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The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
Browse more than 5,500 book chapters authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS and refine search by topic, location, year, and advanced search.
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Lake Andrei: A pliocene pluvial lake in Eureka Valley, Eastern California
We used geologic mapping, tephrochronology and 40Ar/39Ar dating to describe evidence of a ca. 3.5 Ma pluvial lake in Eureka Valley, eastern California, that we informally name herein Lake Andrei. We identified six different tuffs in the Eureka Valley drainage basin including two previously undescribed tuffs: the 3.509 ± 0.009 Ma tuff of Hanging Rock Canyon and the 3.506 ± 0.010 Ma tuff of Last Cha
Authors
Jeffrey R. Knott, Elmira Wan, Alan L. Deino, Mitch Casteel, Marith C. Reheis, Fred Phillips, Laura Walkup, Kyle McCarty, David N. Manoukian, Ernest Nuñez
Perspectives on the paleolimnology of the late Eocene Florissant lake from diatom and sedimentary evidence at Clare’s Quarry, Teller County, Colorado, USA
The late Eocene Florissant Formation in central Colorado is a rich and diverse continental Lagerstätte yielding well-preserved fossil assemblages from lacustrine and fluvial facies. This investigation focused on the lacustrine facies at Clare’s Quarry and used biotic and abiotic evidence to characterize aspects of the lake and processes that resulted in the accumulation and preservation of the hos
Authors
Mary Ellen Benson, Dena M. Smith, Sarah A. Spaulding
Oases: Finding hidden biodiversity gems in the southern Sonoran Desert
In the arid southern Sonoran Desert, the rugged canyons of the Sierra El Aguaje contain numerous freshwater oases. These habitats are supported by small springs which are usually located along geologic faults in volcanic and granitic bedrock. Genetic evidence from freshwater-obligate species (e.g., fish and frogs) suggests these or similar spring-fed habitats have persisted for thousands to millio
Authors
Michael T. Bogan, Carlos Ballesteros-Córdova, S. Bennett, Michael H. Darin, Lloyd T. Findley, Alejandro Varela-Romero
Case study 1: Acoustic Surveys at Fort Drum Military Installation – the Value of Long-term Monitoring
Prior to the advent of white-nose syndrome (WNS), most bat conservation in the eastern United States consisted of one issue: the known or suspected presence of the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis). The National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act requires Department of Defense land managers to prioritize identification, monitoring, and conservation of Indiana bat day-roo
Authors
W. Mark Ford, Christopher A. Dobony, David S. Jachowski, Laci S. Coleman, Tomas Nocera, Eric R. Britzke
Outburst floods
Outbursts from impounded water bodies produce large, hazardous, and geomorphically significant floods affecting the Earth as well as other planetary surfaces. Two broad classes of impoundments are: (1) valleys blocked by ice, landslides, constructed dams, and volcanic materials; and (2) closed basins such as tectonic depressions, calderas, meteor craters, and those rimmed by glaciers and moraines.
Authors
Jim E. O'Connor, John J. Clague, Joseph S. Walder, Vernon Manville, Robin A. Beebee
Movement ecology
(Yackulic) At first glance, the decision to study movement in Galapagos tortoises seems curious. Given the slow speed of tortoises and tendency to forage and rest as they move, it seems implausible that tortoises would string their slow bursts of activity together to accomplish large-scale movements. Nonetheless, as early as 1815 (Porter 1815), visitors to Galapagos have noted the propensity for t
Authors
Stephen Blake, Charles B. Yackulic, Freddy Cabrera, Sharon L. Deem, Diego Ellis-Soto, James P. Gibbs, Franz Kummeth, Martin Wikelski, Guillaume Bastille-Rousseau
On the use of statistical analysis to understand submarine landslide processes and assess their hazard
Because of their inaccessibility, submarine landslides are typically studied individually and at great effort and expense to provide knowledge of the specific site conditions where these landslides occur. Statistical analysis of submarine landslide scars can offer generalized perspectives on the processes that initiate submarine landslides and can help toward hazard assessment in areas that have n
Authors
Uri S. ten Brink, Eric L. Geist
Progress and lessons learned from responses to landslide disasters
Landslides have the incredible power to transform landscapes and also, tragically, to cause disastrous societal impacts. Whereas the mechanics and effects of many landslide disasters have been analyzed in detail, the means by which landslide experts respond to these events has garnered much less attention. Herein, we evaluate nine landslide response case histories conducted by the U.S. Geological
Authors
Brian D. Collins, Mark E. Reid, Jeffrey A. Coe, Jason W. Kean, Rex L. Baum, Randall W. Jibson, Jonathan W. Godt, Stephen Slaughter, Greg M. Stock
Marsh equilibrium theory: Implications for responses to rising sea level
No abstract available.
Authors
James T Morris, Donald Cahoon, John C. Callaway, Christopher Craft, Scott C Neubauer, Nathaniel B Weston
Assessing the hydrologic and physical conditions of a drainage basin
An assessment of a drainage basin and its stream corridor will provide the data and information needed to understand current biophysical conditions and trends. Developing an understanding of the drivers of change is the next essential step for restoration success (Osterkamp and Toy, 1997; Corenbilt et al., 2007; Briggs and Osterkamp, 2003), Shields et al. 2003; Osterkamp et al., 2011). Establishin
Authors
Waite Osterkamp, Mark K. Briggs, David Dean, Alfredo Rodriquez
Wetland conservation in the United States: A swinging pendulum
No abstract available.
Authors
David M. Mushet, Aram Calhoun
Geology of the Hawaiian Islands
Long known as the island chain farthest from any continental landmass, the Hawaiian Islands are the subaerial expression of volcanism above the relatively fixed Hawaiian hot spot as the Pacific plate drifts northwest above it. Each island is built by one or several overlapping shield volcanoes, some of the most voluminous on Earth. Plate translation creates the well-known age-progressive sequence
Authors
John M Sinton, David R. Sherrod