Publications
USGS research activities relevant to Alaska have yielded more than 9400 historical publications. This page features some of the most recent newsworthy research findings.
Filter Total Items: 2891
The blind men and the elephant: Concerns about the use of juvenile proportion data
Juvenile proportion data in shorebirds are being used with increasing frequency to estimate recruitment and even breeding success. Although this area of investigation holds great promise, flaws in current study designs preclude great confidence in the broad-scale inferences being drawn. We present data from our own investigations on juvenile proportions in Bar-tailed Godwits Limosa lapponica in Al
Authors
Brian J. McCaffery, Colleen M. Handel, Robert E. Gill, Daniel R. Ruthrauff
Marine ecoregions of Alaska: Chapter 6.1
No abstract available.
Authors
John F. Piatt, A.M. Springer
Population ecology of seabirds in Cook Inlet: Chapter 8
[No abstract available]
Authors
John F. Piatt, Ann M.A. Harding
Strategies for survival: Stellar sea lions, harbor seals and sea otters Chapter 4.9
No abstract available.
Authors
Alan M. Springer, Sara J. Iverson, James L. Bodkin
Upper triassic continental margin strata of the central alaska range: Implications for paleogeographic reconstruction
Remnants of a Late Triassic continental margin and ocean basin are scattered across central and southern Alaska. Little is known about the fundamental nature of the margin because most remnants have not been studied in detail and a protracted period of terrane accretion and margin-parallel translation has disrupted original stratigraphic and structural relationships.
Three new conodont collections
Authors
A. B. Till, A. G. Harris, B. R. Wardlaw, M. Mullen
Exhumation and continental strike-slip fault systems: Introduction
Metamorphic rocks adjacent to and within strike-slip faultsystems occur in a wide range of tectonic settings. Detailed studies show that for a number of these locales a significant part of the exhumation occurred during strike-slip fault motion, but the specific processes involved are often cryptic. Although some sites share characteristic features, such as metamorphic rocks exhumed in extensional
Authors
S. M. Roeske, A. B. Till, D.A. Foster, J.C. Sample
Detrital zircon geochronology of some neoproterozoic to triassic rocks in interior Alaska
No abstract available.
Authors
D. C. Bradley, W.C. McClelland, J. L. Wooden, A. B. Till, S. M. Roeske, Marti L. Miller, Susan M. Karl, J.G. Abbott
Early Tertiary transtension-related deformation and magmatism along the Tintina fault system, Alaska
Transtensional deformation was concentrated in a zone adjacent to the Tintina strike-slip fault system in Alaska during the early Tertiary. The deformation occurred along the Victoria Creek fault, the trace of the Tintina system that connects it with the Kaltag fault; together the Tintina and Kaltag fault systems girdle Alaska from east to west. Over an area of ???25 by 70 km between the Victoria
Authors
A. B. Till, S. M. Roeske, D. C. Bradley, R. Friedman, P.W. Layer
The geophysical character of southern Alaska - Implications for crustal evolution
The southern Alaska continental margin has undergone a long and complicated history of plate convergence, subduction, accretion, and margin-parallel displacements. The crustal character of this continental margin is discernible through combined analysis of aeromagnetic and gravity data with key constraints from previous seismic interpretation. Regional magnetic data are particularly useful in defi
Authors
R. W. Saltus, T. L. Hudson, Frederic H. Wilson
Prey density and the behavioral flexibility of a marine predator: The common murre (Uria aalge)
Flexible time budgets allow individual animals to buffer the effects of variable food availability by allocating more time to foraging when food density decreases. This trait should be especially important for marine predators that forage on patchy and ephemeral food resources. We examined flexible time allocation by a long-lived marine predator, the Common Murre (Uria aalge), using data collected
Authors
A.M.A. Harding, John F. Piatt, Joel A. Schmutz, M.T. Shultz, Thomas I. van Pelt, Arthur B. Kettle, Suzann G. Speckman
Slightly weathered Exxon Valdez oil persists in Gulf of Alaska beach sediments after 16 years
Oil stranded by the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill has persisted in subsurface sediments of exposed shores for 16 years. With annualized loss rates declining from ∼68% yr-1 prior to 1992 to ∼4% yr-1 after 2001, weathering processes are retarded in both sediments and residual emulsified oil (“oil mousse”), and retention of toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is prolonged. The n-alkanes, typically very
Authors
J.W. Short, G.V. Irvine, D.H. Mann, J.M. Maselko, J.J. Pella, M.R. Lindeberg, J. R. Payne, W.B. Driskell, S.D. Rice
Inflammatory reaction to fabric collars from percutaneous antennas attached to intracoelomic radio transmitters implanted in harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus)
In wild birds implanted intracoelomically with radio transmitters, a synthetic fabric collar placed around the base of a percutaneous antenna is believed to function as a barrier to contamination of the coelom. We examined 13 fabric collars recovered from percutaneous antennas of radio transmitters implanted intracoelomically in harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) 12 months earlier. Both t
Authors
Daniel M. Mulcahy, K.A. Burek, Daniel Esler