Geologic field-trip guide to Long Valley Caldera, California
Wes Hildreth, Judy Fierstein
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5022-L
This guide to the geology of Long Valley Caldera is presented in four parts: (1) An overview of the volcanic geology; (2) a chronological summary of the principal geologic events; (3) a road log with directions and descriptions for 38 field-trip stops; and (4) a summary of the geophysical unrest...
Detect and exploit hidden structure in fatty acid signature data
Jeffrey F. Bromaghin, Suzanne M. Budge, Gregory W. Thiemann
2017, Ecosphere (8)
Estimates of predator diet composition are essential to our understanding of their ecology. Although several methods of estimating diet are practiced, methods based on biomarkers have become increasingly common. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) is a popular method that continues to be refined and extended. Quantitative fatty acid signature...
Shallow marine response to global climate change during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Salisbury Embayment, USA
Jean Self-Trail, Marci M. Robinson, Timothy J. Bralower, Jocelyn A. Sessa, Elizabeth A. Hajek, Lee R. Kump, Sheila M. Trampush, Debra A. Willard, Lucy E. Edwards, David S. Powars, Gregory A. Wandless
2017, Paleoceanography (32) 710-728
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was an interval of extreme warmth that caused disruption of marine and terrestrial ecosystems on a global scale. Here we examine the sediments, flora, and fauna from an expanded section at Mattawoman Creek-Billingsley Road (MCBR) in Maryland and explore the impact of warming at a...
Spatial variation in edaphic characteristics is a stronger control than nitrogen inputs in regulating soil microbial effects on a desert grass
Y. Anny Chung, Robert L Sinsabaugh, Cheryl R. Kuske, Sasha C. Reed, Jennifer A. Rudgers
2017, Journal of Arid Environments (142) 59-65
Increased atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition can have wide-ranging effects on plant community structure and ecosystem function, some of which may be indirectly mediated by soil microbial responses to an altered biogeochemical environment. In this study, soils from a field N fertilization experiment that spanned a soil texture gradient were used...
The use of passive membrane samplers to assess organic contaminant inputs at five coastal sites in west Maui, Hawaii
Pamela L. Campbell, Nancy G. Prouty, Curt D. Storlazzi, Nicole D’antonio
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1097
Five passive membrane samplers were deployed for 28 continuous days at select sites along and near the west Maui coastline to assess organic compounds and contaminant inputs to diverse, shallow coral reef ecosystems. Daily and weekly fluctuations in such inputs were captured on the membranes using integrative sampling. The distribution...
Topographic, edaphic, and vegetative controls on plant-available water
Salli F. Dymond, John B. Bradford, Paul V. Bolstad, Randall K. Kolka, Stephen D. Sebestyen, Thomas S. DeSutter
2017, Ecohydrology (10) 1-12
Soil moisture varies within landscapes in response to vegetative, physiographic, and climatic drivers, which makes quantifying soil moisture over time and space difficult. Nevertheless, understanding soil moisture dynamics for different ecosystems is critical, as the amount of water in a soil determines a myriad ecosystem services and processes such as...
Noble gas data from Goldfield and Tonopah epithermal Au-Ag deposits, ancestral Cascades Arc, USA: Evidence for a primitive mantle volatile source
Andrew H. Manning, Albert H. Hofstra
2017, Ore Geology Reviews (89) 683-700
The He, Ne, and Ar isotopic composition of fluid inclusions in ore and gangue minerals were analyzed to determine the source of volatiles in the high-grade Goldfield and Tonopah epithermal Au-Ag deposits in southwestern Nevada, USA. Ar and Ne are mainly atmospheric, whereas He has only a minor atmospheric component....
It takes more than water: Restoring the Colorado River Delta
Jennifer Pitt, Eloise Kendy, Karen Schlatter, Osvel Hinojosa-Huerta, Karl W. Flessa, Patrick B. Shafroth, Jorge Ramirez-Hernandez, Pamela L. Nagler, Edward P. Glenn
2017, Ecological Engineering (106) 629-632
Environmental flows have become important tools for restoring rivers and associated riparian ecosystems (Arthington, 2012; Glenn et al., 2017). In March 2014, the United States and Mexico initiated a bold effort in restoration, delivering from Morelos Dam a “pulse flow” of water into the Colorado River in its delta for...
Rodenticide incidents of exposure and adverse effects on non-raptor birds
Nimish B. Vyas
2017, Science of the Total Environment (609) 68-76
Interest in the adverse effects of rodenticides on birds has focused primarily on raptors. However, non-raptor birds are also poisoned (rodenticide exposure resulting in adverse effects including mortality) by rodenticides through consumption of the rodenticide bait and contaminated prey. A literature search for rodenticide incidents (evidence of exposure to a...
Competition amplifies drought stress in forests across broad climatic and compositional gradients
Kelly Gleason, John B. Bradford, Alessandra Bottero, Tony D’Amato, Shawn Fraver, Brian J. Palik, Michael Battaglia, Louis R. Iverson, Laura Kenefic, Christel C. Kern
2017, Ecosphere (8) 1-16
Forests around the world are experiencing increasingly severe droughts and elevated competitive intensity due to increased tree density. However, the influence of interactions between drought and competition on forest growth remains poorly understood. Using a unique dataset of stand-scale dendrochronology sampled from 6405 trees, we quantified how annual growth of...
A synthesis of thresholds for focal species along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts: A review of research and applications
Emily J. Powell, Megan C. Tyrrell, Andrew Milliken, John M. Tirpak, Michelle D. Staudinger
2017, Ocean and Coastal Management (148) 75-88
The impacts from climate change are increasing the possibility of vulnerable coastal species and habitats crossing critical thresholds that could spur rapid and possibly irreversible changes. For species of high conservation concern, improved knowledge of quantitative thresholds could greatly improve management. To meet this need, we synthesized information pertaining to...
United States-Chile binational exchange for volcanic risk reduction, 2015—Activities and benefits
Thomas C. Pierson, Margaret T. Mangan, Luis E. Lara Pulgar, Alvaro Ramos Amigo
2017, Circular 1432
In 2015, representatives from the United States and Chile exchanged visits to discuss and share their expertise and experiences dealing with volcano hazards. Communities in both countries are at risk from various volcano hazards. Risks to lives and property posed by these hazards are a function not only of the...
Dating of river terraces along Lefthand Creek, western High Plains, Colorado, reveals punctuated incision
Melissa A. Foster, Robert S. Anderson, Harrison J. Gray, Shannon A. Mahan
2017, Geomorphology (295) 176-190
The response of erosional landscapes to Quaternary climate oscillations is recorded in fluvial terraces whose quantitative interpretation requires numerical ages. We investigate gravel-capped strath terraces along the western edge of Colorado's High Plains to constrain the incision history of this shale-dominated landscape. We use ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al cosmogenic radionuclides (CRNs),...
On extracting sediment transport information from measurements of luminescence in river sediment
Harrison J. Gray, Gregory E. Tucker, Shannon A. Mahan, Chris McGuire, Edward J. Rhodes
2017, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (122) 654-677
Accurately quantifying sediment transport rates in rivers remains an important goal for geomorphologists, hydraulic engineers, and environmental scientists. However, current techniques for measuring long-time scale (102–106 years) transport rates are laborious, and formulae to predict transport are notoriously inaccurate. Here we attempt to estimate sediment transport rates by using luminescence, a...
Climate and soil texture influence patterns of forb species richness and composition in big sagebrush plant communities across their spatial extent in the western US
Victoria E. Pennington, Kyle A. Palmquist, John B. Bradford, William K. Lauenroth
2017, Plant Ecology (218) 957-970
Article for outlet: Plant Ecology. Abstract: Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) plant communities are widespread non-forested drylands in western North American and similar to all shrub steppe ecosystems world-wide are composed of a shrub overstory layer and a forb and graminoid understory layer. Forbs account for the majority of plant...
Devils Hole, Nevada—A photographic story of a restricted subaqueous environment
Ray J. Hoffman
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1058
This report presents selected photographic images taken by the author during U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research into paleoclimatology and geochemistry in Devils Hole cavern during 1984 to 1993 in cooperation with the National Park Service. The unaltered suite of photographs was prepared by the USGS dive team as an aid...
Knowing requires data
Ramon C. Naranjo
2017, Groundwater (55) 674-677
Groundwater-flow models are often calibrated using a limited number of observations relative to the unknown inputs required for the model. This is especially true for models that simulate groundwater surface-water interactions. In this case, subsurface temperature sensors can be an efficient means for collecting long-term data that capture the...
Enhanced precipitation promotes decomposition and soil C stabilization in semiarid ecosystems, but seasonal timing of wetting matters
Xochi Campos, Matthew J. Germino, Marie-Anne de Graaff
2017, Plant and Soil (416) 427-436
AimsChanging precipitation regimes in semiarid ecosystems will affect the balance of soil carbon (C) input and release, but the net effect on soil C storage is unclear. We asked how changes in the amount and timing of precipitation affect litter decomposition, and soil C stabilization...
New insights into the Kawah Ijen hydrothermal system from geophysical data
Corentin Caudron, G. Mauri, Glyn Williams-Jones, Thomas Lecocq, Devy Kamil Syahbana, Raphael de Plaen, Loic Peiffer, Alain Bernard, Ginette Saracco
2017, Geological Society of London Special Publications (437) 57-72
Volcanoes with crater lakes and/or extensive hydrothermal systems pose significant challenges with respect to monitoring and forecasting eruptions, but they also provide new opportunities to enhance our understanding of magmatic–hydrothermal processes. Their lakes and hydrothermal systems serve as reservoirs for magmatic heat and fluid emissions, filtering and delaying the surface...
A global multiproxy database for temperature reconstructions of the Common Era
Julian Emile-Geay, Nicholas P. McKay, Darrell S. Kaufman, Lucien von Gunten, Jianghao Wang, Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Nerilie J. Abram, Jason A. Addison, Mark A.J. Curran, Michael N. Evans, Benjamin J. Henley, Zhixin Hao, Belen Martrat, Helen V. McGregor, Raphael Neukom, Gregory T. Pederson, Barbara Stenni, Kaustubh Thirumalai, Johannes P. Werner, Chenxi Xu, Dmitry V. Divine, Bronwyn C. Dixon, Joelle Gergis, Ignacio A. Mundo, T. Nakatsuka, Steven J. Phipps, Cody C. Routson, Eric J. Steig, Jessica E. Tierney, Jonathan J. Tyler, Kathryn J. Allen, Nancy A. N. Bertler, Jesper Bjorklund, Brian M. Chase, Min-Te Chen, Ed Cook, Rixt de Jong, Kristine L. DeLong, Daniel A. Dixon, Alexey A. Ekaykin, Vasile Ersek, Helena L. Filipsson, Pierre Francus, Mandy B. Freund, M. Frezzotti, Narayan P. Gaire, Konrad Gajewski, Quansheng Ge, Hugues Goosse, Anastasia Gornostaeva, Martin Grosjean, Kazuho Horiuchi, Anne Hormes, Katrine Husum, Elisabeth Isaksson, Selvaraj Kandasamy, Kenji Kawamura, Nalan Koc, Guillaume Leduc, Hans W. Linderholm, Andrew M. Lorrey, Vladimir Mikhalenko, P. Graham Mortyn, Hideaki Motoyama, Andrew D. Moy, Robert Mulvaney, Philipp M. Munz, David J. Nash, Hans Oerter, Thomas Opel, Anais J. Orsi, Dmitriy V. Ovchinnikov, Trevor J. Porter, Heidi Roop, Casey Saenger, Masaki Sano, David Sauchyn, K.M. Saunders, Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz, Mirko Severi, X. Shao, Marie-Alexandrine Sicre, Michael Sigl, Kate Sinclair, Scott St. George, Jeannine-Marie St. Jacques, Meloth Thamban, Udya Kuwar Thapa, E. Thomas, Chris Turney, Ryu Uemura, A.E. Viau, Diana O. Vladimirova, Eugene Wahl, James W. C. White, Z. Yu, Jens Zinke
2017, Scientific Data (4) 1-33
Reproducible climate reconstructions of the Common Era (1 CE to present) are key to placing industrial-era warming into the context of natural climatic variability. Here we present a community-sourced database of temperature-sensitive proxy records from the PAGES2k initiative. The database gathers 692 records from 648 locations, including all continental regions...
Assessing multi-tissue lead burdens in free-flying obligate scavengers in eastern North America
Shannon Behmke, Patricia Mazik, Todd E. Katzner
2017, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (189)
Avian scavengers are regularly exposed to anthropogenic lead. Although many studies evaluate lead concentrations of either blood or tissues of lead-poisoned birds, there is comparatively less research on lead burdens of free-flying, apparently healthy individuals and populations. Here, we address this lack of information by assessing lead levels of multiple...
Volcano geodesy in the Cascade arc, USA
Michael P. Poland, Michael Lisowski, Daniel Dzurisin, Rebecca Kramer, Megan McLay, Benjamin Pauk
2017, Bulletin of Volcanology (79) 1-33
Experience during historical time throughout the Cascade arc and the lack of deep-seated deformation prior to the two most recent eruptions of Mount St. Helens might lead one to infer that Cascade volcanoes are generally quiescent and, specifically, show no signs of geodetic change until they are about to erupt....
A method for addressing differences in concentrations of fipronil and three degradates obtained by two different laboratory methods
Charles G. Crawford, Jeffrey D. Martin
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1056
In October 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began measuring the concentration of the pesticide fipronil and three of its degradates (desulfinylfipronil, fipronil sulfide, and fipronil sulfone) by a new laboratory method using direct aqueous-injection liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (DAI LC–MS/MS). This method replaced the previous method—in use since...
Partitioning evapotranspiration into green and blue water sources in the conterminous United States
Naga Manohar Velpuri, Gabriel B. Senay
2017, Scientific Reports (7)
In this study, we combined two 1 km actual evapotranspiration datasets (ET), one obtained from a root zone water balance model and another from an energy balance model, to partition annual ET into green (rainfall-based) and blue (surface water/groundwater) sources. Time series maps of green water ET...
Territory and nest site selection patterns by Grasshopper Sparrows in southeastern Arizona
Janet M. Ruth, Susan K. Skagen
2017, The Condor (119) 469-483
Grassland bird populations are showing some of the greatest rates of decline of any North American birds, prompting measures to protect and improve important habitat. We assessed how vegetation structure and composition, habitat features often targeted for management, affected territory and nest site selection by Grasshopper Sparrows (Ammodramus savannarum ammolegus)...
