Tom Cleasby
Science and Products
Wyoming-Montana Stream Water-Quality Network - Water Year 2020
The USGS monitors stream water quality in Wyoming and Montana in cooperation with State, County, local, and other Federal agencies. Water-quality data for these sites are available from the USGS National Water Information System Web Mapper application in the form of an interactive map that can be accessed from the Data and Tools tab.
Clark Fork Water-Quality Monitoring
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has collected water-quality samples from selected stream sites upstream from Missoula since 1985. Sampling was initiated in response to elevated trace-element concentrations and the designation of areas in the upper Clark Fork basin by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) as National Priorities List...
Water-quality, bed-sediment, and invertebrate tissue trace-element concentrations for tributaries in the Clark Fork Basin, Montana, October 2017–September 2018
Water, bed sediment, and invertebrate tissue were sampled in streams from Butte to near Missoula, Montana, as part of a monitoring program in the Clark Fork Basin. The sampling program was completed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to characterize aquatic resources in the Clark Fork Basin...
Clark, Gregory D.; Hornberger, Michelle I.; Cleasby, Thomas E.; Heinert, Terry L.; Turner, Matthew A.
Quantification of trace element loading in the upper Tenmile Creek drainage basin near Rimini, Montana, September 2011
The principle sources of trace elements entering upper Tenmile Creek, Montana, during September 2011, four trace metals and the metalloid arsenic, were identified and quantified by combining and analyzing streamflow data determined from tracer injection with trace-element concentrations and related water-quality data determined from synoptic...
Cleasby, Tom; Eldridge, Sara L. Caldwell
Water-quality, bed-sediment, and biological data (October 2016 through September 2017) and statistical summaries of data for streams in the Clark Fork Basin, Montana
Water, bed sediment, and biota were sampled in selected streams from Butte to near Missoula, Montana, as part of a monitoring program in the Clark Fork Basin of western Montana. The sampling program was led by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to characterize aquatic resources in the Clark...
Cleasby, Tom; Hornberger, Michelle I.; Heinert, Terry L. ; Turner, Matthew A.
Water-quality trends for selected sites in the Boulder River and Tenmile Creek watersheds, Montana, based on data collected during water years 1997-2013
In the Boulder River and Tenmile Creek watersheds in southwestern Montana, there was intensive mining during a 40-year period after the discovery of gold in the early 1860s. Potential effects from the historic mining activities include acid-mine drainage and elevated concentrations of potentially toxic trace elements from mining remnants such as...
Sando, Steven K.; Clark, Melanie L.; Cleasby, Tom; Barnhart, Elliott P.
Measured and Estimated Sodium-Adsorption Ratios for Tongue River and its Tributaries, Montana and Wyoming, 2004-06
The Tongue River drains an area of about 5,400 square miles and flows northward from its headwaters in the Bighorn National Forest of northeastern Wyoming to join the Yellowstone River at Miles City, Montana. Water from the Tongue River and its tributaries is extensively used for irrigation in both Wyoming and Montana. The Tongue River watershed...
Cannon, M.R.; Nimick, David A.; Cleasby, Thomas E.; Kinsey, Stacy M.; Lambing, John H.
Diel mercury-concentration variations in streams affected by mining and geothermal discharge
Diel variations of concentrations of unfiltered and filtered total Hg and filtered methyl Hg were documented during 24-h sampling episodes in water from Silver Creek, which drains a historical gold-mining district near Helena, Montana, and the Madison River, which drains the geothermal system of Yellowstone National Park. The concentrations of...
Nimick, David A.; McCleskey, R. Blaine; Gammons, C.H.; Cleasby, Tom; Parker, S.R. Influence of in-stream diel concentration cycles of dissolved trace metals on acute toxicity to one-year-old cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi)
Extrapolating results of laboratory bioassays to streams is difficult, because conditions such as temperature and dissolved metal concentrations can change substantially on diel time scales. Field bioassays conducted for 96 h in two mining‐affected streams compared the survival of hatchery‐raised, metal‐näive westslope cutthroat trout (...
Nimick, David A.; Harper, David D.; Farag, Aida; Cleasby, Tom; MacConnell, Elizabeth; Skaar, D.
Water-quality characteristics of Montana streams in a statewide monitoring network, 1999-2003
A statewide monitoring network of 38 sites was operated during 1999-2003 in cooperation with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to provide a broad geographic base of water-quality information on Montana streams. The purpose of this report is to summarize and describe the water-quality characteristics for those sites. Samples were...
Lambing, John H.; Cleasby, Thomas E.
Arsenic and metal loads and source areas in the Middle Fork Warm Springs Creek watershed, Jefferson County, Montana, June 2001
No abstract available.
Cleasby, Thomas E.; Thamke, Joanna N.; Nimick, David A. Diel cycles in dissolved metal concentrations in streams: Occurrence and possible causes
Substantial diel (24‐hour) cycles in dissolved (0.1‐μm filtration) metal concentrations were observed during low flow for 18 sampling episodes at 14 sites on 12 neutral and alkaline streams draining historical mining areas in Montana and Idaho. At some sites, concentrations of Cd, Mn, Ni, and Zn increased as much as 119, 306, 167, and 500%,...
Nimick, David A.; Gammons, Christopher H.; Cleasby, Tom; Madison, James P.; Skaar, Don; Brick, Christine M. Metal concentrations and sources in the Miller Creek watershed, Park County, Montana, August 2000
Miller Creek is a tributary of Soda Butte Creek in south-central Montana near the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park. Surface-water and streambed-sediment samples were collected from streams and seeps throughout the Miller Creek watershed during low-flow conditions on August 28-31, 2000, to characterize metal concentrations and identify...
Cleasby, Thomas E.; Nimick, David A. Quantification of metal loads by tracer injection and synoptic sampling in Daisy Creek and the Stillwater River, Park County, Montana, August 1999
A metal-loading study using tracer-injection and synoptic-sampling methods was conducted in Daisy Creek and a short reach of the Stillwater River during baseflow in August 1999 to quantify the metal inputs from acid rock drainage in the New World Mining District near Yellowstone National Park and to examine the downstream transport of these metals...
Nimick, David A.; Cleasby, Thomas E.