Publications

Multi-organizational principal investigators formed a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Powell Center Working Group (WG), Tsunami Source Standardization for Hazards Mitigation in the United States, to develop a comprehensive series of sources capable of generating tsunamis that could impact U.S. state and territory coastal areas using probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis (PTHA). PTHA...

A primary prediction of climate change ecology is that species will track their climate niche poleward and upslope. However, studies have shown species responding in surprising ways. In this study, we aim to understand the impact of global change on species ranges by considering both climate and habitat changes. Using occupancy analysis of acoustic survey data in the mountains of the...

Water column hypoxia is a key process influencing methylmercury (MeHg) production and availability in waterbodies worldwide. During seasonal destratification, large, short-lived pulses of aqueous MeHg may be released into the subsequently mixed water column, but little is known about the fate of these pulses, particularly whether there are concomitant increases in MeHg uptake into...

Documentation of successful early detection rapid response (EDRR) efforts is lacking from the scientific literature but is needed to inform invasive species response protocols. The Black and White tegu (Salvator merianae) has become established in several Florida counties and its spread is of significant conservation concern. It is of high priority for state and federal managers to...

Winter cover crops reduce erosion and nutrient runoff from agricultural systems. Although cereal cover crops can decrease field nitrate leaching by 50%–95%, the magnitude of this reduction varies within and between fields, making it challenging to monitor the impact of cover crops on nitrate leaching at large spatial extents. Satellite remote sensing using red-edge bands has been shown...

In this chapter I discuss the use of so-called macroseismic data, i.e., reports of damage and other effects of shaking on humans and the built environment, to improve the characterization of earthquakes and the ground motions they produce. Macroseismic data are critical not only to investigate earthquakes that occurred before the start of the instrumental era in seismology, but are also...

Establishing the rupture extent and slip distribution of individual paleo-earthquakes is vital for assessing fault behavior including the persistence of rupture segmentation, recurrence patterns, and similarity of successive events, key issues in both fault mechanics and hazard assessment. Techniques with high temporal and geodetic precision as well as a wide distribution of study sites...

This study describes and validates a new method for extracting perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from whole-body fish tissue, demonstrates that freeze-dry preservation of tissue conserves bioaccumulative PFAS, and details a method demonstration on Lake Michigan fish. While fish filets are more commonly analyzed for their significance to human health, whole fish are...

Existing geothermal production in Utah is commonly collocated with surficial expressions of geothermal heat including active hot springs and hot spring deposits. However, geothermal potential across the Great Basin region is thought to be much higher for hidden or blind geothermal systems. Accordingly, exploration techniques that can locate geothermal resources that lack surface thermal...

Study of the accretionary biomineralised hardparts of organisms (sclerochronology) can make a useful contribution to palaeoclimatology. Ontogenetic sequences of isotopic data (δ18O and Δ47 values) from the shells of marine molluscs are a source of information on seasonal sea-surface temperatures that can be used for detailed and rigorous evaluation of the outputs of numerical climate...

The U.S. Geological Survey—in cooperation with the San Antonio Water System and the Edwards Aquifer Authority—used data collected during four different periods (March 1955–August 1964, October 1995–September 1996, March 2001–June 2002, and March 2017–October 2022) as part of a new study to refine previously derived relations between the altitude of the water surface of Medina Lake and...

Urban expansion is a prominent threat to biodiversity, particularly for terrestrial mammals, which are significantly impacted by disruptions in habitat connectivity and loss. It can also lead to increased human‑wildlife conflicts that contribute to species decline. Urban public works projects, such as flood control areas, may coincidentally preserve significant habitat, but their...