U.S. Geological Survey
U.S. Geological Survey
The USGS provides maps, reports, and information to help others meet their needs to manage, develop, and protect America's water, energy, mineral, and land resources. We help find natural resources needed to build tomorrow, and supply scientific understanding needed to help minimize or mitigate the effects of natural hazards and environmental damage caused by human activities. The results of our efforts touch the daily lives of almost every American.
Perhaps the most important uses of USGS maps, however, are as bases for hundreds of other special-purpose maps produced by other agencies. Most maps in use today originated from USGS base maps. Examples include State, county, and local highway maps; land-use and ownership maps; geologic maps; and recreational maps. Widely used full-coverage maps of South Dakota and numerous special maps also are available from the USGS.
Recent technological advances, especially in the field of geographic information systems (GIS), have increased the demand for digital map products. Digital products are especially useful in the Black Hills area because of pronounced topographic relief and complex hydrology and geology. To meet this need, 10 Federal, State, and local agencies are cooperating to produce 1:24,000-scale digital products for the Black Hills area.
The USGS recently signed an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to produce digital Public Land Survey System data for the eastern one-third of South Dakota. The data can be used by the regional Wetland Habitat Office of the FWS for spatial analysis of wetland areas.
Figure 1. South Dakota counties and status of county and multicounty water-resources appraisals.
EROS also plays a special role in regional activities such as hosting the Scientific Assessment and Strategy Team (SAST), which was a Federal response to massive flooding in the Missouri and the Mississippi River drainage basins that devastated crops, homes, and businesses during 1993. EROS also supplied numerous images containing earth science data, such as the flood images shown in figure 2. The SAST effort was summarized in a report that provides scientific advice and assistance to Federal officials responsible for making decisions with respect to flood recovery and provides information regarding nonstructural and structural approaches to river basin management.
Figure 2. Landsat Thematic Mapper images of the Missouri River near Glasgow, Missouri.
Left, Preflood conditions, September 1992.
Right, Peak flood conditions, September 1993.
EROS participation as a cooperator in the Great Plains Initiative is another example of its regional role. The Great Plains Initiative, which was one of the results of the Western Governors Conference, will demonstrate that economic development and ecological management can be served by preventing decline of wildlife species and their ecosystems. The work involves gathering and linking data bases concerned with the ecosystems of the Great Plains. The EROS contribution to this cooperative interagency effort is to provide earth science information and to develop data-transfer technologies.
South Dakota also benefits from EROS data collection, research, and dissemination at continental and global scales. Because of repeated coverage of large areas, satellite sensors can detect changes on the Earth's surface. For example, EROS scientists use data from these sensors to construct maps that show the regional plant life at different times of the year. Such maps of South Dakota have been produced continuously since 1988 and are used to monitor growing conditions and fire indices for crops, rangeland, and timber. Numerous global scale applications, such as showing probable migration routes of locust hordes in Africa, also exist.
As part of its outreach and educational activities within South Dakota, EROS is a partner in the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium. This group, which is dedicated to improving research capabilities within the State, works closely with several universities. Through the program, EROS hosts researchers who work in areas of mutual interest each summer.
The USGS has worked with the Bureau of Reclamation to identify areas where soils have high potential for producing selenium in irrigation-drainage waters. One such area is the site of the proposed Lake Andes--Marty II Demonstration Program in southeastern South Dakota where marine shales contain high concentrations of selenium. Since 1984, USGS scientists have collected baseline trace-element data, including selenium concentrations, in water samples at 13 sites within the proposed area of the Demonstration Program. The USGS also has collected baseline water-quality data on nutrient and pesticide concentrations in the Lake Andes area.
Molybdenosis, which is a disease of grazing cattle and sheep, is caused by the depressing effect of molybdenum on the uptake of essential copper. In areas where bedrock units contain high concentrations of molybdenum, the element can be ab-sorbed by pasture vegetation. The USGS, in cooperation with veterinarians and State universities, has studied this disease and its relation to regional geology in northwestern South Dakota.
Various problems have occurred from the development of mineral resources in the Black Hills area. The most notable example resulted from the discharge of mill tailings to Whitewood Creek over the course of about 100 years of gold-mining activity. Whitewood Creek was listed as an Interim Priority Site under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act of 1980. The site was intensively studied throughout the 1980's by the USGS under the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program. Contamination of the creek by arsenic, mercury, and cyanide were determined to be the largest problems.
Recent development of several open-pit, heap-leach gold mines has caused concern regarding the quantity and quality of streamflow. In response to this concern, the USGS, in cooperation with State and local agencies, is operating streamflow-gaging and water-quality-sampling stations at various locations in the Black Hills area. A separate study of the origin and geochemistry of ore bodies at two major mines may provide information relative to future water-quality concerns at other potential mine locations.
Figure 3. Location of South Dakota Indian reservations and status of geohydrologic investigations.
Current studies of the Lake Traverse and the Rosebud Reservations are underway by the USGS in cooperation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Tribes, State Geological Survey, counties, and local water districts. Water-resources appraisals of the Lower Brule, the Cheyenne, and the Pine Ridge Reservations can be used to support development of comprehensive water plans. Subsequent studies have begun on several reservations to integrate hydrologic and geologic data by using GIS analysis. The USGS has performed aquifer tests on the Pine Ridge Reservation to evaluate ground water as a source for irrigation. Sampling is underway to evaluate water quality at the proposed intake for the Mni Wiconi rural water system.
A 1991 survey of bridge failures in the United States since 1950 showed that 60 percent of the failures were associated with channel instability and scour around bridge piers and abutments. The USGS, in cooperation with the DOT and the Federal Highway Administration, has undertaken a 5-year investigation of scour at 31 bridges in South Dakota.
Droughts in South Dakota are devastating to the State's agriculture industry. During periods of drought, the USGS works with numerous agencies to disseminate streamflow and water-level data needed to regulate water rights and maintain instream-flow requirements.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) is concerned about sedimentation of Missouri River reservoirs, especially Lake Francis Case near the confluence of the White River, and Lake Sharpe near the confluence of the Bad River. The USGS recently completed a sediment survey near the White River confluence. The USGS, in cooperation with the local Conservation District and the Soil Conservation Service, also collects hydrologic data in support of sediment studies within the Bad River Basin; this Basin has been identified as one of the demonstration projects for "Ecosystem Management."
The Black Hills Hydrology Study is a planned 10-year hydrogeologic study in a six-county area that began during 1990 in cooperation with DENR and local cooperators. Preliminary efforts have focused on determining the quantity and quality of surface and ground waters. Water-level records from an extensive network of observation wells are used to monitor water-level trends. Future efforts are intended to involve hydrologic budgeting, determination of aquifer characteristics, and modeling of ground-water flow.
The Madison and the Minnelusa aquifers are particularly important in the Black Hills area because large well yields are possible from these aquifers. Objectives of ongoing studies in cooperation with Rapid City and Spearfish include determination of aquifer characteristics and modeling of ground-water flow and solute transport. Solute transport is of particular concern because of the fractured nature of most Black Hills aquifers.
A study of urban stormwater quality, in cooperation with Sioux Falls, can help the City collect technical information necessary for obtaining a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. The permit is required by the EPA for municipalities with populations that are larger than 100,000. The study includes evaluation of stormwater quality in selected storm channels and evaluation of methods for predicting water-quality conditions in urban environments. The results of this study can be applicable to other communities with similar environmental settings.
The USGS provides technical support to a Restoration Advisory Board that deals with local concerns relating to an abandoned Army ordinance depot near Igloo in southwestern South Dakota. The COE oversees investigation of buried chemical and explosive ordinance at the site, which is frequently proposed as a waste-disposal site.
The Center for Environmental Geo-chemistry and Geophysics (CEGG) located in Denver, focuses on environmental geoscience research and information exchange. CEGG coordinates and supports basic and applied research on the natural and human-induced environmental effects associated with geologic sources---especially those related to mineral and energy resources and their development. Some examples of current investigations include environmental geochemistry of historic mining and smelting activities, behavior and transport of toxic elements in natural systems, and use of naturally occurring minerals as scavengers for toxic metals.
from U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Fact Sheet FS-041-95 Revised