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Water resources data for Hawaii and other Pacific areas, water year 1976

Water resources data for the 1976 water year for Hawaii and other Pacific Areas consist of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage of a reservoir; and water levels and water quality in wells and springs. This report contains discharge records for 158 gaging stations; stage only record for 1 gaging station; water quality for 10 gaging stations, 108 partial-record flow stations and 144 wells; and water levels for 25 observation wells. Also included are 107 crest-stage partial-record stations and 109 low-flow partial-record stations. Additional water data were collected at various sites, not part of the systematic data collection program, and are published as miscellaneous measurements. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System operated by the U. S. Geological Survey and cooperating State, Territorial, and Federal agencies in Hawaii and other Pacific areas.

Hawaii↗

Water resources data Maryland, Delaware, and Washington, D.C., water year 2003, volume 2. ground-water data

Water resources data for the 2003 water year for Maryland, Delaware, and Washington, D.C. consist of records of water levels and water quality of ground-water wells. This report (Volume 2. Ground-Water Data) contains water levels at 386 observation wells, discharge records for 4 springs, and water quality at 185 wells. Locations of ground-water level wells are shown on figures 6 and 7. Locations of groundwater- quality sites are shown on figure 8. The data in this report represent that part of the National Water Data System collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State, local, and Federal agencies in Maryland, Delaware, and Washington, D.C.

Water Data Report↗

Water resources data for Montana, water year 1976

Water resources data for the 1976 water year for Montana consist of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage, contents, and water quality of lakes and reservoirs; and water-levels of wells. This report contains discharge records for 217 gaging stations; stage only records for 1 lake station; stage and contents for 9 lakes and reservoirs; water quality for 61 gaging stations, 43 water-quality stations, and 4 lake stations; and water levels for 25 observation wells. Also included are data for 205 crest-stage partial-record stations and 53 smaller reservoirs. Additional water data were collected at various sites, not involved in the systematic data collection program, and are published as miscellaneous measurements. A few pertinent stations (not included above) in bordering States are also included in this report; however, numerous stations in Canada operated for the International Joint Commission under cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of State are included in the above. Locations of gaging stations are shown on figure 3, ground-water observation wells are shown on figure 4, and water-quality stations are shown on figure 4. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in Montana.

Montana↗

Southeast Regional Assessment Project for the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey

The Southeastern United States spans a broad range of physiographic settings and maintains exceptionally high levels of faunal diversity. Unfortunately, many of these ecosystems are increasingly under threat due to rapid human development, and management agencies are increasingly aware of the potential effects that climate change will have on these ecosystems. Natural resource managers and conservation planners can be effective at preserving ecosystems in the face of these stressors only if they can adapt current conservation efforts to increase the overall resilience of the system. Climate change, in particular, challenges many of the basic assumptions used by conservation planners and managers. Previous conservation planning efforts identified and prioritized areas for conservation based on the current environmental conditions, such as habitat quality, and assumed that conditions in conservation lands would be largely controlled by management actions (including no action). Climate change, however, will likely alter important system drivers (temperature, precipitation, and sea-level rise) and make it difficult, if not impossible, to maintain recent historic conditions in conservation lands into the future. Climate change will also influence the future conservation potential of non-conservation lands, further complicating conservation planning. Therefore, there is a need to develop and adapt effective conservation strategies to cope with the effects of climate and landscape change on future environmental conditions. Congress recognized this important issue and authorized the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC; http://nccw.usgs.gov/) in the Fiscal Year 2008. The NCCWSC will produce science that will help resource management agencies anticipate and adapt to climate change impacts to fish, wildlife, and their habitats. With the release of Secretarial Order 3289 on September 14, 2009, the mandate of the NCCWSC was expanded to address climate change-related impacts on all Department of the Interior (DOI) resources. The NCCWSC will establish a network of eight DOI Regional Climate Science Centers (RCSCs) that will work with a variety of partners to provide natural resource managers with tools and information that will help them anticipate and adapt conservation planning and design for projected climate change. The forecasting products produced by the RCSCs will aid fish, wildlife, and land managers in designing suitable adaptive management approaches for their programs. The DOI also is developing Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) as science and conservation action partnerships at subregional scales. The USGS is working with the Southeast Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to develop science collaboration between the future Southeast RCSC and future LCCs. The NCCWSC Southeast Regional Assessment Project (SERAP) will begin to develop regional downscaled climate models, land cover change models, regional ecological models, regional watershed models, and other science tools. Models and data produced by SERAP will be used in a collaborative process between the USGS, the FWS (LCCs), State and federal partners, nongovernmental organizations, and academia to produce science at appropriate scales to answer resource management questions. The SERAP will produce an assessment of climate change, and impacts on land cover, ecosystems, and priority species in the region. The predictive tools developed by the SERAP project team will allow end users to better understand potential impacts of climate change and sea level rise on terrestrial and aquatic populations in the Southeastern United States. The SERAP capitalizes on the integration of five existing projects: (1) the Multi-State Conservation Grants Program project "Designing Sustainable Landscapes," (2) the USGS multidisciplinary Science Thrust project "Water Availability for Ecological Needs," (3) the USGS Southeast Pilot Project "Climate Change in the Southeastern U.S. and its Impacts on Bird Distributions and Habitats," (4) a sea-level rise impacts study envisioned jointly with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and (5) two USGS sea-level rise impact assessment projects that address inundation hazards and provide probabilistic forecasts of coastal geomorphic change. The SERAP will expand on these existing projects and include the following tasks, which were initiated in summer 2009: * Regionally downscaled probabilistic climate-change projections * Integrated coastal assessment * Integrated terrestrial assessment * Multi-resolution assessment of potential climate change effects on biological resources: aquatic and hydrologic dynamics * Optimal conservation strategies to cope with climate change The SERAP seeks to formally integrate these tasks to aid conservation planning and design so that ecosystem management decisions can be optimized for providing desirable outcomes across a range of species and environments. The following chapters detail SERAP's efforts in providing a suite of regional climate, watershed, and landscape-change analyses and develop the interdisciplinary framework required for the biological planning phases of adaptive management and strategic conservation. The planning phase will include the identification of conservation alternatives, development of predictive models and decision support tools, and development of a template to address similar challenges and goals in other regions. The project teams will explore and develop ways to link the various ecological models arising from each component. The SERAP project team also will work closely with members of the LCCs and other partnerships throughout the life of the project to ensure that the objectives of the project meet resources mangers needs in the Southeast.

Open-File Report↗

Evaluation of the Washington State Department of Transportation stormwater monitoring and effectiveness program for 2014–19

The U.S. Geological Survey was asked by the Washington State Department of Transportation to provide technical assistance as a third-party reviewer of their stormwater effectiveness monitoring program during the transition between the completion of the 2014 Washington State Department of Ecology permit requirements and start of the new 2019 Washington State Department of Ecology permit requirements. For the purposes of this evaluation, the U.S. Geological Survey reviewed Washington State Department of Transportation’s 2014 National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit. This review focuses on sections S7, S8, G9, and appendix 4 of the permit that are specific to monitoring. These sections cover the methods of monitoring, the constituents that were monitored, laboratory requirements, reporting requirements, and data archival. Next, all quality-assurance project plans for the 2014 general permit and annual reports required for the permit were reviewed. The quality-assurance project plans and annual reports were reviewed to ensure that monitoring was executed and reported as required by the 2014 general permit. The monitoring requirements put forth from the permits were fully addressed in quality-assurance project plans and were completed and presented in the annual monitoring reports. Overall, the Washington State Department of Transportation monitoring program does not change much under its new 2019 permit. The Washington State Department of Transportation has followed through with the plan set out in each of its approved quality-assurance project plans and therefore, is in a good position to meet or exceed the new permit requirements in the upcoming 5-year permit cycle.

Open-File Report↗

Nebraska water data programs for 1978

Projects of the Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey, and of State agencies represented by members of the Nebraska Water Data Coordinating Committee are described. The committee members represent the Nebraska Department of Water Resources, Nebraska Department of Environmental Control, Nebraska Department of Health, Conservation and Survey Division of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska Water Resources Center of the University of Nebraska, Nebraska Natural Resources Commission, and Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Current measuring sites are listed. Indexes to streamflow records and flood-prone area maps and a list of recently published reports also are included. Sources of water-related information are given with names, addresses, and telephone numbers.

Nebraska↗

Annual Report upon the geographical surveys west of the one-hundredth meridian in the States and Territories of California, Oregon, Nevada, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming: Being Appendix NN of the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1877

I [George M. Wheeler] have the honor to submit the following report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877: Including the expeditions of 1876-'77, the fields occupied will have embraced parts of the States and Territories of California, Oregon, Nevada, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The remaining political divisions of the area west of the one-hundredth meridian, into which parties of this expedition have not entered for its survey, are the State of Kansas and the Territories of Washington and Dakota. The work so far has been directed to the most rugged and thinly-settled portions of the western mountain region. As time and means permit, the areas occupied will adjoin the sections of territory already entered and continue toward completion the topographical survey of the entire region.

Arizona;California;Colorado;Idaho;Montana;Nevada;N↗

Phanerozoic structural features in the northern Midcontinent, U.S.A.

Because Precambrian structural features may represent controls for undiscovered mineral deposits hosted by Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks, this map was prepared to evaluate the possibility of locating Precambrian structural features by their expression in the structures of the overlying Phanerozoic rocks. The map includes most known Phanerozoic structural features in the region: areas of Phanerozoic uplift or depression and Phanerozoic paleotopographic highs, as well as known and inferred Phanerozoic faults, synclines, and anticlines. Because many areas have been subjected to multiple tectonic episodes, many of these structures overlap. Different shades of pink and gray are used on the map to differentiate among these overlapping structures. The goal of this map compilation 1 to show the combined trends of multiple Phanerozoic structures that may define major buried Precambrian structures. This map is part of a folio of maps and cross sections of the northern Midcontinent area (bounded by latitudes 36°-46° N, and longitudes 88°-100° W) prepared under the Midcontinent Strategic and Critical Minerals Project. This project is a cooperative activity between the U.S. Geological Survey and the geological Surveys of the included states, other maps in this folio include U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map-1835-A through D (Magel, 1986; Jorgensen and others, 1987; Marvin, 1988; Pratt, 1987) and U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 86-0604 (Sims, 1985). A preliminary examination of the map suggests that many of the major Precambrian structural features, as interpreted by Sins (1985), Sims and Peterman (1986), Anderson and Ludvigson (1986), and others, are reflected in the trends of some of the mapped Phanerozoic structures. Other Phanerozoic structural trends do not appear to relate to any known Precambrian features.

Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnes↗

Water resources data, Colorado, water year 2004

Water-resources data for Colorado for the 2004 water year (WY) in this report consist of records of stage and discharge of streams; and stage and contents of one reservoir. This report contains discharge records for 312 gaging stations, stage and contents of 1 lake and reservoir, discharge measurements for 1 partial-record low-flow station and 1 miscellaneous site, and peak-flow information for 22 crest-stage partial-record stations. Three pertinent stations operated by bordering states, and 34 stations operated by the Colorado Division of Water Resources are included in this report. All records (except as just noted) were collected and computed by the Water Resources Discipline of the U.S. Geological Survey under the direction of J.E. Kircher, Director, USGS Colorado Water Science Center. These data represent that part of the National Water Information System collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies.

Water Data Report↗

Water resources data, Texas, water year 1986. Volume 2: San Jacinto River basin, Brazos River basin, San Bernard River basin, and intervening coastal basins

The Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Federal, State, and City agencies, obtains a large amount of data pertaining to the water resources of Texas each water year. Such data, accumulated during many water years, constitute a valuable data base for developing an improved understanding of the water resources of the State. To make these data readily available to interested parties outside the Geological Survey, the data are published annually in three volumes of this report series entitled "Water Resources Data - Texas." This report series includes records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams and canals; stage, contents, and water quality of lakes and reservoirs. Volume 2 contains records for water discharge at 112 gaging stations; stage only at 9 gaging station; stage and contents at 24 lakes and reservoirs; and water quality at 72 gaging stations. Also included are data for 39 partial-record stations. The data in this report represent that part of the National Water Data System collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in Texas.

Texas↗

Estimated Withdrawals from Stream-Valley Aquifers and Refined Estimated Withdrawals from Selected Aquifers in the United States, 2000

The U.S. Geological Survey National Water Use Information Program compiles estimates of fresh ground-water withdrawals in the United States on a 5-year interval. In the year-2000 compilation, withdrawals were reported from principal aquifers and aquifer systems including two general aquifers - Alluvial and Other aquifers. Withdrawals from a widespread aquifer group - stream-valley aquifers - were not specifically identified in the year-2000 compilation, but they are important sources of ground water. Stream-valley aquifers are alluvial aquifers located in the valley of major streams and rivers. Stream-valley aquifers are long but narrow aquifers that are in direct hydraulic connection with associated streams and limited in extent compared to most principal aquifers. Based in large part on information published in U.S. Geological Survey reports, preliminary analysis of withdrawal data and hydrogeologic and surface-water information indicated areas in the United States where possible stream-valley aquifers were located. Further assessment focused on 24 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Withdrawals reported from Alluvial aquifers in 16 states and withdrawals reported from Other aquifers in 6 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico were investigated. Two additional States - Arkansas and New Jersey - were investigated because withdrawals reported from other principal aquifers in these two States may be from stream-valley aquifers. Withdrawals from stream-valley aquifers were identified in 20 States and were about 1,560 Mgal/d (million gallons per day), a rate comparable to withdrawals from the 10 most productive principal aquifers in the United States. Of the 1,560 Mgal/d of withdrawals attributed to stream-valley aquifers, 1,240 Mgal/d were disaggregated from Alluvial aquifers, 150 Mgal/d from glacial sand and gravel aquifers, 116 Mgal/d from Other aquifers, 28.1 Mgal/d from Pennsylvanian aquifers, and 24.9 Mgal/d from the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer. Five States, including Colorado (552 Mgal/d), Kansas (384 Mgal/d), Oklahoma (126 Mgal/d), Kentucky (102 Mgal/d), and Ohio (100 Mgal/d), accounted for 81 percent of estimated stream-valley aquifer withdrawals identified in this report. Of the total withdrawals from stream-valley aquifers, about 63 percent (984 Mgal/d) were used for irrigation, 26 percent (400 Mgal/d) for public-supply, and 11 percent (177 Mgal/d) for self-supplied industrial uses. The largest estimated water withdrawals were from stream-valley aquifers associated with the South Platte (404 Mgal/d), Arkansas (395 Mgal/d), and Ohio (221 Mgal/d) Rivers.

Scientific Investigations Report↗

Preliminary survey of the saline-water resources of the United States

Basic hydrologic data available in the field offices of the U. S. Geological Survey and reports issued by the Survey furnish evidence that saline water (defined in this report as water containing more than 1,000 parts per million of dissolved solids) is available under diverse geologic and hydrologic conditions throughout the United States. The number of areas in which undeveloped supplies of fresh water are available has diminished considerably with the rapid growth of industries and population in the past decade. Many areas previously considered to have relatively unlimited water resources have reached the point at which water-supply shortages exist or are threatened.

Water Supply Paper↗

Map of assessed continuous (unconventional) oil resources in the United States, 2014

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducts quantitative assessments of potential oil and gas resources of the onshore United States and associated coastal State waters. Since 2000, the USGS has completed assessments of continuous (unconventional) resources in the United States based on geologic studies and analysis of well-production data and has compiled digital maps of the assessment units classified into four categories: shale gas, tight gas, coalbed gas, and shale oil or tight oil (continuous oil). This is the fourth digital map product in a series of USGS unconventional oil and gas resource maps; its focus being shale-oil or tight-oil (continuous-oil) assessments. The map plate included in this report can be printed in hardcopy form or downloaded in a Geographic Information System (GIS) data package, which includes an ArcGIS ArcMap document (.mxd), geodatabase (.gdb), and a published map file (.pmf). Supporting geologic studies of total petroleum systems and assessment units, as well as studies of the methodology used in the assessment of continuous-oil resources in the United States, are listed with hyperlinks in table 1. Assessment results and geologic reports are available at the USGS website http://energy.usgs.gov/OilGas/AssessmentsData/NationalOilGasAssessment.aspx .

Data Series↗

Map showing areas with potential for talc deposits in the Gravelly, Greenhorn, and Ruby Ranges and the Henrys Lake Mountains of southwestern Montana

For the last several years, Montana has been the leading talc producing state in the United States (U.S. Geological Survey, 1996). For example, in 1992 Montana supplied about 40 percent of the U.S. mine production of talc (Virta, 1992). All of this production has come from the large deposits of high purity talc in the southwestern part of the state. All Montana talc is currently (1997) extracted from four mines, each within the study area of this map—the open pit operations of the Treasure State, Regal, and Yellowstone mines and the underground operation of the Beaverhead mine (see map numbers 1-4 on list and map to the left). The related mineral chlorite is mined at the Antler mine, located nearby, but outside of the study area in the Highland Mountains. Montana talc has at least two market advantages: (1) some deposits are very large and near surface, allowing economic mining by open pit methods; and (2) the deposits are of high purity and lack tremolite or other amphibole mineral contaminants (such as absestos) that occur in some other talc-rich deposits. Talc from southwest Montana is used in ceramics, paint, paper, plastics, cosmetics, rubber, roofing, flooring, caulking, and agricultural applications. The talc is also used in the processes of recycling paper and plastics. Talc was first discovered in the early 1900's at the present site of the Yellowstone mine (Perry, 1948, p. 9). Modest production began in 1942 from shallow pits and adits, supplying steatite (massive, compact, high-purity) talc that was used to make ceramic insulators. The southwest Montana talc industry grew to become a significant part of the region's economy; this history is described by Perry (1948), Olson (1976), and Berg (1997). Exploration and development are likely to continue for the foreseeable future for several reasons: (1) mines are active in the area at present and an infrastructure for talc processing exists; (2) large changes in domestic and export talc markets are not expected in the next few years based on recent market trends (Virta, 1997); (3) the talc of this region is especially pure and asbestos-free; and (4) except for potential ground stabilization problems and land disturbance associated with largescale open pit mining, no significant environmental impacts are associated with talc mining.

Montana↗

The record of major quaternary sea-level changes in a large coastal plain estuary, Chesapeake Bay, Eastern United States

Seismic-reflection surveys of the Chesapeake Bay, combined with geologic mapping and analysis of boreholes on the Delmarva Peninsula, provide evidence of at least three generations of the Susquehanna River system and three generations of the Chesapeake Bay. The evidence for ancient courses of the Susquehanna River is preserved as three distinct paleochannels, and evidence for ancient versions of the Chesapeake Bay is preserved as three sets of paleochannel fill beneath the bay and three generations of barrier-spit deposits on the southern Delmarva Peninsula. The paleochannels represent relative sea-level minima and the channel-fill and barrier-spit deposits represents relative sea-level maxima. A history of three major marine transgressions is recorded in the stratigraphy preserved in the filled paleochannels and in the overlying barrier-spit complexes: three systematic progressions from fluvial to estuarine to bay or nearshore marine environments. This sea-level record seems to be compatible with the saw-toothed pattern of the marine oxygen-isotope record and with the concept of glacial-interglacial terminations. It also seems to have a climax character in which most of the preserved evidence is related to the largest terminations and to the extreme sea-level positions that bound those terminations. The three paleochannel-fill and barrier-spit complexes appear to correspond to oxygen-isotope stages 1,5, and either 7 or 11; the three related paleochannels correspond to stages 2, 6, and either 8 or 12.

Delaware, Maryland, Virginia↗

Cell-Based metabolomics for untargeted screening and prioritization of vertebrate-active stressors in streams across the United States

The U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have assessed contaminants in 38 streams across the U.S., using an extensive suite of target-chemical analysis methods along with a variety of biological effects tools. Here we report zebrafish liver (ZFL) cell-culture based NMR metabolomic analysis of these split stream samples. We used this untargeted approach to evaluate the sites according to overall impact on the ZFL metabolome and found that neither the total number of organics detected at the sites, nor their cumulative concentrations, were good predictors of these impacts. Further, we used partial-least squares regression to compare ZFL endogenous metabolite profiles to values for 455 potential stressors (organics, inorganics, and physical properties) measured in these waters and found that the profiles covaried with at most 280 of the stressors, which were subsequently ranked into quartiles based on the strength of their covariance. While contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) were well represented in the top, most strongly, covarying quartile – suggesting considerable potential for eliciting biological responses at these sites – there was even higher representation of various well-characterized legacy contaminants (e.g., PCBs). These results emphasize the importance of complementing chemical analysis with untargeted bioassays to help focus regulatory efforts on the most significant ecosystem threats.

Environmental Science & Technology↗

Seasonal vegetation characteristics of the United States

The U.S. Geological Survey's EROS Data Center has created a prototype 1‐km resolution data base of vegetation seasonal characteristics. The characteristics are derived from time‐series NDVI data collected by the AVHRR satellite sensor. Information covering the 5 years 1989–1993 is included in the data base. Although quantitative validation of the seasonal characteristics cannot be made until several evaluation efforts are completed, general observations are possible by viewing images of the seasonal parameters. Figures 2 through 8 show several examples of the seasonal characteristics data base.

Geocarto International↗

Validating the use of object-based image analysis to map commonly-recognized landform features in the United States

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Geospatial Program (NGP) seeks to i) create semantically-accessible terrain features from the pixel-based 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) data, and ii) enhance the usability of the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) by associating boundaries with GNIS features whose spatial representation is currently limited to 2D point locations. Geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) was determined to be a promising method to approach both goals. An existing GEOBIA workflow was modified and the resulting segmented objects and terrain categories tested for a strategically chosen physiographic province in the mid-western US, the Ozark Plateaus. The chi-squared test of independence confirmed that there is significant overall spatial association between terrain categories of the GEOBIA and GNIS feature classes. Contingency table analysis also suggests strong category-specific associations between select GNIS and GEOBIA classes. However, 3D visual analysis revealed that GEOBIA objects resembled segmented regions more than they did individual landform objects, with their boundaries often failing to correspond to match what people would likely perceive as landforms. Still, objects derived through GEOBIA can provide initial baseline landscape divisions that can improve the efficiency of more specialized feature extraction methods.

Cartography and Geographic Information Science↗