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Water law, with special reference to ground water
This report was prepared in July 1950 at the request of the President's Water Resources Policy Commission. It followed the report entitled Water facts in relation to a national water-resources policy," which, in part, has been published as Geological Survey Circular 114 under the title "The water situation in the United States, with special reference to ground water.'' The only changes made in preparing this report for publication as a circular were revision of the sections on Idaho, Indiana, Massachusetts, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Texas, to bring them up to date. This report discusses some of the problems in the field of water law and summarizes briefly the laws providing for the acquiring, of water rights in the different States. The need for consideration of the subject is brought out in Circular 114. In that report it was pointed out that: (1) The use of water in the United States is increasing rapidly and undoubtedly will continue to do so; (2) ground water must meet a large and perhaps an increasing share of our water demands; (3) the full development of the water resources of ever more numerous and larger areas will require manipulation of stream systems and ground-water reservoirs to protect them from overdevelopment or pollution and to increase and maintain their yield of water of good quality; and (4) such manipulation, as well as the protection of existing rights, requires control of water use by means of hydrologically sound statutes.
Hydra—The National Earthquake Information Center’s 24/7 seismic monitoring, analysis, catalog production, quality analysis, and special studies tool suite
This report provides an overview of the capabilities and design of Hydra, the global seismic monitoring and analysis system used for earthquake response and catalog production at the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC). Hydra supports the NEIC’s worldwide earthquake monitoring mission in areas such as seismic event detection, seismic data insertion and storage, seismic data processing and analysis, and seismic data output. The Hydra system automatically identifies seismic phase arrival times and detects the occurrence of earthquakes in near-real time. The system integrates and inserts parametric and waveform seismic data into discrete events in a database for analysis. Hydra computes seismic event parameters, including locations, multiple magnitudes, moment tensors, and depth estimates. Hydra supports the NEIC’s 24/7 analyst staff with a suite of seismic analysis graphical user interfaces. In addition to the NEIC’s monitoring needs, the system supports the processing of aftershock and temporary deployment data, and supports the NEIC’s quality assurance procedures. The Hydra system continues to be developed to expand its seismic analysis and monitoring capabilities.
Preliminary report on the hydrogeology of the New Valley, Western Desert, Egypt, with special emphasis on Kharga Oasis
No abstract available.
Waterfowl status report, 1976
This report contains information from the 1975-76 midwinter waterfowl survey, the 1976 waterfowl breeding population and production surveys, and the waterfowl harvest surveys for the 1975-76 hunting season. This information was provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Canadian Wildlife Service, and various cooperating State wildlife conservation agencies. Winter surveys are composed of the midwinter survey reports submitted from each of the four flyways and the midwinter survey covering a portion of the west coast of Mexico. The breeding ground surveys section is composed of many individual reports that provide breeding population and production estimates for most waterfowl species within a major portion of their breeding range. The waterfowl harvest survey provides estimates of waterfowl hunting activity and success. Information from surveys of the wintering and breeding populations of waterfowl, coupled with data from the annual harvest survey, are instrumental in developing annual hunting regulations for waterfowl. Credit has been given to each individual or organization that submitted a report. Although some of the narrative statements have been condensed and a few tables deleted or condensed if they contain data presented elsewhere in this report, the essential information from each report has been retained. The breeding grounds survey strata (Fig. 1) for areas surveyed by Fish and Wildlife Service crews were renumbered in 1974.
Magnitude and frequency of floods in the United States: Part 9. Colorado River Basin
This report outlines methods by which the magnitude and frequency of expected floods of any recurrence interval from 1.1 to 50 years can be determined at most points in the Colorado River basin. Composite frequency curves were drawn showing the relation of the mean annual flood to floods having recurrence intervals from 1.1 to 50 years. Other curves express the relation of the mean annual flood to basin characteristics. In the northern part of the basin (north of about lat 37° N.) both drainage area and mean altitude were important factors influencing the magnitude of the mean annual flood. Only drainage area was used as an independent variable in the southern part of the basin. By combining data from the composite frequency curves and curves showing the relation of the mean annual flood to basin characteristics, flood-frequency curves can be drawn for streams in the report area not materially affected by regulation or diversion within the range and recurrence interval defined by base data. Some of the larger streams in the basin do not lend themselves to regional analysis. These streams are given special treatment in this report. Owing to the paucity of streamflow data, flood-frequency relations are not defined in some of the more arid parts of the report area.
The water situation in the United States with special reference to ground water
This report constitutes appendixes B and C of a report prepared in April 1950 by the Geological Survey at the request of the President’s Water Resources Policy Commission. The full report was entitled "Water facts in relation to a national water-resources policy.” The brief text, entitled "Water in relation to the national economy,” and appendix A, entitled "A summary of the water situation in the United States, with special reference to ground water,” were drafted by A. M. Piper of the Geological Survey and are to be published separately, in slightly modified form, under his name. This report discusses the occurrence of ground water in nature and its relation to surface water and to the national water picture as a whole, and it lists numerous existing water problems and discusses their solution.
The state of Lake Superior in 1992
The Lake Superior fish community in 1992 is substantially different than it was a half century ago and is far from a state desired by management agencies. Fish-community objectives were established for Lake Superior in response to A Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries (Great Lakes Fishery Commission 1980) and are the template for this report on the state of the lake. Reporting on progress toward meeting stated goals and objectives will focus attention on critical fishery issues and enhance understanding among fishery- and environmental-management agencies, political bodies, and the public.
Downstream movement of lampreys and fish in the Carp Lake River, Michigan
An inclined-screen trap was installed on the Carp River, Emmett County, Michigan, in the spring of 1948 and has been in almost continuous operation since that time. The major goal of this project--a precise determination of the length of the larval life of sea lamprey--was not attained because of the contamination of the stream above the dam with spawning lampreys. The lampreys and other fishes collected in the trap did, however, provide extensive and valuable biological information. The present report documents much of the information, largely in tabular form, accumulated over the operating seasons, 1948-49 through 1957-58; the amount of detail has been varied according to the importance of the topic under consideration or the amount required to bring out a particular point.
Birds imported into the United States in 1972
Birds imported into the United States in 1972 are tabulated by species. Total numbers for the period 1968-72 are given for the more commonly imported taxa. The number of birds imported in 1972 (640,995) decreased by about one third from that of 1971, largely as a result of a ban declared on the importation of birds in August 1972 due to the outbreak of exotic Newcastle,disease. Much of the decrease in numbers imported was a result of a large decrease in the numbers of parrots imported. In 1972 parrots accounted for under 9% of all birds imported, compared with nearly 25% of all imports the previous year. In 1972, 624 species were imported of which 105 had not been reported in the previous 4 years; since 1968, approximately 1,540 species have been imported. Birds were imported from 53 countries; 10 countries provided nearly 95% of the individual birds. The proportion of presumably wild-caught birds increased to about 86% compared with about 77% in 1971.
Significance of lead residues in mallard tissues
Tissues of adult, lead-dosed mallards that either died or were sacrificed were analyzed for lead. Lead levels in brains, tibiae, and breast muscle of ducks that died and in tibiae of ducks that were sacrificed increased significantly from dosage until death. Lead in the heart, lung, and blood from sacrificed ducks decreased significantly from dosage until death. Lead concentrations in tissues from ducks in the two groups were not significantly different except for the liver, kidney, and lung. Average lead levels in the livers and kidneys of ducks that died were significantly higher than those in ducks that were sacrificed. The mean concentration of lead in the lungs of the ducks sacrificed was significantly higher than the mean level in the lungs of ducks that died. Measurements of the lead concentrations in this study, when compared with lead levels reported in the literature for avian and non-avian species, showed that arbitrary diagnostic levels indicating lead poisoning could be set. In mallard ducks, lead levels exceeding 3 ppm in the brain, 6 to 20 ppm in the kidney or liver, or 10 ppm in clotted blood from the heart indicated acute exposure to lead.
Introduction to the special section on improving measurements of earthquake source parameters
Earthquake source parameters such as magnitude, seismic moment, source dimension, stress drop, and radiated energy are fundamental to understanding earthquake physics, and are also key ingredients in earthquake ground‐motion modeling, rupture simulation, and statistical seismology. However, the uncertainties in these parameters estimated from the radiated seismic wavefield are large due to variability in approaches, including site and attenuation characterizations, and so estimates for an individual earthquake made by different studies can vary greatly. Estimating spectral source parameters remains a popular topic, due to a combination of their intrinsic importance and their apparent ease of measurement, but also a controversial one, due to many sources of variability and large uncertainty. The available methods coupled with necessary parameter choices and assumptions in the analysis make it challenging for researchers to apply methods or understand the reliability in results or reported source parameters. This Special Section on Improving Measurements of Earthquake Source Parameters showcasing comparisons between methods and studies seeks to alleviate some of these difficulties to help the community identify the important components and trade‐offs of decomposing recorded seismograms into their source, path, and site components.
A bibliography of references to avian botulism
This bibliography, first compiled in 1970 in response to many requests for information on avian botulism, has been updated to include the literature published through 1975. In general, only articles dealing primarily with the avian disease are included, as opposed to those concerned with various aspects of the biology of Clostridium botulinum , either type C or type E. A few exceptions, such as Bengton’s report of the first isolation and description of the type C organism, are included for their historical interest. Progress reports and other administrative documents not available for distribution or request are excluded, as are textbook accounts, which are generally summaries of work published elsewhere. Although Mr. Allen and Mrs. Wilson have attempted to list every important reference, they make no claim to complete coverage of the published literature. The authors will be grateful to users of the bibliography who call attention to errors or omissions.
Birds of Isle Royale in Lake Superior
This report constitutes an annotated list of 197 species of birds reported from Isle Royale National Park, a 210-square-mile archipelago in northwestern Lake Superior including some 200 islets and rock outcrops. The island is 45 miles long and 8 miles wide at its widest point. Bird distribution and habitats are described, along with geography and vegetation; 62 species are known to have bred at least once, 26 are thought to be breeders, and the rest are migrants.
The literature of the California black rail
Few birds have remained so little known as the California black rail ( Laterallus jamaicensis coturniculus ). Although first collected in 1859 or before and reported in 1874 (Ridgway 1874), its life history, distribution, and status have remained so obscure that even a sight record of the bird is deemed worthy of a report in some ornithological publications. Because degradation and loss of freshwater and saltwater marshlands in California may be detrimentally affecting the black rail, both the U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife (1973) and the California Department of Fish and Game (1972) have classified it as rare and worthy of further study. The 84 papers and notes both summarized in this report and included in its bibliography include essentially all that is currently known about the California black rail. Only 11 of these papers consider the life history of this rail in any detail. The rest are distribution notes and some of the more important papers on the closely related eastern black rail ( L. j. jamaicensis ). The latter are included for comparative purposes, or because they may lend clues to currently unknown facets of the life history of the western race.
A virus disease of sockeye salmon: Interim report
Since 1951 a disease, usually occurring in late spring or early summer, has caused severe losses in 3- to 12-month-old fingerling sockeye salmon in hatcheries in the State of Washington. The disease is characterized by an explosive outbreak, mortality usually 80 percent or greater, and a residual spinal deformity in a small percentage of the surviving fish, and its specificity for the one species of salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka. (The anadromous strain of this species is commonly known as sockeye, blueback, or red salmon, while the fresh-water strain is called kokanee or silver trout.) The etiological agent is believed to be a virus.
A report upon the Grand Coulee Fish Maintenance Project 1939-1947
The construction or Grand Coulee Dam, on the upper Columbia River, involved the loss of 1,140 lineal miles of spawning and rearing stream to the production of anadromous fishes. The fact that the annual value of these fish runs to the nation was estimated at $250,000 justified reasonable expenditures to assure their perpetuation. It was found economically infeasible to safely collect and pass adult fish upstream and fingerling fish downstream at the dam because of the tremendous flow of the river and the 320 foot vertical difference in elevation between forebay and tailrace. The Grand Coulee Fish-Maintenance Project, undertaken by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1939, consisted in relocating the anadroumous runs of the upper Columbia River to four major tributaries entering below the Grand Coulee damsite. These streams were believed capable of supporting several times their existing, badly depleted, run. The plan was predicated upon the assumption that the relocated runs, in conformity with their "homing tendency", would return to the lower tributaries rather than attempt to reach their ancestral spawning grounds above Grand Coulee Dam. This interim report covers the history and accomplishments of the Grand Coulee Fish-Maintenance Project through the initial period of relocating the rune as well as the first four years of the permanent program. Results obtained to date indicate conclusive success in diverting the upper Columbia fish runs into the accessible lower tributaries. The results also indicate, less conclusively, that - in spite of many existing handicaps - the upper Columbia salmon and steelhead runs may be rehabilitated through the integrated program of natural and artificial propagation incorporated in the Grand Coulee Fish-Maintenance Project.