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At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
USGS1932

A method of estimating ground-water supplies based on discharge by plants and evaporation from soil: Results of investigations in Escalante Valley, Utah

Fluctuations of water levels in wells, if critically studied, may give much information as to the occurrence, movement, and quantity of available ground water. In some localities the ground-water level has been observed to decline during the day and to rise at night, the decline beginning at about the same hour every morning and the rise at about the same hour every night. This daily decline is due to the withdrawal of ground water from the zone of saturation by plants, and the rise at night is due to upward movement of water under slight artesian pressure from permeable beds of sand and gravel at some depth beneath the water table.

Utah↗
USGS2016

Quantifying fish swimming behavior in response to acute exposure of aqueous copper using computer assisted video and digital image analysis

Behavioral responses of aquatic organisms to environmental contaminants can be precursors of other effects such as survival, growth, or reproduction. However, these responses may be subtle, and measurement can be challenging. Using juvenile white sturgeon ( Acipenser transmontanus ) with copper exposures, this paper illustrates techniques used for quantifying behavioral responses using computer assisted video and digital image analysis. In previous studies severe impairments in swimming behavior were observed among early life stage white sturgeon during acute and chronic exposures to copper. Sturgeon behavior was rapidly impaired and to the extent that survival in the field would be jeopardized, as fish would be swept downstream, or readily captured by predators. The objectives of this investigation were to illustrate protocols to quantify swimming activity during a series of acute copper exposures to determine time to effect during early lifestage development, and to understand the significance of these responses relative to survival of these vulnerable early lifestage fish. With mortality being on a time continuum, determining when copper first affects swimming ability helps us to understand the implications for population level effects. The techniques used are readily adaptable to experimental designs with other organisms and stressors.

Journal of Visualized Experiments↗
USGS2010

Vulnerability of white spruce tree growth in interior Alaska in response to climate variability: Dendrochronological, demographic, and experimental perspectives

This paper integrates dendrochronological, demographic, and experimental perspectives to improve understanding of the response of white spruce ( Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) tree growth to climatic variability in interior Alaska. The dendrochronological analyses indicate that climate warming has led to widespread declines in white spruce growth throughout interior Alaska that have become more prevalent during the 20th century. Similarly, demographic studies show that white spruce tree growth is substantially limited by soil moisture availability in both mid- and late-successional stands. Interannual variability in tree growth among stands within a landscape exhibits greater synchrony than does growth of trees that occupy different landscapes, which agrees with dendrochronological findings that the responses depend on landscape position and prevailing climate. In contrast, the results from 18 years of a summer moisture limitation experiment showed that growth in midsuccessional upland stands was unaffected by moisture limitation and that moisture limitation decreased white spruce growth in floodplain stands where it was expected that growth would be less vulnerable because of tree access to river water. Taken together, the evidence from the different perspectives analyzed in this study clearly indicates that white spruce tree growth in interior Alaska is vulnerable to the effects of warming on plant water balance.

Alaska↗
USGS1981

Food of the Pacific white-sided dolphin, Lagenorhynchus obliquidens, Dall's porpoise, Phocoenoides dalli, and northern fur seal, Callorhinus ursinus, off California and Washington

Our knowledge of the feeding habits of the Pacific white-sided dolphin, Lagenorhynchus obliquidens , and the Dall's porpoise, Phocoenoides dalli , is based on examination of the stomach contents of stranded animals, animals accidentally taken in commercial fishing gear, those taken in the western Pacific commercial fishery, and animals that died during capture attempts. Of these only a few were normally feeding animals taken at sea, whose stomach contents were thoroughly examined. Fished and squids previously identified from stomachs of dolphins and porpoises by various investigators are listed in Table 1. This paper documents the stomach contents of 44 Pacific white-sided dolphin and 9 Dall's porpoise collected at sea off California and Washington. All animals were collected by the authors during pelagic fur seal studies with the exception of three dolphins which were collected by a staff biologist during whale research voyages off California. Comparisons of stomach contents are made between the Pacific white-sided dolphins, Dall's porpoise, and northern fur seal, Callorhinus ursinus , collected near the same locations and usually on the same day. Mention of the dolphin, porpoise , and seal in this paper refers to the above-named species unless noted otherwise.

California, Washington↗
USGS2000

Ordering procedures for photographic enlargement products--NAPP, NHAP, and custom

Established in 1987, the National Aerial Photography Program (NAPP) collects aerial photographs of the 48 conterminous States on a 5-year cycle. Copies of NAPP images are available in black-and-white and (or) color- Figure 1. NAPP paper-print sizes and their corresponding scales for standard enlargements.* infrared film at 1 :40,000 scale. Figure 1 shows NAPP paper-print sizes and their corresponding scales for standard enlargements.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2012

Water quality and landscape processes of four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico

Humid tropical regions occupy about a quarter of Earth's land surface, yet they contribute a substantially higher fraction of the water, solutes, and sediment discharged to the world's oceans. Nearly half of Earth's population lives in the tropics, and development stresses can potentially harm soil resources, water quality, and water supply and in addition increase landslide and flood hazards. Owing to Puerto Rico's steep topography, low water storage capacity, and dependence on trade-wind precipitation, the island's people, ecosystems, and water supply are vulnerable to extreme weather such as hurricanes, floods, and droughts. Eastern Puerto Rico offers a natural laboratory for separating geologic and land-cover influences from regional- and global-scale influences because of its various bedrock types and the changing land cover surrounding intact, mature forest of the Luquillo Experimental Forest. Accordingly, a multiyear assessment of hydrological and biogeochemical processes was designed to develop an understanding of the effects of these differences on local climate, streamflow, water quality, and ecosystems, and to form the basis for a long-term and event-based program of climate and hydrologic monitoring. Because infrequent, large storms play a major role in this landscape, we focused on high-runoff events, sampling 263 storms, including all major hurricanes from 1991 through 2005. The largest storms have profound geomorphic consequences, such as landslides, debris flows, deep gullying on deforested lands, excavation and suspension of sediment in stream channels, and delivery of a substantial fraction of annual stream sediment load. Large storms sometimes entrain ocean foam and spray causing high concentrations of seasalt-derived constituents in stream waters during the storm. Past deforestation and agricultural activities in the Cayaguás and Canóvanas watersheds accelerated erosion and soil loss, and this material continues to be remobilized during large storms. Nearly 5,000 routine and event samples were analyzed for parameters that allow determination of denudation rates based on suspended and dissolved loads; 860 of these samples were analyzed for a comprehensive suite of chemical constituents. The rivers studied are generally similar in water-quality characteristics, and windward or leeward aspect appears to exert a stronger influence on water quality than geology or land cover. Of samples analyzed for comprehensive chemistry and for sediment, 543 were collected at runoff rates greater than 1 millimeter per hour, 256 at rates exceeding 10 millimeters per hour, and 3 at rates exceeding 90 millimeters per hour. Streams have rarely been sampled during events with such high runoff rates. Rates of physical and chemical weathering are especially high, and physical denudation rates, forested watersheds included, are considerably greater than is expected for a steady-state system. The elevated physical erosion drives an increased particulate organic carbon flux, one that is large, important to the carbon cycle, and sustainable, because soil-carbon regeneration is rapid. The 15-year Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budget dataset, which includes discharge, field parameters, suspended sediment, major cations and anions, and nutrients, is available from the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water Information System (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis). The dataset provides a baseline for characterizing future environmental change and will improve our understanding of the interdependencies of land, water, and biological resources and their responses to changes in climate and land use. Because eastern Puerto Rico resembles many tropical regions in terms of geology and patterns of development, implications from this study are transferable to other tropical regions facing deforestation, rapid land-use change, and climate change.

Professional Paper↗
USGS2005

Bark beetle outbreaks in western North America: Causes and consequences

Since 1990, native bark beetles have killed billions of trees across millions of acres of forest from Alaska to northern Mexico. Although bark beetle infestations are a regular force of natural change in forested ecosystems, several of the current outbreaks, which are occurring simultaneously across western North America, are the largest and most severe in recorded history.

Conference Paper↗
USGSDate not supplied

Integrated geophysical characterization of the Winthrop Landfill Southern Flow Path, Winthrop, Maine

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with United Technologies Corporation, used an integrated suite of borehole, surface, and water-borne geophysical methods near the site of the former Winthrop Landfill, Winthrop, Maine, to investigate the hydrogeology controlling the transport of leachate from the landfill to nearby Annabessacook Lake. During the fall of 2000 and summer of 2001, the USGS conducted borehole electromagnetic (EM) induction and gamma logging, and inductive terrain-conductivity, two-dimensional (2D) resistivity, continuous seismic reflection, and magnetic surveys. The objectives of this integrated geophysical study were to provide constraints on the location and extent of the southern flow path(s) of contamination from the landfill to the lake; identify shoreline seep geophysical signatures; identify potentially hidden seeps in the lake; and determine depth to bedrock below Annabessacook Lake in the study area. Interpretation of surface 2D resistivity, magnetic, and inductive terrain-conductivity data and borehole EM logs delineates an electrically conductive anomaly consistent with a leachate plume moving from the current landfill boundary southward through the overburden to the shores of Annabessacook Lake. Surface and borehole geophysical data collected south and southeast of the landfill indicate the presence of discrete, shallow conductive anomalies at the southeastern edge of the landfill and near the lakeshore. The conductive anomalies appear at increasing depths closer to the lake. Magnetic anomalies offshore confirm the presence of iron-rich landfill leachate discharging into the lake south of the landfill. High-resolution swept-frequency seismic data used to map sediment and grain size distribution in the lake sub-bottom along the shoreline identified sediment-infilled bedrock lows that may act as conduits for contaminant migration.

Maine↗
USGS2023

Regional streamflow drought forecasting in the Colorado River Basin using Deep Neural Network models

Process-based, large-scale (e.g., conterminous United States [CONUS]) hydrologic models have struggled to achieve reliable streamflow drought performance in arid regions and for low-flow periods. Deep learning has recently seen broad implementation in streamflow prediction and forecasting research projects throughout the world with performance often equaling or exceeding that of process-based models. Deep learning models are a possible approach to increase the accuracy of streamflow drought predictions and to expand the spatial coverage of river locations with available streamflow drought forecasts. As part of a multi-component Data-Driven Drought Prediction project, the U.S. Geological Survey is developing and testing deep learning models for streamflow drought forecasting. In this work, we present preliminary results of a deep learning model capable of predicting streamflow drought occurrence at ungaged locations for the Colorado River Basin (CRB). A long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network model was trained using 40 years (1980-2020) of daily streamflow data from 425 streamgages within and surrounding the CRB using static watershed attributes as well as meteorological and remotely sensed dynamic forcing inputs. Model tests were performed to evaluate model accuracy for now-casting streamflow drought conditions at ungaged locations and for forecasting drought conditions at lead times ranging from 0 to 14 days. Nearly all model configurations showed behavioral performance for predicting daily streamflow percentiles. Comparisons of LSTM model performance for predicting drought using fixed drought thresholds (calculated over all days and years) and variable drought thresholds (unique threshold calculated for each day of the year) identify differences in model skill between locations with implications for model design.

Colorado River basin↗
USGS2016

Reevaluation of the Crooked Ridge River- Early Pleistocene (ca. 2 Ma) age and origin of the White Mesa Alluvium, northeastern Arizona

Essential features of the previously named and described Miocene Crooked Ridge River in northeastern Arizona (USA) are reexamined using new geologic and geochronologic data. Previously it was proposed that Cenozoic alluvium at Crooked Ridge and southern White Mesa was pre–early Miocene, the product of a large, vigorous late Paleogene river draining the 35–23 Ma San Juan Mountains volcanic field of southwestern Colorado. The paleoriver probably breeched the Kaibab uplift and was considered important in the early evolution of the Colorado River and Grand Canyon. In this paper, we reexamine the character and age of these Cenozoic deposits. The alluvial record originally used to propose the hypothetical paleoriver is best exposed on White Mesa, providing the informal name White Mesa alluvium. The alluvium is 20–50 m thick and is in the bedrock-bound White Mesa paleovalley system, which comprises 5 tributary paleochannels. Gravel composition, detrital zircon data, and paleochannel orientation indicate that sediment originated mainly from local Cretaceous bedrock north, northeast, and south of White Mesa. Sedimentologic and fossil evidence imply alluviation in a low-energy suspended sediment fluvial system with abundant fine-grained overbank deposits, indicating a local channel system rather than a vigorous braided river with distant headwaters. The alluvium contains exotic gravel clasts of Proterozoic basement and rare Oligocene volcanic clasts as well as Oligocene–Miocene detrital sanidine related to multiple caldera eruptions of the San Juan Mountains and elsewhere. These exotic clasts and sanidine likely came from ancient rivers draining the San Juan Mountains. However, in this paper we show that the White Mesa alluvium is early Pleistocene (ca. 2 Ma) rather than pre–early Miocene. Combined 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating of an interbedded tuff and detrital sanidine ages show that the basal White Mesa alluvium was deposited at 1.993 ± 0.002 Ma, consistent with a detrital sanidine maximum depositional age of 2.02 ± 0.02 Ma. Geomorphic relations show that the White Mesa alluvium is older than inset gravels that are interbedded with 1.2–0.8 Ma Bishop–Glass Mountain tuff. The new ca. 2 Ma age for the White Mesa alluvium refutes the hypothesis of a large regional Miocene(?) Crooked Ridge paleoriver that predated carving of the Grand Canyon. Instead, White Mesa paleodrainage was the northernmost extension of the ancestral Little Colorado River drainage basin. This finding is important for understanding Colorado River evolution because it provides a datum for quantifying rapid post–2 Ma regional denudation of the Grand Canyon region.

Arizona↗
USGS1878

Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories: Volume IV, Number 4

Table of Contents ART. XXXII.---The Fossil Insects of the Green River Shales. By Samuel H. Scudder, Cambridge, Mass.....747-776 ART. XXXIII.---Report on the Collection of Fishes made by Dr. Elllott Cones, U.S.A., in Dakota and Montana, during the seasons of 1873 and 1874. By DavidS. Jordan, M.D......777-800 ART. XXXIV.----Catalogue of Phraenogamous and Vascular Cryptogamous Plants collected during the summers of 1873 and 1874, in Dakota and Montana, along the forty-ninth parallel, by Dr. Elliott Cones, U.S.A.; with which are incorporated those collected in the same region at the same times by Mr. George M. Dawson. By Prof. J. W. Chickering.....801-830 ART. XXXV.-----On some Striking Products of Erosion in Colorado. By F.M. Endlich, S.N.D......831-864 ART. XXXVI.----Paleontological Papers No.8: Remarks upon the Laramie Group. By C.A. White, M.D......865-876 ART. XXXVII.---Synonymatic List of the American Sciuri, or Arboreal Squirrels. By J.A. Allen. (See p. 905.).....877-887 Index.....889-908

Report↗