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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: 18422

Survey of bioaccessible pyrethroid insecticides and sediment toxicity in urban streams of the northeast United States

Pyrethroids are a class of widely-used insecticides that can be transported from terrestrial applications to aquatic systems via runoff and tend to sorb to organic carbon in sediments. Pyrethroid occurrence is detrimental to stream ecosystems due to toxicity to sediment-dwelling invertebrates which are particularly at risk of pyrethroid exposure in urban streams. In this work, 49 streams located i
Authors
Kara E. Huff-Hartz, Samuel A. Nutile, Courtney Y. Fung, Federico L. Sinche, Patrick W. Moran, Peter C. Van Metre, Lisa H. Nowell, Michael J. Lydy

Water-budget analysis of the Upper Big Sandy Designated Ground-water Basin alluvial aquifer, Elbert, El Paso, and Lincoln Counties, Colorado, 2016

The U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Colorado Water Conservation Board and the Upper Big Sandy Groundwater Management District carried out a study in 2016 to evaluate potential groundwater storage changes within the Upper Big Sandy Designated Groundwater Basin (UBSDGB) alluvial aquifer, including groundwater flow between the UBSDGB alluvial aquifer and the Denver Basin bedrock aquife
Authors
Michael S. Kohn, Jeannette H. Oden, L. R. Arnold

Subhourly mesoscale analysis of the 2011-2017 North American monsoon near its northwest boundary

The North American Monsoon (NAM) delivers precipitation to the southwestern USA during the warm-dry summer season. The seasonal extent of NAM precipitation is highly variable and is likely to change under future climate change. Our objective was to determine how large scale monsoonal patterns as well as local variables influence precipitation events near the NAM northwest boundary. Intra- and inte
Authors
Charles Truettner, Michael D. Dettinger, Emanuele Ziaco, Adam Czank, Franco Biondi

Temperature-dependent variations in mineralogy, major element chemistry and the stable isotopes of boron, lithium and chlorine resulting from hydration of rhyolite glass: Constraints from hydrothermal experiments at 150 to 350°C and 25 MPa

Rhyolite-hosted hydrothermal systems in the continental crust contain valuable energy and mineral resources that make them of special interest across several scientific disciplines. Despite extensive research on these systems, the temperature-dependence of chemical reactions between host rocks and aqueous-rich fluids and the mineralogical transformations resulting from these reactions are not well
Authors
Jeffery T. Cullen, Shaul Hurwitz, Jaime D. Barnes, John C. Lassiter, Sarah Penniston-Dorland, Simone Kasemann, James Thordsen

Reactivity of As and U co-occurring in mine wastes in northeastern Arizona

The reactivity of co-occurring arsenic (As) and uranium (U) in mine wastes was investigated using batch reactors, microscopy, spectroscopy, and aqueous chemistry. Analyses of field samples collected in proximity to mine wastes in northeastern Arizona confirm the presence of As and U in soils and surrounding waters, as reported in a previous study from our research group. In this study, we measured
Authors
Johanna Blake, Sumant Avasarala, Abdul-Mehdi Ali, Michael Spilde, Juan S Lezama-Pacheco, Drew Latta, Kateryna Artyushkova, Anastasia G Ilgen, Christopher Shuey, Christopher Nez, Jose M Cerrato

Assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations in southern Lake Powell, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona and Utah, 2016–17

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon contamination related to boat use is one of the most important water-quality issues affecting Lake Powell. High concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water are common around marinas and other areas with extensive motorboat activity because of releases of uncombusted or partially combusted oil and gasoline from boat engines. The fate of these compound
Authors
Alissa L. Coes, Nicholas V. Paretti, David A. Alvarez, Jamie P. Macy

Widespread diminishing anthropogenic effects on calcium in freshwaters

Calcium (Ca) is an essential element for almost all living organisms. Here, we examined global variation and controls of freshwater Ca concentrations, using 440 599 water samples from 43 184 inland water sites in 57 countries. We found that the global median Ca concentration was 4.0 mg L−1 with 20.7% of the water samples showing Ca concentrations ≤ 1.5 mg L−1, a threshold considered critical for t
Authors
Gesa A. Weyhenmeyer, Jens Hartmann, Dag O. Hessen, Jiří Kopáček, Josef Hejzlar, Stéphan Jacquet, Stephen K. Hamilton, Piet Verburg, Taylor H. Leach, Martin Schmid, Giovanna Flaim, Tiina Nõges, Peeter Nõges, Valerie C. Wentzky, Michela Rogora, James A. Rusak, Sarian Kosten, Andrew M. Paterson, Katrin Teubner, Scott N. Higgins, Gregory B. Lawrence, Külli Kangur, Ilga Kokorite, Leonardo Cerasino, Clara Funk, Rebecca G. Harvey, Florentina Moatar, Heleen de Wit, Thomas Zechmeister

Glacially-induced hydromechanical coupling in shale may have caused underpressured water in the eastern Michigan Basin despite the possible presence of gas phase methane

When glacial cycles occur above low-permeability geologic formations, such as the shale and limestone units being considered for nuclear waste disposal in Canada, pressures may differ greatly from normal hydrostatic conditions. Although shale also often has the propensity to generate separate phase fluids like natural gas, it is largely uncertain how the processes that control this behavior might
Authors
Michelle R. Plampin

Northern forest winters have lost cold, snowy conditions that are important for ecosystems and human communities

Winter is an understudied but key period for the socio-ecological systems of northeastern North American forests. A growing awareness of the importance of the winter season to forest ecosystems and surrounding communities has inspired several decades of research, both across the northern forest and at other mid- and high-latitude ecosystems around the globe. Despite these efforts, we lack a synthe
Authors
Alexandra R Contosta, Nora J. Casson, Sarah Garlick, Sarah J. Nelson, Matthew P Ayers, Elizabet A Buralkowski, John Campbell, Irean Creed, Catharine Eimers, Celia Evans, Ivan Fernandez, Collin Fuss, Thomas G. Huntington, Kaizad Pate, Rebecca Sanders-DeMott, Kyongo Son, Pamela H. Templer, Darren Thornbrugh

Triangle area water supply monitoring project, North Carolina-Summary of monitoring activities, quality assurance, and data, October 2015–September 2017

Surface-water supplies are important sources of drinking water for residents in the Triangle area of North Carolina, which is located within the upper Cape Fear and Neuse River Basins. Since 1988, the U.S. Geological Survey and a consortium of local governments have tracked water-quality conditions and trends in several of the area’s water-supply lakes and streams. This report summarizes data coll
Authors
Cassandra A. Pfeifle, Jessica L. Cain, Ryan B. Rasmussen

Estimating minimum streamflow from measurements at ungauged sites in regions with streamflow‐gauging networks

Estimation of low flows in rivers continues to be a vexing problem despite advances in statistical and process‐based hydrological models. We develop a method to estimate minimum streamflow at seasonal to annual timescales from measured streamflow based on regional similarity in the deviations of daily streamflow from minimum streamflow for a period of interest. The method is applied to 1,019 gauge
Authors
Christopher P. Konrad

In situ benthic nutrient flux and sediment oxygen demand in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, measured sediment oxygen demand (SOD) and benthic nutrient fluxes throughout Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. SOD was determined in situ using chambers equipped with optical dissolved oxygen sensors. The benthic nutrient fluxes of ammonia (NH3), nitrite + nitrate (plus ions; here, referred to as NO32),
Authors
Timothy P. Wilson, Vincent T. DePaul