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Publications

The following list of California Water Science Center publications includes both official USGS publications and journal articles authored by our scientists.

Filter Total Items: 1734

Trends in pesticide concentrations in corn-belt streams, 1996-2006

Trends in the concentrations of commonly occurring pesticides in the Corn Belt of the United States were assessed, and the performance and application of several statistical methods for trend analysis were evaluated. Trends in the concentrations of 11 pesticides with sufficient data for trend assessment were assessed at up to 31 stream sites for two time periods: 1996–2002 and 2000–2006. Pesticide
Authors
Daniel J. Sullivan, Aldo V. Vecchia, David L. Lorenz, Robert J. Gilliom, Jeffrey D. Martin

Ground-water quality data in the Owens and Indian Wells Valleys study unit, 2006: Results from the California GAMA Program

Ground-water quality in the approximately 1,630 square-mile Owens and Indian Wells Valleys study unit (OWENS) was investigated in September-December 2006 as part of the Priority Basin Project of Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The GAMA Priority Basin Project was developed in response to the Groundwater Quality Monitoring Act of 2001 and is being conducted by the U.S.
Authors
Jill N. Densmore, Miranda S. Fram, Kenneth Belitz

Development of an objective‐oriented groundwater model for conjunctive‐use planning of surface water and groundwater

In this paper we construct an objective‐oriented model for conjunctive‐use planning of surface water and groundwater for the Warren groundwater basin in southern California. The goal of conjunctive‐use planning is to decrease high‐nitrate concentration while maintaining groundwater levels at desired elevations and meeting water demand. We formulate a management problem that minimizes the total cos
Authors
Yung-Chia Chiu, Ne-Zheng Sun, Tracy Nishikawa, William W.‐G. Yeh

Ground-Water Quality Data in the Coachella Valley Study Unit, 2007: Results from the California GAMA Program

Ground-water quality in the approximately 820 square-mile Coachella Valley Study Unit (COA) was investigated during February and March 2007 as part of the Priority Basin Project of the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The GAMA Priority Basin Project was developed in response to the Groundwater Quality Monitoring Act of 2001, and is being conducted by the U.S. Geologica
Authors
Dara A. Goldrath, Michael T. Wright, Kenneth Belitz

Groundwater quality data in the Mojave study unit, 2008: Results from the California GAMA Program

Groundwater quality in the approximately 1,500 square-mile Mojave (MOJO) study unit was investigated from February to April 2008, as part of the Priority Basin Project of the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The GAMA Priority Basin Project was developed in response to the Groundwater Quality Monitoring Act of 2001 and is being conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (U
Authors
Timothy M. Mathany, Kenneth Belitz

Mercury, methylmercury, and other constituents in sediment and water from seasonal and permanent wetlands in the Cache Creek settling basin and Yolo Bypass, Yolo County, California, 2005-06

This report presents surface water and surface (top 0-2 cm) sediment geochemical data collected during 2005-2006, as part of a larger study of mercury (Hg) dynamics in seasonal and permanently flooded wetland habitats within the lower Sacramento River basin, Yolo County, California. The study was conducted in two phases. Phase I represented reconnaissance sampling and included three locations with
Authors
Mark Marvin-DiPasquale, Charles N. Alpers, Jacob A. Fleck

Data from a Thick Unsaturated Zone Underlying Two Artificial Recharge Sites along Oro Grande Wash in the Western Part of the Mojave Desert, near Victorville, San Bernardino County, California, 2001-2006

This report presents data on the physical and hydraulic properties of unsaturated alluvial deposits and on the chemical and isotopic composition of water collected at two recharge sites in the western part of the Mojave Desert, near Victorville, California, from 2001 to 2006. Unsaturated-zone monitoring sites were installed adjacent to the two recharge ponds using the ODEX air-hammer and air rotar
Authors
Dennis A. Clark, John A. Izbicki, Russell D. Johnson, Michael Land

Benthic oxygen demand in three former salt ponds adjacent to south San Francisco Bay, California

Sampling trips were coordinated in the second half of 2008 to examine the interstitial water in the sediment and the overlying bottom waters of three shallow (average depth 2 meters). The water column at all deployment sites was monitored with dataloggers for ancillary water-quality parameters (including dissolved oxygen, salinity, specific conductance, temperature, and pH) to facilitate the inte
Authors
Brent R. Topping, James S. Kuwabara, Nicole D. Athearn, John Y. Takekawa, Francis Parcheso, Kathleen D. Henderson, Sara Piotter

Groundwater-quality data in the South Coast Interior Basins study unit, 2008: Results from the California GAMA Program

Groundwater quality in the approximately 653-square-mile South Coast Interior Basins (SCI) study unit was investigated from August to December 2008, as part of the Priority Basins Project of the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The GAMA Priority Basins Project was developed in response to Legislative mandates (Supplemental Report of the 1999 Budget Act 1999-00 Fiscal Y
Authors
Timothy M. Mathany, Justin T. Kulongoski, Mary C. Ray, Kenneth Belitz

The Farm Process Version 2 (FMP2) for MODFLOW-2005 - Modifications and Upgrades to FMP1

The ability to dynamically simulate the integrated supply-and-demand components of irrigated agricultural is needed to thoroughly understand the interrelation between surface water and groundwater flow in areas where the water-use by vegetation is an important component of the water budget. To meet this need, the computer program Farm Process (FMP1) was updated and refined for use with the U.S. Ge
Authors
Wolfgang Schmid, R. T. Hanson

Methods of analysis: Determination of pyrethroid insecticides in water and sediment using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

A method for the determination of 14 pyrethroid insecticides in environmental water and sediment samples is described. The method was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in response to increasing concern over the effects of pyrethroids on aquatic organisms. The pyrethroids included in this method are ones that are applied to many agricultural and urban areas. Filtered water samples are extr
Authors
Michelle Hladik, Kelly L. Smalling, Kathryn Kuivila

Peat accretion histories during the past 6,000 years in the marshes of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, CA, USA

The purpose of this study was to determine how vertical accretion rates in marshes vary through the millennia. Peat cores were collected in remnant and drained marshes in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta of California. Cubic smooth spline regression models were used to construct age–depth models and accretion histories for three remnant marshes. Estimated vertical accretion rates at these sites ra
Authors
Judith Z. Drexler, Christian S. de Fontaine, Thomas A. Brown