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Search indexed USGS publications on groundwater, aquifers, geologic maps, mineral resources and earthquakes. Explore source records by subject and place.

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At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
USGS1941

Geology and ground-water resources of the Lufkin area, Texas

This report covers Angelina County, Texas, of which Lufkin is the county seat, and parts of Nacogdoches and other adjacent counties. The area is underlain by a series of sands, clays, and shales of Eocene age that dip, in general, southward at an angle a little greater than that of the land surface, which also slopes southward, thus creating favorable artesian conditions. The formations cropping out in the area from north to south are the Wilcox group undifferentiated, the Carrizo sand, the Mont Selman formation, consisting of the Reklaw member, the Queen City sand member, and the Weches greensand member, the Sparta sand, the Cook Mountain and Yegua formations, and the Jackson group undifferentiated. Small supplies of potable water may be obtained from shallow wells in the outcrop areas of most of these formations. Only three of the formations appear to be likely to yield large supplies of water to wells, and in these the water is under sufficient artesian pressure in most places to cause wells to flow. The Yegua formation yields large amounts of water to some wells in the vicinity of Lufkin. However, the water is moderately mineralized and is not acceptable for municipal use except after dilution with surface water and treatment to reduce mineralization. Moreover, most of the wells in this formation yield only small quantities of water, which is highly mineralized. The Sparta sand appears to be likely to yield large supplies of water to wells throughout the northern part of Angelina County. The water, however, is moderately to highly mineralized and cannot be used for purposes that require water of good quality. The Carrizo sand promises to yield large quantities of water low in mineralization in northern Angelina County and southern Nacogdoches County. Computations indicate that the present southward flow through the formation is about 2,750,000 gallons a day, but pumping from wells and thus increasing the hydraulic gradient would greatly increase the flow. Considerable amounts of water will also be released from storage in the formation after pumping begins.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1990

Origins of water and solutes in and north of the Norris-Mammoth Corridor, Yellowstone National Park

This study was initiated to investigate the impacts of geothermal development in the Corwin Springs Known Geothermal Resources Area (KGRA) on the hydrothermal features of Yellowstone National Park. To determine possible hydrogeochemical connections, we used the diagnostic stable and radioactive isotopes of several elements, and the chemical and gas compositions of thermal and cold waters from the Norris-Mammoth Corridor and areas north of the Park. The investigations were particularly comprehensive in the Mammoth Hot Springs area, Corwin Springs KGRA, and Chico Hot Springs. The geochemical tools used are still subject to uncertainties of 1 - 5%. Preliminary interpretation of the data, especially the ??D and ??18O values of water, 87Sr/86Sr ratios, ??11B values, composition and isotopes of noble gases and several conservative chemical species would indicate that the waters from Mammoth Hot Springs and La Duke Spring area have evolved chemically and isotopically by reactions with different rock types, and are probably not directly connected. These data indicate that a component (<20%) of water in Bear Creek Springs may be derived from the Mammoth system.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2009

Digital Seismic-Reflection Data from Eastern Rhode Island Sound and Vicinity, 1975-1980

During 1975 and 1980, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted two seismic-reflection surveys in Rhode Island Sound (RIS) aboard the research vessel Asterias: cruise ASTR75-June surveyed eastern RIS in 1975 and cruise AST-80-6B surveyed southern RIS in 1980. Data from these surveys were recorded in analog form and archived at the USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center's Data Library. In response to recent interest in the geology of RIS and in an effort to make the data more readily accessible while preserving the original paper records, the seismic data from these cruises were scanned and converted to black and white Tagged Image File Format and grayscale Portable Network Graphics images and SEG-Y data files. Navigation data were converted from U.S. Coast Guard Long Range Aids to Navigation time delays to latitudes and longitudes that are available in Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., shapefile format and as eastings and northings in space-delimited text format. This report complements two others that contain analog seismic-reflection data from RIS (McMullen and others, 2009) and Long Island and Block Island Sounds (Poppe and others, 2002) and were converted into digital form.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1992

Miocene intensification of upwelling along the California margin as recorded in siliceous facies of the Monterey Formation and offshore DSDP sites

Diatomaceous sediments and their diagenetic equivalents in the Monterey Formation record a variable history of upwelling along the California margin. Distrinctive dark opal-CT and quartz chertz found in distal basins of the Monterey Formation are the result of burial diagenesis of pure biosiliceous oozes (biosiliceous oozes without significant admixtures of clay) and are therefore evidence of intensified coastal upwelling during the early middle Miocene. Dating of six sections of the Monterey Formation, largely by diatom biostratigraphy, suggests that at the Point Reyes and Point Año Nuevo sections in north-central California, the age of the earliest chert intervals is between 13.8 and 15.0 Ma, and 14.3 and 14.8 Ma, respectively. In south-central California, ages from the Shell Beach, Mussel Rock, and Lions Head sections imply that the age of the base of the chert intervals is between 12.7 and 13.3 Ma. Both ages correlate to an early middle Miocene high latitude cooling step that resulted in more vigorous surface water circulation, upwelling of nutrient-rich waters, and increased biosiliceous sedimentation in the North Pacific. The north-south difference in age of the base of the chert interval probably reflects a progressive intensification of the California Current from 15.0 to 12.7 Ma. The age of the onset of biosiliceous sedimentation at DSDP sites of the northeastern Pacific is also generally younger at the more southern sites; however, these particular DSDP sites were located some distance from the centres of coastal upwelling and are not as reliable indicators of the intensification of upwelling along the California margin.

California↗
USGS1988

The Geology and Remarkable Thermal Activity of Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Norris Geyser Basin, normally shortened to Norris Basin, is adjacent to the north rim of the Yellowstone caldera at the common intersection of the caldera rim and the Norris-Mammoth Corridor, a zone of faults, volcanic vents, and thermal activity that strikes north from the caldera rim to Mammoth Hot Springs. An east-west fault zone terminates the Gallatin Range at its southern end and extends from Hebgen Lake, west of the park, to Norris Basin. No local evidence exists at the surface in Norris Basin for the two oldest Yellowstone volcanic caldera cycles (~2.0 and 1.3 m.y.B.P.). The third and youngest cycle formed the Yellowstone caldera, which erupted the 600,000-year-old Lava Creek Tuff. No evidence is preserved of hydrothermal activity near Norris Basin during the first 300,000.years after the caldera collapse. Glaciation probably removed most of the early evidence, but erratics of hot-spring sinter that had been converted diagenetically to extremely hard, resistant chalcedonic sinter are present as cobbles in and on some moraines and till from the last two glacial stages, here correlated with the early and late stages of the Pinedale glaciation <150,000 years B.P.). Indirect evidence for the oldest hydrothermal system at Norris Basin indicates an age probably older than both stages of Pinedale glaciation. Stream deposits consisting mainly of rounded quartz phenocrysts of the Lava Creek Tuff were subaerial, perhaps in part windblown and redeposited by streams. A few small rounded pebbles are interpreted as chalcedonic sinter of a still older cycle. None of these are precisely dated but are unlikely to be more than 150,000 to 200,000 years old. ...Most studies of active hydrothermal areas have noted chemical differences in fluids and alteration products but have given little attention to differences and models to explain evolution in types. This report, in contrast, emphasizes the kinds of changes in vents and their changing chemical types of waters and then provides models for explaining these differences. Norris Basin is probably not an independent volcanic-hydrothermal system. The basin and nearby acid-leached areas (from oxidation of H2S-enriched vapor) are best considered as parts of the same system, extending from Norris Basin to Roaring Mountain and possibly to Mammoth. If so, are they parts of a single large system centered within the Yellowstone caldera, or are Norris Basin and the nearby altered areas both parts of one or more young independent corridor systems confined, at least in the shallow crust, to the Norris-Mammoth Corridor? Tentatively, we favor the latter relation, probably having evolved in the past ~300,000 years. A model for large, long-lived, volcanic-hydrothermal activity is also suggested, involving all of the crust and upper mantle and using much recent geophysical data bearing on crust-mantle interrelations. Our model for large systems is much superior to previous suggestions for explaining continuing hydrothermal activity over hundreds of thousands of years, but is less attractive for the smaller nonhomogenized volcanic system actually favored here for the Norris-Mammoth Corridor.

Professional Paper↗
USGS2010

Distal volcano-tectonic seismicity near Augustine Volcano: Chapter 6 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska

Clustered earthquakes located 25 km northeast of Augustine Volcano occurred more frequently beginning about 8 months before the volcano&rsquo;s explosive eruption in 2006. This increase in distal seismicity was contemporaneous with an increase in seismicity directly below the volcano&rsquo;s vent. Furthermore, the distal seismicity intensified penecontemporaneously with signals in geodetic data that appear to reveal a transition from magmatic inflation of the volcano to dike injection. Focal mechanisms for five events within the distal cluster show strike-slip-fault movement. Directly above the earthquake cluster, shallow (<5 km deep) folds and faults mapped using multichannel seismic-reflection data strike northeast, parallel to the regional structural grain. About 10 km northeast of Augustine Volcano, however, the Augustine-Seldovia arch, an important trans-basin feature, strikes west and intersects the northeast-striking structural zone. We propose that the fault causing the distal earthquake cluster strikes northwest, subparallel to the arch, and is a right-lateral strike-slip fault. Future earthquake monitoring might show whether increasing activity in the remote cluster can aid in making eruption forecasts.

Alaska↗
USGS1980

The effect of dissolution of volcanic glass on the water chemistry in a tuffaceous aquifer, Rainier Mesa, Nevada

Geochemistry of ground water associated with the Tertiary tuffs within Rainier Mesa, southern Nevada, was investigated to determine the relative importance of glass dissolution in controlling water chemistry. Water samples were obtained both from interstitial pores in core sections and from free-flowing fractures. Cation com- positions showed that calcium and magnesium decreased as a function of depth in the mesa, as sodium increased. The maximum effect occurs within alteration zones containing clinoptilolite and montmorillonite, suggesting these minerals effectively remove bivalent cations from the system. Comparisons are made between compositions of ground waters found within Rainier Mesa that apparently have not reacted with secondary minerals and compositions of waters produced by experimental dissolution of vitric and crystalline tufts which comprise the principal aquifers in the area. The two tuff phases have the same bulk chemistry but produce aqueous solutions of different chemistry. Rapid parabolic dissolution of sodium and silica from, and the retention of, potassium within the vitric phase verify previous predictions concerning water compositions associated with vitric volcanic rocks. Parabolic dissolution of the crystalline phase results in solutions high in calcium and magnesium and low in silica. Extrapolation of the parabolic dissolution mechanism for the vitric tuff to long times successfully reproduces, at com- parable pH, cation ratios existing in Rainier Mesa ground water. Comparison of mass- transfer rates of the vitric and crystalline tuffs indicates that the apparent higher glass-surface to aqueous-volume ratio associated with the vitric rocks may account for dominance of the glass reaction.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1944

Ground-water resources of the Houston district, Texas

This report covers the current phase of an investigation of the supply of ground water available for the Houston district and adjacent region, Texas,- that has been in progress during the past 10 years. The field operations included routine inventories of pumpage, measurements of water levels in observation wells and collection of other hydrologic data, pumping tests on 21 city-owned wells to determine coefficients of permeability and storage, and the drilling of 13 deep test wells in unexplored parts of the district. Considerable attention has been given to studies of the location of areas or beds of sand that contain salt water. The ground water occurs in beds of sand, sandstone, and gravel of Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene age. These formations crop out in belts that dip southeastward from their outcrop areas and are encountered by wells at progressively greater depths toward the southeast. The beds throughout the section are lithologically similar, and there is little agreement among geologists as to their correlation. -In this investigation, however, the sediments, penetrated by the wells are separated into six zones, chiefly on the basis of electrical logs. Most of the water occurs in zone 3, which ranges in thickness from 800 to 1,200 feet. Large quantities of ground water are pumped in three areas in the Houston district, as follows: The Houston tromping area, which includes Houston and the areas immediately adjacent; the Pasadena pumping area, which includes the industrial section extending along the ship channel from the Houston city limits eastward to Deer Park; and the Katy pumping area, an irregular-shaped area of several hundred square miles, which is roughly centered around the town of Katy, 30 miles west of Houston. In 1930 the total combined withdrawal of ground water in the Houston and Pasadena pumping areas averaged about 50 million gallons a day. It declined somewhat during 1932 and 1933 and then gradually increased, until in 1935 the total pumpage was about the same as it was in 1930. About March 1, 1937, the pumpage was increased by about 40 percent, when new wells near Pasadena were put into operation. During 1940 it is estimated that the total pumpage in the Houston and Pasadena areas averaged about 79 million gallons a day, an increase of about 65 percent over the pumpage in 1935. About 25 million gallons of this increase has occurred in the Pasadena area. In the Katy rice-growing area the pumpage in 1935 was about 14 million gallons a day; in 1937 it was about 30 million gallons a day; in 1939 about 40 million gallons a day; and in 1940 about 45 million gallons a day. In 1940 the estimated total pumpage from the Houston, Pasadena, and Katy pumping areas was about 124 million gallons a day, or twice as much as it was in 1935. The increase in pumping at Pasadena in the spring-of 1937 caused the water leveling wells in the Houston and Pasadena areas, which had not varied materially for about 7 years, to decline at a rapid rate. Further increases in the pumping both at Houston and Pasadena in 1939 and 1940 has caused further substantial decline. The water levels in wells in the Katy rice-growing area also declined materially. The evidence points to the probability that in all parts of the Houston district, except the Katy rice-growing area, the rainfall is recharging the aquifers at a rate greater than that at which the water is transmitted down the dip. In the Katy area the recharge is insufficient to balance the joint discharge by transmission down the dip and withdrawal from rice-irrigating wells. The average coefficient of transmissibility was. calculated as 160,000 gallons a day. On the basis of these estimates the inflow in February 1940 across the artesian contour 10 feet below sea level (see pl. 10) was computed as 72 million gallons a day. The amount of water taken out of artesian storage in the 300-square mile area within the -10 contour during the period February 1939 to February

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS2010

Evaluating the effect of Tikhonov regularization schemes on predictions in a variable-density groundwater model

Calibration of highly‐parameterized numerical models typically requires explicit Tikhonovtype regularization to stabilize the inversion process. This regularization can take the form of a preferred parameter values scheme or preferred relations between parameters, such as the preferred equality scheme. The resulting parameter distributions calibrate the model to a user‐defined acceptable level of model‐to‐measurement misfit, and also minimize regularization penalties on the total objective function. To evaluate the potential impact of these two regularization schemes on model predictive ability, a dataset generated from a synthetic model was used to calibrate a highly-parameterized variable‐density SEAWAT model. The key prediction is the length of time a synthetic pumping well will produce potable water. A bi‐objective Pareto analysis was used to explicitly characterize the relation between two competing objective function components: measurement error and regularization error. Results of the Pareto analysis indicate that both types of regularization schemes affect the predictive ability of the calibrated model.

Conference Paper↗