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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

Alaska resource data file, Mount Katmai quadrangle

This report gives descriptions of the mineral occurrences in the Mount Katmai 1:250,000-scale quadrangle, Alaska. The data presented here are maintained as part of a statewide database on mines, prospects and mineral occurrences throughout Alaska.
Authors
Frederic H. Wilson, Stan E. Church, Damon P. Bickerstaff

Shorebird avoidance of nearshore feeding and roosting areas at night correlates with presence of a nocturnal avian predator

We here report two anecdotes about avianinteractions relevant to the interpretation of differences in shorebirdhabitat use between day and night. Several studies have reported that shorebirds avoid feeding and roosting along nearshore areasat night yet commonly use these sites during daytime. This suggests that nighttime avoidance of nearshore places is a response to increased danger of predation.
Authors
Theunis Piersma, Robert E. Gill, Petra de Goeij, Anne Dekinga, Marnie Shepherd, Daniel R. Ruthrauff, T. Lee Tibbitts

Conodont and Radiolarian Data from the De Long Mountains Quadrangle and Adjacent Areas, Northern Alaska

INTRODUCTION This report presents biostratigraphic data from 289 collections at 189 localities in the De Long Mountains, Misheguk Mountain, and Noatak quadrangles (fig. 1); most of these data have never been previously published. The collections were made during studies of the Red Dog massive sulfide deposit in 1998?2004 and in support of regional mapping projects in 1979, 1981, 1983, and 1997?98.
Authors
Julie A. Dumoulin, Anita G. Harris, Charles D. Blome, Lorne E. Young

Constraints on the age and provenance of the Chugach accretionary complex from detrital zircons in the Sitka Graywacke near Sitka, Alaska

The Sitka Graywacke is the westernmost and youngest unit of the Chugach accretionary complex in southeastern Alaska. Using laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy, we obtained 492 detrital-zircon ages on seven typical samples of Sitka Graywacke turbidites, which were collected in a transect across much of the unit near Sitka, Alaska. Individual grains range in age from 66 to 1,
Authors
Peter J. Haeussler, George E. Gehrels, Susan M. Karl

Geologic characteristics of benthic habitats in Glacier Bay, southeast Alaska

In April 2004, more than 40 hours of georeferenced submarine digital video was collected in water depths of 15-370 m in Glacier Bay to (1) ground-truth existing geophysical data (bathymetry and acoustic reflectance), (2) examine and record geologic characteristics of the sea floor, and (3) investigate the relation between substrate types and benthic communities, and (4) construct predictive maps o
Authors
Jodi N. Harney, Guy R. Cochrane, Lisa L. Etherington, Pete Dartnell, Nadine E. Golden, Hank Chezar

Major- and trace-element concentrations in rock samples collected in 2004 from the Taylor Mountains 1:250,000-scale quadrangle, Alaska

The Kuskokwim mineral belt of Bundtzen and Miller (1997) forms an important metallogenic region in southwestern Alaska that has yielded more than 3.22 million ounces of gold and 400,000 ounces of silver. Precious-metal and related deposits in this region associated with Late Cretaceous to early Tertiary igneous complexes extend into the Taylor Mountains 1:250,000-scale quadrangle. The U.S. Geologi
Authors
Edward P. Klimasauskas, Marti L. Miller, Dwight Bradley, Susan M. Karl, James F. Baichtal, Robert B. Blodgett

USGS science in Menlo Park -- a science strategy for the U.S. Geological Survey Menlo Park Science Center, 2005-2015

In the spring of 2004, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Menlo Park Center Council commissioned an interdisciplinary working group to develop a forward-looking science strategy for the USGS Menlo Park Science Center in California (hereafter also referred to as "the Center"). The Center has been the flagship research center for the USGS in the western United States for more than 50 years, and the C
Authors
Thomas M. Brocher, Michael D. Carr, David L. Halsing, David John, Victoria E. Langenheim, Margaret T. Mangan, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, John Y. Takekawa, Claire R. Tiedeman

Estimating Potential Effects of Hypothetical Oil Spills on Polar Bears

Much is known about the transport and fate of oil spilled into the sea and its toxicity to exposed wildlife. Previously, however, there has been no way to quantify the probability that wildlife dispersed over the seascape would be exposed to spilled oil. Polar bears, the apical predator of the arctic, are widely dispersed near the continental shelves of the Arctic Ocean, an area also undergoing co
Authors
Steven C. Amstrup, George M. Durner, T. L. McDonald, W.R. Johnson

Renesting by dusky Canada geese on the Copper River Delta, Alaska

The population of dusky Canada geese (Branta canadensis occidentalis; hereafter duskies) breeding on the Copper River Delta (CRD), Alaska, USA, has been in long-term decline, largely as a result of reduced productivity. Estimates of renesting rates by duskies may be useful for adjusting estimates of the size of the breeding population derived from aerial surveys and for understanding population dy
Authors
Thomas F. Fondell, J. Barry Grand, David A.W. Miller, R. Michael Anthony

Persistent organic pollutants in Alaskan ringed seal (Phoca hispida) and walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) blubber

Since 1987, the Alaska Marine Mammal Tissue Archival Project (AMMTAP) has collected tissues from 18 marine mammal species. Specimens are archived in the National Institute of Standards and Technology's National Biomonitoring Specimen Bank (NIST-NBSB). AMMTAP has collected blubber, liver and/or kidney specimens from a number of ringed seals (Phoca hispida) from the areas near Nome and Barrow, Alask
Authors
John R. Kucklick, Margaret M. Krahn, Paul R. Becker, Barbara J. Porter, Michele M. Schantz, Geoffrey S. York, Todd M. O'Hara, Stephen A. Wise

Ground water in the Anchorage area, Alaska: Meeting the challenges of ground-water sustainability

Ground water is an important component of Anchorage's water supply. During the 1970s and early 80s when ground water extracted from aquifers near Ship Creek was the principal source of supply, area-wide declines in ground-water levels resulted in near record low streamflows in Ship Creek. Since the importation of Eklutna Lake water in the late 1980s, ground-water use has been reduced and ground wa
Authors
Edward H. Moran, Devin L. Galloway