Mineral resources of the Sagebrush Focal Areas of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming
Warren C. Day, Thomas P. Frost, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Michael L. Zientek, editor(s)
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5089
Scientific Investigations Report 2016–5089 and accompanying data releases are the products of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Sagebrush Mineral-Resource Assessment (SaMiRA). The assessment was done at the request of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to evaluate the mineral-resource potential of some 10 million acres of Federal and adjacent lands...
Overview with methods and procedures of the U.S. Geological Survey mineral-resource assessment of the Sagebrush Focal Areas of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming: Chapter A in Mineral resources of the Sagebrush Focal Areas of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming
Warren C. Day, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Michael L. Zientek, Thomas P. Frost, editor(s)
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5089-A
This report, chapter A of Scientific Investigations Report 2016–5089, provides an overview of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Sagebrush Mineral-Resource Assessment (SaMiRA). The report also describes the methods, procedures, and voluminous fundamental reference information used throughout the assessment. Data from several major publicly available databases and other published sources were...
Hydrological conditions and evaluation of sustainable groundwater use in the Sierra Vista Subwatershed, Upper San Pedro Basin, southeastern Arizona
Bruce Gungle, James B. Callegary, Nicholas V. Paretti, Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Christopher J. Eastoe, Dale S. Turner, Jesse E. Dickinson, Lainie R. Levick, Zachary P. Sugg
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5114
This study assessed progress toward achieving sustainable groundwater use in the Sierra Vista Subwatershed of the Upper San Pedro Basin, Arizona, through evaluation of 14 indicators of sustainable use. Sustainable use of groundwater in the Sierra Vista Subwatershed requires, at a minimum, a stable rate of groundwater discharge to, and...
Sediment load and distribution in the lower Skagit River, Skagit County, Washington
Christopher A. Curran, Eric E. Grossman, Mark C. Mastin, Raegan L. Huffman
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5106
The Skagit River delivers about 40 percent of all fluvial sediment that enters Puget Sound, influencing flood hazards in the Skagit lowlands, critically important estuarine habitat in the delta, and some of the most diverse and productive agriculture in western Washington. A total of 175 measurements of suspended-sediment load,...
Network global navigation satellite system survey to harmonize water-surface elevation data for the Rainy River Basin
Jeffrey R. Ziegeweid, R. Jason Silliker, Brenda K. Densmore, Justin Krahulik
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5109
Continuously recording water-level streamgages in Rainy Lake and Namakan Reservoir are used to regulate water levels according to rule curves established in 2000 by the International Joint Commission; however, water levels at streamgages were referenced to a variety of vertical datums, confounding efforts to model the flow of water through...
Potential postwildfire debris-flow hazards—A prewildfire evaluation for the Jemez Mountains, north-central New Mexico
Anne C. Tillery, Jessica R. Haas
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5101
Wildfire can substantially increase the probability of debris flows, a potentially hazardous and destructive form of mass wasting, in landscapes that have otherwise been stable throughout recent history. Although the exact location, extent, and severity of wildfire or subsequent rainfall intensity and duration cannot be known, probabilities of fire and...
Alaska Arctic marine fish ecology catalog
Lyman K. Thorsteinson, Milton S. Love, editor(s)
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5038
The marine fishes in waters of the United States north of the Bering Strait have received new and increased scientific attention over the past decade (2005–15) in conjunction with frontier qualities of the region and societal concerns about the effects of Arctic climate change. Commercial fisheries are negligible in the...
Evaluation of effects of groundwater withdrawals at the proposed Allen combined-cycle combustion turbine plant, Shelby County, Tennessee
Connor J. Haugh
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5072
The Mississippi Embayment Regional Aquifer Study groundwater-flow model was used to simulate the potential effects of future groundwater withdrawals at the proposed Allen combined-cycle combustion turbine plant in Shelby County, Tennessee. The scenario used in the simulation consisted of a 30-year average withdrawal period followed by a 30-day maximum withdrawal...
Dam failure analysis for the Lago El Guineo Dam, Orocovis, Puerto Rico
Julieta Gómez-Fragoso, Heriberto Torres-Sierra
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5070
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, completed hydrologic and hydraulic analyses to assess the potential hazard to human life and property associated with the hypothetical failure of the Lago El Guineo Dam. The Lago El Guineo Dam is within the headwaters of the...
Methods for estimating annual exceedance probability discharges for streams in Arkansas, based on data through water year 2013
Daniel M. Wagner, Joshua D. Krieger, Andrea G. Veilleux
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5081
In 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey initiated a study to update regional skew, annual exceedance probability discharges, and regional regression equations used to estimate annual exceedance probability discharges for ungaged locations on streams in the study area with the use of recent geospatial data, new analytical methods, and available annual...
Low-flow characteristics for streams on the Islands of Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Maui, and Hawaiʻi, State of Hawaiʻi
Chui Ling Cheng
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5103
Statistical models were developed to estimate natural streamflow under low-flow conditions for streams with existing streamflow data at measurement sites on the Islands of Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Maui, and Hawaiʻi. Streamflow statistics used to describe the low-flow characteristics are flow-duration discharges that are equaled or exceeded between 50 and 95...
Budgets and chemical characterization of groundwater for the Diamond Valley flow system, central Nevada, 2011–12
David L. Berger, C. Justin Mayers, C. Amanda Garcia, Susan G. Buto, Jena M. Huntington
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5055
The Diamond Valley flow system consists of six hydraulically connected hydrographic areas in central Nevada. The general down-gradient order of the areas are southern and northern Monitor Valleys, Antelope Valley, Kobeh Valley, Stevens Basin, and Diamond Valley. Groundwater flow in the Diamond Valley flow system terminates at a large playa...
Hydrogeologic investigations of the Miocene Nogales Formation in the Nogales Area, Upper Santa Cruz Basin, Arizona
William R. Page, Floyd Gray, Mark W. Bultman, Christopher M. Menges
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5087
Hydrogeologic investigations were conducted to evaluate the groundwater resource potential for the Miocene Nogales Formation in the Nogales area, southern Arizona. Results indicate that parts of the formation may provide new, deeper sources of groundwater for the area. Geologic mapping determined the hydrogeologic framework of the formation by defining lithologic,...
Quantifying the eroded volume of mercury-contaminated sediment using terrestrial laser scanning at Stocking Flat, Deer Creek, Nevada County, California, 2010–13
James F. Howle, Charles N. Alpers, Gerald W. Bawden, Sandra Bond
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5179
High-resolution ground-based light detection and ranging (lidar), also known as terrestrial laser scanning, was used to quantify the volume of mercury-contaminated sediment eroded from a stream cutbank at Stocking Flat along Deer Creek in the Sierra Nevada foothills, about 3 kilometers west of Nevada City, California. Terrestrial laser scanning was...
Comparison of benthos and plankton for selected areas of concern and non-areas of concern in western Lake Michigan Rivers and Harbors in 2012
Barbara C. Scudder Eikenberry, Amanda H. Bell, Hayley T. Olds, Daniel J. Burns
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5090
Recent data are lacking to assess whether impairments still exist at four of Wisconsin’s largest Lake Michigan harbors that were designated as Areas of Concern (AOCs) in the late 1980s due to sediment contamination and multiple Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs), such as those affecting benthos (macroinvertebrates) and plankton (zooplankton and...
Evaluation of National Atmospheric Deposition Program measurements for colocated sites CO89 and CO98 at Rocky Mountain National Park, water years 2010–14
Gregory A. Wetherbee
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5051
Atmospheric wet-deposition monitoring in Rocky Mountain National Park included precipitation depth and aqueous chemical measurements at colocated National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network (NADP/NTN) sites CO89 and CO98 (Loch Vale) during water years 2010–14 (study period). The colocated sites were separated by approximately 6.5 meters horizontally and 0.5 meter in...
An international borderland of concern: Conservation of biodiversity in the Lower Rio Grande Valley
David M. Leslie Jr.
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5078
The Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of southern Texas is located on the United States-Mexico borderland and represents a 240-kilometer (150-mile) linear stretch that ends at the Gulf of Mexico. The LRGV represents a unique transition between temperate and tropical conditions and, as such, sustains an exceptionally high diversity of...
Water-quality trends and constituent-transport analysis for selected sampling sites in the Milltown Reservoir/Clark Fork River Superfund Site in the upper Clark Fork Basin, Montana, water years 1996–2015
Steven K. Sando, Aldo V. Vecchia
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5100
During the extended history of mining in the upper Clark Fork Basin in Montana, large amounts of waste materials enriched with metallic contaminants (cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc) and the metalloid trace element arsenic were generated from mining operations near Butte and milling and smelting operations near Anaconda. Extensive deposition...
Effects of aquifer storage and recovery activities on water quality in the Little Arkansas River and Equus Beds Aquifer, south-central Kansas, 2011–14
Mandy L. Stone, Jessica D. Garrett, Barry C. Poulton, Andrew C. Ziegler
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5042
The Equus Beds aquifer in south-central Kansas is aprimary water source for the city of Wichita. The Equus Beds aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) project was developed to help the city of Wichita meet increasing current (2016) and future water demands. The Equus Beds ASR project pumps water out of...
Spatial and temporal assessment of back-barrier erosion on Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia, 2011–2013
Daniel L. Calhoun, Jeffrey W. Riley
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5071
Much research has been conducted to better understand erosion and accretion processes for the seaward zones of coastal barrier islands; however, at Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia, the greater management concern is the effect that erosion is having on the resources of the island’s western shoreline, or the back barrier....
Missouri River Scaphirhynchus albus (pallid sturgeon) effects analysis—Integrative report 2016
Robert B. Jacobson, Mandy L. Annis, Michael E. Colvin, Daniel A. James, Timothy L. Welker, Michael J. Parsley
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5064
The Missouri River Pallid Sturgeon Effects Analysis was designed to carry out three components of an assessment of how Missouri River management has affected, and will affect, population dynamics of endangered Scaphirhynchus albus (pallid sturgeon): (1) collection of reliable scientific information, (2) critical assessment and synthesis of available data and...
Spatial database for a global assessment of undiscovered copper resources: Chapter Z in Global mineral resource assessment
Connie L. Dicken, Pamela Dunlap, Heather L. Parks, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Michael L. Zientek
Michael L. Zientek, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Kathleen M. Johnson, editor(s)
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5090-Z
As part of the first-ever U.S. Geological Survey global assessment of undiscovered copper resources, data common to several regional spatial databases published by the U.S. Geological Survey, including one report from Finland and one from Greenland, were standardized, updated, and compiled into a global copper resource database. This integrated collection...
Potential corrosivity of untreated groundwater in the United States
Kenneth Belitz, Bryant C. Jurgens, Tyler D. Johnson
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5092
Corrosive groundwater, if untreated, can dissolve lead and other metals from pipes and other components in water distribution systems. Two indicators of potential corrosivity—the Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) and the Potential to Promote Galvanic Corrosion (PPGC)—were used to identify which areas in the United States might be more susceptible to...
External quality assurance project report for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program’s National Trends Network and Mercury Deposition Network, 2013–14
Gregory A. Wetherbee, RoseAnn Martin
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5069
The U.S. Geological Survey Branch of Quality Systems operated five distinct programs to provide external quality assurance monitoring for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program’s (NADP) National Trends Network and Mercury Deposition Network during 2013–14. The National Trends Network programs include (1) a field audit program to evaluate sample contamination and...
Flood-inundation maps for Lake Champlain in Vermont and in northern Clinton County, New York
Robert H. Flynn, Laura Hayes
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5060
Digital flood-inundation maps for an approximately100-mile length of Lake Champlain in Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, and Grand Isle Counties in Vermont and northern Clinton County in New York were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the International Joint Commission (IJC). The flood-inundationmaps, which can be accessed through...
