Geology Commons^™

Copper Pellets Simulating Oral Exposure To Copper Ammunition: Absence Of Toxicity In American Kestrels (Falco Sparverius), J. Christian Franson, Lesanna L. Lahner, Carol U. Meteyer, Barnett A. Rattner

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

To evaluate the potential toxicity of copper

(Cu) in raptors that may consume Cu bullets, shotgun

pellets containing Cu, or Cu fragments as they feed on

wildlife carcasses, we studied the effects of metallic Cu

exposure in a surrogate, the American kestrel (Falco

sparverius). Sixteen kestrels were orally administered

5 mg Cu/g body mass in the form of Cu pellets

(1.18–2.00 mm in diameter) nine times during 38 days and

10 controls were sham gavaged on the same schedule. With

one exception, all birds retained the pellets for at least 1 h,

but most (69%) regurgitated pellets during …

Mapping Recent Decadal Climate Variations In Precipitation And Temperature Across Eastern Africa And The Sahel, Christopher Funk, Joel Michaelsen, Michael T. Marshall

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

This chapter presents a novel interpolation approach that combines long-term mean satellite observations, station data, and topographic fields to produce grids of climate normals and trends. The approach was developed by the Climate Hazard Group (CHG) at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), to support food security analyses for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). The resulting FEWS NET Climatology (FCLIM) combines moving window regressions (MWRs) with geostatistical interpolation (kriging). Satellite and topographic fields often exhibit strong local correlations with in situ measurements of air temperature and rainfall. The FCLIM method …

Using Lidar To Map Landslides In Kenton And Campbell Counties, Kentucky, Matthew M. Crawford

Report of Investigations--KGS

The geology and topography of northern Kentucky and Cincinnati make the area susceptible to landslides. Decades of development and slope modification have contributed to the area being prone to landslides and having one of the highest costs per capita in the United States for landslide damage. The slow nature of some landslides and incremental damage that can span several decades often result in lack of awareness of the problem, however. Many of the landslides go unreported, and citizens do not take advantage of resources to become educated about mitigating the problem.

Research at the Kentucky Geological Survey developed a methodology …

Effectiveness Of Four Water-Bearing Zones Of The Glacierized Basin In Meltwater Runoff Modeling, Umesh K. Haritashya

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Meltwater runoff modeling from glacierized basins needs several input data, including total meltwater contributing area. This study utilizes optical remote sensing data to assess glacierized basins in the central Himalayas where snow and glaciers contribute substantially to the water resources. Result shows that there are four main water-bearing zones in the basin: (a) dry snow, (b) wet snow, (c) exposed glacial ice, and (d) debris-covered glacial ice, and it is possible to differentiate and map these zones and their spatio-temporal variations from satellite sensor data. These zones can then be incorporated in meltwater runoff modeling as separate entities because they …

Evaluating Hydrocarbon Source Rock For Unconventional Shale Oil Play From Seismic And Well Log Data; Kingak Shale, North Slope, Alaska, Sarah Elisabeth Leedberg

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

It has been proposed that Acoustic impedance (AI) responses can be used to estimate total organic carbon (TOC) within thick, clay rich shale. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the effectiveness of the AI inversion technique, and establish a methodology that can be applied to other basins. The Kingak Formation (lower Jurassic to early Cretaceous), located on the North Slope of Alaska, has been extensively evaluated for its unconventional potential. The Kingak is shale and is known to have greater than 30 percent clay. Because clay has ductile properties it makes it difficult to stimulate a well through …

Gene Transcription In Sea Otters (Enhydra Lutris); Development Of A Diagnostic Tool For Sea Otter And Ecosystem Health, Lizabeth Bowen, A. Keith Miles, Michael Murray, Martin Haulena, Judy Tuttle, William Van Bonn, Lance Adams, James L. Bodkin, Brenda Ballachey, James A. Estes, M. Tim Tinker, Robin Keister, Jeffrey L. Stott

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Gene transcription analysis for diagnosing or monitoring wildlife health requires the ability to distinguish pathophysiological change from natural variation. Herein, we describe methodology for the development of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays to measure differential transcript levels of multiple immune function genes in the sea otter (Enhydra lutris); sea otter-specific qPCR primer sequences for the genes of interest are defined. We establish a ‘reference’ range of transcripts for each gene in a group of clinically healthy captive and free-ranging sea otters. The 10 genes of interest represent multiple physiological systems that play a role in immuno-modulation, …

Do Bioclimate Variables Improve Performance Of Climate Envelope Models?, James I. Watling, Stephanie S. Romanach, David N. Bucklin, Carolina Speroterra, Laura A. Brandt, Leonard G. Pearlstine, Frank J. Mazzotti

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Climate envelope models are widely used to forecast potential effects of climate change on species distributions. A key issue in climate envelope modeling is the selection of predictor variables that most directly influence species. To determine whether model performance and spatial predictions were related to the selection of predictor variables, we compared models using bioclimate variables with models constructed from monthly climate data for twelve terrestrial vertebrate species in the southeastern USA using two different algorithms (random forests or generalized linear models), and two model selection techniques (using uncorrelated predictors or a subset of user-defined biologically relevant predictor variables). There …

Global Air Temperature Variability Independent Of Sea-Surface Temperature Influences, Andrew C. Comrie, Gregory J. Mccabe

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Mean global surface air temperature (SAT) and sea surface temperature (SST) display substantial variability on timescales ranging from annual to multi-decadal. We review the key recent literature on connections between global SAT and SST variability. Although individual ocean influences on SAT have been recognized, the combined contributions of worldwide SST variability on the global SAT signal have not been clearly identified in observed data.Weanalyze these relations using principal components of detrended SST, and find that removing the underlying combined annual, decadal, and multi-decadal SST variability from the SAT time series reveals a nearly monotonic global warming trend in SAT since …

Gonadal Abnormalities In Frogs (Lithobates Spp.) Collected From Managed Wetlands In An Agricultural Region Of Nebraska, Usa, Diana M. Papoulias, Matt S. Schwarz, Lourdes Mena

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Nebraska’s Rainwater Basin (RWB) provides important wetland habitat for North American migratory birds. Concern exists that pesticide and nutrient runoff from surrounding row-crops enters wetlands degrading water quality and adversely affecting birds and wildlife. Frogs may be especially vulnerable. Plains leopard (Lithobates blairi) metamorphs from RWB wetlands with varying concentrations of pesticides were evaluated for a suite of biomarkers of exposure to endocrine active chemicals. Froglets had ovarian dysgenesis, high rates of testicular oocytes, and female-biased sex ratios however, there was no clear statistical association between pesticide concentrations and biomarkers. Data interpretation was hindered because timing and duration …

History And Evaluation Of National-Scale Geochemical Data Sets For The United States, David B. Smith, Steven M. Smith, John D. Horton

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Six national-scale, or near national-scale, geochemical data sets for soils or stream sediments exist for the United States. The earliest of these, here termed the ‘Shacklette’ data set, was generated by a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) project conducted from 1961 to 1975. This project used soil collected from a depth of about 20 cm as the sampling medium at 1323 sites throughout the conterminous U.S. The National Uranium Resource Evaluation Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (NUREHSSR) Program of the U.S. Department of Energy was conducted from 1975 to 1984 and collected either stream sediments, lake sediments, or soils at more …

Remote Sensing Of Evapotranspiration For Operational Drought Monitoring Using Principles Of Water And Energy Balance, Gabriel B. Senay, Stefanie Bohms, James P. Verdin

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important component of the hydrologic budget because it reflects the exchange of mass and energy between the soil–water–vegetation system and the atmosphere. Prevailing weather conditions influence potential or reference ET through variables such as radiation, temperature, wind, and relativity humidity. In addition to these weather variables, actual ET (ET_a) is also affected by land cover type and condition, as well as soil moisture. The dependence of ET_a on land cover and soil moisture, and its direct relationship with carbon dioxide assimilation in plants, makes it an important variable for monitoring drought, crop yield, …

Development And Application Of Methods Used To Source Prehistoric Southwestern Maize: A Review, Larry Benson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Archaeological cobs free of mineral contaminants should be used to source the soils in which they were grown. Mineral contaminants often contain much higher concentrations of metals than vegetal materials and can alter a cob’s apparent metal and heavy-isotope content. Cleaning a cob via immersion in an acid solution for more than a few minutes will result in the incongruent and sometimes complete leaching of metals, including strontium (Sr), from the cob. When using ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr to determine the location of potential agriculture fields, it is best to either integrate several depth-integrated soil samples or to integrate several …

On Thinning Of Chains In Mcmc, William A. Link, Mitchell J. Eaton

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

1. Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is a simulation technique that has revolutionised the analysis of ecological data, allowing the fitting of complex models in a Bayesian framework. Since 2001, there have been nearly 200 papers using MCMC in publications of the Ecological Society of America and the British Ecological Society, including more than 75 in the journal Ecology and 35 in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

2. We have noted that many authors routinely ‘thin’ their simulations, discarding all but every kth sampled value; of the studies we surveyed with details on MCMC implementation, 40% reported thinning.

3. Thinning …

Spatially Explicit Models For Inference About Density In Unmarked Or Partially Marked Populations, Richard B. Chandler, J. Andrew Royle

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Recently developed spatial capture-recapture (SCR) models represent a major advance over traditional capture-recapture (CR) models because they yield explicit estimates of animal density instead of population size within an unknown area. Futhermore, unlike nonspatial CR methods, SCR models account for heterogeneity in capture probability arising from the juxtaposition of animal activity centers and sample locations. Although the utility of SCR methods is gaining recognition, the requirement that all individuals can be uniquely identified exludes their use in many contexts. In this paper, we develop models for situations in which individual recognition is not possible, thereby allowing SCR concepts to be …

On Thinning Of Chains In Mcmc, William A. Link, Mitchell J. Eaton

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

1. Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is a simulation technique that has revolutionised the analysis of ecological data, allowing the fitting of complex models in a Bayesian framework. Since 2001, there have been nearly 200 papers using MCMC in publications of the Ecological Society of America and the British Ecological Society, including more than 75 in the journal Ecology and 35 in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

2. We have noted that many authors routinely ‘thin’ their simulations, discarding all but every kth sampled value; of the studies we surveyed with details on MCMC implementation, 40% reported thinning.

3. Thinning …

Sea-Level History During The Last Interglacial Complex On San Nicolas Island, California: Implications For Glacial Isostatic Adjustment Processes, Paleozoogeography And Tectonics, Daniel R. Muhs, Kathleen R. Simmons, R. Randall Schumann, Lindsey T. Groves, Jerry X. Mitrovica, Deanna Laurel

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

San Nicolas Island, California has one of the best records of fossiliferous Quaternary marine terraces in North America, with at least fourteen terraces rising to an elevation of ~270 m above present-day sea level. In our studies of the lowest terraces, we identified platforms at 38–36 m (terrace 2a), 33–28 m (terrace 2b), and 13–8 m (terrace 1). Uranium-series dating of solitary corals from these terraces yields three clusters of ages: ~120 ka on terrace 2a (marine isotope stage [MIS] 5.5), ~120 and ~100 ka on terrace 2b (MIS 5.5 and 5.3), and ~80 ka (MIS 5.1) on terrace 1.We …

Tectonic Influences On The Preservation Of Marine Terraces: Old And New Evidence From Santa Catalina Island, California, R. Randall Schumann, Scott A. Minor, Daniel R. Muhs, Lindsey T. Groves, John P. Mcgeehan

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The California Channel Islands contain some of the best geologic records of past climate and sea-level changes, recorded in uplifted, fossil-bearing marine terrace deposits. Among the eight California Channel Islands and the nearby Palos Verdes Hills, only Santa Catalina Island does not exhibit prominent emergent marine terraces, though the same terrace-forming processes that acted on the other Channel Islands must also have occurred on Santa Catalina. We re-evaluated previous researchers' field evidence and examined new topographic, bathymetric, and stream-profile data in order to find possible explanations for the lack of obvious marine terrace landforms or deposits on the island today. …

Something Is Askew In Florida's Water: Arguing For A Better Descriptive Statistic For Positively Skewed Water-Quality Data, Amie October West

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

It may be of no surprise that water quality data is right-skewed, but what appears to be overlooked by some is that the arithmetic mean and standard deviation most often fail as measures of central tendency in skewed data. When using the arithmetic mean and arithmetic standard deviation with nutrient data, one standard deviation about the arithmetic mean can capture nearly all of the data and extend into negative values. Representing nutrient data this way can be misleading to viewers who are using the statistics, and making assumptions, to understand the characteristics of those waters. Through an in-depth statistical …

Vulnerability Of High Latitude Soil Organic Carbon In North America To Disturbance, Guido Grosse, Jennifer Harden, Merritt Turetsky, David A. Mcguire, Philip Camill, Charles Tarnocai, Steve Frolking, Edward A.G. Schuur, Torre Jorgenson, Sergei Marchenko, Vladimir Romanovsky, Kimberly P. Wickland, Nancy H. F. French, Mark Waldrop, Laura Bourgeau-Chavez, Robert G. Striegl

Michigan Tech Research Institute Publications

This synthesis addresses the vulnerability of the North American high-latitude soil organic carbon (SOC) pool to climate change. Disturbances caused by climate warming in arctic, subarctic, and boreal environments can result in significant redistribution of C among major reservoirs with potential global impacts. We divide the current northern high-latitude SOC pools into (1) near-surface soils where SOC is affected by seasonal freeze-thaw processes and changes in moisture status, and (2) deeper permafrost and peatland strata down to several tens of meters depth where SOC is usually not affected by short-term changes. We address key factors (permafrost, vegetation, hydrology, paleoenvironmental history) …

Land Systems Of The Kimberley Region, Western Australia, A L. Payne, N Schoknecht

Technical Bulletins

The Land Systems of the Kimberley Region Report describes and maps the landscapes, soils and vegetation of the Kimberley region. This report is a consolidation of surveys carried out by different organisations, across different areas of the Kimberley, since the 1940s. The Kimberley region, as defined in this bulletin, covers 330 070km². The report categorises the Kimberley region into 111 land systems. Under each land system, the report identifies the vulnerabilities of those areas, and provides recommendations on how to achieve sustainable use. The report also publishes pasture types for the entire region and the grazing potential for each pasture, …

Spring Migration Of Mallards From Arkansas As Determined By Satellite Telemetry, David George Krementz, Kwasi Asante, Luke W. Naylor

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We used satellite telemetry to document spring migration phenology, routes, stopover regions, and nesting sites of mallards Anas platyrhynchos marked in Arkansas during the winters of 2004–2007. Of the 143 marked mallards that migrated from Arkansas, they did so, on average, by mid-March. Mallards flew over the Missouri Ozarks and 42% made an initial stopover in Missouri, where they used areas that had larger rivers (Mississippi River, Missouri River) embedded in an agricultural landscape. From this stopover region they either migrated directly to the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) or they migrated north to Minnesota where they either moved next to …

Assessing Flood Inundation Mapping With The Use Of A Dem And Gis Along The Missouri River At Sioux City, Iowa, Kathryn A. Pfaffle

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

There are various methods that are used to predict flood inundation. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provided inundation maps for the 2011 Missouri River flood event that did not utilized aerial photo imagery. This study assesses the suitability of using a digital elevation model (DEM) in combination with aerial photo imagery within a geographic information system to predict flood inundation mapping along the Missouri River in Sioux City, Iowa. GPS data was collected during the height of this flood event in order to validate the positional accuracy of the DEM. Using the GPS receiver’s accuracy standards to determine the …

Suspended Sediment Concentration In The Brushy Creek Watershed, Kentucky, Tyler Wade, Walter S. Borowski

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Suspended sediment concentration (SSC) can be used as a proxy for environmental health of stream water. For example, large sediment loads can cause harm to aquatic life and are a mechanism for introducing and transporting fecal microbes. We measure SSC of the Brushy Creek watershed, located in Rockcastle, Pulaski, and Lincoln Counties, where the Eastern Kentucky Environmental Research Institute (EK-ERI) has been conducting an assessment of the watershed. Two auto sampling units were placed in Brushy Creek to collect water samples for determination of SSC. The units collect samples every 14 hours for a two-week period, then samples are retrieved …

Quasi 3-Dimensional Electrical Resistivity Mapping Of Air-Filled Karst Conduits And Policy Implications, Charles W. Mccrackin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study assesses the capability and practical applications of quasi 3-Dimensional (3D) electrical resistivity surveying (ER) for mapping air-filled karst conduits. Vadose zone caves within the Brooksville Ridge of West Central Florida are relatively similar in architecture, with N-S elongation, and do not consist of an interconnected network of conduits. A high resolution quasi-3D ER survey was performed over two mapped cave systems on the Brooksville Ridge. The resultant survey verified the general effectiveness of quasi-3D ER in locating the two known near-surface cave features. Several other locations in the survey show similar or stronger resistivity anomalies trending in a …

Dissemination Of Geological Information In Avoiding Geotechnical Risks Associated With Tunnel Construction: Lessons Learned From Deep Voids In Marble In Lower Manhattan, New York City, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Stanley Schleifer, Masud Ahmed, Leah Scott

Publications and Research

Test boring associated with the recently accomplished City Water Tunnel # 3 in Manhattan, New York City revealed moderately to highly weathered marble with insoluble silicate residues composed mostly of phlogopite, chlorite, and tremolite. Apparent control on the weatherability of the marble was in response to original mineral constituents dominating this lithology. Encountered marble samples ranged between pure calcitic to mixed dolomitic/siliceous types. Fresh marble samples collected from adjacent boring locations revealed characteristic geochemical data: Lime (25-45%), Silica (4-7%), Alumina (1-3%), MgO (5-20%), and LOI (35-42%); compressive strength of unweathered marble varied between 2000-3000 Kg/cm². Relict foliations with …

Depositional Fluxes And Concentrations Of 7Be And 210Pb In Bulk Precipitation And Aerosols At The Interface Of Atlantic And Mediterranean Coasts In Spain, R. L. Lozano, E. G. San Miguel, J. P. Bolívar, M. Baskaran

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

Bulk depositional fluxes of ⁷Be and ²¹⁰Pb in precipitation measured over a period of 16 months (April 2009–July 2010) in Huelva, Spain varied between 5.6 and 186 Bq m⁻² month⁻¹ (annual mean: 834 Bq m⁻² year⁻¹) and 0.8 and 8.1 Bq m⁻² month⁻¹ (annual mean: 59 Bq m⁻² year⁻¹), respectively, with the lowest depositional fluxes occurring during dry summer months. Quantitative evaluation of the precipitation-normalized seasonal depositional fluxes of ⁷Be and ²¹⁰Pb indicates that the enrichment factor in winter is < 1.0 while in 2010 spring, it is significantly higher than 1, possibly indicating input of air from the stratosphere-troposphere exchange (for ⁷Be). The specific activities of …

Homestead National Monument Of America, Geologic Resources Inventory Report, J. Graham

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

This report accompanies the digital geologic map data for Homestead National Monument of America in Nebraska, produced by the Geologic Resources Division in collaboration with its partners. It contains information relevant to resource management and scientific research. This document incorporates preexisting geologic information and does not include new data or additional fieldwork.

Established as a memorial to pioneer life and the Homestead Act of 1862, Homestead National Monument of America preserves approximately 92 ha (228 acres) of terraced grassland and riparian, floodplain environments. Included in the monument are about 40 ha (100 acres) of restored tallgrass prairie and …

Development Of An Approach To Evaluate Fractured Crystalline Bedrock Water Resource Supply And Sustainability, Helen E. Spera

Master's Theses

Groundwater derived from fractured crystalline bedrock is an important resource in Connecticut. Despite its importance we know very little about this resource. This study was conducted at the Plant Science and Landscape Architecture Research and Education Facility, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT. The objectives of this study were: to improve the characterization of the hydrogeology of the facility; to develop a method to determine the amount of recharge to the bedrock from the overburden during pumping and non-pumping periods; and to develop an approach that can be used in evaluating the sustainability and zone of contribution of bedrock pumping wells. …

Rock Porosity Analysis Using High Resolution X-Ray Tomography, Leo Groner, Dula Parkinson, Katya Bazilevskaya

STAR Program Research Presentations

Understanding rock porosity, the fraction of rock volume that is in pores, is a key to modeling weathering and flow of water, petroleum and CO2 through geological structures. Weathering of rocks affects the CO2 cycle, nutrient cycle and soil formation. Rock porosity affects water flow rates and, in turn, affects weathering. Avizo software was used to explore, visualize and measure the reconstructed high-resolution X-ray micro-tomography data collected from scanned rocks. Many Avizo approaches were tried before arriving at an acceptable process to determine their porosity characteristics. Porosity dynamics are affected by weathering and lithification. At micron resolution, the image is …

Identifying Changes In Climatic Trends And The Fingerprints Of Landuse And Landcover Changes In The High Plains Of The Usa, Denis Mutiibwa

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Human activities such as conversion of natural ecosystem to croplands and urban-centers, deforestation and afforestation impact biophysical properties of land surface such as albedo, energy balance, and surface roughness. Alterations in these properties affect the heat and moisture exchanges between the land surface and atmospheric boundary layer. The objectives of this research were; (i) to quantitatively identify the High plains’ regional climate change in temperatures over the period 1895 to 2006, (ii) detect the signatures of anthropogenic forcing of LULC changes on the regional climate change of the High Plains, and (iii) examine the trends in evolving regional latent heat …