The Las Vegas Formation
Kathleen B. Springer, Jeffrey S. Pigati, Craig R. Manker, Shannon A. Mahan
2018, Professional Paper 1839
The Las Vegas Formation was established in 1965 to designate the distinctive light-colored, fine-grained, fossil-bearing sedimentary deposits exposed in and around the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. In a coeval designation, the sediments were subdivided into informal units with stratigraphic and chronologic frameworks that have persisted in the literature. Use of...
The geology and paleontology of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, Nevada
Kathleen B. Springer, Jeffrey S. Pigati, Eric Scott
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3038
On December 19, 2014, Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, located in the Las Vegas Valley of southern Nevada, was established by Congress as the 405th unit of the National Park Service to “conserve, protect, interpret, and enhance for the benefit of present and future generations the unique and nationally...
How and why Upper Colorado River Basin land, water, and fire managers choose to use drought tools (or not)
Amanda E. Cravens
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1173
On the Western Slope of Colorado, variable climate and precipitation conditions are typical. Periods of drought—which may be defined by lack of water, high temperatures, low soil moisture, or other indicators—cause a range of impacts across sectors, including water, land, and fire management.The Western Slope’s Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB)...
Earthquakes induced by hydraulic fracturing are pervasive in Oklahoma
Robert J. Skoumal, Rosamiel Ries, Michael R. Brudzinski, Andrew J. Barbour, Brian S. Currie
2018, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (123) 10918-10935
Wastewater disposal is generally accepted to be the primary cause of the increased seismicity rate in Oklahoma within the past decade, but no statewide analysis has investigated the contribution of hydraulic fracturing (HF) to the observed seismicity or the seismic hazard. Utilizing an enhanced seismicity catalog generated with multi‐station template...
Microseismic events associated with the Oroville Dam spillway
Robert J. Skoumal, Phillip B. Dawson, Stephen H. Hickman, J. Ole Kaven
2018, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (109) 387-394
On 14 February 2017, two small (equivalent MD 0.8 and 1.0) seismic events occurred in proximity to the Oroville Dam in the Sierra Nevada foothills, California. To examine possible causal relationships between these events and reservoir operations, including the spillway failure starting prior to these events, we applied a new...
Ground motions from induced earthquakes in Oklahoma and Kansas
Morgan P. Moschetti, Eric M. Thompson, Peter M. Powers, Susan M. Hoover, Daniel E. McNamara
2018, Seismological Research Letters (90) 160-170
Improved predictions of earthquake ground motions are critical to advancing seismic hazard analyses and earthquake response. The high seismicity rate from 2009 to 2016 in Oklahoma and Kansas provides an extensive data set for examining the ground motions from these events. We evaluate the ability of three suites of ground‐motion...
Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program Long Term Resource Monitoring element—Spatial data query tool
Jason J. Rohweder
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3077
The Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) element has been monitoring fish, water quality, and vegetation in six study pools in the Upper Mississippi River system for approximately 30 years. Geographic locations were recorded for all sampling points. All of this information has been made...
Episodic master recession evaluation of groundwater and streamflow hydrographs for water-resource estimation
John R. Nimmo, Kimberlie Perkins
2018, Vadose Zone Journal (17) 1-25
Hydrograph analysis tools using a master recession curve (MRC) can produce many types of hydrologically important watershed-response quantifications, including aquifer recharge and stormflow characterization. An MRC is the relation between the value of a measured response R and its rate of change with time, dR/dt, occurring on the falling limb when there...
Hyperspectral remote sensing of wetland vegetation
Elijah Ramsey III, Amina Rangoonwala
2018, Book chapter, Advanced applications in remote sensing of agricultural crops and natural vegetation
Chapter 11 by Ramsey and Rangoonwala provides an overview of how hyperspectral imaging (HSI) advances the mapping of coastal wetlands that comprise a unique variety of plant species, forms, and associations. Each description begins by seeking to uncover the relationship between canopy hyperspectral reflectance and one or more of the...
Analysis of groundwater response to tidal fluctuations, Site 10 Naval Magazine Indian Island, Port Hadlock, Washington
Chad C. Opatz, Richard S. Dinicola
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1192
Site 10 at Naval Magazine Indian Island is an approximately 3.7-acre inactive landfill. The site was used as the primary landfill for the island from about 1945 until the mid-1970s, receiving paints, batteries, trash, and materials. In a memorandum to Washington State Department of Ecology, Naval Facilities Engineering Command...
Non‐linear effect of sea ice: Spectacled Eider survival declines at both extremes of the ice spectrum
Katherine S. Christie, Tuula E. Hollmen, Paul L. Flint, David C. Douglas
2018, Ecology and Evolution (8) 11808-11818
Understanding the relationship between environmental factors and vital rates is an important step in predicting a species’ response to environmental change. Species associated with sea ice are of particular concern because sea ice is projected to decrease rapidly in polar environments with continued levels of greenhouse gas emissions. The relationship...
Exposure of Alaska brown bears (Ursus arctos) to bacterial, viral, and parasitic agents varies spatiotemporally and may be influenced by age
Andrew M. Ramey, Christopher A. Cleveland, Grant V. Hilderbrand, Kyle Joly, David D. Gustine, Buck Mangipane, William B. Leacock, Anthony P. Crupi, Dolores E. Hill, Jitender P. Dubey, Michael J. Yabsley
William B. Leacock, editor(s)
2018, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (55) 576-588
We collected blood and serum from 155 brown bears (Ursus arctos) inhabiting five locations in Alaska during 2013–16 and tested samples for evidence of prior exposure to a suite of bacterial, viral, and parasitic agents. Antibody seroprevalence among Alaska brown bears was estimated to be 15% for Brucella spp., 10% for Francisella tularensis,...
Geologic map of the Pagosa Springs 7.5' quadrangle, Archuleta County, Colorado
David W. Moore, David J. Lidke
2018, Scientific Investigations Map 3419
The geologic map of the Pagosa Springs 7.5’ quadrangle in southwestern Colorado includes the town of Pagosa Springs that is partly known for its hot springs. The quadrangle is southwest of the San Juan volcanic mountains (Oligocene) and north of the San Juan Basin. All bedrock units exposed in the map...
Flood-inundation maps for Cayuga Inlet, Sixmile Creek, Cascadilla Creek, and Fall Creek at Ithaca, New York
Elizabeth A. Nystrom, Arthur G. Lilienthal III, William F. Coon
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5167
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 2.9-square-mile area of Ithaca, New York, were created in 2015–18 by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the City of Ithaca, New York, and the New York State Department of State. The flood-inundation maps depict estimates of the maximum areal extent and depth of...
Updated statewide abundance estimates for the Florida manatee
Jeffrey A. Hostetler, Holly H. Edwards, Julien Martin, Paul Schueller
2018, Technical Report 23
Knowing how many manatees live in Florida is critical for conservation and management of this threatened species. Martin et al. (2015) flew aerial surveys in 2011–2012 and estimated abundance in those years using advanced techniques that incorporated multiple data sources. We flew additional aerial surveys in 2015–2016 to count manatees...
Map of sand and gravel mines, prospects, and occurrences, and the geologic units that host them in the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI) study area, southwestern Wyoming
Anna B. Wilson
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1139
The Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI) is a long-term science based effort to assess and enhance aquatic and terrestrial habitats at a landscape scale in southwest Wyoming, while facilitating responsible development through local collaboration and partnerships. The role of the U.S. Geological Survey is to build the scientifically defensible foundation...
Changes in aquatic prey resources in response to estuary restoration in Willapa Bay, southwestern Washington
Isa Woo, Melanie J. Davis, Susan E.W. De La Cruz
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1194
Executive SummaryThe ongoing restoration of more than 200 hectares of estuarine habitat at Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, southwestern Washington, is expected to benefit a variety of species, including salmonids that use estuarine and tidal marshes as rearing and feeding areas as well as migratory waterbirds. During March–June 2014 and 2015,...
Assessment of continuous oil and gas resources in the Niobrara interval of the Cody Shale, Wind River Basin Province, Wyoming, 2018
Thomas M. Finn, Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Phuong A. Le, Michael E. Brownfield, Kristen R. Marra, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Ronald M. Drake II, Cheryl A. Woodall, Scott A. Kinney
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3076
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated means of 389 million barrels of oil and 1.8 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Niobrara interval of the Cody Shale in the Wind River Basin Province, Wyoming....
Real-time streambed scour monitoring at two bridges over the Gunnison River in western Colorado, 2016–17
Mark F. Henneberg
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5123
The Colorado Department of Transportation maintains roadways crossing over large streams and rivers where sediment transport and channel alignment changes can affect the structural stability of bridges. Structural stability during and immediately after peak streamflow can be assessed by measuring streambed scour; however, placing personnel or boats in the water...
Survival and drifting patterns of grass carp eggs and larvae in response to interactions with flow and sediment in a laboratory flume
Andres F. Prada, Amy E. George, Benjamin H. Stahlschmidt, Duane Chapman, Rafael O. Tinoco
2018, PLoS ONE (13) 1-19
A series of laboratory experiments was conducted to better understand the behavior of grass carp eggs and larvae in moving water in order to develop and implement new strategies for control and prediction of their dispersal and drift at early life stages. Settling velocity and density of a representative sample...
Groundwater, surface-water, and water-chemistry data, Black Mesa area, northeastern Arizona—2015–2016
Jon P. Mason, Jamie P. Macy
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1193
The Navajo (N) aquifer is an extensive aquifer and the primary source of groundwater in the 5,400-square-mile Black Mesa area in northeastern Arizona. Availability of water is an important issue in the Black Mesa area because of continued water requirements for industrial and municipal use by a growing population and...
Population characteristics and management of lentic populations of nonnative Burbot in the Green River system, Wyoming
Tucker A. Brauer, Michael Quist, Darren T. Rhea, Troy W. Laughlin, John D. Walrath
2018, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (39) 45-57
Fishes introduced outside of their native distributions have the potential to negatively affect their recipient ecosystems. Since their illegal introduction into the Green River, Wyoming, in the 1990s, Burbot Lota lota have been sampled in lotic and lentic environments throughout the Green River system where they pose a threat to...
A natural‐origin steelhead population's response to exclusion of hatchery fish
Ian I Courter, Garth J Wyatt, Russell Perry, John Plumb, Forrest M Carpenter, Nicklaus K Ackerman, Robert B Lessard, Peter F Galbreath
2018, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (148) 339-351
It is asserted that reduction or elimination of hatchery stocking will increase natural‐origin salmon Oncorhynchus spp. and steelhead O. mykiss production. We conducted an analysis of steelhead population census data (1958–2017) to determine whether elimination of summer steelhead stocking in the upper Clackamas River in 1998 increased the productivity of...
Simulation of groundwater storage changes in the Quincy Basin, Washington
Lonna M. Frans, Sue C. Kahle, Alison E. Tecca, Theresa D. Olsen
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5162
The Miocene Columbia River Basalt Group and younger sedimentary deposits of lacustrine, fluvial, eolian, and cataclysmic-flood origins compose the aquifer system of the Quincy Basin in eastern Washington. Irrigation return flow and canal leakage from the Columbia Basin Project have caused groundwater levels to rise substantially in some areas....
Sympatry or syntopy? Investigating drivers of distribution and co‐occurrence for two imperiled sea turtle species in Gulf of Mexico neritic waters
Kristen M. Hart, Autumn R. Iverson, Ikuko Fujisaki, Margaret M. Lamont, David N. Bucklin, Donna J. Shaver
2018, Ecology and Evolution (8) 12656-12669
Animals co‐occurring in a region (sympatry) may use the same habitat (syntopy) within that region. A central aim in ecology is determining what factors drive species distributions (i.e., abiotic conditions, dispersal limitations, and/or biotic interactions). Assessing the degree of biotic interactions can be difficult for species with wide ranges at...
