Publications

Ground-water flow in the confined- and unconfined-drift aquifers in the Brooten-Belgrade area of west-central Minnesota was simulated with a three-dimensional finite-difference ground-water-flow model. Model results indicate that about 96 percent of the total inflow to the modeled area is from precipitation. Discounting evapotranspiration, 63 percent of the total outflow is ground-water...

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planning to reduce aquatic growth and siltation in Sauk Lake in west-central Minnesota in order to improve recreation. A detailed water-quality survey of the lake and surrounding watershed was needed to plan remedial activities. Water-quality data were collected at 11 sites on Sauk Lake, at sites on 3 major tributaries to the lake, and at the outflow...

No abstract available.

In the late 1950's, intense demands for water and growing concerns about declines in the quality of water generated the need for more water-resources data. About thirty Federal agencies, hundreds of State, county and local agencies, and many private organizations had been collecting water data. However, because of differences in procedures and equipment, many of the data bases were...

Accurate delineation of recharge areas for wells is an important requisite to protecting ground-water quality. Zones of transport and zones of contribution are two types of recharge areas that can be delineated. Analytical-calculation, numerical-modeling, and hydrogeologic-mapping methods were used to delineate recharge areas for two high-capacity (greater than about 200 gallons per...

Water-quality investigations in six interconnected lakes that comprise most of the surface area of Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota revealed substantial differences in water-quality. Three large lakes; Sand Point, Namakan, and Rainy, near the eastern and northern boundaries of the Park; are oligotrophic to mesotrophic, having low dissolved solids and alkalinity, and dimictic

This report presents the results of a study by the U.S. Geological Survey, done in cooperation with the Red Lake Indian Reservation Tribal Council, to evaluate the water resources of the contiguous Red Lake Indian Reservation. Water resources of the contiguous Red Lake Indian Reservation meet the present (1989) needs for potable supply and other household uses. In addition, they provide...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, operated three streamflow-gaging stations from July 1987 through September 1989 to determine the volume of streamflow entering and leaving Lake Bemidji. Suspended- and bottom-sediment data were also collected at the gaging stations. Two gaging stations were located upstream and one was located...

The quality of surface and ground water can be related to various physical factors such as land use, soil type, geology, and depth to water table. Land use in Dakota County, Minnesota, is changing: urbanization and industrialization in the north and increasing irrigation and application of agricultural chemicals in the central part of the county. The U.S. Geological Survey, in...

Lakes Clara and Vandercook are 33- and 43-hectare lakes, respectively, located in predominantly sandy outwash in north-central Wisconsin. Annual precipitation at National Weather Service stations during the 1951-80 calendar years averaged 794 millimeters near Lake Clara and 834 millimeters near Vandercook Lake. During the 1981 water year, annual precipitation measured at the lakes as...

Taconite tailings, a waste product from processing of iron ore, have been deposited in a 2.5-square-mile containment basin near Keewatin, Minnesota, The basin, which is bounded by earthen dikes of compacted drift and clayey bouldery till, contains saturated tailings consisting of chert and other silica-rich particles that range from clay to coarse-sand size. Runoff from the tailings is...

The objectives of this study are to provide continuous discharge records for selected rivers at specific sites to supply the needs for regulation, analytical studies, definition of statistical properties, trends analysis, determination of the occurrence, and distribution of water in streams for planning. The project is also designed to determine lake levels and to provide discharge for...