Geology Reports⌕ Search

Geology topics

Research about Modoc County, California

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Modoc County, California.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2024

Living on the edge: Identifying demographic bottlenecks in an isolated sage-grouse population

The greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus : hereafter sage-grouse) population in Modoc County California is geographically isolated and contains a single lek (from 56 leks in the 1940s), despite significant efforts to increase the population through translocations and habitat improvement. Repeated wildfire within the landscape has led to an increase in invasive annual grasses and a decrease in sagebrush ( Artemisia sp.) cover in important nesting and brood-rearing habitat. We estimated survival for adult females, nests, and chicks and assessed biotic characteristics that may influence these survival estimates to identify factors that may be limiting population growth. We monitored 37 female sage-grouse marked with GPS PTTS, 39 nests, and 8 broods for 3 years (2019–2021). We measured vegetation characteristics for nests at the microsite and landscape scale to evaluate effects on daily nest survival (DNS). We used survival rates from all life stages to parameterize matrix models and estimate population growth rate. Mean nest success over 3 years was 29% (95% CI: 17.1–44.8) across a 29-day incubation period and DNS declined as the proportion of both medusahead Taeniatherum caput-medusae and Japanese brome Bromus japonicus around the nest increased. Across all three years, mean chick survival across a 54-day period was 44% (95% CI: 0.9–72.3) and mean annual survival for adult females was 29% (95% CI: 17.8–43.7). Our estimated vital rates were 45–55% lower than distribution-wide estimates and the projected population growth rate was strongly declining (0.411, 95% CI: 0.30–0.52). Our results suggested recent cover changes associated with wildfire on the study area may have had a detrimental effect on this population across all life stages, and if attention is not given to preventing the transition from sagebrush communities into invasive grasslands, this population and others in degraded landscapes may not persist.

California↗
USGS2007

Logs and scarp data from a paleoseismic investigation of the Surprise Valley fault zone, Modoc County, California

This report contains field and laboratory data from a paleoseismic study of the Surprise Valley fault zone near Cedarville, California. The 85-km-long Surprise Valley fault zone forms the western active margin of the Basin and Range province in northeastern California. The down-to-the-east normal fault is marked by Holocene fault scarps along most of its length, from Fort Bidwell on the north to near the southern end of Surprise Valley. We studied the central section of the fault to determine ages of paleoearthquakes and to better constrain late Quaternary slip rates, which we hope to compare to deformation rates derived from a recently established geodetic network in the region (Hammond and Thatcher, 2005; 2007). We excavated a trench in June 2005 across a prominent fault scarp on pluvial Lake Surprise deltaic sediments near the mouth of Cooks Canyon, 4 km north of Cedarville. This site was chosen because of the presence of a well-preserved fault scarp and its development on lacustrine deposits thought to be suitable for luminescence dating. We also logged a natural exposure of the fault in similar deltaic sediments near the mouth of Steamboat Canyon, 11 km south of Cedarville, to better understand the along-strike extent of surface ruptures. The purpose of this report is to present photomosaics, trench, drill hole, and stream exposure logs; scarp profiles; and fault slip, tephrochronologic, radiocarbon, luminescence, and unit description data obtained during this investigation. We do not attempt to use the data presented herein to construct a paleoseismic history of this part of the Surprise Valley fault zone; that history will be the subject of a future report.

California↗
USGS1981

Map showing geothermal resources of the Lake City-Surprise Valley Known Geothermal Resource Area, Modoc County, California

This report summarizes geothermal data from published and unpublished geophysical, geochemical, and geologic reports on Surprise Valley that have been prepared during the past 26 years. Particular emphasis is placed on a comprehensive structural interpretation of the west half of the valley that is based on map compilation of concealed faults that have been inferred from geophysical methods and exposed faults that can be seen in the field and (or) on aerial photographs. The faults apparently control the location of modern geothermal activity and are thus important to geothermal exploration.

California↗
USGS1955

Violent mud-volcano eruption of lake city hot springs, northeastern California

During the night of March 1 and 2, 1951, an inconspicuous group of hot springs and small mud volcanoes in northeastern California burst into spectacular eruption, unequalled by other known mud volcanoes. The eruption cloud of steam, gases, and mud particles rose several thousand feet in the air and distributed fine debris to the southeast for a distance of at least 4 miles. More than 20 acres of the hot-spring area was intensely disturbed and greatly modified by the eruption, estimated to involve at least 6 million cubic feet or 300,000 tons of mud. Several days after the eruption, the area was barely active. The eruption appears to be unique in the history of the springs.

California↗