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: 18468
Methods for estimating the magnitude and frequency of peak streamflows at ungaged sites in and near the Oklahoma Panhandle
This report presents the results of a cooperative study by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to estimate the magnitude and frequency of peak streamflows from regional regression equations for ungaged stream sites in and near the Oklahoma Panhandle. These methods relate basin characteristics (physiographic and climatic attributes) to selected peak streamflow f
Authors
S. Jerrod Smith, Jason M. Lewis, Grant M. Graves
Flood-inundation maps for the Tippecanoe River at Winamac, Indiana
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.2 mile reach of the Tippecanoe River at Winamac, Indiana (Ind.), were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of
Authors
Chad D. Menke, Aubrey R. Bunch
Evaluating the adequacy of a reference site pool for ecological assessments in environmentally complex regions
Many advances in the field of bioassessment have focused on approaches for objectively selecting the pool of reference sites used to establish expectations for healthy waterbodies, but little emphasis has been placed on ways to evaluate the suitability of the reference-site pool for its intended applications (e.g., compliance assessment vs ambient monitoring). These evaluations are critical becaus
Authors
Peter R. Ode, Andrew C. Rehn, Raphael D. Mazor, Kenneth C. Schiff, Eric D. Stein, Jason May, Larry R. Brown, David B. Herbst, D.D. Gillette, Kevin Lunde, Charles P. Hawkins
Early-Holocene warming in Beringia and its mediation by sea-level and vegetation changes
Arctic land-cover changes induced by recent global climate change (e.g., expansion of woody vegetation into tundra and effects of permafrost degradation) are expected to generate further feedbacks to the climate system. Past changes can be used to assess our understanding of feedback mechanisms through a combination of process modeling and paleo-observations. The subcontinental region of Beringia
Authors
P. J. Bartlein, M. E. Edwards, Steven W. Hostetler, Sarah Shafer, P. M. Anderson, L. B Brubaker, A. V Lozhkin
A new isotopic reference material for stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope-ratio measurements of water—USGS50 Lake Kyoga Water
Rationale
As a result of the need for isotopic reference waters having high δ2HVSMOW-SLAP and δ18OVSMOW-SLAP values for daily use, especially for tropical and equatorial-zone freshwaters, a new secondary isotopic reference material for international distribution was prepared from water collected from Lake Kyoga, Uganda.
Methods
This isotopic reference lakewater was filtered through a membrane with
Authors
Tyler B. Coplen, Leonard I Wassenaar, Christine Mukwaya, Haiping Qi, Jennifer M. Lorenz
Groundwater resources of the Columbia Plateau regional aquifer system
The Columbia Plateau is a wide basalt plateau between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains that covers parts of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The climate over much of the Columbia Plateau is semiarid with precipitation ranging from 7 to 15 in/yr in the central part (Vaccaro and others, 2015), yet the area supports a $6 billion per year agricultural industry, including the production of apple
Authors
Sue C. Kahle, John J. Vaccaro
Organic waste compounds as contaminants in Milwaukee-area streams
Organic waste compounds (OWCs) are ingredients and by-products of common agricultural, industrial, and household substances that can contaminate our streams through sources like urban runoff, sewage overflows, and leaking septic systems. To better understand how OWCs are affecting Milwaukee-area streams, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District,
Authors
Austin K. Baldwin, Steven R. Corsi, Christopher Magruder, Matthew Magruder, Jennifer L. Bruce
Groundwater availability of the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho
The Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System (CPRAS) covers about 44,000 square miles of southeastern Washington, northeastern Oregon, and western Idaho. The area supports a $6-billion per year agricultural industry, leading the Nation in production of apples, hops, and eight other commodities. Groundwater pumpage and surface-water diversions supply water to croplands that account for about 5 perc
Authors
J. J. Vaccaro, S. C. Kahle, D.M. Ely, E.R. Burns, D.T. Snyder, J.V. Haynes, T. D. Olsen, W.B. Welch, D. S. Morgan
Widespread groundwater-level offsets caused by the Mw 5.8 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake of 23 August 2011
Groundwater levels were offset in bedrock observation wells, measured by the U.S. Geological Survey or others, as far as 553 km from the Mw 5.8 Mineral, Virginia (USA), earthquake on 23 August 2011. Water levels dropped as much as 0.47 m in 34 wells and rose as much as 0.15 m in 12 others. In some wells, which are as much as 213 m deep, the water levels recovered from these deviations in hours to
Authors
Evelyn A. Roeloffs, David L. Nelms, Rodney A. Sheets
A comparison of estimates of basin-scale soil-moisture evapotranspiration and estimates of riparian groundwater evapotranspiration with implications for water budgets in the Verde Valley, Central Arizona, USA
Population growth in the Verde Valley in Arizona has led to efforts to better understand water availability in the watershed. Evapotranspiration (ET) is a substantial component of the water budget and a critical factor in estimating groundwater recharge in the area. In this study, four estimates of ET are compared and discussed with applications to the Verde Valley. Higher potential ET (PET) rates
Authors
Fred D. Tillman, Stephen M. Wiele, Donald R. Pool
Hydrogeologic and geochemical characterization of groundwater resources in Deep Creek Valley and adjacent areas, Juab and Tooele Counties, Utah, and Elko and White Pine Counties, Nevada
The water resources of Deep Creek Valley were assessed during 2012–13 with an emphasis on better understanding the groundwater flow system and groundwater budget. Surface-water resources are limited in Deep Creek Valley and are generally used for agriculture. Groundwater is the predominant water source for most other uses and to supplement irrigation. Most groundwater withdrawal in Deep Creek Vall
Authors
Philip M. Gardner, Melissa D. Masbruch
Approaches in highly parameterized inversion—PEST++ Version 3, a Parameter ESTimation and uncertainty analysis software suite optimized for large environmental models
The PEST++ Version 1 object-oriented parameter estimation code is here extended to Version 3 to incorporate additional algorithms and tools to further improve support for large and complex environmental modeling problems. PEST++ Version 3 includes the Gauss-Marquardt-Levenberg (GML) algorithm for nonlinear parameter estimation, Tikhonov regularization, integrated linear-based uncertainty quantific
Authors
David E. Welter, Jeremy T. White, Randall J. Hunt, John E. Doherty