Open-file Appendix: Tables on basic data on geology and ground water of the Inyokern Naval Ordinance Test Station and vicinity, California

Kunkel, Fred; Chase, George H.; Hiltgen, W.J.

doi:10.3133/ofr5586

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The IWV has a surface drainage area of approximately 2,641 km 2 , where the topographic drainage is entirely internal (Figure 1). The water moves into the alluvial groundwater system after crossing the Sierra Nevada fault zone (Kunkel and Chase, 1955;Dutcher and Moyle, 1973). In this area, groundwater is found in two areas with different porosities: (1) fracture porosity found in the granitic mountain watersheds and (2) intergranular porosity found mostly in alluvial basin-fill aquifers.…”

Section: Hydrologic Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Statistical Clustering of Major Solutes: Use as a Tracer for Evaluating Interbasin Groundwater Flow into Indian Wells Valley, California

Güler

Thyne

2006

Environmental and Engineering Geoscience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many previous studies have demonstrated use of specific solutes or isotopes as tracers of groundwater flow. We present a technique that uses standard hydrochemical information to create statistically based hydrochemical facies, which are then used as tracers of groundwater flow. This approach reduces potential subjective bias during interpretation of single tracer data in complex systems with multiple sources or conflicting multiple tracer data. Standard hydrochemical data from 1,368 water samples that spanned more than 80 years were analyzed using cluster analysis to decipher groundwater flow paths in Indian Wells Valley (IWV), California. The statistically derived hydrochemical facies form distinct spatial patterns in which all major-ion concentrations increase progressively from Sierra Nevada (recharge) to China Lake playa (discharge), consistent with the topographically driven flow of groundwater (the typical case for basin and range flow systems). However, once individual samples could be placed in the context of the normal hydrochemical evolution, anomalies are readily identifiable. The distribution of water chemistry in the southeastern part of the IWV does not conform to the regional trend. Groundwater from that part of the IWV is statistically more similar to waters from the Kern Plateau area (in the high Sierra Nevada outside the local watershed) than to waters from the local watershed. The groundwater is interpreted to originate from the fracture-directed interbasin flow from the Kern Plateau area that is directly recharging the alluvial aquifer in the subsurface. Inclusion of this flow could substantially alter current water budgets and water resources management approaches.

show abstract

Section: Hydrologic Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%