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At least 577 records · Page 32Linked to original sources
USGS1996

Use of behavioral avoidance testing in natural resource damage assessment

Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) provisions established under federal and state statutes enable natural resource trustees to recover compensation from responsible parties to restore injured natural resources. Behavioral avoidance testing with fish has been used in NRDAs to determine injuries to natural resources and to establish restoration thresholds. In this manuscript we evaluate the use of avoidance testing to NRDA. Specifically, we discuss potential “acceptance criteria” to evaluate the applicability and relevance of avoidance testing. These acceptance criteria include: (1) regulatory relevance, (2) reproducibility of testing, (3) ecological significance, (4) quality assurance/quality control, and (5) relevance to restoration. We discuss each of these criteria with respect to avoidance testing. Overall, we conclude that avoidance testing can be an appropriate, defensible, and desirable aspect of an NRDA.

ASTM Symposium on Environmental Toxicology and Ris↗
USGS2014

Identifying polar bear resource selection patterns to inform offshore development in a dynamic and changing Arctic

Although sea ice loss is the primary threat to polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ), little can be done to mitigate its effects without global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Other factors, however, could exacerbate the impacts of sea ice loss on polar bears, such as exposure to increased industrial activity. The Arctic Ocean has enormous oil and gas potential, and its development is expected to increase in the coming decades. Estimates of polar bear resource selection will inform managers how bears use areas slated for oil development and to help guide conservation planning. We estimated temporally-varying resource selection patterns for non-denning adult female polar bears in the Chukchi Sea population (2008–2012) at two scales (i.e., home range and weekly steps) to identify factors predictive of polar bear use throughout the year, before any offshore development. From the best models at each scale, we estimated scale-integrated resource selection functions to predict polar bear space use across the population's range and determined when bears were most likely to use the region where offshore oil and gas development in the United States is slated to occur. Polar bears exhibited significant intra-annual variation in selection patterns at both scales but the strength and annual patterns of selection differed between scales for most variables. Bears were most likely to use the offshore oil and gas planning area during ice retreat and growth with the highest predicted use occurring in the southern portion of the planning area. The average proportion of predicted high-value habitat in the planning area was >15% of the total high-value habitat for the population during sea ice retreat and growth and reached a high of 50% during November 2010. Our results provide a baseline on which to judge future changes to non-denning adult female polar bear resource selection in the Chukchi Sea and help guide offshore development in the region. Lastly, our study provides a framework for assessing potential impacts of offshore oil and gas development to other polar bear populations around the Arctic.

Ecosphere↗
USGS2011

Terrestrial, benthic, and pelagic resource use in lakes: Results from a three-isotope Bayesian mixing model

Fluxes of organic matter across habitat boundaries are common in food webs. These fluxes may strongly influence community dynamics, depending on the extent to which they are used by consumers. Yet understanding of basal resource use by consumers is limited, because describing trophic pathways in complex food webs is difficult. We quantified resource use for zooplankton, zoobenthos, and fishes in four low-productivity lakes, using a Bayesian mixing model and measurements of hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen stable isotope ratios. Multiple sources of uncertainty were explicitly incorporated into the model. As a result, posterior estimates of resource use were often broad distributions; nevertheless, clear patterns were evident. Zooplankton relied on terrestrial and pelagic primary production, while zoobenthos and fishes relied on terrestrial and benthic primary production. Across all consumer groups terrestrial reliance tended to be higher, and benthic reliance lower, in lakes where light penetration was low due to inputs of terrestrial dissolved organic carbon. These results support and refine an emerging consensus that terrestrial and benthic support of lake food webs can be substantial, and they imply that changes in the relative availability of basal resources drive the strength of cross-habitat trophic connections. ?? 2011 by the Ecological Society of America.

Ecology↗
USGS1989

Undiscovered lode tin resources of the Seward Peninsula, Alaska

The United States is a net importer of many important minerals, including tin. Consumption of primary tin in the United States is about 36,000 metric tons per year. Identified U.S. tin resources consist of about 40,000 metric tons. Although such figures provide insight about vulnerability to supply disruptions in the short term, they do not provide information about the potential of a country to meet its needs for a commodity from undiscovered domestic sources. Recent developments, including the preparation of models of mineral deposits and their grades and tonnages, and the application of computer simulation techniques to the estimation of metallic mineral resources, make it possible to estimate the magnitude of undiscovered resources, by deposit type, for relatively small areas such as the Seward Peninsula. This paper uses these developments and geophysical data to estimate undiscovered lode tin resources on the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. The assessment is based on a three-step methodology that (1) identifies the types of tin deposits that may be present in the region, (2) identifies the geophysical characteristics of unroofed granites and shallow granitoids, and (3) estimates, on the basis of various combinations of geologic and geophysical conditions, the number of undiscovered deposits present within or near exposed or concealed granite plutons. Computer simulation was used to combine the estimates of the number of deposits with available grade and tonnage models. Simulation experiments were designed to estimate the amount of tin in undiscovered deposits under a variety of limiting conditions. Results of simulation experiments indicate there is a 90 percent chance that the Seward Peninsula contains at least 51,000 metric tons, a 50 percent chance that it contains at least 390,000 metric tons, and a 10 percent chance it contains at least 1,100,000 metric tons of tin in undiscovered greisen, vein, and replacement deposits that have average grades of at least 0.5 percent tin.

Economic Geology↗
USGS2012

Geostatistical population-mixture approach to unconventional-resource assessment with an application to the Woodford Gas Shale, Arkoma Basin, eastern Oklahoma

Evaluation of resources such as tight sands and gas shales requires the formulation of assessment models that are different from those used for the inference of conventional resources. Formulations in present use are based in classical statistics that ignore the partly organized and partly random geographical variation of attributes related to the occurrence of hydrocarbons. This paper is the third in a series of methodological tests aimed at enhancing the assessment of unconventional resources through more-effective use of implicit and explicit information contained in the data, more-accurate evaluation of resources, and more-informative display of results. Reprocessing of estimated-ultimate-recovery (EUR) data at the Woodford gas shale in Oklahoma shows that subdivision of the play into areas as homogeneous as possible can produce results comparable to those obtained using several variables correlated to local productivity.

Oklahoma↗
USGS1981

Economics and petroleum resource appraisal: The case of the Permian basin:

Estimates of oil and gas resources typically are presented in terms of proved and undiscovered resources. This paper presents a methodology for incorporating economic considerations into resource appraisals for petroleum basins. A cost algorithm is used to calculate estimates of the costs of finding and developing undiscovered oil and gas fields in the Permian basin. The sensitivity of the resource estimates to variations in values of the variables in the costing model was investigated, and the results of this analysis are presented. The model indicates that at prices up to $40/bbl, the total reserves of oil and gas in barrels-of-oil equivalent (BOE's) from future discoveries will be less than 15% of the estimated ultimate recovery from fields discovered before Jan. 1 1975. Only discoveries to a depth of 20,000 ft were included.

Journal of Petroleum Technology↗
USGS2020

Resource use by American black bear in suburbia: A landholder step selection approach

Range expansion of American black bear ( Ursus americanus ; bear) and residential development has resulted in a growing presence of bear in suburbia. Suburban landscapes exhibiting patchworks of variable-sized parcels and habitats and owned by landowners with diverse values, can create large areas of suitable habitats with limited public access. These landscapes thereby may limit the effectiveness of hunting as a traditional bear population management tool. Managers require better information regarding suburban landowner attitudes regarding hunting before implementing changes intended to increase bear harvest to management populations. To address this need, in 2013, we surveyed landowners to identify properties that allowed bear hunting in three suburban areas of Pennsylvania where bear sightings have increased. We then used location data obtained for 29 bears equipped with global positioning system (GPS) transmitters from 2010 to 2012 to model their resource selection in the study area. We assessed the influence of hunting access, housing density, land cover, and topographic variables on radio-marked black bear monitored 10 days before, during, and after the bear hunting season. We found that resource selection of radio-marked bear was similar for all three periods and bears selected for forested land in all three seasons and herbaceous cover in the pre- and hunting periods. Resource selection by bears was not influenced by whether land was open or closed to hunting in the pre-hunting and hunting periods, but in the post-hunting period lands not open to hunting had support as the second-best model. All radio-marked bears in our study were vulnerable to harvest. However, they did not change resource selection during the hunting season nor did they avoid areas open to hunting. Integrating human dimension data with bear habitat use studies, especially in suburban landscapes, has the potential to address bear space use and population management needs often overlooked in traditional research designs.

Pennsylvania↗
USGS1976

Availability of Earth resources data

The purpose of this booklet is to help the reader to become aware of the volume of Earth resources data that have been collected by agencies of the United States Government and to find out where and how these data may be obtained. Earth resources data as discussed here are those obtained by remote-sensing instruments, including aerial cameras, multispectral cameras, multispectral scanners, and radar. They are obtained by spacecraft and high-altitude aircraft. Also, various agencies have been acquiring vast quantities of conventional aerial mapping photography from low and medium altitudes for more than 50 years. There is also brief information to assist the reader in locating published references and identifying research projects relating to application of Earth resources data to a variety of purposes. In all cases, it is not the intent to say what data are needed or how the data are to be used, but to describe where an interested person can begin to locate Earth resources data.

General Information Product↗
USGS1984

Summary of water-resources activities of the U.S. Geological Survey in Colorado: fiscal year 1984

Water-resources investigations of the U.S. Geological Survey in Colorado consist of collecting water-resources data and conducting interpretive hydrologic investigations. The water-resources data and the results of the investigations are published or released by either the U.S. Geological Survey or by cooperating agencies. This report describes the water- resources investigations in Colorado for the 1984 fiscal year (October 1, 1983, to September 30, 1984).

Colorado↗
USGS1976

Ground-water resources of the Barre-Montpelier area, Vermont

A study of the ground-water resources of the Barre - Montpelier area (fig. 1), Washington County, was begun in 1968 as part of a cooperative program between the Vermont Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Geological Survey. The purpose of the study is to provide technical appraisal of potential sources of water to meet the expanded needs of most towns in Washington County, as pointed out by the Rural Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan (Vermont Department Water Resources, 1969). Funding was made available by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farmers Home Administration, for water-resources exploration, including the testing of the quantity and quality of the water in sand and gravel aquifers. The geology of the area was mapped, and private and municipal water supplies were inventoried in 1968.

Vermont↗
USGS1976

Ground-water resources of the White River Junction area, Vermont

A study of the ground-water resources of the White River Junction area, Windsor County, Vermont, was begun in 1969 as part of a cooperative program between the Vermont Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Geological Survey. The purpose of the study was to provide technical appraisal of potential sources of water to meet the expanded needs of many towns in Windsor County, as pointed out by the Rural Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan (Vermont Department of Water Resources, 1969). Funding was made available by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farmers Home Administration, for water-resources exploration, including the testing of the quantity and quality of the water in sand and gravel aquifers. The geology was mapped, and private and municipal water supplies were inventoried in 1969.

Vermont↗
USGS2009

Effects of Water-Management Strategies on Water Resources in the Pawcatuck River Basin, Southwestern Rhode Island and Southeastern Connecticut

The Pawcatuck River Basin in southwestern Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut is an important high-quality water resource for domestic and public supplies, irrigation, recreation, and the aquatic ecosystem. Concerns about the effects of water withdrawals on aquatic habitat in the basin have prompted local, State, and Federal agencies to explore water-management strategies that minimize the effects of withdrawals on the aquatic habitat. As part of this process, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Rhode Island Water Resources Board completed a study to assess the effects of current (2000-04) and potential water withdrawals on streamflows and groundwater levels using hydrologic simulation models developed for the basin. The major findings of the model simulations are: *Moving highly variable seasonal irrigation withdrawals from streams to groundwater wells away from streams reduces short-term fluctuations in streamflow and increases streamflow in the summer when flows are lowest. This occurs because of the inherent time lag between when water is withdrawn from the aquifer and when it affects streamflow. *A pumped well in the vicinity of small streams indicates that if withdrawals exceed available streamflow, groundwater levels drop substantially as a consequence of water lost from aquifer storage, which may reduce the time wetlands and vernal pools are saturated, affecting the animal and plant life that depend on these habitats. *The effects of pumping on water resources such as ponds, streams, and wetlands can be minimized by relocating pumping wells, implementing seasonal pumping schemes that utilize different wells and pumping rates, or both. *The effects of projected land-use change, mostly from forest to low- and medium density housing, indicate only minor changes in streamflow at the subbasin scale examined; however, at a local scale, high flows could increase, and low flows could decrease as a result of increased impervious area. In some instances, low flows could increase slightly as a result of decreased evapotranspiration from the loss of deeprooted vegetation (forest) associated with development. *In some subbasins where large areas of agricultural lands were converted to low- and medium-density housing, low flows increase because the consumptive domestic water use was projected to be less than consumptive agricultural water use. All agricultural water use was for irrigation purposes and was assumed to be lost from the basin through evapotranspiration.

Circular↗
USGS2011

Integrating science and resource management in Tampa Bay, Florida

Tampa Bay is recognized internationally for its remarkable progress towards recovery since it was pronounced "dead" in the late 1970s. Due to significant efforts by local governments, industries and private citizens throughout the watershed, water clarity in Tampa Bay is now equal to what it was in 1950, when population in the watershed was less than one-quarter of what it is today. Seagrass extent has increased by more than 8,000 acres since the mid-1980s, and fish and wildlife populations are increasing. Central to this successful turn-around has been the Tampa Bay resource management community's long-term commitment to development and implementation of strong science-based management strategies. Research institutions and agencies, including Eckerd College, the Florida Wildlife Commission Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Mote Marine Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Southwest Florida Water Management District, University of South Florida, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, local and State governments, and private companies contribute significantly to the scientific basis of our understanding of Tampa Bay's structure and ecological function. Resource management agencies, including the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council's Agency on Bay Management, the Southwest Florida Water Management District's Surface Water Improvement and Management Program, and the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, depend upon this scientific basis to develop and implement regional adaptive management programs. The importance of integrating science with management has become fully recognized by scientists and managers throughout the region, State and Nation. Scientific studies conducted in Tampa Bay over the past 10–15 years are increasingly diverse and complex, and resource management programs reflect our increased knowledge of geology, hydrology and hydrodynamics, ecology and restoration techniques. However, a synthesis of this research and its integration into resource management has not been prepared for Tampa Bay since the mid-1980s. The need for an up-to-date synthesis of Tampa Bay science and management has resulted in the production of this document. The U.S. Geological Survey recently completed a 5-year Tampa Bay Integrated Science Study, and the Tampa Bay Estuary Program updated the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for Tampa Bay in 2006. These efforts build upon results of the many research and management studies and programs summarized here.

Florida↗
USGS1970

Water as an urban resource and nuisance

Generally, when people speak of water as a resource, they are considering its good aspects and recognizing that it is essential for life and living. Sometimes or at some places or to some people, the same water may be annoying or unpleasant and thus a nuisance-for example, rain at a picnic, snow at any time except Christmas Eve, ground water in a basement, floodwater inundating personal property, and any water after it has been polluted by somebody else. For purposes of this circular, water as a resource will be defined more broadly and as a nuisance more narrowly. Water is part of the natural resource base including all aspects of the land, the air, and the water that must be considered in planning if an environment suitable for the well-being of all life is to be maintained. A nuisance, private or public, is a cause of annoyance, inconvenience, or injury that is an invasion or disturbance of the rights of some particular person or of members of a community, and it is punishable under the laws or customs accepted by the community. An activity harmful to mankind but widely practiced by the general public may be condoned by human laws and thus not be defined legally as a nuisance; the punishment for this activity is deterioration of the natural environment until it becomes unsuitable for living. The water resource, which is widely and irregularly distributed on earth, is available to man for such enjoyment and development and use as he sees fit, some use being essential to his existence. Natural variations in the quantity and quality of water are inevitable and, if they cause annoyance or injury to someone, are accepted as one of the hardships that this planet imposes upon its inhabitants; such variations are recognized as "acts of God." However, if any man or society is partly responsible for these variations, which may cause such annoyance or injury, and may become a nuisance (an invasion or disturbance of the rights of others) such a man or society may perhaps be subject to injunctions and damage suits. Legal disputes over water as a nuisance are generally deeply involved with problems of the respective rights of plaintiff and defendant. These respective rights vary among the States.

Circular↗
USGS1973

CRIB; the mineral resources data bank of the U.S. Geological Survey

The recently established Computerized Resources Information Bank (CRIB) of the U.S. Geological Survey is expected to play an increasingly important role in the study of United States' mineral resources. CRIB provides a rapid means for organizing and summarizing information on mineral resources and for displaying the results. CRIB consists of a set of variable-length records containing the basic information needed to characterize one or more mineral commodities, a mineral deposit, or several related deposits. The information consists of text, numeric data, and codes. Some topics covered are: name, location, commodity information, geology, production, reserves, potential resources, and references. The data are processed by the GIPSY program, which performs all the processing tasks needed to build, operate, and maintain the CRIB file. The sophisticated retrieval program allows the user to make highly selective searches of the files for words, parts of words, phrases, numeric data, word ranges, numeric ranges, and others, and to interrelate variables by logic statements to any degree of refinement desired. Three print options are available, or the retrieved data can be passed to another program for further processing.

Circular↗
USGS1982

Assessment of undiscovered conventionally recoverable petroleum resources of the Arabian-Iranian Basin

The estimates of undiscovered conventionally recoverable petroleum resources in the Arabian-Iranian basin at probability levels of 95 percent, 5 percent, and statistical mean are for oil (in billions of barrels): 72, 337, and 174; and for gas (in trillions of cubic feet): 299, 1792, and 849. The occurrence of petroleum can be accounted for in five definitive geological settings or plays. The assessment of undiscovered resource potential assumes that the new discoveries will expand the occurrence of petroleum in these basic plays; no additional plays with significant petroleum potential were recognized. The five plays listed by geologic age are: (I) Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary, (II) Lower and Middle Cretaceous sandstone, (III) Lower and Middle Cretaceous limestone, (IV) Jurassic, and (V) Permian. The Permian play, located in the south-central Arabian Gulf region and extending northeast-southwest from southern Iran to the Ar Rub' al Khali in Saudi Arabia, accounts for over four-fifths of the mean estimate of undiscovered gas. The remainder of the gas is divided about equally among the other four plays. The Jurassic play, located on the south side of the Arabian Gulf, accounts for slightly less than one-third of the estimated undiscovered oil, which is split equally between Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The Lower and Middle Cretaceous limestone play is located in the southern Gulf region and accounts for about one-fifth of the undiscovered oil, most of which is located in Saudi Arabia and the remainder in the United Arab Emirates. The Lower and Middle Cretaceous sandstone play is centralized in Kuwait at the head of the Arabian Gulf with significant potential extending to the northwest in Iraq; the play accounts for about one-third of the undiscovered oil, the great majority of which is estimated to be in Iraq with the remainder divided between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The upper Cretaceous-Tertiary play is located in the Zagros fold belt of Iran and Iraq and accounts for about one-fifth of the undiscovered oil. Estimation of the resources in this vast area is hindered by lack of data from certain broad regions, abandoned wells, and several significant dry holes, but the regional geology is well enough reported that geologic projections can be made and inferences from selected wells can be drawn to permit estimation of the resource potential.

Circular↗
USGS2010

Oil shale and nahcolite resources of the Piceance Basin, Colorado

This report presents an in-place assessment of the oil shale and nahcolite resources of the Green River Formation in the Piceance Basin of western Colorado. The Piceance Basin is one of three large structural and sedimentary basins that contain vast amounts of oil shale resources in the Green River Formation of Eocene age. The other two basins, the Uinta Basin of eastern Utah and westernmost Colorado, and the Greater Green River Basin of southwest Wyoming, northwestern Colorado, and northeastern Utah also contain large resources of oil shale in the Green River Formation, and these two basins will be assessed separately. Estimated in-place oil is about 1.5 trillion barrels, based on Fischer a ssay results from boreholes drilled to evaluate oil shale, making it the largest oil shale deposit in the world. The estimated in-place nahcolite resource is about 43.3 billion short tons.

Colorado↗
USGS2010

Oil shale resources of the Uinta Basin, Utah and Colorado

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed a comprehensive assessment of in-place oil in oil shales of the Eocene Green River Formation of the Uinta Basin of eastern Utah and western Colorado. The oil shale interval was subdivided into eighteen roughly time-stratigraphic intervals, and each interval was assessed for variations in gallons per ton, barrels per acre, and total barrels in each township. The Radial Basis Function extrapolation method was used to generate isopach and isoresource maps, and to calculate resources. The total inplace resource for the Uinta Basin is estimated at 1.32 trillion barrels. This is only slightly lower than the estimated 1.53 trillion barrels for the adjacent Piceance Basin, Colorado, to the east, which is thought to be the richest oil shale deposit in the world. However, the area underlain by oil shale in the Uinta Basin is much larger than that of the Piceance Basin, and the average gallons per ton and barrels per acre values for each of the assessed oil shale zones are significantly lower in the depocenter in the Uinta Basin when compared to the Piceance Basin. These relations indicate that the oil shale resources in the Uinta Basin are of lower grade and are more dispersed than the oil shale resources of the Piceance Basin.

Data Series↗