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Publications

Browse more than 160,000 publications authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS.  Publications available are: USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and more.

Filter Total Items: 170521

Peak streamflow trends in Missouri and their relation to changes in climate, water years 1921–2020

This report characterizes changes in peak streamflow in Missouri and the relation of these changes to climatic variability, and provides a foundation for future studies that can address nonstationarity in peak-streamflow frequency analysis in Missouri. Records of annual peak and daily streamflow at streamgages and gridded monthly climatic data (observed and modeled) were examined across four trend
Authors
Mackenzie K. Marti, David C. Heimann

Vegetation loss following vertical drowning of Mississippi River deltaic wetlands leads to faster microbial decomposition and decreases in soil carbon

Wetland ecosystems hold nearly a third of the global soil carbon pool, but as wetlands rapidly disappear the fate of this stored soil carbon is unclear. The aim of this study was to quantify and then link potential rates of microbial decomposition after vertical drowning of vegetated tidal marshes in coastal Louisiana to known drivers of anaerobic decomposition altered by vegetation loss. Profiles
Authors
Courtney Creamer, Mark Waldrop, Camille Stagg, Kristen L. Manies, Melissa Millman Baustian, Claudia Laurenzano, Tiong Gim Aw, Monica Haw, Sergio Merino, Donald R. Schoolmaster, Sabrina N. Sevilgen, Rachel Katherine Villani, Eric Ward

Multi-scale effects of behavioral movement deterrents on invasive carp metapopulations

Behavioral deterrents of among-pool movement represent a promising tool for controlling invasive fish populations. To date, much of the research in this area has been focused on the direct effectiveness of different methods of deterrence. However, the effect of these structures on populations in spatially complex habitats is unknown. We combine a metacommunity model with movement data of two invas
Authors
Donald R. Schoolmaster, Aaron R. Cupp, Alison A. Coulter, Richard A. Erickson

Paleoenvironmental and paleoecological dynamics of the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain prior to and during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

We studied the rapid paleo-environmental changes and the corresponding biotic responses of benthic foraminifera of a shallow shelf site during the late Paleocene and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The PETM is globally characterized by a negative δ13C excursion in marine and terrestrial sediments. Isotope data from the Atlantic Coastal Plain from the South Dover Bridge core, Maryland,
Authors
Monika Doubrawa, Peter Stassen, Marci M. Robinson, Robert P. Speijer

Benthic foraminiferal community changes across the Miocene climatic optimum Identified by SHEBI analysis (SHE analysis for biozone identification), Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, USA

The Calvert Cliffs, MD, an iconic section of Middle Miocene strata, have been well studied both paleontologically and stratigraphically for over a century. However, few studies of the Calvert Cliffs have looked at the benthic foraminifera. This study uses SHEBI analysis (SHE analysis for biozone identification) of benthic foraminiferal assemblages to analyze community change in the Calvert and Cho
Authors
Seth R. Sutton, Stephen J. Culver, Lee-Ann Hayek, David J. Mallinson, Marci M. Robinson, Harry J. Dowsett, Martin A. Buzas

Remotely mapping gullying and incision in Maryland Piedmont headwater streams using repeat airborne lidar

Headwater streams can contribute significant amounts of fine sediment to downstream waterways, especially when severely eroded and incised. Potential upstream sediment source identification is crucial for effective management of water quality, aquatic habitat, and sediment loads in a watershed. This study explored topographic openness (TO) derived from 1-m lidar for its ability to predict incision
Authors
Marina Metes, Andrew J. Miller, Matthew E. Baker, Kristina G. Hopkins, Daniel Jones

Basin-scale responses of groundwater-resource quality to drought and recovery, San Joaquin Valley, California

Groundwater-resource quality is assumed to be less responsive to drought compared to that of surface water due to relatively long transit times of recharge to drinking-supply wells. Here, we evidence dynamic perturbations in aquifer pressure dynamics during drought and subsequent recovery periods cause dramatic shifts in groundwater quality on a basin scale. We used a novel application of time-ser
Authors
Zeno Levy, Bryant Jurgens, Kirsten Faulkner, Jennifer S. Harkness, Miranda S. Fram

Late Triassic paleogeography of southern Laurentia and its fringing arcs: Insights from detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology and Hf isotope geochemistry, Auld Lang Syne basin (Nevada, USA)

Fluvial strata of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation and Dockum Group, exposed across the Western Interior of North America, have long been interpreted to record a transcontinental river system that connected the ancestral Ouachita orogen of Texas and Oklahoma, USA, to the Auld Lang Syne basin of northwestern Nevada, USA, its inferred marine terminus. Fluvial strata are well-characterized by exis
Authors
Theresa Maude Schwartz, Sandra J. Wyld, Joseph Colgan, Douglas W. Prihar

Holocene foraminifera, climate, and decelerating rise in sea level on the mud patch, southern New England continental shelf

We examined Holocene benthic foraminiferal biofacies, % planktonic foraminifera, and lithofacies changes from New England mud patch cores and present a relative sea-level (RSL) record to evaluate evolution of these rapidly deposited (30–79 cm/kyr) muds. Sandy lower Holocene sections are dominated by Bulimina marginata. The mud patch developed from 11–9 ka as RSL rise slowed from 10 to 7 mm/yr; mud
Authors
Kenneth G. Miller, James V. Browning, Lloyd D Keigwin, Jason Chaytor, Emily Schneider, Matthew Richtmyer, W. John Schmelz

The evolution of a young ocean within Mimas

The fractured, young surfaces on confirmed ocean worlds such as Europa and Enceladus suggest that ocean-bearing moons with relatively thin overlying ice shells should be easy to identify. Hence, the discovery that Mimas’ rotation state is best explained by an internal ocean seems challenging to reconcile with its heavily cratered surface. Previous studies have shown that an internal ocean is compa
Authors
A. R. Rhoden, M. E. Walker, M. L. Rudolph, Michael T. Bland, Michael Manga

National shoreline change—Summary statistics for vector shorelines from the early 1900s to the 2010s for Puerto Rico

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) maintains a database of historical shoreline positions for the United States coasts derived from historical sources, such as aerial photographs or topographic surveys, and contemporary sources, such as modern orthophotography, light detection and ranging (lidar) point clouds, and digital elevation models. These shorelines are compiled within a geographic informati
Authors
Rachel E. Henderson, Julia L. Heslin, Emily A. Himmelstoss, Maritza Barreto-Orta

Using ground crack and very low frequency measurements to map the location of the June 2007 Father’s Day dike, Kīlauea Volcano

An intrusion into Kīlauea’s upper East Rift Zone during June 17–19, 2007, during the 1983–2018 Pu‘u‘ō‘ō eruption, led to widespread ground cracking and a small (approximately 1,525 cubic meters) eruption on the northeast flank of Kānenuiohamo, a cone about 6 kilometers upslope from Pu‘u‘ō‘ō. Transmitted and induced very low frequency (VLF) magnetic fields were measured with a handheld VLF receiver
Authors
Tim R. Orr, James P. Kauahikaua, Christina Heliker