Preliminary groundwater flow model of the basin-fill aquifers in Detrital, Hualapai, and Sacramento Valleys, Mohave County, northwestern Arizona

Tillman, Fred D.; Garner, Bradley D.; Truini, Margot

doi:10.3133/sir20135122

Cited by 2 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Transient simulations were run using the steady‐state calibrated hydraulic conductivity parameter values for each recharge scenario and constant recharge. Uniform specific yield values of 0.1 and 0.001 (dimensionless) for basin‐fill alluvium and mountainous areas, respectively, were used to define storage properties (Tillman et al ). Uniform specific yield values were used to isolate the effect of recharge location on drawdown and capture rates.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An investigation of the importance of recharge location in regional groundwater‐flow models of basin‐fill aquifers was conducted using a model recently developed for resource managers in northwestern Arizona (Tillman et al ). This model was developed to define a preliminary distribution of hydrologic properties, to support initial analysis of groundwater availability in the area, and to test for potential hydraulic connectivity between alluvial aquifers.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Concepts of aquifer recharge were tested using a numerical model developed using MODFLOW‐2005 (Harbaugh ) to simulate groundwater flow in the basin‐fill alluvium in Detrital, Hualapai, and Sacramento Valleys in northwestern Arizona (Tillman et al ). The model domain was discretized in the horizontal dimensions into uniform 1000 × 1000‐m cells, requiring 201 rows and 94 columns to cover the model area.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Colorado River elevations from published U.S. Geological Surveys (USGS) in the 1920s (Birdseye and Burchard ; Burchard ) were used to define the pre‐dam constant‐head boundary. The original groundwater‐flow model (Tillman et al ) included transient simulations from 1935 through 2010 that incorporated changes in the model stresses of Colorado River and reservoir levels, natural and incidental recharge, and groundwater withdrawals. This study simplifies the original model by keeping all boundary conditions and other model stresses constant during the transient simulations and by including only hypothetical, constant‐rate pumping in order to focus on the response of the groundwater system to recharge scenarios.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Parameter estimation for each recharge scenario was performed using UCODE_2005 (Poeter et al 2006;Hill and Tiedeman 2007), which repeatedly runs the groundwater-flow model, using adjusted hydraulic conductivity values for each run, seeking to minimize the sum-of-squared-weighted residuals between observed and simulated values (Hill 1998). UCODE_2005 was also used to investigate parameter sensitivity in each recharge scenario using composite scaled sensitivities, which incorporate the total amount of information obtained from observations for the estimation of a single parameter (Poeter et al 2006;Hill and Tiedeman 2007 specific yield values of 0.1 and 0.001 (dimensionless) for basin-fill alluvium and mountainous areas, respectively, were used to define storage properties (Tillman et al 2013). Uniform specific yield values were used to isolate the effect of recharge location on drawdown and capture rates.…”

Section: Groundwater-flow Model and Calibrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Effect of Modeled Recharge Distribution on Simulated Groundwater Availability and Capture

Tillman¹,

Pool

Leake

2014

Groundwater

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Simulating groundwater flow in basin-fill aquifers of the semiarid southwestern United States commonly requires decisions about how to distribute aquifer recharge. Precipitation can recharge basin-fill aquifers by direct infiltration and transport through faults and fractures in the high-elevation areas, by flowing overland through high-elevation areas to infiltrate at basin-fill margins along mountain fronts, by flowing overland to infiltrate along ephemeral channels that often traverse basins in the area, or by some combination of these processes. The importance of accurately simulating recharge distributions is a current topic of discussion among hydrologists and water managers in the region, but no comparative study has been performed to analyze the effects of different recharge distributions on groundwater simulations. This study investigates the importance of the distribution of aquifer recharge in simulating regional groundwater flow in basin-fill aquifers by calibrating a groundwater-flow model to four different recharge distributions, all with the same total amount of recharge. Similarities are seen in results from steady-state models for optimized hydraulic conductivity values, fit of simulated to observed hydraulic heads, and composite scaled sensitivities of conductivity parameter zones. Transient simulations with hypothetical storage properties and pumping rates produce similar capture rates and storage change results, but differences are noted in the rate of drawdown at some well locations owing to the differences in optimized hydraulic conductivity. Depending on whether the purpose of the groundwater model is to simulate changes in groundwater levels or changes in storage and capture, the distribution of aquifer recharge may or may not be of primary importance.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Groundwater-flow Model and Calibrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The Effect of Modeled Recharge Distribution on Simulated Groundwater Availability and Capture

Tillman¹,

Pool

Leake

2014

Groundwater

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Rapid groundwater decline and some cases of recovery in aquifers globally

Jasechko,

Seybold,

Perrone

et al. 2024

Nature

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Groundwater resources are vital to ecosystems and livelihoods. Excessive groundwater withdrawals can cause groundwater levels to decline1–10, resulting in seawater intrusion11, land subsidence12,13, streamflow depletion14–16 and wells running dry17. However, the global pace and prevalence of local groundwater declines are poorly constrained, because in situ groundwater levels have not been synthesized at the global scale. Here we analyse in situ groundwater-level trends for 170,000 monitoring wells and 1,693 aquifer systems in countries that encompass approximately 75% of global groundwater withdrawals18. We show that rapid groundwater-level declines (>0.5 m year−1) are widespread in the twenty-first century, especially in dry regions with extensive croplands. Critically, we also show that groundwater-level declines have accelerated over the past four decades in 30% of the world’s regional aquifers. This widespread acceleration in groundwater-level deepening highlights an urgent need for more effective measures to address groundwater depletion. Our analysis also reveals specific cases in which depletion trends have reversed following policy changes, managed aquifer recharge and surface-water diversions, demonstrating the potential for depleted aquifer systems to recover.

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Preliminary groundwater flow model of the basin-fill aquifers in Detrital, Hualapai, and Sacramento Valleys, Mohave County, northwestern Arizona

Cited by 2 publications

References 8 publications

The Effect of Modeled Recharge Distribution on Simulated Groundwater Availability and Capture

The Effect of Modeled Recharge Distribution on Simulated Groundwater Availability and Capture

Rapid groundwater decline and some cases of recovery in aquifers globally

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