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Publications

Browse more than 160,000 publications authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS.  Publications available are: USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and more.

Filter Total Items: 74209

Physics-based satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) using Landsat OLI images

The estimation of depth in optically shallow waters using satellite imagery can be efficient and cost-effective. Active sensors measure the distance traveled by an emitted laser pulse propagating through the water with high precision and accuracy if the bottom peak intensity of the waveform is greater than the noise level. However, passive optical imaging of optically shallow water involves measur
Authors
Minsu Kim, Jeffrey J. Danielson, Curt Storlazzi, Seonkyung Park

Polyphase stratabound scheelite-ferberite mineralization at Mallnock, Eastern Alps, Austria

A peculiar type of stratabound tungsten mineralization in metacarbonate rocks was discovered and explored at Mallnock (Austria) during the late 1980s. It is the only tungsten occurrence in the Eastern Alps in which scheelite is associated with wolframite (96 mol% ferberite). The tungsten prospect is located in the Austroalpine Drauzug-Gurktal Nappe System recording polyphase low-grade regional met
Authors
Florian Altenberger, Joachim Krause, Niki E. Wintzer, Christoph Iglseder, Jasper Berndt, Kai Bachmann, Johann Raith

The past, present, and a future for native charr in Japan

Charrs (Salvelinus) reach their southernmost distribution in Japan, and are uniquely adapted to the short, steep streams of this island archipelago. Southern Asian Dolly Varden (Salvelinus curilus) occur only in Hokkaido Island, whereas white-spotted charr (Salvelinus leucomaenis) range to southern Honshu. Both species diverged from an ancestral lineage during the late Pliocene/early Pleistocene,
Authors
K.D. Fausch, Kentaro Morita, Jun-ichi Tsuboi, Yoichiro Kanno, Shoichiro Yamamoto, Daisuke Kishi, Jason B. Dunham, Itsuro Koizumi, Koh Hasegawa, Mikio Inoue, Takuya Sato, Satoshi Kitano

Brief communication: Recent estimates of glacier mass loss for western North America from laser altimetry

Glaciers in western North American outside of Alaska are often overlooked in global studies because their potential to contribute to changes in sea level is small. Nonetheless, these glaciers represent important sources of freshwater, especially during times of drought. Differencing recent ICESat-2 data from a digital elevation model derived from a combination of synthetic aperture radar data (Ter
Authors
Brian Menounos, Alex Gardner, Caitlyn Florentine, Andrew Fountain

Ursids evolved dietary diversity without major alterations in metabolic rates

The diets of the eight species of ursids range from carnivory (e.g., polar bears, Ursus maritimus) to insectivory (e.g., sloth bears, Melursus ursinus), omnivory (e.g., brown bears, U. arctos), and herbivory (e.g., giant pandas, Ailuropoda melanoleuca). Dietary energy availability ranges from the high-fat, highly digestible, calorically dense diet of polar bears (~ 6.4 kcal digestible energy/g fre
Authors
Anthony M. Carnahan, Anthony M. Pagano, Amelia L. Christian, Karyn D. Rode, Charles T. Robbins

Geese migrating over the Pacific Ocean select altitudes coinciding with offshore wind turbine blades

Renewable energy facilities are a key part of mitigating climate change, but can pose threats to wild birds and bats, most often through collisions with infrastructure. Understanding collision risk and the factors affecting it can help minimize impacts on wild populations. For wind turbines, flight altitude is a major factor influencing collision risk, and altitude-selection analyses can evaluate
Authors
Emily L. Weiser, Cory T. Overton, David C. Douglas, Michael L. Casazza, Paul L. Flint

Sensitivity testing of marine turbidite age estimates along the Cascadia subduction zone

 9 earthquakes ruptured the full Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ) in the past 10 kyr, a hypothesis that relies on concurrent turbidite deposition generated from seismogenic strong ground motion along the ∼1100 km margin. Correlation of marine turbidite deposits is based on petrophysical characteristics and radiocarbon geochronology, the latter of which relies on a series of age corrections and calib
Authors
Lydia M. Staisch

Long-term occupancy monitoring reveals value of moderate disturbance for an open-habitat specialist, the Stephens' kangaroo rat (Dipodomys stephensi)

For species of conservation concern, long-term monitoring is vital to properly characterize changes in population distribution and abundance over time. In addition, long-term monitoring guides management decisions by informing and evaluating the efficacy of management actions. A long-term monitoring initiative for the federally threatened Stephens' Kangaroo rat (Dipodomys stephensi, SKR) was estab
Authors
Cheryl S. Brehme, Philip Robert Gould, Denise Clark, Robert N. Fisher

Sediment budget of a Maumee River headwater tributary: How streambank erosion, streambed-sediment storage, and streambed-sediment source inform our understanding of legacy phosphorus

ObjectiveWe described source and phosphorus (P) retention potential of soft, fine-grained, streambed sediment and associated phosphorus (sed-P) during summer low-flow conditions. Combining in-channel, sed-P storage with relative age provided context on relevance to western Lake Erie Basin management goals.MethodsIn 2019, rapid geomorphic assessment (30 reaches) compared streambed-sediment storage
Authors
Tanja N. Williamson, Faith Fitzpatrick, Rebecca Kreiling, James Blount, Diana L. Karwan

Fewer bowl traps and more hand netting can increase effective number of bee species and reduce excessive captures

Reports increasingly point to substantial declines in wild bee abundance and diversity, yet there is uncertainty about how best to measure these attributes in wild bee populations. Two commonly used methods are passive trapping with bee bowls or active netting of bees on flowers, but each of these has drawbacks. Comparing the outcomes of the two methods is complicated by their uncomparable units o
Authors
Diane L. Larson, Nora P. Pennarola, Julia B. Leone, Jennifer L. Larson

Foraging behavior and age affect maternal transfer of mercury to northern elephant seal pups

Deep ocean foraging northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) consume fish and squid in remote depths of the North Pacific Ocean. Contaminants bioaccumulated from prey are subsequently transferred by adult females to pups during gestation and lactation, linking pups to mercury contamination in mesopelagic food webs (200–1000 m depths). Maternal transfer of mercury to developing seal pups w
Authors
Sarah H. Peterson, Michael G. Peterson, Josh T. Ackerman, Cathy Debier, Chandra Goetsch, Rachel R. Holser, Luis A. Hückstädt, Jennifer C. Johnson, Theresa R. Keates, Birgitte I. McDonald, Elizabeth A. McHuron, Daniel P. Costa

Metabarcoding is (usually) more cost effective than seining or qPCR for detecting tidewater gobies and other estuarine fishes

Many studies have shown that environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling can be more sensitive than traditional sampling. For instance, past studies found a specific qPCR probe of a water sample is better than a seine for detecting the endangered northern tidewater goby, Eucyclogobius newberryi. Furthermore, a metabarcoding sample often detects more fish species than a seine detects. Less consideration has
Authors
Kevin D. Lafferty