Bathymetric surveys at highway bridges crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers near St. Louis, Missouri, 2010
Richard J. Huizinga
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5170
Bathymetric surveys were conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Transportation, on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers in the vicinity of 12 bridges at 7 highway crossings near St. Louis, Missouri, in October 2010. A multibeam echo sounder mapping system was used to obtain...
Coulomb 3.3 Graphic-rich deformation and stress-change software for earthquake, tectonic, and volcano research and teaching-user guide
Shingi Toda, Ross S. Stein, Volkan Sevilgen, Jian Lin
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1060
Coulomb is intended both for publication-directed research and for college and graduate school classroom instruction. We believe that one learns best when one can see the most and can explore alternatives quickly. So the principal feature of Coulomb is ease of input, rapid interactive modification, and intuitive visualization of the...
Assessing hydraulic connections across a complex sequence of volcanic rocks - Analysis of U-20 WW multiple-well aquifer test, Pahute Mesa, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada
C. Amanda Garcia, Joseph M. Fenelon, Keith J. Halford, Steven R. Reiner, Randell J. Laczniak
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5173
Groundwater beneath Pahute Mesa flows through a complexly layered sequence of volcanic rock aquifers and confining units that have been faulted into distinct structural blocks. Hydraulic property estimates of rocks and structures in this flow system are necessary to assess radionuclide migration near underground nuclear testing areas. The U.S. Geological...
Hydrogeologic setting and simulation of groundwater flow near the Canterbury and Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnels, Leadville, Colorado
Tristan P. Wellman, Suzanne S. Paschke, Burke Minsley, Jean A. Dupree
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5085
The Leadville mining district is historically one of the most heavily mined regions in the world producing large quantities of gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, and manganese since the 1860s. A multidisciplinary investigation was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Colorado Department of Public Health and...
Dating of Pliocene Colorado River sediments: implications for cosmogenic burial dating and the evolution of the lower Colorado River
Ari Matmon, Greg M. Stock, Darryl E. Granger, Keith A. Howard
2011, Geological Society of America Bulletin (124) 626-640
We applied cosmogenic 26Al/10Be burial dating to sedimentary deposits of the ancestral Colorado River. We compared cosmogenic burial ages of sediments to the age of an independently well-dated overlying basalt flow at one site, and also applied cosmogenic burial dating to sediments with less precise independent age constraints. All dated...
Simulations of flow and prediction of sediment movement in Wymans Run, Cochranton Borough, Crawford County, Pennsylvania
Elizabeth Hittle
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1223
In small watersheds, runoff entering local waterways from large storms can cause rapid and profound changes in the streambed that can contribute to flooding. Wymans Run, a small stream in Cochranton Borough, Crawford County, experienced a large rain event in June 2008 that caused sediment to be deposited at a...
Dynamically downscaled climate simulations over North America: Methods, evaluation, and supporting documentation for users
S. W. Hostetler, J. R. Alder, A.M. Allan
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1238
We have completed an array of high-resolution simulations of present and future climate over Western North America (WNA) and Eastern North America (ENA) by dynamically downscaling global climate simulations using a regional climate model, RegCM3. The simulations are intended to provide long time series of internally consistent surface and atmospheric...
Sources, fate, and transport of nitrogen and phosphorus in the Chesapeake Bay watershed: An empirical model
Scott W. Ator, John W. Brakebill, Joel D. Blomquist
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5167
Spatially Referenced Regression on Watershed Attributes (SPARROW) was used to provide empirical estimates of the sources, fate, and transport of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and the mean annual TN and TP flux to the bay and in each of 80,579 nontidal tributary...
Analysis of the transport of sediment by the Suncook River in Epsom, Pembroke, and Allenstown, New Hampshire, after the May 2006 flood
Robert H. Flynn
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5088
During May 13-16, 2006, rainfall in excess of 8.8 inches flooded central and southern New Hampshire. On May 15, 2006, a breach in a bank of the Suncook River in Epsom, New Hampshire, caused the river to follow a new path. In order to assess and predict the effect of...
Population assessment and potential functional roles of native mussels in the Upper Mississippi River
Teresa J. Newton, Steven J. Zigler, James T. Rogala, Brian R. Gray, Mike Davis
2011, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems (21) 122-131
1. Despite a heightened global concern for native mussels, fundamental research on mussel ecology in large rivers is lacking. These gaps in knowledge about where mussels occur, and why, are limiting habitat restoration activities. 2. Large-scale systematic surveys for native mussels in three reaches of the Upper Mississippi River...
Comparison of statistical and theoretical habitat models for conservation planning: The benefit of ensemble prediction
D. Todd Jones-Farrand, Todd M. Fearer, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Frank R. Thompson III, Mark D. Nelson, John M. Tirpak
2011, Ecological Applications (21) 2269-2282
Selection of a modeling approach is an important step in the conservation planning process, but little guidance is available. We compared two statistical and three theoretical habitat modeling approaches representing those currently being used for avian conservation planning at landscape and regional scales: hierarchical spatial count (HSC), classification and regression...
Bi-phasic trends in mercury concentrations in blood of Wisconsin common loons during 1992-2010
Michael W. Meyer, Paul W. Rasmussen, Carl J. Watras, Brick M. Fevold, Kevin P. Kenow
2011, Ecotoxicology (20) 1659-1668
We assessed the ecological risk of mercury (Hg) in aquatic systems by monitoring common loon (Gavia immer) population dynamics and blood Hg concentrations. We report temporal trends in blood Hg concentrations based on 334 samples collected from adults recaptured in subsequent years (resampled 2–9 times) and from 421 blood samples...
Augmenting superpopulation capture-recapture models with population assignment data
Zhi Wen, Kenneth Pollock, James Nichols, Peter Waser
2011, Biometrics (67) 691-700
Ecologists applying capture-recapture models to animal populations sometimes have access to additional information about individuals' populations of origin (e.g., information about genetics, stable isotopes, etc.). Tests that assign an individual's genotype to its most likely source population are increasingly used. Here we show how to augment a superpopulation capture-recapture model...
Digitized data from ground geophysical surveys in Afghanistan: A website for distribution of data
Sarah W. Polster, Benjamin J. Drenth
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1270
This document describes the process of digitization of a 1974 report on geophysical work undertaken by Soviet geophysicists in southern and eastern Afghanistan. These data, uncovered in Afghanistan, represent magnetic and electrical ground surveys for which locations are not well defined. Due to lack of location information, these surveys were...
Polymethylene-interrupted fatty acids: Biomarkers for native and exotic mussels in the Laurentian Great Lakes
Tadej Mezek, Ed Sverko, Martina D. Ruddy, Donna Zaruk, Alfredo Capretta, Craig E. Hebert, Aaron T. Fisk, Daryl J. McGoldrick, Teresa J. Newton, Trent M. Sutton, Marten A. Koops, Andrew M. Muir, Timothy B. Johnson, Mark P. Ebener, Michael T. Arts
2011, Journal of Great Lakes Research (37) 289-297
Freshwater organisms synthesize a wide variety of fatty acids (FAs); however, the ability to synthesize and/or subsequently modify a particular FA is not universal, making it possible to use certain FAs as biomarkers. Herein we document the occurrence of unusual FAs (polymethylene-interrupted fatty acids; PMI-FAs) in select freshwater organisms in...
Petrologic, tectonic, and metallogenic evolution of the Ancestral Cascades magmatic arc, Washington, Oregon, and northern California
Edward A. du Bray, David A. John
2011, Geosphere (7) 1102-1133
Present-day High Cascades arc magmatism was preceded by ∼40 m.y. of nearly cospatial magmatism represented by the ancestral Cascades arc in Washington, Oregon, and northernmost California (United States). Time-space-composition relations for the ancestral Cascades arc have been synthesized from a recent compilation of more than 4000 geochemical analyses and associated...
Simulating potential structural and operational changes for Detroit Dam on the North Santiam River, Oregon-Interim Results
Norman L. Buccola, Stewart A. Rounds
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1268
Prior to operational changes in 2007, Detroit Dam on the North Santiam River in western Oregon had a well-documented effect on downstream water temperature that was problematic for endangered salmonid fish species. In this U.S. Geological Survey study, done in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, an existing...
Continuous resistivity profiling data from the Corsica River Estuary, Maryland
V.A. Cross, J.F. Bratton, C.R. Worley, John Crusius, K.D. Kroeger
2011, Open-File Report 2010-1094
Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) into Maryland's Corsica River Estuary was investigated as part of a larger study to determine its importance in nutrient delivery to the Chesapeake Bay. The Corsica River Estuary represents a coastal lowland setting typical of much of the eastern bay. An interdisciplinary U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)...
Earthquake scenario ground motions for the urban area of Evansville, Indiana
Jennifer S. Haase, Robert L. Nowack, Chris H. Cramer, Oliver S. Boyd, Robert A. Bauer
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1260
The Wabash Valley seismic zone and the New Madrid seismic zone are the closest large earthquake source zones to Evansville, Indiana. The New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812, over 180 kilometers (km) from Evansville, produced ground motions with a Modified Mercalli Intensity of VII near Evansville, the highest intensity observed in...
Bioaccumulation dynamics and exposure routes of Cd and Cu among species of aquatic mayflies
Daniel Cain, Marie-Noële Croteau, Samuel Luoma
2011, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (30) 2532-2541
Consumption of periphyton is a potentially important route of metal exposure to benthic invertebrate grazers. The present study examined the bioaccumulation kinetics of dissolved and dietary Cd and Cu in five species of mayflies (class Insecta). Artificial stream water and benthic diatoms were separately labeled with enriched stable metal isotopes...
Persistence and diversification of the Holarctic shrew, Sorex tundrensis (Family Soricidae), in response to climate change
Andrew G. Hope, Eric Waltari, Vadim B. Fedorov, Anna V. Goropashnaya, Sandra L. Talbot, Joseph A. Cook
2011, Molecular Ecology (20) 4346-4370
Environmental processes govern demography, species movements, community turnover and diversification and yet in many respects these dynamics are still poorly understood at high latitudes. We investigate the combined effects of climate change and geography through time for a widespread Holarctic shrew, Sorex tundrensis. We include a comprehensive suite of closely...
A multi-agency nutrient dataset used to estimate loads, improve monitoring design, and calibrate regional nutrient SPARROW models
David A. Saad, Gregory E. Schwarz, Dale M. Robertson, Nathaniel Booth
2011, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (47) 933-949
Stream-loading information was compiled from federal, state, and local agencies, and selected universities as part of an effort to develop regional SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) models to help describe the distribution, sources, and transport of nutrients in streams throughout much of the United States. After screening, 2,739...
A regional modeling framework of phosphorus sources and transport in streams of the southeastern United States
Ana Maria Garcia, Anne B. Hoos, Silvia Terziotti
2011, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (47) 991-1010
We applied the SPARROW model to estimate phosphorus transport from catchments to stream reaches and subsequent delivery to major receiving water bodies in the Southeastern United States (U.S.). We show that six source variables and five land-to-water transport variables are significant (p < 0.05) in explaining 67% of the variability in long-term...
Moment tensor inversions using strong motion waveforms of Taiwan TSMIP data, 1993–2009
Kaiwen Chang, Wu-Cheng Chi, Yuancheng Gung, Douglas Dreger, William H. K. Lee, Hung-Chie Chiu
2011, Tectonophysics (511) 53-66
Earthquake source parameters are important for earthquake studies and seismic hazard assessment. Moment tensors are among the most important earthquake source parameters, and are now routinely derived using modern broadband seismic networks around the world. Similar waveform inversion techniques can also apply to other available data, including strong-motion seismograms. Strong-motion...
To burn or not to burn Oriental bittersweet: A fire manager’s conundrum
Noel B. Pavlovic, Stacey A. Leicht-Young, Dan Morford, Neal Mulconrey
2011, Report
This is the third progress report detailing the research about Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) and fire which has been ongoing for three years. We highlight the further results from three components of the study: 1) Susceptibility of different habitats to invasion of Oriental bittersweet, 2) The impact of fire on...
