Item talk:Q229556
From geokb
{
"@context": "http://schema.org/", "@type": "WebPage", "additionalType": "Research", "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nevada-water-science-center/science/hydraulic-characterization-aquifers-near-long-canyon", "headline": "Hydraulic Characterization of Aquifers near Long Canyon, Nevada", "datePublished": "April 19, 2017", "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jena Huntington", "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/jena-huntington", "identifier": { "@type": "PropertyValue", "propertyID": "orcid", "value": "0000-0002-9291-1404" } } ], "description": [ { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "Hydraulic Property Estimation" }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "1 Golder Associates, 2012, Hydrogeologic Characterization, Long Canyon, Newmont USA Limited. Report 113-81813. March 8, 2012." }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "DATA" }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "Drawdown and Spring Capture Estimation" }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "6 Garcia, C.A., Halford, K.J., and Fenelon, J.M., 2013, Detecting drawdowns masked by environmental stresses using Theis transforms: Groundwater, v.51, no. 3, p. 322-332." }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "Drawdowns at pumping and observation wells, and reductions in spring stage and discharge will be used to evaluate hydraulic connectivity and estimate hydraulic properties of carbonate-rock and basin-fill aquifers. For purposes of drawdown and spring capture estimation, drawdowns are defined as pumping-induced changes in measured water levels and spring capture is defined as pumping-induced changes in measured spring discharge." }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "5 Halford, K., Garcia, C.A., Fenelon, J., and Mirus, B., 2012, Advanced methods for modeling water-levels and estimating drawdowns with SeriesSEE, an Excel add-In, U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods 4\u2013F4, 28 p." }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "Groundwater beneath northwestern Goshute Valley flows through basin-fill and carbonate rocks that have been offset along the eastern flank of the Pequop Mountains by range front faults1. The Johnson Springs system and Big Springs occur within the Long Canyon Project area immediately downgradient from proposed pumping wells open to the carbonate-rock aquifer. Multiple-well aquifer tests1,2 and isotopic data3 indicate that the carbonate-rock aquifer is a major source of water discharged by these springs. Big Springs and the Johnson Springs system provide habitat for the Relict Dace (Relictus solitaries), an endemic species in east-central and northeastern Nevada. Outflow from the Johnson Springs system and Big Springs, and potential gaining reaches from the basin-fill aquifer contribute to perennial surface water flow in Hardy Creek1. An improved hydraulic understanding of the study area is necessary to evaluate potential effects of groundwater development on this interconnected hydrologic system." }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "Hydraulic properties will be estimated by analyzing drawdowns, spring-flow capture, and pumping records with analytical and numerical methods. Three-dimensional drawdowns from each multiple-well aquifer test will be simulated with a MODFLOW model. Multiple aquifer-test models will be integrated and analyzed simultaneously where areas investigated by aquifer tests overlap. Integration of multiple groundwater-flow models allows for" }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "Accurate subsurface hydrologic characterization is essential for understanding groundwater-flow paths and evaluating pumping effects on hydrologic systems. Long-term pumping can alter hydraulic gradients in a groundwater-flow system, which, in turn, can affect spring discharge rates, surface water flow, other well users, and the overall groundwater budget in a hydrographic area. The Long Canyon Mine Project in northwestern Goshute Valley, northeastern Nev., requires groundwater pumping from the carbonate-rock aquifer to sustain proposed open-pit gold mining and processing activities during the life of the mine, which currently is projected at 8 years." }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "2 Barnett Intermountain Water Consulting, Global Hydrologic Services Inc., and Aqua Engineering, 2011, Report on the Long Canyon bedrock well aquifer test, Goshute Valley, Elko County, Nevada. Prepared for Fronteer Development (USA) Inc. March 2011." }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "AQUIFER TESTS" }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "Hydraulic connectivity and hydraulic properties of carbonate rocks and basin fill in Goshute Valley, NV will be estimated from an integrated analysis of the late-summer 2016 aquifer test and previously completed aquifer tests. Specific tasks include" }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "3 Mayo and Associates, LC, 2013, Isotopic Characterization of groundwaters in the Long Canyon Mine Area, Nevada. October 19, 2013." }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "Aquifer Test Analysis" }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "Long-term pumping effects on groundwater systems are largely controlled by bulk hydraulic properties of aquifers. Aquifer testing can provide an integrated assessment of hydraulic properties within complex geologic systems, where the responses to pumping can be measured at distant observation wells and springs4. However, detecting pumping-induced drawdowns in wells and reduced discharges from springs can be problematic because the responses can be small and obscured by natural environmental fluctuations. Previous studies showed that small pumping responses in distant observation wells can be isolated by removing environmental fluctuations from recorded water-level measurements. Analytic water-level model simulations can be used to remove environmental fluctuations. These models use measurements of background water levels and barometric pressure, and theoretical earth-tidal potentials5,6 to account for the non-pumping related responses. Background measurements of water levels and spring discharges include regional-scale temporal trends related to variable natural groundwater recharge and discharge and are critical for removing environmental fluctuations because at time scales relevant to the pumping tests they are generally affected by the same imperfect barometric coupling and earth tides that are superimposed on the pumping responses in observation wells and springs." }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "Several single-well and multiple-well aquifer tests have been performed by the Long Canyon Mine Project within carbonate-rock and basin-fill aquifers in Goshute Valley and near vicinity1,2. Pumping responses (signals) in the carbonate-rock aquifer have propagated more than a mile from the pumping well and have been observed in overlying basin-fill wells. During late-summer 2016, a large-scale multiple-well aquifer test was performed in the carbonate-rock aquifer by the Long Canyon Mine Project. Two test wells were pumped at a combined rate of about 3,700 gallons per minute (gpm) for over a month." }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "4 Halford, K.J. and D.K. Yobbi, 2006, Estimating Hydraulic Properties Using a Moving-Model Approach and Multiple Aquifer Tests: Ground Water, v. 44, no. 2, 284-291" }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "USGS scientists are characterizing hydraulic connectivity and bulk hydraulic properties of carbonate-rock and basin-fill aquifers in the vicinity of and downgradient from the Long Canyon Mine Project area in Goshute Valley, Nev., to better understand groundwater-flow paths and evaluate pumping effects on the hydrologic system. The Long Canyon Mine Project requires groundwater pumping from the carbonate-rock aquifer to sustain open-pit gold mining and processing activities during the life of the mine, which currently is projected at 8 years. However, the carbonate-rock aquifer supplies water to the Johnson Springs system and Big Springs, which discharge immediately downgradient from the mine. These springs provide habitat for the Relict Dace (Relictus solitaries), a species endemic to east-central and northeastern Nevada. An improved hydraulic understanding of the study area is necessary to evaluate potential effects of groundwater development on this interconnected hydrologic system." }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "The pumping signal from the summer 2016 pumping test propagated several miles beyond the pumping well through both carbonate-rock and basin-fill aquifers. To facilitate water-level drawdown and spring capture analyses, mine consultants collected the following data:" }, { "@type": "TextObject", "text": "Water-level and spring stage and discharge data used during the study will be archived online through the USGS ScienceBase web site. Aquifer tests will be archived and made available online from the USGS Nevada Water Science Center aquifer test web page. Models will be archived on ScienceBase." } ], "funder": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Nevada Water Science Center", "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nevada-water-science-center" }, "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Methods and Analysis" }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Information Systems" }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Groundwater" }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Science Technology" }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Regional Scale Modeling" }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Energy" }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Numeric Modeling and Advanced Technologies" }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Water Use" }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Hydrologic Research" }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Environmental Health" }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Water" }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Water Availability and Use" }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Geology" } ]
}
