Summary

Description

This digital data set delineates the boundary of the Death Valley region that was first evaluated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as a potential hydrogeologic environment for isolation of high-level radioactive waste in 1981. Identifying potential high-level waste isolation regions within the Basin and Range physiographic province continued through the 1980's and resulted in comprehensive geologic and hydrologic characterization of select areas. As part of these studies, Bedinger and others (1989) evaluated the Death Valley region, an area of about 80,200-square kilometers in southern Nevada and California, with respect to the geology at repository target depths, ground-water flow, potential transport of radionuclide material, mineral and energy resources, geomorphic processes, tectonic hazards, and the effects of climatic and geomorphic change on the ground-water system. The study by Bedinger and others (1989) served as one of the historical references used to support development of the transient ground-water model of the Death Valley regional ground-water flow system (DVRFS) completed in 2004 by the USGS (see "Larger Work Citation").