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The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
Browse more than 65,000 articles authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS and refine search by topic, location, year, and advanced search.
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Time for an updated macroseismic scale Time for an updated macroseismic scale
Macroseismology plays a crucial role in earthquake hazard and risk analyses, linking past earthquake occurrences and impacts with those of the present and future. The popularity of internet-based community contributions and the usefulness of intensities for communicating seismic hazards, early warning, and impacts to the public have all bolstered the use of macroseismology beyond its...
Authors
David J. Wald, Ayse Hortacsu, Tiegan E. Hobbs, Keith Porter, Vitor Silva, Lindsay A. Davis
Precipitation probability distribution, percent runoff, and trend analysis for 25 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir basins in Texas from 1980–2019 Precipitation probability distribution, percent runoff, and trend analysis for 25 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir basins in Texas from 1980–2019
This study analyzed precipitation probability distributions, percent runoff, and trends in precipitation from 1980 to 2019 in the Brazos, Colorado, Guadalupe, Neches, Red, and Trinity river basins in Texas for 25 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoirs and 15 other reservoirs for the purpose of flood risk and water-resource management. Probability distribution analyses include annual and...
Authors
Glenn R. Harwell, Monica Veale Yesildirek, Diana L. Hanbali, Eric Van Vleet, Micheal H. Grentzer, Jonathan V. Thomas
Association of runoff risk with private well contamination in a fractured dolostone aquifer Association of runoff risk with private well contamination in a fractured dolostone aquifer
In the United States, private well owners are responsible for monitoring and maintaining their drinking water but have little control over neighboring contamination sources and limited information about daily water quality. Potential for rapid contamination in karst settings exacerbates the challenge. The Runoff Risk Advisory Forecast (RRAF) is a real-time online tool available in five...
Authors
Joe Heffron, Joel P. Stokdyk, Tucker R. Burch, Rachel M. Cook, Aaron D. Firnstahl, Eric O. Young, Jessica F. Sherman, Dustin Goering, Burney A. Kieke, Mark A. Borchardt
Evolution of summit magma pressure during the 2018 caldera collapse at Kılauea volcano Evolution of summit magma pressure during the 2018 caldera collapse at Kılauea volcano
We utilized geodetic data from the 16 May to 4 August 2018 caldera collapse sequence to refine the geometries and pressure evolution of two summit reservoirs at Kīlauea volcano: the shallower Halema‘uma‘u (HMM) and deeper South Caldera (SC) reservoirs. We modeled magma reservoirs as pressurized spheroidal cavities and constrained reservoir geometries with Global Positioning System (GPS)...
Authors
Eric Berg, Taiyi A. Wang, Elizabeth Wig, Paul Segall, Kyle Anderson
Integration of multiple methodologies as an indicator of cyanotoxin occurrence in Owasco Lake, New York Integration of multiple methodologies as an indicator of cyanotoxin occurrence in Owasco Lake, New York
Cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) pose environmental and public health risks in lakes with highly variable cyanobacteria and cyanotoxin distributions. We compared results from 3 independent monitoring programs to characterize spatiotemporal patterns in the stratified, mesotrophic Owasco Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in New York. Biweekly open-water samples collected at...
Authors
Rebecca M. Gorney, Anthony R. Prestigiacomo, Erin A. Stelzer, Sabina R. Gifford, Jennifer L. Graham
A new amphibious earthquake catalog for the Alaska Peninsula: Training, testing, and applying machine learning earthquake picking in offshore and amphibious environments A new amphibious earthquake catalog for the Alaska Peninsula: Training, testing, and applying machine learning earthquake picking in offshore and amphibious environments
The dual seismological developments of large-scale offshore observational networks and high-quality machine-learning earthquake detection and picking allow unprecedented seismicity detection in high hazard subduction zones. We develop a high resolution machine learning enhanced seismicity catalog for the Alaska Peninsula stretch of the Alaska-Aleutian Subduction Zone, which was...
Authors
Grace Barcheck, Natalia A. Ruppert
Water and endangered fish in the Klamath River basin revisited: Does old age or Upper Klamath Lake surface elevation and water quality affect adult Lost River Sucker and Shortnose Sucker survival? A response to Kann and Walker Water and endangered fish in the Klamath River basin revisited: Does old age or Upper Klamath Lake surface elevation and water quality affect adult Lost River Sucker and Shortnose Sucker survival? A response to Kann and Walker
Our update responds to recent scientific critiques and again finds no evidence that lake levels or water conditions influence adult sucker survival. This reaffirms our prior work (Krause et al., 2022) and suggests that recent declines in adult survival may reflect an aging population.
Authors
Jacob Richard Krause, Eric C. Janney, Summer M. Burdick, John Michael Caldwell, Brian S. Hayes
Characterization of subsurface groundwater pathways from treated wastewater effluent infiltration along the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA Characterization of subsurface groundwater pathways from treated wastewater effluent infiltration along the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA
Recharge of treated wastewater to the environment is increasingly becoming a component of water resources management, especially in water-limited areas such as the Grand Canyon. Treated wastewater from the Grand Canyon South Rim Wastewater Treatment Plant has been discharged to a dry wash located along the surface expression of a fault for decades, but the fate of the wastewater is...
Authors
Kimberly R. Beisner, Nicholas V. Paretti, Jay Cederberg, Skyler Pendleton Mavor, Ryan S. Crow, Michaelah C. Wilson
Blind spots in our understanding of the tropical nitrogen cycle Blind spots in our understanding of the tropical nitrogen cycle
Understanding environmental controls on tropical nitrogen (N) cycling is critical for projecting flux rates and modeling ecosystem responses to rising CO2. Here, we ask whether geographic bias in field sampling may shape our understanding of N cycling by failing to capture the breadth of environmental heterogeneity within the tropics. We mapped empirical sampling locations of two major...
Authors
Kate Nelson, Samti Luk, Sian Kou-Giesbrecht, Michelle Y. Wong, Cara Flynn, J van Oorschot, Carla R. Reis Ely, Steven S. Perakis, Sarah A. Batterman, Cory C. Cleveland, Timothy E. Crews, Katherine A. Dynarski, Maria G. Gei, Michael J. Gundale, Duncan N.L. Menge, Mark B. Peoples, Sasha C. Reed, Emilio Rodriguez-Caballero, Anika P. Staccone, Benton N. Taylor, Bettina Weber, Nina Wurzburger, Fiona M. Soper
Groundwater nutrient contributions to surface water in the upper Maumee River basin Groundwater nutrient contributions to surface water in the upper Maumee River basin
Harmful algal blooms triggered by nutrient loading have negatively affected Lake Erie water quality for decades, but the role groundwater plays in transporting nutrients to tributary streams is unclear. Here, we apply a multi-scale approach to investigate groundwater nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) dynamics at the field scale, along a groundwater flow path, and at the Maumee River basin...
Authors
Shawn Naylor, Matthew P. Miller, Christopher Green, Myles T. Moore, Amy Story, Matthew John Hardebeck, Edward G. Dobrowolski
EMIT reveals elevated calcite signatures in shorelines of Lake Powell and Lake Mead exposed by drought and Colorado River management EMIT reveals elevated calcite signatures in shorelines of Lake Powell and Lake Mead exposed by drought and Colorado River management
Nearly half of Earth’s seasonal freshwater storage variability occurs in human-managed reservoirs, resulting in large areas of reservoir-bed that are episodically inundated or subaerially exposed. Here we use hyperspectral data from NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission to map calcite mineral assemblages across exposed surfaces in two large U.S. reservoirs...
Authors
Michael Raymond Fischella, Joel B. Sankey, Raymond F. Kokaly, Amy E. East, Alan Kasprak, Joshua Caster, Bridget R. Deemer, Ryan S. Crow, Skyler Mavor, Derek V. Mallia
Drivers of ecosystem metabolism in an anthropogenically modified delta Drivers of ecosystem metabolism in an anthropogenically modified delta
Estuaries are under threat globally from a wide range of stressors, with rates of ecosystem metabolism – respiration (R), gross primary production (GPP), and net ecosystem metabolism (NEM) – representing a way for resource managers to quantify their impacts. In this study, we assessed how natural and anthropogenic stressors have altered metabolism within the extensively modified...
Authors
Martin P. Volaric, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Ariella Chelsky, David Senn, Stephen G. Monosmith