Douglas B Chambers
Science and Products
Pre-listing Science Support in the Northeast
The background information required to support listing decisions is not always current or available, and additional information or tools to model potential future condition can greatly improve the confidence in Species Status Assessments. We are working closely with multiple partners to provide updated information, model potential outcomes, and identify key uncertainties relevant to amphibian...
Chemical constituent concentrations in stream water, streambed sediment, and soils of Fort Belvoir, Virginia—A characterization of ambient conditions in 2019
IntroductionThe U.S. Army Fort Belvoir (FTBL) installation is on the banks of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, northeastern Virginia. The installation was founded by the U.S. Army during World War I. It has been home to a variety of military organizations over the course of its more than 100-year history and currently houses more than 145...
Rice, Karen C.; Chambers, Douglas B.
Degradation of crude 4-MCHM (4-methylcyclohexanemethanol) in sediments from Elk River, West Virginia
In January 2014, approximately 37 800 L of crude 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (crude MCHM) spilled into the Elk River, West Virginia. To understand the long-term fate of 4-MCHM, we conducted experiments under environmentally relevant conditions to assess the potential for the 2 primary compounds in crude MCHM (1) to undergo biodegradation and (2)...
Cozzarelli, Isabelle M.; Akob, Denise M.; Baedecker, Mary Jo; Spencer, Tracey; Jaeschke, Jeanne B.; Dunlap, Darren S.; Mumford, Adam C.; Poret-Peterson, Amisha T.; Chambers, Douglas B.
Water quality of groundwater and stream base flow in the Marcellus Shale Gas Field of the Monongahela River Basin, West Virginia, 2011-12
The Marcellus Shale gas field underlies portions of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Development of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling technology led to extensive development of gas from the Marcellus Shale beginning about 2007. The need to identify and monitor changes in water-quality...
Chambers, Douglas B.; Kozar, Mark D.; Messinger, Terence; Mulder, Michon L.; Pelak, Adam J.; White , Jeremy S. Determination of (4-methylcyclohexyl)methanol isomers by heated purge-and-trap GC/MS in water samples from the 2014 Elk River, West Virginia, chemical spill
A heated purge-and-trap gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method was used to determine the cis- and trans-isomers of (4-methylcyclohexyl)methanol (4-MCHM), the reported major component of the Crude MCHM/Dowanol™ PPh glycol ether material spilled into the Elk River upriver from Charleston, West Virginia, on January 9, 2014. The trans-isomer...
Foreman, William T.; Rose, Donna L.; Chambers, Douglas B.; Crain, Angela S.; Murtagh, Lucinda K.; Thakellapalli, Haresh; Wang, Kung K. Temporal changes in taxonomic and functional diversity of fish assemblages downstream from mountaintop mining
Mountaintop mining (MTM) affects chemical, physical, and hydrological properties of receiving streams, but the long-term consequences for fish-assemblage structure and function are poorly understood. We sampled stream fish assemblages using electrofishing techniques in MTM exposure sites and reference sites within the Guyandotte River basin, USA,...
Hitt, Nathaniel P.; Chambers, Douglas B.
Groundwater quality in West Virginia, 1993-2008
Approximately 42 percent of all West Virginians rely on groundwater for their domestic water supply. However, prior to 2008, the quality of the West Virginia’s groundwater resource was largely unknown. The need for a statewide assessment of groundwater quality prompted the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with West Virginia Department...
Chambers, Douglas B.; Kozar, Mark D.; White , Jeremy S.; Paybins, Katherine S.
Water quality of the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, and their U.S. tributaries, 1946-2005
The St. Clair River/Lake St. Clair waterway forms an international boundary between the United States and Canada. The waters of the area are an important part of the cultural heritage of the area and serves as an important water-supply and power-generating resource; the waterway also supports an economy based largely on recreation, agriculture,...
Healy, Denis F.; Chambers, Douglas B.; Rachol, Cynthia M.; Jodoin, Richard S.
A Reconnaissance for Emerging Contaminants in the South Branch Potomac River, Cacapon River, and Williams River Basins, West Virginia, April-October 2004
In 2003 a team of scientists from West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and the U. S. Geological Survey found a high incidence of an intersex condition, oocytes in the testes, among smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) in the South Branch Potomac River and the Cacapon River of West Virginia, indicating the possible presence of endocrine-...
Chambers, Douglas B.; Leiker, Thomas J. Benthic invertebrate communities and their responses to selected environmental factors in the Kanawha River basin, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina
The effects of selected environmental factors on the composition and structure of benthic invertebrate communities in the Kanawha River Basin of West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina were investigated in 1997 and 1998. Environmental factors investigated include physiography, land-use pattern, streamwater chemistry, streambed- sediment...
Chambers, Douglas B.; Messinger, Terence Reconnaissance of Stream Geomorphology, Low Streamflow, and Stream Temperature in the Mountaintop Coal-Mining Region, Southern West Virginia, 1999-2000
The effects of mountaintop removal coal mining and the valley fills created by this mining method in southern West Virginia were investigated by comparing data collected at valley-fill, mined, and unmined sites. Bed material downstream of valley-fill sites had a greater number of particles less than 2 millimeters and a smaller median particle size...
Wiley, Jeffrey B.; Evaldi, Ronald D.; Eychaner, James H.; Chambers, Douglas B. Fish communities and their relation to environmental factors in the Kanawha River basin, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, 1997-98
Stream size and zoogeography affected species composition and relative abundance of fish communities more than water-quality effects of land uses among the 21 sites sampled in West Virginia and Virginia. Most commonly-used fish metrics based on counts of species were significantly greater in sites downstream from Kanawha Falls (an important...
Messinger, Terence; Chambers, Douglas B.
Water quality in the Kanawha-New River basin; West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, 1996-98
This report summarizes major findings about water quality in the Kanawha-New River basin that emerged from an assessment conducted between 1996 and 1998 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. Water quality is discussed in terms of local and regional issues and compared to conditions found in all 36...
Paybins, Katherine S.; Messinger, Terence; Eychaner, James H.; Chambers, Douglas B.; Kozar, Mark D.