Mark Marvin-DiPasquale, PhD
Dr. Marvin-DiPasquale is a Research Microbiologist for the USGS Water Resources Mission Area.
A native of Rochester NY, Dr. Marvin-DiPasquale is Project Chief in the Water Mission Area (WMA) Earth System Processes Division (ESPD). He is the science lead of the "Microbial Biogeochemistry” workgroup and the project manager of the WMA "Proxies Project". He completed a B.S. in Chemistry at SUNY StonyBrook in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1995 from University of Maryland, Marine and Estuarine Environmental Science Program, with a focus on the microbial ecology of Chesapeake Bay sediments. He began a career at USGS (Menlo Park, CA) as a ‘National Research Council’ post-doc in 1995, and became a Project Chief in 2004. During much of his USGS tenure, his research focus has been on mercury cycling in various ecosystems, including: the San Francisco Bay watershed and associated mining areas throughout CA; FL Everglades; Carson River, NV (mercury Superfund site); coastal Louisiana; Patagonia region of Argentina; Puget Sound, WA; USGS-NAWQA and USGS-WEBB Study Units in OR, FL, WI, SC, NY, CO, GA, PR, and VT.
Research Interests: microbial ecology, biogeochemistry, estuarine and freshwater ecology, mercury and other trace metal biogoechemistry
Professional Experience
Project Chief, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park and Moffett Field, CA, 2004-present.
Research Microbiologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park and Moffett Field, CA, 1998-present
National Research Council Associate, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA, 1995-1998.
Education and Certifications
University of Maryland, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Solomons, MD. 1987-95. Ph.D., Marine and Estuarine Environmental Sciences. Research Focus: Aquatic Microbial Ecology and Biogeochemistry
State University of N.Y., Stony Brook, NY. 1985‑87. B.S., Chemistry.
Affiliations and Memberships*
American Chemical Society
American Geophysical Union
American Society of Limnology and Oceanography
American Society for Microbiology
California Estuarine Research Society
Estuarine Research Federation
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 30
Mercury concentration data for soil, surface water and rice grain from six commercial rice growing fields in the Sacramento Valley of California (USA)
Mercury (Hg) is a well-known toxic element and environmental contaminant. The central valley of California has long been identified as a hotspot for Hg contamination due to the historic mining of Hg in the California coast range, and its use in the mining of gold in the Sierra Nevada, with these mountainous regions bordering the east and the west of the valley, respectively. While the...
High resolution and discrete temporal and spatial water-quality measurements in support of modeling mercury and methylmercury concentrations in surface waters of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta
The Sacramento / San Joaquin River Delta (SSJRD) is contaminated with legacy mercury (Hg) from historical mining and mineral processing activities throughout the watershed, as well as from contemporary atmospheric and industrial inputs. The current project was designed for the purpose of developing high-resolution spatial and temporal models for estimating concentrations of mercury...
Concentration Data for 12 Elements of Concern Used in the Development of Surrogate Models for Estimating Elemental Concentrations in Surface Water of Three Hydrologic Basins (Delaware River, Illinois River and Upper Colorado River)
The release of metals (or metalloids) to surface water can involve both natural and anthropogenic sources. Elevated metals concentrations can pose a risk to human health, wildlife, and ecosystem health, with the modes of toxicity and extent of risk varying as a function of the specific metal, its chemical form and the matrix with which it is associated (for example, dissolved versus...
Mercury speciation and other constituent data for surface water and bed sediment associated with the Hamilton Airfield Wetland Restoration, Novato, California. USA (ver. 6.0, April 2025)
The Hamilton Wetland Restoration Project (HWRP) is a joint venture between the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE; San Francisco District) and the California State Coastal Conservancy. The site is located on the property of the former Hamilton Army Airfield in Novato, California, along the western edge of San Pablo Bay, which is part of northern San Francisco Bay. The initial stages of...
Geochemistry Data for Wastewater Samples Collected at a Separator Tank and from an On-Site Storage Tank at the Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory (MSEEL) 2015-2019, Morgantown Industrial Park (MIP), West Virginia (ver. 2.0, May 2023)
This U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Data Release is focused on the geochemistry of wastewater (including flowback and produced water) samples, co-produced with natural gas, collected from the Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory (MSEEL) site. MSEEL is a long-term field site and laboratory at the Northeast Natural Energy LLC (NNE) production facility, adjacent to the...
Geochemical data including mercury for subsamples of deep cores from the Cache Creek Settling Basin, Yolo County, California
Sediment cores were collected in the Cache Creek Settling Basin (CCSB), Yolo County, California, during October 2011 at 10 locations (borehole sites) and during August 2012 at 5 other locations. Total core depths ranged from approximately 4.6 to 13.7 meters (15 to 45 feet), with penetration to about 9.1 meters (30 feet) at most locations. Detailed subsampling (3-centimeter intervals) was...
The Geochemistry of Mercury and Other Constituents in Redox Manipulated Sediment cores from Clear Lake, Lake County, California
Clear Lake, located within the Coast Range west of California's Central Valley, is the largest natural freshwater lake contained fully within the state and geologically is considered to be the oldest lake in North America. Clear Lake is popular for recreation and provides critical habitat to a wide variety of fish and bird species. Water quality in Clear Lake is degraded by both by...
Shallow Sediment Geochemistry in a Mercury-Contaminated Multi-Habitat Floodplain: Cache Creek Settling Basin, Yolo County, California (version 2.0, August 2021)
The Cache Creek Settling Basin (CCSB) is a 13.3 km2 leveed basin located at the terminal drainage of the Cache Creek watershed, immediately NE of the town of Woodland (Yolo County), California and approximately 18 km NW of Sacramento, California. The basin was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (completed in 1937 and modified in 1993) for the purpose of trapping suspended...
Mercury speciation and other constituent data for surface water and bed sediment associated with the Hamilton Airfield Wetland Restoration, Novato, California. USA (ver. 2.0, May 2021)
The Hamilton Wetland Restoration Project (HWRP) is a joint venture between the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE; San Francisco District) and the California State Coastal Conservancy. The site is located on the property of the former Hamilton Army Airfield in Novato, California, along the western edge of San Pablo Bay, which is part of northern San Francisco Bay. The initial stages of...
Chemical characterization of water and suspended sediment of the Snake River and Hells Canyon Complex (Idaho, Oregon) (ver. 3.0, November 2023)
This dataset includes laboratory analyses of surface water samples and sediment trap material collected from (1) locations upstream, downstream, and within the Hells Canyon Complex (Idaho, Oregon) of the Snake River, (2) tributaries of the Snake River, and (3) two reservoirs near Boise, Idaho, from 2014 to 2021. The study area spans approximately 232 river miles of the Snake River and...
The Measurement of Water Column Methylmercury Production Potential Rates in Four Oxygenated Reservoirs of the San Francisco Bay Watershed
Valley Water (formerly Santa Clara Valley Water District) provides stream stewardship, wholesale water supply, and flood protection for Santa Clara County, California, in the southern San Francisco Bay Area. A number of the reservoirs owned by the agency sit in the eastern foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains above the city of San Jose and in the watershed below the former New Almaden...
Sediment Biogeochemistry and Subsequent Mercury Biomagnification in Wetland Food Webs of the San Francisco Bay, CA (ver. 2.0, December 2023)
Methylmercury (MeHg) is a globally pervasive contaminant that biomagnifies in food webs and can reach toxic concentrations in consumers at higher trophic levels, including wildlife and humans. The production of MeHg, and its subsequent entry and biomagnification in food webs, is governed by a complex suite of biogeochemical, physical, and ecological processes, resulting in spatial...
Filter Total Items: 86
Human-induced and natural carbon storage in floodplains of the Central Valley of California
Active floodplains can putatively store large amounts of organic carbon (SOC) in subsoils originating from catchment erosion processes with subsequent floodplain deposition. Our study focussed on the assessment of SOC pools associated with alluvial floodplain soils that are affected by human-induced changes in floodplain deposition and in situ SOC mineralisation due to land use change...
Authors
Kristin Steger, Peter Fiener, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Joshua H. Viers, David R. Smart
Geochemical data for water, streambed sediment, and fish tissue from the Sierra Nevada Mercury Impairment Project, 2011–12
This report presents geochemical data for surface water, streambed sediment, and fish tissue samples collected during low-flow conditions in 20 to 24 Sierra Nevada streams during 2011 and 2012. The dataset is part of a larger study designed to assess the factors that control mercury concentrations in fish tissue and to develop a model that predicts mercury concentration in the tissue of...
Authors
Elizabeth B. Stumpner, Charles N. Alpers, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Jennifer L. Agee, Evangelos Kakouros, Michelle R. Arias, Le H. Kieu, David A. Roth, Darrell G. Slotton, Jacob Fleck
Mercury methylation and bioaccumulation in Sinclair Inlet, Kitsap County, Washington
The U.S. Geological Survey evaluated the transformation of mercury to bioavailable methylmercury in Sinclair Inlet, Kitsap County, Washington, and assessed the effect of the transformation processes on the mercury burden in marine organisms and sediment. In August 2008, samples of sediment, water, and biota from six sites in Sinclair Inlet and three bays representative of Puget Sound...
Authors
Anthony J. Paulson, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Patrick W. Moran, John F. DeWild, A. Robin Stewart, J. Toft, Jennifer L. Agee, Evangelos Kakouros, Le H. Kieu, B. Carter, Rich W. Sheibley, J. Cordell, David Krabbenhoft
Methylmercury dynamics in Upper Sacramento Valley rice fields with low background soil mercury levels
Few studies have considered how methylmercury (MeHg, a toxic form of Hg produced in anaerobic soils) production in rice (Oryza sativa L.) fields can affect water quality, and little is known about MeHg dynamics in rice fields. Surface water MeHg and total Hg (THg) imports, exports, and storage were studied in two commercial rice fields in the Sacramento Valley, California, where soil THg...
Authors
K. Christy Tanner, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Jacob Fleck, Kenneth W. Tate, Bruce A. Linquist
Mercury on a landscape scale—Balancing regional export with wildlife health
The Cosumnes River watershed requires a 57–64 percent reduction in loads to meet the new Delta methylmercury (MeHg) total maximum daily load allocation, established by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. Because there are no large point sources of MeHg in the watershed, the focus of MeHg load reductions will fall upon non-point sources, particularly the expansive...
Authors
Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Jacob Fleck, Josh T. Ackerman, Collin Eagles-Smith, Harry L. McQuillen
Alternate wetting and drying decreases methylmercury in flooded rice (Oryza sativa) systems
In flooded soils, including those found in rice (Oryza sativa L.) fields, microbes convert inorganic Hg to more toxic methylmercury (MeHg). Methylmercury is accumulated in rice grain, potentially affecting health. Methylmercury in rice field surface water can bioaccumulate in wildlife. We evaluated how introducing aerobic periods into an otherwise continuously flooded rice growing season...
Authors
K. Christy Tanner, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Jacob Fleck, Bruce A. Linquist
Geochemistry of mercury and other constituents in subsurface sediment—Analyses from 2011 and 2012 coring campaigns, Cache Creek Settling Basin, Yolo County, California
Cache Creek Settling Basin was constructed in 1937 to trap sediment from Cache Creek before delivery to the Yolo Bypass, a flood conveyance for the Sacramento River system that is tributary to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. Sediment management options being considered by stakeholders in the Cache Creek Settling Basin include sediment excavation; however, that could expose sediments...
Authors
Michelle R. Arias, Charles N. Alpers, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Christopher C. Fuller, Jennifer L. Agee, Michelle Sneed, Andrew Y. Morita, Antonia Salas
Long-term trends of surface-water mercury and methylmercury concentrations downstream of historic mining within the Carson River watershed
The Carson River is a vital water resource for local municipalities and migratory birds travelling the Pacific Flyway. Historic mining practices that used mercury (Hg) to extract gold from Comstock Lode ore has left much of the river system heavily contaminated with Hg, a practice that continues in many parts of the world today. Between 1998 and 2013, the United States Geological Survey...
Authors
Eric D. Morway, Carl E. Thodal, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale
Effect of salinity on mercury methylating benthic microbes and their activities in Great Salt Lake, Utah
Surface water and biota from Great Salt Lake (GSL) contain some of the highest documented concentrations of total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) in the United States. In order to identify potential biological sources of MeHg and controls on its production in this ecosystem, THg and MeHg concentrations, rates of Hg(II)-methylation and MeHg degradation, and abundances and...
Authors
Eric L. Boyd, Ri-Qing Yu, Tamar Barkay, Trinity L. Hamilton, Bonnie K. Baxter, David L. Naftz, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale
Prediction of fish and sediment mercury in streams using landscape variables and historical mining
Widespread mercury (Hg) contamination of aquatic systems in the Sierra Nevada of California, U.S., is associated with historical use to enhance gold (Au) recovery by amalgamation. In areas affected by historical Au mining operations, including the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and downstream areas in northern California, such as San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento River–San Joaquin...
Authors
Charles N. Alpers, Julie L. Yee, Josh T. Ackerman, James L. Orlando, Darrell G. Slotton, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale
Mercury and methylmercury in aquatic sediment across western North America
Large-scale assessments are valuable in identifying primary factors controlling total mercury (THg) and monomethyl mercury (MeHg) concentrations, and distribution in aquatic ecosystems. Bed sediment THg and MeHg concentrations were compiled for > 16,000 samples collected from aquatic habitats throughout the West between 1965 and 2013. The influence of aquatic feature type (canals...
Authors
Jacob Fleck, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Collin Eagles-Smith, Josh T. Ackerman, Michelle A. Lutz, Michael Tate, Charles N. Alpers, Britt D. Hall, David Krabbenhoft, Chris S. Eckley
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, California Water Science Center, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis, Upper Midwest Water Science Center, Mercury Research Laboratory
Mercury cycling in the Hells Canyon Complex of the Snake River, Idaho and Oregon
Introduction The Hells Canyon Complex (HCC) is a hydroelectric project built and operated by the Idaho Power Company (IPC) that consists of three dams on the Snake River along the Oregon and Idaho border (fig. 1). The dams have resulted in the creation of Brownlee, Oxbow, and Hells Canyon Reservoirs, which have a combined storage capacity of more than 1.5 million acre-feet and span about...
Authors
Gregory D. Clark, Jesse Naymik, David Krabbenhoft, Collin Eagles-Smith, George R. Aiken, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Reed C. Harris, Ralph Myers
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 30
Mercury concentration data for soil, surface water and rice grain from six commercial rice growing fields in the Sacramento Valley of California (USA)
Mercury (Hg) is a well-known toxic element and environmental contaminant. The central valley of California has long been identified as a hotspot for Hg contamination due to the historic mining of Hg in the California coast range, and its use in the mining of gold in the Sierra Nevada, with these mountainous regions bordering the east and the west of the valley, respectively. While the...
High resolution and discrete temporal and spatial water-quality measurements in support of modeling mercury and methylmercury concentrations in surface waters of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta
The Sacramento / San Joaquin River Delta (SSJRD) is contaminated with legacy mercury (Hg) from historical mining and mineral processing activities throughout the watershed, as well as from contemporary atmospheric and industrial inputs. The current project was designed for the purpose of developing high-resolution spatial and temporal models for estimating concentrations of mercury...
Concentration Data for 12 Elements of Concern Used in the Development of Surrogate Models for Estimating Elemental Concentrations in Surface Water of Three Hydrologic Basins (Delaware River, Illinois River and Upper Colorado River)
The release of metals (or metalloids) to surface water can involve both natural and anthropogenic sources. Elevated metals concentrations can pose a risk to human health, wildlife, and ecosystem health, with the modes of toxicity and extent of risk varying as a function of the specific metal, its chemical form and the matrix with which it is associated (for example, dissolved versus...
Mercury speciation and other constituent data for surface water and bed sediment associated with the Hamilton Airfield Wetland Restoration, Novato, California. USA (ver. 6.0, April 2025)
The Hamilton Wetland Restoration Project (HWRP) is a joint venture between the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE; San Francisco District) and the California State Coastal Conservancy. The site is located on the property of the former Hamilton Army Airfield in Novato, California, along the western edge of San Pablo Bay, which is part of northern San Francisco Bay. The initial stages of...
Geochemistry Data for Wastewater Samples Collected at a Separator Tank and from an On-Site Storage Tank at the Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory (MSEEL) 2015-2019, Morgantown Industrial Park (MIP), West Virginia (ver. 2.0, May 2023)
This U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Data Release is focused on the geochemistry of wastewater (including flowback and produced water) samples, co-produced with natural gas, collected from the Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory (MSEEL) site. MSEEL is a long-term field site and laboratory at the Northeast Natural Energy LLC (NNE) production facility, adjacent to the...
Geochemical data including mercury for subsamples of deep cores from the Cache Creek Settling Basin, Yolo County, California
Sediment cores were collected in the Cache Creek Settling Basin (CCSB), Yolo County, California, during October 2011 at 10 locations (borehole sites) and during August 2012 at 5 other locations. Total core depths ranged from approximately 4.6 to 13.7 meters (15 to 45 feet), with penetration to about 9.1 meters (30 feet) at most locations. Detailed subsampling (3-centimeter intervals) was...
The Geochemistry of Mercury and Other Constituents in Redox Manipulated Sediment cores from Clear Lake, Lake County, California
Clear Lake, located within the Coast Range west of California's Central Valley, is the largest natural freshwater lake contained fully within the state and geologically is considered to be the oldest lake in North America. Clear Lake is popular for recreation and provides critical habitat to a wide variety of fish and bird species. Water quality in Clear Lake is degraded by both by...
Shallow Sediment Geochemistry in a Mercury-Contaminated Multi-Habitat Floodplain: Cache Creek Settling Basin, Yolo County, California (version 2.0, August 2021)
The Cache Creek Settling Basin (CCSB) is a 13.3 km2 leveed basin located at the terminal drainage of the Cache Creek watershed, immediately NE of the town of Woodland (Yolo County), California and approximately 18 km NW of Sacramento, California. The basin was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (completed in 1937 and modified in 1993) for the purpose of trapping suspended...
Mercury speciation and other constituent data for surface water and bed sediment associated with the Hamilton Airfield Wetland Restoration, Novato, California. USA (ver. 2.0, May 2021)
The Hamilton Wetland Restoration Project (HWRP) is a joint venture between the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE; San Francisco District) and the California State Coastal Conservancy. The site is located on the property of the former Hamilton Army Airfield in Novato, California, along the western edge of San Pablo Bay, which is part of northern San Francisco Bay. The initial stages of...
Chemical characterization of water and suspended sediment of the Snake River and Hells Canyon Complex (Idaho, Oregon) (ver. 3.0, November 2023)
This dataset includes laboratory analyses of surface water samples and sediment trap material collected from (1) locations upstream, downstream, and within the Hells Canyon Complex (Idaho, Oregon) of the Snake River, (2) tributaries of the Snake River, and (3) two reservoirs near Boise, Idaho, from 2014 to 2021. The study area spans approximately 232 river miles of the Snake River and...
The Measurement of Water Column Methylmercury Production Potential Rates in Four Oxygenated Reservoirs of the San Francisco Bay Watershed
Valley Water (formerly Santa Clara Valley Water District) provides stream stewardship, wholesale water supply, and flood protection for Santa Clara County, California, in the southern San Francisco Bay Area. A number of the reservoirs owned by the agency sit in the eastern foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains above the city of San Jose and in the watershed below the former New Almaden...
Sediment Biogeochemistry and Subsequent Mercury Biomagnification in Wetland Food Webs of the San Francisco Bay, CA (ver. 2.0, December 2023)
Methylmercury (MeHg) is a globally pervasive contaminant that biomagnifies in food webs and can reach toxic concentrations in consumers at higher trophic levels, including wildlife and humans. The production of MeHg, and its subsequent entry and biomagnification in food webs, is governed by a complex suite of biogeochemical, physical, and ecological processes, resulting in spatial...
Filter Total Items: 86
Human-induced and natural carbon storage in floodplains of the Central Valley of California
Active floodplains can putatively store large amounts of organic carbon (SOC) in subsoils originating from catchment erosion processes with subsequent floodplain deposition. Our study focussed on the assessment of SOC pools associated with alluvial floodplain soils that are affected by human-induced changes in floodplain deposition and in situ SOC mineralisation due to land use change...
Authors
Kristin Steger, Peter Fiener, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Joshua H. Viers, David R. Smart
Geochemical data for water, streambed sediment, and fish tissue from the Sierra Nevada Mercury Impairment Project, 2011–12
This report presents geochemical data for surface water, streambed sediment, and fish tissue samples collected during low-flow conditions in 20 to 24 Sierra Nevada streams during 2011 and 2012. The dataset is part of a larger study designed to assess the factors that control mercury concentrations in fish tissue and to develop a model that predicts mercury concentration in the tissue of...
Authors
Elizabeth B. Stumpner, Charles N. Alpers, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Jennifer L. Agee, Evangelos Kakouros, Michelle R. Arias, Le H. Kieu, David A. Roth, Darrell G. Slotton, Jacob Fleck
Mercury methylation and bioaccumulation in Sinclair Inlet, Kitsap County, Washington
The U.S. Geological Survey evaluated the transformation of mercury to bioavailable methylmercury in Sinclair Inlet, Kitsap County, Washington, and assessed the effect of the transformation processes on the mercury burden in marine organisms and sediment. In August 2008, samples of sediment, water, and biota from six sites in Sinclair Inlet and three bays representative of Puget Sound...
Authors
Anthony J. Paulson, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Patrick W. Moran, John F. DeWild, A. Robin Stewart, J. Toft, Jennifer L. Agee, Evangelos Kakouros, Le H. Kieu, B. Carter, Rich W. Sheibley, J. Cordell, David Krabbenhoft
Methylmercury dynamics in Upper Sacramento Valley rice fields with low background soil mercury levels
Few studies have considered how methylmercury (MeHg, a toxic form of Hg produced in anaerobic soils) production in rice (Oryza sativa L.) fields can affect water quality, and little is known about MeHg dynamics in rice fields. Surface water MeHg and total Hg (THg) imports, exports, and storage were studied in two commercial rice fields in the Sacramento Valley, California, where soil THg...
Authors
K. Christy Tanner, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Jacob Fleck, Kenneth W. Tate, Bruce A. Linquist
Mercury on a landscape scale—Balancing regional export with wildlife health
The Cosumnes River watershed requires a 57–64 percent reduction in loads to meet the new Delta methylmercury (MeHg) total maximum daily load allocation, established by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. Because there are no large point sources of MeHg in the watershed, the focus of MeHg load reductions will fall upon non-point sources, particularly the expansive...
Authors
Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Jacob Fleck, Josh T. Ackerman, Collin Eagles-Smith, Harry L. McQuillen
Alternate wetting and drying decreases methylmercury in flooded rice (Oryza sativa) systems
In flooded soils, including those found in rice (Oryza sativa L.) fields, microbes convert inorganic Hg to more toxic methylmercury (MeHg). Methylmercury is accumulated in rice grain, potentially affecting health. Methylmercury in rice field surface water can bioaccumulate in wildlife. We evaluated how introducing aerobic periods into an otherwise continuously flooded rice growing season...
Authors
K. Christy Tanner, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Jacob Fleck, Bruce A. Linquist
Geochemistry of mercury and other constituents in subsurface sediment—Analyses from 2011 and 2012 coring campaigns, Cache Creek Settling Basin, Yolo County, California
Cache Creek Settling Basin was constructed in 1937 to trap sediment from Cache Creek before delivery to the Yolo Bypass, a flood conveyance for the Sacramento River system that is tributary to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. Sediment management options being considered by stakeholders in the Cache Creek Settling Basin include sediment excavation; however, that could expose sediments...
Authors
Michelle R. Arias, Charles N. Alpers, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Christopher C. Fuller, Jennifer L. Agee, Michelle Sneed, Andrew Y. Morita, Antonia Salas
Long-term trends of surface-water mercury and methylmercury concentrations downstream of historic mining within the Carson River watershed
The Carson River is a vital water resource for local municipalities and migratory birds travelling the Pacific Flyway. Historic mining practices that used mercury (Hg) to extract gold from Comstock Lode ore has left much of the river system heavily contaminated with Hg, a practice that continues in many parts of the world today. Between 1998 and 2013, the United States Geological Survey...
Authors
Eric D. Morway, Carl E. Thodal, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale
Effect of salinity on mercury methylating benthic microbes and their activities in Great Salt Lake, Utah
Surface water and biota from Great Salt Lake (GSL) contain some of the highest documented concentrations of total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) in the United States. In order to identify potential biological sources of MeHg and controls on its production in this ecosystem, THg and MeHg concentrations, rates of Hg(II)-methylation and MeHg degradation, and abundances and...
Authors
Eric L. Boyd, Ri-Qing Yu, Tamar Barkay, Trinity L. Hamilton, Bonnie K. Baxter, David L. Naftz, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale
Prediction of fish and sediment mercury in streams using landscape variables and historical mining
Widespread mercury (Hg) contamination of aquatic systems in the Sierra Nevada of California, U.S., is associated with historical use to enhance gold (Au) recovery by amalgamation. In areas affected by historical Au mining operations, including the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and downstream areas in northern California, such as San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento River–San Joaquin...
Authors
Charles N. Alpers, Julie L. Yee, Josh T. Ackerman, James L. Orlando, Darrell G. Slotton, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale
Mercury and methylmercury in aquatic sediment across western North America
Large-scale assessments are valuable in identifying primary factors controlling total mercury (THg) and monomethyl mercury (MeHg) concentrations, and distribution in aquatic ecosystems. Bed sediment THg and MeHg concentrations were compiled for > 16,000 samples collected from aquatic habitats throughout the West between 1965 and 2013. The influence of aquatic feature type (canals...
Authors
Jacob Fleck, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Collin Eagles-Smith, Josh T. Ackerman, Michelle A. Lutz, Michael Tate, Charles N. Alpers, Britt D. Hall, David Krabbenhoft, Chris S. Eckley
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, California Water Science Center, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis, Upper Midwest Water Science Center, Mercury Research Laboratory
Mercury cycling in the Hells Canyon Complex of the Snake River, Idaho and Oregon
Introduction The Hells Canyon Complex (HCC) is a hydroelectric project built and operated by the Idaho Power Company (IPC) that consists of three dams on the Snake River along the Oregon and Idaho border (fig. 1). The dams have resulted in the creation of Brownlee, Oxbow, and Hells Canyon Reservoirs, which have a combined storage capacity of more than 1.5 million acre-feet and span about...
Authors
Gregory D. Clark, Jesse Naymik, David Krabbenhoft, Collin Eagles-Smith, George R. Aiken, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Reed C. Harris, Ralph Myers
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government