United States Geological Survey

About: United States Geological Survey is a government organization based out in Reston, Virginia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Groundwater. The organization has 17899 authors who have published 51097 publications receiving 2479125 citations. The organization is also known as: USGS & US Geological Survey.

A formal framework for scenario development in support of environmental decision-making

Abstract: Scenarios are possible future states of the world that represent alternative plausible conditions under different assumptions. Often, scenarios are developed in a context relevant to stakeholders involved in their applications since the evaluation of scenario outcomes and implications can enhance decision-making activities. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of scenario development and proposes a formal approach to scenario development in environmental decision-making. The discussion of current issues in scenario studies includes advantages and obstacles in utilizing a formal scenario development framework, and the different forms of uncertainty inherent in scenario development, as well as how they should be treated. An appendix for common scenario terminology has been attached for clarity. Major recommendations for future research in this area include proper consideration of uncertainty in scenario studies in particular in relation to stakeholder relevant information, construction of scenarios that are more diverse in nature, and sharing of information and resources among the scenario development research community.

The Osceola Mudflow from Mount Rainier: Sedimentology and hazard implications of a huge clay-rich debris flow

Abstract: The 3.8 km 3 Osceola Mudflow began as a water-saturated avalanche during phreatomagmatic eruptions at the summit of Mount Rainier about 5600 years ago. It filled valleys of the White River system north and northeast of Mount Rainier to depths of more than 100 m, flowed northward and westward more than 120 km, covered more than 200 km 2 of the Puget Sound lowland, and extended into Puget Sound. The lahar had a velocity of ≈19 m/s and peak discharge of ≈2.5×10 6 m 3 /s, 40 to 50 km downstream, and was hydraulically dammed behind a constriction. It was coeval with the Paradise lahar, which flowed down the south side of Mount Rainier, and was probably related to it genetically. Osceola Mudflow deposits comprise three facies. The axial facies forms normally graded deposits 1.5 to 25 m thick in lowlands and valley bottoms and thinner ungraded deposits in lowlands; the valley-side facies forms ungraded deposits 0.3 to 2 m thick that drape valley slopes; and the hummocky facies, interpreted before as a separate (Greenwater) lahar, forms 2–10-m-thick deposits dotted with numerous hummocks up to 20 m high and 60 m in plan. Deposits show progressive downstream improvement in sorting, increase in sand and gravel, and decrease in clay. These downstream progressions are caused by incorporation (bulking) of better sorted gravel and sand. Normally graded axial deposits show similar trends from top to bottom because of bulking. The coarse-grained basal deposits in valley bottoms are similar to deposits near inundation limits. Normal grading in deposits is best explained by incremental aggradation of a flow wave, coarser grained at its front than at its tail. The Osceola Mudflow transformed completely from debris avalanche to clay-rich (cohesive) lahar within 2 km of its source because of the presence within the preavalanche mass of large volumes of pore water and abundant weak hydrothermally altered rock. A survey of cohesive lahars suggests that the amount of hydrothermally altered rock in the preavalanche mass determines whether a debris avalanche will transform into a cohesive debris flow or remain a largely unsaturated debris avalanche. The distinction among cohesive lahar, noncohesive lahar, and debris avalanche is important in hazard assessment because cohesive lahars spread much more widely than noncohesive lahars that travel similar distances, and travel farther and spread more widely than debris avalanches of similar volume. The Osceola Mudflow is documented here as an example of a cohesive debris flow of huge size that can be used as a model for hazard analysis of similar flows.

Contribution of global groundwater depletion since 1900 to sea‐level rise

Abstract: [1] Removal of water from terrestrial subsurface storage is a natural consequence of groundwater withdrawals, but global depletion is not well characterized. Cumulative groundwater depletion represents a transfer of mass from land to the oceans that contributes to sea-level rise. Depletion is directly calculated using calibrated groundwater models, analytical approaches, or volumetric budget analyses for multiple aquifer systems. Estimated global groundwater depletion during 1900–2008 totals ∼4,500 km3, equivalent to a sea-level rise of 12.6 mm (>6% of the total). Furthermore, the rate of groundwater depletion has increased markedly since about 1950, with maximum rates occurring during the most recent period (2000–2008), when it averaged ∼145 km3/yr (equivalent to 0.40 mm/yr of sea-level rise, or 13% of the reported rate of 3.1 mm/yr during this recent period).

African desert dust in the Caribbean atmosphere: Microbiology and public health

Abstract: Air samples collected on St. John in the U.S.Virgin Islands were screened for the presenceof viable bacteria and fungi to determine ifthe number of cultivatable microbes in theatmosphere differed between ``clear atmosphericconditions'' and ``African dust-events.'' Resultsindicate that during ``African dust-events,'' thenumbers of cultivatable airborne microorganismscan be 2 to 3 times that found during ``clearatmospheric conditions.'' Direct microbialcounts of air samples using an epifluorescentmicroscopy assay demonstrated that during an``African dust-event,'' bacteria-like andvirus-like particle counts were approximatelyone log greater than during ``clear atmosphericconditions.'' Bacteria-like particles exhibitingautofluoresence, a trait of phototrophs, wereonly detected during an ``African dust-event.''