Geologic, water-chemistry, and hydrologic data from multiple-well monitoring sites and selected water-supply wells in the Santa Clara Valley, California, 1999-2003

Newhouse, M.W.; Hanson, Randall T.; Wentworth, Carl M.; Everett, Rhett R.; Williams, Colin F.; Tinsley, John C.; Noce, Thomas E.; Carkin, B.A.

doi:10.3133/sir20045250

Cited by 20 publications

(56 citation statements)

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“…entered the groundwater system as recharge and some water that entered the system as much as 2500 yr B.P. Newhouse et al, 2004). The lower-aquifer system is composed of sediments of early Pleistocene or Pliocene age and contains water that entered the groundwater system more than 10,000 yr B.P.…”

Section: Hydrogeologic Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The aquifer layers are relatively flat lying and range from 10 to 200 ft (3 to 61 m) in thickness. The aquifer layers are separated by thin, low-permeability, fine-grained layers that result in as much as 10 ft (3 m) of vertical head differences between aquifer layers (Newhouse et al, 2004). The effective base of the groundwater flow system is relatively shallow compared to other coastal basins, ranging from ~500 to 900 ft (~152 to 274 m) below land surface.…”

Section: Hydrogeologic Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The lower-aquifer system is composed of sediments of early Pleistocene or Pliocene age and contains water that entered the groundwater system more than 10,000 yr B.P. Newhouse et al, 2004). The regional aquifer system is underlain and surrounded by the relatively impermeable bedrock.…”

Section: Hydrogeologic Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data obtained from nine new monitoring-well sites and various supply wells ( Fig. 1A; Hanson et al, 2002;Newhouse et al, 2004), in combination with a detailed groundwater-surface-water model (Hanson et al, 2004b;Fig. 1B) using MODFLOW-2000(Harbaugh et al, 2000 with the Subsidence Package (Leake and Prudic, 1991), the Streamflow Routing Package (Prudic et al, 2004), and the Multi-NodeWell Package (Halford and Hanson, 2002), were used to further delineate the hydrologic framework.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hydrologic framework of the Santa Clara Valley, California

Hanson

2015

Geosphere

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The hydrologic framework of the Santa Clara Valley in northern California was redefined on the basis of new data and a new hydrologic model. The regional groundwater flow systems can be subdivided into upper-aquifer and lower-aquifer systems that form a convergent flow system within a basin bounded by mountains and hills on three sides and discharge to pumping wells and the southern San Francisco Bay. Faults also control the flow of groundwater within the Santa Clara Valley and subdivide the aquifer system into three subregions.After decades of development and groundwater depletion that resulted in substantial land subsidence, Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) and the local water purveyors have refilled the basin through conservation and importation of water for direct use and artificial recharge. The natural flow system has been altered by extensive development with flow paths toward major well fields. Climate has not only affected the cycles of sedimentation during the glacial periods over the past million years, but interannual to interdecadal climate cycles also have affected the supply and demand components of the natural and anthropogenic inflows and outflows of water in the valley. Streamflow has been affected by development of the aquifer system and regulated flow from reservoirs, as well as conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water. Interaquifer flow through water-supply wells screened across multiple aquifers is an important component to the flow of groundwater and recapture of artificial recharge in the Santa Clara Valley. Wellbore flow and depth-dependent chemical and isotopic data indicate that flow into wells from multiple aquifers, as well as capture of artificial recharge by pumping of water-supply wells, predominantly is occurring in the upper 500 ft (152 m) of the aquifer system. Artificial recharge represents about one-half of the inflow of water into the valley for the period 1970-1999. Most subsidence is occurring below 250 ft (76 m), and most pumpage occurs within the upper-aquifer system between 300 and 650 ft (between 91 and 198 m) below land surface.Overall, the natural quality of most groundwater in the Santa Clara Valley is good. Isotopic data indicate that artificial recharge is occurring throughout the shallower parts of the upper-aquifer system and that recent recharge (less than 50 yr old) occurs throughout most of the basin in the upper-aquifer system, but many of the wells in the center of the basin with deeper well screens do not contain tritium and recent recharge. Age dates indicate that the groundwater in the upper-aquifer system generally is less than 2000 yr old, and groundwater in the lower-aquifer system generally ranges from 16,700 to 39,900 yr old. Depth-dependent sampling indicates that wellbores are the main path for vertical flow between aquifer layers. Isotopic data indicate as much as 60% of water pumped from production wells originated as artificial recharge. Shallow aquifers not only contain more recent recharge but may be more susceptible to anthro...

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Section: Hydrogeologic Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Hydrogeologic Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Hydrogeologic Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hydrologic framework of the Santa Clara Valley, California

Hanson

2015

Geosphere

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“…Possibly augmented by age dating Source water Muir and Coplen, 1981Franke+, 19983 Starn+, 2000Newhouse+, 2004Starn, Stone, 2004Reichard+, 2004 Introduction Clark and others (2008) analyzed the potential vulnerability to contamination of public supply wells in a study area in Nebraska and assessed the contributing recharge areas to public supply wells through particle tracking and comparisons with measured age tracer and chemical data. The particle tracking results were consistent with field data in indicating that wells screened in multiple aquifers were the primary source of poor-quality young water reaching public supply wells screened only in a confined aquifer.…”

Section: Time Of Travel Constantz+ 2003mentioning

confidence: 99%

Advective transport observations with MODPATH-OBS--documentation of the MODPATH observation process

Hanson¹,

Kauffman²,

Hill³

et al. 2013

Techniques and Methods

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For more information on the USGS-the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment, visit http://www.usgs.gov or call 1-888-ASK-USGS.For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit http://www.usgs.gov/pubprodTo order this and other USGS information products, visit http://store.usgs.gov Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner.Suggested citation: Hanson, R.T., Kauffman, L.K., Hill, M.C., Dickinson, J.E., and Mehl, S.W., 2013, Advective transport observations with MODPATH-OBS-Documentation of the MODPATH observation process: U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods book 6-chap. A42, 96 p., http: pubs.usgs.gov/tm/06/a42. iii PrefaceThe MODPATH-OBS computer program described in this report is designed to calculate simulated equivalents for observations (or predictions) related to groundwater transport that can be represented in a meaningful way using particle tracking. Generally this means that the observations relate to the movement of the center of a discrete plume, movement of position along a plume front selected to correct for the effects of dispersion and reactions not simulated by particle tracking, geochemical data that identify likely recharge areas, and other hydrologic features.MODPATH-OBS uses the particle tracking capabilities of MODPATH by acting as a postprocessor. MODPATH is a postprocessor for MODFLOW, so that the sequence of model runs generally required is MODFLOW, MODPATH, and MODPATH-OBS.The versions of MODFLOW and MODPATH that support MODPATH-OBS as documented in this report are MODFLOW-2000/2005 and MODFLOW-LGR (Mehl and Hill, 2005 and MODPATH (Pollock, 1994(Pollock, , 2012 or MODPATH-LGR (Dickinson and others, 2011). MODFLOW-LGR is derived from MODFLOW-2005(Harbaugh, 2005 and supports local grid refinement. MODFLOW-LGR simulations may include local grid refinement or may use a single grid. When a single grid is used, MODFLOW-LGR performs identically to the version of MODFLOW-2005 cited on the MODFLOW-LGR web page. MODPATH-LGR and MODPATH-OBS can use nearly all of the capabilities of MODFLOW-LGR. For example, simulations can be steady-state, transient, or a combination; model layers may be confined or convertible from confined to unconfined; all of the head-dependent boundary packages are supported and features simulated using the Streamflow-Routing (SFR) Package can be routed across grid boundaries. Limitations are discussed in this report. (Pollock, 1989(Pollock, , 1994(Pollock, , 2012 and supports the tracking of particles through locally refined grids. For a single grid and no observations, MODPATH-LGR performs similarly to the version of MODPATH cited on the MO...

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Predictability of hydraulic head changes and characterization of aquifer‐system and fault properties from InSAR‐derived ground deformation

et al. 2014

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We evaluate the benefits of space-derived ground deformation measurements for basin-wide characterization of aquifer-system properties and groundwater levels. We use Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) time series analysis of ERS, Envisat, and ALOS SAR data to resolve 1992-2011 ground deformation in the Santa Clara Valley, California. T-mode principal component analysis successfully isolates temporally variable deformation patterns embedded in the multidecadal time series. The data reveal uplift at 0.4 cm/yr between 1992 and 2000 and < 0.1 cm/yr during 2000-2011, illustrating the end of the aquifer-system's poroelastic rebound following recovery of hydraulic heads after the 1960s low stand. In addition, seasonal elastic deformation with amplitude of up to 3 cm, in phase with head fluctuations, is observed over the confined aquifer sharply partitioned by the Quaternary Silver Creek Fault (SCF). Integration of this deformation with hydraulic head data enables characterization of the aquifer-system storativity and elastic skeletal specific storage. Modeling of the deformation partitioning across the SCF constrains the fault's last tectonic activity, hydraulic conductivity, and material composition. The SCF likely cuts the shallow confining clays and was last active since~140 ka, it has a horizontal hydraulic conductivity several orders of magnitude lower than the surrounding aquifer-system, and is likely composed of clays, making it an effective barrier to across-fault fluid flow. Finally, we show that after a period of calibration, InSAR can be used to characterize basin-wide water level changes without well measurements with an accuracy of 70%, which demonstrates that it provides useful data for groundwater management.

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Geologic, water-chemistry, and hydrologic data from multiple-well monitoring sites and selected water-supply wells in the Santa Clara Valley, California, 1999-2003

Cited by 20 publications

References 0 publications

Hydrologic framework of the Santa Clara Valley, California

Hydrologic framework of the Santa Clara Valley, California

Advective transport observations with MODPATH-OBS--documentation of the MODPATH observation process

Predictability of hydraulic head changes and characterization of aquifer‐system and fault properties from InSAR‐derived ground deformation

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