Reports

As part of the Marianas Expedition Wildlife Surveys-2010, the forest vegetation of the island of Pagan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), was sampled with a series of systematic plots along 13 transects established for monitoring forest bird populations. Shrubland and grassland were also sampled in the northern half of the island. Data collected were woody plant...

In 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Santa Cruz, conducted bathymetric and topographic surveys to determine the water storage capacity of, and the loss of capacity owing to sedimentation in, Loch Lomond Reservoir in Santa Cruz County, California. The topographic survey was done as a supplement to the bathymetric survey to obtain information about temporal...

We report on the chemical analysis of water samples collected from the Taylor Mountains 1:250,000- and Dillingham D-4 1:63,360-scale quadrangles, Alaska. Reported parameters include pH, conductivity, water temperature, major cation and anion concentrations, and trace-element concentrations. We collected the samples as part of a multiyear U.S. Geological Survey project entitled "Geologic...

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated means of 3.97 billion barrels of undiscovered oil, 38.5 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas, and 1.47 billion barrels of undiscovered natural gas liquids in two provinces of North Africa.

A 2010 Colorado River symposium, held in Flagstaff, Arizona, involved 70 participants who engaged in intense debate about the origin and evolution of the Colorado River system. This symposium, built upon two previous decadal scientific meetings, focused on forging scientific consensus, where possible, while articulating continued controversies regarding the Cenozoic evolution of the...

The Green Valley reclaimed coal refuse site, near Terre Haute, Ind., was mined for coal from 1948 to 1963. Subsurface coal was cleaned and sorted at land surface, and waste material was deposited over the native glacial till. Approximately 2.7 million cubic yards of waste was deposited over 159 acres (92.3 hectares) in tailings ponds and gob piles. During 1993, the Indiana Department of...

The Fort Cobb Reservoir watershed encompasses about 813 square kilometers of rural farm land in Caddo, Custer, and Washita Counties in southwestern Oklahoma. The Fort Cobb Reservoir and six stream segments were identified on the Oklahoma 1998 303(d) list as not supporting designated beneficial uses because of impairment by nutrients, suspended solids, sedimentation, pesticides, and...

A conceptual model of the Great Basin carbonate and alluvial aquifer system (GBCAAS) was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for a regional assessment of groundwater availability as part of a national water census. The study area is an expansion of a previous USGS Regional Aquifer Systems Analysis (RASA) study conducted during the 1980s and 1990s of the carbonate-rock province...

Selected aspects of National Atmospheric Deposition Program / National Trends Network (NADP/NTN) protocols are evaluated in four studies. Meteorological conditions have minor impacts on the error in NADP/NTN sampling. Efficiency of frozen precipitation sample collection is lower than for liquid precipitation samples. Variability of NTN measurements is higher for relatively low-intensity...

Groundwater quality in the 633-square-mile Northern Coast Ranges (NOCO) study unit was investigated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from June to November 2009, as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program's Priority Basin Project (PBP) and the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality...

The water resources of Rush Valley were assessed during 2008–2010 with an emphasis on refining the understanding of the groundwater-flow system and updating the groundwater budget. Surface-water resources within Rush Valley are limited and are generally used for agriculture. Groundwater is the principal water source for most other uses including supplementing irrigation. Most groundwater

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed an unprecedented, 27-year assessment of land-use and land-cover change for the conterminous United States. For the period 1973 to 2000, scientists generated estimates of change in major types of land use and land cover, such as development, mining, agriculture, forest, grasslands, and wetlands. To help provide the insight that our...