The upper Housatonic River basin report area has an abundant supply of water of generally good quality, which is derived from precipitation on the area and streams entering the area. Annual precipitation has averaged about 46 inches over a 30-year period. Of this, approximately 22 inches of water is returned to the atmosphere each year by evaporation and transpiration; the remainder flows overland to streams or percolates downward to the water table and ultimately flows out of the report area in the Housatonic River or in smaller streams tributary to the Hudson River. During the autumn and winter precipitation normally is sufficient to cause a substantial increase in the amount of water stored in surface reservoirs and in aquifers, whereas in the summer, losses through evaporation and transpiration result in sharply reduced streamflow and lowered ground-water levels. Mean monthly storage of water in November is 2.8 inches more than it is in June.
\nThe amount of water that flows into, through, and out of the report area represents the total amount potentially available for use ignoring reuse. For the 30-year period 1931 through 1960, the annual runoff from precipitation has averaged 24 inches (294 billion gallons). During the same period, inflows from Massachusetts and New York have averaged 220 and 64 billion gallons per year, respectively. A total average annual runoff of 578 billion gallons is therefore available. Although runoff indicates the total amount of water potentially available, it is rarely feasible to use all of it. On the other hand, with increased development, some water may be reused several times.
\nThe water availability may be tapped as it flows through the area or is temporarily stored in streams, lakes, and aquifers. The amounts that can be developed differ from place to place and time to time, depending on the amount of precipitation, on the size of drainage area, on the thickness, transmissivity, and areal extent of aquifers, and on the variations in chemical and physical quality of water.
\nDifferences in precipitation cause differences in the amount of streamflow whereas differences in the proportion of stratified drift affect its timing.
\nWater can be obtained from wells almost anywhere in the area, but the amount obtainable at any particular point depends on the type and water-bearing properties of the aquifers tapped.
\nStratified-drift aquifers are the only ones generally capable of yielding more than 100 gpm (gallons per minute) to individual wells. Drilled, screened wells tapping this unit yield from 17 to 1,400 gpm, with a median yield of 200 gpm.
\nTill and bedrock are widespread but generally provide only small supplies of water. Till is tapped in a few places by dug wells, which can yield small supplies of only a few hundred gallons per day throughout all or most of the year. Bedrock is the chief aquifer for privately owned domestic and rural supplies; it is tapped by drilled wells, about 90 percent of which will supply at least 2 gpm. Only 1 of 10 bedrock wells, however, will supply more than 30 gpm.
\nThe amount of ground water potentially available in the report area depends upon the thickness and hydraulic properties of aquifers, the amount of salvageable natural discharge of ground water, and the quantity of water available by induced infiltration from streams and lakes. From data on transmissivity, thickness, recharge, well performance, and streamflow, preliminary estimates of ground-water availability can be made for most stratified-drift aquifers in the report area. Long-term yields estimated for eight areas of stratified drift especially favorable for development of large ground-water supplies ranged from 0.6 to 5 mgd (million gallons per day). Detailed site studies are needed to verity these estimates and to determine optimum yields, drawdowns, and spacing of individual wells before major ground-water development is undertaken in these or other areas.
\nThe chemical quality of water in the report area is generally good; carbonate-bedrock units exert considerable local influence on water quality. Samples of naturally occurring surface water collected at 24 sites during low flow averaged 90 mg/l (milligrams per liter) dissolved solids and 60 mg/l hardness. Water from wells is generally more highly mineralized than naturally occurring water from streams. About 37 percent of the wells sampled yielded water with more than 200 mg/l dissolved solids and 50 percent yielded water with more than 120 mg/l hardness. These concentrations reflect the high degree of mineralization of ground water in carbonate bedrock and unconsolidated deposits derived from this bedrock. The larger streams, which transport varying amounts of industrial and domestic effluents, averaged about 150 mg/l dissolved solids and 90 mg/l hardness.
\nIron and manganese concentrations in both ground water and surface water at some places exceed recommended limits for domestic and industrial use. Most wells in the report area yield water with little or no iron or manganese. In certain localities however, the probability is high of encountering water with excessive concentrations of these constituents. Schists, especially the unit in the northwestern corner of the basin, are the likely sources of water with excessive iron and manganese.
\nIron concentrations in naturally occurring stream water exceed 0.3 mg/l under low-flow conditions at 29 percent of the sites sampled. These excessive concentrations result from discharge of iron-bearing water from aquifers or from swamps where iron is released from decaying vegetation.
\nWater temperature in the larger streams ranges from 0°C (degrees Celsius) to about 28°C. Ground water between 30 feet and 200 feet below the land surface has a relatively constant temperature, usually between 8°C and 11°C.
\nThe quantity of suspended sediment transported by streams under natural conditions is negligible. Even in streams affected by man, turbidity is rarely a problem.
\nThe total amount of water used in the report area for all purposes during 1967 was about 6,360 million gallons, or 140 gpd per person. Public supplies furnished the domestic needs of nearly half the population of the area. All of the 14 public supplies sampled provided water that meets the drinking water standards of the U.S. Public Health Service.
","language":"English","publisher":"Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection","collaboration":"Prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection","usgsCitation":"Cervione, M.A., Mazzaferro, D.L., and Melvin, R.T., 1972, Water resources inventory of Connecticut Part 6: Upper Housatonic River basin: Connecticut Water Resources Bulletin 21, Report: viii, 82 p.; 6 Plates: 31.73 x 39.58 inches and smaller.","productDescription":"Report: viii, 82 p.; 6 Plates: 31.73 x 39.58 inches and smaller","numberOfPages":"92","costCenters":[],"links":[{"id":258809,"rank":300,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/ctwrb/0021/report.pdf","size":"26735","linkFileType":{"id":1,"text":"pdf"}},{"id":258810,"rank":0,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/ctwrb/0021/report-thumb.jpg"},{"id":285991,"type":{"id":17,"text":"Plate"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/unnumbered/70038249/plate-b-2.pdf"},{"id":285992,"type":{"id":17,"text":"Plate"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/unnumbered/70038249/plate-b-3.pdf"},{"id":285989,"type":{"id":17,"text":"Plate"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/unnumbered/70038249/plate-a.pdf"},{"id":285990,"type":{"id":17,"text":"Plate"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/unnumbered/70038249/plate-b-1.pdf"},{"id":285993,"type":{"id":17,"text":"Plate"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/unnumbered/70038249/plate-c.pdf"},{"id":285994,"type":{"id":17,"text":"Plate"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/unnumbered/70038249/plate-d.pdf"}],"scale":"125000","country":"United States","state":"Connecticut","otherGeospatial":"Housatonic River Basin","geographicExtents":"{ \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\", \"features\": [ { \"type\": \"Feature\", \"properties\": {}, \"geometry\": { \"type\": \"Polygon\", \"coordinates\": [ [ [ -73.566667,41.25 ], [ -73.566667,42.066667 ], [ -73.166667,42.066667 ], [ -73.166667,41.25 ], [ -73.566667,41.25 ] ] ] } } ] }","noUsgsAuthors":false,"publicationStatus":"PW","scienceBaseUri":"505bcb7ce4b08c986b32d699","contributors":{"authors":[{"text":"Cervione, Michael A. Jr.","contributorId":23988,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Cervione","given":"Michael","suffix":"Jr.","email":"","middleInitial":"A.","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":463735,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":1},{"text":"Mazzaferro, David L.","contributorId":89539,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Mazzaferro","given":"David","email":"","middleInitial":"L.","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":463736,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":2},{"text":"Melvin, Robert T.","contributorId":99808,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Melvin","given":"Robert","email":"","middleInitial":"T.","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":463737,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":3}]}} ,{"id":70039511,"text":"70039511 - 1972 - Ground control requirements for precision processing of ERTS images","interactions":[],"lastModifiedDate":"2017-06-05T21:55:54","indexId":"70039511","displayToPublicDate":"2012-01-11T15:32:00","publicationYear":"1972","noYear":false,"publicationType":{"id":18,"text":"Report"},"publicationSubtype":{"id":6,"text":"USGS Unnumbered Series"},"title":"Ground control requirements for precision processing of ERTS images","docAbstract":"When the first Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS-A) flies in 1972, NASA expects to receive and bulk-process 9,000 images a week. From this deluge of images, a few will be selected for precision processing; that is, about 5 percent will be further treated to improve the geometry of the scene, both in the relative and absolute sense. Control points are required for this processing. This paper describes the control requirements for relating ERTS images to a reference surface of the earth. Enough background on the ERTS-A satellite is included to make the requirements meaningful to the user.","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Government Printing Office","publisherLocation":"Washington, D.C.","doi":"10.3133/70039511","usgsCitation":"Burger, T.C., 1972, Ground control requirements for precision processing of ERTS images, 14 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/70039511.","productDescription":"14 p.","numberOfPages":"16","costCenters":[{"id":587,"text":"Topographic Division","active":false,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":261638,"rank":800,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/unnumbered/70039511/report.pdf"},{"id":261639,"rank":0,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/unnumbered/70039511/report-thumb.jpg"}],"noUsgsAuthors":false,"publicationStatus":"PW","scienceBaseUri":"505a2a8ee4b0c8380cd5b281","contributors":{"authors":[{"text":"Burger, Thomas C.","contributorId":64500,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Burger","given":"Thomas","email":"","middleInitial":"C.","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":466398,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":1}]}} ,{"id":70006689,"text":"70006689 - 1972 - Book review: Check list of helminth parasites of African fishes by L. F. Khalil","interactions":[],"lastModifiedDate":"2025-05-01T14:03:29.538967","indexId":"70006689","displayToPublicDate":"2012-01-01T13:17:00","publicationYear":"1972","noYear":false,"publicationType":{"id":2,"text":"Article"},"publicationSubtype":{"id":10,"text":"Journal Article"},"seriesTitle":{"id":2414,"text":"Journal of Parasitology","active":true,"publicationSubtype":{"id":10}},"title":"Book review: Check list of helminth parasites of African fishes by L. F. Khalil","docAbstract":"No abstract available.
","language":"English","publisher":"American Society of Parasitologists","doi":"10.2307/3286578","usgsCitation":"Hoffman, G.L., 1972, Book review: Check list of helminth parasites of African fishes by L. F. Khalil: Journal of Parasitology, v. 58, no. 5, https://doi.org/10.2307/3286578.","productDescription":"1 p.","startPage":"884","numberOfPages":"1","costCenters":[{"id":365,"text":"Leetown Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":260194,"rank":1,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg"}],"volume":"58","issue":"5","noUsgsAuthors":false,"publicationStatus":"PW","scienceBaseUri":"5059f1fee4b0c8380cd4af53","contributors":{"authors":[{"text":"Hoffman, G. L.","contributorId":70713,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Hoffman","given":"G.","email":"","middleInitial":"L.","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":355025,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":1}]}} ,{"id":70039169,"text":"70039169 - 1972 - Surface-water investigations at Barrow, Alaska","interactions":[],"lastModifiedDate":"2012-07-24T01:01:47","indexId":"70039169","displayToPublicDate":"2012-01-01T11:36:52","publicationYear":"1972","noYear":false,"publicationType":{"id":18,"text":"Report"},"publicationSubtype":{"id":6,"text":"USGS Unnumbered Series"},"seriesTitle":{"id":347,"text":"Basic Data Report","active":false,"publicationSubtype":{"id":6}},"title":"Surface-water investigations at Barrow, Alaska","docAbstract":"The U.S. Public Health Service is currently developing plans for a long-term water supply and sewage treatment system for the village of Barrow, Alaska. To assist in planning, the U.S. Geological Survey was requested to initiate a cooperative streamflow data-collection program with the U.S. Public Health Service in June 1972 to determine the availability of surface water and the areal distribution of runoff in the Barrow area. This basic-data report summarizes the streamflow data collected from June 1 through July 10, 1972, at three gaging stations in the Barrow area (fig. 1) and discusses the future data-collection program.","language":"English","publisher":"U.S. Geological Survey","publisherLocation":"Anchorage, AK","doi":"10.3133/70039169","collaboration":"Prepared in cooperation with the United States Public Health Service","usgsCitation":"Jones, S.H., 1972, Surface-water investigations at Barrow, Alaska: Basic Data Report, 16 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/70039169.","productDescription":"16 p.","numberOfPages":"18","costCenters":[{"id":109,"text":"Alaska District Water Resources Division","active":false,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":261324,"rank":800,"type":{"id":11,"text":"Document"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/unnumbered/70039169/report.pdf"},{"id":261325,"rank":0,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/unnumbered/70039169/report-thumb.jpg"}],"country":"United States","state":"Alaska","city":"Barrow;Browerville","otherGeospatial":"Emaiksoun Lake;Esatkuat Lagoon;Esatkuat Creek;Nunavak Creek","geographicExtents":"{ \"type\": \"FeatureCollection\", \"features\": [ { \"type\": \"Feature\", \"properties\": {}, \"geometry\": { \"type\": \"Polygon\", \"coordinates\": [ [ [ -156.88333333333333,71.21666666666667 ], [ -156.88333333333333,71.35 ], [ -156.63333333333333,71.35 ], [ -156.63333333333333,71.21666666666667 ], [ -156.88333333333333,71.21666666666667 ] ] ] } } ] }","noUsgsAuthors":false,"publicationStatus":"PW","scienceBaseUri":"505ba190e4b08c986b31f176","contributors":{"authors":[{"text":"Jones, Stanley H.","contributorId":98729,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Jones","given":"Stanley","email":"","middleInitial":"H.","affiliations":[],"preferred":false,"id":465718,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":1}]}} ,{"id":70000814,"text":"70000814 - 1972 - A neutron activation analysis procedure for the determination of uranium, thorium and potassium in geologic samples","interactions":[],"lastModifiedDate":"2020-12-21T23:44:37.127809","indexId":"70000814","displayToPublicDate":"2010-09-28T23:09:29","publicationYear":"1972","noYear":false,"publicationType":{"id":2,"text":"Article"},"publicationSubtype":{"id":10,"text":"Journal Article"},"seriesTitle":{"id":2438,"text":"Journal of Radioanalytical Chemistry","active":true,"publicationSubtype":{"id":10}},"title":"A neutron activation analysis procedure for the determination of uranium, thorium and potassium in geologic samples","docAbstract":"A neutron activation analysis procedure was developed for the determination of uranium, thorium and potassium in basic and ultrabasic rocks. The three elements are determined in the same 0.5-g sample following a 30-min irradiation in a thermal neutron flux of 2·1012 n·cm−2·sec−1. Following radiochemical separation, the nuclides239U (T=23.5 m),233Th (T=22.2 m) and42K (T=12.36 h) are measured by β-counting. A computer program is used to resolve the decay curves which are complex owing to contamination and the growth of daughter activities. The method was used to determine uranium, throium and potassium in the U. S. Geological Survey standard rocks DTS-1, PCC-1 and BCR-1. For 0.5-g samples the limits of detection for uranium, throium and potassium are 0.7, 1.0 and 10 ppb, respectively.
A SEEMING paradox has puzzled investigators of the crustal structure of the Gulf of Mexico since Ewing et al.1 calculated that a unit area of the rather thick crust in the gulf contains less mass than does a combination of the crust and enough of the upper mantle to make a comparable thickness in the Atlantic Ocean. They also noted that the free-air gravity of the gulf is essentially normal and fails by a large factor to be low enough to reflect the mass difference that they calculated. We propose a solution to this problem.
Since February 1969 Alae Crater, a 165-m-deep pit crater on the east rift of Kilauea Volcano, has been completely filled with about 18 million m3 of lava. The filling was episodic and complex. It involved 13 major periods of addition of lava to the crater, including spectacular lava falls as high as 100 m, and three major periods of draining of lava from the crater. Alae was nearly filled by August 3, 1969, largely drained during a violent ground-cracking event on August 4, 1969, and then filled to the low point on its rim on October 10, 1969. From August 1970 to May 1971, the crater acted as a reservoir for lava that entered through subsurface tubes leading from the vent fissure 150 m away. Another tube system drained the crater and carried lava as far as the sea, 11 km to the south. Much of the lava entered Alae by invading the lava lake beneath its crust and buoying the crust upward. This process, together with the overall complexity of the filling, results in a highly complicated lava lake that would doubtless be misinterpreted if found in the fossil record.
The origin and chemical nature of micron-sized spheres found as suspended particles in Lake Kivu are examined. It can be shown that the hollow spheres, with a wall thickness of 500 Å, consist of a complex polymeric resinous material which has little functionality, except for hydroxyl groups. The spheres arise in the process of degassing of water samples at depth. Tiny gas bubbles, about 1 micron in size, act as scavengers of dissolved resinous material. The newly created resinous membrane promotes the selective coordination of zinc dissolved in the water column. In the prevailing H2S regime, formation of sphalerite crystals in induced. The size range of the crystals, 5 to 50 Å, corresponds to 1 to 10 unit cells and suggests that the resinous membrane also acts as a template in sphalerite growth processes. The sources of the zinc and dissolved gases (CO2, CH4, H2S) are hydrothermal springs seeping from the lake bottom into the basin. Water discharge is substantial; about 100 years are required to fill the lake to its present level (ca. 550 km3 water). The average Kivu water contains 2 ppm zinc. Thus, 1 million tons of zinc are contained in Lake Kivu in the form of sphalerite.
Dr Lucchitta describes the geology of the Apollo 17 landing site in the Taurus-Littrow region of the Moon.
","largerWorkType":{"id":2,"text":"Article"},"largerWorkTitle":"Nature","largerWorkSubtype":{"id":10,"text":"Journal Article"},"language":"English","publisher":"Nature Publishing Group","doi":"10.1038/240259a0","issn":"00280836","usgsCitation":"Lucchitta, B.K., 1972, The Apollo 17 landing site: Nature, v. 240, no. 5379, p. 259-260, https://doi.org/10.1038/240259a0.","productDescription":"2 p.","startPage":"259","endPage":"260","costCenters":[{"id":131,"text":"Astrogeology Science Center","active":true,"usgs":true}],"links":[{"id":203631,"rank":0,"type":{"id":24,"text":"Thumbnail"},"url":"https://pubs.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg"},{"id":19107,"rank":9999,"type":{"id":10,"text":"Digital Object Identifier"},"url":"https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/240259a0"}],"volume":"240","issue":"5379","noUsgsAuthors":false,"publicationStatus":"PW","scienceBaseUri":"4f4e4ad4e4b07f02db682e43","contributors":{"authors":[{"text":"Lucchitta, Baerbel K. blucchitta@usgs.gov","contributorId":3649,"corporation":false,"usgs":true,"family":"Lucchitta","given":"Baerbel","email":"blucchitta@usgs.gov","middleInitial":"K.","affiliations":[],"preferred":true,"id":346756,"contributorType":{"id":1,"text":"Authors"},"rank":1}]}} ,{"id":70001418,"text":"70001418 - 1972 - Uranium-series dating of bone from the Isimila prehistoric site, Tanzania","interactions":[],"lastModifiedDate":"2020-12-23T00:04:57.945765","indexId":"70001418","displayToPublicDate":"2010-09-28T23:09:21","publicationYear":"1972","noYear":false,"publicationType":{"id":2,"text":"Article"},"publicationSubtype":{"id":10,"text":"Journal Article"},"seriesTitle":{"id":2840,"text":"Nature","active":true,"publicationSubtype":{"id":10}},"title":"Uranium-series dating of bone from the Isimila prehistoric site, Tanzania","docAbstract":"EXCAVATIONS in 1957 and 1958 at the Isimila prehistoric site, in Tanzania1, sampled Acheulian occurrences in horizons at various levels in the Isimila Beds which are approximately 18 m thick. No significant breaks were observed in the sedimentary sequence, although there are numerous local hiatuses.
SUBDUCTION zones are considered to be sites of disposal for vast areas of the Earth's surface1, while new surface is generated simultaneously at rise crests2. Bostrom and Sherif3 suggest that the world's industrial and domestic waste be dumped into subduction zones at deep sea trenches to allow nature to complete the recycling process at geologically rapid rates of 5 to 10 cm/yr. They also point out that trenches are often sites of rapid rates of deposition and suggest that the dumped wastes would, speaking geologically, soon be buried. Francis4 suggests that canisters of toxic chemical and radioactive wastes could be dumped onto trench sediments and be expected to sink at rates of 20 m/yr, assuming that the mass of turbidites in the trench fill often spontaneously liquefies on shaking by earthquakes. The assumption is based on the supposed lack of evidence for deformed sediment in trenches. I will argue that the suggestion of Bostrom and Sherif3 is not useful for the next few dozen generations of human populations and will point out observational evidence to show that Francis's4 assumption is incorrectly founded.
Fluids related to Serpentinization are of at least three types. The first reported (Barnes and O'Neil, 1969) is a fluid of local meteoric origin, the chemical and thermodynamic properties of which are entirely controlled by olivine, orthopyroxene, brucite, and serpentine reactions. It is a Ca+2-OH−1 type and is shown experimentally to be capable of reacting with albite to yield calcium hydroxy silicates. Rodingites may form where the Ca+2-OH−1 type waters flow across the ultramafic contact and react with siliceous country rock.
The second type of fluid has its chemical composition largely controlled before it enters the ultramafic rocks, but reactions within the ultramafic rocks fix the thermodynamic properties by reactions of orthopyroxene, olivine, calcite, brucite, and serpentine. The precipitation of brucite from this fluid clearly shows that fluid flow allows reaction products to be deposited at a distance from the point of solution. Thus, textural evidence for volume relations during Serpentinization may not be valid.
The third type of fluid has its chemical properties fixed in part before the reactions with ultramafic rocks, in part by the reactions of orthopyroxene, olivine, and serpentine and in part by reactions with siliceous country rock at the contact. The reactions of the ultramafic rock and country rock with the fluid must be contemporaneous and require flow to be along the contact. This third type of fluid is grossly supersaturated with talc and tremolite, both found along the contact. The occurrence of magadiite, kenyaite, mountainite, and rhodesite along the contact is probably due to a late stage low-temperature reaction of fluids of the same thermodynamic properties as those that formed the talc and tremolite at higher temperatures. Oxygen isotope analyses of some of these minerals supports this conclusion.
Rodingites form from Ca+2-rich fluids flowing across the contact; talc and tremolite form from silica-rich fluids flowing along the contact.
Isotopic analyses of the fluids indicate varied origins including unaltered local meteoric water and connate water. Complexion Spring water may be a sample of only slightly altered Jurassic or Cretaceous sea water.
WE have found that bastnaesite, a rare earth fluorocarbonate, from the Precambrian Mountain Pass deposit has an apparent Cretaceous fission track age, and hence does not reveal any anomalous fission tracks due to 244Pu.