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William D. Nichols

Publications and source records attributed to William D. Nichols.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2010

Estimating discharge of shallow groundwater by transpiration from greasewood in the Northern Great Basin

Evapotranspiration from bare soil and phreatophytes is a principal mechanism of groundwater discharge in arid and semiarid regions of the midwestern and western United States including the Great Basin. The imbalance between independent estimates of groundwater recharge from precipitation and of groundwater discharge based on estimates of groundwater evapotranspiration leads to large uncertainties in groundwater budgets. Few studies have addressed this problem. Energy budget micrometeorological field studies were conducted in a stand of sparse-canopy greasewood growing in an area of shallow groundwater in the western Great Basin during the summer of 1989. The data were used to calculate above-canopy fluxes of sensible and latent heat using the energy budget-Bowen ratio method. The calculated energy budget fluxes were used, with soil surface and plant canopy temperature measurements, to calibrate and apply a two-component, energy-combination model that partitions the energy and heat fluxes between bare soil and the canopy. This permitted the separation of evaporation from the soil and transpiration from greasewood. The calibrated model was used to estimate daily transpiration of groundwater by greasewood growing in an area with a depth to water of about 2 m. The daily rate of groundwater discharge by transpiration during July and August was estimated to be 2.4 mm. A period of 100 days for groundwater discharge at this rate was assumed to estimate an annual discharge of groundwater of 24 cm at the study site.

Great Basin↗
USGS1996

Summary of the Oahu, Hawaii, regional aquifer-system analysis

Oahu, the third largest of the Hawaiian islands, is formed by the eroded remnants of two elongated shield volcanoes with broad, low profiles. Weathering and erosion have modified the original domed surfaces of the volcanoes, leaving a landscape of deep valleys and steep interfluvial ridges in the interior highlands. The Koolau Range in eastern Oahu and the Waianae Range in western Oahu are the eroded remnants of the Koolau and Waianae Volcanoes. The origin, mode of emplacement, texture, and composition of the rocks of Oahu affect their ability to store and transmit water. The volcanic rocks are divided into four groups: (1) lava flows, (2) dikes, (3) pyroclastic deposits, and (4) saprolite and weathered basalt. Stratified sequences of thin-bedded lava flows form the most productive aquifers in Hawaii. Dikes are near-vertical sheets of massive intrusive rock that typically contain only fracture permeability. Pyroclastic deposits include ash, cinder, and spatter; they are essentially granular, with porosity and permeability similar to those of granular sediments. Weathering of basaltic rocks in the humid, subtropical climate of Oahu alters igneous minerals to clays and oxides, reducing the permeability of the parent rock. Saprolite is weathered material that has retained textural features of the parent rock. Estimates of hydraulic conductivity along the plane of dike-free lava flows tend to fall within about one order of magnitude, from about 500 to about 5,000 feet per day. Estimates of specific yield range from about 1 to 20 percent; most of the values lie within a narrow range of about 5 to 10 percent. The occurrence of ground water on Oahu is determined by the type and character of the rocks and by the presence of geohydrologic barriers. The primary modes of freshwater occurrence on Oahu are as a basal lens of fresh ground water floating on saltwater, as dike-impounded ground water, and as perched ground water. Saltwater occurs at depth throughout much of the island. A regional aquifer system composed of the Waianae aquifer in the Waianae Volcanics and the Koolau aquifer in the Koolau Basalt is subdivided into well-defined areas by geohydrologic barriers. The aquifers are separated by the Waianae confining unit formed by weathering along the Waianae-Koolau unconformity. In some coastal areas, a caprock of sedimentary deposits overlies and confines the aquifers. The island of Oahu has been divided into seven major ground-water areas delineated by deep-seated structural geohydrologic barriers; these areas are further subdivided by shallower internal barriers to ground-water flow. The Koolau rift zone along the eastern (windward) side of the island and the Waianae rift zone to the west (Waianae area) constitute two of the major ground-water areas. North-central Oahu is divided into three smaller ground-water areas, Mokuleia, Waialua, and Kawailoa. The Schofield ground-water area encompasses much of the Schofield Plateau of central Oahu. Southern Oahu is divided into six areas, Ewa, Pearl Harbor, Moanalua, Kalihi, Beretania, and Kaimuki. Southeastern Oahu is divided into the Waialae and Wailupe-Hawaii Kai areas. Along the northeast coast of windward Oahu is the Kahuku ground-water area. The aquifers of Oahu contain shallow freshwater and deeper saltwater flow systems. There are five fresh ground-water flow systems: meteoric freshwater flow diverges from ground-water divides that lie somewhere within the Waianae and Koolau rift zones, forming an interior flow system in central Oahu (which is divided into the northern and southern Oahu flow systems) and exterior flow systems in western (Waianae area) Oahu, eastern (windward) Oahu, and southeastern Oahu. Development of the ground-water resources on Oahu began when the first well was drilled near Honouliuli in the summer of 1879. By 1890, 86 wells had been drilled on the island. From about 1891 to about 1910, development increased rapidly with the drilling of a

Hawaii↗
USGS1996

Water Budget and the Effects of Land-Use Changes on Ground-Water Recharge, Oahu, Hawaii

Detailed water budgets calculated for southern and southeastern Oahu are used with a geographic information system to develop simplified methods for estimating areal water budgets for predevelopment and mid-1980's land use. The methods were applied to estimate water budgets for the Waianae area of western Oahu, and for north-central, southern, and southeastern Oahu. A water budget was calculated for windward Oahu by developing a separate geographic information system model of the area. The water budgets for these areas were combined into a single water budget for the entire island. The geographic information system model was used to calculate mid-1980's ground-water recharge to small areas of specific interest and the distribution of recharge by geologic formation. The most significant changes in the water budget and ground-water recharge have occurred in north-central and southern Oahu as a result of large-scale agricultural development and urbanization by the mid-1980's. Runoff increased by 23 million gallons per day in southern Oahu where extensive urban areas have been developed. Evapotranspiration increased by 8 million gallons per day in southern Oahu and 28 million gallons per day in north-central Oahu as result of the 146 million gallons per day of agricultural irrigation. Ground-water recharge increased in both areas: by about 56 million gallons per day in southern Oahu and by about 32 million gallons per day in north-central Oahu. Predevelopment ground-water recharge to Oahu was an estimated 792 million gallons per day. Changes in land-use practices in the mid-1980's resulted in an estimated island-wide recharge of 880 million gallons per day.

Professional Paper↗
USGS1995

Waste burial in arid environments - Application of Information from a field laboratory in the Mojave Desert, Southern Nevada

Because of the potentially harmful effect of improper waste disposal on water resources in the arid West, comprehensive laboratory and field studies are critical to identifying likely contaminant-release pathways and the potential for waste migration at arid sites. However, the quandary for those charged with assessment of the suitability of potential disposal sites is that site characterization and evaluation must be accomplished in a relatively short period of time-only 1 to 2 years. Data collection at the Mojave Desert field laboratory provides the needed long-term benchmark against which short-term data from proposed arid sites can be compared. The data base and monitoring facilities developed at the field laboratory also provide an excellent foundation upon which to build collaborative efforts with universities and local, State, and other Federal agencies to further the study and understanding of hydrologic processes in an arid environment.

Nevada↗
USGS1992

Energy budgets and resistances to energy transport in sparsely vegetated rangeland

Partitioning available energy between plants and bare soil in sparsely vegetated rangelands will allow hydrologists and others to gain a greater understanding of water use by native vegetation, especially phreatophytes. Standard methods of conducting energy budget studies result in measurements of latent and sensible heat fluxes above the plant canopy which therefore include the energy fluxes from both the canopy and the soil. One-dimensional theoretical numerical models have been proposed recently for the partitioning of energy in sparse crops. Bowen ratio and other micrometeorological data collected over phreatophytes growing in areas of shallow ground water in central Nevada were used to evaluate the feasibility of using these models, which are based on surface and within-canopy aerodynamic resistances, to determine heat and water vapor transport in sparsely vegetated rangelands. The models appear to provide reasonably good estimates of sensible heat flux from the soil and latent heat flux from the canopy. Estimates of latent heat flux from the soil were less satisfactory. Sensible heat flux from the canopy was not well predicted by the present resistance formulations. Also, estimates of total above-canopy fluxes were not satisfactory when using a single value for above-canopy bulk aerodynamic resistance.

Agricultural and Forest Meteorology↗
USGS1990

Selected meteorological data for an arid climate over bare soil near Beatty, Nye County, Nevada, November 1977 through May 1980

Meteorological data were collected over bare soil at a site for low-level radioactive-waste burial near Beatty, Nevada, from November 1977 to May 1980. The data include precipitation, windspeed, wind direction, incident solar radiation, reflected solar radiation, net radiation, dry- and wet-bulb air temperatures at three heights, soil temperature at five depths, and soil-heat flux at three depths. Mean relative humidity was computed for each day of the collection period for which data are available. A discussion is presented of the study site and the instrumentation and procedures used for collecting and processing the data. Selected data from November 1977 to May 1980 are presented in tabular form. Diurnal fluctuations of selected meteorological variables for representative summer and winter periods are graphically presented. The effects on selected variables of a partial solar eclipse are also discussed

Nevada↗
USGS1987

Geohydrology of the unsaturated zone at the burial site for low-level radioactive waste near Beatty, Nye County, Nevada

Low-level radioactive solid waste has been buried in trenches at a site near Beatty, Nev., since 1962. In 1976, as part of a national program, the U.S. Geological Survey began a study of the geohydrology of the waste-burial site to provide a basis for estimating the potential for radionuclide migration in the unsaturated zone beneath the waste-burial trenches. Data collected include meteorological information for calibration of a long-term water-budget analysis, soil-moisture profiles, soil-water potentials, and hydraulic properties of representative unsaturated sediment samples to a depth of about 10 meters (m). The waste-burial facility is in the northern Amargosa Desert about 170 kilometers (km) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevo The region is arid; mean annual precipitation at Lathrop Wells, 30 km south of the site, is only 7.4 centimeters (cm). The mean daily maximum temperature at Lathrop Wells in July, the hottest month, is 37 ° C. The site is underlain by poorly stratified deposits of gravelly or silty sand and sandy gravel, and thick beds of clayey sediments. The total thickness of valley-fill deposits beneath the site is about 175 m; the unsaturated zone is about 85 m thick. Volumetric soil moisture to depths of 4 m ranges from 4 to 10 percent but commonly is in the range of 6 to 8 percent. Soil-water potential, measured to depths of 3 to 10 m, ranged from -10 to -70 bars. Unsaturated hydraulic conductivity computed from laboratory analyses of representative samples ranges from 10 -13 to 10 -14 centimeters per day (cm/d). Evaporation studies over a 2-year (yr) period were used to calibrate a numerical procedure for analyzing long-term precipitation data and estimating annual water budgets during the 15-yr period 1962-76. This analysis (1) demonstrated that a potential exists for deep percolation (greater than 2 m), despite high annual evaporation demands, and (2) provided predictions of the time of year and the antecedent conditions that enhance the probability of deep percolation. Soil-moisture profiles obtained monthly over an 18-month (mo) period demonstrate that deep percolation does occur. Soil-moisture conditions antecedent to an observed deep-percolation event, and the time of year when the percolation occurred, support the interpretations based on long-term meteorological records. Calculation of downward moisture movement through the waste-trench backfill material, on the basis of simplified assumptions, suggests that moisture could have penetrated as much as 6 m below land surface from 1963, when the oldest trenches were closed, to 1980, but that the moisture requirement for such penetration far exceeded the amount of moisture actually available. Steady-state downward movement of moisture at depths greater than 10 m and beneath the waste-burial trenches would be on the order of 4 cm per 1,000 yr, assuming a steady flux rate of 1x10 -5 cm/d.

Nevada↗
USGS1986

Beatty, Nevada: A section in U.S. Geological Survey research in radioactive waste disposal - Fiscal years 1983, 1984, and 1985 (WRI 87-4009)

A commercial low-level radioactive-waste disposal site has been operating near Beatty, Nevada, about 150 km northwest of Las Vegas, since 1962. The 32-ha site is situated in a desolate region of the Amargosa River Valley, sometimes referred to as the Amargosa Desert. Average annual precipitation is only about 114 mm. The site is underlain by 175 m of unconsolidated, generally coarse-grained, alluvial-fan and flood-plain deposits. The water table is at a depth of 90 m.

Nevada↗
USGS1982

Beatty, Nevada: A section in U.S. Geological Survey research in radioactive waste disposal - Fiscal year 1979 (Circular 847)

A commercial low-level radioactive waste disposal site has been operating near Beatty, Nevada, about 150 km northwest of Las Vegas, since 1962. The 32-ha site is situated in a desolate region of the Amargosa River Valley, sometimes referred to as the Amargosa Desert. Average annual precipitation is only about 114 mm. The site is underlain by 175 m of unconsolidated generally coarse-grained, alluvial-fan and flood-plain deposits. The water table is at a depth of 90 m.

Nevada↗
USGS1979

Data on ground-water resources of the Spring Mountains area, Toiyabe National Forest, Nevada

This report lists data on ground-water levels for 16 wells and discharge for 18 springs in the Spring Mountain area of the Tolyabe National Forest. Water levels in wells ranged from 325 to 519 feet below land surface. The highest spring discharge listed is 107 gallons per minute. In addition, data on the chemical quality of the water from selected wells and springs are listed.

Nevada↗
USGS1979

Simulation analysis of the unconfined aquifer, Raft River geothermal area, Idaho-Utah

This study covers about 1,000 mi 2 (2,600 km 2 ) of the southern Raft River drainage basin in south-central Idaho and northwest Utah. The main area of interest, approximately 200 mi2 (520 km 2 ) of semiarid agricultural and rangeland in the southern Raft River Valley that includes the known Geothermal Resource Area near Bridge, Idaho, was modelled numerically to evaluate the hydrodynamics of the unconfined aquifer. Computed and estimated transmissivity values range from 1,200 feet squared per day (110 meters squared per day) to 73,500 feet squared per day (6,830 meters squared per day). Water budgets, including ground-water recharge and discharge for approximate equilibrium conditions, have been computed by several previous investigators; their estimates of available ground-water recharge range from about 46,000 acre-feet per year (57 cubic hectometers per year) to 100,000 acre-feet per year (123 cubic hectometers per year). Simulation modeling of equilibrium conditions represented by 1952 water levels suggests: (1) recharge to the water-table aquifer is about 63,000 acre-feet per year (77 cubic hectometers per year); (2) a significant volume of ground water is discharged through evapotranspiration by phreatophytes growing on the valley bottomlands; (3) the major source of recharge may be from upward leakage of water from a deeper, confined reservoir; and (4) the aquifer transmissivity probably does not exceed about 12,000 feet squared per day (3,100 meters squared per day). Additional analysis carried out by simulating transient conditions from 1952 to 1965 strongly suggests that aquifer transmissivity does not exceed about 7,700 feet squared per day (700 meters squared per day). The model was calibrated using slightly modified published pumpage data; it satisfactorily reproduced the historic water-level decline over the period 1952-65.

Idaho, Utah↗
USGS1967

Results of the second phase of the drought-disaster test-drilling program near Morristown, N.J.

The continued drought in northeastern New Jersey through the summer of 1966 with its attendant water-supply problems resulted in an extension of the drought-disaster test-drilling program originally requested by the Office of Emergency Planning on August 30, 1965. Authorization to continue test drilling was fiven by the Office of Emergency Planning on September 26, 1966, with the stipulation that all field work be complete by January 31, 1977. Contractural costs were paid by the Office of Emergency Planning, whereas personnel costs were shared by the U.S. Geological Survey and the New Jersey Department of Conservation and Economic Development, Division of Water Policy and Supply. The work undertaken in 1965 by the Geological Survey was "...to preform the necessary drilling and testing of wells to identify the extent and nature of a reserve ground-water source in the vicinity of the Passaic River near the northern New Jersey metropolitan area." Results of this first phase were made available in the fall of 1966 in Water Resources Circular 16 of the New Jersey Department of Conservation and Economic Development. Three of the five areas tested (figure 1)--two in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township (areas 2 and 4) and one in East Hanover Township (area 1), Morris County--proved capable of providing an aggregate sustained yield of 7.5 million gallons daily (mgd) from wells constructed in sand and gravel deposits. Because significant supplies of ground water for emergency use were located in the first phase of the exploratory test-drilling program, it was though desirable to extend the originally planned studies so as to obtain maximum practicable information on emergency supplies. During this second phase of the investigation, drilling was conducted in 16 sites in Chatham, Madison, and Florham Park Boroughs and in Hanover and East Hanover Townships, Morris County. (See figure 2.) The drilling in Hanover and East Hanover Townships, and part of the drilling done in Florham Park was to explore the availability of large undeveloped ground-water supplies. Drilling in Chatham, Madison, and Florham Park Boroughs was done primarily to determine the extent and continuity of buried valley-fill aquifers, so that a full evaluation of the effects of pumpage from other areas on these already heavily pumped areas could be made. In addition, it was anticipated that the drilling could help in defining the feasibility of artificial recharge of the heavily pumped areas and in the determination of the prospective method of recharge and points of emplacement. Arrangements for easements with landowners, preparation of specifications for well drilling and seismic work, and supervision of well drilling and seismic contracts were all performed by the New Jersey District, Water Resources Division of the Geological Survey. Prior to the test drilling, seismic exploration under contract with Alpine Geophysical Associates of Norwood, N. J. was conducted at five locations in the Chatham-Madison-Florham Park area and at one place in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township. The seismic work was done to determine the most favorable location for a test well at several potential test-well sites and to help in the interpretation of subsurface geology between test sites. Contracts for the drilling of the test holes were awarded during November and drilling commences on November 30. Kaye Well drilling, Inc. of Jackson, N. J. was the recipient of a contract for eight of the test holes, and a second contract was awarded to Rinbrand Well Drilling Co., Inc. of Glen Rock, N. J.--also for eight test holes. Acknowledgment is due to the many public officials of Chatham, Madison, Florham Park, Morristown, and East Hanover Township as well as officials of the Braidburn Corporation and Esso Research and Engineering Co., who cooperated by making their lands available for exploration.

New Jersey↗