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While the desert ecosystem is highly dependent on the water resources that sustain it, the Fish Slough spring complex is an arid, spring-dependent wetland undergoing a multidecadal decline in spring outflow. This evaluation updates the source water forensics of the Fish Slough Spring complex, a substantial spring complex in the northern Owens Valle...
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... was used to download Eastern Sierra data. The gravity anomaly contour map ( Figure 2) was created using the ArcMap Geostatistical Analyst Empirical Bayesian Kriging. These more recent data largely agree with and confirm the presence and location of the bedrock block identified by Pakiser et al. [16] and noted by Bateman [3] and Hollet et al. [7]. ...
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... the Owens Valley, there is a north-northwest fault trend with a secondary northeast fault trend also present (likely the result of relay faults between the Fish Slough Fault, the White Mountain Fault, and other subsidiary faults, all parallel to the prevailing structural regime (Figure 2). As described by Jayko and Fatooh [10] and Bateman [3], the east side of Fish Slough is a half-graben, bounded by the Fish Slough fault zone. ...
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... of Chalfant, a subsurface bedrock high exists, indicated by geophysical data (gravimetric) (Figure 2) and well logs on file with the California Department of Water Resources. Hollett et al. [7] noted that "the northern extension of the valley graben under Chalfant, Hammil and Benton Valleys is partly isolated from the deepest part of the Bishop Basin by a bedrock slump block . . . ...
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The lithology of the concerned aquifer in most parts of the area has vertical and horizontal changes. This aspect is more represented towards the western and the northern parts where a rich content of clay and calcareous materials is encountered in the aquifer sediments. Such materials caused a variation in hydraulic parameters besides a remarkable...
Citations
... Similarly, drainage density has an impact on environmental fow, groundwater availability, and river runof [53,103]. Additionally, seasonal variations play a role in infuencing groundwater availability and recharge mechanism [52,104]. ...
Groundwater is an essential resource, and its long-term availability and usability are closely tied to its ability to recharge. Therefore, the objective of this study was to generate a geospatial map of groundwater potential and its implications for landslides in the Upper Wabe-Shebele River Basin. To achieve this, an integrated approach was employed, combining GIS-based MCDM under AHP. The study considered rainfall patterns, land use and land cover, lineaments and drainage density, soil texture, lithology, slope, proximity to roads, and static water level. These influential factors were identified through a combination of desk reviews, expert knowledge, and experience in the field of groundwater potential mapping. Then, a pairwise comparison matrix was formed to assign weights to each factor and their subparameters based on their relative importance to groundwater potential. The final groundwater potential map was generated using the weighted overlay analysis tool in ArcGIS 10.7. By analyzing the groundwater potential map and the incorporated factors, a comprehensive understanding of groundwater resources and their implications for landslide occurrences in the study area was interrelated. The AHP analysis displayed an acceptable positive principal eigenvalue (9.401) and a consistency ratio of 0.035 < 0.1. Groundwater potential zones occupying 1314.73 km² (12.81%), 4463.06 km² (43.5%), 3236.23 km² (31.54%), 283.31 km² (2.76%), and 961.93 km² (9.38%) were identified as very good, moderate, poor, and very poor groundwater potential zones, respectively. The accuracy of the groundwater potential map was evaluated by overlaying it with existing borehole data. This comparison revealed a high degree of agreement, with approximately 80% of the data points consistent with the maps. In addition, a positive correlation between the groundwater potential zones and the occurrence of landslides was observed. Based on these findings, sustainable land resource utilization is suggested as an approach to enhance groundwater management and mitigate landslide risks.
... The hydrogeologic connection between the Tri-Valley area and Fish Slough has been the subject of several past (Danskin, 1998;Hollett et al., 1991;Jayko & Fatooh, 2010) and more recent studies (Inyo County Water Department, 2016;Zdon et al., 2019). Groundwater flows generally follow the land surface elevation gradient, facilitated by several faults, from North to South from Benton, through Hammil and Chalfant Valleys, and into Fish Slough ( Figure 2). ...
... A bedrock high to the east of the Slough (Figure 2) deflects water from Chalfant Valley into the Slough, effectively blocking southward flow into the Laws wellfield (Jayko & Fatooh, 2010). Further evidence of the connection between Tri-Valley groundwater and Fish Slough exist in the form of geochemical data (Chapman, 2002;Jayko & Fatooh, 2010;Zdon et al., 2019) and the consistency in short-term responses of groundwater levels and flows within Chalfant Valley and Fish Slough during the 1986 earthquake event in Chalfant Valley (Jayko & Fatooh, 2010). Groundwater levels in the region of Crowley Lake, further to the North, were also examined, and while it is possible that Crowley Lake storage and groundwater levels could influence groundwater recharge in Fish Slough, groundwater levels have remained relatively steady, suggesting that this area is not a key driver of declines in Fish Slough groundwater levels. ...
... How the spring flows varied during this observation gap is unclear; however, continuous declines in outflow volumes suggest that aggregated flows across the three springs also declined during this time period. We note here that Zdon et al. 2019 suggest that Northwest and Southeast springs flow data are likely erroneous and inconsistent due to device failures and maintenance issues, thus data from these sites should be interpreted with caution. Years with questionable data were omitted based on recommendations from LADWP (Chad Lamacchia, email communication). ...
Fish Slough, located in northern Owens Valley, California provides habitat for several species that are currently listed under the Endangered Species Act. Declines in groundwater levels and spring flows over the past several decades affect water availability and vegetation cover that provide habitat for these species. While expansion of groundwater pumping for municipal and irrigation use likely explains observed declines, the relative influences of groundwater extractions in different localized areas surrounding this site, as well as climate variability, have not been quantified. In this study, we address this gap by compiling and analyzing climate, remote sensing, groundwater pumping, and observational datasets to assess how climate and groundwater pumping influence surface water flows, groundwater levels, and vegetation conditions at Fish Slough.
... In addition to underground water movement, there are two aboveground creeks that run from Glass Mountain to the east side of the valley: Adobe Creek in the northern part of the valley and Black Canyon Creek in the southern part of the valley; however, Black Canyon Creek was not flowing throughout the duration of this study. Most of the water that drains from the Adobe Hills and Glass Mountain terminates in the low areas of Adobe Valley; however, some water instead travels underground and resurfaces in Fish Slough, 40 km (25 mi) to the south (Zdon et al. 2019). ...
Adobe Valley and the Adobe Hills lie east of the Sierra Nevada in Mono County, California, and are within the Great Basin Floristic Province. The flora of Adobe Valley and the surrounding hills is influenced by the Great Basin Desert to the east, the Sierra Nevada to the west and the northern Mojave Desert to the south. Adobe Valley is surrounded by the Adobe Hills, Benton Range and Glass Mountain region, creating a circular closed basin with many small tributaries feeding into it. This topography contributes to the creation of a rare wetland complex, including alkali meadows, marshes, and lakes at the base of the hills, which represent some of the more botanically interesting terrain in the region. Prior to this study, the wetland complex of Adobe Valley had not been systematically investigated with regard to its botanical diversity. The vegetation types associated with the wetland complex are listed as threatened by the California Natural Diversity Database and face a number of conservation concerns including water pumping, overgrazing, and possible wind energy development. A total of 1525 herbarium specimens were collected within the study area over 59 days in the field from 2016 to 2018. The vascular flora of the Adobe Valley and Hills includes 397 minimum-rank vascular plant taxa, representing 194 genera and 61 families. Six taxa are only known from historical collections, 21 taxa are non-native and 27 taxa have conservation status. The results of the inventory are presented here in an annotated checklist, along with descriptions of vegetation alliances.
... mountain block recharge), alluvial groundwater, and local sources of recharge (e.g. losing streams; Danskin 1998, Harrison 2016, Zdon et al 2019. Precipitation at mid to lower-lying areas of the basin where the springs emerge is minimal and does not change significantly from the northern to southern end of the valley. ...
Global groundwater resources are stressed and the effects of climate change are projected to further disrupt recharge processes. Therefore, we must identify the buffers to climate change in hydrogeologic systems in order to understand which groundwater resources will be disproportionally affected by these changes. Here, we utilize a novel combination of remote sensing (e.g. Landsat) and groundwater residence time data (3H, 36Cl) to identify the factors controlling the hydrogeologic stability of aridland mountain-front springs in response to a major climate event, the 2011-2017 California drought. Desert springs within Owens Valley (CA) support unique ecosystems that are surrounded by lush, green vegetation sustained only by discharging groundwater and are not reliant on localized precipitation. Therefore, the health or ecological response of this vegetation is a direct reflection of the hydrogeologic stability of the mountain-block groundwater system since water is the limiting resource for riparian plant growth in arid regions. We compared spring water residence times to vegetation health metrics computed from Landsat imagery leading up to and during the drought interval. We observe that the vegetation surrounding springs discharging a high fraction of modern and bomb-pulse groundwater (<100 years) showed evidence of increased drying and desiccation as the drought progressed. In comparison, springs discharging a higher fraction of old groundwater (>100 years) showed little response thereby supporting the conceptual model where old groundwater, i.e. a distribution of deep and stable groundwater flowpaths, buffers short- to long-term climate perturbations and may provide hydrogeologic resistance to future effects from climate change.
Climate change is a major concern for a range of environmental issues including water resources
especially groundwater. Recent studies have reported significant impact of various climatic fac�tors such as change in temperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration, etc. on different ground�water variables. For this, a range of tools and techniques are widely used in the literature
including advanced machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) approaches. To the best
of the authors’ knowledge, this review is one of the novel studies that offers an in-depth explo�ration of ML/AI models for evaluating climate change impact on groundwater variables. The
study primarily focuses on the efficacy of various ML/AI models in forecasting critical ground�water parameters such as levels, discharge, storage, and quality under various climatic pressures
like temperature and precipitation that influence these variables. A total of 65 research papers
were selected for review from the year 2017–2023, providing an up-to-date exploration of the
advancements in ML/AI methods for assessing the impact of climate change on various
groundwater variables. It should be noted that the ML/AI model performance depends on the data
attributes like data types, geospatial resolution, temporal scale etc. Moreover, depending on the
research aim and objectives of the different studies along with the data availability, various sets of
historical/observation data have been used in the reviewed studies Therefore, the reviewed
studies considered these attributes for evaluating different ML/AI models. The results of the study
highlight the exceptional ability of neural networks, random forest (RF), decision tree (DT),
support vector machines (SVM) to perform exceptionally accurate in predicting water resource
changes and identifying key determinants of groundwater level fluctuations. Additionally, the
review emphasizes on the enhanced accuracy achieved through hybrid and ensemble ML ap�proaches. In terms of Irish context, the study reveals significant climate change risks posing
threats to groundwater quantity and quality along with limited research conducted in this avenue.
Therefore, the findings of this review can be helpful for understanding the interplay between
climate change and groundwater variables along with the details of the various tools and tech�niques including ML/AI approaches for assessing the impacts of climate changes on groundwater
Assessment of the spatial and temporal distribution of surface water balance (SWB) components for the river basin having complex topography with limited observed data is challenging. This paper focused on estimating the spatial-temporal variability of long-term average monthly, seasonal, and annual SWB components using the WetSpass-M physical-based hydrological model in Ethiopia’s data-scarce Omo River basin. Further, the model output was used for estimating the spatial variation of the average monthly crop water deficit. The sensitivity analysis was performed on the global and local parameters of the model for analysing the relative variation in the SWB components. It was found that actual evapotranspiration (AET) and interception are insensitive to average rainfall intensity while surface runoff is highly sensitive. The variation of SWB at different combinations of landuse/land cover (LU/LC) and soil type indicates that SWB such as surface runoff, AET, and interception are highly influenced by LU/LC than the soil types.
While water sources that sustain many of the springs in the Mojave Desert have been poorly understood, desert wildlife and ecosystems can be highly dependent on such resources. With ever expanding use of desert groundwater, the effect of groundwater extraction on groundwater-dependent ecosystems in the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts is an ongoing concern. Springs that are more susceptible to impacts from groundwater withdrawals are typically those in hydraulic connection with surrounding basin-fill aquifer systems. Since spatial and/or temporal data gaps prevent a detailed model of the groundwater system, this evaluation of groundwater forensic approaches identifies a range of characteristics and parameters that demonstrate key indicators of spring-aquifer connectivity using data collected during a California Mojave Desert-wide spring survey conducted during 2015–2016, and subsequent monitoring and sampling events in both the California Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. In total, monitoring and sampling took place at nearly 400 springs primarily in lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and scattered private lands where accessible. Springs in National Park Service units such as Joshua Tree National Park, Mojave National Preserve and Death Valley National Park and in military bases were not included in the investigation scope. The multiple lines of evidence described regarding spring-aquifer connectivity include field parameters for water, such as temperature, pH, and conductivity, as well as geochemical characteristics of water, such as stable isotope and radiocarbon analyses. While other information about the setting, such as spring-site geology, are important in evaluating flow-path characteristics, simple field reconnaissance of these springs may be inconclusive as to provenance, and they are ultimately of lesser importance than the actual water characteristics in identifying spring provenance and potential hydraulic linkage to basin-fill aquifer systems that are, or may in the future, be utilized for regional groundwater development.
