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Research about Whiskeytown Lake

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Whiskeytown Lake.

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Colored shaded-relief bathymetric map and surrounding aerial imagery of Whiskeytown Lake, California

The Carr wildfire began on July 23, 2018, and burned almost 300,000 acres (approximately half on Federal lands) in northern California during the subsequent 6-week period. Over 97 percent of the area within Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, California, burned during the 2018 Carr wildfire, including the entire landscape that surrounds and drains into Whiskeytown Lake. Shortly after the Carr wildfire ended, the U.S. Geological Survey began investigations into the landscape responses, such as changes in erosion and sediment deposition, that occurred after the fire. This study focused on the collection and processing of bathymetric data and onshore aerial imagery in and around Whiskeytown Lake, California, to support wildfire science after the fire.

California

Concentrations of mercury and other metals in black bass (Micropterus spp.) from Whiskeytown Lake, Shasta County, California, 2005

This report presents the results of a reconnaissance study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to determine mercury (Hg) and other selected metal concentrations in Black bass ( Micropterus spp. ) from Whiskeytown Lake, Shasta County, California. Total mercury concentrations were determined by cold-vapor atomic absorption spectroscopy (CVAAS) in fillets and whole bodies of each sampled fish. Selected metals scans were performed on whole bodies (less the fillets) by inductively coupled plasma–mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) and inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Mercury concentrations in fillet samples ranged from 0.06 to 0.52 micrograms per gram (μg/g) wet weight (ww). Total mercury (HgT) in the same fish whole-body samples ranged from 0.04 to 0.37 (μg/g, ww). Mercury concentrations in 17 percent of "legal catch size" (≥305 millimeters in length) were above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency water-quality criterion for the protection of human health of 0.30 μg/g (ww). These data will serve as a baseline for future monitoring efforts within Whiskeytown Lake.

California