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
Pollen dispersal by catapult: Experiments of Lyman J. Briggs on the flower of mountain laurel
The flower of Kalmia latifolia L. employs a catapult mechanism that flings its pollen to considerable distances. Physicist Lyman J. Briggs investigated this phenomenon in the 1950s after retiring as longtime director of the National Bureau of Standards, attempting to explain how hydromechanical effects inside the flower’s stamen could make it possible. Briggs’s unfinished manuscript implies that l
Authors
John R. Nimmo, Paula M. Hermann, M.B. Kirkham, Edward R. Landa
Assessing the magnitude and timing of anthropogenic warming of a shallow aquifer: example from Virginia Beach, USA
Groundwater temperature measurements in a shallow coastal aquifer in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA, suggest groundwater warming of +4.1 °C relative to deeper geothermal gradients. Observed warming is related to timing and depth of influence of two potential thermal drivers—atmospheric temperature increases and urbanization. Results indicate that up to 30 % of groundwater warming at the water table
Authors
John R. Eggleston, Kurt J. McCoy
Hydraulic assessment of existing and alternative stream crossings providing fish and wildlife passage at seven sites in Massachusetts
Seven existing road crossing structures at streams in Massachusetts were evaluated hydraulically and compared to hypothetical alternative structures designed for Aquatic Organism Passage (AOP) using standards developed by the Massachusetts River Continuity Partnership. Hydraulic simulations made for flood flows ranging from 20- to 0.2-percent annual exceedance probability (AEP) indicate that the e
Authors
Phillip J. Zarriello, Jeffrey R. Barbaro
Hydroclimate of the Spring Mountains and Sheep Range, Clark County, Nevada
Precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, and actual evapotranspiration often are used to characterize the hydroclimate of a region. Quantification of these parameters in mountainous terrains is difficult because limited access often hampers the collection of representative ground data. To fulfill a need to characterize ecological zones in the Spring Mountains and Sheep Range of southern Nevada
Authors
Michael T. Moreo, Gabriel B. Senay, Alan L. Flint, Nancy A. Damar, Randell J. Laczniak, James Hurja
Low transient storage and uptake efficiencies in seven agricultural streams: implications for nutrient demand
We used mass load budgets, transient storage modeling, and nutrient spiraling metrics to characterize nitrate (NO3−), ammonium (NH4+), and inorganic phosphorus (SRP) demand in seven agricultural streams across the United States and to identify in-stream services that may control these conditions. Retention of one or all nutrients was observed in all but one stream, but demand for all nutrients was
Authors
Rich W. Sheibley, John H. Duff, Anthony J. Tesoriero
Estimated water use in Puerto Rico, 2010
Water-use data were aggregated for the 78 municipios of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for 2010. Five major offstream categories were considered: public-supply water withdrawals and deliveries, domestic and industrial self-supplied water use, crop-irrigation water use, and thermoelectric-power freshwater use. One instream water-use category also was compiled: power-generation instream water use (
Authors
Wanda L. Molina-Rivera
Modeling long-term trends of chlorinated ethene contamination at a public supply well
A mass-balance solute-transport modeling approach was used to investigate the effects of dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) volume, composition, and generation of daughter products on simulated and measured long-term trends of chlorinated ethene (CE) concentrations at a public supply well. The model was built by telescoping a calibrated regional three-dimensional MODFLOW model to the capture zo
Authors
Francis H. Chapelle, Leon J. Kauffman, Mark A. Widdowson
Freshwater mussel population status and habitat quality in the Clinch River, Virginia and Tennessee, USA: a featured collection
The Clinch River of southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee is arguably the most important river for freshwater mussel conservation in the United States. This featured collection presents investigations of mussel population status and habitat quality in the Clinch River. Analyses of historic water- and sediment-quality data suggest that water column ammonia and water column and sediment m
Authors
Carl E. Zipper, Braven Beaty, Gregory C. Johnson, Jess W. Jones, Jennifer Lynn Krstolic, Brett J.K. Ostby, William J. Wolfe, Patricia Donovan
Hydrology and numerical simulation of groundwater movement and heat transport in Snake Valley and surrounding areas, Juab, Miller, and Beaver Counties, Utah, and White Pine and Lincoln Counties, Nevada
Snake Valley and surrounding areas, along the Utah-Nevada state border, are part of the Great Basin carbonate and alluvial aquifer system. The groundwater system in the study area consists of water in unconsolidated deposits in basins and water in consolidated rock underlying the basins and in the adjacent mountain blocks. Most recharge occurs from precipitation on the mountain blocks and most dis
Authors
Melissa D. Masbruch, Philip M. Gardner, Lynette E. Brooks
Water resources of Sabine Parish, Louisiana
Information concerning the availability, use, and quality of water in Sabine Parish, Louisiana, is critical for proper water-supply management. The purpose of this fact sheet is to present information that can be used by water managers, parish residents, and others for stewardship of this vital resource. Information on the availability, past and current use, use trends, and water quality from grou
Authors
Lawrence B. Prakken, Vincent E. White, John K. Lovelace
Dissolved pesticide concentrations entering the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta from the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, California, 2012-13
Surface-water samples were collected from the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers where they enter the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, and analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey for a suite of 99 current-use pesticides and pesticide degradates. Samples were collected twice per month from May 2012 through July 2013 and from May 2012 through April 2013 at the Sacramento River at Freeport, and the San Jo
Authors
James L. Orlando, Megan McWayne, Corey Sanders, Michelle Hladik
Influence of septic systems on stream base flow in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin near Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, 2012
Septic systems were identified at 241,733 locations in a 2,539-square-mile (mi2) study area that includes all or parts of 12 counties in the Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, area. Septic system percolation may locally be an important component of streamflow in small drainage basins where it augments natural groundwater recharge, especially during extreme low-flow conditions. The amount of groundwate
Authors
John S. Clarke, Jaime A. Painter