Publications
All of our publications are accessible through the USGS Publication Warehouse. Publications by scientists of the Oregon Water Science Center are listed below.
Filter Total Items: 751
Geothermal implications of a refined composition-age geologic map for the volcanic terrains of southeast Oregon, northeast California, and southwest Idaho, USA
Sufficient temperatures to generate steam likely exist under most of the dominantly volcanic terrains of southeast Oregon, northeast California, and southeast Idaho, USA, but finding sufficient permeability to allow efficient advective heat exchange is an outstanding challenge. A new thematic interpretation of existing state-level geologic maps provides an updated and refined distribution of the c
Authors
Erick Burns, Marshall W. Gannett, David R. Sherrod, Mackenzie K. Keith, Jennifer A. Curtis, James R. Bartolino, John A. Engott, Benjamin P. Scandella, Michelle A. Stern, Alan L. Flint
Predicting redox-sensitive contaminant concentrations in groundwater using random forest classification
Machine learning techniques were applied to a large (n > 10,000) compliance monitoring database to predict the occurrence of several redox-active constituents in groundwater across a large watershed. Specifically, random forest classification was used to determine the probabilities of detecting elevated concentrations of nitrate, iron, and arsenic in the Fox, Wolf, Peshtigo, and surrounding waters
Authors
Anthony J. Tesoriero, Jo Ann M. Gronberg, Paul F. Juckem, Matthew P. Miller, Brian P. Austin
Dam removal: Listening in
Dam removal is widely used as an approach for river restoration in the United States. The increase in dam removals—particularly large dams—and associated dam-removal studies over the last few decades motivated a working group at the USGS John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis to review and synthesize available studies of dam removals and their findings. Based on dam removals thus far
Authors
Melissa M. Foley, James Bellmore, James E. O'Connor, Jeffrey J. Duda, Amy E. East, Gordon G. Grant, Chauncey W. Anderson, Jennifer A. Bountry, Mathias J. Collins, Patrick J. Connolly, Laura S. Craig, James E. Evans, Samantha Greene, Francis J. Magilligan, Christopher S. Magirl, Jon J. Major, George R. Pess, Timothy J. Randle, Patrick B. Shafroth, Christian E. Torgersen, Desiree D. Tullos, Andrew C. Wilcox
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Natural Hazards Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Volcano Hazards Program, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis, Oregon Water Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Volcano Science Center, Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL)
Geomorphic response of the North Fork Stillaguamish River to the State Route 530 landslide near Oso, Washington
On March 22, 2014, the State Route 530 Landslide near Oso, Washington mobilized 8 million cubic meters of unconsolidated Pleistocene material, creating a valley‑spanning deposit that fully impounded the North Fork Stillaguamish River. The river overtopped the 8-meter high debris impoundment within 25 hours and began steadily incising a new channel through the center of the deposit. Repeat topograp
Authors
Scott W. Anderson, Mackenzie K. Keith, Christopher S. Magirl, J. Rose Wallick, Mark C. Mastin, James R. Foreman
Landscape context and the biophysical response of rivers to dam removal in the United States
Dams have been a fundamental part of the U.S. national agenda over the past two hundred years. Recently, however, dam removal has emerged as a strategy for addressing aging, obsolete infrastructure and more than 1,100 dams have been removed since the 1970s. However, only 130 of these removals had any ecological or geomorphic assessments, and fewer than half of those included before- and after-remo
Authors
Melissa M. Foley, Francis J. Magilligan, Christian E. Torgersen, Jon J. Major, Chauncey W. Anderson, Patrick J. Connolly, Daniel J. Wieferich, Patrick B. Shafroth, James E. Evans, Dana M. Infante, Laura Craig
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Science Synthesis, Analysis and Research Program, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis, Oregon Water Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Prehistoric floods on the Tennessee River—Assessing the use of stratigraphic records of past floods for improved flood-frequency analysis
Stratigraphic analysis, coupled with geochronologic techniques, indicates that a rich history of large Tennessee River floods is preserved in the Tennessee River Gorge area. Deposits of flood sediment from the 1867 peak discharge of record (460,000 cubic feet per second at Chattanooga, Tennessee) are preserved at many locations throughout the study area at sites with flood-sediment accumulation. S
Authors
Tessa M. Harden, Jim E. O'Connor
Using high-throughput DNA sequencing, genetic fingerprinting, and quantitative PCR as tools for monitoring bloom-forming and toxigenic cyanobacteria in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2013 and 2014
Monitoring the community structure and metabolic activities of cyanobacterial blooms in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, is critical to lake management because these blooms degrade water quality and produce toxic microcystins that are harmful to humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. Genetic tools, such as DNA fingerprinting by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis, high-
Authors
Sara L. Caldwell Eldridge, Conner Driscoll, Theo W. Dreher
Water temperature effects from simulated changes to dam operations and structures in the Middle and South Santiam Rivers, Oregon
Green Peter and Foster Dams on the Middle and South Santiam Rivers, Oregon, have altered the annual downstream water temperature profile (cycle). Operation of the dams has resulted in cooler summer releases and warmer autumn releases relative to pre-dam conditions, and that alteration can hinder recovery of various life stages of threatened spring-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhyncus tshawytscha) and w
Authors
Norman L. Buccola
Hydrogeologic framework and selected components of the groundwater budget for the upper Umatilla River Basin, Oregon
Executive SummaryThis report presents a summary of the hydrogeology of the upper Umatilla River Basin, Oregon, based on characterization of the hydrogeologic framework, horizontal and vertical directions of groundwater flow, trends in groundwater levels, and components of the groundwater budget. The conceptual model of the groundwater flow system integrates available data and information on the gr
Authors
Nora B. Herrera, Kate Ely, Smita Mehta, Adam J. Stonewall, John C. Risley, Stephen R. Hinkle, Terrence D. Conlon
Thermal effect of climate change on groundwater-fed ecosystems
Groundwater temperature changes will lag surface temperature changes from a changing climate. Steady state solutions of the heat-transport equations are used to identify key processes that control the long-term thermal response of springs and other groundwater discharge to climate change, in particular changes in (1) groundwater recharge rate and temperature and (2) land-surface temperature transm
Authors
Erick Burns, Yonghui Zhu, Hongbin Zhan, Michael Manga, Colin F. Williams, Steven E. Ingebritsen, Jason B. Dunham
Noble gas signatures in the Island of Maui, Hawaii: Characterizing groundwater sources in fractured systems
Uneven distribution of rainfall and freshwater scarcity in populated areas in the Island of Maui, Hawaii, renders water resources management a challenge in this complex and ill-defined hydrological system. A previous study in the Galapagos Islands suggests that noble gas temperatures (NGTs) record seasonality in that fractured, rapid infiltration groundwater system rather than the commonly observe
Authors
Yi Niu, M. Clara Castro, Chris M. Hall, Stephen B. Gingerich, Martha A. Scholl, Rohit B. Warrier
Developing flood-inundation maps for Johnson Creek, Portland, Oregon
Digital flood-inundation maps were created for a 12.9‑mile reach of Johnson Creek by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The flood-inundation maps depict estimates of water depth and areal extent of flooding from the mouth of Johnson Creek to just upstream of Southeast 174th Avenue in Portland, Oregon. Each flood-inundation map is based on a specific water level and associated streamflow at the USG
Authors
Adam J. Stonewall, Benjamin A. Beal