Lithostratigraphic, geophysical, and hydrogeologic observations from a boring drilled to bedrock in glacial sediments near Nantucket Sound in East Falmouth, Massachusetts
Robert B. Hull, Carole D. Johnson, Byron D. Stone, Denis R. LeBlanc, Timothy D. McCobb, Stephanie N. Phillips, Katherine L. Pappas , John W. Lane Jr.
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5042
In spring 2016, a 310-foot-deep boring (named MA–FSW 750) was drilled by the U.S. Geological Survey near Nantucket Sound in East Falmouth, Massachusetts, to investigate the hydrogeology of the southern coast of western Cape Cod. Few borings that are drilled to bedrock exist in the area, and the study area...
Hydrogeologic framework and delineation of transient areas contributing recharge and zones of contribution to selected wells in the upper Santa Fe Group aquifer, southeastern Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1900–2050
Nathan C. Myers, Paul J. Friesz
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5052
The Santa Fe Group aquifer is an important source of water to communities within the Middle Rio Grande Basin, including the Albuquerque-Rio Rancho metropolitan area and Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. In November 1999, Kirtland Air Force Base personnel observed fuel-stained soils at the Bulk Fuels Facility on the...
Northern forest winters have lost cold, snowy conditions that are important for ecosystems and human communities
Alexandra R Contosta, Nora J. Casson, Sarah Garlick, Sarah J. Nelson, Matthew P Ayers, Elizabet A Buralkowski, John Campbell, Irean Creed, Catharine Eimers, Celia Evans, Ivan Fernandez, Collin Fuss, Thomas G. Huntington, Kaizad Pate, Rebecca Sanders-DeMott, Kyongo Son, Pamela H. Templer, Darren Thornbrugh
2019, Ecological Applications (29)
Winter is an understudied but key period for the socio-ecological systems of northeastern North American forests. A growing awareness of the importance of the winter season to forest ecosystems and surrounding communities has inspired several decades of research, both across the northern forest and at other mid- and high-latitude ecosystems...
Hydrologic site assessment for passive treatment of groundwater nitrogen with permeable reactive barriers, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Jeffrey R. Barbaro, Marcel Belaval, Danna B. Truslow, Denis R. LeBlanc, Thomas C. Cambareri, Scott C. Michaud
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5047
Wastewater disposal associated with rapid population growth and development on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, during the past several decades has resulted in widespread contamination of groundwater with nitrogen. As a result, water quality in many of the streams, lakes, and coastal embayments on Cape Cod is impaired by excess nitrogen. To...
Refining the Baseline Sediment Budget for the Klamath River, California
Chauncey W. Anderson, Scott Wright, Liam N. Schenk, Katherine Skalak, Jennifer A. Curtis, Amy E. East, Adam Benthem
2019, Conference Paper, Proceedings of SEDHYD 2019
Four dams in the Klamath River Hydroelectric Project (KHP) in Oregon and California (Figure 1) are currently scheduled to be removed over a period of a few weeks or months, beginning in January 2021. The Klamath dam removal will be the largest in the world by almost all measures, and...
Assessing potential effects of highway and urban runoff on receiving streams in total maximum daily load watersheds in Oregon using the stochastic empirical loading and dilution model
Adam J. Stonewall, Gregory E. Granato, Kira M. Glover-Cutter
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5053
The Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM) was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration to simulate stormwater quality. To assess the effects of runoff, SELDM uses a stochastic mass-balance approach to estimate combinations of pre-storm streamflow, stormflow, highway runoff, event mean concentrations (EMCs) and stormwater constituent loads...
Hydrocarbons in upland groundwater, Marcellus Shale Region, Northeastern Pennsylvania and Southern New York, USA
Peter B. McMahon, Bruce D. Lindsey, Matthew D. Conlon, Andrew G. Hunt, Kenneth Belitz, Bryant Jurgens, Brian A. Varela
2019, Environmental Science & Technology ( 53) 8027-8035
Water samples from 50 domestic wells located <1 km (proximal) and >1 km (distal) from shale-gas wells in upland areas of the Marcellus Shale region were analyzed for chemical, isotopic, and groundwater-age tracers. Uplands were targeted because natural mixing with brine and hydrocarbons from deep formations is less common in...
Seasonal and spatial variation in the location and reactivity of a nitrate-contaminated groundwater discharge zone in a lakebed
Richard L. Smith, Deborah A. Repert, Deborah Stoliker, Douglas B. Kent, Bongkeun Song, Denis R. LeBlanc, Timothy McCobb, J.K. Böhlke, Sung Pil Hyun, Hee Sun Moon
2019, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (124) 2186-2207
Groundwater discharge delivering anthropogenic N from surrounding watersheds can impact lake nutrient budgets. However, upgradient groundwater processes and changing dynamics in N biogeochemistry at the groundwater-lake interface are complex and difficult to resolve. In this study, hydrograph variations in a groundwater flow-through lake altered discharge patterns of...
Toxicity of aluminum to Ceriodaphnia dubia in low-hardness waters as affected by natural dissolved organic matter
John M. Besser, Danielle M. Cleveland, Chris D. Ivey, Laura Blake
2019, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (38) 2121-2127
We conducted a series of 7‐d toxicity tests with Ceriodaphnia dubia in dilutions of low‐hardness natural waters, which contained dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations up to 10 mg/L. Stream waters were mixed with well water to achieve 2 target hardness levels (20 and 35 mg/L) and 4 DOC concentrations. Tests with aluminum...
Assessment of the presence of sewage in the Mill River under low-flow conditions, Springfield, Massachusetts, 2010–11
Andrew J. Massey, Marcus C. Waldron, R. Jean Tang, Thomas G. Huntington
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5027
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Senator William X. Wall Experiment Station, assessed the presence of 14 commonly used human-health pharmaceutical compounds, fecal indicator bacteria, and other man-made compounds indicative of the...
Estimating domestic well locations and populations served in the contiguous U.S. for years 2000 and 2010
Tyler D. Johnson, Kenneth Belitz, Melissa Lombard
2019, Science of the Total Environment (687) 1261-1273
Domestic wells provide drinking water supply for approximately 40 million people in the United States. Knowing the location of these wells, and the populations they serve, is important for identifying heavily used aquifers, locations susceptible to contamination, and populations potentially impacted by poor-quality groundwater. The 1990 census was the last...
Characterizing groundwater/surface-water interaction using hydrograph-separation techniques and groundwater-level data throughout the Mississippi Delta, USA
Courtney D. Killian, William H. Asquith, Jeannie R. B. Barlow, Gardner C. Bent, Wade Kress, Paul M. Barlow, Darrel W. Schmitz
2019, Hydrogeology Journal (27) 2167-2179
The Mississippi Delta, located in northwest Mississippi, is an area dense with industrial-level agriculture sustained by groundwater-dependent irrigation supplied by the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial aquifer (alluvial aquifer). The Delta provides agricultural commodities across the United States and around the world. Observed declines in groundwater altitudes and streamflow contemporaneous with...
Assessing water quality from highway runoff at selected sites in North Carolina with the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM)
J. Curtis Weaver, Gregory E. Granato, Sharon A. Fitzgerald
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5031
In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) entered into a cooperative agreement with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to develop a North Carolina-enhanced variation of the national Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM) with available North Carolina-specific streamflow and water-quality data and to demonstrate use of the...
Preliminary stage and streamflow data at selected U.S. Geological Survey streamgages in New England for the floods of April 2019
Richard G. Kiah, Brianna A. Smith, Nicholas W. Stasulis
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1052
The combination of rainfall and snowmelt in northern New England and rainfall in southern New England resulted in minor to major flooding from April 15 to 24, 2019, according to stage and streamflow data collected at 63 selected U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgages. A typical USGS streamgage measures and records...
Shining light on the storm: In-stream optics reveal hysteresis of dissolved organic matter character
Matthew C.H. Vaughan, William B. Bowden, James B. Shanley, Andrew W. Vermilyea, Andrew W. Schroth
2019, Biogeochemistry (143) 275-291
The quantity and character of dissolved organic matter (DOM) can change rapidly during storm events, affecting key biogeochemical processes, carbon bioavailability, metal pollutant transport, and disinfection byproduct formation during drinking water treatment. We used in situ ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometers to concurrently measure dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration...
Use of a Numerical Model to Simulate the Hydrologic System and Transport of Contaminants Near Joint Base Cape Cod, Western Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Donald A. Walter, Timothy D. McCobb, Michael N. Fienen
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5139
Historical training and operational activities at Joint Base Cape Cod (JBCC) on western Cape Cod, Massachusetts, have resulted in the release of contaminants into an underlying glacial aquifer that is the sole source of water to the surrounding communities. Remedial systems have been installed to contain and remove contamination from...
Flood-inundation maps for Lake Champlain in Vermont and New York
Robert H. Flynn, Laura Hayes
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5169
In 2016, digital flood-inundation maps along the shoreline of Lake Champlain in Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, and Grand Isle Counties in Vermont and northern Clinton County in New York were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the International Joint Commission (IJC). This report discusses the creation of...
Unprocessed atmospheric nitrate in waters of the Northern Forest Region in the USA and Canada
Stepen D Sebestyen, Donald D Ross, James B. Shanley, Emily M. Elliott, Carol Kendall, John L. Campbell, D Bryan Dail, Ivan J Fernandez, Christine L Goodale, Gregory B. Lawrence, Gary M. Lovett, Patrick J McHale, Myron J Mitchell, Sarah J. Nelson, Michelle D Shattuck, Trent R Wickman, Rebecca T. Barnes, Joel T. Bostic, Anthony R Buda, Douglas A Burns, Keith N. Eshleman, Jacques C. Finlay, David M. Nelson, Nobuhito Ohte, Linda H Pardo, Lucy A Rose, Robert J Sabo, Sherry L. Schiff, John Spoelstra, Karl W Williard
2019, Environmental Science and Technology (53) 3620-3633
Little is known about the regional extent and variability of nitrate from atmospheric deposition that is transported to streams without biological processing in forests. We measured water chemistry and isotopic tracers (δ18O and δ15N) of nitrate sources across the Northern Forest...
Design and methods of the U.S. Geological Survey Northeast Stream Quality Assessment (NESQA), 2016
James F. Coles, Karen Riva-Murray, Peter C. Van Metre, Daniel T. Button, Amanda H. Bell, Sharon L. Qi, Celeste A. Journey, Rich W. Sheibley
2019, Open-File Report 2018-1183
During 2016, as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project (NAWQA), the U.S. Geological Survey conducted the Northeast Stream Quality Assessment (NESQA) to investigate stream quality in the northeastern United States. The goal of the NESQA was to assess the health of wadeable streams in the region by characterizing multiple...
Factors affecting the occurrence of lead and manganese in untreated drinking water from Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain aquifers, eastern United States—Dissolved oxygen and pH framework for evaluating risk of elevated concentrations
Craig J. Brown, Jeannie R. B. Barlow, Charles A. Cravotta III, Bruce D. Lindsey
2019, Applied Geochemistry (101) 88-102
Groundwater samples collected during 2012 and 2013 from public-supply wells screened in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain aquifers of the eastern and southeastern U.S. rarely contained lead or manganese concentrations that exceeded drinking-water limits, despite having corrosive characteristics. Data indicate that the occurrence of dissolved lead and manganese in sampled groundwater, prior to...
Enhancement of primary production during drought in a temperate watershed is greater in larger rivers than headwater streams
Jacob D. Hosen, Kelly S. Aho, Alison P. Appling, E.C. Creech, Jennifer H Fair, Robert O Jr. Hall, Ethan Kyzivat, Rachel Lowenthal, Serena Matt, Jonathan Morrison, James E. Saiers, James B. Shanley, Lisa Weber, Bryan Yoon, Peter A. Raymond
2019, Limnology & Oceanography (64) 1458-1472
Drought is common in rivers, yet how this disturbance regulates metabolic activity across network scales is largely unknown. Drought often lowers gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) in small headwaters but by contrast can enhance GPP and cause algal blooms in downstream estuaries. We estimated ecosystem metabolism across...
Identifying natural and anthropogenic variability of uranium at the well scale, Homestake Superfund site, near Milan, New Mexico, USA
Philip T. Harte, Johanna M. Blake, Jonathan V. Thomas, Kent Becher
2019, Environmental Earth Sciences (78) 1-19
The San Mateo Creek Basin in New Mexico, USA is located within the Grants Mineral Belt-an area with numerous uranium (U) ore deposits, mines, and milling operations. Six monitoring wells set in an alluvial aquifer near the Homestake Mining Co. Superfund site in the lower San Mateo Creek Basin were...
Simulating runoff quality with the highway-runoff database and the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model
Gregory E. Granato, Susan C. Jones
2019, Transportation Research Record (2673) 136-142
Stormwater practitioners need quantitative information about the quality and volume of highway runoff to assess and mitigate potential adverse effects of runoff on the Nation’s receiving waters. The U.S. Geological Survey developed the Highway Runoff Database (HRDB) in cooperation with the FHWA to provide practice-ready information to...
A new indicator framework for quantifying the intensity of the terrestrialwater cycle
Thomas G. Huntington, Peter Weiskel, David M. Wolock, Gregory J. McCabe
2019, Journal of Hydrology (559) 361-372
A quantitative framework for characterizing the intensity of the water cycle over land is presented, and illustrated using a spatially distributed water-balance model of the conterminous United States (CONUS). We approach water cycle intensity (WCI) from a landscape perspective; WCI is defined as the sum of precipitation (P) and actual...
Evidence for conservative transport of dissolved organic carbon in major river basins in the Gulf of Maine Watershed
Thomas G. Huntington, Collin S. Roesler, George R. Aiken
2019, Journal of Hydrology (573) 755-767
Transport and fate of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in rivers are important aspects of the carbon cycle and the critical linkage between terrestrial, aquatic, and marine systems. Recent studies have quantified fluvial export to the marine environment in many systems, but in-stream losses of DOC are poorly constrained. This study...
