All Publications

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We announce the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Rotating X-ray Computed Tomography (RXCT) Coral-Core Archive, a digital resource derived from ~400 coral reef cores curated at the USGS Pacific and St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Centers. The archive de-livers calibrated 3-D image volumes that enable reproducible values of skeletal density, linear extension, and calcification from...

This chapter summarizes the location, status, and projections of glaciers in Alaska and western North America. Recent events, including the 2021 surge of Muldrow Glacier in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, are summarized. The implications of glacier loss for ecosystems, water resources, and mountain hazards are discussed.

Igneous activity, including shallow intrusions and volcanism, has the potential to disrupt underground critical infrastructure. Notably, future underground infrastructure projects like high-level radioactive waste repositories must be sited in areas of extremely low disruption probability by igneous activity. In Germany, according to the Repository Site Selection Act of 2017...

This report presents the results of a cooperative study by the U.S. Geological Survey and Missouri Department of Natural Resources to quantify sediment transport source contributions in the Medicine Creek drainage basin. Understanding relative source contributions provides valuable information for selecting the conservation practices that may be most effective in reducing sediment and...

Antimicrobial resistance can be an indicator of anthropogenic contamination in surface waters and is a potential public health threat. Methodological standardization for characterization of antimicrobial resistance in the environment is lacking. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) is used for rapid assessment of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) from environmental sources, including surface water...

Naegleria fowleri is a thermophilic free-living amoeba (FLA) and the causative agent of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, posing public health risks in warm freshwater environments. This multiyear, multiagency study surveyed 40 thermally impacted recreational waters across five western United States national parks and recreation areas–Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National...

Fragile geologic features (FGFs) can be used to estimate an upper bound to the strength of earthquake ground shaking in the past thousands to tens of thousands of years. FGFs could be especially useful in the eastern United States, where few active faults are available for paleoseismic studies and where low seismic attenuation means that an earthquake could damage FGFs at large distances...

This study analyzes over a century of plant community change on the Colorado Plateau (CP) using repeat photography (1910–2016) and various GIS (Geographic Information Systems) data. We examined 338 repeat photo pairs across three dominant vegetation communities: CP Blackbrush-Mormon-tea Shrubland (CP Blackbrush), Inter-Mountain Basins Semi-Desert Grassland and Big Sagebrush Shrubland (IM

Controlling invasive wildlife species relies on the ability to efficiently remove individuals from the invaded environment. Thus, maximizing capture potential is of high interest, particularly for species that are difficult to capture. For invasive species such as the Argentine black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae), increasing attraction to traps could increase the probability...

Alaska's glaciers are losing mass at the fastest rate of any region globally, significantly affecting both the volume and distribution of water across the landscape. Though glaciers in the Alaska region (as defined by glaciologists this includes both Alaska and portions of adjacent Canada) range from sea level to nearly 6200 m (20,320 ft), the majority of glacier area in the Alaska...

Flooding and channel change in the Taiya River Basin in recent decades have directly affected park infrastructure and cultural resources. The complexities of flooding and channel change are compounded by the changing sediment and flow regime from a changing climate and shrinking glaciers, which will continue to drive dynamic riverine change. Streamflow data and geomorphic interpretation...