Publications
The following list of California Water Science Center publications includes both official USGS publications and journal articles authored by our scientists.
Filter Total Items: 1811
Observations of the spawning ecology of the imperiled Clear Lake Hitch Lavinia exilicauda chi Observations of the spawning ecology of the imperiled Clear Lake Hitch Lavinia exilicauda chi
Migrations for the purposes of reproduction are widely documented across the animal kingdom and are particularly common in fishes and other aquatic organisms (Dingle 2014). One important migration strategy in fishes is potamodromy, which is the movement from one location to another entirely within freshwater (Morais and Daverat 2016). Thurow (2016) estimated that worldwide there are
Authors
Frederick V. Feyrer
History and sources of co-occurring pesticides in an abstraction well unravelled by age distributions of depth specific groundwater samples History and sources of co-occurring pesticides in an abstraction well unravelled by age distributions of depth specific groundwater samples
When groundwater-based drinking water supply becomes contaminated, the timing and source of contamination are obvious questions. However, contaminants often have diffuse sources and different contaminants may have different sources even in a single groundwater well, making these questions complicated to answer. Age dating of groundwater has been used to reconstruct contaminant travel...
Authors
Rasmus Jakobsen, Klaus Hinsby, Jens Aamand, Peter van der Keur, Jacob Kidmose, Roland Purtschert, Bryant Jurgens, Jurgen Sultenfuss, Christian N. Albers
Review of and recommendations for monitoring contaminants and their effects in the San Francisco Bay−Delta Review of and recommendations for monitoring contaminants and their effects in the San Francisco Bay−Delta
Legacy and current-use contaminants enter into and accumulate throughout the San Francisco Bay−Delta (Bay−Delta), and are present at concentrations with known effects on species important to this diverse watershed. There remains major uncertainty and a lack of focused research able to address and provide understanding of effects across multiple biological scales, despite previous and...
Authors
Richard E Connon, Simone Hasenbein, Susanne M. Brander, Helen C. Poynton, Erika B Holland, Daniel Schlenk, James Orlando, Michelle L. Hladik, Tracy K. Collier, Nathaniel L Scholz, John P Incardona, Nancy D. Denslow, Amro Hamdoun, Sascha Nicklisch, Natalia Garcia-Reyero, Edward J. Perkins, Evan P Gallagher, Xin Deng, Dan Wang, Stephanie Fong, Richard S Breuer, Mehrdad Hajibabei, James B Brown, John K Colbourne, Thomas M Young, Gary Cherr, Andrew Whitehead, Anne E. Todgham
Near-field receiving-water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in south San Francisco Bay, California—2018 Near-field receiving-water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in south San Francisco Bay, California—2018
Trace-metal concentrations in sediment and in the clam Macoma petalum (formerly reported as Macoma balthica), clam reproductive activity, and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure were investigated in a mudflat 1 kilometer south of the discharge of the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (PARWQCP) in south San Francisco Bay, Calif. This report includes the data...
Authors
Daniel J. Cain, Janet K. Thompson, Francis Parchaso, Sarah Pearson, Robin Stewart, Matthew A. Turner, Kelly H. Shrader, Emily L. Zierdt Smith, Samuel N. Luoma
Summary of hydrologic testing, wellbore-flow data, and expanded water-level and water-quality data, 2011–15, Fort Irwin National Training Center, San Bernardino County, California Summary of hydrologic testing, wellbore-flow data, and expanded water-level and water-quality data, 2011–15, Fort Irwin National Training Center, San Bernardino County, California
In view of the U.S. Army’s historical reliance and plans to increase demands on groundwater to supply its operations at Fort Irwin National Training Center (NTC), California, coupled with the continuing water-level declines in some developed groundwater basins as a result of pumping, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Army, evaluated the water resources...
Authors
Joseph M. Nawikas, Jill N. Densmore, David R. O'Leary, David C. Buesch, John A. Izbicki
Quantifying the eroded and deposited mass of mercury-contaminated sediment by using terrestrial laser scanning at the confluence of Humbug Creek and the South Yuba River, Nevada County, California, 2011–13 Quantifying the eroded and deposited mass of mercury-contaminated sediment by using terrestrial laser scanning at the confluence of Humbug Creek and the South Yuba River, Nevada County, California, 2011–13
High-resolution, terrestrial laser scanning, also known as ground-based lidar (light detection and ranging), was used to quantify the volume of mercury-contaminated sediment eroded from an outcrop of historical placer-mining debris at the confluence of Humbug Creek and the South Yuba River in the Sierra Nevada foothills, about 17 kilometers northeast of Grass Valley, California, and...
Authors
James F. Howle, Charles N. Alpers, Jeffrey Kitchen, Gerald W. Bawden, Sandra Bond
The use of stable isotope-based water age to evaluate a hydrodynamic model The use of stable isotope-based water age to evaluate a hydrodynamic model
Transport time scales are common metrics of the strength of transport processes. Water age is the time elapsed since water from a specific source has entered a study area. An observational method to estimate water age relies on the progressive concentration of the heavier isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen in water that occurs during evaporation. The isotopic composition is used to derive...
Authors
Edward Gross, Stephen Andrews, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Bryan D. Downing, Rusty Holleman, Scott Burdick, John Durand
A novel method for the extraction, purification and characterization of noble gases in produced fluids A novel method for the extraction, purification and characterization of noble gases in produced fluids
Hydrocarbon systems with declining or viscous oil production are often stimulated using enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques, such as the injection of water, steam and CO2, in order to increase oil and gas production. As EOR and other methods of enhancing production such as hydraulic fracturing have become more prevalent, environmental concerns about the impact of both new and...
Authors
Rebecca L. Tyne, Peter H Barry, D J Hillegonds, Andrew G. Hunt, Justin T. Kulongoski, Michael J. Stephens, D.J. Byrne, C. J. Ballentine
PFHydro: A new watershed-scale model for post-fire runoff simulation PFHydro: A new watershed-scale model for post-fire runoff simulation
Runoff increases after wildfires that burn vegetation and create a condition of soil-water repellence (SWR). A new post-fire watershed hydrological model, PFHydro, was created to explicitly simulate vegetation interception and SWR effects for four burn severity categories: high, medium, low severity and unburned. The model was applied to simulate post-fire runoff from the Upper Cache...
Authors
Jun Wang, Michelle A. Stern, Vanessa M. King, Charles N. Alpers, Nigel W. T. Quinn, Alan L. Flint, Lorraine E. Flint
Dissolved oxygen controls summer habitat of Clear Lake Hitch (Lavinia exilicauda chi), an imperilled potamodromous cyprinid Dissolved oxygen controls summer habitat of Clear Lake Hitch (Lavinia exilicauda chi), an imperilled potamodromous cyprinid
The Clear Lake Hitch is an imperiled minnow endemic to Clear Lake, Lake County, California, USA that is listed as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act (ESA) and is a candidate for listing under the United States ESA. It exhibits a potamodromous life cycle whereby adults, which reach up to 6+ years in age and over 350 mm in length, migrate into Clear Lake’s ephemeral...
Authors
Frederick V. Feyrer, Matt Young, Oliver Patton, David E. Ayers
Anthropogenic and geologic causes of anomalously high uranium concentrations in groundwater used for drinking water supply in the southeastern San Joaquin Valley, CA Anthropogenic and geologic causes of anomalously high uranium concentrations in groundwater used for drinking water supply in the southeastern San Joaquin Valley, CA
Concentrations of uranium (U) >30 µg/L in groundwater are relatively uncommon in drinking water in the United States but can be of concern in those areas where complex interactions of aquifer materials and anthropogenic alterations of the natural flow regime mobilize uranium. High concentrations (>30 µg/L) of U in the southeastern San Joaquin Valley, California, USA, have been detected...
Authors
Michael R. Rosen, Karen R. Burow, Miranda Fram
Scenarios of climate adaptation potential on protected working lands from management of soils Scenarios of climate adaptation potential on protected working lands from management of soils
Management of protected lands may enhance ecosystem services that conservation programs were designed to protect. Practices that build soil organic matter (SOM) on agricultural lands also increase soil water holding capacity, potentially reducing climatic water deficit (CWD), increasing actual evapotranspiration (AET) and increasing groundwater recharge (RCH). We developed nine spatially...
Authors
Kristin B. Byrd, P. Alvarez, Benjamin Sleeter, Lorraine E. Flint, D. Richard Cameron, J. Creque