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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Methods of analysis—Determination of pesticides in filtered water and suspended sediment using liquid chromatography- and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry
The widespread application of pesticides in agricultural and urban areas leads to their presence in surface waters. Presence of these biologically active chemicals in environmental waters potentially has adverse effects on nontarget organisms. To better understand the environmental fate of these contaminants, a robust method to capture chemicals with wide-ranging physicochemical properties has bee
Authors
Michael S. Gross, Corey J. Sanders, Matthew D. De Parsia, Michelle L. Hladik
Short-term sediment dispersal on a large retreating coastal river delta via 234Th and 7Be sediment geochronology: The Mississippi River Delta Front
Many Mississippi River Delta studies have shown recent declines in fluvial sediment load from the river and associated land loss. In contrast, recent sedimentary processes on the subaqueous delta are less documented. To help address this knowledge gap, multicores were collected offshore from the three main river outlets at water depths of 25–280 m in June 2017 just after the peak river discharge p
Authors
Andrew Courtois, Samuel J. Bentley, Jillian Maloney, Kehui Xu, Jason Chaytor, Ioannis Y. Georgiou, Michael Miner, Jeffery Obelcz, Navid H. Jafari, Melanie Damour
Predicting the spatial distribution of wintering golden eagles to inform full annual cycle conservation in western North America
Wildlife conservation strategies focused on one season or population segment may fail to adequately protect populations, especially when a species’ habitat preferences vary among seasons, age-classes, geographic regions, or other factors. Conservation of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) is an example of such a complex scenario, in which the distribution, habitat use, and migratory strategies of t
Authors
Z. Wallace, Bryan Bedrosian, J Dunk, David W. LaPlante, Brian Woodbridge, B. Simth, Jessi L. Brown, Todd Lickfett, Katherine Gura, D. Bittner, R. Crandall, Robert Domenech, Todd E. Katzner, K. Kritz, S. Lewis, M. Lockhart, T. Miller, K. Quint, A. Sheading, S. Slater, D. Stahlecker
Streamflow permanence in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
IntroductionStreams that flow throughout summer (“permanent” streams) provide critical habitat for aquatic species and serve as an important water supply. Streams that go dry seasonally or only flow after rainfall or snowmelt are a natural feature of mountain systems, including Mount Rainier National Park. However, in years with substantially less than normal snowfall, like 2015, more streams go d
Authors
Kristin Jaeger
Mineral commodity summaries 2024
Each mineral commodity chapter of the 2024 edition of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries (MCS) includes information on events, trends, and issues for each mineral commodity as well as discussions and tabular presentations on domestic industry structure, Government programs, tariffs, 5-year salient statistics, and world production, reserves, and resources. The MCS is the
Chytrid infections exhibit historical spread and contemporary seasonality in a declining stream-breeding frog
Species with extensive geographical ranges pose special challenges to assessing drivers of wildlife disease, necessitating collaborative and large-scale analyses. The imperilled foothill yellow-legged frog (Rana boylii) inhabits a wide geographical range and variable conditions in rivers of California and Oregon (USA), and is considered threatened by the pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd
Authors
A.M. Belasen, R.A. Peek, A.J. Adams, I.D. Russell, M.E. De León, Michael J. Adams, J. Bettaso, K.G.H. Breedveld, A. Catenazzi, C.P. Dillingham, Daniel A. Grear, Brian J. Halstead, P.G. Johnson, Patrick M. Kleeman, M.S. Koo, C.W. Koppl, J.D. Lauder, G. Padgett-Flohr, J. Piovia-Scott, K.L. Pope, V. Vredenburg, M. Westphal, K. Wiseman, S.J. Kupferberg
Eggshell thickness and egg morphometrics in five songbird species from the Central Valley, California
Avian eggshell thickness is an important life history metric in birds and has broad applications across disciplines ranging from animal behavior to toxicology. Empirical eggshell thickness values for songbirds (Order Passeriformes) are under-represented in the literature due to the difficulty of measuring smaller eggs using traditional methods. We used a Hall-effect thickness gauge to measure eggs
Authors
Carley R. Schacter, Sarah H. Peterson, C. Alex Hartman, Mark P. Herzog, Josh T. Ackerman
Earthquake rupture forecast model construction for the 2023 U.S. 50‐State National Seismic Hazard Model Update: Central and eastern U.S. fault‐based source model
As part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s 2023 50‐State National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM), we make modest revisions and additions to the central and eastern U.S. (CEUS) fault‐based seismic source model that result in locally substantial hazard changes. The CEUS fault‐based source model was last updated as part of the 2014 NSHM and considered new information from the Seismic Source Characterizatio
Authors
Allison Shumway, Mark D. Petersen, Gabriel Toro, Peter M. Powers, Jason M. Altekruse, Julie A Herrick, Kenneth S. Rukstales, Jessica Ann Thompson Jobe, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Demi Leafar Girot
Illegal dumping of oil and gas wastewater alters arid soil microbial communities
The Permian Basin, underlying southeast New Mexico and west Texas, is one of the most productive oil and gas (OG) provinces in the United States. Oil and gas production yields large volumes of wastewater with complex chemistries, and the environmental health risks posed by these OG wastewaters on sensitive desert ecosystems are poorly understood. Starting in November 2017, 39 illegal dumps, as def
Authors
Mitra Kashani, Mark A Engle, Douglas B. Kent, Terry G. Gregston, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Adam Mumford, Matthew S. Varonka, Cassandra Rashan Harris, Denise M. Akob
Changes in sand storage in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park from July 2017 through June 2020
Changes in the quantity of sand stored within river segments can affect aquatic and riparian habitat, archeological resources, and recreation. Since summer to fall of 2002, gaging stations on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park and on its major tributaries and selected lesser tributaries have measured the mass of sand transported past each station, which allows for changes in the mass
Authors
Ronald E. Griffiths, David J. Topping, Joel A. Unema
Expanded conceptual risk framework for uranium mining in Grand Canyon watershed—Inclusion of the Havasupai Tribe perspective
In 2012, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior placed a 20-year limit on mineral extraction on Federal lands in the Grand Canyon watershed to permit further study of the environmental effects of uranium mining. Tribal concerns were also noted by the U.S. Department of the Interior and included in the rationale for the decision stating Tribal resource impacts could not be mitigated a
Authors
Carletta Tilousi, Jo Ellen Hinck
Fault activity in the San Gabriel Mountains, southern California, USA: Insights from landscape morphometrics, erosion rates, and fault-slip rates
Many studies use landscape form to determine spatial patterns of tectonic deformation, and these are particularly effective when paired with independent measures of rock uplift and erosion. Here, we use morphometric analyses and 10Be catchment-averaged erosion rates, together with reverse slip rates from the Sierra Madre−Cucamonga fault zone, to reveal patterns in uplift, erosion, and fault activi
Authors
Andrew Meredith, Devin McPhillips