Ryan Rowland
Science and Products
Quantifying Nutrient Mass and Internal Cycling in Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake (GSL) is an indispensable economic and ecological resource. It provides critical habitat and food for millions of migratory birds, and generates nearly $200 million per year from recreational activities and the brine shrimp harvest industry (Bioeconomics, 2012). These uses, habitat and aquaculture, rely on a balanced supply of nutrients in the Great Salt Lake to support...
Bear Lake Water Quality
Bear Lake, located approximately 50 kilometers (km) northeast of Logan, Utah, straddles the Utah-Idaho border and is nestled in a graben valley between the Bear Lake Plateau on the east and the Bear River Range on the west (Reheis and others, 2009). Its calcium carbonate type water is a brilliant green-blue color that, in combination with sandy beaches and easy access, draws thousands of...
Streamflow Information Program
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) operates and maintains a national network of about 8,000 streamgages (2018) to provide long-term, accurate, and unbiased streamflow information (often called discharge) to meet the multiple needs of many diverse users. Streamflow information is fundamental to national and local economic well-being, protection of life and property, and efficient and effective...
Deep Brine Layer
In 1959, a solid-fill railroad causeway was constructed across the middle of the Great Salt Lake. The construction of the causeway divided the lake into two parts; the north (Gunnison Bay) and the south (Gilbert Bay). By 2013, water flowed from one side to the other through only two culverts near the center of the causeway. In December 2013, concern about the structural integrity of the...
Density-stratified flow events in Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA: implications for mercury and salinity cycling
Density stratification in saline and hypersaline water bodies from throughout the world can have large impacts on the internal cycling and loading of salinity, nutrients, and trace elements. High temporal resolution hydroacoustic and physical/chemical data were collected at two sites in Great Salt Lake (GSL), a saline lake in the western USA, to...
Naftz, David L.; Carling, Gregory T.; Angeroth, Cory; Freeman, Michael; Rowland, Ryan; Pazmiño, Eddy Monitoring change in Great Salt Lake
Despite the ecological and economic importance of Great Salt Lake, only limited water quality monitoring has occurred historically. To change this, new monitoring stations and networks—gauges of lake level height and rate of inflow, moored buoys, and multiple lake-bottom sensors—will provide important information that can be used to make informed...
Naftz, David L.; Angeroth, Cory E.; Freeman, Michael L.; Rowland, Ryan C.; Carling, Gregory
Assessment of potential migration of radionuclides and trace elements from the White Mesa uranium mill to the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation and surrounding areas, southeastern Utah
In 2007, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe requested that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Geological Survey conduct an independent evaluation of potential offsite migration of radionuclides and selected trace elements associated with the ore storage and milling process at an active uranium mill site near White Mesa, Utah. Specific...
Naftz, David L.; Ranalli, Anthony J.; Rowland, Ryan C.; Marston, Thomas M.
Physical and Chemical Water-Quality Data from Automatic Profiling Systems, Boulder Basin, Lake Mead, Arizona and Nevada, Water Years 2001-04
Water-quality profile data were collected in Las Vegas Bay and near Sentinel Island in Lake Mead, Arizona and Nevada, from October 2000 to September 2004. The majority of the profiles were completed with automatic variable-buoyancy systems equipped with multiparameter water-quality sondes. Profile data near Sentinel Island were collected in August...
Rowland, Ryan C.; Westenburg, Craig L.; Veley, Ronald J.; Nylund, Walter E. Water resources data, Nevada, water year 2003
Water-resources data for the 2003 water year for Nevada consists of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage, contents, and water quality of lakes and reservoirs; precipitation; and water levels in wells. This report contains discharge records for 182 streamflow-gaging stations on streams, canals and drains; Discharge data...
Stockton, Emil L.; Jones, Clifford Z.; Rowland, Ryan C.; Medina, Rose L.
Selenium contamination and remediation at Stewart Lake Waterfowl Management Area and Ashley Creek, middle Green River basin, Utah
Selenium is an element required in trace amounts for human and animal health, but it can cause health problems for livestock, wildlife, and humans when ingested in higher-than-required concentrations. Incidences of mortality, birth defects, and reproductive failure in waterfowl were discovered at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge, San Joaquin...
Rowland, Ryan C.; Stephens, Doyle W.; Waddell, Bruce; Naftz, David L. Hydrologic, sediment, and biological data associated with irrigation drainage in the middle Green River basin, Utah and Colorado, water years 1991-2000
Hydrologic, sediment, and biological data were collected in the middle Green River basin in eastern Utah from 1991 to 2000 in an effort to monitor the effects of irrigation drainage on wetland areas and streams, aid in the development of remediation plans, and evaluate the effectiveness of selenium remediation efforts at Stewart Lake Waterfowl...
Rowland, Ryan C.; Allen, David V.; Stephens, Doyle W.; Yahnke, James W.; Darnall, Nathan L.; Waddell, Bruce Selected hydrologic data for the field demonstration of three permeable reactive barriers near Fry Canyon, Utah, 1996-2000
Three permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) were installed near Fry Canyon, Utah, in August 1997 to demonstrate the use of PRBs to control the migration of uranium in ground water. Reactive material included (1) bone-char phosphate, (2) zero-valent iron pellets, and (3) amorphous ferric oxyhydroxide coated gravel. An extensive monitoring network was...
Wilkowske, Chris D.; Rowland, Ryan C.; Naftz, David L.