Expanded stream gauging includes groundwater data and trends
James E. Constantz, Jeannie R. B. Barlow, Cheryl Eddy-Miller, Rodney R. Caldwell, Jerrod D. Wheeler
2012, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union (93) 497-497
Population growth has increased water scarcity to the point that documenting current amounts of worldwide water resources is now as critical as any data collection in the Earth sciences. As a key element of this data collection, stream gauges yield continuous hydrologic information and document long-term trends, recording high-frequency hydrologic...
Geomorphic and hydrologic study of peak-flow management on the Cedar River, Washington
Christopher S. Magirl, Andrew S. Gendaszek, Christiana R. Czuba, Christopher P. Konrad, Mathieu D. Marineau
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1240
Assessing the linkages between high-flow events, geomorphic response, and effects on stream ecology is critical to river management. High flows on the gravel-bedded Cedar River in Washington are important to the geomorphic function of the river; however, high flows can deleteriously affect salmon embryos incubating in streambed gravels. A geomorphic...
Soil-water dynamics and unsaturated storage during snowmelt following wildfire
Brian A. Ebel, E.S. Hinckley, Deborah A. Martin
2012, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (16) 1401-1417
Many forested watersheds with a substantial fraction of precipitation delivered as snow have the potential for landscape disturbance by wildfire. Little is known about the immediate effects of wildfire on snowmelt and near-surface hydrologic responses, including soil-water storage. Montane systems at the rain-snow transition have soil-water dynamics that are further...
Reference hydrologic networks I. The status and potential future directions of national reference hydrologic networks for detecting trends
Paul H. Whitfield, Donald H. Burn, Jamie Hannaford, Helene Higgins, Glenn A. Hodgkins, Terry Marsh, Ulrich Looser
2012, Hydrological Sciences Journal (57) 1-18
Identifying climate-driven trends in river flows on a global basis is hampered by a lack of long, quality time series data for rivers with relatively undisturbed regimes. This is a global problem compounded by the lack of support for essential long-term monitoring. Experience demonstrates that, with clear strategic objectives, and...
Evaluation of streambed scour at bridges over tidal waterways in Alaska
Jeffrey S. Conaway, Paul V. Schauer
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5245
The potential for streambed scour was evaluated at 41 bridges that cross tidal waterways in Alaska. These bridges are subject to several coastal and riverine processes that have the potential, individually or in combination, to induce streambed scour or to damage the structure or adjacent channel. The proximity of a...
Reference hydrologic networks II. Using reference hydrologic networks to assess climate-driven changes in streamflow
Donald H. Burn, Jamie Hannaford, Glenn A. Hodgkins, Paul H. Whitfield, Robin Thorne, Terry Marsh
2012, Hydrological Sciences Journal (57) 1-15
Reference hydrologic networks (RHNs) can play an important role in monitoring for changes in the hydrological regime related to climate variation and change. Currently, the literature concerning hydrological response to climate variations is complex and confounded by the combinations of many methods of analysis, wide variations in hydrology, and the...
Concentrations, loads, and yields of organic carbon in streams of agricultural watersheds
Scott Kronholm, Paul Capel
2012, Journal of Environmental Quality (41) 1874-1883
Carbon is cycled to and from large reservoirs in the atmosphere, on land, and in the ocean. Movement of organic carbon from the terrestrial reservoir to the ocean plays an important role in the global cycling of carbon. The transition from natural to agricultural vegetation can change the storage and...
Dissolved organic matter composition of winter flow in the Yukon River basin: Implications of permafrost thaw and increased groundwater discharge
Jonathan A. O’Donnell, George R. Aiken, Michelle Ann Walvoord, Kenna D. Butler
2012, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (26) 1-18
Groundwater discharge to rivers has increased in recent decades across the circumpolar region and has been attributed to thawing permafrost in arctic and subarctic watersheds. Permafrost-driven changes in groundwater discharge will alter the flux of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in rivers, yet little is known about the chemical composition and...
Stream ecosystems change with urban development
Amanda H. Bell, F. Coles James, Gerard McMahon
2012, General Information Product 143
The healthy condition of the physical living space in a natural stream—defined by unaltered hydrology (streamflow), high diversity of habitat features, and natural water chemistry—supports diverse biological communities with aquatic species that are sensitive to disturbances. In a highly degraded urban stream, the poor condition of the physical living space—streambank and...
Science to support the understanding of Ohio's water resources
Kimberly Shaffer, Stephanie Kula, Phil Bambach, Donna Runkle
2012, Fact Sheet 2012-3118
Ohio’s water resources support a complex web of human activities and nature—clean and abundant water is needed for drinking, recreation, farming, and industry, as well as for fish and wildlife needs. The distribution of rainfall can cause floods and droughts, which affects streamflow, groundwater, water availability, water quality, recreation, and...
Use of the continuous slope-area method to estimate runoff in a network of ephemeral channels, southeast Arizona, USA
Anne M. Stewart, James B. Callegary, Christopher F. Smith, Hoshin V. Gupta, James M. Leenhouts, Robert A. Fritzinger
2012, Journal of Hydrology (472-473) 148-158
The continuous slope-area (CSA) method is an innovative gaging method for indirect computation of complete-event discharge hydrographs that can be applied when direct measurement methods are unsafe, impractical, or impossible to apply. This paper reports on use of the method to produce event-specific discharge hydrographs in a network of sand-bedded...
Determination of steroid hormones and related compounds in filtered and unfiltered water by solid-phase extraction, derivatization, and gas chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry
William T. Foreman, James L. Gray, Rhiannon C. ReVello, Chris E. Lindley, Scott A. Losche, Larry B. Barber
2012, Techniques and Methods 5-B9
A new analytical method has been developed and implemented at the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Laboratory that determines a suite of 20 steroid hormones and related compounds in filtered water (using laboratory schedule 2434) and in unfiltered water (using laboratory schedule 4434). This report documents the procedures and...
Microbial colonization and controls in dryland systems
Stephen B. Pointing, Jayne Belnap
2012, Nature Reviews Microbiology (10) 551-562
Drylands constitute the most extensive terrestrial biome, covering more than one-third of the Earth's continental surface. In these environments, stress limits animal and plant life, so life forms that can survive desiccation and then resume growth following subsequent wetting assume the foremost role in ecosystem processes. In this Review, we...
Simulated effects of alternative withdrawal strategies on groundwater flow in the unconfined Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer system, the Rio Grande water-bearing zone, and the Atlantic City 800-foot sand in the Great Egg Harbor and Mullica River Basins, New Jersey
Daryll A. Pope, Glen B. Carleton, Debra E. Buxton, Richard L. Walker, Jennifer L. Shourds, Pamela A. Reilly
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5187
Groundwater is essential for water supply and plays a critical role in maintaining the environmental health of freshwater and estuarine ecosystems in the Atlantic Coastal basins of New Jersey. The unconfined Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer system and the confined Atlantic City 800-foot sand are major sources of groundwater in the area, and...
Flood-inundation maps for the Leaf River at Hattiesburg, Mississippi
John B. Storm
2012, Scientific Investigations Map 3228
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 1.7-mile reach of the Leaf River were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the City of Hattiesburg, City of Petal, Forrest County, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, Mississippi Department of Homeland Security, and the Emergency Management District. The Leaf River study reach...
Bankfull-channel geometry and discharge curves for the Rocky Mountains Hydrologic Region in Wyoming
Katharine Foster
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5178
Regional curves relate bankfull-channel geometry and bankfull discharge to drainage area in regions with similar runoff characteristics and are used to estimate the bankfull discharge and bankfull-channel geometry when the drainage area of a stream is known. One-variable, ordinary least-squares regressions relating bankfull discharge, cross-sectional area, bankfull width, and bankfull...
Construction of estimated flow- and load-duration curves for Kentucky using the Water Availability Tool for Environmental Resources (WATER)
Michael D. Unthank, Jeremy K. Newson, Tanja N. Williamson, Hugh L. Nelson
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5168
Flow- and load-duration curves were constructed from the model outputs of the U.S. Geological Survey's Water Availability Tool for Environmental Resources (WATER) application for streams in Kentucky. The WATER application was designed to access multiple geospatial datasets to generate more than 60 years of statistically based streamflow data for Kentucky....
Characterizing the proposed geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada: hydrology and geochemistry
John S. Stuckless, Robert A. Levich
2012, Book chapter, Hydrology and geochemistry of Yucca Mountain and vicinity, Southern Nevada and California
This hydrology and geochemistry volume is a companion volume to the 2007 Geological Society of America Memoir 199, The Geology and Climatology of Yucca Mountain and Vicinity, Southern Nevada and California, edited by Stuckless and Levich. The work in both volumes was originally reported in the U.S. Department of Energy...
Hydrology of the unsaturated zone, Yucca Mountain, Nevada
Gary D. LeCain, John S. Stuckless
2012, Book chapter, Hydrology and geochemistry of Yucca Mountain and vicinity, Southern Nevada and California
The unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain was investigated as a possible site for the nation's first high-level nuclear waste repository. Scientific investigations included infiltration studies, matrix properties testing, borehole testing and monitoring, underground excavation and testing, and the development of conceptual and numerical models of the hydrologic processes at Yucca...
MiniSipper: A new in situ water sampler for high-resolution, long-duration acid mine drainage monitoring
Thomas P. Chapin, Andrew S. Todd
2012, Science of the Total Environment (439) 343-353
Abandoned hard-rock mines can be a significant source of acid mine drainage (AMD) and toxic metal pollution to watersheds. In Colorado, USA, abandoned mines are often located in remote, high elevation areas that are snowbound for 7–8 months of the year. The difficulty in accessing these remote sites, especially during...
Weathering processes in the Rio Icacos and Rio Mameyes watersheds in Eastern Puerto Rico: Chapter I in Water quality and landscape processes of four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico
Heather L. Buss, Arthur F. White
Sheila F. Murphy, Robert F. Stallard, editor(s)
2012, Professional Paper 1789-I
Streams draining watersheds of the two dominant lithologies (quartz diorite and volcaniclastic rock) in the Luquillo Experimental Forest of eastern Puerto Rico have very high fluxes of bedrock weathering products. The Río Blanco quartz diorite in the Icacos watershed and the Fajardo volcaniclastic rocks in the Mameyes watershed have some...
Difference infiltrometer: a method to measure temporally variable infiltration rates during rainstorms
John A. Moody, Brian A. Ebel
2012, Hydrological Processes (26) 3312-3318
We developed a difference infiltrometer to measure time series of non-steady infiltration rates during rainstorms at the point scale. The infiltrometer uses two, tipping bucket rain gages. One gage measures rainfall onto, and the other measures runoff from, a small circular plot about 0.5-m in diameter. The small size allows...
Water quality and mass transport in four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico: Chapter E in Water quality and landscape processes of four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico
Robert F. Stallard, Sheila F. Murphy
Sheila F. Murphy, Robert F. Stallard, editor(s)
2012, Professional Paper 1789-E
Water quality of four small watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico has been monitored since 1991 as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets program. These watersheds represent a montane, humid-tropical environment and differ in geology and land cover. Two watersheds are located on granitic rocks, and...
Regional regression models of watershed suspended-sediment discharge for the eastern United States
David C. Roman, Richard M. Vogel, Gregory E. Schwarz
2012, Journal of Hydrologic Engineering (472-4723) 53-62
Estimates of mean annual watershed sediment discharge, derived from long-term measurements of suspended-sediment concentration and streamflow, often are not available at locations of interest. The goal of this study was to develop multivariate regression models to enable prediction of mean annual suspended-sediment discharge from available basin characteristics useful for most...
Physiography, geology, and land cover of four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico: Chapter A in Water quality and landscape processes of four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico
Sheila F. Murphy, Robert F. Stallard, Matthew C. Larsen, William A. Gould
Sheila F. Murphy, editor(s)
2012, Professional Paper 1789-A
Four watersheds with differing geology and land cover in eastern Puerto Rico have been studied on a long-term basis by the U.S. Geological Survey to evaluate water, energy, and biogeochemical budgets. These watersheds are typical of tropical, island-arc settings found in many parts of the world. Two watersheds are located...
