Some of the students and Dr. White on the Salt Creek boardwalk

Paula presents her poster on groundwater hydrology and ecosystems with some help from Dr. Wilson

by Paula R.

Salt Creek is one of the few bodies of water in Death Valley which flows above ground for some distance throughout the year.  Located in the northern portion of Death Valley, Salt Creek is, as its name implies, salty. Its salt content ranges from 35 parts per thousand to about four times that when evaporation is at its highest point.  Salt Creek runs several kilometers in length with approximately three to four kilometers running above ground surface in the winter and one kilometer or less running above ground surface in summer.  Groundwater in Death Valley is provided by snowmelt from the Panamint, Funeral and Black Mountain Ranges as well as heavy rainstorms which occasionally flood the valley’s canyons and inundate streambeds.  Local tectonics also contribute significantly to groundwater flow.

The three types of faults in Death Valley have different consequences for flow.  Compressional and shear faults are likely to deflect groundwater while tensional faults become preferential conduits for flow as blocks are pulled apart and space is created between them.  The Salt Creek marsh is controlled by a fault where the rising block’s low permeability forces groundwater up above ground surface from the falling block (Fig 1). 

Within Salt Creek, there is a population of pupfish known as Salt Creek Pupfish, Cyprinodon salinus salinus.  These fish are approximately six centimeters in length and traverse the length of Salt Creek as it diminishes in summer and expands in winter.  Their lifespan is usually less than one year.  These pupfish are extremely adaptable, surviving temperature fluctuations from as low as freezing to above 40°C, and salinities up to nearly 80 ppt.  E. L. Rothfuss, Superintendent of Death Valley National Park, has recommended that the Salt Creek Pupfish be listed as threatened though it is not in danger of extinction by human interference; their small population is attributable to the size of their natural habitat and to the fact that a female spawns only one young at a time, though she may spawn several times each season.  Flash flooding can wash young from the main stream and isolate reproductively mature individuals from the gene pool. 

 References:

Faunt, Claudia C. Effect of faulting on ground-water movement in the Death Valley Region, Nevada and California. USGS Water-Resources Investigations Report 95-4132. Denver, Colorado: USGS 1997.

Kirk, Ruth.  Exploring Death Valley. 3d ed., Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1977.

 “Salt Creek Pupfish.” California Department of Fish and Game - Habitat Conservation Planning Branch. Accessed on  9 April 2004: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/hcpb/.