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USGS2001

Chemical composition of samples collected from waste rock dumps and other mining-related features at selected phosphate mines in southeastern Idaho, western Wyoming, and northern Utah

This report provides chemical analyses for 31 samples collected from various phosphate mine sites in southeastern Idaho (25), northern Utah (2), and western Wyoming (4). The sampling effort was undertaken as a reconnaissance and does not constitute a characterization of mine wastes. Twenty-five samples were collected from waste rock dumps, 2 from stockpiles, and 1 each from slag, tailings, mill shale, and an outcrop. All samples were analyzed for a suite of major, minor, and trace elements. Although the analytical data set for the 31 samples is too small for detailed statistical analysis, a summary of general observations is made.

Idaho, Utah, Wyoming↗

USGS1987

Opportunities to protect instream flows in Colorado and Wyoming

This document combines the efforts of several individuals, agencies, and organizations toward a common objective: the identification, description, and preliminary evaluation of promising opportunities for protecting instream uses of water under existing laws in Colorado and Wyoming. This report is intended for the use of State and Federal planning and management personnel who need an overview of potential opportunities for preserving instream flows. It is not intended to replace or challenge the advice of agency counsel, nor it is written to provide legal advice. Instead, it is designed as a guide for the person trying to find his or her way among sometimes bewildering State statues and administrative practices. This report is not, and should not be taken as, official policy or prediction of future actions by any agency. It is simply a summary of some potential opportunities for protecting instream uses. Toward these objectives, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, through its Water Resources Analysis Project, contracted in 1977 with Richard Dewsnup and Dallin Jensen to identify available strategies under State and Federal laws, interstate compacts, and water quality laws. A second firm, Enviro Control, Inc., was contracted to evaluate the most promising strategies. Two of the resulting documents were Instream Flow Strategies for Colorado and Instream Flow Strategies for Wyoming , which have been revised, updated, and combined in this report. Discussion of instream flow programs ad opportunities for each State--Colorado and Wyoming-- are written so that each report can be read independently, with minimal cross referencing from one State report to another.

Colorado;Wyoming↗

USGS2006

Revised geologic cross sections of parts of the Colorado, White River, and Death Valley regional groundwater flow systems, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona

This report presents revisions to parts of seven of the ten cross sections originally published in U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2006-1040. The revisions were necessary to correct errors in some of the original cross sections, and to show new parts of several sections that were extended and (or) appended to the original section profiles. Revisions were made to cross sections C-C', D-D', E-E', F-F', G-G', I-I', and J-J', and the parts of the sections revised or extended are highlighted below the sections on plate 1 by red brackets and the word "revised," or "extended." Sections not listed above, as well as the interpretive text and figures, are generally unchanged from the original report. Cross section C-C' includes revisions in the east Mormon Mountains in the east part of the section; D-D' includes revisions in the Mormon Mesa area in the east part of the section; E-E' includes revisions in the Muddy Mountains in the east part of the section; F-F' includes revisions from the Muddy Mountains to the south Virgin Mountains in the east part of the section; and J-J' includes some revisions from the east Mormon Mountains to the Virgin Mountains. The east end of G-G' was extended about 16 km from the Black Mountains to the southern Virgin Mountains, and the northern end of I-I' was extended about 45 km from the Muddy Mountains to the Mormon Mountains, and revisions were made in the Muddy Mountains part of the original section. This report contains 10 interpretive cross sections and an integrated text describing the geology of parts of the Colorado, White River, and Death Valley regional groundwater flow systems in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. The primary purpose of the report is to provide geologic framework data for input into a numerical groundwater model. Therefore, the stratigraphic and structural summaries are written in a hydrogeologic context. The oldest rocks (basement) are Early Proterozoic metamorphic and intrusive crystalline rocks that are considered confining units because of their low permeability. Late Proterozoic to Lower Cambrian clastic units overlie the crystalline rocks and are also considered confining units within the regional flow systems. Above the clastic units are Middle Cambrian to Lower Permian carbonate rocks that are the primary aquifers in the flow systems. The Middle Cambrian to Lower Permian carbonate rocks are overlain by a sequence of mainly clastic rocks of late Paleozoic to Mesozoic age that are mostly considered confining units, but they may be permeable where faulted. Tertiary volcanic and plutonic rocks are exposed in the northern and southern parts of the study area. In the Clover and Delamar Mountains, these rocks are highly deformed by north- and northwest-striking normal and strike-slip faults that are probably important conduits in transmitting groundwater from the basins in the northern Colorado and White River flow systems to basins in the southern part of the flow systems. The youngest rocks in the region are Tertiary to Quaternary basin-fill deposits. These rocks consist of middle to late Tertiary sediments consisting of limestone, conglomerate, sandstone, tuff, and gypsum, and younger Quaternary surficial units consisting of alluvium, colluvium, playa deposits, and eolian deposits. Basin-fill deposits are both aquifers and aquitards. The rocks in the study area were complexly deformed by episodes of Mesozoic compression and Cenozoic extensional tectonism. Some Cretaceous thrust faults and folds of the Sevier orogenic belt form duplex zones and define areas of maximum thickness for the Paleozoic carbonate rocks. Cenozoic faults are important because they are the primary structures that control groundwater flow in the regional flow systems.

Arizona, Nevada, Utah↗

USGS2016

Mercury in U.S. coal—Priorities for new U.S. Geological Survey studies

In 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced emissions standards, known as Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), for a range of toxic constituents from coal-fired utility power stations and other combustion sources. This report presents the findings of an expert panel convened in September 2014 to assess the role of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in new coal investigations that would be useful to stakeholders under MATS. Panel input is provided as summaries of responses to a questionnaire distributed to participants. The panel suggests that the USGS continue its work on trace elements in coal and include more information about delivered coals and boiler feed coals, in comparison to previous USGS compilations that emphasized sampling representative of coals in the ground. To be useful under multipollutant regulatory standards, investigation of a range of constituents in addition to mercury would be necessary. These include other toxic metals proposed for regulation, such as arsenic, nickel, cadmium, and chromium, as well as the halogens chlorine and fluorine, which upon emission form harmful acid gases. Halogen determinations are also important because they influence mercury speciation in flue gas, which allows the effectiveness of mercury controls to be assessed and predicted. The panel suggests that the Illinois Basin and the Powder River Basin should have the highest priority for new coal quality investigations in the near term by the USGS, on the basis of current economic conditions and overall economic importance, respectively. As a starting point for new investigations, brief summaries of the distribution of mercury in each coal basin, and their potential for further investigation, are presented.

Open-File Report↗

USGS1982

Bibliography of references to avian botulism: Update

This bibliography, first compiled in 1970 (Allen and Wilson 1977) and published in 1977 in response to many requests for information on avian botulism, has been updated to include the literature published through 1980. In general, only articles dealing primarily with the avian disease are included, as opposed to those concerned with the various aspects of the biology of Clostridium botulinum , either type C or E. A few exceptions, such as Bengtson's report of the first isolation and description of the type C organism, are included for their historical interest. Progress reports and other administrative documents not available for distribution on request are excluded, as are most textbook accounts, which are generally summaries of work published elsewhere. This bibliography was a cooperative effort by the National Wildlife Health Laboratory, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. National Park Service. The National Park Service provided partial funding for the work through Contract No. 89100-0491. Although the authors attempted to list every important reference, they make no claim to complete coverage of the published literature. The authors will be grateful to users of the bibliography who call attention to errors or omissions. Wayne I. Jensen (Retired) Milton Friend, Director, National Wildlife Health Laboratory

Special Scientific Report - Wildlife↗

USGS2014

Great Lakes prey fish populations: a cross-basin overview of status and trends based on bottom trawl surveys, 1978-2013

The assessment of Great Lakes prey fish stocks have been conducted annually with bottom trawls since the 1970s by the Great Lakes Science Center, sometimes assisted by partner agencies. These stock assessments provide data on the status and trends of prey fish that are consumed by important commercial and recreational fishes. Although all these annual surveys are conducted using bottom trawls, they differ among the lakes in the proportion of the lake covered, seasonal timing, trawl gear used, and the manner in which the trawl is towed (across or along bottom contours). Because each assessment is unique, population indices were standardized to the highest value for a time series within each lake for the following prey species: Cisco (Coregonus artedi), Bloater (C. hoyi), Rainbow Smelt (Osmerus mordax), Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), and Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus). In this report, standardized indices are presented in graphical form along with synopses to provide a short, informal cross-basin summary of the status and trends of principal prey fishes. There was basin-wide agreement in the trends of age-1 and older biomass for all prey species, with the highest concordance occurring for coregonids and Rainbow Smelt, and weaker concordance for Alewife. For coregonids, the highest biomass occurred from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. Rainbow Smelt biomass declined slowly and erratically during the last quarter century. Alewife biomass was generally higher from the early 1980s through 1990s across the Great Lakes, but since the early 1990s, trends have been divergent across the lakes, though there has been a downward trend in all lakes since 2005. Recently, Lake Huron has shown resurgence in biomass of Bloater, achieving 75% of its maximum record in 2012 due to recruitment of a succession of strong and moderate year classes that appeared in 2005-2011. Also, strong recruitment of the 2010 year class of Alewife has led to a sharp increase in biomass of Alewife in Lake Michigan. In general, trends in year-class strengths were less concordant across the basin and only coregonids showed statistical agreement across the upper Great Lakes. The appearance of strong and moderate year-classes of Bloater in Lake Huron in 2005- 2011 countered the trend of continuing weak year-classes of coregonids in Lakes Michigan and Superior. Not shown in our analysis is the appearance of the 2013 year-class of Bloater in Huron, the largest to date. There was no agreement in cross-basin trends in year-class strengths for Rainbow Smelt and Alewife, although there was agreement between pairs of lakes. Although there was statistical agreement in trends of age-0 and older Round Goby biomass among lakes where this species has successfully invaded (Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario), temporal patterns of biomass in each lake were different. Round Goby may be approaching equilibrium in Lake Erie, peaking in Lake Huron, and expanding in Lake Michigan. The trend in Lake Ontario remains unclear. Declining abundance in Lake Erie has corresponded with evidence that Round Goby have become increasingly incorporated into piscivore diets, e.g., Lake Trout, Walleye, Smallmouth Bass, Yellow Perch, and Burbot in Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. Round Goby continue to be absent from spring bottom trawl assessments in Lake Superior, but their presence in the harbors and embayments of Duluth and Thunder Bay (U.S. Geological Survey and Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, unpublished data), suggests that there is potential for future colonization.

Great Lakes↗

USGS1915

Geology of the pitchblende ores of Colorado

The large amount of public interest that has recently been manifested in radium because of the apparent cures of cancer effected by certain of its emanations makes it desirable to place before the public as promptly as possible all available information in regard to the occurrence of the minerals from which radium may be derived. The following account of the mode of occurrence of pitchblende at Quartz Hill, in Gilpin County, Colo., is therefore published in advance of a much larger report on the same region in which many other types of ore deposits will be considered. The field studies were made.in the fall of 1912. As the geologic relations at Quartz Hill differ in important particulars from those at foreign localities, a summary of the genetically important features of the principal European occurrences is included for purposes of comparison.

Colorado↗

USGS1983

The Alaska Mineral Resource Assessment Program: Background information to accompany folio of geologic and mineral resource maps of the Ambler River quadrangle, Alaska

The Ambler River quadrangle, consisting of 14,290 km2 (5,520 mi2) in northwest Alaska, was investigated by an interdisciplinary research team for the purpose of assessing the mineral resource potential of the quadrangle. This report provides background information for a folio of maps on the geology, reconnaissance geochemistry, aeromagnetics, Landsat imagery, and mineral resource evaluation of the quadrangle. A summary of the geologic history, radiometric dates, and fossil localities and a comprehensive bibliography are also included. The quadrangle contains jade reserves, now being mined, and potentially significant resources of copper, zinc, lead, and silver.

Alaska↗

USGS1964

Geological Survey research 1964, Chapter B

This collection of 46 short papers is one of a series to be released as chapters of Geological Survey Research 1964. The papers report on scientific and economic results of current work by members of the Geologic and Water Resources Divisions of the U.S. Geological Survey. Some of the papers present results of completed parts of continuing investigations; others announce new discoveries or preliminary results of investigations that will be discussed in greater detail in reports to be published in the future. Still others are scientific notes of limited scope, and short papers on techniques and instrumentation. Chapter A of this series will be published later in the year, and will present a summary of results of work done during the present fiscal year.

Professional Paper↗

USGS2003

Pallid sturgeon in the Lower Mississippi Region: Hematology and genome information

This project (Project 1448-43270-2M-002) has been coordinated through the Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery (NNFH) and the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC). From November 2001 to April 2002, over 280 sturgeon of the genus Scaphirhynchus (including pallid sturgeon, shovelnose, and their hybrids) were sampled from the outflow channel of the Old River Control Structure Complex (ORCC) in Concordia Parish, La. In the overall project, several datasets were collected (see Appendix), including species identification by using microsatellites and morphometric characters, food habits, physical anomalies, information on blood cells, and pathologic evidence of iridovirus – the first indication in the lower Mississippi population of pallid sturgeon. In this study, data on blood cells were obtained from the sturgeon collected monthly from approximately 20 different animals at each sampling time. This report presents preliminary information on differential blood cell identifications in sturgeon, data on comparative genomic DNA content and DNA degradation, and summaries and interpretations of data collected in light of available scientific literature addressing blood parameters of fish and sturgeon, in particular. Results obtained from collection and examination of blood and body fluids are often essential in establishing the health of fish (Blaxhall, 1972; Fange, 1992). Blood cells and sperm cells can be obtained nondestructively from fishes, even from small specimens that weigh less than 100 g (Stoskopf, 1992a). For flow cytometry assays, whereby cells are analyzed individually in a fluid stream, less than 1 :L of blood is needed. Examinations of blood by microscopy and flow cytometry were performed at NWRC in assisting in the efforts directed at recovery of the pallid sturgeon population in the Lower Mississippi River Basin.

Open-File Report↗

USGS2011

Summary of November 2010 meeting to evaluate turbidite data for constraining the recurrence parameters of great Cascadia earthquakes for the update of national seismic hazard maps

This report summarizes a meeting of geologists, marine sedimentologists, geophysicists, and seismologists that was held on November 18–19, 2010 at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. The overall goal of the meeting was to evaluate observations of turbidite deposits to provide constraints on the recurrence time and rupture extent of great Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ) earthquakes for the next update of the U.S. national seismic hazard maps (NSHM). The meeting was convened at Oregon State University because this is the major center for collecting and evaluating turbidite evidence of great Cascadia earthquakes by Chris Goldfinger and his colleagues. We especially wanted the participants to see some of the numerous deep sea cores this group has collected that contain the turbidite deposits. Great earthquakes on the CSZ pose a major tsunami, ground-shaking, and ground-failure hazard to the Pacific Northwest. Figure 1 shows a map of the Pacific Northwest with a model for the rupture zone of a moment magnitude M w 9.0 earthquake on the CSZ and the ground shaking intensity (in ShakeMap format) expected from such an earthquake, based on empirical ground-motion prediction equations. The damaging effects of such an earthquake would occur over a wide swath of the Pacific Northwest and an accompanying tsunami would likely cause devastation along the Pacifc Northwest coast and possibly cause damage and loss of life in other areas of the Pacific. A magnitude 8 earthquake on the CSZ would cause damaging ground shaking and ground failure over a substantial area and could also generate a destructive tsunami. The recent tragic occurrence of the 2011 M w 9.0 Tohoku-Oki, Japan, earthquake highlights the importance of having accurate estimates of the recurrence times and magnitudes of great earthquakes on subduction zones. For the U.S. national seismic hazard maps, estimating the hazard from the Cascadia subduction zone has been based on coastal paleoseismic evidence of great earthquakes over the past 5,000 years. The instrumental catalog of earthquakes is of little use for constraining the hazard of the CSZ, because there are virtually no recorded earthquakes on most of the plate interface of the CSZ. There are no historical accounts in the past 150 years of large earthquakes on most of the CSZ. Until about 20 years ago, some interpreted this lack of recent and historical earthquakes as an indicator that the subduction zone was slipping aseismically and could not produce a great earthquake. The work of Brian Atwater and others, in the late 1980s and the 1990s (Atwater, 1987, 1992; Atwater and others, 1995; Nelson and others, 1996; Clague, 1997; Atwater and Hemphill-Haley, 1997; Atwater and others, 2004) demonstrated that submerged forests, buried soils, tsunami deposits, and liquefaction along and near the coast were compelling evidence of repeated great Cascadia earthquakes over at least the past 5,000 years. Atwater and Hemphill-Haley (1997) concluded from paleoseismic evidence at Willapa Bay, Washington, that great earthquakes ruptured the CSZ with an average recurrence time of about 500 years. The date of the last great CSZ earthquake, January 26, 1700, was established from historical records of the so-called orphan tsunami in Japan that is inferred to have been produced by this earthquake (Satake and others, 1996, 2003; Atwater and others, 2005) and is consistent with tree-ring data from drowned forests in Washington and Oregon. From modeling the observations of the tsunami, Satake and others (2003) estimated a moment magnitude of about 9.0 for this earthquake. Many other paleoseismic sites have been investigated along the Pacific Northwest coast from Vancouver Island to northern California and show evidence of great CSZ earthquakes. Nelson and others (2006) summarized the dates found from these studies and proposed correlations between sites indicating the extent of rupture for individual events. Dating of inferred tsunami deposits in Bradley Lake, Oregon by Kelsey and others (2005), as well as tsunami and subsidence evidence from Six Rivers, Oregon (Kelsey and others, 2002) and Coquille River (Witter and others, 2003), indicates that there were probably M w 8 ruptures in the southern portion of the CSZ in addition to the M w 9 events that rupture the whole length of the CSZ (Nelson and others, 2006). A parallel development over the past 20 years or more is the use of deep-sea turbidite deposits for identifying and dating great Cascadia earthquakes over the past 10,000 years (Adams, 1990; Goldfinger and others, 2003, 2008, in press; Goldfinger, 2011). Turbidites are sediment deposits in the deep ocean from turbidity currents, which are energetic flows of sediment and water along the continental shelf and slope. Adams (1990), using the counts of turbidites in deep-sea cores off the coast of Oregon and Washington collected and analyzed by Griggs (1969) and Griggs and others (1969), proposed that these turbidites were caused by the shaking of great Cascadia earthquakes. Part of his reasoning was that the number (13) of turbidite deposits that occurred since deposition of the Mazama Ash 7,000 years ago gave a recurrence time of about 500 years, consistent with that derived from the coastal submergence data. Adams (1990) also proposed the “confluence test” which evaluates the number of turbidites for submarine channels that form a confluence. He reported that the number of turbidites in the single downstream channel equaled the number in each of the tributary channels. He reasoned that this indicated that the turbidites in each tributary were simultaneously triggered and were, therefore, caused by a common forcing agent. He concluded that shaking from extended ruptures of great Cascadia earthquakes was the most likely cause of these turbidites. Based on the paleoseismic evidence of past great earthquakes, the hazard from the Cascadia subduction zone was included in the 1996 U.S. NSHM (Frankel and others, 1996), which were the basis for seismic provisions in the 2000 International Building Code. These hazard maps used the paleoseismic studies to constrain the recurrence rate of great CSZ earthquakes. Goldfinger and his colleagues have since collected many more deep ocean cores and done extensive analysis on the turbidite deposits that they identified in the cores (Goldfinger and others, 2003, 2008, in press; Goldfinger, 2011). Using their dating of the sediments and correlation of features in the logs of density and magnetic susceptibility between cores, they developed a detailed chronology of great earthquakes along the CSZ for the past 10,000 years (Goldfinger and others, in press). These correlations consist of attempting to match the peaks and valleys in logs of density and magnetic susceptibility between cores separated, in some cases, by hundreds of kilometers. Based on this work, Goldfinger and others (2003, 2008, in press) proposed that the turbidite evidence indicated the occurrence of great earthquakes (M w 8) that only ruptured the southern portion of the CSZ, as well as earthquakes with about M w 9 that ruptured the entire length of the CSZ. For the southernmost portion of the CSZ, Goldfinger and others (in press) proposed a recurrence time of M w 8 or larger earthquakes of about 230 years. This proposed recurrence time was shorter than the 500 year time that was incorporated in one scenario in the NSHM’s. It is important to note that the hazard maps of 1996 and later also included a scenario or set of scenarios with a shorter recurrence time for M w 8 earthquakes, using rupture zones that are distributed along the length of the CSZ (Frankel and others, 1996; Petersen and others, 2008). Originally, this scenario was meant to correspond to the idea that some of the 500-year averaged ruptures seen in the paleoseismic evidence could have been a series of M w 8 earthquakes that occurred over a short period of time (a few decades), rather than M w 9 earthquakes. Figure 2 shows the logic tree for the CSZ used in the 2008 NSHM’s (Petersen and others, 2008). This logic tree includes whole CSZ rupture earthquakes (M w 8.8–9.2) and partial CSZ rupture earthquakes (M w 8.0–8.7). In this latest version of the NSHM’s, the effective recurrence time of earthquakes on the CSZ with moment magnitudes greater than or equal to 8.0 over the various models is about 270 years (Petersen and others, 2008). This recurrence time applies to the entire CSZ, so that the hazard from great earthquakes was approximately equal along the whole zone, although the hazard estimates taper on the northern and southern ends of the CSZ, because of the way rupture zones of M w 8 earthquakes were distributed along the strike of the CSZ. The NSHM will be updated in 2013, as part of the standard update cycle that corresponds to the update cycle of the national model building codes that are based on the seismic hazard maps. A meeting was necessary to assemble a wide group of experts to hear Dr. Goldfinger explain his methodology for dating and correlating the turbidites and for developing the earthquake chronology. The overall goal of the workshop was to evaluate observations of turbidite deposits to provide constraints on the recurrence times and rupture extents of great Cascadia subduction zone earthquakes for the next update of the NSHM. Before the meeting, participants were supplied with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Professional Paper of Goldfinger and others (in press), as well as material from Brian Atwater and Alan Nelson. The agenda of the meeting was developed by Art Frankel, with assistance from Chris Goldfinger, Brian Atwater, Alan Nelson, Mark Petersen, and Craig Weaver. The meeting was hosted by Chris Goldfinger of Oregon State University. We stress that it is difficult to evaluate in a two-day meeting the large amount of work that Goldfinger and his colleagues have done over the past 15 years or more. This meeting is the first step in a process that develops the inputs to the update of the national maps. The conclusions of this workshop will be discussed and possibly modified at the regional Pacific Northwest workshop for the hazard maps to be held in early 2012. Vetting new research results using informed expert opinion is an integral part of updating the national maps and does not reflect on the veracity of these results.

Cascadia↗

USGS1963

General summary of effects of the drought in the Southwest: Chapter H in Drought in the Southwest, 1942-56

This final chapter of Prof. Paper 372 summarizes the results of a comprehensive study of drought in the Southwest, as reported in greater detail in chapters A-G. Chapter A presents some of the published and recorded conclusions concerning the basic meteorological factors that influence the patterns of precipitation in the Southwest, and describes the characteristics of the drought of 1942-56 as indicated by meteorologic records. Chapter B is a general discussion of the effects of that drought as shown by hydrologic data. Subsequent chapters (C-G) provide more detailed evaluations of the effects of drought in individual river basins and specific localities. The effects of drought are discriminated from water shortages due to other causes wherever possible. For this summary, the hydrologic units in the Southwest are classified according to type, and examples of each type are cited, but no attempt is made to summarize the effects of drought in every hydrologic unit in the Southwest, as was described in preceding parts of this report. The comprehensive study of drought has required analysis of the longest records available concerning all aspects of the water resources, with special attention to the 1942-56 period to ascertain similarities with earlier drought periods and contrasts with periods of greater precipitation. Despite the intended emphasis on drought, the studies have been almost as broad in scope as general studies of interrelations of the hydrologic cycle.

Southwestern United States↗

USGS1986

Hydrogeologic framework and properties of regional aquifers in the Hollandale Embayment, southeastern Minnesota

In 1977, the U.S. Geological Survey began a series of investigations of regional aquifer systems in the United States. These studies will provide quantitative information for use in developing and managing regional ground-water supplies. One of these studies, the Northern Midwest Regional Aquifer-System Analysis (RASA) project, concerns the Cambrian and Ordovician age aquifers that occur in southeastern Minnesota and in parts of five other states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin (Steinhilber and Young, 1979). This report describes the hydrogeologic framework and properties of the regional aquifers in the Hollandale embayment in southeastern Minnesota (fig. 1). Two other reports describing different aspects of the regional aquifers in southeastern Minnesota were also prepared. Delin and Woodward (1984) mapped the potentiometric surface of each regional aquifer, and described the regional flow regimes; and Woodward (1985) presented a summary of 100 years of water use in southeastern Minnesota based upon trends in municipal-well installations and aquifer utilization.

Minnesota↗

USGS1999

Water quality and habitat conditions in upper Midwest streams relative to riparian vegetation and soil characteristics, August 1997 : study design, methods, and data

Water-chemistry, biological, and habitat data were collected from 70 sites on Midwestern streams during August 1997 as part of an integrated, regional water-quality assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The study area includes the Corn Belt region of southern Minnesota, eastern Iowa, and west-central Illinois, one of the most intensive and productive agricultural regions of the world. The focus of the study was to evaluate the condition of woodedriparian zones and the influence of basin soildrainage characteristics on water quality and biological-community responses. This report includes a description of the study design and site-characterization process, sample-collection and processing methods, laboratory methods, quality-assurance procedures, and summaries of data on nutrients, herbicides and metabolites, stream productivity and respiration, biological communities, habitat conditions, and agriculturalchemical and land-use information.

Open-File Report↗

USGS1980

Streamflow characteristics of the Yellowstone River Basin, Montana, through 1976

Statistical summaries of streamflow data for selected stream-gaging and crest-stage gage sites are presented in this report to aid in appraising the hydrology of the Yellowstone River basin, Montana. Streamflow records presented for 45 gaging stations and 45 crest-stage gages for the period of record. Streamflow record collection in the Yellowstone River basin began in 1889. For each gaging station selected for this report, a brief description is given for station location, drainage area , period of record, revisions of previously published records, type and history of gages, regulation and diversions, and extremes of discharge. These data are followed by tables of monthly and annual flow statistics, high-flow and low-flow frequency data, flood-frequency data, flow-duration information, and for natural-flow sites selected basin characteristics. For each crest-stage gage, the brief description consists of location, drainage area, period of record, and type and history of gage. This information is followed by tables of flood-frequency data and selected basin characteristics.

Montana↗

USGS1995

A noteworthy record and the breeding distribution of the blue grosbeak in North Dakota

The northern limit of the blue grosbeak's ( Guiraca caerulea ) breeding distribution occurs in southern North Dakota. Records of the blue grosbeak in North Dakota are uncommon. Here, I report my observation of a blue grosbeak at a site where the species was recorded 25 years earlier. A summary of the species' distribution and records in North Dakota are provided.

North Dakota↗

USGS1999

Index of hydrologic characteristics and data resources for the Gwynns Falls watershed, Baltimore County and Baltimore City, Maryland

The Gwynns Falls watershed has been selected as the primary study area for the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, as part of the National Science Foundation's Long-Term Ecological Research program. Because the Baltimore Ecosystem Study will be investigating long-term hydrologic changes in the Gwynns Falls watershed, a compilation of existing data resources for the watershed is necessary. This report discusses hydrologic characteristics and presents a compilation of historical data resources for the Gwynns Falls watershed. Tables are presented that list active and discontinued continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations, nontidal crest-stage partial-record stations, low-flow partial-record stations, and water-quality partial-record stations operated by the U.S. Geological Survey, Maryland-Delaware-D. C. District, in the Gwynns Falls watershed. Statistics regarding the number of inventoried ground-water wells in or bordering the Gwynns Falls watershed also are presented. A summary of additional data resources for the Gwynns Falls watershed is provided. This includes (1) an inventory of selected U.S. Geological Survey studies and reports that contain historical data or basin characteristics for streams in the watershed, (2) a listing of indirect flood-discharge measurements that have been made at several monitoring stations in the watershed, (3) a brief discussion of channel-stability and bridge-scour data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in the watershed during 1990?95, (4) a listing of climatological data stations in the watershed and in the surrounding regional area, and (5) a listing of other selected reports that include data or information on the Gwynns Falls watershed.

Maryland↗

USGS2024

Annotated bibliography of scientific research relevant to oil and gas reclamation best management practices in the western United States, published from 1969 through 2020

Integrating recent scientific knowledge into management decisions supports effective natural resource management and can lead to better resource outcomes. However, finding and accessing scientific knowledge can be time consuming and costly. To assist in this process, the U.S. Geological Survey has created a series of annotated bibliographies on topics of management concern for lands in the western United States (U.S.). Oil and gas development on public lands is a long-standing and substantial component of local and regional economies and has expanded in recent decades, particularly on public lands in the western U.S. This development is associated with extensive networks of pipelines, roads, and processing facilities, across which reclamation is Federally mandated following initial well pad development (“interim” reclamation) and once resource extraction is complete (“final” reclamation). Reclamation is critical for recovering ecological services to energy-affected lands, including vegetation productivity, wildlife habitat, water and air quality, and soil stability (for example, resistance to wind and water erosion). However, reclamation of oil and gas affected lands in the western U.S. has proved challenging due to an array of regulatory and environmental factors, such as minimally developed soils, short growing seasons, herbivory, high winds, invasive species, rugged terrain, and in particular, arid climates associated with low total precipitation, high evapotranspiration rates, and highly variable precipitation patterns. We compiled and summarized journal articles, government reports, technical reports, proceedings, and theses and dissertations relevant to oil and gas reclamation. We constrained our search to products published on or before December 31, 2020 but did not limit our search by a starting date; the earliest product resulting from this effort was published in March 1969. Second, we manually scanned the last 15 years (2005-2020) of tables of contents in journals, bibliographies, and proceedings of which we were aware would contain articles highly relevant to this bibliography. We carried out the search for these products through multiple means: (1) performing a structured search of two reference databases, (2) examining articles published since 2005 in highly relevant scientific journals and conference proceedings, and (3) reviewing additional material suggested by authors of products identified in steps 1 and 2. Our search was intentionally broad in order to identify as much relevant work as possible, much of which is professionally applied and tested within the industry of oil and gas reclamation, but which remains unpublished in scientific journals. We refined the initial list of products by removing: (1) duplicates, (2) products not written in English, (3) products that were not relevant to the arid ecosystems of western North America, (4) products that were not released as research, data products, or review articles in journals or as formal scientific reports, and (5) products with data which were not relevant to reclamation of oil and gas-affected lands, or for which the study did not present new data, findings, or syntheses relevant to reclamation of oil and gas-affected lands. We summarized each product using a consistent structure (background, objectives, methods, location, findings, and implications) and assigned standardized management topics to each. Management topics are intended to aid online searching within the bibliography and are described in more detail in the Methods Section of this report; they include what type of disturbance the product addresses (well pads, mining, pipelines), what aspect of oil and gas reclamation they pertain to (practices, standards, monitoring), what type of data are present in the product (for instance soil or vegetation recovery data), and an indication if the product were from a source other than a published, peer-reviewed outlet (such as dissertations or unpublished professional reports – these are identified as grey literature). The review process for this annotated bibliography included an initial internal colleague review of each summary, requesting input on each summary from an author of the original product, and a formal peer-review. Our initial searches resulted in 3,197 total products, of which 290 met our criteria for inclusion. “Reclamation Practices” is by far the management topic most addressed, followed by “Reclamation Monitoring,” for example, products assessing what and how monitoring methods are used to track and measure reclamation outcome. This document may be accessed at https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20231068 or from the U.S. Geological Survey Publication Warehouse ( https://pubs.usgs.gov/ ). The 1-page product summaries herein will also be used to create a bibliography at https://apps.usgs.gov/science-for-resource-managers that includes links to each original product, where available, and in which subject matter will be searchable by topic, location, and year. The studies compiled and summarized here may inform planning and management actions that seek to reclaim landscapes across the western U.S. which have been affected by oil and gas development.

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