Stratigraphy of the Atlantic continental margin of the United States north of Cape Hatteras: A brief survey
No abstract available.
Open-File Report↗
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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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Airborne electromagnetic surveys of the Cascade Range, western United States
No abstract available.
California, Oregon, Washington↗
Hydro-climatic data network (HCDN); a U.S. Geological Survey streamflow data set for the United States for the study of climate fluctuations, 1874-1988
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Open-File Report↗
Areal and temporal variability of selected water-quality characteristics in two hydrologic-benchmark basins in the northeastern United States
Two U.S. Geological Survey National Hydrologic Benchmark stations--Young Womans Creek near Renovo, Pennsylvania and Esopus Creek at Shandaken, New York--were studied to (1) define, both areally and temporally, variations of stream acidity and other water quality characteristics within the basins; (2) evaluate how well the data collected at the Benchmark station represent the water quality conditions upstream; (3) define relations between streamflow acidity or pH; and (4) provide a data base to detect trends in quality of headwater streams. Samples were collected at nine sites, including the Benchmark station, in each basin for three series of measurements over a range of streamflows. Along with streamflow, samples were analyzed for water temperature, specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen, acidity, alkalinity, dissolved sulfate, and dissolved nitrite plus nitrate. The results of the measurements indicated little water quality variation in the Young Womans Creek basin. Therefore, the data collected at the Benchmark station can be used to reflect upstream changes in water quality. The data collected at the Esopus Creek station did not reflect upstream conditions as well as the Young Womans Creek data because the water quality varied throughout the basin. Few strong relations were found between streamflow and the water quality characteristics examined in this study. The Esopus Creek data indicated the possibility of relationships between streamflow and alkalinity, dissolved nitrite plus nitrate, and specific conductance. No relations were found between streamflow and the Young Womans Creek water quality data. (USGS)
Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
Properties and chemical constituents in ground water from the middle Claiborne Aquifer, Gulf Coast regional aquifer systems, south-central United States
The U.S. Geological Survey used four programs in 1990 to provide external data quality assurance for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network (NADP/NTN). Results of the intersite- comparison program indicate that 80 and 74 percent of the site operators met the NADP/NTN goals for pH determination and 98 and 95 percent of the site operators met the NADP/NTN goals for specific- conductance determination during the two studies in 1990. The effects of routine sample handling, processing, and shipping determined in the blind-audit program indicated significant positive bias for calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, nitrate, and sulfate. Significant negative bias was determined for hydrogen ion and specific conductance. A Kruskal-Wallis test indicated that there were no significant (a=0.01) differences in analytical results from the three laboratories participating in the interlaboratory-comparison program. Results from the collocated-sampler study indicate the median relative error for potassium and ammonium concentration and deposition exceeded 15 percent at most sites while the median relative error for sulfate and nitrate at all sites was less than 6 percent for concentration and was less than 15 percent for deposition.
Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
Bird collections in the United States and Canada
This survey was initiated in 1966 as a project of a subcommittee of the A.O.U.'s Committee on Research, at that time chaired by Paul H. Baldwin. The subcommittee consisted of the authors and Ralph J. Raitt. In 1968 the project was separated from the Committee on Research and the temporary Committee on Collections was established, with the present authors as its members. This paper is the final report of the committee. In the past, many studies utilizing museum materials have been handicapped by ignorance of the existence of potentially important specimens. We hoped, by means of this survey, to enable future workers to take full advantage of all available material. The objectives of the survey were to determine the locations of collections of ornithological material with research potential, particularly skins, skeletons, fluid-preserved specimens, eggs, and nests; to assess the sizes and particular geographic or systematic strengths of the various collections; to locate former private collections; to learn what collections include holotypes, and who is responsible for the collections. These basic points are generally well-known for the larger institutions that specialize in maintaining research collections, but not for many smaller collections containing valuable material. The survey was inspired by and patterned after a series made of mammal collections (see Anderson et al. 1963, J. Mammal. 44: 471-500).
The Auk↗
New USGS seismic hazard maps for the United States
The US Geological Survey (USGS) is preparing new seismic national maps for release in April 1996. The new maps plot probabilistic ground motions for return times of about 500, 1000, and 2500 years. Deterministic (scenario) ground-motion maps are being prepared for selected faults in the western US. Due to the diversity of tectonic settings in the US, mapping methodologies for different regions had to be modified. A four-model approach is used to eliminate the need for drawing seismic source zones to determine seismic activity levels. A logic tree approach is used to incorporate alternative models of seismic hazard and alternative relations of seismic attenuation.
Conference Paper↗
Application of a geographic information system in analyzing the occurrence of atrazine in groundwater of the mid-continental United States
The US Geological Survey, US Department of Agriculture, and US Environmental Protection Agency are conducting research and regional assessments in support of policy alternatives intended to protect water resources from agricultural chemical contamination. The mid-continent was selected because of the intense row crop agriculture and associated herbicide application in this region. An application of a geographic information system is demonstrated for analyzing and comparing the distribution of estimated atrazine use to the detection rate of atrazine in groundwater. Understanding the relations between atrazine use and detection in groundwater is important in policy deliberations to protect water resources. Relational analyses between measures of chemical use and detection rate by natural resource units may provide insight into critical factors controlling the processes that result in groundwater contamination from agricultural chemicals.
Conference Paper↗
Preliminary integrated geologic map databases for the United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont
The rapid growth in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has highlighted the need for regional and national scale digital geologic maps that have standardized information about geologic age and lithology. Such maps can be conveniently used to generate derivative maps for manifold special purposes such as mineral-resource assessment, metallogenic studies, tectonic studies, and environmental research. Although two digital geologic maps (Schruben and others, 1994; Reed and Bush, 2004) of the United States currently exist, their scales (1:2,500,000 and 1:5,000,000) are too general for many regional applications. Most states have digital geologic maps at scales of about 1:500,000, but the databases are not comparably structured and, thus, it is difficult to use the digital database for more than one state at a time. This report describes the result for a seven state region of an effort by the U.S. Geological Survey to produce a series of integrated and standardized state geologic map databases that cover the entire United States. In 1997, the United States Geological Survey's Mineral Resources Program initiated the National Surveys and Analysis (NSA) Project to develop national digital databases. One primary activity of this project was to compile a national digital geologic map database, utilizing state geologic maps, to support studies in the range of 1:250,000- to 1:1,000,000-scale. To accomplish this, state databases were prepared using a common standard for the database structure, fields, attribution, and data dictionaries. For Alaska and Hawaii new state maps are being prepared and the preliminary work for Alaska is being released as a series of 1:250,000 scale quadrangle reports. This document provides background information and documentation for the integrated geologic map databases of this report. This report is one of a series of such reports releasing preliminary standardized geologic map databases for the United States. The data products of the project consist of two main parts, the spatial databases and a set of supplemental tables relating to geologic map units. The datasets serve as a data resource to generate a variety of stratigraphic, age, and lithologic maps. This documentation is divided into four main sections: (1) description of the set of data files provided in this report, (2) specifications of the spatial databases, (3) specifications of the supplemental tables, and (4) an appendix containing the data dictionaries used to populate some fields of the spatial database and supplemental tables.
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, ↗
Water Resources, California, water year 1981: Volume 2. Pacific Slope Basins from Arroyo Grande to Oregon State Line except Central Valley
Water resources data in this volume for the 1981 water year consists of records of stage discharge, and water quality of streams and wells; stage, contents, and water quality in lakes and reservoirs; and water levels in wells. This report contains discharge records for 162 gaging stations; stage and contents for 12 lakes and reservoirs; water quality for 63 stations and 27 wells; water levels for 78 observation wells. Also included are 1 low-flow partial-record station and 32 water quality partial-record stations. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in California.
California↗
Water resources data for California, water year 1980; Volume 2, Pacific slope basins from Arroyo Grande to Oregon state line except Central Valley
Volume 2 of water resources data for the 1980 water year for California consists of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams and wells; stage, contents, and water quality in lakes and reservoirs; and water levels in wells. This report contains discharge records for 159 gaging stations; stage and contents for 19 lakes and reservoirs; water quality for 116 stations and 32 wells; water levels for 85 observation wells. Also included are 4 crest-stage partial-record stations and 3 low-flow partial-record stations. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in California.
California↗
Water resources data for California, water year 1980; Volume 4, Northern Central Valley basins and the Great Basin from Honey Lake basin to Oregon state line
Volume 4 of the water resources data for the 1980 water year for California consists of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage, contents, and water quality in lakes and reservoirs; and water levels in wells. This report contains discharge records for 199 gaging stations; stage and contents for 34 lakes and reservoirs; precipitation data for stations; water quality for stations; water levels for 54 observation wells, and water quality for 26 wells. Also included are 16 crest-stage partial-record stations, 7 low-flow partial-record stations. Additional water data were collected at various sites, not part of the systematic data collection program, and are published as special investigations. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in California.
California↗
Water Resources Data California, Water Year 1981: Volume 4. Northern Central Valley Basins and the Great Basin from Honey Lake Basin to Oregon State Line
Water-resources data for the 1981 water year for California consists of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage and contents in lakes and reservoirs; and water levels and water quality in wells. Volume 4 contains discharge records for 167 gaging stations; stage and contents for 26 lakes and reservoirs; precipitation data for 2 stations; water quality for 17 stations; water levels for 55 observation wells, and water quality for 18 wells. Also included are 4 crest-stage partial-record stations and 7 low-flow partial-record stations. Additional water data are collected at various sites, not part of the systematic data collection program, and are published as special investigations. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in California.
California↗
Evaluation of the Federal-State Cooperative observation well network in upstate New York, 1995-97
The U.S. Geological Survey?s Federal-State cooperative observation well network in upstate New York was evaluated in terms of areal coverage, objectives, and short- and long-term expansion plans. This report presents a history of the observation well network in upstate New York and depicts, on maps, the distribution of observation wells with respect to climatic regions, physiographic regions, and aquifer type (bedrock, till, and stratified drift) within New York State. It also describes siting criteria for observation wells, outlines the objectives of three types of observation well subnetworks, and offers suggestions for short- and long-term improvements of the current network. Two appendixes contain (1) a table of selected well data, and (2) hydrographs and boxplots that show median monthly water levels and monthly percentile statistics for water levels in the 46 observation wells.
Open-File Report↗
The bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of Louisiana: an updated, annotated checklist
An annotated checklist is provided for 243 species and subspecies of bees collected from or thought to occur in the state of Louisiana, where 163 are confirmed records, 46 are probable records, and 34 are possible records. We also list twelve records considered to be “dubious” because of the absence of supporting collection data and extralimital reported ranges. Data on parish localities, seasonality, and floral records are provided when available. Specimen data are provided from two separate surveys in the state, one focusing on the fauna of longleaf pine savannas and another focusing on Cajun prairie habitat in southwestern Louisiana. Data from a previous annotated checklist of bees from longleaf pine savannas (Bartholomew et al. 2006) are included, as well as online records from the Discover Life checklist (Ascher and Pickering 2016), and bee holdings of the Louisiana State Arthropod Museum (LSAM, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA).We highlight the role that this museum and similar small institutional insect collections play in documenting faunas on local and regional scales.
Louisiana↗
Black Scoter habitat use along the southeastern coast of the United States
While the Atlantic Coast of the United States and Canada is a major wintering area for sea ducks, knowledge about their wintering habitat use is relatively limited. Black Scoters have a broad wintering distribution and are the only open water species of sea duck that is abundant along the southeastern coast of the United States. Our study identified variables that affected Black Scoter ( Melanitta americana ) distribution and abundance in the Atlantic Ocean along the southeastern coast of the United States. We used aerial survey data from 2009 to 2012 provided by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to identify variables that influenced Black Scoter distribution. We used indicator variable selection to evaluate relationships between Black Scoter habitat use and a variety of broad- and fine-scale oceanographic and weather variables. Average time between waves, ocean floor slope, and the interaction of bathymetry and distance to shore had the strongest association with southeastern Black Scoter distribution.
Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, ↗
Earthquakes in Hawai‘i—an underappreciated but serious hazard
The State of Hawaii has a history of damaging earthquakes. Earthquakes in the State are primarily the result of active volcanism and related geologic processes. It is not a question of "if" a devastating quake will strike Hawai‘i but rather "when." Tsunamis generated by both distant and local quakes are also an associated threat and have caused many deaths in the State. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and its cooperators monitor seismic activity in the State and are providing crucial information needed to help better prepare emergency managers and residents of Hawai‘i for the quakes that are certain to strike in the future.
Fact Sheet↗
Microbial and spectral reflectance techniques to distinguish neutral and acidic drainage
Acid drainage from abandoned coal mines is affecting thousands of miles of rivers in the eastern United States. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists are finding that neutral drainage is sometimes being mistaken for acidic drainage because both involve the formation of iron oxide-rich materials. USGS scientists are adapting microbial techniques to learn about the processes that form the acidic and neutral iron oxide-rich flocculates and are developing spectral reflectance techniques that differentiate between acid and neutral materials. Federal and State regulatory agencies are using these data to help make land-use decisions.
Fact Sheet↗