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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.

Filter Total Items: 171237

Seismic multi-hazard and impact estimation via causal inference from satellite imagery

Rapid post-earthquake reconnaissance is important for emergency responses and rehabilitation by providing accurate and timely information about secondary hazards and impacts, including landslide, liquefaction, and building damage. Despite the extensive collection of geospatial data and satellite images, existing physics-based and data-driven methods suffer from low estimation performance due to th
Authors
Susu Xu, Joshua Dimasaka, David J. Wald, Hae Young Noh

Book review: Quasispecies as a unifying concept in population dynamics

The quasispecies concept had two independent origins. One source was the theoretical ideas of Manfred Eigen and Peter Schuster in the 1970s. Studying the self-organization and evolution of primitive RNA molecules, they defined quasispecies as a distribution of mutant viral genomes generated by the mutation-selection process. In particular, the quasispecies nucleotide distribution consists of a sin
Authors
Don DeAngelis

Five year analyses of vegetation response to restoration using rock detention structures in southeastern Arizona, United States

Rock detention structures (RDS) are used in restoration of riparian areas around the world. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of RDS installation on vegetation in terms of species abundance and composition. We present the results from 5 years of annual vegetation sampling which focused on short term non-woody vegetation response within the riparian channel at 3 restoration sites
Authors
Natalie R. Wilson, Laura M. Norman

Mapping the probability of freshwater algal blooms with various spectral indices and sources of training data

Algal blooms are pervasive in many freshwater environments and can pose risks to the health and safety of humans and other organisms. However, monitoring and tracking of potentially harmful blooms often relies on in-person observations by the public. Remote sensing has proven useful in augmenting in situ observations of algal concentration, but many hurdles hinder efficient application by end user
Authors
Tyler Victor King, Stephen Hundt, Konrad Hafen, Victoria G. Stengel, Scott D. Ducar

Wetland occupancy by duck broods in cropland-dominated landscapes of the United States Prairie Pothole Region

The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) is globally important for breeding waterfowl but has been altered via wetland drainage and grassland conversion to accommodate agricultural land use. Thus, understanding the ecology of waterfowl in these highly modified landscapes is essential for their conservation. Brood occurrence is the cumulative outcome of key life-history events including pair formation and
Authors
Blake J Mitchell, Catrina V Terry, Kevin M Ringelman, Kaylan M Kemink, Michael J. Anteau, Adam K. Janke

Bottled water contaminant exposures and potential human effects

Bottled water (BW) consumption in the United States and globally has increased amidst heightened concern about environmental contaminant exposures and health risks in drinking water supplies, despite a paucity of directly comparable, environmentally-relevant contaminant exposure data for BW. This study provides insight into exposures and cumulative risks to human health from inorganic/organic/micr
Authors
Paul M. Bradley, Kristin M. Romanok, Kelly L. Smalling, Michael J. Focazio, Nicola Evans, Suzanne C. Fitzpatrick, Carrie E Givens, Stephanie Gordon, James L. Gray, Emily M. Green, Dale W. Griffin, Michelle Hladik, Leslie K. Kanagy, John T. Lisle, Keith Loftin, R. Blaine McCleskey, Elizabeth Medlock-Kakaley, Ana Navas-Acien, David A. Roth, Paul F. South, Christopher P. Weis

Declines in reproductive condition of male largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) following seasonal exposure to estrogenic endocrine-disrupting compounds

Reproductive abnormalities, that could lead to possible effects at the population level, have been observed in wild fish throughout the United States, with high prevalence in largemouth bass (LMB; Micropterus salmoides) and smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu). Estrone (E1) and atrazine (ATR) are common environmental contaminants often associated with agricultural land use. 17alpha-ethinylestrad
Authors
Jessica Kristin Leet, Cathy A. Richter, Robert Gale, Donald E. Tillitt, Jill Jenkins

Groundwater quality and geochemistry of the western wet gas part of the Marcellus Shale Oil and Gas Play in West Virginia

Thirty rural residential water wells in the wet gas region of the Marcellus Shale oil and gas play in northwestern West Virginia were sampled by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 2018, in cooperation with West Virginia State agencies, to analyze for a range of water-quality constituents, including major ions, trace metals, radionuclides, bacteria, and methane and other dissolved hydrocarbon gas
Authors
Mark D. Kozar, Mitchell A. McAdoo, Karl B. Haase

BFS—A non-linear, state-space model for baseflow separation and prediction

Streamflow in rivers can be separated into a relatively steady component, or baseflow, that represents reliably available surface water and more dynamic components of runoff that typically represent a large fraction of total streamflow. A spatially aggregated numerical time-series model was developed to separate the baseflow component of a streamflow time-series using a state-space framework in wh
Authors
Christopher P. Konrad

Climate change and ‘alien species in National Parks’: Revisited

The US National Park Service mission includes conserving native species and historical landscapes ‘unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations’. However, humans have increased the introduction of non-native species that can become invasive and which have harmful impacts on native species and landscapes. We revisit two previous papers, ‘Alien Species in National Parks: Drawing Lines in Space
Authors
Catherine S. Jarnevich, Terri Hogan, Jennifer Sieracki, Christine Lipsky, John Wullschleger

Genetic architecture and evolution of color variation in American black bears

Color variation is a frequent evolutionary substrate for camouflage in small mammals, but the underlying genetics and evolutionary forces that drive color variation in natural populations of large mammals are mostly unexplained. The American black bear, Ursus americanus (U. americanus), exhibits a range of colors including the cinnamon morph, which has a similar color to the brown bear, U. arctos,
Authors
E. Puckett, I. S. Davis, D. C. Harper, K. Wakamatsu, G. Battu, J. L. Belant, D. E. Beyer, C. Carpenter, A. P. Crupi, M. Davidson, C. S. DePerno, N. Forman, N. L. Fowler, D. L. Garshelis, N. Gould, K. Gunther, Mark A. Haroldson, S. Ito, David. M Kocka, C. Lackey, R. Leahy, C. Lee-Roney, T. Lewis, A. Lutto, K. McGowan, C. Olfenbuttel, M. Orlando, A. Platt, M. D. Pollard, M. Ramaker, Heather Reich, Jaime L. Sajecki, S. K. Sell, J. Strules, S. Thompson, Frank T. van Manen, Craig Whitman, R. Williamson, F. Winslow, C. B. Kaelin, M. S. Marks, G. S. Barsh

Spatial and temporal distribution of sinuous ridges in southeastern Terra Sabaea and the northern region of Hellas Planitia, Mars

Sinuous ridges are an important yet understudied component of Mars' hydrologic history. We have produced a map of sinuous ridges, valleys and channels, and tectonic ridges across southeastern Terra Sabaea and into northern Hellas Planitia (10°-45° S, 35°-80° E) using a CTX mosaic. Although we mapped different types of ridges and negative relief features, the focus of this paper are the sinuous rid
Authors
Amber Gullikson, Ryan Anderson, Rebecca M.E. Williams