National assessment of shoreline change—Summary statistics for updated vector shorelines and associated shoreline change data for the Gulf of Mexico and Southeast Atlantic coasts
Emily A. Himmelstoss, Meredith G. Kratzmann, E. Robert Thieler
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1015
Long-term rates of shoreline change for the Gulf of Mexico and Southeast Atlantic regions of the United States have been updated as part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Assessment of Shoreline Change project. Additional shoreline position data were used to compute rates where the previous rate-of-change assessment only included...
Group inverse sampling: An economical approach to inverse sampling
Bardia Panahbehagh, David R. Smith
2017, Environmetrics (28)
Inverse sampling is an adaptive design in the sense that the final sampling effort during a search for rare events will depend on what is found during the survey. Conventional inverse sampling (CIS) designs successively select individual sampling units to find, for example, the k th rare event. In real...
Case studies of riparian and watershed restoration in the southwestern United States—Principles, challenges, and successes
Barbara E. Ralston, Daniel A. Sarr
Barbara E. Ralston, Daniel A. Sarr, editor(s)
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1091
Globally, rivers and streams are highly altered by impoundments, diversions, and stream channelization associated with agricultural and water delivery needs. Climate change imposes additional challenges by further reducing discharge, introducing variability in seasonal precipitation patterns, and increasing temperatures. Collectively, these changes in a river or stream’s annual hydrology affects...
Storage filters upland suspended sediment signals delivered from watersheds
James E. Pizzuto, Jeremy Keeler, Katherine Skalak, Diana Karwan
2017, Geology (45) 151-154
Climate change, tectonics, and humans create long- and short-term temporal variations in the supply of suspended sediment to rivers. These signals, generated in upland erosional areas, are filtered by alluvial storage before reaching the basin outlet. We quantified this filter using a random walk model driven by sediment budget data,...
Brackish groundwater and its potential to augment freshwater supplies
Jennifer S. Stanton, Kevin F. Dennehy
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3054
Secure, reliable, and sustainable water resources are fundamental to the Nation’s food production, energy independence, and ecological and human health and well-being. Indications are that at any given time, water resources are under stress in selected parts of the country. The large-scale development of groundwater resources has caused declines in...
Lithofacies and sequence stratigraphic description of the upper part of the Avon Park Formation and the Arcadia Formation in U.S. Geological Survey G–2984 test corehole, Broward County, Florida
Kevin J. Cunningham, Edward Robinson
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1074
Rock core and sediment from U.S. Geological Survey test corehole G–2984 completed in 2011 in Broward County, Florida, provide an opportunity to improve the understanding of the lithostratigraphic, sequence stratigraphic, and hydrogeologic framework of the intermediate confining unit and Floridan aquifer system in southeastern Florida. A multidisciplinary approach including characterization...
Limiting the effects of earthquakes on gravitational-wave interferometers
Michael Coughlin, Paul S. Earle, Jan Harms, Sebastien Biscans, Christopher Buchanan, Eric Coughlin, Fred Donovan, Jeremy Fee, Hunter Gabbard, Michelle M. Guy, Nikhil Mukund, Matthew Perry
2017, Classical and Quantum Gravity (34)
Ground-based gravitational wave interferometers such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) are susceptible to ground shaking from high-magnitude teleseismic events, which can interrupt their operation in science mode and significantly reduce their duty cycle. It can take several hours for a detector to stabilize enough to return to its...
Effect of NOAA satellite orbital drift on AVHRR-derived phenological metrics
Lei Ji, Jesslyn F. Brown
2017, International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (62) 215-223
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center routinely produces and distributes a remote sensing phenology (RSP) dataset derived from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) 1-km data compiled from a series of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites (NOAA-11, −14, −16, −17, −18,...
Oil Shale
Justin E. Birdwell
2017, Book chapter, Encyclopedia of Geochemistry
Oil shales are fine-grained sedimentary rocks formed in many different depositional environments (terrestrial, lacustrine, marine) containing large quantities of thermally immature organic matter in the forms of kerogen and bitumen. If defined from an economic standpoint, a rock containing a sufficient concentration of oil-prone kerogen to generate economic quantities of...
Assessment of continuous oil and gas resources in the Perth Basin Province, Australia, 2017
Christopher J. Schenk, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Thomas M. Finn, Tracey J. Mercier, Sarah J. Hawkins, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Kristen R. Marra, Timothy R. Klett, Phuong A. Le, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Cheryl A. Woodall
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3039
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey assessed undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 223 million barrels of oil and 14.5 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Perth Basin Province, Australia....
Using CO2 Prophet to estimate recovery factors for carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery
Emil D. Attanasi
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5062-B
IntroductionThe Oil and Gas Journal’s enhanced oil recovery (EOR) survey for 2014 (Koottungal, 2014) showed that gas injection is the most frequently applied method of EOR in the United States and that carbon dioxide (CO2 ) is the most commonly used injection fluid for miscible operations. The CO2-EOR process typically...
Carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery performance according to the literature
Ricardo A. Olea
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5062-D
IntroductionThe need to increase the efficiency of oil recovery and environmental concerns are bringing to prominence the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a tertiary recovery agent. Assessment of the impact of flooding with CO2 all eligible reservoirs in the United States not yet undergoing enhanced oil recovery (EOR) requires...
Summary of the analyses for recovery factors
Mahendra K. Verma
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5062-E
IntroductionIn order to determine the hydrocarbon potential of oil reservoirs within the U.S. sedimentary basins for which the carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) process has been considered suitable, the CO2 Prophet model was chosen by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to be the primary source for estimating recovery-factor values...
Application of decline curve analysis to estimate recovery factors for carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery
Hossein Jahediesfanjani
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5062-C
IntroductionIn the decline curve analysis (DCA) method of estimating recoverable hydrocarbon volumes, the analyst uses historical production data from a well, lease, group of wells (or pattern), or reservoir and plots production rates against time or cumulative production for the analysis. The DCA of an individual well is founded on...
Three approaches for estimating recovery factors in carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery
Mahendra K. Verma, editor(s)
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5062
PrefaceThe Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 authorized the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct a national assessment of geologic storage resources for carbon dioxide (CO2) and requested the USGS to estimate the “potential volumes of oil and gas recoverable by injection and sequestration of industrial carbon dioxide in...
General introduction and recovery factors
Mahendra K. Verma
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5062-A
IntroductionThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) compared methods for estimating an incremental recovery factor (RF) for the carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) process involving the injection of CO2 into oil reservoirs. This chapter first provides some basic information on the RF, including its dependence on various reservoir and operational parameters,...
Hydrologic Derivatives for Modeling and Analysis—A new global high-resolution database
Kristine L. Verdin
2017, Data Series 1053
The U.S. Geological Survey has developed a new global high-resolution hydrologic derivative database. Loosely modeled on the HYDRO1k database, this new database, entitled Hydrologic Derivatives for Modeling and Analysis, provides comprehensive and consistent global coverage of topographically derived raster layers (digital elevation model data, flow direction, flow accumulation, slope, and...
Application of at-site peak-streamflow frequency analyses for very low annual exceedance probabilities
William H. Asquith, Julie E. Kiang, Timothy A. Cohn
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5038
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has investigated statistical methods for probabilistic flood hazard assessment to provide guidance on very low annual exceedance probability (AEP) estimation of peak-streamflow frequency and the quantification of corresponding uncertainties using streamgage-specific data. The term “very low AEP”...
A method for examining temporal changes in cyanobacterial harmful algal bloom spatial extent using satellite remote sensing
Erin A. Urquhart, Blake A. Schaeffer, Richard P. Stumpf, Keith A. Loftin, P. Jeremy Werdell
2017, Harmful Algae (67) 144-152
Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHAB) are thought to be increasing globally over the past few decades, but relatively little quantitative information is available about the spatial extent of blooms. Satellite remote sensing provides a potential technology for identifying cyanoHABs in multiple water bodies and across geo-political boundaries. An assessment method...
Atypical feeding behavior of Long-tailed Ducks in the wake of a commercial fishing boat while clamming
Matthew Perry, Peter C. Osenton, Timothy P. White
2017, Northeastern Naturalist (24) N19-N25
A foraging group of Clangula hyemalis (Long-tailed Duck) was observed on 10 February 2010 diving behind a commercial boat that was clamming near Monomoy Island, Nantucket Sound, MA. We used a shotgun to collect 9 of the ducks, and our analyses of gizzard and gullet (esophagus and proventriculus) revealed 37 food items...
2017 One‐year seismic‐hazard forecast for the central and eastern United States from induced and natural earthquakes
Mark D. Petersen, Charles Mueller, Morgan P. Moschetti, Susan M. Hoover, Allison Shumway, Daniel E. McNamara, Robert Williams, Andrea L. Llenos, William L. Ellsworth, Justin L. Rubinstein, Arthur F. McGarr, Kenneth S. Rukstales
2017, Seismological Research Letters (88) 772-783
We produce a one‐year 2017 seismic‐hazard forecast for the central and eastern United States from induced and natural earthquakes that updates the 2016 one‐year forecast; this map is intended to provide information to the public and to facilitate the development of induced seismicity forecasting models, methods, and data. The 2017...
The U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center
Laszlo P. Keszthelyi, R. Greg Vaughan, Lisa R. Gaddis, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, Justin Hagerty
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3038
In 1960, Eugene Shoemaker and a small team of other scientists founded the field of astrogeology to develop tools and methods for astronauts studying the geology of the Moon and other planetary bodies. Subsequently, in 1962, the U.S. Geological Survey Branch of Astrogeology was established in Menlo Park, California. In...
Research, monitoring, and evaluation of emerging issues and measures to recover the Snake River Fall Chinook Salmon ESU, 1/1/2016 - 12/31/2016
William P. Connor, Frank L. Mullins, Kenneth F. Tiffan, John M. Plumb, Russell W. Perry, John M. Erhardt, Rulon J. Hemingway, Brad K. Bickford, Tobyn N. Rhodes
2017, Report
The portion of the Snake River fall Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ESU that spawns upstream of Lower Granite Dam transitioned from low to high abundance during 1992–2016 in association with U.S. Endangered Species Act recovery efforts and other federally mandated actions. This annual report focuses on (1) numeric and habitat...
Snake River Fall Chinook Salmon life history investigations
John M. Erhardt, Brad K. Bickford, Rulon J. Hemingway, Tobyn N. Rhodes, Kenneth F. Tiffan
2017, Report
Predation by nonnative fishes is one factor that has been implicated in the decline of juvenile salmonids in the Pacific Northwest. Impoundment of much of the Snake and Columbia rivers has altered food webs and created habitat favorable for species such as Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu. Smallmouth Bass are common...
Tracer-based evidence of heterogeneity in subsurface flow and storage within a boreal hillslope
Joshua C. Koch, Ryan C. Toohey, D.M. Reeves
2017, Hydrological Processes (31) 2453-2463
Runoff from boreal hillslopes is often affected by distinct soil boundaries, including the frozen boundary and the organic – mineral boundary (OMB), where highly porous and hydraulically-conductive organic material overlies fine-grained mineral soils. Viewed from the surface, ground cover appears as a patchwork on sub-meter scales, with thick, moss mats...
