Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

Filter Total Items: 1333

Distribution of major anions and trace elements in the unsaturated zone at Franklin Lake Playa, California, USA

The composition of surficial salts formed near dry and drying saline lakes are partly the product of processes active in the unsaturated zone between the ground surface and the water table. These processes were investigated by determining the abundance of water-extractable solutes in sediment from the ground surface to the water table (~2.8 m) beneath Franklin Lake playa, California. Accumulation
Authors
George N. Breit, Harland L. Goldstein, Richard L. Reynolds, James C. Yount

Holocene record of major and trace components in the sediments of an urban impoundment on the Mississippi River: Lake Pepin, Minnesota and Wisconsin

Lake Pepin is a natural impoundment formed by damming of the Mississippi River about 9,180 radiocarbon years ago (19,600 calendar years) by an alluvial fan deposited by the Chippewa River, a tributary of the Mississippi in Wisconsin. Unique among 26 Mississippi River impoundments, Lake Pepin has stratigraphically preserved Holocene materials, including pollutants, that have been transported down t
Authors
Walter E. Dean

Effects of roads, topography, and land use on forest cover dynamics in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Roads and topography can determine patterns of land use and distribution of forest cover, particularly in tropical regions. We evaluated how road density, land use, and topography affected forest fragmentation, deforestation and forest regrowth in a Brazilian Atlantic Forest region near the city of São Paulo. We mapped roads and land use/land cover for three years (1962, 1981 and 2000) from histor
Authors
Simone R. Freitas, Todd Hawbaker, Jean Paul Metzger

Physical, Chemical, Ecological, and Age Data and Trench Logs from Surficial Deposits at Hatch Point, Southeastern Utah

This report presents data and describes the methodology for physical, chemical and ecological measurements of sediment, soil, and vegetation, as well as age determinations of surficial deposits at Hatch Point, Canyon Rims area, Colorado Plateau, southeastern Utah. The results presented in this report support a study that examines geomorphic and soil factors that may influence boundaries between sh
Authors
Harland L. Goldstein, Mark E. Miller, James C. Yount, Marith C. Reheis, Richard L. Reynolds, Jayne Belnap, Paul J. Lamothe, John P. McGeehan

Planning for an uncertain future - Monitoring, integration, and adaptation

The 6.7 billion human inhabitants of the earth have the ability to drastically alter ecosystems and the populations of species that have taken eons to evolve. By better understanding how our actions affect the environment, we stand a better chance of designing successful strategies to manage ecosystems sustainably. Toward this end, the Third Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds (IC

The ecology of dust

Wind erosion and associated dust emissions play a fundamental role in many ecological processes and provide important biogeochemical connectivity at scales ranging from individual plants up to the entire globe. Yet, most ecological studies do not explicitly consider dust‐driven processes, perhaps because most relevant research on aeolian (wind‐driven) processes has been presented in a geosciences
Authors
Jason P. Field, Jayne Belnap, David D. Breshears, Jason C. Neff, Gregory S Okin, J.J. Whicker, Thomas H. Painter, Sujith Ravi, Marith C. Reheis, Richard L. Reynolds

Wildfire risk in the wildland-urban interface: A simulation study in northwestern Wisconsin

The rapid growth of housing in and near the wildland–urban interface (WUI) increases wildfire risk to lives and structures. To reduce fire risk, it is necessary to identify WUI housing areas that are more susceptible to wildfire. This is challenging, because wildfire patterns depend on fire behavior and spread, which in turn depend on ignition locations, weather conditions, the spatial arrangement
Authors
Avi Bar Massada, Volker C. Radeloff, Susan I. Stewart, Todd Hawbaker

U.S. Geological Survey Science for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative - 2008 Annual Report

The Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI) was launched in 2007 in response to concerns about threats to the State's world class wildlife resources, especially the threat posed by rapidly increasing energy development in southwest Wyoming. The overriding purpose of the WLCI is to assess and enhance aquatic and terrestrial habitats at a landscape scale, while facilitating responsible ener
Authors
Zachary H. Bowen, Cameron L. Aldridge, Patrick J. Anderson, Timothy J. Assal, Lori Anne Baer, R. Sky Bristol, Natasha B. Carr, Geneva W. Chong, Jay E. Diffendorfer, Bradley C. Fedy, Steven L. Garman, Steve Germaine, Richard I. Grauch, Collin G. Homer, Daniel J. Manier, Matthew J. Kauffman, Natalie Latysh, Cynthia P. Melcher, Kirk A. Miller, Jessica Montag, Constance J. Nutt, Christopher Potter, Hall Sawyer, David B. Smith, Michael J. Sweat, Anna B. Wilson

The dynamic interaction of climate, vegetation, and dust emission, Mojave Desert, USA

No abstract available.
Authors
Frank Urban, Richard L. Reynolds, R. Fulton

Magma evolution and ascent at the craters of the moon and neighboring volcanic fields, southern Idaho, USA: Implications for the evolution of polygenetic and monogenetic volcanic fields

The evolution of polygenetic and monogenetic volcanic fields must reflect differences in magma processing during ascent. To assess their evolution we use thermobarometry and geochemistry to evaluate ascent paths for neighboring, nearly coeval volcanic fields in the Snake River Plain, in south-central Idaho, derived from (1) dominantly Holocene polygenetic evolved lavas from the Craters of the Moon
Authors
Keith D. Putirka, Mel A. Kuntz, Daniel M. Unruh, Nitin Vaid

Preliminary geologic map of the Vermejo Peak area, Colfax and Taos Counties, New Mexico and Las Animas and Costilla Counties, Colorado

This geologic map covers four 7.5-minute quadrangles-The Wall, NM-CO (New Mexico-Colorado), Vermejo Park, NM-CO, Ash Mountain, NM, and Van Bremmer Park, NM. The study area straddles the boundary between the eastern flank of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the western margin of the Raton Basin, with about two-thirds of the map area in the basin. The Raton Basin is a foreland basin that formed im
Authors
Christopher J. Fridrich, Ralph R. Shroba, Charles L. Pillmore, Adam M. Hudson

A lacustrine carbonate record of Holocene seasonality and climate

Annually laminated (varved) Holocene sediments from Derby Lake, Michigan, display variations in endogenic calcite abundance reflecting a long-term (millennial-scale) decrease in burial punctuated with frequent short-term (decadal-scale) oscillations due to carbonate dissolution. Since 6000 cal yr B.P., sediment carbonate abundance has followed a decreasing trend while organic-carbon abundance has
Authors
Chad A. Wittkop, Jane L. Teranes, Walter E. Dean, Thomas P. Guilderson