Book Chapters
Science Quality and Integrity
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The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
Browse more than 5,500 book chapters authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS and refine search by topic, location, year, and advanced search.
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An isotope-dilution standard GC/MS/MS method for steroid hormones in water
An isotope-dilution quantification method was developed for 20 natural and synthetic steroid hormones and additional compounds in filtered and unfiltered water. Deuterium- or carbon-13-labeled isotope-dilution standards (IDSs) are added to the water sample, which is passed through an octadecylsilyl solid-phase extraction (SPE) disk. Following extract cleanup using Florisil SPE, method compounds ar
Authors
William T. Foreman, James L. Gray, Rhiannon C. ReVello, Chris E. Lindley, Scott A. Losche
Structure and tectonic evolution of the eastern Española Basin, Rio Grande rift, north-central New Mexico
We describe the structure of the eastern Española Basin and use stratigraphic and stratal attitude data to interpret its tectonic development. This area consists of a west-dipping half graben in the northern Rio Grande rift that includes several intrabasinal grabens, faults, and folds. The Embudo–Santa Clara–Pajarito fault system, a collection of northeast- and north-striking faults in the center
Authors
Daniel Koning, V. J. Grauch, Sean D. Connell, J. Ferguson, William McIntosh, Janet L. Slate, Elmira Wan, W. S. Baldridge
Omnivory and the terrestrial food web: Yellowstone grizzly beard diets
No abstract available.
Authors
Charles C. Schwartz, Mark A. Haroldson, Kerry A. Gunther, Charles T. Robbins
Arsenic in groundwater: a summary of sources and the biogeochemical and hydrogeologic factors affecting arsenic occurrence and mobility
Arsenic (As) is a metalloid element (atomic number 33) with one naturally occurring isotope of atomic mass 75, and four oxidation states (-3, 0, +3, and +5) (Smedley and Kinniburgh, 2002). In the aqueous environment, the +3 and +5 oxidation states are most prevalent, as the oxyanions arsenite (H3AsO3 or H2AsO3- at pH ~9-11) and arsenate (H2AsO4- and HAsO42- at pH ~4-10) (Smedley and Kinniburgh, 20
Authors
Julia L. Barringer, Pamela A. Reilly
Managing the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals in wastewater-impacted streams
A revolution in analytical instrumentation circa 1920 greatly improved the ability to characterize chemical substances. This analytical foundation resulted in an unprecedented explosion in the design and production of synthetic chemicals during and post-World War II. What is now often referred to as the 2nd Chemical Revolution has provided substantial societal benefits; with modern chemical design
Authors
Paul M. Bradley, Dana W. Kolpin
Modeling the long-term fate of agricultural nitrate in groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley, California
Nitrate contamination of groundwater systems used for human water supplies is a major environmental problem in many parts of the world. Fertilizers containing a variety of reduced nitrogen compounds are commonly added to soils to increase agricultural yields. But the amount of nitrogen added during fertilization typically exceeds the amount of nitrogen taken up by crops. Oxidation of reduced nitro
Authors
Francis H. Chapelle, Bruce G. Campbell, Mark A. Widdowson, Mathew K. Landon
Stress, deformation, conservation, and rheology: a survey of key concepts in continuum mechanics
This chapter provides a brief survey of key concepts in continuum mechanics. It focuses on the fundamental physical concepts that underlie derivations of the mathematical formulations of stress, strain, hydraulic head, pore-fluid pressure, and conservation equations. It then shows how stresses are linked to strain and rates of distortion through some special cases of idealized material behaviors.
Authors
J. J. Major
Modeling lahar behavior and hazards
Lahars are highly mobile mixtures of water and sediment of volcanic origin that are capable of traveling tens to > 100 km at speeds exceeding tens of km hr-1. Such flows are among the most serious ground-based hazards at many volcanoes because of their sudden onset, rapid advance rates, long runout distances, high energy, ability to transport large volumes of material, and tendency to flow along e
Authors
Vernon Manville, Jon J. Major, Sarah A. Fagents
Recent seasonal variations in arid landscape cover and aeolian sand mobility, Navajo Nation, southwestern U.S.
The socioeconomic impacts of climate change pose problems not only in devel- oping countries but also to residents of arid lands in the United States among marginalized societies with limited economic means. In the Navajo Nation, warming temperatures and recent drought have increased aeolian sediment mobility such that large, migrating sand dunes affect grazing lands, housing, and road access. Dus
Authors
Amy E. Draut, Margaret Hiza Redsteer, Lee Amoroso
Environmental factors that influence cyanobacteria and geosmin occurrence in reservoirs
Phytoplankton are small to microscopic, free-floating algae that inhabit the open water of freshwater, estuarine, and saltwater systems. In freshwater lake and reservoirs systems, which are the focus of this chapter, phytoplankton communities commonly consist of assemblages of the major taxonomic groups, including green algae, diatoms, dinoflagellates, and cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria are a divers
Authors
Celeste A. Journey, Karen M. Beaulieu, Paul M. Bradley
Present weather and climate: evolving conditions
This chapter assesses weather and climate variability and trends in the Southwest, using observed climate and paleoclimate records. It analyzes the last 100 years of climate variability in comparison to the last 1,000 years, and links the important features of evolving climate conditions to river flow variability in four of the region’s major drainage basins. The chapter closes with an assessment
Authors
Martin P Hoerling, Michael Dettinger, Klaus Wolter, Jeff Lukas, Jon K. Eischeid, Rama Nemani, Brant Liebmann, Kenneth E. Kunkel
Historic distribution of Common Loons in Wisconsin in relation to changes in lake characteristics and surrounding land use
A study was conducted to evaluate changes in water quality and land-use change associated with
lakes that are south of the current breeding range of Common Loons in Wisconsin but that historically
supported breeding loons. Museum collection records and published accounts were examined to
identify lakes in southern Wisconsin with a former history of loon nesting activity. Historical and recent
Authors
Kevin P. Kenow, Paul J. Garrison, Timothy J. Fox, Michael W. Meyer