Juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) migrating through California's Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta toward the Pacific Ocean face numerous challenges to their survival. The Yolo Bypass is a broad floodplain of the Sacramento River that floods in about 70 percent of years in response to large, uncontrolled runoff events. As one of the routes juvenile salmon may utilize, the Yolo Bypass has recently received attention for having potential benefit to rearing and migrating salmon. Consideration is being given to a plan to build a cut or “notch” in the Fremont Weir to increase juvenile salmon access to the Yolo Bypass. To help provide information about the potential benefit of such a plan, we analyzed data from a telemetry study conducted in February and March 2016 by the U.S. Geological Survey and California Department of Water Resources to estimate entrainment into and distribution of juvenile Chinook salmon within the Yolo Bypass, and to compare survival and travel time through the Yolo Bypass to other routes in the Delta. We also estimated juvenile Chinook salmon survival through three short reaches of the Sacramento River where the proposed California WaterFix North Delta Diversion intakes would divert water to export facilities to provide baseline information against which any effects of those intakes could be measured in the future.
We found that entrainment into the Yolo Bypass varied widely and was quite high only at the peak of the March 2016 flood. Spatial distribution of juvenile Chinook salmon within the Yolo Bypass was fairly even for fish entering the Yolo Bypass over the Fremont Weir, but increasingly skewed toward the east bank for fish released within the Yolo Bypass. Survival within Yolo Bypass was not significantly different for fish based on spatial distribution. Survival through the Delta for fish migrating through the Yolo Bypass was generally on par with the weighted survival through the Delta of fish migrating through all other routes. Survival was highest for fish remaining in the Sacramento River and lowest for those entrained into the Interior Delta via Georgiana Slough. Survival through the short section of the Sacramento River near the proposed North Delta Diversion intakes was high.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181118","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the California Department of Water Resources","usgsCitation":"Pope, A.C., Perry, R.W., Hance, D.J., and Hansel, H.C., 2018, Survival, travel time, and utilization of Yolo Bypass, California, by outmigrating acoustic-tagged late-fall Chinook salmon: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018-1118, 33 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181118.","productDescription":"vi, 33 p.","numberOfPages":"44","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-097769","costCenters":[{"id":654,"text":"Western Fisheries Research Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":355940,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1118/ofr20181118.pdf","text":"Report","size":"3.2 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1118"},{"id":355939,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1118/coverthb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"California","otherGeospatial":"Yolo Bypass","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -122,\n 38\n ],\n [\n -121.4,\n 38\n ],\n [\n -121.4,\n 38.8\n ],\n [\n -122,\n 38.8\n ],\n [\n -122,\n 38\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director, Western Fisheries Research Center
U.S. Geological Survey
6505 NE 65th Street
Seattle, Washington 98115
The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology), working with the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project Workgroup (composed of representatives of the Yakama Nation; Federal, State, county, and city governments; environmental organizations; and irrigation districts), developed the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan (Integrated Plan). The Integrated Plan identifies a comprehensive approach to water resources and ecosystem restoration improvements in the Yakima Basin to be implemented over a 30-year period. The Integrated Plan includes seven elements:
The first listed element, reservoir fish passage, will be expensive and take many years to accomplish. Reclamation and Ecology decided to look at new and innovative means to provide passage that could help reduce project cost and construction timing while maintaining survival rates of traditional upstream passage facilities. Reclamation contracted with the U.S. Geological Survey to do a study to evaluate the outcome of passage through one innovative fish-passage system at Cle Elum Dam, the first Integrated Plan reservoir fish-passage project being implemented.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181116","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Yakama Nation, Bureau of Reclamation, and Washington State Department of Ecology","usgsCitation":"Kock, T.J., Evans, S.D., Hansen, A.C., Perry, R.W., Hansel, H.C., Haner, P.V., and Tomka, R.G., 2018, Evaluation of sockeye salmon after passage through an innovative upstream fish-passage system at Cle Elum Dam, Washington, 2017: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018-1116, 30 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181116.","productDescription":"vi, 30 p.","numberOfPages":"40","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-096396","costCenters":[{"id":654,"text":"Western Fisheries Research Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":355935,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1116/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":355936,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1116/ofr20181116.pdf","text":"Report","size":"5.3 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1116"}],"country":"United States","state":"Washington","otherGeospatial":"Cle Elum Dam","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -121.13800048828125,\n 46.71256084516054\n ],\n [\n -120.42663574218749,\n 46.71256084516054\n ],\n [\n -120.42663574218749,\n 47.352780247239586\n ],\n [\n -121.13800048828125,\n 47.352780247239586\n ],\n [\n -121.13800048828125,\n 46.71256084516054\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director, Western Fisheries Research Center
U.S. Geological Survey
6505 NE 65th Street
Seattle, Washington 98115
The giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) is a semi-aquatic species of snake precinctive to the Central Valley of California. Because the Central Valley has experienced a substantial loss of wetland habitat, giant gartersnake populations are largely found in aquatic habitats associated with rice agriculture. In dry years, less water may be available for rice agriculture, resulting in less aquatic habitat, which could have cascading effects on giant gartersnake populations. We present 2 years of data intended to examine how the demography of giant gartersnakes is affected by the availability of aquatic habitat on the landscape (2016–17), along with 2 years of (sparse) preliminary data (2014–15) collected as part of an earlier radio-telemetry study on giant gartersnake movement behavior. We sampled agricultural canals near rice fields for giant gartersnakes at 8 sites distributed throughout the Sacramento Valley. Five sites were sampled from 2014–17, and 3 sites were sampled from 2015–17. In total, we made 2,995 captures of 1,011 snakes from 2014–17. We used these capture data to fit a multi-site Jolly-Seber model to estimate the abundance of giant gartersnakes as well as the daily and annual probability of capture at each site. We used remotely sensed Landsat data to characterize the extent of flooded rice fields surrounding each site in each year. In addition, we collected 175 females from 2014–17 and delivered them to the Sacramento Zoo for health assessments and reproductive exams.
The abundance of giant gartersnakes varied among sites, and abundance estimates were more precise in 2016 and 2017 when sampling effort was greatest. The probability of a giant gartersnake being captured at least once in a year was higher in 2016 and 2017 than 2014 and 2015, and recaptures of snakes marked the previous year were highest in 2016 and 2017 as well. Mean annual apparent survival was estimated to be 0.40 but varied among sites from a low of 0.14 to a high of 0.63. Five sites had diverse size distributions that included abundant sub-adult and large adult female snakes. One site had a truncated size distribution with few large adult female snakes, and 2 sites had mostly large adult-sized snakes and few small individuals. Both the probability a female was gravid and a female’s litter size were positively related to the female’s snout-vent length. Somatic growth rates varied more among years than among sites, and females grew faster (in millimeters per day) than male snakes.
The proportion of the landscape around each site under active rice cultivation fluctuated over time (generally between 60–90 percent of the landscape was active rice growing, although this proportion was lower for some sites in some years), and variation in rice growing was asynchronous among sites. This study demonstrates that intensive demographic sampling enables estimation of several key demographic variables at each study site. Continued sampling would allow for investigating potential relationships between the amount of rice growing at a site and demographic parameters such as growth, survival, and reproduction.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181114","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the California Department of Water Resources","usgsCitation":"Rose, J.P., Ersan, J.S.M., Reyes, G.A., Gustafson, K.B., Fulton, A.M., Fouts, K.J., Wack, R.F., Wylie, G.D., Casazza, M.L., and Halstead, B.J., 2018, Findings from a preliminary investigation of the effects of aquatic habitat (water) availability on giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) demography in the Sacramento Valley, California, 2014–17: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1114, 48 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181114.","productDescription":"vi, 48 p.","numberOfPages":"58","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-097068","costCenters":[{"id":651,"text":"Western Ecological Research Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":355890,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1114/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":355891,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1114/ofr20181114.pdf","text":"Report","size":"5 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1114"}],"country":"United States","state":"California","otherGeospatial":"Sacramento Valley","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -122.33,\n 38.8333\n ],\n [\n -121.5833,\n 38.8333\n ],\n [\n -121.5833,\n 39.6667\n ],\n [\n -122.33,\n 39.6667\n ],\n [\n -122.33,\n 38.8333\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director,
Western Ecological Research Center
U.S. Geological Survey
3020 State University Drive East
Sacramento, California 95819
Streams within the Coeur d’Alene River drainage basin in northern Idaho have been extensively affected by historical mining activities and are subject to ongoing remedial actions as part of the Bunker Hill Mining & Metallurgical Complex Superfund Site. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) operates 12 real-time streamgages and collects surface-water-quality samples two to four times annually at 20 sites in the Spokane River and Coeur d’Alene River drainage basins. These data are used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to monitor cleanup progress and to support decisions related to implementing remedial actions throughout the basin. USGS data collection highlights from water year 2017 include: • A rain-on-snow event in March 2017 produced high streamflows and flooding in the basin. • The March event mobilized high concentrations of total metals (cadmium, lead, zinc, and others) in the Coeur d’Alene River near Cataldo, at Rose Lake, and near Harrison; these concentrations were among the highest that have been measured at these sites during flood events sampled by the USGS. • Total lead and dissolved zinc and cadmium concentrations decreased in Canyon Creek in 2017 when compared with water years 2007–16; in contrast, concentrations of dissolved zi
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181113","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency","usgsCitation":"Zinsser, L.M., 2018, Coeur d’Alene Basin Environmental Monitoring Program, surface water, northern Idaho—Annual data summary, water year 2017: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018-1113, 15 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181113.","productDescription":"iv, 15 p.","numberOfPages":"24","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-098458","costCenters":[{"id":343,"text":"Idaho Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":355896,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1113/ofr20181113.pdf","text":"Report","size":"5.7 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1113"},{"id":355895,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1113/coverthb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"Idaho","otherGeospatial":"Coeur d’Alene Basin","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -117,\n 47.25\n ],\n [\n -115.5,\n 47.25\n ],\n [\n -115.5,\n 47.75\n ],\n [\n -117,\n 47.75\n ],\n [\n -117,\n 47.25\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director, Idaho Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
230 Collins Road
Boise, Idaho 83702
As the Nation’s principal earth-science information agency, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is depended upon to collect accurate data and produce factual and impartial interpretive reports. Methods for data collection and analysis that were developed by the USGS have become standard techniques used by numerous Federal, State, and local agencies and by private enterprises. The USGS has implemented a program designed to ensure that all scientific work done by or for USGS Water Science Centers is done in accordance with a quality-assurance plan. The implementation of a groundwater quality-assurance plan will enhance groundwater data collected by the USGS. This report is a quality-assurance plan for groundwater activities conducted by the USGS Dakota Water Science Center and is meant to complement qualityassurance plans for surface-water and water-quality activities and similar plans for the Dakota Water Science Center and general project activities throughout the USGS.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181103","usgsCitation":"Valder, J.F., Carter, J.M., Robinson, S.M., Laveau, C.D., and Petersen, J.A., 2018, Quality-assurance plan for groundwater activities, U.S. Geological Survey Dakota Water Science Center: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1103, 28 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181103.","productDescription":"v, 28 p.","numberOfPages":"38","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-097126","costCenters":[{"id":34685,"text":"Dakota Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":355869,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1103/ofr20181103.pdf","text":"Report","size":"1.11 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018–1103"},{"id":355868,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1103/coverthb.jpg"}],"contact":"Director, Dakota Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
1608 Mountain View Road
Rapid City, SD 57702
Trace-metal concentrations in sediment and in the clam Macoma petalum (formerly reported as Macoma balthica), clam reproductive activity, and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure were investigated in a mudflat 1 kilometer south of the discharge of the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (PARWQCP) in south San Francisco Bay, Calif. This report includes the data collected by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists for the period January 2017 to December 2017. These append to long-term datasets extending back to 1974. A major focus of the report is an integrated description of the 2017 data within the context of the longer, multi-decadal dataset. This dataset supports the City of Palo Alto’s Near-Field Receiving Water Monitoring Program, initiated in 1994.
Significant reductions in silver and copper concentrations in sediment and M. petalum occurred at the site in the 1980s following the implementation by PARWQCP of advanced wastewater treatment and source control measures. Since the 1990s, concentrations of these elements appear to have stabilized at concentrations somewhat above silver (Ag) or near copper (Cu) regional background concentrations. Data for other metals, including chromium (Cr), mercury (Hg), nickel (Ni), selenium (Se), and zinc (Zn), have been collected since 1994. Over this period, concentrations of these elements have remained relatively constant, aside from seasonal variation that is common to all elements. In 2017, concentrations of silver and copper in M. petalum varied seasonally in response to a combination of site-specific metal exposures and annual growth and reproduction, as reported previously. Seasonal patterns for other elements, including Cr, Ni, Zn, Hg, and Se, were generally similar in timing and magnitude as those for Ag and Cu. This record suggests that legacy contamination and regional-scale factors now largely control sedimentary and bioavailable concentrations of silver and copper, as well as other elements of regulatory interest, at the Palo Alto site.
Analyses of the benthic community structure of a mudflat in south San Francisco Bay over a 40-year period show that changes in the community have occurred concurrent with reduced concentrations of metals in the sediment and in the tissues of the biosentinel clam, M. petalum, from the same area. Analysis of M. petalum shows increases in reproductive activity concurrent with the decline in metal concentrations in the tissues of this organism. Reproductive activity is presently stable (2017), with almost all animals initiating reproduction in the fall and spawning the following spring. The entire infaunal community has shifted from being dominated by several opportunistic species to a community where the species are more similar in abundance, a pattern that indicates a more stable community that is subjected to fewer stressors. In addition, two of the opportunistic species (Ampelisca abdita and Streblospio benedicti) that brood their young and live on the surface of the sediment in tubes have shown a continual decline in dominance coincident with the decline in metals; both species had short-lived rebounds in abundance in 2008, 2009, and 2010 and showed signs of increasing abundance in 2017. Heteromastus filiformis (a subsurface polychaete worm that lives in the sediment, consumes sediment and organic particles residing in the sediment, and reproduces by laying its eggs on or in the sediment) showed a concurrent increase in dominance and, in the last several years before 2008, showed a stable population. H. filiformis abundance increased slightly in 2011–2012 and returned to pre-2011 numbers in 2017. An unidentified disturbance occurred on the mudflat in early 2008 that resulted in the loss of the benthic animals, except for deep-dwelling animals like M. petalum. However, within two months of this event animals returned to the mudflat. The resilience of the community suggested that the disturbance was not due to a persistent toxin or anoxia. The reproductive mode of most species that were present in 2017 is reflective of species that were available either as pelagic larvae or as mobile adults. Although oviparous species were lower in number in this group, the authors hypothesize that these species will return slowly as more species move back into the area. The use of functional ecology was highlighted in the 2017 benthic community data, which showed that the animals that have now returned to the mudflat are those that can respond successfully to a physical, nontoxic disturbance. Today, community data show a mix of species that consume the sediment, or filter feed, have pelagic larvae that must survive landing on the sediment, and those that brood their young. USGS scientists view the 2008 disturbance event as a response by the infaunal community to an episodic natural stressor (possibly sediment accretion or a pulse of freshwater), in contrast to the long-term recovery from metal contamination. We will compare this recovery to the long-term recovery observed after the 1970s when the decline in sediment pollutants was the dominating factor.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181107","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the City of Palo Alto, California","usgsCitation":"Cain, D.J., Thompson, J.K., Parchaso, F., Pearson, S., Stewart, R., Turner, M., Barasch, D., Slabic, A., and Luoma, S.N., 2018, Near-field receiving-water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in south San Francisco Bay, California—2017: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1107, 71 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181107.","productDescription":"vi, 71 p.","numberOfPages":"79","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-098497","costCenters":[{"id":37277,"text":"WMA - Earth System Processes Division","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":416196,"rank":7,"type":{"id":22,"text":"Related Work"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20231017","text":"Open-File Report 2023-1017","linkHelpText":"- Near-Field Receiving-Water Monitoring of Trace Metals and a Benthic Community Near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco Bay, California—2020"},{"id":416195,"rank":6,"type":{"id":22,"text":"Related Work"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20211079","text":"Open-File Report 2021-1079","linkHelpText":"- Near-Field Receiving-Water Monitoring of Trace Metals and a Benthic Community Near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco Bay, California—2019"},{"id":416197,"rank":5,"type":{"id":22,"text":"Related Work"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20191084","text":"Open-File Report 2019-1084","linkHelpText":"- Near-Field Receiving-Water Monitoring of Trace Metals and a Benthic Community Near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco Bay, California—2018"},{"id":416194,"rank":4,"type":{"id":22,"text":"Related Work"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171135","text":"Open-File Report 2017-1135","linkHelpText":"- Near-field receiving water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in south San Francisco Bay, California; 2016"},{"id":416193,"rank":3,"type":{"id":22,"text":"Related Work"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20161118","text":"Open-File Report 2016-1118","linkHelpText":"- Near-field receiving water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in south San Francisco Bay, California; 2015"},{"id":355780,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1107/ofr20181107_.pdf","text":"Report","size":"3.6 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1107"},{"id":355779,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1107/coverthb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"California","city":"Palo Alto","otherGeospatial":"San Francisco Bay","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -122.27371215820312,\n 37.315567502511044\n ],\n [\n -121.827392578125,\n 37.315567502511044\n ],\n [\n -121.827392578125,\n 37.655557695625056\n ],\n [\n -122.27371215820312,\n 37.655557695625056\n ],\n [\n -122.27371215820312,\n 37.315567502511044\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Hydro-Eco Interactions Branch
U.S. Geological Survey
345 Middlefield Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025
National Research Program
U.S. Geological Survey
345 Middlefield Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025
As part of a long-term cooperative program to monitor water quality within the Scituate Reservoir watershed, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Providence Water Supply Board collected streamflow and water-quality data at the Scituate Reservoir and tributaries. Streamflow and concentrations of chloride and sodium estimated from records of specific conductance were used to calculate loads of chloride and sodium during water year (WY) 2016 (October 1, 2015, through September 30, 2016) for tributaries to the Scituate Reservoir, Rhode Island. Streamflow was measured or estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey following standard methods at 23 streamgages; 14 of these streamgages are equipped with instrumentation capable of continuously monitoring water level, specific conductance, and water temperature. Water-quality samples were collected by the Providence Water Supply Board at 34 sampling stations that also include 14 continuous-record streamgages maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey during WY 2016 as part of a long-term sampling program; all stations are in the Scituate Reservoir drainage area. Water-quality data collected by the Providence Water Supply Board are summarized by using values of central tendency and are used, in combination with measured (or estimated) streamflows, to calculate loads and yields (loads per unit area) of selected water-quality constituents for WY 2016.
The largest tributary to the reservoir, the Ponaganset River, which was monitored by the U.S. Geological Survey, contributed a mean streamflow of 18 cubic feet per second to the reservoir during WY 2016. For the same period, annual mean streamflows measured (or estimated) for the other monitoring stations in this study ranged from about 0.27 to about 12 cubic feet per second. Together, tributaries equipped with instrumentation capable of continuously monitoring specific conductance transported about 2,100,000 kilograms of chloride and 1,300,000 kilograms of sodium to the Scituate Reservoir during WY 2016; chloride and sodium yields for the tributaries ranged from 14,000 to 95,000 kilograms per square mile and from 8,600 to 56,000 kilograms per square mile, respectively.
At the stations where water-quality samples were collected by the Providence Water Supply Board, the medians of the median concentrations were 27.9 milligrams per liter for chloride, 0.002 milligram per liter as nitrogen for nitrite, 0.13 milligrams per liter as nitrogen for nitrate, 0.07 milligram per liter as phosphate for orthophosphate, and 700 and 10 colony forming units per 100 milliliters for total coliform bacteria and Escherichia coli (E. coli), respectively. The medians of the median daily loads of chloride, nitrite nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, orthophosphate, and total coliform and E. coli bacteria were 170 kilograms per day, 8.9 grams per day, 570 grams per day, 320 grams per day, 41,000 million colony forming units per day, and 680 million colony forming units per day. The medians of the median yields of chloride, nitrite nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, orthophosphate, total coliform, and E. coli bacteria were 53 kilograms per day per square mile, 4.7 grams per day per square mile, 130 grams per day per square mile, 165 grams per day per square mile, 23,000 million colony forming units per day per square mile, and 340 million colony forming units per day per square mile, respectively.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181084","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Providence Water Supply Board ","usgsCitation":"Smith, K.P., 2018, Streamflow, water quality, and constituent loads and yields, Scituate Reservoir drainage area, Rhode Island, water year 2016: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1084, 23 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181084.","productDescription":"v, 32 p.","numberOfPages":"42","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-088041","costCenters":[{"id":466,"text":"New England Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":355643,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1084/ofr201810841.pdf","text":"Report","size":"3.90 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1084"},{"id":355642,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1084/coverthb22.jpg"},{"id":355644,"rank":3,"type":{"id":30,"text":"Data Release"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.5066/F7Z60NC5","text":"USGS data release","description":"USGS data release","linkHelpText":"Water quality data from the Providence Water Supply Board for tributary streams to the Scituate Reservoir, water year 2016"}],"country":"United States","state":"Rhode Island","otherGeospatial":"Scituate Reservoir Drainage Area","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -71.79290771484375,\n 41.73237975329554\n ],\n [\n -71.54296874999999,\n 41.73237975329554\n ],\n [\n -71.54296874999999,\n 41.97786911170172\n ],\n [\n -71.79290771484375,\n 41.97786911170172\n ],\n [\n -71.79290771484375,\n 41.73237975329554\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director, New England Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
10 Bearfoot Road
Northborough, MA 01532
Since 2002, the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Samples Repository has been supporting research by providing secure storage for geological, biological, and geochemical samples; maintaining organization and an active inventory of these sample collections; and providing researchers access to these scientific collections for study and reuse.
Over the years, local storage facilities have changed and new collections management strategies have been adapted as sample collections have grown and as research programs and focuses have shifted. The commitment of the Samples Repository to preserve and provide physical samples for future research, however, has remained the same. This report documents the collections management plan developed and implemented by the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Samples Repository to manage its scientific collections.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181100","usgsCitation":"Buczkowski, B.J., 2018, Collections management plan for the U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Samples Repository: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1100, 12 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181100. [Supersedes USGS Open-File Report 2006–1187.]","productDescription":"Report: vii, 12 p.; Data Release; Project Site","numberOfPages":"24","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-088603","costCenters":[{"id":678,"text":"Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":355640,"rank":4,"type":{"id":18,"text":"Project Site"},"url":"https://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/samprepo/","linkHelpText":"- U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Samples Repository"},{"id":355639,"rank":3,"type":{"id":30,"text":"Data Release"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.5066/F7319TT0","text":"USGS data release","description":"USGS data release","linkHelpText":"Collections inventory for the U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Samples Repository"},{"id":355604,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1100/ofr20181100.pdf","text":"Report","size":"3.70 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1100"},{"id":355603,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1100/coverthb2.jpg"}],"contact":"Director, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
384 Woods Hole Road
Quissett Campus
Woods Hole, MA 02543
Bathymetric and topobathymetric light detection and ranging (lidar) digital elevation models created for the Delaware River were provided to the National Geospatial Program and used to evaluate synthetic flowpath extraction from bathymetric/topobathymetric lidar survey data as a data source for improving the density, distribution, and connectivity of the National Hydrography Dataset High Resolution Flowline Network. As the surface-water component of The National Map, the National Hydrography Dataset maintains the Nation’s drainage network flow information and geometries for surface-water features used in hydrologic, hydraulic, and other science and engineering disciplines. The regional lidar survey for the Delaware River between Hancock, New York, and Trenton, New Jersey, was collected for the U.S. Geological Survey using the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar sensor system and processed by the Coastal National Elevation Database Applications Program.
Using 1 percent of the maximum flow accumulation value for the surveyed Delaware River corridor as the flow accumulation threshold for grid cells at 1-, 5-, and 10-meter resolution created 223 to 283 kilometers of synthetic flowpaths potentially representing the river channel thalweg, which is the deepest point in a riverbed cross-section. There was potential for improving the High Resolution National Hydrography Dataset (HR NHD) Flowline network in places where the Delaware River channel, depicted as an Artificial Path in the HR NHD, is offset from the extracted synthetic river flowpath which sometimes appeared better positioned than the Artificial Path to represent the river thalweg. For the same area, using 0.05 percent of the maximum flow accumulation at the 1-, 5-, and 10-meter resolutions extracted 744 to 1,317 kilometers of synthetic flowpaths, with extracted synthetic flowpaths representing the main river channel and additional synthetic flowpaths representing tributaries or streams adjacent to the main channel. Overlaying these results with the HR NHDFlowline Network indicates that some of the additional synthetic flowpaths are connected to or extend HR NHD stream/river feature types. Some disconnected or isolated synthetic flowpaths not included in stream/river feature types were validated in orthoimagery and U.S. Topo Maps and provide examples of how extracted synthetic flowpaths could be used to delineate new stream/river features. Other additional extracted synthetic flowpaths depict linear features such as canals, tree lines, roads, or linear topographic depressions.
For some river reaches where obstructions to flow or where low-relief topographic or bathymetric surfaces alter the flow direction, the software tool used to develop the flow direction grid did not calculate a primary flowpath for the river channel. Based on the results of this analysis, site conditions for the Delaware River corridor did not affect the quality of lidar bathymetric survey data. However, depending on the resolution of the lidar bathymetric digital elevation models (BDEMs), site conditions do have different effects on results for extracted synthetic flowpaths. We found that synthetic flowpaths extracted from 1-meter resolution lidar DEMs had more varied flow directions around in-channel landforms that obstructed flow than synthetic flowpaths extracted from 5- or 10-meter resolution lidar DEMs. As a result the 1-meter resolution DEM created some isolated or discontinuous synthetic flowpath segments where the 5- and 10-meter DEMs developed more continuous flowpaths. In this case the river bed upstream from the in-channel obstruction is shallower than the river bed downstream. Under these conditions the 1-meter resolution DEM provided synthetic flowpaths delineating a potential river thalweg. In this same area, the software solution modified (virtually raised) the river bed in the 5- and 10-meter resolution DEMs and flattened the bathymetric surface to create a continuous downstream flow direction, which caused trellis-patterned synthetic flowpaths to form. Under different site conditions and converse to the above development of synthetic flowpaths at different resolutions, at an abandoned river flood plain (terrace) with low relief that is adjacent to the river channel, the flow direction grid for the 1-meter resolution DEM developed continuous synthetic flowpath corresponding to a HR NHD Flowline network stream/river feature that connected to the main river channel but the larger resolution DEMs created isolated or disconnected synthetic flowpaths.
A project to continue an evaluation of benefits of or issues caused by extracting synthetic flowpaths to enhance the HR NHD could include a study to assess the potential for merging surface-water flowpaths extracted from lidar topobathymetry and 3D Elevation Program digital elevation models. The merged DEM approach to synthetic flowpath extraction could extend the HR NHDFlowline network and enhance flow accumulations that might develop better flow direction grids in low-relief areas. Because of the confined lateral extent of the Delaware River, the lidar DEMs were not used to create catchments or watersheds; however, the merged DEM approach could also be tested as a resource for enhancing HR NHD catchments and watersheds.
This lidar DEM synthetic flowpath extraction project supports the National Geospatial Program efforts to collect and produce high-quality lidar data to provide 3-dimensional representations of natural feature and aligns with the National Spatial Data Infrastructure to improve utilization of geospatial data. The results also can be useful for understanding strategies that can help maintain quality data in the HR NHD programs.
KEYWORDS: bathymetric, digital elevation model, extracted synthetic flowpath, lidar, High Resolution National Hydrography Dataset, topobathymetric
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181058","usgsCitation":"Miller-Corbett, C., 2018, A comparison of synthetic flowpaths derived from light detection and ranging topobathymetric data and National Hydrography Dataset high resolution flowlines: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1058, 29 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181058.","productDescription":"vii, 29 p.","numberOfPages":"42","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-079961","costCenters":[{"id":404,"text":"NGTOC Rolla","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":355596,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1058/ofr20181058.pdf","text":"Report","size":"4.32 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018–1058"},{"id":355595,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1058/coverthb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"New Jersey","city":"Hancock Narrows, Middle River, Trenton","otherGeospatial":"Delaware River","contact":"Director, National Geospatial Technical Operations Center
U.S. Geological Survey
1400 Independence Road
Rolla, MO 65401
The Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy (CWRMS) provides an overview of the water-quality and ecological monitoring within the Reserve and presents suggestions from stakeholders for future data collection, data management, and coordination among monitoring programs. The South Shore Estuary Reserve, hereafter referred to as the Reserve, is a 173-square-mile network of bays and tributaries shaped by the south shore of Long Island (New York) and the barrier islands that was formed as a result of the last ice age (roughly 18,000 years ago). This overview and coordination document is based on information assembled from a series of meetings, a workshop, and individual correspondences with the CWRMS Project Advisory Committee, which was formed in 2015 to help guide the creation of the document, which reflects the current (2017) status of the Reserve and the need for additional data to address its water-quality issues and ecological health and to respond to a changing climate. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the New York State Department of State Office of Planning, Development and Community Infrastructure and the South Shore Estuary Reserve Office, compiled information and recommendations to help stakeholders efficiently evaluate waters currently being monitored and address areas where necessary data are lacking. Water-quality monitoring in the Reserve is ongoing on the Federal, State, and local levels, and coordination among the various programs administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; USGS; Shinnecock Tribal Nation; New York State; Nassau and Suffolk Counties; the Towns of Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Babylon, Islip, Brookhaven, and Southampton; and local universities and nonprofit organizations is necessary to ensure cooperation and efficient use of limited resources. Proper collection and archival of data are critical to the usability of data and methods—a sample of available repositories for monitoring data are provided in this report. Equally important are quality assurances of data and proper techniques of archival such that water and ecological data are collected and analyzed in a consistent manner, regardless of their sources, and that differences in methodologies are identified that might result in discrepancies in the compiled data. Details on monitoring programs, data gaps that are perceived by stakeholders and researchers in the area, and Project Advisory Committee recommendations are provided in this report to promote discussion and coordination. In most cases, resources to fill data gaps are needed, and the use of citizen science volunteers has been shown to help extend programs and provide insight into previously unaddressed areas of concern. This document, in conjunction with the CWRMS website and interactive mapper, is intended to inform the latest iteration of the Comprehensive Management Plan for the Reserve. Moreover, resource managers can use the CWRMS and mapper to identify areas of potential overlap and initiate conversations with stakeholders about addressing needs for additional monitoring of water quality and ecological health in the bays and tributaries of the Reserve.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20171161","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the New York State Department of State Office of Planning, Development and Community Infrastructure and the South Shore Estuary Reserve Office","usgsCitation":"Fisher, S.C., Welk, R.J., and Finkelstein, J.S., 2018, Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1161, 105 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171161.","productDescription":"xi, 105 p.","numberOfPages":"122","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","costCenters":[{"id":474,"text":"New York Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":352790,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1161/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":352791,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2017/1161/ofr20171161.pdf","text":"Report","size":"3.33 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2017-1161"},{"id":355586,"rank":3,"type":{"id":2,"text":"Additional Report Piece"},"url":"https://ny.water.usgs.gov/maps/sser/","linkHelpText":"- South Shore Estuary Reserve Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy mapper"}],"country":"United States","state":"New York","otherGeospatial":"Long Island, South Shore Estuary Reserve","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -74.3939208984375,\n 40.27533480732468\n ],\n [\n -71.47705078125,\n 40.27533480732468\n ],\n [\n -71.47705078125,\n 41.422134246213616\n ],\n [\n -74.3939208984375,\n 41.422134246213616\n ],\n [\n -74.3939208984375,\n 40.27533480732468\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director, New York Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
2045 Route 112, Building 4
Coram, NY 11727
The hydrogeology, groundwater quality, and potential for hydraulic connection between the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer and the Memphis aquifer in the area of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Allen Combined Cycle and Allen Fossil Plants in southwestern Memphis, Tennessee, were evaluated from September through December 2017. The study was designed as a preliminary assessment of the potential for leakage of groundwater from the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer through the underlying upper Claiborne confining unit into the underlying Memphis aquifer at the plants. A short-term aquifer test of four of the five Memphis aquifer production wells installed at the Allen Combined Cycle Plant induced drawdown in water levels in the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, locally. The largest drawdown occurred in the eastern and southeastern parts of the TVA plants area, and generally was coincident with locations where stratigraphic data show increased thickness of and depth to the base of the alluvium and decreased thickness and inferred offset in the base of the confining unit relative to nearby locations. In contrast, stratigraphic data for most other locations at the site indicate shallower depths to the base of the alluvium and more consistent thickness of and depth to the base of the confining unit, which corresponds with areas where less drawdown was observed during the test. Water-quality results for samples from the production wells and from monitoring wells screened in the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer indicate that groundwater with higher dissolved-solids concentrations and tritium from this shallow aquifer has mixed with water in the upper part of the Memphis aquifer at one of the production wells. Results of the study collectively confirm that the Mississippi River Valley alluvial and Memphis aquifers are hydraulically connected near the TVA plants area.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181097","collaboration":"Prepared for the Tennessee Valley Authority in cooperation with the University of Memphis, Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research","usgsCitation":"Carmichael, J.K., Kingsbury, J.A., Larsen, Daniel, and Schoefernacker, Scott, 2018, Preliminary evaluation of the hydrogeology and groundwater quality of the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer and Memphis aquifer at the Tennessee Valley Authority Allen Power Plants, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1097, 66 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181097.","productDescription":"Report: vii, 66 p.; Data Release","numberOfPages":"78","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-095383","costCenters":[{"id":24708,"text":"Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":355577,"rank":3,"type":{"id":30,"text":"Data Release"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.5066/P9LSM5YU","text":"USGS data release","description":"USGS Data Release","linkHelpText":"Water-level models used to estimate drawdown in 32 monitoring wells screened in the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer and 4 observation wells screened in the Memphis aquifer during an aquifer test at the Tennessee Valley Authority Allen power plants, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, October 2017"},{"id":399134,"rank":4,"type":{"id":36,"text":"NGMDB Index Page"},"url":"https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Prodesc/proddesc_107532.htm"},{"id":355576,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1097/ofr20181097.pdf","text":"Report","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018–1097"},{"id":355575,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1097/coverthb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"Tennessee","county":"Shelby County","city":"Memphis","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -90.2208,\n 35.0428\n ],\n [\n -90.1211,\n 35.0428\n ],\n [\n -90.1211,\n 35.1\n ],\n [\n -90.2208,\n 35.1\n ],\n [\n -90.2208,\n 35.0428\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center—Tennessee
U.S. Geological Survey
640 Grassmere Park, Suite 100
Nashville, TN 37211
Condit Dam, at river kilometer 5.3 on the White Salmon River, Washington, was breached in 2011, and removed completely in 2012, providing anadromous salmonids with the opportunity to recolonize habitat blocked for nearly 100 years. Prior to dam removal, a multi-agency workgroup concluded that the preferred salmonid restoration alternative was to allow natural recolonization. Monitoring would assess fish recolonization efficacy, followed by management evaluation 5 years after dam removal. Limited monitoring of salmon and steelhead recolonization has occurred since 2011. The U.S. Geological Survey began juvenile salmonid monitoring in 2016 and did a second year during 2017, with sampling efforts like those of 2016. River conditions differed between the 2 years, both during (that is, high flows in 2017) and prior to (that is, 2015 summer drought conditions and December 2015 White Salmon River flood event) sampling. We operated a rotary screw trap at river kilometer 2.3 (3 kilometers downstream of the former dam site) from early April through early June to assess species diversity, and production of smolt and other migrant life stages. We also used backpack electrofishing during summer to assess juvenile salmonid distribution and abundance. Both sampling methods provided the opportunity to collect genetic samples (analysis of samples was not covered under funding received from the Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group for the 2017 monitoring efforts) and to tag fish with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags, which will provide life-history data through future recaptures and detections.
The screw trap captured steelhead (anadromous rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss), fry, parr, and smolts; coho salmon (O. kisutch) fry, parr, and smolts; and Chinook salmon (O. tshwaytscha) fry, parr, and one smolt. Prolonged high water and some missed trapping periods during 2017 prevented us from generating smolt estimates. Despite difficult trapping conditions, the number of coho salmon fry and parr, and steelhead fry and parr captured in 2017 exceeded those captured during 2016. The number of age-0 Chinook salmon captured in the screw trap during 2017 was much higher (n = 222) than in 2016 (n = 4).
Electrofishing in tributaries provided information on distribution and abundance of juvenile coho salmon and O. mykiss. Juvenile coho salmon were again found in Mill and Buck Creeks and, for the first time, in Rattlesnake Creek (all three creeks are upstream of the former dam site). In both Rattlesnake and Buck Creeks, age-0 O. mykiss abundance decreased between 2016 and 2017; however, age-1 and older O. mykiss and age-0 coho salmon abundance increased between years at both sites. Data on O. mykiss abundance at sites in Buck and Rattlesnake Creeks is providing the opportunity to begin to understand trends and variability post-dam removal and to compare to pre-dam removal periods.
Mean age-0 O. mykiss abundance (fish per meter [fish/m]) at the Rattlesnake Creek site has been slightly lower during post-dam removal (mean = 3.0, n = 2, range = 2.4–3.6) than pre-dam removal (mean = 3.4, n = 5, range = 1.5–5.1). However, the presence of juvenile coho salmon in Rattlesnake Creek during 2017 (0.5 fish/m) brought total age-0 salmonid abundance in 2017 to 2.9 fish/m. Mean age-1 or older O. mykiss abundance (fish/m) at the Rattlesnake Creek site has been lower post-dam removal (mean = 0.2, n = 2, range = 0.1–0.3) than pre-dam removal (mean = 0.5, n = 2, range = 0.3–0.8). Mean age-0 O. mykiss abundance (fish/m) at the Buck Creek site has been higher post-dam removal (mean = 2.1, n = 2, range = 1.2–3.0) than pre-dam removal (mean = 1.8, n = 2, range = 1.6–1.9). The addition of age-0 coho salmon to Buck Creek brings mean age-0 salmonid abundance post-dam removal to 2.7 fish/m (range = 1.9–3.4). Mean age-1 or older O. mykiss abundance (fish/m) in Buck Creek has been slightly higher post-dam removal (mean = 0.8, n = 2, range = 0.6–1.1) than pre-dam removal (mean = 0.6, n = 2, both years 0.6).
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181106","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group","usgsCitation":"Jezorek, I.G., and Hardiman, J.M., 2018, Juvenile salmonid monitoring following removal of Condit Dam in the White Salmon River watershed, Washington, 2017: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018-1106, 31 p. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181106.","productDescription":"vi, 31 p.","numberOfPages":"41","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-094796","costCenters":[{"id":654,"text":"Western Fisheries Research Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":355554,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1106/ofr20181106.pdf","text":"Report","size":"874 KB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1106"},{"id":355553,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1106/coverthb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"Washington","otherGeospatial":"Condit Dam, White Salmon River","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -122.21466064453125,\n 45.64668833372338\n ],\n [\n -121.09680175781249,\n 45.64668833372338\n ],\n [\n -121.09680175781249,\n 46.47191632087041\n ],\n [\n -122.21466064453125,\n 46.47191632087041\n ],\n [\n -122.21466064453125,\n 45.64668833372338\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Director, Western Fisheries Research Center
U.S. Geological Survey
6505 NE 65th Street
Seattle, Washington 98115
Advances in spectroscopic techniques have led to an increase in the use of optical measurements (absorbance and fluorescence) to assess dissolved organic matter composition and infer sources and processing. Although optical measurements are easy to make, they can be affected by many variables rendering them less comparable, including by inconsistencies in sample collection (for example, filter pore size, preservation), the application of corrections for interferences (for example, inner-filtering corrections), differences in holding times, and instrument drift (for example, lamp intensity). A documented, standardized procedure to address these variables ensures that the optical (absorbance and fluorescence) measurements collected by U.S. Geological Survey researchers are useful and widely comparable.
Rigorous and quantifiable quality assurance and quality control are essential for making these data comparable, particularly because there is no published guideline for the measurement of dissolved organic matter absorbance and fluorescence, and especially because there is no National Institute of Standards and Technology standard for dissolved organic matter. Validation and quality-control samples are analyzed on a monthly basis to determine laboratory and instrument precision and daily (that is, each day samples are run) to ensure repeatability. Data are not considered acceptable unless they meet laboratory criteria: All standards should be within 10 percent of the target value, laboratory replicates should be within 5 percent relative percent difference, and laboratory blanks (that is, laboratory reagent-grade water) should be less than one-tenth of the long-term method detection limit.
Finally, for data to be useful, they must be accessible to users in a format that can be easily analyzed and interpreted. The Organic Matter Research Laboratory staff has developed a processing routine that extracts a subset of the data, which is made available to the public through the USGS National Water Quality Information System (http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/qwdata), and organizes the full datasets (that is, complete absorbance spectra and fluorescence excitation-emission matrices) in different forms that allow for these data to be analyzed using multi-parameter and multi-way statistical approaches.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181096","usgsCitation":"Hansen, A.M., Fleck, J.A., Kraus, T.E.C., Downing, B.D., von Dessonneck, T., and Bergamaschi, B.A., 2018, Procedures for using the Horiba Scientific Aqualog® fluorometer to measure absorbance and fluorescence from dissolved organic matter: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1096, 31 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181096.","productDescription":"Report: vi, 31 p.; 3 Appendixes","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-082063","costCenters":[{"id":154,"text":"California Water Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":355505,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1096/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":355506,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1096/ofr2018.1096.pdf","text":"Report","size":"5.1 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1096"},{"id":355509,"rank":5,"type":{"id":3,"text":"Appendix"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1096/ofr20181096_appendix3.xlsx","text":"Appendix 3","size":"12.8 MB","linkFileType":{"id":3,"text":"xlsx"},"description":"OFR 2018-1096 Appendix 3"},{"id":355507,"rank":3,"type":{"id":3,"text":"Appendix"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1096/ofr20181096_appendix1.pdf","text":"Appendix 1","size":"450 KB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1096 Appendix 1"},{"id":355508,"rank":4,"type":{"id":3,"text":"Appendix"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1096/ofr20181096_appendix2.xlsx","text":"Appendix 2","size":"350 KB","linkFileType":{"id":3,"text":"xlsx"},"description":"OFR 2018-1096 Appendix 2"}],"contact":"The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Community for Data Integration (CDI) Workshop was held May 16–19, 2017 at the Denver Federal Center. There were 183 in-person attendees and 35 virtual attendees over four days. The theme of the workshop was “Enabling Integrated Science,” with the purpose of bringing together the community to discuss current topics, shared challenges, and steps forward to advance integrated science at the USGS.
The CDI welcomed several keynote speakers, including Bill Werkheiser, USGS Acting Director; Kevin T. Gallagher, USGS Associate Director of the Core Science Systems Mission Area; Bruce Caron, Earth Science Information Partners Community Architect; and Tim Quinn, Chief of the USGS Office of Enterprise Information. Their presentations focused on the importance of collaborative, cross-disciplinary, and open science and the role of the CDI in identifying and supporting new opportunities in these areas for the USGS and its partners.
In addition to the stated theme, the workshop agenda was driven by the needs of the CDI, with topics highlighting current resources and technologies that could help attendees in their daily work. Topical sessions were proposed by CDI members and included subjects such as data citation, information technology architecture, legacy data, real-time data, and many more. Plenary speakers from the community talked about USGS activities in data science, elevation and hydrography data integration, advanced scientific computing solutions, cloud computing, data-management training, and data-sharing agreements. Two panels addressed the role of the CDI in enabling integrated science and examples of CDI-supported projects in action.
Breakout discussions focused on the workshop theme of “Enabling Integrated Science” and covered five topics: Data and Data Integration, Modeling, Computing Capacity, Science Data Integration, and User Needs and Experience. Sessions on each topic identified actions that could bring the USGS and the broader Earth science community closer to the goal of making integrated science commonplace. The breakouts produced recommendations with the broad themes of improving communication and connections across the USGS, reducing duplication and increasing knowledge transfer, increasing training and testbed opportunities to learn and experiment, and creating community-supported standards to enable better integration and interoperability.
The DataBlast poster and live demonstration session showcased 36 projects from around the CDI and included recent CDI-funded projects as well as other USGS and partner initiatives that were related to data and software integration and discovery.
Importantly, the CDI workshop provided a forum for scientists, technologists, data and resource managers, program managers, and others to convene face to face to discuss common methods, interests, challenges, and solutions related to scientific data and technologies. As a result of this rare convergence, new connections were made across disciplines, backgrounds, and geographical locations, seeding future activities and collaborations. Sharing of ideas from all attendees was encouraged through the use of a mobile application to collect real-time questions and feedback from the audience
The primary outcomes of the workshop are the recommendations from the breakout sessions titled “Roadmap Discussions on Enabling Integrated Science” and from the topical sessions detailed in these proceedings. These sessions, as well as the plenary discussions, identified new areas of collaboration and learning that the CDI will facilitate, such as data science, software development, scientific modeling practices, and user needs and experience. The CDI will build on the results of the workshop to guide its future topics, events, and funding opportunities to support an integrated science capacity for the USGS.
Core Science Analytics, Synthesis, and Library
U.S. Geological Survey
108 National Center
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive,
Reston, VA 20192
National Research Program
U.S. Geological Survey
345 Middlefield Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Potash, with the active ingredient potassium chloride (KCl) is a chemical that is currently being evaluated for potential use as a molluscicide to combat invasive zebra mussels and quagga mussels in Western United States waters. Although data available for other freshwater fishes indicate that recommended treatment levels of potash as a molluscicide are sublethal, this has not been demonstrated for all salmonid species. The objectives of this study were to perform toxicity testing to determine the lethality of potassium chloride against selected species of salmonid fish (brook trout and Chinook salmon) and selected invertebrate forage, and to identify any potential adverse physiological impacts of KCl to these salmonids in water at treatment levels used for mollusk eradication. Minimal mortality (n=1 fish) was observed during 96-hour toxicity testing at KCl concentrations of 0 to 800 milligrams per liter (mg/L), indicating that the lethal concentration (LC50) values in these salmonid species were considerably higher than realistic molluscicide treatment concentrations. Sublethal effects were examined through evaluation of behavioral and morphological (histological) observation as well as specific blood chemistry parameters (electrolytes, osmolality, glucose, and cortisol). There was no strong evidence of significant physiological impairment among the two salmonid species due to KCl exposure. Whereas statistically significant differences in some parameters were observed in association with KCl treatments, it is unlikely that these differences indicate adverse biological impacts. Acute toxicity tests were conducted with invertebrate species at KCl exposure concentrations of 0–3,200 mg/L. Daphniid exposure trials resulted in differences in mortality among the test groups with higher mortality evident among the higher KCl exposure concentrations with a calculated LC50 value of 196 mg/L KCl for a 48-hour exposure. Crayfish exposed to higher concentrations of KCl at or above 800 mg/L as specimens exhibited death or reversible paralysis. Chironomid larvae exposures were largely inconclusive because of cannibalistic behavior among the various test groups.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181080","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service","usgsCitation":"Densmore, C.L., Iwanowicz, L.R., Henderson, A.P., Blazer, V.S., Reed-Grimmett, B.M., and Sanders, L.R., 2018, \nAn evaluation of the toxicity of potassium chloride, active compound in the molluscicide potash, on salmonid fish and their forage base: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1080, 33 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181080.","productDescription":"Report: viii, 33 p.; Data release","numberOfPages":"46","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-092981","costCenters":[{"id":365,"text":"Leetown Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":50464,"text":"Eastern Ecological Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":355322,"rank":3,"type":{"id":30,"text":"Data Release"},"url":"https://doi.org/10.5066/F7HQ3Z5G","text":"USGS data release","description":"USGS data release","linkHelpText":"Toxicity of potassium chloride, active compound in the molluscicide potash, on salmonid fishes and their forage base (Leetown Science Center, 2018)"},{"id":355290,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1080/ofr20181080.pdf","text":"Report","size":"1.67 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1080"},{"id":355289,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1080/coverthb.jpg"}],"contact":"Director, Eastern Ecological Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
11649 Leetown Road
Kearneysville, WV 25430
The Cosumnes River watershed requires a 57–64 percent reduction in loads to meet the new Delta methylmercury (MeHg) total maximum daily load allocation, established by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. Because there are no large point sources of MeHg in the watershed, the focus of MeHg load reductions will fall upon non-point sources, particularly the expansive wetlands considered to be a primary source of MeHg in the region. Few management practices have been implemented and tested in order to meet load reductions in managed wetlands, but recent efforts have shown promise. This project examines a treatment approach to reduce MeHg loads to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by creating open-water deep cells with a small footprint at the downstream end of wetlands to promote net demethylation of MeHg and to minimize MeHg and Hg loads exiting wetlands at the Cosumnes River Preserve. Specifically, the deep cells were were located immediately up gradient of the wetland’s outflow weir and were deep enough (75–91 centimeter depth) to be vegetation-free. The topographic and hydrologic structure of each treatment wetland was modified to include open-water deep cells so that the removal of aqueous MeHg might be enhanced through (1) particle settling, (2) photo-degradation, and (3) benthic microbial demethylation. These deep cells were, therefore, expected to clean MeHg from surface water prior to its discharge to the Cosumnes River and the downstream Delta.
Our goal was to test whether the implementation of the deep cells within wetlands would minimize MeHg and total Hg export. Further, we sought to test whether continuous flow-through hydrology, would lower MeHg concentrations in resident biota, compared to traditional wetland management operations. The dominant practice in seasonal wetlands management is the “fill-and-maintain” approach, in which wetlands are filled with water and the water levels maintained without substantial draining until drawdown. Our approach was to create and characterize replicate treatment wetland complexes, in conjunction with monitoring of hydrologic, biologic, and chemical indicators of MeHg exposure for two full annual cycles within winter-spring flooded seasonal wetlands. In addition to the creation of deep cells within treatment wetlands, hydrology was manipulated so that there was a constant flow-through of water, while the control wetlands utilized the fill-and-maintain approach. Specifically, the treatment wetlands were maintained in a flow-through manner, while the control wetlands were maintained in a fill-and-maintain manner from September through May, to test the hypothesis that the flow of water through the seasonal wetland can lower fish bioaccumulation through dilution of MeHg-concentrated water within the wetland by constant inflows of water into the wetland.
The major tasks of this study included: (1) field design and implementation, (2) water and wetland management, (3) hydrologic monitoring and water quality sampling, (4) MeHg export and load estimates, (5) caged fish experiments for examining MeHg bioaccumulation, (6) site and process characterization to improve understanding and transferability of results, (7) adaptive management, transferability, and outreach, and (8) reporting of results and conclusions. This report summarizes the key findings of this study, which focuses on MeHg load estimates from control and treatment wetlands, quantification of three MeHg removal mechanisms (particulate settling, benthic demethylation, and photo-demethylation) in the deep cells within the treatment wetlands, and MeHg bioaccumulation in wetland fishes.
Key findings include:
Hydro-Eco Interactions Branch
U.S. Geological Survey
345 Middlefield Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025
https://water.usgs.gov
We analyze the Fourier spectra of S+Lg+surface wave groups from the horizontal and vertical components of broadband and accelerogram recordings of 120 small and moderate (2< Mw <6) earthquakes recorded by Canadian and American stations sited on rock at distances from 3 to 600 kilometers. There are seven Mw 4.0–4.5, six Mw 4.5–5.0, and three Mw ≥5 earthquakes in this event set. We test the regional spectral analysis by comparing the moment magnitudes with the moment magnitudes from the earthquake moment tensors determined by Bob Herrmann (St. Louis University) for 27 events, obtaining dMw=0.004±0.074. We determine the Lg attenuation in seven regions within northeastern North America: Charlevoix, lower St. Lawrence, Maine, Northern New York, lower Great Lakes, Ontario, and Nunavut. These attenuation estimates yield an average attenuation Q= (368±13)f (0.54±0.02) for the Appalachian region, a stronger attenuation Q= (317±16)f (0.54±0.03) for the Appalachian lowlands, and a weaker attenuation Q=(455±20)f (0.51±0.02) for Ontario and western Quebec. For events in Nunavut and northernmost Quebec, we estimate a similar attenuation for r <450 km, but a weaker attenuation Q= (773±70)f (0.27±0.06) for Lg propagation for 450< r <1700 kilometers. This far-regional attenuation allows us to analyze recordings of the 1989 Ungava and Payne Bay earthquakes obtained in Ontario and southern Quebec. We use these regional attenuations to determine the corner frequencies, stress drops, and radiated energies of the 120 earthquakes.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181073","usgsCitation":"Boatwright, J., 2018, Regional spectral analysis of moderate earthquakes in northeastern North America—Final report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, project V6240, task 3: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1073, 39 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181073.","productDescription":"Report: vi, 39 p.","numberOfPages":"39","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-096269","costCenters":[{"id":237,"text":"Earthquake Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":355095,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1073/ofr20181073.pdf","text":"Report","size":"2.3 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1073"},{"id":355094,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1073/coverthb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -78.2666015625,\n 39.977120098439634\n ],\n [\n -49.0869140625,\n 39.977120098439634\n ],\n [\n -49.0869140625,\n 54.059387886623576\n ],\n [\n -78.2666015625,\n 54.059387886623576\n ],\n [\n -78.2666015625,\n 39.977120098439634\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Earthquake Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
345 Middlefield Road, MS 977
Menlo Park, CA 94025
The North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) aims to improve the state of conservation science for all species of bats shared by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. To accomplish this goal, NABat offers guidance and standardized protocols for acoustic monitoring of bats. In this document, “A Guide to Processing Bat Acoustic Data for the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat),” we provide general recommendations and specific workflows for the process of identifying bat species from acoustic files recorded using the NABat stationary point and mobile transect acoustic monitoring protocols.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181068","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, USDA Forest Service, US Army Corps of Engineers, Illinois Natural History Survey, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Colorado Natural Heritage Program, Montana Natural Heritage Program, National Park Service, and Bat Call Identification, Inc.","usgsCitation":"Reichert, B., and Lausen, C., Loeb, S., Weller, T., Allen, R., Britzke, E., Hohoff, T., Siemers, J., Burkholder, B., Herzog, C., and Verant, M., 2018, A guide to processing bat acoustic data for the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat): U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1068, 33 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181068.","productDescription":"vi, 33 p.","numberOfPages":"43","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-092559","costCenters":[{"id":291,"text":"Fort Collins Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":353437,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1068/coverthb2.jpg"},{"id":354992,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1068/ofr20181068.pdf","text":"Report","size":"3.11 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018–1068"}],"contact":"Center Director, Fort Collins Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
2150 Centre Ave., Bldg. C
Fort Collins, CO 80526-8118
The bedrock geologic map of the Littleton and Lower Waterford quadrangles covers an area of approximately 107 square miles (277 square kilometers) north and south of the Connecticut River in east-central Vermont and adjacent New Hampshire. This map was created as part of a larger effort to produce a new bedrock geologic map of Vermont through the collection of field data at a scale of 1:24,000. A large part of the map area consists of the Bronson Hill anticlinorium, a post-Early Devonian structure that is cored by metamorphosed Cambrian to Devonian sedimentary, volcanic, and plutonic rocks. The northwestern part of the map is divided by the Monroe fault which separates Early Devonian rocks of the Connecticut Valley-Gaspé trough from rocks of the Bronson Hill anticlinorium.
The Bronson Hill anticlinorium is the apex of the Middle Ordovician to earliest-Silurian Bronson Hill magmatic arc that contains the Ammonoosuc Volcanics, Partridge Formation, and Oliverian Plutonic suite, and extends from Maine, down the eastern side of the Connecticut River in New Hampshire, to Long Island Sound. The deformed and partially eroded arc is locally overlain by a relatively thin Silurian section of metasedimentary rocks (Clough Quartzite and Fitch Formation) that thickens to the east. The Silurian section near Littleton is disconformably overlain by a thicker, Lower Devonian section that includes mostly metasedimentary rocks and minor metavolcanic rocks of the Littleton Formation. The Bronson Hill anticlinorium is bisected by a series of northeast-southwest trending Mesozoic normal faults. Primarily among them is the steeply northwest-dipping Ammonoosuc fault that divides older and younger units (upper and lower sections) of the Ammonoosuc Volcanics. The Ammonoosuc Volcanics are lithologically complex and predominantly include interlayered and interfingered rhyolitic to basaltic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks, as well as lesser amounts of metamorphic and metasedimentary rocks. The Ammonoosuc Volcanics overlies the Albee Formation that consists of interlayered feldspathic sandstone, siltstone, pelite, and slate.
During the Late Ordovician, a series of arc-related plutons intruded the Ammonoosuc Volcanics, including the Whitefield pluton to the east, the Scrag granite of Billing (1937) in the far southeastern corner of the map, the Highlandcroft Granodiorite just to the west of the Ammonoosuc fault, and the Joslin Turn tonalite (just north of the Connecticut River). To the east of the Monroe fault lies the late Silurian Comerford Intrusive Complex, which consists of metamorphosed gabbro, diorite, tonalite, aplitic tonalite, and crosscutting diabase dikes. Abundant mafic dikes of the Comerford Intrusive Complex intruded the Albee Formation and Ammonoosuc Volcanics well east of the Monroe fault.
This report consists of a single geologic map sheet and an online geographic information systems database that includes contacts of bedrock geologic units, faults, outcrops, and structural geologic information.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181087","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the State of Vermont, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Vermont Geological Survey, and the State of New Hampshire, Department of Environmental Services, New Hampshire Geological Survey","usgsCitation":"Rankin, D.W., 2018, Bedrock geologic map of the Littleton and Lower Waterford quadrangles, Essex and Caledonia Counties, Vermont, and Grafton County, New Hampshire: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1087, 1 sheet, scale 1:24,000, https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181087.","productDescription":"Sheet: 36.00 x 45.82 inches; Geologic Map: ArcGIS 10.5 zip; Geodatabase; Metadata; Base Map","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-081645","costCenters":[{"id":243,"text":"Eastern Geology and Paleoclimate Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":354879,"rank":3,"type":{"id":9,"text":"Database"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1087/metadata/ofr20181087_geologic-map-files.zip","text":"Geologic Map (ArcGIS 10.5)","size":"49.3 KB","linkFileType":{"id":6,"text":"zip"},"linkHelpText":"- Littleton and Lower Waterford, Vermont, and New Hampshire, Geologic Map"},{"id":354880,"rank":5,"type":{"id":23,"text":"Spatial Data"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1087/metadata/ofr20181087_basemap-files.zip","text":"Base Map","size":"10.8 MB","linkFileType":{"id":6,"text":"zip"},"linkHelpText":"- Littleton and Lower Waterford, Vermont, and New Hampshire, Base Map"},{"id":354979,"rank":6,"type":{"id":16,"text":"Metadata"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1087/metadata/ofr20181087_littleton-lowerwaterford-xml.zip","text":"Metadata ","size":"67.1 KB","linkFileType":{"id":6,"text":"zip"},"linkHelpText":"- Littleton and Lower Waterford, Vermont, and New Hampshire, Metadata"},{"id":354876,"rank":2,"type":{"id":26,"text":"Sheet"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1087/ofr20181087.pdf","text":"Geologic Map","size":"24.1 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1087"},{"id":354875,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1087/coverthb2.jpg"},{"id":354878,"rank":4,"type":{"id":9,"text":"Database"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1087/metadata/ofr20181087_database-files.gdb.zip","text":"Database","size":"1.30 MB","linkFileType":{"id":6,"text":"zip"},"linkHelpText":"- Littleton and Lower Waterford, Vermont, and New Hampshire, Geodatabase "}],"country":"United States","state":"New Hampshire, Vermont","county":"Caledonia County, Grafton County, Essex County","otherGeospatial":"Littleton Quadrangle, Lower Waterford Quadrangle","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -72,\n 44.25\n ],\n [\n -71.75,\n 44.25\n ],\n [\n -71.75,\n 44.375\n ],\n [\n -72,\n 44.375\n ],\n [\n -72,\n 44.25\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Eastern Geology and Paleoclimate Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
926A National Center
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, VA 20192
We reexamine the geometry of the causative fault structure of the 1989 moment-magnitude-6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake in central California, using seismic-reflection, earthquake-hypocenter, and magnetic data. Our study is prompted by recent interpretations of a two-part dip of the San Andreas Fault (SAF) accompanied by a flower-like structure in the Coachella Valley, in southern California. Initially, the prevailing interpretation of fault geometry in the vicinity of the Loma Prieta earthquake was that the mainshock did not rupture the SAF, but rather a secondary fault within the SAF system, because network locations of aftershocks defined neither a vertical plane nor a fault plane that projected to the surface trace of the SAF. Subsequent waveform cross-correlation and double-difference relocations of Loma Prieta aftershocks appear to have clarified the fault geometry somewhat, with steeply dipping faults in the upper crust possibly connecting to the more moderately southwest-dipping mainshock rupture in the middle crust. Examination of steep-reflection data, extracted from a 1991 seismic-refraction profile through the Loma Prieta area, reveals three robust fault-like features that agree approximately in geometry with the clusters of upper-crustal relocated aftershocks. The subsurface geometry of the San Andreas, Sargent, and Berrocal Faults can be mapped using these features and the aftershock clusters. The San Andreas and Sargent Faults appear to dip northeastward in the uppermost crust and change dip continuously toward the southwest with depth. Previous models of gravity and magnetic data on profiles through the aftershock region also define a steeply dipping SAF, with an initial northeastward dip in the uppermost crust that changes with depth. At a depth 6 to 9 km, upper-crustal faults appear to project into the moderately southwest-dipping, planar mainshock rupture. The change to a planar dipping rupture at 6–9 km is similar to fault geometry seen in the Coachella Valley.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181093","usgsCitation":"Zhang, E., Fuis, G.S., Catchings, R.D., Scheirer, D.S., Goldman, M., and Bauer, K., 2018, Reexamination of the subsurface fault structure in the vicinity of the 1989 moment-magnitude-6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake, central California, using steep-reflection, earthquake, and magnetic data: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1093, 35 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181093.","productDescription":"v; 35 p.","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-097280","costCenters":[{"id":237,"text":"Earthquake Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":355009,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1093/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":355010,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1093/ofr20181093.pdf","text":"Report","size":"8.5 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1093"}],"country":"United States","state":"California","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -121.92214965820311,\n 36.97128966642495\n ],\n [\n -121.75804138183594,\n 36.97128966642495\n ],\n [\n -121.75804138183594,\n 37.2\n ],\n [\n -121.92214965820311,\n 37.2\n ],\n [\n -121.92214965820311,\n 36.97128966642495\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Contact Information, Menlo Park, Calif.
Office—Earthquake Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
345 Middlefield Road, MS 977
Menlo Park, CA 94025
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/
In the fall of 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was afforded an opportunity to participate in an environmental monitoring study of the potential impacts of a deep, unconventional Marcellus Shale hydraulic fracturing site. The drill site of the prospective case study is the “Range Resources MCC Partners L.P. Units 1-5H” location (also referred to as the “RR–MCC” drill site), located in Washington County, southwestern Pennsylvania. Specifically, the USGS was approached to provide a geologic framework that would (1) provide geologic parameters for the proposed area of a localized groundwater circulation model, and (2) provide potential information for the siting of both shallow and deep groundwater monitoring wells located near the drill pad and the deviated drill legs.
The lead organization of the prospective case study of the RR–MCC drill site was the Groundwater and Ecosystems Restoration Division (GWERD) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Aside from the USGS, additional partners/participants were to include the Department of Energy, the Pennsylvania Geological Survey, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and the developer Range Resources LLC. During the initial cooperative phase, GWERD, with input from the participating agencies, drafted a Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) that proposed much of the objectives, tasks, sampling and analytical procedures, and documentation of results.
Later in 2012, the proposed cooperative agreement between the aforementioned partners and the associated land owners for a monitoring program at the drill site was not executed. Therefore, the prospective case study of the RR–MCC site was terminated and no installation of groundwater monitoring wells nor the collection of nearby soil, stream sediment, and surface-water samples were made.
Prior to the completion of the QAPP and termination of the perspective case study the geologic framework was rapidly conducted and nearly completed. This was done for three principal reasons. First, there was an immediate need to know the distribution of the relatively undisturbed surface to near-surface bedrock geology and unconsolidated materials for the collection of baseline surface data prior to drill site development (drill pad access road, drill pad leveling) and later during monitoring associated with well drilling, well development, and well production. Second, it was necessary to know the bedrock geology to support the siting of: (1) multiple shallow groundwater monitoring wells (possibly as many as four) surrounding and located immediately adjacent to the drill pad, and (2) deep groundwater monitoring wells (possibly two) located at distance from the drill pad with one possibly being sited along one of the deviated production drill legs. Lastly, the framework geology would provide the lateral extent, thickness, lithology, and expected discontinuities of geologic units (to be parsed or grouped as hydrostratigraphic units) and regional structure trends as inputs into the groundwater model.
This report provides the methodology of geologic data accumulation and aggregation, and its integration into a geographic information system (GIS) based program. The GIS program will allow multiple data to be exported in various formats (shapefiles [.shp], database files [.dbf], and Keyhole Markup Language files [.KML]) for use in surface and subsurface geologic site characterization, for sampling strategies, and for inputs for groundwater modeling.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181057","usgsCitation":"Stamm, R.G., 2018, Preliminary geologic framework developed for a proposed environmental monitoring study of a deep, unconventional Marcellus Shale drill site, Washington County, Pennsylvania: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1057, 49 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181057.","productDescription":"vi, 49 p.","numberOfPages":"59","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-069591","costCenters":[{"id":243,"text":"Eastern Geology and Paleoclimate Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":354769,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1057/ofr20181057.pdf","text":"Report","size":"129 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1057"},{"id":354768,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1057/coverthb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"Pennsylvania","county":"Washington County","geographicExtents":"{\n \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",\n \"features\": [\n {\n \"type\": \"Feature\",\n \"properties\": {},\n \"geometry\": {\n \"type\": \"Polygon\",\n \"coordinates\": [\n [\n [\n -80.4833,\n 40.3\n ],\n [\n -80.3833,\n 40.3\n ],\n [\n -80.3833,\n 40.3833\n ],\n [\n -80.4833,\n 40.3833\n ],\n [\n -80.4833,\n 40.3\n ]\n ]\n ]\n }\n }\n ]\n}","contact":"Eastern Geology and Paleoclimate Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
926A National Center
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, VA 20192
A review is given of the present feasibility for accurately mapping geoelectric fields across North America in near-realtime by modeling geomagnetic monitoring and magnetotelluric survey data. Should this capability be successfully developed, it could inform utility companies of magnetic-storm interference on electric-power-grid systems. That real-time mapping of geoelectric fields is a challenge is reflective of (1) the spatiotemporal complexity of geomagnetic variation, especially during magnetic storms, (2) the sparse distribution of ground-based geomagnetic monitoring stations that report data in realtime, (3) the spatial complexity of three-dimensional solid-Earth impedance, and (4) the geographically incomplete state of continental-scale magnetotelluric surveys.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181043","usgsCitation":"Love, J.J., Rigler, E.J., Kelbert, Anna, Finn, C.A., Bedrosian, P.A., and Balch, C.C., 2018, On the feasibility of real-time mapping of the geoelectric field across North America: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018-1043, 16 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181043.","productDescription":"v, 16 p.","numberOfPages":"26","onlineOnly":"Y","ipdsId":"IP-093233","costCenters":[{"id":300,"text":"Geologic Hazards Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":354843,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1043/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":354844,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1043/ofr20181043.pdf","text":"Report","size":"1.45 MB","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1043"}],"contact":"Director, Geologic Hazards Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
Box 25046, Mail Stop 966
Denver, CO 80225
The White Dam in Clarke County, Georgia, has been proposed for breaching. Efforts to determine potential risks to downstream biota included assessments of sediment collected in the vicinity of the dam. Sediments collected from sites upstream and downstream from the dam were evaluated for toxicity in 42-day exposures using the freshwater amphipod Hyalella azteca. Endpoints of the study were survival, growth, and reproduction of H. azteca. Results indicated no significant differences between the collected sediments and the water-only treatment used for comparison of the test endpoints. Therefore, based on the laboratory experiments in this study, sediment migration downstream from a breach of the Dam may not pose a toxicity risk to downstream biota.
","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Reston, VA","doi":"10.3133/ofr20181036","usgsCitation":"Lasier, P.J., 2018, Toxicity assessment of sediments collected upstream and downstream from the White Dam in Clarke County, Georgia: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1036, 6 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181036.","productDescription":"v, 6 p.","numberOfPages":"16","onlineOnly":"Y","additionalOnlineFiles":"N","ipdsId":"IP-087278","costCenters":[{"id":531,"text":"Patuxent Wildlife Research Center","active":true,"usgs":true},{"id":50464,"text":"Eastern Ecological Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":354452,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1036/coverthb.jpg"},{"id":354453,"rank":2,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2018/1036/ofr20181036.pdf","text":"Report","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"},"description":"OFR 2018-1036"}],"country":"United States","state":"Georgia","county":"Clarke County","otherGeospatial":"White Dam","contact":"Director, Eastern Ecological Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
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