Documentation of input datasets for the soil-water balance groundwater recharge model of the Upper Colorado River Basin
Fred D. Tillman
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1160
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 more than 4.5 million acres of farmland, and generating about 12 billion kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power annually. The Upper Colorado River Basin, encompassing more...
Geophysical investigation of the pressure field produced by water guns at a pond site in La Crosse, Wisconsin
Ryan F. Adams, William S. Morrow
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1130
Three different geophysical sensor types were used to characterize the underwater pressure waves generated by the underwater firing of a seismic water gun and their suitability for establishing a pressure barrier to potentially direct or prevent the movement of the Asian carps. The sensors used to collect the seismic information...
Water withdrawals in Florida, 2012
Richard L. Marella
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1156
In 2012, the total amount of water withdrawn in Florida was estimated to be 14,237 million gallons per day (Mgal/d). Saline water accounted for 7,855 Mgal/d (55 percent), and freshwater accounted for 6,383 Mgal/d (45 percent). Groundwater accounted for 4,167 Mgal/d (65 percent) of freshwater withdrawals, and surface water accounted...
Photomosaics and event evidence from the Frazier Mountain paleoseismic site, trench 1, cuts 5–24, San Andreas Fault Zone, southern California (2010–2012)
Katherine M. Scharer, Tom E. Fumal, Ray J. Weldon II, Ashley R. Streig
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1147
The Frazier Mountain paleoseismic site is located within the northern Big Bend of the southern San Andreas Fault (lat 34.8122° N., lon 118.9034° W.), in a small structural basin formed by the fault (fig. 1). The site has been the focus of over a decade of paleoseismic study due to...
Summary of oceanographic measurements for characterizing light attenuation and sediment resuspension in the Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor Estuary, New Jersey, 2013
Patrick J. Dickhudt, Neil K. Ganju, Ellyn T. Montgomery
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1146
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, measured suspended-sediment concentrations, currents, waves, light attenuation, and a variety of other water-quality parameters in the summer of 2013 in Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey. These measurements quantified light attenuation and sediment resuspension in three...
Vulnerability of larval lamprey to Columbia River hydropower system operations—effects of dewatering on larval lamprey movements and survival
Theresa L. Liedtke, Lisa K. Weiland, Matthew G. Mesa
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1157
Numbers of adult and juvenile Pacific lamprey ( Entosphenus tridentatus ) in the upper Columbia River Basin of the interior Pacific Northwest have decreased from historical levels (Close and others, 2002), raising concerns f rom State and Federal agencies and Tribal entities. In 1994, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...
Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources─South Florida Basin: Chapter L in Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources
Tina L. Roberts-Ashby, Sean T. Brennan, Matthew D. Merrill, Madalyn S. Blondes, P.A. Freeman, Steven M. Cahan, Christina A. DeVera, Celeste D. Lohr
Peter D. Warwick, M.D. Corum, editor(s)
2015, Open-File Report 2012-1024-L
This report presents five storage assessment units (SAUs) that have been identified as potentially suitable for geologic carbon dioxide sequestration within a 35,075-square-mile area that includes the entire onshore and State-water portions of the South Florida Basin. Platform-wide, thick successions of laterally extensive carbonates and evaporites deposited in highly cyclic...
National Earthquake Information Center systems overview and integration
Michelle R. Guy, John M. Patton, Jeremy Fee, Mike Hearne, Eric Martinez, D. Ketchum, Charles Worden, Vince Quitoriano, Edward Hunter, Gregory Smoczyk, Stan Schwarz
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1120
Overview The primary mission of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) is comprehensive global earthquake monitoring (M4.5 or larger) and complete seismic monitoring of the United States for all significant earthquakes (M3.0 or larger or felt). In recent years, the NEIC has assumed a more prominent role...
Collections management plan for the U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Data Library
Kelleen M. List, Brian J. Buczkowski, Linda P. McCarthy, Alice M. Orton
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1141
The U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center has created a Data Library to organize, preserve, and make available the field, laboratory, and modeling data collected and processed by Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center staff. This Data Library supports current research efforts by providing unique,...
A conceptual model for site-level ecology of the giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) in the Sacramento Valley, California
Brian J. Halstead, Glenn D. Wylie, Michael L. Casazza, Eric C. Hansen, Rick D. Scherer, Laura C. Patterson
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1152
Giant gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) comprise a species of semi-aquatic snakes precinctive to marshes in the Central Valley of California (Hansen and Brode, 1980; Rossman and others, 1996). Because more than 90 percent of their historical wetland habitat has been converted to other uses (Frayer and others, 1989; Garone, 2007), giant...
The Boulder magnetic observatory
Jeffrey J. Love, Carol A. Finn, Kolby L. Pedrie, Cletus C. Blum
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1125
The Boulder magnetic observatory has, since 1963, been operated by the Geomagnetism Program of the U.S. Geological Survey in accordance with Bureau and national priorities. Data from the observatory are used for a wide variety of scientific purposes, both pure and applied. The observatory also supports developmental projects within the...
Earthquake forewarning in the Cascadia region
Joan S. Gomberg, Brian F. Atwater, Nicholas M. Beeler, Paul Bodin, Earl Davis, Arthur D. Frankel, Gavin P. Hayes, Laura McConnell, Tim Melbourne, David H. Oppenheimer, John G. Parrish, Evelyn A. Roeloffs, Gary D. Rogers, Brian L. Sherrod, John Vidale, Timothy J. Walsh, Craig S. Weaver, Paul M. Whitmore
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1151
This report, prepared for the National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council (NEPEC), is intended as a step toward improving communications about earthquake hazards between information providers and users who coordinate emergency-response activities in the Cascadia region of the Pacific Northwest. NEPEC charged a subcommittee of scientists with writing this report about...
Development of a grazing monitoring program for Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado
Linda Zeigenfuss, Kathryn A. Schoenecker
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1136
National parks in the United States face the difficult task of managing natural resources within park boundaries that are influenced to a large degree by historical land uses or by forces outside of the park’s protection and mandate. Among the many challenges faced by parks is management of wildlife populations...
Results of mineral, chemical, and sulfate isotopic analyses of water, soil, rocks, and soil extracts from the Pariette Draw Watershed, Uinta Basin, Utah
Jean M. Morrison, Michele L. Tuttle, Juli W. Fahy
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1132
In 2010, Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Division of Water Quality (UDWQ, 2010) determined that water quality in Pariette Draw was in violation of Federal and State water quality criteria for total dissolved solids (TDS), selenium (Se), and boron (B). The measure of total dissolved solids is the sum...
California State Waters Map Series — Offshore of Bodega Head, California
Samuel Y. Johnson, Peter Dartnell, Nadine E. Golden, Stephen R. Hartwell, Mercedes D. Erdey, H. Gary Greene, Guy R. Cochrane, Rikk G. Kvitek, Michael W. Manson, Charles A. Endris, Bryan E. Dieter, Janet Watt, Lisa M. Krigsman, Ray W. Sliter, Erik N. Lowe, John L. Chin
Samuel Y. Johnson, Susan A. Cochran, editor(s)
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1140
Introduction In 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California’s State Waters. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps through collection, integration,...
Conceptual data modeling of wildlife response indicators to ecosystem change in the Arctic
Dennis H. Walworth, John M. Pearce
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1148
Large research studies are often challenged to effectively expose and document the types of information being collected and the reasons for data collection across what are often a diverse cadre of investigators of differing disciplines. We applied concepts from the field of information or data modeling to the U.S. Geological...
California State Waters Map Series — Offshore of Bolinas, California
Guy R. Cochrane, Peter Dartnell, Samuel Y. Johnson, H. Gary Greene, Mercedes D. Erdey, Nadine E. Golden, Stephen R. Hartwell, Michael W. Manson, Ray W. Sliter, Charles A. Endris, Janet Watt, Stephanie L. Ross, Rikk G. Kvitek, Eleyne L. Phillips, Terry R. Bruns, John L. Chin
Guy R. Cochrane, Susan A. Cochran, editor(s)
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1135
Introduction In 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California’s State Waters. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps through collection, integration,...
Updated tops file for Cretaceous and lower Tertiary units, Piceance Basin, northwest Colorado
Ronald C. Johnson, John D. Dietrich, Tracey J. Mercier
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1036
Introduction Depths to selected Cretaceous and lower Tertiary stratigraphic units in the Piceance Basin, northwestern Colorado are presented here for 1,563 wells. This file is updated from the Piceance Basin Oil Shale Database with data for additional new drill holes. Also included in this report are elevations for the base of...
Literature review of giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) biology and conservation
Brian J. Halstead, Glenn D. Wylie, Michael L. Casazza
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1150
This report reviews the available literature on giant gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) to compile existing information on this species and identify knowledge gaps that, if addressed, would help to inform conservation efforts for giant gartersnakes. Giant gartersnakes comprise a species of semi-aquatic snake precinctive to wetlands in the Central Valley of...
ShakeNet: a portable wireless sensor network for instrumenting large civil structures
Monica D. Kohler, Shuai Hao, Nilesh Mishra, Ramesh Govindan, Robert Nigbor
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1134
We report our findings from a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program-funded project to develop and test a wireless, portable, strong-motion network of up to 40 triaxial accelerometers for structural health monitoring. The overall goal of the project was to record ambient vibrations for several days from...
Preliminary geophysical interpretations of regional subsurface geology near the Questa Mine Tailing Facility and Guadalupe Mountain, Taos County, New Mexico
V. J. S. Grauch, Benjamin J. Drenth, Ren A. Thompson, Paul W. Bauer
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1129
This report presents geophysical interpretations of regional subsurface geology in the vicinity of the Tailing Facility of the Questa Mine near Guadalupe Mountain, Taos County, New Mexico, in cooperation with the New Mexico Environment Department. The interpretations were developed from aeromagnetic data, regional gravity data, data from four ground magnetic...
Frac sand in the United States: a geological and industry overview
Mary Ellen Benson, Anna B. Wilson, Donald I. Bleiwas
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1107
A new mineral rush is underway in the upper Midwest of the United States, especially in Wisconsin and Minnesota, for deposits of high-quality frac sand that the mining industry calls “Northern White” sand or “Ottawa” sand. Frac sand is a specialized type of sand that is added to fracking fluids...
U.S. Geological Survey science for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative—2014 annual report
Zachary H. Bowen, Cameron L. Aldridge, Patrick J. Anderson, Timothy J. Assal, Timothy T. Bartos, Laura R Biewick, Gregory K. Boughton, Anna D. Chalfoun, Geneva W. Chong, Marie K. Dematatis, Cheryl A. Eddy-Miller, Steven L. Garman, Steve Germaine, Collin G. Homer, Christopher Huber, Matthew J. Kauffman, Natalie Latysh, Daniel J. Manier, Cynthia P. Melcher, Alexander Miller, Kirk A. Miller, Edward M. Olexa, Spencer Schell, Annika W. Walters, Anna B. Wilson, Teal B. Wyckoff
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1091
This is the seventh report produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI) to detail annual activities conducted by the USGS for addressing specific management needs identified by WLCI partners. In FY2014, there were 26 projects, including a new one that was completed, two...
Preliminary interpretation of industry two-dimensional seismic data from Susitna Basin, south-central Alaska
Kristen A. Lewis, Christopher J. Potter, Anjana K. Shah, Richard G. Stanley, Peter J. Haeussler, Richard W. Saltus
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1138
Located approximately 80 kilometers northwest of Anchorage, Alaska, the Susitna Basin is a complex sedimentary basin whose tectonic history has been poorly understood. Recent interpretation of two-dimensional seismic reflection data integrated with well, aeromagnetic, and gravity data provides new insights into the structural and stratigraphic nature of the basin. This report...
Groundwater levels, trends, and relations to pumping in the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project, Oregon and California
Marshall W. Gannett, Katherine H. Breen
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1145
The use of groundwater to supplement surface-water supplies for the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project in the upper Klamath Basin of Oregon and California markedly increased between 2000 and 2014. Pre-2001 groundwater pumping in the area where most of this increase occurred is estimated to have been about 28,600...
