Vulnerability of Groundwater Recharge to Climate Change in an Alpine Basin (Martis Valley, California)
Abstract
Martis Valley's groundwater basin is experiencing increasing water demand and changes in the amount and timing of snowmelt due to climate change. Groundwater is the exclusive water supply for the town of Truckee and its surrounding ski resorts and golf courses. The objective of this study was to examine seasonal variability in the aquifer recharge by analyzing supply wells for: 1) tritium and helium isotopes to determine groundwater sources and age, 2) dissolved noble gases to determine recharge temperatures and excess air concentrations and 3) stable isotopes to determine groundwater sources. Recharge temperatures were found to be similar to mean annual air temperatures at lower elevations, suggesting that most recharge is occurring at lower elevations after equilibrating in the vadose zone. Low levels of excess air found in groundwater confirm that most recharge is occurring in the valley alluvium rather than the mountain block. The mean integrated groundwater flow depth was estimated for each well from the temperature difference between recharge and discharge and the geothermal gradient. Groundwater samples contained large amounts of excess terrigenic helium, from both mantle and radiogenic sources. Terrigenic helium and tritium concentrations were used to reconstruct the mixing between the younger and older groundwater sources. Mantle helium originating from the Polaris Fault was used to trace groundwater flow directions. Higher seasonal variability was found in wells with younger groundwater and shallower flow depths, suggesting that changes in the timing and amount of recharge under warmer climate conditions will rather quickly impact at least a portion of the aquifer system in Martis Valley. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFM.H53F1481V
- Keywords:
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- 1807 HYDROLOGY Climate impacts;
- 1895 HYDROLOGY Instruments and techniques: monitoring;
- 1829 HYDROLOGY Groundwater hydrology;
- 1040 GEOCHEMISTRY Radiogenic isotope geochemistry