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The topography of the Continental Shelf in the central portion of the Southern California Bight has rapid variations over relatively small spatial scales. The width of the shelf off the Palos Verdes peninsula, just northwest of Los Angeles, California, is only 1 to 3 km. About 7 km southeast of...

Weather data constitute an integral part of ecosystem monitoring in the Colorado River corridor and are particularly valuable for understanding processes of landscape change that contribute to the stability of archeological sites. Data collected in 2007 are reported from nine weather stations in the Colorado River corridor through Grand Canyon,...

This report presents estimated daily and cumulative loads of suspended sediment and selected trace elements transported during water year 2008 at three streamflow-gaging stations that bracket the Milltown Reservoir project area in the upper Clark Fork basin of western Montana. Milltown Reservoir is a National Priorities List Superfund site where...

This map summarizes the geology of the St. Joe 7.5-minute quadrangle in the Ozark Plateaus region of northern Arkansas. Geologically, the area lies on the southern flank of the Ozark dome, an uplift that exposes oldest rocks at its center in Missouri. Physiographically, the St. Joe quadrangle lies within the...

The U.S. Geological Survey is assessing groundwater availability in the Lake Michigan Basin. As part of the assessment, a variable-density groundwater-flow model is being developed to simulate the effects of groundwater use on water availability throughout the basin. The hydrogeologic framework for the Lake Michigan Basin model was developed by...

The Helen, Research, and Chicago mercury (Hg) deposits are among the youngest Hg deposits in the Coast Range Hg mineral belt and are located in the southwestern part of the Clear Lake volcanic field in Lake County, California. The mine workings and tailings are located in the headwaters of Dry...

The protection of resources found in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, emerged as a significant public concern in the decades following the completion of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963. The dam, which lies about 15 miles upstream from the park, altered the Colorado River's...

ModelMuse is a graphical user interface (GUI) for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) models MODFLOW-2005 and PHAST. This software package provides a GUI for creating the flow and transport input file for PHAST and the input files for MODFLOW-2005. In ModelMuse, the spatial data for the model is independent of...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Upper Elkhorn, Lower Elkhorn, Upper Loup, Lower Loup, Middle Niobrara, Lower Niobrara, Lewis and Clark, and Lower Platte North Natural Resources Districts, used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool to simulate streamflow and estimate percolation in north-central Nebraska to aid development of...

An area of oxygen-depleted bottom- and subsurface-water (hypoxia = dissolved oxygen < 2 mg/L-1) occurs seasonally on the Louisiana Shelf near the Mississippi River. The area of hypoxia, also known as the “dead zone,” forms when spring and early summer freshwater flow from the Mississippi River supplies a large amount...

Estimates of submarine ground-water discharge (SGD) into Florida Bay remain one of the least understood components of a regional water balance. To quantify the magnitude and seasonality of SGD into upper Florida Bay, research activities included the use of the natural geochemical tracer, 222Rn, to examine potential SGD hotspots (222Rn...

The objective of this study was to assess the sensitivity of habitat availability in the Lower Missouri River to discharge variation, with emphasis on habitats that might support spawning of the endangered pallid sturgeon. We constructed computational hydrodynamic models for four reaches that were selected because of evidence that sturgeon...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) operates and maintains a nationwide network of about 7,500 streamgages designed to provide and interpret long-term, accurate, and unbiased streamflow information to meet the multiple needs of many diverse national, regional, state, and local users. The National Streamflow Information Program (NSIP) was initiated in 2003...

This study is an evaluation of the calibration and validation of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) version 2005 watershed model for the Mustang Creek Basin, San Joaquin Valley, California. The study is part of a national study on the process of agricultural chemical movement through the hydrologic system,...

The U.S. Geological Survey cooperated with South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks to characterize hydrologic information relevant to management of water resources associated with Sheridan Lake, which is formed by a dam on Spring Creek. This effort consisted primarily of characterization of hydrologic data for a base period of 1962...

Increasingly complex water-management decisions require water-quality monitoring programs that provide data for multiple purposes, including trend analyses, to detect improvement or deterioration in water quality with time. Understanding surface-water-quality trends assists resource managers in identifying emerging water-quality concerns, planning remediation efforts, and evaluating the effectiveness of the remediation. This report...

Gas, oil, and water production data were compiled from 38 wells with production commencing during the 1980s from the Wasatch Formation in the Greater Natural Buttes field, Uinta Basin, Utah. This study is one of a series of reports examining fluid production from tight gas reservoirs, which are characterized by...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has taken the lead in the creation of a valuable remote sensing product by incorporating digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) into the National Elevation Dataset (NED), the elevation layer of 'The National Map'. High-resolution lidar-derived DEMs provide the accuracy...

The Pantex Plant is a U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration (USDOE/NNSA)-owned, contractor-operated facility managed by Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Pantex, LLC (B&W Pantex) in Carson County, Texas, approximately 17 miles northeast of Amarillo. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with B&W Pantex through the USDOE/NNSA, made a...

A multistate approach was used to update methods for estimating the magnitude and frequency of floods in rural, ungaged basins in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina that are not substantially affected by regulation, tidal fluctuations, or urban development. Annual peak-flow data through September 2006 were analyzed for 943 streamgaging...

A ground-water flow model of the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer in eastern Arkansas, developed in 2003 to simulate the period of 1918-98, was validated with the addition of water-level and water-use data that extended the observation period to 2005. The original model (2003) was calibrated using water-level observations from...

The role of irrigation and artificial drainage in the hydrologic cycle and the transport of solutes in a small agricultural catchment in central Washington's Yakima Valley were explored using hydrologic, chemical, isotopic, age-dating, and mineralogical data from several environmental compartments, including stream water, ground water, overland flow, and streambed pore...

The Nebraska Department of Natural Resources approved instream-flow appropriations on the Platte River to maintain fish communities, whooping crane roost habitat, and wet meadows used by several wild bird species. In the lower Platte River region, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission owns an appropriation filed to maintain streamflow for...

Many State and Federal agencies use information regarding the locations of streams having intermittent or perennial flow when making management and regulatory decisions. For example, the application of some Idaho water quality standards depends on whether streams are intermittent. Idaho Administrative Code defines an intermittent stream as one having a...

Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge (CMR) encompasses about 1.1 million acres (including Fort Peck Reservoir on the Missouri River) in northeastern Montana. To ensure that sufficient streamflow remains in the tributary streams to maintain the riparian corridors, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is negotiating water-rights issues with the...