User Guide and Documentation for Five MODFLOW Ground-Water Modeling Utility Programs
Edward R. Banta, Suzanne S. Paschke, David W. Litke
2008, Techniques and Methods 6-A28
This report documents five utility programs designed for use in conjunction with ground-water flow models developed with the U.S. Geological Survey's MODFLOW ground-water modeling program. One program extracts calculated flow values from one model for use as input to another model. The other four programs extract model input or output...
Natural and Human Influences on Water Quality in a Shallow Regional Unconsolidated Aquifer, Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain
Scott W. Ator
2008, Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5190
Data collected from more than 400 wells in the surficial unconfined aquifer in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain (New York through North Carolina) were compiled and analyzed to improve understanding of multiple natural and human influences on water quality in such shallow regional aquifers. Geochemical patterns were identified and described...
Recharge to Shale Bedrock at Averill Park, an Upland Hamlet in Eastern New York - An Estimate Based on Pumpage within a Defined Cone of Depression
Allan D. Randall, Anne Finch
2008, Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5087
Water levels beneath parts of Averill Park, a residential hamlet in an upland area of till-mantled shale bedrock in east-central New York, have declined in response to increased withdrawals from new wells. Similar experiences in many upland localities in the northeastern United States have resulted in awareness that the rate...
Summary and Analysis of the U.S. Government Bat Banding Program
Laura E. Ellison
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1363
This report summarizes the U.S. Government Bat Banding Program (BBP) from 1932 to 1972. More than 2 million bands were issued during the program, of which approximately 1.5 million bands were applied to 36 bat species by scientists in many locations in North America including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and...
Simulation of ground-water flow in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia and West Virginia, using variable-direction anisotropy in hydraulic conductivity to represent bedrock structure
Richard M. Yager, Scott C. Southworth, Clifford I. Voss
2008, Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5002
Ground-water flow was simulated using variable-direction anisotropy in hydraulic conductivity to represent the folded, fractured sedimentary rocks that underlie the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and West Virginia. The anisotropy is a consequence of the orientations of fractures that provide preferential flow paths through the rock, such that the direction of...
Using logistic regression to predict a probability of debris flows in areas burned by wildfires, southern California, 2003-2006
Michael G. Rupert, Susan H. Cannon, Joseph E. Gartner, John A. Michael, Dennis R. Helsel
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1370
Logistic regression was used to develop statistical models that can be used to predict the probability of debris flows in areas recently burned by wildfires by using data from 14 wildfires that burned in southern California during 2003-2006. Twenty-eight independent variables describing the basin morphology, burn severity, rainfall, and soil...
Weather and Climate Monitoring Protocol, Channel Islands National Park, California
Kathryn McEachern, Paula Power, Linda Dye, Rocky Rudolph
2008, Techniques and Methods 2-B1
Weather and climate are strong drivers of population dynamics, plant and animal spatial distributions, community interactions, and ecosystem states. Information on local weather and climate is crucial in interpreting trends and patterns in the natural environment for resource management, research, and visitor enjoyment. This document describes the weather and climate...
Summary of Ground-Water Data for Brunswick County, North Carolina, Water Year 2007
Kristen Bukowski McSwain
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1307
Ground-water availability in Brunswick County, North Carolina, has been monitored continuously since 2000 through the operation and maintenance of ground-water-level observation wells in the surficial, Castle Hayne, Peedee, and Black Creek aquifers of the North Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system. Ground-water-resource conditions for the Brunswick County area were determined by...
Geochemical data from analyses of rock, sediment, water, and solid-phase leaching at the Tuba City Open Dump, Tuba City, Arizona
Raymond H. Johnson, James K. Otton, Robert Horton, Tanya J. Gallegos, LaDonna M. Choate, Jonah E. Sullivan
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1374
This report releases data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey from the Tuba City Open Dump area from January 2008 to September 2008 with cooperation from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Navajo and Hopi Tribes. These data were collected in support of investigations into the possible sources...
Environmental factors affecting mercury in Camp Far West Reservoir, California, 2001-03
Charles N. Alpers, A. Robin Stewart, Michael K. Saiki, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Brent R. Topping, Kelly M. Rider, Steven K. Gallanthine, Cynthia A. Kester, Robert O. Rye, Ronald C. Antweiler, John F. De Wild
2008, Scientific Investigations Report 2006-5008
This report documents water quality in Camp Far West Reservoir from October 2001 through August 2003. The reservoir, located at approximately 300 feet above sea level in the foothills of the northwestern Sierra Nevada, California, is a monomictic lake characterized by extreme drawdown in the late summer and fall. Thermal...
Mercury in precipitation in Indiana, January 2004–December 2005
Martin R. Risch, Kathleen K. Fowler
2008, Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5148
Mercury in precipitation was monitored during 2004–2005 at five locations in Indiana as part of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program–Mercury Deposition Network (NADP–MDN). Monitoring stations were operated at Roush Lake near Huntington, Clifty Falls State Park near Madison, Fort Harrison State Park near Indianapolis, Monroe County Regional Airport near Bloomington,...
Total dissolved gas and water temperature in the lower Columbia River, Oregon and Washington, 2008: Quality-assurance data and comparison to water-quality standards
Dwight Q. Tanner, Heather M. Bragg, Matthew W. Johnston
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1357
Significant Findings When water is released through the spillways of dams, air is entrained in the water, increasing the downstream concentration of dissolved gases. Excess dissolved-gas concentrations can have adverse effects on freshwater aquatic life. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, collected...
Effects of nitrate and water on the oxygen isotopic analysis of barium sulfate precipitated from water samples
Janet E. Hannon, J.K. Bohlke, Stanley J. Mroczkowski
2008, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry (22) 4109-4120
BaSO4 precipitated from mixed salt solutions by common techniques for SO isotopic analysis may contain quantities of H2O and NO that introduce errors in O isotope measurements. Experiments with synthetic solutions indicate that δ18O values of CO produced by decomposition of precipitated...
Non-random temporary emigration and the robust design: Conditions for bias at the end of a time series: Section VIII
Catherine A. Langtimm
2008, Book chapter, Modeling demographic processes in marked populations
Deviations from model assumptions in the application of capture–recapture models to real life situations can introduce unknown bias. Understanding the type and magnitude of bias under these conditions is important to interpreting model results. In a robust design analysis of long-term photo-documented sighting histories of the endangered Florida manatee,...
Formulations for aircraft and airfield deicing and anti-icing: aquatic toxicity and biochemical oxygen demand
Lee Ferguson, Steven R. Corsi, Steven W. Geis, Graham Anderson, Kevin Joback, Harris Gold, Dean Mericas, Devon A. Cancilla
2008, Report
The Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) has sponsored research on environmental characteristics of aircraft and pavement deicers and anti-icers focusing primarily on biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and aquatic toxicity of formulated products and individual chemical components of formulations. This report presents a background of issues leading to this research, objectives...
Ground-water quality data in the middle Sacramento Valley study unit, 2006— Results from the California GAMA program
Stephen J. Schmitt, Miranda S. Fram, Barbara J. Milby Dawson, Kenneth Belitz
2008, Data Series 385
Ground-water quality in the approximately 3,340 mi2 Middle Sacramento Valley study unit (MSACV) was investigated from June through September, 2006, as part of the California Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) program. The GAMA Priority Basin Assessment project was developed in response to the Groundwater Quality Monitoring Act of 2001 and...
Flood of June 2008 in Southern Wisconsin
Faith A. Fitzpatrick, Marie C. Peppler, John F. Walker, William J. Rose, Robert J. Waschbusch, James L. Kennedy
2008, Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5235
In June 2008, heavy rain caused severe flooding across southern Wisconsin. The floods were aggravated by saturated soils that persisted from unusually wet antecedent conditions from a combination of floods in August 2007, more than 100 inches of snow in winter 2007-08, and moist conditions in spring 2008. The flooding...
Mass balance of a cirque glacier in the U.S. Rocky Mountains
Blase A. Reardon, J. T. Harper, Daniel B. Fagre
2008, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the Mass Balance Measurement and Modelling Workshop
Glacier National Park, Montana, USA, contains 27 cirque glaciers, most less than 1 km2 and together comprising about 17 km2. These glaciers lie at relatively low elevation (2000 – 3000 m a.s.l.) and latitude (48o N) and have undergone dramatic retreat since the mid-nineteenth century, when an estimated 150 glaciers...
Experimental and field observations of breach dynamics accompanying erosion of Marmot Cofferdam, Sandy River, Oregon
G. E. Grant, Jeffrey D. G. Marr, C. Hill, S. Johnson, K. Campbell, O. Mohseni, J.R. Wallick, S.L. Lewis, E. A. O’connor, Jon J. Major
2008, Conference Paper
A key issue faced in dam removal is the rate and timing of remobilization and discharge of stored reservoir sediments following the removal. Different removal strategies can result in different trajectories of upstream sediment transport and knickpoint migration. We examine this issue of for the Marmot Dam removal in Sandy...
Spatial and temporal trends in nitrate concentrations in the eastern San Joaquin Valley regional aquifer and implications for fertilizer management
Karen R. Burow, Christopher T. Green
2008, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the American Society of Agronomy, California Chapter annual meeting
Ground-water withdrawals in the San Joaquin Valley totaled 64 million m3 /day (19 million ac-ft) in 2000, supplying about 45% of agricultural irrigation demand and about 80% of municipal supply (Hutson et al., 2004). Most of the population and ground-water use are in the eastern San Joaquin Valley, where reliance...
Slowing of coastal subsidence is good news for restoration of Louisiana's wetlands
Matthew Cimitile, Helen Gibbons
2008, Sound Waves: Coastal science and research news from across the USGS
Every year, volunteers use thousands of discarded Christmas trees to build brush fences in the coastal waters of Louisiana. The fences slow down waves and trap sediment, allowing aquatic vegetation to take root in the still water and stimulating the growth of new marsh. This is one of many efforts...
Estimation of water surface elevations for the Everglades, Florida
Monica Palaseanu, Leonard Pearlstine
2008, Computers & Geosciences (34) 815-826
The Everglades Depth Estimation Network (EDEN) is an integrated network of real-time water-level monitoring gages and modeling methods that provides scientists and managers with current (2000–present) online water surface and water depth information for the freshwater domain of the Greater Everglades. This integrated system presents data on a 400-m...
Recent declines in western U.S. snowpack in the context of twentieth-century climate variability
Gregory J. McCabe, David M. Wolock
2008, American Meteorological Society, Journal of Hydrometeorology (13)
A monthly snow accumulation and melt model was used with monthly Precipitation-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) temperature and precipitation data to generate time series of 1 April snow water equivalent (SWE) for 1900 through 2008 in the western United States. Averaged across the western United States, SWE generally...
Temporal Geochemistry Data from Five Springs in the Cement Creek Watershed, San Juan County, Colorado
Raymond H. Johnson, Laurie Wirt, Kenneth J. Leib
2008, Open-File Report 2007-1249
Temporal data from five springs in the Cement Creek watershed, San Juan County, Colorado provide seasonal geochemical data for further research in the formation of ferricretes. In addition, these data can be used to help understand the ground-water flow system. The resulting data demonstrate the difficulty in gathering reliable seasonal...
Electrical Resistivity and Seismic Surveys at the Nevada Test Site, Nevada, April 2007
Seth S. Haines, Bethany L. Burton, Donald S. Sweetkind, Theodore H. Asch
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1368
In April 2007, the USGS collected direct-current (DC) electrical resistivity data and shear- (S) and compressional- (P) wave seismic data to provide new detail of previously mapped, overlapping fault splays at two administrative areas in the Nevada Test Site (NTS). In NTS Area 7, we collected two-dimensional DC resistivity data...
