Flood-inundation maps for Big Creek from the McGinnis Ferry Road bridge to the confluence of Hog Wallow Creek, Alpharetta and Roswell, Georgia
Jonathan W. Musser
2015, Scientific Investigations Map 3338
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 12.4-mile reach of Big Creek that extends from 260 feet above the McGinnis Ferry Road bridge to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgage at Big Creek below Hog Wallow Creek at Roswell, Georgia (02335757), were developed by the USGS in cooperation with the cities of...
First national-scale reconnaissance of neonicotinoid insecticides in streams across the USA
Michelle Hladik, Dana W. Kolpin
2015, Environmental Chemistry (13) 12-20
To better understand the fate and transport of neonicotinoid insecticides, water samples were collected from streams across the United States. In a nationwide study, at least one neonicotinoid was detected in 53 % of the samples collected, with imidacloprid detected most frequently (37 %), followed by clothianidin (24 %), thiamethoxam (21 %), dinotefuran (13 %),...
Drivers and synergies in the management of inland fisheries: Searching for sustainable solutions
Abigail Lynch, Beard Jr.
2015, Conference Paper, Enhancing sustainability of inland fisheries through cross-sectoral collaboration
Freshwater is a shared resource. Water challenges (i.e., too much, too little, too dirty) are recognized to have global implications. Many sectors rely upon water and, in some cases, the limited availability of water leads to tough decisions. Though inland fish and fisheries play important roles in providing food security,...
Key seabird areas in southern New England identified using a community occupancy model
Allan F. O’Connell, Nicholas P. Flanders, Beth Gardner, Kristopher J. Winiarski, Peter W. C. Paton, Taber Allison
2015, Marine Ecology Progress Series (533) 277-290
Seabirds are of conservation concern, and as new potential risks to seabirds are arising, the need to provide unbiased estimates of species’ distributions is growing. We applied community occupancy models to detection/non-detection data collected from repeated aerial strip-transect surveys conducted in 2 large study plots off southern New England, USA;...
Source mechanism of small long-period events at Mount St. Helens in July 2005 using template matching, phase-weighted stacking, and full-waveform inversion
Robin S. Matoza, Bernard A. Chouet, Phillip B. Dawson, Peter M. Shearer, Matthew M. Haney, Gregory P. Waite, Seth C. Moran, T. Dylan Mikesell
2015, Journal of Geophysical Research (120) 6351-6364
Long-period (LP, 0.5-5 Hz) seismicity, observed at volcanoes worldwide, is a recognized signature of unrest and eruption. Cyclic LP “drumbeating” was the characteristic seismicity accompanying the sustained dome-building phase of the 2004–2008 eruption of Mount St. Helens (MSH), WA. However, together with the LP drumbeating was a near-continuous, randomly occurring series...
Water-budgets and recharge-area simulations for the Spring Creek and Nittany Creek Basins and parts of the Spruce Creek Basin, Centre and Huntingdon Counties, Pennsylvania, Water Years 2000–06
John W. Fulton, Dennis W. Risser, R. Steve Regan, John F. Walker, Randall J. Hunt, Richard G. Niswonger, Scott A. Hoffman, Steven L. Markstrom
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5073
This report describes the results of a study by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with ClearWater Conservancy and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to develop a hydrologic model to simulate a water budget and identify areas of greater than average recharge for the Spring Creek Basin in central...
Riparian vegetation, Colorado River, and climate: five decades of spatiotemporal dynamics in the Grand Canyon with river regulation
Joel B. Sankey, Barbara E. Ralston, Paul E. Grams, John C. Schmidt, Laura E. Cagney
2015, Journal of Geophysical Research (120) 1532-1547
Documentation of the interacting effects of river regulation and climate on riparian vegetation has typically been limited to small segments of rivers or focused on individual plant species. We examine spatiotemporal variability in riparian vegetation for the Colorado River in Grand Canyon relative to river regulation and climate, over the...
A conceptual model for site-level ecology of the giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) in the Sacramento Valley, California
Brian J. Halstead, Glenn D. Wylie, Michael L. Casazza, Eric C. Hansen, Rick D. Scherer, Laura C. Patterson
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1152
Giant gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) comprise a species of semi-aquatic snakes precinctive to marshes in the Central Valley of California (Hansen and Brode, 1980; Rossman and others, 1996). Because more than 90 percent of their historical wetland habitat has been converted to other uses (Frayer and others, 1989; Garone, 2007), giant...
A new temperature profiling probe for investigating groundwater-surface water interaction
Ramon C. Naranjo, Robert Turcotte
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 7790-7797
Measuring vertically nested temperatures at the streambed interface poses practical challenges that are addressed here with a new discrete subsurface temperature profiling probe. We describe a new temperature probe and its application for heat as a tracer investigations to demonstrate the probe's utility. Accuracy and response time of temperature measurements...
Hydroacoustic signatures of Colorado Riverbed sediments in Marble and Grand Canyons using multibeam sonar
Daniel D. Buscombe, Paul E. Grams, Matthew Kaplinski, Robert B. Tusso, David M. Rubin
2015, Conference Paper
Characterizing the large-scale sedimentary make-up of heterogeneous riverbeds (Nelson et al., 2014), which consist of a patchwork of sediment types over small scales (less than one to several tens of meters) (Dietrich and Smith, 1984) requires high resolution measurements of sediment grain size. Capturing such variability with conventional physical (e.g....
Glaciers and ice caps outside Greenland
Marin Sharp, G. Wolken, D. Burgess, J.G. Cogley, L. Copland, L. Thomson, A. Arendt, B. Wouters, J. Kohler, L. M. Andreassen, Shad O’Neel, M. Pelto
2015, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (96) S135-S137
Mountain glaciers and ice caps cover an area of over 400 000 km2 in the Arctic, and are a major influence on global sea level (Gardner et al. 2011, 2013; Jacob et al. 2012). They gain mass by snow accumulation and lose mass by meltwater runoff. Where they terminate in...
Gene transcription in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from disparate populations
Lizabeth Bowen, A. Keith Miles, Shannon C. Waters-Dynes, Randi Meyerson, Karyn D. Rode, Todd C. Atwood
2015, Polar Biology (38) 1413-1427
Polar bears in the Beaufort (SB) and Chukchi (CS) Seas experience different environments due primarily to a longer history of sea ice loss in the Beaufort Sea. Ecological differences have been identified as a possible reason for the generally poorer body condition and reproduction of Beaufort polar bears compared to...
The influence of grain size, grain color, and suspended-sediment concentration on light attenuation: why fine-grained terrestrial sediment is bad for coral reef ecosystems
Curt D. Storlazzi, Benjamin Norris, Kurt J. Rosenberger
2015, Coral Reefs (34) 967-975
Sediment has been shown to be a major stressor to coral reefs globally. Although many researchers have tested the impact of sedimentation on coral reef ecosystems in both the laboratory and the field and some have measured the impact of suspended sediment on the photosynthetic response of corals, there has...
Sensitivity of intermittent streams to climate variations in the USA
Ken Eng, David M. Wolock, Mike Dettinger
2015, River Research and Applications (32) 885-895
There is a great deal of interest in the literature on streamflow changes caused by climate change because of the potential negative effects on aquatic biota and water supplies. Most previous studies have primarily focused on perennial streams, and there have been only a few studies examining the effect of...
Natural recharge estimation and uncertainty analysis of an adjudicated groundwater basin using a regional-scale flow and subsidence model (Antelope Valley, California, USA)
Adam J. Siade, Tracy Nishikawa, Peter Martin
2015, Hydrogeology Journal (23) 1267-1291
Groundwater has provided 50–90 % of the total water supply in Antelope Valley, California (USA). The associated groundwater-level declines have led the Los Angeles County Superior Court of California to recently rule that the Antelope Valley groundwater basin is in overdraft, i.e., annual pumpage exceeds annual recharge. Natural recharge consists...
Numerical simulation of groundwater flow, resource optimization, and potential effects of prolonged drought for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Tribal Jurisdictional Area, central Oklahoma
Derek W. Ryter, Christopher D. Kunkel, Steven M. Peterson, Jonathan P. Traylor
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5167
A hydrogeological study including two numerical groundwater-flow models was completed for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Tribal Jurisdictional Area of central Oklahoma. One numerical groundwater-flow model, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation model, encompassed the jurisdictional area and was based on the results of a regional-scale hydrogeological study and numerical groundwater flow model...
Desert grassland responses to climate and soil moisture suggest divergent vulnerabilities across the southwestern United States
Jennifer Gremer, John B. Bradford, Seth M. Munson, Michael C. Duniway
2015, Global Change Biology (21) 4049-4062
Climate change predictions include warming and drying trends, which are expected to be particularly pronounced in the southwestern United States. In this region, grassland dynamics are tightly linked to available moisture, yet it has proven difficult to resolve what aspects of climate drive vegetation change. In part, this is because...
Assessing juvenile salmon rearing habitat and associated predation risk in a lower Snake River reservoir
Kenneth F. Tiffan, James R. Hatten, David A Trachtenbarg
2015, River Research and Applications (32) 1030-1038
Subyearling fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Columbia River basin exhibit a transient rearing strategy and depend on connected shoreline habitats during freshwater rearing. Impoundment has greatly reduced the amount of shallow-water rearing habitat that is exacerbated by the steep topography of reservoirs. Periodic dredging creates opportunities to strategically place...
Hydrologic budget and conditions of Permian, Pennsylvanian, and Mississippian aquifers in the Appalachian Plateaus physiographic province
Kurt J. McCoy, Richard M. Yager, David L. Nelms, David E. Ladd, Jack Monti, Jr., Mark D. Kozar
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5106
In response to challenges to groundwater availability posed by historic land-use practices, expanding development of hydrocarbon resources, and drought, the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater Resources Program began a regional assessment of the Appalachian Plateaus aquifers in 2013 that incorporated a hydrologic landscape approach to estimate all components of the hydrologic...
Strong ground motion inferred from liquefaction caused by the 1811-1812 New Madrid, Missouri, earthquakes
Thomas L. Holzer, Thomas E. Noce, Michael J. Bennett
2015, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (105) 2589-2603
Peak ground accelerations (PGAs) in the epicentral region of the 1811–1812 New Madrid, Missouri, earthquakes are inferred from liquefaction to have been no greater than ∼0.35g. PGA is inferred in an 11,380 km2 area in the Lower Mississippi Valley in Arkansas and Missouri where liquefaction was extensive in 1811–1812. PGA was inferred...
U.S. Geological Survey Noble Gas Laboratory’s standard operating procedures for the measurement of dissolved gas in water samples
Andrew G. Hunt
2015, Techniques and Methods 5-A11
This report addresses the standard operating procedures used by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Noble Gas Laboratory in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A., for the measurement of dissolved gases (methane, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide) and noble gas isotopes (helium-3, helium-4, neon-20, neon-21, neon-22, argon-36, argon-38, argon-40, kryton-84, krypton-86, xenon-103, and xenon-132) dissolved...
Streamflow gains and losses in the Colorado River in northwestern Burnet and southeastern San Saba Counties, Texas
Christopher L. Braun, Scott D. Grzyb
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5098
In October 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Central Texas Groundwater Conservation District, began an assessment to better understand if and where groundwater from the Ellenburger-San Saba aquifer is discharging to the Colorado River, and if and where Colorado River streamflow is recharging the Ellenburger-San Saba...
Simulation of groundwater flow and analysis of the effects of water-management options in the North Platte Natural Resources District, Nebraska
Steven M. Peterson, Amanda T. Flynn, Joseph Vrabel, Derek W. Ryter
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5093
The North Platte Natural Resources District (NPNRD) has been actively collecting data and studying groundwater resources because of concerns about the future availability of the highly inter-connected surface-water and groundwater resources. This report, prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the North Platte Natural Resources District, describes a...
Organic and inorganic composition and microbiology of produced waters from Pennsylvania shale gas wells
Denise M. Akob, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Darren S. Dunlap, Elisabeth L. Rowan, Michelle M. Lorah
2015, Applied Geochemistry (60) 116-125
Hydraulically fractured shales are becoming an increasingly important source of natural gas production in the United States. This process has been known to create up to 420 gallons of produced water (PW) per day, but the volume varies depending on the formation, and the characteristics of individual hydraulic fracture. PW...
Normalization of stable isotope data for carbonate minerals: implementation of IUPAC guideline
Sang-Tae Kim, Tyler B. Coplen, Juske Horita
2015, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (158) 276-289
Carbonate minerals provide a rich source of geochemical information because their δ13C and δ18O values provide information about surface and subsurface Earth processes. However, a significant problem is that the same δ18O value is not reported for the identical carbonate sample when analyzed in different isotope laboratories in spite...
