Geologic framework and hydrogeology of the middle Carson River Basin, Eagle, Dayton, and Churchill Valleys, West-Central Nevada

Abstract

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Managed aquifer recharge through off‐season irrigation in agricultural regions

“…Carson Valley is a semiarid agricultural basin with characteristics of the basin and range province of the western United States. Generalized water budget and hydrogeologic conditions (i.e., natural recharge and discharge, river flows, hydrogeologic properties) were developed based on previous studies of the Carson River basin [ Maurer , ; Huntington and Allen , ]. Although many characteristics represented in the test model are derived from Carson River basin studies, the model differs in particular aspects of physiography that were made to simplify particular details not important to this analysis and/or to promote generality.…”

Assessing potential effects of changes in water use in the middle Carson River Basin with a numerical groundwater-flow model, Eagle, Dayton, and Churchill Valleys, west-central Nevada

“…The model was designed, through appropriate selection of packages available with MODFLOW-NWT (Niswonger and others, 2011), to help water managers assess the future effects of alternative management decisions made today in response to a growing need for water. The model synthesizes a broad body of information about the MCR that was collected as part of a cooperative study between the USGS and Reclamation that began in 2008, the results of which are reported in Jeton and Maurer (2011) and Maurer (2011). Data from the cooperative studies were compiled and used to develop (1) the hydrogeologic framework; (2) distributions of precipitation, runoff, and infiltration in 12 perennial and ephemeral tributaries along the MCR; (3) key characteristics of the surface-water network, including identification of gaining and losing stretches of the middle Carson River study area; and (4) surface-water flow and groundwater hydraulic head observations (Jeton and Maurer, 2011;Maurer, 2011).…”

“…The model synthesizes a broad body of information about the MCR that was collected as part of a cooperative study between the USGS and Reclamation that began in 2008, the results of which are reported in Jeton and Maurer (2011) and Maurer (2011). Data from the cooperative studies were compiled and used to develop (1) the hydrogeologic framework; (2) distributions of precipitation, runoff, and infiltration in 12 perennial and ephemeral tributaries along the MCR; (3) key characteristics of the surface-water network, including identification of gaining and losing stretches of the middle Carson River study area; and (4) surface-water flow and groundwater hydraulic head observations (Jeton and Maurer, 2011;Maurer, 2011). Thus, the MCR modeling study codifies results from multiple studies between the USGS and Reclamation to help guide resource managers with the long-term sustainable management of water resources in the region.…”

“…The history, structure, and geometry of the geologic units in the MCR have been described in several previous investigations. Maurer (2011) provides a summary of these investigations and documents the geologic framework that was adopted for the numerical model described in this report. A summary of bedrock units in the MCR and discussion about their control on groundwater flow along the boundaries of the study area is provided in this report (Maurer, 2011).…”

“…The USGS, in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), began this study in 2008 to develop a numerical groundwater model to simulate groundwater and surface-water interactions in the Carson River basin upstream of Lahontan Dam and downstream of Carson Valley. The first part of the study collected and compiled hydrogeologic information that was published in Maurer (2011). Additionally, a companion study (Jeton and Maurer, 2011) documents the development of precipitation-runoff models of selected watersheds in the middle Carson River basin to estimate runoff and groundwater recharge.…”