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Book Chapters

Browse more than 5,500 book chapters authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS and refine search by topic, location, year, and advanced search.

Filter Total Items: 6198

Tectonic, climatic, and land-use controls on groundwater recharge in an arid alluvial basin, Amargosa Desert Tectonic, climatic, and land-use controls on groundwater recharge in an arid alluvial basin, Amargosa Desert

Unsaturated-zone profiles in alluvial sediments of the Amargosa Desert reveal distinct patterns of groundwater recharge corresponding to tectono-geomorphic setting and land-use history. Profiles of water potential, water content, and solute concentrations beneath irrigated fields, undisturbed native vegetation, and the normally dry channel of the Amargosa River reflect strongly...
Authors
David A. Stonestrom, David E. Prudic, Randell J. Laczniak, Katherine Akstin

The future of fire in California ecosystems The future of fire in California ecosystems

This chapter reviews the concepts developed in the book and challenges Californians to accept the fact that they live in fire-prone ecosystems. California’s variety of fire regimes are products of its wide diversity of vegetation, climate, topography, and ignitions. The role fire plays in an ecosystem is characterized by the fire regime attributes that describe the pattern of fire...
Authors
N. G. Sugihara, J. W. van Wagtendonk, J. Fites-Kaufman, K. E. Shaffer, A. E. Thode

The mute swan, its status, behavior, and history in the U. K The mute swan, its status, behavior, and history in the U. K

For many years the mute swan has been considered a royal bird. It is a prominent resident throughout the United Kingdom (U.K.), often found on the inland waterways. Some people consider it to be a nonmigratory native bird because it doesn't tend to move large distances and doesn't often venture far from freshwater. A mute swan may often live out its life cycle in the same river valley in...
Authors
E.J.R. Lohnes

Natural remediation potential of arsenic-contaminated ground water Natural remediation potential of arsenic-contaminated ground water

Migration of leachate from a municipal landfill in Saco, Maine has resulted in arsenic concentrations in ground water as high as 647 μg/L. Laboratory experimental data indicate the primary source of arsenic to be reductive dissolution of arsenic-enriched iron oxyhydroxides in the aquifer by organic carbon in landfill leachate. A core from an uncontaminated part of the aquifer yielded no...
Authors
Kenneth G. Stollenwerk, John A. Colman

Arsenic in ground water used for drinking water in the United States Arsenic in ground water used for drinking water in the United States

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently established a new maximum contaminant level of 10 micrograms per liter for arsenic in drinking water in the United States. Ground water is the primary source of drinking water for half the population of the United States. Several national assessments have found that high arsenic concentrations (above 10 micrograms per liter) are...
Authors
Sarah J. Ryker

The seagrasses of the Gulf of Mexico The seagrasses of the Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a vast basin of water, spanning 12° of latitude, from 18° to 30°N. and 17° of longitude, from 81° to 98°W. It is bisected by the Tropic of Cancer and is largely subtropical; however, along the northern edge, up to five days with freezing temperatures are probable on an annual basis. The coastal fringe is moist, with annual precipitation in excess of 1 000 mm, except...
Authors
C.P. Onuf, R. C. Phillips, C. A. Moncreiff, A. Raz-Guzman, Jorge A Herrera-Silveira
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