Earth Sciences Commons^™

Amphibians And Disease: Implications For Conservation In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Paul Stephen Corn

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The decline of amphibian populations is a worldwide phenomenon that has received increasing attention since about 1990. In 2004, the World Conservation Union’s global amphibian assessment concluded that 48% of the world’s 5,743 described amphibian species were in decline, with 32% considered threatened (Stuart et al. 2004). Amphibian declines are a significant issue in the western United States, where all native species of frogs in the genus Rana and many toads in the genus Bufo are at risk, particularly those that inhabit mountainous areas (Corn 2003a,b; Bradford 2005). As is true for most of the cold and dry Rocky Mountains, …

Geochemical Evidence For African Dust Inputs To Soils Of Western Atlantic Islands: Barbados, The Bahamas, And Florida, Daniel R, Muhs, James R. Budahn, Joseph M. Prospero, Steven N. Carey

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We studied soils on high-purity limestones of Quaternary age on the western Atlantic Ocean islands of Barbados, the Florida Keys, and the Bahamas. Potential soil parent materials in this region, external to the carbonate substrate, include volcanic ash from the island of St. Vincent (near Barbados), volcanic ash from the islands of Dominica and St. Lucia (somewhat farther from Barbados), the fine-grained component of distal loess from the lower Mississippi River Valley, and wind-transported dust from Africa. These four parent materials can be differentiated using trace elements (Sc, Cr, Th, and Zr) and rare earth elements that have minimal mobility …

Loess Sedimentation In Tibet: Provenance, Processes, And Link With Quaternary Glaciations, Jimin Sun, Sheng-Hua Li, Daniel R. Muhs, Bo Li

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Well-preserved loess deposits are found on the foothills of mountains along the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River in southern Tibet. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating is used to determine loess ages by applying the single-aliquot regeneration technique. Geochemical, mineralogical, and granulometric measurements were carried out to allow a comparison between loess from Tibet and the Chinese Loess Plateau. Our results demonstrate that (i) the loess deposits have a basal age of 13–11 ka, suggesting they accumulated after the last deglaciation, (ii) loess in southern Tibet has a ‘‘glacial’’ origin, resulting from eolian sorting of glaciofluvial outwash deposits from …

An Evaluation Of Selenium Concentrations In Water, Sediment, Invertebrates, And Fish From The Solomon River Basin, Thomas W. May, James F. Fairchild, Jim D. Petty, Michael J. Walther, Jeff Lucero, Mike Delvaux, Jill Manring, M. Armbruster

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Solomon River Basin is located in north-central Kansas in an area underlain by marine geologic shales. Selenium is an indigenous constituent of these shales and is readily leached into the surrounding groundwater. Portions of the Basin are irrigated primarily through the pumping of selenium-contaminated groundwater from wells onto fields in agricultural production. Water, sediment, macro-invertebrates, and fish were collected from various sites in the Basin in 1998 and analyzed for selenium. Selenium concentrations were analyzed spatially and temporally and compared to reported selenium toxic effect thresholds for specific ecosystem components: water, sediments, food-chain organisms, and whole-body fish. A selenium …

Integrating Laboratory Creep Compaction Data With Numerical Fault Models: A Bayesian Framework, Delphine D. Fitzenz, André Jalobeanu, Stephen H. Hickman

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We developed a robust Bayesian inversion scheme to plan and analyze laboratory creep compaction experiments. We chose a simple creep law that features the main parameters of interest when trying to identify rate-controlling mechanisms from experimental data. By integrating the chosen creep law or an approximation thereof, one can use all the data, either simultaneously or in overlapping subsets, thus making more complete use of the experiment data and propagating statistical variations in the data through to the final rate constants. Despite the nonlinearity of the problem, with this technique one can retrieve accurate estimates of both the stress exponent …

Aquifer-Scale Controls On The Distribution Of Nitrate And Ammonium In Ground Water Near La Pine, Oregon, Usa, Stephen R. Hinkle, J. K. Böhlke, John H. Duff, David S. Morgan, Rodney J. Weick

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Geochemical and isotopic tools were applied at aquifer, transect, and subtransect scales to provide a framework for understanding sources, transport, and fate of dissolved inorganic N in a sandy aquifer near La Pine, Oregon. NO₃ is a common contaminant in shallow ground water in this area, whereas high concentrations of NH₄– N (up to 39 mg/L) are present in deep ground water. N concentrations, N/Cl ratios, tracer- based apparent ground-water ages, N isotope data, and hydraulic gradients indicate that septic tank effluent is the primary source of NO₃. N isotope data, N/Cl and N/C relations, …

Late Quaternary Paleoenvironments Of An Ephemeral Wetland In North Dakota, Usa: Relative Interactions Of Ground-Water Hydrology And Climate Change, Catherine H. Yansa, Walter E. Dean, Edward C. Murphy

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

This study of fossils (pollen, plant macrofossils, stomata and fish) and sediments (lithostratigraphy and geochemistry) from the Wendel site in North Dakota, USA, emphasizes the importance of considering ground-water hydrology when deciphering paleoclimate signals from lakes in postglacial landscapes. The Wendel site was a paleolake from about 11,500 ¹⁴C yr BP to 11,100 ¹⁴C yr BP. Afterwards, the lake-level lowered until it became a prairie marsh by 9,300 ¹⁴C yr BP and finally, at 8,500 ¹⁴C yr BP, an ephemeral wetland as it is today. Meanwhile, the vegetation changed from a white spruce parkland (11,500 to …

Adaptive Data-Driven Models For Estimating Carbon Fluxes In The Northern Great Plains, Bruce K. Wylie, Eugene A. Fosnight, Tagir G. Gilmanov, Albert B. Frank, Jack A. Morgan, Marshall R. Haferkamp, Tilden P. Meyers

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Rangeland carbon fluxes are highly variable in both space and time. Given the expansive areas of rangelands, how rangelands respond to climatic variation, management, and soil potential is important to understanding carbon dynamics. Rangeland carbon fluxes associated with Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) were measured from multiple year data sets at five flux tower locations in the Northern Great Plains. These flux tower measurements were combined with 1-km² spatial data sets of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), temperature, precipitation, seasonal NDVI metrics, and soil characteristics. Flux tower measurements were used to train and select variables for …

Identifying Fecal Sources In A Selected Catchment Reach Using Multiple Source-Tracking Tools, Jason R. Vogel, Donald M. Stoeckel, Regina Lamendella, Ronald B. Zelt, Jorge W. Santo Domingo, Steven R. Walker, Daniel B. Oerther

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Given known limitations of current microbial source-tracking (MST) tools, emphasis on small, simple study areas may enhance interpretations of fecal contamination sources in streams. In this study, three MST tools—Escherichia coli repetitive element polymerase chain reaction (rep-PCR), coliphage typing, and Bacteroidales 16S rDNA host-associated markers—were evaluated in a selected reach of Plum Creek in south-central Nebraska. Water-quality samples were collected from six sites. One reach was selected for MST evaluation based on observed patterns of E. coli contamination. Despite high E. coli concentrations, coliphages were detected only once among water samples, precluding their use as a MST tool in …

Development Of The California Current During The Past 12,000 Yr Based On Diatoms And Silicoflagellates, John A. Barron, David Bukry

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Detailed diatom and silicoflagellates records in three cores from the offshore region of southern Oregon to central California reveal the evolution of the northern part of the California Current during the past 12,000 yr. The early Holocene, prior to ∼9 ka, was characterized by relatively warm sea surface temperatures (SST), owing to enhanced northerly flow of the subtropical waters comparable to the modern Davidson Current. Progressive strengthening of the North Pacific High lead to intensification of the southward flow of the California Current at ∼8 ka, resulting in increased coastal upwelling and relatively cooler SST which persisted until ∼5 ka. …

Butterfly Responses To Prairie Restoration Through Fire And Grazing, Jennifer A. Vogel, Diane M. Debinski, Rolf R. Koford, James R. Miller

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The development of land for modern agriculture has resulted in losses of native prairie habitat. The small, isolated patches of prairie habitat that remain are threatened by fire suppression, overgrazing, and invasion by non-native species. We evaluated the effects of three restoration practices (grazing only, burning only, and burning and grazing) on the vegetation characteristics and butterfly communities of remnant prairies. Total butterfly abundance was highest on prairies that were managed with burning and grazing and lowest on those that were only burned. Butterfly species richness did not differ among any of the restoration practices. Butterfly species diversity was highest …

Factors Influencing Movement Probabilities Of Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus Fuscus) In Buildings, Laura E. Ellison, Thomas J. O’Shea, Daniel J. Neubaum, Richard Bowen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We investigated movements of female big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) roosting in maternity colonies in buildings in Fort Collins, Colorado (USA), during the summers of 2002, 2003, and 2005. This behavior can be of public health concern where bats that may carry diseases (e.g., rabies) move among buildings occupied by people. We used passive integrated transponders (PIT tags) to mark individual bats and hoop PIT readers at emergence points to passively monitor the use of building roosts by marked adult females on a daily basis during the lactation phase of reproduction. Multi-strata models were used to examine movements …

San Andreas Fault Zone Mineralogy, Geochemistry, And Physical Properties From Safod Cuttings And Core, John G. Solum, Stephen Hickman, David A. Lockner, Sheryl Tembe, Jim P. Evans, Sarah D. Draper, D. C. Barton, David L. Kirschner, Judith S. Chester, Frederick M. Chester, Ben A. Van Der Pluijm, Anja M. Schleicher, Diane E. Moore, Carolyn Morrow, Kelly Bradbury, Wendy M. Calvin, Teng-Fong Wong

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD), drilled near the town of Parkfield, California (Fig. 1) (Hickmen et al., 2004) as part of the U.S. National Science Foundation's EarthScope Project (see http://www.earthscope.org), provieds a continuous set of samples through the active San Andreas Fault (SAF) zone. These samples can help address decades-old questions such as apparent weakness of the SAF (Zoback, 2000) providing the unparalleled opportunity to contrain the parameters that control the behavior of plate counding faults like the San Andreas.

Samples collected form SAFOD also complement studies of exhumed fault zones. While studies of exhumed fault zones …

Factors Influencing Ground-Water Recharge In The Eastern United States, Bernard T. Nolan, Richard W. Healy, Patrick E. Taber, Kimberlie Perkins, Kerie J. Hitt, David M. Wolock

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Ground-water recharge estimates for selected locations in the eastern half of the United States were obtained by Darcian and chloride-tracer methods and compared using statistical analyses. Recharge estimates derived from unsaturated-zone (R_UZC) and saturated-zone (R_SZC) chloride mass balance methods are less variable (interquartile ranges or IQRs are 9.5 and 16.1 cm/yr, respectively) and more strongly correlated with climatic, hydrologic, land use, and sediment variables than Darcian estimates (IQR = 22.8 cm/yr). The unit-gradient Darcian estimates are a nonlinear function of moisture content and also reflect the uncertainty of pedotransfer functions used to estimate hydraulic parameters. Significance …

New Insights Into Marine Migration And Winter Habitat Of Gulf Sturgeon, Randy E. Edwards, Frank M. Parauka, Kenneth J. Sulak

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Migrations and movements of Gulf sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi were determined using satellite pop-up archival transmitting (PAT) tags and acoustic telemetry. Adult Gulf sturgeon from four rivers in northwestern Florida were caught with gill nets and were tagged with PAT and acoustic tags in the fall of 2001 and 2002. PAT tags were programmed to release in early February 2002 and 2003 to provide information about location of late-winter marine habitats. However, only 5 of 25 provided meaningful location information. Three of the PAT-tagged fish were relocated acoustically near the PAT tag pop-up locations, one of which was in Choctawhatchee …

Solar Forcing Of Gulf Of California Climate During The Past 2000 Yr Suggested By Diatoms And Silicoflagellates, John A. Barron, David Bukry

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

High-resolution records of the past 2000 yr are compared in a north–south transect (28° N to 24° N) of three cores from the eastern slopes of the Guaymas, Carmen, and Pescadero Basins of the Gulf of California (hereafter referred to as the “Gulf”). Evenly-spaced samples from the varved sediments in each core allow sample resolution ranging from ∼ 16 to ∼ 37 yr.

Diatoms and silicoflagellates capture the seasonal variation between a late fall to early spring period of high biosiliceous productivity, that is driven by northwest winds, and a summer period of warmer, more stratified waters during which these …

Passive Aerobic Treatment Of Net-Alkaline, Iron-Laden Drainage From A Flooded Underground Anthracite Mine, Pennsylvania, Usa, Charles A. Cravotta Iii

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

This report evaluates the results of a continuous 4.5-day laboratory aeration experiment and the first year of passive, aerobic treatment of abandoned mine drainage (AMD) from a typical flooded underground anthracite mine in eastern Pennsylvania, USA. During 1991–2006, the AMD source, locally known as the Otto Discharge, had flows from 20 to 270 L/s (median 92 L/s) and water quality that was consistently suboxic (median 0.9 mg/L O₂) and circumneutral (pH ~ 6.0; net alkalinity >10) with moderate concentrations of dissolved iron and manganese and low concentrations of dissolved aluminum (medians of 11, 2.2, and <0.2 mg/L, respectively). In 2001, the laboratory aeration experiment demonstrated rapid oxidation of ferrous iron (Fe²⁺) without …

Late Cenozoic Climate Changes In China’S Western Interior: A Review Of Research On Lake Qinghai And Comparison With Other Records, Steven M. Colman, Shi-Yong Yua, Zhisheng Anc, Ji Shend, A.C.G. Henderson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We review Late Cenozoic climate and environment changes in the western interior of China with an emphasis on lacustrine records from Lake Qinghai. Widespread deposition of red clay in the marginal basins of the Tibetan Plateau indicates that the Asian monsoon system was initially established by ~8 Ma, when the plateau reached a threshold altitude. Subsequent strengthening of the winter monsoon, along with the establishment of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, reflects a long-term trend of global cooling. The few cores from the Tibetan Plateau that reach back a million years suggest that they record the mid-Pleistocene transition from glacial …

Sediment Geochemical Records Of Productivity And Oxygen Depletion Along The Margin Of Western North America During The Past 60,000 Years: Teleconnections With Greenland Ice And The Cariaco Basin, Walter E. Dean

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Many sediment records from the margins of the Californias (Alta and Baja) collected in water depths between 60 and 1200m contain anoxic intervals (laminated sediments) that can be correlated with interstadial intervals as defined by the oxygen-isotope composition of Greenland ice (Dansgaard–Oeschger, D–O, cycles). These intervals include all or parts of Oxygen Isotope Stage 3 (OIS3; 60–24 cal ka), the Bolling/Allerod warm interval (B/A; 15–13 cal ka), and the Holocene. This study uses organic carbon (Corg) and trace-element proxies for anoxia and productivity, namely elevated concentrations and accumulation rates of molybdenum and cadmium, in these laminated sediments to suggest that …

Arsenic Incorporation Into Authigenic Pyrite, Bengal Basin Sediment, Bangladesh, Heather A. Lowers, George N. Breit, Andrea L. Foster, John Whitney, James Yount, Md. Nehal Uddin, Ad. Atual Muneem

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Sediment from two deep boreholes (~400 m) approximately 90 km apart in southern Bangladesh was analyzed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), total chemical analyses, chemical extractions, and electron probe microanalysis to establish the importance of authigenic pyrite as a sink for arsenic in the Bengal Basin. Authigenic framboidal and massive pyrite (median values 1500 and 3200 ppm As, respectively), is the principal arsenic residence in sediment from both boreholes. Although pyrite is dominant, ferric oxyhydroxides and secondary iron phases contain a large fraction of the sediment-bound arsenic between approximately 20 and 100 m, which is the depth range of wells …

Dune Fields: Mid-Latitudes, J. Sun, Daniel R. Muhs

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Large dune fields, or sand seas, are landscapes often thought to be found only in deserts beneath the great, subtropical high-pressure zones, where subsiding air suppresses rainfall. Dune fields are also quite common in mid-latitude regions, to the north and south of subtropical deserts (Fig. 1). Two major characteristics distinguish many mid-latitude dune fields from the sand seas of lower latitudes. One difference is that many of those in mid-latitudes are in semiarid, rather than arid climates, and therefore are not presently active. In this article, ‘active’ refers to eolian sand bodies that are not covered with vegetation, and where …

Evaluation And Comparison Of Gross Primary Production Estimates For The Northern Great Plains Grasslands, Li Zhang, Bruce K. Wylie, Thomas Loveland, Eugene A. Fosnight, Larry L. Tieszen, Lei Ji, Tagir G. Gilmanov

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Two spatially-explicit estimates of gross primary production (GPP) are available for the Northern Great Plains. An empirical piecewise regression (PWR) GPP model was developed from flux tower measurements to map carbon flux across the region. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) GPP model is a process-based model that uses flux tower data to calibrate its parameters. Verification and comparison of the regional PWR GPP and the global MODIS GPP are important for the modeling of grassland carbon flux. This study compared GPP estimates from PWR and MODIS models with five towers in the grasslands. Among them, PWR GPP and MODIS …

Conservation Genetics Of Snowy Plovers (Charadrius Alexandrinus) In The Western Hemisphere: Population Genetic Structure And Delineation Of Subspecies, W. Chris Funk, Thomas D. Mullins, Susan M. Haig

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We examined the genetic structure of snowy plovers (Charadrius alexandrinus) in North America, the Caribbean, and the west coast of South America to quantify variation within and among breeding areas and to test the validity of three previously recognized subspecies. Sequences (676 bp) from domains I and II of the mitochondrial control region were analyzed for 166 snowy plovers from 20 breeding areas. Variation was also examined at 10 microsatellite loci for 144 snowy plovers from 14 breeding areas. The mtDNA and microsatellite data provided strong evidence that the Puerto Rican breeding group is genetically divergent from sites …

Sexual Selection Drives Speciation In An Amazonian Frog, Kathryn E. Boul, W. Chris Funk, Catherine R. Darst, David C. Cannatella, Michael J. Ryan

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

One proposed mechanism of speciation is divergent sexual selection, whereby divergence in female preferences and male signals results in behavioural isolation. Despite the appeal of this hypothesis, evidence for it remains inconclusive. Here, we present several lines of evidence that sexual selection is driving behavioural isolation and speciation among populations of an Amazonian frog (Physalaemus petersi). First, sexual selection has promoted divergence in male mating calls and female preferences for calls between neighbouring populations, resulting in strong behavioural isolation. Second, phylogenetic analysis indicates that populations have become fixed for alternative call types several times throughout the species’ range, …

Microsatellite Loci For Distinguishing Spotted Owls (Strix Occidentalis), Barred Owls (Strix Varia), And Their Hybrids, W. Chris Funk, Thomas D. Mullins, Eric D. Forsman, Susan M. Haig

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We identified four diagnostic microsatellite loci that distinguish spotted owls (Strix occidentalis), barred owls (Strix varia), F₁ hybrids and backcrosses. Thirty-four out of 52 loci tested (65.4%) successfully amplified, and four of these loci (11.8%) had allele sizes that did not overlap between spotted and barred owls. The probability of correctly identifying a backcross with these four loci is 0.875. Genotyping potential hybrid owls with these markers revealed that field identifications were often wrong. Given the difficulty of identifying hybrids in the field, these markers will be useful for hybrid identification, law enforcement and spotted …

Possible Impacts Of Early-11th-, Middle-12th-, And Late-13th-Century Droughts On Western Native Americans And The Mississippian Cahokians, Larry V. Benson, Michael S. Berry, Edward A. Jolie, Jerry D. Spangler, David W. Stahle, Eugene M. Hattori

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

One or more of three intense and persistent droughts impacted some Native American cultures in the early-11th, middle-12th and late- 13th centuries, including the Anasazi, Fremont, Lovelock, and Mississippian (Cahokian) prehistorical cultures. Tree-ring-based reconstructions of precipitation and temperature indicate that warm drought periods occurred between AD 990 and 1060, AD 1135 and 1170, and AD 1276 and 1297. These droughts occurred during minima in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and may have been associated with positive values of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. Each of the Native American cultures was supported, to a greater or lesser degree, by precipitation-dependent resources. Both the …

Hydrologic Connectivity And The Contribution Of Stream Headwaters To Ecological Integrity At Regional Scales, Mary C. Freeman, Catherine M. Pringle, C. Rhett Jackson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Cumulatively, headwater streams contribute to maintaining hydrologic connectivity and ecosystem integrity at regional scales. Hydrologic connectivity is the water-mediated transport of matter, energy and organisms within or between elements of the hydrologic cycle. Headwater streams compose over two-thirds of total stream length in a typical river drainage and directly connect the upland and riparian landscape to the rest of the stream ecosystem. Altering headwater streams, e.g., by channelization, diversion through pipes, impoundment and burial, modifies fluxes between uplands and downstream river segments and eliminates distinctive habitats. The large-scale ecological effects of altering headwaters are amplified by land uses that alter …

Hydrologic Connectivity And The Contribution Of Stream Headwaters To Ecological Integrity At Regional Scales1, Mary C. Freeman, Catherine M. Pringle, C. Rhett Jackson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Cumulatively, headwater streams contribute to maintaining hydrologic connectivity and ecosystem integrity at regional scales. Hydrologic connectivity is the water-mediated transport of matter, energy and organisms within or between elements of the hydrologic cycle. Headwater streams compose over two-thirds of total stream length in a typical river drainage and directly connect the upland and riparian landscape to the rest of the stream ecosystem. Altering headwater streams, e.g., by channelization, diversion through pipes, impoundment and burial, modifies fluxes between uplands and downstream river segments and eliminates distinctive habitats. The large-scale ecological effects of altering headwaters are amplified by land uses that alter …

The Russell Gold Deposit, Carolina Slate Belt, North Carolina, Terry Klein, Charles Cunningham, M.A.V. Logan, Robert R. Seal Ii

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Gold deposits have been mined in the Carolina slate belt from the early 1800s to recent times, with most of the production from large mines in South Carolina. The Russell mine, one of the larger producers in North Carolina, is located in the central Uwharrie Mountains, and produced over 470 kg of gold. Ore grades averaged about 3.4 grams per tonne (g/t), with higher-grade zones reported. The Russell deposit is interpreted to be a sediment-hosted, gold-rich, base-metal poor, volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit in which gold was remobilized, in part, during Ordovician metamorphism. The ore was deposited syngenetically with laminated siltstones …

Source Parameters Of A M4.8 And Its Accompanying Repeating Earthquakes Off Kamaishi, Ne Japan: Implications For The Hierarchical Structure Of Asperities And Earthquake Cycle, Naoki Uchida, Toru Matsuzawa, William L. Ellsworth, Kazutoshi Imanishi, Tomomi Okada, Akira Hasegawa

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We determine the source parameters of a M4.9 ± 0.1 'characteristic earthquake’ sequence and its accompanying microearthquakes at ~50 km depth on the subduction plate boundary offshore of Kamaishi, NE Japan. The microearthquakes tend to occur more frequently in the latter half of the recurrence intervals of the M4.9 ± 0.1 events. Our results show that the microearthquakes are repeating events and they are located not only around but also within the slip area for the 2001 M4.8 event. From the hierarchical structure of slip areas and smaller stress drops for the microearthquakes compared to the M4.8 event, we infer …