Water-the Nation's Fundamental Climate Issue A White Paper on the U.S. Geological Survey Role and Capabilities
Harry F. Lins, Robert M. Hirsch, Julie Kiang
2010, Circular 1347
Of all the potential threats posed by climatic variability and change, those associated with water resources are arguably the most consequential for both society and the environment (Waggoner, 1990). Climatic effects on agriculture, aquatic ecosystems, energy, and industry are strongly influenced by climatic effects on water. Thus, understanding changes in...
Advances in estimation methods of vegetation water content based on optical remote sensing techniques
Jiahua Zhang, Yun Xu, Fengmei Yao, PeiJuan Wang, WenJuan Guo, Li Li, Limin Yang
2010, Science China Technological Sciences (53) 1159-1167
Quantitative estimation of vegetation water content (VWC) using optical remote sensing techniques is helpful in forest fire assessment, agricultural drought monitoring and crop yield estimation. This paper reviews the research advances of VWC retrieval using spectral reflectance, spectral water index and radiative transfer model (RTM) methods. It also evaluates the...
Groundwater Quality in the Central Eastside San Joaquin Valley, California
Kenneth Belitz, Matthew K. Landon
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3001
The Central Eastside study unit is located in California's San Joaquin Valley. The 1,695 square mile study unit includes three groundwater subbasins: Modesto, Turlock, and Merced (California Department of Water Resources, 2003). The primary water-bearing units consist of discontinuous lenses of gravel, sand, silt, and clay, which are derived largely...
Status and understanding of groundwater quality in the central-eastside San Joaquin Basin, 2006: California GAMA Priority Basin Project
Matthew K. Landon, Kenneth Belitz, Bryant C. Jurgens, Justin T. Kulongoski, Tyler D. Johnson
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5266
Groundwater quality in the approximately 1,695-square-mile Central Eastside San Joaquin Basin (Central Eastside) study unit was investigated as part of the Priority Basin Project (PBP) of the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The GAMA PBP was developed in response to the California Groundwater Quality Monitoring Act of 2001,...
Analysis of the Shallow Groundwater Flow System at Fire Island National Seashore, Suffolk County, New York
Christopher Schubert
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5259
Fire Island National Seashore (FIIS) occupies 42 kilometers of the barrier island for which it is named that lies off the southern shore of Suffolk County, N.Y. Freshwater in the highly permeable, sandy aquifer underlying Fire Island is bounded laterally by marine surface waters and at depth by saline groundwater....
The transition of benthic nutrient sources after planned levee breaches adjacent to upper Klamath and Agency Lakes, Oregon
James S. Kuwabara, Brent R. Topping, James L. Carter, Francis Parchaso, Jason M. Cameron, Jessica R. Asbill, Steven V. Fend, John H. Duff, Anita C. Engelstad
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1062
Four sampling trips were coordinated after planned levee breaches that hydrologically reconnected both Upper Klamath Lake and Agency Lake, Oregon, to adjacent wetlands. Sets of nonmetallic pore-water profilers were deployed during these trips in November 2007, June 2008, May 2009, and July 2009. Deployments temporally spanned the annual cyanophyte bloom...
Estimated Withdrawals and Use of Water in Colorado, 2005
Tamara Ivahnenko, Jennifer L. Flynn
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5002
The future health and economic welfare of the people and environment of Colorado depend on a continuous supply of fresh water. Detailed, comprehensive information on the use of water from Colorado's diverse surface-water and groundwater resources is important to water managers and planners by providing information they need to quantify...
Geophysical investigations at Hidden Dam, Raymond, California: Summary of fieldwork and data analysis
Burke J. Minsley, Bethany L. Burton, Scott Ikard, Michael H. Powers
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1013
Geophysical field investigations have been carried out at the Hidden Dam in Raymond, California for the purpose of better understanding the hydrogeology and seepage-related conditions at the site. Known seepage areas on the northwest right abutment area of the downstream side of the dam are documented by Cedergren. Subsequent to...
Multiple phases of basin formation along the Stateline fault system in the Pahrump and Mesquite Valleys, Nevada and California
Daniel S. Scheirer, Donald S. Sweetkind, John J. Miller
2010, Geosphere (6) 93-129
Two phases of deformation are needed to describe the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Pahrump and Mesquite basins in the southern Great Basin and eastern Mojave Desert, United States. By interpreting seismic reflection and gravity observations along with bedrock and surficial mapping, we infer an extensional phase of basin formation...
Reply to “Comment on ‘Is There a Basis for Preferring Characteristic Earthquakes over a Gutenberg–Richter Distribution in Probabilistic Earthquake Forecasting?’ by Tom Parsons and Eric L. Geist” by Jens-Uwe Klügel
Thomas E. Parsons, Eric L. Geist
2010, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (100) 898-899
The focus of Parsons and Geist (2009) was to test whether the key observational data used in earthquake forecasting necessitate a characteristic earthquake rupture model. The point of our article was not to suggest that a specific form of the Gutenberg–Richter earthquake distribution is a perfect representation of reality. The...
Correlation of the Miocene Peach Spring Tuff with the geomagnetic polarity time scale and new constraints on tectonic rotations in the Mojave Desert, California
John W. Hillhouse, David M. Miller, Brent D. Turrin
2010, Conference Paper, Overboard in the Mojave: 20 million years of lakes and wetlands
We report new paleomagnetic results and 40Ar/39Ar ages from the Peach Spring Tuff (PST), a key marker bed that occurs in the desert region between Barstow, California, and Peach Springs, Arizona. The 40Ar/39Ar ages were determined using individual hand-picked sanidine crystals from ash-flow specimens used in previous paleomagnetic studies at eight sites...
Stratigraphy, age, and depositional setting of the Miocene Barstow Formation at Harvard Hill, central Mojave Desert, California
Shannon R. Leslie, David M. Miller, Joseph L. Wooden, Jorge A. Vazquez
2010, Conference Paper, Overboard in the Mojave: 20 million years of lakes and wetlands
New detailed geologic mapping and geochronology of the Barstow Formation at Harvard Hill, 30 km east of Barstow, CA, help to constrain Miocene paleogeography and tectonics of the central Mojave Desert. A northern strand of the Quaternary ENE-striking, sinistral Manix fault divides the Barstow Formation at Harvard Hill into two...
Abandoned mine drainage in the Swatara Creek Basin, southern anthracite coalfield, Pennsylvania, USA: 2. performance of treatment systems
Charles A. Cravotta III
2010, Mine Water and the Environment (29) 200-216
A variety of passive and semi-passive treatment systems were constructed by state and local agencies to neutralize acidic mine drainage (AMD) and reduce the transport of dissolved metals in the upper Swatara Creek Basin in the Southern Anthracite Coalfield in eastern Pennsylvania. To evaluate the effectiveness of selected treatment systems...
Viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV IVb) risk factors and association measures derived by expert panel
VHSV Expert Panel And Working Group
2010, Preventive Veterinary Medicine 128-139
Viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) is an OIE-listed pathogen of fish, recently expanding in known host and geographic range in North America. Through a group process designed for subjective probability assessment, an international panel of fish health experts identified and weighted risk factors perceived important to the emergence and spread...
Oviduct modifications in foam-nesting frogs, with emphasis on the genus Leptodactylus (Amphibia, Leptodactylidae)
Andrew I. Furness, Roy W. McDiarmid, W. Ronald Heyer, George R. Zug
2010, South American Journal of Herpetology (5) 13-29
Various species of frogs produce foam nests that hold their eggs during development. We examined the external morphology and histology of structures associated with foam nest production in frogs of the genus Leptodactylus and a few other taxa. We found that the posterior convolutions of the oviducts in all mature female foam-nesting...
Using generalized linear models to estimate selectivity from short-term recoveries of tagged red drum Sciaenops ocellatus: Effects of gear, fate, and regulation period
Nathan M. Bacheler, Joseph E. Hightower, Summer M. Burdick, Lee M. Paramore, Jeffrey A. Buckel, Kenneth H. Pollock
2010, Fisheries Research (102) 266-275
Estimating the selectivity patterns of various fishing gears is a critical component of fisheries stock assessment due to the difficulty in obtaining representative samples from most gears. We used short-term recoveries (n = 3587) of tagged red drum Sciaenops ocellatus to directly estimate age- and length-based selectivity patterns using generalized linear models. The most...
Measuring bulrush culm relationships to estimate plant biomass within a southern California treatment wetland
Joan S. Daniels, Brian S. Cade, James J. Sartoris
2010, Wetlands (30) 231-239
Assessment of emergent vegetation biomass can be time consuming and labor intensive. To establish a less onerous, yet accurate method, for determining emergent plant biomass than by direct measurements we collected vegetation data over a six-year period and modeled biomass using easily obtained variables: culm (stem) diameter, culm height and...
Recent U.S. Geological Survey Studies in the Tintina Gold Province, Alaska, United States, and Yukon, Canada-Results of a 5-Year Project
Larry P. Gough, Warren C. Day
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5289
This report presents summary papers of work conducted between 2002 and 2007 under a 5-year project effort funded by the U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program, formerly entitled 'Tintina Metallogenic Province: Integrated Studies on Geologic Framework, Mineral Resources, and Environmental Signatures.' As the project progressed, the informal title changed from...
Monitoring and Evaluation of Environmental Flow Prescriptions for Five Demonstration Sites of the Sustainable Rivers Project
Christopher P. Konrad
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1065
The Nature Conservancy has been working with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) through the Sustainable Rivers Project (SRP) to modify operations of dams to achieve ecological objectives in addition to meeting the authorized purposes of the dams. Modifications to dam operations are specified in terms of environmental flow prescriptions...
Dissolved-Solids Load in Henrys Fork Upstream from the Confluence with Antelope Wash, Wyoming, Water Years 1970-2009
Katharine Foster, Terry A. Kenney
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5048
Annual dissolved-solids load at the mouth of Henrys Fork was estimated by using data from U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging station 09229500, Henrys Fork near Manila, Utah. The annual dissolved-solids load for water years 1970-2009 ranged from 18,300 tons in 1977 to 123,300 tons in 1983. Annual streamflows for this period...
Revised Subsurface Stratigraphic Framework of the Fort Union and Wasatch Formations, Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Montana
Romeo M. Flores, Brianne D. Spear, Peter A. Purchase, Craig M. Gallagher
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1061
Described in this report is an updated subsurface stratigraphic framework of the Paleocene Fort Union Formation and Eocene Wasatch Formation in the Powder River Basin (PRB) in Wyoming and Montana. This framework is graphically presented in 17 intersecting west-east and north-south cross sections across the basin. Also included are: (1)...
Review of Oceanographic and Geochemical Data Collected in Massachusetts Bay during a Large Discharge of Total Suspended Solids from Boston's Sewage-Treatment System and Ocean Outfall in August 2002
Michael H. Bothner, Bradford Butman, Michael A. Casso
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1050
During the period August 14-23, 2002, the discharge of total suspended solids (TSS) from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority sewage-treatment plant ranged from 32 to 132 milligrams per liter, causing the monthly average discharge to exceed the limit specified in the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit. Time-series monitoring data...
eMODIS: A User-Friendly Data Source
Calli B. Jenkerson, Thomas Maiersperger, Gail Schmidt
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1055
The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center is generating a suite of products called 'eMODIS' based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data acquired by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Earth Observing System (EOS). With a more frequent repeat cycle than Landsat and...
Simulation of Streamflow, Evapotranspiration, and Groundwater Recharge in the Lower San Antonio River Watershed, South-Central Texas, 2000-2007
Joy S. Lizarraga, Darwin J. Ockerman
2010, Open-File Report 2010-5027
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the San Antonio River Authority, the Evergreen Underground Water Conservation District, and the Goliad County Groundwater Conservation District, configured, calibrated, and tested a watershed model for a study area consisting of about 2,150 square miles of the lower San Antonio River watershed...
Using Selective Drainage Methods to Extract Continuous Surface Flow from 1-Meter Lidar-Derived Digital Elevation Data
Sandra K. Poppenga, Bruce B. Worstell, Jason M. Stoker, Susan K. Greenlee
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5059
Digital elevation data commonly are used to extract surface flow features. One source for high-resolution elevation data is light detection and ranging (lidar). Lidar can capture a vast amount of topographic detail because of its fine-scale ability to digitally capture the surface of the earth. Because elevation is a key...
