Withdrawal and consumption of water by thermoelectric power plants in the United States, 2010
Timothy H. Diehl, Melissa A. Harris
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5184
Estimates of water use at thermoelectric plants were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey based on linked heat and water budgets, and complement reported thermoelectric water withdrawals and consumption. The heat- and water-budget models produced withdrawal and consumption estimates, including thermodynamically plausible ranges of minimum and maximum withdrawal and consumption,...
The National Map hydrography data stewardship: what is it and why is it important?
Dave Arnold
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3084
The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) and Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) were designed and populated by a large consortium of agencies involved in hydrography across the United States. The effort was led by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)....
Nearshore bathymetric mapping along a 7-mile reach of Lake Sharpe shoreline near Lower Brule, South Dakota, 2013
Ryan F. Thompson
2014, Scientific Investigations Map 3307
Shoreline erosion rates along Lake Sharpe, a Missouri River reservoir, near the community of Lower Brule, South Dakota, were studied previously during 2011–12 by the U.S. Geological Survey, the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, and Oglala Lakota College. The rapid shoreline retreat has caused many detrimental effects along the shoreline of...
Surficial geologic map of the Red Rock Lakes area, southwest Montana
Kenneth L. Pierce, Tara L. Chesley-Preston, Richard L. Sojda
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1157
The Centennial Valley and Centennial Range continue to be formed by ongoing displacement on the Centennial fault. The dominant fault movement is downward, creating space in the valley for lakes and the deposition of sediment. The Centennial Valley originally drained to the northeast through a canyon now represented by a...
Data compilation for assessing sediment and toxic chemical loads from the Green River to the lower Duwamish Waterway, Washington
Kathleen E. Conn, Robert W. Black
2014, Data Series 880
Between February and June 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey collected representative samples of whole water, suspended sediment, and (or) bed sediment from a single strategically located site on the Duwamish River, Washington, during seven periods of different flow conditions. Samples were analyzed by Washington-State-accredited laboratories for a large suite of...
Building a better sticky trap: description of an easy-to-use trap and pole mount for quantifying the abundance of adult aquatic insects
Joshua T. Smith, Theodore A. Kennedy, Jeffrey D. Muehlbauer
2014, Freshwater Science (33) 972-977
Insect emergence is a fundamental process in freshwaters. It is a critical life-history stage for aquatic insects and provides an important prey resource for terrestrial and aquatic consumers. Sticky traps are increasingly being used to sample these insects. The most common design consists of an acetate sheet coated with a...
Acute sensitivity of white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to copper, cadmium, or zinc in water-only laboratory exposures
Robin D. Calfee, Edward E. Little, Holly J. Puglis, Erinn L. Scott, William G. Brumbaugh, Christopher A. Mebane
2014, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (33) 2259-2272
The acute toxicity of cadmium, copper, and zinc to white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were determined for 7 developmental life stages in flow-through water-only exposures. Metal toxicity varied by species and by life stage. Rainbow trout were more sensitive to cadmium than white sturgeon across all...
Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM) ‐ New functionality for predicting changes in distribution of submerged aquatic vegetation in response to sea level rise
Henry Lee II, Deborah A. Reusser, Melanie R Frazier, Lee M McCoy, Patrick J. Clinton, Jonathan S. Clough
2014, Report
Introduction Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) is an ecologically important habitat world‐wide. In Pacific Northwest (PNW) estuaries, SAV in the lower intertidal and shallow subtidal habitats are dominated by the native seagrass, Zostera marina Linnaeus, 1753. Within this report, SAV and seagrass refer to Z. marina seagrass beds in PNW estuaries. Z....
Concentrations, loads, and yields of total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and suspended sediment and bacteria concentrations in the Wister Lake Basin, Oklahoma and Arkansas, 2011-13
Stephanie D. Buck
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5170
The Poteau Valley Improvement Authority uses Wister Lake in southeastern Oklahoma as a public water supply. Total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and suspended sediments from agricultural runoff and discharges from wastewater treatment plants and other sources have degraded water quality in the lake. As lake-water quality has degraded, water-treatment cost, chemical...
Hydrologic conditions in urban Miami-Dade County, Florida, and the effect of groundwater pumpage and increased sea level on canal leakage and regional groundwater flow
Joseph D. Hughes, Jeremy T. White
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5162
The extensive and highly managed surface-water system in southeastern Florida constructed during the 20th Century has allowed for the westward expansion of urban and agricultural activities in Miami-Dade County. In urban areas of the county, the surface-water system is used to (1) control urban flooding, (2) supply recharge to production...
Coastal subsidence and relative sea level rise
Steven E. Ingebritsen, Devin L. Galloway
2014, Environmental Research Letters (9)
Subsurface fluid-pressure declines caused by pumping of groundwater or hydrocarbons can lead to aquifer-system compaction and consequent land subsidence. This subsidence can be rapid, as much as 30 cm per year in some instances, and large, totaling more than 13 m in extreme examples. Thus anthropogenic subsidence may be the...
Effects of seasonal operation on the quality of water produced by public-supply wells
Laura M. Bexfield, Bryant C. Jurgens
2014, Groundwater (52) 10-24
Seasonal variability in groundwater pumping is common in many places, but resulting effects of seasonal pumping stress on the quality of water produced by public-supply wells are not thoroughly understood. Analysis of historical water-quality samples from public-supply wells completed in deep basin-fill aquifers in Modesto, California (134 wells) and Albuquerque,...
The 3D Elevation Program: Summary for New Jersey
William J. Carswell Jr.
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3091
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of New Jersey, elevation data are critical for water supply and quality, flood risk management, natural resources conservation, agriculture and precision farming, infrastructure...
Development and use of a basin-scale hydrologic model for the Onondaga Lake basin
William F. Coon
2014, Clear Waters (44) 31-33
No abstract available....
Coral communities as indicators of ecosystem-level impacts of the Deepwater Horizon spill
Charles R. Fisher, Amanda W.J. Demopoulos, Erik E. Cordes, Iliana B. Baums, Helen K. White, Jill R. Bourque
2014, BioScience (64) 796-807
The Macondo oil spill released massive quantities of oil and gas from a depth of 1500 meters. Although a buoyant plume carried released hydrocarbons to the sea surface, as much as half stayed in the water column and much of that in the deep sea. After the hydrocarbons reached the...
Chronic sensitivity of white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to cadmium, copper, lead, or zinc in laboratory water-only exposures
Ning Wang, Christopher G. Ingersoll, Rebecca A. Dorman, William G. Brumbaugh, Christopher A. Mebane, James L. Kunz, Douglas K. Hardesty
2014, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (33) 2246-2258
Chronic toxicity of cadmium, copper, lead, or zinc to white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) was evaluated in water-only exposures started with newly hatched larvae or approximately 1-mo-old juveniles. The 20% effect concentration (EC20) for cadmium from the sturgeon tests was higher than the EC20 from the...
Methods for estimating annual exceedance-probability discharges and largest recorded floods for unregulated streams in rural Missouri
Rodney E. Southard, Andrea G. Veilleux
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5165
Regression analysis techniques were used to develop a set of equations for rural ungaged stream sites for estimating discharges with 50-, 20-, 10-, 4-, 2-, 1-, 0.5-, and 0.2-percent annual exceedance probabilities, which are equivalent to annual flood-frequency recurrence intervals of 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, and 500...
Post-Hurricane Sandy coastal oblique aerial photographs collected from Cape Lookout, North Carolina, to Montauk, New York, November 4-6, 2012
Karen L.M. Morgan, M. Dennis Krohn
2014, Data Series 858
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducts baseline and storm response photography missions to document and understand the changes in vulnerability of the Nation's coasts to extreme storms. On November 4-6, 2012, approximately one week after the landfall of Hurricane Sandy, the USGS conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey from Cape...
Benthos and plankton community data for selected rivers and harbors along Wisconsin's Lake Michigan shoreline, 2012
Barbara C. Scudder Eikenberry, Amanda H. Bell, Daniel J. Burns, Hayley T. Olds
2014, Data Series 824
Four river systems on the Wisconsin shoreline of Lake Michigan are designated Areas of Concern (AOCs) because of severe environmental degradation: the Lower Menominee River, Lower Green Bay and Fox River, Sheboygan River, and Milwaukee Estuary. Each AOC has one or more Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) that form the basis...
Magnetic resonance sounding survey data collected in the North Platte, Twin Platte, and South Platte Natural Resource Districts, Western Nebraska, Fall 2012
Mason A. Kass, Benjamin R. Bloss, Trevor P. Irons, James C. Cannia, Jared D. Abraham
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1138
This report is a release of digital data and associated survey descriptions from a series of magnetic resonance soundings (MRS, also known as surface nuclear magnetic resonance) that was conducted during October and November of 2012 in areas of western Nebraska as part of a cooperative hydrologic study by the...
Base of principal aquifer for parts of the North Platte, South Platte, and Twin Platte Natural Resources Districts, western Nebraska
Christopher M. Hobza, Jared D. Abraham, James C. Cannia, Michaela R. Johnson, Steven S. Sibray
2014, Scientific Investigations Map 3310
Water resources in the North and South Platte River valleys of Nebraska, including the valley of Lodgepole Creek, are critical to the social and economic health of the area, and for the recovery of threatened and endangered species in the Platte River Basin. Groundwater and surface water are heavily used...
Near-field receiving water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco Bay, California: 2013
Jessica Dyke, Daniel J. Cain, Janet K. Thompson, Amy E. Kleckner, Francis Parcheso, Michelle I. Hornberger, Samuel N. Luoma
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1174
Trace-metal concentrations in sediment and in the clam Macoma petalum (formerly reported as Macoma balthica), clam reproductive activity, and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure were investigated in a mudflat 1 kilometer south of the discharge of the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (PARWQCP) in South San Francisco Bay, Calif....
One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model (MODFLOW-OWHM)
Randall T. Hanson, Scott E. Boyce, Wolfgang Schmid, Joseph D. Hughes, Steffen W. Mehl, Stanley A. Leake, Thomas Maddock III, Richard G. Niswonger
2014, Techniques and Methods 6-A51
The One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model (MF-OWHM) is a MODFLOW-based integrated hydrologic flow model (IHM) that is the most complete version, to date, of the MODFLOW family of hydrologic simulators needed for the analysis of a broad range of conjunctive-use issues. Conjunctive use is the combined use of groundwater and surface...
Stream classification of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River System to support modeling of aquatic habitat response to climate change
Caroline M. Elliott, Robert B. Jacobson, Mary Freeman
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5080
A stream classification and associated datasets were developed for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin to support biological modeling of species response to climate change in the southeastern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey and the Department of the Interior’s National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center established the Southeast Regional Assessment...
Insights for empirically modeling evapotranspiration influenced by riparian and upland vegetation in semiarid regions
Daniel P. Bunting, Shirley A. Kurc, Edward P. Glenn, Pamela L. Nagler, Russell L. Scott
2014, Journal of Arid Environments (111) 42-52
Water resource managers aim to ensure long-term water supplies for increasing human populations. Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key component of the water balance and accurate estimates are important to quantify safe allocations to humans while supporting environmental needs. Scaling up ET measurements from small spatial scales has been problematic due...
