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Publications

Below is a list of available Colorado Water Science Center publications and published products.

Filter Total Items: 762

Agricultural herbicide transport in a first-order intermittent stream, Nebraska, USA

The behavior of herbicides in surface waters is a function of many variables, including scale of the watershed, physical and chemical properties of the herbicide, physical and chemical properties of the soil, rainfall intensity, and time of year. In this study, the transport of 6 herbicides and 12 herbicide degradates was examined during the 2004 growing season in an intermediate-scale agricultura
Authors
J. R. Vogel, J.I. Linard

Estimated probabilities and volumes of postwildfire debris flows, a prewildfire evaluation for the upper Blue River watershed, Summit County, Colorado

Debris flows resulting from rainfall on recently burned, rugged, forested areas create potential hazards to life, property, infrastructure, and water resources. The location, extent, and severity of wildfire and the subsequent rainfall intensity and duration cannot be known in advance. However, hypothetical scenarios based on empirical debris-flow models are useful planning tools for conceptualizi
Authors
John G. Elliott, Jennifer L. Flynn, Clifford R. Bossong, Stephen J. Char

ModelMate - A graphical user interface for model analysis

ModelMate is a graphical user interface designed to facilitate use of model-analysis programs with models. This initial version of ModelMate supports one model-analysis program, UCODE_2005, and one model software program, MODFLOW-2005. ModelMate can be used to prepare input files for UCODE_2005, run UCODE_2005, and display analysis results. A link to the GW_Chart graphing program facilitates visua
Authors
Edward R. Banta

Rocky Mountain snowpack physical and chemical data for selected sites, 2010

The Rocky Mountain Snowpack program established a network of snowpack-sampling sites in the Rocky Mountain region, from New Mexico to Montana, to monitor the chemical content of snow and to understand the effects of regional atmospheric deposition on freshwater systems. Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service; the U.S. Department of Agriculture For
Authors
George P. Ingersoll, Alisa Mast, James M. Swank, Chelsea D. Campbell

Well installation, single-well testing, and particle-size analysis for selected sites in and near the Lost Creek Designated Ground Water Basin, north-central Colorado, 2003-2004

This report describes results from a groundwater data-collection program completed in 2003-2004 by the U.S. Geological Survey in support of the South Platte Decision Support System and in cooperation with the Colorado Water Conservation Board. Two monitoring wells were installed adjacent to existing water-table monitoring wells. These wells were installed as well pairs with existing wells to chara
Authors
Jennifer A. Beck, Suzanne S. Paschke, L. Rick Arnold

Use of diverse geochemical data sets to determine sources and sinks of nitrate and methane in groundwater, Garfield County, Colorado, 2009

Previous water-quality assessments reported elevated concentrations of nitrate and methane in water from domestic wells screened in shallow zones of the Wasatch Formation, Garfield County, Colorado. In 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, analyzed samples collected from 26 domestic wells for a diverse set of geochemical tra
Authors
P. B. McMahon, J.C. Thomas, A.G. Hunt

Characterization of hydrology and salinity in the Dolores project area, McElmo Creek region, southwest Colorado, water years 1978-2006

Increasing salinity loading in the Colorado River has become a major concern for agricultural and municipal water supplies. The Colorado Salinity Control Act was implemented in 1974 to protect and enhance the quality of water in the Colorado River Basin. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation and the Colorado River Salinity Control Forum, summarized salinity redu
Authors
Rodney J. Richards, Kenneth J. Leib

Occurrence of azoxystrobin, propiconazole, and selected other fungicides in US streams, 2005-2006

Fungicides are used to prevent foliar diseases on a wide range of vegetable, field, fruit, and ornamental crops. They are generally more effective as protective rather than curative treatments, and hence tend to be applied before infections take place. Less than 1% of US soybeans were treated with a fungicide in 2002 but by 2006, 4% were treated. Like other pesticides, fungicides can move-off of f
Authors
William A. Battaglin, Mark W. Sandstrom, Kathryn Kuivila, Dana W. Kolpin, Michael T. Meyer

Semi-quantitative evaluation of fecal contamination potential by human and ruminant sources using multiple lines of evidence

Protocols for microbial source tracking of fecal contamination generally are able to identify when a source of contamination is present, but thus far have been unable to evaluate what portion of fecal-indicator bacteria (FIB) came from various sources. A mathematical approach to estimate relative amounts of FIB, such as Escherichia coli, from various sources based on the concentration and distribu
Authors
D. M. Stoeckel, Erin A. Stelzer, Robert W. Stogner, Sr., David P. Mau

Redox chemistry and natural organic matter (NOM): Geochemists' dream, analytical chemists' nightmare

Natural organic matter (NOM) is an inherently complex mixture of polyfunctional organic molecules. Because of their universality and chemical reversibility, oxidation/reductions (redox) reactions of NOM have an especially interesting and important role in geochemistry. Variabilities in NOM composition and chemistry make studies of its redox chemistry particularly challenging, and details of NOM-me
Authors
Donald L. Macalady, Katherine Walton-Day