Discontinuities and functional resilience of large river fish assemblages
Kristen L. Bouska
2018, Ecological Applications (9)
Functional composition of communities across scales is increasingly used to infer resilience of biotic communities to environmental change. To assess the relevance of these concepts to management of large rivers, analyses were applied to fish community data of the Upper Mississippi River. First, to evaluate whether...
Coeur d’Alene Basin Environmental Monitoring Program, surface water, northern Idaho—Annual data summary, water year 2017
Lauren M. Zinsser
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1113
Streams within the Coeur d’Alene River drainage basin in northern Idaho have been extensively affected by historical mining activities and are subject to ongoing remedial actions as part of the Bunker Hill Mining & Metallurgical Complex Superfund Site. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) operates 12 real-time streamgages and collects...
Prioritization of oil and gas fields for regional groundwater monitoring based on a preliminary assessment of petroleum resource development and proximity to California’s groundwater resources
Tracy Davis, Matthew K. Landon, George L. V Bennett V
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5065
The California State Water Resources Control Board initiated a regional monitoring program in July 2015 to determine where and to what degree groundwater quality may be adversely impacted by oil and gas development activities. A key issue in the implementation of the regional groundwater monitoring program is that each year,...
Findings from a preliminary investigation of the effects of aquatic habitat (water) availability on giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) demography in the Sacramento Valley, California, 2014–17
Jonathan P. Rose, Julia S. M. Ersan, Gabriel A. Reyes, K. Benjamin Gustafson, Alexandria M. Fulton, Kristen J. Fouts, Raymund F. Wack, Glenn D. Wylie, Michael L. Casazza, Brian J. Halstead
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1114
The giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) is a semi-aquatic species of snake precinctive to the Central Valley of California. Because the Central Valley has experienced a substantial loss of wetland habitat, giant gartersnake populations are largely found in aquatic habitats associated with rice agriculture. In dry years, less water may be...
Quality-assurance plan for groundwater activities, U.S. Geological Survey Dakota Water Science Center
Joshua F. Valder, Janet M. Carter, Steven M. Robinson, Christopher D. Laveau, Joel A. Petersen
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1103
As the Nation’s principal earth-science information agency, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is depended upon to collect accurate data and produce factual and impartial interpretive reports. Methods for data collection and analysis that were developed by the USGS have become standard techniques used by numerous Federal, State, and local agencies...
Geohydrology, geochemistry, and numerical simulation of groundwater flow and land subsidence in the Bicycle Basin, Fort Irwin National Training Center, California
Jill N. Densmore, Linda R. Woolfenden, Diane L. Rewis, Peter M. Martin, Michelle Sneed, Kevin M. Ellett, Michael Solt, David M. Miller
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5067
Groundwater pumping from Bicycle Groundwater Basin (referred to as Bicycle Basin) in the Fort Irwin National Training Center, California, began in 1967. From 1967 to December 2010, about 46,000 acre-feet of water had been pumped from the basin and transported to the Irwin Basin. During this time, not only did...
Near-field receiving-water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in south San Francisco Bay, California—2017
Daniel J. Cain, Janet K. Thompson, Francis Parchaso, Sarah Pearson, A. Robin Stewart, Matthew A. Turner, David Barasch, Ane Slabic, Samuel N. Luoma
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1107
Trace-metal concentrations in sediment and in the clam Macoma petalum (formerly reported as Macoma balthica), clam reproductive activity, and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure were investigated in a mudflat 1 kilometer south of the discharge of the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (PARWQCP) in south San Francisco Bay, Calif....
Trends in water quality of selected streams and reservoirs used for water supply in the Triangle area of North Carolina, 1989–2013
Mary J. Giorgino, Thomas F. Cuffney, Stephen L. Harden, Toby D. Feaster
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5077
As the population of the Triangle area in central North Carolina increases, the demand for good quality drinking water from streams and lakes within the upper Neuse and upper Cape Fear River Basins also increases. The Triangle area includes Raleigh, Cary, Research Triangle Park, Durham, Chapel Hill, and the surrounding...
Monitoring the water-quality response of agricultural conservation practices in the Bucks Branch watershed, Sussex County, Delaware, 2014–16
Judith M. Denver, Alexander M. Soroka, Betzaida Reyes, Todd R. Lester, Deborah A. Bringman, M.S. Brownley
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5020
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of irrigation and cover crops as conservation practices on water quality in groundwater and streams. Bucks Branch, a stream in the Nanticoke River watershed in southwestern Delaware, was identified as having one of the highest concentrations of nitrate in all...
Exploring viable geologic interpretations of gravity models using distance-based global sensitivity analysis and kernel methods
Geoffrey Phelps, Celine Scheidt, Jef Caers
2018, Geophysics (5) G79-G92
We have explored ways to integrate alternative geologic interpretations into the modeling of gravity data. These methods are applied to the Vaca Fault east of Fairfield, California, USA, where the structure across the fault is in question, and the Vaca Fault is used as a case study to demonstrate the...
Towards coordinated regional multi-satellite InSAR volcano observations: Results from the Latin America pilot project
Matthew Pritchard, Juliet Biggs, Christelle Wauthier, Eugenio Sansosti, David W. D. Arnold, Francisco Delgado, Susanna Ebmeier, Scott Henderson, Kristen Stephens, C. Cooper, Kendall Wnuk, Falk Amelung, Victor Rivera Aguilar, Patricia Mothes, Orlando Macedo, Luis E. Lara, Michael P. Poland, Simona Zoffoli
2018, Journal of Applied Volcanology (7)
Within Latin America, about 319 volcanoes have been active in the Holocene, but 202 of these volcanoes have no seismic, deformation or gas monitoring. Following the 2012 Santorini Report on satellite Earth Observation and Geohazards, the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) developed a 4-year pilot project (2013-2017) to demonstrate...
Simulation of potential groundwater recharge for the glacial aquifer system east of the Rocky Mountains, 1980–2011, using the Soil-Water-Balance Model
Jared J. Trost, Jason L. Roth, Stephen M. Westenbroek, Howard W. Reeves
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5080
An understanding of the spatial and temporal extent of groundwater recharge is critical for many types of hydrologic assessments involving water quality, contaminant transport, ecosystem health, and sustainable use of groundwater. Annual potential groundwater recharge was simulated at a 1-kilometer resolution with the Soil-Water-Balance (SWB) model for the glacial aquifer...
Idaho water use, 2015
Erin M. Murray
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3036
The ability to quantify water resources hinges on the understanding of water use by the population. The demand humans place on the water cycle varies across the United States, driven by both need and availability. The U.S. Geological Survey quantifies water use nationally, at the county scale, with estimates of...
The Future
David L. Blodgett, Alan H. Rea, Josh Lieberman
Jeffrey D. Simley, editor(s)
2018, Book chapter, GIS for surface water: Using the National Hydrography Dataset
No abstract available....
Soil water dynamics at 15 locations distributed across a desert landscape: insights from a 27‐yr dataset
Michael C. Duniway, Matthew D. Petrie, Debra P. C. Peters, John P. Anderson, Keith Crossland, Jeffrey E. Herrick
2018, Ecosphere (9) 1-36
Desert ecosystems are primarily limited by water availability. Within a climatic regime, topography, soil characteristics, and vegetation are expected to determine how the combined effects of precipitation, temperature, and evaporative demand of the atmosphere shape the spatial and temporal patterns of water within the soil profile and across a landscape....
Statistical approach to neural network imaging of karst systems in 3D seismic reflection data
Daniel Ebuna, Jared W. Kluesner, Kevin J. Cunningham, Joel H. Edwards
2018, Interpretation (6) B15-B35
The current lack of a robust, standardized technique for geophysical mapping of karst systems can be attributed to both the complexity of the environment and prior technological limitations. Abrupt lateral variations in physical properties that are inherent to karst systems generate significant geophysical noise, challenging conventional seismic signal processing and...
Landscape-scale wildlife species richness metrics to inform wind and solar energy facility siting: An Arizona case study
Kathryn A. Thomas, Christopher Jarchow, Terence R. Arundel, Pankaj Jamwal, Amanda Borens, Charles A. Drost
2018, Energy Policy (116) 145-152
The juxtaposition of wildlife and wind or solar energy facility infrastructure can present problems for developers, planners, policy makers, and management agencies. Guidance on siting of these renewable energy facilities may help identify potential wildlife-facility conflicts with species of regulatory or economic concern. However, existing spatial guidance usually does not...
Assessing the effectiveness of riparian restoration projects using Landsat and precipitation data from the cloud-computing application ClimateEngine.org
Mark B. Hausner, Justin L. Huntington, Caroline Nash, Charles Morton, Daniel J. McEvoy, David S. Pilliod, Katherine C. Hegewisch, Britta Daudert, John T. Abatzoglou, Gordon E. Grant
2018, Ecological Engineering (120) 432-440
Riparian vegetation along streams provides a suite of ecosystem services in rangelands and thus is the target of restoration when degraded by over-grazing, erosion, incision, or other disturbances. Assessments of restoration effectiveness depend on defensible monitoring data, which can be both expensive and difficult to collect. We present a method...
Effects of land use on summer thermal regimes in critical salmonid habitats of the Pacific Northwest
Ryan Kovach, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Robert Al-Chokhachy, Jeffrey V. Ojala, Eric Archer
2018, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (76) 753-761
The effect of climate change on stream temperature regimes is of significant concern to natural resource managers focused on protecting cold-water-dependent species. Nevertheless, understanding of how human land-use activities may act to exacerbate the effects of climate change on stream temperature regimes is limited. Using extensive stream temperature data with...
Water budget of the upper Chehalis River Basin, southwestern Washington
Andrew S. Gendaszek, Wendy B. Welch
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5084
Groundwater and surface water collectively supply the domestic, agricultural, and industrial needs of the 895-square mile upper Chehalis River Basin upstream of Grand Mound, Washington, while providing streamflow for fish and other aquatic species in the Chehalis River and its tributaries. To support sustainable water management decision-making, a water budget...
Value of sample information in dynamic, structurally uncertain resource systems
Byron K. Williams, Fred A. Johnson
2018, PLoS ONE (13)
Few if any natural resource systems are completely understood and fully observed. Instead, there almost always is uncertainty about the way a system works and its status at any given time, which can limit effective management. A natural approach to uncertainty is to allocate time and effort to the collection...
Using earthquakes, T waves, and infrasound to investigate the eruption of Bogoslof Volcano, Alaska
Aaron Wech, Gabrielle Tepp, John J. Lyons, Matthew M. Haney
2018, Geophysical Research Letters (45) 6918-6925
The 2016‐2017 eruption of Bogoslof volcano, a submarine stratovolcano in the Bering Sea, produced 70 discrete explosive eruptions over 8 months. With no local monitoring data, activity was seismically recorded on nearby islands 50‐100 km away, limiting the detection and resolution of seismic observations. We construct a matched filter catalog...
Streamflow, water quality, and constituent loads and yields, Scituate Reservoir Drainage Area, Rhode Island, Water Year 2016
Kirk P. Smith
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1084
As part of a long-term cooperative program to monitor water quality within the Scituate Reservoir watershed, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Providence Water Supply Board collected streamflow and water-quality data at the Scituate Reservoir and tributaries. Streamflow and concentrations of chloride and sodium estimated from records of...
Accurate predictions of microscale oxygen barometry in basaltic glasses using V K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy: A multivariate approach
Antonio Lanzirotti, M. Darby Dyar, Steve Sutton, Matthew Newville, Elisabet Head, CJ Carey, Molly McCanta, R. Lopaka Lee, Penelope L. King, John Jones
2018, American Mineralogist (103)
Because magmatic oxygen fugacity (fO2) exerts a primary control on the discrete vanadium (V) valence states that will exist in quenched melts, V valence proxies for fO2, measured using X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES), can provide highly sensitive measurements of the redox conditions in basaltic melts. However, published calibrations for basaltic...
Icebergs in the Nordic Seas throughout the Late Pliocene
Yvonne M. Smith, Daniel Hill, Aisling M Dolan, Alan M Haywood, Harry J. Dowsett, Bjorg Risebrobakken
2018, Paleoceanography (33) 318-335
The Arctic cryosphere is changing and making a significant contribution to sea level rise. The Late Pliocene had similar CO2 levels to the present and a warming comparable to model predictions for the end of this century. However, the state of the Arctic cryosphere during the Pliocene remains poorly constrained....
