A conceptual prototype for the next-generation national elevation dataset
Jason M. Stoker, Hans Karl Heidemann, Gayla A. Evans, Susan K. Greenlee
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1023
In 2012 the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Geospatial Program (NGP) funded a study to develop a conceptual prototype for a new National Elevation Dataset (NED) design with expanded capabilities to generate and deliver a suite of bare earth and above ground feature information over the United States. This report...
Potential for recovery of cerium contained in automotive catalytic converters
Donald I. Bleiwas
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1037
Catalytic converters (CATCONs) are required by Federal law to be installed in nearly all gasoline- and diesel-fueled onroad vehicles used in the United States. About 85 percent of the light-duty vehicles and trucks manufactured worldwide are equipped with CATCONs. Portions of the CATCONs (called monoliths) are recycled for their platinum-group...
Conservation and Ecology of Marine Forage Fishes--Proceedings of a Research Symposium, September 2012
Theresa Liedtke, Caroline Gibson, Dayv Lowry, Duane Fagergren
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1035
Locally and globally, there is growing recognition of the critical roles that herring, smelt, sand lance, eulachon, and other forage fishes play in marine ecosystems. Scientific and resource management entities throughout the Salish Sea, agree that extensive information gaps exist, both in basic biological knowledge and parameters critical to fishery...
Development of flood profiles and flood-inundation maps for the Village of Killbuck, Ohio
Chad J. Ostheimer
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1032
Digital flood-inundation maps for a reach of Killbuck Creek near the Village of Killbuck, Ohio, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with Holmes County, Ohio. The inundation maps depict estimates of the areal extent of flooding corresponding to water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage Killbuck...
Water-quality data collected to determine the presence, source, and concentration of lead in the drinking water supply at Pipe Spring National Monument, northern Arizona
Jamie P. Macy, David Sharrow, Joel Unema
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1029
Pipe Spring National Monument in northern Arizona contains historically significant springs. The groundwater source of these springs is the same aquifer that presently is an important source of drinking water for the Pipe Spring National Monument facilities, the Kaibab Paiute Tribe, and the community of Moccasin. The Kaibab Paiute Tribe...
Model documentation for relations between continuous real-time and discrete water-quality constituents in the North Fork Ninnescah River upstream from Cheney Reservoir, south-central Kansas, 1999--2009
Mandy L. Stone, Jennifer L. Graham, Jackline W. Gatotho
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1014
Cheney Reservoir in south-central Kansas is one of the primary sources of water for the city of Wichita. The North Fork Ninnescah River is the largest contributing tributary to Cheney Reservoir. The U.S. Geological Survey has operated a continuous real-time water-quality monitoring station since 1998 on the North Fork Ninnescah...
Population estimates for the Toiyabe population of the Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris), 2004–10
M. J. Adams, Chad Mellison, Stephanie K. Galvan
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1036
The Toiyabe population of Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris, hereafter "Toiyabe frogs") is a geographically isolated population located in central Nevada (fig. 1). The Toiyabe population is part of the Great Basin Distinct Population Segment of Columbia spotted frogs, and is a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act...
Volcano crisis response at Yellowstone volcanic complex - after-action report for exercise held at Salt Lake City, Utah, November 15, 2011
Thomas C. Pierson, Carolyn L. Driedger, Robert I. Tilling
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1018
A functional tabletop exercise was run on November 14-15, 2011 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to test crisis response capabilities, communication protocols, and decision-making by the staff of the multi-agency Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) as they reacted to a hypothetical exercise scenario of accelerating volcanic unrest at the Yellowstone caldera....
Workshop on New Madrid geodesy and the challenges of understanding intraplate earthquakes
Oliver Boyd, Eric Calais, John O. Langbein, Harold Magistrale, Seth Stein, Mark Zoback
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1004
On March 4, 2011, 26 researchers gathered in Norwood, Massachusetts, for a workshop sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey and FM Global to discuss geodesy in and around the New Madrid seismic zone (NMSZ) and its relation to earthquake hazard. The group addressed the challenge of reconciling current geodetic measurements,...
Defining a data management strategy for USGS Chesapeake Bay studies
Cassandra Ladino
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1005
The mission of U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Chesapeake Bay studies is to provide integrated science for improved understanding and management of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. Collective USGS efforts in the Chesapeake Bay watershed began in the 1980s, and by the mid-1990s the USGS adopted the watershed as one of its...
New vitrinite reflectance data for the Wind River Basin, Wyoming
Mark J. Pawlewicz, Thomas M. Finn
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1002
The Wind River Basin is a large Laramide (Late Cretaceous through Eocene) structural and sedimentary basin that encompasses about 7,400 square miles in central Wyoming. The basin is bounded by the Washakie Range and Owl Creek and southern Bighorn Mountains on the north, the Casper arch on the east and...
High-Resolution geophysical data from the inner continental shelf at Vineyard Sound, Massachusetts
Brian D. Andrews, Seth D. Ackerman, Wayne E. Baldwin, David S. Foster, William C. Schwab
2013, Open-File Report 2012-1006
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) have mapped approximately 340 square kilometers of the inner continental shelf in Vineyard Sound, Massachusetts, under a cooperative mapping program. The geophysical data collected between 2009 and 2011 by the U.S. Geological Survey as part of...
A preliminary deposit model for lithium brines
Dwight Bradley, LeeAnn Munk, Hillary Jochens, Scott Hynek, Keith A. Labay
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1006
This report is part of an effort by the U.S. Geological Survey to update existing mineral deposit models and to develop new ones. The global transition away from hydrocarbons toward energy alternatives increases demand for many scarce metals. Among these is lithium, a key component of lithium-ion batteries for electric...
A preliminary deposit model for lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites
Dwight Bradley, Andrew McCauley
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1008
This report is part of an effort by the U.S. Geological Survey to update existing mineral deposit models and to develop new ones. We emphasize practical aspects of pegmatite geology that might directly or indirectly help in exploration for lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites, or for assessing regions for pegmatite-related mineral resource...
Seismicity of the Earth 1900–2010 Middle East and vicinity
Jennifer Jenkins, Bethan Turner, Rebecca Turner, Gavin P. Hayes, Sian Davies, Richard L. Dart, Arthur C. Tarr, Antonio Villaseñor, Harley M. Benz
2013, Open-File Report 2010-1083-K
No fewer than four major tectonic plates (Arabia, Eurasia, India, and Africa) and one smaller tectonic block (Anatolia) are responsible for seismicity and tectonics in the Middle East and surrounding region. Geologic development of the region is a consequence of a number of first-order plate tectonic processes that include subduction,...
Digital data from the Great Sand Dunes airborne gravity gradient survey, south-central Colorado
B. J. Drenth, J.D. Abraham, V. J. S. Grauch, V.F. Labson, G. Hodges
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1011
This report contains digital data and supporting explanatory files describing data types, data formats, and survey procedures for a high-resolution airborne gravity gradient (AGG) survey at Great Sand Dunes National Park, Alamosa and Saguache Counties, south-central Colorado. In the San Luis Valley, the Great Sand Dunes survey covers a large...
Variability of oil and gas well productivities for continuous (unconventional) petroleum accumulations
Ronald R. Charpentier, Troy A. Cook
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1001
Over the last decade, oil and gas well productivities were estimated using decline-curve analysis for thousands of wells as part of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) studies of continuous (unconventional) oil and gas resources in the United States. The estimated ultimate recoveries (EURs) of these wells show great variability that was...
Initial results from a reconnaissance of cyanobacteria and associated toxins in Illinois, August--October 2012
Paul J. Terrio, Lenna M. Ostrodka, Keith A. Loftin, Gregg Good, Teri Holland
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1019
Ten lakes and two rivers in Illinois were sampled in August–October 2012 to determine the concentrations and spatial distribution of cyanobacteria and associated cyanotoxins throughout the State. The reconnaissance was a collaborative effort of the U.S. Geological Survey and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Sample results indicated that concentrations of...
Bedrock and surficial geologic map of the Satan Butte and Greasewood 7.5’ quadrangles, Navajo and Apache Counties, northern Arizona
Lee Amoroso, Susan S. Priest, Margaret Hiza-Redsteer
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1007
The geologic map of the Satan Butte and Greasewood 7.5’ quadrangles is the result of a cooperative effort of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Navajo Nation to provide regional geologic information for management and planning officials. This map provides geologic information useful for range management, plant and animal...
Water-quality and flow data, Chulitna River basin, Southwest Alaska, October 2009-June 2012
Timothy P. Brabets
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1009
The Chulitna River basin in southwest Alaska drains an area of about 1,160 square miles, with the lower 158 square miles of the basin in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. Water from this basin influences Lake Clark ecosystems that support salmon that, in part, sustain the Bristol Bay fishery....
Obtaining and processing Daymet data using Python and ArcGIS
Stefanie Bohms
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1015
This set of scripts was developed to automate the process of downloading and mosaicking daily Daymet data to a user defined extent using ArcGIS and Python programming language. The three steps are downloading the needed Daymet tiles for the study area extent, converting the netcdf file to a tif raster...
Groundwater quality in the Mohawk River Basin, New York, 2011
Elizabeth A. Nystrom, Tia-Marie Scott
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1021
Water samples were collected from 21 production and domestic wells in the Mohawk River Basin in New York in July 2011 to characterize groundwater quality in the basin. The samples were collected and processed using standard U.S. Geological Survey procedures and were analyzed for 148 physiochemical properties and constituents, including...
Abstracts for the October 2012 meeting on Volcanism in the American Southwest, Flagstaff, Arizona
Jacob B. Lowenstern
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1026
Though volcanic eruptions are comparatively rare in the American Southwest, the States of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah host Holocene volcanic eruption deposits and are vulnerable to future volcanic activity. Compared with other parts of the western United States, comparatively little research has been focused on this area,...
Quaternary geologic map of the Shelby 1° x 2° quadrangle, Montana
David S. Fullerton, Roger B. Colton, Charles A. Bush
2013, Open-File Report 2012-1170
The Shelby quadrangle encompasses approximately 16,084 km2 (6,210 mi2). The northern boundary is the Montana/Saskatchewan (U.S./Canada) boundary. The quadrangle is in the Northern Plains physiographic province and it includes the Sweet Grass Hills. The primary river is the Marias River. The ancestral Missouri River was diverted south of the Bearpaw...
Development of a database-driven system for simulating water temperature in the lower Yakima River main stem, Washington, for various climate scenarios
Frank Voss, Alec Maule
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1010
A model for simulating daily maximum and mean water temperatures was developed by linking two existing models: one developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and one developed by the Bureau of Reclamation. The study area included the lower Yakima River main stem between the Roza Dam and West Richland, Washington....