Tuesday, April 30, 2013: 8:00 a.m.
Regency West 4 (Hyatt Regency San Antonio)
The 28-mile-long perennial reach of the Amargosa River, between Shoshone, California and the terminus of the Amargosa Canyon, received Congressional Wild and Scenic status in 2009. Hydrogeologic characterization of the groundwater-fed river and associated watershed is essential such that the associated Wild and Scenic River Management Plan has a strong foundation. The existing regional conceptual model identifies the Amargosa River basin as part of the greater Death Valley regional groundwater flow system. That conceptual model suggests groundwater recharge results from precipitation falling within the mountains of southern and central Nevada and migrates through the regional carbonate rock aquifer toward the Amargosa River basin where carbonate-fed waters discharge near Ash Meadows. The existing regional conceptual model also suggests groundwater flow along the north-south axis of the basin is shallow beneath the ephemeral Amargosa River. A reconnaissance was conducted to record current conditions of springs, wells and the flowing portion of the river within the basin in this data-poor region. Water samples were collected from springs, wells, and river locations for geochemical analysis. The results of these analyses do not support source water flow from the east through a carbonate aquifer. Groundwater within the basin is complicated and structurally controlled. Further, data from a recently installed monitoring well adjacent to the ephemeral Amargosa River identified groundwater as being both relatively deep compared to what was expected, warm (approximately 100 degrees Fahrenheit), silicic, and of a geochemistry most similar to Shoshone Spring (the principal source of water for the town of Shoshone), some six miles downgradient along the same fault zone that also includes Tecopa Hot Springs. These new data suggest the need for substantial work to develop and revise the conceptualization of the Amargosa River basin.
| Adam H. Love, Ph.D. , Johnson Wright, Inc. | |
| Adam H. Love is a Principal Scientist with Johnson Wright Inc., and has numerous years of technical experience in the utilization of advanced methods to understand and interpret the source, transport, and ultimate fate of water and chemicals for a range of applications, such as water source attribution and mixing. He is experienced in using geochemical, isotopic, and other groundwater or chemical tracers/signatures for assessing water resources, contamination of water resources, and their origin. Love is well respected in the scientific community as evidenced by his numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals and numerous conference presentations. | |
| Andy Zdon, P.G., C.E.G., C.Hg. , Johnson Wright, Inc. | |
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Andy Zdon is a Principal Hydrogeologist with more than 25 years of hydrogeological experience for Johnson Wright Inc. of Lafayette, California. He is a licensed geologist in California and Arizona, and is certified as both a hydrogeologist and engineering geologist in California. He has conducted numerous basin-wide and local hydrogeologic investigations in a wide range of environmental settings in California and Nevada. Zdon is currently conducting hydrologic investigations in the California portion of the Amargosa River Basin and is also known in the region for his book Desert Summits. |
| Jon R. Philipp, P.G., C.Hg. , Johnson Wright, Inc. | |
| Jon Philipp is a Project Manager with Johnson Wright, Inc., and is a California Professional Geologist and Certified Hydrogeologist. With nearly 15 years of experience working on both groundwater resource and environmental projects, his groundwater resource projects have included studies in support of water rights applications, groundwater and surface water management, and development. He is currently conducting on-going work in the Amargosa Basin to identify and ultimately quantify the surface water and groundwater sources feeding the Amargosa River. | |
