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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

Baseline water-quality characteristics of the Alaska Army National Guard Stewart River Training Area near Nome, Alaska

The Alaska Army National Guard Stewart River Training Area is approximately 23 miles north of Nome on the Seward Peninsula in northwest Alaska. The Stewart River Training Area encompasses much of the Stewart River Basin and a small part of the Snake River Basin. Hydrologic, water-quality, and physical-habitat data were collected at seven surface-water sites within the Stewart River Training Area d
Authors
Josh D. Eash

Processes influencing the transport and fate of contaminated sediments in the coastal ocean — Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay

No abstract available.
Authors
P. Soupy Alexander, Dann S. Blackwood, Jonathan Borden, Michael A. Casso, John Crusius, Joanne Goudreau, Linda H. Kalnejais, Paul J. Lamothe, William R. Martin, Marinna A. Martini, Sandra M. Milbert, Richard R. Rendigs, Frederick L. Sayles, Richard P. Signell, Page C. Valentine, John C. Warner

Hydrology, geomorphology, and flood profiles of Lemon Creek, Juneau, Alaska

Lemon Creek near Juneau, Alaska has a history of extensive gravel mining, which straightened and deepened the stream channel in the lower reaches of the study area. Gravel mining and channel excavation began in the 1940s and continued through the mid-1980s. Time sequential aerial photos and field investigations indicate that the channel morphology is reverting to pre-disturbance conditions through
Authors
Randy H. Host, Edward G. Neal

The Togiak-Tikchik complex of southwestern Alaska, a replacement for the Gemuk Group: Stratigraphic nomenclature that has outlived its time

During early exploratory reconnaissance of southwestern Alaska in the 1940s and 1950s, the term "Gemuk Group" was used to name a varied assemblage of sedimentary and volcanic rocks in southwestern Alaska. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, the name was broadly applied in the region; yet by the end of the 1960s, it was no longer in use, and later maps assigned the rocks originally in this unit t
Authors
Frederic H. Wilson, W. L. Coonrad

Genetics of Central Valley, O. mykiss, populations: Drainage and watershed scale analyses

Genetic variation at 11 microsatellite loci described population genetic structure for Oncorhynchus mykiss in the Central Valley, California. Spatial and temporal variation was examined as well as relationships between hatchery and putative natural spawning anadromous stocks. Genetic diversity was analyzed at two distinct spatial scales: fine-scale within drainage for five populations on Clear Cre
Authors
Jennifer L. Nielsen, Scott A. Pavey, Talia Wiacek, Ian S. Williams

Correlated declines in Pacific arctic snow and sea ice cover

Simulations of future climate suggest that global warming will reduce Arctic snow and ice cover, resulting in decreased surface albedo (reflectivity). Lowering of the surface albedo leads to further warming by increasing solar absorption at the surface. This phenomenon is referred to as “temperature–albedo feedback.” Anticipation of such a feedback is one reason why scientists look to the Arctic f
Authors
Robert P. Stone, David C. Douglas, Gennady I. Belchansky, Sheldon Drobot

Monitoring of oceanographic properties of Glacier Bay, Alaska 2004

Glacier Bay is a recently (300 years ago) deglaciated fjord estuarine system that has multiple sills, very deep basins, tidewater glaciers, and many streams. Glacier Bay experiences a large amount of runoff, high sedimentation, and large tidal variations. High freshwater discharge due to snow and ice melt and the presence of the tidewater glaciers makes the bay extremely cold. There are many small
Authors
Erica N. Madison, Lisa L. Etherington

Beringia: Intercontinental exchange and diversification of high latitude mammals and their parasites during the Pliocene and Quaternary

Beringia is the region spanning eastern Asia and northwestern North America that remained ice-free during the full glacial events of the Pleistocene. Numerous questions persist regarding the importance of this region in the evolution of northern faunas. Beringia has been implicated as both a high latitude refugium and as the crossroads (Bering Land Bridge) of the northern continents for boreal mam
Authors
Joseph A. Cook, Eric P. Hoberg, Anson V. Koehler, Heikki Henttonen, Lotta Wickström, Voitto Haukisalmi, Kurt E. Galbreath, Felix Chernyavski, Nikolai Dokuchaev, Anatoli Lahzuhtkin, Stephen O. MacDonald, Andrew G. Hope, Eric Waltari, Amy Runck, Alasdair Veitch, Emily Jenkins, Susan Kutz, Ralph P. Eckerlin

Extraordinary movements of the Denali caribou herd following the perfect storm

Although historic literature is replete with anecdotes about atypical and far-reaching movements of caribou(Rangifer tarandus granti) herds in Alaska, very few such events have been described since the late 1970s proliferation of radio telemetry studies in the region. In September 1992, several herds in Alaska made unusual movements away from their typical year-round ranges as a result of highly u

Utility of aeromagnetic studies for mapping of potentially active faults in two forearc basins: Puget Sound, Washington, and Cook Inlet, Alaska

High-resolution aeromagnetic surveys over forearc basins can detect faults and folds in weakly magnetized sediments, thus providing geologic constraints on tectonic evolution and improved understanding of seismic hazards in convergent-margin settings. Puget Sound, Washington, and Cook Inlet, Alaska, provide two case histories. In each lowland region, shallow-source magnetic anomalies are related t
Authors
Richard W. Saltus, Richard J. Blakely, Peter J. Haeussler, Ray Wells