Groundwater simulation and management models for the upper Klamath Basin, Oregon and California
Marshall W. Gannett, Brian J. Wagner, Kenneth E. Lite Jr.
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5062
The upper Klamath Basin encompasses about 8,000 square miles, extending from the Cascade Range east to the Basin and Range geologic province in south-central Oregon and northern California. The geography of the basin is dominated by forested volcanic uplands separated by broad interior basins. Most of the interior basins once...
Methods for evaluating temporal groundwater quality data and results of decadal-scale changes in chloride, dissolved solids, and nitrate concentrations in groundwater in the United States, 1988-2010
Bruce D. Lindsey, Michael G. Rupert
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5049
Decadal-scale changes in groundwater quality were evaluated by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. Samples of groundwater collected from wells during 1988-2000 - a first sampling event representing the decade ending the 20th century - were compared on a pair-wise basis to samples from the same wells...
Temporal and spatial patterns in wind stress and wind stress curl over the central Southern California Bight
Marlene A. Noble, Kurt J. Rosenberger, Leslie K. Rosenfeld, George L. Robertson
2012, Continental Shelf Research (38) 98-109
In 2001, the U.S. Geological Survey, together with several other federal and municipal agencies, began a series of field programs to determine along and cross-shelf transport patterns over the continental shelves in the central Southern California Bight. As a part of these programs, moorings that monitor winds were deployed off...
Photodissolution of soil organic matter
L.M. Mayer, K.R. Thornton, L.L. Schick, J.D. Jastrow, Jennifer W. Harden
2012, Geoderma (170) 314-321
Sunlight has been shown to enhance loss of organic matter from aquatic sediments and terrestrial plant litter, so we tested for similar reactions in mineral soil horizons. Losses of up to a third of particulate organic carbon occurred after continuous exposure to full-strength sunlight for dozens of hours, with similar...
El Niño-Southern oscillation variability from the late cretaceous marca shale of California
Andrew Davies, Alan E.S. Kemp, Graham P. Weedon, John A. Barron
2012, Geology (40) 15-18
Changes in the possible behavior of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) with global warming have provoked interest in records of ENSO from past “greenhouse” climate states. The latest Cretaceous laminated Marca Shale of California permits a seasonal-scale reconstruction of water column flux events and hence interannual paleoclimate variability. The annual flux...
Evaluation of landslide monitoring in the Polish Carpathians
Brian D. Collins, Rex L. Baum, Teresa Mrozek, Piotr Nescieruk, Zbigniew Perski, Wojciech Raczkowski, Marek Graniczny
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1001
In response to the June 15, 2010 request from the Polish Geological Institute (PGI) to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for assistance and advice regarding real-time landslide monitoring, landslide specialists from the USGS Landslide Hazard Program visited PGI headquarters and field sites in September 2010. During our visit we became...
BioData: a national aquatic bioassessment database
Dorene MacCoy
2011, Fact Sheet 2011-3112
BioData is a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) web-enabled database that for the first time provides for the capture, curation, integration, and delivery of bioassessment data collected by local, regional, and national USGS projects. BioData offers field biologists advanced capabilities for entering, editing, and reviewing the macroinvertebrate, algae, fish, and supporting...
Columbia River Estuary ecosystem classification—Concept and application
Charles A. Simenstad, Jennifer L. Burke, Jim E. O'Connor, Charles Cannon, Danelle W. Heatwole, Mary F. Ramirez, Ian R. Waite, Timothy D. Counihan, Krista L. Jones
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1228
This document describes the concept, organization, and application of a hierarchical ecosystem classification that integrates saline and tidal freshwater reaches of estuaries in order to characterize the ecosystems of large flood plain rivers that are strongly influenced by riverine and estuarine hydrology. We illustrate the classification by applying it to...
Field Reconnaissance Geologic Mapping of the Columbia Hills, Mars: Results from MER Spirit and MRO HiRISE Observations
L.S. Crumpler, R. E. Arvidson, S. W. Squyres, T. McCoy, A. Yingst, S. Ruff, W. Farrand, Y. McSween, M. Powell, D. W. Ming, R.V. Morris, J.F. Bell III, J. Grant, R. Greeley, D. DesMarais, M. Schmidt, N.A. Cabrol, A. Haldemann, Kevin W. Lewis, A.E. Wang, C. Schroder, D. Blaney, B. Cohen, A. Yen, J. Farmer, Ralf Gellert, E.A. Guinness, K. E. Herkenhoff, J. R. Johnson, G. Klingelhofer, A. McEwen, J. W. Rice Jr., M. Rice, P. deSouza, J. Hurowitz
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (116) E00F24-E00F24
Chemical, mineralogic, and lithologic ground truth was acquired for the first time on Mars in terrain units mapped using orbital Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (MRO HiRISE) image data. Examination of several dozen outcrops shows that Mars is geologically complex at meter length scales, the record of...
Precipitation-runoff relations and water-quality characteristics at edge-of-field stations, Discovery Farms and Pioneer Farm, Wisconsin, 2003-8
Todd D. Stuntebeck, Matthew J. Komiskey, Marie C. Peppler, David W. Owens, Dennis R. Frame
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5008
A cooperative study between the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison Discovery Farms program (Discovery Farms), and the UW-Platteville Pioneer Farm program (Pioneer Farm) was developed to identify typical ranges and magnitudes, temporal distributions, and principal factors affecting concentrations and yields of sediment, nutrients, and other selected constituents...
Simulation of streamflow in the Pleasant, Narraguagus, Sheepscot, and Royal Rivers, Maine, using watershed models
Robert W. Dudley, Martha G. Nielsen
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5221
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a study in 2008 to investigate anticipated changes in summer streamflows and stream temperatures in four coastal Maine river basins and the potential effects of those changes on populations of endangered Atlantic salmon. To achieve this purpose, it was necessary to characterize the quantity...
Terrestrial source to deep-sea sink sediment budgets at high and low sea levels: Insights from tectonically active Southern California
J.A. Covault, B.W. Romans, S.A. Graham, A. Fildani, G.E. Hilley
2011, Geology (39) 619-622
Sediment routing from terrestrial source areas to the deep sea influences landscapes and seascapes and supply and filling of sedimentary basins. However, a comprehensive assessment of land-to-deep-sea sediment budgets over millennia with significant climate change is lacking. We provide source to sink sediment budgets using cosmogenic radionuclide–derived terrestrial denudation rates...
Multiscale site-response mapping: A case study of Parkfield, California
E.M. Thompson, L.G. Baise, R. E. Kayen, E.C. Morgan, J. Kaklamanos
2011, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (101) 1081-1100
The scale of previously proposed methods for mapping site-response ranges from global coverage down to individual urban regions. Typically, spatial coverage and accuracy are inversely related.We use the densely spaced strong-motion stations in Parkfield, California, to estimate the accuracy of different site-response mapping methods and demonstrate a method for integrating...
Holocene record of precipitation seasonality from lake calcite δ18O in the central Rocky Mountains, United States
Lesleigh Anderson
2011, Geology (39) 211-214
A context for recent hydroclimatic extremes and variability is provided by a ∼10 k.y. sediment carbonate oxygen isotope (δ18O) record at 5–100 yr resolution from Bison Lake, 3255 m above sea level, in northwestern Colorado (United States). Winter precipitation is the primary water source for the alpine headwater lake in...
Development of a national, dynamic reservoir-sedimentation database
J. R. Gray, J.M. Bernard, D. W. Stewart, E.J. McFaul, K.W. Laurent, G. E. Schwarz, J.T. Stinson, M.M. Jonas, T. J. Randle, J.W. Webb
2010, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the Joint Federal Interagency Conference 2010: Hydrology and Sedimentation for a Changing Future: Existing and Emerging Issues: Las Vegas, NV, June 27-July 1, 2010
The importance of dependable, long-term water supplies, coupled with the need to quantify rates of capacity loss of the Nation’s re servoirs due to sediment deposition, were the most compelling reasons for developing the REServoir- SEDimentation survey information (RESSED) database and website. Created under the auspices of the Advisory Committee...
A method for assessing carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse-gas fluxes in ecosystems of the United States under present conditions and future scenarios
Brian A. Bergamaschi, Richard Bernknopf, David Clow, Dennis Dye, Stephen Faulkner, William Forney, Robert Gleason, Todd Hawbaker, Jinxun Liu, Shu-Guang Liu, Stephen Prisley, Bradley Reed, Matthew Reeves, Matthew Rollins, Benjamin Sleeter, Terry Sohl, Sarah Stackpoole, Stephen Stehman, Robert G. Striegl, Anne Wein, Zhi-Liang Zhu
Zhi-Liang Zhu, editor(s)
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5233
he Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), Section 712, mandates the U.S. Department of the Interior to develop a methodology and conduct an assessment of the Nation’s ecosystems, focusing on carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and emissions of three greenhouse gases (GHGs): carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The...
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...
Analogues to features and processes of a high-level radioactive waste repository proposed for Yucca Mountain, Nevada
Ardyth M. Simmons, John S. Stuckless, U.S. Department of Energy with a Foreword by Abraham Van Luik
2010, Professional Paper 1779
Natural analogues are defined for this report as naturally occurring or anthropogenic systems in which processes similar to those expected to occur in a nuclear waste repository are thought to have taken place over time periods of decades to millennia and on spatial scales as much as tens of kilometers....
A deposit model for Mississippi Valley-Type lead-zinc ores
David L. Leach, Ryan D. Taylor, David L. Fey, Sharon F. Diehl, Richard W. Saltus
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5070-A
This report is a descriptive model of Mississippi Valley-Type (MVT) lead-zinc deposits that presents their geological, mineralogical and geochemical attributes and is part of an effort by the U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program to update existing models and develop new models that will be used for an upcoming national...
Divisions of geologic time-major chronostratigraphic and geochronologic units
U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Names Committee
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3059
Effective communication in the geosciences requires consistent uses of stratigraphic nomenclature, especially divisions of geologic time. A geologic time scale is composed of standard stratigraphic divisions based on rock sequences and is calibrated in years. Over the years, the development of new dating methods and the refinement of previous methods...
Recent subsidence-rate reductions in the Mississippi Delta and their geological implications
Julie Bernier, Robert A. Morton
2010, Journal of Coastal Research (26) 555-561
The Mississippi Delta has long been characterized as an area of rapid subsidence; however, recent subsidence rates are substantially lower than previously reported. Tide-gauge records indicate that rates of relative sea-level rise were slow from 1947 until the mid-1960s, relatively fast from the mid-1960s until the early 1990s, and then...
Water-the Nation's Fundamental Climate Issue A White Paper on the U.S. Geological Survey Role and Capabilities
Harry F. Lins, Robert M. Hirsch, Julie Kiang
2010, Circular 1347
Of all the potential threats posed by climatic variability and change, those associated with water resources are arguably the most consequential for both society and the environment (Waggoner, 1990). Climatic effects on agriculture, aquatic ecosystems, energy, and industry are strongly influenced by climatic effects on water. Thus, understanding changes in...
Testing the limits of Paleozoic chronostratigraphic correlation via high-resolution (<500 k.y.) integrated conodont, graptolite, and carbon isotope (δ13Ccarb) biochemostratigraphy across the Llandovery–Wenlock (Silurian) boundary: Is a unified Phanerozoic time scale achievable?
Bradley D. Cramer, David K. Loydell, Christian Samtleben, Axel Munnecke, Dimitri Kaljo, Peep Mannik, Tonu Martma, Lennart Jeppsson, Mark A. Kleffner, James E. Barrick, Craig A. Johnson, Poul Emsbo, Michael M. Joachimski, Torsten Bickert, Matthew R. Saltzman
2010, Geological Society of America Bulletin (122) 1700-1716
The resolution and fidelity of global chronostratigraphic correlation are direct functions of the time period under consideration. By virtue of deep-ocean cores and astrochronology, the Cenozoic and Mesozoic time scales carry error bars of a few thousand years (k.y.) to a few hundred k.y. In contrast, most of the Paleozoic...
Limited hydrologic response to Pleistocene climate change in deep vadose zones - Yucca Mountain, Nevada
J.B. Paces, L.A. Neymark, J. F. Whelan, J. L. Wooden, S.P. Lund, B.D. Marshall
2010, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (300) 287-298
Understanding the movement of water through thick vadose zones, especially on time scales encompassing long-term climate change, is increasingly important as societies utilize semi-arid environments for both water resources and sites viewed as favorable for long-term disposal or storage of hazardous waste. Hydrologic responses to Pleistocene climate change within a...
Structural development of high-temperature mylonites in the Archean Wyoming province, northwestern Madison Range, Montana
Karl S. Kellogg, David W. Mogk
2009, Rocky Mountain Geology (44) 85-102
The Crooked Creek mylonite, in the northwestern Madison Range, southwestern Montana, is defined by several curved lenses of high non-coaxial strain exposed over a 7-km-wide, northeast-trending strip. The country rocks, part of the Archean Wyoming province, are dominantly trondhjemitic to granitic orthogneiss with subordinate amphibolite, quartzite, aluminous gneiss, and sills...
