Earth Sciences Commons^™

Estimation Of Relative Pesticide Leaching In Nebraska Soils, P. J. Shea, L. N. Mielke, W. D. Nettleton

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Research Bulletins

A computational procedure (RIPS, Relative Index for Pesticides and Soils) was developed as a conservative estimator of pesticide leaching and groundwater contamination based on soil and pesticide properties, and water table depth. RIPS values offer guidance in pesticide selection and identify situations where a detailed site-specific evaluation should be conducted.

Vedernikov's Number As A Measure Of Flow Stability, Cheng-Lung Chen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

In 1946, Vedernikov developed a stability criterion for uniform flow in open channels. A global parameter proposed by Vedernikov has been widely accepted as a measure of flow stability. Recognizing the significance of the role of the parameter playing in the stability of open-channel flows, hydraulicians have thenceforth called it the Vedernikov number. Alternatively, the Vedernikov number may be considered as an extended form of the Froude number because it equals the Froude number mUltiplied by an exponent of the hydraulic radius in the uniform-flow formula and a shape factor of channel section. A stability criterion can thus be formulated …

Resource News-May/June 1992

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Aminostratigraphy And Oxygen Isotope Stratigraphy Of Marine Terrace Deposits Palos Verdes Hills And San Pedro Areas Los Angeles County California, Daniel R. Muhs, Gifford H. Miller, Joseph F. Whelean, George L. Kennedy

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Amino acid and oxygen isotope data for fossils from terraces of the Palos Verdes Hills and San Pedro areas in Los Angeles County California shed new light on the ages of terraces sea level history marine paleotemperatures and late Quaternary tectonics in this region Low terraces on the Palos Verdes peninsula correlate with the 80 ka and 125 ka sea level highstands that are also recorded as terraces on other coasts In San Pedro the Palos Verdes sand the deposit on what is mapped as the first terrace by Woodring and others 1946 was previously thought to be a single …

Wspro Files For Slope-Area Computations, Janice M. Fulford

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A new program based on the U. S. Geological Survey slope-area program for indirectly computing peak discharges allows users to employ input data formats used by the water surface profile program WSPRO. The program source is written in Fortran 77 and can be ported easily to any computer that has standard Fortran 77 compilers. The program has been run on mini-computers and personal computers and does not use or require graphics capability, a color monitor, or a mouse.

Mesh-Generating Computer Program For The Feswms-2dh Surface-Water Flow Model, Kirk G. Thibodeaux

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A mesh-generating computer program, GNMESH, has been developed to generate two-dimensional finite element meshes for the U.S. Federal Highway Administration's FESWMS-2DH, a two-dimensional depth averaged finite element flow model. GNMESH uses a modified mapping technique that incorporates piecewise Hermitian and weighted interpolation schemes to layout the generated mesh within given or calculated flow tubes. Minimum required input data for GNMESH is required when the program is run using its default settings. These input data consists of the X, Y, and Z coordinates of points defining a minimum of three cross sections, the roughness coefficients at the given cross sections, an …

Rainfall-Runoff Relations For The Puget Sound Area, R. S. Dinicola

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The characteristics of rainfall-runoff relations were hypothesized for the study area using existing information. These hypotheses were incorporated into the Hydrologic Simulation Program-FORTRAN, and the model was calibrated concurrently at 21 stream-gage sites in the study area. The simulation errors after model calibration were not large enough to reject the hypothesized characteristics. A proxy-basin validation effort was performed.

Characteristics Of U.S. Geological Survey Discharge Measurements For Water Year 1990, Janice M. Fulford

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Resources Division makes ten of thousands of stream discharge measurements each year throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. The majority of the measurements requires the use of point velocity instrumentation. Interest in new instrumentation technology and the performance of in-use instrumentation prompted a survey of current-meter usage and discharge measurement data for water year 1990. This paper is a summary of survey results: the velocity, discharge and depth ranges measured; the types of meters used; and the measurement problems encountered.

Watershed Models For Resources Management Decisions, Alan M. Lumb

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Comprehensive hydrologic analyses can be very effective for the assessment of hydrologic effects of land use and climate changes, but the costs and expertise is often prohibitive. Progress has been made in four areas to reduce the costs and expertise required: (1) Watershed Data Management (WDM) system for the storage and retrieval of data used and generated by the model, (2) an expert system for the calibration of the model, (3) use of Geographical Information Systems to generate distributed parameters for the model, and (4) easy to use software for applications of the model.

Bridge Scour Data Management, Mark N. Landers

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A Bridge Scour Data Management System has been developed by the U.S. Geological Survey to support preparation, compilation, and analysis of bridge scour measurement data. Users may interactively store, retrieve, select, update, and display bridge scour and associated data. Interactive processing makes use of full-screen menus and form fill-ins, and an instruction window. Optional help and limits windows provide additional information for each of about 150 items in the data set for each bridge-scour site. The data set items include all of the essential information from a detailed scour measurement. Each data set has four categories of information: site data; …

First- And Second-Order Patterns Of Stress In The Lithosphere: The World Stress Map Project, Mary Lou Zoback

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

To date, more than 7300 in situ stress orientations have been compiled as part of the World Stress Map project. Of these, over 4400 are considered reliable tectonic stress indicators, recording horizontal stress orientations to within < ±25 °. Remarkably good correlation is observed between stress orientations deduced from in situ stress measurements and geologic observations made in the upper 1-2 km, well bore breakouts extending to 4-5 km depth and earthquake focal mechanisms to depths of-20 km. Regionally uniform stress orientations and relative magnitudes permit definition of broad-scale regional stress patterns often extending 20-200 times the approximately 20-25 km thickness of the upper brittle lithosphere. The "first-order" midplate stress fields are believed to be largely the result of compressional forces applied at plate boundaries, primarily ridge push and continental collision. The orientation of the intraplate stress field is thus largely controlled by the geometry of the plate boundaries. There is no evidence of large lateral stress gradients (as evidenced by lateral variations in stress regime) which would be expected across large plates if simple resistive or driving basal drag tractions (parallel or antiparallel to absolute motion) controlled the intraplate stress field. Intraplate areas of active extension are generally associated with regions of high topography: western U.S. Cordillera, high Andes, Tibetan plateau, western Indian Ocean plateau. Buoyancy stresses related to crustal thickening and/or lithospheric thinning in these regions dominate the intraplate compressional stress field due to plate-driving forces. These buoyancy forces are just one of several categories of "second-order" stresses, or local perturbations, that can be identified once the first-order stress patterns are recognized. These second-order stress fields can often be associated with specific geologic or tectonic features, for example, lithospheric flexure, lateral strength contrasts, as well as the lateral density contrasts which give rise to buoyancy forces. These second-order stress patterns typically have wavelengths ranging from 5 to 10+ times the thickness of the brittle upper lithosphere. A two-dimensional analysis of the amount of rotation of regional horizontal stress orientations due to a superimposed local stress constrains the ratio of the magnitude of the horizontal regional stress differences to the local uniaxial stress. For a detectable rotation of 15 °, the local horizontal uniaxial stress must be at least twice the magnitude of the regional horizontal stress differences. Examples of local rotations of S_Hmax orientations include a 750-85 ° rotation on the
northeastern Canadian continental shelf possibly related to margin-normal extension derived from sediment-loading flexural stresses, a 50 °-60 ° rotation within the East African rift relative to western Africa due to extensional buoyancy forces caused by lithospheric thinning, and an approximately 90 ° rotation along the northern margin of the Paleozoic Amazonas rift in central Brazil. …

A Reconnaissance Study Of Herbicides And Their Metabolites In Surface Water Of The Midwestern United States Using Immunoassay And Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry, E. Michael Thurman, Donald A. Goolsby, Michael Meyer, Margaret Mills, Michael L. Pomes, Dana W. Kolpin

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Preemergent herbicides and their metabolites, particularly atrazine, deethylatrazine, and metolachlor, persisted from 1989 to 1990 in the majority of rivers and streams in the midwestern United States. In spring, after the application of herbicides, the concentrations of atrazine, alachlor, and simazine were frequently 3-10 times greater than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant level (MCL). The concentration of herbicides exceeded the MCLs both singly and in combination. Two major degradation products of atrazine (deisopropylatrazine and deethylatrazine) also were found in many of the streams. The order of persistence of the herbicides and their metabolites in surface water was atrazine …

Dissociation Quotients Of Malonic Acid In Aqueous Sodium Chloride Media To 100°C1, Richard Kettler, David J. Wesolowski, Donald A. Palmer

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The first and second molal dissociation quotients of malonic acid were measured potentiometrically in a concentration cell fitted with hydrogen electrodes. The hydrogen ion molality of malonic acidJbimalonate solutions was measured relative to a standard aqueous HCI solution from 0 to 100°C over 25° intervals at five ionic strengths ranging from 0.1 to 5.0 molal (NaCl). The molal dissociation quotients and available literature data were treated in the all anionic form by a seven-term equation. This treatment yielded the following thermodynamic quantities for the first acid dissociation equilibrium at 25°C: log K_1a = -2.852 ± 0.003. ΔH_1̊a = …

Biogeography Of Campanian-Maastrichtian Calcareous Plankton In The Region Of The Southern Ocean: Paleogeographic And Paleoclimatic Implications, Brian T. Huber, David K. Watkins

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Analysis of biogeographic distribution patterns among Campanian-Maastrichtian calcareous nannoplankton and planktonic foraminifera from the southern high latitudes provides insight to changes in circum-Antarctic climate and surface circulation surface routes. Both microfossil groups are similarly characterized in the early Campanian by low-diversity, cosmopolitan species with few or no austral provincial taxa. This changes by late Campanian-early Maastrichtian time as austral species diversified and began to dominate the high-latitude assemblages. Maximum diversity of austral provincial taxa occurs during the late Campanian among the planktonic foraminifera and in the early Maastrichtian among the calcareous nannoplankton. Climatic cooling is considered the cause for the …

Solid Waste Management In Seismic Impact Zones, Raymond R. Burchett

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Nebraska Mineral Operations Review, 1991, R. R. Burchett, Duane A. Eversoll

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

In Situ Stress Measurements To 3.5 Km Depth In The Cajon Pass Scientific Research Borehole: Implications For The Mechanics Of Crustal Faulting, Mark D. Zoback, John H. Healy

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Measurements of in situ stress orientation and magnitude at the site of the Cajon Pass research borehole have been made from depths of 0.9-3.5 km using the hydraulic fracturing technique and analysis of stress-induced well bore breakouts. The results of these measurements support two important conclusions about the mechanics of crustal faulting. First, the magnitudes of measured in situ stresses indicate ratios of shear to normal stress. on favorably oriented fault planes that are consistent with predictions based on Mohr-Coulomb theory and laboratory-determined coefficients of friction in the range of 0.6-1.0 assuming hydrostatic pore pressure (this is commonly known as …

Groundwater Levels In Nebraska, 1991, Gregory V. Steele, Perry B. Wigley

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Hallazgo De Gasterópodos En La Formación Sijes (Mioceno Superior) Salta, República Argentina, R. N. Alonso, William J. Wayne

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Se da a conocer el hallazgo de gasterópodos en una secuencia sedimentaria continental rica en evaporistas y muy pobre en fósiles. Los gasterópodos fueron descubiertos en capas tufáceas, diatomíticas, del Miembro Esperanza de la Formación Sijes, de edad Mioceno superior. El análisis taxonómico permitió ubicarlos como pertenecientes a una nueva especie del género Littoridina. La sección sedimentaria, de origen lacustre tipo playa-lake, contiene mineralizaciones económicas de boratos que son minadas actualmente. La presencia de estos gasterópodos fósiles tiene importancia desde el punto de vista ambiental y son aquí utilizados en la interpretación sobre la génesis de los boratos.

The …

Greeley County Test Hole Logs, Raymond R. Burchett, Frank A. Smith

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Nance County Test Hole Logs, Raymond R. Burchett, Frank A. Smith

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Resource Notes-Academic Year 1991-92

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Resource News-January/February 1992

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Resource News-March/April 1992

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Mineral Resource Map Of Nebraska, R. R. Burchett

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Numerical Methods 101 - Convergence Of Numerical Models, David B. Thompson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A numerical model is convergent if and only if a sequence of model solutions with increasingly refined solution domains approaches a fixed value. Furthermore, a numerical model is consistent only if this sequence converges to the solution of the continuous equations which govern the physical phenomenon being modeled. Given that a model is consistent, it is insufficient to apply it to a problem without testing for sensitivity to the size of the time and distance steps which form the discrete approximation of the solution domain. That is, convergence testing is a required component of any modeling study.

Two models were …

Modeling Flow And Flood-Plain Storage In A Tidally Affected River, A. G. Strickland, Jerad D. Bales

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A one-dimensional, unsteady-flow model was calibrated, validated, and tested for a 30.4-mile reach of the tidally affected Roanoke River, North Carolina. The model includes a storage reservoir to represent the two-dimensional processes associated with flood-plain storage and release in the one-dimensional flow model. Simulated and measured water levels differed by less than 0.5 foot, and the average absolute difference between simulated and measured flows was 7 percent.

United States Geological Survey Bridge Scour Evaluation Program In Texas, David D. Dunn, Henry R. Hejl Jr.

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Federal Highway Administration has mandated that all bridges in the Federal Aid System crossing over water be evaluated for scour susceptibility. The United States Geological Survey and the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) have initiated a multi-year, multi-phase program to develop scour evaluation and analysis procedures that will allow TXDOT to quickly and efficiently evaluate some 11,000 bridges crossing over water in the state.

Usgs Urban Stonnwater Investigations In The Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas Metroplex, R. Brad Jennings, Tim H. Raines, Lucia G. Colangione

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Stormwater runoff in urban and industrialized areas carries a considerable amount of pollutants to nearby lakes and streams. In an effort to control this source of pollution, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued stormwater regulations to control these discharges. Municipalities with a population of 100,000 or more must undertake a process to obtain permits to control the quality of their storm runoff. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex includes seven cities that must meet these regulations and obtain permits. The U.S. Geological Survey is assisting the North Texas Council of Governments and its associated cities in meeting the water science requirements …

Flux Of Metals Between Sediment And The Water Column, N. S. Simon, K. O. Dennen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The role of nitrogen-containing compounds in the flux of metals between sediment and the overlying water column is discussed.