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Research about Nevada

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Nevada.

At least 847 records · Page 47Linked to original sources
USGS1986

Geologic map of the South Jackson Mountains Wilderness Study Area, Humboldt County, Nevada

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act (Public Law 94-579, October 21, 1976) requires the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines to conduct mineral surveys on certain areas to determine their mineral values, if any, that may be present. Results must be made available to the public and be submitted to the President and the Congress. This report presents the results of a mineral survey of the South Jackson Mountains (NV-020-603) Wilderness Study Area, Humboldt County, Nevada. The South Jackson Mountains Wilderness Study Area is in south-central Humboldt County, approximately 50 miles northwest of Winnemucca, Nevada. The boundaries originally specified for the wilderness study area encompassed an area of 60,211 acres. The draft Environmental Impact Statement issued in 1983 by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) identified 20,094 acres within the wilderness study area as potentially suitable for inclusion into the National Wilderness Preservation System. Subsequent (August 27, 1984) deletions by the BLM have resulted in the present study area of approximately 10,300 acres. The boundaries of the study area are approximated by the range crestline to the east and the 4,400-ft contour along the west side of the range from King Lear Peak north to the divide between Hobo and Christiorsson Canyons.

Nevada↗
USGS1986

Ground-water quality in Nevada -- A proposed monitoring program

A program was designed for the systematic monitoring of ground-water quality in Nevada. Basic hydrologic and water-quality principles are discussed in the formulation of a rational approach to developing a statewide monitoring program. A review of ground-water monitoring efforts in Nevada through 1977 indicates that few requirements for an effective statewide program are being met. A suggested program has been developed that consists of five major elements: (1) A Background-Quality Network to assess the existing water quality in Nevada aquifers, (2) a Contamination Source Inventory of known or potential threats to ground-water quality, (3) Surveillance Networks to monitor ground-water quality in selected hydrographic areas, (4) Intensive Surveys of individual instances of known or potential ground-water contamination, and (5) Ground-Water Data File to manage data generated by the other monitoring elements. Two indices have been developed to help assign rational priorities for monitoring ground water in the 255 hydrographic areas of Nevada: (1) A Hydrographic-Area Priority Index for surveillance monitoring, and (2) A Development-Potential Index for background monitoring of areas with little or no current development. Requirements for efficient management of data from ground-water monitoring are discussed and the three major systems containing Nevada ground-water data are reviewed. More than 11,000 chemical analyses of ground water have been acquired from existing systems and incorporated into a prototype data base.

Nevada↗
USGS1986

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, Nevada, 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 m. The waste burial facility is in the northern Amargosa Desert about 170 km northwest of Las Vegas, NV. The region is arid; mean annual precipitation at Lathrop Wells, 30 km south of the site, is only 7.4 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%, but commonly is in the range from 6% to 8%. 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 to the -13th power to 10 to the -4th power cm/day. Evaporation studies over a 2-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 (> 2 m), despite high annual evaporation demands, and (2) provided predictions of the time of yr and the antecedent conditions which enhance the probability of deep percolation. Soil moisture profiles obtained monthly over an 18-mo period demonstrate that deep percolation does occur. Soil moisture conditions antecedent to an observed deep-percolation event, and the time of yr when the percolation occurred, support the interpretations based on long-term meteorological records. (Author's abstract)

Nevada↗