Conference Papers

The Great Southern California ShakeOut was a week of special events featuring the largest earthquake drill in United States history. On November 13, 2008, over 5 million southern Californians pretended that a magnitude-7.8 earthquake had occurred and practiced actions that could reduce its impact on their lives. The primary message of the ShakeOut is that what we do now, before a big earthquake, w

As part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB) program, four small watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico were monitored to identify and evaluate the effects of geology, landcover, atmospheric deposition, and other factors on stream water quality and quantity. Two catchments are located on coarse-grained granitic plutonic rocks, which weather to quartz- an

Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) is a promising power generation technology which increases the efficiency of coal-to-power conversion and enhances carbon dioxide concentration in exhaust emissions for better greenhouse gas capture. Two major byproducts from IGCC plants are bottom slag and sulfur. The sulfur can be processed into commercially viable products, but high value applicatio

The geospatial community is experiencing a shift from having data locally to sharing them over the Web. However, not all the data accessing systems are built in compliance with open geospatial standards and thus are weak in terms of interoperability. The USGS Landsat data are now available through free electronic access though not yet through standard Web service interfaces. This paper intends to

The accuracy of discharge measurements using velocity meters and the velocity-area method is typically assessed based on empirical studies that may not correspond to conditions encountered in practice. In this paper, a statistical approach for assessing uncertainty based on interpolated variance estimation (IVE) is introduced. The IVE method quantifies all sources of random uncertainty in the meas

The effects of urbanization on benthic macroinvertebrates were investigated in nine metropolitan areas (Boston, MA; Raleigh, NC; Atlanta, GA; Birmingham, AL; Milwaukee–Green Bay, WI; Denver, CO; Dallas–Fort Worth, TX; Salt Lake City, UT; and Portland, OR) as a part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Assessment Program. Several invertebrate metrics showed strong, linear responses

Lake Huron has a rich aquatic habitat diversity that includes shallow embayments, numerous tributaries, shallow mid-lake reef complexes, archipelagos, and profundal regions. These habitats provide support for warm, cool, and cold water fish communities. Diversity of fishes in Lake Huron reflects post-glaciation colonization events, current climate conditions, accidental and intentional introductio

In 2008, the North Carolina Geological Survey (NCGS) completed a five-year geologic and geohazards inventory of the 406-km long North Carolina segment of the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP). The ArcGIS™ format deliverables for rock slopes include a slope movement and slope movement deposit database and maps and site-specific rock slope stability assessments at 158 locations. Database entries for known an

We investigate the deformation of Mauna Loa and Kllauea volcanoes, Hawai'i, by exploiting the advanced differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) technique referred to as the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) algorithm. In particular, we present time series of line-of-sight (LOS) displacements derived from SAR data acquired by the ASAR instrument, on board the ENVISAT satellite, from

Laboratory experiments of the direct shear test were performed on spherical particles of different materials and diameters. Results of the bulk friction vs. non-dimensional shear displacement are presented as a function of the non-dimensional particle diameter. Simulations of the direct shear test were performed using the Discrete Element Method (DEM). The simulation results show Considerable diff

High-resolution seismic reflections have been used effectively to investigate sinkholes formed from the dissolution of a bedded salt unit found throughout most of Central Kansas. Surface subsidence can have devastating effects on transportation structures. Roads, rails, bridges, and pipelines can even be dramatically affected by minor ground instability. Areas susceptible to surface subsidence can

Over nearly two decades, the Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB) small watershed research program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has documented how water and solute fluxes, nutrient, carbon, and mercury dynamics, and weathering and sediment transport respond to natural and humancaused drivers, including climate, climate change, and atmospheric deposition. Together with a continu