Publications

The ecosystems of the Williston Basin provide direct and indirect benefits to society. These benefits include carbon sequestration, flood control, nutrient rich soils for agricultural productivity, and habitat for wildlife. This chapter’s main focus is on the effects of energy development on species that occupy the ecosystems in the Williston Basin. We compiled a list of documented...

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 278 million barrels of oil and 25.7 trillion cubic feet of gas in Paleozoic total petroleum systems of the Central European Basin System.

The 1989, Mw = 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake resulted in tens of lives lost and cost California almost 3% of its gross domestic product. Despite widespread damage, the earthquake did not clearly rupture the surface, challenging the identification and characterization of these hidden hazards. Here, we show that they can be illuminated by inverting fluvial topography for slip-and moment...

Around the world, wetland vulnerability to sea-level rise (SLR) depends on different factors including tidal regimes, topography, creeks and estuary geometry, sediment availability, vegetation type, etc. The Plum Island estuary (PIE) is a mesotidal wetland system on the east coast of the United States. This research applied a newly updated Hydro-MEM (integrated hydrodynamic-marsh) model...

Disturbances elicit both positive and negative effects on organisms; these effects vary in their strength and their timing. Effects of disturbance interval (i.e., the length of time between disturbances) on population growth will depend on both the timing and strength of positive and negative effects of disturbances. Climate change can modify the relative strengths of these positive and...

Sand ripples are geomorphic features on the seafloor that affect bottom boundary layer dynamics including wave attenuation and sediment transport. We present a new equilibrium ripple predictor using a machine learning approach that outputs a probability distribution of wave-generated equilibrium wavelengths and statistics including an estimate of ripple height, the most probable ripple...

The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite instrument on board NASA's Curiosity rover has characterized the inorganic and organic chemical composition of seven samples from the Glen Torridon (GT) clay-bearing unit. A variety of organic molecules were detected with SAM using pyrolysis (up to ∼850°C) and wet chemistry experiments coupled with evolved gas analysis (EGA) and gas chromatography...

Dome-building volcanic eruptions are often associated with frequent Vulcanian explosions, which constitute a substantial threat to proximal communities. One proposed mechanism driving such explosions is the sealing of the shallow volcanic system followed by pressurization due to gas accumulation beneath the seal. We investigate this hypothesis at Sinabung Volcano (Sumatra, Indonesia)...

The Glen Torridon (GT) region within Gale crater, Mars, occurs in contact with the southern side of Vera Rubin ridge (VRR), a well-defined geomorphic feature that is comparatively resistant to erosion. Prior to detailed ground-based investigation of GT, its geologic relationship with VRR was unknown. Distinct lithologic subunits within the Jura member (Murray formation), which forms the...

A number of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) have been reported to interfere with the thyroid signaling pathway and cause oxidative stress in birds, yet the underlying shifts in gene expression associated with these effects remain poorly understood. In this study, we measured hepatic transcriptional responses of 31 genes in American kestrel (Falco sparverius) hatchlings following in...

Within nearshore waters off Bimini, The Bahamas, Atlantic spotted (Stenella frontalis) and common bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) dolphins are sympatric but separated spatially in different geographic areas and water depth ranges. Afternoon surveys during summer months across a 16-year period showed S. frontalis used the northern part of the nearshore area more, while T. truncatus used...

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