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Multi-year droughts are important and impactful features of California’s Mediterranean climate and can fundamentally affect the water quality and the ecosystem response of the San Francisco Estuary (Estuary) and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta). This study assesses data collected by long-term monitoring programs over the past 46 years (1975-2021) to...

Numerous mercury (Hg) sources can contribute to biological burdens within the Great Lakes, including atmospheric deposition (e.g., precipitation), non-point source land runoff (e.g., watershed), and legacy contamination. Due to these different environmental entry points, it is often difficult to ascertain if legacy Hg contamination contributes to contemporary fish consumption advisories...

Between the 1950s and 1980s, wastewater generated at the Idaho National Laboratory contained Iodine-129 (129I); this wastewater was discharged directly into the eastern Snake River Plain (ESRP) aquifer through a deep disposal well, unlined infiltration ponds, or leaked from distribution systems below industrial facilities. During 2021–22, the U.S. Geological Survey,...

The spatial heterogeneity of soil nutrients is crucial for the water bird and whole floodplain wetland ecosystem in large lakes, and it is influenced by the dramatic water level changes and sedimentation progress in West Dongting Lake (WDL). Soil samples were collected at various soil depths along the Yuan River...

Version 4.0 of the Saturated-Unsaturated Transport (SUTRA) software code provides the capability to simulate the freezing and thawing of groundwater during energy transport simulations under saturated and unsaturated conditions. In addition to the types of hydrogeologic processes that SUTRA has been able to simulate in the past, this version can...

Great Salt Lake is a critical habitat for migratory birds that is threatened by elevated metal concentrations, including mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb), and is subject to severe hydrologic changes, such as declining lake level. When assessing metal profiles recorded in Great Salt Lake sediment, a large data gap exists...

A hydrologic model of the Silver Creek Basin in southwest Illinois, and a hydraulic model of a selected reach of Silver Creek and local tributaries on and near Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, were developed to assess the effects of temporal land-use development in the Silver Creek Basin, the potential...

Introduction High-resolution elevation data for Kansas inform decision making to improve the State’s economy. Existing elevation data coverage is used to support State water planning initiatives, facilitate infrastructure management, and improve resilience to natural disasters. The expanding availability of current and more accurate elevation data helps better support natural resources conservation,...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the West Virginia Department of Transportation, Division of Highways, compared time of concentration (Tc) and related runoff characteristics measured at four field sites in West Virginia to estimates of these values made using accepted methods. These four sites were selected to represent...

The Russian River watershed is in northern Sonoma County and southern Mendocino County, California, in the northern part of the California Coast Ranges. The Russian River serves as a supply for agricultural irrigation and for municipal, domestic, and commercial uses. Through a cooperative agreement with the California State Water Resources...

Image velocimetry has become an effective method of mapping flow conditions in rivers, but this analysis is typically performed in a post-processing mode after data collection is complete. In this study, we evaluated the potential to infer flow velocities in approximately real time as thermal images are being acquired from...

High resolution topobathymetric field surveys were conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in collaboration with Northeastern University and in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy in a selected shoreline along Gandys Beach, New Jersey, from January to April 2018. These data are a critical...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are contaminants that can lead to adverse health effects in aquatic organisms, including reproductive toxicity and developmental abnormalities. To assess the ecological health risk of PFAS in Pennsylvania stream surface water, we conducted a comprehensive analysis that included both measured and predicted estimates. The potential...

IntroductionIn 2021, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the U.S. Geological Survey worked in cooperation to develop a geographic information <span...

Lithium-rich brine deposits occur throughout the United States, including in the Smackover Formation. The concentration of lithium in Smackover Formation brines was predicted across southern Arkansas by using a machine-learning model that incorporated lithium concentration data and geologic information. Between 5.1 and 19.0 million metric tons of lithium are calculated...

Water withdrawal from private groundwater wells is often unaccounted for in water planning studies, and water from private wells can be a source of exposure to environmental contaminants. The sizes of populations that depend on private wells for domestic water use and the amounts of water that are withdrawn from...

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in humans, Dutch elm disease in forests, and highly pathogenic avian influenza in wild birds and poultry highlight the disruptive impacts of emerging infectious diseases on public health, ecosystems, and economies. Infectious disease dynamics often depend on environmental conditions that drive occurrence, transmission, and outbreaks. Remote sensing...

The “National Field Manual for the Collection of Water-Quality Data” (NFM) provides guidelines and procedures for U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) personnel who collect data used to assess the quality of the Nation’s surface-water and groundwater resources. This chapter, NFM A6.1, provides guidance and protocols for the measurement of temperature of...

The Colorado River is an important water source in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. High concentrations of dissolved solids in the river, sourced mainly from the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCOL), cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damages annually to crops and infrastructure. Determinations of total dissolved...

The Middleton Municipal Airport–Morey Field (C29) is in the City of Middleton and adjacent to the towns of Middleton and Springfield, Wisconsin. Nearby homes in the towns rely on private drinking water wells, and residents are concerned about the potential contamination of groundwater and surface water by airport activities, including...

Long-term drought caused Lake Powell, a reservoir on the Colorado River (USA), to decline to its lowest elevation in >50 years during 2022–2023, allowing warm water to pass through intakes of Glen Canyon Dam and facilitating invasion by non-native Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieu). Establishment of bass downstream of the dam...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Marine Sanctuary Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has conducted seabed mapping and related research in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS) region since 1993. The area being mapped using geophysical and geological data includes the SBNMS and...

Environmental DNA (eDNA) is a complex mixture of DNA, varying in particle sizes and distributed heterogeneously in aquatic systems. Optimizing eDNA sampling is crucial for maximizing species detection, particularly in high-risk scenarios like invasive species management. In this study, we compare two eDNA sampling methods - namely tow net and...

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 9.9-mile reach of the Cuyahoga River in and near Independence, Ohio, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District Board of Trustees. Water-surface profiles were computed for the stream reach by using a one-dimensional steady-state step-backwater...

Objective Growth is one of the primary drivers of fish population dynamics and understanding factors influencing growth is vital to effective management of fish populations. This study investigated potential factors influencing growth of a recently established, non-native population of Walleye Sander vitreus in the Lake Pend Oreille system in northern...