Search Results

The processes that drive magma formation beneath the Cascade arc and other warm-slab subduction zones have been debated because young oceanic crust is predicted to largely dehydrate beneath the forearc during subduction. In addition, geochemical variability along strike in the Cascades has led to contrasting interpretations about the role of...

Understanding spatial variability in contaminant fate and transport is critical to efficient regional water-quality restoration. An approach to capitalize on previously calibrated spatially referenced regression (SPARROW) models to improve the understanding of contaminant fate and transport was developed and applied to the case of nitrogen in the 166,000 km2 Chesapeake Bay watershed....

In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, drilled and constructed boreholes TAN-2271 and TAN-2272 for stratigraphic framework analyses and long-term groundwater monitoring of the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer at the Idaho National Laboratory in southeast Idaho. Borehole TAN-2271 initially was cored...

Groundwater-quality data were collected from 748 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program from May 2012 through December 2013. The data were collected from four types of well networks: principal aquifer study networks, which assess the quality of groundwater used...

Benthos (benthic invertebrates) and plankton (zooplankton and phytoplankton) communities were sampled in 2014 at 10 Wisconsin rivers and harbors, including 4 sites in Great Lakes Areas of Concern and 6 less degraded comparison sites with similar physical and chemical characteristics, including climate, latitude, geology, and land use. Previous U.S. Geological...

The chemical composition of formation water and associated gases from the lower Cretaceous Paluxy Formation was determined using four different sampling methods at a characterization well in the Citronelle Oil Field, Alabama, as part of the Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB) Phase III Anthropogenic Test, which is an integrated...

The U.S. Geological Survey provided technical support to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry for site selection and sample collection and analysis in a 2012 investigation of groundwater quality from 29 private domestic water-supply wells in the vicinity of petroleum production in southwestern Indiana. Petroleum hydrocarbons, oil and...

Previous investigations indicate that concentrations of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) are substantial in groundwater beneath the 9-acre former landfill at Operable Unit 1, Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Keyport, Washington. The U.S. Geological Survey has continued to monitor groundwater geochemistry to ensure that conditions remain favorable for contaminant...

Industrial practices at the Naval Industrial Reserve Ordnance Plant, in Fridley, Minnesota, caused soil and groundwater contamination. Some volatile organic compounds from the plant might have discharged to the Mississippi River, forced by the natural hydraulic gradient in the surficial aquifer system. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency included the Naval...

Conifers are often used as an “air passive sampler”, but few studies have focused on the implication of broadleaf evergreens to monitor atmospheric semivolatile organic compounds such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). In this study, we used Rhododendron maximum (rhododendron) growing next to a contaminated stream to assess atmospheric PCB concentrations. The study...

This paper represents the first attempt to show, by means other than just petrographic ones, that one type of macrinite, herein designated copromacrinite, may result from macrofauna feces. For that purpose a combination of coal petrography, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and elemental-analysis continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry methods were used...

Extensive volcanic fields on the western Arabian Plate have erupted intermittently over the last 30 Ma following emplacement of the Afar flood basalts in Ethiopia. In an effort to better understand the origin of this volcanism in western Saudi Arabia, we analyzed3He/4He, and He, CO2 and trace element concentrations in minerals...

Arnold Air Force Base occupies about 40,000 acres in Coffee and Franklin Counties, Tennessee. The primary mission of Arnold Air Force Base is to provide risk-reduction information in the development of aerospace products through test and evaluation. This mission is achieved in part through test facilities at Arnold Engineering Development...

Growth in unconventional oil and gas has spurred concerns on environmental impact and interest in beneficial uses of produced water (PW), especially in arid regions such as the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. tight-oil producer. To evaluate environmental impact, treatment, and reuse potential, there is a need to characterize the...

It is quite evident that it is not anomalous metal transport, nor unique depositional conditions, nor any single factor at the deposit scale, that dictates whether a mineral deposit becomes a giant or not. A hierarchical approach thus is required to progressively examine controlling parameters at successively decreasing scales...

In November 2013, U.S. Geological Survey streamgaging equipment was installed at a historical water-quality station on the Duwamish River, Washington, within the tidal influence at river kilometer 16.7 (U.S. Geological Survey site 12113390; Duwamish River at Golf Course at Tukwila, WA). Publicly available, real-time continuous data includes river streamflow, stream...

Okmok is one of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian Arc. In an effort to improve our ability to detect precursory activity leading to eruption at Okmok, we monitor a recent, and possibly ongoing, GPS-inferred rapid inflation event at the volcano using ambient noise interferometry (ANI). Applying this method,...

Microbes play a prominent role in transforming arsenic to and from immobile forms in aquifers1. Much of this cycling involves inorganic forms of arsenic2, but microbes can also generate organic forms through methylation3, although this process is often considered insignificant in aquifers4, 5, 6, 7. Here we identify the presence...

In a study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, water samples were collected from 4 production wells and 4 domestic wells in the Chemung River Basin, 8 production wells and 7 domestic wells in the Eastern Lake Ontario...

We report the first study of stable carbon isotope fractionation during microbial fermentation of acetylene (C2H2) in sediments, sediment enrichments, and bacterial cultures. Kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) averaged 3.7 ± 0.5‰ for slurries prepared with sediment collected at an intertidal mudflat in San Francisco Bay and 2.7 ± 0.2‰ for a pure culture of Pelobacter sp....

The Athabasca Valles flood lava is among the most recent (<50 Ma) and best preserved effusive lava flows on Mars and was probably emplaced turbulently. The Williams et al. (2005) model of thermal erosion by lava has been applied to what we term “proximal Athabasca,” the 75 km long upstream portion of...

As magma ascends in active volcanoes, dissolved volatiles partition from melt into a gas phase, rise, and are released into the atmosphere from volcanic vents. The major components of high-temperature volcanic gas are typically water vapor, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide.  Volcanologists have long recognized that measuring the chemical composition and emission rates...

Historically, the city of Palmdale and vicinity have relied on groundwater as the primary source of water, owing, in large part, to the scarcity of surface water in the region. Despite recent importing of surface water, groundwater withdrawal for municipal, industrial, and agricultural use has resulted in groundwater-level declines...

In order to provide constraints on the sources of chlorine in spring waters associated with arc volcanism, the major/minor element concentrations and stable isotope compositions of chlorine, oxygen, and hydrogen were measured in 28 thermal and mineral springs along the Cascade Range in northwestern USA. Chloride concentrations in the springs...

Bromine, along with mercury, is one of only two elements that are liquid at room temperature. Bromine is a highly volatile and corrosive reddish-brown liquid that evaporates easily and converts to a metal at extreme pressures — above about 540,000 times atmospheric pressure. Bromine occurs in seawater, evaporitic (salt) lakes...