Horizontal flow barriers for the transient ground-water flow model, Death Valley regional ground-water flow system, Nevada and California

This digital dataset defines the surface traces of regional features simulated as horizontal flow barriers in the Death Valley regional ground-water flow system (DVRFS) transient flow model, an approximately 45,000 square-kilometer area of southern Nevada and California. The DVRFS transient groundwater flow model is one of several regional-scale models developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support investigations at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) and at Yucca Mountain, Nevada (see "Larger Work Citation", Chapter A, page 8). Initially, potential ground-water flow barriers were identified on the basis of length, offset, type of slip, orientation with respect to predominant ground-water flow directions, the location of springs, abrupt water level offsets, and hydraulic characteristics (Sweetkind and others, 2004). These potential flow barriers were tested in the transient ground-water flow model for effect on the simulated DVRFS flow system (Faunt and others, 2004). Ultimately, portions of 9 features simulated as horizontal flow barriers were shown to retard flow in the calibrated DVRFS transient model.

本数字数据集定义了死亡谷区域地下水流动系统（Death Valley Regional Ground-water Flow System, DVRFS）瞬态流动模型中被模拟为水平阻水层的区域特征地表迹线，该研究区域覆盖内华达州南部与加利福尼亚州，总面积约45000平方千米。本DVRFS瞬态地下水流动模型是美国地质调查局（U.S. Geological Survey, USGS）为美国能源部（U.S. Department of Energy, DOE）开发的若干区域尺度模型之一，用于支持在内华达试验场（Nevada Test Site, NTS）及内华达州尤卡山开展的相关调查研究（详见"Larger Work Citation"章节A第8页）。最初，研究人员依据长度、错距、滑动类型、与主导地下水流向的方位关系、泉点位置、水位突变错距以及水力特征，识别出潜在地下水流阻水层（Sweetkind等，2004）。随后，研究人员在该瞬态地下水流动模型中对这些潜在阻水层开展测试，以评估其对模拟DVRFS流动系统的影响（Faunt等，2004）。最终，经校准的DVRFS瞬态模型结果表明，9处被模拟为水平阻水层的特征中有部分区段可阻滞地下水流。