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Memorial to Jack B. Epstein 1935-2020

Jack Burton Epstein, a career geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) passed away in May 2020 at his home in Great Falls, Virginia. His career and contributions to the USGS spanned more than 60 years from his time as a summer field assistant while attending college, through 40 years as a research geologist, and more than 15 years as an emeritus scientist. Jack was born December 27, 1935
Authors
Randall C. Orndorff, David J. Weary, Peter T. Lyttle

Photoluminescence imaging of whole zircon grains on a petrographic microscope—An underused aide for geochronologic studies

The refractory nature of zircon to temperature and pressure allows even a single zircon grain to preserve a rich history of magmatic, metamorphic, and hydrothermal processes. Isotopic dating of micro-domains exposed in cross-sections of zircon grains allows us to interrogate this history. Unfortunately, our ability to select the zircon grains in a heavy mineral concentrate that records the most ge

Authors
Ryan J. McAleer, Aaron M. Jubb, Paul C. Hackley, Gregory J. Walsh, Arthur J. Merschat, Sean P. Regan, William C. Burton, Jorge A. Vazquez

Climate, sea level, and people - Changing South Florida's mangrove coast

South Florida’s coast is a land of contrasts that appeals to almost everyone, whether they seek out quiet natural environments along the mangrove waterways and in the wilderness of the Everglades or vibrant international culture in Miami. Yet this paradise is threatened by a number of forces – changing climate, rising sea level, and too many people, to name a few. Florida’s past is filled with sto
Authors
G. Lynn Wingard

High sensitivity of Bering Sea winter sea ice to winter insolation and carbon dioxide over the last 5,500 years

Anomalously low winter sea ice extent and early retreat in CE 2018 and 2019 challenge previous notions that winter sea ice in the Bering Sea has been stable over the instrumental record, although long-term records remain limited. Here, we use a record of peat cellulose oxygen isotopes from St. Matthew Island along with isotope-enabled general circulation model (IsoGSM) simulations to generate a 55
Authors
Miriam C. Jones, Max Berkelhammer, Katherine Keller, Kei Yoshimura, Matthew J. Wooller

Large stocks of peatland carbon and nitrogen are vulnerable to permafrost thaw

Over many millennia, northern peatlands have accumulated large amounts of carbon and nitrogen, thus cooling the global climate. Over shorter timescales, peatland disturbances can trigger losses of peat and release of greenhouses gases. Despite their importance to the global climate, peatlands remain poorly mapped, and the vulnerability of permafrost peatlands to warming is uncertain. This study co
Authors
Gustaf Hugelius, Julie Loisel, Sarah Chadburn, Robert B. Jackson, Miriam C. Jones, Glen MacDonald, Maija Marushchak, David Olefeldt, Maara S. Packalen, Matthias B. Siewert, Claire C. Treat, Merritt Turetsky, Carolina Voigt, Zicheng Yu

Sediment dynamics and implications for management: State of the science from long‐term research in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA

This review aims to synthesize the current knowledge of sediment dynamics using insights from long‐term research conducted in the watershed draining to the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the U.S., to inform management actions to restore the estuary and its watershed. The sediment dynamics of the Chesapeake are typical of many impaired watersheds and estuaries around the world, and this syn
Authors
Gregory Noe, Matthew Joseph Cashman, Katherine Skalak, Allen C. Gellis, Kristina G. Hopkins, Doug L. Moyer, James S. Webber, Adam Benthem, Kelly O. Maloney, John Brakebill, Andrew Sekellick, Michael J. Langland, Qian Zhang, Gary W. Shenk, Jennifer L. D. Keisman, Cliff R. Hupp

Progress toward a preliminary karst depression density map for the conterminous United States

Most methods for the assessment of sinkhole hazard susceptibility are predicated upon knowledge of pre-existing closed depressions in karst areas. In the United States (U.S.), inventories of existing karst depressions are piecemeal, and are often obtained through inconsistent methodologies applied at the state or county level and at various scales. Here, we present a first attempt at defining a ka
Authors
Daniel H. Doctor, Jeanne M. Jones, Nathan J. Wood, Jeff T. Falgout, Natalya Igorevna Rapstine

Evaluating elevation change thresholds between structure-from-motion DEMs derived from historical aerial photos and 3DEP LiDAR data

This study created digital terrain models (DTMs) from historical aerial images using Structure from Motion (SfM) for a variety of image dates, resolutions, and photo scales. Accuracy assessments were performed on the SfM DTMs, and they were compared to the United States Geological Survey’s three-dimensional digital elevation program (3DEP) light detection and ranging (LiDAR) DTMs to evaluate geomo
Authors
Peter G. Chirico, Jessica D. DeWitt, Sarah E. Bergstresser

North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature Note 70: Records of the Stratigraphic Commission 2014-2017

NACSN (North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature) Note 70 is a summary of the activities of the Commission from October 2014-October 2017. This note is condensed from the minutes of the 69th through the 72nd meetings of the NACSN held in conjunction with the Annual Meetings of the Geological Society of America. The 69th meeting of the NACSN was held October 20, 2014, in Vancouver, Br
Authors
Richard H. Fluegeman, Carlton E. Brett, Frank Brunton, Lucy E. Edwards, Howard Harper

Geomorphological mapping and anthropogenic landform change in an urbanizing watershed using structure-from-motion photogrammetry and geospatial modeling techniques

Increasing urbanization and suburban growth in cities globally has highlighted the importance of land planning using detailed geomorphologic maps that depict anthropogenic landform changes. Such mapping provides information crucial for land management, hazard identification, and the management of the challenges arising from urbanization. The development and use of quantitative and repeatable metho

40Ar/39Ar and U-Pb SIMS zircon ages of Ediacaran dikes from the Arabian-Nubian Shield of south Jordan

A spectacular feature of the Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS) is the abundance of well-exposed and extensive Neoproterozoic dike swarms of multiple generations. These dikes are generally categorized into metamorphosed and unmetamorphosed post-orogenic dike swarms. The unmetamorphosed dikes in the northern ANS can be grouped into an old and young generations. We dated three dikes from the old generation

Authors
Hind Ghanem, Ryan J. McAleer, Ghaleb Jarrar, Mu'ayyad Al Hseinat, Martin Whitehouse

Geology of the Trout Rock caves (Hamilton Cave, Trout Cave, New Trout Cave) in Pendleton County, West Virginia (USA), and implications regarding the origin of maze caves

The Trout Rock caves (Hamilton Cave, Trout Cave, New Trout Cave) are located in a hill named Cave Knob that overlooks the South Branch of the Potomac River in Pendleton County, West Virginia (U.S.A). The geologic structure of this hill is a northeasttrending anticline, and the caves are located at different elevations primarily along the contact between the Devonian New Creek Limestone (Helderberg
Authors
Christopher S. Swezey, Emily L Brent
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