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A 28,000 year history of vegetation and climate from Lower Red Rock Lake, Centennial Valley, Southwestern Montana, USA

A sediment core extending to 28,000 cal yr BP from Lower Red Rock Lake in the Centennial Valley of southwestern Montana provides new information on the nature of full-glacial vegetation as well as a history of late-glacial and Holocene vegetation and climate in a poorly studied region. Prior to 17,000 cal yr BP, the eastern Centennial Valley was occupied by a large lake (Pleistocene Lake Centennia
Authors
Stephanie Ann Mumma, Cathy Whitlock, Kenneth Pierce

Incorporating climate change into systematic conservation planning

The principles of systematic conservation planning are now widely used by governments and non-government organizations alike to develop biodiversity conservation plans for countries, states, regions, and ecoregions. Many of the species and ecosystems these plans were designed to conserve are now being affected by climate change, and there is a critical need to incorporate new and complementary app
Authors
Craig R. Groves, Edward T. Game, Mark G. Anderson, Molly Cross, Carolyn Enquist, Zach Ferdana, Evan Girvetz, Anne Gondor, Kimberly R. Hall, Jonathan Higgins, Rob Marshall, Ken Popper, Steve Schill, Sarah L. Shafer

Accumulation of impact markers in desert wetlands and implications for the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis

The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis contends that an extraterrestrial object exploded over North America at 12.9 ka, initiating the Younger Dryas cold event, the extinction of many North American megafauna, and the demise of the Clovis archeological culture. Although the exact nature and location of the proposed impact or explosion remain unclear, alleged evidence for the fallout comes from multip
Authors
Jeffrey S. Pigati, Claudio Latorre, Jason A. Rech, Julio L. Betancourt, Katherine E. Martinez, James R. Budahn

The Colorado Plateau V: research, environmental planning, and management for collaborative conservation

Roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States, the Colorado Plateau covers some 130,000 square miles of sparsely vegetated plateaus, mesas, canyons, arches, and cliffs in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. With elevations ranging from 3,000 to 14,000 feet, the natural systems found within the plateau are dramatically varied, from desert to alpine conditions.Th

What are plants doing and when? Using plant phenology to facilitate sustainable natural resources management

Climate change models for the northern Rocky Mountains predict changes in temperature and water availability that in turn will alter vegetation. Changes include timing of plant life-history events, or phenology, such as green-up, flowering and senescence, and shifts in species composition. Moreover, climate changes may favor different species, such as nonnative, annual grasses over native species.
Authors
Geneva W. Chong, Leslie A. Allen

Projected climate and vegetation changes and potential biotic effects for Fort Benning, Georgia; Fort Hood, Texas; and Fort Irwin, California

The responses of species and ecosystems to future climate changes will present challenges for conservation and natural resource managers attempting to maintain both species populations and essential habitat. This report describes projected future changes in climate and vegetation for three study areas surrounding the military installations of Fort Benning, Georgia, Fort Hood, Texas, and Fort Irwin
Authors
S.L. Shafer, J. Atkins, B.A. Bancroft, P. J. Bartlein, J.J. Lawler, B. Smith, C.B. Wilsey

Quaternary geologic map of the Havre 1° x 2° quadrangle

The Havre quadrangle encompasses approximately 16,084 km2 (6,210 mi2). The northern boundary is the Montana/Saskatchewan (U.S./Canada) boundary. The quadrangle is in the Northern Plains physiographic province and it includes parts of the Bearpaw Mountains, the Little Rocky Mountains, and the Boundary Plateau. The primary river is the Milk River. The ancestral Missouri River was diverted south of t
Authors
David S. Compilations by Fullerton, Roger B. Colton, Charles A. Bush

Sea-level history during the Last Interglacial complex on San Nicolas Island, California: implications for glacial isostatic adjustment processes, paleozoogeography and tectonics

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
Authors
Daniel R. Muhs, Kathleen R. Simmons, R. Randall Schumann, Lindsey T. Groves, Jerry X. Mitrovica, Deanna Laurel

Land change variability and human-environment dynamics in the United States Great Plains

Land use and land cover changes have complex linkages to climate variability and change, biophysical resources, and socioeconomic driving forces. To assess these land change dynamics and their causes in the Great Plains, we compare and contrast contemporary changes across 16 ecoregions using Landsat satellite data and statistical analysis. Large-area change analysis of agricultural regions is ofte
Authors
Mark A. Drummond, Roger F. Auch, Krista A. Karstensen, Kristi Sayler, Janis L. Taylor, Thomas R. Loveland

Preliminary geologic map of the Big Costilla Peak area, Taos County, New Mexico, and Costilla County, Colorado

This map covers the Big Costilla Peak, New Mex.‒Colo. quadrangle and adjacent parts of three other 7.5 minute quadrangles: Amalia, New Mex.‒Colo., Latir Peak, New Mex., and Comanche Point, New Mex. The study area is in the southwesternmost part of that segment of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains known as the Culebra Range; the Taos Range segment lies to the southwest of Costilla Creek and its tribut
Authors
Christopher J. Fridrich, Ralph R. Shroba, Adam M. Hudson

Shipboard magnetic field "noise" reveals shallow heavy mineral sediment concentrations in Chesapeake Bay

Shipboard magnetic field data collected over Chesapeake Bay exhibit low-amplitude, short-wavelength anomalies that most likely indicate shallow concentrations of heavy mineral sediments. Piston core layers and black sand beach samples exhibit enhanced magnetic susceptibilities and carry remanent magnetization, with mineralogical analyses indicating ilmenite and trace magnetite and/or maghemite and
Authors
Anjana K. Shah, Peter R. Vogt, Joseph G. Rosenbaum, Wayne L. Newell, Thomas M. Cronin, Debra A. Willard, Rick A. Hagen, John Brozena, Albert Hofstra

Radiocarbon ages of terrestrial gastropods extend duration of ice-free conditions at the Two Creeks forest bed, Wisconsin, USA

Analysis of terrestrial gastropods that underlie the late Pleistocene Two Creeks forest bed (~ 13,800–13,500 cal yr BP) in eastern Wisconsin, USA provides evidence for a mixed tundra-taiga environment prior to formation of the taiga forest bed. Ten new AMS 14C analyses on terrestrial gastropod shells indicate the mixed tundra-taiga environment persisted from ~ 14,500 to 13,900 cal yr BP. The Twocr
Authors
Jason A. Rech, Jeffrey C. Nekola, Jeffrey S. Pigati