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Extreme storms drive change in coastal areas, including destruction of dune systems that protect coastal populations. Data from four extreme storms impacting four geomorphically diverse barrier islands are used to quantify dune elevation change. This change is compared to storm characteristics to identify variability in dune response, improve understanding of...

In this paper, the authors present an analysis of the magnitude of the temporal and spatial acceleration (inertial) terms in the surface-water flow equations and determine the conditions under which these inertial terms have sufficient magnitude to be required in the computations. Data from two South Florida field sites are...

In 2010, the U.S Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Wind River Environmental Quality Commission (WREQC), began an assessment of the effectiveness of the existing monitoring network at the Riverton, Wyoming, Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) site. The USGS used existing data supplied by the U.S. Department of...

The Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts that separate Vineyard Sound from Buzzards Bay are the remnants of a moraine (unconsolidated glacial sediment deposited at an ice sheet margin; Oldale and O’Hara, 1984). The most recent glacial ice retreat in this region occurred between 25,000 and 20,000 years ago, and the subsequent...

We evaluated the efficacy of using chemical characteristics to rank wetland relation to surface and groundwater along a hydrologic continuum ranging from groundwater recharge to groundwater discharge. We used 27 years (1974–2002) of water chemistry data from 15 prairie pothole wetlands and known hydrologic connections of these wetlands to groundwater...

San Antonio and surrounding municipalities in Bexar County, Texas, are in a rapidly urbanizing region in the San Antonio River Basin. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the San Antonio River Authority and the Texas Water Development Board, compiled historical sediment data collected between 1996 and 2004 and collected...

A gas-tracer test in a deep arid unsaturated zone demonstrates that standard estimates of effective diffusivity from sediment properties allow a reasonable first-cut assessment of gas contaminant transport. Apparent anomalies in historic transport behavior at this and other waste disposal sites may result from factors other than nonreactive gas transport...

Executive Summary a. Fish Population RM&E This annual report describes the data collected and analyses conducted during calendar years 2012-2013 by staff of project 20023200. The USGS contributed only to the predation research and reservoir invertebrate work described in this report and the presentation of their results is consistent with USGS policy...

Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL) are active features on Mars that might require flowing water. Most examples observed through 2011 formed on steep, equator-facing slopes in the southern mid-latitudes. They form and grow during warm seasons and fade and often completely disappear during colder seasons, but recur over multiple Mars years....

Key Points - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2009) estimates that excessive sediment is the leading cause of water-quality impairment in water bodies in the United States. The cost of damages attributable to sediment is high, estimated at more than $20 billion annually (Osterkamp and others, 2004). - Sediment monitoring...

The productive agricultural areas of Pajaro Valley, California have exclusively relied on ground water from coastal aquifers in central Monterey Bay. As part of the Basin Management Plan (BMP), the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency (PVWMA) is developing additional local supplies to replace coastal pumpage, which is causing seawater intrusion....

Coastal mangrove–freshwater marsh ecotones of the Everglades represent transitions between marine salt-tolerant halophytic and freshwater salt-intolerant glycophytic communities. It is hypothesized here that a self-reinforcing feedback, termed a “vegetation switch,” between vegetation and soil salinity, helps maintain the sharp mangrove–marsh ecotone. A general theoretical implication of the switch mechanism is...

Biodegradation of [A-ring 14C] Estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) to 14CO2 was investigated under light and dark conditions in microcosms containing epilithon or sediment collected from Boulder Creek, Colorado. Mineralization of the estrogen A-ring was observed in all sediment treatments, but not epilithon treatments. No difference in net...

After going unreported in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean for 18 years (1988 to 2006), the Asian tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon, has recently reappeared in the South Atlantic Bight and, for the first time ever, in the Gulf of Mexico. Potential vectors and sources of this recent invader include: 1) discharged...

The U.S. Geological Survey is conducting a combined pre/post-closure assessment at a long-term wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) site at Fort Gordon near Augusta, Georgia. Here, we assess select endocrine-active chemicals and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure prior to closure of the WWTP. Substantial downstream transport and limited instream attenuation of endocrine-disrupting...

Groundwater quality in the approximately 963-square-mile Borrego Valley, Central Desert, and Low-Use Basins of the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts study unit was investigated as part of the Priority Basin Project of the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The study unit is located in southern California in San Bernardino,...

By coupling synoptic data from a basin-wide assessment of streamwater chemistry with network-based geostatistical analysis, we show that spatial processes differentially affect biogeochemical condition and pattern across a headwater stream network. We analyzed a high-resolution dataset consisting of 664 water samples collected every 100 m throughout 32 tributaries in an...

Groundwater provides more than 40 percent of California’s drinking water. To protect this vital resource, the State of California created the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The Priority Basin Project of the GAMA Program provides a comprehensive assessment of the State’s untreated groundwater quality and increases public access...

The Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris, is a hindgut-fermenting herbivore. In winter, manatees migrate to warm water overwintering sites where they undergo dietary shifts and may suffer from cold-induced stress. Given these seasonally induced changes in diet, the present study aimed to examine variation in the hindgut bacterial communities of...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the National Monitoring Network for U.S. Coastal Waters and Tributaries, launched a pilot project in 2010 to determine the value of integrated synoptic surveys of rivermouths using autonomous underwater vehicle technology in response to a call for rivermouth research, which includes study...

Subsidence, in the vicinity of dry lakebeds, within the Mojave River and Morongo groundwater basins of the southwest Mojave Desert has been measured by Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). The investigation has focused on determining the location, extent, and magnitude of changes in land-surface elevation. In addition, the relation of...

Stormwater runoff in urban areas is increasingly being managed by means of a variety of treaments that reduce or delay runoff and promote more natural infiltration. One such treatment is a rain garden, which is built to detain runoff and allow for water infiltration and uptake by plants.Water flow into...

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 Louisiana, elevation data are critical for flood risk management, natural resources conservation, agriculture and precision farming, infrastructure and construction management, water supply...

Exploratory studies were conducted at sites bordering the Fox River in Waukesha, Wisconsin, during 2010 and McHenry, Illinois, during 2011–13. The objectives of the studies were to assess strategies for the study of and insights into the potential for directly connected groundwater and surface-water systems with natural groundwater discharge to...

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 9-mile (mi) reach of the Mississinewa River from 0.75 mi upstream from the Pennsylvania Street bridge in Marion, Indiana, to 0.2 mi downstream from State Route 15 were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural...