User’s guide to the collection and analysis of tree cores to assess the distribution of subsurface volatile organic compounds
Don A. Vroblesky
2008, Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5088
Analysis of the volatile organic compound content of tree cores is an inexpensive, rapid, simple approach to examining the distribution of subsurface volatile organic compound contaminants. The method has been shown to detect several volatile petroleum hydrocarbons and chlorinated aliphatic compounds associated with vapor intrusion and ground-water contamination. Tree cores,...
Using the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Laboratory LT-MDL to Evaluate and Analyze Data
Bernadine A. Bonn
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1227
A long-term method detection level (LT-MDL) and laboratory reporting level (LRL) are used by the U.S. Geological Survey?s National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) when reporting results from most chemical analyses of water samples. Changing to this method provided data users with additional information about their data and often resulted in...
Update to the Ground-Water Withdrawals Database for the Death Valley Regional Ground-Water Flow System, Nevada and California, 1913-2003
Michael T. Moreo, Leigh Justet
2008, Data Series 340
Ground-water withdrawal estimates from 1913 through 2003 for the Death Valley regional ground-water flow system are compiled in an electronic database to support a regional, three-dimensional, transient ground-water flow model. This database updates a previously published database that compiled estimates of ground-water withdrawals for 1913-1998. The same methodology is used...
Mapping of Florida's coastal and marine resources: Setting priorities workshop
Lisa Robbins, Steven Wolfe, Ellen Raabe
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1157
The importance of mapping habitats and bioregions as a means to improve resource management has become increasingly clear. Large areas of the waters surrounding Florida are unmapped or incompletely mapped, possibly hindering proper management and good decisionmaking. Mapping of these ecosystems is among the top priorities identified by...
Derivation of ground surface and vegetation in a coastal Florida wetland with airborne laser technology
Ellen A. Raabe, Melanie S. Harris, Ramesh L. Shrestha, William E. Carter
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1125
The geomorphology and vegetation of marsh-dominated coastal lowlands were mapped from airborne laser data points collected on the Gulf Coast of Florida near Cedar Key. Surface models were developed using low- and high-point filters to separate ground-surface and vegetation-canopy intercepts. In a non-automated process, the landscape was partitioned into functional...
Conservation status of the Colorado Plateau using southwest regional gap analysis stewardship data
Andrea E. Ernst, Julie S. Prior-Magee
2008, Book chapter, The Colorado Plateau III: integrating research and resources management for effective conservation
No abstract available...
Location of the Green Canyon (Offshore Southern Louisiana) Seismic Event of February 10, 2006
James W. Dewey, Joseph A. Dellinger
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1184
We calculated an epicenter for the Offshore Southern Louisiana seismic event of February 10, 2006 (the 'Green Canyon event') that was adopted as the preferred epicenter for the event by the USGS/NEIC. The event is held at a focal depth of 5 km; the focal depth could not be reliably...
Creating a Global Building Inventory for Earthquake Loss Assessment and Risk Management
Kishor Jaiswal, David J. Wald
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1160
Earthquakes have claimed approximately 8 million lives over the last 2,000 years (Dunbar, Lockridge and others, 1992) and fatality rates are likely to continue to rise with increased population and urbanizations of global settlements especially in developing countries. More than 75% of earthquake-related human casualties are caused by the collapse...
Initial sediment transport model of the mining-affected Aries River Basin, Romania
Michael J. Friedel, Joshua I. Linard
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1171
The Romanian government is interested in understanding the effects of existing and future mining activities on long-term dispersal, storage, and remobilization of sediment-associated metals. An initial Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was prepared using available data to evaluate hypothetical failure of the Valea Sesei tailings dam at the...
TSPP - A collection of FORTRAN programs for processing and manipulating time series
David M. Boore
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1111
This report lists a number of FORTRAN programs that I have developed over the years for processing and manipulating strong-motion accelerograms. The collection is titled TSPP, which stands for Time Series Processing Programs. I have excluded 'strong-motion accelerograms' from the title, however, as the boundary between 'strong' and 'weak' motion...
Influences of specific land use/land cover conversions on climatological normals of near-surface temperature
Robert C. Hale, Kevin P. Gallo, Thomas R. Loveland
2008, Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres (113)
Quantification of the effects of land use/land cover (LULC) changes on proximal measurements of near-surface air temperature is crucial to a better understanding of natural and anthropogenically induced climate change. In this study, data from stations utilized in deriving U.S. climatological temperature normals were analyzed in conjunction with NCEP-NCAR 50-Year...
Land-cover observations as part of a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS): Progress, activities, and prospects
M. Herold, C. E. Woodcock, Thomas R. Loveland, J. Townshend, M. Brady, C. Steenmans, C. C. Schmullius
2008, IEEE Systems Journal (2) 414-423
The international land-cover community has been working with GEO since 2005 to build the foundations for land-cover observations as an integral part of a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). The Group on Earth Observation (GEO) has provided the platform to elevate the societal relevance of land cover monitoring...
Integrated monitoring and information systems for managing aquatic invasive species in a changing climate
Henry Lee II, Deborah A. Reusser, Julian D. Olden, Scott S. Smith, Jim Graham, Virginia Burkett, Jeffrey S. Dukes, Robert J. Piorkowski, John Mcphedran
2008, Conservation Biology (22) 575-584
Changes in temperature, precipitation, and other climatic drivers and sea-level rise will affect populations of existing native and non-native aquatic species and the vulnerability of aquatic environments to new invasions. Monitoring surveys provide the foundation for assessing the combined effects of climate change and invasions by providing baseline biotic and...
Leachate Geochemical Results for Ash Samples from the June 2007 Angora Wildfire Near Lake Tahoe in Northern California
Philip L. Hageman, Geoffrey S. Plumlee, Deborah A. Martin, Todd M. Hoefen, Monique Adams, Paul J. Lamothe, Todor I. Todorov, Michael W. Anthony
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1170
This report releases leachate geochemical data for ash samples produced by the Angora wildfire that burned from June 24 to July 2, 2007, near Lake Tahoe in northern California. The leaching studies are part of a larger interdisciplinary study whose goal is to identify geochemical characteristics and properties of the...
Advanced Remote Sensing Research
Terrence Slonecker, John W. Jones, Susan D. Price, Dianna Hogan
2008, Fact Sheet 2008-3052
'Remote sensing' is a generic term for monitoring techniques that collect information without being in physical contact with the object of study. Overhead imagery from aircraft and satellite sensors provides the most common form of remotely sensed data and records the interaction of electromagnetic energy (usually visible light) with matter,...
Characteristics and Classification of Least Altered Streamflows in Massachusetts
David S. Armstrong, Gene W. Parker, Todd A. Richards
2008, Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5291
Streamflow records from 85 streamflow-gaging stations at which streamflows were considered to be least altered were used to characterize natural streamflows within southern New England. Period-of-record streamflow data were used to determine annual hydrographs of median monthly flows. The shapes and magnitudes of annual hydrographs of median monthly flows, normalized...
Predevelopment Water-Level Contours for Aquifers in the Rainier Mesa and Shoshone Mountain area of the Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada
Joseph M. Fenelon, Randell J. Laczniak, Keith J. Halford
2008, Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5044
Contaminants introduced into the subsurface of the Nevada Test Site at Rainier Mesa and Shoshone Mountain by underground nuclear testing are of concern to the U.S. Department of Energy and regulators responsible for protecting human health and safety. Although contaminants were introduced into low-permeability rocks above the regional flow system,...
Geologic Map and Digital Data Base of the Almo Quadrangle and City of Rocks National Reserve, Cassia County, Idaho
David M. Miller, Richard L. Armstrong, David R. Bedford, Marsha Davis
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1103
This geologic map describes the geology of the City of Rocks National Reserve and environs, located in the Albion Mountains of south-central Idaho. The most prominent geologic features of the Reserve are the spectacular rock spires that attracted visitors, beginning with commentary in the journals of travelers to California during...
Porphyry copper deposits of the world: Database and grade and tonnage models, 2008
Donald A. Singer, Vladimir I. Berger, Barry C. Moring
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1155
This report is an update of earlier publications about porphyry copper deposits (Singer, Berger, and Moring, 2002; Singer, D.A., Berger, V.I., and Moring, B.C., 2005). The update was necessary because of new information about substantial increases in resources in some deposits and because we revised locations of some deposits so...
Hydrographic Surveys for Six Water Bodies in Eastern Nebraska, 2005-07
Michaela R. Johnson, Michael J. Andersen, Sonja K. Sebree
2008, Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5048
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, completed hydrographic surveys for six water bodies in eastern Nebraska: Maskenthine Wetland, Olive Creek Lake, Standing Bear Lake, Wagon Train Lake and Wetland, Wildwood Lake, and Yankee Hill Lake and sediment basin. The bathymetric data were collected...
Mercury Release from the Rathburn Mine, Petray Mine, and Bear Valley Saline Springs, Colusa County, California 2004-2006
Aaron J. Slowey, James J. Rytuba
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1179
This report summarizes data obtained from field sampling of mine tailings and waste rock at the Rathburn and Petray Mines that was initiated in July 17, 2001 and water and sediment in regional springs and tributaries that drain from the mine area into Bear Creek on December 14, 2004 and...
Near-field receiving water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco Bay, California: 2007
Allison H. Lorenzi, Daniel J. Cain, Francis Parcheso, Janet K. Thompson, Samuel N. Luoma, Michelle I. Hornberger, Jessica Dyke
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1180
Results reported herein include trace element concentrations in sediment and in the clam Macoma petalum (formerly reported as Macoma balthica (Cohen and Carlton 1995)), clam reproductive activity, and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure for a mudflat one kilometer south of the discharge of the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco...
Construction diagrams, geophysical logs, and lithologic descriptions for boreholes USGS 126a, 126b, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, and 134, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho
Brian V. Twining, Mary K.V. Hodges, Stephanie Orr
2008, Data Series 350
This report summarizes construction, geophysical, and lithologic data collected from ten U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) boreholes completed between 1999 nd 2006 at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL): USGS 126a, 126b, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, and 134. Nine boreholes were continuously cored; USGS 126b had 5 ft of...
Chemical Analyses of Ground Water in the Carson Desert near Stillwater, Churchill County, Nevada, 2005
DeEtta Fosbury, Mark Walker, Lisa L. Stillings
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1201
This report presents the chemical analyses of ground-water samples collected in 2005 from domestic wells located in the Stillwater area of the Carson Desert (fig. 1). These data were evaluated for evidence of mixing with nearby geothermal waters (Fosbury, 2007). That study used several methods to identify mixing zones of...
Experimental Repatriation of Mountain Yellow-legged Frogs (Rana muscosa) in the Sierra Nevada of California
Gary M. Fellers, David F. Bradford, David Pratt, Leslie Wood
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1144
In the late 1970s, Rana muscosa (mountain yellow-legged frog) was common in the Tableland area of Sequoia National Park, California where it was possible to find hundreds of tadpoles and adults around many of the ponds and lakes. Surveys in 1993-1995 demonstrated that R. muscosa was absent from more than...
