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Water source discovered near Death Valley; Thousands of gallons gush from desert floor, but journey takes 15,000 years

Posted by: Maven on June 10, 2010 at 6:14 am

Found this one on the Sisweb. From MSNBC:

“About 10,000 gallons of water per minute gush up from the desert floor at an oasis near Death Valley, Nevada, but only after the water completes a slow 15,000-year underground journey, a new study suggests.

Until now, scientists were puzzled over the source of water for the oasis called Ash Meadows in Nevada. The new research suggests the water flows from the north to the south through an underground crack in the Earth’s crust known as the Gravity Fault, which acts as a guide for the water. That conduit connects the Nevada Test Site with Ash Meadows, which is located about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

“Since the crust in Western states is being pulled apart east to west, it creates north-south fault lines such as this one that guides groundwater from one geographically closed basin to another,” said Stephen Nelson, a geologist at Brigham Young University in Utah.

That underground connection with the Nevada Test Site could spell trouble for the desert paradise in the future, because of radioactive water contaminated by nuclear testing. But the radionuclide-laden waters likely won’t reach the oasis for thousands of years. … “

Continue reading from MSNBC by clicking here.

Photo of Ash Meadows by flickr photographer OutdoorPDK.

June 10, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

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