Engineering and Environmental Geology of the Indian Wells Valley Area, Southeastern California

Abstract

The IWV area of southeastern California is affected by several geologic and geotechnical hazards and problems. These include seismic activity, a limited ground-water resource, flooding, poor soil conditions, slope instability, liquefaction susceptibility, a locally high ground-water table, sewage and hazardous waste disposal and the potential for volcanic activity. Many of the present difficulties are directly or indirectly related to the rapid wartime building of the Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, during which adequate consideration was not always given to the geologic, geotechnical and environmental factors that affect the local area and region. Now that the various problems and hazards have been recognized, efforts are underway to mitigate the deleterious effects of past actions and decisions and to prevent their recurrence. A major factor in these efforts is the increasing involvement of geologic and geotechnical data and expertise in decision making.