Top-down and bottom-up interactions influence fledging success at North America’s largest colony of Caspian terns (Hydroprogne caspia)
Stefanie Collar, Daniel D. Roby, Donald E. Lyons
2017, Estuaries and Coasts (40) 1808-1818
Our study investigated the influence of bottom-up and top-down drivers on the declining fledging success at a once thriving breeding colony of Caspian terns (Hydroprogne caspia). Situated at the mouth of the Columbia River, OR, East Sand Island (ESI) is home to the largest Caspian tern breeding colony...
The magnitude and origin of groundwater discharge to eastern U.S. and Gulf of Mexico coastal waters
Kevin Befus, Kevin D. Kroeger, Christopher G. Smith, Peter W. Swarzenski
2017, Geophysical Research Letters (44) 10396-10406
Fresh groundwater discharge to coastal environments contributes to the physical and chemical conditions of coastal waters, but the role of coastal groundwater at regional to continental scales remains poorly defined due to diverse hydrologic conditions and the difficulty of tracking coastal groundwater flow paths through heterogeneous subsurface materials. We use...
High-resolution seismic characterization of the gas and gas hydrate system at Green Canyon 955, Gulf of Mexico, USA
Seth S. Haines, Patrick E. Hart, Timothy S. Collett, William Shedd, Matthew Frye, Paul Weimer, Ray Boswell
2017, Marine and Petroleum Geology (82) 220-237
The Pliocene and Pleistocene sediments at lease block Green Canyon 955 (GC955) in the Gulf of Mexico include sand-rich strata with high saturations of gas hydrate; these gas hydrate accumulations and the associated geology have been characterized over the past decade using conventional industry three-dimensional (3D) seismic data and dedicated...
Deglacial sea level history of the East Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea margins
Thomas M. Cronin, Matt O’Regan, Christof Pearce, Laura Gemery, Michael Toomey, Igor Semiletov
2017, Climate of the Past (13) 1097-1110
Deglacial (12.8–10.7 ka) sea level history on the East Siberian continental shelf and upper continental slope was reconstructed using new geophysical records and sediment cores taken during Leg 2 of the 2014 SWERUS-C3 expedition. The focus of this study is two cores from Herald Canyon, piston core SWERUS-L2-4-PC1 (4-PC1) and...
Geochemistry of mercury and other constituents in subsurface sediment—Analyses from 2011 and 2012 coring campaigns, Cache Creek Settling Basin, Yolo County, California
Michelle R. Arias, Charles N. Alpers, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Christopher C. Fuller, Jennifer L. Agee, Michelle Sneed, Andrew Y. Morita, Antonia Salas
2017, Data Series 1061
Cache Creek Settling Basin was constructed in 1937 to trap sediment from Cache Creek before delivery to the Yolo Bypass, a flood conveyance for the Sacramento River system that is tributary to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. Sediment management options being considered by stakeholders in the Cache Creek Settling Basin include...
Hydrogeology and water quality of sand and gravel aquifers in McHenry County, Illinois, 2009–14, and comparison to conditions in 1979
Amy M. Gahala
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5112
Baseline conditions for the sand and gravel aquifers (groundwater) in McHenry County, Illinois, were assessed using data from a countywide network of 44 monitoring wells collecting continuous water-level data from 2009–14. In 2010, water-quality data were collected from 41 of the monitoring wells, along with five additional monitoring wells...
Applying citizen-science data and mark-recapture models to estimate numbers of migrant golden eagles in an important bird area in eastern North America
Andrew J. Dennhardt, Adam E. Duerr, David Brandes, Todd E. Katzner
2017, The Condor (119) 817-831
Estimates of population abundance are important to wildlife management and conservation. However, it can be difficult to characterize the numbers of broadly distributed, low-density, and elusive bird species. Although Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) are rare, difficult to detect, and broadly distributed, they are concentrated during their autumn migration at monitoring...
Groundwater-level trends in the U.S. glacial aquifer system, 1964-2013
Glenn A. Hodgkins, Robert W. Dudley, Martha G. Nielsen, Benjamin Renard, Sharon L. Qi
2017, Journal of Hydrology (553) 289-303
The glacial aquifer system in the United States is a major source of water supply but previous work on historical groundwater trends across the system is lacking. Trends in annual minimum, mean, and maximum groundwater levels for 205 monitoring wells were analyzed across three regions of the system (East, Central,...
3D ground‐motion simulations of Mw 7 earthquakes on the Salt Lake City segment of the Wasatch fault zone: Variability of long‐period (T≥1 s) ground motions and sensitivity to kinematic rupture parameters
Morgan P. Moschetti, Stephen H. Hartzell, Leonardo Ramirez-Guzman, Arthur D. Frankel, Stephen J. Angster, William J. Stephenson
2017, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (107) 1704-1723
We examine the variability of long‐period (T≥1 s) earthquake ground motions from 3D simulations of Mw 7 earthquakes on the Salt Lake City segment of the Wasatch fault zone, Utah, from a set of 96 rupture models with varying slip distributions, rupture speeds, slip velocities, and hypocenter locations. Earthquake ruptures were prescribed on...
Riverine discharges to Chesapeake Bay: Analysis of long-term (1927–2014) records and implications for future flows in the Chesapeake Bay basin
Karen C. Rice, Douglas L. Moyer, Aaron L. Mills
2017, Journal of Environmental Management (204) 246-254
The Chesapeake Bay (CB) basin is under a total maximum daily load (TMDL) mandate to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment loads to the bay. Identifying shifts in the hydro-climatic regime may help explain observed trends in water quality. To identify potential shifts, hydrologic data (1927–2014) for 27 watersheds in the...
Movements of Atlantic Sturgeon of the Gulf of Maine inside and outside the geographically defined Distinct Population Segment
Gail S. Wippelhauser, James Sulikowski, Gayle B. Zydlewski, Megan Altenritter, Micah Kieffer, Michael T. Kinnison
2017, Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, Management, and Ecosystem Science (9) 93-107
Identification of potential critical habitat, seasonal distributions, and movements within and between river systems is important for protecting the Gulf of Maine (GOM) Distinct Population Segment of Atlantic Sturgeon. To accomplish these objectives, we captured Atlantic Sturgeon in four GOM rivers (Penobscot, Kennebec system, Saco, and Merrimack), and tagged...
Simulation of groundwater and surface-water flow in the upper Deschutes Basin, Oregon
Marshall W. Gannett, Kenneth E. Lite Jr., John C. Risley, Esther M. Pischel, Jonathan L. La Marche
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5097
This report describes a hydrologic model for the upper Deschutes Basin in central Oregon developed using the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) integrated Groundwater and Surface-Water Flow model (GSFLOW). The upper Deschutes Basin, which drains much of the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon, is underlain by large...
Shelf evolution along a transpressive transform margin, Santa Barbara Channel, California
Samuel Y. Johnson, Stephen Hartwell, Christopher C. Sorlien, Peter Dartnell, Andrew C. Ritchie
2017, Geosphere (13) 2041-2077
High-resolution bathymetric and seismic reflection data provide new insights for understanding the post–Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ca. 21 ka) evolution of the ∼120-km-long Santa Barbara shelf, located within a transpressive segment of the transform continental margin of western North America. The goal is to determine how rising sea level, sediment supply,...
Ephemeral seafloor sedimentation during dam removal: Elwha River, Washington
Melissa M. Foley, Jonathan A. Warrick
2017, Continental Shelf Research (150) 36-47
The removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams from the Elwha River in Washington, USA, resulted in the erosion and transport of over 10 million m3 of sediment from the former reservoirs and into the river during the first two years of the dam removal process. Approximately 90% of this...
Increasing floodplain connectivity through urban stream restoration increases nutrient and sediment retention
Sara K. McMillan, Gregory E. Noe
2017, Ecological Engineering (108) 284-295
Stream restoration practices frequently aim to increase connectivity between the stream channel and its floodplain to improve channel stability and enhance water quality through sediment trapping and nutrient retention. To measure the effectiveness of restoration and to understand the drivers of these functional responses, we monitored five restored urban streams...
Hydraulic and biological analysis of the passability of select fish species at the U.S. Geological Survey streamgaging weir at Blackwells Mills, New Jersey
Alexander J. Haro, Kevin B. Mulligan, Thomas P. Suro, John Noreika, Amy R. McHugh
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5103
Recent efforts to advance river connectivity for the Millstone River watershed in New Jersey have led to the evaluation of a low-flow gauging weir that spans the full width of the river. The methods and results of a desktop modelling exercise were used to evaluate the potential ability of three...
Climatic history of the northeastern United States during the past 3000 years
Jennifer R. Marlon, Neil Pederson, Connor Nolan, Simon Goring, Bryan Shuman, Ann Robertson, Robert K. Booth, Patrick J. Bartlein, Melissa A. Berke, Michael Clifford, Edward Cook, Ann Dieffenbacher-Krall, Michael C. Dietze, Amy Hessl, J. Bradford Hubeny, Stephen T. Jackson, Jeremiah Marsicek, Jason S. McLachlan, Cary J. Mock, David J. P. Moore, Jonathan M. Nichols, Dorothy M. Peteet, Kevin Schaefer, Valerie Trouet, Charles Umbanhowar, John W. Williams, Zicheng Yu
2017, Climate of the Past (13) 1355-1379
Many ecosystem processes that influence Earth system feedbacks, including vegetation growth, water and nutrient cycling, and disturbance regimes, are strongly influenced by multi-decadal to millennial-scale variations in climate that cannot be captured by instrumental climate observations. Paleoclimate information is therefore essential for understanding contemporary ecosystems and their potential trajectories under...
Estimation of the groundwater resources of the bedrock aquifers at the Kettle Moraine Springs State Fish Hatchery, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin
Charles Dunning, Daniel T. Feinstein, Cheryl A. Buchwald, Randall J. Hunt, Megan J. Haserodt
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5074
Groundwater resources information was needed to understand regional aquifer systems and water available to wells and springs for rearing important Lake Michigan fish species at the Kettle Moraine Springs State Fish Hatchery in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. As a basis for estimating the groundwater resources available, an existing groundwater-flow model was...
Emerging fungal pathogen Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola in wild European snakes
Lydia H. V. Franklinos, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Elizabeth A. Bohuski, Julia Rodriguez-Ramos Fernandez, Owen Wright, Liam Fitzpatrick, Silviu Petrovan, Chris Durrant, Chris Linton, Vojtech Balaz, Andrew A Cunningham, Becki Lawson
2017, Scientific Reports (7)
Snake fungal disease (SFD) is an emerging disease of conservation concern in eastern North America. Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola, the causative agent of SFD, has been isolated from over 30 species of wild snakes from six families in North America. Whilst O. ophiodiicola has been isolated from captive snakes outside North America, the pathogen has...
Seismic response of soft deposits due to landslide: The Mission Peak, California, landslide
Stephen H. Hartzell, Alena L. Leeds, Randall W. Jibson
2017, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (107) 2008-2020
The seismic response of active and intermittently active landslides is an important issue to resolve to determine if such landslides present an elevated hazard in future earthquakes. To study the response of landslide deposits, seismographs were placed on the Mission Peak landslide in the eastern San Francisco Bay region for...
Kīlauea summit eruption—Lava returns to Halemaʻumaʻu
Janet L. Babb, Stephen M. Wessells, Christina A. Neal
2017, General Information Product 182
In March 2008, a new volcanic vent opened within Halemaʻumaʻu, a crater at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park on the Island of Hawaiʻi. This new vent is one of two ongoing eruptions on the volcano. The other is on Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone, where vents...
Application of paleoecology to ecosystem restoration: A case study from south Florida’s estuaries
G. Lynn Wingard
Kaarina Weckstrom, Krystyna M. Saunders, Peter A. Gell, C. Gregory Skilbeck, editor(s)
2017, Book chapter, Applications of paleoenvironmental techniques in estuarine studies. Part of the Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research book series.
Paleoecological analyses of biotic assemblages from cores collected throughout south Florida’s estuaries indicate gradually increasing salinities over approximately the last 2000 years, consistent with rising sea level. Around the beginning of the twentieth century these gradual patterns of change began to shift, corresponding to the beginning of human alteration of...
Culturally induced range infilling of eastern redcedar: a problem in ecology, an ecological problem, or both?
Aubrey Streit Krug, Daniel R. Uden, Craig R. Allen, Dirac Twidwell
2017, Ecology and Society (22)
The philosopher John Passmore distinguished between (1) “problems in ecology,” or what we might call problems in scientific understanding of ecological change, and (2) “ecological problems,” or what we might call problems faced by societies due to ecological change. The spread of eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) and conversion of the...
The story of a Yakima fold and how it informs Late Neogene and Quaternary backarc deformation in the Cascadia subduction zone, Manastash anticline, Washington, USA
Harvey M. Kelsey, Tyler C. Ladinsky, Lydia M. Staisch, Brian L. Sherrod, Richard J. Blakely, Thomas L. Pratt, William J. Stephenson, Jackson K. Odum, Elmira Wan
2017, Tectonics (36) 2085-2107
The Yakima folds of central Washington, USA, are prominent anticlines that are the primary tectonic features of the backarc of the northern Cascadia subduction zone. What accounts for their topographic expression and how much strain do they accommodate and over what time period? We investigate Manastash anticline, a north vergent...
238U–230Th–226Ra–210Pb–210Po disequilibria constraints on magma generation, ascent, and degassing during the ongoing eruption of Kīlauea
Guillaume Girard, Mark K. Reagan, Kenneth W. W. Sims, Carl Thornber, Christopher L. Waters, Erin H. Phillips
2017, Journal of Petrology (58) 1199-1226
The timescales of magma genesis, ascent, storage and degassing at Kīlauea volcano, Hawai‘i are addressed by measuring 238U-series radionuclide abundances in lava and tephra erupted between 1982 and 2008. Most analyzed samples represent lavas erupted by steady effusion from Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō and Kūpahianaha from 1983 to 2008. Also included are samples...
