Potential effects of groundwater pumping on water levels, phreatophytes, and spring discharges in Spring and Snake Valleys, White Pine County, Nevada, and adjacent areas in Nevada and Utah

Halford, Keith J.; Plume, Russell W.

doi:10.3133/sir20115032

Cited by 16 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The third was an audio-magnetotelluric geophysical survey along and near Baker Creek for the purpose of characterizing the range-front faults Sweetkind, 2010, 2011). The fourth analyzed pumping effects on groundwater levels, groundwater loss to phreatophytes, and spring flows in Snake and Spring Valleys by using a numerical groundwater-flow model (Halford and Plume, 2011). The fifth was a study between September 2011 and April 2012 to determine the connection of Baker Creek and Pole Canyon with water in caves and at springs in the Baker and Lehman Creek drainage basins by placing fluorescent dyes in the creeks upstream of the limestone outcrops (Thomas Aley, Ozark Underground Laboratory, Inc., Protem, Missouri, written commun., 2013).…”

Section: Previous and Concurrent Hydrogeologic Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating connection of aquifers to springs and streams, Great Basin National Park and vicinity, Nevada

Prudic¹,

Sweetkind²,

Jackson³

et al. 2015

Professional Paper

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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/pubprod/.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: Prudic, D.E, Sweetkind, D.S., Jackson, T.R., Dotson, K.E., Plume, R.W., Hatch, C.E., and Halford, K.J. 2015, Evaluating connection of aquifers to springs and streams, Great Basin National Park and vicinity, Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1819, 188 p., http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/pp1819. ISSN 2330-7102 (online) iii AcknowledgmentsThe study was developed cooperatively among the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the University of Nevada, Reno. The National Park Service, as the lead agency, prepared and submitted a proposal for funding through the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act Round 8-Conservation Initiatives category for White Pine County.Many people assisted with the design, oversight, management, data collection, and data verification for this project. First and foremost, we wish to acknowledge the numerous contributions of William P. (Bill) Van Liew, Hydrologist from the National Park Service, Water Resources Division, for his ongoing efforts to understand the hydraulic connection of groundwater in the Great Basin National Park with the groundwater in Snake and Spring Valleys and how pumping in the valleys might affect surface and groundwater resources in the park. Bill also was assigned the task of oversight and project management. Robert Boyd, of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and James Prieur, of Southern Nevada Water Authority, spent many hours in the design of the project and in coordination with ongoing data collection by other agencies. Gary Karst, Hydrologist at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, spent many hours in the removal of fiber-optic cable from Lehman Creek and assisting in the oversight of the drilling of test wells at two places: one next to Snake Creek and the other next to Baker Creek.Andrew Ferguson, former Great Basin National Park Superintendent, oversaw support of the project. This included providing personnel for helping with the permits, providing logistical support for the semi-annual public meetings, obtaining previously collected data, and assisting with data collection. Acknowledgements are extended to park personnel Gretchen Baker (Ecologist) and Benjamin Roberts (Chief of Natural Resources) for their guidance and help in obtaining permits, providing d...

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Section: Previous and Concurrent Hydrogeologic Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating connection of aquifers to springs and streams, Great Basin National Park and vicinity, Nevada

Prudic¹,

Sweetkind²,

Jackson³

et al. 2015

Professional Paper

Self Cite

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“…The numerical model is also an advancement over previous numerical models, specifically the RASA-GB model (Prudic and others, 1995;Halford and Plume, 2011), for several reasons: (1) the model incorporates a more detailed hydrogeologic framework whereas the RASA-GB model used two layers to represent shallower and deeper flow; (2) the model was calibrated using more observations including several new water-level altitudes from the recently installed UGS monitoring well network and other newer wells in the study area; several new measurements of spring discharge within Snake Valley, including Dearden Spring Group, Clay Spring, Twin Springs, Foote Reservoir, and Miller Spring; discharge to mountain springs and base flow to mountain streams; and temperature data from the UGS monitoring well network; and (3) the inclusion of calibration to temperature data resulted in a reduction of parameter uncertainty over using just water-level altitude and discharge observations, which is what was used to calibrate the Great Basin RASA model.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To assess the hydrologic effects of developing groundwater in Snake Valley, Halford and Plume (2011), in cooperation with the National Park Service, refined and recalibrated the Great Basin RASA numerical model (Prudic and others, 1995) in Spring and Snake Valleys. A variant of this model was used to estimate potential effects of groundwater development on water levels, groundwater evapotranspiration, and spring discharges around the southern Snake Range.…”

Section: Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrology and numerical simulation of groundwater movement and heat transport in Snake Valley and surrounding areas, Juab, Miller, and Beaver Counties, Utah, and White Pine and Lincoln Counties, Nevada

Masbruch¹,

Gardner²,

Brooks³

2014

Scientific Investigations Report

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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/pubprod. To 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. AbstractSnake Valley and surrounding areas, along the UtahNevada state border, are part of the Great Basin carbonate and alluvial aquifer system. The groundwater system in the study area consists of water in unconsolidated deposits in basins and water in consolidated rock underlying the basins and in the adjacent mountain blocks. Most recharge occurs from precipitation on the mountain blocks and most discharge occurs from the lower altitude basin-fill deposits mainly as evapotranspiration, springflow, and well withdrawals.The Snake Valley area regional groundwater system was simulated using a three-dimensional model incorporating both groundwater flow and heat transport. The model was constructed with MODFLOW-2000, a version of the U.S. Geological Survey's groundwater flow model, and MT3DMS, a transport model that simulates advection, dispersion, and chemical reactions of solutes or heat in groundwater systems. Observations of groundwater discharge by evapotranspiration, springflow, mountain stream base flow, and well withdrawals; groundwater-level altitudes; and groundwater temperatures were used to calibrate the model. Parameter values estimated by regression analyses were reasonable and within the range of expected values.This study represents one of the first regional modeling efforts to include calibration to groundwater temperature data. The inclusion of temperature observations reduced parameter uncertainty, in some cases quite significantly, over using just water-level altitude and discharge observations. Of the 39 parameters used to simulate horizontal hydraulic conductivity, uncertainty on 11 of these parameters was reduced to one order of magnitude or less. Other significant reductions in parameter uncertainty occurred in parameters representing the vertical anisotropy ratio, drain and river conductance, recharge rates, and well withdrawal rates.The model provides a good representation of the groundwater system. Simulated water-level altitudes range over almost 2,000 meters (m); 98 percent of the simulated values of water-level altitudes in wells are within 30 m of observed water-level altitudes, and 58 percent of them are within 12 m. Nineteen of 20 simulated discharges are within 30 percent of observed discharge. Eighty-one percent of the simulate...

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“…For a transient analysis of possible depletion of the Colorado River in this area, Leake and others (2008) used a transient superposition model. Other examples of use of superposition models to compute depletion from groundwater pumping include Leake and others (2005) and Halford and Plume (2011). For additional discussions on superposition models, see Leake (2011) and Barlow and Leake (2012, p. 65).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential depletion of surface water in the Colorado River and agricultural drains by groundwater pumping in the Parker-Palo Verde-Cibola area, Arizona and California

Leake¹,

Owen-Joyce²,

Heilman³

2013

Scientific Investigations Report

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Potential effects of groundwater pumping on water levels, phreatophytes, and spring discharges in Spring and Snake Valleys, White Pine County, Nevada, and adjacent areas in Nevada and Utah

Cited by 16 publications

References 19 publications

Evaluating connection of aquifers to springs and streams, Great Basin National Park and vicinity, Nevada

Evaluating connection of aquifers to springs and streams, Great Basin National Park and vicinity, Nevada

Hydrology and numerical simulation of groundwater movement and heat transport in Snake Valley and surrounding areas, Juab, Miller, and Beaver Counties, Utah, and White Pine and Lincoln Counties, Nevada

Potential depletion of surface water in the Colorado River and agricultural drains by groundwater pumping in the Parker-Palo Verde-Cibola area, Arizona and California

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