Seasonality of Groundwater Recharge in the Basin and Range Province, Western North America

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Figures

Table 2. Data sources for stream networks and basin boundaries

Table 1. Landsat 5 TM multispectral imagery used

Figure 4. The greatest differences between riparian and non-riparian mean NDVI occur in the lowest elevations of every basin. Only in the lowest elevations of the Verde Valley and Sacramento Mountains was there a significant difference between riparian and non-riparian mean NDVI.

Table 1. Landsat 5 TM multispectral imagery used

Table 2. Data sources for stream networks and basin boundaries

Figure 16. Sulfate to chloride ratio of groundwater (GW), baseflow (BF), and flood flow (FF) samples along a downstream gradient.

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Seasonality of Groundwater Recharge in the Basin
and Range Province, Western North America
Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation
Authors Neff, Kirstin Lynn
Publisher The University of Arizona.
Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material
is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona.
Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as
public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited
except with permission of the author.
Download date 09/08/2022 13:42:38
Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/556969

SEASONALITY OF GROUNDWATER RECHARGE IN THE BASIN AND RANGE
PROVINCE, WESTERN NORTH AMERICA
by
Kirstin Lynn Neff
_______________________
Copyright © Kirstin Lynn Neff 2015
A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the
DEPARTMENT OF HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
In the Graduate College
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
2015

2
STATEMENT BY AUTHOR
This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University
Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library.
Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission,
provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for
permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in
part may be granted by the copyright holder.
SIGNED: Kirstin Lynn Neff

3
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
GRADUATE COLLEGE
As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation
prepared by Kirstin Neff, titled Seasonality of Groundwater Recharge in the Basin and
Range Province, Western North America and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling
the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
_______________________________________________________________________ Date: 4/10/15
Thomas Meixner
_______________________________________________________________________ Date: 4/10/15
Ty Ferré
_______________________________________________________________________ Date: 4/10/15
Jennifer McIntosh
_______________________________________________________________________ Date: 4/10/15
Willem van Leeuwen
Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s
submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College.
I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and
recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement.
________________________________________________ Date: 4/10/15
Dissertation Director: Thomas Meixner

4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks go to the people and organizations that supported me and helped move this
research forward. First, thanks to my advisor, Tom Meixner, who first inspired me with
the idea for this project, helped me prepare a successful grant to fund the work, and saw
me through the long process of implementing our plan and bringing this dissertation into
its final form. Thank you to the members of my committee, Ty Ferré, Jennifer McIntosh,
and Willem van Leeuwen, for feedback that greatly improved this dissertation. Particularl
thanks go to Hoori Ajami for her collaboration on this project at multiple stages, as well
as her friendship. Thank you also to the members of the USGS John Wesley Powell
Center Working Group on Western North America Groundwater Recharge, whose
collaboration has been instrumental in developing this research.
Personal thanks go to my parents, who made my journey in science possible by
supporting me in my decision to switch career fields immediately upon graduating from
college. I yet again want to thank my dad for insisting that I take calculus, even when it
seemed irrelevant to my future and contradictory to my present happiness. Thanks also go
to my family, friends, and mentors who have encouraged me throughout this
transformation. I want to thank the members of the UA Science: Sky School team for
keeping me sane in these last two years of dissertating by giving me an outlet to share my
science with a wider, younger, more invigorating audience than is accessible to most
academics. Particular thanks go to my Monday morning dissertation writing team and
Cafe Passé, whose commitment to being in the same place and time every week to at
least pretend to write absolutely resulted in my finishing this dissertation in a timelier
manner. Special thanks go to Andrew and Corbie for providing daily support and
diversion, to Braden for helping me keep things in perspective, to Marisela for always
having my back, and the Dinner Party ladies (Callie, Cristin, Katherine, Lauren, Nika,
and Sierra) for making life sweet (and savory).
Funding for this research was provided by two National Science Foundation grants
awarded to University of Arizona faculty (NSF-DEB-1010495, NSF-DEB-103938). This
dissertation was developed under STAR Fellowship Assistance Agreement no. FP-
91749101-0 awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It has not
been formally reviewed by EPA. The views expressed in this dissertation are solely those
of Kirstin L. Neff, and EPA does not endorse any products or commercial services
mentioned in this dissertation.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What have the authors contributed in "Seasonality of groundwater recharge in the basin and range province, western north america" ?

In this paper, the Río San Miguel Basin, a rural, predominantly agricultural river basin in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora, was studied. 

Q2. What is the main purpose of the article?

The ability to model recharge seasonality would improve parameterization of hydrologic models used to project future water resources availability under climate change. 

Q3. What is the main purpose of this paper?

Results of this study are 1) winter precipitation contributes 69% ± 42% of annual recharge in the San Miguel, 2) recharge occurs primarily in headwater and upland sub-basins, with less new water entering in lower sub-basins where water is well-mixed and relatively homogenous, and 3) theisotopic composition of individual storms and event water can vary greatly, perhaps depending on the source of precipitation. 

Q4. What was the primary objective of this paper?

The primary objective of this paper was to characterize recharge sources andseasonality in the Río San Miguel Basin, Sonora, Mexico using isotopic and geochemical methods. 

Q5. What is the role of groundwater in the climate?

In order to anticipate how freshwater systems might respond to changes in climate, it is necessary to more fully characterize the movement of water through the terrestrial system by quantifying and describing the partitioning of rainfall into groundwater recharge, surface runoff, and evapotranspiration. 

Q6. What is the role of summer precipitation in the recharge of the groundwater system?

Results from these studies suggest that although winter precipitation throughoutthe Basin and Range has a greater recharge efficiency than summer precipitation and dominates mountain-system recharge, summer precipitation plays an important role in monsoon-dominated basins and in sustaining riparian vegetation. 

Q7. What is the role of groundwater in the western deserts?

In the Western U.S., where many communities are dependent on groundwater resources for human consumption, and perennial desert streams fed by groundwater give life to vibrant riparian corridors (Leenhouts el al, 2006), it is particularly critical to understand the current groundwater recharge regimes and how those regimes might shift in the face of climate change. 

Q8. What is the main objective of this paper?

Past studies in the Basin and Range Province have shown that recharge is dominated by winter precipitation (e.g., Simpson et al., 1972; Winograd et al., 1998), but southern basins influenced by NAM precipitation have a greater contribution to recharge from summer precipitation (e.g., Wahi et al., 2008). 

Q9. What is the important part of the article?

Methods for partitioning groundwater recharge into mountain system recharge and flood recharge, and their relationship to streamflow have been thoroughly developed, and include the water budget method (Vivoni et al., 2006), empirical modeling (Ajami et al., 2011&2012), coupled land-surface modeling (Abdulaziz et al., 2012; Serrat-Capdevila et al., 2013), geochemical methods (Plummer et al., 2004; Manning, 2011), and isotopic methods (e.g., Winograd et al., 1998; Eastoe et al., 2004; Thiros and Manning, 2004; Anderson et al., 2006; Baillie et al., 2007; Blasch and Bryson, 2007; Druhan et al., 2008; Wahi et al., 2008; Jasechko et al., 2014). 

Q10. What is the main theme of the paper?

Changing climate will influence the hydrologic cycle in ways that are not fullyunderstood, threatening already scarce freshwater resources throughout the western United States (Milly et al., 2008). 

Q11. What is the purpose of this article?

A better understanding of the hydrologic and climatic controls on riparian vegetation could help inform water management decisions with an eye toward maintaining these important corridors of biodiversity. 

Q12. What is the purpose of this paper?

Appendix A involves the application of established stable isotope methods for characterizing recharge seasonality in a poorly-studied region and geochemical techniques for identifying recharge zones.