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At least 1,225 records · Page 68Linked to original sources
USGS1973

Evaluation of the ground-water supply at eight sites in Glacier National Park, northwestern Montana

Seven of eight test holes drilled in Glacier National Park derive water from the Quaternary alluvial or glacial deposits. The eighth test hole was dry. Aquifer tests indicated that production wells at the seven sites will yield enough water for domestic or campground uses. Estimated maximum pumping rates range from 4 to 50 gallons per minute (0.2 or 3.2 liters per second). The water is of excellent chemical quality and generally the major dissolved constituents are calcium and bicarbonate.

Montana↗
USGS1974

Water supply at Painted Canyon Overlook, Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park (South Unit), southwestern North Dakota

A 1,930-foot (588-metre) water-supply well was constructed at the Painted Canyon Overlook, Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park (South Unit), southwestern North Dakota. Aquifers underlying the site are in rocks of Late Cretaceous and Tertiary age. These rocks have an aggreqate thickness of about 2,000 feet (610 metres). The well screen is set in the Fox Hills Sandstone of Late Cretaceous age. The formation consists of about 200 feet (61 metres) of interbedded marine sandstone, siltstone, and claystone. The sandstone is very fine to fine grained. The well was pumped for 24 hours w·ith a submersible pump at rates from 72 to 77 gallons per minu t e (4.5 to 4.9 litres per second) and had a specific capacity of about 0.4 gallon per minute per foot (0.08 litre per second per metre). The water was a sodium bicarbonate type and contained 1,050 milligrams per litre dissolved solids.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1976

A reconnaissance of the effects of a forest fire on water quality in Kings Canyon National Park, California

Following two forest fires in the Roaring River drainage basin, Kings Canyon National Park, Calif., water samples were collected from May to July 1974 to determine water-quality changes resulting from the fires. Field measurements included alkalinity , pH, specific conductance, temperature, and discharge. Samples were analyzed in the laboratory for major dissolved chemical constituents, selected plant nutrients, trace metals, suspended sediment, total organic carbon, and seston. Periphytic algae and benthic invertebrate samples were collected. A noticeable increase in the concentration of nitrogen was found in Roaring River immediately downstream from the Moraine Creek fire. The increase in the concentration of inorganic nitrogen compounds, however, was not great enough to pose a serious threat to the aquatic ecosystem. High total organic nitrogen concentrations may have been due, in part, to factors other than the effect of fire. The results of other water-quality measurements were typical of dilute Sierra Nevada streams and indicate that Roaring River was not adversely affected by the fires. (Woodard-USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1976

Redwood National Park studies; data release number 2, Redwood Creek, Humboldt County, and Mill Creek, Del Norte County, California, April 11, 1974-September 30, 1975

An interdisciplinary study has been undertaken in Redwood National Park, Calif., to describe parts of the ecosystems and recent changes in the intensity of erosion and sedimentation, define processes that may alter the natural ecosystems, and assess the impact of recent road construction and timber harvest. This report is the second of a series that will present data collected in this study. Stream-discharge and water-quality data were collected at 53 sampling stations in the Redwood Creek and Mill Creek drainage basins. Measurements included the following variables: Stream stage and discharge; turbidity; sediment; onsite water-quality determinations of temperature, pH , total alkalinity, specific conductance, and dissolved-oxxygen concentration; chemical analyses of water samples for major dissolved solids, selected trace elements, nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic carbon; chemical analyses of bottom sediment for organic carbon and pesticides; bacteria; benthic invertebrates; fish; periphyton; phytoplankton; and seston. Additional data include changes in geometry at 10 stream-channel cross sections along Mill Creek and the distribution of erosional landforms in the Mill Creek drainage basin; quantity and chemical composition of rainwater; and the intragravel-streambed condition at selected stations in the Redwood Creek drainage basin. (Woodard-USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1977

Quantity and quality of drainage from the Argo Tunnel and other sources related to metal mining in Gilpin, Clear Creek and Park Counties, Colorado

Eighteen metal-mine drainage sources have been located in that part of Gilpin, Clear Creek, and Park Counties, Colo., lying within the Missouri River basin. At least 13 of these sources are known to contain high acidity and (or) trace-element concentrations or to contribute water to adversely affected streams. From January 1976 to March 1977, drainage from the Argo Tunnel in Idaho Springs--one of the major metal-mine drainage sources in the study area--exhibited variations in discharge from 0.35 to 0.55 cubic feet per second (0.010 to 0.016 cubic meters per second), a relatively constant temperature of 16 degrees Celsius, and variations in specific conductance from 2,680 to 3,410 micromhos per centimeter at 25 degrees Celsius (though a value of about 3,100 micromhos persisted throughout most of the period of record). High, but relatively constant, total concentrations (in micrograms per liter) of arsenic (100 to 180), cadmium (140 to 170), copper (5,000 to 6,000), iron (160,000 to 200,000), lead (less than 100 to 200), manganese (80,000 to 110,000), and zinc (40,000 to 49,000) were measured in the Argo Tunnel drainage from March 1976 to March 1977. Except for lead, the trace elements were mostly dissolved (82 percent or greater) and appear to represent baseline concentrations. Long-term degradation of water flowing from the Argo Tunnel is shown by increases of at least 2.5 to 8.0 times for dissolved solids, dissolved iron, calcium, magnesium, and sulfate since 1906. The acidity has changed from neutral in 1906 to a median pH value of 2.9 in 1976-77. Comparison of current Argo Tunnel data with those collected previously by other investigators indicates that spring chemical flushes containing higher than baseline trace-element concentrations occurred in 1973 and 1974, but not in 1975 or 1976, and probably not in 1972. The spring chemical flushes appear to be associated with increased infiltration from snowmelt in the catchment of the Argo Tunnel. Because of the wide ranges in mine-drainage quality and quantity expected for discharges from abandoned mines in the study area, each situation must be examined individually, and the management alternative chosen for mine-drainage abatement must be tailored to solve the particular mining and hydrologic problems at a given site.

Colorado↗
USGS1977

Biostratigraphic zonation of the Park City Group

Five biostratigraphic zones based on the distribution of brachiopods and conodonts are proposed for the Park City Group. They are: the Peniculauris ivesi-Neostreptognathodus prayi Zone, the Peniculauris bassi-Neostreptognathodus sulcoplicatus Zone, the Peniculauris bassi-Neostreptognathodus sp. C Zone, the Thamnosia depressa Zone, and the Yakovlevia multistriata-Neogondolella bitteri Zone. They range in age from Leonardian to Wordian.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1979

Water quality in the Merced River above and below the El Portal sewage treatment plant near Yosemite National Park, California, 1975-77

A study was made to evaluate the effects that treated sewage has on some characteristics of water quality in a reach of the Merced River near Yosemite National Park. Streamflow and water-quality data were collected from July through October 1975 and from July through November 1977 at five stations on the river and at an auxiliary station on the South Fork of the Merced River before and after a sewage treatment plant near El Portal began discharging treated effluent into the river in January 1977. Data collected in 1977 coincided with drought conditions in the Merced River drainage basin. On-site measurements included streamflow, water temperature, specific conductance, pH, total alkalinity, and dissolved oxygen. Diel measurements were made at selected stations to determine the daily fluctuations of dissolved oxygen, temperature, alkalinity, pH, and specific conductance. Water samples were analyzed for nitrogen, phosphorus, and silica. Periphyton samples were collected from artificial substrates for taxonomic and biomass determinations. Chemical analyses of water for plant nutrients indicated (1) an increase in the concentration of inorganic nitrogen immediately below the treated sewage effluent, (2) uniformly low phosphorus concentrations above and below the effluent, and (3) silica concentrations above and below the effluent greatly exceeding the minimum concentrations required for diatom growth and production. Diel measurements of dissolved oxygen in the reach below the effluent showed substantial sag during the night with supersaturation during the day, indicating considerable in-stream primary production. Measured and observed periphyton growth suggest that sufficient quantities of plant nutrients were available to support periphytic diatom blooms in the Merced River prior to the operation of the treatment plant during near-normal flow conditions. Nutrient availability was also sufficient to support both periphytic diatom and green-algal blooms above and below the treated sewage effluent during drought conditions. Greatest algal production was observed in early autumn

California↗
USGS1979

Preliminary study of wastewater movement in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, October 1976 through September 1977

Studies were made from October 1976 through September 1977 to determine the effects on lakes and streams of wastewater effluents that percolate from sewage lagoons at four sites in Yellowstone National Park. Ground-water mounds have built up under the lagoons as percolation of effluents occurred. Percolating effluents mix with ground water and move down the hydraulic gradient in a direction generally perpendicular to the water-level contours. Maps showing chloride and sulfate concentrations, specific conductance of water in wells, and water-level contours indicate the most likely areas and directions of movement of percolating effluents.

Wyoming↗
USGS1979

Chemical analyses of waters from geysers, hot springs, and pools in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, from 1974 to 1978

Waters from geysers, hot springs, and pools of Yellowstone National Park have been analyzed by numerous investigators extending back nearly ten decades. Large compilations of complete major ion analyses of the thermal waters have been reported by Gooch and Whitfield (1888) 38 analyses; Allen and Day (1935) 94 complete and 127 partial major ion analyses, Rowe and others (1973) 166 analyses including many previous chemical analyses of the same feature; and Thompson and others (1975) 242 complete and 299 partial major ion analyses. Smaller compilations of the thermal water chemistry have been reported by Douglass (1939) 12 analyses; White and others (1963) 6 analyses; and Scott (1964) 10 analyses. Partial chemical analyses have been reported by White and others (1956) and by Morey and others (1961) for dissolved silica; Noguichi and Nix (1963) for dissolved silica and major anions; Araki and Noguichi (1969) for dissolved silica, molybdenum, vanadium, and major anions. Here we report 422 complete major ion analyses from 330 different locations of geysers, hot springs, and pools, collected from 1974 to 1978. Many of the analyses from Upper, Midway, Lower, and Norris Geyser Basin are recollections of features previously reported.

Wyoming↗
USGS1981

Preliminary evaluation of ground-water contamination by coal-tar derivatives, St. Louis Park area, Minnesota

Operation of a coal-tar distillation and wood preserving plant for 1918-72 in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, resulted in ground-water contamination. This report presents the results of the first year (1979) of an ongoing study. By 1932, water in the Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer, the region 's major source of ground water, was contaminated 3,500 feet from the plant. The hydraulic characteristics of the Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer , its long contamination history, and fluctuating pumpage combine to creat a complex distribution of coal-tar derivatives observed in the aquifer. The Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer underlies the area at depths of 250 to 500 feet and is overlain by two bedrock aquifers (Platteville and St. Peter), two confining beds (Glenwood and basal part of St. Peter), and 70 to 100 feet of glacial drift. Multiaquifer wells in the area have permitted contaminated water from near-surface aquifers to flow downward into the Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer. Flow rates of 20 to 150 gallons per minute from the shallower aquifers into the Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer were observed in five wells. In the drift, a hydrocarbon fluid phase is moving vertically downward relative to the aqueous phase. Dissolved constituents in the drift and Platteville aquifer, the uppermost bedrock unit over most of the area, have moved at least 4,000 feet. Low-molecular-weight compounds are moving preferentially through the drift and Platteville aquifer system. (USGS)

Minnesota↗
USGS1982

The depositional environment and petrology of the White Rim Sandstone Member of the Permian Cutler Formation, Canyonlands National Park, Utah

The White Rim Sandstone Member of the Cutler Formation of Permian age in Canyonlands National Park, Utah, was deposited in coastal eolian and associated interdune environments. This conclusion is based on stratigraphic relationships primary sedimentary structures, and petrologic features. The White Rim consists of two major genetic units. The first represents a coastal dune field and the second represents related interdune ponds. Distinctive sedimentary structures of the coastal dune unit include large- to medium-scale, unidirectional, tabular-planar cross-bedding; high-index ripples oriented parallel to dip direction of the foresets; coarse-grained lag layers; avalanche or slump marks; and raindrop impressions. Cross-bedding measurements suggest the dunes were deposited as transverse ridges by a dominantly northwest to southeast wind. Distinctive sedimentary structures of the interdune pond unit include wavy, horizontally laminated bedding, adhesion ripples, and desiccation polygons. These features may have been produced by alternate wetting and drying of sediment during water-table fluctuations. Evidence of bioturbation is also present in this unit. Petrologic characteristics of the White Rim helped to define the depositional environment as coastal. A crinoid fragment was identified at one location; both units are enriched in heavy minerals, and small amounts of well rounded, reworked glauconite were found in the White Rim throughout the study area. Earlier work indicates that the White Rim sandstone is late Wolfcampian to early Leonardian in age. During this time, the Canyonlands area was located in a depositional area alternately dominated by marine and nonmarine environments. Results of this study suggest the White Rim represents a coastal dune field that was deposited by predominantly on-shore winds during a period of marine transgression.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1982

Silver Plume Granite; possible source of uranium in sandstone uranium deposits, Tallahassee Creek and High Park areas, Fremont and Teller counties, Colorado

Anomalously high concentrations of thorium and of the light rare earth elements lanthanum and cerium suggest that the actinides and light lanthanides were enriched to an abnormal degree by the magmatic processes that formed the Proterozoic Y Silver Plume Granite in areas adjoining Tallahassee Creek and High Park. However, no such enrichment is found in the Proterozoic X Boulder Creek Granodiorite. Although uranium presently does not appear to be significantly enriched in sampled outcrops of Silver Plume Granite, a large part of the original uranium content of Silver Plume may have been removed by oxidizing ground waters, leaving behind mainly the uranium bound in resistate minerals such as zircon and monazite. Lead isotopic compositions of acid leachate from barren shale and sandstone associated with the Hansen uranium deposit (Tallahassee Creek area) indicate that (1) the predominant source of acid-soluble lead is 1410 m.y: old (Silver Plume age); (2) the source of the lead is characterized by Th/U around 1 (this ratio in the source may apply to soluble minerals only and may exclude thorium and uranium in resistate minerals), and the mean uranium content of this source may be as high as 30 ppm; and (3) at the time of sediment deposition, a paleohydrologic system existed that was capable of transporting Silver Plume lead and, therefore, Silver Plume uranium to the Hansen deposit. Although a significant contribution of uranium from Tertiary volcanic rocks cannot be ruled out and is even probable (Dickinson and Hills, 1982), it appears probable that some of the uranium in deposits of the Tallahassee Creek area was derived from Silver Plume Granite.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1982

Water quality of the Barataria Unit; Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, Louisiana

Surface-water samples were collected on a monthly basis for the period April 1981-March 1982 from six sites within the Barataria Marsh Unit of the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park, Louisiana. The sites were located on Bayou Segnette, Kenta Canal , and Millaudon Canal. Biological, chemical, and physical analyses were performed. Three of the sites were sampled quarterly for additional parameters including pesticides, metals , algal-growth potential, phytoplankton, benthic invertebrates, and grain size of bed material. The results of the analyses are presented without interpretation. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1983

Chemical analyses of thermal and nonthermal springs in Lassen Volcanic National Park and vicinity, California

Most thermal waters issuing in Lassen Volcanic National Park (LVNP) are acidic (pH =3.5), low-Cl (concentrations =30 mg/L) hot springs which are characteristic of vapor-dominated hydrothermal systems and, as such, are not useful for liquid chemical geothermometry. Thermal waters at Drakesbad and in Little Hot Springs Valley, hot spring localities characterized by neutral pH and low Cl containing water, may have equilibrated in shallow aquifers so that temperatures estimated by both the Na-K-Ca and Na-Li geothermometers approach the measured spring temperatures of 65? to 95?C. Waters rich in chloride (>2000 mg/L), such as those at Growler Hot Spring and Morgan Hot Springs, situated south of LVNP, are the most appropriate springs for liquid chemical geothermometry and indicate subsurface temperatures between 220? and 230?C. The chemical and thermal characteristics of these springs may result either from boiling at depth and subsequent mixing with meteoric water or from conductive cooling during lateral flow. In either case ~220? to 230?C thermal water probably originates inside LVNP and flows south to Morgan Hot Springs.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1984

Assessment of ground-water contamination by coal-tar derivatives, St. Louis Park area, Minnesota

Operation of a coal-tar distillation and wood-preserving facility in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, during 1918-72 contaminated ground water with coal-tar derivatives and inorganic chemicals. Coal-tar derivatives entered the groundwater system through three major paths: (1) Spills and drippings that percolated to the water table, (2) surface runoff and plant process water that was discharged to wetlands south of the former plant site, and (3) movement of coal tar directly into bedrock aquifers through a multiaquifer well on the site. In the drift, Platteville, and St. Peter aquifers, ground water flows laterally from west to east and vertically downward. Near the former plant site, creosote-like organic fluids have migrated vertically downward through the drift and are being partially dissolved by ground water. Ground water has preferentially mobilized low-molecular-weight compounds such as phenolic compounds, alkyl-benzenes, and naphthalene, although polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons as heavy as benzo(a)pyrene have been mobilized at low concentrations. Sorption of high-molecular-weight compounds has retarded their migration down the hydraulic gradient compared to low-molecular-weight compounds in the plume. Some simple phenolic compounds are being degraded to methane and carbon dioxide by bacteria under anaerobic conditions in the drift-PlattevilleSt. Peter aquifer system. Other low-molecular-weight aromatic compounds are apparently being degraded by aerobic bacteria at the periphery of the plume where oxygen is available. Intermediate degradation products such as volatile fatty acids are likely present, but complete conversion of the organic contaminants to innocuous inorganic substances has not been demonstrated. Near and south of 36th and Wooddale Avenues, contaminants enter the St. Peter aquifer where the Glenwood confining unit has been eroded in a buried bedrock valley. Contaminants previously entered the Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer through at least one multiaquif er well (W38). Other sources of contaminants and the low concentrations of contaminants hamper delineation of the maximum areal extent of contaminants that are resistant to biologic degradation. These biorefractory compounds will probably continue to migrate down the hydraulic gradients in the drift and Platteville and St. Peter aquifers. Of particular concern with respect to the health risk to humans are the polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, which are a major constituent of coal tar and are found in municipal wells near the site that are completed in the Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer. The Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer lies 250 to 500 feet below land surface and is relatively well protected from nearsurface sources of contamination by overlying rocks. However, the aquifer has been contaminated since at least 1932 because coal-tar derivatives have entered the aquifer through multiaquifer wells. The most significant single source of contamination in the aquifer is a well drilled on the site in 1917 (well W23) that has contained liquid coal-tar since at least 1958. The introduction, dissolution, and movement of this coal-tar in ground water has contaminated nearby municipal wells. The composition of the tar in well W23, and the ratio of concentrations of individual compounds in water from well W23 to those in municipal well SLP15, are consistent with known hydrologic, chemical, and biologic processes, and the conclusion that contaminants in well SLP15 are due primarily to contaminants introduced at well W23. Most of the major polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in the tar, although slightly soluble in water and strongly sorbed by aquifer materials, have moved greater distances at higher concentrations than have the lower-molecular-weight, more soluble compounds such as phenolic compounds and naphthalene. The latter are apparently being degraded by bacteria. The direction and rate of contaminant movement within the Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer changes with time because the ground-water-flow system continually adjusts to hydraulic stresses caused by ground-water withdrawals and flow through multiaquifer wells. Contaminants can move rapidly through the Prairie du Chien-Jordan because the upper part of the aquifer is a carbonate rock having fracture and solution-channel permeability, low effective porosity, and relatively small surface area for sorption. Consequently, the concentration and composition of contaminants in water pumped from individual industrial and municipal wells completed in the aquifer fluctuate with time. Although contaminants have been in the aquifer for at least 50 years and their spatial distribution is complex, concentrations remain highest near their points of introduction through multiaquifer wells near and on the site of the former plant. Contaminants reached the Ironton-Galesville aquifer through at least two deep multiaquifer wells (W23 and W38), but the extent of contamination in this aquifer, and in the underlying Mount Simon-Hinckley aquifer, is not known.

Minnesota↗
USGS1987

Debris flows from tributaries of the Colorado River, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona; executive summary

Debris flows are a major process of sediment transport to the Colorado River from ungaged tributaries in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Debris flows are slurries of clay to boulder-sized particles of large magnitude and short duration that occur infrequently. They are the source for potential large volumes of sand for beaches on the Colorado River. Debris flows create and maintain hydraulic controls (rapids) on the Colorado River at tributary mouths. (See also W89-09240) (Author 's abstract)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1987

Debris flows from tributaries of the Colorado River, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

A reconnaissance of 36 tributaries of the Colorado River indicates that debris flows are a major process by which sediment is transported to the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park. Debris flows are slurries of sediment and water that have a water content < 40% by volume. Debris flows occur frequently in arid and semiarid regions. Slope failures commonly trigger debris flows, which can originate from any rock formation in the Grand Canyon. The largest and most frequent flows originate from the Permian Hermit Shale, the underlying Esplanade Sandstone of the Supai Group, and other formations of the Permian and Pennsylvanian Supai Group. Debris flows have reached the Colorado River on an average of once every 20 to 30 yr in the Lava-Chuar Creek drainage since about 1916. Two debris flows have reached the Colorado River in the last 25 yr in Monument Creek. The Crystal Creek drainage has had an average of one debris flow reaching the Colorado River every 50 yr, although the debris flow of 1966 has been the only flow that reached the Colorado River since 1900. Debris flows may actually reach the Colorado River more frequently in these drainages because evidence for all debris flows may not have been preserved in the channel-margin stratigraphy. Discharges were estimated for the peak flow of three debris flows that reached the Colorado River. The debris flow of 1966 in the Lava-Chuar Creek drainage had an estimated discharge of 4,000 cu ft/sec. The debris flow of 1984 in the Monument Creek drainage had a discharge estimated between 3,600 and 4,200 cu ft/sec. The debris flow of 1966 in the Crystal Creek drainage had a discharge estimated between 9,200 and 14,000 cu ft/sec. Debris flows in the Grand Canyon generally are composed of 10 to 40% sand by weight and may represent a significant source of beach-building sand along the Colorado River. The particle size distributions are very poorly sorted and the largest transported boulders were in the Crystal Creek drainage. Reworking of debris fans by the Colorado River creates debris bars that constrain the size of eddy systems and forms secondary rapids and riffles below tributary mouths. (See also W89-09239) (Lantz-PTT)

Arizona↗