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At least 1,153 records · Page 64Linked to original sources
USGS1976

The 7.2 magnitude earthquake, November 1975, Island of Hawaii

The largest earthquake in over a century struck Hawaii the morning of November 29, 1975, at 4:48 AM HST. The earthquake was of magnitude 7.2 on the Richter scale. It was centered about 5 km beneath the Kalapana area on the southeastern coast of Hawaii, the largest island of the Hawaiian chain (Fig. 1) and was preceded by numerous foreshocks. The event was accompanied, or followed shortly, by a tsunami, large-scale ground movemtns, hundreds of aftershocks, an eruption in the summit caldera of Kilauea Volcano. The earthquake and the tsunami it generated produced about 4.1 million dollars in property damage, and the tsumani caused two deaths. Although we have some preliminary findings about the cause and effects of the earthquake, detailed scientific investigations will take many more months to complete. This article is condensed from a recent preliminary report (Tillings an others 1976)

Hawaii↗
USGS1985

Natural hazards activities of the National Geophysical Data Center

The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has been given the task of collecting, managing, and disseminating the great mass of inofmation produced by scientific observations of the geophysical environment. This article describes NGDC data bases that speifically relate to natural hazards.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS1979

The Parkfield prediction experiment

The San Andreas fault is part of the boundary between the Pacific and North American crustal plates. In California, movements of about 3 centimeters per year are currently taking place along the fault, although plat tectonic models suggest a faster rate of 5 cm/yr may be the average over a longer period of time and a broader area. There are two distinct ways in which movement on the San Andreas occurs. Along most of the fault, slip occurs during infrequent great earthquakes. Examples of these in historic time are the 1857 Fort Tejon and the 1906 San Francisco events. Along these portions of the fault, it appears that, during most of the intervening period between great earthquakes, no slip and few microearthquakes occurred. Strain appears to accumulate at shallow depths in a narrow (50 kilometer) zone adjacent to the fault. Along a 200-km stretch in central California, however, continuous slip occurs with no observable accumulation of strain. Although there is a high level of microseismicity here, earthquakes larger than magnitude (M) 6 are unknown, and most of the slip occurs aseismically. (Several articles in the Earthquake Information Bulletin in 1978 have covered this topic.) At the northern end of this creeping zone, the microseismicity and the slip gradually taper to zero over a distance of about 100 km. This segment is the site of frequent earthquakes (every 5-10 years) having magnitudes of 5.5 and less. At the southern end, near the town of Parkfield, the transition occurs in about 40km. This zone is the site of recurring earthquakes of about magnitude 6.

California↗
USGS1977

Remote sensing for lineaments in the Mississippi Embayment

A recurrence of an 1811-12 type earthquake in the Mississippi Valley would pose severe problems to construction in the valley. As William Stauder has stated in the preceding article, a particular difficulty in understanding the seismicity of this area is that, whereas various surface manifestations of the 1811-12 earthquakes have been well documented (for example, sandblows and sunken lands), active fault zones have never been recognized. There may be different reasons for this.

Mississippi embayment↗
USGS1985

16th century European earthquakes described in some contemporary woodcuts

In the middle of the 15 th century, shortly after Gutenberg’s invention of printing using individual lead type, the first illustrated broadsides (or broadsheets) began appearing in southern Germany. Usually printed on one side of a sheet of paper, they consisted of a woodcut illustration, sometimes colored, either by hand or by stencil, and several columns of text, often in verse. The appeal of the publications to the mass reader was often stimulated by sensationalism in word and picture, somewhat like that purveyed today’s tabloid press. What follows are woodcuts and portions of the text from 16 th to 17 th century broadsheets that describe earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. This article is an excerpt from Deresiewicz, H., 1982, Some 16th century European earthquakes as depicted in contemporary sources: Bulletin Seismological Society of America, vol. 72, p 507-523.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗
USGS2006

Advances in recreational water quality monitoring at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Indiana Dunes has improved its ability to protect the health of swimmers through better science-based management and increased understanding of contaminants. Most research has focused on Escherichia coli and its nature, sources, and distribution because it is widely accepted as an indicator of potential pathogens. Though research on E. coli and recreational water quality is continually generating new information, public beach managers may gain valuable insight into this management issue from our experience at Indiana Dunes. This article reviews one of the longest maintained indicator bacteria monitoring programs in the National Park System, highlights lessons learned, and summarizes research findings that may be of interest to public beach managers.

Park Science↗
USGS2016

The swing of it: Hammock camping

Hammock camping is dramatically expanding along the Appalachian Trail and raising both questions and concerns among Trail land managers, club members, and backpackers. This article examines some of the advantages and disadvantages of hammock camping, including resource and social impacts. Some Leave No Trace hammock camping practices are included for those using hammocks at well-established campsites and when "pristine-site" camping.

A.T. Journeys↗
USGS2007

Sockeye salmon evolution, ecology, and management

This collection of articles and photographs gives managers a good idea of recent research into what the sockeye salmon is and does, covering such topics as the vulnerability and value of sockeye salmon ecotypes, their homing ability, using new technologies to monitor reproduction, DNA and a founder event in the Lake Clark sockeye salmon, marine-derived nutrients, the exploitation of large prey, dynamic lake spawning migrations by females, variability of sockeye salmon residence, expression profiling using cDNA microarray technology, learning from stable isotropic records of native otolith hatcheries, the amount of data needed to manage sockeye salmon and estimating salmon "escapement."

Scitech Book News↗
USGS2003

Comparison of salinity and temperature at continuous monitoring stations and nearby monthly measurement sites in San Francisco Bay

Salinity and temperature are crucial state variables affecting estuarine habitat an d, thus, are measured by various San Francisco Estuary programs. This article presents a comparison of salinity and temperature data collected at seven continuo us monitoring stations throughout San Francisco Bay (Figure 1) with data collected monthly by the US Geological Survey (USGS) research vessel ( RV ) Polaris . The data comparison was done to determine if the continuous monitoring stations, which mostly are located near shore and always on structures in the water, are representative of water conditions in the main channel of the estuary where the RV Polaris collects measurements.

California↗
USGS2003

Specific-conductance, water-temperature, and water-level data, San Francisco Bay, California, for water years 2001-2002

This article presents time-series plots of specific-conductance, water-temperature, and water-level data collected in San Francisco Bay during water years 2001 and 2002 (October 1, 2000, through September 30, 2002). Specific-conductance and water-temperature data were recorded at 15-minute intervals at the following US Geological Survey (USGS) locations (Figure 1): • Suisun Bay at Benicia Bridge, near Benicia, California (BEN) (site # 11455780) • Carquinez Strait at Carquinez Bridge, near Crockett, California (CARQ) (site # 11455820) • Napa River at Mare Island Causeway, near Vallejo, California (NAP) (site # 11458370) • San Pablo Strait at Point San Pablo, California (PSP) (site # 11181360) • San Pablo Bay at Petaluma River Channel Marker 9, California (SPB) (site # 380519122262901) • San Francisco Bay at Presidio Military Reservation, California (PRES) (site # 11162690) • San Francisco Bay at Pier 24, at San Francisco, California (P24) (site # 11162700) • San Francisco Bay at San Mateo Bridge, near Foster City, California (SMB) (site # 11162765). Water-level data were recorded only at PSP through January 1, 2001. Suspended-sediment concentration data also were collected at most of these sites and were published by Buchanan and Ganju (2003). The data from PSP, PRES, P24, and SMB were recorded by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) before 1988, by the USGS National Research Program from 1988 to 1989, and by the USGSDWR cooperative program since 1990. BEN, CARQ, NAP, and SPB were established in 1998 by the USGS.

California↗
USGS2004

Specific conductance and water temperature data for San Francisco Bay, California, for Water Year 2003

This article presents time-series graphs of specific-conductance and water-temperature data collected in San Francisco Bay during water year 2003 (October 1, 2002, through September 30, 2003). Specific-conductance and water-temperature data were recorded at 15-minute intervals at the following US Geological Survey (USGS) locations (Figure 1): • Suisun Bay at Benicia Bridge, near Benicia, CA. (BEN) (site # 11455780) • Carquinez Strait at Carquinez Bridge, near Crockett, CA. (CARQ) (site # 11455820) • Napa River at Mare Island Causeway, near Vallejo, CA. (NAP) (site # 11458370) • San Pablo Strait at Point San Pablo, CA. (PSP) (site # 11181360) • San Pablo Bay at Petaluma River Channel Marker 9, CA. (SPB) (site # 380519122262901) • San Francisco Bay at Presidio Military Reservation, CA. (PRES) (site # 11162690) • San Francisco Bay at San Mateo Bridge, near Foster City, CA. (SMB) (site # 11162765) Suspended-sediment-concentration data also were collected at most of these sites during water year 2003. Specific-conductance and water-temperature data from PSP, PRES, and SMB were recorded by the CA Department of Water Resources (DWR) before 1988, by the USGS National Research Program from 1988 to 1989, and by the USGS-DWR cooperative program since 1990. BEN, CARQ, NAP, and SPB were established in 1998 by USGS. The monitoring station at PRES was discontinued on November 12, 2002, due to shoaling at the site.

California↗
USGS2005

Specific conductance and water temperature data for San Francisco Bay, California, for Water Year 2004

This article presents time-series graphs of specificconductance and water-temperature data collected in San Francisco Bay during water year 2004 (October 1, 2003, through September 30, 2004). Specific-conductance and water-temperature data were recorded at 15-minute intervals at seven U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) locations (Figure 1, Table 1). Specific-conductance and water-temperature data from Point San Pablo (PSP) and San Mateo Bridge (SMB) were recorded by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) before 1988, by the USGS National Research Program from 1988 to 1989, and by the USGSDWR cooperative program since 1990. Benicia Bridge (BEN), Carquinez Bridge (CARQ), and Napa River (NAP) were established in 1998 by the USGS. San Pablo Bay (SPB) was initially established in 1998 at Channel Marker 9 but was moved to Channel Marker 1 in 2003. The monitoring station at Alcatraz (ALC) was established in 2003 by the USGS to replace the discontinued monitoring station San Francisco Bay at Presidio Military Reservation.

California↗
USGS2001

Simplified conversions between specific conductance and salinity units for use with data from monitoring stations

The U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Reclamation, and the California Department of Water Resources maintain a large number of monitoring stations that record specific conductance, often referred to as “electrical conductivity,” in San Francisco Bay Estuary and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Specific conductance units that have been normalized to a standard temperature are useful in fresh waters, but conversion to salinity units has some considerable advantages in brackish waters of the estuary and Delta. For example, salinity is linearly related to the mixing ratio of freshwater and seawater, which is not the case for specific conductance, even when values are normalized to a standard temperature. The Practical Salinity Scale 1978 is based on specific conductance, temperature, and pressure measurements of seawater and freshwater mixtures (Lewis 1980 and references therein). Equations and data that define the scale make possible conversions between specific conductance and salinity values. This article presents a simplified conversion to salinity units for use with specific conductance data from monitoring stations that have been normalized to a standard temperature of 25 °C and an equation for the reverse calculation. Although these previously undocumented methods have been shared with many IEP agencies over the last two decades, the sources of the equations and data are identified here so that the original literature can be accessed.

Interagency Ecological Program Newsletter↗
USGS2003

Cross-channel variability in benthic habitat

Benthic invertebrates play an important role in estuarine food webs and biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nutrients, and contaminants. The generally sedentary benthic invertebrates continuously integrate local water, sediment, and food conditions. This makes them good indicators of the type and quality of aquatic habitat at the location where they are found. The Interagency Ecological Program’s Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) has monitored benthic invertebrates since the mid-1970s. A recent review of the EMP found that the spatial study design of the benthos monitoring element was in need of a thorough reexamination through intense special studies and extensive historic data analyses. This article reports the results of preliminary analyses of historical EMP data focusing on cross-channel variability. Specific questions are: (1) do benthic habitats and community assemblages vary between positions across a river channel? (2) Are benthic samples taken at a single channel position sufficiently representative of benthos assemblages across the channel to characterize long term changes in the benthos community of a particular section of a river?

California↗
USGS2004

A walk through the hydroclimate network in Yosemite National Park: River chemistry

Visitors to Yosemite National Park (YNP) are fully aware of the weather, snowmelt, waterfalls (Photo 1), and river discharge and river and lake water temperature. They are not, however, thinking about river chemistry because you can’t see, hear, or feel it. So a river chemistry article in Nature Notes needs a familiar background before we break out the instruments.

Sierra Nature Notes↗
USGS2000

Exposure of delta smelt to dissolved pesticides in 1998 and 1999

Delta smelt is a threatened species in the San Francisco Bay Estuary. Pesticide toxicity is a possible cause for the need to list this fish (Bennett and Moyle 1996; Moyle and others 1996). Numerous pesticides are transported into the estuary from area rivers (MacCoy and others 1995). However, there are minimal data to document the presence, or absence, of pesticides within delta smelt habitat, especially during their vulnerable early life stages. This study, conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), documents the occurrence of pesticides within delta smelt habitat; specifically, the length and variability of their potential exposure to multiple dissolved pesticides. This article reviews delta smelt habitat and early life stages followed by an explanation of the study design for assessing pesticide exposure. Results show the co-occurrence of multiple pesticides and delta smelt in their native habitat; these results are presented within the context of possible toxic effects to delta smelt. Finally, the annual variability of pesticide distributions is discussed.

Interagency Ecological Program Newsletter↗
USGS1996

Sediment inflow to the delta from the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers

USGS routinely measures the daily suspended sediment load entering the delta with the flows of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. Most of the suspended sediment that flows into the delta is carried by these two rivers, but it also enters from Yolo Bypass; the Mokelumne, Calaveras, and Cosumnes rivers; and several smaller streams. This article presents suspended sediment data for the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, and compares the data collected during the water year 1995 to statistically analyzed data from the long-term record.

Interagency Ecological Program Newsletter↗
USGS2016

The persistence and characteristics of Chinook salmon migrations to the Upper Klamath River prior to exclusion by dams

In this research article, John Hamilton and his co-authors present extensive new research and information gathered since a 2005 publication on the historical evidence of anadromomous fish distribution in the Upper Klamath River watershed. Using historical accounts from early explorers and ethnographers to early-twentieth-century photographs, newspaper accounts, and government reports, the authors provide a more complete record of past salmon migrations. The updated record “substantiate[s] the historical persistence of salmon, their migration characteristics, and the broad population baseline that will be key to future commercial, recreational, and Tribal fisheries in the Klamath River and beyond.” During a time when salmon restoration plans are being considered in the region, the historical record can serve as guidance to once again establish diverse and thriving populations.

California, Oregon↗