Mineral commodity summaries 2020
U.S. Geological Survey
2020, Report
Each chapter of the 2020 edition of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries (MCS) includes information on events, trends, and issues for each mineral commodity as well as discussions and tabular presentations on domestic industry structure, Government programs, tariffs, 5-year salient statistics, and world production and resources. The...
Groundwater withdrawals and regional flow paths at and near Willow Grove and Warminster, Pennsylvania—Data compilation and preliminary simulations for conditions in 1999, 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2017
Daniel J. Goode, Lisa A. Senior
2020, Open-File Report 2019-1137
In 2014, groundwater samples from residential and public supply wells in the vicinity of two former U.S. Navy bases at Willow Grove and Warminster, and an active Air National Guard Station at Horsham, Bucks and Montgomery Counties, Pennsylvania, were found to have concentrations of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate...
The influence of pre-fire growth patterns on post-fire tree mortality for common conifers in western U.S. parks
Phillip J. van Mantgem, Donald A. Falk, Emma C. Williams, Adrian J. Das, Nathan L. Stephenson
2020, International Journal of Wildland Fire (29) 513-518
Fire severity in forests is often defined in terms of post-fire tree mortality, yet the influences on tree mortality following fire are not fully understood. For trees that are not killed immediately by severe fire injury, pre-fire growth may partially predict post-fire mortality probabilities for conifers of the western U.S....
High-resolution imaging of hydrothermal heat flux using optical and thermal Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry
Aaron Lewis, Robert Sare, Jennifer L. Lewicki, George Hilley
2020, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (393)
Quantifying hydrothermal heat flux at meter-scale resolution over N0.25 km2 is required to bridge in-situ heat flux and satellite-based measurements. We advance a methodology that blends ground-based daytime optical and nighttime thermal infrared (TIR) imagery using Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry to map radiant hydrothermal heat flux over these scales at sites with...
Northward migration of the Oregon forearc on the Gales Creek fault
Ray Wells, Richard J. Blakely, Sean Bemis
2020, Geosphere (16) 660-684
The Gales Creek fault (GCF) is a 60-km-long, northwest-striking dextral fault system (west of Portland, Oregon) that accommodates northward motion and uplift of the Oregon Coast Range. New geologic mapping and geophysical models confirm inferred offsets from earlier geophysical surveys and document ∼12 km of right-lateral offset...
Phylogeographic analysis of Mudpuppies (Necturus maculosus)
Katherine Greenwald, Amber Stedman, David Mifsud, Maegan Stapleton, Krista Larson, Donna L. Parrish, Isaac Chellman, C. William Kilpatrick
2020, Journal of Herpetology (54) 78-86
The geology of the Pleistocene, and particularly the Last Glacial Maximum approximately 26.5 ka, is a critical driver of species’ present-day distributions and levels of genetic diversity in northern regions. Using mitochondrial DNA sequence data, we tested several predictions relating to the postglacial recolonization of the northern United States and...
A weight-of-evidence approach for defining thermal sensitivity in a federally endangered species
Heather Galbraith, Carrie J. Blakeslee, Daniel E. Spooner, William A. Lellis
2020, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems (30) 540-553
1. Managing for threatened and endangered species under changing environmental conditions is a challenge faced by resource managers worldwide. Lack of basic knowledge of the biology and habitat requirements of these species can contribute to this difficulty, but is confounded by the limitations of working with rare (i.e. few individuals)...
Did ice-charging generate volcanic lightning during the 2016–2017 eruption of Bogoslof volcano, Alaska?
Alexa R. Van Eaton, David J. Schneider, Cassandra Marie Smith, Matthew M. Haney, John J. Lyons, Ryan Said, David Fee, Robert H. Holzworth, Larry G. Mastin
2020, Bulletin of Volcanology (82)
The 2016–2017 shallow submarine eruption of Bogoslof volcano in Alaska injected plumes of ash and seawater to maximum heights of ~ 12 km. More than 4550 volcanic lightning strokes were detected by the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) and Vaisala’s Global Lightning Dataset (GLD360) over 9 months. Lightning...
Discrimination of biological scatterers in polarimetric weather radar data: Opportunities and challenges
Sidney Gauthreaux, Robert H. Diehl
2020, Remote Sensing (12)
For radar aeroecology studies, the identification of the type of scatterer is critically important. Here, we used a random forest (RF) algorithm to develop a variety of scatterer classification models based on the backscatter values in radar resolution volumes of six radar variables (reflectivity, radial velocity, spectrum width, differential...
Modeling pathogen dispersal in marine fish and shellfish
Danielle L Cantrell, Maya L. Groner, Tal Ben-Horin, Jon Grant, Crawford W. Revie
2020, Trends in Parasitology (36) 239-249
Bio-physical models are a useful tool for understanding dispersal and transmission of marine pathogens. While utilized for larval dispersal models, they are only recently being used in epidemiological studies and are currently underutilized by the marine epidemiology field. Bio-physical models are useful for spatial planning and coastal management. For example, they...
Mule deer habitat selection following vegetation thinning treatments in New Mexico
Grant E. Sorensen, David W. Kramer, James W. Cain III, Chase A. Taylor, Philip S. Gipson, Mark C. Wallace, Robert D. Cox, Warren B. Ballard
2020, Wildlife Society Bulletin (44) 122-129
Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) survival and population growth in north-central New Mexico, USA, was previously reported to be limited by nutritional constraints due to poor forage conditions in degraded habitats. Management recommendations suggested thinning of pinyon–juniper to improve habitat quality for mule deer. To evaluate the...
Effect of copper salts on hydrothermal oxidative decarboxylation: A study of phenylacetic acid
Xuan Fu, Megan Jamison, Aaron M. Jubb, Yiju Liao, Alexandria Aspin, Kyle Hayes, Christopher R. Glein, Ziming Yang
2020, Chemical Communications (London) (56) 2791-2794
Decarboxylation of carboxylic acids is favored under hydrothermal conditions, and can be influenced by dissolved metals. Here, we use phenylacetic acid as a model compound to study its hydrothermal decarboxylation in the presence of copper(II) salts but no O2. Our results showed a strong oxidizing role of copper in facilitating...
Coexisting seismic behavior of transform faults revealed by high-resolution bathymetry
George E. Hilley, Robert M. Sare, Felipe Aron, Curtis W Baden, Dave Caress, Christopher M. Castillo, Stephen C. Dobbs, Jared T Gooley, Samuel Johnstone, Frances Liu, Tim McHargue, Josie M Nevitt, Charles K. Paull, Lauren E. Shumaker, Miles M Traer, Holly H Young
2020, Geology (48) 379-384
Transform faults are known to have anomalously low rates of seismicity, but no direct observations reveal why this is the case. We use new, autonomous underwater vehicle high-resolution seafloor mapping to image the morphology of and offsets along transform fault segments in the Gulf of California. Fault splays...
What's in the hump of the humpback chub?
David Ward, Michael B. Ward
2020, Western North American Naturalist (80) 98-104
The function of the nuchal hump on adult humpback chub (Gila cypha) has been the subject of longtime conjecture. Hypotheses about the purpose of the hump range from it being a feature that confers hydrodynamic advantages in swift water to speculation about how the hump may have reduced predation vulnerability...
Category count models for adaptive management of metapopulations: Case study of an imperiled salamander
Katherine M. O’Donnell, Paul L. Fackler, Fred A. Johnson, Mathieu Bonneau, Julien Martin, Susan C. Walls
2020, Conservation Science and Practice (2)
Managing spatially structured populations of imperiled species presents many challenges. Spatial structure can make it difficult to predict population responses to potential recovery activities, and learning through experimentation may not be advised if it could harm threatened populations. Adaptive management provides an appealing framework when experimentation is considered too risky...
Feeding ecology drives lead exposure of facultative and obligate avian scavengers in the eastern United States
Vincent Slabe, James T. Anderson, Jeff L Cooper, Tricia A. Miller, Bracken Brown, Anna Wrona, Patricia Ortiz, John Buchweitz, David McRuer, Ernesto Dominguez-Villegas, Shannon Behmke, Todd E. Katzner
2020, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (39) 882-892
Lead poisoning of scavenging birds is a global issue. However, the drivers of lead exposure of avian scavengers have been understood from the perspective of individual species, not cross‐taxa assemblages. We analyzed blood (n = 285) and liver (n = 226) lead concentrations of 5 facultative (American crows [Corvus brachyrhynchos], bald eagles [Haliaeetus leucocephalus],...
Evidence of wildfires and elevated atmospheric oxygen at the Frasnian–Famennian boundary in New York (USA): Implications for the Late Devonian mass extinction
Zeyang Liu, David Selby, Paul C. Hackley, Jeffrey Over
2020, Geological Society of America Bulletin (132) 2043-2054
The Devonian Period experienced significant fluctuations of atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels (∼25–13%), for which the extent and timing are debated. Also characteristic of the Devonian Period, at the Frasnian–Famennian (F–F) boundary, is one of the “big five” mass extinction events of the Phanerozoic. Fossilized charcoal...
Assessment of multi-stressors on compositional turnover of diatom, invertebrate and fish assemblages along an urban gradient in Pacific Northwest streams (USA)
Ian R. Waite, Yangdong Pan, Patrick Edwards
2020, Ecological Indicators (112)
This study is part of the regional stream-quality assessment (RSQA) conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project. The purpose of this study is to examine small streams along land-use and stressor gradients at the regional scale and to evaluate the relative importance of instream...
Holocene paleofloods and their climatological context, Upper Colorado River Basin, USA
Taojun Liu, Lin Ji, Victor R. Baker, Tessa M. Harden, Michael L. Cline
2020, Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment (44) 727-745
Given its singular importance for water resources in the southwestern U.S., the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB) is remarkable for the paucity of its conventional hydrological record of extreme flooding. This study uses paleoflood hydrology to examine a small portion the underutilized, but very extensive natural record of Holocene...
Diatom enumeration method influences biological assessments of southeastern USA streams
Meredith Tyree, Daren M. Carlisle, Sarah Spaulding
2020, Freshwater Science (39) 183-195
Current fixed-count enumeration methods for benthic diatoms are likely inadequate for most research and monitoring objectives. These methods underestimate taxa richness and may fail to detect losses of species caused by human impacts. Consequently, the full potential of diatoms is not realized in current assessments of biological integrity or species...
Preferential elution of ionic solutes in melting snowpacks: Improving process understanding through field observations and modeling in the Rocky Mountains
Diogo Costa, Graham A. Sexstone, J.W. Pomeroy, Donald H. Campbell, David W. Clow, M. Alisa Mast
2020, Science of the Total Environment (710) 1-15
The preferential elution of ions from melting snowpacks is a complex problem that has been linked to temporary acidification of water bodies. However, the understanding of these processes in snowpacks around the world, including the polar regions that are experiencing unprecedented warming and melting, remains limited despite being instrumental...
Groundwater availability of the Northern High Plains aquifer in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming
Steven M. Peterson, Jonathan P. Traylor, Moussa Guira
2020, Professional Paper 1864
Executive SummaryThe Northern High Plains aquifer underlies about 93,000 square miles of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming and is the largest subregion of the nationally important High Plains aquifer. Irrigation, primarily using groundwater, has supported agricultural production since before 1940, resulting in nearly $50 billion in sales in...
Mapping hotspots of potential ecosystem fragility using commonly available spatial data
Alexandre Genin, Steven R. Lee, Eric L. Berlow, Steven M. Ostoja, Sonia Kefi
2020, Biological Conservation (241)
Effective conservation requires prioritizing areas that are vulnerable to large, irreversible changes. Unfortunately, rigorously documenting these changes with experiments and long-term monitoring is not only costly, but may provide evidence that is too late to facilitate proactive decisions.We use a simple model to illustrate that commonly available short-term...
Continuous nitrate monitoring in groundwater and potential contribution to surface-water nitrogen loads in Mason County, Illinois
Lance R. Gruhn, Greg M. Nalley
2020, Fact Sheet 2019-3064
Illinois has some of the most productive farmland in the country. The use of fertilizers to improve crop production has increased, which has resulted in an increase in the concentration of nitrogen in many streams and aquifers. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, is...
Earthquake magnitude and Lg Q variations between the Grenville and northern Appalachian geologic provinces of eastern Canada
H.K. Claire Perry, Allison L. Bent, Daniel E. McNamara, Stephen Crane, Michal Kolaj
2020, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (110) 698-714
This article assesses the ability of regionally specific, frequency‐dependent crustal attenuation (1/Q">1/Q) to reduce mean magnitude discrepancies between seismic stations in the northern Appalachian and Grenville provinces (NAP and GP)...
