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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

Pliocene environments

The Pliocene spans the interval of Earth history from ca. 5.3 to 1.8 million years ago (Ma). Although details are still debated there is much evidence from continental and oceanic locations indicating that conditions from 5.3 to about 3.0 Ma were often warmer than in modern times in mid- and high latitudes and that climate variability was subdued compared to the Pleistocene. Millennial-scale early
Authors
R. Z. Poore

Uranium(VI) release from contaminated vadose zone sediments: Estimation of potential contributions from dissolution and desorption

A key difficulty in developing accurate, science-based conceptual models for remediation of contaminated field sites is the proper accounting of multiple coupled geochemical and hydrologic processes. An example of such a difficulty is the separation of desorption and dissolution processes in releasing contaminants from sediments to groundwaters; very few studies are found in the literature that at
Authors
Deborah L. Bond, James A. Davis, John M. Zachara

Comparison of flood lavas on Earth and Mars

Flood lavas, by definition, cover vast areas in great sheets of lava, without the construction of major edifices (e.g., Geikie, 1880; Washington, 1922; Tyrrell, 1937; Self et al., 1997). The flat terrain that flood lavas produce has led to the term “plateau volcanism” to be used as a synonym for flood volcanism. In addition, the classic erosion pattern of flood lavas leaves a series of topographic
Authors
Laszlo P. Keszthelyi, Alfred S. McEwen

Revisiting submarine mass movements along the U.S. Atlantic Continental Margin: Implications for tsunami hazards

Interest in the generation of tsunamis by submarine mass movements has warranted a reassessment of their distribution and the nature of submarine landslides offshore of the eastern U.S. The recent acquisition and analysis of multibeam bathymetric data over most of this continental slope and rise provides clearer view into the extent and style of mass movements on this margin. Debris flows appear t
Authors
J.D. Chaytor, D. C. Twichell, Uri S. ten Brink, B.J. Buczkowski, B.D. Andrews

Overview of issues in subsurface and landfill microbiology

To date, the majority of evidence indicates that most subsurface environments possess climax ecological communities that are well adapted to the environment in which they live. Like their counterparts on the surface, subsurface ecosystems are characterized by a high degree of microbiological diversity, they possess trophic structure, and they exhibit material cycling and energy transfer. Members o
Authors
Ronald W. Harvey, Joseph M. Suflita, Michael K. McInerney, Aaron L. Mills

Integrating hydrologic and geophysical data to constrain coastal surficial aquifer processes at multiple spatial and temporal scales

Since 1997, repeated, coincident geophysical surveys and extensive hydrologic studies in shallow monitoring wells have been used to study static and dynamic processes associated with surface water-groundwater interaction at a range of spatial scales at the estuarine and ocean boundaries of an undeveloped, permeable barrier island in the Georgia part of the U.S. South Atlantic Bight. Because geophy
Authors
Gregory M. Schultz, Carolyn Ruppel, Patrick Fulton

Introduction and background

No abstract available. 
Authors
R. Harris, David P. Krabbenhoft, M. Murray, R.J. Reash, T. Saltman, R. Murray

Transport of microorganisms in the terrestrial subsurface: In situ and laboratory methods

This chapter describes and discusses laboratory and field techniques for studying microbial transport behavior in aquifer materials and model porous media. Changes in ionic strength (I) during transport studies may occur inadvertently as a result of using halides as conservative tracers and may lead to density-induced sinking of the tracer cloud. Substantive increases in I as a result of injection
Authors
Ronald W. Harvey, Hauke Harms, Lee L. Landkamer

The ABCs of nest survival: Theory and application from a biostatistical perspective

No abstract available.
Authors
Dennis M. Heisey, Terry L. Shaffer, Gary C. White

Biogeochemistry of aquifer systems

Many studies have examined the differences in bacterial numbers, composition, and activity between groundwater and sediment samples. The majority of the literature has suggested higher percentages of attached bacteria than of unattached bacteria in aquifer systems, including in pristine aquifers and in aquifers contaminated with petroleum, creosote, sewage, and landfill leachate. In studies of aqu
Authors
Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, J.V. Weiss