1:1,000,000-scale potentiometric contours and control points for the Great Basin carbonate and alluvial aquifer system of Nevada, Utah, and parts of adjacent states
Description
This dataset was created in support of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study focusing
on groundwater resources in the Great Basin carbonate and alluvial aquifer system (GBCAAS).
The GBCAAS is a complex aquifer system comprised of both unconsolidated and bedrock
formations covering an area of approximately 110,000 square miles. The aquifer system is
situated in the eastern portion of the Great Basin Province of the western United States.
The eastern Great Basin is experiencing rapid population growth and has some of the highest
per capita water use in the Nation. These factors, combined with the arid setting, have levied
intensive demand upon current groundwater resources and, thus, predictions of future shortages.
Because of the large regional extent of the aquifer system, rapid growth in the region, and the
reliance upon groundwater for urban populations, agriculture, and native habitats, the GBCAAS
was selected by the USGS Water Resources program as part of the National Water Census
Initiative to evaluate the Nation's groundwater availability.
This dataset consists of potentiometric contours, control points used to guide the creation
of the contours, and a grid of 2 square-mile cells used to average the water-level value of
selected control points. Control points are based on water-level measurements at well and
spring locations from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS, Mathey, 1998).
Additional control points were derived from estimates of water-level altitudes in perennial
mountain streams based on National Hydrography Dataset (NHD, 1999) stream reaches.
References cited:
Mathey, Sharon B., ed., 1998, National Water Information System (NWIS):
U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 027-98, 2 p.,
Accessed January 14, 2009 at <https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/FS-027-98/fs-027-98.pdf>
U.S. Geological Survey, 1999, National Hydrography Dataset:
U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 106-99,
accessed March 2007 at http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/factsheets/fs10699.html