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USGS1978

Maps showing formation temperatures and configurations of the tops of the Minnelusa Formation and the Madison Limestone, Powder River basin, Wyoming, Montana, and adjacent areas

This report is part of a study to describe the hydrogeologic framework needed to evaluate the water resources of the Paleozoic age aquifers in the Northern Great Plains coal region. Preliminary studies by the U.S. Geological Survey and State agencies in Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota have indicated that these aquifers might provide a significant percentage of the water requirements for coal development. Geologic and water-temperature data for the Minnelusa Formation of Permian and Pennsylvanian age and for the Madison Limestone (Group where it is subdivided) of Mississippian and locally late Devonian age , and their equivalents, were compiled and interpreted. Maps were produced showing the altitude and ground-water temperatures of the top of these formations. The altitude (configuration) maps show the depth and position of the formations throughout the area. Temperature maps can be used to calculate changes in the viscosity of water caused by large temperature differences. The viscosity differences will be useful in adjusting calculated transmissivity aquifer values (the rate at which water can be transmitted through an aquifer). (Woodard-USGS)

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USGS1979

Exploratory drilling during 1979 in the McCallum coal field, Jackson County, Colorado

Rotary drilling of two drill holes in the McCallum coal field, Jackson County, Colorado, was completed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in July 1979. The holes are within the area of the short-term lease application. C-27931 held by Wyoming Fuels of Lakewood, Colorado. Drill-hole GNW1 is located in T. 3 N., R. 78 W., sec. 10, SIANE14, in the Gould NW quadrangle, and drill-hole JMM2 is located in T. 8 N., R. 78 W., sec. 10, SW 1 / 2 NE 1 / 4 , in the Johnny Moore Mountain quadrangle (fig. 1). The area is part of the McCallum Known Recoverable Coal Resource Area (KRCRA). The purpose of the drilling was to gather additional data concerning depth, thickness, and extent of the Sudduth coal bed in order to calculate a reserve base for the area of the lease application. USGS personnel chose the drill-hole sites, conducted the geophysical logging, and recorded the descriptions of cuttings at 5-foot intervals.

Colorado↗

USGS1982

Analytical method codes and descriptions for well and outcrop samples: Eastern Gas Shales Project data system

The United States Geological Survey and Petroleum Information Corporation (PI) of Denver have created a large computerized file of sample data for the Eastern Gas Shales Project (EGSP) as a responsibility to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Morgantown Energy Technology Center (METC), Morgantown, West Virginia. The EGSP was initiated in 1976 by METC to investigate gas resources in Devonian shales found in the Appalachian basin. An objective of the EGSP is to accumulate a data base characterizing these shale units which can be used to assess future development of the gas resource. More than 30 government and industry participants served as contractors and contributed data from their research.

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USGS1981

Water-level records for the Big Sioux aquifer, Minnehaha County, South Dakota

This report contains a tabulation of water levels in wells tapping the Big Sioux aquifer in Minnehaha County, S. Dak. Included is a compilation of all water levels in 43 wells measured by the U.S. Geological Survey and State agencies during the period 1957-80. The data are presented in tabular and graphic form.

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USGS1985

Precambrian basement map of the northern Midcontinent, U.S.A.

The northern midcontinent region includes the buried basement of the interior platform and the southernmost exposed Precambrian rocks of the Canadian Shield (see index map). Structurally, it is part of a continent-wide "tectonic collage" consisting of (1) Archean cratonic elements (>2500 Ma) and remnants of Early Proterozoic (-1,900-2,100 Ma) cratonic cover, (2) anastomosing Early Proterozoic orogenic belts culminating at 1,850 Ma and -1,650 Ma, which partly enclose and marginally affect the Archean cratons, and (3) intracratonic igneous and sedimentary rocks, mainly of Middle Proterozoic age but including an older rhyolite-granite terrane (-1,760 Ma) and somewhat younger, scattered quartzite, assigned by Dott (1983) to the "Baraboo interval". The map was compiled as part of a cooperative federal-state project from 1:500,000-scale maps submitted by respective state geological surveys showing basement drill holes, lithotypes or sketchy geologic map units, and basement topography, contoured at 200-foot intervals. In compiling the map, available aeromagnetic (Zietz, 1982; Burchett, 1985) and gravity anomaly maps (Hildenbrand and others, 1982) were utilized to define insofar as possible the trend, extent, and boundaries of individual rock bodies, and all available isotopic age data were used. The principal geologic contribution resulting from the compilation is the delineation of a major buried, northwest-trending Early Proterozoic orogen, named the Central Plains orogen (Sims and Peterman, in press). It extends from Nebraska through Kansas into Missouri, where it is overlapped by Middle Proterozoic rhyolite-granite terranes; and it sharply truncates Archean rocks and an older Proterozoic orogenic (Penokean) belt in the inner part of the craton.

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USGS1994

Worldwide Assessment of the Status of Seismic Zonation, Fourth International Forum on Seismic Zonation, Proceedings

We are pleased to provide you with information developed for the Fourth International Forum on Seismic Zonation which will be convened in two locations year in conjunction two major international meetings. The objectives are: 1) to assess the status of seismic zonation in every country of the world, 2) to evaluate the reasons for advances and new initiatives, and 3) to foster continued cooperation. Seismic zonation is the process that leads to risk reduction and sustainability of new development. It is based on the division of a geographic region into smaller areas or zones on the basis of an integrated assessment of the hazard, built, and policy environments of the region. Seismic zonation depends on hazard mapping performed on national/regional, subregional, and urban (i.e., microzonation) scales depending on the particular application. We gratefully acknowledge the written communications of many professionals who responded to our request for information. Also, we acknowledge the use of information contained in five valuable reports (see directories in the Appendices for information on where to obtain copies of the reports): 1. United Nations, 1990, Cooperative Project for Seismic Risk Reduction in the Mediterranean Region (SEISMED), proceedings, Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator, Geneva, Switzerland, 3 vols. (Franco Maranzana - Italy/Appendix D). 2. United States Geological Survey, 1992, The Worldwide Earthquake Risk Management (WWERM) Program, Reston, Virginia, 19 p (Paul Thenhaus or S.T. Algermissen - USA/ Appendix D). 3. Instituto Panamericano de Geografia Historia, 1992, Revista Geofisica, Lima, Peru, No. 37, July-December, 234 p (Alberto Giesecke- Peru/Appendix D). 4. Annali di Geofisica, 1992, Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program (GSHAP) (Special Issue), International Lithosphere Program, Publication 209, Bologna, Italy, 257 p (Domenico Giardini-Italy/Appendix F). 5. International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior and European Seismological Commission, 1993, The Practice of Hazard Assessment, Golden, Colorado, 284 p (Write Bob Engdahl, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Mail Stop 967, Denver, Colorado 80225, USA).

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USGS1995

User's guide to the culvert analysis program

This user's guide contains information on using the culvert analysis program (CAP). The procedure used is based on that presented in Techniques of Water- Resources Investigations of the United States Geological Survey, book 3, chapter A3, "Measurement of Peak Discharge at Culverts by Indirect Methods." The program uses input files that have formats compatible with those used by the Water-Surface Profile (WSPRO) program. The program can be used to compute rating surfaces or curves that describe the behavior of flow through a culvert or to compute discharges from measurements of upstream and downstream water-surface elevations.

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USGS1996

USGS response to an urban earthquake, Northridge '94

The urban centers of our Nation provide our people with seemingly unlimited employment, social, and cultural opportunities as a result of the complex interactions of a diverse population embedded in an highly-engineered environment. Catastrophic events in one or more of the natural earth systems which underlie or envelop urban environment can have radical effects on the integrity and survivability of that environment. Earthquakes have for centuries been the source of cataclysmic events on cities throughout the world. Unlike many other earth processes, the effects of major earthquakes transcend all political, social, and geomorphic boundaries and can have decided impact on cities tens to hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter. In modern cities, where buildings, transportation corridors, and lifelines are complexly interrelated, the life, economic, and social vulnerabilities in the face of a major earthquake can be particularly acute. The 1994 Northridge Earthquake was a major test for parts of what many consider the most earthquake-prepared and best-engineered metropolitan region in the United States. While the combined efforts of concerned professionals at all levels of government, academia, and the private sector have produced significant advances in our knowledge of the causes and potential effects of earthquakes, and of ways to reduce their impact, it remains unfortunately true that actual earthquakes provide important opportunities to test those advances in our knowledge. In the hours and days following the Northridge Earthquake, the four Federal member agencies of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) laid out a detailed plan for collecting, analyzing, archiving, and reporting information that would benefit the Nation in future earthquake hazards reduction efforts. Congress provided a special appropriation to FEMA to carry out this plan and FEMA distributed those funds to the four NEHRP agencies. The USGS was responsible for conducting geophysical and geological investigations in support of the NEHRP Post-earthquake Study. For the past 2 years, the USGS has rigorously pursued over 40 tasks focused on the USGS Northridge Earthquake Mission. This document is a summary report of the USGS findings; additional technical reports on specific USGS tasks are appearing in various scientific journals and USGS publications.

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USGS1998

World conventional crude oil and natural gas: Identified reserves, undiscovered resources and futures

This report summarizes, at the petroleum basin level, the United States Geological Survey's World Energy Program 1993 assessment of world conventional oil and gas resources. The maps provided show boundaries of petroleum basins that are referenced by the assessment, as well as, future oil and gas potential. The 'Futures' or future potential of a basin is calculated as the the sum of the Identified Reserves and the modal value assigned to the conventional Undiscovered Resources.

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USGS1998

Physical characteristics of dungeness crab and halibut habitats in Glacier Bay

In Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska there are ongoing studies of Dungeness Crab (Cancer magister) and Pacific Halibut (Hippoglosus stenolepis). Scientists of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) are attempting to ascertain life history, distribution, and abundance, and to determine the effects of commercial fishing in the park (Carlson et al., 1998). Statistical sampling studies suggest that seafloor characteristics and bathymetry affect the distribution, abundance and behavior of benthic species. Examples include the distribution of Dungeness crab which varies from 78 to 2012 crabs/ha in nearshore areas to depths of 18 m (O'Clair et al., 1995), and changes in halibut foraging behavior according to bottom type (Chilton et al., 1995). This report discusses geophysical data collected in six areas within the park in 1998. The geophysical surveying done in this and previous studies will be combined with existing population and sonic-tracking data sets as well as future sediment sampling, scuba, submersible, and bottom video camera observations to better understand Dungeness crab and Pacific halibut habitat relationships.

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USGS1999

Loch Vale Watershed Project quality assurance report, 1995-1998

The Loch Vale Watershed (LVWS) project was initiated in 1980 by the National Park Service with funding from the Aquatic Effects Research Program of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program. Initial research objectives were to understand the processes that would either mitigate or accelerate the effects of pollution on soil and surface water chemistry, and to build a record in which long-term trends could be identified and examined. It is important for all data collected in Loch Vale to meet the high standards of quality set forth in previous LVWS QA/QC reports and LVWS Methods Manuals. Given the ever-widening usage of data collected in Loch Vale, it is equally important to provide users of that data with a report assuring that all data are sound. Parameters covered in this report are the quality of meteorological measurements, hydrological measurements, surface water chemistry, and similarities in catch efficiency of two raingage types in Loch Vale for the period of 1995-1998. Routine sampling of weather conditions, precipitation chemistry, and stream/lake water chemistry began in 1982. Since then, all samples and data have been analyzed according to widely accepted and published methods. Weather data have been collected, analyzed, and stored by LVWS project personnel. Methods for the handling of meteorological data are well documented (Denning 1988, Edwards 1991, Newkirk 1995,and Allstott 1995). Precipitation chemistry has always been collected according to National Atmospheric Deposition Program protocol (Bigelow 1988), and analyzed at the Central Analytical Laboratory of the Illinois State Water Survey in Champaign, IL. QA/QC procedures of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program are well documented (Aubertin 1990). Protocols for sampling surface waters are also well documented (Newkirk 1995). Analysis of surface water chemistry has been performed using standard EPA protocol at the US Forest Service's Rocky Mt. Station Biogeochemistry Laboratory since 1993.

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USGS1999

McVCO handbook 1999

McVCO is a microcontroller-based frequency generator that replaces the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) used in the analog telemetry of seismic data. It accepts low-level signals from a seismometer and produces a frequency modulated subcarrier suitable for radio or telephone links to a data collection site. McVCO was designed for the purpose of improving the analog telemetry of signals within the Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network (PNSN). Its development received support from the University of Washington Geophysics Program, and both the Volcano Hazards and Earthquake Hazards programs of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). This handbook covers operation of McVCO, provides a technical reference for those who require a closer look at how McVCO works, and covers a collection of topics that need explicit treatment or that spring from deployment of the instrument.

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USGS1999

Manual del McVCO 1999

El McVCO es un generador de frecuencias basado en un microcontrolador que reemplaza al oscilador controlado por voltaje (VCO) utilizado en telemetría analógica de datos sísmicas. Acepta señales de baja potencia desde un sismómetro y produce una señal subportadora modulada en frecuencia adecuada para enlaces telefónicos o vía radio a un lugar remoto de recolección de datos. La frecuencia de la subportadora y la ganancia pueden ser seleccionadas mediante un interruptor. Tiene la opción de poder operar con dos canales para la observación con ganancia alta y baja. El McVCO fue diseñado con el propósito de mejorar la telemetría analógica de las señales dentro de la Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network (PNSN) (Red Sismográfica del Noroeste del Pacífico). Su desarrollo recibió el respaldo del Programa de Geofísica de la Universidad de Washington y del "Volcano Hazards and Earthquake Hazards programs of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) (Programa de Investigaciones de Riesgos Volcánicos y Programa de Investigaciones de Riesgos Sísmicos de los EEUU). Cientos de instrumentos se han construido e instalado. Además de utilizarlo el PNSN, el McVCO es usado por el Observatorio Vulcanológico de Alaska para monitorear los volcanes aleutianos y por el USGS Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (Programa de Ayuda en las Catástrofes Volcánicas del USGS) para responder a crisis volcánicas en otros países. Este manual cubre el funcionamiento del McVCO, es una referencia técnica para aquellos que necesitan saber con más detalle cómo funciona el McVCO, y cubre una serie de temas que requieren un trato explícito o que derivan del despliegue del instrumento.

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USGS1999

National coal resource assessment non-proprietary data: Location, stratigraphy, and coal quality for selected tertiary coal in the Northern Rocky Mountains and Great Plains region

One of the objectives of the National Coal Resource Assessment in the Northern Rocky Mountains and Great Plains region was to compile stratigraphic and coal quality-trace-element data on selected and potentially minable coal beds and zones of the Fort Union Formation (Paleocene) and equivalent formations. In order to implement this objective, drill-hole information was compiled from hard-copy and digital files of the: (1) U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) offices in Casper, Rawlins, and Rock Springs, Wyoming, and in Billings, Montana, (2) State geological surveys of Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming, (3) Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality in Cheyenne, (4) U.S. Office of Surface Mining in Denver, Colorado, (5) U.S. Geological Survey, National Coal Resource Data System (NCRDS) in Reston, Virginia, (6) U.S. Geological Survey coal publications, (7) university theses, and (8) mining companies.

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USGS1999