Publications
This list of Water Resources Mission Area publications includes both official USGS publications and journal articles authored by our scientists. A searchable database of all USGS publications can be accessed at the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Filter Total Items: 19024
Analysis and simulation of regional subsidence accompanying groundwater abstraction and compaction of susceptible aquifer systems in the USA Analysis and simulation of regional subsidence accompanying groundwater abstraction and compaction of susceptible aquifer systems in the USA
Regional aquifer-system compaction and land subsidence accompanying groundwater abstraction in susceptible aquifer systems in the USA is a challenge for managing groundwater resources and mitigating associated hazards. Developments in the assessment of regional subsidence provide more information to constrain analyses and simulation of aquifer-system compaction. Current popular...
Authors
Devin L. Galloway, Michelle Sneed
Water resources in the desert southwest Water resources in the desert southwest
As the old saying goes, there is nothing more precious than water in the desert. The Ancestral Puebloans, Hohokam, and other pre-Columbian cultures knew this and built their civilizations near guaranteed water supplies. When the Spaniards arrived in present-day Arizona, they found that the Tohono O’odham and Piman cultures had settled in prime riverine sites, turning perennial flow...
Authors
Robert H. Webb, Stanley A. Leake
Measuring discharge with acoustic Doppler current profilers from a moving boat Measuring discharge with acoustic Doppler current profilers from a moving boat
The use of acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) from a moving boat is now a commonly used method for measuring streamflow. The technology and methods for making ADCP-based discharge measurements are different from the technology and methods used to make traditional discharge measurements with mechanical meters. Although the ADCP is a valuable tool for measuring streamflow, it is...
Authors
David S. Mueller, Chad R. Wagner, Michael S. Rehmel, Kevin A. Oberg, Francois Rainville
Northern Great Plains Network water quality monitoring design for tributaries to the Missouri National Recreational River Northern Great Plains Network water quality monitoring design for tributaries to the Missouri National Recreational River
The National Park Service (NPS) organized more than 270 parks with important natural resources into 32 ecoregional networks to conduct Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) activities for assessment of natural resources within park units. The Missouri National Recreational River (NRR) is among the 13 parks in the NPS Northern Great Plain Network (NGPN). Park managers and NGPN staff identified...
Authors
Barbara L. Rowe, Stephen K. Wilson, Lisa Yager, Marcia H. Wilson
Woodland dynamics at the northern range periphery: A challenge for protected area management in a changing world Woodland dynamics at the northern range periphery: A challenge for protected area management in a changing world
Managers of protected natural areas increasingly are confronted with novel ecological conditions and conflicting objectives to preserve the past while fostering resilience for an uncertain future. This dilemma may be pronounced at range peripheries where rates of change are accelerated and ongoing invasions often are perceived as threats to local ecosystems. We provide an example from...
Authors
Scott L. Powell, Andrew J. Hansen, Thomas J. Rodhouse, Lisa K. Garrett, Julio L. Betancourt, Gordon H. Dicus, Meghan K. Lonneker
Knowledge, transparency, and refutability in groundwater models, an example from the Death Valley regional groundwater flow system Knowledge, transparency, and refutability in groundwater models, an example from the Death Valley regional groundwater flow system
This work demonstrates how available knowledge can be used to build more transparent and refutable computer models of groundwater systems. The Death Valley regional groundwater flow system, which surrounds a proposed site for a high level nuclear waste repository of the United States of America, and the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), where nuclear weapons were tested, is used to...
Authors
Mary C. Hill, Claudia C. Faunt, Wayne Belcher, Donald S. Sweetkind, Claire R. Tiedeman, Dmitri Kavetski
Freshwater and drought on Pacific Islands Freshwater and drought on Pacific Islands
No abstract available.
Authors
Scot K. Izuka, Victoria Keener
Fungal degradation of coal as a pretreatment for methane production Fungal degradation of coal as a pretreatment for methane production
Coal conversion technologies can help in taking advantage of huge low rank coal reserves by converting those into alternative fuels like methane. In this regard, fungal degradation of coal can serve as a pretreatment step in order to make coal a suitable substrate for biological beneficiation. A fungal isolate MW1, identified as Penicillium chrysogenum on the basis of fungal ITS...
Authors
Rizwan Haider, Muhammad A. Ghauri, John R. SanFilipo, Elizabeth J. Jones, William H. Orem, Calin A. Tatu, Kalsoom Akhtar, Nasrin Akhtar
Integrated hydrologic modeling of a transboundary aquifer system —Lower Rio Grande Integrated hydrologic modeling of a transboundary aquifer system —Lower Rio Grande
For more than 30 years the agreements developed for the aquifer systems of the lower Rio Grande and related river compacts of the Rio Grande River have evolved into a complex setting of transboundary conjunctive use. The conjunctive use now includes many facets of water rights, water use, and emerging demands between the states of New Mexico and Texas, the United States and Mexico, and...
Authors
Randall T. Hanson, Wolfgang Schmid, Jacob E. Knight, Thomas Maddock
Persistence and potential effects of complex organic contaminant mixtures in wastewater-impacted streams Persistence and potential effects of complex organic contaminant mixtures in wastewater-impacted streams
Natural and synthetic organic contaminants in municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents can cause ecosystem impacts, raising concerns about their persistence in receiving streams. In this study, Lagrangian sampling, in which the same approximate parcel of water is tracked as it moves downstream, was conducted at Boulder Creek, Colorado and Fourmile Creek, Iowa to determine in...
Authors
Larry B. Barber, Steffanie H. Keefe, Greg K. Brown, Edward T. Furlong, James L. Gray, Dana W. Kolpin, Michael T. Meyer, Mark W. Sandstrom, Steven D. Zaugg
Generalized additive regression models of discharge and mean velocity associated with direct-runoff conditions in Texas: Utility of the U.S. Geological Survey discharge measurement database Generalized additive regression models of discharge and mean velocity associated with direct-runoff conditions in Texas: Utility of the U.S. Geological Survey discharge measurement database
A database containing more than 17,700 discharge values and ancillary hydraulic properties was assembled from summaries of discharge measurement records for 424 U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gauging stations (stream gauges) in Texas. Each discharge exceeds the 90th-percentile daily mean streamflow as determined by period-of-record, stream-gauge-specific, flow-duration curves. Each...
Authors
William H. Asquith, George R. Herrmann, Theodore G. Cleveland
Effects of future urban and biofuel crop expansions on the riverine export of phosphorus to the Laurentian Great Lakes Effects of future urban and biofuel crop expansions on the riverine export of phosphorus to the Laurentian Great Lakes
Increased phosphorus (P) loadings threaten the health of the world’s largest freshwater resource, the Laurentian Great Lakes (GL). To understand the linkages between land use and P delivery, we coupled two spatially explicit models, the landscape-scale SPARROW P fate and transport watershed model and the Land Transformation Model (LTM) land use change model, to predict future P export...
Authors
Meredith B. LaBeau, Dale M. Robertson, Alex S. Mayer, Bryan C. Pijanowski, David A. Saad