Water-quality and biological conditions in selected tributaries of the Lower Boise River, southwestern Idaho, water years 2009-12
Alexandra B. Etheridge, Dorene E. MacCoy, Rhonda J. Weakland
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5132
Water-quality conditions were studied in selected tributaries of the lower Boise River during water years 2009–12, including Fivemile and Tenmile Creeks in 2009, Indian Creek in 2010, and Mason Creek in 2011 and 2012. Biological samples, including periphyton biomass and chlorophyll-a, benthic macroinvertebrates, and fish were collected in Mason Creek...
Multi-scale observations of the variability of magmatic CO2 emissions, Mammoth Mountain, CA, USA
Jennifer L. Lewicki, George E. Hilley
2014, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (284) 1-15
One of the primary indicators of volcanic unrest at Mammoth Mountain is diffuse emission of magmatic CO2, which can effectively track this unrest if its variability in space and time and relationship to near-surface meteorological and hydrologic phenomena versus those occurring at depth beneath the mountain are understood. In June–October...
Sediment accretion in tidal freshwater forests and oligohaline marshes of the Waccamaw and Savannah Rivers, USA
Scott H. Ensign, Cliff R. Hupp, Gregory B. Noe, Ken W. Krauss, Camille L. Stagg
2014, Estuaries and Coasts (37) 1107-1119
Sediment accretion was measured at four sites in varying stages of forest-to-marsh succession along a fresh-to-oligohaline gradient on the Waccamaw River and its tributary Turkey Creek (Coastal Plain watersheds, South Carolina) and the Savannah River (Piedmont watershed, South Carolina and Georgia). Sites included tidal freshwater forests, moderately salt-impacted forests at...
Environmental and physiological influences to isotopic ratios of N and protein status in a montane ungulate in winter
David D. Gustine, Perry S. Barboza, Layne G. Adams, Nathan B. Wolf
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
Winter severity can influence large herbivore populations through a reduction in maternal proteins available for reproduction. Nitrogen (N) isotopes in blood fractions can be used to track the use of body proteins in northern and montane ungulates. We studied 113 adult female caribou for 13 years throughout a series of...
Continuous resistivity profiling and seismic-reflection data collected in April 2010 from Indian River Bay, Delaware
V.A. Cross, J.F. Bratton, H.A. Michael, K.D. Kroeger, Adrian G. Mann, Emile M. Bergeron
2014, Open-File Report 2011-1039
A geophysical survey to delineate the fresh-saline groundwater interface and associated sub-bottom sedimentary structures beneath Indian River Bay, Delaware, was carried out in April 2010. This included surveying at higher spatial resolution in the vicinity of a study site at Holts Landing, where intensive onshore and offshore studies were subsequently...
Quality of groundwater in the Denver Basin aquifer system, Colorado, 2003-5
MaryLynn Musgrove, Jennifer A. Beck, Suzanne S. Paschke, Nancy J. Bauch, Shana L. Mashburn
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5051
Groundwater resources from alluvial and bedrock aquifers of the Denver Basin are critical for municipal, domestic, and agricultural uses in Colorado along the eastern front of the Rocky Mountains. Rapid and widespread urban development, primarily along the western boundary of the Denver Basin, has approximately doubled the population since about...
Comparing population exposure to multiple Washington earthquake scenarios for prioritizing loss estimation studies
Nathan J. Wood, Jamie L. Ratliff, John Schelling, Craig S. Weaver
2014, Applied Geography (52) 191-203
Scenario-based, loss-estimation studies are useful for gauging potential societal impacts from earthquakes but can be challenging to undertake in areas with multiple scenarios and jurisdictions. We present a geospatial approach using various population data for comparing earthquake scenarios and jurisdictions to help emergency managers prioritize where to focus limited resources...
Globigerinoides ruber morphotypes in the Gulf of Mexico: a test of null hypothesis
Kaustubh Thirumalai, Julie N. Richey, Terrence M. Quinn, Richard Z. Poore
2014, Scientific Reports (4)
Planktic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber (G. ruber), due to its abundance and ubiquity in the tropical/subtropical mixed layer, has been the workhorse of paleoceanographic studies investigating past sea-surface conditions on a range of timescales. Recent geochemical work on the two principal white G. ruber (W) morphotypes, sensu stricto (ss) and sensu...
The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium: 20 years of development and integration of USA national land cover data
James D. Wickham, Collin G. Homer, James E. Vogelmann, Alexa McKerrow, Rick Mueller, Nate Herold, John Coluston
2014, Remote Sensing (6) 7424-7441
The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium demonstrates the national benefits of USA Federal collaboration. Starting in the mid-1990s as a small group with the straightforward goal of compiling a comprehensive national Landsat dataset that could be used to meet agencies’ needs, MRLC has grown into a group of 10 USA...
Linking multi-temporal satellite imagery to coastal wetland dynamics and bird distribution
Bradley A. Pickens, Sammy L. King
2014, Ecological Modelling (285) 1-12
Ecosystems are characterized by dynamic ecological processes, such as flooding and fires, but spatial models are often limited to a single measurement in time. The characterization of direct, fine-scale processes affecting animals is potentially valuable for management applications, but these are difficult to quantify over broad extents. Direct predictors are...
Flood-inundation maps for the West Branch Susquehanna River near the Boroughs of Lewisburg and Milton, Pennsylvania
Mark A. Roland, Scott A. Hoffman
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5094
Digital flood-inundation maps for an approximate 8-mile reach of the West Branch Susquehanna River from approximately 2 miles downstream from the Borough of Lewisburg, extending upstream to approximately 1 mile upstream from the Borough of Milton, Pennsylvania, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Susquehanna...
A precipitation-runoff model for simulating natural streamflow conditions in the Smith River watershed, Montana, water years 1996-2008
Katherine J. Chase, Rodney R. Caldwell, Andrea K. Stanley
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5125
This report documents the construction of a precipitation-runoff model for simulating natural streamflow in the Smith River watershed, Montana. This Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System model, constructed in cooperation with the Meagher County Conservation District, can be used to examine the general hydrologic framework of the Smith River watershed, including quantification of...
Technical review of managed underground storage of water study of the upper Catherine Creek watershed, Union County, northeastern Oregon
Daniel T. Snyder
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1164
Because of water diversions during summer, flow in Catherine Creek, a tributary to the Grande Ronde River in northeastern Oregon, is insufficient to sustain several aquatic species for which the stream is listed as critical habitat. A feasibility study for managed underground storage (MUS) in the upper Catherine Creek watershed...
Preliminary simulation of chloride transport in the Equus Beds aquifer and simulated effects of well pumping and artificial recharge on groundwater flow and chloride transport near the city of Wichita, Kansas, 1990 through 2008
Brian J. Klager, Brian P. Kelly, Andrew C. Ziegler
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1162
The Equus Beds aquifer in south-central Kansas is a primary water-supply source for the city of Wichita. Water-level declines because of groundwater pumping for municipal and irrigation needs as well as sporadic drought conditions have caused concern about the adequacy of the Equus Beds aquifer as a future water supply...
Updated estimates of long-term average dissolved-solids loading in streams and rivers of the Upper Colorado River Basin
Fred D. Tillman, David W. Anning
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1148
The Colorado River and its tributaries supply water to more than 35 million people in the United States and 3 million people in Mexico, irrigating over 4.5 million acres of farmland, and annually generating about 12 billion kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power. The Upper Colorado River Basin, part of the...
An expanded model: flood-inundation maps for the Leaf River at Hattiesburg, Mississippi, 2013
John B. Storm
2014, Scientific Investigations Map 3300
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.8-mile reach of the Leaf River at Hattiesburg, Mississippi (Miss.), were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the City of Hattiesburg, City of Petal, Forrest County, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, Mississippi Department of Homeland Security, and the Emergency Management District. The...
Seismicity, faulting, and structure of the Koyna-Warna seismic region, Western India from local earthquake tomography and hypocenter locations
Madan M. Dixit, Sanjay Kumar, Rufus D. Catchings, K. Suman, Dipankar Sarkar, M.K. Sen
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (119) 6372-6398
Although seismicity near Koyna Reservoir (India) has persisted for ~50 years and includes the largest induced earthquake (M 6.3) reported worldwide, the seismotectonic framework of the area is not well understood. We recorded ~1800 earthquakes from 6 January 2010 to 28 May 2010 and located a subset of 343 of the...
Land cover trends dataset, 1973-2000
Christopher E. Soulard, William Acevedo, Roger F. Auch, Terry L. Sohl, Mark A. Drummond, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Daniel G. Sorenson, Steven Kambly, Tamara S. Wilson, Janis L. Taylor, Kristi L. Sayler, Michael P. Stier, Christopher A. Barnes, Steven C. Methven, Thomas R. Loveland, Rachel Headley, Mark S. Brooks
2014, Data Series 844
The U.S. Geological Survey Land Cover Trends Project is releasing a 1973–2000 time-series land-use/land-cover dataset for the conterminous United States. The dataset contains 5 dates of land-use/land-cover data for 2,688 sample blocks randomly selected within 84 ecological regions. The nominal dates of the land-use/land-cover maps are 1973, 1980, 1986, 1992,...
Simulating soil-water movement through loess-veneered landscapes using nonconsilient saturated hydraulic conductivity measurements
Tanja N. Williamson, Brad D. Lee, Philip J. Schoeneberger, W. M. McCauley, Samuel J. Indorante, Phillip R. Owens
2014, Soil Science Society of America Journal (78) 1320-1331
Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO) data are available for the entire United States, so are incorporated in many regional and national models of hydrology and environmental management. However, SSURGO does not provide an understanding of spatial variability and only includes saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) values estimated from particle size analysis...
Simulation of groundwater flow in the Edwards-Trinity and related aquifers in the Pecos County region, Texas
Jonathan V. Thomas
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3029
The Edwards-Trinity aquifer, a major aquifer in the Pecos County region of western Texas, is a vital groundwater resource for agricultural, industrial, and public supply uses. Resource managers would like to better understand the future availability of water in the Edwards-Trinity aquifer in the Pecos County region and the effects...
A multiphased approach to groundwater investigations for the Edwards-Trinity and related aquifers in the Pecos County region, Texas
Jonathan V. Thomas
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3025
The Edwards-Trinity aquifer is a vital groundwater resource for agricultural, industrial, and public supply uses in the Pecos County region of western Texas. Resource managers would like to understand the future availability of water in the Edwards-Trinity aquifer in the Pecos County region and the effects of the possible increase...
Density-stratified flow events in Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA: implications for mercury and salinity cycling
David L. Naftz, Gregory T. Carling, Cory Angeroth, Michael Freeman, Ryan Rowland, Eddy Pazmino
2014, Aquatic Geochemistry (20) 547-571
Density stratification in saline and hypersaline water bodies from throughout the world can have large impacts on the internal cycling and loading of salinity, nutrients, and trace elements. High temporal resolution hydroacoustic and physical/chemical data were collected at two sites in Great Salt Lake (GSL), a saline lake in the...
Bayesian historical earthquake relocation: an example from the 1909 Taipei earthquake
Sarah E. Minson, William H.K. Lee
2014, Geophysical Journal International (198) 1419-1430
Locating earthquakes from the beginning of the modern instrumental period is complicated by the fact that there are few good-quality seismograms and what traveltimes do exist may be corrupted by both large phase-pick errors and clock errors. Here, we outline a Bayesian approach to simultaneous inference of not only the...
Autonomous bed-sediment imaging-systems for revealing temporal variability of grain size
Daniel Buscombe, David M. Rubin, Jessica R. Lacy, Curt D. Storlazzi, Gerald Hatcher, Henry Chezar, Robert Wyland, Christopher R. Sherwood
2014, Limnology and Oceanography: Methods (12) 390-406
We describe a remotely operated video microscope system, designed to provide high-resolution images of seabed sediments. Two versions were developed, which differ in how they raise the camera from the seabed. The first used hydraulics and the second used the energy associated with wave orbital motion. Images were analyzed using...
Methods and equations for estimating peak streamflow per square mile in Virginia’s urban basins
Samuel H. Austin
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5090
Models are presented that describe Virginia urban area annual peak streamflow per square mile based on basin percent urban area and basin drainage area. Equations are provided to estimate Virginia urban peak flow per square mile of basin drainage area in each of the following annual exceedance probability categories: 0.995,...
