Quantifying trends in arsenic, nitrate, and dissolved solids from selected wells in Utah
Olivia L. Miller
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5047
Groundwater makes up a primary portion of the water supply in many parts of Utah, with annual withdrawals estimated at more than 1,000,000 acre-feet per year. Increases to groundwater withdrawal and land use may negatively impact water availability. Ensuring availability of clean water requires understanding how water quality has changed...
Decision analysis for managing public natural resources
Michael C. Runge, Ellen A Bean
2020, Book chapter, Structured decision making: Case studies in natural resource management
Examples like the Grand Canyon story are becoming more common—agencies and stakeholders are increasingly using decision tools to help navigate complex decisions regarding natural resources. Several books and many papers have made the case for the use of decision analysis in natural resource management settings and have described the tools...
Hydro-morphological characterization of coral reefs for wave runup prediction
Fred Scott, Jose A.A. Antolinez, Robert T. McCall, Curt D. Storlazzi, Ad Reiners, Stuart Pearson
2020, Frontiers in Marine Science (7)
Many coral reef-lined coasts are low-lying with elevations <4 m above mean sea level. Climate-change-driven sea-level rise, coral reef degradation, and changes in storm wave climate will lead to greater occurrence and impacts of wave-driven flooding. This poses a significant threat to their coastal communities. While greatly at risk, the...
Using remotely sensed data to map Joshua Tree distributions at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California, 2018
Todd Esque, Patrick E. Baird, Felicia C. Chen, David C. Housman, Tom J. Holton
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5053
Species distribution models (SDMs) that are derived through inference have been used to provide important insights toward species distributions. Their inferences can be robust in relation to known presences, but SDMs have error rates that cannot be quantified with certainty. For large plant species with unique signatures and in sparsely...
The water-year water balance of the Colorado River Basin
Gregory J. McCabe, David M. Wolock
2020, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (56) 724-737
Model‐estimated monthly water balance components (i.e., potential evapotranspiration, actual evapotranspiration, and runoff (R)) for 146 United States (U.S.) Geological Survey 8‐digit hydrologic units located in the Colorado River Basin (CRB) are used to examine the temporal and spatial variability of the CRB water balance for water...
Seismic velocity variations associated with the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption of Kīlauea, Hawaiʻi
Ashton F. Flinders, Corentin Caudron, Ingrid A. Johanson, Taka’aki Taira, Brian Shiro, Matthew M. Haney
2020, Bulletin of Volcanology (82)
The 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption of Kīlauea (Hawai‘i) marked a dramatic change in the volcano’s 35-year-long rift zone eruption. The collapse of the middle East Rift Zone vent Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō was followed by one of the volcano’s most voluminous eruptions in 500 years. Over the course of this...
Submarine canyons, slope failures and mass transport processes in southern Cascadia
Jenna C. Hill, Janet Watt, Daniel S. Brothers, Jared W. Kluesner
2020, Geological Society, London, Special Publications (500) 453-475
The marine turbidite record along the southern Cascadia Subduction Zone has been used to interpret paleoseismicity and suggest a shorter recurrence interval for large (>M7) earthquakes along this portion of the margin; however, the sources and pathways of these turbidity flows are poorly constrained. We examine the spatial distribution of...
Evaluating elevation change thresholds between structure-from-motion DEMs derived from historical aerial photos and 3DEP LiDAR data
Peter G. Chirico, Jessica D. DeWitt, Sarah E. Bergstresser
2020, Remote Sensing (10)
This study created digital terrain models (DTMs) from historical aerial images using Structure from Motion (SfM) for a variety of image dates, resolutions, and photo scales. Accuracy assessments were performed on the SfM DTMs, and they were compared to the United States Geological Survey’s three-dimensional digital elevation program (3DEP) light...
Morphological, elemental, and boron isotopic insights into pathophysiology of diseased coral growth anomalies
Erik Andersson, Joseph A. E. Stewart, Thierry M. Work, Cheryl M. Woodley, Tracey B. Schock, Russell D. Day
2020, Scientific Reports (10)
Growth anomalies (GAs) impact both coral skeleton and soft tissues and are detrimental to reef health. This tumor-like disease is increasingly found throughout the tropics and is commonly associated with high human population density, yet little is known about the etiology, pathology, or calcification behavior of the disease. Here, we...
Estimating the effect of winter cover crops on nitrogen leaching using cost-share enrollment data, satellite remote sensing, and Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) modeling
W. Dean Hively, Sangchul Lee, Ali M. Sadeghi, Gregory W. McCarty, Brian T. Lamb, Alexander M. Soroka, Jason Keppler, In-Young Yeo, Glenn E. Moglen
2020, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (75) 362-375
This study employed a novel combination of data (winter cover crop cost-share enrollment records, satellite remote sensing of wintertime vegetation, and results of Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) water quality simulations) to estimate the environmental performance of winter cover crops (WCC) at the watershed scale, from 2008 through 2017,...
Local to landscape-level controls of water fluxes through Hawaiian forests: Effects of invasive animals and plants on soil infiltration capacity across substrate and moisture gradients
Lucas B. Fortini, Christina Leopold, Kimberlie Perkins, Oliver A. Chadwick, Stephanie G. Yelenik, James D. Jacobi, Kaiena Bishaw, Makani Gregg, Sarah N. Rosa
2020, Report
Given the potential effect of invasive plants and animals to water fluxes through forests, the invasive-driven degradation of native ecosystems is a topic of great concern for many downstream land and water managers. The infiltration rate determines the partitioning between runoff and infiltration into soil in Hawaiian forests and beyond....
Differences in macronutrient content of common aquatic macroinvertebrates available as prey for young-of-the-year Scaphirhynchus sturgeons in the lower Missouri River
Alin Gonzalez, C. L. Barnes, S. M. Wilder, James M. Long
2020, Article
Nutrient availability in prey items can have important consequences for the growth, reproduction, survival, and recruitment into adulthood of juvenile fish. For young of the year sturgeon, which are highly dependent on macroinvertebrates as prey, knowing the nutritional content across various prey items within their habitats can help managers during...
Joint seasonality in geographic and ecological spaces, illustrated with a partially migratory bird
Mathieu Basille, James I. Watling, Stephanie Romanach, Rena R. Borkhataria
2020, Ecosphere (11)
As most species live in seasonal environments, considering varying conditions is essential to understand species dynamics in both geographic and ecological spaces. Both resident and migratory species need to contend with seasonality and balance settling in favorable areas with tracking favorable environmental conditions during the year. We present an exploratory...
Golden Eagle perch site use in the U.S. southern plains: Understanding electrocution risk
J.F. Dwyer, R.K. Murphy, D Stahlecker, Angela M. Dwyer, Clint W. Boal
2020, Journal of Raptor Research (54) 126-135
Electrocution on overhead electric systems is a primary cause of anthropogenic mortality for Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) in North America. Distribution poles supporting energized equipment are most often involved in electrocutions, but the frequency with which Golden Eagles perch on pole supporting equipment is unknown....
Mild displacements of boulders during the 2019 Ridgecrest Earthquakes
Norman Sleep, Susan E. Hough
2020, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (110) 1579-1588
Strong seismic waves from the July 2019 Ridgecrest, California, earthquakes displaced rocks in proximity to the M 7.1 mainshock fault trace at several locations. In this report, we document large boulders that were displaced at the Wagon Wheel Staging Area (WWSA), approximately 4.5 km southeast of the southern terminus of...
Ten ways Mount St. Helens changed our world—The enduring legacy of the 1980 eruption
Carolyn L. Driedger, Jon J. Major, John S. Pallister, Michael A. Clynne, Seth C. Moran, Elizabeth G. Westby, John W. Ewert
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3031
Mount St. Helens was once enjoyed for its serene beauty and was considered one of America’s most majestic volcanoes because of its perfect cone shape, similar to Japan’s beloved Mount Fuji. Nearby residents assumed that the mountain was solid and enduring. That perception changed during the early spring of 1980. Then,...
Late Quaternary slip rates on the Sierra Madre fault zone and paleoseismic evidence on the size and frequency of past ruptures
Reed J. Burgette, Katherine M. Scharer, Scott Lindvall
2020, Book chapter, From the islands to the mountains: A 2020 view of geologic excursions in Southern California
The Sierra Madre fault zone is a south-vergent, active reverse fault that accommodates shortening between basins on the northern margin of the Los Angeles region and the San Gabriel Mountains. The preservation of late Quaternary alluvial fill and fan surfaces in the hanging wall of the fault provides evidence of...
Abundant spontaneous and dynamically triggered submarine landslides in the Gulf of Mexico
Wenyuan Fan, Jeffrey J. McGuire, Peter M. Shearer
2020, Geophysical Research Letters (47)
Submarine landslides that occur offshore are common along the U.S. continental margins. These mass wasting events can trigger tsunamis and hence potentially devastate coastal communities and damage offshore infrastructure. However, the initiation and failure processes of submarine landslides are poorly understood. Here, we identify and locate 85 previously unknown submarine...
Specialized meltwater biodiversity persists despite widespread deglaciation
Clint C. Muhlfeld, Timothy Joseph Cline, J. Joseph Giersch, Erich Peitzsch, Caitlyn Florentine, Dean Jacobsen, Scott Hotaling
2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (117) 12208-12214
Glaciers are important drivers of environmental heterogeneity and biological diversity across mountain landscapes. Worldwide, glaciers are receding rapidly due to climate change, with important consequences for biodiversity in mountain ecosystems. However, the effects of glacier loss on biodiversity have never been quantified across a mountainous region, primarily due to a...
Aligning climate models with stakeholder needs: Advances in communicating future rainfall uncertainties for south Florida decision makers
Johnna Infanti, Ben P. Kirtman, Nicholas Aumen, John F. Stamm, Colin Polsky
2020, Earth and Space Science (7)
Changes in future precipitation are of great importance to climate data users in South Florida. A recent U.S. Geological Survey workshop, “Increasing Confidence in Precipitation Projections for Everglades Restoration,” highlighted a gap between standard climate model outputs and the climate information needs of some key Florida...
Poultry litter as potential source of pathogens and other contaminants in groundwater and surface water proximal to large-scale confined poultry feeding operations
Laura E. Hubbard, Carrie E. Givens, Dale W. Griffin, Luke Iwanowicz, Michael T. Meyer, Dana W. Kolpin
2020, Science of the Total Environment (735)
Manure from livestock production has been associated with the contamination of water resources. To date, research has primarily focused on runoff of these contaminants from animal operations into surface water, and the introduction of poultry-derived pathogenic zoonoses and other contaminants into groundwater is under-investigated. We characterized pathogens and other microbial...
Understanding mountain lakes in a changing world: Introduction to the special issue
Jill S. Baron, Sudeep Chandra, James J. Elser
2020, Aquatic Sciences (82)
No abstract available....
Local magnitude, coda magnitude, and radiated energy of volcanic tectonic earthquakes from October 2010 to December 2011 at Sinabung volcano, Indonesia
Afnimar Pagacancang, Wendy A. McCausland, Nimas Nurul Hamidah, Kristianto, Ahmad Basuki, Novianti Indrastuti
2020, Bulletin of Volcanology (83)
In August 2010, Sinabung volcano began erupting after more than a thousand years of dormancy. Following several weeks of phreatic eruptions, the eruptions ceased and Sinabung entered what became an inter-eruptive period of dominantly seismic unrest. While standard equations for understanding the size of an earthquake (local magnitude (ML), coda...
Louisiana Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring Program: Mapping habitats in beach, dune, and intertidal environments along the Louisiana Gulf of Mexico shoreline, 2008 and 2015–16
Nicholas M. Enwright, William M. SooHoo, Jason L. Dugas, Craig P. Conzelmann, Claudia Laurenzano, Darin M. Lee, Kelly Mouton, Spencer J. Stelly
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1030
Barrier islands, headlands, and coastal shorelines provide numerous valuable ecosystem goods and services, including storm protection and erosion control for the mainland, habitat for fish and wildlife, salinity regulation in estuaries, carbon sequestration in marshes, and areas for recreation and tourism. These coastal features are dynamic environments because of their...
Natural and anthropogenic processes affecting radon releases during mining and early stage reclamation activities, Pinenut uranium mine, Arizona, USA
David L. Naftz, Katherine Walton-Day, W. Payton Gardner, Michael C. Duniway, Donald J. Bills
2020, Journal of Environmental Radioactivity (220–221)
Radon (Rnair) was monitored in open air in publicly accessible areas surrounding the Pinenut uranium (U) mine during mining and reclamation activities in 2015–16 to address concerns about mining related effects to areas surrounding Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP) in Arizona, USA. During July 2015, Rnair concentrations associated with the...
