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Data for assessing the penetration depth post-1950s water in the Central Valley aquifer system, California (July 2022)

Metadata Updated: September 17, 2025

This dataset provides groundwater ages estimates that were used in an assessment of the penetration depth of modern groundwater in the Central Valley aquifer system (CVAL). Groundwater ages were estimated by calibration of environmental tracers (tritium, tritiogenic helium-3, chlorofluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride, carbon-14 and radiogenic helium-4) to lumped parameter models (LPMs) for samples from 650 sample locations. Groundwater samples were collected from wells (mainly drinking-water) in the CVAL between 2004 and 2017 as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment Priority Basin Project (GAMA-PBP) and the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project. Table 1 reports the primary results of this assessment including mean groundwater age and the input for calculation of mean groundwater age: results of the tritium age classification, condensed results from dissolved gas modeling, and calculated environmental tracer concentrations. Calibrated lumped parameter models provide the optimal mean age and mixing parameter(s) used to compute the distribution of ages that explain the measured tracer concentrations in a sample. Tables 2, 3, and 4 provide results in support of Table 1. Table 2 reports detailed results for the calibration of dissolved gas models to neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and nitrogen. Calibrated dissolved gas models provide the optimal water temperature, excess air, entrapped air, fractionation of gases, and excess nitrogen gas (mainly from denitrification) that explain the measured dissolved gases in a sample. Table 3 reports measured concentrations and the detailed calculations of environmental tracer concentrations derived from the dissolved gas modeling results in Table 2. Calculated concentrations of environmental tracers that can be used in groundwater age calculations are the dry air mixing ratio of sulfur hexafluoride or chlorofluorocarbons, tritiogenic helium-3, which is the concentration of helium-3 from the decay of tritium, and radiogenic helium-4. Table 4 reports information used to calculate the partial exponential model ratios used in the groundwater age modeling. In addition to these four tables, two ancillary tables are included to provide more detailed information about the fields and the abbreviations used in tables 1-4.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 14, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 17, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 14, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 17, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-5f29c0f382cef313ed9edae4
Data Last Modified 2023-02-01T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 40284495-9134-45b4-a24d-f69b220778aa
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -122.9041, 34.9580, -118.5315, 40.6306
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 08e76aa248fb99f761c279f64266c54534cb7c7ba8c7c26be754efab392ce77e
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -122.9041, 34.9580, -122.9041, 40.6306, -118.5315, 40.6306, -118.5315, 34.9580, -122.9041, 34.9580}

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