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.
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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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Toxicological responses to sublethal anticoagulant rodenticide exposure in free-flying hawks
An important component of assessing the hazards of anticoagulant rodenticides to non-target wildlife is observations in exposed free-ranging individuals. The objective of this study was to determine whether environmentally realistic, sublethal first-generation anticoagulant rodenticide (FGAR) exposures via prey can result in direct or indirect adverse effects to free-flying raptors. We offered bla
Authors
Nimish B. Vyas, Barnett A. Rattner, J. Michael Lockhart, Craig S. Hulse, Clifford P. Rice, Frank Kuncir, Kevin Kritz
Watching the Cryosphere thaw: Seismic monitoring of permafrost degradation using distributed acoustic sensing during a controlled heating experiment
Permafrost degradation is rapidly increasing in response to a warming Arctic climate, altering landscapes and damaging critical infrastructure. Solutions for monitoring permafrost thaw dynamics are essential to understand biogeochemical feedbacks as well as to issue warnings for hazardous geotechnical conditions. We investigate the feasibility of permafrost monitoring using permanently installed f
Authors
Feng Cheng, Nathaniel J. Lindsey, Valeriia Sobolevskaia, Shan Dou, Barry Freifeld, Todd Wood, Stephanie R. James, Anna M. Wagner, Jonathan B. Ajo-Franklin
N and P constrain C in ecosystems under climate change: Role of nutrient redistribution, accumulation, and stoichiometry
We use the Multiple Element Limitation (MEL) model to examine responses of twelve ecosystems to elevated carbon dioxide (CO2), warming, and 20% decreases or increases in precipitation. Ecosystems respond synergistically to elevated CO2, warming, and decreased precipitation combined because higher water-use efficiency with elevated CO2 and higher fertility with warming compensate for responses to d
Authors
Ed Rastetter, Bonnie Kwiatkowski, David Kicklighter, Audrey Barker Plotkin, Helene Genet, Jesse Nippert, Kimberly O’Keefe, Steven Perakis, Stephen Porder, Sarah Roley, Roger W. Ruess, Jonathan R. Thompson, William Wieder, Kevin WIlcox, Ruth Yanai
Hydrogeology and groundwater quality in the San Agustin Basin, New Mexico, 1975–2019
This report describes the findings of a U.S. Geological Survey study, completed in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, focused on better understanding the present-day (1975–2019) hydrogeology and groundwater quality of the San Agustin Basin in west-central New Mexico to support sustainable groundwater resource management. The basin hosts a relatively undeveloped basin-fill and alluvium
Authors
Jeff D. Pepin, Rebecca E. Travis, Johanna M. Blake, Alex Rinehart, Daniel Koning
Fundamental science and engineering questions in planetary cave exploration
Nearly half a century ago, two papers postulated the likelihood of lunar lava tube caves using mathematical models. Today, armed with an array of orbiting and fly-by satellites and survey instrumentation, we have now acquired cave data across our solar system—including the identification of potential cave entrances on the Moon, Mars, and at least six other planetary bodies. These discoveries gave
Authors
J. Judson Wynne, Timothy N. Titus, Ali-akbar Agha-Mohammadi, Armando Azua-Bustos, Penelope J. Boston, Pablo de León, Cansu Demirel-Floyd, Jo de Waele, Heather Jones, Michael J. Malaska, Ana Z. Miller, Haley M. Sapers, Francesco Sauro, Derek L. Sonderegger, Kyle Uckert, Uland Y. Wong, E. Calvin Alexander, Leroy Chiao, Glen E. Cushing, John DeDecker, Alberto G. Fairén, Amos Frumkin, Gary L. Harris, Michelle L. Kearney, Laura A. Kerber, Richard J. Léveillé, Kavya Manyapu, Matteo Massironi, John E. Mylroie, Bogdan P. Onac, Scott E. Parazynski, Charity M. Phillips-Lander, T. H. Prettyman, Dirk Schulze-Makuch, Robert V. Wagner, William L. Whittaker, Kaj E. Williams
Advances in the study and understanding of groundwater discharge to surface water
Groundwater discharge is vitally important for maintaining or restoring valuable ecosystems in surface water and at the underlying groundwater-surface-water ecotone. Detecting and quantifying groundwater discharge is challenging because rates of flow can be very small and difficult to measure, exchange is commonly highly heterogeneous both in space and time, and surface-water hydrodynamics can inf
Authors
Carlos Duque, Donald O. Rosenberry
Constructing a large-scale landslide database across heterogeneous environments using task-specific model updates
Preparation and mitigation efforts for widespread landslide hazards can be aided by a large-scale, well-labeled landslide inventory with high location accuracy. Recent smallscale studies for pixel-wise labeling of potential landslide areas in remotely-sensed images using deep learning (DL) showed potential but were based on data from very small, homogeneous regions with unproven model transferabil
Authors
Savinay Nagendra, Daniel Kifer, Benjamin B. Mirus, Te Pei, Kathryn Lawson, Srikanth Banagere Manjunatha, Weixin Li, Hien Nguyen, Tong Qiu, Sarah Tran, Chaopeng Shen
Global environmental changes more frequently offset than intensify detrimental effects of biological invasions
Human-induced abiotic global environmental changes (GECs) and the spread of nonnative invasive species are rapidly altering ecosystems. Understanding the relative and interactive effects of invasion and GECs is critical for informing ecosystem adaptation and management, but this information has not been synthesized. We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate effects of invasions, GECs, and their
Authors
Bianca Lopez, Jenica Allen, Jeffrey Dukes, Jonathan Lenoir, Montserrat Vila, Dana Blumenthal, Evelyn M. Beaury, Emily J. Fusco, Brittany B. Laginhas, Toni Lyn Morelli, Mitchell W. O’Neill, Cascade J. B. Sorte, Alberto Maceda-Veiga, Raj Whitlock, Bethany A. Bradley
#TheSmoreYouKnow and #emergencycute: A conceptual model on the use of humor by science agencies during crisis to create connection, empathy, and compassion
Studies from a variety of disciplines reveal that humor can be a useful method to reduce stress and increase compassion, connection, and empathy between agencies and people they serve during times of crisis. Despite this growing evidence base, humor's use during a geohazard (earthquake, volcanoes, landslides, and tsunami) to aid scientific agencies' crisis communication response has been rarely st
Authors
Sara McBride, Jessica L. Ball
Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources of the greater Taranaki Basin and East Coast Basin of New Zealand, 2020
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated means of 806 million barrels of oil and 17.0 trillion cubic feet of gas within the greater Taranaki Basin and East Coast Basin of New Zealand.
Authors
Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Marilyn Tennyson, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Cheryl A. Woodall, Phuong A. Le, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Ronald M. Drake
Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources of the Perth Basin, NW Shelf, Browse Basin, and Bonaparte Gulf Basin provinces of Western Australia, 2020
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 906 million barrels of oil and 132.8 trillion cubic feet of gas in four geologic provinces of Western Australia.
Authors
Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Thomas M. Finn, Phuong A. Le, Kristen R. Marra, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Ronald M. Drake
January 18, 2022, Red Hill synoptic groundwater-level survey, Hālawa area, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i
On January 18, 2022, groundwater levels were measured in selected wells in the Hālawa area, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i, constituting a synoptic groundwater-level survey (shortened herein to “synoptic survey”) of the area. Groundwater levels were measured mainly from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (times listed in Hawai‘i standard time) and provide a snapshot of groundwater levels during the survey period. Following
Authors
Rylen K. Nakama, Jackson N. Mitchell, Delwyn S. Oki