Unified Interior Regions
Region 5: Missouri Basin
USGS Science Centers in the Missouri Basin Region
For more information on what each center is doing in the Missouri Basin, please follow the links below!
Wyoming - Montana Water Science Center
Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center
Regions L2 Landing Page Tabs
Delineation of Brine Contamination in and near the East Poplar Oil Field, Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Northeastern Montana
Brine is a byproduct of crude oil production. Handling and disposal of brine during the last 50 years in the East Poplar oil field has resulted in contamination of not only the shallow Quaternary aquifers, but also the Poplar River. Previous investigations have documented and partially delineated the extent of brine contamination in the East Poplar oil field during the early 1990s...
Williston and Powder River Basins Groundwater Availability Study
The development of two nationally important energy-producing areas, the Williston structural basin (containing the Bakken Formation) and Powder River structural basin, provide a critical opportunity to study the water-energy nexus within a groundwater context. Large volumes of water are needed for energy development in these basins. The hydraulically connected aquifers in the...
Hydrologic Assessment with an Emphasis on Water Quality within the Lame Deer Creek Watershed, Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana
The Lame Deer Creek watershed of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in southeastern Montana encompasses about 82 square miles and is home to the community of Lame Deer. Local water resources within the Lame Deer Creek watershed include Lame Deer Creek and groundwater within unconsolidated sediments and bedrock aquifers. In 2017 the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Northern...
Smith River Watershed Investigations
The Smith River watershed is an important recreational and agricultural area in Meagher and Cascade counties in west-central Montana. Thousands of visitors travel to the area annually to float and fish the Smith River. Additionally, most of the water used to irrigate 36,000 acres of the upper Smith River watershed is withdrawn from the Smith River or its tributaries. During a...
Living on the Edge: Predicting Effects of Climate Change on Native Fishes in Northern Great Plains Streams
Organisms that live in the semi-arid prairies in the Northern Great Plains are able to live through conditions of extreme heat, cold, floods, and drought. The fish that inhabit the warm, turbid waters of northern Great Plains streams are indicators of change in these delicate ecosystems, where water quantity and water quality are often precariously close to ecological tolerance limits. In fact...
Yellowstone River Basin Water-Quality Assessment
The Yellowstone River Basin (YELL) study-unit in Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota, is part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The long-term goals of this program are to describe the status and trends in the quality of a large, representative part of the Nation's surface- and ground-water resources, and to provide a sound, scientific...
Tongue River Surface-Water-Quality Monitoring Network
Coal-bed methane development is in the initial stages of exploration and production in the Tongue River watershed. Long-term monitoring is needed to provide information to evaluate any changes or trends in surface-water quality and support informed decisions about resource use and management. The goals of this monitoring program are to collect water-quality data and disseminate...
Assessment of Aquatic Communities in Northeastern Wyoming and Southeastern Montana
The Powder River Structural Basin (PRB) in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana is an important source of energy resources for the United States. Resources developed from the basin include coal, oil, uranium, conventional natural gas, and within the last decade coal-bed natural gas (CBNG) which often is referred to as coal-bed methane. As of 2008, about 20,000 CBNG wells had been...
Diel cycling of trace metals in streams
Historically, scientists have assumed that a properly collected water sample will provide an accurate assessment of constituent concentrations in a water body on a given day assuming constant hydrologic conditions. However, an increasing body of evidence indicates that the concentration of many potentially toxic trace elements (such as arsenic, cadmium, copper, manganese, zinc) in streams can...
Drought Conditions in Wyoming and Montana
The USGS monitors drought conditions at more than 300 streamgages across Wyoming and Montana. Low-flow conditions are expressed as percentiles comparing current (within the past few hours) instantaneous flow to historical daily mean flow for all days of the year.
Multi-century perspectives on current and future streamflow in the Missouri River Basin
The Missouri River system is the life-blood of the American Midwest providing water resources that drive agriculture, industry, hydroelectric power generation, and ecosystems. However, the Missouri River Basin (MRB) (Figure 1) is the only major river in the western U.S. for which hydrologic reconstructions from tree rings have not been generated in any systematic way. This knowledge gap is...
Streamflow Statistics for Unregulated and Regulated Conditions for Selected Locations on the Yellowstone, Tongue, Powder, and Bighorn Rivers, Montana
Major floods in 1996-1997 on the Yellowstone River intensified public debate over the effects of human activities on the Yellowstone River. The Yellowstone River Conservation District Council partnered with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a cumulative-effects study on the Yellowstone. For that study, the USGS calculated streamflow statistics for unregulated (no development) and...
Nebraska Real-Time Water Quality on National Real-Time Water Quality
Real-time computed concentrations of water-quality constituents such as suspended sediment, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus are calculated using ordinary least squares regression models. The results of these models, along with direct water-quality measurements, can be viewed here as time-series graphs, or downloaded as tabular data.
Sagebrush Mineral Resource Assessment Data Sources
List of USGS information resources used in carrying out the Sagebrush Mineral Resource Assessment in 2016. Portal to an interactive map and OGC WMS service.
Locatable Mineral Assessment Tracts for the U.S. Geological Survey Sagebrush Mineral-Resource Assessment Project
The polygon (vector) feature class represents locatable mineral resource assessment tracts (tracts of land) associated with the Department of the Interior (DOI) Sagebrush Focal Areas (SFAs) in Montana, Wyoming and Utah, central Idaho, and the Oregon-Nevada-Idaho border area. The mineral-resources tracts are geographic areas that were assessed by the USGS and were determined
USMIN Mineral-Resource Data for the U.S. Geological Survey Sagebrush Mineral-Resource Assessment Project
The point and polygon layers within this geodatabase represent locations of mineral occurrences, mines, mining and mineral districts and sites of active mineral exploration within or near the Department of the Interior (DOI) Sagebrush Focal Areas in Montana, Wyoming and Utah, central Idaho, and the Oregon-Nevada-Idaho border area. The data were compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey
Prospect- and Mine-Related Features from U.S. Geological Survey 7.5- and 15-Minute Topographic Quadrangle Maps of the Western United States
These data are part of a larger USGS project to develop an updated geospatial database of mines, mineral deposits and mineral regions in the United States. Mine and prospect-related symbols, such as those used to represent prospect pits, mines, adits, dumps, tailings, etc., hereafter referred to as “mine” symbols or features, are currently being digitized on a st
Bureau of Land Management's Land and Mineral Legacy Rehost System (LR2000) mineral use cases for the Sagebrush Mineral-Resource Assessment, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming
In 2015, approximately 10 million acres of Federal lands across six western states were proposed for withdrawal from mineral entry by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in order to conserve habitat critical for the greater sage-grouse. As a result, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) launched the Sagebrush Mineral-Resource Assessment (SaMiRA) project in late-2015 to provide BLM wit
Phytoplankton data for Cheney Reservoir near Cheney, Kansas, June 2001 through November 2015
This U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Data Release provides phytoplankton data collected from Cheney Reservoir, Kansas, during June 2001 through November 2015.
Flood Watch for Kansas
Maps of flood and high flow conditions within Kansas
WaterWatch Real-time streamflow data for Kansas
WaterWatch displays maps, graphs, and tables describing real-time, recent, and past streamflow conditions for the United States, including flood and droughts. Real-time information generally is updated on an hourly basis.
WaterQualityWatch for Kansas
WaterQualityWatch provides access to real time water-quality data collected in surface waters in Kansas, including streamflow, water temperature, specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and nitrate.
Surface-water data for Kansas
Real-time, daily, peak-flow, field measurements, and statistics of current and historical data that describe stream levels, streamflow (discharge), reservoir and lake levels, surface-water quality, and rainfall in Kansas. Surface-water data are collected and stored as either discrete field-water-level measurements or as continuous time-series data from automated recorders.
Missouri Breaks Project, Montana - Digitized aeromagnetic data
From February 12 to March 8, 1981, EG and G Geometrics conducted an aeromagnetic survey in Montana for Anaconda Copper Company. A Piper Navajo aircraft was used to conducted the survey. The survey was flown along north-south flightlines spaced 660 feet at a nominal height of 450 feet above the terrain. Five uniformly spaced east-west tie-lines were also flown. During processing, the Interna...
(USGS scientist working on data analysis of cyanotoxins in water
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientist working on data analysis of cyanotoxins in water samples
Keith A. Loftin is the lead scientist for algal and cyanobacteria
Keith A. Loftin, USGS, is the lead scientist for algal and cyanobacterial toxins
USGS scientists evaluating the nebulizer assembly
USGS scientists evaluating the nebulizer assembly in a mixed mode ionization source of a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer used to measure individual cyanotoxins
Jennifer Lacey: Leading USGS in Space
For this native South Dakotan, a love for math and a college trip to EROS in Sioux Falls, SD led to overseeing USGS's Landsat operations including the upcoming 2020 launch of Landsat 9. Read Jennifer's story and other #womeninscience stories at https://bit.ly/2D1RHk5
Image of the Week - Beetle Damage in the Black Hills
Ponderosa pine forests in the Black Hills of South Dakota are the focus of this week’s USGS Image of the Week.
Mountain pine beetles are about the size of a grain of rice, so of course we can’t see them from space in satellite images. What is visible is what the beetles can do to a pine forest. The washed-out pink color indicates large areas of standing dead or
Cottonwood Fire, 2016
October 16, 2018, marks the two-year anniversary of the Cottonwood Fire in western South Dakota. The fire consumed a large swath of grassland near the community of Wall and just north of Badlands National Park.
Hallowat Creek abv Kletomus Ck, nr Olney (12355342) streamgage
Hallowat Creek abv Kletomus Ck, nr Olney (12355342) streamgage
Hallowat Creek abv Kletomus Ck, nr Olney (12355342) streamgage
Hallowat Creek abv Kletomus Ck, nr Olney (12355342) streamgage
An Introduction to Suomi-NPP NASA VIIRS Data Products
This video provides an introduction to new land data products from the joint National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) satellite sensor aboard the Suomi-National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP). The Suomi-NPP NASA VIIRS data products discussed in the
Big Creek below Lookout Creek, near Apgar (site 12355347)
Big Creek below Lookout Creek, near Apgar (site 12355347)
Beetle Damage in the Black Hills
Mountain pine beetles are about the size of a grain of rice, so of course we can’t see them from space in satellite images. What is visible is what the beetles can do to a pine forest. The washed-out pink color indicates large areas of standing dead or damaged trees.
Image of the Week - Lake Thompson
Many lakes in South Dakota’s Prairie Pothole Region are expanding.
Lake Thompson in eastern South Dakota is one that has displayed remarkable change in recent decades.
Each week, the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center highlights a new satellite image(s) featuring striking changes in the Earth's surface. Our images come from locations
One of Wichita’s primary water-supply sources is recovering because of a strategy to reduce the amount of water withdrawn, according to a new report about the Equus Beds aquifer released by the U.S. Geological Survey as part of a long-term, continuing cooperative partnership with the city of Wichita.
The term crepuscular describes events relating to, resembling, or occurring during twilight, meaning morning and evening hours. An animal described as crepuscular is active during twilight.
The U.S. Geological Survey and NASA will honor their 25-year science partnership and ongoing advancements in land remote sensing at a ceremony in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Thursday.
U.S. Congressman Kevin Cramer will join leaders from the U.S. Geological Survey and other state and local officials for a 50th anniversary ceremony at the USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) in Jamestown, North Dakota, this Friday.
Three tiny fish larvae that were captured by U.S. Geological Survey scientists in May 2014 have just been confirmed to be pallid sturgeon. These new genetic identifications add to mounting evidence that critically endangered pallid sturgeon spawned successfully in the Lower Missouri River downstream of Gavins Point Dam, South Dakota.
New wind energy facilities placed in prime wildlife habitat in North and South Dakota can influence the distribution of several species of grassland birds for years after construction, including species whose populations are in serious decline.
The drainage of small wetlands can decrease wildlife habitat and may contribute to flooding in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR), according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey study.
Wetland channels constructed in downtown Rapid City, South Dakota, effectively reduced many pollutants in stormwater runoff, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey report.
Dr. Kyle W. Blasch begins work today as the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Idaho Water Science Center, headquartered in Boise.
Aldo V. (Skip) Vecchia, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist, will be awarded the 2015 Jeanne E. Griffith Mentoring Award for his outstanding efforts mentoring junior staff.
U.S. Geological Survey streamflow gages are recording major flooding on the White River and Cheyenne River as the result of recent snow and rain. Field crews are measuring streamflow on the White River and the Cheyenne River and minor flooding at various sites throughout western South Dakota
Scientists have discovered that the diversity of a threatened native trout species will likely decrease due to future climate change.
Contacts
Locations
Dakota Water Science Center- Huron Programs Office
Phone: (605) 352-4241
Fax: (605) 352-4304
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
custserv@usgs.gov
Phone: 800-252-4547
Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK) Headquarters
Phone: 406-994-7544
Fax: 406-994-6556
Nebraska Water Science Center
Phone: (402) 328-4100
Fax: (402) 437-5139
Kansas Water Science Center
Phone: (785) 842-9909
Fax: (785) 832-3500
Dakota Water Science Center- Bismarck
Phone: (701) 250-7400
Fax: (701) 250-7429
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Phone: 701-253-5500
Fax: 701-253 5553
Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center - Helena Office
Phone: (406) 457-5900
Fax: (406) 457-5990
Dakota Water Science Center- Grand Forks Field Office
Phone: (701) 775-7221
Fax: (701) 775-1114
Dakota Water Science Center- Rapid City
Phone: (605) 394-3200
Fax: (605) 355-4523
Dakota Water Science Center- Pierre Field Office
Phone: (605) 224-8440
Fax: (605) 224-8478
Organic Geochemistry Research Laboratory (OGRL)
Phone: (785) 832-3564
Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center - Billings Office
Phone: 406-656-1444
Wichita Field Office
Phone: (316) 773-3225
Hays Field Office
Phone: (785) 623-2848
North Platte Field Office
Phone: (308) 532-5323
Fax: (308) 532-5603
Yankton, South Dakota Field Research Station
Phone: 605-665-9217