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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

Catalog of earthquake hypocenters at Alaskan volcanoes: January 1, 1994 through December 31, 1999

The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), a cooperative program of the U.S. Geological Survey, the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska - Fairbanks, and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, has maintained a seismic monitoring program at potentially active volcanoes in Alaska since 1988 (Power and others, 1993; Jolly and others, 1996). The primary objectives of this p
Authors
Arthur D. Jolly, Scott D. Stihler, John A. Power, John C. Lahr, John Paskievitch, Guy Tytgat, Steve Estes, Andrew B. Lockhart, Seth C. Moran, Stephen R. McNutt, William R. Hammond

Marine Mammals: Sea otters

No abstract available.
Authors
James L. Bodkin

Seven-year phenological record of the Alaskan ecoregions derived from advanced very high resolution radiometer normalized difference vegetation index data

Seasonal properties of vegetation covering northern boreal and arctic landscapes are considered important as input to numerous climate change studies. In this study, multitemporal phenological characteristics of Alaskan vegetation were studied for the State as a whole, and 19 of 20 ecoregions were studied using seasonally truncated, composited advanced very high resolution radiometer derived norma
Authors
Carl J. Markon

Use of Landsat MSS and TM imagery to improve reconnaissance geologic mapping in the Ruby quadrangle, west-central Alaska: A section in Geological studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1999

By using Multispectral Scanner (MSS) and Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite images, the spatial relation of units JMtu (mafic, ultramafic, and sedimentary rocks, undivided) and PzZrqs (pelitic and quartzitic schist) of Wilson and others (1998) from the northeastern portion of the Ruby 1:250,000-scale quadrangle geologic map was further defined. The MSS image was first analyzed using spectral signature
Authors
Keith A. Labay, Frederic H. Wilson, Kuuipo A. Burleigh

Critical habitat for ovigerous Dungeness crabs

The Dungeness crab, Cancer magister, supports an important fishery in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, yet there is limited knowledge of ovigerous female brooding locations and brooding behavior. Our earlier research suggests that ovigerous crabs aggregate at the same brooding locations for many years. Within these locations, ovigerous females occur in high densities, with the majority of the aggre
Authors
Karen Scheding, Thomas C. Shirley, Charles E. O'Clair, S. James Taggart

Using GIS to analyze animal movements in the marine environment

Advanced methods for analyzing animal movements have been little used in the aquatic research environment compared to the terrestrial. In addition, despite obvious advantages of integrating geographic information systems (GIS) with spatial studies of animal movement behavior, movement analysis tools have not been integrated into GIS for either aquatic or terrestrial environments. We therefore deve
Authors
Philip N. Hooge, William M. Eichenlaub, Elizabeth K. Solomon

Stratigraphy and lithofacies of Lisburne Group carbonate rocks (Carboniferous - Permian) in the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska

Carbonate rocks of the Lisburne Group (Carboniferous-Permian) occur widely throughout northern Alaska. In the NPRA, seismic mapping and well penetrations show that the Lisburne occurs throughout the subsurface except in northernmost NPRA where it is missing by depositional onlap. Lisburne strata encountered in 11 exploratory wells in the northern part of the NPRA are essentially undeformed, consis
Authors
Julie A. Dumoulin, Kenneth J. Bird

Recommended features of protocols for long-term ecological monitoring

In 1991, the National Park Service (NPS) selected seven parks to serve as prototypes for development of a long-term ecological monitoring program. Denali National Park and Preserve was one of the prototype parks selected. The principal focus of this national program was to detect and document resource changes and to understand the forces driving those changes. One of the major tasks of each protot
Authors
Karen L. Oakley, Susan L. Boudreau, Sioux-Z Humphrey

Microsatellite analyses of San Franciscuito Creek rainbow trout

Microsatellite genetic diversity found in San Francisquito Creek rainbow trout support a close genetic relationship with rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) from another tributary of San Francisco Bay, Alameda Creek, and coastal trout found in Lagunitas Creek, Marin County, California. Fish collected for this study from San Francisquito Creek showed a closer genetic relationship to fish from the n
Authors
Jennifer L. Nielsen

Survival of adult murres and kittiwakes in relation to forage fish abundance

Some seabird populations damaged by the Exxon Valdez oil spill continue to decline or are not recovering. In order to understand the ultimate cause of seabird population fluctuations, we must measure productivity, recruitment, and adult survival. Recent APEX studies focused on measuring productivity only. Recruitment measurement demands an unrealistic study duration. We propose to augment current
Authors
John F. Piatt

Spectacled Eider (Somateria fischeri)

No abstract available.
Authors
Margaret R. Petersen, J. Barry Grand, Christian P. Dau

Migration of the Acadian Orogen and foreland basin across the Northern Appalachians of Maine and adjacent areas

The timing of Acadian orogenesis in Maine is reassessed, on the basis of a new Silurian-Devonian time scale, new U/Pb and 40Ar/39Ar ages of Acadian plutons, new conodont and palynomorph ages of strata that constrain the age of deformation, and published information. This analysis shows that the Acadian deformation front migrated some 240 km (present distance) from southeast to northwest during a s
Authors
Dwight Culver Bradley, Robert D. Tucker, Daniel R. Lux, Anita G. Harris, D. Colin McGregor