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Salinity and selenium yield maps derived from geostatistical modeling in the lower Gunnison River Basin, western Colorado, 1992–2013
Salinity is known to affect drinking-water supplies and damage irrigated agricultural lands. Selenium in high concentrations is harmful to fish and other wildlife. Land managers, water providers, and agricultural producers in the lower Gunnison River Basin in western Colorado expend resources mitigating the effects of these constituents. The U.S. Geological Survey revised existing salinity (total
Authors
Cory A. Williams, Rachel G. Gidley, Michael R. Stevens
Visualization of petroleum exploration maturity for six petroleum provinces outside the United States and Canada
Outside the United States and Canada, most of the world’s supplies of oil and natural gas are recovered from conventional (or discrete) oil and gas accumulations. This type of hydrocarbon accumulation remains a target for exploration. In this report, exploration and discovery data are used to visually assist in describing the exploration maturity of selected petroleum provinces with respect to con
Authors
Emil D. Attanasi, Philip A. Freeman
Preliminary surficial geologic map of Leuhman Ridge and the surrounding area, Edwards Air Force Base and Air Force Research Laboratory, Kern and San Bernardino Counties, California
This preliminary geologic map presents mapping of the Leuhman Ridge area of Edwards Air Force Base, California, conducted between April 2020 and June 2021. The report focuses on surficial materials and bedrock to evaluate potential faults and other geologic features that may influence groundwater movement. The preliminary work confirms that the Spring Fault, previously mapped by Dibblee (1960, 196
Authors
Andrew J. Cyr, David M. Miller
Potential effects of climate change on Ambystoma barbouri (streamside salamander)
Ambystoma barbouri (streamside salamanders) are stream-breeding mole salamanders that rely on seasonally intermittent, fishless streams for egg and larval development but are primarily fossorial as adults. Climate-driven changes are likely to alter streamflow duration, peak, and seasonality within the range of A. barbouri, reducing reproductive habitat and larval survival. Although future changes
Authors
Marta P. Lyons, Olivia E. LeDee, Ryan Boyles
Nonlinear radiation damping: A new method for dissipating energy in dynamic earthquake rupture simulations
Dynamic earthquake rupture simulations are used to understand earthquake mechanics and the ground shaking that earthquakes produce. These simulations can help diagnose past earthquake behavior and are also used to generate scenarios of possible future earthquakes. Traditional dynamic rupture models generally assume elastic rock response, but this can lead to peak on‐fault slip rates and ground sha
Authors
Michael Barall, Ruth A. Harris
High-resolution recording of foraging behaviour over multiple annual cycles shows decline in old Adélie penguins’ performance
Age-related variation in foraging performance can result from both within-individual change and selection processes. These mechanisms can only be disentangled by using logistically challenging long-term, longitudinal studies. Coupling a long-term demographic data set with high-temporal-resolution tracking of 18 Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae, age 4–15 yrs old) over three consecutive annual cy
Authors
Amélie Lescroël, Annie Schmidt, David G. Ainley, Katie Dugger, Megan Elrod, Dennis Jongsomjit, Virginia Morandini, Suzanne Winquist, Grant Ballard
Assessment of three methods to evaluate the distribution of submersed aquatic vegetation in western Lake Erie
Submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) plays an important role in ecosystems. Inventories of SAV spatial distribution and composition are important for monitoring changes in SAV. In this study, we compared three common SAV sampling methods to quantify SAV in western Lake Erie. Aerial imagery of near-shore areas in western Lake Erie was classified using object-based image analysis (OBIA) and evaluated
Authors
Nicole R. King, Jenny L. Hanson, Travis J. Harrison, Patrick M. Kočovský, Christine M. Mayer
Nocturnal basking in freshwater turtles: A global assessment
Diurnal basking (“sunning”) is common in many ectotherms and is generally thought to be a behavioural mechanism for thermoregulation. Recent studies have reported the occurrence of nocturnal basking in a few distantly-related species of freshwater turtles, but the true extent of this behaviour is unknown, and it may be underreported due to sampling biases (e.g., not surveying for turtles at night)
Authors
Donald T. McKnight, Kendall Ard, Renoir J. Auguste, Gaurav Barhadiya, Michael F. Benard, Paige Boban, Martin L. Dillon, Colleen T. Downs, Brett Alexander DeGregorio, Brad Glorioso, Rachel M. Goodman, Coen Hird, Ethan C. Hollender, Malcolm Kennedy, Rosie A. Kidman, Andrhea Massey, Pearson McGovern, Max Mühlenhaupt, Kayhan Ostovar, Danusia Podgorski, Cormac Price, Beth A. Reinke, Louise M. Streeting, Jane Venezia, Jeanne Young, Eric J. Nordberg
Does coat colour influence survival? A test in a cyclic population of snowshoe hares
Some mammal species inhabiting high-latitude biomes have evolved a seasonal moulting pattern that improves camouflage via white coats in winter and brown coats in summer. In many high-latitude and high-altitude areas, the duration and depth of snow cover has been substantially reduced in the last five decades. This reduction in depth and duration of snow cover may create a mismatch between coat co
Authors
Madan K. Oli, Alice J Kenny, Rudy Boonstra, Stan Boutin, Dennis L. Murray, Michael J.L. Peers, B. Scott Gilbert, Thomas S. Jung, Vratika Chaudhary, James E. Hines, Charles J Krebs
Calibration of imperfect geophysical models by multiple satellite interferograms with measurement bias
Model calibration consists of using experimental or field data to estimate the unknown parameters of a mathematical model. The presence of model discrepancy and measurement bias in the data complicates this task. Satellite interferograms, for instance, are widely used for calibrating geophysical models in geological hazard quantification. In this work, we used satellite interferograms to relate gr
Authors
Mengyang Gu, Kyle R. Anderson, Erika McPhillips
Energy-related wastewater contamination alters microbial communities of sediment, water, and amphibian skin
To inform responsible energy development, it is important to understand the ecological effects of contamination events. Wastewaters, a common byproduct of oil and gas extraction, often contain high concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl) and heavy metals (e.g., strontium and vanadium). These constituents can negatively affect aquatic organisms, but there is scarce information for how wastewaters
Authors
Brian J. Tornabene, Kelly L. Smalling, Carrie E Givens, Emily Bea Oja, Blake R. Hossack
Investigating spatio-temporal variability of initial 230Th/232Th in intertidal corals
One of the key factors in obtaining precise and accurate 230Th ages of corals, especially for corals with ages less than a few thousand years, is the correction for non-radiogenic 230Th based on an initial 230Th/232Th value (230Th/232Th0). Studies that consider coral 230Th/232Th0 values in intertidal environments are limited, and it is in these environments that corals have Th concentrations 100–1
Authors
Hong-Wei Chiang, Belle E. Philibosian, Aron J. Meltzner, Chung-Che Wu, Chuan-Chou Shen, R. Lawrence Edwards, Chih-Kai Chuang, Bambang W. Suwargadi, Danny H. Natawidjaja