Aspects of embryonic and larval development in bighead carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis and silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix
Amy E. George, Duane Chapman
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
As bighead carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis and silver carp H. molitrix (the bigheaded carps) are poised to enter the Laurentian Great Lakes and potentially damage the region’s economically important fishery, information on developmental rates and behaviors of carps is critical to assessing their ability to establish sustainable populations within the Great...
Groundwater-quality data in the Bear Valley and Selected Hard Rock Areas study unit, 2010: Results from the California GAMA Program
Timothy M. Mathany, Kenneth Belitz
2013, Data Series 747
Groundwater quality in the 112-square-mile Bear Valley and Selected Hard Rock Areas (BEAR) study unit was investigated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from April to August 2010, as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program’s Priority Basin Project (PBP)....
Groundwater-quality data in the Santa Barbara study unit, 2011: Results from the California GAMA Program
Tracy A. Davis, Justin T. Kulongoski, Kenneth Belitz
2013, Data Series 742
Groundwater quality in the 48-square-mile Santa Barbara study unit was investigated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from January to February 2011, as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program’s Priority Basin Project (PBP). The GAMA-PBP was developed in response...
Salton Sea ecosystem monitoring and assessment plan
H. L. Case(compiler) III, Jerry Boles, Arturo Delgado, Thang Nguyen, Doug Osugi, Douglas A. Barnum, Drew Decker, Steven Steinberg, Sheila Steinberg, Charles Keene, Kristina White, Tom Lupo, Sheldon Gen, Ken A. Baerenklau
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1133
The Salton Sea, California’s largest lake, provides essential habitat for several fish and wildlife species and is an important cultural and recreational resource. It has no outlet, and dissolved salts contained in the inflows concentrate in the Salton Sea through evaporation. The salinity of the Salton Sea, which is currently...
U.S. Geological Survey Water Science Strategy
Eric J. Evenson, Randall C. Orndorff
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3064
This fact sheet describes the Water Science Strategy, presented in detail in Circular 1383-G, "U.S. Geological Survey Water Science Strategy--Observing, Understanding, Predicting, and Delivering Water Science to the Nation." This fact sheet looks at the relevant issues facing society and describes the strategy built around observing, understanding, predicting, and delivering...
Use of lethal short-term chlorine exposures to limit release of non-native freshwater organisms
Christopher G. Ingersoll, Eric L. Brunson, Douglas K. Hardesty, Jamie P. Hughes, Brittany L. King, Catherine T. Phillips
2013, North American Journal of Aquaculture (75) 487-494
Fish hatcheries and other types of aquatic facilities are potential sources for the introduction of nonnative species of fish or aquatic invertebrates into watersheds. Chlorine has been suggested for use to kill organisms that might be released from the effluent of a facility. While acute LC50s (concentrations lethal to 50% of organisms...
Knowledge and understanding of dissolved solids in the Rio Grande–San Acacia, New Mexico, to Fort Quitman, Texas, and plan for future studies and monitoring
Douglas Moyer, Scott K. Anderholm, James F. Hogan, Fred M. Phillips, Barry J. Hibbs, James C. Witcher, Anne Marie Matherne, Sarah E. Falk
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1190
Availability of water in the Rio Grande Basin has long been a primary concern for water-resource managers. The transport and delivery of water in the basin have been engineered by using reservoirs, irrigation canals and drains, and transmountain-water diversions to meet the agricultural, residential, and industrial demand. In contrast, despite...
Velocity, water-quality, and bathymetric surveys of the Grays Landing and Maxwell Navigation Pools, and Selected Tributaries to the Monongahela River, Pennsylvania, 2010–11
Scott A. Hoffman, Mark A. Roland, Luther Schalk, John W. Fulton
2013, Data Series 784
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted velocity, water-quality, and bathymetric surveys from spring 2010 to summer 2011 in the Grays Landing and Maxwell navigation pools of the Monongahela River, Pennsylvania, and selected tributaries in response to elevated levels of total dissolved solids (TDS) recorded in early September 2009. Velocity data...
Monitoring to assess progress toward meeting the total maximum daily load for phosphorus in the Assabet River, Massachusetts: phosphorus loads, 2008 through 2010
Marc J. Zimmerman, Jennifer G. Savoie
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5140
Wastewater discharges to the Assabet River contribute substantial amounts of phosphorus, which support accumulations of nuisance aquatic plants that are most evident in the river’s impounded reaches during the growing season. To restore the Assabet River’s water quality and aesthetics, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency required the major wastewater-treatment plants...
Land change in the Central Corn Belt Plains Ecoregion and hydrologic consequences in developed areas: 1939-2000
Krista Karstensen, David Shaver, Randal Alexander, Thomas Over, David T. Soong
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1157
This report emphasizes the importance of a multi-disciplinary understanding of how land use and land cover can affect regional hydrology by collaboratively investigating how increases in developed land area may affect stream discharge by evaluating land-cover change from 1939 to 2000, urban housing density data from 1940 to 2010, and...
Groundwater recharge to the Gulf Coast aquifer system in Montgomery and adjacent counties, Texas
Timothy D. Oden, Geoffrey N. Delin
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3043
Simply stated, groundwater recharge is the addition of water to the groundwater system. Most of the water that is potentially available for recharging the groundwater system in Montgomery and adjacent counties in southeast Texas moves relatively rapidly from land surface to surface-water bodies and sustains streamflow, lake levels, and wetlands....
Trajectory of the arctic as an integrated system
Larry Hinzman, Clara Deal, Anthony D. McGuire, Sebastian H. Mernild, Igor V. Polyakov, John E. Walsh
2013, Ecological Applications (23) 1837-1868
Although much remains to be learned about the Arctic and its component processes, many of the most urgent scientific, engineering, and social questions can only be approached through a broader system perspective. Here, we address interactions between components of the Arctic System and assess feedbacks and the extent to which...
Water resources and shale gas/oil production in the Appalachian Basin: critical issues and evolving developments
William M. Kappel, John H. Williams, Zoltan Szabo
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1137
Unconventional natural gas and oil resources in the United States are important components of a national energy program. While the Nation seeks greater energy independence and greener sources of energy, Federal agencies with environmental responsibilities, state and local regulators and water-resource agencies, and citizens throughout areas of unconventional shale gas...
Some like it hot, some not!
Jayne Belnap
2013, Science (340) 1533-1534
Dryland ecosystems cover over 40% of Earth's terrestrial landmass (1). Biocrusts—soil communities consisting of cyanobacteria, mosses, and lichens—can cover up to 70% of the ground in these ecosystems (see the figure, panel A) (2). The crucial role played by these and other very small organisms in nutrient, carbon, and water...
Water levels in the aquifers of the Nacatoch Sand of southwestern and northeastern Arkansas and the Tokio Formation of southwestern Arkansas, February–March 2011
T. P. Schrader, Kirk D. Rodgers
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5130
The aquifers in the Nacatoch Sand and Tokio Formation in southwestern Arkansas and the Nacatoch Sand in northeastern Arkansas are sources of water for industrial, public supply, domestic, and agricultural uses. Potentiometric-surface maps were constructed from water-level measurements made in 47 wells completed in the Nacatoch Sand and 45 wells...
Modeling volcano growth on the Island of Hawaii: Deep-water perspectives
Peter W. Lipman, Andrew T. Calvert
2013, Geosphere (9) 1348-1383
Recent ocean-bottom geophysical surveys, dredging, and dives, which complement surface data and scientific drilling at the Island of Hawaii, document that evolutionary stages during volcano growth are more diverse than previously described. Based on combining available composition, isotopic age, and geologically constrained volume data for each of the component volcanoes,...
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...
