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USGS2007

Earth science and public health: Proceedings of the Second National Conference on USGS Health-Related Research

The mission of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is to serve the Nation by providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the earth; minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; and enhance and protect our quality of life. As the Nation?s largest water, earth, and biological science and civilian mapping agency, the USGS can play a significant role in providing scientific knowledge and information that will improve our understanding of the relations of environment and wildlife to human health and disease. USGS human health-related research is unique in the Federal government because it brings together a broad spectrum of natural science expertise and information, including extensive data collection and monitoring on varied landscapes and ecosystems across the Nation. USGS can provide a great service to the public health community by synthesizing the scientific information and knowledge on our natural and living resources that influence human health, and by bringing this science to the public health community in a manner that is most useful. Partnerships with health scientists and managers are essential to the success of these efforts. USGS scientists already are working closely with the public health community to pursue rigorous inquiries into the connections between natural science and public health. Partnering agencies include the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, Mine Safety and Health Administration, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, U.S. Public Health Service, and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. Collaborations between public health scientists and earth scientists can lead to improved solutions for existing and emerging environmental health problems. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions held at the Second National Conference on USGS Health-Related Research, held at the USGS national headquarters in Reston, Virginia. The report presents 68 abstracts of technical presentations made at the conference and summaries of six topical breakout sessions. The abstracts cover a broad range of issues and demonstrate connections between human health and the quality and condition of our environment and wildlife. The summaries of the topical breakout sessions present ideas for advancing interdisciplinary science in areas of earth science and human health.

Scientific Investigations Report↗
USGS1969

John Wesley Powell: Pioneer statesman of federal science

In the middle decades of the 19th century, American science matured rather rapidly. The general scholar with an interest in natural history gave place to the specialist in a particular science, and the various sciences themselves became distinct from each other and from the general body of knowledge. The geological sciences made especially rapid progress in America because of the opportunity and the necessity to explore the vast western territories. Although Clarence King later remarked 1 that before 1867 (when Congress authorized both the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel and the Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories) "geology was made to act as a sort of camp-follower to expeditions whose main object was topographic reconnoissance," and that it amounted to "little more than a slight sketch of the character and distribution of formations, valuable chiefly as indicating the field for future inquiry," American geologists had, in fact, established a professional society, the Association of American Geologists, as early as 1840. Several years later this society became the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Several State surveys were founded in the 1830's, and by 1840, courses in geology were regularly included in the curricula of several colleges.

Colorado River↗
USGS2015

Groundwater availability in the United States: the value of quantitative regional assessments

The sustainability of water resources is under continued threat from the challenges associated with a growing population, competing demands, and a changing climate. Freshwater scarcity has become a fact in many areas. Much of the United States surface-water supplies are fully apportioned for use; thus, in some areas the only potential alternative freshwater source that can provide needed quantities is groundwater. Although frequently overlooked, groundwater serves as the principal reserve of freshwater in the US and represents much of the potential supply during periods of drought. Some nations have requirements to monitor and characterize the availability of groundwater such as the European Union’s Water Framework Directive (EPCEU 2000). In the US there is no such national requirement. Quantitative regional groundwater availability assessments, however, are essential to document the status and trends of groundwater availability for the US and make informed water-resource decisions possible now and in the future. Barthel (2014) highlighted that the value of regional groundwater assessments goes well beyond just quantifying the resource so that it can be better managed. The tools and techniques required to evaluate these unique regional systems advance the science of hydrogeology and provide enhanced methods that can benefit local-scale groundwater investigations. In addition, a significant, yet under-utilized benefit is the digital spatial and temporal data sets routinely generated as part of these studies. Even though there is no legal or regulatory requirement for regional groundwater assessments in the US, there is a logical basis for their implementation. The purpose of this essay is to articulate the rationale for and reaffirm the value of regional groundwater assessments primarily in the US; however, the arguments hold for all nations. The importance of the data sets and the methods and model development that occur as part of these assessments is stressed. These high-value data sets and models should be available in readily accessible formats for use today and in the future. Examples of advances in and accomplishments of two regional groundwater assessments are presented to demonstrate their function, relevance, and value for determining the sustainability of the groundwater resources of the US.

Hydrogeology Journal↗
USGS2022

The Volcano Hazards Program — Strategic science plan for 2022–2026

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Volcano Hazards Program (VHP) Strategic Science Plan, developed through discussion with scientists-in-charge of the USGS volcano observatories and the director of the USGS Volcano Science Center, specifies six major strategic goals to be pursued over the next 5 years. The purpose of these goals is to help fulfill the USGS VHP mission to enhance public safety and to minimize social and economic disruption caused by volcanic eruptions in the United States and its territories, through delivery of effective forecasts, warnings, and information on volcano hazards based on scientific understanding of volcanic processes. These six major strategic goals are to (1) continue—and when possible, accelerate—implementation of the National Volcano Early Warning System (NVEWS); (2) improve community preparedness for volcanic hazards by updating and standardizing essential components of volcano hazard assessments and providing training to land managers, emergency responders, and State and local communities; (3) develop the next generation of volcano hazard assessments using geographic information systems and other digital tools; (4) make observations with new instrumentation and take advantage of advances in real-time gas sensors; (5) rebuild the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and its monitoring capabilities; and (6) form new partnerships and strengthen existing partnerships with other government agencies and with academia and industry, to advance volcano monitoring, increase understanding of volcanic processes, and disseminate USGS information. In its effort to advance volcano science and monitoring techniques, the VHP has identified six scientific targets to pursue over the next 5 years, including: (1) increased understanding of volcano seismicity; (2) improved probabilistic forecasting; (3) deepened grasp of volcano eruption histories and geochronology; (4) newly developed and refined physical models of magmatic systems, leading to better situational awareness and accuracy of eruption forecasts; (5) improved warnings and forecasts of volcanic ash and gas clouds and characterization of volcanic smog sources; and (6) refined lava-flow modeling and forecasting of lava-flow paths.

Circular↗
USGS2004

Fort Collins Science Center: Invasive Species Science

Invasive, non-native species of plants, animals, and disease organisms adversely affect the ecosystems they enter. Like "biological wildfires," they can quickly spread, and they affect nearly all terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Invasive species have become the greatest environmental challenge of the 21st century in terms of economic, environmental, and human health costs, with an estimated impact in the U.S. of over $138 billion per year. Managers of Department of the Interior and other public and private lands and waters rank invasive species as their top resource management problem. The Invasive Species Science Branch of the Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) provides research and technical assistance relating to invasive species management concerns, including understanding how these species are introduced, identifying areas vulnerable to invasion, forecasting invasions, and developing control methods. To disseminate this information, FORT scientists are developing the Invasive Species Information Node of the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII), a comprehensive, Web-accessible database of invasive plant and animal species and disease agents. From these data, and in partnership with Colorado State University, the National Aeronautic Space Administration (NASA), and others, FORT scientists are constructing models to understand and predict invasive species behavior for more effective management. FORT is also the administrative home of the National Institute of Invasive Species Science , a growing consortium of partnerships between government and private organizations established by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and its many cooperators. The Institute was formed to develop cooperative approaches for invasive species science that meet the urgent needs of land managers and the public. Its mission is to work with others to coordinate data and research from many sources to predict and reduce the effects of harmful nonnative plants, animals, and diseases in natural areas and throughout the United States, with a strategic approach to information management, research, modeling, technical assistance, and outreach. The Institute research team will develop local-, regional-, and national- scale maps of invasive species and identify priority invasive species, vulnerable habitats, and pathways of invasion. County-level and point data on occurrence will be linked to plot-level and site-level information on species abundance and spread. FORT scientists and Institute partners are working to integrate remote sensing data and GIS-based predictive models to track the spread of invasive species across the country. This information will be linked to control and restoration efforts to evaluate their cost-effectiveness. Understanding both successes and failures will advance the science of invasive species containment and control as well as restoration of habitats and native biodiversity.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2024

Developing and implementing an International Macroseismic Scale (IMS) for earthquake engineering, earthquake science, and rapid damage assessment

Executive Summary Macroseismic observations and analysis connect our collective seismological past with the present and the present to the future by facilitating hazard estimates and communicating the effects of ground shaking to a wide variety of audiences across the ages. Invaluable ground shaking and building damage information is gained through standardized, systematic approaches for assigning intensities and, importantly, sharing and archiving those assignments in a reproducible form. The applications for these assignments are far reaching. Traditional macroseismic surveys provide vital constraints on critical aspects of earthquakes and their effects on society, whereas internet-based macroseismic datasets are extremely valuable for real-time earthquake situational awareness, and they contribute to later engineering loss and risk analyses. These important applications of macroseismic observations would be helped by revisiting traditional macroseismic surveys for modern environments, standardizing internet-based collection strategies, and ensuring compatibility between traditional and internet-based approaches of macroseismic data collection. Even with best practices, we have identified several limitations with modern macroseismic data collection approaches, particularly from the U.S. Geological Survey's perspective. First, whereas crowdsourced, internet-based intensities such as “Did You Feel It?” are robust and definitive for lower intensities, they are poorly defined above intensity VII, where damage observations may require expert knowledge of each building’s structural system. Second, in the United States, we use the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) Scale, which is consistent with—yet inferior to—the more recently developed European Macroseismic Scale (EMS–98; Grünthal and others, 1998). Similarly, New Zealand uses the New Zealand MMI Scale (Dowrick and others, 2008), which lacks detail on how to assign intensities above MMI VIII. The EMS–98 fundamentally advanced the science of macroseismic intensity assignment by requiring quantitative assessments at each location through consistent application on statistical ranges of well-defined damage grades to building-specific vulnerability classes. Lastly, the United States and New Zealand no longer have professionals dedicated to conducting traditional macroseismic field surveys, so a strategy is needed for allowing postearthquake building inspectors and insurance loss assessors to contribute to intensity assignments. The goals of our International Macroseismic Scale workshop were thus twofold. First, harmonize the MMI Scale with EMS–98 for the United States and New Zealand—which share several similar building types—by considering those structures and associated damage grades that are not well represented in the current EMS–98 building vulnerability class table. Second, begin to formalize the process of augmenting EMS–98 with new regional building classes and damage grades toward the development of a macroseismic scale that can be used globally, beyond the United States and New Zealand. Such an effort necessarily requires reviewing and expanding the original EMS–98 explanatory documents and consideration of any required revisions. We can build on the shoulders of giants in that a few of the original EMS–98 developers and experts participated in and were integral to our workshop. Their background and guidance were key in moving forward toward an international scale. We agreed that additional building vulnerability classes, damage grades, and written and pictorial descriptions are necessary and ideally accompanied by a detailed paper trail for other nations to follow. If we can improve the macroseismic assignment process in both nations, we can also aim to refine the process of collecting postearthquake impact data, a boon to many engineering and financial concerns. The benefits of a truly International Macroseismic Scale are considerable for both the engineering and seismology communities. A modern macroseismic scale requires more deliberate archival damage data collection, motivating more consistent and accessible postevent datasets that would have applications beyond the specific event. Applying field-collected building damage data toward macroseismic assignments would allow for increased coordination between engineering reconnaissance teams and local inspectors in collecting such data for official purposes. In addition, rapid and consistent intensity assignments globally would enable more accurate ShakeMaps—and thus improved earthquake engineering and geotechnical forensics, loss and risk estimates, and correlations between macroseismic intensity and ground motion parameters. A brief summary of the Powell Center IMS workshop was published by Wald and others (2023) in the magazine Eos. This Open-File Report describes the workshop, its discussions, and its outcomes in detail. In summarizing the workshop, we have added important background material and reflections for proper context.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2026

Humans experienced abrupt environmental changes at White Sands during the Last Glacial Maximum

Expanded excavations at White Sands National Park have unearthed 20 stratigraphic horizons containing in situ human footprints, megafaunal trackways, and linear features created by travois. Advances in radiocarbon dating of conifer pollen, combined with ages of aquatic seeds, refines the chronology of the footprint-bearing sequence to between 23.5 and 21.7 thousand years ago (ka). Biomarker, pollen, and stratigraphic evidence indicate a complete overturning of the environment from a perennial lake to a playa and capture a large aridification episode coincident with Dansgaard-Oeschger event 2 at 23.2 ka, which shrank pluvial Lake Otero and allowed people to traverse the former shoreline area for nearly two millennia. This well-dated and highly resolved paleoclimate record provides compelling evidence that humans in North America experienced marked environmental changes during the Last Glacial Maximum.

New Mexico↗
USGS2019

Water priorities for the nation—The U.S. Geological Survey next generation water observing system

The challenges of providing safe and sustainable water supplies for human and ecological uses and protecting lives and property during water emergencies are well recognized. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) plays an essential role in meeting these challenges through its observational networks and renowned water science and research activities (National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). Substantial advances in water science, together with emerging breakthroughs in technical and computational capabilities, have led the USGS to develop a Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS) . The NGWOS will provide real-time data on water quantity and quality in more affordable and rapid ways than previously possible, and in more locations. The data will be served through a modernized USGS National Water Information System that will be coupled to advanced modeling tools to inform daily water operations, decision-making during water emergencies (like floods, droughts, and contaminant spills), assessments of past trends in water quantity and quality, and forecasts of future water availability.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2014

Metal Mixture Modeling Evaluation project: 2. Comparison of four modeling approaches

As part of the Metal Mixture Modeling Evaluation (MMME) project, models were developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Japan), the U.S. Geological Survey (USA), HDR⎪HydroQual, Inc. (USA), and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UK) to address the effects of metal mixtures on biological responses of aquatic organisms. A comparison of the 4 models, as they were presented at the MMME Workshop in Brussels, Belgium (May 2012), is provided herein. Overall, the models were found to be similar in structure (free ion activities computed by WHAM; specific or non-specific binding of metals/cations in or on the organism; specification of metal potency factors and/or toxicity response functions to relate metal accumulation to biological response). Major differences in modeling approaches are attributed to various modeling assumptions (e.g., single versus multiple types of binding site on the organism) and specific calibration strategies that affected the selection of model parameters. The models provided a reasonable description of additive (or nearly additive) toxicity for a number of individual toxicity test results. Less-than-additive toxicity was more difficult to describe with the available models. Because of limitations in the available datasets and the strong inter-relationships among the model parameters (log KM values, potency factors, toxicity response parameters), further evaluation of specific model assumptions and calibration strategies is needed.

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry↗
USGS2025

Hydrologic connectivity in floodplain systems: A multiscale review of concepts, metrics and management

Hydrologic connectivity (HC), particularly in floodplain systems, is pivotal in regulating ecosystem services by facilitating the movement of nutrients, sediments, chemicals, and biota. However, human interventions such as dam construction, levee installation, water management practices, and alterations in vegetation have significantly disrupted natural HC patterns globally. To provide a structured entry into the growing body of HC research, we conducted a systematic literature review of 1920 studies, analysing diverse definitions, influencing factors, quantification approaches, spatial and temporal scales, and management strategies. In addition to traditional review methods, our approach integrates keyword and cluster analysis to elucidate dominant research themes and trends across the literature. Our review reveals that the literature is heavily skewed towards research in North America and Europe (accounting for 72% of studies) and predominantly utilises field investigations, simulation modelling, and remote sensing integrated with geographic information systems. Although these methodologies have advanced our understanding, most studies focus on restricted spatial scales such as individual hillslopes, catchments, or stream networks and short temporal intervals, including single precipitation events or seasonal cycles. A narrow focus becomes a limitation when such studies do not contribute to broader efforts aimed at scaling insights across larger domains. These limitations highlight the potential benefits of innovative conceptual frameworks and quantification methods to better capture HC across broader environments and extended temporal scales. We conclude by discussing challenges in defining and quantifying floodplain HC and outlining potential future research directions to advance connectivity science and management, particularly in floodplain systems characterised by frequent hydrologic fluctuations, such as seasonal inundation and changing flow paths.

Hydrological Processes↗
USGS2007

Evaluating success criteria and project monitoring in river enhancement within an adaptive management framework

Objective setting, performance measures, and accountability are important components of an adaptive-management approach to river-enhancement programs. Few lessons learned by river-enhancement practitioners in the United States have been documented and disseminated relative to the number of projects implemented. We conducted scripted telephone surveys with river-enhancement project managers and practitioners within the Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB) to determine the extent of setting project success criteria, monitoring, evaluation of monitoring data, and data dissemination. Investigation of these elements enabled a determination of those that inhibited adaptive management. Seventy river enhancement projects were surveyed. Only 34% of projects surveyed incorporated a quantified measure of project success. Managers most often relied on geophysical attributes of rivers when setting project success criteria, followed by biological communities. Ninety-one percent of projects that performed monitoring included biologic variables, but the lack of data collection before and after project completion and lack of field-based reference or control sites will make future assessments of ecologic success difficult. Twenty percent of projects that performed monitoring evaluated ???1 variable but did not disseminate their evaluations outside their organization. Results suggest greater incentives may be required to advance the science of river enhancement. Future river-enhancement programs within the UMRB and elsewhere can increase knowledge gained from individual projects by offering better guidance on setting success criteria before project initiation and evaluation through established monitoring protocols. ?? 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Environmental Management↗
USGS2003

Hydrogeology Journal in 2002

Hydrogeology Journal appeared in six issues containing a total of 674 pages and 47 major articles, including 22 Papers and 24 Reports, as well as Technical Notes and Book Reviews. The final issue of 2002 also contained the annual volume index. Hydrogeology Journal (HJ) is an international forum for hydrogeology and related disciplines. Authors in 2002 were from about 30 countries. Articles advanced hydrogeologic science and described hydrogeologic systems in many regions worldwide. These articles focused on 22 countries: Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Portugal, Qatar, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, UK, and the USA. The Guest Editors of the 2002 HJ theme issue on "Groundwater Recharge", Bridget R. Scanlon and Peter G. Cook, assembled a highly relevant and sought-after collection of papers from eminent authors on wide-ranging aspects of the subject.

Hydrogeology Journal↗
USGS2004

Editors' message: Hydrogeology Journal in 2003

Hydrogeology Journal appeared in six issues containing a total of 710 pages and 48 major articles, including 31 Papers and 14 Reports, as well as some Technical Notes and Book Reviews. The number of submitted manuscripts continues to increase. The final issue of 2003 also contained the annual volume index. Hydrogeology Journal ( HJ ) is an international forum for hydrogeology and related disciplines and authors in 2003 were from about 28 countries. Articles advanced hydrogeologic science and described hydrogeologic systems in many regions worldwide. These articles focused on a variety of general topics and on studies of hydrogeology in 24 countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, France, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, and U.S.A. The Guest Editor of the 2003 HJ theme issue on “Hydromechanics in Geology and Geotechnics”, Ove Stephansson, assembled a valuable collection of technical reviews and research papers from eminent authors on important aspects of the subject area.

Hydrogeology Journal↗
USGS2011

Gas shale/oil shale

The production of natural gas from shales continues to increase in North America, and shale gas exploration is on the rise in other parts of the world since the previous report by this committee was published by American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Energy Minerals Division (2009). For the United States, the volume of proved reserves of natural gas increased 11% from 2008 to 2009, the increase driven largely by shale gas development (Energy Information Administration 2010c). Furthermore, shales have increasingly become targets of exploration for oil and condensate as well as gas, which has served to greatly expand their significance as ‘‘unconventional’’ petroleum reservoirs. This report provides information about specific shales across North America and Europe from which gas (biogenic or thermogenic), oil, or natural gas liquids are produced or is actively being explored. The intent is to reflect the recently expanded mission of the Energy Minerals Division (EMD) Gas Shales Committee to serve as a single point of access to technical information on shales regardless of the type of hydrocarbon produced from them. The contents of this report were drawn largely from contributions by numerous members of the EMD Gas Shales Advisory Committee, with much of the data being available from public websites such as state or provincial geological surveys or other public institutions. Shales from which gas or oil is being produced in the United States are listed in alphabetical order by shale name. Information for Canada is presented by province, whereas for Europe, it is presented by country.

Natural Resources Research↗
USGS2026

Phase evolution and elemental partitioning in impact melts from Meteor Crater, Arizona

The impact of the Canyon Diablo iron meteorite in Arizona ∼61,000 years ago resulted in partial vaporization of the meteorite and target rocks, producing a vapor plume and melt particles with taenite, olivine and clinopyroxene in glassy matrix. The resulting Meteor Crater is ∼1.2 km in diameter and ∼200 m deep. Although the crater has been the natural laboratory for impact cratering, the microstructure and composition of its impact-melt particles remain poorly studied. Here microstructure and composition were investigated using optical and scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, and synchrotron microdiffraction on particles collected from the ejecta blanket to reconstruct their temporal and mineralogical evolution during ultrafast quenching and to explore how mafic minerals form from sedimentary-derived melts. Elemental mapping reveals complex chemical partitioning among glass and mafic phases. Formation of Fe-Ni globules with face-centered cubic (fcc) taenite indicates oxygen fugacity well below atmospheric in the vapor cloud. During rapid cooling, skeletal olivine crystallized, followed by nucleation of clinopyroxenes to form spherical clusters. The glassy matrix contains two glasses separated by sharp boundaries, likely representing immiscible melts derived from different lithologies. The hot particles were deposited on the surface among quartz- and dolomite-rich ejecta, followed by post-depositional precipitation of calcite and barite within glassy nodules. The results demonstrate that mafic minerals can crystallize from melts derived largely from sedimentary target rocks, with Fe supplied by the impactor, and that elemental partitioning and mineral textures record strong disequilibrium crystallization during rapid cooling.

Arizona↗
USGS2021

Advances in the use of lampricides to control sea lampreys in the Laurentian Great Lakes, 2000–2019

The periodic application of chemical lampricides that selectively kill larval sea lampreys ( Petromyzon marinus ) in their nursery habitats remains a primary component of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission’s (GLFC) Sea Lamprey Control Program in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Lampricides include 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) and niclosamide, the 2-aminoethanol salt of 2′, 5-dichloro-4′-nitrosalicylanilide, which may be used as an additive to TFM during stream treatments, or alone in a granular, bottom-release formulation to target sea lamprey larvae in deepwater environments where dilution would render TFM ineffective. During the early 1990s, the GLFC identified lampricide reduction targets in response to societal concerns with pesticide use, rising lampricide costs, and promising research into alternative controls. By 1999, the GLFC’s control agents, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), had reduced TFM use by 36%. However, without effective alternative methods to compensate for increasing larval and juvenile production, sea lamprey abundance and lake trout ( Salvelinus namaycush ) marking rates rose throughout the Great Lakes. Beginning in the early 2000s, the GLFC and its control agents responded to burgeoning sea lamprey populations by implementing measures to advance the use of lampricides, which included: 1) assessing and controlling sea lamprey larvae that survived treatment; 2) enhancing treatment efficacy; 3) developing new technology to effectively treat larval populations that inhabit deepwater environments; 4) increasing operational capacity to treat more tributaries and lentic areas at shorter intervals; and, 5) conducting large-scale and targeted treatment strategies. When comparing lampricide use between the decades of 1990–1999 and 2010–2019, significant increases occurred in the mean number of treatments and amounts of TFM and niclosamide applied annually. Concurrent with these actions, researchers undertook studies to identify factors that erode lampricide treatment efficiency, elucidate physiological mode of action, and investigate lethal and sub-lethal impacts of lampricide exposure on aquatic organisms. By integrating new operational tactics and strategies with advances in science and technology, the GLFC, DFO, and USFWS, with support from the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, have achieved unprecedented suppression of sea lampreys and reduction in lake trout marking in the Great Lakes. However, emerging challenges potentially threaten the future use of lampricides.

Journal of Great Lakes Research↗
USGS2019

Seismic and acoustic signatures of surficial mass movements at volcanoes

Surficial mass movements, such as debris avalanches, rock falls, lahars, pyroclastic flows, and outburst floods, are a dominant hazard at many volcanoes worldwide. Understanding these processes, cataloging their spatio-temporal occurrence, and detecting, tracking, and characterizing these events would advance the science of volcano monitoring and help mitigate hazards. Seismic and acoustic methods show promise for achieving these objectives: many surficial mass movements generate observable seismic and acoustic signals, and many volcanoes are already monitored. Significant progress has been made toward understanding, modeling, and extracting quantitative information from seismic and infrasonic signals generated by surficial mass movements. However, much work remains. In this paper, we review the state of the art of the topic, covering a range of scales and event types from individual rock falls to sector collapses. We consider a full variety of volcanic settings, from submarine to subaerial, shield volcano to stratovolcano. Finally, we discuss future directions toward operational seismo-acoustic monitoring of surficial mass movements at volcanoes.

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research↗
USGS2015

Preface to the special issue on gas hydrate drilling in the Eastern Nankai Trough

Methane hydrate traps enormous amounts of methane in frozen deposits in continental margin sediments, and these deposits have long been targeted for studies investigating their potential as an energy resource. As a concentrated form of methane that occurs at shallower depths than conventional and most unconventional gas reservoirs, methane hydrates could be a readily accessible source of hydrocarbons for countries hosting deposits within their Exclusive Economic Zones. Japan is one such country, and since 2001 the Research Consortium for Methane Hydrate Resources in Japan (referred to as MH21) has conducted laboratory, modeling, and field-based programs to study methane hydrates as an energy resource. The MH21 consortium is funded by the Japanese Ministry of Trade and Industry (METI) and led by the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Oil Corporation (JOGMEC) and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).

Marine and Petroleum Geology↗