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Cold cratonic roots and thermal blankets: How continents affect mantle convection Cold cratonic roots and thermal blankets: How continents affect mantle convection

Two-dimensional convection models with moving continents show that continents profoundly affect the pattern of mantle convection. If the continents are wider than the wavelength of the convection cells (-3000 km, the thickness of the mantle), they cause neighboring deep mantle thermal upwellings to coalesce into a single focused upwelling. This focused upwelling zone will have a...
Authors
V.P. Trubitsyn, Walter D. Mooney, D.H. Abbott

Gaussian statistics for palaeomagnetic vectors Gaussian statistics for palaeomagnetic vectors

With the aim of treating the statistics of palaeomagnetic directions and intensities jointly and consistently, we represent the mean and the variance of palaeomagnetic vectors, at a particular site and of a particular polarity, by a probability density function in a Cartesian three-space of orthogonal magnetic-field components consisting of a single (unimoda) non-zero mean, spherically...
Authors
Jeffrey J. Love, C.G. Constable

Evaluation of airborne image data for mapping riparian vegetation within the Grand Canyon Evaluation of airborne image data for mapping riparian vegetation within the Grand Canyon

This study examined various types of remote-sensing data that have been acquired during a 12-month period over a portion of the Colorado River corridor to determine the type of data and conditions for data acquisition that provide the optimum classification results for mapping riparian vegetation. Issues related to vegetation mapping included time of year, number and positions of...
Authors
Philip A. Davis, Matthew I. Staid, Jeffrey B. Plescia, Jeffrey R. Johnson

Evaluation of airborne image data and LIDAR main stem data for monitoring physical resources within the Colorado River ecosystem Evaluation of airborne image data and LIDAR main stem data for monitoring physical resources within the Colorado River ecosystem

This study evaluated near-infrared LIDAR data acquired over the main-stem channel at four long-term monitoring sites within the Colorado River ecosystem (CRE) to determine the ability of these data to provide reliable indications in changes in water elevation over time. Our results indicate that there is a good correlation between the LIDAR water-surface elevations and ground...
Authors
Philip A. Davis, Mark R. Rosiek, Donna M. Galuszka

Comments on potential geologic and seismic hazards affecting Mare Island, Solano County, California Comments on potential geologic and seismic hazards affecting Mare Island, Solano County, California

This report was prepared in response to a written request from the City of Vallejo, California, to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). By letter of October 4, 2002, the City requested that the USGS "provide advice to the City’s LNG Health and Safety Committee on its review of a potential liquid natural gas project" on the southern portion of Mare Island. The City specifically requested...
Authors
T.L. Holzer, C. M. Wentworth, W. H. Bakun, J. Boatwright, T.E. Brocher, M. Çelebi, W.L. Ellsworth, J.P.B. Fletcher, E.L. Geist, R. W. Graymer, R. E. Kayen, D. K. Keefer, D. H. Oppenheimer, W.U. Savage, David P. Schwartz, R.W. Simpson

Abstracts of the annual meeting of Planetary Geologic Mappers: June 21-22, 2002, Tempe, Arizona Abstracts of the annual meeting of Planetary Geologic Mappers: June 21-22, 2002, Tempe, Arizona

The annual meeting of planetary geologic mappers allows mappers the opportunity to exchange ideas, experiences, victories, and problems. In addition, presentations are reviewed by the Geologic Mapping Subcommittee (GEMS) to provide input to the Planetary Geology and Geophysics Mapping Program review panel’s consideration of new proposals and progress reports that include mapping tasks...
Authors
Kenneth L. Tanaka, David A. Senske

Catalog of earthquake hypocenters at Alaskan volcanoes: January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2001 Catalog of earthquake hypocenters at Alaskan volcanoes: January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2001

The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), a cooperative program of the U.S. Geological Survey, the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, has maintained seismic monitoring networks at potentially active volcanoes in Alaska since 1988 (Power and others, 1993; Jolly and others, 1996; Jolly and others, 2001)...
Authors
James P. Dixon, Scott D. Stihler, John A. Power, Guy Tytgat, Steve Estes, Seth C. Moran, John Paskievitch, Stephen R. McNutt

Felt reports and intensity assignments for aftershocks and triggered events of the great 1906 California earthquake Felt reports and intensity assignments for aftershocks and triggered events of the great 1906 California earthquake

The San Andreas fault is the longest fault in California and one of the longest strikeslip faults in the world, yet little is known about the aftershocks following the most recent great event on the San Andreas, the M 7.8 San Francisco earthquake, on 18 April 1906. This open-file report is a compilation of first-hand accounts (felt reports) describing aftershocks and triggered events of...
Authors
Aron J. Meltzner, David J. Wald

Emergency assessment of potential debris-flow peak discharges, Coal Seam fire, Colorado Emergency assessment of potential debris-flow peak discharges, Coal Seam fire, Colorado

These maps present the results of assessments of peak discharges that can potentially be generated by debris flows issuing from the basins burned by the Coal Seam fire of June and July 2002, near Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The maps are based on a regression model for debris-flow peak discharge normalized by average storm intensity as a function of basin gradient and burned extent, and...
Authors
Susan H. Cannon, John A. Michael, Joseph E. Gartner, Alan H. Rea, Steven P. Garcia

Gas hydrates in the ocean environment Gas hydrates in the ocean environment

A GAS HYDRATE, also known as a gas clathrate, is a gas-bearing, icelike material. It occurs in abundance in marine sediments and stores immense amounts of methane, with major implications for future energy resources and global climate change. Furthermore, gas hydrate controls some of the physical properties of sedimentary deposits and thereby influences seafloor stability.
Authors
William P. Dillon
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