Hydrogeologic Framework of the Yakima River Basin Aquifer System, Washington

Vaccaro, J.J.; Jones, Mark; Ely, D. Matthew; Keys, M.E.; Olsen, Theresa D.; Welch, Wendy; Cox, Simon

doi:10.3133/sir20095152

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…The physical properties of the cooling joints within the dense interior portion of the basalt flow produce an essentially impermeable barrier to groundwater movement for all practical purposes (Newcomb, 1969;Oberlander and Miller, 1981;Davies-Smith et al, 1988;Lite and Grondin, 1988;U.S. Department of Energy, 1988;Lindberg, 1989;Wozniak, 1995;Tolan et al, 2009b;Burt et al, 2009;Vaccaro et al, 2009;Ely et al, 2011;Lite, 2013). The fact that CRBG dense flow interiors typically act as aquitards accounts for the confined behavior exhibited by most CRBG aquifers.…”

Section: Studies Of Alteration From Previous Investigationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alteration, mass analysis, and magmatic compositions of the Sentinel Bluffs Member, Columbia River flood basalt province: COMMENT

et al. 2019

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Section: Studies Of Alteration From Previous Investigationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alteration, mass analysis, and magmatic compositions of the Sentinel Bluffs Member, Columbia River flood basalt province: COMMENT

et al. 2019

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“…More recently, as this area experienced extensive land use conversion, enhancing groundwater recharge by over an order of magnitude, 7 it is likely that soil nitrate was flushed to the groundwater. This mechanism is supported by the nitrate accumulations documented in this study, δ 18 NO 3 − , enrichment in a subset of area groundwaters, 3 the occurrence of similar processes in other semiarid areas which have experienced landuse conversion to irrigated agriculture, 29 and the lack of an atmospheric Δ 17 O NO 3 − observed in irrigated agriculture influenced soils.…”

Section: ■ Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The lower Yakima Valley naturally experiences limited natural groundwater recharge (<12 mm/yr) due to a strong orographic effect, which has allowed for the development of carbonate-rich soils across a large fraction of the study area . The soils and groundwater recharge were substantially altered during the 20th century through storage and diversion of snowmelt from the adjacent Cascade range and widespread implementation of rill irrigation, causing high rates of modern recharge to shallow alluvial aquifers. ,, This region now supports a diverse array of agricultural crops and widespread animal husbandry operations such as dairy farms .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isotope Investigation of Nitrate in Soils and Agricultural Drains of the Lower Yakima Valley, Washington

Jensen

Gazis

2018

ACS Earth Space Chem.

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Nitrate in the groundwater of the lower Yakima Valley, Washington frequently exceeds the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maximum contaminant level standard for potable water (10 mg/L), impacting communities with disadvantaged socioeconomic status. Nitrogen and oxygen isotopic signatures were determined for nitrate in soil leachates and irrigation return flow. Isotope signatures for nitrate from soil leachate had significant overlap with both the isotope signatures of naturally occurring soil nitrate at the nearby Hanford site, Washington and of groundwater nitrate attributed to manure and fertilizer application in a local EPA study. A mass balance calculation using Δ17O data suggests that there is a consistent ∼9% atmospheric contribution to nitrate in soil accumulations below caliche layers at several locations. This agrees with other research on the atmospheric contribution to naturally occurring soil nitrates in areas with similar mean annual precipitation values. We argue that this consistent ∼9% atmospheric component indicates that soil nitrate at depth is dominated by naturally occurring, biologically fixed nitrate across multiple sites. We suggest the flushing of naturally occurring soil nitrate to groundwater during land use conversion to irrigated agriculture may represent a previously overlooked significant nitrate input to aquifers in this region.

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“…They used the topographic gradient to assess the extent of shallow groundwater saturation during rainfall events. Their assessment of groundwater saturation was supported by measurements of runoff and groundwater pressure head, as well as the properties of hillslopes in the study area with fractures extending to depths of ~20 m. Previous studies in the Cascades in southern Washington have also shown that the hydraulic gradient of groundwater is similar to that of the topographic gradient and that fractures in bedrock are the primary source of porosity [ Vaccaro et al ., ; Gendaszek et al ., ]. Additionally, these studies have reported rapid groundwater fluctuations in the fractured crystalline rocks during rainfall events, suggesting that near‐surface transport of groundwater responds quickly to short‐term rainfall events.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent topographic evolution and erosion of the deglaciated Washington Cascades inferred from a stochastic landscape evolution model

2015

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In this study, we model postglacial surface processes and examine the evolution of the topography and denudation rates within the deglaciated Washington Cascades to understand the controls on and time scales of landscape response to changes in the surface process regime after deglaciation. The postglacial adjustment of this landscape is modeled using a geomorphic-transport-law-based numerical model that includes processes of river incision, hillslope diffusion, and stochastic landslides. The surface lowering due to landslides is parameterized using a physically based slope stability model coupled to a stochastic model of the generation of landslides. The model parameters of river incision and stochastic landslides are calibrated based on the rates and distribution of thousand-year-time scale denudation rates measured from cosmogenic 10 Be isotopes. The probability distributions of those model parameters calculated based on a Bayesian inversion scheme show comparable ranges from previous studies in similar rock types and climatic conditions. The magnitude of landslide denudation rates is determined by failure density (similar to landslide frequency), whereas precipitation and slopes affect the spatial variation in landslide denudation rates. Simulation results show that postglacial denudation rates decay over time and take longer than 100 kyr to reach time-invariant rates. Over time, the landslides in the model consume the steep slopes characteristic of deglaciated landscapes. This response time scale is on the order of or longer than glacial/interglacial cycles, suggesting that frequent climatic perturbations during the Quaternary may produce a significant and prolonged impact on denudation and topography.

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Hydrogeologic Framework of the Yakima River Basin Aquifer System, Washington

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Alteration, mass analysis, and magmatic compositions of the Sentinel Bluffs Member, Columbia River flood basalt province: COMMENT

Alteration, mass analysis, and magmatic compositions of the Sentinel Bluffs Member, Columbia River flood basalt province: COMMENT

Isotope Investigation of Nitrate in Soils and Agricultural Drains of the Lower Yakima Valley, Washington

Recent topographic evolution and erosion of the deglaciated Washington Cascades inferred from a stochastic landscape evolution model

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