Contaminants of emerging concern in the Great Lakes Basin: A report on sediment, water, and fish tissue chemistry collected in 2010-2012
Steven J. Choy, Mandy L. Annis, JoAnn Banda, Sarah R. Bowman, Mark E. Brigham, Sarah M. Elliott, Daniel J. Gefell, Mark D. Jankowski, Zachary G. Jorgenson, Kathy Lee, Jeremy N. Moore, William A. Tucker
2017, Biological Technical Publication BTP-R3017-2013
Despite being detected at low levels in surface waters and sediments across the United States, contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in the Great Lakes Basin are not well characterized in terms of spatial and temporal occurrence. Additionally, although the detrimental effects of exposure to CECs on fish and wildlife have...
Aquatic concentrations of chemical analytes compared to ecotoxicity estimates
Mitchell S. Kostich, Robert W. Flick, Angela L. Batt, Heath E. Mash, J. Scott Boone, Edward T. Furlong, Dana W. Kolpin, Susan T. Glassmeyer
2017, Science of the Total Environment (579) 1649-1657
We describe screening level estimates of potential aquatic toxicity posed by 227 chemical analytes that were measured in 25 ambient water samples collected as part of a joint USGS/USEPA drinking water plant study. Measured concentrations were compared to biological effect concentration (EC) estimates, including USEPA aquatic life criteria, effective plasma...
Trends in the quality of water in New Jersey streams, water years 1971–2011
R. Edward Hickman, Robert M. Hirsch
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5176
In a study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Delaware River Basin Commission, trend tests were conducted on selected water-quality characteristics measured at stations on streams in New Jersey during selected periods over water years 1971‒2011. Tests were...
Nonnative trout invasions combined with climate change threaten persistence of isolated cutthroat trout populations in the southern Rocky Mountains
James Roberts, Kurt D. Fausch, Mevin Hooten, Douglas P. Peterson
2017, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (37) 314-325
Effective conservation of Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii lineages native to the Rocky Mountains will require estimating effects of multiple stressors and directing management toward the most important ones. Recent analyses have focused on the direct and indirect effects of a changing climate on contemporary ranges, which are much reduced from historic...
Water resources of Iberia Parish, Louisiana
Vincent E. White, Lawrence B. Prakken
2017, Fact Sheet 2016-3100
IntroductionInformation concerning the availability, use, and quality of water in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, is critical for proper water-resource management. This fact sheet summarizes the availability, past and current use, use trends, and water quality from groundwater and surface-water sources in the parish for water managers, parish residents, and others to...
Water resources of Concordia Parish, Louisiana
Vincent E. White
2017, Fact Sheet 2016-3099
IntroductionInformation concerning the availability, use, and quality of water in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, is critical for proper water-supply management. The purpose of this fact sheet is to present information that can be used by water managers, parish residents, and others for stewardship of this vital resource. Information on the availability,...
Water resources of Catahoula Parish, Louisiana
Vincent E. White
2017, Fact Sheet 2016-3101
IntroductionInformation concerning the availability, use, and quality of water in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, is critical for proper water-supply management. The purpose of this fact sheet is to present information that can be used by water managers, parish residents, and others for stewardship of this vital resource. Information on the availability,...
Coastal single-beam bathymetry data collected in 2015 from the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana
Chelsea A. Stalk, Nancy T. DeWitt, Julie Bernier, Jack G. Kindinger, James G. Flocks, Jennifer L. Miselis, Stanley D. Locker, Kyle W. Kelso, Thomas M. Tuten
2017, Data Series 1039
As part of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring Program, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted a single-beam bathymetry survey around the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, in June 2015. The goal of the program is to...
USA National Phenology Network gridded products documentation
Theresa M. Crimmins, R. Lee Marsh, Jeff R. Switzer, Michael A. Crimmins, Katharine L. Gerst, Alyssa H. Rosemartin, Jake F. Weltzin
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1003
The goals of the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN, www.usanpn.org) are to advance science, inform decisions, and communicate and connect with the public regarding phenology and species’ responses to environmental variation and climate change. The USA-NPN seeks to facilitate informed ecosystem stewardship and management by providing phenological information...
Hydrology and water quality in 13 watersheds in Gwinnett County, Georgia, 2001–15
Brent T. Aulenbach, John K. Joiner, Jaime A. Painter
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5012
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources, established a Long-Term Trend Monitoring (LTTM) program in 1996. The LTTM program is a comprehensive, long-term, water-quantity and water-quality monitoring program designed to document and analyze the hydrologic and water-quality conditions of selected watersheds in Gwinnett...
Systematic comparisons between PRISM version 1.0.0, BAP, and CSMIP ground-motion processing
Erol Kalkan, Christopher Stephens
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1020
A series of benchmark tests was run by comparing results of the Processing and Review Interface for Strong Motion data (PRISM) software version 1.0.0 to Basic Strong-Motion Accelerogram Processing Software (BAP; Converse and Brady, 1992), and to California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (CSMIP) processing (Shakal and others, 2003, 2004)....
A life cycle database for parasitic acanthocephalans, cestodes, and nematodes
Daniel P. Benesh, Kevin D. Lafferty, Armand Kuris
2017, Ecology (98) 882-882
Parasitologists have worked out many complex life cycles over the last ~150 years, yet there have been few efforts to synthesize this information to facilitate comparisons among taxa. Most existing host-parasite databases focus on particular host taxa, do not distinguish final from intermediate hosts, and lack parasite life-history information. We...
Processing and review interface for strong motion data (PRISM) software, version 1.0.0—Methodology and automated processing
Jeanne Jones, Erol Kalkan, Christopher Stephens
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1008
A continually increasing number of high-quality digital strong-motion records from stations of the National Strong-Motion Project (NSMP) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as well as data from regional seismic networks within the United States, call for automated processing of strong-motion records with human review limited to selected significant...
Record-high specific conductance and water temperature in San Francisco Bay during water year 2015
Paul A. Work, Maureen A. Downing-Kunz, Daniel N. Livsey
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1022
The San Francisco estuary is commonly defined to include San Francisco Bay (bay) and the adjacent Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta (delta). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has operated a high-frequency (15-minute sampling interval) water-quality monitoring network in San Francisco Bay since the late 1980s (Buchanan and others, 2014). This network...
Characterization of streamflow, suspended sediment, and nutrients entering Galveston Bay from the Trinity River, Texas, May 2014–December 2015
Zulimar Lucena, Michael T. Lee
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5177
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Texas Water Development Board and the Galveston Bay Estuary Program, collected streamflow and water-quality data at USGS streamflow-gaging stations in the lower Trinity River watershed from May 2014 to December 2015 to characterize and improve the current understanding of the quantity...
Analysis of trends of water quality and streamflow in the Blackstone, Branch, Pawtuxet, and Pawcatuck Rivers, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 1979 to 2015
Jennifer G. Savoie, John R. Mullaney, Gardner C. Bent
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5178
Trends in long-term water-quality and streamflow data from six water-quality-monitoring stations within three major river basins in Massachusetts and Rhode Island that flow into Narragansett Bay and Little Narragansett Bay were evaluated for water years 1979–2015. In this study, conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Rhode...
Landslide kinematics and their potential controls from hourly to decadal timescales: Insights from integrating ground-based InSAR measurements with structural maps and long-term monitoring data
William H. Schulz, Jeffrey A. Coe, P.P Ricci, Gregory M. Smoczyk, Brett L Shurtleff, J Panosky
2017, Geomorphology (285) 121-136
Knowledge of kinematics is rudimentary for understanding landslide controls and is increasingly valuable with greater spatiotemporal coverage. However, characterizing landslide-wide kinematics is rare, especially at broadly ranging timescales. We used highly detailed kinematic data obtained using photogrammetry and field mapping during the 1980s and 1990s and our 4.3-day ground-based InSAR...
The importance of building construction materials relative to other factors affecting structure survival during wildfire
Alexandra D. Syphard, Teresa J. Brennan, Jon E. Keeley
2017, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (21) 140-147
Structure loss to wildfire is a serious problem in wildland-urban interface areas across the world. Laboratory experiments suggest that fire-resistant building construction and design could be important for reducing structure destruction, but these need to be evaluated under real wildfire conditions, especially relative to other factors. Using empirical data from...
Amphibian dynamics in constructed ponds on a wildlife refuge: developing expected responses to hydrological restoration
Blake R. Hossack
2017, Hydrobiologia (790) 23-33
Management actions are based upon predictable responses. To form expected responses to restoration actions, I estimated habitat relationships and trends (2002–2015) for four pond-breeding amphibians on a wildlife refuge (Montana, USA) where changes to restore historical hydrology to the system greatly expanded (≥8 times) the flooded area of the primary...
Trophic interactions and consumption rates of subyearling Chinook Salmon and nonnative juvenile American Shad in Columbia River reservoirs
Craig A. Haskell, David A. Beauchamp, Stephen M Bollins
2017, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (146) 291-298
We used a large lampara seine coupled with nonlethal gastric lavage to examine the diets and estimate consumption rates of subyearling Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha during July and August 2013. During August we also examined the diet and consumption rates of juvenile American Shad Alosa sapidissima, a potential competitor of...
West Africa land use and land cover time series
Suzanne E. Cotillon
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3004
Started in 1999, the West Africa Land Use Dynamics project represents an effort to map land use and land cover, characterize the trends in time and space, and understand their effects on the environment across West Africa. The outcome of the West Africa Land Use Dynamics project is the production...
Saltwater intrusion in the Floridan aquifer system near downtown Brunswick, Georgia, 1957–2015
Gregory S. Cherry, Michael Peck
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1010
IntroductionThe Floridan aquifer system (FAS) consists of the Upper Floridan aquifer (UFA), an intervening confining unit of highly variable properties, and the Lower Floridan aquifer (LFA). The UFA and LFA are primarily composed of Paleocene- to Oligocene-age carbonate rocks that include, locally, Upper Cretaceous rocks. The FAS extends from coastal...
A methodology for modeling barrier island storm-impact scenarios
Rangley C. Mickey, Joseph W. Long, Nathaniel G. Plant, David M. Thompson, P. Soupy Dalyander
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1009
A methodology for developing a representative set of storm scenarios based on historical wave buoy and tide gauge data for a region at the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey. The total water level was calculated for a 10-year period and analyzed against existing topographic data...
Flood-inundation maps for the Big Blue River at Shelbyville, Indiana
Kathleen K. Fowler
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5166
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 4.1-mile reach of the Big Blue River at Shelbyville, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The floodinundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site...
Hurricane Sandy washover deposits on Fire Island, New York
SeanPaul M. La Selle, Brent D. Lunghino, Bruce E. Jaffe, Guy Gelfenbaum, Pedro J.M. Costa
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1014
Washover deposits on Fire Island, New York, from Hurricane Sandy in 2012 were investigated a year after the storm to document the sedimentary characteristics of hurricane washover features. Sediment data collected in the field includes stratigraphic descriptions and photos from trenches, bulk sediment samples, U-channels, and gouge and push cores....
