Crossing disciplines and scales to understand the critical zone
S.L. Brantley, M. B. Goldhaber, Ragnarsdottir K. Vala
2007, Elements (3) 307-314
The Critical Zone (CZ) is the system of coupled chemical, biological, physical, and geological processes operating together to support life at the Earth's surface. While our understanding of this zone has increased over the last hundred years, further advance requires scientists to cross disciplines and scales to integrate understanding of...
Warming may create substantial water supply shortages in the Colorado River basin
G.J. McCabe, D.M. Wolock
2007, Geophysical Research Letters (34)
The high demand for water, the recent multiyear drought (1999-2007), and projections of global warming have raised questions about the long-term sustainability of water supply in the southwestern United States. In this study, the potential effects of specific levels of atmospheric warming on water-year streamflow in the Colorado River basin...
Assessing the likely value of gravity and drawdown measurements to constrain estimates of hydraulic conductivity and specific yield during unconfined aquifer testing
Joan B. Blainey, Ty P.A. Ferré, Jeffrey T. Cordova
2007, Water Resources Research (43)
Pumping of an unconfined aquifer can cause local desaturation detectable with high‐resolution gravimetry. A previous study showed that signal‐to‐noise ratios could be predicted for gravity measurements based on a hydrologic model. We show that although changes should be detectable with gravimeters, estimations of hydraulic conductivity and specific yield based on...
Coupled changes in sand grain size and sand transport driven by changes in the upstream supply of sand in the Colorado River: relative importance of changes in bed-sand grain size and bed-sand area
D.J. Topping, D. M. Rubin, T.S. Melis
2007, Sedimentary Geology (202) 538-561
Sand transport in the Colorado River in Marble and Grand canyons was naturally limited by the upstream supply of sand. Prior to the 1963 closure of Glen Canyon Dam, the river exhibited the following four effects of sand supply limitation: (1) hysteresis in sediment concentration, (2) hysteresis in sediment grain...
Measurement of atmospheric mercury species with manual sampling and analysis methods in a case study in Indiana
M.R. Risch, E.M. Prestbo, L. Hawkins
2007, Water, Air, & Soil Pollution (184) 285-297
Ground-level concentrations of three atmospheric mercury species were measured using manual sampling and analysis to provide data for estimates of mercury dry deposition. Three monitoring stations were operated simultaneously during winter, spring, and summer 2004, adjacent to three mercury wet-deposition monitoring stations in northern, central, and southern Indiana. The monitoring...
High rates of energy expenditure and water flux in free-ranging Point Reyes mountain beavers Aplodontia rufa phaea
D.E. Crocker, N. Kofahl, G.D. Fellers, N.B. Gates, D.S. Houser
2007, Physiological and Biochemical Zoology (80) 635-642
We measured water flux and energy expenditure in free-ranging Point Reyes mountain beavers Aplodontia rufa phaea by using the doubly labeled water method. Previous laboratory investigations have suggested weak urinary concentrating ability, high rates of water flux, and low basal metabolic rates in this species. However, free-ranging measurements from hygric...
Smallmouth bass and largemouth bass predation on juvenile Chinook salmon and other salmonids in the Lake Washington basin
R.A. Tabor, B.A. Footen, K.L. Fresh, M.T. Celedonia, F. Mejia, D.L. Low, L. Park
2007, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (27) 1174-1188
We assessed the impact of predation by smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu and largemouth bass M. salmoides on juveniles of federally listed Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha and other anadromous salmonid populations in the Lake Washington system. Bass were collected with boat electrofishing equipment in the south end of Lake Washington (February-June)...
Risk assessment of water quality in three North Carolina, USA, streams supporting federally endangered freshwater mussels (Unionidae)
S. Ward, T. Augspurger, F.J. Dwyer, C. Kane, C.G. Ingersoll
2007, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (26) 2075-2085
Water quality data were collected from three drainages supporting the endangered Carolina heelsplitter (Lasmigona decorata) and dwarf wedgemussel (Alasmidonta heterodon) to determine the potential for impaired water quality to limit the recovery of these freshwater mussels in North Carolina, USA. Total recoverable copper, total residual chlorine, and total ammonia nitrogen...
Effects of flow fluctuations on the spawning habitat of a riverine fish
T.B. Grabowski, J. Jeffery Isely
2007, Southeastern Naturalist (6) 471-478
Shallow-water, lithophilic spawning fishes are among the most vulnerable to anthropogenic fluctuations in water levels. We monitored water levels and environmental conditions at the nest sites of Moxostoma robustum (Robust Redhorse) on a main-channel gravel bar in the Savannah River, GA-SC During the course of the 2005 spawning season, over...
Tsunami inundation and sediment transport in vicinity of coastal mangrove forest
G. Gelfenbaum, D. Vatvani, B. Jaffe, F. Dekker
2007, Conference Paper, Coastal Sediments '07 - Proceedings of 6th International Symposium on Coastal Engineering and Science of Coastal Sediment Processes
Field measurements from Sumatra of tsunami wave height, erosion and deposition form a comprehensive data set that is tested against the Delft3D tsunami inundation and sediment transport model. Relative agreement between measured and modeled maximum water levels and sediment erosion and accumulation provides confidence that the model is reasonably characterizing...
Acute toxicity of copper, ammonia, and chlorine to glochidia and juveniles of freshwater mussels (Unionidae)
N. Wang, C.G. Ingersoll, D.K. Hardesty, C.D. Ivey, J.L. Kunz, T.W. May, F.J. Dwyer, A.D. Roberts, T. Augspurger, C.M. Kane, R. J. Neves, M.C. Barnhart
2007, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (26) 2036-2047
The objective of the present study was to determine acute toxicity of copper, ammonia, or chlorine to larval (glochidia) and juvenile mussels using the recently published American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard guide for conducting laboratory toxicity tests with freshwater mussels. Toxicity tests were conducted with glochidia (24-...
Three-dimensional geophysical mapping of rock alteration and water content at Mount Adams, Washington: Implications for lahar hazards
C. A. Finn, M. Deszcz-Pan, E. D. Anderson, D. A. John
2007, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (112)
[1] Hydrothermally altered rocks, particularly if water saturated, can weaken stratovolcanoes, thereby increasing the potential for catastrophic sector collapses that can lead to far-traveled, destructive debris flows. Evaluating the hazards associated with such alteration is difficult because alteration has been mapped on few active volcanoes...
Bypass system modification at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River improved the survival of juvenile salmon
J.W. Ferguson, B.P. Sandford, R.E. Reagan, L.G. Gilbreath, E.B. Meyer, R.D. Ledgerwood, N.S. Adams
2007, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (136) 1487-1510
From 1987 to 1992, we evaluated a fish bypass system at Bonneville Dam Powerhouse 2 on the Columbia River. The survival of subyearling Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha released into the system ranged from 0.774 to 0.911 and was significantly lower than the survival of test fish released into turbines and...
Use of a watershed model to characterize the fate and transport of fluometuron, a soil-applied cotton herbicide, in surface water
R.H. Coupe
2007, International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry (87) 883-896
The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to characterize the fate and transport of fluometuron (a herbicide used on cotton) in the Bogue Phalia Basin in northwestern Mississippi, USA. SWAT is a basin-scale watershed model, able to simulate hydrological, chemical, and sediment transport processes. After adjustments to a...
An innovative carbonate coprecipitation process for the removal of zinc and manganese from mining impacted waters
P.L. Sibrell, M.A. Chambers, A.L. Deaguero, T.R. Wildeman, D.J. Reisman
2007, Environmental Engineering Science (24) 881-895
Although mine drainage is usually thought of as acidic, there are many cases where the water is of neutral pH, but still contains metal species that can be harmful to human or aquatic animal health, such as manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn). Typical treatment of mine drainage waters involves pH...
Dust emission from wet and dry playas in the Mojave Desert, USA
Richard L. Reynolds, James C. Yount, Marith C. Reheis, Harland L. Goldstein, Pat F. Chavez Jr., Robert E. Fulton, John W. Whitney, Christopher C. Fuller, Richard M. Forester
2007, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (32) 1811-1827
The interactions between playa hydrology and playa-surface sediments are important factors that control the type and amount of dust emitted from playas as a result of wind erosion. The production of evaporite minerals during evaporative loss of near-surface ground water results in both the creation and maintenance of several centimeters...
MODIS imagery as a tool for synoptic water quality assessments in the southern California coastal ocean
N.P. Nezlin, P.M. DiGiacomo, B.H. Jones, K.M. Reifel, J.A. Warrick, S.C. Johnson, M.J. Mengel
2007, Conference Paper, Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
The dynamics of rainstorm plumes in the coastal waters of southern California was studied during the Bight'03 Regional Water Quality Program surveys. Measurements of surface salinity and bacterial counts collected from research vessels were compared to MODIS-Aqua satellite imagery. The spectra of normalized water-leaving radiation (nLw) were different in plumes...
Geochemistry of natural components in the near-field environment, Yucca Mountain, Nevada
Z. E. Peterman, T.A. Oliver
2007, Conference Paper, Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings
The natural near-field environment in and around the emplacement drifts of the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, includes the host rock, dust, seepage, and pore water. The chemical compositions of these components have been determined for assessing possible chemical and mineralogical reactions that may occur after nuclear...
Centimeter-scale characterization of biogeochemical gradients at a wetland-aquifer interface using capillary electrophoresis
S. Baez-Cazull, J.T. McGuire, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, A. Raymond, L. Welsh
2007, Applied Geochemistry (22) 2664-2683
Steep biogeochemical gradients were measured at mixing interfaces in a wetland-aquifer system impacted by landfill leachate in Norman, Oklahoma. The system lies within a reworked alluvial plain and is characterized by layered low hydraulic conductivity wetland sediments interbedded with sandy aquifer material. Using cm-scale passive diffusion samplers, "peepers", water samples...
Faunal re-evaluation of Mid-Pliocene conditions in the western equatorial Pacific
H. Dowsett
2007, Micropaleontology (53) 447-456
Mid-Pliocene low-latitude Pacific faunal (planktic foraminifer) sea surface temperature (SST) estimates are normally based upon the Modern Analog Technique (MAT). In the Eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP), where upwelling of cool water predominates, MAT can be used to discern both cooling and warming in Neogene records. SST today is ???30??C in...
Hydrology and subsurface transport of oil-field brine at the U.S. Geological Survey OSPER site "A", Osage County, Oklahoma
William N. Herkelrath, Yousif K. Kharaka, James J. Thordsen, Marvin M. Abbott
2007, Applied Geochemistry (22) 2155-2163
Spillage and improper disposal of saline produced water from oil wells has caused environmental damage at thousands of sites in the United States. In order to improve understanding of the fate and transport of contaminants at these sites, the U.S. Geological...
Cloud water in windward and leeward mountain forests: The stable isotope signature of orographic cloud water
M. A. Scholl, T. W. Giambelluca, S. B. Gingerich, M.A. Nullet, L.L. Loope
2007, Water Resources Research (43)
Cloud water can be a significant hydrologic input to mountain forests. Because it is a precipitation source that is vulnerable to climate change, it is important to quantify amounts of cloud water input at watershed and regional scales. During this study, cloud water and rain samples were collected monthly for...
Barrier island vulnerability to breaching: a case study on Dauphin Island, Alabama
Mark Hansen, Asbury H. Sallenger Jr.
2007, Conference Paper, Coastal Sediments '07 - Proceedings of 6th International Symposium on Coastal Engineering and Science of Coastal Sediment Processes
Breaching of barrier islands can adversely impact society by severing infrastructure, destroying private properties, and altering water quality in back bays and estuaries. This study provides a scheme that assesses the relative vulnerability of a barrier island to breach during storms. Dauphin Island, Alabama was selected for this study because...
USGS assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources for the Oligocene Frio and Anahuac formations, U.S. Gulf of Mexico coastal plain and state waters: Review of assessment units
Sharon M. Swanson, Alexander W. Karlsen, Peter D. Warwick
Lorcan Kennan, James Pindell, Norman C. Rosen, editor(s)
2007, Conference Paper, The Paleogene of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean basins: Processes, events, and petroleum systems
The Oligocene Frio and Anahuac formations were examined by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as part of an assessment of technically recoverable undiscovered conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon resources in Paleogene and Neogene strata underlying the U.S. Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain and state waters. Work included the identification of structural,...
Chemistry of water collected from an unventilated drift, Yucca Mountain, Nevada
B.D. Marshall, T.A. Oliver, Z. E. Peterman
2007, Conference Paper, Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings
Water samples (referred to as puddle water samples) were collected from the surfaces of a conveyor belt and plastic sheeting in the unventilated portion of the Enhanced Characterization of the Repository Block (ECRB) Cross Drift in 2003 and 2005 at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The chemistry of these puddle water samples...
