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

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At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
USGS2019

Time-domain electromagnetic soundings for the delineation of saline groundwater in the Genesee River Valley, Western New York, 2016-2017

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, is investigating the distribution of saline groundwater in the Genesee River Valley near the former Retsof salt mine (fig. 1). As part of this study, paired time-domain electromagnetic (TEM) soundings and horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) seismic soundings were made at 39 locations during the fall of 2016 to determine the presence of saline groundwater and depth to the bedrock surface, respectively. All measurement sites were west of Geneseo, New York, on the Genesee River valley floor north and south of the sinkhole area that developed as a result of the roof collapse and flooding of the Retsof mine in 1994 (fig. 1). An integrated analysis of the TEM and HVSR soundings with borehole logs, coupled with groundwater-sample data from previous investigations, allowed the delineation of zones of high electrical conductivity associated with saline water in the lower part of the valley fill and underlying bedrock to depths greater than 1,000 feet (ft). This article describes the TEM sounding method and its application in the ongoing investigation, presents results of the TEM analysis at two of the sounding sites, and identifies proposed sites for additional TEM/HVSR sounding data collection during the fall of 2017. Supporting data for this study are available in a separate data release (Johnson and others, 2017).

New York↗
USGS2022

Conservation genetics and wild trout: Evolving opportunities to support management

It is increasingly apparent that our planet is undergoing rapid, unprecedented environmental change. These changes are already impacting wild trout populations, leading to declines in occupancy and abundance across increasingly fragmented landscapes. Many changes are projected to intensify in the coming decades, which are likely to be crucial to the future of many wild populations. While there is some uncertainty in exactly how changes will manifest, we can be confident that many populations will need to rapidly adapt to change if they are to persist. The foundation of such rapid change is genetic diversity, and conservation strategies are most likely to be successful when they consider the role of genetics in the outlook for wild trout populations. While not a panacea, rapid advances in the field of conservation genetics allow longstanding questions to be addressed with greater rigor and present new opportunities to support management against a backdrop of accelerating change. Here, we review major advances in conservation genetics as they relate to wild trout and highlight potential opportunities to support conservation in the Anthropocene and key areas of continuing uncertainty.

Conference Paper↗
USGS1993

Effects of advanced treatment of municipal wastewater on the White River near Indianapolis, Indiana: Trends in water quality, 1978-86

The City of Indianapolis has constructed state-of-the-art advanced municipal wastewater-treatment systems to enlarge and upgrade the existing secondary-treatment processes at its Belmont and Southport treatment plants. These new advanced-wastewater-treatment plants became operational in 1983. A nonparametric statistical procedure--a modified form of the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney rank-sum test--was used to test for trends in time-series water-quality data from four sites on the White River and from the Belmont and Southport wastewater-treatment plants. Time-series data representative of pre-advanced- (1978-1980) and post-advanced- (1983--86) wastewater-treatment conditions were tested for trends, and the results indicate substantial changes in water quality of treated effluent and of the White River downstream from Indianapolis after implementation of advanced wastewater treatment. Water quality from 1981 through 1982 was highly variable due to plant construction. Therefore, this time period was excluded from the analysis. Water quality at sample sites located upstream from the wastewater-treatment plants was relatively constant during the period of study (1978-86). Analysis of data from the two plants and downstream from the plants indicates statistically significant decreasing trends in effluent concentrations of total ammonia, 5-day biochemical-oxygen demand, fecal-coliform bacteria, total phosphate, and total solids at all sites where sufficient data were available for testing. Because of in-plant nitrification, increases in nitrate concentration were statistically significant in the two plants and in the White River. The decrease in ammonia concentrations and 5-day biochemical-oxygen demand in the White River resulted in a statistically significant increasing trend in dissolved-oxygen concentration in the river because of reduced oxygen demand for nitrification and biochemical oxidation processes. Following implementation of advanced wastewater treatment, the number of river-quality samples that failed to meet the water-quality standards for ammonia and dissolved oxygen that apply to the White River decreased substantially.

Indiana↗
USGS1941

Geology and ground-water resources of the Balmorhea area, western Texas

Balmorhea is the center of a thriving farming community, the lands of which are irrigated with water derived chiefly from large springs but partly from the storm flow of Toyah Creek. The storm flow of the creek and a part of the winter flow of the springs is stored in a reservoir near Balmorhea and used later to supplement the flow of the springs. The present investigation was made to determine the geologic and hydrologic relations of the springs, whether additional water can be obtained from wells, and what effect the withdrawal of large amounts of water from wells would have upon the discharge of the springs. Balmorhea is situated near the foot of the Davis and Barrilla Mountains and along the southwestern margin of the Toyah Basin. The mountains and adjacent basin are drained by Toyah and Limpia Creeks. The group of springs around Balmorhea occur in the floor of the valley of Toyah Creek. They have been divided into artesian springs--Phantom Lake, Giffin and San Solomon Springs; and gravity springs--Toyah Creek, Saragosa, East Sandia and West Sandia Springs. The combined discharge of the springs during dry years is about 23,000 gallons a minute, of which amount the artesian springs supply more than 90 percent. The underground reservoir which supplies the artesian springs is the fractured and cavernous Lower Cretaceous limestone. This limestone, about 500 feet thick, is underlain by impermeable rocks, probably of Permian age, and is overlain by impermeable Upper Cretaceous strata that have a maximum thickness of about 500 feet. These are in turn overlain in the mountains by Tertiary lava and on the plains by gravel and other surficial deposits. The Lower Cretaceous limestone is at the surface or covered by a thin layer of gravel in a belt that lies athwart the stream channels and extends from Gomez Peak southeastward along the foothills of the Davis Mountains. In this belt all the streams suffer heavy seepage losses. From this belt the limestone dips gently northeastward to the axis of a northwestward-trending syncline and then rises to the surface in the vicinity of Phantom Lake, where a part of the water is discharged. About 1,000 feet northeast of this lake is a northwestward-trending fault of small displacement, on the northeast side of which the limestone is downthrown, northeastward from this fault the limestone rises gently and appears at the surface about a mile to the northeast, where it is again downfaulted, but the throw is not sufficient to affect the movement of the water. For several miles to the north the water-bearing Lower Cretaceous limestone is covered by 400 to 500 feet of impermeable Upper Cretaceous strata. It is believed that the Lower Cretaceous rocks are again near the surface and covered by only a thin mantle of gravel and other surficial deposits at San Solomon and Giffin Springs and that just northeast of the springs a fault crosses the valley along which the impermeable Upper Cretaceous rocks are faulted into a position opposite the Lower Cretaceous rocks, thus obstructing further northward movement of the water in the Lower Cretaceous limestone and forcing it to issue as large springs. Between this fault and Brogada the Lower Cretaceous rocks are believed to lie at a depth of about 500 feet and are overlain by Upper Cretaceous strata and a blanket of gravel and other surficial deposits, which are the source of the water of Toyah Creek, Sandia, and Saragosa Springs. Northeast of Brogada the Lower Cretaceous lies at a greater depth, and the mantle of gravel is much thicker. Wells put down to the limestone in the vicinity of San Solomon and Giffin Springs would decrease the flow of the springs. The effect of wells in limestone between the fault near these springs and the Brogado Hills on the flow of the springs would depend on the completeness with which the fault cuts off northward movement of ground water in the limestone. If the movement of water across the fault has been prev

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1946

Ground water in the High Plains of Texas

The High Plains of Texas occupy an area of about 35,000 square miles, extending from the northern boundary of the Panhandle southward about 300 miles, and from the New Mexico line eastward an average distance of about 120 miles. This region is divided into two segments by the Canadian River and the name Llano Estacado has usually been assigned by geologists to the southern, or larger part, which is bounded on the east and on the west by the escarpments of the High Plains and on the north by the valley of the deeply entrenched Canadian River. The ground water occurs chiefly in the beds of sand in the Ogallala formation, which underlies the surface throughout almost the entire region and in many places is 200 to 300 feet thick. It rests on an uneven floor of older rocks, which are exposed at the base of the escarpments bounding the High Plains and in the Canadian "River Valley. If water is found in them it is generally highly mineralized. As the water-bearing sands of the Ogallala are cut off in all directions by escarpments, they have no underground connections with water-bearing beds outside of the area except through the underlying older rocks, which contain highly mineralized water and could not be the source of the fresh water in the Ogallala. The source of this fresh water, therefore, must be the rain and snow that fall on the surface of the High Plains.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS2019

Application of a towed time-domain electromagnetic (tTEM) imaging system in Jamestown, North Dakota

Time-Domain Electromagnetic (EM) methods have been used for decades in support of groundwater investigations. A new towed Time-Domain EM system called “tTEM”, designed by Aarhus University, is being tested and evaluated under a collaborative research agreement with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The tTEM system is rapid and efficient, providing high-resolution, nearly continuous profiles of subsurface resistivity useful for hydrostratigraphic mapping and assessment of aquifer materials. Here we provide an example of a tTEM survey conducted in Jamestown, North Dakota (ND). The purpose of the ND investigation was to assess tTEM the ability of the system to map coarse-grained materials within the Spiritwood Aquifer. The tTEM survey results compare favorably with the results of an airborne EM (AEM) survey previously conducted in the area and to lithologic logs from nearby boreholes.

North Dakota↗
USGS2006

Predicting crappie recruitment in Ohio reservoirs with spawning stock size, larval density, and chlorophyll concentrations

Stock-recruit models typically use only spawning stock size as a predictor of recruitment to a fishery. In this paper, however, we used spawning stock size as well as larval density and key environmental variables to predict recruitment of white crappies Pomoxis annularis and black crappies P. nigromaculatus, a genus notorious for variable recruitment. We sampled adults and recruits from 11 Ohio reservoirs and larvae from 9 reservoirs during 1998-2001. We sampled chlorophyll as an index of reservoir productivity and obtained daily estimates of water elevation to determine the impact of hydrology on recruitment. Akaike's information criterion (AIC) revealed that Ricker and Beverton-Holt stock-recruit models that included chlorophyll best explained the variation in larval density and age-2 recruits. Specifically, spawning stock catch per effort (CPE) and chlorophyll explained 63-64% of the variation in larval density. In turn, larval density and chlorophyll explained 43-49% of the variation in age-2 recruit CPE. Finally, spawning stock CPE and chlorophyll were the best predictors of recruit CPE (i.e., 74-86%). Although larval density and recruitment increased with chlorophyll, neither was related to seasonal water elevation. Also, the AIC generally did not distinguish between Ricker and Beverton-Holt models. From these relationships, we concluded that crappie recruitment can be limited by spawning stock CPE and larval production when spawning stock sizes are low (i.e., CPE , 5 crappies/net-night). At higher levels of spawning stock sizes, spawning stock CPE and recruitment were less clearly related. To predict recruitment in Ohio reservoirs, managers should assess spawning stock CPE with trap nets and estimate chlorophyll concentrations. To increase crappie recruitment in reservoirs where recruitment is consistently poor, managers should use regulations to increase spawning stock size, which, in turn, should increase larval production and recruits to the fishery.

North American Journal of Fisheries Management↗
USGS2003

Trace-metal sources and their release from mine wastes: examples from humidity cell tests of hardrock mine waste and from Warrior Basin coal

To assess the potential impact of metal and acid contamination from mine-waste piles, it is important to identify the mineralogic source of trace metals and their mode of occurrence. Microscopic analysis of mine-waste samples from both hard-rock and coalmine waste samples demonstrate a microstructural control, as well as mineralogic control, on the source and release of trace metals into local water systems. The samples discussed herein show multiple periods of sulfide mineralization with varying concentrations of trace metals. In the first case study, two proprietary hard-rock mine-waste samples exposed to a series of humidity cell tests (which simulate intense chemical weathering conditions) generated acid and released trace metals. Some trace elements of interest were: arsenic (45-120 ppm), copper (60-320 ppm), and zinc (30-2,500 ppm). Untested and humidity cell-exposed samples were studied by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX), and electron microprobe analysis. Studies of one sample set revealed arsenic-bearing pyrite in early iron- and magnesium-rich carbonate-filled microveins, and iron-, copper-, arsenic-, antimony-bearing sulfides in later crosscutting silica-filled microveins. Post humidity cell tests indicated that the carbonate minerals were removed by leaching in the humidity cells, exposing pyrite to oxidative conditions. However, sulfides in the silica-filled veins were more protected. Therefore, the trace metals contained in the sulfides within the silica-filled microveins may be released to the surface and (or) ground water system more slowly over a greater time period. In the second case study, trace metal-rich pyrite-bearing coals from the Warrior Basin, Alabama were analyzed. Arsenic-bearing pyrite was observed in a late-stage pyrite phase in microfaults and microveins that crosscut earlier arsenic.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2007

Collaborative environmental planning in river management: An application of multicriteria decision analysis in the White River Watershed in Vermont

Multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) provides a well-established family of decision tools to aid stakeholder groups in arriving at collective decisions. MCDA can also function as a framework for the social learning process, serving as an educational aid in decision problems characterized by a high level of public participation. In this paper, the framework and results of a structured decision process using the outranking MCDA methodology preference ranking organization method of enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE) are presented. PROMETHEE is used to frame multi-stakeholder discussions of river management alternatives for the Upper White River of Central Vermont, in the northeastern United States. Stakeholders met over 10 months to create a shared vision of an ideal river and its services to communities, develop a list of criteria by which to evaluate river management alternatives, and elicit preferences to rank and compare individual and group preferences. The MCDA procedure helped to frame a group process that made stakeholder preferences explicit and substantive discussions about long-term river management possible.

Vermont↗
USGS2020

Paired stated preference methods for valuing management of white pine blister rust: order effects and outcome uncertainty

The literature on nonmarket valuation includes many examples of stated and revealed preference comparisons. However, comparisons within stated preference methods are sparse. Specifically, the literature provides few examples of pairing both a discrete choice experiment (CE) and a contingent valuation (CV) question within a single survey. This paper presents results of a nonmarket valuation study that employs both methods to elicit public preferences over uncertainty of outcomes and over management strategies. The two methods were employed to examine public support for the proactive management of the invasive pathogen, Cronartium ribicola, that causes the lethal disease white pine blister rust in high-elevation forests in North America. By addressing three related questions, this study finds the following main results: First, both methods suggest the importance of presenting outcome uncertainty to respondents. Second, the results provide no evidence that preferences vary over the means taken for pursuing the given ends, which in this case is long term forest health. Third, the paired inclusion of both methods results in order effects for CE results but not for CV results. Results and discussion provide insight into the most appropriate stated preference approach for informing different types of decisions about the efficient management of public lands.

Journal of Forest Economics↗