Simulated changes in salinity in the York and Chickahominy Rivers from projected sea-level rise in Chesapeake Bay
Karen C. Rice, Mark Bennett, Jian Shen
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1191
As a result of climate change and variability, sea level is rising throughout the world, but the rate along the east coast of the United States is higher than the global mean rate. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Newport News, Virginia, conducted a study to...
Simulating daily water temperatures of the Klamath River under dam removal and climate change scenarios
Russell W. Perry, John C. Risley, Scott J. Brewer, Edward C. Jones, Dennis W. Rondorf
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1243
A one-dimensional daily averaged water temperature model was used to simulate Klamath River temperatures for two management alternatives under historical climate conditions and six future climate scenarios. The analysis was conducted for the Secretarial Determination on removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River. In 2012, the Secretary of...
Nutrient and sediment concentrations and corresponding loads during the historic June 2008 flooding in eastern Iowa
L. Hubbard, D.W. Kolpin, S. J. Kalkhoff, Dale M. Robertson
2011, Journal of Environmental Quality (40) 166-175
A combination of above-normal precipitation during the winter and spring of 2007-2008 and extensive rainfall during June 2008 led to severe flooding in many parts of the midwestern United States. This resulted in transport of substantial amounts of nutrients and sediment from Iowa basins into the Mississippi River. Water samples...
Transient surface liquid in Titan's south polar region from Cassini
A. G. Hayes, O. Aharonson, J. I. Lunine, R. L. Kirk, H. A. Zebker, L. C. Wye, R. D. Lorenz, E. P. Turtle, P. Paillou, Giuseppe Mitri, S. D. Wall, E. R. Stofan, K. L. Mitchell, C. Elachi
2011, Icarus (211) 655-671
Cassini RADAR images of Titan’s south polar region acquired during southern summer contain lake features which disappear between observations. These features show a tenfold increases in backscatter cross-section between images acquired one year apart, which is inconsistent with common scattering models without invoking temporal variability. The morphologic boundaries are...
Conceptual model of the Great Basin carbonate and alluvial aquifer system
Victor M. Heilweil, Lynette E. Brooks, editor(s)
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5193
A conceptual model of the Great Basin carbonate and alluvial aquifer system (GBCAAS) was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for a regional assessment of groundwater availability as part of a national water census. The study area is an expansion of a previous USGS Regional Aquifer Systems Analysis (RASA)...
Hydrogeologic and geochemical characterization of groundwater resources in Rush Valley, Tooele County, Utah
Philip M. Gardner, Stefan Kirby
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5068
The water resources of Rush Valley were assessed during 2008–2010 with an emphasis on refining the understanding of the groundwater-flow system and updating the groundwater budget. Surface-water resources within Rush Valley are limited and are generally used for agriculture. Groundwater is the principal water source for most other uses including...
Phreatophytic land-cover map of the northern and central Great Basin Ecoregion: California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Oregon, and Wyoming
Amy M. Mathie, Toby L. Welborn, David D. Susong, Mary L. Tumbusch
2011, Scientific Investigations Map 3169
Increasing water use and changing climate in the Great Basin of the western United States are likely affecting the distribution of phreatophytic vegetation in the region. Phreatophytic plant communities that depend on groundwater are susceptible to natural and anthropogenic changes to hydrologic flow systems. The purpose of this report is...
Radium content of oil- and gas-field produced waters in the northern Appalachian Basin (USA): Summary and discussion of data
E. L. Rowan, M.A. Engle, C.S. Kirby, T. F. Kraemer
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5135
Radium activity data for waters co-produced with oil and gas in New York and Pennsylvania have been compiled from publicly available sources and are presented together with new data for six wells, including one time series. When available, total dissolved solids (TDS), and gross alpha and gross beta particle activities...
Sediment load from major rivers into Puget Sound and its adjacent waters
Jonathan A. Czuba, Christopher S. Magirl, Christiana R. Czuba, Eric E. Grossman, Christopher A. Curran, Andrew S. Gendaszek, Richard S. Dinicola
2011, Fact Sheet 2011-3083
Each year, an estimated load of 6.5 million tons of sediment is transported by rivers to Puget Sound and its adjacent waters—enough to cover a football field to the height of six Space Needles. This estimated load is highly uncertain because sediment studies and available sediment-load data are sparse...
Recent (2008-10) water quality in the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards aquifer and its contributing zone, central Texas, with emphasis on factors affecting nutrients and bacteria
Barbara Mahler, MaryLynn Musgrove, Thomas L. Sample, Corinne I. Wong
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5139
The Barton Springs zone, which comprises the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards aquifer and the watersheds to the west that contribute to its recharge, is in south-central Texas, an area with rapid growth in population and increasing amounts of land area affected by development. During November 2008-March 2010, an...
Refinement and evaluation of the Massachusetts firm-yield estimator model version 2.0
Sara B. Levin, Stacey A. Archfield, Andrew J. Massey
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5125
The firm yield is the maximum average daily withdrawal that can be extracted from a reservoir without risk of failure during an extended drought period. Previously developed procedures for determining the firm yield of a reservoir were refined and applied to 38 reservoir systems in Massachusetts, including 25 single- and...
Vegetation of the Elwha River estuary: Chapter 8 in Coastal habitats of the Elwha River, Washington--biological and physical patterns and processes prior to dam removal
Patrick B. Shafroth, Tracy L. Fuentes, Cynthia Pritekel, Matthew M. Beirne, Vanessa B. Beauchamp
Jeffrey J. Duda, Jonathan A. Warrick, Christopher S. Magirl, editor(s)
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5120-8
The Elwha River estuary supports one of the most diverse coastal wetland complexes yet described in the Salish Sea region, in terms of vegetation types and plant species richness. Using a combination of aerial imagery and vegetation plot sampling, we identified 6 primary vegetation types and 121 plant species in...
Coastal habitats of the Elwha River, Washington- Biological and physical patterns and processes prior to dam removal
Jeffrey J. Duda, Jonathan A. Warrick, Christopher S. Magirl
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5120
This report includes chapters that summarize the results of multidisciplinary studies to quantify and characterize the current (2011) status and baseline conditions of the lower Elwha River, its estuary, and the adjacent nearshore ecosystems prior to the historic removal of two long-standing dams that have strongly influenced river, estuary, and...
Relations between hydrology, water quality, and taste-and-odor causing organisms and compounds in Lake Houston, Texas, April 2006-September 2008
Amy M. Beussink, Jennifer L. Graham
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5121
Lake Houston is a surface-water-supply reservoir and an important recreational resource for the city of Houston, Texas. Growing concerns over water quality in Lake Houston prompted a detailed assessment of water quality in the reservoir. The assessment focused on water-quality constituents that affect the aesthetic quality of drinking water. The...
Landscape unit based digital elevation model development for the freshwater wetlands within the Arthur C. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Southeastern Florida
Zhixiao Xie, Zhongwei Liu, John Jones, Aaron L. Higer, Pamela A. Telis
2011, Applied Geography (31) 401-412
The hydrologic regime is a critical limiting factor in the delicate ecosystem of the greater Everglades freshwater wetlands in south Florida that has been severely altered by management activities in the past several decades. "Getting the water right" is regarded as the key to successful restoration of this unique wetland...
Long-term patterns and short-term dynamics of stream solutes and suspended sediment in a rapidly weathering tropical watershed
James B. Shanley, William H. McDowell, Robert F. Stallard
2011, Water Resources Research (47)
The 326 ha Río Icacos watershed in the tropical wet forest of the Luquillo Mountains, northeastern Puerto Rico, is underlain by granodiorite bedrock with weathering rates among the highest in the world. We pooled stream chemistry and total suspended sediment (TSS) data sets from three discrete periods: 1983–1987, 1991–1997, and...
Improved online δ18O measurements of nitrogen‐ and sulfur‐bearing organic materials and a proposed analytical protocol
Haiping Qi, Tyler B. Coplen, Leonard I Wassenaar
2011, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry (25) 2049-2058
It is well known that N2 in the ion source of a mass spectrometer interferes with the CO background during the δ18O measurement of carbon monoxide. A similar problem arises with the high‐temperature conversion (HTC) analysis of nitrogenous O‐bearing samples (e.g. nitrates and keratins) to CO for δ18O measurement, where...
Lagrangian sampling of wastewater treatment plant effluent in Boulder Creek, Colorado, and Fourmile Creek, Iowa, during the summer of 2003 and spring of 2005— Hydrological and water-quality data
Larry B. Barber, Steffanie H. Keefe, Dana W. Kolpin, Douglas J. Schnoebelen, Jennifer L. Flynn, Gregory K. Brown, Edward T. Furlong, Susan T. Glassmeyer, James L. Gray, Michael T. Meyer, Mark W. Sandstrom, Howard E. Taylor, Steven D. Zaugg
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1054
This report presents methods and data for a Lagrangian sampling investigation into chemical loading and in-stream attenuation of inorganic and organic contaminants in two wastewater treatment-plant effluent-dominated streams: Boulder Creek, Colorado, and Fourmile Creek, Iowa. Water-quality sampling was timed to coincide with low-flow conditions when dilution of the wastewater treatment-plant...
Investigation of preparation techniques for δ2H analysis of keratin materials and a proposed analytical protocol
Haiping Qi, Tyler B. Coplen
2011, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry (25) 2209-2222
Accurate hydrogen isotopic measurements of keratin materials have been a challenge due to exchangeable hydrogen in the sample matrix and the paucity of appropriate isotopic reference materials for calibration. We found that the most reproducible δ2HVSMOW‐SLAP and mole fraction of exchangeable hydrogen, x(H)ex, of keratin materials were measured with equilibration...
Summary report of responses of key resources to the 2000 Low Steady Summer Flow experiment, along the Colorado River downstream from Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona
Barbara E. Ralston
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1220
In the spring and summer of 2000, a series of steady discharges of water from Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River were used to evaluate the effects of aquatic habitat stability and water temperatures on native fish growth and survival, with a special focus on the endangered humpback chub...
Spring runoff water-chemistry data from the Standard Mine and Elk Creek, Gunnison County, Colorado, 2010
Andrew H. Manning, Philip L. Verplanck, M. Alisa Mast, Joseph Marsik, R. Blaine McCleskey
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1159
Water samples were collected approximately every two weeks during the spring of 2010 from the Level 1 portal of the Standard Mine and from two locations on Elk Creek. The objective of the sampling was to: (1) better define the expected range and timing of variations in pH and metal...
Digital hydrologic networks supporting applications related to spatially referenced regression modeling
John W. Brakebill, David M. Wolock, Silvia Terziotti
2011, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (47) 916-932
Digital hydrologic networks depicting surface-water pathways and their associated drainage catchments provide a key component to hydrologic analysis and modeling. Collectively, they form common spatial units that can be used to frame the descriptions of aquatic and watershed processes. In addition, they provide the ability to simulate and route the...
IUPAC Periodic Table of the Isotopes
N.E. Holden, T.B. Coplen, J.K. Böhlke, M.E. Wieser, G. Singleton, T. Walczyk, S. Yoneda, P.G. Mahaffy, L.V. Tarbox
2011, Chemistry International (33)
For almost 150 years, the Periodic Table of the Elements has served as a guide to the world of elements by highlighting similarities and differences in atomic structure and chemical properties. To introduce students, teachers, and society to the existence and importance of isotopes of the chemical elements, an IUPAC...
Proceedings of the Klamath Basin Science Conference, Medford, Oregon, February 1-5, 2010
Lyman K. Thorsteinson, Scott P. Vanderkooi, Walter G. Duffy, editor(s)
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1196
This report presents the proceedings of the Klamath Basin Science Conference (February 2010). A primary purpose of the meeting was to inform and update Klamath Basin stakeholders about areas of scientific progress and accomplishment during the last 5 years. Secondary conference objectives focused on the identification of outstanding information needs...
A whole ecosystem approach to studying climate change in interior Alaska
Susan Riggins, Robert G. Striegl, Michael McHale
2011, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union (92) 155-155
Yukon River Basin Principal Investigators Workshop; Portland, Oregon, 18-20 January 2011; High latitudes are known to be particularly susceptible to climate warming, leading to an emphasis of field and modeling research on arctic regions. Subarctic and boreal regions such as the Yukon River Basin (YRB) of interior Alaska and western...
