Publications
Browse more than 160,000 publications authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS. Publications available are: USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and more.
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Deterministic physics-based earthquake sequence simulators match empirical ground-motion models and enable extrapolation to data poor regimes: Application to multifault multimechanism ruptures
We use the deterministic earthquake simulator RSQSim to generate complex sequences of ruptures on fault systems used for hazard assessment. We show that the source motions combined with a wave propagation code create surface ground motions that fall within the range of epistemic uncertainties for the Next Generation Attenuation‐West2 set of empirical models. We show the model is well...
Authors
Bruce E. Shaw, Kevin Ross Milner, Christine A. Goulet
United States Register of Introduced and Invasive Species
The pervasive and insidious threat of invasive species costs the United States more than $120 billion, annually. An invasive species is an organism that is not native to a locality and causes (or is likely to cause) harm. An introduced species is one that is nonnative to a locality and occurs there because of human activities or their consequences, including the species’ intentional or...
Authors
Annie Simpson, Mark T. Wiltermuth, Mireya Dorado
Designing sortable guilds for multispecies selective fish passage
The importance of connectivity for freshwater organisms is widely recognised, yet in-stream barriers associated with population declines and increased risk of extinction remain globally ubiquitous. Despite their negative consequences, these barriers can protect aquatic communities by limiting the spread of invasive species, leading to conflicting management goals in some regions...
Authors
David Benoit, Daniel P. Zielinski, Reid G. Swanson, Donald Jackson, Robert McLaughlin, Theodore R. Castro-Santos, R. Andrew Goodwin, Thomas L. Pratt, Andrew M. Muir
Biodiversity surveys of Wake Atoll—Featuring field guides for plants, arthropods, and herpetofauna
IntroductionThe U.S. Air Force (USAF) issued funds to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to update the biosecurity plan, create a current (2019) flora and fauna species identification index, and do container evaluations for the presence of potential invasives. The current (2019) biosecurity protocols used for prevention were evaluated, and new biodiversity surveys were completed for...
Authors
Stacie A. Hathaway, James D. Jacobi, Robert Peck, Adam R. Backlin, Cynthia Joan Hitchcock, Robert N. Fisher
A model uncertainty quantification protocol for evaluating the value of observation data
The history-matching approach to parameter estimation with models enables a powerful offshoot analysis of data worth—using the uncertainty of a model forecast as a metric for the worth of data. Adding observation data will either have no impact on forecast uncertainty or will reduce it. Removing existing data will either have no impact on forecast uncertainty or will increase it. The...
Authors
Michael N. Fienen, Laura A. Schachter, Randall Hunt
Mortality events in Yuma myotis (Myotis yumanensis) due to white-nose syndrome in Washington, USA
The impacts of white-nose syndrome (WNS) on many bat species in eastern North America have been well documented because of the length of time that the causative agent, Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), has been present and the ability to monitor bat hibernacula in that region. However, the disease outcomes for bat species in western North America are less known because of the more...
Authors
Jeffrey M. Lorch, A. Tobin, Alexandria Annelise Argue, Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, Brenda M. Berlowski-Zier, Kyle George, Katherine H. Haman, Anne Ballmann
A 700-year rupture sequence of great eastern Aleutian earthquakes from tsunami modeling of stratigraphic records
Great Aleutian underthrusting earthquakes produced destructive tsunamis impacting Hawaiʻi in 1946 and 1957. Prior modeling of the 1957 tsunami deposit and runup records on eastern Aleutian and Hawaiian Islands jointly with tide-gauge observations across the Pacific Ocean constrained a rupture model with shallow slip up to 26 m along 600 km of the plate boundary. Here we implement this...
Authors
Yoshiki Yamazaki, Kwok Fai Cheung, Thorne Lay, SeanPaul La Selle, Robert Witter, Bruce Jaffe
Climate and dispersal ability limit future habitats for Gila monsters in the Mojave Desert
Describing future habitat for sensitive species can be helpful in planning conservation efforts to ensure species persistence under new climatic conditions. The Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum) is an iconic lizard of the southwestern United States. The northernmost range of Gila monsters is the Mojave Desert, an area experiencing rapid human population growth and urban sprawl. To...
Authors
Steven J. Hromada, Jason L. Jones, Jocelyn B. Stalker, Dustin A. Wood, Amy G. Vandergast, C. Richard Tracy, C.M. Gienger, Kenneth E. Nussear
Ageing of organic materials at the surface of Mars: A Raman study aboard Perseverance
The Perseverance rover is exploring Jezero crater on Mars, one of its goals being to collect samples to be returned to Earth to search for organic remains of ancient Martian life. However, the organic content of these rocks has likely suffered from the radiation environment on the surface of Mars to an extent yet to be quantified. For the first time, a 1000 sols long ageing experiment...
Authors
S. Bernard, Olivier Beyssac, J.A. Manrique, G. Lopez Reyes, A. Ollila, S. Le Mouelic, P.S.A. Beck, Paolo Pilleri, O. Forni, S. Julve-Gonzales, M. Veneranda, I. Reyes Rodriguez, J.M. Madariaga Mota, J. Aramenda, K. Castro, Elise Clave, C. Royer, T. Fornaro, B. Bousquet, S.K. Sharma, J.R. Johnson, E. Cloutis, Travis S.J. Gabriel, P.Y. Meslin, Olivier Gasnault, Agnès Cousin, R.C. Wiens, S. Maurice
Evaluating the potential to quantify salmon habitat via UAS-based particle image velocimetry
Continuous, high-resolution data for characterizing freshwater habitat conditions can support successful management of endangered salmonids. Uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) make acquiring such fine-scale data along river channels more feasible, but workflows for quantifying reach-scale salmon habitats are lacking. We evaluated the potential for UAS-based mapping of hydraulic habitats...
Authors
Lee R. Harrison, Carl J. Legleiter, Brandon Overstreet, James White
Dynamic baseflow storage estimates and the role of topography, geology and evapotranspiration on streamflow recession characteristics in the Neversink Reservoir Watershed, New York
Estimates of dynamic groundwater volumes supplying baseflow to streams are important for water availability projections during extended periods of drought. The primary goals of this study were to provide dynamic storage volume estimates, inferred from streamflow recession analysis, for baseflow regimes within seven gaged catchments within the Neversink Reservoir Watershed (NRW), a...
Authors
Joshua R. Benton, Daniel H. Doctor
Comparison of hydrologic data and water budgets between 2003–08 and 2018–23 for the eastern part of the Arbuckle-Simpson aquifer, south-central Oklahoma
The Arbuckle-Simpson aquifer is divided spatially into three parts (eastern, central, and western). The largest groundwater withdrawals are from the eastern part of the Arbuckle-Simpson aquifer, which provides water to approximately 39,000 people in Ada and Sulphur, Oklahoma, and surrounding areas. The Arbuckle-Simpson aquifer, including the eastern part, is designated a sole source...
Authors
Shana L. Mashburn, Evin J. Fetkovich, Hayden A. Lockmiller, Chloe Codner, Ethan Allen Kirby, Isaac A. Dale, Colin A. Baciocco