Detection and mapping of hydrocarbon deposits on Titan
Roger N. Clark, J. M. Curchin, Jason W. Barnes, Ralf Jaumann, Laurence A. Soderblom, Dale P. Cruikshank, Robert H. Brown, Sebastien Rodriguez, Jonathan Lunine, Katrin Stephan, Todd M. Hoefen, Stephane Le Mouelic, Christophe Sotin, Kevin H. Baines, Bonnie J. Buratti, Philip D. Nicholson
2010, Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets (115)
We report the identification of compounds on Titan's surface by spatially resolved imaging spectroscopy methods through Titan's atmosphere, and set upper limits to other organic compounds. We present evidence for surface deposits of solid benzene (C6H6), solid and/or liquid ethane (C2H6), or methane (CH4), and clouds of hydrogen cyanide (HCN)...
Mercury in Indiana watersheds: Retrospective for 2001–2006
Martin R. Risch, Nancy T. Baker, Kathleen K. Fowler, Amanda L. Egler, David C. Lampe
2010, Professional Paper 1780
Information about total mercury and methylmercury concentrations in water samples and mercury concentrations in fish-tissue samples was summarized for 26 watersheds in Indiana that drain most of the land area of the State. Mercury levels were interpreted with information on streamflow, atmospheric mercury deposition, mercury emissions to the atmosphere, mercury...
Regional groundwater-flow model of the Lake Michigan Basin in support of Great Lakes Basin water availability and use studies
D. T. Feinstein, R. J. Hunt, H. W. Reeves
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5109
A regional groundwater-flow model of the Lake Michigan Basin and surrounding areas has been developed in support of the Great Lakes Basin Pilot project under the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water Availability and Use Program. The transient 2-million-cell model incorporates multiple aquifers and pumping centers that create water-level drawdown that...
Extrapolating growth reductions in fish to changes in population extinction risks: Copper and Chinook salmon.
Christopher A. Mebane, David L. Arthaud
2010, Human and Ecological Risk Assessment (16) 1026-1065
Fish commonly respond to stress, including stress from chemical exposures, with reduced growth. However, the relevance to wild populations of subtle and sometimes transitory growth reductions may not be obvious. At low-level, sustained exposures, Cu is one substance that commonly causes reduced growth but little mortality in laboratory toxicity tests...
The effects of land cover and land use change on the contemporary carbon balance of the arctic and boreal terrestrial ecosystems of northern Eurasia
Daniel J. Hayes, A. David McGuire, David W. Kicklighter, Todd J. Burnside, Jerry M. Melillo
2010, Book chapter, Eurasian Arctic land cover and land use in a changing climate
Recent changes in climate, disturbance regimes and land use and management systems in Northern Eurasia have the potential to disrupt the terrestrial sink of atmospheric CO2 in a way that accelerates global climate change. To determine the recent trends in the carbon balance of the arctic and boreal ecosystems of...
Modeling to evaluate the response of savanna-derived cropland to warming–drying stress and nitrogen fertilizers
Zhengxi Tan, Larry L. Tieszen, Shuguang Liu, E. Tachie-Obeng
2010, Climatic Change (100) 702-715
Many savannas in West Africa have been converted to croplands and are among the world’s regions most vulnerable to climate change due to deteriorating soil quality. We focused on the savanna-derived cropland in northern Ghana to simulate its sensitivity to projected climate change and nitrogen fertilization scenarios. Here we show...
Modeling the impacts of hunting on the population dynamics of red howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus)
Ruscena Wiederholt, Eduardo Fernandez-Duque, Duane R. Diefenbach, Rasanayagam Rudran
2010, Ecological Modelling (221) 2482-2490
Overexploitation of wildlife populations occurs across the humid tropics and is a significant threat to the long-term survival of large-bodied primates. To investigate the impacts of hunting on primates and ways to mitigate them, we developed a spatially explicit, individual-based model for a landscape that included hunted and un-hunted areas....
Map correlation method: Selection of a reference streamgage to estimate daily streamflow at ungaged catchments
Stacey A. Archfield, Richard M. Vogel
2010, Water Resources Research (46)
Daily streamflow time series are critical to a very broad range of hydrologic problems. Whereas daily streamflow time series are readily obtained from gaged catchments, streamflow information is commonly needed at catchments for which no measured streamflow information exists. At ungaged catchments, methods to estimate daily streamflow time series typically...
Factors influencing wood mobilization in Minnesota streams
Eric Merten, Jacques Finlay, Lucinda Johnson, Raymond Newman, Heinz Stefan, Bruce C. Vondracek
2010, Water Resources Research (46)
Natural pieces of wood provide a variety of ecosystem functions in streams including habitat, organic matter retention, increased hyporheic exchange and transient storage, and enhanced hydraulic and geomorphic heterogeneity. Wood mobilization is a critical process in determining the residence time of wood. We documented the characteristics and locations of 865...
Flood-inundation maps for a 15-mile reach of the Kalamazoo River from Marshall to Battle Creek, Michigan
C. J. Hoard, K. K. Fowler, M. H. Kim, C. D. Menke, S. E. Morlock, M. C. Peppler, C. M. Rachol, M. T. Whitehead
2010, Scientific Investigations Map 3135
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 15-mile reach of the Kalamazoo River from Marshall to Battle Creek, Michigan, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help guide remediation efforts following a crude-oil spill on July 25, 2010. The spill happened on...
Probability and volume of potential postwildfire debris flows in the 2010 Fourmile burn area, Boulder County, Colorado
Barbara C. Ruddy, Michael R. Stevens, Kristine Verdin
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1244
This report presents a preliminary emergency assessment of the debris-flow hazards from drainage basins burned by the Fourmile Creek fire in Boulder County, Colorado, in 2010. Empirical models derived from statistical evaluation of data collected from recently burned basins throughout the intermountain western United States were used to estimate the...
Occurrence and attempted mitigation of carbon dioxide in a home constructed on reclaimed coal-mine spoil, Pike County, Indiana
Bret A. Robinson
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5157
In recent years carbon dioxide intrusion has become recognized as a potentially serious health threat where homes are constructed on or near reclaimed surface coal mines. When carbon dioxide invades the living space of a home, it can collect near the floor, displace the oxygen there, and produce an oxygen-deficient...
Carbon dioxide dangers demonstration model
Dina Venezky, Stephen Wessells
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1174
Carbon dioxide is a dangerous volcanic gas. When carbon dioxide seeps from the ground, it normally mixes with the air and dissipates rapidly. However, because carbon dioxide gas is heavier than air, it can collect in snowbanks, depressions, and poorly ventilated enclosures posing a potential danger to people and other...
Caldera demonstration model
Dina Venezky, Stephen Wessells
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1173
A caldera is a large, usually circular volcanic depression formed when magma is withdrawn or erupted from a shallow underground magma reservoir. It is often difficult to visualize how calderas form. This simple experiment using flour, a balloon, tubing, and a bicycle pump, provides a helpful visualization for caldera formation....
The potential influence of changing climate on the persistence of salmonids of the inland west
A.L. Haak, J.E. Williams, D. Isaak, A. Todd, C.C. Muhlfeld, J. L. Kershner, R. E. Gresswell, S. W. Hostetler, H.M. Neville
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1236
The Earth's climate warmed steadily during the 20th century, and mean annual air temperatures are estimated to have increased by 0.6°C (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007). Although many cycles of warming and cooling have occurred in the past, the most recent warming period is unique in its rate and...
Determination of time-of-travel, dispersion characteristics, and oxygen reaeration coefficients during low streamflows--Lower Tacony/Frankford Creek, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Lisa A. Senior, Matthew C. Gyves
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5195
Time-of-travel, dispersion characteristics, and oxygen reaeration coefficients were determined by use of dye and gas tracing for a 2-mile reach of Tacony/Frankford Creek in Philadelphia, southeastern Pennsylvania. The reach frequently has concentrations of dissolved oxygen (DO) below the water-quality standard of 4 milligrams per liter during warm months. Several large...
Implementation of local grid refinement (LGR) for the Lake Michigan Basin regional groundwater-flow model
C. J. Hoard
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5117
The U.S. Geological Survey is evaluating water availability and use within the Great Lakes Basin. This is a pilot effort to develop new techniques and methods to aid in the assessment of water availability. As part of the pilot program, a regional groundwater-flow model for the Lake Michigan Basin was...
Simulation of groundwater flow and effects of groundwater irrigation on stream base flow in the Elkhorn and Loup River basins, Nebraska, 1895-2055: Phase Two
Jennifer S. Stanton, Steven M. Peterson, Michael N. Fienen
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5149
Regional groundwater-flow simulations for a 30,000-square-mile area of the High Plains aquifer, referred to collectively as the Elkhorn-Loup Model, were developed to predict the effects of groundwater irrigation on stream base flow in the Elkhorn and Loup River Basins, Nebraska. Simulations described the stream-aquifer system from predevelopment through 2005 [including...
Bathymetric and streamflow data for the Quillayute, Dickey, and Bogachiel Rivers, Clallam County, Washington, April-May 2010
Jonathan A. Czuba, Christiana R. Barnas, Thomas E. McKenna, Gregory Justin, Karen L. Payne
2010, Data Series 537
To facilitate the development of a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model of the Quillayute River estuary, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a bathymetric survey of the Quillayute River and its tributaries, upstream of the La Push Harbor. Streamflow also was measured concurrent with the bathymetric survey. This report documents the bathymetric and...
Database of recent tsunami deposits
Robert Peters, Bruce E. Jaffe
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1172
This report describes a database of sedimentary characteristics of tsunami deposits derived from published accounts of tsunami deposit investigations conducted shortly after the occurrence of a tsunami. The database contains 228 entries, each entry containing data from up to 71 categories. It includes data from 51 publications covering 15 tsunamis...
Monitoring and assessment of ocean acidification in the Arctic Ocean-A scoping paper
Lisa L. Robbins, Kimberly K. Yates, Richard Feely, Victoria Fabry
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1227
Carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is absorbed at the ocean surface by reacting with seawater to form a weak, naturally occurring acid called carbonic acid. As atmospheric carbon dioxide increases, the concentration of carbonic acid in seawater also increases, causing a decrease in ocean pH and carbonate mineral saturation...
Lessons from (triggered) tremor
Joan Gomberg
2010, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (115)
I test a “clock-advance” model that implies triggered tremor is ambient tremor that occurs at a sped-up rate as a result of loading from passing seismic waves. This proposed model predicts that triggering probability is proportional to the product of the ambient tremor rate and a function describing the efficacy...
Hydrovolcanic features on Mars: Preliminary analysis of one Mars year of HiRISE observations
Laszlo P. Keszthelyi, Windy L. Jaeger, Colin M. Dundas, Sara Martinez-Alonso, Alfred S. McEwen, Moses P. Milazzo
2010, Icarus (205) 211-229
We provide an overview of features indicative of the interaction between water and lava and/or magma on Mars as seen by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera during the Primary Science Phase of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) mission. The ability to confidently resolve meter-scale features from orbit...
Fundamental changes in the activity of the natrocarbonatite volcano Oldoinyo Lengai, Tanzania
Matthieu Kervyn, Gerald G.J. Ernst, Jorg Keller, R. Greg Vaughan, Jurgis Klaudius, Evelyne Pradal, Frederic Belton, Hannes B. Mattsson, Evelyne Mbede, Patric Jacobs
2010, Bulletin of Volcanology (72) 913-931
On September 4, 2007, after 25 years of effusive natrocarbonatite eruptions, the eruptive activity of Oldoinyo Lengai (OL), N Tanzania, changed abruptly to episodic explosive eruptions. This transition was preceded by a voluminous lava eruption in March 2006, a year of quiescence, resumption of natrocarbonatite eruptions in June 2007, and a...
Tree growth and mortality during 20 years of managing a Green-Tree Reservoir in Arkansas, USA
Bobby D. Keeland, Rassa O. Draugelis-Dale, John W. McCoy
2010, Wetlands (30) 405-416
Green-Tree Reservoirs (GTR) are bottomland hardwood forests that are flooded during late fall and winter to provide waterfowl habitat. Early reports suggested that increased moisture improved tree growth and mast production; however, recent reports showed reduced vigor and growth. This study examines the effects of 20 years of GTR management practices...
