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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: 18419

A conceptual framework for the identification and characterization of lacustrine spawning habitats for native lake charr Salvelinus namaycush

Lake charr Salvelinus namaycush are endemic to the formerly glaciated regions of North America and spawn primarily in lakes, unlike most other Salmoninae. Spawning habitats for lake charr are thought to be characterized by relatively large substrate particle sizes which provide sufficient interstitial spaces for egg incubation, but little is known about the physical processes that create or mainta
Authors
Stephen Riley, J. E. Marsden, M. S. Ridgway, Christopher Konrad, Steve A. Farha, Thomas R. Binder, Trevor A. Middel, Peter C. Esselman, Charles C. Krueger

Summary of hydrologic testing, wellbore-flow data, and expanded water-level and water-quality data, 2011–15, Fort Irwin National Training Center, San Bernardino County, California

In view of the U.S. Army’s historical reliance and plans to increase demands on groundwater to supply its operations at Fort Irwin National Training Center (NTC), California, coupled with the continuing water-level declines in some developed groundwater basins as a result of pumping, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Army, evaluated the water resources, including wate
Authors
Joseph M. Nawikas, Jill N. Densmore, David R. O'Leary, David C. Buesch, John A. Izbicki

Quantitative guidance for efficient vertical flow measurements at the sediment-water interface using temperature-depth profiles

Upward discharge to surface water bodies can be quantified using analytical models based on temperature-depth (T-z) profiles. The use of sediment T-z profiles is attractive as discharge estimates can be obtained using point-in-time data that are collected inexpensively and rapidly. Previous studies have identified that T-z methods can only be applied at times of the year when there is significant
Authors
D. Irvine, B. Kurylyk, Martin A. Briggs

Sources, fate, and flux of geothermal solutes in the Yellowstone and Gardner Rivers, Yellowstone National Park, WY

The total discharge and thermal output from the numerous hydrothermal features in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) can be estimated from the chloride (Cl) flux in the Madison, Yellowstone, Falls, and Snake Rivers. Monitoring the Cl flux in these four major rivers provides a holistic view of the hydrothermal output from YNP and changes in the Cl flux may indicate changes in geothermal or magmatic ac
Authors
R. Blaine McCleskey, David A. Roth, D. Mahony, D. Kirk Nordstrom, Stacy Kinsey

Seasonality of climatic drivers of flood variability in the conterminous United States

Flood variability due to changes in climate is a major economic and social concern. Climate drivers can affect the amount and distribution of flood-generating precipitation through seasonal shifts in storm tracks. An understanding of how the drivers may change in the future is critical for identifying the regions where the magnitude of floods may change. Here we show the regions in the conterminou
Authors
Jesse E. Dickinson, Tessa M. Harden, Gregory J. McCabe

Modeling groundwater nitrate exposure in private wells of North Carolina for the Agricultural Health Study

Unregulated private wells in the United States are susceptible to many groundwater contaminants. Ingestion of nitrate, the most common anthropogenic private well contaminant in the United States, can lead to the endogenous formation of N-nitroso-compounds, which are known human carcinogens. In this study, we expand upon previous efforts to model private well groundwater nitrate concentration in No
Authors
Kyle P Messier, David C Wheeler, Abigail R Flory, Rena R Jones, Deven Patel, Bernard T. Nolan, Mary H Ward

Fossil tabulate corals reveal outcrops of Paleozoic sandstones in the Atlantic Coastal Plain Province, Southeastern USA

The geologic history of the Southeastern United States of America is missing nearly 350-million-years of rocks, sediments, and fossils. This gap defines the Fall Line nonconformity where Upper Ordovician consolidated rocks are directly overlain by Upper Cretaceous unconsolidated sediments of the Atlantic Coastal Plain Province. Here we begin to fill in the missing geologic record by reporting the
Authors
James E. Landmeyer, Francis Tourneur, Julien Denayer, Mikolaj K Zapalski

Quantifying the eroded and deposited mass of mercury-contaminated sediment by using terrestrial laser scanning at the confluence of Humbug Creek and the South Yuba River, Nevada County, California, 2011–13

High-resolution, terrestrial laser scanning, also known as ground-based lidar (light detection and ranging), was used to quantify the volume of mercury-contaminated sediment eroded from an outcrop of historical placer-mining debris at the confluence of Humbug Creek and the South Yuba River in the Sierra Nevada foothills, about 17 kilometers northeast of Grass Valley, California, and delivered to a
Authors
James F. Howle, Charles N. Alpers, Jeffrey Kitchen, Gerald W. Bawden, Sandra Bond

Dissolved organic carbon turnover in permafrost-influenced watersheds of interior Alaska: Molecular insights and the priming effect

Increased permafrost thaw due to climate change in northern high-latitudes has prompted concern over impacts on soil and stream biogeochemistry that affect the fate of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Few studies to-date have examined the link between molecular composition and biolability of dissolved organic matter (DOM) mobilized from different soil horizons despite its importance in understandin
Authors
Sadie R. Textor, Kimberly P. Wickland, David C. Podgorski, Sarah Ellen Johnston, Robert G.M. Spencer

Physical controls on salmon redd site selection in restored reaches of a regulated, gravel-bed river

Large‐scale river restoration programs have emerged recently as a tool for improving spawning habitat for native salmonids in highly altered river ecosystems. Few studies have quantified the extent to which restored habitat is utilized by salmonids, which habitat features influence redd site selection, or the persistence of restored habitat over time. We investigated fall‐run Chinook salmon spawni
Authors
Lee R. Harrison, Erin Bray, Brandon T. Overstreet, Carl J. Legleiter, Rocko A. Brown, Joseph E. Merz, Roselea M. Bond, Colin L Nicol, Thomas Dunne

Draft genome sequence of the Mn(II)-oxidizing bacterium Oxalobacteraceae sp. AB_14

Biological Mn(II) oxidation produces reactive manganese oxides that help to mitigate metal contamination in the environment. Here we present the genome of Oxalobacteraceae sp. AB_14, a species of Mn(II)-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) notable for its ability to catalyze Mn oxidation at low pH (5.5).
Authors
Timothy Bushman, Denise M. Akob, Tsing Bohu, Andrea Beyer, Tanja Woyke, Nicole Shapiro, Alla Lapidus, Hans-Peter Klenk, Kirsten Küsel

Recovery of soils from acidic deposition may exacerbate nitrogen export from forested watersheds

Effects of ambient decreases in N deposition on forest N cycling remain unclear as soils recover from acidic deposition. To investigate, repeated soil sampling data were related to deposition, vegetation, and stream data, for 2000–2015 in North and South Buck Creek watersheds, in the Adirondack region of New York, USA. In 63 other Adirondack streams, NO3− concentrations were also compared between
Authors
Gregory B. Lawrence, Sara E. Scanga, Robert D. Sabo