SEARCH · USGS Science
Search indexed USGS publications on groundwater, aquifers, geologic maps, mineral resources and earthquakes. Explore source records by subject and place.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Using a performance-based geological assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean volumes of 13.4 trillion cubic feet of potential technically recoverable shale gas and 0.5 billion barrels of technically recoverable shale oil resources in the Norte Basin of Uruguay.
Using a performance-based geologic assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a technically recoverable mean volume of 6.1 trillion cubic feet of potential shale gas in the Bombay, Cauvery, and Krishna-Godavari Provinces of India.
The Sverdrup Basin Province, an area of 515,000 square kilometers on the northern margin of North America, extends 1,300 kilometers across the Canadian Arctic Islands from near the Mackenzie Delta to northern Ellesmere Island. It consists of an intracratonic late Paleozoic to early Cenozoic rift-sag basin and a Mesozoic rift shoulder that bounds it on the north. Basin inception was Mississippian, manifested by deposition of nonmarine strata in rift basins, followed by Pennyslvanian marine transgression, which began with evaporites and progressed to Permian carbonate and clastic deposition at basin fringes and organic-rich marine strata in the basin center. Sediment transport was both northward from North America and southward from a now-subsided or rifted-away landmass to the north. Mesozoic strata indicate continued marine deposition, including both organic-rich, fine-grained rocks deposited during highstands and progradational deltaic sequences. A new episode of rifting began in Middle Jurassic time and culminated in the opening of the Canada Basin by Early Cretaceous seafloor spreading. The Sverdrup Rim formed as the rift shoulder between North America and the thinned, subsided crust to the north. Widespread Upper Cretaceous organic-rich shales were deposited during the major transgression induced by Canada Basin opening, followed by an influx of coarser east-derived detritus. In Paleogene time, incipient North Atlantic seafloor spreading caused deformation in northeasternmost North America, producing uplifts that shed detritus westward across the Sverdrup Basin. Tight folding and thrusting resulting from the Eurekan orogeny took place in the eastern part of the basin during the Eocene, with decreasing intensity of deformation westward. Since deformation ended in late Eocene time, little significant tectonism or deposition has taken place. Two petroleum systems were defined in the Sverdrup Basin Province. Upper Paleozoic marine shale generated petroleum beginning in the Early Triassic, but this petroleum system was not quantitatively assessed because reservoir quality in adjacent strata is poor, the rocks are mostly overmature, and subsequent deformation likely affected trap integrity. The second petroleum system was sourced by Lower Triassic strata rich in oil-prone organic matter. Oil was generated during Paleogene burial synchronous with Eurekan deformation, and the oil migrated into Triassic and Jurassic deltaic, shallow marine and nonmarine strata. However, most of the oil may have escaped during deformation and subsequent uplift and erosion, which probably caused oil to be displaced from traps by gas expansion. The population of undiscovered accumulations was characterized as likely to include stratigraphically trapped and small, structurally trapped accumulations, with a median size of 80 million barrels of oil (MMBO); the number of undiscovered accumulations was estimated to be between 1 and 50, with the most likely number being 10. The resulting estimate of undiscovered, technically recoverable, conventional oil resources is 61 to 1,255 MMBO, with a mean of 427 MMBO. Undiscovered, technically recoverable, conventional gas resources are estimated at 4.95 trillion cubic feet (TCF), with slightly more than half of that in nonassociated gas accumulations. A third petroleum system in the adjacent Amerasia Basin Province to the north was considered somewhat likely to contain accumulations on the Sverdrup Rim. Deeply buried Upper Jurassic, Upper Cretaceous, and Eocene organic-rich strata probably generated oil that may have migrated up the continental slope into Triassic to Paleogene sandstones on the Sverdrup Rim. Based on analogy with the Barrow Arch in Alaska, a median of 20 accumulations was estimated, with accumulation volumes as much as 2,500 MMBO and a median of 100 MMBO. The probability of at least one accumulation of the minimum size assessed (50 MMBO) was estimated at 0.22. The resulting estimate of undiscovered, technically recoverable, conventional oil resources is 0 to 2,679 MMBO, with a mean of 424 MMBO. Mean estimates for associated and nonassociated gas are 1.3 and 2.3 TCF, respectively.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently assessed the potential for undiscovered petroleum resources of the East Barents Basins Province and the Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admiralty Arch Province as part of its Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal. These two provinces are situated northeast of Scandinavia and the northwestern Russian Federation, on the Barents Sea Shelf between Novaya Zemlya to the east and the Barents Platform to the west. Three assessment units (AUs) were defined in the East Barents Basins Province for this study: the Kolguyev Terrace AU, the South Barents and Ludlov Saddle AU, and the North Barents Basin AU. A fourth AU, defined as the Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admiralty Arch AU, coincides with the Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admiralty Arch Province. These four AUs, all lying north of the Arctic Circle, were assessed for undiscovered, technically recoverable resources, resulting in total estimated mean volumes of ~7.4 billion barrels of crude oil, 318 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas, and 1.4 billion barrels of natural-gas liquids.
The Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa marine shale (TMS) potential production area encompasses 20.4 million acres across central Louisiana (LA), southern Mississippi (MS), southwestern Alabama (AL), and a small southwestern section of the Florida panhandle (Hackley et al., 2018). It remains a minor and largely undeveloped unconventional shale oil play with production from the TMS confined along the east-west LA-MS State boundary (Fig. 1). The mean undiscovered, technically recoverable resources in the TMS are estimated at 1.5 billion barrels of oil and 4.6 trillion cubic feet of gas (Hackley et al., 2018). Geochemical analyses of source rock solvent extracts and oil samples indicate that, in the play area, the TMS is the primary source of shale oil produced from the TMS as well as of accumulated oils in the underlying conventional reservoirs of the lower Tuscaloosa (Hackley et al., 2020). The API gravity of TMS oils ranges from approximately 34 to 46 degrees (Hackley et al., 2020; Croke et al., 2020).
During the past decade there has been steady progress in the modernization of the global seismograph network operated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The World-Wide Standardized Seismograph Network (WWSSN) has been augmented by new stations with advanced instrumentation, including the Seismic Research Observatories (SRO) and the modified High-Gain Long-Period (ASRO) stations. One goal in the modernization effort has been to improve signal resolution in the long-period band. A second goal has been to generate a global digital data base to support contemporary computer-based analysis and research. In 1976, a Panel on Seismograph Networks was established by the Committee on Seismology of the National Academy of Sciences to review progress in network seismology and recommend actions that would lead to an improved global data base for seismology. One recommendation in the Panel report (Engdahl, 1977) called for upgrading selected WWSSN stations by the installation of digital recorders. This was viewed as an economical way of expanding the digital network, which had proven itself to be a very promising new tool for earthquake and explosion research. Funds for the development and assembly of 15 digital recorders were provided to the USGS by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and an ad Inoc panel of scientists was convened by the Committee on Seismology to advise the USGS on the selection of stations to be upgraded and on data recording requirements, A total of 19 digital World-Wide Standardized Seismograph (DWWSS) systems will be operational when all are installed. The additional systems were made available through purchase by the USGS and other organizations; for example, the University of Bergen purchased and installed a DWWSS-type recorder and agreed to furnish the USGS with the data. A list of operational and planned DWWSS network stations is given in Table 1.1. As one might expect, the digital recorder turned out to be somewhat more sophisticated than the original concept. It was decided to record three components of long-period data continuously, three components of intermediateperiod data in an event mode, and the vertical-component short-period data in and event mode (with the capability of adding short-period horizontal channels in the future). Special amplifiers were developed for use with the WWSS seismometers, and a 16-bit fixed-point analog-to-digital converter was chosen to provide increased resolution (as opposed to a 16-bit gain-ranged encoder). The microprocessor-based digital recording systems were developed and assembled at the USGS Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory (ASL) and ASL-based technicians began installation at WWSSN stations in 1980. The current and proposed locations of the DWWSSN stations, together with other stations in the Global Digital Seismograph Network (GDSN), are shown on the map in Figure 1.1. A system was operated at Albuquerque for about 18 months, serving as a test bed for evaluation studies. Although the network hardware has been available for some time, the installation of the DWWSSN has proceeded slowly. The National Science Foundation supported installation of six stations and the USGS is funding installation of most of the others; however, the network completion date is conjectural because of funding uncertainties. The DWWSSN stations are supported with supplies and technical assistance from ASL (subject to availability of funds). Data recorded on magnetic tapes are mailed to ASL where they are reviewed for quality, then merged with other GDSN station data on the network-day tapes. Hoffman (1980) provides a description of the network-day tape format. Zirbes and Buland (1981) have developed and published user software for reading and interpreting the day tapes. This report will serve several purposes. One is to provide nominal system transfer functions and calibration information that are needed in the analysis of DWWSSN data. A second purpose is to report on an evaluation of operating characteristics (calibration stability, noise levels, and linearity) that may limit the usefulness of the data and to determine if modifications may be needed to improve the data. It is not an exhaustive study in this respect. We continue to depend mostly on data user feedback to point out deficiencies and we solicit comments whenever anomalies are observed in the data.
Science products play a critical role in assisting environmental decision-makers to manage coastal systems; yet there are challenges to developing products that align with needs of end-users. By combining aspects of usability testing and contextual inquiry methods, we describe a hybrid approach for collecting user feedback, especially applicable within the federal government context. This paper presents results of this hybrid testing approach on two of U.S. Geological Survey’s science products, the Coastal Change Likelihood (CCL) and Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA). Both science products synthesize coastal hazard exposure at different geographies and scales. By comparing two science products in different stages of development, we identify common usability issues across both products; the importance of defining a target audience; requested functionalities beyond the products’ scope; and the effect of previous stakeholder engagement on how testers describe technical issues and barriers. Results from user feedback contribute to understanding needs and barriers of coastal decision-makers for science product development. This paper broadens the understanding of environmental decision-makers in the science product development cycle, and how social dimensions can be integrated in project design through iteratively working with end-users and product developers. Further, we present general lessons in usability for development cycles and how these lessons can inform development of actionable science products in coastal management.
Executive Summary The collection of high-frequency (in other words, “continuous”) water data has been made easier over the years because of advances in technologies to measure, transmit, store, and query large, temporally dense datasets. Commercially available, in-situ sensors and data-collection platforms—together with new techniques for data analysis—provide an opportunity to monitor water quantity and quality at time scales during which meaningful changes occur. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Continuous Monitoring Workshop was held to build stronger collaboration within the Water Mission Area on the collection, interpretation, and application of continuous monitoring data; share technical approaches for the collection and management of continuous data that improves consistency and efficiency across the USGS; and explore techniques and tools for the interpretation of continuous monitoring data, which increases the value to cooperators and the public. The workshop was organized into three major themes: Collecting Continuous Data, Understanding and Using Continuous Data, and Observing and Delivering Continuous Data in the Future. Presentations each day covered a variety of related topics, with a special session at the end of each day designed to bring discussion and problem solving to the forefront. The workshop brought together more than 70 USGS scientists and managers from across the Water Mission Area and Water Science Centers. Tools to manage, assure, control quality, and explore large streams of continuous water data are being developed by the USGS and other organizations and will be critical to making full use of these high-frequency data for research and monitoring. Disseminating continuous monitoring data and findings relevant to critical cooperator and societal issues is central to advancing the USGS networks and mission. Several important outcomes emerged from the presentations and breakout sessions.
Groundwater quality in the approximately 860-square-mile Madera–Chowchilla study unit (MADCHOW) was investigated in April and May 2008 as part of the Priority Basin Project of the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The GAMA Priority Basin Project was developed in response to the Groundwater Quality Monitoring Act of 2001 and is being conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB). The study was designed to provide a spatially unbiased assessment of the quality of raw groundwater used for public water supplies within MADCHOW, and to facilitate statistically consistent comparisons of groundwater quality throughout California. Samples were collected from 35 wells in Madera, Merced, and Fresno Counties. Thirty of the wells were selected using a spatially distributed, randomized grid-based method to provide statistical representation of the study area (grid wells), and five more were selected to provide additional sampling density to aid in understanding processes affecting groundwater quality (flow-path wells). Detection summaries in the text and tables are given for grid wells only, to avoid over-representation of the water quality in areas adjacent to flow-path wells. Groundwater samples were analyzed for a large number of synthetic organic constituents (volatile organic compounds [VOCs], low-level 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane [DBCP] and 1,2-dibromoethane [EDB], pesticides and pesticide degradates, polar pesticides and metabolites, and pharmaceutical compounds), constituents of special interest (N-nitrosodimethylamine [NDMA], perchlorate, and low-level 1,2,3-trichloropropane [1,2,3-TCP]), naturally occurring inorganic constituents (nutrients, major and minor ions, and trace elements), and radioactive constituents (uranium isotopes, and gross alpha and gross beta particle activities). Naturally occurring isotopes and geochemical tracers (stable isotopes of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, and activities of tritium and carbon-14), and dissolved noble gases also were measured to help identify the sources and ages of the sampled groundwater. In total, approximately 300 constituents and field water-quality indicators were investigated. Three types of quality-control samples (blanks, replicates, and samples for matrix spikes) each were collected at approximately 11 percent of the wells sampled for each analysis, and the results obtained from these samples were used to evaluate the quality of the data for the groundwater samples. Field blanks rarely contained detectable concentrations of any constituent, suggesting that data for the groundwater samples were not compromised by possible contamination during sample collection, handling or analysis. Differences between replicate samples were within acceptable ranges. Matrix spike recoveries were within acceptable ranges for most compounds. This study did not attempt to evaluate the quality of water delivered to consumers; after withdrawal from the ground, raw groundwater typically is treated, disinfected, or blended with other waters to maintain water quality. Regulatory thresholds apply to water that is served to the consumer, not to raw groundwater. However, to provide some context for the results, concentrations of constituents measured in the raw groundwater were compared with regulatory and non-regulatory health-based thresholds established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), and with aesthetic and technical thresholds established by CDPH. Comparisons between data collected for this study and drinking-water thresholds are for illustrative purposes only, and are not indicative of compliance or non-compliance with regulatory thresholds. The concentrations of most constituents detected in groundwater samples from MADCHOW wells were below drinking-water thresholds. Organic compounds (VOCs and pesticides) were detected in about 40 percent of the samples from grid wells, and most concentrations were less than 1/100 of regulatory or non-regulatory health-based thresholds, although the concentrations of low-level DBCP in 10 percent and low-level EDB in 3 percent of the samples from grid wells were above the corresponding USEPA maximum contaminant levels (MCL-USs). Perchlorate was detected in 70 percent of the samples from grid wells, and most concentrations were less than one-tenth of the CDPH maximum contaminant level (MCL-CA). Low-level 1,2,3-TCP was detected in 33 percent of the samples from grid wells, and all concentrations were less than 1/1,000 of the USEPA lifetime health advisory level (HAL-US). Most concentrations of trace elements and nutrients in samples were below regulatory and non-regulatory health-based thresholds. Concentrations were above the MCL-US for nitrate in 7 percent of the samples from grid wells, for arsenic and uranium in 13 percent each of the samples from grid wells; and the concentration of vanadium was above the CDPH notification level (NL–CA) in 3 percent of the samples from grid wells. Detections of radioactive constituents were below regulatory and non-regulatory health-based thresholds in most samples. Combined activities of uranium isotopes were detected above the MCL-CA in 20 percent of the subset of 25 grid well samples analyzed, and gross alpha particle activity was detected above the MCL-US in 20 percent of the samples from the 30 total grid wells. Most of the samples from MADCHOW grid wells had concentrations of major and minor ions, total dissolved solids, and trace elements below the CDPH secondary maximum contaminant levels (SMCL-CAs), which are nonenforceable thresholds set for aesthetic and technical concerns. Twenty percent of the samples from grid wells contained specific-conductance values, or concentrations of chloride, total dissolved solids, or manganese above the respective SMCL–CAs.
Mercury in soils, surface water, and groundwater at the William J. Hughes Technical Center , Atlantic County, New Jersey, has been found at levels that exceed established background concentrations in Coastal Plain waters, and, in some cases, New Jersey State standards for mercury in various media. As of 2012, it is not known whether this mercury is part of regional mercury contamination or whether it is related to former military activities. Regionally, groundwater supplying about 700 domestic wells in the New Jersey Coastal Plain is contaminated with mercury that appears to be derived from anthropogenic inputs, such as agricultural pesticide use and atmospheric deposition. High levels of mercury occasionally are found in Coastal Plain soils, but disturbance during residential development on former agricultural land is thought to have mobilized any mercury applied during farming, a hypothesis borne out by experiments leaching mercury from soils. In the unsewered residential areas with mercury-contaminated groundwater, septic-system effluent is believed to create reducing conditions in which mercury sorbed to subsoils is mobilized to groundwater. In comparing the levels of mercury found in soils, sediments, streamwater, and groundwater at the William J. Hughes Technical Center site with those found regionally, mercury concentrations in groundwater in the region are, in some cases, substantially higher than those found in groundwater at the William J. Hughes Technical Center site. Nevertheless, concentrations of mercury in streamwater at the site are, in some instances, higher than most found regionally. The mercury contents in soils and sediment at the William J. Hughes Technical Center site are substantially higher than those found to date (2012) in the region, indicating that a source other than regional sources may be present at the site.
The Florida Coastal Mapping Program is a nascent but highly relevant program that has the potential to greatly enhance the “Blue Economy” of Florida by coordinating and facilitating sea-floor mapping efforts and aligning partner and stakeholder activities for increased efficiency and cost reduction. Sustained acquisition of modern coastal mapping information for Florida may improve management of resources and reduce costs by eliminating redundancy. Economic growth could be aided by improved data to support emerging sectors such as aquaculture and renewable energy. The present focus of the Florida Coastal Mapping Program is on modern, high-resolution bathymetric and coastal topobathymetric data, which can be immediately used to update navigational charts and identify navigation hazards, provide fundamental baseline data for scientific research, and provide information for use by emergency managers and responders. Derivative products include identifying sand resources for beach nourishment, creating vastly improved models for coastal erosion and flooding, identifying coastal springs, and creating benthic habitat maps. The uses and applications of the data generated could grow over time. The process of creating a steering committee and technical team, conducting an inventory and gaps analysis, soliciting feedback from the stakeholder and partner communities, and developing a prioritization process has provided a framework on which a successful program can develop a sustainable funding strategy that may be an investment the citizens of Florida could benefit from for decades.
The Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI) was launched in 2007 in response to concerns about threats to the State's world class wildlife resources, especially the threat posed by rapidly increasing energy development in southwest Wyoming. The overriding purpose of the WLCI is to assess and enhance aquatic and terrestrial habitats at a landscape scale, while facilitating responsible energy and other types of development. The WLCI includes partners from Federal, State, and local agencies, with participation from public and private entities, industry, and landowners. As a principal WLCI partner, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides multidisciplinary scientific and technical support to inform decisionmaking in the WLCI. To address WLCI management needs, USGS has designed and implemented five integrated work activities: (1) Baseline Synthesis, (2) Targeted Monitoring and Research, (3) Integration and Coordination, (4) Data and Information Management, and (5) Decisionmaking and Evaluation. Ongoing information management of data and products acquired or generated through the integrated work activities will ensure that crucial scientific information is available to partners and stakeholders in a readily accessible and useable format for decisionmaking and evaluation. Significant progress towards WLCI goals has been achieved in many Science and Technical Assistance tasks of the work activities. Available data were identified, acquired, compiled, and integrated into a comprehensive database for use by WLCI partners and to support USGS science activities. A Web-based platform for sharing these data and products has been developed and is already in use. Numerous map products have been completed and made available to WLCI partners, and other products are in progress. Initial conceptual, habitat, and climate change models have been developed or refined. Monitoring designs for terrestrial and aquatic indicators have been completed, pilot data have been collected for terrestrial indicators, and evaluations of alternative monitoring designs are underway. Initial models and map products have been developed for assessing vegetation, surface disturbance, oil and gas resources, mineral resources, surficial geology, invasive species, aspen treatments, ungulate migration corridors, greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis), and songbirds, and data were collected or compiled to validate and refine the models. Coordination and collaboration among partners has led to the production of several documents addressing WLCI objectives, strategies, and guiding principles, and has facilitated implementation of on-the-ground habitat treatments.
In coordination with the Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is promoting the establishment of an agency-based Government Information Locator Service (GILS) to help the public locate and access information throughout the Federal Government. This report presents a vision of how GILS will be implemented. Working primarily with OMB and the Locator Subgroup of the Interagency Working Group on Public Access, Eliot Christian of the US Geological Survey prepared this report under the auspices of the IITF Committee on Information Policy. This vision of GILS has also received extensive review by various Federal agencies and other interested parties, including some non-Federal organizations and by the general public through notices in both the Federal Register and the Commerce Business Daily and at a public meeting held in December, 1993. As part of the Federal role in the National Information Infrastructure, GILS will identify and describe information resources throughout the Federal government, and provide assistance in obtaining the information. It will be decentralized and will supplement other agency and commercial information dissemination mechanisms. The public will use GILS directly or through intermediaries, such as the Government Printing Office, the National Technical Information Service, the Federal depository libraries, other public libraries, and private sector information services. Direct users will have access to a GILS Core accessible on the Internet without charge. Intermediate access may include kiosks, "800 numbers", electronic mail, bulletin boards, fax, and off-line media such as floppy disks, CD-ROM, and printed works. GILS will use standard network technology and the American National Standards Institute Z39.50 standard for information search and retrieval so that information can be retrieved in a variety of ways. Direct users will eventually have access to many other Federal and non-Federal information resources, linkages to data systems, and electronic delivery of information products. Development of this report proceeded in tandem with a GILS Profile development project that produced an Implementors Agreement in the voluntary standards process. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is now establishing a Federal Information Processing Standard referencing the GILS Profile Implementors Agreement and making mandatory its application for Federal agencies establishing locators for government information. Existing law and policy, as articulated in OMB Circular A-130, the Records Disposal Act, and the Freedom of Information Act, require agencies to create and maintain an inventory of their information systems and information dissemination products. Although compliance with these requirements varies greatly, the incremental cost of making those inventories accessible through GILS is expected to be minimal. Accordingly, participation in establishing and maintaining GILS may be accomplished as a collective effort executed within existing funds and authorities. OMB will publish in 1994 a Bulletin following on Circular A-130 that will specify agency responsibilities in GILS and set implementation schedules. A process for ongoing evaluation will also be established to evaluate the degree to which GILS meets the information needs of the public.
The U.S Geological Survey (USGS) compiled and analyzed existing hydrologic and water-quality data from over 200 stream and estuary stations of the Abemarle-Pamlico estuarine system (A/P) to identify long-term temporal and spatial trends. The dataset included seven stations of the USGS National Stream Quality Accounting Network, two stations of the National Atmospheric Precipitation Deposition monitoring network, stations of the N.C. Department of Natural Resources and Community Development, and stations from 25 reports by individual investigators. Regression-residuals analysis, the seasonal Kendall's Tau test for trends, and graphical analysis using annual box plots were employed to determine trends. Profound change has occurred in the water quality of the A/P area over the last 30 years. Analysis of water-quality data upstream from the estuaries indicates increases of discharge-adjusted values of specific conductance, alkalinity, phosphorous, hardness, chloride, and dissolved solids. In the estuaries, pH is increasing except in the Pamlico River, where it is decreasing. There is a generalized decrease in suspended inorganic material in the system. Salinities are decreasing for sections of the Pamlico River, and increasing for parts of Albemarle Sound. Nitrogen concentrations are decreasing except in the Pamlico River, where they are increasing. Phosphorus concentrations are increasing in the Pamlico River and decreasing elsewhere. Annual average data show that nitrogen is the limiting nutrient in the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers. Phosphorus is limiting in the rest of the area. Chlorophyll-a levels are increasing in parts of the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers and decreasing in parts of the Chowan River. To evaluate the effect of basin characteristics on water quality, linear correlation was used. Agricultural crop variables produced the most correlations with water-quality data. Fertilizer usage had little detectable relation to water quality in the study area. In the section of the Pamlico River near Aurora, relations between employment, road mileages, and water quality indicated effects of development in the area.
Using a performance-based geological assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean volumes of 1,345 billion cubic feet of potentially technically recoverable gas and 168 million barrels of technically recoverable oil and natural gas liquids in Ordovician and Silurian age shales in the Polish- Ukrainian Foredeep basin of Poland.
This is the fourth of a series of publications on field identification of North American marsh and water plants. It describes the emergent and semiemergent plants most likely to be found in inland and coastal marshes. It omits hundreds of uncommon marsh plants and plants less characteristic of marshes than of marsh edges, lake and stream shores, or wet meadows. The first of the series, "Pondweeds and Pondweedlike Plants of Eastern North America," Circular 187, was broadened in scope as Resource Publication 44, "Underwater and Floating-leaved Plants of the United States and Canada," and is superseded by it. The present publication, widens the scope of "Bulrushes and Bulrushlike Plants of Eastern North America," Circular 221, and contains most of the species listed therein. This guide is designed for identification of marsh plants without recourse to technical botanical keys. To use it, read pages 1 to 4 and then look at the drawings. To identify a plant, find the group in which it fits, then find a drawing and description that match it.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) prides itself in its excellence in science. The resource bank of skills and knowledge that is contained within the current employees of the USGS is what makes our science excellent. With an aging workforce, we must ensure that the knowledge and skills represented by those years of experience are passed to new employees. To ensure that this bank of knowledge and experience is not lost and thereby sustain the excellence of our science, the Mentoring Program focuses on intentional mentoring, the deliberate transfer of skills and knowledge. Skills transfer from more experienced employees to those who are less experienced is critical. By placing an emphasis on intentional mentoring, we help to meet the scientific and technical needs of the employees by offering a cost-effective way to gain knowledge and skills necessary to maintain excellence in science. By encouraging and fostering a mentoring atmosphere within the USGS, we are investing in the future of our organization. With improved technical skills, increased job effectiveness, and resulting satisfaction, USGS employees will not only be more invested and engaged, they will also be able to work smarter, thus benefiting from the experience of their mentor.
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 20 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable coalbed gas resource in the Central and South Sumatra Basin Provinces of Indonesia.