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: 18422
Local geology controlled the feasibility of vitrifying Iron Age buildings
During European prehistory, hilltop enclosures made from polydisperse particle-and-block stone walling were exposed to temperatures sufficient to partially melt the constituent stonework, leading to the preservation of glassy walls called ‘vitrified forts’. During vitrification, the granular wall rocks partially melt, sinter viscously and densify, reducing inter-particle porosity. This process is
Authors
Fabian B Wadsworth, Michael J Heap, David Damby, Kai-Uwe Hess, Jens Najorka, Jérémie Vasseur, Dominik Fahrner, Donald B Dingwell
The contribution of rice agriculture to methylmercury in surface waters: A review of data from the Sacramento Valley, California
Methylmercury (MeHg) is a bioaccumulative pollutant produced in and exported from flooded soils, including those used for rice (Oriza sativa L.) production. Using unfiltered aqueous MeHg data from MeHg monitoring programs in the Sacramento River watershed from 1996 to 2007, we assessed the MeHg contribution from rice systems to the Sacramento River. Using a mixed-effects regression analysis, we co
Authors
K. Christy Tanner, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Jacob Fleck, Kenneth W. Tate, Stephen A. McCord, Bruce A. Linquist
Effects of solid-liquid separation and storage on monensin attenuation in dairy waste management systems
Environmental release of veterinary pharmaceuticals has been of regulatory concern for more than a decade. Monensin is a feed additive antibiotic that is prevalent throughout the dairy industry and is excreted in dairy waste. This study investigates the potential of dairy waste management practices to alter the amount of monensin available for release into the environment. Analysis of wastewater a
Authors
Sarah C. Hafner, Naoko Watanabe, Thomas Harter, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Sanjai J. Parikh
Acetylene fuels TCE reductive dechlorination by defined Dehalococcoides/Pelobacter consortia
Acetylene (C2H2) can be generated in contaminated groundwater sites as a consequence of chemical degradation of trichloroethene (TCE) by in situ minerals, and C2H2 is known to inhibit bacterial dechlorination. In this study, we show that while high C2H2 (1.3 mM) concentrations reversibly inhibit reductive dechlorination of TCE by Dehalococcoides mccartyi isolates as well as enrichment cultures con
Authors
Xinwei Mao, Ronald S. Oremland, Tong Liu, Abigail A Landers, Shaun Baesman, Lisa Alvarez-Cohen
Timescales of carbon turnover in soils with mixed crystalline mineralogies
Organic matter–mineral associations stabilize much of the carbon (C) stored globally in soils. Metastable short-range-order (SRO) minerals such as allophane and ferrihydrite provide one mechanism for long-term stabilization of organic matter in young soil. However, in soils with few SRO minerals and a predominance of crystalline aluminosilicate or Fe (and Al) oxyhydroxide, C turnover should be gov
Authors
Lesego Khomo, Susan E. Trumbore, Carleton R. Bern, Oliver A. Chadwick
Long-term flow-through column experiments and their relevance to natural granitoid weathering rates
Four pairs of fresh and partly-weathered granitoids, obtained from well-characterized watersheds—Merced River, CA, USA; Panola, GA, USA; Loch Vale, CO, USA, and Rio Icacos, Puerto Rico—were reacted in columns under ambient laboratory conditions for 13.8 yrs, the longest running experimental weathering study to date. Low total column mass losses (<1 wt. %), correlated with the absence of pitting or
Authors
Arthur F. White, Marjorie S. Schulz, Corey R. Lawrence, Davison V. Vivit, David A. Stonestrom
Spatial variability of harmful algal blooms in Milford Lake, Kansas, July and August 2015
Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) tend to be spatially variable vertically in the water column and horizontally across the lake surface because of in-lake and weather-driven processes and can vary by orders of magnitude in concentration across relatively short distances (meters or less). Extreme spatial variability in cyanobacteria and associated compounds poses unique challenges to
Authors
Guy M. Foster, Jennifer L. Graham, Tom C. Stiles, Marvin G. Boyer, Lindsey R. King, Keith A. Loftin
Evaluation of diffuse and preferential flow pathways of infiltratedprecipitation and irrigation using oxygen and hydrogen isotopes
Subsurface-water flow pathways in three different land-use areas (non-irrigated grassland, poplar forest, and irrigated arable land) in the central North China Plain were investigated using oxygen (18O) and hydrogen (2H) isotopes in samples of precipitation, soils, and groundwater. Soil water in the top 10 cm was significantly affected by both evaporation and infiltration. Water at 10–40 cm depth
Authors
Bin Ma, Xing Liang, Shaohua Liu, Menggui Jin, John R. Nimmo, Jingxin Li
Continued geophysical logging near the GMH Electronics National Priorities List Superfund site near Roxboro, North Carolina
The U.S. Geological Survey South Atlantic Water Science Center collected borehole geophysical logs and images and continuous water-level data near the GMH Electronics National Priorities List Superfund site near Roxboro, North Carolina, during December 2012 through July 2015. Previous work by the U.S. Geological Survey South Atlantic Water Science Center at the site involved the collection of bore
Authors
Dominick J. Antolino, Melinda J. Chapman
Predicting cyanobacterial abundance, microcystin, and geosmin in a eutrophic drinking-water reservoir using a 14-year dataset
Cyanobacterial blooms degrade water quality in drinking water supply reservoirs by producing toxic and taste-and-odor causing secondary metabolites, which ultimately cause public health concerns and lead to increased treatment costs for water utilities. There have been numerous attempts to create models that predict cyanobacteria and their secondary metabolites, most using linear models; however,
Authors
Ted D. Harris, Jennifer L. Graham
Engaging the user community for advancing societal applications of the Surface Water Ocean Topography mission
Scheduled for launch in 2021, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will be a truly unique mission that will provide high-temporal-frequency maps of surface water extents and elevation variations of global water bodies (lakes/reservoirs, rivers, estuaries, oceans, and sea ice) at higher spatial resolution than is available with current technologies (Biancamaria et al. 2016; Alsdorf
Authors
Faisal Hossain, Margaret Srinivasan, Craig Peterson, Alice Andral, Ed Beighley, Eric Anderson, Rashied Amini, Charon Birkett, David M. Bjerklie, Cheryl Ann Blain, Selma Cherchali, Cédric H. David, Bradley D. Doorn, Jorge Escurra, Lee-Lueng Fu, Chris Frans, John W. Fulton, Subhrendu Gangopadhyay, Subimal Ghosh, Colin Gleason, Marielle Gosset, Jessica Hausman, Gregg Jacobs, John Jones, Yasir Kaheil, Benoit Laignel, Patrick Le Moigne, Li Li, Fabien Lefèvre, Robert R. Mason,, Amita Mehta, Abhijit Mukherjee, Anthony Nguy-Robertson, Sophie Ricci, Adrien Paris, Tamlin Pavelsky, Nicolas Picot, Guy Schumann, Sudhir Shrestha, Pierre-Yves Le Traon, Eric Trehubenko
Trends and sources of PAHs to urban lakes and streams
Over the past few decades, concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been increasing in the sediments of many U.S. urban lakes and streams. These upward trends contrast those of legacy pollutants, such as lead, PCBs, and DDT, which were restricted or banned in the 1970s. Trends of these legacy pollutants have been downward since they were banned (Figures 1 and 2). Understandin
Authors
Peter C. Van Metre, Barbara Mahler