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Stratigraphic controls on saltwater intrusion in the Dominguez Gap area of coastal Los Angeles

January 1, 2009

The Los Angeles Basin is a densely populated coastal area that significantly depends on groundwater. A part of this groundwater supply is at risk from saltwater intrusion—the impetus for this study. High-resolution seismic-reflection data collected from the Los Angeles–Long Beach Harbor Complex have been combined with borehole geophysical and descriptive geological data from four nearby ~400-m-deep continuously cored wells and with borehole geophysical data from adjacent water and oil wells to characterize the Pliocene to Holocene stratigraphy of the Dominguez Gap coastal aquifer system. The new data are shown as a north-south, two- dimensional, sequence-stratigraphic model that is compared to existing lithostratigraphic models of the Los Angeles Basin in an attempt to better understand pathways of saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers.

Publication Year 2009
Title Stratigraphic controls on saltwater intrusion in the Dominguez Gap area of coastal Los Angeles
DOI 10.1130/2009.2454(5.4)
Authors Brian D. Edwards, Kenneth D. Ehman, Daniel J. Ponti, Eric G. Reichard, John Tinsley, Robert J. Rosenbauer, Michael T. Land
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Special Paper of the Geological Society of America
Index ID 70037213
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization California Water Science Center; Earthquake Science Center; Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center