Mechanisms of water-rock interaction and implications for remediating flooded mine workings elucidated from environmental tracers, stable isotopes, and rare earth elements
Connor P. Newman, Katherine Walton-Day, Robert L. Runkel, Richard Wilkin
2023, Applied Geochemistry (157)
Contamination from acid mine drainage affects ecosystems and usability of groundwater for domestic and municipal purposes. The Captain Jack Superfund Site outside of Ward, Boulder County, Colorado, USA, hosts a draining mine adit that was remediated through emplacement of a hydraulic bulkhead to preclude acid mine drainage from entering...
The spatial distribution of debris flows in relation to observed rainfall anomalies: Insights from the Dolan Fire, California
David B. Cavagnaro, Scott W. McCoy, Matthew A. Thomas, Jaime Kostelnik, Donald N. Lindsay
2023, Conference Paper
A range of hydrologic responses can be observed in steep, recently burned terrain, which makes predicting the spatial distribution of large debris flows challenging. Studies from rainfall-induced landslides in unburned areas show evidence of hydroclimatic tuning of landslide triggering, such that the spatial distribution of events is best predicted by...
Assessing environmental change associated with early Eocene hyperthermals in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, USA
William Rush, Jean Self-Trail, Yan Zhan, Appy Sluijs, Henk Brinkhuis, James Zachos, James G. Ogg, Marci M. Robinson
2023, Climate of the Past (19) 1677-1698
Eocene transient global warming events (hyperthermals) can provide insight into a future warmer world. While much research has focused on the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), hyperthermals of a smaller magnitude can be used to characterize climatic responses over different magnitudes of forcing. This study...
Fire characteristics and hydrologic connectivity influence short-term responses of north temperate lakes to wildfire
Ian M. McCullough, Jennifer A. Brentrup, Tyler Wagner, Jean-Francois Lapierre, Jerald Henneck, Andrea M. Paul, Mathilde Belair, Max. A. Moritz, Christopher T. Filstrup
2023, Geophysical Research Letters (50)
Despite increasing wildfires, few studies have investigated seasonal water quality responses to wildfire characteristics (e.g., burn severity) across a large number of lakes. We monitored 30 total lakes (15 burned, 15 control) monthly following the Greenwood Fire in Minnesota, USA, a lake-rich region with historically prevalent wildfire....
Global methane emissions from rivers and streams
Gerard Rocher-Ros, Emily H. Stanley, Luke C. Loken, Nora J. Casson, Peter A. Raymond, Shaoda Liu, Giuseppe Amatulli, Ryan A. Sponseller
2023, Nature (621) 530-535
Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas and its concentrations have tripled in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution. There is evidence that global warming has increased CH4 emissions from freshwater ecosystems<a id="ref-link-section-d293024e611" title="Yvon-Durocher, G. et al. Methane fluxes show consistent temperature dependence across microbial to ecosystem scales. Nature 507, 488–491...
Flood-inundation maps for Fourmile Creek at Silver Grove, Kentucky
Justin A. Boldt
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5068
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 3.4-mile reach of Fourmile Creek at Silver Grove, Kentucky, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the City of Silver Grove and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District. Because the City of Silver Grove is subject to flooding from...
Drought-vulnerability assessment of public water systems in West Virginia
Matthew R. Kearns, Kaycee E. Faunce, Terence Messinger
2023, Open-File Report 2023-1057
Water withdrawn from rivers and streams accounts for approximately 80 percent of the public water supply in West Virginia. Localized and (or) seasonal droughts may threaten future water availability in the state, particularly in rural communities located in the headwaters of unregulated watersheds. Monthly water withdrawal data obtained from the...
Effects of impoundments on selected flood-frequency and daily mean streamflow characteristics in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina
Toby D. Feaster, Jonathan W. Musser
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5065
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has a long history of working cooperatively with the South Carolina Department of Transportation to develop methods for estimating the magnitude and frequency of floods for rural and urban streams that have minimal to no regulation or tidal influence. As part of those previous investigations,...
Automated mapping of culverts, bridges, and dams
Ethan J. Shavers, Larry Stanislawski, Joel Schott, Zachary Brosseau
2023, Conference Paper, Abstracts of the International Cartographic Association
Accurate maps of built structures around stream channels, such as dams, culverts, and bridges, are vital in monitoring infrastructure, risk management, and hydrologic modeling. Hydrologic modeling is essential for research and decisionmaking related to infrastructure and development planning, emergency management, ecology, and developing hydrographic data. Technological advances in remote sensing...
Nearshore subtidal community response during and after sediment disturbance associated with dam removal
Stephen P. Rubin, Melissa M. Foley, Ian M. Miller, Andrew W. Stevens, Jonathan A. Warrick, Helen D. Berry, Nancy E. Elder, Matthew M. Beirne, Guy Gelfenbaum
2023, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (11)
Dam removal is used increasingly to restore aquatic ecosystems and remove unnecessary or high-risk infrastructure. As the number of removals increases, there is a growing understanding about the hydrologic, geomorphic, and ecological responses to these removals. Most dam removal studies, however, focus on river and watershed responses to dam removal....
CONUS404: The NCAR-USGS 4-km long-term regional hydroclimate reanalysis over the CONUS
R. M. Rasmussen, F. Chen, C. H. Liu, K. Ikeda, A. Prein, J. Kim, T. Schneider, A. Dai, D. Gochis, A. Dugger, Y. Zhang, A. Jaye, J. Dudhia, C. He, M. Harrold, L. Xue, S. Chen, A. Newman, E. Dougherty, R. Abolafia-Rozenzweig, N. Lybarger, Roland J. Viger, David P. Lesmes, Katherine Skalak, John Brakebill, Donald Walter Cline, Krista A. Dunne, K. Rasmussen, G. Miguez-Macho
2023, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (104) E1382-E1408
A unique, high-resolution, hydroclimate reanalysis, 40-plus-year (October 1979–September 2021), 4 km (named as CONUS404), has been created using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model by dynamically downscaling of the fifth-generation European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) atmospheric reanalysis of the global climate dataset (ERA5) over the conterminous United States....
Evaluation of alternative groundwater-withdrawal scenarios on water levels in Kingsbury Pond, upper Charles River Basin, eastern Massachusetts
Paul M. Barlow, Paul J. Friesz, Jeffrey R. Barbaro
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5083
Kingsbury Pond is a glacial kettle pond in the town of Norfolk, Massachusetts, in the Mill River Basin, which is part of the Upper Charles River Basin in eastern Massachusetts. The pond is hydraulically connected to the surrounding groundwater-flow system, and water levels in the pond fluctuate in response to...
Tidal restriction likely has greater impact on the carbon sink of coastal wetland than climate warming and invasive plant
Pan Zhou, Siyuan Ye, Liujuan Xie, Ken Krauss, Lixin Pei, Samantha K. Chapman, Hans Brix, Edward A. Laws, Hongming Yuan, Shixiong Yang, Xigui Ding, Shucheng Xie
2023, Plant and Soil (492) 135-156
AimsCoastal salt marshes are productive ecosystems that are highly efficient carbon sinks, but there is uncertainty regarding the interactions among climate warming, plant species, and tidal restriction on C cycling.MethodsOpen-top chambers (OTCs) were deployed at two coastal wetlands in Yancheng, China, where native Phragmites australis (Phragmites) and invasive Spartina...
Soil salinity and water level interact to generate tipping points in low salinity tidal wetlands responding to climate change
Hongqing Wang, Ken Krauss, Gregory E. Noe, Zhaohua Dai, Carl C. Trettin
2023, Estuaries and Coasts (46) 1808-1828
Low salinity tidal wetlands (LSTW) are vulnerable to sea level rise and saltwater intrusion, thus their carbon sequestration capacity is threatened. However, the thresholds of rapid changes in carbon dynamics and biogeochemical processes in LSTW due to changes in hydroperiod and salinity regime remain unclear. In...
Climate vulnerability for a desert fish: Integrating hydrologic exposures, adaptive capacity, and growth potential
Joseph R. Benjamin, Jason Dunham, Kara Anlauf-Dunn, Erika J. Eliason
2023, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (80) 1748-1758
Climate vulnerability can be evaluated by multiple organismal responses. We developed a climate vulnerability framework focused on growth potential of redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss newberri). We employed a bioenergetics model to evaluate spatial variability in growth potential in relation to constraints on body size imposed by stream...
Metabolically diverse microorganisms mediate methylmercury formation under nitrate-reducing conditions in a dynamic hydroelectric reservoir
Benjamin D. Peterson, Brett A. Poulin, David P. Krabbenhoft, Michael T. Tate, Austin K. Baldwin, Jesse Naymik, Nick Gastelecutto, Katherine D. McMahon
2023, International Society for Microbial Ecology Journal (17) 1705-1718
Brownlee Reservoir is a mercury (Hg)-impaired hydroelectric reservoir that exhibits dynamic hydrological and geochemical conditions and is located within the Hells Canyon Complex in Idaho, USA. Methylmercury (MeHg) contamination in fish is a concern in the reservoir. While MeHg production has historically been attributed to sulfate-reducing bacteria and methanogenic archaea,...
Techniques for estimating the magnitude and frequency of peak flows on small streams in Minnesota, excluding the Rainy River Basin, based on data through water year 2019
Christopher A. Sanocki, Sara B. Levin
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5079
Annual peak-flow data collected at U.S. Geological Survey streamgages in Minnesota and adjacent areas of neighboring states of Iowa and South Dakota were analyzed to develop and update regional regression equations that can be used to estimate the magnitude and frequency of peak streamflow for ungaged streams in Minnesota, excluding...
Prolonged drought in a northern California coastal region suppresses wildfire impacts on hydrology
Michelle E. Newcomer, Jennifer C. Underwood, Sheila F. Murphy, Craig Ulrich, Todd Schram, Stephen R. Maples, Jasquelin Pena, Erica R. Siirila-Woodburn, Marcus Trotta, Jay Jasperse, Donald Seymour, Susan S. Hubbard
2023, Water Resources Research (59)
Wildfires naturally occur in many landscapes, however they are undergoing rapid regime shifts. Despite the emphasis in the literature on the most severe hydrological responses to wildfire, there remains a knowledge gap on the thresholds of wildfire (i.e. burned area/drainage area ratio, BAR) required to initiate hydrological responses. We investigated...
Selenium hazards in the Salton Sea environment—Summary of current knowledge to inform future wetland management
Michael R. Rosen, Susan E.W. De La Cruz, Krishangi D. Groover, Isa Woo, Sarah A. Roberts, Melanie J. Davis, Cristiana Y. Antonino
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5042
Quaternary marine and continental shales in the western United States are sources of selenium that can be loaded into the aquatic environment through mining, agricultural, and energy production processes. The mobilization of selenium from shales through agricultural irrigation has been recognized since the 1930s; however, discovery of deformities in birds...
Shallow and local or deep and regional? Inferring source groundwater characteristics across mainstem riverbank discharge faces
Adam Haynes, Martin A. Briggs, Eric Moore, Kevin Jackson, James Knighton, David M. Rey, Ashley Helton
2023, Hydrological Processes (37)
Riverbank groundwater discharge faces are spatially extensive areas of preferential seepage that are exposed to air at low river flow. Some conceptual hydrologic models indicate discharge faces represent the spatial convergence of highly variable age and length groundwater flowpaths, while others indicate greater consistency in source groundwater characteristics. Our detailed...
Multiple-well monitoring site within the Poso Creek Oil Field, Kern County, California
Rhett R. Everett, Peter B. McMahon, Michael J. Stephens, Janice M. Gillespie, Mackenzie M. Shepherd, Nicole C. Fenton
2023, Open-File Report 2023-1047
IntroductionThe Poso Creek Oil Field is one of the many fields selected for regional groundwater mapping and monitoring by the California State Water Resources Control Board as part of the Oil and Gas Regional Monitoring Program (RMP; California State Water Resources Control Board, 2015, 2022b; U.S. Geological Survey, 2022a). The...
River geomorphology affects biogeochemical responses to hydrologic events in a large river ecosystem
Taryn Waite, Kathi Jo Jankowski, Denise Bruesewitz, Molly Van Appledorn, Megan Johnston, Jeffrey N. Houser, Douglas Baumann, Barbara Bennie
2023, Water Resources Research (59)
Shifts in the frequency and intensity of high discharge events due to climate change may have important consequences for the hydrology and biogeochemistry of rivers. However, our understanding of event-scale biogeochemical dynamics in large rivers lags that of small streams. To fill this gap, we used high-frequency...
Widespread regeneration failure in ponderosa pine forests of the southwestern United States
Matthew D. Petrie, Robert M. Hubbard, John B. Bradford, Tom E. Kolb, Adam Roy Noel, Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, M.A. Bowen, L.R. Fuller, W. Keith Moser
2023, Forest Ecology and Management (545)
As climate changes in coming decades, ponderosa pine forest persistence may be increasingly dictated by their regeneration. Sustained regeneration failure has been predicted for forests of the southwestern US (SWUS) even in absence of stand-replacing wildfire, but regeneration in undisturbed and lightly disturbed forests has been studied infrequently and at...
A prioritization protocol for coastal wetland restoration on Molokaʻi, Hawaiʻi
Judith Z. Drexler, Helen Raine, James D. Jacobi, Sally House, Pulama Lima, William Haase, Arleone Dibben-Young, Brett T. Wolfe
2023, Frontiers in Environmental Science (11)
Hawaiian coastal wetlands provide important habitat for federally endangered waterbirds and socio-cultural resources for Native Hawaiians. Currently, Hawaiian coastal wetlands are degraded by development, sedimentation, and invasive species and, thus, require restoration. Little is known about their original structure and function due to the large-scale alteration of the lowland landscape...
Differentiable modelling to unify machine learning and physical models for geosciences
Chaopeng Shen, Alison P. Appling, Pierre Gentine, Toshiyuki Bandai, Hoshin Gupta, Alexandre Tartakovsky, Marco Baity-Jesi, Fabrizio Fenicia, Daniel Kifer, Li Li, Xiaofeng Liu, Wei Ren, Yi Zheng, Ciaran Harman, Martyn Clark, Matthew Farthing, Dapeng Feng, Praveen Kumar, Doaa Aboelyazeed, Farshid Rahmani, Yalan Song, Hylke E. Beck, Tadd Bindas, Dipankar Dwivedi, Kuai Fang, Marvin Hoge, Chris Rackauckas, Binayak Mohanty, Roy, Chonggang Xu, Kathryn Lawson
2023, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (4) 552-567
Process-based modelling offers interpretability and physical consistency in many domains of geosciences but struggles to leverage large datasets efficiently. Machine-learning methods, especially deep networks, have strong predictive skills yet are unable to answer specific scientific questions. In this Perspective, we explore differentiable modelling as a pathway to dissolve the perceived...
