Extent of the Last Glacial Maximum (Tioga) glaciation in Yosemite National Park and vicinity, California
Clyde Wahrhaftig, Greg M. Stock, Reba G. McCracken, Peri Sasnett, Andrew J. Cyr
2019, Scientific Investigations Map 3414
Yosemite National Park, located in the central Sierra Nevada in California, is an icon of the U.S. National Park system. It is famous for its many spectacular geologic features, which include the towering cliffs and hanging waterfalls of Yosemite Valley and the rounded granite domes, deep blue lakes, and jagged...
Predictive analysis using chemical-gene interaction networks consistent with observed endocrine activity and mutagenicity of U.S. streams
Jason P. Berninger, David M. DeMarini, Sarah H. Warren, Jane Ellen Simmons, Vickie S. Wilson, Justin M. Conley, Mikayla D. Armstrong, Dana W. Kolpin, Kathryn Kuivila, Timothy J. Reilly, Kristin M. Romanok, Daniel L. Villeneuve, Paul M. Bradley, Luke R. Iwanowicz
2019, Environmental Science & Technology (53) 8611-8620
In a recent U.S. Geological Survey/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study assessing >700 organic compounds in 38 streams, in vitro assays indicated generally low estrogen, androgen, and glucocorticoid receptor activities, but identified 13 surface waters with 17β estradiol equivalent (E2Eq) activities greater than the 1 ng/L level of concern for feminization...
Hydrologic study at Farm Creek Marsh, Dorchester County, Maryland, from April 2015 to April 2016
Charles W. Walker, Todd R. Lester, Christopher W. Nealen
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5032
In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey began a 1-year hydrologic study to investigate the extent and cause of inundation at Farm Creek Marsh, in Dorchester County, Maryland. In combination with a tide and precipitation gage, a representative section of the marsh was instrumented with surface-water monitors and shallow groundwater piezometers...
Timber harvest alters mercury bioaccumulation and food web structure in headwater streams
James Willacker, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Brandon M Kowalski, Robert J Danehy, Allyson K. Jackson, Evan M. Adams, David C. Evers, Chris S. Eckley, Michael T. Tate, David P. Krabbenhoft
2019, Environmental Pollution (253) 636-645
Timber harvest has many effects on aquatic ecosystems, including changes in hydrological, biogeochemical, and ecological processes that can influence mercury (Hg) cycling. Although timber harvest’s influence on aqueous Hg transformation and transport are well studied, the effects on Hg bioaccumulation are not. We evaluated Hg bioaccumulation, biomagnification, and food web...
Lidar-based approaches for estimating solar insolation in heavily forested streams
Jeffrey J Richardson, Christian E. Torgersen, L Monika Moskal
2019, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (23) 2813-2822
Methods to quantify solar insolation in riparian landscapes are needed due to the importance of stream temperature to aquatic biota. We have tested three lidar predictors using two approaches developed for other applications of estimating solar insolation from airborne lidar using field data...
Sources of inherent infiltration variability in postwildfire soils
John A. Moody, Richard G. Martin, Brian A. Ebel
2019, Hydrological Processes (33) 3010-3029
An automated disc infiltrometer was developed to improve the measurements of soil hydraulic properties (saturated hydraulic conductivity and sorptivity) of soils affected by wildfire. Guidelines are given for interpreting curves showing cumulative infiltration as a function of time measured by the autodisc. The autodisc was used...
Hydrologic site assessment for passive treatment of groundwater nitrogen with permeable reactive barriers, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Jeffrey R. Barbaro, Marcel Belaval, Danna B. Truslow, Denis R. LeBlanc, Thomas C. Cambareri, Scott C. Michaud
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5047
Wastewater disposal associated with rapid population growth and development on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, during the past several decades has resulted in widespread contamination of groundwater with nitrogen. As a result, water quality in many of the streams, lakes, and coastal embayments on Cape Cod is impaired by excess nitrogen. To...
Sharp savanna-forest transitions in the Midwest followed environmental gradients but are absent from the modern landscape
Caitlin M. Broderick, Kelly A Heilman, Tamatha Patterson, Jody Peters, Jason S. McLachlan
2019, The American Midland Naturalist (180) 1-17
Historically, closed eastern forests transitioned into open savannas and prairies in the US Midwest, but this transition is poorly understood. To investigate the eastern boundary of the prairie-forest ecotone, we conducted a case study of historic and modern vegetation patterns of the Yellow River watershed in northwest Indiana. Historic vegetation...
Toutle River debris flows initiated by atmospheric rivers: November 2006
Adam R. Mosbrucker, Kurt R. Spicer, Jon J. Major
2019, Conference Paper, Proceedings of SEDHYD 2019
In early November, 2006, an atmospheric river brought heavy rainfall and high freezing levels to the Pacific Northwest. Without snowpack to buffer the hydrologic response, the storm caused widespread landslides and debris flows in drainages sourced from every central Cascades volcano. At Mount St. Helens, in southwestern Washington State, intense...
Integrated hydrologic modeling of the Salinas River, California, for sustainable water management
Joseph A. Hevesi, Wesley R. Henson, Randall T. Hanson, Scott E. Boyce
2019, Conference Paper, Proceedings of SEDHYD 2019
The Salinas River is the largest river in California’s Central Coast region. Groundwater resources of the Salinas River basin are used to meet water supply needs, including crop irrigation and municipal water supply. Two large multipurpose reservoirs also supply irrigation and municipal water uses. Historical imbalances between supply and demand...
Characterization of hydrology and sediment transport following drought and wildfire in Cache Creek, California
Michelle A. Stern, Lorraine E. Flint, Alan L. Flint
2019, Conference Paper, Proceedings of SEDHYD 2019
The worst drought in California in over 1,200 years occurred between 2012-2017 (Griffin, 2014), depleting surface water and groundwater supply and drying out the soils past wilting point. In the summer of 2015, the Jerusalem and Rocky fires burned roughly 40,000 acres within the Cache Creek watershed. To fully characterize...
Groundwater quality and hydrology with emphasis on selenium mobilization and transport in the Lower Gunnison River Basin, Colorado, 2012–16
Judith C. Thomas, Peter B. McMahon, L. R. Arnold
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5029
Dissolved selenium is a contaminant of concern in the lower Gunnison River Basin, Colorado. Selenium is naturally present in the Cretaceous Mancos Shale and is leached to groundwater and surface water by irrigation. The groundwater on the east side of the Uncompahgre River in Delta and Montrose Counties is one...
The presence of antibiotic resistance genes in coastal soil and sediment samples from the eastern seaboard of the USA
Dale W. Griffin, William Benzel, Shawn C. Fisher, Michael J. Focazio, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Keith A. Loftin, Timothy J. Reilly, Daniel K. Jones
2019, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (19)
Infections from antibiotic resistant microorganisms are considered to be one of the greatest global public health challenges that result in huge annual economic losses. While genes that impart resistance to antibiotics (AbR) existed long before the discovery and use of antibiotics, anthropogenic uses of antibiotics in agriculture, domesticated animals, and...
Flood-inundation maps for the Iowa River at the Meskwaki Settlement in Iowa, 2019
Charles V. Cigrand
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5050
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 9.3-mile reach of the Iowa River along the Meskwaki Settlement, Iowa, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping...
Groundwater movement and interaction with surface water near the confluence of the Platte and Elkhorn rivers, Nebraska, 2016–18
Christopher M. Hobza, Mason J. Johnson, Paul W. Woodward, Kellan R. Strauch, Aaron R. Schepers
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5048
The State of Nebraska requires a sustainable balance between long-term water supplies and uses of groundwater and surface water and requires Natural Resources Districts to include the effect of groundwater use on surface-water systems as part of their respective integrated management plans. Recent droughts in Nebraska (2000–6; 2012–13) have amplified...
Carbon dioxide emissions and methane flux from forested wetland soils of the Great Dismal Swamp, USA
Laurel Gutenberg, K. W. Krauss, John Qu, Changwoo Ahn, Dianna M. Hogan, Zhiliang Zhu, Chenyang Xu
2019, Environmental Management (64) 190-200
The Great Dismal Swamp, a freshwater forested peatland, has accumulated massive amounts of soil carbon since the postglacial period. Logging and draining have severely altered the hydrology and forest composition, leading to drier soils, accelerated oxidation, and vulnerability to disturbance. The once dominant Atlantic white cedar, cypress, and pocosin forest...
Recognizing the Famine Early Warning Systems Network: Over 30 years of drought early warning science advances and partnerships promoting global food security
Chris Funk, Shraddhanand Shukla, Wassila Mamadou Thiaw, James Rowland, Andrew Hoell, Gregory Husak, Nicholas Novella
2019, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 1011-1027
On a planet with more than 7 billion people, how do we identify the millions of drought-afflicted people who face a real threat of livelihood disruption or death without humanitarian assistance? Typically, these people are poor and heavily dependent on rainfed agriculture and livestock. Most live in Africa, Central America,...
Subsurface water piping prevents meromixis in a deep volcanic crater lake (Dominica, West Indies)
Bryan M. Maitland, Brian O’Malley, Donald J. Stewart
2019, Hydrobiologia (839) 119-130
Boeri Lake—a small (3.6 ha) but deep (39.6 m) crater lake on Morne Micotrin in Dominica, West Indies—presents a limnological enigma; it exhibits strong morphometric and circumstantial evidence for meromixis, yet it is not stratified. We tested the hypothesis that water seepage from Boeri Lake overcomes morphometric drivers of stratification...
Typha (cattail) invasion in North American wetlands: Biology, regional problems, impacts, ecosystem services, and management
Sheel Bansal, Shane Lishawa, Sue Newman, Brian Tangen, Douglas Wilcox, Dennis Albert, Michael J. Anteau, Michael J Chimney, Ryann L. Cressey, Edward S. DeKeyser, Kenneth J Elgersam, Sarah A Finkelstein, Joanna Freeland, Richard Grosshans, Page E. Klug, Daniel J Larkin, Beth A. Lawrence, George Linz, Joy Marburger, Gregory E. Noe, Clint Otto, Nicholas Reo, Jennifer Richards, Curtis J. Richardson, LeRoy Rodgers, Amy J Shrank, Dan Svedarsky, Steven E. Travis, Nancy Tuchman, Arnold van der Valk, Lisamarie Windham-Myers
2019, Wetlands 1-40
Typha is an iconic wetland plant found worldwide. Hybridization and anthropogenic disturbances have resulted in large increases in Typha abundance in wetland ecosystems throughout North America at a cost to native floral and faunal biodiversity. As demonstrated by three regional case studies, Typha is capable of rapidly colonizing habitats and...
State of lake ecosystem conference sub Indicator: Prey fish
Brian Weidel
2019, Report, State of the Great Lakes 2017 Technical Report
Overall Assessment Status: Fair Trends 10-Year Trend: Unchanging Long-term Trend (1973-2017): Undetermined Rationale: Great Lakes prey fish community status remains ”Fair” based on diversity and percent native species, but individual lake status varied. Both diversity and percent native metrics were classified as “Good” in Lake Superior, but “Poor” in Lake Ontario (Table 1). Lakes Huron...
Simulation of water availability in the Southeastern United States for historical and potential future climate and land-cover conditions
Jacob H. LaFontaine, Rheannon M. Hart, Lauren E. Hay, William H. Farmer, Andy R. Bock, Roland J. Viger, Steven L. Markstrom, R. Steve Regan, Jessica M. Driscoll
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5039
A study was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GCPO LCC) and the Department of the Interior Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, to evaluate the hydrologic response of a daily time step hydrologic model to historical observations...
Development of a flood-inundation map library and precipitation-runoff modeling for the Clear Fork Mohican River in and near Bellville, Ohio
Chad J. Ostheimer, Carrie A. Huitger
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5017
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, led hydrologic and hydraulic analyses within the Clear Fork Mohican River Basin in and near Bellville, Ohio. The analyses included the development of digital flood-inundation maps for an approximately 2.5-mile reach of the Clear Fork Mohican River...
Summary of climatic, geographic, geologic, and available hydrologic data and identification of data gaps for the Black Bear Creek watershed of the Pawnee Nation Tribal Jurisdictional Area, Oklahoma
Matthew S. Varonka
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5043
The Pawnee Nation is compiling a comprehensive water-management plan for the Pawnee Nation Tribal Jurisdictional Area in north-central Oklahoma. One of the first steps needed in preparing such a plan is a summary and analysis of available hydrologic data and reports that have been published for the area. In phase...
Late Quaternary paleohydrology of desert wetlands and pluvial lakes in the Soda Lake basin, central Mojave Desert, California (USA)
Jeffrey S. Honke, Jeffrey S. Pigati, J. Wilson, J. Bright, H.L. Goldstein, Gary L. Skipp, M.C. Reheis, J. C. Havens
2019, Quaternary Science Reviews (216) 89-106
Sediment cores taken near extant springs along the western margin of Soda Lake playa, as well as from the playa center, reveal dramatic hydrologic changes that occurred in the central Mojave Desert during the late Quaternary. Results of stratigraphic, chronologic, physical, chemical, and microfossil analyses of seven cores, ranging in...
Hydrologic and hydraulic analyses of selected streams in Richland County, Ohio
Chad J. Ostheimer
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5011
Hydrologic and hydraulic analyses were done for selected reaches of Clear Fork Mohican River and Cedar Fork in Richland County, Ohio. To update and expand a portion of the Federal Emergency Management Agency detailed Flood Insurance Study, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District initiated a...
