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Smith Valley, in the Great Basin section of the Basin and Range province, lies about 35 miles east of the obtuse angle of the Nevada-California boundary. It has an area of about 510 square miles. Most of the valley is in Lyoii County, but a small part along the west side is in Douglas County. Farming and ranching are the principal activities. About 12,000 acres of cultivated land and about 7,000 acres of pasture land are irrigated annually. The water is supplied principally by diversion canals from the West Walker River. The valley is enclosed by mountains except for Hoye Canyon, which transects the Pine Nut Range on the west, and Wilson Canyon, which cuts the Singatze Range on the east. The West Walker River, with headwaters in the Sierra Nevada, flows eastward across Smith Valley, entering through Hoye Canyon and leaving through Wilson Canyon. The average annual flow of the West Walker River at the mouth of Hoye Canyon is about 180,000 acre-feet. Diversions from the river for irrigation in the valley range from about 50,000 to 100,000 acre-feet annually and average about 66,000 acre-feet for the period of record. Precipitation on the valley floor averages about 1% inches annually but is greater in the fringing mountains, particularly the Pine Nut Range on the west and the Sweetwater Mountains on the south. Volcanic and associated rocks predominate in the mountains surrounding the valley and range in age from Triassic to late Tertiary. The Triassic rocks were intruded and locally metamorphosed by granitic rocks of Cretaceous age. Faulting during and after the intensive activity provided avenues along which orebearing solutions entered the older rocks. Tertiary rocks in the mountains are largely volcanic but include some fluvial gravels and, in areas that were topographically low in at least late Tertiary time, fine grain sediments. Quaternary sediments deposited in the basin of Smith Valley principally are fine-grained, but coarse stream gravels have been observed in the valley, at least locally, adjacent to the West Walker River. The Mesozoic rocks generally do not transmit ground water freely. The conglomerate at the base of the Tertiary rocks the loosely cemented gravel below the basaltic lava and broken zones within the Tertiary basalt are believed to be capable of transmitting water freely. However, the distribution and extent of these rocks beneath the fill in Smith Valley, where they would be expected to be saturated, are not known. 2 GEOLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES OF SMITH VALLEY, NEVADA The valley fill has a known maximum thickness of more than 500 feet. In general, it is relatively fine grained but locally contains beds of sand and grit, and probably beds of coarser sediments along the margins of the valley floor. Ground water occurs in the valley fill under both unconfined (water-table) and confined (artesian) conditions. Unconfined ground water generally is found at rather shallow depths in the irrigated areas and near the perimeter of the alkali flat at the north end of the valley. Confined ground water occurs in most parts of the valley floor at shallow to moderate depths, but the artesian pressure is not everywhere sufficient to produce flowing wells. High land just north of the West Walker River divides the valley into two areas of artesian flow. The larger area, about 31 square miles, lies in the north end of the valley. The other area, about 11% square miles, is in general south of and adjacent to the West Walker River. The latter area of flow has increased considerably since about 1920 probably owing to increased recharge from additional water diverted for irrigation after Topaz reservoir was incorporated into the distribution system in 1922. The total quantity of ground water discharged from Smith Valley probably exceeds 25,000 acre-feet annually. Of this amount about 3,000 acre-feet is discharged by flowing and pumped wells, 1,000 acre-feet by springs, and a few thousand acre-feet by evaporation from the land surface and transpiration of native vegetation. About 18,000 acre-feet is discharged into the West Walker River. Although it is possible to salvage a large part of the 18,000 acre-feet it may not be practical to do so for legal and other reasons. Several thousand acre-feet of artesian water could be withdrawn each year south of the river without seriously lowering the piezometric surface provided that the withdrawal is not concentrated in a small area. An additional thousand acre-feet or more of ground water satisfactory for irrigation probably could be developed in the northern part of the valley. INTRODUCTION PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION This report on Smith Valley is the result of one of a series of valley or area studies made under a Statewide cooperative program by the United States Geological Survey and the State Engineer of Nevada for the evaluation of the ground-water resources of the State. The State is represented in the joint program by Hugh A. Shamberger, State Engineer, and the work is under the direction of Thomas W. Robinson, District Engineer of the Ground Water Branch of the Federal Survey in Nevada. At the request of the State Engineer, investigation of the valley was begun in February 1948. A reconnaissance of the geology of the valley was started in the summer of 1949 by D. A. Phoenix and the geology was further studied in August 1950 by the junior author, who prepared the section on geology. The senior author did the field work on the hydrologic phases of the investigation and prepared sections of the report other than that on geology. At various times the authors were assisted in the field by their colleagues, T. W. Robinson, D. A. Phoenix, and J. L. Poole. INTRODUCTION 3 t Discussion of ground water the occurrence, movement, chemical quality, recharge, utilization, and discharge of confined, unconfined, and spring water forms the principal part of this report. The geology and water-bearing characteristics of the rocks are discussed in the report, as the geology is a prime factor in the occurrence and movement of ground water. Inflow, utilization, and outflow of surface water and its influence on ground water are outlined. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The cooperation of all the residents of the valley in supplying data concerning their wells and allowing measurements and tests to be made is very much appreciated. Especial thanks are due Mrs. W. E. Alien and Fred Fulstone for allowing water-stage recorders to be installed on their wells, and Messrs. A. A. Chisholm and John Alien, who serviced the recorders. The writers also wish to thank the staffs of the Bureau of Land Management, the Soil Conservation Service, the Sierra Pacific Power Co., and the Walker River Irrigation District for the valuable data they supplied. GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Smith Valley is in the western part of Nevada, the central part of the valley being about 35 miles east of the obtuse angle of the NevadaCalifornia boundary (see fig. 1). Most of the valley proper lies in Lyon County, but a small part along the western side is in Douglas County. The valley floor is elliptical, and the major axis trends north. It is about 23 miles long and 10 miles wide. Wellington, a small community at the southwest side of the valley, is near the mouth of Hoye Canyon, through which the West Walker River enters the valley. The town is a local supply center for the ranchers and farmers of the valley. Central, another small community, is in the south-central part of the valley. It also serves as a local supply center for the ranchers and farmers. A consolidated public high school and a grammar school there afford educational opportunities. Smith Valley is an important farming and ranching district. Plate 3, showing land use, indicates that about 12,000 acres of cultivated land is irrigated. Of the remaining 11,000 acres delimited, about 7,000 acres is irrigated pasture land. Irrigation of these lands is accomplished largely by diversions of water from the West Walker River. Mining today is inconsequential as compared to that of the past. The Nevada Copper Belt Railroad, which was abandoned in 1947, ran south from the Ludwig copper mine along the west side of the Singatze Range through Wilson Canyon and thence northward to 4 GEOLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES OF SMITH VALLEY, NEVADA FIGURE 1. Map of Nevada, showing areas covered by previous ground-water reports and by the present report.

Geology and water resources of Smith Valley, Lyon and Douglas Counties, Nevada