Publications
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.
Science Quality and Integrity
Science Quality and Integrity
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Mission Area Publications
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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Salvage using electrofishing methods caused minimal mortality of burrowed and emerged larval lampreys in dewatered habitats
ObjectiveHuman-induced dewatering of freshwater habitats causes mortality of larval lampreys (family Petromyzontidae). Salvage by electrofishing at dewatering events is assumed to reduce this mortality, but to our knowledge this assumption remains unassessed.MethodsWe estimated mortality of salvaged larval lampreys (Lampetra spp. and Pacific Lamprey Entosphenus tridentatus) within 24 h following c
Authors
Julianne E. Harris, Theresa L. Liedtke, Joseph J. Skalicky, Lisa K. Weiland
Uses of epistemic uncertainties in the USGS National Seismic Hazard Models
The need for US Geological Survey (USGS) National Seismic Hazard Models (NSHMs) to report estimates of epistemic uncertainties in the hazard (e.g. fractile hazard curves) in all forthcoming releases is increasing. With fractile hazard curves as potential new outputs from the USGS 2023 NSHM, a simultaneous need is to help end-users better understand these epistemic uncertainties and clarify their p
Authors
N. Simon Kwong, Kishor S. Jaiswal
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in groundwater from the Great Miami buried-valley aquifer, southwestern Ohio, 2019–20
Groundwater samples were collected during 2019 and 2020 from 23 wells in the Great Miami buried-valley aquifer (GM-BVA) in southwestern Ohio by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Miami Conservancy District, Dayton, Ohio, to determine concentrations of selected per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The GM-BVA is a glacial outwash and alluvial fill aquifer that is the sole sou
Authors
Paul M. Buszka, Brian E. Mailot, Neal A. Mathes
An assessment of the relation between metal contaminated sediment and freshwater mussel populations in the Big River, Missouri
The Big River in southeast Missouri drains the largest historical lead mining area in the United States. Ongoing releases of metal contaminated sediments into this river are well documented and are suspected of suppressing freshwater mussel populations. We characterized the spatial extent of metal contaminated sediments and evaluated its relationship with mussel populations in the Big River. Musse
Authors
Andrew D Roberts, John M. Besser, Josh Hundley, Dave Mosby, Amanda E. Rosenberger, Kristen L. Bouska, Bryan Simmons, Stephen E. McMurray, Scott Faiman, Leslie Lueckenhoff
Quantifying stream-loss recovery in a spring using dual-tracer injections in the Snake Creek drainage, Great Basin National Park, Nevada, USA
Simultaneous short-pulse injections of two tracers (sodium bromide [Br–] and fluorescein dye) were made in a losing reach of Snake Creek in Great Basin National Park, Nevada, USA, to evaluate the quantity of stream loss through permeable carbonates that resurfaces at a spring approximately 10 km down drainage. A revised hydrogeologic cross section for a possible flow path of the infiltrated Snake
Authors
C. Eric Humphrey, Philip M. Gardner, Lawrence E. Spangler, Nora C. Nelson, Laura Toran, D. Kip Solomon
Living with wildfire in Park County, Colorado 2021 data report
Wildfire affects many types of communities and is a particular concern for communities in the wildland urban interface (WUI), such as those of Park County, Colorado. The core intent of this project was to provide evidence to support the Platte Canyon Fire Protection District (PCFPD) and Fire Adapted Bailey in their wildfire mitigation and education programming. This report describes wildfire risk
Authors
Hannah Brenkert-Smith, Patricia A. Champ, Abby Elizabeth McConnell, Jamie Gomez, Christopher M. Barth, James Meldrum, Colleen Donovan, Carolyn Wagner, Julia Goolsby
Fault roughness at seismogenic depths and links to earthquake behavior
Fault geometry affects the initiation, propagation, and cessation of earthquake rupture, as well as, potentially, the statistical behavior of earthquake sequences. We analyze 18,250 (−0.27 < M < 4.4) earthquakes of the 2016–2019 Cahuilla, California, swarm and, for the first time, use these high‐resolution earthquake locations to map, in detail, the roughness across an active fault surface at dept
Authors
Elizabeth S. Cochran, Morgan T. Page, Nicholas van der Elst, Zachary E. Ross, Daniel T. Trugman
Increasing hypoxia on global coral reefs under ocean warming
Ocean deoxygenation is predicted to threaten marine ecosystems globally. However, current and future oxygen concentrations and the occurrence of hypoxic events on coral reefs remain underexplored. Here, using autonomous sensor data to explore oxygen variability and hypoxia exposure at 32 representative reef sites, we reveal that hypoxia is already pervasive on many reefs. Eighty-four percent of re
Authors
Ariel K. Pezner, Travis A. Courtney, Hannah Barkley, Wen-Chen Chou, Hui-Chuan Chu, Samanth M. Clements, Tyler Cyronak, Michael D. DeGrandpre, Samuel A.H. Kekuewa, David I Kline, Yi-Bei Liang, Todd R. Martz, Satoshi Mitarai, Heather N. Page, Max S. Rintoul, Jennifer E. Smith, Keryea Soong, Yuichiro Takeshita, Martin Tresguerres, Yi Wei, Kimberly K. Yates, Andreas J Andersson
A 600-kyr reconstruction of deep Arctic seawater δ18O from benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotopes and ostracode Mg/Ca paleothermometry
The oxygen isotopic composition of benthic foraminiferal tests (δ18Ob) is one of the pre-eminent tools for correlating marine sediments and interpreting past terrestrial ice volume and deep-ocean temperatures. Despite the prevalence of δ18Ob applications to marine sediment cores over the Quaternary, its use is limited in the Arctic Ocean because of low benthic foraminiferal abundances, challenges
Authors
Jesse Farmer, Katherine Keller, Robert Poirier, Gary S. Dwyer, Morgan Schaller, Helen K Coxall, Matt O'Regan, Thomas M. Cronin
Editorial: Volcanic forecasting, crisis management, and risk communication
Volcanic eruptions intermittently punctuate periods of repose at volcanic centers and fields. Forecasting the timing, style, distribution, and magnitude of these eruptions is difficult, because eruptive activity varies over time, commonly in an irregular way. Furthermore, the impacts of eruptions can include loss of lives, property damage, and social and economic disturbance, where every eruption
Authors
Supriyati Andreastuti, Heather M. Wright, Karen Fontijn, Victoria Miller
Geospatial standard operating procedures of the Chesapeake Bay Program
Introduction The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) has operated a geographic information system (GIS) program since the early 1990s to address the established and growing need for and use of geospatial data, maps, and analysis within the CBP Partnership. This report is intended to detail the standard operating procedures of the CBP GIS program and address the quality assurance, quality control, and oth
Authors
John C. Wolf, Labeeb Ahmed, Peter Claggett, Andrew Fitch, Frederick Irani, Sarah McDonald, David Strong, Renee Thompson, Zhaoying Wei
Crossing the threshold: Invasive grasses inhibit forest restoration on Hawaiian islands
Forest removal for livestock grazing is a striking example of human-caused state change leading to a stable, undesirable invasive grass system that is resistant to restoration efforts. Understanding which factors lead to resilience to the alternative grass state can greatly benefit managers when planning forest restoration. We address how thresholds of grass cover and seed rain might influence for
Authors
Evan M Rehm, Carla M. D'Antonio, Stephanie G. Yelenik