Publications
This list of Water Resources Mission Area publications includes both official USGS publications and journal articles authored by our scientists. A searchable database of all USGS publications can be accessed at the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Filter Total Items: 18464
Analysis of regional aquifers in the central Midwest of the United States in Kansas, Nebraska, and parts of Arkansas, Colorado, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming: Summary
Large quantities of ground water are available for use from three regional aquifer systems in the central Midwest of the United States. Parts of the lowermost aquifer contain nearly immobile brine and may be hydrologically suitable for material storage or waste disposal. Results of numerical modeling and geochemical analyses confirm general concepts of ground-water flow in the regional aquifer sys
Authors
Donald G. Jorgensen, J. O. Helgesen, D. C. Signor, R. B. Leonard, J. L. Imes, S. C. Christenson
Evaluating the reliability of the stream tracer approach to characterize stream-subsurface water exchange
Stream water was locally recharged into shallow groundwater flow paths that returned to the stream (hyporheic exchange) in St. Kevin Gulch, a Rocky Mountain stream in Colorado contaminated by acid mine drainage. Two approaches were used to characterize hyporheic exchange: sub-reach-scale measurement of hydraulic heads and hydraulic conductivity to compute streambed fluxes (hydrometric approach) an
Authors
Judson W. Harvey, Brian J. Wagner, Kenneth E. Bencala
Occurrence of dicofol in the San Joaquin River, California
[No abstract available]
Authors
Joseph L. Domagalski
Properties and variability of soil and trench fill at an arid waste-burial site
Arid sites commonly are assumed to be ideal for long-term isolation of wastes. Information on properties and variability of desert soils is limited, however, and little is known about how the natural site environment is altered by installation of a waste facility. During fall construction of two test trenches next to the waste facility on the Amargosa Desert near Beatty, NV, samples were collected
Authors
Brian J. Andraski
Occurrence of selected pesticides and their metabolites in near-surface aquifers of the midwestern United States
The occurrence and distribution of selected pesticides and their metabolites were investigated through the collection of 837 water-quality samples from 303 wells across the Midwest. Results of this study showed that five of the six most frequently detected compounds were pesticide metabolites. Thus, it was common for a metabolite to be found more frequently in groundwater than its parent compound.
Authors
D.W. Kolpin, Thurman E. Michael, D. A. Goolsby
Improved method for measuring water imbibition rates on low-permeability porous media
Existing methods for measuring water imbibition rates are inadequate when imbibition rates are small (e.g., clay soils and many igneous rocks). We developed an improved laboratory method for performing imbibition measurements on soil or rock cores with a wide range of hydraulic properties. Core specimens are suspended from an electronic strain gauge (load cell) in a closed chamber while maintainin
Authors
M.D. Humphrey, J.D. Istok, L. E. Flint, A. L. Flint
Distributions and fate of chlorinated pesticides, biomarkers and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments along a contamination gradient from a point-source in San Francisco Bay, California
The distribution and fate of chlorinated pesticides, biomarkers, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surficial sediments along a contamination gradient in the Lauritzen Canal and Richmond Harbor in San Francisco Bay was investigated. Compounds were identified and quantified using gas chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry. Biomarkers and PAHs were derived primarily from weathered pet
Authors
W. E. Pereira, F. D. Hostettler, J. B. Rapp
Problems associated with using filtration to define dissolved trace element concentrations in natural water samples
Field and laboratory experiments indicate that a number of factors associated with filtration other than just pore size (e.g., diameter, manufacturer, volume of sample processed, amount of suspended sediment in the sample) can produce significant variations in the “dissolved” concentrations of such elements as Fe, Al, Cu, Zn, Pb, Co, and Ni. The bulk of these variations result from the inclusion/e
Authors
A. J. Horowitz, K.R. Lum, J.R. Garbarino, G.E.M. Hall, C. Lemieux, C. R. Demas
Pumping strategies for management of a shallow water table: The value of the simulation-optimization approach
The simulation-optimization approach is used to identify ground-water pumping strategies for control of the shallow water table in the western San Joaquin Valley, California, where shallow ground water threatens continued agricultural productivity. The approach combines the use of ground-water flow simulation with optimization techniques to build on and refine pumping strategies identified in prev
Authors
P. M. Barlow, B.J. Wagner, K. Belitz
Age dating of shallow groundwater with chlorofluorocarbons, tritium/helium: 3, and flow path analysis, southern New Jersey coastal plain
Groundwater age dating through the combination of transient tracer methods (chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and tritium/helium 3 (3H/3He)) and groundwater flow path analysis is useful for investigating groundwater travel times, flow patterns, and recharge rates, as demonstrated by this study of the homogeneous shallow, unconfined Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer system in the southern New Jersey coastal plain
Authors
Zoltan Szabo, D.E. Rice, Niel Plummer, E. Busenberg, S. Drenkard, P. Schlosser
The effect of using different 0.45 μm filter membranes on 'dissolved' element concentrations in natural waters
The effect of 4 different 0.45 μm pore size filter membrane systems on the ‘dissolved’ concentration of 28 elements in 5 natural water samples of varying matrix is reported. In 3 of the 5 waters, consistently higher concentrations of most elements (minor and trace) are obtained using Nucleopore 47 mm filter and the cellulose acetate/nitrate 47 mm filter than those measured using the 142 mm cellulo
Authors
G.E.M. Hall, G. F. Bonham-Carter, A. J. Horowitz, K. Lum, C. Lemieux, B. Quemerais, J.R. Garbarino
Determination of nitroaromatic explosives and their degradation products in unsaturated-zone water samples by high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode-array, mass spectrometric, and tandem mass spectrometric detection
Mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry, coupled by a thermospray interface to a high-performance liguid chromatography system and equipped with a photodiode array detector, were used to determine the presence of nitroaromatic explosives and their degradation products in USA unsaturated-zone water samples. Using this approach, the lower limits of quantitation for explosives determined by ma
Authors
Paul M. Gates, E. T. Furlong, T.F. Dorsey, M.R. Burkhardt