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: 18470
Tidal flow dynamics and background fluorescence of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in the vicinity of Sullivan’s Island and the Isle of Palms, South Carolina, 2011-12
To effectively plan site-specific studies to understand the connection between wastewater effluent and shellfish beds, data are needed concerning flow dynamics and background fluorescence in the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway near the effluent outfalls on Sullivan’s Island and the Isle of Palms. Tidal flows were computed by the U.S. Geological Survey for three stations and longitudinal water-quali
Authors
Paul Conrads, Celeste A. Journey, Jimmy M. Clark, Victor A. Levesque
Developing a new stream metric for comparing stream function using a bank-floodplain sediment budget: a case study of three Piedmont streams
A bank and floodplain sediment budget was created for three Piedmont streams tributary to the Chesapeake Bay. The watersheds of each stream varied in land use from urban (Difficult Run) to urbanizing (Little Conestoga Creek) to agricultural (Linganore Creek). The purpose of the study was to determine the relation between geomorphic parameters and sediment dynamics and to develop a floodplain trapp
Authors
Edward R. Schenk, Cliff R. Hupp, Allen Gellis, Greg Noe
Dietary bioavailability of Cu adsorbed to colloidal hydrous ferric oxide
The dietary bioavailability of copper (Cu) adsorbed to synthetic colloidal hydrous ferric oxide (HFO) was evaluated from the assimilation of 65Cu by two benthic grazers, a gastropod and a larval mayfly. HFO was synthesized, labeled with 65Cu to achieve a Cu/Fe ratio comparable to that determined in naturally formed HFO, and then aged. The labeled colloids were mixed with a food source (the diatom
Authors
Daniel J. Cain, Marie-Noële Croteau, Christopher C. Fuller
Groundwater and surface-water interactions near White Bear Lake, Minnesota, through 2011
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the White Bear Lake Conservation District, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and other State, county, municipal, and regional planning agencies, watershed organizations, and private organizations, conducted a study to characterize groundwater and surface-water interactions near White Bear Lake thro
Authors
Perry M. Jones, Jared J. Trost, Donald O. Rosenberry, P. Ryan Jackson, Jenifer A. Bode, Ryan M. O'Grady
Comparing rapid and culture indicator bacteria methods at inland lake beaches
A rapid method, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), for quantifying indicator bacteria in recreational waters is desirable for public health protection. We report that replacing current Escherichia coli standards with new US Environmental Protection Agency beach action values (BAVs) for enterococci by culture or qPCR may result in more advisories being posted at inland recreational lake
Authors
Donna S. Francy, Rebecca N. Bushon, Amie M. G. Brady, Christopher M. Kephart
The energy-water nexus: Potential groundwater-quality degradation associated with production of shale gas
Oil and natural gas have been the main sources of primary energy in the USA, providing 63% of the total energy consumption in 2011. Petroleum production, drilling operations, and improperly sealed abandoned wells have caused significant local groundwater contamination in many states, including at the USGS OSPER sites in Oklahoma. The potential for groundwater contamination is higher when producing
Authors
Yousif K. Kharaka, James J. Thordsen, Christopher H. Conaway, Randal B. Thomas
Archive of post-Hurricane Isabel coastal oblique aerial photographs collected during U.S. Geological Survey Field Activity 03CCH01 from Ocean City, Maryland, to Fort Caswell, North Carolina and Inland from Waynesboro to Redwood, Virginia, September 21 - 2
On September 21 - 23, 2003, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey along the Atlantic coast from Ocean City, Md., to Fort Caswell, N.C., and inland oblique aerial photographic survey from Waynesboro to Redwood, Va., aboard a Navajo Piper twin-engine airplane. The coastal survey was conducted at an altitude of 500 feet (ft) and approximately 1,000
Authors
Janice A. Subino, Karen L.M. Morgan, M. Dennis Krohn, Shawn V. Dadisman
Groundwater-level trends and forecasts, and salinity trends, in the Azraq, Dead Sea, Hammad, Jordan Side Valleys, Yarmouk, and Zarqa groundwater basins, Jordan
Changes in groundwater levels and salinity in six groundwater basins in Jordan were characterized by using linear trends fit to well-monitoring data collected from 1960 to early 2011. On the basis of data for 117 wells, groundwater levels in the six basins were declining, on average about -1 meter per year (m/yr), in 2010. The highest average rate of decline, -1.9 m/yr, occurred in the Jordan Side
Authors
Daniel J. Goode, Lisa A. Senior, Ali Subah, Ayman Jaber
Variations in soil detachment rates after wildfire as a function of soil depth, flow properties, and root properties
Wildfire affects hillslope erosion through increased surface runoff and increased sediment availability, both of which contribute to large post-fire erosion events. Relations between soil detachment rate, soil depth, flow and root properties, and fire impacts are poorly understood and not represented explicitly in commonly used post-fire erosion models. Detachment rates were measured on intact soi
Authors
John A. Moody, Peter Nyman
Complex resistivity signatures of ethanol in sand-clay mixtures
We performed complex resistivity (CR) measurements on laboratory columns to investigate changes in electrical properties as a result of varying ethanol (EtOH) concentration (0% to 30% v/v) in a sand–clay (bentonite) matrix. We applied Debye decomposition, a phenomenological model commonly used to fit CR data, to determine model parameters (time constant: τ, chargeability: m, and normalized chargea
Authors
Yves Robert Personna, Lee Slater, Dimitrios Ntarlagiannis, Dale D. Werkema, Zoltan Szabo
Chemical contaminants in water and sediment near fish nesting sites in the Potomac River basin: determining potential exposures to smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu)
The Potomac River basin is an area where a high prevalence of abnormalities such as testicular oocytes (TO), skin lesions, and mortality has been observed in smallmouth bass (SMB, Micropterus dolomieu). Previous research documented a variety of chemicals in regional streams, implicating chemical exposure as one plausible explanation for these biological effects. Six stream sites in the Potomac bas
Authors
Dana W. Kolpin, Vicki Blazer, James L. Gray, Michael J. Focazio, John A. Young, David A. Alvarez, Luke R. Iwanowicz, William T. Foreman, Edward T. Furlong, Gary K. Speiran, Steven D. Zaugg, Laura E. Hubbard, Michael T. Meyer, Mark W. Sandstrom, Larry B. Barber
Groundwater geochemical and selected volatile organic compound data, Operable Unit 1, Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Keyport, Washington, June and October 2012
Previous investigations indicate that concentrations of chlorinated volatile organic compounds are substantial in groundwater beneath the 9-acre former landfill at Operable Unit 1, Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Keyport, Washington. The U.S. Geological Survey has continued to monitor groundwater geochemistry to ensure that conditions remain favorable for contaminant biodegradation as spec
Authors
R.L. Huffman