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...
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...
Nutrient cycling, connectivity, and free-floating plant abundance in backwater lakes of the Upper Mississippi River
Jeffrey N. Houser, Shawn M. Giblin, William F. James, H.A. Langrehr, James T. Rogala, John F. Sullivan, Brian R. Gray
2013, River Systems (21) 71-89
River eutrophication may cause the formation of dense surface mats of free floating plants (FFP; e.g., duckweeds and filamentous algae) which may adversely affect the ecosystem. We investigated associations among hydraulic connectivity to the channel, nutrient cycling, FFP, submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV), and dissolved oxygen concentration (DO) in ten backwater...
Estimates of gains and losses from unmeasured sources and sinks for streamflow and dissolved-solids load in selected reaches of the Arkansas River, southeastern Colorado, 2009-2010
Roderick F. Ortiz
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5252
The Arkansas River is an important municipal water supply and is the primary supply for about 400,000 acres of irrigated land in southeastern Colorado. The suitability of this water for domestic, agricultural, and industrial use is affected by high salinity in parts of the Arkansas River. There is a need...
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...
Hydraulic and Geomorphic Assessment of the Merced River and Historic Bridges in Eastern Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California: Sacramento, California
J. Toby Minear, Scott Wright
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1016
The Merced River in the popular and picturesque eastern-most part of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California, USA, has been extensively altered since the park was first conceived in 1864. Historical human trampling of streambanks has been suggested as the cause of substantial increases in stream width, and the...
Hydrogeologic framework, hydrology, and water quality in the Pearce Creek Dredge Material Containment Area and vicinity, Cecil County, Maryland, 2010-11
Cheryl A. Dieter, Michael T. Koterba, Otto S. Zapecza, Charles W. Walker, Donald E. Rice
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5263
In 2009, to support an evaluation of the feasibility of reopening the Pearce Creek Dredge Material Containment Area (DMCA) in Cecil County, Maryland, for dredge-spoil disposal, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began to implement a comprehensive study designed to improve the understanding of the hydrogeologic framework, hydrology, and water quality...
User’s manual to update the National Wildlife Refuge System Water Quality Information System (WQIS)
Kimberly A. Chojnacki, Chad J. Vishy, Jo Ellen Hinck, Susan E. Finger, Michael J. Higgins, Kevin Kilbride
2013, Techniques and Methods 11-C8
National Wildlife Refuges may have impaired water quality resulting from historic and current land uses, upstream sources, and aerial pollutant deposition. National Wildlife Refuge staff have limited time available to identify and evaluate potential water quality issues. As a result, water quality–related issues may not be resolved until a problem...
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...
Historic distribution of Common Loons in Wisconsin in relation to changes in lake characteristics and surrounding land use
Kevin P. Kenow, Paul J. Garrison, Timothy J. Fox, Michael W. Meyer
2013, Book chapter, Potential effects of climate change on inland glacial lakes and implications for lake dependent biota in Wisconsin
A study was conducted to evaluate changes in water quality and land-use change associated with lakes that are south of the current breeding range of Common Loons in Wisconsin but that historically supported breeding loons. Museum collection records and published accounts were examined to identify lakes in southern Wisconsin with...
Comprehensive assessment of hormones, phytoestrogens, and estrogenic activity in an anaerobic swine waste lagoon
Erin E. Yost, Michael T. Meyer, Julie E. Dietze, Benjamin M. Meissner, Mike Williams, Lynn Worley-Davis, Boknam Lee, Seth W. Kullman
2013, Environmental Science & Technology (47) 13781-13790
In this study, the distribution of steroid hormones, phytoestrogens, and estrogenic activity was thoroughly characterized within the anaerobic waste lagoon of a typical commercial swine sow operation. Three independent rounds of sampling were conducted in June 2009, April 2010, and February 2011. Thirty-seven analytes in lagoon slurry and sludge were...
Climate-associated population declines reverse recovery and threaten future of an iconic high-elevation plant
Paul D. Krushelnycky, Lloyd L. Loope, Thomas W. Giambelluca, Forest Starr, Kim Starr, Donald R. Drake, Andrew D. Taylor, Robert H. Robichaux
2013, Global Change Biology (19) 911-922
Although climate change is predicted to place mountain-top and other narrowly endemic species at severe risk of extinction, the ecological processes involved in such extinctions are still poorly resolved. In addition, much of this biodiversity loss will likely go unobserved, and therefore largely unappreciated. The Haleakalā silversword is restricted to...
A framework for quantitative assessment of impacts related to energy and mineral resource development
Seth S. Haines, James Diffendorfer, Laurie S. Balistrieri, Byron R. Berger, Troy A. Cook, Donald L. Gautier, Tanya J. Gallegos, Margot Gerritsen, Elisabeth Graffy, Sarah Hawkins, Kathleen Johnson, Jordan Macknick, Peter McMahon, Tim Modde, Brenda Pierce, John H. Schuenemeyer, Darius J. Semmens, Benjamin Simon, Jason Taylor, Katherine Walton-Day
2013, Natural Resources Research (23) 3-17
Natural resource planning at all scales demands methods for assessing the impacts of resource development and use, and in particular it requires standardized methods that yield robust and unbiased results. Building from existing probabilistic methods for assessing the volumes of energy and mineral resources, we provide an algorithm for consistent,...
Relating hyporheic fluxes, residence times, and redox-sensitive biogeochemical processes upstream of beaver dams
Martin A. Briggs, Laura Lautz, Danielle K. Hare
2013, Freshwater Science (32) 622-641
Abstract. Small dams enhance the development of patchy microenvironments along stream corridors by trapping sediment and creating complex streambed morphologies. This patchiness drives intricate hyporheic flux patterns that govern the exchange of O2 and redox-sensitive solutes between the water column and the stream bed. We used multiple tracer techniques, naturally...
Biogeochemistry of beetle-killed forests: Explaining a weak nitrate response
Charles C. Rhoades, James H. McCutchan, Leigh A. Cooper, David W. Clow, Thomas M. Detmer, Jennifer S. Briggs, John D. Stednick, Thomas T. Veblen, Rachel M. Ertz, Gene E. Likens, William M. Lewis
2013, PNAS (110) 1756-1760
A current pine beetle infestation has caused extensive mortality of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) in forests of Colorado and Wyoming; it is part of an unprecedented multispecies beetle outbreak extending from Mexico to Canada. In United States and European watersheds, where atmospheric deposition of inorganic N is moderate to low...
Soil diversity and hydration as observed by ChemCam at Gale crater, Mars
P.-Y. Meslin, O. Gasnault, O. Forni, S. Schroder, A. Cousin, G. Berger, S.M. Clegg, J. Lasue, S. Maurice, V. Sautter, S. Le Mouélic, R. C. Wiens, C. Fabre, W. Goetz, D.L. Bish, N. Mangold, B. Ehlmann, N. Lanza, A.-M. Harri, Ryan B. Anderson, E. Rampe, T.H. McConnochie, P. Pinet, D. Blaney, Leveille, D. Archer, B. Barraclough, S. Bender, D. Blake, J.G. Blank, N. Bridges, B. C. Clark, L. DeFlores, D. Delapp, G. Dromart, M.D. Dyar, M. R. Fisk, B. Gondet, J. Grotzinger, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, J. Johnson, J.-L. Lacour, Y. Langevin, L. Leshin, E. Lewin, M.B. Madsen, N. Melikechi, Alissa Mezzacappa, M.A. Mischna, J.E. Moores, H. Newsom, A. Ollila, Perez, N. Renno, J.B. Sirven, R. Tokar, M. de la Torre, L. d’Uston, D. Vaniman, A. Yingst
2013, Science (341)
The ChemCam instrument, which provides insight into martian soil chemistry at the submillimeter scale, identified two principal soil types along the Curiosity rover traverse: a fine-grained mafic type and a locally derived, coarse-grained felsic type. The mafic soil component is representative of widespread martian soils and is similar in composition...
Extreme drought: summary of hydrologic conditions in Georgia, 2011
Andrew E. Knaak, Eric R. Frantz, Michael F. Peck
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3002
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Georgia Water Science Center (GaWSC) maintains a long-term hydrologic monitoring network of more than 320 realtime streamgages, including 10 real-time lake-level monitoring stations and 63 realtime water-quality monitors. Additionally, the GaWSC operates more than 180 groundwater wells, 35 of which are real-time. One of...
The water cycle for kids
Stephanie Neno, Jim Morgan, Gabriele Zonolli, Howard Perlman, Gerard Gonthier
2013, General Information Product 146
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have created a water-cycle diagram for use in elementary and middle schools. The diagram is available in many languages. This diagram is part of the USGS's Water Science School, in...
Estimated sediment thickness, quality, and toxicity to benthic organisms in selected impoundments in Massachusetts
Robert F. Breault, Jason R. Sorenson, Peter K. Weiskel
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5191
The U.S. Geological Survey and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, Division of Ecological Restoration, collaborated to collect baseline information on the quantity and quality of sediment impounded behind selected dams in Massachusetts, including sediment thickness and the occurrence of contaminants potentially toxic to benthic organisms. The thicknesses of...
Application of sediment characteristics and transport conditions to resource management in selected main-stem reaches of the Upper Colorado River, Colorado and Utah, 1965-2007
Cory A. Williams, Keelin R. Schaffrath, John G. Elliott, Rodney J. Richards
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5195
The Colorado River Basin provides habitat for 14 native fish, including 4 endangered species protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973. These endangered fish species once thrived in the Colorado River system, but water-resource development, including the building of numerous diversion dams and several large reservoirs, and the...
Summary and interpretation of discrete and continuous water-quality monitoring data, Mattawoman Creek, Charles County, Maryland, 2000-11
Jeffrey G. Chanat, Cherie V. Miller, Joseph M. Bell, Brenda Feit Majedi, David P. Brower
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5265
Discrete samples and continuous (15-minute interval) water-quality data were collected at Mattawoman Creek (U.S. Geological Survey station number 01658000) from October 2000 through January 2011, in cooperation with the Charles County (Maryland) Department of Planning and Growth Management, the Maryland Department of the Environment, and the Maryland Geological Survey. Mattawoman...
Accuracy assessment of NLCD 2006 land cover and impervious surface
James D. Wickham, Stephen V. Stehman, Leila Gass, Jon Dewitz, Joyce A. Fry, Timothy G. Wade
2013, Remote Sensing of Environment (130) 294-304
Release of NLCD 2006 provides the first wall-to-wall land-cover change database for the conterminous United States from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data. Accuracy assessment of NLCD 2006 focused on four primary products: 2001 land cover, 2006 land cover, land-cover change between 2001 and 2006, and impervious surface change between 2001...
Movement mysteries unveiled: spatial ecology of juvenile green sea turtles
Donna J. Shaver, Kristen M. Hart, Ikuko Fujisaki, Cynthia Rubio, Autumn R. Sartain-Iverson
William I. Lutterschmidt, editor(s)
2013, Book chapter, Reptiles in research: investigations of ecology, physiology, and behavior from desert to sea
Locations of important foraging areas are not well defined for many marine species. Unraveling these mysteries is vital to develop conservation strategies for these species, many of which are threatened or endangered. Satellite-tracking is a tool that can reveal movement patterns at both broad and fine spatial scales, in all...
