Reports
Science Quality and Integrity
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
Browse more than 82,000 reports authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS and refine search by topic, location, year, and advanced search.
Filter Total Items: 84795
Geochemical and mineralogical maps, with interpretation, for soils of the conterminous United States Geochemical and mineralogical maps, with interpretation, for soils of the conterminous United States
Between 2007 and 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a low-density (1 site per 1,600 square kilometers, 4,857 sites) geochemical and mineralogical survey of soils in the conterminous United States. The sampling protocol for the national-scale survey included, at each site, a sample from a depth of 0 to 5 centimeters, a composite of the soil A horizon, and a deeper sample from the...
Authors
David B. Smith, Federico Solano, Laurel G. Woodruff, William F. Cannon, Karl J. Ellefsen
2018 National Park visitor spending effects: Economic contributions to local communities, states, and the nation 2018 National Park visitor spending effects: Economic contributions to local communities, states, and the nation
No abstract available.
Authors
Catherine Cullinane Thomas, Lynne Koontz, Egan Cornachione
Geochemistry and mineralogy of soils collected in the lower Rio Grande valley, Texas Geochemistry and mineralogy of soils collected in the lower Rio Grande valley, Texas
Presented in this report are the chemical and mineralogical results of a soil study conducted in the lower Rio Grande valley, Texas. Samples were collected from soils formed on Holocene alluvial flood-plain and distributary channel deposits of the Rio Grande, flood plain and meander-belt deposits of the Pliocene Goliad Formation, and the Pleistocene Lissie and Beaumont Formations. The...
Authors
Helen A. Whitney, Federico Solano, Bernard E. Hubbard
Calibration of Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) to simulate prefire and postfire hydrologic response in the upper Rio Hondo Basin, New Mexico Calibration of Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) to simulate prefire and postfire hydrologic response in the upper Rio Hondo Basin, New Mexico
The Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) is widely used to simulate the effects of climate, topography, land cover, and soils on landscape-level hydrologic responses and streamflow. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, developed procedures to apply the PRMS model to simulate the effects of...
Authors
Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin, C. David Moeser
Monitoring annual trends in abundance of eelgrass (Zostera marina) at Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, 2018 Monitoring annual trends in abundance of eelgrass (Zostera marina) at Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, 2018
A lagoon-wide, point-sampling survey of eelgrass (Zostera marina) abundance was conducted in Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, August 7–16, 2018, the ninth year of annual surveys (2007–11, 2015–18). Mean predicted aboveground biomass of eelgrass across 116 sampled points was 238 grams per square meter (g m-2) (95 percent confidence interval: 203–278 g m-2) in 2018, an increase of 240 percent from...
Authors
David H. Ward, Courtney L. Amundson
Pleistocene and Holocene landscape development of the South Platte River Corridor, Northeastern Colorado Pleistocene and Holocene landscape development of the South Platte River Corridor, Northeastern Colorado
This report provides a synthesis of geologic mapping and geochronologic research along the South Platte River between the town of Masters and the city of Fort Morgan, northeastern Colorado. This work was undertaken to better understand landscape development along this part of the river corridor. The focus is on times of rapid change within the fluvial system that had a marked effect on...
Authors
Margaret E. Berry, Janet L. Slate, Emily M. Taylor
Ordovician Point Pleasant/Utica-Lower Paleozoic Total Petroleum System—Revisions to the Utica-Lower Paleozoic Total Petroleum System in the Appalachian Basin Province Ordovician Point Pleasant/Utica-Lower Paleozoic Total Petroleum System—Revisions to the Utica-Lower Paleozoic Total Petroleum System in the Appalachian Basin Province
Hydrocarbon reserves and technically recoverable undiscovered resources in continuous accumulations are present in Upper Ordovician strata in the Appalachian Basin Province. The province includes parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. The Upper Ordovician strata are part of the previously defined Utica-Lower...
Authors
Catherine B. Enomoto, Michael H. Trippi, Debra K. Higley
Adaptive management of flows from R.L. Harris Dam (Tallapoosa River, Alabama)—Stakeholder process and use of biological monitoring data for decision making Adaptive management of flows from R.L. Harris Dam (Tallapoosa River, Alabama)—Stakeholder process and use of biological monitoring data for decision making
Adaptive management has been applied to problems with multiple conflicting objectives in various natural resources settings to learn how management actions affect divergent values regarding system response. Hydropower applications have only recently begun to emerge in the field, yet in the specific example reported herein, stakeholders invested in determining the best management...
Authors
Elise R. Irwin, Mary Freeman, James T. Peterson, Kathryn D.M. Kennedy, M. Clint Lloyd, Kristie M. Ouellette Coffman, Ely Kosnicki, Tom Hess
Techniques for estimating the magnitude and frequency of peak flows on small streams in the binational U.S. and Canadian Lake of the Woods–Rainy River Basin upstream from Kenora, Ontario, Canada, based on data through water year 2013 Techniques for estimating the magnitude and frequency of peak flows on small streams in the binational U.S. and Canadian Lake of the Woods–Rainy River Basin upstream from Kenora, Ontario, Canada, based on data through water year 2013
A binational study was initiated to update statistical equations that are used to estimate the magnitude and frequency of peak flows on streams in Manitoba and Ontario, Canada, and Minnesota that are contained within the binational Lake of the Woods–Rainy River Basin upstream from Kenora, Ontario, Canada. Hydraulic engineers use peak streamflow data to inform designs of bridges, culverts...
Authors
Chris Sanocki, Tara Williams-Sether, Peter A. Steeves, Victoria G. Christensen
Selected water-quality data from the Cedar River and Cedar Rapids well fields, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 2008–17 Selected water-quality data from the Cedar River and Cedar Rapids well fields, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 2008–17
The Cedar River alluvial aquifer is the primary source of municipal water in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Municipal wells are completed in the alluvial aquifer about 40 to 80 feet below land surface. The City of Cedar Rapids and the U.S. Geological Survey have led a cooperative study of the groundwater-flow system and water quality of the aquifer since 1992. Cooperative reports between the City...
Authors
Shannon M. Meppelink, Erin A. Stelzer, Emilia L. Bristow, Gregory R. Littin
Adaptive Management and Monitoring Adaptive Management and Monitoring
This is a chapter in a technical report that is the second of two works describing longer-term actions to implement policies and strategies for preventing and suppressing rangeland fire and restoring rangeland landscapes affected by fire in the Western United States. The first part, Chambers et al 2017, "Science Framework for conservation and restoration of the sagebrush biome: Linking...
Authors
Lief A. Wiechman, David A. Pyke, Michele R. Crist, Seth Munson, Matthew Brooks, Jeanne C. Chambers, Mary M. Rowland, Emily J Kachergis, Zoe Davidson
Demonstrating the value of Earth observations—methods, practical applications, and solutions—group on Earth observations side event proceedings Demonstrating the value of Earth observations—methods, practical applications, and solutions—group on Earth observations side event proceedings
Executive Summary The U.S. Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the European Association for Remote Sensing Companies, and the European Space Agency in coordination with the GEOValue Community hosted a side event to the Group on Earth Observations Plenary on October 23–24, 2017, in Washington, D.C. The workshop, entitled “Demonstrating the Value of...
Authors
Francoise Pearlman, Collin B. Lawrence, Emily Pindilli, Denna Geppi, Carl D. Shapiro, Monica Grasso, Jay Pearlman, Jeffery Adkins, Geoff Sawyer, Alessandra Tassa