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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: 18428

Arsenite as an electron donor for anoxygenic photosynthesis: Description of three strains of Ectothiorhodospria from Mono Lake, California, and Big Soda Lake, Nevada

Three novel strains of photosynthetic bacteria from the family Ectothiorhodospiraceae were isolated from soda lakes of the Great Basin Desert, USA by employing arsenite (As(III)) as the sole electron donor in the enrichment/isolation process. Strain PHS-1 was previously isolated from a hot spring in Mono Lake, while strain MLW-1 was obtained from Mono Lake sediment, and strain BSL-9 was isolated f
Authors
Shelley McCann, Alison Boren, Jaime Hernandez-Maldonado, Brendon Stoneburner, Chad W Saltikov, John F. Stolz, Ronald S. Oremland

Continuous-flow centrifugation to collect suspended sediment for chemical analysis

Recent advances in suspended-sediment monitoring tools and surrogate technologies have greatly improved the ability to quantify suspended-sediment concentrations and to estimate daily, seasonal, and annual suspended-sediment fluxes from rivers to coastal waters. However, little is known about the chemical composition of suspended sediment, and how it may vary spatially between water bodies and tem
Authors
Kathleen E. Conn, Richard S. Dinicola, Robert W. Black, Stephen E. Cox, Richard W. Sheibley, James R. Foreman, Craig A. Senter, Norman T. Peterson

Evaluating external nutrient and suspended-sediment loads to Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, using surrogate regressions with real-time turbidity and acoustic backscatter data

Executive SummarySuspended-sediment and total phosphorus loads were computed for two sites in the Upper Klamath Basin on the Wood and Williamson Rivers, the two main tributaries to Upper Klamath Lake. High temporal resolution turbidity and acoustic backscatter data were used to develop surrogate regression models to compute instantaneous concentrations and loads on these rivers. Regression models
Authors
Liam N. Schenk, Chauncey W. Anderson, Paul Diaz, Marc A. Stewart

Ambient water quality in aquifers used for drinking-water supplies, Gem County, southwestern Idaho, 2015

In recent years, the rapid population growth in Gem County, Idaho, has been similar to other counties in southwestern Idaho, increasing about 54 percent from 1990 to 2015. Because the entire population of the study area depends on groundwater for drinking water supply (either from self-supplied domestic, community, or municipal-supply wells), this population growth, along with changes in land use
Authors
James R. Bartolino, Candice B. Hopkins

Suspended-sediment concentrations, bedload, particle sizes, surrogate measurements, and annual sediment loads for selected sites in the lower Minnesota River Basin, water years 2011 through 2016

Accurate measurements of fluvial sediment are important for assessing stream ecological health, calculating flood levels, computing sediment budgets, and managing and protecting water resources. Sediment-enriched rivers in Minnesota are a concern among Federal, State, and local governments because turbidity and sediment-laden waters are the leading impairments and affect more than 6,000 miles of r
Authors
Joel T. Groten, Christopher A. Ellison, Jon S. Hendrickson

Concentration, flux, and trend estimates with uncertainty for nutrients, chloride, and total suspended solids in tributaries of Lake Champlain, 1990–2014

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission and the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, estimated daily and 9-month concentrations and fluxes of total and dissolved phosphorus, total nitrogen, chloride, and total suspended solids from 1990 (or first available date) through 2014 for 18 tributaries of Lake Champlain. Est
Authors
Laura Medalie

Preliminary peak stage and streamflow data at selected streamgaging stations in North Carolina and South Carolina for flooding following Hurricane Matthew, October 2016

The passage of Hurricane Matthew across the central and eastern regions of North Carolina and South Carolina during October 7–9, 2016, resulted in heavy rainfall that caused major flooding in parts of the eastern Piedmont in North Carolina and coastal regions of both States. Rainfall totals of 3 to 8 inches and 8 to more than 15 inches were widespread throughout the central and eastern regions, re
Authors
J. Curtis Weaver, Toby D. Feaster, Jeanne C. Robbins

Science to support the understanding of Ohio's water resources, 2016-17

Ohio’s water resources support a complex web of human activities and nature—clean and abundant water is needed for drinking, recreation, farming, and industry, as well as for fish and wildlife needs. Although rainfall in normal years can support these activities and needs, occasional floods and droughts can disrupt streamflow, groundwater, water availability, water quality, recreation, and aquatic
Authors
Kimberly Shaffer, Stephanie P. Kula

The chemistry and isotopic composition of waters in the low-enthalpy geothermal system of Cimino-Vico Volcanic District, Italy

Geothermal energy exploration is based in part on interpretation of the chemistry, temperature, and discharge rate of thermal springs. Here we present the major element chemistry and the δD, δ18O, 87Sr/86Sr and δ11B isotopic ratio of groundwater from the low-enthalpy geothermal system near the city of Viterbo in the Cimino-Vico volcanic district of west-Central Italy. The geothermal system hosts m
Authors
Maria Battistel, Shaul Hurwitz, William Evans, Maurizio Barbieri

Multireaction equilibrium geothermometry: A sensitivity analysis using data from the Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, USA

A multireaction chemical equilibria geothermometry (MEG) model applicable to high-temperature geothermal systems has been developed over the past three decades. Given sufficient data, this model provides more constraint on calculated reservoir temperatures than classical chemical geothermometers that are based on either the concentration of silica (SiO2), or the ratios of cation concentrations. A
Authors
Jonathan M. King, Shaul Hurwitz, Jacob B. Lowenstern, D. Kirk Nordstrom, R. Blaine McCleskey

Combined exposure of diesel exhaust particles and respirable Soufrière Hills volcanic ash causes a (pro-)inflammatory response in an in vitro multicellular epithelial tissue barrier model

BackgroundThere are justifiable health concerns regarding the potential adverse effects associated with human exposure to volcanic ash (VA) particles, especially when considering communities living in urban areas already exposed to heightened air pollution. The aim of this study was, therefore, to gain an imperative, first understanding of the biological impacts of respirable VA when exposed conco
Authors
Ines Tomašek, Claire J. Horwell, David Damby, Hana Barošová, Christoph Geers, Alke Petri-Fink, Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser, Martin J. D. Clift

Estimated nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to the Fish Creek watershed, Teton County, Wyoming, 2009–15

Nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are essential for plant and animal growth and nourishment, but the overabundance of bioavailable nitrogen and phosphorus in water can cause adverse health and ecological effects. It is generally accepted that increased primary production of surface-water bodies because of high inputs of nutrients is now the most important polluting effect in surface wate
Authors
Cheryl A. Eddy-Miller, Roy Sando, Michael J. MacDonald, Carlin Girard