Publications

Dissolved methane concentrations in the ocean are close to equilibrium with the atmosphere. Because methane is only sparingly soluble in seawater, measuring it without contamination is challenging for samples collected and processed in the presence of air. Several methods for analyzing dissolved methane are described in the literature, yet none has conducted a thorough assessment of the...

The role of biological processes in the formation of sediment-hosted ore deposits has long been recognized. In this review, we focus on the biogeochemical cycling of C, Mn, Fe, and S as they relate to the formation of sediment-hosted Mn and Fe deposits, metalliferous black shales, clastic-dominated (CD) Pb-Zn deposits, and phosphorites. Biological mediation of ore-forming processes...

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 3.3-mile reach of the White River near Edwardsport, (Ind.), were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal...

U.S. production of construction aggregates in 2012 was 2.18 billion short tons valued at $17.6 billion, free on board (f.o.b.) at plant. In 2012, construction aggregates production remained virtually unchanged from the levels of the last two years because of a very slight increase compared with that of 2011 in the production of both construction sand and gravel and crushed stone. The...

Runoff-based indicators of terrestrial water availability are appropriate for humid regions, but have tended to limit our basic hydrologic understanding of drylands – the dry-subhumid, semiarid, and arid regions which presently cover nearly half of the global land surface. In response, we introduce an indicator framework that gives equal weight to humid and dryland regions, accounting...

Examination of key outcrops in the eastern Blue Ridge in southern Virginia and northwestern North Carolina is used to evaluate existing stratigraphic and structural models. Recent detailed mapping along the Blue Ridge Parkway and the eastern flank of the Mount Rogers massif provides the opportunity to (1) evaluate legacy data and interpretations and (2) formulate new ideas for regional...

Regulatory changes in the use of some second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides in parts of North America may result in expanded use of first-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (FGARs). Recent toxicological studies with captive raptors have demonstrated that these species are considerably more sensitive to the FGAR diphacinone than traditional avian wildlife test species (mallard...

The article reports on the market performance of kaolin in the U.S. in 2009 and presents an outlook for its 2010 performance. There was a decline in the domestic sales of kaolin from 6.74 measurement ton (Mt) to 5.2 Mt. Companies in the country engaged in kaolin production include Advanced Primary Minerals Corp., Applied Minerals Inc., and Daleco Resources Corp. The decline in world...

Results of sulfur and oxygen isotope studies of sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX) Zn-Pb(-Ag-Au-Ba-F) deposits hosted in metamorphosed Paleozoic clastic and carbonate rocks of the Nome Complex, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, are consistent with data for similar deposits worldwide. Stable isotopic studies of the Nome Complex are challenging because the rocks have undergone Mesozoic blueschist- and

Here we report on a structured decision making (SDM) process to identify management strategies to ensure persistence of the federally endangered Shenandoah salamander (Plethodon shenandoah), given that it may be at increased extinction risk under projected climate change. The focus of this report is the second of two SDM workshops; in the first workshop, participants developed a...

Radio telemetry of stocked muskellunge (n = 6) and wild northern pike (n = 6) was used to track late summer and fall movements from a common release point in a known shared nursery bay to test the hypothesis that age-1 northern pike and stocked muskellunge segregate and have different habitat affinities. Water depth, temperature, substrate and aquatic vegetation variables were estimated...

We modified a passive capillary sampler (PCS) to collect snowmelt water for isotopic analysis. Past applications of PCSs have been to sample soil water, but the novel aspect of this study was the placement of the PCSs at the ground-snowpack interface to collect snowmelt. We deployed arrays of PCSs at 11 sites in ten partner countries on five continents representing a range of climate and...