This U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data release contains data from stream water, groundwater, and soil samples collected in 2019 and 2020 in the North Quartz Creek watershed in central Colorado. Fourteen streambank wells were installed in pairs at seven locations in August 2020 to capture the emerging groundwater from the left bank and right banks (relative to downstream-facing direction) and a synoptic sampling campaign was conducted to quantify metal contributions to the stream. A continuous, instream injection of sodium bromide (NaBr) was initiated at the head of the 5 km study reach several days prior to the synoptic sampling campaign and maintained throughout the duration of the study. Bromide concentrations were subsequently used to determine streamflow in the primary study reach (upper 1.3 km) using the tracer-dilution method, and as an indicator of hydrologic connections between North Quartz Creek and subsurface water. Streamflow was quantified in a secondary study reach (lower 3.7 km) using data from a series of sodium chloride slug additions wherein specific conductivity readings were used as a surrogate for the tracer concentration. Surface water samples were collected along North Quartz Creek including inflows from the left (LBI) and right (RBI) banks. Soil and sediment samples were collected along the transport path from source material (natural weathering and mine tailings/mine drainage) to the stream.

This data collection includes spatial and tabular datasets related to the delineation and characterization of surface moisture zones (SMZs) in the vicinity of springs mapped in the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) in southeastern Oregon using time-series analysis of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data derived from Landsat Thematic Mapper 5 imagery from 1985-2011. The study area is within and adjacent to the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area (CMPA), which is a protected area of approximately 1,732 km2 managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Harney County, Oregon. Within or adjacent to the Steens Mountain CMPA, approximately 1,100 springs are mapped in the NHD, however very little hydrologic data exists for these springs. Data in this data release were produced using a set of scripts written in the R programming language, which are also included in this data release (see ‘larger works citation’ to access R scripts and associated metadata). These data processing scripts, data products, and associated metadata provide documentation for a novel remote-sensing based approach to assess the potential resilience of spring-dependent ecosystems to inter-annual changes in water availability. This approach uses time-series analysis of NDVI to (1) delineate SMZs in the vicinity of mapped springs in a semi-arid sage-steppe landscape, (2) derive quantitative indicators of the relative resilience of these SMZs to inter-annual changes in water availability, and (3) synthesize these indicators into an overall resilience score for each cluster of springs. Specifically, for 39 spring clusters in Harney County, Oregon, USA, these scripts process Landsat-derived NDVI and precipitation data from 1985-2011 to derive 7 potential indicators of SMZ resilience to water-cycle changes. For detailed information on the resilience indicators, including their conceptual basis, methods of calculation, and interpretation, see Cartwright and Johnson (2018) and the R scripts and their associated metadata in this data release. References: Cartwright and Johnson (2018), Springs as hydrologic refugia in a changing climate? A remote sensing approach. Ecosphere X(X).

Surface geophysical surveys were conducted in July 2017 in the greater East River Watershed near Crested Butte Colorado with a focused effort in Redwell Basin as part of a broader study of the role of bedrock groundwater in the hydrogeology of mineralized mountain watersheds. Ten gravity stations were acquired with a LaCoste and Romberg G-model relative gravimeter to map density variations. This data release includes principal facts for the gravity stations provided as digital data. Data fields are defined in the data dictionary.

Surface electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), magnetics, and gravity data were acquired in July 2017 in the greater East River Watershed near Crested Butte Colorado with a focused effort in Redwell Basin. Five ERT profiles were acquired within Redwell Basin and Brush Creek to map geologic structure at depths up to 40 meters, depending on the subsurface resistivity, using the Advanced Geosciences, Inc. SuperSting R8 resistivity meter. Approximately ten kilometers of total field magnetics data were acquired with a Geometrics G-858 cesium vapor magnetometer that detects changes in deep (tens of meters to kilometers) geologic structure based on variations in the magnetic properties of different formations. Ten gravity stations were acquired with a LaCoste and Romberg G-model relative gravimeter to map density variations. This data release includes raw data for all methods as well as processed and/or inverted resistivity or water content models. Digital data from all methods are provided, and data fields are defined in respective data dictionaries.

Historical water and gas chemistry data from geothermal areas are important for detecting long-term patterns, informing geothermal energy exploration, development, and use, and for contextualizing more recent data. The U.S. Geological Survey has published water and gas chemistry data from geothermal areas in the western United States, which is primarily available as scanned PDF files. This makes the data difficult to access or include in large-scale data analysis. This data release provides digitized and reformatted data from 20 previously published U.S. Geological Survey Open-File reports and journal articles, representing 1867 water chemistry samples and 313 gas chemistry samples. All data have been standardized to the same units, geographic coordinates, and file format. Description of sample site location was improved. Many reports do not report geographic location coordinates; those that do are frequently inaccurate, as latitude and longitude were interpolated from a map, or in some cases, estimated in the field before the common use of global positioning systems (GPS). Collection dates for individual samples range from 1930 to 2005, although most samples were collected between the years 1970 and 2000. Samples are primarily from California, Oregon, and Washington, although some reports include data from sites in Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. Attributes for both water and gas chemistry are: Sample name, Sample ID, Type, Collection date, Collection time, Reported location, Reported latitude, Reported longitude, Reported Easting, Reported Northing, Location description, Region, State, County, Latitude, Longitude, Location resolution, Location error, Elevation, Source, Author comment, and Digitizer comment. Attributes for water chemistry are: Well depth, Collection depth, Discharge, Temperature, pH (field), pH (lab), pH, Aluminum (Al), Arsenic (As), Boron (B), Barium (Ba), Bromide (Br), Calcium (Ca), Chloride (Cl), Carbonate (CO3), Alkalinity as carbonate (CO3), Cesium (Cs), Copper (Cu), Dissolved Organic Carbon as Carbon (DIC as C), Fluoride (F), Iron (Fe), Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), Bicarbonate (HCO3), Alkalinity as bicarbonate (HCO3), Carbonic acid (H2CO3), Mercury (Hg), Iodide (I), Potassium (K), Lithium (Li), Magnesium (Mg), Manganese (Mn), Molybdenum (Mo), total Nitrogen (N), Sodium (Na), Ammonium (NH4), Nickel (Ni), Nitrate (NO3), total Phosphorus (P), Lead (Pb), Phosphate (PO4), Rubidium (Rb), Silica (SiO2), Sulfate (SO4), Strontium (Sr), Uranium (U), Vanadium (V), Zinc (Zn), Reported cations, Reported anions, Cations, Anions, Reported total dissolved solids, Salinity, Charge balance, Specific conductance, isotopic composition of hydrogen (Delta 2H), isotopic composition of oxygen in water (Delta 18O (H2O)), Oxygen shift, isotopic composition of oxygen in sulfate (Delta 18O (SO4)), isotopic composition of carbon (Delta 13C), isotopic composition of carbon in dissolved inorganic carbon (Delta 13C (DIC)), Tritium (3H), and 14C. Attributes for gas chemistry are: Temperature, Total gas, argon (Ar), oxygen and argon (O2 + Ar), ethane (C2H6), methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen (H2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), helium (He), nitrogen (N2), ammonia (NH3), oxygen (O2), dissolved argon (Ar dissolved), dissolved methane (CH4 dissolved), dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2 dissolved), dissolved hydrogen (H2 dissolved), dissolved helium (He dissolved), dissolved nitrogen (N2 dissolved), dissolved ammonia (NH3 dissolved), dissolved oxygen (O2 dissolved), isotopic ratio of helium (3He/4He), isotopic ratio of helium corrected for the atmospheric isotopic composition of helium (3He/4He corrected), isotopic composition of nitrogen (Delta 15N), and isotopic composition of carbon in carbon dioxide (Delta 13C (CO2)).

Surface electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), magnetic, and gravity surveys were conducted in July 2017 in the greater East River Watershed near Crested Butte Colorado with a focused effort in Redwell Basin as part of a broader study of the role of bedrock groundwater in the hydrogeology of mineralized mountain watersheds. Five electrical resistivity tomography profiles were acquired within Redwell Basin and Brush Creek to map geologic structure at depths up to 40 meters, depending on the subsurface resistivity, using the Advanced Geosciences, Inc. SuperSting R8 resistivity meter. This data release includes the raw and processed resistivity data as well as inverted resistivity models. All are provided as digital data, and data fields for each file type are defined in the respective data dictionary.