Water-quality assessment of the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer system in the northern Midwest, United States
John T. Wilson
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5229
This report provides a regional assessment of groundwater quality of the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer system, based primarily on raw water samples collected by the NAWQA Program during 1995 through 2007. The NAWQA Program has published findings in local study-unit reports encompassing parts of the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer system. Data collected from the...
History of surface displacements at the Yellowstone Caldera, Wyoming, from leveling surveys and InSAR observations, 1923-2008
Daniel Dzurisin, Charles W. Wicks, Michael P. Poland
2012, Professional Paper 1788
Modern geodetic studies of the Yellowstone caldera, Wyoming, and its extraordinary tectonic, magmatic, and hydrothermal systems date from an initial leveling survey done throughout Yellowstone National Park in 1923 by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. A repeat park-wide survey by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of...
Status and understanding of groundwater quality in the Tahoe-Martis, Central Sierra, and Southern Sierra study units, 2006-2007--California GAMA Priority Basin Project
Miranda S. Fram, Kenneth Belitz
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5216
Groundwater quality in the Tahoe-Martis, Central Sierra, and Southern Sierra study units was investigated as part of the Priority Basin Project of the California Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The three study units are located in the Sierra Nevada region of California in parts of Nevada, Placer, El...
Groundwater quality in the Upper Susquehanna River Basin, New York, 2009
James E. Reddy, Amy J. Risen
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1045
Water samples were collected from 16 production wells and 14 private residential wells in the Upper Susquehanna River Basin from August through December 2009 and were analyzed to characterize the groundwater quality in the basin. Wells at 16 of the sites were completed in sand and gravel aquifers, and 14...
Changes in shallow groundwater quality beneath recently urbanized areas in the Memphis, Tennessee area
Jeannie R. B. Barlow, James A. Kingsbury, Richard H. Coupe
2012, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (48) 336-354
Memphis, the largest city in the state of Tennessee, and its surrounding suburbs depend on a confined aquifer, the Memphis aquifer, for drinking water. Concern over the potential for downward movement of water from an overlying shallow aquifer to the underlying Memphis aquifer provided impetus for monitoring groundwater quality within...
Recycling of water, carbon, and sulfur during subduction of serpentinites: A stable isotope study of Cerro del Almirez, Spain
Jeffrey C. Alt, Carlos J. Garrido, Wayne C. Shanks III, Alexandra Turchyn, José Alberto Padrón-Navarta, Vicente López Sánchez-Vizcaíno, María Teresa Gómez Pugnaire, Claudio Marchesi
2012, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (327-328) 50-60
We use the concentrations and isotope compositions of water, carbon, and sulfur in serpentinites and their dehydration products to trace the cycling of volatiles during subduction. Antigorite serpentinites from the Cerro del Almirez complex, Spain, contain 9–12 wt.% H2O and 910 ± 730 ppm sulfur, and have bulk δ18O values...
Status of groundwater quality in the San Fernando--San Gabriel study unit, 2005--California GAMA Priority Basin Project
Michael Land, Justin T. Kulongoski, Kenneth Belitz
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5206
Groundwater quality in the approximately 460-square-mile San Fernando--San Gabriel (FG) study unit was investigated as part of the Priority Basin Project of the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The study area is in Los Angeles County and includes Tertiary-Quaternary sedimentary basins situated within the Transverse Ranges of southern...
Groundwater quality in the Delaware and St. Lawrence River Basins, New York, 2010
Elizabeth A. Nystrom
2012, Open-File Report 2011-1320
Water samples were collected from 10 production and domestic wells in the Delaware River Basin in New York and from 20 production and domestic wells in the St. Lawrence River Basin in New York from August through November 2010 to characterize groundwater quality in the basins. The samples were collected...
Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) investigation
Kenneth S. Edgett, R. Aileen Yingst, Michael A. Ravine, Michael A. Caplinger, Justin N. Maki, F. Tony Ghaemi, Jacob A. Schaffner, James F. Bell III, Laurence J. Edwards, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, Ezat Heydari, Linda C. Kah, Mark T. Lemmon, Michelle E. Minitti, Timothy S. Olson, Timothy J. Parker, Scott K. Rowland, Juergen Schieber, Robert J. Sullivan, Dawn Y. Sumner, Peter C. Thomas, Elsa H. Jensen, John J. Simmonds, Aaron J. Sengstacken, Reg G. Wilson, Walter Goetz
2012, Space Science Reviews (170) 259-317
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) investigation will use a 2-megapixel color camera with a focusable macro lens aboard the rover, Curiosity, to investigate the stratigraphy and grain-scale texture, structure, mineralogy, and morphology of geologic materials in northwestern Gale crater. Of particular interest is the stratigraphic...
The Spar Lake strata-Bound Cu-Ag deposit formed across a mixing zone between trapped natural gas and metals-bearing brine
Timothy S. Hayes, Gary P. Landis, Joseph F. Whelan, Robert O. Rye, Richard J. Moscati
2012, Economic Geology (107) 1223-1249
Ore formation at the Spar Lake red bed-associated strata-bound Cu deposit took place across a mixing and reaction zone between a hot oxidized metals-transporting brine and a reservoir of “sour” (H2S-bearing) natural gas trapped in the host sandstones. Fluid inclusion volatile analyses have very high CH4 concentrations (≥1 mol %...
Mercury cycling in terrestrial watersheds
James B. Shanley, Kevin Bishop
Michael S. Banks, editor(s)
2012, Book chapter, Mercury in the environment: Pattern and process
This chapter discusses mercury cycling in the terrestrial landscape, including inputs from the atmosphere, accumulation in soils and vegetation, outputs in streamflow and volatilization, and effects of land disturbance. Mercury mobility in the terrestrial landscape is strongly controlled by organic matter. About 90% of the atmospheric mercury input is retained...
Ore genesis constraints on the Idaho Cobalt Belt from fluid inclusion gas, noble gas isotope, and ion ratio analyses
Albert H. Hofstra, Gary P. Landis
2012, Economic Geology (107) 1189-1205
The Idaho cobalt belt is a 60-km-long alignment of deposits composed of cobaltite, Co pyrite, chalcopyrite, and gold with anomalous Nb, Y, Be, and rare-earth elements (REEs) in a quartz-biotite-tourmaline gangue hosted in Mesoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks of the Lemhi Group. It is the largest cobalt resource in the United States...
Concentrations, loads, and sources of polychlorinated biphenyls, Neponset River and Neponset River Estuary, eastern Massachusetts
Robert F. Breault
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5004
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are known to contaminate the Neponset River, which flows through parts of Boston, Massachusetts, and empties into the Neponset River Estuary, an important fish-spawning area. The river is dammed and impassable to fish. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game,...
On the contribution of reconstruction labor wages and material prices to demand surge
Anna H. Olsen, Keith A. Porter
2011, SESM 11-1
Demand surge is understood to be a socio-economic phenomenon of large-scale natural disasters, most commonly explained by higher repair costs (after a large- versus small-scale disaster) resulting from higher material prices and labor wages. This study tests this explanation by developing quantitative models for the cost change of sets, or...
Applications of Groundwater Helium
Justin T. Kulongoski, David R. Hilton
2011, Book chapter, Handbook of Environmental Isotop Geochemistry, Volume 1
Helium abundance and isotope variations have widespread application in groundwater-related studies. This stems from the inert nature of this noble gas and the fact that its two isotopes ? helium-3 and helium-4 ? have distinct origins and vary widely in different terrestrial reservoirs. These attributes allow He concentrations and 3He/4He...
Interlaboratory comparison of measurements of acid-volatile sulfide and simultaneously extracted nickel in spiked sediments
William G. Brumbaugh, Chad R. Hammerschmidt, Luciana Zanella, Emily Rogevich, Gregory Salata, Radoslaw Bolek
2011, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (30) 1306-1309
An interlaboratory comparison of acid-volatile sulfide (AVS) and simultaneously extracted nickel (SEM_Ni) measurements of sediments was conducted among five independent laboratories. Relative standard deviations for the seven test samples ranged from 5.6 to 71% (mean = 25%) for AVS and from 5.5 to 15% (mean = 10%) for SEM_Ni. These results are in stark...
Geophysical, stratigraphic, and flow-zone logs of selected wells in Cayuga County, New York, 2001–2011
David A.V. Eckhardt, John H. Williams, J. Alton Anderson
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1319
Geophysical logs were collected and analyzed along with bedrock core samples and bedrock outcrops to define the bedrock stratigraphy and flow zones penetrated by 93 monitor and water-supply wells in Cayuga County, New York. The work was completed from 2001 through 2011 as part of an investigation of volatile-organic compound...
Quality of volatile organic compound data from groundwater and surface water for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program, October 1996–December 2008
David A. Bender, John S. Zogorski, David K. Mueller, Donna L. Rose, Jeffrey D. Martin, Cassandra K. Brenner
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5204
This report describes the quality of volatile organic compound (VOC) data collected from October 1996 to December 2008 from groundwater and surface-water sites for the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The VOC data described were collected for three NAWQA site types: (1) domestic and public-supply wells, (2)...
Status and understanding of groundwater quality in the San Diego Drainages Hydrogeologic Province, 2004: California GAMA Priority Basin Project
Michael T. Wright, Kenneth Belitz
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5154
Groundwater quality in the approximately 3,900-square-mile (mi2) San Diego Drainages Hydrogeologic Province (hereinafter San Diego) study unit was investigated from May through July 2004 as part of the Priority Basin Project of the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The study unit is located in southwestern California in the...
Assessing the vulnerability of public-supply wells to contamination—Edwards aquifer near San Antonio, Texas
Martha L. Jagucki, MaryLynn Musgrove, Richard J. Lindgren, Lynne Fahlquist, Sandra M. Eberts
2011, Fact Sheet 2011-3142
This fact sheet highlights findings from the vulnerability study of a public-supply well field in San Antonio, Texas. The well field consists of six production wells that tap the Edwards aquifer. Typically, one or two wells are pumped at a time, yielding an average total of 20-21 million gallons per...
Groundwater geochemical and selected volatile organic compound data, Operable Unit 1, Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Keyport, Washington, June 2009
R.L. Huffman, R.S. Dinicola
2011, Data Series 644
Previous investigations indicate that natural attenuation and biodegradation of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are substantial in groundwater beneath the 9-acre former landfill at Operable Unit 1 (OU 1), Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Keyport, Washington. Phytoremediation combined with ongoing natural attenuation processes was the preferred remedy selected by the...
Source-water susceptibility assessment in Texas—Approach and methodology
Randy L. Ulery, John E. Meyer, Robert W. Andren, Jeremy K. Newson
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5197
Public water systems provide potable water for the public's use. The Safe Drinking Water Act amendments of 1996 required States to prepare a source-water susceptibility assessment (SWSA) for each public water system (PWS). States were required to determine the source of water for each PWS, the origin of any...
Relating nutrient and herbicide fate with landscape features and characteristics of 15 subwatersheds in the Choptank River watershed
W. Dean Hively, Cathleen J. Hapeman, Laura L. McConnell, Thomas R. Fisher, Clifford P. Rice, Gregory W. McCarty, Ali M. Sadeghi, David R. Whitall, Peter M. Downey, Gabriela T. Nino de Guzman, Krystyna Bialek-Kalinski, Megan W. Lang, Anne B. Gustafson, Adrienne J. Sutton, Kerry A. Sefton, Jennifer A. Harman Fetcho
2011, Science of the Total Environment (409) 3866-3878
Excess nutrients and agrochemicals from non-point sources contribute to water quality impairment in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and their loading rates are related to land use, agricultural practices, hydrology, and pollutant fate and transport processes. In this study, monthly baseflow stream samples from 15 agricultural subwatersheds of the Choptank River...
Groundwater conditions and studies in the Augusta–Richmond County area, Georgia, 2008–2009
Gerard Gonthier, Stephen J. Lawrence, Michael F. Peck, O. Gary Holloway
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5188
Groundwater studies and monitoring efforts conducted during 2008–2009, as part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Cooperative Water Program with the City of Augusta in Richmond County, Georgia, provided data for the effective management of local water resources. During 2008–2009 the USGS completed: (1) installation of three monitoring wells and...
Hydrogeology, chemical characteristics, and water sources and pathways in the zone of contribution of a public-supply well in San Antonio, Texas
MaryLynn Musgrove, Lynne Fahlquist, Gregory P. Stanton, Natalie A. Houston, Richard J. Lindgren
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5146
In 2001, the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program of the U.S. Geological Survey initiated a series of studies on the transport of anthropogenic and natural contaminants (TANC) to public-supply wells (PSWs). The main goal of the TANC project was to better understand the source, transport, and receptor factors that control...
