Tag Archives: geological survey

USGS Estimates 162 Billion Short Tons of Recoverable Coal in the Powder River Basin

By Guest PostFebruary 28, 2013Environmentbillion short tons, bst, coal production, coal resource, coal sales, database, electric power generation, entire basin, fluctuation, geologic feature, geological survey, geology, gillette coal field, low sulfur, mines, mining costs, montana, montana bureau, mst, powder river basin, prb assessment, recoverable coal, subbituminous coal, surface mining technology, suzette kimball, united states, usgs, wyoming, wyoming state

New basin-wide assessment of recoverable resources and reserves

The Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana contains about 162 billion short tons (BST) of recoverable coal from a total of 1.07 trillion short tons of in-place resources according to a new USGS assessment. This assessment also estimates that 25 BST of those resources are currently economical to recover, the first such estimate released by the USGS for coal for an entire basin.

The Powder River Basin—a large geologic feature located in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana—contains the largest deposits of low-sulfur subbituminous coal in the world. This study is significant because it illustrates that only a relatively small percentage of in-place coal resources are technically and economically recoverable. (more…)

Global Warming May Have Severe Consequences for Rare Haleakala Silverswords

By Guest PostJanuary 17, 2013Environment, Natureargyroxyphium sandwicense macrocephalum, biodiversity, biological hotspots, climate change, climate induced stresses, climate related decline, climate trends, decline, extinction, flower heads, geological survey, global climate change, global warming, haleakala national park, haleakala silversword, haleakala volcano, human, inflorescence, lloyd loope, manoa, marcia mcnutt, native habitat, patterns of precipitation, paul krushelnycky, plants, population growth rate, rare haleakala silverswords, risk of extinction, rosette, silversword, tropical agriculture, university of arizona, university of hawaii, usgs director, volcano summit

HONOLULU — While the iconic Haleakalā silversword plant made a strong recovery from early 20^th-century threats, it has now entered a period of substantial climate-related decline. New research published this week warns that global warming may have severe consequences for the silversword in its native habitat.

Known for its striking rosette, the silversword grows for 20-90 years before the single reproductive event at the end of its life, at which time it produces a large (up to six feet tall) inflorescence with as many as 600 flower heads. The plant was in jeopardy in the early 1900s due to animals eating the plants and visitors gathering them. With successful management, including legal protection and the physical exclusion of hoofed animals, the species made a strong recovery, but since the mid-1990s it has entered a period of substantial decline. A strong association of annual population growth rates with patterns of precipitation suggests the plants are undergoing increasingly frequent and lethal water stress. Local climate data confirm trends towards warmer and drier conditions on the mountain, which the researchers warn will create a bleak outlook for the threatened silverswords if climate trends continue. (more…)

Not-So-Permanent Permafrost

By Guest PostOctober 26, 2012Environmentalaska, arctic permafrost, atmosphere, carbon, chemical cycles, climate change, climate prediction, climate warming, director, earth, ecosystems, Environment, fairbanks, frozen ground, gelisols, geological survey, jennifer harden, lakes, marcia mcnutt, mikhail kanevsiy, model, nitrogen, organic matter, peaty, rivers, scenarios, scientist, soil scientist, university, US, usgs, warmer planet, warming phenomenon, water resources

MENLO PARK, Calif. — As much as 44 billion tons of nitrogen and 850 billion tons of carbon stored in arctic permafrost, or frozen ground, could be released into the environment as the region begins to thaw over the next century as a result of a warmer planet according to a new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey. This nitrogen and carbon are likely to impact ecosystems, the atmosphere, and water resources including rivers and lakes. For context, this is roughly the amount of carbon stored in the atmosphere today.

The release of carbon and nitrogen in permafrost could exacerbate the warming phenomenon and will impact water systems on land and offshore according to USGS scientists and their domestic and international collaborators. The previously unpublished nitrogen figure is useful for scientists who are making climate predictions with computer climate models, while the carbon estimate is consistent and gives more credence to other scientific studies with similar carbon estimates. (more…)

Science Working to Combat Deadly White Nose Syndrome in Bats

By Guest PostOctober 24, 2012Naturebat disease, bat hibernation, canadian provinces, cave, deadly, delicate ecology, diversity, ecohealth alliance, Environment, fungal ecology, fungus, fws, geological survey, geomyces destructans, growth rate, hibernation, humidity variation, marcia mcnutt, microclimate, mine, mycologia, new york, pasteurs quadrant, physiology, syndrome, temperature, underground ecosystem, US, white nose, wildlife disease, wns

New findings on white-nose syndrome are bringing scientists closer to slowing the spread of this deadly bat disease, according to recent and ongoing studies by the U.S. Geological Survey.

WNS has killed more than 5 million bats since it first appeared in New York in 2007, and the disease, caused by the fungus Geomyces destructans, has spread to 19 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces (view map). (more…)

USGS Releases First Assessment of Shale Gas Resources in the Utica Shale: 38 trillion cubic feet

By Guest PostOctober 7, 2012Environmentappalachian basin, barrel, brenda pierce, conventional oil, domestic, first assessment, gas liquid, geological survey, greater, green, hydrocarbon, marcellus shale, maryland, methodology, natural gas, new york, ohio, Pennsylvania, petroleum basin, protocol, recoverable oil, river basin, rock formation, source rock, southwestern wyoming, tcf, unconventional oil, united states, upper ordovician, US, usgs, utica shale, virginia, west virginia

The Utica Shale contains about 38 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas (at the mean estimate) according to the first assessment of this continuous (unconventional) natural gas accumulation by the U. S. Geological Survey. The Utica Shale has a mean of 940 million barrels of unconventional oil resources and a mean of 208 million barrels of unconventional natural gas liquids.

The Utica Shale lies beneath the Marcellus Shale, and both are part of the Appalachian Basin, which is the longest-producing petroleum province in the United States. The Marcellus Shale, at 84 TCF of natural gas, is the largest unconventional gas basin USGS has assessed. This is followed closely by the Greater Green River Basin in southwestern Wyoming, which has 84 TCF of undiscovered natural gas, of which 82 TCF is continuous (tight gas). (more…)

Climate Change to Cripple Southwestern Forests

By Guest PostOctober 1, 2012Environmentancient, arizona, atmospheric evaporative, chandana gangodagamage, climate change, climate data, climate record, climate scenario, climate trend, climatological variable, colorado, computer model, craig allen, cultural center, daniel griffin, distribution, drought tolerant, fire, forest, forest drought, future, geological survey, greenhouse gas, growth record, las conchas, marcia mcnutt, megadrought, mesa verde, michael cai, nate mcdowell, new mexico, park williams, pinon pines, prediction, projection, pueblo indians, puebloan, regional climate, regional ecosystem, scientist, southwestern, southwestern forest, species, stress index, thomas swetnam, tree killing, tree mortality, tree ring, trees, united states, university, US, usgs, wildfire, winter precipitation

Trees Face Rising Drought Stress and Mortality as Climate Warms

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — Combine the tree-ring growth record with historical information, climate records, and computer-model projections of future climate trends, and you get a grim picture for the future of trees in the southwestern United States. That’s the word from a team of scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory, the U.S. Geological Survey, University of Arizona, and other partner organizations.

The research, published in Nature Climate Change this week, concluded that if the Southwest is warmer and drier in the near future, widespread tree mortality likely will cause substantial changes in forest and species distributions. (more…)

Increase in Metal Concentrations in Rocky Mountain Watershed Tied to Warming Temperatures

By Guest PostSeptember 10, 2012Environmentacid rock drainage, acidity, air temperature, andrew manning, andrew todd, ard, bedrock, biologist, caitlin crouch, calcium concentration, chemical reaction, colorado, colorado boulder, continental divide, diane mcknight, ecological concern, geological survey, hypothesis, keystone, metal concentration, mineral weathering, mineralized, pennsylvania mine, permafrost, peru creek, philip verplanck, pyrite, pyrite weathering, rate, remediation effort, rocky mountain, snake river, stream, stream ecosystem, sulfide mineral, sulfuric acid, tributary, united states, university, US, usgs, water table, watershed, zinc

Warmer air temperatures since the 1980s may explain significant increases in zinc and other metal concentrations of ecological concern in a Rocky Mountain watershed, reports a new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Colorado Boulder.

Rising concentrations of zinc and other metals in the upper Snake River just west of the Continental Divide near Keystone, Colo., may be the result of falling water tables, melting permafrost and accelerating mineral weathering rates, all driven by warmer air temperatures in the watershed. Researchers observed a fourfold increase in dissolved zinc over the last 30 years during the month of September. (more…)

Finding Faults

By Guest PostSeptember 2, 2012Environment, Sciencecalvert formation, delaware, dgs, earthquake, eocene, evidence, fault surface, fault zone, finding faults, geologic record, geological survey, grooves and steps, magnitude, miocene, new castle, northern delaware, occurrence, parallel grooves, past earthquake, piney point formation, scott andres, sediment sample, slickensides, smyrna, university of delaware, virginia, well drilling, wildlife area, woodland beach

Delaware Geological Survey discovers evidence of past earthquakes

Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) scientists have uncovered hard proof of faults in northern Delaware, indicating the occurrence of earthquakes millions of years ago.

The geologic evidence turned up in sediment samples removed during a well-drilling project this summer from depths ranging 137 to 251 feet down in Smyrna and the Woodland Beach Wildlife Area.

“People have postulated that there are faults in this area,” DGS Senior Scientist Scott Andres said. “Now we have evidence of it.” (more…)