Groundwater, surface-water, and water-chemistry data from C-aquifer monitoring program, northeastern Arizona, 2005-11
Christopher R. Brown, Jamie P. Macy
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1196
The C aquifer is a regionally extensive multiple-aquifer system supplying water for municipal, agricultural, and industrial use in northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. An increase in groundwater withdrawals from the C aquifer coupled with ongoing drought conditions in the study area increase the potential for drawdown within...
Morphometric sexing of Northwest Atlantic Roseate Terns
Brian G. Palestis, Ian C. T. Nisbet, Jeremy J. Hatch, Patricia Szczys, Jeffrey A. Spendelow
2012, Waterbirds (35) 479-484
A difficulty in the study of monomorphic species is the inability of observers to visually distinguish females from males. Based on a sample of 745 known-sex birds nesting at Bird Island, MA, USA, a discriminant function analysis (DFA) was used to sex Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) of the Northwest...
Low-level copper exposures increase visibility and vulnerability of juvenile coho salmon to cutthroat trout predators
Jenifer K. McIntyre, David H. Baldwin, David A. Beauchamp, Nathaniel L. Scholz
2012, Ecological Applications (22) 1460-1471
Copper contamination in surface waters is common in watersheds with mining activities or agricultural, industrial, commercial, and residential human land uses. This widespread pollutant is neurotoxic to the chemosensory systems of fish and other aquatic species. Among Pacific salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.), copper-induced olfactory impairment has previously been shown to disrupt...
Hydrologic and geochemical data collected near Skewed Reservoir, an impoundment for coal-bed natural gas produced water, Powder River Basin, Wyoming
Richard W. Healy, Cynthia A. Rice, Timothy T. Bartos
2012, Data Series 715
The Powder River Structural Basin is one of the largest producers of coal-bed natural gas (CBNG) in the United States. An important environmental concern in the Basin is the fate of groundwater that is extracted during CBNG production. Most of this produced water is disposed of in unlined surface impoundments....
Numerical simulation of groundwater movement and managed aquifer recharge from Sand Hollow Reservoir, Hurricane Bench area, Washington County, Utah
Thomas M. Marston, Victor M. Heilweil
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5236
The Hurricane Bench area of Washington County, Utah, is a 70 square-mile area extending south from the Virgin River and encompassing Sand Hollow basin. Sand Hollow Reservoir, located on Hurricane Bench, was completed in March 2002 and is operated primarily as a managed aquifer recharge project by the Washington County...
Comparing seasonal dynamics of the Lake Huron zooplankton community between 1983-1984 and 2007 and revisiting the impact of Bythotrephes planktivory
David B. Bunnell, Kevin M. Keeler, Elizabeth A. Puchala, Bruce M. Davis, Steven A. Pothoven
2012, Journal of Great Lakes Research (38) 451-462
Zooplankton community composition can be influenced by lake productivity as well as planktivory by fish or invertebrates. Previous analyses based on long-term Lake Huron zooplankton data from August reported a shift in community composition between the 1980s and 2000s: proportional biomass of calanoid copepods increased while that of cyclopoid copepods...
Updates to watershed modeling in the Potholes Reservoir basin, Washington-a supplement to Scientific Investigation Report 2009-5081
Mark Mastin
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1251
A previous collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Reclamation resulted in a watershed model for four watersheds that discharge into Potholes Reservoir, Washington. Since the model was constructed, two new meteorological sites have been established that provide more reliable real-time information. The Bureau of Reclamation...
Keanakākoʻi Tephra produced by 300 years of explosive eruptions following collapse of Kīlauea's caldera in about 1500 CE
Donald A. Swanson, Timothy R. Rose, Richard S. Fiske, John P. McGeehin
2012, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (215-216) 8-25
The Keanakākoʻi Tephra at Kīlauea Volcano has previously been interpreted by some as the product of a caldera-forming eruption in 1790 CE. Our study, however, finds stratigraphic and 14C evidence that the tephra instead results from numerous eruptions throughout a 300-year period between about 1500 and 1800. The stratigraphic evidence...
Geologic map of the southern Funeral Mountains including nearby groundwater discharge sites in Death Valley National Park, California and Nevada
C. J. Fridrich, R. A. Thompson, J. L. Slate, M. E. Berry, M. N. Machette
2012, Scientific Investigations Map 3151
This 1:50,000-scale geologic map covers the southern part of the Funeral Mountains, and adjoining parts of four structural basins—Furnace Creek, Amargosa Valley, Opera House, and central Death Valley—in California and Nevada. It extends over three full 7.5-minute quadrangles, and parts of eleven others—an area of about 1,000 square kilometers (km2)....
Geomorphic and stratigraphic evidence for an unusual tsunami or storm a few centuries ago at Anegada, British Virgin Islands
Brian F. Atwater, Uri S. ten Brink, Mark Buckley, Robert S. Halley, Bruce E. Jaffe, Alberto M. Lopez-Venegas, Eduard G. Reinhardt, Maritia P. Tuttle, Steve Watt, Yong Wei
2012, Natural Hazards (63) 51-84
Waters from the Atlantic Ocean washed southward across parts of Anegada, east-northeast of Puerto Rico, during a singular event a few centuries ago. The overwash, after crossing a fringing coral reef and 1.5 km of shallow subtidal flats, cut dozens of breaches through sandy beach ridges, deposited a sheet of...
Identifying bubble collapse in a hydrothermal system using hiddden Markov models
Phillip B. Dawson, M.C. Benitez, Jacob B. Lowenstern, Bernard A. Chouet
2012, Geophysical Research Letters (39)
Beginning in July 2003 and lasting through September 2003, the Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park exhibited an unusual increase in ground temperature and hydrothermal activity. Using hidden Markov model theory, we identify over five million high-frequency (>15 Hz) seismic events observed at a temporary seismic station deployed in...
Temporal variations of geyser water chemistry in the Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, USA
Shaul Hurwitz, Andrew G. Hunt, William C. Evans
2012, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (13)
Geysers are rare features that reflect a delicate balance between an abundant supply of water and heat and a unique geometry of fractures and porous rocks. Between April 2007 and September 2008, we sampled Old Faithful, Daisy, Grand, Oblong, and Aurum geysers in Yellowstone National Park's Upper Geyser Basin and...
Flood-inundation maps for the White River at Newberry, Indiana
Kathleen K. Fowler, Moon H. Kim, Chad D. Menke
2012, Scientific Investigations Map 3231
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 4.9-mile reach of the White River at Newberry, Indiana (Ind.), were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site...
Evaluation of water-quality characteristics and sampling design for streams in North Dakota, 1970–2008
Joel M. Galloway, Aldo V. Vecchia, Kevin C. Vining, Brenda K. Densmore, Robert F. Lundgren
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5216
In response to the need to examine the large amount of historic water-quality data comprehensively across North Dakota and evaluate the efficiency of the State-wide sampling programs, a study was done by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the North Dakota State Water Commission and the North Dakota Department...
Waste rice seed in conventional and stripper-head harvested fields in California: Implications for wintering waterfowl
Joseph P. Fleskes, Brian J. Halstead, Michael L. Casazza, Peter S. Coates, Jeffrey D. Kohl, Daniel A. Skalos
2012, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (3) 266-275
Waste rice seed is an important food for wintering waterfowl and current estimates of its availability are needed to determine the carrying capacity of rice fields and guide habitat conservation. We used a line-intercept method to estimate mass-density of rice seed remaining after harvest during 2010 in the Sacramento Valley...
Role of surface-water and groundwater interactions on projected summertime streamflow in snow dominated regions : An integrated modeling approach
Justin L. Huntington, Richard G. Niswonger
2012, Water Resources Research (48)
Previous studies indicate predominantly increasing trends in precipitation across the Western United States, while at the same time, historical streamflow records indicate decreasing summertime streamflow and 25th percentile annual flows. These opposing trends could be viewed as paradoxical, given that several studies suggest that increased annual precipitation will equate to...
Approaches to the simulation of unconfined flow and perched groundwater flow in MODFLOW
Vivek Bedekar, Richard G. Niswonger, Kenneth Kipp, Sorab Panday, Matthew Tonkin
2012, Ground Water (50) 187-198
Various approaches have been proposed to manage the nonlinearities associated with the unconfined flow equation and to simulate perched groundwater conditions using the MODFLOW family of codes. The approaches comprise a variety of numerical techniques to prevent dry cells from becoming inactive and to achieve a stable solution focused on...
Comparing modern and presettlement forest dynamics of a subboreal wilderness: Does spruce budworm enhance fire risk?
Brian R. Sturtevant, Brian R. Miranda, Douglas J. Shinneman, Eric J. Gustafson, Peter T. Wolter
2012, Ecological Applications (22) 1278-1296
Insect disturbance is often thought to increase fire risk through enhanced fuel loadings, particularly in coniferous forest ecosystems. Yet insect disturbances also affect successional pathways and landscape structure that interact with fire disturbances (and vice-versa) over longer time scales. We applied a landscape succession and disturbance model (LANDIS-II) to evaluate...
Water-level altitudes and continuous and discrete water quality at and near an aquifer storage and recovery site, Bexar, Atascosa, and Wilson Counties, Texas, June 2004-September 2011
Cassi L. Crow
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5260
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the San Antonio Water System (SAWS), collected data during 2004–11 to characterize the quality of native groundwater from the San Antonio segment of the Edwards aquifer (hereinafter, Edwards aquifer) and preinjection and postinjection water from the Carrizo aquifer (informal name commonly applied...
Spatial patterns of March and September streamflow trends in Pacific Northwest Streams, 1958-2008
Heejun Chang, Il-Won Jung, Madeline Steele, Marshall Gannett
2012, Geographical Analysis (44) 177-201
Summer streamflow is a vital water resource for municipal and domestic water supplies, irrigation, salmonid habitat, recreation, and water-related ecosystem services in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) in the United States. This study detects significant negative trends in September absolute streamflow in a majority of 68 stream-gauging stations located on unregulated...
Characterization of the hydrologic resources of San Miguel County, New Mexico, and identification of hydrologic data gaps, 2011
Anne Marie Matherne, Anne M. Stewart
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5238
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with San Miguel County, New Mexico, conducted a study to assess publicly available information regarding the hydrologic resources of San Miguel County and to identify data gaps in that information and hydrologic information that could aid in the management of available water resources....
Redox reaction rates in shallow aquifers: Implications for nitrate transport in groundwater and streams
Anthony J. Tesoriero
2012, Conference Paper, Abstracts with Programs, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting
Groundwater age and water chemistry data along flow paths from recharge areas to streams were used to evaluate the trends and transformations of agricultural chemicals. Results from this analysis indicate that median nitrate recharge concentrations in these agricultural areas have increased markedly over the last 50 years from 4 mg...
Low-flow characteristics of streams under natural and diversion conditions, Waipiʻo Valley, Island of Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi
Richard A. Fontaine
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5118
Over the past 100 years, natural streamflow in Waipiʻo Valley has been reduced by the transfer of water out of the valley by Upper and Lower Hāmākua Ditches. The physical condition and diversion practices along the two ditch systems have varied widely over the years, and as a result, so...
Yield of bedrock wells in the Nashoba terrane, central and eastern Massachusetts
Leslie A. DeSimone, Jeffrey R. Barbaro
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5155
The yield of bedrock wells in the fractured-bedrock aquifers of the Nashoba terrane and surrounding area, central and eastern Massachusetts, was investigated with analyses of existing data. Reported well yield was compiled for 7,287 wells from Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Geological Survey databases. Yield of these wells...
Insights from fumarole gas geochemistry on the origin of hydrothermal fluids on the Yellowstone Plateau
Giovanni Chiodini, Stefano Caliro, Jacob B. Lowenstern, William C. Evans, D. Bergfeld, Franco Tassi, Dario Tedesco
2012, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (89) 265-278
The chemistry of Yellowstone fumarole gases shows the existence of two component waters, type MC, influenced by the addition of deep mantle fluid, and type CC, influenced by crustal interactions (CC). MC is high in 3He/4He (22 Ra) and low in 4He/40Ar (∼1), reflecting input of deep mantle components. The other water is...
