Geology topics

Research about Mud Lake

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Mud Lake.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2020

Preliminary investigation of the critically imperiled Caney Mountain cave crayfish Orconectes stygocaneyi Hobbs III, 2001 (Decapoda: Cambaridae) in Missouri, USA

The Caney Mountain cave crayfish ( Orconectes stygocaneyi ) is one of North America's rarest crayfish, endemic to one cave in southern Missouri, USA. The species is listed as 'critically imperiled' by Missouri, and 'threatened' by the American Fisheries Society. Previously, only 15 crayfish have been observed in Mud Cave, and only two have been collected (for original species description). We aimed to collect the first natural history data on the species and search adjacent caves and springs for additional populations. Twelve visual searches and supplemental trapping over four years, in all seasons, yielded 69 O. stygocaneyi (including 11 young-of-year) observations and capture of 22 crayfish, including one ovigerous female. Visual searches of nearby caves and springs yielded no O. stygocaneyi records. However, multiple surveys of those caves and springs, using environmental DNA detected the species in one additional cave adjacent to Mud Cave, but only during spring high flow events when the caves may be ephemerally connected. Orconectes stygocaneyi 's distribution is among the most restricted of any North American crayfish, and further evaluation of its conservation status designations might be warranted. Long term conservation of O. stygocaneyi would benefit from management practices promoting sustained, unimpacted surface runoff within Mud Cave's recharge area.

Missouri↗

USGS2015

Geochemical evolution of groundwater in the Mud Lake area, eastern Idaho, USA

Groundwater with elevated dissolved-solids concentrations—containing large concentrations of chloride, sodium, sulfate, and calcium—is present in the Mud Lake area of Eastern Idaho. The source of these solutes is unknown; however, an understanding of the geochemical sources and processes controlling their presence in groundwater in the Mud Lake area is needed to better understand the geochemical sources and processes controlling the water quality of groundwater at the Idaho National Laboratory. The geochemical sources and processes controlling the water quality of groundwater in the Mud Lake area were determined by investigating the geology, hydrology, land use, and groundwater geochemistry in the Mud Lake area, proposing sources for solutes, and testing the proposed sources through geochemical modeling with PHREEQC. Modeling indicated that sources of water to the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer were groundwater from the Beaverhead Mountains and the Camas Creek drainage basin; surface water from Medicine Lodge and Camas Creeks, Mud Lake, and irrigation water; and upward flow of geothermal water from beneath the aquifer. Mixing of groundwater with surface water or other groundwater occurred throughout the aquifer. Carbonate reactions, silicate weathering, and dissolution of evaporite minerals and fertilizer explain most of the changes in chemistry in the aquifer. Redox reactions, cation exchange, and evaporation were locally important. The source of large concentrations of chloride, sodium, sulfate, and calcium was evaporite deposits in the unsaturated zone associated with Pleistocene Lake Terreton. Large amounts of chloride, sodium, sulfate, and calcium are added to groundwater from irrigation water infiltrating through lake bed sediments containing evaporite deposits and the resultant dissolution of gypsum, halite, sylvite, and bischofite.

Idaho↗

USGS1993

Simulation of changes in water levels and ground-water flow in response to water-use alternatives in the Mud Lake area, eastern Snake River plain, eastern Idaho

Water users rely on surface and ground water to irrigate crops and maintain wildlife refuges in the 2,200-square-mile Mud Lake study area. Water managers need the ability to evaluate the effects of water-use changes on the future supply of surface and ground water. A five-layer, three-dimensional, finite-difference, numerical ground-water flow model, calibrated to assumed 1980 steady-state hydrologic conditions, was used to evaluate potential effects of seven water-use alternatives on ground-water levels and on losses from and gains to streams and lakes. The model was used to simulate steady-state water levels and ground-water flow for average 1980-90 hydrologic conditions and for seven water-use alternatives that represented changes from average 1980-90 conditions. Five alternatives represented reduced withdrawals from five different sets of wells, the sixth represented increased withdrawals in areas that could potentially support additional irrigation development, and the seventh represented reduced recharge in part of the study area where change from subirrigation to sprinkler irrigation is taking place. Simulated results from each alternative were compared with results for average 1980-90 conditions. Among the five water-use alternatives in which withdrawals from wells were reduced, simulated water levels were 0.1 to 40 feet higher than average 1980-90 conditions. Simulated stream and lake losses were as much as 4,700 acre-feet less and simulated gains were as much as 19,000 acre-feet greater in response to simulated water-level rises. Simulated underflow into the study area was as much as 8,200 acre-feet less and simulated underflow out of the study area was as much as 91,000 acre-feet greater. Simulated water-level declines were as great as 15 feet for the sixth alternative (increased withdrawals) and 10 feet for the seventh (reduced recharge). Simulated stream and lake losses were as much as 5,700 acre-feet greater and simulated gains were as much as 37,000 acre-feet less for stream and lake segments due to simulated water-level declines. Simulated underflow into the study area was as much as 7,200 acre-feet greater and simulated underflow out of the study area was as much as 23,000 acre-feet less.

Idaho↗

USGS1969

The role of larval Chironomidae in the production of lacustrine copropel in Mud Lake, Marion County, Florida

Mud Lake is a shallow (avg 45 cm), alkaline (pH 7.7–10.2), brown‐water lake having an area of about 180 ha. A study of its organic sediment was undertaken because it appears to be a present‐day analogue of the richly organic lacustrine oozes that were the precursors of the oil shales of the Green River Formation (Eocene). The water contains about 200 ppm total dissolved solids. The soft ooze is about 1 m thick and consists of minute fecal pellets produced primarily by larvae of Chironomus ( Chironomus ) sp. Mean numbers of larvae ranged from 120 to 580 m −2 ; such a small population may reflect extensive predation by fish. The small diversity of Chironomidae at this latitude may reflect the fact that few organisms can tolerate the physical conditions produced by the shallow water. Experiments with laboratory‐reared Mud Lake midges showed that the numbers of fecal pellets produced generally increased with the concentration of algal cells available; that only when the larvae were fed blue‐green algae were the fecal pellets coherent and durable—larvae fed green algae produced pellets that disintegrated, returning the undigested algae to the food supply; and that larvae fed blue‐green algae changed from filter‐feeding to grazing on the fecal pellets when suspended algal cells became sparse. We conclude that the sediment in Mud Lake is pelletal because only blue‐green algae are available for food and that the larvae probably graze because all the blue‐greens live only on, or in, the fecal pellets. Early instars produce ovoid pellets; later instars produce longer, cylindrical pellets. The analogy between the Mud Lake pelletal ooze and the Eocene precursors of the Green River Formation oil shale is enhanced by the facts that some oil shale thin sections show minute fecal pellets and that certain beds of rich oil shale contain numerous unmineralized remains of immature chironomids.

Florida↗