Geology topics

L. M. Fuller

Publications and source records attributed to L. M. Fuller.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2012

Water-quality characteristics of Michigan's inland lakes, 2001-10

The U.S. Geological Survey and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) jointly monitored for selected water-quality constituents and properties of inland lakes during 2001–10 as part of Michigan's Lake Water-Quality Assessment program. During 2001–10, 866 lake basins from 729 inland lakes greater than 25 acres were monitored for baseline water-quality conditions and trophic status. This report summarizes the water-quality characteristics and trophic conditions of the monitored lakes throughout the State; the data include vertical-profile measurements, nutrient measurements at three discrete depths, Secchi-disk transparency (SDT) measurements, and chlorophyll a measurements for the spring and summer, with major ions and other chemical indicators measured during the spring at mid-depth and color during the summer from near-surface samples. In about 75 percent of inland lake deep basins (index stations), trophic characteristics were associated with oligotrophic or mesotrophic conditions; 5 percent or less were categorized as hypereutrophic, and 80 percent of hypereutrophic lakes had a maximum depth of 30 feet or less. Comparison of spring and summer measurements shows that water clarity based on SDT measurements were clearer in the spring than in the summer for 63 percent of lakes. For near-surface measurements made in spring, 97 percent of lakes can be considered phosphorus limited and less than half a percent nitrogen limited; for summer measurements, 96 percent of lakes can be considered phosphorus limited and less than half a percent nitrogen limited. Spatial patterns of major ions, alkalinity, and hardness measured in the spring at mid-depth all showed lower values in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and a southward increase toward the southern areas of the Lower Peninsula, though the location of increase varied by constituent. A spatial analysis of the data based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Level III Ecoregions separated potassium, sulfate, and chloride concentrations fairly well, with a pattern of lower values in northern ecoregions trending toward higher values in southern ecoregions; lower and higher concentrations of magnesium, hardness, calcium, and alkalinity were well separated, but middle-range concentrations in central Michigan ecoregions were mixed. The highest concentrations of chloride and sodium were in the southeastern area of the Lower Peninsula. Lakes with multiple basins showed few statistically significant differences in constituent concentrations at the 95-percent confidence level among combinations of depths between basins. The most statistically significant differences were found for water temperature, with significant differences in somewhat less than half the combinations in the spring and just a few combinations in the summer. The lack of significant differences between major basins of multibasin lakes indicates that monitoring of trophic characteristics in all major basins might not be necessary for the majority of constituents in future sampling programs. Trophic characteristics based on the 2001–10 dataset were compared to trophic characteristics resulting from other Michigan sampling programs, including the volunteer Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program coordinated by the MDEQ (measurements on 250 lakes in 2011), trophic-state predictions produced by relating existing measurements to remotely sensed data (measurements for about 3,000 lakes), and the National Lakes Assessment (NLA) statistically valid, probability-designed lakes program (measurements for 50 lakes in Michigan and about 1,100 lakes nationally). A higher percentage of oligotrophic lakes resulted when using SDT from the volunteer data and the 2001–10 dataset than when using the predicted measurements from remotely sensed data or the NLA. Comparing trophic characteristics from differently designed programs provides multiple interpretations of lake water-quality status in Michigan lakes. No directional statistically significant difference was found at the 95-percent confidence level among historical nutrients and trophic characteristics when comparing 445 lakes with historical data for 1974–84 with the 2001–10 dataset, though SDT did show statistically significant differences at the 95-percent confidence level. Depending on the primary indicator, 50–66 percent of lakes did not change trophic-status class, 13–23 percent moved towards the oligotrophic end of the TSI scale, and 20–25 percent moved a class towards the eutrophic end of the TSI scale. Increasing percentages of urban-dominant land cover in the drainage areas of lakes had a more positive correlation with chloride concentration than did increased percentages of other land-cover classes; there was also a slight correlation of urban-dominant land cover and calcium concentration. Removing data for lakes in southeastern Lower Michigan, known from previous reports to be higher in chloride, still resulted in a positive relation even though the coefficient of determination (R 2 value) decreased from 0.55 to 0.39. Dominant land-cover drainage areas were not strongly related to nutrients with respect to a linear relation, nor were lake drainage-area sizes.

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USGS2011

Predicting lake trophic state by relating Secchi-disk transparency measurements to Landsat-satellite imagery for Michigan inland lakes, 2003-05 and 2007-08

Inland lakes are an important economic and environmental resource for Michigan. The U.S. Geological Survey and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment have been cooperatively monitoring the quality of selected lakes in Michigan through the Lake Water Quality Assessment program. Sampling for this program began in 2001; by 2010, 730 of Michigan’s 11,000 inland lakes are expected to have been sampled once. Volunteers coordinated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment began sampling lakes in 1974 and continue to sample (in 2010) approximately 250 inland lakes each year through the Michigan Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program. Despite these sampling efforts, it still is impossible to physically collect measurements for all Michigan inland lakes; however, Landsat-satellite imagery has been used successfully in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and elsewhere to predict the trophic state of unsampled inland lakes greater than 20 acres by producing regression equations relating in-place Secchi-disk measurements to Landsat bands. This study tested three alternatives to methods previously used in Michigan to improve results for predicted statewide Trophic State Index (TSI) computed from Secchi-disk transparency (TSI (SDT)). The alternative methods were used on 14 Landsat-satellite scenes with statewide TSI (SDT) for two time periods (2003– 05 and 2007–08). Specifically, the methods were (1) satellitedata processing techniques to remove areas affected by clouds, cloud shadows, haze, shoreline, and dense vegetation for inland lakes greater than 20 acres in Michigan; (2) comparison of the previous method for producing a single open-water predicted TSI (SDT) value (which was based on an area of interest (AOI) and lake-average approach) to an alternative Gethist method for identifying open-water areas in inland lakes (which follows the initial satellite-data processing and targets the darkest pixels, representing the deepest water, before regression equations are created); and (3) checking to see whether the predicted TSI (SDT) values compared well between two regression equations, one previously used in Michigan and an alternative equation from the hydrologic literature. The combination of improved satellite-data processing techniques and the Gethist method to identify open-water areas in inland lakes during 2003–05 and 2007–08 provided a stronger relation and statistical significance between predicted TSI (SDT) and measured TSI than did the AOI lake-average method; differences in results for the two methods were significant at the 99-percent confidence level. With regard to the comparison of the regression equations, there were no statistically significant differences at the 95-percent confidence level between results from the two equations. The previously used equation, in combination with the Gethist method, yielded coefficient of determination (R 2 ) values of 0.71 and 0.77 for the periods 2003–05 and 2007–08, respectively. The alternative equation, in combination with the Gethist method, yielded R 2 values of 0.74 and 0.75 for 2003–05 and 2007–08, respectively. Predicted TSI (SDT) and measured TSI (SDT) values for lakes used in the regression equations compared well, with R 2 values of 0.95 and 0.96 for predicted TSI (SDT) for 2003–05 and 2007–08, respectively. The R 2 values for statewide predicted TSI (SDT) for all inland lakes with available open-water areas for 2003–05 and 2007–08 were 0.91 and 0.93, respectively. Although the two equations predicted similar trophic-state classes, the alternative equation is planned to be used for future prediction of TSI (SDT) values for Michigan inland lakes, to promote consistency in comparing predicted values between States and for potential use in trend analysis.

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USGS2008

Ground-water levels in Huron County, Michigan, 2006-07

In 1990, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed a study of the hydrogeology of Huron County, Michigan (Sweat, 1991). In 1993, Huron County and the USGS entered into a continuing agreement to measure water levels at selected wells throughout Huron County. As part of the agreement, USGS initially operated four continuous water-level recorders, installed from 1988 to 1991 on wells in Bingham (H5r), Fairhaven (H9r), Grant (H2r), and Lake Townships (H25Ar) and summarized the data collected in an annual or bi-annual report (fig. 1). The agreement was altered in 2003, and beginning January 1, 2004, only wells H9r and H25Ar retained continuous water-level recorders, while wells H2r and H5r reverted to quarterly or periodic measurement status due to budget constraints. The decision of which two wells to discontinue was based on an analysis of the intrinsic value to Huron County of data from each well. Well H2r was selected for periodic measurement at that time because it is completed in the glacial aquifer, which is absent in much of Huron County and well H5r, which is completed in the Marshall aquifer, was selected because the water level in the well is often perturbed as a result of pumpage from nearby production wells and does not always reflect baseline conditions within the aquifer. USGS also has provided training for County or Huron Conservation District personnel to measure the water level in 24 of the wells on a quarterly basis. USGS personnel accompany County or Huron Conservation District personnel on a semi-annual basis to provide a quality assurance/quality control check of all measurements being made. Water-level data collected from the wells is summarized in an annual or bi-annual report. The altitude of Lake Huron and precipitation are good indicators of general climatic conditions and, therefore, provide an environmental context for groundwater levels in Huron County. Figure 2 shows the meanmonthly water-level altitude of Lake Huron, averaged from measurements made at Essexville and Harbor Beach (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2008), and monthly precipitation measured in Harbor Beach, Sebewaing, and Bad Axe (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Danny Costello, written commun., 2007-08). In December 2007, the water level in Lake Huron dropped to a new monthly mean low of 576.38 ft for the period from 1988 through 2007 (the previous lowwater level of 576.57 ft was measured in March 2003). The net decline in the water level of Lake Huron from January 2006 through December 2007 was 0.68 ft. In 2006, annual precipitation measured at Harbor Beach was 3.2 in. above the long-term average of 31.1 in., with 10.6 in. measured during the 2006 growing season (May through August). In 2007, annual precipitation measured at Harbor Beach was 1.4 in. below normal, with 9.7 in. measured during the growing season. In the two wells equipped with continuous waterlevel recorders, the water level rose 0.32 ft from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2007 in well H9r, but declined 1.11 ft in well H25Ar. Curiously, well H9r is drilled adjacent to Saginaw Bay (Lake Huron), and, as previously noted, there was a 0.68 ft decline in the water level in Saginaw Bay during that period. Twenty four wells were measured on a quarterly or periodic basis from December 2005 through December 2007 (well H26 was destroyed during summer 2007 reducing the total number of wells from 25). These wells are completed in the glacial, Saginaw and Marshall aquifers, and the Coldwater confining unit. Although each quarterly or periodic measurement only provides a “snapshot” water level (measured in ft below land surface, and altitude, in ft above sea level), the data adequately define the generalized water-level trend in the aquifer near the well. Water levels in 6 quarterly-measured wells had net rises ranging from 0.09 to 1.45 ft for the period, while water levels in 18 of the wells had net declines ranging from 0.26 to 2.19 ft (tables 1 and 2; fig. 3). Period-of-record (the time period during which water levels have been measured by U.S. Geological Survey or their cooperators) minimum depths to water (high-water levels) were measured in March and December 2006 in two quarterly-measured wells completed in the Saginaw aquifer in Oliver and Sebewaing Townships, respectively. A period-of-record minimum depth to water was also recorded June 5, 2007 in well H9r, completed in the Michigan Formation/Marshall aquifer in Fairhaven Township. Period-of-record maximum depths to water were measured in September 2007 in two wells completed in the Marshall aquifer in Oliver and Dwight Townships. Notably, water levels in those two wells recovered about 1 to 3 ft between September and December 2007. No period-of-record minimum or maximum depths to water were measured in wells completed in either the glacial aquifer or the Coldwater confining unit from December 2005 through December 2007. Several external factors influence water-level trends including proximity to nearby production wells, amount and timing of precipitation events, evapotranspiration and type of prevalent ground cover, proximity of aquifer to the surface, and hydraulic characteristics of overlying geologic materials.

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USGS2008

State and regional water-quality characteristics and trophic conditions of Michigan's inland lakes, 2001-2005

The U.S. Geological Survey and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality are jointly monitoring selected water-quality constituents of inland lakes through 2015 as part of Michigan’s Lake Water Quality Assessment program. During 2001–2005, 433 lake basins from 364 inland lakes were monitored for baseline water-quality conditions and trophic status. This report summarizes the water-quality characteristics and trophic conditions of those monitored lake basins throughout the State. Regional variation of water quality in lake basins was examined by grouping on the basis of the five Omernik level III ecoregions within Michigan. Concentrations of most constituents measured were significantly different between ecoregions. Less regional variation of phosphorus concentrations was noted between Northern Lakes and Forests (50) and North Central Hardwoods (51) ecoregions during summer possibly because water samples were collected when lake productivity was high; hence the utilization of the limited amount of phosphorus by algae and macrophytes may have resulted in the more uniform concentrations between these two ecoregions. Concentrations of common ions (calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, chloride, and sulfate) measured in the spring typically were higher in the Michigan southern Lower Peninsula in the Eastern Corn Belt Plains (55), Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift Plains (56), and Huron/Erie Lake Plains (57) ecoregions. Most ions whose concentrations were less than the minimum reporting levels or were nondetectable were from lakes in the Michigan northern Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula in the Northern Lakes and Forests (50) and North Central Hardwoods (51) ecoregions. Chlorophyll a concentrations followed a similar distribution pattern. Measured properties such as pH and specific conductance (indicative of dissolved solids) also showed a regional relation. The lakes with the lowest pH and specific conductance were generally in the western Upper Peninsula (Northern Lakes and Forests (50) ecoregion). The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality classifies Michigan lakes on the basis of their primary biological productivity or trophic characteristics using the Carlson Trophic State Index. Trophic evaluations based on data collected from 2001 through 2005 indicate 17 percent of the lakes are oligotrophic, 53 percent are mesotrophic, 22 percent are eutrophic, 4 percent are hypereutrophic, and less than 5 percent are classified into transition classes between each major class. Although the distribution of lakes throughout Michigan or between Omernik level III ecoregions is not uniform, about 85 percent of the lakes classified as oligotrophic are in the Northern Lakes and Forests (50) or North Central Hardwoods (51) ecoregions. Nearly 28 percent of all the lakes in each of these two ecoregions were classified as oligotrophic. Historical trophic-state classes were compared to the current (2001 through 2005) trophic-state classes. Approximately 72 percent of lakes remained in the same trophic-state class, 11 percent moved up a partial or full class (indicating a decrease in water clarity) and 18 percent moved down a partial or full class (indicating an increase in water clarity).

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USGS2007

Predicting water quality by relating secchi-disk transparency and chlorophyll a measurements to Landsat satellite imagery for Michigan inland lakes, 2001-2006

The State of Michigan has more than 11,000 inland lakes; approximately 3,500 of these lakes are greater than 25 acres. The USGS, in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), has been monitoring the quality of inland lakes in Michigan through the Lake Water Quality Assessment monitoring program. Approximately 100 inland lakes will be sampled per year from 2001 to 2015. Volunteers coordinated by MDEQ started sampling lakes in 1974, and continue to sample to date approximately 250 inland lakes each year through the Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program (CLMP), Michigan’s volunteer lakes monitoring program. Despite this sampling effort, it is still impossible to physically collect the necessary water-quality measurements for all 3,500 Michigan inland lakes. Therefore, a technique was used by USGS, modeled after Olmanson and others (2001), in cooperation with MDEQ that uses satellite remote sensing to predict water quality in unsampled inland lakes greater than 25 acres. Water-quality characteristics that are associated with water clarity can be predicted for Michigan inland lakes by relating sampled measurements of secchi-disk transparency (SDT) and chlorophyll a concentrations (Chl- a ), to satellite imagery. The trophic state index (TSI) which is an indicator of the biological productivity can be calculated based on SDT measurements, Chl- a concentrations, and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations measured near the lake’s surface. Through this process, unsampled inland lakes within the fourteen Landsat satellite scenes encompassing Michigan can be translated into estimated TSI from either predicted SDT or Chl- a (fig. 1).

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USGS2006

Wetland delineation with IKONOS high-resolution satellite imagery, Fort Custer Training Center, Battle Creek, Michigan, 2005

The Michigan Army National Guard’s Fort Custer Training Center (FCTC) in Battle Creek, Mich., has the responsibility to protect wetland resources on the training grounds while providing training opportunities, and for future development planning at the facility. The National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) data have been the primary wetland-boundary resource, but a check on scale and accuracy of the wetland boundary information for the Fort Custer Training Center was needed. In cooperation with the FCTC, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) used an early spring IKONOS pan-sharpened satellite image to delineate the wetlands and create a more accurate wetland map for the FCTC. The USGS tested automated approaches (supervised and unsupervised classifications) to identify the wetland areas from the IKONOS satellite image, but the automated approaches alone did not yield accurate results. To ensure accurate wetland boundaries, the final wetland map was manually digitized on the basis of the automated supervised and unsupervised classifications, in combination with NWI data, field verifications, and visual interpretation of the IKONOS satellite image. The final wetland areas digitized from the IKONOS satellite imagery were similar to those in NWI; however, the wetland boundaries differed in some areas, a few wetlands mapped on the NWI were determined not to be wetlands from the IKONOS image and field verification, and additional previously unmapped wetlands not recognized by the NWI were identified from the IKONOS image.

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USGS2005

Base flow in the Great Lakes Basin

Hydrograph separations were performed using the PART, HYSEP 1, 2, and 3, BFLOW and UKIH methods on 104,293 years of daily streamflow records from 3,936 streamflow-gaging stations in Ontario, Canada and the eight Great Lakes States of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to estimate base-flow index (BFI) and base flow. BFI ranged an average of 0.24 BFI depending on which hydrograph-separation method was used. BFI data from 959 selected streamflow-gaging stations with a combined 28,784 years of daily streamflow data were used to relate BFI to surficial geology and the proportion of surface water within the gaged watersheds. This relation was then used to derive estimates of BFI throughout the Great Lakes, Ottawa River, and upper St. Lawrence River Basins at a scale of 8-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC) watersheds for the U.S. and tertiary watersheds in Canada. This process was repeated for each of the six hydrograph-separation methods used. When applied to gaged watersheds, model results predicted observed base flow within 0.2 BFI up to 94 percent of the time. Estimates of long-term (length of streamflow record) average annual streamflow in each HUC and tertiary watershed were calculated and used to determine average annual base flow from BFI estimates. Possibilities for future study based on results from this study include long-term trend analysis of base flow and improving the scale at which base-flow estimates can be made.

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USGS2004

Predicting water quality by relating secchi-disk transparency and chlorophyll a measurements to satellite imagery for Michigan inland lakes, August 2002

Inland lakes are an important economic and environmental resource for Michigan. The U.S. Geological Survey and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality have been cooperatively monitoring the quality of selected lakes in Michigan through the Lake Water Quality Assessment program. Through this program, approximately 730 of Michigan's 11,000 inland lakes will be monitored once during this 15-year study. Targeted lakes will be sampled during spring turnover and again in late summer to characterize water quality. Because more extensive and more frequent sampling is not economically feasible in the Lake Water Quality Assessment program, the U.S. Geological Survey and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality investigate the use of satellite imagery as a means of estimating water quality in unsampled lakes. Satellite imagery has been successfully used in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and elsewhere to compute the trophic state of inland lakes from predicted secchi-disk measurements. Previous attempts of this kind in Michigan resulted in a poorer fit between observed and predicted data than was found for Minnesota or Wisconsin. This study tested whether estimates could be improved by using atmospherically corrected satellite imagery, whether a more appropriate regression model could be obtained for Michigan, and whether chlorophyll a concentrations could be reliably predicted from satellite imagery in order to compute trophic state of inland lakes. Although the atmospheric-correction did not significantly improve estimates of lake-water quality, a new regression equation was identified that consistently yielded better results than an equation obtained from the literature. A stepwise regression was used to determine an equation that accurately predicts chlorophyll a concentrations in northern Lower Michigan.

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USGS2004

Sediment characteristics and configuration within the Otsego City Dam impoundment on the Kalamazoo River, Michigan, 2001-02

The removal of the Otsego City Dam on the Kalamazoo River at Otsego, Mich., is under consideration by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the city of Otsego. The historical discharge of papermill waste containing polychlorinated biphenyls from sources upstream from the dam has led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to designate the Kalamazoo River from Morrow Dam near Comstock to its mouth near Saugatuck as a Federal Superfund site. The papermill waste is concentrated in organic sediment and kaolinite clay, with the sediment containing as much as 94 milligrams per kilogram polychlorinated biphenyls. This contaminated sediment could move if the dam is removed; therefore, it is necessary to estimate the characteristics and configuration of the sediment before removal plans begin. Data from augered sections and sediment cores show that the current Otsego City impoundment sediments were deposited in two distinctly different sedimentary environments: (1) lacustrine sediments consisting of organic-rich silt and clay, fine to medium sand, and some gravel deposited in a repetitive, cyclic fashion related to former stream velocities when the Otsego City impoundment water levels were 2-4 feet higher (1880s-1960s), and from downstream movement of lacustrine sediments during the removal of the upstream Plainwell Dam superstructure in the 1980s; and (2) more recent (1980s-2002) coarse-grained alluvium deposited on top of the lacustrine sediments. The volume of instream sediment contained within the Otsego City impoundment is estimated to be about 457,270 cubic yards. This estimate is based on the composite thicknesses of the lacustrine deposits and overlying alluvium, which were determined to contain PCBs, and does not include bank or flood-plain deposits.

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