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: 18420
Morphodynamic evolution following sediment release from the world’s largest dam removal
Sediment pulses can cause widespread, complex changes to rivers and coastal regions. Quantifying landscape response to sediment-supply changes is a long-standing problem in geomorphology, but the unanticipated nature of most sediment pulses rarely allows for detailed measurement of associated landscape processes and evolution. The intentional removal of two large dams on the Elwha River (Washingto
Authors
Andrew C. Ritchie, Jonathan Warrick, Amy E. East, Christopher S. Magirl, Andrew W. Stevens, Jennifer A. Bountry, Timothy J. Randle, Christopher A. Curran, Robert C. Hilldale, Jeffrey J. Duda, Ian M. Miller, George R. Pess, Emily Eidam, Melissa M. Foley, Randall McCoy, Andrea S. Ogston
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Natural Hazards Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Arizona Water Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Washington Water Science Center, Western Fisheries Research Center, Sediment Lab Suite and Carbon Analysis Laboratory
Comparison of U.S. Geological Survey and Bureau of Reclamation water-use reporting in the Colorado River Basin
The use of water in the United States is arguably one of the most important factors determining water availability at any specific place and time. Numerous local, State, and Federal entities develop, compile, and report water-use data, which can lead to confusing or conflicting information. This report was authored jointly by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation
Authors
Breton Bruce, James Prairie, Molly A. Maupin, Jeremy Dodds, David Eckhardt, Tamara I. Ivahnenko, Paul Matuska, Eric Evenson, Alan Harrison
Potential for negative emissions of greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4 and N2O) through coastal peatland re-establishment: Novel insights from high frequency flux data at meter and kilometer scales
High productivity temperate wetlands that accrete peat via belowground biomass (peatlands) may be managed for climate mitigation benefits due to their global distribution and notably negative emissions of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) through rapid storage of carbon (C) in anoxic soils. Net emissions of additional greenhouse gases (GHG)—methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O)—are more difficult t
Authors
Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Frank A. Anderson, Sarah Knox, Robin Miller, Roger Fujii
Controls on deep direct-use thermal energy storage (DDU-TES) in the Portland Basin, Oregon, USA
Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage is being evaluated as a complementary technology to Deep Direct-Use for the Portland Basin, Oregon, USA. Aquifers can be used to efficiently distribute and store heat for seasonal use. The use of injection-extraction well pairs precludes the need to store or dispose of large volumes of pumped groundwater or to obtain a consumptive groundwater right. Injection tempera
Authors
Erick Burns, Trenton T. Cladouhos, C.F. Williams, J. Bershaw,
Clarification of the term “normal material” used for standard atomic weights (IUPAC Technical Report)
The standard atomic weights of the elements apply to normal materials. Since 1984, the Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights (Commission) has defined a normal material as:“The material is a reasonably possible source for this element or its compounds in commerce, for industry or science; the material is not itself studied for some extraordinary anomaly and its isotopic composition h
Authors
Tyler B. Coplen, Norman E. Holden, Michael E. Wieser, John K. Böhlke
Preliminary assessment of stable nitrogen and oxygen isotopic composition of USGS51 and USGS52 nitrous oxide reference gases and perspectives on calibration needs
RationaleDespite a long history and growing interest in isotopic analyses of N2O, there is a lack of isotopically characterized N2O isotopic reference materials (standards) to enable normalization and reporting of isotope‐delta values. Here we report the isotopic characterization of two pure N2O gas reference materials, USGS51 and USGS52, which are now available for laboratory calibration (https:/
Authors
Nathaniel E. Ostrom, Hasand Gandhi, Tyler B. Coplen, Sakae Toyoda, John K. Böhlke, Willi A. Brand, Karen L. Casciotti, Jens Dyckmans, Anette Giesemann, Joachim Mohn, Reinhard Well, Longfei Yu, Naohiro Yoshida
Biogenic coal-to-methane conversion efficiency decreases after repeated organic amendment
Addition of organic amendments to coal-containing systems can increase the rate and extent of biogenic methane production for 60–80 days before production slows or stops. Understanding the effect of repeated amendment additions on the rate and extent of enhanced coal-dependent methane production is important if biological coal-to-methane conversion is to be enhanced on a commercial scale. Microalg
Authors
Katherine J. Davis, Elliott P. Barnhart, Matthew W. Fields, Robin Gerlach
Type and amount of organic amendments affect enhanced biogenic methane production from coal and microbial community structure
Slow rates of coal-to-methane conversion limit biogenic methane production from coalbeds. This study demonstrates that rates of coal-to-methane conversion can be increased by the addition of small amounts of organic amendments. Algae, cyanobacteria, yeast cells, and granulated yeast extract were tested at two concentrations (0.1 and 0.5 g/L), and similar increases in total methane produced and met
Authors
Katherine J. Davis, Shipeng Lu, Elliott P. Barnhart, Albert E. Parker, Matthew W. Fields, Robin Gerlach
Purpose, processes, partnerships, and products: four Ps to advance participatory socio-environmental modeling
Including stakeholders in environmental model building and analysis is an increasingly popular approach to understanding ecological change. This is because stakeholders often hold valuable knowledge about socio-environmental dynamics and collaborative forms of modeling produce important boundary objects used to collectively reason about environmental problems. Although the number of participatory
Authors
Steven Gray, Alexey Voinov, Michael Paolisso, Rebecca Jordan, Todd BenDor, Pierre Bommel, Pierre D. Glynn, Beatrice Hedelin, Klaus Hubacek, Josh Introne, Nagesh Kolagani, Bethany Laursen, Christina Prell, Laura Schmitt-Olabisi, Alison Singer, Eleanor J. Sterling, Moira Zellner
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
The origin of shallow lakes in the Khorezm Province, Uzbekistan, and the history of pesticide use around these lakes
The economy of the Khorezm Province in Uzbekistan relies on the large-scale agricultural production of cotton. To sustain their staple crop, water from the Amu Darya is diverted for irrigation through canal systems constructed during the early to mid-twentieth century when this region was part of the Soviet Union. These diversions severely reduce river flow to the Aral Sea. The Province has >400 s
Authors
Michael R. Rosen, Arica Crootof, Liam Reidy, Laurel Saito, Bakhriddin Nishonov, Julian A. Scott
Hydrogeology and simulation of groundwater flow in the Central Oklahoma (Garber-Wellington) Aquifer, Oklahoma, 1987 to 2009, and simulation of available water in storage, 2010–2059
The Central Oklahoma (Garber-Wellington) aquifer underlies about 3,000 square miles of central Oklahoma. The study area for this investigation was the extent of the Central Oklahoma aquifer. Water from the Central Oklahoma aquifer is used for public, industrial, commercial, agricultural, and domestic supply. With the exception of Oklahoma City, all of the major communities in central Oklahoma rely
Authors
Shana L. Mashburn, Derek W. Ryter, Christopher R. Neel, S. Jerrod Smith, Jessica S. Correll