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
Water-level and recoverable water in storage changes, High Plains aquifer, predevelopment to 2017 and 2015–17
The High Plains aquifer underlies 111.8 million acres (about 175,000 square miles) in parts of eight States—Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. Water-level declines began in parts of the High Plains aquifer soon after the beginning of substantial groundwater irrigation (about 1950). This report presents water-level changes and change in recoverable w
Authors
Virginia L. McGuire, Kellan R. Strauch
Upper Rio Grande Basin water-resource status and trends: Focus area study review and synthesis
The Upper Rio Grande Basin (URGB) is a critical international water resource under pressure from a myriad of climatic, ecological, infrastructural, water-use, and legal constraints. The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive assessment of the spatial distribution and temporal trends of selected water-budget components (snow processes, evapotranspiration (ET), streamflow processes, a
Authors
Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin, Christine Rumsey, Graham A. Sexstone, Tamara I. Ivahnenko, Natalie Houston, Shaleene Chavarria, Gabriel B. Senay, Linzy K. Foster, Jonathan V. Thomas, Allison K. Flickinger, Amy E. Galanter, C. David Moeser, Toby L. Welborn, Diana E. Pedraza, Patrick M. Lambert, Michael Scott Johnson
Status of water-level altitudes and long-term water-level changes in the Chicot and Evangeline (undifferentiated) and Jasper aquifers, greater Houston area, Texas, 2021
Since the early 1900s, groundwater withdrawn from the primary aquifers that compose the Gulf Coast aquifer system—the Chicot and Evangeline (undifferentiated) and Jasper aquifers—has been the primary source of water in the greater Houston area, Texas. This report, prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District, City of Houston, Fort Bend Subside
Authors
Christopher L. Braun, Jason K. Ramage
Treatment of the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers as a single hydrogeologic unit and use of geostatistical interpolation methods to develop gridded surfaces of water-level altitudes and water-level changes in the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers (undifferenti
The greater Houston area of Texas includes approximately 11,000 square miles and encompasses all or part of 11 counties (Harris, Galveston, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Brazoria, Chambers, Grimes, Liberty, San Jacinto, Walker, and Waller). From the early 1900s until the mid-1970s, groundwater withdrawn from the three primary aquifers that compose the Gulf Coast aquifer system—the Chicot, Evangeline, and
Authors
Jason K. Ramage, Christopher L. Braun, John H. Ellis
Mapping the altitude of the top of the Dockum Group and paleochannel analysis using surface geophysical methods on and near Cannon Air Force Base in Curry County, New Mexico, 2020
The hydrogeology on and near Cannon Air Force Base (AFB) in eastern New Mexico was assessed to gain a better understanding of preferential groundwater flow paths through paleochannels. In and near the study area, paleochannels incised the top surface of the Dockum Group (Chinle Formation) and were subsequently filled in with electrically resistive coarse-grained sediments of the overlying Ogallala
Authors
Jason D. Payne, Andrew P. Teeple, Jeremy McDowell, David Wallace, Walker A. Hancock
Spectral mixture analysis for surveillance of harmful algal blooms (SMASH): A field-, laboratory-, and satellite-based approach to identifying cyanobacteria genera from remotely sensed data
Algal blooms around the world are increasing in frequency and severity, often with the possibility of adverse effects on human and ecosystem health. The health and economic impacts associated with harmful algal blooms, or HABs, provide compelling rationale for developing new methods for monitoring these events via remote sensing. Although concentrations of chlorophyll-a and key pigments like phyco
Authors
Carl J. Legleiter, Tyler Victor King, Kurt D. Carpenter, Natalie Celeste Hall, Adam Mumford, E. Terrence Slonecker, Jennifer L. Graham, Victoria G. Stengel, Nancy Simon, Barry H. Rosen
A novel method for conducting a geoenvironmental assessment of undiscovered ISR-amenable uranium Resources: Proof-of-concept in the Texas Coastal Plain
A geoenvironmental assessment methodology was developed to estimate waste quantities and disturbances that could be associated with the extraction of undiscovered uranium resources and identify areas on the landscape where uranium and other constituents of potential concern (COPCs) that may co-occur with uranium deposits in this region are likely to persist, if introduced into the environment. Pri
Authors
Tanya J. Gallegos, Victoria G. Stengel, Katherine Walton-Day, Johanna Blake, Andrew Teeple, Delbert G Humberson, Steven M. Cahan, Douglas Yager, Kent D Becher
Potential effects of out-of-basin groundwater transfers on spring discharge, base flow, and groundwater storage pertaining to the Rush Springs aquifer in and near the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma Tribal jurisdictional area, western Oklahoma
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and Bureau of Indian Affairs, assessed four groundwater-withdrawal scenarios and their potential effects on the Rush Springs aquifer in and near the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma Tribal jurisdictional area in western Oklahoma. Increases in industrial and public water supply needs have led to increased development of wat
Authors
L.G. Labriola, Cory A. Russell, John H. Ellis
Depth to water and water quality in groundwater wells in the Ogallala aquifer within the North Plains Groundwater Conservation District, Texas Panhandle, 2019–20, and comparison to 2012–13 conditions
The Ogallala aquifer is the primary source of water for agricultural and municipal purposes in the Texas Panhandle. Because most of the groundwater in the Texas Panhandle is withdrawn from the Ogallala aquifer, information on the quality of groundwater in the Ogallala aquifer in this part of Texas is useful for resource characterization. During 2012–13, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation wi
Authors
Craig A. Mobley, Patricia B. Ging
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water-Use Data and Research (WUDR) program overview and status as of March 31, 2022
The USGS Water-Use Data and Research Program (WUDR) is an appropriated program and is authorized under the SECURE Water Act (Sec. 9508 (c)). WUDR provides financial assistance through cooperative agreements to State water resource agencies.
The WUDR Program has two main goals:
• To improve the availability, quality, compatibility, and delivery of water-use data that are collected and/or estimated
Authors
Erik A. Smith, Kimberly Shaffer
Development and description of a composite hydrogeologic framework for inclusion in a geoenvironmental assessment of undiscovered uranium resources in Pliocene- to Pleistocene-age geologic units of the Texas Coastal Plain
A previously completed mineral resources assessment of the Texas Coastal Plain indicated the potential for the future discovery of uranium resources. Geoenvironmental assessments that include the hydrogeologic framework can be used as a tool to understand the potential effects of mining operations. The hydrogeologic framework for this study focused on the composite hydrogeologic unit of the tract
Authors
Andrew Teeple, Kent D Becher, Katherine Walton-Day, Delbert G Humberson, Tanya J. Gallegos
A methodology to assess the historical environmental footprint of in-situ recovery (ISR) of uranium: A demonstration in the Goliad Sand in the Texas Coastal Plain, USA
In-situ recovery (ISR) has been the only technique used to extract uranium from sandstone-hosted uranium deposits in the Pliocene Goliad Sand in the Texas Coastal Plain. Water plays a crucial role throughout the ISR lifecycle of production and groundwater restoration yet neither the water use nor other environmental footprints have been well documented. The goal of this study is to examine histori
Authors
Tanya J. Gallegos, Annie Scott, Victoria G. Stengel, Andrew Teeple