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: 19017
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
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
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
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
Probability and volume of potential postwildfire debris flows in the 2011 Monument burn area, southeastern Arizona Probability and volume of potential postwildfire debris flows in the 2011 Monument burn area, southeastern Arizona
This report presents a preliminary emergency assessment of the debris-flow hazards from drainage basins burned by the Monument wildfire in southeastern Arizona, in 2011. Empirical models derived from statistical evaluation of data collected from recently burned drainage basins throughout the intermountain Western United States were used to estimate the probability of debris-flow...
Authors
Barbara C. Ruddy, Kristine L. Verdin
Assessment of selected contaminants in streambed- and suspended-sediment samples collected in Bexar County, Texas, 2007-09 Assessment of selected contaminants in streambed- and suspended-sediment samples collected in Bexar County, Texas, 2007-09
Elevated concentrations of sediment-associated contaminants are typically associated with urban areas such as San Antonio, Texas, in Bexar County, the seventh most populous city in the United States. This report describes an assessment of selected sediment-associated contaminants in samples collected in Bexar County from sites on the following streams: Medio Creek, Medina River, Elm...
Authors
Jennifer T. Wilson
Grazing impact of the invasive clam Corbula amurensis on the microplankton assemblage of the northern San Francisco Estuary Grazing impact of the invasive clam Corbula amurensis on the microplankton assemblage of the northern San Francisco Estuary
Grazing by the overbite clam Corbula amurensis (formerly known as Potamocorbula) may be the cause of substantial declines in phytoplankton biomass and zooplankton in the San Francisco Estuary (SFE) following its introduction in 1986. While grazing rates have been examined on bacteria, phytoplankton, and copepod nauplii, the consumption of protistan microzooplankton by C. amurensis has...
Authors
Valerie E. Greene, Lindsay J. Sullivan, Janet K. Thompson, Wim J. Kimmerer
Precipitation and runoff simulations of select perennial and ephemeral watersheds in the middle Carson River basin, Eagle, Dayton, and Churchill Valleys, west-central Nevada Precipitation and runoff simulations of select perennial and ephemeral watersheds in the middle Carson River basin, Eagle, Dayton, and Churchill Valleys, west-central Nevada
The effect that land use may have on streamflow in the Carson River, and ultimately its impact on downstream users can be evaluated by simulating precipitation-runoff processes and estimating groundwater inflow in the middle Carson River in west-central Nevada. To address these concerns, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, began a study in 2008 to...
Authors
Anne E. Jeton, Douglas K. Maurer