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At least 1,009 records · Page 56Linked to original sources
USGS1998

Surficial geology of Shaver Hollow, Shenandoah National Park

At the request of Shenandoah National Park and the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia, the US Geological Survey has completed an examination and map of the surficial deposits in Shaver Hollow. The work was carried out as part of the US Geological Survey - National Park Service cooperative agreement implemented in 1994. Shaver Hollow is a small, well defined drainage basin on the west slope of the Blue Ridge about 6.5 miles south of Thornton Gap and can be reached by trail from mile 37.9 on the Skyline Drive. The hollow is drained by the North Fork of Dry Run, and the watershed within the Shenandoah National park is only 2 square miles in area. The area has been the site of extensive investigations by faculty and students at the University of Virginia and by NPS scientists and investigators studying the interaction of atmosphere chemistry, water composition, and the biota of the hollow (Furman and others, written communication, 1997). Modeling of the chemistry of Dry Run surface water, based on atmospheric, biologic, and geologic data, has been attempted with limited success. Better understanding of the surficial deposits and the interaction of streams and springs with near surface materials is needed before more sophisticated models can be devised. Although the bedrock lithology was mapped at a small scale (1:62,000-scale; Gathright, 1976) no examination of the surficial deposits of the hollow was made. The description of deposits contained herein is based on field observations carried out in September - November, 1996. Also included with this report is a 1/12,000-scale map of the surficial geology of Shaver Hollow (figure 1).

Virginia↗
USGS1991

Publications of the Branch of Atlantic Marine Geology for Calendar Year 1990

This U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report [extract] contains a listing of publications authored or co-authored by members of the Branch of Atlantic Marine Geology and published in calendar year 1990. The Branch conducts a broad geologic and geophysical research and mapping program, primarily along the U.S. Atlantic Margin, in the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and polar regions. A long range objective of this program is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the geology of the continental margin and a predictive capability to guide and assess the consequences of its use. Headquarters of the Branch of Atlantic Marine Geology are located in Woods Hole, MA., and personnel are located in Woods Hole, MA., St Petersburg, FL., Reston, VA., Denver, CO., and San Juan, Puerto Rico. A brochure describing the Branch of Atlantic Marine Geology may be obtained by writing to Chief, Branch of Atlantic Marine Geology, Quissett Campus, Woods Hole, MA 02543. Results of Branch investigations are distributed in a variety of ways, including maps, journal articles, abstracts and U.S.G.S. publications. Copies of U.S.G.S. Open File Reports may be obtained from the author. Book publications can be obtained from U.S. Geological Survey, Books and Reports Sales, Federal Center, Box 25425, Denver, CO 80225. Copies of U.S.G.S. Maps may be obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey, Map Sales, Federal Center, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1994

Publications of the Branch of Atlantic Marine Geology for Calendar Year 1993

This U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report [extract] contains a listing of publications authored or co-authored by members of the Branch of Atlantic Marine Geology and published in calendar year 1993. The Branch conducts a broad geologic and geophysical research and mapping program, primarily along the U.S. Atlantic Margin, in the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and polar regions. A long range objective of this program is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the geology of the continental margin and a predictive capability to guide and assess the consequences of its use. Headquarters of the Branch of Atlantic Marine Geology are located in Woods Hole, MA., and personnel are located in Woods Hole, MA., St Petersburg, FL., Reston, VA., Denver, CO., and San Juan, Puerto Rico. A brochure describing the Branch of Atlantic Marine Geology may be obtained by writing to Chief, Branch of Atlantic Marine Geology, Quissett Campus, Woods Hole, MA 02543. Results of Branch investigations are distributed in a variety of ways, including maps, journal articles, abstracts and U.S.G.S. publications. Copies of U.S.G.S. Open File Reports may be obtained from the author. Book publications can be obtained from U.S. Geological Survey, Books and Reports Sales, Federal Center, Box 25425, Denver, CO 80225. Copies of U.S.G.S. Maps may be obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey, Map Sales, Federal Center, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1979

Mid- and North Atlantic multichannel seismic reflection profiles, 7, 8 A, B, and C, 12 E, F, G, H, I, and J, and 13 A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H

Available are four multichannel profiles collected by Digicon Geophysical Corporation in 1975 using a 48-channel streamer (3600 m long), and a 27.9 cubic liter airgun array. They were processed in Denver on the Phoenix "I" by William C. Petterson. The processing includes demultiplexing and resampling, geometry and common-depth-point, definition, velocity analysis noise muting, band-pass filtering, time-variant filtering, time-variant deconvolution, and automatic gain control (AGC) sealing, prior to the final profile playout. The release includes pares of or all of four lines off the eastern United States (see map) over the Georges Bank basin and the Long Island platform and upper continental rise. These profiles were collected as a part of a regional arid over the offshore Atlantic sedimentary basins as a part of a continuing program to assess the resource potential using non-proprietary data. Lines 7 and 8 are cross-shelf profiles (280 ken and 400 km long respectively) taken across Georges Basin George Bank, the continental slope and rise east of Massachusetts. A five kilometer gap exists in line 8C near the outer edge of the shelf because the high concentration of lobster pots there prevented a continous traverse through the area. Line 12 (shotpoint 5988 - 14380, parts E, F, G, H, I and J) is along-the-shelf profile, and stretches from the vicinity of Husdon Channel (mid-shelf east of New Jersey) to Browns Bank, 100 km southeast of Nova Scotia, terminating in the vicinity of the Shell Mohawk (B-93) hole. Line 13 (shotpoint 83-11295, 1120 km) traverse the upper Continental rise between Cape Hatteras and Georges Bank. These profiles including velocity scans and shot point maps, may be viewed at U. S. Geological Survey Office, Bldg. B, Quissett Campus, Woods Hole, MA., and U. S. Geological Survey Office, Bldg. 25 at the Denver Federal Center. Copies of maps, scans and profiles can be purchased from the National Geophysical Solar-Terrestrial Data center, Environmental Data Service - NOAA, Code D 621, Boulder, Co. 80303.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2006

EAARL submarine topography: Biscayne National Park

This lidar-derived submarine topography map was produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program, National Park Service (NPS) South Florida/Caribbean Network Inventory and Monitoring Program, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Wallops Flight Facility. One objective of this research is to create techniques to survey coral reefs for the purposes of habitat mapping, ecological monitoring, change detection, and event assessment (for example: bleaching, hurricanes, disease outbreaks). As part of this project, data from an innovative instrument under development at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the NASA Experimental Airborne Advanced Research Lidar (EAARL) are being used. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in this realm for measuring water depth and conducting cross-environment surveys. High spectral resolution, water-column correction, and low costs were found to be key factors in providing accurate and affordable imagery to managers of coastal tropical habitats.

Florida↗
USGS2006

EAARL topography: Dry Tortugas National Park

This lidar-derived submarine topography map was produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program, National Park Service (NPS) South Florida/Caribbean Network Inventory and Monitoring Program, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Wallops Flight Facility. One objective of this research is to create techniques to survey coral reefs for the purposes of habitat mapping, ecological monitoring, change detection, ad event assessment (for example: bleaching, hurricanes, disease outbreaks). As part of this project, data from an innovative instrument under development at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the NASA Experimental Airborne Advanced Research Lidar (EAARL) are being used. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in this realm for measuring water depth and conducting cross-environment surveys. High spectral resolution, water-column correction, and low costs were found to be key factors in providing accurate and affordable imagery to managers of coastal tropical habitats.

Florida↗
USGS1992

Publications of the U.S. Geological Survey Branch of Atlantic Marine Geology: Calendar Year 1991

This [summary of] U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 92-585 contains a listing of publications authored or co-authored by members of the Branch of Atlantic Marine Geology during 1991. Results of Branch investigations are distributed in a variety of ways, including maps, journal articles, abstracts and U.S.G.S. publications. Copies of U.S.G.S. Open File Reports may generally be obtained from the author. Book publications can be obtained from U.S. Geological Survey, Books and Reports Sales, Federal Center, Box 25425, Denver, CO 80225. Copies of U.S.G.S. Maps may be obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey, Map Sales, Federal Center, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225

Open-File Report↗
USGS1983

Alternate data sources for soil surveys on rangeland

Soil information is an essential theme in a digital information base for land management and resource monitoring, but public land management agencies seldom have detailed soil maps available for all of the area under their administration. Most of these agencies conduct soil surveys on a scheduled basis, but escalating costs and declining budgets are reducing the number of surveys that can be scheduled. Digital elevation and satellite spectral data are available or are obtainable for all areas in the continental United States and may be used as an aid to produce soils data. A study was conducted in the Grass Creek Resource Area in north-central Wyoming to assess the utility of incorporating digital elevation and Landsat data into an information base for soil survey and to evaluate the usefulness of these data as an input to an order-three soil survey. Slope-interval maps were produced from digital elevation data and topographic maps of three 7.5-minute quadrangle areas. These slope-interval maps were then overlaid on orthophotoquadrangles and used to produce photo-interpreted physiographic maps. These physiographic maps were digitized into a data base and used with Landsat multispectral scanner data to produce tabular summaries that describe each map polygon in terms of physiographic unit, slope, aspect, elevation, area, and spectral values. A good relationship was found between the physiographic units and soil mapping units defined during a conventional soil survey, and between the Landsat spectral categories and existing vegetation communities. Field evaluations confirmed the feasibility of using this approach for producing physiographic maps as an aid for mapping soils and range sites. The project is a cooperative investigation of the Earth Resources Observation Systems Data Center of the U.S. Geological Survey, the Soil Conservation Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2019

Flood-inundation maps for the Yellow River from River Drive to Centerville Highway, Gwinnett County, Georgia

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 16.4-mile reach of the Yellow River in Gwinnett County, Georgia, from 0.5 mile upstream from River Drive to Centerville Highway (Georgia State Route 124) were developed to depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at two U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgages in the mapped area. The maps for the 9.0-mile reach from 0.5 mile upstream from River Drive to Stone Mountain Highway (U.S. Route 78) are referenced to the streamgage Yellow River near Snellville, Ga. (station 02206500), and the maps for the 7.4-mile reach from Stone Mountain Highway to Centerville Highway are referenced to the streamgage Yellow River at Ga. 124, near Lithonia, Ga. (02207120). Real-time stage information from these streamgages can be used with these maps to estimate near real-time areas of inundation. The forecasted peak-stage information for the USGS streamgages Yellow River near Snellville, Ga. (02206500), and Yellow River at Ga. 124, near Lithonia, Ga. (02207120), can be used in conjunction with the maps developed for this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. A one-dimensional step-backwater model was developed using the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center's River Analysis System (HEC–RAS) software for the Yellow River and was used to compute flood profiles for a 16.4-mile reach of the Yellow River. The hydraulic model was then used to simulate 16 water-surface profiles at 1.0-foot (ft) intervals at the Yellow River near Snellville streamgage and 17 water-surface profiles at 1.0-ft intervals at the Yellow River near Lithonia streamgage. At the Yellow River near Snellville streamgage, the profiles ranged from a stage of 18.0 ft, which is 819.1 ft above the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88), to a stage of 33.0 ft, which is 834.1 ft above NAVD 88. At the Yellow River near Lithonia streamgage, the profiles ranged from the National Weather Service action stage of 13.0 ft, which is 732.5 ft above NAVD 88, to a stage of 29.0 ft, which is 748.5 ft above NAVD 88. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system digital elevation model—derived from light detection and ranging (lidar) data having a 5.0-ft horizontal resolution—to delineate the area flooded at each 1.0-ft interval of stream stage for both streamgages.

Georgia↗
USGS2002

U.S. Geological Survey 2002 petroleum resource assessment of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA): play maps and technically recoverable resource estimates

This report provides a summary of the estimated volume of technically recoverable undiscovered oil and nonassociated gas resources for each of the 24 plays evaluated in the U.S. Geological Survey 2002 petroleum resource assessment of the NPRA (Bird and Houseknecht, 2002). It also provides a set of illustrations showing the stratigraphic and geographic location of each play. Additional details of this assessment will follow in later publications.

Alaska↗
USGS2014

An application of Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) to three national forests in Colorado and Wyoming

Despite widespread recognition that social-value information is needed to inform stakeholders and decision makers regarding trade-offs in environmental management, it too often remains absent from ecosystem service assessments. Although quantitative indicators of social values need to be explicitly accounted for in the decision-making process, they need not be monetary. Ongoing efforts to map such values demonstrate how they can also be made spatially explicit and relatable to underlying ecological information. We originally developed Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) as a tool to assess, map, and quantify nonmarket values perceived by various groups of ecosystem stakeholders. With SolVES 2.0 we have extended the functionality by integrating SolVES with Maxent maximum entropy modeling software to generate more complete social-value maps from available value and preference survey data and to produce more robust models describing the relationship between social values and ecosystems. The current study has two objectives: (1) evaluate how effectively the value index, a quantitative, nonmonetary social-value indicator calculated by SolVES, reproduces results from more common statistical methods of social-survey data analysis and (2) examine how the spatial results produced by SolVES provide additional information that could be used by managers and stakeholders to better understand more complex relationships among stakeholder values, attitudes, and preferences. To achieve these objectives, we applied SolVES to value and preference survey data collected for three national forests, the Pike and San Isabel in Colorado and the Bridger–Teton and the Shoshone in Wyoming. Value index results were generally consistent with results found through more common statistical analyses of the survey data such as frequency, discriminant function, and correlation analyses. In addition, spatial analysis of the social-value maps produced by SolVES provided information that was useful for explaining relationships between stakeholder values and forest uses. Our results suggest that SolVES can effectively reproduce information derived from traditional statistical analyses while adding spatially explicit, social-value information that can contribute to integrated resource assessment, planning, and management of forests and other ecosystems.

Colorado;Wyoming↗
USGS2008

Surficial Geologic Map of the Worcester North-Oxford- Wrentham-Attleboro Nine-Quadrangle Area in South- Central Massachusetts

The surficial geologic map layer shows the distribution of nonlithified earth materials at land surface in an area of nine 7.5-minute quadrangles (417 mi2 total) in south-central Massachusetts (fig. 1). Across Massachusetts, these materials range from a few feet to more than 500 ft in thickness. They overlie bedrock, which crops out in upland hills and in resistant ledges in valley areas. The geologic map differentiates surficial materials of Quaternary age on the basis of their lithologic characteristics (such as grain size and sedimentary structures), constructional geomorphic features, stratigraphic relationships, and age. Surficial materials also are known in engineering classifications as unconsolidated soils, which include coarse-grained soils, fine-grained soils, or organic fine-grained soils. Surficial materials underlie and are the parent materials of modern pedogenic soils, which have developed in them at the land surface. Surficial earth materials significantly affect human use of the land, and an accurate description of their distribution is particularly important for water resources, construction aggregate resources, earth-surface hazards assessments, and land-use decisions. The mapped distribution of surficial materials that lie between the land surface and the bedrock surface is based on detailed geologic mapping of 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles, produced as part of an earlier (1938-1982) cooperative statewide mapping program between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Massachusetts Department of Public Works (now Massachusetts Highway Department) (Page, 1967; Stone, 1982). Each published geologic map presents a detailed description of local geologic map units, the genesis of the deposits, and age correlations among units. Previously unpublished field compilation maps exist on paper or mylar sheets and these have been digitally rendered for the present map compilation. Regional summaries based on the Massachusetts surficial geologic mapping studies discuss the ages of multiple glaciations, the nature of glaciofluvial, glaciolacustrine, and glaciomarine deposits, and the processes of ice advance and retreat across Massachusetts (Koteff and Pessl, 1981; papers in Larson and Stone, 1982; Oldale and Barlow, 1986; Stone and Borns, 1986; Warren and Stone, 1986). This compilation of surficial geologic materials is an interim product that defines the areas of exposed bedrock and the boundaries between glacial till, glacial stratified deposits, and overlying postglacial deposits. This work is part of a comprehensive study to produce a statewide digital map of the surficial geology at a 1:24,000-scale level of accuracy. This surficial geologic map layer covering nine quadrangles revises previous digital surficial geologic maps (Stone and others, 1993; MassGIS, 1999) that were compiled on base maps at regional scales of 1:125,000 and 1:250,000. The purpose of this study is to provide fundamental geologic data for the evaluation of natural resources, hazards, and land information within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2011

A program for the conversion of The National Map data from proprietary format to resource description framework (RDF)

To expand data functionality and capabilities for users of The National Map of the U.S. Geological Survey, data sets for six watersheds and three urban areas were converted from the Best Practices vector data model formats to Semantic Web data formats. This report describes and documents the conver-sion process. The report begins with an introduction to basic Semantic Web standards and the background of The National Map. Data were converted from a proprietary format to Geog-raphy Markup Language to capture the geometric footprint of topographic data features. Configuration files were designed to eliminate redundancy and make the conversion more efficient. A SPARQL endpoint was established for data validation and queries. The report concludes by describing the results of the conversion.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2017

Predicted pH at the domestic and public supply drinking water depths, Central Valley, California

This scientific investigations map is a product of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project modeling and mapping team. The prediction grids depicted in this map are of continuous pH and are intended to provide an understanding of groundwater-quality conditions at the domestic and public supply drinking water zones in the groundwater of the Central Valley of California. The chemical quality of groundwater and the fate of many contaminants is often influenced by pH in all aquifers. These grids are of interest to water-resource managers, water-quality researchers, and groundwater modelers concerned with the occurrence of natural and anthropogenic contaminants related to pH. In this work, the median well depth categorized as domestic supply was 30 meters below land surface, and the median well depth categorized as public supply is 100 meters below land surface. Prediction grids were created using prediction modeling methods, specifically boosted regression trees (BRT) with a Gaussian error distribution within a statistical learning framework within the computing framework of R ( http://www.r-project.org/ ). The statistical learning framework seeks to maximize the predictive performance of machine learning methods through model tuning by cross validation. The response variable was measured pH from 1,337 wells and was compiled from two sources: USGS National Water Information System (NWIS) database (all data are publicly available from the USGS: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ca/nwis/nwis ) and the California State Water Resources Control Board Division of Drinking Water (SWRCB-DDW) database (water quality data are publicly available from the SWRCB: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/gama/geotracker_gama.shtml ). Only wells with measured pH and well depth data were selected, and for wells with multiple records, only the most recent sample in the period 1993–2014 was used. A total of 1,003 wells (training dataset) were used to train the BRT model, and 334 wells (hold-out dataset) were used to validate the prediction model. The training r-squared was 0.70, and the root-mean-square error (RMSE) in standard pH units was 0.26. The hold-out r-squared was 0.43, and RMSE in standard pH units was 0.37. Predictor variables consisting of more than 60 variables from 7 sources were assembled to develop a model that incorporates regional-scale soil properties, soil chemistry, land use, aquifer textures, and aquifer hydrology. Previously developed Central Valley model outputs of textures (Central Valley Textural Model, CVTM; Faunt and others, 2010) and MODFLOW-simulated vertical water fluxes and predicted depth to water table (Central Valley Hydrologic Model, CVHM; Faunt, 2009) were used to represent aquifer textures and groundwater hydraulics, respectively. In this work, wells were attributed to predictor variable values in ArcGIS using a 500-meter buffer. Faunt, C.C., ed., 2009, Groundwater availability in the Central Valley aquifer, California: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1776, 225 p., accessed at https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1766/ . Faunt, C.C., Belitz, K., and Hanson, R.T., 2010, Development of a three-dimensional model of sedimentary texture in valley-fill deposits of Central Valley, California, USA: Hydrogeology Journal, v. 18, no. 3, p. 625–649, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-009-0539-7 .

California↗
USGS2011

Topographic mapping data semantics through data conversion and enhancement

This paper presents research on the semantics of topographic data for triples and ontologies to blend the capabilities of the Semantic Web and The National Map of the U.S. Geological Survey. Automated conversion of relational topographic data of several geographic sample areas to the triple data model standard resulted in relatively poor semantic associations. Further research employed vocabularies of feature type and spatial relation terms. A user interface was designed to model the capture of non-standard terms relevant to public users and to map those terms to existing data models of The National Map through the use of ontology. Server access for the study area triple stores was made publicly available, illustrating how the development of linked data may transform institutional policies to open government data resources to the public. This paper presents these data conversion and research techniques that were tested as open linked data concepts leveraged through a user-centered interface and open USGS server access to the public.

Book chapter↗
USGS2010

High-resolution seismic-reflection data offshore of Dana Point, southern California borderland

The U.S. Geological Survey collected high-resolution shallow seismic-reflection profiles in September 2006 in the offshore area between Dana Point and San Mateo Point in southern Orange and northern San Diego Counties, California. Reflection profiles were located to image folds and reverse faults associated with the San Mateo fault zone and high-angle strike-slip faults near the shelf break (the Newport-Inglewood fault zone) and at the base of the slope. Interpretations of these data were used to update the USGS Quaternary fault database and in shaking hazard models for the State of California developed by the Working Group for California Earthquake Probabilities. This cruise was funded by the U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Catastrophic Hazards project. Seismic-reflection data were acquired aboard the R/V Sea Explorer, which is operated by the Ocean Institute at Dana Point. A SIG ELC820 minisparker seismic source and a SIG single-channel streamer were used. More than 420 km of seismic-reflection data were collected. This report includes maps of the seismic-survey sections, linked to Google Earth? software, and digital data files showing images of each transect in SEG-Y, JPEG, and TIFF formats.

Open-File Report↗