Publications

Burial in sediments removes organic carbon (OC) from the short-term biosphere-atmosphere carbon (C) cycle, and therefore prevents greenhouse gas production in natural systems. Although OC burial in lakes and reservoirs is faster than in the ocean, the magnitude of inland water OC burial is not well constrained. Here we generate the first global-scale and regionally resolved estimate of...

The myriad hydrologic and biogeochemical processes taking place in watersheds occurring across space and time are integrated and reflected in the quantity and quality of water in streams and rivers. Collection of high‐frequency water quality data with sensors in surface waters provides new opportunities to disentangle these processes and quantify sources and transport of water and...

Annual peak streamflow (peak flow) at a streamgage is defined as the maximum instantaneous flow in a water year. A water year begins on October 1 and continues through September 30 of the following year; for example, water year 2015 extends from October 1, 2014, through September 30, 2015. The accuracy, characterization, and completeness of the peak streamflow data are critical in...

Heavy rainfall occurred across central and southern West Virginia in June 2016 as a result of repeated rounds of torrential thunderstorms. The storms caused major flooding and flash flooding in central and southern West Virginia with Kanawha, Fayette, Nicholas, and Greenbrier Counties among the hardest hit. Over the duration of the storms, from 8 to 9.37 inches of rain was reported in...

Accurate pathogen detection is essential for developing management strategies to address emerging infectious diseases, an increasingly prominent threat to wildlife. Sampling for free-living pathogens outside of their hosts has benefits for inference and study efficiency, but is still uncommon. We used a laboratory experiment to evaluate the influences of pathogen concentration, water...

Sediment management is a challenge faced by reservoir managers who have several potential options, including dredging, for mitigation of storage capacity lost to sedimentation. As sediment is removed from reservoir storage, potential use of the sediment for socioeconomic or ecological benefit could potentially defray some costs of its removal. Rivers that transport a sandy sediment load...

A better understanding of stormwater generation and solute sources is needed to improve the protection of aquatic ecosystems, infrastructure, and human health from large runoff events. Much of our understanding of water and solutes produced during stormflow comes from studies of individual, small headwater catchments. This study compared many different types of catchments during a single...

A major issue affecting land-based, closed containment Atlantic salmon Salmo salar growout production in water recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) is precocious male maturation, which can negatively impact factors such as feed conversion, fillet yield, and product quality. Along with other water quality parameters, elevated nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N) has been shown to influence the...

We quantified gas and heat emissions in an acid-sulfate, vapor-dominated area (0.04-km2) of Norris Geyser Basin, located just north of the 0.63 Ma Yellowstone Caldera and near an area of anomalous uplift. From 14 May to 3 October 2016, an eddy covariance system measured half-hourly CO2, H2O and sensible (H) and latent (LE) heat fluxes and a Multi-GAS instrument measured (1 Hz frequency)

Deleterious effects of urban stormwater are widely recognized. In several countries, regulations have been put into place to improve the conditions of receiving water bodies, but planning and engineering of stormwater control is typically carried out at smaller scales. Quantifying cumulative effectiveness of many stormwater control measures on a watershed scale is critical to...

Background The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), reviewed a previously compiled set of linear regression models to assess their utility in defining the response of the aquatic biological community to streamflow depletion. As part of the 2012 Virginia Healthy Watersheds Initiative (HWI) study conducted by Tetra Tech...

This report describes a compilation of existing water-quality data associated with groundwater resources originating from abandoned underground coal mines in West Virginia. Data were compiled from multiple sources for the purpose of understanding the suitability of groundwater from abandoned underground coal mines for public supply, industrial, agricultural, and other uses. This...