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Search indexed USGS publications on groundwater, aquifers, geologic maps, mineral resources and earthquakes. Explore source records by subject and place.

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At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
USGS2005

Ground-water/surface-water responses to global climate simulations, Santa Clara-Calleguas basin, Ventura County, California, 1950-93

Climate variations can play an important, if not always crucial, role in successful conjunctive management of ground water and surface water resources. This will require accurate accounting of the links between variations in climate, recharge, and withdrawal from the resource systems, accurate projection or predictions of the climate variations, and accurate simulation of the responses of the resource systems. To assess linkages and predictability of climate influences on conjunctive management, global climate model (GCM) simulated precipitation rates were used to estimate inflows and outflows from a regional ground water model (RGWM) of the coastal aquifers of the Santa Clara-Calleguas Basin at Ventura, California, for 1950 to 1993. Interannual to interdecadal time scales of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) climate variations are imparted to simulated precipitation variations in the Southern California area and are realistically imparted to the simulated ground water level variations through the climate-driven recharge (and discharge) variations. For example, the simulated average ground water level response at a key observation well in the basin to ENSO variations of tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures is 1.2 m/°C, compared to 0.9 m/°C in observations. This close agreement shows that the GCM-RGWM combination can translate global scale climate variations into realistic local ground water responses. Probability distributions of simulated ground water level excursions above a local water level threshold for potential seawater intrusion compare well to the corresponding distributions from observations and historical RGWM simulations, demonstrating the combination's potential usefulness for water management and planning. Thus the GCM-RGWM combination could be used for planning purposes and — when the GCM forecast skills are adequate — for near term predictions.

California↗
USGS1978

Iron in water near wastewater lagoons in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

High dissolved-iron concentrations have been noted in water in wells used to monitor effluent that percolates from wastewater disposal lagoons near Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. The concentration of dissolved iron in water in a well increased from 80 μ g/L (micrograms per liter) before a nearby lagoon was .used for disposal of effluent to 17000 μ g/L after the lagoon was used. The effluent contained 180 μ g/L of dissolved iron, and nearby Iron Spring Creek contained 30 μ g/L or less of dissolved iron above and below the lagoons. Organic carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur in the effluent as methane, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide are oxidized to carbon dioxide, nitrate, and sulfate, respectively, in the unsaturated zone and possibly in the saturated zone as ground water moves through sand and gravel toward Iron Spring Creek. This oxidation results in simultaneous reduction of iron in the sand and gravel from the insoluble ferric phase to the soluble ferrous phase. As ground water high in dissolved iron discharges at land surface near the stream, oxygen from the atmosphere oxidizes the iron back to the insoluble ferric phase, and ferric hydroxide precipitates. Ferric hydroxide also precipitates in some of the monitoring wells. Iron bacteria and other organisms are associated with the precipitates.

Wyoming↗
USGS1984

Offshore exploration and industry change: The case of the Gulf of Mexico

This paper considers industry structure and the exploration performance (by size class of operator) of firms searching for oil and gas in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. It also tracks the changes in industry structure that have occurred in response to a decline in the quality of remaining prospects in the area. Data presented indicate that because vertically integrated majors dominated in exploration in the early years of the Gulf of Mexico exploration history, they were able to discover 86% of the total hydrocarbons discovered through 1975. However, the data also show a dynamic relationship between the structure of the industry operating in an area and the quality of remaining prospects. The relative share of both credited discoveries and wildcat wells of nonmajor operators has increased as exploration in the gulf proceeded. For example, in state-owned waters from 1951 to 1955, major inns accounted for 85% of all wildcat wells drilled, whereas from 1971 to 1975 these firms accounted for only 30% of the wildcat wells. During these same two periods in the federal Gulf of Mexico, the majors' share of wildcats fell from 98% to 70%.

Journal of Petroleum Technology↗
USGS1988

Lognormal kriging for the assessment of reliability in groundwater quality control observation networks

Groundwater quality observation networks are examples of discontinuous sampling on variables presenting spatial continuity and highly skewed frequency distributions. Anywhere in the aquifer, lognormal kriging provides estimates of the variable being sampled and a standard error of the estimate. The average and the maximum standard error within the network can be used to dynamically improve the network sampling efficiency or find a design able to assure a given reliability level. The approach does not require the formulation of any physical model for the aquifer or any actual sampling of hypothetical configurations. A case study is presented using the network monitoring salty water intrusion into the Llobregat delta confined aquifer, Barcelona, Spain. The variable chloride concentration used to trace the intrusion exhibits sudden changes within short distances which make the standard error fairly invariable to changes in sampling pattern and to substantial fluctuations in the number of wells.

Journal of Hydrology↗
USGS2007

Aquifer-scale controls on the distribution of nitrate and ammonium in ground water near La Pine, Oregon, USA

Geochemical and isotopic tools were applied at aquifer, transect, and subtransect scales to provide a framework for understanding sources, transport, and fate of dissolved inorganic N in a sandy aquifer near La Pine, Oregon. NO3 is a common contaminant in shallow ground water in this area, whereas high concentrations of NH4-N (up to 39 mg/L) are present in deep ground water. N concentrations, N/Cl ratios, tracer-based apparent ground-water ages, N isotope data, and hydraulic gradients indicate that septic tank effluent is the primary source of NO3. N isotope data, N/Cl and N/C relations, 3H data, and hydraulic considerations point to a natural, sedimentary organic matter source for the high concentrations of NH4, and are inconsistent with an origin as septic tank N. Low recharge rates and flow velocities have largely restricted anthropogenic NO3 to isolated plumes within several meters of the water table. A variety of geochemical and isotopic data indicate that denitrification also affects NO3 gradients in the aquifer. Ground water in the La Pine aquifer evolves from oxic to increasingly reduced conditions. Suboxic conditions are achieved after about 15-30 y of transport below the water table. NO3 is denitrified near the oxic/suboxic boundary. Denitrification in the La Pine aquifer is characterized well at the aquifer scale with a redox boundary approach that inherently captures spatial variability in the distribution of electron donors.

Oregon↗
USGS2007

Some guidelines for remote sensing in hydrology

Remote sensing in the field of hydrology is beginning to be applied to significant problems, such as thermal pollution, in many programs of the Federal and State Governments as well as in operation of many private organizations. The purpose of this paper is to guide the hydrologist to a better understanding of how he may collect, synthesize, and interpret remote sensing data.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗
USGS2012

Groundwater and surface-water exchange and resultingnNitrate dynamics in the Bogue Phalia Basin in northwestern Mississippi

During April 2007 through September 2008, the USGS collected hydrogeologic and water-quality data from a site on the Bogue Phalia to evaluate the role of groundwater and surface-water interaction on the transport of nitrate to the shallow sand and gravel aquifer underlying the Mississippi Alluvial Plain in northwestern Mississippi. A two-dimensional groundwater/surface-water exchange model was developed using temperature and head data and VS2DH, a variably saturated flow and energy transport model. Results from this model showed that groundwater/surface-water exchange at the site occurred regularly and recharge was laterally extensive into the alluvial aquifer. Nitrate was consistently reported in surface-water samples ( n = 52, median concentration = 39.8 μmol/L) although never detected in samples collected from in-stream piezometers or shallow monitoring wells adjacent to the stream ( n = 46). These two facts, consistent detections of nitrate in surface water and no detections of nitrate in groundwater, coupled with model results that indicate large amounts of surface water moving through an anoxic streambed, support the case for denitrification and nitrate loss through the streambed.

Mississippi↗
USGS1994

Regional Aquifer-System Analysis Program of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1978-1992

The major ground-water systems of the United States have been investigated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) through its Regional Aquifer-System Analysis (RASA) Program. During the first 15 years of the program (1978-92), 25 regional aquifer systems, including the most heavily pumped aquifers in the Nation, were intensively studied. As of mid-1992, 18 of the regional aquifer studies are completed or nearly so; 7 of the regional aquifer studies are ongoing, and compilation of a national ground-water atlas is in progress. This report summarizes the status of each RASA study and briefly describes the hydrology of the 25 regional aquifer systems. Important study results and examples of applications of study results are presented for some of the completed RASA investigations. The major contributions of the RASA Program are (1) assembly of data from numerous local studies and long-time data collections into systematic regional data bases; (2) comprehensive descriptions of the geologic, hydrologic, and geochemical characteristics of the regional aquifer systems; and (3) an understanding of how the regional ground-water-flow systems function under natural (predevelopment) and current (developed) conditions. To provide the comprehensive system descriptions, many of the RASA studies present, for the first time, maps depicting the hydrogeologic frameworks, water chemistry, potentiometric surfaces, and other aspects of entire regional aquifer systems. To provide an understanding of how the flow systems function, several of the completed RASA studies provide, for the first time, hydrologic budgets for both predevelopment and developed conditions. The results of the RASA Program are contained in nearly 900 reports published by the USGS, as well as various State and local agencies, and in articles published in scientific journals. A series of U.S. Geological Survey Professional Papers are being published to summarize and synthesize the results of each RASA study.

Circular↗
USGS2016

Persistence and microbial source tracking of Escherichia coli at a swimming beach at Lake of the Ozarks State Park, Missouri

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) has closed or posted advisories at public beaches at Lake of the Ozarks State Park in Missouri because of Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) concentration exceedances in recent years. Spatial and temporal patterns of E. coli concentrations, microbial source tracking, novel sampling techniques, and beach-use patterns were studied during the 2012 recreational season to identify possible sources, origins, and occurrence of E. coli contamination at Grand Glaize Beach (GGB). Results indicate an important source of E. coli contamination at GGB was E. coli released into the water column by bathers resuspending avian-contaminated sediments, especially during high-use days early in the recreational season. Escherichia coli concentrations in water, sediment, and resuspended sediment samples all decreased throughout the recreational season likely because of decreasing lake levels resulting in sampling locations receding away from the initial spring shoreline as well as natural decay and physical transport out of the cove. Weekly MDNR beach monitoring, based solely on E. coli concentrations, at GGB during this study inaccurately predicted E. coli exceedances, especially on weekends and holidays. Interestingly, E. coli of human origin were measured at concentrations indicative of raw sewage in runoff from an excavation of a nearby abandoned septic tank that had not been used for nearly two years.

Missouri↗
USGS2011

Relations of hydrogeologic factors, groundwater reduction-oxidation conditions, and temporal and spatial distributions of nitrate, Central-Eastside San Joaquin Valley, California, USA

In a 2,700-km 2 area in the eastern San Joaquin Valley, California (USA), data from multiple sources were used to determine interrelations among hydrogeologic factors, reduction-oxidation (redox) conditions , and temporal and spatial distributions of nitrate (NO 3 ), a widely detected groundwater contaminant. Groundwater is predominantly modern, or mixtures of modern water, with detectable NO 3 and oxic redox conditions , but some zones have anoxic or mixed redox conditions . Anoxic conditions were associated with long residence times that occurred near the valley trough and in areas of historical groundwater discharge with shallow depth to water. Anoxic conditions also were associated with interactions of shallow, modern groundwater with soils. NO 3 concentrations were significantly lower in anoxic than oxic or mixed redox groundwater , primarily because residence times of anoxic waters exceed the duration of increased pumping and fertilizer use associated with modern agriculture. Effects of redox reactions on NO 3 concentrations were relatively minor. Dissolved N 2 gas data indicated that denitrification has eliminated gt;5 mg/L NO 3 -N in about 10% of 39 wells. Increasing NO 3 concentrations over time were slightly less prevalent in anoxic than oxic or mixed redox groundwater . Spatial and temporal trends of NO 3 are primarily controlled by water and NO 3 fluxes of modern land use.

California↗
USGS2005

Effects of iron on arsenic speciation and redox chemistry in acid mine water

Concern about arsenic is increasing throughout the world, including areas of the United States. Elevated levels of arsenic above current drinking-water regulations in ground and surface water can be the result of purely natural phenomena, but often are due to anthropogenic activities, such as mining and agriculture. The current study correlates arsenic speciation in acid mine drainage and mining-influenced water with the important water-chemistry properties Eh, pH, and iron(III) concentration. The results show that arsenic speciation is generally in equilibrium with iron chemistry in low pH AMD, which is often not the case in other natural-water matrices. High pH mine waters and groundwater do not always hold to the redox predictions as well as low pH AMD samples. The oxidation and precipitation of oxyhydroxides deplete iron from some systems, and also affect arsenite and arsenate concentrations through sorption processes. ?? 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Journal of Geochemical Exploration↗
USGS2014

Featured collection introduction: contaminants of emerging concern II

This collection of 13 articles focuses on CECs, and each of the articles highlights a specific aspect of this broad topic. The articles were solicited from researchers who participated in the second summer specialty conference on this topic, organized by the American Water Resources Association. The title of the conference was “CECs in Water Resources II: Research, Engineering and Community Action,” and the conference, as well as the articles in this featured collection, focus on a better and more comprehensive understanding of these contaminants. The conference was held in Denver, Colorado, on June 25-27, 2012, and approximately 125 conference attendees participated in an interdisciplinary forum of more than 75 presentations including keynote or plenary presentations by Dana Kolpin, Jorg Drewes, Heiko Schoenfuss, Chris Metcalfe, Vicki Blazer, and Tyrone Hayes. The first conference was held in 2007 and also produced a featured collection of articles (Battaglin and Kolpin, 2009).

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗
USGS2017

Forecasting the probability of future groundwater levels declining below specified low thresholds in the conterminous U.S.

We present a logistic regression approach for forecasting the probability of future groundwater levels declining or maintaining below specific groundwater-level thresholds. We tested our approach on 102 groundwater wells in different climatic regions and aquifers of the United States that are part of the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater Climate Response Network. We evaluated the importance of current groundwater levels, precipitation, streamflow, seasonal variability, Palmer Drought Severity Index, and atmosphere/ocean indices for developing the logistic regression equations. Several diagnostics of model fit were used to evaluate the regression equations, including testing of autocorrelation of residuals, goodness-of-fit metrics, and bootstrap validation testing. The probabilistic predictions were most successful at wells with high persistence (low month-to-month variability) in their groundwater records and at wells where the groundwater level remained below the defined low threshold for sustained periods (generally three months or longer). The model fit was weakest at wells with strong seasonal variability in levels and with shorter duration low-threshold events. We identified challenges in deriving probabilistic-forecasting models and possible approaches for addressing those challenges.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗
USGS2018

Biocrusts: The living skin of the Earth

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) form a “living skin” at the soil surface in many low productivity ecosystems around the world including water- and cold-limited environments, and early successional seres (Belnap et al. 2003). They may be composed of any configuration of soil surface-dwelling cyanobacteria, eukaryotic algae, lichens, mosses or liverworts, and support assemblages of decomposers and a faunal food web (Belnap et al. 2003). These soil surface communities have global relevance, as it has been recently estimated that they cover about 12% of the terrestrial surface currently (Rodriguez-Caballero et al. 2018). Biocrust communities are perhaps an ideal subject for the journal Plant and Soil, because they are simultaneously plant-like, due to their dominance by autotrophs, yet biocrusts are also clearly a physical feature of the soil given that component organisms are enmeshed in, adherent to, or otherwise in direct contact with the soil surface. The activity of the organisms is what engineers the well-aggregated thin layer at the soil surface that we recognize as a biocrust (Belnap et al. 2003). The contributions of biocrusts to ecosystem function has fueled much research interest, initially in the observation of biocrusts’ soil aggregating and erosion-resisting nature, and later as a multifunctional, globally-relevant ecosystem element instrumental in: 1. building or otherwise altering soil nutrient stocks through N-fixation (Elbert et al. 2012), dust trapping (Reynolds et al. 2001) and nutrient cycling (Strauss et al. 2012), 2. influencing hydrological properties of soil such as the water balance (Chamizo et al. 2016), and 3. The thermal energy balance of the ecosystem (Coradeau et al. 2016, Rutherford et al. 2017).

Plant and Soil↗
USGS2006

A rainfall loading response recorded at 300 meters depth: Implications for geological weighing lysimeters

Static pore water pressures in confined aquifers vary in response to ground surface loading changes, including precipitation and evaporation. Under certain hydrogeological conditions such aquifers can function as giant natural weighing lysimeters, referenced here as 'geological weighing lysimeters'. The extent of the land area 'weighed' increases with aquifer depth and it is of interest to establish at what depth it is still possible to monitor surface water budgets. An 86 mm rainfall event produced a clear loading signal in a well in western Kansas at 300 m depth. The loading effect is quantitatively consistent with elastic deformation induced by the rainfall mass and suggests that geological weighing lysimeters could operate at considerably greater depths, thereby monitoring water budgets over a significant land area. ?? 2005 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

Journal of Hydrology↗
USGS2019

Prediction of ice‐free conditions for a perennially ice‐covered Antarctic lake

Although perennially ice‐covered Antarctic lakes have experienced variable ice thicknesses over the past several decades, future ice thickness trends and associated aquatic biological responses under projected global warming remain unknown. Heat stored in the water column in chemically stratified Antarctic lakes that have middepth temperature maxima can significantly influence the ice thickness trends via upward heat flux to the ice/water interface. We modeled the ice thickness of the west lobe of Lake Bonney, Antarctica, based on possible future climate scenarios utilizing a 1D thermodynamic model that accounts for surface radiative fluxes as well as the heat flux associated with the temperature evolution of the water column. Model results predict that the ice cover of Lake Bonney will shift from perennial to seasonal within one to four decades, a change that will drastically influence ecosystem processes within the lake.

Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface↗
USGS2000

Assessing the Kansas water-level monitoring program: An example of the application of classical statistics to a geological problem

Geologists may feel that geological data are not amenable to statistical analysis, or at best require specialized approaches such as nonparametric statistics and geostatistics. However, there are many circumstances, particularly in systematic studies conducted for environmental or regulatory purposes, where traditional parametric statistical procedures can be beneficial. An example is the application of analysis of variance to data collected in an annual program of measuring groundwater levels in Kansas. Influences such as well conditions, operator effects, and use of the water can be assessed and wells that yield less reliable measurements can be identified. Such statistical studies have resulted in yearly improvements in the quality and reliability of the collected hydrologic data. Similar benefits may be achieved in other geological studies by the appropriate use of classical statistical tools.

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma ↗
USGS2007

Assessment of contamination from arsenical pesticide use on orchards in the great valley region, Virginia and West Virginia, USA

Lead arsenate pesticides were widely used in apple orchards from 1925 to 1955. Soils from historic orchards in four counties in Virginia and West Virginia contained elevated concentrations of As and Pb, consistent with an arsenical pesticide source. Arsenic concentrations in approximately 50% of the orchard site soils and approximately 1% of reference site soils exceed the USEPA Preliminary Remediation Goal (PRG) screening guideline of 22 mg kg-1 for As in residential soi, defined on the basis of combined chronic exposure risk. Approximately 5% of orchard site soils exceed the USEPA PRG for Pb of 400 mg kg-1 in residential soil; no reference site soils sampled exceed this value. A variety of statistical methods were used to characterize the occurrence, distribution, and dispersion of arsenical pesticide residues in soils, stream sediments, and ground waters relative to landscape features and likely background conditions. Concentrations of Zn, Pb, and Cu were most strongly associated with high developed land density and population density, whereas elevated concentrations of As were weakly correlated with high orchard density, consistent with a pesticide residue source. Arsenic concentrations in ground water wells in the region are generally <0.005 mg L-1. There was no spatial association between As concentrations in ground water and proximity to orchards. Arsenic had limited mobility into ground water from surface soils contaminated with arsenical pesticide residues at concentrations typically found in orchards.

Journal of Environmental Quality↗