Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center
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Welcome to the USGS Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center, your source for water-resource data and information.
Current Wyoming-Montana Water Conditions
Explore Wyoming-Montana real-time streamflow, groundwater, and water-quality conditions and access data with our interactive map.
Current ConditionsGeospatial Research and Development to Understand Hydrologic Processes
Geospatial data, such as remote sensing images and map based information, provide an opportunity to evaluate hydrologic systems with a spatially continuous data set.
Learn moreNews
Bakken Shale unconventional oil and gas production has not caused widespread hydrocarbon contamination to date in groundwater used for water supply
A new USGS study reports that shale-oil and -gas production from a major production area in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota has not caused widespread hydrocarbon contamination to date in nearby aquifer zones used for drinking-water supply.
USGS Unveils Mobile Flood Tool for the Nation
The U.S. Geological Survey announced Friday the completion of a new mobile tool that provides real-time information on water levels, weather and flood forecasts all in one place on a computer, smartphone or other mobile device.
New Patent Helps Coalbed Methane Research
Far underground, in a Wyoming well-bore drilled through rock and coal, exciting research is bubbling up. USGS researchers are studying how bacteria and other microbes may play a role in the formation of natural gas from coal, and they’re using one of USGS’ newest patents to do it. This patent is the subsurface environmental sampler, or SES.
Publications
Geologic and hydrogeologic characteristics of the White River Formation, Lance Formation, and Fox Hills Sandstone, northern greater Denver Basin, southeastern Laramie County, Wyoming
In cooperation with the Wyoming State Engineer’s Office, the U.S. Geological Survey studied the geologic and hydrogeologic characteristics of Cenozoic and Upper Cretaceous strata at a location in southeastern Laramie County within the Wyoming part of the Cheyenne Basin, the northern subbasin of the greater Denver Basin. The study aimed to improve...
Bartos, Timothy T.; Galloway, Devin L.; Hallberg, Laura L.; Deschene, Marieke; Diehl, Sharon F.; Davidson, Seth L.
Activity-based, genome-resolved metagenomics uncovers key populations and pathways involved in subsurface conversions of coal to methane
Microbial metabolisms and interactions that facilitate subsurface conversions of recalcitrant carbon to methane are poorly understood. We deployed an in situ enrichment device in a subsurface coal seam in the Powder River Basin (PRB), USA, and used BONCAT-FACS-Metagenomics to identify translationally active populations involved in methane...
McKay, Luke J.; Smith, Heidi J.; Barnhart, Elliott; Schweitzer, Hannah S.; Malmstrom, Rex R.; Goudeau, Danielle; Fields, Matthew W. Effect of an algal amendment on the microbial conversion of coal to methane at different sulfate concentrations from the Powder River Basin, USA
Biogenic methane is estimated to account for one-fifth of the natural gas worldwide and there is great interest in controlling methane from different sources. Biogenic coalbed methane (CBM) production relies on syntrophic associations between fermentative bacteria and methanogenic archaea to anaerobically degrade recalcitrant coal and produce...
Smith, Heidi J.; Schweitzer, Hannah S.; Barnhart, Elliott; Orem, William H.; Gerlach, Robin; Fields, Matthew W.