Publications

Sea ice plays an important role in the life of the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens). U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists are seeking to understand how losses of sea ice during summer over important foraging grounds in the Chukchi Sea will affect walruses. USGS scientists recently modified a remotely deployed satellite radio-tag that will aid in studying walrus foraging...

The many volcanoes of the remote and mostly uninhabited Kurile Island arc (fig. 1; table 1) pose a serious hazard for air traffic in the North Pacific. Ash clouds from Kurile eruptions can impact some of the busiest air travel routes in the world and drift quickly into airspace managed by three countries: Russia, Japan, and the United States. Prevailing westerly winds throughout the...

We studied nutrient-reserve dynamics of female Greater Scaup (Aythya marila) to quantify intraspecific strategies of nutrient acquisition for egg production, particularly in relation to the seasonal timing of reproduction (i.e., date of initiation of rapid follicle growth [RFG]). We collected female Greater Scaup on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, from arrival through clutch formation...

The growth in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has highlighted the need for digital geologic maps that have been attributed with information about age and lithology. Such maps can be conveniently used to generate derivative maps for manifold special purposes such as mineral-resource assessment, metallogenic studies, tectonic studies, and environmental research. This report...

INTRODUCTION The growth in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has highlighted the need for digital geologic maps that have been attributed with information about age and lithology. Such maps can be conveniently used to generate derivative maps for manifold special purposes such as mineral-resource assessment, metallogenic studies, tectonic studies, and environmental research...

The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) responded to eruptive activity or suspected volcanic activity at or near 16 volcanoes in Alaska during 2005, including the high profile precursory activity associated with the 2005–06 eruption of Augustine Volcano. AVO continues to participate in distributing information about eruptive activity on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, and in the Kurile...

No abstract available.

Not available

The Aleutian subduction zone is one of the most seismically active plate boundaries and the source of several of the world’s largest historic earthquakes. The structural architecture of the subduction zone varies considerably along its length. At the eastern end is a tectonically complex collision zone where the allochthonous Yakutat terrane is moving northwest into mainland Alaska. West...

In southcentral Alaska, the boundaries of two different tectonic blocks extend southwestward from the Denali Fault toward Cook Inlet and Shelikof Strait. We use offshore multichannel seismic reflection data and oil-well stratigraphy to evaluate whether local geologic structures are compatible with boundaries of either tectonic block and with the relative motion expected across the block...

In 2001, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a water-quality study of the Yukon River. The Yukon River Basin (YRB), which encompasses 330,000 square miles in northwestern Canada and central Alaska (fig. 1), is one of the largest and most diverse ecosystems in North America. The Yukon River is more than 1,800 miles long and is one of the last great uncontrolled rivers in the world...

Gareloi Volcano (178.794 degrees W and 51.790 degrees N) is located on Gareloi Island in the Delarof Islands group of the Aleutian Islands, about 2,000 kilometers west-southwest of Anchorage and about 150 kilometers west of Adak, the westernmost community in Alaska. This small (about 8x10 kilometer) volcano has been one of the most active in the Aleutians since its discovery by the...