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: 1737
Optical techniques for the determination of nitrate in environmental waters: Guidelines for instrument selection, operation, deployment, maintenance, quality assurance, and data reporting
The recent commercial availability of in situ optical sensors, together with new techniques for data collection and analysis, provides the opportunity to monitor a wide range of water-quality constituents on time scales in which environmental conditions actually change. Of particular interest is the application of ultraviolet (UV) photometers for in situ determination of nitrate concentrations in
Authors
Brian A. Pellerin, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Bryan D. Downing, John Franco Saraceno, Jessica D. Garrett, Lisa D. Olsen
Geology, water-quality, hydrology, and geomechanics of the Cuyama Valley groundwater basin, California, 2008--12
To assess the water resources of the Cuyama Valley groundwater basin in Santa Barbara County, California, a series of cooperative studies were undertaken by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Santa Barbara County Water Agency. Between 2008 and 2012, geologic, water-quality, hydrologic and geomechanical data were collected from selected sites throughout the Cuyama Valley groundwater basin.
Geologi
Authors
Rhett R. Everett, Dennis R. Gibbs, Randall T. Hanson, Donald S. Sweetkind, Justin T. Brandt, Sarah E. Falk, Christopher R. Harich
Construction of 3-D geologic framework and textural models for Cuyama Valley groundwater basin, California
Groundwater is the sole source of water supply in Cuyama Valley, a rural agricultural area in Santa Barbara County, California, in the southeasternmost part of the Coast Ranges of California. Continued groundwater withdrawals and associated water-resource management concerns have prompted an evaluation of the hydrogeology and water availability for the Cuyama Valley groundwater basin by the U.S. G
Authors
Donald S. Sweetkind, Claudia C. Faunt, Randall T. Hanson
Hydrologic and geochemical characterization of the Santa Rosa Plain watershed, Sonoma County, California
The Santa Rosa Plain is home to approximately half of the population of Sonoma County, California, and faces growth in population and demand for water. Water managers are confronted with the challenge of meeting the increasing water demand with a combination of water sources, including local groundwater, whose future availability could be uncertain. To meet this challenge, water managers are seeki
Authors
Tracy Nishikawa
Advective transport observations with MODPATH-OBS--documentation of the MODPATH observation process
The MODPATH-OBS computer program described in this report is designed to calculate simulated equivalents for observations related to advective groundwater transport that can be represented in a quantitative way by using simulated particle-tracking data. The simulated equivalents supported by MODPATH-OBS are (1) distance from a source location at a defined time, or proximity to an observed location
Authors
R. T. Hanson, L.K. Kauffman, M. C. Hill, J.E. Dickinson, S.W. Mehl
A long-term comparison of carbon sequestration rates in impounded and naturally tidal freshwater marshes along the lower Waccamaw River, South Carolina
Carbon storage was compared between impounded and naturally tidal freshwater marshes along the Lower Waccamaw River in South Carolina, USA. Soil cores were collected in (1) naturally tidal, (2) moist soil (impounded, seasonally drained since ~1970), and (3) deeply flooded “treatments” (impounded, flooded to ~90 cm since ~2002). Cores were analyzed for % organic carbon, % total carbon, bulk density
Authors
Judith Z. Drexler, Ken W. Krauss, M. Craig Sasser, Christopher C. Fuller, Christopher M. Swarzenski, Amber Powell, Kathleen M. Swanson, James L. Orlando
Hydrothermal contamination of public supply wells in Napa and Sonoma Valleys, California
Groundwater chemistry and isotope data from 44 public supply wells in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, California were determined to investigate mixing of relatively shallow groundwater with deeper hydrothermal fluids. Multivariate analyses including Cluster Analyses, Multidimensional Scaling (MDS), Principal Components Analyses (PCA), Analysis of Similarities (ANOSIM), and Similarity Percentage Analy
Authors
Matthew J. Forrest, Justin T. Kulongoski, Matthew S. Edwards, Christopher D. Farrar, Kenneth Belitz, Richard D. Norris
Final report for sea-level rise response modeling for San Francisco Bay estuary tidal marshes
The International Panel on Climate Change has identified coastal ecosystems as areas that will be disproportionally affected by climate change. Current sea-level rise projections range widely with 0.57 to 1.9 meters increase in mea sea level by 2100. The expected accelerated rate of sea-level rise through the 21st century will put many coastal ecosystems at risk, especially those in topographicall
Authors
John Y. Takekawa, Karen M. Thorne, Kevin J. Buffington, Kyle A. Spragens, Kathleen M. Swanson, Judith Z. Drexler, David H. Schoellhamer, Cory T. Overton, Michael L. Casazza
Present, future, and novel bioclimates of the San Francisco, California region
Bioclimates are syntheses of climatic variables into biologically relevant categories that facilitate comparative studies of biotic responses to climate conditions. Isobioclimates, unique combinations of bioclimatic indices (continentality, ombrotype, and thermotype), were constructed for northern California coastal ranges based on the Rivas-Martinez worldwide bioclimatic classification system for
Authors
Alicia Torregrosa, Maxwell D. Taylor, Lorraine E. Flint, Alan L. Flint
Short-term variability of 7Be atmospheric deposition and watershed response in a Pacific coastal stream, Monterey Bay, California, USA
Beryllium-7 is a powerful and commonly used tracer for environmental processes such as watershed sediment provenance, soil erosion, fluvial and nearshore sediment cycling, and atmospheric fallout. However, few studies have quantified temporal or spatial variability of 7Be accumulation from atmospheric fallout, and parameters that would better define the uses and limitations of this geochemical tra
Authors
Christopher H. Conaway, Curt D. Storlazzi, Amy E. Draut, Peter W. Swarzenski
Estimating floodplain sedimentation in the Laguna de Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, CA
We present a conceptual and analytical framework for predicting the spatial distribution of floodplain sedimentation for the Laguna de Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, CA. We assess the role of the floodplain as a sink for fine-grained sediment and investigate concerns regarding the potential loss of flood storage capacity due to historic sedimentation. We characterized the spatial distribution of sedim
Authors
Jennifer A. Curtis, Lorraine E. Flint, Cliff R. Hupp
Vulnerability of streams to legacy nitrate sources
The influence of hydrogeologic setting on the susceptibility of streams to legacy nitrate was examined at seven study sites having a wide range of base flow index (BFI) values. BFI is the ratio of base flow to total streamflow volume. The portion of annual stream nitrate loads from base flow was strongly correlated with BFI. Furthermore, dissolved oxygen concentrations in streambed pore water were
Authors
Anthony J. Tesoriero, John H. Duff, David A. Saad, Norman E. Spahr, David M. Wolock