Ground-water recharge in the arid and semiarid southwestern United States: Climatic and geologic framework

Professional Paper 1703-A
By:  and 
Edited by: David A. StonestromJim ConstantzTy P.A. Ferré, and Stanley A. Leake

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Abstract

Ground-water recharge in the arid and semiarid southwestern United States results from the complex interplay of climate, geology, and vegetation across widely ranging spatial and temporal scales. Present-day recharge tends to be narrowly focused in time and space. Widespread water-table declines accompanied agricultural development during the twentieth century, demonstrating that sustainable ground-water supplies are not guaranteed when part of the extracted resource represents paleorecharge. Climatic controls on ground-water recharge range from seasonal cycles of summer monsoonal and winter frontal storms to multimillennial cycles of glacial and interglacial periods. Precipitation patterns reflect global-scale interactions among the oceans, atmosphere, and continents. Large-scale climatic influences associated with El Niño and Pacific Decadal Oscillations strongly but irregularly control weather in the study area, so that year-to-year variations in precipitation and ground-water recharge are large and difficult to predict. Proxy data indicate geologically recent periods of multidecadal droughts unlike any in the modern instrumental record. Anthropogenically induced climate change likely will reduce ground-water recharge through diminished snowpack at higher elevations, and perhaps through increased drought. Future changes in El Niño and monsoonal patterns, both crucial to precipitation in the study area, are highly uncertain in current models. Land-use modifications influence ground-water recharge directly through vegetation, irrigation, and impermeable area, and indirectly through climate change. High ranges bounding the study area—the San Bernadino Mountains and Sierra Nevada to the west, and the Wasatch and southern Colorado Rocky Mountains to the east—provide external geologic controls on ground-water recharge. Internal geologic controls stem from tectonic processes that led to numerous, variably connected alluvial-filled basins, exposure of extensive Paleozoic aquifers in mountainous recharge areas, and distinct modes of recharge in the Colorado Plateau and Basin and Range subregions.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Ground-water recharge in the arid and semiarid southwestern United States: Climatic and geologic framework
Series title Professional Paper
Series number 1703
Chapter A
DOI 10.3133/pp1703A
Edition Version 1.0
Year Published 2007
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Contributing office(s) Arizona Water Science Center, National Research Program - Western Branch
Description 27 p.
Larger Work Type Report
Larger Work Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Larger Work Title Ground-water recharge in the arid and semiarid southwestern United States (Professional Paper 1703)
Country United States
Other Geospatial southwestern United States
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
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