Simultaneous speciation of arsenic, selenium, and chromium: species, stability, sample preservation, and analysis of ash and soil leachates
Ruth E. Wolf, Suzette A. Morman, Philip L. Hageman, Todd M. Hoefen, Geoffrey S. Plumlee
2011, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry (9) 2733-2745
An analytical method using high-performance liquid chromatography separation with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) detection previously developed for the determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) has been adapted to allow the determination of As(III), As(V), Se(IV), Se(VI), Cr(III), and Cr(VI) under the same chromatographic conditions. Using this method, all six...
A promising tool for subsurface permafrost mapping-An application of airborne geophysics from the Yukon River Basin, Alaska
Jared E. Abraham
2011, Fact Sheet 2011-3133
Permafrost is a predominant physical feature of the Earth's Arctic and Subarctic clines and a major consideration encompassing ecosystem structure to infrastructure engineering and placement. Perennially frozen ground is estimated to cover about 85 percent of the state of Alaska where northern reaches are underlain with continuous permafrost and parts...
Department of the Interior Climate Science Centers
Sonya A. Jones
2011, Fact Sheet 2011-3025
What is a Climate Science Center? On September 14, 2009, the Secretary of the Interior signed a Secretarial Order (No. 3289) entitled, "Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change on America's Water, Land, and Other Natural and Cultural Resources." The Order effectively established the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Climate...
National Stream Quality Accounting Network and National Monitoring Network Basin Boundary Geospatial Dataset, 2008–13
Nancy T. Baker
2011, Data Series 641
This report and the accompanying geospatial data were created to assist in analysis and interpretation of water-quality data provided by the U.S. Geological Survey's National Stream Quality Accounting Network (NASQAN) and by the U.S. Coastal Waters and Tributaries National Monitoring Network (NMN), which is a cooperative monitoring program of Federal,...
Assessment of groundwater pathways and contaminant transport in Florida and Georgia using multiple chemical and microbiological indicators
Gary L. Mahon
2011, Fact Sheet 2011-3070
The hydrogeology of Florida, especially in the northern part of the state, and southwestern Georgia is characterized by a predominance of limestone aquifers overlain by varying amounts of sands, silts, and clays. This karstic system of aquifers and their associated springs is particularly vulnerable to contamination from various anthropogenic activities...
Assessment of channel changes, model of historical floods, and effects of backwater on flood stage, and flood mitigation alternatives for the Wichita River at Wichita Falls, Texas
Karl E. Winters, Stanley Baldys
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5175
In cooperation with the City of Wichita Falls, the U.S. Geological Survey assessed channel changes on the Wichita River at Wichita Falls, Texas, and modeled historical floods to investigate possible causes and potential mitigation alternatives to higher flood stages in recent (2007 and 2008) floods. Extreme flooding occurred on the...
Porphyry copper assessment of British Columbia and Yukon Territory, Canada: Chapter C in Global mineral resource assessment
Mark J. Mihalasky, Arthur A. Bookstrom, Thomas P. Frost, Steve Ludington
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5090-C
The U.S. Geological Survey does regional, national, and global assessments of resources (mineral, energy, water, biologic) to provide science in support of land management and decision making. Mineral resource assessments provide a synthesis of available information about where mineral deposits are known and suspected to be in the Earth’s crust,...
Development of flood-inundation maps for the West Branch Susquehanna River near the Borough of Jersey Shore, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
Mark A. Roland, Scott A. Hoffman
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5057
Streamflow data, water-surface-elevation profiles derived from a Hydrologic Engineering Center River Analysis System hydraulic model, and geographical information system digital elevation models were used to develop a set of 18 flood-inundation maps for an approximately 5-mile reach of the West Branch Susquehanna River near the Borough of Jersey Shore, Pa....
Characterization of stormwater runoff from bridges in North Carolina and the effects of bridge deck runoff on receiving streams
Chad R. Wagner, Sharon A. Fitzgerald, Roy D. Sherrell, Douglas A. Harned, Erik L. Staub, Brian H. Pointer, Loren L. Wehmeyer
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5180
In 2008, the North Carolina General Assembly passed House Bill 2436 that required the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to study the water-quality effects of bridges on receiving streams. In response, the NCDOT and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collaborated on a study to provide information necessary to address...
Joint Ecosystem Modeling (JEM) ecological model documentation volume 1: Estuarine prey fish biomass availability v1.0.0
Stephanie S. Romañach, Craig Conzelmann, Adam Daugherty, Jerome L. Lorenz, Christina Hunnicutt, Frank J. Mazzotti
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1272
Estuarine fish serve as an important prey base in the Greater Everglades ecosystem for key fauna such as wading birds, crocodiles, alligators, and piscivorous fishes. Human-made changes to freshwater flow across the Greater Everglades have resulted in less freshwater flow into the fringing estuaries and coasts. These changes in freshwater...
Joint Ecosystem Modeling (JEM) ecological model documentation volume 2: roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) landscape habitat suitability index v1.0.0
Stephanie S. Romañach, Craig Conzelmann, Adam Daugherty, Jerome J. Lorenz, Christina Hunnicutt, Frank J. Mazzotti
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1273
Ecological conditions in the Greater Everglades have changed due to human activities, including the construction of canals to divert water away from the core of the landscape. Current and planned restoration projects are designed to produce a natural sheetflow of water across the landscape. This restoration of water flow should...
Perfluorinated chemicals in surface waters and sediments from northwest Georgia, USA, and their bioaccumulation in Lumbriculus variegatus
Peter J. Lasier, John W. Washington, Sayed M. Hassan, Thomas M. Jenkins
2011, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (30) 2194-2201
Concentrations of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) were measured in surface waters and sediments from the Coosa River watershed in northwest Georgia, USA, to examine their distribution downstream of a suspected source. Samples from eight sites were analyzed using liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry. Sediments were also used in 28‐d exposures with the...
Water-quality data from shallow pond-bottom groundwater in the Fishermans Cove area of Ashumet Pond, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 2001-2010
Timothy D. McCobb, Denis R. LeBlanc
2011, Data Series 588
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collected water-quality data between 2001 and 2010 in the Fishermans Cove area of Ashumet Pond, Falmouth, Massachusetts, where the eastern portion of a treated-wastewater plume, created by more than 60 years of overland disposal, discharges to the pond. Temporary drive points were installed, and shallow...
2010 bathymetric survey and digital elevation model of Corte Madera Bay, California
Amy C. Foxgrover, David P. Finlayson, Bruce E. Jaffe, John Y. Takekawa, Karen M. Thorne, Kyle A. Spragens
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1217
A high-resolution bathymetric survey of Corte Madera Bay, California, was collected in early 2010 in support of a collaborative research project initiated by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission and funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The primary objective of the Innovative Wetland Adaptation in the Lower...
Adjustment of pesticide concentrations for temporal changes in analytical recovery, 1992–2010
Jeffrey D. Martin, Michael Eberle
2011, Data Series 630
Recovery is the proportion of a target analyte that is quantified by an analytical method and is a primary indicator of the analytical bias of a measurement. Recovery is measured by analysis of quality-control (QC) water samples that have known amounts of target analytes added ("spiked" QC samples). For pesticides,...
Using host-associated genetic markers to investigate sources of fecal contamination in two Vermont streams
Laura Medalie, Leslie J. Matthews, Erin A. Stelzer
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5113
The use of host-associated Bacteroidales-based 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid genetic markers was investigated as a tool for providing information to managers on sources of bacterial impairment in Vermont streams. The study was conducted during 2009 in two watersheds on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 303(d) List of Impaired Waters, the...
Streamflow, groundwater hydrology, and water quality in the upper Coleto Creek watershed in southeast Texas, 2009–10
Christopher L. Braun, Rebecca B. Lambert
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5157
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Goliad County Groundwater Conservation District, Victoria County Groundwater Conservation District, Pecan Valley Groundwater Conservation District, Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, and San Antonio River Authority, did a study to examine the hydrology and stream-aquifer interactions in the upper Coleto Creek watershed. Findings of...
Results and evaluation of a survey to estimate Pacific walrus population size, 2006
Suzann G. Speckman, Vladimir I. Chernook, Douglas M. Burn, Mark S. Udevitz, Anatoly A. Kochnev, Alexander Vasilev, Chadwick V. Jay, Alexander Lisovsky, Anthony S. Fischbach, R. Bradley Benter
2011, Marine Mammal Science (27) 514-553
In spring 2006, we conducted a collaborative U.S.-Russia survey to estimate abundance of the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens). The Bering Sea was partitioned into survey blocks, and a systematic random sample of transects within a subset of the blocks was surveyed with airborne thermal scanners using standard strip-transect...
Global climate change implications for coastal and offshore oil and gas development
Virginia R. Burkett
2011, Energy Policy (39) 7719-7725
The discussion and debate about climate change and oil and gas resource development has generally focused on how fossil fuel use affects the Earth's climate. This paper explores how the changing climate is likely to affect oil and gas operations in low-lying coastal areas and the outer continental shelf. Oil...
Geophysical bed sediment characterization of the Androscoggin River from the former Chlor-Alkali Facility Superfund Site, Berlin, New Hampshire, to the state border with Maine, August 2009
James R. Degnan, Andrew Teeple, Craig M. Johnston, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Darryl Luce
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5158
The former Chlor-Alkali Facility in Berlin, New Hampshire, was listed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Priorities List in 2005 as a Superfund site. The Chlor-Alkali Facility lies on the east bank of the Androscoggin River. Elemental mercury currently discharges from that bank into the Androscoggin River. The nature,...
Application of the SPARROW watershed model to describe nutrient sources and transport in the Missouri River Basin
Juliane B. Brown
2011, Fact Sheet 2011-3104
Spatially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) models were developed to provide spatially explicit information on local and regional total nitrogen and total phosphorus sources and transport in the Missouri River Basin. Model results provide estimates of the relative contributions from various nutrient sources and delivery factors. The models also...
Summary of oceanographic and water–quality measurements in West Falmouth Harbor and Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, 2009–2010
Neil K. Ganju, Patrick J. Dickhudt, Jennifer A. Thomas, Jonathan Borden, Christopher R. Sherwood, Ellyn T. Montgomery, Erin R. Twomey, Marinna A. Martini
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1113
This data report presents oceanographic and water-quality observations made at six locations in West Falmouth Harbor and Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, from August 2009 to September 2010. Both Buzzards Bay and West Falmouth Harbor are estuarine embayments; the input of freshwater on the eastern margin of Buzzards Bay adjacent to Cape...
Proceedings of the third USGS modeling conference, June 7-11, 2010, Broomfield, Colorado-Understanding and predicting for a changing world
Shailaja R. Brady
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5147
The Third USGS Modeling Conference was held June 7th-11, 2010, in Broomfield, Colorado. The conference focused on the development and application of analytical and theoretical models and data availability that support managing the Nation's resources and help protect lives and property. Participants at the conference included scientists and managers from...
Quantifying viruses and bacteria in wastewater—Results, interpretation methods, and quality control
Donna S. Francy, Erin A. Stelzer, Rebecca N. Bushon, Amie M. G. Brady, Brian E. Mailot, Susan K. Spencer, Mark A. Borchardt, Ashley G. Elber, Kimberly R. Riddell, Terry M. Gellner
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5150
Membrane bioreactors (MBR), used for wastewater treatment in Ohio and elsewhere in the United States, have pore sizes small enough to theoretically reduce concentrations of protozoa and bacteria, but not viruses. Sampling for viruses in wastewater is seldom done and not required. Instead, the bacterial indicators Escherichia coli (E. coli)...
Seasonal movements of non-native lake trout in a connected lake and river system
Clint C. Muhlfeld, J. Joseph Giersch, Brian Marotz
2011, Fisheries Management and Ecology (19) 224-232
Non-native lake trout, Salvelinus namaycush (Walbaum), threaten native salmonid populations in the western United States. Effective management of lake trout requires understanding movements within connected lake and river systems. This study determined the seasonal movements of subadult lake trout in the Flathead River upstream of Flathead Lake, Montana, USA using radio telemetry....
