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.
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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Tracking anadromous fish over successive freshwater migrations reveals the influence of tagging effect, previous success and abiotic factors on upstream passage over barriers
Predicting and mitigating the impact of anthropogenic barriers on migratory fish requires an understanding of the individual and environmental factors that influence barrier passage. Here, the upstream spawning migrations of iteroparous twaite shad Alosa fallax were investigated over three successive spawning migrations in a highly fragmented river basin using passive acoustic telemetry (n=184). M
Authors
Peter Davies, J. Robert Britton, Theodore R. Castro-Santos, Charles Crundwell, Jamie R. Dodd, Andrew D. Nunn, Randolph Velterop, Jonathan D. Bolland
Imaging the magmatic plumbing of the Clear Lake Volcanic Field using 3-D gravity inversions
The Quaternary Clear Lake Volcanic Field (CLVF) in the Northern California Coast Range is the youngest of a string of northward-younging volcanic centers in the state. The CLVF is located within the broad San Andreas Transform Fault System and has been active intermittently for ∼2 million years. Heat beneath the CLVF supports The Geysers, one of the largest producing geothermal fields in the world
Authors
Michael Albert Mitchell, Jared R. Peacock, Seth D. Burgess
Variation in isotopic niche partitioning between adult roseate and common terns in the Northwest Atlantic
Co-occurring species with similar resource requirements often partition ecological niches at different spatial and temporal scales. In the Northwest Atlantic (NWA), federally endangered roseate terns Sterna dougallii nest almost exclusively in coastal island colonies alongside common terns S. hirundo. Roseate terns are prey specialists compared to common terns, which are opportunistic generalists;
Authors
Henry Legett, Jeffrey Lucas, Elizabeth Craig, Michelle Staudinger
A review of lethal thermal tolerance among freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionida) within the North American faunal region
Freshwater mussels of the order Unionida are currently one of the most imperiled groups of organisms in the North American faunal region. Accurate risk assessments and development of effective management strategies for remaining populations require knowledge of thermal limits in the face of increasing surface water temperature due to climate change and various anthropogenic factors. We conducted a
Authors
Kaelyn J. Fogelman, Jennifer M. Archambault, Elise R. Irwin, Maureen Walsh, Shannon K. Brewer, James A. Stoeckel
Flood warning toolset for the Sabinal River near Utopia, Texas
IntroductionFloods are one of the most frequent and expensive natural disasters that occur across the United States. Rapid, high-water events that occur in local areas—flash floods—are especially difficult for emergency managers to predict and provide advance warning to the public, and insufficient data can hamper postflood recovery efforts. Central Texas is hilly, and it is known as a “flash floo
Authors
Namjeong Choi
City-scale geothermal energy everywhere to support renewable resilience – A transcontinental cooperation
Cities have important and varying incentives to transform their energy sector to all-electric with low carbon emissions. However, they often encounter a number of impediments when attempting to implement such a change. For example, while urban areas have the highest energy demand-density, cities often lack the space for installing additional energy generation and/or long-duration energy storage sy
Authors
Gregor Goetzl, Erick R. Burns, Andrew J. Stumpf, Yu-Feng Lin, Amanda Kolker, Maciej R. Klonowski, Cornelia Steiner, Ryan Cain Cahalan, Jeff D. Pepin
Development and application of a coastal change likelihood assessment for the northeast region, Maine to Virginia
Coastal resources are increasingly affected by erosion, extreme weather events, sea level rise, tidal flooding, and other potential hazards related to climate change. These hazards have varying effects on coastal landscapes because of the compounding of geologic, oceanographic, ecologic, and socioeconomic factors that exist at a given location. An assessment framework is introduced in this report
Authors
Elizabeth A. Pendleton, Erika Lentz, Travis K. Sterne, Rachel E. Henderson
Experimental manipulation of soil-surface albedo alters phenology and growth of Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass)
PurposeThe sensitivity of wildland plants to temperature can be directly measured using experimental manipulations of temperature in situ. We show that soil surface temperature and plant density (per square meter) have a significant impact on the germination, growth, and phenology of Bromus tectorum L., cheatgrass, a short-statured invasive winter-annual grass, and assess a new experimental temper
Authors
Toby M. Maxwell, Matthew Germino, Seth Romero, Lauren M. Porensky, Dana M. Blumenthal, Cynthia S. Brown, Peter B. Adler
Years of magma intrusion primed Kīlauea Volcano (Hawai'i) for the 2018 eruption: Evidence from olivine diffusion chronometry and monitoring data
The mechanisms that led to the exceptionally large Kīlauea 2018 eruption are still poorly understood and actively debated. External processes such as rainfall events or flank sliding have been proposed to play a triggering role. Here, we present field, geophysical, and petrological observations to show that internal changes within the magmatic plumbing system most likely led to the eruption. Chemi
Authors
Adrien J. Mourey, Tom Shea, Fidel Costa, Brian Shiro, Ryan J. Longman
Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program—2022 year in review
Established in 1935, the CRU program is a unique cooperative partnership among State Fish and Wildlife agencies, host universities, Wildlife Management Institute, U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Designed to meet the scientific needs of natural resource management agencies and to produce trained wildlife management professionals, the program has grown from the origin
Authors
Elise R. Irwin, Donald E. Dennerline, J. Barry Grand, Jonathan R. Mawdsley
Modeling flow and water quality in reservoir and river reaches of the Mahoning River Basin, Ohio
Executive SummaryThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is considering changes to the management of water surface elevation in four lakes in the Mahoning River Basin. These changes would affect the timing and amounts of water released to the Mahoning River and could affect the water quality of those releases. To provide information on possible water-quality effects from these operational changes
Authors
Annett B. Sullivan, Gabrielle M. Georgetson, Christina E. Urbanczyk, Gabriel W. Gordon, Susan A. Wherry, William B. Long
Pollen records, postglacial: Southeastern North America
Pollen records from the unglaciated southeastern region of North America provide an overview of biogeographic changes associated with vegetational migration northward following the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Changing insolation during the Holocene affected forest composition on the Coastal Plain, and rising sea level controlled the distribution of marsh and forested wetlands throughout t
Authors
Debra A. Willard