National assessment of geologic carbon dioxide storage resources: Results
U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Carbon Dioxide Storage Resources Assessment Team
2013, Circular 1386
In 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an assessment of the technically accessible storage resources (TASR) for carbon dioxide (CO2) in geologic formations underlying the onshore and State waters area of the United States. The formations assessed are at least 3,000 feet (914 meters) below the ground surface. The...
National assessment of geologic carbon dioxide storage resources: summary
U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Carbon Dioxide Storage Resources Assessment Team
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3020
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed an evaluation of the technically accessible storage resource (TASR) for carbon dioxide (CO2) for 36 sedimentary basins in the onshore areas and State waters of the United States. The TASR is an estimate of the geologic storage resource that may be available for...
Estimating age ratios and size of Pacific walrus herds on coastal haulouts using video imaging
Daniel H. Monson, Mark S. Udevitz, Chadwick V. Jay
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
During Arctic summers, sea ice provides resting habitat for Pacific walruses as it drifts over foraging areas in the eastern Chukchi Sea. Climate-driven reductions in sea ice have recently created ice-free conditions in the Chukchi Sea by late summer causing walruses to rest at coastal haulouts along the Chukotka and...
Reproductive health of yellow perch, Perca flavescens, in Chesapeake Bay Tributaries
Vicki Blazer, A.E. Pinkney, James H. Uphoff
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3055
Yellow perch live in creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes, and estuaries across the central and eastern United States and Canada. In Chesapeake Bay, they tolerate salinities up to one-third that of seawater. The adults reside in the brackish waters of the bay’s tributaries and migrate upstream to spawn. Yellow perch are...
Significance of headwater streams and perennial springs in ecological monitoring in Shenandoah National Park
Craig D. Snyder, James R. Webb, John A. Young, Zane B. Johnson
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1178
Shenandoah National Park has been monitoring water chemistry and benthic macroinvertebrates in stream ecosystems since 1979. These monitoring efforts were designed to assess the status and trends in stream condition associated with atmospheric deposition (acid rain) and changes in forest health due to gypsy moth infestations. The primary objective of...
Fine-scale hydrologic modeling for regional landscape applications: the California Basin Characterization Model development and performance
Lorraine E. Flint, Alan L. Flint, James H. Thorne, Ryan Boynton
2013, Ecological Processes (2) 1-21
IntroductionResource managers need spatially explicit models of hydrologic response to changes in key climatic drivers across variable landscape conditions. We demonstrate the utility of a Basin Characterization Model for California (CA-BCM) to integrate high-resolution data on physical watershed characteristics with historical or projected climate data to...
Naturally occurring contaminants in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge crystalline-rock aquifers and Piedmont Early Mesozoic basin siliciclastic-rock aquifers, eastern United States, 1994–2008
Melinda J. Chapman, Charles A. Cravotta III,, Zoltan Szabo, Bruce D. Lindsay
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5072
Groundwater quality and aquifer lithologies in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge Physiographic Provinces in the eastern United States vary widely as a result of complex geologic history. Bedrock composition (mineralogy) and geochemical conditions in the aquifer directly affect the occurrence (presence in rock and groundwater) and distribution (concentration and mobility)...
A new dry hypothesis for the formation of Martian linear gullies
Serina Diniega, Candice J. Hansen, Jim N. McElwaine, C.H. Hugenholtz, Colin M. Dundas, Alfred S. McEwen, Mary C. Bourke
2013, Icarus (225) 526-537
Long, narrow grooves found on the slopes of martian sand dunes have been cited as evidence of liquid water via the hypothesis that melt-water initiated debris flows eroded channels and deposited lateral levées. However, this theory has several short-comings for explaining the observed morphology and activity of these linear gullies....
Multi-scale habitat selection of the endangered Hawaiian Goose
Christina R. Leopold, Steven C. Hess
2013, Condor (115) 17-27
After a severe population reduction during the mid-20th century, the endangered Hawaiian Goose (Branta sandvicensis), or Nēnē, has only recently re-established its seasonal movement patterns on Hawai‘i Island. Little is currently understood about its movements and habitat use during the nonbreeding season. The objectives of this research were to identify...
Predicting the planform configuration of the braided Toklat River, AK with a suite of rule-based models
Charles J. Podolak
2013, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (49) 390-401
An ensemble of rule-based models was constructed to assess possible future braided river planform configurations for the Toklat River in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska. This approach combined an analysis of large-scale influences on stability with several reduced-complexity models to produce the predictions at a practical level for managers...
Environmental and physical controls on northern terrestrial methane emissions across permafrost zones
David Olefeldt, Merritt R. Turetsky, Patrick M. Crill, A. David McGuire
2013, Global Change Biology (19) 589-603
Methane (CH4) emissions from the northern high-latitude region represent potentially significant biogeochemical feedbacks to the climate system. We compiled a database of growing-season CH4 emissions from terrestrial ecosystems located across permafrost zones, including 303 sites described in 65 studies. Data on environmental and physical variables, including permafrost conditions, were used...
Pre- and post-impoundment nitrogen in the lower Missouri River
Dale W. Blevins, Donald H. Wilkison, Shelley L. Niesen
2013, Hydrological Processes (28) 2535-2549
Large water-sample sets collected from 1899 through 1902, 1907, and in the early 1950s allow comparisons of pre-impoundment and post-impoundment (1969 through 2008) nitrogen concentrations in the lower Missouri River. Although urban wastes were not large enough to detectably increase annual loads of total nitrogen at the beginning of the...
Permafrost thaw in a nested groundwater-flow system
Jeffery M. McKenzie, Clifford I. Voss
2013, Hydrogeology Journal (21) 299-316
Groundwater flow in cold regions containing permafrost accelerates climate-warming-driven thaw and changes thaw patterns. Simulation analyses of groundwater flow and heat transport with freeze/thaw in typical cold-regions terrain with nested flow indicate that early thaw rate is particularly enhanced by flow, the time when adverse environmental impacts of climate-warming-induced permafrost...
A twenty-first century California observing network for monitoring extreme weather events
A.B. White, M.L. Anderson, M. D. Dettinger, F.M. Ralph, A. Hinojosa, D.R. Cayan, R.K. Hartman, D.W. Reynolds, L.E. Johnson, T.L. Schneider, R. Cifelli, Z. Toth, S.I. Gutman, C.W. King, F. Gehrke, P.E. Johnston, C. Walls, Dorte Mann, D.J. Gottas, T. Coleman
2013, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology (30) 1585-1603
During Northern Hemisphere winters, the West Coast of North America is battered by extratropical storms. The impact of these storms is of paramount concern to California, where aging water supply and flood protection infrastructures are challenged by increased standards for urban flood protection, an unusually variable weather regime, and projections...
On the conversion of tritium units to mass fractions for hydrologic applications
David A. Stonestrom, Brian J. Andraski, Clay A. Cooper, Charles J. Mayers, Robert L. Michel
2013, Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies (49) 250-256
We develop a general equation for converting laboratory-reported tritium levels, expressed either as concentrations (tritium isotope number fractions) or mass-based specific activities, to mass fractions in aqueous systems. Assuming that all tritium is in the form of monotritiated water simplifies the derivation and is shown to be reasonable for most...
Observed impacts of duration and seasonality of atmospheric-river landfalls on soil moisture and runoff in coastal northern California
F.M. Ralph, T. Coleman, P.J. Neiman, R.J. Zamora, Mike Dettinger
2013, Journal of Hydrometeorology (14) 443-459
This study is motivated by diverse needs for better forecasts of extreme precipitation and floods. It is enabled by unique hourly observations collected over six years near California’s Russian River and by recent advances in the science of atmospheric rivers (ARs). This study fills key gaps limiting the prediction of...
Water supply, demand, and quality indicators for assessing the spatial distribution of water resource vulnerability in the Columbia River Basin
Heejun Chang, Il-Won Jung, Angela L. Strecker, Daniel Wise, Martin Lafrenz, Vivek Shandas, Moradkhani, Alan Yeakley, Yangdong Pan, Gunnar Johnson, Mike Psaris
2013, Atmosphere - Ocean (51) 339-356
We investigated water resource vulnerability in the US portion of the Columbia River basin (CRB) using multiple indicators representing water supply, water demand, and water quality. Based on the US county scale, spatial analysis was conducted using various biophysical and socio-economic indicators that control water vulnerability. Water supply vulnerability and...
Mercury cycling in agricultural and managed wetlands of California: seasonal influences of vegetation on mercury methylation, storage, and transport
Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Evangelos Kakouros, Jennifer L. Agee, Le H. Kieu, Craig A. Stricker, Jacob A. Fleck, Joshua T. Ackerman
2013, Science of the Total Environment
Plants are a dominant biologic and physical component of many wetland capable of influencing the internal pools and fluxes of methylmercury (MeHg). To investigate their role with respect to the latter, we examined the changing seasonal roles of vegetation biomass and Hg, C and N composition from May 2007-February 2008...
Intercontinental migratory connectivity and population structuring of Dunlins from western Alaska
Robert E. Gill Jr., Colleen M. Handel, Daniel R. Ruthrauff
2013, The Condor (115) 525-534
The Dunlin (Calidris alpina) is a polytypic shorebird with complex patterns of distribution and migration throughout its holarctic range. We analyzed mark-re sighting data obtained between 1977 and 2010 from birds captured at two major staging areas in western Alaska to test the hypothesis that the migration patterns of Alaskan...
Hydrogeology, groundwater seepage, nitrate distribution, and flux at the Raleigh hydrologic research station, Wake County, North Carolina, 2005-2007
Kristen Bukowski McSwain, Richard E. Bolich, Melinda J. Chapman
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5041
rom 2005 to 2007, the U.S. Geological Survey and the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Water Quality, conducted a study to describe the geologic framework, measure groundwater quality, characterize the groundwater-flow system, and describe the groundwater/surface-water interaction at the 60-acre Raleigh hydrogeologic research station (RHRS)...
New Method for Electrical Conductivity Temperature Compensation
R. Blaine McCleskey
2013, Environmental Science & Technology (47) 9874-9881
Electrical conductivity (κ) measurements of natural waters are typically referenced to 25 °C (κ25) using standard temperature compensation factors (α). For acidic waters (pH < 4), this can result in a large κ25 error (δκ25). The more the sample temperature departs from 25 °C, the larger the potential δκ25. For...
A combined radio- and stable-isotopic study of a California coastal aquifer system
Peter W. Swarzenski, Mark Baskaran, Robert J. Rosenbauer, Brian D. Edwards, Michael Land
2013, Water (5) 480-504
Stable and radioactive tracers were utilized in concert to characterize geochemical processes in a complex coastal groundwater system and to provide constraints on the kinetics of rock/water interactions. Groundwater samples from wells within the Dominguez Gap region of Los Angeles County, California were analyzed for a suite of major cations...
K-Ar dating and delta O-18-delta D characterization of nanometric illite from Ordovician K-bentonites of the Appalachians: illitization and the Acadian-Alleghenian tectonic activity
Norbert Clauer, Anthony E. Fallick, Dennis D. Eberl, Miroslav Honty, Warren D. Huff, Amelie Auberti
2013, American Mineralogist (98) 2144-2154
Nanometric (<0.02, 0.02–0.05, 0.05–0.1, 0.1–0.2 μm) illite fractions were separated from K-bentonite samples from northwestern Georgia, and studied by X-ray diffraction, oxygen and hydrogen isotope geochemistry, and K-Ar dated to more tightly constrain the tectono-thermal history of the Appalachian orogeny. Their XRD patterns are very similar for a given sample...
Occurrence and mobility of mercury in groundwater: Chapter 5
Julia L. Barringer, Zoltan Szabo, Pamela A. Reilly
Paul M. Bradley, editor(s)
2013, Book chapter, Current perspectives in contaminant hydrology and water resources sustainability
1. Introduction 1.1. FORMS, TOXICITY, AND HEALTH EFFECTS Mercury (Hg) has long been identified as an element that is injurious, even lethal, to living organisms. Exposure to its inorganic form, mainly from elemental Hg (Hg(0)) vapor (Fitzgerald & Lamborg, 2007) can cause damage to respiratory, neural,...
Near-field receiving water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in south San Francisco Bay, California, 2012
Jessica Dyke, Janet K. Thompson, Daniel J. Cain, Amy E. Kleckner, Francis Parcheso, Samuel N. Luoma, Michelle I. Hornberger
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1144
Trace-metal concentrations in sediment and in the clam Macoma petalum (formerly reported as Macoma balthica), clam reproductive activity, and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure were investigated in a mudflat 1 kilometer south of the discharge of the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (PARWQCP) in South San Francisco Bay, Calif....
