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Browse more than 160,000 publications authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS.  Publications available are: USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and more.

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Mission Area Publications

We are focused on some of the most significant issues society faces, and our science is making a substantial contribution to the well-being of the Nation and the world. Learn more about the major topics our research covers and the programs focused on those topics.

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Filter Total Items: 171207

Assessing exposure of northern Utah communities to dust from the contaminated and dynamic Great Salt Lake playa

No abstract available.
Authors
Annie L. Putman, Molly Ann Blakowski, Morgan C. McDonnell, Destry N DiViesti, Diego P. Fernandez, Patrick Cullen Longley, Daniel Jones
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Colorado Water Science Center, Utah Water Science Center

Evaluating oil and gas industry two-dimensional multichannel seismic data for use in near-surface assessment of geologic framework and potential marine minerals resources

Marine seismic reflection data acquired across the Gulf of Mexico during oil and gas exploration are available to the public through an online database archive. The data are archived as two-dimensional multichannel seismic data in two digital formats. The formats include image files in portable document format (PDF), and binary files in industry standard Society for Exploration Geophysicists revis

Authors
James G. Flocks, Arnell S. Forde, Stephen T. Bosse
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Comprehensive water-quality trend analysis for selected sites and constituents in the International Souris River Basin, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada, and North Dakota, United States, 1970–2020

The Souris River Basin is an international basin in southeast Saskatchewan, north-central North Dakota, and southwest Manitoba. Sustained exceedances of water-quality objectives for total phosphorus, sodium, sulfate, total dissolved solids, and total iron have been reported since the late 1990s at the two binational sites on the Souris River (Souris River near Sherwood, North Dakota [U.S. Geologic
Authors
Rochelle A. Nustad, Wyatt S. Tatge
By
Dakota Water Science Center

Browsers or Grazers? New insights into feral burro diet using a non-invasive sampling and plant DNA metabarcoding approach

By selecting certain plants for consumption, ungulates (hoofed mammals) shape ecosystems and influence which plant species are present in their habitats. We investigated the summer diets of non-native feral burros in two ecosystems: a subtropical Sonoran Desert in Arizona and a temperate juniper shrubland in Utah, the United States. In June and July of 2019, we gathered 50 fecal samples from both
Authors
Saeideh Esmaeili, Kathryn A. Schoenecker, Sarah King
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Mechanisms of water-rock interaction and implications for remediating flooded mine workings elucidated from environmental tracers, stable isotopes, and rare earth elements

Contamination from acid mine drainage affects ecosystems and usability of groundwater for domestic and municipal purposes. The Captain Jack Superfund Site outside of Ward, Boulder County, Colorado, USA, hosts a draining mine adit that was remediated through emplacement of a hydraulic bulkhead to preclude acid mine drainage from entering nearby Lefthand Creek. During impoundment of water within the
Authors
Connor P. Newman, Katherine Walton-Day, Robert L. Runkel, Richard Wilkin
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Colorado Water Science Center

Societal benefits of floodplains in the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River watersheds: Sediment, nutrient, and flood regulation ecosystem services

Floodplains provide critical ecosystem services to people by regulating floodwaters and retaining sediments and nutrients. Geospatial analyses, field data collection, and modeling were integrated to quantify a portfolio of services that floodplains provide to downstream communities within the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River watersheds. The portfolio of services included floodplain sediment and n

Authors
Kristina G. Hopkins, Jacqueline Sage Welles, Emily J. Pindilli, Gregory Noe, Peter Claggett, Labeeb Ahmed, Marina Metes
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Pennsylvania Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

The spatial distribution of debris flows in relation to observed rainfall anomalies: Insights from the Dolan Fire, California

A range of hydrologic responses can be observed in steep, recently burned terrain, which makes predicting the spatial distribution of large debris flows challenging. Studies from rainfall-induced landslides in unburned areas show evidence of hydroclimatic tuning of landslide triggering, such that the spatial distribution of events is best predicted by the observed rainfall anomaly relative to clim
Authors
David B. Cavagnaro, Scott W. McCoy, Matthew A. Thomas, Jaime Kostelnik, Donald N. Lindsay
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Landslide Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Bedrock erosion by debris flows at Chalk Cliffs, Colorado, USA: Implications for bedrock channel evolution

Debris flow erosion into bedrock helps to set the pace of mountain denudation, but there are few empirical observations of this process. We studied the effects of debris flows on bedrock erosion using Structure-From-Motion photogrammetry and multiple real-time monitoring measurements. We found that the distribution of bedrock erosion across the channel cross-section could be generalized as an expo
Authors
Francis K. Rengers, Jason W. Kean, Jeffrey A. Coe, Megan Hanson, Joel Smith
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Landslide Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Groundwater and petroleum

No abstract available.
Authors
Yousif Kharaka, Brian Hitchon, Jeffrey S. Hanor
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Ground‐motion variability from kinematic rupture models and the implications for nonergodic probabilistic seismic hazard analysis

The variability of earthquake ground motions has a strong control on probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA), particularly for the low frequencies of exceedance used for critical facilities. We use a crossed mixed‐effects model to partition the variance components from simulated ground motions of Mw 7 earthquakes on the Salt Lake City segment of the Wasatch fault zone. Total variability of si
Authors
Grace Alexandra Parker, Morgan P. Moschetti, Eric M. Thompson
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Earthquake Science Center, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Runout model evaluation based on back-calculation of building damage

We evaluated the ability of three debris-flow runout models (RAMMS, FLO2D and D-Claw) to predict the number of damaged buildings in simulations of the 9 January 2019 Montecito, California, debris-flow event. Observations of building damage after the event were combined with OpenStreetMap building footprints to construct a database of all potentially impacted buildings. At the estimated event volum
Authors
Katherine R. Barnhart, Jason W. Kean
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Landslide Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Recovery Activities

Forecasting the inundation of postfire debris flows

In the semi-arid regions of the western United States, postfire debris flows are typically runoff generated. The U.S. Geological Survey has been studying the mechanisms of postfire debris-flow initiation for multiple decades to generate operational models for forecasting the timing, location, and magnitude of postfire debris flows. Here we discuss challenges and progress for extending operational
Authors
Katherine R. Barnhart, Ryan P Jones, David L. George, Francis K. Rengers, Jason W. Kean
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Landslide Hazards Program, Volcano Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Volcano Science Center