Satellite Remote Sensing And Groundwater Records Reveal Land Subsidence In Diamond Valley, Nevada

Diamond Valley (DV) is a key agricultural basin in Central Nevada that fully relies on groundwater for irrigation, with alfalfa and grass hay being the dominant crops. Due to excessive groundwater pumping, particularly in southern DV, groundwater levels have declined by almost 25 m (80 ft) over the past fifty years. As a result of groundwater overdrafts, the Nevada State Engineer’s office designated DV as a "Critical Management Area" in 2015. Despite the formulation and implementation of the DV groundwater management plan, to date, there have been no research that investigated groundwater pumping-induced land subsidence in this region. Here, we conducted the first short baseline subset (SBAS) interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) time series analysis using Sentinel-1 data and compared the estimated subsidence with in-situ groundwater level records and OpenET-based groundwater pumping estimates. Our results indicate that, between 2014 and 2024, central DV experienced land subsidence (more than 600 mm, or 2 ft), which can be attributed to the presence of unconsolidated clays in the basin fill deposits across the valley floors, increased groundwater pumping for irrigation, and the resulting decline in groundwater levels. Moreover, some of these high-subsidence areas have existing infrastructure like houses and roads, potentially leading to future risks. While further research is needed to comprehensively validate these findings, this study represents the first use of SBAS InSAR to investigate groundwater pumping-driven land subsidence in Nevada, establishing a framework for monitoring land deformation (subsidence and uplift) throughout the state and evaluating the associated infrastructure risks.