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Research about Beaver County, Utah

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Beaver County, Utah.

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Water budget and simulation of one-dimensional unsaturated flow for a flood- and a sprinkler-irrigated field near Milford, Utah

Ground-water recharge to basin-fill aquifers from unconsumed irrigation water in the western United States is being reduced as irrigators convert to more efficient irrigation systems. In some areas, these changes in irrigation methods may be contributing to ground-water-level declines and reducing the quantity of water available to downgradient users. The components of the water budget were measured or calculated for each field for the 1992 and 1993 irrigation seasons. Precipitation was about 6.5 cm (2.6 inches) both years. The flood-irrigated field received 182 and 156 centimeters (71.6 and 61.4 inches) of irrigation water in 1992 and 1993, and the sprinkler-irrigated field received 52.8 and 87.2 centimeters (20.8 and 34.3 inches) of water, respectively. Evapotranspiration for alfalfa was calculated using the Penman-Monteith combination equation and was 95.4 and 84.3 centimeters (37.2 and 33.2 inches) for 1992 and 1993, respectively. No runoff and no significant change in soil moisture in storage was observed from either field. Recharge to the aquifer from the flood-irrigated field was 93.3 and 78.1 centimeters (36.7 and 30.7 inches) in 1992 and 1993 and from the sprinkler-irrigated field was -35.9 and 9.3 centimeters (-14.1 and 3.7 inches), respectively. The daily water budget and soil-moisture profiles in the upper 6.4 meters (21 feet) of the unsaturated zone were simulated with an unsaturated flow model for average climate conditions. Simulated recharge was 57.4 and 50.5 percent of the quantity of irrigation water applied to the flood-irrigated field during 1992 and 1993, respectively, and was 8.7 and 13.8 percent of the quantity of irrigation water applied to the sprinkler- irrigated field.

Utah

Hydrology of the Beaver Valley area, Beaver County, Utah, with emphasis on ground water

Beaver Valley includes 534 square miles in southwestern Utah, in the Basin and Range physiographic province. The project area consists of a valley plain underlain by unconsolidated to partly consolidated material. The valley plain is bounded by mountains that are composed of partly consolidated to consolidated rocks of Pennsylvanian through Tertiary age except for local thin unconsolidated surficial deposits of Quaternary age. The water needs of the valley are supplied mainly by four streams rising in the Tushar Mountains along the eastern side of the valley and by wells in the unconsolidated to partly consolidated materials of the valley plain. The objectives of this study were (1) to measure and analyze the discharge/recharges rates and (2) to measure and analyze the total amount of water in storage in the ground-water reservoirs.

Utah

Helium in soil gases of the Roosevelt Hot Springs Known Geothermal Resource Ares, Beaver County, Utah

Soil samples were collected in two parallel traverses across the Dome fault zone of the Roosevelt Hot Springs Known Geothermal Resource Area. The samples were sealed in air-tight aluminum cans, and the soil gas was allowed to equilibrate with the atmospheric air in the cans. Gas from the cans was analyzed by mass spectrometry. Samples collected over faults contained anomalously high concentrations of helium. Samples collected close to a geothermal well 884 m deep contained more helium than samples collected near another geothermal well 1370 m deep.

Utah

CS 2 and COS in soil gases of the Roosevelt Hot Springs Known Geothermal Resource Area, Beaver County, Utah

Soil-gas samples were collected in two parallel traverses across the Dome fault zone of the Roosevelt Hot Springs Known Geothermal Resource Area. Gas chromatographic analyses of the samples showed anomalous concentrations of CS 3 and COS east of the Dome fault; higher concentrations of CS 2 and COS also occurred over an area in which the hydrothermal system is close to the surface. Measurement of these gases may be useful in exploration for new geothermal sources.

Utah

Seepage study of canals in Beaver Valley, Beaver County, Utah

A study of the gains or losses of nine canals near Beaver, Utah, was made to aid in the water allocation of the canal systems. The canals included in this study are Manderfield Ditch, Last Chance Canal, Christiansen Ditch, Mammoth Canal, City Ditch, Owens Ditch, South Field Ditch, Patterson Ditch and Aberdare Canal. Four sets of seepage measurements were made during 1974, but flow was observed in all nine canals only during the set of measurements made in June. Adjustments for fluctuations in flow in the canals were made from information obtained from water-stage recorders operated at selected locations along the canals during the time of each seepage run.

Utah

Copper determinations on samples of alluvium and caliche from the rocky Range, Beaver County, Utah

A study of the distribution of copper in transported alluvium on a pediment of the Rocky Range, Beaver County, Utah, undertaken to determine whether known copper deposits in bedrock concealed by alluvium could be detected by geochemical methods, was reported in Geological Survey Research 1960 ( Erickson, R.L., and Marrenzino, A.P., 1960, Geochemical prosecting for copper in the Rocky Range, Beaver County, Utah; U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 400-B, p. B98-E101). The attached map and table supplement that paper by giving the locations at which the samples were collected and the analytical determinations of copper in the samples.

Utah

Geology and ore deposits of the San Francisco and adjacent districts, Utah

The San Francisco district was of recognized importance in the early days of mining in Utah, but its output soon declined and thereafter it attracted little attention until about 1903, when the development of the Cactus mine was undertaken. In August, 1904, S. F. Emmons, then in charge of the division of metalliferous deposits of the Geological Survey, visited the district and determined the area to be covered by a projected topographic map. In 1904 and 1905 Fred McLaughlin completed a topographic map covering the San Francisco and Preuss districts and parts of the Beaver Lake, Rocky, and Star districts, an area of about 175 square miles. In the spring of 1908 Waldemar Lindgren, in charge of the division of metalliferous deposits, visited the San Francisco district and decided that the Survey should make a study of its geology. The writer was assigned to the work of mapping the surface geology and was occupied in this work during part of July, the whole of August, and part of September, 1908. Before the geologic work was completed the renewed activity in the Star district made it desirable that all that district should be included in the geologic study and therefore, in the summer of 1909, W. M. Beaman extended the topographic work to include the more active parts of the Star, Rocky, and Beaver Lake districts that were not included in the previous map. The total area mapped is about 200 square miles. In 1909 the writer was assigned to the study of the ore deposits and spent the greater part of July, the whole of August, and part of September in the district. In 1910 he spent about 10 days in the district and in 1910 and 1911 was engaged in studying other districts in southwestern Utah. Office work on the present report has been in progress since the fall of 1908.

Utah

Water resources of Beaver Valley, Utah

Location and extent of area examined. Beaver Valley is located in Beaver County, in southwestern Utah, about 175 miles south of Salt Lake. It lies between the Tushar Mountains on the east and the Beaver Mountains on the west. The principal town of the valley is Beaver, which is most conveniently reached from Milford, a station on the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad. The valley, together with its neighboring highlands, occupies the eastern third of Beaver County, an area of about 1,200 square miles. A large part of this area, however, is rocky upland and unproductive desert, the tillable land comprising a comparatively small area in the immediate vicinity of the streams. Purpose and scope of work . The purpose of this paper is to present information concerning the waters of Beaver Valley and to point out ways and means of increasing their usefulness. The presence of a large amount of water in Beaver Valley results from local topograhic conditions, the water being supplied by precipitation in the highland to the east. Its conservation and distribution result from geologic conditions, the water being held in loose gravel and sand, which are more or less confined between ridges of consolidated rocks. The rock basins were formed partly by erosion and partly by faulting and surface deformation. In order to accomplish the purpose in view it is therefore necessary to describe the geographic and geologic conditions in Beaver Valley and neighboring regions. The investigation included the determination of the flow of streams and springs, of the manner of occurrence and quantity of the underground waters as shown by the geologic and geographic conditions of the region and by the distribution of springs and wells, and of the chemical character of the waters with reference to their adaptability to domestic use and to irrigation. The chemical data were obtained (a) by field assays, which are approximately correct and probably of sufficient accuracy to be of value in comparing the various waters; (b) by more exact analyses, some of which were made in the laboratory of the United States Geological Survey by W. M. Barr, and others by Herman Harms, State chemist of Utah, for the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad; and (c) by sanitary analyses, made also by Herman Harms. Cooperation . The work was done during the summer of 1906, the United States Geological Survey cooperating with the State of Utah through Caleb Tanner, State engineer, and with the county of Beaver through the supervisors of the county. In collecting the information the writer was assisted by J. F. Hoyt, of Nephi, Utah.

Utah