Publications

This study assessed progress toward achieving sustainable groundwater use in the Sierra Vista Subwatershed of the Upper San Pedro Basin, Arizona, through evaluation of 14 indicators of sustainable use. Sustainable use of groundwater in the Sierra Vista Subwatershed requires, at a minimum, a stable rate of groundwater discharge to, and thus base flow in, the San Pedro River. Many of the 14 indicato

Information about groundwater-flow paths and locations where groundwater discharges at and near Puget Sound Naval Shipyard is necessary for understanding the potential migration of subsurface contaminants by groundwater at the shipyard. The design of some remediation alternatives would be aided by knowledge of whether groundwater flowing at specific locations beneath the shipyard will eventually d

Acoustic technologies have the potential to be used as a surrogate for measuring suspended-sediment concentration (SSC). This potential was examined in a fine-grained (97-100 percent fines) riverine system in central Illinois by way of installation of an acoustic instrument. Acoustic data were collected continuously over the span of 5.5 years. Acoustic parameters were regressed against SSC data to

The butterfly fauna of lowland Northern California has exhibited a marked decline in recent years that previous studies have attributed in part to altered climatic conditions and changes in land use. Here, we ask if a shift in insecticide use towards neonicotinoids is associated with butterfly declines at four sites in the region that have been monitored for four decades. A negative association be

The Skagit River delivers about 40 percent of all fluvial sediment that enters Puget Sound, influencing flood hazards in the Skagit lowlands, critically important estuarine habitat in the delta, and some of the most diverse and productive agriculture in western Washington. A total of 175 measurements of suspended-sediment load, made routinely from 1974 to 1993, and sporadically from 2006 to 2009,

Continuously recording water-level streamgages in Rainy Lake and Namakan Reservoir are used to regulate water levels according to rule curves established in 2000 by the International Joint Commission; however, water levels at streamgages were referenced to a variety of vertical datums, confounding efforts to model the flow of water through the system, regulate water levels during periods of high i

In December 2009, during a piscicide treatment targeting the invasive Asian carp in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, Rhodamine WT dye was released to track and document the transport and dispersion of the piscicide. In this study, two modeling approaches are presented to reproduce the advection and dispersion of the dye tracer (and piscicide), a one-dimensional analytical solution and a three-

Wildfire can substantially increase the probability of debris flows, a potentially hazardous and destructive form of mass wasting, in landscapes that have otherwise been stable throughout recent history. Although the exact location, extent, and severity of wildfire or subsequent rainfall intensity and duration cannot be known, probabilities of fire and debris‑flow occurrence for given locations ca

A combined field and laboratory investigation was conducted to assess five options for creation of a recreational beach on a steep, armored shoreline on the eastern Black Sea coast. All designs incorporated a beach nourishment project placed between two existing, shore-normal, rubble-mound groins. Alternatives included the placement of a nearshore berm, longshore extensions added to the existing g

Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents are known contributors of chemical mixtures into the environment. Of particular concern are endocrine-disrupting compounds, such as estrogens, which can affect the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis function in exposed organisms. The present study examined reproductive effects in fathead minnows exposed for 21 d to a historically estrogenic WWTP effluen

This report provides a table of site descriptions, sample information, and semiquantitative aquatic macroinvertebrate data from 105 samples collected between 2005 and 2007 from 7 stream sites within the Sand Creek and Medano Creek watersheds in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Saguache County, Colorado. Additionally, a short description of sample collection methods and laboratory sampl

Water from the Little Arkansas River is used as source water for artificial recharge of the Equus Beds aquifer, one of the primary water-supply sources for the city of Wichita, Kansas. The U.S. Geological Survey has operated two continuous real-time water-quality monitoring stations since 1995 on the Little Arkansas River in Kansas. Regression models were developed to establish relations between d