Publications

Executive Summary The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has the critical role of providing scientific information to improve the understanding and management of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. The USGS works with Federal, State, and academic science partners to provide research and monitoring, and communicate results of these activities to enhance ecosystem management for both the Chesapeake...

To better understand suspended-sediment transport in a tidal slough adjacent to a large wetland restoration project, we deployed continuously measuring temperature, salinity, depth, turbidity, and velocity sensors in 2010 at a near-bottom location in Alviso Slough (Alviso, California, USA). Alviso Slough is the downstream reach of the Guadalupe River and flows into the far southern end...

Navigable inland waterways, including lakes, rivers, and reservoirs, are important transportation routes for people and goods in Brazil. Natural and anthropogenic effects coupled with recent severe droughts have led to decreased inland waterway navigation. The Company for Development of the São Francisco and Parnaíba River Valleys (CODEVASF) has recognized the decrease in waterway...

The Yakima River Basin in south-central Washington has a long history of irrigated agriculture and a more recent history of large-scale livestock operations, both of which may contribute nutrients to the groundwater system. Nitrate concentrations in water samples from shallow groundwater wells in the lower Yakima River Basin exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drinking...

The Albuquerque Basin, located in central New Mexico, is about 100 miles long and 25–40 miles wide. The basin is hydrologically defined as the extent of consolidated and unconsolidated deposits of Tertiary and Quaternary age that encompasses the structural Rio Grande Rift. Drinking-water supplies throughout the basin were obtained solely from groundwater resources until December 2008...

In January 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey National Geospatial Technical Operations Center began producing the 1-Meter Digital Elevation Model data product. This new product was developed to provide high resolution bare-earth digital elevation models from light detection and ranging (lidar) elevation data and other elevation data collected over the conterminous United States (lower 48...

Heavy rainfall occurred across South Carolina during October 1–5, 2015, as a result of an upper atmospheric low-pressure system that funneled tropical moisture from Hurricane Joaquin into the State. The storm caused major flooding from the central to the coastal areas of South Carolina. Almost 27 inches of rain fell near Mount Pleasant in Charleston County during this period. U.S...

Watershed-scale monitoring, field aeration experiments, and geochemical equilibrium and kinetic modeling were conducted to evaluate interdependent changes in pH, dissolved CO2, O2, and Fe(II) concentrations that typically take place downstream of net-alkaline, circumneutral coal-mine drainage (CMD) outfalls and during aerobic treatment of such CMD. The kinetic modeling approach, using...

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 (km) 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...

Water quality data collected in 2012 for 10 above- and 14 below-drainage coal mine discharges (CMDs), classified by mining or excavation method, in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania, USA, are compared with data for 1975, 1991, and 1999 to evaluate long-term (37 year) changes in pH, SO42−, and Fe concentrations related to geochemistry, hydrology, and natural attenuation processes. We

The Fena Valley Reservoir is in southern Guam and is the primary source of water for the U.S. Naval Base Guam and nearby village residents. Since the construction of the Fena Dam in 1951, sediment has accumulated in the reservoir and reduced its storage capacity. The reservoir was surveyed previously in 1973, 1979, and 1990 to estimate the loss in storage capacity. To determine the...

myScience (http://txpub.usgs.gov/myscience/) is a Web application developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Texas Water Science Center through a partnership with the USGS Community for Data Integration to address the need for increasing public awareness and participation in existing USGS citizen science projects. The myScience application contains data for 20 projects available for...