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Range expansion of pileated woodpecker in North Dakota
Natural history writings from explorers such as M. Lewis, W. Clark, J. J. Audubon, S. F. Baird, and E. Coues failed to mention the pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus ) in North Dakota throughout the 1800's. The first published reference to the species was in the early 1900's in the valley of the Red River of the North, part of the Agassiz Lake Plain of eastern North Dakota. Sightings increased in the Agassiz Lake Plain in the mid-1900's but remained rare west of the Agassiz Lake Plain until the late 1900's. Ornithologists suggest that the species has recently established small, permanent populations in the Turtle Mountains, Devils Lake area, and along the Sheyenne River, especially in the Sheyenne National Grassland. I present information that supports the idea that the pileated woodpecker is establishing populations in the aforementioned areas and is moving even farther west. I also document the presence of the pileated woodpecker along the James River and the first record for Stutsman County.
Early history of the North Dakota Natural Science Society
Abstract has not been submitted
Mineral resource inventory of North Dakota
Aside from construction aggregate materials, the value of nonfuel mineral commodities that have been produced in North Dakota is small, although there is potential for the existence of several mineral resource deposit types which are not economically viable at this time. In this report, we present a mineral resource inventory of the State of North Dakota, developed by the U.S. Geological Survey at the request the Bureau of Land Management. To set the stage for that inventory, we briefly outline the long and complex geologic history of North Dakota that extends back more than 3 billion years. Using several existing databases, we summarize the distribution of known mineral commodities and the results of commodity exploration over time. Using all available data, we discuss the potential for economic occurrences of 13 commodities in North Dakota, including some listed as Critical Minerals.
[Book review] Where the sky began: land of the tallgrass prairie, by John Madson
Review of: Where the sky began: land of the tallgrass prairie. John Madson. Houghton Mifflin, 1982. 321 pages.
[Book review] One Time Harvest: Reflections on Coal and our Future, by Mike Jacobs
Review of: One time harvest: reflections on coal and our future. Mike Jacobs. 1975. Indiana University. 300 p.
[Book review] Railroad Postcards in the Age of Steam, by H. Roger Grant
Book review: Railroad Postcards in the Age of Steam. H. Roger Grant. University Of Iowa Press. 1994. 217 pages. ISBN: 0877454655.
On the postglacial history of the Devils Lake Region, North Dakota
Devils and Stump lakes in eastern North Dakota have been diminishing in area more or less continuously since the land around them was settled in the 1880's. Desiccations similar to the current one have occurred at least once and possibly two or more times in the past and are indicated directly and indirectly by tree stumps recently uncovered as the lake water receded and by lacustrine deposits containing buried soils and vertebrate remains. The lake levels seem to respond in a very sensitive manner to slight climatic changes. Probably the present desiccation and certainly the ones in the past are the result of changes toward a drier and warmer climate. The first may have been synchronous with the Thermal Maximum. A high abandoned strand line and associated lacustrine deposits containing buried soils and vertebrate remains indicate at least one period in the postglacial past, possibly following the Thermal Maximum, that was wetter and cooler than the present. A second desiccation, more definitely established and based on the radiocarbon dating of a tree stump, occurred less than 700 years ago, possibly during the sixteenth century.
Cenozoic history of northeastern Montana and northwestern North Dakota with emphasis on the Pleistocene
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Map showing spatial and temporal relations of mountain and continental glaciations on the Northern Plains, primarily in northern Montana and northwestern North Dakota
This report is an overview of glacial limits and glacial history on the plains in northern Montana and northeastern North Dakota (long 102?-114?W.) and also in adjacent southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. In the Rocky Mountains and on the plains adjacent to the mountains in Montana, the map also depicts spatial relations of valley glaciers and piedmont ice lobes to continental ice sheets. Glacial limits east of 102?, in the United States and also in adjacent Canada, are depicted on published maps of the U.S. Geological Survey Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States (I-1420) map series. The limits shown here are from data compiled for the Lethbridge, Regina, Yellowstone, and Big Horn Mountains 4? x 6? quadrangles in the Quaternary Geologic Atlas series. This geospatial database has been prepared with a degree of detail appropriate for viewing at a scale of 1:1,000,000. Because of the degree of generalization required, the map is intended for regional analysis, rather than for detailed analysis in specific areas. It depicts the geographic positions of the limits of mountain and continental glaciations and the limits of selected glacial readvances. That information provides a foundation for reconstruction of geologic history and for reconstruction. The base map is simplified. Selected hydrographic features, selected towns and cities, selected physiographic features, and a grid of 1? x 2? topographic quadrangles are included to aid the reader in location of the glacial limits and other features that are depicted here on other maps at different scales. Most of the geologic data were compiled at 1:250,000 scale. The nominal reading scale of the digitized map data is 1:1,000,000. Enlargement will not restore resolution that was lost by simplification or generalization of data. Accompanying illustrations show regional directions of ice movement from Canada into the United States during maximum Illinoian glaciation, during maximum late Wisconsin glaciation, and during a later regional glacial readvance maximum
Lithology, reservoir properties, and burial history of portion of Gammon Shale (Cretaceous), southwestern North Dakota
In the northern Great Plains, large quantities of biogenic methane are contained at shallow depths in Cretaceous marine mudstones. The Gammon Shale and equivalents of the Milk River Formation in Canada, which comprise most sediments deposited offshore during the Eagle-Telegraph Creek regression, are typical of such gas-bearing rocks. At Little Missouri field, southwestern North Dakota, Gammon reservoirs consist of discontinuous lenses and laminae of siltstone, less than 10 mm thick, enclosed by silty clay shale. Large amounts of allogenic clay, including highly expansible mixed-layer illite-smectite cause great water sensitivity and high measured and calculated water-saturation values. Reconstructed burial depths, clay mineralogy, and organic matter maturation studies show that the Gammon has not undergone thermal conditions sufficient for oil or thermal gas generation. Scarce authigenic minerals such as pyrite, siderite, and calcite probably formed as a result of bacterial metabolism early in the burial history. The scarcity of authigenic silicates suggests that diagenesis has been inhibited during much of the burial history by the presence of free methane. Shale layers are practically impermeable whereas siltstone microlenses are porous (30 to 40%) and have permeabilities on the order of 3 to 30 md. Reservoir continuity between siltstone layers is poor and, overall, reservoir permeability is probably less than 0.4 md. Connecting passageways between siltstone lenses are 0.1 µm or less in diameter. Organic matter in the low-permeability reservoirs served as the source of biogenic methane, and capillary forces acted as the trapping mechanism for gas accumulation. At Little Missouri field, reservoirs and non-reservoirs cannot be distinguished on the basis of lithology, and much of the Gammon interval is potentially economic. Future research should be directed toward determining the physical basis of log response in the low-permeability reservoirs and toward the development or application of water-free recovery technology.
Landscape genetics reveal broad and fine‐scale population structure due to landscape features and climate history in the northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens) in North Dakota
Prehistoric climate and landscape features play large roles structuring wildlife populations. The amphibians of the northern Great Plains of North America present an opportunity to investigate how these factors affect colonization, migration, and current population genetic structure. This study used 11 microsatellite loci to genotype 1,230 northern leopard frogs ( Rana pipiens ) from 41 wetlands (30 samples/wetland) across North Dakota. Genetic structure of the sampled frogs was evaluated using Bayesian and multivariate clustering methods. All analyses produced concordant results, identifying a major east–west split between two R. pipiens population clusters separated by the Missouri River. Substructuring within the two major identified population clusters was also found. Spatial principal component analysis (sPCA) and variance partitioning analysis identified distance, river basins, and the Missouri River as the most important landscape factors differentiating R. pipiens populations across the state. Bayesian reconstruction of coalescence times suggested the major east–west split occurred ~13–18 kya during a period of glacial retreat in the northern Great Plains and substructuring largely occurred ~5–11 kya during a period of extreme drought cycles. A range‐wide species distribution model (SDM) for R. pipiens was developed and applied to prehistoric climate conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum (21 kya) and the mid‐Holocene (6 kya) from the CCSM4 climate model to identify potential refugia. The SDM indicated potential refugia existed in South Dakota or further south in Nebraska. The ancestral populations of R. pipiens in North Dakota may have inhabited these refugia, but more sampling outside the state is needed to reconstruct the route of colonization. Using microsatellite genotype data, this study determined that colonization from glacial refugia, drought dynamics in the northern Great Plains, and major rivers acting as barriers to gene flow were the defining forces shaping the regional population structure of R. pipiens in North Dakota.
History of U.S. Geological Survey streamgaging on the Souris River in and near Minot, North Dakota, 1903–2016
The U.S. Geological Survey began collecting streamflow data, in cooperation with the North Dakota State Water Commission, on the Souris River in and near Minot, North Dakota, in April 1903. The gage was started up to better understand the water resources available in North Dakota. Currently (2016), water availability is still important as well as the flood monitoring and forecasting that has become an important component of this gage. Gage-height and streamflow data for the Souris River in and near Minot have been collected at five different streamgage locations during the years. This fact sheet describes the history of streamgaging (locations, gage-height data, and streamflow data) and flooding on the Souris River in and near Minot since 1903.
Limits of mountain and continental glaciations east of the Continental Divide in northern Montana and north-western North Dakota, U.S.A.
This chapter provides an overview of the limits of glaciations and glacial history in, and east and south-east of, Glacier National Park, Montana, and on the Northern Plains further east in Montana and north-western North Dakota. The term “Laurentide glacier” was applied to a continental ice sheet east of the Rocky Mountains in North America. It describes Laurentide Ice Sheet as any Quaternary continental ice sheet east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. Laurentide till refers to till deposited by a Laurentide Ice Sheet. A Laurentide continental ice sheet is distinguished from a Cordilleran continental ice sheet in the Cordilleran region in parts of Washington, Idaho, and Montana in the United States and in adjacent Canada. Clague indicated that Cordilleran Ice Sheets formed several times during the Pleistocene. The chapter also reviews that the base for the digital map is simplified. Selected hydrographic features, selected towns and cities, selected physiographic features, and a grid of 1° × 2° topographic quadrangles are included to aid the reader in location of the glacial limits and other features depicted here on other maps at different scales.
Stratigraphy and geologic history of the Montana group and equivalent rocks, Montana, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota
During Late Cretaceous time a broad north-trending epicontinental sea covered much of the western interior of North America and extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. The sea was bounded on the west by a narrow, unstable, and constantly rising cordillera which extended from Central America to Alaska and which separated the sea from Pacific oceanic waters. The east margin of the sea was bounded by the low-lying stable platform of the central part of the United States. Rocks of the type Montana Group in Montana and equivalent rocks in adjacent States, which consist of eastward-pointing wedges of shallow-water marine and nonmarine strata that enclose westward-pointing wedges of fine-grained marine strata, were deposited in and marginal to this sea. These rocks range in age from middle Santonian to early Maestrichtian and represent a time span of about 14 million years. Twenty-nine distinctive ammonite zones, each with a time span of about half a million years, characterize the marine strata. Persistent beds of bentonite in the transgressive part of the Claggett and Bearpaw Shales of Montana and equivalent rocks elsewhere represent periods of explosive volcanism and perhaps concurrent subsidence along the west shore in the vicinity of the Elkhorn Mountains and the Deer Creek volcanic fields in Montana. Seaward retreat of st randlines, marked by deposition of the Telegraph Creek, Eagle, Judith River, and Fox Hills Formations in Montana and the Mesaverde Formation in Wyoming, may be attributed to uplift in near-coastal areas and to an increase in volcaniclastic rocks delivered to the sea. Rates of transgression and regression determined for the Montana Group in central Montana reveal that the strandline movement was more rapid during times of transgression. The regression of the Telegraph Creek and Eagle strandlines averaged about 50 miles per million years compared with a rate of about 95 miles per million years for the advance of the strand-line during Claggett time. The Judith River regression averaged about 60 miles per million years compared with movement of the strandline during the Bearpaw advance of about 70 miles per million years. The final retreat of marine waters from Montana, marked by the Fox Hills regression, was about 35 miles per million years at first, but near the end of the regression it accelerated to a rate of about 500 miles per million years. Rates of sedimentation range from less than 50 feet per million years in the eastern parts of North and South Dakota to at least 2,500 feet in western Wyoming. The low rates in the Dakotas correspond well with modern rates in the open ocean, and the rates in western Wyoming approach the rate of present coastal sedimentation.
Petrology and diagenetic history of the upper shale member of the Late Devonian-Early Mississippian Bakken Formation, Williston Basin, North Dakota
The organic-rich upper shale member of the upper Devonian–lower Mississippian Bakken Formation (Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA) has undergone significant diagenetic alteration, irrespective of catagenesis related to hydrocarbon generation. Alteration includes precipitation of numerous cements, replacement of both detrital and authigenic minerals, multiple episodes of fracturing, and compaction. Quartz authigenesis occurred throughout much of the member, and is represented by multiple generations of microcrystalline quartz. Chalcedonic quartz fills radiolarian microfossils and is present in the matrix. Sulfide minerals include pyrite and sphalerite. Carbonate diagenesis is volumetrically minor and includes thin dolomite overgrowths and calcite cement. At least two generations of fractures are observed. Based on the authigenic minerals and their relative timing of formation, the evolution of pore waters can be postulated. Dolomite and calcite resulted from early postdepositional aerobic oxidation of some of the abundant organic material in the formation. Following aerobic oxidation, conditions became anoxic and sulfide minerals precipitated. Transformation of the originally opaline tests of radiolaria resulted in precipitation of quartz, and quartz authigenesis is most common in more distal parts of the depositional basin where radiolaria were abundant. Because quartz authigenesis is related to the distribution of radiolaria, there is a link between diagenesis and depositional environment. Furthermore, much of the diagenesis in the upper shale member preceded hydrocarbon generation, so early postdepositional processes were responsible for occlusion of significant original porosity in the member. Thus, diagenetic mineral precipitation was at least partly responsible for the limited ability of these mudstones to provide porosity for storage of hydrocarbons.
Associations between environmental pollutants and larval amphibians in wetlands contaminated by energy-related brines are potentially mediated by feeding traits
Energy production in the Williston Basin, located in the Prairie Pothole Region of central North America, has increased rapidly over the last several decades. Advances in recycling and disposal practices of saline wastewaters (brines) co-produced during energy production have reduced ecological risks, but spills still occur often and legacy practices of releasing brines into the environment caused persistent salinization in many areas. Aside from sodium and chloride, these brines contain elevated concentrations of metals and metalloids (lead, selenium, strontium, antimony and vanadium), ammonium, volatile organic compounds, hydrocarbons, and radionuclides. Amphibians are especially sensitive to chloride and some metals, increasing potential effects in wetlands contaminated by brines. We collected bed sediment and larval amphibians ( Ambystoma mavortium , Lithobates pipiens and Pseudacris maculata ) from wetlands in Montana and North Dakota representing a range of brine contamination history and severity to determine if contamination was associated with metal concentrations in sediments and if metal accumulation in tissues varied by species. In wetland sediments, brine contamination was positively associated with the concentrations of sodium and strontium, both known to occur in oil and gas wastewater, but negatively correlated with mercury. In amphibian tissues, selenium and vanadium were associated with brine contamination. Metal tissue concentrations were higher in tadpoles that graze compared to predatory salamanders; this suggests frequent contact with the sediments could lead to greater ingestion of metal-laden materials. Although many of these metals may not be directly linked with energy development, the potential additive or synergistic effects of exposure along with elevated chloride from brines could have important consequences for aquatic organisms. To effectively manage amphibian populations in wetlands contaminated by saline wastewaters we need a better understanding of how life history traits, species-specific susceptibilities and the physical-chemical properties of metals co-occurring in wetland sediments interact with other stressors like chloride and wetland drying.
Use of water developments by female elk at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
Development of water sources for wildlife is a widespread management practice with a long history; however, needs of wildlife and availability of water depend on myriad interacting factors that vary among species and localities. Benefits are therefore situational, establishing a need for evaluation of water use in varied settings. We used global-positioning-system (GPS) collars and time-lapse videography to estimate the distribution of elk ( Cervus elaphus ) activity and frequency of water-development use at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota, during June–September, 2003–2006. Elk were located further than expected from the Little Missouri River and did not preferentially use areas near developments. Of 26,081 relocations obtained at 7-h intervals, 88% were >800 m and 74% were >1600 m from permanent surface water. Elk were videotaped at water developments on 90 occasions during 19,402 h of monitoring but used water in only 52% of cases ( SE = 5.3%). The probability of detecting elk at developments during visits was 0.51 ( SE = 0.08). Nevertheless, elk tracked with GPS collars at 15-min intervals approached to within 100 m of developments on only 2.7% ( SE = 0.6%) of 766 days, and approached randomly selected locations nearly as frequently (x¯ = 2.2%, SE = 0.13%). Our results do not rule out use of drinking water by elk at THRO; however, elk were not dependent on water from developments or the Little Missouri River. Prevailing perceptions of water use by elk derive primarily from general associations of elk activity with locations of water sources. Technological advances that permit nearly continuous, precise monitoring present an opportunity to improve understanding of water use by elk, incidental to other investigations.