Assessment of regional change in nitrate concentrations in groundwater in the Central Valley, California, USA, 1950s-2000s
Karen R. Burow, Bryant C. Jurgens, Kenneth Belitz, Neil M. Dubrovsky
2013, Environmental Earth Sciences (69) 2609-2621
A regional assessment of multi-decadal changes in nitrate concentrations was done using historical data and a spatially stratified non-biased approach. Data were stratified into physiographic subregions on the basis of geomorphology and soils data to represent zones of historical recharge and discharge patterns in the basin. Data were also stratified...
Importance of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska for aquatic birds
Jonathan Bart, Robert M. Platte, Brad Andres, Stephen Brown, James A. Johnson, William Larned
2013, Conservation Biology (27) 1304-1312
We used data from aerial surveys (1992–2010) of >100,000 km2 and ground surveys (1998–2004) of >150 km2 to estimate the density and abundance of birds on the North Slope of Alaska (U.S.A.). In the ground surveys, we used double sampling to estimate detection ratios. We used the aerial survey data...
Relation between organic-wastewater compounds, groundwater geochemistry, and well characteristics for selected wells in Lansing, Michigan
Sheridan K. Haack, Carol L. Luukkonen
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5139
In 2010, groundwater from 20 Lansing Board of Water and Light (BWL) production wells was tested for 69 organic-wastewater compounds (OWCs). The OWCs detected in one-half of the sampled wells are widely used in industrial and environmental applications and commonly occur in many wastes and stormwater. To identify factors that...
Integrating seismic-reflection and sequence-stratigraphic methods to characterize the hydrogeology of the Floridan aquifer system in southeast Florida
Kevin J. Cunningham
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1181
The Floridan aquifer system (FAS) is receiving increased attention as a result of regulatory restrictions on water-supply withdrawals and treated wastewater management practices. The South Florida Water Management District’s Regional Water Availability Rule, adopted in 2007, restricts urban withdrawals from the shallower Biscayne aquifer to pre-April 2006 levels throughout southeast...
New service interface for River Forecasting Center derived quantitative precipitation estimates
David L. Blodgett
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3035
For more than a decade, the National Weather Service (NWS) River Forecast Centers (RFCs) have been estimating spatially distributed rainfall by applying quality-control procedures to radar-indicated rainfall estimates in the eastern United States and other best practices in the western United States to producea national Quantitative Precipitation Estimate (QPE) (National...
Documentation of the seawater intrusion (SWI2) package for MODFLOW
Mark Bakker, Frans Schaars, Joseph D. Hughes, Christian D. Langevin, Alyssa M. Dausman
2013, Techniques and Methods 6-A46
The SWI2 Package is the latest release of the Seawater Intrusion (SWI) Package for MODFLOW. The SWI2 Package allows three-dimensional vertically integrated variable-density groundwater flow and seawater intrusion in coastal multiaquifer systems to be simulated using MODFLOW-2005. Vertically integrated variable-density groundwater flow is based on the Dupuit approximation in which...
Population ecology of variegate darter (Etheostoma variatum) in Virginia
Jane E. Argentina, Paul L. Angermeier, Eric M. Hallerman
2013, Report
Variegate darters (Etheostoma variatum) were listed as endangered in Virginia in 1992. Reasons for listing included habitat degradation and concerns about current and future impacts of coal mining throughout their Virginia range. Prior to this research, little was known about variegate darter distribution, habitat use, or populations in Virginia. Two...
Trends in concentrations of nitrate and total dissolved solids in public supply wells of the Bunker Hill, Lytle, Rialto, and Colton groundwater subbasins, San Bernardino County, California: Influence of legacy land use
Robert Kent, Matthew K. Landon
2013, Science of the Total Environment (452-453) 125-136
Concentrations and temporal changes in concentrations of nitrate and total dissolved solids (TDS) in groundwater of the Bunker Hill, Lytle, Rialto, and Colton groundwater subbasins of the Upper Santa Ana Valley Groundwater Basin were evaluated to identify trends and factors that may be affecting trends. One hundred, thirty-one public-supply wells...
Modeling steam pressure under martian lava flows
Colin M. Dundas, Laszlo P. Keszthelyi
2013, Icarus (226) 1058-1067
Rootless cones on Mars are a valuable indicator of past interactions between lava and water. However, the details of the lava–water interactions are not fully understood, limiting the ability to use these features to infer new information about past water on Mars. We have developed a model for the pressurization...
Measuring environmental change in forest ecosystems by repeated soil sampling: a North American perspective
Gregory B. Lawrence, Ivan J. Fernandez, Daniel D. Richter, Donald S. Ross, Paul W. Hazlett, Scott W. Bailey, Oiumet, Richard A.F. Warby, Arthur H. Johnson, Henry Lin, James M. Kaste, Andrew G. Lapenis, Timothy J. Sullivan
2013, Journal of Environmental Quality (42) 623-639
Environmental change is monitored in North America through repeated measurements of weather, stream and river flow, air and water quality, and most recently, soil properties. Some skepticism remains, however, about whether repeated soil sampling can effectively distinguish between temporal and spatial variability, and efforts to document soil change in forest...
California State Waters Map Series: Offshore of Carpinteria, California
Samuel Y. Johnson, Peter Dartnell, Guy R. Cochrane, Nadine E. Golden, Eleyne L. Phillips, Andrew C. Ritchie, Rikk G. Kvitek, H. Gary Greene, Charles A. Endris, Gordon G. Seitz, Ray W. Sliter, Mercedes D. Erdey, Florence L. Wong, Carlos I. Gutierrez, Lisa M. Krigsman, Amy E. Draut, Patrick E. Hart
Samuel Y. Johnson, Susan A. Cochran, editor(s)
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3261
In 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California’s State Waters. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps through collection, integration,...
California State Waters Map series data catalog
2013, Data Series 781
In 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California's State Waters. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps and associated data...
Estimation of reservoir storage capacity using multibeam sonar and terrestrial lidar, Randy Poynter Lake, Rockdale County, Georgia, 2012
K.G. Lee
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3265
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Rockdale County Department of Water Resources, conducted a bathymetric and topographic survey of Randy Poynter Lake in northern Georgia in 2012. The Randy Poynter Lake watershed drains surface area from Rockdale, Gwinnett, and Walton Counties. The reservoir serves as the water supply...
Simulated effects of proposed Arkansas Valley Conduit on hydrodynamics and water quality for projected demands through 2070, Pueblo Reservoir, southeastern Colorado
Roderick F. Ortiz
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5119
The purpose of the Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC) is to deliver water for municipal and industrial use within the boundaries of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District. Water supplied through the AVC would serve two needs: (1) to supplement or replace existing poor-quality water to communities downstream from Pueblo Reservoir;...
Economic resilience through "One-Water" management
Randall T. Hanson, Wolfgang Schmid
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1175
Disruption of water availability leads to food scarcity and loss of economic opportunity. Development of effective water-resource policies and management strategies could provide resiliance to local economies in the face of water disruptions such as drought, flood, and climate change. To accomplish this, a detailed understanding of human water use...
Impacts of an ethanol-blended fuel release on groundwater and fate of produced methane: simulation of field observations
Ehsan Rasa, Barbara A. Bekins, Douglas M. Mackay, Nicholas R. de Sieyes, John T. Wilson, Kevin P. Feris, Isaac A. Wood, Kate M. Scow
2013, Water Resources Research (49) 4907-4926
In a field experiment at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) designed to mimic the impact of a small-volume release of E10 (10% ethanol and 90% conventional gasoline), two plumes were created by injecting extracted groundwater spiked with benzene, toluene, and o-xylene, abbreviated BToX (No-Ethanol Lane) and BToX plus ethanol (With-Ethanol...
Flood hydrology and dam-breach hydraulic analyses of five reservoirs in Colorado
Michael R. Stevens, Galen K. Hoogestraat
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5097
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service has identified hazard concerns for areas downstream from five Colorado dams on Forest Service land. In 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Forest Service, initiated a flood hydrology analysis to estimate the areal extent of potential downstream flood inundation and...
Using heat as a tracer to estimate spatially distributed mean residence times in the hyporheic zone of a riffle-pool sequence
Ramon C. Naranjo
2013, Water Resources Research (49) 3697-3711
Biochemical reactions that occur in the hyporheic zone are highly dependent on the time solutes that are in contact with sediments of the riverbed. In this investigation, we developed a 2-D longitudinal flow and solute-transport model to estimate the spatial distribution of mean residence time in the hyporheic zone. The...
Mortality of Palmetto bass following catch-and-release angling
M.J. Petersen, Phillip William Bettoli
2013, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (33) 806-810
Palmetto bass (Striped Bass Morone saxatilis x White Bass M. chrysops) have been stocked into reservoirs in the southeastern USA since the late 1960s and have gained widespread acceptance as a sport fish. These fisheries are growing in popularity and catch-and-release (CR) fishing is commonplace; however, there is a dearth...
Prevalence of neutralizing antibodies to rabies virus in serum of seven species of insectivorous bats from Colorado and New Mexico, United States
Richard A. Bowen, Thomas J. O'Shea, Vidya Shankar, Melissa A. Neubaum, Daniel J. Neubaum, Charles E. Rupprecht
2013, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (49) 367-374
We determined the presence of rabies-virus-neutralizing antibodies (RVNA) in serum of 721 insectivorous bats of seven species captured, sampled, and released in Colorado and New Mexico, United States in 2003-2005. A subsample of 160 bats was tested for rabies-virus RNA in saliva. We sampled little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) at...
Identification of largemouth bass virus in the introduced Northern snakehead inhabiting the Cheasapeake Bay watershed
Luke R. Iwanowicz, Christine L. Densmore, Cassidy M. Hahn, Phillip McAllister, John Odenkirk
2013, Journal of Aquatic Animal Health (25) 191-196
The Northern Snakehead Channa argus is an introduced species that now inhabits the Chesapeake Bay. During a preliminary survey for introduced pathogens possibly harbored by these fish in Virginia waters, a filterable agent was isolated from five specimens that produced cytopathic effects in BF-2 cells. Based on PCR amplification and...
2011 floods of the central United States
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2013, Professional Paper 1798
The Central United States experienced record-setting flooding during 2011, with floods that extended from headwater streams in the Rocky Mountains, to transboundary rivers in the upper Midwest and Northern Plains, to the deep and wide sand-bedded lower Mississippi River. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as part of its mission, collected...
Probing the deep critical zone beneath the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico
Heather L. Buss, Susan L. Brantley, Fred Scatena, Katya Bazilevskaya, Alex E. Blum, Marjorie S. Schulz, Rafael Jimenez, Arthur F. White, G. Rother, D. Cole
2013, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (38) 1170-1186
Recent work has suggested that weathering processes occurring in the subsurface produce the majority of silicate weathering products discharged to the world's oceans, thereby exerting a primary control on global temperature via the well-known positive feedback between silicate weathering and CO2. In addition, chemical and physical weathering processes deep within...
Projected future changes in vegetation in western North America in the 21st century
Jiang Xiaoyan, Sara A. Rauscher, Todd D. Ringler, David M. Lawrence, A. Park Williams, Craig D. Allen, Allison L. Steiner, D. Michael Cai, Nate G. McDowell
2013, Journal of Climate (26) 3671-3687
Rapid and broad-scale forest mortality associated with recent droughts, rising temperature, and insect outbreaks has been observed over western North America (NA). Climate models project additional future warming and increasing drought and water stress for this region. To assess future potential changes in vegetation distributions in western NA, the Community...
Instrumental neutron activation analysis data for cloud-water particulate samples, Mount Bamboo, Taiwan
Neng-Huei Lin, Guey-Rong Sheu, Gregory A. Wetherbee, Timothy M. Debey
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1147
Cloud water was sampled on Mount Bamboo in northern Taiwan during March 22-24, 2002. Cloud-water samples were filtered using 0.45-micron filters to remove particulate material from the water samples. Filtered particulates were analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) at the U.S. Geological Survey National Reactor Facility in Denver, Colorado,...
