Publications

A method was developed for the analysis of over 60 pesticides and degradates in water by HLB solid-phase extraction and gas-chromatography/mass spectrometry. Method recoveries and detection limits were determined using two surface waters with different dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations. In the lower DOC water, recoveries and detection limits were 80%–108% and 1–12 ng/L...

Pesticide transport through the unsaturated zone is a function of chemical and soil characteristics, application, and water recharge rate. The fate and transport of 82 pesticides and degradates were investigated at five different agricultural sites. Atrazine and metolachlor, as well as several of the degradates of atrazine, metolachlor, acetochlor, and alachlor, were frequently detected...

The ability of natural attenuation to mitigate agricultural nitrate contamination in recharging aquifers was investigated in four important agricultural settings in the United States. The study used laboratory analyses, field measurements, and flow and transport modeling for monitoring well transects (0.5 to 2.5 km in length) in the San Joaquin watershed, California, the Elkhorn...

In this study we used hydrologic proxies to develop a daily sediment load time-series, which agrees with decadal sediment load estimates, when integrated. Hindcast simulations of bathymetric change in estuaries require daily sediment loads from major tributary rivers, to capture the episodic delivery of sediment during multi-day freshwater flow pulses. Two independent decadal sediment...

Mercury contained in buried landfill waste may be released via upward emission to the atmosphere or downward leaching to groundwater. Data from the US Geological Survey’s Amargosa Desert Research Site (ADRS) in arid southwestern Nevada reveal another potential pathway of Hg release: long-distance (102 m) lateral migration of elemental Hg (Hg0) through the unsaturated zone. Gas collected...

Bathymetric change in tidal environments is modulated by watershed sediment yield, hydrodynamic processes, benthic composition, and anthropogenic activities. These multiple forcings combine to complicate simple prediction of bathymetric change; therefore, numerical models are necessary to simulate sediment transport. Errors arise from these simulations, due to inaccurate initial...

Submarine ground‐water discharge (SGD) contributes important solute fluxes to coastal waters. Pollutants are transported to coastal ecosystems by SGD at spatially and temporally variable rates. New approaches are needed to characterize the effects of storm‐event, tidal, and seasonal forcing on SGD. Here, we evaluate the utility of two geophysical methods‐fiber‐optic distributed...

Lead concentrations and isotope ratios measured in river water colloids and streambed sediment samples along 426 km of the Sacramento River, California reveal that the influence of lead from the historical mining of massive sulfide deposits in the West Shasta Cu-mining district (at the headwaters of the Sacramento River) is confined to a 60 km stretch of river immediately downstream of...

A study was conducted between April 2004 and September 2005 to estimate groundwater and nutrient discharge to the Neuse River estuary in North Carolina. The largest groundwater fluxes were observed to occur generally within 20 m of the shoreline. Groundwater flux estimates based on seepage meter measurements ranged from 2.86??108 to 4.33??108 m3 annually and are comparable to estimates...

The geological sciences are challenged to manage and interpret increasing volumes of data as observations and simulations increase in size and complexity. For example, simulations of earthquake-related processes typically generate complex, time-varying data sets in two or more dimensions. To facilitate interpretation and analysis of these data sets, evaluate the underlying models, and to...

The Salton Sea is a hypersaline lake located in southeastern California. Concerns over the ecological impacts of sediment quality and potential human exposure to dust emissions from exposed lakebed sediments resulting from anticipated shrinking of shoreline led to a study of pesticide distribution and transport within the Salton Sea Basin, California, in 2001-2002. Three sampling...

Understanding the sources of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in drinking-water reservoirs is an important management issue because DOC may form disinfection by-products, interfere with disinfection, or increase treatment costs. DOC may be derived from a host of sources-algal production of DOC in the reservoir, marginal production of DOC from mucks and vascular plants at the margins, and...