Ranking contributing areas of salt and selenium in the Lower Gunnison River Basin, Colorado, using multiple linear regression models
Joshua I. Linard
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5075
Mitigating the effects of salt and selenium on water quality in the Grand Valley and lower Gunnison River Basin in western Colorado is a major concern for land managers. Previous modeling indicated means to improve the models by including more detailed geospatial data and a more rigorous method for developing...
Geohydrology, geochemistry, and groundwater simulation (1992-2011) and analysis of potential water-supply management options, 2010-60, of the Langford Basin, California
Lois M. Voronin, Jill N. Densmore, Peter Martin, Charles F. Brush, Carl S. Carlson, David M. Miller
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5101
Groundwater withdrawals began in 1992 from the Langford Basin within the Fort Irwin National Training Center (NTC), California. From April 1992 to December 2010, approximately 12,300 acre-feet of water (averaging about 650 acre-feet per year) has been withdrawn from the basin and transported to the adjacent Irwin Basin. Since withdrawals...
Linking river management to species conservation using dynamic landscape scale models
Mary Freeman, Gary R. Buell, Lauren E. Hay, W. Brian Hughes, Robert B. Jacobson, John Jones, S.A. Jones, Jacob H. LaFontaine, Kenneth R. Odom, James Peterson, Jeffrey W. Riley, J. Stephen Schindler, C. Shea, J.D. Weaver
2013, River Research and Applications (29) 906-918
Efforts to conserve stream and river biota could benefit from tools that allow managers to evaluate landscape-scale changes in species distributions in response to water management decisions. We present a framework and methods for integrating hydrology, geographic context and metapopulation processes to simulate effects of changes in streamflow on fish...
Sediment distribution and hydrologic conditions of the Potomac aquifer in Virginia and parts of Maryland and North Carolina
Randolph E. McFarland
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5116
Sediments of the heavily used Potomac aquifer broadly contrast across major structural features of the Atlantic Coastal Plain Physiographic Province in eastern Virginia and adjacent parts of Maryland and North Carolina. Thicknesses and relative dominance of the highly interbedded fluvial sediments vary regionally. Vertical intervals in boreholes of coarse-grained sediment...
Submergence Vulnerability Index development and application to Coastwide Reference Monitoring System Sites and Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act projects
Camille L. Stagg, Leigh A. Sharp, Thomas E. McGinnis, Gregg A. Snedden
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1163
Since its implementation in 2003, the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) in Louisiana has facilitated the creation of a comprehensive dataset that includes, but is not limited to, vegetation, hydrologic, and soil metrics on a coastwide scale. The primary impetus for this data collection is to assess land management activities,...
Environmental consequences of the Retsof Salt Mine roof collapse
Richard M. Yager
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1174
In 1994, the largest salt mine in North America, which had been in operation for more than 100 years, catastrophically flooded when the mine ceiling collapsed. In addition to causing the loss of the mine and the mineral resources it provided, this event formed sinkholes, caused widespread subsidence to land,...
A comprehensive evaluation of two MODIS evapotranspiration products over the conterminous United States: using point and gridded FLUXNET and water balance ET
Naga M. Velpuri, Gabriel B. Senay, Ramesh K. Singh, Stefanie Bohms, James P. Verdin
2013, Remote Sensing of Environment (139) 35-49
Remote sensing datasets are increasingly being used to provide spatially explicit large scale evapotranspiration (ET) estimates. Extensive evaluation of such large scale estimates is necessary before they can be used in various applications. In this study, two monthly MODIS 1 km ET products, MODIS global ET (MOD16) and Operational Simplified...
Numerical simulation of the groundwater-flow system in Chimacum Creek Basin and vicinity, Jefferson County, Washington
Joseph L. Jones, Kenneth H. Johnson, Lonna M. Frans
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5160
A groundwater-flow model was developed to evaluate potential future effects of growth and of water-management strategies on water resources in the Chimacum Creek Basin. The model covers an area of about 64 square miles (mi2) on the Olympic Peninsula in northeastern Jefferson County, Washington. The Chimacum Creek Basin drains an...
Evaluation of internal loading and water level changes: implications for phosphorus, algal production, and nuisance blooms in Kabetogama Lake, Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota
Victoria G. Christensen, Ryan P. Maki, Richard L. Kiesling
2013, Lake and Reservoir Management (29) 202-215
Hydrologic manipulations have the potential to exacerbate or remediate eutrophication in productive reservoirs. Dam operations at Kabetogama Lake, Minnesota, were modified in 2000 to restore a more natural water regime and improve water quality. The US Geological Survey and National Park Service evaluated nutrient, algae, and nuisance bloom data in...
Evaluation of the groundwater flow model for southern Utah and Goshen Valleys, Utah, updated to conditions through 2011, with new projections and groundwater management simulations
Lynette E. Brooks
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1171
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Southern Utah Valley Municipal Water Association, updated an existing USGS model of southern Utah and Goshen Valleys for hydrologic and climatic conditions from 1991 to 2011 and used the model for projection and groundwater management simulations. All model files used in...
Application of the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin in the southeastern United States
Jacob H. LaFontaine, Lauren E. Hay, Roland J. Viger, Steve L. Markstrom, R. Steve Regan, Caroline M. Elliott, John Jones
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5162
A hydrologic model of the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin (ACFB) has been developed as part of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center effort to provide integrated science that helps resource managers understand the effect of climate change on a range of ecosystem responses. The hydrologic...
Flood-inundation maps for the Wabash River at Terre Haute, Indiana
Pamela J. Lombard
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3232
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.3-mi reach of the Wabash River from 0.1 mi downstream of the Interstate 70 bridge to 1.1 miles upstream of the Route 63 bridge, Terre Haute, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The inundation...
Crusts: biological
Jayne Belnap
Scott A. Elias, editor(s)
2013, Book chapter, Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences
Biological soil crusts, a community of cyanobacteria, lichens, mosses, and fungi, are an essential part of dryland ecosystems. They are critical in the stabilization of soils, protecting them from wind and water erosion. Similarly, these soil surface communities also stabilized soils on early Earth, allowing vascular plants to establish. They...
Increases in flood magnitudes in California under warming climates
Tapash Das, Edwin P. Maurer, David W. Pierce, Michael D. Dettinger, Daniel R. Cayah
2013, Journal of Hydrology (501) 101-110
Downscaled and hydrologically modeled projections from an ensemble of 16 Global Climate Models suggest that flooding may become more intense on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains, the primary source for California’s managed water system. By the end of the 21st century, all 16 climate projections for the...
Wetlands serve as natural sources for improvement of stream ecosystem health in regions affected by acid deposition
Katrina L Pound, Gregory B. Lawrence, Sophia I. Passy
2013, Global Change Biology (19) 2720-2728
For over 40 years, acid deposition has been recognized as a serious international environmental problem, but efforts to restore acidified streams and biota have had limited success. The need to better understand the effects of different sources of acidity on streams has become more pressing with the recent increases in...
Temporal and spatial variability of groundwater recharge on Jeju Island, Korea
Alan Mair, Benjamin Hagedorn, Suzanne Tillery, Aly I. El-Kadi, Stephen M. Westenbroek, Kyoochul Ha, Gi-Won Koh
2013, Journal of Hydrology (501) 213-226
Estimates of groundwater recharge spatial and temporal variability are essential inputs to groundwater flow models that are used to test groundwater availability under different management and climate conditions. In this study, a soil water balance analysis was conducted to estimate groundwater recharge on the island of Jeju, Korea, for baseline,...
Representing the effects of alpine grassland vegetation cover on the simulation of soil thermal dynamics by ecosystem models applied to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
S. Yi, N. Li, B. Xiang, X. Wang, B. Ye, A. D. McGuire
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (118) 1186-1199
Soil surface temperature is a critical boundary condition for the simulation of soil temperature by environmental models. It is influenced by atmospheric and soil conditions and by vegetation cover. In sophisticated land surface models, it is simulated iteratively by solving surface energy budget equations. In ecosystem, permafrost, and hydrology models,...
Reconstructing vegetation response to altered hydrology and its use for restoration, Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Florida
Christopher E. Bernhardt, Laura A. Brandt, Bryan D. Landacre, Marci E. Marot, Debra A. Willard
2013, Wetlands (33) 1139-1149
We present reconstructed hydrologic and vegetation trends of the last three centuries across the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Florida in order to understand the effects of 20th century water management. We analyzed pollen assemblages from cores at marsh sites along three transects to document vegetation and infer...
Analysis and inundation mapping of the April-May 2011 flood at selected locations in northern and eastern Arkansas and southern Missouri
Drew A. Westerman, Katherine R. Merriman, Jeanne L. De Lanois, Charles Berenbrock
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5148
Precipitation that fell from April 19 through May 3, 2011, resulted in widespread flooding across northern and eastern Arkansas and southern Missouri. The first storm produced a total of approximately 16 inches of precipitation over an 8-day period, and the following storms produced as much as 12 inches of precipitation...
Reconnaissance investigation of the placer gold deposits in the Zarkashan Area of Interest, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan
Katherine C. Malpeli, Peter G. Chirico, Isabel H. McLoughlin
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1179
This study is a reconnaissance investigation of the placer gold deposits in the Zarkashan Area of Interest (AOI) in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. Detailed investigations of the Zarkashan gold deposits were conducted by Soviet and Afghan geologists in the 1960s and 1970s, prior to the development of satellite-based remote-sensing platforms and...
Method to support Total Maximum Daily Load development using hydrologic alteration as a surrogate to address aquatic life impairment in New Jersey streams
Jonathan G. Kennen, Melissa L. Riskin, Pamela A. Reilly, Susan J. Colarullo
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5089
More than 300 ambient monitoring sites in New Jersey have been identified by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) in its integrated water-quality monitoring and assessment report (that is, the 305(b) Report on general water quality and 303(d) List of waters that do not support their designated uses)...
Hybrid modeling of spatial continuity for application to numerical inverse problems
Michael J. Friedel, Fabio Iwashita
2013, Environmental Modelling and Software (43) 60-79
A novel two-step modeling approach is presented to obtain optimal starting values and geostatistical constraints for numerical inverse problems otherwise characterized by spatially-limited field data. First, a type of unsupervised neural network, called the self-organizing map (SOM), is trained to recognize nonlinear relations among environmental variables (covariates) occurring at various...
Knowledge and understanding of dissolved solids in the Rio Grande–San Acacia, New Mexico, to Fort Quitman, Texas, and plan for future studies and monitoring
Douglas Moyer, Scott K. Anderholm, James F. Hogan, Fred M. Phillips, Barry J. Hibbs, James C. Witcher, Anne Marie Matherne, Sarah E. Falk
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1190
Availability of water in the Rio Grande Basin has long been a primary concern for water-resource managers. The transport and delivery of water in the basin have been engineered by using reservoirs, irrigation canals and drains, and transmountain-water diversions to meet the agricultural, residential, and industrial demand. In contrast, despite...
Land change in the Central Corn Belt Plains Ecoregion and hydrologic consequences in developed areas: 1939-2000
Krista Karstensen, David Shaver, Randal Alexander, Thomas Over, David T. Soong
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1157
This report emphasizes the importance of a multi-disciplinary understanding of how land use and land cover can affect regional hydrology by collaboratively investigating how increases in developed land area may affect stream discharge by evaluating land-cover change from 1939 to 2000, urban housing density data from 1940 to 2010, and...
Relation between organic-wastewater compounds, groundwater geochemistry, and well characteristics for selected wells in Lansing, Michigan
Sheridan K. Haack, Carol L. Luukkonen
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5139
In 2010, groundwater from 20 Lansing Board of Water and Light (BWL) production wells was tested for 69 organic-wastewater compounds (OWCs). The OWCs detected in one-half of the sampled wells are widely used in industrial and environmental applications and commonly occur in many wastes and stormwater. To identify factors that...
