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Publications

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Investigation of suitable habitat for the endangered plant Ptilimnium nodosum (Rose) Mathias (harperella) using remote sensing and field analysis—Documentation of methods and results

Ptilimnium nodosum (Rose) Mathias (harperella) is an endangered plant species found in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, as well as in other locations throughout the southeastern United States. The narrow range of habitat characteristics for areas in which harperella has been found makes locating potential occurrence sites difficult and attempts at reintroduction of the plant relatively unsuc
Authors
Jessica D. DeWitt, Kelsey L. O'Pry, Peter G. Chirico, John A. Young

Meeting the challenge: U.S. Geological Survey North Atlantic and Appalachian Region fiscal year 2020 in review

The utilization, preservation, and conservation of the Nation’s resources requires well-informed management decisions. The North Atlantic and Appalachian Region (NAAR) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) supports science-based decision making for Federal, State, and local policymakers to meet the challenges of today and into the future. The science centers in the NAAR have well-deserved reputatio
Authors

Geologic and mineral map (modified from the 1975 original map compilation by A.S. Shadchinev and others) and hyperspectral surface materials maps of the Ghorband, Salang, and Panjsher River Basins; Kapisa, Panjsher, Parwan, and Baghlan Provinces, Afghanis

IntroductionThe geologic map and cross sections are a redrafted and modified version of the Geologic map and map of mineral resources of the basins of Ghorband, Salang, and Panjsher; located in the Kapisa, Panjsher, Parwan, and Baghlan Provinces, Afghanistan. The original map and cross sections are contained in an unpublished Soviet report no. 1162A (Shadchinev and others, 1975) prepared in cooper

Dendritic reidite from the Chesapeake Bay impact horizon, Ocean Drilling Program Site 1073 (offshore northeastern USA): A fingerprint of distal ejecta?

High-pressure minerals provide records of processes not normally preserved in Earth’s crust. Reidite, a quenchable polymorph of zircon, forms at pressures >20 GPa during shock compression. However, there is no broad consensus among empirical, experimental, and theoretical studies on the nature of the polymorphic transformation. Here we decipher a multistage history of reidite growth recorded in a
Authors
Aaron J. Cavosie, Marc C Biren, Kip V. Hodges, Jo-Anne Wartho, J. Wright Horton,, Christian Koeberl

Memorial to Jack B. Epstein 1935-2020

Jack Burton Epstein, a career geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) passed away in May 2020 at his home in Great Falls, Virginia. His career and contributions to the USGS spanned more than 60 years from his time as a summer field assistant while attending college, through 40 years as a research geologist, and more than 15 years as an emeritus scientist. Jack was born December 27, 1935
Authors
Randall C. Orndorff, David J. Weary, Peter T. Lyttle

Photoluminescence imaging of whole zircon grains on a petrographic microscope—An underused aide for geochronologic studies

The refractory nature of zircon to temperature and pressure allows even a single zircon grain to preserve a rich history of magmatic, metamorphic, and hydrothermal processes. Isotopic dating of micro-domains exposed in cross-sections of zircon grains allows us to interrogate this history. Unfortunately, our ability to select the zircon grains in a heavy mineral concentrate that records the most ge

Authors
Ryan J. McAleer, Aaron M. Jubb, Paul C. Hackley, Gregory J. Walsh, Arthur J. Merschat, Sean P. Regan, William C. Burton, Jorge A. Vazquez

Climate, sea level, and people - Changing South Florida's mangrove coast

South Florida’s coast is a land of contrasts that appeals to almost everyone, whether they seek out quiet natural environments along the mangrove waterways and in the wilderness of the Everglades or vibrant international culture in Miami. Yet this paradise is threatened by a number of forces – changing climate, rising sea level, and too many people, to name a few. Florida’s past is filled with sto
Authors
G. Lynn Wingard

High sensitivity of Bering Sea winter sea ice to winter insolation and carbon dioxide over the last 5,500 years

Anomalously low winter sea ice extent and early retreat in CE 2018 and 2019 challenge previous notions that winter sea ice in the Bering Sea has been stable over the instrumental record, although long-term records remain limited. Here, we use a record of peat cellulose oxygen isotopes from St. Matthew Island along with isotope-enabled general circulation model (IsoGSM) simulations to generate a 55
Authors
Miriam C. Jones, Max Berkelhammer, Katherine Keller, Kei Yoshimura, Matthew J. Wooller

Large stocks of peatland carbon and nitrogen are vulnerable to permafrost thaw

Over many millennia, northern peatlands have accumulated large amounts of carbon and nitrogen, thus cooling the global climate. Over shorter timescales, peatland disturbances can trigger losses of peat and release of greenhouses gases. Despite their importance to the global climate, peatlands remain poorly mapped, and the vulnerability of permafrost peatlands to warming is uncertain. This study co
Authors
Gustaf Hugelius, Julie Loisel, Sarah Chadburn, Robert B. Jackson, Miriam C. Jones, Glen MacDonald, Maija Marushchak, David Olefeldt, Maara S. Packalen, Matthias B. Siewert, Claire C. Treat, Merritt Turetsky, Carolina Voigt, Zicheng Yu

Sediment dynamics and implications for management: State of the science from long‐term research in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA

This review aims to synthesize the current knowledge of sediment dynamics using insights from long‐term research conducted in the watershed draining to the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the U.S., to inform management actions to restore the estuary and its watershed. The sediment dynamics of the Chesapeake are typical of many impaired watersheds and estuaries around the world, and this syn
Authors
Gregory Noe, Matthew Joseph Cashman, Katherine Skalak, Allen C. Gellis, Kristina G. Hopkins, Doug L. Moyer, James S. Webber, Adam Benthem, Kelly O. Maloney, John Brakebill, Andrew Sekellick, Michael J. Langland, Qian Zhang, Gary W. Shenk, Jennifer L. D. Keisman, Cliff R. Hupp

Progress toward a preliminary karst depression density map for the conterminous United States

Most methods for the assessment of sinkhole hazard susceptibility are predicated upon knowledge of pre-existing closed depressions in karst areas. In the United States (U.S.), inventories of existing karst depressions are piecemeal, and are often obtained through inconsistent methodologies applied at the state or county level and at various scales. Here, we present a first attempt at defining a ka
Authors
Daniel H. Doctor, Jeanne M. Jones, Nathan J. Wood, Jeff T. Falgout, Natalya Igorevna Rapstine

Evaluating elevation change thresholds between structure-from-motion DEMs derived from historical aerial photos and 3DEP LiDAR data

This study created digital terrain models (DTMs) from historical aerial images using Structure from Motion (SfM) for a variety of image dates, resolutions, and photo scales. Accuracy assessments were performed on the SfM DTMs, and they were compared to the United States Geological Survey’s three-dimensional digital elevation program (3DEP) light detection and ranging (LiDAR) DTMs to evaluate geomo
Authors
Peter G. Chirico, Jessica D. DeWitt, Sarah E. Bergstresser