Interbasin flow in the Great Basin with special reference to the southern Funeral Mountains and the source of Furnace Creek springs, Death Valley, California, U.S.

Journal of Hydrology (Elsevier) | May 5th, 2009

Interbasin flow in the Great Basin has been established by scientific studies during the past century. While not occurring uniformly between all basins, its occurrence is

Interbasin flow in the Great Basin has been established by scientific studies during the past century. While not occurring uniformly between all basins, its occurrence is common and is a function of the hydraulic gradient between basins and hydraulic conductivity of the intervening rocks. The Furnace Creek springs in Death Valley, California are an example of large volume springs that are widely accepted as being the discharge points of regional interbasin flow. The flow path has been interpreted historically to be through consolidated Paleozoic carbonate rocks in the southern Funeral Mountains. This work reviews the preponderance of evidence supporting the concept of interbasin flow in the Death Valley region and the Great Basin and addresses the conceptual model of pluvial and recent recharge [Nelson, S.T., Anderson, K., Mayo, A.L., 2004. Testing the interbasin flow hypothesis at Death Valley, California. EOS 85, 349; Anderson, K., Nelson, S., Mayo, A., Tingey, D., 2006. Interbasin flow revisited: the contribution of local recharge to high-discharge springs, Death Valley, California. Journal of Hydrology 323, 276–302] as the source of the Furnace Creek springs. We find that there is insufficient modern recharge and insufficient storage potential and permeability within the basin-fill units in the Furnace Creek basin for these to serve as a local aquifer. Further, the lack of high sulfate content in the spring waters argues against significant flow through basin-fill sediments and instead suggests flow through underlying consolidated carbonate rocks. The maximum temperature of the spring discharge appears to require deep circulation through consolidated rocks; the Tertiary basin fill is of insufficient thickness to generate such temperatures as a result of local fluid circulation. Finally, the stable isotope data and chemical mass balance modeling actually support the interbasin flow conceptual model rather than the alternative presented in Nelson et al. [Nelson, S.T., Anderson, K., Mayo, A.L., 2004. Testing the interbasin flow hypothesis at Death Valley, California. EOS 85, 349] and Anderson et al. [Anderson, K., Nelson, S., Mayo, A., Tingey, D., 2006. Interbasin flow revisited: the contribution of local recharge to high-discharge springs, Death Valley, California. Journal of Hydrology 323, 276– 302]. In light of these inconsistencies, interbasin flow is the only readily apparent explanation for the large spring discharges at Furnace Creek and, in our view, is the likely explanation for most large volume, low elevation springs in the Great Basin. An understanding of hydrogeologic processes that control the rate and direction of ground-water flow in eastern and central Nevada is necessary component of regional water-resource planning and management of alluvial and bedrock aquifers.

Interbasin Ground-Water Flow in Southern Nevada

Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology | March 1st, 1974

Major carbon-14 anomaly in a regional carbonate aquifer—Possible evidence for megascale channeling, south-central Great Basin

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | December 1st, 1976

The carbon 14 content of groundwater at the center of a 16‐km‐long fault‐controlled spring line at Ash Meadows in south central Nevada is 5 times greater than that

The carbon 14 content of groundwater at the center of a 16‐km‐long fault‐controlled spring line at Ash Meadows in south central Nevada is 5 times greater than that in water from other major springs along the lineament. The difference in carbon 14 stands in marked contrast to the near identity of all springwaters in alkalinity, pH, carbon 13, oxygen 18, deuterium, tritium, and other major and trace ions. Ten possible explanations of this major carbon 14 anomaly are evaluated by using all available chemical and isotopic data from basin‐wide wells and upland springs tapping the regional carbonate aquifer discharging at Ash Meadows. The four most plausible hypotheses require the presence of a major longitudinal heterogeneity in the distal portion of the groundwater basin to explain the anomaly. Flow channeling with an amplitude of at least 11 km is indicated. The simplifying assumption commonly used in simulation of basin‐wide flow through fractured or solution‐riddled aquifers, namely, that the aquifer is ‘homogenous in its heterogeneity,’ is not applicable to the dense fractured Paleozoic carbonate rocks comprising the Nevada aquifer; heterogeneities in this aquifer do not cancel each other areally.

Major ground-water flow systems in the Great Basin region of Nevada, Utah, and adjacent state

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | July 1st, 1988

Testing the Established Hydrogeologic Model of Source Water to the Amargosa River Basin, Inyo and San Bernardino Counties, California

Environmental Forensics (Taylor & Francis) | November 15th, 2015

The current conceptual hydrogeologic model established for source water to the Amargosa River was tested in order to help inform management decisions regarding the Amargo

The current conceptual hydrogeologic model established for source water to the Amargosa River was tested in order to help inform management decisions regarding the Amargosa River's Federal designation as Wild and Scenic through an Act of Congress. The limited availability of water in this region results in the critical need for effective management in the basin to maintain its Wild and Scenic attributes inclusive of habitat for several endangered and threatened species. The use of forensic tools and integration of multiple lines of geologic, hydrogeologic, geochemical, and stable isotopic evidence suggest that the simple historical model for primary groundwater transport through this region is incorrect and that a large supply of regional baseflow does not provide the hydrogeological foundation of the Amargosa River basin. Data collected is consistent with an alternative model requiring complex source mixing and shallow alluvial groundwater that supports river flow. This conclusion also suggests Wild and Scenic conditions in this basin are more precarious than previously understood.

The Application of Ground-Water Flow Models as Predictive Tools—A Review of Two Ground-Water Models of Eastern Honey Lake Valley, California-Nevada

Geological Society of America (GSA) | January 9th, 1992

In the late 1980's Washoe County, Nevada, entered into an agreement with a private water development company to develop and export groundwater from the Nevada portion of

In the late 1980's Washoe County, Nevada, entered into an agreement with a private water development company to develop and export groundwater from the Nevada portion of the arid Honey Lake Valley to the rapidly growing Reno-Sparks area. The proposed project is known as the Truckee Meadows Project (TMP). Honey Lake Valley is 35 mi north of Reno, Nevada; but is located predominantly in California. Computer groundwater models of the valley were prepared by the USGS and the TMP proponents and presented to the Nevada State Engineer to evaluate the impacts of the proposed exportation of 15,000 ac-ft annually from eastern Honey Lake Valley. By using assumptions, numbers, and data which are not justified by the scientific data, both models place unreasonable and, in some instances, artificial constraints on the geology and hydrogeology of the groundwater system rather than allowing the geology and hydrogeology to constrain the models. Neither model is useful as a predictive tool. However, the major problems with the two models fall into two fundamentally different classes. The USGS model exceeded the technical limitations of the model code and made large, inappropriate adjustments to the water budget to compensate for these undetected errors. The TMP model used a water budget that was not technically justified or explained and placed the spatial distribution of ground-water recharge and discharge beyond the realm of hydrogeologic reality.  

The relative contributions of summer and cool-season precipitation to groundwater recharge, Spring Mountains, Nevada, USA

Hydrogeology Journal (Springer) | June 1st, 1998

A comparison of the stable-isotope signatures of spring waters, snow, snowmelt, summer (July thru September) rain, and cool season (October thru June) rain indicates that

A comparison of the stable-isotope signatures of spring waters, snow, snowmelt, summer (July thru September) rain, and cool season (October thru June) rain indicates that the high-intensity, short-duration summer convective storms, which contribute approximately a third of the annual precipitation to the Spring Mountains, provide only a small fraction (perhaps 10%) of the recharge to this major upland in southern Nevada, USA. Late spring snowmelt is the principal means of recharging the fractured Paleozoic-age carbonate rocks comprising the central and highest portion of the Spring Mountains. Daily discharge measurements at Peak Spring Canyon Creek during the period 1978–94 show that snowpacks were greatly enhanced during El Niño events.

Three-dimensional geologic mapping of the Cenozoic basin fill, Amargosa Desert basin, Nevada and California

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | July 1st, 2014

Understanding the subsurface geologic framework of the Cenozoic basin fill that underlies the Amargosa Desert in southern Nevada and southeastern California has been impr

Understanding the subsurface geologic framework of the Cenozoic basin fill that underlies the Amargosa Desert in southern Nevada and southeastern California has been improved by using borehole data to construct three-dimensional lithologic and interpreted facies models. Lithologic data from 210 boreholes from a 20-kilometer (km) by 90-km area were reduced to a limited suite of descriptors based on geologic knowledge of the basin and distributed in three-dimensional space using interpolation methods. The resulting lithologic model of the Amargosa Desert basin portrays a complex system of interfingered coarse- to fine-grained alluvium, playa and palustrine deposits, eolian sands, and interbedded volcanic units. Lithologic units could not be represented in the model as a stacked stratigraphic sequence due to the complex interfingering of lithologic units and the absence of available time-stratigraphic markers. Instead, lithologic units were grouped into interpreted genetic classes, such as playa or alluvial fan, to create a three-dimensional model of the interpreted facies data. Three-dimensional facies models computed from these data portray the alluvial infilling of a tectonically formed basin with intermittent internal drainage and localized regional groundwater discharge. The lithologic and interpreted facies models compare favorably to resistivity, aeromagnetic, and geologic map data, lending confidence to the interpretation.

Two-dimensional, steady-state model of ground-water flow, Nevada Test Site and vicinity, Nevada- California: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 82-4085

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | July 1st, 1962