Search Results

We examined the contribution of three types of side channels based on their hydrologic connectivity (seasonally disconnected, partially connected, and connected) to production of juvenile anadromous salmonids. Juvenile steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss and Chinook Salmon O. tshawytscha were found in all three of these side channel types and in each year...

Water and sediment samples were collected from June through October 2007 from seven plots at the Rutgers Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Upper Deerfield, New Jersey, and analyzed for a suite of pesticides (including fungicides) and other physical and chemical parameters (including sediment mineralogy) by the U.S. Geological Survey....

Aquifer vulnerability models were developed to map groundwater nitrate concentration at domestic and public-supply well depths in the Central Valley, California. We compared three modeling methods for ability to predict nitrate concentration >4 mg/L: logistic regression (LR), random forest classification (RFC), and random forest regression (RFR). All three models indicated...

We measured metabolism rates in a shallow, nitrogen-enriched coastal marine ecosystem on Cape Cod (MA, USA) during seven summers using an open-water diel oxygen method. We compared two basins, one directly receiving most of the nitrogen (N) load (“Snug Harbor”) and another further removed from the N load and better...

On 28–30 October 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused severe flooding along portions of the northeast coast of the United States and cut new inlets across barrier islands in New Jersey and New York. About 30% of the 20 highest daily maximum water levels observed between 2007 and 2013 in Barnegat and...

Drift-feeding fish are challenged to discriminate between prey and similar-sized particles of debris, which are ubiquitous even in clear-water streams. Spending time and energy pursuing debris mistaken as prey could affect fish growth and the fitness potential of different foraging strategies. Our goal was to determine the extent to which...

Population-based habitat conservation planning for migrating and wintering waterfowl in North America is carried out by habitat Joint Venture (JV) initiatives and is based on the premise that food can limit demography (i.e. food limitation hypothesis). Consequently, planners use bioenergetic models to estimate food (energy) availability and population-level energy demands at appropriate spatial and...

Surface and laboratory Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) measurements combined with transient electromagnetic (TEM) data are powerful tools for subsurface water detection. Surface NMR (sNMR) and TEM soundings, laboratory NMR, complex resistivity, and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis were all conducted to characterise the distribution of water within Sherman Crater on Mt....

The Central Groundwater Basin (Central Basin) of southern Los Angeles County includes ~280 mi2 of the Los Angeles Coastal Plain and serves as the primary source of water for more than two million residents. In the Santa Fe Springs–Whittier–Norwalk area, located in the northeastern part of the basin, several sources...

Each chapter of the 2014 edition of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries (MCS) includes information on events, trends, and issues for each mineral commodity as well as discussions and tabular presentations on domestic industry structure, Government programs, tariffs, 5-year salient statistics, and world production...

Lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) occupy the St. Clair River, part of a channel connecting lakes Huron and Erie in the Laurentian Great Lakes. In the North Channel of the St. Clair River, juvenile lake sturgeon (3–7 years old and 582–793 mm in length) were studied to determine movement patterns and...

Continuous time-series of wave characteristics (height, period, and direction) are constructed using a base set of model scenarios and simple probabilistic methods. This approach utilizes an archive of computationally intensive, highly spatially resolved numerical wave model output to develop time-series of historical or future wave conditions without performing additional, continuous...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, in cooperation with the USGS Idaho Water Science Center and the Idaho Power Company, collected high-resolution seismic reflection data in the Brownlee and Hells Canyon Reservoirs, in March of 2013.These reservoirs are located along the Snake River, and...

Waters co-produced with hydrocarbons in the Appalachian Basin are of notably poor quality (concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS) and total radium up to and exceeding 300,000 mg/L and 10,000 pCi/L, respectively). Since 2008, a rapid increase in Marcellus Shale gas production has led to a commensurate rise in associated...

Fungicides are moderately hydrophobic and have been detected in water and sediment, particularly in agricultural watersheds, but typically are not included in routine water quality monitoring efforts. This is despite their widespread use and frequent application to combat fungal pathogens. Although the efficacy of these compounds on fungal pathogens is...

Organic carbon supply is linked to nitrogen transformation in ecosystems. However, the role of organic carbon quality in nitrogen processing is not as well understood. We determined how the quality of particulate organic carbon (POC) influenced nitrogen transformation in stream sediments by burying identical quantities of varying quality POC (northern...

Documenting timing, locations, and intensity of spawning can provide valuable information for conservation and management of imperiled fishes. However, deep, turbid or turbulent water, or occurrence of spawning at night, can severely limit direct observations. We have developed and tested the use of passive acoustics to detect distinctive acoustic signatures...

An examination of the relation between runoff rate, R, and concentration, C, of twelve major constituents in four small watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico demonstrates a consistent pattern of responses. For solutes that are not substantially bioactive (alkalinity, silica, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and chloride), the log(R)–log(<i...

In greater Augusta of central Maine, 53 out of 1093 (4.8%) private bedrock well water samples from 1534 km2 contained [U] >30 μg/L, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for drinking water; and 226 out of 786 (29%) samples from 1135 km2 showed [Rn] >4,000 pCi/L...

Flood-frequency analysis provides information about the magnitude and frequency of flood discharges based on records of annual maximum instantaneous peak discharges collected at streamgages. The information is essential for defining flood-hazard areas, for managing floodplains, and for designing bridges, culverts, dams, levees, and other flood-control structures. Bulletin 17B (B17B) of the...

Arid soils pose unique problems during measurement and interpretation of particle-size distributions (PSDs) because they often contain high concentrations of water-soluble salts. This study investigates the effects of sulfate and carbonate minerals on grain-size analysis by comparing analyses in water, in which the minerals dissolve, and isopropanol (IPA), in which...

The Enbridge Line 6B pipeline release of diluted bitumen into the Kalamazoo River downstream of Marshall, MI in July 2010 is one of the largest freshwater oil spills in North American history. The unprecedented scale of impact and massive quantity of oil released required the development and implementation of new...

Three sets of fusulinid faunas in Sonora, Mexico, discussed herein, record different depositional and paleotectonic settings along the southwestern margin of Laurentia (North America) during Pennsylvanian and Permian time. The settings include: offshelf continental rise and ocean basin (Rancho Nuevo Formation in the Sonora allochthon), shallow continental shelf (La Cueva...

The smallmouth buffalo Ictiobus bubalus is a native benthivore to floodplain lakes in the Yazoo River Basin, USA. Based on evidence from other benthivorous fish studies we hypothesized high biomasses of I. bubalus contribute to poor water quality conditions. We tested this hypothesis in shallow (< 1.5 m) 0.05 ha...

Fires are the major natural disturbance in the boreal forest, and their frequency and intensity will likely increase as the climate warms. Terrestrial nutrients released by fires may be transported to boreal lakes, stimulating increased primary productivity, which may radiate through multiple trophic levels. Using a before‐after‐control‐impact (BACI) design, with...