Publications
USGS research activities relevant to Alaska have yielded more than 9400 historical publications. This page features some of the most recent newsworthy research findings.
Filter Total Items: 3088
Extreme Quaternary plate boundary exhumation and strike slip localized along the southern Fairweather fault, Alaska, USA Extreme Quaternary plate boundary exhumation and strike slip localized along the southern Fairweather fault, Alaska, USA
The Fairweather fault (southeastern Alaska, USA) is Earth’s fastest-slipping intracontinental strike-slip fault, but its long-term role in localizing Yakutat–(Pacific–)North America plate motion is poorly constrained. This plate boundary fault transitions northward from pure strike slip to transpression where it comes onshore and undergoes a 6–8 km/m.y. exhumation rates that increases in...
Authors
Richard O. Lease, Peter J. Haeussler, Robert C. Witter, Daniel F. Stockli, Adrian Bender, Harvey Kelsey, Paul O’Sullivan
The imminent calving retreat of Taku Glacier The imminent calving retreat of Taku Glacier
Along the rugged Southeast Alaska coast, 30 kilometers northeast of the state capital Juneau, a tidewater glacier has largely defied global trends by steadily advancing for most of the past century while most glaciers on Earth retreated. This 55-kilometer-long and nearly 1,500-meter-thick tidewater glacier, named Taku Glacier, or T'aaḵú Ḵwáan Sít'i in the language of the Indigenous...
Authors
Christopher J. McNeil, Jason Amundson, Shad O’Neel, Roman Motyka, Louis C. Sass, Martin Truffer, Jenna Ziemann, Seth Campbell
Changes in rocky intertidal community structure during a marine heatwave in the northern Gulf of Alaska Changes in rocky intertidal community structure during a marine heatwave in the northern Gulf of Alaska
Marine heatwaves are global phenomena that can have major impacts on the structure and function of coastal ecosystems. By mid-2014, the Pacific Marine Heatwave (PMH) was evident in intertidal waters of the northern Gulf of Alaska and persisted for multiple years. While offshore marine ecosystems are known to respond to these warmer waters, the response of rocky intertidal ecosystems to...
Authors
Ben Weitzman, Brenda Konar, Katrin Iken, Heather Coletti, Daniel Monson, Robert M. Suryan, Thomas Dean, D. Hondolero, Mandy Lindeberg
Heatwave-induced synchrony within forage fish portfolio disrupts energy flow to top pelagic predators Heatwave-induced synchrony within forage fish portfolio disrupts energy flow to top pelagic predators
During the Pacific marine heatwave of 2014–2016, abundance and quality of several key forage fish species in the Gulf of Alaska were simultaneously reduced throughout the system. Capelin (Mallotus catervarius), sand lance (Ammodytes personatus), and herring (Clupea pallasii) populations were at historically low levels, and within this community abrupt declines in portfolio effects...
Authors
Mayumi L. Arimitsu, John F. Piatt, Scott Hatch, Robert M. Suryan, Sonia Batten, Mary Anne Bishop, Rob W. Campbell, Heather Coletti, Dan Cushing, Kristen Gorman, Russell R. Hopcroft, Kathy J. Kuletz, Caitlin Elizabeth Marsteller, Caitlin McKinstry, David McGowan, John Moran, W. Scott Pegau, Anne Schaefer, Sarah K. Schoen, Jan Straley, Vanessa R. von Biela
Airborne geophysical imaging of weak zones on Iliamna Volcano, Alaska: Implications for slope stability Airborne geophysical imaging of weak zones on Iliamna Volcano, Alaska: Implications for slope stability
Water‐saturated, hydrothermally altered rocks reduce the strength of volcanic edifices and increase the potential for sector collapses and far‐traveled mass flows of unconsolidated debris. Iliamna Volcano is an andesitic stratovolcano located on the western side of the Cook Inlet, ∼225 km southwest of Anchorage and is a source of repeated avalanches. The widespread snow and ice cover on...
Authors
Dana E. Peterson, Carol A. Finn, Paul A. Bedrosian
Timing and amount of southern Cascadia earthquake subsidence over the past 1700 years at northern Humboldt Bay, California, USA Timing and amount of southern Cascadia earthquake subsidence over the past 1700 years at northern Humboldt Bay, California, USA
Stratigraphic, lithologic, foraminiferal, and radiocarbon analyses indicate that at least four abrupt mud-over-peat contacts are recorded across three sites (Jacoby Creek, McDaniel Creek, and Mad River Slough) in northern Humboldt Bay, California, USA (∼44.8°N, −124.2°W). The stratigraphy records subsidence during past megathrust earthquakes at the southern Cascadia subduction zone ∼40...
Authors
Jason S. Padgett, Simon E. Engelhart, Harvey M. Kelsey, Robert C. Witter, Niamh Cahill, Eileen Hemphill-Haley
Ground‐penetrating radar, electromagnetic induction, terrain, and vegetation observations coupled with machine learning to map permafrost distribution at Twelvemile Lake, Alaska Ground‐penetrating radar, electromagnetic induction, terrain, and vegetation observations coupled with machine learning to map permafrost distribution at Twelvemile Lake, Alaska
We collected ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) and frequency‐domain electromagnetic induction (FDEM) profiles in 2011 and 2012 to identify the extent of permafrost relative to surface biomass and solar insolation around Twelvemile Lake near Fort Yukon, Alaska. We compared a Landsat‐derived biomass estimate and modeled solar insolation from a digital elevation model to the geophysical...
Authors
S. Campbell, Martin A. Briggs, S.P. Roy, T. A. Douglas, S. Saari
Multi-region assessment of chemical mixture exposures and predicted cumulative effects in USA wadeable urban/agriculture-gradient streams Multi-region assessment of chemical mixture exposures and predicted cumulative effects in USA wadeable urban/agriculture-gradient streams
Chemical-contaminant mixtures are widely reported in large stream reaches in urban/agriculture-developed watersheds, but mixture compositions and aggregate biological effects are less well understood in corresponding smaller headwaters, which comprise most of stream length, riparian connectivity, and spatial biodiversity. During 2014–2017, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) measured 389...
Authors
Paul M. Bradley, Celeste A. Journey, Kristin M. Romanok, Sara E. Breitmeyer, Daniel T. Button, Daren M. Carlisle, Bradley Huffman, Barbara Mahler, Lisa H. Nowell, Sharon L. Qi, Kelly L. Smalling, Ian R. Waite, Peter C. Van Metre
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, California Water Science Center, Colorado Water Science Center, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Water Science Center, New Jersey Water Science Center, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, Oregon Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)
Extrinsically reinforced hybrid speciation within Holarctic ermine (Mustela spp.) produces an insular endemic Extrinsically reinforced hybrid speciation within Holarctic ermine (Mustela spp.) produces an insular endemic
Aim Refugial isolation during glaciation is an established driver of speciation; however, the opposing role of interglacial population expansion, secondary contact, and gene flow on the diversification process remains less understood. The consequences of glacial cycling on diversity are complex and especially so for archipelago species, which experience dramatic fluctuations in...
Authors
Jocelyn P. Colella, Lindsey Frederick, Sandra L. Talbot, Joe Cook
Tectonic and magmatic controls on the metallogenesis of porphyry deposits in Alaska Tectonic and magmatic controls on the metallogenesis of porphyry deposits in Alaska
Porphyry Cu and Mo deposits and occurrences are found throughout Alaska; they formed episodically during repeated subduction and arc-continent collisions spanning the Silurian to Quaternary. Porphyry systems occur in continental-margin and island arcs, which are broadly grouped into pre-accretionary or post-accretionary arcs. Pre-Mesozoic occurrences formed in continental or island arcs...
Authors
Douglas C. Kreiner, James V. Jones, Karen D. Kelley, Garth E. Graham
Sr, Nd, Hf and Pb isotope geochemistry of Early Miocene shoshonitic lavas from the South Fiji Basin: Note Sr, Nd, Hf and Pb isotope geochemistry of Early Miocene shoshonitic lavas from the South Fiji Basin: Note
We present new Sr, Nd, Hf and Pb isotope data for Early Miocene shoshonitic and high-K lavas dredged from seamounts in the South Fiji Basin, southwest Pacific Ocean. Our analyses provide a useful reference dataset for this distinctive compositional suite. The shoshonitic lavas formed in an intra-oceanic back-arc basin setting and are broadly coeval with nearby arc and back-arc basin...
Authors
Nick Mortimer, Delphine Bosch, Christine Laporte-Magoni, Erin Todd, James B Gill
Forecasting community reassembly using climate-linked spatio-temporal ecosystem models Forecasting community reassembly using climate-linked spatio-temporal ecosystem models
Ecosystems are increasingly impacted by human activities, altering linkages among physical and biological components. Spatial community reassembly occurs when these human impacts modify the spatial overlap between system components, and there is need for practical tools to forecast spatial community reassembly at landscape scales using monitoring data. To illustrate a new approach, we...
Authors
James Thorson, Mayumi L. Arimitsu, Lewis Barnett, Wei Cheng, Lisa Eisner, Alan Haynie, Albert Hermann, Kirsten Holsman, David Kimmel, Michael Lomas, Jon Richar, Elizabeth Siddon