Book review: Mineral resource estimation
Mark J. Mihalasky
2016, Economic Geology (111) 272-274
Mineral Resource Estimation is about estimating mineral resources at the scale of an ore deposit and is not to be mistaken with mineral resource assessment, which is undertaken at a significantly broader scale, even if similar data and geospatial/geostatistical methods are used. The book describes geological, statistical, and geostatistical tools...
Monogenetic volcanoes fed by interconnected dikes and sills in the Hopi Buttes volcanic field, Navajo Nation, USA
James D. Muirhead, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Giuseppe Re, James D. L. White, Michael H. Ort
2016, Bulletin of Volcanology (78) 1-16
Although monogenetic volcanic fields pose hazards to major cities worldwide, their shallow magma feeders (<500 m depth) are rarely exposed and, therefore, poorly understood. Here, we investigate exposures of dikes and sills in the Hopi Buttes volcanic field, Arizona, to shed light on the nature of its magma feeder system. Shallow...
Impacts of climate change on land-use and wetland productivity in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America
Benjamin S. Rashford, Richard M. Adams, Jun Wu, Richard A. Voldseth, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Brett Werner, W. Carter Johnson
2016, Regional Environmental Change (16) 515-526
Wetland productivity in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America is closely linked to climate. A warmer and drier climate, as predicted, will negatively affect the productivity of PPR wetlands and the services they provide. The effect of climate change on wetland productivity, however, will not only depend on...
An assessment of the cultivated cropland class of NLCD 2006 using a multi-source and multi-criteria approach
Patrick Danielson, Limin Yang, Suming Jin, Collin G. Homer, Darrell Napton
2016, Remote Sensing (8)
We developed a method that analyzes the quality of the cultivated cropland class mapped in the USA National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2006. The method integrates multiple geospatial datasets and a Multi Index Integrated Change Analysis (MIICA) change detection method that captures spectral changes to identify the spatial distribution and...
Dynamic occupancy models for explicit colonization processes
Kristin M. Broms, Mevin Hooten, Devin S. Johnson, Res Altwegg, Loveday Conquest
2016, Ecology (97) 194-204
The dynamic, multi-season occupancy model framework has become a popular tool for modeling open populations with occupancies that change over time through local colonizations and extinctions. However, few versions of the model relate these probabilities to the occupancies of neighboring sites or patches. We present a modeling framework that incorporates...
Characterization of gas hydrate distribution using conventional 3D seismic data in the Pearl River Mouth Basin, South China Sea
Xiujuan Wang, Jin Qiang, Timothy S. Collett, Hesheng Shi, Shengxiong Yang, Chengzhi Yan, Yuanping Li, Zhenzhen Wang, Duanxin Chen
2016, Interpretation (4) SA25-SA37
A new 3D seismic reflection data volume acquired in 2012 has allowed for the detailed mapping and characterization of gas hydrate distribution in the Pearl River Mouth Basin in the South China Sea. Previous studies of core and logging data showed that gas hydrate occurrence at high concentrations is controlled...
Avian response to fire in pine–oak forests of Great Smoky Mountains National Park following decades of fire suppression
Eli T. Rose, Theodore R. Simons
2016, The Condor (118) 179-193
Fire suppression in southern Appalachian pine–oak forests during the past century dramatically altered the bird community. Fire return intervals decreased, resulting in local extirpation or population declines of many bird species adapted to post-fire plant communities. Within Great Smoky Mountains National Park, declines have been strongest for birds inhabiting xeric...
Estimating golden-cheeked warbler immigration: Implications for the spatial scale of conservation
A. Duarte, F.W. Weckerly, M. Schaub, Jeffrey S. Hatfield
2016, Animal Conservation (19) 65-74
Understanding the factors that drive population dynamics is fundamental to species conservation and management. Since the golden-cheeked warbler Setophaga chrysoparia was first listed as endangered, much effort has taken place to monitor warbler abundance, occupancy, reproduction and survival. Yet, despite being directly related to local population dynamics, movement rates have...
Quantifying pollen-vegetation relationships to reconstruct ancient forests using 19th-century forest composition and pollen data
Andria Dawson, Christopher J. Paciorek, Jason S. McLachlan, Simon Goring, John W. Williams, Stephen T. Jackson
2016, Quaternary Science Reviews (137) 156-175
Mitigation of climate change and adaptation to its effects relies partly on how effectively land-atmosphere interactions can be quantified. Quantifying composition of past forest ecosystems can help understand processes governing forest dynamics in a changing world. Fossil pollen data provide information about past forest composition,...
Evaluating geothermal and hydrogeologic controls on regional groundwater temperature distribution
Erick R. Burns, Steven E. Ingebritsen, Michael Manga, Colin F. Williams
2016, Water Resources Research (52) 1328-1344
A one-dimensional (1-D) analytic solution is developed for heat transport through an aquifer system where the vertical temperature profile in the aquifer is nearly uniform. The general anisotropic form of the viscous heat generation term is developed for use in groundwater flow simulations. The 1-D solution is extended to more...
Migratory corridors of adult female Kemp’s ridley turtles in the Gulf of Mexico
Donna J. Shaver, Kristen M. Hart, Ikuko Fujisaki, Cynthia Rubio, Autumn R. Sartain-Iverson, Jaime Pena, Daniel Gomez Gamez, Raul de Jesus Gonzales Diaz Miron, Patrick M. Burchfield, Hector J. Martinez, Jaime Ortiz
2016, Biological Conservation (194) 158-167
For many marine species, locations of migratory pathways are not well defined. We used satellite telemetry and switching state-space modeling (SSM) to define the migratory corridor used by Kemp's ridley turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) in the Gulf of Mexico. The turtles were tagged after nesting at Padre Island National Seashore, Texas,...
Ungulate reproductive parameters track satellite observations of plant phenology across latitude and climatological regimes
David Stoner, Joseph O. Sexton, Jyoteshwar Nagol, Heather H. Bernales, Thomas C. Edwards Jr.
2016, PLoS ONE (11) 1-19
The effect of climatically-driven plant phenology on mammalian reproduction is one key to predicting species-specific demographic responses to climate change. Large ungulates face their greatest energetic demands from the later stages of pregnancy through weaning, and so in seasonal environments parturition dates should match periods of high primary productivity. Interannual...
Geochemistry of formation waters from the Wolfcamp and “Cline” shales: Insights into brine origin, reservoir connectivity, and fluid flow in the Permian Basin, USA
Mark A. Engle, Francisco R. Reyes, Matthew S. Varonka, William H. Orem, Ma Lin, Adam J. Ianno, Tiffani M. Westphal, Pei Xu, Kenneth C. Carroll
2016, Chemical Geology (425) 76-92
Despite being one of the most important oil producing provinces in the United States, information on basinal hydrogeology and fluid flow in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico is lacking. The source and geochemistry of brines from the basin were investigated (Ordovician- to...
Water quality and hydrology of Silver Lake, Oceana County, Michigan, with emphasis on lake response to nutrient loading
Angela K. Brennan, Christopher J. Hoard, Joseph W. Duris, Mary E. Ogdahl, Alan D. Steinman
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5158
Executive Summary Silver Lake is a 672-acre inland lake located in Oceana County, Michigan, and is a major tourist destination due to its proximity to Lake Michigan and the surrounding outdoor recreational opportunities. In recent years, Silver Lake exhibited patterns of high phosphorus concentrations, elevated chlorophyll a concentrations, and nuisance algal...
The Lassen hydrothermal system
Steven E. Ingebritsen, Deborah Bergfeld, Laura Clor, William C. Evans
2016, American Mineralogist (101) 343-354
The active Lassen hydrothermal system includes a central vapor-dominated zone or zones beneath the Lassen highlands underlain by ~240 °C high-chloride waters that discharge at lower elevations. It is the best-exposed and largest hydrothermal system in the Cascade Range, discharging 41 ± 10 kg/s of steam (~115 MW) and 23...
Wood decay in desert riverine environments
Douglas Andersen, Craig A. Stricker, S. Mark Nelson
2016, Forest Ecology and Management (365) 83-95
Floodplain forests and the woody debris they produce are major components of riverine ecosystems in many arid and semiarid regions (drylands). We monitored breakdown and nitrogen dynamics in wood and bark from a native riparian tree, Fremont cottonwood (Populus deltoides subsp. wislizeni), along four North American desert streams. We placed locally-obtained, fresh,...
The Integrated Landscape Modeling partnership - Current status and future directions
David M. Mushet, Eric J. Scherff
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1006
The Integrated Landscape Modeling (ILM) partnership is an effort by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to identify, evaluate, and develop models to quantify services derived from ecosystems, with a focus on wetland ecosystems and conservation effects. The ILM partnership uses the Integrated Valuation of...
A multidimensional representation model of geographic features
E. Lynn Usery, George Timson, Mark Coletti
2016, Open-File Report 2015-1241
A multidimensional model of geographic features has been developed and implemented with data from The National Map of the U.S. Geological Survey. The model, programmed in C++ and implemented as a feature library, was tested with data from the National Hydrography Dataset demonstrating the capability to handle changes in feature...
Spatial and temporal variation in positioning probability of acoustic telemetry arrays: Fine-scale variability and complex interactions
Thomas Binder, Christopher M. Holbrook, Todd A. Hayden, Charles C. Krueger
2016, Animal Biotelemetry (4)
Background As popularity of positional acoustic telemetry systems increases, so does the need to better understand how they perform in real-world applications, where variation in performance can bias study conclusions. Studies assessing variability in positional telemetry system performance have focused primarily on position accuracy, or comparing...
Hyperspectral narrowband and multispectral broadband indices for remote sensing of crop evapotranspiration and its components (transpiration and soil evaporation)
Michael T. Marshall, Prasad S. Thenkabail, Trent Biggs, Kirk Post
2016, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology (218-219) 122-134
Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important component of micro- and macro-scale climatic processes. In agriculture, estimates of ET are frequently used to monitor droughts, schedule irrigation, and assess crop water productivity over large areas. Currently, in situ measurements of ET are difficult to scale up for regional applications, so remote sensing...
Surface-water quality and suspended-sediment quantity and quality within the Big River Basin, southeastern Missouri, 2011-13
Miya N. Barr
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5171
Missouri was the leading producer of lead in the United States—as well as the world—for more than a century. One of the lead sources is known as the Old Lead Belt, located in southeast Missouri. The primary ore mineral in the region is galena, which can be found both in...
A submarine landslide source for the devastating 1964 Chenega tsunami, southern Alaska
Daniel S. Brothers, Peter J. Haeussler, Lee Liberty, David Finlayson, Eric L. Geist, Keith A. Labay, Michael Byerly
2016, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (438) 112-121
During the 1964 Great Alaska earthquake (Mw 9.2), several fjords, straits, and bays throughout southern Alaska experienced significant tsunami runup of localized, but unexplained origin. Dangerous Passage is a glacimarine fjord in western Prince William Sound, which experienced a tsunami that devastated the village of...
Apatite fission-track evidence for regional exhumation in the subtropical Eocene, block faulting, and localized fluid flow in east-central Alaska
Cynthia Dusel-Bacon, Charles R. Bacon, Paul B. O'Sullivan, Warren C. Day
2016, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (53) 260-280
The origin and antiquity of the subdued topography of the Yukon–Tanana Upland (YTU), the physiographic province between the Denali and Tintina faults, are unresolved questions in the geologic history of interior Alaska and adjacent Yukon. We present apatite fission-track (AFT) results for 33 samples from the 2300 km2 western Fortymile...
Determining generic velocity and density models for crustal amplification calculations, with an update of the Boore and Joyner (1997) Generic Site Amplification for Graphic Site Amplification
David Boore
2016, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (106) 316-320
This short note contains two contributions related to deriving depth‐dependent velocity and density models for use in computing generic crustal amplifications. The first contribution is a method for interpolating two velocity profiles to obtain a third profile with a time‐averaged velocity to depth Z that is equal...
Predicting thermally stressful events in rivers with a strategy to evaluate management alternatives
K.O. Maloney, J. C. Cole, M. Schmid
2016, River Research and Applications 1428-1437
Water temperature is an important factor in river ecology. Numerous models have been developed to predict river temperature. However, many were not designed to predict thermally stressful periods. Because such events are rare, traditionally applied analyses are inappropriate. Here, we developed two logistic regression models to predict thermally stressful events...
