Assessing California groundwater susceptibility using trace concentrations of halogenated volatile organic compounds
Daniel A. Deeds, Justin T. Kulongoski, Kenneth Belitz
2012, Environmental Science & Technology (46) 13128-13135
Twenty-four halogenated volatile organic compounds (hVOCs) and SF6 were measured in groundwater samples collected from 312 wells across California at concentrations as low as 10–12 grams per kilogram groundwater. The hVOCs detected are predominately anthropogenic (i.e., “ahVOCs”) and as such their distribution delineates where groundwaters are impacted and susceptible to...
Exploration review
D.R. Wilburn, T.D. Rapstine, E.C. Lee
2012, Mining Engineering (64) 40-60
This summary of international mineral exploration activities for the year 2011 draws upon available information from industry sources, published literature and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) specialists. This summary provides data on exploration budgets by region and mineral commodity, identifies significant mineral discoveries and areas of mineral exploration, discusses government programs...
Direct U-Pb dating of Cretaceous and Paleocene dinosaur bones, San Juan Basin, New Mexico: COMMENT
Alan E. Koenig, Spencer G. Lucas, Leonid A. Neymark, Andrew B. Heckert, Robert M. Sullivan, Steven E. Jasinski, Denver W. Fowler
2012, Geology (40) e262-e262
Based on U-Pb dating of two dinosaur bones from the San Juan Basin of New Mexico (United States), Fassett et al. (2011) claim to provide the first successful direct dating of fossil bones and to establish the presence of Paleocene dinosaurs. Fassett et al. ignore previously published work that directly...
Geomagnetic detection of the sectorial solar magnetic field and the historical peculiarity of minimum 23-24
Jeffrey J. Love, J. Rigler
2012, Geophysical Research Letters (39)
[1] Analysis is made of the geomagnetic-activityaaindex covering solar cycle 11 to the beginning of 24, 1868–2011. Autocorrelation shows 27.0-d recurrent geomagnetic activity that is well-known to be prominent during solar-cycle minima; some minima also exhibit a smaller amount of 13.5-d recurrence. Previous work has shown that the recent solar...
Abiotic and biotic controls of cryptobenthic fish assemblages across a Caribbean seascape
A.R. Harborne, H.L. Jelks, W. F. Smith-Vaniz, L.A. Rocha
2012, Coral Reefs (31) 977-990
The majority of fish studies on coral reefs consider only non-cryptic species and, despite their functional importance, data on cryptic species are scarce. This study investigates inter-habitat variation in Caribbean cryptobenthic fishes by re-analysing a comprehensive data set from 58 rotenone stations around Buck Island, U.S. Virgin Islands. Boosted regression...
Effects of supplemental feeding and aggregation on fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations in elk
Victoria E. Forristal, Scott Creel, Mark L. Taper, Brandon M. Scurlock, Paul C. Cross
2012, Journal of Wildlife Management (76) 76-4
Habitat modifications and supplemental feeding artificially aggregate some wildlife populations, with potential impacts upon contact and parasite transmission rates. Less well recognized, however, is how increased aggregation may affect wildlife physiology. Crowding has been shown to induce stress responses, and increased glucocorticoid (GC) concentrations can reduce immune function and increase...
Developing spatially explicit footprints of plausible land-use scenarios in the Santa Cruz Watershed, Arizona and Sonora
Laura M. Norman, Mark Feller, Miguel L. Villarreal
2012, Landscape and Urban Planning (107) 225-235
The SLEUTH urban growth model is applied to a binational dryland watershed to envision and evaluate plausible future scenarios of land use change into the year 2050. Our objective was to create a suite of geospatial footprints portraying potential land use change that can be used to aid binational decision-makers...
A tale of two land uses in the American West: rural residential growth and energy development
Timothy J. Assal, Jessica M. Montag
2012, Journal of Maps (8) 327-333
This paper describes a spatiotemporal land use map for a rural county in the western United States. Sublette County, Wyoming has undergone recent land use change in the form of heightened rural residential development on private land and increased energy development on both public and private land. In this study...
Short-term impacts of a 4-lane highway on black bears in eastern North Carolina
Frank T. van Manen, Matthew F. McCollister, Jeremy M. Nicholson, Laura M. Thompson, Jason L. Kindall, Mark D. Jones
2012, Wildlife Monographs (181) 1-35
Among numerous anthropogenic impacts on terrestrial landscapes, expanding transportation networks represent one of the primary challenges to wildlife conservation worldwide. Larger mammals may be particularly vulnerable because of typically low densities, low reproductive rates, and extensive movements. Although numerous studies have been conducted to document impacts of road networks on...
Estimating risks to aquatic life using quantile regression
Travis S. Schmidt, William H. Clements, Brian S. Cade
2012, Freshwater Science (31) 709-723
One of the primary goals of biological assessment is to assess whether contaminants or other stressors limit the ecological potential of running waters. It is important to interpret responses to contaminants relative to other environmental factors, but necessity or convenience limit quantification of all factors that influence ecological potential. In...
Explaining reported puma-related behaviors and behavioral intentions among northern Arizona residents
David J. Mattson, Elizabeth J. Ruther
2012, Human Dimensions of Wildlife: An International Journal (17) 91-111
Management of pumas in the American West is typified by conflict among stakeholders plausibly rooted in life experiences and worldviews. We used a mail questionnaire to assess demographics, nature-views, puma-related life experiences and behaviors, and support for puma-related policies among residents of northern Arizona. Data from the questionnaire (n = 693 respondents)...
Determination of nonylphenol isomers in landfill leachate and municipal wastewater using steam distillation extraction coupled with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry
Caixiang Zhang, Robert P. Eganhouse, James Pontolillo, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Yanxin Wang
2012, Journal of Chromatography A (1230) 110-116
4-Nonylphenols (4-NPs) are known endocrine disruptors and by-products of the microbial degradation of nonylphenol polyethoxylate surfactants. One of the challenges to understanding the toxic effects of nonylphenols is the large number of isomers that may exist in environmental samples. In order to attribute toxic effects to specific compounds, a method...
Improving PAGER's real-time earthquake casualty and loss estimation toolkit: a challenge
K. S. Jaiswal, D.J. Wald
2012, Conference Paper, The 15th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering: September 24-28, 2012, Lisbon, Portugal
We describe the on-going developments of PAGER’s loss estimation models, and discuss value-added web content that can be generated related to exposure, damage and loss outputs for a variety of PAGER users. These developments include identifying vulnerable building types in any given area, estimating earthquake-induced damage and loss statistics by...
A graphical method to evaluate predominant geochemical processes occurring in groundwater systems for radiocarbon dating
Liang-Feng Han, Niel Plummer, Pradeep Aggarwal
2012, Chemical Geology (318-319) 88-112
A graphical method is described for identifying geochemical reactions needed in the interpretation of radiocarbon age in groundwater systems. Graphs are constructed by plotting the measured 14C, δ13C, and concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon and are interpreted according to specific criteria to recognize water samples that are consistent with a...
Estimating aboveground biomass in interior Alaska with Landsat data and field measurements
Lei Ji, Bruce K. Wylie, Dana R. Nossov, Birgit E. Peterson, Mark P. Waldrop, Jack W. McFarland, Jennifer R. Rover, Teresa N. Hollingsworth
2012, International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (18) 451-461
Terrestrial plant biomass is a key biophysical parameter required for understanding ecological systems in Alaska. An accurate estimation of biomass at a regional scale provides an important data input for ecological modeling in this region. In this study, we created an aboveground biomass (AGB) map at 30-m resolution for the...
Assessing sloth bears as surrogates for carnivore conservation in Sri Lanka
Shyamala Ratnayeke, Frank T. van Manen
2012, Ursus (23) 206-217
Bears are large, charismatic mammals whose presence often garners conservation attention. Because healthy bear populations typically require large, contiguous areas of habitat, land conservation actions often are assumed to benefit co-occurring species, including other mammalian carnivores. However, we are not aware of an empirical test of this assumption. We used...
Constraints on the timing of Co-Cu ± Au mineralization in the Blackbird district, Idaho, using SHRIMP U-Pb ages of monazite and xenotime plus zircon ages of related Mesoproterozoic orthogneisses and metasedimentary rocks
John N. Aleinikoff, John F. Slack, Karen Lund, Karl V. Evans, C. Mark Fanning, Frank K. Mazdab, Joseph L. Wooden, Renee M. Pillers
2012, Economic Geology (107) 1143-1175
The Blackbird district, east-central Idaho, contains the largest known Co reserves in the United States. The origin of strata-hosted Co-Cu ± Au mineralization at Blackbird has been a matter of controversy for decades. In order to differentiate among possible genetic models for the deposits, including various combinations of volcanic, sedimentary,...
Radiometric calibration of the Landsat MSS sensor series
Dennis L. Helder, Sadhana Karki, Rajendra Bhatt, Esad Micijevik, David Aaron, Benjamin Jasinski
2012, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (50) 2380-2399
Multispectral remote sensing of the Earth using Landsat sensors was ushered on July 23, 1972, with the launch of Landsat-1. Following that success, four more Landsat satellites were launched, and each of these carried the Multispectral Scanner System (MSS). These five sensors provided the only consistent multispectral space-based imagery of...
Golden Gate Bridge response: a study with low-amplitude data from three earthquakes
Mehmet Çelebi
2012, Earthquake Spectra (28) 487-510
The dynamic response of the Golden Gate Bridge, located north of San Francisco, CA, has been studied previously using ambient vibration data and finite element models. Since permanent seismic instrumentation was installed in 1993, only small earthquakes that originated at distances varying between ~11 to 122 km have been recorded....
Airborne LiDAR analysis and geochronology of faulted glacial moraines in the Tahoe-Sierra frontal fault zone reveal substantial seismic hazards in the Lake Tahoe region, California-Nevada USA
James F. Howle, Gerald W. Bawden, Richard A. Schweickert, Robert C. Finkel, Lewis E. Hunter, Ronn S. Rose, Brent von Twistern
2012, GSA Bulletin (124) 1087-1101
We integrated high-resolution bare-earth airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery with field observations and modern geochronology to characterize the Tahoe-Sierra frontal fault zone, which forms the neotectonic boundary between the Sierra Nevada and the Basin and Range Province west of Lake Tahoe. The LiDAR imagery clearly delineates active normal...
Landsat-7 ETM+: 12 years on-orbit reflective-band radiometric performance
B. L. Markham, M.O. Haque, J. A. Barsi, E. Micijevic, D. L. Helder, K. J. Thome, David Aaron, J. S. Czapla-Myers
2012, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (50) 2056-2062
The Landsat-7 ETM+ sensor has been operating on orbit for more than 12 years, and characterizations of its performance have been ongoing over this period. In general, the radiometric performance of the instrument has been remarkably stable: 1) noise performance has degraded by 2% or less overall, with a few...
Estimating and predicting collection probability of fish at dams using multistate modeling
John M. Plumb, William P. Connor, Kenneth F. Tiffan, Christine M. Moffitt, Russell W. Perry, Noah S. Adams
2012, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (141) 1364-1373
Dams can be equipped with a bypass that routes a portion of the fish that enter the turbine intakes away from the powerhouse into flumes, where they can be counted. Daily passage abundance can be estimated by dividing the number of fish counted in the bypass by the sampling rate and then...
Quality of streams in Johnson County, Kansas, 2002--10
Teresa J. Rasmussen, Mandy S. Stone, Barry C. Poulton, Jennifer L. Graham
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5279
Stream quality in Johnson County, northeastern Kansas, was assessed on the basis of land use, hydrology, stream-water and streambed-sediment chemistry, riparian and in-stream habitat, and periphyton and macroinvertebrate community data collected from 22 sites during 2002 through 2010. Stream conditions at the end of the study period are evaluated and...
An evaluation of a mitigation strategy for deer-vehicle collisions
John A. Bissonette, Silvia Rosa
2012, Wildlife Biology (18) 414-423
High mule deer Odocoileus hemionus mortality in southwestern Utah led to the establishment of a mitigation strategy with two major objectives: 1) reduction of wildlife-vehicle collisions and 2) restoration of landscape connectivity to facilitate wildlife movement across the roaded landscape. During our study, we assessed the effectiveness of the mitigation...
Exploring the Earth's crust: History and results of controlled-source seismology
Claus Prodehl, Walter D. Mooney
2012, GSA Memoir 208
This volume contains a comprehensive, worldwide history of seismological studies of the Earth’s crust using controlled sources from 1850 to 2005. Essentially all major seismic projects on land and the most important oceanic projects are covered. The time period 1850 to 1939 is presented as a general synthesis, and from...
