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At least 1,315 records · Page 73Linked to original sources

Geologic interpretation of seismic data relocation of Route 2, Shelburne Falls in Shelburne, Mass.

In June 1945 a seismic study was made for the projected Halligan Avenue out, stations 364-374, Route 2 relocation in Shelburne, Mass. Nine profiles were run at this time and a report on this work was submitted by James E. Maynard and Rev. Daniel Linehan (file report of July 1945). As a result of a consultation with the State Engineers in August 1948, the proposed center-line of the road was relocated so as to be in a more favorable position. This new location is shown as alternate center-line number 2 on the plan of the seismic transverses. A cut approximately 1600 feet long is planned between stations 364 and 380. The approximate maximum depths of the cut are: 17 feet at station 365 24 " " " 368+50 23 " " " 371+50 12 " " " 372+50 8 " " " 375+00 Between stations 375+80 and 379+50 the depth of the cut gradually decreases from 8 feet to 0 feet. In order to obtain additional information on subsurface conditions at this site, especially along the segment of the relocated center-line where cuts are to be the deepest, a supplementary program of seismic studies was undertaken. The work was done in October 1948 as a part of a cooperative program of the Massachusetts Department of Public Works and the United States Geological Survey.

Massachusetts↗

EAARL topography – Gateway National Recreation Area, Sandy Hook Unit

This Web site contains Lidar-derived topography (bare earth) maps and GIS files for the Sandy Hook Unit within Gateway National Recreation Area in New Jersey. These Lidar-derived topography maps were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program, FISC St. Petersburg, the National Park Service (NPS) South Florida/Caribbean Network Inventory and Monitoring Program, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Wallops Flight Facility. One objective of this research is to create techniques to survey coral reefs and barrier islands for the purposes of geomorphic change studies, habitat mapping, ecological monitoring, change detection, and event assessment. As part of this project, data from an innovative instrument under development at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the NASA Experimental Airborne Advanced Research Lidar (EAARL) are being used. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in this realm for measuring subaerial and submarine topography wthin cross-environment surveys. High spectral resolution, water-column correction, and low costs were found to be key factors in providing accurate and affordable imagery to costal resource managers.

New York↗

EAARL topography: Gulf Islands National Seashore: Florida

This Web site contains 33 lidar-derived bare earth topography maps and GIS files for the Gulf Islands National Seashore-Florida. These lidar-derived topography maps were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program, FISC St. Petersburg, Florida, the National Park Service (NPS), Gulf Coast Network, Network Inventory and Monitoring Program, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Wallops Flight Facility. One objective of this research is to create techniques to survey coral reefs and barrier islands for the purposes of geomorphic change studies, habitat mapping, ecological monitoring, change detection, and event assessment. As part of this project, data from an innovative instrument under development at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the NASA Experimental Airborne Advanced Research Lidar (EAARL) are being used. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in this realm for measuring subaerial and submarine topography wthin cross-environment surveys. High spectral resolution, water-column correction, and low costs were found to be key factors in providing accurate and affordable imagery to costal resource managers.

Florida↗

Bulk densities and porosities of Cenozoic and Cretaceous basin-filling strata and Cretaceous and older basement rocks, Los Angeles Basin, California, determined from measurements of core samples

This report describes and provides a digital data file of selected bulk properties of subsurface rocks sampled in and around Los Angeles basin, California. Selected properties include measured dry bulk density (range 0.78 to 3.01 g/cm3), measured or estimated grain (matrix) density, calculated water saturated bulk density (range 1.47 to 3.01 g/cm3), calculated total porosity (range 0 to 69 porosity percent), geologic age, and lithology. Most of the rocks are conventional core samples taken from wells drilled by the petroleum industry. A small percentage of the core samples are from shallow borings. Rocks studied range in age from pre-Cambrian (?) to Recent and include sedimentary (98.8%), and volcanic, metamorphic and intrusive (1.2%) samples. Core samples studied were taken from measured drillhole depths that range from 35 to 20,234 ft (11 to 6,167 m). Version 1.0 of the data base (dated June 1998) contains information for 7378 samples from 234 wells, including two redrilled wells. This report/data base can be accessed on U. S. Geological Survey servers at http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/open-file/of98-788. Periodic additions to the on-line data base will be provided as new data is gathered.

California↗

Airborne geophysical surveys conducted in western Nebraska, 2010: contractor reports and data

This report contains three contractor reports and data files for an airborne electromagnetic survey flown from June 28 to July 7, 2010. The first report; “SkyTEM Survey: Nebraska, USA, Data” describes data aquisition and processing from a time-domain electromagnetic and magnetic survey performed by SkyTEM Canada, Inc. (the North American SkyTEM subsidiary), in western Nebraska, USA. Digital data for this report are given in Appendix 1. The airborne geophysical data from the SkyTEM survey subsequently were processed and inverted by Aarhus Geophysics ApS, Aarhus, Denmark, to produce resistivity depth sections along each flight line. The result of that processing is described in two reports presented in Appendix 2, “Processing and inversion of SkyTEM data from USGS Area UTM–13” and “Processing and inversion of SkyTEM data from USGS Area UTM–14.” Funding for these surveys was provided by the North Platte Natural Resources District, the South Platte Natural Resources District, and the Twin Platte Natural Resources District, in Scottsbluff, Sidney, and North Platte, Nebraska, respectively. Any additional information concerning the geophysical data may be obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey Crustal Geophysics and Geochemistry Science Center, Denver Colorado.

Nebraska↗

Level II scour analysis for Bridge 34 (RANDTH00660034) on Town Highway 66, crossing Second Branch White River, Randolph, Vermont

This report provides the results of a detailed Level II analysis of scour potential at structure RANDTH00660034 on town highway 66 crossing the Second Branch White River, Randolph, Vermont (figures 1–8). A Level II study is a basic engineering analysis of the site, including a quantitative analysis of stream stability and scour (U.S. Department of Transportation, 1993). A Level I study is included in Appendix E of this report. A Level I study provides a qualitative geomorphic characterization of the study site. Information on the bridge available from VTAOT files was compiled prior to conducting Level I and Level II analyses and can be found in Appendix D. The site is in the Green Mountain physiographic division of central Vermont in the town of Randolph. The 51.3-mi 2 drainage area is in a predominantly rural basin. In the vicinity of the study site, the left and right banks are covered by fields with some brush on the upstream left and downstream right banks and with row crops on the downstream left overbank. In the study area, the Second Branch White River has a sinuous channel with a slope of approximately 0.002 ft/ft, an average channel top width of 60 ft and an average channel depth of 7 ft. The predominant channel bed material is sand (D 50 is 1.34 mm or 0.0044 ft). The geomorphic assessment at the time of the Level I and Level II site visit on August 11, 1994, indicated that the reach was laterally unstable. Channel scour is evident along the left half of the channel from about 30 feet upstream to about 20 feet downstream of the bridge. There is a cut bank with block failures along the left bank upstream of the bridge further indicating instability of the stream reach. The town highway 66 crossing of the Second Branch White Riveris a 57-ft-long, one-lane covered bridge consisting of one 45-foot span (Vermont Agency of Transportation, written communication, July 29, 1994). The bridge is supported by vertical, concrete abutments with one wingwall on the upstream left side. The base of the left abutment was protected by type-1 stone fill (less than 12 inches diameter). The channel is skewed approximately 40 degrees to the opening while the opening-skew-to-roadway is 45 degrees. Additional details describing conditions at the site are included in the Level II Summary and Appendices D and E. Scour depths and rock rip-rap sizes were computed using the general guidelines described in Hydraulic Engineering Circular 18 (Richardson and others, 1993). Total scour at a highway crossing is comprised of three components: 1) long-term aggradation or degradation; 2) contraction scour (due to reduction in flow area caused by a bridge) and; 3) local scour (caused by accelerated flow around piers and abutments). Total scour is the sum of the three components. Equations are available to compute scour depths for contraction and local scour and a summary of the results follows. Contraction scour for all modelled flows ranged from 6.3 ft to 7.8 ft and the worst-case contraction scour occurred at the 100-year discharge. Abutment scour ranged from 7.9 ft to 20.3 ft and the worst-case abutment scour occurred at the 500-year discharge. Scour depths and depths to armoring are summarized on p. 14 in the section titled “Scour Results”. Scour elevations, based on the calculated depths are presented in tables 1 and 2; a graph of the scour elevations is presented in figure 8 Scour depths were calculated assuming an infinite depth of erosive material and a homogeneous particle-size distribution. For all scour presented in this report, “the scour depths adopted [by VTAOT] may differ from the equation values based on engineering judgement” (Richardson and others, 1993, p. 21, 27). It is generally accepted that the Froehlich equation (abutment scour) gives “excessively conservative estimates of scour depths” (Richardson and others, 1993, p. 48). Many factors, including historical performance during flood events, the geomorphic assessment, and the results of the hydraulic analyses, must be considered to properly assess the validity of abutment scour results.

Vermont↗

Color-coded contour map of Mars M 25M RKN

NOTES ON BASE This map is based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) (Smith and others, 2001), an instrument on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft (Albee and others, 2001). The image used for the base of this map represents more than 600 million measurements gathered between 1999 and 2001, adjusted for consistency (Neumann and others, 2001, 2002) and converted to planetary radii. These have been converted to elevations above the areoid as determined from a martian gravity field solution GMM2 (Lemoine and others, 2001), truncated to degree and order 50, and oriented according to current standards (see below). The average accuracy of each point is originally ~100 meters in horizontal position, and ~1 meter in radius (Neumann, 2001). However, the total elevation uncertainty is at least +3 m due to the global error in the areoid (+1.8 meters according to Lemoine and others, 2001) and regional uncertainties in its shape (communication from Neumann, 2002). The measurements were converted into a digital elevation model (DEM) (communication from Neumann, 2002; Neumann and others, 2001; Smith and others, 2001) using Generic Mapping Tools software (Wessel and Smith, 1998), with a resolution of 0.015625 degrees per pixel or 64 pixels per degree. In projection, the pixels are 926.17 meters in size at the equator. PROJECTION The Mercator projection is used between latitudes +57°, with a central meridian at 0° and latitude equal to the nominal scale at 0°. The Polar Stereographic projection is used for the polar regions north of the +55° parallel and south of the –55° parallel with a central meridian set for both at 0°. The adopted equatorial radius is 3,396.19 km (Duxbury and others 2002; Seidelmann and others 2002). COORDINATE SYSTEM The MOLA data were initially referenced to an internally consistent inertial coordinate system, derived from tracking of the MGS spacecraft. By adopting appropriate values for the orientation of Mars as defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) (Seidelmann and others, 2002), these inertial coordinates were converted into the planet-fixed coordinates (longitude and latitude) used on this map. These values include the orientation of the north pole of Mars (including the effects of precession), the rotation rate of Mars, and a value for W0 of 176.630°, where W0 is the angle along the equator to the east, between the 0° meridian and the equator's intersection with the celestial equator at the standard epoch J2000.0 (Seidelmann and others, 2002). This value of W0 was chosen (Duxbury and others, 2002) in order to place the 0° meridian through the center of the small (~500 m) crater Airy-0, located in the crater Airy (de Vaucouleurs and others, 1973; Seidelmann and others, 2002). Longitude increases to the east, and latitude is planetocentric as allowed by IAU/IAG standards (Seidelmann and others, 2002) and in accordance with current NASA and USGS standards (Duxbury and others, 2002). A secondary grid (printed in red) has been added to the map as a reference to the west longitude/planetographic latitude system that is also allowed by IAU/IAG standards (Seidelmann and others, 2002) and has also been used for Mars. The figure adopted to compute this secondary grid is an oblate spheroid with an equatorial radius of 3,396.19 km and a polar radius of 3,376.2 km (Duxbury and others, 2002; Seidelmann and others, 2002). MAPPING TECHNIQUES To create the topographic base image, the original DEM produced by the MOLA team in Simple Cylindrical projection with a resolution of 64 pixels per degree was projected into the Mercator and Polar Stereographic pieces. A shaded relief was generated from each DEM with a sun angle of 30° from horizontal and a sun azimuth of 270°, as measured clockwise from north, and a vertical exaggeration of 100%. Illumination is from the west, which follows a long-standing USGS tradition for planetary maps. This allows for continuity in the shading between maps and quadrangles, and most closely resembles lighting conditions found on imagery. The DEM values were then mapped to a smooth global color look-up table. Note that the chosen color scheme simply represents elevation changes and is not intended to imply anything about surface characteristics (e.g., past or current presence of water or ice). These two files were then merged and scaled to 1:25 million for the Mercator portion and 1:15,196,708 for the two Polar Stereographic portions, with a resolution of 300 dots per inch. The projections have a common scale of 1:13,923,113 at +56° latitude. Contours were created from the DEM at a 1-kilometer interval. Contours for features with a diameter of 3 km or less (features too small for this map scale) were removed. The contours were then simplified by removing points along the contours spaced less than 1 km apart. NOMENCLATURE Names on this sheet are approved by the IAU and have been applied for features clearly visible at the scale of this map. For a complete list of the IAU-approved nomenclature for Mars, see the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature at http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/. Font color was chosen for readability. Names followed by an asterisk are provisionally approved. M 25M RKN: Abbreviation for Mars, 1:25,000,000 series, shaded relief (R), with color (K) and nomenclature (N) (Greeley and Batson, 1990).

Open-File Report↗

Catalog of Mount St. Helens 2004-2007 dome samples with major- and trace-element chemistry

Sampling and analysis of eruptive products at Mount St. Helens is an integral part of volcano monitoring efforts conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey?s Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO). The objective of our eruption sampling program is to enable petrological assessments of pre-eruptive magmatic conditions, critical for ascertaining mechanisms for eruption triggering and forecasting potential changes in eruption behavior. This report provides a catalog of near-vent lithic debris and new dome-lava collected during 34 intra-crater sampling forays throughout the October 2004 to October 2007 (2004-7) eruptive interval at Mount St. Helens. In addition, we present comprehensive bulk-rock geochemistry for a time-series of representative (2004-7) eruption products. This data, along with that in a companion report on Mount St. Helens 2004 to 2006 tephra by Rowe and others (2008), are presented in support of the contents of the U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1750 (Sherrod and others, eds., 2008). Readers are referred to appropriate chapters in USGS Professional Paper 1750 for detailed narratives of eruptive activity during this time period and for interpretations of sample characteristics and geochemical data. The suite of rock samples related to the 2004-7 eruption of Mount St. Helens and presented in this catalog are archived at the David A. Johnson Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, Wash. The Mount St. Helens 2004-7 Dome Sample Catalogue with major- and trace-element geochemistry is tabulated in 3 worksheets of the accompanying Microsoft Excel file, of2008-1130.xls. Table 1 provides location and sampling information. Table 2 presents sample descriptions. In table 3, bulk-rock major and trace-element geochemistry is listed for 44 eruption-related samples with intra-laboratory replicate analyses of 19 dacite lava samples. A brief overview of the collection methods and lithology of dome samples is given below as an aid to deciphering the dome sample catalog. This is followed by an explanation of the categories of sample information (column headers) in Tables 1 and 2. A summary of the analytical methods used to obtain the geochemical data in this report introduces the presentation of major- and trace-element geochemistry of 2004-7 Mount St. Helens dome samples in table 3. Intra-laboratory results for the USGS AGV-2 standard are presented (tables 4 and 5), which demonstrate the compatibility of chemical data from different sources.

Open-File Report↗

Simulated runoff at many stream locations in the Methow River Basin, Washington

A collaborative Bureau of Reclamation-U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) team has been brought together to incorporate a conceptual geomorphic-habitat model with a process-based trophic model to understand the processes important to stream habitat for anadromous fish populations. The Methow River Basin was selected as a test basin for this hybrid geomorphic-habitat/trophic model, and one of the required model inputs is long-term daily runoff at reaches with potential habitat. Leveraging the existence of a watershed model that was constructed for the Methow River Basin by the USGS, the team approached the USGS at the Washington Water Science Center to resurrect the original model and to simulate runoff at many locations in the basin to test the trophic model. Thirteen new flow-routing sites were added to the model, creating a total of 61 sites in the basin where daily runoff was simulated and provided as output. The input file that contains observed meteorological data that drives the watershed model and observed runoff data for comparisons with simulated runoff was extended from water year 2001 to water year 2013 using data from 18 meteorological sites and 12 observed runoff sites. The watershed model included simulation of 16 irrigation diversions that simulated 50-percent water loss through canal seepage. Irrigation was simulated as a constant application of 0.2 inches per day to during the irrigation season, May 1–October 7. Comparisons of the simulated runoff with observed runoff at six selected long-term streamflow-gaging stations showed that the simulated annual runoff was within +15.4 to -9.6 percent of the annual observed runoff. The simulated runoff generally matched the seasonal flow patterns, with bias at some stations indicated by over-simulation of the October–November late autumn season and under-simulation of the snowmelt runoff months of May and June. Sixty-one time series of daily runoff for a 26-year period representative of the long-term runoff pattern, water years 1988–2013, were simulated and provided to the trophic modeling team.

Washington↗

Indexes of hydrologic data from selected coal-mining areas in northwestern Colorado

Currently (1988), data from hydrologic studies related to coal mining that have been done in northwestern Colorado since the early 1970 's are stored in the files of private companies and government offices and in various computer systems. To compile these data for additional research, a trip to each office would have to be made to determine the availability and acceptability of the data. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division, has created a database (COALDATA) that includes stream discharge, groundwater levels, and chemical analysis of water samples that were collected by private companies and government agencies other than the U.S. Geological Survey in and near selected coal mines in northwestern Colorado. Indexes in this report list 93 surface water sites and 95 groundwater sites where hydrologic data are available in the COALDATA data base. The indexes also list 62 surface water sites and 480 groundwater sites in the U.S. Geological Survey data base, which is separate from the COALDATA data base and contains only data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey. The combined output of the COALDATA data base and the U.S. Geological Survey data base provides surface water and groundwater data that include most of the study area. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗

Level II scour analysis for Bridge 16 (BRNATH00800016) on Town Highway 80, crossing Locust Creek, Barnard, Vermont

This report provides the results of a detailed Level II analysis of scour potential at structure BRNATH00800016 on town highway 80 crossing Locust Creek, Barnard, Vermont (figures 1–8). A Level II study is a basic engineering analysis of the site, including a quantitative analysis of stream stability and scour (U.S. Department of Transportation, 1993). A Level I study is included in Appendix E of this report. A Level I study provides a qualitative geomorphic characterization of the study site. Information on the bridge, gleaned from Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTAOT) files, was compiled prior to conducting Level I and Level II analyses and can be found in Appendix D. The site is in the Green Mountain physiographic province of central Vermont in the town of Barnard. The 22.0-mi 2 drainage area is in a predominantly rural and forested basin. In the vicinity of the study site, the left banks are forested and the right banks are covered with shrub and brush. Vermont Route 12 is adjacent to the right bank. In the study area, Locust Creek has an incised channel with a slope of approximately 0.02 ft/ft, an average channel top width of 60 ft and an average channel depth of 4 ft. The predominant channel bed materials are gravel and cobble with a median grain size (D 50 ) of 102 mm (0.336 ft). The geomorphic assessment at the time of the Level I and Level II site visits on September 22, 1994 and October 12, 1994, indicated that the reach was stable. The town highway 80 crossing of Locust Creek is a 36-ft-long, one-lane bridge consisting of one 33-foot steel-beam span with timber deck (Vermont Agency of Transportation, written communication, August 23, 1994). The bridge is supported by vertical, log crib abutments with wingwalls. Type-2 stone fill (less than 36 inches diameter) protects the upstream and downstream left wingwalls and the downstream left road embankment. Type- 3 stone fill (less than 48 inches diameter) protects the upstream and downstream right wingwalls. The upstream left and downstream right road embankments are not protected and road wash is eroding these areas. The channel approach to the bridge is straight with the bridge skewed zero degrees to flow; the opening-skew-to-roadway is also zero degrees. Additional details describing conditions at the site are included in the Level II Summary, Appendix D, and Appendix E. Scour depths and rock rip-rap sizes were computed using the general guidelines described in Hydraulic Engineering Circular 18 (Richardson and others, 1993). Total scour at a highway crossing is comprised of three components: 1) long-term streambed degradation; 2) contraction scour (due to accelerated flow caused by a reduction in flow area at a bridge) and; 3) local scour (caused by accelerated flow around piers and abutments). Total scour is the sum of the three components. Equations are available to compute depths for contraction and local scour and a summary of the results of these computations follows. Contraction scour for all modelled flows ranged from 0.0 to 3.7 ft. The worst-case contraction scour occurred at the incipient-overtopping discharge, which was between the 100- and 500-year discharge. Abutment scour ranged from 17.5 to 23.2 ft. The worst-case abutment scour occurred at the 500-year discharge. Additional information on scour depths and depths to armoring are included in the section titled “Scour Results”. Scoured-streambed elevations, based on the calculated scour depths, are presented in tables 1 and 2. A cross-section of the scour computed at the bridge is presented in figure 8. Scour depths were calculated assuming an infinite depth of erosive material and a homogeneous particle-size distribution. It is generally accepted that the Froehlich equation (abutment scour) gives “excessively conservative estimates of scour depths” (Richardson and others, 1993, p. 48). Usually, computed scour depths are evaluated in combination with other information including (but not limited to) historical performance during flood events, the geomorphic stability assessment, existing scour protection measures, and the results of the hydraulic analyses. Therefore, scour depths adopted by VTAOT may differ from the computed values documented herein.

Vermont↗

Level II scour analysis for Bridge 27 (BRIDTH00490027) on Town Highway 049, crossing Broad Brook, Bridgewater, Vermont

This report provides the results of a detailed Level II analysis of scour potential at structure BRIDTH00490027 on town highway 49 crossing Broad Brook, Bridgewater, Vermont (figures 1–8). A Level II study is a basic engineering analysis of the site, including a quantitative analysis of stream stability and scour (U.S. Department of Transportation, 1993). A Level I study is included in Appendix E of this report. A Level I study provides a qualitative geomorphic characterization of the study site. Information on the bridge available from VTAOT files was compiled prior to conducting Level I and Level II analyses and can be found in Appendix D. The site is in the Green Mountain physiographic province of central Vermont in the town of Bridgewater. The 13.9-mi 2 drainage area is in a predominantly rural and forested basin. In the vicinity of the study site, the left and right banks are pasture with moderate tree cover on the immediate banks. Upstream of bridge 27, a gravel road runs parallel to the left bank. In the study area, the Broad Brook has an incised channel with a slope of approximately 0.007 ft/ft, an average channel top width of 54 ft and an average channel depth of 4 ft. The predominant channel bed materials are gravel and cobble with a D 50 (median diameter) of 77.9 mm or 0.256 ft. The geomorphic assessment at the time of the Level I and Level II site visit on November 9, 1994, indicated that the reach was stable. The town highway 49 crossing of the Broad Brook is a 32-ft-long, one-lane bridge consisting of one 31-ft steel-beam span (Vermont Agency of Transportation, written commun., August 24, 1994). The bridge is supported by vertical, concrete abutments with wingwalls. The left abutment is noted as settled due to previous undermining. Type-2 (less than 3 ft diameter) stone fill protects the upstream left and right wingwalls, the downstream right wingwall, the right abutment, the upstream right road embankment, and the downstream left and right road embankments. Type-3 (less than 4 ft diameter) stone fill protects the downstream left wingwall, but it’s condition was reported as slumping. The channel is skewed approximately 10 degrees to the opening; the opening-skew-to-roadway is also 10 degrees. Additional details describing conditions at the site are included in the Level II Summary and Appendices D and E. Scour depths and rock rip-rap sizes were computed using the general guidelines described in Hydraulic Engineering Circular 18 (Richardson and others, 1993). Scour depths were calculated assuming an infinite depth of erosive material and a homogeneous particle-size distribution. The scour analysis results are presented in tables 1 and 2 and a graph of the scour depths is presented in figure 8.

Vermont↗

Level II scour analysis for Bridge 28 (HARDTH00300028) on Town Highway 30, crossing the Lamoille River, Hardwick, Vermont

This report provides the results of a detailed Level II analysis of scour potential at structure HARDTH00300028 on town highway 30 crossing the Lamoille River, Hardwick, Vermont (figures 1–8). A Level II study is a basic engineering analysis of the site, including a quantitative analysis of stream stability and scour (U.S. Department of Transportation, 1993). Results of a Level I scour investigation also are included in Appendix E of this report. A Level I investigation provides a qualitative geomorphic characterization of the study site. Information on the bridge, gleaned from Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTAOT) files, was compiled prior to conducting Level I and Level II analyses and is found in Appendix D. The site is in the New England Upland section of the New England physiographic province in north-central Vermont. The 63.7-mi 2 drainage area is in a predominantly rural and forested basin. In the vicinity of the study site, the surface cover upstream and on the downstream right is primarily pasture with some row crops. Trees line the immediate channel banks. The left bank downstream surface cover is primarily brush. In the study area, the Lamoille River has an incised, sinuous channel with a slope of approximately 0.002 ft/ft, an average channel top width of 76 ft and an average bank height of 6 ft. The predominant channel bed materials are gravel and cobble with a median grain size (D 50 ) of 46.6 mm (0.153 ft). The geomorphic assessment at the time of the Level I and Level II site visit on July 25, 1995, indicated that the reach was laterally unstable. The site was revisited on August 21, 1995, after the August 5-6, 1995 flood on the Lamoille River. Findings from this follow-up visit are presented in Appendix G. The town highway 30 crossing of the Lamoille River is a 54-ft-long, one-lane bridge consisting of one 52-foot steel-beam span (Vermont Agency of Transportation, written communication, April 3, 1995). The bridge is supported by vertical, stone abutments with wingwalls. Scour, about one foot below the mean thalweg, exists along the right abutment and right upstream wingwall. Sheet piling has been driven around the right abutment and wingwalls and filled with concrete. The channel is skewed approximately 5 degrees to the opening while the opening-skew-to-roadway is 0 degrees. Additional details describing conditions at the site are included in the Level II Summary and Appendices D and E. Scour depths and rock rip-rap sizes were computed using the general guidelines described in Hydraulic Engineering Circular 18 (Richardson and others, 1995). Total scour at a highway crossing is comprised of three components: 1) long-term streambed degradation; 2) contraction scour (due to accelerated flow caused by a reduction in flow area at a bridge) and; 3) local scour (caused by accelerated flow around piers and abutments). Total scour is the sum of the three components. Equations are available to compute depths for contraction and local scour and a summary of the results of these computations follows. Contraction scour for all modelled flows ranged from 1.9 to 2.5 ft. The worst-case contraction scour occurred at the 100-year discharge. Abutment scour ranged from 11.2 to 17.8 ft. The worst-case abutment scour occurred at the 500-year discharge. Additional information on scour depths and depths to armoring are included in the section titled “Scour Results”. Scoured-streambed elevations, based on the calculated scour depths, are presented in tables 1 and 2. A cross-section of the scour computed at the bridge is presented in figure 8. Scour depths were calculated assuming an infinite depth of erosive material and a homogeneous particle-size distribution. It is generally accepted that the Froehlich equation (abutment scour) gives “excessively conservative estimates of scour depths” (Richardson and others, 1995, p. 47). Usually, computed scour depths are evaluated in combination with other information including (but not limited to) historical performance during flood events, the geomorphic stability assessment, existing scour protection measures, and the results of the hydraulic analyses. Therefore, scour depths adopted by VTAOT may differ from the computed values documented herein.

Vermont↗

EAARL submarine topography: Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

This Web site contains 46 Lidar-derived submarine topography maps and GIS files for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. These Lidar-derived submarine topographic maps were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program, FISC St. Petersburg, Florida, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Remote Sensing Division, the National Park Service (NPS) South Florida/Caribbean Network Inventory and Monitoring Program, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Wallops Flight Facility. One objective of this research is to create techniques to survey coral reefs and barrier islands for the purposes of geomorphic change studies, habitat mapping, ecological monitoring, change detection, and event assessment. As part of this project, data from an innovative instrument under development at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the NASA Experimental Airborne Advanced Research Lidar (EAARL) are being used. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in this realm for measuring subaerial and submarine topography within cross-environment surveys. High spectral resolution, water-column correction, and low costs were found to be key factors in providing accurate and affordable imagery to coastal resource managers.

Florida↗

Compilation of streamflow statistics calculated from daily mean streamflow data collected during water years 1901–2015 for selected U.S. Geological Survey streamgages

Streamflow statistics are needed by decision makers for many planning, management, and design activities. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) StreamStats Web application provides convenient access to streamflow statistics for many streamgages by accessing the underlying StreamStatsDB database. In 2016, non-interpretive streamflow statistics were compiled for streamgages located throughout the Nation and stored in StreamStatsDB for use with StreamStats and other applications. Two previously published USGS computer programs that were designed to help calculate streamflow statistics were updated to better support StreamStats as part of this effort. These programs are named “GNWISQ” (Get National Water Information System Streamflow (Q) files), updated to version 1.1.1, and “QSTATS” (Streamflow (Q) Statistics), updated to version 1.1.2. Statistics for 20,438 streamgages that had 1 or more complete years of record during water years 1901 through 2015 were calculated from daily mean streamflow data; 19,415 of these streamgages were within the conterminous United States. About 89 percent of the 20,438 streamgages had 3 or more years of record, and about 65 percent had 10 or more years of record. Drainage areas of the 20,438 streamgages ranged from 0.01 to 1,144,500 square miles. The magnitude of annual average streamflow yields (streamflow per square mile) for these streamgages varied by almost six orders of magnitude, from 0.000029 to 34 cubic feet per second per square mile. About 64 percent of these streamgages did not have any zero-flow days during their available period of record. The 18,122 streamgages with 3 or more years of record were included in the StreamStatsDB compilation so they would be available via the StreamStats interface for user-selected streamgages. All the statistics are available in a USGS ScienceBase data release.

Open-File Report↗

Compilation of ground water quality data in Pennsylvania

The U.S. Geological Survey's water quality file of 4,671 wells and springs in Pennsylvania provided ground-water-quality data for Pennsylvania. The data were assembled into computer-readable format and sorted into 15 major aquifer groups based on principal lithology, physiographic province, and age. Nineteen variables in each group were summarized by the Statistical Analysis Systems UNIVARIATE procedures to produce descriptive statistics including extreme values and quartiles. The bulk of the water-quality data are in the important aquifers in the unconsolidated Coastal Plain sediments, the Triassic sedimentary rocks, the igneous and metamorphic rocks, and the carbonate rocks. On the other hand, water-quality data for aquifer groups in the Appalachian Plateau and Valley and Ridge Province are sparse. Statewide, only six wells provide sufficient long-term data for trend analyses. Ground-water quality in Pennsylvania is highly diverse. High concentrations of dissolved solids, iron, manganese, sulfate, and nitrate are prevalent forms of natural and manmade contamination. The unconsolidated Coastal Plain aquifers have been most severely degraded. On the other hand, some of the best quality water is found in the quartzite, sandstone, and conglomerate rock units in the Cambrian and Precambrian rocks.

Open-File Report↗

Preliminary geologic map of the Big Bear City 7.5' Quadrangle, San Bernardino County, California

This data set maps and describes the geology of the Big Bear City 7.5' quadrangle, San Bernardino County, California. Created using Environmental Systems Research Institute's ARC/INFO software, the data base consists of the following items: (1) a rock-unit coverage and attribute tables (polygon and arc) containing geologic contacts, units and rock-unit labels as annotation which are also included in a separate annotation coverage, bbc_anno (2) a point coverage containing structural point data and (3) a coverage containing fold axes. In addition, the data set includes the following graphic and text products: (1) A PostScript graphic plot-file containing the geologic map, topography, cultural data, a Correlation of Map Units (CMU) diagram, a Description of Map Units (DMU), an index map, a regional geologic and structure map, and an explanation for point and line symbols; (2) PDF files of the Readme (including the metadata file as an appendix), and a screen graphic of the plot produced by the PostScript plot file. The geologic map describes a geologically complex area on the north side of the San Bernardino Mountains. Bedrock units in the Big Bear City quadrangle are dominated by (1) large Cretaceous granitic bodies ranging in composition from monzogranite to gabbro, (2) metamorphosed sedimentary rocks ranging in age from late Paleozoic to late Proterozoic, and (3) Middle Proterozoic gneiss. These rocks are complexly deformed by normal, reverse, and thrust faults, and in places are tightly folded. The geologic map database contains original U.S. Geological Survey data generated by detailed field observation and by interpretation of aerial photographs. The map data was compiled on base-stable cronoflex copies of the Big Bear City 7.5' topographic map, transferred to a scribe-guide and subsequently digitized. Lines, points, and polygons were edited at the USGS using standard ARC/INFO commands. Digitizing and editing artifacts significant enough to display at a scale of 1:24,000 were corrected. Within the database, geologic contacts are represented as lines (arcs), geologic units as polygons, and site-specific data as points. Polygon, arc, and point attribute tables (.pat, .aat, and .pat, respectively) uniquely identify each geologic datum.

Open-File Report↗

Airborne digital-image data for monitoring the Colorado River corridor below Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona, 2009 - Image-mosaic production and comparison with 2002 and 2005 image mosaics

Airborne digital-image data were collected for the Arizona part of the Colorado River ecosystem below Glen Canyon Dam in 2009. These four-band image data are similar in wavelength band (blue, green, red, and near infrared) and spatial resolution (20 centimeters) to image collections of the river corridor in 2002 and 2005. These periodic image collections are used by the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) of the U.S. Geological Survey to monitor the effects of Glen Canyon Dam operations on the downstream ecosystem. The 2009 collection used the latest model of the Leica ADS40 airborne digital sensor (the SH52), which uses a single optic for all four bands and collects and stores band radiance in 12-bits, unlike the image sensors that GCMRC used in 2002 and 2005. This study examined the performance of the SH52 sensor, on the basis of the collected image data, and determined that the SH52 sensor provided superior data relative to the previously employed sensors (that is, an early ADS40 model and Zeiss Imaging's Digital Mapping Camera) in terms of band-image registration, dynamic range, saturation, linearity to ground reflectance, and noise level. The 2009 image data were provided as orthorectified segments of each flightline to constrain the size of the image files; each river segment was covered by 5 to 6 overlapping, linear flightlines. Most flightline images for each river segment had some surface-smear defects and some river segments had cloud shadows, but these two conditions did not generally coincide in the majority of the overlapping flightlines for a particular river segment. Therefore, the final image mosaic for the 450-kilometer (km)-long river corridor required careful selection and editing of numerous flightline segments (a total of 513 segments, each 3.2 km long) to minimize surface defects and cloud shadows. The final image mosaic has a total of only 3 km of surface defects. The final image mosaic for the western end of the corridor has areas of cloud shadow because of persistent inclement weather during data collection. This report presents visual comparisons of the 2002, 2005, and 2009 digital-image mosaics for various physical, biological, and cultural resources within the Colorado River ecosystem. All of the comparisons show the superior quality of the 2009 image data. In fact, the 2009 four-band image mosaic is perhaps the best image dataset that exists for the entire Arizona part of the Colorado River.

Arizona↗