U.S. Geological Survey response to Hurricane Maria flooding in Puerto Rico and characterization of peak streamflows observed September 20–22, 2017
Julieta M. Gómez-Fragoso, Mark Smith, Marilyn Santiago
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5040
Hurricane Maria struck the island of Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017, as a Category 4 storm. The hurricane traversed the island from southeast to northwest and produced recorded 48-hour rainfall totals of up to 30.01 inches. Estimates of the human death toll range from 2,975 to 4,645, possibly more.The...
Hydrogeology and simulation of groundwater flow in the Lucerne Valley groundwater basin, California
Christina Stamos-Pfeiffer, Joshua Larsen, Robert E. Powell, Jonathan C. Matti, Peter Martin
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5048
The Lucerne Valley is in the southwestern part of the Mojave Desert and is about 75 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California. The Lucerne Valley groundwater basin encompasses about 230 square miles and is separated from the Upper Mojave Valley groundwater basin by splays of the Helendale Fault. Since its...
Assessment of persistent chemicals of concern in white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, southeastern Washington, 2009
Sean E. Payne, Daniel R. Wise, Jay W. Davis, Elena B. Nilsen
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5020
White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) are long-lived, late-maturing, benthic-feeding fish that are ideal candidates for assessing the bioaccumulation of persistent chemicals. In this study, composite tissue samples of brain, liver, gonad, and fillet were collected from white sturgeon in 2009 from five sites in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia...
Using microbial source tracking to identify fecal contamination sources in Great South Bay on Long Island, New York
Tristen N. Tagliaferri, Shawn C. Fisher, Christopher M. Kephart, Natalie Cheung, Ariel P. Reed, Robert J. Welk
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5057
The U.S. Geological Survey worked in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to assess the potential sources of fecal contamination entering a part of Great South Bay (referred to as Great South Bay for the purposes of this report) near the hamlets of West Sayville, Sayville,...
Revisions to the Virginia Coastal Plain hydrogeologic framework southwest of the James River
Samuel H. Caldwell, E. Randolph McFarland
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5049
New drilling information reveals that altitudes of some hydrogeologic units of the Virginia Coastal Plain aquifer system differ by as much as 50 feet (ft) from those previously known, namely the Aquia and Potomac aquifers, the Potomac confining zone, and the Nanjemoy-Marlboro and Saint Marys confining units. In addition, the...
Mapping the altitude of the top of the Dockum Group and paleochannel analysis using surface geophysical methods on and near Cannon Air Force Base in Curry County, New Mexico, 2020
Jason D. Payne, Andrew P. Teeple, Jeremy McDowell, David Wallace, Walker A. Hancock
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5050
The hydrogeology on and near Cannon Air Force Base (AFB) in eastern New Mexico was assessed to gain a better understanding of preferential groundwater flow paths through paleochannels. In and near the study area, paleochannels incised the top surface of the Dockum Group (Chinle Formation) and were subsequently filled in...
Volcano and earthquake monitoring plan for the Yellowstone Caldera system, 2022–2032
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5032
Executive SummaryThe Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) is a consortium of nine Federal, State, and academic agencies that: (1) provides timely monitoring and hazards assessment of volcanic, hydrothermal, and earthquake activity in and around Yellowstone National Park, and (2) conducts research to develop new approaches to volcano monitoring and better understand...
Application of a soil-water-balance model to estimate annual groundwater recharge for Long Island, New York, 1900–2019
Jason S. Finkelstein, Jack Monti Jr., John P. Masterson, Donald A. Walter
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5143
A soil-water-balance (SWB) model was developed for Long Island, New York, to estimate the potential amount of annual groundwater recharge to the Long Island aquifer system from 1900 to 2019. The SWB model program is a computer code based on a modified Thornthwaite-Mather SWB approach and uses spatially and temporally...
Assessment of streamflow trends in the eastern Dakotas, water years 1960–2019
Parker A. Norton, Gregory C. Delzer, Joshua F. Valder, Wyatt S. Tatge, Karen R. Ryberg
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5055
Hydrologic extremes, whether periods of drought or flooding, are occurring more frequently with greater severity and can have substantial economic impacts. Along with flooding, the timing and volume of streamflow also is changing across the United States. The focus of this report is to characterize a unique trend in mean...
Tracking heat in the Willamette River system, Oregon
Stewart A. Rounds, Laurel E. Stratton Garvin
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5006
The Willamette River Basin in northwestern Oregon is home to several cold-water fish species whose habitat has been altered by the Willamette Valley Project, a system of 13 dams and reservoirs operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Water-resource managers use a variety of flow- and temperature-management strategies...
The thermal landscape of the Willamette River—Patterns and controls on stream temperature and implications for flow management and cold-water salmonids
Laurel E. Stratton Garvin, Stewart A. Rounds
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5035
Water temperature is a primary control on the health, diversity, abundance, and distribution of aquatic species, but thermal degradation resulting from anthropogenic influences on rivers is a challenge to threatened species worldwide. In the Willamette River Basin, northwestern Oregon, spring-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and winter-run steelhead (O. mykiss)...
Assessment of habitat availability for juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead (O. mykiss) in the Willamette River, Oregon
James S. White, James T. Peterson, Laurel E. Stratton Garvin, Tobias J. Kock, J. Rose Wallick
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5034
The Willamette River, Oregon, is home to two salmonid species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, Upper WIllamette River spring Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and Upper Willamette River winter steelhead (O. mykiss). Streamflow in the Willamette River is regulated by upstream dams, 13 of which are operated...
Long-term groundwater availability in the Waihe‘e, ‘Īao, and Waikapū aquifer systems, Maui, Hawai‘i
Kolja Rotzoll, Delwyn S. Oki, Adam G. Johnson, William R. Souza
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5113
Groundwater levels have declined since the 1940s in the Wailuku area of central Maui, Hawai‘i, on the eastern flank of West Maui volcano, mainly in response to increased groundwater withdrawals. Available data since the 1980s also indicate a thinning of the freshwater lens and an increase in chloride concentrations of...
Hydrogeology and groundwater quality in the San Agustin Basin, New Mexico, 1975–2019
Jeff D. Pepin, Rebecca E. Travis, Johanna M. Blake, Alex Rinehart, Daniel Koning
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5029
This report describes the findings of a U.S. Geological Survey study, completed in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, focused on better understanding the present-day (1975–2019) hydrogeology and groundwater quality of the San Agustin Basin in west-central New Mexico to support sustainable groundwater resource management. The basin hosts a...
Status and understanding of groundwater quality in the Sacramento Metropolitan Domestic-Supply Aquifer study unit, 2017—California GAMA Priority Basin Project
George L. V Bennett V
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5021
Groundwater quality in the Sacramento Metropolitan Domestic-Supply Aquifer study unit (SacMetro-DSA) was studied from August to November 2017 as part of the second phase of the Priority Basin Project of the California Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The study unit is in parts of Amador, Placer, Sacramento, and...
Potential effects of out-of-basin groundwater transfers on spring discharge, base flow, and groundwater storage pertaining to the Rush Springs aquifer in and near the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma Tribal jurisdictional area, western Oklahoma
L.G. Labriola, Cory A. Russell, John H. Ellis
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5044
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and Bureau of Indian Affairs, assessed four groundwater-withdrawal scenarios and their potential effects on the Rush Springs aquifer in and near the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma Tribal jurisdictional area in western Oklahoma. Increases in industrial and public...
Water quality in the Missouri River alluvial aquifer near the Independence, Missouri, well field, 1997–2018
Robert T. Kay, Heather M. Krempa, Katie M. Hulsey
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5027
Groundwater-quality data collected from 1997 through 2018 from 68 monitoring locations open to the Missouri River alluvial aquifer (hereafter referred to as the “alluvial aquifer”) near the Independence, Missouri, well field were analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Independence, Missouri. This analysis was done...
Estimating stream temperature in the Willamette River Basin, northwestern Oregon—A regression-based approach
Laurel E. Stratton Garvin, Stewart A. Rounds, Norman L. Buccola
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5022
The alteration of thermal regimes, including increased temperatures and shifts in seasonality, is a key challenge to the health and survival of federally protected cold-water salmonids in streams of the Willamette River basin in northwestern Oregon. To better support threatened fish species, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and...
Characterization of and relations among precipitation, streamflow, suspended-sediment, and water-quality data at the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Carson and Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, Colorado, water years 2016–18
William A. Battaglin, Zachary D. Kisfalusi
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5018
Frequent and prolonged military training maneuvers are an intensive type of land use that may disturb land cover, compact soils, and have lasting effects on adjacent stream hydrology and ecosystems. To better understand the potential effect of military training on hydrologic and environmental processes, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation...
Assessment of well yield, dominant fractures, and groundwater recharge in Wake County, North Carolina
Dominick J. Antolino, Laura N. Gurley
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5041
A cooperative study led by the U.S. Geological Survey and Wake County Environmental Services was initiated to characterize the fractured-rock aquifer system and assess the sustainability of groundwater resources in and around Wake County. This report contributes to the development of a comprehensive groundwater budget for the study area, thereby...
Age and water-quality characteristics of groundwater discharge to the South Loup River, Nebraska, 2019
Christopher M. Hobza, John E. Solder
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5042
Streams in the Loup River Basin are sensitive to groundwater withdrawals because of the close hydrologic connection between groundwater and surface water. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Upper Loup and Lower Loup Natural Resources Districts, and the Nebraska Environmental Trust, studied the age and water-quality characteristics of...
Refining sources of polychlorinated biphenyls in the Back River watershed, Baltimore, Maryland, 2018–2020
Emily H. Majcher, Upal Ghosh, Trevor P. Needham, Nathalie Lombard, Ellie P. Foss, Mandare Bokare, Sarahana Joshee, Louis Cheung, Jada Damond, Michelle Lorah
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5012
Older urban landscapes present unique and complex stressors to urban streams and their habitats through the introduction of legacy and emerging toxic contaminants. Contaminant sources are often associated with various developed land uses such as older residential areas, active and former industrial sites, contaminated sites, and effluents from municipal wastewater...
Areas contributing recharge to priority wells in valley-fill aquifers in the Neversink River and Rondout Creek drainage basins, New York
Nicholas Corson-Dosch, Michael N. Fienen, Jason S. Finkelstein, Andrew T. Leaf, Jeremy T. White, Joshua Woda, John Williams
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5112
In southeastern New York, the villages of Ellenville, Wurtsboro, Woodridge, the hamlet of Mountain Dale, and surrounding communities in the Neversink River and Rondout Creek drainage basins rely on wells that pump groundwater from valley-fill glacial aquifers for public water supply. Glacial aquifers are vulnerable to contamination because they are...
Data sources and methods for digital mapping of eight valley-fill aquifer systems in upstate New York
Jason S. Finkelstein, Joshua Woda, John Williams
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5024
Digital hydrogeologic maps were developed in eight study areas in upstate New York by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The digital maps define the hydrogeologic framework of the valley-fill aquifers and surrounding till-covered uplands in the vicinity of the villages...
Areas contributing recharge to selected production wells in unconfined and confined glacial valley-fill aquifers in Chenango River Basin, New York
Paul J. Friesz, John Williams, Jason S. Finkelstein, Joshua Woda
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5083
In the Chenango River Basin of central New York, unconfined and confined glacial valley-fill aquifers are an important source of drinking-water supplies. The risk of contaminating water withdrawn by wells that tap these aquifers might be reduced if the areas contributing recharge to the wells are delineated and these areas...
