Wayne Belcher
Science and Products
Evaluation of Groundwater Flow in the Southern Part of the Amargosa Desert, Nevada and California
Since the original publication of the Death Valley regional groundwater flow system (DVRFS) numerical model in 2004, more information on the regional groundwater flow system in the form of new data and interpretations has been compiled. Cooperators such as the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Energy, and Nye County, Nevada,...
Digital Flow Data from Drains, Canals, Laterals, Waste-Way Discharges, and Stream Gaging Stations along the Rio Grande
This dataset represents a partial record of Rio Grande time-series flow data from locations in Dona Ana County and Sierra County, New Mexico; El Paso County and Hudspeth County, Texas; and Chihuahua, Mexico. Records from 1908 to 2010 are presented from 79 sources consisting of 11 drains, 8 canals, 6 laterals, 34 waste-ways, and 20 stream gaging stations. In 2015 the US Geologica
Hydrologic monitoring networks in the Death Valley Regional Flow System, Nye County, Nevada and Inyo County, California
IntroductionWater is an important resource in the arid southwest region of the United States where there is a limited supply of surface water and groundwater. In the Death Valley regional groundwater flow system (DVRFS) in southern Nevada and eastern California, groundwater is the main source of supply for agricultural, commercial, and domestic...
Reiner, Steven R.; Elliott, Peggy E.; Earp, Katherine J.; Belcher, Wayne R.
Hydrogeology of Lower Amargosa Valley and groundwater discharge to the Amargosa Wild and Scenic River, Inyo and San Bernardino Counties, California, and adjacent areas in Nye and Clark Counties, Nevada
In 2009, Congress designated certain reaches of the Amargosa River in Inyo County, California between the town of Shoshone and Dumont Dunes as a Wild and Scenic River. As part of the management of the Amargosa Wild and Scenic River, the Bureau of Land Management cooperated with the U.S. Geological Survey to assess the surface and groundwater...
Belcher, Wayne R.; Sweetkind, Donald S.; Hopkins, Candice B.; Poff, Megan E.
An update of the Death Valley regional groundwater flow system transient model, Nevada and California
Since the original publication of the Death Valley regional groundwater flow system (DVRFS) numerical model in 2004, more information on the regional groundwater flow system in the form of new data and interpretations has been compiled. Cooperators such as the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the...
Belcher, Wayne R.; Sweetkind, Donald S.; Faunt, Claudia C.; Pavelko, Michael T.; Hill, Mary C.
Comment on “An unconfined groundwater model of the Death Valley Regional Flow System and a comparison to its confined predecessor” by R.W.H. Carroll, G.M. Pohll and R.L. Hershey [Journal of Hydrology 373/3–4, pp. 316–328]
Carroll et al. (2009) state that the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Death Valley Regional Flow System (DVRFS) model, which is based on MODFLOW, is “conceptually inaccurate in that it models an unconfined aquifer as a confined system and does not simulate unconfined drawdown in transient pumping simulations.” Carroll et al. (2009) claim...
Faunt, Claudia C.; Provost, Alden M.; Hill, Mary C.; Belcher, Wayne R.
Death Valley regional groundwater flow system, Nevada and California-Hydrogeologic framework and transient groundwater flow model
A numerical three-dimensional (3D) transient groundwater flow model of the Death Valley region was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey for the U.S. Department of Energy programs at the Nevada Test Site and at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Decades of study of aspects of the groundwater flow system and previous less extensive groundwater flow models...
Belcher, Wayne R.; Sweetkind, Donald S. Interbasin flow in the Great Basin with special reference to the southern Funeral Mountains and the source of Furnace Creek springs, Death Valley, California, U.S.
Interbasin flow in the Great Basin has been established by scientific studies during the past century. While not occurring uniformly between all basins, its occurrence is common and is a function of the hydraulic gradient between basins and hydraulic conductivity of the intervening rocks. The Furnace Creek springs in Death Valley, California are...
Belcher, W.R.; Bedinger, M.S.; Back, J.T.; Sweetkind, D.S.
Technical Review of Water-Resources Investigations of the Tule Desert, Lincoln County, Southern Nevada
The Nevada State Engineer in Ruling No. 5181 required Lincoln County and Vidler Water Company, Inc., to provide results from additional water-resources studies of Tule Desert in southern Nevada to support water-rights application 64692. As outlined by the ruling, the additional studies were to include the determination of the amount of ground...
Berger, David L.; Halford, Keith J.; Belcher, Wayne R.; Lico, Michael S.
Ground-Water Flow Modeling by the U.S. Geological Survey in Nevada: Uses and Approaches
Belcher, Wayne R.; Welch, Alan H.
Ground-water modeling of the Death Valley Region, Nevada and California
The Death Valley regional ground-water flow system (DVRFS) of southern Nevada and eastern California covers an area of about 100,000 square kilometers and contains very complex geology and hydrology. Using a computer model to represent the complex system, the U.S. Geological Survey simulated ground-water flow in the Death Valley region for use...
Belcher, W.R.; Faunt, C.C.; Sweetkind, D.S.; Blainey, J.B.; San Juan, C. A.; Laczniak, R.J.; Hill, M.C. Death Valley regional ground-water flow system, Nevada and California -- hydrogeologic framework and transient ground-water flow model
A numerical three-dimensional (3D) transient ground-water flow model of the Death Valley region was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey for the U.S. Department of Energy programs at the Nevada Test Site and at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Decades of study of aspects of the ground-water flow system and previous less extensive ground-water flow...
Belcher, Wayne R. A three-dimensional numerical model of predevelopment conditions in the Death Valley regional ground-water flow system, Nevada and California
In the early 1990's, two numerical models of the Death Valley regional ground-water flow system were developed by the U.S. Department of Energy. In general, the two models were based on the same basic hydrogeologic data set. In 1998, the U.S. Department of Energy requested that the U.S. Geological Survey develop and maintain a ground-water flow...
D'Agnese, Frank A.; O'Brien, G. M.; Faunt, C.C.; Belcher, W.R.; San Juan, C. Probability distributions of hydraulic conductivity for the hydrogeologic units of the Death Valley regional ground-water flow system, Nevada and California
The use of geologic information such as lithology and rock properties is important to constrain conceptual and numerical hydrogeologic models. This geologic information is difficult to apply explicitly to numerical modeling and analyses because it tends to be qualitative rather than quantitative. This study uses a compilation of hydraulic-...
Belcher, Wayne R.; Sweetkind, Donald S.; Elliott, Peggy E.