Publications

Urban settings are a focal point for environmental contamination due to emissions from industrial and municipal activities and the widespread use of motor vehicles. As part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program of the U.S. Geological Survey, streambed-sediment and dated reservoir-sediment samples were collected from the Chattahoochee River Basin and analyzed for total lead (Pb) and zinc

Relations between stream water chemistry and topographic, vegetative, and geologic characteristics of basins were evaluated for nine alpine/subalpine basins in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, to identify controlling parameters and to better understand processes governing patterns in stream water chemistry. Fractional amounts of steep slopes (≥30°), unvegetated terrain, and young surficial

Forest soil Ca depletion through leaching and vegetation uptake may threaten long-term sustainability of forest productivity in the southeastern USA. This study was conducted to assess Ca pools and fluxes in a representative southern Piedmont forest to determine the soil Ca depletion rate. Soil Ca storage, Ca inputs in atmospheric deposition, and outputs in soil leaching and vegetation uptake were

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has compiled a national retrospective data set of analyses of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in ground water of the United States. The data are from Federal, State, and local nonpoint-source monitoring programs, collected between 1985–95. This data set is being used to augment data collected by the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program to asce

A mass balance approach was used to determine the most important nonpoint source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in storm water from an asphalt parking lot without obvious point sources (e.g., gasoline stations). The parking lot surface and atmosphere are important nonpoint sources of VOCs, with each being important for different VOCs. The atmosphere is an important source of soluble, oxygena

The alunite supergroup consists of more than 40 mineral species that have in common the general formula DG3(TO4)2(OH,H2O)6. The D sites are occupied by monovalent (e.g. K, Na, NH4, Ag, Tl, H3O), divalent (e.g. Ca, Sr, Ba, Pb), trivalent (e.g. Bi, REE) or more rarely quadrivalent (Th) ions; G is Al or Fe3+ or rarely Ga or V; T is S6+, As5+, or P5+, and may include subordinate amounts of Cr6+ or Si4

Sulfonylurea (SU), imidazolinone (IMI), and sulfonamide (SA) herbicides are new classes of low-application-rate herbicides increasingly used by farmers. Some of these herbicides affect both weed and crop species at low dosages and must be carefully used. Less is known about the effect of these compounds on non-crop plant species, but a concentration of 100 ng/l in water has been proposed as the th

Weekly composite rainfall samples were collected in three paired urban and agricultural regions of the Midwestern United States and along the Mississippi River during April–September 1995. The paired sampling sites were located in Mississippi, Iowa, and Minnesota. A background site, removed from dense urban and agriculture areas, was located near Lake Superior in Michigan. Herbicides were the pred

This article presents an overview of recent findings from hydrodynamic research on circulation and mixing in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) (Figure 1) and North San Francisco Bay (North Bay) (Figure 2). For the purposes of this article, North Bay includes San Pablo Bay, Carquinez Strait, and Suisun Bay. The findings presented are those gained from field studies carried out by the U.S. Ge

Water-resources data for the 1999 water year for Texas consists of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage and contents in lakes and reservoirs; and water levels and water quality in wells. Volume 6 contains water levels for 759 observation wells and 146 water-quality data for monitoring wells. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System operated by th

Major influences and findings for water quality and biology in central Illinois, including the Illinois River from Ottawa, Illinois to Valley City, Illinois, are described and illustrated. Samples were collected to determine nitrate, phosphorus, pesticides, volatile organic carbon compounds, and radon-222 in streams and ground water. Agricultural and other land-use practices are discussed in relat

Selected nitrogen and phosphorus (nutrient), suspended-sediment and total suspended-solids surface-water data were compiled from January 1980 through December 1995 within the Great Salt Lake Basins National Water-Quality Assessment study unit, which extends from southeastern Idaho to west-central Utah and from Great Salt Lake to the Wasatch and western Uinta Mountains. The data were retrieved from