Estimating nitrate concentrations in groundwater at selected wells and springs in the surficial aquifer system and Upper Floridan aquifer, Dougherty Plain and Marianna Lowlands, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama, 2002-50
Christy A. Crandall, Brian G. Katz, Marian P. Berndt
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5150
Groundwater from the surficial aquifer system and Upper Floridan aquifer in the Dougherty Plain and Marianna Lowlands in southwestern Georgia, northwestern Florida, and southeastern Alabama is affected by elevated nitrate concentrations as a result of the vulnerability of the aquifer, irrigation water-supply development, and intensive agricultural land use. The region...
Mercury speciation and mobilization in a wastewater-contaminated groundwater plume
Carl H. Lamborg, Doug B. Kent, Gretchen J. Swarr, Kathleen M. Munson, Tristan Kading, Alison E. O’Connor, Gillian M. Fairchild, Denis R. LeBlanc, Heather A. Wiatrowski
2013, Environmental Science & Technology (47) 13239-13249
We measured the concentration and speciation of mercury (Hg) in groundwater down-gradient from the site of wastewater infiltration beds operated by the Massachusetts Military Reservation, western Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Total mercury concentrations in oxic, mildly acidic, uncontaminated groundwater are 0.5–1 pM, and aquifer sediments have 0.5–1 ppb mercury. The plume...
Geomorphology and groundwater origin of amphitheater-shaped gullies at Fort Gordon, Georgia, 2010-2012
James Landmeyer, John B. Wellborn
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1230
Seven amphitheater-shaped gullies at valley heads in the northern part of Fort Gordon, Georgia, were identified by personnel from Fort Gordon and the U.S. Geological Survey during a field investigation of environmental contamination near the cantonment area between 2008 and 2010. Between 2010 and 2012, the amphitheater-shaped gullies were photographed,...
The effects of artificial recharge on groundwater levels and water quality in the west hydrogeologic unit of the Warren subbasin, San Bernardino County, California
Christina L. Stamos, Peter Martin, Rhett R. Everett, John A. Izbicki
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5088
Between the late 1940s and 1994, groundwater levels in the Warren subbasin, California, declined by as much as 300 feet because pumping exceeded sparse natural recharge. In response, the local water district, Hi-Desert Water District, implemented an artificial-recharge program in early 1995 using imported water from the California State Water...
Genetics, recruitment, and migration patterns of Arctic Cisco (Coregonus autumnalis) in the Colville River, Alaska and Mackenzie River, Canada
Christian E. Zimmerman, Andrew M. Ramey, S. Turner, Franz J. Mueter, S. Murphy, Jennifer L. Nielsen
2013, Polar Biology (36) 1543-1555
Arctic cisco Coregonus autumnalis have a complex anadromous life history, many aspects of which remain poorly understood. Some life history traits of Arctic cisco from the Colville River, Alaska, and Mackenzie River basin, Canada, were investigated using molecular genetics, harvest data, and otolith microchemistry. The Mackenzie hypothesis, which suggests that...
Crustal-scale recycling in caldera complexes and rift zones along the Yellowstone hotspot track: O and Hf isotopic evidence in diverse zircons from voluminous rhyolites of the Picabo volcanic field, Idaho
Dana L. Drew, Ilya N. Bindeman, Kathryn E. Watts, Axel K. Schmitt, Bin Fu, Michael McCurry
2013, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (381) 63-77
Rhyolites of the Picabo volcanic field (10.4–6.6 Ma) in eastern Idaho are preserved as thick ignimbrites and lavas along the margins of the Snake River Plain (SRP), and within a deep (>3 km) borehole near the central axis of the Yellowstone hotspot track. In this study we present new O...
Spatial, seasonal, and source variability in the stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition of tap waters throughout the USA
Jurate M. Landwehr, Tyler B. Coplen, David W. Stewart
2013, Hydrological Processes
To assess spatial, seasonal, and source variability in stable isotopic composition of human drinking waters throughout the entire USA, we have constructed a database of δ18O and δ2H of US tap waters. An additional purpose was to create a publicly available dataset useful for evaluating the forensic applicability of these...
Factors controlling floc settling velocity along a longitudinal estuarine transect
A.J. Manning, David H. Schoellhamer
Patrick L. Barnard, Bruce E. Jaffe, David H. Schoellhamer, editor(s)
2013, Marine Geology (345) 266-280
A 147 km longitudinal transect of flocculated cohesive sediment properties in San Francisco Bay (SFB) was conducted on June 17th, 2008. Our aim was to determine the factors that control floc settling velocity along the longitudinal axis of the estuary. The INSSEV-LF video system was used to measure floc diameters...
Groundwater ages and mixing in the Piceance Basin natural gas province, Colorado
Peter B. McMahon, Judith C. Thomas, Andrew G. Hunt
2013, Environmental Science & Technology (47) 13250-13257
Reliably identifying the effects of energy development on groundwater quality can be difficult because baseline assessments of water quality completed before the onset of energy development are rare and because interactions between hydrocarbon reservoirs and aquifers can be complex, involving both natural and human processes. Groundwater age and mixing data...
Comparison of sediment supply to San Francisco Bay from watersheds draining the Bay Area and the Central Valley of California
L.J. McKee, M. Lewicki, David H. Schoellhamer, Neil K. Ganju
Patrick L. Barnard, Bruce E. Jaffe, David H. Schoellhamer, editor(s)
2013, Marine Geology (345) 47-62
Quantifying suspended sediment loads is important for managing the world's estuaries in the context of navigation, pollutant transport, wetland restoration, and coastal erosion. To address these needs, a comprehensive analysis was completed on sediment supply to San Francisco Bay from fluvial sources. Suspended sediment, optical backscatter, velocity data near the...
Does centennial morphodynamic evolution lead to higher channel efficiency in San Pablo Bay, California?
M. van der Wegen, Bruce E. Jaffe
Patrick L. Barnard, Bruce E. Jaffe, David H. Schoellhamer, editor(s)
2013, Marine Geology (345) 254-265
Measured bathymetries on 30 year interval over the past 150 years show that San Pablo Bay experienced periods of considerable deposition followed by periods of net erosion. However, the main channel in San Pablo Bay has continuously narrowed. The underlying mechanisms and consequences of this tidal channel evolution are not...
Changes in surfzone morphodynamics driven by multi-decadal contraction of a large ebb-tidal delta
Jeff E. Hansen, Edwin Elias, Patrick L. Barnard
P.L. Barnard, B.E. Jaffe, D. H. Schoellhamer, editor(s)
2013, Marine Geology (345) 221-234
The impact of multi-decadal, large-scale deflation (76 million m3 of sediment loss) and contraction (~ 1 km) of a 150 km2 ebb-tidal delta on hydrodynamics and sediment transport at adjacent Ocean Beach in San Francisco, CA (USA), is examined using a coupled wave and circulation model. The model is forced...
Research on pathogens at Great Lakes beaches: sampling, influential factors, and potential sources
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3071
The overall mission of this work is to provide science-based information and methods that will allow beach managers to more accurately make beach closure and advisory decisions, understand the sources and physical processes affecting beach contaminants, and understand how science-based information can be used to mitigate and restore beaches and...
Coastal processes influencing water quality at Great Lakes beaches
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3070
In a series of studies along the Great Lakes, U.S. Geological Survey scientists are examining the physical processes that influence concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria and related pathogens at recreational beaches. These studies aim to estimate human health risk, improve management strategies, and understand the fate and transport of microbes...
Real-time assessments of water quality: Expanding nowcasting throughout the Great Lakes
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3069
Nowcasts are systems that inform the public of current bacterial water-quality conditions at beaches on the basis of predictive models. During 2010–12, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) worked with 23 local and State agencies to improve existing operational beach nowcast systems at 4 beaches and expand the use of predictive...
Tools for beach health data management, data processing, and predictive model implementation
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3068
This fact sheet describes utilities created for management of recreational waters to provide efficient data management, data aggregation, and predictive modeling as well as a prototype geographic information system (GIS)-based tool for data visualization and summary. All of these utilities were developed to assist beach managers in making decisions to...
Scale-dependent gas hydrate saturation estimates in sand reservoirs in the Ulleung Basin, East Sea of Korea
Myung Woong Lee, Timothy S. Collett
2013, Marine and Petroleum Geology (47) 195-203
Through the use of 2-D and 3-D seismic data, several gas hydrate prospects were identified in the Ulleung Basin, East Sea of Korea and thirteen drill sites were established and logging-while-drilling (LWD) data were acquired from each site in 2010. Sites UBGH2–6 and UBGH2–10 were selected to test a series...
Forest ecosystems: Vegetation, disturbance, and economics
Jeremy S. Littell, Jeffrey A. Hicke, Sarah L. Shafer, Susan M. Capalbo, Laurie L. Houston, Patty Glick
2013, Book chapter, Climate change in the northwest: Implications for our landscapes, waters, and communities
Forests cover about 47% of the Northwest (NW–Washington, Oregon, and Idaho) (Smith et al. 2009, fig. 5.1, table 5.1). The impacts of current and future climate change on NW forest ecosystems are a product of the sensitivities of ecosystem processes to climate and the degree to which humans depend on...
Adjustment of the San Francisco estuary and watershed to decreasing sediment supply in the 20th century
David H. Schoellhamer, Scott Wright, Judith Z. Drexler
2013, Marine Geology (345) 63-71
The general progression of human land use is an initial disturbance (e.g., deforestation, mining, agricultural expansion, overgrazing, and urbanization) that creates a sediment pulse to an estuary followed by dams that reduce sediment supply. We present a conceptual model of the effects of increasing followed by decreasing sediment supply that...
Early and late Holocene glacial fluctuations and tephrostratigraphy, Cabin Lake, Alaska
Paul D. Zander, Darrell S. Kaufman, Stephen C. Kuehn, Kristi L. Wallace, R. Scott Anderson
2013, Journal of Quaternary (28) 761-771
Marked changes in sediment types deposited in Cabin Lake, near Cordova, Alaska, represent environmental shifts during the early and late Holocene, including fluctuations in the terminal position of Sheridan Glacier. Cabin Lake is situated to receive meltwater during periods when the outwash plain of the advancing Sheridan Glacier had aggraded....
Microbial source tracking as a tool for TMDL development, Little Blue River in Independence, Missouri
Eric D. Christensen, Rebecca N. Bushon, Amie M. G. Brady
2013, Book, Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation
The Little Blue River in Jackson County, Missouri has been listed by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources as impaired by bacteria for the protection of aquatic life and contact recreation from urban point and nonpoint sources. The Clean Water Act requires that a total maximum daily load (TMDL) for...
The use of modeling and suspended sediment concentration measurements for quantifying net suspended sediment transport through a large tidally dominated inlet
Li H. Erikson, Scott Wright, Edwin Elias, Daniel M. Hanes, David H. Schoellhamer, John Largier
Patrick L. Barnard, Bruce E. Jaffe, David H. Schoellhamer, editor(s)
2013, Marine Geology (345) 96-112
Sediment exchange at large energetic inlets is often difficult to quantify due complex flows, massive amounts of water and sediment exchange, and environmental conditions limiting long-term data collection. In an effort to better quantify such exchange this study investigated the use of suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) measured at an offsite...
Sub-tidal benthic habitats of central San Francisco Bay and offshore Golden Gate area: A review
H. Gary Greene, Charles Endris, Tracy Vallier, Nadine E. Golden, Jeffery Cross, Holly F. Ryan, Bryan Dieter, Eric Niven
P.L. Barnard, B.E. Jaffe, D. H. Schoellhamer, editor(s)
2013, Marine Geology (345) 31-46
Deep-water potential estuarine and marine benthic habitat types were defined from a variety of new and interpreted data sets in central San Francisco Bay and offshore Golden Gate area including multibeam echosounder (MBES), side-scan sonar and bottom grab samples. Potential estuarine benthic habitats identified for the first time range from...
A step decrease in sediment concentration in a highly modified tidal river delta following the 1983 El Niño floods
Erin L. Hestir, David H. Schoellhamer, Tara Morgan-King, Susan L. Ustin
Patrick L. Barnard, Bruce E. Jaffe, David H. Schoellhamer, editor(s)
2013, Marine Geology (345) 304-313
Anthropogenic activities in watersheds can have profound effects on sediment transport through river systems to estuaries. Disturbance in a watershed combined with alterations to the hydro-climatologic regime may result in changes to the sediment flux, and exacerbate the impacts of extreme events (such as large-magnitude floods) on sediment transport. In...
Characterization of gas hydrate reservoirs by integration of core and log data in the Ulleung Basin, East Sea
J.-J. Bahk, G.-Y. Kim, J.-H. Chun, J.-H. Kim, J.Y. Lee, B.-J. Ryu, J.-H. Lee, B.-K. Son, Timothy S. Collett
2013, Marine and Petroleum Geology (47) 30-42
Examinations of core and well-log data from the Second Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Drilling Expedition (UBGH2) drill sites suggest that Sites UBGH2-2_2 and UBGH2-6 have relatively good gas hydrate reservoir quality in terms of individual and total cumulative thicknesses of gas-hydrate-bearing sand (HYBS) beds. In both of the sites, core...
