Open AccessComment on “Testing the Interbasin Flow Hypothesis at Death Valley, California”
Author(s) -
Winograd Isaac J.,
Fridrich Christopher J.,
Sweetkind Donald,
Belcher Wayne R.,
Thomas James M.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2005eo320005
Subject(s) - geology , aquifer , hydrogeology , paleozoic , geomorphology , carbonate rock , carbonate , drilling , structural basin , hydrology (agriculture) , paleontology , geochemistry , groundwater , sedimentary rock , mechanical engineering , materials science , geotechnical engineering , engineering , metallurgy
In the 1960s, a major hydrogeologic investigation was conducted at the Nevada Test Site (NTS, Figure 1) that included drilling, hydraulic testing, and hydrogeochemical studies in conjunction with geologic mapping and geophysical surveys. This work demonstrated that a large part of south central Nevada is underlain by thick (several kilometers) highly fractured Paleozoic carbonate rocks that typically act as an aquifer. The aquifer flanks and underlies most of the intermontane basins from east central Nevada southward, through the NTS, to the southern Funeral Mountains east of Death Valley (Figure 1). Water levels measured in many test holes demonstrate that the potentiometric surface in the carbonate aquifer generally is uninterrupted by the ridges that separate the many topographically closed basins of the region.