Publications

Water-quality activities and water-level measurements by the personnel of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Project Office coincide with the USGS mission of appraising the quantity and quality of the Nation’s water resources. The activities are carried out in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Idaho Operations Office. Results of the water...

Neonicotinoid insecticides are of environmental concern, but little is known about their occurrence in surface water. An area of intense corn and soybean production in the Midwestern United States was chosen to study this issue because of the high agricultural use of neonicotinoids via both seed treatments and other forms of application. Water samples were collected from nine stream...

Analytical models of the travel time distribution (TTD) from a source area to a sample location are often used to estimate groundwater ages and solute concentration trends. The accuracies of these models are not well known for geologically complex aquifers. In this study, synthetic datasets were used to quantify the accuracy of four analytical TTD models as affected by TTD complexity...

In 2010–11, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, evaluated the physical characteristics and fish assemblage composition of mapped river mesohabitats at four sites on the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo del Norte (hereinafter Rio Grande) in and near Big Bend National Park, Texas. The four sites used for the river habitat study were colocated with...

Segments of the Clinch River in Virginia have experienced declining freshwater mussel populations during the past 40 years, while other segments of the river continue to support some of the richest mussel communities in the country. The close proximity of these contrasting reaches provides a study area where differences in climate, hydrology, and historic mussel distribution are minimal...

Ongoing (1996–present) volcanic unrest near South Sister, Oregon, is accompanied by a striking set of hydrothermal anomalies, including elevated temperatures, elevated major ion concentrations, and 3He/4He ratios as large as 8.6 RA in slightly thermal springs. These observations prompted the US Geological Survey to begin a systematic hydrothermal-monitoring effort encompassing 25 sites...

To examine the occurrence, hydrologic variability, and seasonal variability of human and bovine viruses in surface water, three stream locations were monitored in the Milwaukee River watershed in Wisconsin, USA, from February 2007 through June 2008. Monitoring sites included an urban subwatershed, a rural subwatershed, and the Milwaukee River at the mouth. To collect samples that...

Pike County in northeastern Pennsylvania is underlain by the Devonian-age Marcellus Shale and other shales, formations that have potential for natural gas development. During 2012–13, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Pike County Conservation District conducted a reconnaissance study to assess baseline shallow groundwater quality in bedrock aquifers prior to possible...

Arkansas is the fourth largest user of groundwater in the United States, where groundwater accounts for two-thirds of the total water use. Groundwater use in the State increased by 510 percent between 1965 and 2005 (Holland, 2007). The Arkansas Groundwater-Quality Network is a Web map interface (http://ar.water.usgs.gov/wqx) that provides rapid access to the U.S. Geological Survey’s...

A series of 28 digital flood-inundation maps was developed for an approximate 25-mile reach of the Susquehanna River in the vicinity of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The study was selected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) national Silver Jackets program, which supports interagency teams at the state level to coordinate and collaborate on flood-risk management. This study to...

Bathymetric and velocimetric data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Transportation, in the vicinity of 10 bridges at 9 highway crossings of the Missouri River between Lexington and Washington, Missouri, from April 22 through May 2, 2013. A multibeam echosounder mapping system was used to obtain channel-bed elevations for river...

Emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) to the atmosphere lead to atmospheric deposition of sulfate (SO42-), which is the dominant strong acid anion causing acidification of surface waters and soils in the eastern United States (U.S.). Since passage of the Clean Air Act and its Amendments, atmospheric deposition of SO2 in this region has declined by over 80%, but few corresponding decreases in...