The mechanisms that control the composition of river-borne materials are only imperfectly understood, because both erosion and the subsequent transport of material by rivers are mediated by a wide variety of highly-linked chemical, biological, and physical processes. Moreover, in developed river systems, such as those in the United States, these processes are subject to pervasive human- related perturbations. This project studies weathering, erosion, and atmospheric-exchange processes which are the sources of dissolved and particulate material in rivers and trace substances in the atmosphere; studies chemical partitioning of various phases during transport in rivers and estuaries; describes the dispersal pathways of river-borne substances through river systems and estuaries, into and across the coastal marine environment; and evaluates the extent to which human activities, particularly changes in land use, have affected systems being examined, so as to provide data for studies of water-quality trends and climate change. For additional information: see Hydrologic and Erosional Responses of Burned Watersheds for wildfire studies, or see the page for the Boulder Creek Watershed in Colorado.

REPORTS PUBLISHED 1994-2004

Kinner, D.A., and Stallard, R.F., in press, Identifying storm flow pathways in a rainforest catchment using hydrological and geochemical modeling: Hydrological Processes.

Kinner, D.A., Mitasova, H., Stallard, R.F., Harmon, R.S., and Toma, L. in press, GIS database and stream network analysis for the Chagres River Basin, Republic of Panama, in Harmon, R.S., ed., The Rio Chagres - A multidisciplinary profile of a tropical watershed.

Moody, J.A., and Martin, in press, Wildfire impacts on resevoir sedimentation in the western United States: Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium of River Sedimentation, October 18-21, 2004.

Svenning, J-C., Kinner, D.A., Stallard, R.F., Engelbrecht, B.M., and Wright, S.J., in press, Ecological determinism in plant community structure across a tropical forest landscape: Ecology.

Kinner, D.A., 2003, Delineation of the Boulder Creek watershed and its subwatersheds, in Murphy, S.F., Verplanck, P.L., and Barber, L.B., eds., Comprehensive water quality of the Boulder Creek Watershed, Colorado, during high-flow and low-flow conditions, 2000: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 03-4045, chapt. 2, p. 27-39.

Martin, D.A., 2003, Post-wildfire hydrology - effects of wildfire in New Mexico ecosystems and hydrological response of burned watershed, in Johnson, P.S., Land, L.A., Price, L.G., and Titus, F., eds., Water Resources of the Lower Pecos Region, New Mexico, Science, Policy, and a Look to the Future, Decision-Makers field Conference 2003, Socorro, New Mexico: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, p. 80-82.

Murphy, S.F., Barber, L.B., Verplanck, P.L., and Kinner, D.A., 2003, Environmental setting and hydrology of the Boulder Creek Watershed, Chapter 1 in Murphy, S.F., Verplanck, P.L., and Barber, L.B., eds., Comprehensive water quality of the Boulder Creek Watershed, Colorado, during high-flow and low-flow conditions, 2000: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 03-4045, p. 5-26. (on line chapter in pdf format)

Murphy, S.F., Shelley, J.J., Stout, J.A., and Mead, E.P., 2003, Basic water quality in the Boulder Creek Watershed, Colorado, during high-flow and low-flow conditions, 2000, Chapter 3 in Murphy, S.F., Verplanck, P.L., and Barber, L.B., eds., Comprehensive water quality of the Boulder Creek Watershed, Colorado, during high-flow and low-flow conditions, 2000: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 03-4045, p. 41-70. (on-line chapter in pdf format)

Murphy, S.F., Verplanck, P.L., and Barber, L.B., eds., 2003, Comprehensive water quality of the Boulder Creek Watershed, Colorado, during high-flow and low-flow conditions, 2000: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 03-4045, 198 p. (on-line report in pdf format - 31 MB)

Stallard, R.F., 2003, Erosion and sediment yield, in Middleton, G., ed., Encyclopedia of Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks: Dordrecht, Holland, Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 254-256.

Verplanck, P.L., Murphy, S.F., and Barber, L.B., 2003, Water quality of the Boulder Creek Watershed, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 043-03. (on-line fact sheet)

Ibáñez D.R., Condit, R., Angehr, G.R., Aguilar, S., García, T., Martínez, R., Sanjur, A., Stallard R.F., Wright S.J., Rand A.S., Heckadon Moreno S., 2002, An ecosystem report on the Panama Canal: Monitoring the status of the forest communities and the watershed: Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, v. 80, p. 65-95. (on-line abstract)

Stallard, R.F., 2002, The biogeochemistry of the Amazon Basin: too little mud, and perhaps too much water: Hydrological Processes, v. 16, p. 2047-2049.

Stallard, R.F., 2002, contributor to Goklany, I., and Willey, S., eds., Carbon Sequestration and the Department of the Interior: Washington, D.C., Department of the Interior. (on-line report)

Condit, R., Robinson, W.D., Ibáñez, R., Aguilar, S., Sanjur, A., Martínez, R., Stallard, R.F., García, T., Angehr, G.R., Petit L., Wright, S.J., Robinson, T.R., and Stanley Heckadon, S., 2001, The status of the Panama Canal Watershed and its biodiversity at the beginning of the 21st Century: Bioscience, v. 51, no.5, p. 389-398. (on-line article)

Martin, D.A., and Moody, J.A., 2001, The flux and particle size distribution of sediment collected in hillslope traps sfter a Colorado wildfire: Proceedings of the Seventh Interagency Sedimentation Conference, v. 1, p. II-I40 - II-I47.

Martin, D.A., and Moody, J.A., 2001, Comparison of soil infiltration rates in burned and unburned mountainous watersheds: Hydrological Processes, v. 15, no. 15, p. 2893-2903 (on-line abstract)

Moody, J.A., and Martin, D.A., 2001, Initial hydrologic and geomorphic response following a wildfire in the Colorado Front Range: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, v. 26, no. 10, p. 1049-1070 (on-line abstract)

Moody, J.A., and Martin, D.A., 2001, Post-fire, rainfall intensity-peak discharge relations for three mountainous watersheds in the western USA: Hydrological Processes: v. 15, no. 15, p. 2981-2993 (on-line abstract)

Moody, J.A., and Martin, D.A., 2001, Hydrologic and sedimentologic response of two burnded watersheds in Colorado: US Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Reprot 01-4122, 138 p. (and data CD).

Pacala, S.W., Hurtt, G.C., Baker, D., Peylin, P., Houghton, R.A., Birdsey, R.A., Heath, L., Sundquist, E.T., Stallard, R.F., Ciaia, P., Moorcroft, P., Caspersen, J.P., Shelvliakova, E., Moore, B., Kohlmaier, G., Holland, E., Gloor, M., Harmon, M.E., Fan, S.-M., Sarmiento, J.L., Goodale, C.L., Schimel, D., Field, C.B., 2001, Consistent land- and atmosphere-based U.S. carbon sink estimates: Science, v. 292, no. 5525, p. 2316-2320. (on-line abstract)

Stallard, R.F., 2001, Possible environmental factors underlying amphibian decline in eastern Puerto Rico: Analysis of government data archives: Conservation Biology, v. 15, no. 4, p. 943-953. (on-line abstract)

Stallard, R.F., Mixon, D., Kinner, D.A., and Worstell, B., 2001, RESIS-II: Making the reservoir survey system complete and user friendly: Proceedings of the Seventh Interagency Sedimentation Conference, v. 2, p. IX9 - IX11.

Larsen, M.C., and Stallard, R.F., 2000, Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico-- A Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets Program site: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 163-99. (on-line fact sheet)

Lee H. MacDonald, L.H., Sampson, R., Brady, D., Juarros, L., Martin, D.A., 2001, Predicting post-fire erosion and sedimentation risk on a landscape scale: A case study from Colorado: Journal of Sustainable Forestry, v. 11, no 1-2, p. 57-87. (on-line abstract)

Stallard, R. F., 2000, Tectonic processes and erosion, in Jacobson, M.C., Charleson, R.J., Rodhe, H., and Orians, G.H., eds., Earth system science--from biogeochemical cycles to global change: San Diego, California, Academic Press, p. 195-229.

Brown, E.T., Stallard, R.F., Larsen, M.C., Bourlès, D.L., Raisbeck, G.M., and Yiou, F., 1998, Determination of predevelopment denudation rates of an agricultural watershed (Cayaguás River, Puerto Rico) using in situ-produced ¹⁰Be in river-borne quartz: Earth and Planetary Sciences Letters, v. 160, p. 723-728. (on-line abstract)

Stallard, R.F., 1998, Terrestrial sedimentation and the carbon cycle: Coupling weathering and erosion to carbon burial: Global Biogeochemical Cycles, v. 12, p. 231-252. (on-line abstract)

Sundquist, E.T., Stallard, R.F., Bliss, N.B., Markewich, H.W., Harden, J.W., Pavich, M.J., Dean, W.E., Jr., 1998, MIssissippi Basin Carbon Project Science Plan: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-1777, 28 p. (on-line report)

Axtmann, E.V., Cain, D.J., and Luoma, S.N., 1997, Effect of tributary inflows on the distribution of trace metals in fine-grained bed sediments and benthic insects of the Clark Fork River, Montana: Environmental Science and Technology, v. 31, p. 750-758. (on-line abstract)

Dodge, K. A., Hornberger, M.I., Axtman, E.V., 1997. Water-quality, bed-sediment, and biological data (October 1995 through September 1996) and statistical summaries of data for streams in the Upper Clark Fork Basin, Montana: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 97-522, 91 p.

Goldstein, S.L., Arndt, N.T., and Stallard, R.F., 1997, The history of a continent from U-Pb ages of zircons from Orinoco River sand and Sm-Nd isotopes in Orinoco basin river sediments: Chemical Geology, v. 139, p. 271-286. (on-line abstract)

Hornberger, M. I., Lambing, J.H., Luoma, S. N., and Axtmann, E. V., 1997. Spatial and temporal trends of trace metals in surface water, bed sediment, and biota of the upper Clark Fork Basin, Montana, 1985-1995: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 97-669, 84 p.

Hornberger, Michelle I., Lambing, John H., Luoma, Samuel N., and Axtmann, Ellen V., 1997. Spatial and Temporal Trends of Trace Metals in Surface Water, Bed Sediment, and Biota of the Upper Clark Fork Basin, Montana, 1985-95: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 97-669

Markewich, H.W., Bliss, N.B., Stallard, R.F., and Sundquist, E.T., 1997, Can the global carbon budget be balanced? Global environmental change and the carbon cycle: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 137-97. (on-line fact sheet)

Axtmann, E. V., and Stallard, R. F., 1995, Chemical weathering in the South Cascade Glacier basin, comparison of subglacial and extra-glacial weathering, in Tonnessen, K. A., Williams, M. W., and Tranter, Martyn, eds., Biogeochemistry of Seasonally Snow-Covered Catchments: International Association of Hydrological Sciences Publication 228, p. 431-439. (on-line abstract)

Brown, E. T., Stallard, R. F., Larsen, M. C., and others, 1995, Denudation rates determined from the accumulation of in situ-produced 10Be in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 129, p. 193-202. (on-line abstract)

Cain, D.J., Luoma, S.N., and Axtmann, E.V., 1995, Influence of gut content in immature aquatic insects on assessments of environmental contamination: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, v. 52, no. 12, p. 2736-2745. (on-line abstract)

Edmond, J.M., Palmer, M.R., Measures, C.I.; Grant, B., and Stallard, R.F., 1995, The fluvial geochemistry and denudation rate of the Guayana Shield in Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 59, no. 16, p. 3301-3325. (on-line abstract)

Kimball, B. A., Callender, E., and Axtmann, E. V., 1995, Effects of colloids on metal transport in a river receiving acid mine drainage, upper Arkansas River, Colorado, U.S.A.: Applied Geochemistry, v. 10, p. 285-306. (on-line abstract)

Lambing, J. H., Hornberger, M. I., Axtmann, E. V., and others, 1995, Water-quality, bed-sediment, and biological data (October 1993 through September 1994) and statistical summaries of data for streams in the Upper Clark Fork Basin, Montana, U. S. Geological Survey, Open-File report 95-429, 104 pages. (on-line abstract)

Stallard, R. F., 1995, Tectonic, environmental, and human aspects of weathering and erosion: A global review using a steady-state perspective: Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, v. 23, p. 11-39. (on-line abstract)

Stallard, R. F., 1995, Relating chemical and physical erosion: in White, A.F., and Brantley, S.L. eds., Chemical Weathering Rates of Silicate Minerals: Reviews in Mineralogy, v. 31, p. 543-564. (on-line abstract)

Keller, M., and Stallard, R. F., 1994, Methane emission by bubbling from Gatun Lake, Panama: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 99, p. 8307-8319. (on-line abstract)

Lambing, J. H., Hornberger, M. I., Axtmann, E. V., and Pope, D. A., 1994, Water-quality, bed sediment, and biological data (October 1992 through September 1993) and statistical summaries of water-quality data (March 1985 through September 1993) for streams in the Upper Clark Fork Basin, Montana: U. S. Geological Survey, Open-File report 94-375, 85 p. (abstract on line)

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PROJECT, CONTACT:
Robert F. Stallard
U.S. Geological Survey, 3215 Marine Street (E146), Boulder, CO 80303-1066
Email: stallard@usgs.gov
Telephone: 303-541-3022

Deborah A. Martin
U.S. Geological Survey, 3215 Marine Street (E146), Boulder, CO 80303-1066
Email: damartin@usgs.gov
Telephone: 303-541-3024

Sheila F. Murphy
U.S. Geological Survey, 3215 Marine Street (E145), Boulder, CO 80303-1066
Email: email sfmurphy@usgs.gov
Telephone 303-541-3023

For information on additional projects in the National Research Program, see Indexes to NRP projects and bibliographies