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

Metadata Updated: July 6, 2024

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 June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
@Id http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/9e50cf7a87647b189864e0cd482341c4
Identifier USGS:5f29c0f382cef313ed9edae4
Data Last Modified 20230201
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://datainventory.doi.gov/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 679f6610-ea79-417e-9823-75e323f73788
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -122.9041,34.958,-118.5315,40.6306
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 72d74d7a090975f91690c113a90b2535dd203d550460850a434e11ee6d7b0a9c
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -122.9041, 34.958, -122.9041, 40.6306, -118.5315, 40.6306, -118.5315, 34.958, -122.9041, 34.958}

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