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: 19021
Description and testing of the Geo Data Portal: Data integration framework and Web processing services for environmental science collaboration Description and testing of the Geo Data Portal: Data integration framework and Web processing services for environmental science collaboration
Interest in sharing interdisciplinary environmental modeling results and related data is increasing among scientists. The U.S. Geological Survey Geo Data Portal project enables data sharing by assembling open-standard Web services into an integrated data retrieval and analysis Web application design methodology that streamlines time-consuming and resource-intensive data management tasks...
Authors
David L. Blodgett, Nathaniel L. Booth, Thomas C. Kunicki, Jordan I. Walker, Roland J. Viger
Application of the Local Grid Refinement package to an inset model simulating the interaction of lakes, wells, and shallow groundwater, northwestern Waukesha County, Wisconsin Application of the Local Grid Refinement package to an inset model simulating the interaction of lakes, wells, and shallow groundwater, northwestern Waukesha County, Wisconsin
Groundwater use from shallow, high-capacity wells is expected to increase across southeastern Wisconsin in the next decade (2010-2020), owing to residential and business growth and the need for shallow water to be blended with deeper water of lesser quality, containing, for example, excessive levels of radium. However, this increased pumping has the potential to affect surface-water...
Authors
D. T. Feinstein, C. P. Dunning, P. F. Juckem, R. J. Hunt
Accuracy of flowmeters measuring horizontal groundwater flow in an unconsolidated aquifer simulator. Accuracy of flowmeters measuring horizontal groundwater flow in an unconsolidated aquifer simulator.
Borehole flowmeters that measure horizontal flow velocity and direction of groundwater flow are being increasingly applied to a wide variety of environmental problems. This study was carried out to evaluate the measurement accuracy of several types of flowmeters in an unconsolidated aquifer simulator. Flowmeter response to hydraulic gradient, aquifer properties, and well-screen...
Authors
E.R. Bayless, Wayne A. Mandell, James R. Ursic
Hydrogeologic framework and hydrologic budget components of the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho Hydrogeologic framework and hydrologic budget components of the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho
The Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System (CPRAS) covers an area of about 44,000 square miles in a structural and topographic basin within the drainage of the Columbia River in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The primary aquifers are basalts of the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) and overlying sediment. Eighty percent of the groundwater use in the study area is for irrigation, in...
Authors
S. C. Kahle, D. S. Morgan, W.B. Welch, D.M. Ely, S.R. Hinkle, J. J. Vaccaro, L.L. Orzol
Environmental factors that influence the location of crop agriculture in the conterminous United States Environmental factors that influence the location of crop agriculture in the conterminous United States
This report presents and describes high-resolution geospatial data identifying the range of environmental conditions that influence the location of cropped agricultural lands in the conterminous United States. Also presented are estimates of the extent of land where environmental constraints limit agricultural production (marginal land) and the extents of land where modifications...
Authors
Nancy T. Baker, Paul D. Capel
Assessment of the geomorphic effects of large floods using streamgage data: The 1951 floods in eastern Kansas, USA Assessment of the geomorphic effects of large floods using streamgage data: The 1951 floods in eastern Kansas, USA
Data from 23 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgages were analyzed to assess the geomorphic effects (short-term change and subsequent recovery) of the record 1951 floods on streams in eastern Kansas. Flood-related, channel-bed elevation change was indicated for 17 gage sites, with substantial deposition at five sites and substantial erosion at two sites. An assessment of post-flood bed...
Authors
Mark W. Bowen, Kyle E. Juracek
Hydrogeologic framework, groundwater movement, and water budget in the Chimacum Creek basin and vicinity, Jefferson County, Washington Hydrogeologic framework, groundwater movement, and water budget in the Chimacum Creek basin and vicinity, Jefferson County, Washington
This report presents information used to characterize the groundwater flow system in the Chimacum Creek basin. It includes descriptions of the geology and hydrogeologic framework; groundwater recharge and discharge; groundwater levels and flow directions; seasonal fluctuations in groundwater level; interactions between aquifers and the surface-water system; and a groundwater budget. The...
Authors
Joseph L. Jones, Wendy B. Welch, Lonna M. Frans, Theresa D. Olsen
Near-field receiving water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco Bay, California: 2010 Near-field receiving water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco Bay, California: 2010
Trace-metal concentrations in sediment and in the clam Macoma petalum (formerly reported as Macoma balthica), clam reproductive activity, and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure were investigated in a mudflat 1 kilometer south of the discharge of the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (PARWQCP) in South San Francisco Bay, Calif. This report includes the data...
Authors
Jessica Dyke, Francis Parcheso, Janet K. Thompson, Daniel J. Cain, Samuel N. Luoma, Michelle I. Hornberger
A water-budget model and assessment of groundwater recharge for the Island of Hawai'i A water-budget model and assessment of groundwater recharge for the Island of Hawai'i
Concern surrounding increasing demand for groundwater on the Island of Hawaiʻi, caused by a growing population and an increasing reliance on groundwater as a source for municipal and private water systems, has prompted a study of groundwater recharge on the island using the most current data and accepted methods. For this study, a daily water-budget model for the entire Island of Hawaiʻi...
Authors
John A. Engott
Application of MODFLOW for oil reservoir simulation during the Deepwater Horizon Crisis Application of MODFLOW for oil reservoir simulation during the Deepwater Horizon Crisis
When the Macondo well was shut in on July 15, 2010, the shut-in pressure recovered to a level that indicated the possibility of oil leakage out of the well casing into the surrounding formation. Such a leak could initiate a hydraulic fracture that might eventually breach the seafloor, resulting in renewed and uncontrolled oil flow into the Gulf of Mexico. To help evaluate whether or not...
Authors
Paul A. Hsieh
Anatomy of a metabentonite: Nucleation and growth of illite crystals and their coalescence into mixed-layer illite/smectite Anatomy of a metabentonite: Nucleation and growth of illite crystals and their coalescence into mixed-layer illite/smectite
The illite layer content of mixed-layer illite/smectite (I/S) in a 2.5 m thick, zoned, metabentonite bed from Montana decreases regularly from the edges to the center of the bed. Traditional X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern modeling using Markovian statistics indicated that this zonation results from a mixing in different proportions of smectite-rich R0 I/S and illite-rich R1 I/S, with...
Authors
D. D. Eberl, A.E. Blum, M. Serravezza
Anthropocene streams and base-level controls from historic dams in the unglaciated mid-Atlantic region, USA Anthropocene streams and base-level controls from historic dams in the unglaciated mid-Atlantic region, USA
Recently, widespread valley-bottom damming for water power was identified as a primary control on valley sedimentation in the mid-Atlantic US during the late seventeenth to early twentieth century. The timing of damming coincided with that of accelerated upland erosion during post-European settlement land-use change. In this paper, we examine the impact of local drops in base level on...
Authors
Dorothy Merritts, Robert Walter, Michael Rahnis, Jeff Hartranft, Scott Cox, Allen Gellis, Noel Potter, William Hilgartner, Michael J. Langland, Lauren Manion, Caitlin Lippincott, Sauleh Siddiqui, Zain Rehman, Chris Scheid, Laura Kratz, Andrea Shilling, Matthew Jenschke, Katherine Datin, Elizabeth Cranmer, Austin Reed, Derek Matuszewski, Mark Voli, Erik Ohlson, Ali Neugebauer, Aakash Ahamed, Conor Neal, Allison Winter, Steven Becker