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At least 1,585 records · Page 88Linked to original sources

Geologic map of the Craters of the Moon 30' x 60' Quadrangle, Idaho

The Craters of the Moon 30 x 60 minute quadrangle shows the geology of the northern two-thirds of the Craters of the Moon (COM) lava field and volcanic structures of the northern and central parts of the Great Rift volcanic rift zone. The COM lava field is the largest, predominantly Holocene lava field in the conterminous United States. The northwest corner of the map shows older sedimentary, intrusive, and volcanic rocks that range in age from Ordovician to Miocene. These rocks provide evidence of compressional fold and thrust events of the Antler and Sevier orogenies. Compression was followed by voluminous volcanism represented by the Challis Volcanic Group. Basin-and-Range faulting followed in Neogene time. The COM lava field covers about 1,600 square kilometers and contains about 30 cubic kilometers of lava flows and associated vent deposits. Stratigraphic relationships, paleomagnetic studies, and radiocarbon ages indicate that the field formed during eight eruptive periods designated as H, the oldest, to A, the youngest. Each eruptive period was several hundred years or less in duration and separated from other eruptive periods by non-eruptive recurrence intervals of several hundred to about 3,000 years. The first eruptive period began about 15,000 carbon-14 years ago and the latest one ended about 2,100 carbon-14 years ago. All available field, paleomagnetic, radiocarbon, and argon-40/argon-39 data are incorporated in this map and they quantitatively refine the volcanic and paleomagnetic history of the pre-Holocene lava fields and the COM lava field. In a sense, these data determine the 'pulse rate' for Pleistocene and Holocene basaltic volcanism in the area of this map. Twenty-three new argon-40/argon-39 geochronologic data reveal a fairly complete and continuous record of basaltic volcanism in the Craters of the Moon 30 x 60 minute quadrangle for the last 500 ka. The ages cluster into age groupings at ~30 ka, 50-70 ka, 100-125 ka, 260-290 ka, 320-340 ka, and 475 ka. There are apparent periods of ~30 to 60 ka duration when little or no volcanic activity took place between groups. Magnetic polarity and remanent inclination and declination directions for most lava flows in the quadrangle have normal magnetic polarity; they were emplaced during the Brunhes Normal Polarity Chron and are younger than 780,000 years. Directions of remanent magnetization and the new argon-40/argon-39 ages were used to correlate and approximately date lava flows and lava fields for this map.

Scientific Investigations Map↗

Geologic Map of the Cedargrove Quadrangle, Dent and Shannon Counties, Missouri

The Cedargrove 7.5-minute quadrangle is located in south-central Missouri within the Salem Plateau region of the Ozark Plateaus physiographic province. Most of the land in the quadrangle is privately owned and used primarily for grazing cattle and horses and growing timber. The map area has topographic relief of about 565 feet (ft), with elevations ranging from about 760 ft at Akers Ferry on the central-southern edge of the map to about 1,325 ft near the town of Jadwin in the north-central part of the map area. The most prominent physiographic features in the quadrangle are the valleys of the Current River and Big Creek in the southwestern part of the map area, and the valley of Gladden Creek, which transects the eastern part of the quadrangle from north to south.

Scientific Investigations Map↗

Net-infiltration map of the Navajo Sandstone outcrop area in western Washington County, Utah

As populations grow in the arid southwestern United States and desert bedrock aquifers are increasingly targeted for future development, understanding and quantifying the spatial variability of net infiltration and recharge becomes critically important for inventorying groundwater resources and mapping contamination vulnerability. A Geographic Information System (GIS)-based model utilizing readily available soils, topographic, precipitation, and outcrop data has been developed for predicting net infiltration to exposed and soil-covered areas of the Navajo Sandstone outcrop of southwestern Utah. The Navajo Sandstone is an important regional bedrock aquifer. The GIS model determines the net-infiltration percentage of precipitation by using an empirical equation. This relation is derived from least squares linear regression between three surficial parameters (soil coarseness, topographic slope, and downgradient distance from outcrop) and the percentage of estimated net infiltration based on environmental tracer data from excavations and boreholes at Sand Hollow Reservoir in the southeastern part of the study area. Processed GIS raster layers are applied as parameters in the empirical equation for determining net infiltration for soil-covered areas as a percentage of precipitation. This net-infiltration percentage is multiplied by average annual Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) precipitation data to obtain an infiltration rate for each model cell. Additionally, net infiltration on exposed outcrop areas is set to 10 percent of precipitation on the basis of borehole net-infiltration estimates. Soils and outcrop net-infiltration rates are merged to form a final map. Areas of low, medium, and high potential for ground-water recharge have been identified, and estimates of net infiltration range from 0.1 to 66 millimeters per year (mm/yr). Estimated net-infiltration rates of less than 10 mm/yr are considered low, rates of 10 to 50 mm/yr are considered medium, and rates of more than 50 mm/yr are considered high. A comparison of estimated net-infiltration rates (determined from tritium data) to predicted rates (determined from GIS methods) at 12 sites in Sand Hollow and at Anderson Junction indicates an average difference of about 50 percent. Two of the predicted values were lower, five were higher, and five were within the estimated range. While such uncertainty is relatively small compared with the three order-of-magnitude range in predicted net-infiltration rates, the net-infiltration map is best suited for evaluating relative spatial distribution rather than for precise quantification of recharge to the Navajo aquifer at specific locations. An important potential use for this map is land-use zoning for protecting high net-infiltration parts of the aquifer from potential surface contamination.

Utah↗

State of Florida 1:24,000- and 1:100,000-scale quadrangle index map - Highlighting low-lying areas derived from USGS Digital Elevation Models

In support of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) disaster preparedness efforts, this map depicts 1:24,000- and 1:100,000-scale quadrangle footprints over a color shaded relief representation of the State of Florida. The first 30 feet of relief above mean sea level are displayed as brightly colored 5-foot elevation bands, which highlight low-elevation areas at a coarse spatial resolution. Standard USGS National Elevation Dataset (NED) 1 arc-second (nominally 30-meter) digital elevation model (DEM) data are the basis for the map, which is designed to be used at a broad scale and for informational purposes only. The NED source data for this map consists of a mixture of 30-meter- and 10-meter-resolution DEMs. The NED data were derived from the original 1:24,000-scale USGS topographic map bare-earth contours, which were converted into gridded quadrangle-based DEM tiles at a constant post spacing (grid cell size) of either 30 meters (data before the mid-1990s) or 10 meters (mid-1990s and later data). These individual-quadrangle DEMs were then converted to spherical coordinates (latitude/longitude decimal degrees) and edge-matched to ensure seamlessness. Figure 1 shows a similar representation for the entire U.S. Gulf Coast, using coarsened 30-meter NED data. Areas below sea level typically are surrounded by levees or some other type of flood-control structures. State and county boundary, hydrography, city, and road layers were modified from USGS National Atlas data downloaded in 2003. Quadrangle names, dated April, 2006, were obtained from the Federal Geographic Names Information System. The NED data were downloaded in 2004.

Scientific Investigations Map↗

Bedrock geologic map of the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, and accompanying conodont data

This 1:500,000-scale geologic map depicts the bedrock geology of Seward Peninsula, western Alaska, on the North American side of the Bering Strait. The map encompasses all of the Teller, Nome, Solomon, and Bendeleben 1:250,000-scale quadrangles, and parts of the Shishmaref, Kotzebue, Candle, and Norton Bay 1:250,000-scale quadrangles (sh. 1; sh. 2). The geologic map is presented on Sheet 1. The pamphlet includes an introductory text, detailed unit descriptions, tables of geochronologic data, and an appendix containing conodont (microfossil) data and a text explaining those data. Sheet 2 shows metamorphic and tectonic units, conodont color alteration indices, key metamorphic minerals, and locations of geochronology samples listed in the pamphlet. The map area covers 74,000 km 2 , an area slightly larger than West Virginia or Ireland.

Alaska↗

Bathymetric and sediment facies maps for China Bend and Marcus Flats, Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake, Washington, 2008 and 2009

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) created bathymetric and sediment facies maps for portions of two reaches of Lake Roosevelt in support of an interdisciplinary study of white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and their habitat areas within Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake, Washington. In October 2008, scientists from the USGS used a boat-mounted multibeam echo sounder (MBES) to describe bathymetric data to characterize surface relief at China Bend and Marcus Flats, between Northport and Kettle Falls, Washington. In March 2009, an underwater video camera was used to view and record sediment facies that were then characterized by sediment type, grain size, and areas of sand deposition. Smelter slag has been identified as having the characteristics of sand-sized black particles; the two non-invasive surveys attempted to identify areas containing black-colored particulate matter that may be elements and minerals, organic material, or slag. The white sturgeon population in Lake Roosevelt is threatened by the failure of natural recruitment, resulting in a native population that consists primarily of aging fish and that is gradually declining as fish die and are not replaced by nonhatchery reared juvenile fish. These fish spawn and rear in the riverine and upper reservoir reaches where smelter slag is present in the sediment of the river lake bed. Effects of slag on the white sturgeon population in Lake Roosevelt are largely unknown. Two recent studies demonstrated that copper and other metals are mobilized from slag in aqueous environments with concentrations of copper and zinc in bed sediments reaching levels of 10,000 and 30,000 mg/kg due to the presence of smelter slag. Copper was found to be highly toxic to 30-day-old white sturgeon with 96-h LC50 concentrations ranging from 3 to 5 (u or mu)g copper per liter. Older juvenile and adult sturgeons commonly ingest substantial amounts of sediment while foraging. Future study efforts in Lake Roosevelt should include sampling of bottom material to confirm the presence or absence of slag material indicated on the map. In addition, follow-up acoustic work to determine stream velocities at varying discharges, in conjunction with sediment mapping, would be helpful to more accurately identify areas of scour and areas of sediment deposition where slag deposits may accumulate within the Marcus Flats and China Bend reaches. MBES mapping could also be used to determine changes in bed elevation and sedimentation in the study reaches and could help evaluate annual deposition and provide estimates on fine-sediment thickness.

Washington↗

Geologic map of the Hecate Chasma quadrangle (V-28), Venus

The Hecate Chasma quadrangle (V–28) extends from lat 0° to 25° N. and from long 240° E. to 270° E. The quadrangle was mapped at 1:5,000,000 scale as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Planetary Geologic Mapping Program. Hecate Chasma is an extensive rift system consisting of multiple branches that lies in the lowland region of Hinemoa Planitia in the northern hemisphere of Venus. Here, we use the term “rift” and “chasma” (plural “chasmata”) to designate the trough and fracture zones that make up the Hecate system. Lineaments within the Hecate rift system that define Hecate, Zverine, and Hanwi Chasmata are mapped in red for emphasis. The system consists of several rifts and fracture belts, low-lying plains units, coronae and numerous small volcanic edifices including shields, domes and cones. The three branches of the Hecate rift system in this quadrangle are Hecate Chasma (centered at lat 18.2° N., long 254.3° E.), Zverine Chasma (centered at lat 18.5° N., long 271° E.), and Hanwi Chasma (centered at lat 10.5° N., long 247° E.). The quadrangle also contains many intermediate to large volcanoes, including Polik-mana Mons and Nazit Mons. Eighteen coronae are located in the quadrangle, the largest of which is the 525 km across Taranga Corona, along with fourteen impact craters. Corona maximum widths are measured to the outer edge of the annulus. Lineaments that form the corona annulus are mapped in green for emphasis. The overall topography of V–28 consists of plains located slightly below mean planetary radius (MPR, 6051.84). The lowest regions are found in the rift trough (3.3 m below MPR), and the highest along the rift rim (4.3 km above MPR). The regions that are the roughest at Magellan radar wavelengths in the quadrangle occur along Hecate Chasma (root mean square [rms] slopes >10°), with most regions being relatively smooth (roughnesses comparable to the average Venus surface value of 2.84°). Emissivity values in the quadrangle are typical of most venusian plains regions, with a range in values for the quadrangle of 0.68–0.91. The highest emissivity values in the quadrangle lie at the highest elevations in the quadrangle (corona rims and interiors).

Scientific Investigations Map↗

Bedrock geologic map of the Grafton quadrangle, Worcester County, Massachusetts

The bedrock geology of the 7.5-minute Grafton, Massachusetts, quadrangle consists of deformed Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic crystalline metamorphic and intrusive igneous rocks. Neoproterozoic intrusive, metasedimentary, and metavolcanic rocks crop out in the Avalon zone, and Cambrian to Silurian intrusive, metasedimentary, and metavolcanic rocks crop out in the Nashoba zone. Rocks of the Avalon and Nashoba zones, or terranes, are separated by the Bloody Bluff fault. The bedrock geology was mapped to study the tectonic history of the area and to provide a framework for ongoing hydrogeologic characterization of the fractured bedrock of Massachusetts. This report presents mapping by G.J. Walsh, geochronology by J.N. Aleinikoff, geochemistry by M.J. Dorais, and consists of a map, text pamphlet, and GIS database. The map and text pamphlet are available in paper format or as downloadable files (see frame at right). The GIS database is available for download. The database includes contacts of bedrock geologic units, faults, outcrops, structural geologic information, and photographs.

Massachusetts↗

Geologic map of the north polar region of Mars

The north polar region of Mars occurs within the central and lowest part of the vast northern plains of Mars and is dominated by the roughly circular north polar plateau, Planum Boreum. The northern plains formed very early in Martian time and have collected volcanic flows and sedimentary materials shed from highland sources. Planum Boreum has resulted from the accumulation of water ice and dust particles. Extensive, uncratered dune fields adjacent to Planum Boreum attest to the active and recent transport and accumulation of sand. Our geologic map of Planum Boreum is the first to record its entire observable stratigraphic record using the various post-Viking image and topography datasets released before 2009. We also provide much more detail in the map than previously published, including some substantial revisions based on new data and observations. The available data have increased and improved immensely in quantity, resolution, coverage, positional accuracy, and spectral range, enabling us to resolve previously unrecognized geomorphic features, stratigraphic relations, and compositional information. We also employ more carefully prescribed and effective mapping methodologies and digital techniques, as well as formatting guidelines. The foremost aspect to our mapping approach is how geologic units are discriminated based primarily on their temporal relations with other units as expressed in unit contacts by unconformities or by gradational relations. Whereas timing constraints of such activity in the north polar region are now better defined stratigraphically, they remain poorly constrained chronologically. The end result is a new reconstruction of the sedimentary, erosional, and structural histories of the north polar region and how they may have been driven by climate conditions, available geologic materials, and eolian, periglacial, impact, magmatic, hydrologic, and tectonic activity.

Scientific Investigations Map↗

Flood-Inundation Maps for a 1.6-Mile Reach of Salt Creek, Wood Dale, Illinois

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 1.6-mile reach of Salt Creek from upstream of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad to Elizabeth Drive, Wood Dale, Illinois, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the DuPage County Stormwater Management Division. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/ depict estimates of the areal extent of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (gage heights) at the USGS streamgage on Salt Creek at Wood Dale, Illinois (station number 05531175). Current conditions at the USGS streamgage may be obtained on the Internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?05531175. In this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional unsteady flow Full EQuations (FEQ) model. The unsteady flow model was verified by comparing the rating curve output for a September 2008 flood event to discharge measurements collected at the Salt Creek at Wood Dale gage. The hydraulic model was then used to determine 14 water-surface profiles for gage heights at 0.5-ft intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from less than bankfull to approximately the highest recorded water level at the streamgage. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a Geographic Information System (GIS) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) (derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data) in order to delineate the area flooded at each water level. The areal extent of the inundation was verified with high-water marks from a flood in July 2010 with a peak gage height of 14.08 ft recorded at the Salt Creek at Wood Dale gage. The availability of these maps along with Internet information regarding current gage height from USGS streamgages provide emergency management personnel and residents with information that is critical for flood response activities such as evacuations and road closures as well as for post-flood recovery efforts.

Illinois↗

Aeromagnetic and aeromagnetic-based geologic maps of the Coastal Belt, Franciscan Complex, northern California

The Coastal belt of the Franciscan Complex represents a Late Cretaceous to Miocene accretionary prism and overlying slope deposits. Its equivalents may extend from the offshore outer borderland of southern California to north of the Mendocino Triple Junction under the Eel River Basin and in the offshore of Cascadia. The Coastal belt is exposed on land in northern California, yet its structure and stratigraphy are incompletely known because of discontinuous exposure, structural disruption, and lithologically non-distinctive clastic rocks. The intent of this report is to make available, in map form, aeromagnetic data covering the Coastal belt that provide a new dataset to aid in mapping, understanding, and interpreting the incompletely understood geology and structure in northern California. The newly merged aeromagnetic data over the Coastal belt of the Franciscan Complex reveal long, linear anomalies that indicate remarkably coherent structure within a terrane where mapping at the surface indicates complex deformation and that has been described as "broken formation" and, even locally as "mélange". The anomalies in the Coastal belt are primarily sourced by volcanic-rich graywackes and exotic blocks of basalt. Some anomalies along the contact of the Coastal belt with the Central belt are likely caused by local interleaving of components of the Coast Ranges ophiolite. These data can be used to map additional exotic blocks within the Coastal belt and to distinguish lithologically indistinct graywackes within the Coastal terrane. Using anomaly asymmetry allows projection of these "layers" into the subsurface. This analysis indicates predominant northeast dips consistent with tectonic interleaving of blocks within a subduction zone.

California↗

Bedrock geologic map of the Nashua South quadrangle, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, and Middlesex County, Massachusetts

The bedrock geology of the 7.5-minute Nashua South quadrangle consists primarily of deformed Silurian metasedimentary rocks of the Berwick Formation. The metasedimentary rocks are intruded by a Late Silurian to Early Devonian diorite-gabbro suite, Devonian rocks of the Ayer Granodiorite, Devonian granitic rocks of the New Hampshire Plutonic Suite including pegmatite and the Chelmsford Granite, and Jurassic diabase dikes. The bedrock geology was mapped to study the tectonic history of the area and to provide a framework for ongoing hydrogeologic characterization of the fractured bedrock of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. This report presents mapping by G.J. Walsh and R.H. Jahns and zircon U-Pb geochronology by J.N. Aleinikoff. The complete report consists of a map, text pamphlet, and GIS database. The map and text pamphlet are only available as downloadable files (see frame at right). The GIS database is available for download in ESRI TM shapefile and Google Earth TM formats, and includes contacts of bedrock geologic units, faults, outcrops, structural geologic information, photographs, and a three-dimensional model.

Massachusetts, New Hampshire↗

Surficial geologic map of the Ivanpah 30' x 60' quadrangle, San Bernardino County, California, and Clark County, Nevada

This map was prepared as part of a suite of surficial geologic maps covering the northern Mojave Desert to investigate neotectonic features and map soils of relevance for ecological properties. The map covers an area of the eastern Mojave Desert that includes the Cinder Cones, Cima Dome, Ivanpah Valley, and Lanfair Valley and includes major mountain chains of the Providence, New York, and Ivanpah Mountains, all within the Mojave National Preserve. Surficial geology includes expansive pediments, broad valley-bottom sediment tracts, and dune fields of the Devils Playground. Two Quaternary fault zones are identified, as well as several others that probably are Quaternary.

California, Nevada↗

Flood-inundation maps for the Flatrock River at Columbus, Indiana, 2012

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 5-mile reach of the Flatrock River on the western side of Columbus, Indiana, from County Road 400N to the river mouth at the confluence with Driftwood River, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/ and the Federal Flood Inundation Mapper Web site at http://wim.usgs.gov/FIMI/FloodInundationMapper.html, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage on the Flatrock River at Columbus (station number 03363900). Near-real-time stages at this streamgage may be obtained on the Internet from the USGS National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ or the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service, which also presents the USGS data, at http:/water.weather.gov/ahps/. Flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated by using the most current stage-discharge relation at the Flatrock River streamgage, high-water marks that were surveyed following the flood of June 7, 2008, and water-surface profiles from the current flood-insurance study for the City of Columbus. The hydraulic model was then used to compute 12 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot (ft) intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from 9 ft or near bankfull to 20 ft, which exceeds the stages that correspond to both the estimated 0.2-percent annual exceedance probability flood (500-year recurrence interval flood) and the maximum recorded peak flow. 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 0.37 ft vertical accuracy and 3.9 ft horizontal resolution) to delineate the area flooded at each water level. The availability of these maps on the USGS Federal Flood Inundation Mapper Web site, along with Internet information regarding current stage from the USGS streamgage, will provide emergency management personnel and residents with information that is critical for flood response activities, such as evacuations and road closures, as well as for post-flood recovery efforts.

Indiana↗

Geologic map of the Lada Terra quadrangle (V-56), Venus

This publication provides a geological map of Lada Terra quadrangle (V–56), a portion of the southern hemisphere of Venus that extends from lat 50° S. to 70° S. and from long 0° E. to 60° E. V–56 is bordered by Kaiwan Fluctus (V–44) and Agnesi (V–45) quadrangles in the north and by Mylitta Fluctus (V–61), Fredegonde (V–57), and Hurston (V–62) quadrangles in the west, east, and south, respectively. The geological map of V–56 quadrangle reveals evidence for tectonic, volcanic, and impact processes in Lada Terra in the form of tesserae, regional extensional belts, coronae, and volcanic plains. In addition, the map also shows relative age relations such as overlapping or cross-cutting relations between the mapped geologic units. The geology observed within this quadrangle addresses (1) how coronae evolved in association with regional extensional belts and (2) how tesserae, regional plains, and impact craters, which are also significant geological units observed in Lada Terra quadrangle, were formed.

Scientific Investigations Map↗

Lidar-revised geologic map of the Olalla 7.5' quadrangle, King, Kitsap, and Pierce Counties, Washington

The Olalla 7.5' quadrangle, which lies almost in the center of the Puget Lowland, displays the broad range of geologic environments typical of the region. The upland plain is fluted by the passage of the great continental ice sheet that last covered the area about 17,000 (14,000 radiocarbon) years ago. The plain is cut by channel deposits, both late glacial and postglacial in age, and it is cleaved even more deeply by one of the major arms of Puget Sound, Colvos Passage, which here separates the west coast of Vashon Island from the Kitsap Peninsula. Beneath the deposits of the last ice sheet is a complex sequence of older Quaternary-age sediments that extends about 400 m below the modern ground surface. These older sediments are best exposed along the shorelines and beach cliffs of Puget Sound, where wave action and landslides maintain relatively fresh exposures. The older sediments typically are compact, having been loaded by ice during one or more episodes of glaciation subsequent to their deposition. Locally these sediments are also cemented by iron and manganese oxides and hydroxides, a consequence of many tens or hundreds of thousands of years of weathering and groundwater movement. Our map is an interpretation of a 6-ft resolution lidar-derived digital elevation model combined with the geology depicted on the "Geologic map of the Olalla 7.5' quadrangle, King, Kitsap, and Pierce Counties, Washington," by Booth and Troost (2005), which was described, interpreted, and located on the 1953 1:24,000-scale topographic map of the Olalla 7.5-minute quadrangle. The original topographic base map, derived from 1951 aerial photographs, has 20-ft contours, nominal horizontal resolution of circa 40 ft (12 m), and nominal mean vertical accuracy of circa 13 ft (4 m). This new DEM has a horizontal resolution of 6 ft (2 m) and mean vertical accuracy circa 1 ft (0.3 m). The greater resolution and accuracy of the lidar DEM facilitated a much-improved interpretation of many aspects of the surficial geology, especially the distribution and relative age of landforms and the materials inferred to comprise them.

Washington↗

Geologic map of the Ute Mountain 7.5' quadrangle, Taos County, New Mexico, and Conejos and Costilla Counties, Colorado

The Ute Mountain 7.5' quadrangle is located in the south-central part of the San Luis Basin of northern New Mexico, in the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, and contains deposits that record volcanic, tectonic, and associated alluvial and colluvial processes over the past four million years. Ute Mountain has the distinction of being one of the largest intermediate composition eruptive centers of the Taos Plateau, a largely volcanic tableland occupying the southern portion of the San Luis Basin. Ute Mountain rises to an elevation in excess of 3,000 m, nearly 700 m above the basaltic plateau at its base, and is characterized by three distinct phases of Pliocene eruptive activity recorded in the stratigraphy exposed on the flanks of the mountain and in the Rio Grande gorge. Unconformably overlain by largely flat-lying lava flows of Servilleta Basalt, the area surrounding Ute Mountain records a westward thickening of basin-fill volcanic deposits interstratified in the subsurface with Pliocene basin-fill sedimentary deposits derived from older Tertiary and Precambrian sources to the east. Superimposed on this volcanic stratigraphy are alluvial and colluvial deposits derived from the flanks of Ute Mountain and more distally-derived alluvium from the uplifted Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east, that record a complex temporal and stratigraphic succession of Quaternary basin deposition and erosion. Pliocene and younger basin deposition was accommodated along predominantly north-trending fault-bounded grabens. These poorly exposed fault scarps cutting lava flows of Ute Mountain volcano. The Servilleta Basalt and younger surficial deposits record largely down-to-east basinward displacement. Faults are identified with varying confidence levels in the map area. Recognizing and mapping faults developed near the surface in young, brittle volcanic rocks is difficult because: (1) they tend to form fractured zones tens of meters wide rather than discrete fault planes, (2) the relative youth of the deposits has resulted in only modest displacements on most faults, and (3) some of the faults may have significant strike-slip components that do not result in large vertical offsets that are readily apparent in offset of sub-horizontal contacts. Those faults characterized as “certain” either have distinct offset of map units or had slip planes that were directly observed in the field. Lineaments defined from magnetic anomalies form an additional constraint on potential fault locations and are indicated as such on the map sheet.

Colorado, New Mexico↗

Flood-inundation maps for the Saddle River in Ho-Ho-Kus Borough, the Village of Ridgewood, and Paramus Borough, New Jersey, 2013

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 5.4-mile reach of the Saddle River in New Jersey from Hollywood Avenue in Ho-Ho-Kus Borough downstream through the Village of Ridgewood and Paramus Borough to the confluence with Hohokus Brook in the Village of Ridgewood were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/ , depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage on the Saddle River at Ridgewood, New Jersey (station 01390500). Current conditions for estimating near real-time areas of inundation using USGS streamgage information may be obtained on the Internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=01390500 or at the National Weather Services (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) at http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=okx&gage=rwdn4 . In this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated by using the most current stage-discharge relation (March 11, 2011) at the USGS streamgage 01390500, Saddle River at Ridgewood, New Jersey. The hydraulic model was then used to compute 10 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot (ft) intervals referenced to the streamgage datum, North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88), and ranging from 5 ft, the NWS “action and minor flood stage”, to 14 ft, which is the maximum extent of the stage-discharge rating and 0.6 ft higher than the highest recorded water level at the streamgage. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system 3-meter (9.84-ft) digital elevation model derived from Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) data in order to delineate the area flooded at each water level. The availability of these maps along with information on the Internet regarding current stage from the USGS streamgage provides emergency management personnel and residents with information that is critical for flood response activities, such as evacuations and road closures as well as for post-flood recovery efforts.

New Jersey↗