Publications

A high percentage (31%) of groundwater samples from bedrock aquifers in the greater Augusta area, Maine was found to contain greater than 10 μg L–1 of arsenic. Elevated arsenic concentrations are associated with bedrock geology, and more frequently observed in samples with high pH, low dissolved oxygen, and low nitrate. These associations were quantitatively compared by statistical...

Part of the mission of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources is to protect and preserve South Carolina's water resources. Doing so requires an ongoing understanding of streamflow characteristics of the rivers and streams in South Carolina. A particular need is information concerning the low-flow...

Beach water and sediment samples were collected along the Gulf of Mexico coast to assess differences in contaminant concentrations before and after landfall of Macondo-1 well oil released into the Gulf of Mexico from the sinking of the British Petroleum Corporation's Deepwater Horizon drilling platform. Samples were collected at 70 coastal sites between May 7 and July 7, 2010, to...

Global sea level is rising, and the relative rate in the Chesapeake Bay region of the East Coast of the United States is greater than the worldwide rate. Sea-level rise can cause saline water to migrate upstream in estuaries and rivers, threatening freshwater habitat and drinking-water supplies. The effects of future sea-level rise on two tributaries of Chesapeake Bay, the James and...

No abstract available.

Laboratory studies and a field demonstration were conducted to determine the ability of the Snap Sampler to recover representative concentrations of several types of inorganic analytes from ground water. Analytes included non-metals, transition metals, alkaline earth metals, alkali metals, and a metalloid. In the laboratory studies, concentrations of analytes in Snap Sampler samples were...

This final technical report documents the demonstration and validation of regenerated cellulose dialysis membrane diffusion samplers (RCDM samplers) for use in collecting groundwater samples for perchlorate and a suite of explosives compounds. This project, ER-0313, was funded by the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP). The primary objectives of the project...

Increased health concerns about perchlorate (ClO4-) during the past decade and subsequent regulatory considerations have generated appreciable interest in source identification. The key objective of the isotopic techniques described in this guidance manual is to provide evidence concerning the origin of ClO4- in soils and groundwater and, more specifically, whether that ClO4- is...

No abstract available.

The Las Conchas Fire during the summer of 2011 was the largest in recorded history for the state of New Mexico, burning 634 square kilometers in the Jemez Mountains of north-central New Mexico. The burned landscape is now at risk of damage from postwildfire erosion, such as that caused by debris flows and flash floods. This report presents a preliminary hazard assessment of the debris...

The Denver Basin aquifer system is a critical water resource for growing municipal, industrial, and domestic uses along the semiarid Front Range urban corridor of Colorado. The confined bedrock aquifer system is located along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountain Front Range where the mountains meet the Great Plains physiographic province. Continued population growth and the resulting...

Biotic/abiotic interactions between soil mineral nutrients and annual grassland vegetation are characterized for five soils in a marine terrace chronosequence near Santa Cruz, California. A Mediterranean climate, with wet winters and dry summers, controls the annual cycle of plant growth and litter decomposition, resulting in net above-ground productivities of 280–600 g m−2 yr−1. The...