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Search indexed USGS publications on groundwater, aquifers, geologic maps, mineral resources and earthquakes. Explore source records by subject and place.

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At least 937 records · Page 52Linked to original sources
USGS2007

Effect of in ovo exposure to an organochlorine mixture extracted from double crested cormorant eggs (Phalacrocorax auritus) and PCB 126 on immune function of juvenile chickens

Organochlorine (OC) contaminants including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and p, p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) have been associated with immune modulation in wild fish-eating birds from the Great Lakes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the immune function of juvenile chickens after in ovo exposure to PCB 126 or an environmentally relevant OC mixture extracted from eggs of double crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) from Green Bay, Lake Michigan, USA. Fertile white leghorn chicken (Gallus domesticus) eggs were injected before incubation with 0.55-1.79 ng TCDD equivalents (TEQ)/egg PCB 126 and 1.2-4.9 ng TEQs/egg of cormorant egg extract into the air cell in two separate experiments. After hatching, the immune function was tested using in vivo phytohemagglutinin (PHA) skin response in 11-day-old chicks, antibody titers to immunization with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) in 28-day-old chicks, and, at necropsy, thymus and bursal mass and cellularity. PCB 126 decreased antibody titers at all doses and decreased the thymus and bursa index but not cellularity at 1.79 ng TEQ/egg. The cormorant egg extract caused no significant alterations in immune function even though it has been demonstrated as immunotoxic in chicken embryos. However, twofold to threefold increases in total anti-SRBC titers in 28-day-old chicks exposed to 1.2 or 2.4 ng TEQ/egg of cormorant extract were similar to elevations in anti-SRBC titer observed in Caspian tern (Sterna caspia) chicks from a highly OC-contaminated site in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron. Posthatch exposure to OC through fish consumption in addition to in ovo OC exposure might be associated with the immune modulation reported in wild birds. Chicks in this study might have begun to compensate for embryonic immunotoxicity by the ages at which we studied them. ?? 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxico↗
USGS2022

Asking nicely: Best practices for requesting data

Compiling disparate datasets into publicly available composite databases helps natural resource communities explore ecological trends and effectively manage across spatiotemporal scales. Though some studies have reported on the database construction phase, fewer have evaluated the data acquisition and distribution process. To facilitate future data sharing collaborations, Louisiana State University surveyed data providers and requestors to understand the characteristics of effective data requests and sharing. Data providers were largely U.S. natural resource agency personnel, and they reported that unclear data requests, privacy issues, and rigid timelines and formats were the greatest barriers toward providing data, but that they were motivated by improving science and collaboration. Data requestors identified challenges such as evolving needs, standardization issues, and insufficient resources (time and funding) as barriers to compiling data for these types of efforts. In a time of big data, open access, and collaboration, significant scientific advances can be made with effective requests and inclusion of data sets into larger and more powerful databases.

Ecological Indicators↗
USGS2015

Assessing tolerance for wildlife: Clarifying relations between concepts and measures

Two parallel lines of inquiry, tolerance for and acceptance of wildlife populations, have arisen in the applied literature on wildlife conservation to assess probability of successfully establishing or increasing populations of controversial species. Neither of these lines is well grounded in social science theory, and diverse measures have been employed to assess tolerance, which inhibits comparability across studies. We empirically tested behavioral measures of tolerance against self-reports of previous policy-relevant behavior and behavioral intentions. Both composite behavioral measures were strongly correlated ( r > .70) with two attitudinal measures of tolerance commonly employed in the literature. The strong correlation between attitudinal and behavioral measures suggests existing attitudinal measures represent valid, parsimonious measures of tolerance that may be useful when behavioral measures are too cumbersome or misreporting of behavior is anticipated. Our results demonstrate how behavioral measures of tolerance provide additional, useful information beyond general attitudinal measures.

Human Dimensions of Wildlife: An International Jou↗
USGS2002

A bibliography of terrain modeling (geomorphometry), the quantitative representation of topography: Supplement 4.0

Terrain modeling, the practice of ground-surface quantification, is an amalgam of Earth science, mathematics, engineering, and computer science. The discipline is known variously as geomorphometry (or simply morphometry), terrain analysis, and quantitative geomorphology. It continues to grow through myriad applications to hydrology, geohazards mapping, tectonics, sea-floor and planetary exploration, and other fields. Dating nominally to the co-founders of academic geography, Alexander von Humboldt (1808, 1817) and Carl Ritter (1826, 1828), the field was revolutionized late in the 20th Century by the computer manipulation of spatial arrays of terrain heights, or digital elevation models (DEMs), which can quantify and portray ground-surface form over large areas (Maune, 2001). Morphometric procedures are implemented routinely by commercial geographic information systems (GIS) as well as specialized software (Harvey and Eash, 1996; Köthe and others, 1996; ESRI, 1997; Drzewiecki et al., 1999; Dikau and Saurer, 1999; Djokic and Maidment, 2000; Wilson and Gallant, 2000; Breuer, 2001; Guth, 2001; Eastman, 2002). The new Earth Surface edition of the Journal of Geophysical Research, specializing in surficial processes, is the latest of many publication venues for terrain modeling. This is the fourth update of a bibliography and introduction to terrain modeling (Pike, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999) designed to collect the diverse, scattered literature on surface measurement as a resource for the research community. The use of DEMs in science and technology continues to accelerate and diversify (Pike, 2000a). New work appears so frequently that a sampling must suffice to represent the vast literature. This report adds 1636 entries to the 4374 in the four earlier publications1. Forty-eight additional entries correct dead Internet links and other errors found in the prior listings. Chronicling the history of terrain modeling, many entries in this report predate the 1999 supplement. Coverage is representative from about 1800 through early–mid 2002. Papers increasingly are published exclusively or in duplicate on the Internet's World Wide Web; the dates given here for Web addresses (URLs) that lack a print publication indicate a Web site's last update or my last access of it. The bibliography is arranged alphabetically and thus is not readily summarized. This introduction cites about 500 entries, a third of them grouped under 24 morphometric topics, as a guide to the listing's contents. Continuing the practice of previous bibliographies in the series to provide more information on a few applications (see summary of past topics in Pike, 2000a), this report elaborates further on topographic data, putative new parameters, tectonic geomorphology/neo-orometry, biogeography, ice-cap morphometry, results from the Mars Global DEM, landslide-hazard mapping, terrain modeling as physics, Hack's law, and broad-scale computer visualization. The literature of some of these subjects is large, and none of the summaries is intended to more than introduce the topic and comment on some of the current contributions of terrain modeling. Closing the essay is a discussion of pre-1900 papers that trace the evolution of ridge-line and watercourse quantification by descriptive geometry, as well as comments on some new books and an on-line bulletin board.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2013

Communication products for the Science Application for Risk Reduction (SAFRR) tsunami scenario: Chapter K in The SAFRR (Science Application for Risk Reduction) Tsunami Scenario

Science Application for Risk Reduction (SAFRR), like its predecessor the Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project, has a mission to increase the use of science by decision-makers of all kinds. Thus, an important part of any SAFRR scenario is development of products that enhance usability of the science. In this tsunami scenario, the focus has been on development of three kinds of products: products that augment typical outputs of scientific studies, such as reports, to make the results of the scenario more relevant and usable to nonscientists; products that distill local impacts and allow users in specific locales to identify which aspects of the broad regional study apply to their local area; and products that effectively deliver disaster preparedness messaging to one group of people who are not usually interested in disaster preparedness—those ages 18 to 34.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1906

The Montana lobe of the Keewatin ice sheet

Just south of the forty-ninth parallel and east of the Rocky Mountains is an area that is of much interest to glacialists. It is the area which lay between the Keewatin ice sheet and the mountain glaciers coming from the west. Although it has been known for nearly twenty years that the bodies of drift deposited by the ice coming from opposite directions were closely associated, little detailed field work has been done in this region. As early as 1881 Sir James Geikie prophesied that a careful study of the region would clear up many important points in glaciology. In 1885, Dr. T. C. Chamberlin and Prof E. D. Salisbury, in a reconnaissance of the region, determined roughly the course of the terminal moraine of the eastern ice sheet and obtained data concerning the character and extent of the mountain glaciation. In 1890 Mr. G. E. Culver, while a member of the military party under the command of Lieutenant Ahern, U. S. Army, gathered many data concerning the geology of the region, publishing the results of his investigations in the Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, in 1891. Doctor Dawson and Mr McConnell, of the Canadian Survey, have worked out the geology of the region north of the boundary line. Their reports are unusually complete, but the area to the south offers better opportunity for study, and somewhat different conclusions were reached from a study of that region. The work on which the following discussion is based was done during the field seasons of 1901, 1902, and 1903. During the first season the writer was accompanied by Mr. Bruce McLeish, then a student at the University of Chicago. The second year Mr. Porter Graves, of the Kansas City High School, rendered valuable assistance. The writer is most deeply indebted to Dr. T. C. Chamberlin and Prof. R. D. Salisbury, of the University of Chicago, for friendly interest shown while superintending the compiling of this manuscript. Professor Salisbury also personally directed a portion of the field work and made many practical suggestions. Thanks are also due Dr. G. K. Gilbert for careful criticism of the report. The area covered by this investigation lies along the eastern front of the Montana Rockies, between longitude 108° and 113° 40', and latitude 47° 15' and 49° 30'. Over the eastern and northern part of this area the ice from the northeast deposited its drift. Over the western part the ice from the Rockies pushed down the mountain valleys and, deploying on the plain, deposited large and well-defined terminal moraines. Extending from the Canadian line to the Missouri there is a strip of country, varying greatly in width, which the ice did not cover.

Montana↗
USGS2013

The U.S. Geological Survey Bird Banding Laboratory: an integrated scientific program supporting research and conservation of North American birds

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL) was established in 1920 after ratification of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act with the United Kingdom in 1918. During World War II, the BBL was moved from Washington, D.C., to what is now the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC). The BBL issues permits and bands to permittees to band birds, records bird band recoveries or encounters primarily through telephone and Internet reporting, and manages more than 72 million banding records and more than 4.5 million records of encounters using state-of-the-art technologies. Moreover, the BBL also issues bands and manages banding and encounter data for the Canadian Bird Banding Office (BBO). Each year approximately 1 million bands are shipped from the BBL to banders in the United States and Canada, and nearly 100,000 encounter reports are entered into the BBL systems. Banding data are essential for regulatory programs, especially migratory waterfowl harvest regulations. The USGS BBL works closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to develop regulations for the capture, handling, banding, and marking of birds. These regulations are published in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). In 2006, the BBL and the USFWS Division of Migratory Bird Management (DMBM) began a comprehensive revision of the banding regulations. The bird banding community has three major constituencies: Federal and State agency personnel involved in the management and conservation of bird populations that include the Flyway Councils, ornithological research scientists, and avocational banders. With increased demand for banding activities and relatively constant funding, a Federal Advisory Committee (Committee) was chartered and reviewed the BBL program in 2005. The final report of the Committee included six major goals and 58 specific recommendations, 47 of which have been addressed by the BBL. Specifically, the Committee recommended the BBL continue to support science, conservation, and management of birds through the use of banding and banding data and that the BBL be managed by the USGS and located at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC) in Laurel, Maryland. Recommendations that have not been implemented include those already addressed by other organizations, as well as lower priority, such as developing a BBL business plan. The comprehensive review and recommendations of the Committee, the response of the BBL to address the Committee’s recommendations, and other improvements to its operations have positioned the BBL to provide a high level of service to the banding community. As new technologies are developed and incorporated into BBL operations, further efficiencies are expected to enable the BBL to continue to meet emerging scientific needs.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2002

U.S. Geological Survey Activities Related to American Indians and Alaska Natives Fiscal Year 2002

Information is a resource for Native American governments, communities, organizations, and people. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides technical expertise, reports, and other impartial information sources that benefit Native Americans interested in subsistence issues, water, land use, and the health of many parts of the environment. Native self-sufficiency, economic development, and conservation are cultivated through Native decisions informed with USGS data and analyses. The USGS works in cooperation with American Indian and Alaska Native governments, conducting research on water and mineral resources, animals and plants of environmental, economic, or subsistence importance, natural hazards, and geologic resources. Digital data on cartography, mineral resources, streamflow, biota, and other topics are available to American Indian and Alaska Native individuals and institutions. The USGS recognizes the need to learn from and share knowledge with Native peoples. This report describes most of the activities that the USGS conducted with American Indian and Alaska Native governments, educational institutions, and individuals during Federal Fiscal Year 2002. Some of these USGS activities were carried out in concert with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Others were conducted by Tribes, Tribal organizations, professional societies, and the USGS. A growing number of Tribal governments, educational institutions, and other Tribal organizations have begun using geographic information systems and other digital technologies in recent years. As Tribes become more interested in and more adept at managing digital information, they are seeking relevant data from the USGS more frequently. Using digital technologies provides Tribal governments with additional means of managing lands and resources for the benefit of current and future generations. The USGS recognizes the need to make its information available to Tribal governments, and to work with those governments and other institutions to advance data management capabilities. The USGS also recognizes that Tribal institutions have varying needs, interests, and capacities. The USGS strives to be sensitive to the unique circumstances of each of these institutions while supporting their self-driven evolution. The USGS is responding to these needs by increasing the transfer of scientific information to American Indian and Alaska Native governments and by training employees of those governments to conduct scientific studies and improve scientific data management. The USGS is also encouraging American Indians and Alaska Natives to pursue careers in science and seeking ways to hire Indian and Native students. By identifying, improving, and disseminating information about available hiring mechanisms, the USGS is working to make hiring such students easier, and, therefore, more likely, for USGS managers. The U.S. Geological Survey is the Federal science bureau within the Department of the Interior (DoI). The USGS is non-regulatory and is not a significant manager of Federal or Trust lands or assets. However, as described in this report, there are several types of USGS activities that involve American Indians, Alaska Natives, and their lands. One type of activity is the course of formal studies, conducted through existing USGS programs, that involves collection of specific types of data as well as investigative and research projects. These projects typically last 2 or 3 years, although a few are parts of longer-term activities. Some projects are funded through cooperative agreements, from monies provided to the USGS by individual Tribal governments, or by the BIA. The USGS provides matching funds for cooperative projects. These formal projects may also receive funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Indian Health Service (part of the Department of Health and Human Services), or other Federal agencies. The USGS routinely works with its sister bureaus in the Department of the Interior to provide the scientific information and expertise needed to meet the Department's science priorities. Within this context, the USGS and the BIA are cooperating to use USGS information resources to benefit American Indian and Alaska Native peoples and their lands. The second type of USGS activity is less formal, based on initiatives designed and conducted by USGS employees. Frequently involving educational activities, these endeavors are prompted by employee interests, often as collateral issues, that result from one or more USGS employees identifying and responding to an observed need. In these activities, USGS employees help fulfill a mission of the USGS--to prove scientific relevance--while helping their fellow citizens. Increasingly, some of the educational activities are becoming parts of formal USGS projects. USGS employees have also taken the initiative in assisting American Indians and Alaska Natives through participation in several organizations that were created to foster awareness of science among Native peoples and to help build support and communication networks. One such group is the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). This group sponsors an annual national meeting in which USGS employees participate. USGS employees join this organization on a voluntary basis, bringing the benefits of this expanded network to the USGS, as many employees do with other professional organizations. Each part of the USGS has identified an American Indian/Alaska Native liaison. The USGS has a regional organizational structure, with Western, Central, and Eastern Regions. The regions work in concert with specific scientific disciplines to conduct the scientific mission of the USGS. The regional structure is intended to bring us closer to our customers; we hope that Native Americans and Alaska Natives will use the contacts listed at the end of this report.

Report↗
USGS2011

Capacitively coupled resistivity survey of the levee surrounding the Omaha Public Power District Nebraska City Power Plant, June 2011

This report is a release of digital data from a capacitively coupled resistivity survey conducted on June 13, 2011, on the flood-protection levees surrounding the Omaha Public Power District Nebraska City power plant. The U.S. Geological Survey Crustal Geophysics and Geochemistry Science Center and the Nebraska Water Science Center performed the survey in response to a flood on the Missouri River. A single line of resistivity profiling was completed along the center line of the section of levee 573 that surrounds the power plant.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2010

Catalogue of polar bear (Ursus maritimus) maternal den locations in the Beaufort Sea and neighboring regions, Alaska, 1910–2010

This report presents data on the approximate locations and methods of discovery of 392 polar bear ( Ursus maritimus ) maternal dens found in the Beaufort Sea and neighboring regions between 1910 and 2010 that are archived by the U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska. A description of data collection methods, biases associated with collection method, primary time periods, and spatial resolution are provided. Polar bears in the Beaufort Sea and nearby regions den on both the sea ice and on land. Standardized VHF surveys and satellite radio telemetry data provide a general understanding of where polar bears have denned in this region over the past 3 decades. Den observations made during other research activities and anecdotal reports from other government agencies, coastal residents, and industry personnel also are reported. Data on past polar bear maternal den locations are provided to inform the public and to provide information for natural resource agencies in planning activities to avoid or minimize interference with polar bear maternity dens.

Alaska↗
USGS2024

Great Lakes lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) thiamine monitoring program annual report

Thiamine deficiency in lake trout eggs has been identified to induce early life-stage mortality in the Great Lakes in the 1960s through the 1990s and potentially affecting lake trout recruitment. As a results, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC), Eastern Ecological Science Center, and Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC), and the State University of New York (SUNY) Brockport, in collaboration with partner agencies, have conducted a cooperative program to monitor thiamine concentrations in lake trout Salvelinus namaycush eggs since the late 1990s. In 2023, egg thiamine concentrations were highly variable at each sampling site. No egg samples with thiamine concentrations less than the 4 nmol/g threshold recommended for successful lake trout reproduction were collected in Lakes Superior or Huron. In contrast, 3 to 52% of the lake trout collected at sites in Lakes Michigan, Huron, Ontario and Champlain, and Cayuga Lake had eggs below 4 nmol/g. Time series of mean lake trout egg thiamine concentrations showed high temporal and spatial variability within the Great Lakes region.

Cayuga Lake, Lake Champlain, Lake Erie, Lake Huron↗
USGS2020

An update of USGS bear-real-time earthquake shaking and impact products

We report on advancements in both hazard and consequence modeling that form the core of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) strategy to improve rapid earthquake shaking and loss estimates. Whereas our primary goal is to improve our operational capabilities of the USGS National Earthquake Information Center, the science, software, and datasets behind these systems continue to advance uses and studies of earthquake shaking and impact by the seismological, engineering, financial, and risk modeling communities. Several important updates to our integrated shaking and impact products are outlined and we introduce new earthquake information products that have recently been brought online, including rapid ground failure estimates and more spatially refined loss estimates domestically (in the U.S). We continue to compile, develop, and refine key openly available models and datasets that contribute to calibrating these systems and report on the collection and storage of new inventories. We also describe some of the basic operational considerations in the current generation of these shaking and loss-estimation systems. A key aspect of the product integration and development is leveraging earthquake-hazard and loss-modeling science done internally (within the USGS) and by external researchers and collaborators. Lastly, we outline new opportunities for further research and development by emphasizing scientific, data, and application gaps and challenges that must be solved in order to improve our shaking and impact information tools.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2009

Texture-based automated lithological classification using aeromagnetic anomaly images

This report consists of a thesis submitted to the faculty of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, Graduate College, The University of Arizona, 2004 Aeromagnetic anomaly images are geophysical prospecting tools frequently used in the exploration of metalliferous minerals and hydrocarbons. The amplitude and texture content of these images provide a wealth of information to geophysicists who attempt to delineate the nature of the Earth's upper crust. These images prove to be extremely useful in remote areas and locations where the minerals of interest are concealed by basin fill. Typically, geophysicists compile a suite of aeromagnetic anomaly images, derived from amplitude and texture measurement operations, in order to obtain a qualitative interpretation of the lithological (rock) structure. Texture measures have proven to be especially capable of capturing the magnetic anomaly signature of unique lithological units. We performed a quantitative study to explore the possibility of using texture measures as input to a machine vision system in order to achieve automated classification of lithological units. This work demonstrated a significant improvement in classification accuracy over random guessing based on a priori probabilities. Additionally, a quantitative comparison between the performances of five classes of texture measures in their ability to discriminate lithological units was achieved.

Arizona↗
USGS2012

Estimated water requirements for gold heap-leach operations

This report provides a perspective on the amount of water necessary for conventional gold heap-leach operations. Water is required for drilling and dust suppression during mining, for agglomeration and as leachate during ore processing, to support the workforce (requires water in potable form and for sanitation), for minesite reclamation, and to compensate for water lost to evaporation and leakage. Maintaining an adequate water balance is especially critical in areas where surface and groundwater are difficult to acquire because of unfavorable climatic conditions [arid conditions and (or) a high evaporation rate]; where there is competition with other uses, such as for agriculture, industry, and use by municipalities; and where compliance with regulatory requirements may restrict water usage. Estimating the water consumption of heap-leach operations requires an understanding of the heap-leach process itself. The task is fairly complex because, although they all share some common features, each gold heap-leach operation is unique. Also, estimating the water consumption requires a synthesis of several fields of science, including chemistry, ecology, geology, hydrology, and meteorology, as well as consideration of economic factors.

Open-File Report↗