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At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS1975

Plan of study of the hydrology of the Madison Limestone and associated rocks in Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming

A major part of the United States ' coal reserves is in the Fort Union coal region of the Northern Great Plains. Large-scale development of these reserves would place a heavy demand on the area 's limited water resources. Surface water is poorly distributed in time and space. Its use for coal development in parts of the area would require storage reservoirs and distribution systems, whereas in the rest of the area surface water is fully appropriated and its use would deprive present users of their supply. Preliminary studies by the U.S. Geological Survey and State agencies in Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota indicate that the Madison Limestone and associated rocks might provide a significant percentage of the total water requirements for coal development. This report briefly summarized the present knowledge of the geohydrology of the Madison and associated rocks, identifies the need for additional data, and outlines a 5-year plan for a comprehensive study of the hydrology of these rocks. (Woodard-USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1978

Plan of study for the High Plains regional aquifer-system analysis in parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming

The Ogallala Formation and associated Tertiary and Quarternary deposits form the principal aquifers supporting irrigation in the High Plains of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. The volume of water in storage within the aquifers is declining in most of the High Plains because water is being withdrawn in excess of the rate of replenishment. The U.S. Geological Survey has initiated a 5-year study of the High Plains aquifer system to develop the geohydrologic data base and computer models of the ground-water flow system needed to evaluate the response of the aquifer,system to ground-water management alternatives. This report describes the objectives, plan, and organization of the study and outlines the work to be accomplished in each state in the study area.

Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, ↗
USGS2006

High severity fire in forests of the southwest: Conservation implications. Progress Report August 2005

The occurrence of large, severe fires in southwestern ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests has resulted in concern that these forests may not persist under such an extreme disturbance regime. In our research, we are examining the outcomes of high-severity fire in ponderosa pine forests and their neighboring communities across an elevational gradient. One goal of our work is to contribute to understanding the resiliency of these systems, but we also want to investigate the conservation values intrinsic to the diverse communities that represent alternative successional trajectories after severe fire. One assumption of our research is that the spatial pattern of a disturbance becomes increasingly important when the disturbance is large and biological legacies are few and sparse. We ask, therefore, what spectrum of plant communities results from high severity fire, and what is their relationship to spatial patterns of severity mapped in early post fire timeframes? Also, do spatial patterns of older burns (1950–80) differ from recent burns (1998–present) in ways that make us expect successional changes years from now to differ from those we observed at our older burn field sites? Here, we describe the first stages of our work in mapping burn severity at old and new burns as well as the work we have recently completed at our two field sites. The report is organized under our two main objectives with the purpose of summarizing the steps we have taken in working toward these objectives, as well as changes we have made in methodologies since the original study plan. We present some general observations and plans for the next steps in data analysis and product generation. This report, the study plan, a photograph gallery, slide presentations, and our contact information are available on the project Web site http://www.umass.edu/landeco/research/swfire/swfire.html .

Open-File Report↗
USGS1984

Glacial aquifer systems in the northeastern United States; a plan for study

The U.S. Geological Survey project designed to study the availability and quality of water in glacial aquifers in the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio is scheduled for completion in 1986. It will focus on general principles that define aquifer geometry, hydraulic properties of sediments, recharge, discharge, physical-chemical properties of water, rock and water-rock interactions, and mechanisms for mixing of water from multiple sources. Planned project activities include compilation and analysis of available data for a regionwide analysis of glacial-aquifer systems, studies of selected system components such as recharge and chemical processes, classification of aquifers with regard to water-supply potential, and construction of generalized ground-water models to predict responses of types of aquifer systems to pumping and climatic stress. This report describes the general characteristics of glacial aquifer systems in the Northeastern United States and of planned work elements of the study. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1998

Guidelines for quality assurance and quality control of fish taxonomic data collected as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program

Fish community structure is characterized by the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program as part of a perennial, multidisciplinary approach to evaluating the physical, chemical, and biological conditions of the Nation's water resources. The objective of quality assurance and quality control of fish taxonomic data that are collected as part of the NAWQA Program is to establish uniform guidelines and protocols for the identification, processing, and archiving of fish specimens to ensure that accurate and reliable data are collected. Study unit biologists, collaborating with regional biologists and fish taxonomic specialists, prepare a pre-sampling study plan that includes a preliminary faunal list and identification of an ichthyological curation center for receiving preserved fish specimens. Problematic taxonomic issues and protected taxa also are identified in the study plan, and collecting permits are obtained in advance of sampling activities. Taxonomic specialists are selected to identify fish specimens in the field and to assist in determining what fish specimens should be sacrificed, fixed, and preserved for laboratory identification, independent taxonomic verification, and long-term storage in reference or voucher collections. Quantitative and qualitative sampling of fishes follows standard methods previously established for the NAWQA Program. Common ichthyological techniques are used to process samples in the field and prepare fish specimens to be returned to the laboratory or sent to an institutional repository. Taxonomic identifications are reported by using a standardized list of scientific names that provides nomenclatural consistency and uniformity across study units.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1996

Lake levels, streamflow, and surface-water quality in the Devils Lake area, North Dakota

The Devils Lake Basin is a 3,810-square-mile (mi 2 ) closed basin (fig. 1) in the Red River of the North Basin. About 3,320 mi 2 of the total 3,810 mi 2 is tributary to Devils Lake; the remainder is tributary to Stump Lake. Since glaciation, the lake level of Devils Lake has fluctuated from about 1,457 feet (ft) above sea level (asl), the natural spill elevation of the lake to the Sheyenne River, to 1,400 ft asl (Aronow, 1957). Although no documented records of lake levels are available before 1867, Upham (1895, p. 595), on the basis of tree-ring chronology, indicated that the lake level was 1,441 ft asl in 1830. Lake levels were recorded sporadically from 1867 to 1901 when the U.S. Geological Survey established a gaging station on Devils Lake. From 1867 to the present (1996), the lake level has fluctuated between a maximum of 1,438.4 ft asl in 1867 and a minimum of 1,400.9 ft asl in 1940 (fig. 2) . On July 31, 1996, the lake level was 1,437.8 ft asl, about 15.2 ft higher than the level recorded in February 1993 and the highest level in about 120 years. Since 1993, the lake level of Devils Lake (fig. 2) has risen rapidly in response to above-normal precipitation from the summer of 1993 to the present, and 30,000 acres of land around the lake have been flooded. The above-normal precipitation also has caused flooding elsewhere in the Devils Lake Basin. State highways near Devils Lake are being raised, and some local roads have been closed because of flooding. In response to the flooding, the Devils Lake Basin Interagency Task Force, comprised of many State and Federal agencies, was formed in 1995 to find and propose intermediate (5 years or less) solutions to reduce the effects of high lake levels. In addition to various planning studies being conducted by Federal agencies, the North Dakota State Water Commission has implemented a project to store water on small tracts of land and in the chain of lakes (Sweetwater Lake, Morrison Lake, Dry Lake, Mikes Lake, Chain Lake, Lake Alice, and Lake Irvine). Most of the planning studies include options to store water in the Devils Lake Basin and to provide an outlet to the Sheyenne River via Devils Lake or the Stump Lakes. If an outlet is constructed, water-quantity and -quality issues will be considered in designing the operating plan. Therefore, current and accurate hydrologic information is needed to assess the viability of the various options to lower the level of Devils Lake.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2016

A plan for study of hexavalent chromium, CR(VI) in groundwater near a mapped plume, Hinkley, California, 2016

The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) Hinkley compressor station, in the Mojave Desert 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, is used to compress natural gas as it is transported through a pipeline from Texas to California. Between 1952 and 1964, cooling water used at the compressor station was treated with a compound containing chromium to prevent corrosion. After cooling, the wastewater was discharged to unlined ponds, resulting in contamination of soil and groundwater in the underlying alluvial aquifer (Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, 2013). Since 1964, cooling-water management practices have been used that do not contribute chromium to groundwater. In 2007, a PG&E study of the natural background concentrations of hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), in groundwater estimated average concentrations in the Hinkley area to be 1.2 micrograms per liter (μg/L), with a 95-percent upper-confidence limit of 3.1 μg/L (CH2M-Hill, 2007). The 3.1 μg/L upper-confidence limit was adopted by the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) as the maximum background concentration used to map the plume extent. In response to criticism of the study’s methodology, and an increase in the mapped extent of the plume between 2008 and 2011, the Lahontan RWQCB (Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, 2012) agreed that the 2007 PG&E background-concentration study be updated. The purpose of the updated background study is to evaluate the presence of natural and man-made Cr(VI) near Hinkley, Calif. The study also is to estimate natural background Cr(VI) concentrations in the aquifer upgradient and downgradient from the mapped Cr(VI) contamination plume, as well as in the plume and near its margins. The study was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in collaboration with a technical working group (TWG) composed of community members, the Independent Review Panel (IRP) Manager (Project Navigator, Ltd.), the Lahontan RWQCB, PG&E, and consultants for PG&E.&E.

California↗
USGS1979

A plan to study the aquifer system of the Central Valley of California

Unconsolidated Quaternary alluvial deposits comprise a large complex aquifer system in the Central Valley of California. Millions of acre-feet of water is pumped from the system annually to support a large and expanding agribusiness industry. Since the 1950's, water levels have been steadily declining in many areas of the valley and concern has been expressed about the ability of the entire ground-water system to support agribusiness at current levels, not to mention its ability to function at projected expansion levels. At current levels of ground-water use, an estimated 1.5 to 2 million acre-feet is withdrawn from storage each year; that is, 1.5 to 2 million acre-feet of water is pumped annually in excess of annual replenishment. The U.S. Geological Survey has initiated a 4-year study to develop geologic, hydrologic, and hydraulic information and to establish a valleywide ground-water data base that will be used to build computer models of the ground-water flow system. Subsequently, these models may be used to evaluate the system response to various ground-water management alternatives. This report describes current problems, objectives of the study, and outlines the general work to be accomplished in the study area. A bibliography of about 600 references is included. (Kosco-USGS)

California↗
USGS1979

Plan of study for the northern Great Plains regional aquifer-system analysis in parts of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming

The Northern Great Plains, an area of about 250,000 square miles in parts of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming, is underlain by an accumulation of sediments eroded from the Black Hills and from mountains to the west. Principal aquifers are areally extensive beds of sandstone within these sedimentary rocks, some at great depths. Anticipated future water needs dictate that available ground-water supplies be evaluated for management of this natural resource. The U.S. Geological Survey has started (1978) a 4-year study of the Northern Great Plains aquifer system. The objective of this study is to define availability and quality of ground water and to predict the effects of using this resource. To achieve this objective, the ground-water system will be described in terms of spatial distribution, hydraulics, geology, and geochemistry. Once described, the ground-water system will be simulated by mathematical models that will be used to define responses of the system to various management alternatives and assumed development patterns.

Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming↗
USGS1986

Plan of study for the Regional Aquifer-System Analysis, Columbia Plateau, Washington, northern Oregon, and northwestern Idaho

The U.S. Geological Survey began a 4-year study of the regional aquifer system underlying the Columbia Plateau, in central and eastern Washington, northern Oregon, and northwestern Idaho in October 1983, as part of the Regional Aquifer System Analysis program. The study will describe the geohydrology, geochemistry, and quality of water in the Columbia River Basalt Group, the Miocene rocks that underlie 70,000 square miles in three States. Water from the basalts is used for municipal and industrial purposes, and most importantly, for agriculture. As more land is brought under cultivation and surface water becomes totally allocated, the groundwater is an increasingly important supply for agriculture and related activities. In addition, the basalts are being considered as a repository site for high-level nuclear wastes. For management agencies to make the best decisions regarding the future development of this area, the regional groundwater flow system, its relation to the surfacewater system , and the quality of the water need to be quantified. This report describes the geohydrologic setting, hydrologic problems, objectives, and approach for the region. (USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗