Texas and Landsat
U.S. Geological Survey
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3017
The State of Texas has the largest land area of any in the contiguous United States, and its sprawling landscapes show rich geographic diversity. The Lone Star State has cactus flats in the high plains of its far western panhandle, rolling hills in its western Trans-Pecos region, farms and ranchlands...
Preliminary assessment of carbon and nitrogen sequestration potential of wildfire-derived sediments stored by erosion control structures in forest ecosystems, southwest USA
James B. Callegary, Laura M. Norman, Christopher J. Eastoe, Joel B. Sankey, Ann Youberg
2021, Air, Soil and Water Research (14)
The role of pyrogenic carbon (PyC) in the global carbon cycle is still incompletely characterized. Much work has been done to characterize PyC on landforms and in soils where it originates or in “terminal” reservoirs such as marine sediments. Less is known about intermediate reservoirs such as...
Landscape evolution in eastern Chuckwalla Valley, Riverside County, California
Amy E. East, Harrison J. Gray, Margaret Hiza Redsteer, Matthew Ballmer
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5017
This study investigates sedimentary and geomorphic processes in eastern Chuckwalla Valley, Riverside County, California, a region of arid, basin-and-range terrain where extensive solar-energy development is planned. The objectives of this study were to (1) measure local weather parameters and use them to model aeolian sediment-transport potential; (2) identify surface sedimentary...
Brittle fragmentation by rapid gas separation in a Hawaiian fountain
Atsuko Namiki, Matthew R. Patrick, Michael Manga, Bruce F. Houghton
2021, Nature Geoscience (14) 242-247
Brittle fragmentation, generating small pyroclasts from magma, is a key process determining eruptive style. How low-viscosity magma fragments within a rising fountain in a brittle manner, however, is not well understood. Here we describe a fragmentation process in Hawaiian fountains on the basis of observations from...
Implications of model selection: A comparison of publicly available, conterminous US-extent hydrologic component estimates
Samuel Saxe, William H. Farmer, Jessica M. Driscoll, Terri S. Hogue
2021, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (25) 1529-1598
Spatiotemporally continuous estimates of the hydrologic cycle are often generated through hydrologic modeling, reanalysis, or remote sensing (RS) methods and are commonly applied as a supplement to, or a substitute for, in situ measurements when observational data are sparse or unavailable. This study compares estimates of precipitation (P), actual...
Evaluation and application of the Purge Analyzer Tool (PAT) to determine in-well flow and purge criteria for sampling monitoring wells at the Stringfellow Superfund site in Jurupa Valley, California, in 2017
Philip T. Harte, Tomas Perina, Kent Becher, Herb Levine, Daewon Rojas-Mickelson, Lesley Walther, Anthony A. Brown
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5140
The U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are developing analytical tools to assess the representativeness of groundwater samples from fractured-rock aquifers. As part of this effort, monitoring wells from the Stringfellow Superfund site in Jurupa Valley in Riverside County, California, approximately 50 miles east of Los Angeles, were...
A revised position for the primary strand of the Pleistocene-Holocene San Andreas fault in southern California
Kim Blisniuk, Katherine M. Scharer, Warren Sharp, Roland Burgmann, Colin Amos, Michael Rymer
2021, Science Advances (7)
The San Andreas fault has the highest calculated time-dependent probability for large-magnitude earthquakes in southern California. However, where the fault is multistranded east of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, it has been uncertain which strand has the fastest slip rate and, therefore, which has the highest probability of a destructive...
Genetic structure of Maryland Brook Trout populations: Management implications for a threatened species
Raymond P. Morgan II, David C. Kazyak, Tim L. King, Barbara A. Lubinski, Matthew T. Sell, Alan A Heft, Jess W Jones
2021, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (41) 1097-1119
Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis have declined across their native range due to multiple anthropogenic factors, including landscape alteration and climate change. Although coldwater streams in Maryland (eastern United States) historically supported significant Brook Trout populations, only fragmented remnant populations remain, with the exception of the upper Savage River...
Earthquake magnitudes from dynamic strain
Andrew J. Barbour, John O. Langbein, Noha Sameh Ahmed Farghal
2021, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (111) 1325-1346
Dynamic strains have never played a role in determining local earthquake magnitudes, which are routinely set by displacement waveforms from seismic instrumentation (e.g., ML). We present a magnitude scale for local earthquakes based on broadband dynamic strain waveforms. This scale is derived from the peak...
Distribution, abundance, and genomic diversity of the endangered antioch dunes evening primrose (Oenothera deltoides subsp. howellii) surveyed in 2019
Karen M. Thorne, Amy G. Vandergast, editor(s)
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1017
Sand dune ecosystems are highly dynamic landforms found along coastlines and riverine deltas where a supply of sand-sized material is available to be delivered by aquatic and wind environments. These unique ecosystems provide habitat for a variety of endemic and rare plant and animal species. Sand dunes have been affected...
The 2018 update of the US National Seismic Hazard Model: Ground motion models in the central and eastern US
Sanaz Rezaeian, Peter M. Powers, Allison Shumway, Mark D. Petersen, Nico Luco, Arthur D. Frankel, Morgan P. Moschetti, Eric M. Thompson, Daniel McNamara
2021, Earthquake Spectra (37) 1354-1390
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) is the scientific foundation of seismic design regulations in the United States and is regularly updated to consider the best available science and data. The 2018 update of the conterminous US NSHM includes major changes to the underlying ground...
The Robinson Forest environmental monitoring network: Long‐term evaluation of streamflow and precipitation quantity and stream‐water and bulk deposition chemistry in eastern Kentucky watersheds
Kenton Sena, Chris D. Barton, Tanja N. Williamson
2021, Hydrological Processes (35)
The University of Kentucky (U KY) has owned Robinson Forest (37.460723° N, 83.158598° W) since 1923, conducting experiments crucial to understanding the environmental effects of land management in the region. Part of the management of Robinson Forest has been collection of environmental data, including precipitation quantity, bulk‐deposition chemistry, streamflow, stream‐water...
Dating fault damage along the eastern Denali fault zone with hematite (U-Th)/He thermochronometry
Robert G. McDermott, Alexis K. Ault, Jonathan Saul Caine
2021, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (563)
Unraveling complex slip histories in fault damage zones to understand relations among deformation, hydrothermal alteration, and surface uplift remains a challenge. The dextral eastern Denali fault zone (EDFZ; southwest Yukon, Canada) bounds the Kluane Ranges and hosts a variety of fault-related rocks, including hematite fault surfaces, which have been exhumed...
Organic geochemistry and petrology of Devonian shale in eastern Ohio: Implications for petroleum systems assessment
Paul C. Hackley, Robert T. Ryder
2021, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin (105) 543-573
Recent production of light sweet oil has prompted reevaluation of Devonian petroleum systems in the central Appalachian Basin. Upper Devonian Ohio Shale (lower Huron Member) and Middle Devonian Marcellus Shale organic-rich source rocks from eastern Ohio and nearby areas were examined using organic petrography and geochemical analysis of solvent extracts...
Organic petrology and geochemistry of the Sunbury and Ohio Shales in eastern Kentucky and southeastern Ohio
Cortland F. Eble, Paul C. Hackley, Thomas M. Parris, Stephen F. Greb
2021, AAPG Bulletin (105) 493-515
As part of a study to determine the origin of oil and gas in the Berea Sandstone in northeastern Kentucky and southeastern Ohio, 158 samples of organic-rich shale from the Upper Devonian Olentangy and Ohio Shales and the Lower Mississippian Sunbury Shale, collectively referred to as the “black shale,”...
Oil–source correlation studies in the shallow Berea Sandstone petroleum system, eastern Kentucky
Paul C. Hackley, T.M. Parris, C. F. Eble, S. F. Greb, D.C. Harris
2021, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin (105) 517-542
Shallow production of sweet high-gravity oil from the Upper Devonian Berea Sandstone in northeastern Kentucky has caused the region to become the leading oil producer in the state. Potential nearby source rocks, namely, the overlying Mississippian Sunbury Shale and underlying Ohio Shale, are immature for commercial oil generation according to...
Mixed evidence for biotic homogenization of southern Appalachian fish communities
Kelly N. Petersen, Mary Freeman, Joseph E. Kirsch, William O McLarney, Mark C Scott, Seth J. Wenger
2021, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (78) 1397-1406
Anthropogenic impacts on the landscape can drive biotic homogenization, whereby distinct biological communities become more similar to one another over time. Land-use change in the Southern Appalachian region is expected to result in homogenization of the highly diverse freshwater fish communities as in-stream habitat alterations favor widespread cosmopolitan...
Lava effusion rate evolution and erupted volume during the 2018 Kīlauea lower East Rift Zone eruption
Hannah R. Dietterich, Angela K. Diefenbach, S. Adam Soule, Michael H. Zoeller, Matthew R. Patrick, J. J. Major, Paul Lundgren
2021, Bulletin of Volcanology (83)
The 2018 eruption on the lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano produced one of the largest and most destructive lava flows in Hawai’i during the past 200 years. Over the course of more than 3 months, twenty-four fissures erupted, and the rate of lava effusion varied by two orders...
American Woodcock singing-ground survey: Comparison of four models for trend in population size
John R. Sauer, William Link, Mark E Seamans, Rebecca D. Rau
2021, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (12) 83-97
Wildlife biologists monitor the status and trends of American woodcock Scolopax minor populations in the eastern and central United States and Canada via a singing-ground survey, conducted just after sunset along roadsides in spring. Annual analyses of the survey produce estimates of trend and annual indexes of abundance for 25 states and...
Assessment of groundwater trends near Crex Meadows, Wisconsin
Megan J. Haserodt, Michael N. Fienen
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5149
Crex Meadows Wildlife Area (Crex) is a 30,000-acre property in Burnett County, Wisconsin. Crex is managed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) with the goal of providing public recreation opportunities while also protecting the quality of native ecological communities and species on the property. The WDNR’s management strategy...
Assessment of water availability in the Osage Nation using an integrated hydrologic-flow model
Jonathan P. Traylor, Shana L. Mashburn, Randall T. Hanson, Steven M. Peterson
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5141
The Osage Nation of northeastern Oklahoma, conterminous with Osage County, covers about 2,900 square miles. The area is primarily rural with 62 percent of the land being native prairie grass, and much of the area is used for cattle ranching and extraction of petroleum and natural gas. Protection of water...
Rapid strain release on the Bear River fault zone, Utah–Wyoming—The impact of preexisting structure on the rupture behavior of a new normal fault
Suzanne Hecker, David P. Schwartz, Stephen B. DeLong
2021, Tectonophysics (808)
Earthquake clustering (grouping in space and time) is a widely observed mode of strain release in the upper crust, although this behavior on individual faults is a departure from classic elastic rebound theory. In this study, we consider factors responsible for a...
Using bottom trawls to monitor subsurface water clarity in marine ecosystems
Sean K. Rohan, Stan Kotwicki, Kelly A. Kearney, Jennifer A Schulien, Edward A. Laman, Edward D. Cokelet, David Beauchamp, Lyle L. Britt, Kerim Y. Aydin, Stephani G. Zador
2021, Progress in Oceanography (194)
Biophysical processes that affect subsurface water clarity play a key role in ecosystem function. However, subsurface water clarity is poorly monitored in marine ecosystems because doing so requires in-situ sampling that is logistically difficult to conduct and sustain. Novel solutions are...
Comparative morphology of freshwater sculpin inhabiting different environmental conditions in the Chesapeake Bay headwaters
Nathaniel P. Hitt, Karmann G. Kessler, Hannah Eisemann Macmillan, Karli M. Rogers, Richard L. Raesly
2021, Environmental Biology of Fishes (104) 309-324
We compared body morphology of two freshwater sculpin taxa that inhabit distinct environmental conditions in the Chesapeake Bay watershed of eastern North America: Potomac sculpin (C. girardi, Robins; PS) and checkered sculpin (C. sp. cf. girardi; CS). Both taxa are endemic to the study area, but PS are more broadly distributed than...
Linking altered flow regimes to biological condition: An example using benthic macroinvertebrates in small streams of the Chesapeake Bay watershed
Kelly O. Maloney, Daren M. Carlisle, Claire Buchanan, Jennifer L. Rapp, Samuel H. Austin, Matthew J. Cashman, John A. Young
2021, Environmental Management (67) 1171-1185
Regionally scaled assessments of hydrologic alteration for small streams and its effects on freshwater taxa are often inhibited by a low number of stream gages. To overcome this limitation, we paired modeled estimates of hydrologic alteration to a benthic macroinvertebrate index of biotic integrity data for 4522 stream reaches across...
