ALABAMA PROJECTS

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  • Weeks Bay
  • Urban-Flood Frequency
  • Flood-Depth Frequency
  • Bridge Site Hydraulic Studies
  • Catoma Creek

• Mobile NAWQA Study

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USGS IN YOUR STATE

USGS Water Science Centers are located in each state.

Weeks Bay

Project Chief: Amy Gill
Cooperator: Internal
Period of Project: FY03-FY09

The USGS has worked to gather information about mercury cycling along the Gulf Coast through an integrated sampling effort in Weeks Bay and the Mobile River Delta in Alabama. Hypotheses about atmospheric loading, surface and groundwater cycling, and bioaccumulation of mercury are being tested. The Alabama Water Science Center has sampled ground water, surface water, sediment, and fish tissue for mercury and related constituent concentrations, and arranged for aerial thermal mapping of Weeks Bay and its' major tributaries to identify areas of groundwater discharge in the watershed. The Wisconsin Mercury Research Team deployed the Mobile Air Mercury Laboratory during 2005 and 2006 to study rates and phases of atmospheric mercury deposition in the Weeks Bay area. Data from these efforts is being used to investigate the causes of observed spatial variation in mercury bioaccumulation rates.