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At least 1,333 records · Page 74Linked to original sources
USGS2001

Seismic design parameters - A user guide

The 1997 NEHRP Recommended Provisions for Seismic Regulations for New Buildings (1997 NEHRP Provisions ) introduced seismic design procedure that is based on the explicit use of spectral response acceleration rather than the traditional peak ground acceleration and/or peak ground velocity or zone factors. The spectral response accelerations are obtained from spectral response acceleration maps accompanying the report. Maps are available for the United States and a number of U.S. territories. Since 1997 additional codes and standards have also adopted seismic design approaches based on the same procedure used in the NEHRP Provisions and the accompanying maps. The design documents using the 1997 NEHRP Provisions procedure may be divided into three categories -(1) Design of New Construction, (2) Design and Evaluation of Existing Construction, and (3) Design of Residential Construction. A CD-ROM has been prepared for use in conjunction with the design documents in each of these three categories. The spectral accelerations obtained using the software on the CD are the same as those that would be obtained by using the maps accompanying the design documents. The software has been prepared to operate on a personal computer using a Windows (Microsoft Corporation) operating environment and a point and click type of interface. The user can obtain the spectral acceleration values that would be obtained by use of the maps accompanying the design documents, include site factors appropriate for the Site Class provided by the user, calculate a response spectrum that includes the site factor, and plot a response spectrum. Sites may be located by providing the latitude-longitude or zip code for all areas covered by the maps. All of the maps used in the various documents are also included on the CDROM

Open-File Report↗
USGS2001

User's guide to SSARRMENU

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Pierce County Department of Public Works, Washington, has developed an operational tool called the Puyallup Flood-Alert System to alert users of impending floods in the Puyallup River Basin. The system acquires and incorporates meteorological and hydrological data into the Streamflow Synthesis and Reservoir Regulation (SSARR) hydrologic flow-routing model to simulate floods in the Puyallup River Basin. SSARRMENU is the user-interactive graphical interface between the user, the input and output data, and the SSARR model. In a companion cooperative project with Pierce County, the SSARR model for the Puyallup River Basin was calibrated and validated. The calibrated model is accessed through SSARRMENU, which has been specifically programed for the Puyallup River and the needs of Pierce County. SSARRMENU automates the retrieval of data from ADAPS (Automated DAta Processing System, the U.S. Geological Survey?s real-time hydrologic database), formats the data for use with SSARR, initiates SSARR model runs, displays alerts for impending floods, and provides utilities to display the simulated and observed data. An on-screen map of the basin and a series of menu items provide the user wi

Open-File Report↗
USGS2001

Benthic flux of dissolved nickel into the water column of south San Francisco Bay

Field and laboratory studies were conducted between April, 1998 and May, 1999 to provide the first direct measurements of the benthic flux of dissolved (0.2-micron filtered) nickel between the bottom sediment and water column at three sites in the southern component of San Francisco Bay (South Bay), California. Dissolved nickel and predominant ligands (represented by dissolved organic carbon, and sulfides) were the solutes of primary interest, although a variety of ancillary measurements were also performed to provide a framework for interpretation. Results described herein integrate information needs identified by the State Water Resources Control Board and local stakeholders with fundamental research associated with the U.S. Geological Survey Toxic Substances Hydrology Program. Dissolved-Ni concentrations in the bottom water over the three sampling dates ranged from 34 to 43 nanomoles per liter. Dissolved-macronutrient concentrations in the bottom water were consistently higher (frequently by orders of magnitude) than surface-water determinations reported for similar times and locations (Regional Monitoring Program, 2001). This is consistent with measured positive benthic fluxes for the macronutrients. Benthic-flux estimates for dissolved nickel from core-incubations, when areally averaged over the South Bay, were significant (that is, of equivalent or greater order of magnitude) relative to previously reported freshwater point and non-point sources. This observation is consistent with previous determinations for other metals, and with the potential remobilization of sediment-associated metals that have been ubiquitously distributed in the South Bay. Similar to dissolved-nickel results, benthic flux of macronutrients was also consistently significant relative to surface-water inputs. These results add to a growing body of knowledge that strongly suggests a need to consider contaminant transport across the sediment-water interface when establishing future management strategies for the watershed.

California↗
USGS2002

Comparison of vapor concentrations of volatile organic compounds with ground-water concentrations of selected contaminants in sediments beneath the Sudbury River, Ashland, Massachusetts, 2000

A mixed plume of contaminants in ground water, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), and metals, near the former Nyanza property in Ashland, Massachusetts, discharges to the Sudbury River upstream and downstream of Mill Pond and a former mill raceway. Polyethylene-membrane vapor-diffusion (PVD) samplers were installed in river-bottom sediments to determine if PVD samplers provide an alternative to ground-water sampling from well points for identifying areas of detectable concentrations of contaminants in sediment pore water near the ground-water and surface-water interface. In August and September 2000, the PVD samplers were installed near well points at depths of 8 to 12 inches in both fine and coarse sediments, whereas the well points were installed at depths of 1 to 5 feet in coarse sediments only. Comparison between vapor and water samples at 29 locations upstream from Mill Pond show that VOC vapor concentrations from PVD samplers in coarse river-bottom sediments are more likely to correspond to ground-water concentrations from well points than PVD samplers installed in fine sediments. Significant correlations based on Kendall's Tau were shown between vapor and ground-water concentrations for trichloroethylene and chlorobenzene for PVD samplers installed in coarse sediments where the fine organic layer that separated the two sampling depths was 1 foot or less in thickness. VOC concentrations from vapor samples also were compared to VOC, SVOC, and metals concentrations from ground-water samples at 10 well points installed upstream and downstream from Mill Pond, and in the former mill raceway. Chlorobenzene vapor concentrations correlated significantly with ground-water concentrations for 5 VOCs, 2 SVOCs, and 10 metals. Trichloroethylene vapor concentrations did not correlate with any of the other ground-water constituents analyzed at the 10 well points. Chlorobenzene detected by use of PVD samplers appears to be a strong indicator of the presence of VOCs, SVOCs, and metals in ground water sampled from well points at this site. Results from PVD samplers indicate that contaminant concentrations in water from well points installed 1 to 5 ft below fine sediments may not reflect concentrations in pore water less than 1 foot below the river bottom. There is insufficient information available to determine if VOC concentrations detected in PVD samplers are useful for identifying detectable aqueous concentrations of SVOCs and metals in sediment pore water at this site. Samples of pore water from a similar depth as PVD samplers are needed for confirmation of this objective.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2002

A data input program (MFI2K) for the U.S. Geological Survey modular ground-water model (MODFLOW-2000)

MFI2K is a data-input (entry) program for the U.S. Geological Survey modular three-dimensional finite-difference ground-water model, MODFLOW-2000. MFI2K runs on personal computers. MFI2K supports the solute transport and parameter-estimation capabilities that are incorporated in MODFLOW-2000. Data for MODPATH, a particle-tracking program for use with MODFLOW-2000, also can be entered using MFI2K. MFI2K is designed to be easy to use; data are entered interactively through a series of display screens. MFI2K also can be used in conjunction with other data-input programs so that the different parts of a model dataset can be entered using the most suitable program. MFI2K interfaces to an external program for entering or editing two-dimensional arrays and lists of stress data. This report provides instructions for using MFI2K.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2000

Chemical-Help Application for Classification and Identification of Stormwater Constituents

A computer application called Chemical Help was developed to facilitate review of reports for the National Highway Runoff Water-Quality Data and Methodology Synthesis (NDAMS). The application provides a tool to quickly find a proper classification for any constituent in the NDAMS review sheets. Chemical Help contents include the name of each water-quality property, constituent, or parameter, the section number within the NDAMS review sheet, the organizational levels within a classification hierarchy, the database number, and where appropriate, the chemical formula, the Chemical Abstract Service number, and a list of synonyms (for the organic chemicals). Therefore, Chemical Help provides information necessary to research available reference data for the water-quality properties and constituents of potential interest in stormwater studies. Chemical Help is implemented in the Microsoft help-system interface. (Computer files for the use and documentation of Chemical Help are included on an accompanying diskette.)

Open-File Report↗
USGS2003

Using the Landsat 7 enhanced thematic mapper tasseled cap transformation to extract shoreline

A semiautomated method for objectively interpreting and extracting the land-water interface has been devised and used successfully to generate multiple shoreline data for the test States of Louisiana and Delaware. The method is based on the application of tasseled cap transformation coefficients derived by the EROS Data Center for Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Data, and is used in conjunction with ERDAS Imagine software. Shoreline data obtained using this method are cost effective compared with conventional mapping methods for State, regional, and national coastline applications. Attempts to attribute vector shoreline data with orthometric elevation values derived from tide observation stations, however, proved unsuccessful.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2003

Java Programs for Using Newmark's Method and Simplified Decoupled Analysis to Model Slope Performance During Earthquakes

Landslides typically cause a large proportion of earthquake damage, and the ability to predict slope performance during earthquakes is important for many types of seismic-hazard analysis and for the design of engineered slopes. Newmark's method for modeling a landslide as a rigid-plastic block sliding on an inclined plane provides a useful method for predicting approximate landslide displacements. Newmark's method estimates the displacement of a potential landslide block as it is subjected to earthquake shaking from a specific strong-motion record (earthquake acceleration-time history). A modification of Newmark's method, decoupled analysis, allows modeling landslides that are not assumed to be rigid blocks. This open-file report is available on CD-ROM and contains Java programs intended to facilitate performing both rigorous and simplified Newmark sliding-block analysis and a simplified model of decoupled analysis. For rigorous analysis, 2160 strong-motion records from 29 earthquakes are included along with a search interface for selecting records based on a wide variety of record properties. Utilities are available that allow users to add their own records to the program and use them for conducting Newmark analyses. Also included is a document containing detailed information about how to use Newmark's method to model dynamic slope performance. This program will run on any platform that supports the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 1.3, including Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, Solaris, etc. A minimum of 64 MB of available RAM is needed, and the fully installed program requires 400 MB of disk space.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2004

Surveying Cross Sections of the Kootenai River Between Libby Dam, Montana, and Kootenay Lake, British Columbia, Canada

The declining population of Kootenai River white sturgeon, which was listed as an Endangered Species in 1994, has prompted a recovery team to assess the feasibility of various habitat enhancement scenarios to reestablish white sturgeon populations. As the first phase in this assessment, the U.S. Geological Survey collected stream channel cross-section and longitudinal data during 2002—03 at about 400 locations along the Kootenai River from Libby Dam near Libby, Montana, to where the river empties into Kootenay Lake near Creston, British Columbia, Canada. Survey control stations with a horizontal and vertical accuracy of less than 0.1 foot were established using a global positioning system (GPS) prior to collection of stream channel cross-section data along the Kootenai River. A total of 245 cross sections were surveyed. Six cross sections upstream from Kootenai Falls were surveyed using a total station where the river was too shallow or dangerous to navigate by vessel. The remaining 239 cross sections were surveyed by interfacing real-time GPS equipment with an echo sounder to obtain bathymetric data and with a laser range- finder to obtain streambank data. These data were merged, straightened, ordered, and reduced in size to be useful. Spacing between these cross sections ranged from about 600 feet in the valley flat near Deep Creek and Shorty Island and near bridges to as much as several miles in other areas. These stream channel cross sections will provide information that can be used to develop hydraulic flow models of the Kootenai River from Libby Dam, Montana, to Queens Bay on Kootenay Lake in British Columbia, Canada.

Montana;Idaho↗
USGS2004

Questa baseline and pre-mining ground-water quality investigation. 1. Depth to bedrock determinations using shallow seismic data acquired in the Straight Creek drainage near Red River, New Mexico

In late May and early June of 2002, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) acquired four P-wave seismic profiles across the Straight Creek drainage near Red River, New Mexico. The data were acquired to support a larger effort to investigate baseline and pre-mining ground-water quality in the Red River basin (Nordstrom and others, 2002). For ground-water flow modeling, knowledge of the thickness of the valley fill material above the bedrock is required. When curved-ray refraction tomography was used with the seismic first arrival times, the resulting images of interval velocity versus depth clearly show a sharp velocity contrast where the bedrock interface is expected. The images show that the interpreted buried bedrock surface is neither smooth nor sharp, but it is clearly defined across the valley along the seismic line profiles. The bedrock models defined by the seismic refraction images are consistent with the well data.

New Mexico↗
USGS2012

Version 3.0 of EMINERS - Economic Mineral Resource Simulator

Quantitative mineral resource assessment, as developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), consists of three parts: (1) development of grade and tonnage mineral deposit models; (2) delineation of tracts permissive for each deposit type; and (3) probabilistic estimation of the numbers of undiscovered deposits for each deposit type. The estimate of the number of undiscovered deposits at different levels of probability is the input to the EMINERS (Economic Mineral Resource Simulator) program. EMINERS uses a Monte Carlo statistical process to combine probabilistic estimates of undiscovered mineral deposits with models of mineral deposit grade and tonnage to estimate mineral resources. Version 3.0 of the EMINERS program is available as this USGS Open-File Report 2004-1344. Changes from version 2.0 include updating 87 grade and tonnage models, designing new templates to produce graphs showing cumulative distribution and summary tables, and disabling economic filters. The economic filters were disabled because embedded data for costs of labor and materials, mining techniques, and beneficiation methods are out of date. However, the cost algorithms used in the disabled economic filters are still in the program and available for reference for mining methods and milling techniques. The release notes included with this report give more details on changes in EMINERS over the years. EMINERS is written in C++ and depends upon the Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 programming environment. The code depends heavily on the use of Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) for implementation of the Windows interface. The program works only on Microsoft Windows XP or newer personal computers. It does not work on Macintosh computers. For help in using the program in this report, see the "Quick-Start Guide for Version 3.0 of EMINERS-Economic Mineral Resource Simulator" (W.J. Bawiec and G.T. Spanski, 2012, USGS Open-File Report 2009-1057, linked at right). It demonstrates how to execute EMINERS software using default settings and existing deposit models.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2004

An autonomous, electromagnetic seepage meter to study coastal groundwater/surface-water exchange

The bi-directional exchange of groundwater with coastal surface waters may influence not only coastal-water and geochemical budgets, but may also impact and direct coastal ecosystem change. For example, the widespread discharge of nutrient-enriched submarine groundwater into an estuary or lagoon may contribute directly to the onset and duration of eutrophication, as well as the development of harmful algal/bacterial blooms. Most often, this submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) (defined here as a composite of meteoric, connate and sea water) occurs as hard-to-constrain diffuse seepage, rather than as focused discharge either through vent or collapse features. As a result, quantifying SGD rates has remained difficult for both oceanographers and hydrologists alike. This report describes an adaptation of an old tool, the Lee-type manual seepage meter, with a state-of-the-art electromagnetic flow meter that enables rapid, autonomous, bi-directional measurements of fluid exchange rates across the sediment/water interface. When such measurements are coupled and interpreted with surface and groundwater pressure, salinity and temperature data, as well as other complementary measurements such as excess watercolumn 222 Rn activities, then realistic groundwater/surface-water exchange rates can be obtained in dynamic coastal environments.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2004

User's Guide for the MapImage Reprojection Software Package, Version 1.01

Scientists routinely accomplish small-scale geospatial modeling in the raster domain, using high-resolution datasets (such as 30-m data) for large parts of continents and low-resolution to high-resolution datasets for the entire globe. Recently, Usery and others (2003a) expanded on the previously limited empirical work with real geographic data by compiling and tabulating the accuracy of categorical areas in projected raster datasets of global extent. Geographers and applications programmers at the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Mid-Continent Mapping Center (MCMC) undertook an effort to expand and evolve an internal USGS software package, MapImage, or mapimg, for raster map projection transformation (Usery and others, 2003a). Daniel R. Steinwand of Science Applications International Corporation, Earth Resources Observation Systems Data Center in Sioux Falls, S. Dak., originally developed mapimg for the USGS, basing it on the USGS's General Cartographic Transformation Package (GCTP). It operated as a command line program on the Unix operating system. Through efforts at MCMC, and in coordination with Mr. Steinwand, this program has been transformed from an application based on a command line into a software package based on a graphic user interface for Windows, Linux, and Unix machines. Usery and others (2003b) pointed out that many commercial software packages do not use exact projection equations and that even when exact projection equations are used, the software often results in error and sometimes does not complete the transformation for specific projections, at specific resampling resolutions, and for specific singularities. Direct implementation of point-to-point transformation with appropriate functions yields the variety of projections available in these software packages, but implementation with data other than points requires specific adaptation of the equations or prior preparation of the data to allow the transformation to succeed. Additional constraints apply to global raster data. It appears that some packages use the USGS's GCTP or similar point transformations without adaptation to the specific characteristics of raster data (Usery and others, 2003b). It is most common for programs to compute transformations of raster data in an inverse fashion. Such mapping can result in an erroneous position and replicate data or create pixels not in the original space. As Usery and others (2003a) indicated, mapimg performs a corresponding forward transformation to ensure the same location results from both methods. The primary benefit of this function is to mask cells outside the domain. MapImage 1.01 is now on the Web. You can download the User's Guide, source, and binaries from the following site: http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/carto_research/projection/acc_proj_data.html

Open-File Report↗
USGS2005

Evaluation of unsaturated-zone solute-transport models for studies of agricultural chemicals

Seven unsaturated-zone solute-transport models were tested with two data sets to select models for use by the Agricultural Chemical Team of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program. The data sets were from a bromide tracer test near Merced, California, and an atrazine study in the White River Basin, Indiana. In this study the models are designated either as complex or simple based on the water flux algorithm. The complex models, HYDRUS2D, LEACHP, RZWQM, and VS2DT, use Richards' equation to simulate water flux and are well suited to process understanding. The simple models, CALF, GLEAMS, and PRZM, use a tipping-bucket algorithm and are more amenable to extrapolation because they require fewer input parameters. The purpose of this report is not to endorse a particular model, but to describe useful features, potential capabilities, and possible limitations that emerged from working with the model input data sets. More rigorous assessment of model applicability involves proper calibration, which was beyond the scope of this study. Uncalibrated ("cold") simulations were run using all seven models to predict the transport of bromide (Merced) and the transport and fate of atrazine and three of its transformation products (White River Basin). Among the complex models, HYDRUS2D successfully predicted both the surface retention and accumulation of bromide at depth at the Merced site, whereas RZWQM and VS2DT predicted only the latter. RZWQM predictions of atrazine were closest to observed values at the White River Basin site, where preferential flow has been observed. LEACHP predicted smaller solute concentrations than observed at both the Merced and White River Basin sites. Among the simple models, CALF predicted the highest values of atrazine and deethylatrazine at the measurement depth of 1.5 meters. CALF includes the Addiscott flow option for preferential flow, and also accepts user-specified dispersivity. PRZM underpredicted solute concentrations, probably because control of dispersion is a problem with this model. GLEAMS has a maximum simulation depth of 1.5 meters, which is limiting for mass-balance purposes because it creates a potential disconnect between unsaturated-zone transport and the water table. Of the models tested, RZWQM, HYDRUS2D, VS2DT, GLEAMS and PRZM had graphical user interfaces. Extensive documentation was available for RZWQM, HYDRUS2D, and VS2DT. RZWQM can explicitly simulate water and solute flux in macropores, and both HYDRUS2D and VS2DT can simulate water and solute flux in two dimensions. The version of RZWQM tested had a maximum simulation depth of 3 meters. The complex models simulate the formation, transport, and fate of degradates of up to three to five compounds including the parent, with the exception of VS2DT, which simulates the transport and fate of a single compound.

California, Indiana↗
USGS2006

Continuous resistivity profiling data from the upper Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina, 2004-2005

The Neuse River Estuary in North Carolina has suffered impacts of eutrophication in recent years. As part of a larger project to better constrain nutrient budgets in the estuary, field investigations were performed to study occurrence and discharge of fresh and brackish ground water and nutrients beneath the estuary itself (fig. 1). A Continuous Resistivity Profiling (CRP) system (Manheim and others, 2004) was used to map the depth of the freshwater-saltwater interface (FSI) in sub-estuarine groundwater. This study area serves as a typological representation of a submarine groundwater environment characteristic of a shallow estuary in a wide coastal plain that has not experienced glaciation. Similar settings extend from New Jersey to Georgia, and along the Gulf of Mexico in the U.S. This report archives 29 lines of data collected during 2004 and 2005 surveys representing almost 210 km of survey lines. These data are further explained in the Data Processing section of the report and previews available of the processed data are available.

North Carolina↗
USGS2006

User's Guide for MapIMG 2: Map Image Re-projection Software Package

BACKGROUND Scientists routinely accomplish small-scale geospatial modeling in the raster domain, using high-resolution datasets for large parts of continents and low-resolution to high-resolution datasets for the entire globe. Direct implementation of point-to-point transformation with appropriate functions yields the variety of projections available in commercial software packages, but implementation with data other than points requires specific adaptation of the transformation equations or prior preparation of the data to allow the transformation to succeed. It seems that some of these packages use the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) General Cartographic Transformation Package (GCTP) or similar point transformations without adaptation to the specific characteristics of raster data (Usery and others, 2003a). Usery and others (2003b) compiled and tabulated the accuracy of categorical areas in projected raster datasets of global extent. Based on the shortcomings identified in these studies, geographers and applications programmers at the USGS expanded and evolved a USGS software package, MapIMG, for raster map projection transformation (Finn and Trent, 2004). Daniel R. Steinwand of Science Applications International Corporation, National Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science, originally developed MapIMG for the USGS, basing it on GCTP. Through previous and continuing efforts at the USGS' National Geospatial Technical Operations Center, this program has been transformed from an application based on command line input into a software package based on a graphical user interface for Windows, Linux, and other UNIX machines.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2007

Multiple-Objective Stepwise Calibration Using Luca

This report documents Luca (Let us calibrate), a multiple-objective, stepwise, automated procedure for hydrologic model calibration and the associated graphical user interface (GUI). Luca is a wizard-style user-friendly GUI that provides an easy systematic way of building and executing a calibration procedure. The calibration procedure uses the Shuffled Complex Evolution global search algorithm to calibrate any model compiled with the U.S. Geological Survey's Modular Modeling System. This process assures that intermediate and final states of the model are simulated consistently with measured values.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2007

Unconsolidated sediments at the bottom of Lake Vostok from seismic data

Seismic soundings of Lake Vostok have been performed by the Polar Marine Geological Research Expedition in collaboration with the Russian Antarctic Expedition since the early 1990s. The seismograms recorded show at least two relatively closely spaced reflections associated with the lake bottom. These were initially interpreted as boundaries of a layer of unconsolidated sediments at the bottom of the lake. A more recent interpretation suggests that the observed reflections are side echoes from the rough lake bottom, and that there are no unconsolidated sediments at the bottom of the lake. The major goal of this paper is to reveal the nature of those reflections by testing three hypotheses of their origin. The results show that some of the reflections, but not all of them, are consistent with the hypothesis of a non-flat lake bottom along the source-receiver line (2D case). The reflections were also evaluated as side echoes from an adjacent sloping interface, but these tests implied unreasonably steep slopes (at least 8 degrees) at the lake bottom. The hypothesis that is the most compatible with seismic data is the presence of a widespread layer of unconsolidated sediments at the bottom of Lake Vostok. The modeling suggests the presence of a two hundred meter thick sedimentary layer with a seismic velocity of 1700 -1900 m/sec in the southern and middle parts of the lake. The sedimentary layer thickens in the northern basin to ~350 m

Open-File Report↗