Investigating the landscape of Arroyo Seco—Decoding the past—A teaching guide to climate-controlled landscape evolution in a tectonically active region
Emily M. Taylor, Donald S. Sweetkind, Jeremy C. Havens
2017, Circular 1425
IntroductionArroyo Seco is a river that flows eastward out of the Santa Lucia Range in Monterey County, California. The Santa Lucia Range is considered part of the central California Coast Range. Arroyo Seco flows out of the Santa Lucia Range into the Salinas River valley, near the town of Greenfield,...
Results of hydrologic monitoring of a landslide-prone hillslope in Portland’s West Hills, Oregon, 2006–2017
Joel B. Smith, Jonathan W. Godt, Rex L. Baum, Jeffrey A. Coe, William L. Ellis, Eric S. Jones, Scott F. Burns
2017, Data Series 1050
The West Hills of Portland, in the southern Tualatin Mountains, trend northwest along the west side of Portland, Oregon. These silt-mantled mountains receive significant wet-season precipitation and are prone to sliding during wet conditions, occasionally resulting in property damage or casualties. In an effort to develop a baseline for interpretive...
Estimated fecal coliform bacteria concentrations using near real-time continuous water-quality and streamflow data from five stream sites in Chester County, Pennsylvania, 2007–16
Lisa A. Senior
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5075
Several streams used for recreational activities, such as fishing, swimming, and boating, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, are known to have periodic elevated concentrations of fecal coliform bacteria, a type of bacteria used to indicate the potential presence of fecally related pathogens that may pose health risks to humans exposed through...
Documentation of a daily mean stream temperature module—An enhancement to the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System
Michael J. Sanders, Steven L. Markstrom, R. Steven Regan, R. Dwight Atkinson
2017, Techniques and Methods 6-D4
A module for simulation of daily mean water temperature in a network of stream segments has been developed as an enhancement to the U.S. Geological Survey Precipitation Runoff Modeling System (PRMS). This new module is based on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Stream Network Temperature model, a mechanistic, one-dimensional...
Mantle and crustal gases of the Colorado Plateau: Geochemistry, sources, and migration pathways
William H. Craddock, Madalyn S. Blondes, Christina A. DeVera, Andrew G. Hunt
2017, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (213) 346-374
The Colorado Plateau hosts several large accumulations of naturally occurring, non-hydrocarbon gases, including CO2, N2, and the noble gases, making it a good field location to study the fluxes of these gases within the crust and to the atmosphere. In this study, we present...
Channel response to sediment release: insights from a paired analysis of dam removal
Mathias J. Collins, Noah P. Snyder, Graham Boardman, William S. Banks, Mary Andrews, Matthew E. Baker, Maricate Conlon, Allen C. Gellis, Serena McClain, Andrew Miller, Peter Wilcock
2017, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (42) 1636-1651
Dam removals with unmanaged sediment releases are good opportunities to learn about channel response to abruptly increased bed material supply. Understanding these events is important because they affect aquatic habitats and human uses of floodplains. A longstanding paradigm in geomorphology holds that response rates to landscape disturbance exponentially decay through...
Novel analyses of long-term data provide a scientific basis for chlorophyll-a thresholds in San Francisco Bay
Martha Sutula, Raphael Kudela, James D. Hagy III, Lawrence W. Harding Jr., David Senn, James E. Cloern, Suzanne B. Bricker, Gry Mine Berg, Marcus W. Beck
2017, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (197) 107-118
San Francisco Bay (SFB), USA, is highly enriched in nitrogen and phosphorus, but has been resistant to the classic symptoms of eutrophication associated with over-production of phytoplankton. Observations in recent years suggest that this resistance may be weakening, shown by: significant increases of chlorophyll-a (chl-a) and...
The state of the world’s mangroves in the 21st century under climate change
Ilka C. Feller, Daniel A. Friess, Ken W. Krauss, Roy R. Lewis III
2017, Hydrobiologia (803) 1-12
Concerted mangrove research and rehabilitation efforts over the last several decades have prompted a better understanding of the important ecosystem attributes worthy of protection and a better conservation ethic toward mangrove wetlands globally. While mangroves continue to be degraded and lost in specific regions, conservation initiatives, rehabilitation efforts, natural regeneration,...
Assessing coastal wetland vulnerability to sea-level rise along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast: Gaps and opportunities for developing a coordinated regional sampling network
Michael J. Osland, Kereen T. Griffith, Jack C. Larriviere, Laura C. Feher, Donald R. Cahoon, Nicholas M. Enwright, David A. Oster, John M. Tirpak, Mark S. Woodrey, Renee C. Collini, Joseph J. Baustian, Joshua L. Breithaupt, Julia A Cherry, Jeremy R. Conrad, Nicole Cormier, Carlos A. Coronado-Molina, Joseph F. Donoghue, Sean A. Graham, Jennifer W. Harper, Mark W. Hester, Rebecca J. Howard, Ken W. Krauss, Daniel Kroes, Robert R. Lane, Karen L. McKee, Irving A. Mendelssohn, Beth A. Middleton, Jena A. Moon, Sarai Piazza, Nicole M. Rankin, Fred H. Sklar, Gregory D. Steyer, Kathleen M. Swanson, Christopher M. Swarzenski, William Vervaeke, Jonathan M Willis, K. Van Wilson
2017, PLoS ONE (12)
Coastal wetland responses to sea-level rise are greatly influenced by biogeomorphic processes that affect wetland surface elevation. Small changes in elevation relative to sea level can lead to comparatively large changes in ecosystem structure, function, and stability. The surface elevation table-marker horizon (SET-MH) approach is being used globally to quantify...
U.S. Geological Survey geohydrologic studies and monitoring at the Idaho National Laboratory, southeastern Idaho
Roy C. Bartholomay
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3070
BackgroundThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) geohydrologic studies and monitoring at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is an ongoing, long-term program. This program, which began in 1949, includes hydrologic monitoring networks and investigative studies that describe the effects of waste disposal on water contained in the eastern Snake River Plain (ESRP)...
Holistic assessment of occurrence and fate of metolachlor within environmental compartments of agricultural watersheds
Claire E. Rose, Richard H. Coupe, Paul D. Capel, Richard M. Webb
2017, Science of the Total Environment (612) 708-719
Background: Metolachlor [(RS)-2-Chloro-N-(2-ethyl-6-methyl-phenyl)-N-(1-methoxypropan-2-yl)acetamide] and two degradates (metolachlor ethane-sulfonic acid and metolachlor oxanilic acid) are commonly observed in surface and groundwater. The behavior and fate of these compounds were examined over a 12-year period in seven agricultural watersheds in the United States. They were quantified in air, rain, streams, overland flow,...
Secondary invasions of noxious weeds associated with control of invasive Tamarix are frequent, idiosyncratic and persistent
Eduardo González, Anna A. Sher, Robert M. Anderson, Robin F. Bay, Daniel W. Bean, Gabriel J. Bissonnete, David J. Cooper, Kara Dohrenwend, Kim D. Eichhorst, Hisham El Waer, Deborah K. Kennard, Rebecca Harms-Weissinger, Annie L. Henry, Lori J. Makarick, Steven M. Ostoja, Lindsay V. Reynolds, W. Wright Robinson, Patrick B. Shafroth, Erich Tabacchi
2017, Biological Conservation (213) 106-114
Control of invasive species within ecosystems may induce secondary invasions of non-target invaders replacing the first alien. We used four plant species listed as noxious by local authorities in riparian systems to discern whether 1) the severity of these secondary invasions was related to the control method applied to the...
Vegetation response to invasive Tamarix control in southwestern U.S. rivers: A collaborative study including 416 sites
Eduardo González, Anna A Sher, Robert M. Anderson, Robin F. Bay, Daniel W. Bean, Gabriel J. Bissonnete, Berenger Bourgeois, David J. Cooper, Kara Dohrenwend, Kim D. Eichhorst, Hisham El Waer, Deborah K. Kennard, Rebecca Harms-Weissinger, Annie L. Henry, Lori J. Makarick, Steven M. Ostoja, Lindsay V. Reynolds, W. Wright Robinson, Patrick B. Shafroth
2017, Ecological Applications (27) 1789-1804
Most studies assessing vegetation response following control of invasive Tamarix trees along southwestern U.S. rivers have been small in scale (e.g., river reach), or at a regional scale but with poor spatial-temporal replication, and most have not included testing the effects of a now widely used biological control. We monitored plant composition...
Effects of surgically implanted transmitters on reproduction and survival in mallards
Jennifer Sheppard, Todd W. Arnold, Courtney L. Amundson, David Klee
2017, Wildlife Society Bulletin (41) 597-604
Abdominally implanted radiotransmitters have been widely used in studies of waterbird ecology; however, the longer handling times and invasiveness of surgical implantation raise important concerns about animal welfare and potential effects on data quality. Although it is difficult to assess effects of handling and marking wild animals by comparing them...
A reservoir morphology database for the conterminous United States
Kirk D. Rodgers
2017, Data Series 1062
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Reservoir Fisheries Habitat Partnership, combined multiple national databases to create one comprehensive national reservoir database and to calculate new morphological metrics for 3,828 reservoirs. These new metrics include, but are not limited to, shoreline development index, index of basin permanence, development of...
Assessing condition of macroinvertebrate communities and bed sediment toxicity in the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern, New York, USA
Brian Duffy, Scott D. George, Barry P. Baldigo, Alexander J. Smith
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 890-898
The United States and Canada agreed to restore the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Great Lakes ecosystem under the first Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1972. The lowest reach of the Genesee River and the Rochester Embayment on Lake Ontario between Bogus Point and Nine Mile Point,...
Fine-resolution repeat topographic surveying of dryland landscapes using UAS-based structure-from-motion photogrammetry: Assessing accuracy and precision against traditional ground-based erosion measurements
Jeffrey K. Gillian, Jason W. Karl, Ahmed Elaksher, Michael C. Duniway
2017, Remote Sensing (9)
Structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry from unmanned aerial system (UAS) imagery is an emerging tool for repeat topographic surveying of dryland erosion. These methods are particularly appealing due to the ability to cover large landscapes compared to field methods and at reduced costs and finer spatial resolution compared to airborne laser scanning....
A digital reference collection for aquatic macroinvertebrates of North America
David Walters, Morgan A Ford, Robert E. Zuellig
2017, Freshwater Science (36) 693-697
Aquatic invertebrates are a key component of freshwater ecosystems, and understanding aquatic invertebrate taxonomy is a cornerstone of freshwater science. Physical reference collections of expertly identified voucher specimens are the ‘gold-standard’ used to confirm specimen identifications. However, most biologists lack access to such collections, which themselves tend to be highly...
Atoll groundwater movement and its response to climatic and sea-level fluctuations
Ferdinand K. J. Oberle, Peter W. Swarzenski, Curt D. Storlazzi
2017, Water (9)
Groundwater resources of low-lying atoll islands are threatened due to short-term and long-term changes in rainfall, wave climate, and sea level. A better understanding of how these forcings affect the limited groundwater resources was explored on Roi-Namur in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. As part of a 16-month study,...
Hydrologic impacts of landslide disturbances: Implications for remobilization and hazard persistence
Benjamin B. Mirus, Joel B. Smith, Rex L. Baum
2017, Water Resources Research (53) 8250-8265
Landslides typically alter hillslope topography, but may also change the hydrologic connectivity and subsurface water-storage dynamics. In settings where mobile materials are not completely evacuated from steep slopes, influences of landslide disturbances on hillslope hydrology and susceptibility to subsequent failures remain poorly characterized. Since landslides often recur at the site...
Deep-sea coral research and technology program: Alaska deep-sea coral and sponge initiative final report
Chris Rooper, Robert P. Stone, Peter Etnoyer, Christina Conrath, Jennifer Reynolds, H. Gary Greene, Branwen Williams, Enrique Salgado, Cheryl L. Morrison, Rhian G. Waller, Amanda W.J. Demopoulos
2017, NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-OHC-2
Deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems are widespread throughout most of Alaska’s marine waters. In some places, such as the central and western Aleutian Islands, deep-sea coral and sponge resources can be extremely diverse and may rank among the most abundant deep-sea coral and sponge communities in the world. Many different...
Neotectonics of interior Alaska and the late Quaternary slip rate along the Denali fault system
Peter J. Haeussler, Ari Matmon, David P. Schwartz, Gordon G. Seitz
2017, Geosphere (13) 1-19
The neotectonics of southern Alaska (USA) are characterized by a several hundred kilometers–wide zone of dextral transpressional that spans the Alaska Range. The Denali fault system is the largest active strike-slip fault system in interior Alaska, and it produced a Mw 7.9 earthquake in 2002. To evaluate the late Quaternary slip...
Loads and yields of deicing compounds and total phosphorus in the Cambridge drinking-water source area, Massachusetts, water years 2009–15
Kirk P. Smith
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5047
The source water area for the drinking-water supply of the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, encompasses major transportation corridors, as well as large areas of light industrial, commercial, and residential land use. Because of the large amount of roadway in the drinking-water source area, the Cambridge water supply is affected by...
Selection of the InSight landing site
M. Golombek, D. Kipp, N. Warner, Ingrid J. Daubar, Robin L. Fergason, Randolph L. Kirk, R. Beyer, A. Huertas, Sylvain Piqueux, N.E. Putzig, B.A. Campbell, G. A. Morgan, C. Charalambous, W. T. Pike, K. Gwinner, F. Calef, D. Kass, M. A. Mischna, J. Ashley, C. Bloom, N. Wigton, T. Hare, C. Schwartz, H. Gengl, L. Redmond, M. Trautman, J. Sweeney, C. Grima, I. B. Smith, E. Sklyanskiy, M. Lisano, J. Benardini, S.E. Smrekar, P. Lognonne, W. B. Banerdt
2017, Space Science Reviews (211) 5-95
The selection of the Discovery Program InSight landing site took over four years from initial identification of possible areas that met engineering constraints, to downselection via targeted data from orbiters (especially Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Context Camera (CTX) and High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images), to selection and certification via...
A hydrologic drying bias in water-resource impact analyses of anthropogenic climate change
Paul Milly, Krista A. Dunne
2017, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (53) 822-838
For water-resource planning, sensitivity of freshwater availability to anthropogenic climate change (ACC) often is analyzed with “offline” hydrologic models that use precipitation and potential evapotranspiration (Ep) as inputs. Because Ep is not a climate-model output, an intermediary model of Ep must be introduced to connect the climate model to the...
