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27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS2016

Validation of a stream and riparian habitat assessment protocol using stream salamanders in the southwest Virginia coalfields

Within the central Appalachia Coalfields, the aquatic impacts of large-scale land uses, such as surface mining, are of particular ecological concern. Identification and quantification of land use impacts to aquatic ecosystems are a necessary first step to aid in mitigation of negative consequences to biota. However, quantifying physical environmental quality such as stream and riparian habitat often can be quite difficult, particularly when there is time or fiscal limitations. As such, standard protocols such as the U.S. EPA’s Stream Habitat Rapid Bioassessment Protocol have been established to be cost- and time-effective. This protocol estimates ten different stream and riparian conditions on a scale of 0 to 20. Unfortunately, using estimations can be problematic because of large potential variation in the scoring depending on differences in training, experience, and opinion of the personnel doing the estimations. In order to help negate these biases and provide a simplified process, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) developed a functional assessment for streams that measures 11 stream and riparian variables along with watershed land use to calculate three different scores, a hydrology score, biogeochemical score, and habitat score. In our study, we examined the correlation of stream salamander presence and abundance to the three USACE scores. In the summer of 2013, we visited 70 sites in the southwest Virginia Coalfields multiple times to collect salamanders and quantify stream and riparian microhabitat parameters. Using occupancy and abundance analyses, we found strong relationships among three Desmognathus spp. and the USACE Habitat FCI score. Accordingly, the Habitat FCI score provides a reasonable assessment of physical instream and riparian conditions that may serve as a surrogate for understanding the community composition and integrity of aquatic salamander in the region.

Virginia↗
USGS2023

Evaluating the influence of the Forestry Reclamation Approach on throughfall quantity in eastern Kentucky

The Appalachian Region is a rich forested ecosystem that has been impacted by coal mining. The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 was enacted to resolve many of the environmental problems caused by surface mining. Reclamation practices resulted in excessive soil compaction and use of nonnative grasses and shrubs that have altered hydrologic processes. The Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) is a best practice for reestablishing forested ecosystems on mined lands in Appalachia. This project evaluated precipitation throughfall in reforested 10- and 20-year-old FRA sites and unmined 100-year-old forest stands as a metric for evaluating the return of forest hydrologic function after reclamation. Stands of coniferous and deciduous trees were evaluated independently for each age class. Throughfall rates were significantly impacted by tree type and age. Throughfall in coniferous trees was less than in deciduous trees, and throughfall in the 10-year-old deciduous trees tended to be highest. Throughfall was also significantly impacted by storm characteristics. Higher rainfall depth and longer duration resulted in significantly larger throughfall depths under both coniferous and deciduous stands, whereas increased intensity increased throughfall depths for the 10- and 100-year-old plots, but not for the 20-year-old plots. As canopy closure occurs in young FRA forests, throughfall rates resemble those reported for young, naturally regenerating forests in the region. Results may help guide management of forested watershed strategies to reduce surface runoff and local flooding on reclaimed surface mined lands.

Kentucky↗
USGS2020

Cordilleran subduction initiation: Retro-arc timing and basinal response in the Inyo Mountains, eastern California

Subduction zones drive plate tectonics on Earth, yet subduction initiation and the related upper plate depositional and structural kinematics remain poorly understood because upper plate records are rare and often strongly overprinted by magmatism and deformation. During the late Paleozoic time, Laurentia’s western margin was truncated by a sinistral strike-slip fault that transformed into a subduction zone. Thick Permian strata in the Inyo Mountains of central-eastern California record this transition. Two basins that were separated by a transpressional antiform contain sedimentary lithofacies that record distinct patterns of shoaling and deepening conditions before and during tectonism associated with subduction initiation. Sandstone petrography and lithofacies analysis show that rocks in a southeastern basin are dominated by carbonate grains derived from adjacent carbonate shelves, whereas sandstones in a northwestern basin are predominantly quartzose with likely derivation from distant ergs or underlying strata. Detrital zircon spectra from all but the youngest strata in both basins are typical of Laurentian continent spectra with prominent peaks that indicate ultimate sources in Appalachia, Grenville, Yavapai/Mazatzal, and the Wyoming or Superior cratons. The first Cordilleran arc-derived detrital zircon grains appear in the uppermost strata of the northwestern basin and record Late Permian (ca. 260 Ma) Cordilleran arc magmatism at this approximate latitude, and a possible source area is suggested by geochemical similarities between these detrital zircons and broadly coeval magmatic zircons in the El Paso Mountains to the southwest. Deformation responsible for basin partitioning is consistent with sinistrally oblique contraction in the earliest Permian time. The data presented from the Inyo Mountains shed more light on the nature of Cordilleran subduction initiation and the upper-crustal response to this transition.

California↗
USGS1978

The Energy Lands Program of the U.S. Geological Survey, fiscal year 1976

The Energy Lands Program of the U.S. Geological Survey comprises several projects that conduct basic and interpretive earth-science investigations into the environmental aspects of energy-resource recovery, transmission, and conversion. More than half the coal reserves of the United States occur west of the Mississippi River; therefore, the program concentrates mostly on coal-producing regions in the Western interior. Additional studies involve the oil-shale region in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, and coal-related work in Alaska and Appalachia. The work is done both by USGS personnel and under USGS grants and contracts through the Energy Lands Program to universities, State Geological Surveys, and private individuals. Maps and reports characterizing many aspects of environmental earth science are being prepared for areas of Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. Types of studies underway include bedrock, surficial, and interpretive geology; engineering geology, geochemistry of surface materials and plants; climatic conditions as they influence rehabilitation potential of mined lands; and feasibility of surface vs. underground mining. The purpose common to all investigations in the Energy Lands Program is to provide timely earth-science information for use by managers, policy-makers, engineers, scientists, planners, and others, in order to contribute to an environmentally sound, orderly, and safe development of the energy resources of the Nation.

Circular↗
USGS1972

Palynological investigations in the Pennsylvanian of Kentucky - VII

This is the seventh open-file report concerned primarily with palynological analyses of Pennsylvanian coals, shales, and underclays. It is part of the cooperative mapping project between Kentucky and the U. S. Geological Survey. This report contains palynological analyses of samples from Wise, Norton, Appalachia, and Keokee quadrangles in Virginia as well as from Roxana, Benham, Pennington Gap, Louellen, Williamsburg, and Saxton quadrangles of eastern Kentucky. Two sets of samples were examined from localities in the Jellico West quadrangle of Tennessee, and four sets-of samples were examined from South Hill and Cromwell quadrangles of western Kentucky. A total of 138 samples have been run and more than 13,250 specimens identified and counted. All analyses completed since the release of Open-file Report VI are included in this report. Other reports will be placed in open-file when they are completed and released for general use.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2017

Lizard activity and abundance greater in burned habitat of a xeric montane forest

Restoring the natural or historical state of ecosystems is a common objective among resource managers, but determining whether desired system responses to management actions are occurring is often protracted and challenging. For wildlife, the integration of mechanistic habitat modeling with population monitoring may provide expedited measures of management effectiveness and improve understanding of how management actions succeed or fail to recover populations. Southern Appalachia is a region of high biodiversity that has undergone dramatic change as a result of human activities such as historic logging, exotic invasions, and alteration of disturbance regimes—including reduction in application of fire. Contemporary efforts to restore fire-maintained ecosystems within southern Appalachian forests require tools to assess the effects of fire management practices on individual animal fitness and relate them to corresponding influences on species abundance. Using automated sensing equipment, we investigated the effects of burned forests on reptile habitat suitability within the western portion of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee. Specifically, we used microclimate measurements to model northern fence lizard Sceloporus undulatus hyacinthinus diurnal activity budgets in unburned and variable burn age (3–27-y) forest stands. We estimated northern fence lizard occurrence and abundance along transects through burned and unburned forests. Burned forest stands had microclimates that resulted in longer modeled daily activity periods under most conditions during summer. S. undulatus abundance was 4.75 times greater on burned stands compared to paired unburned stands, although the relationship between burn age and abundance was not well determined. Results suggest the more open habitat structure of burned areas within these xeric pine–oak forests may benefit S. undulatus .

Tennesee↗
USGS2026

The Appalbees menu: A multiyear, multilocus metagenetic assessment of pollen foraging by Appalachian Bombus affinis workers

Background Detailed studies of foraging behavior are needed for scientific management of the endangered rusty-patched bumblebee ( Bombus affinis ) in the disjunct and ecologically differentiated habitats it presently occupies. Current knowledge gaps hinder recovery planning but are challenging to redress through direct observation of rare interactions in the field. Methods We used genetic metabarcoding to characterize the taxonomic composition of pollen collected by B. affinis workers in the Appalachian mountains of Virginia and West Virginia from 2021–2023. We developed a custom sequence database of the regional flora and compared results for two independent genetic loci, internal transcribed spacer 1 and internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS1 and ITS2). Results While ITS2 consistently detected more plant diversity, results from the two loci were broadly concordant with a few notable exceptions. The plant genera Hydrangea , Actaea , Rhododendron , Tilia , and (unexpectedly) Laportea were prominent in midsummer samples, with Rubus a consistent contributor in late spring and early summer. Pea flowers (family Fabaceae) were relatively infrequent but the genera Securigera and Trifolium were detected before the Hydrangea bloom and again in late summer afterwards. The diversity of forage plants was highest in late summer, driven primarily by various genera of Asteraceae. Comparing the current data with previous work indicates regional differentiation in forage plants between Appalachia and the upper Midwest, but also allows ‘consensus’ forage sources that are supported by multiple lines of evidence and shared between regions to be tabulated. These results should help managers focus survey efforts for this endangered species and plan habitat enhancements.

Illinois, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin↗
USGS1999

Coal-fired power generaion, new air quality regulations, and future U.S. coal production

Tighter new regulation of stack gas emissions and competition in power generation are driving electrical utilities to demand cleaner, lower sulfur coal. Historical data on sulfur content of produced coals shows little variability in coal quality for individual mines and individual coal-producing counties over relatively long periods of time. If coal-using power generators follow the compliance patterns established in Phase I of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, then the industry's response to the tighter Phase II emissions standards will result in large amounts of coal production shifting from higher sulfur areas to areas with lower cost low sulfur coal. One reason this shift will likely occur is that currently only 30% of U.S. coal-fired electrical generating capacity is equipped with flue-gas scrubbers. In 1995, coal mines in the higher sulfur areas of the Illinois Basin and Northern and Central Appalachia employed 78% of all coal miners (>70,000 miners). A substantial geographical redistribution of the nation's coal supplies will likely lead to economic dislocations that will reach beyond local coal-producing areas.

Environmental Geosciences↗