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Research about North Dakota

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including North Dakota.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
USGS1999

Vulnerability of ground water in the Tokio and Warwick aquifers to surface contamination, Fort Totten Indian Reservation, North Dakota

The vulnerability of ground water in the Tokio and Warwick aquifers to surface contamination was evaluated using existing hydrologic, climatic, geologic, topographic, and land-use/land-cover data and geographic information system procedures. The aquifers underlie parts of the Fort Totten Indian Reservation in northeastern North Dakota. The vulnerability was evaluated using vertical hydraulic leakance, depth to water, hydraulic conductivity, land use/land cover, land-surface slope, hydrologic sinks, and drainage basin areas. Data were discretized using a land-surface altitude grid divided into 50-foot-square cells. Vertical hydraulic leakance was determined by combining data from ring-permeameter and slug tests, land-use/land-cover data were obtained from data sets, and land-surface slope and hydrologic sinks were calculated from land-surface altitude data. The vulnerability of ground water in the Tokio and Warwick aquifers to surface contamination is high in terms of land use/land cover and land-surface slope. The land surface of the Warwick aquifer also has numerous hydrologic sinks that result in areas of increased vulnerability of ground water to surface contamination.

North Dakota↗
USGS1999

Stream water-quality characteristics and trends, James River basin, North Dakota, 1949-95

Water-quality data collected at 16 water-quality-sampling sites in the James River Basin during 1949-95 were statistically summarized. Analysis of variance of data ranks was used to make comparisons among sites for selected constituents that had 20 or more analyses per site. Statistically significant differences among sites were indicated for specific conductance, dissolved solids, major ions, and nutrients. Regression analyses indicated negative relations to streamflow at most sites for specific conductance, dissolved solids, hardness, and most major ions. Several nutrients related positively to streamflow. Seasonal trends were prevalent for calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfate, and chloride. Seasonal trends for nutrients were less frequent. Time trends were indicated for one or more constituents at all sites.

North Dakota↗
USGS1998

Evaporation from a small prairie wetland in the Cottonwood Lake area, North Dakota - An energy-budget study

Evaporation from Wetland P1 in the Cottonwood Lake area of North Dakota, USA was determined by the energy-budget method for 1982–85 and 1987. Evaporation rates were as high as 0.672 cm day −1 . Incoming solar radiation, incoming atmospheric radiation, and long-wave radiation emitted from the water body are the largest energy fluxes to and from the wetland. Because of the small heat storage of the water body, evaporation rates closely track solar radiation on short time scales. The effect of advected energy related to precipitation is small because the water quickly heats up by solar radiation following precipitation. Advected energy related to ground water is minimal because ground-water fluxes are small and ground-water temperature is only about 7 °C. Energy flux related to sediment heating and thermal storage in the sediments, which might be expected to be large because the water is clear and shallow, affects evaporation rates by less than 5 percent.

North Dakota↗
USGS1998

Water resources of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, west-central North Dakota

Water resources of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in west-central North Dakota occur as ground water in bedrock and buried-valley aquifers and as surface water in streams and Lake Sakakawea. The bedrock aquifers-the Fox Hills-Hell Creek, Tongue River, and Sentinel Butte store about 93 million acre-feet of water under the Reservation. The Fox Hills-Hell Creek aquifer is composed mainly of very fine to medium-grained sandstone and stores about 51 million acrefeet of water. Water levels in the aquifer declined from 1976 through 1992. The Tongue River aquifer is composed mainly of claystones and siltstones and has widely distributed pockets of sandstone or lignite layers. The aquifer stores about 24 million acre-feet of water. The Sentinel Butte aquifer is composed mainly of interbedded claystones, siltstones, shale, lignite, and sandstone and stores about 18 million acre-feet of water. Yields from the lignite beds are highly variable. Water in the aquifers was predominantly a sodium bicarbonate type. Mean dissolved solids concentrations were 1,530 milligrams per liter in water from the Fox Hills-Hell Creek aquifer, 2,110 milligrams per liter in water from the Tongue River aquifer, and 1,300 milligrams per liter in water from the Sentinel Butte aquifer. The East Fork Shell Creek, Shell Creek, White Shield, New Town, and Sanish aquifers occur within buried valleys and store about 1,414,000 acre-feet of water. The East Fork Shell Creek and Shell Creek aquifers are composed of sand and gravel lenses that are surrounded by less permeable till. Water in the East Fork Shell Creek aquifer is a sodium sulfate bicarbonate type, and water in the Shell Creek aquifer is a sodium bicarbonate sulfate type. Mean dissolved-solids concentrations were 3,220 milligrams per liter in water from the East Fork Shell Creek aquifer and 1,470 milligrams per liter in water from the Shell Creek aquifer. The White Shield aquifer is composed of very fine to coarse sand and fine to coarse gravel. Water in the aquifer varies from a sodium bicarbonate sulfate type to a mixed calcium magnesium sodium bicarbonate sulfate type. Mean dissolved-solids concentrations were 1,080 milligrams per liter in water from the eastern part of the aquifer and 1,430 milligrams per liter in water from the western part of the aquifer. Water levels in the western part of the aquifer rose during 1970-92. The New Town aquifer is composed of lenticular deposits of sand and gravel. Water in the aquifer is a calcium sodium bicarbonate sulfate type and had a mean dissolved-solids concentration of 1,390 milligrams per liter. Data indicate a close correspondence between ground-water levels and lake stage of Lake Sakakawea, implying a hydraulic connection between the aquifer and the lake. The Sanish aquifer is composed of sand, clayey sand, and thin gravels that are poorly cemented and highly permeable. Water in the aquifer is a mixed calcium magnesium bicarbonate sulfate type and had a mean dissolved-solids concentration of 1,350 milligrams per liter. Major streams on the Reservation are Bear Den Creek, Shell Creek, East Fork Shell Creek, Deepwater Creek, Moccasin Creek, and Squaw Creek. Mean streamflow for Bear Den Creek for June 1966 through September 1992 was 6.72 cubic feet per second. Mean streamflow for Shell Creek for September 1965 through September 1981 was 12.9 cubic feet per second. Streamflow measurements for East Fork Shell Creek for April 1990 through June 1991 ranged from zero to 3.65 cubic feet per second, measurements for Deepwater Creek for April 1990 through May 1991 ranged from zero to 4.28 cubic feet per second, measurements for Moccasin Creek for April 1990 through September 1992 ranged from zero to 7.07 cubic feet per second, and measurements for Squaw Creek for April 1990 through September 1992 ranged from zero to 4.22 cubic feet per second. Lake Sakakawea has a maximum surface area of 390,000 acres. The surface area is variable in relation to lake stage, which was unusually low during this study. The mean lake elevation for Lake Sakakawea for 1970-92 was 1,837.08 feet, and the mean lake elevation for 1990-92 was 1,821.14 feet.

North Dakota↗
USGS1997

Holocene eolian activity in the Minot dune field, North Dakota

Stabilized eolian sand is common over much of the Great Plains region of the United States and Canada, including a subhumid area of ~1500 km 2 near Minot, North Dakota. Eolian landforms consist of sand sheets and northwest-trending parabolic dunes. Dunes and sand sheets in the Minot field are presently stabilized by a cover of prairie grasses or oak woodland. Stratigraphic studies and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating of paleosols indicate at least two periods of eolian sand movement in the late Holocene. Pedologic data suggest that all of the dune field has experienced late Holocene dune activity, though not all parts of the dune field may have been active simultaneously. Similar immobile element (Ti, Zr, La, Ce) concentrations support the interpretation that eolian sands are derived from local glaciofluvial and glaciolacustrine sediments. However, glaciolacustrine and glaciofluvial source sediments have high Ca concentrations from carbonate minerals, whereas dune sands are depleted in Ca. Because noneolian-derived soils in the area are calcareous, these data indicate that the Minot dune field may have had extended periods of activity in the Holocene, such that eolian abrasion removed soft carbonate minerals. The southwest-facing parts of some presently stabilized dunes were active during the 1930s drought, but were revegetated during the wetter years of the 1940s. These observations indicate that severe droughts accompanied by high temperatures are the most likely cause of Holocene eolian activity.

North Dakota↗
USGS1996

An introduction to the Woodworth Study Area

The Woodworth Study Area (WSA) was purchased by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) during the early 1960's as a waterfowl production area. Unlike most such areas, its primary purpose was not to provide waterfowl breeding habitat directly, but instead it was dedicated for use as a research area to develop information for better management of upland and wetland habitats. This article provides some history of the area and background information about biological monitoring and research that have been conducted on the WSA. Unless otherwise stated, information included in derived from (1) or unpublished data on file at the Northern Prairie Science Center (NPSC).

North Dakota↗
USGS1995

Constraints on the origins of hydrocarbon gas from compositions of gases at their site of origin

It is widely accepted that natural gas is formed from thermal decomposition of both oil in reservoirs and, to a lesser extent, the organic matter in shales from which the oil was derived 1–6 . But laboratory pyrolysis experiments on shales do not reproduce the methane-rich composition typical of most gas reservoirs 7 , leading to suggestions 7 that other mechanisms, such as transition-metal catalysis, may be important. The discrepancy might, however, instead arise because gas (and oil) deposits have migrated from their source rocks, so that the reservoir composition might not be representative of the composition in the source rocks where the hydrocarbons were generated. To address this question, we have analysed gas samples coproduced with oils directly from a source rock (the Bakken shales, North Dakota, USA) where the local geology has prevented significant hydrocarbon migration. The methane contents of these Bakken-shale gases are much lower than that of conventional gas reservoirs, but are consistent with that from pyrolysis experiments 8,9 on these shales. Thus, because these Bakken gases form with (rather than from) oils, we argue that compositional differences between gases from source rocks and conventional gas deposits result from fractionation processes occurring after hydrocarbon expulsion from the source rock.

North Dakota↗