All Publications

Maunaloa—the largest active volcano on Earth—erupted in 2022 after its longest known repose period (~38 years) and two decades of volcanic unrest. This eruptive hiatus at Maunaloa encompasses most of the ~35-year-long Puʻuʻōʻō eruption of neighboring Kīlauea, which ended in 2018 with a collapse of the summit caldera and an unusually voluminous (~1 km3) rift eruption. A long-term pattern...

The Coso geothermal field is a major geothermal power production site in the western United States. It has been observed that low-magnitude seismic events (M 3.71) are unevenly distributed in three distinct zones, namely, nearfield ( 6 km) from the Coso geothermal plant. These zones exhibit distinct changes in earthquake location before and during geothermal production episodes that...

As part of U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) efforts to identify and assess geothermal energy resources of the US, a three-dimensional (3D) geologic and thermal model has been constructed for the Williston Basin, USA. The geologic model consists of all sedimentary units above the Proterozoic and Archean crystalline rock (called basement herein), with a total sedimentary thickness of up to...

Expansions in the extent and infestation levels of exotic annual grass (EAG) within the rangelands of the western United States are well documented. Land managers are tasked with developing plans to limit EAG spread and prevent irreversible ecosystem deterioration. The most common EAG species and the subject of extensive study is Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass). Cheatgrass has spread...

Crude oil toxicity to early life stage fish is commonly attributed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). However, it remains unclear how the polar unresolved complex mixture (UCM), which constitutes the bulk of the water-soluble fraction of crude oil, contributes to crude oil toxicity. Additionally, the role of photomodification-induced toxicity in relation to the polar UCM is not...

We investigate a shallow lake basin for evidence of a large historic intraplate earthquake in western North America. Henrys Lake, Idaho is an atypical candidate for a lacustrine paleoseismic study given its shallow depth (~7 m) and low relief (≤2° slopes). Here, we test the earthquake-recording capacity of this basin type by showing sedimentological evidence of the 1959 M7.3 Hebgen Lake...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Network for surface water (NWQN-SW) was established in 2013 to develop long-term, comparable assessments of surface-water quality in support of national, regional, state, and local needs related to water-quality management and policy. Waterquality samples are collected at each site and measured for a variety of parameters. In 2023...

As of October 2023, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) operated more than 660 sites across the United States and its territories as part of the Groundwater Climate Response Network (CRN). The CRN is comprised of wells and springs selected to monitor the effects of climate variability, such as droughts, on groundwater levels and spring discharge nationwide. The CRN includes more than 550...

Groundwater resources frequently trend toward unsustainable levels because, absent effective institutions, individual water users generally act independently without considering the impacts on other users. Hydro-economic models (HEMs) of human-natural systems can play a positive role toward successful groundwater management by yielding valuable knowledge and insight. The current study...

Continuous processes in most applications are measured discretely with error. This complicates the task of detecting intersections and the number of intersections between two continuous processes (i.e., when the processes have the same value). Intersections of continuous processes are scientifically important but challenging to estimate from data. For example, in the field of animal...

Invasive species have substantial ecological and economic costs and removing them can require large investments by management agencies. Optimal spatial allocation of removal effort is critical for efficient and effective management of invasive species. Using a series of ecologically informed model simulations, we evaluated and compared different spatially explicit removal strategies for...

The One Health High-Level Expert Panel’s definition of One Health includes optimizing the health of people, animals (wild and domestic) and ecosystems. For many One Health practitioners, wildlife that can spread zoonoses are the focus, particularly if they can come in contact with people. However, ecosystem health is often best-indicated by less-encountered species, for instance...