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.