Subsurface volatile content of martian double-layer ejecta (DLE) craters
Donna Viola, Alfred S. McEwen, Colin M. Dundas, Shane Byrne
2017, Icarus (284) 325-343
Excess ice is widespread throughout the martian mid-latitudes, particularly in Arcadia Planitia, where double-layer ejecta (DLE) craters also tend to be abundant. In this region, we observe the presence of thermokarstically-expanded secondary craters that likely form from impacts that destabilize a subsurface layer of excess ice, which subsequently sublimates. The...
Using resilience and resistance concepts to manage persistent threats to sagebrush ecosystems and greater sage-grouse
Jeanne C. Chambers, Jeremy D. Maestas, David A. Pyke, Chad S. Boyd, Mike Pellant, Amarina Wuenschel
2017, Rangeland Ecology and Management (70) 149-164
Conservation of imperiled species often demands addressing a complex suite of threats that undermine species viability. Regulatory approaches, such as the US Endangered Species Act (1973), tend to focus on anthropogenic threats through adoption of policies and regulatory mechanisms. However, persistent ecosystem-based threats, such as invasive species and altered disturbance...
Solving for source parameters using nested array data: A case study from the Canterbury, New Zealand earthquake sequence
Corrie Neighbors, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Kenneth Ryan, Anna E. Kaiser
2017, Pure and Applied Geophysics (174) 875-893
The seismic spectrum can be constructed by assuming a Brune spectral model and estimating the parameters of seismic moment (M0), corner frequency (fc), and high-frequency site attenuation (κ). Using seismic data collected during the 2010–2011 Canterbury, New Zealand, earthquake sequence, we apply the non-linear...
Toppling analysis of the Echo Cliffs precariously balanced rock
Swetha Veeraraghavan, Kenneth W. Hudnut, Swaminathan Krishnan
2017, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (107) 72-84
Toppling analysis of a precariously balanced rock (PBR) can provide insight into the nature of ground motion that has not occurred at that location in the past and, by extension, can constrain peak ground motions for use in engineering design. Earlier approaches have targeted 2D models of the rock or...
Broadband seismic noise attenuation versus depth at the Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory
Charles R. Hutt, Adam T. Ringler, Lind Gee
2017, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (107) 1402-1412
Seismic noise induced by atmospheric processes such as wind and pressure changes can be a major contributor to the background noise observed in many seismograph stations, especially those installed at or near the surface. Cultural noise such as vehicle traffic or nearby buildings with air handling equipment also contributes to...
Nationwide reconnaissance of contaminants of emerging concern in source and treated drinking waters of the United States
Susan T. Glassmeyer, Edward T. Furlong, Dana W. Kolpin, Angela L. Batt, Robert Benson, J. Scott Boone, Octavia D. Conerly, Maura J. Donohue, Dawn N. King, Mitchell S. Kostich, Heath E. Mash, Stacy Pfaller, Kathleen M. Schenck, Jane Ellen Simmons, Eunice A. Varughese, Stephen J. Vesper, Eric N. Villegas, Vickie S. Wilson
2017, Science of the Total Environment (581-582) 909-922
When chemical or microbial contaminants are assessed for potential effect or possible regulation in ambient and drinking waters, a critical first step is determining if the contaminants occur and if they are at concentrations that may cause human or ecological health concerns. To this end,...
Estimating regional-scale permeability–depth relations in a fractured-rock terrain using groundwater-flow model calibration
Ward E. Sanford
2017, Hydrogeology Journal (25) 405-419
The trend of decreasing permeability with depth was estimated in the fractured-rock terrain of the upper Potomac River basin in the eastern USA using model calibration on 200 water-level observations in wells and 12 base-flow observations in subwatersheds. Results indicate that permeability at the 1–10 km scale (for groundwater flowpaths) decreases...
Large earthquakes and creeping faults
Ruth A. Harris
2017, Reviews of Geophysics (55) 169-198
Faults are ubiquitous throughout the Earth's crust. The majority are silent for decades to centuries, until they suddenly rupture and produce earthquakes. With a focus on shallow continental active-tectonic regions, this paper reviews a subset of faults that have a different behavior. These unusual faults slowly creep for long periods...
The relative contribution of waves, tides, and nontidal residuals to extreme total water levels on U.S. West Coast sandy beaches
Katherine A. Serafin, Peter Ruggiero, Hilary F. Stockdon
2017, Geophysical Research Letters (44) 1839-1847
To better understand how individual processes combine to cause flooding and erosion events, we investigate the relative contribution of tides, waves, and nontidal residuals to extreme total water levels (TWLs) at the shoreline of U.S. West Coast sandy beaches. Extreme TWLs, defined as the observed annual maximum event and the...
Mitogenomes and relatedness do not predict frequency of tool-use by sea otters
Katherine Ralls, Nancy Rotzel McInerney, Roderick B. Gagne, Holly B. Ernest, M. Tim Tinker, Jessica Fujii, Jesus Maldonado
2017, Biology Letters (13)
Many ecological aspects of tool-use in sea otters are similar to those in Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins. Within an area, most tool-using dolphins share a single mitochondrial haplotype and are more related to each other than to the population as a whole. We asked whether sea otters in California showed similar...
Role of raptors in contaminant research
Charles J. Henny
2017, Book chapter, The history of Patuxent: America’s wildlife research story (U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1422)
This chapter reviews the history of and approaches used in studies focused on the effects of contaminants on raptors and raptor populations at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (Patuxent) in Laurel, MD. Worldwide raptor declines following World War II were unprecedented and resulted in a sequence of major efforts at...
Isotopic niches support the resource breadth hypothesis
Jonathan A. Rader, Seth D. Newsome, Pablo Sabat, R. Terry Chesser, Michael E. Dillon, Carlos Martinez del Rio
2017, Journal of Animal Ecology (86) 405-413
Because a broad spectrum of resource use allows species to persist in a wide range of habitat types, and thus permits them to occupy large geographical areas, and because broadly distributed species have access to more diverse resource bases, the resource breadth hypothesis posits that the diversity...
South Polar Skua breeding populations in the Ross Sea assessed from demonstrated relationship with Adélie Penguin numbers
Deborah J. Wilson, Phil O’B. Lyver, Terry C. Greene, Amy L. Whitehead, Katie M. Dugger, Brian J. Karl, James R. F. Barringer, Roger McGarry, Annie M. Pollard, David G. Ainley
2017, Polar Biology (40) 577-592
In the Ross Sea region, most South Polar Skuas (Stercorarius maccormicki) nest near Adélie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colonies, preying and scavenging on fish, penguins, and other carrion. To derive a relationship to predict skua numbers from better-quantified penguin numbers, we used distance sampling to estimate breeding...
Rapid carbon loss and slow recovery following permafrost thaw in boreal peatlands
Miriam C. Jones, Jennifer W. Harden, Jonathan A. O’Donnell, Kristen L. Manies, M. Torre Jorgenson, Claire C. Treat, Stephanie Ewing
2017, Global Change Biology (23) 1109-1127
Permafrost peatlands store one-third of the total carbon (C) in the atmosphere and are increasingly vulnerable to thaw as high-latitude temperatures warm. Large uncertainties remain about C dynamics following permafrost thaw in boreal peatlands. We used a chronosequence approach to measure C stocks in forested permafrost plateaus (forest) and thawed...
Recalibration of the Mars Science Laboratory ChemCam instrument with an expanded geochemical database
Samuel M. Clegg, Roger C. Wiens, Ryan B. Anderson, Olivier Forni, Jens Frydenvang, Jeremie Lasue, Agnes Cousin, Valerie Payre, Tommy Boucher, M. Darby Dyar, Scott M. McLennan, Richard V. Morris, Trevor G. Graff, Stanley A Mertzman, Bethany L. Ehlmann, Ines Belgacem, Horton E. Newsom, Ben C. Clark, Noureddine Melikechi, Alissa Mezzacappa, Rhonda E. McInroy, Ronald Martinez, Patrick J. Gasda, Olivier Gasnault, Sylvestre Maurice
2017, Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy (129) 64-85
The ChemCam Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument onboard the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity has obtained > 300,000 spectra of rock and soil analysis targets since landing at Gale Crater in 2012, and the spectra represent perhaps the largest publicly-available LIBS datasets. The compositions of the major elements, reported as...
Winter 2016, Part B—Coastal oblique aerial photographs collected from Assateague Island, Virginia, to Montauk Point, New York, March 8–9, 2016
Karen L. M. Morgan
2017, Data Series 1030
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as part of the National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards project, conducts baseline and storm-response photography missions to document and understand the changes in the vulnerability of the Nation's coasts to extreme storms. On March 8–9, 2016, the USGS conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey...
Winter 2016, Part A—Coastal oblique aerial photographs collected from the South Carolina/North Carolina border to Assateague Island, Virginia, February 18–19, 2016
Karen L. M. Morgan
2017, Data Series 1029
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as part of the National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards project, conducts baseline and storm-response photography missions to document and understand the changes in the vulnerability of the Nation's coasts to extreme storms. On February 18–19, 2016, the USGS conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey...
Preparing future fisheries professionals to make good decisions
Michael E. Colvin, James T. Peterson
2017, Fisheries (41) 473-474
Future fisheries professionals will face decision-making challenges in an increasingly complex field of fisheries management. Though fisheries students are well trained in the use of the scientific method to understand the natural world, they are rarely exposed to structured decision making (SDM) as part of an undergraduate or graduate education....
Potential concerns with analytical Methods Used for the detection of Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans from archived DNA of amphibian swab samples, Oregon, USA
Deborah D. Iwanowicz, William B. Schill, Deanna H. Olson, M. J. Adams, Christine L. Densmore, Robert S. Cornman, Cynthia R. Adams, Chester Figiel, Chauncey W. Anderson, Andrew R Blaustein, Tara Chestnut
2017, Environmental Entomology (48) 352-355
Taxonomic identification of pollen has historically been accomplished via light microscopy but requires specialized knowledge and reference collections, particularly when identification to lower taxonomic levels is necessary. Recently, next-generation sequencing technology has been used as a cost-effective alternative for identifying bee-collected pollen; however, this novel approach has not been tested...
Contaminants of emerging concern in the Great Lakes Basin: A report on sediment, water, and fish tissue chemistry collected in 2010-2012
Steven J. Choy, Mandy L. Annis, JoAnn Banda, Sarah R. Bowman, Mark E. Brigham, Sarah M. Elliott, Daniel J. Gefell, Mark Jankowski, Zachary G. Jorgenson, Kathy Lee, Jeremy N. Moore, William A. Tucker
2017, Biological Technical Publication BTP-R3017-2013
Despite being detected at low levels in surface waters and sediments across the United States, contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in the Great Lakes Basin are not well characterized in terms of spatial and temporal occurrence. Additionally, although the detrimental effects of exposure to CECs on fish and wildlife have...
Aquatic concentrations of chemical analytes compared to ecotoxicity estimates
Mitchell S. Kostich, Robert W. Flick, Angela L. Batt, Heath E. Mash, J. Scott Boone, Edward T. Furlong, Dana W. Kolpin, Susan T. Glassmeyer
2017, Science of the Total Environment (579) 1649-1657
We describe screening level estimates of potential aquatic toxicity posed by 227 chemical analytes that were measured in 25 ambient water samples collected as part of a joint USGS/USEPA drinking water plant study. Measured concentrations were compared to biological effect concentration (EC) estimates, including USEPA aquatic life criteria, effective plasma...
Trends in the quality of water in New Jersey streams, water years 1971–2011
R. Edward Hickman, Robert M. Hirsch
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5176
In a study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Delaware River Basin Commission, trend tests were conducted on selected water-quality characteristics measured at stations on streams in New Jersey during selected periods over water years 1971‒2011. Tests were...
Water-quality sampling plan for evaluating the distribution of bigheaded carps in the Illinois Waterway
James J. Duncker, Paul J. Terrio
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1019
The two nonnative invasive bigheaded carp species (bighead carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis and silver carp H. molitrix) that were accidentally released in the 1970s have spread widely into the rivers and waterways of the Mississippi River Basin. First detected in the lower reaches of the Illinois Waterway (IWW, the combined Illinois...
Geochemistry and hydrology of perched groundwater springs: assessing elevated uranium concentrations at Pigeon Spring relative to nearby Pigeon Mine, Arizona (USA)
Kimberly R. Beisner, Nicholas V. Paretti, Fred D. Tillman, David L. Naftz, Donald J. Bills, Katherine Walton-Day, Tanya J. Gallegos
2017, Hydrogeology Journal (25) 539-556
The processes that affect water chemistry as the water flows from recharge areas through breccia-pipe uranium deposits in the Grand Canyon region of the southwestern United States are not well understood. Pigeon Spring had elevated uranium in 1982 (44 μg/L), compared to other perched springs (2.7–18 μg/L), prior to mining...
Shifts in microbial community structure and function in surface waters impacted by unconventional oil and gas wastewater revealed by metagenomics
N.L. Fahrenfeld, Hannah Delos Reyes, Alessia Eramo, Denise M. Akob, Adam C. Mumford, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
2017, Science of the Total Environment 1205-1213
Unconventional oil and gas (UOG) production produces large quantities of wastewater with complex geochemistry and largely uncharacterized impacts on surface waters. In this study, we assessed shifts in microbial community structure and function in sediments and waters upstream and downstream from a UOG wastewater disposal facility. To do this, quantitative...
