A Brief Geologic and Hydrologic Reconnaissance of the Furnace Creek Wash Area, Death Valley National Monument, California
Pistrang MA and Kunkel F. 1964. A Brief Geologic and Hydrologic Reconnaissance of the Furnace Creek Wash Area, Death Valley National Monument, California. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Supply Paper. WSP 1779-Y. U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. Reston, VA
The Furnace Creek Wash area, Death Valley National Monument, Calif., consists in large part of a pediment slope formed on folded sedimentary rocks of Tertiary age, locally capped by gravel of Quaternary and Recent age. Sixty points of ground-water discharge, including artificial diversions, springs, seeps, and phreatophyte areas, are described and mapped. The total measured and estimated discharge from these points is a minimum of 5.6 cubic feet per second. Except for Salt Springs, the spring water is of the sodium bicarbonate sulfate type and contains dissolved solids of about 600 to 1,400 parts per million. Adequate precipitation falls on the tributary drainage area to supply all the recharge. The springs occur in all the unconsolidated and semiconsolidated deposits, and four hypotheses to explain the occurrence, source, and movement of the ground water are as follows: The first assumes that water from precipitation at higher altitude percolates into a network of faults and fractures and discharges where the faults and fractures intersect the surface at lower altitude. The second hypothesis is similar to the first but assumes that, from faults in the bedrock, water is conducted to the surface in pipes of travertine that were formed con- temporaneously with the deposition of alluvial material. The third hypothesis assumes that water from precipitation percolates into the alluvial deposits, replenishes the water table, and occurs as springs where the water table intersects the surface. The fourth hypothesis assumes a combination of the first three. During November 1958 a well was drilled by the National Park Service to a depth of 250 feet to test the thickness, character, and water-yielding properties of the alluvial deposits north of Travertine and east of Texas Springs. The water level in the well was 74.5 feet below land-surface datum. After 76 hours of con- tinuous pumping at rates up to 390 gpm (gallons per minute) the well yielded 140 gpm with 15 feet of drawdown.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Pistrang, Marvin; Kunkel, Fred
- Date of Issue
- 1964
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
- Units
- DEVA , HIST , WRD
- Keywords
- Aquatic Sciences, CA, California, Chemistry, Death Valley, Death Valley National Park, Discharge, ehistory, Furnace Creek, Furnace Creek Wash, Geologic, Groundwater, History, Hydrologic, Hydrology, National Park, NV, Physical Sciences, Springs, Texas Spring, travertine springs, Water Quality, WRBIB