Reports

At the request of the Lake Erie Committee, spatial units for Lake Erie Cisco were delineated during spring 2024. Spatial units correspond to the reproductive habitat of extirpated (unoccupied spatial units) and extant (occupied spatial units) populations. Spatial units were delineated using a Council of Lake Committees-endorsed method that involves synthesizing data for evaluation by a...

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean conventional resources of 37.6 billion barrels of oil and 281.6 trillion cubic feet of gas in 31 geologic provinces of South America and the Caribbean.

Executive Summary The use of field-deployable fluorescence sensors to better understand dissolved organic matter concentrations and composition has grown immensely in recent years. Applications of these sensors to critical monitoring efforts have also grown, encompassing post-fire monitoring, wastewater tracking, and use as a proxy for various contaminants. Despite the growth, it is well...

The Working Group on American Eel (WGAMEEL) met virtually three times in 2022-2024 to address the five Terms of Reference (ToRs) of its three-year term. The first two ToRs tasked WGAMEEL with listing and evaluating data on American eel landings, abundance indices, and spatial and habitat data and also to describe assessment methods used in Canada and the US. Canada-wide American eel...

Plain Language Summary U.S. Geological Survey research is providing key critical mineral information that may have potential for critical mineral production of several mining districts in the Boulder Batholith region, to better understand the abundance and distribution of natural resources within this region. Continued research can be used to show the potential for previously...

The U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val (Calibration and Validation) Center of Excellence is a global leader in improving the accuracy, precision, and quality of remote-sensing data. Calibration is the process of quantitatively defining a system’s response to known and controlled signal inputs. Validation is the process of assessing, by independent...

The San Francisco Bay supports thousands of breeding waterbirds annually and hosts large populations of American avocets (Recurvirostra americana), black-necked stilts (Himantopus mexicanus), and Forster’s terns (Sterna forsteri). These three species have relied largely on former commercial salt ponds in south San Francisco Bay, which provide wetland foraging habitat and island nesting...

Following a heavy, multiday rainfall event that took place between June 20 and June 22, 2024, widespread flooding occurred in parts of northwestern Iowa. Ten U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgages with periods of record ranging from 56 to 99 years in length experienced new peaks of record, three of which were more than double the previous peak-of-record: 06483500 (Rock River near Rock...

Executive Summary Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Walbaum in Artedi, 1792; Chinook salmon) were historically abundant in the McCloud River but are now extirpated from this tributary owing to dam construction and lack of passage. Planning efforts to restore populations above Shasta and Keswick Dams are currently underway, including an evaluation of potential source populations. One potential...

No abstract available.

Igneous activity, including shallow intrusions and volcanism, has the potential to disrupt underground critical infrastructure. Notably, future underground infrastructure projects like high-level radioactive waste repositories must be sited in areas of extremely low disruption probability by igneous activity. In Germany, according to the Repository Site Selection Act of 2017...

This report presents the results of a cooperative study by the U.S. Geological Survey and Missouri Department of Natural Resources to quantify sediment transport source contributions in the Medicine Creek drainage basin. Understanding relative source contributions provides valuable information for selecting the conservation practices that may be most effective in reducing sediment and...