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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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Tapwater contaminant mixtures and cumulative risk screening on the Crow (Apsáalooke) Reservation Tapwater contaminant mixtures and cumulative risk screening on the Crow (Apsáalooke) Reservation
Introduction: Water insecurity is a challenge for the Apsáalooke (Crow) Tribal Nation in south-central Montana, United States. Both private-well and public-supply tapwater (TW) are vulnerable to a range of contaminants, posing potential risks to community health and well-being. Ongoing community concerns about unrecognized inorganic, organic, and microbial contaminants underscore the...
Authors
Paul M. Bradley, Kelly L. Smalling, John C. Doyle, Margaret J. Eggers, Kristin M. Romanok, Elliott P. Barnhart, Picabo Binette, Eric M. Castro, Madisan Chavez, Stephanie A. Ewing, Stephanie E. Gordon, James L. Gray, Ashley M. Groshong, Leslie K. Kanagy, Joree Wclay LaFrance, Keith A. Loftin, Carrie Mae Long, Christine Martin, R. Blaine McCleskey, Shannon M. Meppelink, Crystal L. Richards, Molly L. Schreiner, Jonathan I. Shikany, Mahelat Tesfamariam, Sheree Jo Watson
A framework for investigating fish population density responses to habitat fragmentation A framework for investigating fish population density responses to habitat fragmentation
Globally, fish populations that rely on rivers are being fragmented by in-stream barriers, but it is unclear how pervasive any negative population responses to fragmentation are. We developed a modeling framework for estimating density responses of fishes upstream and downstream of in-stream barriers and applied it to learn how low-head dams have influenced fish assemblages in 24 Great...
Authors
Sean Alois Lewandoski, Gale Bravener, Nathan Coombs, Robert McLaughlin
Multiple lines of evidence reveal rapid, seasonal watershed responses to enhanced weathering Multiple lines of evidence reveal rapid, seasonal watershed responses to enhanced weathering
Enhanced weathering accelerates carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere through the rapid dissolution of land amendments of crushed, cation-rich rocks. The export of enhanced weathering dissolution products to drainage networks has important implications for carbon dioxide removal durability and measurement yet has received little attention. Here we observe rapid and pronounced...
Authors
Fengchao Sun, Robert A. Rioux, Tim J. Suhrhoff, Wyatt Tatge, Boriana Kalderon-Asael, Quinn Zacharius, William A. Miller-Brown, Aaron A. MacDonald, Esmeralda Garcia, James B. Shanley, Peter A. Raymond, Noah J. Planavsky, James E. Saiers
Describing Yellow Perch population characteristics in Wisconsin to better understand observed declines in size structure Describing Yellow Perch population characteristics in Wisconsin to better understand observed declines in size structure
Objective
Authors
Robert P. Davis, Daniel J Dembkowski, Daniel A. Isermann, Ryan J. Eastman
A range-wide summary of western grebe and Clark’s grebe breeding lakes across North America A range-wide summary of western grebe and Clark’s grebe breeding lakes across North America
Western grebes (Aechmophorus occidentalis) and Clark’s grebes (Aechmophorus clarkii) are iconic waterbirds of North America that breed in colonies on inland lakes. Both species are patchily distributed and not surveyed well by the North American Breeding Bird Survey and, hence, we know relatively little about their population trends or the lakes that support the largest colonies. Knowing...
Authors
Anne Yen, Courtney J. Conway, Kerri T. Vierling, Ty Matthews
Effects of turbulence-inducing baffles on passage performance of brook trout, white sucker, and sea lamprey: Implications for conservation and control Effects of turbulence-inducing baffles on passage performance of brook trout, white sucker, and sea lamprey: Implications for conservation and control
Invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) control in the Great Lakes is ongoing. Installing passive selective passage structures could reduce costs, yet there is a need to evaluate such methods under realistic hydraulic conditions to inform designs. In this study, we evaluated the swimming performance of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), white sucker (Catostomus commersonii), and sea...
Authors
Mahmoud Abdelbaky, Dencil Mathew, R.W. Jay Lacey, Elsa M.C. Goerig, Aaron C. Heisey, Gabriel Chénarda, Theodore Castro-Santos
Anthropogenic and geogenic factors affecting groundwater arsenic and potential drinking water exposure in the San Luis Valley, Colorado Anthropogenic and geogenic factors affecting groundwater arsenic and potential drinking water exposure in the San Luis Valley, Colorado
Groundwater arsenic is a serious health threat in many regions with limited surface water drinking supplies. In the San Luis Valley, Colorado, USA, where most residents rely on groundwater for drinking water, elevated groundwater arsenic concentrations (≥5 μg/L) were observed in 19.8% of private wells. Many recent studies have leveraged data science methods to estimate the spatial...
Authors
Ryan G. Smith, Alandra M. Lopez, Alexandder S. Honeyman, Dawson Carney, Scott Fendorf, Melissa A. Lombard, Matthew O. Gribble, Abdullah Al Fatta, Katherine A. James
Solar energy development selectively filters avian taxonomic and functional diversity across a perennial agricultural landscape Solar energy development selectively filters avian taxonomic and functional diversity across a perennial agricultural landscape
Solar energy is rapidly expanding across agricultural landscapes, yet its consequences for avian communities remain poorly understood, particularly among heterogeneous land-use matrices.In 2024 and 2025, we surveyed birds across 107 sites in New York State, including conventional solar arrays with mowing or sheep grazing to manage vegetation, solar-adjacent working lands (e.g. hayfields...
Authors
Timothy J. Boycott, Trifosa I. Simamora, Amanda D. Rodewald, Steven Mark Grodsky
Geospatial Agentic Services: A framework for interoperable geospatial intelligence Geospatial Agentic Services: A framework for interoperable geospatial intelligence
Autonomous GIS uses large language models as its reasoning core to automate spatial data collection, analysis, modeling, and visualization for solving spatial problems with minimal human intervention. Often implemented through autonomous geospatial agents that work independently or collaboratively, it represents a shift from GIS as a passive software environment requiring expert...
Authors
Zhenlong Li, Ali Khosravi Kazazi, Ruixiang Liu, Temitope Akinboyewa, Huan Ning, Xiao Huang, Xinyue Ye, Samantha T. Arundel, Wenwen Li, Chaowei Yang, Shaoweng Wang, Ingo Simonis
First application of a coastal-dune model (AeoLiS) to simulate fluvial-aeolian morphodynamics First application of a coastal-dune model (AeoLiS) to simulate fluvial-aeolian morphodynamics
Quantifying aeolian processes is important to decision-making in river management and for optimizing strategies for ecosystem conservation, natural resource management, and recreation. We applied the AeoLiS aeolian transport model, originally developed for coastal environments, to a dryland river corridor to evaluate its ability to simulate sediment dynamics in a fluvial-aeolian system...
Authors
Madeline Margaret Kelley, Joel B. Sankey, Nicholas Cohn, Amy E. East, Alan Kasprak, Helen C. Fairley, Joshua Caster, B. van Westen
Pre-eruptive volatiles and magma storage depth for the 2018 eruption at Mount Veniaminof, Alaska Pre-eruptive volatiles and magma storage depth for the 2018 eruption at Mount Veniaminof, Alaska
Mount Veniaminof is a frequently active, open-system arc volcano on the Alaska Peninsula, part of the Alaska-Aleutian arc. Mount Veniaminof's September–December 2018 eruption began with small lava flows and culminated in a larger explosive event in November that produced a 450 km long continuous ash plume—one of the volcano's most significant ash-producing events in recently observed...
Authors
Ellyn G. Huggins, Phillipp Ruprecht, Matthew W. Loewen, M. Gavrilenko, R.J. Bodnar, M. Harlaux
Spontaneous combustion of metal sulfide minerals and implications for seafloor massive sulfide mining Spontaneous combustion of metal sulfide minerals and implications for seafloor massive sulfide mining
Metal sulfide minerals are abundant phases in many environments on earth, including seafloor massive sulfide (SMS) deposits, which occur at hydrothermal vents throughout the global ocean. These deep-sea settings are currently undergoing exploration for potential future mining. Here, we describe rocks from Escanaba Trough on the southern Gorda Ridge that underwent spontaneous combustion...
Authors
Amy Gartman, Jaycee Favela, Katlin Bowman Adamczyk, Aude Picard, John Jamieson, Rob Zierenberg, Isobel A. Yeo, Karen Bustillo, I. Maru Shapiro, Kha Cam Phan, Hope Lee Ianiri