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Stephen E. Ragone

Publications and source records attributed to Stephen E. Ragone.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1980

Quality of surface water in the coal-mining region, southwestern Indiana, March and May 1979

On August 3, 1977, the Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act, Public Law 95-87 (the Act) was enacted by the 95th Congress. Under Section 507(b)(11) of the Act, an appropriate Federal or State agency must provide applicants for coal-mining permits hydrologic and water-quality information for the general use of proposed mining. To help meet the goals of the Act, the U.S. Geological Survey is designing a data-collection network in the coal-mining region of southwestern Indiana. The purpose of the network is to provide hydrologic and water-quality data on the ' general area ' for coal-mining permits. Because of the large size of the study area and the lack of hydrologic and water-quality data, a preliminary assessment is being done to determine the factors that affect water quality in the coal-mining region. This information will be used in designing a data network that will (1) provide the hydrologic and water-quality data needed by applicants for coal-mining permits and (2) determine the major factors that affect water quality. Reconnaissance data were collected at 293 sites in March, and hydrologic and water-quality data were collected at 84 synoptic sampling sites in May. (Synoptic sampling is the virtually simultaneous collection of data at specific sites.) In the reconnaissance, pH, specific conductance, dissolved-oxygen concentration, temperature, and Eh of streams were measured on site to provide general water-quality data. In the synoptic sampling, the preceding characteristics, as well as concentrations of various dissolved and suspended constituents of stream water and concentrations of heavy metals on streambed materials, were determined.

Indiana↗
USGS1980

Nitrogen in ground water and surface water from sewered and unsewered areas, Nassau County, Long Island, New York

Data on nitrogen in groundwater and surface waters in the sewered and unsewered parts of Nassau County were analyzed to evaluate the principal sources of nitrogen and to determine what factors significantly affect its concentration in the upper glacial aquifer and the underlying Magothy aquifer. Nitrate data for water samples collected during 1952-76 show that: (1) median nitrate concentration of water in the sewered part of the entire thickness of the upper glacial aquifer is not significantly different (at the 0.95 confidence limit, N = 1400) from that in the unsewered area, (2) median nitrate concentrations in the upper 3 meters of the upper glacial aquifer are significantly lower (at the 0.90 confidence limit, N = 15) in the sewered area than in the unsewered area, (3) in the sewered area, water from 8 of 10 wells in the upper glacial aquifer shows significantly decreasing nitrate concentration with time, (4) total nitrogen concentrations in streams draining the sewered area are significantly lower than in those draining the unsewered area, (5) from more than 2,000 nitrate analyses of water in the Magothy aquifer collected from 1952-76, it was found that nitrate is present at all depths but that nitrate concentrations decrease with depth, and (6) although water from most Magothy wells having long-term nitrate records shows no significant change in nitrate concentration with time, where the change is significant, nitrate is increasing. (USGS)

New York↗
USGS1978

Monthly fluctuations in the quality of ground water near the water table in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, Long Island, New York

Water samples from wells in a sewered and an unsewered suburban area and an unsewered rural area on Long Island, N.Y. were collected and analyzed monthly from August 1975 to July 1976 to determine the concentrations of chloride, sulfate, and nitrate in ground water near the water table. Short-term and seasonal fluctuations in concentrations of these substances were evaluated to determine their relation to nonpoint discharges. Major factors that may cause concentrations of these substances to fluctuate at any particular site are precipitation, lawn fertilizer, dissolved salts in storm runoff, and effluent from septic tanks and cesspools. Chloride concentrations during the study fluctuated by as little as 2 milligrams per liter (mg/liter) at some sites and as much as 300 mg/liter at others. Nitrate and sulfate concentrations showed essentially no change at some sites but fluctuated by as much as 8 and 40 mg/liter, respectively, at others. Short-term fluctuations in the concentrations of these substances in ground water seem to have no consistent correlation with type of land use (suburban or agricultural) or precipitation but seem to be related to seasonal variations in input from specific nonpoint sources. (Woodard-USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1978

Hydrochemistry and hydrodynamics of injecting an iron-rich pickling liquor into a dolomitic sandstone: A laboratory study

Waste pickling liquor containing high concentrations of iron salts was injected into cores of quartzite, sandstone, and dolomite in a laboratory study to determine what effect this procedure might have on the permeability of these rock types. Experiments were performed at field conditions 40°C and 13.8 MPa (megapascals) in a high-pressure triaxial chamber similar to that used in rock-mechanics testing but modified to allow downstream sample collection of effluent liquids and direct visual monitoring at in-situ conditions. Five samples were tested, ranging in effective porosity from 2.9 to 13 percent and in lithology from a quartzite to a dolomite. Hydraulic conductivity of the quartzitic samples remained unchanged during injection of over 50 pore volumes of pickling liquor, but significant decreases in the hydraulic conductivity of dolomitic samples were observed. Chemical analyses of effluents from a dolomitic sample suggest that carbonate minerals were dissolving and iron was precipitating. Clogging of pore space by CO 2 entrapment or by CaCl 2 precipitation did not seem to play a role in decreasing hydraulic conductivity because injection into a dolomitic core of more than 140 pore volumes of HCl at a concentration similar to that of the pickling liquor caused only a slight decrease in hydraulic conductivity compared with the decrease observed when an additional 30 pore volumes of pickling liquor were subsequently injected.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey↗
USGS1977

Nitrogen in water in Nassau and Suffolk counties, Long Island, New York, in 1971

The concentration of inorganic nitrogen was measured in samples from 521 wells in the upper glacial and Magothy aquifers and from 46 streams in Nassau and Suffolk Counties during May 1971. The predominant form of dissolved nitrogen was nitrate. Nitrate concentrations (as N) in the upper glacial aquifer in both counties ranged from 0 to 20 milligrams per liter (mg/L) ; those in the Magothy aquifer ranged from 0 to 20 mg/L but were generally much lower in Suffolk County than in Nassau County. Nitrate concentrations (as N) decreased with depth in both counties; below 400 feet, concentrations ranged from 0 to 0.2 mg/L. Nitrate concentrations (as N) of streams ranged from 0 to ii mg/L, which is an indication of the general quality of water in much of the upper glacial aquifer, the source of most of the streamflow. Generally, concentrations of total nitrogen in streams draining the sewered area of Nassau County were lower than those in streams draining the unsewered area. Median concentrations of total inorganic nitrogen (as N) were 1.3 mg/L for the sewered area and 7.5 mg/L for the unsewered area. About 5,500 pounds of nitrate (as N) was estimated to be discharged daily in surface flow to tidewater from Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1976

Change in methylene blue active substances and chloride levels in streams in Suffolk County, New York, 1961-1976

Since 1961, concentrations of methylene blue active substances and chloride were measured in samples collected at 67 sampling stations on 44 streams in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. Changes in the concentrations of these constituents and calculated chloride/methylene blue active substances ratios are reported. Although many factors--the 1962 to 1966 drought, urbanization, change in detergent formulation, and the 1971 Suffolk County detergent ban--make specific interpretation of the data difficult, it appears that the quality of water in streams and, consequently, that part of the upper glacial aquifer supplying water to the streams, is improving in terms of the concentration of methylene blue active substances.

New York↗
USGS1975

Mobilization of iron in water in the Magothy aquifer during long-term recharge with tertiary-treated sewage, Bay Park, New York

Tertiary-treated sewage (reclaimed water) has been recharged by well into the Magothy aquifer at Bay Park, N. Y., intermittently since 1968. The longest of 13 recharge tests, the subject of this report, lasted 84.5 days. This was sufficient time for the reclaimed water to reach an observation well 200 ft (61 m) from the recharge well. Although the iron concentrations of the reclaimed water and the native water were less than 0.4 mg/l, the iron concentrations of samples from observation wells 20, 100, and 200 ft (6, 30, and 61 m) from the recharge well at times approached 3 mg/l. Source of the ii'on is pyrite that is native to the aquifer.

New York↗
USGS1975

Changes in concentration of certain constituents of treated waste water during movement through the Magothy Aquifer, Bay Park, New York

Approximately 7 million gallons (27 million litres) of tertiary-treated sewage (reclaimed water) was injected by well into the Magothy aquifer and was subsequently pumped out. As the reclaimed water moved through the aquifer, concentrations of certain dissolved constituents decreased as follows: Total nitrogen, 7 percent; methylene blue active substances, 49 percent; chemical oxygen demand, 50 percent; and phosphate, more than 93 percent.

New York↗