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: 18475
Numerical simulation of double‐diffusive finger convection
A hybrid finite element, integrated finite difference numerical model is developed for the simulation of double‐diffusive and multicomponent flow in two and three dimensions. The model is based on a multidimensional, density‐dependent, saturated‐unsaturated transport model (SUTRA), which uses one governing equation for fluid flow and another for solute transport. The solute‐transport equation is a
Authors
Joseph D. Hughes, Ward E. Sanford, H. Leonard Vacher
Unexpected dominance of parent-material strontium in a tropical forest on highly weathered soils
Controls over nutrient supply are key to understanding the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Conceptual models once held that in situ mineral weathering was the primary long-term control over the availability of many plant nutrients, including the base cations calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and potassium (K). Recent evidence has shown that atmospheric sources of these “rock-deriv
Authors
Carleton R. Bern, Alan R. Townsend, G. Lang Farmer
Phytoplankton community ecology: Principles applied in San Francisco Bay
In his seminal 1961 paper 'The paradox of the plankton' Am Nat 95:137-147, G. E. Hutchinson asked why many species of phytoplankton can coexist while competing for a small number of limiting resources in an unstructured habitat. Hutchinson anticipated the resolution of his paradox, recognizing that communities are organized by processes beyond resource competition including species interactions, h
Authors
J. E. Cloern, R. Dufford
Drought effects on water quality in the South Platte River Basin, Colorado
Twenty-three stream sites representing a range of forested, agricultural, and urban land uses were sampled in the South Platte River Basin of Colorado from July through September 2002 to characterize water quality during drought conditions. With a few exceptions, dissolved ammonia, Kjeldahl nitrogen, total phosphorus, and dissolved orthophosphate concentrations were similar to seasonal historical
Authors
Lori A. Sprague
Ecohydrological control of deep drainage in arid and semiarid regions
The amount and spatial distribution of deep drainage (downward movement of water across the bottom of the root zone) and groundwater recharge affect the quantity and quality of increasingly limited groundwater in arid and semiarid regions. We synthesize research from the fields of ecology and hydrology to address the issue of deep drainage in arid and semiarid regions. We start with a recently dev
Authors
M.S. Seyfried, S. Schwinning, Michelle Ann Walvoord, W. T. Pockman, B.D. Newman, R.B. Jackson, F. M. Phillips
Major and trace element composition of copiapite-group minerals and coexisting water from the Richmond mine, Iron Mountain, California
Copiapite-group minerals of the general formula AR4(SO4)6(OH)2·nH2O, where A is predominantly Mg, Fe2+, or 0.67Al3+, R is predominantly Fe3+, and n is typically 20, are among several secondary hydrous Fe sulfates occurring in the inactive mine workings of the massive sulfide deposit at Iron Mountain, CA, a USEPA Superfund site that produces extremely acidic drainage. Samples of copiapite-group min
Authors
H.E. Jamieson, C. Robinson, Charles N. Alpers, R. Blaine McCleskey, D. Kirk Nordstrom, Ronald C. Peterson
Changes toward earlier streamflow timing across western North America
The highly variable timing of streamflow in snowmelt-dominated basins across western North America is an important consequence, and indicator, of climate fluctuations. Changes in the timing of snowmelt-derived streamflow from 1948 to 2002 were investigated in a network of 302 western North America gauges by examining the center of mass for flow, spring pulse onset dates, and seasonal fractional fl
Authors
I.T. Stewart, D.R. Cayan, M. D. Dettinger
Statistical analysis of long-term hydrologic records for selection of drought-monitoring sites on Long Island, New York
Ground water is the sole source of water supply for more than 3 million people on Long Island, New York. Large-scale ground-water pumpage, sewering systems, and prolonged periods of below-normal precipitation have lowered ground-water levels and decreased stream-discharge in western and central Long Island. No method is currently (2004) available on Long Island that can assess data from the ground
Authors
Ronald J. Busciolano
A surficial hydrogeologic framework for the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain
A surficial hydrogeologic framework was developed for the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain, from New Jersey through North Carolina. The framework includes seven distinct hydrogeologic subregions within which the primary natural physical factors affecting the flow and chemistry of shallow ground water and small streams are relatively consistent. Within most subregions, the transport of chemicals from the
Authors
Scott W. Ator, Judith M. Denver, David E. Krantz, Wayne L. Newell, Sarah K. Martucci
Concentrations of Insecticides in Selected Surface Water Bodies in Suffolk County, New York, Before and After Mosquito Spraying, 2002-04
Concentrations of insecticides sprayed from truck or helicopter onto selected surface-water bodies in Suffolk County, N.Y., during the summers of 2002-04 decreased to below detection limits within 4 days after application. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with Suffolk County Department of Health Services (SCDHS), sampled surface waters from selected wetlands for insecticides that
Authors
Irene J. Abbene, Shawn C. Fisher, Stephen A. Terracciano
Ground-water conditions in Utah, spring of 2005
This is the forty-second in a series of annual reports that describe ground-water conditions in Utah. Reports in this series, published cooperatively by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Resources and Division of Water Rights, provide data to enable interested parties to maintain awareness of changing ground-water conditions.This report, li
Authors
Carole B. Burden, David V. Allen, M.R. Danner, Vince Walzem, J.L. Cillessen, T.A. Kenney, C.D. Wilkowske, Robert J. Eacret, Paul Downhour, B.A. Slaugh, R.L. Swenson, J.H. Howells, H.K. Christiansen, M.J. Fisher
Preliminary results from a shallow water benthic grazing study
The nutrient-rich, shallow waters of San Francisco Bay support high rates of primary production, limited not by nutrients but by light availability and benthic grazing (Alpine and others 1992; Cloern 1982). Phytoplankton blooms are an important food source for upper trophic levels. Consequently animal populations, such as fish, may suffer under conditions of high benthic bivalve grazing. It has be
Authors
N.L. Jones, Stephen G. Monismith, Janet K. Thompson