Quaternary sediment thickness and bedrock topography of the glaciated United States east of the Rocky Mountains
David R. Soller, Christopher P. Garrity
2018, Scientific Investigations Map 3392
Beginning roughly 2.6 million years ago, global climate entered a cooling phase known as the Pleistocene Epoch. As snow in northern latitudes compacted into ice several kilometers thick, it flowed as glaciers southward across the North American continent. These glaciers extended across the northern United States, dramatically altering the landscape...
Emulation of long-term changes in global climate: application to the late Pliocene and future
Natalie S. Lord, Michel Crucifix, Daniel J. Lunt, Mike C. Thorne, Nabila Bounceur, Harry J. Dowsett, Charlotte L. O’Brien, A. Ridgwell
2017, Climate of the Past (13) 1539-1571
Multi-millennial transient simulations of climate changes have a range of important applications, such as for investigating key geologic events and transitions for which high-resolution palaeoenvironmental proxy data are available, or for projecting the long-term impacts of future climate evolution on the performance of geological repositories for the disposal of radioactive...
Geologic map of the upper Arkansas River valley region, north-central Colorado
Karl S. Kellogg, Ralph R. Shroba, Chester A. Ruleman, Robert G. Bohannon, William C. McIntosh, Wayne R. Premo, Michael A. Cosca, Richard J. Moscati, Theodore R. Brandt
2017, Scientific Investigations Map 3382
This 1:50,000-scale U.S. Geological Survey geologic map represents a compilation of the most recent geologic studies of the upper Arkansas River valley between Leadville and Salida, Colorado. The valley is structurally controlled by an extensional fault system that forms part of the prominent northern Rio Grande rift, an intra-continental region...
Simulations of hydrologic response in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin, Southeastern United States
Jacob H. LaFontaine, L. Elliott Jones, Jaime A. Painter
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5133
A suite of hydrologic models has been developed for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin (ACFB) as part of the National Water Census, a U.S. Geological Survey research program that focuses on developing new water accounting tools and assessing water availability and use at the regional and national scales. Seven hydrologic models...
Fluorine
Timothy S. Hayes, M. Michael Miller, Greta J. Orris, Nadine M. Piatak
Klaus J. Schulz, DeYoung Jr., Robert R. Seal, II, Dwight Bradley, editor(s)
2017, Professional Paper 1802-G
Fluorine compounds are essential in numerous chemical and manufacturing processes. Fluorspar is the commercial name for fluorite (isometric CaF2), which is the only fluorine mineral that is mined on a large scale. Fluorspar is used directly as a fluxing material and as an additive in different manufacturing processes. It is...
Groundwater model of the Great Basin carbonate and alluvial aquifer system version 3.0: Incorporating revisions in southwestern Utah and east central Nevada
Lynette E. Brooks
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5072
The groundwater model described in this report is a new version of previously published steady-state numerical groundwater flow models of the Great Basin carbonate and alluvial aquifer system, and was developed in conjunction with U.S. Geological Survey studies in Parowan, Pine, and Wah Wah Valleys, Utah....
LAGOS-NE: a multi-scaled geospatial and temporal database of lake ecological context and water quality for thousands of US lakes
Patricia A. Soranno, Linda C. Bacon, Michael Beauchene, Karen E. Bednar, Edward G. Bissell, Claire K. Boudreau, Marvin G. Boyer, Mary T. Bremigan, Stephen R. Carpenter, Jamie W. Carr, Kendra S. Cheruvelil, Samuel T. Christel, Matt Claucherty, Sarah M. Collins, Joseph D. Conroy, John A. Downing, Jed Dukett, C. Emi Fergus, Christopher T. Filstrup, Clara Funk, Maria J. Gonzalez, Linda T. Green, Corinna Gries, John D. Halfman, Stephen K. Hamilton, Paul C. Hanson, Emily N. Henry, Elizabeth M. Herron, Celeste Hockings, James R. Jackson, Kari Jacobson-Hedin, Lorraine L. Janus, William W. Jones, John R. Jones, Caroline M. Keson, Katelyn B.S. King, Scott A. Kishbaugh, Jean-Francois Lapierre, Barbara Lathrop, Jo A. Latimore, Yuehlin Lee, Noah R. Lottig, Jason A. Lynch, Leslie J. Matthews, William H. McDowell, Karen E.B. Moore, Brian Neff, Sarah J. Nelson, Samantha K. Oliver, Michael L. Pace, Donald C. Pierson, Autumn C. Poisson, Amina I. Pollard, David M. Post, Paul O. Reyes, Donald Rosenberry, Karen M. Roy, Lars G. Rudstam, Orlando Sarnelle, Nancy J. Schuldt, Caren E. Scott, Nicholas K. Skaff, Nicole J. Smith, Nick R. Spinelli, Joseph J. Stachelek, Emily H. Stanley, John L. Stoddard, Scott B. Stopyak, Craig A. Stow, Jason M. Tallant, Pang-Ning Tan, Anthony P. Thorpe, Michael J. Vanni, Tyler Wagner, Gretchen Watkins, Kathleen C. Weathers, Katherine E. Webster, Jeffrey D. White, Marcy K. Wilmes, Shuai Yuan
2017, GigaScience (6) 1-22
Understanding the factors that affect water quality and the ecological services provided by freshwater ecosystems is an urgent global environmental issue. Predicting how water quality will respond to global changes not only requires water quality data, but also information about the ecological context of individual water bodies across broad spatial...
Multi-scale 46-year remote sensing change detection of diamond mining and land cover in a conflict and post-conflict setting
Jessica D. Dewitt, Peter G. Chirico, Sarah E. Bergstresser, Timothy A. Warner
2017, Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment (8) 126-139
The town of Tortiya was created in the rural northern region of Côte d′Ivoire in the late 1940s to house workers for a new diamond mine. Nearly three decades later, the closure of the industrial-scale diamond mine in 1975 did not diminish the importance of diamond profits to the region's...
Transgressive-regressive cycles in the metalliferous, oil-shale-bearing Heath Formation (Upper Mississippian), central Montana
Julie A. Dumoulin, Craig A. Johnson, Karen D. Kelley, Palma J. Botterell, Paul C. Hackley, Clint Scott, John F. Slack
2017, Stratigraphy (14) 97-122
The Upper Mississippian Heath Formation, which accumulated in the Big Snowy Trough of central Montana, has been known for three decades to contain mudrocks highly enriched in Zn, V, Mo, Ni and other metals, and source rocks for oil. The unit has more recently been recognized as a prospective tight...
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,...
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...
A review of surface energy balance models for estimating actual evapotranspiration with remote sensing at high spatiotemporal resolution over large extents
Ryan R. McShane, Katelyn P. Driscoll, Roy Sando
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5087
Many approaches have been developed for measuring or estimating actual evapotranspiration (ETa), and research over many years has led to the development of remote sensing methods that are reliably reproducible and effective in estimating ETa. Several remote sensing methods can be used to estimate ETa at the high spatial resolution...
Morphologic evolution of the wilderness area breach at Fire Island, New York—2012–15
Cheryl J. Hapke, Timothy R. Nelson, Rachel E. Henderson, Owen T. Brenner, Jennifer L. Miselis
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1116
IntroductionHurricane Sandy, which made landfall on October 29, 2012, near Atlantic City, New Jersey, had a significant impact on the coastal system along the south shore of Long Island, New York. A record significant wave height of 9.6 meters (m) was measured at wave buoy 44025, approximately 48...
Suspended-sediment loads in the lower Stillaguamish River, Snohomish County, Washington, 2014–15
Scott A. Anderson, Christopher A. Curran, Eric E. Grossman
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1066
Continuous records of discharge and turbidity at a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgage in the lower Stillaguamish River were paired with discrete measurements of suspended-sediment concentration (SSC) in order to estimate suspended-sediment loads over the water years 2014 and 2015. First, relations between turbidity and SSC were developed and used...
Storage filters upland suspended sediment signals delivered from watersheds
James E. Pizzuto, Jeremy Keeler, Katherine Skalak, Diana Karwan
2017, Geology (45) 151-154
Climate change, tectonics, and humans create long- and short-term temporal variations in the supply of suspended sediment to rivers. These signals, generated in upland erosional areas, are filtered by alluvial storage before reaching the basin outlet. We quantified this filter using a random walk model driven by sediment budget data,...
The role of paleoecology in restoration and resource management—The past as a guide to future decision-making: Review and example from the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, U.S.A
G. Lynn Wingard, Christopher E. Bernhardt, Anna Wachnicka
2017, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (5)
Resource managers around the world are challenged to develop feasible plans for sustainable conservation and/or restoration of the lands, waters, and wildlife they administer—a challenge made greater by anticipated climate change and associated effects over the next century. Increasingly, paleoecologic and geologic archives are being used to extend the period...
Pulsed strain release on the Altyn Tagh fault, northwest China
Ryan D. Gold, Eric Cowgill, J. Ramon Arrowsmith, Anke M. Friedrich
2017, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (459) 291-300
Earthquake recurrence models assume that major surface-rupturing earthquakes are followed by periods of reduced rupture probability as stress rebuilds. Although purely periodic, time- or slip-predictable rupture models are known to be oversimplifications, a paucity of long records of fault slip clouds understanding of fault behavior and earthquake recurrence over multiple...
Evaluation of long-term trends in hydrologic and water-quality conditions, and estimation of water budgets through 2013, Chester County, Pennsylvania
Ronald A. Sloto, Andrew G. Reif
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5025
An evaluation of trends in hydrologic and water quality conditions and estimation of water budgets through 2013 was done by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Chester County Water Resources Authority. Long-term hydrologic, meteorologic, and biologic data collected in Chester County, Pennsylvania, which included streamflow, groundwater levels, surface-water...
Geologic map of the northeast flank of Mauna Loa volcano, Island of Hawai'i, Hawaii
Frank A. Trusdell, John P. Lockwood
2017, Scientific Investigations Map 2932-A
SummaryMauna Loa, the largest volcano on Earth, has erupted 33 times since written descriptions became available in 1832. Some eruptions were preceded by only brief seismic unrest, while others followed several months to a year of increased seismicity.The majority of the eruptions of Mauna Loa began in the summit area...
Spatiotemporal variability of snow depletion curves derived from SNODAS for the conterminous United States, 2004-2013
Jessica M. Driscoll, Lauren E. Hay, Andrew R. Bock
2017, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (53) 655-666
Assessment of water resources at a national scale is critical for understanding their vulnerability to future change in policy and climate. Representation of the spatiotemporal variability in snowmelt processes in continental-scale hydrologic models is critical for assessment of water resource response to continued climate change. Continental-extent hydrologic models such as...
Developing flood-inundation maps for Johnson Creek, Portland, Oregon
Adam J. Stonewall, Benjamin A. Beal
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5024
Digital flood-inundation maps were created for a 12.9‑mile reach of Johnson Creek by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The flood-inundation maps depict estimates of water depth and areal extent of flooding from the mouth of Johnson Creek to just upstream of Southeast 174th Avenue in Portland, Oregon. Each flood-inundation...
Observations and 3D hydrodynamics-based modeling of decadal-scale shoreline change along the Outer Banks, North Carolina
Ilgar Safak, Jeffrey H. List, John C. Warner, Nirnimesh Kumar
2017, Coastal Engineering (120) 78-92
Long-term decadal-scale shoreline change is an important parameter for quantifying the stability of coastal systems. The decadal-scale coastal change is controlled by processes that occur on short time scales (such as storms) and long-term processes (such as prevailing waves). The ability to predict decadal-scale shoreline change is not well established...
Extended late Holocene relative sea-level histories for North Carolina, USA
Andrew C. Kemp, Jessica J. Kegel, Stephen J. Culver, Donald C. Barber, David J. Mallinson, Eduardo Leorri, Christopher E. Bernhardt, Niamh Cahill, Stanley R. Riggs, Anna L. Woodson, Ryan P. Mulligan, Benjamin P. Horton
2017, Quaternary Science Reviews (160) 13-30
We produced ∼3000-year long relative sea-level (RSL) histories for two sites in North Carolina (USA) using foraminifera preserved in new and existing cores of dated salt-marsh sediment. At Cedar Island, RSL rose by ∼2.4 m during the past ∼3000 years compared to ∼3.3 m at Roanoke Island. This spatial difference arises primarily from...
Petrology and geochronology of Mesoproterozoic basement of the Mount Rogers area of southwestern Virginia and northwestern North Carolina: Implications for the Precambrian tectonic evolution of the southern Blue Ridge province
Richard P. Tollo, John N. Aleinikoff, Alan P. Dickin, Molly S. Radwany, C. Scott Southworth, C. Mark Fanning
2017, American Journal of Science (317) 251-337
Results from new geologic mapping, SHRIMP U-Pb geochronology, and petrologic studies indicate that Mesoproterozoic basement in the northern French Broad massif near Mount Rogers consists of multiple, mostly granitic plutons, map- and outcrop-scale xenoliths of pre-existing crustal rocks, and remnants of formerly overlying meta-sedimentary lithologies. Zircon and titanite ages demonstrate...
Record-high specific conductance and water temperature in San Francisco Bay during water year 2015
Paul A. Work, Maureen A. Downing-Kunz, Daniel N. Livsey
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1022
The San Francisco estuary is commonly defined to include San Francisco Bay (bay) and the adjacent Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta (delta). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has operated a high-frequency (15-minute sampling interval) water-quality monitoring network in San Francisco Bay since the late 1980s (Buchanan and others, 2014). This network...
