Publications
These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.
Filter Total Items: 16782
Review of selected global mineral industries in 2011 and an outlook to 2017
This report reviews the world production of selected mineral commodities in 2011 and includes output projections (based on planned capacity expansions) through 2017. It also includes brief discussions of several issues that are of importance to the mineral sector, including the world economy, the availability of strategic minerals, significant company mergers and acquisitions in 2011, exploration
Authors
W. David Menzie, Yadira Soto-Viruet, Omayra Bermúdez-Lugo, Philip M. Mobbs, Alberto Alexander Perez, Mowafa Taib, Susan Wacaster
Estimates of future inundation of salt marshes in response to sea-level rise in and around Acadia National Park, Maine
Salt marshes are ecosystems that provide many important ecological functions in the Gulf of Maine. The U.S. Geological Survey investigated salt marshes in and around Acadia National Park from Penobscot Bay to the Schoodic Peninsula to map the potential for landward migration of marshes using a static inundation model of a sea-level rise scenario of 60 centimeters (cm; 2 feet). The resulting inunda
Authors
Martha G. Nielsen, Robert W. Dudley
Differential regulation of sodium-potassium pump isoforms during smolt development and seawater exposure of Atlantic salmon
Freshwater and seawater isoforms of the alpha subunit of Na+/K+-ATPase (NKA) have previously been identified in gill ionocytes of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). In the present study we examine the abundance and cellular localization of these isoforms during the parr–smolt transformation, a developmental process that is preparatory for seawater entry. The abundance of NKAα1a was lower in smolts tha
Authors
Stephen D. McCormick, Amy M. Regish, Arne K. Christensen, Björn Thrandur Björnsson
Numerical simulation of groundwater and surface-water interactions in the Big River Management Area, central Rhode Island
The Rhode Island Water Resources Board is considering use of groundwater resources from the Big River Management Area in central Rhode Island because increasing water demands in Rhode Island may exceed the capacity of current sources. Previous water-resources investigations in this glacially derived, valley-fill aquifer system have focused primarily on the effects of potential groundwater-pumping
Authors
John P. Masterson, Gregory E. Granato
Comparing rapid and culture indicator bacteria methods at inland lake beaches
A rapid method, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), for quantifying indicator bacteria in recreational waters is desirable for public health protection. We report that replacing current Escherichia coli standards with new US Environmental Protection Agency beach action values (BAVs) for enterococci by culture or qPCR may result in more advisories being posted at inland recreational lake
Authors
Donna S. Francy, Rebecca N. Bushon, Amie M. G. Brady, Christopher M. Kephart
Groundwater-level trends and forecasts, and salinity trends, in the Azraq, Dead Sea, Hammad, Jordan Side Valleys, Yarmouk, and Zarqa groundwater basins, Jordan
Changes in groundwater levels and salinity in six groundwater basins in Jordan were characterized by using linear trends fit to well-monitoring data collected from 1960 to early 2011. On the basis of data for 117 wells, groundwater levels in the six basins were declining, on average about -1 meter per year (m/yr), in 2010. The highest average rate of decline, -1.9 m/yr, occurred in the Jordan Side
Authors
Daniel J. Goode, Lisa A. Senior, Ali Subah, Ayman Jaber
Complex resistivity signatures of ethanol in sand-clay mixtures
We performed complex resistivity (CR) measurements on laboratory columns to investigate changes in electrical properties as a result of varying ethanol (EtOH) concentration (0% to 30% v/v) in a sand–clay (bentonite) matrix. We applied Debye decomposition, a phenomenological model commonly used to fit CR data, to determine model parameters (time constant: τ, chargeability: m, and normalized chargea
Authors
Yves Robert Personna, Lee Slater, Dimitrios Ntarlagiannis, Dale D. Werkema, Zoltan Szabo
Comparative analysis of Edwardsiella isolates from fish in the eastern United States identifies two distinct genetic taxa amongst organisms phenotypically classified as E. tarda
Edwardsiella tarda, a Gram-negative member of the family Enterobacteriaceae, has been implicated in significant losses in aquaculture facilities worldwide. Here, we assessed the intra-specific variability of E. tarda isolates from 4 different fish species in the eastern United States. Repetitive sequence mediated PCR (rep-PCR) using 4 different primer sets (ERIC I & II, ERIC II, BOX, and GTG5) and
Authors
Matt J. Griffin, Sylvie M. Quiniou, Theresa Cody, Maki Tabuchi, Cynthia Ware, Rocco C. Cipriano, Michael J. Mauel, Esteban Soto
Wetland fire scar monitoring and analysis using archival Landsat data for the Everglades
The ability to document the frequency, extent, and severity of fires in wetlands, as well as the dynamics of post-fire wetland land cover, informs fire and wetland science, resource management, and ecosystem protection. Available information on Everglades burn history has been based on field data collection methods that evolved through time and differ by land management unit. Our objectives were t
Authors
John Jones, Annette E. Hall, Ann M. Foster, Thomas J. Smith
Geochemical, isotopic, and dissolved gas characteristics of groundwater in a fractured crystalline-rock aquifer, Savage Municipal Well Superfund site, Milford, New Hampshire, 2011
Tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a volatile organic compound, was detected in groundwater from deep (more than (>) 300 feet (ft) below land surface) fractures in monitoring wells tapping a crystalline-rock aquifer beneath operable unit 1 (OU1) of the Savage Municipal Well Superfund site (Weston, Inc., 2010). Operable units define remedial areas of contaminant concern. PCE contamination within the fractu
Authors
Philip T. Harte
Breaking the speed limit--comparative sprinting performance of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and brown trout (Salmo trutta)
Sprinting behavior of free-ranging fish has long been thought to exceed that of captive fish. Here we present data from wild-caught brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and brown trout (Salmo trutta), volitionally entering and sprinting against high-velocity flows in an open-channel flume. Performance of the two species was nearly identical, with the species attaining absolute speeds > 25 body leng
Authors
Theodore Castro-Santos, Francisco Javier Sanz-Ronda, Jorge Ruiz-Legazpi
Estimated annual agricultural pesticide use for counties of the conterminous United States, 1992--2009
This report provides estimated annual agricultural pesticide use for counties of the conterminous United States for 459 compounds from 1992 through 2009 following the methods described in Thelin and Stone (2013). As described in Thelin and Stone (2013), U.S. Department of Agriculture county-level data for harvested-crop acreage were used in conjunction with proprietary Crop Reporting District (CRD
Authors
Wesley W. Stone