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Book Chapters

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.

Filter Total Items: 6063

Geology of the Lake Mead region: An overview

The Lake Mead region contains major Miocene disruptions of structures formed during Mesozoic tectonic shortening. Erosion by the Colorado River and its tributaries has produced exceptional exposures of diverse structures and basin deposits recording the disruptions. Here we provide an overview of the results of studies of these features that started in earnest in 1934 when Chester Longwell began a
Authors
R. Ernest Anderson, L. Sue Beard

Groundwater sampling

Groundwater is protected in most areas as it is a primary source of drinking water. In the United States, 50% of the population relies on groundwater supplies (Reilly et al., 2008). Groundwater sampling in the United States became commonplace in the 20th century as contaminated water resources became apparent and a growing public concern emerged to protect water resources. In response to this conc
Authors
Qingren Wang, Rafael Munoz-Carpena, Adam Foster, Kati W. Migliaccio

Guidelines to indirectly measure and enhance detection efficiency of stationary PIT tag interrogation systems in streams

With increasing use of passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags and reliance on stationary PIT tag interrogation systems to monitor fish populations, guidelines are offered to inform users how best to use limited funding and human resources to create functional systems that maximize a desired level of detection and precision. The estimators of detection efficiency and their variability as describ
Authors
Patrick J. Connolly

Guidelines to indirectly measure and enhance detection efficiency of stationary PIT tag interrogation systems in streams

With increasing use of passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags and reliance on stationary PIT tag interrogation systems to monitor fish populations, guidelines are offered to inform users how best to use limited funding and human resources to create functional systems that maximize a desired level of detection and precision. The estimators of detection efficiency and their variability as describ
Authors
Patrick J. Connolly

Hawaiian Islands: invasions

No abstract available.
Authors
L. Loope

Heat tracer methods

The flow of heat in the subsurface is closely linked to the movement of water (Ingebritsen et al., 2006). As such, heat has been used as a tracer in groundwater studies for more than 100 years (Anderson, 2005). As with chemical and isotopic tracers (Chapter 7), spatial or temporal trends in surface and subsurface temperatures can be used to infer rates of water movement. Temperature can be measure
Authors
Richard W. Healy

Hydrogeology of the Markagunt Plateau, Southwestern Utah

The Markagunt Plateau, in southwestern Utah, lies at an altitude of about 9,500 feet and is capped primarily by Quaternary-age basalt that overlies Eocene-age freshwater limestone of the Claron Formation. Over large parts of the Markagunt Plateau, dissolution of the Claron limestone and subsequent collapse of the overlying basalt have produced a terrain characterized by sinkholes as much as 1,000
Authors
Lawrence E. Spangler

Interpreting canopy water balance and fog screen observations: separating cloud water from wind-blown rainfall at two contrasting forest sites in Hawai'i

No abstract available.
Authors
Thomas W. Giambelluca, J. K. DeLay, M.A. Nullet, Martha A. Scholl, Stephen B. Gingerich

Isotope reference materials

Measurement of the same isotopically homogeneous sample by any laboratory worldwide should yield the same isotopic composition within analytical uncertainty. International distribution of light element isotopic reference materials by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology enable laboratories to achieve this goal.
Authors
Tyler B. Coplen

Large-scale laboratory testing of bedload-monitoring technologies: Overview of the StreamLab06 Experiments

A 3-month-long, large-scale flume experiment involving research and testing of selected conventional and surrogate bedload-monitoring technologies was conducted in the Main Channel at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory under the auspices of the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics. These experiments, dubbed StreamLab06, involved 25 researchers and volunteers from academia, government, and the
Authors
Jeffrey D. G. Marr, John R. Gray, Broderick E. Davis, Chris Ellis, Sara Johnson

Managing undesired and invading fishes

No abstract available.
Authors
Cindy S. Kolar, Walter R. Courtenay, Leo G. Nico