Assessment of water-quality constituents monitored for total maximum daily loads in Johnson County, Kansas, January 2015 through December 2018
Brianna M. Leiker, Teresa J. Rasmussen, Patrick J. Eslick-Huff, Colin C. Painter
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5041
Stormwater discharges from municipalities are regulated by provisions in the Clean Water Act of 1972 to protect the Nation’s water resources from harmful pollutants. In 2014, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment issued new stormwater discharge permits for 17 municipalities in Johnson County, Kansas, in the northeastern part of...
Peak-flow variability, peak-flow informational needs, and consideration of regional regression analyses in managing the crest-stage gage network in Montana
Steven K. Sando
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5063
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT), has operated a crest-stage gage (CSG) network in Montana to collect peak-flow data since 1955. The CSG network is vital to collecting peak-flow data on small drainage basins that typically are not addressed by continuous streamflow...
The influence of subcolony-scale nesting habitat on the reproductive success of Adélie penguins
Annie E. Schmidt, Grant Ballard, Amélie Lescroël, Katie M. Dugger, Dennis Jongsomjit, Megan L. Elrod, David G. Ainley
2021, Scientific Reports (11)
Group-size variation is common in colonially breeding species, including seabirds, whose breeding colonies can vary in size by several orders of magnitude. Seabirds are some of the most threatened marine taxa and understanding the drivers of colony size variation is more important than ever. Reproductive success is an important demographic...
Groundwater and surface-water data from the C-aquifer monitoring program, Northeastern Arizona, 2012–2019
Casey J.R. Jones, Michael J. Robinson
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1051
The Coconino aquifer (C aquifer) is a regionally extensive multiple-aquifer system supplying water for municipal, agricultural, and industrial use in northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. This report focuses on the C aquifer in the arid to semi-arid area between St. Johns, Ariz., and Flagstaff, Ariz., along the...
Instruments, methods, rationale, and derived data used to quantify and compare the trapping efficiencies of four types of pressure-difference bedload samplers
John R. Gray, Gregory E. Schwarz, David J. Dean, Jonathan A. Czuba, Joel T. Groten
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1064
Bedload and ancillary data were collected to calculate and compare the bedload trapping efficiencies of four types of pressure-difference bedload samplers as part of episodic, sediment-recirculating flume experiments at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in January–March 2006. The bedload-sampler experiments, which were conceived, organized, and led...
Hydraulic modeling at selected dam-removal and culvert-retrofit sites in the northeastern United States
Scott A. Olson, Caelan E. Simeone
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5056
Aquatic connectivity projects, such as removing dams and modifying culverts, have substantial benefits. The restoration of natural flow conditions improves water quality, sediment transport, aquatic and riparian habitat, and fish passage. These projects can also decrease hazards faced by communities by lowering water-surface elevations of flood waters and by removing...
Optimization of salt marsh management at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey, through use of structured decision making
Hilary A. Neckles, James E. Lyons, Jessica L. Nagel, Susan C. Adamowicz, Toni Mikula, Paul M. Castelli, Virginia Rettig
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1037
Structured decision making is a systematic, transparent process for improving the quality of complex decisions by identifying measurable management objectives and feasible management actions; predicting the potential consequences of management actions relative to the stated objectives; and selecting a course of action that maximizes the total benefit achieved and balances...
National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program: Great Smoky Mountains National Park vegetation mapping project
Kevin D. Hop, Andrew C. Strassman, Stephanie Sattler, Rickie White, Milo Pyne, Tom Govus, Jennifer Dieck
2021, Natural Resource Report 2021/2285
The National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Mapping Inventory (VMI) Program is an effort to classify, describe, and map existing vegetation communities in national park units throughout the United States. The NPS VMI Program is managed by the NPS Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Inventory and Monitoring Program and provides baseline...
Toward improved decision-support tools for Delta Smelt management actions
Denise Reed, Shawn Acuna, Eli Ateljevich, Larry R. Brown, Ben Geske, Edward Gross, Jim Hobbs, Wim J. Kimmerer, Lisa Lucas, Matthew Nobriga, Kenneth A Rose
2021, Report
The Collaborative Science and Adaptive Management Program (CSAMP) has endorsed a goal of reversing the recent downward trajectory of the Delta Smelt population within 5-10 generations, with the long-term aim of establishing a self-sustaining population. An ambitious agenda of management actions is planned, and more management actions are being considered....
Estimating flow-duration statistics and low-flow frequencies for selected streams and the implementation of a StreamStats web-based tool in Puerto Rico
Tara Williams-Sether
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5054
Daily mean streamflow data from 28 U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging stations in Puerto Rico with 10 or more years of unregulated or minimally affected flow record through water year 2018 were used to develop regression equations for flow duration and annual n-day low-flow statistics. Ordinary least-squares and generalized least-squares regression...
Distribution of chlorinated volatile organic compounds and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in monitoring wells at the former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey, 2014–17
Thomas E. Imbrigiotta, Alex R. Fiore
2021, Open-File Report 2020-1105
A study was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Navy (the Navy) to determine the status of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in groundwater at the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) in West Trenton, New Jersey. Wells contaminated with...
Delineating the Pierre Shale from geophysical surveys within and near Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, 2019
Colton J. Medler, Todd M. Anderson
2021, Scientific Investigations Map 3474
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineering Center, investigated the use of surface geophysical methods to delineate the top of the Cretaceous Pierre Shale along survey transects in selected areas within and near Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota. Two complementary geophysical methods—electrical resistivity...
Two-dimensional hydraulic analyses of Joachim Creek, De Soto, Missouri
Kyle D. Hix, Paul H. Rydlund Jr., David C. Heimann
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5058
A two-dimensional hydraulic model; water-surface profiles; and digital maps of water-surface elevation, velocities, and water depths were developed for a 6.7-mile reach of Joachim Creek within and near the city of De Soto, Missouri. Water-surface profiles were generated for the 10-, 4-, 2-, 1-, and 0.2-percent annual exceedance probability (10-,...
Hydrogeologic framework and groundwater characterization in selected alluvial basins in the upper Rio Grande basin, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, United States, and Chihuahua, Mexico, 1980 to 2015
Natalie A. Houston, Jonathan V. Thomas, Linzy K. Foster, Diana E. Pedraza, Toby L. Welborn
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5035
Increasing demand for the limited water resources of the United States continues to put pressure on resource management agencies to balance the competing needs of ecosystem health with municipal, agricultural, and other uses. To meet these needs, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a multiyear study to evaluate water resources in...
Borehole analysis, single-well aquifer testing, and water quality for the Burnpit well, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota
William G. Eldridge, Galen K. Hoogestraat, Steven E. Rice
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5059
Mount Rushmore National Memorial (hereafter referred to as “the memorial”), in western South Dakota, is maintained by the National Park Service (NPS) and includes 1,278 acres of land in the east-central part of the Black Hills. An ongoing challenge for NPS managers at the memorial is providing water from sustainable...
Surficial geology of the northern San Luis Valley, Saguache, Fremont, Custer, Alamosa, Rio Grande, Conejos, and Costilla Counties, Colorado
Chester A. Ruleman, Theodore R. Brandt
2021, Scientific Investigations Map 3475
The San Luis Valley and associated underlying basin of south-central Colorado and north-central New Mexico is the largest structural and hydrologic basin of the Rio Grande Rift and fluvial system. The surrounding San Juan and Sangre de Cristo Mountains reveal evidence of widespread volcanism and transtensional tectonism beginning in...
Permeable groundwater pathways and tritium migration patterns from the HANDLEY underground nuclear test, Pahute Mesa, Nevada
Tracie R. Jackson
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5032
The HANDLEY nuclear test was detonated at about 2,700 feet below the water table on March 26, 1970, in Pahute Mesa, south-central Nevada. Measured tritium concentrations in boreholes ER-20-12 and PM-3 indicate that a shallow tritium plume has migrated more than 1 mile (mi) downgradient from the HANDLEY test...
Streambank erosion and related geomorphic change in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California
Stephen B. DeLong, Alexandra J. Pickering, Timothy Kuhn
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5025
Landscape change in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California, was characterized using data derived from four lidar surveys: one airborne survey in 2006 and three terrestrial surveys in 2016, 2017, and 2018. These surveys were used to generate a better quantitative understanding of changes associated with fluvial processes along the...
Effects of climate and land-use change on thermal springs recharge—A system-based coupled surface-water and groundwater-flow model for Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
Rheannon M. Hart, Scott J. Ikard, Phillip D. Hays, Brian R. Clark
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5045
A three-dimensional hydrogeologic framework of the Hot Springs anticlinorium beneath Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, was constructed to represent the complex hydrogeology of the park and surrounding areas to depths exceeding 9,000 feet below ground surface. The framework, composed of 6 rock formations and 1 vertical fault emplaced beneath the...
Assessment of streamflow and water quality in the Upper Yampa River Basin, Colorado, 1992–2018
Natalie K. Day
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5016
The Upper Yampa River Basin drains approximately 2,100 square miles west of the Continental Divide in north-western Colorado. There is a growing need to understand potential changes in the quantity and quality of water resources as the basin is undergoing increasing land and water development to support growing municipal, industrial,...
Magnitude and frequency of floods in the alluvial plain of the lower Mississippi River, 2017
Brandon T. Anderson
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5046
Annual exceedance probability flows at gaged locations and regional regression equations used to estimate annual exceedance probability flows at ungaged locations were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Mississippi Department of Transportation, to improve flood-frequency estimates at rural streams in the alluvial plain of the lower...
Cape Romain partnership for coastal protection
Mitchell J. Eaton, Fred A. Johnson, Jessica Mikels-Carrasco, David J. Case, Julien Martin, Bradley Stith, Simeon Yurek, Bradley Udell, Laura Villegas, Laura Taylor, Zulquarnain Haider, Hadi Charkhgard, Changhyun Kwon
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1021
This final report summarizes activities, outcomes, and lessons learned from a 3-year project titled “Climate Change Adaptation for Coastal National Wildlife Refuges” with the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and local partners in the surrounding South Carolina Lowcountry. The Lowcountry is classified as the 10-county area encompassing the coastal...
Workflow for using unmanned aircraft systems and traditional geospatial data to delineate agricultural drainage tiles at edge-of-field sites
J. Jeremy Webber, Tanja N. Williamson
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5013
Managing nutrient and sediment runoff from fields that drain to the Great Lakes is key to mitigating harmful algal blooms. Implementation of best management practices on agricultural land is considered a critical step to improving water quality in these streams, however the effect of these best management practices is difficult...
Sediment concentrations and loads upstream from and through John Redmond Reservoir, east-central Kansas, 2010–19
Ariele R. Kramer, Cara L. Peterman-Phipps, Matthew D. Mahoney, Bradley S. Lukasz
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5037
Streambank erosion and reservoir sedimentation are primary concerns of resource managers in Kansas and throughout many regions of the United States and negatively affect flood control, water supply, and recreation. The Cottonwood and upper Neosho Rivers drain into John Redmond Reservoir, and since reservoir completion in 1964, there has been...
Appendix C: Central sands lakes study technical report: Modeling documentation
Michael N. Fienen, Megan J. Haserodt, Andrew T. Leaf, Stephen, M. Westenbroek
2021, Report
This report provides the necessary documentation of the numerical models developed for the Central Sands Lake study in central Wisconsin and will be included as a technical appendix in the report to the Wisconsin State Legislature by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) in response to 2017 Wisconsin Act...
