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Underground water in the valleys of Utah Lake and Jordan River, Utah

The valleys of Utah Lake and Jordan River are situated in north-central Utah, in the extreme eastern part of the Great Basin. The lofty Wasatch Range (Pl. I), the westernmost of the Rocky Mountain system, limits the valleys on the east, and relatively low basin ranges - the Oquirrh, Lake, and East Tintic mountains - determine them on the west. The valleys trend north and south, and are almost separated by the low east-west Traverse Range, the slopes of which constitute a dam for Utah Lake, which drains through Jordan River to Great Salt Lake. The area under consideration is the most populous and flourishing part of the State, Salt Lake City and Provo, the first and third cities in the State, and many other thriving settlements are there located. At Bingham Junction and Murray a number of smelters treat the ores from near-by mines, but agriculture is the main industry. Water for irrigation is supplied by mountain streams, and intensive farming is successfully pursued. The practice of irrigation was begun by the Mormon pioneers in 1847, and has been discussed in several publications; little attention, however, has been given to the underground water resources, and, so far as the writer is aware, they have not before been described. The present paper outlines conditions of occurrence of the subterranean waters and describes their development in the valleys of Utah Lake and Jordan River.

Utah

American hydrogeology at the millennium: An annotated chronology of 100 most influential papers

Hydrogeology developed as scientists undertook activities to describe how a groundwater system functions to explain why it is that way, in order to solve practical problems of water supply. This paper demonstrates the evolutionary nature and growth of hydrogeology in the United States on the basis of a selection of one hundred papers that had a significant impact on subsequent activities. We have identified three revolutionary concepts that resulted directly from this evolutionary understanding and have selected papers that demonstrate important consequences. These three concepts are 1) that the mathematical expression for heat flow can be paraphrased for groundwater and used in transient flow conditions to determine aquifer characteristics; 2) that the distribution of fluid potential can be formulated in mathematical equations suitable for solution by various analytical techniques; and 3) that chemical thermodynamics can be applied to hydrogeologic systems in order to understand the processes controlling the chemical character of groundwater. One purpose of this paper is to encourage scientists to gain an additional dimension of satisfaction from their work by being aware of the contributions of those who went before them and to see how their own work fits into the current understanding of hydrogeology.

Hydrogeology Journal

Water resources of the Philadelphia district

The area included in the Philadelphia district lies between 39° 45' and 40° 15' north latitude and 75° and 75° 30' west longitude. It has a length of 34.50 miles from north to south and a width of 26.53 miles from east to west, and covers one-fourth of a square degree, which is equivalent, in that latitude, to, about 915.25 square miles. It is mapped on the Germantown, Norristown, Philadelphia, and Chester atlas sheets of the United States Geological Survey. a Each of these sheets represents a tract fifteen minutes in extent each way. This district is in Pennsylyania, New Jersey, and Delaware, and comprises, in whole or in part, ten counties-Bucks, Montgomery, Philadelphia, Delaware, and Chester counties in Pennsylvania; Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem counties in New Jersey; and Newcastle County in Delaware. A population of nearly 2,000,000 is embraced within these limits. The location and general relations of the district are shown in fig. 1, on the next page. In this paper will be discussed the topography, rainfall, run-off, and stream discharges of the chief hydrographic basins, the geology and water-bearing horizons, and the water power and water supply in relation to its present and future utilization.

Water Supply Paper

A scale to characterize the strength and impacts of atmospheric rivers

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) play vital roles in the western United States and related regions globally, not only producing heavy precipitation and flooding, but also providing beneficial water supply. This paper introduces a scale for the intensity and impacts of ARs. Its utility may be greatest where ARs are the most impactful storm type and hurricanes, nor’easters, and tornadoes are nearly nonexistent. Two parameters dominate the hydrologic outcomes and impacts of ARs: vertically integrated water vapor transport (IVT) and AR duration [i.e., the duration of at least minimal AR conditions (IVT ≥ 250 kg m –1 s –1 )]. The scale uses an observed or predicted time series of IVT at a given geographic location and is based on the maximum IVT and AR duration at that point during an AR event. AR categories 1–5 are defined by thresholds for maximum IVT (3-h average) of 250, 500, 750, 1,000, and 1,250 kg m –1 s –1 , and by IVT exceeding 250 kg m –1 s –1 continuously for 24–48 h. If the AR event duration is less than 24 h, it is downgraded by one category. If it is longer than 48 h, it is upgraded one category. The scale recognizes that weak ARs are often mostly beneficial because they can enhance water supply and snowpack, while stronger ARs can become mostly hazardous, for example, if they strike an area with antecedent conditions that enhance vulnerability, such as burn scars or wet conditions. Extended durations can enhance impacts. Short durations can mitigate impacts.

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

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

Some floods in the Rocky Mountain region: Chapter G in Contributions to the hydrology of the United States, 1923-1924

In 1923 severe floods occurred on the larger streams in Wyoming and a number of cloudburst floods on small streams in Wyoming and especially in Colorado. An investigation of the principal floods in each State was made, and the results are given in this paper, together with descriptions of two Colorado floods of 1922. In addition a study was made of all cloudburst floods to determine the areas chiefly subject to them.

Colorado;Wyoming

Geology and ground-water resources of North Dakota, with a discussion of the chemical character of the water

Water is the most valuable of the mineral resources. The study of ground waters is therefore clearly within the field of economic geology and constitutes an important part of the work of the geological surveys, both State and national, as defined by law. In the spring of 1911 the investigation of the ground waters of North Dakota was begun by the North Dakota Geological Survey, and the work was assigned to the author of this paper. During each of the three summers 1911, 1912, and 1913 several weeks were devoted by the author to the field work of a general survey. A report on the ground waters of the State was then prepared by him and was transmitted by the director of the North Dakota Geological Survey to the State printing commission for publication. However, owing to lack of available funds the report was not published. A portion of the summer of 1914 was given to a study of artesian conditions in the Souris River Basin. Since that time considerable work has been done in connection with detailed surveys made for a number of cities and villages in an effort to obtain the best available supply of water for public use. During the summer of 1920 arrangements were made by the United States Geological Survey with the North Dakota Geological Survey whereby the author completed the work as fully as possible by correspondence and brought the report up to date. In the spring of 1921 samples of water from 196 sources were collected by the author and J. H. Buchanan and were sent to the United States Geological Survey for analysis. Most of these samples were analyzed by H. B. Riffenburg, who has used the analyses for a description of the chemical character of ground waters in the State. In addition to the analyses of samples collected in connection with the preparation of this report, over 700 partial analyses from different sources were examined. These analyses are not given in this paper, because the location of many of the wells was not stated definitely, and most of the analyses were incomplete. They were useful, however, in confirming the conclusions based on the analyses that are printed, particularly for counties where only a few samples were collected for this report.

North Dakota

Publications of the U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division, for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, 1946-1984

A bibliography of water-resources investigations conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands was compiled. The bibliography includes an alphabetical listing by author as well as listings by general and specific areas in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The publications are also classified by type of report: Open File, Open-File Data Report, KWater-Supply Paper, Water-Resources Investigations, and Professional Paper. (USGS)

Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands

Selected papers in the hydrologic sciences, 1985; May 1985

The University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Geological Survey, and the U.S. Geological Survey are studying the feasibility of storing water at a temperature of 150 degrees Celsius in the Franconia-Ironton-Galesville aquifer. The Aquifer Thermal-Energy Storage project has a doublet-well design with a well spacing of approximately 250 meters. One well will be used for cool-water supply, and, the other, for hot-water injection. The U.S. Geological Survey is constructing a model of ground-water flow and thermal-energy transport to aid in determining the efficiency of the Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage system. A preliminary model of radial flow and thermal-energy transport was constructed, based on hydraulic and thermal properties of the Franconia-Ironton-Galesville aquifer determined in previous studies. The model was used to investigate the sensitivity of model results to various hydraulic and thermal properties and to study the potential for buoyancy flow within the aquifer and the effect of various cyclic injection-withdrawal schemes on the relative thermal efficiency of the aquifer. Sensitivity analysis was performed assuming 8 days of injection of 150-degree-Celsius water at 18.9 liters per second, 8 days of storage, and 8 days of withdrawal of hot water at 18.9 liters per second. The analysis indicates that, for practical ranges of hydraulic and thermal properties, rock-heat capacity is the least important property and thermal dispersivity is the most important property used to compute temperature and aquifer thermal efficiency. The amount of buoyancy flow was examined for several values of hydraulic conductivity and ratios of horizontal to vertical hydraulic conductivities. For the assumed base values of hydraulic and thermal properties, buoyancy flow was negligible. The greatest simulated buoyancy flow resulted from simulations in which horizontal hydraulic conductivity was increased to 10 times the base value, and the vertical hydraulic conductivity was set equal to the horizontal hydraulic conductivity. The effects of various injection-withdrawal rates and durations on computed values of aquifer relative thermal efficiency and final well-bore temperature were studied for five 1-year hypothetical test cycles of injection and withdrawal. The least efficient scheme was 8 months injection of 150-degree-Celsius water and 4 months of withdrawal of hot water at 18.9 liters per second. The most efficient scheme was obtained with 6 months of injection of 150-degree-Celsius water at 18.9 liters per second and 6 months of withdrawal of hot water at 37.8 liters per second. The hypothetical simulations indicate that the subsequent calibrated model of the doublet-well system will be a valuable tool in determining the most efficient system operation.

Water Supply Paper

The artesian water supply of the Dakota sandstone in North Dakota, with special reference to the Edgeley quadrangle

The Dakota sandstone and the overlying dense plastic shales form the most remarkable artesian basin in the United States with respect to its great extent, the long distances through which its water has percolated from the outcrops of the sandstone in the western mountains to the areas of artesian flow, and especially the tremendous pressure under which the water in the sandstone was originally by thick and continuous cover of impermeable shales. In 1882 a well was drilled to the Dakota sandstone at Aberdeen, S. Dak., by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co. This well was reported by Nettleton 1 to have been "the first bore put down which reached the artesian basin of the Dakotas." In 1896 Darton 2 estimated that about 400 artesian wells had been drilled to the Dakota sandstone, presumably in South Dakota and adjacent parts of the artesian basin in North Dakota which he investigated. 3 The strongest of these wells had pressures ranging from 100 to more than 200 pounds to the square inch and flows ranging from 1,000 to more than 4,000 gallons a minute. The present brief paper is based chiefly on the data that have been obtained in the successive surveys in regard to about 230 artesian wells in or near the Edgeley quadrangle. A table of these well data is on file in the United States Geological Survey and is to be published in the detailed report on the geology and hydrology of the Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles that has been prepared by Mr. Hard. The well data obtained by Mr. Hard have already been published in a report prepared by him in his capacity as State flood-control engineer.

North Dakota

Ground-water-quality assessment of the Central Oklahoma aquifer, Oklahoma: Results of investigations

This is a collection of five papers intended to summarize the results of an assessment of the ground-water quality of the Central Oklahoma Aquifer. The papers include a summary of investigations, the diagenetic history of Permian rocks in the aquifer, a geochemical characterization of solid-phase materials, a summary of geochemical and geohydrologic investigations of the Central Oklahoma Aquifer, and a summary on naturally occurring trace substances that contaminated many wells completed in the aquifer.

Oklahoma

Water analyses from the laboratory of the United States Geological Survey

This paper contains 203 water analyses, which were made in the chemical laboratory of the United States Geological Survey. Most of these analyses have been published elsewhere, but many of the original documents are out of print, and are therefore obtainable with difficulty. Furthermore, the form of statement given the analyses has varied from time to time, so that the printed records show a lack of uniformity.

Water Supply Paper

Thermal springs in the United States

The earliest extensive studies of thermal springs in the United States were made by physicians. In 1831 Dr. John Bell issued a book entitled "Baths and Mineral Waters" in which he listed 21 spring localities. In the edition of his work published in 1855 the number was increased to 181. The earliest report on a geologic study of thermal springs was that of W. B, Rogers in 1840 on the thermal springs of Virginia. In 1875 G. K. Gilbert published a map and table showing thermal springs in the United States and pointed out that they are present chiefly in the mountainous areas of folded and faulted rocks. Early geologic study of them was principally inspired by the information which they afford at a few places on the deposition of minerals. The relation of hot springs to volcanic action has been studied in the Yellowstone National Park and near Lassen Peak in California. Studies in recent years have been concerned with the source of the water as well as of its heat. All the notable thermal springs in the eastern United States are in the Appalachian Highlands, principally in the region of folded rocks. The Atlantic Coastal Plain contains no appreciably warm springs. In Florida there are large springs whose water rises from a depth of a few hundred feet and is about 5° above the mean annual temperature, but they are not usually classed as thermal. The only warm springs in the great Interior Plains region are at and near Hot Springs, S. Dak., in the vicinity of the Black Hills uplift of crystalline rocks. In the Interior Highlands thermal springs occur only in the Ozark region, the largest group being at Hot Springs, Ark. The Rocky Mountain System includes the Yellowstone National Park, with its world-famous hot springs and geysers (see pis. 7,12), and there are many other hot springs within this great mountainous region. In the Intermontane areas of great lava plains and faulted lava mountains in Utah, Nevada, southern Idaho, and eastern Oregon there are many hot springs, closely associated with the larger faults. In the Pacific Mountain System, including the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada, there are many warm and hot springs, some of which issue in areas of granite, and others in areas of lava. In the Coast Ranges of California many thermal springs issue from different geologic formations. Of the total of more than 1,000 thermal-spring localities listed in this paper more than half are situated in the three States of Idaho, California, and Nevada, each of which contains more than 150 thermal-spring localities. Wyoming, including the Yellowstone National Park, contains more than 100 hot-spring localities. Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Montana, and New Mexico contain several dozen thermal springs each, of which the principal ones are developed as resorts. The other thermal springs are scattered through 12 States, of which Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina contain one spring or group each. More than half of the total number are developed as resorts or used for irrigation or water supply, but many have remained undeveloped because they are not easily accessible.

Water Supply Paper

Large springs in the United States

What are the largest springs in the United States, how much water do they discharge, and what geologic conditions produce them are questions of much popular interest and considerable scientific and economic importance. Yet the information in regard to large springs has been so widely scattered and so difficult to interpret that most people have only very vague notions on the subject. The present paper is in a sense a by-product of a more comprehensive investigation of the origin, discharge, and quantity of ground water in the United States. It has, however, required, extensive search for data and critical analysis of the data that were obtained. The task would have been virtually impossible except for the hearty cooperation of the district engineers and other members of the water- resources branch of the Geological Survey, who are really coauthors of this paper. I wish to acknowledge especially the help of Kirk Bryan, G. C. Stevens, W. E. Hall, W. E. King, E. L. Williams, H. C. Beckman, C. E. Ellsworth, C. E. McCashin, C. G. Paulsen, W. G. Hoyt, H. T. Stearns, H. D. McGlashan, R. C. Briggs, F. F. Henshaw, W. A. Lamb, G. M. Hall, E. C. LaRue, and A. B. Purton

Water Supply Paper

Hydrography of the Susquehanna River drainage basin

A detailed study of the hydrographic features of the Susquehanna River drainage basin has revealed the existence of a large amount of interesting data. These, however, are widely distributed in various publications and manuscripts which are in most cases inaccessible. This paper has been prepared to meet the constant demand for this information from both the general and the engineering public. The general deductions are intended to give the general reader a comprehensive review of the principal conditions which exist in this area, while the base data have been given for the use of the engineer, so that he may make his own deductions and have sufficient data for estimates in hydraulic investigations.

Water Supply Paper