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F. J. Frank

Publications and source records attributed to F. J. Frank.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1979

Ground water in Myrtle Creek - Glendale area, Douglas County, Oregon

The Myrtle Creek-Glendale area covers about 400 mi 2 (1,000 km 2 in Douglas County in southwestern Oregon. Although the geologic formations of the area have low permeabilities and generally yield small amounts of water to wells, ground water is the chief source of water for domestic usse in rural parts of the area not served by public supplies. A well capable of yielding 5 to 10 gal/min (0.3 to 0.6 L/s) can supply household needs. In most places in the area, the quantities of water obtainable from wells are inadequate or would be only marginally adequate for irrigation, municipal, of large industrial use. The purpose of this report is to describe briefly the occurrence of ground water and to present ground-water information that will help water users, public officials, and planners to determine the probability of obtaining adequate quanitities of good-quality ground water in the Myrtle Creek-Glendale area.

Oregon↗
USGS1976

Water resources of Lincoln County coastal area, Oregon

The Lincoln County coastal area is underlain by Tertiary volcanic and sedimentary rocks of low permeability that store only a small volume of the annual precipitation which averages 68 inches (1,730 millimeters). Consequently, the Tertiary units yield small quantities of water to wells and furnish little ground-water discharge to maintain the base flow of streams. Although streamflow is normally abundant during the wet season, flow decreases greatly during summer when needed most. Quaternary marine terrace deposits of semiconsolidated sand border the western part of the area and are the most productive aquifers. Several wells drilled into the Quaternary deposits are among the highest producing wells of the area, with yields of 25 to 60 gallons per minute (1.6 to 3.8 liters per second). The Siletz River Volcanics is one of the better aquifers in the area and generally yields water in volumes sufficient for domestic use. The average well drilled into these rocks yields 5 to 10 gallons per minute (0.3 to 0.6 liters per second). Locally, this formation is quite permeable and has a producing well in the study area, with a yield of 120 gallons per minute (7.6 liters per second). Other volcanic rocks of small areal extent and largely untested, are the basalts near Depoe Bay, Cape Foulweather, Yachats, and Cape Perpetua. Wells drilled in January 1976 near Depoe Bay indicate that as much as 125 gal/min (10 L/s) of water can be obtained from wells drilled into the basalt. Tertiary marine sedimentary rocks of siltstone and sandstone are widespread throughout the area. Yields of wells drilled in these rocks are generally low (less than 5 gallons per minute, or 0.3 liters per second), and many wells in these formations produce no usable quantities of ground water. Approximately 5,000,000 acre-feet (6,000 cubic hectometers) of water discharges annually into the Pacific Ocean from all streams along the Lincoln County coast. About 85 percent of the annual streamflow occurs from November through April. Minimum streamflaws occur from August through October when, at times, as little as 450 acre-feet (55 hectometers) per day flows from all streams. Most of the ground water, with the exception of water from some wells drilled in the marine siltstone and sandstone, contains relatively small concentrations of dissolved minerals. Wells that tap the marine deposits at low altitudes have high concentrations of dissolved minerals, particularly sodium and chloride. In general, analyses of water from the 14 streams sampled in Lincoln County show very good chemical quality. The iron content of Depoe and Thiel Creeks is above the Environmental Protection Agency's recommended limit of 0.3 milligrams per liter for drinking water. Annual water use totals 6.7 billion gallons, which is less than 0.5 percent of runoff. About 70 percent of the use is for industrial purposes at one lumber products mill, about 25 percent is for public supplies, and less than 5 percent for irrigation. Water supplies for all municipalities in Lincoln County currently (1975) are obtained from surface-water sources. Because of rapid economic development of the coastal area, it is expected that additional water will be needed in the future. Additional water can be supplied (1) by reservoirs on major streams; (2) by the expansion, in some locations, of present surface-water facilities on small streams; and (3) locally, by an additional small volume of supplemental water from ground-water sources.

Oregon↗
USGS1975

Ground-water data in the Harrisburg-Halsey area, central Willamette Valley, Oregon

THE HARRISBURG - HALSEY AREA COVERS ABOUT 350 SQUARE MILES IN THE CENTRAL WILLAMETTE VALLEY , OREG., AND IS PART OF A BROAD ALLUVIAL PLAIN THAT LIES BETWEEN THE CASCADE AND COAST RANGES IN THE CENTRAL PART OF THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY . MOST OF THE DATA FOR THE 506 WELLS IN THIS REPORT WERE OBTAINED FROM WELL DRILLERS' REPORTS. CHEMICAL ANALYSES OF WATER FROM 36 WELLS ARE TABULATED. MOST OF THE HIGH-YIELD WELLS IN THE AREA PRODUCE WATER FROM ALLUVIAL (SAND AND GRAVEL) AQUIFERS THAT UNDERLIE THE VALLEY PLAIN OR THAT ARE COEXTENSIVE WITH THE PRESENT FLOOD PLAIN OF THE WILLAMETTE RIVER. THE WATER TABLE IN THE ALLUVIAL AQUIFER IS GENERALLY ONLY A FEW FEET BELOW LAND SURFACE. PUMPING LIFTS ARE RELATIVELY SMALL, AND WELLS PRODUCE MODERATE TO LARGE QUANTITIES OF GROUNDWATER OF GOOD CHEMICAL QUALITY .

Oregon↗
USGS1973

Ground water in the Eugene-Springfield area, southern Willamette Valley, Oregon

The cities of Eugene and Springfield and their outlying suburban and rural districts constitute an area of rapid population growth where progressively greater volumes of ground water are being required for irrigation and industrial and public supplies. The area is also one of diverse geologic and hydrologic conditions. As used in this report, the Eugene-Springfield area covers about 450 square miles and includes a part of the lower foothills of the Coast and Cascade Ranges and a strip of the main valley plain of the southern Willamette Valley. Volcanic and sedimentary rock units exposed in the foothills range in age from Eocene to Miocene. In the main valley plain the older units are overlain by Pleistocene and Holocene alluvial deposits. Marine-deposited sandstone, siltstone, shale, and mudstone of the older sedimentary units are fine grained and poorly permeable and yield water slowly to wells. The volcanic rocks, primarily of dacitic and andesitic composition, yield small quantities of water that are generally adequate only for domestic use. The alluvial deposits (sand and gravel) of the valley plain (central lowland) contain the most productive aquifers in the area and are considered to be the only ground-water reservoir for which large-scale development of ground-water supplies is feasible. Aquifers in the area are recharged principally by direct infiltration of precipitation. Most of the precipitation, which averages about 4C inches per year, occurs during late autumn and winter. Minimum recharge by infiltration of precipitation to the alluvial aquifers beneath the valley plain is estimated to be about 100,000 acre-feet. Ground water is discharged naturally from the central lowland by seepage and spring flow to small streams, by subsurface outflow to adjacent areas, and by evapotranspiration. Storage capacity of the central lowland in the Eugene-Springfield area is estimated to be about 2.1 million acre-feet in the zone 10-150 feet below land surface. The quantity of ground water available annually from this area is far greater than the 23,000 acre-feet pumped for all uses in 1968. This pumpage was about 23 percent of the perennial yield (100,000 acre-ft), and about 77,000 acre-feet of water was left available for additional withdrawal. If annual withdrawals of water were increased to 100,000 acre-feet per year, the levels in the ground-water reservoir would be lowered. Once new equilibriums are established, increased withdrawals could be accommodated without progressive losses in aquifer storage or excessive losses in flow of the larger streams. Ground water from the alluvial deposits of the valley plain is chemically suitable for irrigation and other uses, as is most of the water obtained from perched-water bodies in the sedimentary and volcanic rocks. However, the mineral content of water from the older sedimentary rocks, particularly from deeper producing zones, is greater than the mineral content of water from the alluvial deposits. Locally, some of the water from the older rocks is too saline for most uses. Increased use of ground water may result in certain problems pertaining to waste-disposal practices, local overdraft of aquifers, well interference, and well construction. Present data are adequate to evaluate some of the factors relating to foreseeable problems but allow only tentative conclusions to be drawn about other factors, which include local direction of flow, rate of ground-water movement, and areas of possible ground-water contamination. Additional information obtained through systematic study will be needed to deal with these problems.

Oregon↗
USGS1972

Ground-water data in the Corvallis-Albany area, central Willamette Valley, Oregon

THE CORVALLIS-ALBANY AREA IS PART OF THE ALLUVIAL PLAIN THAT LIES BETWEEN THE CASCADE AND COAST RANGES IN THE CENTRAL WILLAMETTE VALLEY IN NORTHWESTERN OREGON. THE ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS (SAND AND GRAVEL) OF THE VALLEY PLAIN CONTAIN THE MOST PRODUCTIVE AQUIFERS IN THE AREA AND ARE CONSIDERED TO BE THE ONLY UNITS FEASIBLE FOR LARGE-SCALE DEVELOPMENT OF GROUNDWATER SUPPLIES. DURING 1971 THE SEASONAL DECLINE OF WATER LEVELS FROM WINTER TO LATE SUMMER AVERAGED ABOUT 10 FEET FOR THE ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS. THE SEASONAL CHANGE OF STORAGE WAS ESTIMATED TO BE ABOUT 130,000 ACRE-FEET. OF THIS VOLUME, ABOUT 14,000 ACRE-FEET WAS PUMPED FROM WELLS; THE REST WAS DISCHARGED THROUGH SEEPS AND SPRINGS BY EVAPOTRANSPIRATION. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PUMPAGE AND NATURAL DISCHARGE INDICATES THAT A GREAT QUANTITY OF ADDITIONAL WATER IS AVAILABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT. THE STORAGE CAPACITY OF THE ALLUVIAL AQUIFERS IS ESTIMATED TO BE ABOUT 750,000 ACRE-FEET BETWEEN DEPTHS OF 10 AND 100 FEET. WATER FROM THE ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS IS CHEMICALLY SUITABLE FOR ALL USES, AS IS MOST OF THE WATER FROM PERCHED-WATER BODIES IN THE OLDER SEDIMENTARY AND VOLCANIC ROCKS.

Oregon↗
USGS1970

Ground-water resources of the Clatsop Plains sand-dune area, Clatsop County, Oregon

Although the average annual precipitation of the Clatsop Plains is 78.5 inches, the area is not without problems of water supply. The Clatsop Plains area ix underlain by Tertiary bedrock of low permeability that stores and yields small quantities of ground water, which may be of poor chemical quality. This Tertiary bedrock furnishes only minor ground-water discharge to maintain the base flow of streams. The flow of rivers and creeks, normally abundant during the wet season, decreases greatly during the dry summer months. The lowlands are overlain by extensive deposits of dune and beach sand. The dune sand is permeable and can absorb and store, as fresh water, a large percentage of the annual precipitation. In the central part of the dune area, the saturated thickness of the sand ranges from 95 to more than 150 feet. Most of the ground water in the sand discharges to the ocean through beach-line seeps and underflow. Much of the water now being discharged to the ocean could be recovered by pumping from properly located, designed, and constructed wells. Three test wells drilled as part of this study are capable of yielding 100 gallons per minute although they are equipped with only short lengths of well screen. It is estimated that 2,500 acre-feet of ground water per year per square mile of area may be available for withdrawal in the 10 square mile area that is most favorable for development. The water from the dune sand is soft to moderately hard, has a low chloride concentration, and is of generally good chemical quality; however, at places it is weakly acidic and contains sufficient dissolved iron to make iron removal necessary for some uses. Ground water from shallow depths beneath a few swampy low-lying areas is brown and contains excessive concentrations of iron.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1969

Water-resources appraisal of Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

Crater Lake National Park is on the crest of the Cascade Range in southwestern Oregon. Except for small areas of glacial deposits, the area is underlain by volcanic rocks of Tertiary and Quaternary age. The principal rock types are andesitic and basaltic lavas, pumiceous volcanic flow breccias, tuffs, and airborne and flow pumice. The pumice is an excellent medium for the infiltration of much of the 67 inches of annual precipitation. The pumice and underlying lava flows and pyroclastic material transmit a large quantity of ground water which percolates to the water table and to various spring outlets. In many areas of the park, the occurrence of perched ground water at altitudes below 6,500 feet is shown by numerous springs that drain water from ground-water bodies perched above the regional water table. Most of the streams and springs in the area flow throughout the year. The quality of the water is excellent. It is soft, has a low mineral content, and contains insignificant amounts of objectionable constituents. During 1962, test drilling in the northern part of the park failed to locate perched-water bodies capable of supplying quantities of water adequate for proposed facilities. However, test drilling indicated that the regional water table is below an altitude of 4,960 feet and that wells at high altitudes may have to be drilled to depths exceeding a thousand feet to obtain water. Because the water table is at undetermined depth and the existence of productive perched ground-water bodies above the regional water table at a specific site cannot be predicted, the possibility of obtaining productive wells in the area is speculative.

Open-File Report↗