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: 18464
Nearshore sediment monitoring for the Stormwater Action Monitoring (SAM) Program, Puget Sound, western Washington
Chemicals such as metals and organics (polychlorinated biphenyl [PCBs], polybrominated diphenyl ethers [PBDEs], polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [PAHs], and phthalates) continue to enter Puget Sound, western Washington, from point sources (such as industrial and municipal outfalls) and combined sewer outfalls and non-point sources (such as stormwater runoff). Runoff during storm events has been id
Authors
Robert W. Black, Abby Barnes, Colin Elliot, Jennifer Lanksbury
Estimates of water use and trends in the Colorado River Basin, Southwestern United States, 1985–2010
The Colorado River Basin (CRB) drains 246,000 square miles and includes parts of California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, and all of Arizona (Basin States). This report contains water-use estimates by category of use for drainage basins (Hydrologic Unit Code 8; HUC‑8) within the CRB from 1985 to 2010, at 5-year intervals. Estimates for public supply, domestic, commercial, indus
Authors
Molly A. Maupin, Tamara I. Ivahnenko, Breton Bruce
Acetylenotrophy: A hidden but ubiquitous microbial metabolism?
Acetylene (IUPAC name: ethyne) is a colorless, gaseous hydrocarbon, composed of two triple bonded carbon atoms attached to hydrogens (C2H2). When microbiologists and biogeochemists think of acetylene, they immediately think of its use as an inhibitory compound of certain microbial processes and a tracer for nitrogen fixation. However, what is less widely known is that anaerobic and aerobic microor
Authors
Denise M. Akob, John M. Sutton, Janna L. Fierst, Karl B. Haase, Shaun Baesman, George Luther, Laurence G. Miller, Ronald S. Oremland
Environmentally relevant chemical mixtures of concern in waters of United States tributaries to the Great Lakes
The North American Great Lakes are a vital natural resource that provide fish and wildlife habitat, as well as drinking water and waste assimilation services for millions of people. Tributaries to the Great Lakes receive chemical inputs from various point and nonpoint sources, and thus are expected to have complex mixtures of chemicals. However, our understanding of the co‐occurrence of specific c
Authors
Sarah M. Elliott, Mark E. Brigham, Richard L. Kiesling, Heiko L. Schoenfuss, Zachary G. Jorgenson
Extraction and development of inset models in support of groundwater age calculations for glacial aquifers
The U.S. Geological Survey developed a regional model of Lake Michigan Basin (LMB). This report describes the construction of five MODFLOW inset models extracted from the LMB regional model and their application using the particle-tracking code MODPATH to simulate the groundwater age distribution of discharge to wells pumping from glacial deposits. The five study areas of the inset model correspon
Authors
Daniel T. Feinstein, Leon J. Kauffman, Megan J. Haserodt, Brian R. Clark, Paul F. Juckem
Tracing enhanced oil recovery signatures in casing gases from the Lost Hills oil field using noble gases
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and hydraulic fracturing practices are commonly used methods to improve hydrocarbon extraction efficiency; however the environmental impacts of such practices remain poorly understood. EOR is particularly prevalent in oil fields throughout California where water resources are in high demand and disposal of high volumes of produced water may affect groundwater quality. C
Authors
Peter H. Barry, Justin T. Kulongoski, Matthew K. Landon, R. L. Tyne, Janice M. Gillespie, Michael J. Stephens, D.J. Hillegonds, D.J. Byrne, C.J. Ballentine
Sediment supply to San Francisco Bay, water years 1995 through 2016: Data, trends, and monitoring recommendations to support decisions about water quality, tidal wetlands, and resilience to sea level rise
Knowledge of the status and trends of sediment supply to San Francisco Bay is critically
important for management decisions about dredging, marsh restoration, flood control,
contaminants, water clarity (in relation to primary production), and sea level rise. Several sitespecific
studies of sediment supply to San Francisco Bay have been conducted, but no synthesis
of recent studies is available. Th
Authors
David H. Schoellhamer, Lester McKee, Sarah Pearce, Pete Kauhanen, Micha Saloman, Scott Dusterhoff, J. Letitia Grenier, Mathieu D. Marineau, Philip Trowbridge
Arsenic geochemistry of alluvial sediments and pore waters affected by mine tailings along the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne River floodplains
Gold mining operations in the northern Black Hills of South Dakota resulted in the discharge of arsenopyrite-bearing mine tailings into Whitewood Creek from 1876 to 1977. Those tailings were transported further downstream along the Belle Fourche River, the Cheyenne River, and the Missouri River. An estimated 110 million metric tons of tailings remain stored in alluvial deposits of the Belle Fourch
Authors
Bryce D. Pfeifle, John F. Stamm, James J. Stone
Stability of mercury concentration measurements in archived soil and peat samples
Archived soil samples can provide important information on the history of environmental contamination and by comparison with recently collected samples, temporal trends can be inferred. Little previous work has addressed whether mercury (Hg) concentrations in soil samples are stable with long-term storage under standard laboratory conditions. In this study, we have re-analyzed using cold vapor ato
Authors
Tomáš Navrátil, Douglas A. Burns, Tereza Nováková, Jiří Kaňa, Jan Rohovec, Michal Roll, Vojtěch Ettler
Response of mercury in an Adirondack (NY, USA) forest stream to watershed lime application
Surface waters in Europe and North America previously impacted by acid deposition are recovering in conjunction with declining precursor emissions since the 1980s. Lime has been applied to some impacted watersheds to accelerate recovery. The response to liming can be considered a proxy for future recovery from acid deposition. Increases in dissolved organic carbon concentrations have been observed
Authors
Geoffrey D. Millard, Charles T. Driscoll, Douglas A. Burns, Mario R. Montesdeoca, Karen Riva-Murray
Shoreline erosion at selected areas along Lake Sharpe on the Lower Brule Reservation in South Dakota, 1966–2015
The Lower Brule Reservation in central South Dakota is losing land because of shoreline erosion along Lake Sharpe, a reservoir on the Missouri River, which has caused detrimental effects for the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe including losses of cultural sites, recreation access points, wildlife habitat, irrigated cropland, and landmass. To better understand and quantify shoreline erosion, the Lower Brul
Authors
Ryan F. Thompson, John F. Stamm
Origin of methane and sources of high concentrations in Los Angeles groundwater
In 2014, samples from 37 monitoring wells at 17 locations, within or near oil fields, and one site >5 km from oil fields, in the Los Angeles Basin, California, were analyzed for dissolved hydrocarbon gas isotopes and abundances. The wells sample a variety of depths of an aquifer system composed of unconsolidated and semiconsolidated sediments under various conditions of confinement. Concentrations
Authors
Justin T. Kulongoski, Peter B. McMahon, Michael Land, Michael Wright, Theodore Johnson, Matthew K. Landon