MaryLynn Musgrove
MaryLynn Musgrove is a Research Physical Scientist and the Western Region Principal Aquifer Analyst for the National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project. Her research interests include water quality, karst hydrology, and isotope geochemistry.
Biography
MaryLynn has Masters and PhD degrees in Geological Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied with Dr. Jay Banner. Her graduate research focused on the application of geochemical tracers and environmental isotopes to karst aquifers, paleohydrology, and paleoclimate studies. After completing her PhD in 2000, she completed postdoctoral work at Harvard University studying paleoclimate and links between science and policy. She joined the USGS and Texas Water Science Center in 2006.
MaryLynn is currently a geochemist with the National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project, acting as the Principal Aquifer Analyst for the Western U.S. region. Her research interests continue to address karst hydrology and carbonate aquifer geochemistry, with ongoing contributions to understanding the central Texas Edwards aquifer. She is also a Research Fellow at the University of Texas Environmental Science Institute where she regularly serves on the committees of graduate students.
Science and Products
Groundwater Quality—Current Conditions and Changes Through Time
Is groundwater the source of your drinking water? The USGS is assessing the quality of groundwater used for public supply using newly collected data along with existing water-quality data. Learn more about this invisible, vital resource so many of us depend on.
Rapid Fluctuations in Groundwater Quality
We think of groundwater as moving slowly, and groundwater quality as changing slowly—over decades or even centuries. But in some parts of some aquifers, groundwater quality can fluctuate rapidly, sometimes over just a few hours. Are such changes part of a long-term trend, or just part of a short-term cycle? And what does that mean for suitability for drinking?
National Water-Quality Assessment Project in Texas - Groundwater Activities
The USGS National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project was established by Congress in 1992 to answer the following question:
What is the status of the Nation’s water quality and is it getting better or worse?
Since 1992, NAWQA has been a primary source of nationally consistent data and information on the quality of the Nation’s streams and groundwater. Data and...
Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone Surface-water and Groundwater Interaction
The effects of urbanization across the recharge zone in Bexar County and potential impact on the water quality in the Edwards aquifer is a topic of specific concern for the City of San Antonio. The USGS Texas Water Science Center is simultaneously collecting water-quality data from surface-water runoff sites and paired shallow groundwater wells within the recharge zone of the Edwards aquifer...
Hydrogeologic and Geochemical Investigation of the Trinity and Northern Segment Edwards Aquifers
The USGS Texas Water Science Center, in cooperation with the Clearwater Underground Water Conservation District and Bell County Adaptive Management Coalition, is evaluating the hydrogeology and water quality of the Northern segment of the Edwards and Trinity aquifers in Bell County to provide regional resource managers responsible for regulation of water use and drought management strategies...
Urban Waters Federal Partnership - Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone Monitoring Network
The USGS Texas Water Science Center is implementing a more complete and integrated monitoring network for the Edwards aquifer to improve the understanding of aquifer water quality and establish a baseline for measuring future water-quality changes.
Timescales of water-quality change in a karst aquifer, south-central Texas
Understanding the drivers and timescales over which groundwater quality changes informs groundwater management, use, and protection. To better understand timescales of water-quality change over short (daily to monthly) and long (seasonal to decadal) timescales, the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Enhanced Trends...
Musgrove, MaryLynn; Solder, John E.; Opsahl, Stephen P.; Wilson, Jennifer T.
Groundwater-quality and select quality-control data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2015, and previously unpublished data from 2013 to 2014
Groundwater-quality data were collected from 502 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program and are included in this report. Most of the wells (500) were sampled from January through December 2015, and 2 of them were sampled in 2013. The data were collected from five...
Arnold, Terri L.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Musgrove, MaryLynn; Stackelberg, Paul E.; Lindsey, Bruce D.; Kingsbury, James A.; Kulongoski, Justin T.; Belitz, Kenneth
Water-quality observations of the San Antonio segment of the Edwards aquifer, Texas, with an emphasis on processes influencing nutrient and pesticide geochemistry and factors affecting aquifer vulnerability, 2010–16
As questions regarding the influence of increasing urbanization on water quality in the Edwards aquifer are raised, a better understanding of the sources, fate, and transport of compounds of concern in the aquifer—in particular, nutrients and pesticides—is needed to improve water management decision-making capabilities. The U.S. Geological Survey...
Opsahl, Stephen P.; Musgrove, MaryLynn; Mahler, Barbara J.; Lambert, Rebecca B.
Water quality, sources of nitrate, and chemical loadings in the Geronimo Creek and Plum Creek watersheds, south-central Texas, April 2015–March 2016
Located in south-central Texas, the Geronimo Creek and Plum Creek watersheds have long been characterized by elevated nitrate concentrations. From April 2015 through March 2016, an assessment was done by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, to...
Lambert, Rebecca B.; Opsahl, Stephen P.; Musgrove, MaryLynn
Groundwater quality in the Rio Grande aquifer system, southwestern United States
Groundwater provides nearly 50 percent of the Nation’s drinking water. To help protect this vital resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project assesses groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water (Burow and Belitz, 2014). The Rio Grande aquifer system...
Musgrove, MaryLynn; Bexfield, Laura M.
Groundwater-quality data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2014 and select quality-control data from May 2012 through December 2014
Groundwater-quality data were collected from 559 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program from January through December 2014. The data were collected from four types of well networks: principal aquifer study networks, which are used to assess the quality of...
Arnold, Terri L.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Musgrove, MaryLynn; Lindsey, Bruce D.; Stackelberg, Paul E.; Barlow, Jeannie R. B.; Desimone, Leslie A.; Kulongoski, Justin T.; Kingsbury, James A.; Ayotte, Joseph D.; Fleming, Brandon J.; Belitz, Kenneth New insights into nitrate dynamics in a karst groundwater system gained from in situ high-frequency optical sensor measurements
Understanding nitrate dynamics in groundwater systems as a function of climatic conditions, especially during contrasting patterns of drought and wet cycles, is limited by a lack of temporal and spatial data. Nitrate sensors have the capability for making accurate, high-frequency measurements of nitrate in situ, but have not yet been evaluated for...
Opsahl, Stephen P.; Musgrove, MaryLynn; Slattery, Richard N. Continuous monitoring and discrete water-quality data from groundwater wells in the Edwards aquifer, Texas, 2014–15
In cooperation with the San Antonio Water System, continuous and discrete water-quality data were collected from groundwater wells completed in the Edwards aquifer, Texas, 2014-2015. Discrete measurements of nitrate were made by using a nitrate sensor. Precipitation data from two sites in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Global...
Opsahl, Stephen P.; Musgrove, MaryLynn; Slattery, Richard N.
Groundwater quality in the Basin and Range Basin-Fill Aquifers, southwestern United States
Groundwater provides nearly 50 percent of the Nation’s drinking water. To help protect this vital resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project assesses groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water. The Basin and Range basin-fill aquifers constitute one of the...
Musgrove, MaryLynn; Belitz, Kenneth High nitrate concentrations in some Midwest United States streams in 2013 after the 2012 drought
Nitrogen sources in the Mississippi River basin have been linked to degradation of stream ecology and to Gulf of Mexico hypoxia. In 2013, the USGS and the USEPA characterized water quality stressors and ecological conditions in 100 wadeable streams across the midwestern United States. Wet conditions in 2013 followed a severe drought in 2012, a...
Van Metre, Peter C.; Frey, Jeffrey W.; Musgrove, MaryLynn; Nakagaki, Naomi; Qi, Sharon L.; Mahler, Barbara J.; Wieczorek, Michael; Button, Daniel T. Source, variability, and transformation of nitrate in a regional karst aquifer: Edwards aquifer, central Texas.
Many karst regions are undergoing rapid population growth and expansion of urban land accompanied by increases in wastewater generation and changing patterns of nitrate (NO3−) loading to surface and groundwater. We investigate variability and sources of NO3− in a regional karst aquifer system, the Edwards aquifer of central Texas...
Musgrove, MaryLynn; Opsahl, Stephen P.; Mahler, Barbara J.; Herrington, Chris; Sample, Thomas; Banta, John
Groundwater quality data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, May 2012 through December 2013
Groundwater-quality data were collected from 748 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program from May 2012 through December 2013. The data were collected from four types of well networks: principal aquifer study networks, which assess the quality of groundwater used...
Arnold, Terri L.; Desimone, Leslie A.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Lindsey, Bruce D.; Barlow, Jeannie R. B.; Kulongoski, Justin T.; Musgrove, MaryLynn; Kingsbury, James A.; Belitz, Kenneth
The Quality of the Nation’s Groundwater: Progress on a National Survey
The U.S. Geological Survey is near the midpoint of a complex undertaking to survey the quality of the nation’s largest drinking-water resource.
Current website: https://www.usgs.gov/news/quality-nation-s-groundwater-progress-a-nation...
Groundwater Quality in the West: Examining Basin and Range Basin-Fill Aquifers
A regional assessment of untreated groundwater in the Basin and Range basin-fill aquifers, which include parts of Nevada, California, Arizona, Utah and adjacent states, is now available from the U.S. Geological Survey.