Use of stable isotope signatures to determine mercury sources in the Great Lakes
Ryan F. Lepak, Runsheng Yin, David P. Krabbenhoft, Jacob M. Ogorek, John F. DeWild, Thomas M. Holsen, James P. Hurley
2015, Environmental Science & Technology Letters (2)-335
Sources of mercury (Hg) in Great Lakes sediments were assessed with stable Hg isotope ratios using multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. An isotopic mixing model based on mass-dependent (MDF) and mass-independent fractionation (MIF) (δ202Hg and Δ199Hg) identified three primary Hg sources for sediments: atmospheric, industrial, and watershed-derived. Results indicate...
Reactive transport modeling of geochemical controls on secondary water quality impacts at a crude oil spill site near Bemidji, MN
Gene-Hua Crystal Ng, Barbara A. Bekins, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Mary Jo Baedecker, Philip C. Bennett, Richard T. Amos, William N. Herkelrath
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 4156-4183
Anaerobic biodegradation of organic amendments and contaminants in aquifers can trigger secondary water quality impacts that impair groundwater resources. Reactive transport models help elucidate how diverse geochemical reactions control the spatiotemporal evolution of these impacts. Using extensive monitoring data from a crude oil spill site near Bemidji, Minnesota (USA), we...
Hydrogeochemical effects of a bulkhead in the Dinero mine tunnel, Sugar Loaf mining district, near Leadville, Colorado
Katherine Walton-Day, Taylor J. Mills
2015, Applied Geochemistry (62) 61-74
The Dinero mine drainage tunnel is an abandoned, draining mine adit near Leadville, Colorado, that has an adverse effect on downstream water quality and aquatic life. In 2009, a bulkhead was constructed (creating a mine pool and increasing water-table elevations behind the tunnel) to limit drainage from the tunnel and...
Potential estrogenic effects of wastewaters on gene expression in Pimephales promelas and fish assemblages in streams of southeastern New York
Barry P. Baldigo, Scott D. George, Patrick J. Phillips, Joceyln D. C. Hemming, Nancy D. Denslow, Kevin J. Kroll
2015, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (34) 2803-2815
Direct linkages between endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) from municipal and industrial wastewaters and impacts on wild fish assemblages are rare. The levels of plasma vitellogenin (Vtg) and Vtg messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) in male fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) exposed to wastewater effluents and dilutions of 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), estrogen activity, and fish...
Agencies collaborate, develop a cyanobacteria assessment network
Blake A. Schaeffer, Keith A. Loftin, Richard P. Stumpf, P. Jeremy Werdell
2015, Eos, Earth and Space Science News (96)
Cyanobacteria are a genetically diverse group of photosynthetic microorganisms that occupy a broad range of habitats on land and water all over the world. They release toxins that can cause lung and skin irritation, alter the taste and odor of potable water, and cause human and animal illness. Cyanobacteria blooms...
Consolidation drainage and climate change may reduce Piping Plover habitat in the Great Plains
Lisa A. McCauley, Michael J. Anteau, Max Post van der Burg
2015, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (7)
Many waterbird species utilize a diversity of aquatic habitats; however, with increasing anthropogenic needs to manage water regimes there is global concern over impacts to waterbird populations. The federally threatened Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus; hereafter plovers) is a shorebird that breeds in three habitat types in the Prairie Pothole Region...
Accounting for time- and space-varying changes in the gravity field to improve the network adjustment of relative-gravity data
Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Ty P.A. Ferre
2015, Geophysical Journal International (2) 892-906
The relative gravimeter is the primary terrestrial instrument for measuring spatially and temporally varying gravitational fields. The background noise of the instrument—that is, non-linear drift and random tares—typically requires some form of least-squares network adjustment to integrate data collected during a campaign that may take several days to weeks. Here,...
smwrData—An R package of example hydrologic data, version 1.1.1
David L. Lorenz
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1103
A collection of 24 datasets, including streamflow, well characteristics, groundwater elevations, and discrete water-quality concentrations, is provided to produce a consistent set of example data to demonstrate typical data manipulations or statistical analysis of hydrologic data. These example data are provided in an R package called smwrData. The data in...
Hydrogeology and sources of water to select springs in Black Canyon, south of Hoover Dam, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada and Arizona
Michael J. Moran, Jon W. Wilson, L. Sue Beard
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5130
Springs in Black Canyon of the Colorado River, directly south of Hoover Dam in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada and Arizona, are important hydrologic features that support a unique riparian ecosystem including habitat for endangered species. Rapid population growth in areas near and surrounding Black Canyon has caused...
Climate and streamflow characteristics for selected streamgages in eastern South Dakota, water years 1945–2013
Galen K. Hoogestraat, John F. Stamm
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5146
Upward trends in precipitation and streamflow have been observed in the northeastern Missouri River Basin during the past century, including the area of eastern South Dakota. Some of the identified upward trends were anomalously large relative to surrounding parts of the northern Great Plains. Forcing factors for streamflow trends in...
Widespread occurrence of (per)chlorate in the Solar System
W. Andrew Jackson, Alfonso F Davila, Derek W. G. Sears, John D. Coates, Christopher P. McKay, Meaghan Brundrett, Nubia Estrada, J.K. Bohlke
2015, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (430) 470-476
Perchlorate (ClO− 4 ) and chlorate (ClO− 3 ) are ubiquitous on Earth and ClO− 4 has also been found on Mars. These species can play important roles in geochemical processes such as oxidation of organic matter and as biological electron acceptors, and are also indicators of important photochemical reactions...
Interpretation of hydraulic conductivity in a fractured-rock aquifer over increasingly larger length dimensions
Allen M. Shapiro, Jeffery Ladderud, Richard M. Yager
2015, Hydrogeology Journal (23) 1319-1339
A comparison of the hydraulic conductivity over increasingly larger volumes of crystalline rock was conducted in the Piedmont physiographic region near Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Fluid-injection tests were conducted on intervals of boreholes isolating closely spaced fractures. Single-hole tests were conducted by pumping in open boreholes for approximately 30 min, and an...
Mercury in stream water at five Czech catchments across a Hg and S deposition gradient
Tomáš Navrátil, James B. Shanley, Jan Rohovec, Filip Oulehle, Pavel Kram, Sarka Matouskova, Miroslav Tesar, Maria Hojdová
2015, Journal of Geochemical Exploration (158) 201-211
The Czech Republic was heavily industrialized in the second half of the 20th century but the associated emissions of Hg and S from coal burning were significantly reduced since the 1990s. We studied dissolved (filtered) stream water mercury (Hg) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations at five catchments with contrasting...
Stable carbon isotope fractionation during bacterial acetylene fermentation: Potential for life detection in hydrocarbon-rich volatiles of icy planet(oid)s
Laurence Miller, Shaun Baesman, Ron Oremland
2015, Astrobiology (15) 977-986
We report the first study of stable carbon isotope fractionation during microbial fermentation of acetylene (C2H2) in sediments, sediment enrichments, and bacterial cultures. Kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) averaged 3.7 ± 0.5‰ for slurries prepared with sediment collected at an intertidal mudflat in San Francisco Bay and 2.7 ± 0.2‰ for a pure culture of Pelobacter sp....
Photoreduction of Hg(II) and photodemethylation of methylmercury: the key role of thiol sites on dissolved organic matter
Jeffrey D. Jeremiason, Joshua C. Portner, George R. Aiken, Amber J. Hiranaka, Michelle T. Dvorak, Khuyen T. Tran, Douglas E. Latch
2015, Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts (17) 1892-1903
This study examined the kinetics of photoreduction of Hg(II) and photodemethylation of methylmercury (MeHg+) attached to, or in the presence of, dissolved organic matter (DOM). Both Hg(II) and MeHg+ are principally bound to reduced sulfur groups associated with DOM in many freshwater systems. We propose that a direct photolysis mechanism is...
The surface elevation table and marker horizon technique: A protocol for monitoring wetland elevation dynamics
James C. Lynch, Phillippe Hensel, Donald R. Cahoon
2015, Natural Resource Report NPS/NCBN/NRR—2015/1078
The National Park Service, in response to the growing evidence and awareness of the effects of climate change on federal lands, determined that monitoring wetland elevation change is a top priority in North Atlantic Coastal parks (Stevens et al, 2010). As a result, the NPS Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network...
Effects and quantification of acid runoff from sulfide-bearing rock deposited during construction of Highway E18, Norway
Atle Hindar, D. Kirk Nordstrom
2015, Applied Geochemistry (62) 150-163
The Highway E18 between the cities of Grimstad and Kristiansand, southern Norway, constructed in the period 2006–2009, cuts through sulfide-bearing rock. The geology of this area is dominated by slowly-weathering gneiss and granites, and oxidation of fresh rock surfaces can result in acidification of surface water. Sulfide-containing rock waste from...
Hydrology of and Current Monitoring Issues for the Chicago Area Waterway System, Northeastern Illinois
James J. Duncker, Kevin K. Johnson
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5115
The Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS) consists of a combination of natural and manmade channels that form an interconnected navigable waterway of approximately 90-plus miles in the metropolitan Chicago area of northeastern Illinois. The CAWS serves the area as the primary drainage feature, a waterway transportation corridor, and recreational waterbody....
Water-level data for the Albuquerque Basin and adjacent areas, central New Mexico, period of record through September 30, 2014
Joseph E. Beman
2015, Data Series 963
The Albuquerque Basin, located in central New Mexico, is about 100 miles long and 25–40 miles wide. The basin is hydrologically defined as the extent of consolidated and unconsolidated deposits of Tertiary and Quaternary age that encompasses the structural Rio Grande Rift. Drinking-water supplies throughout the basin were obtained solely...
Temporal geochemical variations in above- and below-drainage coal mine discharge
Jill E. Burrows, Stephen C. Peters, Charles A. Cravotta III,
2015, Applied Geochemistry (62) 84-95
Water quality data collected in 2012 for 10 above- and 14 below-drainage coal mine discharges (CMDs), classified by mining or excavation method, in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania, USA, are compared with data for 1975, 1991, and 1999 to evaluate long-term (37 year) changes in pH, SO42−, and Fe concentrations related...
Interactive effects of climate change with nutrients, mercury, and freshwater acidification on key taxa in the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative region
Alfred E. Pinkney, Charles T. Driscoll, David C. Evers, Michael J. Hooper, Jeffrey Horan, Jess W. Jones, Rebecca S. Lazarus, Harold G. Marshall, Andrew Milliken, Barnett A. Rattner, John J. Schmerfeld, Donald W. Sparling
2015, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (11) 355-369
The North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative LCC (NA LCC) is a public–private partnership that provides information to support conservation decisions that may be affected by global climate change (GCC) and other threats. The NA LCC region extends from southeast Virginia to the Canadian Maritime Provinces. Within this region, the US...
Initial characterization of the groundwater system near the Lower Colorado Water Supply Project, Imperial Valley, California
Alissa L. Coes, Michael Land, Jill N. Densmore, Michael T. Landrum, Kimberly R. Beisner, Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Jamie P. Macy, Fred D. Tillman
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5102
In 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the city of Needles, began a study of the hydrogeology along the All-American Canal, which conveys water from the Colorado River to the Imperial Valley. The focus of this study was to gain a better understanding of the effect of...
Simulation of daily streamflow for nine river basins in eastern Iowa using the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System
Adel E. Haj, Daniel E. Christiansen, Kasey J. Hutchinson
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5129
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, constructed Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System models to estimate daily streamflow for nine river basins in eastern Iowa that drain into the Mississippi River. The models are part of a suite of methods for estimating daily streamflow at ungaged...
Flood-inundation maps for South Fork Peachtree Creek from the Brockett Road bridge to the Willivee Drive bridge, DeKalb County, Georgia
Jonathan W. Musser
2015, Scientific Investigations Map 3347
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 5.3-mile reach of South Fork Peachtree Creek that extends from about 500 feet above the Brockett Road bridge to the Willivee Drive bridge were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with DeKalb County, Georgia. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through...
Relating subsurface temperature changes to microbial activity at a crude oil-contaminated site
Ean Warren, Barbara A. Bekins
2015, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology (182) 183-193
Crude oil at a spill site near Bemidji, Minnesota has been undergoing aerobic and anaerobic biodegradation for over 30 years, creating a 150–200 m plume of primary and secondary contaminants. Microbial degradation generates heat that should be measurable under the right conditions. To measure this heat, thermistors were installed in wells in...
