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: 19039
Trihalomethane precursors: Land use hot spots, persistence during transport, and management options Trihalomethane precursors: Land use hot spots, persistence during transport, and management options
To meet drinking water regulations, rather than investing in costly treatment plant operations, managers can look for ways to improve source water quality; this requires understanding watershed sources and fates of constituents of concern. Trihalomethanes (THMs) are one of the major classes of regulated disinfection byproducts, formed when a specific fraction of the organic carbon pool...
Authors
Robert S. Eckard, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Brian A. Pellerin, Tamara E. C. Kraus, Peter J. Hernes
Stability of inorganic and methylated arsenic species in laboratory standards, surface water and groundwater under three different preservation regimes Stability of inorganic and methylated arsenic species in laboratory standards, surface water and groundwater under three different preservation regimes
Geogenic arsenic (As) adversely affects drinking water quality in geologically diverse aquifers across the globe. Although the species of As significantly affects its fate, transport, toxicity, and As treatment technology efficacy, reported effectiveness of As species preservation methods varies widely with preservation methods and natural water geochemistry. Our study 1) evaluates the...
Authors
Sarah Stetson, Melinda L. Erickson, Jeffrey Brenner, Emily C. Berquist, Christopher J. Kanagy, Susan Melissa Whitcomb, Caitlyn Margaret Lawrence
The firn meltwater Retention Model Intercomparison Project (RetMIP): Evaluation of nine firn models at four weather station sites on the Greenland ice sheet The firn meltwater Retention Model Intercomparison Project (RetMIP): Evaluation of nine firn models at four weather station sites on the Greenland ice sheet
Perennial snow, or firn, covers 80 % of the Greenland ice sheet and has the capacity to retain surface meltwater, influencing the ice sheet mass balance and contribution to sea-level rise. Multilayer firn models are traditionally used to simulate firn processes and estimate meltwater retention. We present, intercompare and evaluate outputs from nine firn models at four sites that...
Authors
Baptiste Vandecrux, Ruth Mottram, Peter Langen, Robert Fausto, Martin Olesen, C. Max Stevens, Vincent Verjans, Amber Lee, Stefan Ligtenberg, Peter Kuipers Munneke, Sergey S. Marchenko, Ward van Pelt, Colin R. Meyer, Sebastian B. Simonsen, Achim Heilig, Samira Samimi, Shawn J. Marshall, Horst Machguth, Michael J. MacFerrin, Masashi Niwano, Olivia L. Miller, Clifford I. Voss, Jason E. Box
Multi-year hydroclimatic droughts and pluvials across the conterminous United States Multi-year hydroclimatic droughts and pluvials across the conterminous United States
Time series of water‐year runoff for 2,109 hydrologic units (HUs) across the conterminous United States (CONUS) for the 1900 through 2014 period were used to identify drought and pluvial (i.e., wet) periods. Characteristics of the drought and pluvial events including frequency, duration, and severity were examined and compared. Additionally, a similar analysis was performed using gridded...
Authors
Gregory J. McCabe, David M. Wolock
Comparison of groundwater storage changes from GRACE satellites with monitoring and modeling of major U.S. aquifers Comparison of groundwater storage changes from GRACE satellites with monitoring and modeling of major U.S. aquifers
GRACE satellite data are widely used to estimate groundwater storage (GWS) changes in aquifers globally; however, comparisons with GW monitoring and modeling data are limited. Here we compared GWS changes from GRACE over 15 yr (2002–2017) in 14 major U.S. aquifers with groundwater-level (GWL) monitoring data in ~23,000 wells and with regional and global hydrologic and land surface models...
Authors
Ashraf Rateb, Bridget R. Scanlon, Donald R. Pool, Alexander Y. Sun, Zizhan Zhang, Jianli Chen, Brian R. Clark, Dianna M. Crilley, Connor J. Haugh, Christopher M. Hobza, Mary C Hill, Virginia L. McGuire, Meredith Reitz, Hannes Muller Schmied Schmied, Edwin H. Sutanudjaja, Sean Swenson, David Wiese, Youlong Xia, Wesley O. Zell
Assessing uranium and select trace elements associated with breccia pipe uranium deposits in the Colorado River and main tributaries in Grand Canyon, USA Assessing uranium and select trace elements associated with breccia pipe uranium deposits in the Colorado River and main tributaries in Grand Canyon, USA
Assessing chemical loading from streams in remote, difficult-to-access watersheds is challenging. The Grand Canyon area in northern Arizona, an international tourist destination and sacred place for many Native Americans, is characterized by broad plateaus divided by canyons as much as two-thousand meters deep and hosts some of the highest-grade uranium deposits in the U.S. From 2015...
Authors
Fred D. Tillman, Jessica R. Anderson, Joel A. Unema, Thomas Chapin
Soil moisture product validation good practices protocol, version 1.0 Soil moisture product validation good practices protocol, version 1.0
The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) included soil moisture in the list of Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) to express its important role in Earth’s water, energy and carbon cycle. Soil moisture has a major impact on agriculture, land surface hydrology, weather, and climate forecasting. This document is a community-based effort to provide recommendations on good practices for the
Authors
Carsten Montzka, Michael H. Cosh, Bagher Bayat, Ahmad Al Bitar, Aaron Berg, Rajat Bindlish, Heye Reemt Bogena, John D. Bolton, Francois Cabot, Todd Caldwell, Steven Chan, Andreas Colliander, Wade Crow, Narendra Das, Gabrielle De Lannoy, Wouter Dorigo, Steven R. Evett, Alexander Gruber, Sebastian Hahn, Thomas Jagdhuber, Scott F. Jones, Yann Kerr, Seung-bum Kim, Christian Koyama, Mehmed Kurum, Ernesto Lopez-Baeza, Francesco Mattia, Kaighin A. McColl, Susanne Mecklenburg, Binayak Mohanty, Peggy O’Neill, Dani Or, Thierry Pellarin, George P. Petropoulos, Maria Piles, Rolf H. Reichle, Nemesio Rodriguez-Fernandez, Christoph Rudiger, Tracy Scanlon, Robert C. Schwartz, Daniel Spengler, Prashant K. Srivastava, Swati Suman, Robin van der Schalie, Wolfgang Wagner, Urs Wegmuller, Jean-Pierre Wigneron, Fernando Camacho, Jaime Nickeson
Carbon dioxide and methane flux in a dynamic Arctic tundra landscape: Decadal‐scale impacts of ice wedge degradation and stabilization Carbon dioxide and methane flux in a dynamic Arctic tundra landscape: Decadal‐scale impacts of ice wedge degradation and stabilization
Ice wedge degradation is a widespread occurrence across the circumpolar Arctic causing extreme spatial heterogeneity in water distribution, vegetation, and energy balance across landscapes. These heterogeneities influence carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes, yet there is little understanding of how they effect change in landscape‐level carbon (C) gas flux over time. We measured...
Authors
Kimberly P. Wickland, M.Torre Jorgenson, Joshua C. Koch, Mikhail Z. Kanevskiy, Robert G. Striegl
Transport and speciation of uranium in groundwater-surface water systems impacted by legacy milling operations Transport and speciation of uranium in groundwater-surface water systems impacted by legacy milling operations
Growing worldwide concern over uranium contamination of groundwater resources has placed an emphasis on understanding uranium transport dynamics and potential toxicity in groundwater-surface water systems. In this study, we utilized novel in-situ sampling methods to establish the location and magnitude of contaminated groundwater entry into a receiving surface water environment, and to...
Authors
Patrick A. Byrne, Christopher C. Fuller, David L. Naftz, Robert L. Runkel, Niklas J Lehto, William L Dam
Ratios of methylmercury to total mercury in predator and primary consumer insects from Adirondack streams in New York State Ratios of methylmercury to total mercury in predator and primary consumer insects from Adirondack streams in New York State
Mercury (Hg) is a global pollutant that affects aquatic biota in otherwise pristine settings such as the Adirondack region of New York State. Bioaccumulation of Hg is especially problematic in sensitive landscapes, where inorganic mercury from atmospheric deposition is readily converted, via natural processes, to methylmercury (MeHg), the toxic form that is taken up and biomagnified in...
Authors
Karen Riva-Murray
Mixotrophic iron-oxidizing Thiomonas isolates from an acid mine drainage-affected creek Mixotrophic iron-oxidizing Thiomonas isolates from an acid mine drainage-affected creek
Natural attenuation of heavy metals occurs via coupled microbial iron cycling and metal precipitation in creeks impacted by acid mine drainage (AMD). Here, we describe the isolation, characterization, and genomic sequencing of two iron-oxidizing bacteria (FeOB) species: Thiomonas ferrovorans FB-6 and Thiomonas metallidurans FB-Cd, isolated from slightly acidic (pH 6.3), Fe-rich, AMD...
Authors
Denise M. Akob, Michelle Hallenbeck, Felix Beulig, Maria Fabisch, Kirsten Kusel, Jessica L Keffer, Tanja Woyke, Nicole Shapiro, Alla Lapidus, Hans-Peter Klenk, Clara Chan
Geochemical assessment of groundwater in the Big Chino subbasin, Arizona, 2011–18 Geochemical assessment of groundwater in the Big Chino subbasin, Arizona, 2011–18
A geochemical characterization of groundwater in the Big Chino subbasin of Arizona was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Prescott, the Town of Prescott Valley, and the Salt River Project, to understand groundwater evolution through the study area and the source of water to springs along the gaining reach of the Verde River just downstream from its...
Authors
Kimberly R. Beisner, Casey J. R. Jones