Design, analysis, and interpretation of field quality-control data for water-sampling projects
David K. Mueller, Terry L. Schertz, Jeffrey D. Martin, Mark W. Sandstrom
2015, Techniques and Methods 4-C4
The process of obtaining and analyzing water samples from the environment includes a number of steps that can affect the reported result. The equipment used to collect and filter samples, the bottles used for specific subsamples, any added preservatives, sample storage in the field, and shipment to the laboratory have...
Climate-water quality relationships in Texas reservoirs
Rodica Gelca, Katharine Hayhoe, Ian Scott-Fleming, Caleb Crow, D. Dawson, Reynaldo Patino
2015, Hydrological Processes (30) 12-29
Water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and concentrations of salts in surface water bodies can be affected by the natural environment, local human activities such as surface and ground water withdrawals, land use, and energy extraction, and variability and long-term trends in atmospheric conditions including temperature and precipitation. Here, we quantify the...
Organic contaminant transport and fate in the subsurface: evolution of knowledge and understanding
Hedeff I. Essaid, Barbara A. Bekins, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 4861-4902
Toxic organic contaminants may enter the subsurface as slightly soluble and volatile nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) or as dissolved solutes resulting in contaminant plumes emanating from the source zone. A large body of research published in Water Resources Research has been devoted to characterizing and understanding processes controlling the transport and fate...
The Effect of modeled recharge distribution on simulated groundwater availability and capture
Fred D. Tillman, Donald R. Pool, Stanley A. Leake
2015, Groundwater (53) 378-388
Simulating groundwater flow in basin-fill aquifers of the semiarid southwestern United States commonly requires decisions about how to distribute aquifer recharge. Precipitation can recharge basin-fill aquifers by direct infiltration and transport through faults and fractures in the high-elevation areas, by flowing overland through high-elevation areas to infiltrate at basin-fill margins...
Building a multi-scaled geospatial temporal ecology database from disparate data sources: Fostering open science through data reuse
Patricia A. Soranno, E.G. Bissell, Kendra S. Cheruvelil, Samuel T. Christel, Sarah M. Collins, C. Emi Fergus, Christopher T. Filstrup, Jean-Francois Lapierre, Noah R. Lotting, Samantha K. Oliver, Caren E. Scott, Nicole J. Smith, Scott Stopyak, Shuai Yuan, Mary Tate Bremigan, John A. Downing, Corinna Gries, Emily N. Henry, Nick K. Skaff, Emily H. Stanley, Craig A. Stow, Pang-Ning Tan, Tyler Wagner, Katherine E. Webster
2015, GigaScience (4)
Although there are considerable site-based data for individual or groups of ecosystems, these datasets are widely scattered, have different data formats and conventions, and often have limited accessibility. At the broader scale, national datasets exist for a large number of geospatial features of land, water, and air that are needed...
Water's Way at Sleepers River watershed – revisiting flow generation in a post-glacial landscape, Vermont USA
James B. Shanley, Stephen D. Sebestyen, Jeffrey J. McDonnell, Brian L. McGlynn, Thomas Dunne
2015, Hydrological Processes (29) 3447-3459
The Sleepers River Research Watershed (SRRW) in Vermont, USA, has been the site of active hydrologic research since 1959 and was the setting where Dunne and Black demonstrated the importance and controls of saturation-excess overland flow (SOF) on streamflow generation. Here, we review the early studies from the SRRW and...
Tracing the cycling and fate of the explosive 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene in coastal marine systems with a stable isotopic tracer, 15N-[TNT]
Richard W. Smith, Penny Vlahos, J.K. Bohlke, Thivanka Ariyarathna, Mark Ballentine, Christopher Cooper, Stephen Fallis, Thomas J. Groshens, Craig R. Tobias
2015, Environmental Science & Technology (49) 12223-12231
2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) has been used as a military explosive for over a hundred years. Contamination concerns have arisen as a result of manufacturing and use on a large scale; however, despite decades of work addressing TNT contamination in the environment, its fate in marine ecosystems is not fully resolved. Here...
Flood Map for the Winooski River in Waterbury, Vermont, 2014
Scott A. Olson
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5077
From August 28 to 29, 2011, Tropical Storm Irene delivered rainfall ranging from approximately 4 to more than 7 inches in the Winooski River Basin in Vermont. The rainfall resulted in severe flooding throughout the basin and significant damage along the Winooski River. In response to the flooding, the U.S....
Integrating multiple distribution models to guide conservation efforts of an endangered toad
Michael L. Treglia, Robert N. Fisher, Lee A. Fitzgerald
2015, PLoS ONE (10) 1-18
Species distribution models are used for numerous purposes such as predicting changes in species’ ranges and identifying biodiversity hotspots. Although implications of distribution models for conservation are often implicit, few studies use these tools explicitly to inform conservation efforts. Herein, we illustrate how multiple distribution models developed using distinct sets...
Sediment conditions in the San Antonio River Basin downstream from San Antonio, Texas, 2000-13
Darwin J. Ockerman, J. Ryan Banta, Cassi L. Crow, Stephen P. Opsahl
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3043
Sediment plays an important role in the ecological health of rivers and estuaries and consequently is an important issue for water-resource managers. To better understand sediment characteristics in the San Antonio River Basin, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the San Antonio River Authority, completed a two-part study in...
Hydrologic influences on water-level changes in the Eastern Snake River Plain aquifer at and near the Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho, 1949-2014
Roy C. Bartholomay, Brian V. Twining
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5085
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, has maintained a water-level monitoring program at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) since 1949 to systematically measure water levels to provide long-term information on groundwater recharge, discharge, movement, and storage in the eastern Snake River Plain (ESRP) aquifer....
Linking dynamic habitat selection with wading bird foraging distributions across resource gradients
James M. Beerens, Erik G. Noonberg, Dale E. Gawlik
2015, PLoS ONE (10) 1-25
Species distribution models (SDM) link species occurrence with a suite of environmental predictors and provide an estimate of habitat quality when the variable set captures the biological requirements of the species. SDMs are inherently more complex when they include components of a species' ecology such as conspecific attraction and behavioral...
Framework for a hydrologic climate-response network in New England
Robert M. Lent, Glenn A. Hodgkins, Robert W. Dudley, Luther Schalk
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1062
Many climate-related hydrologic variables in New England have changed in the past century, and many are expected to change during the next century. It is important to understand and monitor these changes because they can affect human water supply, hydroelectric power generation, transportation infrastructure, and stream and riparian ecology. This...
Measurements of the initiation of post-wildfire runoff during rainstorms using in situ overland flow detectors
John A. Moody, Richard G. Martin
2015, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (40) 1043-1056
Overland flow detectors (OFDs) were deployed in 2012 on a hillslope burned by the 2010 Fourmile Canyon fire near Boulder, Colorado, USA. These detectors were simple, electrical resistor-type instruments that output a voltage (0–2·5 V) and were designed to measure and record the time of runoff initiation, a signal proportional...
Regional scale estimates of baseflow and factors influencing baseflow in the Upper Colorado River Basin
Christine Rumsey, Matthew P. Miller, David D. Susong, Fred D. Tillman, David W. Anning
2015, Journal of Hydrology (4) 91-107
Study region The study region encompasses the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB), which provides water for 40 million people and is a vital part of the water supply in the western U.S. Study focus Groundwater and surface water can be considered a single water resource and thus it...
Geologic and geomorphic controls on the occurrence of fens in the Oregon Cascades and implications for vulnerability and conservation
A. Aldous, Marshall W. Gannett, Mackenzie K. Keith, James E. O'Connor
2015, Wetlands (35) 757-767
Montane fens are biologically diverse peat-forming wetlands that develop at points of groundwater discharge. To protect these ecosystems, it is critical to understand their locations on the landscape and the hydrogeologic systems that support them. The upper Deschutes Basin has a groundwater flow system that supports baseflow in many rivers,...
Physical characteristics and fish assemblage composition at site and mesohabitat scales over a range of streamflows in the Middle Rio Grande, New Mexico, winter 2011-12, summer 2012
Christopher L. Braun, Daniel K. Pearson, Michael D. Porter, J. Bruce Moring
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5025
In winter 2011–12 and summer 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque District and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service New Mexico Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office in Albuquerque, New Mexico, evaluated the physical characteristics and fish assemblage composition of available...
First steps of integrated spatial modeling of titanium, zirconium, and rare earth element resources within the Coastal Plain sediments of the southeastern United States
Karl J. Ellefsen, Bradley S. Van Gosen, David L. Fey, James R. Budahn, Steven M. Smith, Anjana K. Shah
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1111
The Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States has extensive, unconsolidated sedimentary deposits that are enriched in heavy minerals containing titanium, zirconium, and rare earth element resources. Areas favorable for exploration and development of these resources are being identified by geochemical data, which are supplemented with geological, geophysical, hydrological, and...
Dam failure analysis for the Lago de Matrullas Dam, Orocovis, Puerto Rico
Heriberto Torres-Sierra, Julieta Gómez-Fragoso
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5065
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, completed a hydrologic and hydraulic study to assess the potential hazard to human life and property associated with the hypothetical failure of the Lago de Matrullas Dam, located within the headwaters of the Río Grande de Manatí....
Quantifying water flow and retention in an unsaturated fracture-facial domain
John R. Nimmo, Siamak Malek-Mohammadi
2015, Book chapter, Fluid dynamics in complex fractured-porous systems
Hydrologically significant flow and storage of water occur in macropores and fractures that are only partially filled. To accommodate such processes in flow models, we propose a three-domain framework. Two of the domains correspond to water flow and water storage in a fracture-facial region, in addition to the third domain...
Organic carbon burial in lakes and reservoirs of the conterminous United States
David W. Clow, Sarah M. Stackpoole, Kristine L. Verdin, David E. Butman, Zhi-Liang Zhu, David P. Krabbenhoft, Robert G. Striegl
2015, Environmental Science & Technology (49) 7614-7622
Organic carbon (OC) burial in lacustrine sediments represents an important sink in the global carbon cycle; however, large-scale OC burial rates are poorly constrained, primarily because of the sparseness of available data sets. Here we present an analysis of OC burial rates in water bodies of the conterminous U.S. (CONUS)...
Surface monitoring of microseismicity at the Decatur, Illinois, CO2 sequestration demonstration site
J. Ole Kaven, Stephen H. Hickman, Arthur F. McGarr, William L. Ellsworth
2015, Seismological Research Letters (86) 1096-1101
Sequestration of CO2 into subsurface reservoirs can play an important role in limiting future emission of CO2 into the atmosphere (e.g., Benson and Cole, 2008). For geologic sequestration to become a viable option to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, large-volume injection of supercritical CO2 into deep sedimentary formations is required. These...
Hydrologic model of the Modesto Region, California, 1960-2004
Steven P. Phillips, Diane L. Rewis, Jonathan A. Traum
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5045
Strategies for managing water supplies and groundwater quality in the Modesto region of the eastern San Joaquin Valley, California, are being formulated and evaluated by the Stanislaus and Tuolumne Rivers Groundwater Basin Association. Management issues and goals in the basin include an area in the lower part of the basin...
Hydrologic data from wells at or in the vicinity of the San Juan coal mine, San Juan County, New Mexico
Anne M. Stewart, Nicole Thomas
2015, Data Series 933
In 2010, in cooperation with the Mining and Minerals Division (MMD) of the State of New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) initiated a 4-year assessment of hydrologic conditions at the San Juan coal mine (SJCM), located about 14 miles west-northwest of the city...
Flood recovery maps for the White River in Bethel, Stockbridge, and Rochester, Vermont, and the Tweed River in Stockbridge and Pittsfield, Vermont, 2014
Scott A. Olson
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5056
From August 28 to 29, 2011, Tropical Storm Irene delivered rainfall ranging from about 4 inches to more than 7 inches in the White River Basin. The rainfall resulted in severe flooding throughout the basin and significant damage along the White River and Tweed River. In response to the flooding,...
