Hydrogeological characterization of Gold Valley: an investigation of precipitation recharge in an intermountain basin in the Death Valley region, California, USA

Abstract

Gold Valley is typical of intermountain basins in Death Valley National Park (DVNP), California (USA).Using water-balance calculations, a GIS-based analytical model has been developed to estimate precipitational infiltration rates from catchment-scale topographic data (elevation and slope). The calculations indicate that groundwater recharge mainly takes place at high elevations (>1,100m) during winter (average 1.78mm/yr). A resistivity survey suggests that groundwater accumulates in upstream compartmentalized reservoirs and that the groundwater flows through basin fill and fractured bedrock. This explains the relationship between the upstream precipitational infiltration in Gold Valley and the downstream spring flow in Willow Creek. To verify the ability of local recharge to support high-flux springs in DVNP, a GIS-based model was also applied to the Furnace Creek catchment. The results produced insufficient total volume of precipitational infiltration to support flow from the main high-flux springs in DVNP under current climatic conditions. This study introduces a GISbased infiltration model that can be integrated into the Death Valley regional groundwater flow model to estimate precipitational infiltration recharge. In addition, the GISbased model can efficiently estimate local precipitational infiltration in similar intermountain basins in arid regions provided that the validity of the model is verified.

Hydrogeological and geophysical study for deeper groundwater resource in quartzitic hard rock ridge region from 2D resistivity data

“…Revil et al (2012) in their recent research had explained about the low-frequency electrical methods for subsurface characterization and monitoring in hydrogeology. Abdulaziz et al (2012) in their work demonstrated subsurface characterization and groundwater flow. Though multi electrode resistivity tomography technique is more expensive compared to traditional DC resistivity survey, the additional cost may be justified where the prospecting, exploration and demand for groundwater is relatively high especially in heterogeneous, rugged and different geological settings.…”

Quantification of groundwater storage heterogeneity in weathered/fractured basement rock aquifers using electrical resistivity tomography: Sensitivity and uncertainty associated with petrophysical modelling

“…The distribution and overall volume of water contained in these reservoirs are the least known primarily because of their high degree of heterogeneity and overall low productivity (Comte et al, 2012a). It is however acknowledged that most of groundwater flow and storage take place at a relatively shallow depth within the most weathered/fractured bedrock (Abdulaziz et al, 2012;Kumar et al, 2016). Such shallow depths of interest (tens of meters) make near-surface geophysical techniques suitable to characterize and understand weathered/fractured basement rock aquifers (Day-Lewis et al, 2017).…”