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Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 313 continuously cored and logged latest Eocene to early-middle Miocene sequences at three sites (M27, M28, and M29) on the inner-middle continental shelf offshore New Jersey, providing an opportunity to evaluate the ages, global correlations, and significance of sequence boundaries. We provide a chronology for...

Climate Change in the Northwest: Implications for Our Landscapes, Waters, and Communities is aimed at assessing the state of knowledge about key climate impacts and consequences to various sectors and communities in the northwest United States. It draws on a wealth of peer-reviewed literature, earlier state-level assessment reports conducted for...

Human-induced and natural changes to the transport of sediment and sediment-associated constituents can degrade aquatic ecosystems and limit human uses of streams and rivers. The lack of a dedicated, easily accessible, quality-controlled database of sediment and ancillary data has made it difficult to identify sediment-related water-quality impairments and has limited...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a 5-year study in 2003 that focused on postfire stream-water quality and postfire sediment load in streams within the Hayman and Hinman fire study areas. This report compares water quality of selected streams receiving runoff from unburned areas and burned areas using concentrations and...

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.5-mile reach of Kentucky River at Frankfort, Kentucky, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the City of Frankfort Office of Emergency Management. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/,...

The seawaveQ R package fits a parametric regression model (seawaveQ) to pesticide concentration data from streamwater samples to assess variability and trends. The model incorporates the strong seasonality and high degree of censoring common in pesticide data and users can incorporate numerous ancillary variables, such as streamflow anomalies. The model...

Since 1952, wastewater discharged to infiltration ponds (also called percolation ponds) and disposal wells at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has affected water quality in the eastern Snake River Plain (ESRP) aquifer and perched groundwater zones underlying the INL. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department...

With increasing demands being placed on the water resources of Nebraska, characterizing evapotranspiration (ET) from riparian vegetation has gained importance to water users and managers. This report summarizes and compares the results from several studies of the ET from cottonwood-dominated riparian forests, riparian grasslands, and common reed, Phragmites australis, in...

Open-File Miscellaneous Investigation 13–01.1 presents the results of geohydrologic investigations on a 1,664-foot-deep core hole drilled in the Bradford County part of the Gleason 7.5-minute quadrangle in north-central Pennsylvania. In the text, the authors discuss their methods of investigation, summarize physical and analytical results, and place those results in context....

Aeolian dust can influence nutrient availability, soil fertility, plant interactions, and water-holding capacity in both source and downwind environments. A network of 85 passive collectors for aeolian sediment spanning numerous plant communities, soil types, and land-use histories covering approximately 4000 square kilometers across southeastern Utah was used to sample horizontal...

Terrestrial carbon dynamics influence the contribution of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to river networks in addition to hydrology. In this study, we use a biogeochemical process model to simulate the lateral transfer of DOC from land to the Arctic Ocean via riverine transport. We estimate that, over the 20th century,...

The paucity of data on migratory connections and an incomplete understanding of how mobile organisms use geographically separate areas have been obstacles to understanding coastal dynamics. Research on acoustically tagged striped bass (Morone saxatilis) at the Plum Island Ecosystems (PIE) Long Term Ecological Research site, Massachusetts, documents intriguing patterns of...

This descriptive model for magmatic iron-titanium-oxide (Fe-Ti-oxide) deposits hosted by Proterozoic age massif-type anorthosite and related rock types presents their geological, mineralogical, geochemical, and geoenvironmental attributes. Although these Proterozoic rocks are found worldwide, the majority of known deposits are found within exposed rocks of the Grenville Province, stretching from southwestern...

Floods are amongst the most dangerous natural hazards in terms of economic damage. Whilst a growing number of studies have examined how river floods are influenced by climate change, the role of natural modes of interannual climate variability remains poorly understood. We present the first global assessment of the influence...

Stocking grass carp [Ctenopharyngodon idella (Valenciennes)] is a commonly applied technique to control nuisance aquatic vegetation in reservoirs. Factors that influence the degree of aquatic vegetation control are fish stocking density, regional climate, abundance and species composition of the aquatic plant community, and relative grass carp feeding preferences for plant...

Planning for marine conservation often requires estimates of the amount of habitat needed to support assemblages of interacting species. During winter in subtidal San Pablo Bay, California, the 3 main diving duck species are lesser scaup Aythya affinis (LESC), greater scaup A. marila (GRSC), and surf scoter Melanitta perspicillata (SUSC), which all feed almost entirely on...

Groundwater sampling from open boreholes in fractured-rock aquifers is particularly challenging because of mixing and dilution of fluid within the borehole from multiple fractures. This note presents an alternative to traditional sampling in open boreholes with packer assemblies. The alternative system called ZONFLO (zonal flow) is based on hydraulic control...

We explored the strength of connectedness among hierarchical system components associated with oxbow lakes in the alluvial valley of the Lower Mississippi River. Specifically, we examined the degree of canonical correlation between land use (agriculture and forests), lake morphometry (depth and size), nutrients (total nitrogen and total phosphorus), primary production...

The degree to which extrinsic factors influence migration chronology in North American waterfowl has not been quantified, particularly for dabbling ducks. Previous studies have examined waterfowl migration using various methods, however, quantitative approaches to define avian migration chronology over broad spatio-temporal scales are limited, and the implications for using different...

Laboratory tests to examine hysteresis in the hydrologic and mechanical properties of partially saturated soils were conducted on six intact specimens collected from a landslide-prone area of Alameda County, California. The results reveal that the pore-size distribution parameter remains statistically unchanged between the wetting and drying paths; however, the wetting...

The occurrence and distribution of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) and bacterial and protozoan pathogens are controlled by diverse factors. To investigate these factors in Pennsylvania streams, 217 samples were collected quarterly from a 27-station water-quality monitoring network from July 2007 through August 2009. Samples were analyzed for concentrations of Escherichia coli (EC)...

The status of desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) populations in the mountains around Death Valley was first evaluated in 1938, shortly after designation of Death Valley National Monument. However, the most comprehensive evaluation of bighorn sheep in the region was conducted by Ralph and Florence Welles during 1955-1961. They...

Gizzard shad, Dorosoma cepedianum, have generally been restricted to the lower Missouri River impoundments in South Dakota. In recent years, gizzard shad numbers have increased in Lake Oahe, marking the northern-most natural population. These increases could potentially affect recreational fishes. Specifically, questions arise about larval gizzard shad growth dynamics and if age-0...

Valley fills associated with mountaintop-removal mining bury stream headwaters and affect water quality and ecological function of reaches below fills. We quantified relative abundance of streamside salamanders in southern West Virginia during 2002 in three streams below valley fills (VFS) and in three reference streams (RS). We surveyed 36 10-...

Water clarity is a strong indicator of regional water quality. Unlike other common water-quality metrics, such as chlorophyll a, total P, or trophic status, clarity can be accurately and efficiently estimated remotely on a regional scale. Satellite-based remote sensing is useful in regions with many lakes where traditional field-sampling techniques may...