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The mid-Atlantic region and Chesapeake Bay watershed have been influenced by fluctuations in climate and sea level since the Cretaceous, and human alteration of the landscape began ~12,000 years ago, with greatest impacts since colonial times. Efforts to devise sustainable management strategies that maximize ecosystem services are integrating data from...

Lacustrine groundwater discharge (LGD) transports nutrients from a catchment to a lake, which may fuel eutrophication, one of the major threats to our fresh waters. Unfortunately, LGD has often been disregarded in lake nutrient studies. Most measurement techniques are based on separate determinations of volume and nutrient concentration of LGD:...

This pilot study explores the potential of using low-resolution (0.2 points/m2) airborne laser scanning (ALS)-derived elevation data to model stream rating curves. Rating curves, which allow the functional translation of stream water depth into discharge, making them integral to water resource monitoring efforts, were modeled using a physics-based approach that...

The Yellowcheek Darter (Etheostoma moorei) is a rare fish endemic to the Little Red River watershed in the Boston Mountains of northern Arkansas. Remaining populations of this species are geographically isolated and declining, and the species was listed in 2011 as federally endangered. Populations have declined, in part, due to...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Special Applications Science Center is monitoring temporal changes at the Colonia Glacier and Lago Cachet Dos, Northern Patagonia Icefield of southern Chile. This location is one of the newest international sites in the USGS Global Fiducial Program (GFP)—a program which provides systematic monitoring of dynamic...

During 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) assessed stream quality across the Piedmont and southern Appalachian Mountain regions of the southeastern United States. This Southeast Stream Quality Assessment (SESQA) simultaneously characterized watershed and stream-reach water-quality stressors along with instream biological conditions, in order to better...

We evaluated predation on Lost River suckers (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose suckers (Chasmistes brevirostris), both listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), from American white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) and double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) nesting at mixed species colonies on Clear Lake Reservoir, CA and Upper Klamath Lake, OR during 2009-2014....

Hydrologic data and conditions throughout Rhode Island during water year 2014 are presented in this report. Stream discharge and groundwater level conditions varied geographically across the State. Ten streamgages reached record-low minimum monthly mean discharges during the year, and a record-high maximum groundwater level was observed at one groundwater well....

Watersheds recently burned by wildfires can have an increased susceptibility to debris flow, although little is known about how long this susceptibility persists, and how it changes over time. We here use a compilation of 75 debris-flow response and fire-ignition dates, vegetation and bedrock class, rainfall regime, and initiation process...

The extraction of mineral resources requires access through underground workings, or open pit operations, or through drillholes for solution mining. Additionally, mineral processing can generate large quantities of waste, including mill tailings, waste rock and refinery wastes, heap leach pads, and slag. Thus, through mining and mineral processing activities, large...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in partnership with the California Waterfowl Association (CWA) and other organizations, have compiled large datasets on the nesting ecology and management of dabbling ducks and associated upland nesting birds (Northern Harriers [Circus cyaneus], Short-eared Owls [Asio flammeus], Ring-necked Pheasants [Phasianus colchicus], and American Bitterns [Botaurus...

As part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Groundwater Resources Program study of the Appalachian Plateaus aquifers, annual and average estimates of water-budget components based on hydrograph separation and precipitation data from parameter-elevation regressions on independent slopes model (PRISM) were determined at 849 continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations from Mississippi to New York...

In cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, groundwater levels in wells located in the northern Green River Basin in Wyoming, an area of ongoing energy development, were measured by the U.S. Geological Survey from 2010 to 2014. The wells were completed in the uppermost aquifers of the Green River...

The primary goal of this research project was to evaluate the response of Moapa dace (Moapa coriacea) to the potential effects of changes in the amount of available habitat due to human influences such as ground water pumping, barriers to movement, and extirpation of Moapa dace from the mainstem Muddy...

Dust deposition onto mountain snow cover in the Upper Colorado River Basin frequently occurs in the spring when wind speeds and dust emission peaks on the nearby Colorado Plateau. Dust loading has increased since the intensive settlement in the western USA in the mid 1880s. The effects of dust-on-snow have...

The North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD) was created in 2005 to consolidate data on the oceanic distribution of marine bird species in the North Pacific. Most of these data were collected on surveys by counting species within defined areas and at known locations (that is, on strip transects). The...

The quantities of water and hydraulic fracturing proppant required for producing petroleum (oil, gas, and natural gas liquids) from continuous accumulations, and the quantities of water extracted during petroleum production, can be quantitatively assessed using a probabilistic approach. The water and proppant assessment methodology builds on the U.S. Geological Survey...

The Ozark aquifer is the largest aquifer, both in area of outcrop and thickness, and the most important source of freshwater in the Ozark Plateaus physiographic province, supplying water to northern Arkansas, southeastern Kansas, southern Missouri, and northeastern Oklahoma. The study area includes 16 Arkansas counties lying completely or partially...

The relative merits of model complexity and types of observations employed in model calibration are compared. An existing groundwater flow model coupled with an advective transport simulation of the Salt Lake Valley, Utah (USA), is adapted for advective transport, and effective porosity is adjusted until simulated tritium concentrations match concentrations...

The process of obtaining and analyzing water samples from the environment includes a number of steps that can affect the reported result. The equipment used to collect and filter samples, the bottles used for specific subsamples, any added preservatives, sample storage in the field, and shipment to the laboratory have...

Dam removal in the United States is increasing as a result of structural concerns, sedimentation of reservoirs, and declining riverine ecosystem conditions. The removal of the 32 m Elwha and 64 m Glines Canyon dams from the Elwha River in Washington, U.S.A., was the largest dam removal project in North...

This report describes the geology and hydrostratigraphy of the Edwards and Trinity Groups in the Anhalt, Fischer, and Spring Branch 7.5-minute quadrangles, Blanco, Comal, and Kendall Counties, Texas. The hydrostratigraphy was defined based on variations in the amount and type of porosity of each lithostratigraphic unit, which varies depending on...

The life history of the Holiday Darter is incompletely known. Only reproductive behavior (Johnston and Shute 1997; Anderson 2009), habitat use, and spawning seasons (Anderson 2009) have been studied. However, based on similarity of life history attributes among snubnose darters (Carney and Burr 1989; Johnston and Haag 1996; Khudamrongsawat et...

Delineating the climate processes governing precipitation variability in drought-prone Texas is critical for predicting and mitigating climate change effects, and requires the reconstruction of past climate beyond the instrumental record. We synthesize existing paleoclimate proxy data and climate simulations to provide an overview of climate variability in Texas during the...

In May of 2009, the bloom-forming diatom Didymosphenia geminata was first identified in the Upper Esopus Creek, a key tributary to the New York City water-supply and a popular recreational stream. The Upper Esopus receives supplemental flows from the Shandaken Portal, an underground aqueduct delivering waters from a nearby basin. The presence...