Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.

Filter Total Items: 16780

Environmental characteristics and utilization potential of metallurgical slag

Slag, an abundant byproduct from the pyrometallurgical processing of ores, can be an environmental liability or a valuable resource. The most common environmental impact of slag is from the leaching of potentially toxic elements, acidity, or alkalinity that may impact nearby soils and surface water and groundwater. Factors that influence its environmental behavior include physical characteristics
Authors
Nadine M. Piatak

New method to integrate remotely sensed hydrothermal alteration mapping into quantitative mineral resource assessments

Hydrothermal alteration data mapped using the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) were compiled into hydrothermal alteration polygons for use in an assessment of porphyry copper mineral resource potential in the southwestern United States. Hydrothermal alteration polygons along with geochemistry, gravity and magnetic, lithologic, and deposit and prospects data we
Authors
John C. Mars, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Gilpin R. Robinson, Stephen Ludington, Lukas Zürcher, Helen W. Folger, Mark E. Gettings, Federico Solano, Thomas Kress

The efficacy of combined educational and site management actions in reducing off-trail hiking in an urban-proximate protected area

Park and protected area managers are tasked with protecting natural environments, a particularly daunting challenge in heavily visited urban-proximate areas where flora and fauna are already stressed by external threats. In this study, an adaptive management approach was taken to reduce extensive off-trail hiking along a popular trail through an ecologically diverse and significant area in the Che
Authors
Karen S. Hockett, Jeffrey L. Marion, Yu-Fai Leung

Geomechanical analysis of initial stage of gas production from interbedded hydrate-bearing sediment

Geomechanical stability of marine hydrate reservoirs during gas production by depressurization is the focus of this study. The reservoir considered here consists of thin hydrate rich sandy layers interbedded with mud layers. Because of the input parameter uncertainties involved, it is prudent from a geomechanical perspective to estimate the likely bounds of potential responses. A decoupled approac
Authors
Jeen-Shang Lin, Shun Uchida, Evgeniy Myshakin, Yongkoo Seol, Jonny Rutqvist, Ray Boswell, William F. Waite, Junbong Jang, Timothy S. Collett

Spatial mismatch between sea lamprey behaviour and trap location explains low success at trapping for control

Crucial to the management of invasive species is understanding space use and the environmental features affecting space use. Improved understanding of space use by invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) could help researchers discern why trap success in large rivers is lower than needed for effective control. We tested whether manipulating discharge nightly could increase trap success at a hydr
Authors
Andrew M. Rous, Adrienne R. McLean, Jessica Barber, Gale Bravener, Theodore Castro-Santos, Christopher M. Holbrook, Istvan Imre, Thomas C. Pratt, Robert L. McLaughlin

Rapid 3-week transition from migration to incubation in a female Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii)

A female Roseate Tern that staged in Puerto Rico on 10 May 2008 on its migration north was first observed in the nesting area at Bird Island, Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts on 21 May. It was incubating a complete clutch of two eggs by 1 June and likely had initiated laying within 20 days of having been in Puerto Rico.
Authors
Jeffrey A. Spendelow

First evidence that paired Roseate Terns may travel together during spring migration

A mated pair of colorbanded Roseate Terns from the Northwest Atlantic Ocean breeding population was photographed on 12 May 2010 while staging near Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. This represents the first evidence that mated pairs of this species may travel together during their northward spring migration
Authors
Jeffrey A. Spendelow, Gabriel Lugo

Methane- and dissolved organic carbon-fueled microbial loop supports a tropical subterranean estuary ecosystem

Subterranean estuaries extend inland into density-stratified coastal carbonate aquifers containing a surprising diversity of endemic animals (mostly crustaceans) within a highly oligotrophic habitat. How complex ecosystems (termed anchialine) thrive in this globally distributed, cryptic environment is poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that a microbial loop shuttles methane and dissolved orga
Authors
D. Brankovits, John W. Pohlman, H. Niemann, M.B. Leigh, M.C. Leewis, K. W. Becker, T.M. Iliffe, Alvarez. F., M.F. Lehmann, B. Phillips

Cobalt—Styles of deposits and the search for primary deposits

Cobalt (Co) is a potentially critical mineral. The vast majority of cobalt is a byproduct of copper and (or) nickel production. Cobalt is increasingly used in magnets and rechargeable batteries. More than 50 percent of primary cobalt production is from the Central African Copperbelt. The Central African Copperbelt is the only sedimentary rock-hosted stratiform copper district that contains signifi
Authors
Murray W. Hitzman, Arthur A. Bookstrom, John F. Slack, Michael L. Zientek

North American Breeding Bird Survey in Mississippi

Does it seem like you are hearing fewer Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) calls in recent years than you remember when you were younger? Conversely, have you also noticed hearing more “cooing” of Eurasian Collared-Doves (Streptopelia decaocto)? Do such experiences reflect changes in bird populations or are they false impressions? Well, fortunately for us, we have one of the most powerful wil
Authors
Daniel J. Twedt, Keith L. Pardieck

Anticoagulant rodenticide toxicity to non-target wildlife under controlled exposure conditions

Much of our understanding of anticoagulant rodenticide toxicity to non-target wildlife has been derived from molecular through whole animal research and registration studies in domesticated birds and mammals, and to a lesser degree from trials with captive wildlife. Using these data, an adverse outcome pathway identifying molecular initiating and anchoring events (inhibition of vitamin K epoxide r
Authors
Barnett A. Rattner, F. Nicholas Mastrota

Anticoagulant rodenticides and wildlife: Introduction

Rodents have interacted with people since the beginning of systematic food storage by humans in the early Neolithic era. Such interactions have had adverse outcomes such as threats to human health, spoiling and consumption of food sources, damage to human infrastructure and detrimental effects on indigenous island wildlife (through inadvertent anthropogenic assisted introductions). These socio/eco
Authors
Nico W. van den Brink, John E. Elliott, Richard F. Shore, Barnett A. Rattner