An estimated potentiometric surface of the Death Valley region, Nevada and California, developed using geographic information system and automated interpolation techniques

D`Agnese, F A; Faunt, C C; Turner, A K

doi:10.2172/663394

Title: An estimated potentiometric surface of the Death Valley region, Nevada and California, developed using geographic information system and automated interpolation techniques

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Abstract

An estimated potentiometric surface was constructed for the Death Valley region, Nevada and California, from numerous, disparate data sets. The potentiometric surface was required for conceptualization of the ground-water flow system and for construction of a numerical model to aid in the regional characterization for the Yucca Mountain repository. Because accurate, manual extrapolation of potentiometric levels over large distances is difficult, a geographic-information-system method was developed to incorporate available data and apply hydrogeologic rules during contour construction. Altitudes of lakes, springs, and wetlands, interpreted as areas where the potentiometric surface intercepts the land surface, were combined with water levels from well data. Because interpreted ground-water recharge and discharge areas commonly coincide with groundwater basin boundaries, these areas also were used to constrain a gridding algorithm and to appropriately place local maxima and minima in the potentiometric-surface map. The resulting initial potentiometric surface was examined to define areas where the algorithm incorrectly extrapolated the potentiometric surface above the land surface. A map of low-permeability rocks overlaid on the potentiometric surface also indicated areas that required editing based on hydrogeologic reasoning. An interactive editor was used to adjust generated contours to better represent the natural water table conditions, such as large hydraulicmore »« less

Authors:: D`Agnese, F A; Faunt, C C; Turner, A K

Publication Date:: Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1998

Research Org.:: US Geological Survey, Denver, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Nevada Operations Office, Las Vegas, NV (United States)

OSTI Identifier:: 663394

Report Number(s):: USGS/WRIR-97-4052
ON: DE98007055; TRN: 99:000234

DOE Contract Number:: AI08-97NV12033

Resource Type:: Technical Report

Resource Relation:: Other Information: PBD: 1998

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 58 GEOSCIENCES; 05 NUCLEAR FUELS; NEVADA; CALIFORNIA; GEOGRAPHY; HYDROLOGY; GROUND WATER; YUCCA MOUNTAIN; RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES; SITE CHARACTERIZATION; PERMEABILITY; GROUNDWATER RECHARGE; SURFACE WATERS; MAPS

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                    D`Agnese, F A, Faunt, C C, and Turner, A K. An estimated potentiometric surface of the Death Valley region, Nevada and California, developed using geographic information system and automated interpolation techniques.  United States: N. p., 1998. 
        Web.  doi:10.2172/663394.

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                    D`Agnese, F A, Faunt, C C, & Turner, A K. An estimated potentiometric surface of the Death Valley region, Nevada and California, developed using geographic information system and automated interpolation techniques.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.2172/663394

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                    D`Agnese, F A, Faunt, C C, and Turner, A K. 1998.  
        "An estimated potentiometric surface of the Death Valley region, Nevada and California, developed using geographic information system and automated interpolation techniques".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.2172/663394.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/663394.

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@article{osti_663394,

  title        = {An estimated potentiometric surface of the Death Valley region, Nevada and California, developed using geographic information system and automated interpolation techniques},

  author       = {D`Agnese, F A and Faunt, C C and Turner, A K},

  abstractNote = {An estimated potentiometric surface was constructed for the Death Valley region, Nevada and California, from numerous, disparate data sets. The potentiometric surface was required for conceptualization of the ground-water flow system and for construction of a numerical model to aid in the regional characterization for the Yucca Mountain repository. Because accurate, manual extrapolation of potentiometric levels over large distances is difficult, a geographic-information-system method was developed to incorporate available data and apply hydrogeologic rules during contour construction. Altitudes of lakes, springs, and wetlands, interpreted as areas where the potentiometric surface intercepts the land surface, were combined with water levels from well data. Because interpreted ground-water recharge and discharge areas commonly coincide with groundwater basin boundaries, these areas also were used to constrain a gridding algorithm and to appropriately place local maxima and minima in the potentiometric-surface map. The resulting initial potentiometric surface was examined to define areas where the algorithm incorrectly extrapolated the potentiometric surface above the land surface. A map of low-permeability rocks overlaid on the potentiometric surface also indicated areas that required editing based on hydrogeologic reasoning. An interactive editor was used to adjust generated contours to better represent the natural water table conditions, such as large hydraulic gradients and troughs, or ``vees``. The resulting estimated potentiometric-surface map agreed well with previously constructed maps. Potentiometric-surface characteristics including potentiometric-surface mounds and depressions, surface troughs, and large hydraulic gradients were described.},

  doi          = {10.2172/663394},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/663394},
  journal      = {},
number       = ,

  volume       = ,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1998},

  month        = {Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1998}

}

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