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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: 18418

One Ranney well can make a difference: The impacts of a radial collector well on groundwater level and quality in the Cedar River alluvial aquifer

The City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, depends on groundwater from the Cedar River alluvial aquifer for residential and industrial use. In 2020, the city completed an additional radial collector well, or Ranney well, and was concerned that pumping from the well at high rates may lower water level elevations in the aquifer, reduce yields from nearby production wells, and change the quality of produced wat
Authors
Adel E. Haj, Lance R. Gruhn, Stephen J. Kalkhoff

Hydrogeology of sand and gravel aquifers in the Owasco Inlet watershed, Cayuga and Tompkins Counties, New York

This study is a continuation of a series of hydrogeologic appraisals that have been conducted since 1980, as part of a cooperative, long-term, detailed aquifer mapping program by the U.S. Geological Survey and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. These appraisals provide a foundation for wellhead protection programs, water-resource management and planning decisions, and gro
Authors
Paul M. Heisig

Snow surface roughness across spatio-temporal scales

The snow surface is at the interface between the atmosphere and Earth. The surface of the snowpack changes due to its interaction with precipitation, wind, humidity, short- and long-wave radiation, underlying terrain characteristics, and land cover. These connections create a dynamic snow surface that impacts the energy and mass balance of the snowpack, blowing snow potential, and other snowpack p
Authors
Steven R. Fassnacht, Kazuyoshi Suzuki, Jessica E. Sanow, Graham A. Sexstone, Anna K.D. Pfohl, Molly E. Tedesche, Bradley M. Simms, Eric S. Thomas

Availability of groundwater from the volcanic aquifers of the Hawaiian Islands

The islands of Hawaiʻi were built by basaltic shield volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean. These volcanoes formed aquifers that supply hundreds of millions of gallons of fresh water per day to the islands’ residents and diverse industries. Groundwater discharge from the volcanic aquifers to streams and the coast also supports traditional practices and ecosystems. The aquifers' capacity to yield fresh gr
Authors
Scot K. Izuka, Kolja Rotzoll

Historical changes to channel planform and bed elevations downstream from dams along Fall Creek and Middle Fork Willamette River, Oregon, 1926–2016

Operation of large, multipurpose dams within the Middle Fork Willamette River Basin, Oregon, including the Fall Creek sub-basin, have disrupted natural streamflow and sediment transport regimes and fish passage along the river corridors. Documenting channel morphology, including channel planform, landforms, vegetation cover, and river channel elevations at multiple points in time spanning the 20th
Authors
Mackenzie K. Keith, J. Rose Wallick, Gabriel W. Gordon, Heather D. Bervid

Neonicotinoid sunflower seed treatment, while not detected in pollen and nectar, still impacts wild bees and crop yield

Neonicotinoid seed treatments are commonly used in agricultural production even though their benefit to crop yield and their impact on pollinators, particularly wild bees, remains unclear. Using an on-farm matched pair design in which half of each field was sown with thiamethoxam treated seed and half without, we assessed honey bee and wild bee exposure to pesticides in sunflower fields by analyzi
Authors
Laura T. Ward, Michelle Hladik, Aidee Guzman, Ariana Bautista, Nicholas Mills

Progress in reducing nutrient and sediment loads to Chesapeake Bay: Three decades of monitoring data and implications for restoring complex ecosystems

For over three decades, Chesapeake Bay (USA) has been the focal point of a coordinated restoration strategy implemented through a partnership of governmental and nongovernmental entities, which has been a classical model for coastal restoration worldwide. This synthesis aims to provide resource managers and estuarine scientists with a clearer perspective of the magnitude of changes in water qualit
Authors
Qian Zhang, Joel Blomquist, Rosemary M. Fanelli, Jennifer L. Keisman, Doug L. Moyer, Michael J. Langland

Analysis of aquifer framework and properties, North Magee Street well field, Southampton, New York

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Suffolk County Water Authority, evaluated the groundwater-flow characteristics and aquifer properties of the North Magee Street well field north of the village of Southampton, New York. Characteristics and properties included groundwater-flow direction, potential groundwater-contributing areas to the well field production wells, and aquifer trans
Authors
Paul E. Misut

Distribution of chlorinated volatile organic compounds and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in groundwater and surface water at the former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey, 2018

Groundwater wells and surface-water storm sewers contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) at the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) site in West Trenton, New Jersey were sampled in 2018 as part of the Navy’s long-term monitoring program. Trichloroethene (TCE), cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cisDCE), and vinyl chloride concentrations were plot
Authors
Alex R. Fiore, Thomas E. Imbrigiotta, Timothy P. Wilson

Comparing domestic and public-supply groundwater quality in the northern San Joaquin Valley, 2019—California GAMA Priority Basin Project

Groundwater quality in the Northern San Joaquin Valley region of California was studied as part of California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment Program-Priority Basin Project (GAMA-PBP). The GAMA-PBP made a spatially unbiased assessment of the aquifer system used for domestic drinking-water supply in the study region and compared the results
Authors
George L. Bennett V, Emily A. Haugen, Zeno F. Levy

Groundwater availability, geochemistry, and flow pathways to public-supply wells in the Atlantic Coastal Plain and bedrock aquifers, Aiken County and part of Lexington County, South Carolina, 2015–2019

Between 2015 and 2019, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) studied concerns related to projected increases in demand for groundwater, in collaboration with municipal water providers and county managers within the study area, Aiken County and part of Lexington County, South Carolina. A three-dimensional (3D), numerical groundwater-flow model of the Atlantic Coastal Plain (ACP) aquifers, confining uni
Authors
Bruce G. Campbell, James E. Landmeyer

Evaluating pharmaceuticals and other organic contaminants in the Lac du Flambeau Chain of Lakes using risk-based screening techniques

In an investigation of pharmaceutical contamination in the Lac du Flambeau Chain of Lakes (hereafter referred to as “the Chain”), few contaminants were detected; only eight pharmaceuticals and one pesticide were identified among the 110 pharmaceuticals and other organic contaminants monitored in surface water samples. This study, conducted in cooperation with the Lac du Flambeau Tribe’s Water Reso
Authors
Matthew A. Pronschinske, Steven R. Corsi, Celeste Hockings