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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

Earthquakes, PAGER

PAGER, short for Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response, is an automated system developed and run by the US Geological Survey (USGS) that produces information concerning the impact of significant earthquakes around the world within approximately 20 min of any magnitude 5.5 or larger event. PAGER rapidly assesses earthquake impacts by combining populations exposed to estimates of shak
Authors
David J. Wald, Kishor S. Jaiswal, Kristin Marano, Mike Hearne

Chemical composition of formation water in shale and tight reservoirs: A basin-scale perspective

No abstract available.
Authors
Yousif Kharaka, Kathleen Gans, Elisabeth Rowan, James Thordsen, Christopher H. Conaway, Madalyn S. Blondes, Mark A. Engle

Reactive transport modeling to understand attenuation of arsenic concentrations in anoxic groundwater during Fe(II) oxidation by nitrate

A previously published field-experimental investigation showed that injection of nitrate in anoxic groundwater that contained aqueous and sediment-bound Fe(II) diminished concentrations of As(V) and As(III) to below drinking-water limits. In the current study, reactive transport modeling confirmed that the observed attenuation was consistent with oxidation of Fe(II) by nitrate, leading to precipit
Authors
Douglas B. Kent, Richard L. Smith, James Jamieson, John K. Böhlke, Deborah A. Repert, Henning Prommer

Toward a theory of connectivity among depressional wetlands of the great plains

Functions of inland, freshwater depressional wetlands of the Great Plains are driven by natural disturbance in the form of fluctuating water levels or shifts between wet and dry ecological states. The geographically isolated prairie potholes and playas form broad-scale systems or networks that support biodiversity and provide ecological goods and services. Anthropogenic disturbance, primarily in t
Authors
Gene Albanese, David A. Haukos

Context-dependent effects of livestock grazing in deserts of western North America

This chapter provides a general review of grazing disturbance by large mammalian grazers and the role of ecological context in moderating its effects, with emphasis on North American deserts. It discusses the ecological consequences of cessation of livestock grazing and present a case study from the Mojave Desert, United States of America. A primary effect of grazing is selective removal and inges
Authors
Kari E. Veblen, Erik A. Beever, David A. Pyke

Introduction: Defining and interpreting ecological disturbances

Within the field of ecology, disturbance can be defined as a physical force, agent, or process, either abiotic or biotic, causing a perturbation or stress, to an ecological component or system, relative to a specified reference state and/or system. Disturbance drive ecosystems, and our understanding of how disturbances interact with biological diversity and scales of space, time, and ecological co
Authors
Erik A. Beever, Suresh Andrew Sethi, Suzanne Prange, Dominick DellaSala

The Life of P: A biogeochemical and sociopolitical challenge in the Everglades

• Phosphorus (P) is an essential element for all life forms, yet to understand its life cycle and impact we need to grasp not only the biogeochemical life of P, but also how P intersects with human activities and values. • Phosphorus is the limiting nutrient in the oligotrophic Everglades ecosystem. Thus, the anthropogenic addition of P to the landscape and its subsequent transport, transformation
Authors
Victor H. Rivera-Monroy, Jessica Cattelino, Jeffrey R Wozniak, Katrina Schwartz, Gregory Noe, Edward Castaneda-Moya, Gregory R Koch

Applying the Watershed Approach to Urban Ecosystems in Baltimore

No abstract available.
Authors
Peter Groffman, Laurence Band, Kenneth Belt, Neil Bettez, Aditi Bhaskar, Edward Doheny, Jonathan Duncan, Sujay Kaushal, Emma Rosi-Marshall, Claire Welty