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Sedimentation has severely impacted backwater lakes along the Illinois River. The State of Illinois and the US Army Corps of Engineers are currently involved in a joint effort to address ecosystem degradation within the Illinois River Basin, and excessive sedimentation of backwater lakes and side channels is a primary cause...

The undulating, warped, and densely fractured surfaces of highland regions east of Valles Marineris (located north of the eastern Aureum Chaos, east of the Hydraotes Chaos, and south of the Hydaspis Chaos) resulted from extensional surface warping related to ground subsidence, caused when pressurized water confined in subterranean caverns was...

Freshwater impoundments at Savannah National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), South Carolina, provide an important habitat for wildlife species, but degraded sediment quality in the Savannah River downstream of the discharge from two impoundments have caused concern about potential contaminant problems within the impoundments. The quality of sediments from five impoundments (impoundments...

Mercury contamination of the environment from historical and ongoing mining practices that rely on mercury amalgamation for gold extraction is widespread. Contamination was particularly severe in the immediate vicinity of gold extraction and refining operations; however, mercury, especially in the form of water-soluble methylmercury, may be transported to pristine areas...

The ability of diffusion samplers constructed from regenerated cellulose dialysis membrane and low density, lay flat polyethylene tubing to collect volatile organic compounds and inorganic ions was compared in a laboratory study. Concentrations of vinyl chloride, cis‐1, 2‐dichloroethene, bromochloromethane, trichloroethene, bromodichloromethane, and tetrachloroethene collected by both types of diffusion samplers reached...

As part of the Yellowstone River Basin National Water Quality Assessment study, ground-water samples were collected from Quaternary unconsolidated-deposit and lower Tertiary aquifers in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming and Montana from 1999 to 2001. Samples from 54 wells were analyzed for physical characteristics, major ions, trace elements, nutrients, dissolved...

During 1996–98, the U.S. Geological Survey studied surface- and ground-water quality in south-central Texas. The ground-water components included the upper and middle zones (undifferentiated) of the Trinity aquifer in the Hill Country and the unconfined part (recharge zone) and confined part (artesian zone) of the Edwards aquifer in the Balcones...

Water-quality samples were collected from 20 surface-water sites and 11 ground-water sites on the Prairie Band Potawatomi Reservation in northeastern Kansas in an effort to describe existing water-quality conditions on the reservation and to compare water-quality conditions to results from previous reports published as part of a multiyear cooperative study...

A state-scale pilot effort was conducted to evaluate a Health-Based Screening Level (HBSL) approach developed for communicating findings from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment Program in a human-health context. Many aquifers sampled by USGS are used as drinking-water sources, and water-quality conditions historically have been assessed by...

A field-scale phytoremediation demonstration study was initiated in 1996 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force, at a site on Naval Air StationJoint Reserve Base Carswell Field (NAS–JRB) adjacent to Air Force Plant 4 (AFP4) in Fort Worth, Tex. (fig. 1). Trichloroethene (TCE) has...

Chloroform is one of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) detected most frequently in both ground and surface water. Because it is also one of the four trihalomethanes (THMs) produced in the highest concentrations during the chlorination of drinking water and wastewater, the frequent detection of this compound in ground and...

The Oyster Bay study area, in the northern part of Nassau County, N.Y., is underlain by unconsolidated deposits that form a sequence of aquifers and confining units. At least one production well has been affected by the intrusion of saltwater from Hempstead Harbor, Long Island Sound, and Cold Spring Harbor....

Volcanic eruptions at the summit of Kilauea Volcano, Hawai'i, are of two dramatically contrasting types: (1) benign lava flows and lava fountains; and (2) violent, mostly prehistoric eruptions that dispersed tephra over hundreds of square kilometers. The violence of the latter eruptions has been attributed to mixing of water and...

The Savage Municipal Well Superfund site, named after the former municipal water-supply well for the town of Milford, is underlain by a 0.5-square mile plume of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), primarily tetrachloroethylene (PCE). The plume occurs mostly within a highly transmissive sand-and-gravel unit, but also extends to an underlying till...

In cooperation with the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Geological Survey characterized the ground-water hydrology and water quality at Melrose Air Force Range in east-central New Mexico. The purpose of the study was to provide baseline data to Cannon Air Force Base resource managers to make informed decisions concerning actions...

The Cook Inlet Basin study unit of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program comprises 39,325 square miles in south-central Alaska. Data were collected at eight fixed sites to provide baseline information in areas where no development has taken place, urbanization or logging have occurred, or the effects of...

Ground-water samples were collected from 90 active public supply wells in the Fresno and Modesto metropolitan areas as part of the California Aquifer Susceptibility (CAS) program. The CAS program was formed to examine the susceptibility to contamination of aquifers that are tapped by public supply wells to serve the citizens...

Air Force Plant 4 and adjacent Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base Carswell Field at Fort Worth, Texas, constitute a government-owned, contractor-operated facility that has been in operation since 1942. Contaminants from AFP4, primarily volatile organic compounds and metals, have entered the ground-water-flow system through leakage from waste-disposal sites and from...

The Double Eagle Refining Superfund site and the Fourth Street Abandoned Refinery Superfund site are in northeast Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, adjacent to one another. The Double Eagle facility became a Superfund site on the basis of contamination from lead and volatile organic compounds; the Fourth Street facility on the basis...

The primary purpose of this report is to present all chemical data from the Salton Sea area collected by the U.S. Geological Survey between 1995 and 2001. The data were collected primarily for the Department of the Interior's National Irrigation Water Quality Program (NIWQP). The report also contains a brief...

The Quail Hollow Landfill, located in southeastern Bedford County on the Highland Rim overlooking the Central Basin karst region of Tennessee, is constructed on the gravelly, clay-rich residuum of the Fort Payne Formation of Mississippian age. A conceptual hydrologic model of the landfill indicated that Anderton Branch was at risk...

A joint study by the Dover National Test Site and the U.S. Geological Survey was conducted from June 27 through July 18, 2001 to determine the spatial distribution of the gasoline oxygenate additive methyl tert-butyl ether and selected water-quality constituents in the surficial aquifer underlying the Dover National Test Site...

A joint study by the Dover National Test Site, Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, and the U.S. Geological Survey was conducted from June 27 through July 18, 2001, to determine the spatial distribution of the gasoline oxygenate additive methyl tert-butyl ether and selected water-quality constituents in the surficial aquifer underlying...

This report accompanies the publication of the last 15 of 51 river basin and aquifer assessments by the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program during 1991?2001. It highlights selected water-quality findings of regional and national interest through examples from river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. Forthcoming reports in...

Previous investigations indicated that natural attenuation and biodegradation of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) are substantial in shallow ground water beneath the 9-acre former landfill at Operable Unit 1 (OU 1), Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), Division Keyport, Washington. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has continued to monitor ground-water geochemistry...