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H. M. Babcock

Publications and source records attributed to H. M. Babcock.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2014

Recharge to ground‐water from floods in a typical desert wash, Pinal County, Arizona

Queen Creek, considered in this paper, is a typical large desert wash. It rises in the Pinal Mountains near the mining town of Superior and enters the outwash‐plain at Black Point about three miles north of Florence Junction (see Fig. 1). Thence it passes over the desert in a southwesterly direction toward Chandler, spreads over the lowlands, and disappears. The flow of the stream consists almost entirely of storm‐water and is of the quick, flashy type common to the deserts of the Southwest. In ordinary years the stream is dry most of the time. Formerly the flood‐waters spread over the floor of the desert and did no harm. Now, however, they invade highly cultivated lands that are irrigated with water from Salt River or from wells, and cause serious damage to both crops and canals. The damage could be prevented by storing the stormwaters in a reservoir formed by a dam at or above Black Point.

Arizona↗
USGS1977

Annual summary of ground-water conditions in Arizona, spring 1975 to spring 1976

Two small-scale maps of Arizona show (1) pumpage of ground water by areas and (2) the status of the ground-water inventory in the State. A larger map of the State at a scale of 1:500,000 shows potential well production, depth to water in selected wells in spring 1976, and change in water level in selected wells from 1971 to 1976. The brief text that accompanies the maps summarizes the current ground-water conditions in the State. The withdrawal of ground water in Arizona was about 5.6 million acre-feet in 1975, of which about 4.7 million acre-feet was used for the irrigation of crops. The Salt River Valley and the lower Santa Cruz basin are the largest agricultural areas in the State. For 1971-75, ground-water withdrawal in the two areas was about 8.3 and 4.7 million acre-feet, respectively, and, in general, water levels are declining. Other areas in which ground-water withdrawals have caused large water-level declines are the Willcox, San Simon, upper Santa Cruz, Avra Valley, Gila Bend, Harquahala Plains, and McMullen Valley areas. (Woodard-USGS)

Arizona↗
USGS1977

Annual summary of ground-water conditions in Arizona, spring 1976 to spring 1977

Two small-scale maps of Arizona show (1) pumpage of ground water by areas and (2) the status of the ground-water inventory in the State. The main map, which is at a scale of 1:500,000, shows potential well production, depth of water in selected wells in spring 1977, and change in water level in selected wells from 1972 to 1977. The brief text that accompanies the maps summarizes the current ground-water conditions in the State. The withdrawal of ground water was about 5.5 million acre-feet in Arizona in 1976 of which about 4.7 million acre-feet was used for the irrigation. The Salt River Valley and the lower Santa Cruz basin are the largest agricultural areas in the State. For 1972-76, ground-water withdrawal in the two areas was about 8.2 to 4.9 million acre-feet, respectively, and, in general, water levels are declining. Other areas in which ground-water withdrawals have caused large water-level declines are the Willcox, San Simon, upper Santa Cruz, Avra Valley, Gila Bend, Harquahala Plains, and McMullen Valley areas. (Woodard-USGS)

Arizona↗
USGS1960

Geology and ground-water resources of Platte County, Wyoming, with a section on Chemical quality of the water

Platte County, Wyo., has an area of 2,114 square miles and, in 1950, had a population of 7,925; it lies within parts of two major physiographic provinces, the northern extension of the Southern Rocky Mountains and the northwestern part of the Great Plains. The Laramie Range and related structures lie along the western margin of the county and constitute the eastern limit of the Rocky Mountain Front Range. The High Plains section of the Great Plains province extends eastward from the Laramie Range over the remainder of the county. The original surface of the High Plains has been deeply eroded, and in the northeastern part of the county it is broken by the broad uplifted structural platform of the Hartville Hills. The North Platte River and its tributaries have entrenched their channels as much as 1,000 feet into the plains, leaving wide, very flat intervalley areas that are interrupted by a few isolated buttes and outlying ridges. Well-defined terraces, locally called the Wheatland Flats, have been formed in central Platte County. The climate is semiarid, the average annual precipitation being about 15 inches. Farming and stockraising are the principal occupations in the county. Most of the rocks exposed in the county are of Tertiary and Quaternary age, although rocks as old as Precambrian crop out locally. The Arikaree and Brule formations and younger deposits, including Tertiary ( ?) deposits (undifferentiated) and terrace, flood-plain, and other alluvial deposits, underlie more than two-thirds of the county. Mesozoic, Paleozoic, and Precambrian rocks crop out in the other third and underlie the younger rocks at great depths elsewhere. Small supplies of ground water adequate for domestic and stock use can be obtained from shallow wells in the Casper, Hartville, Cloverly, Brule, and Arikaree formations and in the terrace and flood-plain deposits. Small to moderate amounts of ground water can be obtained from the 'Converse sand' of the Hartville formation. Several flowing wells obtain water from this sand near Glendo. Moderate to large supplies of ground water adequate for small-scale irrigation or industrial uses or for public supply can be obtained from properly constructed wells penetrating thick saturated sections of the Arikaree formation and from the terrace and flood-plain deposits. Large supplies of ground water can be obtained from the flood-plain deposits of the North Platte River near Guernsey, where wells commonly yield more than 1,000 gpm (gallons per minute). The aquifers with greatest potential for additional groundwater development in Platte County, in decreasing order of importance, are the flood-plain deposits along the North Platte River and its tributaries, the Arikaree formation and terrace deposits in parts of the Wheatland Flats, and the 'Converse sand' in the general vicinity of Glendo.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1957

Estimate of underflow in the Niobrara River Basin across the Wyoming-Nebraska state line

The purpose of this report is to estimate the amount of ground water flowing across the Wyoming-Nebraska State line within the Niobrara Rive basin and to evaluate the accuracy of that estimate. The approximate effort involed in obtaining additional data to determine the underflow more accurately also is discussed. This report was prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Wyoming State Engineer and Director of the Conservation and Survey Division of the University of Nebraska, at the request of the Niobrara River Compact Commission. The following paragraph requesting the work is quoted from the report of the Engineering Subcommittee to the Niobrara River Compact Commission, Ainsworth, Nebr., October 29, 1956: Need for additional data under this item is confined to ground-water data since surface-water data discussions are covered under item 1. It is recommended that the Commission request the Geological Survey in cooperation with each of the three states to develop estimates of ground-water flows across state lines, together with ground-water contour maps extending adequate distanced into each state, such estimates and maps to be based on existing data and qualified by their evaluation of resultant percentage degree of accuracy. In addition they should be requested to furnish an estimate of cost to obtain additional data necessary to bring the estimate to within a more acceptable degree of accuracy as may be desired by the Commission.

Nebraska;Wyoming↗
USGS1952

Memorandum on the ground-water resources of the Horse Creek and Cherry Creek drainage basins, Wyoming

This report is one of several that are being made by the United States Geological Survey as part of the program of the Department of the Interior for the control, conservation, development, and use of the water resources of the Missouri River basin. The purpose of this report is to present an annotated bibliography of all existing reports pertaining to ground-water supplies in the area reported upon; to collect and analyze all data on public, industrial, and irrigation pumping from wells that are not covered by previous reports; to indicate areas where additional large-scale pumping might be undertaken; to estimate the possibility of depletion of stream flow by ground-water pumping from the developed areas and from areas where large-scale pumping maybe undertaken in the future; to point out areas where aquifers might be artificially recharged; and to recommend areas where detailed ground-water studies should be made, indicating the studies needed. The writer spent approximately 2 weeks in the field during June 1952 evaluating the results of previous studies to determine their adequacy with respect to the purpose of this report. It was found that the previous studies in the area adequately covered the ground-water conditions for this purpose; consequently, the following discussion is abstracted largely from reports covering those studies.

Wyoming↗
USGS1951

Ground-water conditions in the Dutch Flats area, Scotts Bluff and Sioux Counties, Nebraska, with a section on chemical quality of the ground water

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) studied contamination induced by irrigation drainage in 26 areas of the Western United States during 1986-95. Comprehensive compilation, synthesis, and evaluation of the data resulting from these studies were initiated by DOI in 1992. Soils and ground water in irrigated areas of the West can contain high concentrations of selenium because of (1) residual selenium from the soil's parent rock beneath irrigated land; (2) selenium derived from rocks in mountains upland from irrigated land by erosion and transport along local drainages, and (3) selenium brought into the area in surface water imported for irrigation. Application of irrigation water to seleniferous soils can dissolve and mobilize selenium and create hydraulic gradients that cause the discharge of seleniferous ground water into irrigation drains. Given a source of selenium, the magnitude of selenium contamination in drainage-affected aquatic ecosystems is strongly related to the aridity of the area and the presence of terminal lakes and ponds. Marine sedimentary rocks and deposits of Late Cretaceous or Tertiary age are generally seleniferous in the Western United States. Depending on their origin and history, some Tertiary continental sedimentary deposits also are seleniferous. Irrigation of areas associated with these rocks and deposits can result in concentrations of selenium in water that exceed criteria for the protection of freshwater aquatic life. Geologic and climatic data for the Western United States were evaluated and incorporated into a geographic information system (GIS) to produce a map identifying areas susceptible to irrigation-induced selenium contamination. Land is considered susceptible where a geologic source of selenium is in or near the area and where the evaporation rate is more than 2.5 times the precipitation rate. In the Western United States, about 160,000 square miles of land, which includes about 4,100 square miles (2.6 million acres) of land irrigated for agriculture, has been identified as being susceptible. Biological data were used to evaluate the reliability of the map. In 12 of DOI's 26 study areas, concentrations of selenium measured in bird eggs were elevated sufficiently to significantly reduce hatchability of the eggs. The GIS map identifies 9 of those 12 areas. Deformed bird embryos having classic symptoms of selenium toxicosis were found in four of the study areas, and the map identifies all four as susceptible to irrigation-induced selenium contamination. The report describes the geography, geology, and ground-water resources of the Dutch Flats area in Scotts Bluff and Sioux Counties, Nebr. The area comprises about 60 square miles and consists predominantly of relatively flat-lying terraces. Farming is the principal occupation in the area. The farm lands are irrigated largely from surface water; ground water is used only as a supplementary supply during drought periods. The climate in the area is semiarid, and the mean annual precipitation is about 16 inches. The rocks exposed in the Dutch Flats area are of Tertiary sad Quaternary age. A map showing the areas of outcrop of the rock formations is included in the report. Sufficient unconfined ground water for irrigation supplies is contained in the deposits of the .third terrace, and wells that yield 1,000 to 2,000 gallons a minute probably could be developed. The depth to water in the area ranges from a few feet to about 80 feet sad averages about 30 feet. The depth to water varies throughout the year; it is least in the late summer when the recharge from irrigation is greatest, sad it is greatest in the early spring before irrigation is begun. A map showing the depth to water in September 1949 is included in the report. The ground-water reservoir is recharged by seepage from irrigation canals and laterals, by seepage from irrigation water applied to the farms, and, to a much lesser extent, by precipitation. In the area b

Nebraska↗