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At least 1,333 records · Page 74Linked to original sources
USGS2026

Evaluation of submersible pressure transducers for streamflow monitoring in small streams

Compact streamgages requiring minimal infrastructure and equipped with submersible pressure transducers (PTs) are increasingly used to monitor small streams, yet disparate implementations obscure their accuracy under real-world conditions. This study isolated instrumentation-derived uncertainty in stage monitoring by co-locating various combinations of commercial vented and unvented PTs with seven U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reference streamgages on small streams. Multi-year PT stage records from compact streamgages, collected and corrected following USGS protocols, were compared to concurrent reference observations. Vented PTs demonstrated an average measurement uncertainty of ±0.005 m and mean absolute percent error (MAPE) of ±0.2%. Unvented PTs exhibited higher uncertainty, averaging ±0.009 m and ±0.4% MAPE. Although both sensor types had stage errors up to ±0.3 m, 95% of vented PT and unvented PT observations were within 0.01 and 0.02 m of reference stage, respectively. Analysis of additional unvented PTs revealed stage errors of up to ±1.2% when using barometric sensors within 15 km of the in-water sensor. Propagation of stage error to discharge using reference rating models resulted in cumulative discharge MAPEs of ±4.5% for vented and ±5.5% for unvented PTs. These findings highlight PTs as practical alternatives to reference instrumentation when deployed with standardized procedures, potentially expanding access to reliable streamflow data.

conterminous United States↗
USGS2011

GLORIA II sonograph mosaic of the western U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone

In 1983 the United States declared sovereign rights and jurisdiction over living and nonliving resources in an area extending 200 nautical miles (370 km) seaward from its shores. In response to the establishment of this Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has implemented a program, called EEZ‐Scan, to systematically map the EEZ, using the Geological Long‐ Range Inclined ASDIC (GLORIA) II longrange side scan sonar system developed by the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences (IOS) of Great Britain [Somers et al, 1978]. The first part of the EEZ‐Scan field program was completed in the summer of 1984, when USGS and IOS scientists surveyed the EEZ off the western conterminous United States aboard the British research vessel Farnella (Figure 1). The west coast survey, requiring 96 days of ship time and four separate legs, has resulted in virtually total sonograph coverage of the sea floor from the continental shelf break to the 200‐nautical mile limit between the Mexican and Canadian borders, an area of about 850,000 km 2 . Other data collected on the cruises included two‐channel digital seismic reflection and 3.5‐kHz highresolution and 10‐kHz bathymetric profiles, as well as towed magnetometer data along approximately 20,000 km of trackline spaced nominally at 30‐km intervals.

Western U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone↗
USGS1993

Economics and the national oil and gas assessment: The case of onshore northern Alaska

The National Oil and Gas Assessment of undiscovered recoverable conventional oil and gas resources assigned nearly 36% of the undiscovered U.S. onshore oil resources and 28% of the commercially developable undiscovered oil resources to onshore northern Alaska. Economic screening models were applied to the geologic play assessment to estimate the commercially developable resources. This paper presents the geologic and economic assessment methodology and results; it also focuses on the robustness of estimates of the commercially developable onshore resources to changes in economic assumptions. With the economic assumptions used in the national assessment, about 60% or 6.49 billion bbl of oil of the recoverable undiscovered resources of 10.76 billion bbl of oil assessed in fields larger than 1 million bbl of oil are estimated to be commercially developable. Changes in facilities costs induced the most significant cost-related response in the commercially developable resource estimates. Price increases or cost reductions that reduce the minimum commercially developable field size to 250 million bbl from the base case size of 380 million bbl added 1 billion bbl of oil to the commercially developable resources. If, through facilities sharing or satellite-field development, the minimum commercial field size is reduced to just below 100 million bbl, estimated developable oil woul increase to 9.17 billion bbl of oil or more than 85% of the assessed recoverable oil in onshore plays.

Alaska↗
USGS2023

A survey of non-USGS continuous streamflow gaging networks in the Pacific Northwest

Extensive streamflow data sources exist beyond the largest streamflow data provider in the United States, the U.S. Geological Survey. We developed and distributed a survey to about 300 individuals and organizations that collect streamflow data across the Pacific Northwest (Idaho, Oregon, Washington). We received 100 responses with 56% of those sufficiently complete to include in the analysis. From these responses, there are about 2000 streamflow monitoring locations in the region beyond the USGS monitoring network. The duration of record for gages is related to the size of the streamflow gaging network, with small and large networks generally operating monitoring locations for less than 5 years and more than 10 years, respectively. Quality assurance and quality control are variable across organizations, with 41% of respondents having at least two review steps and 13% that audit their data for long-term consistency. Results of this survey begin to establish the differing capabilities of large and small stream gaging networks and highlight how supporting the overall quality streamflow data collection and management within the water resources community will improve our ability to harmonize these datasets in the future.

Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Wyomin↗
USGS2013

Steady rotation of the Cascade arc

Displacement of the Miocene Cascade volcanic arc (northwestern North America) from the active arc is in the same sense and at nearly the same rate as the present clockwise block motions calculated from GPS velocities in a North American reference frame. Migration of the ancestral arc over the past 16 m.y. can be explained by clockwise rotation of upper-plate blocks at 1.0°/m.y. over a linear melting source moving westward 1–4.5 km/m.y. due to slab rollback. Block motion and slab rollback are in opposite directions in the northern arc, but both are westerly in the southern extensional arc, where rollback may be enhanced by proximity to the edge of the Juan de Fuca slab. Similarities between post–16 Ma arc migration, paleomagnetic rotation, and modern GPS block motions indicate that the secular block motions from decadal GPS can be used to calculate long-term strain rates and earthquake hazards. Northwest-directed Basin and Range extension of 140 km is predicted behind the southern arc since 16 Ma, and 70 km of shortening is predicted in the northern arc. The GPS rotation poles overlie a high-velocity slab of the Siletzia terrane dangling into the mantle beneath Idaho (United States), which may provide an anchor for the rotations.

Cascade arc↗
USGS2021

The North American Breeding Bird Survey in Mexico, 2008 to 2018—A status report

Collection of avian population data has repeatedly been identified as a high priority for bird conservation in Mexico. To meet this need, in 2008 the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), a volunteer-based survey, was expanded to include northern Mexico. The BBS in Mexico (Mexican BBS) is managed by the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI), Mexico’s National Coordination Office inside the Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO). During 2008–18, 252 surveys were conducted along 68 routes in Mexico, with geographic coverage varying from year to year. Of these 68 routes, 36 were surveyed three or more times. Thirty-one observers conducted the surveys, and 21 of these observers conducted two or more surveys. Just two observers conducted more than one-third of the 252 surveys, and both observers were paid to conduct the surveys. The low availability of local observers who are qualified, willing, and able to volunteer their services to conduct BBS surveys may prove to be the biggest obstacle to the success of the Mexican BBS program, especially in the context of Mexico’s ongoing safety and security concerns. Apart from the amount of data collected, many surveys did not adhere to pre-established quality-control requirements, and this would result in the exclusion of a large percentage of the data from potential trend analyses. Only 31 percent of the surveys met all the quality-control criteria. Additional observer training may help resolve this issue. Of greater concern is the selection of region-specific sampling date windows during which the surveys are conducted. Observers consistently conducted surveys outside the preliminarily prescribed sampling date window, reflecting the need to re-evaluate the regional appropriateness of this date window. Regardless of the quality of the data, the quantity of data available from 2008 to 2018 is insufficient for trend analysis using methods typically employed by U.S. Geological Survey BBS analysts. Reaching minimum sample size thresholds for statistical analysis will require a substantial increase in effort. During 2008–18, no strata (defined as the intersection of State and Bird Conservation Region boundaries) reached the suggested minimum of 14 sampled routes, and most routes were not run consistently. This report provides information needed for an evaluation of the merits of continuing to invest in the Mexican BBS program in its current form. Such an evaluation should consider the likelihood of achieving the primary project goal of producing reliable long-term population trend estimates, a projected timeline for meeting this goal, and include an assessment of the potential value of any additional data products.

Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, C↗
USGS2022

Field-trip guide to continental arc to rift volcanism of the southern Rocky Mountains—Southern Rocky Mountain, Taos Plateau, and Jemez Mountains volcanic fields of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico

The southern Rocky Mountains of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado preserve the Oligocene to Pleistocene record of North American continental arc to rift volcanism. The 35–23 million year old (Ma) southern Rocky Mountain volcanic field (SRMVF), spectacularly preserved in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado, records the evolution of large andesitic stratovolcanoes to complex caldera clusters, from which at least 22 major ignimbrite sheets (each 150–5,000 cubic kilometers) were erupted. Outflow deposits of the SRMVF preserved along the broadly uplifted northwest flank of the northern Rio Grande rift basin (the San Luis Valley) provide critical structural and temporal constraints on the inception of crustal extension. Coincident with waning stages of SRMVF caldera-forming volcanism (~25.4 Ma), extensional tectonism was accompanied by a transition from bimodal early Miocene to intermediate-composition late Miocene and dominantly basaltic Pliocene rift volcanism of the Taos Plateau in the southern San Luis Basin. Concomitant rift volcanism in the Española Basin and bordering Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico records a similar Miocene eruptive history dominated by intermediate-composition volcanism that transitioned locally to Pliocene rift-related basaltic volcanism of the Cerros del Rio volcanic field and culminated in eruptions of the iconic rhyolitic Pleistocene Bandelier Tuff and formation of the Valles Caldera along the northwestern rift-basin margin. This 6-day, 7-night field trip will focus, in broadly equal proportions, on rift-related extensional volcanism of the Jemez Mountains and Taos Plateau regions during the first half of the trip, and on caldera-forming volcanism of the southern Rocky Mountain volcanic field during the second half of the trip. The 35-million-year volcanic history of the region highlighted by new geologic mapping, high-resolution geochronology, petrologic, geochemical, and geophysical data facilitates discussion of (1) the magmatic response to the tectonic transition from subducted-slab arc to continental-rift volcanism; (2) the nature and temporal evolution of rift magmas; (3) fault controls on the spatial evolution of rift magmatism; (4) the diversity of continental-arc ignimbrite volcanism and associated lavas; (5) ignimbrite caldera structure and associated intrusions in three-dimension; (6) the role of recycled crystal mush and magmatic cumulates during growth of Cordilleran batholiths; and (7) high-precision geochronologic contributions to interpretation of relations between regional tectonic and volcanic processes. Most stops will be along roads, but there will be moderate hikes on trails of less than 1-hour duration covering 1–2 kilometers (0.6–1.2 miles) with modest elevation gain of <150 meters (<492 feet). The route will progress in reverse stratigraphic order, starting in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico and proceed northward to San Luis Basin and San Luis Hills before turning west to the southeast and central San Juan Mountains. Our last full day takes us to the little-visited and only recently mapped, Bonanza caldera of the northeastern San Juan Mountains and on the final day, we leave the San Luis Valley to briefly explore the Tertiary subvolcanic plutons of the Collegiate Range along the west side of the Arkansas Valley rift valley, en route to Denver. The authors of all daily contributions acknowledge the helpful reviews by Amy Gilmer and Joe Colgan and thank Christine Chan and Jeremy Havens for assistance with figures, tables, and guidebook text.

Colorado, New Mexico↗
USGS2011

Shaded relief map of US topography from digital elevations

Much geologic and geophysical information that lies encoded within land surface form can be revealed by image processing large files of digitized elevations in fast machines and mapping the results. This convergence of computers, analytic software, data, and output devices has created exciting opportunities for automating the numerical and spatial study of topography. One recent result is the accompanying shaded relief map of the conterminous 48 states. A shaded relief image of topography mimics a cloud-free monochrome aerial photograph taken at low Sun. Gray tones represent different terrain slopes and azimuths calculated from adjacent elevations stored in a uniform grid, or digital elevation model (DEM). Sun elevation and direction can be varied to generate complementary views of the same area. The synoptic coverage of these computer images is a major advantage; unlike a photograph, image extent is limited only by size of the elevation array. Shaded relief maps also are free of the distortion found in radar images and of the vegetation and cultural features that mask topographic form on Landsat and SPOT images.

Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union↗
USGS1987

Isotopic composition of pyrite: Relationship to organic matter type and iron availability in some North American cretaceous shales

The S isotope composition of pyrite in Cretaceous shales from the Western Interior of North America is related to organic C abundance, kerogen type and Fe availability. Both calcareous and noncalcareous rocks show a correlation between S and C, but noncalcareous rocks are relatively enriched in S with a higher S/C ratio. This higher ratio probably shows that pyrite formation was Fe limited in the calcareous rocks. Organic-carbon-rich noncalcareous shales accumulated slowly beneath anoxic bottom waters. The anoxic bottom waters allowed hydrogen-rich organic matter to be preserved. Such shales have a narrow range of 34 S-depleted sulfide and have Fe/S ratios like stoichiometric pyrite, suggesting that pyrite formation in organic-rich shales was also limited by Fe availability. Conversely, organic-poor shales commonly accumulated at comparatively high rates, contain hydrogen-poor and refractory organic matter, and have a wide range of pyrite-S isotopic compositions. These organic-poor shales contain post-sulfidic authigenic minerals such as siderite and have excess reactive Fe rather than pyrite stoichiometry. Evidently Fe played a large role in early diagenesis and determined the course of post-sulfidic diagenesis. Fe availability was, however, mainly controlled by provenance, by the rates of sediment accumulation, and by the oxygen content of the depositional environment.

Chemical Geology: Isotope Geoscience Section↗
USGS2007

Sensitivity of high-elevation streams in the Southern Blue Ridge Province to acidic deposition

The Southern Blue Ridge Province, which encompasses parts of northern Georgia, eastern Tennessee, and western North Carolina, has been predicted to be sensitive to impacts from acidic deposition, owing to the chemical composition of the bedrock geology and soils. This study confirms the predicted potential sensitivity, quantifies the level of total alkalinity and describes the chemical characteristics of 30 headwater streams of this area. Water chemistry was measured five times between April 1983 and June 1984 at first and third order reaches of each stream during baseflow conditions. Sensitivity based on total alkalinity and the Calcite Saturation Index indicates that the headwater streams of the Province are vulnerable to acidification. Total alkalinity and p11 were generally higher in third order reaches (mean, 72 ?eq/? and 6.7) than in first order reaches (64 ?eq/? and 6.4). Ionic concentrations were low, averaging 310 and 340 ?eq/? in first and third order reaches, respectively. A single sampling appears adequate for evaluating sensitivity based on total alkalinity, but large temporal variability requires multiple sampling for the detection of changes in pH and alkalinity over time. Monitoring of stream water should continue in order to detect any subtle effects of acidic deposition on these unique resource systems.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗
USGS1975

Tectonic setting of the Tertiary volcanic rocks of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington

Lower and middle Eocene abyssal and Hawaiian type tholeiitic basalts form two accumulations that apparently were once far out on the east flank of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, within the Juan de Fuca plate. One of these (more than 15 km thick) is near the eastern and southeastern periphery of the Olympic Peninsula, and the other (about 5 km thick) is on the north. The tholeiites stratigraphically overlie and interfinger with Paleocene(?) and lower and middle Eocene marine turbidites and shales; one flow includes boulders that, like clasts in the sediments, were derived from the North American continental plate immediately to the east. The basalts are overlain stratigraphically by middle Eocene to middle Miocene clastic marine sedimentary rocks, which are in turn overlapped unconformably on the south and west by upper Miocene (?) and Pliocene, chiefly shallow-marine clastic rocks. These various peripheral rocks flank a middle or late Miocene structurally complex dome, or orocline convex to the east, in which originally east dipping and low angle late Eocene to late Miocene underthrusts are flexed. The outermost underthrust of the complex separates the chiefly volcanic peripheral rocks to the north, east, and south from stratigraphically correlative and comparable, though predominantly sedimentary, core rocks arranged in northwest trending arcuate belts or packets bounded by fault zones. Before underthrusting, and perhaps oroclinal folding connected with doming, the pre-middle Miocene section was possibly 150 to 200 km wide compared with the present Olympic Peninsula which is 120 km wide. The section accumulated on the ocean floor near the western margin of the continent, before and during subduction of the oceanic crust.

Washington↗
USGS2018

Quaternary sediment thickness and bedrock topography of the glaciated United States east of the Rocky Mountains

Beginning roughly 2.6 million years ago, global climate entered a cooling phase known as the Pleistocene Epoch. As snow in northern latitudes compacted into ice several kilometers thick, it flowed as glaciers southward across the North American continent. These glaciers extended across the northern United States, dramatically altering the landscape they covered. East of the Rocky Mountains, the ice coalesced into continental glaciers (called the Laurentide Ice Sheet) that at times blanketed much of the north-central and northeastern United States. To the west of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, glaciers formed in the mountains of western Canada and the United States and coalesced into the Cordilleran ice sheet; this relatively smaller ice mass extended into the conterminous United States in the northernmost areas of western Montana, Idaho, and Washington. Throughout the Pleistocene, landscape alteration occurred by (1) glacial erosion of the rocks and sediments; (2) redeposition of the eroded earth materials in a form substantially different from their source rocks, in terms of texture and overall character; and (3) disruption of preexisting drainage patterns by the newly deposited sediments. In many cases, pre-glacial drainage systems (including, for example, the Mississippi River) were rerouted because their older drainage courses became blocked with glacial sediment. The continental glaciers advanced and retreated many times across those areas. During each ice advance, or glaciation, erosion and deposition occurred, and the landscape was again altered. Through successive glaciations, the landscape and the bedrock surface gradually came to resemble their present configurations. As continental ice sheets receded and the Pleistocene ended, erosion and deposition of sediment (for example in stream valleys) continued to shape the landscape up to the present day (albeit to a lesser extent than during glaciation). The interval of time since the last recession of the glaciers is called the Holocene and, together with the Pleistocene, constitutes the Quaternary Period of geologic time; this publication characterizes the three-dimensional geometry of the Quaternary sediments and the bedrock surface that lies beneath. The pre-glacial landscape was underlain mostly by weathered bedrock generally similar in nature to that found in many areas of the non-glaciated United States. Glacial erosion and redeposition of earth materials produced a young, mineral-rich soil that formed the basis for the highly productive agricultural economy in the U.S. midcontinent. Extensive buried sands and gravels within the glacial deposits also provided a stimulus to other economic sectors by serving as high-quality aquifers supplying groundwater to the region’s industry and cities. An understanding of the three-dimensional distribution of these glacial sediments has direct utility for addressing various societal issues including groundwater quality and supply, and landscape and soil response to earthquake-induced shaking. The Quaternary sediment thickness map and bedrock topographic map shown here provide a regional overview and are intended to supplement the more detailed work on which they are based. Detailed mapping is particularly useful in populated areas for site-specific planning. In contrast, regional maps such as these serve to place local, detailed mapping in context; to permit the extrapolation of data into unmapped areas; and to depict large-scale regional geologic features and patterns that are beyond the scope of local, detailed mapping. They also can enhance the reader’s general understanding of the region’s landscape and geologic history and provide a source of information for regional decision making that could benefit by improved predictability of bedrock depth beneath the unconsolidated Quaternary sediments. To enable these maps to be analyzed in conjunction with other types of information, this publication also includes the map data in GIS compatible format.

Scientific Investigations Map↗
USGS2014

Deep‐well salinity‐exploration

One of the outstanding accomplishments of recent years in connection with the study of the geologic source of groundwater and the quality of water yielded by different formations has been the development of methods and equipment for the exploration of wells. The description and use of the deep ‐ well current‐meter on well ‐ exploration work in Hawaii and New Mexico has already appeared in published literature (John McCombs and A. G. Fiedler, Methods of exploring and repairing leaky artesian wells, U.S. Geol. Sur. Water‐Supply Paper 596, pp. 1–32, 1928) on hydrology but recent developments in the application of electrical conductivity‐measurements for determining the salinity of water in wells have not heretofore been presented. In addition to being of considerable scientific importance in connection with problems of ground‐water hydrology, the practical value of locating the place at which salt water is entering a well and contaminating a potable water‐supply is great. Such information may be the means of preventing the loss of large investments in industries, irrigation‐projects, and cities that are dependent upon well ‐water supplies that may at some time become contaminated by salty or other highly mineralized water.

Nevada, Hawaii↗
USGS2003

Extensive deposits on the Pacific plate from Late Pleistocene North American glacial lake outbursts

One of the major unresolved issues of the Late Pleistocene catastrophic-flood events in the northwestern United States (e.g., from glacial Lake Missoula) has been what happened when the flood discharge reached the ocean. This study compiles available 3.5-kHz high-resolution and airgun seismic reflection data, long-range sidescan sonar images, and sediment core data to define the distribution of flood sediment in deepwater areas of the Pacific Ocean. Upon reaching the ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River near the present-day upper continental slope, sediment from the catastrophic floods continued flowing downslope as hyperpycnally generated turbidity currents. The turbidity currents resulting from the Lake Missoula and other latest Pleistocene floods followed the Cascadia Channel into and through the Blanco Fracture Zone and then flowed west to the Tufts Abyssal Plain. A small part of the flood sediment, which was stripped off the main flow at a bend in the Cascadia Channel at its exit point from the Blanco Fracture Zone, continued flowing more than 400 km to the south and reached the Escanaba Trough, a rift valley of the southern Gorda Ridge. Understanding the development of the pathway for the Late Pleistocene flood sediment reaching Escanaba Trough provides insight for understanding the extent of catastrophic flood deposits on the Pacific plate .

Journal of Geology↗
USGS2017

Spatiotemporal variability of snow depletion curves derived from SNODAS for the conterminous United States, 2004-2013

Assessment of water resources at a national scale is critical for understanding their vulnerability to future change in policy and climate. Representation of the spatiotemporal variability in snowmelt processes in continental-scale hydrologic models is critical for assessment of water resource response to continued climate change. Continental-extent hydrologic models such as the U.S. Geological Survey National Hydrologic Model (NHM) represent snowmelt processes through the application of snow depletion curves (SDCs). SDCs relate normalized snow water equivalent (SWE) to normalized snow covered area (SCA) over a snowmelt season for a given modeling unit. SDCs were derived using output from the operational Snow Data Assimilation System (SNODAS) snow model as daily 1-km gridded SWE over the conterminous United States. Daily SNODAS output were aggregated to a predefined watershed-scale geospatial fabric and used to also calculate SCA from October 1, 2004 to September 30, 2013. The spatiotemporal variability in SNODAS output at the watershed scale was evaluated through the spatial distribution of the median and standard deviation for the time period. Representative SDCs for each watershed-scale modeling unit over the conterminous United States ( n = 54,104) were selected using a consistent methodology and used to create categories of snowmelt based on SDC shape. The relation of SDC categories to the topographic and climatic variables allow for national-scale categorization of snowmelt processes.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗
USGS2019

Hydroclimatology of the Mississippi River Basin

Model estimated monthly water balance (WB) components (i.e., potential evapotranspiration, actual evapotranspiration, and runoff [ R ]) for 848 United States (U.S.) Geological Survey 8-digit hydrologic units located in the Mississippi River Basin (MRB) are used to examine the temporal and spatial variability of the MRB WB for water years 1901 through 2014. Results indicate the MRB can be divided into nine subregions with similar temporal variability in R . The WB analyses indicated ~79% of total water-year MRB runoff is generated by four of the nine subregions and most of the R in the basin is derived from surplus ( S ) water during the months of December through May. Furthermore, the analyses showed temporal variability in S is largely controlled by the occurrence of negative atmospheric pressure anomalies over the western U.S. and positive atmospheric pressure anomalies over the eastern U.S. coast. This combination of atmospheric pressure anomalies results in an anomalous flow of moist air from the Gulf of Mexico into the MRB. In the context of paleo-climate reconstructions of the Palmer Drought Severity Index, since about 1900 the MRB has experienced wetter conditions than were experienced during the previous 500 years.

Mississippi River Basin↗
USGS2006

Transverse and longitudinal variation in woody riparian vegetation along a montane river

This study explores how the relationship between flow and riparian vegetation varies along a montane river. We mapped occurrence of woody riparian plant communities along 58 km of the San Miguel River in southwestern Colorado. We determined the recurrence interval of inundation for each plant community by combining step-backwater hydraulic modeling at 4 representative reaches with Log-Pearson analysis of 4 stream gaging stations. Finally, we mapped bottomland surficial geology and used a Geographic Information System to overlay the coverages of geology and vegetation. Plant communities were distinctly arrayed along the hydrologic gradient. The Salix exigua Nuttall (sand-bar willow) community occurred mostly on surfaces with a recurrence interval of inundation shorter than 2.2 years; the Betula occidentalis Hooker (river birch) community peaked on sites with recurrence intervals of inundation between 2.2 and 4.6 years. The hydrologic position occupied by communities dominated by Populus angustifolia James (narrowleaf cottonwood) was strongly related to age of trees and species composition of understory shrubs. The fraction of riparian vegetation on surfaces historically inundated by the river decreased in the upstream direction from almost 100% near Uravan to <50% along the South Fork of the San Miguel River. In upstream reaches much of the physical disturbance necessary to maintain riparian vegetation is provided by valley-side processes including debris flows, floods from minor tributaries, landslides, and beaver activity. Where valley-side processes are important, prediction of riparian vegetation change based on alterations of river flow will be incomplete.

Western North American Naturalist↗
USGS2017

User guide for luminescence sampling in archaeological and geological contexts

Luminescence dating provides a direct age estimate of the time of last exposure of quartz or feldspar minerals to light or heat and has been successfully applied to deposits, rock surfaces, and fired materials in a number of archaeological and geological settings. Sampling strategies are diverse and can be customized depending on local circumstances, although all sediment samples need to include a light-safe sample and material for dose-rate determination. The accuracy and precision of luminescence dating results are directly related to the type and quality of the material sampled and sample collection methods in the field. Selection of target material for dating should include considerations of adequacy of resetting of the luminescence signal (optical and thermal bleaching), the ability to characterize the radioactive environment surrounding the sample (dose rate), and the lack of evidence for post-depositional mixing (bioturbation in soils and sediment). Sample strategies for collection of samples from sedimentary settings and fired materials are discussed. This paper should be used as a guide for luminescence sampling and is meant to provide essential background information on how to properly collect samples and on the types of materials suitable for luminescence dating.

Advances in Archaeological Practice: A Journal of ↗