Publications

Fish morbidity and mortality events in Chesapeake Bay tributaries have aroused concern over the health of this important aquatic ecosystem. We applied a recently described method for quantifying mRNA of an immunosuppressive cytokine, transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), by reverse transcription quantitative-competitive polymerase chain reaction to a field study of fish health in the...

Trends in nutrient loads and flow-adjusted concentrations in the major rivers entering Chesapeake Bay were computed on the basis of water-quality data collected between 1985 and 1998 at 29 monitoring stations in the Susquehanna, Potomac, James, Rappahannock, York, Patuxent, and Choptank River Basins. Two computer models-the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Model (WSM) and the U.S. Geological...

The effects of agriculture on the isotope geochemistry of Sr were investigated in two small watersheds in the Atlantic coastal plain of Maryland. Stratified shallow oxic groundwaters in both watersheds contained a retrievable record of increasing recharge rates of chemicals including NO3−, Cl, Mg, Ca and Sr that were correlated with increasing fertilizer use between about 1940 and 1990...

Generalized lithology (rock type) and physiography based on geologic formations were used to characterize hydrgeomorphic regions (HGMR) within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These HGMRs were used in conjunction with existing data to assess the significance of ground-water discharge as a source of nitrate load to nontidal streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (Bachman and others, 1998)...

Environmentally sensitive benthic foraminifera (protists) from Chesapeake Bay were used as bioindicators to estimate the timing and degree of changes in dissolved oxygen (DO) over the past five centuries. Living foraminifers from 19 surface samples and fossil assemblages from 11 sediment cores dated by210Pb,137Cs,14C, and pollen stratigraphy were analyzed from the tidal portions of the...

Riverine fluxes of several pesticides and other organic contaminants from above the fall line of the Susquehanna River basin to northern Chesapeake Bay, USA, were quantified in 1994. Base flow and storm flow samples collected at the fall line of the river from February to December 1994 were analyzed for both dissolved and particulate phase contaminants. Measured concentrations of the

Because the isotopic composition of anthropogenic Os is normally distinctive in comparison to continental crust and is precisely measurable, this platinum-group element is attractive as a tracer of transport pathways for contaminated sediments in estuaries. Evidence herein and elsewhere suggest that biomedical research institutions are the chief source of anthropogenic Os. In the...

This document describes the suite of biological methods of the U.S. Geological Survey- Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends program for monitoring chemical contaminants and their effects on fish. The methods, which were selected by panels of experts, are being field-tested in rivers of the Mississippi River, Columbia River, and Rio Grande basins. General health biomarkers...

The Chesapeake Bay Program has identified habitat requirements for the restoration of submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) in the Chesapeake Bay estuary and tidal reaches of contributing river systems conditioned on the salinity regime of a specific location. The tidal Potomac River and Potomac Estuary is an important component of the Chesapeake Bay system to which these requirements can...

Digital data sets were compiled by the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) and used as input for a collection of Spatially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes for the Chesapeake Bay region. These regressions relate streamwater loads to nutrient sources and the factors that affect the transport of these nutrients throughout the watershed. A digital segmented network based on...

Processing of 20 seismic profiles acquired in the Chesapeake Bay area aided in analysis of the details of an impact structure and allowed more accurate mapping of the depression caused by a bolide impact. Particular emphasis was placed on enhancement of seismic reflections from the basement. Application of wavelet deconvolution after a second zero-crossing predictive deconvolution...

This report documents the highly variable structure, stratigraphy, and buried topography of the outer rim of the Chesapeake Bay impact crater created by its impact and burial. Lithologies of cores are correlated with borehole geophysical logs to characterize the physical properties of the stratigraphic units and their geophysical signatures. The correlation between cores, well cuttings...