Conference Papers

Diagnosis and treatment of ill whooping cranes of the Rocky Mountain flock was provided by a zoological facility. Cases of avian cholera, lead poisoning and avian tuberculosis were encountered. The zoo efforts were an adjunct to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Whooping Crane Recovery Plan.

Variations in concentrations of trace elements Rb, Sr, and Zr within the sequence of high-silica tuff and dacitic lava beneath Yucca Mountain reflect both primary composition and secondary alteration. Rb and K concentrations have parallel trends. Rb concentrations are significantly lower within intervals containing zeolitic nonwelded to partially welded and bedded tuffs and are higher in...

Massive bank failures occurred in 1988 along a 14-kilometer reach of the lower Obion River channel in Dyer County, West Tennessee where the river flows through an abandoned Mississippi River meander. Bank failures in this reach extend as far as 50 meters from the channel and reach depths of 20 meters below ground surface. The critical elements that led to the failures appear to have been...

Channelization and concrete lining of the Rio Puerto Nuevo and its tributaries in the San Juan Metropolitan area has been proposed to control flooding in low lying areas adjacent to the stream. Concern about the effect of these channel modifications on the ground-water system prompted the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct an...

The U.S. Department of the Interior started a program in 1985 to identify effects of irrigation-induced trace constituents in water, bottom sediment and biota. The program was developed in response to concerns that contamination similar to that found in 1983 at Kesterson Reservoir in California might exist elsewhere. Studies are complete or underway for 26 sites in 15 western States...

Worldwide oil pollution has killed millions of marine birds in this century but it has been difficult to directly link these losses to population declines. Estimated bird losses from acute spills and chronic pollution are not precise because we usually do not know the proportion of birds killed at sea that are detected on beach surveys or the origin of those birds. Data required to...

No abstract.

Effluent from uranium-mine dewatering and acidic water released by a tailings-pond dike failure increased radionuclide activities in streamflow in the Puerco River in New Mexico and Arizona. Median dissolved gross-alpha activity in the streamflow was 1,130 picocuries per liter from 1975 to 1986 when mine discharges ceased and 6.2 picocuries per liter from 1986 to 1989. From 1975 to July...

Coastline comparison on 1951 and 1981 charts to determine erosion and accretion showed that ocean-facing coastal bluffs were retreating while deltas were rapidly expanding. Where the coast is fronted by a lagoon, and coast-parallel sand and gravel islands, bluff retreat was reduced. The extensive bluff erosion was volumetrically balanced by accretion at the mouths of deltas. Coastal...

No abstract available

Large vein-like deposits of calcite and opaline silica that infill the Bow Ridge fault are exposed by Trench 14 at the Nevada Test Site. The origin of the deposits has been the center of considerable controversy because the deposits occur on the edge of Yucca Mountain, which is being characterized geologically as a possible site for the nation's first high level nuclear waste repository...

Fully three-dimensional representations of the geologic system at Yucca Mountain have been developed using a Geoscientific Information System, which is an expansion of a traditional Geographic Information Systems. These advanced, three dimensional, representations of Yucca Mountain are required to adequately evaluate the complex geologic and hydrologic conditions surrounding the site...