Thallium identification in selected atmospheric deposition samples
No abstract available.
New York, Pennsylvania↗
Geology topics
Research about New York, Pennsylvania
Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including New York, Pennsylvania.
Flow routing in the Susquehanna River Basin, Part II: Lowflow frequency characteristics of the Susquehanna River between Waverly, New York and Sunbury, Pennsylvania
Six flow-routing models were developed, calibrated, and verified for the Susquehanna River between Waverly, New York, and Sunbury , Pennsylvania. The models give the Susquehanna River Basin Commission tools to estimate effects of water-resource developments upstream from Waverly upon four gaged sites and two ungaged sites within the study reach. The models were used to simulate a 32-year record of daily flows at the two ungaged sites. Low-flow frequency curves for simulated flows at these sites were used to estimate 7-day low-flows at the 10-year recurrence interval of 540 and 770 cubic feet per second, respectively. The model errors, differences between model results and observed streamflow at gaged sites, are considered to be within reasonable limits and overall quality of simulated streamflow and low-flow frequency curves is considered good. (Woodard-USGS)
New York, Pennsylvania↗
Flow routing in the Susquehanna River Basin: Part III -- Routing reservoir releases in the Tioga and Chemung rivers system, Pennsylvania, and New York, 1977
Channel-routing models were used to route hypothetical releases from reservoirs in the upper Tioga River basin, Pennsylvania. These releases were routed northward down the Tioga River to Lindley, Erwins, and Corning, New York: combined with flows routed down the Cohocton River from Campbell to Corning, New York; and then routed southeastward down the Chemung River from Corning to Chemung, New York. The models used to route the flows of Cohocton and Chemung Rivers accounted for bank-storage discharge and streamflow depletion by well pumpage. In general, 17 water years of concurrent streamflow data were available for model calibration and verification. Three hypothetical reservoir releases were made from the reservoirs and routed to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, using the models developed in this study and models developed downstream to Wilkes-Barre in a previous study. A hypothetical makeup water requirement of 65 cubic feet per second was assumed. Two historical low-flow periods were investigated. The first hypothetical release investigated was a constant 100 cubic feet per second, and the second release was a constant 70 cubic feet per second. The third scheme was a hypothetical release of 100 cubic feet per second for three days followed by a constant 70 cubic feet per second for the duration of the period considered. Constant 100 cubic feet per second releases arrived downstream more quickly than constant 70 cubic feet per second releases for both test periods, but delivered more water than required to satisfy the assumed makeup requirement. The third release scheme was generally the most efficient of the three schemes tested. Although inherent modeling errors exist in all the simulated data, the accuracy of the estimated routed reservoir releases at the downstream sites is considered good.
New York, Pennsylvania↗
Definition of regional relationships between dissolved solids and specific conductance, Susquehanna River basin, Pennsylvania and New York
This report presents statistical tests for assessing the accuracy and validity of two regional models of the relationship between dissolved-solids concentration and specific conductance. These models are used to estimate dissolved-solids concentrations based on specific-conductance measurements. The two regional models are compared with station models for 27 stream sites in the Susquehanna River basin. The average standard errors of estimate of two regional models, when used to estimate dissolved-solids concentrations for the 27 stream sites, are 10.7 and 10.6 percent. In comparison, the station models have average standard errors of 9.0 and 9.3 percent, respectively. Results of the statistical tests indicate that in the Susquehanna River basin the regional models can be used to estimate dissolved-solids concentrations from specific-conductance data for sites for which chemical analyses are not available.
New York, Pennsylvania↗
Time-of-travel studies, Susquehanna River, Binghamton, New York, to Clarks Ferry, Pennsylvania
Results of time-of-travel studies are presented in both tabular and graphical form for several flow conditions in the Susquehanna River from Binghamton, N.Y., to Clarks Ferry, Pa. This reach is approximately 240 miles (386 kilometres) long, measured along the center of the channel, and has a drainage area of about 19,700 square miles (51,000 square kilometres) at its downstream end. A solution of Rhodamine BA, a fluorescent dye, was injected into the river at selected sites. Water samples were collected throughout the study reach and were analyzed, by use of a fluorometer, for dye concentration. Time-of-travel data have been related to stream discharge and to distance along the river channel. These relations permit the estimation of travel time for a water-soluble contaminant moving between any two points within the study reach at any desired discharge in the lower-to- medium flow range. The range of discharge for these studies was from 1,560 ft3/s (44.2 m3/s) to 4,330 ft3/s (123 m3/s) at the Wilkes-Barre, Pa. gaging station. The recorded travel times for the typical subreach, Shickshinny, Pa. to Danville 'Pa., ranged from 72.5 hours to 36.7 hours.
New York, Pennsylvania↗
Preliminary results of preimpoundment water-quality studies in the Tioga River Basin, Pennsylvania and New York
The Tioga River and its major tributaries were sampled monthly from September 1973 to May 1975. Water quality in the Tioga River is degraded by acid-mine drainage entering the stream near Blossburg from both strip- and deep-mined areas. The stream supports few species of aquatic life from Blossburg to its confluence with Crooked Creek. Alkaline water of tributaries Mill Creek, Crooked Creek, and the Cowanesque River counteract the acidity carried downstream from Blossburg, and the water quality of the Tioga River gradually improves, supporting a more diversified population of fish and aquatic life. All of the streams in the Tioga River basin carry nutrients sufficient for algae blooms. Dissolved solids range from very high to moderately high throughout the basin. The Tioga River has high concentrations of sulfate and heavy metals, particularly iron and manganese. Dissolved oxygen was usually above 80 percent saturation and never dropped below 7.0 milligrams per litre throughout the basin. Relationships between selected water-quality parameters have been developed for the sampling stations throughout the basin. Downstream trends were also examined. The relationships will be further refined and implemented in predictive water-quality models as more data are collected.
New York, Pennsylvania↗
Effects of acid mine drainage on fish and macroinvertebrates of the Tioga River, Pennsylvania and New York
Acid water from abandoned coal mines in the vicinity of Morris Run and Blossburg, Pa., severely alter the aquatic environment of the Tioga River. From Morris Run to Crooked Creek, a reach of 19 miles, the river bed is influenced by a smothering blanket of heavy metal precipitates and highly acidic water. Biologically, this reach of the river is devoid of fishlife and nearly devoid of benthic macroinvertebrates. Downstream from Crooked Creek the water quality and biota are slowly restored. At Presho, N.Y., the river again supports an abundant and diversified population of fish and bottom-dwelling organisms.
New York, Pennsylvania↗
Surficial geology and soils of the Elmira-Williamsport region, New York and Pennsylvania, with a section on forest regions and great soil groups
The Elmira-Williamsport region, lying south of the Finger Lakes in central New York and northern Pennsylvania, is part of the Appalachian Plateaus physiographic province. A small segment of the Valley and Ridge province is included near the south border. In 1953 and 1954, the authors, a geologist and a soil scientist, made a reconnaissance of about 5,000 square miles extending southward from the Finger Lakes, N.Y., to Williamsport, Pa., and eastward from Wellsboro, Pa., to Towanda, Pa. Glacial drift of Wisconsin age, covering the central and most of the northern parts of the region, belongs to the Olean substage of MacClintock and Apfel. This drift is thin and patchy, is composed of the relatively soft sandstones, siltstone, shales, and conglomerates of the plateaus, commonly has a low calcium carbonate content, and is deeply leached. Mantling its surface are extensive rubbly colluvial deposits. No conspicuous terminal moraine marks the relatively straight border of Olean drift. The Valley Heads moraine of Fairchild near the south ends of the Finger Lakes is composed of relatively thick drift containing a considerable amount of somewhat resistant sedimentary and crystalline rocks. Commonly this drift has a relatively high carbonate content and is leached to only shallow depths. The Valley Heads drift is younger than Olean, but its precise age is undetermined. The age of the Olean is perhaps between Sangamon and Farmdale, on the basis of, in part, a carbon-14 date from peat at Otto, N.Y. All differences in soil development on these two Wisconsin drifts are clearly related to the lithology of the parent material or the drainage, rather than to weathering differing in kind or in duration. The authors believe that the soils are relatively young, are in equilibrium with the present environment, and contain few, if any, features acquired during past weathering intervals. The effect of tree throw on soil profiles and the presence of soils on slopes clearly indicate that soils form rapidly. Sols Bruns Acides are the most extensive great soil group occurring throughout the region. Podzols and Gray-Brown Podzolic soils are also widespread, and on long, smooth slopes Low Humic-Gley soils are common. Organic soils are of small extent. South of the Wisconsin drift border, the surficial mantle consists chiefly of alluvial, colluvial, or residual deposits of Wisconsin or of Recent age, but there are many small isolated patches of older, strongly weathered materials of pre-Wisconsin age. Although such older materials are commonly overlain or mixed with less weathered mantle, the yellowish-red color, characteristic of the strongly weathered material, is generally not masked. Some of the older material is drift, presumed to be of Illionian age, that was probably strongly weathered to a considerable depth in Sangamon time and has been greatly eroded since the last interglacial period. No clear-cut exposure of Wisconsin drift resting on older drift or other strongly weathered mantle has been found. The old drift and the other strongly weathered materials apparently acquired their present red color in pre-Wisconsin time. Where exposed at the surface, such strongly weathered mantle is the parent material of modern Red-Yellow Podzolic soils. Sols Bruns Acides and Gray-Brown Podzolic soils, developed on slightly weathered parent materials, are found adjacent to these red soils. This suggests that these Red-Yellow Podzolic soils probably developed from strongly weathered parent materials. No buried soils were found nor were any soils recognized as relics from pre-Wisconsin time. Comparison of a map of the great soil groups with a map of the vegetation of the region, prepared by John C. Goodlett, does not reveal a close relation. Laboratory analyses of samples collected furnish data on textural, mineralogical, and chemical changes caused by weathering and soil formation. The results indicate that the amount of chemical weathering which the Wisconsin drift has undergone is slight. The Red-Yellow Podzolic soils on strongly weathered pre-Wisconsin drift have B2 horizons that have a finer texture than the A2 or C horizons. The parent materials of these soils seem to be strongly weathered because of the high chromas, reddish hues, friable condition of most rock fragments, relatively high kaolinite content, and presence of gibbsite in the clay fraction. Measurements at numerous localities show that the depth of leaching increases with decreasing carbonate content and is not a criterion of the age of the drift. Pebble counts of gravels also show that the depth of leaching of gravel is related to its limestone content. The location of the gravel deposits is probably due primarily to the presence of pebbles of resistant rock rather than to ice wastage involving abundant glacial melt water. The region is in the Susquehanna drainage basin except for its north fringe, which drains to Lake Ontario. Most of the region is a dissected plateau ranging in altitude from 700 to 2,500 feet and underlain by gently folded sedimentary rocks of Paleozoic age. Much of the region slopes moderately or steeply; the most extensive areas of gently sloping land are 011 the uplands. In the northern part are several straight and deep valleys the southern extension of the Finger Lakes basins separated by uplands with several low cuestas that face north. Similarly, some streams such as the Canisteo, Cohocton, and Chemung Rivers, and the part of the Susquehanna River that is in New York, trend at right angles to the Finger Lakes, flowing in valleys that parallel the regional strike of the bedrock. The Olean drift border is marked by a change from drift containing very few rounded or striated rock fragments to a mantle containing only angular rock fragments and traces of red, strongly weathered materials. A reconstruction of the surface of the ice sheet, at its maximum extent shows an inferred slope of its distal margin ranging from 100 to 500 feet per mile
New York, Pennsylvania↗
Floods of July 18, 1942 in north-central Pennsylvania, with a section on descriptive details of the storm and floods
The floods of July 1942 in north-central Pennsylvania and adjacent areas in New York were record-breaking on most of the smaller streams. They followed unprecedented rains that amounted to as much as 35 inches at some points during a storm that for the most part lasted less than 12 hours at any point. In the area of heavy rainfall, peak flood discharges were much greater than for the floods of March 1936. The storm was centered over the headwaters of three major drainage basins Susquehanna, Allegheny, and Genessee with the result that flood flows in the lower reaches of those streams were not outstanding. The estimated property damage exceeded $ 10,000,000 and 15 persons lost their lives. Description of previous storms and floods show that quite similar conditions have occurred in other areas in the past. The isohyetal map in the report is based on more than 400 miscellaneous observations of rainfall. Gage heights and discharges during the flood period are given for 14 gaging stations, and peak discharges are given for 47 other points on streams in the flood area. The maximum discharge was 117,000 second-feet in West Branch Susquehanna River at Renovo, and the maximum in relation to drainage area was 2,100 second-feet per square mile from 11.4 square miles in Annin Creek near Turtle Point. The report also contains a table of flood-crest elevations.
New York, Pennsylvania↗
Major winter and nonwinter floods in selected basins in New York and Pennsylvania
The scientific design of flood-control works is based on an evaluation of the hydrologic factors basic to flood events, particularly how rainfall and snow runoff, soil conditions, and channel influences can combine to produce greater or lesser floods. For this purpose an analysis of the pertinent hydrologic data is needed. The methods of analysis adopted should conform as closely as possible to those already in use and must be adapted to the quality of the available information. Maximum floods in 8 basins in New York and Pennsylvania during the winter and nonwinter months were studied, a total of 21 floods. The most outstanding winter flood of record in the North Atlantic region was that of March 1936. Rainfall plus snow melt in the basins studied ranged between 3.04 and 6.87 inches, and associated volumes of direct runoff from 1.88 to 5.63 inches. Winter floods have a common characteristic in their relation to freezing temperature. The antecedent periods, representing a period of snow accumulation and frost penetration, are below freezing, and the flood itself is contemporaneous with a period of above-freezing temperatures, usually associated with rain, during which the previously accumulated snow is melted. A second common characteristic of major winter floods is their tendency to be associated with widespread causal meteorologic conditions. There was a more complete conversion of rainfall and snow melt into runoff during the winter storms studied than during the wettest nonwinter flood. Snow melt during winter floods ranged from 0.04 to 0.07 inch per degree-day above 32° F. The depth of mean areal rainfall produced by the nonwinter storms studied ranged from 3.05 to 4.96 inches. The maximum 24-hour quantity at single stations was 14 inches, which was measured during the storm of July 1935 in New York. The volume of direct runoff ranged between 1.39 and 3.41 inches. The portion of rainfall that was converted into runoff varied in accordance with the rate of antecedent base flow, expressed in second-feet per square mile, and emphasized the influence of antecedent conditions. The average volume of direct runoff during winter floods was 4.24 inches, and the average during nonwinter floods was 2.44 inches. The latter, however, were more concentrated as to time, tending to compensate for large volume of runoff in winter, so that the crest rates of direct runoff averaged 0.056 inches per hour during the winter and 0.051 inches during the nonwinter period.
New York, Pennsylvania↗