Morphologic evolution of the wilderness area breach at Fire Island, New York—2012–15
Cheryl J. Hapke, Timothy R. Nelson, Rachel E. Henderson, Owen T. Brenner, Jennifer L. Miselis
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1116
IntroductionHurricane Sandy, which made landfall on October 29, 2012, near Atlantic City, New Jersey, had a significant impact on the coastal system along the south shore of Long Island, New York. A record significant wave height of 9.6 meters (m) was measured at wave buoy 44025, approximately 48...
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,...
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...
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...
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)...
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...
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...
Interactive effects of deer exclusion and exotic plant removal on deciduous forest understory communities
Norman Bourg, William J. McShea, Valentine Herrmann, Chad M. Stewart
2017, AoB PLANTS (9) 1-16
Mammalian herbivory and exotic plant species interactions are an important ongoing research topic, due to their presumed impacts on native biodiversity. The extent to which these interactions affect forest understory plant community composition and persistence was the subject of our study. We conducted a 5-year, 2 × 2 factorial experiment...
Play-fairway analysis for geothermal resources and exploration risk in the Modoc Plateau region
Drew Siler, Yingqi Zhang, Nicolas F. Spycher, Patrick Dobson, James S. McClain, Erika Gasperikova, Robert A. Zierenberg, Peter Schiffman, Colin Ferguson, Andrew Fowler, Carolyn Cantwell
2017, Geothermics (69) 15-33
The region surrounding the Modoc Plateau, encompassing parts of northeastern California, southern Oregon, and northwestern Nevada, lies at an intersection between two tectonic provinces; the Basin and Range province and the Cascade volcanic arc. Both of these provinces have substantial geothermal resource base and resource potential. Geothermal systems with evidence...
Geomorphic responses to dam removal in the United States – a two-decade perspective
Jon J. Major, Amy E. East, Jim E. O'Connor, Gordon E. Grant, Andrew C. Wilcox, Christopher S. Magirl, Matthias J. Collins, Desiree D. Tullos
Daizo Tsutsumi, Jonathan B. Laronne, editor(s)
2017, Book chapter, Gravel bed rivers: Processes and disasters
Recent decades have seen a marked increase in the number of dams removed in the United States. Investigations following a number of removals are beginning to inform how, and how fast, rivers and their ecosystems respond to released sediment. Though only a few tens of studies detail physical responses to...
Results of hydrologic monitoring on landslide-prone coastal bluffs near Mukilteo, Washington
Joel B. Smith, Rex L. Baum, Benjamin B. Mirus, Abigail R. Michel, Ben Stark
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1095
A hydrologic monitoring network was installed to investigate landslide hazards affecting the railway corridor along the eastern shore of Puget Sound between Seattle and Everett, near Mukilteo, Washington. During the summer of 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey installed monitoring equipment at four sites equipped with instrumentation to measure rainfall and...
Modern landscape processes affecting archaeological sites along the Colorado River corridor downstream of Glen Canyon Dam, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona
Amy E. East, Joel B. Sankey, Helen C. Fairley, Joshua J. Caster, Alan Kasprak
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5082
The landscape of the Colorado River through Glen Canyon National Recreation Area formed over many thousands of years and was modified substantially after the completion of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963. Changes to river flow, sediment supply, channel base level, lateral extent of sedimentary terraces, and vegetation in the post-dam...
Water resources of Parowan Valley, Iron County, Utah
Thomas M. Marston
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5033
Parowan Valley, in Iron County, Utah, covers about 160 square miles west of the Red Cliffs and includes the towns of Parowan, Paragonah, and Summit. The valley is a structural depression formed by northwest-trending faults and is, essentially, a closed surface-water basin although a small part of the valley at...
Landslide monitoring in the Atlantic Highlands area, New Jersey
Pamela A. Reilly, Francis X. Ashland, Alex R. Fiore
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3068
Shallow and deep-seated landslides have occurred episodically on the steep coastal bluffs of the Atlantic Highlands area (Boroughs of Atlantic Highlands and Highlands) in New Jersey. The oldest documented deep-seated landslide occurred in April 1782 and significantly changed the morphology of the bluff. However, recent landslides have been mostly shallow...
Change in morphology and modern sediment thickness on the inner continental shelf offshore of Fire Island, New York between 2011 and 2014: Analysis of hurricane impact
William C. Schwab, Wayne E. Baldwin, John C. Warner, Jeffrey H. List, Jane F. Denny, Maria Liste Munoz, Ilgar Safak
2017, Marine Geology (391) 48-64
Seafloor mapping investigations conducted on the lower shoreface and inner continental shelf offshore of Fire Island, New York in 2011 and 2014, the period encompassing the impacts of Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, provide an unprecedented perspective regarding regional inner continental shelf sediment dynamics during large storm events. Analyses of these studies demonstrate that...
Balancing habitat delivery for breeding marsh birds and nonbreeding waterfowl: An integrated waterbird management and monitoring approach at Clarence Cannon National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri
Brian W. Loges, James E. Lyons, Brian G. Tavernia
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1051
The Clarence Cannon National Wildlife Refuge (CCNWR) in the Mississippi River flood plain of eastern Missouri provides high quality emergent marsh and moist-soil habitat benefitting both nesting marsh birds and migrating waterfowl. Staff of CCNWR manipulate water levels and vegetation in the 17 units of the CCNWR to provide conditions...
Satellite-tagged osprey nearly sets longevity record and productivity response to initial captures
Charles J. Henny, Mark S. Martell
2017, Journal of Raptor Research (51) 180-183
We equipped adult Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) from 24 nests in Oregon/Washington with satellite-tracked battery-powered radios, known as platform transmitter terminals (PTTs), in 1996–1999. These Ospreys from the lower Columbia River (river miles 76–286), and the Willamette Valley in western Oregon were part of a larger study of Osprey fall migration,...
Geologic field-trip guide to Mount Shasta Volcano, northern California
Robert L. Christiansen, Andrew T. Calvert, Timothy L. Grove
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5022-K3
The southern part of the Cascades Arc formed in two distinct, extended periods of activity: “High Cascades” volcanoes erupted during about the past 6 million years and were built on a wider platform of Tertiary volcanoes and shallow plutons as old as about 30 Ma, generally called the “Western Cascades.”...
Field-trip guide to mafic volcanism of the Cascade Range in Central Oregon—A volcanic, tectonic, hydrologic, and geomorphic journey
Natalia I. Deligne, Daniele Mckay, Richard M. Conrey, Gordon E. Grant, Emily R. Johnson, Jim O’Connor, Kristin Sweeney
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5022-H
The Cascade Range in central Oregon has been shaped by tectonics, volcanism, and hydrology, as well as geomorphic forces that include glaciations. As a result of the rich interplay between these forces, mafic volcanism here can have surprising manifestations, which include relatively large tephra footprints and extensive lava flows, as...
Water-level altitudes 2017 and water-level changes in the Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper Aquifers and compaction 1973–2016 in the Chicot and Evangeline Aquifers, Houston-Galveston region, Texas
Mark C. Kasmarek, Jason K. Ramage
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5080
Most of the land-surface subsidence in the Houston-Galveston region, Texas, has occurred as a direct result of groundwater withdrawals for municipal supply, commercial and industrial use, and irrigation that depressured and dewatered the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers, thereby causing compaction of the aquifer sediments, mostly in the fine-grained silt and...
Overview for geologic field-trip guides to volcanoes of the Cascades Arc in northern California
L.J. Patrick Muffler, Julie M. Donnelly-Nolan, Timothy L. Grove, Michael A. Clynne, Robert L. Christiansen, Andrew T. Calvert, Juliet Ryan-Davis
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5022-K
The California Cascades field trip is a loop beginning and ending in Portland, Oregon. The route of day 1 goes eastward across the Cascades just south of Mount Hood, travels south along the east side of the Cascades for an overview of the central Oregon volcanoes (including Three Sisters and...
Detecting temporal change in land-surface altitude using robotic land-surveying techniques and geographic information system applications at an earthen dam site in Southern Westchester County, New York
Michael L. Noll, Anthony Chu
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1028
In 2005, the U.S. Geological Survey began a cooperative study with New York City Department of Environmental Protection to characterize the local groundwater-flow system and identify potential sources of seeps on the southern embankment at the Hillview Reservoir in southern Westchester County, New York. Monthly site inspections at the reservoir...
Dam removal: Listening in
Melissa M. Foley, James Bellmore, James E. O'Connor, Jeffrey J. Duda, Amy E. East, Gordon G. Grant, Chauncey W. Anderson, Jennifer A. Bountry, Mathias J. Collins, Patrick J. Connolly, Laura S. Craig, James E. Evans, Samantha Greene, Francis J. Magilligan, Christopher S. Magirl, Jon J. Major, George R. Pess, Timothy J. Randle, Patrick B. Shafroth, Christian E. Torgersen, Desiree D. Tullos, Andrew C. Wilcox
2017, Water Resources Research (53) 5229-5246
Dam removal is widely used as an approach for river restoration in the United States. The increase in dam removals—particularly large dams—and associated dam-removal studies over the last few decades motivated a working group at the USGS John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis to review and synthesize available...
Reconstructing Common Era relative sea-level change on the Gulf Coast of Florida
Matthew J. Gerlach, Simon E. Engelhart, Andrew C. Kemp, Ryan P. Moyer, Joseph M. Smoak, Christopher E. Bernhardt, Niamh Cahill
2017, Marine Geology (390) 254-269
To address a paucity of Common Era data in the Gulf of Mexico, we reconstructed ~ 1.1 m of relative sea-level (RSL) rise over the past ~ 2000 years at Little Manatee River (Gulf Coast of Florida, USA). We applied a regional-scale foraminiferal transfer function to fossil assemblages preserved in a core of salt-marsh...
Field-trip guide to Columbia River flood basalts, associated rhyolites, and diverse post-plume volcanism in eastern Oregon
Mark L. Ferns, Martin J. Streck, Jason D. McClaughry
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5022-O
The Miocene Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) is the youngest and best preserved continental flood basalt province on Earth, linked in space and time with a compositionally diverse succession of volcanic rocks that partially record the apparent emergence and passage of the Yellowstone plume head through eastern Oregon during...
