Johnnie N. Moore’s research while affiliated with University of Montana and other places


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Publications (65)


Beneficial 'inefficiencies' of western ranching: Flood-irrigated hay production sustains wetland systems by mimicking historic hydrologic processes
  • Article
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May 2024

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90 Reads

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1 Citation

Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment

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Kelsey Jensco

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[...]

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Ranching in the American West has long relied on riparian ecosystems to grow grass-hay to feed livestock in winter and during drought. Producers seasonally flood grasslands for hay production using stream diversions and low-tech flood-irrigation on riparian floodplains. Inundation mimics natural processes that sustain riparian vegetation and recharge groundwater. The recent doubling in use of more efficient irrigation approaches, such as center-pivot sprinklers, threatens to accelerate climate change impacts by unintentionally decoupling more inefficient, traditional practices that sustain riparian systems. To assess ecosystem services provided by flood-irrigation hay production, we developed an exhaustive spatial inventory of grass-hay production and combined it with monthly surface water distributions modeled from satellite data. Surface water data were classified by wetland hydroperiod and used to estimate the proportion of wetlands supported by grass-hay production in the Intermountain West, USA. Elevation and proportion of grass-hay relative to other irrigated lands were enumerated to examine differences in their positions and abundance within landscapes. Lastly, we overlaid the delineated grass-hay wetlands with LANDFIRE pre-Euro-American Settings layer to quantify the efficacy of flood irrigation in mimicking the conservation of historical riparian processes. Findings suggest that inefficient grass-hay irrigation mirrored the timing of natural hydrology, concentrating ~93% of flooded grasslands in historical riparian ecosystems, affirming that at large scales, this ranching practice, in part, mimics floodplain processes sustaining wetlands and groundwater recharge. Despite representing only 2.5% of irrigated lands, grass-hay operations supported a majority (58%) of temporary wetlands, a rare and declining habitat for wildlife in the Intermountain West. Tolerance for colder temperatures confined grass-hay production to upper watershed reaches where higher value crops are constrained by growing degree days. This novel understanding of grass-hay agroecology highlights the vital role of working ranches in the resilience and stewardship of riparian systems.

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Critical landscapes connecting waterbird migration networks in western North America (A) represented by SONEC (Southern Oregon and Northeast California) and the Central Valley in the states of California, Oregon, and Nevada, United States (B).
An example of Southern Oregon and Northeast California (SONEC) and Central Valley (CV) cross-seasonal waterbird distributions depicted with American wigeon. Dot size illustrates proportional abundance by region and month (January–December). High winter use (January) in CV shifts to SONEC during spring migration (February–March), while high SONEC use during fall migration (September–November) transitions back to Central Valley for winter (December). Bird absence from May to August indicates breeding is focused outside these regions.
An example of Southern Oregon and Northeast California (SONEC) and the Central Valley (CV) cross-seasonal waterbird distributions depicted for American wigeon. Dot size illustrates proportional abundance by region and month (January–December). Colors represent wetland-agriculture trends underlying a species habitat niche. Red indicates “significant impacts”—declines to a majority of wetland-agricultural habitats utilized by a species. Yellow indicates “moderate impacts”—declines to a minority of wetland-agricultural habitats used. Blue indicates stable conditions.
Southern Oregon and Northeast California (SONEC) overall distribution of monthly wetland abundance (kha) between 1988–2004 (P1) and 2005–2020 (P2) periods. Summaries include all wetlands associated with closed basin lakes, wildlife refuges, and public-private lands. Statistical inference was determined as p-values < 0.1 derived from Wilcoxon ranked order test. Red indicates significant wetland decline, and blue indicates stable to increasing wetland abundance. Results are partitioned by wetland hydroperiod (semi-permanent, seasonal, and temporary). Boxes, interquartile range (IQR); line dividing the box horizontally, median value; whiskers, 1.5 times the IQR; points, outliers.
Southern Oregon and Northeast California (SONEC) distribution of monthly flooded agriculture abundance (kha) between 1988–2004 (P1) and 2005–2020 (P2) periods. Statistical inference was determined as p-values < 0.1 derived from Wilcoxon ranked order test. Red indicates significant wetland decline, and blue indicates stable to increasing wetland abundance. Boxes, interquartile range (IQR); line dividing the box horizontally, median value; whiskers, 1.5 times the IQR; points, outliers.

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Functional Wetland Loss Drives Emerging Risks to Waterbird Migration Networks

March 2022

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252 Reads

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20 Citations

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

Migratory waterbirds (i.e., shorebirds, wading birds, and waterfowl) rely on a diffuse continental network of wetland habitats to support annual life cycle needs. Emerging threats of climate and land-use change raise new concerns over the sustainability of these habitat networks as water scarcity triggers cascading ecological effects impacting wetland habitat availability. Here we use important waterbird regions in Oregon and California, United States, as a model system to examine patterns of landscape change impacting wetland habitat networks in western North America. Wetland hydrology and flooded agricultural habitats were monitored monthly from 1988 to 2020 using satellite imagery to quantify the timing and duration of inundation—a key delimiter of habitat niche values associated with waterbird use. Trends were binned by management practice and wetland hydroperiods (semi-permanent, seasonal, and temporary) to identify differences in their climate and land-use change sensitivity. Wetland results were assessed using 33 waterbird species to detect non-linear effects of network change across a diversity of life cycle and habitat needs. Pervasive loss of semi-permanent wetlands was an indicator of systemic functional decline. Shortened hydroperiods caused by excessive drying transitioned semi-permanent wetlands to seasonal and temporary hydrologies—a process that in part counterbalanced concurrent seasonal and temporary wetland losses. Expansion of seasonal and temporary wetlands associated with closed-basin lakes offset wetland declines on other public and private lands, including wildlife refuges. Diving ducks, black terns, and grebes exhibited the most significant risk of habitat decline due to semi-permanent wetland loss that overlapped important migration, breeding, molting, and wintering periods. Shorebirds and dabbling ducks were beneficiaries of stable agricultural practices and top-down processes of functional wetland declines that operated collectively to maintain habitat needs. Outcomes from this work provide a novel perspective of wetland ecosystem change affecting waterbirds and their migration networks. Understanding the complexity of these relationships will become increasingly important as water scarcity continues to restructure the timing and availability of wetland resources.


Figure 4. Factors influencing flamingo abundance. Path diagrams of factors influencing regional (a) and local (b) abundances of flamingos. Black and red paths represent positive and negative influences, respectively; dashed grey paths represent non-significant influences. Path thickness is proportional to the standardized regression coefficient. Grey boxes surround abiotic variables for watersheds (averages of the 12-month period prior to and including flamingo censuses) and lagunas (averages of the three-month period prior to and including flamingo censuses). PET = potential evapotranspiration. Flamingo illustrations reproduced with permission from [63]. (Online version in colour.)
Climate change and lithium mining influence flamingo abundance in the Lithium Triangle

March 2022

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580 Reads

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50 Citations

The development of technologies to slow climate change has been identified as a global imperative. Nonetheless, such 'green' technologies can potentially have negative impacts on biodiversity. We explored how climate change and the mining of lithium for green technologies influence surface water availability, primary productivity and the abundance of three threatened and economically important flamingo species in the 'Lithium Triangle' of the Chilean Andes. We combined climate and primary productivity data with remotely sensed measures of surface water levels and a 30-year dataset on flamingo abundance using structural equation modelling. We found that, regionally, flamingo abundance fluctuated dramatically from year-to-year in response to variation in surface water levels and primary productivity but did not exhibit any temporal trends. Locally, in the Salar de Atacama-where lithium mining is focused-we found that mining was negatively correlated with the abundance of two of the three flamingo species. These results suggest continued increases in lithium mining and declines in surface water could soon have dramatic effects on flamingo abundance across their range. Efforts to slow the expansion of mining and the impacts of climate change are, therefore, urgently needed to benefit local biodiversity and the local human economy that depends on it.


Figure 2. An example of Southern Oregon and Northeast California (SONEC) and Central Valley (CV) cross-seasonal waterbird distributions depicted with American wigeon. Dot size illustrates proportional abundance by region and month (Jan-Dec). High winter use (Jan) in CV shifts to SONEC during spring migration (Feb-Mar), while high SONEC use during fall migration (Sep-Nov) transitions back to Central Valley for winter (Dec). Bird absence from May to August indicates breeding is focused outside these regions.
Figure 4. Southern Oregon and Northeast California (SONEC) overall distribution of monthly wetland abundance (kha) between 1988-2004 (P1) and 2005-20 (P2) periods. Summaries include all wetlands associated with closed basin lakes, wildlife refuges, and public-private lands. Statistical inference was determined as p-values < 0.1 derived from Wilcoxon ranked order test. Red indicates significant wetland decline, and blue indicates stable to increasing wetland abundance. Results are partitioned by wetland hydroperiod (semi-permanent, seasonal, temporary). Boxes, interquartile range (IQR); line dividing the box horizontally, median value; whiskers, 1.5 times the IQR; points, outliers.
Figure 6. Central Valley distribution of monthly wetland abundance (kha) from 1988-2004 (P1) and 2005-20 (P2). The summary includes all wetlands on duck clubs and wildlife refuges. Statistical inference was determined as p-values < 0.1 derived from Wilcoxon ranked order test. Red indicates significant wetland decline, and blue indicates stable to increasing wetland abundance. Results are partitioned by wetland hydroperiod (semi-permanent, seasonal,
Wetland-agriculture functional groups fror Southern Oregon and Northeast California (SONEC) and the Central Valley
Central Valley proportional wetland abundance by functional group and hydroperiod for P1 (1988-2020) and P2 (2005-20).
Functional wetland loss drives emerging risks to waterbird migration networks

January 2022

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42 Reads

Migratory waterbirds (i.e., shorebirds, wading birds, and waterfowl) are particularly vulnerable to climate and land-use change. Life history strategies supported by an interdependent network of diffuse geographic regions can expose waterbird populations to multiple independent risks throughout their range. Emerging bottlenecks raise concerns over sustainability of continental wetland networks as water scarcity triggers ecological effects misaligned with waterbird habitat needs. Here we use important wetland regions in Oregon and California, USA, as a model system to examine impacts of these changes on waterbird migration networks in western North America. We monitored wetland hydrology and flooded agricultural habitats monthly from 1988 to 2020 using satellite imagery to quantify the timing and duration of inundation (a key delimiter of habitat niche values associated with waterbird use). Trends were binned by management practice and wetland hydroperiods (semi-permanent, seasonal, and temporary) to identify differences in their climate and land-use change sensitivity. Wetland results were assessed using 33 waterbird species to detect nonlinear effects of network change across a diversity of life cycle and habitat needs. Pervasive loss of semi-permanent wetlands was an indicator of systemic functional decline driven by cascading top-down effects of shifting ecosystem water balance. Shortened hydroperiods caused by excessive drying transitioned semi-permanent wetlands to seasonal and temporary hydrologies, a process that in part counterbalanced concurrent seasonal and temporary wetland losses. Expansion of seasonal and temporary wetlands associated with closed basin lakes offset wetland declines on other public and private lands, including wildlife refuges. Diving ducks, black terns, and grebes exhibited the most significant risk of habitat decline due to semi-permanent wetland loss that overlapped important migration, breeding, molting, and wintering periods. Shorebirds and dabbling ducks were beneficiaries of stable agricultural practices and top-down processes of functional wetland declines that operated collectively to maintain habitat needs. Outcomes from this work provide a novel perspective of wetland ecosystem change affecting waterbirds and their migration networks. Understanding the complexity of these relationships will become increasingly important as water scarcity continues to restructure the timing and availability of wetland resources.


Channel narrowing by inset floodplain formation of the lower Green River in the Canyonlands region, Utah

March 2020

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264 Reads

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26 Citations

Geological Society of America Bulletin

The lower Green River episodically narrowed between the mid-1930s and present day through deposition of new floodplains within a wider channel that had been established and/or maintained during the early twentieth century pluvial period. Comparison of air photos spanning a 74-yr period (1940-2014) and covering a 61 km study area shows that the channel narrowed by 12% from 138 ± 3.4 m to 122 ± 2.1 m. Strati-graphic and sedimentologic analysis and tree ring dating of a floodplain trench corroborates the air photo analysis and suggests that the initial phase of floodplain formation began by the mid-1930s, approximately the same time that the flow regime decreased in total annual and peak annual flow. Tama-risk, a nonnative shrub, began to establish in the 1930s as well. Narrowing from the 1940s to the mid-1980s was insignificant, because floodplain formation was approximately matched by bank erosion. Air photo analysis demonstrates that the most significant episode of narrowing was underway by the late 1980s, and analysis of the trench shows that floodplain formation had begun in the mid-1980s during a multi-year period of low peak annual flow. Air photo analysis shows that mean channel width decreased by ∼7% between 1993 and 2009. A new phase of narrowing may have begun in 2003, based on evidence in the trench. Comparison of field surveys made in 1998 and 2015 in an 8.5 km reach near Fort Bottom suggests that narrowing continues and demonstrates that new floodplain formation has been a very small proportion of the total annual fine sediment flux of the Green River. Vertical accretion of new floodplains near Fort Bottom averaged 2.4 m between 1998 and 2015 but only accounted for ∼1.5% of the estimated fine sediment flux during that period. Flood control by Flaming Gorge Dam after 1962 significantly influenced flow regime, reducing the magnitude of the annual snowmelt flood and increasing the magnitude of base flows. Though narrowing was initiated by changes in flow regime, native and nonna-tive riparian vegetation promoted floodplain formation and channel narrowing especially through establishment on channel bars and incipient floodplains during years of small annual floods.


Climate and human water use diminish wetland networks supporting continental waterbird migration

January 2020

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382 Reads

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51 Citations

Global Change Biology

Migrating waterbirds moving between upper and lower latitudinal breeding and wintering grounds rely on a limited network of endorheic lakes and wetlands when crossing arid continental interiors. Recent drying of global endorheic water stores raises concerns over deteriorating migratory pathways, yet few studies have considered these effects at the scale of continental flyways. Here, we investigate the resiliency of waterbird migration networks across western North America by reconstructing long‐term patterns (1984‐2018) of terminal lake and wetland surface water area in 26 endorheic watersheds. Findings were partitioned regionally by snowmelt‐ and monsoon‐driven hydrologies and combined with climate and human water‐use data to determine their importance in predicting surface water trends. Nonlinear patterns of lake and wetland drying were apparent along latitudinal flyway gradients. Pervasive surface water declines were prevalent in northern snowmelt watersheds (lakes ‐27%, wetlands ‐47%) while largely stable in monsoonal watersheds to the south (lakes ‐13%, wetlands +8%). Monsoonal watersheds represented a smaller proportion of total lake and wetland area, but their distribution and frequency of change within highly arid regions of the continental flyway increased their value to migratory waterbirds. Irrigated agriculture and increasing evaporative demands were the most important drivers of surface water declines. Underlying agricultural and wetland relationships however were more complex. Approximately seven percent of irrigated lands linked to flood irrigation and water storage practices supported 61% of all wetland inundation in snowmelt watersheds. In monsoonal watersheds, small earthen dams meant to capture surface runoff for livestock watering, were a major component of wetland resources (67%) that supported networks of isolated wetlands surrounding endorheic lakes. Ecological trends and human impacts identified herein underscore the importance of assessing flyway scale change as our model depictions likely reflect new and emerging bottlenecks to continental migration.



Local topography increasingly influences the mass balance of a retreating cirque glacier

June 2018

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366 Reads

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21 Citations

Local topographically driven processes – such as wind drifting, avalanching, and shading – are known to alter the relationship between the mass balance of small cirque glaciers and regional climate. Yet partitioning such local effects from regional climate influence has proven difficult, creating uncertainty in the climate representativeness of some glaciers. We address this problem for Sperry Glacier in Glacier National Park, USA, using field-measured surface mass balance, geodetic constraints on mass balance, and regional climate data recorded at a network of meteorological and snow stations. Geodetically derived mass changes during 1950–1960, 1960–2005, and 2005–2014 document average mass change rates during each period at -0.22 ± 0.12, -0.18 ± 0.05, and -0.10 ± 0.03 m w.e. yr-1, respectively. A correlation of field-measured mass balance and regional climate variables closely (i.e., within 0.08 m w.e. yr-1) predicts the geodetically measured mass loss from 2005 to 2014. However, this correlation overestimates glacier mass balance for 1950–1960 by +1.20 ± 0.95 m w.e. yr-1. Our analysis suggests that local effects, not represented in regional climate variables, have become a more dominant driver of the net mass balance as the glacier lost 0.50 km2 and retreated further into its cirque.


Local topography increasingly influences the mass balance of a retreating cirque glacier

March 2018

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150 Reads

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2 Citations

The Cryosphere Discussions

Local topographically driven processes such as wind drifting, avalanching, and shading, are known to alter the relationship between the mass balance of small cirque glaciers and regional climate. Yet partitioning such local effects apart from regional climate influence has proven difficult, creating uncertainty in the climate representativeness of some glaciers. We address this problem for Sperry Glacier in Glacier National Park, USA using field-measured surface mass balance, geodetic constraints on mass balance, and regional climate data recorded at a network of meteorological stations. Geodetically derived mass changes between 1950–1960, 1960–2005, and 2005–2014 document average mass loss rates during each period at −0.22±0.12 m w.e. yr−1, −0.18±0.05 m w.e. yr−1, and −0.10±0.03 m w.e. yr−1. A correlation of field-measured mass balance and regional climate variables closely predicts the geodetically measured mass loss from 2005–2014. However, this correlation overestimates glacier mass balance for 1950–1960 by +1.18±0.92 m w.e. yr−1. This suggests that local effects, not represented in regional climate variables, have become a more dominant driver of the net mass balance as the glacier lost 0.50 km² and retreated further into its cirque.


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Citations (57)


... According to a recent California study, alfalfa may be tolerant to Ag-MAR under appropriate soil, weather, production conditions (Dahlke, Brown, et al., 2018). Suitable alternatives include flood irrigated grass-hay, which has additional benefits for riparian and wetland ecosystems (Donnelly et al., 2024), but may require additional navigation of economic and social challenges. In our study, we modeled Ag-MAR application for all water available. ...

Reference:

Can Agricultural Managed Aquifer Recharge (Ag‐MAR) Recover Return Flows Under Prior Appropriation in a Warming Climate?
Beneficial 'inefficiencies' of western ranching: Flood-irrigated hay production sustains wetland systems by mimicking historic hydrologic processes

Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment

... Remote sensing can provide wildlife managers with spatial and temporal habitat metrics to better understand their systems and make datadriven decisions. For example, remote sensing has been used to select and monitor wetland restoration sites (Klemas 2013), to understand how wetland loss can affect waterbird migration (Donnelly et al. 2022), and to monitor nonnative species (Alvarez-Taboada et al. 2017). Our methods leveraged satellite, LiDAR, and Emerging Technologies Ecological monitoring of wildlife populations and their habitats can improve wildlife management. ...

Functional Wetland Loss Drives Emerging Risks to Waterbird Migration Networks

... This highlights the importance of evaluating the environmental impacts as the lithium demand continues to rise, especially considering the trend towards increased solid mineral extraction, like spodumene, rather than the more sustainable brine sources [25]. Mining operations in arid lands such as the Salar de Atacama have shown negative impacts on the region's ecology, local fauna, and the way of life of surrounding communities [83][84][85][86]. In addition, the intensive consumption of water by these activities can reach up to 65% of the available water resources in the region, compromising the supply of the basic needs of the communities in the area [87,88]. ...

Climate change and lithium mining influence flamingo abundance in the Lithium Triangle

... Levees may also be built naturally, as floods deposit their heaviest materials nearest to the stream. An example of such natural levees occurs along the Green River in the Uintah Basin, where a change in flow regime caused by flow diversions and an upstream dam has resulted in disconnection of the floodplain from the stream channel (Walker et al. 2020). ...

Channel narrowing by inset floodplain formation of the lower Green River in the Canyonlands region, Utah

Geological Society of America Bulletin

... Since the start of monitoring, the greatest number of flamingos within TP-CW was reported for 2023 (in particular, more than 500 individuals on the same day within the Reserve Lagoon; Ferris, D. personal communication), whereas, in previous periods (Periods 1, 2 or 3), their numbers never exceeded 100 individuals. The poor conservation state (mainly lack of water) of the really suitable wetlands for this species, such as Doñana National Park (in southern Spain), forced the flamingos to move to other places in search of water, shelter and food availability (Donnelly et al., 2020;Qiu et al., 2024), arriving in large number at the AVNP. Such a high abundance of flamingos has a strong impact on wetlands, since they trample submerged vegetation and sediment, causing resuspensions and increasing water turbidity. ...

Climate and human water use diminish wetland networks supporting continental waterbird migration

Global Change Biology

... In fact, there are a number of processes unaccounted for in our GLACIOCLIM ETI model which could also explain some of the observed variability. These could be related to the topographic shading at the base of these north-facing headwalls, to the preferential redistribution of snow by wind, to a varying precipitation lapse rate at high elevation along the headwalls, or to the lower albedo values caused by the snow cover lasting longer on the avalanche cones (Florentine et al., 2018;Olson and Rupper, 560 2019). Testing most of these hypotheses would likely require more advanced observations or modelling schemes to be able to discriminate between these different contributions (Mott et al., 2019;Voordendag et al., 2024), but our approach at least provides an estimate of their overall local contribution to the SMB. ...

Local topography increasingly influences the mass balance of a retreating cirque glacier

... As bars and islands became more densely vegetated, small secondary channels accreted, decreasing the active channel area. Walker (2017) found that the majority of deposition occurred at bars on the inside of bends and adjacent to existing alluvial floodplains. Examining mean reach-wide channel width values from 1940 to 2014 indicated an overall narrowing of 11.9% (mean channel widths were 138. ...

TWENTIETH CENTURY CHANNEL NARROWING OF THE GREEN RIVER IN CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK, UTAH
  • Citing Conference Paper
  • January 2018

... Some lakes have shown decreased salinity, such as lakes on the Tibetan Plateau [5,55]. In the cold and arid Inner Mongolia region, lakes showed both trends and important interannual and seasonal changes, which could impact the microbial communities' species richness and functional diversity [2,68], as well as degrading habitat quality with potential losses such as species extinction if the biological tolerance thresholds are exceeded [69]. Additionally, increased salinity can reduce lake methane concentrations with consequent benefits for greenhouse gas emissions [70] and the lake carbon cycle [3]. ...

Recent desiccation of Western Great Basin Saline Lakes: Lessons from Lake Abert, Oregon, U.S.A
  • Citing Article
  • March 2016

The Science of The Total Environment

... The chemical composition of hot springs is highly variable. It depends on the depths and the different paths they take to the surface (Nimick et al., 1998), implying that the concentrations of minerals and their presence change over time. The chemical composition of the hot spring waters of the TG differ from that described by Núñez-Benitez (2007), who reported the presence of Arsenic (43.77 mg/L) and silica (112.65 mg/L) in these same waters, while these salts were not detected in our study. ...

The fate of geothermal arsenic in the Madison and Missouri Rivers, Montana and Wyoming