Due to a lapse in appropriations, the majority of USGS websites may not be up to date and may not reflect current conditions. Websites displaying real-time data, such as Earthquake and Water and information needed for public health and safety will be updated with limited support. Additionally, USGS will not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted. For more information, please see www.doi.gov/shutdown
Roland W Tollett
Roland Wayne Tollett played his way through college, from playing baseball in the fields throughout the deep south to mapping in the fields of Colorado and Wyoming. Roland played baseball at Chipola Jr. College in Marianna, Florida (1988-1990) and Louisiana Tech University (1990-1992). In spite of this, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in geology from Louisiana Tech University in Augus
Biography
Roland received a master’s degree in Geology and Geophysics from Louisiana State University in 1998. While at LSU, Roland studied under the guidance Prof. Ray E. Ferrell, Jr., a widely respected clay mineralogist. Roland completed a variety of college and USGS courses related to water-quality and hydrology. Though he prefers field work like many of his colleagues, Roland has contributed to numerous report publications, including proceeding abstracts, Data Series Reports, OFRs, WRIRs, SIRs, Fact Sheets, and a Circular. Roland is a contributing author for program letters and quarterly reports for the Fort Polk Military Project (1996-present). Roland is a member of the ACAD NAWQA Study Unit (1997-present). Roland currently is assisting with the Fort Polk Project, co-authoring a NAWQA regional summary report for the Mississippi Embayment-Texas Coastal Uplands Principal Aquifer, and working as a team member in the Ruston Program Office, LA, for the deployment of pressure transducers to document hurricane storm surge. Roland has given over 10 professional presentations to a variety of audiences, such as a Sustainability Conference at the Fort Polk Military Reservation, LA, the USGS DODEC conference in Gulfport, MS, and the NGWA (National Ground Water Association) conference in San Antonio, TX (April 2005).
Science and Products
Methane and benzene in drinking-water wells overlying the Eagle Ford, Fayetteville, and Haynesville Shale hydrocarbon production areas
Water wells (n = 116) overlying the Eagle Ford, Fayetteville, and Haynesville Shale hydrocarbon production areas were sampled for chemical, isotopic, and groundwater-age tracers to investigate the occurrence and sources of selected hydrocarbons in groundwater. Methane isotopes and hydrocarbon gas compositions indicate most of the methane in the...
McMahon, Peter B.; Barlow, Jeannie R.; Engle, Mark A.; Belitz, Kenneth; Ging, Patricia B.; Hunt, Andrew G.; Jurgens, Bryant; Kharaka, Yousif K.; Tollett, Roland W.; Kresse, Timothy M.
The quality of our Nation's waters: water quality in the Mississippi embayment-Texas coastal uplands aquifer system and Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, south-central United States, 1994-2008
About 8 million people rely on groundwater from the Mississippi embayment—Texas coastal uplands aquifer system for drinking water. The Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer also provides drinking water for domestic use in rural areas but is of primary importance to the region as a source of water for irrigation. Irrigation withdrawals...
Kingsbury, James A.; Barlow, Jeannie R.; Katz, Brian G.; Welch, Heather L.; Tollett, Roland W.; Fahlquist, Lynne S. Processes affecting geochemistry and contaminant movement in the middle Claiborne aquifer of the Mississippi embayment aquifer system
Groundwater chemistry and tracer-based age data were used to assess contaminant movement and geochemical processes in the middle Claiborne aquifer (MCA) of the Mississippi embayment aquifer system. Water samples were collected from 30 drinking-water wells (mostly domestic and public supply) and analyzed for nutrients, major ions, pesticides,...
Katz, Brian G.; Kingsbury, James A.; Welch, Heather L.; Tollett, Roland W.
Quality of Shallow Groundwater and Drinking Water in the Mississippi Embayment-Texas Coastal Uplands Aquifer System and the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer, South-Central United States, 1994-2004
The Mississippi embayment-Texas coastal uplands aquifer system is an important source of drinking water, providing about 724 million gallons per day to about 8.9 million people in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Alabama. The Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer ranks third in the Nation...
Welch, Heather L.; Kingsbury, James A.; Tollett, Roland W.; Seanor, Ronald C.
Monitoring Inland Storm Surge and Flooding From Hurricane Gustav in Louisiana, September 2008
On August 29-31, 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) deployed a mobile monitoring network consisting of 124 pressure transducers (sensors) (figs. 1, 2) at 80 sites over an area of about 4,200 square miles to record the timing, extent, and magnitude of inland hurricane storm surge and coastal flooding generated by Hurricane Gustav, which made...
McGee, Benton D.; Goree, Burl B.; Tollett, Roland W.; Mason, Jr., Robert R. Effects of Hardened Low-Water Crossings on Periphyton and Water Quality in Selected Streams at the Fort Polk Military Reservation, Louisiana, 1998-99 and 2003-04
In 2003, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), at the request of the U.S. Army Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk, began a follow-up study to determine whether installation and modification of hardened low-water crossings had short-term (less than 1 year) or long-term (greater than 1 year) effects on periphyton or water quality in five...
Bryan, Barbara W.; Bryan, C. Frederick; Lovelace, John K.; Tollett, Roland W.
Monitoring Hurricane Rita Inland Storm Surge: Chapter 7J in Science and the storms-the USGS response to the hurricanes of 2005
Pressure transducers (sensors) are accurate, reliable, and cost-effective tools to measure and record the magnitude, extent, and timing of hurricane storm surge. Sensors record storm-surge peaks more accurately and reliably than do high-water marks. Data collected by sensors may be used in storm-surge models to estimate when, where, and to what...
McGee, Benton D.; Tollett, Roland W.; Goree, Burl B.
Monitoring Inland Storm Surge and Flooding from Hurricane Rita
Pressure transducers (sensors) and high-water marks were used to document the inland water levels related to storm surge generated by Hurricane Rita in southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas. On September 22-23, 2005, an experimental monitoring network of sensors was deployed at 33 sites over an area of about 4,000 square miles to record...
McGee, Benton D.; Tollett, Roland W.; Mason, Jr., Robert R. Hurricane Rita surge data, southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas, September to November 2005
Pressure transducers and high-water marks were used to document the inland water levels related to storm surge generated by Hurricane Rita in southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas. On September 22-23, 2005, an experimental monitoring network consisting of 47 pressure transducers (sensors) was deployed at 33 sites over an area of about 4,...
McGee, Benton D.; Goree, Burl B.; Tollett, Roland W.; Woodward, Brenda K.; Kress, Wade H.
Explosive compounds detected in tissue of freshwater mussels from selected streams near or on the Fort Polk Military Reservation, Louisiana, May and June 2002
Tollett, Roland W.; Kolb, Grant
Quality of water from shallow wells in the rice-growing area in southwestern Louisiana, 1999 through 2001
In 1999-2001, the U.S. Geological Survey installed and sampled 27 shallow wells in the rice-growing area in southwestern Louisiana as part of the Acadian-Pontchartrain Study Unit of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program. The purpose of this report is to describe the waulity of water from shallow wells in the rice-growing area and to...
Tollett, Roland W.; Fendick, Robert B.
Water Quality in the Acadian-Pontchartrain Drainages; Louisiana and Mississippi, 1999-2001
This report contains the major findings of a 1999?2001 assessment of water quality in the Acadian-Pontchartrain Drainages Study Unit. It is one of a series of reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that present major findings in 51 major river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. In these reports, water...
Demcheck, Dennis K.; Tollett, Roland W.; Mize, Scott V.; Skrobialowski, Stanley C.; Fendick, Robert B.; Swarzenski, Christopher M.; Porter, Stephen