Publications
This list of New Mexico Water Science Center publications spans from 1961 to the present. It includes both official USGS publications and journal articles authored by our scientists.
Filter Total Items: 349
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances in groundwater used as a source of drinking water in the eastern United States
In 2019, 254 samples were collected from five aquifer systems to evaluate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) occurrence in groundwater used as a source of drinking water in the eastern United States. The samples were analyzed for 24 PFAS, major ions, nutrients, trace elements, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), pharmaceuticals, and tritium. Fourteen of the 24
Authors
Peter B. McMahon, Andrea K. Tokranov, Laura M. Bexfield, Bruce D. Lindsey, Tyler D. Johnson, Melissa Lombard, Elise Watson
Enhanced bioremediation of RDX and co-contaminants perchlorate and nitrate using an anaerobic dehalogenating consortium in a fractured rock aquifer
The potential neurotoxic and carcinogenic effects of the explosives compound RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine) on human health requires groundwater remediation strategies to meet low cleanup goals. Bioremediation of RDX is feasible through biostimulation of native microbes with an organic carbon donor but may be less efficient, or not occur at all, in the presence of the common co-cont
Authors
Michelle Lorah, Eric Vogler, Fredrick E. Gebhardt, Duane Graves, Jennifer Grabowski
Mesilla / Conejos-Médanos Basin: U.S.-Mexico transboundary water resources and research needs
Synthesizing binational data to characterize shared water resources is critical to informing binational management. This work uses binational hydrogeology and water resource data in the Mesilla/Conejos-Médanos Basin (Basin) to describe the hydrologic conceptual model and identify potential research that could help inform sustainable management. The Basin aquifer is primarily composed of continuous
Authors
Andrew J. Robertson, Anne-Marie Matherne, Jeff D. Pepin, Andre B. Ritchie, Donald S. Sweetkind, Andrew Teeple, Alfredo Granados Olivas, Ana Cristina García Vásquez, Kenneth C. Carroll, Erek H. Fuchs, Amy E. Galanter
Salinity contributions from geothermal waters to the Rio Grande and shallow aquifer system in the transboundary Mesilla (United States)/Conejos-Médanos (Mexico) Basin
Freshwater scarcity has raised concerns about the long-term availability of the water supplies within the transboundary Mesilla (United States)/Conejos-Médanos (Mexico) Basin in Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua. Analysis of legacy temperature data and groundwater flux estimates indicates that the region’s known geothermal systems may contribute more than 45,000 tons of dissolved solids per year to
Authors
Jeff D. Pepin, Andrew J. Robertson, Shari A. Kelley
Streamflow response to potential changes in climate in the Upper Rio Grande Basin
The Rio Grande is a vital water source for the southwestern States of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas and for northern Mexico. The river serves as the primary source of water for irrigation in the region, has many environmental and recreational uses, and is used by more than 13 million people including those in the Cities of Albuquerque and Las Cruces, New Mexico; El Paso, Texas; and Ciudad Juárez
Authors
C. David Moeser, Shaleene B. Chavarria, Adrienne M. Wootten
Accounting for fine-scale forest structure is necessary to model snowpack mass and energy budgets in montane forests
Accurately modeling the effects of variable forest structure and change on snow distribution and persistence is critical to water resource management. The resolution of many snow models is too coarse to represent heterogeneous canopy structure in forests, and therefore, most models simplify forest effects on snowpack mass and energy budgets. To quantify the loss of snowpack prediction from simplif
Authors
Patrick D. Broxton, C. David Moeser, Adrian Harpold
Estimates of water use associated with continuous oil and gas development in the Permian Basin, Texas and New Mexico, 2010–19, with comparisons to the Williston Basin, North Dakota and Montana
The Permian Basin, in west Texas and southeastern New Mexico is one of the largest conventional oil and gas reservoirs in the United States and is becoming one of the world’s largest continuous oil and gas (COG) reservoirs. Advances in technology have enabled oil and gas to be extracted from reservoirs that historically were developed using conventional, or vertical, well drilling techniques. Conv
Authors
Natalie A. Houston, Grady P. Ball, Amy E. Galanter, Joshua F. Valder, Ryan R. McShane, Joanna N. Thamke, Jeremy S. McDowell
Utilizing multiple hydrogeologic and anthropogenic indicators to understand zones of groundwater contribution to water-supply wells near Kirtland Air Force Base Bulk Fuels Facility in southeast Albuquerque, New Mexico
In 1999, a jet-fuels release was discovered at the Bulk Fuels Facility on Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Contaminants had reached the water table and migrated north-northeast toward water-supply wells. Monitoring wells were installed downgradient from the facility to determine the primary zones of groundwater production for water-supply wells and assess contaminant presence. The
Authors
Rebecca E. Travis, Meghan T. Bell, Benjamin S. Linhoff, Kimberly R. Beisner
Estimates of public-supply, domestic, and irrigation water withdrawal, use, and trends in the Upper Rio Grande Basin, 1985 to 2015
The Rio Grande flows approximately 670 miles from its headwaters in the San Juan Mountains of south-central Colorado to Fort Quitman, Texas, draining the Upper Rio Grande Basin (URGB) study area of 32,000 square miles that includes parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. Parts of the basin extend into the United Mexican States (hereafter “Mexico”), where the Rio Grande forms the international bo
Authors
Tamara I. Ivahnenko, Allison K. Flickinger, Amy E. Galanter, Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin, Diana E. Pedraza, Gabriel B. Senay
Comparison of passive and pumped sampling methods for analysis of groundwater quality, Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2019
A plume of ethylene dibromide (EDB) dissolved in groundwater extends northeast from the Bulk Fuels Facility on Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. The leading edge of the EDB plume is upgradient from several water-supply wells. In 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority and the U.S. Air Force, installed four sentinel w
Authors
Rebecca E. Travis, Kate Wilkins
Estimates of water use associated with continuous oil and gas development in the Permian Basin, Texas and New Mexico, 2010–19
In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey started a topical study to quantify water use in areas of continuous oil and gas (COG) development. The first phase of the study was completed in 2019 and analyzed the Williston Basin. The second phase of the study analyzed the Permian Basin using the same techniques and approaches used for the Williston Basin analysis. The Permian Basin was selected for the sec
Authors
Joshua F. Valder, Ryan R. McShane, Joanna N. Thamke, Jeremy S. McDowell, Grady P. Ball, Natalie A. Houston, Amy E. Galanter
Machine learning to identify geologic factors associated with production in geothermal fields: A case-study using 3D geologic data, Brady geothermal field, Nevada
In this paper, we present an analysis using unsupervised machine learning (ML) to identify the key geologic factors that contribute to the geothermal production in Brady geothermal field. Brady is a hydrothermal system in northwestern Nevada that supports both electricity production and direct use of hydrothermal fluids. Transmissive fluid-flow pathways are relatively rare in the subsurface, but a
Authors
Drew L. Siler, Jeff D. Pepin, Velimir V. Vesselinov, Maruti K. Mudunuru, Bulbul Ahmmed