A summary of water-quality monitoring in San Francisco Bay in water year 2017
Daniel N. Livsey, Maureen A. Downing-Kunz
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5064
This report summarizes the activities of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) San Francisco Bay Water-Quality Monitoring and Sediment Transport Project during water year 2017, including an explanation of methods employed, stations operated, and a graphical summary of data for the period of record for stations operational in water year 2017....
Procedure for calculating estimated ultimate recoveries of wells in the Wolfcamp shale of the Midland Basin, Permian Basin Province, Texas
Heidi M. Leathers-Miller
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5042
In 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey published an assessment of technically recoverable continuous oil and gas resources of the Wolfcamp shale in the Midland Basin, Permian Basin Province, Texas. Estimated ultimate recoveries (EURs) were calculated with production data from IHS MarkitTM using DeclinePlus software in the Harmony interface. These EURs...
Modeling Escherichia coli in the Missouri River near Omaha, Nebraska, 2012–16
Brenda K. Densmore, Brent M. Hall, Matthew T. Moser
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5045
The city of Omaha, Nebraska, has a combined sewer system in some areas of the city. In Omaha, Nebr., a moderate amount of rainfall will lead to the combination of stormwater and untreated sewage or wastewater being discharged directly into the Missouri River and Papillion Creek and is called a...
Small basin annual yield and percentage of snowmelt runoff in North Dakota, 1931–2016
Tara Williams-Sether, Spencer L. Wheeling
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5144
The North Dakota hydrology manual prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, presents methodologies primarily used for developing hydrology for onfarm conservation practices, watershed projects, Resource Conservation and Development project measures, and river basin studies. The manual includes data necessary for determining hydrologic factors and developing a...
Missouri StreamStats—St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis urban application
Rodney E. Southard, Tana Haluska, Joseph M. Richards, Jarrett T. Ellis, Christine Dartiguenave, Dean Djokic
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5040
To address a major limitation of the functionality of the Missouri statewide StreamStats application in the urban areas of St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis, Missouri, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, defined watershed boundaries and hydrography for the study...
Conceptual framework and approach for conducting a geoenvironmental assessment of undiscovered uranium resources
Tanya J. Gallegos, Katherine Walton-Day, Robert R. Seal, II
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5104
This report presents a novel conceptual framework and approach for conducting a geologically based environmental assessment, or geoenvironmental assessment, of undiscovered uranium resources within an area likely to contain uranium deposits. The framework is based on a source-to-receptor model that prioritizes the most likely contaminant sources, contaminant pathways, and affected...
Updating data inputs, assessing trends, and evaluating a method to estimate probable high groundwater levels in selected areas of Massachusetts
Janet R. Barclay, John R. Mullaney
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5036
A method to estimate the probable high groundwater level in Massachusetts, excluding Cape Cod and the islands, was developed in 1981. The method uses a groundwater measurement from a test site, groundwater measurements from an index well, and a distribution of high groundwater levels from wells in similar geologic and...
Statewide assessment of karst aquifers in New York with an inventory of closed-depression and focused-recharge features
William M. Kappel, James E. Reddy, Jonathan Casey Root
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5030
Karst is a landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble rock or rock containing minerals that are easily dissolved from within the rock. The landscape is characterized by sinkholes, caves, losing streams, springs, and underground drainage systems, which rapidly move water through the karst. The two forms of karst in...
Streambed scour of salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) redds in the South Fork Tolt River, King County, Washington
Andrew S. Gendaszek, Elizabeth Ablow, Derek Marks
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5044
Prior to emergence as fry, salmonid embryos incubating within gravel nests called “redds” are vulnerable to substrate mobilization and lowering of the streambed, a process termed “streambed scour,” during floods. Water managers regulating discharge in salmonid-bearing rivers need information about the magnitude of discharge during which the scour of substrate...
Application of the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) to simulate near-native streamflow in the Upper Rio Grande Basin
Shaleene B. Chavarria, C. David Moeser, Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5026
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) is widely used to simulate the effects of climate, topography, land cover, and soils on landscape-level hydrologic response and streamflow. This study developed, calibrated, and assessed a PRMS model that simulates near-native or naturalized streamflow conditions in the Upper Rio Grande Basin....
Trends in nutrient and soil loss in Illinois rivers, 1978–2017
Timothy O. Hodson, Paul J. Terrio
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5041
Nutrient and soil loss, defined herein as the loss of nutrients or soil to streams and other downstream receiving waters, affect watersheds around the globe. Although governments make large investments mitigating nutrient and soil loss through watershed management efforts, the efficacy of these efforts is often difficult to assess, in...
Precipitation runoff modeling system (PRMS) as part of an integrated hydrologic model for the Osage Nation, northeastern Oklahoma, 1915–2014
Joseph A. Hevesi, Randall T. Hanson, Jason R. Masoner
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5030
Executive SummaryThe Osage Nation lacks a comprehensive tribal water plan to describe the quality and quantity of water resources in the Osage Nation, a 2,304-square-mile (mi2) area of rolling pastures, tallgrass prairie, and mixed woodlands in northeastern Oklahoma. A tribal water plan can be used to help manage the sustainable...
Quantifying trends in arsenic, nitrate, and dissolved solids from selected wells in Utah
Olivia L. Miller
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5047
Groundwater makes up a primary portion of the water supply in many parts of Utah, with annual withdrawals estimated at more than 1,000,000 acre-feet per year. Increases to groundwater withdrawal and land use may negatively impact water availability. Ensuring availability of clean water requires understanding how water quality has changed...
Using remotely sensed data to map Joshua Tree distributions at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California, 2018
Todd Esque, Patrick E. Baird, Felicia C. Chen, David C. Housman, Tom J. Holton
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5053
Species distribution models (SDMs) that are derived through inference have been used to provide important insights toward species distributions. Their inferences can be robust in relation to known presences, but SDMs have error rates that cannot be quantified with certainty. For large plant species with unique signatures and in sparsely...
Ecological status of aquatic communities in selected streams in the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District planning area of Wisconsin, 2004–13
Barbara C. Scudder Eikenberry, Michelle A. Nott, Jana S. Stewart, Daniel J. Sullivan, David A. Alvarez, Amanda H. Bell, Faith A. Fitzpatrick
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5035
A total of 14 wadable streams in urban or urbanizing watersheds near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were sampled in 2004, 2007, 2010, and 2013 to assess the ecological status of aquatic communities (biota), including benthic algae and invertebrates, and fish. To assess temporal variation, additional community sampling was also done at a...
Compositional analysis of formation water geochemistry and microbiology of commercial and carbon dioxide-rich wells in the southwestern United States
Jenna L. Shelton, Robert S. Andrews, Denise M. Akob, Christina A. DeVera, Adam C. Mumford, Mark Engle, Michelle R. Plampin, Sean T. Brennan
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5037
Studies of naturally occurring subsurface carbon dioxide (CO2) accumulations can provide useful information for potential CO2 injection projects; however, the microbial communities and formation water geochemistry of most reservoirs are understudied. Formation water and microbial biomass were sampled at four CO2-rich reservoir sites: two within Bravo Dome, a commercial CO2...
Pilot-scale testing of dairy manure treatments to reduce nutrient transport from land application, northwest Ohio, 2015–17
Donna S. Francy, Amie M.G. Brady, Bethany L. Ash, W. Robert Midden
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5015
Manure and wastewater from large livestock operations have the potential to negatively affect surface water and groundwater, including the eutrophication of surface waters and harmful algal blooms. In the Western Lake Erie Basin, where there is a high density of animal agriculture, harmful algal blooms have been attributed, in part,...
Biological and habitat assessment of the Lower Rouge River, Michigan 2018
Edward F. Roseman, Jason Fischer, Robin L. DeBruyne, Scott A. Jackson
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5009
A key component of evaluating the success of habitat remediation projects is determining preremediation conditions, biotic and abiotic, to establish a baseline and compare with postproject conditions. The Rouge River, Michigan, is a Great Lakes Area of Concern with a listed Beneficial Use Impairment related to loss of fish and...
Chemical evaluation of water and gases collected from hydrothermal systems located in the central Aleutian arc, August 2015
Cynthia A. Werner, Christoph Kern, Peter J. Kelly
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5043
Five volcanic-hydrothermal systems in the central Aleutians Islands were sampled for water and gas geochemistry in 2015 to provide baseline data to help predict future volcanic unrest. Some areas had not been sampled in 20–30 years (Makushin volcano, Geyser Bight), and other areas had minimal to no prior sampling (Tana...
Simulation of discharge, water-surface elevations, and water temperatures for the St. Louis River estuary, Minnesota-Wisconsin, 2016–17
Erik A. Smith, Richard L. Kiesling, Earl J. Hayter
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5028
The St. Louis River estuary is a large freshwater estuary, next to Duluth, Minnesota, that encompasses the headwaters of Lake Superior. The St. Louis River estuary is one of the most complex and compromised near-shore systems in the upper Great Lakes with a long history of environmental contamination caused by...
Magnitude and frequency of floods in Alabama, 2015
Brandon T. Anderson
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5032
To improve flood-frequency estimates at rural streams in Alabama, annual exceedance probability flows at gaged locations and regional regression equations used to estimate annual exceedance probability flows at ungaged locations were developed by using current geospatial data, new analytical methods, and annual peak-flow data through September 2015 at 242 streamgages...
Updated study reporting levels (SRLs) for trace-element data collected for the California Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program Priority Basin Project, October 2009–October 2018
George L. V Bennett V
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5034
Groundwater samples have been collected in California as part of statewide investigations of groundwater quality conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey for the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Priority Basin Project (PBP) since 2004. The GAMA-PBP is being conducted in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board...
Benthic vertical hydraulic gradients in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2017
Nicholas Corson-Dosch
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5029
Groundwater piezometers and lake stilling wells were deployed as paired sets at 10 locations in Upper Klamath Lake in south-central Oregon from May to October 2017 to measure hydraulic heads in and beneath the lake. Continuous water-level data from piezometers and stilling wells were then used to calculate the...
Bathymetric and velocimetric surveys at highway bridges crossing the Missouri River between Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri, May 22–31, 2017
Richard J. Huizinga
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5018
Bathymetric and velocimetric data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Transportation, near 10 bridges at 9 highway crossings of the Missouri River between Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri, from May 22 to 31, 2017. A multibeam echosounder mapping system was used...
Effects of legacy sediment removal and effects on nutrients and sediment in Big Spring Run, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 2009–15
Michael J. Langland, Joseph W. Duris, Tammy M. Zimmerman, Jeffrey J. Chaplin
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5031
Big Spring Run is a 1.68-square mile watershed underlain by mostly carbonate rock in a mixed land-use setting (part agricultural and part developed) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Big Spring Run is a subwatershed of Mill Creek, a tributary to the Conestoga River. These watersheds are known contributors of nutrient and...
