USGS Science⌕ Search

SEARCH · USGS Science

Results for “WIREs Water”

Search indexed USGS publications on groundwater, aquifers, geologic maps, mineral resources and earthquakes. Explore source records by subject and place.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

78 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
USGS2011

Abundance, stock origin, and length of marked and unmarked juvenile Chinook salmon in the surface waters of greater Puget Sound

This study focuses on the use by juvenile Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha of the rarely studied neritic environment (surface waters overlaying the sublittoral zone) in greater Puget Sound. Juvenile Chinook salmon inhabit the sound from their late estuarine residence and early marine transition to their first year at sea. We measured the density, origin, and size of marked (known hatchery) and unmarked (majority naturally spawned) juveniles by means of monthly surface trawls at six river mouth estuaries in Puget Sound and the areas in between. Juvenile Chinook salmon were present in all months sampled (April–November). Unmarked fish in the northern portion of the study area showed broader seasonal distributions of density than did either marked fish in all areas or unmarked fish in the central and southern portions of the sound. Despite these temporal differences, the densities of marked fish appeared to drive most of the total density estimates across space and time. Genetic analysis and coded wire tag data provided us with documented individuals from at least 16 source populations and indicated that movement patterns and apparent residence time were, in part, a function of natal location and time passed since the release of these fish from hatcheries. Unmarked fish tended to be smaller than marked fish and had broader length frequency distributions. The lengths of unmarked fish were negatively related to the density of both marked and unmarked Chinook salmon, but those of marked fish were not. These results indicate more extensive use of estuarine environments by wild than by hatchery juvenile Chinook salmon as well as differential use (e.g., rearing and migration) of various geographic regions of greater Puget Sound by juvenile Chinook salmon in general. In addition, the results for hatchery‐generated timing, density, and length differences have implications for the biological interactions between hatchery and wild fish throughout Puget Sound.

Washington↗
USGS1999

An evaluation of six internal anchor tags for tagging juvenile striped bass

Six types of internal anchor tags were compared for retention, legibility, and durability in tagging juvenile (age-0) striped bass Morone saxatilis . Tank-reared striped bass (120–200 mm total length) were tagged with coded wire tags and one of six types of internal anchor tags (500 fish each tag type and two groups of controls). The types of internal anchor tags used were as follows: Floy streamer FM-84 (currently in use by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service); Floy streamer with protective sheath (modified FM-84), Floy streamer with a monofilament leader and sheath (FM-89SL), modified Hallprint T687, Hallprint monofilament IEX WAD, and Hallprint T-bar IEX NOR. The Hallprint T-bar IEX NOR and the Floy FM-84 tags caused significantly higher 2-week and 6-month mortality. Final fish total length was different among tag types and tagger groups; however, final fish size was not correlated with either variable after adjusting for initial fish size. Tags were also mounted on polyvinyl chloride pipes and exposed to freshwater, brackish-water, and saltwater environments for 1 year. The brackish-water environment was harsher than either freshwater or salt water and had a greater density of fouling organisms. Legibility was poor for the Floy streamer, and Floy tag sheaths sometimes moved and obscured the printing. Failure rates (printing loss or tag loss) for the Floy tags (36%) were about six times higher than the Hallprint tags (6%). An analysis of 369 anchor tags returned by striped bass fishers indicated that the tag was illegible when more than 43 printed characters were lost and that illegibility increased over time. None of the tags tested was considered appropriate for tagging juvenile striped bass, but changes in tag design, material, and insertion could improve tag retention and survival.

North American Journal of Fisheries Management↗
USGS2005

Inventory of gate-sensing equipment at 14 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dams in Texas

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is a worldwide organization that provides engineering services, environmental restoration, and construction support for a wide variety of civil and military projects. The primary civil mission of the USACE is developing and managing the Nation's water resources. USACE develops projects to reduce flood damage, improve navigation channels and harbors, protect wetlands, and preserve, safeguard, and enhance the environment. Additional missions of the Corps include managing federal real estate, assisting communities with emergency operations and recovery, and providing recreation opportunities. Accurate and timely information on reservoir gate openings is critical for managing flood pools, reducing flood damage downstream from reservoirs, delivering drinking-water supplies, and meeting an assortment of competing downstream water-use needs. Documentation, operation, and maintenance of gate sensors are needed so that reliable, timely information is available to USACE to make reservoir operation decisions. USACE requested that the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) prepare an inventory and documentation of existing gate-sensing equipment at 14 reservoirs that will serve as a user’s manual for operating the equipment. The 14 reservoirs include Aquilla Lake, Bardwell Lake, Benbrook Lake, Canyon Lake, Georgetown Lake, Granger Lake, Grapevine Lake, Jim Chapman Lake, Joe Pool Lake, Lake O’ the Pines, Ray Roberts Lake, Somerville Lake, Stillhouse Hollow Lake, and Wright Patman Lake. This report presents the inventory and documentation of the existing gate-sensing equipment at the 14. The report is organized by lake; information in each lake section includes location of lake and intake structure, directions to each lake (road log), access, equipment description, operation and maintenance information, job hazard analysis, wiring diagrams, photographs, and datalogger programs. The report also includes a list of contact information for the different manufacturers of equipment in service at the lakes.

Texas↗
USGS2018

A direct-push freezing core barrel for sampling unconsolidated subsurface sediments and adjacent pore fluids

Contaminants passing through the unsaturated zone can undergo changes in narrow reaction zones upon reaching saturated sediments. Understanding these reactions requires sampling of sediment together with adjacent water and microbes in a manner that preserves in situ redox conditions. Use of a basket-type core catcher for saturated, noncohesive sediments results in redistribution or loss of fluids during sample retrieval. Previously developed sample-freezing drive shoes for hollow-stem auger drilling rigs lessened fluid redistribution and retained all material that entered the core barrel in noncohesive sediment cores by freezing the base of the core with liquid CO 2 . This technology has not previously been compatible with direct-push rigs that are commonly used for contaminated site assessments. Here, we describe a freezing core barrel designed for direct-push rigs that is compatible with commercially available tool strings. The device can be used interchangeably with unsaturated-zone direct-push tool strings, enabling core collection for studies of contaminant transport and transformation spanning unsaturated to saturated profiles. In all 10 attempts during testing near Bemidji, MN, the device froze a 10- to 15-cm (4–6-in) plug that retained fluids and sediments in a 1.2-m (4-ft)-long, 5.0-cm (2.0-in)-diameter polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sleeve. Cores were collected from variably saturated sediments spanning the capillary fringe through the upper 2 m of the saturated zone in sandy glacial outwash sediments. The median recovery was 81% of the drive length, similar to a sample-freezing drive shoe developed for a wire-line piston core sampler operated with a hollow-stem auger drill rig.

Vadose Zone Journal↗
USGS2016

Geologic and geophysical models for Osage County, Oklahoma, with implications for groundwater resources

This report summarizes a three-dimensional (3-D) geologic model that was constructed to provide a framework to investigate groundwater resources of the Osage Nation in northeastern Oklahoma. This report also presents an analysis of an airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey that assessed the spatial variation of electrical resistivity to depths as great as 300 meters in the subsurface. The report and model provide support for a countywide assessment of groundwater resources, emphasizing the Upper Pennsylvanian rock units in the shallow subsurface of central and eastern Osage County having electrical resistivity properties that may indicate aquifers. Surface outcrops and subsurface stratigraphic picks on wire-line geophysical logs of Upper Pennsylvanian–Lower Permian sedimentary rock were used to construct a 3-D model of the geologic subsurface as an aid for evaluating groundwater resources in Osage County. Quaternary alluvium and terraces along major streams and the Arkansas River are included in the geologic framework model. Data from the AEM survey were subjected to quality-control procedures, truncated at depth of investigation (DOI), and then used to build a 3-D electrical resistivity model making use of secondary and tertiary interpolation profiles between primary data profiles. The AEM data highlight westward-inclined resistivity gradients that parallel the shallow dip of bedrock strata; bodies have resistivity >30 ohm-meters, and extend as much as 10 kilometers (km) down the dip of host geologic units. Volume analysis and internal imaging of an integrated 3-D geology and electrical resistivity model give a proxy for likely aquifer units with large relative volumes of high resistivity: Quaternary alluvium, Elgin Sandstone Lentil in the upper part of the Vamoosa Group, Tallant Formation, and parts of a combined Wann-Iola-Chanute Formation. Less voluminous, high-resistivity bodies correspond to intervals in the lower part of the Vamoosa Group in the east-central part of the county and probable limestone intervals in the upper part of the Vanoss Group in the northwest part of the county. Northwestern and eastern troughs of potable water previously defined for central Osage County generally correspond to down-dip projections of high-resistivity bodies associated with the Elgin Sandstone Lentil of the Vamoosa Group and Tallant Formation, respectively.

Oklahoma↗
USGS1982

Carbonate porosity versus depth: A predictable relation for south Florida

This study examines the porosity of limestones and dolomites in the South Florida basin. Porosity data are derived from borehole-gravity measurements and from suites of acoustic, neutron, and density logs. Both types of wire-line measurements sample large volumes of rock relative to petrographic methods and can be examined at vertical scales approaching those of aquifers and hydrocarbon reservoirs. Investigation depths range from the surface to about 18,000 ft (5,500 m) and span the transition from high-porosity near-surface carbonate sediments of Pleistocene age to much denser Mesozoic carbonate rocks with porosities of only a few percent. Carbonate porosity in the South Florida basin was affected by a variety of diagenetic processes. However, a number of factors that could complicate porosity-depth relations are of limited importance in southern Florida. The basin contains little clastic material; present depths of burial are about equal to maximum depths of burial; the influences of tectonism, geopressures, and hydrocarbon accumulations are minimal. Curves of porosity versus depth, reflecting large-scale porosity-loss processes in the subsurface, are derived for a composite carbonate section and for carbonate strata of different ages and compositions. The decrease of porosity with depth for a composite carbonate section representing a wide range of depositional environments and subsequent diagenetic histories can be characterized by the exponential function ^phgr = 41.73e -z 8197/ (ft) [^phgr = 41.73e -z 2498/ (m)], where ^phgr is the porosity (%) and z is the depth below ground level (feet or meters). Average porosity is reduced by a factor of two in a depth interval of about 5,700 ft (1,740 m). Carbonate strata of different ages that are buried to equal depths show no systematic porosity differences. This implies that the effect of time on porosity in these rocks is probably subordinate to that of burial depth. The data also show a faster than expected rate of porosity decrease with depth for rocks of Eocene age and younger. If it is assumed that the decrease in the volume of evaporites in these rocks indicates less saline pore fluids, porosity loss in shallow-water carbonates may be inversely related to the magnesium content of pore waters. Dolomite porosity is lower than limestone porosity in the near surface, but does not decrease as rapidly with depth. Below about 5,600 ft (1,700 m), dolomite is more porous than limestone. It is hypothesized that most dolomitization occurred relatively early and either reduced original porosity or selectively favored lower-porosity limestones. With continued burial, dolomite was more resistant than limestone to associated porosity-reducing effects.

Florida↗