Use of stable isotopes of nitrogen and water to identify sources of nitrogen in three urban creeks of Durham, North Carolina, 2011-12
Kristen Bukowski McSwain, Megan B. Young, Mary L. Giorgino
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5171
A preliminary assessment of nitrate sources was conducted in three creeks that feed nutrient impaired Falls and Jordan Lakes in the vicinity of Durham County, North Carolina, from July 2011 to June 2012. Cabin Branch, Ellerbe Creek, and Third Fork Creek were sampled monthly to determine if sources of nitrate...
Sediment-hosted stratabound copper assessment of the Neoproterozoic Roan Group, central African copperbelt, Katanga Basin, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia
Michael L. Zientek, James D. Bliss, David W. Broughton, Michael Christie, Paul Denning, Timothy S. Hayes, Murray W. Hitzman, John D. Horton, Susan Frost-Killian, Douglas J. Jack, Sharad Master, Heather L. Parks, Cliff D. Taylor, Anna B. Wilson, Niki E. Wintzer, Jon Woodhead
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5090-T
This study estimates the location, quality, and quantity of undiscovered copper in stratabound deposits within the Neoproterozoic Roan Group of the Katanga Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. The study area encompasses the Central African Copperbelt, the greatest sediment-hosted copper-cobalt province in the world, containing 152...
Hydrogeology, water resources, and water budget of the upper Rio Hondo Basin, Lincoln County, New Mexico, 2010
Michael J. Darr, Kurt J. McCoy, Gordon W. Rattray, Roger A. Durall
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5153
The upper Rio Hondo Basin occupies a drainage area of 585 square miles in south-central New Mexico and comprises three general hydrogeologic terranes: the higher elevation “Mountain Block,” the “Central Basin” piedmont area, and the lower elevation “Hondo Slope.” As many as 12 hydrostratigraphic units serve as aquifers locally and...
Groundwater-quality characteristics for the Wyoming Groundwater-Quality Monitoring Network, November 2009 through September 2012
Gregory K. Boughton
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5130
Groundwater samples were collected from 146 shallow (less than or equal to 500 feet deep) wells for the Wyoming Groundwater-Quality Monitoring Network, from November 2009 through September 2012. Groundwater samples were analyzed for physical characteristics, major ions and dissolved solids, trace elements, nutrients and dissolved organic carbon, uranium, stable isotopes...
Estimated monthly streamflows for selected locations on the Kabul and Logar Rivers, Aynak copper, cobalt, and chromium area of interest, Afghanistan, 1951-2010
Kevin C. Vining, Aldo V. Vecchia
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5157
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, used the stochastic monthly water-balance model and existing climate data to estimate monthly streamflows for 1951–2010 for selected streamgaging stations located within the Aynak copper, cobalt, and chromium area of interest...
Groundwater and surface-water interaction and potential for underground water storage in the Buena Vista-Salida Basin, Chaffee County, Colorado, 2011
Kenneth R. Watts, Tamara I. Ivahnenko, Stogner, James F. Bruce
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5095
By 2030, the population of the Arkansas Headwaters Region, which includes all of Chaffee and Lake Counties and parts of Custer, Fremont, and Park Counties, Colorado, is forecast to increase about 73 percent. As the region’s population increases, it is anticipated that groundwater will be used to meet much of...
Withdrawal and consumption of water by thermoelectric power plants in the United States, 2010
Timothy H. Diehl, Melissa A. Harris
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5184
Estimates of water use at thermoelectric plants were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey based on linked heat and water budgets, and complement reported thermoelectric water withdrawals and consumption. The heat- and water-budget models produced withdrawal and consumption estimates, including thermodynamically plausible ranges of minimum and maximum withdrawal and consumption,...
Digital database of microfossil localities in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, California
Kristin McDougall, Debra L. Block
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5120
The eastern San Francisco Bay region (Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, California) is a geologically complex area divided by faults into a suite of tectonic blocks. Each block contains a unique stratigraphic sequence of Tertiary sediments that in most blocks unconformably overlie Mesozoic sediments. Age and environmental interpretations based on...
Concentrations, loads, and yields of total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and suspended sediment and bacteria concentrations in the Wister Lake Basin, Oklahoma and Arkansas, 2011-13
Stephanie D. Buck
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5170
The Poteau Valley Improvement Authority uses Wister Lake in southeastern Oklahoma as a public water supply. Total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and suspended sediments from agricultural runoff and discharges from wastewater treatment plants and other sources have degraded water quality in the lake. As lake-water quality has degraded, water-treatment cost, chemical...
Hydrologic conditions in urban Miami-Dade County, Florida, and the effect of groundwater pumpage and increased sea level on canal leakage and regional groundwater flow
Joseph D. Hughes, Jeremy T. White
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5162
The extensive and highly managed surface-water system in southeastern Florida constructed during the 20th Century has allowed for the westward expansion of urban and agricultural activities in Miami-Dade County. In urban areas of the county, the surface-water system is used to (1) control urban flooding, (2) supply recharge to production...
Methods for estimating annual exceedance-probability discharges and largest recorded floods for unregulated streams in rural Missouri
Rodney E. Southard, Andrea G. Veilleux
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5165
Regression analysis techniques were used to develop a set of equations for rural ungaged stream sites for estimating discharges with 50-, 20-, 10-, 4-, 2-, 1-, 0.5-, and 0.2-percent annual exceedance probabilities, which are equivalent to annual flood-frequency recurrence intervals of 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, and 500...
Provisional maps of thermal areas in Yellowstone National Park, based on satellite thermal infrared imaging and field observations
R. Greg Vaughan, Henry Heasler, Cheryl Jaworowski, Jacob B. Lowenstern, Laszlo P. Keszthelyi
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5137
Maps that define the current distribution of geothermally heated ground are useful toward setting a baseline for thermal activity to better detect and understand future anomalous hydrothermal and (or) volcanic activity. Monitoring changes in the dynamic thermal areas also supports decisions regarding the development of Yellowstone National Park infrastructure, preservation...
Stream classification of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River System to support modeling of aquatic habitat response to climate change
Caroline M. Elliott, Robert B. Jacobson, Mary Freeman
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5080
A stream classification and associated datasets were developed for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin to support biological modeling of species response to climate change in the southeastern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey and the Department of the Interior’s National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center established the Southeast Regional Assessment...
Integrated hydrologic model of Pajaro Valley, Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties, California
Randall T. Hanson, Wolfgang Schmid, Claudia C. Faunt, Jonathan Lear, Brian Lockwood
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5111
Increasing population, agricultural development (including shifts to more water-intensive crops), and climate variability are placing increasingly larger demands on available groundwater resources in the Pajaro Valley, one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world. This study provided a refined conceptual model, geohydrologic framework, and integrated hydrologic model of...
Deposit model for heavy-mineral sands in coastal environments
Bradley S. Van Gosen, David L. Fey, Anjana K. Shah, Philip L. Verplanck, Todd M. Hoefen
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5070-L
This report provides a descriptive model of heavy-mineral sands, which are sedimentary deposits of dense minerals that accumulate with sand, silt, and clay in coastal environments, locally forming economic concentrations of the heavy minerals. This deposit type is the main source of titanium feedstock for the titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigments...
Comparison of the U.S. lead recycling industry in 1998 and 2011
David R. Wilburn
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5086
Since 1998, the structure of the lead recycling industry has changed and trade patterns of the domestic lead recycling industry have shifted. Although the domestic demand for lead has remained relatively constant since 1998, production of lead has increasingly shifted to the domestic secondary lead industry. The last primary lead...
Quantitative rock-fall hazard and risk assessment for Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California
Greg M. Stock, Nicolas Luco, Brian D. Collins, Edwin L. Harp, Paola Reichenbach, Kurt L. Frankel
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5129
Rock falls are common in Yosemite Valley, California, posing substantial hazard and risk to the approximately four million annual visitors to Yosemite National Park. Rock falls in Yosemite Valley over the past few decades have damaged structures and caused injuries within developed regions located on or adjacent to talus slopes...
Three-dimensional model of the hydrostratigraphy and structure of the area in and around the U.S. Army-Camp Stanley Storage Activity Area, northern Bexar County, Texas
Michael P. Pantea, Charles D. Blome, Allan K. Clark
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5074
A three-dimensional model of the Camp Stanley Storage Activity area defines and illustrates the surface and subsurface hydrostratigraphic architecture of the military base and adjacent areas to the south and west using EarthVision software. The Camp Stanley model contains 11 hydrostratigraphic units in descending order: 1 model layer representing the...
An overview comparing results from two decades of monitoring for pesticides in the Nation’s streams and rivers, 1992-2001 and 2002-2011
Wesley W. Stone, Robert J. Gilliom, Jeffrey D. Martin
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5154
This report provides an overview of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment program and National Stream Quality Accounting Network findings for pesticide occurrence in U.S. streams and rivers during 2002–11 and compares them to findings for the previous decade (1992–2001). In addition, pesticide stream concentrations were compared to Human...
Pesticide trends in major rivers of the United States, 1992-2010
Karen R. Ryberg, Aldo V. Vecchia, Robert J. Gilliom, Jeffrey D. Martin
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5135
This report is part of a series of pesticide trend assessments led by the National Water-Quality Assessment Program of the U.S. Geological Survey. This assessment focuses on major rivers of various sizes throughout the United States that have large watersheds with a range of land uses, changes in pesticide use,...
Status and understanding of groundwater quality in the Klamath Mountains study unit, 2010: California GAMA Priority Basin Project
George L. V Bennett V, Miranda S. Fram, Kenneth Belitz
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5065
Groundwater quality in the Klamath Mountains (KLAM) study unit was investigated as part of the Priority Basin Project of the California Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The study unit is located in Del Norte, Humboldt, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties. The GAMA Priority Basin Project is being...
The June-July 2007 collapse and refilling of Puʻu ʻŌʻō Crater, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi
Tim R. Orr
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5124
Episode 57 of Kīlauea’s long-lived east rift zone eruption was characterized by lava effusion and spattering within the crater at Puʻu ʻŌʻō that lasted from July 1 to July 20, 2007. This eruptive episode represented a resumption of activity following a 12-day eruptive hiatus on Kīlauea associated with the episode...
Early detection of invasive plants: principles and practices
Bradley A. Welch, Paul H. Geissler, Penelope Latham
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5162
Invasive plants infest an estimated 2.6 million acres of the 83 million acres managed by the National Park Service (NPS) in the United States. The consequences of these invasions present a significant challenge for the NPS to manage the agency’s natural resources “unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” More...
Hydrogeology, hydraulic characteristics, and water-quality conditions in the surficial, Castle Hayne and Peedee aquifers of the greater New Hanover County area, North Carolina, 2012-13
Kristen Bukowski McSwain, Laura N. Gurley, Dominick J. Antolino
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5169
A major issue facing the greater New Hanover County, North Carolina, area is the increased demand for drinking water resources as a result of rapid growth. The principal sources of freshwater supply in the greater New Hanover County area are withdrawals of surface water from the Cape Fear River and...
Stream seepage and groundwater levels, Wood River Valley, south-central Idaho, 2012-13
James R. Bartolino
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5151
Stream discharge and water levels in wells were measured at multiple sites in the Wood River Valley, south-central Idaho, in August 2012, October 2012, and March 2013, as a component of data collection for a groundwater-flow model of the Wood River Valley aquifer system. This model is a cooperative and...