Oregon Water Science Center
Publications
All of our publications are accessible through the USGS Publication Warehouse. Publications by scientists of the Oregon Water Science Center are listed below.
Water-quality modeling of Klamath Straits Drain recirculation, a Klamath River wetland, and 2011 conditions for the Link River to Keno Dam reach of the Klamath River, Oregon
Flood-inundation maps for a 9.1-mile reach of the Coast Fork Willamette River near Creswell and Goshen, Lane County, Oregon
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 9.1-mile reach of the Coast Fork Willamette River near Creswell and Goshen, Oregon, were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://...
Hess, Glen W.; Haluska, Tana L.
Are the Columbia River Basalts, Columbia Plateau, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, USA, a viable geothermal target? A preliminary analysis
The successful development of a geothermal electric power generation facility relies on (1) the identification of sufficiently high temperatures at an economically viable depth and (2) the existence of or potential to create and maintain a permeable zone (permeability >10-14 m2) of sufficient size to allow efficient long-term extraction of heat...
Burns, Erick R.; Williams, Colin F.; Tolan, Terry; Kaven, Joern Ole Simulating future water temperatures in the North Santiam River, Oregon
A previously calibrated two-dimensional hydrodynamic and water-quality model (CE-QUAL-W2) of Detroit Lake in western Oregon was used in conjunction with inflows derived from Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) hydrologic models to examine in-lake and downstream water temperature effects under future climate conditions. Current and...
Buccola, Norman; Risley, John C.; Rounds, Stewart A. Evaluating geothermal and hydrogeologic controls on regional groundwater temperature distribution
A one-dimensional (1-D) analytic solution is developed for heat transport through an aquifer system where the vertical temperature profile in the aquifer is nearly uniform. The general anisotropic form of the viscous heat generation term is developed for use in groundwater flow simulations. The 1-D solution is extended to more complex geometries...
Burns, Erick R.; Ingebritsen, Steven E.; Manga, Michael; Williams, Colin F. Quantifying watershed-scale groundwater loading and in-stream fate of nitrate using high-frequency water quality data
We describe a new approach that couples hydrograph separation with high-frequency nitrate data to quantify time-variable groundwater and runoff loading of nitrate to streams, and the net in-stream fate of nitrate at the watershed-scale. The approach was applied at three sites spanning gradients in watershed size and land use in the Chesapeake Bay...
Miller, Matthew P.; Tesoriero, Anthony J.; Capel, Paul D.; Pellerin, Brian A.; Hyer, Kenneth E.; Burns, Douglas A.
Effects of groundwater pumping on agricultural drains in the Tule Lake subbasin, Oregon and California
Since 2001, irrigators in the upper Klamath Basin have increasingly turned to groundwater to compensate for reductions in surface-water allocation caused by shifts from irrigation use to instream flows for Endangered Species Act listed fishes. The largest increase in groundwater pumping has been in and around the Bureau of Reclamation’s...
Pischel, Esther M.; Gannett, Marshall W. Long-term changes in nitrate conditions over the 20th century in two Midwestern Corn Belt streams
Long-term changes in nitrate concentration and flux between the middle of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century were estimated for the Des Moines River and the Middle Illinois River, two Midwestern Corn Belt streams, using a novel weighted regression approach that is able to detect subtle changes in solute transport behavior...
Kelly, Valerie J.; Stets, Edward G.; Crawford, Charles G.
Upstream factors affecting Tualatin River algae—Tracking the 2008 Anabaena algae bloom to Wapato Lake, Oregon
Significant Findings A large bloom that included floating mats of the blue-green algae Anabaena flos-aquae occurred in the lower 20 miles of the Tualatin River in northwestern Oregon between July 7 and July 17, 2008. The floating bloom was deemed a hazard to recreational users of the river due to the potential production of algal toxins (anatoxin...
Rounds, Stewart A.; Carpenter, Kurt D.; Fesler, Kristel J.; Dorsey, Jessica L. Substantial contribution of biomethylation to aquifer arsenic cycling
Microbes play a prominent role in transforming arsenic to and from immobile forms in aquifers1. Much of this cycling involves inorganic forms of arsenic2, but microbes can also generate organic forms through methylation3, although this process is often considered insignificant in aquifers4, 5, 6, 7. Here we identify the presence of...
Maguffin, Scott C.; Kirk, Matthew F.; Daigle, Ashley R.; Hinkle, Stephen R.; Jin, Qusheng
Water-quality conditions and suspended-sediment transport in the Wilson and Trask Rivers, northwestern Oregon, water years 2012–14
In October 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey began investigating and monitoring water-quality conditions and suspended-sediment transport in the Wilson and Trask Rivers, northwestern Oregon. Water temperature, specific conductance, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen were measured every 15–30 minutes in both streams using real-time instream water...
Sobieszczyk, Steven; Bragg, Heather M.; Uhrich, Mark A.
Groundwater levels, trends, and relations to pumping in the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project, Oregon and California
The use of groundwater to supplement surface-water supplies for the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project in the upper Klamath Basin of Oregon and California markedly increased between 2000 and 2014. Pre-2001 groundwater pumping in the area where most of this increase occurred is estimated to have been about 28,600 acre-feet per year. Subsequent...
Gannett, Marshall W.; Breen, Katherine H. Predicting redox conditions in groundwater at a regional scale
Defining the oxic-suboxic interface is often critical for determining pathways for nitrate transport in groundwater and to streams at the local scale. Defining this interface on a regional scale is complicated by the spatial variability of reaction rates. The probability of oxic groundwater in the Chesapeake Bay watershed was predicted by relating...
Tesoriero, Anthony J.; Terziotti, Silvia; Abrams, Daniel B.