Methods for estimating selected low-flow statistics and development of annual flow-duration statistics for Ohio
G. F. Koltun, Stephanie P. Kula
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5138
This report presents the results of a study to develop methods for estimating selected low-flow statistics and for determining annual flow-duration statistics for Ohio streams. Regression techniques were used to develop equations for estimating 10-year recurrence-interval (10-percent annual-nonexceedance probability) low-flow yields, in cubic feet per second per square mile, with...
Estimating transmission of avian influenza in wild birds from incomplete epizootic data: implications for surveillance and disease spreac
Viviane Henaux, Jane Parmley, Catherine Soos, Michael D. Samuel
2013, Journal of Applied Ecology (50) 223-231
Estimating disease transmission in wildlife populations is critical to understand host–pathogen dynamics, predict disease risks and prioritize surveillance activities. However, obtaining reliable estimates for free-ranging populations is extremely challenging. In particular, disease surveillance programs may routinely miss the onset or end of epizootics and peak prevalence, limiting...
Standardized methods for Grand Canyon fisheries research 2015
William R. Persons, David L. Ward, Luke A. Avery
2013, Techniques and Methods 2-A12
This document presents protocols and guidelines to persons sampling fishes in the Grand Canyon, to help ensure consistency in fish handling, fish tagging, and data collection among different projects and organizations. Most such research and monitoring projects are conducted under the general umbrella of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management...
Obtaining and processing Daymet data using Python and ArcGIS
Stefanie Bohms
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1015
This set of scripts was developed to automate the process of downloading and mosaicking daily Daymet data to a user defined extent using ArcGIS and Python programming language. The three steps are downloading the needed Daymet tiles for the study area extent, converting the netcdf file to a tif raster...
Identifying nutrient reference sites in nutrient-enriched regions-Using algal, invertebrate, and fish-community measures to identify stressor-breakpoint thresholds in Indiana rivers and streams, 2005-9
Brian J. Caskey, Aubrey R. Bunch, Megan E. Shoda, Jeffrey W. Frey, Shivi Selvaratnam, Robert J. Miltner
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5243
Excess nutrients in aquatic ecosystems can lead to shifts in species composition, reduced dissolved oxygen concentrations, fish kills, and toxic algal blooms. In this study, nutrients, periphyton chlorophyll a (CHLa), and invertebrate- and fishcommunity data collected during 2005-9 were analyzed from 318 sites on Indiana rivers and streams. The objective...
Water-quality and flow data, Chulitna River basin, Southwest Alaska, October 2009-June 2012
Timothy P. Brabets
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1009
The Chulitna River basin in southwest Alaska drains an area of about 1,160 square miles, with the lower 158 square miles of the basin in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. Water from this basin influences Lake Clark ecosystems that support salmon that, in part, sustain the Bristol Bay fishery....
Faulting and groundwater in a desert environment: constraining hydrogeology using time-domain electromagnetic data
Paul A. Bedrosian, Matthew K. Burgess, Tracy Nishikawa
2013, Near Surface Geophysics (11) 545-555
Within the south-western Mojave Desert, the Joshua Basin Water District is considering applying imported water into infiltration ponds in the Joshua Tree groundwater sub-basin in an attempt to artificially recharge the underlying aquifer. Scarce subsurface hydrogeological data are available near the proposed recharge site; therefore, time-domain electromagnetic (TDEM) data were...
Determination of flow losses in the Cape Fear River between B. Everett Jordan Lake and Lillington, North Carolina, 2008-2010
J. Curtis Weaver, Kristen Bukowski McSwain
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5226
During 2008-2010, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a hydrologic investigation in cooperation with the Triangle J Council of Governments Cape Fear River Flow Study Committee and the North Carolina Division of Water Resources to collect hydrologic data in the Cape Fear River between B. Everett Jordan Lake and Lillington in...
Detecting insect pollinator declines on regional and global scales
Gretchen Lubuhn, Sam Droege, Edward F. Connor, Barbara Gemmill-Herren, Simon G. Potts, Robert L. Minckley, Terry Griswold, Robert Jean, Emanuel Kula, David W. Roubik, Jim Cane, Karen W. Wright, Gordon Frankie, Frank Parker
2013, Conservation Biology (27) 113-120
Recently there has been considerable concern about declines in bee communities in agricultural and natural habitats. The value of pollination to agriculture, provided primarily by bees, is >$200 billion/year worldwide, and in natural ecosystems it is thought to be even greater. However, no monitoring program exists to accurately detect declines...
Abstracts for the October 2012 meeting on Volcanism in the American Southwest, Flagstaff, Arizona
Jacob B. Lowenstern
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1026
Though volcanic eruptions are comparatively rare in the American Southwest, the States of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah host Holocene volcanic eruption deposits and are vulnerable to future volcanic activity. Compared with other parts of the western United States, comparatively little research has been focused on this area,...
Prediction, time variance, and classification of hydraulic response to recharge in two karst aquifers
Andrew J. Long, Barbara Mahler
2013, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (17) 281-294
Many karst aquifers are rapidly filled and depleted and therefore are likely to be susceptible to changes in short-term climate variability. Here we explore methods that could be applied to model site-specific hydraulic responses, with the intent of simulating these responses to different climate scenarios from high-resolution climate models. We...
Structure and development of old-growth, unmanaged second-growth, and extended rotation Pinus resinosa forests in Minnesota, USA
Emily J. Silver, Anthony W. D’Amato, Shawn Fraver, Brian J. Palik, John B. Bradford
2013, Forest Ecology and Management (291) 110-118
The structure and developmental dynamics of old-growth forests often serve as important baselines for restoration prescriptions aimed at promoting more complex structural conditions in managed forest landscapes. Nonetheless, long-term information on natural patterns of development is rare for many commercially important and ecologically widespread forest types. Moreover, the effectiveness of...
Groundwater quality and the relation between pH values and occurrence of trace elements and radionuclides in water samples collected from private wells in part of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma Jurisdictional Area, central Oklahoma, 2011
Carol Becker
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5253
From 1999 to 2007, the Indian Health Service reported that gross alpha-particle activities and concentrations of uranium exceeded the Maximum Contaminant Levels for public drinking-water supplies in water samples from six private wells and two test wells in a rural residential neighborhood in the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma Jurisdictional Area,...
Electron donor concentrations in sediments and sediment properties at the agricultural chemicals team research site near New Providence, Iowa, 2006-07
Bijesh Maharjan, Scott F. Korom, Erik A. Smith
2013, Data Series 737
The concentrations of electron donors in aquifer sediments are important to the understanding of the fate and transport of redox-sensitive constituents in groundwater, such as nitrate. For a study by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program, 50 sediment samples were collected from below the water table from 11...
Development of a database-driven system for simulating water temperature in the lower Yakima River main stem, Washington, for various climate scenarios
Frank Voss, Alec Maule
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1010
A model for simulating daily maximum and mean water temperatures was developed by linking two existing models: one developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and one developed by the Bureau of Reclamation. The study area included the lower Yakima River main stem between the Roza Dam and West Richland, Washington....
Bedrock topography of western Cape Cod, Massachusetts, based on bedrock altitudes from geologic borings and analysis of ambient seismic noise by the horizontal-to-vertical spectral-ratio method
Gillian M. Fairchild, John W. Lane Jr., Emily B. Voytek, Denis R. LeBlanc
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3233
This report presents a topographic map of the bedrock surface beneath western Cape Cod, Massachusetts, that was prepared for use in groundwater-flow models of the Sagamore lens of the Cape Cod aquifer. The bedrock surface of western Cape Cod had been characterized previously through seismic refraction surveys and borings drilled...
Description of input and examples for PHREEQC version 3: A computer program for speciation, batch-reaction, one-dimensional transport, and inverse geochemical calculations
David L. Parkhurst, C.A.J. Appelo
2013, Techniques and Methods 6-A43
PHREEQC version 3 is a computer program written in the C and C++ programming languages that is designed to perform a wide variety of aqueous geochemical calculations. PHREEQC implements several types of aqueous models: two ion-association aqueous models (the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory model and WATEQ4F), a Pitzer specific-ion-interaction aqueous...
Concentrations of elements in fish fillets, fish muscle plugs, and crayfish from the 2011 Missouri Department of Conservation general contaminant monitoring program
Thomas W. May, Michael J. Walther, William G. Brumbaugh, Michael J. McKee
2013, Open-File Report 2012-1268
This report presents the results of a contaminant monitoring survey conducted annually by the Missouri Department of Conservation to examine the levels of selected elemental contaminants in fish fillets, fish muscle plugs, and crayfish. Fillet samples of yellow bullhead (Ameiurus natalis), golden redhorse (Moxostoma erythrurum), longear sunfish (Lepomis megalotis), and...
Sea-floor character and geology off the entrance to the Connecticut River, northeastern Long Island Sound
Lawrence J. Poppe, Katherine Y. McMullen, Seth D. Ackerman, Megan R. Guberski, Douglas A. Wood
2013, Open-File Report 2012-1103
Datasets of gridded multibeam bathymetry and sidescan-sonar backscatter, together covering approximately 29.1 square kilometers, were used to interpret character and geology of the sea floor off the entrance to the Connecticut River in northeastern Long Island Sound. Although originally collected for charting purposes during National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hydrographic...
Hydrothermal alteration maps of the central and southern Basin and Range province of the United States compiled from Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data
John L. Mars
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1139
Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data and Interactive Data Language (IDL) logical operator algorithms were used to map hydrothermally altered rocks in the central and southern parts of the Basin and Range province of the United States. The hydrothermally altered rocks mapped in this study include (1)...
Simultaneous estimation of local-scale and flow path-scale dual-domain mass transfer parameters using geoelectrical monitoring
Martin A. Briggs, Frederick D. Day-Lewis, John B. Ong, Gary P. Curtis, John W. Lane Jr.
2013, Water Resources Research (49) 5615-5630
Anomalous solute transport, modeled as rate-limited mass transfer, has an observable geoelectrical signature that can be exploited to infer the controlling parameters. Previous experiments indicate the combination of time-lapse geoelectrical and fluid conductivity measurements collected during ionic tracer experiments provides valuable insight into the exchange of solute between mobile and...
Information to support to monitoring and habitat restoration on Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
G. Gary Scoppettone
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1022
The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge staff focuses on improving habitat for the highest incidence of endemic species for an area of its size in the continental United States. Attempts are being made to restore habitat to some semblance of its pre-anthropogenic undisturbed condition, and to provide habitat conditions to...
Nutrient and sediment concentrations, yields, and loads in impaired streams and rivers in the Taunton River Basin, Massachusetts, 1997-2008
Jeffrey R. Barbaro, Jason R. Sorenson
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5277
Rapid development, population growth, and the changes in land and water use accompanying development are placing increasing stress on water resources in the Taunton River Basin. An assessment by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection determined that a number of tributary streams to the Taunton River are impaired for a...
Bedrock geologic map of the Nashua South quadrangle, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, and Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Gregory J. Walsh, Richard H. Jahns, John N. Aleinikoff
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3200
The bedrock geology of the 7.5-minute Nashua South quadrangle consists primarily of deformed Silurian metasedimentary rocks of the Berwick Formation. The metasedimentary rocks are intruded by a Late Silurian to Early Devonian diorite-gabbro suite, Devonian rocks of the Ayer Granodiorite, Devonian granitic rocks of the New Hampshire Plutonic Suite including...
Estimated anthropogenic nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to the land surface of the conterminous United States--1992, 1997, and 2002
Lori A. Sprague, Jo Ann M. Gronberg
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5241
Anthropogenic inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus to each county in the conterminous United States and to the watersheds of 495 surface-water sites studied as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program were quantified for the years 1992, 1997, and 2002. Estimates of inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus...
