byappanahalli
2016, Journal of Great Lakes Research (42) 760-767
We investigated the occurrence, persistence, and growth potential of Escherichia coli associated with freshwater organic debris (i.e., wrack) frequently deposited along shorelines (shoreline wrack), inputs from rivers (river CPOM), and parking lot runoffs (urban litter). Samples were collected from 9 Great Lakes beaches, 3 creeks, and 4 beach parking lots....
Effects of variations in flow characteristics through W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam on downstream water quality in the Caloosahatchee River Estuary and in McIntyre Creek in the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, southern Florida, 2010–13
Amanda Booth, Lars E. Soderqvist, Travis M. Knight
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5033
The U.S. Geological Survey studied water-quality trends at the mouth of McIntyre Creek, an entry point to the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, to investigate correlations between flow rates and volumes through the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam and water-quality constituents inside the refuge from March 2010 to December...
Hydrogeochemistry and coal-associated bacterial populations from a methanogenic coal bed
Elliott P. Barnhart, Edwin P. Weeks, Elizabeth Jones, Daniel J. Ritter, Jennifer C. McIntosh, Arthur C. Clark, Leslie F. Ruppert, Alfred B. Cunningham, David S. Vinson, William H. Orem, Matthew W. Fields
2016, International Journal of Coal Geology (162) 14-26
Biogenic coalbed methane (CBM), a microbially-generated source of natural gas trapped within coal beds, is an important energy resource in many countries. Specific bacterial populations and enzymes involved in coal degradation, the potential rate-limiting step of CBM formation, are relatively unknown. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has established a field...
Quantifying resilience
Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler
2016, Journal of Applied Ecology (53) 617-624
The biosphere is under unprecedented pressure, reflected in rapid changes in our global ecological, social, technological and economic systems. In many cases, ecological and social systems can adapt to these changes over time, but when a critical threshold is surpassed, a system under stress can undergo catastrophic change and reorganize...
Decadal-scale export of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment from the Susquehanna River basin, USA: Analysis and synthesis of temporal and spatial patterns
Qian Zhang, William P. Ball, Douglas L. Moyer
2016, Science of the Total Environment (563-564) 1016-1029
The export of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and suspended sediment (SS) is a long-standing management concern for the Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA. Here we present a comprehensive evaluation of nutrient and sediment loads over the last three decades at multiple locations in the Susquehanna River basin (SRB), Chesapeake's largest tributary...
Modeled effects of soil acidification on long-term ecological and economic outcomes for managed forests in the Adirondack region (USA)
Jesse Caputo, Colin M. Beier, Timothy J. Sullivan, Gregory B. Lawrence
2016, Science of the Total Environment (565) 401-411
Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is among the most ecologically and economically important tree species in North America, and its growth and regeneration is often the focus of silvicultural practices in northern hardwood forests. A key stressor for sugar maple (SM) is acid rain, which depletes base cations from poorly-buffered forest...
Long-term trends in naturalized rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) populations in the upper Esopus Creek, Ulster County, New York, 2009–15
Scott D. George, Barry P. Baldigo
2016, Data Series 992
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, surveyed fish communities annually on the main stem and tributaries of the...
QRev—Software for computation and quality assurance of acoustic doppler current profiler moving-boat streamflow measurements—User’s manual for version 2.8
David S. Mueller
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1052
The software program, QRev computes the discharge from moving-boat acoustic Doppler current profiler measurements using data collected with any of the Teledyne RD Instrument or SonTek bottom tracking acoustic Doppler current profilers. The computation of discharge is independent of the manufacturer of the acoustic Doppler current profiler because QRev applies...
Latest Miocene-earliest Pliocene evolution of the ancestral Rio Grande at the Española-San Luis Basin boundary, northern New Mexico
Daniel J. Koning, Scott B. Aby, V. J. Grauch, Matthew J. Zimmerer
2016, New Mexico Geology (38) 24-49
We use stratigraphic relations, paleoflow data, and 40Ar/39Ar dating to interpret net aggradation, punctuated by at least two minor incisional events, along part of the upper ancestral Rio Grande fluvial system between 5.5 and 4.5 Ma (in northern New Mexico). The studied fluvial deposits, which we informally call the...
The importance of base flow in sustaining surface water flow in the Upper Colorado River Basin
Matthew P. Miller, Susan G. Buto, David D. Susong, Christine Rumsey
2016, Water Resources Research (52) 3547-3562
The Colorado River has been identified as the most overallocated river in the world. Considering predicted future imbalances between water supply and demand and the growing recognition that base flow (a proxy for groundwater discharge to streams) is critical for sustaining flow in streams and rivers, there is a need...
Climate regulates alpine lake ice cover phenology and aquatic ecosystem structure
Daniel L. Preston, Nel Caine, Diane M. McKnight, Mark W. Williams, Katherina Hell, Matthew P. Miller, Sarah J. Hart, Pieter T.J. Johnson
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (43) 5353-5360
High-elevation aquatic ecosystems are highly vulnerable to climate change, yet relatively few records are available to characterize shifts in ecosystem structure or their underlying mechanisms. Using a long-term dataset on seven alpine lakes (3126 to 3620 m) in Colorado, USA, we show that ice-off dates have shifted seven days earlier over...
Ephemerality of discrete methane vents in lake sediments
Benjamin P. Scandella, Liam Pillsbury, Thomas Weber, Carolyn D. Ruppel, Harold F. Hemond, Ruben Juanes
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (43) 4374-4381
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas whose emission from sediments in inland waters and shallow oceans may both contribute to global warming and be exacerbated by it. The fraction of methane emitted by sediments that bypasses dissolution in the water column and reaches the atmosphere as bubbles depends on the...
Streamflow, water quality and constituent loads and yields, Scituate Reservoir drainage area, Rhode Island, water year 2014
Kirk P. Smith
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1051
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) 2014 (October 1, 2013, through September 30, 2014) for tributaries to the Scituate Reservoir, Rhode Island. Streamflow and water-quality data used in the study...
Three-dimensional flow structure and patterns of bed shear stress in an evolving compound meander bend
Frank L. Engel, Bruce L. Rhoads
2016, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (41) 1211-1226
Compound meander bends with multiple lobes of maximum curvature are common in actively evolving lowland rivers. Interaction among spatial patterns of mean flow, turbulence, bed morphology, bank failures and channel migration in compound bends is poorly understood. In this paper, acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) measurements of the three-dimensional (3D)...
The ecology of methane in streams and rivers: Patterns, controls, and global significance
Emily H. Stanley, Nora J. Casson, Samuel T. Christel, John T. Crawford, Luke C. Loken, Samantha K. Oliver
2016, Ecological Monographs (86) 146-171
Streams and rivers can substantially modify organic carbon (OC) inputs from terrestrial landscapes, and much of this processing is the result of microbial respiration. While carbon dioxide (CO2) is the major end-product of ecosystem respiration, methane (CH4) is also present in many fluvial environments even though methanogenesis typically requires anoxic...
Regional-scale controls on dissolved nitrous oxide in the Upper Mississippi River
P.A. Turner, T.J. Griffis, J.M. Baker, X. Lee, John T. Crawford, Luke C. Loken, R.T. Venterea
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (43) 4400-4407
The U.S. Corn Belt is one of the most intensive agricultural regions of the world and is drained by the Upper Mississippi River (UMR), which forms one of the largest drainage basins in the U.S. While the effects of agricultural nitrate (NO3-) on water quality in the UMR have been...
A study of the 2015 Mw 8.3 Illapel earthquake and tsunami: Numerical and analytical approaches
Mauricio Fuentes, Sebastian Riquelme, Gavin P. Hayes, Miguel Medina, Diego Melgar, Gabriel Vargas, Jose Gonzalez, Angelo Villalobos
2016, Pure and Applied Geophysics (173) 1847-1858
The September 16, 2015 Illapel, Chile earthquake triggered a large tsunami, causing both economic losses and fatalities. To study the coastal effects of this earthquake, and to understand how such hazards might be accurately modeled in the future, different finite fault models of the Illapel rupture are used to define the initial condition for tsunami...
POLARIS: A 30-meter probabilistic soil series map of the contiguous United States
Nathaniel W. Chaney, Eric F Wood, Alexander B McBratney, Jonathan W Hempel, Travis W. Nauman, Colby W. Brungard, Nathan P Odgers
2016, Geoderma (274) 54-67
A new complete map of soil series probabilities has been produced for the contiguous United States at a 30 m spatial resolution. This innovative database, named POLARIS, is constructed using available high-resolution geospatial environmental data and a state-of-the-art machine learning algorithm (DSMART-HPC) to remap the Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) database. This...
Mid-latitude shrub steppe plant communities: Climate change consequences for soil water resources
Kyle A. Palmquist, Daniel R. Schlaepfer, John B. Bradford, Willliam K. Lauenroth
2016, Ecology (97) 2342-2354
In the coming century, climate change is projected to impact precipitation and temperature regimes worldwide, with especially large effects in drylands. We use big sagebrush ecosystems as a model dryland ecosystem to explore the impacts of altered climate on ecohydrology and the implications of those changes for big sagebrush plant...
Use of mussel casts from archaeological sites as paleoecological indicators: An example from CA-MRN-254, Marin County, Alta California
Mary McGann, Scott W. Starratt, Charles L. Powell II, David G Bieling
2016, California Archaeology (8) 63-90
Archaeological investigations at prehistoric site CA-MRN-254 at the Dominican University of California in Marin County, California, revealed evidence of Native American occupation spanning the past 1,800 years. A dominant source of food for the inhabitants in the San Francisco Bay area was the intertidal, quiet-water dwelling blue mussel (Mytilus trossulus),...
Flood-inundation maps for the East Fork White River at Shoals, Indiana
Justin A. Boldt
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5036
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 5.9-mile reach of the East Fork White River at Shoals, Indiana (Ind.), were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science...
Hydrologic and hydraulic analyses for the Black Fork Mohican River Basin in and near Shelby, Ohio
Carrie A. Huitger, Chad J. Ostheimer, G. F. Koltun
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5187
Hydrologic and hydraulic analyses were done for selected reaches of five streams in and near Shelby, Richland County, Ohio. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, conducted these analyses on the Black Fork Mohican River and four tributaries: Seltzer Park Creek, Seltzer Park Tributary,...
