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We have long known that water and hydroxyl are important components in meteorites and asteroids. However, in the time since the publication of Asteroids III, evolution of astronomical instrumentation, laboratory capabilities, and theoretical models have led to great advances in our understanding of H2O/OH on small bodies, and spacecraft observations...

Wetlands at the Standard Chlorine of Delaware, Inc. Superfund Site (SCD) in New Castle County, Delaware, are affected by contamination with chlorobenzenes and benzene from past waste storage and disposal, spills, leaks, and contaminated groundwater discharge. In cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey began an...

Treated wastewater discharged from more than 400 onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) near the Civic Center area of Malibu, California, 40 km west of downtown Los Angeles, composes 28% of the recharge to a 3.4 km2 alluvial aquifer. On the basis of δ18O and δD data, the fraction of wastewater in...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funded drilling of a borehole (39.33889°N., 80.26542°W.) to evaluate the potential of enhanced coalbed-methane production from unminable Pennsylvanian coal beds at the Meadowfill Landfill near Bridgeport, Harrison County, W. Va. The drilling commenced on June 17, 2004, and was completed on July 1, 2004. The...

The Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory funded drilling of a borehole (39.64378°N., 80.04376°W.) to evaluate the potential for coalbed-methane and carbon-dioxide sequestration at Mylan Park, a public park in Monongalia County, W. Va. The total depth of the borehole was 2,525 feet (ft) and contained 1,483.41 ft of...

Thermal maturation patterns of Pennsylvanian strata in the Appalachian basin and part of the Black Warrior basin were determined by compiling previously published and unpublished percent-vitrinite-reflectance (%R0) measurements and preparing isograd maps on the basis of the measurements. The isograd values range from 0.6 %R0 in Ohio...

The first volcanic gas studies in Hawai‘i, beginning in 1912, established that volatile emissions from Kīlauea Volcano contained mostly water vapor, in addition to carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. This straightforward discovery overturned a popular volatile theory of the day and, in the same action, helped affirm Thomas A. Jaggar,...

This chapter, prepared in celebration of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatoryʼs centennial, provides a historical lens through which to view modern paradigms of Hawaiian-style eruption dynamics. The models presented here draw heavily from observations, monitoring, and experiments conducted on Kīlauea Volcano, which, as the site of frequent and accessible eruptions, has...

Introduction The Humboldt Range, Pershing County, Nevada, predominantly consists of Mesozoic igneous and sedimentary rocks that were modified several times by magmatism, metasomatism, and tectonism, and contain a variety of metallic (Ag, Au, Pb, Zn, Sb, W, Hg) and non-metallic (dumortierite, pinite, fluorite) mineral deposits (Knopf, 1924; Kerr and Jenney,...

The Santa Cruz porphyry Cu-(Mo) system near Casa Grande, Arizona, includes the Sacaton mine deposits and at least five other concealed, mineralized fault blocks with an estimated minimum resource of 1.5 Gt @ 0.6% Cu. The Late Cretaceous-Paleocene system has been dismembered and rotated by Tertiary extension, partially eroded, and...

Groundwater quality in the Sierra Nevada Regional (SNR) study unit was investigated as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board’s Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment Program Priority Basin Project. The study was designed to provide statistically unbiased assessments of the quality of untreated groundwater within the primary aquifer...

Water samples were collected from 14 production wells and 15 private wells in central New York from August through December 2012 in a study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The samples were analyzed to characterize the groundwater quality...

Records were obtained for 305 wells and 1 spring in northwestern Lee and southeastern Chatham counties, North Carolina. Well depths ranged from 26 to 720 feet and yields ranged from 0.25 to 100 gallons per minute. A subset of 56 wells and 1 spring were sampled for baseline groundwaterquality constituents...

Groundwater quality in the 1,850-square-mile North San Francisco Bay Shallow Aquifer (NSF-SA) study unit was investigated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from April to August 2012, as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program’s Priority Basin Project (PBP). The...

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that accumulates in fish to levels of concern for human health and the health of fish-eating wildlife. Mercury contamination of fish is the primary reason for issuing fish consumption advisories, which exist in every State in the Nation. Much of the mercury originates from combustion...

Synthesis of rock-core sampling and chlorinated volatile organic compound (CVOC) analysis at five coreholes, with hydraulic and water-quality monitoring and a detailed hydrogeologic framework, was used to characterize the fine-scale distribution of CVOCs in dipping, fractured mudstones of the Lockatong Formation of Triassic age, of the Newark Basin in West...

The Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field is characterized by extensive seismicity, episodes of uplift and subsidence, and a hydrothermal system that comprises more than 10,000 thermal features, including geysers, fumaroles, mud pots, thermal springs, and hydrothermal explosion craters. The diverse chemical and isotopic compositions of waters and gases derive from mantle,...

Surface water and air volatile organic compound (VOC) data from 10 U.S. Geological Survey monitoring sites were used to evaluate the potential for direct transport of VOCs from the atmosphere to urban streams. Analytical results of 87 VOC compounds were screened by evaluating the occurrence and detection levels in both...

Groundwater samples were collected from 146 shallow (less than or equal to 500 feet deep) wells for the Wyoming Groundwater-Quality Monitoring Network, from November 2009 through September 2012. Groundwater samples were analyzed for physical characteristics, major ions and dissolved solids, trace elements, nutrients and dissolved organic carbon, uranium, stable isotopes...

Between February and June 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey collected representative samples of whole water, suspended sediment, and (or) bed sediment from a single strategically located site on the Duwamish River, Washington, during seven periods of different flow conditions. Samples were analyzed by Washington-State-accredited laboratories for a large suite of...

Groundwater quality in the Klamath Mountains (KLAM) study unit was investigated as part of the Priority Basin Project of the California Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The study unit is located in Del Norte, Humboldt, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties. The GAMA Priority Basin Project is being...

Previous investigations indicate that concentrations of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) are substantial in groundwater beneath the 9-acre former landfill at Operable Unit 1, Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Keyport, Washington. The U.S. Geological Survey has continued to monitor groundwater geochemistry to ensure that conditions remain favorable for contaminant biodegradation...

The age distribution of water from a public-supply well in a deep alluvial aquifer was estimated and used to help explain arsenic variability in the water. The age distribution was computed using a ternary mixing model that combines three lumped parameter models of advection-dispersion transport of environmental tracers, which represent...

Application of U-series dating to volcanic rocks provides unique and valuable information about the absolute timing of crystallization and differentiation of magmas prior to eruption. The 238U–230Th and 230Th-226Ra methods are the most commonly employed for dating the crystallization of mafic to silicic magmas that erupt at volcanoes. Dates derived...

Public-supply wells near the rural town of McBee, in southwestern Chesterfield County, South Carolina, have provided potable water to more than 35,000 residents throughout Chesterfield County since the early 1990s. Groundwater samples collected between 2002 and 2008 in the McBee area by South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control...