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At least 1,387 records · Page 77Linked to original sources
USGS2023

Assessing stormwater control measure inventories from 23 cities in the United States

Since the 1987 Clean Water Act Section 319 amendment, the United States Government has required and funded the development of nonpoint source pollution programs with about $5 billion dollars. Despite these expenditures, nonpoint source pollution from urban watersheds is still a significant cause of impaired waters in the United States. Urban stormwater management has rapidly evolved over recent decades with decision-making made at a local or city-scale. To address the need for a better understanding of how stormwater management has been implemented in different cities, we used stormwater control measure (SCM) network data from 23 United States cities and assessed what physical, climatic, socioeconomic, and/or regulatory explanatory variables, if any, are related to SCM assemblages at the municipal scale. Spearman's correlation and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were used to investigate relationships between explanatory variables and SCM types and assemblages of SCMs in each city. The results from these analyses showed that for the cities assessed, physical explanatory variables (e.g., impervious percentage and depth to water table) explained the greatest portion of variability in SCM assemblages. Additionally, it was found that cities with combined sewers favored filters, swales and strips, and infiltrators over basins, and cities that are under consent decrees with the EPA tended to include filters more frequently in their SCM inventories. Future work can build on the SCM assemblages used in this study and their explanatory variables to better understand the differences and drivers of differences in SCM effectiveness across cities, improve watershed modeling, and investigate city- and watershed-scale impacts of SCM assemblages

Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustain↗
USGS2016

Detection of hepatitis E virus and other livestock-related pathogens in Iowa streams

Manure application is a source of pathogens to the environment. Through overland runoff and tile drainage, zoonotic pathogens can contaminate surface water and streambed sediment and could affect both wildlife and human health. This study examined the environmental occurrence of gene markers for livestock-related bacterial, protozoan, and viral pathogens and antibiotic resistance in surface waters within the South Fork Iowa River basin before and after periods of swine manure application on agricultural land. Increased concentrations of indicator bacteria after manure application exceeding Iowa's state bacteria water quality standards suggest that swine manure contributes to diminished water quality and may pose a risk to human health. Additionally, the occurrence of HEV and numerous bacterial pathogen genes for Escherichia coli , Enterococcus spp., Salmonella sp., and Staphylococcus aureus in both manure samples and in corresponding surface water following periods of manure application suggests a potential role for swine in the spreading of zoonotic pathogens to the surrounding environment. During this study, several zoonotic pathogens were detected including Shiga-toxin producing E. coli , Campylobacter jejuni , pathogenic enterococci, and S. aureus ; all of which can pose mild to serious health risks to swine, humans, and other wildlife. This research provides the foundational understanding required for future assessment of the risk to environmental health from livestock-related zoonotic pathogen exposures in this region. This information could also be important for maintaining swine herd biosecurity and protecting the health of wildlife near swine facilities.

Iowa↗
USGS2010

Metrics of ecosystem status for large aquatic systems: a global comparison

We identified an objective set of 25 commonly available ecosystem metrics applicable across the world's large continental freshwater and brackish aquatic ecosystem. These metrics measure trophic structure, exploited species, habitat alteration, and catchment changes. We used long-term trends in these metrics as indicators of perturbations that represent an ecosystem not in homeostasis. We defined a healthy ecosystem as being in a homeostatic state; therefore, ecosystems with many changing trends were defined as more disturbed than ecosystems with fewer changing trends. Healthy ecosystems (lakes Baikal, Superior, and Tanganyika) were large, deep lakes in relatively unpopulated areas with no signs of eutrophication and no changes to their trophic structure. Disturbed ecosystems (lakes Michigan, Ontario, and Victoria) had shallow to moderately deep basins with high watershed population pressure and intense agricultural and residential land use. Transitioning systems had widely varying trends and faced increasing anthropogenic pressures. Standardized methodologies for capturing data could improve our understanding of the current state of these ecosystems and allow for comparisons of the response of large aquatic ecosystems to local and global stressors thereby providing more reliable insights into future changes in ecosystem health.

Journal of Great Lakes Research↗
USGS2002

Stable isotope compositions of waters in the Great Basin, United States 3. Comparison of groundwaters with modern precipitation

Groundwater samples from wells and springs, scattered over most of the Great Basin province, were collected and analyzed for their isotopic makeup. They were augmented by previously published isotopic data on groundwaters from southeast California and by several hundred unpublished isotopic analyses. The ratio of 2H (deuterium, D) to 1H, in water samples from valleys in parts of California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah, are here compared with the winter, summer, and annual isotopic compositions of precipitation falling in or near the sampled areas. The main goal of this study was to identify basins where the groundwaters have isotopic compositions that are "lighter" (depleted in the heavier isotope, D) relative to modern winter precipitation. Where these basins do not adjoin substantially higher terrain, we consider those light groundwaters to be of Pleistocene age and thus more than 10,000 years old. Where the groundwater is 10 to 19??? lighter than local winter precipitation, we consider it to be possibly an indication of Pleistocene water; where the ??D makeup is >20??? lighter, we consider it to be probably Pleistocene water. More than 80 sites underlain by waters of possible or probable Pleistocene age were identified.

Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres↗
USGS1996

The effects of snowpack grain size on satellite passive microwave observations from the Upper Colorado River Basin

Understanding the passive microwave emissions of a snowpack, as observed by satellite sensors, requires knowledge of the snowpack properties: water equivalent, grain size, density, and stratigraphy. For the snowpack in the Upper Colorado River Basin, measurements of snow depth and water equivalent are routinely available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but extremely limited information is available for the other properties. To provide this information, a field program from 1984 to 1995 obtained profiles of snowpack grain size, density, and temperature near the time of maximum snow accumulation, at sites distributed across the basin. A synoptic basin-wide sampling program in 1985 showed that the snowpack exhibits consistent properties across large regions. Typically, the snowpack in the Wyoming region contains large amounts of depth hoar, with grain sizes up to 5 mm, while the snowpack in Colorado and Utah is dominated by rounded snow grains less than 2 mm in diameter. In the Wyoming region, large depth hoar crystals in shallow snowpacks yield the lowest emissivities or coldest brightness temperatures observed across the entire basin. Yearly differences in the average grain sizes result primarily from variations in the relative amount of depth hoar within the snowpack. The average grain size for the Colorado and Utah regions shows much less variation than do the grain sizes from the Wyoming region. Furthermore, the greatest amounts of depth hoar occur in the Wyoming region during 1987 and 1992, years with strong El Niño Southern Oscillation, but the Colorado and Utah regions do not show this behavior.

Journal of Geophysical Research C: Oceans↗
USGS1975

Lower Keweenawan volcanic rocks of Michigan and Wisconsin

Unconformable sequences of Keweenawan volcanic rocks occur in Michigan and adjacent Wisconsin. The sequences differ in types of rocks, magnetic properties, metamorphic grade, and pattern of structural deformation; they had different vent areas and were deposited in basins that were only partly overlapping. The older sequence includes the Bessemer Quartzite and two newly named formations that are here assigned to the lower Keweenawan. The younger sequence includes the well-known Portage Lake Volcanics and a younger unnamed formation, both of middle Keweenawan age. Formerly the older rocks were interpreted as a fault-repeated part of the Portage Lake Volcanics, but new evidence indicates that these older rocks had been metamorphosed and tilted and were being eroded in middle Keeweenawan time.

Michigan, Wisconsin↗
USGS1976

Geology of the massifs at the Apollo 17 landing site

The Apollo 17 spacecraft landed in a narrow valley that embays mountainous terrain near the southeastern edge of Mare Serenitatis. Two overlapping basin structures underlie Mare Serenitatis: a larger one to the south and a smaller one to the north. The massifs and sculptured hills in the Taurus-Littrow area and the mountains and knobby terrain in the outer Rook ring (third ring) of the Orientale basin are similar in morphology ; the Apollo 17 site lies approximately on the third ring of the southern Serenitatis basin structure. Assuming the third ring represents the approximate rim of the transient cavity of the southern Serenitatis structure, we suggest that ejecta many kilometres thick was deposited in the Taurus-Littrow area by the southern Serenitatis impact. This ejecta is visible in the massifs in the Apollo 17 landing site as discontinuous, irregular lenses of variable lithology. The southern Serenitatis target rocks were predominantly breccias that were invaded by impact-generated melt and redeposited during the southern Serenitatis event.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey↗
USGS1978

Comendite (peralkaline rhyolite) and basalt in the Mitu Group, Peru: Evidence for Permian-Triassic lithospheric extension in the central Andes

The Mitu Group consists of generally coarse clastic strata and volcanic rock of Permian and (or) Triassic age filling elongate basins that parallel the general structural trend of the Peruvian Andes. Volcanic rocks of the Mitu Group include peralkaline and nonperalkaline rhyolite and subalkaline basalt. To our knowledge, the peralkaline rhyolites are the first of this rock type reported from South America. The presence of appreciable volumes of peralkaline rhyolite and basalt, supports the interpretation that the Mitu Group was deposited in major graben structures that resulted from lithospheric extension produced by rifting or possible backarc extension.

central Andes Mountains↗
USGS1978

Blue Ribbon Lineament, an east-trending structural zone within the Pioche mineral belt of southwestern Utah and eastern Nevada

The Blue Ribbon lineament is an east-west structural zone that is about 25 kilometers wide and passes through the Pioche mineral belt at about 38°10' N. It is best known in Utah, where it is at least 190 km long, and extends from the southern Sevier Plateau in the High Plateaus westward and across southern Mountain Home (Needle) Range in the Great Basin. It probably continues westward an additional 170 km into Nevada, where it connects with the eastern end of the 230-km Warm Springs lineament. The Blue Ribbon lineament is defined by range terminations and east-trending valleys, alinement of eruptive centers of middle Miocene (20 million years) to Pliocene(?) (5-1.8 m.y.) alkalic rhyolite, alinement of areas of middle Miocene to Pliocene mineralized rocks (mostly fluorine, uranium, tungsten) and hydrothermally altered rocks, east-trending magnetic highs and interruptions of magnetic anomalies, and east-striking basin-range faults of late Tertiary and Quaternary age. Mountains south of the lineament are topographically and structurally lower than those to the north. North-striking Quaternary basin-range faults, the Thermo hot springs area, several warm springs and former hot springs, and numerous dacitic to andesitic volcanic centers of early to middle Miocene age (26-20 m.y.) occur along the lineament. The Blue Ribbon lineament is believed to be a deep crustal fault zone dating from at least middle Miocene time and possibly much earlier. It thus developed generally coincident with northerly trending classical basin-range faults. Its fracture system was an important, long-lived conduit for mineralizing fluids, and it should be an attractive target for minerals exploration in the future. The lineament could be due to an east-trending warp in the subducting mantle plate, or it could be part of a past or present intracontinental transform fault that locally gets younger eastward and dies out eastward in the western Colorado Plateaus province.

Utah↗
USGS2016

Changes in groundwater recharge under projected climate in the upper Colorado River basin

Understanding groundwater-budget components, particularly groundwater recharge, is important to sustainably manage both groundwater and surface water supplies in the Colorado River basin now and in the future. This study quantifies projected changes in upper Colorado River basin (UCRB) groundwater recharge from recent historical (1950–2015) through future (2016–2099) time periods, using a distributed-parameter groundwater recharge model with downscaled climate data from 97 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 climate projections. Simulated future groundwater recharge in the UCRB is generally expected to be greater than the historical average in most decades. Increases in groundwater recharge in the UCRB are a consequence of projected increases in precipitation, offsetting reductions in recharge that would result from projected increased temperatures.

Upper Colorado River Basin↗
USGS2002

The relationship between the abundance of smallmouth bass and double-crested cormorants in the eastern basin of Lake Ontario

Available population and diet data on double-crested cormorant ( Phalacrocorax auritus ) and smallmouth bass ( Micropterus dolomieui ) numbers, demographics, and exploitation rates were synthesized to examine the relationship between cormorant and smallmouth bass abundance in the U.S. waters of the eastern basin of Lake Ontario. It was found that after the number of cormorants nesting on Little Galloo Island in New York exceeded 3,500 pairs in 1989, survival of young smallmouth bass, not yet of legal size for the sport harvest (< 305 mm), began to decline. Despite production of strong year classes in 1987 and 1988, abundance of smallmouth bass measured from gill net surveys declined to its lowest level by 1995 and remained there through 1998. Stable or increasing catch and harvest rates in other local fisheries along the U.S. shore suggested that declines in smallmouth bass abundance in the eastern basin were not related to water quality. Stable or increasing growth rates for smallmouth bass age 2 and older since the 1980s further indicated that food resource limitation was also not the cause for declines in abundance. Comparisons of estimates of size and age-specific predation on smallmouth bass by cormorants with projected smallmouth bass population size indicated that much of the increased mortality on young smallmouth bass, could be explained by cormorant predation.

Lake Ontario↗
USGS2019

Developing and testing physically based triggering thresholds for runoff‐generated debris flows

Runoff in steep channels is capable of transitioning into debris flows with hazardous implications for downstream communities and infrastructure, particularly in alpine landscapes with minimal vegetation and areas recently disturbed by wildfire. Here, we derive thresholds for the initiation of runoff‐generated debris flows based on critical values of dimensionless discharge and Shields stress. These thresholds are derived by using a numerical model to estimate the hydrodynamic conditions coinciding with the timing of debris flow activity in a recently burned basin. A benefit of hydrodynamic thresholds is that they can be used to assess debris flow likelihood based on measurable hydrologic and geomorphic parameters and therefore provide more universal criteria for quantifying the runoff‐to‐debris flow transition in landscape evolution studies and hazard assessments. We then demonstrate how hydrodynamic thresholds can be used to estimate rainfall intensity‐duration thresholds for runoff‐generated debris flows without the need for historic debris flow observations.

California↗
USGS1974

Paleozoic tectonics in the Edna Mountain quadrangle, Nevada

Geologic mapping at scale 1:24,000 of the Edna Mountain 15-minute quadrangle, Humboldt County, Nev., revealed two episodes of pre-Mesozoic deformation that are difficult to reconcile with either the Antler or the Sonoma orogeny. We believe that the older episode predated the Antler orogeny and may be as old as Late Cambrian. The younger episode may have been more localized, predated the Sonoma orogeny, and was probably Late Pennsylvanian to Permian in age. Deformation related to Antler and Sonoma orogenies also occurred. These four episodes suggest that cycles of uplift, folding, faulting, and erosion began early in the development of the southern Cordillera and continued intermittently throughout Paleozoic time. West of the continental shelf was a broad subsiding basin marked by narrow troughs and elongate structural highs which emerged, matured, and diminished at different times. Waxing and waning deformation in various parts of the geosyncline acting upon local "highs" and troughs can explain the seemingly erratic distribution in north-central Nevada of different fades of time-correlative stratigraphic units and structural blocks of Paleozoic age. Telescoping of facies by thrust faulting certainly took place, but large displacements within brief periods are not essential to the validity of the explanation.

Nevada↗
USGS2017

Stratigraphy and magnetic polarity of the high terrace remnants in the upper Ohio and Monongahela Rivers in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio

A synthesis of previous work and new data on the stratigraphy of high terraces of the Ohio and Monongahela Rivers upstream from Parkersburg, West Virginia, indicates a correspondence between terrace histories in the ancient Teays and Pittsburgh drainage basins. Four terraces are identified in each. Sediments of the lower three alluvial and slackwater terraces, correlated with Illinoian, early Wisconsin, and late Wisconsin glacial deposits, have been traced along the modern Ohio River through the former divide between the Teays and Pittsburgh basins. Sediments in the fourth terrace, the highest well-defined terrace in each basin, were deposited in two ice-dammed lakes, separated by a divide near New Martinsville, West Virginia. Some deposits of the highest slackwater terrace in both the Teays and Pittsburgh basins have reversed remanent magnetic polarity. This, and the stratigraphic succession in the two basins, suggests that both were ponded during the same glaciation. Reversed polarity in these terrace sediments restricts the age of the first ice-damming event for which stratigraphic evidence is well-preserved to a pre-Illinoian, early Pleistocene glaciation prior to 788,000 yr ago. In contrast, slackwater sediments in the Monongahela River valley, upstream from an outwash gravel dam at the Allegheny-Monongahela confluence, have normal remanent magnetic polarity, corroborating correlation with an Illinoian ponding event. ?? 1988.

Quaternary Research↗
USGS2005

Variations in the Arctic's multiyear sea ice cover: A neural network analysis of SMMR-SSM/I data, 1979-2004

A 26-year (1979-2004) observational record of January multiyear sea ice distributions, derived from neural network analysis of SMMR-SSM/I passive microwave satellite data, reveals dense and persistent cover in the central Arctic basin surrounded by expansive regions of highly fluctuating interannual cover. Following a decade of quasi equilibrium, precipitous declines in multiyear ice area commenced in 1989 when the Arctic Oscillation shifted to a pronounced positive phase. Although extensive survival of first-year ice during autumn 1996 fully replenished the area of multiyear ice, a subsequent and accelerated decline returned the depletion to record lows. The most dramatic multiyear sea ice declines occurred in the East Siberian, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas.

Geophysical Research Letters↗
USGS2024

Shallow lake, strong shake: Record of seismically triggered lacustrine sedimentation from the 1959 M7.3 Hebgen Lake earthquake within Henrys Lake, Idaho

We investigate a shallow lake basin for evidence of a large historic intraplate earthquake in western North America. Henrys Lake, Idaho is an atypical candidate for a lacustrine paleoseismic study given its shallow depth (~7 m) and low relief (≤2° slopes ). Here, we test the earthquake-recording capacity of this basin type by showing sedimentological evidence of the 1959 M7.3 Hebgen Lake earthquake within sediment cores, using anthropogenically produced 137 Cs activity to constrain timing. In addition to expanding the morphologic range of basins targeted for lacustrine paleoseismic studies, this work has implications for sediment response in dam-enhanced basins. Lack of sedimentological evidence for other earthquakes coupled with radiocarbon chronology reveals that the 1959 event is the only clearly recorded earthquake within Henrys Lake since the mid-Holocene. Henrys Lake offers a proxy for paleo-earthquake signatures within similar lacustrine environments and underscores the importance of further paleoseismic studies in the region.

Idaho↗
USGS2026

The role of groundwater in contributing to surface water salinization in the Upper Colorado River Basin

Freshwater salinization impacts the availability of water for human use and ecosystem needs worldwide. It has been estimated that total dissolved solids (TDS) in the Colorado River Basin cause $350 million/year in damages and substantial resources are devoted to reducing TDS loading to streams. This study describes the development and application of coupled watershed models that enable TDS source tracking through the subsurface and across the landscape at a seasonal timestep for 35 years in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Results indicate that, on average, 75% of TDS loading to streams originates as baseflow, and 50% of loading is lagged in delivery by longer than one season. Snowmelt was identified as a dominant process controlling the transport of lagged TDS to streams. This approach informs when and where TDS mitigation efforts may be effective in a watershed that serves as a critical water supply for the southwestern United States.

Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming↗
USGS2017

Status of White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus Richardson, 1863) throughout the species range, threats to survival, and prognosis for the future

White Sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus (WS), are distributed throughout three major river basins on the West Coast of North America: the Sacramento-San Joaquin, Columbia, and Fraser River drainages. Considered the largest North American freshwater fish, some WS use estuarine habitat and make limited marine movements between river basins. Some populations are listed by the United States or Canada as threatened or endangered (upper Columbia River above Grand Coulee Dam; Kootenai River; lower, middle and, upper Fraser River and Nechako River), while others do not warrant federal listing at this time (Sacramento-San Joaquin Rivers; Columbia River below Grand Coulee Dam; Snake River). Threats that impact WS throughout the species’ range include fishing effects and habitat alteration and degradation. Several populations suffer from recruitment limitations or collapse due to high early life mortality associated with these threats. Efforts to preserve WS populations include annual monitoring, harvest restrictions, habitat restoration, and conservation aquaculture. This paper provides a review of current knowledge on WS life history, ecology, physiology, behavior, and genetics and presents the status of WS in each drainage. Ongoing management and conservation efforts and additional research needs are identified to address present and future risks to the species.

Journal of Applied Ichthyology↗