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
Selected streambed sediment compounds and water toxicity results for Westside Creeks, San Antonio, Texas, 2014
IntroductionThe Alazán, Apache, Martínez, and San Pedro Creeks in San Antonio, Texas, are part of a network of urban tributaries to the San Antonio River, known locally as the Westside Creeks. The Westside Creeks flow through some of the oldest neighborhoods in San Antonio. The disruption of streambed sediment is anticipated during a planned restoration to improve and restore the environmental con
Authors
Cassi L. Crow, Jennifer T. Wilson, James L. Kunz
Occurrence and concentrations of selected trace elements, halogenated organic compounds, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in streambed sediments and results of water-toxicity testing in Westside Creeks and the San Antonio River, San Antonio, Texas, 20
Sediment samples and samples for water-toxicity testing were collected during 2014 from several streams in San Antonio, Texas, known locally as the Westside Creeks (Alazán, Apache, Martínez, and San Pedro Creeks) and from the San Antonio River. Samples were collected during base flow and after periods of stormwater runoff (poststorm conditions) to determine baseline sediment- and water-quality con
Authors
Cassi L. Crow, Jennifer T. Wilson, James L. Kunz
Shifting currents: Progress, setbacks, and shifts in policy and practice
The Wisconsin Academy’s initial Waters of Wisconsin project (WOW I) facilitated a statewide conversation between 2000 and 2003 around one main question: How can we ensure healthy aquatic ecosystems and clean, abundant water supplies for tomorrow’s Wisconsin? Robust participation in this conversation underscored the important role citizens have in the stewardship of our waters, and we found enthusi
Authors
Charles Dunning, Dale M. Robertson
An experimental study of the role of subsurface plumbing on geothermal discharge
In order to better understand the diverse discharge styles and eruption intervals observed at geothermal features, we performed three series of laboratory experiments with differing plumbing geometries. A single, straight conduit that connects a hot water bath (flask) to a vent (funnel) can originate geyser-like periodic eruptions, continuous discharge like a boiling spring, and fumarole-like stea
Authors
Atsuko Namiki, Yoshinori Ueno, Shaul Hurwitz, Michael Manga, Carolina Munoz-Saez, Fred Murphy
Occurrence of triclocarban and triclosan in an agro-ecosystem following application of biosolids
Triclocarban (TCC) and triclosan (TCS), two of the most commonly used antimicrobial compounds, can be introduced into ecosystems by applying wastewater treatment plant biosolids to agricultural fields. Concentrations of TCC and TCS were measured in different trophic levels within a terrestrial food web encompassing land-applied biosolids, soil, earthworms (Lumbricus), deer mice (Peromyscus manicul
Authors
Jessica J. Sherburne, Amanda M. Anaya, Kimberly J. Fernie, Jennifer S. Forbey, Edward T. Furlong, Dana W. Kolpin, Alfred M. Dufty, Chad A. Kinney
Controls on the geochemical evolution of Prairie Pothole Region lakes and wetlands over decadal time scales
One hundred sixty-seven Prairie Pothole lakes, ponds and wetlands (largely lakes) previously analyzed chemically during the late 1960’s and early to mid-1970’s were resampled and reanalyzed in 2011–2012. The two sampling periods differed climatically. The earlier sampling took place during normal to slightly dry conditions, whereas the latter occurred during and immediately following exceptionally
Authors
Martin B. Goldhaber, Christopher T. Mills, David M. Mushet, R. Blaine McCleskey, Jennifer Rover
Revisiting human-environment interactions in Chaco Canyon and the American Southwest
Chaco Canyon was the center of a regionally integrated system. Despite a century of research, questions remain about its rise and fall, and the role of human-environment interactions. The answers may lie in current events and new tools and perspectives.
Authors
Julio L. Betancourt, Christopher H. Guiterman
Updated atomic weights: Time to review our table
Despite common belief, atomic weights are not necessarily constants of nature. Scientists’ ability to measure these values is regularly improving, so one would expect that the accuracy of these values should be improving with time. It is the task of the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights (CIAAW) to regularly review atomic-
Authors
Tyler B. Coplen, Fabienne Meyers, Norman E. Holden
Isotope-abundance variations and atomic weights of selected elements: 2016 (IUPAC Technical Report)
There are 63 chemical elements that have two or more isotopes that are used to determine their standard atomic weights. The isotopic abundances and atomic weights of these elements can vary in normal materials due to physical and chemical fractionation processes (not due to radioactive decay). These variations are well known for 12 elements (hydrogen, lithium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, magn
Authors
Tyler B. Coplen, Yesha Shrestha
Comment on “Reconciliation of the Devils Hole climate record with orbital forcing”
Moseley et al. (Reports, 8 January 2016, p. 165) postulate an increase in dissolved thorium isotope 230Th with depth below the water table as the explanation for the differing ages of Termination II. Flow of geothermal water through the Devils Hole caverns precludes this explanation. Deposition of younger secondary calcite into the initial porosity of the calcite comprising their cores is a plausi
Authors
Isaac J. Winograd
Increasing aeolian dust deposition to snowpacks in the Rocky Mountains inferred from snowpack, wet deposition, and aerosol chemistry
Mountain snowpacks are a vital natural resource for ∼1.5 billion people in the northern Hemisphere, helping to meet human and ecological demand for water in excess of that provided by summer rain. Springtime warming and aeolian dust deposition accelerate snowmelt, increasing the risk of water shortages during late summer, when demand is greatest. While climate networks provide data that can be use
Authors
David W. Clow, Mark W. Williams, Paul F. Schuster
Temporal and spatial trends in nutrient and sediment loading to Lake Tahoe, California-Nevada, USA
Since 1980, the Lake Tahoe Interagency Monitoring Program (LTIMP) has provided stream-discharge and water quality data—nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and suspended sediment—at more than 20 stations in Lake Tahoe Basin streams. To characterize the temporal and spatial patterns in nutrient and sediment loading to the lake, and improve the usefulness of the program and the existing database, we have (
Authors
Robert Coats, Jack Lewis, Nancy L. Alvarez, Patricia Arneson