Modeling elk and bison carrying capacity for Great Sand Dunes National Park, Baca National Wildlife Refuge, and The Nature Conservancy's Medano Ranch, Colorado
Gary Wockner, Randall Boone, Kathryn A. Schoenecker, Linda Zeigenfuss
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1200
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve and the neighboring Baca National Wildlife Refuge constitute an extraordinary setting that offers a variety of opportunities for outdoor recreation and natural resource preservation in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. Adjacent to these federal lands, the Nature Conservancy (TNC) manages the historic...
Occurrence and distribution of fecal indicator bacteria and gene markers of pathogenic bacteria in Great Lakes tributaries, March-October 2011
Angela K. Brennan, Heather E. Johnson, Alexander R. Totten, Joseph W. Duris
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1013
From March through October 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), conducted a study to determine the frequency of occurrence of pathogen gene markers and densities of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) in 22 tributaries to the Great Lakes. This project was funded as part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI)...
Sediment transport and capacity change in three reservoirs, Lower Susquehanna River Basin, Pennsylvania and Maryland, 1900-2012
Michael J. Langland
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1235
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has conducted numerous sediment transport studies in the Susquehanna River and in particular in three reservoirs in the Lower Susquehanna River Basin to determine sediment transport rates over the past century and to document changes in storage capacity. The Susquehanna River is the largest tributary...
Environmental assessment of water, sediment, and biota collected from the Bear Creek watershed, Colusa County, California
James J. Rytuba, Roger L. Hothem, Brianne E. Brussee, Daniel Goldstein, Jason T. May
2015, Open-File Report 2013-1070
The Cache Creek watershed lies within California's North Coast Range, an area with abundant geologic sources of mercury (Hg) and a long history of Hg contamination (Rytuba, 2000). Bear Creek, Cache Creek, and the North Fork of Cache Creek are the major streams of the Cache Creek watershed, encompassing 2978...
Evaluating coastal landscape response to sea-level rise in the northeastern United States: approach and methods
Erika E. Lentz, Sawyer R. Stippa, E. Robert Thieler, Nathaniel G. Plant, Dean B. Gesch, Radley M. Horton
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1252
The U.S. Geological Survey is examining effects of future sea-level rise on the coastal landscape from Maine to Virginia by producing spatially explicit, probabilistic predictions using sea-level projections, vertical land movement rates (due to isostacy), elevation data, and land-cover data. Sea-level-rise scenarios used as model inputs are generated by using...
Changes in the saltwater interface corresponding to the installation of a seepage barrier near Lake Okeechobee, Florida
Scott T. Prinos, Robert Valderrama
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1256
In 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began monitoring the saltwater interface near Lake Okeechobee to evaluate changes in interface depth that could possibly be related to the repair of the Herbert Hoover Dike. A seepage barrier (or cut-off wall), installed by the U.S....
Water-level and wave measurements in the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, 2012 and 2013
Patrick J. Dickhudt, Christopher R. Sherwood, Nancy T. DeWitt
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1246
This report documents measurements of atmospheric pressure, water levels, and waves made by the U.S. Geological Survey in the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, during 2012 and 2013 as part of the Barrier Island Evolution Research project. Simple, inexpensive pressure sensors mounted in shallow wells were buried in the beach and left...
Water-level measurements in Dauphin Island, Alabama, from the 2013 Hurricane Season
Patrick J. Dickhudt, Christopher R. Sherwood, Nancy T. DeWitt
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1245
This report describes the instrumentation, field measurements, and processing methods used by the U.S. Geological Survey to measure atmospheric pressure, water levels, and waves on Dauphin Island, Alabama, in 2013 at part of the Barrier Island Evolution Research project. Simple, inexpensive pressure sensors mounted in shallow wells were buried in...
Evaluation of aquifer interconnection from aquifer characteristics computed by using specific capacity data within the vicinity of the Tremont Barrel Fill site, Clark County, Ohio
Amy M. Gahala
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1026
The Tremont Barrel Fill site is immediately north of the Tremont City Landfill near Tremont City, Clark County, Ohio. The site was an unlined pit used as a repository for disposing industrial liquid wastes and sludge from 1976 through 1979. Previous investigations led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to...
Magnetotelluric data collected to characterize aquifers in the San Luis Basin, New Mexico
Chad E. Ailes, Brian D. Rodriguez
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1248
The U.S. Geological Survey is conducting a series of multidisciplinary studies of the San Luis Basin as part of the Geologic Framework of Rio Grande Basins project. Detailed geologic mapping, high-resolution airborne magnetic surveys, gravity surveys, magnetotelluric surveys, and hydrologic and lithologic data are being used to better understand the...
Strike-parallel and strike-normal coordinate system around geometrically complicated rupture traces: use by NGA-West2 and further improvements
Paul A. Spudich, Brian Chiou
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1028
We present a two-dimensional system of generalized coordinates for use with geometrically complex fault ruptures that are neither straight nor continuous. The coordinates are a generalization of the conventional strike-normal and strike-parallel coordinates of a single straight fault. The presented conventions and formulations are applicable to a single curved trace,...
Simulations of a hypothetical temperature control structure at Detroit Dam on the North Santiam River, northwestern Oregon
Norman L. Buccola, Adam J. Stonewall, Stewart A. Rounds
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1012
Water temperature models of Detroit Lake, Big Cliff Lake, and the North Santiam River in northwestern Oregon were used to assess the potential for a hypothetical structure with variable intake elevations and an internal connection to power turbines at Detroit Dam (scenario SlidingWeir) to release more natural, pre-dam temperatures year round....
Improved algorithms in the CE-QUAL-W2 water-quality model for blending dam releases to meet downstream water-temperature targets
Stewart A. Rounds, Norman L. Buccola
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1027
Water-quality models allow water resource professionals to examine conditions under an almost unlimited variety of potential future scenarios. The two-dimensional (longitudinal, vertical) water-quality model CE-QUAL-W2, version 3.7, was enhanced and augmented with new features to help dam operators and managers explore and optimize potential solutions for temperature management downstream of...
Update of the Graizer-Kalkan ground-motion prediction equations for shallow crustal continental earthquakes
Vladimir Graizer, Erol Kalkan
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1009
A ground-motion prediction equation (GMPE) for computing medians and standard deviations of peak ground acceleration and 5-percent damped pseudo spectral acceleration response ordinates of maximum horizontal component of randomly oriented ground motions was developed by Graizer and Kalkan (2007, 2009) to be used for seismic hazard analyses and engineering applications....
Social Values for Ecosystem Services, version 3.0 (SolVES 3.0): documentation and user manual
Benson C. Sherrouse, Darius J. Semmens
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1008
The geographic information system (GIS) tool, Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES), was developed to incorporate quantified and spatially explicit measures of social values into ecosystem service assessments. SolVES 3.0 continues to extend the functionality of SolVES, which was designed to assess, map, and quantify the social values of ecosystem services. Social values—the perceived,...
Geologic map of the Patagonia Mountains, Santa Cruz County, Arizona
Frederick Graybeal, Lorre A. Moyer, Peter G. Vikre, Pamela Dunlap, John C. Wallis
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1023
The Patagonia Mountains contain two large porphyry Cu-Mo systems each with separate associated hypogene and supergene zones, two high-grade Cu-Mo breccia pipes, one large epithermal Ag-Pb-Zn-Mn deposit, and numerous additional areas of base- and precious-metal mineralization all zoned around a Laramide-age composite batholith of intermediate composition. Compilations and new work...
Movements of wild pigs in Louisiana and Mississippi, 2011-13
Stephen B. Hartley, Buddy L. Goatcher, Sijan Sapkota
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1241
The prolific breeding capability, behavioral adaptation, and adverse environmental impacts of invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa) have increased efforts towards managing their populations and understanding their movements. Currently, little is known about wild pig populations and movements in Louisiana and Mississippi. From 2011 to 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey investigated...
Lake Michigan Diversion Accounting land cover change estimation by use of the National Land Cover Dataset and raingage network partitioning analysis
Jennifer B. Sharpe, David T. Soong
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1258
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Chicago District, is responsible for monitoring and computation of the quantity of Lake Michigan water diverted by the State of Illinois. As part of this effort, the USACE uses the Hydrological Simulation Program–FORTRAN (HSPF) with measured meteorological data inputs to estimate runoff from...
Maps showing the change in modern sediment thickness on the Inner Continental Shelf offshore of Fire Island, New York, between 1996-97 and 2011
William C. Schwab, Wayne E. Baldwin, Jane F. Denny
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1238
The U.S. Geological Survey mapped approximately 336 square kilometers of the lower shoreface and inner continental shelf offshore of Fire Island, New York, in 1996 and 1997, using high-resolution sidescan-sonar and seismic-reflection systems, and again in 2011, using interferometric sonar and high-resolution chirp seismic-reflection systems. This report presents a comparison...
Mercury and selenium contamination in waterbird eggs and risk to avian reproduction at Great Salt Lake, Utah
Joshua T. Ackerman, Mark P. Herzog, Christopher A. Hartman, John P. Isanhart, Garth Herring, Sharon Vaughn, John F. Cavitt, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Howard Browers, Chris Cline, Josh Vest
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1020
The wetlands of the Great Salt Lake ecosystem are recognized regionally, nationally, and hemispherically for their importance as breeding, wintering, and migratory habitat for diverse groups of waterbirds. Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge is the largest freshwater component of the Great Salt Lake ecosystem and provides critical breeding habitat for...
A framework for modeling anthropogenic impacts on waterbird habitats: addressing future uncertainty in conservation planning
Elliott Matchett, Joseph P. Fleskes, Charles A. Young, David R. Purkey
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1017
The amount and quality of natural resources available for terrestrial and aquatic wildlife habitats are expected to decrease throughout the world in areas that are intensively managed for urban and agricultural uses. Changes in climate and management of increasingly limited water supplies may further impact water resources essential for sustaining...
Geospatial datasets for assessing the effects of rangeland conditions on dissolved-solids yields in the Upper Colorado River Basin
Fred D. Tillman, Marilyn E. Flynn, David W. Anning
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1007
In 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed a Spatially Referenced Regressions on Watershed Attributes (SPARROW) surface-water quality model for the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB) relating dissolved-solids sources and transport in the 1991 water year to upstream catchment characteristics. The SPARROW model focused on geologic and agricultural sources of...
California State Waters Map Series — Offshore of Pacifica, California
Brian D. Edwards, Eleyne L. Phillips, Peter Dartnell, H. Gary Greene, Carrie K. Bretz, Rikk G. Kvitek, Stephen R. Hartwell, Samuel Y. Johnson, Guy R. Cochrane, Bryan E. Dieter, Ray W. Sliter, Stephanie L. Ross, Nadine E. Golden, Janet Tilden Watt, John L. Chinn, Mercedes D. Erdey, Lisa M. Krigsman, Michael W. Manson, Charles A. Endris
Susan A. Cochran, Brian D. Edwards, editor(s)
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1260
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,...
USGS compilation of geographic information system (GIS) data representing coal mines and coal-bearing areas in China
Michael H. Trippi, Harvey E. Belkin, Shifeng Dai, Susan J. Tewalt, Chiu-Jung Chou
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1219
Geographic information system (GIS) information may facilitate energy studies, which in turn provide input for energy policy decisions. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has compiled geographic information system (GIS) data representing the known coal mine locations and coal-mining areas of China as of 2001. These data are now available for...
Future wave and wind projections for United States and United-States-affiliated Pacific Islands
Curt D. Storlazzi, James B. Shope, Li H. Erikson, Christine A. Hegermiller, Patrick L. Barnard
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1001
Changes in future wave climates in the tropical Pacific Ocean from global climate change are not well understood. Spatially and temporally varying waves dominate coastal morphology and ecosystem structure of the islands throughout the tropical Pacific. Waves also impact coastal infrastructure, natural and cultural resources, and coastal-related economic activities of...
