Reports

County-level nitrogen and phosphorus inputs from animal manure for the conterminous United States for 2002 were estimated from animal populations from the 2002 Census of Agriculture by using methods described in U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2006–5012. These estimates of nitrogen and phosphorus from animal manure were compiled in support of the U.S. Geological...

Two inundation events in 2011 underscored the potential for elevated water levels to damage infrastructure and affect terrestrial ecosystems on the low-lying Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The goal of this study was to compare passive "bathtub" inundation models based on geographic information systems (GIS) to those that include dynamic...

The U.S. Geological Survey monitored atmospheric deposition of pesticides in the Central Valley of California during two studies in 2001 and 2002–04. The 2001 study sampled wet deposition (rain) and storm-drain runoff in the Modesto, California, area during the orchard dormant-spray season to examine the contribution of pesticide concentrations to storm runoff from rainfall. In the 2002...

The lower Platte River corridor provides important habitats for two State- and federally listed bird species: the interior least tern (terns; Sternula antillarum athallassos) and the piping plover (plovers; Charadrius melodus). However, many of the natural morphological and hydrological characteristics of the Platte River have been altered substantially by water development...

Elevated levels of fluvial sediment can reduce the biological productivity of aquatic systems, impair freshwater quality, decrease reservoir storage capacity, and decrease the capacity of hydraulic structures. The need to measure fluvial sediment has led to the development of sediment surrogate technologies, particularly in locations where streamflow alone is not a good estimator of...

Communities in central Arizona’s Verde Valley must manage limited water supplies in the face of rapidly growing populations. Developing groundwater resources to meet human needs has raised questions about the effects of groundwater withdrawals by pumping on the area’s rivers and streams, particularly the Verde River. U.S. Geological Survey hydrologists used a regional groundwater flow...

Water budgets were developed for the Verde Valley of central Arizona in order to evaluate the degree to which human stresses have affected the hydrologic system and might affect it in the future. The Verde Valley is a portion of central Arizona wherein concerns have been raised about water availability, particularly perennial base flow of the Verde River. The Northern Arizona Regional...

The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled a map of shale-gas assessments in the United States that were completed by 2012 as part of the National Assessment of Oil and Gas Project. Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey quantitatively estimated potential volumes of undiscovered gas within shale-gas assessment units. These shale-gas assessment units are...

Thirteen stratigraphic cross sections of the Eocene Green River Formation in the Piceance Basin of northwestern Colorado are presented in this report. Originally published in a much larger and more detailed form by Self and others (2010), they are shown here in simplified, page-size versions that are easily accessed and used for presentation purposes. Modifications to the original...

Groundwater samples were collected from 296 wells during 1995-2006 as part of a baseline study of pesticides in Wyoming groundwater. In 2009, a previous report summarized the results of the baseline sampling and the statistical evaluation of the occurrence of pesticides in relation to selected natural and anthropogenic (human-related) characteristics. During 2008-10, the U.S. Geological...

Rare-earth elements (REEs) are contained in a wide range of products of economic and strategic importance to the Nation. The REEs may or may not represent a significant component of that product by mass, value, or volume; however, in many cases, the embedded REEs are critical for the device’s function. Domestic sources of primary supply and the manufacturing facilities to produce...

Beginning around 2000, abundance indices of four pelagic fishes (delta smelt, striped bass, longfin smelt, and threadfin shad) within the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta began to decline sharply (Sommer and others, 2007). These declines collectively became known as the pelagic organism decline (POD). No single cause has been linked to this decline, and current theories...