Monitoring Studies of Geological Processes Occurred at the Lake Mead Area since Impoundment in 1935 until Beginning of XXI Century

O. N. Kovin

Abstract


Reservoirs, constructed for flood control, irrigation purposes, electric power and drinking water supply, can trigger significant changes in the geological processes on their territory and surroundings, as well as in climate, biosphere, and environ. In the article presents the results of comprehensive monitoring studies of Lake Mead reservoir on the Colorado River, Nevada, conducted on the request of Bureau of Reclamation of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Lake Mead was created after construction of the Hoover Dam that is one of the first dams on the Colorado River. Experts from geology, geophysics, oceanography, hydrology, and ecology were involved in this study. In result of the comprehensive research, headed by USGS, data on the dynamics of bottom sediments were obtained and analyzed; geodetic measurements of subsidence and earthquakes registration were performed; the main contamination sources were revealed. Furthermore, analysis of collected data allowed estimating the reservoir life up to 400 years.


Keywords


reservoir; dam; bottom sediments; induced seismicity; geophysical investigation of bottom sedimentation; water contamination

References


Carder D.S. 1945. Seismic investigations in the Boulder Dam area, 1940–1945, and the influence of reservoir loading on earthquake activity. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. 35: 175–192.

doi: 10.1785/BSSA0350040175

Carder D.S., Small J.B. 1948. Level divergences, seismic activity, and reservoir loading in the Lake Mead area, Nevada and Arizona. AGU Transactions. 29: 767–771. doi: 10.1029/TR029i006p00767

Cavalie O., Doin M., Lasserre C., Briole P. 2007. Ground motion measurement in the Lake Mead area, Nevada, by differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry time series analysis: Probing the lithosphere rheological structure. J. Geophys. Res. 112(B03403). doi: 10.1029/2006JB004344.

Ferrari R.L. 2008. 2001 Lake Mead Sedimentation Survey. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. (URL: http://www.usbr.gov/ pmts/ sediment/projects/ReservoirSurveys/Reports/2001 Lake Mead Sedimentation Survey.pdf accessed 6.11.2021)

Gould H.R. 1951. Some quantitative aspects of Lake Mead turbidity currents. In: Turbidity currents and the transportation of coarse sediments to deep water. Symposium. Soc. Econ. Paleontologists and Mineralogists Spec. Pub. 2, pp. 34–52.

Kaufmann G., Amelung F. 2000. Reservoir-induced deformation and continental rheology in vicinity of Lake Mead, Nevada. Journal of geo-physical research. 105(B7):16341-16358. doi: 10.1029/2000JB900079

Longwell C.R. 1936. Geology of the Boulder Reservoir floor. Bull. of the Geol. Soc. of America, 47:1393–1476.

Mead T.C., Carder D.S. 1941. Seismic investigations in the Boulder Dam area in 1940. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. 31 (4):321–324. doi: 10.1785/BSSA0310040321

O’Connell D.H.R. 2002. Earthquakes, Faults, and Reservoirs: Seismicity Near Hoover Dam. Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, Colorado

Roeloffs E.A. 1988. Hydrologic precursors to earthquakes: A review. Pure Appl. Geophys. 126:177–209. doi: 10.1007/BF00878996

Rogers A.M., Lee W.H.K. 1976. Seismic Study of Earthquakes in the Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona Region. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 66: 1657. doi: 10.1785/bssa0660051657

Rogers J.D. 2010. Hoover Dam: Scientific Studies, Name Controversy, Tourist Attraction, and Contributions to Engineering. In: Hoover Dam 75th Anniversary History Symposium 2010, Las Vegas, pp. 216–248.

Smith W.O., Vetter C.P., Cummings G.B. et al. 1960. Comprehensive survey of sedimentation in Lake Mead, 1948–1949: US Geological Survey Professional Paper 295, р. 254.

Talwani P. 1997. On the Nature of Reservoir-induced Seismicity. Pure appl. geoph. 150: 473–492. doi: 10.1007/978-3-0348-8814-1_8

Thomas H.E. 1954. First fourteen years of Lake Mead. USGS Survey Circular 346, p. 27. doi: 10.3133/cir346

Tuttle P.L., Orsak E.L. 2002. Las Vegas Wash water quality and implications to fish and wildlife. USFWS. Nevada FWO, p. 57.

Twichell D.C., Cross V.A., Rudin M.J., Parolski K.F., Rendigs R.R. 1999. Surficial Geology and Distribution of Post-Impoundment Sediment in Las Vegas Bay, Lake Mead, USGS Open-File Report 01-070. (URL: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/of01-070 accessed 12.10.2021).

Twichell D.C., Cross V.A., Rudin M.J., Parolski K.F. 2001. Surficial Geology and Distribution of Post-Impoundment Sediment of the Western Part of Lake Mead Based on a Sidescan Sonar and High-Resolution Seismic-Reflection Survey. USGS Open-File Report 99-581. (URL: https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1999/ of99-581 accessed 14.09.2021).

Twichell D.C., Cross V.A., Rudin M. 2002. Mapping turbidites in Lake Mead from source to sink [abs.]: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Annual Meeting, Abstracts with Programs, Houston, Tex., March 2002, v. 11, p. A179–180.

Twichell D.C., Cross V.A., Belew S.D. 2003. Mapping the floor of Lake Mead (Nevada and Arizona): Preliminary discussion and GIS data release, USGS Open-File Report 03-320. (URL: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/of03-320 accessed 09.10.2021).

Twichell D.C., Cross V.A., Hanson A.D. et al. 2005. Seismic architecture and lithofacies of turbidites in Lake Mead (Arizona and Nevada, U.S.A.), an analogue for topographically complex basins. Journal of Sedimentary Research. 75(1):134–148. doi: 10.2110/JSR.2005.011

Wang H.F. 2000. Theory of linear poroelasticity with applications to geomechanics and hydrogeology. Princeton University Press.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17072/psu.geol.20.4.344

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.