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Central Valley Hydrologic Model version 2 (CVHM2): Subsidence and Aquifer-System Compaction Data Used as Observations (ver. 2.1, August 2023)

Metadata Updated: January 21, 2026

The Central Valley, and particularly the San Joaquin Valley, has a long history of land subsidence caused by groundwater development. The extensive withdrawal of groundwater from the unconsolidated deposits of the San Joaquin Valley lowered groundwater levels and caused widespread land subsidence—reaching 9 meters by 1981. More than half of the thickness of the aquifer system is composed of fine-grained sediments, including clays, silts, and sandy or silty clays that are susceptible to compaction. In an effort to aid water managers in understanding how water moves through the aquifer system, predicting water-supply scenarios, and addressing issues related to water competition, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) developed a new hydrologic modeling tool, the Central Valley Hydrologic Model (CVHM; Faunt and others 2009). The data presented in this data release will be used to facilitate updates to the original CVHM and represent subsidence and aquifer-system compaction observations (measurements) using various methods during 1926–2018. In the context of this report, subsidence is defined as the lowering of the land-surface elevation as a result of aquifer-system compaction and is calculated by differencing repeated elevation measurements derived from geodetic surveys, continuous GPS (CGPS), and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) techniques. Aquifer-system compaction is measured using vertical borehole extensometers to monitor changes in the distance between the top of a cable or pipe that is anchored or placed at depth, and a reference point at or near land surface. For more detailed information on the methods discussed in this data release, please see Sneed and others, 2013; 2018).

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date January 11, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 21, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date January 11, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 21, 2026
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_61e7561ad34e3618e01cf6fb
Data Last Modified 2023-09-07T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Datagov Dedupe Retained 20260121062710
Harvest Object Id 3b7a267e-b8e7-4961-93d5-05c4a43b014e
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
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Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 45ce9512cc21a03ed3f0ea2dd8826cc685be41813088786c3c6d521e641f887c
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