Unified Interior Regions
Maryland
Maryland's water supply comes from streams, rivers, groundwater and reservoirs. Many of these systems flow to the Chesapeake Bay, the Nation's largest estuary. This complex ecosystem has been degraded due to the impact of human-population increase. The MD-DC-DE Water Science Center studies the impacts this has on water quality, habitats and biological communities.
Maryland - Delaware - Washington D.C. Water Science Center
5522 Research Park Drive
Catonsville, MD 21228
Phone: 443-498-5500
Fax: 442-498-5510
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
12100 Beech Forest Road
Laurel, MD 20708-4039
Phone: 301-497-5000
Patuxent ResearchStates L2 Landing Page Tabs
Urban Waters Federal Partnership—Patapsco Watershed (Baltimore, Md. region)
Several watersheds in the Baltimore region have elevated PCB loads in tidal waters. Local jurisdictions are responsible for reducing PCB loading from their watersheds. The USGS is embarking on a pilot study in the Patapsco watershed that will help determine sources of PCBs and will demonstrate innovative monitoring and analysis techniques for more efficient use of mitigation resouces.
Eastern Basins Oil and Gas Assessments
The USGS has conducted several assessments of undiscovered oil and gas in formations in the Blue Ridge Thrust Belt (5068), Piedmont Province (5069), Atlantic Coastal Plain Province (5070), and the New England Province (5072). These basins are generally east of the Appalachian Basin Province (5067).
Geological Investigations of the Neogene
More than a third of the United States population lives in counties directly on the shoreline, making them vulnerable to hazards associated with changing sea level and storm surges associated with hurricanes and severe storms. The geologic record contains many examples of past intervals of warm climate and high sea level. "Geological Investigation of the Neogene" is examining proxy records of...
Response of a tidal brackish marsh to global change drivers: an ecosystem level manipulation of warming and elevated carbon dioxide- Glenn Guntenspergen
The USGS and the Smithsonian Institution have initiated the first in situ active aboveground and belowground warming experiment in a coastal wetland that is focused on wetland temperature responses and also examines the interaction between warming, elevated CO2, and inundation frequency on wetland resilience in the face of changes in global change drivers.
Understanding the Effects of Stormwater Management Practices on Water Quality and Flow
Urban development can have detrimental impacts on streams including altering hydrology, increasing nutrient, sediment, and pollutant loadings, and degrading biological integrity. Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) can be used to mitigate the effects of urban development by retaining large volumes of stormwater runoff and treating runoff to remove pollutants. This project focuses on...
Piedmont and Blue Ridge Project
The Piedmont and Blue Ridge Project is a geologic mapping project supported by the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program. The Piedmont Blue Ridge Project aims to understand the geologic framework and tectonic evolution of terranes and basins in the Appalachian Piedmont and Blue Ridge, and their significance for water, mineral and energy resources, natural hazards, and engineering/...
Coastal Basement Geology of the Southeastern U.S. Project
This project, centered on South Carolina and Georgia, extends coastal-basement geologic mapping and related research south of a geologic map in production for pre-Cretaceous rocks beneath the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Virginia to southern New Jersey, and adds detail to a national-scale basement domain map constructed to delineate mineral-resource prospectivity. Plans include efforts to build...
Appalachian Basin Oil and Gas Assessments
The USGS has conducted numerous assessments of undiscovered oil and gas in the Appalachian Basin, including studies of the Marcellus Shale. The region extends from Alabama to Maine. The following is an overview of the assessments.
The health of maritime forests in three Mid-Atlantic National Seashores
The 2017 Work Plan for the National Resources Protection Program (NRPP) project on Fire Island, Sandy Hook, and Assateague includes a description of the issues and implications; description of the methods; and summary of the 2017 tasks, including site selection, well and instrumentation installation, and monitoring groundwater levels, temperature, and specific conductance.
Collecting Ecological Data and Models of Living Shoreline Restoration Projects
Developing effective living shoreline restoration projects that can withstand hurricanes and storms requires a better understanding of how restoration structures reduce the impact of wave and current energy on marsh edges in estuaries and bays. Without this knowledge, existing living shoreline projects and adaptive management measures are more likely to fail, decreasing the possibility for...
Flow Modeling at Dam Removal Sites Associated with Hurricane Sandy Resiliency Efforts
The purpose of this work is to better understand the effects of dam removal on local hydraulics, fish passage, and flooding. This study is part of a larger effort to monitor ecological resilience changes at nine Hurricane Sandy coastal resiliency aquatic connectivity restoration projects. It will contribute crucial knowledge that will be used to improve aquatic connectivity system cost-...
Heavy-Mineral Sand Resources in the Southeastern U.S.
We are assessing the extent of industrial mineral resources hosted by heavy-mineral sands in the coastal plain of the southeastern United States. “Heavy-mineral sands" (HMS) is a term commonly used in industry and geologic literature to describe layered sediments deposited in coastal environments that contain dense (“heavy") minerals of economic value. The heavy minerals extracted from these...
Geochemical analysis of authigenic carbonates and chemosynthetic mussels at Atlantic Margin seeps (ver. 2.0, March 2019)
Isotopic analyses of authigenic carbonates and methanotrophic deep-sea mussels, Bathymodiolus sp., was performed on samples collected from seep fields in the Baltimore and Norfolk Canyons on the north Atlantic margin. Samples were collected using remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) during three different research cruises in 2012, 2013, and 2015. Analyses were performed by sev
Coastal and Marine Geology Program video and photograph portal
This portal contains video and photography of the seafloor and aerial imagery along much of the coastal U.S. For the first time, this portal makes many video and photo datasets available to explore in an easy-to-use geospatial viewer. This portal was originally developed to serve imagery from the USGS's Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program Seafloor Mapping projects and Hurricane...
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Cockeysville Marble
Marble is a famous metamorphic rock known for its use in sculpture and architecture. This particular marble came from the Campbell Quarry in Texas, Maryland.
Diopside Crystals
Diopside crystals are made up of Magnesium, Calcium, Silicon and Oxygen, and are usually found in metamorphic rocks. These crystals have developed in some Cockeysville Marble from Texas, Maryland.
Discarded mylar balloons on display
Anna Ormiston and Jesi Hessong, student contractors with the USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative, or ARMI, display several discarded mylar balloon collected by field teams working in and around the Capital Region National Parks in the summer of 2015. They collected a total of 71 balloons.
SWaTH Bracket Installation, Assateague Island Maryland
USGS employee installing sensor bracket for Sandy Theme 3 (SWaTH), Assateague Island at the Maryland Virginia State Line.
Maryland Soybean Farm
A soybean farm in northern Maryland. Corn can be seen growing in the background.
Maryland Soybean Farm
A soybean farm in northern Maryland. Corn can be seen growing in the background.
Cicada shell
USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab.Roooooarrrrrr!, Danger, creature from the black lagoon. Or...not. Here we have a close up look at the many interesting features that are left behind when a cicada emerges. This one was in my backyard and left his/her full body suit behind on the shed. Insects are just weird sometimes, how do they go from something that looks like a
...
Horseplay on Assateague Island
Following Hurricane Sandy, GPR field work was conducted on Assateague Island, Maryland, to image stratigraphic features that may aid in explaining controls on washover deposition. The horseshoe crab was spotted early in the morning while gearing up for the day.
Calvert Cliffs—Maryland
Calvert Cliffs on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.
Recreating wetland-stream complexes in urban watersheds, Howards Branch, Baltimore, Maryland
Faith Fitzpatrick (U.S. Geological Survey), Ronald Bowen (Anne Arundel County Department of Public Works), Kevin Smith (Maryland Department of Natural Resources), and Keith Underwood (Underwood and Assoc.) talk about recreating an Atlantic White Cedar wetland at an old millpond setting along a highly urban section of Howards Branch. This project looked for opportunities to
Recreating baseflow channels, Howards Branch, Baltimore, Maryland
Faith Fitzpatrick (U.S. Geological Survey) and Joe Berg (BioHabitats, Inc.) describe base-flow channels and sand seepage wetlands in a wetland complex at an old millpond setting along a highly urban section of Howards Branch. Recreated baseflow channels enhance changes in width with increased stormwater flow. These channels maximize the effectiveness of floodplain
The "Best Report" for 2014 is "Hydrogeologic characterization and assessment of bioremediation of chlorinated benzenes and benzene in wetland areas, Standard Chlorine of Delaware, Inc. Superfund Site, New Castle County, Delaware, 2009-12"
Hydrogeologic characterization and assessment of bioremediation of chlorinated benzenes and benzene in wetland areas
A carbonatite here, a glacial moraine there, a zig-zagging fault or two, even a behemoth of a batholith. The geology of the 50 States is an enormous patchwork of varied forms, beautiful in their variance but challenging to present as a single map.
Low- and no-oxygen area threatens crabs, oysters, fish
On its 229th birthday, Maryland still rocks.
Florida’s iconic manatee population is highly likely to endure for the next 100 years, so long as wildlife managers continue to protect the marine mammals and their habitat, a new study by the US Geological Survey and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute has found.
If coastal salt marshes are like savings accounts, with sediment as the principal, all eight Atlantic and Pacific coast salt marshes studied are "in the red," researchers found.
Patuxent Scientist Sam Droege interviewed for "Inside Science" about how commercially managed bumblebees and honey bees may be contributing to wild pollinator decline.
A regional assessment of untreated groundwater in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system in the eastern United States is now available from the U.S. Geological Survey.
A regional assessment of untreated groundwater in the combined Valley and Ridge and Piedmont and Blue Ridge aquifers in the eastern United States is now available from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Online sites will provide the first real-time, user-friendly Inner Harbor water information
Threats to groundwater availability and sustainability in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain are dependent to a large degree by the type of aquifers used for water supply, according to a new regional assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey.
A fish pathogen similar to one previously found in the United States only in Pacific salmonids -- salmon and trout species -- has been identified for the first time in the eastern United States and in a non-salmon species, according to new research by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Vital coastal storm-tide information needed to help guide storm response efforts following major storms affecting Maryland will be more accessible than ever due to a new monitoring network the U.S. Geological Survey is currently building.
For more information, see http://md.water.usgs.gov/usgs-news.html
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Locations
Chesapeake Bay Program
Phone: (800) YOUR-BAY (968-7229)
Fax: (410) 267-5777
MD-DE-DC Water Science Center
information@usgs.gov
Phone: 443-498-5500
Fax: 442-498-5510
Eastern Ecological Science Center at the Patuxent Research Refuge
Chesapeake Bay Activities
Phone: 443-498-5552
Fax: 443-498-5510
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center - Beltsville Lab
MD-DE-DC WSC: Delaware Field Office
lrlanham@usgs.gov
Phone: 443-498-5500
Office of External Research
Phone: (443) 498-5505
Fax: (703) 648-5002
Contacts
Maryland - Delaware - Washington D.C. Water Science Center
5522 Research Park Drive
Catonsville, MD 21228
Phone: 443-498-5500
Fax: 442-498-5510
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
12100 Beech Forest Road
Laurel, MD 20708-4039
Phone: 301-497-5000
Patuxent Research