Field note--Successful establishment of a phytoremediation system at a petroleum-hydrocarbon contaminated shallow aquifer--Trends, trials, and tribulations
Rachel L. Cook, James Landmeyer, Brad Atkinson, Jean-Pierre Messier, Elizabeth Guthrie Nichols
2010, International Journal of Phytoremediation (12) 716-732
We report the establishment of a mixed hybrid poplar (Populus spp.) and willow (Salix spp.) phytoremediation system at a fuel-contaminated site. Several approaches were used to balance competing goals of cost-effectiveness yet successful tree establishment without artificial irrigation or trenching. Bare root and unrooted cuttings were installed using either: (1)...
Sources of aerosol nitrate to the Gulf of Aqaba: Evidence from δ15N and δ18O of nitrate and trace metal chemistry
Scott D. Wankel, Ying Chen, Carol Kendall, A.F. Post, Adina Paytan
2010, Marine Chemistry (120) 90-99
The nitrogen (N) and oxygen (O) isotopic composition (δ15N and δ18O) of water soluble aerosol nitrate was measured in aerosol samples collected in Eilat, Israel, from August 2003 to November 2004. During this period δ15N values ranged from − 6.9‰ to + 1.9‰ and δ18O from + 65.1‰ to + 84.9‰ and exhibited strong...
Use of Continuous Monitors and Autosamplers to Predict Unmeasured Water-Quality Constituents in Tributaries of the Tualatin River, Oregon
Chauncey W. Anderson, Stewart A. Rounds
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5008
Management of water quality in streams of the United States is becoming increasingly complex as regulators seek to control aquatic pollution and ecological problems through Total Maximum Daily Load programs that target reductions in the concentrations of certain constituents. Sediment, nutrients, and bacteria, for example, are constituents that regulators target...
PHAST version 2-A program for simulating groundwater flow, solute transport, and multicomponent geochemical reactions
David L. Parkhurst, Kenneth L. Kipp, Scott R. Charlton
2010, Techniques and Methods 6-A35
The computer program PHAST (PHREEQC And HST3D) simulates multicomponent, reactive solute transport in three-dimensional saturated groundwater flow systems. PHAST is a versatile groundwater flow and solute-transport simulator with capabilities to model a wide range of equilibrium and kinetic geochemical reactions. The flow and transport calculations are based on a modified...
Estimated Withdrawals and Other Elements of Water Use in the Great Lakes Basin of the United States in 2005
P.C. Mills, Jennifer B. Sharpe
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5031
Estimates of water withdrawals in the United States part of the Great Lakes Basin and 107 of its watersheds designated by the 8-digit hydrologic unit code (HUCs) indicate that about 30.3 billion gallons per day (Bgal/d) were withdrawn for practically all categories of use in 2005. Virtually all water withdrawn...
Microbial oxidation of arsenite in a subarctic environment: diversity of arsenite oxidase genes and identification of a psychrotolerant arsenite oxidiser
Thomas H. Osborne, Heather E. Jamieson, Karen A. Hudson-Edwards, D. Kirk Nordstrom, Stephen R. Walker, Seamus A. Ward, Joanne M. Santini
2010, BMC Microbiology (10)
Arsenic is toxic to most living cells. The two soluble inorganic forms of arsenic are arsenite (+3) and arsenate (+5), with arsenite the more toxic. Prokaryotic metabolism of arsenic has been reported in both thermal and moderate environments and has been shown to be involved in the redox cycling of...
Biological pathways of exposure and ecotoxicity values for uranium and associated radionuclides: Chapter D in Hydrological, geological, and biological site characterization of breccia pipe uranium deposits in Northern Arizona
Jo Ellen Hinck, Greg L. Linder, Susan E. Finger, Edward E. Little, Donald E. Tillitt, Wendy Kuhne
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5025-D
This chapter compiles available chemical and radiation toxicity information for plants and animals from the scientific literature on naturally occurring uranium and associated radionuclides. Specifically, chemical and radiation hazards associated with radionuclides in the uranium decay series including uranium, thallium, thorium, bismuth, radium, radon, protactinium, polonium, actinium, and francium were...
Paleoclimates: Understanding climate change past and present
Thomas M. Cronin
2010, Book
The field of paleoclimatology relies on physical, chemical, and biological proxies of past climate changes that have been preserved in natural archives such as glacial ice, tree rings, sediments, corals, and speleothems. Paleoclimate archives obtained through field investigations, ocean sediment coring expeditions, ice sheet coring programs, and other projects allow...
Climate change, cranes, and temperate floodplain ecosystems
Sammy L. King
2010, Conference Paper, Cranes, agriculture, and climate change
Floodplain ecosystems provide important habitat to cranes globally. Lateral, longitudinal, vertical, and temporal hydrologic connectivity in rivers is essential to maintaining the functions and values of these systems. Agricultural development, flood control, water diversions, dams, and other anthropogenic activities have greatly affected hydrologic connectivity of river systems worldwide and altered...
Fate and transport of petroleum hydrocarbons in the subsurface near Cass Lake, Minnesota
Dina M. Drennan, Barbara A. Bekins, Ean Warren, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Mary Jo Baedecker, William N. Herkelrath, Geoffrey N. Delin, Robert J. Rosenbauer, Pamela L. Campbell
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5085
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) investigated the natural attenuation of subsurface petroleum hydrocarbons leaked over an unknown number of years from an oil pipeline under the Enbridge Energy Limited Partnership South Cass Lake Pumping Station, in Cass Lake, Minnesota. Three weeks of field work conducted between May 2007 and July...
Method description, quality assurance, environmental data, and other Information for analysis of pharmaceuticals in wastewater-treatment-plant effluents, streamwater, and reservoirs, 2004-2009
Patrick J. Phillips, Steven G. Smith, Dana W. Kolpin, Steven D. Zaugg, Herbert T. Buxton, Edward T. Furlong
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1102
Abstract Wastewater-treatment-plant (WWTP) effluents are a demonstrated source of pharmaceuticals to the environment. During 2004-09, a study was conducted to identify pharmaceutical compounds in effluents from WWTPs (including two that receive substantial discharges from pharmaceutical formulation facilities), streamwater, and reservoirs. The methods used to determine and quantify concentrations of seven pharmaceuticals...
Hydrology of Johnson Creek Basin, a Mixed-Use Drainage Basin in the Portland, Oregon, Metropolitan Area
John S. Williams, Karl K. Lee, Daniel T. Snyder
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3030
Johnson Creek forms a wildlife and recreational corridor through densely populated areas of the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area and through rural and agricultural land in unincorporated Multnomah and Clackamas Counties. Johnson Creek has had a history of persistent flooding and water-quality problems. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has conducted streamflow...
Design and Compilation of a Geodatabase of Existing Salinity Information for the Rio Grande Basin, from the Rio Arriba-Sandoval County Line, New Mexico, to Presidio, Texas, 2010
Sachin D. Shah, David R. Maltby II
2010, Data Series 499
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, compiled salinity-related water-quality data and information in a geodatabase containing more than 6,000 sampling sites. The geodatabase was designed as a tool for water-resource management and includes readily available digital data sources from the U.S. Geological Survey,...
Selected Hydrologic, Water-Quality, Biological, and Sedimentation Characteristics of Laguna Grande, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, March 2007-February 2009
Luis R. Soler-Lopez, Carlos R. Santos
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5071
Laguna Grande is a 50-hectare lagoon in the municipio of Fajardo, located in the northeasternmost part of Puerto Rico. Hydrologic, water-quality, and biological data were collected in the lagoon between March 2007 and February 2009 to establish baseline conditions and determine the health of Laguna Grande on the basis of...
A comparison of methods for estimating open-water evaporation in small wetlands
Jason R. Masoner, David I. Stannard
2010, Wetlands (30) 513-524
We compared evaporation measurements from a floating pan, land pan, chamber, and the Priestley-Taylor (PT) equation. Floating pan, land pan, and meteorological data were collected from June 6 to July 21, 2005, at a small wetland in the Canadian River alluvium in central Oklahoma, USA. Evaporation measured with the floating...
Source and fate of inorganic solutes in the Gibbon River, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA: I. Low-flow discharge and major solute chemistry
R. Blaine McCleskey, D. Kirk Nordstrom, David D. Susong, James W. Ball, JoAnn M. Holloway
2010, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (193) 189-202
The Gibbon River in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) is an important natural resource and habitat for fisheries and wildlife. However, the Gibbon River differs from most other mountain rivers because its chemistry is affected by several geothermal sources including Norris Geyser Basin, Chocolate Pots, Gibbon Geyser Basin, Beryl Spring, and...
Comparison of turbidity to multi-frequency sideways-looking acoustic-Doppler data and suspended-sediment data in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon
Nicholas Voichick, David J. Topping
2010, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the Joint Federal Interagency Conference 2010: Hydrology and sedimentation for a changing future: existing and emerging issues
Water clarity is important to biologists when studying fish and other fluvial fauna and flora. Turbidity is an indicator of the cloudiness of water, or reduced water clarity, and is commonly measured using nephelometric sensors that record the scattering and absorption of light by particles in the water. Unfortunately, nephelometric...
Changes in groundwater flow and volatile organic compound concentrations at the Fischer and Porter Superfund Site, Warminster Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1993-2009
Ronald A. Sloto
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5054
The 38-acre Fischer and Porter Company Superfund Site is in Warminster Township, Bucks County, Pa. Historically, as part of the manufacturing process, trichloroethylene (TCE) degreasers were used for parts cleaning. In 1979, the Bucks County Health Department detected TCE and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in water from the Fischer...
USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program, 2010
Herbert T. Buxton
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3011
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Toxic Substances Hydrology Program adapts research priorities to address the most important contamination issues facing the Nation and to identify new threats to environmental health. The Program investigates two major types of contamination problems: * Subsurface Point-Source Contamination, and * Watershed and Regional Contamination. Research...
Flood hazard awareness and hydrologic modelling at Ambos Nogales, United States–Mexico border
Laura M. Norman, H. Huth, L. Levick, I. Shea Burns, D. Phillip Guertin, Francisco Lara-Valencia, Darius J. Semmens
2010, Journal of Flood Risk Management (3) 151-165
Appropriate land‐use, watershed‐management, and flood‐attenuation plans are critical in the cross‐border urban environment known collectively as Ambos Nogales. This paper summarizes methodologies for predicting the watershed response associated with land‐use change within a spatial and temporal context through the use of a hydrological model in a cross‐border setting. The KINEROS2...
Application of AFINCH as a tool for evaluating the effects of streamflow-gaging-network size and composition on the accuracy and precision of streamflow estimates at ungaged locations in the southeast Lake Michigan hydrologic subregion
G. F. Koltun, David J. Holtschlag
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5020
Bootstrapping techniques employing random subsampling were used with the AFINCH (Analysis of Flows In Networks of CHannels) model to gain insights into the effects of variation in streamflow-gaging-network size and composition on the accuracy and precision of streamflow estimates at ungaged locations in the 0405 (Southeast Lake Michigan) hydrologic subregion....
Model Refinement and Simulation of Groundwater Flow in Clinton, Eaton, and Ingham Counties, Michigan
Carol L. Luukkonen
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5244
A groundwater-flow model that was constructed in 1996 of the Saginaw aquifer was refined to better represent the regional hydrologic system in the Tri-County region, which consists of Clinton, Eaton, and Ingham Counties, Michigan. With increasing demand for groundwater, the need to manage withdrawals from the Saginaw aquifer has become...
Methods for estimating flow-duration and annual mean-flow statistics for ungaged streams in Oklahoma
Rachel A. Esralew, S. Jerrod Smith
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5267
Flow statistics can be used to provide decision makers with surface-water information needed for activities such as water-supply permitting, flow regulation, and other water rights issues. Flow statistics could be needed at any location along a stream. Most often, streamflow statistics are needed at ungaged sites, where no flow data...
Bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of selenium
A. Robin Stewart, M. Grosell, David B. Buchwalter, Nicholas S. Fisher, S. N. Luoma, T. Matthews, P. Orr, W.-X. Wang
P. M. Chapman, William J. Adams, Marjorie L. Brooks, Samuel N. Luoma, Harry M. Ohlendorf, Theresa S. Presser, P. Shaw, editor(s)
2010, Book chapter, Ecological assessment of selenium in the aquatic environment
No abstract available. ...
California's BAY-DELTA: USGS Science Supports Decision Making
James Nickles, Kimberly Taylor, Roger Fujii
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3032
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists are in the forefront of the effort to understand what causes changes in the hydrology, the ecology and the water quality of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the San Francisco Bay estuary. Their scientific findings play a crucial role in how agencies manage the...