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Publications

Scientific reports, journal articles, or general interest publications by USGS scientists in the Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center are listed below. Publications span from 1898 to the present.

Filter Total Items: 1515

Flood-inundation maps for a 23-mile reach of the Medina River at Bandera, Texas, 2018

In 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Bandera County River Authority and Groundwater District and the Texas Water Development Board, studied floods through the period of record to create a library of flood-inundation maps for the Medina River at Bandera, Texas. Digital flood-inundation maps for a 23-mile reach of the Medina River at and near Bandera, from the confluen
Authors
Namjeong Choi, Frank Engel

Flood warning toolset for the Medina River in Bandera County, Texas

OverviewFloods are the most common natural disaster in the United States. The Medina River in Bandera County, Texas, is in the Edwards Plateau, where high-intensity rain rates and steep terrain frequently contribute to severe flash flooding capable of causing loss of life and property. For example, the July 5, 2002, flood claimed a total of 12 lives in the central Texas area. The estimated peak di
Authors
Frank Engel, Namjeong Choi

Urban stormwater: An overlooked pathway of extensive mixed contaminants to surface and groundwaters in the United States

Increasing global reliance on stormwater control measures to reduce discharge to surface water, increase groundwater recharge, and minimize contaminant delivery to receiving waterbodies necessitates improved understanding of stormwater-contaminant profiles. A multi-agency study of organic and inorganic chemicals in urban stormwater from 50 runoff events at 21 sites across the United States demonst
Authors
Jason R. Masoner, Dana W. Kolpin, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Larry B. Barber, D.S. Burden, William T. Foreman, Kenneth J. Forshay, Edward Furlong, Justin F. Groves, Michelle Hladik, Matthew E. Hopton, Jeanne B. Jaeschke, Steffanie H. Keefe, David Krabbenhoft, Richard Lowrance, Kristin Romanok, David L. Rus, William R. Selbig, Brad Williams, Paul Bradley

Chemical and physical controls on mercury source signatures in stream fish from the northeastern United States

Streams in the northeastern U.S. receive mercury (Hg) in varying proportions from atmospheric deposition and legacy point sources, making it difficult to attribute shifts in fish concentrations directly back to changes in Hg source management. Mercury stable isotope tracers were utilized to relate sources of Hg to co-located fish and bed sediments from 23 streams across a forested to urban-industr
Authors
Sarah E. Janssen, Karen Riva-Murray, John F. DeWild, Jacob M. Ogorek, Michael T. Tate, Peter C. Van Metre, David P. Krabbenhoft, James F. Coles

Operationalizing small unoccupied aircraft systems for rapid flood inundation mapping and event response

Small Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (sUAS) offer the capability to collect rapid and accurate aerial survey data during flood response. The rapid collection of aerial flood data can potentially enable scientists to produce detailed geospatial products and related datasets in time for decisional support. A workflow for sUAS event response before, during, and after flood events is discussed.
Authors
Frank L. Engel, Rogelio Hernandez

Timescales of water-quality change in a karst aquifer, south-central Texas

Understanding the drivers and timescales over which groundwater quality changes informs groundwater management, use, and protection. To better understand timescales of water-quality change over short (daily to monthly) and long (seasonal to decadal) timescales, the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Enhanced Trends Network (ETN) program instrumented and sampled thre
Authors
MaryLynn Musgrove, John E. Solder, Stephen P. Opsahl, Jennifer T. Wilson

Survey of bioaccessible pyrethroid insecticides and sediment toxicity in urban streams of the northeast United States

Pyrethroids are a class of widely-used insecticides that can be transported from terrestrial applications to aquatic systems via runoff and tend to sorb to organic carbon in sediments. Pyrethroid occurrence is detrimental to stream ecosystems due to toxicity to sediment-dwelling invertebrates which are particularly at risk of pyrethroid exposure in urban streams. In this work, 49 streams located i
Authors
Kara E. Huff-Hartz, Samuel A. Nutile, Courtney Y. Fung, Federico L. Sinche, Patrick W. Moran, Peter C. Van Metre, Lisa H. Nowell, Michael J. Lydy

Council Monitoring and Assessment Program (CMAP): Inventory of existing water quality and habitat monitoring, and mapping metadata for Gulf of Mexico Programs

Under the Council-Selected Restoration Component of the RESTORE Act, the Council develops Funded Priority Lists (FPLs) that describe the projects and programs it will fund. Projects and programs funded through this component must be in furtherance of the goals and objectives of the Council’s Comprehensive Plan and address at least one of the restoration criteria identified in the RESTORE Act. The
Authors
Julie Bosch, Heidi Burkart, Bogdan Chivoiu, Randy Clark, Chris Clement, Nicholas Enwright, Steve Giordano, Chris Jeffrey, Edward Johnson, Rheannon M. Hart, Sarah Hile, Jacob Howell, Claudia Laurenzano, Michael T. Lee, Terrence A. McCloskey, Terry McTigue, Michelle B. Meyers, Scott Mize, Mark E. Monaco, Kevin Owen, Richard A. Rebich, Samuel H. Rendon, Ali Robertson, Thomas Sample, Gregory D. Steyer, Kevin J. Suir, Christopher M. Swarzenski, Katie Watson

Differentiating anthropogenic and natural sources of uranium by geochemical fingerprinting of groundwater at the Homestake Uranium Mill, Milan, New Mexico, USA

A multiparameter geochemical-isotopic fingerprinting approach was used to differentiate natural and anthropogenic signatures of uranium contamination near the Homestake uranium mill site (Site), near Milan, New Mexico, USA. The Site consists of two tailings piles from milling operations and groundwater contamination from these tailings have been noted. The Site lies within the lower San Mateo Cree
Authors
Johanna Blake, Philip Harte, Kent Becher

Capacity and area of Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees, northeastern Oklahoma, 2009

In February 2017, the Grand River Dam Authority filed to relicense the Pensacola Hydroelectric Project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The predominant feature of the Pensacola Hydroelectric Project is Pensacola Dam, which impounds Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees (locally called Grand Lake) in northeastern Oklahoma. Identification of information gaps and assessment of project effects on
Authors
Shelby L. Hunter, L.G. Labriola

Summary of climatic, geographic, geologic, and available hydrologic data and identification of data gaps for the Black Bear Creek watershed of the Pawnee Nation Tribal Jurisdictional Area, Oklahoma

The Pawnee Nation is compiling a comprehensive water-management plan for the Pawnee Nation Tribal Jurisdictional Area in north-central Oklahoma. One of the first steps needed in preparing such a plan is a summary and analysis of available hydrologic data and reports that have been published for the area. In phase I of a three-phase, watershed-based approach to summary and analysis of water resourc
Authors
Matthew S. Varonka

Characterizing groundwater/surface-water interaction using hydrograph-separation techniques and groundwater-level data throughout the Mississippi Delta, USA

The Mississippi Delta, located in northwest Mississippi, is an area dense with industrial-level agriculture sustained by groundwater-dependent irrigation supplied by the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial aquifer (alluvial aquifer). The Delta provides agricultural commodities across the United States and around the world. Observed declines in groundwater altitudes and streamflow contemporaneous wit
Authors
Courtney D. Killian, William H. Asquith, Jeannie R. B. Barlow, Gardner C. Bent, Wade Kress, Paul M. Barlow, Darrel W. Schmitz