Publications

The U.S. Geological Survey is investigating the relation of ground- water quality and land use in the regolith and fractured rock ground-water system of the North Carolina Piedmont. The initial phase of this study provides a description of the ground-water flow system and a review of available ground-water data and formulates hypotheses that guide the design of a water-quality monitoring...

A severe drought in the Southeastern United States during 1986 resulted in the lowest flows of record for many streams. Minimum flows in many streams occurred in mid-summer, several months earlier in the year than the minimums that occurred during notable regional droughts of 1954 and 1981. Streamflow data for 370 continuous-record gaging stations in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina...

The hydrogeologic framework of the area around the Savannah River Plant, South Carolina consists of 2 to 3 separate water bearing units. In the northern half of the study area, the Barnwell and underlying McBean aquifers are considered one aquifer owing to the absence of the tan clay-confining unit between them. In the southern half of the study area they are separated by the tan clay...

A water-quality study was conducted during 1980-86 at four landfills in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Each landfill has a three-layered hydrogeologic system typical of the Piedmont, consisting of (1) the regolith; (2) a transition zone; and (3) unweathered, fractured crystalline bedrock. As much as 7.6 inches per year of rainfall enters the ground-water system and has the potential...

No abstract available.

Water-level measurements were made in 84 wells open to the upper Cape Fear aquifer at the end of 1986 to determine the configuration of its potentiometric surface over an area of approximately 5,500 sq mi. The major feature of the potentiometric surface is the development of a large, almost circular cone of depression as a result of the merging of a number of smaller cones. The center of...

Water level measurements were made in four wells open to the lower Cape Fear aquifer at the end of 1986 to determine the configuration of its potentiometric surface over an area of approximately 4,100 sq mi. Because of the scarcity of data, five earlier measurements were also used to help estimate the position of the potentiometric contours. These were one-time measurements in temporary

A two-demensional, depth-averaged, finite-difference, flow/transport model, SIM2D, is being used to simulate tidal circulation and transport in the Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, estuarine system. Models of a subregion of the Port Royal Sound system have been derived from an earlier-developed model of the entire system having a grid size of 600 ft. The submodels were implemented with...

Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge, Madison Parish, Louisiana, consists of bottomland hardwood swamps interspersed with small lakes and bayous supporting a diverse assemblage of waterfowl, fish, and assorted species of game and nongame wildlife. Fish collected in the refuge in 1984–85 from areas receiving direct inflow from agricultural runoff contained from 5 to 10 μg/g total DDT...

Closed-system microcosms were used to study factors affecting the fate of selenium (Se) in aquatic systems. Distribution and bioaccumulation of Se varied among sediment types and Se species. A mixture of dissolved 75Se species (selenate, selenite and selenomethionine) was sorbed more rapidly to fine-textured, highly organic pond sediments than to sandy riverine sediments. Sulfate did not...

An important factor contributing to the deterioration of wetland forests in Louisiana is increasing water levels resulting from eustatic sea-level rise and subsidence. Analyses of long-term water level records from the Barataria and Verret watersheds in southeastern Louisiana indicate an apparent sea level rise of about 1-m per century, mainly the result of subsidence. Permanent study...

No abstract available.