All Publications

The Maverick Basin of south Texas is currently undergoing active exploration and production of gas and oil from tight sandstone reservoirs. The most productive tight sandstones in the basin are in the Upper Cretaceous San Miguel, Olmos, and Escondido Formations. These units are second only to the Eagle Ford Shale in terms of cumulative production volumes. The structural history of the Maverick Bas

In response to the increasing frequency of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, a pilot study by the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, was conducted to enhance CyanoHAB monitoring and understanding. High-frequency sensors were deployed on open water monitoring-station p

We investigated wetland vegetation before, during, and after dike construction at the Metzger Marsh project in western Lake Erie, which was designed to restore a 300-ha wetland that had been degraded following the loss of a protective barrier beach. A dike was constructed in 1995 to replace the function of the eroded barrier beach, but it contained a water-control structure to allow managed hydrol

In 2014, the Pāhoa lava flow at Kīlauea, on the Island of Hawaiʻi (USA), entered a string of pre-existing meter-width ground cracks in the volcano’s East Rift Zone. The ground cracks transported lava below the surface in a direction discordant to the slope of the landscape. The cracks, which were 100s of meters long and 10s to 100s of meters deep, also widened by up to several meters as they fille

Management efforts to reduce cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cHABs) in the Great Lakes have focused on decreasing tributary inputs of phosphorus (P). Recent research has indicated that reduction of both P and nitrogen (N) can lessen cHABs severity. Microbially mediated N cycling in streambed sediment may reduce N riverine loads, yet little is known about in-stream N processing rates in the Ma

Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA) is the dominant filamentous cyanobacterium that develops into blooms in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon each year. During AFA bloom and collapse, ecosystem conditions for endangered Lost River and shortnose suckers deteriorate, thus motivating the need to identify processes that limit AFA abundance and decline. Here we investigate the relations between AFA and other membe

Terrestrial wildlife species are important yet often overlooked taxa in the recovery of ecosystems following dam removal. Their presence can shape ecosystem recovery, signal restoration of ecosystem function, and influence food web dynamics and nutrient transfer. We used camera traps to examine seasonal use of two former reservoir beds and an upstream reference reach by the mammalian community fol

Historical activities on the Bremerton Naval Complex (BNC) in Puget Sound, Washington, have resulted in Sinclair Inlet sediments with elevated concentrations of contaminants, including organic contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls and trace elements including mercury. Six U.S. Geological Survey–U.S. Navy datasets have been collected since the last major assessment, in 2013, of soil and gr

IntroductionEstablished in 1935, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (CRU) program is a unique partnership among the USGS, State Fish and Wildlife agencies, host universities, the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). As of 2023, there are 43 CRUs in 41 states that fall under three supervisory regions and a Nati

Two interagency workshops were held in 2019 and 2023 in Fort Collins, Colorado, to discuss the use of novel data in recreation monitoring. During the workshops, the phrase “novel data in recreation monitoring” was primarily used to refer to data from social media, mobile device applications, and other online secondary sources. The goals of these workshops were to share information across agencies

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the National Park Service, investigated groundwater gains and losses on the upper White River within Mount Rainier National Park in Washington. This investigation was conducted using stream discharge measurements at 14 locations within 7 reaches over a 6.5-mile river length from near the White River’s origin at the terminus of the Emmons Glaci

Climate change is reshaping coastal wetlands worldwide, driving ecosystem shifts like mangrove poleward expansion into saltmarshes in tropical-temperate transitional zones. Though warming is recognized as the primary driver, a lack of detailed field studies limits our ability to predict mangrove responses to rapid climate warming.Here, we characterized how mangroves vary across a temperature gradi