198 abstracts: hydrology 



The valley is divided into six zones of native vegetation, the pro- 

 nounced segregation of the dominant plant forms being due to radical 

 differences in the geographic controls, chiefly soil, temperature, and 

 water supply. O. E. M. 



HYDROLOGY. — Water resources of Antelo'pe Valley, California. 

 Harry R. Johnson. U. S. Geological Survey Water-Supply 

 Paper No. 278. Pp. 89, with maps and other illustrations. 1911. 

 Antelope Valley, which lies in the southwestern part of the Mohave 

 Desert, is enclosed by several mountain ranges in which are found 

 metamorphic and granitic rocks, sandstones, shales, lavas, and tuff. 

 The relief was produced chiefly by block faulting, but some of the sedi- 

 mentary formations are much folded. The valley is underlain by 

 gravels, sands, and clay derived through the erosion of the rocks in the 

 mountains. In some places the valley deposits have been faulted and 

 folded by recent earth movements, forming a well-defined ridge. They 

 are waterbearing and give rise to flowing wells over an area of several 

 townships. The artesian waters are derived from the floods discharged 

 from mountain-sides bordering the valley and not from Owens Lake 

 or other distant source, as is popularly Ijelieved. Alkaline clays and silt 

 underlie the playas, where the ground water stands near the surface. 



0. E. Meinzer. 



HYDROLOGY. — An intensive study of the water resources of a part of 

 Owens Valley, California. Charles H. Lee. U. S. Geological 

 Survey Water-Supply Paper No. 294. Pp. 135, with maps, diagrams, 

 and other illustrations. 1912. 

 The porous fill of Owens Valley occupies an impervious undrained rock 

 basin, and the void spaces of the fill constitute an immense underground 

 storage reservoir. The principal source of supply of this reservoir is 

 percolation from precipitation in the valley and upon the tributary 

 mountain areas. The principal discharge occurs through the flow of 

 springs, the transpiration of plants, and the evaporation in low areas 

 where the ground water is raised to the surface by capillarity. The 

 accretions to and discharge from the underground reservoir were studied 

 quantitatively in the Independence district of Owens Valley. The 

 quantities discharged through evaporation and transpiration were de- 

 termined for different depths to the water level by a series of tank 

 experiments. For the district investigated it was found that loss by 

 evaporation and transpiration occurs wherever the ground water stands 

 within about 8 feet of the surface and that the amount varies inversely 

 with the depth, being 50 or 60 inches a year where the ground water is 



