Publications
Publications
Here you will find publications, reports and articles produced by Lower Mississippi-Gulf scientists. For a comprehensive listing of all USGS publications please click the button below.
Filter Total Items: 425
Lakes and reservoirs—Guidelines for study design and sampling
The “National Field Manual for the Collection of Water-Quality Data” (NFM) is an online report with separately published chapters that provides the protocols and guidelines by which U.S. Geological Survey personnel obtain the data used to assess the quality of the Nation’s surface-water and groundwater resources. Chapter A10 reviews limnological principles, describes the characteristics that disti
Authors
Effects of isolation on ant assemblages depend on microhabitat
How isolation affects biological communities is a fundamental question in ecology and conservation biology. Local diversity (α) and regional diversity (γ) are consistently lower in insular areas. The pattern of species turnover (β diversity) and the influence of isolation on competitive interactions are less predictable. Differences in communities across microhabitats within an isolated patch coul
Authors
Xuan Chen, Benjamin Adams, Michael Layne, Christopher M. Swarzenski, David O. Norris, Linda Hooper-Bui
Groundwater/surface-water interaction in central Sevier County, Tennessee, October 2015–2016
The U.S. Geological Survey evaluated the interaction of groundwater and surface water in the central part of Sevier County, Tennessee, from October 2015 through October 2016. Stream base flow was surveyed in December 2015 and in July and October 2016 to evaluate losing and gaining stream reaches along three streams in the area. During a July 2016 synoptic survey, groundwater levels were measured i
Authors
John K. Carmichael, Gregory C. Johnson
The effect of beaver ponds on water quality in rural coastal plain streams
We compared water-quality effects of 13 beaver ponds on adjacent free-flowing control reaches in the Coastal Plain of rural North Carolina. We measured concentrations of nitrate, ammonium, soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), and suspended sediment (SS) upstream and downstream of paired ponds and control reaches. Nitrate and SS concentrations decreased, ammonium concentrations increased, and SRP con
Authors
Christopher W. Bason, Daniel Kroes, Mark M. Brinson
Streamflow characteristics from modelled runoff time series: Importance of calibration criteria selection
Ecologically relevant streamflow characteristics (SFCs) of ungauged catchments are often estimated from simulated runoff of hydrologic models that were originally calibrated on gauged catchments. However, SFC estimates of the gauged donor catchments and subsequently the ungauged catchments can be substantially uncertain when models are calibrated using traditional approaches based on optimization
Authors
Sandra Poole, Marc Vis, Rodney Knight, Jan Seibert
A comparison of three federal datasets for thermoelectric water withdrawals in the United States for 2010
Historically, thermoelectric water withdrawal has been estimated by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) water-use compilations. Recently, the USGS developed models for estimating withdrawal at thermoelectric plants to provide estimates independent from plant operator-reported withdrawal data. This article compares three federal datasets of thermoelec
Authors
Melissa A. Harris, Timothy H. Diehl
Water-level trends and potentiometric surfaces in the Nacatoch Aquifer in northeastern and southwestern Arkansas and in the Tokio Aquifer in southwestern Arkansas, 2014–15
The Nacatoch Sand in northeastern and southwestern Arkansas and the Tokio Formation in southwestern Arkansas are sources of groundwater for agricultural, domestic, industrial, and public use. Water-level altitudes measured in 51 wells completed in the Nacatoch Sand and 42 wells completed in the Tokio Formation during 2014 and 2015 were used to create potentiometric-surface maps of the two areas. A
Authors
Kirk D. Rodgers
Holistic assessment of occurrence and fate of metolachlor within environmental compartments of agricultural watersheds
Background: Metolachlor [(RS)-2-Chloro-N-(2-ethyl-6-methyl-phenyl)-N-(1-methoxypropan-2-yl)acetamide] and two degradates (metolachlor ethane-sulfonic acid and metolachlor oxanilic acid) are commonly observed in surface and groundwater. The behavior and fate of these compounds were examined over a 12-year period in seven agricultural watersheds in the United States. They were quantified in air, rai
Authors
Claire E. Rose, Richard H. Coupe, Paul D. Capel, Richard M. Webb
A reservoir morphology database for the conterminous United States
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Reservoir Fisheries Habitat Partnership, combined multiple national databases to create one comprehensive national reservoir database and to calculate new morphological metrics for 3,828 reservoirs. These new metrics include, but are not limited to, shoreline development index, index of basin permanence, development of volume, and other descripti
Authors
Kirk D. Rodgers
Fraction of young water as an indicator of aquifer vulnerability along two regional flow paths in the Mississippi embayment aquifer system, southeastern USA
Wells along two regional flow paths were sampled to characterize changes in water quality and the vulnerability to contamination of the Memphis aquifer across a range of hydrologic and land-use conditions in the southeastern United States. The flow paths begin in the aquifer outcrop area and end at public supply wells in the confined parts of the aquifer at Memphis, Tennessee. Age-date tracer (e.g
Authors
James A. Kingsbury, Jeannie R. B. Barlow, Bryant C. Jurgens, Peter B. McMahon, John K. Carmichael
Low-flow frequency and flow-duration characteristics of selected streams in Alabama through March 2014
Low-flow statistics are needed by water-resource engineers, planners, and managers to protect and manage the water resources of Alabama. The accuracy of these statistics is influenced by such factors as length of record and specific hydrologic conditions measured in those records. As such, it is generally recommended that flow statistics be updated about every 10 years to provide improved and repr
Authors
Toby D. Feaster, Kathyrn G. Lee
Nutrient and sediment concentrations and loads in the Steele Bayou Basin, northwestern Mississippi, 2010–14
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Vicksburg District, monitored streamflow, water quality, and sediment at two stations on the Steele Bayou in northwestern Mississippi from October 2010 through September 2014 to characterize nutrient and sediment concentrations and loads in areas where substantial implementation of conservation efforts have been imple
Authors
Matthew B. Hicks, Jennifer C. Murphy, Shane J. Stocks